Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. :)
llllllllll
Chapter 9: Bar Fights
llllllllll
They had all gone back to the inn and changed. Katara was wearing a red and gray dress, but she kept her signature blue necklace in a concealed pocket. Toph had thrown on a frayed red-and-black tunic. Aang was dressed in all red ("Black throws off my vibe," he'd explained to Sokka) with a hood to cover his arrow, and Sokka was clad in a red Fire Nation ensemble with heavy black accents. Iroh had said to keep their identities a mystery, after all...
Night was falling fast, but the last remnants of the sun's rays danced on the horizon. Katara glanced at the sun, her face reflecting her nervousness and anxiety.
"-and stay out!" The group's eyes fell on a young man who had been hoisted out of a rather rowdy-looking place.
"Tough crowd," the guy murmured, grinning. He was missing four of his teeth.
Toph smiled ever-so-slightly. This was going to be fun...
"Must be the place," Aang said, giving the building a rather reluctant look.
"Must be," Katara echoed. A large yell came from inside and a crash that was sure to have damaged some furnishings sounded in the air outside the pub. Katara cringed.
"Well... what're you guys waiting for?" Toph asked, her voice sounding too eager for Katara to understand. "C'mon!"
They entered. The younger members of the group probably weren't supposed to be in such a place, but either no one noticed them or no one cared. All eyes were fixed on a table in the center of the darkened room anyway, so the kids weren't paid the least bit of attention.
"Make him burn!"
"Knock the fire out of 'im!"
Many unsavory individuals were crowded around in a circle. Sokka and Toph pushed their way through (Katara and Aang had no desire the see what was going on) and, in the middle of the hubbub, was a rather ill-looking girl and an arrogant drunk.
The girl's golden eyes perfectly reflected the sinister thoughts running through her mind. They were spectacles of pure, boundless precision. "Mister, you don't know who you just insulted. I suggest that you go on home to your wife and kids. Now."
"I ain't goin' anywhere."
"Suit yourself." With that, a ribbon of flame burst from the girl's fingertips. Her drunk opponent swayed to the left (as she figured he would) and let a jet of flame leave his hand. It missed the girl by inches - but then, she'd expected that, too.
She shot more fire in his direction, this attack filled with more power than the first, and hit him square in the chest. He fell backwards, crying out in agony, and busted a rickety table in two. He coughed and a puff of smoke rose from his mouth, a shocked look on his face. He stood up with difficulty and one man threw a bucket of water over him to douse the remnants of flames from the remaining tatters of his shirt. Another gave him assistance with hobbling out of the pub.
The girl gave her victim a half-hearted glance as he disappeared from sight and directed her attention to the crowd of onlookers. "Anyone else want to push their luck?"
No one said anything. Some shook their heads, others stepped away cautiously, and still others turned back to what they had been doing before the disturbance had taken place.
When all was said and done, everyone went back to their business and the girl walked off to a table in the back. She sat down and sipped at a small drink, her black hair giving off an incredible sheen in the firelight.
Sokka began to approach cautiously, but Toph stalked ahead of him and pushed him back. He gave her a questioning look, but he knew she couldn't see it and didn't expect an explanation. He'd figured out that he should never question his companion, that watching and learning would be much more beneficial to his well-being in the long run. So this was what he did now.
Toph sat herself down in the seat across from the girl. "You Ami?"
"Who wants to know?"
"The name's Rai. That boy there is my brother, Taizu." Toph motioned for Sokka to come forward. He appeared by her side, and he held up a hand in a gesture of greeting. "Taizu," Toph added, "fetch Mika and Kenji." She nudged Sokka's ankle and, realization hitting him, he went to get Katara and Aang.
Ami studied Toph. She was a small girl, but she had guts to come over and sit with someone who was known to have a short fuse and a fiery attitude. She had to want something, and Ami decided that she had started on the right track to getting whatever it was. Ami had a secret admiration for those who were assertive, and this girl certainly was. "Yeah, I'm Ami. What's it to ya?"
Toph was studying Ami just as intently. She had to go about this in exactly the right way. There was no room for error. She was suspicious, she had power... Toph also noticed that she wasn't drunk. Not in the slightest. That wouldn't be much help... "I wanted to know how I could join the so-called rebels. Someone told me I should talk to you."
"Who mentioned my name?"
"I don't reveal my sources."
Ami considered. "Yeah, I know about them. I'm not one of them, but..." She looked at the girl across from her. "I have connections."
"Name your price."
"Make me an offer."
Toph cocked her head and Sokka rejoined them with the rest of the company in tow. He slipped her a bag of gold and she tossed it onto the table.
Ami took it and sifted through it. "Twenty gold pieces." She looked up at her client. She didn't feel right about trusting them...
"Well?" Toph asked.
"A fair trade." Ami stuck her hand in the satchel, picked up a pile of gold, and let the cold coins run through the gaps in her fingers. "Give me one reason why I should trust you."
"Give me one reason why you shouldn't."
Something about this girl... something... Ami couldn't put her finger on it, but something was wrong about this deal. She liked to trust her gut feelings, but this girl was... Ami just couldn't figure it out. She liked this girl's style, but something inside of her told her not to trust her. Conflicted feelings... but then, she had no solid reason not to. Why not? Here was twenty gold pieces, and all she had to do was give a name and a place. What could possibly go wrong?
"They're leaving tomorrow afternoon, so you'll have to act fast. There's a girl -Ty Lee- that's staying at the Dragon's Den. It's directly north of here, at the very edge of the city." Ami took a long sip of her apparently non-alcoholic drink. "Talk to her and you're in."
Toph stood to go. Sokka put his hand on her shoulder, and they began walking toward the door when Ami added, "Don't mention my name."
Toph nodded to her, and when Katara turned to thank her, Toph stomped on her foot. "Don't say anything. It makes you look gracious, and you're trying to be tough. Like you're from the Fire Nation."
They started to walk out the door when Aang doubled over and threw up on some guy's shoes.
"Hey kid! Watch it!"
Aang paled, both because he was about to throw up again and because the man he had puked on was about as large as a bison. "S-sorry," he managed to utter before covering his mouth.
"Sorry? You get your puke all over me and you expect me to accept a measly apology?!" The man was huge, and his voice echoed through the whole building.
Aang shrank back under the man's harsh tone. Katara gave him a tender glance and then glared at the man. "Who do you think you are, shouting at him like that? Do you know-"
Sokka put his hand over her mouth. "Uh... don't mind my sister."
"You need to exercise some control over her," the man grumbled.
Katara ripped Sokka's hand from her face. "Excuse me?"
Toph sighed. She knew it was bound to happen. She couldn't really blame Katara, though... "Cool it, he's just a moron. C'mon guys, let's go."
"Moron? You need to learn some respect, girl!"
Toph, who had been facing the door, turned around. "No, I think you need to learn some respect."
"Why don't you control her, kid?" the man demanded, grabbing Sokka by his ponytail and holding him about an inch off the ground. "Were you kids raised in a barn? Show some respect for your superiors! All of you!"
"Superior?" Toph demanded, standing on her tiptoes and grabbing the man's collar. "You need to shut your mouth before I drill you into the ground!"
The man dropped Sokka and pulled Toph from his shirt. "Hah! You're just a little girl! What can you do?"
Toph kicked her heel into the ground and the man was sent spiraling backward. "Any questions?"
"Earthbender?" Ami murmured to herself. She stood up. "You're an earthbender?"
Toph turned in her direction and nodded.
Fire spurted from Ami's fingers. Toph dodged to the left and made the wooden floor below Ami's feet splinter and break as a pillar of earth erupted beneath it. Ami fired another shot, but it went wide because of her semi-frantic scrambling to stay atop the column. Toph brought her palms down in fists and the pillar crumbled down. Ami landed on the broken wood planks and shook her head. She was really shaken up.
By this time no one in the building could think straight. A chorus of yells filled the air, and Toph smiled slightly. She felt the man she'd originally hit firing a reasonable blast in her direction and she encased herself in rock. Aang was still feeling sick and was laying on the floor near the door.
"Katara! Get Aang and get out of here!"
Katara skillfully drenched the man who was attacking Toph. He directed his flaming hands in her direction, and Toph took this chance to fire a boulder at the burly target. Sokka was battling two or three drunks who had decided to take up for the man, and he ducked and retreated to his sister. Toph followed, and they escaped the pub nearly unscathed.
llllllll