Thyra-TigerLily

Blue tiger

this sparrow

Paradoxismminant Thank you for saying that you liked knowing me as a person, not just an author. I get the feeling that most of my reviewers forget that I'm still just a kid myself, not some big shot author. ;} Thanks for remembering! You make me think of the opening of the song 'Of all the gin joints of all the world' by FOB. LOL

Thank you all for reviewing! This chapter is dedicated to you four for making me feel so guilty that I had no choice but to eventually update. ;}

"No one could call this a good situation," the doctor hedged, "But now that we have that medicine in him, I think that he should get better shortly. "

Lynn sighed in relief, hugging Iroh as he cried with joy; his nephew wasn't going to knock off before him after all.

The Doctor motioned for them to hush down, pointedly looking from them to the sleeping boy in the cot next to them.

Looking appropriately ashamed, the two nodded and followed the doctor outside Zuko's makeshift hospital room. "Past the lung infection," Iroh questioned the doctor quietly as they walked down the hall of Lynn's house, "how will his other wounds heal?"

The Doctor stared hard at Iroh, his tired eyes assessing the man before him, "Truthfully, Mr. Moshi, I am more concerned with the past damage that this boy has suffered through. The scarring aside, I couldn't help but notice that several of his ribs had been broken then set incorrectly, his arms and one leg are in similar condition."

Iroh saw the implied question, and answered it, "Lee has had a very hard life, Doctor. Lee trusts no one and can bring himself to care deeply for no one. Had I known that my nephew was suffering so, I would have taken him someplace safe long before now."

The doctor pauses, "I thought you said that that boy was your grandson, not your nephew?"

Iroh nodded his head, but didn't answer, letting the doctor form whatever conclusion he may; he had more important things on his mind.

Lynn watched all of this in silence. She has known that Lee was damaged, perhaps even broken a little, but she couldn't imagine that the quiet boy she cared for had gone through so much. She'd have to question him on it later, once he was well.

"Doctor," a voice called from the living room, "I think we have enough for you to finish your work."

Lynn ground her teeth; G-Ma had been saving every bronze coin she could for years to get them out of here, and now it was practically gone, used up to save Lee's life.

She didn't regret saving Lee, but she hated that someone had to scrounge for years to be able to afford meager medical bills and some food. She hated that Lee was suffering right now because the numbing drugs were all taken up by the rich fools who sought to hide from their perfect lives. She hated that the doctors had to charge so much just to pay the taxes on their profession. But most of all, she hated this city, that kept her locked in poverty, bearing down on her as soon as happiness showed its face.

"Lynn?" Memphis asked voice colored with concern.

Lynn shook her head and smiled at her large friend, "It's nothing. Just thinking about how great this city is."

Memphis snorted, rolling his eyes at his friends' humor. "Whatever," he grumbled, "We need to talk; I accidentally let slip that Lee was a fire bender, Angel too. I think he might start some trouble."

Lynn felt her face freeze as the fire inside of her ignited. Breathing deeply, she nodded, motioning for Memphis to follow her outside. "Okay," she said as soon as they were out of range of curious ears, "What exactly did you tell him?"

Memphis looked away, "He asked my name, and I told him about it, and about how Angel saved all of us. He asked about her personality, and I let slip that she had fire in her veins, but that Lee was a lot calmer, even though they shared an element. From there he guessed what I was talking about."

Lynn ground her teeth, feeling the anxiety of the past few days catching up to her. "What did you do after that? Did you silence him?"

Memphis shook his head, "I dumped him in the silver district and sealed up our hideout. From what I've heard, he hasn't told anyone what went on in the tunnel."

Lynn nodded, thinking hard about her options; "We can either kill him before he can make any damage, find a way to pay him off, or make him one of our own. If we kill him, it will save us trouble, but we owe him, so that's out. We could pay him off, but G-Ma made us swear not to steal anymore, so that's a no go as well. I don't know how receptive he'll be to joining us, but it's our only option." Decided, Lynn nodded, using sign language to tell Memphis to catch their new friend and bring him to their warren.

Memphis bowed his head and sunk into the ground, disappearing without a trace.

"This type of shit is going to kill me." Lynn mumbled, unaware that she had an audience.

POV Change Sokka

'Try and recruit me, eh? Well, I guess it's a better option than having a bunch of streetwise kids at my throat.' Sokka thought as he watched the girl walk back into the house she and Memphis had just left.

Sokka slunk away from the rooftop he was perched on, fighting the urge to burst into the house and see for himself of this 'Lee' was who he thought he was. "Soon" he mumbled, "Soon I'll have that little fake just where I want him.

As he slipped onto the ground under the ledge he had been hiding on, he felt the ground encase him, and he cursed, already knowing who had him caught.

"You work fast, Mr. Guardsman; I thought I had at least another hour to myself."

The Earth kingdom guard stepped out from his hiding place across the street, "You're more trouble than your worth, kid."

Sokka just grinned, knowing that an arrogant expression would only piss the irritable guard off more.

The guard tightened his grip, making Sokka yelp in pain. "Ow, Ow, Ow! That hurts, you know?"

The guard smirked, "You act all tough, but as soon as pressure is applied, your whine like the child you are."

Sokka let the guard see his pissed off expression, but inside he was apathetic about the whole encounter; as soon as he left this stupid city, this asshole guard was going to die, he could tell. Just like he could tell that there was someone with a powerful hold on the ground not twenty feet away, taking control of the situation little by little, swaying the ground to his or her will.

Sokka knew what was going to happen long before the guard was encased in stone and he was free. "About time, kid. I thought I was going to die of old age before you acted."

Sokka heard Memphis chuckle as the ground about ten feet from him opened up, showing the street boy standing on a pillar in another tunnel, much like the last one they had been in. "I didn't know if you wanted me to save you or not," his deep tone sounded, "so I let you sweat for a little while."

Sokka shook his head at the younger boy, hating that he was being charmed up. "Whatever. So are you going to take me to your group or not? I can't just stand around all day."

Memphis scowled, "So that was you on the rooftop. I thought it was, but I didn't want to make some trouble before i had to. You're lucky Lynn didn't fry your ass."

Sokka grinned smugly, "I'm great at hiding 'til the heat wears down. Comes from a long time living with Aang. "

Memphis just shook his head, motioning Sokka down into the whole.

Nodding, Sokka glance at the still encased guard "Let him go as soon as you close up our escape route. He's probably already almost out of air."

Memphis sighed, "You're not going to let this go, are you?" At Sokka's frown, he just shrugged, "It gets a lot harder to guard the tunnels if we have people actually looking for a problem."

Sokka nodded, understanding, "I know what you mean, but I can't allow you to kill someone out of convenience. As soon as we can't be traced, let him go."

Memphis nodded and motioned down the tunnel, signaling that it was a good idea for them to be going then.

As Sokka walked with the other boy down a ways, he heard the guard shouting for help, and smiled, these were good kids after all.

POV Change Lynn

'Fuck,' Lynn thought as she saw the rationing sheet she was supposed to be reviewing, 'we don't even have enough to last the month, much less to next season. Maybe if we tightened the spread and got in some good grains by the next moon we can just make it but-'

*Knock-Knock*

Lynn's internal planning was interrupted by Memphis and her new guest. "Come in," she said, deciding that politeness would help their cause.

Memphis came in first, ushering in the amazed looking Water tribe boy after him.

"Wow," Sokka exclaimed as soon as the door was shut, "when you said warren, Memphis, I pictured some type of underground sewer, but this-"Sokka stopped talking and just shook his head in awe.

Lynn smiled at the older boy's exuberance, "Our warren houses over a thousand people in times of need and can store up to five months of food. This place was built by the founders of Ba Sing Se long before any of us were even conceived to be a safe house for troops in times of crisis. Since it was forgotten, we just sort of moved in and liked it."

Sokka nodded his head, marveling at the intricate designs etched into the walls and ceiling. "It's beautiful. Did it come like this, or did you all make improvements?"

Lynn grinned, "It came bare, but over the generations, we have put our own touches on the living space. Since we have benders form all over, we get the best of all worlds."

"And the worst." Sokka pointed out, voice and eyes hard and condemning.

Lynn sighed, "I know it much be hard for you to see this with unbiased eyes, but no one race if better than others. Or worse, as you like to say, than any other. I know that you have reason to hate the fire nation, but I won't let you disrupt our lives without even knowing what our members are even like."

Sokka nodded and held his hand up, "I know. I'm not going to make a fuss until I know what's what. I'm going to give you till next month to make me see some type of proof that fire benders aren't the evil, soul-sucking monsters I believe them to be."

Lynn nodded her head, "Fair enough. We'll start right now." Lynn held her hand out, and in it, a small flame flickered, white and pure against her tanned flesh.

Sokka yelped, "Wait, even you're a fire bender?"

Lynn nodded, "I was the child of an earth kingdom woman and a fire nation soldier who fell in love against the odds. When my father's commanding officer heard that he my father was having relations with an earth kingdom woman, he had him court-martialed and sent to prison back in the fire nation capitol."

Sokka just shook his head, "I can't believe it. A fire nation soldier fell in love? With an earth kingdom woman of all people? No way."

Lynn shrugged, "Believe what you want. My Father was a good man. He fought for the beliefs of his country and his people."

Sokka laughed bitterly, "It was fire nation soldiers following orders that killed my mom; that destroyed my village. I can't just accept your explanation."

Lynn frowned, "I'm not going to debate the merits of the fire nation military with you. I'm just going to tell you the truth; not all fire nation people are twisted, not all fire benders are evil puppets of the thrown."

Lynn took a deep breath, "We better get on with the tour before the others start coming back from work. It'll be easier for you to get to know the people here if you know where you're going."

There's the next chapter! I hope ya'll liked it.

BTW. I hadn't intended for Lynn to be a major character, but I guess I can't just dump her now. Oh, well.

Oh, yeah, and since no one guessed the song or why it was there (Though I got a lot of good guesses!) I didn't put any requests in this chapter. Don't worry, though. If you guess the meaning behind this name, you can pick something them ;}

Any ways, till next time.