Spirits' Creed

Chapter 9: Tales of Ba Sing Se

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender

A/N: This chapter is a collection of one-shots showing what is happening to everyone over the several weeks of their stay in Ba Sing Se.

The Tale of Meeting the Parents

As light of the morning sun slowly filled the room, Jin opened her eyes. As her senses returned to her Jin's eyes widened as she felt a heavy weight on her chest accompanied with wetness. Looking down, Jin saw that Zuko's head had found itself between her breasts. Realizing what the wetness was, Jin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. 'He's drooling on me,' she thought to herself. 'Well, mom always did say that if a guy drools on you in his sleep it means he's comfortable with you. I wonder if Zuko feels comfortable with me?' Reaching down Jin softly rubbed Zuko's muscled back, running her hands over the scars on his back.

At that moment a groaning was heard coming from Zuko's lips as he began to awaken. For a moment he turned his head this way and that, until realization settled in and his face snapped towards the direction of Jin's.

"Zuko, I never knew you were so forward," Jin said teasingly as she noticed the growing redness on her boyfriend's cheeks. She pulled him closer to her, capturing his lips with hers in a passionate kiss.

It was at that moment that a crash was heard coming from Jin's doorway. The two snapped their heads towards the door so fast that their necks popped. Standing in Jin's doorway was a girl a couple of years younger than Jin herself and looked remarkably like Jin too. She was wearing a large dark green tunic, most likely her sleepwear, and at her bare feet was a bowl of what looked like porridge. Time seemed to stand still as the young girl gazed at them with wide surprise-filled eyes. The girl then took off like a Fox Antelope; running down the hall while screaming, "JIN HAS A BOY IN BED WITH HER!"

Pushing Zuko off of herself, Jin used her earthbending to quickly shut the door while saying, "Shit! Lin's seen us." She turned back to Zuko, who was busy putting his pants on, and hissed, "You've got to get out of here now!"

"I'm dressing as fast as I can," Zuko argued back.

"No. Now," Jin replied as she hurriedly shoved the rest of Zuko's clothes into his hands. Jin pushed her window up and with a quick kiss to the cheek proceeded to throw her boyfriend out her window; the window on the third floor of her house that is.

Jin drew the curtains closed just as her mother and father burst through the door. She quickly spun around facing her parents and said nervously, "Hey mom."

"Don't you 'hey mom' me, young lady," replied Xain with narrowed eyes.

'Oh crap,' Jin thought as she laughed nervously.

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Zuko sighed as he walked down the darkened street to Jin's house. Earlier that day, Jin had stopped by the tea house to ask him to have dinner at her house and met her parents. At first he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of meeting her folks; mostly because she had thrown him out a third story window. However, he relented and agreed to meet her parents as she had already met his uncle and it was only fair that he now meet her parents.

Stopping in front of the door to Jin's house, Zuko quickly gave himself a look over. His clothes were mostly the same from his first date with Jin. The only real difference was the long-sleeved shirt under the dark green vest. On the date, the shirt had been a lighter shade of green; but now, it was white along with the sash Zuko was wearing as a belt. Seeing that everything was in place, Zuko knocked firmly on the door. A moment later the door was answered by Jin.

"Oh good, you're here," Jin said as she hugged Zuko.

"Well I said I would come," replied Zuko as they broke the hug and walked inside.

"I know. It's just I've been nervous about this whole night," Jin replied as she shut the door. "Luckily, my parents sent all of my siblings to their rooms, so it will just be the three of us."

"Hey don't worry about it. It will just be a simple dinner. Nothing will go wrong." Zuko said as he pulled Jin closer to him and kissed her softly on her lips.

The two were interrupted by the sound of forced coughing coming from the entryway of the small hallway. The two sprang apart and looking down the hallway, Zuko saw that there was a man looking at them both, him in particular. Zuko realized that this man must be Jin's father, Koto. Koto was vastly different from how Zuko had imagined him. Most Earth Kingdom men, Zuko had noticed, were either tall or very muscular and Koto fit neither of those descriptions. Koto was only a few inches taller than Zuko himself and appeared to be of an average build.

"I take it you are the, Lee, my daughter so highly speaks of?" Koto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mentally arching an eyebrow at the use of his fake name, Zuko replied, "Yes, I'm Lee. You must be Jin's father, Koto."

"I am," replied the older man.

Stepping forward Zuko extended his arm to shake the man's hand. Surprised at not having his hand crushed in Koto's grip, Zuko took this as a good sign.

Turning to Jin, Koto said, "Your mother has nearly finished making dinner. So, come on to the table."

Walking a little slower than normal, Zuko whispered into Jin's ear, "What did you tell them about me?"

"Well they know that I'm the Earth Champion, so I told them that you are the Fire Champion and that your name is Lee," replied Jin.

Zuko nodded his head as they sat down at the small wooden table. Jin sat next to him and her father across from him. A moment later the door, to what was most likely the kitchen, opened and a tall woman stepped through carrying a large roast. "Oh hello, you must be Lee," said the woman as she carried the roast to the table. "I'm Jin's mother,-"

"Xain Ansatsu-sha," Zuko spoke interrupting her.

Jin and Koto were both surprised at what Zuko had said. Koto was surprised that someone knew his wife's maiden name and Jin for her boyfriend already knowing her mother's name. However, both of them were nowhere near as surprised as Xain herself was. In fact, she was so surprised that a small trace of fear could be seen in her eyes.

Not thinking anything of it, Zuko turned his head to Jin and said, "Jin you never told me your mother was from the Fire Nation."

This time, Zuko's statement got a reaction as Xain dropped the pot holding the roast onto the floor.

"WHAT?" Jin yelled in surprise.

"Listen here young man, my wife is not from the Fire Nation," Koto said in a deadly tone. He may not be a fighter like his eldest child, but he would be damned if someone slandered his family in their own home.

"You don't hear her denying it though," Zuko replied to Koto.

Both Koto and Jin's eyes went wide as Zuko had a point. They both turned to look at Xain who was looking at Zuko with wide fearful eyes.

"How do you know who I am?" Xain asked him. Jin's mouth dropped in shock; her mother was from the Fire Nation.

"Nearly everyone in the Fire Nation knows who you are," Zuko replied. "Even though you never technically did anything illegal it is well known that if anyone should bring you to the Palace, that they will find a large bag of gold pieces from Fire Lord Ozai soon in their possession. He took it very personal when you decided that you'd rather run than marry him."

Jin's eyes grew wide, once more, at what Zuko had said. Her mother was supposed to have married the Fire Lord, Zuko's own father?

Koto stared at his wife and asked in a low voice, "Is this true?"

With tears in her eyes Xain turned to her husband and wordlessly nodded her head. It was true. For seventeen years she had kept it hidden, she had never suspected that her secret would come to light. As her husband stood up and walked into their bedroom, slamming the door behind him, her heart broke.

'Oh crap,' Zuko thought to himself at the way everything had played out. He had honestly thought that both Jin and her father would have known about Xain's past when he saw her. 'Being a homewrecker is not the kind of impression I wanted to make.' Zuko turned to Jin and asked, "You and your father really had no idea about your mother being from the Fire Nation?"

"No," replied Jin straining to keep the anger out of her voice.

Looking at the bedroom door, Zuko said, "I'm going to talk to your father."

"And do what? Make it worse?" Jin asked him.

"I messed this up, so now I'm going to fix it," replied Zuko as he stood up. "You help your mom," he added as he walked away.

Jin stared after him and watched as he entered her parents' bedroom. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jin stood up and walked over to her mother who was leaning against the table and crying. Not knowing what else to do, Jin wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug.

"Jin?" Xain questioned in disbelief as she was sure her daughter wouldn't want anything to do with her now.

"Yeah, it's me mom," replied Jin. "This doesn't change anything to me. You're still my mom."

Xain embraced her daughter in a loving hug, happy that her daughter still saw her as a mother.

"Now, how did all of this happen?" Jin asked her.

"When I was fifteen my father had a meeting with Fire Lord Azulon…"

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Zuko stared around the room watching Koto pace back and forth as he muttered angrily to himself. "I cannot believe her. Seventeen years I was with her and not once did she ever think to mention to tell me something as important as this. That bitch." Zuko slightly rolled his eyes at Koto's muttering. The man did have a right to be upset, but he was starting to let his anger cloud his judgement.

'Well, time to bring him to focus,' Zuko thought to himself as he stepped forward. He grabbed Koto's shoulder and spun the man around. Before anything could be said, Zuko slugged him across the face. "Are you thinking a bit more clearly now?" Zuko asked him.

"What was that for?" Koto growled out. He would say this for the kid; he had a mean right hook.

"It was to get you thinking straight," replied Zuko. "Do you even hear what you're saying?"

Koto stood silent as the younger man's words sunk in.

"Look," began Zuko, "I won't pretend to know how you feel. But I do know that you cannot have eight children with someone and not know who they are. So what if she is from the Fire Nation? This will not change who she is. She is still the same woman who bore your children, who warms your bed at night just as you warm hers."

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Koto hung his head down in defeat. "You're right kid," he replied in a low voice. "But I just can't help to ask myself if she married me solely to hide from possible bounty hunters from the Fire Nation."

"She's from the Fire Nation and I'm from the Fire Nation. Believe me when I say this, if she really thought that; she would have been gone long ago," replied Zuko. "Your wife is here for you. But, why not talk to her about this?"

"Yeah." Koto said as he looked up. "Listen could you ask Xain to come in here? I know we were supposed to get to meet you tonight, but we need to sort this out first. For now, you have my permission to date my daughter."

"Thank you," Zuko replied as he exited the room.

Going back into the living room, Zuko saw both Jin and her mother deep in a conversation with each other. They stopped their talk as they heard him approach. Looking Xain in the eyes Zuko said, "Your husband would like to speak with you in your bedroom."

"Is he angry?" Xain asked as she stood.

"He's not angry, but he wants to know why you did this and if you married him solely to hide from the Fire Niation," replied Zuko.

Nodding her head Xain went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"So what did you and my Dad talk about?" Jin asked, as she began to clean.

"I mainly got him to calm down and look at this logically. Your mother is still his wife even if she is from the Fire Nation. That has changed nothing." Zuko replied, before asking, "What did you and your Mother discuss."

"Oh, this and that," Jin replied with a shrug. "She told me why she fled the Fire Nation. I told her she would always be my mother, no matter what, and I also told her about Zena, Maro, and Kane being firebenders. She asked if I had any proof and I said yes. I asked if you could train them and mom said she'd talk to Dad about it."

"You want me to train your siblings?" Zuko asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you'll soon be training the girls so what are three more pupils for you," replied Jin.

Zuko shrugged his shoulders and went back to helping his girlfriend clean up the living room. Once they had finished Zuko said, "This has been a wonderful evening, but I need to get going."

"How was this a wonderful evening?" Jin asked as she walked Zuko to the door.

"Your Father gave me his permission to date you and neither of your parents killed me," Zuko replied.

Chuckling lightly at her boyfriend's reply, Jin leaned closer and shared a quick kiss good-bye before closing the door. Jin than blew out the candles and began to climb the stairs to settle in for the night. But she paused as she heard the sounds of gentle rhythmic thumping. Looking at the source of the noise, her parent's bedroom, she thought to herself, 'Damn, they made up quick.' Jin then rushed up the stairs to give them their privacy.

'This has been one crazy evening,' Jin thought as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The Tale of the Date

The music from the nearby band reverberated through the air as Yue twirled her arms in the air and rotated her hips. She had never been to club before in the Northern Water Tribe, but here in the Earth Kingdom she found herself quickly enjoying them. At the moment, Yue was hanging out with her coworkers Lieu and Nu; who knew her as Kimiko. The evening had progressed pleasantly. First they had a light dinner at a nearby restaurant and now they were dancing.

"Kimiko?" A voice called through the crowd. Yue looked around her and saw that it was her fellow Elemental Champions Jin and Zuko approaching her.

'I wonder what they're doing here?' Yue mentally asked herself. 'I had better use their alias since Jin used mine.' "Hey Taja, Lee. What are the two of you doing here?" Yue asked them.

"We're out celebrating," Taja replied. "I introduced Lee to my parents last night and they gave their blessing for us to date."

Kimiko congratulated both of them and introduced them to her coworkers. As the introductions between the five young adults ended, the music slowed down and all around them couples, and in some cases threesomes, were starting to slow dance. Glancing to her left Kimiko could see that Taja and Lee had already started to slow dance. Mentally shrugging to herself, Kimiko wrapped her arms around Lieu and Nu's waists and pulled them close to her.

As the three women danced together Kimiko gently rested her head against Lieu and Nu's forehead. 'This is great,' Kimiko thought to herself as she closed her eyes letting the soothing melody of the music wash over her. 'This has been a wonderful way to relieve a lot of my pent up stress from the past couple of days. I feel so relaxed now. In fact, I fell so relaxed it almost feels like there are two soft supple pairs of lips tenderly kissing my own.' Kimiko opened her mouth and froze as realization, in the form two tongues rubbing her own, informed her that she wasn't imagining things. She snapped her eyes open to see that she was in the midst of an intense make-out with Lieu and Nu at the same time!

Kimiko quickly stepped away from both Lieu and Nu and sputtered, "What the? How the? Why?" I she looked back and forth between them. "I have to go," she finally gasped out and tore off in the direction of the women's room.

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"Is everything alright?" a voice asked from behind.

Lieu looked behind her to see Kimiko's friends Taja and Lee. "I don't think it is," replied Nu for the two of them.

"What happened?" Taja asked them.

Giving a small sigh, Lieu began to explain to them how both she and Nu had started to like Kimiko and how each wanted to pursue a relationship with her. However when they approached Kimiko, she decided to go out with both of them. So, the two waitresses had talked with each other and agreed that they were fine being in a polygamist relationship.

"Now I understand," Lee said with an understanding nod. "Taja you had better go talk to Kimiko. I'll explain it to them."

Taja quickly kissed her love good-bye and went off in search of Kimiko.

"Explain what to us?" Nu asked as Kimiko left.

"I don't know if Kimiko has told you or not, but she's from the Northern Water Tribe," Lee began as the three walked off the dance floor.

"So?" Lieu asked. To her it didn't matter where a person was from. Nu was from the Southern Earth Kingdom and she herself was from Western Earth Kingdom. Or, what had been the Western Earth before it was taken over by the Fire Nation.

"In the Northern Water Tribe, women do not date each other. Nor, or there any relationships beyond that of two partners. So once she realized that the both of you were kissing her…"

"Oh crap," Lieu and Nu said at the same time.

"Come on. Let's go see if Taja has been able to get Kimiko to calm down," Lee said as he headed in the direction Taja had left.

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Rising through the floor, Taja watched as Kimiko paced back and forth in the women's room. "Kimiko," Taja called needing to get the woman's attention.

Kimiko stopped her pacing and turned to face the one who had spoken to her. "Oh hey," she said once she saw who it was.

"Are you okay?" Taja asked her.

"I'm fine," replied Kimiko. "In fact I'm great."

"Then what's bothering you?"

"It's about the kiss," Kimiko confessed.

"Is it because you feel wrong for kissing two girls and not a guy?"

"No, that's just it. I don't feel bad. Truthfully, I enjoyed the kiss and I want more," Kimiko said with gradually growing excitement. "I've only been kissed once and that kiss was just there. There was nothing special about it. Sure, it felt good, but I wasn't clambering for more. With Lieu and Nu's kiss it was different; the kiss was sweet and spicy. My world felt like it was erupting and I was glad it was."

"Then go and get some more," Taja told her.

"I can't."

"Why not," Taja asked thoroughly confused.

"I'm from the Northern Water Tribe. I can't be in a relationship with a woman; let alone two," explained Kimiko. "My dad would freak if he know of this."

"Kimiko, is your dad here?" Taja asked her friend.

The Water Champion shook her head negative. To which Taja replied, "Then who cares? Have the relationship you want to have. No one here is going to think differently of you."

Kimiko paused as she considered what Taja was telling her. Logically speaking, the earthbender was right. No one from home would ever have to know.

At that moment a knock was heard coming from the door and Lee's voice from the other side. "Taja is Kimiko in there with you?"

Taja looked at Kimiko waiting to see what the waterbender wanted to do.

"Let Lieu and Nu in," Kimiko instructed.

"Okay," replied Taja who went to the door and let the two women in, before exiting the room to rejoin her boyfriend.

Kimiko looked back and forth from Nu to Lieu a moment before speaking, "Did you both kiss me because you like me?"

"Yes," Nu replied monotonely.

"Yeah," agreed Lieu before adding, "Listen, we didn't know where you where from or that you felt that way-" The woman was quickly cut off by Kimiko, who spoke once more.

"That kiss was a new experience for me and I rather enjoyed it. I like both of you and I would like to try having a relationship with both of you," Kimiko explained.

With light blushes on their cheeks, Kimiko, Nu, and Lieu drew closer together; until the three of them were passionately kissing once more.

The Tale of the New Toys

"Have you finished your work on our new sets of armor?" Jin asked as she and Yue walked over to Zuko in the forge of the Elemental Chamber.

"Yeah," Zuko replied as he walked over to three covered tables. "Since mine was ruined in the fight with Aku and I needed to replace it, I decided to go ahead and redesign all of armors. I changed the color tones to green and white."

Zuko lifted up the sheet covering the first table, revealing the new robes. The style of their robes was similar to their old ones. The areas that had been black were now a dark green and the areas that had been green, blue, and red were now white to match the tunic worn under the robes.

"These look at lot like the robes of the Dai Li and what the students at Ba Sing Se University wear." Yue said as she lifted her own set of robes up; impressed with the work.

"I based their design off of a combination of both of those," replied Zuko as he moved to the second table and lifted up the sheet covering it. "To go along with the robes I redesigned the armor as well. The older stuff was good, but it wasn't very durable. So I crafted the new sets of armor in the style of the Fire Nation elite soldiers."

"This doesn't look like any of the armor I saw when the Fire Nation invaded the Northern Water Tribe," commented Yue as she picked up one of the greaves.

"The soldiers who invaded the Northern Water Tribe and the ones invading the Earth Kingdom aren't the elite soldiers," Zuko explained. "The Fire Nation is sending its' third, fourth, and fifth ranked soldiers. The second ranked soldiers are protecting the Fire Nation, should any armies invade. The first ranked soldiers, who are the nations' best of the best, are the elite soldiers. The armor they wear is built to be both lightweight and maneuverable; along with being able to handle most bladed weapons and fire blasts."

"How many elites are there?" Jin asked as she turned towards Zuko.

"I don't know how many there are, but it really depends on what class they are," replied Zuko. "The most well known are the Imperial Firebenders, who guard the Royal Family. There are also the Raiders and Berserkers. And there used to be the Immortal Guards."

"What happened to them," asked Yue.

"Fire Lord Sozin disbanded them for war crimes," replied Zuko.

"Hey Zuko, where are the vambraces?" Jin asked as she saw the armor for the forearms was nowhere to be seen.

"The vambraces are on the third table," Zuko replied as he moved towards the table. He continued to talk as he lifted up the sheet. "I took the design of Yue's hidden blades and adding in a couple of experimental Fire Nation weapons."

"What kind of weapons?" Yue asked as she picked one up.

"On the left vambrace I added the firearm that the Fire Nation soldiers are currently being equipped with and it also has the ability to shoot poison darts. On the right vambrace the only weapon is the hidden blade. However, to compensate for that vambrace there is a metal cestus which will make any punches we give much harder. Also, the armor of the vambrace may seem thicker, but that's because there are plates under it that when locked into place provide a miniature shield."

"How in the spirits did you come up with all of this?" Yue asked as she tried her vambraces on.

"During my time in exile, I would still receive updates on developments in the Fire Nation; everything from politics to weapons. And since I was often bored with nothing to do on the ship, I spent time working on perfecting building the weapons I read about. The last update I received was on the firearm and I had just finished building my own right before my ship blew up and I was declared a traitor. Now there is a limit to the firearms. These are only able to hold six bullets; while the ones that the Fire Nation soldiers are using are able to hold ten. To help with this I did some redesigning on the crossbow gauntlet I made and came up with these." Zuko gestured to the three crossbows next to the vambraces. "They're smaller than normal crossbows, faster loading, and they're quite for any silent kills that we may need to do. I also forged two straight swords for you both," Zuko said pointing to the swords next to the crossbows. "I'm not really one for making fancy designs in the blades, but they're just as strong and durable as what you'd get from a master."

"Impressive," Jin said as she looked over everything. "But what are these here at the end of the table?"

"These are the miscellaneous weapons I made," explained Zuko. "There's a metal whip for conducting my lightning attacks. A few maces, a sword with the dagger built in, smoke bombs, spears, more throwing knives, all sorts of daggers, and few chakrams."

"Shit Zuko, you've got us armed to the teeth," Yue commented with a chuckle.

"I'm not expecting us to use most of the weapons here, but I picked what should fit our styles best," replied Zuko.

"So, when do we try these things out?" Jin asked as she picked up her robes from the first table.

"Very soon," Zuko replied as he lifted up his armor. "With Aku and Shkitt both dead, we can now focus on taking down the Dai Li. I was looking at that list and gathering some information on a few of the names on it. Several of the agents are extortionist who are helping to keep this city oppressed. They need to die."

"I'm meeting with Madame Macmu-Ling soon. I'll see if she has anything for us," spoke Yue.

"It might also help to do away with some of the Dai Li watchtowers spread throughout the city," offered Jin.

"Let's do that then," Zuko said with a nod of his head. "Soon the sun will rise on a new Ba Sing Se."

The Tale of Information

The shop was quite as Jung walked to the front door of her shop to put up the closed sign on her door. The young thirty-year-old woman had been open for many years selling clothing. But unlike other shops, her clothing was marketed at helping women spice up the bedrooms of their households. At first business had been slow, but soon a few women bought some items and the next thing she knew her business was booming. However, this lead to an unfortunate encounter. As it seemed that men really liked seeing women in the clothes she provided, she attracted the attention of Chin-Hwa, one of Long Feng's most ruthless agents. Chin-Hwa was in charge of the Breeding Houses for the Pap District. Because of him, Jung had been forced to provide clothes to make the women look more desirable.

For years she had done this and every day she grew more and more sickened by herself. But that was all behind her now for she had seen her last sunset and she would not see the sun rise. Tonight she was going to kill herself and end it all.

Suddenly, a strong hand came from behind and forced her mouth close. "Don't move." a voice from behind her growled.

'Is this how it ends for me instead,' Jung though in a panic. 'I'm going to be raped in my shop and killed.'

Her attacker spun her around while keeping his hand firmly on her mouth and Jung's eyes widened as she saw who her attacker was. The armor, the hood, and the unseen eyes under the hood; there was no mistaking it her attacker was one of the champions that the people were now whispering about. The people spoke of the champions with excitement and wonder in their voices. Many had thought that the Avatar would be the one to fight back against the Dai Li, but none had expected him to be a child more concerned about a lost pet that the oppression of the city's citizens. But hope did come in the form of these three warriors. They were ruthless, merciless, and just what the people needed. Their efforts were cheered by citizens from behind closed doors.

"If you scream, I'll kill you. Do you understand?" The champion asked her.

Jung shakily nodded her head and the champion removed his hand. "What do you want from me?" She asked in a terrified voice.

"I want to buy information from you," replied the champion. He placed a very full money bag in her hand. "There's a hundred and fifty gold pieces in that bag for the information and your silence."

"W-what do you want to know?"

"Tell me everything you know about Chin-Hwa."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"Yes," replied the champion.

At hearing his answer, Jung told him everything. From how they met and his forcing of her to do what she does to what he had to eat at the meeting they had two days ago at a restaurant.

"Thank you," replied the champion once she had revealed everything. As the champion turned to leave, he spoke once more, "If Chin-Hwa should be expecting me, I'll be back and I will kill you for your betrayal. Understand?"

Though the champion was not looking at her, she nodded her head in the affirmative and the champion left.

'Maybe, I should see the sunrise tomorrow,' Jung thought to herself with a small amount of an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time, hope.

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Macmu-Ling looked at the oafish boy in front of her with annoyance. How dare this fool insult the noble art of Haiku? She would step down for now and let the boy destroy himself.

As she went back to her seat, this Sokka of the Water Tribe started another one of his poor excuses of a Haiku and this time his final stance was six syllables and not the five it should have been. Macmu-Ling mentally laughed to herself as she watched with great satisfaction as her school security threw the boy from the building.

However, her laughter to herself was cut short as she noticed a shadow in her office. "I'm ending classes early today girls, you are all dismissed," Macmu-Ling said as she stood. Her students decided not to question their good luck and quickly left. "You may also leave, Chul-moo. I'll only be in my office for a moment before leaving myself." She said speaking to the security guard.

"Very well," the guard replied as he left to return to his home.

Macmu-Ling entered her office and firmly closed the door before locking it. As she turned around she was greeted with the sight of the water champion, Kimiko, standing before her. "Here is all of the information I was able to get," Macmu-Ling said as she pulled a small scroll out of her robes and handed it to Kimiko. "I don't know what the three of you are doing, but whatever it is it has Long Feng in an uproar. The three of you may want to stop bending too. There's a rumor among the Dai Li that he will soon start gathering up the city's Waterbenders and Firebenders to find you and Lee and use you both as bait to get Taja."

"Thank you for the information," replied Kimiko with a small nod of her head.

Macmu-Ling nod her head back in understanding and quickly left. She needed to return to the Palace before anyone suspected anything.

The Tale of Taja's Naughty Playground

Jin sighed to herself as she sat in her office going over applications of girls who wanted to work for her. After looking at the paperwork showing the customer flow, she had decided to hire more girls and sent word out. However, do to finances and the threat of unknown expenses; Jin would be hiring only six girls and not twelve.

The first thing she did was eliminate all of the applications with girls over the age of twenty-one. Jin had nothing against older women, but she didn't want to have anyone who was six years older than her working for her. Next, Jin eliminated all of the applications with girl being younger than fifteen. Finally, she began to read them and sort through them.

After hours of reading, she had settled on her six girls. 'I've got twins, a dominator, a dancer, and two maids,' Jin thought to herself as she pulled the paperwork towards herself. "Time to interview them," she said allowed as she got up to leave and make appointments to meet the girls.

'I wonder if Zuko would like to watch a dominator's performance,' Jin thought perversely to herself. She certainly wouldn't say no to being put on display for her boyfriend.

The Tale of Zuko's Day Shopping

'Okay, let me see I've got the fish, the greens, and the sides,' Zuko thought to himself as he went over his metal checklist of the foods for his and his uncle's dinner. 'I guess that's everything.'

"Hey Lee," called a voice from behind. He didn't even have to turn around to see how it was, but as he did so he was greeted with the sight of his girlfriend, Jin, walking up to him. "What'd you get?" She asked.

"I bought what I need to make supper for Uncle and myself tonight," he replied.

"Looks good," Jin said as she peeked in the bag. "What else are you up to?"

"I'm just going to look around the bazaar and see if I find anything interesting," replied Zuko.

"Could you use some company?"

"I could always use your company, Jin."

The young couple grasped each other's hands as the quietly strolled through the market. They wandered from stall to stall looking at the items that were being sold. They looked at everything from dates and figs to pet monkeys and jewelry being sold. They were now at a stall that was selling music instruments. As they looked, one instrument caught Zuko's eye.

"Pardon me, but what is that?" Zuko asked the stalls owner as he pointed to the item behind the man. It looked similar to the pipa he used to play as a child, but the body was larger and the neck was shorter.

"That's a guitar," replied the man once he saw the item Zuko was pointing to. "It came out a few years ago and has been getting popular ever since."

"May I see it?" Zuko asked.

The man nodded his head and handed the instrument to Zuko.

Holding the instrument in his hands, Zuko was surprised at its weight. The instrument was a little heavy, but lighter than Zuko thought it would be. He plucked a couple of the strings and was pleased by its sound. "Do you have a book on how to play it?" Zuko asked the man.

"The man nodded his head and handed the book to Zuko.

In the end, Zuko bought the book and guitar both.

"Nice instrument," Jin said as she looked at the guitar.

"Thanks," replied Zuko. "Well I need to head back to the apartment Jin."

"Alright, I should head home to and check up on Zena, Maro, and Kane and make sure their doing their training."

"Have they been doing their breathing exercises?" Zuko asked as he had instructed the three young children to practice their breathing.

"Yeah and they aren't happy about it," replied Jin. "Once mom learned they need to practice breathing for better control, she decided to make sure they did it every day. All Zena, Maro, and Kane want to do is make flames."

"There won't be any flames until they can breathe correctly. They need proper breath control to control their flames. If they started really bending now, they'd set the house on fire."

Chuckling Jin replied, "Too true. Well, bye." Jin than gave her boyfriend a deep kiss, before letting go and heading towards her house.

Zuko walked towards his apartment with a smile on his face as another pleasant memory with Jin was made.

The Tale of the Art Shop

The late afternoon air was warm as Katara, Toph, and Aang walked down the streets of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring; Sokka had opted not to join them as he wanted to wander around the Upper Ring. The three were actually on their way to an Art Shop that did sketches. Or, so they claimed in their leaflet.

"Are you sure this place can help us?" Aang asked Katara.

"Sure," replied Katara. "We ask if they can do sketches based on descriptions and get one of Appa, if thay can do it. From there, we get enough copies to cover the city."

"I just don't envy the person who has to tell Sokka that we aren't going to be letting him design the Appa poster," Toph commented.

"Sokka will get over it," replied Katara with a casual wave of her hand.

Unknown to the Waterbender, Toph arched an eyebrow at Katara's casual dismissal of her brother.

'There it is!" Aang cried aloud, spotting the Art Shop.

The building itself was simple in design. It was made of earth like all the other buildings in the Lower Ring and its roof was flat. On either side of the door there were to small wooden windows. As the three friends entered the shop two of them could see that the shop had several people in it, while the other one could feel them. Walking to the back of the shop's show room, Katara, Toph, and Aang went up to the man sitting behind the counter.

"Excuse me, but are you Tal?" Aang asked the man.

"Sure am, kid. What can I do for you?" Tal replied.

"I saw your leaflet about being able to do sketches and I was hoping to get one of my missing friend. However, I don't know if you do sketches on descriptions alone or not," replied Aang.

"Sure I can make you a sketch on description alone."

"Great," Aang said with a smile. "I'll also need one thousand copies made."

"I can make you the sketch kid, put you'll need to go to a Print Shop to get that many copies made."

"What's a Print Shop?" Katara asked having never heard of such a place.

"Print Shops do mass production of literature and any type of written word," Tal explained. "The way it works is like this, I'll make a sketch for someone. Then they, will take that sketch to a Metal Shop were a print copy of the sketch will be made. They will then take the print copy to a Print Shop. The Printers at the Print Shop will ink the copy up and put it to paper. The entire process can take a week and a half to do."

"That long?" Aang asked depressed.

"Sorry kid, but yeah." Tal answered.

"Well, let's get started then," Aang said. A moment later he was busy describing Abba to the artist in great detail.

As Aang talked, Katara wondered around the shop to look at all of the different artwork. There was everything from people to buildings to landscapes. After several minutes of looking Katara was near the end of her tour, which was just as well for Aang and Tal were finishing their business, when a piece caught her eye. It was a simple piece, just couple of different shades of green on paper. The captivating thing about the image was the three figures on it. 'These must be the champions,' Katara thought to herself. From the little she could remember of the mysterious Earthbender, it looked very similar to that bender.

"What's this?" Katara asked aloud.

"That's a poster I designed for a client," replied Tal. "He's coming in tomorrow to pick it up."

"Why did he want one of those Champions done though?"

"Where have you been child?" Tal asked in a surprised voice. "The champions are the heroes of the Lower Ring. Practically everyone loves them."

"And what about those who don't?" asked Toph.

"They're the ones who've got something to lose if the Dai Li are thwarted," replied Tal.

"So what do they do?" Aang asked.

"They stop the Dai Li's oppression of the city's lower citizens by any means necessary," Tal replied.

The three friends were unsure what to make of what the artist had told them. It was good that the Champions were helping people, but just how far would they be willing to go? Would they be willing to kill? Aang, Katara, and Toph left the Art Shop in silence and quietly made their way back to the Upper Ring.

The Tale of Tasks

The wharf was quite as Yue navigated around the city's docks. The previous days had been difficult as the attacks by the Varsealm were increasing. So, it was nice to have some quite. As she walked, Yue stopped suddenly as she heard what sounded like crying. Following the noise she came across a young boy who looked to be seven years old. She walked up to him and asked gently, "Young man why are you crying?"

"They took my mommy away," replied the child through his tears.

"Who took her?"

"A man from one of the Dai Li's towers. He said she would be going on a boat and she would do as her new master ordered her to do. When he and the guards left with mommy, he said I would be going on the next boat. They scared me."

"They are scary aren't they? But, you are brave and strong."

"Yes," the child replied nodding his head. "Can you get my mommy back?"

"Yes," replied Yue. "Can you tell me where they took your mommy and the name of the man who took her?"

Once the child told Yue where they had dragged his mother off to, the man's name, and what he looked like, Yue sent the child off to hide as she hunted for the slave trader. Being careful not to attract any attention, Yue wondered the docks looking for the man who matched the child's description. After almost an hour of searching Yue finally saw the man and judging by his clothes it was easy to see that the man was a low ranking noble. Needing to find out where he was keeping the slaves, Yue silently followed him. For the next three hours Yue quietly shadowed the man. The only thing that stopped Yue from killing him outright was the fact that he wasn't going in circles, but it was getting harder and harder to resist.

Finally Yue's patience was rewarded when he went onto a ship. Getting to a higher viewpoint, Yue was able to look down and see guards patrolling the ship as well as the slave trader who was barking out orders. 'Hmm, there are only eleven of them. This should be easy enough,' Yue thought to herself as she uncorked her waterskin. She separated the water into ten separate globs of water and sent them high into the air. Once each of them was above a guard, Yue formed them into deadly icicles and shot them down at the guards with such force that the icicles killed their targets on impact.

As the man looked around, trying to figure out what had happened to his guards, we never took notice of the figure leveling a crossbow at him and taking aim. So, it came as a great surprise when a bolt came whizzing out of the air and impaled him in the chest. He didn't even have a chance to cry out as his vision grew black and stayed black, for he was dead.

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After freeing the captives on the ship and sending the boy's mother off to find her child, Yue walked back into the city. She was soon joined by her partners and friends, Zuko and Jin. And as they walked down the streets, Jin noticed something. "It's quite."

"Yeah and it's nice to have some quite," Yue replied not seeing what was so important about it being quite.

"I mean it's to quite," Jin clarified. "This is the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, there should always be some sort of noise going on."

As Yue stopped and listened she found that Jin was right, there really wasn't any noise being made around them. It was like the quite just before an attack or just before you killed. Before anymore could be said on the matter, several figures dropped down from the sky landing on the rooftops that surrounded them. It was easy to see that this figures were dangerous just by looking at them.

"Ninjas," Jin said as she looked at the figures. "Damn."

"What are ninjas?" Zuko asked his girlfriend. He had never faced such opponents before.

"They're the Earth Kingdoms version of Imperial Firebenders," replied Jin.

It was then that Zuko voiced what they were all thinking, "Crap."

The Tale of the Fall

"Soon our forces will be ready," spoke the deep rumbling voice of one of the Varsealm's Masters.

"According to plan, everything is going," replied the fellow Master.

"With Aku's death the barrier has been steadily growing weaker. Once the barrier is weak enough, we will be able to send our stronger minions to decimate the Physical World."

"AND FEAR WILL KNOW ALL!"

The Masters laughed deeply at the stupidity of the humans; for everything was going just as they planned.

Next Chapter: Higher State

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