Chapter VIII: Resignation
Two weeks passed. Sokka and Suki had been sailing up the coast of the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation colonies. The colonies had been one of the more controversial subjects discussed in the negotiations between the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Water Tribes. The colonies had served as a symbol of Fire Nation oppression and imperialism for the better part of a hundred years. But at the same time, people, both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, had lived and worked in the colonies for generations. Negotiations had come to a standstill for several weeks until a resolution had been proposed by Fire Lord Zuko- the colonies would stay, but over the course of about twenty years, the population of the colonies would be slowly moved back to the Fire Nation. The arrangement sparked protests all over the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, but it was the best anyone could hope for- the Council of Five certainly wasn't going to let the colonies stay, but trying to remove them too quickly could cause all sorts of political problems.
Sokka and Suki stood by the bow of the boat, leaning against the railing. Suki asked out loud, "So you met the Earth King, Sokka?"
"Yep," he replied.
"How was he?"
"He was nice. He was a really horrible judge of character, but he was nice."
"So, what happened to him?"
"Well, after Ba Sing Se fell, we all headed down to Chameleon Bay to sail to the Fire Nation. The King stayed behind- he said he wanted to travel the world, meet new people."
"So, he's out there alone?"
"No, he isn't alone. He has his bear Bosco with him."
"Bear? You mean platypus-bear, right?" Sokka shook his head. "Skunk-bear?" Sokka shook his head again. "Gopher-bear?" Sokka shook his head one last time. "Wow. This Earth King sounds like a weird guy."
Two days passed before Sokka and Suki landed in the colonies. From the ship, they could see the sharp angles, the delicate looking roofs, and the various reds and blacks that dominated Fire Nation architecture, stretching as far as the eye could see. If it hadn't been for the numerous Earth Kingdom flags flying alongside those of the Fire Nation, and the occasional Earth Kingdom soldier, one could easily believe that they were in the Fire Nation.
Sokka and Suki descended the ramp from the boat onto the docks. They looked around, watching as innumerable people passed by. "There's so many people here," Sokka said. "How are we supposed to find the Earth King?"
"Hey, don't worry Sokka," Suki replied. "You said that he was traveling with his 'bear,' right? I'm sure he won't be that hard to find." The two began to follow the crowd. As they wandered between the innumerable buildings of the colonies, they got few looks- whether it was because more people had visited the colonies since the war ended, or because the onlookers didn't want to draw the attention of the innumerable soldiers they passed, neither Sokka nor Suki could say. Eventually, they came to a small shop of some kind. Two men stood by the entrance- one was a fairly well-dressed man; the other was not, his clothes seemingly made of rags. Near the shabbier man stood a large, brown beast- Suki couldn't identify it, but Sokka did immediately.
It was a bear. Not a platypus-bear or a gopher-bear or a skunk-bear- just… a bear. Sokka stopped Suki, so he could listen on the two men's conversation.
"I've already told you," the better dressed man said, "I don't allow animals in my tea shop."
The shabby man replied, "And I've already told you, Bosco is very well-behaved. It's like he's just a really hairy person. Right Bosco?" The bear replied with a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a grunt. The shabby man laughed and said, "He's a human at heart."
"Well, regardless of how human he may be at heart, this Bosco is still an animal. And my policy states I don't allow animals in my tea shop. Good day." The well dressed man turned and disappeared into his shop. The shabby man sighed and said, "Well Bosco, I guess we'll have to go somewhere else for tea. He turned away from the store, adjusting the small pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. The bear had been a dead giveaway, but now that Sokka had a full view of the man, there was no doubt in his mind- he had gotten considerably darker than Sokka remembered, but the light, almost fragile features were unmistakable.
Kuei. The Earth King.
Sokka and Suki approached. At once, Kuei took notice of them, and a large smile appeared on his face. "Sokka!" Kuei said, obviously surprised. "It's good to see you again!" He looked over at Suki. "I see you have a friend."
"Kuei, this is Suki. She's the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. For real this time." Suki bowed and said, "It's an honor to meet you, your highness."
Kuei smiled a little. "No one's called me 'your highness' for months. You can just call me Kuei." Bosco stood up on his rear legs and made a confused sound. "It looks like Bosco wants to meet you too. Go ahead and introduce yourself." Bosco held out one of his paws and made another sound- it was impossible to describe, but it sounded happy. So, Suki gingerly took Bosco's paw and shook it, saying, "It's nice to meet you too, Bosco." Bosco made another happy sound before returning to all fours. "This is no place for a reunion," Kuei said. "Why don't we go back to my place?"
A few minutes passed as Kuei, riding on Bosco, led Sokka and Suki through the streets of the colony. Eventually, they came to the outskirts, where the sharp, crisp Fire Nation buildings gave way to small, shabby houses. They eventually stopped in front of one- Kuei jumped off of Bosco and said, "Well, here we are. Home sweet home… for now, anyway." He pushed open the door. "Please, come in. We can talk inside." Bosco followed him inside- Sokka and Suki did as well. The inside of Kuei's shack was small, but well-kept. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give you a quick tour of the place," Kuei said, before pointing to a bed in the far left corner of the room. "That's my bed." He pointed to a mat in the far right corner that Bosco was laying on. "That's where Bosco sleeps…" He pointed to a table in the center of the house. "…this is the breakfast table…" He finished by pointing to a series of shelves mounted to a wall on the right side of the house. "… and those are my… I guess you could call them souvenirs of my travels through the Earth Kingdom." Sokka and Suki could see that numerous trinkets occupied the shelves to their right. Suki wandered over to the shelves and investigated the trinkets. She picked up one- a small, bronze medallion, with some sort of symbol carved in the front. She examined it closely and asked, "What is this thing?"
"Please be careful with that," Kuei replied. "That marks me as an honorary member of the Sion sandbender tribe."
"Wait, you've been to the Si Wong Desert?" Sokka asked, approaching the shelves as well.
Kuei approached the two. "Twice, in fact. From Chameleon Bay, Bosco and I traveled to the southern tip of the Earth Kingdom, and then here, to the Fire Nation colonies. May I see that?" Suki gave him the medallion- he looked down at it briefly before continuing. "Did you know, each sandbender tribe lives in a fortress called a sietch? They carve tunnels in a huge rock, and all the members of the tribe live inside. Every major tribe has at least one sietch- more powerful tribes have more. The most powerful tribe- the Jan tribe- has over a dozen on the southern edge of the Si Wong Desert."
"That's interesting…" Suki said, as she continued to examine the various trinkets on the shelves.
"I know. People can be so fascinating, don't you think?" Kuei asked, with a smile. "But places can be just as fascinating. Recently I visited a town called Taku- it was a fairly large town to the east of here. Taku was destroyed in the early days of the War- Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers have just gotten around to rebuilding. But anyway, every year in the fall, winds blow south from the North Pole. The winds carry rocks from the mountains, and drop them down into Taku. People around there call it Shi Yu- the Stone Rain. When fall comes, I'm going to go out there and see it myself."
At this point, Sokka interjected. "You know," he said, "it's great that you found all this amazing stuff, but we didn't come here just to listen to your stories." It took a few moments for the former Earth King to process what Sokka had told him. Then, Kuei said, "Oh, of course! I never asked you why you came here."
Sokka took a seat at the table. "Thank you. Suki and I came here on business."
Kuei took a seat as well. "What kind of business?" he asked.
"The Order of the White Lotus sent us on the behalf of the Council of Five. They wanted us to find you, and bring you back to Ba Sing Se."
"The Council of Five sent you? To find me?" Kuei asked, stunned. He shook his head. "No, I… I can't go back. I ran away from my city, my nation, when they needed me the most. I can't go back with my people thinking I'm a coward."
Suki leaned against the table, next to Sokka. "There wasn't anything you could have done, Kuei. All you could do was escape from the Fire Nation army."
Kuei stood up and walked away from the table. "But that's not all. For so long, I was… ignorant of my people, of an entire world outside my palace- but, in my travels, I met people. My people. I've learned more traveling in these past few months, than in all the time I've spent in the palace library. I feel like I've found a part of me that was missing… like I've found my true calling. I want to travel the world, and learn everything I can about all the people in it."
Sokka opened his mouth as if to say something, but Suki put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Sokka and I need to talk outside real quick," Suki said, pulling on Sokka's shoulder. "We'll be right back." Suki pulled Sokka out the front door. Once they were outside, Sokka asked, "Okay, what's this about Suki?"
"Sokka, I've been thinking, and I don't think we should take the Earth King back to Ba Sing Se?"
"Huh? Why not?"
"Well… look at him. He's found something he really enjoys, and I don't think we have the right to take that away from him."
"So the guy has a hobby in anthropology. It's not like he'll have to give it up when he goes back to Ba Sing Se."
"Sokka, if Kuei becomes the Earth King again, he won't be able to travel around anymore. If he wants to stay out here, then we really can't stop him."
"…But what about our mission?"
"Sokka, Kuei can decide for himself if he wants to go back to Ba Sing Se with us. It's not like we can knock him out and drag him all the way there ourselves."
There was a long pause before Sokka replied, "…I guess you're right." They went back inside; Kuei was waiting for them, standing by the shelves. "Hey," he said, "did you two finish talking?"
"Yeah," Sokka replied.
"We should probably get going." Kuei let out a disappointed sigh. "Just give me a few minutes to pack my things."
"Actually…" Suki began, "Sokka and I aren't going to take you back to Ba Sing Se. Look, if you've found your calling in life, then it really isn't our place to stop you."
Kuei looked at Suki, stunned, before a wide smile cracked across his face. "You really mean it?"
"Yeah." Sokka sighed. "But we have a problem now. Our master is expecting us to bring you to him. What do we do now?"
"I think I have a solution to your problem?"
Suki looked over at Kuei. "You do?"
"Well, yes- I've come across a lot of impersonators of me in my travels. If you tell your master that I was just an impersonator, I'm sure he would believe you."
Sokka turned to Suki. "Do you think that'll work?"
"I don't see why it wouldn't- all we'd have to do is keep a straight face. But just to be on the safe side…" Suki turned to Kuei. "You should probably get out of the colonies as soon as possible."
"Okay." He looked over his shoulder, at his bear. "Bosco, pack your bags! We're going to the Fire Nation!"
"Wait, why would you go to the Fire Nation?" Suki asked.
"Well, last time I checked, there were more nations on the map than just the Earth Kingdom. And if I'm learning more about other people, the Fire Nation seems like a good place to start."
"But what about that… um, that Shi Yu thing?"
"Eh, there's always next year."
The day passed. The next morning, Sokka, Suki, Kuei, and Bosco made their way to the docks. Sokka and Suki waited in silence as Kuei stood in the line to purchase tickets to the Fire Nation. Bosco waited with Sokka and Suki, laying at the ground by their feet. Suki looked over at him, and after noting the worried look on his face, asked, "Having second thoughts?"
Sokka shook his head. "No. I agree with what you said- If Kuei is happy then we don't have any right to take that away from him. I'm just worried about how Master Iroh will react when we tell him the bad news."
"Hey, I'm sure Iroh would understand. Not every mission can be a success, you know."
"Tell me about it." The failed invasion on the Day of Black Sun briefly flashed through Sokka's mind.
Several more minutes passed in silence. Eventually, Kuei returned. "Okay, I got the tickets." He shifted the bag slung over his shoulder. "So… I guess this is it, then."
"I guess so," Sokka replied. At that moment, Bosco made a short sound and stood up on his back paws. "I think Bosco's right," Kuei said. "We should say our goodbyes now. Goodbye Sokka. It was nice to see you again. And it was nice to finally meet you, Suki." Kuei bowed to the two; Sokka and Suki bowed in return. Then, Bosco made another short sound, and put his paws around Sokka and Suki. Surprise and even a little bit of terror passed through the two, before the returned the bear's hug. "It was nice to meet you too, Bosco," Suki said. The bear made a happy sound before releasing her and Sokka.
"You know," Kuei began, "I think I'm going to write a book about all the I've met. I don't know what I'm going to call, but right under the title, I want it to say, 'The Story of How I Lost My Kingdom, and Discovered Its People.'" A bell began to sound, emanating from a boat anchored nearby. "Well, that's my cue," Kuei said, adjusting his bag one last time. He began to turn, but stopped. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "I almost forgot something! When you see the Avatar… when you see Aang again, tell him the Earth King says, 'Thank you.'" He turned toward the boat. "Come on Bosco." The bear made a sad sound, but began to follow Kuei to the boat. Sokka and Suki watched him climb the ramp- for a single moment, he looked back at them, a smile on his face, and gave them a friendly wave, before continuing on his way. A few minutes later, the ramp was withdrawn from the side of the boat- at the same time, a great column of black smoke poured from the ship's smokestack, followed by the thumping of the ship's powerful engines. Then, the boat slowly glided away from the dock. It gradually picked up speed, cutting its way through the ocean, belching a great column of smoke as it made its way to the horizon in the west.
Sokka and Suki must have stood at the dock for an hour, watching that column of smoke grow smaller and smaller, until finally, it disappeared just over the horizon. A few more moments passed before Sokka finally said, "Well, there's no putting it off anymore. Let's head to Ba Sing Se."
