Chapter IX: Pulse

Two weeks passed as Sokka and Suki made their way to Ba Sing Se. One day after leaving the colonies, the two were fortunate enough to to find a caravan of traders on the way to the Earth Kingdom capital- after paying a small fee, the two hopped into the back of a small wagon, and the caravan was on its way. The inside of the wagon was cramped, being filled to the brim with various goods, but they were willing to put up with the slight discomfort- the wagon might not have been as fast as Appa, but it was still faster than walking.

One day, as the two sat in the back of the wagon, Sokka said out loud, "You know, I just remembered something."

"What is it?" Suki asked.

"Last month… last month would've been the anniversary of when Sozin's Comet returned."

"Yeah… you're right! It's been over a year since the War ended now, hasn't it?"

"The others were probably celebrating then." Sokka looked down at the wagon floor. "We should've been there with them."

"Well, there's always next year, Sokka." Suki paused, thinking about how she could cheer up Sokka. "And maybe there's a bright side to this."

"Really?" Sokka sounded unconvinced.

"Master Iroh's a Grand Lotus, right? Maybe we're gong to see him because we're finally getting ranked."

"You think so?" Sokka still didn't sound very convinced.

""It's the only explanation. Otherwise, we would've handed the Earth King over to Piandao or something like that.

Sokka sighed. "I guess we'll see."


Several days passed. The night before it was to reach Ba Sing Se, Sokka and Suki left the caravan. They'd set up their own camp some distance away from the caravan, sitting around their small campfire in silence; Sokka wouldn't talk, in spite of Suki's numerous promptings. At some point, Suki fell asleep, to be awoken later by the rising sun. She looked over; much to her surprise, Sokka was already awake, but she was uncertain if he had slept as well, or if he had stayed up through the night. She then looked over to the horizon in the east- off in the distance, through the brilliant rays of the sun, she could see the massive structure that was the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. Concentrated in particular area were numerous slender structures that rose high above the wall, completely unidentifiable to Suki. She heard something shift, and looked over to see Sokka standing, looking out toward the wall.

"Well, today's the day…" Sokka said nervously.

"Come on Sokka, don't be worried. Suki said to him, standing up as well. "We're here, and we have a plan. What's the worst that could happen?" A few scenarios ran through Sokka's head, but he wisely kept them to himself. Instead, he looked over at Suki and replied, "…I guess I'm just being paranoid. We should get going."

Several hours passed as Sokka and Suki headed toward the wall. They passed few people at first, but their numbers grew rapidly as they drew closer to the wall. Eventually, the two came to a near standstill, edging forward by mere inches at a time. But the wall was much closer now- it towered over them, completely blocking out the sun. The strange structures were much closer as well, though they were much further down the wall. Suki still couldn't identify them, but from the way they glinted in the sunlight, they were made of metal, and the red flags flying over them meant they were Fire Nation. "Sokka?" Suki asked, pointing to the slender structures. "Do you know what those are?"

Sokka regarded the structures silently for several moments. Eventually, he replied, "I think so. The Fire Nation engineers called them 'cranes.' They're supposed to help rebuild the walls of Ba Sing Se." During the negotiations at the end of the War, the Fire Nation agreed to make several reparations to the Earth Kingdom, primarily in the form of numerous public works projects. Numerous camps sprung up all over the Earth Kingdom, always near the massive cluster of cranes that indicated that a construction, reconstruction, or restoration project was underway. The benefits of the public works were threefold- on top of restoring the the infrastructure of the Earth Kingdom and allowing the Fire Nation to make its reparations, it provided potentially thousands of jobs to Fire Nation soldiers who suddenly found themselves out of work.

"Huh. Let me guess, Zuko came up with that idea, right?"

"Actually, Iroh was the one who suggested it. Don't you remember the negotiations, Suki?"

"Uh… no. I kinda fell asleep at all of them."

"…me too. Katara told me what happened when they were over…"

It would be another hour before Sokka and Suki would be allowed inside the wall. And it would be another hour before the the two would be able to reach a train station. In the time since they had become initiates for the Order of the White Lotus, they had almost completely forgotten how massive Ba Sing Se truly was. By the time Sokka and Suki's train arrived in the Inner Ring, the sun had moved far into the western sky, and by the time Sokka and Suki were finally able to locate the Jasmine Dragon, the sky had turned a deep orange. Sokka and Suki climbed one of the staircases flanking the balcony where Aang and Katara shared their first real kiss… and where Sokka had launched himself into a rant when he spotted the two exactly six seconds later.

"I still can't believe you embarrassed those two like that, Sokka," Suki said out loud.

"Who?" Sokka asked.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know." We all saw you, and I'm pretty sure most of Ba Sing Se heard you as well.
Sokka stopped climbing the staircase. "Well, what can I say? Katara's my sister- I have to look out for her."

"You can start by saying sorry- you never did apologize to those two for that. And really, you'd yell at Aang?" Sokka sighed and thought to himself, Here we go again…

"You know, you're lucky Aang's so nice. If he wasn't, he probably would've bent you into the ground over that."

"Well, you remember how we started out? It didn't take too long for us to go from kissing to… you know… that. And Aang's only… well, he'd be fourteen now. Isn't he kinda young to be thinking about that?"

Suki replied flatly, "I can't believe we're arguing over whether or not it's okay for Aang to just think about having sex with your sister." Sokka's jaw dropped at Suki's bluntness. But she wasn't done yet. She continued, "If I remember correctly, you were only two years older than Aang is now when you decided it was time to lose your virginity. And don't even tell me you weren't thinking about girls that way when you were his age- knowing you, you were probably even younger than that."

Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but immediately closed it. Everything Suki had said was true, right down to him being younger than Aang when he'd started really noticing the… differences between girls and boys- he'd been ten. "Look, what goes on in Aang's head is his own business. And what goes on between him and Katara is their business."

"Hey, we don't even know if they're still together."

"I think it's a safe bet to say that they are." She continued up the stairs. "Come on. We've got a mission to finish." Sokka followed her to the top of the staircase.

If the exterior was anything to go by, the Jasmine Dragon had been as successful as ever. The pure white paint of the building seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun. A warm, inviting light poured from the front entrance of the shop, although Sokka and Suki could see that it was empty at this hour. Almost empty- there was a single in the shop. It was a man sweeping the floor, short, and fairly friendly looking with grey hair and beard, wearing a plain green robe of simple clothes in the greens and browns of the Earth Kingdom. But beneath that friendly exterior was a living legend, a former general of the Fire Nation, and one of the most powerful firebenders in the entire world.

The Dragon of the West. Iroh.

Sokka hesitated once he saw the Grand Lotus. But then, Suki placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Sokka," she said to him. "Everything will be fine." Sokka nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped into the shop. Iroh looked up from his sweeping, a smile forming on his face. "Sokka, Suki, it's been such a long time since I last saw you two." He looked past them, searching for a nonexistent third member in their group. "Where is the Earth King? You were supposed to bring him with you."

Suki answered before Sokka could. "That person that we found in the Fire Nation colonies… it wasn't the Earth King. It was just an impersonator."

A stern look crept onto Iroh's face "Are you sure?"

This time, Sokka answered the question. "I met the Earth King in person. I'm positive that it wasn't him."

Iroh stared at the two silently before sighing. "Another dead end. That is unfortunate." Iroh took a seat at a nearby table. "This was the most reliable lead we had on the Earth King."

Several moments of awkward silence passed before Sokka asked, "So… what's next?"

Iroh looked up at Sokka. "I had hoped that this mission would have ended successfully, as a final victory during your outstanding performances as initiates for the Order. But you can't be blamed for something outside your control."

"Waitso does that mean…" Sokka began.

"It means you're finally going to become a ranked member of the Order of the White Lotus," Piandao's voice answered. Sokka and Suki jumped in surprise, and quickly turned o the source of the voice. Indeed, Piandao was sitting at a table tucked away in the corner of the shop, outside the view from the entrance. Pakku sat next to him. "Ordinarily, an initiate would have to accomplish a few more missions…" Pakku began, "but you've gone above and beyond our expectations, even if you weren't able to bring back the Earth King." He stood up. "Thanks to you, the Outcasts have been almost completely wiped out here in the Earth Kingdom. And I'm sure Jeong Jeong is grateful for the information you found on the Outcast bases in the Fire Nation."

"That's talk for another time. We should begin the ceremony soon," Iroh interjected. "You should head down into the basement. I just need to close the shop, and I'll be right with you." He began to make his way for the door. He was just about to shut it when he stopped, and mumbled to himself, "Hmm, what is that?"

"What is what?" Piandao asked. Almost at once, he, Pakku, Sokka, and Suki had all gathered by the door, peering out as well.

Outside, something very strange was happening. In the south, they could all see what could only be described as… a wall. But it wasn't like the walls of Ba Sing Se- even at its distance, it easily dwarfed any of the walls in Ba Sing Se. From the way it shifted, Sokka, and Suki, were both able to identify it as a cloud of dust. But this cloud was unimaginably massive. And it was heading right for them. Iroh quickly tried to pull the door shut, but with terrifying speed, the cloud suddenly swept over them.

An explosion sounded in Sokka's head. His vision had gone completely white, and his ears were filled with a ringing sound. The white light faded, allowing Sokka to see that he was now lying on the floor of the tea shop. The ringing gave way to the sound of someone's hacking coughs, before Iroh's voice called out, "Is everyone okay!"

Sokka slowly pushed himself to his feet, a slight ringing still in his ears, and replied, "Yeah! Yeah, just fine!" As the others staggered to their feet, Sokka quickly glanced around; every table and chair in the shop had been overturned, and several windows, and even a large section of the wall on the south side of the building had been blown in by the force of the blast. Everything, and everyone, seemed to be completely covered in a fine layer of dust. As everyone staggered to their feet, Piandao, already brushing dust off of himself, asked, "What just happened?"

Pakku peered out the door, and replied, "I don't know, but that might have something to do with it." Everyone peered outside again; to the south, in the light of the setting sun, a massive beige column could be seen high above the horizon to the south. "That's… not good," Sokka said, stating the obvious.

"Oh no…" Iroh mumbled, dropping to his knees. "There's only one thing it the world that could've caused that."

"That was Aang, wasn't it?" Suki asked.

"Indeed." Iroh got back to his feet, and turned to the two, a serious look on his face. "Something very bad has just happened to the Avatar." He then said, "Pakku, give me your badge." Pakku complied, taking a small badge out from the inside of his parka. Iroh took a similar badge out of his pocket, and handed one to Sokka and the other to Suki. "Take these- they mark you as official members of the Order of the White Lotus. It looks like your ceremony will have to wait." Iroh's words became faster, a distinct edge of urgency in his voice. "We know where the Avatar is. You need to go there, find out what's happened, and put an end to this as soon as you can. This is your first official mission for the Order of the White Lotus. You need to go, now."

Piandao began to head out the tea shop, saying out loud, "Follow me." Sokka and Suki complied, following him down the steps, and around to the back of the tea shop. There, they found a large beast, with long slender legs, and rough green skin. "The Avatar's location is on this map," Piandao said, pushing a scroll into Sokka's hands. "You can take my giant eel-hound- you'll need it to get to the Avatar anytime soon." The eel-hound lowered itself so Sokka and Suki could climb on. As soon as they were mounted, Piandao said to them, "Be careful," and gave the eel-hound a strong slap in the hindquarters. At once, the great beast bolted out of the alley, and sprinted down the road at top speed.

Sokka handed Suki the map, and shouted over the wind, "Take a look at this, and tell me where it points to!" She took the map, and after a few moments, she called back, "I don't know! There's no name for the town!"

She gave the map back to Sokka- he could see a red dot on the west coast of the Earth Kingdom, just slightly above the equator- presumably, that was where Aang was, but just as Suki said, there was no name. It didn't matter to him, though- if an eel-hound could run from Ba Sing Se to an outlying Fire Nation island in one day, then it shouldn't have any problems reaching the town. At that moment, he heard Suki call out to him, "I hope everyone's okay!"

Sokka thought to himself, This is gonna be some reunion… before he replied, mostly to himself, "Yeah. Me too."


TO BE CONTINUED…