If it wasn't the most tense elevator ride, as they all stood on a slab of rock which was being swiftly bent up to the crest of Ba Sing Se's Great Wall, then it was not far off of it. All of that tension was directed at one figure in particular, still wearing black and red from when he'd very publicly and destructively destroyed the crux of an army's hitherto unexpected and unstoppable plan of victory, Sokka's included. Of the lot of them – and there were far fewer now, moving lethargically as the sun set through black smoke – only Aang, the Avatar, wasn't staring hate and daggers at the firebender amongst them.

"Sooooo," Aang began. "...how are things?"

Zuko answered Aang's innocent question with a death glare. Then again, Sokka could read between the lines well enough to know that if Zuko, ever the persistent thorn in their sides, was defecting, it was because something far worse was waiting for him at home. Zuko crossed his arms, and put on a steady grump.

"How do you think?" Zuko asked quietly.

"How did you get out of prison in Omashu?" Aang then asked.

"The King pardoned me. That man is insane," Zuko muttered.

Everybody on the slab, once again Aang excluded, joined in a knowing nod.

The slab reached the wall's precipice, and the exhausted earthbenders began to pile off, forming a circle around Zuko as he moved. From the way he walked, he could have been alone on the wall. He certainly didn't acknowledge anybody. But Sokka could hear the whispers. 'Did we get a prisoner?' they would ask. 'The Avatar is safe! Thank the Gods!', they would say. 'Is that Nomura Sato?' which caused Sokka a moment's confusion. 'Is it safe to go out onto the walls again?'

To that, Sokka had an answer. "Yeah, and you'd better do it quick," he said loudly enough that he could be heard over the murmuring. That caused a bit of hubbub as the soldiers pressed against the ring of earthbenders, streaming to defensive positions which, less than an hour ago, would have only served to contain them as they died. These guys knew their business well. It was a pity that they had so little experience fighting the Fire Nation. Two sieges does not an education make, after all. The word spread in both directions, obviously, since soon enough, Sokka could see a somewhat familiar sight ahead of him. Well, familiar save for the bandages.

"Nila? What happened to you?" Sokka asked. She had bandages wrapping her right hand, which she held tenderly as thought it even now caused her great pain, and there were stitches holding a weal in her cheek closed. Well, less a weal, now; they'd obviously stitched her up while Katara was still out in the field. Now, the skin between those stitches was pristine. That Katara hadn't moved on to the hand was probably a measure of triage more than anything else; there were many injured soldiers, and a barely-stable Toph, to deal with, while only one Katara to go around.

"My gun misfired," the Si Wongi girl answered casually. "Had I been as foolish as most in its construction, I would likely be lacking a jaw, if not a head."

Sokka goggled at her for a second. "Then why do you use such a death-trap weapon to begin with?"

"Because it is elegant and interesting," Nila answered, as though that were the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, to her, it might be. He couldn't speak for her culture. "That was an astounding thing the boy did down there. Never had I thought I would witness the Avatar in full spirit before my eyes," She then paused, and turned to the other in the bubble amidst the river of soldiers. "And who exactly is this, who dresses like a depressed Dakongman?"

"That's just Zuko. He's not important," Sokka dismissed. Zuko shot him a glare at that. "Were you the one which saved Toph when that thing made of metal tried to kill her?"

She shrugged. "I cannot say how I managed to make that shot. The target was two fingers tall, and most of a mile away. It was fortune most high that I did not land that bullet inside your earthbending friend's skull."

"Toph is here?" Zuko asked

"You know Toph?" Sokka asked.

"Why does it surprise you that he knows this Toph?" Nila asked.

"Well, they don't exactly operate on the same side of 'tagonism. We like to think of ourselves as Pro, whereas he's decidedly more Ant."

"Tribesman, do me a favor? Shut up."

Nila gave a glance to the irate firebender, and then leaned toward Sokka. "Does your Dakongese friend always berate you so?"

"He's not Dakongese," Sokka pointed out. She glanced at him again.

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure," Sokka nodded. Finally, the bubble burst as it couldn't fit whole into the portcullis which stood between the tower and the expanse of the wall. The inside of the tower was actually better lit than outside, as torches and lanterns were now burning, whereas the sun had to traverse smoke and a low horizon. And the first thing he saw, after blinking his eyes into seeing properly, was Toph, who was shoving what appeared to be a medical orderly out of her way. She had a rather large grin on her face.

"So the 'glowing badass' returns? Did you personally send the Fire Nation running with their tails between their legs?" Toph asked.

"Not exactly," Aang said.

Her grin died. "Tell me we didn't lose again."

"No," Sokka explained. "We ruined their 'perfect plan', and now it's up to the soldiers to win the fight."

"Toph, what are you doing up? You'll hurt yourself!" Katara finally rushed into sight.

"Oh, clam it Sugar Queen. I feel fine!"

"If I feel so fine upon suffering a rusty blade to my lung, then I should count myself fortunate. If you do not wish to rupture something and die, I suggest you listen to the Tribesman," Nila said flatly.

"You think you can push me around, lady?"

"In your current state, I could do so with one hand tied aside. And fortunately, it seems that I am so!"

"Avatar! You've returned!" General How's voice boomed over the rest of them. "I've received word that the walls can be secured. We've also gotten some timely support from the Reaches. They're retaking lost sections before the Fire Nation can sap them. I'd call this operation a success," he then looked up, to Sokka's left, and fell silent. "Is that who I think it is?"

Aang glanced between the general and the firebender. "...probably?"

Toph frowned, and nodded sideways toward Zuko. "So I'm not just bein' light-headed in thinking that pouty-pants is standing right over there, am I?"

"I thought you believed yourself 'just fine'," Nila said with a smirk.

"Oh, cram it, Boomstick," Toph snapped.

"What are you doing here, Zuko?" Katara demanded.

"That is a very good question," How answered, not with rage, but with very clear suspicion. "Most other Generals of the Wall, let along citizens of Ba Sing Se in general, would have you killed on sight, if not simply arrested and cast in chains. I'm not that much of an idiot. Why are you here, Prince Zuko?"

Nila glanced to Sokka, mouthing 'prince?'. Sokka had to shrug. She rolled her eyes with a shake of the head.

"He's here under my permission," Aang said. "Nobody is taking him prisoner."

"What? I thought that was the whole point of this," Sokka said.

Zuko sighed, then looked up at the General. "My father is a madman who sacrificed countless lives to engage in a wholesale and pointless slaughter. He'll probably do the same again in the East as he has in the North. All I care about at this point is making sure he is thrown from the Burning Throne as quickly as is humanly possible."

"You are offering allegiance to the Earth Kingdoms?" How asked.

"No. I'm just joining the right side," Zuko answered. How gave a slow shake of his head.

"That will have to do. If you are a guest of the Avatar, you are a guest of Ba Sing Se at his pleasure and patience, and must be afforded the same privileges. Tradition demands as much," he pointed a finger at him. "But this is not going to go over well. The people might still clamor for your blood."

"The people won't," Zuko said flatly. "We both know why."

There was a long stare, a long silence between the Prince and the General. Then, the General nodded. "You're not wrong. Spirits help me, but you're not wrong. Soldiers, clear the room."

Without a word said, every soldier turned and left the chamber, leaving only the Avatar, his friends, the Prince, and an explosion obsessed girl from the desert. "What was that for?" Aang asked.

"Because what I'm about to say must not leave this room. Is that clear?" How said. "This is for your safety as well as mine. Leave Ba Sing Se."

"We can't," Aang said, with confusion and incredulity.

"Not until I found what I have come for," Nila said, but with a more stern and stubborn tone.

How sighed. "Then I suggest you practice stealth and tact. There are certain factions which can and will do you harm if they find any way to leverage you."

"How will that be any different from living in any city?" Toph asked, swaying slightly on her feet. How muttered to himself. Then, he walked around the table which housed the battlefield they had all just left, and extracted a collection of leaflets. All of them bore a golden seal. He handed them out, one by one, to the teenagers before him.

"These are Green Level Passes, they allow entry to the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. If you must stay, use the housing that I reserved in the Richu district..." he began, but Nila cut him off, waving her ticket.

"I require more."

"I can't offer you much more than..."

"More tickets," she clarified as she could see he was misunderstanding her. "My group numbers four, and I have no desire to see them wallow in squalor."

How nodded. "Easily done. Now, what exactly did you come to the City to find?"

"We need to get into the University," Sokka began.

"Where is my mother?" Nila spoke on top of him. He frowned, and turned to her.

"I thought Sharif told you that she was here," Sokka said.

"Sharif has said nothing of the sort. He is... well, afflicted of mind," Nila said, obviously changing her description mid-stream. Sokka gave a glance to Aang, and Aang had a nod-on. Oh, and right then, Sokka finally understood some of the more cryptic things that the glowing shaman said. He couldn't tell Nila, because when he was awake, he didn't have a working brain!

Man, that's gotta kick a few physicians in the teeth, having somebody who is both mentally exceptional and damaged simultaneously.

"Why do you think I would know where your mother is?"

"She spoke of you often enough, relating to your relative sanity amidst a sea of incompetence. Were I to vest my interests in a party, sight unseen, I would err on the side of capability," Nila said.

"Does she talk like that all the time?" Toph asked.

"It's beginning to seem so," Sokka offered. Nila gave him a glare, then turned back to How.

"Whatever the case, I would speak to you more, and in private. These are not things for outsiders to hear," she said. How gave her a solemn nod.

"And what about Pouty-pants?" Toph asked.

"Pouty-pants?" Zuko asked, an eyebrow raising at that.

"As long as the Avatar vouches for him, he is the Avatar's responsibility," How said.

Sokka felt a tickling in his brain, and then pawed at his bag. "Look, I know this is partial information at best, but there's something called the Day of Black Sun. It's a solar eclipse. The Fire Nation will lose its bending when it happens."

"And do you know when this 'day of Black Sun' will occur?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Sokka admitted. How nodded.

"Then I suggest you try finding out. This information isn't any use to us if it's as vague as it stands now," How said. He glanced amongst them. "If there's nothing else, I have an army to repel."

"Thank you for your help," Aang bowed to the man, and How nodded back. Zuko just watched the whole affair with a brooding look on his face. "Come on, guys. We should get out of their way."

"Yes," Nila said. "And you will speak to me later," she demanded of the General, who gave a distant nod, already engrossing himself in a strategy. "I assume that you would prefer to take your own path into the city. I can return to my companions easily enough."

"Nonsense," the Avatar said brightly. "I'd love to meet your friends!"

Nila glanced at Sokka, as they moved down a stairwell to what was essentially a rail-station, formed of solid granite. He could only shrug. "This is the guy who, one day after learning he was the Avatar, dragged us to an island to surf on the backs of gigantic koi," Sokka said.

"So he is a child?"

"Something like that," Sokka answered.

"Stop making fun of him. The last few months have stretched him further than you could believe. He's had his entire world turned upside down," Katara said.

"Yeah, and you shoulda' seen how he was before I started pounding him into shape," Toph offered. "Guy was flighty as a lemur."

"And he is not now?" Nila asked.

Aang, though, turned to Zuko. "The last time I saw you, you were in Omashu. How did you get all the way here so quickly?" he asked, as they took their seats in the tram. Toph still looked pale and unsteady, but then again, she had lost quite a bit of blood before Katara could shove what remained back into her. Zuko leaned forward on his drab, brown seat, his eyes staring through the floor.

"There is a technique in firebending which is unknown to almost everybody. You know how heat makes things expand, and cold makes them contract? Using firebending, one can drag the heat from one place to another. If they do that enough, it causes distance itself to collapse between one point and another, so that a thousand miles can be crossed in a single step."

Aang's eyes were wide. Nila's one hand raised, as she was clearly puzzling through the physics of that, and found them wanting. She was about to point something out, when the Avatar said. "Really?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "No, of course not. I stole three Ostrich Horses and rode them to death one after another to get here. Agni's Blood, you'll believe anything," Zuko said with annoyance. He glared at the boy. "How are you not dead yet?"

Chapter 12

The City of Rings

Qujeck watched, as he always did. He didn't have many other options at the moment. He'd also gotten very good at watching. Listening. Being aware. So when an Azuli girl appeared next to him, it was less a matter of start and surprise, and more a glance in her direction. "So she finally emerges," the Tribesman said.

"Been keeping track?" Shadow asked. Not her real name. He didn't know her real name, but then again, his information network was both confined to the city of Ba Sing Se, and at the moment, utterly defunct. It would take months to replace even the basics of it; the Dai Li had been brutal, swift, and almost absolutely thorough in rooting it out. "What is your business in this city?"

"Why does anybody with a working brain come to Ba Sing Se? I was searching for something. Now, all I want is some revenge."

Shadow nodded. "I know that feeling."

"Dai Li?"

"Fire Nation," Shadow clarified. She turned to him. "What exactly is a 'Dai Li'?"

"So you're a War orphan, are you?" Qujeck asked.

"You didn't answer my question," Shadow said. And he wasn't about to.

"Who are you going to be taking revenge on? A troop leader who burned your village down? Or do you set your sights higher?" Qujeck asked, keeping an eye out on the streets. How fateful that the one who had been in charge of reconnaissance would be the only one left in the end.

"I intend to bring down the Fire Lord," she said simply. Qujeck glanced to her. Her face was stony and cold, lacking the spirited rage that the foolish would display. Not only did she mean what she said, she held no illusions about the pain she would suffer to complete it. That, he found interesting. And in time, might find useful.

"And this would be my domicile," Nila said, gesturing toward the building before her. As she half-expected, the door was fallen flat onto the stoop once again, and it was every bit as dingy as it had been when she left it the previous morning. Now, the sun had set, and the traffic had turned from the day-dwellers to the night-dwellers, as this city never truly went abed entirely. Still, there were far fewer of the latter than the former, so moving was easy enough.

"What a dump," Zuko, the supposed Fire Nation prince noted flatly.

"I like it. Livin' in a place like this builds character," Toph, the blind earthbender, countered.

"Then you're welcome to it."

"Eh, it'd grow on you, too. I guarantee it," the earthbender said, leaning aside to punch the firebender in the arm. He didn't scowl, as Nila most certainly would have at such an assault, but just rubbed his arm, and waved ahead. Of the lot of Avatar's group, only the Tribesman's sister declined to join their transit into the Lower Ring. Rather, she joined How as he went directly to the Middle. Still, it made for a crowd of strangers which Nila was ill-equipped to cater to.

"It does seem a bit bleak," the Avatar noted. And she felt no desire to gainsay him. Without speaking more, she headed into the building, which was actually more dim within than it had been without, even in the night. Thus, she blundered headlong into Ashan, almost tripping over his legs and faceplanting onto the floor. Only Ashan's timely grab prevented it.

"Nila, we must stop meeting so," Ashan said. He raised a brow when she scowled at him. "Your time on the Wall has been eventful, I can tell. Did that death-trap you wear upon your back finally betray you?"

"That's not her name..." Sharif, who was standing quietly nearby, muttered.

"Who is this?" the Tribesman asked. Ashan turned, heaving Nila properly to her feet.

"Welcome! I am Ashan ibn-Ali din Ababa. How do you know my dear friend?" Ashan asked brightly, grin wide upon his face.

"I'm Aang," the Avatar answered just as brightly. "This is Sokka, that's Toph, Zuko's the one back there glaring at everybody, and these..." Aang hefted up something brown and fuzzy, while something black, white, and fuzzy landed on his shoulder, "are Momo and... have we decided on a name for the cub, yet?"

"We're still figuring that out," Sokka said with a shrug. "I say we just call him Meat-thing."

"We are not calling him Meat-thing," Aang said with an annoyed tone.

"You... keep pets," Nila asked. She had not noticed them on the ride in. How they'd managed to smuggle them within baffled her.

"They're not pets. They're fuzzy friends," Toph said mockingly. "I'm just glad that the big one doesn't get in the way as much as these ones do. That'd be a nightmare."

Aang, though, bowed toward Sharif, which caused Nila's brow to raise in confusion. Sharif's too. "I was hoping I'd see you again soon. I'm sure you have much to teach me," the Avatar said. The two Si Wongi shared a glance.

"Sharif is incapable of teaching a fish how to swim," Nila pointed out.

"Do I know you?" Sharif asked distractedly.

The others glanced amongst themselves. Minus Zuko, as usual, who took it all in with a bland sort of acceptance. Aang, though, looked concerned. "Of course you do! We talked just a few weeks a... and again I remember what you keep telling me," Aang's tone shifted from earnestness to weariness half way through. "Look, we met in Senlin, and again in the ruins in Si Wong."

"We met you in no ruins," Nila said. "I would remember such a calamity."

"Nila, please. Speak with respect to the guest!" Ashan said, scandalized. Of course he was.

"Oh! The Avatar, of course!" Sharif clapped a hand over his scar. He shot them all a guilty smile. "I apologize. My mind? It wanders sometimes."

"If that is a wander, I would fear to see it 'lost'," Nila noted.

"Wait... Avatar?" Ashan asked.

"Yes. The boy is the Avatar. Please, contain yourself," Nila said flatly. Ashan just stared at her, like his world had gone mad. Then again, it had. He was just having a hard time accepting that fact.

"You mock and jibe the Avatar? Have you taken leave of your senses?" Ashan asked in their native tongue.

"I mock and jibe everyone," Nila answered in Tianxia, to make the point clear. "Enough of this standing about. Come. The others await above. Come and meet them if you care to."

Of course, they did, and followed after Nila in a great file as they tromped up the stairs. Ashan alone kept close by Nila's side. "Could you tell me what madness of fate has transpired to summon this?" Ashan asked.

"The Fire Nation was engaging in a technologically brilliant invasion of the Western Wall, and..." Nila began

"The Fire Nation is invading?" Ashan asked, his tone deeply concerned.

"...yes. However, we destroyed their experimental weapons. Now, the battle is man-upon-man, and from what I could see of the Fire Nation's supply lines, as noted by General How, they are not equipped to withstand the rigors of a long siege."

"You go to meet with a general to ask of your mother, and instead find yourself valiantly repelling the foreign hordes from the walls, gaining the respect and admiration of the Avatar in the process. Fate plays a very strange game with you, Nila," Ashan pointed out.

"There was little valor. I simply made a plan, and it was followed out. And when it failed, as all plans must upon assault by the enemy, a timely betrayal by the son of the Fire Lord prevented calamity," she finished.

Ashan glanced to the firebender at the back of their ranks. "The Fire Lord's son?" Ashan asked. She nodded impatiently. "You have kept company with both the Avatar and the son of the Fire Lord in the same day? Surely the Heavenly Host must have laid out a star in the heavens for you alone, to have so much fortune befall you at once!"

"Fortune? My gun exploded. I consider that far worse fortune than any chance meeting with an over-enthusiastic demigod or melancholy royal."

"Fortune finds its way both fair and foul, Nila," Ashan pointed out.

"You think too much."

"Says the woman who spent the last ten years cloistered in a laboratory," Ashan jibed lightly. She scowled at him. But he was not wrong. As the reached the proper floor, and took their place before the proper doorway, Ashan turned to the others, that wide grin back into place upon his visage. "Come and be welcome in our humble abode; I'm sure Tzu Zi will be beside herself with joy for new guests."

"Our abode for the next five minutes," Nila corrected. Ashan gave her a look. "We're moving to the Richu district immediately."

"Oh. Well, it is the same distance from work. I will lose nothing," he said with a shrug. She flicked the Green Level Pass at him, and he caught it easily enough, which gave Nila time to open the door, and showcase two worried looking identical girls. Nila was instantly on edge. Sadly, the press of the group behind her forced her into the room before she could take proper stock, once again, leaving only the firebender outside.

"Are you Tzu Zi?" the Avatar asked, bouncing past her.

"Have we met somewhere before?" The Tribesman then asked. The two identical girls both looked confused. Nila began to glance around. Something was wrong. There was an unusual smell in the air.

"Nila's told us all about you," the Avatar continued. "Is it true you rescued her from pirates?"

"Yeah, but that was a while ago. Nila? Something's happened," Tzu Zi said, managing to keep her attention on Nila.

"What?" Nila asked.

"She's going home," a woman's voice answered from the bedroom. Nila's eyes shot wide, as she instantly recognized that tone, that casual arrogance. In a flash, she'd pulled out the last of her explosive lemons, ready to hurl it. The pale woman raised a hand. "Easy there, tiger-wolf. I'm here on business, not pleasure."

"Get out of my room," Nila demanded.

"I take it those two know each other?" Toph asked, giving Zuko a nudge.

"How should I know?" he answered her.

"Calm down, there's no reason to bring ballistics into this," she glanced to Nila's hip, noting that it was vacant. "Or not. Anyway..."

"Speak quickly or be blinded! I swore to you what would come as forfeit to this; you violated it, to your own peril!" Nila spat.

"Nila, stop!" Tzu Zi shouted. That caused Nila's arm to hitch a bit. All eyes fell on the firebender girl. "Nila... Mom's sick. Back home, I mean."

Nila looked to Kah Ri, who nodded sadly. Nila looked back to her friend. "And you're sure this is not a ploy for her to gain you willingly?"

"Pretty sure," she answered.

"'Pretty sure' is not nearly sure enough," Nila pointed out.

"This is our family. We have to go back," Kah Ri said.

"But..." Nila began. And vexingly, wasn't sure how to finish.

"I'm sorry, Nila. I mean... I knew that one day we'd have to go our different ways. I just didn't think it'd be so soon," Tzu Zi said quietly.

"So you are just going to leave?" Nila said, unable to hide the betrayal in her voice.

"Nila... This isn't goodbye. It's just, so long for a while. And for what it's worth, from the moment I picked you up off the dirt in Dakong, I wouldn't do anything differently," Tzu Zi said, as she walked close to Nila, and pulled the latter into a hug. For some reason, it hurt more than it should have. Or maybe that was just Nila's imagination.

"Except for the pirate thing?" Toph offered from the back.

"Stop ruining their moment," Sokka said lightly. "That's my thing."

Nila accepted the hug as it was offered, though, until her eyes opened once more, glaring at the casual-seeming bounty hunter who was leaning against the doorframe. "Be forewarned, bounty-hunter; if your notice is anything less than utterly genuine..."

"Yeah, I know, you'll make me wish I was dead," she said sarcastically.

"No. I will simply kill you."

The bounty-hunter scoffed. "As though you even could."

"I will build a machine to kill you," Nila amended. And then, amended again; "I will conquer a nation to house the machine which I build to kill you. Doubt me, and betray your word, at your own peril. I offer only a guarantee for what will come of it."

The bounty-hunter gave Nila a glance, then to the others, the Avatar in particular, before back to her. "You're a bit spooky when you want to be, you realize that?" Nila glared at her, and she laughed. "Be thankful I've only got room for one on my saddle, there, Avatar; otherwise, I might consider taking you along for the trip."

"I'd like to see you try that," Sokka chuckled. She shrugged, though, obviously not thinking it worth her time to answer that charge.

"You've gotten everything you wanted to bring along?" she asked.

"Well, we've gotta go get Aki," Tzu Zi pointed out. "She's stabled down in the Southeast Reaches."

"Fine. Back to the Fire Nation by Burning Rock," she said. She sauntered out of the room, casting a salute back inside. "Nice to see you're still alive, Prince Pouty."

Zuko seethed at that.

"Have you two met or something?" the Avatar asked.

"Briefly," he uttered, and left it at that. Nila, though, just felt hollowed out. Her friend was gone. She left her. While rationally, Nila could understand exactly why – as for all Tzu Zi and her siblings had vacated their home and family, they still deeply loved and respected their forebearers and would loath to see them harmed – for some reason, in a place Nila wasn't exactly sure how to properly explain, it hurt more than anything she'd felt. Ever. Even more than that alkali burn on her hand. Even more than a gun exploding in her hands. Even worse than the caning she'd gotten after the first time she set her hair afire. It hurt worse than being wrong. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"This is difficult for you, I can see," Ashan said gently. "If you wish, I can join you into the Middle Ring. You would do well to have a familiar face at hand."

Nila nodded. Because for all Ashan was about as annoying a presence as one could be, he was, after a fashion, a friend. And she needed friends right now.

"Wow. That wasn't anything like I expected," the Avatar said. "Should... we go?"

"No," Nila shook her head. "We all shall go this night to the homes that the General has provided. This place... holds ghosts for me now."

The Avatar nodded. For all he seemed younger than she, he appeared to have a wisdom to him, something beyond simple years. He was somebody who thought, and thought deeply. But that was beside the point. Tzu Zi was leaving, and despite those around her, Nila felt alone again.

Iroh was honestly somewhat agape at viewing Ba Sing Se during the daytime. The closest he had ever come in his life was when he'd managed to rupture the Great Wall and spill into the Reaches. The inner walls still blocked the spread of the city from view. And he did not keep even that view long. But this was a sight to behold, clear enough. It was all the more telling, then, that Azula didn't even seem to note anything as the city-scape flew by. Sixty years old and more, Iroh was delighted and inspired. But Azula? She was jaded. She had seen this city before, a lifetime earlier. And she'd seen cities likely that put this one to shame, built in years yet unrevealed.

"Are you done gawking?" Azula said quietly. She hadn't spoken much since Serpent's Pass. Even the few words she'd offered at the plaza those miles behind them were a glut to the dearth she now suffered. It was off-putting and confusing. She didn't seem the young woman even that Iroh had sparred with on their long walk to the Walls.

"It is no surprise that you don't as well," Iroh admitted. "But never in my life did I think I'd be standing in the streets of Ba Sing Se. And now I am as a tourist! Destiny is a funny thing, Niece."

"There is no destiny. Only the choices we make and what comes of them," Azula answered, a tone of bitterness slipping into her voice.

"You seem changed of late, Niece," Iroh noted. "Ever since the water worm. Are you alright?"

"What does it matter, so long as she's fine?" Azula demanded. Iroh shrugged.

"Perhaps I don't enjoy watching people in pain, no matter who they are?" Iroh pointed out.

"Then it's definitely for the best that you didn't end up as Fire Lord," she said. Iroh shot her a look. Nobody was listening, obviously; they all had their own lives to attend to. And they were probably all drowsy; the sun had only just risen, and while the two of them slept in an alley, it was simply because even Iroh's legendary gregariousness couldn't have wrangled them a room under such circumstances.

"You should speak more carefully, Aimei," Iroh stressed.

"The worst that would happen would be you being captured by the Dai Li early, and thus ruining your chance to betray me," she answered, obviously still distracted, because that was something that Iroh was sure she never would have willingly said. So he had been captured in this other world, had he? If circumstances permitted, he might just see about altering that. But there were other things which demanded his attention. Namely, what came next.

"My niece, you have spoken very little about how you intend to eliminate the 'threat' of the Avatar," Iroh pressed, as Azula roughly pushed past an older man who was personally hauling a cart of cabbages. He let out a yelp of terror, and only through remarkable reflex caught his falling produce, before emiting a sigh of relief which was more in keeping from catching a baby who'd fallen out a window.

"I will use the city against itself," she said. "That much can not have changed."

"How?" Iroh asked, grabbing her arm and dragging her to a halt. She instantly heaved her arm away from his, but stood, facing him. "How are you going to do it?"

"I thought you said we should hold our tongue in public?" she asked mockingly.

"It's that you're holding your brain in private that has me concerned!" Iroh pointed out. "You're not thinking things through!"

"I have prepared for this moment for the last forty years, old man," Azula said coldly. "And this time, I'll do it better. Nobody will be hur... Stop talking about things you know nothing about!"

Iroh raised a brow. So somebody she actually cared about was injured the last time she did 'this'? Interesting and perhaps important. He would bear that in mind. "Whatever unspoken plans you have in mind, they will be folly if you don't find a roof over your head and dinner on your plate."

"What?" Azula demanded, half-way into turning away from him.

"There are practicalities that you overlook. You claim to have lived in poverty, but I see nothing but the arrogance of wealth. How will you feed yourself? Where will you sleep? How will you keep yourself safe until the time is right?" Iroh asked, easily keeping up with her despite her deliberately ground-eating pace.

"Stay out of my business," she snapped, pointing an angry finger at him. "You can either assist me or you can be crushed under my heel, Uncle; because I guarantee, you will not get in my way."

Iroh cocked his head aside at that. What had prompted that reaction? The Azula he'd known even from their highly uncomfortable crossing of the continent was much more level-headed than this. Perhaps it was that she was close to something she saw as a defining moment in a life she now never lived? He could not say. But he would have to be wary, because she was growing unstable. He just needed to talk to a few people, some people of learning; they might know a... alternative path. Something that would evict an unwanted personality from an enslaved mind.

If not in Ba Sing Se, then such information existed nowhere else on this Earth.

Zuko awoke with the dawn, as always. But he stayed on his back, staring at stone ceilings. Agni's blood, he'd really done it now, hadn't he? Betraying his people... That stung in a way he thought erased entirely from him. And he had a decent idea of why. He would instantly slap the face of the Fire Nation for Azula, for his family. But for himself? Because that was what this felt like, even though he knew he was trying to operate from a different justification; it felt like a power-grab. And that didn't sit well in either his stomach, nor his mind.

The others were already about their morning routine, of which Zuko knew next to nothing, when the door opened. He glanced down, past his feet on the mattress, to see the peasant girl closing the door behind her, a very serious expression on her face. He rolled his eyes. He knew that something like this was probably going to happen.

"Zuko, we need to talk," she said simply.

Zuko sat up, still feeling exhausted despite his long sleep. Not surprising; he'd just crossed a continent in remarkable time. A sarcastic fragment of his mind noted that if there existed a long-distance speed-record for the voyage of Omashu to Ba Sing Se, he'd certainly set a new record. "Oh?" he asked flatly.

"I don't know what you're playing at," she said, serious giving way to tightly controlled anger. "And honestly, I don't care. You can teach Aang firebending, and that's exactly what you're going to do..."

"Because if I don't, you'll kill me," Zuko finished for her. She was taken aback that he had the gall to interrupt her.

"Well, I..."

"This is where you threaten me, tell me that if I give any indication that I'm going back to the Fire Nation, if I betray your Avatar, if I work against your best interests, or return to behaviors you decide are 'too much like my old ways', that you'll take it upon yourself to end my 'interference'," he chuckled darkly. "A commendable thought, but not realistic."

"Not realistic?" she demanded. "I can slash you to bits!"

"If you can get your water close enough," Zuko said without emotion. "Meanwhile, I can burst any target I please like a melon from a mile away. But you want to impress on me that you'll be watching? Consider me 'impressed'. Now let me rest."

"Wh...You can't be this calm about this!"

He leveled a golden-eyed glare at her. "I spent the last three years of my life trying to make my sister safe, and I learned what having a family was supposed to be like. Now, I've got nothing. When word reaches my father, I'll be as wanted an enemy as the airbender out there. I've made myself an enemy of my own people, because I wanted to do the right thing for somebody who wants me dead. Life holds no terror for me, least of all in you."

"Your family is insane."

"What's left of it," Zuko agreed. "Go away. I'm tired."

"Do you really think you can order me around?" Katara asked, her arms crossed before her chest.

"Honestly, I don't care. Just go away," he flopped back down on the mattress, and felt every rock-solid muscle in his entire body. It was like he was entirely built of too-tight wire. Whatever rejoinders the waterbender was going to utter, she held her tongue. Just as well; Zuko wasn't going to pay attention anyway. He was, as he said, simply and utterly exhausted.

The door sliding shut was a welcome sound. He stared up at the ceiling, until he slid into dark, and unpleasant dreams once again.

He was awakened from those formless nightmares by a kick to the foot, which instantly saw him spin to his his feet, fire dripping from his fists, a rictus of utter wrath on his face. A rictus which dropped into mild confusion when he saw who'd delivered that kick. "They told me you were over here sulkin'," Toph said easily, one hand against the wooden wall. He glanced down. Her bare feet were flexing against the wooden panels here. So she couldn't 'see' on wood, like she couldn't on metal?

"I do not sulk," Zuko said, letting the flames go out.

"Yeah, and you also didn't freak out and firebend in your bedroom," Toph pointed out. She turned and leaned against the wall, her eyes down, since she didn't have any benefit to turning them toward him. "I heard about what happened with your sister in Omashu. That's mega-rough."

"Rough doesn't begin to cover it," Zuko said. "Are you going to threaten me, too?"

She did face him this time, a chuckle in her throat. "Threaten you? For what? Caring about your family? Havin' the balls to do what needs doing even if it sucks to do it? Hell, Sugarqueen should be givin' you a medal!"

"You sound like you don't like her much," Zuko said, moving to the earthbender's side, and slumping against that wall himself.

"Eh, there are times that I can't stand her. Then, there's times where she tears a sword out of my lung and forces the blood back in so I don't die," Toph offered. Zuko scowled, the clear though to 'What?' so obvious to the way he glanced at her that she turned, tugging on her collar and exposing the topmost of a neophyte breast, and notably, the ragged, seemingly aged scar running atop it. "She said that since Twinkletoes did the healing, it'd leave a scar. Is it badass?"

"The scar?" Zuko asked. She nodded eagerly. "I...guess so?"

"Sweeeeet," she laughed. "Dad would have a heart attack and die if he saw it."

"So if you're not here to 'put the fear of Agni' into me, why are you here? You don't look very well."

"Yeah, well, losing a third of your body's blood tends to leave you a bit wimpy," she said. Zuko leaned back. "What?"

"What happened this time?"

"The sword in the lung?"

"That was an old scar."

"It happened yesterday," Toph answered. Then, Zuko rolled his eyes. Of course it did. She had one waterbender, two if you counted the Avatar, and waterbenders were renowned for their capability in keeping people from dying. "I'm just here 'cause you looked like you needed somebody who wasn't going to jump onto your back and beat you with a clue-stick when you've already written a treatise on the subject."

"I... see," Zuko said. He sighed. "She's not going to accept me. I'm pretty sure that means her brother won't either. And the Avatar only wants me for what I can offer. It's like being in the Fire Nation all over again."

"First of all, you're way off about Twinkletoes," Toph pointed out. And Zuko wondered how the Avatar had warranted the moniker 'Twinkletoes' from her, but that was a story for a different day. "He hasn't got a manipulative bone in his body. And believe me, if he did, I'd have found it when I was pounding earthbending into his big bald head. If he said he wanted you here, then he meant it. And for exactly the reasons he gave you," she gave a sighing chuckle, and shrugged. "I swear, that kid's naivety is gonna get us all lynched one of these days."

"On that, I can't help but agree," Zuko answered.

"And as for Brain? I don't even think it's a case of 'he'll come around', so much as 'he'll stop griping as soon as he's got breakfast in him'. He might be a smart one, but that doesn't mean he's a man of intricacies and nuances."

"That's... good to know," Zuko said.

"As for the Si Wongi... Hell, I don't know her from a hole in the ground, so I can't say."

"Then why'd you bring her up?"

"Because mark my words, in a month – two, tops – she's gonna be a part of this insane, dysfunctional little family that Aang's building up," Toph wagered.

"Based on what?" Zuko asked.

"Hell, he gathered you, didn't he?" she asked. And she had a point, at that. Despite himself, Zuko found himself chuckling at that. She reached over toward him, her hand lightly on his shoulder, even though she still stared straight ahead of her. "He might not be bright, but I can also pretty much guarantee, whatever's goin' on with your sister, he'll get to the bottom of that, too."

He stared at her for a moment. "...thanks," he offered.

She then turned that pat into a remarkably strong punch into that same arm. "Well, that's my quota for talkin' about girly stuff for the day. And I feel like hell, so I'm going to take a page from your book, and I'm spending the rest of today asleep," she said with a nod and a grin. She then rose to her feet, and with fingers trailing on wood, she made her way around the outside of the room until she vanished out the door. And despite himself, Zuko still had a small smile on his face.

Because even after everything he'd done, he wasn't alone.

The tapping on the door caused Nila's head to twist in the relative darkness. She'd shuttered all of the windows in the room off of the living area for simple enough reasons; some of the chemicals she worked with were violently photoreactive. That she already had a chemical workshop set up after only twelve hours in the house – of which she spent five asleep – would have been absolutely in keeping with what people knew about her character, if any such people still existed. Only Mother would have called it 'typical Nila', and she had no care what Gashuin would call it. Beside those two, everybody else who knew anything about her, was dead. She shook her head, and refocused on her refinements. Trying to get the alembic to work without shattering because of terrible workmanship was no easy task. When that knocking came again, she leaned out of the darkness, and beheld that Sharif was staring down at a spider which was moving across the floor, oblivious to anything else in the room. And the fact that she could no longer smell breakfast told her that a significant amount of time had passed since Ashan prepared it. The house was silent.

Tzu Zi was gone.

Nila sighed, shaking her head. She could not begrudge the firebender her decisions; at least this, unlike the last friend who had departed, did not do so by slaughtering all of the people from Nila's childhood. If she'd read more fiction in her youth instead of physics and chemistry texts, she might have realized the irony in having someone bring such devastation to her place of birth. As it was, she didn't think about it at all. Instead, she rose, snuffing the flames under the devices so they wouldn't continue to heat and explode while she dealt with this unknown irritant.

"In the name of all that is wise and learned, what do you want?" Nila demanded as she heaved open the door. Standing outside, one fist raised for another knock, was a bemused Tribesman. She stared at him for a moment.

"So... Settling in well?" he asked.

"What do you want, Tribesman?" she asked.

"Sokka."

"Whatever," she dismissed. "You should have less pride of it. It is a woman's name."

"Excuse me? Sokka's plenty manly," the Tribesman said, his voice breaking slightly as he tried to make himself sound deeper voiced than he was.

"Nila. Sativa. Latifah. All women's names. Can you not see the pattern?"

"They all end in 'ah'?" Sokka asked. "You do realize that all names don't work that way."

"Indeed. Now, what do you want? And not that tired saw. You have come here under a purpose. I would know what it is it," she demanded.

The Tribesman looked mildly insulted. "I meant exactly what I said. You looked like somebody'd kicked your puppy to death – but since your friend just left, I figured there was a good reason for it – and I figured that you might need some company."

"I require no company. I have survived perfectly well without for fourteen years. I shall survive without it beyond," she turned away.

"Yeah, survive. There isn't much fun in just surviving," the Tribesman pointed out, entering despite her not giving permission. If she were any true Si Wongi, she would have pulled a knife on him for that transgression. Luckily for him, she was not. "So what are you going to do now?"

"First... I am going to build a new gun," she said. "After that, I have little else. Someone must watch Sharif. I will not have him 'getting lost' in this city. Not after the things I have seen in the Lower Rings."

Sokka shrugged. "That sounds sensible enough."

Nila looked at her chemical room, but then sighed. All of the work there would take a while to start again, and when it did, it would have to be started from scratch. "As I have little else to do even in this moment, I can ask what brought you to this city of walls and secrets."

"Oh, just saving the world," he said, sauntering about. He gave a 'hello' to Sharif, but the shaman was too busy observing a spider to pay any attention. It had started climbing a wall, and Sharif was watching it with as much intensity as his shattered mind could gather. "Horrible death from beyond the veils of mortal understanding, using loopholes in the rules of reality to beat our opponents. You know, basic Avatar stuff."

"If that is such you consider basic, it would be a fearful thing to see what you consider complex."

The Tribesman laughed at that, an open and braying sort of laughter which was usually directed at her. When he wound down, it was to an easy-going chuckle. "You've got a point, there. Life just gets a whole lot weirder whenever the Avatar's anywhere nearby. Things which really shouldn't happen, just kinda do."

"He sounds afflicted by the same curse of luck that I have," she muttered. "I have oft repeated that anything which may go wrong, inevitably will, and reality has taken no pains to prove me wrong."

"Anything that can go wrong, will?" Sokka asked, rubbing his chin. "I'm gonna have to remember that one. I'll call it Nila's Law."

"Flatterer," she said flatly.

"I do my best," he gave a shrug. He gave a gesture towards Sharif. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to join me to the University, but..."

"The University may be upon the Middle Ring, but requires a Gold Level Pass to enter," Nila pointed out. "Anything which bridges two districts has restrictions to the higher level. You will not be allowed in, not with that," she pointed to his pack, where he no doubt had his Ring Pass.

Sokka's expression wilted quite a bit. "Really?"

"It was an early question I asked of one of those unsettling guides I saw in the streets," Nila only resisted the urge to shudder at the recollection of that woman by the time elapsed having dulled the sensation. While informative, she had been... too enthusiastic. Unhealthily so. "And for what do intend to invade the seat of learning? If you want lessons on physics and chemistry, I dare say you would be best served anywhere but in school. Their ideas on what constitutes scientific method are... absurd."

"Taken under advisement. But no, I need their library," Sokka said. "They say it's the most complete on Earth..."

"Wan Shi Tong's is bigger," Sharif said quietly nearby, now craning his neck upward to watch that spider begin to spin a web in the corner of the room.

"And I hear it's also filled with sand," Sokka finished. Sharif didn't answer. "Anyway. Just popped in to see that you were alright. I think Aang's going to be making dinner, and since it's not Katara's cooking, it won't be terrible. You can join us if you like."

"A pleasant offer, but I cannot say I will accept. I have things of my own to undertake. I cannot say how they will sit with a schedule."

"Fair enough," Sokka said, moving toward the door. "Offer still stands, though. No reason to be all alone in an empty house."

She shook her head, rolling her eyes, and closed the door after him. She was only going to be alone in the house until she could find Mother. Then... Then she would go somewhere else. Probably to the Fire Nation. Tzu Zi had helped Nila through difficult times. It would be only proper for Nila to return that favor. But every thing had to be in its proper time. So she turned to the sheet of paper she'd left almost completed when the notion to prepare some powder had struck her, and she started finalizing the new design.

It would be her next masterpiece.

A little thing like the law working against him wasn't going to slow Sokka down. He'd had worse. He'd lied through his teeth to the man who captured Summavut. He'd fought against overwhelming numbers in the Wastelands. At a mere fifteen years of age, Sokka had lived a life which would beggar the fortunes of a man three times as many. And everything he survived, he survived not by being strong or tough – well, at least slightly tough – but rather, by being clever. If you can't face a problem head-on because it would be suicidal and failure-sure, find another way.

After all, there had to be a way that Middle Ring students got into the University, otherwise they would have just built it entirely in the Upper Ring.

A bit of consideration had him stumped on the exact process. He might be clever, Sokka the Water Tribesman, but he was clever in ways of science and lateral thinking. This was a system he had no working knowledge of. Which meant, he'd need to talk to somebody who did. Which was why Sokka did what no 'real man' would in that situation. He swallowed his pride, and he asked passers-by for help.

Sokka's humility saw him sauntering across two districts. If that could even be called a saunter at that point... But still, the half-useful comments and recommendations steered him into the Hu Lao District, and he finally found one of the people he was repeatedly recommended to find. She was a woman perhaps five or ten years older than Sokka, her hair done up in a very precise style, her clothes immaculate. But what set her apart from her peers in the small kiosk off of the very broad thoroughfare was that smile. It was very wide, true, but it was also unsettlingly empty. Like she wasn't smiling for real.

In a way, the way she smiled reminded Sokka of Sharif. "Hello, there lady," Sokka said. "I was told to talk to you..."

"Welcome, young friend, to the greatest city on Earth. I am Joo Dee. How may I help you this fine day?" she asked with entirely too much exuberance and glee. Sokka leaned back, ignoring the crowds passing around him. That was something he was still trying to come to grips with; he'd seen more people in his mile-and-a-half walk from his house to this kiosk than were alive in the South Water Tribe. Were he a less educated and erudite person, it likely would have driven him to distraction. As it was, it was just slightly unnerving, being so encroached upon. He was just glad he didn't have to live in one of those hellish tenement houses that he'd seen on his way in.

"Huh. I've got a friend who's mother's name is Joo Dee," Sokka noted.

"Ah ha ha ha, what a coincidence," Joo Dee answered. That laugh just didn't sound right at all. "How can we help you today?"

"I need to talk to somebody in charge of getting onto the University."

"You will need a Gold Level Pass to enter University grounds; a Green Level Pass is insufficient," Joo Dee pointed out enthusiastically.

"Yeah... I know," Sokka pointed out warily. "Look, I need one of your special passes that let's a Greener like me go into the school."

"You will have to talk to one of our Cultural Authority ministers," Joo Dee said with that same sickening pleasantness. To somebody who didn't speak Tianxia as a native language, the term which stuck out was Dai Li. Mostly because while a native Tianxia speaker would just nod and let the word move on, somebody who had learned the language would instantly try to figure out what the word meant, and the first definition which came to the Tribesman's mind was 'Overwhelming power', before the obvious intended one came to mind. "They have an office just down the street. You need only look for the Seal of Ba Sing Se."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Sokka said.

"Please enjoy your stay in the safety, and security, of Ba Sing Se," She said bowing to him. He couldn't back away from her fast enough. It was an odd feeling, being swept along a crowd. But it seemed to be the easiest way to get where he was going. And soon enough, he swam out of that stream before a fairly imposing structure of brown stone, hanging a banner with the three-rings of Ba Sing Se upon it. Men in green robes shuffled about without hesitation; likely, they had a lot of work to do. Ba Sing Se reeked of people keeping busy.

Sokka walked past a small group of those quietly chatting green-robe-guys, and rang a bell which was bolted to a wall next to an admission desk. Nobody was sitting there. Sokka glanced around, then rang the bell again.

"Just come in," a deep voice came from a room on the other side of the desk. "Our receptionist is absent."

Sokka glanced around, but since nobody anywhere nearby seemed to be paying any mind, Sokka shrugged and hopped the counter, sliding past the shelves filled with about a hundred and eight or ten thousand different kinds of forms of one description or another. The were all so dreadfully boring even from a glance that Sokka felt no need to investigate further, and this was the same boy who only stopped playing with fire the third time it set his parka aflame. He moved through a narrow doorway, and found himself staring at the back of a man sitting at a desk settled into the nook of a very small room. The man was balding, but the dark hair he had left was pulled into something like a braid which fell down his back. He also had the sort of segregated mustache and beard which seemed quite popular in Ba Sing Se from the Tribesman's perspective. And his eyes were quite annoyed.

"The door was to your right," the man said with little humor. Sokka glanced back, and realized that yes, there was a way for people to get here that didn't involve jumping through the booth. Oops. The man shook his head, though, and gestured swiftly to the chair before him. "What brings you to the offices of the Dai Li," Cultural Authority, Sokka, get that translation working, "today?"

"Do you work for them?"

"I am a cultural minister. I work at the behest and privilege of the Earth King to serve his people," he said with a note of straining patience. "My name is Long Feng. Now please, what is your business here today?"

Sokka shrugged, and sat down. The man was obviously buried under work, since this place seemed critically understaffed. "I need a pass to enter the University," Sokka explained. "I need to see something in their libraries, but I hear you need some pretty high clearance to get in there."

"The University is one of Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage sites. There are buildings on that campus older than the Earth King's palace. Understandably, we have to regulate the traffic through the site to ensure that unwanted presences don't vandalize, or simply accidentally damage, a priceless and irreplaceable cultural treasure," Long Feng said. He tilted his head to one side. "You must not have transfer papers from another institute of learning, or you would have said so by now. Where were you educated?"

"Oh, here and there," he said, but shook his head. "Look, that doesn't really matter. I just need to get into the library to look up some information which is vital to ending the war against the Fire Nation."

At that, the man leaned back. "Interesting. What information is this?"

Sokka paused. "I'm... not sure I should be telling just anybody. I mean, if they learned that what we knew, then..."

Long Feng rolled his eyes. "If a member of the Earth King's own staff cannot be trusted with discretion, than who can?"

Sokka had to see the point in that. "Alright. Whenever there's a solar eclipse, firebenders lose their bending," Sokka explained. "So I just need to find out when the next solar eclipse is coming, and we can use that window of opportunity to deal the Fire Nation a crushing blow!"

"That is an ambitious prospect," Long Feng admitted. "But with what force? And at whose behest?"

"Does it matter? The war has to stop!" Sokka pressed. The minister raised a placating hand.

"Citizen, please calm yourself. You must understand that it is the regulation of the Cultural Authority not to discuss the war effort with the people of Ba Sing Se. Burying them under a deluge of seemingly inevitable bad-news would only drive them to despair, and from despair, into anarchy."

Sokka leaned back from the minister. "So you don't tell people that they're fighting right now against the Fire Nation?"

"We don't tell them that we're losing. We don't tell them how powerful that their enemy has become. We don't tell them that the only thing standing between their freedom and a Fire Nation boot is a wall and the lives of several thousand brave soldiers. What could that possibly serve? What good did knowledge of their approaching doom do to the North Water Tribesmen?"

Sokka scratched at the back of his neck. This guy did have a point, after all.

"We take great pains to avoid invoking a panic, which would achieve nothing but needless anguish. If the Dai Li," Cultural Authority... "does nothing else, it can do that. But... as for your request," Long Feng reached under his desk for a long moment, before pulling out a form. "I can begin the application today. The only problem is... no, it shouldn't concern you."

"What is it?" Sokka asked, leaning forward once more. If he'd been more perceptive, he might have noticed that instant of satisfaction in Long Feng's eyes.

"It does not concern you. This is a matter for the Authority. We shouldn't need to outsource our troubleshooting to teenaged civilians," Long Feng said, pride clear in his voice.

"Civilian? I've fought on the Spikerim at Summavut when the city fell! I infiltrated the Fire Nation during the Winter Solstice! I'm about as far from a civilian as you're gonna get," Sokka said, crossing his arms before his chest with a smug expression. And now that he thought about it, that was some astounding stuff that he'd done in the last couple months. Long Feng sighed, and stared at the form which he was filling in for a moment. Then, he looked up.

"If you won't be dissuaded, then perhaps you can be of some small help. In an unofficial capacity," he clarified. Sokka shrugged. Long Feng glanced through the door leading out, and gave a nod. Sokka leaned over and shut it. "There are... anarchist elements in the city. The reason we are so understaffed is because of what they have done to our network of ministers. I don't know how, and I especially cannot understand why, but they are striking at the vulnerable heart of the city, and laughing as it bleeds."

"Do you know who's behind all this stuff?" Sokka asked.

"It is a Tribesman, but I don't know anything but his name. Qujeck," Long Feng explained. Sokka's head backed up a couple of months, to a bunch of pirates. It couldn't be the same Qujeck, could it? No, the universe might play fast and loose with the Avatar, but only when the Avatar was around. They were a quarter of a planet away when that happened. "If you learn anything about this wayward Water Tribesman, you must inform a constable immediately. Do not try to apprehend him, or whatever agents he has. He is known to be dangerous."

"I'll keep that in mind. So how long do you think this is going to take?" Sokka asked.

"The machinery of Ba Sing Se is ponderous at the best of times. Ordinarily, such a request would be filled in a week, perhaps a fortnight. At the moment, I honestly cannot say," Long Feng said. "Sign this."

Sokka quickly scratched his name.

"Very well mister... How do you pronounce that?"

"Sokka. It's pronounced with an 'okka'."

"Very well, Sokka with an 'okka'. I will file this immediately. Good day, citizen," Long Feng set the form into a bin with a number of others. Sokka rose to leave, but at the proper door this time. And when he did, he paused. He didn't see Long Feng's smirk.

"Quick question... how fast would this thing get pushed through if I dealt with that little anarchist problem?" Sokka asked.

"I imagine very quickly," Long Feng said with a distracted tone. "Ba Sing Se rewards its heroes well, no matter whence they come."

And with that, Sokka had an idea.

And with that idea, Long Feng gave himself a mental pat on the back.

Azula glared for all she was worth. "If you tell anybody about this, I will murder you," she said with a remarkably calm tone of voice.

"Do you have an apron in a larger size?" Iroh asked, straining for all his worth to connect the strands together behind his back. Azula's teeth ground at the ignominy of it all. She thought she'd managed to escape the dreaded service profession thirty years ago. When the worth of her art overtook what she could make playing nice with local idiots and perverts, she gave up her smock without a second glance or thought. And here she was in one again.

"I have some string in the back," the tea-master offered. "Please, enjoy some tea while I find it."

Well, twist an old idiots arm, why don't you, Azula thought. Iroh let the apron hang limp across his chest as the man ducked into the back. "This is humiliating and I look ridiculous."

"It is also the best wages that I could find on such short notice," Iroh said pleasantly, pouring himself a cup of tea and raising it toward her. Her suspicious glare was enough of an indication that she lacked interest. "If we don't have money, we live on the street. Is that what you want, Niece?"

"I would prefer not wasting time pretending to live with these insects," Azula said. "I am waiting for my opportunity, not attempting to start a life here."

"Life can happen when you least expect it," Iroh noted, sipping the tea, before he gave a disgusted expression. "This is terrible! It's just a bunch of hot leaf juice!"

"All tea is hot leaf juice, you fool," she pointed out. He glared at her with the closest thing to outrage that she'd ever seen on his face, including the time when she'd taunted him on his way to Ashfall Prison. Come to think of it, that was a long time ago, and he had been... remarkably calm about it.

"I cannot believe that I would hear something like that from a member of my own family," He said, leaning out the window and hurling the contents of the pot out it. "Even if there are mitigating circumstances! There are going to be a few changes around here."

She watched as he quickly set about brewing, and a piece of a puzzle she'd stopped teasing at three decades ago and more fell into place. She'd often wondered how Iroh had managed to become such a renowned tea-maker in Ba Sing Se. She'd always assumed after the fact that his allies in that flower-cult had arranged it. But if this was any indication, he might well have worked his way up from the very bottom.

She shook her head, and leaned against a wall, losing herself inside her own mind. There was a buzzing in her head that she didn't quite know how to place. It was like the power-station she'd slept under in Republic City for the last two months as she waited for her bones to heal, so she could finally make her last assault on the Avatar. Only, it seemed like it was born inside her own skull. Besides that, it was oddly quiet. She hadn't seen that troublesome brat in weeks. That didn't mean that she could let her guard down, though. The girl was probably waiting for something. A moment to strike when Azula was at her weakest. Well, Azula had lived far too long to be taken down by any eight year old, even if that eight year old was technically herself.

"What is that marvelous smell?" the tea-master asked as he returned into the room. The interim, short as it was, saw Iroh brewing a fresh pot of tea, and true to the man's proven mastery, it was quite pleasant to the nose. Iroh poured him a cup, and the man drank it rapturously. "Why, Mushi, this is spectacular! Did you bring your own blend?"

"No, I just knew how to properly accent what was already there," Iroh said humbly. "A proper tea is like a proper gentleman; of many portions, all blended in moderation, and bearing many experiences for it."

"This will sell like hotcakes!" the tea-master enthused. "I've got a feeling like I pulled a lifetime's luck in hiring you."

"You may well have," Iroh said with an easy shrug.

"You, girl..."

"Aimei," Iroh supplied, likely to interrupt Azula from snapping at him. Nobody called Azula 'girl'. Not if they wished to have the same consistency of skin afterwords.

"Right. Go and clear the tables and set out the sign. Dim Pang's Teahouse is going to be filled to bursting. I can just see it!"

Azula rolled her eyes for all they were worth, and began to move through the uninhabited tables, gathering the cups and without any real thought stacking them onto a tray she'd grabbed. This was just a diversion. Something to fill the hours until she was ready. And then, she would doff this damnable smock and set it on fire. But until then...

"Open yet?" a raspy voice asked, laced with disinterest and boredom. Azula, lost in her own angry mutterings almost missed it completely. "Dim, would you mind pouring me something that'll keep me awake?"

"We have a new brewer. Mushi!"

Azula turned, looking at the newcomer to the store. After a second, Azula discerned that it was in fact a girl, teenaged and perhaps a year older than Azula herself. Her hair, black and shiny, was cut very short, though. Almost as short as Daichi kept his. Would keep his. Would never keep his. She shivered at the memory of someone who would never again be. But with that thought cleared of her head, she moved without comment to offload the cups that she'd gathered. The girl took the mug of tea that Uncle offered and drank it, obviously bracing herself for something terrible but questionably medicinal. Instead, she leaned back with surprise.

"This is... remarkably good," the girl said. At that, Azula paused in moving those cups. Where had she heard that voice before? It was so familiar.

"The secret ingredient is love," Iroh said sappily.

The girl sighed. "Whatever," she uttered, flipping Uncle a coin, finishing the tea, an walking out. But even as she did, there was a clack on the floor, as the last teacup slid from Azula's suddenly numb hand, and she turned to watch the girl's exodus. No. It was impossible. She was dead in this world.

"You should be more careful, Niece. It could have cracked or broken," Iroh said, picking up the cup.

"...Mai?" Azula asked.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

The whole house seemed to be crackling with energy. Or possibly electricity from next door. Toph retired to sleep at the late, late hour of noon, which he could sorta understand since she got a lot closer to death than any teenager really should, and she probably still felt terrible. Katara, on the other hand, was busy keeping a not-very-surreptitious eye on the newcomer to the house. Sokka was off in the city somewhere, leaving only the Avatar and the Fire Lord's son without something to do. And the tension of it was starting to drive Aang giddy.

To the point that he was on the edge of his seat, a grin pulling at his lips every moment of every minute. A firebender! Somebody who could teach him firebending! He'd actually be able to master all four elements before it was too late! Of course, the firebender in question was sitting silently, staring at a wall. Letting that tension build.

Zuko turned to him. "What?" he demanded.

"So-when-do-you-think-we're-gonna-start-firebending-training-'cause-I-need-to-learn-it-fast-and-if-I-don't-then-the-world's-probably-gonna-end-and-I-really-shouldn't-be-putting-this-much-pressure-on-you-should-I?" Aang streamed.

Zuko blinked at him.

"I'm sorry. I just thought that... well, after Jeong Jeong, I'd lost my last chance to learn firebending from a master. Of course, you'll do, but..."

"Are you saying I'm not a firebending master?" Zuko asked.

"That's not what I said! I didn't mean that! I..." he trailed off. "It's just... We always beat you before, and..."

"You beat me because I wasn't trying to kill you," Zuko said. He ignited a flame above his palm. "Fire is a destructive element. It's strongest when it's intention is destruction. It's weakest when you try to use it for anything else."

"I... don't think that's actually the way it works," Aang said suspiciously.

"Who's the firebender in this room, you or me?" Zuko asked testily.

"You, but I'm not sure that..."

"The point is moot. I can't train you. Not here," he glanced around.

"What? Why not?"

Zuko rubbed at his forehead. "Because we're in a wooden building inside a city which is at open war with firebenders. When you screw up, you'll burn the house down, and I'll get thrown in prison. I didn't turn my back on my nation to rot in a cell under the Caves of Zutara."

He had a point at that. "Can I ask you a question?" Aang asked.

"You don't seem to have anything but questions," Zuko said quietly.

"Why do you hate your father?"

"I thought the answer was obvious," Zuko said. Aang shrugged. The older teenager lifted his long, now-shaggy and scruffy hair away from the left side of his face. "My father decided that when I decided to do what's right, I required a lesson in humility on my face."

"He did that to you?" Aang asked.

Zuko chuckled, darkly. "He almost burned my eye out. But I got him back. Blasted a few of his fingers off with lightning."

Aang pulled his legs up on the chair he was patiently waiting on, tucking his knees to his chest. "I can't imagine how a family could work like that," Aang said.

"And what would you know about family?" Zuko snapped. "You're an orphan from a race of orphans. Your kind never had parents, never had familes. So don't you dare try to judge mine!"

"I'm not judging. I just don't know why your father would do that to you," Aang said. Zuko glanced away. "Is it... because of Azula?"

Zuko's slowly heating glare was all the answer Aang got, needed, or wanted.

"Is she as sick as people say she is?"

"You should know. You had her as your prisoner for a week," he muttered, glaring a hole in the floorboards.

"She wasn't a prisoner," Aang contested. "I mean, yeah, she couldn't leave, but that was because I was fairly sure she was gonna try to hurt Katara. I mean, she seemed well enough. A bit hard to understand with that accent, but..."

"Well enough," he shook his head. He let out a bitter laugh. "You know, growing up, I used to hate her."

"Really?" Aang asked.

"She was just better at me in everything. A better firebender, a better student. She got all the attention from both Mom and Dad. They'd get into these screaming matches about her. Not me. I was just the one who popped out first. She was born lucky, I was lucky to be born," he said.

"But that changed," Aang pointed out. Zuko's lip pulled into something like a wistful smile.

"Yeah... when she got sick, she stopped terrorizing me, and... and I got Uncle and Auntie to be the parents I never really got from Mom and Dad. I don't know if she'd not gotten sick, if I'd be here right now. Not just in Ba Sing Se, I mean if I'd even be alive."

"I think you're selling yourself short," Aang said.

"Heh. Azula stopped being a terror, and she became a sister. And I know I should feel shame about it, that the only reason I got to be Father's favorite was because his first choice was crippled, but actually having something to teach, somebody to take care of..." he let out a quiet sigh. "It's a better feeling than you'd know."

"I think I understand completely," Aang said. "And for what it's worth, I promise you that I'll find a way to make sure Azula comes back safe."

"I'm not sure there's an Azula left," Zuko's tones returned to cold and bitter. "Uncle tried to warn me that she was different, that she would change. I didn't believe him. I couldn't believe him. The last time I looked into her eyes... she hated me. My sister hated me. Despised me. And she's got every reason to," he rose to his feet, and walked to the shuttered window, pushing it open and letting some more light enter the room. Aang didn't follow. "I wasn't always the best brother. I lied to her. I betrayed her trust to protect her life and safety."

"That's what brothers do," Aang said. "They protect their family."

"And you'd know?" Zuko glanced back, over his left shoulder.

"Yes," Aang said. "I might not be blood, but to Sokka and Katara, I'm kin. I am the brother they never had. And I cherish that. If I had to lie to them to keep them safe, I probably would. You can't beat yourself up over trying to do the right thing. At least you tried."

"Trying doesn't amount to much," Zuko commiserated.

"But if you never try, nothing good ever comes," Aang pointed out.

"Spoken like a true airbender," he said with a roll of his eyes. "You know, when I first met you, I was sure you were going to kill us."

"Me? Why?" Aang asked.

"Storm Kings," Zuko said, still staring out the window. Aang gave an 'ah' at that. "How... shocking... that you're some mouthy kid who actually tries to adhere to a form of pacifism, who never lashes out in anger or heedless violence. You must think the worst of my people."

"Not even a little bit," Aang admitted. "Nations aren't bad. Only people can be. And there are a lot of good people to balance them out."

"The balance seems a bit tipped these days," Zuko muttered again.

"So I'll just have to un-tip it," Aang said with a shrug as he got to his feet. "That's what the Avatar's about. I think."

"You think?" Zuko asked.

"Yeah, well, I'm still kinda new to this," he said.

"Hey Aang, listen to this," Katara said from outside the room. "The Earth King is throwing an entire high-society party to commemorate the birthday of his pet bear!"

Aang frowned. "Surely you mean his platypus bear?" Aang asked. Katara came to the door, looking querulously at the newsreel.

"No..." she answered.

"Snake-bear?" Zuko offered.

"Tiger-bear?" Aang tried again.

"Skunk-bear?" Toph's voice came from the other room, surprising all three.

Katara just shook her head. "It just says... bear."

There was a moment of pristine silence.

"This city is weird," Zuko noted, closing the windows and dropping the room back into relative darkness.

"I didn't think that you'd meet me here," Qujeck said as he looked up from the half-barrel which had been converted into a clothes-washer, all the way up on the roof. The timing was fortuitous. He had laundry, after all.

"As long as you don't expect me to help," the Westerner said with a drab and unaffected tone.

She wasn't the only one to come up from the rooms in the tenement below. She'd brought her entire crew, as it were. One of them was taller, with dark hair and incisive eyes, a sprig of wheat clenched 'twixt his teeth. The next was somewhat more ropey than he, with big dark eyes and flaring ears, all under a ratty pan-hat. Next down the line of tallest to shortest was an Easterner who was just reaching the point where she was sloughing her baby-fat and filling out. She'd probably be gorgeous if she actually put in a bit of effort toward it. The last was that one's polar opposite, in that no amount of effort, no matter how extreme, would ever make her attractive.

"So what's this guy's deal?" the tall youth asked.

"Have you noticed that there's something... off... about this city?" Qujeck asked.

"A bit," he answered. "Shadow, what's this guy's game?"

"Just listen to him, Jet," she hushed him.

Jet turned his attention back to the Tribesman, who gave a shrug. "There are forces at work in the shadows of Ba Sing Se which mean only ill. I have warned another potential agent about them, and I will again for you. Do you know who rules Ba Sing Se?"

"The Earth King, Kuei," the cuter of the two yet-unnamed girls offered.

"And who rules him?"

There was silence.

"His bear?" the ugly one chanced. That in turn caused a ripple of laughter from the other girl, a roll of the eyes from the quiet boy, a guffaw from Jet, and a shake of the head from Shadow.

"Not quite," Qujeck said. "The Earth King is a puppet, a marionette whose strings are pulled by the people who should be doing his bidding."

"So you've brought us to talk to a crazy person," Jet asked.

"I'm just providing facts," Qujeck said. He'd gotten the same reaction from many people. Quite a few of those people later swallowed their words of derision when the truth became clear to them. All of those who had, were now dead, or worse. "The office of the Cultural Authority is more powerful than it should be. It takes in more money, it recruits more people than it should. It has too many buildings for its purpose, too many men on its payroll. The evidence is there if you look for it. But if you look too closely, or too carelessly, bad things start to happen around you."

"And why should that matter to us?" the ugly one asked.

"Shut up for a second Smellerbee," Jet answered. "What about that general, Shadow?"

"The military doesn't even know it's being controlled. A few might, but I cannot say more than that. Any soldier who comes back never speaks about what happened during their time on the Wall. I can only assume that those that can or do, vanish. As far as the populace of the city is concerned, there is no war in Ba Sing Se," Qujeck said. "They aren't aware of the World War. They aren't even aware that so many of their children are dying for them. They live in an ignorance which is controlled from bottom to top."

"What do you want?" Shadow asked.

"I want to set the halls of power on fire and watch as the green bugs scuttle. I want them to have to face the bright daylight, and know that there are no shadows left for them to hide in. I want them accountable. And if you help me, I guarantee you, you'll get what you're looking for as well, Shadow."

"Which is?" she asked.

"The ear of a general, a plan to overthrow the Fire Lord," he answered her. She remained stony-faced, but he could tell that she was trying to figure out where he'd overheard that, when, and how much he was going to use against her. "Somewhat weak, though. You're a subject of sympathy because of your destroyed noble house, but you'd need more than the token you could get to inspire the West to open insurrection."

"You shouldn't listen at windows. It's a good way to get shot," Shadow answered him. "And that's moot. There's been a change in plans."

"Really?" Jet asked.

"We had a plan?" the cute one asked. The quiet one rolled his eyes, something which even Qujeck who'd known him only in passing through the halls, interpreted as 'and you'd always be the last to know'.

"Yes, but it will require convincing somebody who might require some... careful maneuvering to agree. The last child of a dead house has some utility. But a battered, publicly sympathetic princess?" Shadow asked. And at that, Qujeck could only raise a brow.

Toph twirled the splinter between her fingers as she sat, soaking her feet in warm water and leaning back against the wall. While she seldom bothered bathing like this when she could get away with it – water around her feet made her essentially blind, after all – there was something to be said for little indulgences when she couldn't do anything else. After all, much as she might bluster, she knew that she'd probably faint dead away if she tried doing anything more than a brisk walk. The splinter had been buried at the bottom of Twinkletoes' things, and when she felt it, she knew she wanted to mess around with it. It was shaped like a jagged shard of metal, but was soft like fresh cheese. It was also slightly warmer than her hand. She wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't feel like the nail. Besides, Twinkletoes kept that super-special spirit nail on him pretty much all the time. He was welcome to it.

Toph stuck the sliver behind her ear, and let out a mild sigh of contentment. She'd learned a long time ago that there was a lot more enjoyment in the little luxuries than there was in all the bare essentials that you'd ever get. And as Toph saw it, a person should have a few glaring contradictions in them; it was an essential part of their character. The only difference to how Dad would have wanted her raised, was that she prioritized the wrong kinds of luxuries. A great fight, a hearty meal, and a foot-soak beat the hell out of poetry and knitting. How the hell was she supposed to knit, anyway? She couldn't even 'see' her needles!

There was a knock at the door, which caused Toph to roll her eyes. "Who is it?"

"...Katara," the answer came after a confused pause. Mostly because most people were used to her knowing who was knocking from the other side of a wall. Earthbending vision for the win! "Are you alright in there? You've been in the bathroom for a long time."

"Oh, I'm just shiny," Toph answered.

"...could you wrap it up, then? This is the only bathroom in the house!" Katara shouted. Toph rolled a useless set of eyes, and sighed. All good things must come to an end, or so a certain author once opined. She got up, and kicked the water bucket over, letting the warm water spill into the drains which sent the effluence into some sewer or another. As soon as her feet were on the stone, though she could track that water-flow down to its source, if she so desired. And she really didn't. It was bad enough that she could feel the neighbor on the other side from the Si Wongi was cheating on her husband, at this very moment. With a grunt, she toned down her sight so it didn't extend beyond the reaches of the house.

With a jaunty whistle, she sauntered out of the bathroom, to have a fairly desperate seeming waterbender bolt past her. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. Directly toward the Avatar, who was sitting lotus in the room he shared with the Water Tribesmen. Bein' all lazy and such. That was unforgivable. With a boot, she kicked the door open to his room, causing him to flinch and recoil. "On your feet, earthbender!" Toph shouted, and ignored the surge of light-headedness that such exertion brought.

"Toph? I was just..."

"Gold-bricking is what you were doing. Now get on your feet and start chuckin' rocks!" Toph ordered.

Twinkletoes, for all his slowly developing sensibility, glanced around in confusion. "...but we're indoors."

"Then you'll have to throw 'em around nice and carefully, then!" Toph pointed out.

"Are you sure you should be doing this," Aang asked, even though he got into a more earthbending stance. "I mean, Katara said that..."

"The only one who'll be doing anything strenuous, unless you screw up, is you. Now show me your golem stance," Toph said. Aang did one better, instead of pulling the stone to his body piecemeal, he threw himself to the ground in a sort of bounding roll, and with it, he encased himself in a thin gloss of stone in one swoop. Toph was going to have to remember that one, since she saw no reason she couldn't use it herself. "Good. Now. Deflections. Don't let them get past you, and don't let them hit you..." Toph reached forward, and stripped a portion of his armor away, leaving his chest and abdomen exposed, "where it could kill you were I trying."

The complaints which Twinkletoes no doubt had in droves were silenced when Toph started flicking discs of relatively light but no doubt painful stone at him with one finger, even as she leaned against a wall lazily. She had to say, he was slowly getting better at this. His movements, even encased in stone as he was, were becoming more purposeful, less jerky. More like somebody who was amongst the stone, rather than simply brute-forcing it into compliance.

"Do you have to keep doing this kind of – ow – training?" Aang asked as one slipped past his deflection. Toph was intentionally sending them on erratic paths. "I mean – hey that almost hit my face! – shouldn't I be learning some other stuff by now?"

"You learn as fast as I say you do. Everything I know I learned step by step, each one building to the next. You do not skip steps. You do not jump ahead. And you do not..." Toph flicked another disc, and this one struck him squarely in the chest, without him even trying to block it. Toph scowled. "Damn it, Twinkletoes, at least make it look like you're trying!"

"That one blindsided me," the avatar said, changing his stance a bit. Toph shook her head with annoyance, and then flicked another. This one on a different, but no easier trajectory. It shot through his defenses like he was an open window, and drove him back a step, releasing another grunt of pain.

"Come on! Even I could see that one coming, and I'm blind!" Toph pointed out, peeling down her eyelids to prove her point.

"I... must have been distracted," Aang said. She rolled her useless eyes and flicked a third. And that one, just like the two before, penetrated his defenses effortlessly, he not even seeming to try to block it. "Ow!"

"What is wrong with you, Twinkletoes?" Toph demanded.

And from the next room, there was a 'wham' as she heard somebody walk into a door. She 'saw' Aang's armor fall away, and he took a step toward her, only to trip over the armor he'd just dropped off, and paw along the floor, his heartrate starting to hammer all the faster. From the next room, she could hear Prince Pouty starting to let out a confused stream of Huojian profanity. And from the bathroom, she could feel Sugar Queen pawing her own way to the door, before throwing it open.

"Tui La, how long was I in there? Who turned out all the lights?" Katara asked.

"Toph... I can't see," Aang said.

"What?" she said.

"Guys? Are you out there?" Katara asked.

"What's going on? I can't see anything," Zuko said, fumbling for the door and lurching through it, only to blunder directly into Katara, sending them both down in a pile in the kitchen. Toph started to 'glance' around, expanding her 'vision' to the street... only it wouldn't go. She couldn't make it bigger, like she usually could. With a note of something approaching panic, she pulled at her ear, trying to think about what was going on. They couldn't all go blind at the same time, could they?

When she did, she dislodged that splinter. As soon as it hit the ground, Aang's pawing ceased, which was for the best, because he was about to knock over a brazier which was probably what kept the chill out of the room. He stopped, turned, and looked up at Toph. "Holy pig-cows. I can see!"

"Get off me you firebending buffoon!" Katara demanded, and Toph heard a slap out there. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You bit me!" Zuko answered with equal outrage. Twinkletoes looked at Toph again, as she quickly plucked the splinter between her toes and raised it behind her back to a waiting hand, even though she wasn't exactly sure why she was hiding it.

"Toph, did... did something happen?" Aang asked.

"You all started complaining about blindness," Toph said, hiding her uncomfortableness at the whole situation. "I was about to start giving you grief over it, but then you snapped out of it."

"Oh... That was... scary," Aang said, and with a sweep of his foot, he flattened the floor. He turned toward her for a second. "Maybe we should hold off on earthbending training for a little while, alright?"

"Eh, if you're so desperate to be lazy, I ain't gonna stop you," Toph faked nonchalance, and moseyed away. It was a very tense mosey, however, one which ended as soon as she ducked outside the door into the roughly ten square meters of 'back yard'. She opened her hand, and felt the warmth of the Splinter within it. Now, it was pulsing slightly. Like a tiny, tiny heartbeat. Had she done that? With this spirit thing?

Now that was some scary juju.

Sokka knew that something was a bit wrong when he saw green robes gathered in larger numbers as he approached the houses where he and the others lived. Some of the people he passed, not so clad, were sitting down on the streets, arms tucked close to them as though they were in a degree of shock. The number of such people increased as he got closer, reaching its absolute zenith about three doors down.

"What in the name of the holy fish is going on here?" Sokka asked.

"Tribesman!" the Si Wongi girl's voice cut through the muted chatter. He could see her at her front door, neither panicking nor bleeding, as some were. In fact, she looked upon the whole scene with a sort of cynical bafflement. "So you did not walk off of a bridge. Your sister is beside herself."

"My question kinda stands," Sokka pointed out. Nila shrugged.

"The people complained that a spell of blindness descended upon them with great suddenness. Thus why the men in green arrive; they are no doubt trying to ensure that there is no gaseous poison or dust-borne agent of attack," she shook her head, thumbing back straight black hair where it fell in an unruly strand before her eyes.

"Blindness? Did you get struck blind too?" Sokka asked.

"No," she said with annoyance. Sokka stared at her, the 'why' about an instant from being voiced, before she let out a sigh and a shrug. "But then again, as I was in the dark-room with volatile substances, I would scarce even notice a few minutes of blindness."

"So a bubble of blindness just popped in this district," Sokka said, rubbing his chin. "This smells like spirit-world shenanigans."

"You would jump immediately to that conclusion?" she asked with annoyance.

"I've spent half a year with the Avatar. When he's around, the obvious solution is never the correct one. Usually it lands somewhere between 'absurd' and 'impossible'. And I just realized I was defending hokus-pokus to a scientist," he caught himself. "Yup. My life's weird."

"This is not a frequent position?" she asked.

"Noooo," Sokka said, with a glance aside, he muttered, "...stupid Makapu."

"You might be right. Sharif said something about a 'Splinter going off'. Then again, he spent the last five hours watching a spiderfly spin a web. He could just be babbling at this point."

"Are you willing to take that chance?" Sokka asked, as he finally reached his own front door. Nila rolled her eyes, and went to her own door. He was reaching for his door when she cleared her throat, dragging his attention back to her.

"One final thing before dinner, Tribesman," she said, throwing wide her door. "I'm not wearing any undergarments."

Sokka stared at her, and invariably his gaze started to drop to her flaring hips, not in any way concealed by her form fitting pants, before his jaw set. "That's not funny."

Her face had a rare smile of mischief upon it. "Oh, but it is," she said. And with that, she let out a chuckle and ducked into her house. Sokka rolled his own eyes. One of these days, he was going to have to stop surrounding himself with attractive, pushy women. It didn't even occur to him that he hadn't pined over Yue in a solid month. So much else had taken her place, it seemed.

Within the house, there sat a firebender and a waterbender glaring at each other. Zuko was binding bandages around his forearm, bandages which were slightly pinkened in an oval pattern which Sokka instantly pegged as a human bite. Katara, on the other hand, had a bright red handprint on her face. Sokka glanced between the two of them. "What."

"She bit me," Zuko said with an understandable degree of wroth.

"He slapped me!"

"You bit me first!"

"You ran into me!"

"I. Was. Blind!" Zuko snapped.

Sokka broke the mood by bursting into laughter. The two benders put aside their remarkably petty dispute and turned to him, gobsmacked that somebody could find them so comedic. And he couldn't help himself. It was just too crazy. He could either laugh or cry, and he learned a long time ago that even if crying could be pointedly manly, it was unpleasant. Runny nose and all that. So he laughed. From the time when they committed Mom to the ocean, he laughed. Somebody had to.

"What's so funny?" Katara demanded.

"You two!" Sokka couldn't contain his fit. "Tui La, this is insane! You all go blind and the first thing you do is attack each other! Ha!"

"I didn't attack her, it was self-defense when..." Zuko began.

"I was panicked, since this oaf just slammed into..." Katara also began, but both realized that they were trying to justify themselves, glanced at each other, then turned away in a huff and in silence. Sokka wiped away a laughter-tear and walked past them.

"I'm going to talk to the ones who didn't take blindness as a chance to play out a hissy-fit," Sokka said with his most patronizing tone, if only to see his sister stew all the harder. Zuko's glare was deflected as Zuko walked past by a small gesture toward her and a shrug. Essentially 'sisters, too easy'. At that, Zuko rolled his eyes, but remained at a huff. They would likely remain as such for a while.

He slid open the back door to the room, showing Aang tenderly prodding at some bruises across his chest and belly. Sokka glanced around. "Where's Toph?" Sokka asked. Aang looked up.

"Sokka, are you alright? Did you get blinded?" Aang asked. "How many arrows do I have?"

"Five. Unless you've added a few while I was out," Sokka answered. "What happened to you?"

"Well, I was training with Toph, and suddenly I couldn't block her rocks. I mean, I thought I could see them, but..." he shook his head.

"Yowch. Anyway," Sokka said with all the decorum and aplomb he showed to any diplomatic situation. "I've got bad news and good news."

"Good news first!" Aang said brightly, instantly ignoring his welts.

Sokka shrugged. "The good news doesn't make any sense 'till you hear the bad," Sokka pointed out. "The bad news is that a university pass will take about a month to go through at the current rate," Aang's eyes shot wide at that. "But there's the good news. If we help Long Feng track down some criminals and anarchists which have been causing some problems, he can get the whole thing sorted out in a hurry. We'll be into that university in a week, tops!"

"A week? That's a lot better. I mean, the comet is only a few months away as it is," Aang pointed out.

"Yeah, have you come up with any brilliant plans on how to deal with that whole 'end of the world' gaff, yet?" Sokka asked. Aang hung his head, and shook it slowly. Sokka sighed. "Well, you'll think of something. Or I will, and I'll steal all your glory. Either way, it works for me. I prefer living to oblivion, after all."

"I thought you might," Aang said brightly. "Oh, is somebody still watching dinner? We're still having the neighbors over, right?"

"I'm sure dinner will be fine," Sokka placated. He, on the other hand, moved past the Avatar and threw open the window to the 'back yard', as pompously named as the tiny patch of land was. He then immediately turned to his left and saw Toph leaning against the outside wall. "Huh? Oh, there you are."

"Nice to see you too, Brain," she answered, her tone distracted.

"Is something the matter?" Sokka asked. "Besides the whole everybody around here going blind thi... I mean..."

"I'm aware that I'm blind," Toph said testily. "You know, I think I'm going to have some words with some friends of my parents tomorrow. I mean, Mom's gotta be in the city somewhere, and she'll come running when she realizes that I am too. Might be helpful."

Sokka stared at her. "Did you hit your head on something while everybody was blind?" Sokka asked.

"What?" Toph asked incredulously.

"You just seriously offered, 'I'm gonna call my mommy' as a plan," Sokka pointed out. Toph's expression became blank for a moment. Then, the usual rancor returned.

"You shut your mouth! I did not!" Toph shouted.

"I think you did! Does Tuofu miss her mommy?" Sokka mocked.

"I will kick your ass!" Toph warned.

"Then mommy will kiss it and make it all bett..." Sokka trailed off.

"Did you just say that my mother can kiss your ass?" Toph asked, tones growing as glacial as a Water Tribe toilet. Sokka stared for a panicked moment. And then, he started running. Which was for the best, because an outraged Toph was hot on his heels.

"News from Badesh?" Long Feng asked, as he strode briskly through the cavernous halls of the Earth King's palace. Servants were engaged in the day-to-day deluge of tasks required to keep up appearances. That's all that ever happened around this place these days. Say what you would about the previous Earth King, he was a more active despot. The greatest kindness that Badesh and her ilk had ever done was in killing him sixteen years ago. That one act sealed Long Feng's ascension to his status as Grand Secretariat, at the cost of playing regent from the shadows to a useless child. Han shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't seem to make any useful progress into her. She's not responding to any of the signals that we send. It's like she's gone catatonic," he growled.

"And her companions."

"As she goes, so goes their nation," Han answered. "If you require, we can undertake some more extreme methods, but that might not guarantee her loyalty. Or her capability."

"I will not sacrifice one whit of her. She must be who she was at the Wall, and who she was when she separated the Fifty-First's head from his shoulders. I cannot afford any less," Long Feng snapped. He took a moment to adjust the neck of his robes, then cleared his throat. "Have you had someone research the datum I sent you?"

"We found references to a 'darkest day for the Fire Nations' in Storm King historical texts. A solar eclipse, as you specified, which allowed a spectacular rout," Han admitted. "We have consulted with the professor, and deduced that there is only one total eclipse to be had this year, and another three in the next five years. We have the date and time, of course," Han provided the paperwork. The eclipse scheduled for this year seemed to fall very near the end of summer. Long Feng smiled.

"Excellent," he said. Any leverage was for the best, in this never-ending war. Unless he could personally end it... It wouldn't even take very much, if their timing was good enough. And if they had the right leadership. He had a thought. "What about our other guests?"

"Joo Dee is with them, sir," Han said. "If there is nothing more, I will return to trying to crack Badesh."

"Please do. We now have a deadline. If this war is going to end this year, she must be my agent before the end of summer," Long Feng directed. "Make it so."

"As you wish," Han bowed away, and vanished into the halls. Long Feng, though, took a turn and headed into the palatial quarters given to foreign dignitaries. At present, there were precious, precious few. Only a few people from the smallest, weakest kingdoms in the lands south and west. The others were strong enough that they did not fear what having no ear in the Earth King's court would lose them. Or else, too ignorant to know any better, as was the case for al'Jalani, whom Long Feng walked past without fanfare or acknowledgment.

Finally, having moved past all the other inhabitants, scarce though they were, and then past a huge bank of vacant rooms, he came upon one which was being guarded by a maid. A graying-haired maid with dark, incisive eyes and an air which an experienced person would label 'overwhelmingly dangerous'. The pattern upon which all Joo Dee which came after gave her superior a nod. But as he turned to the door, she rose to her feet. She was taller than he was, unusual for both her gender and ethnicity. "He is not alone," she said simply. "The lady is with him."

"I see," Long Feng noted, tugging at his sprig of beard. "Thank you for the forewarning."

She nodded, and sat back down, leaving Long Feng to push open the doors, and enter into the foyer. The room was built as securely as a prison. Which was fitting, since that was exactly what it was. Still, it was a prison gilt in finest gold and upholstered with finest silks and dove-goose down pillows. As opulent an oubliette one would never otherwise find, and entirely at Long Feng's disposal. After all, he was not a thug. Some prisoners had certain requirements.

"Have you acclimated well, Emperor?" Long Feng asked. The unnaturally eyed man turned away from his companion, and slammed his cup of tea down on the silver-wrought tray so hard that it shattered, throwing steaming beverage at random. The other just pulled away so it didn't splash her.

"This is an outrage and an act of war against Great Whales!" Zeruel the Second shouted.

"So I take it you have not reconsidered my offer."

"To be a puppet ruler, dancing to the jerks of your string? I would rather die and be buried head-first in an unmarked grave," Zeruel spat on to the floor. He pointed a ring-adorned finger at the Grand Secretariat. "You play a fools game, and you will reap a fools harvest, mark my very words. When the time comes that I am free of this durance vile, I will bring down a terrible vengeance upon those who have hindered me, in His name!"

Long Feng let the religious drivel wash over him. "Regardless, the offer remains. After all, we plan to have the Fire Nation reeling on all fronts by the end of summer," he said nonchalantly. "And as for you, madam?"

"You have nothing to offer me, snake," the woman snapped, golden eyes narrowing.

"Oh, I think I might," Long Feng said. It was just a matter of ratifying a few rumors. Making sure a few things were true, or at least, true enough to use. After all, it was amazing what people would do for family. "I might surprise you."

"You have insulted my patience and the lady's tolerance long enough. Away with you!" Zeruel brusquely waved away. Long Feng shrugged, and turned. He already had an agent of the Avatar turned against his fellow Tribesman and thorn in Long Feng's side. It was just a matter of could he turn the Avatar as well?

As the door clicked shut behind him, he considered. "Perhaps I must assume more direct control of the Avatar situation," he mused. And as he nurtured that thought, he walked away from the prisoners to a golden cage, barely acknowledging Joo Dee's nod. Bigger things to think about. Ending a war. Preserving a city. Important things.

Real work.

She wanted to burn everything.

"That was a brisker day than I've had in years!" the owner gushed, which caused the aged tea fanatic to scoff lightly. "I've never seen anybody produce Gyokuro with leaves from the corner market before!"

"It's all in the handling, I assure you," Iroh said with a pleased if dismissive wave.

"I see a lot of business in our future," Dim continued. Azula turned when she heard the door sliding open, and a number of brutish looking men entering the tea-house. She stifled a sigh. Another serving, which meant another hour demeaning herself to these yokels.

"That's good to hear, Dim," the smallest of those brutes said, rolling his shoulders. "When business is good for you... business is good for us."

"Dianxi, what are you..." Dim began. "I'm so sorry, Dianxi, but things haven't exactly gone to plan, and..."

"I thought you just said that you had a brisk day, and all kinds of extra business coming in," Dianxi countered, before flicking a finger toward one of his goons. Azula's suspicions of the man's intentions were confirmed when the goon casually flipped over one of the tables, causing the dishes which she hadn't gathered yet to shatter on the floor. "I don't like it when people lie to me about money, Dim. You know that."

"A brisk day doesn't make up for a slow week. Please, Dianxi, just give me twenty four hours..."

And there was something sliding in Azula's mind. The subtle fingers plucking her strings once again. Not heroism, she'd never believe that. But outrage? Annoyance? Oh, those she would believe.

"Are you just going to stand there and let that man rob you blind?" Azula asked. Dianxi's attention turned to her.

"Well, it looks like our little lady has a lip on her. Just stay out of the way, girl, and we won't need to muss up that pretty face."

"I don't know what's more pathetic," Azula continued, as she moved a still-hot pot onto her tray, her eyes burning into the goon. "That Dim is such a coward as to pay protection moneys to you, or that you are so cowardly as to call so many to muscle him."

"I don't like the way she's talkin', boss," the table-flipper noted.

Dianxi gave a sigh, and shook his head. "You coulda' walked out of here without a black eye. Now, looks like we're gonna have to hand out some lessons."

The closer of the two goons in the building grabbed her forearm. She answered by driving her other fist so hard into his sternum that it creaked just a little under her knuckles. He was driven back, his grasp slipping from her arm as he staggered back, trying to get his breath back. Dianxi's eye twitched just a bit.

"Aimei, what are you..." Dim began.

And then Azula tipped up the tray, which was fortunate, because the table-flipper was trying to send a fist into her face. Instead, it hit hammered bronze. Spinning back and flapping a hand with at least one broken knuckle, he gave Azula the opportunity to catch the now falling pot with a toe, and kick it directly into Dianxi's face, scalding him with Iroh's tea. She stood proud amidst the violence. This was what she was good at. "I suggest you run off with your tail between your legs," Azula said.

"You bitch! Boys! Bring down the house!" Dianxi screamed. And then, there came a rumbling. Azula reacted faster than she thought possible. With a foot, she kicked a chair at Dianxi, which he caught. But that wasn't the point. The point was to give her something to land on. She hurled herself forward onto that chair with all the mass and momentum she could acquire given the small distance, and with him unable to stay standing, the two were catapulted out of the door, into the street, he smacking his head against the stone, she rolling to her feet just past him.

And she was not even close to being alone. The fingers in her mind, not even really noticeable to the young woman now riding on the rush of adrenaline, recoiled slightly. Something had been miscalculated. Part of her didn't care. She could see an earthbender nearby, obvious because of his stance, preparing to undercut the shop. She answered him with a very strong kick right up 'twixt his wide-set legs. Another sent a rock at her, and it pounded into her back, causing a familiar amount of pain and sending her stumbling. The next rock, though, she managed to slide out of the way of, the same sort of sinuous motions she had first seen in an airbender monk. The second stone became a third, then a seventh, and then, began to surge in form multiple directions. And she weaved through them all. Until she found the right one.

One was moving just a bit slower than the others, its edges a bit more rounded. As it slipped past, she slammed her hands around it, and though it pulled her off her feet, it was only for a moment. She landed in a spin, and hurled that stone directly at its source, bursting it over his face with nothing but raw muscle-power. The two earthbenders still standing exchanged a nervous glance, and parted, as a third, fourth, and fifth joined them to circle Azula. She did the math. It didn't look good.

She could hear noise inside the tea-house. She didn't doubt that Iroh was probably being beaten to within an inch of his life by the thugs. Otherwise, he'd firebend, and give himself away. She was restraining herself for much the same reason. And that restraint was costing her.

The first furtive attack was easily enough warded by a kick to the inner thigh, which sent the man hobbling back in pain. Unfortunately, it gave the one behind her ample opportunity to collide with her back, pinning one arm to her side. She heaved back with an elbow, but his head was as well as made of stone. And the attempt gave the others a chance to move in. She could do little but pull in her tongue and grit her teeth as a fist collided with her jaw. It hurt, and she could immediately taste blood where her lips had been split against her teeth, but she answered by kicking higher, and driving the wind out of that one's lungs with a toe to the diaphragm.

The one behind her was trying to get her off her feet, level her to the ground. She knew what would come next if that happened. She hurled her head straight back, and was rewarded with another flit of stars through her vision, but also the meaty crunch of a nose breaking. She heaved her elbow back again, this time lower, catching him in the side of the neck. His grip was still as sure as stone. Another fist coming toward her stomach. She clenched her muscles there, and gave him no more than a grunt for his effort. He then followed that with a hook which caught her in the nose. No crunch, but more brilliant pain, and she could feel wet on her upper lip as well as dribbling past her lower. Azula kicked all the higher, with the confidence that the momentarily stunned thug at her back couldn't bear her down. With thighs no less powerful than the arms binding her in place, she pulled the pig who thought he had the right to strike her in, until his face was pressed up against her groin, her legs hooked around his neck.

Then, with a heave, there was an entirely different kind of crack.

He dropped to the ground, and as her feet hit the street, her eyes went wide. One of the earthbenders was sending a sharp shard of stone at her face. She hooked her feet behind the knees of her captor, and heaved herself down, causing her to slip through his grasp until she was being cradled at bosom level instead of diaphragm level. This was just enough leeway that when she twisted her head aside, it nicked her temple, instead of impaling her face, before bouncing off the goon's skull. Finally, released.

She flicked her nose with the heel of a hand, casting away the blood on it. Five on one, still, since Dianxi was getting to his feet after that mild concussion. He moved fastest, hurling a bludgeon toward her which was part of the chair she'd pinned him with. She caught it and twisted the hand, popping it out of his grasp and letting his heedless momentum carry him straight past her, before hurling that same bludgeon at the face of the earthbender who tried to murder her. He let out a 'gack' and ducked aside, but he put himself in a position which made it impossible for him to avoid her brutal haymaker. It caught him square in the teeth, which opened her knuckles, but sent him sprawling on his back onto the ground. It actually took him a second to stop sliding. Four on one. She spun, putting the fallen at her back.

Dianxi looked almost as red as the burns on his face. "Don't just stand there you useless tits! Grab her!" he roared.

And she moved gracefully. She moved swiftly. And she moved right into the grasping hands of three men who were as strong as she was, and far larger besides. It wasn't a matter of mobility. It was a matter of numbers and inevitability. If she used her fire, she would win. And then everything would fall apart. So even as she hurled profanities in their own language at them, absorbing a knee to her kidney for the trouble, she was driven to her knees, and there was little she could have done to change that. They'd stopped underestimating her. Now, they were treating her with the respect of a dangerous opponent, and that meant doing as she would have; stacking the deck against her so completely that she had no real means of resistance whatsoever.

When he came close, she spat blood at him, just to prove her point. "What now? Open your pants? I'll bite it off, you piece of garbage!" Azula shouted.

"I've got to send a message," he said, scowling against pain, and pulled a knife from his belt. "And that message is best writ in blood, girl. Kind of a pity. You'd'a been useful on the other side of this."

"Aimei! No!" Iroh shouted as he came to the door of the shop, behind and out of Azula's sight, as she was both grasped hand, foot, and neck, glaring up at the hoodlum. His arm pulled back, and she pulled in a breath. Fire or no – exposure or no – she was not going to die to this nobody.

A conviction which proved moot. Her vision, clouded by multiple blows to the face and head, couldn't see the source of it, but a strand seemed to zip out of the distance, coiling 'round and trapping that hand with the blade. When he tried to thrust forward, it barely made it half the distance between them. He then turned back, and saw why.

A knife appeared in the hand which was squeezing Azula's jaw and holding it facing forward, causing it to release. Another scream, as the hoodlum holding her right arm and leg reflexively released her. The slightest of glances to that direction showed that there was now an arrow plunging into his kneecap. With now only one grown man trying to hold her down, Azula had the leverage to get a foot under her, and heave. The sudden shift of momentum carried the two of them into the doorframe of Dim's Tea House. She drove her shoulder into his sternum, then pounded her fist lower into his manhood. Then, she chopped hard at his throat, causing him to finally release his grip of her other arm. Her finishing punch was forestalled as a dented kettle swung past her and bashed the earthbender thug in the side of the head, driving it against the wood, and sending him unconscious. She glanced to the purveyor of that kettle. A very angry Iroh was standing there, his fists white-knuckled 'round that tea-implement. Past him, she could see that both of the goons were unconscious on the floor of the tea house.

"What were you thinking?" Iroh demanded of her. But her answer was forestalled as another came close to them, rushing forward with a pair of hook-swords. As Dianxi was still tangled, he couldn't retreat, and found his balance utterly upset and undercut by the young man, his feet pulled out from under him, landing him flat on his face. With a twist of the two weapons together into one hand, he swung down, flicking the weapon ninety degrees, before colliding the blunt of the two hooks into the thug's ear. He then stood over the man, looking about as cocky as a teenager could. Azula ignored him for a moment, and faced Iroh, spitting out a bit more blood.

"I was thinking, 'I sure would like to get paid this week'," she said with her usual sing-song sarcasm, which sounded a bit off because of both her accent and the raggedness of the tone through a bleeding nose. She then turned away from her uncle, toward the young man who had knocked the extortionist unconscious. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Me? I'm just stranger," he said, smirking with a sprig of wheat 'twixt his teeth. How anybody would ever think it reasonable to fight with that, she could not say. Then again, she'd never seen anybody foolish enough to fight with hook-swords, either. First time for everything, it seemed.

"What has happened here?" a new voice came, which caused Azula a moment's alarm. She turned around, already in a firebending pose, before remembering that she didn't dare produce so much as a spark. Not yet. There were two men, wearing drab armor and papered caps, were standing near where the haymakered goon was still groaning on the ground.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Dim expounded. "Dianxi Szuan tried to murder my tea server! If these passers-by hadn't helped, they would have... I don't even want to think about it!" he said with wild gesticulations.

"Is that the truth, young lady?" they said, turning their attention to the teenaged girl who was already starting to bruise and was freely bleeding. She swallowed her pride for a moment, despite being the destroyer of half their force single handedly.

"Yes. I was so terrified," she said, making her voice small and weak.

"There are two more inside. I was able to subdue them, but I feared for my niece's safety," Iroh indicated inside the tea-house.

"We'll have to call more people in," the constable indicated. He faced Azula directly. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. You're safe now," and then to the newcomer with the hook-swords. "And as for you, be it known that vigilantism is not acceptable in Ba Sing Se. That said you did save a young lady's life. I thank you on behalf of the City, young man."

"I came here for a fresh start. Funny how that turned out," he said. Azula glanced past him, and her meek mask fell as soon as she saw pale eyes watching her, in that all-too-familiar face.

"Couldn't let an old friend get hurt," Mai said, her tone as usual bored and nonchalant. Iroh gave a glance to her, and then to Azula. Azula frowned to Mai. Seeing her once was... odd. Seeing her again, now? She didn't have a word for that. Mai moved a bit closer, crossing her arms before her as the constables began to shackle the goons in stone, and the known earthbenders in metal manacles. Beyond, Azula could see two more. A reasonably attractive Easterner who bundled up a meteor hammer, and a lanky young man with big ears and a ratty pan hat hiding a bow under his cloak. "Would you mind if I talk to my old friend in private?"

Iroh kept his eye on her, but Mai guided Azula off to one side, sitting her down on a bench. Around, Azula could now see that there was quite the gallery of witnesses, rubberneckers, and lookieloos. But she had a fairly good notion that none of them was going to offer testimony. The Dai Li had them all so scared of their own shadows that they'd never stick their neck out, for or against anybody. "It's been a long time," Azula said evenly.

Mai's eyebrow rose. "You recognize me?"

"Of course I do," Azula said with a note of contempt. One she reined in. "I was told you were dead."

"And I was told you were dead. That's the way these things go I guess," Mai said with a dismissive shrug. "I see your uncle is well."

"And I see you've taken up with a band of bandits, from the looks of things," Azula answered. The big-eared one shot her a look which clearly said 'this one's got a tongue like a knife.' "I'd ask what you're doing alive, but that doesn't matter. What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you are," Mai said. "Only now, we've got a chance of it working."

Azula raised an eyebrow at that. Had her old friend, in the absence of distractions like parents and Zuzu, matured into something of an astute political animal? "Whatever do you mean?" Azula asked with sing-song sweetness.

"They know who you are," Mai said. "And we know what you're capable of. It's just a matter of getting to the right place at the right time."

"Count me in," Azula said without hesitation. Her own plans were strung with a degree of mutability for circumstances much like this, albeit not this one exactly. A small part of her was bouncing with glee that Mai had somehow come back from the dead. That part was quite muted by years of harboring betrayal and resentment. And her other self was remaining quite mum on the situation. "The city won't know what hit it," she promised.

"I like her spirit," the swordsman said with a smirk. Azula ignored him. "You should come by our place when you're able. I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do."

Azula nodded, and moved to her Uncle, who still had a disapproving look on his face. Let him.

But unnoticed, unseen by any, even the only one who could have, an eight year old girl was standing over one particular Easterner, whose eyes now stared blindly, and his chest lay still on the street. Her hands were pressed to her mouth in shock, her big golden eyes leaking terrified tears. "Oh... oh my god. Agni's flame... I killed someone," the young Azula whispered in shock and horror.

Fun chapter to write. And your first Azula-issued ass-whupping. There's a lot of set up, I know, but considering how out-of-canon that things have gotten by the time they landed in Ba Sing Se, there needs to be a little bit of explanation.

In response to the note that I tend to underdescribe the locations I use; that's a long-time weakness of mine. I've always been of a mind that narrative is driven by action and word, not visual. Any amount of screen taken up by telling how something looks is effort which I would rather put forth either deepening the world or describing how Azula breaks somebody's nose with her elbow. Call it a writer's conceit. We've all got them.

Next chapter was the one which I was waiting since roughly a quarter of the way through the first 'season' to create, specifically Sharif's Scene. As soon as I knew how his character would react, I absolutely knew that I had to do 'that' with him. But I get ahead of myself, especially since it'll probably be around two weeks before the next one comes out. Lacking questions in the previous reviews, I sign off.

Leave a review.