By sundown Gia and Avira got to the Outer Wall. A few miles past there was a small village called Sufang. Gia and Avira stopped there for the night.
"Wow you did great you guys!" Gia said to Sophi and Mimi a she pet them.
"I'm surprised you could stay under ground for so long, Gia. I hate close spaces." Avira said.
"Yeah well I have a few tricks I learned while playing with Mimi. Hey, you hungry? I have a few silver pieces on me." Gia asked her new friend. As Gia held out the pouch of money to her friend, a person with a mask grabbed it and ran away. "Hey! Stop, you thief!" Gia shouted as she ran towards the masked being. She earthbended a wall in front but the man easily tore it down with his own earthbending. The thief kept running until he met a dead end. "Haha, got you now!" Gia said. The man earthbended the ground to form a hole and went underneath the ground. "Darn it!" Gia said as she attempted to follow the man.
"I'll follow him in the air!" Avira said as she took out her glider and started to soar. Meanwhile, Gia broke down the wall and reformed it. They saw no one except a young man walking towards a small farm on the outside of the village.
"Hey! Have you seen a man with a mask? He stole my money!" Gia asked him. He backed away nervously and dashed towards the farm. "I found him!" Gia shouted to Avira, who was in the sky. They ran towards him. Avira used her airbending to stop him. He eventually tripped over a small rock, ironically. Gia took the teen by the neckline of his shirt and held out her fist. "Give me my money back, now! Or else!" she screamed.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry. Here." the boy said as he held out the pouch. "Who are you two anyway? I know everyone here and I've never seen you." he said with a smirk on his face.
"None of your business." Gia said somewhat nastily as she snatched the small bag out of his hands. She threw the boy to the ground as she walked away with he money.
"I'm Avira and this is Gia." Avira said as she helped the boy up. Gia turned around with an angry look on her face.
"Avira! Don't tell him our names!" Gia scolded the airbender.
"Gia? Like the princess?" the boy said as he brushed off his pants.
"Yeah, just like the princess. Ugh, I hate that word. Princess, I'm not a princess. I don't get expensive things and I'm not prissy. I don't wear poofy dresses and dream about my true love." she said as she blew the dangling tuft of hair out of her face.
"So you are the princess!" the boy said as he shot towards Gia and started bowing down to her. "I'm Wei, ma'am." he said as he took her hand and kissed it. Gia had a disgusted look on her face.
"Get away from me creep!" she shouted as she swiftly pulled back her hand. Wei was left on the floor with his lips pursed.
"Well, I'm really sorry about stealing your money." Wei said as he got up. "You see my family is very poor. We live in that farm over there." he explained as he pointed to the farm ahead. "You can stay there for the night if you'd like. Your badgermole and flying bison can stay in the barn. C'mon my mom is making dinner now." Wei said as he walked towards his house.
"Well it is awful nice of you but I think I'm gonna have to say-"
"Of course!" Avira said, cutting off Gia. The two girls walked behind Wei.
"What are you doing? He stole from us, what if he is trying to trick us?" Gia said to Avira.
"He offered to give us free food. We may need that money later. Plus he could teach you some of his earthbending." she replied.
"I don't need him or a teacher. My earthbending is fine." Gia said with a pout on her face. The three teenagers walked into the house.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home and I brought guests." Wei said as he hung up his coat. His mother came rushing in with a spoon. She hit him over the head multiple times with it.
"Where have you been? Why did you bring guests? We barely have enough to feed ourselves and you expect me to feed them!" she shouted. Wei looked irritated as his mother stopped and looked over to the two girls standing in her door way. "Oh Wei, I didn't know that you bright two beautiful girls home with you." she said her son.
"Yeah Mom, they're gonna stay the night too." Wei replied rubbing his head from the wacks of the spoon.
"Oh wonderful! I'll go put two plates out and make the guest beds." she said, joyfully skipping to the kitchen.
"Sorry about that, my mom's a little." Wei said as he made a twirling motion with his finger next to his head.
"Haha, it's okay. So where's your dad?" Avira asked as she propped up her glider next to the cost hanger.
"He's probably finishing his work on the farm." Wei replied. After some conversation, the two girls became awfully found of Wei. Even Gia, who was wary of him at first. An a few minutes later, dinner was ready and Wei's mother came calling for them. As they sat down, Gia saw a man she felt she recognized sit at the head of the table. It was Wei's father. He had cleaned up for dinner and began to take some of the cabbage that
was sin a bowl.
"So, Wei, who are these two young ladies?" Wei's father asked as he began to bite into some meat.
"This is Avira and Gia." Wei answered as he pointed to each of the girls directly. At the mention of Gia's name, Wei's father's eyes shot up from his plate.
"Gia. That's a very pretty name. Much like the princess of Ba Sing Se. Were you named after her?" Wei's father asked Gia as if he were interrogating her.
"Actually dad she-"
"Yes, my parents are very devoted to the royal family. I live in the middle ring of Ba Sing Se." Gia interrupted, still cautious about Wei and his family.
"That's very interesting, I used to work for the Dai Li in the upper ring." Wei's father said, looking down at his plate once again. Gia's eyes became wide, fearing that Wei's father was watching her.
"Wow, the Dai Li. My dad tried to become a member but he wasn't trained enough." Gia replied uneasily. "If you will excuse me, I need a little fresh air." she said as she got up from her seat and went out the back door. Gia went to the barn where Mimi was feeding on some of the food. Avira and Wei came out soon after.
"Gia, what's wrong?" Avira asked.
"Wei's father is part of the Dai Li. My mother must have sent them to come after me." Gia said. Just as she began to speak again a pair of rock hands came and snatched her up.
"Gia!" Wei shouted as she was taken away to a member of the Dai Li. It was, as suspected, Wei's father. "Dad she's my friend, how could you!" Wei shouted as his father injected a serum into Gia's arm. She
immediately fell asleep and stopped wrestling him.
"It's just a part of the job son." Wei's father said with a sly look on his face. Wei was furious and screamed incomprehensible things as he chucked rocks at his father. Avira took to the sky and landed behind the Dai Li agent. She used a technique that took away his bending temporarily. The large man collapsed to the floor. Wei's mother gasped and broke down crying from inside the house.
"What...what did you do?" Wei asked Jinora.
"I used this technique called chi blocking. It takes away your bending for a short amount of time." Avira replied as she picked up the seemingly lifeless body of Gia. "She should wake up in an hour or so." Avira explained to Wei.
"Whoa, remind me never to get on your bad side." Wei said jokingly. He walked up to Avira and helped her carry Gia inside of the house.
"So does that mean your gonna come with us?" Avira asked having a slight blush on her face.
"Well, I'm not sure why I would have to. Gia's already a pretty good earthbender." Wei said as they hefted Gia into the house.
"I'm not sure if I should tell you this...but Gia is the avatar and while she is an earthbender she needs to master it. I think you could give her the motivation she needs so you can both master it." Avira explained while they lifted Gia onto the bed.
"Ok I guess I will pack then. My dad won't be to happy with me after this anyway." Wei said as they covered Gia and walked out the door.
The next morning Gia woke up with a large pile of drool next to her pillow. She'd been sleeping for a few hours. She began to panic when she began to remember what happened the night before. She got out of bed and flew through the door with her arms in front of her face, ready for combat. When she walked through the door, Gia saw Wei's mother, Wei, and Avira
quietly eating breakfast at the table. Wei's father was chained to the giant post holding up the center of the house. Black and blue bruises ran up and down his arms. He looked exhausted.
"Good morning, Gia." Wei said as he hand her a plate of food.
"Morning. What happened?" Gia replied as she took the plate. Avira and Wei explained what happened and told her that they had to leave. "Why do we have to leave?" Gia asked as they packed up their bags.
"My dad triggered a silent alarm last night. The Dai Li should be here soon." Wei replied. He walked over to his mother who stood in the barn door, crying. "Thank you for everything, Mom. I love you. Don't worry I'll come back, one day." Wei said as he embraced his crying mother. The plump lady sobbed into her son's chest like a baby would do to a mother.
"I-love-you-too." she said in between gasps of air. Wei and Avira climbed onto Sophi and took of in the air. Gia dug underneath ground with Mimi.