Jin summoned a thin earthen column from the ground, which struck the head-sized rock and sent it flying to the other side of the river. They had been here for some time in order for Aang to practice his Waterbending, while the twins and Sokka just relaxed.
"You guys are gonna be done soon, right?" Sokka asked from atop the leaf he was floating on, his eyes covered by his wet, mop-like hair. Momo, the Avatar's lemur, was curled up on top of him. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today".
"What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?" Katara countered.
Sokka continued to float on his leaf. "I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously. Whenever".
Jin rolled his eyes, and he could see Li shaking his head in amusement from the other side of the river as they continued their game. The rock flew through the air, and Jin kept his eyes on it as it came closer and closer. When the time to strike came, he thrust his arm upwards and summoned another thin earthen column, which struck the rock perfectly and sent it flying back to Li.
Don't fall in love with a traveling girl. She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted.
Jin turned to his left to see the oddest-dressed people he had ever seen walking down the path towards them. As they approached, he failed to take notice of the rock coming towards him, and it proceeded to hit him directly in the chest and send him sprawling onto the ground.
"Hey, hey! River people" one of the strangely-dressed musicians said as Jin got back on his feet. As he did so, Li walked over to him, and he had a superior smile on his face.
"We're not river people" Katara objected.
"You're not?" the musician asked. "Well, then what kind of people are you?"
"Just people" Aang replied.
"Aren't we all, brother? Hoo!"
As he spoke, Sokka stomped over to him, soaking wet from apparently falling into the river. "Who are you?" he demanded, pointing a finger at the group.
"I'm Chong" the one with the pipa replied. "And this is my wife Lily. We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us".
"You guys are nomads?" Aang asked excitedly. "That's great! I'm a nomad!"
"Hey, me too!" Chong said.
"I know. You just said that" Aang replied as Jin and Li exchanged a deadpan expression.
"Nice underwear" Chong suddenly said, and the twins saw that he was looking at Sokka. The Water Tribe boy awkwardly covered himself with Momo before zipping over to where the supplies were.
Iroh gasped, drawing my attention as Zuko struggled to get out of a bush. "I didn't find anything to eat. I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive" he complained, dusting off his clothes. After our escape from Princess Azula, the three of us had acquired simple Earth Kingdom rags; we were now, officially, refugees, with no home and no place to go.
Looking down at what had caused Iroh's reaction, I saw that he was crouched down in front of a small bush with white and red blossoms.
"This is impossible!" Zuko said, causing me to roll my eyes. "Uncle… what are you doing?"
"You're looking at the rare White Dragon bush!" Iroh said excitedly. "Its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking!"
I kneeled beside him, staring down at the plant. "Are you sure it's not the White Jade bush? It could be poisonous".
Iroh held his chin in his hands, examining the blossom closely.
"We need food, not tea" Zuko objected. "I'm going fishing".
"Hmm. Delectable tea, or deadly poison?" Iroh asked.
I placed a hand on his shoulder and said "Whatever it turns out to be, I will drink the tea with you. There's no need for you to have all the risk". He smiled at that, and I proceeded to help him gather the supplies necessary for tea-brewing.
Once we'd assembled a rudimentary pot, we crushed up the blossom and introduced it into the water. I held the pot over my left hand, trying to start a flame. Every time I tried, a small puff of blue winked in and out of existence, and I growled in anger. "Why won't it work?! My Firebending has always worked!"
Iroh gently took the pot from me, lighting his own flame. "It has to do with your emotional state" he told me as the teapot warmed. "Firebenders' power comes from an internal flame, a drive that keeps them going. For a select few, like you and Azula, your flame, in concurrence with a balanced and controlled emotional state, results in blue flames and the ability to generate lightning".
"So I've lost my inner flame" I surmised, staring down at the ground dejectedly.
Iroh nodded. "You have always been able to control your emotions, which set you apart from most of our people. I suspect that the loss of your inner flame is because of the losses you have experienced recently".
I held my head in my hands, feeling despair washing over me. He was right; losing my father, Jin and Li, and now Takara had thrown my normally-controlled emotions into complete chaos.
"There is still cause for hope" Iroh told me encouragingly as he poured the tea into cups that we had fashioned. "I'm sure your boys are out there somewhere, looking for you. And Takara is a strong woman; she's a fighter, that one".
He then handed one of the tea cups to me, and I smiled a little. We then drank the tea, and images of Takara and the twins continued to flash before my eyes.
Jin and Li stared ahead as one of the nomads braided their hair. The twins looked at each other dejectedly, sighing in defeat. Katara was also getting her hair braided, as well as Appa. The giant Bison rested on his side as Lily braided thick portions of his fur, putting flowers in each braid.
"Hey, Sokka", Aang said as the Water Tribe boy approached, "you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere".
"Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead" Chong said. "But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs".
"They said they'll take us to see a giant Night Crawler" Aang said excitedly.
"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow!" one of the nomads added, rolling onto his back and looking up at the sky.
Sokka didn't look pleased. "Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy, I guess it's up to me". His sister glared over at him as he continued. "We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows".
"Whoa!" Chong said in his laid-back tone. "Sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever. Ha ha. You're worried too much about where you're going".
"You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going" Lily added.
"OMASHU" Sokka said, dragging out every syllable.
"Sokka's right" Katara agreed. "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn Earthbending somewhere safe, and we need to get Jin and Li to their relatives".
The twins cast a surreptitious glance at one another; their story would only hold until they reached Omashu, and then they would have to decide on what their next move would be. The boys had no idea where their father might be, or even if he was still alive, but the hope that they might see him again kept them going.
"Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu" Chong said, prompting the twins and Sokka to slap their hands against their foreheads. "There's an old story about a secret pass… right through the mountains".
Katara eyed him skeptically. "Is this real or a legend?"
"Oh, it's a real legend" Chong replied, causing the twins to roll their eyes. "And it's as old as Earthbending itself". He proceeded to string his pipa.
Two lovers forbidden from one another. A war divides their people and a mountain divides them apart. Built a path to be together.
"Yeah, I forget the next couple lines", Chong said, glancing up at the sky, "but then it goes…"
Secret tunnel. Secret tunnel through the mountain. Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnellll!"
Jin and Li applauded along with everyone else, except for Sokka, who said "I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine".
"Yeah, thanks for the help", Aang said, standing up, but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable". The Bison rumbled its agreement.
As it turned out, being shot at by an endless array of Fire Nation catapults which fired flaming, exploding projectiles did not, in fact, make Appa most comfortable. Soon enough, they were back on the ground, slowly stalking past the nomads and covered in soot. "Secret love cave" Sokka said, pointing ahead. "Let's go".
I scratched over every part of my body, trying desperately to eliminate the damnable itch that was slowly driving me mad. As it turned out, the blossom we had crushed and drank in tea form was, in fact, the White Jade bush, and Iroh and I had almost instantly developed rashes over most of our bodies that itched like nothing I had ever before experienced.
A rustling sound could be heard from behind us, and I saw from the corner of my eye that Zuko had returned with a fish the size of my pinky finger speared on a long, sharp stick; it was pretty pathetic.
"Zuko", Iroh said, looking down at the bush, "remember that plant I thought might be tea?"
"You didn't!" the teenager said.
"We did" I replied solemnly. Iroh and I then turned to look at Zuko, baring our swelling rashes to him. "And it wasn't".
"Aagh!" he exclaimed, jumping back at the sight of us.
The squat, older man scratched his back with a stick as we stood up. "When the rash spreads to our throats, we will stop breathing". He then showed the stick to Zuko, specifically the berries at the end of it. "But look what I found! These are Pacui Berries, known to cure the poison of the White Jade plant!"
I reached into my shirt and scratched at my chest as I clenched my teeth in irritation. "Or, as I have been telling him, they could be Maka'ole Berries, which could make us blind".
That caused Zuko to make up his mind. The scarred teenager took the berries from Iroh and threw them away. "We're not taking any more chances with these plants! We need to get help".
"But where are we going to go?" I countered, contorting my arms so as to reach the maddening itch in the middle of my back. "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom, and fugitives from the Fire Nation!"
"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us", Zuko said after a moment, holding his chin in his hand, "they'll have us killed".
"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula" Iroh added.
My eyes widened, picturing the myriad of unspeakable fates that might befall us if the Princess got her clawed hands on us. The three of us nodded, being of the same mind. "Earth Kingdom it is" Zuko said aloud.
"So how far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked as they all walked along.
"Actually, it's not just one tunnel" Chong replied. "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth".
The comment made everyone stop dead in their tracks, and Sokka gripped his head in a panic. "Labyrinth?!"
"I'm sure we'll figure it out" Chong said nonchalantly. Jin and Li exchanged dubious glances, having become quite annoyed at the nomad's laid-back personality that never went away.
Everyone kept walking, and Lily said "All you need to do is trust in love, according to the curse". Sokka stopped in his tracks yet again, and he proceeded to growl in annoyance.
"Curse?!"
"Hey, hey! We're here!" Chong exclaimed once they reached the entrance to a pretty sizeable tunnel. Jin and Li noticed that it was not unlike where they had set up camp when their father had brought them along to capture the Avatar. Fate, it seemed, was rather ironic; their first visit to the city was as the Avatar's hunters, and now they were going back as the Avatar's allies.
"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked, looking at the engraving above the mouth of the tunnel.
"The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves" Chong explained. "Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever".
"And die" Lily added.
"Oh yeah, and die. Hey! I just remembered the rest of that song". Chong then strung his pipa before he started singing.
And die!
"That's it!" Sokka exclaimed. "There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!"
Just then, one of the nomads pointed behind them and said "Hey! Someone's making a big campfire!"
Jin and Li tensed as Katara said "That's no campfire, Moku".
"It's Fire Nation. They're tracking us" Sokka finished.
"So all you need is love to get through these caves?" Aang asked, sounding nervous.
"That is correct, Master Arrowhead" Chong replied.
"We can make it" the bald boy said assuredly. They then proceeded to enter the tunnel, with Appa growling in protest the whole way in. Suddenly, the entire tunnel shook as the entrance was blocked, leaving them trapped inside. Appa tried digging through the rocks, but to no avail.
"It's okay, Appa" Katara soothed as she pat the large Bison. "We'll be fine. I hope".
"We will be fine" Sokka assured everyone. "All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?"
"Um, about two hours each" the nomad replied.
"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours!" Lily exclaimed as she proceeded to light all the torches. Jin and Li exchanged annoyed glances before slapping their foreheads.
"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka scolded as he stamped out the four torches. "I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through". They then set out to find a way out of the tunnels, alive if at all possible.
I shuddered in pleasure as I felt the cold, soothing cream being applied to my maddening rashes. Iroh, Zuko, and I had stumbled upon a small village, where we had found a healer who was even now treating Iroh and me for our mistake in the forest.
"You three must not be from around here" the healer said. "We know better than to touch the White Jade. Much less make it into tea and drink it".
Iroh and I exchanged nervous smiles as he said "Oops!"
"So where are you traveling from?" she asked. She seemed like a very kind woman, and we had been fortunate to wind up in her care, but we had to be careful about our story. We were fugitives from both the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, and our identities had to be created with great care and intelligence.
Which is why the Spirits decided to have the exact opposite happen.
"Yes, we're travelers!" Zuko exclaimed, standing up straight.
"Do you have names?" the woman asked, and I could see how the question put the scarred teenager decidedly off-balance.
"Names? Of course we have names. I'm… Lee. And this is my uncle… uh, Mushi".
Iroh glared at Zuko, and I placed a hand on the older man's shoulder and said "He's my father. My name is Jin".
Iroh proceeded to give me a wide grin before saying to the woman "My nephew was named after his father, so we just call him 'Junior'".
I couldn't help but smirk as Zuko discreetly glared at his uncle. "Mushi, Jin, and Junior, huh? My name is Song. You two look like you could use a good meal". She paused in order to slap Iroh's hand away as he started to scratch a rash. "Why don't you stay for dinner?"
My stomach rumbled; we hadn't had a proper meal in days, and my hunger was quite profound. "Sorry, but we need to be moving on" Zuko said. I could see in that moment that the banished Prince wouldn't accept charity from people he thought to be beneath him. At some point, he would have to swallow his pride and accept the humble life that he now lived.
"That's too bad" Song said. "My mom always makes too much roast duck".
Iroh was at her side faster than an Airbender running from an avalanche. "Where do you live, exactly?"
A few hours later, and we found ourselves in Song's home, kneeling in front of a table as her mother served us food that smelled incredibly delicious. "My daughter tells me you're refugees. We were once refugees ourselves".
"When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village" Song explained. "All the men were taken away. That was the last time I saw my father".
As I started to fill my belly with the exquisite roast duck, visions of my own father flashed before my eyes. He didn't appear happy, like he did in some of my earliest memories; rather, he appeared hateful, like he had before he died, looking down at me with contempt.
"I haven't seen my father in many years" Zuko said solemnly as I exchanged a surreptitious glance with Iroh.
"Oh. Is he fighting in the war?" Song asked. The question caught us off-guard; Iroh froze with noodles hanging out of his mouth, and I almost choked on the bit of duck I was chewing on.
"Yeah" Zuko replied, and I could sense the pain in his voice. While I could tell myself I could only imagine what having a man like Fire Lord Ozai for a father was like, I knew in my heart exactly what that was like.
After what seemed like an eternity, the group hit yet another dead end, despite the use of Sokka's map. As he examined the map every which way imaginable, Katara said "Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to!"
"This doesn't make any sense!" Sokka said. "We already came through this way".
"We don't need a map" Chong said, and the twins had to consciously restrain themselves from strangling the singing nomad. "We just need love. The little guy knows it" he said, pointing to Aang.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also" the bald boy replied.
"There's something strange here" Sokka said, drawing the twins' attention. "There's only one explanation: the tunnels are changing". Some of the group turned their heads towards the twins, and Jin wrote on the ground that they weren't the ones responsible.
Suddenly, the tunnel rumbled slightly, and everyone was slightly on edge. "It's the tunnels" Chong said nervously, glancing all around them, "they're a-changing. It must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here!"
"Right" Sokka said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "if only we'd listened to you".
Jin and Li cocked their heads as they started hearing something. Katara caught on, saying "Everyone, quiet! Listen!" A wail could be heard from nearby, and not a moment later, a vicious wolfbat swooped down towards the group. Jin and Li instantly reacted, kicking small chunks of rock from the ground and punching them towards the large bat. Sokka attempted to get rid of the creature by swinging the torch, but he eventually dropped it at Appa's feet.
The large, white Bison shied away from the flame with a low growl. It then started smashing into the walls of the cave in a panic, causing it to quake each time.
Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed, and the twins used their Earthbending in order to slide themselves, the nomads, and Sokka to safety, while Aang used his Airbending in order to blow himself and Katara to safety on the other side. The cave ceiling came crashing down, spreading dust and small rocks around as it separated the group.
As Jin and Li dusted themselves off, Sokka started moving rocks out of the way. "Yeah, it's no use" Chong said. "We're separated. But at least you have us!"
The comment made the Water Tribe boy scream in panic as he renewed his digging with a sheer ferocity that the twins had rarely seen. Unfortunately, his digging caused another layer of rocks and dust to come tumbling down, and Jin used his Bending to have a mid-sized rock strike Sokka in the chest and bring him away from the barrier just as the new rocks would have buried him.
Sokka quickly stood up and turned to the twins. Gripping Jin's shoulders, he said "Hey, you guys are Earthbenders; get me out of here!"
Jin glanced up at the barrier before looking over to Li, who wrote in the ground. They weren't sure if moving the barrier was a good idea; it could upset the cave even more and cause another cave-in which might kill them all. Sokka proceeded to wail in grief, and the twins patted his back sympathetically.
They proceeded to go forward, and the nomads insisted on singing yet another song. If they had to listen to one more melody, then Jin and Li would bury them all as a mercy.
Oh don't let the cave-in get you down. Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown. When the tunnel's as dark as that's when you need a clown. Hey! Don't let the cave-in get you down, Sokka!
Sokka looked just about ready to scream, and the twins couldn't blame him; if they had been able to speak, then they would have screamed long before now.
"Thank you for the duck" Iroh said as we stood in front of Song's home.
"It was excellent" I added with a smile.
"You're welcome" Song's mother told us. "It brings me joy to see someone eat my cooking with such… gusto".
I cast a surreptitious glance at Iroh's large belly as he patted it. "Much practice". He and I then bowed to Song and her mother as Zuko started to walk away. "Junior, where are your manners?"
"You need to thank these nice people, cousin" I said, running a hand through my hair.
"Thank you" Zuko said, bowing. I was reminded of our first meeting, when his uncle had forced him to bow to me and my father when he didn't want to.
"I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope" Song said. "The Avatar has returned".
I glanced over at Zuko, who looked out at the darkened wilderness as he said with a tinge of bitterness "I know". The three of us proceeded to walk away as Song and her mother went back into their home. An ostrich horse was feeding on grass nearby, and Zuko untied the animal from its post before guiding it onto the dirt road.
"What are you doing?!" Iroh hissed, trying not to make too much noise. "These people just showed you great kindness".
The scarred teenager mounted the ostrich horse. "They're about to show us a little more kindness".
"Don't you have any decency in you?" I demanded.
"If you don't like it, then deal with it!" Zuko growled before turning to his uncle, who hung his head low before reluctantly mounting the animal. He then turned to me and asked "Well?"
Glancing back at the house, I said "There's not room enough for all three of us to fit on that thing. I'll walk". Zuko then urged the ostrich horse forward while I walked beside it, surreptitiously scowling at the teenager.
He really didn't have any honour in him.
Jin and Li held their hands over their ears, grimacing as Chong's singing reverberated through the tunnel they were walking through. Suddenly, they heard a series of screeches coming from nearby. Turning to where the disturbance was, they saw a swarm of wolfbats coming towards them.
As the creatures flew by, Sokka started screaming and flailing his arms out like a wounded octopus. Jin and Li, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, shooting spiked rocks up at the bats.
After a few moments, the twins stopped attacking when they noticed that the bats were completely ignoring them and flying to the other side of the tunnel they were in.
"Hey! You saved us, Sokka!" Chong cried.
The twins shook their heads, and Sokka said "No. They were trying to get away from something!"
"From what?" Chong asked, and as the tunnel started shaking, Jin and Li glared at him for tempting fate. Suddenly, something exploded from the tunnel wall ahead of them, and the dust cloud was moved out of the way, revealing a gargantuan Badgermole.
Another one emerged from the other side of the group, and the blind creatures used their natural Earthbending to seal off the tunnel at both ends.
Jin kicked a boulder out of the ground before punching it towards one of the brown-furred creatures. It made a swiping motion with one of its clawed hands, and the boulder shattered into a dust cloud before it could reach its mark. At the same time, Li fired two spiked pieces of rock towards the other Badgermole, with similar results.
The Badgermole directly in front of the twins started advancing menacingly, and the boys fell onto their backs beside Sokka. The three of them scooted back as quickly as they could.
Just then, a single note from a pipa sounded through the tunnel, and the Badgermoles suddenly stopped. Jin and Li exchanged incredulous glances with one another before looking back at the terrifying blind animal before them. Its head was cocked to the side, as if it wanted to hear more music.
Sokka stood up and started stringing the pipa, prompting Chong to say "Hey, those things are music-lovers!"
Badgermoles coming towards me. Come on guys, help me out.
The twins gave him the most serious expression they could muster, and their Water Tribe companion awkwardly smiled once he remembered that they couldn't sing.
Chong and the nomads, however, were more than up to the task.
The big bad Badgermoles who opened the tunnels hate the wolfbats but love the sounds!
Soon enough, they rode the terrifying, gargantuan beasts through the labyrinth, eventually bursting out of a wall and into bright, shining daylight. Jin and Li let out breaths they didn't know they'd had; even though they loved being around earth, that was a little much for their taste.
"Sokka!" Katara cried. "Jin! Li!"
The twins slid down the Badgermole behind Sokka, who asked "How did you guys get out?"
"Just like the legend says: we let love lead the way" Aang explained, glancing at Katara, and the twins smirked to each other; his infatuation with the Water Tribe girl was blatantly obvious to everyone except her.
"Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way" Sokka said, gesturing to the Badgermoles. The blind creatures promptly returned into the holes they had made, which sealed behind them.
"What's wrong with your foreheads?" Katara asked, referring to the redness on Sokka's and the twins' foreheads.
Chong suddenly appeared at their side. "Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you" he said discreetly. "I think that kid might be the Avatar". The twins glanced at each other and Sokka before all three slapped their foreheads, making the redness more pronounced.
With that, they parted ways with the nomads, who sang until they were out of ear-shot. Jin and Li wrapped an arm around each other's shoulders, overjoyed at the distinct lack of singing as they, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Momo, and Appa climbed a small hill on their way to Omashu. The only dark cloud hanging over them was what their next move was. Their story wouldn't hold forever, and they had to come to a decision on what to do next.
"The journey was long and annoying", Sokka said as he led the way, "but now you get to see what it's really about: the destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O… Oh no!"
The twins gazed out at the distance when they stood next to Sokka, and their mouths fell open at the sight of the great mountain city of Omashu. The single rock walkway that led to the main gate was gone, with several metal bridges leading to the city at various points in its place. Several plumes of black smoke drifted from various points in the city itself, and a crimson Fire Nation banner hung where previously an Earth Kingdom banner hung.
Jin and Li cast surreptitious glances at each other; perhaps their story would hold for a little longer than they thought.
Well, it won't be long before the Gaang come into conflict with Azula. Won't that be exciting?
Guillo: None taken, although I must warn you that the twins' adventures form a significant chunk of the narrative for this part of the story, which allows me to do two things: a) put them into the spotlight, otherwise they take a backseat to Shan We and Takara b) feature the Gaang in more than just passing like the previous section.
Please review and favourite/follow! I'm always looking for feedback on my stories.