So yes, this is my way of trying to compensate for the months of inactivity. Enjoy, the earth queen.
They all stood on the deck of the air ship, training Bumi and Kai while they flew through the sky with Oogi.
"Light on your feet uncle Bumi!" Jinora said as Bumi threw punches in the air and circle Kai. "Remember, you want to be quick and evasive."
"Don't worry about me, little lady. I've been in a scarp or two," He said, chuckling. "Oh, you're just a youngster, so I'm going to go easy on you. Wouldn't want to hurt a kid" But he was cut short as Kai dived forward, sending him flying over to the stair with a gust of wind. "Whoa!"
"Uncle Bumi, you've got to work on your stance changes," Jinora said matter-of-factly as she and Kai went to go help him up. "Kai, that was, really good."
From up above, a little bit higher, Aang spoke to Tenzin. "Jinora really is a remarkable girl Tenzin. She's a great teacher."
"Hmm? Oh, yes, I suppose…she is." Tenzin said thoughtfully.
"Hmm, did I drop my wallet?" Bumi said, checking his pockets. Kai laughed, waving the wallet in the air. "Give me that back to little thief!" Bumi demanded, running after him.
"It's so exciting to be on a diplomatic mission to Ba-sing-se. What's the earth queen like?" She said to Tenzin.
Aang sighed and flopped himself over the rail. "Ba-sing-se; good memories…and really bad memories. Too many rules, is what Toph would say."
"I've never met the Earth Queen," Tenzin said. "But I've heard she can be quite…demanding."
"Demanding is better than being secretly controlled by a group of people who are brainwashing people and pretending that a hundred year long war is fake even though there's a giant fire nation drill right outside the wall." Aang said.
They blinked.
"Are…you alright Aang?" Korra said.
"What? Oh, I'm fine. Just saying, however Ba-sing-se is today, believe me, it was probably way worse then. The Da-li were creepy." He said.
"This is it Mako!" Bolin said, jubilated. "We made it! This is where dad grew up! Come here. Look! LOOK!"
"Okay, calm down, I'm looking." Mako said, walking over as they came up to the great city itself. They flew over and Aang frowned, seeing how bad It had become.
"Wow," He said. "They had a lot of refuges from the war back in the day…but it wasn't…this bad."
"Yep, I can smell it from here." Bolin said. "No wonder dad left."
They flew over the other rings and Aang frown deepened. They really needed to see about fixing this problem. They landed at the palace, to be greeted by a man in green earth kingdom robes. "Avatar-" He stopped, seeing the problem.
"It's, avatars now." Aang said.
"Ah. Avatars Aang and Korra, master Tenzin. It is a pleasure to welcome you and your party to the upper rings of Ba-Sing-Se." He said, bowing. "I'm grand secretariat Gun," He continued.
Aang and Korra bowed in return. "Thank you."
Bolin stepped forward with Naga, Pabu, and Oogi. "Ahh, it's got that upper ring smell."
"Oh no," Gun said. "The queen hates animals. We've got to get them out of sight."
"Well, I can just stash Pabu in my shirt." Bolin said. Aang quiet liked Pabu, Naga, and Oogi; they reminded him of Momo and Appa. "But these two are going to be a bit more difficult."
"Come with me, hurry. I'll take you to your quarters."
Well, at least he didn't start with "Hello, I'm Ju-Dee… Aang thought.
"Now, when you meet the queen, make sure you bow low enough." Gun told them as he left them to their quarters. "And don't look her in the eye, she can't stand that. If any food is served, don't eat before she eats. Oh, actually I have to taste her food first, then she eats, then you can eat. Better yet, just, don't eat."
"Seem like an awful lot of rules." Korra said.
"What do you know? Toph is still right about that." Aang said.
"Oh, you have no idea. And I'm the one who get in trouble when people don't follow them, so please, for my sake, just try not to upset her majesty."
They walked on, as no one noticed what Kai was doing, slipping away.
"Here we are." Gun said, gesturing to a large house. Aang had another serious moment of feeling like he was walking into a memory, seeing a memory that had long since faded, now brought to life. It was just like when he was twelve.
"Ooh, very swanky." Bolin said.
"Now go in and make yourself comfortable, but keep those animals out of her majesty's sight!" Gun said, taking them inside. "Avatars Aang and Korra, if you'd please follow me, we don't want to keep her majesty waiting."
On a side of the palace they walked forward, as the queen was overseeing a garden arrangement. "You majesty, may I present the Avatars, Aang and Korra."
They bowed, very respectfully.
"You're ruining the Koi pond! It's completely overshadowed by the topiaries!" She shouted. "Guards, take that buffoon away. And get me someone who knows what they're doing! You, rip everything out and start over!" She said, as the guards took the other man away. "I am surrounded by idiots." She turned, as if noticing for the first time that they were there. "So, I finally get a visit from the avatars." She looked Aang and sniffed. "Don't expect me to grovel just because you saved the world once. That's ancient history."
Aang smiled cheerfully. "Actually, I had a lot of help, and I wouldn't expect you to grovel either way. Er…your majesty."
"Hmm. Let me guess, you want something." She said.
"Well, actually your majesty, we were kind of hoping you could-" Korra began.
"I hardly think you're in the position to ask me for favors. After everything you did to the Earth Kingdom." She said, glaring at Aang.
"Hey!"
"You and fire lord Zuko took advantage of my father weakness and stole our lands to make your little empire." She said.
"I thought we were long past this. Look, it's a place for people of all nations to come together and live in peace." Aang said.
"The United Republic is Earth Kingdom land." She said.
"Believe me, it wasn't an easy decision for any of us. But the United Republic represents the future, people of all nations living harmoniously side-by-side." Aang said.
"Well, we're not sure about what we can do for you about any of that-" Korra started.
"Not that either of you care, but what's left of my kingdom is falling to ruin. Roving bands of barbarians are raiding villages across the countryside. And now some of my subjects are refusing to pay their taxes." The earth queen said.
Aang winced. "We're very sorry about your troubles, but we really need to-"
"That topiary is supposed to be an eel-swan not a turtle-duck!"
Aang sighed.
"NO! To your left! Your other left!" She shouted. She sighed and turned to them. "Do you have these problems with your servants?"
"We don't have…servants." Aang said cautiously.
"But, your majesty the reason for our visit is that we're trying to find new airbenders and we'd like your help finding the ones in Ba-Sing-Se." Korra finished.
"Airbenders in Ba-Sing-Se? Where did you here that?" She said.
"Before we left republic city we got some reports." Korra said helpfully.
"It's really important they come with us so they can properly learn airbending from us." Aang said.
"Hmm, well, before I even consider helping you, I'll need you to do something for me." She said.
"Oh." Korra said.
"Of course," Aang said, reluctantly. "What do you need help with?"
"I have a vault full of tax money sitting in a town south of here," She said, turning back to the garden. "Barbarians have stolen my last two shipments. Go, collect my money, and bring it back here."
"Yes, your majesty." Korra said, and they both respectfully bowed and left.
Korra and Aang decided that he would stay in the city, while she and Asami went to collect the tax money.
Actually, Aang had lied, saying he was tired. There was a different…reason. He walked through the upper ring, until he found what he was looking for.
It was still there, looking like it had always. Iron's tea shop, The Jasmine Dragon. Aang walked in, keeping a low profile so people wouldn't notice him, and ordered some tea. It wasn't as good as Iroh's had been, but the memory was there.
Aang couldn't help but wander through Ba-Sing-Se a little that day, remembering good memories, and bad. Tenzin and him had gotten a glider figured out for Aang, so the walls weren't a problem.
Aang met up with Korra after she had returned with the tax payments, hearing about everything that happened.
"So, now your majesty if we could please start meeting some of the airbenders here in the city." Korra said.
"The Dai Li thoroughly searched the city, but it seems your reports were incorrect. There are no airbenders in Ba-Sing-Se." The earth queen said. "So, you can gather your little band and be on your way tomorrow."
"That's…impossible." Aang said.
"You make me do your dirty work extorting you own citizens for your stupid palaces and topiaries, and then you just want to send us away?!" Korra demanded.
"We're not leaving the city until we find some airbenders!" Aang added.
"We know there are some here!" Korra said.
"Get them out of my sight!" The earth queen declared.
They left, even though Korra turned to shout at the Earth Queen, but Aang looked at her and shook his head. This wasn't the time. They were going to look for airbenders, but they didn't need to shout that at the queen.
In other parts of the city, a truth was revealed to Mako and Bolin, and Kai faced the Dai Li on his own.
He didn't win.
So there's that bit of a cliff hanger for you….but really. The next chapter will be up today. You really aren't waiting that long.
Okay, yes, once again I kind of condensed or skipped over some parts. Hey, I've got things to do, and for the sake of this fic? That's the price I pay. I might have to start doing that with a couple entire episodes. ((Please remember the elephant-rhino in the room that we are not going to mention. (If there's an episode Aang wouldn't be in anyways, it will be skipped, either way.))
So yeah, you might complain Aang wasted an entire day. Give the man a break. He's trying to come to terms with the fact that he's further into the future, in a younger body. Yes, he's trying to hold on to memories. He's human to.
Oh, and sorry if the text size is weird. My computer doesn't like me today.
Hope you're having a wonderful day!
Avatar Lizzy.