[A/N: I am back baby!]
Long Feng's commanding presence stood looming before hundreds of cloaked figures who gazed awed at him as they prepared themselves for his much anticipated speech. They were a mile underground in the resurrected base of the Dai Li, Lake Laogai. The room in which they were was an enormous damp cave, illuminated by dim, green lights. Each of the men stood quietly with an air of discipline and loyalty.
"Loyal subordinates" Long Feng said in a declaratory voice. "After years of waiting the time is finally at hand! After 4 years of attempting to reconstruct itself in the wake of the war's end the Earth Kingdom is now weak; its economy in shambles, its army scattered and disorganized, and its ruler in question for the first time in centuries! Now is the time to strike!"
The men remained silent despite the impact the words had on them. The agents of the Dai Li who had assisted in Long Feng's veiled control of Ba Sing Se had either been arrested and executed by the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation militaries or had fled into exile. Long Feng had spent the years subsequent to the war secretly and quietly rebuilding the Dai Li. Most of the men he had assembled were citizens of the Earth Kingdom especially poor farmers or merchants from the outskirts of the kingdom who had been displaced by the war and driven into desperation by the ravaged state of their nation and the Earth King's harsh taxation (which Long Feng had conceived and enacted himself while he was still grand secretariat to Ba Sing Se). Using what remained of his great wealth, Long Feng took these men in, helped them to master their Earthbending and trained them as his agents.
"When the Fire Lord's soldiers came to destroy your homes and kill your families the Earth King was content to sit idly by and do nothing" Long Feng continued. "It is because of him that your lives were in wrecks when I found you. But who was there for you when your wife was defiled and your children crushed under the hammer of a Fire Nation soldier? I was! Who was there when your parents were burned alive and your possessions were scattered all over the road? I was! Who was there when you were forced to watch your home burn to the ground as crowds of screaming, orphaned children ran screaming past you? I was! Who was there when you were a poor, battered refugee trying to sell a dried husk of corn to get enough money to buy a decent pair of shoes to protect yourself from the ratvipers as you slept outside like a common animal? I was! Who was there when every single person you ever cared about was cut down and slaughtered like beasts as those inhuman monsters laughed in pleasure?"
"Long Feng!" the crowd cheered.
"That's right!" their leader said. "And now after all this time in waiting we will finally have our revenge against that selfish tyrant who allowed it all to happen!"
The agents erupted into thunderous applause. "Death to the Earth King! Death to the Earth King!" they chanted.
"No. Not yet at least" Long Feng interjected when the crowd calmed itself. The men appeared confused and disappointed at this remark until he continued, "That would be much too crude. We want more than the simple death of our enemy. If the King dies then another corrupt bureaucrat will simply take his place and things will stay the way they are. If we wish for things in our country to improve we must overthrow the government all together."
Two agents stood adjacent to Long Feng. Their names were poli and jing, the only agents who had remained loyal to him since before the end of the war. poli stood at his right, jing at his left.
"How will we do that sir?" jing asked.
jing was distinguishable by his brown mustache.
"We will convince the people of the Earth Kingdom to rebel against the totalitarianism regime. We must make them question their required loyalty to the Earth King and once they do they will cease to obey him. Of course we must offer something in return. We will offer them freedom" Long Feng explained.
"Freedom?" jing repeated.
"Yes my trusted servant" Long Feng said with a dire smirk. "Freedom from the Earth King's tyrannical rule, freedom from the Earth Kingdom itself; that is what we will offer. We will free the citizens of the Earth Kingdom from the King's oppression by establishing a new regime with me as their wise, compassionate leader. It will be a peaceful orderly society with the Dai Li preserving its cultural heritage and integrity for all eternity."
The members of the Dai Li stood in unsure apprehension as they digested the magnitude of their master's proposed plan.
"How will we do that sir?" poli asked after many minutes of silence.
"Simple," Long Feng answered, "You, the Dai Li agents, will take to the streets of every corner of the Earth Kingdom and tell of the Earth King's autocracy and corruption; you will hide among them, make yourselves out to be simple merchants and farmers as you once were. Tell them of the atrocities of your life and of how the King is to blame for them. When the soldiers come to collect taxes from them and after they have sold their entire crop and have earned but a single gold piece tell the citizens that is a better way than this, that there could be without the Earth King's greed. And you will tell them of me Long Feng, leader of the Dai Li, the only man brave enough to oppose the cruel dictator and give them the option to rally to our cause. Tell them of how we will stand outside Ba Sing Se's great wall and demand fair treatment, and how when he refuses we will bring down the wall and overthrow the entire bureaucracy, casting aside the Earth King and his fraudulent regime and replacing it with a new regime, with me, Long Feng standing as its proud, kindhearted leader, and you the Dai Li always at my side. We will convince the disgruntled leader's within the Earth King's circle to join us and once we rally many subsectors to our cause we will have them succeed from the Earth Kingdom, forming our own perfect Kingdom; the Kingdom of Laogai! And once our Kingdom and our army grow to formidable stature we will take back Ba Sing
Se and it will be forever under the control of the Dai Li!"
The agents of the Dai Li burst into a frenzy of excited cheering. "Long Feng! Long Feng! Long Feng!" they jolted as they applauded.
"Now go!" Long Feng commanded. "Take to streets! Travel to the farthest corners of the Earth Kingdom! Do as I have instructed and await further orders, but do not reveal yourself, if the King detects a whisper of our plot it will all unravel. It may take months, even years, but we will have our revenge and our freedom!"
As the agents dispersed and prepared to receive individual assignments of which part of the Kingdom they were to travel to poli and jing, being the most trusted and highest ranking of the members stayed with Long Feng.
"Sir," poli began, "what are we to do about the Avatar?"
"He is the King's ally" jing reminded. "He is also powerful enough to stop us single-handedly."
"Do not loose a moment's sleep over this conundrum my servants" Long Feng assured confidently. "We will deal with him and his friends soon enough."
Meanwhile in Ba Sing Se, Iroh was instructing Toph in the proper technique in brewing the perfect pot of tea made from the rare Green Jade Flower.
"The secret is in the timing" the intelligent old man instructed Toph as she carefully added the tea leaves into the boipoli water. "If the tea is given too much or too little time to settle it will become bitter. You must find balance and moderation." Iroh's tea making lessons tended to include messages that could be applied to more than just tea.
Iroh allowed Toph to judge for herself the proper amount of time for the leaves to ferment as he wanted her to gain experience. Finally after patiently critiquing the potency of the water, she removed the small kettle from the fire. Iroh took a small samppoli cup and poured himself a glass, as Toph anxiously awaited his verdict.
After taking a sip of the drink Iroh closed his eyes as though he was deep in thought and considered his conclusion. "It is wonderful" he said after about 30 seconds.
"However," Iroh interjected, "there is still room for improvement. You left the kettle on for slightly too long, and while it did not turn the brew bitter, it is not as good as it has the potential to be. It was a common flaw of Earth; you were waiting patiently for the right moment to act, but the fault with this logic is that sometimes while you are waiting the proper time to strike appears but you do not notice it. Learn to judge with superior accuracy the perfect time to act and your combat and tea-brewing skills will rise dramatically."
"I will, you can count on it" Toph promised.
"I will my old friend" Iroh said as he placed the kettle on a tray. "Now come on, we should not keep Aang and Katara waiting any longer."
"Aang and Katara are here?!" Toph shouted happily as she jetted to her feet.
"Yes and they have brought wonderful news with them."
Toph and Iroh exited the kitchen and entered the Jasmine Dragon. It was the end of the day so it was completely empty save for one table occupied by Aang and Katara. As usual of these visits Appa peeked his gargantuan head through the entrance of the restaurant curiously as Aang's flying lemur Momo rested on his head.
"Well if it isn't my favorite softies" Toph greeted as she entered the room, holding a tray of porcelain cups. Toph often regarded Aang and Katara as such due to the fundamentally gentler nature of the elements Air and Water.
"Nice to see you too Toph" Katara returned, taking the affectionate tease lightly.
"Hi Toph" Aang said as he rose to his feet.
Toph had been Aang's Earthbending teacher but they still retained a casual friendship.
"I hope being married hasn't softened you two up too much" Toph teased playfully. "I worked too hard to get your mushy bones into Earthbending shape for that to go to waste."
"Not a chance of that happening" Aang chuckled.
"Is that right?" Toph responded as she raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Think fast, Twinkletoes!"
Toph stomped the ground and launched a stone statue into the air, and with a punching motion sent it flying towards Aang's face.
Fast as lighting, Aang caught the statue in his hand and set it on the ground.
"You'll have to get up pretty early in the morning to get me with that old…" Aang started before the ground shifted under his feet and he was thrown off balance and tossed to the floor.
"Sifu one: pupil zero" Toph boasted.
She then walked over to Aang as he rubbed his sore bottom and offered him her hand.
"Now get up here and give your teacher a hug before I smash you into the ground."
Rolling his eye Aang took Toph's hand and rose to his feet and did as he was told. After he did Katara walked over and embraced Toph as well.
"Now what's this good news Iroh was telling me about?" Toph asked after they all sat down and were given a cup of tea.
"Well it's pretty big" Aang said.
"I told Iroh. Do you want to tell her Katara?"
"Sure" Katara agreed. "Well... (She took a deep nervous breath)…sorry I'm just really excited. I'm pregnant!"
"What?!" Toph shouted, flabbergasted as she stood up so fast that she knocked her chair aside.
"That's…holly…oh my…that's great!"
"I know!"
"You guys must be so happy" Toph said as she sat back down.
"We sure are" Aang replied, though the tone of nervousness that he had since the Spirits have told him of this had not totally disappeared.
"I remember when my beloved first became pregnant with my Lu Ten" Iroh said reminiscently. "Oh how I miss them both. There is nothing in this world that compares to becoming a parent."
"I'll bet" Toph responded. "But I don't think that's for me. I don't really see myself as having a crying sack of poop tied to me all day."
"Well that's not all…" Aang said hesitantly. "…We're uh…going to have four crying sacks of poop tied to us all day."
"What?"
"Katara's carrying quadruplets."
"What?" Iroh said at the same time as Toph.
"Wow" Toph said after a few moments. "That's a lot of poop."
Having seen pregnant women before, having had a son, a niece and a nephew, Iroh noticed that Katara was not showing enough to be far along in her pregnancy. "How could you possibly know of this?" Iroh asked, stroking his beard. "I went to the Spirit World" Aang explained. "My past lives told me."
"I see," Iroh, said turning suddenly serious. "The Spirits must feel this is very important information if they told you this soon."
Aang had not thought of this. But now that Iroh had said it he realized how it made sense. Somehow there must have been something significant he was to draw from knowing this fact. As he could think of nothing he decided to tell Iroh more, feeling that he was much wiser than him and could figure it out.
"All four of them will be born Airbenders" Katara informed before Aang could, apparently figuring this out before him.
"How interesting…" Iroh said as he became lost deeply in thought.
"I guess that makes one for each of the temples" Toph stated simply. This struck everyone as a great revelation.
"This is true" Iroh said. "Perhaps your offspring are meant to become the leaders of the Air
Temples. The Northern Temple was once the capital of your nation, correct?"
"It was" Aang confirmed, thinking he knew what Iroh was pondering.
"Then if my assumption is correct you should make your firstborn leader of that temple. It would be the child's birthright." Iroh was of course basing his ideas on his knowledge of how Fire Nation hierarchy worked.
"Well it isn't exactly that simple" Aang replied. "The leader of the Northern and Southern Air temples would have to be a man and the leader of the Eastern and Western temples would have to be a woman."
"And there won't be a firstborn" Katara added. "They'll all be born on the same day."
"One of them will still be born before the others" Toph pointed out.
"True."
"But back to what Aang said" Iroh cut in. "He brought up a valid point. If there are more children of one gender then you may have to break tradition's rules if you wish to rebuild the Airbenders. It seems the ideal situation would be for you to have two boys and two girls."
Katara's curiosity was triggered by this comment so she asked, "Aang, the Spirits didn't happen to mention what genders our kids will be, did they?"
Aang felt stupid after she asked him this. This was easily a question he could have asked The Spirit of Balance or any of his past lives but he had been too preoccupied by his initial shock to even think of it. He figured that Keno would think that he having two boys and two girls would be best for keeping balance but he also did not know if the tiger controlled that at all, seeing as he never mentioned it.
"Uh…no…they didn't" Aang said as he quietly scolded himself. "The Spirit I spoke with made it so all of them will be Airbenders but he didn't say anything about that."
"Wait!" Iroh interrupted. "Do you mean Keno, the tiger Spirit of Balance? The Spirit believed to decide who is born a bender and who is not."
Aang nodded. "What do you know about him?" he asked.
"He is rumored to be one of the most powerful spirits in existence. He created Sozin's Comet."
"What!?"
"Like the Avatar he has command over all Four Elements. Except in some ways he has even greater command, because he also controls the spiritual essence of the Elements, so he can bend in the Spirit World and in the Physical World. He is one of the few creatures with the ability to travel freely between the two worlds. He gave the powers of bending to the original sources; he gave Airbending to the sky bison, Waterbending to the Moon and Ocean Spirits, Earthbending to the badgermoles, and Firebending to the dragons. According to legend used Earth and Fire to create a force so mighty that it would cause the planet's balance to shift so dramatically that when it was equalized it would be perfectly balanced. The force was Sozin's Comet. He understands that evil must always counterbalance good for balance to exist because without evil there is no good. Because of this he has committed great acts of both evil and good to keep balance. He created Sozin's Comet and allowed the war to start, but he also helped it end. He created and distinguished between the chakras, allowing mankind to better control its physical, mental and spiritual energy and allowing the Avatar to gain control of the Avatar State. If not for that then you and your past lives would have killed my brother Ozai Aang."
Aang gulped down his breath as he heard this revelation. He had known that Keno had power over bending and could control other things but he never imagined that the tiger spirit had this big of an impact on the entire world. It made it seem impossible that anything had happened without his influence.
Toph then asked a quite poignant question. "Wouldn't the war have ended even if Aang did kill him? Does it really make a difference other than what Aang wanted to do?"
"It does make a difference" Iroh said. "If Aang had killed Ozai it would have been seen as a divine act of harsh justice. The Fire Nation would have agreed to end the war out of fear of him, not out of true remorse. To many Ozai would have died as a martyr, a hero. History would have seen it has more senseless violence; a leader killing a leader to enforce his will. Nothing would have changed; it would have been one power usurjing another. But Aang's act of supreme kindness and mercy made the world view it from a different perspective; even though Ozai's ancestors had committed genocide against Aang's people and he himself had tried to kill him he still had the capacity to spare him. Aang was an example for the world; an example of peace and true justice. He wasn't going to peacefully end the war by striking Ozai down in rage; he would end it by making his influence shine brighter than his."
This made Aang feel better than he was before; this reassurance of his judgment was comforting.
"You're right" Katara agreed. "You did the right thing sparing Ozai Aang."
In that moment the sky turned orange as the sun began to vanish behind the clouds.
"Oh I must hurry!" Iroh said as he rose to his feet.
"What is it?" Katara asked.
"Today we ran out of ginseng and black tea leaves. I'll need to buy some more before the shops close. We also broke one of our kettles; I'll need to replace it. Unfortunately for me the merchants who sell them are all in different parts of the city. With all of this excitement it seems I forgot. I also need to sweep up the store before I go" Iroh explained as he prepared to go into town.
"I'll help" Aang offered
"So will I" said Toph.
"Me too" added Katara.
"I can use my glider staff to get to whatever is the farthest away" Aang said.
"Hmmm" Iroh considered. "The merchant who sells the kettles I like lives in the Middle Ring of the city. He is the farthest away."
Aang picked up his staff and opened its wings.
"I'm on it" Aang said.
Iroh took the needed money out of his pocket, gave it to Aang, and told him where to find the merchant and what kind of kettle to buy. After he did Aang ran out the entrance and became airborne.
"I know where to buy black leaves" Toph said. Iroh repeated the same process as with Aang and Toph left.
"Well I guess I can stay here and sweep" Katara proposed.
Ordinarily Iroh may have objected to this seeing as Katara was pregnant but seeing as she was still in the early stages of it, sweejing was not a strenuous activity, and he did not wish to insult or patronize her he agreed, lending her a broom and then leaving to buy ginseng.
The initial thrill of helping out quickly dissipated as the moments of brushing the floor with the broom became dull and monotonous for Katara but she was not one to abandon an important task just because it was boring. Though as the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes turned into dozens she wished that someone would come back or something interesting would happen.
After about a half hour a lone man wearing a straw hat entered the shop through the doorway.
"I'm sorry but we're closed" Katara told him politely. The man did not react.
"Are you here to visit Iroh?" she asked. The man merely shook his head.
A subtle whistle sound came from the outside and the man removed his hat, reveapoli his face. He had a brown mustache and green eyes.
"My name is jing" he said simply. "My daughter has gone missing and I am searching the city for her. I have a picture of her, perhaps you have seen her."
"Oh that's awful" Katara said sympathetically. "Let me see the picture, maybe I have seen her."
jing pulled a piece of parchment out of his sleeve but released it as a small gust of wind blew it to the center of the shop.
"I'll get it" Katara kindly assured as she knelt down and grabbed the paper. Then she noticed something odd; the sheet was blank. As she became confused she looked up and saw a foot swinging at her.
POW!
jing kicked Katara in the head and knocked her onto the floor.
"Grab her men!" jing yelled.
Half a dozen Dai Li agents, including poli, surged into the shop and formed a circle around Katara. Two of them grabbed her arms and forced her to her feet. jing formed a glove of Earth in his right hand and grasped Katara's neck in it.
"Great job jing" poli praised. "The Avatar's wife; she is as much of an enemy of our master as her husband. Not to mention her demise shall upset him so greatly that his anger will blind him and make him reckless, making him a much easier target. Finish her."
"You're all making a big mistake" Katara warned gravely.
"Nice talking with you" jing said as his grip tightened. Before her neck could snap, Katara inhaled through her nose and as she exhaled she used Waterbending to freeze the vapor in front of her and jing's arm became totally encased in a block of ice and he lost his steadiness and stumbled away.
Katara then took a stance and swung her arms above her head, calling the leftover tea in the kennels to her, creating a protective field around her.
"Kill her!" poli ordered.
One of the agents launched his rock gloves at Katara's head only for her to use the tea to splash it aside and the formed the tea into a ball and propelled it towards the assailant. The still hot tea burned the man's skin and he fell to the ground groaning in pain.
poli snarled in anger and he stepped forward, causing straps of rock to grip Katara's feet and pulled them forward, causing her to fall on her back. Two other agents strapped her arms to the floor and jing fastened an Earth strap around her waist.
"Well you're a fighter, I'll give you that" poli complemented shallowly. "But in the end it is Earth that is the superior element."
He then formed the glove of rock on his hand into a sharpened spike shape and prepared to launch a barb at her neck.
Thinking quickly, Katara swished around the saliva in her mouth, concentrating it and spat. She instantly froze the spit into a sharp icicle that struck poli in the face, cutting a huge gash in his cheek.
poli jumped back shouting in pain as he gripped his cheek in his hand. "Kill her jing!" he shouted vengefully.
"Don't think that fancy spitting trick will work twice" jing warned as he prepared for the death blow, tightening the strap around her waist with Earthbending to make it harder for her to spit.
As she felt her stomach tighten Katara then remembered the children that grew inside of her womb how they would perish if she did. And so she did something she would never have done when normally faced with an enemy.
As jing prepared to kill her Katara begged, "Wait! Don't please! I'm begging you! I'm pregnant! You'll kill the baby too!"
"She's lying" one of the agents scoffed.
"I don't think she is" jing said as he looked into Katara's eyes.
As he recovered, poli walked over and said, "It doesn't matter! We've got a job to do! Kill her
jing!"
jing hesitantly maintained his stance. "But…she's pregnant…" he muttered.
"Fine!" poli yelled impatiently. "If you aren't man enough to do it then I'll kill her myself!"
poli raised his right hand in the air and prepared to stab Katara in the neck with his sharpened Earth gauntlet.
Suddenly, a blue flash of lightning shot through the air, blasting through poli's glove and scorching his hand.
Iroh stood at the entrance of the restaurant, a rare serious look on his face. For one of the few times in his life his voice contained no trace of humor or lightheartedness as he said, "You are so committed to your goal that you would actually murder a pregnant woman?! I will hold nothing back!"
"It's the Dragon of the West; the Fire Lord's uncle!" one of the agents yelled.
"Kill him!" commanded poli as he bitterly cradled his nearly destroyed hand.
The agents all launched their gloves at the Iroh but the retired General cast a wave of flame around his body that parried the projectiles off to the side. He then shot an orb of fire from his fist that struck the agent closest to him and as the agent fell to the ground he hit his head so hard he was nearly knocked unconscious.
A second agent charged at the Dragon of the West, his arm outstretched like a spear, his gauntlet acting as the spearhead. Iroh grasped the man's arm and lazily flung him to the side, throwing him into an inexpensive vase that shattered as his head was bashed into it.
Another agent kicked up a boulder from the ground and shot it towards the old man. Iroh quickly charged a bolt of lightening in his fingertips and it darted forward faster than a bullet, incinerating the boulder and striking the man on the shoulder. The man fell to the ground, prostrate and defeated.
The fifth agent pulled a knife from his sleeve and snuck up behind Iroh and prepared the thrust it into his heart. The master Firebender pirouetted to face him and gripped the attacking arm, following the man to the ground, and then a decisive, controlled punch to the head rendered the man out cold.
Now jing was the only agent left able to face Iroh. He stepped forth and set a ripple of Earth forward to grip Iroh's feet and take his stability, but the old master saw this move coming an ocean away. The Dragon of the West leapt in the air and kicked a wave of fire forward with his left foot. The blaze knocked jing back a dozen feet and he crashed into a large pot used to boil large quantities of water, and it shattered.
"Retreat!" poli ordered.
The agents who were still awake carried the others who weren't and ran out the door. jing and poli remained and jing rushed forward to distract Iroh as poli ran to Katara, the knife the other agent had dropped in his left hand.
"Katara!" Iroh yelled as jing prevented him from making his way to her.
Before poli could reach Katara as she laid defenseless a massive rock soared through the air and slammed into his back.
Toph had returned from buying tea leaves and was now inside the shop, fully prepared to protect her friend.
"Let the lady go and no one gets hurt bub" she cautioned.
"There's too many poli!" jing shouted.
"We have to get out of here! The King will have us executed if they catch us!"
poli nodded angrily as he stood and quickly summoned a cloud of dust from the floor and outside that covered them as he and jing escaped.
"Guess I should have swept better" Katara joked.
"I can't see them with my feet" Toph said as she couldn't detect the escapees with her Earthbending. "They must have somehow escaped deep underground."
Toph then released Katara from the rock shackles and she stood up.
"Are you all right?" Iroh asked. Katara nodded.
"Thanks guys" she said gratefully.
"But it's not over. They're going to go after Aang!"
Toph and Iroh gasped in unison.
"I can find Aang with my Earthbending faster than you can Iroh!"
Toph said quickly. "I'll go find him and you stay here and protect Katara!" As she said this she sped out the door.
"How did you know I was in danger?" Katara asked Iroh.
"The animals of this world have many things to teach us" Iroh said as he motioned to Appa and Momo as they stood proudly outside the shop. "Momo found me and Appa brought me back."
"Thank you, all of you. I don't want to think what would have happened if you weren't here. But I can't escape the feeling that this is just the beginning."