Chapter 23: The Gentleman

In just a few hours, the outer surface of "peace" that was lamely constructed in the North by Khasiq's administration was blitzed into millions of pieces, shattering further with every glass shard that hit the walls of Kinji's residence. The mob had assembled rather quickly in the inner ring, consisting of people from different sectors. Normally Kinji and his Ba Sing Se-esque layout for society would be given great importance, albeit out of fear, but tonight, the protesters in their enraged passion had nearly trampled the guards who tried to stop them, taking everything they could find and utilize as a weapon— the popular choice being bottles of intoxicants.

"Come the fuck out, you bastard!"

"You dare defile the holy name of La?!"

"You ruined my niece's life!"

"You're no La, you piece of yakshit!"

"La's gonna rip you apart for your sins!"

Charging into the furious scene minutes later were a few of Kinji's blissfully ignorant supporters, who did their best to keep the protestors from pouring into the building. They might have even set their hopes on Khasiq's officials, who should have arrived by now to somewhat quell the storm and convince them that this case was "contrived by those no-good Revivalists" to tear down the pioneers of conservative Nationalism, that "Sayen's imbeciles" were looking to frame Kinji to undermine Khasiq, that everyone else was misunderstanding the situation or something like that because Kinji was the "incarnation" of La, and there was no absolute way that he would do such morally reprehensible things and break their trust and their loyalty for him, right? Right…?

But it was a daunting night for the supporters, who realized more and more with every passing minute that Khasiq's officials wouldn't make it. They would have to risk their own flesh and blood in protecting their spiritual leader from the masses, and although they put forth all of their strength, they knew it was risky. The mobs refused to settle down and only intensified as the night dragged on, and before long, some of Kinji's supporters finally began to see that it wasn't out of inconvenience that Khasiq's officials wouldn't make it but of shame and caution. It also did not help their case that there were families of victims shrieking and sobbing in the streets, demanding justice for the people who were wronged and insisting that Kinji— if that was even his real name— was nothing but an elaborate act looking to mask his true identity as a serious predator. Eventually, most of them came to terms with the reality that Kinji had, in fact, been indulging in scams and false miracles and...sins of the flesh, to put lightly.

The reports from some of his previously suppressed victims continued to increase in quantity. Those who had been either ignorant or had turned a blind eye to the pseudo-religious leader's grand estate, riches, and influence (that a true spiritual leader would normally relinquish as opposed to cultivate) were now given adequate answers for their unspoken questions and critiques. This man was nothing but an imposter who charged upon women and girls to fuel his depravity and preyed upon the weaknesses of others to make his living. In just a span of a few hours, several people turned from loyal supporters to heartbroken fools to fiery activists.

"I gave away every last copper piece to you! Give me back my money!"

"You'll show us the heavens in minutes for twelve-thousand gold pieces, huh?! Well I'm gonna show you hell for free!"

"If you call yourself a man, then get your ass out here!"

Frustrated victims and their families weren't the only ones who were demanding entry, however; there were also several Revivalist members itching to break in, having grown suspicious that Kinji was the reason that Kanguq and Sayen's daughter, Ukkisanga— Uki, as most knew her—had suddenly gone missing. Sayen and Kanguq sought an urgent audience with Arnook's advisors and the few justice officials that remained loyal to the bloodline, but even the chieftain's loyalists found that they couldn't take action against Khasiq's perverse ally without adequate evidence showing that Kinji was the one who took Uki. The distressed parents ended up rushing directly to the mob instead, demanding the crowd that they be given access, but chaos had struck badly, and it seemed nearly half of the tribe had gathered, making the mission to break into Kinji's residence a lot more complicated for even the stealthy Revivalists.

It was a conflict unlike anything the Revivalists or Arnook's regime or even Khasiq's administration had seen in the recent decade.

But even throughout all of this chaos, the criminal himself didn't relent. Perhaps it was the sheer obliviousness he held with regard to how serious the situation really was, or maybe it was the ridiculous amount of confidence he held in Khasiq to get him out of this mess (as the chieftain's advisor always did). It was due to this haughtiness that Kinji sought to continue indulging in his depravity, not at all second-guessing the risks associated with kidnapping the young daughter of prominent Revivalists, and on top of that, allowing yet another woman to be snuck into his private quarters.

"She must be new to the city," said Kinji's assistant. "Likely from a nearby village or so. She doesn't seem to know much about the issues here."

"Really?" Kinji raised an eyebrow. "How did she hear about us?"

"By word of mouth, I suppose."

"Why is she here?"

"She is desperate for children. She believes you have a fertility charm or something that will help her and her husband conceive."

"And she thought nothing about the mob outside? You can't expect me to believe she has no doubts."

"She seems quite ignorant of everything that's happening here, sir. She thinks the protesters are deluded at best. A desperate thing she is."

Kinji nodded slowly. "Is she easy on the eyes?"

"She had her face covered. She said she just started working for someone in the inner ring."

"Appearance does not matter so long as she has a decent physique."

"She's rather big, I tell you. Big as in well-built. Not very gifted around the hips and waist. Ass could be bigger. Her rack, though. Spirits, she's real gifted in that area."

Kinji raised an eyebrow curiously, asking him wordlessly to go on, and when his attendant failed to speak from being lost in his own drools, he snapped his fingers. "Anything else of interest?"

"Well, not really. I must warn you that her voice isn't exactly the best of her attributes. So high-pitched and squeaky."

"Well that can be easily forgiven if she's as gifted as you claim she is. Besides, we won't be hearing her voice when she's asleep." The oh-so-holy godman leered, gesturing for his assistant to bring in the said ignorant lady. "You know the drill. Make sure the men are on tight watch."

A few moments later, the aforementioned visitor was led to the corridor where Kinji was currently staying. The pseudo-godman had seated himself on a pelt in a meditation pose by the time his assistant stepped into the room with the woman. As the assistant had mentioned before, the woman's face was masked by a veil that covered her entire face, even her eyes. True to her description, she was strangely built like a man. She did not have much of an hourglass physique, and Kinji felt that her rather flat backside left much to be desired even as she bent forward in a modest bow, but she still left plenty for his imagination as he drank in the sight of her rather large chest area. Clothed, perky mounds straining even against her long, loose parka, drawing him in, overriding his curiosity for what she actually looked like. She had an interesting mango-coconut fragrance about her, too, that allowed him to indulge in thoughts that did not match his outside demeanor as a holy man whatsoever, and as the seconds passed by, his biology began betraying his holiness and caused his pants to tighten.

"Praise be to La," he boomed, gesturing to a set of pelts in the opposite end of the room.

"You may have a seat here, ma'am," the assistant said, having her sit on the pelts before turning to Kinji. "This lady says she's loyal to you, Master. She hails from Guntaq village. Very devout she is."

"It is good that you are devout," Kinji began as he addressed the woman, "I am ready to help you however I may. I was called by La after all to look after the welfare of my people. Tell me, how may I be of service to you?"

"This lady and her husband have been having trouble conceiving, Great One," the assistant said before she could open her mouth. "She has come to you for a favor. Please kindly invoke the Spirit of La so that she may have a child."

"If La be pleased, he will grant you your wish," Kinji told the woman with an inward smirk. "I am a mere instrument. But I can do nothing if one does not have faith in me—"

"I don't care about what anyone else says about you, Master Kinji," came the screech of her voice that had the godman nearly jump in his seat, "I fully believe in your powers—"

"Please, do not speak!" the man nearly yelled. This lady really didn't have the best of feminine voices. "I-I mean...you don't need to say anything, ma'am. I am a piece of La, the All-Seeing Eye. I can clearly sense your faith."

"The All-Seeing Eye," the woman repeated, her icy eyes glancing straight at him.

"Yes, of course," Kinji said as he was too dense to think much of it, "Very well then. I will give you a potion that has been offered to La. You are to drink it with full faith and lie down on your back on that pelt. If La chooses to bless you, he will place a trance on you. You must embrace it."

"Of course, Master—"

"Please, for the love of La, be silent!" the assistant said, covering his ears.

"Speaking would drive away the spiritual energy that is concentrating in the room," Kinji covered quickly. "In the meantime, my assistant will serve the potion to you."

The assistant nodded and disappeared into a connecting room in the back. He stepped back out a few moments later, having mixed a few sleep-inducing herbs into the fruit-juice concoction that he'd conjured up. He held out the cup to the woman, who briefly turned around and lifted her veil to where they couldn't see her and began to drink. She lay down on her back soon afterward, and before long, her eyes drooped, her chest rising up and down.

"She seems to be deep in sleep, sir," the assistant noticed after a while.

"Good," Kinji stood up and took slow, quiet strides towards the sleeping woman, returning to his regular gait when he noticed that she was, in fact, likely asleep. "The poor thing has come to me for a child," he mused. "If she's really not barren, then perhaps I may be able to grant her wish."

"Praise be to La! She's well-endowed, is she not?"

Kinji only answered with, "I'm fucking her first."

"May I have a turn with her after you, sir? I mean, Spirits, just look at her rack!"

Kinji chuckled at the man's enthusiasm. "Maybe. Now what of that child?"

"I've tied her up well and left a rag in her mouth. Feisty little thing she is. Our men are keeping watch over her, too."

"Give her the potion in the meantime. She'll be next."

"She seems...a little too young, sir…"

"She's Sayen's daughter," Kinji snapped, "And that's all that matters. Sayen thinks she can get to the bottom of this and throw me in prison to rot, but this will shut her up for good."

The assistant, though a little uncertain, nodded anyway. "Enjoy yourself, sir," and with that, he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Kinji wasted no time; he took a seat next to the woman on the pelts, admiring the upper half of her clothed body. His hand reached for her veil and cast it over her head, eager for a glimpse of her face, but he was caught off guard as he saw that the woman was wearing a mask: stark white all over, symbolizing Tui, with a pitch-black circle on the forehead area, representing a new moon as well as La. This mask that so dangerously resembled the design of the Revivalists' mask covered her entire face save for her eyes, which remained closed…

...Until they didn't and snapped open, sharp bloodshot blue beads piercing back at Kinji's alarmed look. The next second, Kinji's throat was sliced with a pocket blade.

The crowds outside of Kinji's residence were insatiable in their bloodlust, having turned the godman's luxurious garden into a sanctuary of embodied animalistic rage. They were going to teach Kinji a lesson he won't forget even in La's hell. In fact, it was the mission of the deceived tribefolk to bring La's hell down to earth and inflict on Kinji the punishment that the government was too afraid to enforce. The tribefolk raged and howled like ravenous wolves demanding that they be offered their prey lest the rest of the tribe perish under their wrath. They did not expect, however, for Kinji's balcony to be graced with the presence of a mysterious figure— likely a man based on his build— to quite literally dangle the barely-conscious body of Kinji from three stories high, having decorated the predator's neck with the crimson of blood. The man wore a shimmering white mask that bore a black circle at its forehead, and he overlooked the tribefolk as La probably would at the gates of His afterlife.

"Who is that man?!"

"I don't know!"

Kanguq and Sayen shared shocked looks before doubling their efforts to tear through the crowd and sneak inside, their worry for their child increasing to infinite levels, but the crowd was getting impatient, hollering for the imposter. Some people began chanting verses from the "Wrath of La" section in the Sacred Scrolls, particularly the excerpts describing their patron deity's torture chambers for trecherous demons and human predators.

"'With spears that shoot through the throats of miscreants…!'"

"'Blazing forth with swords of justice bathed in blood…!'"

"'Beheading the sinners of the flesh…!'"

"'Crushing the skulls of the vicious…!'"

"'La who revels in the demise of deadly demons, protect us, protect us!'"

Meanwhile, the few remaining oblivious supporters hollered for the men keeping watch inside the mansion to drive out the criminal and save their godman, who they strongly believed had become a victim of lies and conspiracy. In the wake of this increased pandemonium, the other Revivalist members also did their best to meander through the bloodthirsty hordes, screaming at the man to stand down and stop this madness. Only the man did not back down. Like a parent wolf tossing scraps of human flesh to its starving pups, the masked stranger tossed Kinji's body to the raging tribefolk down below.

Something snapped through the crowds, and the people howled and stampeded forward, adding more to the existing hysteria. The mass movement allowed for some kind of path for Sayen and Kanguq to follow as they darted for another entrance in the mansion with the other Revivalists trailing behind their heels. They were unable to fathom what was happening parallel to their mission of rescuing Uki: the masses were tearing away at Kinji doing Spirits-knew-what. They would learn, though, that was not the last trace of chaos that this mystery man has aggravated.

"Kanguq!" a Revivalist brother called, "Sister Sayen! Over here!"

Greeting them at the steps of Kinji's entrance were his men, having passed out likely from being whacked in the head, for they bore wounds near their temples and foreheads. Some disabled by being tied up by sarashis and tribal arm wraps. Lying around them on the floor were broken pieces of thick mango-coconut shells stained in blood.

A few Revivalists reached for the pieces and examined them. Others simply raced up to the balcony where the mystery man was last seen. And as they looked down, they saw Kinji's body mangled and mauled amid the hundreds of hands swinging forward in the mob. Amid the crowds that consecrated tonight as a night of social catharsis in times of moral decay. And flashing in the Revivalists' minds was La's decree as written in the lawbooks, Article Twenty of the Leadership Code in the famed Code of Ethics: May it be that those who take pride in themselves as predators of the innocent, whoever they may be, are tossed as meals to the wolves.

"Ukkisanga!" Sayen screeched, tearing them out of their goosebump experience as she darted into the room attached to the balcony. "Where's Uki?!"

"Search the mansion!" Kanguq followed, panting as he broke the doors out of his way. "Uki! UKI!"

It was two and a half hours past midnight when Princess Yue, who had sleeplessly spent several hectic hours in making preparations and negotiations, heard the servants speaking frantically between the halls and in the dark of the corridors. Word had spread fast, and based on what Yue pieced together from the conversations, a mysterious man, who had disguised himself as a woman, snuck into Kinji's residence, slit the pseudo-godman's throat, and attacked his men. He did not end up killing Kinji, however; he left that to the swarming crowds outside, who had been thirsting after justice and were still raiding the godman's home. The mob had stripped and beaten Kinji before a few radical eunuchs took the initiative to castrate him and snatch away the last of his miraculously-lingering life-breath. Apart from this was the issue regarding Kanguq and Sayen's daughter, who had gone missing. She was rumored to have been taken by Kinji and his associates but was yet to be found.

Deciding that her presence as Lady was necessary for the sake of finding Uki and supporting the Revivalists, the princess snuck out of the palace, donned her mask and hooded black cloak, and charged in the direction of Kinji's place with the faint mist as her companion. She ended up halting in her tracks at the rapidly escalating disorder in the inner ring. The Revivalists, who had managed to step inside Kinji's mansion, were not given the privacy they needed, for the angry mobsters had charged into the mansion as well, tearing down the place, obliterating Kinji's false honors and awards, burning hastily-made last-minute effigies and tapestries bearing his image. It was a rather large mansion that Kinji had built from the wealth he'd accumulated over decades of corruption. To see such a symbol of oppression crumble tonight sent chills through her but failed to get rid of the caution she held for the situation.

In the meantime, Khasiq's authorities and Arnook's loyalists, who had been absent during the main conflict, had arrived to somewhat quell the chaos, gather Kinji's remains, and possibly get Kinji's remaining supporters out of the way before they, too, were mauled and trampled. But it cannot be denied that in a very weird way, this display of gore, on top of its alarming nature, was all a celebration of sorts for the tribe's vulnerable folk. Just as the tribe celebrated festivals marking the demise of demons under the hands of the Spirits, the tribefolk were celebrating the demise of Kinji and his false truths and prophecies. In their own way, the people were commemorating the triumph of good over evil, the victory of raw wisdom over blind superstition.

By now, the vast majority of the people were barging in through the now-open front doors. It had begun snowing, too, having intensified very quickly, which meant that all activity was starting to slow down. Yue decided to go around to the back, where there were fewer people engaged in the chaos. All the while, she kept calling for Uki. With her waterbending, she eventually sank beneath the snow and burrowed her way underground before popping back up in what was supposedly Kinji's icy backyard plaza. It was amazing to see that very few people had made it this far back. The snow increased in its intensity, and the view before her was quickly being taken over by blankets upon blankets of white. The winds were howling loudly, too, drowning out all other voices. Even still, Yue called for the missing young girl.

"Uki! Ukkisanga! Where are you?"

It was then that she finally heard it: the cry of a little girl battling the fierce winds. "Kuunnguaq!"

"Uki?!"

"Kuunnguaq! Aja Kuunnguaq!" Auntie Kuunnguaq!

The winds made way. The snow seemed to slightly part. And she saw him then: that mysterious man walking towards her amid the wisps of the snowy mist, his arms wrapped protectively around the little girl, who was holding tightly onto him. His mask was as bright as the full moon, complete with a dark spot symbolizing La on his forehead. Save for the inverse arrangement of the colors, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the Revivalist masks, particularly hers, for its white circle on the forehead denoted her position as the leader.

Shock hit her like a biting wave. Who exactly was this person? With what motive could he possibly be taking inspiration from the Revivalist mask? Was he establishing himself as an opponent or something? But when he came closer to her, she saw that this man, build and gait and deep oceans for irises and all, was familiar. Based on how he didn't appear as shocked about her identity as she might have expected him to be, she wondered if he knew of her beforehand, and by the time they locked eyes, she understood exactly whose presence she was truly in.

Baby Blue, he seemed to say with his gaze.

Mr. Wang, came her spark of acknowledgement. It's you.

Some of her questions were answered in a matter of moments while others gave rise to more queries, but not a single word was spoken between them as they were both bound by unspoken shock. They didn't have enough time to process the situation, either, with so many people determined to catch him. From the corner of her eye, Yue could see several guards and Revivalists straining to see them from afar, their view blocked by the incoming blizzard. Even so, they decided to make a run for them.

"He's over there!"

"I think he's with someone!"

"Get him! Before he escapes!"

Lady was quick to react; in spite of not moving a muscle, she summoned clouds upon clouds of mist to cover their surroundings. The people charging after them halted afar in their frustrated confusion as the clouds of mist swiveled around the Northern and Southern leaders. Yue parted the mist a little to provide him an unnoticeable path, commanding him without speech, Go.

Their expressions were unreadable, covered by their respective masks, and yet, he conveyed his surprise quite openly. He may have even felt the anxiety that she would start to resent him or be disappointed with him in the very least, for she was not someone to favor violence and conflict. But even in their mute interaction, there was a level of trust that was reciprocated by Yue because in spite of all that happened, in spite of the way various principles would scream that authority was not meant to be taken into one person's hands, standing before Yue was still the same man who dedicated much of his life thus far to nourishing his tribe as an aspiring leader. The hands that bested an oppressor albeit in a manner of "unorthodox law" were the same hands that provided for hundreds of thousands of tribefolk.

"I might be the prince, but that doesn't mean I get to sit back and do nothing. I should be on the front line and take care of everything and everyone myself."

And topping it off were the swirls of emotion that flickered in his bloodshot look: the boldness in rebellion juxtaposed by the tenderness in comforting the young, shaking girl, the rage that boiled over and manifested as chaos, the bouts of empathy that allowed him to see through the eyes of the victims, the pain from the realization of what would've happened to Uki had she stayed any longer in the predator's home. Most of all, there were traces of vulnerability in the prince's look that strangely tugged on a quasi-maternal pang of care somewhere deep within her.

"It's gonna be a blizzard!"

"I can't see them!"

The voices pushed them out of their thoughts. Sokka handed the girl over to Yue, and she took Uki into her arms, rubbing her back to calm her shaking form. The leaders exchanged a very brief but much-appreciated moment of understanding.

Go.

Careful.

You too.

She watched him leave, keeping watch to make sure no one else would have a chance to see him, and when he was far enough away, she darted in a different direction. Even though they were occupied by their respective journeys back, they took a very brief moment to simultaneously turn around and catch glimpses of each other. I'll see you.

"They WHAT?!" Khasiq shot up from his pelts, glaring at a shaking Nuqao and Ishuqan. The assistants found that they couldn't make eye contact with their fuming master.

"Y-Yes, sir," Nuqao stammered, "They h-had him stripped and…"

"Asphyxiated him to d-death, s-sir—"

"Castrated him, too…"

"And what were you imbeciles doing by letting it happen?!"

"S-Sir, you were the one who t-told us to not get involved this time around and—"

"I ALSO TOLD YOU TO MAKE SURE NOTHING EXTREME HAPPENS!" Khasiq roared, banging his fists on the ice table and cracking the strong ice in his rage. He grabbed hold of Nuqao by his shirt, closing his palm around the quivering man's throat and banging his head against the icy wall. "YOU USELESS SONS OF LA'S MOON-WHORE! Did you ever ONCE make yourself useful—?!"

"Please, sir!" Ishuqan flailed in front of Khasiq, "Brother Nuqao will die, please—AAHHH!" the meek man found that he, too, was thrown against the wall thanks to a sharp kick to his stomach that sent him staggering back. Eventually the politician let them go and threw them aside yet again, and the assistants toppled onto the ground, pulling down a tapestry of La with them. Blood spewed from Ishuqan's mouth, staining the tapestry as Nuqao coughed violently, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. They couldn't make themselves take even a look at the seething politician, who was punching the wall to the point of bleeding.

It was true that Khasiq, who hadn't gotten a single moment of sleep ever since the riots and protests started at Kinji's place, had not wanted to get involved, given that Kinji had really screwed up this time and was going to put him and his reputation at risk in front of the White Lotus sentries and the Avatar. The politician had figured it would be a matter of time before the protests died down for the night. He did not expect the people to go this crazy. All because of one man. One man who managed to infiltrate the place in the disguise of a woman. All it took were two large mango-coconut shells and a face veil to draw Kinji in with the allure of a fake pair of heavy breasts.

"I've done everything I can to protect that bastard," Khasiq spoke of Kinji, "But that man couldn't keep his dick in his pants when he absolutely needed to." Indeed, Kinji died a horrible death. So horrible, Khasiq thought, that one would have to think twice before wishing that kind of fate upon even an enemy. "But was he really that idiotic to let just anyone in willy nilly in the middle of protests...?! He deserved to die with how utterly stupid he was in handling himself!"

By now, Nuqao had slowly recovered from the struggle, and Ishuqan had wiped the blood off of his face, scrambling to rid the La tapestry of his blood stains. They both visibly jumped when Khasiq shot them a glare and a question, "Was he Revivalist scum? The man who killed Kinji…?"

"N-No, sir," Ishuqan nearly choked on his own bloody spit, "E-Even the Revivalists were c-confused with who he was. It seems he hasn't b-been seen by the tribefolk before…"

"B-But his mask design... is almost identical to...the Revivalists' mask…" Nuqao panted. "The Revivalists have black masks and white moons...and this man has a white mask and new moon…"

White mask, black moon. Was he an ally or an opponent of the Revivalists? Khasiq sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Get out of my sight. Both of you." And with that, he took his seat back on the pelts. He thought hard, trying to piece together every single thing that came to mind so he could run into a clue of some sort.

First it's Lady, and now it's this imbecile. Who is it this time, the 'Gentleman' or something?

No matter how hard he tried, Khasiq was unable to get rid of the mental images of Kinji's gruesome demise. Barely clinging to life following a slice to the throat only to be thrown to a rabid crowd, trampled and asphyxiated by the said crowd, and spending one's final moments in sheer pain following such an excruciating process of dismemberment… of course, as gory as these mental images seemed to be, they did not succeed in making Khasiq feel empathy for all the lower-class men he did have castrated, much less for all the women he and Kinji silenced by asphyxiating them with their own chest bindings after ravaging their bodies worse than beasts.

It was in the middle of his inward bouts of panic and confusion that Khasiq spotted something glimmering on the ground near the window. It looked like a piece of paper, rolled up and left to be bathed in the moonlight that had spilled on the floor. Where it came from, Khasiq was not positive, but he certainly was curious. He ambled over to the moonlit spot on the ice and picked up the slip of paper. Upon unfurling it, he was greeted with a message that chilled his bones.

It's quite unfortunate that your friend had to face such a terrible fate, isn't it? Don't worry. You will be next.

The Southern prince saw Goddess Yue again in his dream, milken hair flowing wildly in the breeze, snowy silk robes glistening beneath her celestial light, sprawled over the steps of a short, wide staircase. She was holding his space sword, examining it, noticing the bloodied end of the blade. The expression on her face was neutral, and she said nothing for a very long time.

Sokka was sitting a few steps beneath her. He had tried to bring about some kind of response from her, so he brought her some ipomoeas that he'd personally handpicked. She had adorned them in her hair but had said nothing to him thus far. Eventually, she turned to him, her baby blue oceans casting their gaze over him. "So this is what you've been doing with my gift."

"I did what I needed to do," he told her softly, "so I can do my part to be the change the tribe needs. Like you said."

Like you said. She raised her eyebrows.

"I know there are other ways of being that kind of change. Other pacifist ways. But...this is the best way for me to distract Khasiq from you," he said. "With a more volatile opponent at his doorstep, he wouldn't think to step out and attack Lady and the princess." He blinked up at her, "You would no longer be his immediate target if he's occupied with a greater threat."

She did not seem to be very pleased, but she didn't seem downright angry, either.

"And when it comes to Kinji…" Sokka shook his head, "From what everyone's been telling me, he's...he's a horrible human being. The things he's done to the sisters in the tribe...the lives he'd taken…"

But in her eyes, there was caution and concern. "You're getting into a lot of trouble."

"As if you aren't," he replied.

"I can if I wish," she frowned. "I am Tui."

A lighthearted little smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "And I want to be your La."

"I am not asking you to be."

"Well I didn't ask you to make me feel so many feelings," he teased, "And I didn't ask you to look out for my tribe. Some things just happen, and you need to accept them."

"Fine," she thrust his sword in the snow, placing her elbow over its handle, "La is the epitome of loyalty. If you want to be loyal, you should consider my warnings and stay away from trouble. Go nurture the South, I won't stop you."

He couldn't help a small chuckle. "Loyalty is me looking out for you, Great Goddess. Even if you don't want me to."