Taking Omashu
4
Once he emerged above ground anew, Kino simply marched through the alley, his walking rhythm a lazy rendition of the typical Fire Nation troops' march. It was still quite early, there appeared to be little to no activity in the city so far… and so, it was even easier for the deserter-in-disguise to navigate through a mostly drowsy city, on his way to the wall that enclosed Omashu's territory.
It didn't seem as though anything was happening yet, and he supposed nothing would for some time. Thus, Kino took to marching on the walls, studying their layout while he trusted the distraction would pay off eventually. He spotted alarm bells at either side of the earthbending-powered gates, and he approached them as inconspicuously as possible, sliding a hand underneath them and unhooking the clappers.
Then, he walked casually inside the walls' structure, where watch towers and internal hallways served as living quarters for the city's guards. Within it, he spotted something crucial, along with another bell: three messenger hawks sat on perches in a surveillance room. Unfortunately, the room wasn't empty yet: a guard nodded in his direction and Kino responded in kind, marching right out of the room through the next corridor. A storage area with weapons, a cellar with provisions in case of emergencies, an old-fashioned privy with no plumbing, its stench nearly as rank as that of the sewers underground…
Just as he was marching up a flight of stairs that would lead him to the furthermost extreme of the wall – another bell, another clapper furtively removed –, Kino caught sight, from the corners of his eyes, of a cluster of guards standing near the gates. Casually and carelessly, Kino stepped in their direction, excelling at playing up his innocence regarding whatever was drawing the eye of the guards beyond the walls of Omashu.
"The hell is…? What are those things?!" one nervous guard shouted: another slapped him on the back of the head.
"Moose-lions. They're just passing through," the soldier said. The other one rubbed the area where his helmet had bounced against his nape.
"Well, they shouldn't be here!" the first soldier said. "This is not some prairie for them to feast on, it's Omashu! A city!"
"They're beasts, you fool: why would they care if it's a city or not?" another guard snapped. "They look like they're eating… something. Beats me what…"
"Well, they better not try to cross the chasm," the nervous guard exclaimed. "How do you fight a herd of… of moose-lions?"
"You don't," spoke a voice with what Kino immediately recognized as the tone of authority: every guard by the wall straightened their postures as a taller man, the likely leader of their forces, stepped forward to get a better glance at the creatures loitering past Omashu's bridge. "Just one of those would cost us, at best, about three soldiers. We're not going to lose soldiers today just because they make you uncomfortable, Jinbo."
"I-I understand, Captain Tseng…" said the nervous soldier, lowering his head.
Even though he seemed to want to wait out the situation, Captain Tseng raised a spyglass to his eye, surveilling the creatures at a distance. Kino stepped forward, blinking blankly behind his helmet.
"What's going on?" he blurted out, carelessly.
"There's moose-lions outside the city," answered one guard. The Captain huffed audibly.
"There's at least six, if not more," he said. "If they're not gone within the hour, all incoming merchants will likely turn tail and leave."
"T-then… we should fight them, shouldn't we?" asked Jinbo again.
"I said no!" Tseng said, firmly. "We are in no position to do such a thing: the creatures could stampede across the bridge and yes, perhaps they'd fall to their deaths! And with them, the bloody bridge would shatter all over again. It took forever to rebuild it strong and sturdy after that pointless Race, we're not going to wreck it again now just over a horde of creatures that will likely leave within a short time if left alone…"
"But the commerce…" said another soldier. Tseng shook his head.
"It's inconvenient, but there's nothing to be done. We can only pray and hope the merchants will know better than to try to sort past these creatures once they're nearby… otherwise, they'll be mauled to death."
"Shouldn't we protect those merchants from being attacked?" Kino asked, his voice innocent and concerned. "Isn't that, well, our job as guards of the great city of…?"
"Are you trying to question my orders?!" Tseng exclaimed. Kino winced, shaking his head rapidly. "Outside these walls, anything can happen and it won't be our responsibility. If the merchants die because of these beasts, it will be a shame but it's a risk they're willing to take with their jobs. Our duty is to keep this city safe, soldier, and that's all you should concern yourself with."
"I… I understand," Kino nodded, bowing his head submissively. Tseng huffed, as though to further threaten Kino into submission, before focusing on his spyglass again.
Kino eyed him warily before stepping back: it was truly jarring to see the Fire Nation up close this way now, when he had spent such a long time with the Water Tribe instead. Tseng wouldn't protect the merchants unless any higher-up demanded he did… and none of his soldiers would question that. They simply busied themselves with finding more spyglasses so they, as well, could watch the moose-lions at a distance.
As appalling as their behavior was, though, Kino knew it was convenient for his purposes too. He merely backed out, feigning shame as the others crowded by the walls, watching eagerly as the creatures roamed the area across the bridge. Once he made sure no one was paying him any attention, Kino marched quietly towards the gates – he got rid of another bell's clapper upon stepping close enough to do so.
A small staircase led from the top of the wall to the platforms where the earthbenders, tasked with opening the gates, stood. Kino ventured a wary glance to find eight men, four on each side of the walls, dressed in rags, their arms and legs shackled by restrictive sets of chains that the Fire Nation often used with dangerous prisoners. How they managed to bend at all in such a state, Kino had no idea… but he didn't need to figure that out, anyway.
He climbed down as though this were but a perfectly casual procedure: the area in which the earthbenders were kept was a restricted space, a gap between the top of the fortified wall and the gates. The sunrise's glare poured through the gap between the gates' platform and the upper ledge of the wall, allowing Kino to glance down at the outskirts of Omashu on one end, and at the city's main pyramid on the other.
He didn't waste a lot of time admiring either thing, however: the nearest earthbender, standing atop his section of the gate, had shot him a dirty glare, and Kino winced before stepping cautiously towards the man: he had been assigned to the gate, or rather, block of earth closest to Omashu, and the other three earthbenders on this side of the gate sat at around five paces of distance from where he was.
"Uh… hi there," Kino said, with an uneasy smile the earthbenders wouldn't be able to see. "I take it you're the earthbenders in charge of opening these gates, right? Right… has to be, heh, I'm just stating the obvious now. Sorry…"
"Did the Captain give out any orders?" the earthbender asked, bluntly. Kino shook his head. "If not, we are not here for your entertainment. Please, leave."
"Oh… I didn't think you were," Kino said, kneeling beside the man. He snarled at the Fire Nation deserter, who winced but didn't recoil. "You're… chained, huh? Held down like this and forced to work with these big walls… do you know who has the keys to your shackles? All of yours, I mean. I guess the others are shackled like this, too…"
"I don't. And why would a soldier need to ask me something like that?" The earthbender rebuffed, and Kino smiled awkwardly.
"Well… because I haven't really been a Fire Nation soldier for about three years, even if the uniform is pretty deceptive," he admitted. The earthbender frowned. "Look… I'm a deserter. I'm not a firebender, I'm a non-bender, and… I'm here to help you guys."
"Why would we want a deserter's help?" the earthbender asked… though Kino recognized a hint of curiosity in his eyes. He smiled for it.
"Because I'm not alone: my friends are really smart and strong, and they'll set Omashu free from the Fire Nation's control."
"That's not a funny joke," the man hissed.
"Good, because it's not a joke," Kino said, stubbornly. "Look, I know it's hard to trust me…"
"It's impossible to trust a Fire Nation soldier. This sounds like a trap," the earthbender said. "I'll play no part in this."
"B-but…" Kino grimaced, sighing and hanging his head. "Okay… look. I get that it's hard to trust someone who looks like a soldier. I had to steal the uniform off one of them in order to get this far. I know the Fire Nation forces, so I know how to go unnoticed among them… but this is just the beginning of the rebellion. My friends… they want to fight back against the Fire Lord. They're not just common nobodies, not just deserters like me, either… our leader is a Water Tribe man that Fire Lord Ozai has singled out as his worst enemy."
"What?" the earthbender frowned, eyeing Kino skeptically. "Why would the Fire Lord consider a Water Tribe man his biggest foe?"
"Eh, it's a long story…"
"Tell me the long story now or I won't trust you any more than I do now. Which is not at all," the earthbender stated, bluntly. Kino grimaced and sighed.
"W-well… he was a slave, like you guys, I assume," Kino said. The man's brow furrowed even further. "But the Fire Lord's daughter chose him to be her Gladiator in the Superior Gladiator League? So, well, they worked together for a long time and, in that process, they kind of maybe developed some sort of… uh…"
"They fucked," the earthbender stated, bluntly. Kino scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, they didn't just stop at that, basically they fell in love with each other and started to change the world for the better?" he said. "Though I doubt Omashu was affected enough by it. She, uh, wrote some slavery laws to make sure slaves would be treated better, but I guess you guys…"
"We're slaves in all but name nowadays," the man snarled. Kino's eyes widened. "It's no wonder… no wonder at all. We had no idea what was happening, but if this Princess wrote laws that didn't suit Captain Tseng and the piss-ass governor…"
"Huh?" Kino raised an eyebrow, sitting tightly next to the earthbender. "Did something happen because of that, or…?"
"All eight of us were given our official freedom on paper," the earthbender stated. Kino gasped. "It's only on paper, though. We're still chained, still controlled, only now there's some bullshit statement declaring we're 'honorary Fire Nation citizens' when we never chose to be that. The fucking governor approved of it and they got out of dealing with the laws by jumping around them that way."
"T-that's…!" Kino gasped, fists tightening. "That's horrible, that's so…! Ugh! Damn them, of course they'd do something like that to avoid the law. Bastards, all of them…"
"You truly… aren't with them?" the earthbender asked. Kino huffed.
"I've spent three years living with the Southern Water Tribe. After spending a lifetime feeling like I had no place in the Fire Nation, I found a place where I belonged, and it was as distant from my birth nation as could be. I… I was born in the wrong place, I thought, but no… I wasn't. No, I was born where I had to be, and I went through everything I did so that one day, when it was necessary, I would infiltrate their ranks and speak to people like you. To offer you a way out, a real way out of these damn shackles so that you'll never live your life this way anymore. If my being a Fire Nation soldier means I get to do this, to wreck them from within before they know what hit them, I'm proud of it."
"Of… of backstabbing them?" asked the earthbender. Kino huffed.
"Yes. Traitor sounds like an ugly word, but right now, I'm thrilled to be exactly that. Why would I want any part in obeying a nation that wants to destroy everything else? I… I've met so many people who are different from me, and I love them for it. Everything I've seen in the world, beyond the confines of my nation… all of it is beautiful. And all of it is worth treasuring. So… I'm fighting against my nation, with every conviction that I'm doing what needs to be done, because I want to do my part in setting right my nation's wrongs. It won't be enough to erase a hundred years of war, no… but if it will help prevent another hundred years of it, I'll do it gladly."
The earthbender frowned, but no longer with as much antagonism as before. Kino, lost in thought, seemed to forget what he was supposed to be doing until the man spoke again.
"And this… gladiator you speak of," the earthbender asked. "He's the one leading your forces? The one the Fire Lord hates just because his daughter's sweet on him?"
"Well, he hates him for more than that, as far as I can tell," Kino said, pouting slightly under his helmet. "I think he knew that, if Sokka had it in him to help Azula turn away from Ozai and choose a better path, he might do that with the whole world, too. And that's exactly what we're hoping he'll do, you see. Omashu is just the starting point, and a pretty good one: he's going to take this city and free your king today."
"He sounds like a pretty big deal, if he can do that," the earthbender frowned. "King Bumi was defeated and overwhelmed when he tried to escape. That's when many of us gave up hope. I don't know if I can reclaim hope through this friend of yours… but if it were possible to kick the Fire Nation out of here, I'd help in a heartbeat. Just…"
"Yeah, I know, the shackles," Kino said, nodding as the man raised his hands towards Kino. "I'll try and steal a few keys, hopefully I'll get the right ones. Maybe there will be spare ones in the guards' rooms. I found one earlier, a room where they kept some messenger hawks, so maybe there?"
"Maybe," said the earthbender, eyeing Kino with uncertainty. "What will your friends do, though?"
"Oh, you mean what's their plan?" Kino asked and the man nodded. "They're going to attack some places they singled out as crucial for taking control of Omashu. Eventually, some of them will even come here and fight the soldiers at the wall…"
"From across the gorge? That's suicide," the man said. Kino blinked blankly.
"Uh… no. From inside the city, actually," Kino explained. The man's eyes widened. "Everyone's already in the city's area, and the moose-lions are helping us distract for the guards. They think their presence is threatening for Omashu, but they say they're better off not doing anything to stop them. Doesn't hurt that they also can't seem to stop being enraptured by them…"
"Moose… lions?" the earthbender repeated, glancing out towards the chasm now.
It wasn't easy to glimpse the creatures from his position, but the earthbender frowned as he saw unnatural movement in the usually quiet hours of the morning in the bridge's vicinity.
"We lured them here to distract the soldiers by the wall," Kino explained, startling the earthbender. "So, anyway… all I really want is to make sure you and your friends are ready to jump into action when the right moment arrives? Even if you don't want to help us personally, I have no doubts you guys want to defend your city…"
"What would you have the eight of us do?" the earthbender asked, raising an eyebrow. "We're strong as a unit, at least. If you and your folks need something done with earthbending…"
"Heh. Well, for starters, tear down the bridge?" Kino asked, with a weak smile. The earthbender grinned too, for the first time since Kino started talking to him. "Once that's done, you can help us defeat the rest of the troops at the wall. That is, if Aang and Katara haven't done away with all of them by the time you guys are done with the bridge… but anyway, that'd be the main thing we'd ask for. Later on, you can offer some help in fighting against the Fire Nation's likely reinforcements…"
"And what's the plan, exactly? Setting King Bumi free will be enough to defeat the enemy?" the earthbender asked. Kino shook his head.
"That's just one more step in the mission, I'd say. The governor will be taken hostage…"
"Good," the earthbender growled.
"The Communications Office will be captured, too," Kino continued. "If we can help it, no one outside the city will learn of what's going on until Sokka's ready to reveal himself to the world, so to speak. So… once we have taken down the main leaders of the Fire Nation in Omashu, we hope the rest of their forces will crumble too. It might not happen as easily as that, there will be a lot of fighting…"
"But if your people know what they're doing… maybe victory isn't that farfetched, huh?" the earthbender said, stroking his chin with a hand. "Well, then… it's not like we're expecting a better offer to come around. Though… the others didn't hear any of what we discussed. You'll have to bring it up to them and see if they're willing to join in, too."
Kino groaned and the earthbender smiled: as difficult as it might be to repeat the same conversation with seven more earthbenders, Kino proceeded to do exactly what the man had told him to, though this time with his support. He rushed from earthbender to earthbender, informing them of what they needed to do as he raced over the closed city gates, nervous about the possibility that they might just split open underneath him before he could finish explaining his intentions to these potential allies… but it didn't happen, for no one was leaving or entering the city that day.
Convincing the rest of the group only proved slightly less difficult because the first earthbender kept nodding and offering his approval of Kino's appeals. The others seemed to be perplexed, but they conceded gradually: once all eight appeared to be on board with the plan, Kino rushed back inside the walls in the hopes of finding keys for the shackles.
First, he made his way to the ridiculous cluster of guards who were watching the moose-lions utterly unprofessionally. They pooled together at a section of the wall, trading spyglasses and bravado while pretending they could defeat the moose-lions if they were given the chance to fight them.
Thus, Kino tried to join in, asking with his most persistently annoying voice to be allowed to see through the spyglass: he bumped into multiple guards in the process, and he was mainly ignored by the others.
"Can I see too? Please! I haven't seen them yet!" he exclaimed, poking through whatever gaps he could find, always getting squeezed out of the group when he did. He made as though to climb over the shoulder of one of the guards: the man shoved him off and Kino fell on the floor.
He grimaced under his helmet as he, as ever, went ignored by the soldiers. Their violent disregard for him hadn't been so disagreeable this time, though: he pocketed the four sets of keys he'd managed to nick from the more inattentive guards, hoping that some of them would serve to liberate the earthbender.
Next, he marched back to the surveillance room: in there, a couple more guards were watching the moose-lions through another spyglass, grumbling under their breaths.
"… The bastard is going to get us all in trouble for this shit. Who're the other cities going to blame for not dealing with this threat? Us. They'll lose their merchants and they'll be pissed at us for it."
"I can't stand Tseng, seriously. Who the hell thought he'd ever be a good soldier? All he wants is to lick his own ass at all hours, the dickhead."
"And we're all going to pay for his shit choices, mark my words…"
Kino listened to their exchange while walking quietly towards a doorway that led into what he suspected would be Tseng's office: if these men were talking so liberally about how they despised the man, surely he wasn't inside his personal office right now…
He stood outside the door for a moment, tuning out the conversation and listening to the inside of the room, instead: nothing. The man was elsewhere, then.
Kino wandered back towards the messenger hawks in their perches. He raised a hand towards the nearest creature and it nipped at his gloved hand gently. Kino grinned and pulled his hand back anew.
Four sets of keys might not be enough, and he'd do best to find another spare set of keys… the likeliest one to have the keys he needed was Captain Tseng. What on earth could he do to get in there, though? How to send those two away on time to check the contents of the room properly? The answer to his questions eluded him, and he frowned as he tried to reason with what to do…
Another guard entered the room, and he even asked him to feed the birds for while he joined the others in discussing the ridiculous choices of their captain. Kino grimaced under his armor, rummaging through the room's contents until he found the meat strips that were meant be fed to the hawks: too much time had passed. He ought to return to the earthbenders now and set them free, at least the ones he could. The rest of Kino's friends might finish their quest while he was still here, still failing to find a way to effectively stop these three birds from being sent to the Fire Lord…
"We ought to send word to the Governor about this. Quickly, now, before the captain finds out."
Kino froze on the spot, glancing back at the soldiers who seemed to agree on their course of insubordination immediately. They turned towards him, gesturing so he'd bring one of the birds over, and Kino winced.
"I… I'm not sure?" he said, though his own doubts seemed misplaced: if these birds flew at the Governor's home, wouldn't Zuko's group be there? Would they be ready to ensnare the birds safely if they had no warning that they were coming?
"Come on, just hand over one of them, will you?" the first soldier growled. Kino flinched.
"I'm just thinking the captain will be very upset if…"
"And I'm thinking he won't care because it doesn't affect him in any way!" the soldier declared. "Come on, just…!"
"What's going on here?"
The captain's voice startled all three occupants of the surveillance room. Kino winced, glancing back at the man: even if his face wasn't visible, Tseng's very presence carried the very familiar weight of a Fire Nation leader, of a figure of authority no one could question. Kino shrank in his frame as the other two soldiers appeared moments away from being cowed into submission as well… but one stepped forward, surprising Kino.
"We're sending word to the governor about this crisis. Whether you want us to or not," he said. The captain snarled.
"This is a mere accident. Something that will be over and gone soon. The governor has bigger problems to worry about than random hordes of moose-lions, and that's final."
"But…!"
The argument that was promised to break between the two soldiers stopped abruptly when a slow, intensifying tremor shook the very foundations of Omashu.
The first group to reach their intended destination was Aang and Katara's: the two benders made their way through the sewers by following Bojun and Wenna's lead. Their chosen exit was the sewer gate closest to the city's entrance: it was unwise to attempt to glance outside their hiding place, so they only sensed what was happening beyond their tunnel when Aang purposefully attempted the seismic sense technique he certainly hadn't mastered to Toph's degree.
"No, I really can't distinguish enough things yet," he admitted, with a grimace. Katara smiled and patted his shoulder.
"It's alright. We'll have to sit tight and wait here, nothing more to it. Though…"
"Though?" Aang repeated, as Katara glanced over the sewers' contents yet again.
"Well, I'm only thinking… maybe I could start some preparations for what I'll be doing to attack them, huh?" she said, with an awkward smile. Aang raised an eyebrow.
"Katara?"
Katara gritted her teeth before raising her arms: to everyone's utter surprise, the waterbender took to stirring the sewers' contents, causing unpleasant odors to rise when she reeled the sewers' content closer to herself. There was no telling how much power they'd need, how many foes they might face… and while watching Anorak in action had certainly helped her pick up on the importance of reutilizing water to maximum effectiveness in battle, particularly in locations different from the Water Tribe, she knew she'd need more than that to succeed today.
"Gross… but understandable," Wenna said, smiling a little. Katara grinned too, apologetically so.
"Try not to breathe it in much, I know it's disgusting," she said. "But maybe just… envision how we'll fling it all at those Fire Nation soldiers? It should be fun, at least…"
"More than fun," Wenna smirked. "I admit, you lot have some surprisingly twisted ideas to punish those bastards. It's not enough for everything they've costed us… but it's a fairly good start."
Katara smiled, more so when Wenna joined her in gathering the sewage by using her bending as well. Together, the two women might just pack a punch so powerful the Fire Nation's forces might fail to defend properly against them… or so Aang hoped, while covering his nose and trying his best to ignore the stench. Oh, he could barely wait for Toph's signal to arrive…
Not too far from their location, Sokka's group emerged from a properly concealed sewer gate, hidden in a dark alley between two buildings. Yung emerged first, confirming the area was clear before everyone else climbed out after him. Sokka made his way stealthily towards the alley's entrance, from where he had a perfect view of the delivery system's central building, Omashu's Communications Office: the sleds and chutes converged in an area to the far left of the building. He could see the multitude of sleds, and he even caught sight of a few carts being bent uphill by earthbenders. At first, he wondered if they were assimilated earthbenders, working willingly for the Fire Nation… then, his eyes fell upon the chains that restrained their feet.
"What are we going to do?" Anorak called him back from his ruminations. Sokka frowned as he forced himself to study the building anew.
"Well… this is going to be harder than prison," he admitted. Anorak grimaced. "We need to neutralize the threat of the birds, first of all. Ensuring none of those messenger hawks can take off with any information to alert the other colonies, or the Fire Lord himself, is our main priority in this situation. But from what I can see…"
"The birds are on the second level," Yung said, as Sokka glanced at the building anew.
The once-pristine building's unkempt state suggested that preserving its artistic architecture hardly interested the men who occupied it. Empty crates were scattered about nearby in a slovenly manner, stains marred the white walls, and even one window on the lower level appeared to have loosened one of its hinges, dangling diagonally over the frame.
The upper floor of the building sported larger windows, seemingly in good shape. A few hawks could be seen there even at a distance, resting on their perches while soldiers walked across the room, obscuring the sight of the creatures.
"Do we know for sure that they're only on the second floor…?" Anorak asked. Yung shrugged.
"Should be. It's easier to send them out from there. Bigger windows, right? Also… seems like they're not very tidy, but it's probably better to train those birds to return to that big room rather than landing elsewhere, right?"
"I can only hope so, but if that's not the case…" Anorak said, frowning. Sokka sighed.
"We have to do something to get all those windows closed. They're wooden, so clearly earthbending wouldn't help there…"
"It's likely that someone needs to close them personally, directly," Anorak said. "By the time we get upstairs, though, after fighting all the soldiers outside, and on the first floor, they'll have had plenty of chances to send those birds anywhere with distress messages."
"Which suggests that we should charge through the second floor, rather than the first," Sokka concluded. Anorak froze.
"Say what?" he asked.
"The simpler options I can think of won't work," Sokka explained. Anorak frowned. "If I asked the earthbenders to build a wall around the building, blocking all exits, the soldiers will have enough fighters of their own to break through the walls before we can get to the second floor and secure the hawks. If you did it with ice, and I don't think you have enough water for that, it'd be even more easily breakable than earth, so…"
"So, what's your big idea?" Anorak asked. "We can't just earthbend our way into the second floor without going through the first. If we go underground again, we'd still have to rush through the first floor to reach the second one, and by then they absolutely will send word of what's going on before we get there."
"Hence why I said we need to go to the second floor first," Sokka said. Anorak's confusion didn't diminish in the slightest. Sokka glanced back at Yung. "Toph, the metalbender? I've seen her flinging herself into the air, hell, she's even flung me at times, by using her earthbending. She creates a pillar and launches someone across an area with it. Do you think you and your earthbenders can do that?"
"With… with ourselves?" asked Yung, frowning. "Or would you rather we toss the two of you?"
"Well… I'd have thought all of us, but come to think of it…" Sokka frowned, rubbing his chin. "Maybe just me and Anorak, yeah. The rest of you would attack on the ground floor, and we'd hopefully meet halfway through defeating all the soldiers. There's a fair number of them supervising the delivery system, they're absolutely going to react if you step out… and if we all came together, they might have a better chance to escape by using the very same delivery carts to send distress signals and to gather forces to use against us. So… yeah, all of you should fight on the ground. Anorak and I can… well, that is, if you want to do this, Anorak."
"I'm fine with it. It's a little odd, but I'll keep up," Anorak said, running a hand through his long hair. "We have to make sure the birds stay within the building, right? By any means necessary?"
"I… I suppose so," Sokka said, breathing out slowly. "I shouldn't be this apprehensive about killing whatever's necessary to ensure our success, I know that, but…"
"You seem to have more compassion for these soldiers than I'd expect from one who's fighting the Fire Lord so courageously," said Yung. Sokka gritted his teeth.
"I guess I do. I've lived among them… I've seen the Fire Nation up close. I wanted to hate them at first, but there's good inside their nation, even if it's hard to believe when you're not there, seeing it for yourself. Ozai, the military people who advise him, especially General Shaofeng… they're the ones destroying this world for their own benefit. The ones who can't reason with their own beliefs, with their pride, to truly weigh the gravity of their sins… whereas they're always ready to pass judgment on everyone else. Those bastards hold most the power in the Fire Nation, and they will continue to do so for however long they can cling to it… but precisely because they've been led by bastards like them, their people have had their superiority doctrines hammered in their heads, by their culture, their families, their education, everything around them. It's… it's uncanny how so many of them can turn away from that easily when given a chance to experience something different for themselves. So… hard as it is to believe, I can't hate them, not after all I've seen. Not after having been saved from the Fire Lord by soldiers who turned against him, by the heir he has shunned and tossed aside because she betrayed his ideologies and expectations. I won't pretend there's good in all of them, there's a fair amount of them who are inconceivably rotten, who are happy to take advantage of their society exactly as it is. But I've seen enough good people in the Fire Nation, just as I've seen bad people from the other nations as well, to know that evil and good hold no allegiance to any one nation."
"Then… do you think they're prisoners without their awareness?" asked Yung, frowning. "Trapped in a world crafted to cater to their Fire Lord's every whim?"
"Well, that's one way to see it," Sokka said, biting his lip. "I guess… they're like witnesses of a theater play. They have no say upon the contents of the play, they're bound down on their seats and cannot leave… and all of it is the egotistical creation of a man who believes himself above all reprieve. He keeps them there, forever, eyes forced to watch nothing but that play for as long as they may live… and they may just catch some sounds coming from the outside world, through the door, but even if they want to go see what's out there, the power he wields upon them ensures they stay put."
"So… what you're saying is they need to be helped, too," Anorak said, frowning.
"They're not victims in the same way the rest of the world is a victim to the Fire Nation," Sokka said, closing his eyes. "But even then… like I've said before, believing they're all living in greatness and rejoicing in life is wrong. A single word out of place against Ozai and he can demote a noble to slavery just because he wants to. He has the means to make people disappear if he just wants to do that… there's a creepy assassin working for him that he resorts to whenever it's convenient for him. Maybe you know about the sudden deaths of countless White Lotus operatives in the Capital, Anorak?"
"I did know of it, yes," Anorak said. "Genta was the sole survivor, he claimed you saved his life so he could get away. He returned with…"
"Rhone, I imagine," Sokka said, his voice colder as he glared at the building again. "And while they were near the swamp after returning with Genta, Rhone somehow saw the vision of the Bloodlust Spear's location. It all seems so simple when I look at it this way, but… it's anything but. Had Azula and I failed to stop the assassin that day and those two had been killed for it… she wouldn't have been wounded in the battle against the Bloodlust Spear at all, since that would have never happened. And if she hadn't been wounded… maybe she could've fought back. Maybe she could have found a better way to… to stop Ozai's madness."
Anorak eyed Sokka with unease as the Gladiator released a deep sigh. He shook his head next, forcing himself to truly focus on their target.
"It's pointless to think of what could have been, of course," he said. "I don't regret saving Genta, if you think I did… if anything, I regret not saving more of them. We did try, but…"
"What kind of assassin is it, anyway?" Anorak asked, frowning. "What Genta said… we didn't gain any information about the assassin until he returned. All messages we sent to the Capital were answered positively, until they suddenly weren't answered at all. None of us truly understood what he was talking about when he came back, so…"
"I don't know what he was for sure. We only had conjectures, even now," Sokka said, lowering his head. "He was some sort of firebender for sure. He wasn't a spirit, he was human enough to suffer damage by Azula's bending. Her gold fire, and the multiple-colored fire she could make in conjunction with her dragon… both were capable of keeping him at bay, just as they did with the Bloodlust Spear. He could rot things rapidly with his fire, somehow. He could bend smoke and light, it seemed. He could even fly without being caught… he was terrifying, even if Azula could counter him by pinpointing his location through her resonance skills."
"Resonance?" Anorak repeated.
"She could track down other firebenders by resonating her inner fire with theirs. It's the main reason why we knew this guy was a firebender, even if a strange one," Sokka said.
"So… she wasn't on board with what the Fire Lord did, with this assassin?" Anorak asked. "She didn't approve of it?"
"Not in the slightest. We were both determined to put a stop to it… and she even confronted her father about it," Sokka said, breathing deeply. "He rejected all responsibility, pretended he was justified in his actions… he was killing trueborn Fire Nation people on the basis that their being members of the White Lotus made them traitors to his regime, I suppose. But he had no evidence to prove that's what they were, he sowed chaos and terror all across the city… we really had thought Rhone was responsible at first, and Azula was ready to do anything to stop him, only to discover it was her own father's doing instead. She… she refused to go home for about a month after learning of it, she couldn't stand being near Ozai, or anywhere close to his assassin. So… no, she didn't approve of White Lotus members being killed. She certainly was hostile towards Jeong Jeong and Iroh… but even she believed the White Lotus might be our only choice, the only thing we could turn to, to find strong allies to help us take a stand against Ozai."
"She wanted to overthrow the Fire Lord, then?" Anorak asked. "I mean, with what you've said, I can only hope she'd do a better job than anything he was capable of, but…"
"If you'd ever met her and seen the way she changed people's lives for the better, you wouldn't doubt her potential as a leader for a second," Sokka sighed. "She didn't see power as a commodity, as a luxury she was happy to make the most of, but as a responsibility. She even gave a pretty great speech about that once, when she had another conflict with Ozai that he thought to resolve by making her grovel at his feet in front of the whole city. She turned his intent on its head and took advantage of the situation to compel all their citizens to do better… to take responsibility and to genuinely ponder the meaning of the so-called greatness Ozai and the other Fire Lords always rambled about. So… yes, she would have been Fire Lord in his place, if we'd had a say upon the matter. And I dare say the world would be far better off if we had succeeded at that."
"But now… the throne would be beyond her reach, even if she's the sole legal heir, wouldn't it?" Anorak asked. "It's not only the marriage, but the reported pregnancy that… u-uh, I suppose you'd rather not talk about that, huh?"
"Yeah. Please spare me, I don't need a stomachache when we're in the middle of an operation like this one," Sokka said: his heart constantly sank whenever he remembered Azula was legally bound to Zhao… his hand tightened into a fist and he shook his head as he glanced at the building. "Alright, enough talk. Are we all in agreement regarding how we'll proceed? I know it'll be impossible to aspire to no casualties on either side, but… try not to be deadly unless there's no other choice, alright?"
"Understood," Yung nodded. "We'll launch you both into the second floor, and we'll take care to keep the other soldiers busy, so that they won't bother you while you wrangle the birds."
Sokka nodded, frowning once more as he forced himself to focus. This stage of their quest was crucial: it was the tipping point upon which the city would learn that they were here, and that they were relieving the Fire Lord's chosen governor from duty. He could only hope that particular mission was going well for the members of his team who had undertaken it…
The long trek through the sewers seemed poised to break the patience of the final group, marching steadily towards the Governor's Palace. Toph was tempted to craft another tunnel, away from the fetid stench, but she knew better than to overextend herself. The experience in the battle against the Stingray no longer haunted her as darkly as it had at first, but she had certainly learned her lesson pertaining her own limits and the strength of her bending. Hence, as appalling as the smell might be, she powered onwards, following the indications of the members of Omashu's resistance, who knew exactly where they had to go.
"What are we going to do once we get there, exactly?" Zuko asked, helping them light their way through the tunnel with his bending. Toph harrumphed, using her seismic sense to test the nearby vibrations. They seemed to be underneath one of the chutes from the delivery system right now. "I'm only asking because…"
"I'm pretty sure you're the one who has to decide that, aren't you?" Toph retorted. Zuko winced. "What? Don't trust your own judgment all of sudden?"
"It's hardly sudden. I barely ever do," Zuko admitted. Jet snorted at Zuko's well-mannered admission. "What? It's true. I may have some ideas that aren't completely awful, but… so far, in our journey, I've mostly been in charge of figuring out if anything Sokka suggests is stupid or not, rather than coming up with ideas of my own."
"Then come up with some or I will, and I bet you're not going to like them," Toph smirked. Zuko's eyebrow twitched.
"Look, it can't be that difficult to infiltrate that place if we're going to break through the ground," Jet said, with a shrug. "We just need to find a place in the house where we can emerge without the Governor noticing us right away."
"Like… a closet?" Toph asked. Jet smiled and shrugged. "Cramped, but sure…"
"Might not be so cramped in the house of a Governor…" Jet said.
"No, it would be cramped," Zuko confirmed. "He'll have a thousand different changes of clothes. On top of that… I don't think his room would be on the ground floor. In all likelihood, the bedrooms would be in the upper floors. We'll be emerging on the ground floor, or a basement if there were one, so…"
"So, whoever's there will be a problem," Jet reasoned. "We'll have to defeat them quickly, like in the prison, then."
"Or…" Zuko said, frowning. Toph and Jet waited patiently for him to speak. "Or maybe we won't have to defeat them all that urgently. It's early still, right? Maybe not too early, but… in houses like this one, cooks are always hard at work and prepared to provide whatever their master wants from them. If their staff happens to be fully Fire Nation, there won't be much for us to do about it. But if it's not…"
"If it's not?" Toph asked.
"We could emerge through the kitchen cellar," Zuko said. "Make a hole in it, hidden from view. When any of them attempt to come inside to fetch supplies of any sort, we'll probably have a good chance to close the door and talk thoroughly with that person. If they're not Fire Nation-born, and I seem to recall Sokka said Omashu is the least integrated place, with mostly Earth Kingdom civilians and Fire Nation soldiers, then we can convince this person to help us reach the Governor with the least risk involved. They'd know about secret passageways, the number of guards positioned inside and outside the building…"
"That doesn't sound half bad," Jet said, smirking at Zuko. "Look at that, you came up with a pretty good idea all on your own."
"I… I guess," Zuko blinked blankly before shrugging. "I can only hope it'll work. If it does, we'll reach the Governor quickly and hold him hostage. If his troops don't stand down after we do, we'll have to be ready to fight them too."
"Is it possible that they won't stand down?" Jet asked. "I thought the Fire Nation was all about worshipping figures of authority…"
"And the Governor isn't the real authority they answer to: the Fire Lord is," Zuko said, frowning. "If the Governor thinks his life is less important than my father's, he may just be willing to sacrifice himself if that means Omashu remains in their control. Worse yet, even if he's not as self-sacrificial as that… there's no telling if the forces that are meant to protect him might be a lot more willing to sacrifice him than he is to be a martyr? So…"
"We'll make sure they don't get to him, then," Toph said, with a shrug. Zuko frowned. "They might just chicken out from attacking anyway, so making the Governor and his family our hostages is the only reasonable choice, isn't it? It's what Sokka wanted us to do, anyhow…"
"Yeah. I know it may seem wrong of me to want to keep him and his family safe when, for all we know, Ukano is just another cog in my father's machine… but he's still Mai's father," Zuko said, frowning. Toph blinked blankly.
"It's still hard to remember that bit sometimes," she said. "Blades always seemed to me to just… have her own family, you know? Ruon Jian and Yuudai…"
"She wasn't too fond of her parents, no," Zuko admitted. "I'm not sure about how she felt about her brother, he was born while I was banished, so… anyway, even if she's not close with them, they're still her family."
"Your dad is your family too," Toph pointed out, and Zuko's stomach clenched up. "And I'm pretty damn sure you're not going to hold your punches just because of that."
"I… wouldn't. But it's different," Zuko said, firmly. "Even if Ukano happens to be half as much of a bastard as my father is, he's still working for the Fire Lord. His loyalty belongs to him. My father is responsible for so much more than Ukano would be, and… I wouldn't feel comfortable passing judgment over Ukano before knowing what he's objectively responsible for."
"Doing awful things to people just because you were following orders is still wrong," Jet said, unusually darkly. "I'm not saying we should kill the guy… but he's far from innocent just because there's some higher-up pulling his strings. If he had a shred of dignity, he'd have refused to listen to those orders. Same as… as some of the Freedom Fighters turned their backs on me when I led them astray."
Zuko frowned, glancing at the man who marched beside him with unease. Sometimes he seemed the most open, easy-going member in their group while also being stealthy and deadly. And sometimes it became clear that Zuko knew absolutely nothing about Jet and the demons he carried with him. His willingness to share some of them right now was surprising, though Zuko couldn't help but feel that asking any follow-up questions would mean prying into something that was none of his business…
"We're getting close," one of the rebels warned them: Zuko raised his hand, allowing the light of his fire to fall upon the man's face. "The Governor's residence shouldn't be far."
"Give me a minute, then," Toph said, breathing deeply before using her seismic sense once more.
She focused firmly, ignoring the nearest sensations and focusing on those further away. There were buildings above ground, of course, and the delivery system was there, too… but it was easy to pinpoint the Governor's residence upon sensing a group of soldiers, pacing right outside the largest building.
"Okay… further this way," she said, guiding the group through the sewer until she found the tunnel moved away from the building itself. "Ugh… wait a second."
She raised her hands and took to bending slowly, in hopes to not alert anyone above ground that there were movements below their feet. The opportunity to bend away from the damn sewers was a considerable relief, and she marched through the tunnel she was crafting while the rest of the group followed wordlessly.
After ten minutes, they were underneath the building. Toph bit her lip as she solidified the walls around them as firmly as possible before using her seismic sense anew: they weren't quite at the kitchen area yet, so she bent further until they reached it. Fortunately, the stench of the sewers appeared to have weakened by then.
"Other earthbenders, close the tunnel behind us," Toph commanded them, and three of the benders rushed to obey her order, refilling the tunnel and blocking out the toxic stench for the better.
"Are we at the right spot?" Zuko asked. Toph nodded.
"I'll open the hole quickly and close it again, but I'll monitor what's going on up there from down here anyway. So! Who wants to go capture a cook?" she asked. Zuko grimaced and Jet smiled.
"Maybe I ought to do it," he said. "Lift me up there and we'll get to business right away."
Toph smiled and nodded, cracking open the ceiling of their tunnel. Jet breathed deeply before Toph hoisted him with her bending. The non-bender crawled stealthily towards the side of the cellar's door, hoping to hide behind it once anyone opened it. Toph offered him a thumbs-up gesture by slipping her hand out from the hole. Zuko's fire illuminated it briefly before the gap closed, leaving Jet to smile to himself in the dark.
He waited for another moment, eyes closed as he listened to the rattling of cookware in the kitchen. Voices either gave out orders or exchanged casual words… it was but a common, ordinary day for these people. They had no idea what was happening, how their world was likely to change vastly after today… and Jet could barely wait to make that happen.
Three minutes into his waiting, someone finally strode into the cellar, pushing the door open so carelessly it nearly bounced against the wall and into Jet. He grimaced, watching as the person marched into the depths of the cellar, no doubt looking for ingredients… and he breathed out slowly before pushing the door closed, as furtively and quietly as possible.
The cook in question was a middle-aged woman, searching for something quite avidly in the shelves. The light from the kitchen fell upon her… and then it didn't once the door closed. She glanced back at the door upon noticing her only light source was diminishing, but the shadows kept Jet hidden as the door closed fully without revealing him.
"H-hey! Who closed the door?! That's not funny! Jiayu, tell them to stop messing with me!"
Jet raised an eyebrow as the woman rushed back to the door, no doubt ready to smack it with her fists: he really couldn't afford drawing more attention to the cellar than this, though.
So he stepped forward, wrapping an arm around the woman's waist, the other across her mouth right before she gasped.
"I'm the one who closed the door," he said. "And I need you to be very quiet right now and do as I say…"
He thought the woman was attempting to slyly escape his grasp by making herself extra heavy, for a moment… but as he struggled to hold her upright, it became clear that she had likely only heard half his words before passing out entirely. Jet snarled, lowering the hefty woman on the floor, a confused grimace across his face.
"Well, shit," he blinked blankly: that certainly wasn't the outcome he had expected for this situation. "Hello?"
He still tried to make the woman respond, but she seemed to be completely out of it. Going by how nervous she had been upon finding herself locked within the room, Jet suspected she was simply a nervous woman by nature… and who'd have expected that the woman with susceptible nerves would just happen to be the one who entered the damn cellar?
"Toph…?" he called, uncertain of what to do: naturally, the gap on the ground showed up again and Toph's head poked out from it, once more visible by the glare of Zuko's fire: to Jet's chagrin, she appeared utterly amused.
"Did you try to seduce her and she blacked out because you're too suave and she couldn't take it?" she asked. Jet winced. "Or was that seriously your best idea on how to get her to comply with you?"
"I… didn't think restraining someone and covering their mouth would have this result, damn," Jet said, blinking blankly. "What the hell do we do now? They're going to notice she's missing, and…"
Just on cue, another set of footsteps approached: Toph gasped before quickly bending a physical blockade, ensuring the door wouldn't swing inwards when whoever reached it tried to push it open.
"Bingyu, no one closed the door, quit being such a nervous wreck…" another woman's voice reached them, and Jet flinched before rushing to the door, leaving the unconscious Bingyu lying before Toph. "Bingyu? Open the door! This isn't funny, we have to be quick with the tart pie lady Michi requested! Bingyu!"
Jet breathed out, glancing at Toph one more time. He really wasn't sure he'd be more successful this time, and she'd likely ridicule him to no end if he wasn't… but he had to try.
"Bingyu can't answer you right now," he said. The woman's voice quieted down suddenly. "This is very sudden, I know it is… but I ask that you listen to me before you do anything rash, like running to get the nearest guard…!"
The woman's footsteps betrayed Jet's words had, once more, been left unheard. He groaned as Toph leapt out of her hole: she raised her hands and bent something beyond Jet's line of sight before lowering the cellar's blockade.
"Come on, this isn't going to work this way!" Toph shouted: Zuko was climbing out next, and the resistance members followed.
Jet pushed the door open and Toph slid underneath his arm, raising her hands threateningly: the non-bender gazed at the group of middle-aged women who seemed to comprise most the kitchen staff. One of them had been running towards the door, only to find a large chunk of earth blocking it, all the way to the level of the pommel. She turned then, a fierce snarl across her face, green eyes glowering…
"W-what is…?!" gasped another woman. Then one nearly shrieked, and Jet had to rush towards her to cover her mouth quickly.
"Keep your voices down… unless you'd prefer it if I send you underground so you can scream to your hearts' content down there," Toph said, firmly.
"W-who are you?! All of you!" the woman by the door exclaimed, ignoring Toph's threat. "Whatever your intentions may be, you'd better get out now before the guards and the Governor realize what's going on…!"
"Wait… you're telling us to leave," Jet asked, crooking an eyebrow. "You're warning us to save ourselves? Your eyes say you're Earth Kingdom… most of you seem to be, actually. And you're here, working for this Ukano guy…"
"Well… we had no choice. Nobody in Omashu had a choice left but to work for them once the resistance was defeated, once the King was imprisoned!" the woman exclaimed. Toph rolled her eyes.
"Quiet down, I said," she huffed, marching up to the woman. "If the guards worry you that much, you'd better stop making so much noise, all of you. Don't you realize we're here to help you lot, for crying out loud?"
"Help?" the woman repeated… and then her eyes rose towards the next man to stand by the cellar door.
None of them knew him by sight, but rumors about the Fire Lord's son's appearance had spread over the course of the last thirteen years: one of the cooks gasped at the sight of the burn while another stared at him in perplexity, unsure about remembering if the exiled prince's face was scarred on the left or the right side of his face…
"We're here to set Omashu free from the Fire Nation's control," Zuko said, firmly. A gasp ran through the occupants of the kitchen. "And I think it'll be in your best interests to help us if you want your city to return to its former glory."
"Y-you… you look like a firebender," said one of the closest women to Zuko, marching back. "Why would you…?"
"You're Earth Kingdom people, working for a Fire Nation man, in a Fire Nation-controlled city," Zuko said, glancing at the woman. "Those circumstances weren't your choice. You're no less loyal to your nation, to your king, just because you're doing what you're doing to get by, are you?"
"Maybe, but what about you?" said the woman by the door, stepping towards him. "You… you're being loyal to your nation by helping 'free' Omashu? Are you attempting to overthrow Governor Ukano to take his place?"
"I'm attempting to overthrow Governor Ukano so King Bumi can take his rightful place in this city once more," Zuko clarified, holding the woman's gaze without a shred of hesitancy: his words startled the woman. "Not every firebender supports Fire Lord Ozai… and I certainly don't intend to support him at all. We've already taken the first steps to seize this city, and now we'll take the next ones: help us take control of this building, help us hold Ukano and his family as hostages, tell us where his personal messenger hawks are so that we may keep him from sending any messages to the Fire Lord… that's what we ask of you. We mean you no harm. We're only here to set right what has been wrong and broken for ten years. Understood?"
His fierceness, the stern tone of his voice, certainly had daunted several of the women in the kitchen. The one who had been by the door, though, frowned heavily at Zuko's words: it seemed he had succeeded at catching her attention. He breathed deeply, waiting for her to say something…
"You won't hurt us… or the other workers in the Governor's residence?" she asked. Zuko nodded. "You're here… with the resistance?"
Her eyes had drifted to the rest of the men and women who had been climbing through the cellar so far. Zuko nodded slowly. The woman's eyes widened.
"We've already helped break free a lot of the resistance members today. Anyone among you who wants to join us is welcome… but if you'd rather stand on the sidelines, that's fine too," Zuko said. "We don't have great strength in numbers, no… but we have strategies that they haven't been able to counter so far. We have powerful benders on our side that they're not prepared to face. And we have… we have a leader who knows the Fire Nation better than many people in the Fire Lord's closest circle do. If you want Omashu to be free… if you want to restore the strength of the Earth Kingdom, stand down now, don't alert the guards, and help us reach the Governor. We don't want more bloodshed than necessary… we just want to free your city."
"And we're just supposed to trust you, then?" asked the woman. "You're a Fire Nation man… even if a burned one, but still. Why… why have all of them trusted you?"
"Because he's not the real brains of this operation," Toph smirked, bumping Zuko with an elbow. He scowled at her as she stepped forward. "Alright, it's because we all have the same goal, and that's to see Fire Lord Ozai torn down from his stupid throne and making him pay for everyone he's hurt. If you're not nationalists, then that's fine, because I'm not much of a nationalist myself either: but your being here, in this city, says you've faced some of the Fire Nation's worst shit. That guy built a statue of himself in this city of yours, no less, and he believes all your lives belong to him. You're meaningless to him, lesser people simply because you were born here, because you bend the wrong element, because of reasons that make no sense at all. So even if you don't want to help us… stand aside. Let us get through this building, find the Governor and set things right. That's all you need to do."
Toph's voice, Zuko hoped, might be more persuasive than his own. She was an Earth Kingdom woman, just like the rest of them, willingly working with Zuko right now. He could see the confusion in the cooks' eyes, the fear, the anxiety…
But to his immense relief, he could also see a stern determination taking hold in the eyes of the woman Toph was facing right now.
"You… you really believe you can do this?" she asked. Toph smirked.
"Jiayu…!" one of the more nervous women exclaimed. Jiayu raised a hand to make her settle down before stepping forward.
"Is my sister alright? Bingyu?" she asked.
The resistance members had picked up the unconscious woman, and her older sister sighed in relief as she made her way to check on her. Zuko and Jet watched her intently as she checked that her sister was untouched and unharmed. Once she had confirmed as much, the cook sighed.
"I suppose a kitchen knife isn't an orthodox weapon, but it should do."
Zuko's eyes widened, and Toph raised her eyebrows, turning in the woman's direction.
"Uh… what're you planning on doing with the knife, for starters?" Toph asked.
The woman didn't answer, marching towards the kitchen cabinets. After finding a few highly sharpened knives, she drew them out and set them on the counter.
"I don't know if we'll be of much help… but if any of you girls wishes to join them with me, go on ahead," Jiayu said: another shocked gasp rocked the room. "Yes, I know it's madness. If this fails, we're all screwed. But if it doesn't…"
"It won't," Zuko said, firmly. Jiayu eyed him skeptically.
"You're very certain of that. That certainty had better not bite you in the ass later," Jiayu said, singling out her preferred knife and clasping it firmly. "If this is our last chance to help Omashu attain freedom, then I have no choice but to take it. So…"
"I'm going too," said another woman, and then another… while a handful of them gasped and backed themselves into whatever corners they could, utterly unwilling to challenge the Governor.
"Sounds like our little gang keeps getting bigger and bigger. Sokka wasn't wrong to say some people would want to join us, huh?" Toph smirked. Zuko breathed out slowly, watching as the women took to wielding their cooking implements as weapons, asking each other which might be the better tool to use to defend themselves.
"If this is how it is…" he said, turning towards Toph again. "It's time."
"You mean, time for a little earthquake?" Toph asked, smirking. Zuko nodded.
"Though put down the door's blockage first, so we can get going right away," he said. Toph snickered before obeying, letting the rocks she'd used return to their previous state.
"Done and done," she announced. "Then… I'll go dig myself back down there. I'll go way deeper into the city so that I can be sure the tremor will be felt everywhere…"
"And then climb up here quickly, too," Zuko said. Toph nodded. "We have to get to the Governor as fast as possible, so I guess we'll do that bit without you."
"You sure you can handle it?" Toph asked, smirking. Zuko smiled for what felt like the first time in ages.
"You don't need to do everything yourself, Blind Bandit. By the time you get back to us, you'll be bored over having no one left to beat up."
"Hey now, that's shitty of you. You've got to leave some for me, damn you," Toph huffed, marching back to the cellar. Zuko chuckled softly.
Toph breathed in before jumping into the cellar's hole again: all the resistance members they'd brought with them, both from the prison and their hideout, were already above ground and in the very crowded kitchen. Even from below ground, she could sense Jet standing right by the kitchen door, ready to open it once the right moment arrived… a right moment she'd be signaling for him herself.
She really hoped the others were ready. That Aang and Katara were in position, that Kino had already infiltrated the walls as he was supposed to, that Sokka and Anorak were lying in wait, right outside the Communications Office…
But she wouldn't be able to tell if they were from this far away. She had no choice but to trust them, just as they had trusted her so far.
And so, after digging herself deeper and deeper, well below the sewers that had disgusted her so much, Toph prepared to make the whole world would quake in her wake.
"What did you say? Moose-lions, Tom-Tom? Truly?"
"I can see them with my spyglass, Dad! They're there, they are!"
The teenager had lost none of his childish glee over the course of his aging, a stark contrast with his stoic, gloomy older sister. Ukano and Michi certainly appreciated his enthusiasm, though they were perplexed by his claims this time.
Their family always enjoyed their meals in the balcony that allowed them a magnificent view of the city and its surroundings. Today it had been no different, but after their mid-morning breakfast was over, Tom-Tom had rushed out of the room and returned with a spyglass that had been a gift by Ukano's trusted Captain Tseng. The Governor used the spyglass on occasion, but his son, ever so energetic, made much more use of it by watching the city whenever he was bored, laughing at whatever amusing things he could see from a distance, and then returning to his parents to share all the wild stories he'd witnessed.
Today was poised to be no different… but Ukano was startled by the boy's sudden claim of having seen moose-lions, of all things, near the city. Perhaps it was but a game or so, but if it wasn't, the presence of creatures known to be fierce and dangerous didn't reassure the Governor.
"Hand over the spyglass, Tom-Tom," Ukano said, taking it from his son without waiting for the boy to relinquish it. Unsurprisingly, Tom-Tom pouted and glared at his father.
"I was looking, Dad! Give it back!"
"Be quiet, Tom-Tom," Ukano said, startling the boy with his harshness. He winced upon realizing he had been too blunt. "Sorry, dear, I… I just need to see this for myself."
It wasn't easy to identify the creatures from this distance, but the likely size of them, and their strange antlers, suggested that they might just be exactly what Tom-Tom had claimed they were… but why? He had governed this city for ten years, and never before had he seen such creatures nearby. Perhaps it wasn't a severe threat… but they were terribly close to the city's entrance. Curses, one of the creatures was sniffing the bridge, going by the angle of its head…
"We need to send word to Captain Tseng, at… at once," he said, though his own words gave him pause: no doubt Tseng already knew they were there, he couldn't have missed out on something this significant and menacing…
It was the most unexpected security hazard, unlike the rebellions Ukano and his men had thwarted constantly over the course of a decade. It was easy to fight common fools, whether they were earthbenders or not, who wanted to reconquer their city… but these creatures? Perhaps the wisest choice would be to lure them away rather than to fight them, come to think of it…
"Tom-Tom, do you know anything about moose-lions?" he asked. "Their diet, maybe, or anything they dislike?"
"Why would I know anything like that?" Tom-Tom asked. Ukano winced.
"Because you like animals?" he said. Tom-Tom shrugged.
"Doesn't mean I know everything about them. I don't know, Dad. They're… lions. And moose. Guess they'd eat anything if they're hungry? Kinda like we do!"
"That… doesn't really help," Ukano grimaced. "We have to get them out of the vicinity of this city…"
"What? No! Why would you that?! They're the most fun thing that's happened here in years!" Tom-Tom exclaimed.
"Tom-Tom…" a female voice interrupted them: Michi, whose smooth and serene authority always seemed to keep the boy in check. "Do not raise your voice. You can make your points known without disrespecting your father, dear."
"I… oh. Alright…" Tom-Tom pouted, looking at Ukano reproachfully again. "Don't send them away, Dad. They're just looking for food…!"
"And that's why I asked if you knew anything about their diet. If we can lure them away from the city gates I will be satisfied, but for as long as they're there, merchants will… oh, the merchants!"
He gasped and raised his spyglass again, looking beyond the city's area: it was harder to see, but in the far distance, moving, dark figures gave away that the roads leading to Omashu weren't empty. Merchants were on their way, and they might just be attacked by the moose-lions.
"Oh, no. Oh, this is a mess!" Ukano gasped, a hand going back to his head while Tom-Tom took the spyglass again, happy to continue studying the moose-lions from afar. "We'll have no commerce for today because the creatures will eat everyone if they approached?! That can't be! No, I must send word to Captain Tseng and…!"
The Governor failed to finish his sentence when a sudden, intensifying vibration started to shake the foundations of the building upon which he stood.
The furniture rattled. The lanterns on the walls swung from side to side. The entire family seemed moments away from losing their footing as they stood nervously, eyes widening as they identified the unforeseen, violent trembling of the foundations of their home…
An earthquake had begun.