Morality Chain

Hello. I'm back.

Next stop, Ba Sing Se

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Hey, did you hear?" At the sound of her brother's excited voice, Azula looked up.

"Hear what?"

"Uncle's reached Ba Sing Se!" he smiled a smile the size of a cantaloupe slice. "He's managed to fight his way up to the city walls!"

Azula gave a brief snort and returned to her book. "So what."

That threw Zuko off a bit. "S- so what?" he sputtered. "So Uncle's going to conquer the biggest Earth Kingdom city and win us the war-"

"Him and the other seven generals who've tried the exact same thing already," she said and flipped a page of her book. "The walls have never been successfully breached by an outside attack, what makes you think they'll do it this time?"

Her brother folded his arms indignantly. "Because Uncle's leading them," he proclaimed, with more than a hint of stubbornness. "They don't call him the Dragon of the West for nothing, you know. He's won us tonnes of land already, and – and Lu Ten's with him!"

"Land isn't measured in tonnage, dum-dum," she muttered. "And Ba Sing Se alone is nearly the size of the whole Fire Nation. Direct assaults are just asking for trouble, and it doesn't matter if it's Uncle leading the charge or not."

"Oh, yeah," Zuko rolled his eyes as he settled himself on the chair next to her and pinched a grape from her bowl. Azula's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Like you'd know so much more about invading cities. The only thing you ever invade is my room."

"Maybe if you hadn't stolen my Fire Lily comb I wouldn't have had to go inside to get it back!"

"Well maybe I wouldn't have stolen your comb if you hadn't burned the picture scroll mother gave-"

"Are you two fighting again?" Ursa's voice cut through both of their own, shutting down the argument effectively. Instantly the two siblings were upright in their seats, giving angelic smiles that wouldn't have fooled a blind Owl-rat.

"No, mother," the two of them chorused. Ursa merely raised an eyebrow before sighing and turning to leave the room. Once her back was turned, brother and sister looked each other in the eye and promptly stuck their tongues out.

(X)

"Hurry up, guys!" Ty Lee waved to the rest of them as they finally entered the immigration centre of Ba Sing Se. The other three failed to respond in any appreciable fashion, instead choosing to gaze around at their surroundings.

Ugh, Azula thought distastefully as she walked through the crowds. What a squalid, dirty bunch. The refugees had come from all over the Earth Kingdom in an effort to escape from the war, believing the great walls of Ba Sing Se to be more than a match for the Fire Nation's armies. Irritatingly enough, they had been proven right, at least so far.

And if the massive wreck of the drill parked at the outer wall was any indication, they would continue being proven right, at least insofar as the near future was concerned. The princess shook her head. Their priority was hunting the Avatar now; Ba Sing Se could be taken at their leisure, or alternatively when the comet arrived-

Thud.

"Hey, watch it," a youth with shaggy hair snapped at her before turning away. Azula briefly considered responding in kind, but he had already moved too far away to hear. With an irritated shake of her head, Azula dismissed the matter. She had more important things to look to.

"These passports should work," Zuko said to her as she walked up. "I've been looking through them and I can't see any flaws."

"Have you actually seen genuine Earth Kingdom passports before?" she inquired.

"… No."

"Then we won't know if they're flawed or not," Azula shook her head. "And I'm not going to risk turning in passports that will alert the people here about us." What little information that leaked from Ba Sing Se placed internal security extremely high on the list of things to watch out for…

"What?" Zuko looked over at her. "Then what did you bring us here for if you're not going to let us get in?"

"Did I say that?" Azula glanced around. "Ty Lee, there's a restroom over there. You know what to do."

The acrobat nodded. "Got it! I'll be back in a jiffy!"

"Mai," Azula turned to her other friend, who glanced up.

"Hm?"

"Find us a male station attendant. Preferably a young one."

(X)

Piao was bored. No surprise there, considering his job. Stamping passports and tickets, day in and day out, he was little more than a cog in the vast bureaucracy that comprised Ba Sing Se's logistical arm.

And he was fine with that, mostly. The pay was good enough, and he liked to think of himself as contributing, however minutely, to the greatest of the Earth Kingdom cities.

If only it weren't all so infernally boring.

With a sigh, Piao glanced at the hourglass beside him. It was almost empty – just a little while more until he could take his break…

"Hey there, handsome," the voice was light and perky and Piao glanced upwards.

A vision of beauty stood before him, clad in one of the most revealing dresses he had seen in quite a while. He swallowed hard.

"C – can I help you, ma'am? Miss?" he stammered.

"Oh, yes!" she smiled at him. "I'm been walking for hours out in this dreadful heat and I'm feeling ever so faint," as she spoke she leaned back and pressed her palm to her forehead, revealing an impressive amount of cleavage in the process. "So, well, if you'd be so kind as to help me with getting entry as soon as possible…"

"O- of course," Piao stammered, trying his best not to stare at a trickle of sweat that was making its way down the girl's collarbone. "May I see you? Your passport! I meant, may I see your passport?"

The girl smiled and reached into the fold of her dress, withdrawing several sheets of paper that had apparently been pressed up close against her chest – they were still warm, and there was the faint air of perfume about them. "Here you go, sweetie. These are for me and my friends."

"F – friends?" letting his eyes stray, Piao thought he caught sight of several bored looking people standing behind the girl.

"Yes, my friends. They thought it'd be quicker if I just did it for everyone. That won't be a problem, will it?" the girl leaned down, letting her dress fall down to reveal – No! He had to focus on his work!

"N – no, of course not," hurriedly, he stamped down on the papers and handed them back to the girl. "H – here you go. Welcome to Ba Sing Se. We wish you a pleasant and productive stay."

The girl winked at him as she collected her passports and sashayed into the inner station. A moment later, her friends followed and Piao was left to tug nervously at the collar of his suddenly-too-tight robe.

Zuko shook his head as he slumped down on a stone bench, noting somewhere in the back of his mind that a voice was announcing departure times for the Inner City. "That was… demeaning," he finally said.

"Ty Lee thinks any attention is good attention," Azula said dismissively as she settled herself down. "If she's more than happy to do it, I see no problems with taking advantage of that fact."

He merely sighed in response and leaned his head back.

(X)

As the train rumbled smoothly along the tracks, Ty Lee began wandering the cabins, looking at the other people sharing a ride with her. A fair number of them had the weary, dishevelled look of refugees, although the cleaner clothes and bored expressions of several marked them as people whose jobs simply took them to the outer wall.

As she continued walking she noticed that she was drawing several stares from people around her. The reason for this wasn't really hard to figure out – she hadn't yet changed out of the outfit she'd used to attract that man's attention, and it was rather… outrageous.

Passing by a young couple holding a newborn baby (Ty Lee's smile widened a little at the sight), she settled back into the seat Azula had thoughtfully saved for her. The princess was staring out the window at the vast expanses on farmland.

"So this is Ba Sing Se," she whispered, almost to herself.

"I know!" Ty Lee bubbled. "It's so… grand, isn't it? From the outside, anyway."

"I suppose," came the reply. "More importantly, it's humongous. The single biggest city in the world."

"And we're going to have to find the Avatar in here," Ty Lee nodded. "Do you think it's gonna be difficult?"

"Not particularly," Azula said as the train passed swiftly through the Inner Wall, revealing for the first time the vast, sprawling metropolis of the city. Ty Lee couldn't keep her mouth from hanging open at the sheer size of everything that spread out before her, but Azula simply gave the entire thing a dismissive once-over glance. "The Avatar should be well known here, especially after that stunt with the drill."

"Huh?"

"I asked around a little. Some of the refugees saw the fight, and the Avatar was the primary reason the drill was halted. The guards on top of the wall couldn't figure out any better way to stop the thing than hurling rocks," the princess rolled her eyes. "He's going to be hailed as a hero to the city, so all we need to do is to ask around a little for news. Once we find him, we just trail him until he's not as well protected, and… well, there's that."

"Gee, Azula, you make it all sound really easy."

A brief snort of laughter. "I suppose I do," she said grimly as the train slid smoothly to a stop at the first station. "But with any luck, things will start going our way in this city."

(X)

Approximately three days later, Azula was just about ready to tear her hair out in frustration. The they were stuck moving through the muck and mire of the squalid, cramped Lower Ring was bad enough, but absolutely no one appeared to have heard of the Avatar.

Or appeared to be the least bit willing to talk about him.

"But surely you must have heard something," she said to the man she was talking to. "After all, didn't he save us from another invasion just the other day?"

"I don't know about any Avatar and I don't know about any invasion," he replied gruffly. "Now go away."

Azul watched the man walk off and blew out a long breath of air. That the citizens of Ba Sing Se were hiding something was obvious, at least. None of them appeared willing to discuss the war and how it was progressing. None of them appeared to acknowledge that a war existed.

She supposed on some level she could understand not wanting to talk about a war that had stretched on for a hundred years – especially of late, when Fire Nation campaigns had scored greater and greater successes in the field. But right here, right now, it did absolutely nothing to quell her impatience of anger.

Picking up her cup and draining the last of the tea from it, she shook her head and stood to leave the building. This had been a massive waste of time, and she didn't harbour much hope that any of the others were doing any better-

"Hey."

She paused and turned around to regard a heavyset man who had just slid into the recently vacated seat directly opposite Azula. She paused for a brief moment, glancing to the left and right. "Yes?" she asked, biting out the word.

"You're new around here? Don't think I've seen you before."

"Rather new. We came in with another batch of refugees around three days ago," no one else appeared to be paying attention to the man, but Azula wasn't one for taking chance.

"Right. That explains it," the man sighed. "Sit down, girl. You've got to learn a few things about the way the city works."

A chance for some information? After weighing the risks for a brief moment, Azula settled herself down again as the man raised his hand and gestured for two more cups of tea to be brought over.

"Okay, first thing you need to know," the man paused and corrected himself. "First thing everyone who comes to Ba Sing Se needs to know is that we don't talk about the war here. And that includes the fancy-pants Avatar."

"Yes, I figured that part out rather quickly," she replied with a hard smile. "But why?"

The server brought the cups over and the man raised the steaming cup to his lips before replying. "Official line is that we don't need the news or we'll panic. All we need to know is that our walls have held and they'll continue to hold, so we don't worry," a bitter smile came across his face. "We are ever so lucky to have our walls, aren't we?"

Abruptly the steady drone of voices in the cafeteria quietened noticeably and the man gestured with his teacup towards the entrance. "And there's one of them."

Azula turned around to regard the man in a green wide-brimmed hat and a dark coat as he stepped into the room, his dark eyes slowly turning to survey the area. Wherever he looked, people quailed or suddenly became immensely interested in the floor. And then, for a moment, his eyes' locked with Azula's and both of them held the other's gaze.

And then that moment passed and he continued his way to the counter. Despite the cafeteria being jam-packed with people, a way was automatically cleared for him as he moved.

"The Dai Li," her companion informed her, hatred all too evident in his voice. "The 'cultural authority' of the city, whatever that's supposed to mean. In practice, they run the city, so what they say goes. And they say no talking about the war."

Azula continued to watch the Dai Li agent for several long seconds. "You sound like you have something personal against them," she noted. The fear in everyone else was evident, but she could sense a deep current of resentment and hatred from the man talking to her.

He sighed and stared down at the tabletop. "My boy always wanted to become a soldier. So he grew up and trained himself and finally made the cut. Then, seven years ago… well, everybody knows what happened. The Outer Wall was breached by the Fire Nation, and my son got killed trying to keep them out," he closed his eyes and shook his head once. "And you know what they did? They put his status down as 'Unconfirmed'. That's what happens to every soldier who dies on the Wall. No gravestone. No memorial. Just 'missing'. Forever. Hey won't even acknowledge that he died protecting all of us," another shake of his head and he took a long drink from his teacup. Finally, he stood to leave. "Enjoy your stay here," he said bitterly as he began to walk away. "We're so lucky we have our walls to create order."

(X)

"This place is a dump," Mai stated flatly.

"Oh come on!" Ty Lee looked over at her friend. "We're lucky we were even able to get an apartment at all! And all it needs is a little bit of fixing up."

"Ty Lee, the bedroom walls are covered in mildew."

"…Okay, a lot of fixing up. But we can make it into a good home!"

"We're not going to be staying here long enough for any of that to matter," Azula said forcefully as she stepped in through the doorway. "A month, at maximum."

"A month's still an awfully long time to spend in a rundown shack," Zuko commented from the kitchen. "I'm with Ty Lee on this – we need to make the place… I dunno, sanitary."

Azula paused. "I suppose simply setting fire to the mildew is out of the question?"

"Yes," came the simultaneous response for the three other occupants of the apartment.

"Always making things harder for yourselves," Azula rolled her eyes. "I'm going out for some fresh air."

Once Azula was gone, Ty Lee looked over to Zuko. "You know, don't you think it's kinda weird?"

"What is?" he replied as he appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, several cups of tea balanced on a serving tray. "Here you go, Mai."

Wordlessly, his girlfriend accepted the offered teacup and the instant Zuko's back was turned, she poured its contents down the nearby potted plant. Ty Lee smiled nervously – that had happened so often in the past couple of days that the plant itself was starting to stink of tea. "I mean," she continued as she raised her cup to her lips. "Azula's… well, she's a princess. She grew up in the Imperial Palace and she was always so proper and refined…"

Zuko made a face. "Proper? She could put on a good show for the nobles and officers as a kid, if that's what you mean. But once we were alone…"

"Well, kind of. I know what you mean. But the point is that she always grew up in luxury, and now… we're in an apartment in the poorer side of town."

"It can't be helped. We're acting as refugees, after all."

"Well, yeah. I don't really mind all that much, and you, well…" Ty Lee coughed hesitantly. "You haven't really lived really comfortably the past few years, have you?" Zuko didn't reply aside from a slight shake of his head, so Ty Lee continued. "But Azula… I dunno, but I don't think she's at all used to something like this. I think… I think living like this galls her more than she's willing to admit."

Zuko paused and looked at the doorway that Azula had stepped out earlier. "I guess," he finally said softly. "But I think that she doesn't want to be seen complaining about it if the rest of us are accepting it."

"I complain about it," Mai said as she scraped at an unidentifiable black stain on the wall with her knife.

"Yeah, but you complain about everything! So you don't count/"

As Mai glared at a smirking Ty Lee, Zuko stepped out into the streets. Within moments, he had found Azula, sitting cross-legged on the flat rooftop of their home and staring off into the distance.

"Anything on your mind?"

"Not particularly," she sighed. Raising her chin slightly, she indicated the Grand Palace of Ba Sing Se, visible even at this immense distance. "I'm just thinking about the day when we finally stand in there as conquerors."

Zuko folded his arms and looked over too. "That won't be for a while," he said softly.

"Never hurts to plan ahead," her smile was sardonic.

Silence fell upon the two siblings for several more minutes until Zuko finally spoke up again. "Az?"

"Hm?"

"I've just… I've been thinking."

"Well, that's new."

"Har har. Anyway, if – no, when we find the Avatar and capture him…"

"Or kill him," Azula reminded him. "And yes, once we do that, you'll be allowed to return home, and you'll be restored to your rightful place as Crown Prince."

"Yes, about that. If I go back and become Crown Prince, doesn't that mean… well, you'd be Crown Princess without me, wouldn't you? If I never went home, I mean…" he paused.

Reaching up to tug at one of the bangs that framed her face, Azula hesitated a brief moment before replying. "Maybe. But the title is yours by birthright. I'm just restoring things to the way they were meant to be," she hesitated and a smirk spread across her face. "And of course, once you've started your reign, there's nothing preventing an accident, say, four or five years down the line."

"Az…"

"It wouldn't be a fatal one, of course."

"Az."

"But just crippling enough that you won't be able to perform your duties effectively. And who better to step in to fill your shoes than your dear sister?" her smile was angelic, and Zuko had learned that she was at her scariest at those moments.

"Az! Don't even joke about things like that," Zuko groaned. The moment passed and Azula lay a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"On a more serious note, have you ever considered that maybe the position of being the Fire Lord's sister has more than enough clout in the court? Almost all of the prestige, almost none of the duties. Not that I won't be willing to help you out with those, of course. If you ask nicely."

Zuko smiled and looked at the ground. "Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. Even if we got the Avatar and returned home tomorrow, father still has plenty of years left in him."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." And she left it at that.

As the sun continued to set, the two siblings stood there in comfortable silence, watching the vast expanse of the city spread out before them.

(X)

Two days later, Zuko stepped out of the back of a restaurant, smelling faintly of stewed pork. While he knew that Mai still had more than enough money to provide for whatever they needed – and a large portion of the budget was going into renovating their apartment too – he'd decided that having some personal money on hand never hurt.

The job he'd managed to land left something to be desired, however. Blinking away the tiredness, he was about to turn down the street and head on to their residence when an unmistakable sound froze him in his tracks.

A scream. And judging by the pitch, it was from a rather young girl.

Quickly, he pivoted, searching for the source of the sound. As it died off, he found himself heading down one of the dark alleyways, looking for –

There! A young girl cornered by a group of four glowering men.

"Please! I need this money! My mother, she's sick and-"

"Shut up!" one of the men, probably the leader, snarled. "If your mother's sick, then you'll need to be in good health to take care of her, won't you? So just give us the money and nobody gets hurt."

Zuko's jaw tightened, and he stepped forward, raising his hands into a fighting stance and -

"Get away from the girl," a voice from behind him spoke calmly.

Blinking in surprise, Zuko looked over his shoulder to see a shaggy haired youth advancing on the thugs. As he neared, he withdrew two hook-shaped swords from his belt, holding them in a battle stance.

The muggers now looked up, and noticing they had company, the nearest of them stepped forwards, nostrils flaring. "This is none of your business, kids. Now get out of here."

"I'm making it my business," came the smooth reply, and the boy with the swords charged. A half-second later, Zuko fell into step behind him, moving to intercept the two that were coming at the boy from the right.

He was unarmed, and both of his opponents were armed with knives. I can't Firebend either. As the first thief lashed out, he pivoted and kicked him in the stomach, dumping him to the ground. The second one was slightly more skilled, and Zuko had to evade a couple of his attacks before he was able to catch him with an elbow to the gut that sent his opponent staggering. Another swift kick, and he was down for the count.

A groan and the thud of a body falling to the earth signified the boy with the swords defeating his own opponent, and the two of them turned to regard the last remaining thief. After a brief moment, he threw down his weapon and turned to run.

"You okay?" the boy looked down at the girl. "Did they hurt you?"

"I – I'm fine," the girl stammered, picking herself up from the ground. "I – thank you."

"No need to thank me," he smiled briefly before turning to Zuko, who had already begun to walk away. "Hey! Thanks for the help."

Zuko paused. "It was nothing," he said softly before continuing to walk away.

"W – wait! Please!" it was the girl this time. "I – I work at a tea shop not far from here. Would you… would you like to have some tea? It's on the house, of course. It's the least I can do for the both of you."

Zuko paused and looked up. "I… guess that sounds nice," he finally allowed as he turned around to face her.

"Great! I mean, good. It's this way," the girl hesitated. "By the way, my name's Jin. Might I know the names of my gallant rescuers?"

The boy with the swords smirked. "I'm Jet."

Zuko closed his eyes. It wasn't likely that they would recognize the name of 'Zuko' here, but there was no point in taking risks. "Lee," he finally said.

As they followed Jin down the alleyways, Jet turned to Zuko. "So, Lee, that's a pretty good fighting form you have there. Who taught you that?"

Zuko raised and lowered one shoulder. "My family, I guess. We have… a bit of a history with fighting."

Jet nodded. "Guess you would, what with the war and all. And family, huh?" He looked up thoughtfully. "Must be nice."

No more words were exchanged until they stepped through the doorway of a small but well-kept teahouse. As Jin hurried to the back to change into her work clothes, Jet and Zuko settled themselves down at one of the tables.

"So what's your story?" Jet said without preamble.

"It's a pretty long one," Zuko replied. "But the long and short of it is that I'm a refugee here."

"Aren't we all," Jet turned to look over at the rest of the people filling this place. "So many of us came here for a fresh start."

He paused, "You too?"

Jet nodded and fingered the piece of straw in his mouth. "You could say that. I did some things that I'm not too proud of, so… here I am. I thought maybe I could find a new path in life."

Zuko looked down at the table. His path in life had been set out for him three years ago. It wasn't going to change now. "Well, I hope you find what it is you're looking for," he ventured.

Jet smirked. "Same to you," and at Zuko's surprised expression, his smirk grew even wider. "You're looking for something too. I can tell."

After a moment, Zuko nodded. "Yeah. I guess I am."

Just then, Jin returned, bearing two cups of steaming hot tea. Nodding his thanks, Zuko picked up his cup and raised it to his lips. Then his eyes widened in surprise. "This tea… it's fantastic! You're a great brewer!"

"Heh," Jin grinned. "It's not me, actually. The owner hired a new tea brewer a while back, and he's the one who's really made business in this place boom," then her eyes and smile widened as she looked over his shoulder. "There he is now!"

Raising an eyebrow, Zuko turned and looked.

The tea cup fell from slackened fingers and smashed against the stone floor.

(X)

"Hey, did you hear?" At the sound of her brother's excited voice, Azula looked up.

"Hear what?"

"He did it! Uncle did it!"

"Did what?" she snapped, increasingly irritated.

"Uncle broke through the Outer Wall! That's the strongest of Ba Sing Se's defenses and Uncle's beaten it! There's no way Uncle can lose now!"

She blinked and shook her head. "Wow. That is pretty good."

"Fire Lord Azulon said we're going to have a celebratory feast soon, too!"

"A feast? Shouldn't that wait until we've actually conquered the city?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it this way," Zuko grinned. "We can have a feast now, and then when Uncle wins the whole battle, we can have another feast! So that's two feasts and twice the food!"

Sound logic, she acknowledged. Of course, if there was going to be a feast, that also meant that-

"Azula," her mother appeared in the doorway. "We'll be having a celebration to commemorate Lord Iroh's victory at the Outer Wall. You know what that means."

"Not another dress, mother!" she whined. "I have so many already! And they're all tight and uncomfortable and I have to stand still for hours while they take my measurements! Why can't they just use the ones from the last time?"

"Azula, we've been though this so many times," her mother sighed. "First, we can't have you showing up at an official celebration in old clothes. Second, you're a growing girl – any measurements they've taken before won't fit you properly now. And lastly, your brother's already done the same just now, and if he can do it without complaining, so can you."

She shot a half-hearted glare at Zuko who merely shrugged, and then a forlorn look at her mother. Finally, with a shake of her head and a sigh, she stood up from her chair.

"All right," she muttered. "Let's get this over with."

Chapter End

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