Part 5 Chapter 4 – Prickling my Ankles and Murmuring of their Humility
Katara was woken up by the argument between the siblings and muttered a curse against the early-rising habits of firebenders. It was the fourth day, all their injuries were repaired to the greatest extent possible, and she had hoped to sleep in. Instead she pulled on her shoes and went to the deck. The sound had traveled straight through the splinter-ridden deck boards to the sleeping quarters below. Of everyone she expected the shirshu to be the greatest annoyance on the cramped ship, but the giant sightless beast had been as quiet as a lop-eared rabbit-mouse. In the brisk morning sun she put a hand on her hip and watched the two shouting at each other.
"Azula, we can't enter the river," repeated Zuko in exasperation while he gestured and paced around the deck. June and Jet had grown weary of the pair's antics and had taken seats nearby to watch. "The pirates are on our backs and will trap us there. The base is the closest port and the perfect entryway to the desert."
"We need to go upriver to Omashu," she replied, irritated that he wasn't instantly obeying her. She was sitting on the floor next to the railing and rubbing her leg. "If we go to the base, General Fong will kill me."
"Why? Why would he kill you? He knows you're working for the Earth King."
"He doesn't trust me. He'll kill me if I present myself there, where he has his power concentrated. I want to go through Omashu. If you're that concerned about the pirates, anchor the ship and let them catch up, and I'll burn them apart."
"We don't have time to go to Omashu."
Azula looked over as Katara, who was standing beside the wall of the superstructure, asked, "Do you really think General Fong will kill you even against the Earth King's orders?"
"Yes, obviously," stated Azula. "Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Katara stated, "Omashu isn't that much further. How far is it by ship?"
"Half a day," said Zuko. "That makes a full day wasted for the ship."
"Once we get off at Omashu, the ship will return past the base. They can stop there and ask General Fong to escort them. If you draft a letter he'll cooperate."
"If the pirates don't get them first. Once we leave June is alone here, and neither she nor the crew are benders of anything. It's putting too much risk on them to entertain Azula's selfishness."
Azula told her brother, "I suppose you would be pleased if General Fong killed me. That's why you're so resistant to going one port further."
"You've certainly never hesitated to try to kill me. Maybe I would like to see it. Why did you hide from me when we went to Ba Sing Se after raising the library, why were you afraid to let me see your face and know what you were up to? You're scheming something up. I don't trust you because you've never acted trustworthy. Just throw a rag over your head and General Fong won't even realize who you are."
"He'll know."
"You're insensible. There's no way he would—oh, just forget it! We'll change to Omashu, then, and there go all my plans."
"Was that really so hard?" his sister asked. "After all, I'm the only functional firebender left here, since you apparently have forgotten how to do it. During that fight you kept pretending to be a nonbender even as we were becoming overwhelmed, until I set those ships on fire and bought us some shoulder room."
"Maybe it doesn't occur to you that I was trying to keep our identity a secret there. Which you ruined, by the way. Now every pirate within two hundred miles knows the Firelord is out here unguarded with a small party getting involved in their trade business."
"What good is your identity being secret if you're dead?"
"I had it covered."
"You were about to pass out in the middle of the fight. As you were you couldn't have filleted a fish with those broadswords."
"I had it under control, and then you superimposed your own desires against my will, and now I'm in a compromised position."
"What's done is done. We're going to Omashu."
He kicked the railing in rage, and the wood creaked with a nerve-wracking sound of imminently breaking off. The ship was old and in a bad state. The sailors had agreed to help them precisely because their business was failing and they were in desperate financial need and, hence, their ship was brittle and long neglected without the means to afford repair materials and sufficient tar for waterproofing. They seemed to think it would survive the trip across the ocean to Caldera City, but she was not so sure.
"Zuko," said Katara. "I want to talk to you." He lowered his leg from the taffrail and crossed the deck to her, but not before giving his sister a look of pure loathing, and followed her inside to the mess hall. He flopped onto the bench and put his elbows on the table with a heavy thump while she took a seat across from him. The child was still bedridden and the crew were elsewhere, likely being informed by June of the change of plans and needing to plan out the new route's details. With the two of them alone, she continued, "Why were you so insistent on not firebending? Back home, too, you've been overprotective ever since we got back from the library."
He sulked as if not wanting to answer, bounced his leg, then set to turning the bracelet over bead-by-bead. "There are a lot of people who don't want a waterbender to be Firelady. June said the man who shot you was with the pirates, but at that time I thought he was an assassin. You're a skilled bender, but you're not invulerable. I'm trying to protect you."
She reached across the table and took his hands in hers. He looked into her eyes as she said, "I've known that was a risk since our engagement. I'm not afraid."
"What if something happens to you? You'll get hurt because of me, because you're with me. I can't live with myself if something happens to you."
"Then let's show them what we can do together. If we can take down the crime ring around this trafficking operation, people will hesitate to go against us. You mentioned that your father's viciousness kept your family safe from risk of assassination growing up, that no one would oppose him. You don't have to be wicked, but demonstrate your strength and dedication and no one will support an attempt to overthrow you or to do away with me."
"Isn't it better for you if you aren't with me, if you go back to the South Pole?"
"Do you think I'll be happy there if I know you're still at risk yourself? Would you be, if the situation was reversed? Let's go to Omashu. It'll be fine."
"Okay," he replied softly, then stood up to go around the table and sat beside her, pulling her into a hug. "We'll have to find a way to hatch the dragon egg. I can't think of a better bodyguard to give you."
In afternoon they docked at the Omashu riverport, shouldered their luggage, and waved goodbye to the ship and June. The shirshu was on deck sniffing with keen interest and could tell the city was nearby. Omashu was seated in the safe crown of the mountain crags, towering over the range and river in hazy yellow. The season grew late and they had coats thrown over their shoulders to transition when the gain of altitude would bring chill. Many of the mountains were crested in snow and Omashu stood over all of them, brisk and dry, chiseled from bare rock whose continued disintigration into the elements generated perpetual dust thick on whipping mountain breeze. The path wound through switchbacks bringing traffic between the port and the city in a laborious climb. About a third of the way up they paused to put on their coats, as even past the heat of exertion it had grown undeniably chilled.
Azula's legs shook while she struggled to put the garment on. Katara took her own pack to the edge of the roadway at an outcropping of rocks and took a seat, saying, "Let's take a breather."
They sipped water as they rested. Because they had not arrived at a scheduled loading time, there were no stagecoaches or carts at ready as existed when passengers and freight arrived. A few workers and travelers had passed, but far less than at peak hours, and they were surrounded, if only briefly, by the sounds of nature. Songbirds trilled and animals hurried to finish their preparations for winter.
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The town itself was less wind-battered as the city walls and buildings kept the streets sheltered. In the protection, provided moisture and soil by the residents, foliage managed to cling to life in the otherwise barren heights as was the case for surrounding peaks. The verdant green was mimicked in the grass-green tile, while there had been color provided by black and white paint to divide the structural components of the buildings and hide the fact that it was carved all of the same stone shaped by earthbending. Wood was scarce as a construction material as it grew sparsely in the region and was expensive to ship in, but they had stone and earth in ample quantity. As a result, the city fostered echoes and strange casts of sound.
They booked two rooms at an inn for the night. Zuko all but pounced on Jet, warning that if he began his drinking and slovenly habits again he would be introduced to the bottom of the canyon directly and expressly from the top of the city. "I'll do my drinking at a bar where you won't have to be offended by it," he retorted, and marched out despite threat of violence and sparks lighting his back.
Zuko kicked the door and returned to their own room. "We still have a few hours before bed. Let's get dinner."
"What about your sister?"
"Hopefully General Fong is on vacation here or she can otherwise find a route to the canyon-bottom. I'm not her keeper, she can find her own meal." Having said so and already in a bad mood, he led her out to the maze of the city. Due to its high security and loyalty to the Earth Kingdom, surviving any attempt of Fire invasion and maintaining its status as the second greatest city and the strongest on the western front, Zuko had never been there before as certainly he would not have been welcomed while in his state of banishment and, afterwards, never had occasion to visit it. Initially having led her out to the streets, instead Katara took the lead. She'd been through as a traveling healer, believing her brother may have found his way there as there were plentiful jobs. They were seated at a good restaurant not long after.
Soft tofu stew and braised pork belly were brought out. The hike up had him famished and he tried to pace himself and not overeat. "This time there are transit routes to the library oasis, at least," she said. "They're arranging caravans."
"I'm not sure we should go with them. Anyone joining our party might be subjected to vengence by the crime syndicate. We can follow the road they've laid out, but we'll be better off taking chickens again. Maybe I'll get to witness them bite my sister. She's never been good with animals."
In a setting like that he was reminded, in the candlelight and high-backed chair, of how beautiful she was. The city was plush in beige and green but little else and had nothing which could compare to her eyes. It was something that alluring which proved such a difficulty for him, as he could bundle her up to hide her national clothing, her hair, her bending pouch, but nothing could disguise that ocean-blue.
"It sounds like there is a good industry now for providing transit animals, since there's such an appealing new destination. Last time we went from the southern border, but starting from the west at Omashu is easier for most people. The city is now the portal to the new territory more so than a destination in and of itself."
He'd seen a group of academics from his own nation while they passed through town and smiled thinking of the new possibilities that had been opened. "Things will change quickly, now. The lost knowledge is being restored and it's just a matter of time to parse it through and compile it all for the world's betterment. With the size of the library it might take decades to outline just an index of everything available."
They were offered dessert and took the chance for it. She replied, "Still, the new territory is on the eastern half, while the desert remains in the outskirts and the north, and the land is arid beyond that at best. Not everyone can make that kind of journey."
"It's a shame, but I guess earthbenders can't do much with sand because it won't hold any shape or structure. It's almost like water." Something caught his eye and he set the spoon down, letting Katara finish the last bites of egg tart on her own. He whispered, "Someone's watching us."
"Trouble?"
He was trying not to tip the man off, but he must have been particularly observant as with only one glance from Zuko he had the premonition that he had best depart. The route he chose was unnatural, designed to keep his face out of their sight, and Zuko stood up to follow him out. Not this time. Whoever this is, they aren't escaping me that easily. Outside the doorway he was shocked to see the person had already taken off at a run. Without missing a beat, Zuko ran after them, and Katara after him, leaving the restaurant staff to scream after them for dine-and-dashing.
Unable to spare time for it, he followed the man down a side-street and alley at full tilt. He knows something or he wouldn't be running like this. At the next turn he almost smashed into a wall of newly formed, still-forming, stone. I'll be damned if this much will stop me. He took a running start and tic-tacked up a wall, leapt to the newly formed obstacle, and grabbed the top ledge to hoist himself up. The earthbender hadn't expected that and was still crouched nearby just having finished its construction, flinched, and tried to make off. Zuko launched from the top and tackled him to the ground with a heavy impact.
That 'oof' sounded too feminine. Pinned to the ground, he rolled the person over and pulled their hood down. "Toph?"
"Get off me!" she shouted, and shoved him hard. She scrambled up, but before she could take off, he grabbed her wrist. "Let go!"
"No. Why are you acting like this? I thought you were an assassin—I almost char-roasted you." From the other side of the wall Katara was shouting to him, unable herself to clear it. "Let her in. Explain yourself."
"It's none of your business."
"Toph, we're friends! Stop acting like this. What's wrong? Tell us what's going on."
"I ran because I didn't want to meet you. Get off me and let me go."
Meanwhile, Katara screamed, "Zuko! Zuko, are you okay?" with her voice coming from behind the earth-wall. Toph looked up at hearing this and made an uncomfortably guilty expression, cast her eyes to the ground, and grit her teeth. With a stomp and gesture she formed a doorway to admit her, and Katara, racing through in equal parts confusion and worry, stumbled to a stop in front of the pair, not expecting them to be there, nor to see Toph was the one they had been chasing. "Toph, why are you here? Why did you run from us like that?"
She threw his hand off her wrist and shouted, "Just leave me alone. I ran because I don't want to talk to you right now."
Katara, not put off by her act, walked forward with the patience of a mother and stood before her. Not angry, but understanding, she said, "Whatever it is, we can help." It broke down her barrier.
In a small, bitter voice, she replied, "I'm not sure you can."
"We'll try."
She flushed. Meanwhile, the restaurant staff had caught up and their angry voices were growing closer. Toph closed the gateway in the earth-wall seamlessly and they kept quiet while the wait-staff passed them by. "They walled this alley off? Guang-li, when did they do that?" they asked each other, hesitated, then took off in the other direction.
They waited until the coast was clear, then Toph said, "Come with me for now. Actually, I didn't pay for my meal, either. I ran out of money last week."
She led them through a maze of back-alleys and side-streets. Katara lagged behind them once, pulled a sheet of poster paper off the wall, and folded it up for herself while catching up to them. They entered a derelict alleyway leading to a boarded-up side-door. Toph, using earthbending, opened a portway next to it and the three crawled through, then she closed it behind them. It was pitch black inside. "Can I light a fire?" asked Zuko.
"If you feel the need," said Toph. "I'm fine like this." She walked with assurance in the darkness, but Zuko held a flame above his palm for himself and Katara's benefit. The interior was filthy and must have been abandoned for a decade. Cobwebs were as dense in the corners as leaves on a tree. It had been some kind of work-space and weaving equipment was boxed up and abandoned there along with scrap fabric, which rats had gnawed at. All the windows were covered over and there was not the smallest bit of sunlight that could enter. Meanwhile, it would have been passing the last of sunset outside. One room had been cleared of the worst of the dust and cobwebs and Toph sat them in a nook at the center where salvaged fabrics from the weaving operation had been laid across the floor like carpet as well as formed a make-shift bed for herself. She had a table set up with a variety of items—judging by her statement of being broke, they were likely all stolen.
"Make yourselves at home."
Katara sat at the table and took out the paper she'd snatched earlier, unfolded it, and laid it on the table. "Toph, what is this?"
"Paper, by the sound, but I suppose you're referring to what is on the paper." She took her outer cloak off and set it beside her.
"It's a wanted poster—a poster of you. They're calling you the Blind Bandit."
"Sounds about right. Hey, do I look good in it?" She was trying to play it off, but the living conditions spoke of desperation. Whatever she had gotten herself into was serious. Her hair was cut short, recently and poorly, in a lopsided men's cut. Her clothing was as well a man's and she must have been cross-dressing to disguise herself. "Stop nagging, the cops can't catch me. It's fine."
"It's not fine. What's going on?"
"My dad cut me off. I don't exactly have a job, so I've been supporting myself by scams and lifting. If you're hungry, I still have some pears I snatched yesterday. They're fresh."
A spider was crawling on the foresaid pear. Zuko frowned. "Why would your father do that?"
"Had a bit of a falling-out. And, no, I don't want your money. I'm fine like this."
He crossed his arms. "I wasn't offering. You can't keep this up forever—you aren't the first earthbender who has turned to crime. They can and will catch you. Why are you lingering here if you're broke? You hate Ba Sing Se, so I doubt you feel so much different for this city."
"I have business here. Look, I don't need your help. How about I interrogate you? What are you two doing here? Long way from Caldera City!"
While he wondered if honesty on their end might win them the same on hers, Katara had already begun explaining the situation, sparing nothing. Toph listened thoughtfully. At the end she didn't have anything witty to say, but kept her thoughts to herself for a while. Katara stood up to take a look around and he followed her with his flame as, for lack of need, Toph had not bothered to steal any lantern or candle. The workshop had various leftover projects abandoned there, from war-time military flags to fine clothing, all beginning to decay in the stagnant air. The fibers had degraded into a thick dust. The weaving equipment was not valuable, nor were the scraps of thread and fabrics, so no thieves had bothered with the space until she had shown up to squat there. "They were skilled," said Katara, lifting the end of a work-in-progress with an elaborate pattern in senna and mustard. "What a shame it's been reduced to this. If they had the chance to finish, this would have been beautiful."
He wasn't in a rush to leave, as his sister and the drunkard could take care of themselves and, meanwhile, they were freshly wanted bill-skippers who would benefit to wait out the restaurant staff. If they stayed out half the night they wouldn't be in any position to leave for the desert in the morning, so he was already reckoning to stay an extra day and have the hotel staff bring in meals.
She'd taken a while arriving at it, but finally Toph asked, "Could I read that list you got from June, of all the people involved in the trafficking business? Rather, you'll have to read it to me, I mean."
Zuko hesitated. "Sure. It's at the hotel, though. But why would you want it?"
"Well," she said slowly, "if you're asking that, I guess you don't know. After the Dai Li were disbanded, some businessmen who had been staying out of their awareness grew bolder in regards to the law. The Dai Li were corrupt, sure, but they also kept law and order, and in their wake there's been sort of a scramble for the scraps left on the table, the business opportunities that they feared to take part in under their watch. Businessmen like my father."
Katara asked in disbelief, "Your father is involved in this?"
"He wasn't on June's list," replied Zuko. "Maybe he's innocent."
"He's using an intermediary," explained Toph. "A fall guy who puts his name out so my father doesn't have to risk his reputation. He's come up with ideas for ordering the business rather quickly. I wouldn't be here if he wasn't dipping his hand into the water. Don't get me wrong, I hate the Dai Li, I know they tried to kill us, but without them, my father has… I never thought he would do something like that. I was suspicious. He had begun having frequent meetings and taking on new employees I knew to be involved in shady dealings, so one night I eavesdropped. I just couldn't live with it, knowing what he was doing, where his money was coming from now, and I confronted him. I begged him to stop. He wouldn't listen. When I got angry with him and kept pressing, he took my passport and trust fund away and threatened to disown me and strike me from the will. He's been angry at me for several years now because I won't marry any of the men he's tried to arrange for me, and I never realized how close that anger was to boiling over, but he unloaded everything on me he'd been bottling up for years and told me I'm a disappointment and he no longer has a daughter."
She was trying to remain stoic, but was obviously devastated by her father's rejection. He asked, "Why are you in Omashu?"
"If he won't stop when I ask, I'll make him stop. I was going to hunt down his lackeys and break all their legs, anything to stop what they're doing, but I didn't realize… They're using the desert and I can't see there. I've been powerless to stop them while in the desert, so I came to the city, but without money I've had to resort to crime myself. I can't go to the police. I don't want them to arrest my father—I want to end this quietly so he can save face, so our family isn't destroyed." She fiddled with the hem of her jacket and turned her face away. "It hasn't been working so well."
"Where is Aang? He would help, and I know you were traveling together."
"He won't understand. He'll think my father is a bad person, but he's not, he really is a good man, usually, he's just been enamored with this new opportunity and he's lost control. I don't want his judgement on us."
Katara commented, "Aang is the furthest person from being judgemental."
"I don't want him to know about it. He'll look at me differently from now on. I just don't want him to pity me any more than he already does—I won't be able to stand him if he does."
"Toph, he wouldn't… You know, he actually cares about you." When she didn't reply to that, Katara continued, "Regardless, we're already here and invested in this problem, so come with us and we'll help each other. We can use your help."
By phrasing it like that she won her over, and Toph agreed to follow them to the hotel in a few hours under the cover of darkness. She declined a bed, messed the floor up by constructing her own stone tent in a corner of the room, and slept there surrounded by walls of her own making, using her daybag as a pillow and jacket as blanket. He didn't want to inquire as to Azula's or Jet's status, so the three went to bed with the promise of dealing with it in the morning, Jet likely messing up their room to the same extent Toph had theirs. Katara's body was warm and soft next to him, their arms brushing the other's. The desert awaited them, its prospect looming ever larger the more layers were peeled back.
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A/n:
Tic-tacking is a parkour term for that Prince of Persia stuff.