The Return

by tubendo

The ice of the South Pole hides many things, and when Azula and Sokka are confronted by something far greater than themselves, the strength of their relationship is tested, and the Princess has to decide whose path she will follow: the path of her father or the path of freedom. (Sequel to Into The Fire)

43. Chapter 43

The train ride to the Middle Ring was far more awkward than the previous time. Toph was not usually so timid, finding herself usually to be the loudest and most confident individual in any given room, however she had a growing feeling of concern when it came to Jet, who was the only person accompanying her. It was not because he was impulsive and violent, but because of her own feelings.

Being a noblewoman by birth, and a coddled, apparently helpless child, Toph was never allowed by her parents to have a proper social life when she was younger, and that problem was finally coming to roost. She might have been able to deal with people when she was a soldier well enough, but that was because it came naturally to her. Exerting authority was straightforward, as were commands and directions, whether that was teaching Aang or commanding a fighting force. However, when it came to actually socialising, or spirits forbid, romance, she was about as subtle as a brick to the head.

Toph couldn't deny that she had some liking towards the Freedom Fighter; she had tried to ignore it for long enough, but when faced with having to deal with him, and only him, for an extended period of time, she tried to think of a way to handle the situation. She could just ignore those feelings, bottle them up and shove them deep down, but she knew that wouldn't be effective in the long term. She wanted to have a productive relationship with Jet, like she wanted with everyone else of importance in their group, and ignoring all those feelings would make her overcorrect; she did not want him to think she hated him. She was already blunt and sarcastic enough as it was, so she doubted that would even work.

The other alternative was to give in, and admit it, but that terrified her. Rejection wasn't something she had even had to deal with before, but she knew that would only make things worse, given that she would be stuck working with him for the foreseeable future. So, Toph elected to just wait, and hope that she could figure out an opportune time to address the matter; she thought that maybe he might show some inkling of his own feelings, but it didn't help that he was a man obsessed with his own image. He played up a cool guy', charismatic act, which she saw through; she could tell he was a broken, angry person, just like many of the other fighters she had met. The only difference between Jet and the others was that he wouldn't break.

She wondered if he was even someone she ought to like, considering his violent streak and disregard of others; however, she could not say she was much better. Toph had always been a pragmatist, abusing situations to her advantage, and at least when she was still under her parent's thumb, she could justify it as taking what little freedom she could snatch out from beneath their noses. So, that only made her feel that they were more alike, rather than being fundamentally different; she just didn't give into her emotions, which were more muted, given that she had a lot less to be personally angry about. She had left that all behind in Gaoling, after all.

"Toph?" he addressed her, and she was drawn out of her thoughts, wondering what she should say, or if she ought to do anything at all.

"What is it?" she asked, "Are we at the stop?"

"Nearly." he answered, before he nudged her, "You were spacing out there... it's a little hard to tell, but you seemed-"

"Yeah, in my own head." she finished his sentence for him, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about all this." she lied, and he hummed.

"You mean the stuff with that Shin guy?" he asked her, and she shrugged.

That was something to be concerned about, but she was leaving that matter to Ty Lee and Azula. However, she needed an excuse, so she went with it.

"Yeah. I can't say I trust him, even if he definitely wasn't lying." she admitted, "Because people can change their minds."

"Probably could have asked him more questions." he suggested, and Toph sighed.

"I wasn't really the one running the show then... but you're right." she conceded, knowing that she ought to have pressed Shin more with questions that would help them ascertain his true loyalties.

Toph was still unsure if she ought to say anything about what had been stuck in her head, but decided she ought to leave it. She didn't want to accidentally cause a scene, given she expected Jet to have a reaction; he was, as she knew, the more emotional of the pair.

"Alright, we're coming up to it." Jet told her, and rose to his feet, "Huixin told me where we'd be meeting, but I'm... well, not the best at reading signs."

"And I'm blind." she reminded him, "This ought to go well." she sarcastically commented, before standing up, "We'll just have to ask somebody where the address is."

"Alright." he agreed to the proposition, and the two of them walked over to the door out of the carriage; the train slowly came to a halt, and the doors opened up, allowing them to step outside onto the platform.

They were not going to the university, but rather a residential part of the Middle Ring; that was where Huixin and other members of the National Reform League were meeting. They had decided to meet separately as more radical members, willing to support the protest movement and radical, violent action against the Governing Council. They hadn't explicitly said they would be willing to terrorise the government, but their way of framing their actions as opposed to the lip-service and talk of the rest of the Reform League told her that was exactly what they intended to do.

They made their way down to the security gate, where a pair of guards eyed them up; they showed their bags and identification, and without a word, were sent off their way. As they stepped out of the station, Jet increased his pace, and approached a stranger on the street.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing, but my friend and I aren't from the area. Could you tell me where this place is?" he showed off the piece of paper they had received from Huixin after they met her at the university; the stranger hummed, and pointed down the street.

"That's at the eastern edge of the Shisan district." he clarified, "Just walk down this street, and you'll see the sign for the street eventually, close to the walls."

"Thank you." he bowed to the man, and he went on his way.

Toph stepped back over to Jet, and pouted, "So, how much walking is that?"

"Well, the walls aren't that far away." he argued, "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"I'm not worried about being mugged in this part of the city." she retorted, "I'm worried about getting completely exhausted."

"I didn't take you for a complainer. Didn't you walk between that colonial city and the base?" he reminded her of a walk she had done with Jianren's fighters and the residents of Shengchang.

"Uh... yeah." she conceded, realising that was a much more strenuous walk than whatever she was about to do, "You're right."

"I usually am." he cockily responded, before they began walking down the street.

They crossed under the railway, and then began a slow uphill trek towards the walls; the streets weren't too busy at that time of day, after the morning rush of people heading to work, yet before anyone would be heading to lunch. The part of the district they were in was filled with shops and workshops, and seemed a lot more upbeat than the Lower Ring. People were chatting in the street, but nobody was in their way. That meant she and Jet could just keep walking until he identified the street they were meant to take.

Eventually, they made their way out of the commercial hub into the residential areas, which were still quite dense, even in the Middle Ring, though there seemed to be a lot more greenery in the form of private and public gardens, and trees even lined the street itself.

"This is taking forever." she mumbled to herself, able to sense the walls off in the distance, but they didn't feel any closer, despite the time they had spent walking.

"Fine, let's play a game." Jet decided, "You think of a thing, a physical thing, and I have to guess what it is."

"Really? That sounds like a bit of a dumb game." she bluntly gave her opinion on the idea, and Jet snickered.

"Well, the trick is I have to do it in... uh, let's say fifteen questions. You can only say yes or no." he explained the rules, and she nodded.

"Fine, go ahead." she allowed, thinking of something that she could have as his target; the first thing that came to her mind was something she was more than familiar with: a cave, "Okay, I have something."

"Alright." he responded, and cracked his fingers while stretching, "Is it alive?"

"Nope."

"Is it on land?" he pressed, and she nodded, "Huh... is it made by people?"

"No."

"Is it something you see often?"

"Me... or people in general?" she asked, and he hummed.

"People in general." he clarified, and she shook her head.

"Is it made of rock?" he pressed, and Toph pointed a finger to her chin; technically a cave was an absence of rock in the ground, but she could say it was.

"Yes, it is." she answered, and Jet seemed confused.

"Why the hesitation?" he asked, and she wagged a finger.

"That wasn't a yes or no question." she warned him, and Jet sighed.

"Fine, is it a mountain?" he asked, and she shook her head, "A canyon?" he added another, and she shook her head, a little slower than the time before, just to be a nuisance.

He seemed to be getting agitated, but remained silent as he ran his head over the possibilities; she hoped for his own sake that he'd start questioning attributes again, rather than asking about specific kinds of things.

"If people don't see it often... then it might be under the water... uh, a reef?" he guessed, and she scoffed.

"Heh, and when would I have even sensed one of those?" she posed a rhetorical question; Toph's abilities might have extended to ground under the water, but there were few situations where she would have to use them like that.

"True." he conceded his mistake, "Do animals... live around this thing?" he asked, and she nodded, "Is it a cave?"

"You got it." she granted him his victory, before sensing around, "Are we close?"

"I haven't seen the street sign yet." he answered, "Is it my turn?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Go ahead." she allowed, and Jet tapped his chin.

"Wait, but you can sense if I'm lying." he realised, and she scoffed.

"You're not meant to lie, idiot." she argued, finding that to be exceptionally unfair; she had been wholly truthful in her responses, and expected he would do the same, "That would ruin it."

"Okay, okay." he accepted her rules, and with a spring in his step, he raised a finger, "I've got it."

"Is it alive?" she went with the same question he posed her.

"Yes." he answered, and she scrunched her lips.

"Is it an animal?" she asked, and he nodded at once; that told her that it definitely fit within the category one would call animals, which allowed her to discount stranger things, like spiders and bugs.

"Do people use it?" she proposed another question, wanting to get rid of as large a set of animals as she could think.

"Yeah." he confirmed, and Toph thought of a few kinds of ways one could use animals."

"Do people eat it?" she asked, and Jet seemed to hold his tongue for a moment before nodding, "Not often then." she realised, and scrunched her lips, "Then it must serve some other purpose."

"Shit, you're better at this than I am." he muttered with a tinge of fear in his voice.

"It's an ostrich horse, right?" she guessed, and Jet seemed dejected.

"Y-yeah, that was it." he admitted, and she laughed.

"You've gotta choose more obscure stuff. Not really obscure, but enough to make it a challenge." she suggested, before Jet snapped a finger, and pointed down the street.

"There!" he declared, "That's the street."

"Finally." she smirked, and sensed around for Huixin's heartbeat; she had only met her once so it would be harder to recognise it amongst the masses of people that were walking about, but as it wasn't that busy, she expected to find her quickly enough.

She was unable to make it out, and guessed that she was somewhere further down the street; when they reached the crossroads, Jet seemed to be checking out the signage, before he pointed to their left, "Yeah, it'll be down this way." he confirmed where they were going, and immediately began walking down that way.

Toph followed, and sensed about, noticing that the houses were larger in that area. Not necessarily manors or anything that spectacular, but definitely a cut above the rest of the places she had been sensing while they were walking through the district. She did however notice that most of the buildings were in need of repairs. They didn't feel right in the ground, and she guessed that something had happened in the area in the past to cause the buildings to become damaged. She guessed it might have been because of a fight, or an earthquake.

However, her confusion was clarified as she sensed below them, and made out more of the Dai Li's tunnels, but perhaps more importantly, what seemed like a natural cave system. It appeared to have water running through it, and it was not just a stormwater drain that had happened to erode a deeper channel than expected. It was an underwater stream, running through a cavern, which reached down what felt like forever. Toph had only heard rumours of the place she guessed it led to; the object of her desire, that which she sought to destroy. The cavern had an opening nearby, in a park that allowed water from around the district to flow down and into the cavern.

"What's the problem?" Jet asked her, "You look like you just found a really good snack."

"I think I found an entrance to the Crystal Catacombs." she clarified, and the Freedom Fighter stopped himself.

"Wait, as in the place where Dai Li hides all their deepest, darkest secrets?" she asked, and Toph cautiously nodded.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about." she confirmed, and he seemed to approve.

"Well, that's something we need to remember." he argued, and she shook her head.

"All the tunnels eventually lead to it. I don't think going through a natural entrance will be any safer." she argued, before scrunching her lips, "The only way we're getting in there and out alive is with the Dai Li being distracted all across the city."

"Oh... well, I mean, that shouldn't be that hard, right?" he quipped, elbowing her, before continuing on down the street, "And come on, you're you. You can just dig down there, can't you?" he asked, and Toph scrunched her lips; though she was sure she could handle reaching such a depth, the issue was not that, but rather actually fighting the Dai Li when she encountered them en masse.

It only took one of them to take a cheap shot at her head and she was done for; for all her strength, she was only human, and everyone could be knocked unconscious, and everyone could be killed. For some reason, that didn't scare her, but gave her an inkling of hope. If they could face off and destroy the leadership of the Dai Li and get rid of the Grand Secretariat, perhaps they would be able to actually win their war in the city. However, Toph wouldn't dare to do anything like that alone; she was brave, but not stupid.

"No way am I that stupid." she told Jet all he needed to know, before gesturing down the street, "Have you found the address yet?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"No, it's still a bit further up the street." he conceded, and she slapped him on the back.

"Then let's keep moving." she told him sternly, not wanting to waste any more time needlessly.

The pair made their way down the street, and the houses got a little better as they went along, as there was less damage; she couldn't be sure what had caused all that damage in the first place, but guessed it either had something to do with the underground stream, or the Dai Li. What exactly they would have done to cause damage that might otherwise be caused by an earthquake was unsure, but she could only imagine a proper fight had caused it.

Jet snapped a finger, and then waved out, "Huixin!" he called out to the woman, who she hadn't even made out, as she had been so focused on the buildings, tunnels, and caverns.

Toph usually focused better, but since she was in a new place, she couldn't help but sense around for all the nooks and crannies people could hide in. Primarily the Dai Li, but also for her own sake, if the worst outcome eventuated.

"Ri, Fen!" the woman addressed them both by the pseudonyms they had given her, and waved them over, "Come inside. I was wondering if you were going to show."

"Well, I promised, didn't I?" Jet reminded her, and Toph recalled the conversation.

Jet had played up his interest in meeting with the reformists outside of the formal gathering, and some of the more radical elements, including Huixin, wanted him to come along with the others. As Azula had more things to focus on than the Reform League, she told them to go by themselves and handle it, as she trusted them to ingratiate themselves with the group. Jet had really wanted to gather more intel on the National Reform League, but that did not make his interest in them disingenuous; he was motivated by his desires to achieve their common goals, even if somebody like Huixin had no idea the kinds of ends they would go to to achieve them.

"So your other friends didn't come along?"

"No, Canghou and Langba had other things to do. They've got jobs." she explained, and Jet stepped forward.

"Uh, well, I have one too, but I had to come along. Fen and I can tell you about what happened at the march."

"Oh, yes... I only heard rumours about what went down. Supposedly something about the Undersecretariat making an appearance." she explained what she knew about that.

"He tried to pacify the protests by promising to make the Grand Army into a professional force." Jet clarified what had happened, "But things went sideways. Those who weren't appeased started fighting. We had to run from the place."

"That's unfortunate." she admitted, seeming sympathetic to their plight, "However... that compromise will not give the people what they need, what they deserve." she returned to the matter of Undersecretariat Hou's sweet deal, which tried to appease as many of those in the Lower Ring as possible.

"So then what can we do?" Toph pressed her, hoping that Huixin and her associates had some actual plans; those were what they needed, as without plans, they could not hope to push the government further towards the brink.

"There are a few people here today who might be able to aid in achieving our mutual goals." she explained, "Please, come inside." she gestured to the door into the house, and they made their way over to it; Jet pushed it open, and led them inside.

The place seemed clean and orderly, as she would expect from somebody like Huixin; there were five other people inside, three men and two women. All of them were seated at a table, which lay in the centre of what she guessed was the dining area. As they made their way down into the area, they all turned around, and one of them rose up, one of the men.

"Good day, you two must be Fen and Ri." he addressed them; how he knew who they were at a glance was confusing, though she imagined Huixin had described them to the others.

Toph was obviously blind, so she imagined she could be identified at once because of that, but Jet would have stuck out a lot less.

"Uh, yep, that's us." she confirmed, "And might you introduce yourselves?" she asked with a curt bow of respect, and the standing man placed a hand on his chest.

"I am Jing, Huixin's uncle, and a professor of philosophy at Ba Sing University." he identified himself, and gestured to the others, "Go on."

One of the women cleared her throat, "I'm Fu. I'm a government bureaucrat, working in the Ministry of Finance."

The other woman went next, "I'm Heng, and I'm a history instructor at the university."

One of the men raised his hand, "I'm Guan, Huixin's partner. I am a law student." he clarified, "And a trainee at the Ministry of Justice."

The last of the group remained still, and flexed his neck a little before answering, "Zhong. I'm a security guard."

"Come on." Jing addressed him, "I think there's something more important you ought to mention."

"I used to be a Dai Li agent."

"Used to be?" Jet asked with a surprised tone, "How did you make it out of the organisation alive?"

"My comrades left me to die during the Fire Nation invasion." he clarified, "I was in prison for a bit, but was released due to... a clerical error."

"I don't believe that." Toph argued, "Not trying to say you're working for-"

"No, you're right. It was probably because that old Governor had been brainwashed... a lot of agents that were locked up after the war were freed, for seemingly no reason." he clarified, before sighing, "I got some new papers and reinvented myself. I didn't want to get within a mile of the palace after what they did."

"Huh." Toph gasped out, realising that he hadn't lied once; he was being wholly genuine, which was more than a little concerning; a Dai Li agent like him might have been tracked by his former comrades, perhaps because they thought he would do exactly what he was doing: trying to help their enemies overthrow them, "Are you sure they aren't keeping tabs on you? I mean, I sure would if I was in charge."

"I faked my death." he clarified, "It wasn't that hard with so much going on when the Fire Nation shit the bed."

"Makes sense." Jet acknowledged, before stepping over to take a seat, "I'm sure you'd like to hear what was going down in the Lower Ring. The march went ahead."

"We've heard rumours." Jing spoke up, and stroked his beard, "But please, go on."

"The Undersecretariat, a man by the name of Hou, appeared before the marching protesters when they arrived at the town hall." Jet explained what had happened, "You might have heard about that bit. He promised to phase out conscription, and turn the Grand Army into a professional force, and give any conscripts the opportunity to join, with more pay and pensions." he explained what Hou had revealed to the crowd, before raising a finger to his chin, "I think the Dai Li is trying to weaken the Fire Nation's hold within the Governing Council by making their soldiers redundant."

"That makes sense." Jing commented, "The Dai Li have a vested interest in weakening their so-called 'partners'."

"That doesn't seem to be a problem. I mean, a professional army would be better suited to make demands of the government." Heng argued, and Huixin spoke up.

"With a higher wage, pensions, and certainty... they would be less likely to rock the boat." she argued, "We should take this for what it is: a ploy to try and appease both the common people and the conscripts."

"I agree." Toph declared, and she moved to sit down at the table, "The Fire Nation is only a threat in as much that they can effectively depose the Dai Li and seize control of the city. The commoners are much more dangerous, especially those conscripts they have trained to try and fight the rebels." she explained, making sure not to slip up and call them the Coalition; that would make her seem more knowledgeable on the group than she ought to be.

"And if they defeat the rebels, then they will have no reason to remain conscripted. A lot of those men might want fair severances to compensate for their efforts and blood spilt. The Governing Council, already struggling to pay everyone... will obviously refuse." Fu noted, seeming to be quite academic in her tone, rather than considering the gravity of what she was suggesting, "So, then the only course of action would be for the trained conscripts to seize control of the palace and take what they see as rightfully theirs."

"And would that be in everyone's best interest?" she asked, wanting to gauge their opinions on the idea of a coup.

"Not necessarily." Jing gave his opinion, "The conscripts would be relatively unorganised, and might try to trim... too many branches. They would be a rabble... uncontrolled and without a central leadership. Whatever leadership would arise, it would be the most charismatic and brutal among them, dispensing out the resources of the government to those they need to remain in power."

"So, substituting something terrible for something worse." Toph observed, "And how can this be avoided?"

"There are two options." Zhong spoke up, "I mean, two obvious ones."

"Being?" Jet pressed, and he raised a finger.

"One: the Governing Council has to remain in power, but protests and the threat of such an insurrection force them to reform. Expel the Fire Nation, perhaps, and make peace with the rebels." he gave one possibility, which Toph herself saw as being more and more likely the longer they spent in the city.

The Dai Li would realise that they needed to cut the loose weight of the Fire Nation remnants and colonists, and try to appeal to the base instincts of the masses: their tribalistic nationalism. However, that would likely cost them any possibility of peace with Ozai, if his forces decided to return to the city; two ultra-nationalist regimes would never compromise with each other.

"The rebels might hate them, but they must want what we want: reform. Our nation would rebuild itself, and turn its efforts against the enemy." he argued, "But this would just allow the elites to retain the power they have always held, and probably gain more of it as they expel the Fire Nation from their colonial possessions."

"And we can agree that that's not the right way forward." Jet spoke up, his words presumably a question, posed to the table; everyone nodded, and he gestured to Zhong, "Then what's the second option."

"The rebels win." he stated the obvious, "They purge the government, and kill every Dai Li agent they can get their hands on. The various ministries get trimmed down, and their leadership replaced with new blood. I imagine they would want the provincials to have much more of a say... and rightly so. The government here has been concerned for far too long with the enrichment of our own elite, rather than even considering what has been going on outside of the city."

"Chin the Conqueror's dream might finally be realised." Heng declared, seeming to approve of it, "Three hundred years too late, but our eyes would finally be turning outward."

"Yes, you're right." Zhong agreed with her, before tapping his fingers on the table, "I'm unsure what they would do about the Fire Nation. Rumours say the Fire Lord, Azula, is backing this movement. That makes their goals seem... unclear."

"The posters I've seen say that they're going to rebuild the government entirely, and allow the people to have a say in its new structure." Jet explained, and his claims made sense in the context of the act they were playing, "That sounds pretty good to me. The masses will get their say, and it won't be chaos. It will be... well, a revolution."

"Something unheard of in centuries." Huixin acknowledged, "This would change everything."

"I mean, it wouldn't change every single thing about our country... but there is an obvious issue." Guan spoke up, "The Earth Kingdom has always situated its laws, at least here in the city, around the king and his power. With no more king, they would have to frame a whole new constitution. Thousands of years of jurisprudence might be thrown out the window."

"Is that really so bad?" Toph posed a question to him, "The laws of the Earth Kingdom have only ever served to maintain the power of the nobility and the order upheld by the king... or whoever's really in charge."

"The local laws that have been upheld in the provinces... perhaps they would have to change as well."

"I expect they would, in time." Jet agreed with the idea, "But, this is about national laws. Things that would be enforced far beyond the walls of Ba Sing Se. The kinds of laws that would force people to be paid certain wages, be afforded rights, and have a way to make proposals to the government." he explained, and Jet's knowledge on such matters was surprising; she guessed that he had actually spent his time at Ba Sing Se University asking about such things when they were speaking with the various members of the National Reform League.

It was also possible that he'd discussed such things with King Bumi; given that he was a learned man, of great experience, with aspirations to reform their nation, it made sense that they would have discussed such reforms at length.

"That would be a great boon to our people." Jing acknowledged, "A common legal system, enforcing the rights of people against their would-be oppressors, that would certainly help restore faith in the government."

"It would only be a matter of time before corruption sets in." Heng warned them, "But we need to see what this Coalition proposes. I hear their leaders are soldiers, peasants, and even nobles." she acknowledged, "At least, from the whispers that have come up from the Lower Ring."

"And the Avatar." Huixin added, "I hear that he's among them. Though... we haven't really seen much evidence that he's capable of fighting the Dai Li."

"The Avatar has mastered the elements a thousand times." Jing declared, "That is a fact that nobody ought to forget. He may be a boy, but he will be able to break the will of the Fire Nation soon enough, let alone the Dai Li."

"But that assumes they don't capture him." Zhong warned, "I don't need to remind you what the Dai Li do to people like him."

"Threats?" Jet asked, before leaning closer, "I am curious though... how much do know about their inner workings?"

"The brainwashings, or the organisation as a whole?" he questioned, and Jet hummed.

"Both, really." he admitted, "I've only seen and heard rumours... and tall tales. You must have facts."

"The Dai Li have changed tack more than once since the fall of the Earth Kingdom." Zhong clarified, "They went from hiding to brainwashing any Fire Nation official they could find... and then they decided that they weren't enough. They took soldiers, bribed others, and then dispensed with it, at least, publically, when they started the uprising."

"The uprising was popular enough." Huixin acknowledged, "The issue was that they did it themselves. A private war, rather than one bringing all sectors of society together to depose their common enemy, the colonisers." she argued, "That was their mistake. They could have changed things... but they did not."

"Yes, they have only sought to enrich themselves and ignore all precedent, law, and customs of our nation." Zhong argued, and Guan hummed.

"I am no great fan of our prior government, but they have forsaken all attempts at disguising their seizure of power. There is no Earth King to cover for them any longer." he argued, before sighing, "So, something must be done."

"What exactly do you have in mind, Guan?" A asked him, and he seemed a little uneasy, his heart rate spiking up.

"We help the rebels." he declared, and raised a finger, "I am not proposing anything too rash. Supporting the protests... that is inevitably going to help the rebels once they enter the city."

"What's to say they already haven't?" Heng asked them all, "I have heard rumours about the Avatar trickling up from the Lower Ring. Nothing concrete yet, but this tells me they are already among us."

"Then they will want to make their move soon." Guan argued, "So, we should try and find them... or find somebody who can. Provide them with a path."

"What kind of path?" Huixin asked him, "Into the palace?"

"I can provide that." Fu argued, "And Guan knows his way around the High Court, which is in the same area."

"I don't recommend it." Zhong warned them, and Toph was more than eager to listen to him, given how well he would have understood the workings of the Dai Li, "Trying to infiltrate that place is more than dangerous. The Dai Li has postings all around, and they are most concentrated around the palace and its surroundings."

"But getting inside is possible?" Jet asked, "I don't even know what the rebels could do... the numbers they'd need to attack the Governing Council directly. They can't seriously have that many people." he feigned ignorance, but told them the facts as they stood; their allies had yet to assemble into the city, and they were spreading themselves around, finding new hideouts to avoid the Dai Li's everpresent eyes.

So, if they were to attack soon, they would need more men, or an assuredly brilliant plan. She was sure that Azula had something in her mind, fermenting a plan to embroil the Governing Council in more chaos, assuming they could enter the palace. Toph herself could surely reach the place via the Dai Li's tunnels, and she could lead people through, but it would become harder and harder to hide them from the enemy with more people in their group. She guessed that the best case scenario was bringing all of Azula's guards, and having them kill every member of the Governing Council, most important of those being the Grand Secretariat, who led the Dai Li.

"Entering the palace is possible, if you can evade the Dai Li. The Governing Council themselves must have very high security, given that they want to avoid infighting. The threat of the Dai Li brainwashing every non-Dai Li member in the Council to do their bidding is the greatest danger."

"I don't recommend any of you try something like this, for your sake, and the sake of your families." Jing warned them all, "The Dai Li are brutal in their retribution. They will not leave a single stone unturned."

"But the rebels won't care, will they?" Heng asked, "They are not from here. If they die here for their cause, that is glory, not damnation."

"I wouldn't-" Toph began, wanting to give her own opinion on the matter, but Jet cut her off.

"The rebels are outsiders, yes, but they are still people. Most people don't want to die." he argued, saying almost exactly what Toph had intended to, though she might have accidentally called herself a rebel in the process; she felt embarrassed, and let him say whatever else he needed to, "I saw them at the march in the Lower Ring. They weren't throwing themselves at the guards."

"Because nobody is that stupid." Zhong argued, "They will only fight when it is absolutely necessary... and if they don't have the numbers they will have to hide."

"The Council are people." Heng spoke up, "If they try to kill them... and succeed, then the rebels are the only ones who can take power. The commoners and bureaucrats aren't in deep enough to start a war in the city."

"The Fire Nation might be." Fu spoke up, "They control so much property, wealth, and trade within the city. If that is threatened, they might just try and retake power."

"That is an outcome everyone can agree is much worse than what we are presently dealing with." Huixin spoke for the table, and everyone nodded, "But I think this Coalition might be able to do it."

"Do what? A massacre?" Guan asked, and she shook her head.

"Make the right moves with the right resources. The fact we haven't heard about mass arrests and fighting outside of the protests, that tells me they know what they're doing." she explained what she thought about the Coalition, which was a lot of praise for not a lot achieved.

In their defence, they were only just at that moment receiving reinforcements and building up their strength so that they might be able to start fighting the Dai Li when the unrest boiled over into an uprising in the Lower Ring.

"So, how can we help them?" Jet asked, "I know a lot of people around the Lower Ring, but I'm not sure I can find them, or if they'd let me find them."

"I cannot be sure." Jing spoke his mind, "They must be well hidden, but they would be making alliances in the Lower Ring." he deduced correctly what they were doing, "I say you look out for people handing out their posters and fliers and try and learn more from there."

"Alright." Jet nodded, "I mean, I don't know if I can do that in a reasonable amount of time. At the rate things are going... things might fall apart fast." he warned them, and Huixin cleared her throat.

"Just do your best." she suggested, "I have a feeling they will come out of the Lower Ring soon enough."

"And when they do, the Dai Li is sure to find them." Zhong warned, "I recommend that we meet somewhere different next time. I feel that they are going to be a lot more cautious when it comes to the National Reform League now that these outsiders are ready to aid in our political goals."

"Good idea." Huixin acknowledged, before sighing, "I would say to stay longer, but I am sure we all have things to do."

"Uh, yes." Jet nodded, and turned to Toph; she couldn't read his mind, but she could tell that he wanted to leave so they could debrief on what they had learned and figure out a way to introduce the reformists to the Coalition, though obviously not through their fake identities, "We need to get going anyway." he explained, and Huixin got up and gestured to the kitchen that lay nearby.

"Are you sure you don't want any tea?"

"Uh... no, we're good." he reassured her, and Toph nodded in agreement; she turned to him.

"Go ahead, I need to... uh, feel things through." she cryptically warned him, hoping he would understand that she needed to check to be sure that the people they were meeting with weren't liars; nothing had stood out so far, but she needed to be more specific in her line of questioning.

When Jet went off to leave, Huixin stepped over to her, and seemed to be eyeing Toph, as her heard was oriented in her direction, "You know, you are a cute couple." she commented, making Toph reel in surprise; she hadn't been expecting that comment, though after thinking through how they were acting, it made sense for her to come to that conclusion.

"Uh..." she mumbled, unsure whether she ought to play along; Jet was out of earshot, so it wouldn't necessarily hurt for her to do that, "I- uh, thanks?"

"A noblewoman and a commoner." Jing commented with a seeming tone of approval, "You are breaking the kinds of barriers that ought to have been shattered lifetimes ago."

She felt deeply embarrassed by what they were saying, and knew that they could tell; she was blind, but she knew that people's feelings were easing for seeing people to observe. She had heartbeats, while they could see faces.

"I am not one to comment on such things." Zhong gave his own view, that of impartiality and indifference, and he offered a hand across the table, "I wish you the best of luck... Fen, was it?"

"Yes." she nodded, and accepted his hand, "I think you've had a lot of luck, so hopefully I can take some of it."

He snickered, and his heartbeat didn't seem any further elevated; it seemed that he wasn't bullshitting them with his story about how he had been able to leave the Dai Li and reinvent himself.

"I don't imagine anyone's going to be as lucky as Zhong." Guan admitted, "But I don't think it will take luck to find the Coalition, or for the Coalition to win."

"Action is the source of all results." Jing rephrased what he had said in a much more philosophical manner, which was unsurprising given his background, "I am sure we will meet again, and hopefully, we will have more than discussions to look forward to."

"Change." she declared what they all wanted, "I cannot see, but I know that things are not going to remain as they have."

She then stepped closer to Jing, knowing that he, of all people had to be intertwined in the web that have been weaved by the wise and knowing among them, "Jing, do you follow the quest for truth above all else?" he asked, and his heartbeat rose, telling her the truth, "That's all I needed to know."

"Fen, you- do you know what's going on outside this city?" he asked her, and she sighed.

"Not anymore than you would. The Upper Ring is a lonely place." she admitted, playing into her character while she was unable to fully reveal her intentions; she knew that somebody like Jing was going to have been in contact with Bumi, one way or another, "That's why I need to broaden my horizons."

"What are you talking about?" Zhong asked, seeming to suspect their interaction.

"Fen is a student of philosophy, you see. She is merely testing me." Jing played off his question, but his heartbeat told her that was a lie; he was a member of the Order of the White Lotus, like Bumi, and many other important, well-meaning individuals.

She reached into her robes, and tossed a tile at him; Jing grabbed it, and probably didn't understand its meaning just yet. She had had Jianren make it for her, one of many game tiles which had directions carved into them. Hopefully, Jing would follow them, and meet with somebody in their group, who would be able to inform him of the Order's involvement in their plans.

"I'll be heading off." she explained herself, while the others seemed surprised.

"You throw well for a blind girl." Fu admitted, "You must have practice."

"When all you have are your ears, you get pretty good." she argued, a lie, but a believable one in the eyes of those who did not understand seismic sense.

"I think I need to go as well." Zhong admitted, and he followed her out to the front door, where Jet was waiting for them.

"Oh, you're leaving too, Zhong?" he asked, and the former agent nodded.

"I have a shift at my current workplace."

"Where's that?" he asked, and Zhong stepped past him, not seeming to be very open about it; that made sense, given his past in the Dai Li.

"A factory in the Lower Ring. It makes armaments for the military... it used to be run by the Fire Nation, but its owner fled the city when the Governing Council took power." he explained, not telling them where the place was, but the information did gain her interest, and presumably Jet's, as he stepped closer.

"Huh, really?" he pressed, "That's... I assume you have an ulterior motive for working there."

"If only to figure out where all those weapons are going. If this does come down to a war, I want to make sure I'm not useless." he admitted, "I wish you both luck... but I don't think it was wise of you to come here... especially under false pretences."

He began to pace away, and Toph knew that he knew they worked for the Coalition; he might not have had a full idea of who they were, but he was obviously aware of their intentions.

"Can we do it?" Jet asked, having moved right past his realisation, right to their immediate goal of undermining the Governing Council.

"It might be suicide." he warned them, "But, you may play your pieces well... and it will not be for nothing. They are vulnerable, afraid, and paranoid. I would not risk my life without reward, and you should think the same."

"Thank you." Toph acknowledged his decency of not revealing their identities; he and Jing would know who they were, but the others were probably still under the presumption of their identities as residents of Ba Sing Se, "You are more honourable than I expected somebody like you to be."

"I did not join such an organisation to enrich myself. I wanted to do right by my city." he argued, "Do right by it, and you will have my aid, when the time comes." he told them, before walking away down the street.

Toph turned to Jet, who seemed a bit uncomfortable; she stepped out onto the street, and gestured for him to follow, "Come on, Ri." she referred to him by his pseudonym.

"I heard what they said." he admitted, and stepped closer, "I- I'm not trying to fool you."

"Fool me how?" she questioned, genuinely wanting to know exactly what he was thinking about; she did not think that he was playing her, at least in the sense that he might try and abuse her familiarity for his own benefit.

"I might have my friends, but I have never been good with... people." he admitted, his tone sombre, "I am not- I'm unsure how to treat you."

"I am your comrade." she reminded him, "And if you want something, you need to ask." she left the onus on him, as she would prefer not to have to ask herself; she was brave, but not that brave.

"Yeah... I want to be happy." he admitted, "But that's something I can only get with victory."

"Are you sure?" she asked, and Jet stepped ahead of her, and began walking down the street.

"No, no I'm not." he conceded, "But I don't want to be- emotions are useful, but they can distract you. Do you understand?"

"Yes." she nodded resolutely, "I feel the same."

"Then are we going to distract each other?" he asked her, and she scoffed.

"You already are." she argued, before following behind him as he began to head back down the street, in the general direction of the main road.

"Distracted, or distracting?" he questioned her words, and Toph shrugged.

"I like a little plausible deniability."

"That's how this all works anyway." he argued, "But... I don't know if honesty will help."

"You have to make the choice yourself." she argued, "I will just keep on doing what I always have."

"Being a smartass?" he asked her, and she grinned.

"Ah, you know me so well."

---

Ty Lee hadn't seen all that much of Ba Sing Se so far; she hadn't even left the Lower Ring, but now, she had found herself somewhere eerily familiar, despite never having stepped foot there in her life. She had travelled to one of the colonial districts, where many Fire Nation settlers had moved to, setting up businesses, building factories, and even establishing cultural sites such as shrines to various spirits venerated in their homeland. The district was very new, only having been established in the past two or so years since the Fire Nation conquered the city, but it was bustling with activity.

She was accompanied by a few friends, those Coalition fighters she had come to work with, due to either her earlier chi-blocking training, or simply by being in close proximity with them. She was good at making friends, and they all appreciated her; whether that was because she was funny, uplifting, or merely a distraction from the concerns and fears that rightly plagued them, it didn't matter. She was able to keep people's moods up, and that was better to her than winning battles.

They were not there for mere sightseeing, but to do important work; as much as the Earth Kingdom fighters among the Coalition might have disliked her nation, Azula needed their support, and desired it, for it would help her long term goals of uniting all colonials under her banner as she moved to depose her father. They were putting up posters, these different to the ones they had put up in the other districts.

They called for the Fire Nation settlers to rise up and depose their Dai Li oppressors, for they sought to brainwash them and enslave them so they could dominate the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation at the same time. It was a bit hyperbolic, but Ty Lee didn't think it was all that much of a stretch; the Dai Li had not created the Governing Council out of a sense of goodwill and a desire for compromise and peace. They must have done it, in her eyes, to stall for time while they figured out a way to turn the Fire Nation into something that could serve their interests, and the settlers and soldiers would be the weapon by which they could achieve that.

She had decided to go get lunch, while they took a short break from putting those posters up; the people around were busy, and none seemed to have been roused up by the posters just yet, though she knew they would have their effects in time, just as they had in Xiqi District. As she stood in line, waiting to buy hot food from one of many street vendors, she was forced to stand still and take in her environment.

Despite being in Ba Sing Se, if she hadn't known any better, she might have thought she was in the capital, perhaps in the port district, which was nowhere near as nice as the part she was from, up in the Caldera. The people looked diverse, from the outer islands, the main island, and even a few people who looked to be of mixed ancestry from the colonies; that told her that they had all come to the city from different circumstances, but all must have desired to benefit from the wealth and prosperity of the greatest city in the world.

She had come to notice something odd, which was that some people wore armbands, and the colours on them varied; some wore red, some wore gold, some wore green, and others wore blue. It took her a while to figure out the purpose behind them, but it seemed obvious in hindsight. The armbands were signifiers of loyalty, which were never vocalised, as to avoid sedition towards the Governing Council. Green must have been loyalists towards the new regime, or at least those who wanted to suck up to it, while red were non-partisan Fire Nation loyalists, or perhaps Zuko supporters. Gold and blue were obvious, being the colours associated with Ozai and Azula's regimes, respectively. Most were wearing red, while some wore green, and fewer wore gold and blue.

"Ty Lee." Haru, one of her comrades who had accompanied her, addressed her with a concerned look on his face, "Is there something wrong?"

"The armbands." she whispered, and he glanced around, before scrunching his lips.

"What do they mean?" he asked, and she waved a hand.

"I can explain it later... I don't think we're meant to talk about them." she warned him with a whisper, before turning around, hoping that the line would hurry up so she could buy her food.

"I'm bloody hungry." Smellerbee, who had also come along, and was ahead of her in the line, grumbled, "Is it always like this?" she asked, and Ty Lee cringed, not having much experience with going to stalls, at least in a city as big as Ba Sing Se.

"Uh... kind of? It is lunch time." she reminded her that it was midday, and thus, the time that everyone would come around to order themselves food.

The line shuffled ahead, and that left Smellerbee with only one person ahead of her; she was getting impatient, but tempered herself by whistling, as if that was her coping mechanism. It was a bit cute, she thought, and made her wonder if she was any good at it; Ty Lee hadn't really tried all that much to whistle, as she had many other skills she had tried to learn, and whistling was certainly not high on her list.

She let out a short hiss, trying her best to whistle, but only earning odd looks from passersby and the other customers; she cringed, and turned her gaze down, feeling that she ought to try again in her own time. Smellerbee seemed amused, however, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Nobody can get it right the first time." she assured her with a smile, before turning back towards the front of the line.

When Smellerbee got her turn, she immediately stepped forward and pointed out to some drawings in front of the stall, "I want fried pig-chicken skewers, and some spicy egg and vegetable noodles." she explained her order, and the woman at the stall nodded, glancing down for a moment before returning her gaze.

"That would be three silver pieces. Do you need chopsticks?" she asked, and Smellerbee nodded, "That's another copper."

She reached into her robes, and gave her the currency she required, and with that, she was handed back a skewer, which she immediately began to eat.

"Your noodles will be ready in a moment." she clarified, and turned around to prepare a bowl from one of the pots she had ready.

Once she had been handed her noodles, Ty Lee moved forward, ready to order for herself, "Good day." she more politely addressed the stall owner, "Can I get some fire flakes and a fried vegetable skewer." she requested, and the woman put her hand out.

"A silver and four copper." she requested, and Ty Lee handed her that currency; she was then handed back her skewer and a bag of fire flakes.

She had chosen that mostly because she knew it would be out immediately, and she wouldn't hold up Haru, who was right behind her. She paced over the street to a spot where there were some empty, overturned, crates, where Smellerbee was sitting with a few of the others. Most of them had already gotten their lunches, and were quickly eating them so they could get back to work.

They would have a long walk to return to their closest hideout, which was a new one they had established only a few days prior. It was an old, unoccupied warehouse that had been damaged in a fire, meaning that it was condemned. There was a small portion of it, an annexe with an office, which was still livable, but it could only house a few people. It was mostly just a place for them to rest before they went to other hideouts.

Ty Lee would have to return to Azula by the next morning with a report on her findings; she had moved to a new central hideout, located a district away from their first one. The new one was arguably worse than the first, as it was not as well hidden, but that meant that it was less suspicious for them to come and go from it; it was an old school, which had been turned into a refugee camp during the later years of the Hundred Year War. The refugees themselves were mostly unaware of their presence, or thought that they were simply other refugees, who had dug out new rooms hidden beneath parts of the school. This was easy to hide with the various piles of rubble that they'd found lying about, as many of the shacks on the site were built from deconstructed buildings in the school.

She turned her mind away from that as she dug into her skewer, appreciating that it was hot out of the pan it had been fried in. All the walking and poster placing had gotten her hungry and tired. Ty Lee thought she would be used to such labour, with all the marching they were doing, but it was nowhere near as easy as she thought it would be. Ba Sing Se was massive, and the amount of walking people had to do was patently absurd. The others seemed a bit out of it, though some were more alert. Smellerbee especially had her eyes peering around, like a bird of prey looking for her next victim; she understood why, as she held very little trust for Fire Nation colonials, who probably would have recognised her Earth Kingdom background quickly enough.

The skewer was good enough that she felt ready to lay herself against the wall and have a nap, but forced herself to remain upright, knowing that there was still more to do, "Get a hold of yourself." she chided herself, which amused the others.

"Are you good, Ty Lee?" Tugulaq, one of the Water Tribe warriors who had accompanied them, asked her with a face of slight concern; she nodded, and stretched a little to make sure she stayed upright and poised, in case of danger.

"Yeah, I'm just struggling to not fall asleep." she admitted honestly, and the others all began laughing, "Hey, come on, you guys can't say you aren't tired."

"Yeah, we are." Smellerbee agreed, speaking up in a lull between chewing up bits of her skewer.

She heard a few shouts off in the distance, and wondered if somebody was being robbed; however, the shouting died down, followed by quieter responses. Ty Lee thought to get up and look, just for their own safety, but held herself back, much preferring to eat her fire flakes.

"Mmm... these are good." she commented, "Have you guys ever tried them?"

"Too spicy for me." Smellerbee gave her opinion, "And I usually don't mind spicy food."

"It's Fire Nation food, what do you expect?" Ji asked her, and slurped up some noodles from the bowl she was eating, "Though, these noodles: great." she gave her own opinion, her cheeks filled to bursting while she had a comically smug look on her face.

The shouts continued off in the distance, but died down by the time Ty Lee had finished her small meal; Haru came over and sat down with his own food, and quickly dug into it. He had gotten noodles as well, and seemed even hungrier than Smellerbee: he was obviously much better at hiding his feelings.

"This reminds me of home... but not in a good way." Haru admitted with a mouth full of noodles, "I can't deny I like it though."

"What, was your home-" Smellerbee began, but Ty Lee cut her off.

"Under occupation." she finished the sentence, wincing as she imagined how that must have felt; the Fire Nation loved to boast about its superiority, and they would have made sure all the villagers they ruled knew it, even if they weren't really providing any real benefits to their settlements.

"Well, not anymore." Haru argued, "The villagers had to leave... for their own safety." he clarified, looking down at his bowl pensively, "I have no idea how they are now... if they're even safe. I can only hope..." he trailed off, seeming unwilling to finish his sentence.

"Hope what?" Tugulaq asked, "That they found somewhere safe?"

"That the Fire Nation are too busy killing each other." he whispered back, and the Water Tribe warrior resolutely nodded.

"I feel exactly the same, friend."

Ty Lee did not, for obvious reasons, but she couldn't help but sympathise with them; she had not lived a hard life like they had, and had in fact benefitted from the suffering of the other nations. She couldn't say that the subjection of the Southern Water Tribe to raids really benefited anyone, other than the safety of the Fire Navy itself, which had little to do with people far from the South Pole. Even someone as pragmatic and cold as Azula knew that it was terribly wrong, even if she ignored her love for the Southern Water Tribe.

She continued chewing on the fire flakes she had left, wondering if things were going to remain 'peaceful' in the Fire Nation quarter. The shouting she had heard were not good signs, but she hadn't seen many guardsmen, nor riled up colonials. When the others were mostly done with their food, she stood up, and gestured down the street.

"I think we should start again. If you're still eating you can just follow after you're done." she suggested, and those that hadn't finished nodded.

"Alright." Ji agreed to her idea, and clapped her hands as she stood up, "There's still a whole two stacks left." she recalled how many posters they had.

"Let's not waste any more time. I'm sure everyone here wants to spend some time resting back home." Tugulaq gave his own opinion, "I say we try to focus on this area... it's clearly the most traversed part of the quarter."

The others nodded, and they all headed down the street, turning off when they found a good alleyway, and got to work putting up some more posters. Ty Lee had some jars of glue in her bag, and pulled one out, dipped a brush inside. Then she lathered up poster after poster, lining them up some distance from each other on the walls, trying to put them in spots that would easily be seen by those who made their way through. The others did the same, fanning out to different alleyways and backstreets when they came across them.

Once she had exhausted her own set of posters, she returned to Ji, who was carrying the stacks in her own bag, "How many left?"

"A stack and a half. So, still a lot." she answered her question, "We don't have to put them all up, do we?" she asked, and Ty Lee nodded.

"We might be able to hand some of them out to protesters, if we came across one." she suggested, and Ji nodded.

"Smart idea. They can hand them out and save us the trouble." she agreed with the idea, "So, let's keep a hold on some of them."

Ty Lee returned to the task at hand, and continued lathering glue onto the posters as she plastered them up on the walls of the alleyway. She eventually made her way down to another major street, which was a bit busier. She had to be subtle as she was putting the posters up, but everyone who was walking by seemed to be far more engrossed in their work, and held little concern for what anyone was doing in their peripheral vision.

When she was done at that street corner, Haru reached her, and gestured down the alleyway, "Ty Lee, we spotted something... well, it probably interests you."

"What?" she asked, finding his vagueness a bit frustrating.

"Some kind of gang of young Fire Nation colonials." he clarified, "They're clearly worked up, and I saw some of them holding some of the posters."

"Oh." she mumbled, before smiling, realising that they were already making an impact; those in the community who were already feeling frustrated in life, such as teenagers, would certainly gravitate towards the propaganda of the posters.

She felt a tinge of guilt over what she was doing, but despite that, she knew that it was necessary; the conflict over Ba Sing Se was not one-sided, and every single group had their own interests in mind. Therefore, to turn the Fire Nation colonists to their side, they needed to get them riled up, but lying to them would only further confuse things if lies were revealed as such.

Azula had told her that the truth would set them free, and they simply had to select what truths to reveal, and that would lead them towards their side. However, despite the fact they weren't lying, the manipulations made her feel disingenuous and deceitful. Ty Lee had never thought herself as being a hero, but if was going to fight, she wanted to feel that she was righteous, and that her side served and represented goodness. She could not be sure that was really the case, and preferred not to overthink it.

"Then we should probably pay some attention to that." she gave her opinion, "Maybe they'll help the others realise."

"Or just piss them off." Haru observed, "I would prefer if we got them to think they were all in danger."

"They'll only think that if they have reason to believe. People here must have heard about what's been going on in the other districts." she gave her own view on the matter, knowing that the news of the Dai Li's crackdowns would only embolden anyone that already mistrusted or feared them.

She followed after Haru, back down the alleyway, linking up with the others, who seemed to have expended most of the posters they had been carrying around on their person. Ji waved to her, and pointed down the alleyway, back towards the market they had been in before.

"I saw them heading that way." she told her, before grimacing, "They did not look friendly."

"And I don't look Earth Kingdom." Ty Lee countered, gesturing to her clothes; she was wearing ordinary Fire Nation clothing for once, replacing the usual Earth Kingdom garbs she had been dressing in while in the other districts, "I want to see what they're doing. Once I've done that, I say we leave and check for any other people that are interested in what our posters have to say." she explained her intentions, and the others nodded, following after her as she walked back towards the market.

The group made their way back out onto the main street, where she made sight of the group they had mentioned. They consisted of about a dozen young men and women, all of them dressed with bandanas on their heads, which made them look like the stereotype of a delinquent in her nation. They were all visibly armed with makeshift weapons; nothing that seemed immediately fatal, but certainly things that would hurt an unprepared foe.

They were harassing some city guards, who unlike them, were not Fire Nation, and when the guards spoke back, she could tell they were unhappy with the teens. The teens responded by pointing out and shouting, though it was unclear exactly what they were saying from the distance, and with the noise coming from the surrounding market. They spent not very long talking to the guards, before one of them stepped away, and picked up a stray brick from the ground. She knew exactly what would follow; it was tossed at a guard, hitting him in the head. While the rest of the guards were distracted, the teens started beating down on them, before knocking each of them unconscious, with only two left standing. They made a break for it, and ran down the street, presumably wanting back up to deal with the teens.

One of the teens climbed up onto some empty crates and raised a poster into the air, "Hear me! These fucking liars are going to destroy us. The Governing Council is a farce! Our people will be made slaves as soon as we aren't useful to them. They're making our soldiers fight their stupid war! Our brothers! They're dying for the Dai Li, not for us!"

The crowd seemed roused by their words, and a few raised their fists, "Long live the Fire Nation!" one of them shouted, and others cheered; the angry teens raised their fists as well, and turned to face the fleeing guards.

"We will make sure they know their place!" the teen declared, and they rushed after the guards with their weapons in hand.

Ty Lee could only watch with awe, and stepped back, thinking that intervening might only cause them more problems. She turned to face her comrades, who seemed even more concerned than she was.

"Is this really what she wants?" Ji asked her, referring to Azula, rather than any of the protesters who were raving and shouting at their supposed enemies.

"Chaos." she muttered, "But these people can't stay here, that's the truth." Ty Lee gave her own opinion on the matter.

She then followed after the teens and the few angry passersby who joined them; they were going after the guards, who had turned down a corner, and were presumably looking for some back up. She could hear them shouting things in the distance, but the words were obscured by the even louder shouts from the angry teens. When Ty Lee caught up with the teens, she had already turned that corner, and could see that the guards had been joined by another squad of a half dozen men. They readied themselves in a line on the street, able to block anyone from moving further along. Any other commoners around had fled, leaving those angry teens leading the charge towards them.

"You can't make us slaves!" one of teenages shouted out, and threw a stray cobblestone at one of the guards; he was able to block it with the shield he was carrying, and their defensive line remained in place.

The teens then ran right into their lined up shields, kicking, punching, and bashing them with their makeshift weapons.

"What are we going to do?" Haru asked her, "I don't think we should be-"

"I can handle this." Ty Lee declared, "Loop around these guys, and head back to the warehouse. I'll meet you there."

"I can't say I trust that you can step in without becoming a target." Tugulaq warned her, and she nodded.

"I know." she assured him; Smellerbee placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll watch your back." she assured her, "The rest of you, go. We can't all get caught out." she warned them, and they accepted the suggestion.

The others all ran off down the street, moving to round the block to avoid the fighting. Ty Lee decided instead to take a path through an alleyway, hoping to find a way up to the rooftops so she could more easily find a way to quickly attack the enemy from behind. Smellerbee was not far behind her, and kept watch as she scaled up a few crates, then up by some windowsills and lower rooftops. When she got up to the top, she glanced down to Smellerbee, who just eyed her intently.

"I'll come up. You just go ahead. I'm fast." she assured her, and Ty Lee trusted her; supposedly, the Freedom Fighters had lived in a forest before they had moved to Ba Sing Se, so they were all familiar with climbing and scaling up things, and trees were probably harder to deal with when compared with the exteriors of buildings.

She turned, and dashed across the rooftop, jumping across to the next one, and then the one after that. She lowered herself, and took a position right up to the left of the guards, able to see how they were positioned in their line, with two more guards at the rear to hold against any potential ambushes. She could deal with two men by their lonesome easily enough, and waited for the right opportunity to leap into action. Ty Lee pulled the cloak she was wearing up and over her face, before she watched, seeing as the guards threw back each of the attacks the teens made. The random civilians that had joined them were unarmed, but they were able to pick up cobbles and toss them over the guards, striking their helmets and shields.

The worse their positions looked, the more tempting it became to jump down; she waited until the guards at the rear turned around to reinforce their comrades, and leapt right at them. She landed on one, using his whole body to break her fall. She had not even needed to chi-block him, as the force of the strike would have knocked him out at once. The other guard looked at her, slack jawed and bewildered, before he was thrown to the ground by a few jabs and a sharp kick to the gut. He fell on his back, paralysed, while the other guards turned around, seeming more than concerned by her sudden appearance.

"Who the fuck-" one of them asked, before he was hit by a cobble across the face, distracted only for a moment.

The other guards readied their shields again, but had to focus on defending from two angles, making their efforts hopeless. She sent a flurry of jabs into their extremities where she could spot openings, and one by one, their limbs went limp. It was only a matter of moments before they were overwhelmed, as the guards were beaten down by the protesting colonials. She didn't even need to help after those first few hits, and stepped back, watching as the men were beaten and disarmed of their polearms and shields. Once they had achieved their small, and probably short-lived victory, the protesters looked up at her, and seemed confused by her sudden appearance.

"Who are you?" one of the teens asked her, and she didn't know what to say; she couldn't just say her name, or tell them about the Coalition.

So, she said the first thing that came to her mind, "I am the Fist of the Fire Lord." she declared with a grin, though they couldn't see it behind her cloak; she was Azula's right-hand, and with her chi-blocking, the name just seemed perfect.

They looked at her with awe, and she pointed down the street, "You probably don't want to stick around. They'll just keep bringing more guards." she warned them of what would inevitably follow their outburst.

"We can't just let them walk all over us!" one of the angry teens shouted out, "We need to fight back."

"Not yet." she warned them, "You'll know when the time is right. It's coming." she warned them as cryptically as she could; she didn't want any of the conscious guards actually understanding what she was saying.

They nodded, and Ty Lee glanced back towards the way the back up guards had come from, and saw more guards, who probably had either heard the commotion, or had been warned about it.

"Go!" she told them, and readied herself; she could be a good enough distraction, and then she would make her escape.

The others ran away, and she saw somebody drop down in front of her on the street, after hearing a bang above, "Damn, you're really gonna just stand there?" Smellerbee asked her, having pulled a cloak over her own face; she was usually wearing her make-up and bandana to obscure her identity, but given she was trying to fit in, the cloak would have to do.

"We're just giving them some time." she assured her, "When I tell you to, run." she warned her, and the other girl nodded.

"Fine." she agreed to the request, "You're gonna run faster than me anyway." she realised, before readying a pair of blades that she pulled out of her robes.

"Seize them!" one of the guards shouted out as they approached.

One of those guards was an earthbender, who shot out a pillar from the street beneath them. However, he had broadcasted his move, making it easy enough for Ty Lee to jump on the pillar as it shot out, backflipping before she landed back on the street.

"By the spirits!" one of the guards exclaimed, presumably because he hadn't expected her to land.

Ty Lee readied herself into form, and pointed to the earthbender, "Take him down first." she gave her first, and only intended direction; Smellerbee understood the objective, and rushed forward, climbing up onto an overhanging balcony before she began jumping from one to the other.

That would provide the earthbender with a distraction, given the other guards couldn't reach her from such a position. The rest ran towards Ty Lee, and she dug her left foot into the gravel beneath her feet. There were not many properly sealed streets in the lower ring, and she was on one of the many that was only dirt and gravel; she intended to abuse that to her advantage. When they were nearly upon her, she kicked her foot up, flicking out gravel and dirt, forcing them to close or cover their eyes. That momentary lapse in vision was all she needed to lunge forward and hit one of the guards right in the solar plexus, winding him before she jabbed his chi-pathways in quick succession.

As he slumped over, paralysed, the other men were clearly terrified as they understood what kind of fighter they were facing. She weaved out of the way of their polearms as they tried to pin her down, and Ty Lee quickly broke the gaps between her and her opponents, striking their hands and forearms when she could reach them, forcing them to drop their weapons and shields. When those who were unarmed realised they had no real way to defend themselves, they stepped back, before a few of them lunged at her, trying to tackle her to the ground, presumably so they could pin her arms. However, she somersaulted underneath them, kicked up some more gravel, before she jabbed them in their backs. The blows were so fast that they tried to turn around to hit her again, only to find their legs falling out from beneath them.

She almost laughed at their misfortune, but those who were still armed had surrounded her from more of a distance, hoping perhaps to get her with at least one of the polearms. She watched them cautiously, and noticed that Smellerbee had pounced on the earthbender down the street, and had visibly wounded him. He was trying to defend himself with his bending, but she was fast enough to weave around his attempts to strike her, before she knocked him out with a suckerpunch to the face.

The guards around her lunged forward in synchronisation, attempting to pin her down with the polearms, but she just ducked beneath them, causing their weapons to clash together. Ty Lee then spun her foot around in a low kick, tripping one of the guards off his feet. Then, she made a run for it, bolting towards Smellerbee; she realised what was happening, and got off the earthbender that she had beaten unconscious, and ran down an alleyway, out of sight. She followed after her, and saw that she was scaling up a ladder that led to a balcony. Ty Lee followed her up, before she tried to hit the ladder down, striking it with a few kicks; however, it wouldn't budge, forcing her to rely on hope alone that the guards wouldn't follow them up.

"Stop if you know what's good for you!" one of them shouted at them, and they didn't listen.

Ty Lee followed her up onto the roof, scaling a pipe to do so, before she began to run along the length of the rooftop, which was luckily flat. The next one over was not, and Smellerbee almost slipped off when she landed, grabbing onto some roof tiles that were jutting out a little more to leverage herself. The acrobat leapt past her, easily crossing the gap, and turned around to help her back up.

"Thanks." she muttered quietly, "Thought I was screwed for a second there." she admitted her feelings with an uneasy glance down into the alleyway below.

They then began running along that rooftop together, leaping across the next gap at the highest part of the roof, giving them a bit more leeway. They did the same at the next roof, before they slid down at a portion of roof that dropped two floors down. That allowed them to quickly climb back down to ground level, finding themselves in a small garden at the back of somebody's house. They probably wouldn't want them there, and Ty Lee was sure to immediately dash over to the gate, open it and step back out into the streets. She dusted her legs of the dirt that had sprayed up onto them, before pulling her cloak back down, revealing her face.

Smellerbee did the same as she stepped out, and she looked unsure of herself, "Okay, I don't know the exact way back to the warehouse." she admitted, and Ty Lee pointed towards the sun, which hung a little closer to the west as it was currently the early afternoon.

"If that's the southwest, then we've got to keep heading north." she explained what she could reason from the position of the sun, "So, that way." she pointed to their left, down the street, "Hopefully we'll find the others on the way."

Her friend nodded cautiously, and began walking down the street at once, obviously not wanting to waste any time. They needed to get back as quickly as possible, given that the whole group would want to head back to their main base soon enough. They didn't have all that much at the warehouse beyond a few meagre supplies and some makeshift beds to sleep in. That was because they didn't have all that much resources to spare; there were a lot of fighters, and not a lot of money and space to spare between them.

A decent number the fighters were working odd jobs to get them more money, but whenever they were sent out to do tasks for their mission, they were never given much money, given they were meant to be focusing on the jobs at hand, and not spending their money frivolously. Ty Lee was ashamed to admit that she probably would do so if she had the money, given she did like to get new things every once in a while, and she hadn't gotten anything new recently beyond the unseemly disguise she usually wore when travelling around the city.

She thought she might have a chance to go shopping, if they did come across more money, but that would involve either theft or getting better jobs, which was unlikely to happen. Not out of a lack of effort on anyone's behalf, but because in the time it would take to go through the process of applying, training, and then starting, they would most likely have already won their war against the Dai Li, making it all mostly redundant. So, she guessed the most likely way she'd be able to go shopping was if she robbed people. Ty Lee, being as principled as she was, wasn't just going to rob any random stranger. She would probably only do so to criminals, but she wasn't going out of her way to mess with them, unless Azula told her to.

"How much further?" Smellerbee asked her as they continued along, making their way into a part of the district that was mostly still of Earth Kingdom character; the locals eyed them with suspicion, given they were dressed as colonials, but they didn't seem actively hostile, given they were focused on their own work.

"We have to get to the industrial part of the district." she reminded her, "That's where all the workshops are."

"The part that smells like smoke." she recalled with a look of disgust, "I much prefer working outside than in one of those places."

"I would prefer that too." she agreed, though she wasn't too familiar with manual labour herself; she thought that workshops were stuffy, smelly, and hot, not the kind of place one would want to spend all hours of the day in.

"Yeah, it's not like you've actually done that before." she observed, grabbing her by her arm, "Look how skinny you are." she prodded her, and Ty Lee didn't fall for the insult.

"I think I'm just being reasonable." she argued, "Who would like working in a place like that?"

"Somebody who gets paid a lot." Smellerbee gave her opinion, before continuing on ahead, "The others must be getting close as well." she realised, and Ty Lee's gaze scanned down the length of the street, where she spotted Ji waiting for them, standing by a street corner, probably right by where they'd have to turn to approach the warehouse.

"Ji." she gestured towards her, and Smellerbee's mood immediately improved.

They approached her, and she hailed them, seeming relieved to see them, "Glad to see you didn't get arrested." she acknowledged their presence with a quiet voice, before gesturing down the street to their right, "The others are at the warehouse already."

"Good." Ty Lee commented, before glancing back down the way they had come, "You didn't have any trouble, did you?"

"Not really. Some more guards came through, but none of them seemed to pay us any mind." she clarified, before eyeing their clothes, "You're not hurt." she noted, "So, you either didn't get involved, or you were really fast."

"We were fast." Smellerbee declared, "I smacked the lights out of this dumb earthbender." she explained, making an imitation of the blow she would have used to strike him down.

"Don't say that too loudly." Ji warned her, and grabbed her by the shoulder, "Come on, we need to get out of sight before things get any uglier."

"Yeah, it sounds like the guards are gonna throw their weight around now." Ty Lee realised, and smirked, knowing that would only make the resistance against them stronger, and vindicate those who started the fight.

She felt a tinge of guilt over making innocents into enemies of the Governing Council, but she could not say she was displeased with it. They were taking power into their own hands, and in time, they would prove that the Fire Nation hadn't just submitted so meekly to the Dai Li. A part of it was national pride, but the rest was pure pragmatism; Azula knew best, and she knew that the colonials needed to be ripped from the Governing Council's side, and onto her own. When that eventually happened, then everything would fall right into place.

---

The smoke from the metaphorical brushfire was rising, and Azula could not say she was displeased. However, she could not say she was confident that she would be able to attain her victory any sooner than she had hoped. The commoners of the Lower Ring, and even the colonials, were becoming agitated, but that would not shift sentiment at the top of the food chain. The Dai Li, the Fire Nation defectors, and other elites of the city, did not seem to feel any more threatened. The presence of guards had increased over the short few weeks they had been in the city so far, and their brutality had surely increased as well, but that could only gain the support of so many people. Most people were concerned with their general livelihoods, not political action, and she could not blame them for wanting to stay well away from the protests and the subsequent violence.

However, she knew that she would have to turn more people; either in the Lower Ring, or within the Governing Council itself. She could not deny the power that the Dai Li held over the populace; they were afraid of them, but the Dai Li would be far less afraid of each other, and thus, more willing to act. She knew that she had to make them act first, so she could predict their following moves; that would make whatever plots she decided to enact all the more effective.

The day prior, Toph had come forth with information from the National Reform League, which told her that they had the means by which to help them infiltrate the palace district. Though infiltrating was already feasible, given Toph's seismic sense and keen earthbending skills, they did not have a natural target. Attempting to assassinate the Governing Council, with the actual intent of killing and deposing them, had no chance of really working, at least to the ends she sought. However, an assassination attempt, or some other kind of violent act, that she could frame on another perpetrator, would surely help sow division.

Jet had suggested that they try and have the bureaucrats themselves kill the Governing Council and seize power, as that might be quicker, and save them the effort, however, Azula was opposed to the idea on two fronts. She had no idea how many of them had been brainwashed by the Dai Li, and thus, who could be trusted to help the Coalition seize control, and worse, she didn't know even if among those who weren't brainwashed, if they would be willing to concede that power to revolutionaries.

Even he conceded that it wasn't the best idea, but like everyone else, he was cognizant that the Dai Li was going to find them and try to destroy them sooner rather than later. That made her idea all the more appealing, as she sought to turn her enemies upon each other. The latest letter from Major Shin spoke of the Governing Council's present concerns about infiltration by the Coalition, and that the Fire Nation officers were certainly concerned about traitors in their midst. Therefore, to confirm those fears, that would certainly benefit them, as it would prove both the fears of the Earth Kingdom nationalists and the defectors, and make them act out, based on that fear.

As she finished washing herself up, preparing to get dressed for the meeting that would ultimately decide their plans, her eyes fell upon Sokka; he was seated by their bed, having just dressed himself into his usual disguise. He had his hair up in a topknot, and had just shaved off his scraggly cheek hair, making himself look a little more boyish than usual, though he still wore his goatee.

Ty Lee's prior comments about how it made him resemble her own father returned to her mind, and she felt a momentary sense of disgust and aversion before she reminded herself that Sokka was nothing like her father. In fact, they were as different as anyone could be; her father was so self-serious, ever focused on his appearance and making order out of the chaos of the world, while Sokka was barely a man grown, focused mostly on his next meal and how to make a joke at somebody else's expense.

"Are you good?" he asked her with a slightly awkward face, perhaps having noticed her unease at the thoughts of her father, "Is it the meeting?"

"No, it's not that." she assured him, and glanced down at the bathrobe she was wearing; she needed to get properly changed.

Sokka pulled up the robes that she was going to wear, and shook them in the air, "This was what you wanted, right?"

"Yes." she confirmed, and she grabbed it from his hands, and realised that she was about to get changed right in front of him, "Now, as to avoid any unnecessary delays... please close your eyes."

"You know that makes it worse." he admitted, and she scoffed.

"Well, just think of your Gran-Gran or somebody else instead." she suggested, and Sokka looked sickened.

"Thanks." he mumbled, seeming genuinely thankful even if he looked ready to vomit.

She turned around, and dispensed of the bathrobe, before pulling her undergarments up; she fastened them, before taking the basic robes and wrapping them around her body. Once those were tied up with a waistband, Sokka threw her pants over, and she pulled them up to just below her waist, letting them hang down to her feet. However, those were clearly impractical when she'd be travelling outside; she turned around and reached over to her shoes, where she had some leg wraps. She fastened those around her ankles and shins, forcing her pant-endings to close half-way up her shins, before she did the same with her arm wraps, which were similar to the ones that Sokka and Katara usually wore, though of a dull brown colour to fit with the rest of her Earth Kingdom commoner disguise.

She then sat down on the bed, beside Sokka, who seemed to approve of her outfit, "So, do you want me to tie up your hair?" he asked.

Though she could do it herself, she accepted the offer with a nod, knowing that he would make sure she didn't miss any strands; having improper looking hair would besmirch her image as a collected and capable leader. Sokka grabbed the hairband and her locks, pooling them up into a topknot by the crown of her skull, and letting the remaining hair fall down through the hairband, hanging down in a short ponytail, while the rest of her hair hang down past her shoulders. Her bangs were pulled back with the rest of her hair, given they were a clear sign of her identity when she wanted to remain in disguise.

She flicked her head to make sure her hair was hanging right, before standing back up on her own two feet. Sokka followed, and she eyed up his disguise momentarily. He dressed a lot more sloppily than she did, and had a loose tunic on, which showed off his athletic build. He might not have been the tallest, nor most impressively built man, but Sokka didn't look bad. To the contrary, she knew that his fitness was a sign of his hard working nature, given that unlike somebody like her father, or some other noble, he didn't have a large amount of time spare to train his body. He was strong because he needed to be, and fit because that's what everyone was in the Water Tribes. They had to hunt, fish, and gather all their food, so weakness was simply not an option.

She thought to say something, whether an insult, a compliment, or simply something provocative to start an argument; Azula felt that was the best and most enjoyable way for her to express her feelings, but she held tongue, deciding to instead just her body say what words alone could not. She stepped closer to Sokka, and hugged him tightly, and he let out a little giggle, perhaps not expecting it. She held him in that hug, as if it was a headlock and not an embrace; she didn't want to let go, but she knew she had to.

There were things to do, and people to sway. The Coalition would not achieve victory without her guidance, though they could certainly try. She silently chided herself for her own cockiness, knowing that was one of her most obvious flaws. Her overconfidence in Yu Dao had been her doom; she could not have a repeat of it. Sokka seemed to notice her shift in posture as she felt the confidence seep out of her, like a cloth being dried from the heat of a fire.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, and she sighed.

"I just have to remember I'm not as good as I think I am... nor as important."

"You are important to me." he assured her, and she scoffed.

"I'd be concerned if I wasn't." she noted the unnecessary nature of such a statement, before pulling her head back so she could see his eyes, "The Coalition won't die without me, but it still needs my help."

"Of course it does. You're the Fire Lord... and I don't mean like having a headpiece and sitting in a chair. You're actually capable of being a leader." he argued, "That's your strength."

"It only took a lifetime of preparation." she acknowledged, "I thought I was ready when we were last here. I feel that I was wrong."

"Only wrong in that you were living in your father's shadow." he argued, "You let him control your actions, even when you thought he was dead."

"I stand by it." she declared, "It might have been stupid, but it was right. Would you dishonour your father?"

"No." he conceded, "But my father doesn't deserve to die." he bluntly warned her, and his tone made his feelings clear.

More than that, his eyes were cold; everything about his expression and demeanour told her that he was more than willing to kill Ozai. In fact, he probably thought it was absolutely necessary if they were to live a life with any semblance of normalcy. She agreed, but she still felt conflicted over it, because she knew that it was something that was wrong. The taboo of killing one's own parents invoked a kind of disgust that even Azula struggled to overcome. Zuko, unlike her, had had time to ingrain his hatred and justify his actions. She could do the same, but she was not at the stage he was, and he hadn't even ended up killing Ozai.

"I trust you to do it." she told him, and he scoffed.

"I know I can stand against you in a spar, but we're talking about your dad here. He's an insane firebender who wouldn't show any mercy." he warned her, and stepped away, "I don't really want to have to think about that fight. It's... well, terrifying."

"Good, that means you're not stupid." she assured him, knowing that only a fool would not fear facing her father.

"Y-yeah." he cautiously nodded, and let out a sigh, "Are you ready?"

"I have risked my life before. This can not be any more dangerous." she argued, mostly as a reassurance to Sokka; in her heart, she was utterly terrified, but she had to push that all down.

Facing Zuko in Yu Dao had been dangerous, but her defeat at his hands was a genuine surprise; she had not expected him to be as capable as he was, and she let her anger get the better of her. Now, she was in circumstances she was already familiar with, and it was much worse than last time. She had feared the Dai Li and their plotting, but knew they would not be foolish enough to publicly attack anyone unless they thought they could get away with it. Now, they had more than every right to do so; it was their city, and the Coalition were the vermin infesting it. They would kill them without a second thought, though death terrified her far less than the alternative. However, looking beyond that, she had to consider what they were doing, and what that would mean for everyone. Not just the people of Ba Sing Se, but the people of the world.

"I want you to promise me something." she mumbled, "Sokka... I hate to ask this of you, but if they take me, and you have to choose... choose victory." she explained, and Sokka's formerly serious expression shattered; he grabbed her by the shoulders, and stared at her with a gaze so piercing it felt like a knife to her chest.

"No." he said only one word, and for some reason it was more reassuring than anything; he was stupid for saying it, but it proved that he loved her.

She could appreciate it, but Azula had greater concerns than her own ego, "There are many... many things that are more important than me."

"Shut the fuck up." he snapped back at her, "I am here for you. We are here so we can have peace. So you can be the Fire Lord. So we don't have to hide." he reminded her what they were doing, "I will not lose you, Azula."

"That's stupid." she retorted, before sighing, "I love you too, Sokka." she whispered back, and he hugged her tightly.

"I know." he assured her, "I won't let it happen. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." she warned him, and he scoffed.

"I will keep it." he stressed, "You keep saying we cannot fail. So, I will not fail you." he stressed, his gaze still just as piercing, "Do you believe me?"

"I do." she assured him; the way he said it made it feel as if he was making the impossible possible.

He said it, therefore, it would be true; that kind of strength was something she rarely saw in him, and he was no weakling. Sokka was a capable leader, but he was usually so concerned with the little things that he had the time to really put his mind to something above whatever was right in front of him. He would make sure they lived, because that was his very purpose. She could only hope that she could feel so confident; that feeling had been foreign ever since she had heard of her father's supposed death at the hands of Zuko. That moment had shattered her world, and her brother shooting her lightning back into her had only sealed its destruction.

"You are much stronger than me." she admitted, "Because bending isn't the only strength we wield."

"Heart." he observed what she was referring to, "It might not be enough, but it will have to be."

"Outwitting our enemies would certainly help." she suggested, and he laughed.

"I will try my hardest." he assured her, his face having returned to a semblance of normalcy, before he gestured to the doorway out of their room, "So, are we going to the meeting now?"

"We shouldn't keep them waiting. Punctuality is a sign of one's capabilities as a leader." she argued, "Time waits for no one."

"Huh... that's a good proverb." he admitted with a surprised face, before pushing the fabric that closed off their room apart.

Their new hideout was mostly underground, situated in the ruins of a school that had become a slum. The place wasn't very nice, but the space was good, and very well hidden. They were around a floor beneath the ground above, meaning that it was insulated and quiet, though not so much that they couldn't hear the footsteps and other movements above them.

Outside of their doorway lay a long hallway, where other rooms had been dug out. The earthbenders had made everything up quickly, so the whole place remained mostly unfurnished and quite dirty. They had covered the halls with carpet mats they had bought with some of the money earned by the fighters, making the place at least tolerable for someone like herself, who disdained living in a literal cave.

Azula glanced up and down, seeing only a few fighters making their way through, while two of her guards remained stationed at either end of the hallway, keeping watch to make sure she was safe from any possible threats. The Princess didn't waste any time, and began to head down towards the meeting hall, which had been refurbished from a basement in one of the buildings. Sokka followed after her, but didn't seem too eager to leave; he didn't want to have to deal with their duties, at least not yet, and she agreed with the sentiment.

When they passed by the guard, she identified him as Shen, and nodded to him in respect; the guard nodded back, and whistled out; a moment later, another guard came out of a nearby room, and readjusted his clothes. She recognised him to be Ken, who was a little less orderly and polite than the other guards; she chalked that up to his background as a peasant. He must have been resting, waiting for Azula to come out so he could tail her.

"Apologies, your majesty." he bowed his head down, "I'm ready to do my duties." he assured her, and she paced ahead; before he followed, he bowed his head down towards Sokka as well, "Your highness." he acknowledged the Water Tribesman in a way she had never seen a guard do before, and she was completely unsure whether it was an act of genuine respect, jest, or mere mockery.

They turned the corner and continued down another hallway, where there were more people; she spotted Aang speaking with Katara about something, and both of them noticed their arrival, turning around to greet them.

"Hey guys." he addressed them with a wave, "Are you going to the meeting now?"

"Yes, that's the plan." she confirmed, before gesturing to his sternum, "Will you, Avatar?"

"I mean, if you think I should."

"I do." she confirmed, "I believe it is in your best interest to learn the ways of politics, and how to negotiate and deal with opposing views. I imagine that will be the majority of your Avatar duties once this war is over."

He nodded, and smiled, "That sounds a lot better than fighting."

"It's not necessarily easier." she warned him, before eyeing Katara, "And you?"

"I mean, I want to at least listen to what's being said. I would prefer you didn't send us into a death trap without my knowledge." she admitted her own feelings quite bluntly.

"Katara." her brother chided her, and she didn't seem to regret her words.

"I'm not stupid." she retorted, "You're smart, but I won't forget about Yu Dao. I'm not letting something like that happen again."

"You and Ty Lee both." she admitted, knowing how adamant her friend was on preventing her from doing 'something stupid', and causing them all more grief, "I won't." she assured her, and the Water Tribe girl seemed appeased, if only for that moment.

"Let's get going." Sokka told them all, and everyone followed after him, "I don't want to tarnish Azula's reputation of always being on time."

"It's just my luck that there was no set time for this meeting." she acknowledged, "Only when we had everyone of importance here... and everyone seems to be here."

"Even that Major Yu guy is here now." Aang spoke up, "Remember him?" he asked them, and Sokka cringed.

"Uh... kinda. He was the one with all the scars, right?"

"That describes a few of the rebel leaders." Katara admitted, "But yes, that's him."

"Better not piss him off. He has command of the only proper Earth Kingdom soldiers here, besides those few defectors who Jet and Toph were able to snatch away." Sokka noted, and the Princess furrowed a brow; though their status as 'proper soldiers' was valid, she did not think they were the only ones there who could claim the title.

"Don't forget Yung and his men." Azula reminded him, recalling that those fighters from New Omashu were of comparable value, being well-trained and armed, and experienced with real battles.

"So, maybe Yu's men aren't that important." he admitted quietly, before shaking his head, "But that doesn't make them unimportant."

"Everyone's voices need to be heard." Katara argued, "That's what everyone agreed to."

"The Earth Nation liberates Ba Sing Se, not Azula." Sokka gave another way of viewing the situation, and the Princess did not disagree with it; though she would love the prestige to her name, she would much prefer to work from the shadows and gain future allies, rather than glory and the accompanying envy it would ultimately entail.

They made their way further down the hallway, and quickly arrived at the hall where everyone would be meeting; she let Renshu, who was already waiting there for her, open the doors, and when she stepped inside, everyone rose to their feet. When they saw Aang, they all bowed, even if it was slightly; from nobles to peasants, they all saw him as he was- the most important person in the world. Decades vanished did not lessen the cultural importance of the Avatar.

She approached the table, and took her spot at the head, with Aang, Katara, and Sokka taking their own spots, the Avatar to her left while the Water Tribe siblings sat to her right. Azula gestured for everyone to sit down, and they did. She did not want to be their leader, for she had promised them that they would lead themselves, but that was what she had made herself.

"I thank everyone for coming here today... this is perhaps the most important meeting we will ever have, barring the drafting of your nation's future constitution." she explained, knowing that the formation of a real government, which would succeed the provisional one the rebels would form, would be perhaps the most important event in their nation's history since the rise of the Earth King to power, "Today, I come with a proposal, and I want to hear everyone's opinions, because this may make or break the Coalition's efforts to destroy the Governing Council."

The table remained silent, and that gave her the permission she sought to speak, "There is a path laid out before us, where we might be able to infiltrate the former Earth King's Palace itself, the seat of the Governing Council." she explained, "Entering the place is already feasible, with our assemblage of earthbenders and the skills wielded by Toph Beifong. However, doing so will only needlessly endanger the lives of our fighters, with little gain. We require a plan to do anything of effect there, and I come here to you with that plan."

"And, what is this plan?" Tulok, the representative of the Northern Water Tribe, asked her, "You seem quite confident in it if you are bringing us all here."

"We are to frame the Fire Nation defectors in a false flag attack. We will attack the palace, which will obviously enrage the Dai Li. They will see it as an affront of their strength. This serves two purposes, to force them to crack down and form a rift with their so-called allies, and so we can gather as much information as possible on the Governing Council itself and its inner workings. If we can locate important officials, it might be prudent to even take some hostage, under the guise of being Fire Nation plotters." she explained her plan as simply as she could, and everyone seemed impressed; Jet, who was already privy to the plan, eagerly nodded along.

"So, what does everyone think? Is this sufficient for you to risk your lives?" he asked, his words not mocking, but a genuine question to the table.

"How can they believe that it is the Fire Nation behind the attack?" Yung, the other important fighter from Omashu, asked her, "The Dai Li must keep tabs on all the comings and goings among their 'allies'."

"Yes, but I believe we can make them believe it is from the lower rungs. Those patriots, perhaps loyal to my father. That would divert their attention away from the Coalition, and towards a greater threat. The Eastern Fleet lies not far outside of the city. They will want to attack them, to prevent a repeat of our attack on the palace." she explained what she imagined the Governing Council would do, "If they believe it is us, then that will only cause them to double down their efforts in suppressing the commoners."

"Would that be a worse outcome?" Hakoda asked her, "That might just further embolden people to join our cause."

"The Dai Li will not fight fair. We should not give them any more reasons to brainwash the people we want the support of." she argued, and everyone seemed to agree with the sentiment.

"This is true. We are here to aid them." Tyro spoke up, "We should keep the Dai Li's attention elsewhere."

"Some of our allies are still approaching the city." Jet argued, "They'll at least force them to keep the conscripts out there."

"Though, if they were to come into the city... they could end up joining the protesters." Toph suggested, and Azula nodded.

"That is a possibility, but that would also lead to an uncontrolled revolt." she gave her opinion on that outcome, which didn't really need to be elaborated upon.

"Do we really need to control them?" Jet asked, "If they help us destroy the Dai Li, I say that is enough."

"They could pose a direct threat to whatever government we try to establish, unless we immediately provide them with some incentive to not overthrow the Provisional Government." Azula explained what she thought might happen, and she wanted to avoid having to fight the conscripts and commoners for control of the city; she wanted a peaceful outcome, where they would all come together to agree on how the Earth Kingdom would be governed.

"Or we could infiltrate their ranks." Jianren suggested, "If they are already swayed to our cause and its ideals, then there is little chance they will decide to start another fight after our victory."

"I believe this will be the best course of action." Tulok gave his opinion, "The conscripts need a goal in mind if they are to turn against the Governing Council. We ought to provide it."

"The same could be said about the Fire Nation colonials." Sokka spoke up, mentioning a topic that was important to Azula, though not very much to the Coalition at large, "If we can sway them into supporting the Coalition's aims, and not fighting with the commoners, then we will have a united front."

"It might alienate some of our potential allies to show them favour." Tulok warned them, "I say the matter of the colonials ought to be dealt with after the Dai Li are deposed."

"As much as we'd all prefer that, the colonials will rightly fear a takeover of the city by patriots." Azula argued, "Even if you all agree that the colonials should be allowed to freely leave the city... the Coalition cannot sway everyone to think so high-mindedly."

"Are you suggesting that our brothers and sisters in arms will... what, massacre them?" Di, one of the rebel leaders, asked her; he seemed quite disturbed by the idea, "I hate the Fire Nation for their crimes, but... to repeat them ourselves, that is something we cannot stand for."

"I think we can all agree that is terrible." Tyro agreed with him, "But it is more than likely that the people here, who haven't seen the consequences of such... barbarity, will see no reason to not do it."

She noticed that Jet seemed visibly uncomfortable with the conversation, which was odd, given his usual suave and collected attitude, "We... we must be just." he declared, "You might see it as barbarism, but what about all the refugees in this city? They have suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation. Their lives have been ruined by the Fire Nation."

"And it will help nobody if they start killing colonials." Sokka argued, and Hakoda cleared his throat.

"I believe some of us have already faced a similar dilemma." he admitted, "And what did we do then?"

"We fought our common enemies." Jet acknowledged, "I am not saying I want to see innocents die, I am saying that most people don't care about that."

"As you said, we must be just." Jianren declared, "They are not to blame for their circumstances. The actual people responsible for colonisation aren't even here." he argued, "I am sure they will be punished by the Fire Lord accordingly."

Everyone's eyes turned to Azula, and for the first time in a while, she felt a sense of social anxiety; everyone was expecting her to do something that she was unsure she even ought to do.

"I cannot afford to kill or imprison people for a crime that my entire nation was party to." she argued, "However, when taxes are levied against those responsible, to aid in the reconstruction of your nation, I hope you can accept that as justice, even if it is not comparable to the executions some of you might have had in mind." she explained what she intended, and most of the table didn't seem very pleased.

"What of the war criminals?" Jianren asked her, "I mean, beyond the ones you've already thrown in cells."

"They will be punished properly, I assure you." she stressed, "Some in particular." she added, turning her eyes to Hakoda, who nodded resolutely, understanding what she meant.

"That is what we all want." Jet declared what he thought to be the opinion of the table, surprisingly taking her side, "Those punishments won't happen if we aren't victorious."

"Precisely." she agreed with his line of thinking, before glancing around the table, "So, to return to the matter at hand. What do you all think about this plan?"

"The false flag might work." Yung gave his opinion, "It is the most practical use of our resources. We cannot waste men fighting... it is better to have our enemies kill each other."

"I concur." Major Yu spoke up, "The Dai Li must be deposed, but with as little casualties as possible. We need that strength to force the conscripts, officers, and Fire Nation forces to bend to our will."

"With the Fire Lord here, I hope that they will bend as soon as they realise she is on our side." Jianren gave his own thoughts, "It is preferable if we do not have to fight them."

"I should remind you all that we have a mole in their ranks." Tiezhi spoke up; as a defector, he had more knowledge about the structures of the Governing Council's Grand Army than anyone else there, "This Fire Nation officer will hopefully provide us with the means by which to manipulate them into either fighting each other, or fighting for us."

"Major Shin is a rational, honourable man." Azula spoke her mind, "He will not send his fellow countrymen to kill each other."

"But he can provide us with some information on the Governing Council's movements, correct?" Tulok asked her, "That's how we can catch them and enact this plan of yours, I assume?"

"Not exactly." Jet spoke up, "Toph and I infiltrated an organisation known as the National Reform League."

"Ah yes, I've heard of them. They've been quite active in the Middle Ring these past few months." Tiezhi spoke up, "What help can they provide?"

"Certain members can give us access to the Palace, and details on specific Council members. That is the only way we can trick them into thinking we're Fire Nation agents."

"Depending on the perspective, that is what we are." Tyro admitted, "I don't believe it is in our interests for the masses to know of the Fire Lord's presence."

"I have made sure to keep my identity hidden." she assured him, "For this plan to work, they cannot know it is me. My guards can play the part of infiltrators, but the rest of you... you will have to support this plan in any way you can."

"Well, we have the manpower to cause a mighty distraction, if that's what is necessary." Jianren observed, "The protests have been getting wilder, but the guards are cracking down and sectioning off parts of each district."

"That will only work for so long when they need labour to move across the city." Azula noted, knowing that eventually the Governing Council would have to make more concessions; before that happened, things would likely get worse.

The Fire Nation colonials were the other part of the puzzle, but they couldn't play much of a role in her present plans, beyond the possibility of being framed as co-conspirators; she had already made promises to Shin that she wouldn't needlessly endanger her countrymen for her own plans, and she felt obliged to stay by it. It would be easy to frame some colonials and soldiers as part of her plot, to force the Dai Li's attention elsewhere when it really ought to be focused on them.'

"In any case, we can provide a distraction." Tulok spoke up, "I believe my men are more than capable of fighting the Dai Li, it is a matter of escaping them that is my concern."

"Outing yourselves will only cause issues." Hakoda warned, "The Dai Li will surely look for Water Tribe infiltrators then... and there are enough of us here that they will find the base."

"That is... the worst possible outcome." the warrior conceded, "We need to spread ourselves around then. The other bases you've set up, they might have to do for the meantime... if we are to force their hand."

"They will certainly be forced to bring their strength down on you in that scenario." Azula admitted, "I do not wish for that to happen... there must be something better you can do with your abilities."

"Waterbending can... well, cause blockages." Katara admitted, "If enough pipes are blocked up and burst, that will cause an issue in a part of the city that will have to be dealt with."

"That won't necessarily get the Dai Li's attention specifically." Toph spoke up, "You'd need something political... I say trying to get the National Reform League to- wait." she stopped herself, "I shouldn't." she refused to give whatever idea she had.

"Oh, come on." Sokka pouted, "I have a feeling that was a really good idea you were about to share."

"It's not good, it's terrible." she warned them, before sighing, "We should set fire to the National Library in Ba Sing Se University... and frame the National Reform League for it."

"S-sorry?" Aang gasped out, the first to say anything, though everyone was shocked; Azula, on the other hand, felt more than impressed by the idea.

"The National Library is where all the records of Earth Kingdom history are kept. The official stuff at least. To destroy it, that is a sign that the Dai Li can't ignore. It's like the biggest middle finger you could give them beyond breaking into one of their prisons."

"By the spirits." Jianren gasped out, "I can't say I am unimpressed."

"Neither can I." Tulok agreed, "I- I feel to oppose this idea on principle, but it would endanger as few of our fighters as possible."

"I concur." Major Yu added, a smile forming on his lips, "We have no place for the old world, if your grandiose claims are to be believed."

"I am not Chin the Conqueror born again." Azula conceded, knowing she lacked the martial experience nor support to fight her foes head-to-head, and the plans proposed were only really a number of ploys to make their enemies fight each other.

"No, you are greater." The Mechanist, who had remained silent until then, spoke his mind; he had arrived in secret with the waterbenders, and might have otherwise been out of his depth, "I do not think that burning books can ever be justified, but if their contents are mere lies... then, what is the harm?" he addressed the actual proposal Toph had given.

"The masses usually don't read... and they won't have to. They will speak." Jianren argued, and Jet stood up.

"So, that's it, then." he declared, "Are we in agreement that this is the best option?"

Those at the table nodded, and Azula smiled, "Well, I am glad a plan was agreed upon so quickly. However, there is something more important to discuss."

"Infiltrating the Palace." Katara told them what was so important.

"It will be the most dangerous operation we will undertake so far. The Dai Li will be everywhere, and even with Toph's help, we cannot remain hidden. That is why we must take on disguises and move among the bureaucrats and servants." she explained her own intended plan, "However, I must ask everyone for their thoughts. There is no limit to the amount of caution we should apply in such a situation."

"I would personally recommend against such a move." Major Yu gave his opinion, "It could lead to the capture of a number of our members, and thus, the outing of the organisation and our locations in the city."

"Is it already ours?" Jianren asked him, sounding suspicious of his intentions, given his recent arrival in the city, "I thought you had just arrived, Major."

"I have, but I came here with the intent of seeing this plot through. If the Fire Lord suggests otherwise, then we will depart for the provinces." he gave his own stance, "So, I take my stance with the fate of my men in mind."

"You are soldiers." Azula reminded him of his background, "Perhaps you might find better use in another task... one that doesn't involve the heart of the beast."

"The soldiery." Sokka mumbled, and Yu's eyes flickered with realisation.

"I had wanted to suggest such an idea... but this meeting was called, and I thought it was-"

"You may tell us." Yung allowed, "Please, Major."

"The men fighting for this city, the proper soldiers, are our brothers-in-arms. Many of them will be veterans of the Six Hundred Day Siege. I, for one, remember fighting the Fire Nation outside the walls, and I made many friends in that bloodbath."

"Is that what happened to your face?" Jet asked him, and the Major nodded.

"What, did you expect? That I wrestled a sabre tooth moose lion?" he asked, and the others at the table laughed at his jest, before he cleared his throat, "The point being, I know people. I might be able to find them, if I can only have access to the records that will tell me where each given man is stationed. The units, the officers, that kind of thing."

"Those records will be in the palace." Azula acknowledged, before smirking, "Well, actually, I realise that your credentials will certainly help you now."

"How?" he asked, before glancing around, "Are you suggesting I go to the palace with my men... as ourselves?"

"Well, you can't just say you've illegally entered the city. That would get you imprisoned, even if you swore allegiance to the Governing Council." she clarified, "What you can do, is pretend to be men serving the Council. We could perhaps get you fake papers, and some orders. The seals shouldn't be too hard for my mole to find."

"How quickly could that be done?"

"If Ty Lee goes to him tonight, two, three days, at best." she explained the time frame, "You will be able to get through the doors..." she added, before smirking, realising that she could do a lot more than just have him retrieve military documents, "There's a matter I need to discuss with you after the meeting."

"Uh, alright." he accepted her request, before Azula turned her gaze back to the rest of the table.

"So, does anyone else have any thoughts on these plans?"

"We need to make sure that they suspect Ozai's loyalists." Hakoda noted, "How can we make them believe? They must already suspect we're inside the city."

"It's simple... we find the person most likely to be loyal to me on the Governing Council, and we kill them."

---

Smokestacks rose over Ba Sing Se, and Katara knew from that that things were in motion. As they walked through the streets of the Middle Ring, approaching the walls that bordered the Inner Ring, guards ran down the street, presumably to deal with the fire. She even saw a few uniformed Dai Li agents heading off in that direction, though they were few in number. She guessed more were taking the tunnels that underlay the city. She kept her posture upright and her eyes away from them; she wanted to appear as meek as possible, and so did everyone else.

She was presently dressed as a common servant, carrying a large straw basket of what somebody might assume to be dirty or washed linens, however, what it really contained was her next set of disguises, as well as disguises for some of the other infiltrators. She was accompanied by Aang, and a few of the Earth Kingdom fighters, who were all dressed similarly to her, wearing the garbs of servants, and a few of them were carrying straw baskets upon their backs as well.

They were to meet with the others by the walls, at a location that had been marked out on a map for them. It had been chosen by Toph after an earlier scouting of the area, as there were Dai Li tunnels that they could easily use to cross under the walls, before exiting back out onto the streets. That was obviously based on the assumption the Dai Li weren't holding off the tunnel in anticipation of an attack. It was certainly possible, but if that was true, Toph would detect them. She could not say the opposite; their enemies would only know they were not servants if they were interrogated. It was true that as a Water Tribesman she would be more easily identified as a foreigner, but she was wearing makeup that helped obscure the blue colour of her eyes, by making them appear more green.

There were other parties moving through different parts of the district, each intending to meet at the tunnel, where they would make any final adjustments to their plans. As a skilled waterbender, and somebody trusted by Azula, she was assigned to be on watch, and publicly deal with anyone they encountered on their way through the palace; her bending would help her as she knew how to use it subtly for distractions and literal slip ups, which would draw attention away from whatever she wanted to keep hidden.

She felt that she wasn't being used effectively, as she would have preferred to go with the Northerners, who were going to provide them with cover through another distraction. Their bending was very useful for making water go places it wasn't meant to. Water ran through the city's various pipes and aqueducts; even at that very moment, she could feel it around her. She did not have a sense like Toph, but any bender understood their element. The drain covers were obvious enough on the street, and she had already used the infrastructure to her advantage when helping the protesters.

The Northerners were going to cause leaks by breaking pipes, or by redirecting pools of groundwater, sending it into parts of the Upper Ring, where it would cause a lot of chaos. She knew from Azula's own advice that the Dai Li had a number of hideouts across the Upper Ring, probably so they could spy on the noble elites of the city. The flooding would surely hit a few of them, and that would force them to send men around to prevent the loss of whatever records and supplies they might be hiding around. That was at least what Azula had said, and Tulok, the leader of the expeditionary force, thought that was a prudent, nearly fool-proof plan. He promised them that he would have his men spread around, so they could aid the infiltrators, in the worst case scenario that their identities were outed.

"I can smell it." Aang admitted, referring to the fire that lay off in the distance behind them, "I really hope nobody gets hurt."

She grimaced, unsure if she could promise that would be the case; those sent to set the fires were doing so deliberately, and would presumably try to avoid doing so around other people, who could obviously be hurt, or even find themselves stuck in a burning building. She preferred not to think of that outcome, as it would make her question everything they were doing.

She desperately wanted for their actions to be righteous, and even if she thought their end goals were noble, perhaps more noble than anything they had done before, she could not say their methods were fair or respectable. Her father had told her that despite the moral qualms, they had to do the right thing, and the only way they could do that was in victory. They weren't going out of their way to harm innocents, and if they did get hurt, it would be a tragedy.

The problem was in Ba Sing Se, with so much intrigue and the Dai Li with their fingers in every pot, it was hard to even be sure who was innocent, and who was another lying sneak. She knew that a lot of people would not be aiding the Dai Li out of malice, but out of fear, and that was why she wanted to avoid confrontations when she could. They were not there to fight any and every person who might have helped the Dai Li, but to break their hold on power. That could only be achieved by making the Dai Li itself untenable as an organisation.

"My hair is itchy." Aang made a small complaint, distracting her from her train of thought.

"Oh." she turned her gaze over to him, seeing that he was scratching at his scalp, which was hidden under a cap, which covered everything above his brow, "When was the last time you washed it?"

"A few days ago." he answered, before cringing, "That's not good, is it?"

"You probably could afford to wash it more often." she suggested, "I understand it's still a new thing for you, but you do need to do it."

"Y-yeah." he nodded, before scrunching his lips, "So when will I be able to cut it again?"

"Maybe when we leave Ba Sing Se. It just depends." she admitted, unsure what Azula would say; Aang had the choice to cut it, but he was aware as she was that his arrows were far too noticeable, and while they had to be disguised more often than not, it helped to have it.

He nodded cautiously, and then readjusted the cap he was wearing. Their attention was drawn as a few guards walked past them, moving in formation and with noticeable haste; they were presumably heading off to deal with the fire, as they weren't very heavily armed. Ahead of them, she noticed that guards were telling street vendors to leave, and she wondered why; there didn't seem to be much activity on the street, but she imagined they might have had something planned there. There were no signs or posters to warn her of anything, so she was left frustratingly clueless about what was going on.

In their disguises, the guards paid them little mind, focusing on the vendors, who seemed to be getting agitated with the treatment; one of them shoved a guard, before picking up his cart and dragging it away. Another guard grabbed the one who had been shoved, making sure he didn't overreact. Having a fight with a relatively innocent street vendor would not help the city guards' already sour reputation.

"That was close." Aang mumbled, and then he turned around, "There's the walls." he gestured ahead, where she could just make out the gates; that was not their destination, but told her that they were close by.

As the walls drew nearer, one of the fighters leading them along, whose name she couldn't recall, gestured down a street diverting to their left, "We should get off the main road." he told them quietly, and they all turned around a corner, making their way down a narrower street, before turning once more, pacing down an alleyway between sets of houses.

The walls were right ahead of them, and she imagined that Toph was hiding nearby; however, she was unsure when she would reveal herself. It was dangerous for everyone to come together at the meeting spot at once, so she was sure to look ahead. Nobody was waiting by the walls, which told her that Toph must have already let some people through, though nobody would want to be waiting around for long. Being as close to the gates as they were, some guards would surely come through and question why a group of people would just be waiting around by the walls.

As they drew closer, Aang tapped her on the side, and his face told her all she needed to know; Toph was near, because he could sense her. He tapped his feet down on the cobbled street beneath their feet, and a few moments later, Toph stepped out of the shadows, from an alleyway that ran between two row houses.

"You're here." she noted, before gesturing towards the alleyway, "Go down." she directed them.

Katara cautiously stepped around the corner, and she understood why she wanted them to go there; the alleyway was a dead end, and there were no windows looking out over it, meaning that nobody would see them when they stepped into the tunnel. She paced down the staircase, following after some of the other fighters, and once they were all down in the tunnel, Toph closed up the staircase behind them. Aang cleared his throat, before snapping his fingers, revealing a small torch on his index finger.

"Wait... you can already do that?" she asked, and he made a sheepish smile.

"Oh, Azula thought it would be helpful. I'm still not very good at firebending, so it's practice." he explained, and the torch grew brighter, lighting up the Dai Li's tunnel network that they had just entered.

"Nobody's in this section, right?" she asked Toph, who nodded.

"Not right now. A few agents came through not that long ago. I assume that was because of the fire." she guessed, and she nodded.

"We could see the smoke even this far away from the University." she told her what she had seen, and Toph huffed.

"That tracks. Paper burns fast." she mumbled, and she raised a brow, finding her knowledge of that fact odd; paper wasn't really meant to be burnt, so that told her that she must have done it before, on purpose.

"Wait... how do you know that?" she asked, and Toph shook her head.

"It's a long story." she refused to explain, before gesturing towards a fork in the tunnel, "Turn left up ahead, and go down until you get to the next fork." she gave all the directions that they needed; the fighters paced on down the tunnel, slowing at the fork as they made sure not to smack their baskets against the walls on either side.

Katara realised she needed to be cautious as well, and slowed at the fork as well, before following after the others. She could hear the sounds of footsteps and wheels grinding above them; the road was well frequented, and that made her realise that anyone using the tunnel would surely get annoyed by the loudness of it all. When they reached the fork, the group turned to the left, and continued down until they reached the next staircase. Once everyone was there, Toph opened the ground up again.

"There's nobody right at the tunnel, but be careful." she warned them, and the fighters slowly made their way up the staircase.

"What about getting changed?" Katara asked her, and Toph snickered.

"Don't worry, you don't have to do it out in the street. There's a place we found, an old storehouse, mostly unused, by some old beauty spa." she explained, and Katara raised a brow.

"Has Ty Lee asked to go there?" she questioned, and the blind girl smirked.

"She is that predictable." she agreed with her line of questioning, and answered it all in one.

She made her way up the staircase, and stretched out a little, feeling that the tunnel had been quite constraining, especially when she had such a massive basket on her back.

"Where's the spa?" one of the fighters asked Toph, who gestured down the street.

"Just down the block. Somebody should be keeping guard, they'll let you into the storehouse." she explained, and everyone stepped out of the tunnel, before Toph paced back down, "Good luck."

"You too." she waved goodbye, and she could see a small smile form on the blind girl's lips, before she shut up the ground behind her.

She turned back around and followed after the fighters, while Aang cautious eyed around the streets.

"This place is a lot cleaner than the rest of the city." he admitted, "Are all places with rich people like this?"

"I have no idea." she conceded, "Better ask Ty Lee or Azula."

She continued down the street, making her way past some real servants, who nodded at her out of recognition; she was sure there was some camaraderie among servants, given how all of them would have come from poorer backgrounds. They all were well dressed, and even the girls wore make-up, more than she usually saw on Azula or Ty Lee, and both of them tended to put it on whenever they could. That told her that in the Upper Ring, people took appearances seriously.

As they approached the spa, she noticed a servant standing outside it, though she quickly recognised that servant as being Jianren, who was in a pretty convincing disguise, though given his tall height and athletic build, he looked a little too big to an actual servant. He gestured for them to head inside, and they did, filing into the courtyard in the spa.

It was clearly abandoned, and had been for some time, with some of the doors boarded up, while others were forced open by boxes and rocks. She guessed that whoever had been running the place had shut it down months prior, and that made it unlikely that anyone would be coming around while they were there. She made her way into the storehouse, where she could see a number of people switching from their disguises as common servants to their disguises as bureaucrats and palace attendants.

Further across the room, she saw her brother and Azula, sitting at a table where they were looking over some maps, both of them already in disguise, dressed as a pair of attendants. As she approached, their gazes turned up to meet her own, and Sokka smiled.

"Hey, Katara." he addressed her, "It was fine getting here, right?"

"I mean, the tunnel was a bit tight... but yeah." she nodded, before gesturing to the map, "Are you trying to figure out where we need to go?"

"I have already spoken with Major Yu." Azula clarified, "He and his men will be heading into the Palace as we speak. Their documents should let them inside."

"Where did you end up getting all these disguises from?"

"Raiding a laundry." Sokka admitted, "Or well, more than one. There's a lot of them in the city, you just have to find the right ones."

"And nobody's gonna suspect with all the clothes that are missing?" she asked, and Azula scoffed.

"When a few robes go missing from a dozen laundries, it's not really as concerning."

"That must have taken a while." Aang spoke up, "When did you get the time?"

"There's a lot of Coalition fighters. Send out a few every day... it stacked up the clothes pretty quickly." her brother explained, before sighing, "How we got the clothes shouldn't be your concern. It's actually getting into the palace."

"Do we have all the papers?" Katara asked, and Azula scrunched her lips.

"It would have been too much effort, and time consuming, to have everyone be checked with documents. That's why we're taking secret paths into the palace."

"Secret... as in the Dai Li tunnels." she realised, "Can Toph keep us from getting caught?"

"Aang will be just as helpful." Azula argued, "He has his seismic sense as well. One for each end of the party."

"I'm ready." Aang assured her, and she gestured to the baskets that were now all sitting around.

"No you're not. You need to get dressed."

"He's twelve. What kind of disguise can even work for him?" Katara asked, and Azula smirked.

"Children are seen as non-threatening. I know for a fact that they're used as servants here in the Upper Ring." she explained, before waving a hand, "He isn't meant to be seen, in any case."

"Yeah, I can airbend myself onto the roof!" he declared confidently, "I'm pretty good at climbing... maybe not as good as Ty Lee, but I'm good."

"Glad somebody appreciates my acrobatics." she spoke up, patting him on the back; she was disguised as a servant as well, and had her face caked up with make-up, making her look similar to those servants she had seen walking by on the way to the spa house.

"Now, go get changed. We are on a schedule here. Tulok and his men will be starting the flooding at midday." Azula reminded her of what she needed to do next.

"Oh crap." Katara gasped, recalling that the sun was already quite high in the sky, hanging almost directly to the south of them; they didn't have much time at all.

"Yeah, it's nearly time." Sokka confirmed what she had already realised, and she picked her basket off of her back, before glancing around.

"Where do I do it?" she asked, and Azula gestured to her left.

"The women's changing area is there. Hurry up." she told her, not even looking at her, but rather at the map she had been scanning her eyes over.

Katara dragged her basket over there, where she could see a few women changing into different robes and outfits; there was a bit of a gender imbalance in their forces, so the area was quite small. However, it was more than big enough for her to get changed into her intended disguise. She pulled off her outer robes, and placed them down on a nearby box, before taking off her boots. Then she slid off her under robes, which left her in her undergarments, which she didn't need to change, for obvious reasons.

The other robes she had to wear were much nicer to the touch, probably made out of silk. She put the first layer on, draping them around her body before she fastened them at the waist. Then she took the next later, and pulled it around her body, tying some buttons up at the top, so it closed off and fit around her undergarments. The last piece was a loose robe that covered her torso, which was accompanied by a dress that hung down over the rest of her body, from her upper waist downward. That was fastened by a waistband, and with all of that in place, the last thing she needed to do was change her hairstyle.

She had had her hair in a braid, which was her usual preferred hairstyle, but now that she was going to dress as a palace attendant, she needed to wear her hair in a topknot, which left the rest of her hair hanging down in a ponytail down her back. She put in a headpiece, which wasn't too ornate, but it was made of ivory, so it was clearly expensive. Once she checked that her hair was up properly, she turned around and put all her clothes back in the basket. Then she slid on some slippers, which were comfortable, though she didn't think they would be overly practical while she was walking around outside. She had some wooden sandals to wear underneath those in the meantime.

She stepped out, and her brother glanced around, and nodded in approval, "That was quick." he approved of her speed, "And it looks nice."

"Thank you, Sokka." she smiled, "It's not like you to actually compliment an outfit."

"Well, you're trying to look a part... you do." he assured her, and Azula shot her a glance, before nodding.

"He's right." she signalled her agreement; Ty Lee was giving her thumbs up, before she approached.

"Let me just make sure this piece is in place. It's a bit finicky." she referred to the upper part of the outermost robes; she tucked and tightened it a bit, before nodding, "Yeah, that should do it."

Aang stepped out not long after, also having changed; his robes were a lot nicer than the ones he was wearing before, and he was wearing another cap, this one black, green, and gold, fitting with the colours of the robes that he was wearing. The sleeves were a little long, making his arms look a bit funny, and he put his hands together, as if he was a servant waiting on his master.

"What can I do for you, my lady?" he played his part, and Ty Lee snickered.

"Oh, you look adorable."

"Is... is that good?" he asked, and Katara laughed.

"I think it's fine." she assured him, before glancing over to Azula, "Who exactly are we going after?" she asked, "I remember you saying something about killing-" she cut herself off as she realised Aang was right there; he had heard the idea all the same, but she couldn't help but feel conscious about his own apprehension towards killing, especially when it was so purposeful.

"There's a member of the Council, who serves as the Minister of Industry and Trade." she explained, "His name is Saburo Kojo. He was a bureaucrat in the city before I arrived here, and he appears to be the most likely to support me." she explained, "Therefore, the obvious target of our attack... and before you say anything, we don't necessarily need to kill him. It is merely the act of targeting him that will make our actions believable."

"Killing him would make it a lot more believable." Sokka added quietly, and Azula seemed a bit frustrated that he had said that; Katara stepped closer to him, finding his eagerness a bit concerning, and obviously alarming to Aang.

"Come on." she chided her brother, before narrowing her eyes, "Wait, how do you know about this guy?"

"Shin." Ty Lee answered her question, "He's been... forthright. That's the word, right?" she asked Azula, who nodded with a look of amusement.

"Yes, it is." she confirmed, and she gestured over to the door that led outside, "Katara, do me favour. I want you to tell me when the water is flowing." she requested, and the Water Tribe girl raised a brow.

"Wait, they wouldn't try and flood a part of the city we're in, would they?" she asked, and Azula shrugged.

"We're trying to inflict maximum chaos." she argued, "That is sure to distract our enemies. Where the water goes is of little concern to me."

"It might go down to the lower rings." Aang warned her, and Sokka raised a finger.

"I had a look over some of the infrastructure maps. The water should just go through the usual drainage channels. The blockages are up here, making it flood up here. I wouldn't worry about it." he assured him, "Unless you're worried about some noble's precious carpets getting soggy."

"No, not really." he conceded, and Katara turned her heels.

"I'll keep a lookout." she assured the Princess, deciding she'd head out then and there.

She made her way over to the door, pushed it open, and stepped out; another group of fighters, disguised as servants, had just arrived, led by Jet. He looked rather strange without his moppish hair hanging over his face, and seemed strangely refined, despite not really having changed up his appearance that much. He waved at her as she made her way past him, and she did the same. When she reached the entrance of the spa, she saw that Jianren was still standing there. He glanced over to her and nodded.

"I see you're ready to go." he observed, "Is there any reason for you to be standing out in the open here?" he asked, and she pointed to some of the holes in the curb that led down into the drainage system.

"I'm waiting for the sign." she explained, "Waterbenders can tell when water is being bent." she added, and he nodded.

"I understand... maybe not as well as the little lady does, but I understand."

"Wait, do you mean Toph?" she asked, amused by his way of referring to her, and he snickered.

"Yeah, well, she is a little lady." he argued, "Have you got a better name for a short noblewoman?"

She held back a laugh, and shook her head, "No, no I don't."

The Water Tribe girl put her hands together, remembering how she had seen the real servants acting, "I guess I've got to stay in character now." she commented, and Jianren nodded.

"Being a servant is easy. You just have to be respectful... and choose your words carefully." he suggested, "Not that I've ever tried this before."

"You did try the Dai Li." she recalled, "That was... a brave move."

"It worked." he argued, "The Lower Ring hates them more and more with each passing day."

After a few moments of awkward silence, Katara glanced up and down the street, seeing a few servants walking over a crossroads, with baskets like the one she was wearing earlier. She didn't think anyone was paying them much mind, but they'd have to check with Toph to be certain. If the Dai Li were around, they were certainly being subtle about it.

"I just hope this all works." she mumbled, and the rebel fighter hummed.

"That is all we can do... hope, and act." he gave his own opinion, "I have never been one for subterfuge, but it seems that it's more useful than I first imagined it would be." he admitted, "I have had to do it more times than I can count for the Fire Lord."

She recalled that he had not come into their fight expecting to serve Azula, yet, it seemed that was what he did; she couldn't help but feel ashamed, knowing that her friend was effectively manipulating Jianren with promises of land and power, even if he really just seemed intent on making things right for the people he was trying to protect. He wanted justice, just like Katara did, but he had to accept Azula's bargain to get it.

"Do you like this?" she asked him quietly, and Jianren seemed confused by her words.

"The plan?" he presumed, "It's dangerous, but I can't say anything else will be as effective at turning our enemies on themselves." he gave his opinion on the plan Azula had fermented, and she shook her head.

"I mean working for her."

"I'm working with her." he countered, repeating the same mantra the Princess liked to spout; even if she thought she was doing the right thing, she couldn't say that Azula was not the one in charge.

Jianren seemed to notice her negative reaction, and he let out a sigh, eyeing down the street, towards where Toph would approach from once she had collected the last of the disguised fighters.

"I did not like it at first." he admitted, "I saw this all as a means to an end... and it still is that."

"You didn't need to come here, though, did you?" she asked, and he nodded.

"No, we were fine back at the base... until the Eastern Fleet decided to show up and bombard the place to shit." he recalled what had happened, "Spirits willing, my comrades are alright there."

"Azula's fleet should have them handled." she argued, before grimacing, "So why did you come?"

"Because I thought I could make a difference." he argued, "I could see the winds blowing... and I mean, you must see them too. It was either help, or be left behind in the dust."

"Is that any choice at all?" she asked, and Jianren laughed.

"You're pretty wise for somebody so young." he complimented her, before his expression hardened, "But no, it isn't much of a choice. I didn't want the Coalition to fail. Who would?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Somebody who doesn't care about the future." she mumbled, before she felt a rumbling beneath her feet; it was quite subtle, but she could tell.

For a moment she thought somebody had knocked over a box back in the storehouse, but she knew what it was. She reached a hand down towards the drain, and felt the water's flow increase substantially. That was the sign she was waiting for.

"It's time." she concluded, turning her gaze to Jianren, "I wish you luck."

"We will all need it." he admitted, and Katara turned around, pacing back towards the storehouse, she pushed open the doors, and everyone's gaze turned over to her.

"It's time. The water is flowing through. It's only a matter of time before the flooding starts." she explained, and Azula stood up, before gesturing to her guards, who were disguised as palace guards.

Those outfits must have been harder to find, but given the palace guard had stopped existing while the Fire Nation was in charge, she imagined some must have been forked off and sold around the city. She felt some more rumbling around, before she saw Toph burst out of the ground underneath them; she dusted herself off, before gesturing the tunnel she had come out of.

"There's no time like the present!" she exclaimed, "Everyone, file in. We won't have much time before the Dai Li is swarming around to try and stop the water."

Katara stepped in as soon as she saw a chance, following after the other disguised fighters. The tunnels weren't as tight when she didn't have a basket, but they still were tight in general, given the narrow space afforded inside. She was holding up her robes slightly, to make sure they weren't dirtied by the ground beneath them. Even when it was still some distance away, she could feel the water moving around, and she could even hear it. The sewerage channels were filling up fast, and it would only be a matter of time before things started to get messy.

Though the tunnels were dark, they had firebenders among them to light the path, though they kept the flames dim, presumably in case the Dai Li were to come down the tunnels, which were long and straight, making it easy to spot a light source from a distance.

"How far do we have to walk in here?" she asked, and she heard her brother laugh.

"You're not gonna like the answer to that question." he admitted, "But don't worry, it won't take anywhere near as long as crossing a district in the Lower Ring!" he assured her, and that was no real reassurance; she recalled that crossing the Xiqi district took almost an hour by foot, though that was because of its haphazard street patterns, and less because of its size.

That did not bode well for their present march through the tunnels, and she was even more worried that they would run into Dai Li agents. However, Katara did not complain, and continued walking, no matter how boring she knew it was going to be. She much preferred boring over facing the Dai Li, and she was sure everyone else would disagree. Except for maybe Toph, and that was only because she was probably itching for a fight; she knew that one way or another, she would get one.

The tunnel's straightness was broken up by the fact that it rose on differing inclines, changing more often than not, which broke up the monotony. The water running through the nearby drainage channels was only getting more intense, and it was splashing up out of drain coverings, and up onto the street. Katara didn't even need to waterbend to sense it; she could feel the rumbling all around them, and the sounds of splashing that could just be made out above them.

That was followed by frantic shouts and cries, as the water must have breached out onto street level. Footsteps pattered above them, moving around haphazardly as people must have tried to figure out a plan on what to do. She could sense earthbending happening, because it literally shook everything around them as slabs of earth were pulled out from the street. She was afraid that somebody would stupidly breach the tunnel, but she understood that the tunnels were deep enough and off-centred from the streets, meaning they would have to bend at an awkward angle to manage that. However, she knew that when people bent erratically, out of fear, things like that seemed all the more likely.

Katara kept her fingers crossed and her pace steady, hoping they would get out of the area that was more likely to flood quickly, so they could head towards the palace unimpeded. She caught a flash of light ahead of her, and she recognised that as a signal; it was from one of the firebenders, though she couldn't tell which- not Azula, but that was obvious with the orange colour. The Dai Li had to be coming, that was the only thing she could think of. She felt the tunnel shifting around her, and glanced over to see that Aang had carved open a cavity for them to hide in, and with him and a few others, she took cover in the hole, which was quickly covered up with a wall of earth.

To her relief, they weren't in total darkness, as Aang had a small torch lit on his finger tip, allowing her to see everyone else's faces; nobody dared to utter a word, and all she could hear was their own panicked breathing. Katara realised at that moment that she was more afraid than the others, even Aang, who had an almost serene look on his face, with his eyes shut. The flame on his fingertip remained steady as she heard the sounds of footsteps approaching off in the distance.

They grew louder, and eventually, became loud enough that they were barely muffled. She could even make out grunts and the breathing of whoever was running through the tunnel. They were presumably the Dai Li, as she doubted they would have been signalled in such a way if Toph had sensed anyone else. She forced her breathing to slow, making longer, drawn out breaths, which were a little louder, but less frantic. She shut her lips tight, and hoped that nobody had noticed anything. The fact that the footsteps continued pattering off into the distance, growing quieter before she could barely make them out was a good sign. Aang's eyes opened, and he nodded.

"They didn't notice anything." he answered her unspoken question, "Toph's seismic sense is a lot better than mine. I didn't even sense them until we were already hiding." he explained, before opening up the wall, "It's safe." he reassured the fighters, and glancing out, she could see the others emerging from the sides of the tunnel, from their various hiding places.

"Shit." she heard her brother mumble, "Now, I'd prefer if we don't have to do that again." he made his feelings clear.

"Come on!" she heard Toph call on them, "Let's get through to the palace before more of them come through."

Katara got back into line, and continued walking ahead once the others were all back in the tunnel, keeping everyone in the same order they had been in before. The water was audibly bursting out and splashing around above them, and she was concerned that some water might spill into a ventilation hole and cause them problems. The incline of the tunnel meant it was unlikely to stay flooded, but she would prefer not to get covered in muddy water if she could avoid it.

She could hear the footsteps above them still, though they were less intense than earlier, perhaps because the part of the Upper Ring they were in didn't have many people in it. However, she was proven wrong soon after as more footsteps could be heard, and these were clearly louder, and in synchronisation- marching, she presumed. She guessed they were guards or soldiers, though probably the former, as she hadn't really seen all that many soldiers anywhere she visited in Ba Sing Se, except for the areas near the Inner Walls at the edge of the Outer Ring.

They passed over, and she didn't stop; nobody was down in the tunnels, and she trusted Toph would sense if any more agents were coming through. The incline of the path increased slightly, and the tunnel grew a little bigger, telling her that it must have been frequented more often. Everyone remained quiet, and all she could hear was their footsteps and breathing, and the few odd sounds above them. As they were far enough away from where the water was coming out, she could no longer hear it, not the frantic noises of confused people. The tunnel did eventually flatten out, leaving them on a long stretch that felt like it went on further.

Katara was unsure how long she was walking for, given how rhythmic the motions had become to her, and eventually, she made sight of what had to be an exit; Toph had stopped, and was directing people up towards it. She thought to ask her, but she knew that they had to be in a secluded spot if she thought they should climb up there. She made her way up the staircase, and through a doorway, which she realised was hidden behind a cabinet. She did not know where they were, but could tell from the articulate design of the walls, sleek floors, and tall roof that they were in a place of importance; it had to be the palace.

When she saw her brother, she thought to ask him, "Sokka, we're in the palace, right?"

"Yeah." he nodded, glancing around, "This... wait, this is the office for the Ministry of Justice, right?" he asked, and Azula climbed up the stairs after him, with an amused look on her face.

"If you mean the people in charge of the prison holding all the rebel earthbenders, yes, it is." she confirmed, "I came here when we first arrived in Ba Sing Se last time. I was sure to make sure there had been no... accidental breakouts." she explained what she knew about the place.

"So, you know where we have to go from here?" Katara pressed her, and the Princess scoffed, with her hands on her hips.

"This is our first stop, obviously. We can't just say we would help free the rebels and then not make good on the promise. I am a woman of my word." she explained, before raising a finger, "However, we cannot just free them without our attack in play. The Dai Li will be far too alert to allow us anywhere near the Minister."

"So... we should leave it to somebody else." Katara suggested, and she nodded.

"Whatever happens, the prisoners will not be staying in there for much longer."

---

Sokka admittedly hadn't expected to enter the palace as easily as he had, and for it to feel basically the same as it had before. There were no Fire Nation soldiers standing around, and instead there were new guards, but beyond that, it didn't feel very different. The furnishings around were the same, and it didn't seem like there had been much damage, if at all, during the Dai Li's take over of the place. He recalled the fight they had had with them, but it had been localised to a specific part of the palace, located near the throne room, and the Earth King's personal quarters, which had been where the Governor of the city and Azula herself had been staying.

He hadn't gone that far into the palace, and he didn't expect to, given that they were there looking for Minister Kojo. He couldn't recall meeting the man himself, but he was sure that Azula did; she was one to remember faces and names, especially when somebody was doing a job she took interest in. They had already spent a decent amount of time traversing the palace grounds, looking through the various departments and ministries that were housed around the place. The Minister's office was easy enough to find once they had tracked down the exact layouts of each of the ministries on the palace grounds.

They were all spreading around, looking around, trying to gather intelligence, before converging on Minister Kojo when the time came. He had no idea what exactly the Minister would be doing, but imagined that he had a busy schedule, despite the fact that his ministry's duties were stymied by the conflict between the Governing Council and the Coalition. He had been checking through the various offices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, trying to be as subtle as possible, avoiding the actual bureaucrats where he could, hoping that he could find some useful information for their plots, but also, understand the Minister's schedule.

He knew that once they were sure of where he was going to go during the day, they would have a chance to corner and start their attack. He knew the danger they were in, and that was why he was trying to be quick, and not stay in one place for too long; without Toph at the ready, he could not be certain where the Dai Li were hiding, and if he was being watched.

Sokka left another office, with a document that he thought might be of use for their plans. It gave the details of a new state sponsored development in the Lower Ring, where they were intending to build some factories, but these were on the grounds of what was the burnt down slum, where their old hideout had been. He knew that this project might inadvertently benefit some of the people living in Xiqi District, but more likely than not, the appropriation of land would mean the locals would be forced to crowd into less space, while more land was given up for a business that would likely only benefit a wealthy few. However, he knew there was only so much they could do about it, and he doubted it would be built any time soon, and certainly not before their plotting in Ba Sing Se bore fruit.

He approached Azula, who was playing the part of an attendant, bringing along some documents for one of the many secretaries serving the Minister; she had just pretended as if she was always there, and the bureaucrats were fooled, at least at the very moment. He paced up beside her and handed her the document he had found. She momentarily eyed it, and handed it back, doing so subtly enough that unless one was staring them down, they probably wouldn't notice that they had even exchanged the document.

"We might be able to use that." she gave her opinion, "Find Renshu." she told him, handing him a note; he nodded, and turned a corner, parting ways with her as he went off to the spot where Renshu and the other guards were playing their part.

They were pretending to be servants, cleaning the halls of the Ministry. He found them quickly enough when he entered one of the larger halls within the building, which was empty beyond the few guards standing there cleaning things up. He approached Renshu and offered him the piece of paper, placing it down on a table that he was cleaning, before making his way over to a corner, where he could stand and wait for the Captain's response. He didn't want to rouse suspicion from any bureaucrats that might come through, who might suspect him talking to a random cleaner. So, Sokka waited there by the corner, and soon enough, Renshu approached him, a stoic, hard look on his face. He handed him back the note, and stood beside him for a moment.

"The Minister will be going across the palace for a meeting. We will attack then."

"How will I tell the others?" he asked, and the Captain raised his chin.

"Those that will directly aid us... find them." he gave him sufficient directions, "Meet near the Minister's office. I will tell my men."

Sokka nodded, and turned his heels, not wanting to waste any time; he knew that Toph and the others were looking around for documents that might help them in their efforts to depose the Dai Li. The blind girl was keeping watch for the Dai Li, while the others were either standing guard or searching through any offices they could enter without being noticed. He made his way down the hallway, leading himself to the exit. That opened out to a courtyard, where he spotted his sister, who was standing guard, pretending to be any other palace attendant. He approached her cautiously, not wanting to frighten her nor garner any attention from onlookers.

When he reached her, he slowed his pace, and made a whistle to get her attention; Katara's eyes darted up, and she stepped forward, "What is it?"

"Meet near the Minister's office. We're going to do it while he's moving to his meeting." he explained their plans, and she raised a brow.

"What about escaping?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"I'm sure Toph has already figured out some routes of escape."

"What about the other disguised fighters?" she pressed, "How are they going to get out?"

"The same as everyone else... the tunnels." he argued, "They won't have to get involved." he assured her, "As long as they keep their heads down, they will be fine."

"Alright." she murmured, not seeming appeased, and she turned around to enter the room she was guarding, presumably to go inform the others; she was with Aang, Toph, Ty Lee, as well as a select few fighters.

The acrobat must have overheard them, and she stepped out before he left, and followed him back towards the Minister's office.

"Wait up." she whispered, and Sokka slowed his pace.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, and she seemed amused.

"We'll make a mess... just like she wants." she assured him, "And the Dai Li... they won't know what hit them."

"You say that like you want a fight." he mumbled, not finding that outcome ideal.

"Trouncing bad guys is fun." she admitted with a smirk, "Plus, if they have to fight us, they'll have more reason to believe we're who we're pretending to be."

"As long as Azula doesn't firebend." he added a condition of achieving such a goal, and Ty Lee cautiously nodded.

"She's more on the planning side today. She doesn't need to get her hands dirty. That's for Renshu." she argued, and he grimaced, knowing the Captain might actually enjoy killing traitors like Saburo Kojo, even if he might have been somebody they could otherwise sway to support Azula and the Coalition.

They made their way back through where the guards were playing the part of cleaners, and they noticed them moving through, cautiously nodding at them to acknowledge their presence. Sokka returned the favour, and continued on his way back towards the Minister's office. When they turned a corner to approach, he saw Azula standing idly by a doorway, patiently awaiting their arrival.

She gestured into the room she was standing in front of, and they all stepped inside. It was a small storeroom, with rolls of paper, jars of ink, and various other supplies required for such a large complex of offices. She pushed the door so it was just ajar, but not shut. The Princess then turned to face the two of them, eyeing them intently, seeming to be considering her words carefully.

"How much information do we have now?" she asked with a whisper, so soft that he could only just make out the words.

"A lot about this ministry and what they're up to." Ty Lee answered her question in a comparably quiet voice, "I don't think it's all that useful. Hopefully the others in the other ministries are finding more interesting things."

"I concur. Are you ready?" she asked, and Ty Lee nodded, before giving her a quick salute.

"I will cause problems." she declared with a smirk, and Sokka rolled his eyes, finding her way of viewing the situation most strange, and admittedly quite amusing.

"That we will." Azula agreed with her declaration, before pushing the door further ajar, so she could look out into the hallway, "Now we wait."

Sokka crouched down in the storeroom, and patiently waited; he didn't want to speak when they might be heard, and decided that he ought to spend his moments of peace there thinking over what he might have to do. He reached into his robes, and pulled out the fabric mask that he was going to wear when they attacked. It looked rather funny, but that was because it was poorly made, purposefully so, as it was meant to simply obscure his face and make him look more threatening when they attacked Saburo.

He put the mask back away, and then thought over his forms. Chi-blocking was so simple looking from the outside, but it was anything but that. It required precision he imagined most benders wouldn't even consider when going through their forms; he had to strike directly upon a target's chi-pathways for his attacks to be effective. Wasting energy on an attack that didn't block a pathway was something he had to always avoid; he had to deal with opponents as quickly as possible. The guards that Saburo would have with him would fold rather easily, he imagined, given they couldn't realistically stand up to Imperial Firebenders, let alone somebody as skilled as Ty Lee.

He knew he would win in that fight, and didn't even bother to think over it, beyond considering where on the bodies of his enemies he ought to target his blows. Wearing armour meant that only their extremities and a few places around their abdomen, back, and neck would be exposed, and thus, viable spots to block their chi. However, it was the Dai Li that really concerned him; unlike the guards, they would be mostly unarmoured, but that was no relief. They were unarmoured because of their efficiency; they were sneaky, accurate, and above all else, ruthless. He could not afford to make mistakes when facing them, and he knew that at some point he would have to. They would surely come to arrest them, and they would have to fight them off and make their way back into the Upper Ring.

So, he kept them in his mind, recalling the forms he'd seen them use in their fights all those months prior, and then, what he had observed them doing when they were dealing with the protesters in the Lower Ring. They were dangerous, but overly cautious, meaning that as long as they seemed to be stronger, they would only try to restrain them, and break up any group they formed to try and prevent them from overwhelming them.

He knew there were a large number of agents in the area, the kinds of numbers that ought to terrify any reasonable person; that would not have changed since he was last in the city. However, Sokka expected that they would only face a handful of them, as the agents were surely going to have their hands full with the flooding, and if they had exposed them, the waterbenders themselves.

Azula opened the door once more, getting his attention, and he saw Katara and Toph approaching. The others were nowhere to be seen, but he guessed they were waiting nearby, presumably until they saw the Governor leave. The two entered the storeroom, and then, the Princess shut the door.

"Are you ready?" she asked them both, and they nodded, "What is our preferred route out of here?" she asked Toph, who crossed her arms.

"Well, I have no idea where the Minister's going. Maybe if you tell me, then I can give you an answer." she suggested, and Azula rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine." she mumbled, "Minister Kojo is meeting with the Minister of Finance. The finance ministry is located to the north of here, I believe."

"So, closer to the centre of the palace." she concluded, before scrunching her lips, "I'm sure the closest tunnels will get us uncomfortably close to the Dai Li's base of operations here."

"You know where that is?" Sokka asked, surprised by her knowledge of it.

"Yes, it's right beneath the throne room. It's a large chamber, with a lot of offices in it. A whole ministry located underground." she explained, "We do not want to go there... unless you're brave enough to try and kill the Grand Secretariat."

"No, no I am not." he assured her, and Azula crossed her arms.

"I will keep that in mind." she nodded, "In case I have to use more... crude methods."

"What... Do you want me to cave the place in or something?" Toph asked, and the Princess shook her head.

"No, I mean, from above." she gestured towards the roof; she did not need to elaborate for them all to understand her intentions.

"I don't know if the airship will be able to get this far into the city without being shot down." Ty Lee argued with a whisper, and Azula shook her head.

"If we reach that point... firing artillery will be the least of the defenders' concerns." she argued, before crossing her arms, "It is an option. Not the preferred one, but an option." she made her opinion clear, before stepping closer to the doorway, "Minister Kojo will be out any minute now."

Sokka waited patiently, and though the silence was a bit awkward, he much preferred it, as it would make it easier to hear when the Minister left his office, just down the hallway from them. When he heard the sound of doors opening, he tensed up, and placed his ear against the door, hoping to make out whatever was said, if anything was.

"We must get a move on, sir." he heard the voice of a woman, "The scheduled meeting time is fast approaching."

"I understand." he heard the voice of who he assumed to be the Minister, "I just needed to gather my documents... if Minister Zhuzi wants to reconsider every project's funding, he must have the required documentation."

Then, he heard footsteps approaching, and he tensed, hoping that nobody was visible in the adjacent hallways where they would be waiting for the Minister and his party to move along. He glanced through the narrow gap that was left between the doorway and the door, and saw some robes moving past. He waited a few more moments, waiting for the footsteps to get further away, before turning to face Azula, nodding to confirm that the Minister had just come by.

A few moments later, she pushed the door ajar, before stepping out. Sokka followed her, and Ty Lee and Katara were right behind him. They made their way down the hallway cautiously, and he was just able to spot the Minister and his party as they made their way through a set of internal doors that divided up the building. They remained there for a moment, before following. They had to keep a sufficient amount of distance while he was in transit, as he or one of his attendants might notice them.

As they made their way further along, the Princess made a short whistle, getting the attention of the other fighters who were hiding. They stepped out of cover, and followed them down the hallway. When they made their way through the doors, Sokka just spotted the Minister moving through another set of doors, now leading him and the others outside into a small courtyard that separated the Ministry of Trade and Development from the other ministries. They crossed through the courtyard after them, waiting for them to enter the next building before they crossed over, moving fast so as to avoid being spotted by anyone that might also be moving through the area.

The next building was bigger, with a taller roof, and the hallway was quite large, meaning it was hard to move through without being easily noticed by the Minister and his party. Azula gestured to either side of them, presuming there were alternative routes down smaller hallways where they would remain out of sight. Half went left, the other half right. Sokka chose to go left, and led that section of their party in the direction, before turning a corner to move parallel to the larger hallway.

They made their way past some bureaucrats, but they didn't seem to suspect them, as their group was separated into smaller sections, making it look like some attendants, bureaucrats, servants, and cleaners were all coincidentally heading in the same direction. Some even forked off at random to make it seem more convincing, before continuing to follow Sokka once the bureaucrats had cleared off. He crossed over another large hallway, and glanced down to see that the Minister and his party had turned a corner, heading to his right. He waited patiently for a few moments, wondering if they would continue down the large hallway or turn off somewhere. He did turn off, heading down a smaller hallway, instead of continuing down to the next set of doors.

Sokka led his group that way, making his way over to the place where the Minister's party had turned off, noticing that they were in an area of the palace dedicated to large chambers and meeting rooms. Azula's group met with his own, and she seemed to notice the same thing he had.

She turned to the rest of the group, "Everyone who won't directly be involved in the attack should hold back and wait for things to begin. In case we need to flee, we need people covering the exits." she explained, and everyone nodded.

Sokka turned to face his sister and Aang, who seemed to want to follow, but understood that they were not included in the group of attackers. Sokka was, primarily because of his chi-blocking, the same as Ty Lee.

"We'll be fine." he reassured them, "Just make sure you keep an eye out for the enemy." he warned, and gestured to Aang's feet, "Or a foot out."

He nodded, understanding what he meant, and he glanced around towards the roof, "I can't sense anyone hiding in this hallway."

"How good is your seismic sense anyway?" Ty Lee asked, and Sokka winced, realising how rude she sounded.

"It's- it's good." he reassured them, and Sokka raised a finger to his lips, telling them to be quiet.

"If you do find anyone... don't get found back, unless you don't have a choice." he gave the only warning he felt necessary, before following Azula and the guards towards the meeting chamber.

They made their way to the entrance, and the guards readied themselves while Sokka leaned up against the doors to listen to what was being said.

"These projects are beneficial to the local economy, but I cannot say they will prevent the enemies of the Governing Council from defeating us." he heard a new voice, presumably from the Minister of Finance.

"The Minister of War needs his funding, I understand that... and I know that arms production needs to be prioritised." Kojo assured the other minister that they were both on the same page, "I just believe that these projects should bring higher wages and working conditions to those we will employ. This will form a loyal class of workers who will tie themselves to the Governing Council and our grand project." he argued something quite rational; Sokka wondered then if killing him might just be beneficial outright.

"That is... well, I can't disagree with your line of reasoning, but our treasury is not like it was before the Fire Nation occupation. The tax incomes might have increased marginally from the establishment of businesses by the colonists, but tariffs are nonexistent with the lack of trade coming into the city, not to mention the meagre taxes the Earth King was able to extract on the provinces." the Minister of Finance made his own stance clear; they were running low on funds, and what could be cut, would be cut, for the sake of their war effort against the Coalition, and presumably, anyone else they wanted to destroy, "We must invest tax money into building more arms and training the army. That is the end of it."

Azula tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see that she had pulled her fabric mask over her face, as had Ty Lee and the guards. He quickly did the same, and a moment later, Renshu kicked the doors open, and shot out a massive fire stream from the sole of his foot. When it dissipated, he saw that he had sent it across the table in the centre of the room, and the ministers were seated to either side. For that moment, nobody died. On the plus side, it clearly frightened everyone inside, and the men guarding both ministers turned around to face them, poised to fight.

"In the name of his majesty, Fire Lord Ozai, I condemn you to die!" the Captain declared his apparent loyalties, and Saburo looked utterly terrified; he knew what he had signed onto by supporting the Governing Council, and now he would face the consequences of that choice.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, raising his hands up; perhaps he wanted to negotiate- that was not how it would go.

The guards shot out fireballs in quick succession, and the guards, to their frustration, happened to be earthbenders, meaning they could raise walls of stone from the floors to defend themselves. Before they could knock any of the guards out, a ring of walls covered the entire entrance, making it impossible for them all to make their way through, at least without using the guards' firebending to break them down.

Azula whistled, getting everyone's attention; she began to spin her hands around in a circular motion. The sight sent a shiver down Sokka's spine; he could never forget that form. He stepped out of the way, and watched as a sudden flash of light appeared in front of them, followed by an explosion as the wall of stone was obliterated by a lightning bolt. The walls crumbled apart, and Ty Lee and Sokka dashed forward; he knew what to do, and so did she.

He lunged at the earthbenders, jabbing their extremities in quick succession, ducking and weaving to dodge the stone tiles they tried to toss at him. One did strike his side, but it was too late; he had already paralysed three of the four guards on his side of the room, and he then was free to focus on that last man. He thought himself victorious by striking him with the tile, but he had forgotten the real danger.

Two fire streams struck him down, setting his robes alight and making him scream out in agony. He felt a tinge of guilt, but when his eyes fell upon Minister Kojo, his resolve was reignited. Saburo had stumbled out of his chair, and was cowering down in fear. He raised his hands up, and tried to reason with him.

"Please!" he begged, "I can tell you-"

"You can't tell me anything." he retorted, before lunging at the man with a knife; he tackled him to the ground, and raised the blade above his head, "It's not personal, really." he admitted, knowing that a bureaucrat like him had done a lot less harm than soldiers like Shin, who they were actively trying to get to their side, but a plan was a plan.

Suddenly, he felt himself thrown off the Minister, and felt pressure around his neck. Then he was slammed up against the wall, and Sokka's eyes darted over to the entrance; a Dai Li agent had just ensnared him, and his eyes widened, knowing that they came far faster than could have been reasonable from them simply overhearing the fighting. He coughed and sputtered, trying to pull the stone glove off his neck. Suddenly, he saw Azula jump in front of the agent, and then, blood splattered across the room; the stone glove broke apart, and Sokka could breathe again.

When she turned around, he saw a knife in her hand, which she then threw in Sokka's general direction. He didn't understand why until he heard a grunt, his eyes darting up to see that there had been another agent beside him, ready to restrain him. Sokka leapt up, not wanting to waste any more time. He could see that the Minister was scampering away, taking cover behind the few remaining guards, as well as two more Dai Li agents who had appeared. He had no idea where they had even come from, and feared that they might have been in the room, waiting for them to attack.

He weaved out of the way of another stone glove, before launching himself over the table, kicking one of the Minister's guards in the gut. He stumbled back, and was quickly knocked out by a fireball to the head. Another knife was thrown right past Sokka, which the Dai Li agent it was aimed at narrowly dodged. He ducked down, and watched as two more were thrown out, flying across the room as fast as the fireballs were. One of them got the agent in the chest. The other agent earthbent up some walls, blocking Sokka and the others from getting any closer to the two ministers.

"Shit." he gasped out, before gritting his teeth, "Hit them again!" he told Azula, who to his surprise, didn't generate another lightning bolt.

Instead, the guards pummelled the walls with fire streams, heating up the stone until it broke apart, allowing Sokka to kick it out of the way. When the dust settled, all he could see was a passage, which was closing behind the Dai Li agent who had opened it. The two ministers, nor their attendants, were nowhere to be seen.

"Well, that's helpful." he sarcastically quipped, before turning to point at the door, "Should we go after them?"

"We must." Renshu declared, and dashed out of the room, and the rest of them followed after him in suit.

He followed him out the door, around the corner, and down the hallway, where they crossed down another passageway, presumably to reach the same point the Dai Li must have led the ministers to. He made sight of them running down the hallway, and the Dai Li agent remained in their way, readying himself in a defensive form. He didn't even utter a word, and seemed to beckon their challenge, and the doom it would lead to.

"Fool." Azula chided him, and he was immolated within moments, even after shooting out both his stone gloves to restrain a guard each.

He held back his screams, at least for a moment, before they filled the hallway. Azula walked past his burning body without an inch of sympathy, and tossed another knife down the hallway, striking one of the attendants in the back. He let out a cry of pain and fell over. The Minister of Finance didn't bother to try and help him, and kept running, while Saburo turned to help the man up. His eyes were filled with terror, and he could only watch as Azula drew out another knife.

However, before she could throw it, or one of the guards could send a fire stream right at him, a wall of stone was thrown up in front of them. A bureaucrat stepped out between them and the wall, surrounded by more Dai Li agents, and Sokka did recognise him; he had only seen him once before.

"In the name of the Governing Council, you are under arrest." the man declared, his authority coming from his position; he was Undersecretariat Hou, the lackey of the Grand Secretariat, who was either Long Feng or his immediate successor, "Surrender yourselves without a fight, and I promise you will live."

"We do not listen to the false promises of subhumans." Captain Renshu declared, and he was unsure if he was just playing his part as an assassin loyal to Ozai, or giving his actual opinion on the man, or more broadly, his ilk, "Die!" he screamed out, and all the guards sent out fire streams; the flames were so bright Sokka was basically blinded, and had to turn away from the flames, hoping that they would at least hold the enemy back.

"Please do something." he begged, and when the flames settled, he could only see another wall, which was ripped apart as the agents began to earthbend it at them as a flurry of projectiles.

Sokka grabbed his girlfriend by the waist and threw both of them into a neighbouring room, narrowly dodging a block of stone. They fell on the floor in the room, and it was quite hard; he felt bad for Azula, who he was on top of, but he would have felt a lot worse if she had her chest caved in by a block of stone.

"Get off me, idiot." she shoved him off of her, and she drew out another knife to use against the agents.

He was unsure if that would do her any good, and given how they had targeted them, he had a feeling the Dai Li knew exactly who they were, even if Minister Kojo did not.

"Long live the Fire Nation!" he heard Renshu shout out, and he felt the heat from the guards' firebending grow more intense, though he couldn't directly see it from where he was lying in the room.

He grabbed Azula by the arm, knowing what danger they were in; smoke was building up around them, and the building was almost certainly going to burn down if nobody did anything to stop them.

"We have to go." he told her, and she gestured out behind him, out the doorway.

Aang was approaching, wearing his own mask, and he seemed a little terrifying; he wasn't in the Avatar State, but he was definitely ready to fight.

"Hey!" he presumably tried to get the Dai Li's attention, before he felt the floor shake violently beneath them; Sokka helped Azula up, and the two of them leaned out the doorway, seeing only rubble and dust in the aftermath of whatever crazy earthbending move he had used.

"Okay... maybe we need to lead with that next time." he suggested, and Azula scoffed.

"Just start running." she told him, and Sokka nodded, reaching over to help one of the guards up, after he had been knocked down by Aang's earthbending.

He nodded, appreciating the assistance, before everyone began to run down the hallway, heading back out towards the large open hallway. Smoke was building up even more, and he had to cover his mouth, finding that the fumes were making him nauseous. The large hallway was a lot better, though they were clearly still in danger. A dozen Dai Li agents were rushing down the hallway in their general direction, and the disguised servants were still covering by the flanks, ready to attack when the opportunity arose.

"Now!" Azula called on them, and suddenly, pillars of earth shot up everywhere around the agents, some of them getting shot into the air; others were lucky enough to dodge the pillars, and fired out their stone gloves in exchange.

A few of the guards were ensnared, but their comrades were quick enough to blast the gloves apart, before they all returned fire, sending off a barrage of fireballs at the enemy. He glanced around, and saw his sister approaching, a clear look of concern on her face.

"Sokka, your neck." she observed the injury he had received earlier, and he waved it off.

"Don't worry about me." he tried to reassure her, "We need to get moving, before these idiots actually get their act together."

"I wouldn't call them idiots." Azula warned him, and as if on cue, a few ran right at them firing out their chains and grapples, one of which snared Sokka on the leg.

He stomped down hard on the chain, hoping to break it before it went taut; however, he was too slow, and found himself thrown off his feet. As he was dragged closer, another pillar was shot out of the ground, shattering it apart, and blocking his movement so his feet slammed into it. He grunted from the sudden forceful halt, and turned his head back, seeing that it had been Toph who had saved his rear.

She had a cocky look on her face, and she threw her hands up, bending up more pillars of earth; Azula whistled to get everyone's attention, telling them they needed to leave. Renshu and Ty Lee ran over to Sokka, helped him up, and then they were on their way. As quickly as that fight began, it was finished, or at least, they gave up trying to kill anyone else. He didn't even know if any of the blows had been fatal, though the falls certainly might have been.

He ran down to the crossroads in the hallway, and turned left, heading back the way they had come from earlier. A few more agents were stationed at the doors, and they turned, ready to prevent them from escaping. However, they had just as many earthbenders with them. They ripped up the floor and used the tiles beneath them as projectiles, firing them into the agents, whose stone gloves might have posed a threat, if they had had any chance of actually reaching them.

"Above us!" he heard Aang call out, and Sokka's eyes darted up, seeing a few agents on the roof, who were firing off their grapple chains.

Then, in all his great wisdom, Aang did something insane; he broke the entire roof down, ripping it apart and revealing the sun above them. The rubble fell down quickly, but Sokka was fast enough to run out of the way. He slipped and rolled on the ground, which shook violently as the roof fell down and crashed through the floor. He coughed as he realised he was inhaling the dust that came off of the roof, and turned to face Azula, whose robes were torn up a bit by the rubble.

"I don't think that counts as pacifism." she commented, which momentarily distracted him from the fact they were in a life-or-death fight.

"We need to get out of here!" he told her, grabbing Azula by the arm to get her to come with him, knowing that more of the roof might fall down on top of them.

As they made their way further back, towards the centre of the building, more of the roof fell down, crashing into the floor and breaking apart into more dust and rubble. Suddenly, he saw some pillars shoot out of the rubble, and Toph stepped up.

"Come at me, you pansies!" she screamed out at the top of her lungs, pelting boulders out of the rubble at the Dai Li agents that were approaching.

That luckily kept Sokka and Azula safe, and her guards quickly surrounded them; Renshu turned to face his Fire Lord, "We must find another path out while... the blind girl puts on a show." he gestured to Toph, who wasn't letting up any time soon, throwing more rubble around by the moment, pelting any and every Dai Li agent that got close to them.

"That way!" he gestured towards a narrow hallway; it wouldn't necessarily lead them outside, but it would get them closer to their intended path out of the palace, via the Dai Li's tunnels.

He led everyone through, and turned right to head back the way they were going before the roof fell down on top of them. A few agents stepped out into their path, and they found themselves set alight by the guards' firebending within a moment; they shot out their chains, but even if they grabbed some of them, it wouldn't stop them from burning alive. They pulled up stone walls, and perhaps, they hoped to put out the flames that had swamped their bodes, but he doubted they'd get away without serious injuries. However, the walls posed an issue.

"Shit, we need to go the other way." Ken concluded at once, "Back towards the throne room... or maybe west, towards the walls."

"The tunnel." Azula whispered, "The one we used when we were searching for the safehouse." she reminded him, and he nodded, recalling how to get there.

"Then let's not waste any time." he decided, and they all ran back the other way, turning left heading in the opposite direction they had gone before, westward, away from the centre of the palace.

They went through the doorway that lay ahead of them, leading them out into a large courtyard; across from them lay the former Royal Prison. That was not to be confused with the one the Fire Nation had used for earthbenders, which was a wholly new construction made of metal. A few more Dai Li agents were waiting outside, perhaps coming to reinforce those they had already beaten to a pulp.

"Take them!" he heard one of them shout out, and they shot out their stone gloves.

The guards repelled them with walls of fire, which caused the gloves to shatter before they could make contact with their bodies. However, the flaming hot fragments dashed his robes, and some even smacked his face. They were terribly hot, and made his face sting. Sokka quickly shut his eyes out of fear of being blinded by a stray piece of stone, but it was over in an instant. Then, when the flames had dissipated, the Dai Li were greeted by the sparks coursing around Azula's finger tips.

The bolt landed right in front of the agents, and blew them off their feet. The guards ran forward, and Sokka followed right behind them, wanting to incapacitate anyone who wasn't immediately knocked unconscious. Half of them were down, while the rest were disoriented and terrified. Sokka screamed out, letting his exhilaration be heard as he jabbed at their extremities wildly, somersaulting and weaving about to dodge their chains and earthbending moves. When the last of them were falling to the ground, he gestured to the entrance of the Royal Prison.

"That way!" he told them, and ran over to the doors, kicking them open; the prison was dimly lit, and empty of prisoners.

That was the same as it had been before, filled with illicit goods that the Fire Nation had taken from smugglers. He guessed that the Governing Council might sell some of it to make money, and given that some of the cells were opened and emptied of goods, told him that was most likely the case. He pushed those thoughts to the side, knowing that he needed to get Azula to safety. However, he knew that he had to find his sister as well, and make sure she was safe. He felt torn, and as he approached the stairs that would lead them into the prisons' depths, he stopped himself. The guards ran past, but Azula stopped, realising his reluctance.

"Sokka, what is it?" she asked, "Did you find something?"

"N-no." he shook his head, "I need to go find Katara and make sure she's safe." he admitted, "I'm sorry, but I know this way. You'll be fine as long as you keep running and get back down into the Upper Ring."

"No." she refused, grabbing him by the arm; she had pulled her mask off, so he could see the anguish in her eyes, "I can't let you run off like an idiot."

"I'm not being stupid. I need to make sure she's safe. Dad would have a heart attack if I let her get caught by the Dai Li." he argued, "I'll distract the Dai Li for a bit, find her, and meet you back at the spa. I promise." he assured her, "I just can't run away if I don't know she's safe."

She sighed, and nodded, "Fine." she accepted his request, and Sokka smiled, pulling up his mask so she could see his eyes.

"Thank you. I'll try and get everyone into the tunnels as fast as I can." he assured her, before kissing her on the cheek, "See you soon."

Azula reluctantly accepted it, and before kissing him back, she grabbed by the collar, "I better, or I'll be killing so many people you'll feel guilty even if you're dead." she warned him, and Sokka felt a little concerned, knowing from that look that it was no joke.

"That's not a-" he began, before she kissed him on the lips, shutting him up; it was brief, but impassioned, and she looked just as mad as she had before when their kiss broke.

"If you're going to run, do it now." she gave him what sounded more like an order than advice, and he turned his heels and broke into a sprint; Sokka pulled down his mask, hoping that the Dai Li didn't already know who he was.

"I love you!" he called out to her, and he couldn't hear her say it back, but her lips mouthed the words; he ran out the doors, where the agents looked ready to pursue him, "Maybe set the building on fire!" he suggested with another shout, and he saw a few flashes of light, telling him they got the message.

"What are you doing, idiot?" one of the Dai Li agents asked him, and Sokka shrugged.

"Being a nuisance." he declared, before dashing off to his right, heading in the general direction that Katara and the others would have gone.

He could still hear Toph earthbending inside the building they had been in before, and while he was running some debris flew out, breaking through a wall, falling between him and the Dai Li agents. That slowed them down, if only for a few moments as they earthbent the rubble apart. Sokka kept his movements as erratic as possible, knowing that if he ran in a straight line, no matter how much faster he would reach the others, the Dai Li would most likely ensnare him before he reached them.

He could see some dirty tracks running away from the entrance where Katara and the others must have been, right back into the Ministry of Trade and Development. However, he knew he could run faster outside, even if he was marginally safer from the dangers of earthbending while inside the building. He decided to run parallel, heading towards where he had met Katara rummaging through documents earlier. Before he could reach any kind of cover, he was smacked in the side by a pillar of earth, which threw him into a nearby bush. It was prickly, and hurt.

He stumbled back to his feet, turning around to see five agents running right at him, with their stone gloves already flying through the air; he didn't know what to do, so just leapt to the ground, somersaulting to dodge the gloves before he got back up and kept running. The gloves did miss him, but one of the agents had already shot out a chain, which grappled him by the leg, preventing him from running any further, lest he want to slip and fall on his face. Sokka immediately pulled out a dagger, the only one he had on his person, and used it to shatter the chain.

Before another glove could hit him, he ran through the closest door; he recognised where he was, knowing he was in the chamber the guards had been 'cleaning'. He was surely about to cause a mess, and felt a tinge of guilt about that. He heard another glove whirring through the air, and skid on the floor; to his luck, it was polished, so he was able to make some distance, and didn't hurt himself in the process. He got back up, and dashed down the hallway, where he could see some damage on the walls, telling him that the others had retreated through the building.

He ran down the hallway, right past the Minister's office, and then towards the next exit. He heard another chain being fired off, and he kicked open a door to his side, which luckily caught the grapple instead of it latching onto his body. He smirked at his pursuers, even if he couldn't see it. Then Sokka ran through the doorway, pushing the doors open to head back out onto the grounds of the palace. If he was lucky, he'd have a clean run all the way to the tunnels, and then he could make sure the others got out safely.

However, it seemed that his luck had run dry; outside the door were more agents, and worse, he saw some soldiers as well, who must have come over to deal with the commotion.

"Nowhere to run, fool." one of the agents proudly declared, and he and his comrades moved into form.

Sokka's eyes darted around, but his fear turned to relief as he realised one of the soldiers was Major Yu. He and his men were playing their roles perfectly, and had come around just in time.

"Then come and get me!" he prodded his enemies, before he saw the soldiers earthbend; the ground was broken up, a few lines heading towards him, before a pillar shot out from the ground beneath him.

He was propelled into the air, rising all the way past the roof of the building he had just stepped out of. For a moment it was exhilarating, though it quickly became terrifying as he realised he would have to come back down. He realised, however, that he wasn't just falling on the ground, but into a pond in one of the many gardens that dotted the palace; he covered his face and curled his body up, anticipating the sudden impact.

He felt a sudden shock as his body slammed into the cold water, and sputtered as he felt himself sink into the water, which was surprisingly deep. He reached his hands out to try and climb out, only to realise that his robes were weighing him down. Sokka felt the water moving around him, and then a hand grabbed his own. He was pulled out of the water, and coughed a few times, before glancing up to see who had saved his sorry behind. A giddy smile and big eyes looked down at him. Ty Lee had found him, and in the right nick of time.

"What were you doing in there?" she asked him, and Sokka grimaced.

"Escaping." he admitted, "I would have preferred a haystack or something." he gave his opinion, knowing that Yu or one of his men must have chosen the spot, thinking he'd make it out of his short flight alive.

"We don't have much time." she warned him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the pond; he glanced back, seeing that the agents and soldiers were pursuing them.

"I don't think we can chi-block our way out of this." he conceded, and then, he felt the water beneath him shake, softly at first, before it began to violently ripple and spurt; Sokka couldn't help but smile, thinking back to the memory of him kicking Pakku's butt, and what had come of it.

"But I still won."