Chapter 20 - The Reunion
"We can't be too late. We just can't..." rejected Katara as she stared at the captured Earth Kingdom capital city in disbelief.
"How could Ba Sing Se fall so quickly?" demanded Jin with a mixture of confusion and distress. "It's supposed to be the safest place in the Earth Kingdom. The walls of the great city have never been breached." More worry crossed her expression. "What happened to everyone inside?"
"Let's get a closer look. We can't know anything from way out here," proposed Zuko as he dismounted from his ostrich horse and signaled for his companions to do the same. "We'll use the shadow of the ridgeline to cover our approach."
The three of them moved cautiously with measured steps as they drew closer to the city. Taking a break behind a large boulder, Zuko and Katara observed the Fire Nation soldiers on the ramparts of the outer wall of the Lower Ring.
Jin, on the other hand, occupied her anxious mind with caring for the two ostrich horses. Biscuit and Bree had been moving sluggishly during the descent, all but spent following their exhaustive three day sprint. The two steeds had definitely pushed themselves hard to get the three benders to their destination and they needed rest.
A couple minutes later, Katara noticed something that she thought was important to note. "Those soldiers don't seem to patrol along the entire wall. They're just staying close to the main gate."
Zuko didn't answer immediately. He didn't see the firebenders on the ramparts. No, instead he heard the sounds of battle, the clashing of weapons and the bending of fire and earth. And it wasn't coming from the ramparts. No, what he was witnessing was coming from directly in front of the great wall itself.
Earth Kingdom warriors and Fire Nation soldiers locked in a brutal engagement, neither side granting an advantage. Only the chaos of battle as both sides incurred heavy losses.
Then, there was a surge from the Fire Nation host. One particular commander was cutting through the Earth Kingdom defenders almost singlehandedly and inspiring his men to follow his lead.
This was the turning point in the skirmish. The surviving Earth Kingdom fighters were retreating now. The Fire Nation was on the verge of claiming victory along the outside of the Lower Ring.
Zuko stared intently at the stalwart firebending commander who was still shouting encouragement to his men, motivating them to victory through his own actions and deeds. The armor that the young man was wearing was so familiar. Zuko knew that he had seen that particular set of armor many times before when he was younger. It was the same armor that his Cousin Lu Ten often wore.
Then, almost as if it was happening in slow motion, Zuko spied an odd looking Fire Nation soldier approaching from behind the young commander that looked like his Cousin. There was a flash of steel as Lu Ten went rigid and then limp, falling like a puppet with his strings cut. And the odd looking Fire Nation soldier was just gone, lost in the dwindling chaos of battle all around them.
The next thing Zuko knew, the entire world was shaking. No, that wasn't right, only he was shaking. Why was he shaking?
"-ko... Zuko!" urged Katara as she shook the Fire Prince by the shoulder. "You're doing it again. You have that far away look in your eye and you were just standing there, dazed. What's going on?"
Zuko rubbed his eyes as his senses returned to him. Looking out at the area in front of the Lower Ring outer wall, all the Fire Prince saw was an empty and open field. There was no battle there, on-going or otherwise. 'But it had been so real...' thought Zuko to himself. Like he had been recalling a lost memory. Not his memory exactly. More like something that someone had shown him once before.
But as quickly as the vision had come, it had passed. And all Zuko was left with was the fleeting memory. And it was jarring to him. He had never been to Ba Sing Se before. So why was he imagining what must have befallen his Cousin years ago during the end of the six hundred day great siege?
Glancing over at Katara, he finally took notice of the concern expression on her face. Shaking his head, Zuko pushed the haunting memory to the side. Better to think about it later. He needed to stay focused on the present, and more importantly, how to get into the city.
"I might be a little more tired than I realized," Zuko passed off as an excuse to cover for his delayed response. Pointing back up at the ramparts, he returned his focus to the matter at hand as he instead offered his take on Katara's earlier comment. "Ba Sing Se is a huge city. I doubt the Fire Nation armies have enough troops to cover the entire city yet. Especially if their main attention is likely on disarming and imprisoning the Earth Kingdom soldiers inside the walls."
Zuko looked further down the wall as an idea came to him. "If they're stretched this thin though, then that might be a perfect opportunity for us. We might still be able to move around right now."
"But how do we get in if the main gate is occupied?" asked Jin as she approached her friends.
Zuko and Katara looked at each other as the Water Tribe girl caught onto what the Fire Prince was thinking. The two of them nodded at each other and then looked over at their other friend with a smile.
"What are you getting at?" asked Jin still perplexed.
Katara provided the answer. "Earthbender."
It took another moment before Jin realized that they were talking about her. Her eyes grew wide for a moment as she comprehended. Then, she laughed sheepishly at the obvious answer. "Oh, right."
Making their way stealthily further along the wall, the team eventually came upon a curvature along the fortifications that hid them fully from the Fire Nation soldiers cloistered back by the main gate. Both Zuko and Katara kept watch while Jin faced the wall.
"How much time are you going to need?" asked Zuko.
Jin shook her head. "Seeing as how I've never done this before... I really couldn't say."
The new earthbender settled into the same horse stance that she recalled from the statues back in the Spirit Cave. That was about the extent of her knowledge on how earthbenders should position themselves to bend their element. Reaching out, Jin attempted to feel the earth that made up the outer wall of the Lower Ring.
What she felt was a massive and unmoving wall of earth that stretched on for miles. It was like she was staring down colossal opponent who did not wish to be stirred. Punching out with her hand, nothing happened. Blinking, Jin tried again. And again, the outer wall did not shift.
"It's not working," growled Jin in frustration as she tried a third time.
Katara took a couple of steps closer to inspect Jin's work. "No, it is. Look." The Water Tribe girl pointed to the base of the wall where the earthen barrier appeared more concave than the rest of the wall. "It's kind of working."
Jin appeared a bit glum. "If that's the best I can do, then we'll be out here for hours. I doubt the Fire Nation guards up top will fail to notice us if we take that long."
Zuko kept his eyes on the top of the wall and outward as he maintained his vigilance. "You're trying to move the entire wall, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question, more of an observation. "Don't. I had a difficult time early on in my training too, because I tried to do too much, too fast."
Katara nodded at the Fire Prince's words. "Zuko's a pretty good teacher. You can trust that he knows what he's talking about, Jin. He's helped me with my bending too."
"Then, what do you think I should do?" asked the Earth Kingdom girl.
"You don't need to move mountains. That's probably advanced earthbending." Zuko smirked. "We can save that for lesson two." When he got both Jin and Katara to laugh at his joke, alleviating some of the tension of the moment, he concluded, "We just need an opening big enough for an ostrich horse to walk through. See if you can carve a tunnel like that into the wall."
Looking back at the outer wall of the Lower Ring once more, Jin saw the gargantuan hurdle before her again. But this time, she focused her attention on the section right in front of her. She instead imagined carving out a small tunnel through the mountain.
Taking a firm stomp forward, Jin dropped a column of rock from the base of the wall back into the earth. Another step forward, and another column returned downward. Sweat started to drip from Jin's brow as she continued to work, shoving portion of stone out of the way as she made slow, but steady progress.
Katara and Zuko followed behind as they held the reins of Biscuit and Bree to keep the ostrich horses calm. It took about ten minutes, but Jin eventually managed to get all of them through the wall and into the city proper.
Collapsing to the ground with heavy breaths, Jin groaned in exhaustion. "And I thought working on my Grandparent's ranch was demanding. Is this kind of workout normal for benders?"
Extending a hand to help Jin back up, Zuko smirked. "Is it normal for the average earthbending citizen of Ba Sing Se to tunnel through the great wall? If that was the case, then the Fire Nation would have lost this war a long time ago. That was amazing Jin, truly. I was going to suggest taking a break if you needed it, but you seemed to find you rhythm and I didn't want to interrupt you."
"I could have had a break?!" whined Jin playfully as she stood back up.
"Here, you should at least have some water," offered Katara.
The Earth Kingdom girl reached out for the waterskin before pausing and clarifying, "Wait, that's not your bending water, is it?"
Taking the cap off the waterskin, Katara reassured her friend, "This canteen is full of drinking water. I'm not going to make that mistake... a second time." The Water Tribe blanched at the nauseating memory of mixing up her bending water and drinking water a couple of days ago on the open road.
"Just making sure," stated Jin as she accepted the water. After taking a drink, the Earth Kingdom girl bent back up a small earthen column to cover the tunnel entrance into the wall.
Zuko nodded approvingly. "Good thinking. Probably better that we don't leave the door open."
"So where to now?" asked the waterbender.
The Fire Prince set his gaze into the city and took charge. "For now, follow my lead." He motioned for everyone to step into the shadows of a nearby alleyway. "We'll need to stay out of sight until we get a better idea of the situation here."
Drawing a rudimentary sketch of the city into the dirt with his sword sheath, Zuko suggested, "Let's start by making our way to the Middle Ring. If Aang, Sokka, and my Uncle are still here, then they'll likely be in the Upper Ring due to Aang's position as the Avatar. The Lower Ring seems to be under Fire Nation control, but maybe the Earth Kingdom is still holding out behind the Middle or Upper Rings."
"Umm..." started Jin, a little unsure of herself for making a personal request of her own. "Before we do, could we look for my parents first? The last letter they sent to my Grandparent's ranch stated that they had set-up our new home not too far from the ferry landing." With a stick, Jin added to Zuko's city outline by showing where the docks were in relation to where they had entered the city.
"They might be able to fill us in on what's happening within the city," supported Katara when she noticed that Zuko seemed to be considering Jin's request instead of immediately prioritizing their own goals.
The Fire Prince studied the dirt drawing for another moment before nodding. "Let's go with Jin's idea." With a sweep of his leg, Zuko erased their crude map and started to lead the team down the alley in the direction that Jin had indicated the docks were in.
The trio stayed within sight of the interior side of the Lower Ring wall as they slunk through the shadows of various alleyways. Remaining near the wall may have increased the time it took to navigate the edge of the city, but it also allowed the three newcomers to the city a reference point to maintain their bearings as they traversed the endless and interwinding streets.
Something else that each of them noticed was the fact that there was barely any hint of the life in the once grand city. The streets themselves were essentially deserted. If not for the fact that various ostrich horses and pack animals still milled about, hitched to the odd post every so often, then there would have been more reason to worry.
Occasionally, Zuko would spot the face of a Ba Sing Se citizen watching them from a window silently. But whenever that would happen, the interloper wouldn't ever call out to the passersby, instead opting to rapidly shut the window and remain hushed inside their shelter.
"Everyone's afraid," noted Katara as she too started to take notice of the Lower Ring citizens shutting themselves away in their houses.
"At least people are alive," commented Jin. "Why do you think the Fire Nation is leaving them alone?"
"Fear," answered Zuko astutely.
"Fear?" echoed Jin.
The Fire Prince nodded. "It's a powerful tool. If the people are too scared to rally against the Fire Nation, then the Fire Nation doesn't need to commit a large force here to contain them. They can focus on other things, like taking over the Middle and Upper Rings."
As Katara was about to say something else, Zuko halted the group and signaled them to stay quiet. The Fire Prince pointed up ahead where a small contingent of about four Fire Nation soldiers were huddled around a checkpoint area, looking bored.
Zuko signaled for the group to back up to the previous street. "We'll go around," he directed as he led the team down a different alleyway. "We don't need to cause a scene." Jin and Katara both nodded as they guided Biscuit and Bree along.
They had to backtrack about three more times to avoid more checkpoints and small patrols, but eventually the three of them neared the ferry landing area. Jin was the first one to notice the boats in the harbor as she pointed them out.
Looking around, Katara stated, "I thought there would be more soldiers in this area, but there aren't."
Zuko gestured towards a large Fire Nation presence at the entrance to the docks themselves. "They don't need to waste manpower monitoring the entire port area if they can just lock down the docks and access to all the boats. If people can't reach the ferries, then they can't leave the city." He took another look across the streets. "Though, that works in our favor. Less patrols means less of a chance we'll be spotted as we move."
There were a couple of scattered Earth Kingdom citizens in this area, some staring from shop windows, others huddled together near a grouping of outside cafe tables, and even more watching from the second story balconies above. Each shared the same dejected and scared expression on their collective faces.
"Let's ask around. Maybe someone knows where my parents are," suggested Jin as she stared towards one of the small clusters of Earth Kingdom civilians.
Zuko and Katara glanced at each other as Katara offered, "I'll go ask around too. Watch the ostrich horses."
The Fire Prince nodded. He was much more comfortable standing guard over Biscuit and Bree than he was talking to some random strangers in the street. Zuko kept a vigilant eye on the waterbender and earthbender as they quickly rushed from group to group asking questions.
A couple of minutes later, the two girls returned and shared what they had learned. Ba Sing Se had fallen to the Fire Nation a couple of days ago, seemingly without much of a fight. There were pockets of resistance by the Earth Kingdom soldiers, but those had been quickly and brutally dealt with.
As for Jin's parents, one of the women that Jin had talked too happened to work at the same job as Jin's Mother and pointed the team in the direction of Jin's parents' house. "It's up at the top of the road, near the start of the local marketplace," supplied Jin as she started walking to where they needed to go without waiting to see if her friends were following. The Earth Kingdom girl was quite anxious to see if her parents were okay.
There were several tiny hovels at the top of the road and Katara was about to suggest that they start knocking on doors when Jin pointed to a specific hovel. "That's the right one. There, in the window. My Mother likes to put flowers up in the window. She says it makes any house into a home."
Zuko took the reins of both ostrich horses. "You two go on ahead. I'll go hitch Biscuit and Bree over to that watering hole over there with the other ostrich horses and join you two soon."
The Earth Kingdom girl seemed to barely hear the Fire Prince as she was already moving towards her parents' house. Katara nodded at Zuko's suggestion and quickly made to follow her friend as the Fire Prince took care of the travel animals.
The Water Tribe girl just reached her friend when a middle aged woman opened the front door. The apprehensive look in the woman's eyes abruptly changed to one of confusion, then disbelief, and then joviality. "Jin?" the name escaped from the woman's mouth with doubtfulness as she rushed to sweep her Daughter up into a fierce hug. "Jin! It is you! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
Jin's Mother paused the hug and held her Daughter out at arm's reach once more, puzzled. "I thought you were still planning on staying at Camila's ranch for a while yet." Then, looking out onto the street, Jin's Mother hurried the two girls inside and shut the door behind them before checking from the window a second time for Fire Nation patrols.
As soon as Jin entered the house, she was wrapped up into another tight hug by her Father as the man rushed into the entranceway after hearing his wife. "Jin! You're here! How is this possible?"
Returning the hug happily, Jin smiled as she managed to say, "Mom, Dad, I'm home."
Katara gave the relieved family a minute to say their cheerful hellos. Eventually, Jin's Father took a step back and asked, "What happened? How did you get here? In your last letter, it didn't sound like you were ready to meet us here."
Jin shook her head as she grew somber. "Fire Nation," the Earth Kingdom girl explained simply. "They burned the ranch. They burned everything. I don't know if Grandma and Grandpa are okay. Grandma and Grandpa sent us away on ostrich horses. They said that they'd met us again in Ba Sing Se. I traveled here with my friends, Katara and Lee."
Jin's Father cursed. "The Fire Nation attacked the ranch? I knew we shouldn't have left you there! I knew we shouldn't have left any of you there. Are you hurt? I shouldn't have given up so quickly trying to convince Mother to leave with us. I told her that the ranch wasn't safe anymore. I told her the Fire Nation could be coming soon. She should have left there a long time ago, but she refused to budge."
"I'm sure that they are okay, dear," comforted Jin's Mother. "Your Father was a soldier in the Earth King's army for a long time. He'll have kept your Mom safe."
"I want to believe that they're okay. Grandma seemed very confident that everything would turn out okay." The Earth Kingdom girl paused as she realized a question she wanted to ask. "Why didn't you tell me that Grandma was an earthbender? I was so shocked when I found out. When Grandma opened that tunnel for us to escape from with her earthbending, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. She seemed very strong." An optimistic expression crossed Jin's face. "I hope that they got away safely. Grandma said she would find a way to meet us here in Ba Sing Se, but with the city already captured..." Jin trailed off as she noticed her parents looking at her in disbelief. "What?"
"Mom's... not an earthbender," asserted Jin's Father with stark denial. "I think I would have known if my own Mother was an earthbender. Besides, she's too old to fight anyone at her age."
Now if was Jin's turn to be confused. 'Did Grandmother really not tell anyone about her bending ability? Why was she keeping her earthbending a secret even to Dad?' Jin resolved not to do the same. "I saw Grandma earthbend. But that's not all. Something happened to me and my friends on the way here to Ba Sing Se. I don't really get what happened myself, but I'm an earthbender now as well. I can fight too."
Her parents shared a look with one another. Then, Jin's Mother consoled her Daughter. "Honey, you've been through a very difficult experience. You're just trying to make sense of everything. Just because you want to believe that you and your Grandmother had the ability to fight back, doesn't make it so."
Jin's Father added, "People can't just develop bending abilities out of nowhere. Neither you or your Grandmother were born with that kind of power."
"No, really, watch me do this," countered Jin as she took a horse stance.
"Wait, everyone, be quiet!" shushed Katara from the window as she observed a Fire Nation patrol walk by on the street. She waited until she was positive that the patrolmen had departed the area. "Okay, sorry about that. It's clear now."
Jin resumed her bending stance, but her Father brushed her off. "Jin, enough of this foolishness. I get that you're upset that you got separated from your Grandparents, but this is going too far. Luckily your friend noticed the patrol outside before you made a scene. There's Fire Nation everywhere in the city right now and we don't have time to entertain your fantasies. We need to be focusing on how we are going to get out of the city."
"It's not a fantasy!" argued back Jin. "I can fight now. I'm an earthbender, honest!"
"Jin!" barked her Father stubbornly with authority. "I allowed you to stay at my Mother's ranch because you were still upset about leaving our village. Do you think I wanted to leave everyone behind as well? My friends since childhood were there! I lost people too! But you need to stay grounded in reality. My Mother seems to have filled your head with fairy tales about good always triumphing over evil, but this is the real world. It rarely works that way. Just look around! The Fire Nation is everywhere."
"You have always come up with the most wondrous of stories, Jin, ever since you were a child. But right now, we need to focus on keeping everyone safe and away from the attention of the Fire Nation," supplied Jin's Mother.
The Earth Kingdom girl's face fell at the harshness of her parent's words. "I'm not making things up," she muttered. Jin looked so deflated that her own parents weren't willing to believe her at her word. She relaxed her body out of her bending stance.
"It's true, she really is an earthbender," reinforced Katara from the window. "She's helped us out so many times on the way here to Ba Sing Se."
Jin smiled at the encouragement of her friend. However, Jin's Father continued to dismiss them. "It was a miracle that you kids managed to find us in the city. I'm glad that everyone's safe and sound, but we need to focus on getting out of here now. I can't believe the city fell so quickly; however, since it has, we need to leave."
Frowning at how much denial Jin's parents were placing on their story, Katara was about to step up and come to her friend's support when Jin put a hand on the Water Tribe girl's shoulder and shook her head. Katara gave a questioning look at the Earth Kingdom girl, but ultimately decided to drop it. If Jin didn't want to argue with her parents, then Katara would begrudgingly follow her friend's lead. Instead, the waterbender shelved her frustrations for the moment and decided to ask about the city in order to change the topic. "What happened here? How did the Fire Nation take Ba Sing Se?"
"No one really knows," answered Jin's Father. "The regular Earth Kingdom soldiers responsible for protecting the Lower Ring wall were replaced by these other Earth Kingdom soldiers wearing long dark robes. These new soldiers were weird. Didn't talk much, kept to themselves, and pushed people around with their authority. Then, the next thing we knew, large chunks of the outer wall were coming down and the entire Fire Nation army was marching in without a fight. The same, weird Earth Kingdom soldiers instructed folks to remain in their homes and that curfews were now being enforced. Anyone who talked back was immediately detained by these crazy earth handcuffs and dragged away."
"It was almost as if the entire city was just surrendered to the Fire Nation," added Jin's Mother. "Or at least the Lower Ring was. The Fire Nation army left soldiers to patrol the area, but most of them continued onward further up into the city."
Then, the middle-aged woman turned to her Daughter. "But there might still be a way out. There's been whispers of a movement to get people out of the city. Your Father heard about it earlier this morning. They say anyone who wants to leave the city just needs to get to a certain warehouse over on the southeast side of the city near the Lower Ring wall. There's Earth Kingdom soldiers there that have been helping people to get through the wall each night for the last few nights. Your Father and I were planning on going there tonight to escape with them. Come with us, all of you. This city isn't safe anymore."
'We're running again?' distressed Jin inwardly as she listened to her parents.
"We have some more friends that we need to find first," countered Katara as she kept an eye on the street through the small window. As she was talking, the Water Tribe girl slowly realized that Zuko hadn't knocked on the door yet.
"Then, gather them quickly and meet us back here. We're leaving for the southeast part of the city once the sun sets. Otherwise, met us there, at the abandoned warehouse," suggested Jin's mother.
Katara started to make for the front door as Jin moved to follow. "Where do you think you're going Jin?" demanded Jin's Father. "Stay here with us. We're not going to lose you now that we're all finally back together again."
Jin turned around to face her parents, anger building in her voice. "I'm going to make sure that my friends are safe. I'm not leaving without them this time. Not again." Her emerald green eyes burned with resolve as she dared her parents to argue with her.
Her Father looked up to the task, but her Mother looped her arm around her husband's arm and spoke. "Just make sure that you make it to the warehouse by this evening. We won't leave without you."
Without a further word, Jin spun on her heels and stomped past Katara as she left the house in a huff. The Water Tribe girl quickly followed.
"That... did not go like I had imagined it would," commented Katara as the two girls walked over to where Biscuit and Bree was eating out of feed bags next to a watering hole.
"Me either," muttered Jin, her anger still just barely contained under the surface. "Let's just find your friends. I don't really want to talk about my parents right now. I just can't believe how eager they are to run away again." As she spoke, the Earth Kingdom girl slowly came to the same realization that Katara had just before they left the house. "Wait, where's Zuko?"
Katara frowned as she examined Biscuit's and Bree's saddlebags. "His Dao broadswords and lasso are missing. That jerk! He went to go scouting without us!"
The Earth Kingdom girl looked towards the Middle Ring in the distance. "You don't think he went towards the center of the city by himself? Do you?"
Katara took an additional waterskin from Biscuit's saddlebags and secured the water container to her belt loop. "I think that's exactly what he did."
"So what do we do? Go after him?" asked Jin as she checked on Bree real fast.
Katara stared at the far off Middle Ring wall for a minute. The Water Tribe girl couldn't deny the fact that she really wanted to give chase and give Zuko a piece of her mind for essentially ditching them at Jin's parents' house.
Katara didn't doubt that Zuko probably assumed that they would be relatively safe at Jin's parents' house. He probably assumed that he could move faster and stealthier by himself and intended to return after getting a better grasp of the situation in Ba Sing Se.
The problem was that he made those assumptions and did all that without telling anyone. They were supposed to be a team. And having someone go off on their own without letting the rest of the team know wasn't very teamwork-focused.
The Water Tribe girl sighed. As much as she wanted to go after Zuko, and she really wanted to find him and shout at him for being foolish again, Katara wasn't sure that she would be able to find him anytime soon in this large of a city. Zuko knew where Jin's parent's house was and this could be their rally point. He would meet them back here eventually. The waterbender could only hope that would be before the sun set.
Shaking her head, Katara answered her friend. "No, we'll meet up with Zuko later. I'm more curious about this abandoned warehouse. What do you say we go give it a look?"
"One farmer, two merchants, and Ketchop's patrol," rattled off a Fire Nation soldier as he stared lazily down the street away from the checkpoint he was manning. "That's it. That's all we've seen all day long."
The other Fire Nation soldier sighed. This was the fifth time today that his partner complained about their current posting. "What did you expect Solt? We've got most of the Earth Kingdom citizens too scared to even leave their hovels."
The Fire Nation soldier known as Solt let out a weary groan. "I know, Peppor. But this is just too boring. I wanted to fight some earthbenders. I'm not going to earn any honors or glory standing around staring at an empty street all day."
Despite his partner's need for action, guard duty suited Peppor just fine. Less fighting meant more of a chance that he was going to finish his mandatory military service time and get to go back home. He wasn't really in this for the honor or the glory. Soldiering was just something that he had to get through before he could open up his own shop back in the Fire Nation.
Another couple of monotonous minutes of quiet sentinel duty passed by without issue. Shift change would happen around sunset and then this long day of nothing would finally end. Now if only...
"Hey Peppor, if animals could talk, which animal would be the rudest?" randomly asked Solt.
That. If only he didn't have to be partnered up with a moron. Peppor fought against the urge to facepalm.
"I'll go first," offered Solt when his partner didn't answer his small talk question. "I've always thought that the tiger monkey was a pretty snooty animal. You ever seen one? My Brother and I came across a couple of them back when we were kids. Thing's got one of the most conceited looking faces I've ever seen. The tiger monkey, not my Brother." Solt paused for a moment as he thought about it. "Though, now that I think about it, my Brother had a pretty similar face..."
"Eagle hawk," interrupted Peppor. "There, I answered your silly question. Can you be silent now?"
Solt thought for a minute. "Nah, eagle hawks are alright. We use those messenger hawks all the time, you know. And they don't ever give any grief." He laughed at his partner. "You've not very good at this game."
Peppor didn't respond. He hoped that if he was quiet, then Solt would take the hint and stop talking. It worked... sort of.
A minute or two later, Peppor heard the unmistakable sounds of crackers being chewed on. "Are you seriously eating on the job?" the diligent soldier asked in annoyance.
"It's not like anyone's going to care. And you're not going to report me because that would just mean increased scrutiny from our Captain, which you try to avoid," replied Solt casually. He stuffed another cracker ration into his mouth, crumbs spilling out everywhere.
Peppor shuttered at the sight as he attempted to continue his vigilance on the checkpoint proper. 'Just a little bit longer and I don't have to see Solt again until the morning,' he thought.
As the hungry soldier continued to eat, another question came to Solt's mind. "You know about that new food item that's been popping up at the mess tent? The one that's basically just half a bread roll wrapped around a sausage? Does that count as a sandwich? Ketchop claimed it did the other day."
'If I strike Solt with my spear, I wonder if I can blame his injury on a random Earth Kingdom soldier,' Peppor pondered to himself.
"Personally, I don't think it qualifies as a sandwich," stated Solt as he answered his own question. "I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I am somewhat of a sandwich aficionado myself. Slice of bread, your choice of meat, some vegetables, maybe a sauce if your feeling spicy, and top it all off with another slice of bread; that's what makes a sandwich. There's rules to this sort of thing. Wrapping a sausage in a bread roll? That's just being lazy. Those mess tent cooks think we soldiers won't notice, but we do!"
As Peppor continued to speculate about how he could inflict bodily harm onto his fellow guardsman and get away with it, a rope ring dropped down from a nearby roof and wrapped around Solt's body. Before Peppor could get the talkative soldier's attention, the rope ring was pulled taut and Solt was hoisted high into the air as a shadow landed between the two guards.
Peppor lashed out wildly with his spear in an attempt to defend himself, but the shadow circled around behind him and swept the guard's legs out from underneath him. The dutiful soldier crashed heavily onto the ground.
Solt had been shouting in surprise for a moment or two, but the man's cries had fallen silent. An odd thing for Solt. The half-wit didn't know how to stop talking.
Getting back up as quickly as he could, Peppor scanned the area for the threat. But he didn't see what had hit them. Glancing over at his partner, Peppor witnessed an unconscious Solt hanging horizontally from a tall shop sign post, the man's arms pinned to his side from the coil of rope that was wrapped around his waist. Solt's limp body was slowly spinning in the breeze. If not for the fact that Peppor heard a painful groan escape from Solt's mouth, then he might have even figured that an even worst fate had befallen his partner.
There was a knocking sound behind him as Peppor spun around to strike out with his spear. A brown and white furred Earth Kingdom alley cat jumped backwards at the sudden movements of the Fire Nation soldier and hissed at the man from atop the barrel the cat was sitting on.
Peppor stared at the cat in bewilderment for a second, until he felt the cold touch of sharpened steel press firmly against his neck as someone stood directly behind him. "Try something brave, and it will be the last thing you ever do," came the stern order from behind the thoroughly freaked out soldier.
Gulping in nervousness, Peppor somehow managed to whisper out a brief, "Nothing brave. Got it."
"Drop the spear. And don't turn around," came the predictable next commands. The sound of the metal shaft of a spear collapsing to the dirt ground echoed across the checkpoint.
Peppor raised both his arms slowly to show that he was unarmed now and to signal that he had no intention of going against the owner of the voice who was holding a sword to his throat.
It was the next question that confused Peppor. "What happened to the Avatar?"
"The Avatar?" parroted Peppor. The steel pressed tighter against the man's neck. "Yeah, ok, whatever you want. The Avatar... our Captain told us that the Avatar fled Ba Sing Se. Fire Princess Azula seriously wounded him, but his friends managed to escape with the Avatar. We have standing orders to capture him on sight."
The sword against Peppor's throat eased off a bit, but was not fully removed. "What did these friends of the Avatar look like?"
When Peppor didn't answer immediately, the sword pressure returned. "I was trying to recall!" clarified Peppor urgently. "There was a male Water Tribe teenager and an Earth Kingdom kid, a girl, I think. Escaped on some flying creature."
The voice behind the nervous guard seemed to be waiting for more. "That's it? No one else?"
"That's all we were told!" protested Peppor.
A couple of tense moments passed before the gruff voice asked another question. "The Fire Princess, where is she? Where is Azula?"
Finding some of his resolve, Peppor retorted, "I'm not telling you that. The Avatar's one thing. But I'm not going to betray my Fire Lord or his Daughter. I'm still a proud soldier of the Fire Nation."
When there was no response, Peppor figured that he had just signed his own death warrant. So much for that shop he wanted to open back in the Fire Nation capital. And to think, there had been just a little bit of time left on his shift for the day.
Peppor felt the weight of the sword on his neck release as the blade's edge was removed carefully. A moment passed, and then another. Peppor raised his right hand slowly to check his neck. A slight trickle of blood, but his head was still attached.
Finding another burst of courage, Peppor slowly turned around to face the threat that had attacked their checkpoint. The last thing that Peppor saw, before a brutal uppercut collided with the underside of his jaw, was the grinning smirk of a blue-faced demon.
"That's got to be the right warehouse," indicated Katara as the two benders spied on the building from the far alleyway. "There's no other buildings nearby that look like they could conceal a bunch of people. That, and that's the only building next to the Lower Ring wall in the area."
Jin scanned up and down the streets again. "There haven't been any Fire Nation patrols in a while either. And the last checkpoint we passed was several street blocks away. It looks like those whispers my parents heard about were true. It doesn't look like the Fire Nation is monitoring this place."
The Water Tribe girl started moving closer to the warehouse. "I still want to take a closer look." Jin quickly followed her friend.
They approached from a side entrance that had been boarded up with some wooden planks. Examining the barrier, the waterbender noted with surprise, "It's not actually boarded up. These beams are just hammered into the door, not the building itself." Then, to prove her point, Katara easily opened the side door with a turn of the handle as the entrance swung ajar without effort, the extra wooden plank lengths jutting outward and clearly not hammered against the building wall.
"It's an illusion. Someone just wants people to think this place is abandoned. It looks like the Earth Kingdom soldiers thought ahead into order to fool the Fire Nation," commented Jin as the two of them walked inside.
The interior of the empty warehouse was actually even bigger than it had appeared on the outside. Some of the building seemed to extend a little ways into the Lower Ring wall itself. There wasn't really anything of note in the middle of the building. Just a large, open and empty space. A couple of crates and barrels along the walls, but that was about it.
"Not much in here," observed Jin as they walked around a little.
"Yeah," agreed Katara. She walked along the back wall of the warehouse. "But what I'm not seeing is an exit or a tunnel out of Ba Sing Se through the Lower Ring wall."
"They're probably doing what we did to enter. They're probably earthbending through the wall to get everyone out and blocking the entrance again afterwards," assessed the Earth Kingdom girl as she approached the back wall of the warehouse and placed her hand on the vertical surface.
Katara watched her friend concentrate for a couple of minutes before walking to a different portion of the wall and repeating the effort. "Did you find the tunnel?"
Jin shook her head. "I don't think so. It feels like one solid wall to me. But I could easily be missing something. I am just barely learning how to sense the earth around me after all. Grandma could probably figure this out immediately."
The Water Tribe girl considered that for a moment or two. "Maybe. Still, it's kind of strange that there's no Earth Kingdom soldiers guarding this place, right?"
"Maybe they didn't want to call attention to this warehouse by being here?" suggested Jin. "If Fire Nation soldiers noticed people milling around this warehouse during the day, then they might check it out and discover what's going on."
The Earth Kingdom girl walked around a little bit more. "Not to mention, we might even have the wrong warehouse. Sure, this building might be the only one attached to the Lower Ring in this area, but we could be in the wrong area. We might not have traveled southeast enough along the wall."
"That's also true," agreed Katara after a minute. Detective work was new to her after all. The waterbender noticed the sun starting to get low from the upper warehouse windows. "We should get back. It's almost time for your parents to leave and Zuko should be back soon."
"And if he isn't?" asked Jin as the two of them made for the warehouse exit.
"Then, he better have a real good reason for being late," commented Katara with a hint of aggravation on her face.
Zuko sneezed sharply just seconds after taking off his Blue Spirit mask. 'That was weird,' he thought to himself. 'It didn't seem like it was that dusty out here.' Sliding his mask back into the interior of his tunic, the firebender reflected on the information that he had learned as he leaned against a wooden barrel on top of the rooftop he was on.
He had 'visited' a number of small checkpoints on the way towards the Middle Ring and had 'chatted' with the guards stationed at each one. Most of the soldiers only had bits and pieces of what was going on. Typical, for the amount of actual information that reaches down to the rank and file members of the Fire Nation Army. But it was enough.
Aang was not here in Ba Sing Se anymore. Neither was Katara's Brother. And apparently they had picked up another traveling companion since Zuko had last seen the two of them. None of the soldiers he had interrogated... umm... spoke with, none of them seemed to know about the status of his Uncle.
Zuko wasn't sure what to make of that. Either his Uncle had decided not to help the Avatar. Unlikely, given what Zuko was slowly realizing about how his Uncle had always been preaching about balance and restoring hope to the world. Or the other possibility was that Azula had put a gag order on what had actually happened to their Uncle and the role he played in Aang's escape. That made a lot more sense.
The Fire Prince figured it was very likely that if the Avatar managed to escape Azula after suffering a heavy wound, then his Uncle would have played a major part in that escape, likely being captured in Aang's place. Meaning that Azula was likely holding their Uncle deep within some Earth Kingdom jail cell, probably in the Upper Ring.
She wouldn't kill Uncle outright. The Dragon of the West was too valuable of a prisoner. That, and Father would definitely want Iroh back in the Fire Nation.
Zuko frowned. If that was the case, then he didn't have much time to free his Uncle from wherever the man was locked up within the Upper Ring. And that was if his Uncle hadn't already been transferred to the Fire Nation. The grimace on Zuko's face widened. He just didn't have enough information to make an actual move. Or any way to reach the Upper Ring just yet.
He had scoped out two different gates to the Middle Ring earlier when he was masquerading around as the Blue Spirit. Both of those gate entrances had a much higher level of security than the Lower Ring did. Several komodo rhinos and their riders patrolled the lengths of the walls between the gate entrances as well. Which would complicate matters if they tried to use the same earthbending tunnel strategy that they had used on the Lower Ring wall.
No, they would need to think of some other way to get pass the Fire Nation soldiers this time. As Zuko mulled over a couple of possible strategies, his thoughts kept refocusing on the amount of loyalty that the Fire Nation soldiers he faced had for his Father and his Sister.
None of them gave up where his Sister actually was in Ba Sing Se, or even if she was still in the city in the first place. Maybe they didn't actually know, but each one of them was willing to die to protect their leaders. Zuko grew a little angry at that.
Neither Azula or Ozai were worthy of such feverish loyalty. But this was just a glimpse of the kind of unquestioning commitment that he would inevitably have to break. Zuko just didn't know how he was going to do that just yet.
It was getting late. The Fire Prince noticed the sun getting low in the distance. He needed to get back and regroup with the others. Jin had probably finished reconnecting with her parents by now, and Katara was very likely wondering where he was.
As Zuko walked towards the ladder leading down from the rooftop, he spied a sign that spanned the length of the main street to the west. "Craftsman's Alley," he read out loud as the name of the street flickered in his memory. "Than and Ying."
Repelling down the building back to ground level, Zuko stealthily weaved his way down Craftsman's Alley. Taking a page out of Jin's book from earlier, he started knocking on the doors of the various locked businesses and asking around for information. Most of the merchants refused to come to the door, but eventually, the Fire Prince found someone willing to talk to him from behind the doorframe and managed to point him further down the street towards a tailor shop.
Reaching the clothing store, Zuko tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. Cautiously, he walked into the empty shop. "Excuse me, I'm looking for some friends of mine," Zuko called out.
There were hushed voices in the back room that ceased talking immediately. Straining his ears, the firebender thought that he made out someone scolding another person for not ensuring the front door was locked after they arrived.
Hoping to present himself as a non-threat, Zuko took another measured step inside as he continued to call out, "Than? Ying? It's me. Lee, remember me? Are you all back there?"
At his announcement, the small wooden door to the back room cracked open and Than peeked his head outside. Relief washed over the man's face when he saw the recognizable scarred-face teenager. "Lee? You made it!" Than cried out happily as he motioned for the rest of his family to come out from the back room. "It's been almost two weeks. We feared the worst happened to you all."
"It's been a crazy... wait, do you just say two weeks?" returned Zuko, more than a little stunned as he absorbed what Than had just said. Inwardly, he asked himself, 'It didn't feel like we were in the Spirit World for that long of a time.'
Ying emerged from the back room carrying Hope as she made her way over to Zuko and gave him a quick one armed hug. "I'm so glad that you're safe. But wait, where's Katara and Jin?"
"They're at Jin's parents' house," answered the Fire Prince. "They're alright too. But while Jin was catching up with her parents, I decided to check out the situation in the city."
"How did you get around all the Fire Nation patrols?" asked Faye earnestly.
"I have some experience in sneaking pass soldiers," answered Zuko simply.
"Fat lot of good that will do you now," came another voice from the back room as a well dressed man walked out. "You're trapped in here with the rest of us now. Fire Nation controls all the ways into and out of the city."
"This is Yao," introduced Than. "He's one of my old friends that got us set up in Ba Sing Se after we arrived." Than rubbed the back of his head. "He's been a little... out of sorts since the fall of the city. Yao... he lost a lot of people years ago before he arrived here as a refugee too. And now it's like history is repeating itself."
"I warned you that it was only a matter of time. The Earth Kingdom's been losing ground for decades. Now, we just lost our greatest city, our King, and the Avatar. We're done. It's over," expressed Yao with a defeated tone.
"The Avatar's not gone," retorted Zuko. "The Fire Nation didn't capture him. He got away."
Yao waved his hand dismissively. "Gone, fled, they're the same thing. The Avatar couldn't stop Ba Sing Se from falling. And our own forces, the secret police, they've joined up with the Fire Nation! Our own defenders! Sworn to protect us, now fight for the Fire Nation Princess! Can you believe that?!" Yao turned to Than. "And you fault me for being upset?!"
Than put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I just told you that we can't lose hope. We'll find a way to get through this. We have too."
Yao brushed the supporting hand off of his shoulder. "Since when were you so optimistic?"
"I have to be. For my Daughter," answered Than.
The tailor snorted indifferently.
Zuko turned towards Ying. "What do you all plan to do now?"
Ying held Hope tightly in her arms. "We thought that Ba Sing Se would be a safe place to raise our Daughter. But now..."
Than stepped closer to his wife. "If Ba Sing Se isn't safe anymore, then we'll go somewhere else. There has to be a way out of this city."
"There is," declared Zuko. "My friends and I got into the city after it was captured. We might be able to leave a similar way. But we'll need to get you all out before the Fire Nation finishes closing its hold on the city," replied Zuko. "Which means we probably don't have long. Reinforcements will likely be arriving soon. The Fire Nation knows it needs a larger force to hold Ba Sing Se."
"What about you? You said that Jin found her family again. But did you and Katara find who you two were looking for as well?" pressed Ying.
The Fire Prince shook his head. "Not yet. The friends we're looking for are probably in the inner rings, if they're still in the city at all. But we'll help you all get out first. My Uncle would probably scold me if I didn't do that."
Zuko took a step closer to Hope as he extended his hand and the little baby girl grabbed onto his finger, shaking it while cooing happily. Zuko smiled slightly. "Besides, what kind of Spirit Parent would I be if I didn't make sure that Hope was safe?"
Yao made himself known again as he laughed spitefully. "Neither decision is going to end well for you, kid. There's no way out of the city. And trying to get to the other rings? Peasants like us could never hope to get to the Middle Ring, much less the Upper Ring, under normal circumstances. And yet, you want to travel there now that the Fire Princess occupies the Earth Kingdom Throne? Face facts, boy. Your friends are dead. All that's left is suffering and despair. For all of us."
Ignoring the doomsayer, Zuko turned to Than. "Come back with me to Jin's parents' house. We'll figure something out there."
Than looked at Ying and his Daughter in her hands. Then, he looked at Faye as both women nodded in agreement. "Give us a minute to grab our bags. We've had them ready to go since yesterday."
"You're all crazy," rejected Yao. "Even if you do somehow miraculously manage to escape the city, there's nowhere left to go. Ba Sing Se was the last bastion. And now it's gone." The clothes maker walked back behind the counter of his tailor shop and fumbled around for a minute until he found a half drunken bottle of alcohol. "Flee if you can, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands."
Ying hugged Hope tightly against her chest, fighting back a somber expression on her face as the group left the tailor shop.
Zuko escorted Than's family back through the city to Jin's parents' house, arriving a couple of minutes before Katara and Jin did. The Fire Prince looked over at the returning Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom girls in surprise. "Where did you two go? I thought that you were going to stay here, catching up with Jin's parents."
Katara walked right up to Zuko and dug her finger into his chest heatedly, her other hand on her waist as she leaned forward slightly. "Where did we go? I think you meant to say, 'Hey there Katara, I'm sorry for wandering off on my own again in a dangerous place even though last time I did that I managed to get myself into a heap of trouble. Sorry for making you worry. I'll never do it again.'"
The Water Tribe girl poked the firebender in the chest a couple more times to get her point across. "We're a team now. You don't have to do everything alone anymore. We can rely on us. Just like we rely on you."
The Fire Prince was taken back by the amount of concern on the waterbender's face. He looked around at Jin's snickering face as well as the sympathetic expression on Than's face and the amused ones on Ying's and Faye's faces.
"I warned you," smirked Ying. "Don't be the impulsive one."
Deciding the swiftest way to mend this situation was to apologize, Zuko took Katara's finger-poking hand into both of his own hands. "You're right. I shouldn't have left like that without saying anything. I'm not used to working with a team. It's... different, knowing I have others who I can trust with things."
A bright shade of red rushed to Katara's face as she seemed to suddenly realize that everyone was watching the two of them and Zuko was holding her hand very sincerely. And the smug, almost cat-like, grin on Jin's face wasn't helping matters either.
Katara pulled her hand back as she muttered, "Well, as long as you understand. That's all that matters."
Faye leaned over to her Sister-in-Law. "Oh, he's good," the older woman whispered amusedly. "He turned that whole situation around with just a single apology."
Ying glanced over at her husband. "Now if only Than could learn a thing or two from Lee," she sighed as her Sister-in-Law laughed and Than coughed slightly at being drawn into the conversation.
Jin's parents emerged from their house as they noticed the newcomers. "Jin, who are all these people?" asked her Father.
"This is Lee," introduced Jin as she gestured towards the Fire Prince. "And it appears he found some other friends of ours that we made on the road here to Ba Sing Se. This is Than, his wife Ying, and their newborn Daughter Hope. And lastly, this is Faye, Than's Sister."
Gesturing back towards her parents, Jin reversed the introductions. "And I don't believe I formally introduced them yet, but everyone, these are my parents, Dorcas and Natalie."
Dorcas stepped forward. "Is everyone planning on leaving with us? We need to go now."
"Leaving?" echoed Zuko in surprise. "You have a way out of here already?"
"There's talk amongst the Earth Kingdom citizens of a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers that can get people out at night from an abandoned warehouse on the southeast side of town," explained Katara. "Jin and I checked it out earlier. It looked like it could be true, but we're not a hundred percent sure."
"You went there by yourselves?" asked Zuko incredulously.
"You wandered around who knows where, doing who knows what all afternoon," retorted Katara as she regained her composure. "You don't really get to be upset."
Zuko was about to point out that he knew how to sneak around without getting caught because he had the training to do so. Fortunately for him, Than stepped forward first. "That's really fortuitous then. We were trying to figure out how to leave the city. We'll definitely join you all."
Dorcas nodded as he began to lead the way. Everyone else started to follow as Than placed his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "No need to get all worked up. You're safe. Katara and Jin are safe. And everyone else is safe too. Sounds like both of you messed up, wandering around on your own today, but just be satisfied that everything worked out and don't make the same mistake twice."
With that, Than moved to rejoin his family. Zuko watched everyone depart as he thought about what Than had said for a moment. The older man probably had just saved him from another argument. Taking Biscuit's reins in his hands as he walked alongside the ostrich horse, the Fire Prince quickened his pace to catch up.
A short while later, the group reached the same abandoned warehouse that Katara and Jin had checked out earlier that day.
"There's a lot more people here than I would have thought," stated Zuko as he observed several smaller gatherings of Earth Kingdom citizens converging on their shared destination.
"A lot of people are pretty desperate to leave the city," concluded Jin.
"That may be, but a big group like this means a big target. If this many people get spotted, then things are going to get messy. I don't know what these Earth Kingdom Resistance fighters are thinking, but they should know better than to gather this many people together all at once," assessed Zuko.
"This has been going on for a couple nights now," noted Dorcas. "There were probably less people on the first couple of nights, but now the word has spread further, which means more people. It was a shame that I didn't hear about this until a couple of days after it began."
"But if you had, then we would have missed Jin's return," pointed out Natalie.
Dorcas looked a little troubled by his words. "Of course. Maybe everything worked out for the best. Now we get to leave with our Daughter as well."
Zuko looked over the uneasy glances from Than's family. "Let's head inside, but stick close to me. We're not going to get too far from an exit in case we need to move fast."
There were already a substantial amount of Earth Kingdom citizens within the warehouse in addition to all the groups that were still making their way in gradually. Zuko's team moved to be near a side door at the backside of the warehouse closest to where the building met the wall of the Lower Ring.
A couple of minutes passed as Zuko and Katara continued to observe their surroundings. "Shouldn't we be traveling out through the wall by now? More people just keep entering, but no one is directing the exit," stated Zuko.
The Water Tribe girl frowned. "Jin and I didn't find any Earth Kingdom soldiers here earlier today either. I thought that was weird too."
Another moment passed. "I don't like this," declared Zuko. "This doesn't feel right."
Before Zuko could start to get everyone to move to the exit, Katara pulled on his arm and pointed towards the other end of the warehouse. "Wait, is that... is that Jet?"
At her question, both Zuko's and Jin's heads spun to look at where the waterbender was pointing. Standing on top of a wooden crate, directing more people into the warehouse, stood a familiar looking roguish teenager with a grass reed in his mouth and his signature hooked blades at his side.
Zuko watched as Smellerbee, with Longshot at her side, walked up to Jet and whispered something to him. "They're part of whatever's going on here?!" the Fire Prince cursed lowly. "What are they even doing here? I thought they were arrested and sent to jail." Zuko shook his head in frustration. "We need to get out of here. This whole thing reeks of being a trap."
Before anyone could act or question the Fire Prince, every door to the warehouse shut loudly as a hushed silence washed over the assembled crowd of people in the building. Dai Li agents spilled into the warehouse, repelling down from the ceiling rafters as the secret police earthbenders lined the walls.
"Everyone in this building is guilty of attempting to cause unrest and disorder to the city of Ba Sing Se," announced Jet in a loud, detached sounding voice that was not his own. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Here, you are safe. Here, we are allies with the Fire Nation."
"Is Jet... supporting the Fire Nation?" asked Katara dumbfounded. After all the hatred and distrust that the rogue had expressed toward the Fire Nation, Katara couldn't make sense about what the rebel was doing.
Some civilians in the crowd started to protest loudly as they began to refute Jet's proclamation. In response, the Dai Li tightened their noose. Earthen cuffs quickly stopped the more unruly of the protesters. Panic set in rapidly as a metaphorical dam broke and people started to run in every which direction despite the doors being shut and all exits denied to them.
It appeared there were some earthbenders amongst the crowd of Earth Kingdom citizens as several chunks of earth were thrown at the Dai Li agents in a miserable attempt to fight back. The more experienced Dai Li agents broke apart the sloppy attacks with ease as they trapped more and more people with earthen cuffs and barrier walls.
At the chaos spread, Zuko drew his swords and turned to Jin. "Can you make us an exit through that back wall?"
The Earth Kingdom girl looked at the thick earthen wall of the Lower Ring and nodded hesitantly. "It will take a couple of minutes." When they had traveled into the city from the Lower Ring earlier today, it had taken Jin awhile to carve a way through. She was still learning to move the earth and this level of bending wasn't simple.
"Get started, Katara and I will hold them off." The Fire Prince looked at the Water Tribe girl as she removed the caps from both of the waterskins on her belt loop and nodded back at him. Together, they moved to the front of the group.
Jin faced the back wall and settled into a horse stance. "Jin! What are you doing? Quit wasting time and follow me. We need to get out of here!" stressed Dorcas as he moved to grab his Daughter by her arm. A rock column jutted out of the ground to block him from reaching her. "What?"
"I told you. I can fight now too," declared Jin as she furrowed her brow in concentration and started to tunnel through the earthen back wall. Blocks of concrete flowed back into the ground as Jin focused intensely on creating a tunnel through the wall while keeping the top of that tunnel stabilized so that it didn't cave in.
"Jin... you're an earthbender..." muttered her Father in awe as he stared at what his Daughter was gradually accomplishing. His wife was equally stunned.
The Earth Kingdom girl grunted in exertion as she continued to move columns of rock. "I already told you that, Dad! Keep up!"
Zuko crushed several earthen hands that flew at him in an attempt to bind his wrists. He charged at the offending two Dai Li agents to close the distance and force them into a melee where they couldn't throw those restricting bindings around so easily.
Sliding underneath another set of flying cuffs, Zuko struck out with the flat side of his sword to knock the first Dai Li agent off balance, then kicked the unsteady man away. Parrying more earthen hands as he approached the next agent, he hit the man in the face with the hilt of his weapon as the agent realized too late how little distance there was between them.
The Fire Prince took a moment to glance at how Katara was doing. Several Dai Li agents were frozen to the ground, their hands covered in ice at their sides. Looked like the Water Tribe girl was doing just fine. Still, "Katara!" Zuko shouted as he tossed her the waterskin on his own belt loop. Katara caught the canteen deftly as she pulled more water into a whip that slapped across the face of another Dai Li agent that was getting too close to the group.
A whistle of steel singing through the air was the only warning that Zuko received as Jet's hooked blade swung out. Parrying it at the last moment, the two exchanged a couple more swings before interlocking blades. Each of the two boys pushed hard in the ensuing deadlock, both trying to overpower the other.
"Fighting for the Fire Nation now? What was all that talk about wanting to free the Earth Kingdom?" demanded Zuko as he looked at the far-off look in Jet's eyes.
"The Fire Nation is our ally..." muttered Jet faintly in response.
"What did they do to you?" puzzled Zuko in confusion at Jet's reply. Breaking the deadlock with a push, Jet jumped back a step before backflipping over an arrow that flew directly at the Fire Prince's chest.
Eyes growing wide at the unexpected projectile, Zuko crossed his blades to block the arrow only to notice too late the small explosive tied to the arrow shaft that exploded as the arrow tip impacted his swords. The Fire Prince was thrown backwards several feet, mostly stunned rather than hurt. There wasn't enough powder in the small explosive to do much more than that, but it was enough to incapacitate the firebender for a brief moment.
Jet charged at his prone opponent only to be knocked away by a pillar of water that struck him in the ribs. Katara was at Zuko's side in an instant as she helped him to stand back up. "Where's...? Jin! Watch out behind you!" shouted Katara in warning as she found Smellerbee running at the Earth Kingdom girl.
Jin noticed the threat a little late a she scrambled to raise an earthen wall in an attempt to defend herself. Smellerbee was about to strike out with her knives when pillar of rock burst out from the ground, striking the tomboy in the chest and batting the dagger wielder away effortlessly.
"You've got good form. But you're a little slow in a fight," smirked a small girl dressed in a child-sized version of an earthbender's standard armor uniform, complete with the flat bowl shaped helmet.
Behind the little earthbender was the torn metal wall of the warehouse, which looked as though it had been ripped open from the outside. In the wake of the rupture in the wall, a small unit of Earth Kingdom soldiers and fighters flooded into the warehouse with a loud battle cry. They engaged the Dai Li in a pitched fight as they attempted to draw as many refugees over to the back wall of the warehouse as they could.
"Here, let me help you with that," stated the little earthbender as she stomped her foot on the ground with supremacy and slid her heels into a firm horse stance. Then, with a single powerful motion, the remainder of the tunnel in Lower Ring wall blew outwards to create a complete corridor through to the other side. "It's all in the knees," the little girl joked with a smug grin as the refugees started to flood out of the city.
Then, the little earthbender spun around, blocking some earthen hands that flew at her with a series of rock columns and, with a flick of her wrist, threw those same rock columns to knock three Dai Li agents into the metal warehouse wall. Closing her fists, she bent the metal to lock the three agents in place. "Hang around, school's in session."
"School's in session. Ha! Nice one Toph!" shouted a Water Tribe boy as he bashed another Dai Li agent from behind with a whalebone club. "I knew that my humor was rubbing off on you."
"Sokka?" came an unsure voice from behind the Water Tribe boy as he stopped cold. There was no way that he heard that particular voice right now. Did he even dare to hope?
Sokka turned around to come face-to-face with his Sister. "Katara?" the Water Tribe boy muttered in disbelief. He rushed to her side. "Katara!" He wrapped her up into a fierce hug. "How are you here?! I hadn't heard anything about you in months! I thought you were dead!"
An earthen wall popped up around them to block more incoming projectiles. "Not the time Sokka!" stressed Toph as she deflected several additional attacks and pushed their opponents back.
"She's right," stated Zuko as broke up some projectiles of his own with his Dao broadswords. "The wall's open. We need to get out of here. We can talk later."
Sokka wheeled upon the Fire Prince as the Water Tribe boy stood protectively in front of his Sister. "You! What are you doing here?!" His voice was full of rage and anger. "Your Sister already hurt Aang. Are you here to finish the job?"
"He's on our side now Sokka!" defended Katara.
"Lies!" shouted Sokka as he drew his boomerang and held it level at Zuko's chest. "He chased us all the way to the North Pole. He distracted us at the Spirit Oasis. He took Aang into the tundra. He drew us away. He allowed Zhao to kill the Moon Spirit. He's the reason why Yue's gone!" rattled off Sokka as he aired his grievances.
Zuko remained quiet in response as he continued to defend the group alongside Toph, who was getting annoyed that no one in their group was moving towards the exit. With a solid bit of earthbending, she formed a flat earthen platform underneath Sokka's feet and propelled the Water Tribe boy out through the tunnel in the Lower Ring wall. "Escape now! Talk later!" the little earthbender shouted in response to the surprised stuttering protests escaping from the Water Tribe boy's mouth.
Katara turned and, following Jin, Dorcas, Natalie, Than, Ying, Hope, and Faye, rushed through the tunnel to join her Brother outside the wall. Zuko and Toph followed, withdrawing carefully as they continued to deflect incoming projectiles.
Standing at the front of the tunnel entrance now, Zuko quickly observed the warehouse. All the Earth Kingdom soldiers and citizens who were going to get out through the makeshift tunnel by now had already done so. Those that were still in the building had already been subdued and captured by the Dai Li agents within. Looking over his shoulder, he shouted at the little earthbender at his side. "You first! I'll be right behind you."
Toph raised a large earthen wall in front of them. "Don't need any more martyrs. My other friend already has that covered. Let's both go!"
Nodding, Zuko took off down the length of the tunnel alongside the little earthbender. They heard the rock wall behind them crumble as their opponents surged into the tunnel as well.
As they reached the end of the corridor, Zuko spun on his heels and leapt forward to unleash an enormous torrent of flames that covered the entirety of the underpass as it raged towards the Dai Li. The agents scrambled to raise an earthen wall to block the unexpected fire.
Toph gave an impressed whistle, then stated, "Do that again."
Not wasting time arguing, Zuko summoned a similar rush of flames that he launched at the barrier wall the Dai Li had put up. Just before the fire struck the fortifications, Toph earthbent the Dai Li's defenses back into the ground. Numerous pained cries echoed throughout the tunnel as several Dai Li pursuers were scorched by Zuko's attack.
"Rookies," concluded Toph as she shut the earthen tunnel underneath the Lower Ring wall on their end.