Wandering Firebender
Thirty Seven: The Wanted Poster
Elio went to pick up Sri for lunch like they planned. He was happy to have the day off today, so he slept in before coming over to pick her up. He walked to the entrance of the shop just as Sri was coming out. He greeted her with a smile.
"Hey, Sri. Ready for your lunch?" He asked.
"Yeah. Hey, uh, before we go though, can we talk for a sec about...last night?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah. I did wanna apologize. That attitude was unnecessary." He said sincerely.
"Yeah. I was gonna say the same actually. It was just dumb... How'd it go?" She asked.
"It went well. Really well. We don't have to worry about her. If anything, I think we can count her as a friend now." He reported. Sri nodded and managed a smile.
"Well, that's good to hear. Maybe you can introduce me to her one day."
"Yeah? I think you two would get along; you both have similar ideals. Her and her older mother just moved into the Lower Ring. I was thinking we could bring by some extra food for them. What do you think?" He suggested.
"That sounds nice," Sri smiled, patting his arm. "Anyways, same place as always for lunch?"
"I've got no complaints." He answered with a chuckle.
They turned away from the shop and walked towards La. However, before he mounted the ostrich horse, something caught his eye: a piece of paper floating in the wind. Something white was illustrated on the paper. He curiously walked over to it and snatched it out of the air.
"Elio? Everything alright?" She asked.
"Yeah... Sri! Look at this!" Elio exclaimed in shock, gesturing her over. Sri quickly came over to look at the poster. She looked it over and read it aloud.
"'Searching for a flying sky bison. Appa has 6 legs and weighs 10 tons.' What...? 'If you have any news regarding the whereabouts of him, please contact Avatar Aang,' Avatar Aang?! '...at the 96th District, 217th Alley/House in the Upper Ring.'
"The Avatar is here in Ba Sing Se?!" Sri exclaimed.
"It appears so! That's his picture there at the bottom right." Elio pointed it out.
"Is it? It could just be a ruse." Sri pointed out.
"No, I don't think so. I've met Aang, and I've ridden on that sky bison. I know for sure that this is him... His ride has gone missing. That bison must be here in the city if they're looking for him." Elio realized, looking around.
"Wait... You've met the Avatar?! And rode on a sky bison?! And I'm just now finding out about this?!" Sri asked in shock. Elio quickly shushed her.
"I don't exactly bring it up to people! But the real problem is Aang needs help. I should go see them." Elio said, rolling up the poster and putting it into his bag.
"Uh, I think you mean 'we' need to see them." Sri said, pushing his arm playfully.
"You'll help?"
"It's the Avatar! Like I'd pass up on a chance like this!" She said before heading back into the shop, "Mrs. Tani? I need to take the rest of the day off! Something important just came up!" She said to her.
"O-Oh, okay, dear! Hope everything's alright!" She called back. Sri hurried back over to Elio.
"Alright, I'm free! Let's go help the Avatar!" Sri said with an excited grin. Elio chuckled and nodded.
Elio and Sri mounted La, and instead of getting lunch, they rode over to the train station, hoping to catch a train into the Upper Ring. When they arrived, they found a number of people gathered by the steps. Police seemed to be blocking the way up.
These weren't ordinary police though. Instead of police uniforms, they wore long black robes with the Earth Kingdom symbol on them. In fact, they wore the same clothes as the men who escorted away the kid that fought with Mushi's nephew.
"Come on, let us in! We wanna help the Avatar find his lost bison!"
"Yeah, you can't keep us here!" The people argued.
"Under the order of the Dai Li and by the law of Ba Sing Se, no resident is allowed to enter into the Upper Ring without clearance. All of you, disperse from this area immediately." One of the two officers, apparently Dai Li agents, ordered them.
"Great. They sure jumped on that quick." Sri said.
"Yeah. They probably don't want overcrowding in the Upper Ring... We may not have clearance, but I bet I know who might." Elio said, flicking the reins of his ostrich horse...
They rode over to Alger's house. When they arrived, one of his servants let them in. They found him in his backyard practicing his earthbending forms. Elio called out to him, and he turned towards them. Alger wiped the sweat from his brow and chest as he walked over to greet them.
"Elio, Sri! How nice to see you two! What brings you by so suddenly?" Alger asked.
"Have you seen this?" Elio asked, pulling the wanted poster out of his bag and rolling it open for him to see. Alger's eyes scanned it over and he shook his head.
"I'm afraid I haven't... Most curious. I thought that sky bison were extinct." He commented.
"The Avatar is here in Ba Sing Se, and he seems to be missing his pet." Sri said.
"My friends...you are mistaken, I'm afraid. Many false Avatars pass through the Earth Kingdom looking for favors and handouts and fame." Alger dismissed the poster. However, Elio shook his head.
"I've met Aang before, Alger, and I've seen his sky bison myself. This poster checks out. If it's true then the Avatar needs our help." Elio said.
"You really believe this to be authentic, Elio?" Alger asked.
"I'm willing to take the risk." Elio answered with a nod. Alger looked him over for a moment before sighing and nodding.
"Alright. What do you need from me?"
"Clearance into the Upper Ring. That's where the poster says Aang is staying." Elio answered. However, Alger shook his head.
"I'm sorry. I won't be able to do that."
"What?! But you've gotta have influence!" Sri said.
"I do, but not enough for that. Even I wouldn't be able to get into the Upper Ring just like that. I'm sorry." He apologized. Elio sighed.
"It's alright... Just help us look for Appa then, please. Anything we can do to help narrow his search down." He asked.
"Even if we manage to find this sky bison, what would our next move be?" Alger asked.
"I don't know... We'll figure it out if we get there." Elio said.
So the three of them went around the Middle Ring searching for Appa the sky bison. Despite Elio's determination, Sri's optimism, and Alger's knowledge of the city's layout, they did not find Appa. The sun set and they were all exhausted.
They came up empty at the end of the day.
According to Alger, they would need another way into the Upper Ring. Without proper clearance, they had no chance of getting past the Dai Li. Thankfully, an opportunity for Elio to get into the Upper Ring arose, and it just so happened to come the very next day...
"Hey, Elio. I've got a special delivery for ya." Mr. Fo called him over soon after he got into work. Elio tilted his head curiously as he approached his boss.
"Have your ostrich horse and your wagon ready. You have a delivery in the Upper Ring today."
"The Upper Ring?! Really?!" Elio exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah. Some rich guy up there ordered some specialized furniture from a carpentry store in the Middle Ring. You will take the wagon to the carpentry store, pick up the furniture, and deliver it to the man in the Upper Ring." Mr. Fo explained.
"Sounds simple enough." Elio nodded in understanding.
"Yeah. One important thing though...when you enter into the Upper Ring, I need you to go straight to the address of the client. Don't deviate, okay? Security up there is very, very strict. I don't want you getting in trouble." Mr. Fo carefully instructed.
"Oh...alright. Well, you won't have to worry about that." Elio smiled.
So Elio went on his way, taking La and Mr. Fo's wagon into the Middle Ring. He picked up the furniture and a signed pass from the client: a man named Mr. Roho, to get into the Upper Ring. Elio held it nervously between two fingers as he brought it up to the train station.
"Hi there. I, uh, have a pass to get into the Upper Ring. I have a delivery for Mr. Roho." He said to the clerk behind the desk, sliding his pass to him. The clerk looked at it and nodded.
"I'll have the rear train open for you and your cargo, sir. Enjoy your trip." He replied with a pleasant smile, stamping the pass and handing it back to Elio.
"Thank you." He smiled back and nodded, taking the pass and placing it back in his travel bag.
He took the cargo to the rear of the train and waited nervously for the train to pull away from the station. He stared out the window as the train finally left, went through the inner wall, and came out the other side into the Upper Ring.
His eyes widened at the bright, golden glint of this new location.
Elio was surprised to see that the Upper Ring was even more lavish than what he'd expected: the houses he saw were all spaced apart with most of them having walls around the compound for added security. The tile roofs of every house were painted yellow, so they shined like gold in the sun.
The train came to a stop, and Elio exited the train with La and the wagon full of furniture in tow. When he stepped out onto the platform, a female attendant came to greet him with a wide, off-putting smile.
"Hello there. Welcome to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. My name is Joo Dee. How can I help you today?" She asked, keeping her hands folded within her long sleeves. Elio cleared his throat and turned towards her.
"Hi there. My name is Elio. I have a delivery here for a Mr. Roho?"
"Ah, Mr. Roho! I know him. He's a very nice man. May I see your pass, please?" She requested. Elio nodded and handed it to her. She glanced it over and smiled again, "Very good, sir. Go right on ahead, and do be careful with all that heavy furniture."
"Thanks... You have yourself a good day, ma'am." Elio said politely as he went past her, leading La and the wagon down a wide unloading ramp.
"You do the same, Mr. Elio." Joo Dee replied, waving to him as he went down.
Elio mounted La when he reached the bottom of the ramp and followed the street signs towards Mr. Roho's house. Upper class citizens being pulled along in carriages would give him odd looks as he crossed paths with them. As he rode through the relatively empty streets, he took a closer look at the neighborhood.
From the ground level, the houses looked even bigger now. The last time he had seen houses this large and lavish were by his school in the Fire Nation Capitol City. It made him wonder if there were schools here in the Upper Ring, and if they looked anything like his school.
The realization of where he was didn't fully hit him, however, until he passed through an intersection and found the very center of Ba Sing Se sitting to his right: the Earth King's palace majestically atop a hill. It took many, many steps to get to it.
Elio's eyes widened as he tilted his head back slightly to appreciate its magnificence. That's when it really hit him: he was standing in the presence of the most powerful kingdom this side of the war. Only the Fire Lord's palace could compete with this level of power.
And he could say that with certainty because he had seen both palaces for himself...
"Ah, you must be the delivery guy?" One of Mr. Roho's servants said as Elio approached the address given to him. Elio approached first on his ostrich horse before dismounting it and dropping down to the ground.
"Hi there. Are you Mr. Roho?" Elio asked. The man shook his head.
"No sir. My name is Len Lee. I'm simply a servant of Mr. Roho. He sends his apologies; he wishes he could be here in person, but he has an important meeting to attend to within the palace." Len Lee explained. Elio nodded in understanding.
"It's fine, I completely understand. Do you need any help unloading all this?" He asked. Len Lee shook his head.
"Not at all. We have enough men here to take care of unloading it ourselves."
"Great! Then if you don't mind, I'd like to leave my wagon here while your men work. I have another delivery to do, and I'd really like to get through it as soon as possible. I'll be back to pick it up as soon as I finish, okay?" Elio quickly said.
"I...suppose that's alright."
"Great! You're a lifesaver! I'll leave the wagon by the fence for ya and be on my way!" Elio said appreciatively. He parked the wagon by the side of the house before unhitching La from it and riding away. Len Lee sighed.
"Common folk." He rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Haha alright, we bought ourselves a little time. Come on, La, we need to get moving!" Elio flicked La's reins, urging her to run at a faster speed.
Elio rushed down the streets at an urgent pace. He was likely breaking traffic rules and overall being risky by how he was weaving La between carriages, but he was determined to get to the Avatar's house as quickly as he could.
However, as he turned onto the street, his pace slowed and he began to get nervous.
"I hope this isn't a bad idea... I'm sure Avatar Aang and the others are out looking for the bison on their own. I just want to be of help somehow." He expressed his feelings to La.
La had nothing to say in response, but simply chirped as Elio pulled the reins and they stopped in front of the house listed on the wanted poster. Elio continued to vent.
"I don't know. Guess I just wanna make up for last time. When they asked me for help before, I wasn't able to do it; more than that, I was afraid to...but I want to now," Elio said as he dismounted his ostrich horse, petting her and telling her to wait for him.
"I'll be back soon, I don't think this will take long... I don't even know what I'm going to say. 'Hey, it's me, that one guy you saved. I saw your poster and I don't know where your bison is but I can help ya look!'
"That's not really a whole lot, is it? I guess we'll find out..." Elio finally concluded thinking out loud and turned towards the house.
Elio slowly made his way up to the front door one step at a time. The closer he got, the more he could feel butterflies beginning to rise up from his stomach into his chest. He rubbed his hands together and took in a deep breath, clearing his throat before knocking on the door.
"Aang? Uh...Katara? Anybody home? It's Elio!" He called through the door, continuing to knock, "I saw your wanted poster for Appa! I wanna help!" He said. He continued to knock on the door, but there was no answer. He waited a little longer but he heard no movement inside.
They must not be home.
"Ah, well. Worth a shot. I'm still gonna keep looking." Elio decided, unrolling his wanted poster and sliding it halfway under the front door.
Elio went back to La. He rode back to Mr. Roho's house feeling disappointed. He'd spent so much time mentally preparing for things to go one way or the other that he had forgotten the possibility that nothing could happen.
When he returned to Mr. Roho's house to pick up the wagon, he found another unfamiliar man waiting for him. Elio didn't know who the guy was, but based on the clothing he was wearing, he could see that he was probably in some trouble.
The man waiting for him was a Dai Li agent.
"Hello there. Mr. Chinen, is it?" The agent asked him as Elio approached. Elio swallowed nervously but nodded, keeping his composure outwardly.
"Yes, sir, but I just go by Elio. What can I do for you?" He asked politely.
"May I see your pass for the Upper Ring?" He requested.
"Sure." Elio nodded, pulling the pass out of his bag and handing it over.
The Dai Li agent took it and his eyes scanned over it closely. Elio waited nervously for a few very long seconds. Finally, The Dai Li agent handed it back to him.
"It looks like your business here is concluded, isn't it? Mr. Roho here has his delivery?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." Elio answered respectfully.
"Well then, allow me to escort you back to the train station where you will promptly return back to your sector." The agent stated.
"Yes, sir." Elio agreed with a sigh.
Elio expected to get a scolding of some kind on the way back to the train station, but he didn't. The Dai Li agent didn't speak to him the whole way back. He just followed Elio to the train station. He even boarded the train with Elio and rode back to the Middle Ring alongside him.
It wasn't until they exited the train that the Dai Li agent spoke to him again.
"Were you not made aware that when you enter into the Upper Ring, you need to strictly adhere to your business and not deviate?" He asked. Elio swallowed and nodded.
"Forgive me, sir. I was made aware. I just...saw this wanted poster and wanted to help." He explained, even pulling out the wanted poster for Appa. As soon as he saw it, the Dai Li agent rolled his eyes.
"Ah, I see. Those posters have been creating quite the uproar in Ba Sing Se. I understand your want to help, kid. Believe me, we've had plenty of people trying to get into the Upper Ring to 'help the Avatar find his lost bison'.
"Rest assured, kid, those posters are just a hoax. The Avatar is not looking for his bison here in Ba Sing Se." He said. Elio's sinking expression likely conveyed his disappointment.
"Oh... I see. Well, sorry for causing trouble." He said. He wanted to ask whether or not Aang was actually in the city, but more so he just wanted this conversation to safely end as soon as possible.
"You're forgiven. But consider this your one and only warning: if you ever come into the Upper Ring again, do not go idly wandering around. Otherwise, you could face charges. Are we clear?"
"Yes, we are clear." Elio answered, thankful to not be in trouble.
"Good. Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Chinen." The Dai Li agent said, tipping his hat to him and getting back on the train.
"You do the same." Elio responded politely, turning away and going back to the Lower Ring to continue working...
At the end of the day, Elio came home and found Alger had come for a visit. Elio invited him in and the three of them: Elio, Alger, and Sri, all sat down together to have dinner.
"Alger, nice of you to stop by for dinner. How've you been?" Sri asked.
"I've been well, thank you. I saw you today over at that little furniture shop. So that's where you work?" Alger asked her.
"Yep! For a little while now, actually. It's a lot like selling knickknacks and necklaces back home." Sri answered with a smile.
"Haha, how nice. And you, Elio? How was your day?" Alger asked.
"Busy. Very busy. Were you able to do any searching for Appa?" Elio asked. Alger nodded.
"Yes, I did a little asking around, but I haven't heard anything at all. If that creature was here, no one saw it." Alger answered.
"Alright. Well, I was able to pay a visit to the Upper Ring today." Elio brought up slowly. Alger and Sri lifted their heads in surprise.
"Really? How?" Sri asked.
"I had a delivery to handle up there – got a pass and everything."
"Well, that worked out quite well, didn't it? Did the trip prove fruitful?" Alger asked. Elio shrugged and shook his head.
"I'm afraid it didn't. I looked around, but the Upper Ring is very strict. I was barely able to get around with the time I had. I did try to...visit the Avatar at the address listed on the poster, but he wasn't there."
"Aww man!" Sri grumbled.
"That's a shame. I'm sure you would've been able to confirm for yourself the validity of all this had someone been home." Alger sighed.
"Yeah. The Dai Li agent who escorted me back to the train station made it pretty clear that it wasn't real." Elio rolled his eyes. Alger's eyes quickly narrowed on him.
"Did you say the Dai Li?" He asked.
"Yeah... The Dai Li agent who brought me back to the train station. He let me off with a warning for going somewhere I wasn't supposed to." Elio recounted.
"Elio, the Dai Li are very serious. If you were let off with a warning, I would not recommend doing whatever it is you did again." Alger said in a tone so serious it was concerning.
"It's that bad?" Elio asked.
"Elio," Alger adjusted how he was sitting in the chair and leaned forward to speak candidly with him. "The Dai Li are the personal agents of the Earth King himself. They are the ones in charge of keeping things running smoothly here in Ba Sing Se. Even the police defer to them."
"Oh wow. So they're really important." Sri commented.
"Yes, but they also... They meticulously control where people go and what people say, especially as you make your way up the social class ladder. They are the reason why no one ever mentions the war within these walls - remember we had that conversation?"
"Yes, I remember." Elio nodded.
"Just keep your head down, okay? You don't want to attract their attention." Alger warned him.
"Got it... I'll be more careful from now on."
"Yeah. If it's that bad," Sri agreed. "I don't want you getting hurt, Elio. Not after all you went through to get here." She expressed.
"I'll continue to assist you in your search, Elio. I'll report my findings if there's anything to be found. But I strongly suggest you lay low for the time being." Alger recommended again. Elio nodded in understanding.
"I'll do my best." He replied with a faint smile...