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Traitor's Face - Chapter 07

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The Warlords of Kyoshi

From the level of the clouds, Aang looked down at a land named for one of his past lives and said, "I think it looks nice." And it did, aside from the sprawling military complex that sat like tarnish on the warmly-hued eastern coast.

Appa bobbed on the air currents high above Kyoshi Island while Aang, Mai, Sokka, and Momo all leaned over the side of the saddle and checked things out. Aang was pleased to see that there was active sea life in the island's bays, brightly-colored elephant koi that jumped above the waves and splashed back down in rainbow sprays of seawater. Those things must be fun to ride.

In deeper waters, a fleet of old fishing ships were hunting smaller prey, while merchant vessel traffic clustered around the docks that extended from various points on the island. Amidst all the activity, it was almost possible to miss the Fire Nation patrol boats that watched over the proceedings. Aang shifted his gaze back to the island to admire its clean and quiet beaches, paralleled by green, pulsing forests that moved in time with the winds. He couldn't help imagining that the entire physical world wasn't in trouble, that he was just on another trip to see more of life and could spend a week enjoying the beaches with his friends.

On that note, Aang scooted closer to Mai, startling Momo and sending the lemur hopping to the other side of the saddle. "Maybe we can visit one of the beaches before we go. Just an afternoon, and I can teach you how to surf! First we'll do it on a board, and then those giant fish!"

Mai's face didn't move, but her voice took on that tone, the one she used whenever talking about camping or using bushes as bathrooms. "Pass. Beaches are nothing but sun, sand, and ocean, and I don't like any one of those. And I think if I touched a fish that wasn't well-cooked, I'd probably throw up."

Aang decided that Mai just hadn't spent time at the right beaches. They'd have to fix that, but not just this moment. He looked over at Sokka to see the older boy staring down through a telescope with a grim face. "Hey, Sokka, what do you see?"

"Trouble. I've been scoping out the main village around the military base; it's got defensive walls- wooden and simple but fairly high- and there's a decent soldier presence in the town itself. The base has its own metal walls, and a lot better security than the one at the South Pole. This thing is more like a fortress, which actually makes sense if they hold prisoners here, even temporarily."

"We'll need papers to get into town," Mai said. "Anytime the military takes over a settlement like this, they put posts at all the entrances and check all newcomers for transit papers. It lets them track the perpetrators of any dissent or rebellion. Of course, as a natural born citizen of the Fire Nation, I have a passport that allows me to travel anywhere, but I'm thinking that I should probably avoid using my name, considering that everyone at the South Pole saw me rescuing Avatars and throwing in with Tr- Water Tribe rebels."

Sokka put the telescope down, and looked over with a big grin on his face. "So if we don't have transit papers, we need disguises and a good story! The key to selling it is having backstory which naturally supports our appearance. Mai, you and I are the same age, so we'll be twin Fire Nation siblings. (We'll need to raid your wardrobe for costumes.) I'm Wang Fire, a traveling student doing research for a book about the human condition that I'm hoping will win me entrance into a prestigious university despite my lack of status. You're my sister Saaf Fire, accompanying me in order to get away from a betrothal that our father- a retired military man with a bad leg who tries to make up for a lingering sense of failure in his life by controlling ours- has set up for you with one of his drinking buddies. You're perpetrating a correspondence romance with an Earth Kingdom boy you met during our travels, but you're keeping it a secret from me because you hate feeling emotionally vulnerable and you're not sure how serious the relationship is yet. Aang, you're my assistant, Tok-Tok, who we found living alone in a tree on an island in the Crucible Sea. You decided to join us after you helped us foil the plans of a group of evil poachers who- you're both laughing at me."

Aang wanted to deny it, because he didn't want to make Sokka feel bad, but he wasn't so good a liar that he could explain away the high-pitched braying he was doing, so he merely covered his mouth his hands. Mai herself wasn't actually laughing, but she was giving that smirk that always made Aang's heart hammer like a nervous Earthbender.

"Fine, you think you can do better?" Sokka crossed his arms over his chest and sat back against the edge of Appa's saddle. "Then don't blame me when we're all arrested by the first soldier who takes a good look at us."

Mai leaned and grabbed Aang under his chin, pulling him over so that their faces were side-by-side. He felt his cheeks burning up at the closeness, but Mai ignored him and said, "See our skin tones? Aang and I are a lot closer in looks than anyone from the Water Tribe will ever be to me. I'm thinking Aang is my little brother Lee, we're from the Fire Nation, and you're our servant from the colonies. All the backstory in the world isn't going to get us over the village walls, though."

"No, but Airbending can!" Aang offered a hopeful smile and luxuriated in the continued pressure of Mai's hand holding his head up. "I can hop us right over those walls. Appa will have to stay outside town, though, but there's a pretty thick forest out there, so he'll be out of sight and have plenty to eat, right, boy?"

Appa gave an agreeing roar.

Sokka rubbed his chin. "That should work well enough. Of course, getting into the village without being arrested is the easy part. Once we're in, we have to study that fortress up close, then figure out how to get in and find the records that will tell us where Katara is."

Mai finally let go of Aang, to his disappointment, and said, "I can find the records, but that whole 'in' thing is going to be a problem."

Aang stood up, and hopped over to Appa's head to grab the sky bison's reins. "We'll figure something out, I'm sure of it! And the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done. Appa, yip-yip!"

With a tug of the reins, Aang directed Appa into a curving descent that would take them out over the sea again so that they could approach the island again more discreetly. As tough as the situation was, it wasn't anything that couldn't be handled by staying smart and thinking things through.

Aang was sure everything would work out for the best.




Kyoshi Island was sunny, and warm, and gorgeous, and Commander Zhao hated that.

He stepped off his flagship and onto the fortified docks of island's Fire Navy garrison, not even attempting to hide his discontent. Even aside from his purpose here, he didn't have any good feelings for this place. A more prestigious posting than the South Pole, and infinitely more comfortable, a command post on Kyoshi Island had long been one of Zhao's personal goals. Of course, just because he was now chasing the Avatar and looking for a promotion directly to the Homeland didn't mean that he couldn't still resent the situation.

And then there was the navy base's commander. Zhao approached and didn't bow.

The man himself, Yon Rha, didn't seem bothered by Zhao's attitude. He was frowning, of course, but that was because his face naturally fell that way, either by design or many years of ugly expressions. Even his smiles were more like grimaces, but Zhao was spared that sight for now. Yon Rha gave a lazy bow and said, "Welcome to my port, Commander Zhao. It's a pleasure to see you again, but I'm surprised you came up from your little snow fortress. I presume you found an excuse to chase that Avatar the telegraphs are all so excited about?"

"The Avatar is my jurisdiction, and my task force is pursuing some leads that have brought us to the seas here, but until something takes me away, I'm here on other business. Your base issued this response to a query I sent before I left the South Pole." He thrust the paper with the copied message out, hoping to see Yon Rha flinch.

In that, he was disappointed. Yon Rha merely took it and gave it a glance, his frown never changing. "Yes, I stand by this. We are fully stocked in all supplies, and have been so for quite some time. I made no request to Command asking for emergency provisioning."

Zhao pulled another roll of paper from his belt. "Then how do you explain this? Just before the Avatar escaped, I received orders for a supply run to this island, and it has all the proper codes and headers. The ship I prepared for that mission was stolen by a coordinated effort between the Avatar and local Tribals, as if they knew it would be waiting for them with all the provisions they could want for an escape. I sent a message to Admiral Chan, and he confirmed that he received a request from your base for the listed supplies. The admiral has authorized me to investigate, as long as I'm in the area. How do you explain what happened?" Zhao put on his best sneer. "Rebel activity?"

Yon Rha merely raised his eyebrows. "Admitting to being that thoroughly compromised is hardly an excuse. No, there are some troublemakers in the village here, but it's nothing I don't already have a handle on. Either the headers and codes on the message were faked- which would be a considerable embarrassment to Admiral Chan's security- or someone on my staff is operating without authorization. I don't suppose you'd care to stay and investigate for me?"

Zhao blinked with surprise. "You're inviting me to interrogate your people?"

Yon Rha gave one of his trademark ugly smiles, his wide mouth pointing up at the ends like a smear, and started walking back towards the main complex of the base. He waved Zhao to follow. "I remember my old allies, Commander Zhao. Perhaps we didn't part on the best of terms, but I'm well aware that it was your work that identified the Waterbender, and it was her capture that got me my promotion. I'm quite content ruling my little island paradise here, so if you want to seize the glory in this situation, the least I can do is help. Of course, if this leads you to the Avatar, and his capture is your path to returning to the Capital, then having a friend in Command certainly isn't going to hurt me, is it?"

A grin tugged at Zhao's face, and he strode with proud shoulders as he stepped into the Kyoshi Island command center. "No, Commander. Having friends has never hurt anyone."

Destiny was truly on his side.




Watching Sokka and Aang strut around in some of her favorite clothes, Mai's only consolation was that if everything worked out and she delivered the Avatar to their hands, Azula and Zuko would have to buy her a whole new wardrobe at least in order to properly reward her.

Aang had landed Appa in the one of Kyoshi Island's forested areas, and Mai went into her luggage case to dig out what clothing she had managed to fit. She had cycled through wearing each outfit a few times over the course of the journey from the South Pole, and while it would have been nice to get it all washed while she was on Kyoshi Island, it was all needed now to assemble a proper set of disguises. Aang's tattooed head, of course, was the most important thing to hide, so she gave up several of her favorite black scarves to turn into a head-wrap for him. A pair of her shorter black pants tucked into his boots worked well enough, and the long sleeves of her only bright red shirt would hide his arrow tattoos until they could get him a pair of gloves. Still, a maroon shawl was needed to hide how baggy the shirt was on his little body, but the overall effect was enough for him to pass as both Fire Nation and not a hobo.

The worst part of the process was how quickly Aang had stripped to his small clothes right there in front of her. Mai had quickly averted her gaze and focused on finding an outfit for Sokka.

The Tri- Water Tribe boy was simpler to outfit. He was only a little taller than Mai, and her preference for loose and baggy clothing meant that everything would fit fairly well on him. Since he was playing a servant, she gave him a plain robe and a puffy cap she had never actually worn to hide the shaved sides of his head. (Why did she even have the cap? Was it a present from someone?) Sokka had started pulling off his shirt right there, but moved behind a tree when he noticed her offended glare.

Of course, neither boy had offered to bathe before touching Mai's clothes to their sweaty skin, and she was well aware that the last time they had indulged in a washing was when they had cleaned off after the Southern Air Temple. (Mai briefly remembered the feel of that dust on her hands, dust that she kept telling herself was the remains of monsters, not humans. She pushed the thought away, not wanting to flash back to the gritty feeling between her fingers and they were monster remains, not humans.) Mai herself, who bathed every day, but was still looking forward to buying a bar of soap as long as they were in town infiltrating military complexes, didn't intend to change what she was wearing, but before they got going, Sokka held up a hand. "Shouldn't you do something about your face? Your parents would have been able to provide a description of you, if not a full sketch."

She suppressed the urge to kick him. "Are you saying that my mother and father are aiding the military in hunting me down and killing me?"

"Am I?" Sokka blinked. "I guess? Isn't that a worry?"

"Huh?" Oh, right, everyone thought she was the worst traitor in the history of the Fire Nation. But would Mother and Father really want her dead? "Maybe. What's your point?"

"Well, there might be an alert out for you. Something to keep everyone on the streets from seeing your face would be a good idea."

Aang had bounded over with one of her longer scarves, left over from his improvised head-wrap. "Here, put this over your head like a hood, and only people who stare at you straight on will see your face." Perched on Aang's shoulder, Momo made a grab for the bolt of cloth, but Mai took it first. While she artfully arranged her hood around her hair-tails, Aang said goodbye to his animals, and then the group got on with their infiltration.

As they walked through the forest, Mai said, "I've actually been here before. My family stopped at this island on our way to the South Pole, but I didn't see much. We had a fish dinner with the commander in his personal residence, and there was some kind of talk of local trouble, but it was all very boring."

"Trouble?" Aang said. "Like spirits and ghosts trouble, or high taxes trouble?"

Memories her breath being torn out of her lungs through her mouth flashed through Mai's mind, but she pushed the thoughts away. "Eh, probably pickpockets. I think I've heard that lots of colonies with direct Fire Nation oversight have problems with pickpockets."

Sokka hopped down from an outcropping and came to a rambling trot beside Mai. "You know why that is, right?"

"What?"

"Why all those places have problems with thieves?"

"Bloody-minded hatred for the Fire Nation?"

"Oh, well, sure. Partially. But people also have to be really frustrated with the lives the Fire Nation makes them lead. The military comes in, forces everyone into 'manageable' settlements, designates what jobs are available based on what the colony is supposed to produce, and won't even let people have their culture to help them get by. Combine that with the low wages- if they even get paid in money, which I wasn't- and people want to strike back in a way that will improve their own lives, hence petty crime."

Mai snorted. "Because uprisings are too much trouble?"

"Because uprisings are too fatal." Sokka gave her a raised eyebrow so sharp, it might have come from her own face. "People don't like dying, if they can help it. Usually."

Well, that point at least was fairly sensible. Mai would have been content to let the conversation drop there, but Aang scampered ahead a few steps and turned around so that he was walking backwards and looking directly at her. "I visited the Fire Nation a few times, a hundred years ago. Sounds like the leaders now are trying to do something similar to the Vassal Islands."

Mai had to think for a moment before she remembered the term. "That thing Sozin's father did?"

"Yup! My friend Kuzon explained to me that after the civil wars, the people on the Outer Islands were given a chance for peace by becoming vassals to the Capital. The people and the Fire Lord didn't really trust each other, so the agreement was a way to connect them and make them trade partners, uniting all the islands under the Fire Lord's name. There weren't any punishments for the general uprisings, just a chance to make the whole nation a better place."

Mai vaguely recalled the story, but the account she knew was more about how the Fire Lord had quelled the uprisings with a show of strength and the Outer Islands submitted to his power, becoming the Vassals. It had inspired Sozin in his plan for the rest of the world, or something like that. "So why isn't that working for the colonies? They get the jobs, and the chance to produce something for the Fire Nation that makes them important."

Aang shrugged. "Well, no one asked the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes if they wanted to do that, right? And from what Sokka's saying, the deal being forced on them isn't fair. During my visits I saw that the people on the Vassal Islands were pretty comfortable. They got a fair trade for what they produced. You can't just expect it to work because this system looks kind of like the old one."

Beside Mai, Sokka nodded. "Yeah, the shape is kind of the same, but the details are completely different, not to mention kind of evil. And then there's what Avatar Roku told you about everything else."

Mai ignored him. "I'm not a You."

Aang blinked, and then made a quick convulsion that ended with him grabbing his shirt. What was that about? Rather than commenting on it, though, Aang spun around to look where he was going again and said, "What do you mean?"

"You said 'you can't expect it to work,' about the new Vassal system, but I never said I expected it."

"Oh, yeah, I meant 'you' like... you know, people. You're obviously on the right side, helping save us from the Fire Nation." Aang turned again to give her a quick thumb's up. "You're our friend!"

"Okay." Mai let things go at that. It wasn't that she was against what the Fire Nation was doing- obviously, she was one of the most loyal servants it had, both by bringing down the Avatar and aiding in the rise of the best faction of the Royal family- but she didn't theoretically have a problem with loosening up some rules if they really were causing crime. And if Prince Ozai wasn't smart enough to see that when he became Fire Lord, then surely Azula would figure it out for him. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes were too backward to govern themselves, but Mai was on the side of the people who wanted to do it smartly. And whatever the ghost of Aang's Avatar predecessor claimed, the platinum mining was probably proof that they wanted to fix that problem, so they couldn't be causing it. It was only logical. "Is that the village wall?" Sure enough, as they emerged from the tree line, the stripped and planted logs of the defensive wall became visible. The tops of the logs were carved into points, but they didn't seem particularly sharp. "So, up and over, huh? Please no tornados this time."

Aang grinned. "Then all you have to do is rest in my arms!" His grin abruptly faltered, and his face went bright red. "I mean, you know, I can carry you. You and Sokka. Both. One at a time, I mean."

Mai sighed. "Maybe the tornado would be faster."




It was the most disappointing interrogation of Zhao's entire career, made all the worse by the fact that he was getting all the information he wanted. "What do you mean that you take all responsibility?"

Sitting in a rusty chair at the center of the cramped little room, Warrant Officer Lee's face was as blank as an empty sky. "I do, sir. Now that you describe the incident, I realize I miscoded the whole transmission and attached the wrong headers. The request for emergency supplies was completely erroneous, and entirely my fault. I was not paying sufficient attention."

Zhao ground his teeth together, trying to decide how to handle this. It was just like his attempts to interrogate the Airbender, but in this case, he didn't even have the luxury of a theory to confirm or disprove. He turned to look where Yon Rha was leaning against the door, but the other commander simply shrugged. Looking back to Lee, he said, "If that's true, then you're guilty of gross incompetence. You'll be forced to defend your career in an Agni Kai, which might result in your death. If you survive and lose, you'll be dishonorably discharged. If you decline the Agni Kai, you'll be branded and dishonorably discharged. If by some strange contrivance you actually win the duel and survive, you'll be transferred to the worst hole in the entire world, and given tasks that will be designed to result in your death. No matter what happens, you will be miserable for the rest of your days."

Lee's face didn't move, and he nodded as if told what the weather was like outside. "I understand, Commander."

This was ridiculous! Zhao refused to accept that a mere accident of transcription resulted in an order that was perfectly constructed to appear legitimate, and played such a large and beneficial role in the Avatar's escape. There was no doubt that this man was hiding something.

Well, if interrogations wouldn't work, there were other options. "Commander Yon Rha, I believe you mentioned that you had active rebels on this island?"

"Every colony has some rebel activity, but I told you, I have a handle on it. It's a small group, and I have an informant planted there. I would have known if they had any interest in the Fire Nation's telegraph network, never mind my communications center."

"Well, there's certainly nothing guaranteeing that just one group of rebels here, now is there? I recommend adding a full regime of physical coercion to the interrogation to confirm that Warrant Officer Lee hasn't betrayed you. I trust you have experts available? I've no objection to doing it myself, but having to coordinate the search for the Avatar in this region, my time is limited."

Yon Rha shrugged again. "If you want him tortured, then we'll torture him."

"Good." Zhao turned to look once again at Lee, but even that failed to get a reaction from the man. "Don't hold back. I don't care if he dies." He spun on his heel and marched out of the interrogation room, Yon Rha falling into step behind him.

As they walked, the other commander said, "Did you mean that about killing him, or were you just trying to provoke the moron?"

"No, I mean it. His claim is ridiculous, and if he is a traitor, then we'll have to kill him either way." It was unnerving, though, that rebel forces could have turned a skilled soldier so thoroughly. Such loyalty was unheard of. But then again, maybe not. "Commander, could I ask one more favor of your staff?"

"Get to the point, Zhao."

"I'd like a message sent back to the homeland. I want Warrant Officer Lee's family investigated."

"Why? I doubt foreign rebels have much influence over civilians back in the Fire Nation, and there's nothing special about Lee's family."

"Oh, I'm sure." Zhao felt a grin spreading on his face as he considered the possibilities. "But a person doesn't have to be special to be useful as leverage."




After that comment about having Mai in his arms, Aang wanted to smack his head against the village wall, but Monk Gyatso had always said that wisdom could not be beaten into a mind, it had to be carefully planted.

At least there hadn't been any trouble getting Sokka and Mai over the wall. Aang had hopped up to the top, listened and watched to make sure there were no witnesses, and then summoned a wind that launched his friends up and over, with a supplementary gust to cushion their landing. With a pause only to adjust their disguises again, the three made their way into the village proper.

Of course, Aang had to be careful of his clothes. Mai's stuff was loose on him, but that was only the start of the problem. While she had been tying her hood and Sokka was admiring his cap in a reflection in a puddle, Aang had tried to say goodbye to Appa and Momo, but the lemur had been antsy, and kept grabbing for Aang's mouth as a sign of wanting food. Since leaving the Southern Air Temple, fruit had been scarce, and Aang had only been able to feed his new pet a few dried bits each day. Momo had been forced to catch bugs to round out his diet. No doubt he was hungry for something sweet again.

So Aang had whispered, "Okay, you can come and I'll get you a peach or something, but you have to hide and behave." And then he had made use of all the extra room in his shirt by letting Momo cling to his chest, just like the lemurs back home had clung to trees when sleeping.

So with a lemur hiding in his shirt and his arrows hidden with a head-wrap, Aang walked down the streets of Kyoshi Island's main village.

The people of Kyoshi Island mostly wore blue, like the Water Tribes, and their presence in the streets became like a flood as Aang and his friends approached the civilian docks. There was scattered red in the crowds, both civilians and armored police soldiers. The armor of the latter wasn't full-body like the soldiers at the South Pole, and the helmets even left their wearers' faces uncovered.

The crowd spread out a bit as Aang and company stepped into a plaza not far from the biggest docks. There were all kinds of merchants hawking raw and cooked seafood, carved trinkets, foreign fruits, clothes from the Fire Nation, practical goods, furniture made from local wood, toys from the Earth Kingdom, and everything else needed for a glorious day of bargaining.

Aang wasn't much of a shopper himself, but he loved the chance to haggle. "Hey, do you think we have time to look around a little before we check out the navy base? This place looks like a lot of fun."

Sokka scratched his chin. "On the one hand, I almost feel like any indulgence we take that isn't strictly part of our mission will be punished with disaster. I mean, we're in an occupied town, so lots of things can go wrong."

Aang heard Mai give a little snort and mutter, "Paranoid."

Sokka didn't seem to pick up on that, and looked around the market with eyes that reflected the sun. "On the other hand, I would like to get a few things as long we have the chance, but I don't have any money." He glanced over at Mai.

Her face was blank, but Aang caught her eyes shifting over to look at a stand that was selling soaps carved into all kinds of neat shapes. "We should probably check the base first, in case there's trouble. And since neither of you brought your own money, hanging out here for too long would maybe be a waste of time." Her eyes turned back to Aang, wide and a little pleading. She was looking for him to contradict her!

"Well," he said, "maybe if we talk to some people, we can learn things about the base that we can't get just by looking at it."

Sokka stood up even straighter. "That's true! Even if the navy personnel live on the base, they'd have to come out here on their off-duty hours, just to live a little. There are probably all kinds of useful intelligence waiting to be uncovered."

Mai was silent for a moment, and then nodded. "Okay, we'll look around. I'm buying some soap."

She was instantly on the move, but Aang quickly stepped to cut her off. "First, can I borrow some coins?"

"What for?"

"Some fruit- er, you know, some fresh food for dinner tonight. I'm getting tired of military rations, aren't you?"

"Ehhhhh, okay, I guess you can have-"

Sokka suddenly stepped right between Aang and Mai. "Can I have some money, too?"

"What do you-"

"Supplies! We left most of the supplies on the ship with my Gran-Gran, and we could use some practical stuff."

"I don't have a lot-"

"Won't take a lot, I'm just getting some of the basics."

"How much will-

"Oh, you know, not more than a couple of silverish pieces."

Aang hopped so that he could see Mai's face over Sokka's shoulder. "And I can help him haggle! I've visited bazaars all over the world, so I know how to talk those prices down!" He felt Momo shift position under his shirt, and ducked down so that Sokka would be blocking the view.

Mai sighed. "All right, just try to keep it low key. We're fugitives, remember? And- really- watch what you spend. I only have what I could steal from my parents, and I don't know when we're going to be able to get more." She produced a bag of coins from somewhere in her robes and tossed it to Sokka, then went on to the soap seller.

Sokka divided up the coins, and Aang immediately went over to the stand with all the fruit. He made sure his head-wrap was on right and smiled up at the old man running the place. "What's this one?"

"That, my boy, is an ash-banana from the Fire Nation. You have to boil them before you can eat them."

"How about something soft that can be eaten raw?"

"I have some white pears in fresh from the mainland."

"Ooh, how much?"

"Well, for a first time customer like yourself, I can do- hey, it's nabbing my juicy fruits!"

Aang looked down to find that Momo had poked out from the bottom of his shirt, and was grabbing whatever he could get his hands on and stuffing it in the folds of the cloth. "Um, I can pay for all this."

"How much have you stolen?" The old man was shuffling around the stand, to confront Aang directly. "Open your shirt! I won't be ripped off by you Fire Nation tourists!"

"No, it's okay, we'll round up, just don't-"

"Aang, what's going on?" Sokka stepped up from behind, a shopping bag in his hands. "If this is how you haggle, I'll do without your help, thanks."

"Sokka, I'm going to need some more coins-"

"Off with the shirt! My melons are being hijacked!" Aang backed away as the old man grabbed for him, but bumped into Sokka, and then Momo made a break for it and took flight with his mouth full of cherries, and Aang tried to grab after the lemur, but the old man tugged at the shirt at the same time, and the next thing Aang knew, there was a tearing sound and he and a part of his disguise had parted ways.

Standing there in the market, the arrows on his back and arms exposed to the world, Aang really wished he had brought his glider. And had left his lemur back with his bison.

Mai was going to kill him.

There was a long moment where the entire marketplace came to a halt as eyes took in the ancient, honorable tattoos, and the meaning registered in minds. Then, like a single organism spread across multiple bodies, all the Fire Nation soldiers in the plaza stepped forward, emerging from the crowd to form a loose circle around Aang and Sokka and taking tonfa clubs in hand.

"It's the Avatar!"

Sokka shifted position, and Aang heard the sound of a knife being drawn from its sheath.

Then a blood-red skull sailed out of nowhere to smack one of the soldiers right in the face. The man went down like a sack of ash-bananas, and Aang followed the macabre projectile's path back to the source to find Mai standing in front the soap stand, a carved soap-skull in each hand. Behind her, the salesman squeaked and crawled beneath his booth.

As the shopping crowd receded from the scene like waves from the shore, some of the soldiers charged at Mai, but novelty soaps traveling at hurricane speeds stopped them in their tracks with sounds of meaty impact. The other soldiers closed in, and Aang shoved Sokka- knives, shopping bag, and all- out of the way as he also took a spinning sidestep. Tonfa attacks came in at him while Aang ducked and bobbed through a circle-walking maneuver, and when he saw one of the soldiers shifting his attention to Sokka- who was holding up one of his knives defensively as he clutched his shopping bag- Aang let loose with an Air Blast sent both the soldier and Sokka flying in opposite directions.

Even if he had brought his glider, Aang couldn't abandon Sokka to this fight. Mai was a true warrior, and would be all right, but Sokka had no training, and these were real soldiers used to keeping the peace on a populated island. It would be no contest.

Aang ducked one more swinging club, then reversed his dodge into a forward step and brought both his hands up to smack the outsides up against the chestplate of the soldier. The impact summoned an explosion of air that sent the man crashing into the fruit stand where all the trouble had started.

When Aang looked around again, he realized that he had lost track of Sokka, and more soldiers were streaming into the plaza.




Across the plaza, Sokka lunged forward to stab with his knives at the soldier he had chosen to challenge, but his aim was off, and the blades impacted harmlessly against the small chestplate. The man swung his tonfa weapon and connected with Sokka's right side, but luckily it smacked against the shopping bag hanging from his shoulder. Instead of breaking a rib, it was only enough of an impact to bring tears to his eyes and send him sailing into a stack of furs piled up on one of the market's abandoned tables. The thing held for precisely half a second before it crumpled to pieces beneath Sokka and deposited him on the plaza's dirt ground.

This was what happened when he tried to be a true warrior.

A shadow rose up to block the sun, and Sokka looked to find the soldier bringing his tonfa down in an arc aimed right for Sokka's head-

Another shadow cut across the club's path, a fast-moving human figure that grabbed the soldier's outstretched arm and twisted in some way that was made the two shadows merge. The next thing Sokka knew, the soldier was flying through the air above him to go crashing into a barrel of supposedly fresh fish. Sokka looked back at the rescuing shadow, purposefully not hoping that this might be a good thing because hoping was just asking for trouble, and grabbed his knives. The figure shifted so that it was no longer backlit by the sun, and the shadowy for resolved into-

-a girl?

Yes, it was a girl, wearing the same shade of blue (a warrior girl in blue?!) as everyone else in the market, but she was obviously no idle shopper. She was lean and tough, tensed in a fighting stance that loudly told the world to back the slush off. Sokka looked to her face, and gasped at the inhuman whiteness unto which blood-red lines of fierce expression had been drawn. He couldn't tear his eyes off that face as she reached down, grabbed him by his shirt, and yanked him back up to a standing position. "Come on," she said in a clear, steady voice, "we have to get you out of here."

Sokka replied, "Huh?"

The girl ignored him, turned to the wider brawl where Aang was blasting soldiers with hurricanes and Mai was throwing whatever she could get her hands on, and let out a shrill whistle. Sokka caught a quick blur of motion that moved in a direct line down from the sky into the center of the brawl, and he had only a moment to register the item as an arrow before it exploded into a world of white smoke.

Sokka's vision was completely obscured, so he experienced the next part solely as a series of yanks on his shirt carrying him in a stumbling, twisting path through the marketplace that had his shopping bag bouncing painfully against his chest. The girl with the painted face (it had to be paint, it would be too much to deal with spirit monsters twice this month) didn't seem at all inconvenienced by having to drag Sokka along, her auburn hair bouncing as she ran.

When she finally came to a stop beside a stack of crates and an abandoned hay cart, the strength in her arms was enough to decelerate Sokka so that he didn't so much as bump into her. "Down here," was all she said as she crouched and began brushing sandy dirt from the marketplace ground. Sokka was about to ask her if she planned on digging her way to safety when he noticed the trap door that was being uncovered, a crude wooden affair with a metal lifting ring bolted to the center. The painted girl flung the door open, and pointed at the ladder within extending down into a dark shaft. "You're not afraid of caves, are you?"

Even if he was, he couldn't let a challenge like that go, not after his pathetic showing in that fight.

The climb down was no fun with his bruised side, but Sokka managed it without dropping his shopping back or falling. He found himself in a small room of some kind, the walls formed from old planks of wood hammered together to hold back the sand and dirt. Still, they couldn't keep the moisture out, and the place had a decidedly funky smell to it. Sokka was almost glad that the only illumination was the sunlight that made it down the shaft, because he did not want to see what was growing in the corners down here.

He heard the painted girl hop off the ladder behind him, and he turned to face her. "What about my friends?"

Her facepaint practically glowed in the low light. "They're coming right now." She nodded at the top of the ladder, and sure enough, Mai was climbing down, with another painted girl behind her. Once those two reached the bottom, Aang (still missing his shirt, but clutching that ungrateful flying rat Momo) dropped down through the shaft, completely ignoring the ladder. Another face-paint girl followed, and when she got off the ladder, the one who had rescued Sokka said, "What about our sniper?"

"Right behind me, chief." Sure enough, a young man with a conical hat on his head and a longbow on his back began coming down the ladder, and when he was safely in the room, the painted girl who had spoken swung her hands above her head. In time with her motion, the top of the shaft closed off by itself, and before the light completely disappeared, Sokka caught a glimpse of the dirt and sand of the marketplace's ground moving of its own accord to cover the opening. Huh. Earthbender.

In the pitch darkness, there was only silence until Mai's voice echoed through the little underground room: "I remember now: the problems on this island were small uprisings by warriors with painted faces. I don't know how I confused that with pickpockets."

There was the sound of sparkrocks being struck together, and then a flame lit up to chase away the darkness. The painted girl who had rescued Sokka was holding up a candle, her eyes shining in its light. "Avatar, it is our honor to assist you. I am Suki, the tall girl is Chijin, the Earthbender is Sabure, and our sniper calls himself Longshot. Welcome to Kyoshi Island, but I'm sorry you couldn't have had an easier homecoming."

The kid grinned. "Pleased to meet you all! And thanks for rescuing us. I'm Aang, he's Sokka, and she's-"

"Hey," Mai interrupted. "No names until we know we can trust these people. Just because they don't want the Fire Nation to kill us doesn't mean they're friends."

Suki smirked in the candlelight. "Lady Caldera Yu Mai, your reputation precedes you. And by that, I mean I've seen your Wanted poster."

Sokka couldn't help but chuckle.

Aang laughed, too, as he petted Momo. "Good one!"

Suki let the mirth continue for a moment, and then she dipped her head to Mai. "Seriously, though, you have our thanks for returning the Avatar to the world. Just the rumors of his return have brought hope to Kyoshi Island after many years."

Mai didn't say anything, and Sokka decided to rescue her from what must have been an awkward moment. "This is a smuggler's hideout, right? It must let out somewhere besides the plaza."

Suki smiled. "Good guess! The sandy soil made it tough, but some enterprising Earthbender smugglers dug tunnels to avoid the Kyoshi Warriors who used to police this island." She turned and held her candle out to illuminate the wall behind her. Sokka could see now that there was another hatch set into it. "We'll take the tunnel here to one of our safe houses. There's track laid down for a cart, but it's all rusted, so we'll have to walk. As you can probably guess, it didn't quite work out for the smugglers, but the tunnels remained in the secret lore of the Kyoshi Warriors."

Aang gasped. "That's where I recognize the face paint! You're wearing it just like Avatar Kyoshi!"

"So, wait," Sokka said, "that means you're these 'Kyoshi Warriors?' What are Kyoshi Warriors?"

"Guardians of this island, inspired by Avatar Kyoshi." Suki shook her head. "We wear their faces, but there haven't been any for a generation. The paint hides our identities from the Fire Nation, and serves as a symbol to the people of Kyoshi Island. Or, at least, that's the idea. I'd be happy to explain more, but we should get moving. The Fire Nation will be looking all over for you, but we have a safehouse where you can rest comfortably." She turned and yanked open the hatch, revealing the smuggler's tunnel in all its dark, dank, dusty, spider-fly-webby glory.

As the group got moving, Sokka heard Mai mutter, "Great, more dust, and I didn't even get to buy my soap."




Yon Rha shook his head at the sight of the wrecked marketplace. "This is exactly the kind of trouble I didn't want."

Zhao had to keep from rolling his eyes. Some things were just not becoming of an officer of the Fire Navy, no matter how stupid the provocation. "Don't you see what an opportunity this is?"

"The opportunity, Commander, would have been if my soldiers could have caught the Avatar." Yon Rha looked over to where a group of merchants were haranguing one of the squad commanders about the ruminations they thought they deserved for their wrecked merchandise. "Now, we'll have to search the whole town- probably the whole island before we're done- and disrupt all the sea traffic with a blockade. This will be expensive."

Now, Zhao allowed himself a smirk. Propriety was one thing, but no proper officer would pass up a chance to look good. "On the contrary, Commander, the situation couldn't be cheaper or easier. If your soldiers could have captured the Avatar here, yes, that would have been perfect, but the reports implicated your local rebels in his escape."

"So?"

"So, he came to this island for a reason, and he's going to stay until he gets what he wants. All you have to do is keep the pressure on, put on a little show of force to scare him from operating openly, and he'll have to rely on the rebels for as long as he's here. And you mentioned before that you had an informant in the rebels- do I really need to spell out how that can be exploited to guide the Avatar right into our hands?"

Yon Rha's frown wasn't as deep as usual, but he was still clearly skeptical. "I would be taking a big risk, all based on your suppositions."

Zhao waved the notion away. "The risk can be all mine, since the reward will be for me as well. After all, I have jurisdiction in the search for the Avatar, so you naturally had to defer to my command. That should be more than enough insulation for you, yes?"

Not only could Zhao's destiny not be denied, it was practically eager to be fulfilled, and he would do whatever it took to prove worthy.

TO BE CONTINUED
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Poor Mai, two savages not content ruining her clothes have to undress in front of proper lady. Sokka at least got the hint.

Prior to this I was wondering if Suki will meet them there or did she fight to the bitter end defending it.

Shipping wise looking previous mentions only one I certainly hope you going for is Zhaozula. Something about that just makes me gringe. Now if I had to guess ships then I am going to take your obvious bait and say Maiaang (does Aang have any ship names that does not include his entire name?).

Rest are hard to determine. I am expecting Yue to show up eventually and I am not sure which way will you take Azula. Zucest would be fine with me, but I suspect ultimately Zuko at least will be going other way. With Mai away most popular would be Zutara, but I will say....Zuki? Katara who I suspect shows up eventually would end up with Jet. Events here probably hardened her enough to make better fit with him.

For now I am going to wait to see how story progresses before guessing more especially about Azula and which other characters show up.