Upper Ring

Zheng found getting himself inside the Upper Ring of the city far easier than he anticipated. There were a few troops positioned around the wall, but not a single one of them detected his presence. Not too surprising, since he was trained to be sneaky and stuff, but he would of expected maybe someone would have noticed something amiss. Using a grappling arrow to scale the wall had been risky after all, even with his black cloak melding him with the darkness. But perhaps he was holding these people to the standard he expected from himself. Not a lot of people could reach such a mark.

Now that he was over the wall separating the classes, it was getting darker as the day faded into night bringing with it a slight chill that made him clasp his cloak closer to his body. That suited the bounty hunter just fine, less chance of him being detected. If a Fire Nation sentry found him, he had no excusable reason to be here. Still, Zheng was eager to see what the morning would bring. He had heard people fussing about on the rooftops not too long ago. Of course, that could be something completely innocent, but the jaded mercenary sincerely doubted it. Odds are he had stumbled across something more sinister...

Meh. It was not his problem.

Zheng bit some skin off his lips as he glanced around. He was definite that he had seen one of the outposts around here when he had scaled the wall. Maybe a little more to the left and, there it was. With a smile that broke the skin and made his mouth bleed slightly he approached the lit up building. There were a couple of guards positioned on either side of the entrance who eyed him with suspicion, their glances going to the bow and quivers on his back. Raising his hands in supplication, he smiled a little wider causing some more blood to trickle from his broken lips. The guards' suspicion turned to unease as they looked into the stranger's dark eyes that seemed to pierce their bodies, like a hawk looking upon it's prey.

"I mean no harm to you", Zheng said politely. "I mearly wish to see somebody in charge. I have information about the resistance cells operating inside this city". The guards looked at each other before one ran to get somebody. Of course, Zheng had no such information. He just wanted to find someone in charge and this would most likely be the quickest way to do so. Pulling his cloak closer to his wiry form, the bounty hunter waited to be fetched and shown towards somebody with real clout.

((Let’s see if we can’t stir this a little))

Upper Ring - Royal Palace

Standing where he was, he would have looked quite formidable. Still garbed in the Dai Li’s attire, his gaunt self stood fully erect on the top stair. To add to this air of prestige, the wind was acting different in the palace than it did in their ring, although cold, it blew a vicious gust across the palatial scene and whenever it could; it kicked up the dark green and his black hair and then shook it about. It was almost as if the Great Spirit himself were trying to impress Long Feng’s peers. Not that the thing really existed.

Looking down, he could see his fellow comrades make their way closer. Then, by moving his green eyes upward, he caught sight of the Palace’s wall, and the many lights that glowed upon the badly, guarded residency. Past them, there were the great estates of the noble, mindless class. Then another great wall. Past that daunting sight was his former home, the middle ring. Then another wall. Over that wall was spattered about the refuse and waste of the lower ring. Then another wall. Past that still, there was their breadbasket, and then another wall. With eyes still staring out into the darkness that pervaded because of the cloud cover, he thought about his city. The one that he had had full dominion over. He knew about all her stately homes, and their shallow inhabitants. He knew about her crime rings, and which illegal groups cooperated in such a way that never threatened his power. He knew this city well. He knew this city of walls and secrets more so than anyone else around. This was his city, and when this was all done it would once again be his city.

A familiar sound brought him out of his stupor. Turning right, he already knew what it was. Joychi, Suki, his allies, his tools, it was those two. A smirk crossed his face just; thankfully, his li did well to cover his incriminating grim. “About time,” began Long Feng in his typical tone and manner. Like a true gentleman, he walked over to his allies and then continued to divulge the rest of their mission, “Inside the palace, there are two guards stationed in the first quarter. They shouldn’t trouble us. I’ll go first and launch a pair at them,” stated the former Grand Secretariat as he flashed his allies his rock gloves. There was a slight pause, as he hoped they caught his meaning, “Stay close, because when I launch the pair, you two will rush in and hopefully be quick enough to incapacitate them. When done correctly, we shouldn’t have a problem. Let’s go.”

With that, he motioned for his team members to hush up, and then proceeded to the doorway. Before he pushed the massive door open, he inhaled, and then prepared for the worst. His bending made the door light, and when he caught a glimpse of the inside, his heart nearly skipped a beat. It was empty, the guards were not present. Either this was a stroke of luck or Joo Dee did not properly understand his orders. Either way, he took advantage of the scenario without hesitation. His shot his right arm up and motioned for his two compatriots to follow him.

He entered the palace with a calm walk, and when he saw the guards’ absent posts, he quickly picked up his pace, and then when he made it midway into the room, he got into his position and then slid down the corridor until he passed other intersections, and then made a hard left. He stopped his advance, and then quickly looked around the corner and motioned for his allies to follow him.

In good spirits, he opened the fancy doors and then walked inside his private study. From the poor lighting entering from the corridor, he could tell that nobody else had entered his messy study. The books were still scattered about, and the fire pit looked just the same.

“Suki, close the door when I tell you, Joychi, help me push that fire pit.” With that request, Long Feng headed to the copper or tin or whichever metal alloy the pit was made of. The gaunt man steadied himself on one side, and then ordered the former military man to push on his count of three, “On three, one, two, and push.” With some struggle, and painful grunts, the heavy thing moved off of the square tile, and onto the one behind it. Long Feng stood up, grabbed the spark rocks on the floor, and sparked a flame onto a small thin piece of cloth that hung near where the fire pit one stood. He turned to Suki, and then instructed the young leader to close the door. When the light from the outside faded narrowed until gone, he jabbed the tightly wrapped, cloth torch into the fire pit and then smiled when the familiar green glow filled his study once again.

With that bit done, he turned to his allies, and removed his li. Carefully and calmly, he began explaining, “Scattered in this mess there are about forty to fifty dark green tomes with ‘Ba Sing Se’ etched into their wooden cover,” as he spoke, he made his way to the one tome he placed on the ground just a day before, picked it up, and then used it to demonstrate what they needed, “Like this, inside, you’ll find just a single piece of parchment which when unfolded gives you a piece to the map of our city. You shouldn’t need more than one bag for all of them all to fit into. Please, put the other seven bags near me before the two of you begin searching. As soon as I finish or as soon as I run out of space, I’ll join you two in searching for the books. Understood? Good.”

Before he even got his burlap bags, Long Feng placed his right hand on his left hand’s rock glove, and like a sleeve, he slid it up his arm until it rested on his forearm, he did the same to his right hand’s glove, and then bent himself over the tile that rested under the firepit. He spread his fingers wide, and then touched the cold tile. He felt the earth, the familiar flow, and then lifted the piece of tile as if it were glued to his finger. Like a loving mother, he placed sat the tile aside and then turned back to the untiled ground, under his firepit’s former position. With one sturdy, calculated motion, the ground moved under the tile he was standing on, just as it had been designed. And when it was gone, there he saw the familiar and most important sight of all.

To another, it was just a simple metal box. Hidden inside, they’d expect to find something worth hiding, of course. But it wasn’t gold, oh no, underneath that square box there was more than two hundreds pounds of it. Only a person with the proper skills or proper tools could open this locked box. Knowing well what to do, he stuck his right index finger into the slot that seemed smelted for a strange key. He relaxed himself, felt the familiar substance, and then rolled his index finger until his palm faced up, and like magic, his finger was covered in earth. He removed his finger, balled up the small fragments of earth, and then flicked them into the green flame. His right hand then grasped the cold containers lid, and he lifted it up to reveal a single rolled up scroll. Together, the roll was about three inches thick, and yet, even though it paled in comparison to the map of the city, this was more valuable than those maps. The map of the city was replaceable; although hard to do it was expendable. This scroll wasn’t. When he first learned about that place, he had his agents map it out, every conceivable path and route was all noted and marked in this tiny, plain, looking scroll. Brushed onto that scroll was, ironically, the namesake of their organization; a map to the underground.

Cheerfully, he tucked the thing away, inside his attire, they could lose gold, but the way that they would lose that scroll was if they lost him. With that task complete, he pulled a burlap bag over to himself, and then began to fill it with the gold he had stockpiled for his inevitable rainy day.

However long it took, he knew not. Long Feng stuffed the bags until he knew he could not stuff them any further. He turned to his two aides and then asked, “How far are we?”

(OCC: Again, sorry for how long this took me to do. Thanks for putting up with my disagreeable health, everyone. I really appreciate it.

Upper Ring, Royal Palace

It was the most unusual method of transportation the young Kyoshi Warrior had ever taken, she was pretty sure of that. Stealth and speed were part of her expertise, and as deft as she was at scaling impossible heights, she couldn't compete with the Dai Lee techniques. For most of the journey there Long Feng seemed little more than a dark dot ahead of them, and Joychi already had enough mastery of the technique to handle having her extra weight on him. There was little to see during the ride, only the dark blur of the city around them and the expansive sky above. For the brief time when they passed through the Grand Station Suki's vision was assaulted with yellow lights and the plastered red that had pervaded the city. There was no place untouched now.

Silence being wiser throughout their travels, Suki's thoughts couldn't help but flashback to her previous stealth mission to the Upper Ring. In the most practical sense, the security wasn't all that different. The uniforms were different and the color scheme was alien, but the tactics were no different. But back then...back then Suki was seeking answers; someone to talk to about the war.

As she and Joychi reached the almost endless staircase to the palace, the disquieting thought just would not leave the girl's mind.

Why had they denied the war's existence so much before the Fire Nation invaded? What was going on here?

Her temporary house in the Middle Ring felt like a lifetime ago, although there was a yearning for the luxury it had. Suki wasn't a girl who yearned for only the finest in life, but the constant dilapidated warehouses, cramped headquarters and stench of filth around her was hard at times. She wasn't sure that she'd ever get the feeling of grime out now, no matter how hard she scrubbed.

But what all this earned for everyone would be worth it. No matter what, it would be worth it.

“About time,” said Long Feng as Suki and Joychi climbed the final steps to meet up with him. “Inside the palace, there are two guards stationed in the first quarter. They shouldn’t trouble us. I’ll go first and launch a pair at them.” To emphasize his point, he showed off his pair of rock gloves. Easy enough to understand, although that disquieting feeling in the Warrior's gut flared again. “Stay close, because when I launch the pair, you two will rush in and hopefully be quick enough to incapacitate them. When done correctly, we shouldn’t have a problem. Let’s go.”

Suki nodded. There was no point in needless pontificating. In this case, she was a follower; a soldier on a mission led by another. During her early training years as a Kyoshi Warrior she had served under the leader at the time. It wasn't a foreign feeling to her to follow another's lead, although it sure had been a while.

The groaning and scraping of stone as the two massive doors opened had to be a city-wide alarm of untoward goings on...

...Except that the immediate room in front of them was desolate.

Long Feng stood for a moment, and although she couldn't see his face from behind, Suki was sure that this pause had caught him a little off guard too. Weren't there supposed to be guards in the front room? There had to have been normally. There was little time to ponder that, when Long Feng's pause was over and he motioned for her and Joychi to join him inside. She looked to the young Lieutenant, shrugged, and followed.

Their pace picked up, and Long Feng led them through a few twists and turns around hallway corners. His lead was confident and easy, the pace of a man who knew exactly where he was going. It certainly was a change of pace from the educated guessing they had to make during the prison riot. A welcome one, at least.

Long Feng's former office had some of the fanciest doors the teenager had ever seen, driving home that she really was here, she was in the Earth Kingdom's palace. Her mouth fell into a small sad frown. The Earth King had ruled here, but had done nothing to help when his people needed him most. Had she been better off on the island?

The interior of the office was a stark contrast, and for a moment she wondered if the place had been ransacked since Long Feng had been thrown in prison. She was about to ask when the former Grand Secretariat walked with ease and grace into the room. Offices were just in a constant state of mess. Maybe it was a rule of the world or something that everyone had to follow, no matter how neat they appeared to be, as Long Feng seemed to be.

“Suki, close the door when I tell you, Joychi, help me push that fire pit,” said Long Feng as he walked over to the metal fire pit. He stopped on one side and motioned for Joychi to join him, “On three, one, two, and push.”

Together, the two men pushed the pit, not without a good amount of painful grunting and struggling sounds. There was a spine tingling metallic scrape against the floor as they pushed, like the sound of a nail being scraped against a flat stone surface. Suki shuddered involuntarily.

When they were done, Long Feng grabbed some spark rocks he had kept nearby, struck them and lit a small piece of cloth before motioning to the Warrior to close the door. Suki nodded and grabbed the ornate handles, using a good amount of her strength to get them moving again. Once they started, they slid shut almost without a sound. As they descended into near darkness, Long Feng took the lit cloth and threw it into the fire pit, and the office illuminated in a green fiery glow that Suki immediately thought was a touch on the eerie side. Was this how he normally kept his office lit? How could anyone read in such a dim and otherworldly glow?

“Scattered in this mess there are about forty to fifty dark green tomes with ‘Ba Sing Se’ etched into their wooden cover,” Long Feng said, his voice as calm as if he were talking about an afternoon tea appointment. He walked over to a tome that was lying on the floor, picked it up and held it out for them to see, “Like this, inside, you’ll find just a single piece of parchment which when unfolded gives you a piece to the map of our city. You shouldn’t need more than one bag for all of them all to fit into. Please, put the other seven bags near me before the two of you begin searching. As soon as I finish or as soon as I run out of space, I’ll join you two in searching for the books. Understood? Good.”

Suki picked up the burlap sacks that had been left next to the doors and handed them to Long Feng before taking on the task at hand. He was already at work, doing some sort of earthbending to the tile where the fire pit had been before it was moved. There wasn't any time to stand and gawk at him, though, there was work to be done.

She turned and tried to adjust her eyes to the dim light the green light provided them. The shelves of books and scrolls were numerous to the point of almost being intimidating. It would take some time to find all of the tomes he was talking about...but at least there were two of them looking.

After giving Joychi a quick encouraging smile, the Kyoshi Warrior got to work looking for the exact tomes they needed.

It took what felt like a really very long time to even pick out half of the dark green pieces that they were looking for. There were just so many seemingly useless documents and scrolls scattered in between. It wasn't a hard task by any means, but a tedious one. One by one, Suki tossed the uncovered tomes into one of the burlap sacks nearby. Eventually, with his own task completed, behind them Long Feng asked how far they were.

"I've found...twenty-three," she replied, keeping her voice low out of habit. She turned to the young earthbender soldier, "Joychi?"

Upper Ring

Everything was wrong. The prison disaster had only been another blow against them. Even with a new coat of paint and uniforms on the soldiers, Ai Lin knew the hard truth of Ba Sing Se: it was still their city. They could infiltrate their most impenetrable of places, cause chaos, injury and explosion and all escape without a single one of them being brought to justice. Because this was still their home and they knew it better.

Salak was now gone in the aftermath of the riot, gone back to whatever they had him doing in the first place. The assassin was still on retainer, and that disgusted the soldier as much as it had before, but without her there would only be an 'I' and no 'team.' Her superiors had made no bones about it; strike this resistance where it lived. If this was their home and their turf, the only recourse was to take the fight directly to them.

Find the resistance...easier said than done. Ba Sing Se was still the largest city in the world, with the Lower Ring alone taking who knew how long to pin down one person, let alone an uncountable amount of escapees and dissidents. The former Grand Secretariat of the city, who the Princess had rightly turned against when she achieved the take over, was the highest profile prisoner that had been broken out. The others were all sorts of types, and only a few with physical descriptions that would make them easy to point out in a crowd. It had taken the young soldier months just to find the Army and rejoin her place in the world. They had taken her back with hesitation, and in the wake of this debacle, they were looking at her with even greater scrutiny.

As if to take all of the decision out of her hands, Ai Lin's superiors had arranged a meeting for her and a new potential ally: a former Yu Yan Archer turned bounty hunter they had hired on retainer. He was supposedly an expert on tracking, and would round out their tiny strike team.

What was she even supposed to say? Standing out on the balcony of one of the Upper Ring's Military Outposts, Ai Lin stared down at the almost empty streets below. The Lower Ring had always been a hotbed of activity; a breathing, shouting life that stank of cheap sake and filth. There were warm lights that spilled out into the dirt streets, shouts from inside taverns. Here, the streets were almost always empty, with the exception of a poshed up noble person or the odd battalion of soldiers. It was antiseptic, desolate, and as quiet as the dead of night in the middle of the day.

Ai Lin sighed. She turned around and walked back into the office they had given her for the meeting. The sooner this was all done, the better. At this point, all she wanted was to go home.

Where was that?

He watched her as she started to walk away.

Perched upon a rooftop, Zheng Su's dark eyes followed the distant figure as she made her return into the building from the balcony. Even at this range, it would not be tricky. Compensate a little for the slight breeze, angle high to make the distance, using a light alloy arrow... Child's play.

Not that he would enjoy the act of murder. He had done that enough, and it brought him no pleasure.

Zheng made his way across the buildings towards the meeting room that this 'Ai Lin' was waiting in. If any of the patrols or odd noble person happened to look upward, all they would see would be a small shadow flitting from roof to roof without a sound. A trick of the lamplight. Thinking back to an hour or so ago when he had tricked those guards, the archer chuckled to himself as he recalled the expression on the official's face when he had announced that he had nothing to tell him. But the man's sullen tone soon lifted when Zheng explained who he used to be and the services he had to offer.

It appeared that his guess about resistance cells had been right on the money (so to speak). There was a big one operating inside the city and was making itself quite known, prison breakouts and other similar activities. The noises he had heard came back to him and the ex-Yu Yan Archer was now definite that the Underground were planning to do something soon, or were already in the process of doing something. This information would surely brighten up someone's day. Or make a bad day worse. It really depended on the point of view.

Now very close to the building's balcony, Zheng paused. The amount of money the Fire Nation was offering him was, as he had assumed, impressive. The tracker was well aware that this world ran on money and had no qualms on how he obtained it. For a moment, a thoughtful look appeared on the archer's tattooed face as he contemplated how much money the Underground had. Peering up, Zheng jumped and climbed the wall's surface. He could just as easily have used the door of course, but he did not want to. They might have asked him for his bow, and that would not do. Pulling himself quietly over the balcony, Zheng poked his head into the office and rapped his knuckles door.

"Knock knock!", he said in a friendly tone, moving his hand out of the black cloak he wore to adjust his headband. Zheng gave the person inside a smile that once again broke the cracked skin of his lips, making them bleed slightly.

((I believe that I already suggested that, Joychi, oh and I hope you guys don’t mind what I do as we need to get us going))

Upper Ring – Royal Palace

Apparently, his earlier suggested had fallen on deaf ears. No matter, they had greater things to attend to. With the girl’s number and the young man’s count, they had enough to get by. Although, that fact would only become apparent if the map piece they had were the ones that they required. Honestly, the only pieces they needed were the Lower Ring, the Middle and Upper Rings were token prizes that their small group could only afford to obtain after they established dominion over the pauper’s realm. But that didn’t matter now, they had to leave. They had already spent far too much time in the room, and who knew when those guards would return, and more importantly, what their absence signified.

“Then be quick about it, Joychi, and it would be best to place them all in one bag so that we later do not fuss over where they were placed,” quietly uttered the former Grand Secretariat as he lifted up the last remaining burlap sack and tossed it at his younger comrade. Hopefully, he’d get the message that they did not require every piece and what they had now would certainly be enough for what their group could accomplish with their size. Having finished that bit, he turned his sight to their leader, and quickly asked of her aid, “Open the door when I put out the fire.”

The earthbender then turned his back to those two and headed back to the six burlap bags filled with gold. Everything went fine so far, there were no problems present in coming to the palace, and hopefully they would void of any problems on their way out. As he had done before with his bending, he now did in reverse. A puling motion signaled the earth to cover the now gold-ridden hole in the ground, and then he moved the large piece of tile over the newly moved slab of earth and over the hole that had nothing more than a metal box. There was no point in moving the fire pot back to its original position. Judging by the mess that was his library, when they came for useful information, they did not note where and how the room was laid out. If his assumption was correct, then only someone who knew he was gone would come back, and hopefully, Mahone’s earlier maneuver would ensure that he had some sort of a free period before anyone suspected he was gone. That being said, the chances of that being the case were, not surprisingly, grim.

Oh well, that worry was for a later period. With the room still basking in the green light, he turned to Suki, and then grabbed the tarp that rested by the fire pot’s former position, and in a swift motion smothered the green flames silent. Everything went black, until light finally gleamed inside from the corridor. Using what little they had, he made his way over to Joychi and then began, “Keep the maps with yourself,” he began at a near whisper, “Suki and I will go out and see if the guards are there, either way, you make sure to move those bags of gold into the corridor. Remember, we made a single turn to make it here, so all you need to do is move these bags to that junction, and then when you see me outside the palace’s main door, use your bending to slide the bags to me. Got it,” Long Feng waited a moment for the man to answer, and then headed out to meet the youngest warrior.

“We make our way to the entrance, should the guards be there, you take out the one on the left, and I will do the same for the one on the right. Now, let’s go.” With that instruction, he headed for the main entrance, hopefully with the young woman in tow. It wasn’t until the middle of the final corridor that he realized that his hat was still in his study. Hopefully, Joychi would spot while moving the loads of gold, and bring it back to him.

When he noticed the two firebender guards standing with their backs to them in the entrance square, he lifted his hand with three fingers raised. It was the countdown, when he lowered his ring finger his right hand was covered in earth, when his middle finger fell he covered his second hand in earth, and when the final finger was lowered he inhaled, and rounded the right corner with his heads ready to deliver the blow.

There was the faintest flash of scarlet just before his rock glove shot out, but it was only momentary because the man was then one the floor with one glove covering his neck and the other on the floor where he once stood. This was the quickest method of incapacitating an opponent with these. Knock their air out, and then prevent them from respiring back in. In a few short seconds, the man stopped flopping around like a fish, and then passed from consciousness. He judged from the further silence, that Suki had succeeded as well.

“Now for the door,” he turned and said to the young warrior, just before he hurried over to the massive entrance and forced it open, just enough to where he could easily slide a burlap sack through.

He then turned around and looked off into the far side of the palace, there was a faint figure standing there, Long Feng motioned the figure to begin sliding the bags over.

The journey to Ba Sing Se had been a long one with few words, but the tense circumstances merited just that. The citizens had a massive uprising and both he and Lee had been lucky to escape with their lives; that had only been because they'd disguised themselves as peasants after ditching their armor. The act had left a bitter taste in his mouth, but the cart driver they'd flagged down a good distance away from the city hadn't noticed that they were obviously Fire Nation and had happily taken them to Ba Sing Se. Azei had fed him some lie about their parents having died in the walled city, incurring the necessity of having to arrange and attend a funeral.

Once inside the city, they'd both gone straight for the Upper Ring where General Chow resided and worked. News ofthe uprising in New Ozai had spread like wildfire and, of course, the General had gotten word of it not soon after it had happened. Long ago, when he'd first been transferred, he'd received instruction to report to Chow should the worst happen and, now that it had, he'd made his first stop the Fire Nation's stronghold in the Earth Kingdom's most important city. The monorail, propelled by Earthbenders, had taken them to their destination within Ba Sing Se, and it wasn't long before he was approaching a military building used mostly for strategy. He'd arranged with Lee to meet the younger Firebender in the house they'd been so graciously provided by the Army, but he had no intention of staying there any longer than they absolutely had to. This travel was for business purposes only.

With trepidation, he entered the building and was immediately faced with a long table, the head of which contained a chair seating none other than General Chow. He gave a half-hearted salute.

"Captain Xian. Take a seat."

Azei complied, taking the seat near to, but not next to, the General.

"So, New Ozai is slippling from our grasp."

The Captain kept his attention on the map that covered the table. "Yes, sir."

"Can you tell me why, Captain?"

"The citizens rose up against the Army. We had enough forces to keep them under control when they were docile, but the population was too much for even our occupation forces to handle."

"I see. Do you think there was anything you could have done to prevent this?"

Of course, the answer the General was looking for was something along the lines of "We should have kept them more fearful of our forces," but those words, nor anything like them, would ever escape his lips.

"Aside from slaughtering most of the populace, no."

"Do you know what makes a good leader, especially in the Army?"

Azei shook his head.

"A good leader is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power, Captain Xian. It's how I've gotten where I am today."

"Are you saying that I don't have the will to do whatever it takes?"

"New Ozai now potentially lies in the control of the Earth Kingdom again. I think that speaks for itself."

Face blank, Azei fixed his amber eyes on his commanding officer. "Do you think there was anything YOU could have done to prevent this?"

"Excuse me?" The General raised an eyebrow.

"With all due respect, I believe both you and Major Kwai find it easier to throw commands at your subordinates than to realize what actually needed to be done to have kept the city in our control."

"And what was that?"

"Make the citizens think that we were protecting them, not oppressing them. Captain Tang and I were executing a plan to do just that; until the uprising, that is. You seem to only be focusing on the fact that we lost the city, and now you're looking for someone to pin it on. Neither Captain Tang nor myself will be that someone."

The General stood up. "Watch your tone, Captain Xian. You know the price of insubordination."

Flame spurted from the Captain's hand as he pounded his fist on the table. "I won't be intimidated because you can't do your job!" Before he could process it, the General ran over to him, intending to grab his throat again, but in a move that surprised even him, he sidestepped it and shot his own hand out, grabbing the other man's throat and pinning him against the wall. "Now, General Chow, with all due respect, I believe the Army owes me a lot due to my spectacular service to it in New Ozai. They could start by releasing me from duty. I'd also like Lee Kaneda to be released from duty as well. He was one of the reasons the citizens remained under control. Third, severance pay for the both of us; enough to keep us comfortable for the next few years. Do you understand?" The General had remained silent the entire time, and Azei's eyes flared as his palm heated up. Chow squirmed as the feeling intensified until it became too much to bear.

"All right! Let me go!" The man propped himself against the wall, holding his throat and seething with rage as he glared at his subordinate. "You will pay for this, Captain Xian."

"I don't think so, General Chow. You will sign a document guaranteeing me everything we've discussed, and there will be no repercussions for what's gone on here today."

"And what if I don't?" A sneer dominated the General's face.

"I challenge you to an Agni Kai, win, and tell everyone how the great General Chow was defeated by a mere Captain. And don't think I wouldn't win, because I would. We both know that."

Chow gritted his teeth as he processed what Azei had said. "Fine." He procured official Fire Nation paper and started scribbling characters; when he was done, Azei checked it to make sure the man hadn't added or omitted anything.

"I don't regret my service to the Army, but I'm never looking back. Goodbye, General Chow." A final salute, in a gesture of irony, signaled his exit from the building, and his face was somber as hetrudged back to the house where Lee was. How would his lover react to the news? He already knew, but he wanted to see it happen. He opened the door to find Lee there, occupied with something.

"We're free." He set the document down on a table for Lee's inspection.

Due to the circumstances under which they'd left New Ozai, Lee never had talked to Azei about why he'd been upset. In fact, the young man had spent much more time worrying about how they'd get out safely than anything. Travelling in peasants' clothing did not seem to bother Kaneda the way it bothered Azei. He looked and felt comfortable in them, and his sweetness made their journey with the cart driver much more pleasant. By the time they had reached Ba Sing Se, though, the long-haired young man was wound tightly again, filled with worry.

After everything that had happened, Lee Kaneda was feeling less like reporting back to the army and more like running away. Those feelings, of course, were dishonorable and would never be acted upon, but they also had made up his mind for him: when his contract was up, he wasn't going to re-enlist. Unlike his father, Lee wouldn't make the army his life. He just didn't have it in him.

That worry wasn't eased when Azei went to see the General. Lee knew that because he was a nobody, he didn't have much responsibility for what had happened in New Ozai — but the same wasn't true for his lover. Predictably, he spent the entire time Xian was gone cleaning the house the Army was letting them stay in, tinkering with things, and cooking. By the time Azei came back, the house smelled like pie. Comfort food was always pie.

He was sitting at a table fiddling with his uniform, repairing something on it, when he heard the door. Azei came back he looked very much alive, though somewhat sober. Running a hand through his thick hair, Lee, with his expressive face, simply looked concerned. "What is it?"

We're free.

Free what? Free where? The young man's face showed his confusion but he pulled the paper to him with long fingers, looking it over. The realization of what he was seeing washed over his face like the sunrise. "I — we're both out of the Army? Right now?" Lee looked up, amber eyes practically glowing. "What is this?"

The smell of freshly baked pie, especially one baked by Lee, was comforting to him, but it wasn't enough to dispel the weight he was carrying on his shoulders at the time. Had he really gotten them both off scot free? Would he really get all he demanded with no repercussions, as he'd also demanded? Only time would tell, but for some reason, he didn't feel like the document that guaranteed him what he wanted wasn't enough.

"Right now. Both of us." His affect was flat; he really should have been happier about the fact that they'd been given freedom, in a sense, but he wasn't. "We'll have severance pay for the next three years." He sat down at the table across from Lee, staring at the official document, still not believing that he'd gotten away with it just like that.

"We...we..." Before he could finish, he put his head down on the table and sheltered it in his arms. Heat was building inside of him, and he could feel smoke rising from his fingertips as it gathered, finally culminating in a burst...of tears.

Sobs racked his body and his eyes shut tightly in an effort to stem the flow of his tears, but it wasn't working. All the stress, all the turmoil, all the struggles he'd put up with since he'd joined the Army and been promoted was coming out, mostly because he hadn't been able to before that point. If he'd been outside his body, he would have been surprised if his hands hadn't burned holes through the table, but all of his energy was coming out with the tears he was crying.

"Oh," said Lee, getting up and pulling his chair around next to Azei's. His touch was gentle, fingers pulling through coarse hair. The long-haired soldier sat close and, for the most part, stayed quiet. After a moment, he murmured that it was okay to cry. Being in the army had been hard enough for him — he could only imagine what it was like for someone at a higher rank, with more responsibility. Having to make hard choices, especially in wartime, wore on a person. Lee knew he still had no idea what kind of things Azei had been responsible for, or exactly how hard it had been for him. Those were personal things, things that came with time. For now he settled for just... being there.

Lee sat quietly as Azei cried. It was really a very personal and vulnerable moment, and he was deeply aware that such things didn't happen very often for the other man. In fact, he was a little shocked he was witnessing it at all. Something must have gone really wrong or really, really right to make his lover so openly emotional.

His body shook as he cried, until there were no more tears left. He was vaguely aware of Lee's fingers running through his hair, but the world seemed so far away behind the darkness of his shut eyelids. Being a Captain, especially one in the position he'd been put, had irrevocably changed his life, and people he cared for had gotten hurt; it was the price he paid for ascending the ranks so quickly. Now he'd threatened a (former) superior officer, and was possibly facing treason charges...unless he challenged Chow to an Agni Kai and won.

His sobs grew weaker, but his head was pounding a painful rhythm and eventually, his chest began rising and falling normally. He kept his head sheltered in his arms until he took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of his lover. There couldn't possibly have been a better person to have by his side, and, sniffing, he put his hand on Lee's shoulder.

"We need to get out of here. Some place far away." He was regaining his composure as he spoke, but he was nowhere near to being as stable as he usually was...or, at least, as he pretended to be. "My father has a place on Ember Island. I haven't talked to him in forever, but he never uses it. We should go." Truthfully, his memories of the island were fuzzy at best, but from what he could remember, the best ones were with his grandfather. The man used to take such good care of him, but he died when Azei was too young to fully understand. It had been unfortunate, but his father hadn't mentioned the man after his death.

When Xian looked up and said they needed to leave and go far away, Lee though, ah. Wrong, then.

"Why?" Lee ran his thumb across Azei's cheek. "I mean, I don't mind. But why do we need to go far away?" Ember Island sounded nice. He'd never been there, of course. Lee wasn't very well-travelled. "I don't mind where we go, of course. I'll go wherever you go." It came out so matter-of-fact. The truth was that Kaneda didn't want to go home until he knew if he would or wouldn't be taking Azei with him, and they hadn't reached that point yet. He didn't want to be parted from the other man, but that didn't mean it was time to meet the parents.

His parents probably still assumed he was going to 'grow out' of his 'abnormality', anyway. Lee sighed just thinking about it, and rubbed Azei's thigh lightly. "Come on. You shouldn't be upset on an empty stomach. I made dinner." It was spicy curried vegetables and rice, a typical Fire Nation dish served in farms across the Nation itself. Of course, some of the ingredients were different due to their locale, but that was all right. It had come out right all the same.

Why? Because anywhere else on the mainland put them at risk of being found by people he didn't want them to be found by. Though Chow couldn't go after him officially, there were ways around that, as he was all too familiar with. He would most likely be constantly on his guard now.

"We just need to get as far away from civilization as we can. Let someone else deal with running things for once." He let out a sigh and ran his eyes over the paper that had granted them their freedom. "Look, there's a boat that leaves there every morning. If we wake up with the sun tomorrow, we can make it." It might have seemed like he was pushing their vacation, but the sooner they were out of Ba Sing Se and any territory actively ruled by the Fire Nation, the more comfortable he would be in his skin. He let out another sigh
accompanied by a half smile when Lee mentioned dinner. He got up and walked into the kitchen, where pots were cooking over a wood burning stove. Eagerly, he grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and scooped contents of both pots into it, and he waited for Lee to get food before he sat down at the table in the rather spacious kitchen.

"So what were you doing while I was gone today?"

Lee frowned. He felt like Azei was hiding something from him, keeping secrets. Didn't the other man trust him? As his lover pushed forward with plans to leave first thing in the morning, his frown deepened. Why did they need to leave so soon? They'd been on the road for a while now. Kaneda had really been looking forward to relaxing for a little while. Sleeping in a bit. Taking a long bath. Washing his hair. Well — fights or emotional discussions were better done on a full stomach. Getting up, he went into the kitchen and served his food into a bowl. Rice on one side, curry on the other. He set a mug of tea on the table for Azei and then another for himself before sitting down.

What did you do while I was gone?

Blowing softly on his tea, Lee glanced up. The Water Tribe necklace glinted icy blue at his throat as he set the mug down. What had he done that day? "I repaired some clothes," he said, voice thoughtful, "including some of yours. I hope you don't mind. You had holes in most of your socks." He mixed his food up with reckless abandon for a moment. "Wrote some letters to my family. Went for a run." Shrugging, he looked up at Azei again. It was clear by the sheen to his amber eyes that something heavy was on his mind. He urged Azei to eat a little, and did so himself, waiting until their bellies were full before bringing anything up. As the meal went on, Lee found himself unable to say anything, so he ate mostly in silence, chewing his vegetables thoroughly.

It came as he was washing the dishes, slipping from his lips like oil. "Why don't you trust me?"

The food was making his body warm, which in turn warmed his spirits. The thoughts that had been haunting him since he'd laid his hand on Chow's throat were with him still, but the wonderful meal was providing to be a somewhat decent distraction.

"I didn't think any of my clothes needed fixing. Thank you." When Lee mentioned his family, Azei thought back to their conversation about meeting the family and marriage. Although the prospect of marriage scared the proverbial pants off of him, but the thought had crossed his mind more than once since they talked about that. His thoughts raced as he ate his food faster than normal and, before he knew it, it was gone. He sipped on his tea until his lover finished eating and, without a word, followed Lee into the kitchen where they each seemingly fell into cleaning roles; the younger man into washing, and he into drying. Each of their wet dishes was carefully dried by a blast of hot hair from his hands.

Why don't you trust me?

The bowl he was holding fell from his hands and hit the floor; thankfully, it was made out of wood and didn't shatter. He kept looking at the wall where his eyes had been, and his voice remained frozen inside his throat. Slowly, he turned to look at Lee and waited until they locked eyes. Like an active volcano under a lake, his face was placid, but it masked a quietly seething rage.

"Why would you say that?" His affect was flat again.

"I'm sorry," Lee said, instantly wishing he hadn't spoken at all. Damn. When Azei asked why he'd say that, Lee shrugged. "Because I feel like you're keeping something from me." He bent to pick up the bowl, re-wash it. The water scalded the skin of his hands. He tightened his grip on the surface of the bowl and thought about how he should fix the situation. He hated for Azei to look like that, the way he looked when he locked himself away and looked like he didn't care about anything, least of all Lee.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I just, I get this feeling sometimes. Like you're really far away from me." He looked at the other man, eyes tender. Unlike his lover, Lee Kaneda could not hide his emotions in his face. His eyes always screamed what he felt: fear, love, guilt. He gently handed Azei the wet bowl. "I just want to be close to you. Is that wrong?"

It sure felt like Azei thought it was wrong. The dishes were gone and Lee ran his hands through his hair, feeling very young and very off-balance. Things had been easier with Shtiya, when he was the older one, the wiser one. With Azei it was easy to say the wrong thing. Too easy. "I'm sorry," Lee said again.