A/N; Okay almost had to rewrite this entire chapter from the ground up, thank GOD I managed to save most of the original and reuse it (this is another 7k word chapter I legit would've cried if I had to start over) - hence the longer wait.

But, like I've been saying for a while now - finally in Ba Sing Se, and I'm so hyped for the rest of book two :P

Azami P.o.V.

Well, that was... gross.

Even after Katara had given them all a thorough bath (with clothes on, mind), followed by Aang blowdrying them with his bending, Azami could still feel little bits of wall sludge stuck in her hair. Lesson learned - just because your friends jump in a slurry pipe doesn't mean you should follow them. Looking back on it, she'd take a fight with Mai and Ty Lee any day of the week.

But, thankfully, the drill had been destroyed - Aang, Katara and Toph had largely seen to that. In truth, she and Sokka didn't really do much - she melted the base of a few beams, but that was about it.

Now, they all stood atop the wall, thoroughly disgusted and proud at the same time that they were already saving Ba Sing Se a few mere hours after arriving.

"I just wanna say..." Sokka began, breaking the silence. "Good effort out there today, Team Avatar!"

His sister just deadpanned at him, as though her disappointment were truly immeasurable. "Enough with the Team Avatar stuff," she insisted. "No matter how many times you say it, it's not gonna catch on."

"How about... the boomeraang squad!" he exclaimed happily, whipping out his weapon of choice to emphasize the point. "See, it's good 'cause it's got Aang in it. Boomer-aang!"

Aang smiled nervously as Sokka looked to him for support. "I... kinda like that one?"

"Let's just talk about this on our way into the city," Katara offered, not sparing either one a glance before heading off to join General Sung down the wall.

Sokka eagerly followed, ideas still spewing from his mouth. "Ooh! The Aang Gang?" he offered, only to be met with more disappointment. "Okay... how about the fearsome fivesome?"

Azami cringed slightly - that just sounded wrong. "Uh, I think we'll pass on that one, ponytail," she informed him, and (unsurprisingly) was met with his groan of disappointment. "Look, how about just 'the gaang'? Personally, that's what I've always called our group."

"Huh, I actually kinda like it," Katara smirked as she looked back. "Certainly better than being a fivesome."

Toph laughed as she joined the waterbender. "You said it, sugar queen."

"Well, at least that's settled," the firebender grinned as she glanced over at Sokka, who was now pouting at having not been picked. "Oh, relax, Sokka. I'm sure someday you'll get to name something worthwhile. Now come on, we've got a city to see!"

After spending the night in one of General Sung's barracks, they got up early the next day and headed towards the train station buried within the wall. The entire way, the general just kept thanking them over and over - and by the time they got on the train, Azami had absolutely no regrets about leaving him behind. She, Sokka and Toph sat down on one side, with Aang and Katara on the other, the train being surprisingly empty for the morning.

As the train started to pull out, they soon left the wall behind them as they were revealed to be on a massively elevated bridge overlooking farm fields and wilderness below. Beside her, Toph was still basically asleep, her head leaned back against the bench while her mouth hung open, a faint trail of drool coming out.

"So, you looking forward to seeing it?" Sokka suddenly asked.

Azami looked at him in confusion. "Seeing what?"

"The city," he explained, pointing to the inner wall ahead of them in the distance. "Wasn't this where you were supposed to come before you got stuck with Aang in that iceberg?"

The firebender's eyes widened in realization - he was right. "Yeah, I guess it is," she laughed gently, her gaze following his arm to take in the wall that was rapidly approaching them. "I finally get to see the place after a century of waiting."

As the wall steadily approached them, Azami gently nudged Toph awake, and the young girl's eyelids fluttered slightly as she groaned. "You better have a good reason for waking me up."

"We're almost at the city," she explained. "I thought you might want to see it."

The earthbender stretched slightly before relaxing back at the bench with a smirk. "Yeah, I'll definitely be able to see it from this metal train," she remarked, and Azami's face flushed instantly as she realized her mistake. "Thanks, sparkles."

"I can't believe we actually made it," Katara breathed in awe. "And in one piece, too."

"Hey, don't jinx it!" Sokka cried. "We could still be attacked by some giant, exploding Fire Nation spoon. Or find out the city's been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp."

Everyone just stared at him in confusion, and Toph eloquently voiced exactly what Azami was thinking. "You been hitting the cactus juice again?"

"I'm just saying, weird stuff happens to us," he remarked as a rather large, fat man came walking down the train isle with a cob of corn in his mouth. For some reason, he sat right in between Azami and Toph, forcing the firebender to squish up against Sokka to make room as the man just sucked on the cob like an infant.

Um... what the f-

Looking over desperately from where she was squished between the fat guy and Sokka, she saw Aang and Katara both staring out the window as they passed into the inner wall. "How will we find Appa?" the airbender sighed. "It's such a big city."

Sokka got up to go talk to him, not realizing that as he did so Azami just instantly collapsed onto the bench without him supporting her. Muttering a few choice words about him and the fat guy beside her, she pulled herself up to go join the others. "He's a giant bison, where could someone possibly hide him?" Sokka wondered, staring out the window with them.

Yeah... that answer became immediately apparent as they passed through the inner wall, revealing an endless sprawl of buildings and hills as far as the eye could see. Azami's widened in shock as she took it all in, knowing full well that this was only the outer ring of the city, since it was divided into tiers based on wealth - she just hadn't ever imagined a place this large could even exist.

If memory served her correctly, the entire Fire Nation captial could easily fit dozens of times in this one space alone - and this was just a fraction of the outer ring.

The question wasn't so much where someone could hide Appa - it was almost a question of where they couldn't. Aang and the others could easily spend months in here and never find him. Best case scenario, she thought bitterly. We might find him by the time the comet arrives.

Still, she wasn't dumb enough to say that aloud - anyone with a brain could tell Aang was still struggling to hold himself together, and she wasn't trying to make things worse for him.

After a while, they pulled into a massive station and got off, staring around them in wonder. The station alone - which overlooked much of the outer ring - made the Fire Nation throne room look like a child's doll house. The ceiling rose a solid thirty feet above their heads, if not higher, and was supported by massive collums that lined both sides of the station, leaving much of it open to the air.

Turns out, though, that not everyone was as impressed. "Back in the city," Toph grumbled from beside them, Momo sitting on her shoulder to fulfill his roll as the 'seeing eye lemur'. "Great."

Sokka stared at her in disbelief. "What's the problem?" he demanded, still openly gaping at the place. "It's amazing!"

"Just a bunch of walls and rules," the earthbender pointed out. "You wait. You'll get sick of it in a couple of days."

In truth, Azami could understand where she was coming from - when she wasn't learning firebending, her life in the palace had been incredibly dull with everyone insisting on following formal etiquette to a tea. Hopefully, things would be a little different here.

Aang and Katara both went to look out at the city, but Azami's attention was quickly distracted by a woman who was smiling directly at them from the other side of the train, which was in the process of pulling out. As soon as it was gone, the woman walked over to them, her smile never dropping for a second.

"Hello!" she called out to them, and the rest of the gaang joined Azami in greeting the newcomer. "My name is Joo Dee. I have been given the great honor of showing the Avatar and Fire Nation Princess around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, and Toph. Welcome to our wonderful city!" Never once did she stop smiling, or for that matter even blink, and it was more than a little unnerving. "Shall we get started?"

Sokka smirked as he turned to face the woman completely. "Yes. We have information about the Fire Nation army that we need to deliver to the Earth King immediately."

"Great," Joo Dee smiled, acting as though she only heard the first word out of his mouth. "Let's begin our tour, and then I'll show you to your new home here. I think you'll like it."

As she walked off, Sokka let out some weird noise of frustration before marching after her. "Maybe you missed what I said? We need to talk to the king about the war. It's important."

"You're in Ba Sing Se now," the woman insisted, still maintaining her smile. "Everyone is safe here."

Azami walked forward, gently squeezing Sokka's shoulder before rising to her full height and assumed the role she'd long since abandoned. "Ma'am, I take it you are here to welcome us on behalf of his majesty, is that correct?" Joo Dee nodded in response, so the firebender continued on. "Then I am requesting you inform me as to when we will be meeting in person. I find myself occupied with a great many things and would prefer not to be kept waiting."

"Of course," Joo Dee smiled. "The Earth King was already notified of your arrival in our city, along with the Avatar's, and the rest of your companions. His majesty has happily agreed to set aside some time for your personal meeting next month."

The firebender choked slightly, stunned by how long the wait was. "I-I'm sorry, a month?"

"Yes, indeed!" the woman happily replied. "Owing to the nature of your status, he made it his top priority to see you as soon as possible."

Azami forced herself to regain composure, though her spirits were rapidly sinking that they'd get a better result than that. "My apologies to his majesty, but that is simply unacceptable. We all need to see him, not just me, and I require an audience within the week at most-"

"His majesty has already done all he can," Joo Dee remarked, her smiling expression contrasting the threatening tone of her voice, and the firebender flinched slightly at the unexpected response. "And it is his desire to meet with you in private, without your companions. In the meantime, he has requested that I give you all a proper tour of the city. I have a feeling you will all enjoy your stay here."

The woman then walked off, leaving Azami standing in bewilderment - something was wrong. She didn't care one whit about getting the proper royal treatment, but unless etiquette had drastically changed in the past century, that whole interaction just felt off. Why would the Earth King want to meet her but not the Avatar? That didn't even make any sense!

Sokka came up to stand beside her as she was stuck in her thoughts, as if to ask the question she herself didn't have an answer to. "What was that about?" he whispered, and she just shook her head in response, not knowing herself.

After spending several uncomfortable hours shoved in a cart, Azami had determined two key things about the city so far. First and foremost - her father had a point about the Earth Kingdom.

Sure, she still hated him for everything he'd done. The Fire Nation was definitely the enemy in this war, no doubt about it. But he wasn't wrong - this city was a mess. Compared to her home, where she at least remembered people living in quality standards, the outer ring was downright awful. There were homeless people living in backstreets, trying to steal food where possible, evident thugs and criminals running around and harrassing people as they saw fit, homes were in states of disrepair - frankly, the place was appalling.

The level of segregation wasn't very reassuring either. All the rich and wealthy were brought into the upper levels while the poor were left out in the lower ring, as if they were somehow lesser citizens that the Earth King couldn't be bothered to deal with, so he just put them somewhere out of sight to deal with their own problems.

Secondly - the people here were really strange. Starting with Joo Dee - this crazy woman needed to stop smiling. Like seriously, Azami felt like she wanted to jump out of her skin every time Joo Dee even looked at her. And her comments about the Earth King wanting to meet her in private were still buzzing throughout her head, too - what was the point?

The other strange people were the Dai Li, the supposed 'cultural authority'. Personally, she had a gnawing sensation in her gut that they weren't quite as friendly as the woman let on. Something about the way they looked at the gaang as they passed by... there was just something off about them. Almost like they were prey and the Dai Li were simply waiting to strike.

Oh, and throughout all this, she still had the uncomfortable bits of wall sludge stuck in her hair, since there weren't any places to bathe the previous evening.

So, naturally, the second they stopped outside their new house, she bolted out of the cart and only stopped as a messenger arrived with a scroll in hand. He passed it to Joo Dee, who if it was possible smiled even wider. "Good news!" she exclaimed happily. "Your request for an audience with the Earth King is being processed, and should be put through in about two months."

"Two months?" Sokka cried. "I thought you said Azami was going to meet him in a month and now it's going to take two?!"

Joo Dee shook her head, the smile never dropping for a second. "Oh no, the Princess' meeting is still on schedule," she explained. "However, as I said before, that is a private meeting between royalty, which you are not allowed to attend. The rest of you will have to wait for your own meeting with his majesty."

"But-"

Azami sighed loudly, cutting off Sokka's inevitable whiney response - talking about this out in the open probably wasn't the best idea, and the last thing she wanted to do was piss off the Earth King while they were no doubt being watched. "Just accept it, ponytail. She isn't changing her mind on this."

Reluctantly, she could tell, he eventually gave in and Joo Dee showed them all inside the house. It was fairly spacious, of course - seeing as they were in the upper ring now - but there wasn't really any excitement in the air, owing to the strange woman accompanying them. "Isn't it nice?" she asked to no one in particular. "I think you'll really enjoy it here."

"Well, if we're gonna be here for a month or two," Aang offered. "We should spend this time looking for Appa."

Joo Dee bowed to him, both arms crossed in her sleeves. "I'll be very happy to escort you anywhere you would like to go."

"We don't need a babysitter," Toph spat as she got up to leave.

For some reason, Joo Dee remained as insistent as ever, now getting in the earthbender's way to prevent her from leaving. "Oh, I won't get in the way," she promised with that creepy smile. "To leave you alone would make me a bad host. Where shall we start?"

"Maybe we should go out some other time, guys," Azami announced, trying to convey her concerns about the smiling woman. "We could use this time to get settled in and that way Joo Dee can attend to any other duties she may have. Personally, I still need to get this stupid wall sludge out of my hair-"

Beside her, Sokka reached out a hand, as if trying to touch it. "It doesn't look that bad-"

Not even giving him the chance, she slapped his hand away, and he whimpered slightly. Azami just roller her eyes - she didn't even hit him hard at all - and turned to face Aang, who was hitting her with the guilty pleading eyes. She winced slightly, realizing her statement probably came out wrong and wasn't helping team morale, a sentiment Katara definitely seemed to share since she was glaring straight at her.

Wanting a moment to talk in private, Azami gently pulled the airbender into a sperate room and shut the door so that Joo Dee couldn't overhear them. "Look, I'm sorry Aang," she whispered. "I know how badly you want to see Appa again, but we both know that isn't going to be easy or fast in a city this large. And honestly..." her voice trailed off as she looked over her shoulder at the closed door, hoping the creepy woman couldn't hear them. "I don't trust Joo Dee," she admitted. "I don't know what it is about her and the Dai Li, but the less they know about Appa, the better."

Aang looked up at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just..." she sighed, not sure how to explain this to him. "If you really have to go out today, be careful about what you say. There's a messy world in politics, and more than a few people would love to use you for their own ends - and honestly, I've been getting weird vibes ever since we arrived here. If they knew how much Appa means to you, they might-"

Azami cut herself off the second she heard the door open, Katara's head peeking in. "Everything alright?" she asked, seemingly oblivious.

"I... yeah, I guess so," the firebender hesitantly replied before turning back to Aang one last time with a knowing look. "If you guys are gonna search all of Ba Sing Se, you should probably get going. Just... remember what I said, please?"

Aang barely muttered a feeble 'I will' in response before he headed off with Katara following him, and Azami couldn't help feeling a little guilty. It wasn't that she didn't want to find Appa - she absolutely did - but Joo Dee would make that impossible, since even if her concerns were unfounded - they still couldn't afford to refuse the Earth King's 'hospitality' and make her go away.

She took only a moment to gather her thoughts, but by the time she headed back into the main room the others had already left, clearly eager to start searching. Spirits, let me be wrong for once, Azami pleaded internally to whoever might be listening.

Sokka P.o.V.

Well, that explained a lot.

After spending countless hours wandering the rings of Ba Sing Se - which, as Azami had already pointed out, proved utterly worthless while Joo Dee was accompanying them - Sokka had been ready to give up. No one knew about an animal black market, no one seemed to know anything about the hundred-year war - it was as though these people didn't know the world actually existed beyond the city's walls.

Thankfully, though, after a fair bit of smooth talking - and maybe a little threatening on Sokka's part - they finally managed to make their new neighbor spill the tea. Turns out, talking about the war was actually illegal, and those shady guys - the Dai Li, or whatever they were called? Yeah, he was right to call them shady before, since they were the enforcers of those stupid rules.

So, basically, they were going to be watched all day every day and anything they said outside the house couldn't have anything to do with, oh, the state of the entire world right now? Just perfect.

When they eventually returned to the house, dinner was already waiting for them on the large table above the living room, where Azami was lazily lying on the couch as she stared up at the ceiling. "Took you guys longer than I expected," she remarked as she sat up with a concerned look. "I take it she didn't leave you alone much?"

"Not even for a second," Sokka groaned. "At least we found out why, though - apparently, we can't mention the war here. Like at all."

The firebender sighed as she stood up, looking over at them with an almost pitying look. "I'm not surprised," she admitted. "Why deal with the mess of a panicking nation when you can just avoid it instead? It probably makes the job of keeping the city in order a lot easier."

Aang raised a brow at her suddenly pessimistic attitude. "So what? We just give up? Leave Appa to fend for himself?"

"Of course not," Azami insisted. "But we need to remember why we're here. The fact is, we only get to stay so long as the Earth King allows us - if we break his rules, we'll be forced to leave with no Appa and no military support. We can search for Appa, but as Toph said earlier - this place is just walls and rules. Like it or not, we have to follow them."

Sighing, Sokka nodded his head in agreement - she was right, they needed to be smart about this and pick their battles. As annoying as it was that everyone had dodged his questions about the Fire Nation today, he'd just have to deal with that moving forwards, and focus on seeing the Earth King - and finding Appa, of course.

"Come on, let's eat and get some sleep," Azami offered. "We can start looking again tomorrow, and hopefully this time we'll be out of the King's eye."

Apparently, that day had killed their motivation far more than Sokka realized, because several hours after everyone was awake the following morning they were all just slumped in the living room, bored out of their minds.

"I've got it!" Katara's voice suddenly called out, and Sokka barely lifted his head to see her running in with a parchment and a card in hand. "I know how we're gonna see the Earth King!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Toph wondered in a depressed voice from where she sat with her chin resting on the palm of her hand. "One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King."

Katara eagerly unraveled the parchment and started reading it out to them. "The king is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear!"

"You mean... platypus bear?" Aang asked.

The waterbender looked back at the parchment in confusion. "No. It just says... bear. And no - not skunk bear, armadillo bear, or gopher bear, either. Just... bear."

Everyone was silent for a moment as they let that set in. An ordinary, normal, plain bear?

"This place is weird," Toph muttered, voicing Sokka's own thoughts.

Katara then pulled the card out next, looking it over quickly. "And, it says here there's one ticket included for you, Azami," she explained as she handed the card to the firebender. "Maybe you can get us in?"

Azami grimaced slightly at the other girl's question. "I doubt it, normally these events are pretty strict about this stuff," she admitted, which got Sokka's thoughts spinning about how else they could get in. Maybe if she distracted the guards- "And please before you ask, no, I won't be able to sneak you guys in either."

"What?" he cried, unable to believe she already knew what he was thinking. "Why not?"

Toph laughed as she leaned back on her pillow, munching on a few nuts as she did so. "No offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you a mile away. You've got no manners."

Needless to say, Katara didn't like that one bit, but Sokka was more focused on himself right now - he could have manners if he wanted to! He just chose to be messy because he was used to it back home. It wasn't like he was physically encapable of being polite-

A burp suddenly caught his attention, and he looked back to Toph who was busy stuffing her face with even more food. "I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it," she explained to Katara. "You never learned anything - and frankly, it's a little too late."

"Aha!" Sokka cried out, pointing to the blind girl. "But you learned it! You and Azami could teach us!"

Aang smiled as he wrapped himself in a nearby curtain, wearing it like a cloak. "I'm mastering every element, how hard can manners be?" he questioned before straightening his back and putting on a very professional look. "Good evening, mister Sokka Water Tribe. Miss Katara Water tribe. Lord Momo of the Momo dynasty, your momoness-"

"Alright, let me just stop you right there," Azami cut in, holding up a hand to stop him while her face was buried in the other. "Even if those were actually the real titles, you would've already failed - you address by seniority, in which case royalty and wealth take precedence, meaning Toph and I. There's a reason the two of us spent years learning this stuff-"

Sokka scoffed as he stood up, wrapping himself in another curtain similar to Aang's. "Oh, lighten up," he teased her before matching Aang's professional salute. "Avatar Aang, how you do, go on."

Grinning, the airbender whipped his head down as a nod, and Sokka immediately followed suit. They continued nodding to each other a few more times before pain suddenly erupted in his forehead, and he collapsed to the floor, burying his head in his hands.

"Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys," Toph announced from nearby.

Rubbing his head a little more, Sokka sat back up and blushed slightly as he looked at the three disappointed girls. "But I feel so fancy," he whined.

Azami P.o.V.

While the other two girls were still getting ready, some random messenger soon showed up, requesting Azami's presence at the party slightly before schedule. He didn't say why, but insisted they leave almost immediately - so within fifteen minutes she'd hastily put on the nicest-looking dress she could find, did the worst hair styling she'd ever seen, and sprinted out the door while Sokka and Aang were busy playing four elements.

"So, uh, any idea why I'm being summoned so early?" the firebender wondered as the messenger continued to lead her towards the palace, but she was met with silence in response. After a while, she just got tired of asking and getting no response, so she just decided to save her breath the rest of the way.

When the palace eventually came into view, she was surprised by how empty the surrounding area was. Normally she'd expect at least a few tourists in the middle of the day, coming to see the center of the nation - but no. Strangely enough, there weren't even any guards around.

No Dai Li, no Joo Dee, no soldiers - just her and the messenger.

As they got closer, Azami really started to appreciate the differences between her home and this place - the Fire Nation royal palace was not, by any means, designed to hold off invaders or offer real safety. Unless things had drastically changed in the past century, the only defense it really had was a single wall and one large set of doors that served as a 'gate'. There, it was far more about appearance than practicality.

The Earth Kingdom palace, though - at least from the outside, she could tell it was a fortress. The walls and massive gates would serve to keep any invaders out - in her mind, potentially even strong enough to withstand the power of the comet. This was a place designed to last for generations, which it had very clearly succeeded at.

As they were passing through, Azami heard a loud slam behind her, and she whipped around in shock to realize the outer gate doors had been shut. She quickly looked ahead to the other side of the gate, where the inner doors were also shut before she could even move - and darkness engulfed the room they were in.

"W-what's going on?" she asked the darkness, summoning a small flame in each hand so she could see. In the corners of the room she could make out dozens of dark figures slowly working their way towards her, their robes entirely unremarkable save for the green circle with a square in the middle.

The Dai Li.

Internally, Azami fought with herself for a moment - should she fight? Doing so may easily just make things worse for her, since they were in the King's service - but she didn't exactly have a death wish either. If they just wanted an earlier private audience, they could've asked instead of pulling this shit.

Either way, she was taking a risk. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly one to take a defeat while lying down, so she decided to fight.

As soon as she made that choice, the Dai Li all punched outwards, and Azami yelped in surprise as she ducked under the earth hands that had been sent for her torso. She desperately kicked out a circle of flames around her, forcing the men to stay away from her for a moment while she tried to figure out a plan.

"Look, I don't know what you want from me," she announced to them. "And I'd rather not fight you, but would someone please explain what's going on here?"

Thankfully, one of the Dai Li seemed to understand her, as he dropped his arms and rose to his full height, gesturing for the others to stand down. "If you do not wish to fight, then put out your flames and do not resist. Your explanation will come soon enough."

Azami hesitated for a moment, but relented - after all, these people weren't her enemy (or at least, she hoped they weren't). You're in the King's palace, she reminded herself. If you want his support, play by his rules.

Reluctantly, she lowered the fire surrounding her until the passage was again engulfed in darkness. Without any warning, several of the Dai Li's rock hands shot towards her - two grabbing her wrists and cuffing them behind her back, two more covering her eyes and mouth. Essentially, all she could do was listen as she felt two agents grab her by the arms and drag her off to who knows where.

Of course, the second she felt them grab her, she started struggling - but eventually, it got to a point where Azami just stopped as she was dragged through corridor after corridor. From what little she could hear and feel, they seemingly continued walking for hours on end with no sounds of life around them, and she had no clue what was going on - there was no way the palace alone was this large.

Maybe they're putting me in a cooler, she thought bitterly. That was a classic way to contain rogue firebenders back home - maybe it would be here, too.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they came to a halt, her blindfold and gag being removed while her hands remained cuffed. She had to blink several times to get her eyes to adjust to the dim green lighting, but eventually everything came into focus, revealing what appeared to be a small library and a single man standing before her and her escorts.

"Welcome to Ba Sing Se, your highness," the man started with a quick bow. "I'm afraid I must beg your pardon for the way in which you have been brought here, but due to the nature of your presence, we felt it necessary to take extra precautions in order to protect the integrity of our operations..."

Azami just rolled her eyes as he continued to spout out the usual 'firebenders are dangerous' nonsense - she was already familiar with the speech. "Sir, if I may," she cut in. "I already know firebending is dangerous and I can't use it within the city walls, and I only used it back there because you basically kidnapped me. I'd appreciate it greatly if we could just get this over with, since it would go a whole lot faster if you just tell me what it is you want from me."

"Very well," the man nodded in agreement. "Please follow me then, your highness." He began walking towards a side door, but paused just for a moment to look back over his shoulder at her. "By the way, you may call me Long Feng."

Sokka P.o.V.

Well, so much for their brilliant plan.

Aang and Sokka had waited for a solid half hour for the girls to let them in, but since they never showed, the two boys eventually had to sneak in, pretending to be servers. After a while, they managed to find Katara and Toph, but there was no sign of Azami at the party - which was strange, since she was the only one actually invited in the first place.

"...the guy who let us in won't let us out of his sight!" Katara hissed, explaining the situation as quickly as she could.

He frowned at his sister's statement, looking over her shoulder to see absolutely no one strange around. "What guy?"

"What are you doing here!" a voice whispered from beside them, and Sokka jumped in surprise as he saw Joo Dee walking up to them. "You have to leave immediately, or we'll all be in terrible trouble!"

The crazy woman tried to push him out, but Sokka held up his tray and used it as a shield - no way was he just going without answers. "Not until we see the Earth King," he declared. "And by the way, where's Azami? We haven't seen her since we arrived-"

"You don't understand," Joo Dee interrupted, still wearing her signature creepy smile. "Her highness is preoccupied at the moment, now you must go!" She pushed even harder against him, and he accidentally bumped into Aang, causing the airbender to launch his entire vase of water at some nearby lady, who screeched in surprise as she was immediately drenched.

"Sorry!" Aang cried. "No, don't shout!" He quickly blew a gust of wind at the woman, which only managed to make things worse as her hair frizzled outwards and her makeup smeared even further.

Much to Sokka's surprise, though, she just gasped in shock as she stared at Aang. "The Avatar! Oh, I didn't know the Avatar would be here!"

Silence filled the room as everyone turned to stare at the airbender, who simply waved nervously at the sudden crowd. Perfect! Sokka thought - just the distraction they needed. "You keep their attention while I look for Azami and the King," he whispered before racing off, and a loud clamor erupted behind him as Aang presumably started to show off.

Asking around, Sokka quickly learned two things - first off, the King was due to arrive shortly but wasn't here yet. That was fine, as it gave him and the others time to prepare. What wasn't fine though was that not a single person had seen Azami - and, perhaps more concerning, none of them were even expecting her to be here.

By the time he'd talked to enough people to confirm his fears, though, the King started being pulled out on a palanquin while flanked by dozens of soldiers, and he knew his friend would have to wait. As she herself insisted - they needed to remember why they were here, and the sooner he talked to the King the better.

Sokka slowly worked his way through the crowd, occasionally peeking over someone's shoulder to ensure he was going in the right direction while remaining out of sight - and right as he saw his chance to race forwards, he took it. He immediately sprinted out of the crowd, waving to the King - but he barely made it ten feet before he was suddenly grabbed from behind with bruising strength.

"Hey!" he protested, looking back at the two Dai Li agents that had a hold on him. "Let me go!" His struggles proved worthless, though, as he was dragged out of the room and eventually brought to a small library dimly lit by a green fire. Much to his surprise, Katara and Toph were also waiting there, and soon Aang walked in with a tall man in a Dai Li uniform (minus the hat).

Naturally, he assumed this guy was in charge, but he was also blocking their path to the King - and Sokka wasn't having any of it. "Why won't you let us talk to the King?" he demanded, glaring at the stranger. "We have information that could defeat the Fire Nation!"

"The Earth King has no time to get involved with political squabbles," the man slowly replied. "And the day-to-day minutia of military activities."

Fortunately, Sokka wasn't alone in thinking that was a stupid excuse. "This could be the most important thing he's ever heard," Aang insisted.

"What's most important to his royal majesty is maintaining the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se," the man explained. "All his duties relate to issuing decress on such matters. It's my job to oversee the rest of the city's resources. Including the military."

Sokka's gut sank immediately - the King was worthless. A figurehead. And this man sounded like he had no interest in winning the war either, with the way he was dismissing them. He'd tuned out the conversation for a moment, but he had to simply come out and say it - or everything they'd gone through in the desert would've been for nothing.

"Look, we found out about a solar eclipse," he announced to the man, who gave him an irritated look. "It'll leave the Fire Nation defenseless, you could lead an invasion-"

"Enough!" the man shouted, rising to his feet in anger. "I don't want to hear your ridiculous plan. It is the strict policy that the war not be mentioned within the walls of this city, as constant news of an escalating war would throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a state of panic..." He droned on, saying exactly what Azami had said the day prior - it was just about controlling the city.

This man was playing around with the safety of the free world, and he treated it like a joke. No wonder they were losing to the Fire Nation.

"Until now, you have all been treated as honored guests," the man announced. "Something I would have thought you would all appreciate greatly, as we are permitting a firebender within our walls. But now, you will be watched by Dai Li agents every moment of every day. If you mention the war to anyone, you will be expelled from the city. Clear?"

The gaang all sighed as the man turned his back. "I understand you have been looking for your bison. It would be a shame if you were unable to complete your quest. Now-"

"Wait a moment," Sokka interrupted, realizing the huge red flag that the man was overlooking. "Where's Azami? I asked around, and apparently she was never at the party. What have you done with her?"

The man smirked as he sat down. "Not to worry," he said in a creepy tone. "She's busy right now and will likely return later this evening. Now," he continued with a stren glare, shutting Sokka up before he could spit out another argument. "Joo Dee will show you home."

Some random woman came in, wearing a familiar creepy smile but with a completely different face. "Hello, I'm Joo Dee. I'll be your host as long as you're in our wonderful city."

"That's it, I've waited long enough," Sokka snapped, shaking everyone else awake. It was still several hours after they'd returned to their new 'home', and Azami still hadn't come back yet from whatever she was doing with Long Feng. "She's been gone for hours, we don't know where she is, or how she's doing-"

Right on cue, the universe was ready again to prove him wrong, as the door to the house suddenly slid open revealing none other than the firebender herself. "Hey guys, sorry I'm so late," Azami quickly apologized as she walked in. "That meeting went on a lot longer than expected, so I kinda got caught up-"

Without another thought, Sokka immediately raced over and hugged her tightly, catching her off guard as she stopped talking and stumbled backwards a bit. "Where were you?" he demanded, pulling back to grab the firebender's shoulders as he searched her for any sign of injury. "Are you okay? We were worried sick! I almost had us all go out searching-"

"Sokka, I'm fine," she insisted, waving off his concern. "It was just the same thing as the Northern Water Tribe - the usual 'no firebending because reasons' crap, followed by some discussions on what I know of the Fire Nation. That's all."

He still refused to let up, though - she shouldn't have been gone for that long. "What exactly happened when you left?" Sokka pressed. "We asked around at the party, and no one had even seen you once! Those meetings don't sound like they would take nearly as long as it did."

"Well, after this weird guy Long Feng and I had our little chat, I met with the Earth Kingdom generals," Azami sighed, clearly growing exasperated when Sokka showed no signs of relenting. "Informed them about Sozin's comet, then answered questions about everything I knew of the Fire Nation for ages. You may have forgotten, but the exact same thing happened with the Northern Water Tribe."

There was something in his gut that felt off, but she certainly looked fine - no obvious signs of stress, or any physical harm, and Toph wasn't calling her out for lying either. "You were gone for hours though," he countered, meeting her gaze as firmly as he could. "Are you sure you're okay?" he checked one last time.

"As I said before, yes," she replied as she rolled her eyes in irritation. "Although if you ask me one more time, I think that answer might change."

Sokka sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, deciding to take her word for it. "Well... if you say so," he relented. "In any event, while you were gone, we met with some random Dai Li agent too, and he wasn't exactly what I would call... friendly."

"Let me guess," she smirked. "No interfering with the king, or we may not get Appa back?" Sokka's eyes widened in shock, and she shrugged. "Yeah, Long Feng hit me with that too. I'm sure we'll be fine - after all, we didn't come here to fix Earth Kingdom politics. Now come on, we've got a lot of long days ahead of us and we should probably just get some sleep."

Azami then headed off to her room without another word, the others all quickly following suit as they retired for the evening, leaving Sokka standing alone in the living room. He couldn't help it - there was more to this place than met the eye, and it wasn't a comforting thought at all.

When he finally did lay down to rest, it took hours for sleep to actually find him, his imagination running laps in his head, coming up with theory on top of theory. There's something strange going on here, he insisted to himself. And I'm going to find out what.

A/N; Holy shit that one was loooooong. Next few should be a bit on the shorter side, thankfully, since there isn't as much to cover in a single chapter with no good stopping point. Anyways, sorry again this took like almost two weeks lol, normally I'm a bit quicker with updates :/

Kinda curious to see what you guys think about this one ngl.