"Hey Bumi." I greeted the king as I hooked his coffin-like cage onto a pulley system. I stood on the scaffolding of a construction site.

"Hello, young Hotmen. How we doin' this fine afternoon? Well? Flamin'?"
Oh. he was using the old slang. Hotmen.
"Uh. You do realize that we don't say that anymore, right?"
"Why ever not? That's just cray-cray! A fire bender should be flamin', and waterbenders give watery smiles. Earthbenders have rocky relations. And airbenders run like the wind."
"Wow. Always the comedian. So punny."
he shrugged, bones cracking. I stared at him hard before starting the mechanism.
Squeak. Squeak.
Slowly but surely, his cage inched down towards where Azula, Ty Lee and Mai were standing. A giant fluffy monster was parked beside the site. Bumi laughed.
I still couldn't believe that thin tiny, frail and deranged old grandpa could be a powerful bender. But hey, looks can be deceiving.
Squeak. "Wait! Young firebender! I have something to tell you!" He cried out, head wriggling around. It was so sudden that I immediately stopped the pulley system with a deafening shriek. I winced, grabbing my now-numb ears.
"WHAT?" I yelled.
"If you meet my good friend the Cabbage Merchant, tell him King Bumi says hello. And hello to Beatrice, too!"
I stared at him. He was as dotty as a doughnut.
"That's your important message? To say hi to a cabbage merchant?"
He shrugged." Tsai is a very good friend of mine. Very knowledgeable."
I shook my head. It's sad when they get old." Fine. Anything else?"
"Other than the fact that I don't have a pet chicken,no!"
"If you think that I'm going to fetch you a chicken, you're crazy." I crossed my arms, looking down.( which is very hard to do when you're trying to look intimidating.)
"I'm insane BOTH ways!" He cackled. "Plus, Chicken is already here!"
Cluck, cluck, cluck.
I stared at him in disbelief. How'd he even smuggle a chicken in there?
"Yaaaah!" I shrieked, clearing out my head. If I didn't start the thing now, I'd be just as insane as him!
He plummeted down with an enthusiastic yelp, and landed right behind Azula.
From my place here, on the scaffolding, I could see that they were joined by two blue people and a bald person. The Avatar and his water tribe friends, I'd gathered.
I sneered at the site of them. I wasn't very fond of the water tribe. In particularly what they did to me. What they did to my mother.
I sighed and shrugged off the memory.
A shiny bracelet hung on my left wrist. A black oinx charm in an indecipherable shape hung there, with a lone triangle emerald etched in it. Like an eye. It glinted in the afternoon sunlight. It was the only thing left of her.
A loud bang was heard in the distance, snapping me back into reality.
"Yaaaaahhhhhhh!" A shrill voice echoed through the stone valleys surrounding the city.
Instinctively, I reached over to my back and grabbed an arrow from the quiver. The now which was slung across my back was now in my sweaty hands. I looked around for the source of the sound.
A small dust cloud was tumbling down thrall chute, followed by crazy columns of bright blue fire. What the...?
The only person to actually have blue fire was Azula. But what was she doing on the mail chutes?

"NOOOOO!!!! MY CABBAGES!!!!!" Another piercing shriek shook me out of my thoughts. What is with people and screaming me out of my thoughts today? "MY CABBAGES!!!" came the same high-pitched horror trying to murder my ears." CABBAGES!!!" Okay, now I understood why Azula threw the grenade.
Looking down, I saw a dark man with green fabric wrapped all over his tiny head, holding a cabbage while cowering in a corner with a pile of green veggies.

"HOLD YOUR CABBAGES-I MEAN HORSES!" I hollered towards the man. I sprinted to a rope dangling from the scaffolding and grabbed it, then slid down using it as a temporary slide down.
"ROOOOOPPPEEE BUUUURRRRNNN!"
I landed next to the shaking man, brushing off my hands. And instantly regretting it. My hands were raw, and they were burning in agony.

"Who are you? Are you trying to hurt my cabbages? If so, OVER MY DEAD BODY!" He shrieked the last part, his voice cracking.
"Relax." I looked at his fallen cabbage stand, cabbage corpses littered the ground. A half broken sign said' 包心菜' which meant cabbages. Oh,is this the merchant Bumi was yapping about?
"Any chance you're the merchant with Beatrice?" I asked.
Please say yes please say yes. I didn't want to walk all over the city, calling out for a cabbage merchant. That'll look so stupid.
"What's the password?" He said, suddenly tensing up and clutching the cabbage like a prize.
"Um, king Bumi says hello, and hello to Beatrice?" I guessed.
"Oh good Gods, she's finally here, Beatrice!" He said to the green vegetable in his arms.
He relaxed and put 'Beatrice' in my arms, then turned to the remains of the stand, and plucked out a box from a drawer.
"Here, take it. Where the key is, I do not know. Now, leave me with my poor cabbages. I've to bid them farewell. Come, Beatrice." He took the cabbage again.
I decided to leave the place before checking the box, because it was awkward.
I should be glad that I did. The moment I stepped away from him, he began to sing. In a very disturbing, snot-soaked, off-key way.
"Oh cabbages, you fled to the halls of Valhalla, I'll remember you, Fred, for that one time I accidentally sat on you. May they sing your name with pride and fury, so that we may hear it rise again from the depths of Valhalla... For great cabbages have fallen....."
As they say, birds of a feather flock together.
Bumi's friends were insane.
Yeesh.