16 Chapter 16

Surrounded by hills and mountains, partly covered with snow and partly with grass, the hilly terrain created a beautiful impression of the surrounding areas.

"There it is, the great Earth Kingdom, and its city - Omashu!" Aang announced triumphantly, running ahead of all of us to the next hill and turning to face us.

Following him, we climbed up: myself, Katara, and Sokka. From the hill, we had an excellent view of one of the most famous and greatest cities of the Earth Kingdom. The city, located on a large, steep hill or small mountain, had its walls running right up to the edge, and a long, narrow, slightly winding bridge about five to six meters wide, crossing a huge chasm, connected the city to the rest of the mountains and hills.

"Wow! They don't build cities like that on the South Pole!" said Katara.

I completely agreed. In my previous life, people achieved incredible feats in architecture without bending, and ever more advanced materials allowed the creation of structures unimaginable to the locals.

However, compared to everything I've seen in this world, Omashu truly stands out with its grandeur, monumentality, and apparent impregnability.

I wondered, what does Ba Sing Se look like then?

I pictured in my head images of huge and unconquerable cities with massive walls and vast areas, while Aang headed towards the city, but Katara stopped him.

"Wait, Aang, if we just walk in like this, they might recognize you as the Avatar. It could be dangerous!" she said.

"Earthbenders are undoubtedly a great force, but Aang is the Avatar, after all. And what's so dangerous about it? The city hasn't been taken over by the Fire Nation, so there's none of them there, and the Earth Nation will only help us, I believe. Besides, aren't we headed to the North Pole? Why stop here?" I asked.

"Well... last time I was here, my friend Bumi came up with a way to use Omashu's postal system differently. He said that looking at these mail chutes, he sees the coolest slides with steep descents and the best curves!" Aang replied.

"Ah, I see. But what if we get caught? Or at least if they try to? What will we do? Meekly surrender or fight our way out? If we're going to fight, is it worth ruining our relationship with the city just for a ride on the slides? And if we surrender, what then?" I asked one question after another.

"Don't worry about it, Joe! I'm the Avatar!" Aang replied with a smile.

"Aang, he's right! We can't take such risks. What if we really get caught?

It would be very bad to say you're the Avatar and try to avoid punishment that way!" Sokka supported me, after a moment of thought.

This guy keeps impressing me with his brains!

"Well... okay."

"Maybe we can just go into the city? We need to buy food anyway, since we didn't take anything from Kyoshi Island and we're about to run out!" Katara chimed in.

"Yes, exactly!" Aang lit up with enthusiasm. "We'll just go in for food and that's it. Let's go, Joe, Sokka?"

Sokka and I exchanged looks and realized we were thinking the same thing, which made us both look somewhat sad at the same time.

This is definitely not going to end well!

"Alright, but remember, if this visit goes badly and they try to catch us, I won't let anyone take me without a fight. A very bloody and brutal fight, Aang, in my favorite style, sparing no one and regretting nothing. Do you understand, Aang?" I warned the Avatar very seriously.

Both he and Katara lost their smiles after my words, and the fire of enthusiasm in their eyes was gone. Sokka, however, was looking at them, squinting his eyes significantly.

"I'll make sure nothing happens, Joe. But you don't kill anyone..."

"I won't kill anyone just like that. At most - I'll cripple someone if there's a reason, a particularly brutal killing in a supposedly neutral city isn't the best start, you agree? But if the city becomes hostile... well, I've already said all I need to."

I was serious and didn't sugarcoat anything, so all three of them just nodded.

After walking a few meters, Katara suddenly remembered that we should disguise Aang. We couldn't think of anything better than to use Appa's, the Avatar's ten-ton flying bison, fur to make a semblance of gray hair and thick gray mustaches.

"How itchy this all is! And how do you even live with fur!?" Aang asked his bison, who just snorted and blew such a powerful stream of air that Aang was nearly blown away.

So, we headed down the seemingly not very wide stone path to the city. The path was actually quite wide, wide enough for two carts with a pair of oxen each to pass each other without any hindrance, but against the backdrop of the huge chasm, the path felt narrow and quite frightening.

Upon our arrival at the city gates, just as some guy with a cabbage cart was let in. The gates immediately slid shut behind him, revealing that it was a solid wall, constantly opened and closed by earthbenders.

At the entrance, one of the earthbenders made a couple of motions and raised a huge boulder above our heads, threatening to drop it at any moment.

"And who might you be!? What business do you have!?" asked the earthbender holding the boulder.

Aang stepped forward unexpectedly, displaying incredible acting skills and fully immersing himself in the role of an old man... which, in fact, he is! After all, he's one hundred and twelve years old, which is insanely old for a normal person.

"My business, young man, is none of your concern!" poking the staff into the bender-gatekeeper's chest and face, Aang started his performance.

I stood a bit aside, watching everything unfold with a bit of curiosity. Honestly, I couldn't have immersed myself in the role as well as he did! Simply top-notch!

In just a few minutes, we were inside the city, and the massive walls closed behind us, erasing all traces of the passage. Erasing the passage itself!

"Sokka, I'll go check out the market, see what I can find, and you keep an eye on these two. I hardly trust their judgment. And you," I turned to Katara and Aang, "well, I've already mentioned what could happen. So, for the sake of the local law enforcement and civilians, don't turn the city against us."

Enjoy reading, and don't forget: for every 200 Power Stones you donate, I'll post an additional chapter.