Chapter 19: There Is No War

Everyone seemed to wake up early the next morning.

It's pretty rare to see the others awake before me. Except Toph, of course. She's still sleeping.

"Hey, Morning. It's pretty rare to see you guys awake so early."

Sokka responds while stretching.

"Morning, Lu Chen. Yeah, we need to wake up early and head to Inner Ba Sing Se. We need to tell the Earth King about the plan for the eclipse invasion-"

I hurriedly interrupt Sokka. Damn, he already said too much.

"Whoa, not so loud!"

I look to Azula in the corner, seemingly still asleep. Azula is a great liar, so even with my feet sensing her heartbeat, I still can't tell if she's awake or not.

She might've already overhead. I'll just have to keep a closer eye on her.

Sokka looks at Azula and back to me.

"Hehe, sorry."

"Sigh, whatever, nothing we can do about it. And neither can Azula, since she's our prisoner."

Sokka goes back to his room to gather his things and I do the same.

Toph is still sleeping.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. It's time to go."

I sit down next to Toph and pat her cheek.

"Come on, wake up. If you don't I'll force you up."

"Ugh, five more minutes..."

"Sigh*... What do I have to do to wake you up then? Want me to earthbend you up to the ceiling, or do you want me earthbend you to the side and out the door?"

Toph opens her eyes slightly, and with a tired look, suggests another option while raising her hand into three fingers

"Third option: A kiss."

"Haha, alright sleeping beauty."

I bend down and give Toph a short kiss on the cheek.

Toph smiles and lifts her upper body into a sitting position.

"Not a bad way to start the morning. Maybe you should do that every day."

"If I can get you awake in less than 5 minutes, then I'm all for it."

"So, what's happening that we need to wake up so early?"

"We're gonna go to Inner Ba Sing Se to speak with the Earth King."

"Oh, cool, I guess."

We hear footsteps heading to our room followed by knocks on the door.

"Hey! It's Katara! We're gonna be heading out in a few minutes, so get ready."

"You heard her, Toph. Change and let's go."

"Yeah, yeah."

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We were informed to head to a local government office in Inner Ba Sing Se to request a meeting with the Earth King.

Everyone hops on Appa and we fly over to the nearest government building.

While on the way, I start thinking of ways to overthrow the Dai Li, or at least, control them.

As Azula said in the show, 'Whoever controls the Dai Li, controls Ba Sing Se.'

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When we arrived at the government building we were greeted by a woman with an unnatural smile in her face. There are a couple of Dai Li agents behind her.

Getting off from Appa, she steps forward to greet us.

"Hello, my name is Joo Dee. I've been assigned to give a tour of Ba Sing Se to The Avatar and his friends! And you must be Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Lu Chen! Welcome to the city. While we tour these guards will take care of the prisoner."

Sokka walks up to her and explains our plans.

"Yeah, we need to see the Earth King about the war. We got vital information on the Fire Nation."

I walk up as well.

"That, and I can take care of the prisoner just fine."

The two Dai Li agents step forward and launch their hook... things... at the cage that contains Azula and pull it towards themselves.

"We will take care of the Fire Nation Princess."

The Dai Li agents cover the cage with a large blanket and start walking away. I try to protest, but the rest of the team stops me.

"Maybe this is for the best, Lu Chen. We gotta focus on the plan, we can always take care of her anyways. We also can't afford to get in trouble by attacking people."

"...Fine."

This predicament might compromise the invasion plan. Azula may ask Long Feng to deliver a message about the eclipse to the Fire Lord in order to make up for her failure.

Long Feng may very well ask for ransom the same way I did, too.

Hopefully, my message arrived first and puts Ozai off to any other message mentioning his daughter and a ransom.

Ozai will likely listen to the eclipse warning, though.

Long Feng may be untrustworthy, but he'll likely have an interest in keeping the war going for longer. He'll definitely tell Ozai in his message.

There goes my hopes of ending the war early. Thanks a lot Long Feng.

Joo Dee steps up with her fake grin and beckons us to a carriage.

"Great! Now, let's get started!"

Aang steps up as he watches the Dai Li leave.

"Who are those guys?"

"Those are the Dai Li, cultural authorities to Ba Sing Se's traditions! It's best that we begin the tour now."

"... Might as well get this over with."

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After finishing the tour, Joo Dee shows us our new home. It's a big mansion in the Upper Ring.

"This is your new home! Please, rest and enjoy your day."

A messenger arrives and hands Joo Dee a scroll.

"More good news! Your request to an audience with the Earth King is being processed and will be put through in about a month!"

Sokka comically drops his jaw and puts on a frustrated face.

"A month?!"

Joo Dee, ignoring Sokka's complaints, just smiles.

"Six to eight weeks, actually."

"We can't wait that long. Can it be put through any sooner?"

"The Earth King is very busy. He will allow the meeting as soon as time permits."

"But we have info that can change the course of the war!"

"We are in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here."

I step forward in front of Sokka to speak.

"Well, if we're gonna wait a month, we might as well rest and plan out the invasion. Just let it go, Sokka."

Sokka turns to me to complain, but I give him a stern look.

"I got a plan. Trust me."

Sokka looks surprised, but nods his head.

Joo Dee claps her hands to get our attention.

"Well, I enjoyed being the Avatar's and his friend's host today. Do rest well in the meantime. Dinner will be delivered in a few hours."

Joo Dee turns to leave and gets on the carriage.

We turn to enter the house and unpack.

Sokka turns to me with a confused look.

"So, what's this plan of yours? Is it to meat the Earth King earlier than a month?"

"Yep. While we were touring the Upper Ring, I saw a poster advertising a party. A party in the King's Palace. And it's being held tonight."

Sokka and the rest of the team looks excited at the news.

"The problem is that we may need invitations, but we may get around that by Aang introducing himself as the Avatar. The second problem are those 'cultural authorities', the Dai Li. I'm suspicious of them. They may try to stop us, even if we're with the Avatar."

Katara looks at me quizzically.

"What makes you say that about the Dai Li?"

"Well, first of all, they knew about Azula. The second, is that Joo Dee would always deflect any mention of the Fire Nation and the war. It might be possible that mention of the war is strictly forbidden in this city, and those 'cultural authorities' are here to keep it that way."

Aang gets up from his laying position and asks a question.

"So you think that those scary robed guys are controlling info on the war? What reason would they need to do that?"

"Well, my dad, being the businessman he is, dealt with many people. He often took me along to those meetings. I remember one time he met with somebody in he higher ups of Ba Sing Se. Something about opening a store in the Upper Ring. Anyway, I couldn't get the name of the guy, but I remember him being very condescending and slimy. He wore similar robes to the Dai Li, only more... formal-looking."

"So your saying you might've saw the leader, or someone similar, of the Dai Li?"

"Maybe. All I know from all the meetings I attended with my dad, is that there are a lot of scummy and possibly bad people inside this city. Whoever is in charge of the Dai Li is probably not very good."

Everyone just looks at each other in silence.

"Okay, Lu Chen, we trust your judgement. What do you suppose we do?"

"I think we should just announce that the Avatar wants to attend the party. Preferably, as loud as we can, so that the Dai Li can't openly stop us. The King shouldn't know of us just yet, since Joo Dee said our request is being processed."

"Okay, once we meet the King what next?"

"Honestly, I don't know. It would depend on the King's decision. I can exactly predict what he's gonna say."

He might not have a chance to say anything since Long Feng will probably intervene.

"For now, we should just get ready. We should at least buy some nice clothes to not put off the King with our current outfits."

Toph raises her hand in the air as she lays on the ground next to me.

"I agree. We may be friends with the Avatar, but first impressions are important in noble society. You guys would be lucky to pass with those manners if yours."

Toph says this as she picks her ears.

Katara takes notice of this and trust teasing Toph.

"Manners, huh? You're not exactly showing off right now."

"Hey, me and Lu lived and learned our noble manners. We chose to leave it behind."

Sokka stands up and points at me and Toph.

"Ah! Then you can teach us!"

"Maybe it's a little too late. How about you let me, Aang and Toph handle talking to the Earth King while in public."

Sokka droops his arms down and puts on a bored face.

"Fine. As long as we get to talk with the Earth King, I'm good."

After settling in the simple plan, we all go out to get quality party clothes for the boys and dresses and make up for the girls.

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Boo, no action!

Also, I'm gonna change to a third person writing style.

I don't know why I haven't tried to write in third person, but now that I think about it, I feel it would be easier to explain most scenes this way. I'm so dumb lmaoooo.