Love in Danger chapter 6: Insurgency

[A/N: If I make mistakes comment on them so I can fix them]

Long Feng's commanding presence stood looming before hundreds of cloaked figures who gazed awed at him as they prepared themselves for his much-anticipated speech. They were a mile underground in the resurrected base of the Dai Li, Lake Laogai. The room in which they were was an enormous damp cave, illuminated by dim, green lights. Each of the men stood quietly with an air of discipline and loyalty.

"Loyal subordinates" Long Feng said in a declaratory voice. "After years of waiting the time is finally at hand! After 4 years of attempting to reconstruct itself in the wake of the war's end the Earth Kingdom is now weak; its economy in shambles, its army scattered and disorganized, and its ruler in question for the first time in centuries! Now is the time to strike!"

The men remained silent despite the impact the words had on them. The agents of the Dai Li who had assisted in Long Feng's veiled control of Ba Sing Se had either been arrested and executed by the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation militaries or had fled into exile. Long Feng had spent the years subsequent to the war secretly and quietly rebuilding the Dai Li. Most of the men he had assembled were citizens of the Earth Kingdom especially poor farmers or merchants from the outskirts of the kingdom who had been displaced by the war and driven into desperation by the ravaged state of their nation and the Earth King's harsh taxation (which Long Feng had conceived and enacted himself while he was still grand secretariat to Ba Sing Se). Using what remained of his great wealth, Long Feng took these men in, helped them to master their Earthbending and trained them as his agents.

"When the Fire Lord's soldiers came to destroy your homes and kill your families the Earth King was content to sit idly by and do nothing" Long Feng continued. "It is because of him that your lives were in wrecks when I found you. But who was there for you when your wife was defiled and your children crushed under the hammer of a Fire Nation soldier? I was! Who was there when your parents were burned alive and your possessions were scattered all over the road? I was! Who was there when you were forced to watch your home burn to the ground as crowds of screaming, orphaned children ran screaming past you? I was! Who was there when you were a poor, battered refugee trying to sell a dried husk of corn to get enough money to buy a decent pair of shoes to protect yourself from the ratvipers as you slept outside like a common animal? I was! Who was there when every single person you ever cared about was cut down and slaughtered like beasts as those inhuman monsters laughed in pleasure?"

"Long Feng!" the crowd cheered.

"That's right!" their leader said. "And now after all this time in waiting we will finally have our revenge against that selfish tyrant who allowed it all to happen!"

The agents erupted into thunderous applause. "Death to the Earth King! Death to the Earth King!" they chanted.

"No. Not yet at least" Long Feng interjected when the crowd calmed itself. The men appeared confused and disappointed at this remark until he continued, "That would be much too crude. We want more than the simple death of our enemy. If the King dies then another corrupt bureaucrat will simply take his place and things will stay the way they are. If we wish for things in our country to improve we must overthrow the government all together."

Two agents stood adjacent to Long Feng. Their names were Poli and Jing, the only agents who had remained loyal to him since before the end of the war. Poli stood at his right, Jing at his left.

"How will we do that sir?" Jing asked. Jing was distinguishable by his brown mustache.

"We will convince the people of the Earth Kingdom to rebel against the totalitarianism regime. We must make them question their required loyalty to the Earth King and once they do they will cease to obey him. Of course we must offer something in return. We will offer them freedom" Long Feng explained.

"Freedom?" Jing repeated.

"Yes my trusted servant" Long Feng said with a dire smirk. "Freedom from the Earth King's tyrannical rule, freedom from the Earth Kingdom itself; that is what we will offer. We will free the citizens of the Earth Kingdom from the King's oppression by establishing a new regime with me as their wise, compassionate leader. It will be a peaceful orderly society with the Dai Li preserving its cultural heritage and integrity for all eternity."

The members of the Dai Li stood in unsure apprehension as they digested the magnitude of their master's proposed plan.

"How will we do that sir?" Poli asked after many minutes of silence.

"Simple," Long Feng answered, "You, the Dai Li agents, will take to the streets of every corner of the Earth Kingdom and tell of the Earth King's autocracy and corruption; you will hide among them, make yourselves out to be simple merchants and farmers as you once were. Tell them of the atrocities of your life and of how the King is to blame for them. When the soldiers come to collect taxes from them and after they have sold their entire crop and have earned but a single gold piece tell the citizens that is a better way than this, that there could be without the Earth King's greed. And you will tell them of me Long Feng, leader of the Dai Li, the only man brave enough to oppose the cruel dictator and give them the option to rally to our cause. Tell them of how we will stand outside Ba Sing Se's great wall and demand fair treatment, and how when he refuses we will bring down the wall and overthrow the entire bureaucracy, casting aside the Earth King and his fraudulent regime and replacing it with a new regime, with me, Long Feng standing as its proud, kindhearted leader, and you the Dai Li always at my side. We will convince the disgruntled leader's within the Earth King's circle to join us and once we rally many subsectors to our cause we will have them succeed from the Earth Kingdom, forming our own perfect Kingdom; the Kingdom of Laogai! And once our Kingdom and our army grow to formidable stature we will take back Ba Sing Se and it will be forever under the control of the Dai Li!"

The agents of the Dai Li burst into a frenzy of excited cheering. "Long Feng! Long Feng! Long Feng!" they jolted as they applauded.

"Now go!" Long Feng commanded. "Take to streets! Travel to the farthest corners of the Earth Kingdom! Do as I have instructed and await further orders, but do not reveal yourself, if the King detects a whisper of our plot it will all unravel. It may take months, even years, but we will have our revenge and our freedom!"

As the agents dispersed and prepared to receive individual assignments of which part of the Kingdom they were to travel to Poli and Jing, being the most trusted and highest ranking of the members stayed with Long Feng.

"Sir," Poli began, "what are we to do about the Avatar?"

"He is the King's ally" Jing reminded. "He is also powerful enough to stop us single-handedly."

"Do not lose a moment's sleep over this conundrum my servants" Long Feng assured confidently. "We will deal with him and his friends soon enough."

Meanwhile in Ba Sing Se, Iroh was instructing Toph in the proper technique in brewing the perfect pot of tea made from the rare Green Jade Flower.

"The secret is in the timing" the intelligent old man instructed Toph as she carefully added the tea leaves into the boiling water. "If the tea is given too much or too little time to settle it will become bitter. You must find balance and moderation." Iroh's tea making lessons tended to include messages that could be applied to more than just tea.

Iroh allowed Toph to judge for herself the proper amount of time for the leaves to ferment as he wanted her to gain experience. Finally after patiently critiquing the potency of the water, she removed the small kettle from the fire. Iroh took a small sampling cup and poured himself a glass, as Toph anxiously awaited his verdict.

After taking a sip of the drink Iroh closed his eyes as though he was deep in thought and considered his conclusion. "It is wonderful" he said after about 30 seconds.

"However," Iroh interjected, "there is still room for improvement. You left the kettle on for slightly too long, and while it did not turn the brew bitter, it is not as good as it has the potential to be. It was a common flaw of Earth; you were waiting patiently for the right moment to act, but the fault with this logic is that sometimes while you are waiting the proper time to strike appears but you do not notice it. Learn to judge with superior accuracy the perfect time to act and your combat and tea-brewing skills will rise dramatically."

"I will, you can count on it" Toph promised.

"I will my old friend" Iroh said as he placed the kettle on a tray. "Now come on, we should not keep Aang and Katara waiting any longer."

"Aang and Katara are here?!" Toph shouted happily as she jetted to her feet.

"Yes, and they have brought wonderful news with them. "Toph and Iroh exited the kitchen and entered the Jasmine Dragon. It was the end of the day so it was completely empty save for one table occupied by Aang and Katara. As usual of these visits Appa peeked his gargantuan head through the entrance of the restaurant curiously as Aang's flying lemur Momo rested on his head.