Chapter 17: Sinful Shoppers

Xisheng's time in the Beifong estate was wrapped up quite quickly following the battle with the Avatar. He was actually quite impressed by it: after all, Lao and his wife had walked in on a catastrophe in which only the Fire Nation infiltrators were remaining, and only to hear the news of how his daughter had been kidnapped no less.

Naturally demands as to what happened were the first thing to come out of the patriarch's mouth, and one would think it difficult to lie your way out of such a situation: but Lao had taken practically everything Azula had told him at face value. That had included mention of the Avatar, his daughter being kidnapped against her will and Azula and company's valiant but futile effort to stop it all. Following this there had been a great degree of panic, which was understandable, but Azula had done a wonderful job of taking her deception -and her gain- to the next level.

Not only did she convince Lao that she and her 'mercenary' band would pursue the Avatar to rescue his daughter, she had even convinced him to pay them in advance to do so. The total profit wasn't as high as it could have been, since they obviously didn't get the payment for protecting Toph with the outcome that had occurred, but it was still a significant sum.

Granted, Earth Kingdom currency would be worthless when the Fire Nation took over the world, but until then it could prove useful. After all, with another leg of their journey in sight, provisions would probably be useful. Besides, whatever was left over could be melted down and reused for more useful things sometime in the future.

Either way, the entire thing had gone remarkably well. The only hiccup was a sneer from one of the guards, which, from his point of view, must have been warranted. They had failed to 'protect' Toph, after all. Of course, his disdain didn't last long, since both Azula and Mai were capable of mustering some pretty fearsome glares.

Ultimately, they tricked Lao entirely, left his estate with no one any wiser to their true identities and had plenty of money to stock up on whatever they wanted for the trip to their next destination. Naturally, Xisheng was forced to carry the hefty chest of gold they had been given, though he was fully aware that he was best suited to the task.

At this exact moment, he and his companions were perusing the markets of Gaoling for anything they deemed useful, though Xisheng imagined they would likely get some things that weren't necessities while they were at it. They had plenty of money to spare after all, and he could see Ty Lee eyeballing plenty of products he wouldn't really call necessary.

Depending on how inclined to shopping sprees these girls were, Xisheng figured he might have to remind them that everything still had to be carried to the Overlord somehow.

But considering that they hadn't actually eaten much of anything today, coupled with the stamina they'd lost during the fight with the Avatar, food was in everyone's sights right now. Xisheng was certain he could hear everyone's stomachs growling, though he was equally certain neither Azula nor Mai would ever admit to it.

Perhaps Ty Lee picked up on this as well.

"You know, we could just find a nice restaurant to sit down at. We've hardly had a chance to do that since we got back together again!"

Frankly Xisheng wasn't opposed to the idea, but Azula was quick to reject it.

"While I'm fully aware that we have no hope of catching up to our quarry straightaway, I don't believe it would be prudent to waste time relaxing here when we could be moving on. We'll find food we can take with us."

The acrobat pouted upon hearing this, no doubt a little dismayed by all of this urgency and focus on a singular goal. Xisheng imagined she would have liked to spend some time relaxing with her friends every once in awhile, considering how long they had been apart. Strangely enough, Mai took it upon herself to comfort the brunette, or maybe she was just stating a fact.

"We can always cook something more substantial while traveling. Just find some snacks for now or something."

These words did put a smile on Ty Lee's face, though Xisheng didn't quite muster the same reaction. Did any of them actually know how to cook? He couldn't picture any of the girls being competent in it. Besides, what were they supposed to cook with using the Overlord? The engine?

Either way, as the group of four came to stand in the center of the Gaoling marketplace, Azula leveled her gaze at her companions. "In the interest of time, I suggest we split up and gather what we feel is needed. There's plenty of gold to go around, and we're unlikely to need it after this, so take however much you think you need to meet your purposes. As for you-"

She focused her vision on Xisheng specifically.

"I recommend finding a very large bag to carry all of this in."

Xisheng resisted the urge to sigh as he opened up the chest Lao had provided so everyone could grab a share of their funds. He supposed the role of pack mule was understandable when his only other companions were all women, but Azula could have at least been a little more considerate of his exertions. At least Ty Lee had the presence of mind to do so.

"Sorry Gohan: I'll be sure not to get a bunch of stuff to pile onto you, okay?"

With that, everyone spread out among the place of commerce, leaving Xisheng alone as he held what was left of Lao's payment in his arms. Despite the fact that roughly half of it had been depleted, it was still pretty heavy.

With a clear product in mind, it didn't take Xisheng long to locate the kind of carrying capacity he needed. It was a large, dark green backpack that wasn't all that dissimilar from the types of rucksacks he had carried around during regular deployment, being nearly as large as his torso in both length and width. It had sturdy enough straps to hold a significant amount of weight, so he figured it would be more than enough. Following the purchase, Xisheng had stored what was left of the gold within the bag and practically donated the chest to the shopkeeper, seeing as how it was just extra weight at this point.

Having accomplished his one mission, Xisheng decided to make the rounds of the marketplace and see if he could find out what the girls were up to. He was kind of curious to know what they thought 'necessities' were.

His search didn't take too terribly long: Xisheng hoped it was just because he knew the identities of the people he was looking for, and not because they really stood out this much. Granted, in his eyes they really did stand above the rest of these regular people, but that was probably due to his personal experience with them.

Either way, it hadn't been too hard to pick Ty Lee out of the crowd as she stood in front of a stall that was selling various snacks and treats. She had apparently taken Mai's suggestion to heart.

Xisheng didn't announce his presence right away, eager to observe one of his companions outside of interaction with either him or the others for once. And yet, even as he approached silently from behind, the girl seemed to identify his presence immediately, turning to face him as he got close.

"Hey Gohan! I see you found a sturdy bag."

More than a little confused as to how she had detected him, Xisheng figured there was no harm in asking.

"Not that I was trying to sneak up on you or anything, but how did you know it was me? I didn't make any noise and you didn't see me."

Amused by his confusion, Ty Lee grinned at him. "I can just tell. You've got this kind of... presence."

"I'm not sure how to take that hesitation in your voice."

"Don't worry, I meant it in a good way. It's comforting. Warm. And even if you didn't have that going for you, your aura is always so vibrant. Lots of gold, orange, red, and pink. You've got some nice spurts of blue in there too."

Xisheng wanted to question this whole aura business since he had no clue what Ty Lee was talking about, but any follow up question was interrupted by the man running the stall.

"Hey, if you two aren't going to buy something, get out of the way. There's other people I could be selling to."

Frankly, Ty Lee was a little sick of people in this city rudely interrupting her in the middle of conversations with her friends, but Xisheng didn't seem bothered by it. Maybe he figured the man had a point, which was why he turned the conversation to the topic of purchases.

"What were you thinking of buying here, Ty Lee?"

Turning her attention back to the stall and its wide array of goodies, the brunette smiled. "I just wanted to get a treat for everyone. We all deserve one after everything that happened today!"

Hearing her explanation, Xisheng couldn't help but smile as well. Of course her first thought was of everyone else. Honestly he wasn't surprised: Ty Lee was possibly the sweetest person to ever walk the Earth, after all.

"What kind of treats? Do you know what the others even like?"

Turning a mockingly offended glance his way, Ty Lee gave her reply. "What kind of friend do you take me for? Of course I do! It's just a matter of finding the right things..."

Ty Lee turned to perusing the stock available, and Xisheng watched as she asked questions about different foods. Namely, about which things were spicy and which were the sweetest. Naturally it wasn't hard for the vendor to point out which of his products were which, so in no time at all the acrobat had several things in a bag; a spicy dumpling of some sort, a fruit of some kind covered in chocolate and a piece of bread that surely had something unique about it, though Xisheng couldn't tell what it might have been.

Once she had acquired all of that, Ty Lee turned to him with a smile. "Your turn: what do you like, Gohan?"

"I thought you said you knew what everyone liked?"

Hearing this reply, the brunette pouted a little. "That's not fair, we haven't talked about your eating habits yet!"

"Alright, but this is your only free pass. I'd like something sour, if there is anything."

Ty Lee stuck her tongue out in distaste. "Really? I don't know how anyone enjoys stuff like that."

"You asked."

"I did. Hey mister, do you have anything sour?"

With this question posed to him, the street vendor had a moment of hesitation in checking his stock. Sour was probably one of the least liked flavors, second only to bitter. Even so, he did have something, and he grabbed it to present to his customers.

Both Ty Lee and Xisheng looked confused by the stick of green crystal in his hand, as it didn't really look edible. The look on their faces must have been pretty telling.

"Don't worry, it's not actually a rock. It's sugar, fused with sour lemon juice. They make them in Ba Sing Se. I'll let you try a small piece if you want."

With a shrug, Xisheng took the sample he was offered and tasted it. He was honestly surprised to get such a good tart kick out of it, but he also found that the candy made for a pleasant chewy experience. He was more impressed than he cared to admit.

"I like it. How about three?"

"As you will, fine sir. Just give me a moment to calculate the price of all this..."

Considering that Lao had paid them in only gold pieces, Xisheng and Ty Lee had to deal with some math and the return of some change, but in the end they got a hold of their various treats, and at a relatively tame cost. With no reason to stick around, Xisheng roped his companion into helping him search for Azula and Mai, though the acrobat of course ensured that their search was not carried out in silence.

"Alright Gohan, since you wanted to tease me, let's see how well you know the rest of us already. Who do you think each of these treats is for?"

Chewing on his own candy, Xisheng furrowed his brow in consternation.

"Well, if I were a fool, I'd say the spicy one is for our taskmaster, the sweetest treat is for you, and the comparatively plain bread is for Mai."

Ty Lee cocked an eyebrow at him. "But you're not a fool, right?"

"Right. I'd only make those assumptions if the only thing I had to go on was a first impression of all of you. But since I do actually know a few certain facts... I think the spicy one is for Mai. That said, I can't actually be certain about the other two. One would think you'd like sweet things, but I don't have anything to really base that on other than your personality, which is totally unrelated to preferred taste."

With a smile, Ty Lee withdrew the loaf of bread from the bag the vendor had provided and took a hearty bite out of it. "Well, you're right on one point and wrong on the other. Truth is I don't actually like sweet things all that much. I don't mind it but it has to be kind of tame."

Drawing some conclusions from what Ty Lee had revealed, Xisheng's expression became amused. "Wait, so if I was right on the other bit, meaning the spicy one is for Mai, that means the sweet one is for...?"

Ty Lee couldn't help but grin.

"Yep. She's a real sucker for anything like this: she's got a serious sweet tooth. It's so weird, isn't it?"

"You said it. Then again, I suppose most people wouldn't assume that Mai likes spicy things, just based on a first impression."

"Speaking of which, how'd you guess that?"

Xisheng kept his eyes focused on the crowd around them as he answered, looking for their scattered compatriots.

"Well, I think I've established that Mai's stony exterior conceals a fairly adventurous spirit. Or maybe she's adventurous by necessity, since that's a prerequisite to finding something she can actually enjoy. It just seems like she would enjoy something with a bit of kick to it."

A mixed expression crossed Ty Lee's face, some sort of combination of dismay and appreciation. Because he was keeping a lookout, Xisheng didn't notice it.

"Always so insightful..."

Xisheng may have noticed the somewhat dour tone of her voice under normal circumstances, but at that moment, he noticed one of the people in question. He pointed her out to Ty Lee, who quickly doused her slight disgruntlement as they approached her.

Because her back was facing them, Xisheng and Ty Lee couldn't tell what Mai was inspecting as she stood at a vendor of her own. But as they came to stand up behind her, the two weren't really surprised to learn that her attention was on knives.

Arrayed on a platform that belonged to a burly man with hairy arms was a dozen different knives in various designs. Mai was holding a curved one in her hand as she examined it with a critical eye. For the life of him, Xisheng couldn't tell how her appraisal was going.

The shopkeeper seemed pretty confident in the prospect of a sale, with his arms folded in assurance and a smirk on his face. Of course, his words made it pretty obvious as well.

"You won't find better knives in Gaoling. These babies are made from the finest steel, and I've shaped them all myself. One of these could protect you against even the most ferocious beast!"

Naturally, Mai didn't seem very impressed by any of these claims. All she did was flip the silver steel in her hand so she could see the other side.

"So you sharpened these things, but in all of your eminent wisdom forgot to quench them? This steel isn't even hardened."

"The hell do you mean it isn't hardened? It's metal, it's already hard, lady."

With an expression that clearly wasn't enthused, Mai drew one of her own black knives, confusing everyone present when she slid its edge across the knife she was examining. You would think metal on metal would skate cleanly, but Mai's knife got stuck every once in awhile, like it was getting caught on something.

"You see that? The edge of my knife is biting into yours. That's because my edge is hardened and yours isn't. You either didn't quench this at all or you did it incorrectly. You can even see where your edge has rolled."

The alleged knife maker clearly didn't think too highly of Mai's appraisal, as evidenced by the way he slammed his hands on the table before him.

"You expect me to believe that a girl like you knows what you're talking about when it comes to weapons!? I won't fall for some sort of slander scam!"

With a shrug, Mai planted the 'knife' into the vendor's table, gathering up a bag of goods at her feet that her two friends hadn't noticed until now.

"I'm not here to try and scam a shoddy hunk of metal off of you. You can keep them all: though I'm sure that one will be even more damaged when you pull it out of the table."

Ignoring the fuming vendor, Mai turned her back on him, coming face to face with Xisheng and Ty Lee. The moment of surprise that crossed her face proved she hadn't been aware of their presence at all. But once that expression cleared, Xisheng could have sworn he saw a bit of embarrassment. Maybe Mai didn't like the idea of her friends seeing her actually get 'riled up' about something, even if her version of it was so subdued.

"You two making a habit of eavesdropping now?"

Ty Lee shrugged, a cheeky smile on her face. Xisheng actually gave her an answer.

"Sorry about that. We just didn't want to interrupt you while you were in your element, so to speak. It's amusing to see you take someone down a peg with your knowledge on weapons."

With the tiniest of smiles, Mai brushed past her two comrades, prompting them to follow her. "Did you two find everything you were looking for? I see Gohan found a bag at least."

The group's resident brunette was on Mai's heels in no time. "Yep, and speaking of finding what we were looking for, here: this one is for you!"

With that, Ty Lee handed Mai the spicy dumpling she had bought earlier. As usual, Mai's expressive range was a little limited, but it was obvious that she was really grateful. Than again, she made that obvious enough verbally.

"Thank you Ty Lee. But you know you don't have to spend money on stuff like this."

"Oh come on Mai, it's not like it's even 'my' money. Besides, I got something for all of us. Hey, did you know that Gohan guessed right away that the spicy one was for you?"

Taking a bite out of that very treat, Mai didn't seem surprised by this information in the least. "I'm not surprised. He's sharp like that."

Suppressing a smile of his own, Xisheng held out his arms, motioning towards the bag Mai was carrying. "Would you like me to carry that for you?"

"Sure. Thanks."

Ty Lee frowned a bit as she watched the only male take on another load, even though he didn't seem bothered too much by it.

"Gohan, you don't have to carry everything just because we're girls. I feel kind of bad..."

"It's not because of that, Ty Lee. But it is easier for me to carry heavy things than the rest of you. I just want to make things easier where I can. Speaking of which, what did you get, Mai?"

Normally Xisheng would have expected a snarky reply, maybe something along the lines of 'just look in the bag and find out yourself', but Mai didn't go for anything like that, much to the soldier's surprise. Maybe her treat had actually put her in a good mood?

"Just some ingredients. We were kind of running low on the stuff we brought from Omashu."

Xisheng wanted to ask who in their party possibly knew how to cook, as he couldn't really picture any of the girls doing it and he knew he couldn't, but Mai didn't give him enough of a break in the conversation to do so.

"By the way, what did you get to eat? Kinda curious."

Xisheng couldn't see it since she was walking a bit behind him, but Ty Lee cocked an eyebrow at her female friend, a little surprised. Granted, it had been a few years since she and Mai had been around one another, but she couldn't recall the dark haired girl ever showing curiosity in the mundane things around her, nevermind actually admitting to it. Aside from Zuko, she never seemed to care about people's personal preferences or anything else of the sort.

Naturally the only male in the party wasn't privy to any of this, though he did of course know Mai well enough by now to see this as a little unusual. He didn't want to be presumptuous, but he liked to think that he was interesting enough for her to actually notice from time to time.

That being the case, he held up one of the green candies he had procured. "Some sort of special candy from Ba Sing Se. Despite being green they have a strong lemon flavor."

Without a word in reply, Mai simply held her hand out in his general direction. The implication was blunt, but obvious. Moreover, Xisheng didn't mind sharing, as he viewed it as a learning opportunity.

The candy he shared with his raven haired companion was swiftly consumed, prompting an expression that was unusually contemplative compared to Mai's usual state of being.

"It's definitely chewier than it looks. Not the most sour thing I've ever tasted, but I guess it's passable for the label."

"I'm honestly not surprised that you're into sour things too."

The young woman cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be an insult or a compliment."

"It's just an observation. It's how I guessed the spicy dumpling was yours: you seem like the kind of person that wants her food to liven up an otherwise droll existence."

While Xisheng didn't see anything wrong with his words, he noticed a mixed expression cross Mai's features. Frankly he couldn't discern its meaning, as the look didn't seem particularly good or bad, but he had no time to investigate anyway, as Ty Lee's arm came between the two of them, outstretched in order to point towards a certain spot in the distance.

"Hey, there's Az-I mean, well, you know. Looks like she found what she wanted too."

Both of them following her outstretched finger, Mai and Xisheng saw that Azula was indeed ahead of them, though she was not at a specific stand or kiosk. She already had a bag in her hand, and she seemed to be merely looking around, probably for her comrades. Being an astute individual and knowing who she was looking for, she didn't miss the approach of her allies.

Before anyone could even say a word of greeting, she practically dropped the bag she was carrying in Xisheng's grasp, forcing him to shuffle Mai's into one arm. The whole thing was quite precarious, spurring Ty Lee to action.

"Seriously Gohan, let me take one of those..."

"It's fine, just help me put one of them in the backpack."

Trying to determine which bag of items would fare better bouncing around in a pack, Ty Lee peeked into them to view their contents. The first to be investigated was Azula's, and the contents sparked a confused expression from Ty Lee.

"Bath supplies? When are we supposed to use these?"

Surprisingly, the expression on Azula's face was almost sheepish. "Well, we could stop by a fancy bath house or some such before leaving..."

Ty Lee's expression turned cross at this. "Hold on, you said that we didn't have time to stop and eat, but there's enough time to stop by a bath house?"

"Come now Ty Lee, hygiene is very important, and we can eat on the move. We can't bathe, for obvious reasons."

It was at this point Xisheng chimed in. "That's not true. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to find a river out there."

As recompense for his suggestion, both Mai and Azula leveled looks of disbelief at him. For noblewomen like them, the thought of bathing in a river must have seemed barbaric.

Despite the fact that they didn't say anything, Xisheng felt the need to defend his statement.

"Generally speaking, running water is actually quite clean, you know... besides, being so hypocritical would be a bit unbecoming..."

This statement was clearly directed towards Azula, and she absolutely didn't miss it. That said, maybe she felt that Xisheng was right, because she actually conceded.

"Very well. I find your statement to be dubious, but I suppose we'll forego my wishes for today: be grateful."

Xisheng and Ty Lee exchanged looks of exasperation behind Azula's back, with the latter moving to store the the bag of bathing products in Xisheng's larger one for easier transport.

As for Xisheng, he was actually surprised for some other reasons. One, he was surprised that the Princess hadn't brought such items of her own choosing from Gaoling. Two, he was somewhat impressed that Azula was willing to consider things made in the Earth Kingdom as worthy enough to use for her own body. He had half expected her to view anything less than what she was used to in the palace as beneath her.

Either way, with the entire troop having acquired what they were looking for, there was little left to do in Gaoling. They had failed to do the one thing they had come for, but in the end, Azula at least didn't consider it a complete loss. Xisheng didn't know how that could be, considering that the entire trip had been a failure tactically speaking, but if the princess was satisfied with the outcome he saw no reason to question her on it. What was important now was their next move.

Naturally, Xisheng didn't ask anything of the sort while they were still within Gaoling's walls. It wasn't until they were some significant distance from the main gate to the city that he dared ask for any plan the Fire Nation Princess may have had.

"If I may be so bold, Princess, may I ask what our next step is? After all, I feel as though we may be at an impasse."

Leading the small column of people that was her entourage, Azula barely glanced over her shoulder at the group's lone male.

"Is that so? Do tell."

By now aware that Azula actually appreciated his input, so long as it was good, Xisheng didn't feel as uncomfortable with her putting him on the spot like this anymore.

"It's just that I can't imagine the Avatar going anywhere other than Ba Sing Se at this point, seeing as how he doesn't really have any other options. That said, frankly I don't think infiltrating a city of that size would be all that difficult, but... getting beyond the Outer Ring would be nigh on impossible. Forged passports won't cut it if we want to get beyond that point, and beyond that point is almost definitely where the Avatar will be."

Returning her gaze to the grasslands that separated Gaoling from the forest the Overlord had been hidden in, Azula gave her response to this valid line of reasoning.

"Unfortunately, I agree with you completely. The Earth Kingdom's bureaucracy is an overall travesty, easy to take advantage of... but the inner rings of Ba Sing Se are the one place where people do their jobs properly, likely due to the fact that all the wealthy members of their society reside there. I wouldn't put infiltration down to an impossibility, but it is by far an utterly unlikely plan."

From the third position in the column, Mai sighed.

"I don't suppose this means we can just forget about all of this and go home?"

From behind her, Ty Lee pointed out how contradictory this was to some earlier sentiments from the girl.

"But Mai, going home would just mean returning to the way things were in Omashu before, right? Didn't you hate it there?"

"OK, fair enough..."

Ty Lee peered around Mai's body to speak to her friends in front. "Did you hear that Gohan? We're a major improvement on Mai's life."

Mai responded to that before the young officer could answer. "One of you is, at any rate..."

Perhaps realizing the implication of what she had said now that Xisheng was looking at her, Mai seemed to find great interest in something on the horizon. Unfortunately, Xisheng had no time to investigate the meaning of this, as Azula forcibly put the conversation back on track.

"At any rate, I believe our best course of action would be to return to the nearest Fire Nation outpost and acquire some intelligence on the overall situation. Last I had heard before leaving the palace, a major offensive was being planned for Ba Sing Se relatively soon. To plan anything without knowing the details regarding that attack would be folly."

A frown crossed Xisheng's face as he considered what Azula had said. He had only heard rumors while still serving in the enlisted ranks, but the way he had heard it, the next attack on Ba Sing Se would include a massive war machine that had been under construction for well over five years now. While he had no way of knowing how said war machine was going to be incorporated into an offensive, Xisheng had always felt uneasy about it. In his own humble opinion, an assault that revolved around a single unit or weapon was slated for failure.

Moreover, the Fire Nation had a history of overestimating their newest inventions. Every time a new weapon or vehicle was invented, whether it was a tank or a battleship, some old coots that were out of touch with the battlefield assumed it would be unstoppable. They'd deploy it alone or close to it, thinking it would somehow crush the enemy with its 'technological superiority' single-handed, only for the vehicle to get destroyed because it had no support. When the Firestorm battle tank had fist been introduced, several dozen of them had been lost due to such arrogance.

By now Fire Nation command had better adopted combined arms warfare, rarely comprising an assault force of one sole unit type, but there was no telling how overconfident the person in charge would get when they had a powerful machine that had taken years to build on their side.

Either way, there was little else to say on that front, so the party traveled the rest of the way in silence: or at least, they did until reaching the edge of the forest, at which point Azula came to a stop. Initially, it was unclear why she did this, but the reason was made obvious when she turned towards them all, trying to conceal some level of irritability.

"Mai, if you would..."

Clearly implying that she had no idea how to get back to the Overlord from here, Azula suffered a few grins at her expense, but nevertheless succeeded in getting Mai to take the lead.