fire & lightning

chapter twenty-four

We finally had Appa back, and we were all extremely relieved. It's been so difficult without him, and he's finally home with our little family. We were all ready to leave, but Sokka had other plans. He was determined to inform the Earth King of the Dai Li and all the lies he's been told, and heaven knows how long they've kept him as their puppet. We hesitated because we've seen enough of Ba Sing Se, but at the same time we knew he was right. It's the reason we came in the first place, we knew we had to try. Because of Long Feng, the soldiers tried to stop us when we approached the palace, but we were stronger. Once we found the king and properly met him, we told him everything. At first he didn't believe us, but we took him on an adventure and exposed everything. The bite mark on Long Feng's foot, the underwater headquarters, and the drill.

The Earth King was devastated, but finally listened when we showed him the proof. Long Feng was arrested, and he is no more. We talked about the plan to invade the Fire Nation and save everyone, which thankfully had the king's support. General How, the leader of the council of five, searched Long Feng's documents and found secrets files on everyone in Ba Sing Se, including our gang. Toph got a letter from her parents, it said they wanted to see her again and that they understood her. Aang got a scroll, containing information from a guru that wanted to see him, and also said something about 'chakras'. Sokka and Katara got an intelligence report, letting them know about their father and his status. Of course, i didn't get anything. I wasn't expecting anything from my family especially after what happened in Omashu, but just a little something would've been nice.

So, that's the update. Toph left to go find her parents, Aang dropped Sokka off at Chameleon Bay to see his father, then took off to go meet the guru and see how he can help him learn to control the avatar state. Katara and I remain in Ba Sing Se, she let Sokka go find their dad and i thought that was really kind of her. Unfortunately she stayed with me because we need to discuss these new plans for the invasion, but she hopes she will see her father soon. General How informed everyone that the kiyoshi warriors have arrived, and Sokka immediately gave them his word and told them how trustworthy they were.

~

"We are the Earth King's humble servants."

~

Katara, Momo and I were currently in the council meeting, formally planning the invasion.

"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point for the attack. In exactly two months, the army will invade the Fire Nation on the day of black sun." General How informed everyone, using earthbending to move the rock pieces on the giant map in front of us to land on Fire Nation property.

Momo got a little excited, and jumped onto the map, playing with the rock tiles and knocking over the man's work.

"Or we could send in Momo to do some damage!" Katara let out a loud laugh, everyone turning to look at her with dull expressions. No one thought her joke was funny. The embarrassing silence made me mentally giggle.

"Well...cause...the...sorry." Katara looked down at her feet, no doubt feeling humiliated.

"It's okay, but there's times you need to be serious." I tried to lighten her up but also advising her to keep the jokes to herself. I didn't think i'd need to say those words to Katara out of all people.

Another council member used earthbending to put everything back to how it was on the map, startling Momo and causing him to screech. He leaped off the map and flew to Katara, landing on her shoulder.

"All we need is the Earth King's seal in order to execute the plan." General How handed me a couple scrolls, i passed them onto Katara thinking she might do a better job of taking care of them.