Eclipse (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Chapter 20: Cov Ops

Miyuki stared at Zuko when they got off work. Something was up. He was being more irritable than usual today despite the good news that he and his uncle would be running their own tea shop in the upper ring. "What?" he nearly snapped at her when he caught her gaze lingering on him.

She felt herself inhale sharply and she fought to keep her composure. "You have that look on your face," she began evenly, "Like you're gonna do something risky again."

He took a flier out of his pocket and showed it to her. "The Avatar is in Ba Sing Se and he's lost his bison."

"I understand where you're coming from, but this— it's risky. You told me what happened when that kid barged in and accused you of being from the Fire Nation. I looked into it. He disappeared completely, and I haven't been able to find a trace of him. Smaller network or not, this city isn't that big. The Dai Li had a hand in this, and you shouldn't mess with them," she said under her breath, "They're bad news."

"I can't stand living like this. I want my destiny," he practically spat back.

She could see anger burning in his eyes much like when they'd first started speaking. It had been so long since she had last seen him like this that she had almost forgotten that he had always been like this. Almost.

She considered her reply carefully before deciding to bring it up quietly, "You've got a chance at a decent life here now. For you and your uncle. Are you sure that this is what you want?"

He turned to her, his eyes still burning. "Are you in or out?"

She sighed softly. "When an employer asks about a task related to a job, what choice do I have? I'm in."

She waited to see if he noticed her intentional word choice. He didn't. She went back into the tea shop, bright plastered a smile on her face, and ignored the faint ache growing in her heart.

·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.

Miyuki waited until Zuko stepped out of the apartment before going there to find Iroh, who opened the door for her when she knocked.

"Hana, what a pleasant surprise. If you're looking for my nephew, he just left," he greeted.

"Actually, I have something about him to tell you," she began.

The older man folded his arms and sighed. "My nephew is planning on trying to find the Avatar's sky bison tonight, isn't he?"

Miyuki nodded, a little surprised that she didn't have to tell him, but then again, maybe she should have expected it. "I told him I'd go with him to stop him from doing anything too rash, but if push comes to shove, I'm not sure I can stop him. So, I..." She shook her head. "I don't know, but I figured that you would know what to do. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, you did a good job. Thank you for looking out for him. Leave the rest to me."

She lowered her head and replied quietly, "Thank you. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.

Miyuki changed into a black dress before pulling out a long strip of black cloth. She'd gotten it as a sample from the fashion designer who said the material was too see-through to use for clothes, which meant that it would serve Miyuki's purpose perfectly.

She tied it behind her head like a blindfold so it covered her eyes, and glanced at it in the mirror. It was perfect. She couldn't see her eyes in the mirror, but could see. She left her apartment. She had to admit that she was impressed with how little her vision was obstructed, especially considering how dark out it was. She met Zuko in an alley by the tea shop, where he pointed at a patrolling Dai Li agent and a scarecrow that was dressed like Zuko.

She nodded, picked the scarecrow up, and navigated through the alleyways to one near where the agent was. After setting it up, she pressed herself against the shadows. She watched as the Dai Li agent attacked the scarecrow while Zuko snuck behind him before putting a broadsword to his neck. "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll do what I say," Zuko warned before glancing at Miyuki, who peered around the corner and nodded. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Iroh, who was ready to follow them. Everything was going according to plan.

·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.

Miyuki spun the knife in her hand while she stood guard outside the room the sky bison was being held, and after a moment saw Iroh round the corner. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Go home and rest. I can take it from here."

Something about it not being phrased as a suggestion made it seem as though he didn't want her to hear what was going to happen next. For what reason, she wasn't sure, but coming from him, she figured that whatever it was, it would be in her best interest not to listen in.

She nodded, bowed a little, and began to head back into the city, wondering exactly what was happening in this city of walls and secrets, when she came across a suspiciously spacious room, stocked only with a chair by the fire. She looked around before slipping in. From the sounds carrying through the halls, there was something else going on outside, something more pressing. In other words, she had some time to explore the bookcases that went from the floor to the ceiling. They were filled not with books, but stacks of scrolls sorted by names.

She began to look for her name first before she remembered that under the official records, she had entered the city under Daichi's younger sister's name, Hana. She looked for that instead and found nothing of particular interest. A poem here, a note there, nothing too outside of what she would have expected to find, considering that she'd gained quite a bit of popularity. At the very least, it meant that she did well enough in not drawing any suspicion to herself despite all the attention that she was getting after that guzheng performance that she was forced into. Still, that didn't explain what was happening to her messenger hawks.

She continued to search until she found a pile of scrolls that were unlabeled. At the top of the pile was a scroll containing something written in the code she'd developed. It was one of her's then as she had suspected. She opened it and skimmed the contents before moving onto the next, taking in as much information as she could until she heard noise from just outside the door. She put the scroll down and made her way back into the shadows. It was time to leave. She didn't get to read all of it, but she had seen more than enough to connect the dots and extrapolate the rest.

If her information was right, things weren't going to be peaceful in Ba Sing Se for much longer.