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Chapter 15

I walked up to the house, my old clothes bundled up in my hands. While waiting for the business with the drill to be dealt with, I went out and bought some new clothes.

A carriage was sitting outside. Empty.

I opened the door, everyone stopped and stared at me. "Hey guys..."

"Y/n!" They all cheered

"What are you wearing?" Sokka gaped at me.

"Well uh," I fiddled with my fingers, "I kind of needed some new clothes so... I got some."

"Well, if I knew what it looked like, I would say it looks great," Toph said. She was sitting next to Katara on one of the mats.

"Uh, thanks I guess?" I smiled. "I assume the battle with the Fire Nation and their drill went successful?" They nodded. "That's good... sorry again for not being there."

"It's okay, Y/n, you stayed behind for your own health, you don't need to be sorry for that." There was an awkward silence. "Anyway, have you heard anything about Appa yet?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not. I've only been allowed out of the house once on my own since I arrived." I glanced over at Joo Dee, who was still smiling. "I know some places we would be able to check, but uh there might be a problem with getting people to talk..."

"I'll be happy to escort you anywhere you would like to go." Joo Dee interrupted, bowing to us.

"We don't need a babysitter," Toph said, walking over to the door.

She stepped into her path, blocking her. "Oh, I won't get in the way. And to leave you alone would make me a bad host. Where shall we start?"

I took them to the pet shop first. It seemed like the most reasonable place to go. "I'm sorry, but I haven't heard anything about a flying bison. I didn't even know there were any," the owner said.

"If someone wanted to sell a stolen animal without anyone knowing, where would they go?" Aang asked.

Sokka jumped in front of him. "Where's the black market? Who runs it?"

"That's not going to wor-"

"Come on, you know!" Sokka pointed a finger at the guy.

"Uh... That would be illegal. You'll have to leave now. Your lemur is harassing my sparrowkeets." The said birds were pecking at Momo, who was eating their food.

The next place I took them was the university. A bit of a far fetched idea, but the only other place I could think of. "Hmm, I've never seen any sandbenders or nomads around here. You should ask Professor Zei, he teaches the class on dessert cultures."

"Isn't he-"

"Right. And which of your professors could we ask about the war with the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked the student, interrupting me.

He looked over at Joo Dee, nervously. Sokka followed his gaze and looked over at her. " Uh, I don't know. I'm not a political science student. I have to get to class." He got up and hurried away, tripping as he did so.

"Is there anywhere else you can think of?" Aang asked, looking over at me. We were back in the carriage.

I shook my head. "No, sorry."

We made it back to the house, and stood in front of it. "Well, I'm sorry no one has seen your bison. Why don't you go get some rest? Someone will be over with dinner later," Joo Dee said, as the carriage began to leave.

"Hey, come with me," Sokka whispered to us. I raised an eyebrow as we headed over to our neighbors house. He knocked on the door and an old man appeared, smiling.

"You're the Avatar. I heard you were in town. I'm Pao."

"So Pao, what's goin on with this city? Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?"

He seemed scared at the mention of the war. "War? What do you mean?"

"I can feel you shaking," Toph said.

"Look, I'm just a minor government official. I've waited 3 years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble." Pao looked left and right, down the road.

"Get in trouble with who?" Katara asked.

He put a finger to his lips, shushing her. "Shh, listen, you can't mention the war here, and whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li."

I staggered, grabbing onto Toph's shoulder as I felt a wave of pain. Pao shut the door leaving us there.

"You okay Y/n?"

I nodded and walked back to the house, with the help of Toph. "I can't wait until this pain stops."

"Will it though? It doesn't seem like it's getting any better," she said, sitting down next to me on the ground.

"It has to." I buried my head into my lap.

I woke up finding myself in my bed. The spot next to me was warm, but empty. I got up and went back out into the living room.

"I've got it!" Katara yelled coming inside, she had a stack of paper in her hands. "I know how we're gonna see the Earth King!"

"How are we supposed to do that? 'One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King'," Toph said, mimicking something Joo Dee had probably said. I giggled, sitting down next to her.

"The King is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear." She said, reading the roll of paper.

"You mean Platypus-Bear?"

"No, it just says 'bear'."

"Certainly you mean his pet Skunk-Bear."

"Or his Armadillo-Bear."

"Gopher-Bear?"

"Just...'bear'." She sighed.

"This place is weird." Toph said. I nodded in agreement.

"The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd," Katara said.

"Won't work." Toph said.

"Why not?"

"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you from a mile away. You've got no manners." Toph grabbed a pastry from the bowl on the small table next to her.

Katara put her hand on her hips, seemingly offended. Toph ate the pastry. "Excuse me? I've got no manners? You're not exactly lady fancy fingers."

Toph burped. "I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it." She handed me one of them. "You never learned anything. And frankly, it's a little too late."

"Ah-Ha, but you learned it. You could teach us," Sokka said. I the pastry.

"Yeah, I'm mastering every element. How hard could manners be." He grabbed a curtain and draped it over himself. "Good evening, Mr. Sokka Watertribe. Ms. Katara Watertribe. Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty, your Momo-ness."

I giggled as they continued to talk to each other, acting 'sophisticated'.

"Katara might be able to pull it off, Y/n if she put in a bit more effort, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys."

"But I feel so fancy." Sokka said.

Toph grabbed Katara and I and took us into another room.

"Are you sure I'll be able to pull this off?" I asked, looking at myself in the mirror. "I only know servant manners, and some other things."

"I'm sure, you'll do fine," Katara said, adjusting my hair. She then did my makeup

We walked out back into the living room, where Sokka and Aang were playing a game.

"Wow, you look beautiful," Aang says, staring at Katara.

Katara opened her mouth to reply but before she could Toph places her hand in front of her mouth. "Don't talk to the commoners, Katara. First rule of society."

"We'll get in the party, and then find a way to let you in through the side gate," Katara said as we left.