Soldier's Boy

Twenty-Four

Lee, as usual, was the first one up the next morning, and headed into the backyard to work on his sword drills.  Kouji, also as usual, was the next one up; it was he who wandered in search of breakfast.  Before he did that, however, he wandered the house carefully, looking it over thoroughly a second time.  Aang followed not long after that, then Katara, then Toph, then Sokka. The older girl went out to get the mail, then darted back in.

"I've got it!" she crowed. "I know we're gonna see the Earth King!"

"Breaking and entering?" Kouji asked absently from his corner.

"Yeah. One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King!" Toph added, mocking Joo Dee.

"The king is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear," Katara informed them.

"You mean platypus-bear?" Aang asked.

"No. Just says 'bear.'"

"…maybe an owl-bear?" Kouji suggested, confused.

Katara shook her head.

"Certainly you mean his pet skunk-bear," Sokka corrected.

"Or his armadillo-bear?" Toph asked.

"Gopher-bear?" Aang tried.

"Just… bear," Katara repeated, shrugging.

"…This place? Is weird," Toph informed them all.

"I'll sign that," the colonist muttered, blowing gently on the ink to dry it.

Katara dragged the subject back to the more relevant information in the announcement. "The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd!"

Kouji shuddered.  "I hate parties," he announced to nobody in particular.

"Won't work, anyway," Toph said.

"Why not?" Katara asked, curious.

"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you a mile away. You've got no manners." She shoved a whole pastry from the pile next to her in her mouth.

Kouji stared at her.  "Hello, pot?  This is kettle speaking…"

Toph burped. "I learned proper society behaviour and chose to leave it," she reminded them. "You never learned anything. And, frankly, it's a little too late."

The boy shrugged.  "So you say."

"But you learned it," Sokka cut in. "You could teach us!"

Kouji made a face and looked over his papers again, then made a small correction.

"Yeah, I'm mastering every element," Aang was adding. "How hard can manners be?" He pulled down one of the curtains and wrapped it around himself as a cape, clearly intending some kind of demonstration of what he thought proper behaviour for polite society meant.

"Oh, spirits," Kouji groaned, rolling up the papers and tucking them into his tunic.  "Here we go."

"Good evenin, Mr. Sokka Water Tribe," Aang began, "Miss Katara Water Tribe. Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty. Your Momoness."

Sokka pulled down another curtain to play as well. "Avatar Aang, how you do go on."

Lee wandered back in at around that point. "…The hell?"

"Don't ask," said his brother dryly as the two boys began bowing to each other in turn.  He winced as their heads collided.

"Katara might be able to pull it off," Toph said. "But you two would be lucky to pass as busboys."

"But I feel so fancy…" Sokka said.

Toph flicked something at him, then turned to Lee. "You could probably pull it off, too."

An intensely awkward silence descended.

"I'll pass, thanks, whether or not I could pull it off," Kouji announced, to break the silence.  "Parties aren't my thing."

"Okay," Toph said. Apparently, she'd decided to take charge of this whole party thing. "C'mon, Lee." She grabbed his wrist and Katara's and dragged them off into another room.

"Toph, I don't think — "

"More people we have to cover for Sweetness if she forgets something, the better."

Kouji rolled to his feet. "I'm going out," he announced.

"Where?" Lee called, as he was dragged away.

"Lower Ring," was the reply.

"Back by sundown."

Only if I'm alone by then, Kouji thought, and nodded, slipping out of the house.  It didn't take the boy an insanely long time to reach the Lower Ring of the city, though the walk was more than he'd expected.  That's what I get for not paying attention while in the carriage.  Finally, however, he was beyond the wall separating it from the Middle Ring, and was able to look for Jet — who was, of course, nowhere to be found.  Annoyed, the boy continued to look past noon and into the evening, with no luck.  Finally, as the afternoon grew later, Kouji gave up and returned to their house in the Upper Ring.

Aang and Sokka were playing some time-killing game with their hands. Sokka was losing.

"Janken?" Kouji asked, pulling the door closed behind him.

Before either of them could answer, a door to one of the inner rooms slid open and Lee, looking highly uncomfortable and slightly off in green and gold formal clothes — spirits only knew where he'd gotten them — joined them.

Kouji's eyebrows went up.  "Niisan," he commented.  "You look… weird.  But good."

"This is such a bad idea," the teenager mumbled. "Even if… the rules are different."

"Granted," Kouji said.  "But it seems to be our only shot."

"Don't see why it can't just be Toph and…"

Another inner door opened. The girls had also mysteriously acquired pretty dresses. And hairpieces. And makeup. And fans.  Kouji's jaw didn't drop, but it was a near thing.  However, his face went as red as any Fire Nation flag, and his eyes went wide.

The girls giggled as Aang flushed nearly as red. "Wow… you look beautiful…" he said, voice full of wonder. Sokka flicked him.

"Y-y-y-yeah," Kouji stammered, something he hadn't done around Toph or Katara in months.

Katara started to say something, but Toph blocked her mouth with her fan. "Don't talk to the commoners, Katara. First rule of society."

Unless it's to say 'rise' when the commoner is bowing like a hedgedog, Kouji thought, somewhere in what little mind he had left.  He was barely aware of this thought, only somewhat conscious of the fact that his heart was pounding and almost certainly giving him away.

"We'll get in the party and find a way to let you in through the side gate," Katara was saying, as the girls joined Lee and headed out. The teenager looked somewhat less out-of-place now, falling into a sort of rhythm that made him look slightly exotic rather than awkward and uncomfortable.

Kouji watched them go, then shook himself and grabbed an orange.  "I'm going to head out to the Middle Ring," he told Aang and Sokka as he peeled the fruit.  "See if I can't hear anything about Appa."  The lie fell from his mouth so easily, and Kouji felt a brief stab of guilt for using the bison as an excuse.

"We'll let you know how things go at the party," Sokka promised, then he and Aang headed out, five minutes after Lee and the girls.

As soon as he was fed, Kouji checked his notes again, then slipped out of the house through a window.  This time he went straight to the Middle Ring, noting that he could pretend to be browsing the shops and restaurants there.  As he wandered through, keeping one ear out while he meandered towards the wall separating the Middle and Lower Rings, he passed by a pretty girl with long brown hair, calmly directing two men who seemed to be helping her move.

It took five minutes for the blush to clear off his face, and just that long to reach the gate.  Kouji glanced up at the top of the wall, wondering how well it was lit at night.

There were some flickering lights up there, but not near enough to banish the shadows from the top.  Grinning, the boy slipped out of sight and very, very carefully climbed to the top of the wall.  He wasn't actually in the Lower Ring…

But Jet was.

Lucky!  Kouji checked beneath him, then dropped from his vantage point on the wall, landing almost inaudibly in the shadows on the Lower Ring side.  Jet was still in his line of sight; had the Freedom Fighter seen or heard…?

Apparently, he had. He spun around, hands going to his swords. "…Jiro?"

Kouji straightened up and bowed carefully.  "Jet," he greeted the teen.  "Long time, no see."  He had to play this carefully, hiding the lingering hostility he felt.

Jet stared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"It's kind of a long story that ends with Appa getting stolen by sandbenders."  Kouji paid close attention to people passing by, to make sure nobody was lingering or eavesdropping or coming by more than necessary.

"Oh." Jet let go of his swords. "Does Katara know I'm here?"

"No, and I kinda want to keep it that way.  I need to talk to you."  Kouji tugged on his braid and lowered his voice.  "Somewhere we can't be listened to."

"Your brother know you're here? If I have to beat him up like last time, Katara might attack me again," Jet asked, after a moment's pause.

"I promised him I wouldn't be alone in the Lower Ring after sunset," the boy replied innocently.

The older boy thought a minute, then nodded. "We'll go to my place. I think Longshot and Smellerbee went out."

So the swordsgirl and the bowman were still with him?  Or were all the Freedom Fighters still with him, and only those two had gone out?  "Okay," Kouji replied.  Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to convince Jet to take it to the roof, where Kouji could be certain of no eavesdropping without giving away the radar abilities he was learning from Toph.

Jet obviously had the same idea, leading him up to the roof of his apartment building. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Noticed anything… weird about this place?" Kouji asked in return, looking up at the other boy.  If we talk too much, my neck is going to start hurting…

"Just a bit," Jet said, chewing on his piece of grass. How it stayed in his mouth while he was talking was a mystery.

"From what I can tell, it seems like talking about the war is forbidden.  Completely forbidden, to the point where everyone we've talked to has been terrified to even admit to knowledge of it."

"That's pretty much what I've seen, too."

Good, Jet was observant.  Of course, leading a ragtag band of terrorists — no, Kouji, be nice, you want him to help you — Freedom Fighters, he'd have to be, wouldn't he?  "All the refugees seem to be confined to the Lower Ring, too," Kouji went on.  "Add the Dai Li on top of that…"

"Something very, very fishy is going on here," Jet agreed, staring out at the city.

"I don't like it," the boy said flatly.  "What if the Fire Nation manages to get in?  They almost did, three days ago."

"What?!" the Freedom Fighter yelped.

"Shh, keep it down," Kouji hissed.  "We stopped them.  Or, really, Aang, 'Tara, Sokka, and Lee did, me 'n Toph just slowed it down a bit."  Quickly he explained about the drill to Jet.  "I can show you where it broke through tomorrow, if you want.  It might be of some use."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like to see that," Jet said, forcing calm upon himself and sitting back down.

Kouji traced a mindless pattern on the roof.  "All right.  But you see what I mean?  Never talking about the war… nobody here even realises the danger they're in.  And I've never heard anyone talk about the Dragon of the West's campaign seven years ago, either."

"Yeah…" Jet agreed. "Still, why come to me? I mean, we didn't exactly part friends."

"Allies aren't necessarily friends," Kouji pointed out.  "And to be honest… you're smart, you're clever, you've got leadership skills.  You've got experience."  The boy smoothed down his tunic.  "People listen to you."

"I'm supposed to be going straight," the teenager said, after a long silence.

"I'm not asking you to start a revolution," Kouji replied.  "That would be counterproductive.  But an information network would be for the good of the whole city."  He spread his arms wide.  "That way, if the Fire Nation does get through the Outer Wall and the Agrarian Zone, a defence could be mobilised quickly, or even an evacuation."

"…I'll think about it. Meet me same place you found me tonight tomorrow around noon, and show me this drill thing. We'll talk then."

That was the best he was going to get.  "All right.  Thanks, Jet."  He paused.  "I won't let the others know you're here."

"Thanks," Jet said. "You should head back, if you're out too late they might come looking."

Kouji flinched.  "Can you come with me as far as the wall?  I think Lee's got some kind of Jirodar or something…"

"Sure," Jet said, and led the way.

They made it to the gate, and Kouji slipped into the shadows.  "Watch out for the Dai Li," was his parting shot at the older boy.

"You too," Jet called softly, then disappeared into the darkened back-alleys of the Lower Ring.

The others weren't back yet when he arrived at the house, so it was eerily silent and dark, save for the light he'd left burning in his room to give the illusion somebody was home in order to cover for the others.  After another round to make sure nobody was listening or watching, then Kouji took out his papers, found the one with Jet's name, and carefully burned it.

The others returned, not talking, about a half-hour later.

"…what happened?" he asked softly, worried.

"We met the head of the Dai Li," Lee said, abruptly. Toph and Katara went to wash the makeup off.

Kouji's eyes widened.  "What?  How?  What…?"

Quietly, tersely, Lee spelled out the whole story of what had happened that night, from Katara approaching Long Feng to get into the party to the four of them — himself, Katara, Toph, and Sokka — being dragged and Aang led to the library, and everything the Grand Secretariat had told them there.

Kouji sucked in his breath.  "That… cannot be good."  Especially the bit about guarding.  How the hell was he supposed to show Jet the drill now?

The same way you practised your bending when outsiders were supposed to be in the area.

Lee shook his head. "No. It's not. You'll have to be more careful when you wander from now on." At least he still wasn't forbidding it entirely. Which, given his tendency to overprotectiveness, probably meant he was plotting something of his own and didn't want to seem like a hypocrite.

"I will," Kouji promised.  I'll lose every tail they set on me.  He hugged his brother, hesitated, then whispered in his ear, "Stay on your guard.  Jet's in the city."

Lee tensed a little, but nodded. "Will do."

Now Kouji pulled away, looking his brother over.

Lee was staring almost pensively out the window.

Yep. Definitely plotting something.

The boy didn't call him on it; sooner or later his own plot would have to come out.  "What's Long Feng look like, so I can avoid him?"

Lee answered him almost absently. "Tall. Shaved forehead. Long braid. Thin moustache, small goatee. In his late forties, early fifties, maybe mid, at the oldest. Greyish greenish eyes."

"Right.  I'll keep an eye out."  Tomorrow he would ask Toph how Long Feng felt, so he could keep a foot out as well.

"Good," Lee said, shivering a little. "I'm going to go change."

Kouji hugged Lee again, and headed for bed.  He stayed awake long into the night, however, his mind churning.

*           *           *

The next morning, true to his silent promise, he quietly asked Toph about Long Feng, so he would be sure to identify the man and thus be able to keep out of his way.  Toph was happy to add her description to Lee's.  "Thanks," he said, stretching.  "If Lee asks, I'm going to check out the Lower Ring again and take a look at the Agrarian Zone."

"'Kay," she said. "See you later."

He flushed, remembering her in last night's dress, and slipped away.  He had some time to burn before noon.  Hopefully that would be enough time to lose whatever tail Long Feng had had set on him.  He was not going to risk this because the rest of the group had got caught last night, nor would he risk assuming he'd get out of being followed simply because he hadn't been there.  Come on, where are you? the boy thought, feeling very carefully with his earthbending to see if anyone was following him.

Whoever was following was too skilled for him to identify. Quite possibly a Dai Li agent.

Very carefully, the boy suppressed a shudder.  If he couldn't lose the man… but there was only one.  Time to play 'catch-as-catch-can', Kouji thought as he passed into the Middle Ring.  This would be the best and easiest place to lose whoever was following him.  He was just small enough to get lost in the crowd. It took him nearly two hours, but he did manage to lose the tail, eventually.

It was harder than normal, because he'd had to act as though he wasn't actively trying to lose whoever-it-was, but finally he was free.  Quickly he slipped into the Lower Ring and beelined for where he'd met Jet last night.

"You're late. I was just about to head home," Jet informed him.

"I know, I'm sorry."  Kouji bowed.  "An… unexpected complication.  The others can be idiots sometimes."  He was tense, he knew it, and he couldn't help but show it.  "Hurry.  Do you know the best route to get to the Inner Wall without being seen?"

"Yeah. Follow me." Jet didn't bow back or ask about the complication, for which Kouji was grateful.  He silently followed the teenager, always keeping a foot out for signs that the tail was back, or that he'd acquired a new one.  He was going to have to pick up some sort of disguise…

And you're going to have to explain about the tails to Jet.  You need him.  He doesn't need you.

Jet asked no questions, just pressed on to the wall.

When they got there, Kouji ducked just out of sight, beckoning for the older boy to follow him.  From the cover of a nearby house, Kouji carefully bent an opening into the wall.  This took a good few minutes; his opening was more of a tunnel due to the thickness of the stonework and he didn't want to alert any other sensitive earthbenders.  "C'mon," he told Jet then, flitting through.

Jet said nothing aloud, just followed Kouji through the tunnel.

Once they were through, Jet paused. "You're brother's kinda mildly overprotective. How much trouble am I going to be in for meeting with you here?"

Kouji waved a hand.  "Lee's got his own thing in the works, and he never set any rules about the Agrarian Zone outside of the all-purpose 'Be back by midnight'.  Besides, the drill only barely breached the Outer Wall, so we'll have to go to it."  He plunged into the growing crops.  "Come on."

Jet nodded, and followed, trying to disturb the crops as little as possible.

It took about an hour and a half of walking, during which time Kouji explained what he'd learned only last night and added about the new guards.  "So I'll probably have to find a proxy to make sure no suspicions falls on you, if you decide to help me," he finished just as they drew within sight of the metal behemoth.

Jet nodded. "Yeah, that'd be safest. For both of us."

"There it is," Kouji said, changing the subject and pushing the covering cornapples aside.

Jet stared at it for a long moment. "…All right. I'm in."

The boy beside him relaxed.  "Thanks, Jet."

"Yeah," the older boy said, almost absently.

Blinking, Kouji glanced up at him.

"Okay, let's head back," Jet said after a minute. "We can talk details about intel exchanges on the way."

Kouji grinned broadly.  "Okay."

Current Location: my bed
Current Mood: anxious
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, soldier's boy

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