It wasn't until that night they found out exactly how much of a farce it was.

"So, you know how this trial is going to work?" Katara asked angrily as she started on some laundry.

"…no?" said Kouji, helping her out.

"The Mayor gives his side. Then Aang gives his. And the Mayor decides who's right!" she snapped, tearing one of Lee's shirts, trying to get a bloodstain out.

Kouji rescued the shirt from her.  "Katara, he hardly has any shirts as it is!  And how can they get away with that?"

"Because it's their system," she snapped back.

"We filled Aang in on everything we found out," Sokka explained while Lee deathglared him out of his desire to help make dinner. "Maybe the Mayor will listen to reason."

"And maybe hogmonkeys will fly," Kouji said.

"Are you two going to come to the trial tomorrow, or stay with Appa again?" Katara asked, once Lee finished making dinner and she'd calmed down a bit.

"I'm going to find some law scrolls and see if I can help Aang," Kouji replied.

"I'll come," Lee said. "Not sure what I can do other than sit there and get pissed off, but I'll come."

Kouji finished his dinner and, true to his word, got up and started to head into Stupidtown.

Lee, predictably, followed. To explain himself, he muttered to Kouji, "I might know what to look for," the first time he'd openly alluded to what at least Aang and Kouji knew about his origins.

"Thanks," Kouji said, grinning back at him.  "Hopefully there's a library around here…"

"Worst comes to worst, we'll ask." They did have to ask, and were told, rather snidely, that the village of Chin needed no library, thankyouverymuch.

Kouji's eyes narrowed.  "So basically, you're a bunch of uneducated hicks?  I thought so."

The man they'd asked tried to snap back, but Lee hastily got between them. "Don't mind my brother. We come from a city, and some prejudices are hard to shake, especially for a kid. Thank you for your time." He bowed, and pulled Kouji away. "Come on, we don't need to antagonize these people any more," he muttered.

"On the contrary, I think we need to antagonise them a lot," Kouji grumbled.

"Yeah, well, save it for after we get Aang off the hook for this stupid murder."

"I'll try, niisan," Kouji promised, and then sighed.  "So much for law scrolls."

"Yeah," Lee said, sighing as well and running a hand through his hair.

The next day — Lee, once again, hadn't slept much, insisting on staying up to keep watch — they went into the city and forced themselves to listen to the Mayor's flawed, biased account of 'Chin the Great's' demise.

Aang, unfortunately, didn't seem to be much of a public speaker, getting his facts confused, and not presenting them very convincingly, even with Sokka rather obviously prodding him.  "I wish they'd let me speak for him," muttered Kouji.  "If anyone ever needed an advocate…"

"I've got an idea," Katara said, suddenly, then ran off.

When she returned, some time later, she pulled Aang aside for a few minutes, then pushed him into the temple with a bundle of something, then went to the Mayor. "Mayor Tong," she said. "I'd like for the court to hear one last testimony."

"I've already told you!" the Mayor snapped, puffed full of self-importance. "It's just me and the accused! You can't call any more witnesses!"

"This isn't just any witness," she said. "I'm going to call… Avatar Kyoshi herself!"

Aang struggled out of the temple, wearing way-too-large clothing, that probably had belonged to his past life, face elaborately painted the way the statue back on Kyoshi Island had been.

"…tell me she's joking," said Kouji flatly.

"I don't think she is," Lee said, watching as Aang once again tried ineptly to defend himself, this time putting on a ridiculous falsetto.

"You know," Lee mused, as the Mayor wandered over to Aang, complaining about how ridiculous this was, "Aang makes a disturbingly pretty girl, with all that makeup."

"You should've seen Sokka wearing it," Katara whispered.

"Sokka wore makeup?" Kouji demanded, choking.

"And a dress."

Lee put on a rather evil smirk. Clearly, Sokka would never be allowed to forget this.

"Man, we missed all the fun stuff," Kouji complained, as Sokka, spluttering, tried to defend himself from his sister's teasing.

And then a whirlwind full of dust enveloped Aang. When it died down, a tall, intimidating woman stood in his place. "I killed Chin the Conqueror," she began, and went on to tell the rest of her side of the story.

Dress, makeup, and teasing Sokka were forgotten.  Kouji just stared in awe.

"I created Kyoshi Island so my people could be safe for invaders," the woman finished, then bowed her head. The dustcloud returned, and when it vanished again, it left just Aang, in the oversized clothes and makeup.

Katara ran to him.

"So, what just happened?" he asked.

"Uh… you kind of… confessed," she admitted. "Sorry."

"And I find you guilty!" the Mayor said. "Bring out the Wheel of Punishment!" The crowd cheered.

"This is crazy!" Kouji yelled, his preadolescent voice lost in the din.

A large wheel was brought out and placed next to Aang.

"The accused will now spin the Wheel of Punishment to determine his sentence," the bailiff intoned, slow and mournful.

Aang looked back at the others. "I said I would face justice," he reminded them — and himself — looking away down at the ground. "So I will." He spun the wheel.

"Isn't this taking it a bit—"  Kouji stopped, frowning.

The wheel stopped. "Looks like it's boiled in oil," the bailiff intoned.

Kouji was no longer paying attention.  He got up and started pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to the back.

Lee, frowning, and quickly caught up to him. "Kouji? What's wrong?"

His question was answered when a grenade was tossed in front of Aang. He swore, and pulled his brother back.

Rough Rhinos. Again.

"We have come to claim this village for the Firelord!" the head of the gang shouted. "Now, show me your leader so I may… dethrone him."

"That's him over there!" one of the townspeople said, panicking and indicating the Mayor, who yelped and dove behind the wheel.

"Avatar! Do something!"

"Gee," Aang said. "I'd love to help. But I'm supposed to be boiled in oil."

The Mayor shifted the wheel a few spaces. "There! Community service! Now serve our community and get rid of those rhinos!"

Kouji didn't waste time.  He pulled free of Lee and launched himself high in the air, twisting to avoid another grenade and landing just behind the Rough Rhinos.  With a yell, he shot a pillar of earth at the chain-wielding man, knocking him from the saddle.  "That one's for Ichiro!"

Aang and the others sprung into action just as quickly, Lee engaging the rhino whose rider Aang took care of right away. "Nice change of pace," he called, a little breathless, narrowly avoiding being gored. "Usually the Irony Gods hate us."

While he was keeping that rhino from rampaging (and the one Kouji had de-ridered) and his brother was dealing with the chain-weilder, the other two went for the town, followed by Aang, Sokka, and Katara.

Between the five of them, the Rough Rhinos were driven off within moments, the two that had been knocked off hastily reclaiming their mounts from Lee.

Sokka even got his boomerang back.

The town quickly pulled itself together, and threw a party that night, for the new Avatar Day. The five kids were served cookies made from raw batter — to commemorate the "day the Avatar was not boiled in oil!"

Lee, sighing, wincing a little when that pulled on the near-goring-misses Katara had sat him down and made him let her clean up, and slurped up one of the doughmen.

"This is by far the worst town we've ever been to," Sokka muttered.

"Can we pretend this never happened?" Kouji asked plaintively.

"Please," his brother said, making a face.

"I call dibs on flying Appa!"  Kouji bolted for the bison.

Lee followed, only a little slower. The others joined them within minutes; true to his claim, Kouji was seated on the bison's head, holding the reins.  Lee scrambled up to his usual spot, and the other three followed. "Goodbye, Stupidtown," the oldest among them muttered as they took off. "I shall try to burn your memory from my brain now."

"No literal burning!" teased Kouji.  "Appa, yip yip!"