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"Some hid scars and some hid scratches. It made me wonder about their past."
- Of Monsters and Men, "Mountain Sound"
They wandered around for approximately two days, constantly hiding and avoiding bounty hunters and Fire Nation patrols, before Lady Toph finally spoke up.
"Hey, Uncle," she said. "Think any of your pai sho buddies might be able to help us out?"
Zuko halted the ostrich-horse, looking down at the diminutive girl who'd insisted that she was not getting on that thing, she could walk perfectly well, thank you very much. (Never mind that she was still injured.) He opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Uncle Iroh spoke up.
"Errr… what would make you think that, Lady Toph?" The old man seemed more flustered than Zuko had seen him in a while.
"First off, it's Lin Yu, old man," she grumbled. "Get used to it-- we're in trouble if any of us accidentally slip up and call each other by the wrong name in public, remember?"
(Azula worked quickly. Lady Toph's face was already on the wanted posters, right next to his and Uncle's.)
"Second, how do you think I managed to find you?" Lady Toph crossed her arms. "Not to mention, get from Yu Dao to Tu Zin in a matter of days?" Uncle gaped at her.
"You mean-"
"I mean, those friends of yours obviously have connections," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "You don't think they might be able to keep us out of the Fire Nation's line of sight?"
"What are you two talking about?" Zuko finally burst out.
"La-Lin Yu makes a good point," Uncle said, stroking his beard. "We're not far from the Misty Palms Oasis. I may have a friend or two there who would be willing to assist us…"
"Please don't make a scene here, Li," Toph muttered as they walked into the tavern. "This is the kind of shady place bounty hunters love. Which means we need to stay invisible."
She heard him scoff quietly, but he didn't make any other noticeable response.
They sat down and ordered drinks while Uncle tried to look around subtly.
"Over there," she said, tilting her head towards the corner, where an old man was sitting at a large pai sho table. "Friend of yours?"
"Something like that," Uncle said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"I still don't understand how a stupid game of pai sho is going to help," Zuko hissed. She elbowed him.
"Just watch." But when they reached the table, Uncle surprised her.
"Lin Yu, you were right, these are fine tiles," he said, then turned to the man sitting at the table. "Would you honor my young niece with a game?"
What? This was his friend, not hers! Why was he-
Young initiate, Mirei had called her.
He wants me to join the secret club! Toph wasn't sure how to feel about that, but she had more important things to think about now.
"The guest has the first move," said the stranger. Smirking, she sat down and reached for her first piece.
Lady Toph placed a lotus tile in the center of the board. Zuko wrinkled his brow in confusion. (He'd never been much for pai sho, but he was pretty sure that wasn't a legal move.) The other man also seemed momentarily taken aback, but then he smiled.
"I see you favor the white lotus gambit," he said, cupping his hands. "Not many-"
"-still cling to the ancient ways, blablabla," she said, making an identical motion. "But I hear those who do can always find a friend." Uncle looked like he was trying to hold back a giggle.
"Then let us play," the other old man said, sighing.
As he watched, Zuko became even more confused. The two of them were just putting down tiles, not even paying attention to each other's movements.
Why would you put a knotweed next to a rock? You can't put a rose there! The dragon goes on your opponent's side of the board!
"What are they doing?" Zuko muttered.
"I always tried to tell you that pai sho is more than just a game," Uncle replied, just as the two players put down their last tiles.
"Welcome, sister," said the strange man. "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets."
Would someone explain what is going on? Zuko took a deep breath, knowing Lady Toph would murder him if he got them caught here.
Abruptly, she rose from her seat.
"We've got trouble," she said, taking a stance.
Before any of them could ask what she meant, the door swung open, and five tough-looking guys in Fire Nation armor came barreling into the room.
"Colonel Mongke," Uncle said, smiling. "How nice to see an old friend! What brings you to this part of the world?"
"Enough with your blathering, General!" The leader, a firebender if the fact that he was the only one in the group without a weapon could be believed, wore a dark smile. "We're here to apprehend you fugitives."
Why was Lady Toph smiling?
Suddenly, several of the tavern's patrons got up from their tables. Zuko heard a lot of muffled whispering
"Fugitives?"
"Fire Nation?"
"Bounty."
A few of them flashed their weapons. Zuko gulped.
We can't take out all of these- what?
Before he could figure out what was happening, Lady Toph had grabbed all three of them and hustled them outside. The loud crashing on going inside told him none of their pursuers would be behind them.
The four of them made their way to-- of all things-- a flower shop. The stranger was spouting what sounded like a bunch of nonsense to Uncle Iroh and Lady Toph. Zuko caught something about "initiates" and some group called "the Order of the White Lotus."
"Now that you played pai sho, are you going to do some flower arranging, or is someone in this club going to offer some real help?" He was tired of all this nonsense. "Ouch!"
"Would you just shut up and listen, Sparky?" Lady Toph lowered her elbow.
"Sadly, my nephew is not an initiate," Uncle said, frowning.
The other crazy old man knocked on a door in the back, and someone on the other side opened a peephole. "Who knocks at the guarded gate?"
"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," Uncle Iroh replied. Zuko turned to Lady Toph, who shrugged as if to say how should I know?
The door opened, and the other three walked in-- but Zuko had the door shut in his face.
"I'm afraid it's members only," his uncle told him. "Wait out here."
"But Lady Toph-"
"Lin Yu is an initiate."
Zuko groaned, then, with little else to do, leaned over to sniff a flower.
Smells… nice.
He leapt up as the door opened.
"What's going on?" He turned to Uncle. "Is the club meeting over?"
"Everything is taken care of," was Iroh's reply.
"Prepare yourself, Sparky," Lady Toph said, smirking. "We're off to Ba Sing Se!"
"Ba Sing Se?!"
After the White Lotus guy snuck them out of town in the flower pots, the trip north went by pretty quickly. Within days, they'd reached Full Moon Bay, and were presenting the passports of Mushi, Lin Yu and Li of the Hong family.
Uncle took the tickets and quickly steered them towards the boat as a helpful-sounding security guard started walking in their direction.
Of course the stupid boat was made of wood, what else should she have expected?
As they waited in line to board, Toph carefully noted all of the people getting on in front of them. There was one group, two boys and a girl, who struck her as… odd. She couldn't place it exactly, there was just something about them that just rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was the obnoxious way one of the boys spoke, like he had something in his mouth. Maybe it was the snarky way the girl walked (not that Toph had room to point fingers).
(Or maybe it was the fact that the second boy carried a quiver of arrows. She'd been wary of archers since the incident with that Yuyan guy. She reached towards her neck, but it was bare-- Sparky still hadn't given her back the arrowhead.)
Whatever the case might be, Toph made a mental note to stay far away from those three. Something told her that if anyone were to discover that the Hongs weren't who they claimed to be, it would be those guys.
But, of course, nothing ever worked out quite that easily.
"My name's Jet," the obnoxious-sounding boy said. "And these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot."
Freedom Fighters, huh? Toph thought. This is going to be trouble, I just know it.
"And as I looked around, I began to notice that we were nothing like the rest."
- Of Monsters and Men, "Mountain Sound"