Everywhere we went, whenever we asked about either Appa or the war that had been raging for a hundred years, Joo Dee always found a way to signal whoever we were talking to to keep their mouths shut.
"Well, I'm sorry no one has seen your bison," she said emphatically, though the smile on her face betrayed none of the sympathy in her voice. "Why don't you go get some rest?"
We took it as a signal to call it a day.
We exchanged glances before Aang eventually sighed and nodded.
"Someone will be over with dinner soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy your stay at Ba Sing Se!"
As I watched the carriage carrying Joo Dee slowly disappear into the distance, I stepped away from the window and back into the house.
"..."
Everyone else was outside.
Perfect.
I took the opportunity to quickly scan the house.
"Hmm."
Nothing.
I swept my eyes across every corner, looking for anything suspicious—a misplaced piece of furniture, a hidden compartment, or anything else that seemed out of place.
The longer I searched, the deeper my suspicion grew.
"Nothing at all?"
I narrowed my eyes.
How interesting.
There was genuinely nothing in the house that could be considered contraband, nor could I find any surveillance devices.
Odd.
Considering how aggressively Joo Dee had controlled the flow of information throughout the day, I had expected to find something planted by some sort of Ba Sing Se surveillance team.
Yet there was nothing.
My eyes shifted toward the open-air courtyards, the windows, and the thin paper-screened walls.
So they planned to monitor us through more traditional methods instead?
Very primitive, in my opinion.
Then again, perhaps that was the point.
They didn't need to spy on us directly if they could simply keep an eye on us from the outside.
As long as the Avatar didn't do anything too far out of line, they could afford to let him wander around the city and do whatever he wanted.
At least, that's what I was getting from all of this.
But it could all be a hoax.
What a headache. I had too little information to play with.
============================================
"I got it! I know how we're going to see the Earth King!"
Katara, who had stepped outside to get some fresh air, came running into the living room with a newspaper rolled up in her hand.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Toph asked, mocking Joo Dee's tone. "'One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King!'"
She unrolled the newspaper and scanned the page before reading aloud the headline that caught her attention.
"The King is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear."
She looked up back to the group.
"Apparently, this is something they do often. This is the fifth one this year."
Aang, who had been leaning nearby, perked up.
"You mean a platypus bear?"
"No. It just says 'bear.'"
Sokka, lying upside down with his legs dangling against the wall, chimed in.
"Surely you mean his pet skunk bear."
"Or his armadillo bear," Toph added.
"Gopher bear?"
Katara triple-checked the newspaper.
"... Just bear."
Meanwhile, I listened to the conversation while busying myself in the kitchen.
"Like how there was just a fox in the Library."
"I guess," Katara muttered before getting back to the point. "The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd!"
"Won't work."
Toph shot the idea down instantly as she stretched out on a comfortable cushion.
Say what you want, but the higher-ups in Ba Sing Se really knew how to treat their guests. The bed I chose for the house had me sleeping like a baby last night.
Slightly confused, Katara raised an eyebrow.
"Why not?"
"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a proper society crowd will spot you a mile away."
Sensing that Katara still didn't understand what she meant, Toph sighed and bluntly got to the point.
"You've got no manners!"
"Me?!" Katara pointed at herself, stunned. "Excuse me? I've got no manners?! You're not exactly 'Lady Fancy Fingers!'"
"I learned proper society etiquette and chose to leave it behind."
Toph shrugged before grabbing a pastry that I'd painstakingly made almost an hour ago.
"Even Ren had to learn it, while you didn't. And frankly, it's a little too late."
Sokka excitedly jumped to his feet from his upside-down position.
"Aha! But you two learned it! You could teach us!"
"It took me months to get used to proper etiquette, you know."
My voice echoed from the kitchen as I walked toward them, carrying a tray of fruit in both hands.
We'd been eating nothing but rations for far too long. Now that we were in a proper city, we needed to take advantage of the fresh food and get as much fiber and greens into our diets as possible.
"We have—what? Until late afternoon to get ready?"
I set the tray down.
"That's not enough time for you two bumpkins."
I pointed specifically at the two boys in our group.
"Hey!" "Hey!"
Their protests came almost simultaneously.
"Katara, on the other hand, could probably pull it off."
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A/N: Sorry for the wait!
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