Chapter 36: Omashu (2)
Omashu only had one entrance to its giant city. While called a city, surrounding settlements regarded the stronghold as nothing short of a kingdown! Constructed over the mountain range and a circular trench dug around it almost 5 kilometers deep and hundreds of meters apart, the 'City' was one of the most challenging areas to conquer.
Fire Nation soldiers with a specific flaming emblem on their chest could be seen walking towards the lone entrance to the City past the long bridge above the chasm.
As the four guards reached, positively annoyed by the accumulated sweat under their dark and suffocating outfits, they were stopped by the guards standing in front of the giant earthen gate. Although they still wore crimson arm guards, greaves, and helmets, the earthen tunic underneath and a round golden emblem with a square cutout in the middle made them out to be...
'Earthbenders,' Sokka frowned. The confusion in his gaze, guarded by the skull-masked helmet, is shared between the other three. The rescued Earthbenders were sure that their peers from Omashu suffered a similar life of imprisonment after the war. So why are they free? Sokka narrowed his eyes. Were they truly free?
"Halt—"
Before the guards could speak, Nik waved his hand. He was directly behind Aang and held him by his shoulder.
"A kid made out of the city," his voice came out muffled. He sounded irritated for all the right reasons since he would much rather be in Aang's position than get cooked in his armor.
"If you know what's best for you, move. We have to report the kid's absence."
Their group wasn't prepared for more Earthbenders since even the rescued prisoners from before couldn't have warned them about this change. If there was someone who could warn them, it was Tamashi, and he refused communication after coming to be.
"And?" the opposing guard frowned. His fists clenched. He slowly took off his helmet, "I don't give a rat's ass if a child wants to meet his family. Although the governor let us out the day before yesterday, I won't be ordered by some flaming chump who blindsided us!"
'Too much information, buddy,' Nik pursed his lips, sweating profusely.
"Whatever. Move," Sokka, too, scowled. Tensions rose as the Earthbenders seemed ready to exact some personal score. Aang observed it for a moment before slipping out of Nik's grasp and standing between the two groups, his head bereft of his bandana to expose his tattooed head to the guards.
"You're against all this, right?" Aang raises his hands in surrender. "Help us. We aren't the fire nation guards, and I'm not from Omashu,"
Four sets of gazes landed on his bald head before Sokka groaned.
"Just for once, I want a plan executed perfectly!"
"Huff!" Katara and Suki worked in sync, instantly removing their helmets.
"What are... the two of you doing?" Nik looked back. Seeing their sweaty visage, strands of hair now wet and sticking to their foreheads as they revealed a pleasant expression once taking off the confines of their helmet... Nik gulped, a little motivated to remove his own helmet already.
"Who the hell are you people?!" The group of five guards instantly looked cautious and took their stances.
"Wait, don't attack," Sokka hurriedly waved his hands, "We aren't from the fire nation. Honestly. We—"
"We broke out the Earthbenders from the prison rig up by the coast and then also captured the—"
"Let Sokka speak, will you?" Nik hurriedly covered the dumpling head's mouth and grunted.
"Mmghh!" Aang nodded as Sokka looked at the guards silently before removing his helmet.
"Look, we cannot risk exposing our origins—"
"Ayo! Brothers, look at that baldy's head. That's an airbending tattoo!"
One of the older men with a greying beard gasped suddenly, smacking his forehead in realization.
"Congratulations, we shouldn't even bother hiding ourselves," Sokka rolled his eyes, and Nik finally removed his mask and helmet. A loud, relieved exhale escaped his lips as he brushed his damp strands back.
"Mph," Katara let out a weird sound as Nik looked back, wiping his chin, "Yeah?"
"Nothing, I just felt dizzy. Must be the heat," Katara replied quickly, truthfully looking a little out of her wits.
---
"Hahaha, why didn't you just say so!" The leading guard laughed out loud.
Observing the five of them, the guard added, "Fine, no point in restricting you guys here... but all I said before was out of ego. The situation in the surrounding villages is just straight fucked up. But you'll understand when you see things inside. Word of advice - don't get caught. I won't be able to help you then."
"What do you mean?" Suki inquired curiously as the man shook his head, "The war is over, and there is no need to oppress people. A few days ago, the current Fire Lord entered the city, discussed things with the mayor, and freed the prisoners with moderate supervision. Of course, our families aren't hurt, and there is no real reason to fight since our King is nowhere to be found."
He frowned, "Honestly... I've met the Fire Lord. He's surprisingly a good guy—"
"None of them are good!" Katara scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I lost my brother to the war," the guard laughed, "So, when I say the Fire Lord is a guy good enough for my favor, you better carve it on my tombstone. Go in kiddos. See it for yourself. But do not get caught... Fire Lord is just one person, his kindness has a limited effect and the Fire Nation is the victor... these people can be cruel and oblivious, like many of us were before being caught and treated like animals."
There was bitterness hidden within the man, but he shook his head.
"Cover your faces, and you, your head," he glanced at Aang before looking at his men and nodding.
All of them gave way and opened a small path through the wall. The markings and hinges inside the tunnel proved that the Guards weren't just Earthbending a tunnel for them out of the blue. This route was well-designed into Omashu's structure.
Even if willing to argue with the Guard about the Fire Lord, Katara had no energy to retort. Everyone wore their helmets and masks reluctantly.
Aang quickly covered his head, and the five of them finally entered the city.
The moment they entered, their eyes were attracted to a strange city of metal.
Omashu was constructed over the mountain through various levels and steps. Jade green roofs with gold-painted bronze plates revealed a magnificent splendor unmatched by any surrounding Village. It wasn't just earthen constructions the prisoners promised, but an amalgamation of metal and earth.
"Oh, no!" Aang suddenly gasped, attracting the attention of the four adults. His gaze fixated on the framework of a metal mechanism that stretched from the foot of the city till around the peak— close to the castle. Several metal carts hinged on this spread of metal framework, moving throughout the city using these channels and the gears installed to their surfaces. Workers stationed on various levels of the city controlled the movement of these carts. The high city walls had impeded their vision of such strange sights since the beginning.
"What's going on now?" Sokka grunted, slightly peeved about Aang's earlier, well-meant stunt.
"They... replaced the slides!" Aang mourned.
"Slides?" Nik repeated.
"Yes... the metal carts were made of earth when I used to come here. My friend— Bumi— and I used to ride these carts! But look at those gears! They took the freedom of the carts... how very evil of the Fire Nation!" Aang's gaze blazed.
"Listen, Aang. Before you feel sad over another ride lost... just tell us why you revealed your identity?" Katara sighed softly. She already felt her brother's annoyance on the matter, and now, she, too, felt that Aang would bring a lot of troubles a lot earlier than their needs.
"Because it is better to be honest and enter without a fight than to lie, fight, and then enter," Aang turned around.
"You can't go on exposing your identity. We don't know who to trust," Sokka rebuked, placing a firm hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I need to show trust before ever expecting it in return. That was... that's what I thought. The villagers around trusted us because we helped them. Isn't there a chance a villager might rat us out to the Fire Nation? Aren't we already trusting others at this point?" Aang stood his ground, explaining himself.
Sokka blinked and Nik smiled.
"You're quite smart for a 12-year-old," he looked around, "But still, what confuses me is... if this Fire Lord freed the Earthbenders, why didn't he do the same for the ones inside the Prison Rig?"
"Let's find out," Sokka hummed, "Let's meet at this spot again in two hours. Try not to get yourself exposed, and let's change into different clothes."
Looking around, the four went to a corner, and Nik took out their old clothes. They sighed in relief once they changed their outfits out of others' views. Still, they didn't look good after sweating buckets.
Sokka and Katara wore clothes from their village - blue kimono-tunic and dark blue trousers. Meanwhile, Suki and Nik wore standard blue tunics, trousers, and greaves from the Kyoshi Village.
"Finally... it was hard to get it all off," Katara remarked as she cleaned Suki's face.
"Aang, again, don't tell anyone inside the city that you're the Avatar," Katara looked at the boy, and he nodded with a shrug. Aang then looked at Nik, expecting to hear from him, too. Over the days, Nik has been supportive of him, even more empathetic than others for his situation, so instinctively, the boy felt closer to Nik, too. As he said, he showed trust to expect it, and he trusted Nik enough.
"Try and make some friends. Without airbending tricks, of course," Nik grinned. Making friends was already helping him, so that's all he could advise.
"What if I move small pebbles with air?" Aang offered.
"Then we'll all probably get captured," Nik replied, feeling Sokka's stare finally ease.
"Fine... well, see you guys in two hours!" Aang jogged.
"Is it a good idea to let him leave alone?" Suki looked at Sokka, and he nodded, "I mean, he was right for the most part. He got us into the city without any problems. But if I had supported his idea of constantly exposing his identity, then it would spell trouble for us. So, as Nik said, he's smart... heh, just like me!"
Grinning, Sokka looked at others, "Now, we have two objectives. Finding out the situation of the children gathered from the surrounding villages and why the prisoners of the rig were ignored. This place must have a gathering of children where they teach stuff..."
"You mean a school?" Nik inquired.
"No, silly, schools are for fish," Katara smiled as Suki looked at the siblings strangely.
"No... it isn't? School is an institution that children of the big city can attend to learn etiquette, history, and a few other subjects."
'Like sex ed... probably not in this era, though,' Nik added internally.
"So... it's not for fishes?" Sokka was amazed.
"Maybe we shouldn't split up," Suki suggested seeing this.
"No, no. It will be quicker by splitting up. I will go this way," Sokka pointed in a random direction.
"I'll go this way," Nik pointed towards the higher level.
"I will... I don't know, join you. We're wearing similar clothes, so it's easy to say we entered the city as a family," Suki suggested as Nik nodded.
They looked at Katara.
"I will find something," she added.
---
"To find something, I need to move around. Don't think I'm trying to follow you two," Katara calmly stated as she felt Nik's and Suki's stare.
"We didn't say anything," Nik mumbled.
"Alright, someone should ask directions to the school," Suki smiled, easing into the situation.
Nik nodded. Gathering information for blackmailing the clients, ehm, furthering their visits to his Bordello was one of its most significant sources of income. It was because women tend to open up after a few sessions of satisfaction. Especially women of power who found him pitiable with a severe lack of ambition.
"Alright, Suki, come with me," Nik whispered and walked towards a woman who wore her dark hair in two buns as a light green robe covered her body. She had a small child in her arms as she rummaged through a vegetable stand, and as the woman saw Nik and Suki approaching the vegetable stand, she couldn't help but quickly straighten her back.
"Excuse me," Nik smiled and nodded at the woman while glancing at the pile of tomatoes, "How much?" he questioned the exhausted stall owner, who happened to be fanning himself with a paper fan.
"Eh? 5 bronze pieces for a kilo of these juicy buns!" The man smiled, revealing his two front teeth broken.
"Hahaha! Uncle's got no teeth~!" The boy instantly laughed loudly as the woman hurriedly hushed the child.
"You have a bright son, miss," Nik smiled and looked at the child.
"Please, don't encourage this naughty child!" The woman sighed.
"Why not?" Nik chuckled, "I would want such a cute little one for myself, too!" matching his gaze with the curious-looking child, Nik continued, "Wouldn't you say your mother is lucky?"
"Lucky! Lucky!" The boy grinned brightly.
The woman smiled at this.
"Well, you already look at the age of having a few yourself. What's stopping you?" The woman inquired, her light green eyes settling on the supposed couple. The color green for eyes wasn't rare in this world. Almost everyone from the Earth kingdom lineage had varying shades of green for their irides.
"Ah, well..." Nik looked at Suki and smiled, "It's just that she worries a lot. We had to pay a fortune to move into this great city since she wanted a bright future for the children. I heard that there's something called schools around here."
"Ah, young girls shouldn't trouble such caring men," The woman looked at Suki and stated with a disappointed look, "But the schools are not at all costly. They teach a craft to children, too. There," the woman pointed at one of the few large structures beneath the palace, "that one is a school. Um... my name is Till. My husband frequents other cities most of the time. I live..."
The woman animatedly explained her address to Nik as Suki and the stall owner gazed at the married mother of one with a deadpan.
"Of course, if you want to know more. You can visit me. I'm free in the evening--"
She had only just begun when Suki slightly bowed, pulling Nik away. Meeting up with Katara, Suki scowled and explained the situation. Their glares sharpened as Nik looked at them and turned away, wholly unbothered.
He just got them the information they needed. And it was Suki's idea to act as if they were related.
"That was an embarrassing act. And a disrespectful one, too. Towards your mentor, I mean," Suki finally found a better reason to argue than a simple—'How could you?'
"Is it disrespectful being viewed as related to me?" Nik inquired as Katara grumbled, "You know well what she meant!"
"So... next time you two could inquire about information," Nik smiled, "Or, I could take Katara instead. I still want to keep learning from you, and, of course, I don't want to offend you in any capacity."
"That might... work," Katara frowned, looking 'reluctant.'
Nik shrugged. Despite the different traditions, the older women here are more effortless to attract and converse with. This could also be attributed to his own intentions. While he acted moderately around Suki and Katara, he didn't hold such concerns over attracting a stranger to fork out some information.
"Look, what I meant was, a heads up would have been nice," Suki added with a pout and followed along with Katara as Nik nodded.
"Sure. And what about you, Katara? Did you find a direction to pursue? Or do you think your time is well-spent by accompanying us to the school?" He looked at the woman who traced her chin.
"Actually... before going to this school, I wanted to see if we could find something from the market around us. I have an idea."
***
Alternate Title: The KINGDOM of Omashu; The Guards and the Kid; Smart Aang; Conflict Resolution 101; New Fire Lord; A Kind Fire Lord; Freed Prisoners; A War Vet's Opinion; Replaced Slide; City of Metal And Earth; Objectives; Nik and Aang's Bond; Making Friends Help; Suki Got Waifu'd; Suki Should Stop Troubling Nik and Just Have a Child?; The Eager Mother; Nik's Incubus Rizz; Nik Might Take Some Juicy Buns After All; Katara Is NOT Following Them; Katara Would Like a Wife Treatment, Too; A School; Sokka and Katara Sharing Their Fish Brain Cell
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