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Fanfic: 間諜 (Jian Die)
Title: 間諜 (Jian Die)
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: While in Ba Sing Se, Song investigates the Dai Li and Long Feng.
Notes: The longest piece in the Songcat series thus far! I am proud of it. There are some dates in Chinese; translations are provided at the bottom of the post, both direct and approximate timeline. Please note that everything but the year has been pulled out of nowhere. Many thanks to Bex for her help with a lot of the dialogue and for letting me borrow Hyun Su, who is hers. Hyo and Alak are mine.
If there was one thing Song had learned in her years as a shapebender, it was that people talked to animals. So when Iroh and Zuko came home from work looking sombre and shaken, Song took care to remain from underfoot, then followed Iroh into his room. The old man was much more talkative than his surly nephew.
Sure enough, after she curled up beside him, he started first to pet her, then to speak of what had transpired. He and Zuko had been exposed as firebenders, and then attacked by the boy who had accused them. Zuko had fought back, and the fight had spilled out onto the streets before being halted by the city’s cultural police. The boy had been taken away — which didn't reassure Iroh any.
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se," Iroh said regretfully, stroking her back. "But those in power know of it — and they will watch us now." He sighed. "We must be even more careful than before, Shou Mei. The Dai Li are canny and dangerous." His golden eyes closed in sorrow as his hand stilled. "One of their agents killed my son."
It took all of Song's control not to jerk at those words. It was known through the Earth Kingdom that the Dragon of the West had done the impossible and penetrated the Great Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se before being expelled by the city's defenders. She had heard that the death of someone close to him had broken his spirit, fuelling the expulsion. She hadn't realised it had been his son.
Perhaps she ought to do some investigating of these Dai Li.
~*~
Morning a few days later found Song in the Earth Palace, sauntering after a man in a dark green uniform and occasionally pouncing the hem of his robe. The Dai Li agent seemed startled by her means of livening up the walk, but let her continue as she pursued him down the hall. When he came at last to an office, however, he gently nudged her aside with his foot and closed the door before she could follow.
Offended, Song washed her ears and sat beside the door. Surely he would come out again.
After several minutes, the door finally opened, and Song darted inside before she could be closed out a second time. She flicked her tail at the door, pleased, before turning to investigate the room.
It was dimmer than the hall outside, though Song's feline eyes compensated easily for the difference. The office was spacious, indicating high rank (or high favour), though rather Spartan in décor. The man who used this space seemed to demonstrate his power and wealth through quality rather than quantity. Song approved — while clutter certainly made for more places to hide and stalk from, it was too easy for knick-knacks to catch on lovely tails and fall.
The carpet was plush and soft, and she rolled happily on it, almost testing her claws against the material before catching herself. She didn't want to be kicked out of the office before learning anything, after all. Removing her person from the carpet to avoid temptation and instinct, she sauntered behind the desk to examine the fire lighting the room. Weirdly, the flame was green, and Song wondered what he used to make it that colour.
She then turned and leapt onto the desk, butting her head lightly against the man's hand before awaiting the adoration that was her due — and not-incidentally putting herself in a position to read the papers he was looking at. As she had hoped, a hand reached up and began to stroke her. She purred happily and half-lidded her eyes, disguising her glance toward the papers. They were expectedly boring, but all were addressed to the same person: Cultural Minister Long Feng. Well, Iroh had called the Dai Li 'cultural police'; it made sense that their head would be the Cultural Minister.
The petting turned to scratching, but then ceased entirely as the minister got caught up in his work. Song butted his hand again, then washed her paws before pouncing at a shadow on the floor. She had to take care to behave as a catsquirrel would — if she was too obviously looking at the papers, he would become suspicious.
Time passed, and Long Feng rose from his desk to take a few books down from the shelves lining the walls. Intrigued, Song leapt back onto the desk and rubbed against his arm, stealing a glance at the books. They meant nothing to her; while Song was surprisingly literate for her age and gender, many of the characters were nothing she had ever seen before. She suppressed a sigh — at least until the minister began to scratch her again.
"Whoever let you in really should know better," he said, his voice smooth and deep, tinted with amusement. Song purred in response to that; she had let herself in, of course, but he didn't need to know that.
Soon, however, the man became absorbed in his work once more, and Song curled up next to his arm in the hope of more petting. She didn't raise her head until he called for 'Joo Dee' and a widely smiling woman came in to clear away the papers. Once the woman had gone (without petting her, much to the investigative Song's annoyance), Long Feng leaned back in his chair. As Song padded back to him, he said, "Really. The Avatar accuses me of taking power from Kuei — because there is apparently some secret delight in actually running a city, much less an entire kingdom."
Now, that was certainly interesting. The Avatar was in Ba Sing Se? Long Feng ran the city instead of the Earth King?
Song rose onto her hind legs, resting her front paws against his chair, and miaowed at him. The man smiled at her and reached down to scratch under her chin. "It's nothing, my dear. Complaining when I have no right to, I suppose."
She wondered if he also called his wife his dear, or if that was reserved for daughters.
Yet again she leapt onto his desk, hoping he might shift his scratching to the base of her tail, where it was impossible for her to reach. To her delight, he did, and she purred loudly until a new, amused voice spoke. "I didn't know you had a pet, sir."
Song jerked under Long Feng's hand — she hadn't even heard the door open!
"I don't," the minister answered, looking up at the man who had just spoken. "There is simply a catsquirrel in my office today." Song hopped down and went over to investigate the noiseless man, sniffing the hem of his robe.
"She seems fairly tame," the man commented, kneeling to scratch her behind the ears. "Certainly fearless." Song purred. At least he knew how to properly adore her, unlike the smiling woman.
"She's certainly someone's pet," Long Feng replied. "Perhaps one of the nobles let her get away from them."
After a fashion, it was true enough. Pleased, Song flicked her tail and twined around the noiseless man before pouncing on a flickering shadow. She continued her play as the man delivered reports to Long Feng, listening carefully all the while. Most of the reports contained names and locations that meant nothing to her, but she filed them away regardless. After the noiseless man — named Hyo, apparently — wound up, Long Feng asked, "How are the trainees doing?"
"Fairly well." She could hear the smile in Hyo's voice. "Lanh broke into my office."
Oddly, neither man seemed very annoyed by this statement. Instead, Long Feng wanted to know if he had found anything interesting, to which Hyo explained that the boy had only wanted to deliver a report. "I was reading to Mi-Cha," he added, shaking his head.
Long Feng chuckled in response, then took the report from Hyo. He glanced over it, then sighed. "I see the Avatar is still causing chaos."
Hyo's expression slipped from indulgence to exasperation. "He caused a stampede in the Lower Ring today." The cultural minister covered his eyes with his hand, and Song twined around his ankles in an attempt to be vaguely comforting. "In related news," Hyo went on, "the animals of the Ba Sing Se Zoo have a new, larger habitat in the Agrarian zone. Two of the farmers are going to need new lands."
"Wonderful," Long Feng said. "I'll pass that on to the Minister of Agriculture." He sighed. "Idiot boy."
"I imagine he thought he was helping the animals," Hyo said, his tone that of a parent who has just seen a child knock down a sibling's sand castle to rebuild it stronger.
"Of course he did." The minister pinched the bridge of his nose. "I presume he's going to learn how to do good without massive destruction when he gets older."
"And consider the consequences of his actions," Hyo added as Song leapt into Long Feng's lap. "Come harvest, there might be a minor shortage of food — and we both know which part of the city that will affect."
"Yes," Long Feng said regretfully, gently stroking Song. "Assuming the city is still here come autumn."
Why wouldn't it be? Song wondered, kneading his lap with her claws still sheathed.
"Yes," Hyo agreed in the same tone, then he changed the subject. "I managed to get a look at the two the refugee boy accused of being firebenders."
Song did not perk her ears up, but she listened intently. This was why she had come, after all.
"And?" Long Feng asked.
Hyo took a deep breath. "The old man is the Dragon of the West."
Long Feng froze so completely Song looked up at him in concern. She felt her eyes widen just slightly as she recognised the expression on his face: fear. A long, long silence, and then finally, he said, "Well." He took a breath of his own, composing himself. "He needs to be brought closer under observation. The Lower Ring is too close to being able to leave." Almost absently, he began to pet her again. "He's working as a tea-maker, I'm given to understand. Extremely fine tea. Quon has quite a lot of money to spend, and seems to be driving towards becoming the city's tea baron." He fell silent for a moment, and Hyo offered no opinion.
"We have space for a tea house," Long Feng went on, "though there may need to be some redrawing of property boundaries. Does Quon still like to play mah-jong against Jae?" Hyo nodded, and Long Feng said, "Have the captain mention that the Minister of Culture's view is that the Upper Ring needs a new tea house."
"Yessir," Hyo responded.
Long Feng closed his eyes. "Cat's-paws," he said, making Song look up at him in confusion. "Can any of us kill him in a stand-up fight, do you think?"
"No," was the flat reply, and Song turned her head to see Hyo rub his left arm.
"Then I won't let it come to that," the minister said firmly.
"His nephew would be simpler," Hyo offered, "but the boy is dangerous as well."
"I'm curious, is the boy really his nephew?"
"They certainly act like it," was the reply. "And he does resemble the current Firelord."
Song didn't like where this conversation was headed at all.
"We definitely want them unable to leave easily," said Long Feng. "It may prove of use to have Ozai's heir on hand. Or not, since the boy is here in disguise."
She might have to encourage them to leave somehow, Song realised as she kneaded and purred.
"It could be a ruse," Hyo agreed, "or they could be honestly on the run from the Fire Nation."
"Observe them," ordered the minister. "We need to know the truth." He sighed and continued to stroke Song. "Because if we already have Fire Nation infiltrators, comet-day is going to be much uglier than I originally feared."
Comet-day? Song vaguely remembered the stories of the early stage of the war, when Firelord Sozin had somehow harnessed the power of a comet to completely wipe out the Air Nomads. There was another comet coming?
"Yessir," said Hyo again, then he hesitated. "I think it would be for the best if I avoided the Lower Ring. And if we confined Chatri to the Upper Ring entirely."
"Agreed," said Long Feng.
"I'd also like to send Lanh out," Hyo added, making his superior tilt his head curiously. "He knows the Lower Ring," the noiseless man explained, "and is discreet. People talk to him."
Long Feng nodded. "Do so," he ordered, then sighed. "Tell him to avoid getting arrested for thievery."
Ah, that was right, Lanh was the one who had broken into Hyo's office. Why employ a man like that? Song wondered.
A small smile crossed Hyo's face. "Yessir," he agreed, then bowed shortly to Long Feng and moved for the door on silent feet. Not even his robes rustled. Song both disliked and envied the man's skill — she couldn't manage the same as a girl.
Long Feng smiled. "Good day, Hyo," he said. The door closed without so much as a sound, and Song looked up at the minister and mewled. To her surprise, he reached out and lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. For a long moment, he was silent, and then finally, he spoke.
"My city is going to die," he told her quietly. "Untold millions of people are going to burn in their own blood. Unless that boy of an Avatar can not only defeat the Firelord but restrain the entire Fire Nation from simply appointing someone else who will continue their conquest." He sighed. "Really, if you look at it in a reasonable way, we're already dead men."
Song didn't consider that reasonable at all. She mewed and rubbed her face against his cheek, trying to cheer the man up. Bleakly, he went on, "Traditionally, ministers hang themselves in the face of certain defeat."
She almost, almost froze, but managed to keep rubbing against him. The silence went on as the minister stroked her, but then he spoke again, his voice hard. "My city still lives, my boy still needs me. I have never cared about honour, and I will not start now."
Song purred quietly, hoping he wouldn't notice that she had started just before he'd shifted from petting to scratching. "If the eclipse attack fails, I'm sending Hyo and Mi-Cha away."
Eclipse attack? Did he mean he had a plan to defeat the Fire Nation? She rubbed her face against his again, purring louder. "Friendly, aren't you?" he asked now, and his tone had shifted back to amused. To her surprise, he returned the gesture, rubbing his cheek lightly against her.
She chittered at him, and he smiled and petted her some more, making her wave her tail in pleasure. "I can't send all of them away," he said, not to her, but thinking aloud. "But Hyo can take Mi-Cha. The trainees. Qin. A few others."
He was only trying to protect his people, she realised. His people just happened to include everyone in Ba Sing Se. She didn't agree with his methods — the official policy of 'No War In Ba Sing Se' was ridiculous — but she could certainly sympathise with him. She purred.
"Damn it," he said after another pause. "There's so many people concentrated here because we're safe. The Impenetrable City. It's going to be a bloodbath when the comet comes."
Comets enhanced firebending, Song remembered. It was why the attack on the Air Nomads had wiped them all out. Ba Sing Se was the last bastion against the Fire Nation. If there was another comet, it made sense that the Fire Nation would harness its power to conquer the city. If that happened…
She tried, but was unable to suppress a shudder.
She had to do something. If she could somehow convince Iroh or Zuko — but how would she do that? She had been hiding in plain sight for too long. If she just turned up in her human form to talk to them, they wouldn't trust her. And would Iroh even be interested in protecting the city that had cost him his son?
Long Feng did not speak again. He continued to hold her as the hours passed, staring off into space and clearly considering how to save as many as he could.
~*~
It was late at night.
Song wasn't sure how late, but hoped it was late enough that nobody would wander into the library she'd just let herself into. She had a fairly good idea she shouldn't even be in here, since the door had been completely sealed off. This was why she had let herself in through one of the small windows leading outside. No person could fit through them, but a catsquirrel could with ease.
Now she cautiously prowled amongst the shelves, searching out anything that would give her more information about this city, the war, or the Siege. She needed to know more before she could decide if she would show herself to Iroh or not.
Several minutes later, she had taken her human form. The catsquirrel was wonderful for getting into places and going unnoticed, but lacked any sort of capacity for carrying. Or turning pages. She brought the books she'd collected back to the window, and settled down to read by the light of the moon.
If she had been an ordinary girl, she wouldn't have been able to. But she was a shapebender, with the blood of spirits in her, and her eyes had been blessed with a catsquirrel's night vision. So far as she was concerned, the moonlight might as well have been sunlight.
The first book wasn't a book so much as it was a collection of notes, all taken during the Great Siege. She read carefully, learning of how the Dragon of the West had mounted his campaign, and how those defending the city had held out while all the while Ba Sing Se remained in ignorance of the danger.
She was at the same time fascinated and appalled — whoever had compiled these notes had not been Dai Li, and often expressed frustration at both the inability to inform the people so they would be prepared, and at his own inability to maintain a decent aide. He wouldn't say why, likely because he was aware that these notes would not be private.
She turned a page and read, 'I know you bastards are reading this. Leave my aides alone!'
In the margins, someone else had written, 'Give us actually useful reports and we wouldn't need to suborn your aides.'
Beneath that, a different person had added, 'The next person who writes in the margins will be fined and put on Xin Wan duty.'
What was Xin Wan duty?
But the threat had been effective, because the rest of the notes were without comment. She could only read about half of what was written, unfortunately — quite a few of the characters were ones she didn't recognise.
Song had a sinking feeling that this problem would come up often.
She put the notes aside and picked up the next book, which was simply a compendium of dates and events — a timeline of the Siege, she realised. This one was much easier to follow, and shorter than the collected notes had been. The last set, however, bothered her:
[氜武兔年五月十六日]: Off-duty Dai Li joined in the effort to expel Prince-General Iroh.
[氜武兔年五月十八日]: Prince Lu Ten killed in battle by Dai Li agent.
[氜武兔年五月二十一日]: Prince-General Iroh declares cease-fire.
[氜武兔年六月三日]: Prince-General Iroh withdraws his forces.
For some reason, the noiseless man came to her mind. "I think it would be for the best if I avoided the Lower Ring."
She shook her head and put aside the timeline. She would worry about that later.
Stone scraped against stone as she picked up the third book, and Song's head shot up, her eyes wide and tracking for movement. Nothing moved, but the door was on the other side of the library from her, blocked off by a series of book cases.
She would have to be fast.
Slowly, she rose to her feet and carefully moved the items she had gathered into a single neat pile, making it impossible to determine how far through them she had gotten. She listened very carefully for the sound of movement, cursing her human ears and how dull her sense of hearing was compared to her cat body—
Cat.
She could shift and go out the window before whoever it was even got this far back.
She turned to look at the window, and immediately noticed a problem: the window was too high up for her to reach in a jump from the floor, as were the tops of the bookshelves. The shelves themselves were so full of books she wouldn't be able to use them as step-stones in either form without bringing a pile of them down on herself.
Scared, Song quickly darted down an aisle, hoping the shadows would conceal her for enough time. As she moved, she tugged the pink ribbon from her hair and unravelled her braid, using the waist-length tresses to obscure her white jeorgi to make it harder to spy her. As soon as she was in deep enough shadow, she stopped moving — as a catsquirrel, she well knew that it was movement attracted the eye. However, freezing did one no good when one was bathed in moonlight.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been fast enough. Light shone around her, casting her shadow against the far wall. Startled, she turned to see an equally-startled Dai Li agent holding a lamp. They stared at each other for a brief moment, then Song snatched a book off the nearest shelf and threw it at his head.
The Dai Li ducked, and Song leapt higher than she should have but still not high enough to grab the top of the bookshelves. She did, however, grab hold of the shelf two down from the top, and used that and footing provided by the books to drag herself up to the top, sending various manuscripts and scrolls tumbling to the floor in her wake.
As she rolled off on the other side, she heard a startled exclamation from the Dai Li, then the pounding of stone on stone as he went after her. She landed in a crouch and darted down the new aisle, staying just ahead of him. She wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, though, and both of them knew it. Sooner or later, the earthbending would come into play.
She turned to round a corner in the series of shelves and caught movement from the corner of her eye: something flying toward her—!
She threw herself to one side, precariously angled so that whatever it was flew over her, then she hit the ground and came up rolling. She had to get out of his sight!
Which meant going up. For the second time in less than two minutes, she scrambled up to the top of the bookcase and went down the other side. This time, however, she changed on the way down and landed as a catsquirrel.
This time, when the Dai Li rounded the corner, he looked simply confused. He searched the whole of the library, with Song very carefully just far enough back that she could watch him without being caught, then he sighed. "Well, this report is going to be exciting and strange. At least I can avoid accusations of drinking."
He moved back to the patch of moonlight under the window, where Song had left her books and where he had first seen her.
Song blinked.
He was just tall enough…
Pleased, Song flicked her tail, then darted straight for the Dai Li agent. A leap took her to his shoulder, and from there she jumped to the top of the bookshelf nearest the window. She caught the barest glimpse of his startled expression as she turned and launched herself out the window, then she was outside and running as hard as she could away from the palace and back to the Fire Princes.
~*~
Commander Hyo closed the door to Long Feng's office and took a look at his supervisor.
The older man was well-composed, as usual, but Hyo knew him well enough to catch the hints of tiredness around his eyes. "You sent for me, sir?" he asked.
In answer, Long Feng offered him a report.
Hyo accepted and scanned the report, which had been written by Hyun Su. There had been a disturbance in the Dai Li library the previous night, it seemed. A young woman wearing a hanbok — huh, she came from his home province, then — with hair…
Hyo blinked, then reread the description.
The girl's hair had been patterned, near-white swirled together with dark brown. Something about that jangled in Hyo's mind, and he read on. The jangling only increased as he got to the descriptions of the girl's escape, and then her eventual disappearance. It didn't click, however, until Hyo reached the part where a cat had used Hyun Su as a stop on its way out the window.
"Ah." He set the report on the desk.
"Ah?" Long Feng repeated questioningly.
"Basttal," Hyo replied.
The Director didn't blink. He simply regarded his subordinate. "In Common, if you please."
"Bastet's daughters," the Commander elaborated. "There is a myth in the Han-Guk province, about a spirit-cat who found a mortal man attractive and lay with him. She bore him daughters who could change shape from cat to girl and back."
Long Feng raised an eyebrow at him. "Just a myth?"
Hyo hesitated. "Perhaps not," he admitted. "My mother used to speak of a woman she knew who was descended from the first Basttal."
The other man sighed. "How widespread are these… Basttal?" he asked.
"It's impossible to say, sir. The legend says that the change passes through the female line, and that the Basttal don't marry outside Han-Guk." He sighed. "And a thing like that isn't something you'd want to speak of while the war is on."
"Indeed," Long Feng remarked. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "It would seem I can no longer trust small animals."
Then the other thing that had been bothering Hyo clicked. "The catsquirrel?"
"Yes," was the simple reply.
Hyo thought back to his conversation with Long Feng that day, and how long the animal had been with the Director, and winced.
"Precisely."
"I'll spread the word," the Commander said softly. A Basttal was the last thing they needed right now.
~*~
"Sir?"
Hyo looked up to see Alak fidgeting in front of him. "What is it?" he asked the boy.
"Um. I staked out the house like you asked, with Lanh." No wonder he was patting his pocket every few seconds. Time spent with the pickpocket would do that to a man. "It seems to be just them in the apartment, and the old man's pet."
Hyo arched an eyebrow, and the boy bit his bottom lip. "I — sir, this will sound crazy, but… I think it can change shape."
—what?
"Is it a catsquirrel?" he demanded, surprising the trainee.
"Yes, sir. It comes and goes as it pleases. Bengal pattern, dark brown and cream."
Hyo knew that description.
"Good work, Alak," he said, rising to clap the startled boy on the shoulder. "You've just helped the Dai Li a great deal."
"I have?"
"Yes." He ruffled Alak's hair this time, grinning when the trainee ducked away. "You reported exactly as you should, despite the strangeness of it."
"Hyun Su taught me to report everything that happened," Alak explained.
And it had been Hyun Su who had first brought the Basttal to their attention. Hyo made a mental note to give Alak's mentor a bonus. "As it happens, it was Hyun Su who first brought her to our attention. You and Lanh have been out, so you wouldn't have heard yet — the catsquirrel is a shapebender, one whom Hyun Su caught in the palace library." Alak's green eyes went wide. "Go report to Long Feng, then fetch Lanh and bring him here. I'll explain everything then."
~*~
The apartment was still empty when Song finished her tea rinse. She knew she was taking a risk, taking her human shape, but the fact remained that she had been spotted in the library. If something happened to Zuko or Iroh and she had to go out as a girl, it would be far better in the long run for her hair to appear normal.
She probably should be using something a bit more permanent than tea, but henna, walnut, and indigo took too long to set, and required her leaving the apartment to buy them. She had no doubt that a description of her hair had been circulated amongst the Dai Li. It was safer to stay here — and it wasn't as if they were low on tea.
Sighing, she wrapped a towel around her body and went to put her materials away—
There was a man standing in the room. He wore the uniform of the Dai Li, but he wasn't just Dai Li. She knew him, had spent the majority of a day prowling his office.
"Hello," said Cultural Minister Long Feng.
Song almost dropped the bowls in her hands.
"Dyeing your hair," he noted. "Clever. Though I'm uncertain why you bother when the people you live with don't seem to know of your human form."
Song held her hand high. "My hair makes people… too interested."
(The governor saw her swirled hair and wanted the spirit-child for himself. Her father objected, and the Fire man killed him, burned him alive, then took her into his carriage. On the way to his mansion, he burned her, marred her, marked her as his; when they got there, he locked her into a pretty room, with toys and baubles and anything a girl could want but the parents she sobbed for.
In the night her mother came for her, an old cat who still moved quick despite her age, and worked the change on a child too young to do it herself. Together they fled into the darkness—)
As if he had divined the memory, Long Feng nodded. "A fair point," he remarked, and glanced at the scar going up her right leg. She didn't flinch at his look, but his only comment was, "Old scars," before he changed the subject. "I presume you came to see me in my office the other day."
The patterning of her hair had only been dulled by the tea rinses, not yet hidden. "Would there be any point in denying it?" she asked.
"Yes," was the simple, surprising answer. He did not, however, elaborate. "By all rights, I should have you contained and questioned. However, I have quite enough crises to manage. So long as you obey the laws of Ba Sing Se and do not spread about what you have heard, I am willing to leave you be."
"I have no desire to be carted off like that boy," Song said quietly. "And I spend most of my days as a catsquirrel."
"No one desires that," Long Feng said. He regarded her coolly for a moment, tilting his head to one side. Try as she might, she could find no trace of lasciviousness in his gaze — which didn't at all reassure her. He was a very controlled man. "You should let your companions know some time," he advised. "Or distance yourself from them."
Song recoiled mentally from the idea of telling the Fire princes. They would lock her away in a gilded cage, away from the sun and the moon and the people who needed her help—!
Ba Sing Se needed her help.
Princess Azula still pursued her brother and uncle.
Song met Long Feng's eyes. "They really are on the run," she said.
Long Feng looked thoughtful. "Thank you."
She took a deep breath—
("A princess surrenders with honour." Nobody moved, and then the princess did, blue fire jetting out from her fingers and crashing into Song as she leapt in front of Iroh—)
"Zuko's sister is nothing like him," she told him, and shuddered with the memory.
Long Feng's eyebrows rose slightly. "Tell me about her."
Song carefully seated herself so the trembling of her legs wouldn't give away her fear of the Fire princess, and then she began to speak. She told him of how easily she attacked her own family, how Zuko and Iroh had elected to risk capture or even death in the Earth Kingdom rather than be captured by the princess, and how, when cornered by the Fire princes and the Avatar's group, she had struck at the Dragon of the West — after she had surrendered — to effect her own escape.
"Prince Zuko once said, 'Azula always lies,'" she wrapped up. Technically he had been chanting it, but she didn't need to share that part.
Long Feng wore a serious, intent expression. "Well. Thank you again." He paused briefly, then said, "If you do find something else you think we should know, do come by."
Song bowed carefully to him so her towel wouldn't slip. "I can't do much. But I can listen."
"That is much more important than many people realise," he told her.
"I'll do what I can for your city," Song promised, and Long Feng smiled.
"Do what you can for the Earth Kingdom. I'll let myself out."
~*~
The Avatar and his friends had succeeded in deposing Long Feng. Zuko and Iroh had been moved to the Upper Ring, however, so it was much easier for Song to seek out the fallen Director. Getting to him was another matter entirely, but the guards she passed were all inclined to ignore the catsquirrel padding down the hall.
Eventually she located his cell, and carefully squeezed inside. Long Feng appeared to be meditating, however, so she sat down in front of him and waited to be noticed.
Some time later, he opened his eyes and smiled to see her. He didn't speak, but raised a hand to pet her. This was something Song was perfectly okay with, and she purred as he stroked her.
It was another several minutes before Long Feng spoke. "—Ba Sing Se needs to fall to the Fire Nation." Startled, Song looked up at him. "If they already possess Ba Sing Se," he elaborated, "they won't need to strike us as a war target."
He was right, she realised. On the whole, the Fire Nation military tended to be less likely to burn things for the sake of burning them, at least in her experience. What would be the point of attacking the Impenetrable City if it was already theirs?
"Then there will be a hundred years before the comet returns," he went on, "and we can easily take back the city before even a year has passed."
Yes, he was right. Even in occupied territory, the people of the Earth Kingdom were still resisting. Ba Sing Se would resist as well — especially those in the Lower Rings, who had already fled the Fire Nation once. Song purred again, rubbing her face against his fingers.
"Conveniently, Azula has already infiltrated Ba Sing Se," he added, and Song froze, the fur on her back and tail brushing out. In response, his petting changed from casual to comforting, and she slowly relaxed even as he explained, "She thinks she's being clever about it, too." He sighed. "She's just a child. I could give her the city wrapped in gift paper, and she wouldn't realise it."
Slowly, Song crept forward into his lap, huddling close against him. He slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her into his arms, cuddling her against his chest like he had that first day in his office. "I'll have to meet her first to decide if this is really the way I want to do this. But I think she's the best I will be able to do."
Song mewled quietly and closed her eyes. Even when his own city had turned on him, he was still doing his best to protect it. Well, he still had his Dai Li — and he still had her. She would be his ears wherever he needed her.
~*~
Iroh and Zuko still weren't back from serving tea to the Earth King.
Song lay sprawled on the table, bathing in the rays of the rising moon. She had been cautioned to stay inside today, and she took Dai Li hints very seriously. It was boring, though, stuck inside like this. She didn't dare take her human form now, not knowing when the two Fire princes would return.
Heaving a sigh, she rolled over, then heard a faint whisper of noise. One ear quirked, and she rose to all fours and then jumped off the table to investigate. Following her ears led her to a rather harried-looking man in surprisingly rough clothes — still good enough for the Upper Ring, but definitely for travel.
It was Long Feng.
She chattered and twined around his ankles to announce her presence, but he did not pet her. Instead he said quietly, "Miss Song, we need to talk."
Something had happened.
Obediently, she padded away from him and changed to her human form. "Yes?"
"It's done," he said quietly. "Ba Sing Se has fallen to the Fire Princess."
Song swallowed — Azula still frightened her — but nodded.
Green eyes met hers, and Long Feng added, "So has the Avatar."
Those four words hurt as much as the fire that had taken her father and marred her forever. She took a step back, staring at the Cultural Minister, eyes wide in horror. "No," she whispered. "No."
"Miss Song," he said firmly. "Look at me."
She took a deep breath, trying to get herself under control (remembered Zuko's face whenever he spoke of the Avatar), but her eyes filled with tears. She blinked rapidly, trying to chase them away. Crying wouldn't help anything, and Long Feng had come to her. He needed her for something. A second breath, a third, then Song wiped her eyes and locked her sadness away. She had to be strong now. Tears could come later.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked him now.
"First, I need you to sit down," he cautioned.
That wasn't a good sign.
Song took a seat, and then Long Feng told her about what had happened that afternoon. How the coup d'état had gone, how Zuko (but not Iroh) had been captured, how the Avatar had returned from wherever he had gone in order to rescue his waterbender friend from Azula.
How Zuko had sided with his sister, leading to the death of the Avatar.
How Iroh had arrived and covered for the waterbender's escape and subsequently been taken prisoner.
Song's body was taut, her sorrow turned to fury. How dare he? Had he gone mad, or forgotten the events of the spring? Forgotten the refugees, Jet, that little boy whose village was tormented by the soldiers? (Forgotten her?) Azula trying to kill him, trying to kill Iroh, nearly killing her!
Dully she realised that her hands hurt, and she raised them to see that she'd clenched them so hard her nails had dug into the flesh, leaving eight red crescents.
She took another deep breath, and let her rage go. Now wasn't the time.
She looked up at Long Feng again. "Okay. Okay."
The Cultural Minister looked her over, as if trying to make sure she really was all right, then nodded. "I would not ask this of you if I had anyone else to send," he told her in that soft voice of his. "I need eyes and ears in the Fire Nation, Miss Song." She tensed ("Barbarians have no need of spirit-children; you belong to the Fire Nation.") and he laid his fingers gently against the back of her hand. "I need someone I can trust." He held her gaze. "Someone who can infiltrate the Fire Nation and wander unnoticed."
She could do it.
She wasn't sure if he really trusted her — but he had to trust her somewhat to ask her to do this.
And for all that Zuko had turned out to be no better than the rest of his people, Iroh was still decent at heart. He had been too late for the Avatar, but he had helped the waterbender escape. And Zuko had turned against him.
Song nodded. 'Yes," she said quietly. "I can do it. I will do it."
Long Feng smiled.
氜武兔年五月十六日 - 16th Day of the 5th Month of the Superior Military Rabbit Year (May 16th, 95 After Sozin's Comet)
氜武兔年五月十八日 - 18th Day of the 5th Month of the Superior Military Rabbit Year (May 18th, 95 ASC)
氜武兔年五月二十一日 - 21st Day of the 5th Month of the Superior Military Rabbit Year (May 21st, 95 ASC)
氜武兔年六月三日 - 3rd Day of the 6th Month of the Superior Military Rabbit Year (June 3rd, 95 ASC)
jeorgi - the upper part of a hanbok, covering the arms and upper part of the wearer's body.
Current Location: my bed
Current Mood:  happy
Tags: au: catsong, avatar, fanfic
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