This choice: Mai contacts Aang, Katara, and co. first. • Go Back...Chapter #6Mai contacts Aang, Katara, and co. first. by: Unknown Within a few hours, a messenger hawk bearing the Fire Lord's insignia had made its way to the Jade Dragon, the tea shop owned by Zuko's uncle Iroh. Unsure if Aang was still in the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se, Zuko figured getting the message to Iroh to spread around would be the safest bet.
Iroh received the hawk as he was heating up a row of pleasant-looking teapots for the evening rush with some gentle firebending. Ba Sing Se was a massive city, and the Jade Dragon tea house had a reputation as the best in the world.
"I hear a messenger hawk! If its more royalty askin' for a reservation at my table, tell them its fine as long as they don't expect me to move." Toph Bei Fong was sprawled across the two-person-sized booth closest to the counter in the Jade Dragon, lounging. Not eager to resume her pampered home life, Toph looked for amusement in Ba Sing Se as Aang and the others took slightly more...hands-on approaches to helping rebuild the damage done by the war. Toph thought Iroh was a pretty down to earth guy; he never chastised her for her manners, and Iroh accepted her service to the Avatar as payment enough for a little tea and cake. As such, Toph's bare, rather dirty feet, poking out into view past the table as she reclined, had become almost a fixture at the tea house.
A well dressed Earth Kingdom gentleman of about forty sitting at the table next to Toph's gave an audible snort of displeasure at the girl's manners; he had waited an hour to be seated, and some barefooted little commoner was overstaying at her table! Immediately after the snort, his table was immediately jolted upward by something, flipping his tea onto his head and sending his untouched pastry rocketing into the air. The man strode out of the restaruant, half-crying over the damage done to his dress robes.
Iroh smiled and calmly walked over to the now-vacant table, re-straightening it. The pillar of earth that had shot up underneath the table to jolt it had settled back into its original formation in the floor without a crack out of place. "That messenger hawk actually had some serious news." Iroh began as he picked up the spilled teacup. "...But first, where did that pastry go?"
Toph was now impatient. "Don't worry about it! -Burrrrap!- What did the hawk say?"
"Azula seems to have broken out of the Asylum. I can't help but feel like a regimen of gentle, encouraging therapy was not the best fit for calming my niece down." Iroh mused in his usual pondering tone.
Toph sprung to her feet, a few cake crumbs fall from her clothes. She didn't look much different from four months ago; she stubbornly adhered to the same rather dirty outfit, and still carried with her the slightly strong odor of earth and sweat. All the baked goods she had gobbled up over the months had built up a pooch around her midsection, making her sash pinch her slight potbelly.
"Do you know if the Avatar is still in town?" Iroh asked. "I haven't seen him in a few days."
"I think everyone went to make sure the farms outside of the city limits were doing ok. Sokka said he wanted to go talk to the guy responsible for maintaining the rail system to expand the tracks into smaller towns for ease of travel and junk."
"I'll alert the messenger system that the Avatar is needed back here for a meeting, then." Iroh began walking out of the restaurant. "Wait!" Toph held out her palm to Iroh. She was silent for a moment, then scrunched her toes. "I'd know those footsteps anywhere!"
At that moment Katara burst into the Jade Dragon, out of breath and with one hair loopy undone. "Azula's here! She's fighting Aang in the lower ring!"
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