[Avatar Fic] Ba Sing Se Waits
Apparently I never got around to posting this on my own journal. Bad me. This won second place on the atlaland Favorite Character Ficlet challenge way back in the day.
Title: Ba Sing Se Waits
Characters: Long Feng, Katsu (OC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400+
Summary: During the Occupation of Ba Sing Se, the city is not silent. Long Feng knows how to both listen and speak in ways the Fire Nation does not.
Author's Notes: aka 'the graffiti fic'.
Ba Sing Se Waits
***
The walls of the Lower Ring held Ba Sing Se's secrets, from the great walls surrounding the ring to the lesser walls of buildings and alleys. They held the fears and hopes and hates of millions of Earthfolk. Scratched in chalk, painted in ink, or carved with earthbending, no wall in the Lower Ring was silent.
'There is no war in Ba Sing Se.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The dragon lurks below the mountain.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'Firebenders serve tea.' Scorched in: 'That is very delicious.'
'The Dai Li are a lie.'
'There is no peace in Ba Sing Se.'
'The phoenix is in ashes.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'Earth smothers fire.' 'Water douses fire.' 'Fire dies without air.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The Avatar lives.' Scorched in: 'That's why the Water Tribes are next.' Scorched over that: 'Because that worked so well last time.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The Dai Li do as they must.'
'Ba Sing Se waits.'
***
Katsu found the city damn creepy. The Earthfolk always cleared the street when he and his partner swept through on patrol, even though it was just the two of them in red armor. Creepy and quiet, and he should never have started reading the graffiti.
Except this time there was still a man standing on the street when everyone else had vanished. He wore plain clothes and a conical straw hat like one of the city's many farmers. His feet were bare like theirs, too. The hat was tilted at an angle to make his eyes hard to look at, but that was far less suspicious than the fact the man was still outside on the street with two Fire soldiers.
"You!" Katsu called out. "What's your business?"
The man pivoted and turned towards him. Underneath the shadow his hat cast on his face, Katsu could make out a sharp-edged smile. "Waiting."
A shudder ran down Katsu's spine. 'Ba Sing Se waits.' But the man wasn't obviously doing something wrong, and the whole damn city had been primed on the edge of riots for weeks since the Princess left. Patrols had disappeared, too.
Katsu didn't want to find out where they'd disappeared to. "Go about your business then."
"I plan to."
***
Long Feng waited for the Fire patrol to pass, then sunk his fingers into the wall. He inscribed a date and time, the same one the Avatar's Water Tribe follower had given him a month ago. His helpers had gone out to spread the word, as well, and he knew it would be all over the city by nightfall.
Ba Sing Se waited and now she knew when she was waiting for.
Two weeks to the eclipse.
-End-
Title: Ba Sing Se Waits
Characters: Long Feng, Katsu (OC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400+
Summary: During the Occupation of Ba Sing Se, the city is not silent. Long Feng knows how to both listen and speak in ways the Fire Nation does not.
Author's Notes: aka 'the graffiti fic'.
Ba Sing Se Waits
***
The walls of the Lower Ring held Ba Sing Se's secrets, from the great walls surrounding the ring to the lesser walls of buildings and alleys. They held the fears and hopes and hates of millions of Earthfolk. Scratched in chalk, painted in ink, or carved with earthbending, no wall in the Lower Ring was silent.
'There is no war in Ba Sing Se.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The dragon lurks below the mountain.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'Firebenders serve tea.' Scorched in: 'That is very delicious.'
'The Dai Li are a lie.'
'There is no peace in Ba Sing Se.'
'The phoenix is in ashes.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'Earth smothers fire.' 'Water douses fire.' 'Fire dies without air.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The Avatar lives.' Scorched in: 'That's why the Water Tribes are next.' Scorched over that: 'Because that worked so well last time.'
'There is now war in Ba Sing Se.'
'The Dai Li do as they must.'
'Ba Sing Se waits.'
***
Katsu found the city damn creepy. The Earthfolk always cleared the street when he and his partner swept through on patrol, even though it was just the two of them in red armor. Creepy and quiet, and he should never have started reading the graffiti.
Except this time there was still a man standing on the street when everyone else had vanished. He wore plain clothes and a conical straw hat like one of the city's many farmers. His feet were bare like theirs, too. The hat was tilted at an angle to make his eyes hard to look at, but that was far less suspicious than the fact the man was still outside on the street with two Fire soldiers.
"You!" Katsu called out. "What's your business?"
The man pivoted and turned towards him. Underneath the shadow his hat cast on his face, Katsu could make out a sharp-edged smile. "Waiting."
A shudder ran down Katsu's spine. 'Ba Sing Se waits.' But the man wasn't obviously doing something wrong, and the whole damn city had been primed on the edge of riots for weeks since the Princess left. Patrols had disappeared, too.
Katsu didn't want to find out where they'd disappeared to. "Go about your business then."
"I plan to."
***
Long Feng waited for the Fire patrol to pass, then sunk his fingers into the wall. He inscribed a date and time, the same one the Avatar's Water Tribe follower had given him a month ago. His helpers had gone out to spread the word, as well, and he knew it would be all over the city by nightfall.
Ba Sing Se waited and now she knew when she was waiting for.
Two weeks to the eclipse.
-End-