Miko isn't sure what to expect from the King of Omashu. Violence? Threats? She doesn't expect a feast, but that's exactly what the king gives them when the guards present him with six juveniles who were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages -- the Cabbage Man is particularly bitter about that last part and demands that they have their heads severed off. The king spends most of the feast yammering on about utter nonsense, displaying his estranged talent for terrible puns, and cackling madly. He's unbelievably generous with his food, claiming his people have become obease due to too many feasts. Trouble only starts stirring after he tosses a chicken leg at Aang.

It's purely instinctual, a reflex. He doesn't mean to blow their cover, but he throws his hands up, encasing the chicken leg in an air bubble. Aang drops it as quickly as he caught it, but by then it's too late. Everyone sees.

The king rises from his spot at the head of the table, gesturing at Aang with one of his long, bony arms. "There's an airbender in our presence, and not just any airbender." There's a wicked grin that spreads across his face here. "The Avatar!" He sits back down a moment later, his grin spreading so all can see his missing front teeth. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pippinpaddleopsicopolis?"

Lin scoffs at the news. She's been slumped over, moodily munching on her own food while the others talk. Li Kun perks up from beside her, but he stays quiet as the Avatar stands and throws his hands in the air. His voice wavers as he speaks. "Okay, you caught me! I'm the Avatar. Just doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe."

"How modest," Lin mumbles, earning herself an elbow to the side from her brother. She glares at him; he rolls his eyes at her.

The Avatar keeps going, evidently not hearing the rude comment. "Everything checks out." He lifts the table cloth to check under the table. "No fire benders here!"

The king leans forward, his grin widening even more so; he lets out a snorty little giggle. "Are you sure?" Miko swears he looks right at her when he says this. Her mouth goes dry. Does he know? Miko double checks her borrowed coat. It's still covering her red clothing. There's no way he could know she's Fire Nation; even so, there's this little spark in his eyes. It's like he's hiding something. She's not sure what he'll do to her if he does find out. Will he kill her? Torture her? Hold her for ransom? The Earth benders are ruthless. That's what she's learned and at the Academy.

Aang slings his arms around Miko and the Water Tribe siblings; they start to back out of the room. But before they can get very far, the guards are blocking the doorway. "You can't keep us here!" Katara stamps her foot. "Let us leave!"

The king, taking advantage of the words' pronunciation, finds a great opportunity for another one of his terrible puns. "Lettuce leaf?" He holds up a piece of lettuce, munching on it.

Sokka makes a face. He holds up his hands and leans over to whisper to the others. "We're in serious trouble. This guy is nuts!"

The king doesn't hear, or perhaps it's just that he ignores the comment all together. "Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges! But for now the guards will show you to your chamber."

"My liege," the chamberlain says, leaning forward slightly, "do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?"

"The newly refurbished chamber."

"Wait. Which one are we talking about?"

"The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we really should number them." He shrugs, holds up his finger and says, "Take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!" And when they try taking the twins along with the Avatar and friends, he stops them. "Not my grandchildren. They're going to help me think of ideas for the deadly challenges."

The guards frown, exchanging looks with one another. "But sir," one of them speaks up. "These aren't really your grandchildren."

With a wave of his hand, the king laughs off their concerns. "Of course, or course. But you must admit it was a clever ruse." The guards shrug, decide it better not to question their king's antics, and whisk the Avatar and his friends away to the refurbished chamber that was once bad, leaving the twins alone with the king.

Lin scowls, folds her arms over herself. She does sort of look like him, what with the both of them missing a tooth or two. "What makes you think we're going to help you?"

"I'm a poor, helpless old man," the king says pathetically. "I can't remember where I put my crown half the time." He lets out a dramatized sniffle. It's the same tone Lin always uses herself when she's playing the Orphan Card.

"Yeah right," she rolls her eyes. Oldest trick in the book.

"It's just a front," Li Kun says. It only takes a moment for him to take it all in. Actually, he's been observing the King since the guards had brought him in along with the others,"to make people underestimate you, or maybe you just like messing with them. But you're actually a great strategist. You make yourself out to be this lunatic with all these puns and jokes and whatnot, but it's all in your eyes. You're always watching everything, and waiting for them to move first -- the perfect time to strike...

"Or in this case reveal your identity to the Avatar. I caught that look you gave him back in the throne room. I figured you probably knew each other at some point, most likely before he disappeared for a hundred years because he doesn't seem to recognize you now, which is why you're putting him through these challenges. Since you don't seem angry at him or upset with him, I'm assuming you must have been friends. The challenges don't reflect on how good or bad that friendship was -- or maybe it does and you two were just that way? I'm not sure why you don't just tell him point blank, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

"A life lesson of some kind maybe. You're a pretty powerful earth bender, too. Your movements give you away -- the way your feet shift on the ground, how you're always firmly planted. Back to the patience thing. Sure, I haven't seen you actually Earth Bend anything yet, but the stance just really reminds me of the Blind Bandit. She's this really cool, really powerful Earth Bender who fights in these competitions in this one village we went to, and she kind of does the same thing..." Li Kun trails off, realizing he's rambling. He can't help it. Sometimes he just starts talking and he can't stop himself; he forgets that he's talking to a king and this behavior may not be so mannerly.

"Whoopditie do," Lin grumbles, lamely twirling her finger in the air. Her brother can be quite the show off sometimes; he'd go on for hours and hours if they'd let him.

"Observant," the king praises the boy. Then, he turns to the girl. "You don't like earth benders do you?"

"I don't like any benders!" Lin snaps.

The king pauses, and for a moment Li Kun is sure he's going to do or say something awful to them. Instead, he just shrugs and says, "Well, I'm sure you have a perfectly good reason for that! Now about these challenges..."

"I still don't see what's in it for us," Lin says. She's a girl with standards, she doesn't very well just go around doing business with any old nincompoop she crosses paths with.

"I'll pay you twenty copper pieces."

"What do I look like to you? A fool? Our business is worth more than a few measly copper pieces, you cheapskate!"

"Lin!" Li Kun scolds. "You can't just call a king a cheapskate!" She is definitely going to get them thrown into the bad chamber for that.

"I just did," Lin shrugs. She doesn't care at all.

"How about twenty copper pieces and thirty silver ones?" the king offers.

Lin eyes him for a moment, stares him down really. Her eyes drift to the golden platters and chalices resting on the table top; she's very aware of her brother shooting her a warning look next to her. She ignores him and picks up one of the cups. "Throw in a couple of these and you've got yourself a deal!"

"Fair enough! Let's shake on it!" The king only considers it for a second before giving a curt nod and holding out his hand. Lin shakes it, in spite of herself. After a moment she breaks out into the most wicked grin. "So, here's what I'm thinking..."

༻࿇༺

Sleep doesn't come easy for Miko that night. There's a brief escape attempt in which Aang unsuccessfully shoves his lemeur through the vents. Once he's given up, they decide to rest. There's only three beds, though, and so it's decided that Katara and Miko will share a bed, while Aang and Sokka each take one for themselves.

Miko is still wide awake, even hours after the others have already fallen asleep. She spends most of the night staring up at the ceiling; she's all too aware. The amount of space Katara takes up on the bed is at the forefront of her mind. It's not so much that she's hogging the bed, rather the fact that she was there. Miko can't move past it. It's like Katara's body is buzzing with energy, and Miko can just feel it. She's soft when she sleeps, not so tense. She's loosened up. There's even a hint of a smile as she dreams of whatever pleasantries her brain summons for her. Miko wonders if the dream's about her mother and father, and with a start she realizes she hadn't seen any adults back at the South Pole -- none besides Katara's grandmother that is. Had she lost them?

What a terrible fate that must have been, becoming an adult at such a young age. And yet somehow, Katara still managed to be so timeless. It's as if someone has caught her at her finest hour and paused her there. The way her hair shapes her face, so definitive, how her head is so round -- almost as if sculpted by a master of the arts -- the form of her eyes, and her nose, her mouth fitting just right -- it's not too small and not too big. Her skin is complementary to the rest of her features. She's a work of art.

It's not the first time Miko's thought such ghastly things about another girl. When she was very young, before her mother's passing, she used to have sleepovers with her friend Shado. At night those sort of thoughts would overcome her. Make it hard for her to sit still -- she'd be bouncing off the walls until Shado returned home the next day. Later, after she moved to the palace, she'd catch a stray thought crossing her mind every now and again whenever she bumped into Azula's friend Ty Lee. A fuzzy sensation, right in the back of her head and blurry vision -- the only thing she sees is her when Ty Lee is around. Miko has often thought she has used some sort of circus hocus pocus on her to hypnotize her.

She's never told anyone of those thoughts. Miko isn't sure what they mean or what people might think if they were to find out. She's not sure if they're right or wrong -- good or bad. All she does know -- they are very distracting.

The solid, rock wall crumbles; a small, rectangular shape forms -- doorway via earth bending. It's the king. The sight of him has her tumbling out of bed, and it's all she can do not to scream, wake everyone else. He's alone, which strikes Miko as odd. She can't remember a day where Ozai ever walked the halls of the Fire Nation palace without some sort of security detail or at the very least a handful of servants at his beg and call. Then again, this king was a bit odd... For a moment, it's just the two of them staring at one another. His eyes are different than before, calmer, but they're still narrowed down at her. It's as if he's peering right into her soul; she's sure she's done for.

The king raises his hand, beckoning her forward. Miko grips the sleeves of her borrowed coat, her stomach in knots as she rises with shaky knees. What does he want with her? Has she done something wrong again? Was he singling her out on purpose? She doesn't dare to disobey. Who knew the consequences if she ignored the king's orders. Zuko flashes in her mind's eye -- the night of the Agni Kai. Screaming, skin red and puss-filled. An audience cheering at the show. She's not sure why, it has nothing to do with the here and now, but when she looks at the King of Omashu, all she can see is Ozai, the shadows darkening his features in a way that distorted him -- made him look rather demonic. Perhaps, it's just her over active imagination.

Miko follows the king down several halls. She's not sure where he's taking her. Another chamber used specifically for torturing young girls perhaps? They pass by an open window instead. It's daylight now, and even though her hands were trembling and her throat was closing up, Miko can't help but to pause as she catches sight of the outside world. For a moment she forgets the king hasn't ordered her to stop. It's just that it was truly a sight to behold. The sun washed over everything in the city below, the building structures glowing. There are so many colors, even though it's mid winter. Green from the trees, grass. There's yellow from the stone buildings. Multi colored vases and paintings and sculptures. From up here the people are nothing but specs, but she can still see their colorful robes.

How could one not stop to admire such a view?

"Stunning isn't it? There are those who say Omashu is the most beautiful city there is." It takes her a moment to realize it's the king who's talking to her. She tenses, realizing she's stopped without his permission. He doesn't seem angry, though, just keeps babbling. "Of course we are only second best. No city can be compared to Měilì de Chéngshì. That is why they call it The Beautiful City after all."

She doesn't respond. It's safer if she stays silent until she's ordered to speak, lest she say the wrong thing. The king seems to take this as an invitation to keep going. "I suppose you're wondering why I took you away from the others." Miko kept quiet, but the question must be written all over her face, because he grins a crooked little grin, showing off his missing teeth. "I can assure you it's entirely self serving. The twins and I have concocted an assurance plan," he pulled out a small, silver crystal from the pocket of his purple robes, "but I don't think Iroh would appreciate me encasing his daughter in jennamite... Even if it is made of rock candy."

He lets out another one of his snorty chuckles, popping the crystal in his mouth, munching on it noisily. Miko stares back at him, her mouth hangs open. He knows her father. He knows who she is. That's why his eyes had drifted to her during the feast when Aang proclaimed no fire benders were in the room. He knows. What does this mean for her?

"You have questions. Go on, ask them. Don't be shy."

Miko's voice is only just above a whisper, and it shakes something fierce. Eventually, she manages to get the words out. "H-how do you know my f-father..?"

"Iroh?" The way he says her father's name doesn't sound malicious, but she's not sure how the two can possibly be on good terms. Not with everything between their two nations. They're born enemies. "We run in the same crowd." Impossible.

Miko knits her brows together. There isn't a place on Earth where fire benders and earth benders could ever "run in the same crowd." It's obscene. "I don't understand..." she mumbles. "How...?" She's not sure how to phrase the question, but he understands anyway.

He takes out a Pai Sho tile from his robes, fiddles with it in his fingers. It's one she always sees her father playing with -- the white lotus tile. Perhaps, this is a hint, but Miko doesn't catch on. "We played a game together once. He made tea. Jasmine, I think."

Miko frowns. "I suppose that makes sense. Jasmine is his favorite tea. But I'm still confused..."

He stuffs the tile back in his robe, giggling like a mad man. "Oh well, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

She wants to ask more about his relationship with her father, but Miko was sure he was just going to make things all the more difficult to understand. So, instead, she says, "What's going to happen to Aang, Katara, and Sokka?"

"Oh, they'll be fine. Jennamite is edible. It's a fail safe, the water tribe siblings can just eat their way out before anything happens." She isn't sure how they'd do that if they didn't know the crystal is made of candy, but he's babbling on before she points this out, "But I'm sure it won't come to that. Aang will pass the tests once he starts thinking like a mad genius!" The snort that accompanies the laugh in his words here have Miko wondering if there's some sort of meaning behind them, but she doesn't ask.

"If I'm not part of your assurance plan, what will you do with me?"

"Nothing. You're free to go whenever you want."

"... I'm sort of their prisoner. I don't think I can leave."

"Huh? Well, that doesn't seem very air bender like."

"I think it was Sokka's idea..." She pauses a moment. "The deadly challenges aren't really all that deadly are they?" She's not sure how she feels about the Avatar, what he means for her people, but she knows he's the one who's going to stop the war. And isn't that what everyone wants? It doesn't do anyone good if he dies in some stupid trails.

The look the king gives her in return is a somber one. He doesn't exactly answer her question. "It's nothing Aang won't be able to handle."

༻࿇༺

Miko somehow finds herself outside the palace walls. She's not sure how it happens, really, she just walks through the halls while King Bumi sends Aang off on the first of his three challenges. She tries not to worry so much. Bumi says Aang will be fine; he says Katara and Sokka will be safe. She has no other choice but to believe him.

She crosses paths with the twins again as she passes an animal pen. They sit on the fence, a few extra bags at their feet. Miko isn't sure what she should think of them. They helped the king come up with three deadly tasks to throw the Avatar in. For what? Their own freedom? A few pounds of gold? Then again, they don't look like they have much. Can she blame them for trying to take care of themselves?

In any case her focus shifts from the twins to the ground as she spots a creature waddle its way out of the pen. It's got four beefy legs, pink wings, and a large snout. On its rear there's a foofy, feathered tail, and a big yellow beak. The girl drops a few seeds for the creature, watching as it begins pecking them up off the ground. Miko grinned and ran over. "Can I feed your pig chicken?"

The boy gets a peculiar expression at her request, repeating the phrase softly to himself. Meanwhile, the girl shrugged carelessly. "Ain't mine so knock yourself out." Miko squeals, taking a few seeds from the other girl, dropping them for the pig chicken. Back in her little colony Miko would feed her neighbors pig chickens in the morning; the animals always seemed to gravitate towards her. It has been a long while since she's done the task -- there isn't much room for farm animals on a ship, after all.

The other girl squints at Miko as if she thinks she's somehow suspicious; she freezes mid action of sprinkling seeds. "Weren't you with the Avatar?"

"I was with my grandfather." Miko wracks her brain to remember their cover names. It might be pointless now, but she doesn't want to take any chances. Who knows what they'd think if they found out she was Fire Nation, what they'd do. "Bonzu. And my siblings June and Pang. I'm Sha." She held her hand out, giving the other girl the politest smile she could manage.

"Hm." The girl broke out into a huge grin. It was shocking, the way she looked so similar to King Bumi, almost as if they were related after all; but Miko thinks it's just because they have the same vibe. "Well, nice to meet ya, Sha! I'm Lin, and this is my brother Li Kun." She shakes Miko's hand all too roughly, and for a moment she thinks she's going to yank her arm right out of its socket.

"Nice to meet you both," Miko says, rubbing her arm.

"So, settle sum'n for us, Sha."

Li Kun shakes his head, wagging his finger at his sister. "No, no, no, you can't go dragging other people into our disagreements!"

"Shush!" Lin shoves him away, keeping her eyes on Miko. There's a crooked little smile on her face. She looks like she's ten, but her eyes hold the same weight as an elder person, the same weight her father has, as if she's seen the worst of the world already. "We're investing in this game, right? But we can't figure out what to call it. See, it's this game you play with this ball and you kick it from one goal to the other and try not to let the other team score."

Miko tilts her head to the side. "Well, if it's a game you play with your feet, why do you not call it --"

"I think we should call it soccer!"

"That is a dumb name," Li Kun says. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Your name's a dumb name," Lin shoots back. He pushes her off the fence. Miko's seen Azula do the same to Zuko many times growing up, but somehow this doesn't seem so malicious. For one thing, they're both laughing as she lands in the mud. She doesn't look hurt or upset, and he doesn't have that same devious look in his eyes Azula always has, the one that says she's out for blood. He's purity. They're just having fun.

Miko laughs with them. They're an odd pair.

Li Kun pulls Lin to her feet as their laughter dies down. They talk for a while longer before the others come to find them. Katara and Sokka look exasperated, but Aang is literally bouncing off the walls. He knows King Bumi's name now; he's even got a challenge for him now -- they're going on the "super slide." Aang offers to take the others for a second ride, but Miko politely declines -- one was more than enough for her.

"So, uh, Miko?" Katara says as they wait for Aang and King Bumi to return. The twins have long since left and Sokka is readying Appa. "Bumi didn't encase you in the jemanite..."

"I don't know why," Miko tells her. It's only a half lie. She knows it's because he and her father know each other, but she still doesn't understand, not completely.

"No, I know. I just... You could have left when Aang was doing the challenges. Why didn't you?"

Miko shrugs. "Where would I go? My cousin is who knows where out at sea. I could not possibly hope to catch up to him before you all caught me again."

"I suppose..." There's something else, but for the moment Katara doesn't question it. She let's it go, and soon they're moving on from Omashu, fresh food and water and bags full of coins from King Bumi.