What's this? 3 straight weeks of updates?! (was it 3 or 4 I can't really rmb kek)

Skip to the unbold part for the start of this chapter

To everyone else who left your feedback, thank you so much once again. I've always believed that Iroh and Percy could get along easier than the rest, so it was kinda easier to give them a 'father/son' (for the lack of a better word) moment. And Percy always was someone who would refer to his home (iirc in Son of Neptune when his memories returned he started talking about it. Even when he still hadn't gotten his memories back he straight up told Mars/Ares 'I beat you'), so I thought it was more in character of him to think about home. Often times we forget as much as a Badass-Demigod-hero-who-kick-butts-and-take-names Percy is, he is still part human, so it was kinda sad when I noticed that many times we don't see that part of him. Also, Tales of Ba Sing Se felt like it was one of the best opportunities to fit that aspect in!

Well, with that we move on to Chapter 13 of Flames of Destiny, where we continue to explore what our favourite son of Poseidon is up to in the capital of the Earth Kingdom in Part 2 of 'Tales of a Demigod in Ba Sing Se'!

Water:

Sokka didn't understand – couldn't understand how some things work. Like bending, which his science had yet to be able to properly decipher and has since stayed at 'magic people doing spooky magic to move magic elements'. Or girls, which he was certain that even with his science will never be able to truly explain and understand.

Girls are complicated.

It was Team Avatar's fourth week in Ba Sing Se, and two girls of the group – his waterbending sister Katara and the earthbending Toph that rocks – had decided to have a girls' day out after spending so much time either practising their bending or finding Appa (when they're not practising). Past-Sokka would have thought that a girls' day out would just be washing clothes and cooking food and taking care of the kids. But the few months he spent travelling around the world with Aang opened his eyes that were once layered with unfair prejudice, and now he viewed the opposite gender as an equal, or perhaps more. Katara, Toph and Suki were perfect examples of girls being able to hold their own against the world, doing even better than he ever thought he could. Especially Suki, who even as a non-bender had done quite a few amazing stuff.

Like that kiss. Woah...

Okay, enough. We're getting off track here.

Seriously, who's we? Now. Is. Not. The. Time.

Seeing the girls were off to wherever they would probably go, Sokka decided to visit the other parts of Ba Sing Se. He had heard Aang mention plans to visit the Lower Ring and flew off, and would have tagged along if he could fly. Which in his case, he couldn't (Aang insisted it's called 'gliding'. 'Tomato, tomato. I'm stuck on the ground anyway.') So, the teen took the monorail to the Lower Ring and decided to do some exploring on his own. He didn't even get to explore the place for ten minutes when he found himself being cornered in an alley and mugged by a group of... well, muggers.

Which brings him to the current question. Why the heck did he choose to go to the Lower Ring again? Hadn't Joo Dee warn us of the place?

"Hand us whatever's on you," mugger #1 said, pulling out a knife as he spoke. "Now. Or else..."

He pointed the blade at the boy, wordlessly proving his threat to be very, very real, and that Sokka was in real, real danger.

Sokka raised both his arms in panic, but his eyes tried to scan the quartet in front of him. Each of them were armed. Three held knives, while the last had a sword holstered at his back. His mind was on overdrive. He had no money on him right now, and possessed nothing valuable to give (his dashing good looks doesn't count. It's priceless). Instead, the Idea Guy in him started playing out various scenarios, trying to find a way out without having to possibly lose a limp.

Maybe boomerang can help.

The Water Tribe Warrior was about to reach for his trusty boomerang sheathed behind him when a blur of black and green launched itself into the group of muggers. The three armed with knives crumpled to the ground almost instantaneously, each visibly holding either their nose, stomach or knee with pain etched on their faces. Suddenly Sokka saw the Mugger-with-a-Sword unsheathed his blade and slashed at the blur.

"Look –" Before he could finish yelling out his warning, a flash of gold appeared and Mugger #4 found his attack deflected. "– out?" Sokka found himself staring slack-jawed at a weird but familiar looking sword as the leaf-shaped blade twirled around the mugger's sword. The larger sword clattered to the ground with the blink of an eye.

"Wha – oomph!" the burly man didn't have time to comprehend what had happened as he found himself flipped onto the ground and a punch landed on his nose. Hard.

Sokka watched with wide eyes as the four got on their wobbly feet, glaring daggers at his saviour and vowing revenge while scrambling off with their tails between their legs. The then-blur, now obviously a tall figure with broad shoulders and wild black hair, whirled around to look at the teenager.

"And that was the what – second time I saved your ass?" green eyes gleamed with mirth. "Are you some damsel – wait, that's not right – dude in distress or something?"

Sokka didn't respond, his mind still reeling from the speed this rather-familiar man had taken to take down four muggers without using any bending.

"I think you should close your mouth, Sokka," the man sighed exasperatedly, a smile still on his face. "It's gonna touch the ground soon and I think a hellhound's gonna fit inside without problem."

The sarcasm, the lopsided smile, the unnatural green eyes. Sokka knew this person. "Percy?"

"Percy's not here, I'm Perry Johanssan," the man deadpanned, then his smile returned. "Yeah it's me, what are you doing here? I thought you guys were staying in the Upper Ring."

Sokka ignored Percy's question, instead choosing to replay a particular part of the fight at the back of his mind. Then he exclaimed before he could stop himself.

"How did you do that?!"

A puzzled and amused look pasted itself on Percy's face. "I do a lot of things. You gotta be more specific. Just don't ask about toilet explosions. They don't happen here, fortunately."

"The part where you disarmed the sword!" Sokka yelled excited, ignoring all the looks he was getting from the outburst. "The guy was like SWISH! And you were like SNIKT! CLANG! THWIP! Swordbending slice! Then the sword fell like CLINGG! –" he paused himself. "Speaking of, where's your sword?"

Ignoring the theatrics that Sokka had shown, green eyes looked straight into blue as Percy opened his mouth to answer. "In my pocket."

The answer and the straight face the man wore as he said it baffled the Water Tribesman. He wanted to ask the dual bender to elaborate on that, but he had a more important request for the adult.

"Can you show me how you did it? Using the sword, I mean."

Percy stared at Sokka as the teen made the request with wide eyes. The excitement he carried reminded him of a certain son of Hades when he first learnt that the Greek myths in his Mythomagic game were real. Or Estelle, whenever she wanted – demanded that he demonstrate his water abilities for her to see.

He blinked as a small smile tugged at his lips. The Percy seven years ago would had found the enthusiasm overwhelmingly annoying (maybe it was because he was worried about Annabeth being kidnapped that time), but having spent so much time around kids in both Camps and also his rather cutely demanding and adorably overbearing little sister the son of Poseidon had pretty much given in to whatever requests the kids had for their 'Hero of Olympus' and 'honorary sword trainer' which ranged from storytelling, to small power demonstrations, or an 'early break from sword lessons to go swimming in the beach'.

That last one happened once, and he received a stern lecture from very, very disappointed Chiron. He lost some of his camp privileges for a week.

"Hero of Olympus or not, it is the duty of a teacher to ensure that his pupils are taught the right amount of skills to be prepared for the world."

Percy wanted to point out that they were enjoying a time of relative peace after the fall of the Triumvirate, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

The Friday of that same week of Percy's bi-monthly visit to Camp Half-Blood, the old centaur caught a certain son of Poseidon and a son of Hephaestus sneaking in a very mortal four-year-old Estelle Blofis so she could watch the annual Capture the Flag between the Greek and Roman camps. In Leo Valdez's defence: blame Estelle. She mastered her brother's puppy seal eyes – that's why everyone, including the Ares cabin, stopped the game to coo at the little girl.

Percy's suspension of camp privileges were extended to a month of his visit, while Leo was banned from going near the Forge for half the duration (also whenever he visits). Worst of all, Chiron didn't even bother lecturing them. Frank and Hazel pretty much banned the son of Poseidon (Neptune?) from even thinking of bringing his sister to visit Camp Jupiter – not that he ever considered it given the traveling distance.

Okay, maybe he did. Once. His sister's idea. Sally had flat out rejected it. Even Estelle's begging and prodding and pleading and baby seal eyes didn't work on their mom for the first time.

(Having learnt about that, Piper half-heartedly joked that Sally – whom the gang and every single demigod in Camp Half-Blood came to see as a motherly-figure – was a 'heartless woman'. That joke ended with the daughter of Aphrodite receiving death glares from the Jackson-Blofis siblings and Nico, Annabeth and surprisingly, Apollo (don't ask))

Contrary to Leo's belief, don't blame Estelle. She's innocence incarnate. Blame Poseidon. My baby seal eyes are definitely from him. Yep, blame Poseidon. You probably can't hear me, but this is your fault, dad!

Schooling his wayward thoughts, the demigod considered Sokka's request, and saw no harm in that. He shrugged at the teenager standing in front of him.

"I think I can show you a few tricks. C'mon, I know a place."

The odd pair walked through the streets of the Lower Ring, which was bustling with life as refugees did their best to make ends meet in a new life that they started. The longer they walked, Sokka found himself dwelling in his thoughts, particularly recalling Team Avatar's only encounter with Long Feng.

Aang had refused Long Feng's offer, leading to the Grand Secretariat declaring that their privileges as the city's 'honoured guests' would be revoked instantaneously, and 'every moment they spent in Ba Sing Se would be under the surveillance of the Dai Li'.

Panic surged up the Water Tribesman's chest and he almost froze in his tracks. His eyes started darted around, scanning for any traces of the sneaky, mean-looking guys in dark green uniforms hiding in the shadows. He couldn't find any. Either they weren't doing as Long Feng said they would, or they were really good at sneaking around. Sokka prayed to the Moon and Ocean Spirits that it was the former.

He was drawn out of his treacherous thoughts when he heard Percy ask him something. The man merely chuckled when he heard Sokka's less-than-eloquent 'Huh?', and repeated his question. "I said, what brings you here to the Lower Ring. You definitely weren't expecting to see me, so I guess you weren't looking for me."

Sokka pondered his answer for a few moments before answering. "I'm just exploring the place."

He watched the man nod in acknowledgement and suddenly Sokka was reminded of the conversation his sister had with the man right before they encountered the Drill.

"How are your friends settling into the City?"

Blue eyes watched the tall man's lips raise slightly. "They're doing great actually. We found jobs at a tea house. Today's our off-day though. So one of them's doing Hades-knows-what Batman does when he broods alone, while the other..." the smile fell slightly, confusing Sokka further as the teen was slightly caught up imagining the term 'Bat Man' to be a man fighting with a bat "He's off to pay respect to his son. Lost him during the war."

Oh.

"That's the thing about war, isn't it? You lose people who are close to you," Percy commented absentmindedly, unaware of the curious look that the teen behind him was wearing. The demigod remembered noticing Iroh being... well, Iroh ealier, but the old man wasn't as bright as he usually was and had appeared more distracted. Before he could ask the tea maker about what's bothering him, the stout man had disappeared off into the morning crowd. Instead, the son of Poseidon found his next closest source for an answer: Zuko 'Royal Grumpy Pants'. When asked about it, the young firebender merely glared at him with his signature scowl (Percy decided it was his default face) and muttered that it was the Iroh's son's birthday.

The son of Poseidon placed two and two together and made a wild guess that Iroh lost his son during his days as a 'different man', though he never bothered to confirm his guess with anyone. It was Iroh's past.

Percy brought himself from his thoughts as they rounded a corner into another alleyway. For a second Sokka thought he was led into a trap to be mugged again, but that theory was squashed when he saw wooden swords scattered on the ground and he was reminded that he was with Percy, the dual-bending-non-bender-who's-also-evidently-good-with-a-sword.

(Katara commented that name was a mouthful, but Sokka blatantly ignored her and twisted his tongue several times afterwards.

He still won't give his sister the conceited satisfaction of being right. Yet)

"We're using toys to train?" he ran his mouth before he could stop himself, voice incredulous to show how confused he was as he watched the man grabbing two wooden swords and testing their weights.

"I found this spot when a kid dragged me over to play with him this morning," Percy explained in a-matter-of-factly tone, before green eyes studied the boy standing in the alleyway with him. "Normally I use real swords to train the kids whenever I visit Camp."

The Water Tribesman found himself trying to process the last sentence. Camp? Real swords?! Kids?! But was cut off when a question was lobbed at him. "You got a sword?" Sokka shook his head. He lost his club when the sandbenders bison-napped Appa, and left his machete at his house in the Upper Ring. He internally chided himself for that. "You wanna get maimed?" That sounded painful, so another shake. He watched as the dual bender's lips curled up in a small but obviously cheeky smile.

"Wooden swords it is."

Percy started off by showing Sokka some 'basics', which were mainly slashing and stabbing, and the Water Tribesman felt was rather easy. Then the jet-black haired man decided to actually demonstrate his 'trick'.

"That's actually the first technique my mentor taught me."

"You had a swordmaster?" Sokka tried to piece the snippets of information about the still-mysterious man in front of him. Well, at least that would explain Percy's natural prowess with a sword. Are there more people like him from this 'Camp'?

Green eyes shone wistfully as Percy's lips tugged up slightly. "Something like that. He was the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Better than you?" The teen couldn't help but let his curiosity get the better of him. To imagine someone better than the man who single-handedly took down an army of Fire Nation soldiers in combat, it was nigh impossible.

Then again, Percy mentioned 'Camp'.

Sokka figured the sunlight must have been playing tricks on him, because he thought he saw Percy's lips thin slightly. The moment disappeared as quickly as it showed up. "I had some trouble taking him on."

"Had?" the Water Tribesman picked up on the use of past tense, and recalled that the man said 'was' when describing his swordsmaster as 'the best in three hundred years'.

Instead of answering the question, Sokka watched as Percy had a smile as wistful as his eyes on his face, only to see them wiped off just as quickly before the man went on to explain the move used earlier: a disarming technique by twisting the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

"It's a difficult technique, actually." Percy stressed. "Took me a while to properly master it. Beginner's luck doesn't count..."

Sokka wasn't listening anymore, anticipation coursing through his veins as he was about to see the cool 'THWIP!' with his own eyes.

Percy demonstrated the move in slow motion, taking a shot at the hilt of the sword in Sokka's hand. Sure enough, the wooden sword clattered out of the latter's hand.

The tall figure hummed in thought, and made a remark about how he had some difficulty applying the disarming technique on people wielding broadswords like the mugger from earlier and using it with a wooden sword. Again, Sokka paid no attention to the words, now feeling his anticipation mixed with excitement as he wanted to try out the move himself.

He tried the move on Percy, but experience was a major factor time and time again. His attempts to disarm his green-eyed 'sword trainer' were easily deflected, and Sokka was pretty sure Percy had been going easy on him. He hadn't lose his sword since the first demonstration.

"You're telegraphing," the dual-bending-swordsmaster commented as he deflected a swipe with ease. Seeing the quizzical look from the boy who paused in his tracks, Percy elaborated further. "You're telling me where you're gonna hit."

"But I didn't say anything," Sokka protested as he paused in his tracks, but his tone was filled with enough confusion for the jet-black haired man to nod slowly with a small hint of a smile on his face.

"You're telling me non-verbally," Percy specified and watched Sokka silently mouth the last word as if trying to make himself understand the meaning simply by repeating it. "It's your eyes. You always look at the spot you wanna hit right before you strike. That's your tell. Try this one: maintain eye contact with your opponent. But don't just focus on their eyes. Be aware of the entire body, hips included. You'd be surprised at how many tells you could see and anticipate their moves with them."

That explanation threw the young Water Tribesman off. Every time he fought, he never considered that the enemy may be able to read him like a book, nor that he could possibly do the same against them. His rather 'vast' fighting experience mainly involved him throwing his boomerang at his enemies from a distance while the benders in Team Avatar execute any crazy idea that their 'Idea Guy' – which is him – could come up with. His close combat experience was less pleasant: both Zuko and Suki kicked his butt on separate occasions, while Ty Lee had blocked his chi on both his arms and his left leg (since he hurt her fingers with his head, he takes that as a partial win). Still, getting his butt handed to him time and time again while the others kick butt isn't great for one's confidence.

"You're thinking about how the others have cool 'bending' powers, while you just sit at the sidelines like an extra wheel, aren't you?"

Sokka's eyes widened with shock. He didn't know Percy could read minds. "How did you –"

Seeing the puzzled look on Sokka's face, Percy let out a dry chuckle and answered the half-asked question. "A friend of mine had that same look on his face when we were on our..." he paused, trying to find the right word. "mission. Always thought he was the 'seventh-wheel'," another chuckle as the demigod's mind wandered off towards an old memory of a Son of Hephaestus who always struggled with self-confidence during their time travelling from Camp Jupiter to Europe by Argo II. "Stupid ass still doesn't realize how much of help he was that time."

Percy pointedly decided not to mention Leo's fire abilities. He didn't know how Sokka would react to finding out that the demigod knows someone with an affinity for fire, given Jet's reaction towards him being around Zuko and Iroh, two firebenders whose abilities seem similar to the co-owner of Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters (How they got that name registered, the son of Poseidon will never know. He didn't want to know the real answer).

To say Sokka felt awkward was an understatement. He didn't know what to do with the information that Percy had let slip as the man stared off into the distance, as if remembering an old friend. Green eyes snapped back to the Water Tribesman, who shifted slightly under scrutiny and saw a soft smile grace Percy's face.

"The point is," Percy explained, the smile never leaving his face. "Never question your abilities within the group. Sure, everyone else may have those fancy powers to control an element while you're just you," Rude "but you're the 'Idea Guy', which makes you as important as the others. Believe me, I know. Wisdom is really important when you're trying to save the world. Twice. Besides, you've got potential with a sword. Who knows? One day you'd meet someone who could really teach you how not to swing a wild arc."

The teen's heart was thumping with joy at the weird compliment Percy had given him. It felt genuine, and his mind was reeling at the words that he didn't quite register the part where Percy admitted to saving the world twice. He opened his mouth to say something. To thank Percy, or request him to be his proper swords teacher, the Southern Water Tribesman wasn't sure as he was interrupted by the sound of people screaming in panic.

Before he could properly process the sound of hog monkeys chattering, something from behind crashed into him.

oOo

Air:

A long, tired yet satisfactorily sigh escaped Aang's lips as his eyes explored the newly built zoo. It had been a long day for the airbender. Gliding to the Lower Ring to visit the zoo there, finding out said zoo was in a bad state ('depressing' would be the understatement of the century), releasing the animals to relocate them (that went very, very well. Note lack of enthusiasm), getting the animals to follow him with his whistle, and setting up another zoo with much better facilities made entirely from earthbending.

All in a day's work.

It was exhausting, but the happy looks that the animals had gratefully gave him at the open space – not to mention him learning that the rabaroo had three cute babies – was all worth the work.

"You should think about working with animals for a living."

Kenji, the zookeeper, was grateful for the help that Aang provided. Before the young airbender landed in the middle of the old zoo, he was on the verge of losing his will. The week before, kids had stopped visiting the Zoo, and the Dai Li had cut funding because of it. That led to him being forced to fork out whatever money he had saved – which he was certain wasn't even enough to last himself a month – to keep the Zoo afloat. As expected, that arrangement didn't last even a week. Kids still refused to show up because they didn't like how dirty the place became, the Dai Li continuously refused to resume funding, the animals were hungrier and sadder at the debilitated state of the cages they were locked up in, and Kenji found himself stuck in a vicious cycle.

Until the Avatar showed up and decided to help relocate the animals ('Don't worry, I'm great with animals.'), opened a whole new Zoo that had lots of space. It was a stark contrast to the cages his old Zoo had, and the animals were evidently happy seeing as they were able to move around the prairie arranged for them. Even the kids started flocking the place at the first chance to watch the happy animals in their pens.

Then they learnt that every single animal from the Lower Ring had been moved into the Zoo. And that meant every. Single. One of them.

The zoo visitors, especially the kids, were confused when they found their pets appearing in the newly formed pens. The zookeeper, Kenji, had jokingly backtracked on his earlier statement.

"On second thought, you should probably stick to saving people."

Aang let himself release a sheepish sigh, and his eyes darted towards the small furball in his hands as he tried to placate the cat from worming its way out of his fingers. Getting the domesticated animals out of the pens that they were obviously not meant to be in was the easy part. The hard part was returning them to their respective owners, so the Earth Kingdom soldiers who visited the Zoo agreed to help with finding the 'redistribution' efforts (Aang didn't know how he should feel about the Captain's choice of word).

He stretched his arms outwards to keep sharp claws from scratching his eyes, and in that moment caught sight of a very familiar wolftail standing out in the crowd in the corner of his view. Grey orbs snapped in that direction, and Aang felt a pinch of guilt creeping up his chest. Sokka had earlier mentioned he wanted to explore the Lower Ring. Aang, bless his young soul, had eagerly taken off upon hearing that as he too wanted to check out a certain Zoo (he originally thought he could find Appa there), leaving his non-bending friend back at the Upper Ring.

The airbender totally forgot about his best friend until he saw the unique hairstyle that Katara had called a 'ponytail' on numerous occasions much to Sokka's chagrin. Glancing over towards the Earth Kingdom soldier to his side, Aang passed the feline to the man, who took it into his arms without any questions, and walked over towards the older teen standing near a pen for turtle seals.

Sokka whirled his head around upon hearing his name being called, and Aang noticed that the Water Tribesman – who looked slightly bruised up (probably from the animal riot earlier, Aang made a mental note to apologize later) – had a small smile tugging on his lips. It was different from his usual smiles, which were either filled with mischief, or were just tight, pained smiles.

This one appeared fond.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Aang raised an eyebrow, unable to hide his curiosity at seeing his friend showing a side that wasn't easy to associate him with. Grey eyes watched as the older teen tilted his head to the side, and Aang's head turned to look in that direction.

His mouth dropped slightly as he took in the sight in front of him.

"That – what's it called? Seal turtle? Right, turtle seal – turtle seal is actually very happy that she has a new home," a tall man spoke in a soft tone to a child he carried in his arms. "Though she kinda hopes she's back in the North Pole."

"What's her name?" the little boy asked, and Aang could easily make out that his voice was rather hoarse like he had cried not too long ago.

There was a pause before the man answered. "Peanuts."

Despite the tall figure whispering to the boy, the Avatar could easily recognize that voice.

"Percy and I found the kid crying near the entrance," Sokka explained softly, as if worried that if he spoke any louder he would interrupt the small moment in front of them. "Said he was looking for his mama and his cat. Percy's been keeping him occupied since."

The airbender didn't ask how Sokka and Percy met, his attention entirely on the latter who continued to tell made up stories of the three turtle seals to the kid in his arms, who in turned giggled every now and then. Aang didn't fight the feeling of his lips curving up slightly despite the awkward yet comforting silence that loomed over the two teenagers. He couldn't have imagined that the man with a smile akin to a troublemaker, and who had in the span of half a day single-handedly defeated both an army of Fire Nation soldiers and Azula, only to challenge the authority of an Earth Kingdom general later, had this side in him.

This man, who radiated power that could probably rival the likes of the Ocean Spirit, was just so... soft with kids.

Then again, Suki did say he helped a little girl in Full Moon Bay.

The little boy whirled his head around after a while, his slight red-rimmed brown eyes widening as they landed on Aang, probably recognizing the blue tattoos and yellow and red garb as the airbender Avatar. Percy, who probably noticed the shock look on the kid's face, turned around as well. The warm smile on his lips widened into a lopsided, troublemaker one.

"Hey, Arrowhead," he greeted. The young Avatar greeted back, ignoring the nickname as the duo exchanging quick pleasantries while the boy continued to stare at Aang in wonder. Eventually they (including Sokka) decided to find the boy's mom and his pet cat.

Turns out, the cat that Aang had passed to the soldier earlier belonged to the boy, and was named 'Butter' (Percy made a joke about 'Peanut Butter' that no one understood. Didn't stop him from cackling like a lunatic). It took them less than ten minutes to find the boy's mom, who had gratefully and repeatedly thanked the trio for finding her son.

The sight of the little boy running over and giving Percy a hug around his legs before he returned to his mother's embrace definitely did not bring Sokka to tears.

'It's dust! Dust got in my eyes!' 

oOo

"You did good here today."

Aang's eyes snapped over to look at the man who just spoke. Both he and Percy were standing atop the Inner Ring Wall and watching the sun set over the horizon (the soldiers recognize the Avatar and – grudgingly – the man who was part of Team Avatar and allowed them to view the phenomenon from atop the wall. 'Just this once,' the Captain emphasized).

Before that, Sokka decided to return to Team Avatar's house in the Upper Ring not too long ago, and the black-haired man had decided to speak with Kenji about returning the turtle seals to the North Pole.

Aang wasn't privy to the conversation, but he learnt that the zookeeper had relented. He did not want to know what Percy said to convince Kenji.

Sea green eyes glanced over and met charcoal grey, and Aang saw a ghost of a smile at the tall man's lips. "What you did today, giving the animals a proper place to stay, it's good work. Sure, my friend wouldn't even approve the idea of moving them from one zoo to another, but he'd agree that you gave them something way better than a filthy cage to live in. Though he'd definitely insist that releasing them into the wild would be the better option, satyr's blessing and all that..."

The airbender listened to the explanation as it trailed off, letting the words sink in until Percy spoke again. "Hey, we're sure that they won't saw any of the animals in half right?"

That question caught Aang by surprise. He was most definitely sure that such a thing won't happen in this zoo, not with Kenji taking care of the place. The zookeeper looked like he really loved animals, and would do anything for them. Just right then, he saw green eyes glinting with mirth.

"You're joking."

Instead of answering, Percy merely winked at the airbender.

They both returned to watching the sunset, which the orange circle of heat and light had dipped halfway past the horizon. Aang thought he heard Percy snort while making remarks about an 'Uh-Po-Low' and 'dramatic exits'.

"You found your friend, yet?"

Again, grey eyes snapped over to look at Percy. Aang let out a dejected sigh. "No."

"Makes sense, since you're still here..."

He heard the man ramble off and must have said something about Appa still being in the city, but he didn't pay any attention to that. Instead Aang let his mind wander off to an old conversation that he had with the adult, recalling a few words that were said in his attempt to pick the airbender up from his slump at the time.

"Another time."

"Percy," said man hummed in response, and Aang decided that it was probably the best time to resume their conversation. "You said you know what it's like to 'have the world on my shoulders'. What did you mean by that?"

He thought it was the evening turning to night, but Aang felt that the air had suddenly become a bit too tense for that. There was no response for a while, aside from the silence that felt too heavy for his liking. Risking a glance, he turned his head to look at the man whom he hoped could give him some answers he desperately needed.

Despite the light dimming from the setting sun, Aang's grey eyes could clearly see Percy's jaw clench tightly, and his features suddenly aged him further like that tight smile the dualbender wore when Team Avatar tried to convince him against facing the Fire Nation alone. Maybe it was the lack of lights playing tricks on the airbender's eyes, but Percy's skin seemed to glow slightly, making him look rather... inhuman. His eyes took a dark shade of green that Aang was suddenly reminded of the sea whenever it trashed and raged with waves.

The glow and tension in the man's body disappeared as quickly as they showed, and Percy let out a deep breath before speaking up.

"I meant it exactly as I said it," he said, sounding... tired? "I – how do I put this? – took part in saving the world. Twice, actually."

Grey eyes widened at the information that Percy just revealed. "But –"

Aang's throat tightened, catching the words before he could ask the question.

Percy turned his head around to reveal the solemn look on the man's face, yet to Aang it was obvious that the tall figure understood the incomplete question. But the world is still in peril, the war still on. How is it saved?

"I told your friends this before: I'm not from around here."

"You mean –"

"Not from any of the four nations that you guys know of," Percy nodded slowly, unaware of the clear look of shock written all over the bald teen's face as he had turned his head back to watching the final parts of the sun dip to give way to the night.

That information confused Aang even further. Was there a fifth nation that he didn't know of?

"I was dragged into two wars. Both of them were to decide the Fate of the world." Percy explained monotonously, still oblivious of the sense of questions rising inside the Avatar he was speaking to. A dry chuckle escaped him, and Aang realized that there was no hint of humour laced in it. "Hades, I was the centre of both of them."

Instead of letting his mind continue to wander in disarray, Aang schooled his thoughts and filed the information of 'two wars' and two 'world-ending scenarios that he was clearly unaware of' for later questions. Right now didn't feel like the right time to ask for those details. "How did they go?"

"We won," there was a slight hint of a smile returning at the use of the triumphant words.

"So how did you – What..."

How did you cope with the fate of the world on your shoulders? What did you do when you feel like you're not gonna win?

Again, Percy didn't need the whole question to understand Aang. "I just did what had to be done," a pause, and Aang heard the dual-bender take a deep insufferable breath. "Yeah, sure it wasn't always easy knowing that whatever decision you made or action you took – or nosebleed you didn't stop, don't ask – could spell the end of the world while the Fates always seem to plot to make your life worse each day," another pause, another deep breath, but it sounded less insufferable. "But I always remembered why I fought on, and most importantly, who I did it for."

The airbender allowed each word to sink in, pointedly choosing not to ask how a nosebleed could mean the end of the world. He allowed his mind to wander off as he thought about the 'why's and 'who's.

He thought about the 'why'. He's the Avatar, the figure responsible for maintaining order and balance within the world. The fate of the world rests on his shoulders, and if he fails to defeat the Fire Lord and put an end to the Fire Nation's reign of terror... well, he didn't dare dwell on that thought for too long.

As Aang started thinking about the 'who' instead, and immediately Team Avatar came to mind. He thought about Sokka – his jokes and his intelligent plans that could only come from the Water Tribesman – and Toph – her mix of sarcasm and bluntness, and her (way too) awesome earthbending whenever they needed a hand in the heavy lifting side of things. And finally, he thought of Katara – how she was kind and caring to everyone around her, and how much her waterbending had improved since the day he met her. How great a person she is...

He told himself that these are the people that he would be fighting for whenever he felt that the weight of the world was just that bit too heavy.

His lips tugged up into a smile, and grey eyes darted over to Percy, who was blissfully unaware of the thought process the young airbender had undergone.

"Thank you, Percy," a black eyebrow was raised pointedly at the sudden show of gratitude, but the man merely shrugged and stretched himself, looking as though he was loosening tight muscles all over his body.

"No sweat, kid," Somehow, Percy's use of the word 'kid' didn't sound condescending at all, unlike Aang felt when the man asked them about their 'quest' during their first meeting. The man started rolling his shoulders, and once again Aang noticed the slight tapping that the man with wild black hair always did whenever he was idle.

"Alright," the short silence that once again returned to the pair was broken as Percy turned to face the Lower Ring. "Time for me to go back. Gotta convince the old man I could make blue tea."

Percy's mention of going back reminded Aang that the day had turned to night, and his own friends were probably wondering where he was at this hour. The airbender got up, his mind registering that the 'old man' was probably Percy's friend who he was supposed to meet. The teen let out a soft chuckle as he heard a hint of a joke at the last sentence.

"I don't think there's such a thing as blue tea."

"There will be. You just gotta believe in it."

"Ha-ha."

Instead of giving a verbal response, green eyes gleamed under the night light right as Percy gave Aang another wink. The airbender didn't know if he was serious or not.

And as they began to go their separate way, Aang decided that those questions he had about Percy's 'fifth nation' didn't really matter to him.

oOo

Fire (Again):

The door slid to a close and the young teen stepped out of the small shop, bathing in the afternoon sunlight and leaning against the wall as he pondered about his situation.

It's been over six weeks since he and his uncle had moved into Ba Sing Se. Six weeks of living under the pretence they were regular Earth Kingdom folk seeking refuge in the capital city, working as a server in a humble tea shop. Six weeks of living in a small apartment with one very annoying 'demigod' who has no sense of organization. Or any sense that matters.

Six long weeks of being stuck in Ba Sing Se, on the run from his home.

And now his uncle received an offer to move to the Upper Ring to – surprise, surprise – operate his own tea shop. He wasn't even the tad bit surprised when his uncle accepted the offer almost immediately.

"Your life is about to change for the better!"

How is life supposed to be better when we're still refugees?

The soft sound of something ruffling in the air brought him out of his musings, and his vision darted upwards to see a piece of paper no larger than a flyer falling... from the sky?

Curious, a hand stretched out to grab the sheet before it could touch the ground with fluidity that spoke to years of training, and the teen took a quick scan of the contents on the flyer as he brought it closer to himself.

Amber eyes widened in recognition at the white furry horned-beast with a large arrow on its head printed in the centre of the flyer – a sky bison, and there was only one left in the world. His hands clenched tightly, crumpling the side of the paper that was in his grip as the teen allowed the implication from the existence of this flyer settle at the back of his mind.

The Avatar is in Ba Sing Se.

Let's be honest: how many of you guys expected Katara to make an appearance instead of Sokka in 'Water'? I'm not judging, just curious y'know. *jokingly puts on judging face*

Well, that wraps up Tales of a Demigod in Ba Sing Se. like i mentioned in the previous chapter, i almost put all the parts together. But somehow placing Percy's interaction with Iroh, Sokka and Aang together in one piece felt a little bit off, given that they weren't exactly 'allies'/'on the same side' at the time.

That, and the combined piece was really too packed. (I agree that it's good to have longer chapters at times. But if congestion comes along with length, that just makes reading a lot less comfortable. Like really uncomfortable *stops myself before accidentally going into TMI territory*)

TL;DR – I pretty much split the whole thing into part 'not team avatar' and part 'team avatar'.

Also, there was a plan to in Earth (Toph) for ToaDiBSS (that's a long ass acronym. Sorry not sorry), but I couldn't find a reason for her to just walk around Ba Sing Se, or even the Lower Ring to miraculously run into Percy (other than accompanying Team Avatar to find Appa there. Then again, she'll stick closely to them and won't have a reason to split off. She also doesn't know Iroh is in Ba Sing Se yet, so she wouldn't had visit his tea shop (that's assuming she even knew he 'works as a teamaker')). And she hates cities, so why would she explore the biggest one?

Let's not forget that Percy is currently stuck in the Lower Ring, and Lower Ring citizens cannot enter the other two Rings (yes, im taking that from TLOK but consider this – why would the rich and powerful let the poor into their parts of the city? Please note, the Dai Li controls order in Ba Sing Se), so he won't have a chance of running into anyone there. Not unless they were moved there, or invited (maybe?).

Percy can't always visit Sokka to teach him, bcs Pao isn't so generous in closing the tea shop everytime someone asks. Business, amirite? (I might be using plot armour as an excuse, but think about it. The lower ring is so dam big, we can't always have a miracle where Percy meets Team Avatar there!)

So, yes, that whole 'Earth' idea for ToaDiBSS was scrapped.

Okay, im rambling now. Sorry about that *sheepish grin*

Right, we'll be moving on towards the 'Lake Laogai' arc in the next chapter. How will Percy play a role in the arc? Well, tune in next time to find out! (that came out terrible right? Bcs it kinda sounded terrible when I read it).

Anyhoo~ till next time fellow readers! Hope you enjoyed the latest instalment to Flames of Destiny. Your feedback is always appreciated!

I'll see you when I see you

LaidEffect