Accidental Avatar 2-RocknRoll

Hunting giant furballs

A/N:  Hello, my lovelies!  Here we have another chapter for you.  I had hoped SashaL would be able to write this one (I'm awful at portraying Mogui accurately), but sadly, he couldn't do it this time.  He sends his love, though.  Anyway, I've noticed that Mogin and Mutin are rather popular.  Fascinating!  Anyway, enjoy the chapter, vote comment and don't forget to think about the fanart thing ;)

The interior of the house was pretty cosy. It looked like we guys would be sharing one of the rooms while the girls had the other. Katara and Toph were sitting on little square mats in the middle of the room, while Muteki and Jin were standing a little ways back, on a slightly elevated portion of the room. They appeared to be deep in conversation and had their backs slightly turned to us. Now and again, they would look out the window with a worried expression. I was about to ask what the long faces were about when the Grin decided to speak again.

"Isn't this nice?" she asked, that grin never slipping once. "I think you will really enjoy it here."

"I think we'd enjoy it more if we weren't staying so long," Sokka retorted. "Can't we see the King any sooner?"

The Grin started some long spiel about how the Earth King was very busy running the finest city in the world and would see them as soon as he could.

Aang sighed. "Well, if we're going to be stuck here for a month, we should spend our time looking for Appa."

Momo perked up straight away, chattering excitedly.

"That settles it then!" I said cheerfully. 

I had this strange sensation like something wasn't right, but I couldn't place it, and I couldn't shake it.

The Grin, still grinning, bowed low to us. "I'll be happy to escort you anywhere you would like to go."

"We don't need a babysitter," Toph snapped, standing up and heading for the door. 

She paused and turned her head in Muteki's direction. "Uh, some exceptions do apply."

"It's fine, you guys go ahead," he said, straightening up and turning to face us fully. 

Jin turned halfway. "Jin and I decided to stay here. There's something we wanted to discuss..."

He glanced over our heads, then looked over at Jin. "...Privately."

Despite protest, the Grin insisted on joining us, and as we went out the door, I looked over at the two of them and saw Jin hugging herself and looking out a window with a worried expression.

We made our way to a pet store, where we quickly discovered that the Grin was more a hindrance than a help. No one wanted to talk, and I could tell it was because they were scared of talking. Bad vibes, right there. Something wasn't right about this place. Not the pet store, the university. Sokka had also noticed how the Grin seemed to discourage people from speaking.

When we got back to the house, the Grin spoke to us from inside her carriage.

"Well, I'm sorry no one has seen your bison," she said, still grinning. "Why don't you go get some rest? Someone will be over with dinner later."

We all watched as the carriage drove off. I nudged Sokka, pointing out a man in a house across from us, peeking through a window at us.

"Hey, come with me," Sokka whispered.

We all followed Sokka across the street, and Sokka knocked on the front door. The same man from the window appeared behind the door, smiling brightly at us.

"You're the Avatar!" he said excitedly. "I heard you were in town. I'm Pao."

"So Pao," Sokka said lightly. "What's going on with this city? Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?"

Pao's eyes started shifting left and right. "War? Scared? What do you mean?"

"I can feel you shaking," Toph said.

"Avoiding eye contact is also a sure sign of dishonesty," I added. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Look, I'm just a minor government official," he said nervously. "I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble."

He peeked out of the door, looking left and right as if checking that no one was watching.

"Get in trouble with who?" Katara frowned.

"Shh!" Pao said, putting a finger to his lips, his eyes darting back and forth nervously. "Listen, you can't mention the war here, and whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li."

Pao slid the door shut sharply, and we all glanced at each other.

"The secret police," I muttered. "Big brother is watching."

"What?" Katara asked, glancing at me curiously.

I shook my head. "Something I remember hearing somewhere. I can't put my finger on it, but we need to be careful. There is something very wrong here."

The others all nodded in agreement as we went back to our house.