The Bathhouse of the Four Beauties

oOo

"Over there." Li pointed across the street to an alley where a string of lanterns glowed green in the shadows. They hung to both sides of an arched doorway, spelling out the name of the bathhouse one character each.

Ostrich-horses neighed and Jet had to scramble backward and outwait traffic as an overloaded brewery cart rumbled by. Cursing the drover's offspring under his breath, he waved at the cloud of dust the cart had kicked up, coughed and glanced at the sky. The sun was a weak, glassy yellow behind a haze of smog. Jet swallowed hard. Suddenly he missed the clear skies of his forest desperately. He ran his hand over his face and sighed, watching a sullen-looking Li gesture at them to cross the road already. Jet shook his head free of the memories he tried so hard to leave behind and smiled around the toothpick that had replaced his ever-present straw. While Ba Sing Se might not have turned out to be all he had hoped, there were definite reasons to stay.

Jet joined Longshot and Smellerbee, who had crowed close to Li, trying to get a better view on the paper Li was holding. Jet took the toothpick out of his mouth, pointing. "That's the one, right?"

"Can I have a look?" Smellerbee stood on her tiptoes, looking from Li to Jet and then back to Li for confirmation. Li nodded and handed her the paper. She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she read out loud: "Four Beauties Bathhouse. Yep, that's the one."

"Give that here." Jet let out an annoyed huff at being left out. So not okay. He was their leader after all and should have some say in this. Jet snatched the directions their neighbor had given them out of Smellerbee's hand. It wasn't his fault that his reading was not that good. Blame the Fire Nation for that, would you, and not him. It sure as hell didn't mean he wasn't in charge.

He squinted at the note, making sure he was holding it the right way around, before trying to find the name of the bathhouse amidst the scribbled directions, comparing the handwritten characters with the bold ones on the lanterns. They seemed to match. He pretended to read them for a bit longer before balling up the paper and throwing it onto an already existing pile of garbage in the gutter. "Four Beauties, eh?" Jet teased and pushed Li none too gently toward the bathhouse. "Let's go, Yang Guifei, those flowers won't wilt themselves."

"Don't call me that!" Li took a stumbling step and turned to glare at Jet, indignation coloring his cheeks a rather adorable shade of red. "And I'm not the one who needs a bath."

"Poor flowers." Longshot snickered and Smellerbee sniffed the air, a fake innocent expression on her face. "I've been wondering what that smell is…"

"Manly is what it is." Jet put his arm around Li's shoulders, pulling him against him. Li snorted, but said nothing and Jet chose to ignore Smellerbee's muttered 'you keep telling yourself that, Jet, you keep telling yourself …'

oOo

They entered through a thick-walled gate into a gloomy courtyard. Moss grew in the cracks of the ancient walls and spindly, sun-deprived potted plants were arranged in what Jet guessed to be an artful manner. They reminded him of the people in this city, pampered, trapped and not even aware that there was a bigger world out there. They had nothing on the majestic red-leaved trees of his forest.

Their steps echoed on the tiled floor and Jet mused how one wall could make the difference between the hustle and bustle of a busy afternoon and the relative peace and quiet of this courtyard. It was almost as if they'd left the Lower Ring.

He'd snuck into the Upper Ring a couple of times- not to steal anything, no, even though he had been tempted. It wasn't as if those people would even notice that something was missing, but he'd promised to start over, to change, and he meant to keep that promise. But it had been like entering a different world. A world where grass got cut, and looked softer than any bed he'd ever slept in, where flowers and even stones were arranged to be unnaturally beautiful. It was as fake as it was dazzling and he resented it. Resented what it stood for. How could these people, his people, live in pampered, willful oblivion while out there, in the real world, Earth Kingdomers suffered and died at the hands of the Fire Nation? Someone should do something about it, but, he sighed, not him. Not now, at least.

And even here, protected by its eternal walls, there was no utopia to what he had. Not for everyone. Ba Sing Se was a city of millions, which lived- especially in the Lower Ring- cramped into high-rises and dormitories, making peace and quiet a rarity and a luxury to be had only late at night; or, Jet balled his fist bitterly, when one was rich. That was one thing he really did not like about living in a city: everything boiled down to money, or, more precisely, the lack thereof.

He'd lived so long without needing it, all those years back in his forest, when money was just something that piled up, that they took from the Fire Nation because they could, but had no real use for, that the concept of it all still sometimes puzzled him. It felt strange to be worrying about it. His role as leader, Jet felt strongly, should mean he really should not have to worry about such a mundane thing at all. He had more important things to deal with than money. Money, he figured, was something other people should take care of. He'd delegated taking care of their finances to Smellerbee. Of the three of them- well four, but he still wasn't sure he could count Li as more than an honorary member- she seemed to have the easiest time keeping track of what things cost and how much money they had left.

And so far, it had worked out quite well. Longshot and Smellerbee worked as guards at market and, with the occasional meal of roast duck curtsy of Mushi, they got by quite well.

At the other side of the courtyard, flanked by two doors, was the ticket window. Behind a polished stone counter a middle-aged clerk sat in front of a wall of numbered wooden tokens on hooks.

"Yes?" He put down his granite stencil that he had moments ago used to work on a half finished bend-by-numbers model of Omashu.

"Four tickets, please." Jet leaned against the counter, grinning around his toothpick.

The clerk pulled out a pamphlet, the stylized silhouette of a woman decorating each of the four corners. He pushed it toward Jet, waiting.

Li, already frowning up a storm, was hovering right at the edge of Jet's vision, but before he could make a grab for the paper, the clerk sighed and gave Jet a long-suffering look, reciting in a bored monotone: "We have hourly, half and all-day tickets. If you buy a ten entry card, you save 30%. The tickets are for the bath house only. We offer a wide range of health and beauty treatments. Special services are available as advertised within, please ask the attending staff."

"One moment." Smellerbee took one look at the flyer and pulled at Jet's arm, taking the pamphlet with her, manhandling him and Longshot out of direct earshot of the clerk. She studied the pamphlet for a moment longer, her brows knitting in concern. She whistled under her breath. "That's a lot of money for a bath …"

Jet held out his hand for the paper and Smellerbee handed it to him without hesitation. Jet gave her a tiny smile and nod in recognition. He was their leader after all. He started to study it, when-

"Four half-day tickets." Li counted the money out on the counter. And, before Jet could protest- not that he would have, what kind of idiot turned down a free ride- Li paid and gathered up the wooden tokens that would serve as IDs for their lockers and tab.

"Told you it would work out." Jet grinned at Smellerbee, who rolled her eyes at him in return.

"Seriously, Jet?" She reached for her purse, fishing for the correct change. "How much do we owe you?"

Li waved his hand at her in a 'no need' gesture. "Uncle gave me money."

"Thanks, Li." Smellerbee gave Li a friendly punch in the arm and Longshot bowed his thanks.

"Dinner is on us." Jet chimed in, feeling he had to contribute somehow.

Li rubbed his arm, looking at the floor. "Thanks. You don't have to …"

"Course we do." Jet moved his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. There was something adorable about the way Li managed to pout about just anything.

"Unless …" Jet took a step closer, reaching for the bathhouse tokens. "You want me to give my special 'thank you' to your uncle instead?" Jet let the tips of his fingers linger on Li's palm, sliding his hand sensually along Li's as he took the tokens.

Li gasped and looked up, his suddenly wide eyes meeting Jet's. Jet watched Li's lips form a tiny 'o' sound, the pink tip of his tongue wetting his lips. Yep, fucking adorable.

Jet held onto Li's hand, finger closing around his wrist, pulling him closer. He leaned in and whispered in his ear. "And here I was looking forward to showing you just how grateful I am."

"What?" Li blinked, confusion turning to scarlet-hot mortification. He snatched his hand away. "You don't …"

"Would be kinda rude not to thank him, wouldn't it?" Jet grinned, teasing. "Unless your uncle does not want my thanks?"

"What's wrong with you?" Li let out a shuddered huff, exasperation underlined by wild gesturing. "How can you say that!"

They watched him storm off into the bathhouse.

Longshot snickered and Smellerbee shot him an evil eye.

"I'd better go after him." Jet grinned and tossed two tokens at Longshot.

Smellerbee sighed and leaned up to kiss Longshot on the cheek, plucking her token from his fist. "See you inside!"

oOo

The entrance to the locker rooms had no door, but curtains with the bathhouse logo printed on them. Jet spit his toothpick into a trashcan, parted the curtains and entered the windowless changing room; Longshot followed him.

Stone benches lined the walls and green crystal lamps, ever present in Ba Sing Se, doused the room in their sickly yellowish light. An old man, his over-sized tang-zhuang uniform making him look even skinnier, was sitting at the other end of the room in front of a wall-high shelf. He was reading today's newspaper.

Longshot coughed and the man got up, rolled up his newspaper and shoved it into an empty box on the shelf behind him. He bowed in greeting.

Jet gave the man a toothy smile and a nod, then took a closer look at the shelves. They contained rows upon rows of boxes with numbers on them, some of them empty, some filled with what, at closer inspection, turned out to be other customers' various belongings. So this was how this worked. He'd been wondering what to do with his things.

Jet toyed with his token, a self-satisfied grin on his face for having figured it out without having to ask. He resented having to ask about things that made it blatantly obvious that he had not grown up in this city. That he was a 'dirty refugee'.

His fist closed more tightly around it, the token painfully cutting into his palm. Jet took a deep breath, calming himself. No, he wasn't going to do this anymore. He'd come here to start a new life.

His eyes fell on Li and Jet felt an amused smile tug at his lips. Li was sitting on the bench to the furthest right, angrily trying to untie his shoelaces. He was glaring at the stubborn knot he'd created, then gave up with an overdramatic sigh. He pulled his shoe off without untying it, and forcefully threw it into the box on the floor next to him. It bounced right back out, landing in front of Jet's feet. Jet picked it up and sat down next to Li.

"Here." Jet held the shoe out to him.

Li snatched it out of Jet's hand, otherwise ignoring him. He looked at the shoe for a moment, turning it in his hands, before putting it into the box. "Thanks."

"Hey." Jet sidled closer, bumping their elbows. "Still mad at me?"

"Yes." Li glared at him, his face all narrowed eyes and angry-red scar.

Jet reached out, cupping Li's face with his hand, his thumb and index finger caressing Li's jaw. He waited till the tension drained from Li's body, just gentle touches, making sure never to touch the scar directly, before he made his next move. He turned Li's face toward him. "Really?"

"No," Li mumbled.

"Good." Jet leaned in and kissed him.

Longshot took one look at Li and then at Jet, shook his head and walked over to show the bathhouse attendant his token.

The man nodded, grumbling under his breath about how he was not getting any younger and what this bullshit about giving out the upper boxes was anyway.

The attendant checked the number on the token again and then stomped his foot, sliding it forward while his hands seemed to pull at the air. The stone creaked and groaned and the shelves started to move, sliding up and down and sideways, rearranging themselves until the right one came to a halt at eye-level. The man pulled it out, handing it to Longshot.

"Don't lose the token, sir. The bathhouse cannot be held responsible for any loss of possession or bills racked up in your name."

Longshot nodded his thanks, carried his box over to one of the benches and started to undress.

Jet tried to kiss Li a final time before got up to get his own box, but Li pushed him away gesturing impatiently at the boxes.

"One for the road?" Jet teased, but Li ignored him.

"Get your box!" Li pointed impatiently, threatening to smack Jet with his towel.
"Okay, okay," Jet grabbed hold of the swinging towel. He wrapped the end around his wrist, pulling Li close with the momentum, stealing the kiss he felt he deserved from a glowering Li.

Inside his box was a pair of wooden slippers and a neatly folded towel. He put both on the bench next to him, where Li was folding his long-sleeved shirt on top of his tunic and vest. He was still wearing an undershirt. Jet rolled his eyes at him.

"What's it with you and all those layers?" Jet teased, it was pretty much summer already, he hadn't bothered with an undershirt for weeks.

"I'm cold." Li grumbled.

"Well, hurry up then, the hot tub's waiting!" Jet leered.

"I'm not the one dawdling." Li crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Longshot sat, towel around his waist, and box put away, on the bench across from them. He drummed his fingers on the bench, looking rather put-upon.

Jet snickered and tossed his shirt into his box without folding it. But seriously, how could Li be cold? The weather was hot enough these days that Jet had been untugging and rolling up his shirt in the afternoon heat. Jet watched Li pull his undershirt over his head, enjoying the way Li's muscles rippled as he stretched up and pulled the shirt free. Jet smiled. Not that he didn't like a good gift wrapping, but Li really took it to the extremes.

There was a small bruise at the back of Li's neck, not huge, but big enough to be seen from afar, that had been hidden by Li's high collar, standing out bright and purple against Li's pale skin.

Jet touched his own neck, running his finger over the skin there, remembering how he'd pushed Li onto his bed, how Li's weight felt on top of him, how fucking good the sex was.

Li seemed to sense his stare and his hand shot up, covering the bruise. He glared at Jet angrily and Jet willed him to meet his eyes. Li blushed furiously, suddenly not looking angry at all anymore. Jet felt a tingle slither down his spine, and he reveled in the thrill of knowing that Li remembered, too.

oOo

Their wooden slippers clicked on the stone floor as they followed the short corridor to the shower room. Jet had slung his towel over his shoulder, ignoring Longshot's longwinded complaint about wasting time in the locker room and how making Smellerbee wait would put him in the doghouse. He hm-ed along, more important things needing his attention, like that way more interesting dimple on Li's ass. Li was walking in front of him, towel around his neck, and Jet vowed to take back every bad word he'd ever said about visiting a bathhouse. This sure was turning out way more fun than he'd imaged.

The shower room was noisy; filled with steam and chatter, it radiated community. Condensation dripped off the ceiling, making the floor slippery and the air humid. Groups of men clustered around the various hot water basins arranged in regular intervals along the walls. They were squatting, or sitting on low earthen stools, washing and chatting. There was a cheerful camaraderie to the scene and Jet found himself reminded of evenings spent at the campfire back in his forest. Voices carried in the tiled room and someone was telling a joke about tea and a bush. Li groaned, making a face.

"What?" Jet raised an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong?"

"That's my Uncle's favorite joke." Li exclaimed as if that explained everything.

They walked past one of the two big communal hot-tubs and Jet eyed the steaming, herb-scented water with anticipation.

"And?" he turned his attention back to Li, patting him soothingly on the back. "That bad?"

Li crossed his arms in front of his chest, sounding more annoyed than a simple bad joke warranted. "He's telling it wrong!"

"Well, remind me to ask Mushi to tell it to me later," Jet chuckled. "The right way." He side-eyed Li. "Unless you want to tell it?"

Li groaned even louder at that and gave Jet the evil eye. Jet laughed. That would be the day when Li did stand-up comedy.

Longshot was waving at them from across the room where he had scouted out a couple of free stools near a hot-water basin. The steaming water flowed from a faucet in the wall into a shallow, wide basin, the overflow draining into slots in the floor around it. Buckets with straight handles, meant for rinsing the soap off, were piled nearby. Jet could hear the faint drum of earthbending pumps working below.

The seats Longshot had claimed for them were near the big, screened window that occupied the front half of the room. Its intricately bent latticework allowed for airflow but kept them out of sight from the people in the garden that lay beyond. Flowering vines and bushes had been planted outside, lush green leaves and pretty purple flowers reaching in through the gaps. The lattice itself depicted the Four Beauties together with their symbols of fish, birds, moon and flowers done in glowing green crystal. At the left hand side was a poem in the artsy, elegant squiggles Jet had come to detest. Give him Fire Nation military missives any time of the day. At least those he could decipher- well, the important bits like numbers, anyway. It did look elegant, though. He was starting to see why people would spend money to come here.

A soft breeze carried the scent of blooming lilac. Not his forest, Jet thought, taking a deep breath, but it would do.

"Nice, isn't it?" Jet pointed toward the decorative window.

Li turned to look first at the window and then at Jet and muttered, "Classy."

A shelf nearby contained wooden tubs of soaps and other ointments, as well as wash-rags, stacked neatly, for common use. Jet grabbed two rags and one of the containers and sat down, patting the stool next to him.

"Li, come. I'll do your back for you." He did not even bother to keep the leer from his voice. "I'll make it good."

Li didn't seem to have heard him, nor paid him any attention. Jet felt a pout of his own coming. He watched as Li stood, eyes narrowed in concentration, searching the room, seemingly looking for something specific. Jet noticed a man in bathhouse uniform pushing a cart, moving from group to group, selling various kinds of soaps, lotions and snacks.

"Li?" Jet raised his voice. He considered smacking him with his towel, but that would most likely just end with Li storming off in a snit. He'd rather slide his hands down Li's sudsy back than chase after him apologizing. "Come sit down. I got the soap."

Li hmphed at him, but did not sit down; instead, he waved at him with a dismissive gesture and Jet was starting to wonder why Lid didn't just call him over if he wanted to buy something.

"I'll do your back, then you'll do mine?" Jet offered, holding out a wooden tub with a sticky brown paste that smelled like soap.

"What? Why?" Li muttered, looking around again. "Don't they have staff for that?"

"For what? Scrubbing your back?" This was starting to annoy him. He'd been looking forward to scrubbing Li's back and maybe groping a feel or two. For some reason Li's words felt like a kick to the stomach. What was wrong with Li? He'd rather let a stranger touch him than Jet?

"Yes." Li grumbled and took the tub, taking one look at it before putting it down. "That's not soap."

"Looks like soap to me," Jet replied through clenched teeth.

"Says 'body scrub' right there." Li pointed to the characters written on the side of the tub.

Jet glared at him, fuming at being corrected. Li just had to point it out, didn't he?

"You know what," Jet got up in a huff. "I'll be right over there, in the hot tub. And if you're nice to me, I might even let you scrub my back later."

Jet was halfway across the floor in his snit before he remembered his manners. He turned on his heels and sat back down, noting that Li had wandered off to somewhere. Probably to have his back scrubbed by someone not Jet. Which was alright with him, Jet told himself. Totally fucking alright.

He grabbed one of the buckets and dipped it into the hot water, relishing pain as he poured it over his head and shoulders. He nudged Longshot to scoot over the soap he'd been using and scooped out some of the soft honey-locust paste, smearing it onto his washrag and started angrily lathering himself. See if he cared.

At Longshot's curious glance, Jet snapped that even he knew that you wash before you enter the communal tub. Longshot gave him a glance which clearly stated that he could cool his temper on someone else and excused himself, muttering something about needing to find a pumice stone and that they could join him and Smellerbee in the common area, or whatever.

When Jet was in the middle of scrubbing down his legs, someone cleared his throat.

"I got you this soap." Li held out a small wooden bowl, no bigger than a teacup. "It's lavender. I don't know if you care for lavender, but ..." He proffered the soap again.

Jet ground out a 'thank you,' took the soap and put it on the floor before continuing to furiously scrub between his toes.

Li said nothing for a while and then offered: "Do you want me to do your back now?"

Jet looked up at him, standing there all awkward; apologetic and petulant at the same time, as if he was certain his offer would be rejected. That he'd offer anyway made something in Jet's throat tighten and, suddenly, there was that heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach again and he just couldn't help not being mad anymore.

It wasn't fair to be angry at Li for something that was not really his fault. It didn't mean that it didn't annoy Jet at times, but anyone with half a brain could see what the Fire Nation had done to him, and if you looked further, past the scar, how much they had taken from him. It made Jet wonder just what life Li had led before the Fire Nation took it all away. But seriously, this was just ridiculous. You scrubbed a friend's back, they scrubbed yours, that's how it should be. Paying someone to scrub your back for you sounded wrong. What kind of sad person didn't have friends to help them out?

"Yes." Jet reached for Li's hand, pulling him close. "I'd like that."

oOo

Jet slid into the blissfully hot water of the tub, enjoying how the heat soaked into his skin. Li settled next to him, their legs touching, wet skin sliding against skin and Jet put his arm around Li's shoulder, letting out a sigh of contentment. Yeah, this was the stuff. He was beginning to see what people liked about cities.

Two middle-aged men, sitting across from them, were playing pai-sho on the wide rim of the tub. They were drinking bai-jiu out of tiny cups, the porcelain bottle standing on a stool nearby. Li made a face at the smell and Jet had to grin. He'd dared Li into drinking bai-jiu before- not the expensive kind like those two were drinking, but the cheap, brewed in earthenware jugs as tall as your elbow kind. The resulting gagging and coughing fit had been hilarious, and Li hadn't touched the stuff since.

The man closer to Li was dawdling over his next move, running his White Jade piece over the knuckles of his left hand. The other, stouter man, whose red cheeks and glassy eyes told of the bottle being more empty than full, was bending a tiny column of stone in and out of the rim of the tub, moving it between his fingers impatiently. He stopped and waved the bathhouse attendant with the cart closer.

"You boys drinking?" He turned to Jet, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Come on, I'm buying."

"Can't say no that!" Jet grinned and elbowed Li, who, to his surprise, agreed.

"I'm Gou Shuang." The man offered them a friendly grin. "And the one getting his ass handed to him at pai-sho," he gestured toward his friend, "is Zhang Yi."

"Jet," Jet introduced at himself, before jerking his thumb at Li. "And this is Li."

"Talking about getting your ass kicked," Zhang placed his tile, watching Gou with a smug expression on his face. "Pai and Sho!"

"What? No way! I so had your last General cornered!" Gou slammed his hand onto the rim of the tub, leaving a sunken handprint. He stared at the board, then turned back to Zhang, exasperation in his voice. "That's not sho, that's not even pai!"

Zhang held his gaze for a moment, only a minute twitching at the corner of his right eye giving away his game. Jet had to respect a bluff like that. Then Zhang doubled over laughing and Gou, after a perplexed moment, joined in.

"Bastard," Gou ground out, but there was gruff affection in his voice undertone. "You, you … Damn, you got me." He bellowed, thumping his hand on the stone. "Damn, he got me, boys!" He picked up two expensive-looking bottles from the cart, holding them up to Zhang for inspection. "You pick," he demanded, a sly expression on his face. He put the one Zhang pointed to down next to the open one on the stool, before nodding to the attendant and clapping Zhang on the shoulder. "Since you're paying."

"Yeah, yeah." Zhang snorted and showed his token.

"And don't think I've forgotten about that penalty shot." Gou grabbed two more cups off the cart, set all four of them out in a row and then broke the wax seal on the bottle. He handed the full ones around, smelling his in anticipation before raising it for a boisterous toast. "To new and old friends! May the walls of Ba Sing Se be strong and the Earth King's rule glorious! Bottoms up!"

"Bottoms up." Jet, Li and Zhang echoed, and Jet readied himself to thump Li's back, should that become necessary. Li did manage to keep his composure but, to Jet's chagrin, put his cup face-down onto the rim. Jet held his own out for a refill. This was good stuff after all, and waste not want not. It would be rude not to, really.

"You new in the city?" Zhang asked, grimacing as Gou refilled his cup for the third time. "I don't think I've seen you around."

"Yeah, just got here a couple of weeks ago," Jet answered, gauging their reaction, and relaxed when it did not seem to be hostile.

"It's good to see fresh faces around here now and then." Gou gestured around the room. "I mean, look at that lot." He gestured at the room, as if offended by each and everyone in it.

Zhang rolled his eyes at his friend, keeping his cup out of reach. He leaned toward Jet, whispering, "Chen cheats at pai-sho."

"That son of a hog-monkey!" Gou exclaimed, starting to get up. Zhang pushed him back down.

"Shut up and drink." Zhang grabbed his cup, refilling it. "You're just going to get us kicked out again."

Jet nodded, schooling his face to an appropriate frown. He held out his cup, too, nudging Li gently, teasing. "To honor!"

Li turned, glaring. He waited till Jet had knocked back his bai-jiu before viciously elbowing him in the side.

Jet spluttered, coughing. Damn Li's sharp elbows and good timing.

"Need help?" Li's voice was dripping saccharine concern. He thumped Jet on the back a couple of times. Jet's protests were drowned out by Zhang and Gou's bellowing laughter.

Jet rested his head on the rim of the tub, catching his breath after what he considered a highly undeserved assault. Well, mostly undeserved. The hot water in combination with the bai-jiu was very relaxing; and at least Li didn't seem to be pouting, but snuggled, his head resting on the rim next to Jet's.

Zhang and Gou were setting up another pai-sho game, sorting the tiles between themselves.

Gou held up the bottle of bai-jiu, offering in a silent gesture. Jet waved his hand at him, signaling that he'd had enough. He could feel the bai-jiu making his head heavy and his thoughts sluggish, but with Li at his side, this was not a bad feeling. He gently caressed Li's shoulder. Not a bad feeling at all.

The White Lotus piece Zhang had tossed at Gou missed him and landed on the floor. Zhang kicked Gou, who grudgingly bent the earth underneath it, making it fly back in their direction. It landed, with a splash, in the tub near Jet.

Jet fished it out, handing it back to them. "Nice bending."

"Thanks!" Gou looked incessantly proud of himself, and Jet had to admit, as drunk as that dude had to be, that had been no mean feat.

"Have you heard the latest news from the Outer Wall?" Gou whispered conspiratorially. They both shook their heads, and he went on: "Heard the Fire Nation's pressing on again, but we kicked their asses right back out." Gou sounded proud of that fact, as if he himself had fought them off single-handedly. Jet tried not to let it ruin his mood, thinking that Gou should count himself lucky to never have encountered the Fire Nation army himself.

"What happened?" Li's eyes snapped open, his voice hoarse, surprised. "Where you there?"

"Him?" Zhang laughed. "No."

"My brother-in-law is with the Terra Team." Gou puffed up his chest proudly, as if it was somehow his achievement.

"Nice." Jet whistled under his breath, impressed. The elite unit guarding the Outer Wall did not just take anyone.

"What else did he say?" Li sat up straighter, obviously interested in the topic, and Jet had to admit that he was not a little curious, too. He was used to getting regular reports on the war, curtsey of Fire Nation patrols he'd ambushed, but ever since they'd entered the city, news had been sparse. There seemed to be a big government hush on any real information about the war effort.

"Doesn't look so well for the rest of the country." Gou twiddled with his cup, looking around, and lowered his voice. "All he said was that he'd heard that General Sun's been throwing new recruits at the Fire Nation to test their strength again. That there might be an attack planned."

Zhang nodded along, looking pensive. "Poor lads. Can't really blame anyone for running."

"So the Earth King, too," Li muttered, more to himself than to them, his fingers twitching toward his scar. "Did they make it?"

"No idea." Zhang sounded genuinely sad and Li closed his eyes, turning his head away.

Jet squeezed Li's shoulders, wishing Li would take the comfort he was offering. But Li's posture remained tense.

Li acted this way any time the war, and especially the Fire Nation, was mentioned. Not that Jet could blame him; the memory of what had happened to his village, his family, still made him wake up in cold sweat.

"Someone you know?" Zhang asked. "Were you with the army, before …"

"No, we're not soldiers." Li looked down at his hands, his voice trailing of, far way. "There was this little boy, I stayed with his family- I … I don't want to talk about it." He tried to pull out of Jet's embrace, but Jet would have none of that. If he let him go now, Li would most likely sulk for the reminder of the day, and Jet'd be damned if he let that geezer ruin his day.

Li glared at him, but settled back down, crossing his arms in front of his chest defensively.

"I was in the resistance." Jet locked eyes with him; this was getting personal. "I am the leader of the Freedom Fighters."

"Really?" Zhang was looking thoughtfully at them over the rim of his cup.

"Yeah, really." Jet gave him a smile with too much teeth in it. "We did our share of fighting."

"How'd you get that?" Gou ignored Jet's implied insult, gesturing at his face in the vague outline of Li's scar.

If possible, Li's back straightened even more. He could feel the tension radiating off Li in big angry waves and Jet felt a twinge of guilt. It was something he himself didn't like admitting: that Li's scar had been the second thing Jet had noticed about him. Now, the first thing, though, Jet grinned. It's not as if anyone could deny that Li had a great ass.

"The war," Li ground out, his fingers digging into the rim; he was not meeting anyone's eyes. Not that Jet could blame him. It was kinda fucking obvious what had happened, wasn't' it?

"Did you get that fighting the Fire Nation army?" Gou kept on asking, and Jet was starting to get annoyed. Why could that man not leave things well enough alone?

"No." Li pressed his lips into a thin line, but Jet noticed his fingers twitching, as if he had to suppress the urge to touch his scar.

"That's a pretty nasty burn," Gou badgered on, oblivious to Li's glare. He gave Li a conspiratorial wink. "Did it to yourself, didn't you? To get out of the army, didn't you? Not that I blame you."

"What?" Li's eyes widened in confusion, his answer quick and his voice hoarse, as if he truly had trouble even imaging the idea. "No. Why would anyone do that?"

"Oh, come on, that must have been a really nasty burn," Gou gave him an avuncular smile. "No one would survive that, if it had actually been a firebender attacking."

"Well, one did," Jet snapped, feeling protective of Li. What the spirits was wrong with those guys, to accuse a stranger of something that dishonorable.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, anyway." Zhang knocked back another cup of bai-jiu, his words starting to slur. "We didn't build those walls because we like war. Get a lot of folks from all over, too. Lots of young lads, like you. I mean, who'd want to be cannon fodder?"

Something froze in Li; his breathing quickened, his face suddenly ashen. Jet could not place the emotions running through Li, but for one: hurt. He'd been around Li long enough to know when Li was sulking because he was Li and when something had hit home. And this seemed to have hit home hard. Li was, at once, drawing in on himself and shaking with rage, or was it fear? He stood up, water pearling off him. Jet reached for his hand but Li smacked it away.

"Let go of me." Li ground out, balling his fists. "I- I need air."

And before Jet could stop him, he was out of the tub and stalking toward the exit to the common area in quick, angry strides.

A bathhouse attendant came by and, at a nod from Zhang, bent the valve open, letting a fresh supply of hot water flow into the tub.

The temperature of the water seemed to rise with Jet's anger. He looked over his shoulder to see Li struggling to put on a bathrobe, his fingers clumsy with emotion, and Jet hated to see him hurt, hurt by the casual assumption of pampered city people, who'd never been outside their precious walls, never fought a day in their lives.

"Is he alright?" Gou asked and Jet just stared. What the fuck was wrong with these people?

Jet looked first at Gou, then at the glowing embers in the incense burner, then back at Gou. His voice low, threatening. "How would you like one to match?"