Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ When Ice and Lava Meet ❯ Sleeping Panda Lily ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: I don’t own Avatar: The Last Air-bender, the very talented team of Mike and Brain own the show and characters. The rating maybe wrong but I did try to get it right.

By: year of the snake (at fanfiction) aka. crescentmoon (at mediaminer). And now Opal-Dreams on DeviantArt.

When Ice and Lava Meet

Chapter Three

The Blind Bandit went straight to work. She found crooked street game owners and used her earth-bending to cheat them out of their ill-gained goods. In this business Toph heard about many different thieves who targeted the pour and the worst ones weren’t the ones that she could get at very often. They were the ones who stole in the name of the Fire Lord. Those rich people who got richer by stealing taxes among other things from those less fortunate then themselves. There were so many of these types in this city. They were gaining excess off the backs of the pour and it made the Blind Bandit sick. Even worst there was little she could do about it and that made her angry, very angry.
The Blind Bandit used some of the money she got from her scams to rent a crummy, tumble down apartment so they wouldn’t have to live on the streets. Katara didn’t like the scams but what could she do? And most all the money went to those who needed it so she didn’t complain much.
One day a few weeks after moving to Aoi Falls there was commotion outside their apartment. It was one of their neighbors. Her husband had died fighting for the country, for the Fire Nation, leaving her with four kids under four and little else. Now the tax official was taking everything she had left aside from her kids because he claimed she didn’t pay her taxes but she had and they both knew it. Even the soldiers with him knew it, but they didn’t care, this woman was a nobody and had no one to stop them.
The Blind Bandit and Katara wanted to rush out there and stop them. The only reason they didn’t is because they couldn’t afford to draw attention to themselves.
“Isn’t there anything we can do to rectify this horrible situation?” Katara asked.
The Blind Bandit thought about it. Then said, “There is nothing I can do but you can. You can steal the things back for her.”
“What!?! Me!?! Why me?”
“Katara, I do not see well on wood floors. I have to be right up close to something to see it so I could get hurt or caught. And wood floors can make me clumsy as well but you are light, graceful and can see without your feet. You can get in and out without being caught.”
“But what if someone sees me I don’t want to reveal my identity to people.”
That is when the Blind Bandit knew that Katara would do it. Katara would take up the life of a thief. “You can wear a disguise. In fact you can use the legend of the first Fire Nation town I lived in. You could become the Painted Lady.” The Blind Bandit pulled out a thin chain around her neck and out of her top came a little statue of the Painted Lady. “She’s a healer too and has spirit magic which is a lot like water-bending. I bet you could get away with it.”
The thin walls allowed them to hear the neighbor who was just robbed and her children crying. Their mother tried desperately to calm them and it worked a little. The little ones were crying because they were so hungry. The mother kept saying, “I know, I know. But I have nothing to give you.” There was underlying fear, worry and pain in her calming voice.
“Alright,” said Katara, “as soon as we get the stuff for the costume I will begin.”
The Blind Bandit smiled.
In the mean time they dropped off some money for food.
Within two days they had all they needed for the costume. And that night Katara gave her first attempt at thievery.
Dressed as the Painted Lady, including the painted, red stripes on her face Katara left the tiny apartment. Smokey mist drawn by her water-bending accompanied her. She really made an art of her first appearance. It was partially to add reputation to the Painted Lady, to get stories circulating of the woman again. This visit was a two fold mission, attract attention and thus give fear to the baddies and to gain the things stolen from the lady down the hall. The Blind Bandit even added creepy thumps as she approached the home of the official.
Someone looked out a window in the richer area of town and screamed. Katara had to smirk. The people in some houses shut their windows and doors. This was not something they wanted to have anything to do with. Others came out; some sent guards out to protect them. The Painted Lady just ignored them. She was on a mission. She knew the wrong she had to set right tonight. And everything and everyone else were nothing as long as they remained spectators.
When she got to the gate of the rich man’s house every thing was suddenly quiet. ‘Nice effect Blind Bandit.’ thought the Painted Lady. She made water incase her feet and used it to make her fly over the gate. The people behind her gasped.
A guard in the courtyard of this mansion witnessed it and fled. He ran pass another guard, this guard prided himself in extreme bravery. He went to face whatever had spooked his companion. Seeing an apparent spirit coming forward the guard froze. The apparition looked at him and seeing the painted designs he started to shake.
A few other guards came running out; they had dressed in a hurry. One of the guards yelled at him to quit gawking and attack the intruder. He did but the fire blast was sucked up in her fog. They all attacked and the same thing happened. Then without warning they all found themselves flung in different directions.
She walked right past one guard who cowered to the ground. It was the guard who had been the second of the household to see her. When she was nearly past him he looked cautiously up at her. His eyes widened, the apparition was deadly and beautiful. A combination he prayed to never face again. He hoped to never see the beauty that was the Painted Lady again.
The Painted Lady glided into the mansion. The master of the house who had been warned of the intruder was struggling with his dressing robe and stumbled right into her path. He stood and demanded her to stop. She ignored him and continued sliding through the house. He sent a fireball at her that if she hadn’t jumped back would have burned her head just like a match head.
Turning back to the man slowly she moved her arms in a showy way then suddenly under his feet was ice. Then she moved her arms back toward herself and the ground below him was all of a sudden stripped of ice and completely dry. He fell to the ground.
“Who are you?!?” he cried afraid.
The Painted Lady turned her face just enough for him to see some of the paint in the dark room. He had no clue who it was but his heart began racing. He trembled and feared. “Please! What are you doing here?”
She let a moan slip from her lips, a moan the told of suffering and pain, a moan the screeched ‘I am dead!’
“No! Please spare me!” He thought this mysterious woman was going to kill him.
Giving some fast fluid movements the Painted Lady bashed him in the head with a chunk of ice. He would be unconscious for a while. She then dropped a Panda-Lily on his chest.
Katara took the things he took from the pour in her neighborhood and all the money she found in the house. His wife and children saw her too. They were recoiled just beyond a doorway to a baby’s room. On the floor by the door the faces stared up at her in wonder and fear. She looked at them and nodded. They realized as long as they made no move to stop her that they would be safe.
When she got the things she came for, money included she vanished in a silent explosion of mist. She popped out the window behind her.
In the grounds again she was sucked underground by means of the Blind Bandit’s earth-bending.
She came on top of the ground again in an empty alleyway by where she would be returning the things she took to their proper owners. Again Katara called up the oppressive fog and entered the streets. This time though there was no pounding of earth-bending. Still with the rapid drop in temperature her fog caused a few people awoke to shut their windows and saw her. They saw her enter an apartment through the window and then seconds later leave. They saw her do the same a few times then she went towards an alleyway but disappeared before she entered it.
The Blind Bandit met her underground this time. She helped her change back into her Fire Nation clothes because there was absolutely no light in her cavern. They left the Painted Lady garb there.
They reemerged and entered their own apartment without drawing attention.

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Hi Everyone! Here is Chapter 3! Yay! Hehehe! Because of questions asked I am putting the next chapter out now. =D And in honor of having five reviews! Yes! Hehehehehehehehe!

I first off would like to thank both my reviewers, ArrayePL from fanfiction (dot) net again =D and my new commenter Mannie258 from deviantART. Thank you! =D I lovels the reviews! Hehehehe!

Okay and to answer your questions ArrayePL: Did the genocide occur? Yes but they didn’t get the chance to kill everyone and the reason may be explained later.
Are the Air-Nomads hiding their identities and abilities? Yes which should become more obvious in the next chapter.
What is Toph doing in the Fire Nation anyway - I mean how did she get there? =D That is for me to know and for you to keep coming back to find out. =D It’s a secret… shh!

Mannie258 wants to know how Zuko will come into play. He is coming soon. *nods with wide grin* You will find out then.

Quick Fact 1: Aoi, as in Aoi Falls, mean blue in Japanese so you can conclude that the water in the pools the waterfalls made is blue!
Quick Fact 2: Everyone that we know (at least the main characters) are older then they were in the series so some differences in behavior could be because they are more mature.
Quick Fact 3: The Blind Bandit is thought of as a Lone Robin Hood.

Hope you liked it! Please review! See ya! (Sorta…)