Life, Love and Happiness Ch 27

"I can't just sit here waiting," said Aang after an hour.  

"Just let it work itself out," answered Toph.  "I told you, I have my people working the issue."

A guard stuck his head inside the room.  "Excuse me, Queen Toph, but we have uncovered some interesting facts about the theft last evening.  Would you mind relocating to your throne room?"

"Here we go, folks," she said to all those who were in the dining room with her.  Toph got up and led her impromptu entourage to the throne room, basically a room that had a throne for her to sit on and not much else.  This is where she normally greeted guests and met with any guards or government officials who required her opinion or recommendation.  

Toph sat down.  Aang stood on one side.  Sokka and Iroh stood on the other.  

In front of her, four guards pushed three peasant-looking men into the room.  They weren't dressed in rags, but their clothes weren't very nice either.  They were all gaunt and pale.  They landed on their knees and looked down at the floor as they were presented to the Queen.  

"Queen Toph, these three men are the leaders of the effort to steal from you," said one of the guards.

"How do you know?" asked Toph.

"Our initial investigation was to fan out across Omashu in street clothes and pick up on any evidence we could find.  In no time we came across these three talking among themselves at an eating establishment in one of the poorer sections of the city.  They mentioned an 'operation' and 'selling the Queen's possessions'.  We followed them back to an empty stable where we found a great deal of your missing items.  Right now, we are having the items transported back to the palace," said the guard.

"Excellent work," Toph lauded her guards.  

"Who do you think you are?" asked one of the prisoners.

"You have no right to judge us," said another.

"Of course I have the right," answered Toph.  "I'm your leader."

"Just because King Bumi assigned you to be our Queen doesn't mean we have to follow you.  We never heard of you until you became our Queen," said the first prisoner again.

"What are your names?" Toph asked.

"I am Adan.  This is Karik and Riku," the first prisoner replied.  

"Well, Adan, Karik and Riku, no matter what problem you may have with me or the way that old kook picked me to be Queen, you still have no right to steal my things!" insisted Toph.

"Do not speak of King Bumi in such terms!" shouted Riku.  "He was our leader for decades and never left us to starve!"

"Wait, hold on.  I think we're missing something here," noted Sokka.  "Starve?"

"Not everyone in Omashu is rich like you," explained Adnan.

"I make sure that the charities are well-funded," said Toph.  "That Earth Battle last night?  By tradition, the winner always gets to give the prize money to the charity of his choice."

"We do not see any of it.  We visit the shelters and the kitchens for the poor and they turn us away due to the fact that they have nothing to give us," explained Karik.  

That's odd, thought Toph.   "Iroh, I may have need for your services after all," said Toph in a soft voice so only those around her could hear.  

"Understood," remarked Iroh.

"I will have you three held for the time being," said Toph.  "I want to do a little further investigation before proceeding."

OlOlOlOlOlO

Iroh gathered the White Lotus members who were in Omashu at his request and asked them to fan out in the city and see if what these three thieves said was true.

Aang and Sokka went together into Omashu and quickly found a home that was normally used for shelter for the poor.

Aang knocked on the door.

A small woman answered.  "My, you don't look anything like the tenants I usually see," she observed.  

"Ma'am, we'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," said Sokka.

"Of course," she replied.  

"Is your shelter operating normally?" asked Aang.  

"That's an interesting question," the woman replied.  "We are operating as normally as we have been over these last couple of years."

"Are things different than they used to be?" Aang asked.

"Most definitely yes," the woman replied.  "It was around the time King Bumi died.  Our supplies and funds seemingly dried up.  At one time you would hardly ever be able to pick out a man who was down-on-his-luck.  The kitchen down the street could keep him well-fed and I had plenty of beds and extra clothes for people to wear.  We're lucky if we get anything for an entire month now," she explained.  "Lately, it's been hard to keep up with the demand.  I've had to turn away quite a few."

"Oh, I see," said Aang solemnly.  "I appreciate your taking the time to talk to us.  We're going to look into this matter and try to find out why such drastic changes happened right when Queen Toph took over."

The two friends turned from the woman and walked back to the palace.  When they arrived, they found Iroh standing in one of the halls already surrounded by other members of the Order.  Aang and Sokka stood off to one side and listened to what everyone else was saying.  It was eerily similar to what they had heard themselves.

"Thank you everyone.  Thank you for taking your time to look into this matter," said Iroh.  With that, he dismissed them.  He walked up to Aang and Sokka.

"What did you two find out?" asked Iroh.

"It's the same story," said Sokka.  "It happened right when King Bumi died.  The fact is, the poor are not being supported and haven't been for the years that Toph has been Queen."

"We need to speak to her about this," said Iroh.

"Speak to me about what?" asked Toph.

Iroh spun around to find Toph just stepping into the hall where they were.  "Toph, the poor in Omashu are not being cared for," explained Iroh.

"What do you mean 'not being cared for'?" she asked.

"Well, Aang and I visited a shelter this morning and we were told that when you took over, the money and donations pretty much dried up," said Sokka.  

"What?!" she yelled.  "There's no way."

"What do you mean, Toph?" asked Iroh.

"Being from the Bei Fong family, I was brought up to make sure the not-so-fortunate were looked after.  We are never overt with our generosity – it's just not done that way.  When I took over from Bumi, I made sure that a certain sum from the treasury was given to the poor on a weekly basis!  And there are systems set up to make sure that things we no longer need or use are given away or sold for donation money.  I even created a position in the palace specifically to handle all this," Toph explained.

"Oh you did, did you?" asked Iroh.  "Might I ask who currently fills that position?"

"Oh no, you don't think….," she started.  "I'm going to kill him!"

"Toph, who is it?" shouted Sokka as she walked away in a huff.  

"Yi Min!" she shouted as she made her way out of the room.  Aang wasn't sure if she was answering Sokka's question, or giving her advisor plenty of notice that she was coming…and she was angry.  

Aang instinctively ran after Toph.  With his airbending abilities, he caught up to her in plenty of time.  

"Toph, I don't think this is the best idea…," said Aang.  

"Get out of my way airhead!" she retorted.

"Toph!  You're angry and you really have no evidence yet," explained Aang.  "Don't be rash."

"It has to be him," she answered.

"Then let's prove it," said Aang.  

Toph stopped and looked at her friend.  

"How?" she asked.

"Oh c'mon.  It's us you're talking about.  We'll get the goods on him then you can punish him accordingly," said Aang.

"Ok, we'll do it your way," she agreed.  "And I was in the mood for a good pummeling, too."

OlOlOlOlOlO

Yi Min left the palace late that afternoon and started walking the streets of Omashu.  He turned around about once every minute to make absolutely sure no one was following him.  Even though he took this walk a few times every week, he never found anyone on his tail.  

She's so stupid, he though to himself.  Everything I've done I've done right under her nose.  

There was a large building right on the northern outskirts of Omashu.  He walked up to the door and inserted a key that he produced from his pocket.  When he turned the key, he heard a 'click'…then he entered.

Inside, he saw a strange young man sweeping the floor.  

"Who are you?" Yi Min asked, alarmed that there was a stranger here.  

"Oh, hi," said the young man.  "The name's Yuta.  You know my brother, Arata, don't you?  He is the one usually here in the evenings to um…er….clean-up."

Yi Min didn't want to admit it, but he really didn't know anyone's name.  He trusted that his immediate underlings would handle the minor details of hiring people who could help their cause, yet remain discreet if they paid them enough money.  So that skinny guy's name is Arata, eh?

"Yeah, I know Arata.  Why isn't he here?" Yi Min asked.  

"He wasn't feeling well tonight, but didn't want to shirk his duties.  This job is very important to him so he asked me to fill in," said Yuta.  

"That's good of him to not leave us hanging," noted Yi Min.  

"You sure do have a lot of stuff here," observed Yuta.  "Some of the things here look like they could belong to Queen Toph herself."

"What did you say?!" said a nervous Yi Min.

"Oh, n-nothing," said Yuta.  "I was just saying how nice some of this stuff is."

"It does belong to Queen Toph, you imbecile.  Don't you know what we do here?" asked Yi Min.  "Queen Toph is quite stingy and when she is done with her possessions, she sends them here for us to sell and trade them outside of Omashu.  She then hoards the money in her personal accounts.  No one knows what she does with it all."

"Wow.  I never knew that.  And I thought she was a nice lady," said Yuta.  "I guess not."

"Hurry up and sweep the floors.  One of the buyers is due here any minute," said Yi Min.

Just then, a knock was heard on the door.  Yi Min opened the door to find three well-dressed gentlemen there.  He showed them in.  First there was talking, and then a tour of the place including the items that were inside.  The men pointed to a few large items, and were given the smaller ones to take with them.  The last thing Yuta saw before they left was the men handling over a sack of gold pieces to Yi Min.  The men bowed to Yi Min and he bowed back.  They turned and left.  

Yuta remained in the room while the transaction took place, but was sure to stay as hidden as possible so to not distract the goings on.  When the men left, he re-emerged.  "You aren't really going to give that gold to the Queen, are you?" he asked.

"Of course I am," Yi Min replied.  "That's my job."  He then pocketed the sack.  

"No, I mean, you really aren't going to give that gold to the Queen, are you?" asked Yuta.  

"You heard what I said…," started Yi Min, before he thought about what the worker's change of tone meant when he had asked that question a second time.  

"Who are you?" asked Yi Min.  

"I already told you, my brother works here in the evenings.  I'm just filling in for him," said Yuta.  

"Now why am I starting not to believe you?" asked Yi Min.  He pulled out a long knife from under his robes.  "You've been acting strange since I got here…and you ask way too many questions."

Just then the square section of floor under Yi Min's feet rose up and suddenly he was standing 30 ft in the air with no way of getting down.  He immediately fell to his hands and knees having not expected the short burst of energy underneath him.  

"I think I've seen enough," said Yuta.  "Aang!"

"Are you done, Sokka?" Aang asked, emerging from a closed closet door off to one side of the room.  Walking behind him was a gaunt looking man who didn't say a word.

"Yeah, this guy's a real loser," Sokka replied.  

"Who are you?" asked Yi Min.  "What do you want with me?"

"First of all, let me introduce you to Arata.  He helped us with this little escapade," said Aang.  "The problem is, he's not a bad guy.  Neither are the men who took Queen Toph's things from her palace a few nights ago.  They are poor and need help.  The problem is, the help they should have been getting all along has been sidetracked by you!"

"I don't know what you are talking about," said Yi Min.  

"Sure you do," said Sokka.  "Oh, and the name is Sokka, not Yuta.  And in case you didn't recognize him, this is Aang, the Avatar."

"T-t-the Avatar?" Yi Min meekly replied.

"Yeah, so I wouldn't try anything funny if I were you," said Sokka.  "He can pretty much end you if he wants to."  

"All the money and donations that should have been going to the shelters and kitchens of Omashu have instead been going to you!" said Aang, angrily.  

"We have now seen it first-hand.  We have the evidence," said Sokka.  "There's no way you are getting out of this."

Yi Min just sat there, defeated.  He knew he had been caught and there wasn't a thing he was going to be able to do about it.  As much as he was a little scared of Aang at this moment, he could just imagine what Toph would do to him when they eventually got back to the palace.  He cringed just a bit thinking about it.