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Earth Kingdom~

Ba Sing Se is the capital of the Earth Kingdom. It withstood a six-hundred day siege led by the Fire Nation's General Iroh, which ended after Iroh's son, Lu Ten, died on the front lines and Iroh was in too much grief to continue. In the Episode "The Drill", the name Ba Sing Se is revealed to mean "Impenetrable City," as an Earth Kingdom general jokes that it is not named "Na Sing Se" (meaning "Penetrable City").

Ba Sing Se's greatest secret to its staying power in the war is the farmland behind its outer wall. Seen in the episode "The Drill", these fields supply the entire city with food to enable them to survive a siege of any duration, so long as the outer wall remains intact, and, due to Earthbending, can be quickly repaired. (It was apparently breached during Iroh's siege, as seen in "Zuko Alone"; however, the city survived, as the siege broke shortly thereafter.)

The main characters do not reach Ba Sing Se until "City of Walls and Secrets," where the culture is at first revealed. The city is divided into various levels based on social class, with the ghettos of the poor and refugees being walled off from the rest of the town. It is also revealed that society is heavily controlled, and that the war is not allowed to be mentioned inside the walls. This was meant to maintain order and the cultural heritage of the city, making it the only remaining "utopian" society in the world. It is eventually revealed that the Earth King is actually mostly a figurehead, with great ceremonial power---it is even implied he may be considered a god---but little authority. The political leader of the city is Long Feng, the Grand Secretary of Ba Sing Se and the Head of the Dai Li. He and the Dai Li maintain strict control of the people and the culture, and prefer to pretend the war does not exist. This is most likely the result of Ba Sing Se's safety---the people of the city consider it impenetrable, and thus feel they can delude themselves into pretending all is fine in the rest of the Kingdom. Those who attempt to disrupt this fantasy are promptly brainwashed by the Dai Li into believing that the war doesn't even exist. This is perhaps most powerfully shown in "The Drill," where they maintain the belief in their safety even when the city is threatened---and which also shows the city may not be as strong as believed.

Ba Sing Se is the cantonese pronunciation of bǎ chéng shì ( 把城市 ) which actually means "guarded city," not "impenetrable city." Then again, something guarded can be impenetrable. Ná written as 拿 or 拏 means "captured" or "seized," which is what can happen to a penetrable unguarded city.

(..Wiki article...)

After eating his apple, Jin decided to explore the city more. He got up throwing his apple core down and exited the alley-way. Jin walked down a path filled with guards and citizens. Jin then heard a cry for help! An old lady yelled,

"HELP! That theif stole my purse along with my granddaughter's teddy bear!"

The old lady pointed to the running thief. He was heading towards Jin! Thinking fast, Jin opened his bottle of water and from the tip of the bottle, he raised his hands high into the air along with the water. Doing this, Jin curled his hands into a fist and the water had turned into icicles! Aggressively, Jin waved his hands down and the icicles trapped the thief in his path. The theif couldn't move at all. So Jin picked up the teddy bear and the purse and safely returned it to the old lady and her granddaughter. Just then, the guards approached the theif and surrounded Jin. Jin readied himself for any attacks the guards had to throw at him. One of the guards approaced Jin and said in gratitude,

"Thank you for holding that theif in it's place. We'll take care of it ourselves now."

The guard handed Jin money. He looked at it and bowed at the guard. Jin continued to walk the path he was on.

(Training: 12 *2*)

[Sunrise]

Jin woke up and packed his stuff. Curious, Jin looked in all the drawers for anything interesting. He found a water scroll and put it in his backpack. He went downstairs to check out of the INN. After doing this, Jin walked out the INN and walked towards a wide, open spaced place. He dropped his stuff down and opened his bottle of water. He got out his water scroll too. Jin widened his feet, widened his arms towards his center and from the tip of the water bottle, Jin raised his hands untill it was chin leveled. Then, Jin pushed his hands at opposite direction, left to right. This made a barrier around Jin's left and right side. He crunched his finger joints together untill it touched the palm of his hands. Jin's barrier had 4 tentacles at each side!

"I did it! I did Octopus Style!"

Jin lowered his hands and bended the water back into his bottle.

(Training: 13 *3*)

--Wandering the streets of the middle class area. Ex gets bored of walking and begins to take longer strides. Soon hes hopping from house to house withought making a sound. Gliding through the air between jumps, he sees foot prints in the streets below. He stops in mid jump and falls to the streets below. Looking at the shape of the shoe he realizes its not from around the area. Going for the stealth approach he walks into an alley area and blends into the darkness as he traces the corridors.--

"So, this is the lower level," Baolin muttered to himself, rubbing his chin where a day old stubble was just beginning to peek through. Being a duke, he had never before been escorted into this section of the city. It was refreshing, in a way. Nobody here minded if he went barefoot or that his clothing was rather drab for a noble. In fact, nobody much paid attention to the Amayenese boy at all, which was a nice change.

He had come to the section both to explore and find a souvenier for Zayiya, who was probably bored with the typical upper-level stuff. Unfortunately, he did not yet know his way around the area, and found himself somewhere in the housing district.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of red. One by one, trivial facts clicked together in his head.

Red meant Fire Nation.

Fire Nation meant foreigner.

Foreigner meant tourist.

Tourist meant shopping district.

"Excuse me, miss," he called out, hurrying after the girl, hoping for directions.

Baolin came to a halt, catching his breath. This seemed to be a good sign. At least she wasn't treating him to one of the well-known who-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-you-crazy-freak looks. Yes... he got far too many of those from his ambassador, who he had known his whole life.

"Sorry to bother you," he said politely. "But I was hoping to find a souvenier in this level for a friend of mine. Could you help me?"

Baolin started at the suddeness of her response. Most girls would flutter with formalities, blushing at his attention, and shyly assist him, all before they even found out his status. It would seem this girl met a lot of interesting people.

"Reminds me of a performer I met once," he mused, scratching the back of his head before calling out. "Hey, wait up!"

He rushed forward to catch up to her, grinning.

"Thanks again for helping me out. I'm Baolin, by the way."

Don't make a connection, he prayed silently. Please, please don't make the connection...

"Yes," Baolin admit a little sheepishly. He didn't want to outright admit that he fancied her (and she him for that matter), considering that they really weren't supposed to have that sort of thing to do with each other in the first place but... no harm in letting the little hints slip. This girl, whoever she was, seemed the sort who would pick up on the hints.

"She's, ah... an ambassador and a waterbender from the Amayen region," he proceeded to explain. "She's calm about everything, so it's impossible to predict her moves. She's always having to dress up to keep face with the court she has to see, but she certainly can be a tomboy when the time arises. And boy is she a know-it-all."