started the session back where we left off, with Atka and Bao walking into this shady bar to find Kim
bar is full of smoking, drinking, and gambling, mix of off-duty Fire Nation soldiers and local, and Atka had seen nothing like it. wasn't really sure what was going on, just went around, tugging on people's sleeves and asking "are you Kim"
took a while, then the two of them ended up near the bar, where the bartender, Kui (very large muscular woman, like Luisa in Encanto), asked them if they wanted anything
Atka thought for a while and asked for apple juice, which Kui found under the bar, quite dusty, and poured him a drink.
they asked if she knew where Kim was and Kui shrugged and said "I'm not in the business of giving out my customers' information. wouldn't last very long if I did"
they spent some time discussing what to do, tried to convince Kui to tell them and annoyed her for a while until a young woman walked up, put her hand on Atka's shoulder and said, "it's alright Kui. I hear you've been looking for me"
at this time, Zo was heading off onto patrol
she had managed to get herself assigned to the forest patrol this night, with the goal of seeing what's been happening to the soldiers who have been getting attacked.
wandered for a while through town, talking with Zhang and Li, the other two guards. reached the edge of the town and split up, with plan to meet back up near kiln.
Zo had volunteered to patrol the part where she thinks the spirit Mutan has been attacking soldiers
got over to that part of the forest: where the clearcut forest transitions to the remaining forest. sits down on one of the stumps and waits. projects that she is hear to talk, to find out what's going on, and places an apple (from Atka earlier apple barrel escapades) on the ground in front of her
feels a tentative connection from a spirit, and finds herself in the spirit world: world changed around her, sitting in a clearing in the primeval forest, as it was, and a large, angry dragonfly bear approaching her.
Zo keeps her calm and the spirit approaches slowly, gradually shrinking to the size of a large dog, snuffles up the apple, and then sits on its haunches
the two have a conversatoin, with the spirit largely communicating by showing Zo visions, so that Zo confirms that it is Mutan who has been attacking the spirits, because of its anger at the destruction of the forest, and that it had been happy with the give and take earlier, but the clear-cutting has crossed a line.
it doesn't understand why the forest is being destroyed, so when Zo asked about destroying the kilns, the spirit has no thoughts. but it does think find Sheng responsible and wants the Fire Nation gone
as this conversation winds to a close, suddenly we hear "what is that with Zo!?" and two gouts of flame shoot over her shoulders towards the bear. the other guards have looped back around!
back to the bar, with Atka and Bao's conversation with Kim.
Kim has kind of a June (the bounty hunter with the shirshu) vibe about her
Kim wants to hear what they want, so Bao gives a great speech about how she understands that people are scared but that they need to fight back, while Atka runs interference by saying "she's talking about trees", trying to confuse any fire nation soldiers nearby
after Bao finishes, Kim leans in towards her and says, quietly and with conviction, "that's what I've been saying this whole time."
she tells them that she's been wanting to resist and she's not the only one -- that King Mudd has been organizing people fighting back across the Earth Kingdom, helping them destroy the buildings, the ships that the Fire Nation has been building and using throughout its colonization.
if they want to help, she's going to pick up a shipment from them later tonight, and they can come and help. they'll meet in several hours, near the kilns
She leaves, and then Atka and Bao leave shortly after
we jump back to Zo, who does a not-terribly-convincing "ooh noo, what's this terrible thing in front of me, ah you came just in time", while trying to look big and distracting, preventing the guards from getting a shot and trying to scare Mutan off.
that works, with Mutan turning and walking back to the forest, shrinking in size as it does, down to dragonfly-size and flying off, while Zo walks up and tries to distract the guards
Atka and Bao were walking towards the forest when they saw the gouts of flame and started running towards the confrtontation
they arrive after Zo has defused things, and Atka does a flying kick at one of the guards, so they both go down in a tangle of limbs
Zo picks him up by the scruff of his neck, says "I got this", flashing her father's badge of authority (which causes the "Zo's betrayal gets discovered" clock to tick forward, as people will be discussing this more), and convinces the other guards to head back to base while she deals with these troublemakers
the three of them then walk back towards town, and then towards the meeting place with Kim, filling each other in with what just happened.
Atka is very jealous that Zo had a full-on conversation with a spirit, something he's been preparing for his whole life, but is somewhat mollified that his apple was involved.
Bao describes Kim, in terms that make it very clear she's got a crush: "she was just really cool", etc