THE CHERRY BLOSSOM PLAYERS (ep. 1)

Summary
The reasonably-sized coastal city of Taku in the north of the Earth Kingdom has been under siege by the Fire Nation for five years. The fire Nation's troops destroy crops and harass the caravans and people trying to leave Taku by land or by sea, all to cause a significant loss to the Earth Kingdom. Taku's Herbalist Institute — and its medical knowledge — is very useful to the Earth Kingdom.

The plumes of smoke rising from the Fire Nation's camps nearby create an ominous presence for Takus's citizens, who have fled their razed farmland and sought protection behind the city's walls.

Cerise still lives on the edges of the city; that's where his grandparents' cherry farm is located. The rows of cherry trees are still protected from Fire Nation attacks by a fake mountain his grandpa raised using earthbending before he died in the war. Despite their protective wall, the trees still catch sunlight.

Cerise has a lot of cherry facts. Cerise's friend Sena — That one, Cerise's grandma Avo calls her — isn't allowed on the farm, not since a panda she conjured ruined half the season's crops.

When the story starts, Cerise is carving little letters into each tree, because he likes to name them all. He is also repairing his papier-mâché -esque cherry suite, the one he takes to the market sometimes to sell things: it was damaged in a previous battle. Next to him, there is a wonderful sword leaning on a tree; he takes it everywhere he goes. He got it from the coolest hero in the entire town — the Olive Fox. It's just the coolest thing that's ever happened to Cerise, because: "The Olive Fox is, like, a real-life superhero, and not like the sticks that I tie together, and play with, and pretend that are real-life superheroes. This is the real deal."The sun is setting. Cerise is tending to the trees, then, but also kinda wasting time.

That's when Sena is swinging by, hiding her face with her hood, on her monthly pilgrimage to check if grandma has changed her mind — Never does, Cerise informed her. That's why Sena is totally just on her way somewhere, like, checking for victims of the Fire Nation and telling their families where they can find them.

There is a distant hum of activity as Sena takes a slight detour toward the curbed entrance of the cave and waves at Cerise, who yells and invites her to "Come on down! My grandma isn't here, don't worry!"He's so confident about it, he adds, still shouting: "Sena is here; she's got a panda!"Sena protests: I do not! — but Grandma doesn't come; it's proof she isn't here and Sena can have a seat. Cerise pulls some cherries from Eddy and drops them in Sena's hand with these words: "They're very tart, but they'll make you smart."Cerise has cherry-red overalls on, with an apron that has blood — but it's just cherry juice all over.

Cerise unscrews a small container and passes it over to Sena, who drinks from it.

This is the first cherry harvest of the new crop of tart season. Cerise is thinking of selling these cherries to the tavern down the road: maybe they can make some cider out of it, or something? Sena loves the idea. Cerise could make a whole bunch of money if he repaired the torn up cherry costume and go to town.

Sena is here to hang out with Cerise — unless grandma comes back and throws sticks at her. Cerise has hidden her throwing sticks, however, she might have some rocks. It's better for them to go somewhere else, then, because rocks are harder to dodge. Cerise sets the costume on a barrel, away from Eddy; he takes the sword — no sheath, no scabbard, just the blade — and puts it over his shoulder: he'll hold it and think about it all the time. If the Fire Nation show up, Sena frets, won't they see it as a threat? Cerise is willing to take that risk, because: "If they look at me more than once, then I assume that they wouldn't."Cerise puts on the cherry costume; his face peeks through the big red spot and he can slide the sword underneath, and no one can see it, and: "If I can find the Olive Fox, I can return their sword."Sena agrees.

As the two walk away, there is a closeup on the sword, followed by a pan out to Aki's empty scabbard.

Aki — short-haired, disheveled-looking — is in her room at the Tipsy Badgermole; she curses as her hands tighten on the scabbard and she puts it aside. She is wearing Earth Nation clothing — greens and browns — and usually that's enough these days, but she definitely is not Earth Nation and a trained eye could see it.

Aki grabs an apron and heads downstairs, getting ready for her shift ... to keep her room. There she's keeping an eye on everyone coming in and out, looking for her lost weapon: she needs it for what some people think is hero stuff — there is such a narrow line between hero and vigilante.

The camera pans on a person entering the Tipsy Badgermole. A bell rings; across the street we see Rill looking furtively around in their long asymmetric kind of cloak thing; they have their usual staff of wood with a beautiful blue stone at the top; and a stone carved with symbols passes hands from another person to Rill's cloak: a mysterious message has exchanged hands.

Rill is very fashionable; they have a beautiful Earth Kingdom-colored cloak and very rich dark skin; they look like a waterbender from the Water Tribe — which they are —; they have some cool tattoos related to their tribe on the forearm and they're always playing with a little bit of water, bending elements as they go. They have a fashion of combining the Earth Kingdom they've grown in with the Water Tribe their family comes from — these big billowy flowing blue pants they're sauntering down the street with.

Rill looks about to go bring something smoothed by waterbending off to some client as Cerise and Sena cross their path — not subtly: Rill smells the cherries even before Cerise yells:  "Rill! Hey, being sneaky? "A frustrated Rill retorts:  "I might have been."Cerise remains silent, trying to help with the sneakiness, while Rill sees Sena, calms themself and greets her. Sena, in turn, puts part of her cloak over part of Cerise's bright red costume.

Rill wants a drink at the Tipsy Badgermole; they might be interested in Cerise's tart cherries, too. Cerise offers that they reach out in his back hatch for a sample; Rills pokes around, notices something really hard poking out and asks: What have you done there?

Sena helps Cerise explain he's hoping to return something someone has lost — which, to Rill, seems like a conversation for inside the bedroom; Rill feels Sena and Cerise can tell about cherries and all later.

And thus two of them walk with grace and poise — Rill going first — while Cerise makes his way, slowly, across the plaza. At this point, people know about Cerise and the cherry suit and his We're the biggest cherry farm shtick, so they just look, sigh and go back to whatever it is that they're doing, as this large circular, spherical, bright thing crosses the plaza.

Aki sees three familiar faces entering the Tipsy Badgermole. Sena, who knows Aki and actually is the only one knowing Aki's other identity — makes a little salute to her from across the room. As Aki does her job and heads over to their table to take orders, her gaze lingers on our cherry-suited friend. There is a moment of silence before she asks: "Is there something I can get you?"Cerise, with his suit still on, pushes his way in; the blade of the sword shoots out next to his leg; his head and arms retract into the cherry suit; as he's trying to pull it back up, the hilt goes up to the shoulder and he pushes back out. His face comes back out, and he asks: "Sir, what was the question?"Aki takes a moment, again, to stare at that, realizing the only blade that it could be — this beautiful green blade that is distinctive and symbolic of the Olive Fox. Aki distractedly takes Rill's order of their most normal drink — Sure ... most normal ... right — before returning to the bar. Sena is as baffled as Aki.

Cerise can't exactly sit on the stool with his costume; he is actually leaning, crunched between the bar and the stool and making more dents into the costume. He'd rather suffer through this than taking off the costume and carrying it around.

Cerise takes Rill's offer of a layer of their cloaky thing to wrap the sword in; he slides it up, but it gets stuck at the shoulders: he needs some assistance. Aki comes back, sees Cerise still struggling, and lays down the mugs of non-alcoholic cherry cider.

Cerise pushes the sword off and it hits the counter, clattering. With the whole bar now watching, Cerise wraps the sword in the cloak ... but not before it thunks on the table and — Aki realizes, looking over her shoulder — everyone can notice the green glint. Lots of cherries tumble out too, because the costume's cherry hatch was compromised.

Rill takes Aki's offer of Anything else? ands asks for a towel to clean up the mess. As Aki goes and grab towels, she wonders whether she can just grab her sword without looking suspicious and compromising her secret identity.

Cerise, meanwhile, picks up the sword and attempts to shove it into the overalls: it doesn't fit very well. To Aki, who inquires Where did you get that?, he answers, with a squint and leaning in:   "It's a secret, a really cool, heroic, awesome secret."Sena opines that now everybody in this bar probably thinks Cerise is the secret.

Rill then stands up and announces:   "We are putting on a play!"Cerise elaborates:    "Yes! Yes! You have to check it out, it's called 'The Rise and Fall of the Olive Fox'. These are props and everything is normal."And Sena adds:"This is actually cherry wood, painted green."Cerise explains it would be ridiculous to have the real weapon here after an epic battle with the Fire Nation. Rill uses waterbending to distract the crowd's attention from the sword : she goes into the rafters — it's a big, open area —, starts streaming multiple pretty streams of water, trying to freeze it at the edges and to waterbend the shape of a mysterious figure with a sword; she promises her audience   "You'll tell your grandchildren about seeing this play."Rill even combines water and cherry cordial, making colorful swirls in the water. Meanwhile, Cerise is darting from corner to corner to corner behind people: ''That's great! Awesome!'' Cerise's boost to Rill's lie is only partially effective; he overcommits to his own distraction, letting it slip that he is the main character in the play. He also makes Sena and Aki part of the troupe, wrapping his hands around them:    "They're in it, too."Aki is mortified.

Cerise now jumps on the bar and starts doing fake sword motions, stabbing with two swords, even:   "It is I, the Olive Fox!"Rill and Cerise's combined effort fully convinces the crowd that they're putting on a play and —Rill's main goal — that the sword is indeed a prop. Fans in the back shout:   "We love your work Rill, you're so talented."Rill, overwhelmed and excited, goes beet — not cherry — red because their family used to be artists ... before the war. Everyone in the bar is excited about this performance; they'd like flyers; they're curious about the play: So, it's tomorrow night? — Yes! What's your troupe name? — I heard they're called "the Cherry Blossom Troupe".

Rill dampens this enthusiasm explaining they're very secretive and like to keeps things very quiet. Sena adds    "We don't have any flyers because currently war effort gotta save the paper for other things."They still get out the information that the performance is gonna be at the cherry farm, tomorrow night, with the cave as the backdrop ... and cherries will be served.

As people in the bar look forward to it and promise that everybody will be there, Rill looks over at Aki, who's been drafted into this as well, and at Sena, and at everybody.

The attention eventually leaves the group of them, as everybody is incredibly excited at the news.

Sena thinks Aki is a great writer; maybe she'll take some of the writing here? Aki is panicked because they said the play is tomorrow. Sena's eye contact with Aki, which conveys that she knows what to avoid if she controls the story, convinces a reluctant Aki to try and come up with something. Aki may even not have to be in it herself.

Cerise looks through the window, opens the door and ... it's been a siege: people are starved for entertainment. On the plus side, he thinks, a play is five minutes long, usually. He can't believe it when Sena corrects him — two hours ... unless it's a one act; in this case it's thirty minutes. This comes as a relief to Cerise:"Okay. We can do a short one, yeah!"Sena reckons they could just be doing The Rise of the Olive Fox and "We'll do The Fall later."Aki, pointing at the bundle — which is now in Cerise's pants —, is positive We can come up with something, but the important thing is that !

At least we have one prop, Cerise reckons, but Aki isn't sure the Olive Fox wants that to be used as a prop in a play. If the Olive Fox comes to the play, though, Cerise will be able to return it after, and that would be awesome! To Sena, who isn't sure the Olive Fox would come to an event with lots of people, Cerise counters:"If someone wrote a play about me I'd probably go see it."Cerise finds Aki's offer of services to the group — I might know something about the Olive Fox — perfect; then she can write the script.

Rill wants to know more about it; they really sold it to themself, and to them this art has a purpose, which is to tell these people in the audience what they need to hear.

Aki reckons she might be able to return that item to the Olive Fox: she can definitely get in contact with them. Cerise objection that they're going to use it as a prop for the show doesn't stand with Aki: "Paint a piece of wood green!"Cerise and Rill keep making their case to Aki: "But they've already seen the prop!""It would break their heart not to have that prop!"Rill even adds that "The Olive Fox would understand; the Olive Fox is about, you know, righting wrings in the city ... like, and art ... they're very fashionable ... I've seen them once. It was amazing."Cerise is going to work on the costumes with Rill and Aki is going to do the writing. Rill urges Aki to pick a great story, the best Olive Fox story. Maybe Sena could play everyone else? Maybe she could get spirit activity to go on here — Rill suggests, fearing it might be too much to ask. A gasping Cerise counters Grandma might not like that. Sena also reminds Rill We're having this at the cherry farm; she isn't keen on being thrown stones at by the grandma there. Rill makes another effort at it: Grandma will be so moved by tears shell forgive Sena.

As Cerise is now fully committed to the play, they all, grudgingly for some, accept to put on a play tomorrow night, with the sword as a prop. The information passes from person to person, people are so pleased and happy there'll be wonderful entertainment. Grandma Avo, who looks like an older, smaller, more condensed version of Cerise goes: I hope that Sena is not there; I don't want any spirits outside of my farm — Cerise can promise there won't be any spirits whatsoever.

Sena spends the next day on her costume. Even though she's pacifistic, she thinks of playing the Fire Nation soldier the Olive Fox will be fighting in the story, so that she can wear a helmet and Grandma doesn't recognize her. Sena's helmet is made of bark from a tree; she puts on linen clothes with black frills instead of whatever the slick Fire Nation uniforms are made of — she may even use cherry juice to dye them in reddish colors. Sena uses tar to paint the black parts of the uniform, which makes them a little sticky and stiff — also a little flammable. Sena is so stressed out about having to be in front of so many people, she just goes off to work on her costume and step out of her body for a little while, and then she goes wander in the woods. She'll be back in two hours, it's fine; she has a little rock shelter she can just put herself in and be pretty safe.

Aki comes to the cherry farm to figure out what to write for the play with help from Cerise, who thinks the story's really gotta pop — the Olive Fox must be the hero they all need and deserve. Cerise also wants something beautiful and simple but also incredibly complicated; there is the story where the Olive Fox flies to the top of a mountain — that was a good one — ... but foxes don't fly. As Aki reminds Cerise We gotta tie the Fire Nation into this somewhere, because of Sena's costume, Cerise suggests the Olive Fox beats the Fire Nation. If Cerise means The entire Fire Nation, that's something Aki can definitely write.

Cerise's gestures expose green material stuck to his hands. That's for his Olive Fox outfit. He tried to make a green paper-mâché costume but it didn't work out. He has explored other options. The best one has been to tie branches and leaves together to make a cape and to use some makeup to simulate the mask. Aki finds the result awesome, and reckons it's gonna work out pretty well —even though it's so inaccurate. All this talk about heroism and being the best defender of the Earth Kingdom is very weird for her, but she's touched by Cerise's enthusiasm in this project. She comes up with a piece about the inevitable defeat of the Fire Nation at the hand of the Olive Fox and their supporters.

Meanwhile Sena works on multiple helmets and masks, looking for the best way to hide her actual face from Grandma. Even if only her eyes are showing, she knows my eyes — which are very distinct, with one being brown and one being a pale blue white.

Rill spends a lot of time in their big, empty family home. The war takes its toll in many places; there are lots of parts of the city less inhabited than they used to be — this house happens to be one of them. There is one art room where it's easy to let one's creations get messy; there are alcoves around with prized art pieces the family has created over the years. Rill spends many hours creating tarps and painting them in watercolors; these will be backdrops for different scene changes. The more Rill is working on these watercolors, the more gears are turning ... about Aki ... How does she know about the Olive Fox? Rill, who darts around this city non-stop and knows all its shady people, should themself know the Olive Fox ... There is indeed something familiar about a scene Rill is painting — the Olive Fox standing in a field, recovering after getting knocked over by some Fire Nation soldier; and Rill sees the Olive Fox's hair, and the side of their face looks almost the same as Aki's ... maybe enough so that Rill can make the connection. Besides, Rill saw Aki's movement when dealing with the cherry explosion extravaganza and the sword debacle today; and Rill is so attuned to specific movements, they noticed that some of Aki's movements are similar to the Olive Fox's.

As Rill ponders what to do with this information, they drop a pool of watercolor ink down.

Aki stashes her costume change, folded clothes with the mask on top, near the farm; her intent is to have the Olive Fox show up in the play and get their sword back.

Later, as Rill is walking somewhere deep in thought, one informant they recognize — they know all the shady people — slips a stone into their hand; Rill recognizes the two symbols carved on it: they communicate, simply and effectively, that there are Fire Nation spies in the city, whom no one has identified yet. The bit of water that sits around the stone of Rill's staff sort of gets icy around the edges, and they try to keep cool but sort of stiffen in a lot of ways.

People in Taku try to forget about the Fire Nation siege and their camp nearby, because they're not in your face; but they make their presence known; passage in and out of the city, by land or by sea, is very difficult and risky; and their raids in the surroundings starve out the city to a certain extent. The city empties out and the people still trapped in it are in a state of unease right now.

The play will be a pre-dinner show, so that the can make use of daylight."We get some long shadows, and we have this backdrop, which is some sort of cave wall that has been raised above the cherry farm, that was pulled up by the earthbenders in Cerise's family to protect the farm; backdrops have been sort of strewn across the back of it, painting the scenes."There are three rows of chairs sitting out front that are cordoned off a little bit; it says Reserved on them; those are the only three chairs they have in the house; everyone else can just sit down on [...] nicer cloth, nicer towels, and then less nice things, and then Cerise and his grandma ran out of things and they put branches down to try to make it as comfortable as possible. There is also some hay over the mud.

Cerise's farm is close to the city — there are still farms close to the city; the closer a farm was, the more likely it is to be still standing — so it's not a particularly long walk to go watch the play. It's also not as dangerous as going farther out would be, but people would still arrive in groups with a certain level of caution. So, over the course of an hour, people start filtering in, taking up seats; some people are incredibly prepared, like Shakespeare-in-the-Park style, pulling up pique-unique blankets, and there is a lot of exchanges happening: "I brought some extra this" and someone else "brought extra that"; there is a lot of hubbub: people are starved for entertainment and glad that someone is doing something hopeful. Patients from the Herbalist Institute have even been brought here.

Grandma Avo walks past everyone lining up in the front row, unhooks the VIP section, sits down, puts her legs up above the two other chairs and hooks the VIP section down again: they are her chairs; these are her three favorite chairs. The fourth chair — Cerise's — is in the back: they'll use it later in the play.

There is someone selling cabbages, and then Brussels sprouts — these are like mini-cabbages, the bag-size ones. Cerise has mostly positive relationships with the cabbage sellers: We go for different things. They all just try to sell all of their wares. Cerise made a cabbage costume for them once — a cherry costume, that is, but he painted it green; there was some texture work but it was indeed most of the same thing.

The play is about to start. Cerise is backstage, panicking. So is Sena. Aki is going over the script with the three actors of the three-person show with fifteen characters. Rill has to be in it, not just backstage, because Aki is not going to be in it. Rill, Sena says, can be the chorist: come in, set the new scene, and then change the backdrop; or, as Cerise puts it: Knock, knock, knock and just walk in.

Rill, in addition to panicking backstage, has two pieces of very important information they need to share — but maybe not with Cerise, because Cerise may not give his best performance if he knew: one is that Aki is the Olive Fox for real. Speaking of Cerise, Aki has him off to the side, working over lines:  "I am the Olive Fox ... I am the Olive Fox ..."Rill goes to Sena, and points to Aki:   "That person is the Olive Fox; they don't just have a connection ... the way they move ... I can swear on my life that that person is the Olive Fox."Sena looks genuinely surprised:"I'm shocked. How can you be so sure?"Rill would like to take the sword, but Cerise is currently swinging it about. If only Rill could see the sword in Aki's hand, they'd know for sure. In the meantime, Rill keeps trying to convince Sena:"But you believe me, right?"Sena is embarrassed; she doesn't want to admit Aki is the Olive Fox and could really use some more evidence. She tries to insinuate doubt in Rill's mind:"Are you sure? What makes you so sure?"Sena doesn't entirely change Rill's mind; Rill now believes Sena may know something they don't; Rill now thinks the Olive Fox is somebody else and Sena has more Olive Fox knowledge than she's letting on. Rill would really need to see Aki with the sword in her hand to know for sure. For now, seeing how Cerise is wielding the sword with one hand while reading the script and how Aki has to keep dodging his enthusiastic but poorly coordinated sword swings, Rill at least knows Cerise is not the Olive Fox. Sena notices that Aki dodges a little too well.

The other piece of information Rill has to share s that there are Fire Nations spies here. Though no longer convinced Aki is the Olive Fox, Rill would still only tell Aki about them because detecting the spies is important and We dramaturgists won't be able to focus on who's in the audience, but Aki can. As Aki pulls over Sena, handing off the script to her, and sends Cerise away for half-an-hour practice, Rill can have a moment with her and share that I need your eyes, sharp, but not on the play — and it takes a very good reason for Rill to ask anybody to focus on anything but their art — I need you to know and I need you to keep a lookout for Fire Nation spies in the audience.

Aki, not entirely surprised, gives a very serious, curt nod and assures Rill she'll keep her eyes open. Rill gives Aki a signal: there is a stone pillar, on the side of the stage, with a little hut on top — a little house thing with a candle in it — and a thread Aki will have to pull if she notices spies and they all need to jump into action. Aki gets it. Sena, for her part, wants to be sure this candle is not just near any of the set dressing but also not near any of the human dressing — her covered-in-tar self.

Now that everybody is ready, Rill gives another, more enthusiastic, signal:"Let's put on a play!"The crowd has been getting a little restless in anticipation of this moment.

Cerise starts the play with this dialogue mistake:"I am the Folive Ox!"Aki knows the perfect moment for the real Olive Fox to arrive. Her plan is to grab her quick change and make her way to the stage at the right moment, in a dramatic fashion, and get her sword back, and make a declaration on how she will beat up the Fire Nation. Her focus on the Olive Fox's dramatic entrance does distract her a little from her other mission of keeping an eye out and watching the audience for spies.

Sena, not used to being in front of so many people, is trying to stay composed. She doesn't know about the spies but, while on stage, she can't look at the audience anyway. Also, even though she doesn't like that the Fire Nation is here at all, she is also an empathetic person; so she is almost inadvertently adding layers onto her multiple Fire Nation characters, so they're like "Battle Star Galactica"-level gray characters that you might like; she just doesn't want to come out as a warmongering character, because that's not who she is: after all, a Fire Nation soldier might have been conscripted and not fully believe in this invasion.

Despite her best efforts, Sena keeps being nervous, going off-script and fumbling her lines.

Rill starts the play trying to be on high alert, but there is Sena's emotional portrayal of these Fire Nation characters; and Rill went too far out on the backdrops, and now can only focus on trying to keep this horrible cobbled-together machine continuing — they can't focus on the audience. There are scene changes where a dark liquid gets poured behind on a backdrop and we move to the next set; and there is some waterbending on occasion, ice cracking at dramatic moments.

Rill keeps an eye on the agreed-upon sign; other than that they are dedicated to occasionally being honestly, emotionally moved chorus and keeping the logistics of the scene moving on.

Cerise is trying to honor the Olive Fox, but is having a hard time with the lines — he's more used to wearing a cherry suit in the market, trying to get people to buy cherries —; now he is in a crowd, there are a lot of people there. He steps out, he messes up the first couple lines; people go I don't know about this; he takes a second when the Fire Nation soldier walks on stage, looks back at the cave and remembers three years ago when his grandpa Plum died creating it and was killed by the Fire Nation; and he resets himself, and proceeds to try to give the best performance to honor not only his family, but also his hero, the Olive Fox.

Both Sena and Cerise are attempting to perform to the best their abilities to pull this play off.

Cerise, as much as he wants to, can't compose himself. He becomes flustered. He is also fairly dangerously wielding his sword, not exhibiting good stage sword safety, so that there are now definitely holes in some backdrops.

Sena makes sure her face is covered, so much so that she's going to be muffled and her acting has to be physical. She is mildly stabbed by Cerise and, more importantly, her mask falls off; as it clatters to the ground, Grandma Avo who's selling concessions — cherries — at that moment, growls and howls She's here, haul her onto the stage "; she takes a stick and prepares to throw it.

Aki is actually too distracted to watch the crowd. If there is a Fire Nation spy in there, she doesn't care and she doesn't know; she hasn't noticed. Time for her dramatic entrance comes; she is in the Olive Fox gear and about to spring onto the stage when Sena's mask clatters to the ground.

Rill observes the whole crowd carefully, including Grandma. Rill grew up with her and feels the disturbance in the Force with her. They see someone leave the crowd; some part of them thinks maybe that was a Fire Nation spy. Before Rill can do anything useful, they see a stick hurling its way toward the stage; Grandmother Avocado is yelling, she's the one throwing the stick and then waltzing toward the stage still yelling at Sena, who is standing, slightly stabbed by Cerise, her mask on the ground.

Cerise rises to the occasion, trying to calm down his grandma: "No, it's part of the play ... That's not really Sena, that's ... Sena is a character in the play later ... This is, this is Rill."He tries to convince his grandma Sena is actually Rill, wearing a great, really well-made Rill mask, but he wouldn't call that lying to her. Sena would like to help, and use a bit of water to look like a waterbender. This ends up as not the most convincing waterbending.

Aki is still committed to her moment. Cerise is distracted, maybe enough so that Rill could take and toss the sword in the chaos. Aki shows up on stage, fully in Olive Fox costume, via some acrobatics from above — wire-fu.

Cerise's lie is no more convincing than Sena's attempted distraction: the water Sena has been playing with falls down to the ground, they both look at the water, they both look at the grandma — down, first, then up — and he just goes "Wow!"The silence that ensues ... it's like crickets. And in that moment of silence, there is the sound of someone landing behind Cerise and in perfect superhero landing pose is the Olive Fox — the real one.

Cerise is the first to exclaim:"It's the Folive Ox!"As the audience is paying rapt attention to the Olive Fox, Cerise tries to figure out what's on the script. Rill picks one of Grandma Avo's sticks off the ground and uses a successful sleight of hand, while Cerise has his sword-wielding hand behind him, to substitute the stick for the sword and toss the latter to the Olive Fox: Cerise is suddenly holding a stick and Aki is suddenly wielding her sword.

The Olive Fox, having caught their sword, steps forward in front of everybody else and addresses the crowd, pointing the sword into the air towards the back of the field: "Whether well-performed or not, the intention here is clear: I will be coming after the Fire Nation, and they should be worried."Aki then flips around the sword in her hand and puts it into the scabbard on her hip and rolls off-stage, disappearing into the darkness of the trees. The crowd hoots; they are very pleased by that statement. Cerise, realizing that this is the Olive Fox, just stands there ... and then faints. Rill tries to catch him; it doesn't work all that well.

Grandma steps on the stage: "Alright, you've seen enough here; buy cherries and leave! Get off my field, you've seen enough today!"She comes closer to Sena and, pointing an accusing stick at her:"You ... you aren't the waterbender; you're that panda girl."Sena says there are No pandas here!; Grandma still actively looks around.

Sena then offers to help Cerise. Grandma reckons"That boy has a weak constitution. Thought I'd raised him better than that."Cerise has stars in his eyes as he manages to say, in awe: Olive Fox.

Grandma will let Sena be here this one time, but if she sees any spirits amongst her cherry tries, she says, wielding another stick, if she sees anything, any of Sena's nonsense, Sena can rest assured she's got more where these came from. She steps her foot on the ground; a pebble flies up and gets back on the ground as she concludes: "I still have tricks up my sleeve."Grandma Avo then turns her attention to Cerise! And, poking him with a stick, asks him to Wake up boy!

Cerise wants to know where the Olive Fox went; instead, Grandma wants him to"Focus! You are putting on a play and then you're passed out on the stage."Cerise is not sure if it was in the script — I hadn't memorized it.

Grandma, sighing, gives more instructions: Clean up this mess! Before she returns with the cherries inside, she admonishes Cerise further; he knows what she said about —pointing at Sena — her.

She has kind words too: "That was a delightful piece of entertainment and you should consider a career in that theater."Rill, seizing the opportunity, stresses to Grandma that Sena was integral to the play and that they respect her; the costumes ... the emotional integrity: this play couldn't have gone off without Sena — she cares so much about people: "She brought ... You saw the performance she brought; that was baring her heart on stage, Grandma Avo."Grandma reckons She did play that Fire Nation a little more sympathetically than I would have liked but  — she concedes — I do see the spark of creativity in that one.

Grandma Avo then looks Rill up and down ; she’s always liked Rill’s family: they’ve helped on the cherry farm with their waterbending, they’ve irrigated it; Grandma’s family and the community wouldn’t have gotten very far without their services; and if Rill thinks that this one — gesturing at Sena — is not a troublemaker but rather just a misguided youth, she’s ready to rethink her original opinion … but no spirits, not on this farm.

Grandma Avo accepts Cerise’s request that his friends stay for dinner: All right!

Rill clarifies they will only have dinner after we clean up, of course.

Sena can stay too … but no pandas. Sena promises  No pandas … corporeal or spirit.

Grandma Avo walks away to the farm house.

The Olive Fox, still suspiciously hiding amongst the trees, is waiting for an opportunity to talk to Rill.

As soon as his grandma walks away, Cerise asks: ''Did you see the Olive Fox? The Olive Fox was here on my impromptu stage, right in front of me, and took my s…''. Cerise looks at this hand and continues: … the sword, they took the sword … but I have a cool stick; I got the Olive Fox’s stick.

Rills offer to whittle that for him …. unless he doesn’t want them to touch it.

Cerise puts the stick with its twigs in one of the belt loops of his overall: this is now one of his prized possesions. He would like to know if the play got good reviews.

Sena thinks there will be talk of it at the Tipsy Badgermole tomorrow — and possibly tonight. Rill, at least, is proud of what they all did; it didn’t go the way they expected, but they think the play distracted everyone from their troubles tonight. Rill, giving Sena a look of "I know you know things you’re not telling me", adds: We saw the Olive Fox, but I’m afraid we have even more dire things to worry about coming up.

Cerise, remembering why his grandma returned inside, announces: ''I’m gonna go help Grandma with dinner … if you guys want to clean up. Bye! He start running, yelling Grandma, I’m coming!''

This is the moment for Rill to tell Sena about the Fire Nation spies.

Rill only answers Sena’s ''What? What? with a laugh and Just help me clean up''. Then Rill starts taking down all the set dressing. Sena won’t forget to stay away from Rill’s little candle — the signal they agreed on before the play.

Aki is conspicuously absent from the takedown. And so is Cerise, until Grandma sends him back outside: You’re supposed to be helping your friends.

Sena gets a mop to clean up the water she dropped on the stage; she's also gonna clean the dirt. While she's making mud, Cerise is not particularly good at helping — not intentionally; he's just literally recounting the play, and how the Olive Fox jumped on stage — getting in the way of the cleaning process ... which is exactly what he was doing in the kitchen, and why grandma sent him back.

Great care is taken of the candle during the cleanup.

Unlike Sena, who reckons a tar-less would have made more sense, Cerise always thinks the opposite: I wanna be more flammable.

Eventually, Sena and Cerise head inside for dinner. Rill stays a little longer, having a moment in the area that's been transformed — a moment of reflection before going inside for dinner.

With the crowd dispersed, there is now reason for the Olive Fox to keep lurking and be sneaky. Aki walks up within Rill's peripheral vision, still wearing her mask, and says:"I've been paying attention to what you and your people have been doing ..."Rill reckons "You could be working with us, you know."

The Olive Fox is more of a work-alone sort, though. But they appreciate the work Rill and their associates do. Aki adds that somebody left during the performance. In the chaos, there was no time for Rill to get to them. Rill lays out how the Olive Fox could have a look at and pursue any of the tips Rill leaves in a little hollowed-out tree down the path. The Olive Fox might take them up on that and thanks Rill for recovering their sword.

Rill's reply initiates a moment of quiet contemplation for Aki:"It's just not right to take something so fit for your hands and let it it languish without it’s owner."The Olive Fox can only hope the kind of brazen incursion that caused them to lose their sword won’t recur — or else, Rill says laughing, you know where to find us if you do.

After a few more pleasantries, the Olive Fox turns to take their leave. There is a rustling sound as Rill tosses a little figurine the Olive Fox's way. Aki snaps the little malachite-like Fox-head statuette out of the air — no problem — looks at it for a few moments, and puts it in her pocket.

Before Aki like, batmans out of there, Rill confesses I used to be angry at you because you're not with me. Aki, in turn, is sworn not to arm Rill, even though she doesn't trust them.

Rill then heads inside for dinner. They may not have noticed Aki's disappearance earlier, but what happened when they tossed the sword to the Olive Fox was confirmation enough — Cerise is now the only person who doesn't know Aki's secret. Cerise was too committed to the performance to notice anything, and still doesn't know about the Fire Nation spies either.

On a different note, the sales of cherries were pretty good.

Sena explains away Aki's absence at the dinner: that was such a cognitive load ... she probably passed out somewhere ... We get it. Sena very much enjoys the dinner, and feeling mostly welcome in the house; and she is really appreciative of Rill for standing up to Grandma on her account. Rill, in turn, doesn't forget that Sena helped them speak with the spirits of their relatives.

Sena is the first one to leave, while everyone is happy: it's been good, but she doesn't want to overstay her welcome. Sena wants to take some time with the spirits that are coming out in the evening. Out of respect, she heads home to do that away from the cherry farm. Rill leaves at some point.

Meanwhile, Aki returns to the Tipsy Badgermole.

The next day starts with Cerise seeking out Rill to see if they want to hang out. The market is closed today because — Cerise believes — the play was so good. Cerise is walking around, his stick still attached to his waist. Rill has so many strange acquaintances that they bump into here and there, passing stones along ... Rill is interested in getting into trouble but also trying to find out more information about the Fire Nation spies.

As the two hang out, Cerise pretends not to know Rill holds quiet gatherings of like-minded individuals interested in progressive change for the betterment of the society of Taku in a secluded area of the cherry farm. There is even a secret tunnel behind the cherry farm which, Cerise thinks, is gonna bring trouble on them. Rill agrees trouble is coming, but this is a fight we've had before.

Rill will test the waters with Cerise before mentioning the Fire Nation spies. As they are going toward the harbor, they see the ships in the distance and, as Cerise is just throwing rocks at the water, Rill brings up, in casual conversation, that "Seems like the ships are getting a little bit closer every day."Rill, laughing, takes up Cerise on his offer to throw rocks at them: their skipping rocks go very, very far. Cerise trusts Rill, doesn't realize they're cheating.

Cerise starts a serious conversation of his own:"I don't care what you do; just take care of you, okay?"He doesn't take Rill's reassurances — ''Always! I'll take care of all of us — at face value; he holds his hand out and begs: Please''. They cement their emotional moment — this promise — with a cool, complicated handshake that ends with a final high-five — which they call a conjoined ten.

Cerise then pulls on the stick, the stick that he is convinced the Olive Fox gave to him, and asks: "If you get into trouble, let me know!"Rill obliges:"You'll be the first one I reach out to."Cerise is satisfied: That's all I ask. Reverting to the other topic at hand, he wonders aloud how Rill is so good a skipping, though — and keeps trying.

Meanwhile, Sena sets out to check in with Aki; she starts at the Tipsy Badgermole because that's where she lives and works. She sees Aki coming downstairs, on her way out; but Aki always has a moment for Sena. Sena, after making sure they're away from listening ears, shares her suspicion that "Rill is on to you and your identity. They definitely were confident that you were the Olive Fox."Aki is not surprised, given that yesterday was a merging of her two lives; she will keep that insight in mind. Sena may keep trying to dissuade Rill, but they are not the sort that will let go of their assumption easily: "Any misdirection that you can provide is obviously helpful, but I wouldn't bank on it."Besides, Sena's lying is moderate at best.

Sena shares Aki's concern that there was a Fire Nation spy in the audience yesterday and they never heard anything. Sena's stomach butterflies overwhelmed her normal spirits sensations. All the two of them can do now is part ways, try to seek out some of their respective friends, and reconvene in the evening. While Aki sets out looking for people of place, Sena uses spirits' methods to find spies: She does a little bit of quiet meditation; then she whispers to spirits — the familiar day-to-day spirits the pop around — to carefully observe around the town, to see what's different, what feels new.

Cerise would hang out with Rill until the end of time; at some point, though, Rill needs to leave him: certain members of their clandestine organization don't really like to pass messages when they are with somebody. Rill will return make lunch at their house and meet up with Cerise later tonight. Cerise promises Grandma will make Rill's favorite for dinner — but she doesn't know Rill's favorite — and Sena is now allowed on the farm too: Grandma took her face off the wall of "Do not serve", she put it on the "Maybe don't throw sticks at" section.

Cerise wanders through the city, swinging his sword around, not being particularly observant. Unbeknownst to him, a figure follows him through the city until, at some point, he makes his way into a dark alley and this individual steps out behind Cerise, not far away from him. They are dressed in very normal Earth Kingdom clothing and don't look particularly notable in any fashion; they're a young man with short-cropped brownish hair; there is a little more goldfish brown in his eyes than this typical green you might see in the Earth Kingdom. He smiles, and he's like:"Getting good at that!"Before Cerise can overcome his surprise, he clarifies:"Practicing!"Cerise explains he's the leader of a new troupe; the mysterious man saw their thrilling performance. Cerise welcome this newcomer to the town and offers to show around. The stranger crosses his arms and asks, casually:"So, you know the Olive Fox?"Cerise doesn't hesitate in answering he and the Olive Fox are close friends, as shown by the very special stick the Olive Fox gave him. However, Cerise wouldn't want to tell anyone where to find them, because some bad person may be looking for them; his agitation grows and he swings his stick in a manner that makes the stranger step back and keep his distance, as Cerise almost stabs him.

The spy concedes he shouldn't pry but ... what if someone was in trouble, how could they get the word out to the Olive Fox if they were — he steps in and drops his voice — looking to leave the city? Sure, it's not safe, but "Some of us can't stick around."Cerise points at the boat: you can walk that way if you need to ...

The spy gives Cerise this look when he pretends he's forgotten the Fire Nation would stop him.

Cerise ends up pointing the spy at the person who could help, his best friend Rill. The spy has another question: is there anyone who's new in this city?

Cerise reckons I'm pretty smart and my keen eyes don't miss much ... — You definitely are! the other encourages him — but I can't think of anyone new; no, drawing a blank ... except for you.

The spy protests he's not that new; Cerise gets right up in his face, he backs up a little bit; Cerise reckons I see I can trust you; he'll talk to his good friends Sena and Rill, and they'll see what they can come up with to help; maybe they can get a message to the Olive Fox, but that is on a need-to-know basis.

As the spy keeps prodding him about the Olive Fox, Cerise makes it clear they've got a really good sword and they hate the Fire Nation ... but you saw the play.

Cerise asks why he left the play early; the spy replies Grandmother Avo seemed a little angry, which Cerise interprets as Yeah, she's great! The spy reiterates he should get out of Dodge before things get too heated. Cerise goes on about Grandma: "Dodge is really a good thing to do when she starts throwing those sticks, by the way — just as a heads up for the next performance ... which I thing is gonna happen eventually."The spy returns to Rill: "Where could I find them?"Cerise's reply is vague: "They're usually walking around, wearing, like, various disguises and things [...] to try and keep from being seen too much ... if you know what I mean."The spy acquiesces, will look for a shady shadowy figure in the corners. Cerise reckons this description also fits Sena ... whom, the spy remembers, could also help. Cerise confirms Sena is really helpful, as are all of his friends, but won't tell where Rill lives. Cerise will meet Rill later, but the spy can't stick with him until then:"I might swing back around; I have some business that I have to attend to; thank you."This dark dank alley seems like a good place to meet again, and a good stick-practicing alley, even though it could be wider, honestly, because Cerise has long cherry-picking arms. The stranger thanks Cerise for is help and, on insistent prodding, introduces himself before shaking Cerise's hand — or rather the stick — and taking his leave; he's sure he'll see Cerise again.

Cerise remains in the creepy ally; he climbs on the edge of the wall, balances, walks over to the corner, sits down and looks at the village, sees if he can see any of his friends; he looks at the stick, thinking to himself how lucky he is to have such great friends, all while waiting for Rill to show up.

Meanwhile, Aki, with her infinite knowledge of Fire Nation tactics, keeps her eye out for suspicious individuals — the spies she knows are here. The Fire Nation, though, haven't sent spies since they figured out the city's defenses; these new spies are likely to be here for a very specific reason — which could be the Olive Fox, or could be something else. Aki spots an individual skulking around the city, doesn't get his name but definitely spots his face; she gets he's not who he's supposed to be and gathers that if she finds out what he — and the other spies — are after, then she may get to it before them.

Sena seeks out answers from the spirits — specifically, the terrified spirits in the wagon which are now at the edge of the city —, taking advantage of the brighter glow in which she sees the world. She searches for anything that looks weird. Sena addresses her spirit friends, little radishes whose ears are radish fronds shaped like bunny ears: How are you guys doing? One, sniffing the air, replies : "The winds are blowing in an odd direction lately [...] It seems to be changing."As Sena wonders what's about to happen, the answer is "It's already happening; something's here."Sena astrally whips up a notepad, and asks another question:"Do you have a sense of who's in control here?"The spirit, sitting in a bunny pose, can answer this:"It's someone with great spiritual power; they can't talk to us, but they are strong [...] They're changing the winds."And then it changes the subject:"You're gentle, like a soft blanket of moss."Sena likes moss.

The spirit has more information to offer:"This person's energy seems ... chaotic ... ... distressed ... afraid ... fear."The conversation the takes a different turn:"Are you afraid? — Sena asks.""Should I be afraid? — the suddenly worried spirit asks in return.""No! — she assures it.""Oh, no! Is something coming here? — asks the still-frightened spirit.""Oh, no! Can I give you a hug? — Sena offers."The spirit, shivering slightly, assures her: "It's okay, it's okay."Then Sena asks what she needs to do to have an advantage over this chaotic ..."Find them .. Help them ... I think ... I have to go! — comes the answer."Sena barely has time to thank it before it hops away.

Back in their family home, Rill meditates near a pool under an art piece to synthesize the movements of the spies. Rill definitely knows the spies are looking for something; Rill saw the same spy Cerise saw and gets the impression that he's looking for someone; he's not here to investigate the Resistance.