Episode 9: Breaking & Entering

Early in the morning, Zhuan wakes up Rishi and Ishiko to head to the Repolyo Compound. The first step is to incapacitate the guards, who are already standing watch on the compound so that they can take their disguises and escort the Don and Donya to the Cabbage Day festivities the next morning.
As they walk to the compound, they meet a beggar, to who they give a coin. They climb the compound's 10-foot metal gates by using bending, barely able to land on the other side without causing suspicion. As they approach, a cat owl bursts in through the creaking old gates, alerting the guards of their presence. The cat owl flies towards the back of the compound, and the two follow it to avoid the guards rushing in their direction.
In the back of the compound, they notice the cat owl consuming a glowing mushroom, causing it to act humorously dazed. They notice that the entire forest is covered in the Omashroom, and Rishi tells Ishiko that inhaling its spores will likely cause someone to get high. Too much exposure could cause them to become delirious, much like the cat owl. 
The cat owl flies back towards the guards and alerts them as the Donya screams from inside the compound for them to find it. The two hide from the guards in the back, but Ishiko accidentally exposes himself to the Omashroom spores, causing him to get high. Rishi uses Airbending to create a safe bubble of air from the spores and rescues Ishiko. 
They decide to use the Omashroom spores to make the guards delirious, which they use as an opportunity to knock them out and take their armor. The guards leave the compound, frantic and hungry. Rishi and Ishiko don the disguises and stand guard on the compound. 
In the morning, they are met by Don Malakas and Donya Maganda, who they must escort to their carriage for the parade. The Donya briefly engages in conversation and humor with Rishi and is slapped by the Don for embarrassing him by talking to a guard with a casual tone. Rishi and Ishiko escort the carriage to the festival grounds as the Donya fights back the tears, waving to the crowd with her husband.
As they enter the parade, people from around the world cheer for the Repolyos in celebration of Cabbage Day. They throw cabbages and green powder in the air, covering the crowd in different hues of green. In the commotion, Ishiko senses that they are being watched by someone in the crowd. He sends an encrypted message to Rishi with a rock, which he slides under the carriage. 
The Donya notices and begins to be suspicious. As the parade ends, the Repoloys are met at the steps of the palace by the Omashu Queen, who gives a speech to the people about the importance of Cabbage Day. She tells them the story of how Omashu became a lush biome with crops enough to feed the entire Earth Kingdom, despite it being in the middle of the desert after Don Malakas' grandfather arrived in the city. She thanks the Repolyo Family for their service and announces to the crowd that the Repolyos would work with the queen to sell their cabbages around the world in order to boost Omashu's economy. 
Rishi and Ishiko, who know that the Repolyos are using cabbages as a cover to pedal Omashroom, realize that the queen is using this opportunity to make Omashu a rival economy to Ba Seng Se and the Don is using his connection to secure his royalty by producing an heir with the queen. 
The Don, as Mang Tomas predicted, returns to the palace with the queen, and the Donya is escorted to the compound alone by Rishi and Ishiko. They use the back alley behind the palace where they notice people in poverty, eating scraps of cabbages left by the festivities. The contrast between the poverty-stricken district right behind the palace and the middle and upper class on the other side lavishly enjoying the festival is explained by Maganda. She says that it is the result of the Repolyo monopolizing agriculture in Omashu, forcing all other farmers into poverty, which the queen forced to live behind the palace, away from the middle and upper-class citizens. 
When they arrive at the compound, The Donya interrogates Rishi, while Ishiko is told to help the handmaiden. However, the handmaiden acts suspiciously, forcing Ishiko to bind her with Earthbending. A henchman walks into the scene, who had been sent by the Donya to procure a sample of a new drug that has emerged in the streets. Ishiko frees the handmaiden and interrogates both of them. He finds out that the Donya is barren, which is why Don Malakas is cheating on her with the Omashu queen. He uses a secret tunnel entrance under the compound to enter the palace at night and engage in affairs. 
Ishiko runs to the other side of the compound to meet Rishi, but notices with his seismic sense that there is an entire lab underground.