Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The golden rays of the rising sun pour in through the vent in the wall. I blink the sleep from my eyes and sit up in my bed.

“We meet again” I attempt to say before a yawn interrupts my words.

I wish I could catch a glimpse of the sun through the small hole, but as usual, it’s not yet high enough in the sky, still, I greet it anyways.

I glance around my room, it’s grand but relatively plain considering the palace it’s in but still decorated in beautiful greens and gold.

With a sigh I get up for the day, though staying in bed sounds like a great idea, there are things that need to be done.

I dig around to find my clothes, which consist of a long light green shirt under a shorter dark green long-sleeved shirt, paired with a pair of plain brown trousers and my usual boots.

I make sure to grab my bow and arrows before I leave, always taking them with me even if there will be no need for them. At this point, it’s more of a good luck charm than anything else.

Now that I'm ready, I leave my room in the servants quarters to head for the throne room. I make sure to return greetings to everyone along the way, servants and guards alike.

My duties in the palace vary from day to day, sometimes it’s more manual tasks such as cleaning or going to the market, other days it’s helping the King deal with requests and questions from the citizens.

I enter the throne room, nodding thanks to the guard who let me in.

“Hi, Uncle Bumi,” I greet cheerfully once I see him. Said man is sitting on the throne wearing his usual extravagant green robes, he looks away from the guard he was talking to to greet me in return with a smile.

I say he’s my uncle, but he’s not, not by blood anyway. But that's never mattered, he’s been taking care of me for a long time and he's family either way. Plus, he got upset that one time I called him grandpa as a kid, and wouldn’t speak to me until I called him uncle instead.

“Good morning, Solmi. How is it that you're always awake so early?” Bumi asks, and I roll my eyes wondering when the day will come he gets bored of asking.

“What can I say? I just can’t stay in bed when there is work that needs doing,” I indulge him with an answer anyways.

He goes back to his conversation with the guard, something about the fire nation so I just tune out and head to my little desk that’s been put aside for me.

I start going through the forms that have piled up like they so often do. Most of it is pretty boring, new shops wanting to open, moving houses, building renovations. But it’s stuff that needs to be done, and that I can do despite my younger age.

All the same at the end of the day I do what I have to, I owe Bumi a lot so this is my way of helping.

It’s around mid-day when I decide to take a break from the mundane work and use the chance to head down to the market. There’s been word about a new cabbage merchant coming to the city and I want to go and see.

I love getting the chance to hear about people’s stories and where they’ve been, that makes new people the best, especially since the guards can be a little strict about who enters nowadays

Many people ask me why, if I love hearing about other places so much, don’t I just leave. And I could if I wanted, Bumi has even told me I can, but I’ve never had the urge to leave.

I wave to the guards as I leave, being polite but also making sure to get away as quickly as possible before one of them drags me into a discussion about his new baby daughter. I’m not trying to be mean, but that’s long conservation and I have a lot of things to do today so it can wait until I can come back.

I take a step outside the palace doors and just take a moment to soak in the sunlight. That’s one of the only things I dislike about the palace, the lack of windows.

The stairs down to the market are as tiring as ever, no matter how many times I’ve walked them, though it’s a good reprieve after being sat all morning.

Once I get into town I immediately head to the place that sells my favourite arrows, might as well buy some more while I am here since my supply is running a little low.

“Solmi, it’s so great to see you again! How have you been?” the shopkeeper exclaims before the door even fully closes behind me.

“Hi, Bamo, it’s been good, just a lot of work,” I tell him sheepishly, glancing around at the weapons on display before grabbing a collection of arrows. “I’m here to get another batch of arrows.”

“I swear, you practice too hard with how often you are in here.” The older man sighs, I go to deny it but he just sends me a stern look “Well, since you are my best customer and you did help me get those supplies the other week, how about I give you these on the house?”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” I try to insist but he’s already pushing me out the door. I think about going back in to pay anyways, but I know he’ll just fight me on it and that’s a confrontation I don’t need.

Well, now that’s done I guess it’s time to hunt down that new merchant.

I feel myself looking over to one of the many delivery chutes, remembering when Uncle told father and I about an old friend he had who would use the chutes as a slide. Whoever they were, they must have been crazy. Though some days I do wonder if that would be better than all the walking, I just don’t think I’m brave enough for that.

Just as I go to look away something catches my eye, and if I didn’t know better I would say it looks like someone is currently re-enacting my previous thought. Except as the delivery basket gets closer I realise that is exactly what is happening right now.

I stare as I watch whoever it is crash into the side of a house before continuing on their way. I snap out of my daze and chase after them, which is hard to do when they keep going all over the place causing damages I don’t even want to think of.

I follow the chute along to the marketplace just in time to see three kids land on top of a stall, sending cabbages everywhere.

“Two cabbages, please.” The kid on the top of the pile quips, grinning nervously at the guards surrounding him.

Found the cabbage guy.

Chapter Text

The three trouble makers are escorted to the palace by the guards, and I decide to follow after, mostly because of the curiosity of these new people.

It’s clear that two of them come from a water tribe based on their thick blue coats, but the third boy, the short bald one, he confuses me. I don’t recognise the clothes he’s wearing. It could be that he comes from a smaller Earth Kingdom town, but something tells me that’s not right. Though I have to admit the creature that stays by his side is very adorable.

It’s a quiet journey, the trio opting not to say anything after the bald kid's last comment. The only thing that breaks the silence is the cabbage merchants muttering.

Everyone is immediately taken to the throne room once we arrive at the palace, where Bumi is waiting intently. I give him a small wave, which he acknowledges with a nod but his attention is focused more so on the group of troublemakers who are now kneeling on the floor.

“You’re Majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction on cabbages,” one of the guards lists off to the king.

“Off with their head!” The cabbage merchant interrupts, angrily hopping in place. “One for each head of cabbage.”

“Silence! Only the King can pass down judgement,” The guard yells at the other man, before turning his attention back to Bumi. “What is your judgment, Sire?”

Bumi makes a noise of contemplation, leaning forward in his seat and taking the time to look at each person. I feel myself subconsciously lean toward them as well, curiously killing me because with Bumi you’ll never know what he’ll do.

“Throw them…” He starts, letting the words hang in the air as the kids gasp “...a feast!” He declares in the end with a satisfied grin. I sigh, knowing it would go this way somehow.

Everyone is evidently confused, apart from the merchant who groans in annoyance. But not one to argue with the King, everything is quickly set in motion to get this feast together.

I go to leave, curiosity slightly sated and I know I can just ask Bumi what happens later, but before I can say man stops me.

“Oh Solmi, may you stay?” He calls out drawing everyone’s attention to me, including the troublesome trio.

“Are you sure?” I ask curiously, usually he doesn’t want me to take part in matters like this, I’m surprised he even let me stay in the room in the first place. But since I’m also not one to argue with the King (most of the time), I shrug and decide to go along with whatever he has planned.

Soon there is a table set up with five chairs in the middle of the throne room, a wide selection of food on top.

We all take our seats, except for Bumi, instead, he goes to stand behind the three on the other side of the table. Striking up a casual conversation and trying to get the boys to eat the skinless chicken prepared.

“Is it just me, but is this guy's crown a little crooked?” The girl whispers to her friends, but I overhear.

“Trust me, you have no idea,” I say, more to me than her but still she looks over at me sheepish that she’d be caught. I smile slightly to show that it’s fine, it’s not like she’s wrong.

“So, tell me young bald one, where are you from?” Bumi asks, finally sitting in his chair.

“I’m from… Kangaroo Island,” the boy in question answers which causes me to look at him surprised. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that place.

“Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping,” Bumi jokes and I feel almost ashamed to be sat next to him. No one even reacts until the watertribe boy starts laughing, I can’t believe someone actually found Bumi’s joke funny.

Bumi fake yawns in his chair. “All these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it’s time to hit the hay,” he comments leaning over to his side. Suddenly, he reaches into his sleeve and throws a chicken leg across the table. Before anyone else reacts the bald boy catches the piece of meat in what seems to be a ball of air.

I gasp, staring wide-eyed at him, figuring I must be seeing this wrong, but Bumi’s next words say otherwise.

“There’s an airbender in our presence and not just any airbender… the Avatar,” Bumi declares, making the kid drop the chicken.

That explains why I didn’t recognise his clothing style. The only thing I know about the airbenders is what everyone knows, that they were wiped out 100 years ago. Though looking at this boy I guess that wasn’t the case.

“Now, what do you have to say for yourself Mr. Pipinpadaloxicopolis? Bumi asks, smirking.

The Avatar stands up, pushing his chair back with his hands in the air awkwardly trying to explain himself. I raise an eyebrow at his little act trying not to smile as he puts his arms around his companions and pulls them to their feet.

“Love each other, respect all life, and don’t run with your spears. We’ll see you next time!” He tries slowly backing away toward the exit, but the guards cross their spears blocking them.

“You can’t keep us here. Let us leave!” The girl demands, no longer keeping up a friendly act.

“Lettuce leaf?” Bumi replies before eating a bit of lettuce. I close my eyes in irritation, stopping myself from complaining to my uncle to be more serious. “Tomorrow, the Avatar will face three deadly challenges. But for now, the guards will show you to your chambers.”

I tune out the following argument of what chamber to take them to after the refurbishment, I told him to number them. Instead, I focus on the scared-looking group and I can’t help but feel bad for them. I also don’t know what Bumi is up to, he wouldn’t usually do this for tiny crimes, to be honest, I thought he'd let them go when he found out about the Avatar. There’s something more to this that he’s not telling me.

Eventually, they’re taken away and I turn to Bumi to question him but he gets there first.

“Solmi, I have a request to ask of you?” He says staring at me intently.

“Yes, Uncle, what is it?” I ask, letting my questions sit back for now.

“I want you to go and visit our guests and make sure they are comfortable,” he tells me. It takes a moment for me to realise exactly what he said because the last thing I imagined Bumi would ask is for me to go hang out with prisoners.

“Why would you want me to do that?” I question.

“I just think it would be nice for you to make some friends your own age,” he explains, but that just leaves me more confused. He starts pouting at my lack of response “Please, dearest niece, do it for your uncle.”

“Fine,” I sigh because in the end, we both know I wouldn’t refuse.

“Just one thing.” He says as I get up to go, “Don’t mention my name to them.”

I just nod not wanting to question anything else, only he knows what he's doing. And here I was thinking I was actually starting to understand him a little.

A guard leads me to the chambers and I feel myself starting to get nervous, my hands playing with the bowstring around my chest. Talking to new people has never been my strong suit, but Bumi wants me to do this so I will. Once we get to the right place the guard earthbends the door open and I walk inside.

The sight that greets me is not one I expected to see. The two from the watertribe are sitting on their own beds but the Avatar is trying to push his lemur through a tiny vent duct in the wall.

They all freeze as I enter, though it might’ve been the sound of the door slamming closed behind me that draws their attention.

“What are you doing here?” The watertribe boy demands first, and all I can really do is shrug.

“I..uh… I’m not too sure myself. The king wanted me to see you, he said something about ‘making friends’ I guess. Then he goes and plays the ‘niece’ card so I can’t really refuse.“ I mutter, probably saying too much, but them all staring at me makes me feel awkward.

“Wait, you’re his niece?” The Avatar asks, shocked, coming down from the vent. Though his reaction isn’t that surprising if he thinks we’re related.

“Well no, not technically, but the sentiment is there,” I try to explain, but they don’t seem to get it. “Anyways, I don’t know what he wants but I figure I’ll just start with my name. I’m Solmi.”

They all take a moment to look at each other, probably deciding on if they should respond or if this is a trick.

“Hi, I’m Katara, this is my older brother Sokka, and this is Aang.” The girl introduces everyone and I’m glad they decided to take a chance, now I don’t have to tell Bumi I couldn’t do what he asked.

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you all,” I reply, letting myself relax a little.

I spend the next however long just talking to them about random stuff, where they all come from, their abilities, where they’ve been. They start telling me something about an unagi when the door opens again.

“You’ve been in there long enough, it’s time to go to bed,” The guard tells me.

I get up, and wish Aang well on the trials tomorrow, actually wanting him to do well since they are quite a fun bunch of people.

-----

I wake up the next morning getting to the point of greeting the sun before I remember that today is not going to be like most days. I get out of bed quickly and race to the throne room hoping that maybe I can get to Uncle before these challenges start, and possibly convince him otherwise.

But the second I enter the grand room I stop dead in my tracks aghast at what I’m seeing. “Uncle, what are you wearing?” I demand, not able to keep the horror from my voice. I have never before seen this obnoxious purple ensemble and I hope I will never have to see it again.

“What, do you now like it?” Bumi asks, doing a twirl so I can see the whole thing, which does not make it better.

“No, no I do not,” I tell him but all that gets is his usual snorting laugh. I then remember my haste for getting to Bumi in the first place before I was distracted. “Uncle, about these challenges…”

“Ah yes, they have already begun. Guards are retrieving the Avatar as we speak.” As soon as Bumi finishes speaking the guards appear in the doorway with Aang.

I immediately notice the lack of Sokka and Katara, as well as Aang’s disgruntled look.

Bumi starts his tests by asking Aang about his outfit, and I’m glad I’m not the one on trial since I was not as nice as Aang is being.

“Excellent, you passed the first test,” Bumi tells him happily.

“Really?” Aang asks excitedly, but I question it because this is not what Bumi would have planned.

“Well, not one of the deadly tests. The real challenges are a lot more… challenging.” Bumi replies cryptically.

Aang is expectedly not happy with that answer, and he charges at Bumi at a speed that sends a blast of air his way, the force of which causes me to take a step back from my place next to the King.

“I don’t have time for your crazy games. Gimme my friends back. We’re leaving!” Aang demands angrily.

“Uncle, what did you do?” I whisper at him, now mildly concerned about the missing siblings.

“Oh, I thought you might refuse. So, I will give your friends some special souvenirs. ”Bumi announces. Immediately after the wall beside us drops and two guards stand with Sokka and Katara in their grasp.

I wonder if I should confront Bumi about what is really going on, but then I see the guards pull out two familiar-looking rings. They place them on the sibling’s finger and immediately the crystals start to grow.

But this can’t be right, Bumi knows genomite won’t actually do anything, I mean yes they’ll grow but they won’t cause any harm apart from maybe being heavy. Unless he never planned to hurt anyone.

Whatever the case, none of the trio seem to know about the harmlessness of the crystals, so Aang readily agrees to the challenges, desperate to save his friends.

-----

The first challenge is the key and the waterfall, and to this day I wonder how Bumi even got this built under the place.

All of us, apart from Aang, stand on the balcony overlooking the cavern. I glance back at the watertribe siblings to see that the genomite has already grown to cover their hands.

I hear Bumi snort which brings my attention back to the challenge that's about to begin. “It seems I’ve lost my lunch box key, and I’m hungry. Oh there it is!” he yells, pointing to the key dangling in the middle of the waterfall. “Would you mind fetching it for me?”

Aang is quick to set off to try and retrieve the key. He goes for the ladder first, which I know everybody does, but the force of the falling water is too much and immediately forces him back out. I sneak a glance at Katara and I can’t help but wonder if maybe a waterbender would be able to withstand it, it'd be interesting to see.

Next, the airbender heads upwards to make a dive for the key but is once again thrown out, slamming into one of the rock spikes and almost falling off. I subconsciously jerk forward before realising what I did and stepping back into place, not missing Bumi’s side glance at me.

Hanging onto the rock, Aang seems to get an idea and breaks off the pointed part of the spike. He throws the spike and propels it with his airbending so it easily passes through the waterfall, piercing the chain the key is on and embeds in the wall right above our heads, the key now dangling in front of Bumi.

“There, enjoy your lunch. I want my friends back now!” Aang demands staring up from his place on the broken rock.

“Not yet. I need your help with another matter. It seems I’ve lost my pet Flopsie,” Bumi pouts childishly. I perk up and look over at Bumi excitedly, I haven’t seen Flopsie in a while and I’ve missed him.

As we all head over to the next place, I feel Bumi watching me knowingly, and I do my best to ignore it. I knew he would read into the little jerk, but I guess I get why he cares so much. It's been a while since I’ve let myself worry about someone like that, and for a kid I’ve only known a day.

We get to Flopsie’s pen, which is mostly just a deep rock area so he has plenty of space to run around. Except in the middle of his pen is a random bunny.

“Okay, I found him,” Aang calls up gesturing to the rabbit.

“Bring him to me. Daddy wants a kiss from Flopsie,” Bumi demands. I look over at him confused.

“That’s not….” I start to say but he silences me with a finger to his lips.

I shrug and look over to the siblings, the crystals are definitely growing fast and have encased most of their bodies.

“So, how are you two doing?” I ask, though at this point it seems redundant.

“Oh, fantastic,” Sokka retorts sarcastically, “Just being eaten by crystals.”

“Can’t you convince your Uncle to let us go?” Katara pleads, making me frown in response.

“I’m sorry. He may be like an uncle to me but he’s still the King. And once he’s decided to do something there’s nothing anyone can do to change his mind,” I apologise, I wish I could tell them more but before I get the chance I’m interrupted by a loud thud.

I look over and see Bumi scratching the real Flopsie’s tummy. I smile excitedly going over to them, and once Flopsie notices he jumps over to me, licking the side of my face happily. I wipe away the saliva with one hand and scratch his ear with the other.

“Yes, I missed you too. I really should visit more,” I tell him and he makes a noise of agreement.

“Come on, I’m ready for the next challenge,” Aang stands confidently with his hands on his hips, clearly ready to get it all over with.

The last location is a battle arena of a large size, which again brings me to wonder how this is even under the palace.

This time there are two balconies, a smaller one with Katara, Sokka, and I, and a bigger one with Aang and Bumi. Usually, I would try to stay with Bumi but he sent me here and I’m pretty sure I know why.

“Your final test is a duel. And as a special treat you may choose your opponent,” Bumi announces.

Then on cue, first comes out a tall guy, with a spear, multiple swords, and two scars by his left eye. Then out comes the second opponent, a big man with a bigger axe and not wearing very much clothing.

Aang stares at them intimidated, which isn’t surprising based on their looks. But while they may look scary I know for a fact they’re very nice people, they even babysat me a couple of times when I was little.

“So, you’re saying whoever I point to, that’s the person I get to fight?” Aang clarifies, and I’m pretty sure I know where his brain is headed.

“Choose wisely,” Bumi encourages, though he clearly knows what’s gonna happen as well.

“I choose...” Aang starts, watching all of the people in front of him intently.

“Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it,” I mutter quietly, not wanting to attract the sibling’s attention.

“...You,” Aang decides, pointing at Bumi.

“Oh no.”

“Wrong choice,” Bumi finally gets rid of his terrible robe and straightens his back, to reveal the strong body underneath.

I cringe as he doesn’t hesitate to earth bend Aang into the arena, quickly following after him.

“Woah, he’s ripped!” Sokka exclaims, surprised.

“Yeah, he may be old but he is definitely not frail,” I say absentmindedly, I swear he wears those over-the-top robes so people underestimate him. I try to focus on the events happening below. Though it’s hard to hear what they’re saying from the distance and flying rocks crashing into things.

As the fight progresses I feel myself getting more and more anxious. I know Bumi is a very capable fighter, but that doesn’t mean I like seeing him in any combat. And especially against Aang, somehow in the short amount of time I’ve known the airbender, I’ve already gotten closer to him than I’ve been with anyone else in years, as well as Sokka and Katara, whose crystals just keep growing.

I notice my hands shaking, gripping my bowstring so tightly they’ve turned white, as an uncomfortable feeling grows inside me. I pull my hands away and step back, I hear Bumi say something about being cold, but I don’t pay much attention as I walk past the concerned watertribe siblings to go into the hallway.

I can still hear what’s happening, but I try to push it out of my head as I take deep breaths. It’s the one lesson my dad instilled in me most, was to always stay calm. Getting overwhelmed with emotions will cause nothing but trouble. So, whenever I feel like I might become overwhelmed, I should take some deep breaths.

Though I have to admit it’s been a while since I’ve had to do it like this, I guess this troublesome trio have brought a lot of new things with them.

Once I feel calmer, I go back out, just in time for the whole arena to start shaking as Bumi earthbends the other balcony away from the wall. I stare wide-eyed as Bumi launches the giant object towards Aang, who manages to deflect it by creating a small tornado.

Now the balcony is flying back at Bumi, but I know I don’t have to worry as he breaks the earth right down the middle, only to be confronted by Aang pointing his staff at him with a victorious smirk on his face. That is until he looks up to see Bumi holding a giant boulder above their heads.

Still, I clap slightly in amazement because this is the closest I’ve seen or even heard of anyone beating Bumi since I’ve known him.

“Well done Avatar. You fight with much fire in your heart,” Bumi comments before throwing the boulder to the side. He then falls back, disappearing into the ground and appearing on the balcony in front of us. Aang quickly uses his glider to follow. “You’ve passed all my tests. Now, you must answer one question.”

“That’s not fair! You said you would release my friends if I finished your tests,” Aang accuses.

“Oh, but what’s the point of tests if you don’t learn anything?” Bumi questions.

“Oh, come on!” Sokka yells angrily and I feel for him.

"Answer this one question and I’ll set your friends free. What… is my name?”

“Uncle, what?” I have never not understood this man as much as I have today.

“That’s easy, Solmi quick, what’s his name?” Sokka demands, making me jump.

“Uhh… well…” I stutter completely unsure what to do in this situation. I want to help them, especially as the crystals grow to encase their whole bodies, but Uncle must have some reason to think they would just know his name and I don’t want to mess that up.

“Uh-uh, that’s cheating, you have to figure it out on your own. And from the looks of your friends, I’d say you only have a few minutes. Niece, come along,” Bumi calls as he leaves. I look over at the trio who look back desperately, but in the end, I just wish them luck and follow Bumi out of the arena.

“Okay, Bumi, what has been up with you? You’ve been uncharacteristically strange and that’s saying something.” I demand once I know we’re out of earshot.

But of course, he doesn’t answer, just shoots me with a knowing look. “All in good time, dear one.”

We get back to the throne room, where he puts on his usual green robe, which I am very grateful for. And we’re not left waiting long before the others join us.

“I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities,” Aang explains, grinning, causing Bumi to laugh. “Bumi, you’re a mad genius.” At that Aang rushes forward to hug Bumi, which he accepts easily.

“Oh, Aang, it’s good to see you. You haven’t changed a bit, literally,” Bumi jokes, rubbing Aang’s head.

I look at the others, wondering if I’m the only one confused. However, Sokka and Katara seem more concerned about the crystals.

“Uh, over here!” Katara calls alarmed.

“A little help,” Sokka follows.

Bumi stretches his arm out and the crystal confinements break apart, sending shards everywhere. “Genomite is made of rock candy,” Bumi explains before taking a bite out of a part he’d caught.

“So, this crazy king, is your old friend Bumi?” Katara asks, taking in the outcome now that there’s no longer a ‘risk’.

“Who are you calling old?” Bumi says affronted.

“Uncle,” I say looking at him

“Okay, I’m old.”

“I’m still confused, how do you know Aang?” I ask and Bumi laughs again.

“He’s the one I used to get into trouble with when we were kids, or when I was a kid,” Bumi explains, and I instantly remember all those stories he mentioned. I guess that’s why part of me felt like I knew who Aang was, there’s only so many stories you can hear about someone before you start to imagine what they must be like.

“I guess that explains why you would never tell me how old you were,” I realise, though I did learn when I got older.

“Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?” Sokka questions, which is a good point. I knew Bumi had a reason but this still doesn’t add up.

“First of all, it’s pretty fun messing with people,” he laughs and I can’t believe despite being over 100 years old he’s still so childish, “But I do have a reason. Aang, you have a difficult task ahead of you. The world has changed in the 100 years you’ve been gone. It’s the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Firelord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Firelord, and when you do I hope you will think like a mad genius.”

I listen intently to Bumi’s speech, absorbed by his words, he very rarely talks so seriously, and he also doesn’t really mention the Fire nation and the war despite its loom over everything. I look over to the trio, only now realising what they have ahead of them.

I can’t imagine what it must be like, knowing they all have something so important they have to do, but I don’t think I could do it. Omashu is my home and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.

-----

I have no idea what part of Aang decided it would be a good idea to take the King of Omashu down the ‘slide’, but all I do know is that it’s causing a lot more damages for me to deal with afterward.

I look to the brother and sister pairing, who are standing with me watching in horror as the crazy duo wreck the city. I guess once that’s over they’re going to leave and head to wherever they have planned next.

“Are you sure you can’t stay? Bumi could teach Aang earthbending,” I suggest hopefully. I don’t know what it is about them, but I know I’ll miss them when they’re gone.

“We’re sure. Right now it’s off to the North Pole so Aang can master waterbending. But once he’s done that I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to learn earthbending from Bumi, so I’m sure we’ll be back,” Katara explains with a caring smile that just makes me sadder they’re leaving.

We meet Aang and Bumi down by the city gates, then Bumi and I stand back and wave to them as they leave to continue on their amazing journey.

“Hey, Uncle Bumi. I think I made some great friends,” I tell him, the bittersweetness of the acknowledgment making itself known.

“I think you did too, Solmi.”

Chapter Text

I feel myself getting more and more worried. I try to figure out how much time has passed, but it always comes back as ‘too long’ since the team had left the bunker for their mission. They were supposed to be back by sunset, but now it’s already late into the night.

The last few weeks have been an awful mess of confusion and terror, and even now I can’t help but bring myself back to that day when everything went wrong.

-Flashback-
I run around the palace, arms full of paper as I go from one job to another. Ever since Aang, Katara, and Sokka had appeared and then left to continue their mission to save the world, I’ve felt the need to push myself to do more for this city. First of which was repairing the numerous damages caused by their visit, and the complaints about late mail.

I try to pick up another set of building plans to add to my growing pile when a sudden loud crash causes me to drop everything.

It’s like the entire world halts for just a second, as a tense silence settles over every corridor. That is until a second crash interrupts it, this time shaking the entire building with it.

I abandon any idea of picking up the scattered plans and immediately head for the entrance to the palace that has been left wide open.

The sight that greets me is not one I ever expected to see

Flaming rocks are being sent flying into the city from beyond the walls, leaving fire and destruction in their wake. Smoke rises from the burning buildings, blending in with fumes from various machines just outside the city to create a haze that chokes me the second I get outside.

And while I never thought I’d see this day, I knew exactly what this is.

Fire Nation.

I watch horrified as the citizens run around below, everyone just trying to escape the damage. Behind me I hear servants yelling and it hits me that even in the palace they’re not safe. I tighten my grip on the bowstring around my chest feeling completely helpless about what to do.

To my surprise, the longer I stare the more I notice the lack of soldiers doing anything to help.

“Solmi!” This yell is the first thing that tears my eyes away from the destruction of the city. I turn to see the commander of the army running towards me.

“Captain Yung, what are you doing here? What’s happening?” I question desperately, if anyone knows why no one’s doing anything it’ll be him.

“It’s the Fire Nation, they’ve built bridges over the chasm and are about to invade the city. We must get you to safety,” Yung grabs my arm, but I pull back not letting him drag me away.

“I know it’s the Fire Nation, but where’s the army? Where’s Bumi? What...” I cut myself off, not letting the panic take over.

“Bumi surrendered, “ The man tells me, a grim expression on his face.

I falter backward, but the captain's eyes continue to stare at me, unchanging in their seriousness. “No, he wouldn’t,” I deny, more to myself than the man in front of me. “He wouldn’t let the Fire Nation take our home without a fight.”

“I’m afraid he did, so as I said we need to go,” Yung commands, and as much as I want to fight back, go find Bumi and demand he tells me what’s really going on. I also know my Uncle and he wouldn't do this without a reason, and I just have to trust that for now.

“So what’s the plan?” I ask the captain, and the older man sighs in relief before talking me through the evacuation plan of the city.

-End flashback-

We managed to get almost all the citizens underground into the bunker that day, while some others were found on reconnaissance missions just like a team has gone on today.

I don’t go on those missions, it hurts too much to see the place I called home now filled with Fire Nation machines and propaganda. From what I’ve heard they’ve even torn down the palace and replaced it with an extravagant mansion.

What’s even worse is that no one has seen Bumi no matter how much they search. And each day another group comes back with no news on the King’s whereabouts just makes me more nervous.

I hear talking coming from the entrance tunnel, and I relax knowing that Yung and the others have now returned. That quickly turns into surprise when I see a familiar trio standing alongside them.

“So, is King Bumi with you guys?” Aang's innocent voice echoes through the chamber and immediately fills me with a joy I haven’t felt since that first crash. “Is he leading the resistance?”

I make my way over to them as the captain explains to them what happened, I ignore his words as I get closer, not wanting to relive that moment again.

“Hi guys,” I greet once I finally get to them. Yung doesn’t look too happy about the interruption, but he lets it go.

“Solmi! I’m so glad you’re alright,” Katara grabs me for a hug and I let her. I missed them more than I thought.

“I’m really glad to see you, especially with all this,” I tell them, gesturing around the large area.

“Is it true? Did Bumi really give up?” Aang asks in disbelief, and I fully understand it.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t with him. I wish I had been though,” I admit, I miss my uncle terribly and if I was by his side maybe he would’ve told me his plan so I wouldn’t have to worry so much.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Yung interrupts. “Fighting the Fire Nation is the path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for.”

I hold my tongue back from remarking on the captain’s familiar speech. I want to help Omashu, just not like that, it’s not what Bumi would want us to do.

“Actually there’s another path to freedom,” Aang says and I perk up interested, desperate for any way out that isn’t fighting, “You could leave Omashu. You’re directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation. But you’re outnumbered, you can’t win. Now is the time for you to retreat, so you can live to fight another day.”

“You don’t understand. They’ve taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost!” Yung continues, not being deterred by the Avatar’s words.

I look between the two, who clearly believe deeply in what they’re saying, but I know Yung will not listen to anyone not from Omashu.

“It won’t be forever,” I say quietly, the silence that has fallen over the chamber means the others still hear me, but I direct my attention to the captain. “We will reclaim our home, but right now it’s better to get all the civilians somewhere safe, don’t you think?”

His friends agree and I’m glad for the support, and soon everyone’s murmuring their agreement to Aang’s plan.

“Fine,” Yung relents once he realised he’s outnumbered “But there’s thousands of citizens that need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?”

“Suckers!” Sokka suddenly yells, causing everyone to look at him in confusion. “You’re all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox.”

-----

It takes a while to gather the amount of pentapus needed and cover all the citizens, and by the time everyone is sufficiently covered the sun has come up.

I look down at my own set of spots as the small creature is pulled away and I hope this works because there are no other options now.

Sokka’s giving everyone a demonstration on how to look sick when I notice Aang sneaking away from everyone. And it appears I’m not the only one.

“Aang, what are you doing?” Katara calls to the wandering airbender, “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Aang stops to face her, and I decide to stand back as the crowd begins to leave. “No, I’m not leaving until I find Bumi,” Aang declares, and I notice his gaze flickering over to me.

“Aang, I know Bumi means a lot to you, but just be safe. Because even if you can’t find him, wherever he is, he can take care of himself,” I tell him, and I hope he believes it like I’ve been making myself believe it.

He nods, then puts Momo down with a promise of food later before he jumps away.

“Come on, let’s get back to the others,” Katara nudges me, I glance once more at the place Aang left then follow the waterbender towards where the group has already started it’s act.

I blend in with the crowd and before I know it we’re free. I look back as the familiar gates close, shutting us out of Omashu, of our home. The crash of the earth is sent straight to my heart, but there’s no time to dwell.

Soon we’re down the chasm and tents and campfires are set up to deal with the inevitable night. And a silence hangs as everyone wonders what we’re supposed to do now.

Part of me wants to turn back, do what Captain Yung said, and fight so at least then we have a home. Omashu is all I’ve ever known and being outside of it, looking at the other side of the walls that used to keep me safe, I feel like we’re abandoning it.

I shake my head not letting myself get caught up in that train of thought, instead I decide to focus on helping with the headcount and generally just making everyone’s okay.

I gasp as I come across a giant creature, and it’s only the arrow on it’s head that stops me from freaking out. I heard about the flying bison that helps the gang get places, but Appa is a lot bigger than I imagined, he’s even bigger than Flopsie.

I play with Appa for a bit then I go back to my counting, focusing on it so much that I barely notice Aang’s return, it’s only the rushing figures of the water tribe siblings as they run over to him that brings it to my attention.

Though I’m not surprised, it still hurts to see the sad look on his face and the lack of Bumi with him, but at least the giant form next to him is a pleasant surprise.

“Flopsie!” I run over to the fluffy creature and give him a big hug, which brings out a happy noise from him. I see Aang look over with a small smile, but it quickly drops back to the somber expression from before.

“We looked everywhere, no Bumi,” he says and Katara comforts him with a hug.

Flopsie lets out a sad moan, obviously missing his friend, and I have to stop myself from joining him. Instead, I just sigh while Sokka hugs the sad animal.

“We’ve got a problem,” a soldier interrupts. “We just did a headcount.”

“Oh no, did someone get left behind?” Katara asks, concerned. I panic looking back towards the campfires, instantly recounting in my head in case I missed someone.

“No, we have an extra,” the soldier says, breaking my recounting. I look over to where he's pointing to see a baby that is most definitely not Earth Kingdom.

It takes a while to figure out where the baby even came from. Everyone insists they had nothing to do with it, and it wouldn’t make sense to bring unwanted trouble to us by kidnapping a Fire Nation baby. So, the only explanation we can think of is that somehow he followed the crowd out. Which leads me to question the parenting style of his parents, to let such a young child wander by himself.

We sit down by a fire, Appa and Flopsie laying behind us. The baby seems interested in following Momo, until he falls and sets his eyes on Sokka’s club, which he quickly puts in his mouth.

“No! Bad Fire Nation baby,” Sokka snatches his club back, unsurprisingly making the baby cry

“Sokka,” I berate the boy, “He wasn’t doing anything with it, give it back.”

Katara smacks her brother on the head and he reluctantly gives the object back to the upset child. Katara bends down, cooing at how cute the baby is as he plays with the club.

“Sure, he’s cute now. But when he’s older he’ll join the Fire Nation army,” Yung remarks, staring distainly at the child. “You won’t think he’s so cute then. He’ll be a killer.”

Katara holds up the baby who looks none too pleased about his new position off the ground, “Does that look like the face of a killer to you?” She asks, but Yung doesn’t seem convinced.

“You can’t judge, maybe he’ll grow up and be a farmer,” I suggest watching the baby fidget in Katara’s arms.

A loud squawk catches our attention as a messenger hawk lands on a rock nearby. I guess a family has finally realised they lost a member. Took enough time, it’s been hours, how could a mother go so long without her child and not realise she’s missing something so important.

“It’s from the Fire Nation governor,” Aang explains, reading off the scroll. “He thinks we kidnapped his son. So, he wants to make a trade. His son, for King Bumi.”

I jump up from my place, rushing over and taking the scroll from Aang to read it over myself. “I can’t believe it, I finally get to see Bumi again,” I mutter excitedly. I hand the scroll back to the airbender determined now. “I’m coming with you.”

“What? No way,” Sokka immediately refuses to my annoyance.

“He’s right, Solmi, it could be dangerous,” Katara reasons, and I can see Aang to her side nodding in agreement to her. I know she’s right, but if there is one thing in this world that would be worth the risk, it’s Bumi.

“I get it, but I’m not completely helpless,” I tell them, gesturing to the bow and arrows on my back. “Please, I need to know if my Uncle is okay for myself.”

“Fine, you can come with us,” Aang agrees, making me clap in celebration.

It’s decided after that we should get a little sleep before this trade tomorrow. So, I curl up next to Flopsie, letting his soft fur comfort me, but sleep is hard to achieve knowing that in a few hours I get to see Bumi again.

-----

Morning comes and the camp starts to stir. I'm not sure what time I managed to sleep last night but it was late. Next to me is Appa and Aang and from the looks of it, Aang didn’t sleep much either.

He’s sat atop the bison’s head, staring up to the now foreign city. I get up quietly, not wanting to wake anyone else just yet, and make my way over to the airbender,

“Hey,” I call up, breaking his concentrated stare.

“Good morning,” He replies, jumping down from Appa and landing without a sound.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” I ask even though I know the answer, it’s just easy conversation.

“Not really,” he says sheepishly, I give him a small smile I hope is comforting and he seems to relax a little.

I stand there awkwardly, feeling a question stirring in my head “We’re gonna get him back right?” I ask, I know it’s a stupid thing to ask, but right now I need someone else's confidence that Bumi’s coming back.

“We’re not leaving without him,” Aang promises, and he’s so sure it does a lot to boost my own confidence.

On the other side of what used to be a fire, Katara starts shuffling and looks over at us with a face that doesn’t look like she just woke up.

“Solmi, I just want to double-check that you’re really okay with this.” She says as she gets up, and it’s nice to have someone care so much.

“I get why you’re worried, but this is just gonna be a simple trade,” I try to reason, even though we both know it might be more than that. “Plus, Bumi is the only family I have left so I need to be there for him.”

“Alright then. Well, I need to wake Sokka,” She says, turning around to find her snoring brother. I’m glad she accepted my reasoning, it’d be pretty hard to sneak into Omashu alone.

-----

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to know what it’s like to fly, but I don’t have any chance to enjoy it. As soon as we approach the new wall of Omashu, any excitement is taken away by the horror of what I see.

I’d seen bits and pieces of what the Fire Nation had done as we escaped yesterday, but seeing it like this, the whole city in one look, it’s hard to recognise it as my home.

We land on a platform, part of some scaffolding for whatever building they’re going to ruin this city with next, and we wait.

Across from us are three girls all dressed in Fire Nation clothing. The girl in the front looks like she wants to be anywhere but here, but I can also see some similarities between her and the baby so I guess she must be his sister.

I hear the sound of now familiar clunking and look up to see a machine lowering a mental coffin with Bumi’s face exposed.

“Hi everybody!” Bumi calls, still laughing despite his situation. I bite back a smile, not wanting to give anything away to the other girls, but just hearing his voice is everything I needed right now.

“You brought my brother?” The girl in the middle asks as Bumi lands beside her.

“He’s here, we’re ready to trade,” Aang confirms, gesturing to the baby happily playing in Sokka’s arms, so oblivious to the entire situation surrounding him.

I force myself to wait patiently for them to hand Bumi over, but the girl on the left seems to have other ideas. It’s hard to hear what they’re talking about from this distance, but whatever she says must convince the sister because she comes forward, eyes narrowed in determination.

“The deals off!” She yells and raises her hand signaling whoever to raise Bumi again.

“No! Uncle!” I cry, already stepping forward to run after him, but Katara grabs my arm stopping me. The girl on the left gives me a very pointed look and I berate myself for exposing something like that, because now they have leverage.

“See you all later!” Bumi calls down, but this time I can’t be comforted by the sound of his laughter, not when this could be the last time I hear it.

“Bumi!” Aang races forward, faster than anyone can react. He has to jump to avoid the left girl’s firebending, which unfortunately causes him to lose the scarf covering his arrows.

Aang flies off after Bumi and the firebender chases after him, but we don’t get a chance to help him before the other two girls are heading for us.

“We’ve got to get the baby out of here!” Katara orders, getting into a fighting stance.

“Way ahead of ya,” Sokka replies, blowing into a sky bison looking whistle.

I quickly draw my bow and start firing arrows at the girl in pink, but she dodges them with ease, falling into a hole already in the platform.

“Solmi, come on!” Katara yells, I take one last look at where Aang and Bumi have disappeared, then follow the waterbender as she runs towards the edge of the area for easier access to Appa.

However, we don’t get far before Sokka is knocked down by something, coming dangerously close to the same edge. I run after him and notice the pink girl emerge from another hole and run to the boy.

I aim three arrows to land in front of her feet to catch her attention, but she just cartwheels over them and continues on her pursuit. She only stops when a stream of water comes rushing past me and grabs her ankle, knocking her over.

I turn to see Katra, and the annoyed girl throwing daggers at her. “Katara, move!” I yell and she rolls sideways narrowly avoiding the projectiles.

I start firing multiple arrows at her but she either manages to dodge or block them. She throws another dagger at me, which I avoid, but I fail to notice just how close to a hole I am as my foot catches on the edge causing me to lose my balance.

I throw myself forward to avoid falling through the hole, but the momentum also throws my bow out of my hand and towards the angry girl's feet. She takes a moment to look at it before simply stepping over it and coming closer.

I get onto one knee, hand going to my belt where I keep a dagger for situations like this, but before she can throw her own her arm is caught in a stream of water that Katara turns to ice. The girl tries to break the ice with her other hand which gives me enough time to get back onto my feet before I hear Katra grunt.

I glance at her concerned and notice that the girl in pink appears to have done something that’s made Katara lose control of her bending.

“How are you going to fight without your bow and bending?” The black-haired girl mocks, raising her hand ready to strike with the girl in pink back by her side.

Before I get a chance to show her just how well I can fight without my bow, the daggers are knocked out of her hand by a boomerang causing her to grunt in pain.

“I seem to manage,” Sokka retorts, catching his boomerang from the top of Appa. He maneuvers the bison to land in front of the girls, and Appa uses his tail to send them flying back.

I run over to the creature, making sure to grab my bow from the same place I dropped it before I jump on. Appa speeds off, flying through the city trying to figure out where Aang has gone. In the end, it’s not hard to spot him riding down one of the postal delivery chutes using Bumi’s cage, the firebending girl right behind them.

We fly down next to the chute and Aang uses a gust of air to lift himself and Bumi up off the postage system, unfortunately, it’s too much and they go flying overhead, just out of reach to grab.

We lose track of them for a minute after that but it doesn’t take long to find them in a building at the end of one of the systems.

“...I’ll see you when the time is right,” I hear Bumi say to the airbender and that can’t be right, because it sounds a lot like he’s not coming with us. He falls back and starts earthbending himself back up the chute, but I won’t let him go like this.

“Bumi, wait!” I yell desperately jumping off Appa. Luckily it seems like he hears me and he comes back down, propping himself up on a rock.

“Solmi, dear, how wonderful it is to see you,” he says smiling like he wasn’t about to just leave,

“Are you really not coming with us? Is this really goodbye?” I can feel my eyes starting to sting as a stray tear makes its way down my cheek before I can brush it away.

“I’m afraid so, but don’t worry it won’t be forever,” he tries to comfort, eyes softening once he sees the tear. I can imagine it must be a shock, I haven’t cried since my dad…

“What am I supposed to do now?” I feel myself ask as a sense of hopelessness washes over me. All I’ve ever known for most of my life is Omashu and Bumi, and now I’m losing both of them.

“You have new friends, your own adventure to explore. Go and live your life. Just make sure you have a bunch of stories to tell me when we meet again,” Bumi tells me and I nod. I wish I could at least hug him, but I can’t. All I can do now is watch as he makes his way back up the chute laughing away.

I turn around to see the others looking at me sympathetically, I rub my eyes to make sure they’re dry before smiling at them.

“Come on, we should go before those girls find us,” I walk past Aang and climb onto Appa, and he quickly follows.

We fly away and I take the moment to look back at my home, for what I know will be the last time in a while.

-----

We get back to the camp where Aang informs everyone of Bumi’s choice to stay captured. Predictably, many people argue but in the end, they understand it’s the King’s choice and they have to respect it.

I let myself just sit in peace thinking back on what Bumi said when I realise something strikes me as weird. “Wait, he said something about an adventure, what adventure?” I ask aloud, I wouldn’t think finding a new town with the citizens would count as an adventure, at least not one with lots of stories to tell.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You’re coming with us,” Aang says confidently. I stare at him wide-eyed, not expecting that in the least.

“Wait, why? Don’t get me wrong I like Solmi, but I thought we were looking for an earthbending teacher. You’re not secretly an earthbender are you?” Sokka asks, like after all that fighting somehow I have a bending ability I’ve been hiding.

“Nope, just a normal non-bender here,” I clarify.

“Look, Bumi asked me to, he said it’s important and if he believes it so do I,” Aang declares, “He also told me to tell you that when it’s time to leave you’ll know and I shouldn’t stop you, but until then we have to look out for each other.”

“Well then I guess I’m coming with you guys,” I say hesitantly, this isn’t where I expected my life to go, and it’s hard to say goodbye to everyone after Aang returns the baby. But this great ‘adventure’ awaits and it’s what Bumi wants me to do.

Chapter Text

I’ve spent the first couple of days of my ‘new adventure’ getting to know everyone more; how Sokka and Katara met Aang, the adventures they’ve been on, the people they’ve met. It all sounds like something I would read in a book, yet all of it is real.

After a while, Aang started asking about Uncle Bumi, and I tried to tell him all I knew about his old friend, including all the stories he would tell me that just seemed to get crazier every time he told them. It’s nice to talk about him with someone who knew him more like I did, as more than just a crazy king.

Eventually, we fall into a comfortable silence, everyone focusing on their own thing, and I use the chance to stare off at the blue sky. Flying on the back of Appa is something special, I didn’t get the chance to enjoy it back in Omashu because of the fear and worry I had for Bumi. But now, just easily gliding through the clouds, I can appreciate the calmness of it all. Watching the trees, land, and water pass by from above, everything looks so small compared to the huge nightmare I used to think outside Omashu was.

But now that I think about it, those trees do seem to be getting bigger and bigger the more we fly. I look around to see if anyone else has noticed, unsure if I should even mention it, maybe Appa like flying close to trees.

I decide not to take the chance and nudge Sokka as he’s closest to me. He looks up from the weapon he was sharpening eyebrows furrowed.

“Do the trees look like they’re getting bigger to you?” I ask quietly, not wanting to disturb the other two if it ends up being nothing.

Sokka gently puts down his things then turns around to look over the edge of the saddle.“Hey, you taking us down for a reason?” He questions Aang, but the only response he gets is a groan from Appa. “Aang! Why are we going down?” He yells now, startling the airbender from whatever deep thought he was in.

“What? I didn’t even notice,” Aang replies showing just how out of it he was.

“Are you noticing now?” Sokka taunts, gesturing wildly to the approaching trees.

Sokka’s yelling draws Katara's attention from her scrolls and she crawls over to join the rest of us. “Is something wrong?”

“I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is… calling to me,” Aang explains, which would sound strange to me if I had a different uncle. “I think it wants us to land there.”

“No offence to the swamp, but I don’t see any land there to land on,” Sokka remarks, looking down at the thick growth of trees that leave no holes to see the ground beneath them.

“I don’t know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen. And now I’m actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?” Ang questions.

“Yes,” Sokka replies, immediately looking at the growing swamp below us.

“I don’t know. There’s something ominous about that place,” Kataras adds, making the strange swamp now look a little creepier.

“I know you want to listen to what Bumi told you, but I don’t think this is really what he meant.” I try to reason with the airbender because the idea of going down into those trees is rapidly becoming a bad one.

Momo comes running over and climbs onto my lap to peer over the edge, immediately he lets out a scared squeak and hides while Appa lets out a displeased groan, sharing their opinion on the matter.

“Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye swamp,” Aang gives in, snapping Appa reins to get him to fly faster away from the swamp.

I look at Aang concerned by how displeased he seems about leaving, but it’s too late to change my mind so I turn to Katara instead to distract myself.

“Is the whole ‘calling swamp’ thing usual for him?” I ask her, curious if it’s an Avatar thing.

But Katara just shakes her head. “No, this is the first time he’s said anything like this,” she informs me.

I want to ask more, but before I can, Sokka's yelling voice interrupts me. “You better throw in an extra ‘yip'. We gotta move!”

I turn around wondering what his panic is about, to be confronted by the sight of a tornado right behind us.

I hold on to the saddle as tight as I can, while Aang quickly manoeuvres Appa side to side to get out of the tornado’s path, but no matter what he does it just seems like the thing is following us.

It gets closer and the strong winds pull Sokka from the saddle. Yelling, Katara and I lunge forward to grab an arm each, keeping the older boy from flying away.

Aang jumps in front of us and creates a giant air ball around Appa, protecting us from the tornado’s winds, which means Sokka drops back down onto the bison.

However, it doesn’t stop the tornado from pulling us in and spinning us rapidly. The speed of the wind causes Aang to have to drop his airball, and as soon as the protective layer of air is gone we are left to the rough winds of the tornado that sends us all flying fast into the trees of the swamp.

I feel myself crash through multiple layers of branches before I land in a shallow body of water breaking the fall.

I blink as I stare up at the green leaves that now replace the blue sky, I hear movement next to me and pull myself up with a groan.

“Well, that was something,” I comment, rubbing my head. I look to where I heard the noises and see the others next to me, and it seems we’re all okay.

“Where’s Appa and Momo?” Aang asks immediately, looking around.

I feel myself start looking as well, and it appears they didn’t land with us since a giant bison wouldn’t be hard to spot. I sigh, finding them is going to be difficult, the enormous trees of the swamp stretch in every direction and they look neverending.

Aang is gone in seconds, using his airbending to propel him higher in the trees. I watch him go then turn to check on the water tribe siblings, where it appears Sokka is freaking out about a leech on his elbow. I run my hands across my own but luckily my long sleeves have saved me from the creatures.

Aang returns from the treetops and from the look on his face he hasn’t found his companions.

“You couldn’t find them?” Katara asks once the boy lands.

“No,” Aang replies distraught, “And the tornado, it just disappeared.”

“That’s good at least. Once we find Appa and Momo we’ll have no trouble getting out of here,” I say trying to be optimistic, but by the way, Aang’s face falls at the mention of his missing friends, I didn't do very well.

“Don’t worry Aang, Appa and Momo can’t have fallen very far from where we are,” Katara tries and she actually seems to cheer him up by the small smile on his face.

With no idea where we are, we just have to pick a random direction to go in, which unfortunately turns shallow water into waist-high, and surrounds us in vines that are getting increasingly difficult to get through.

Eventually, Sokka gets annoyed at having to push the vines out of the way and when we hit a dense patch he grabs his machete and starts cutting them down instead, much to Aang’s dismay.

“Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp,” the airbender suggests.

“Aang, these are just plants,” Sokka argues, continuing to cut the vines in his way. “Do you want me to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ as I swing my machete back and forth?”

“Maybe you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels alive.” Katara adds, warily looking around at the trees.

I get what she means, ever since we got here I’ve had this feeling like something is itching under my skin and it automatically has me on defence.

“I’m sure there are lots of things that are alive here. And if we don’t want to wind up getting eaten by them we need to find Appa as fast as we can. Right, Solmi?” Sokka asks and I startle, not expecting to be brought into this.

“Well… I mean…” I panic about being put on the spot, but I take a deep breath looking at the plants around us and I know my answer. “I think Sokka might be right. The quicker we get out of here the better. Plus it’s not like the plants won’t grow back.”

Even though I try to add a reason Aang still looks irritated, but he doesn’t say anything else. I sigh, I feel like I’m going to have to get better at this whole ‘people’ thing at some point.

-----

Water turns to solid ground as it starts to darken and a fine mist settles in the area. We continuously call out Appa and Momo’s names as we go but there’s never any sign that they can hear us.

“There’s no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We’ll have to make camp for the night,” Sokka decides, slapping a bug that lands on his face.

Which sounds fine, but now that it’s harder to see everything in the area appears even more terrifying than it did when we first got here. Every noise makes me jump, even if it’s something Sokka quickly blows off.

That is until a scream pierces through the night and even Sokka pulls himself into our scared huddle. I feel my hand reach down for my dagger at the potential danger. But a quick survey of the area shows the source of the scream to be a chubby white bird on a branch nearby. It lets out another scream like noise then flies away as quickly as it came.

“I think we should build a fire,” Sokka suggests quickly running off to cut down some nearby branches.

“Sokka, the longer we’re here, the more I think you shouldn’t be doing that,” Aang tells him warily.

“No, I asked the swamp. It said this was fine. Right swamp?” Sokka pretends to make the branch speak before chopping off another piece, and at this point, I’m beginning to think Aang might be right. Cutting down things to get out quickly sounded like a smart option, but now it’s been hours and we’re stuck in the dark. I really just want the swamp to be our friend right now.

Still, we use the wood to make a fire in a hollowed-out tree that at least protects us from most sides. The fire brings a small amount of comfort with its light and warmth, but even that can’t fight against all the creepy noises and feelings the swamp brings.

“Does anyone else get the feeling that we’re being watched?” Katara asks, eyes rapidly glancing around the darkness outside the tree.

“Honestly, a little yeah.” I agree, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging them tightly.

“Please, we’re all alone out here,” Sokka dismisses, swatting away another bug. But this makes it light up brightly, revealing all the pairs of eyes looking at us from behind the trees.

“Except for them.” Aang remarks and at that point I lose all idea of sleeping tonight.

Eventually, the trio does fall asleep, backs leaning against each other, as the fire dies. I wish I could relight the fire to bring back that small comfort, but I don’t want to risk waking the others considering it’s a miracle they’re sleeping in the first place. They must be used to sleeping outside in potentially dangerous places.

I’m brought out of my thoughts by a rustle coming from the trees nearby. I try to ignore it since it’s not the first time, and I don’t see anything dangerous. But then a vine comes flying out and grabs me by the ankle. Immediately others join it and they pull me away so fast I can’t even make a noise to signal the others. In a matter of seconds, I’ve lost sight of them as the vines drag me further and further into the darkness of the trees.

I struggle in their grip, grabbing my dagger from my belt and start slashing at the sentient plants until they let me go. I quickly stand up, dagger ready for when they come back, but after some time of waiting and nothing, I relax a little.

That is until I realise I have no idea where I am now, there’s no trace anywhere of where I got dragged like the swamp is covering it up.

“Aang! Sokka! Katara!” I yell but the only response I get is the sound of a croaking frog.

I try my best not to panic, I didn’t get dragged too far so they should be somewhere close. I just need to pick a direction and go that way, even if it’s wrong it’s still better than staying here and waiting until something else finds me.

I look around to figure out the best way to go when I see a figure in the distance with its back to me, a woman. For a moment I get excited thinking that Katara had found me, then I realise it can’t be Katara. The woman is too tall and is wearing different clothing, though I can’t pinpoint where it’s from.

“Hello! Who are you?” I call out to her, wondering if she too is lost. She must hear me because she turns in my direction.

When she looks at me, my attention is immediately caught by her eyes. Eyes I never thought I’d see again. They’re exactly how people would describe them, the colour of burnt honey that I remember looking down at me in my crib.

“Mom?” I can’t believe it’s her, it can’t be. I feel myself beginning to walk forward, I have to make sure. She continues to watch me and I’m almost there when my foot catches on a root making me stumble, snatching my attention away from the lady as I right myself.

I look back up, but the woman is gone as she’d never been there in the first place. I look around but there’s no trace of her anywhere.

I sigh and rub my eyes, realising that not sleeping was a bad idea. I take one more glance around just in case, then decide to continue the way she was anyways, hoping not to see any more hallucinations.

-----

The sun starts to rise as I continue to look for my friends, and luckily I don’t see anything else out of place. I wonder if I should think of a new plan when I hear the sound of rustling leaves again. I tense, ready for the vines but then I also hear the sound of familiar screaming. I turn to the sound, only to see something heading straight for me and fast. There’s no time to move and the thing crashes into me, knocking me down onto the tree root I was standing on.

I take a second to realise that the thing that just crashed into me was the friends I’ve been searching all night for in the first place.

“What do you guys think you’re doing?” Sokka yells after he gets up from the pile “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Well I’ve been wandering around looking for you,” Katara argues back annoyed.

“Let’s just be glad we’ve found each other,” I say, getting to my feet, because I know I am definitely happy to see them again, this place is so much worse alone.

“I was chasing some girl,” Aang tells us, using his airbending to get up.

“What girl?” Katara asks as Aang pulls her from the branch.

“I don’t know. I heard laughing, and I saw some girl in a fancy dress,” Aang explains confusedly, and now I’m wondering if what I saw was just from a lack of sleep, or if it was something else entirely.

“Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn’t get our invitations,” Sokka jokes dismissively.

“I thought I saw Mom,” Katara says, reminding me of my own ‘vision’.

“I might have seen something too,” I admit, but I don’t give more details, I don’t even know if it was who I thought it was, I didn’t really get a good look, too distracted by her eyes.

“Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That’s why we all saw things out here,” Sokka tries to explain and rationalise it.

“You saw something too?” Katara asks, surprised.

“I thought I saw Yue. But that doesn’t prove anything,” Sokka defends. “Look, I think about her all the time. And you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot and Solmi… who did you see?”

I hesitate to answer, but they’re all looking at me and I know it’s only fair. “I thought I saw my Mom.”

“Is she…?” Katara begins to ask, and I know what she’s thinking because it seems to be following that path.

“I don’t know. She left me when I was little and I haven’t seen or heard from her since,” I tell her shakily. I haven’t talked about that woman in years, I never really saw the point when she made her decision.

“See, she must be someone you have on your mind a lot,” Sokka continues and I want to correct him, but it makes sense in this situation.

I shake my head rapidly, that can’t be it. “It was probably the swamp gas or something making things up,” I tell them, I refuse to believe someone who left me and my dad like that could ever mean anything.

“What about me?” Aang questions, “I didn’t know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here.”

“Okay, so where’s here? The middle of the swamp?” Katara gestures around us.

“Yeah… the centre,” Aang agrees, looking at the giant tree right next to us I’ve only just noticed. “It’s the heart of the swamp. It’s been calling us here. I knew it.”

“It’s just a tree, it can’t call anyone,” Sokka immediately argues against the notion “For the last time, there’s nothing after us and there’s nothing magical happening here.”

Sokka barely has a chance to finish his sentence before the water next to us rises and a giant monster that looks to be made out of vines emerges from under the surface.

We all split up in different directions to avoid the large arm that swings at where we were standing.

I quickly grab my bow off my back and start shooting at the arm that grabs Sokka and starts swinging him around. However, the arrows go right through and the monster doesn’t look affected at all.

Aang makes a blade out of air that does manage to cut the limb off, but the thing doesn’t care and extends its other arm towards the airbender and sends him flying. The monster then once again grabs Sokka and starts to run away with him.

I start to run after them, jumping from root to root, but luckily they don’t get far before Katara catches up, using the water to propel her forward. She attacks, bending water at the monster’s shoulder, but the hole made is immediately repaired by the other vines.

Katara does her best to fight the vined creature, but even so, she also gets sent flying past Aang who finally caught up only to be knocked back again.

I run-up to the arm holding Sokka while it’s distracted and start trying to cut him out. But it takes notice of my attempt and knocks me into a nearby tree while it absorbs Sokka into its chest.

I get up as Aang and Katara return. Aang uses his airbending to twist the vines, and Katara freezes the area around Sokka, before launching herself at him, pushing them both through the monster and setting him free.

I run over to the siblings while Aang jumps on the creature pushing its head into the water, but it gets up like nothing happened and bats the airbender away.

Katara creates a series of water blades that cut at the monster faster than it can mend itself back together, revealing what looks to be someone inside of it.

“There’s someone in there! He’s bending the vines!” Sokka points out to his sister, who uses the information and cuts the head in half. Still, the man sends more vines to restrain Katara until Aang comes back and uses a strong gust of wind to knock most of the vines free from the man.

“Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?” Aang demands now that the man can’t hide behind his monster.

“Wait,” A deep voice comes from the remaining vines as they start to fall away “I didn’t call you here.”

Left standing in the pile of vines is a half-naked man with shaggy grey hair, looking very confused. No one relaxes, everyone is in fighting ready positions in case he tries to do anything else.

“We were flying over, and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land,” Aang explains to the confused man.

“He’s the Avatar. Stuff like that happened a lot,” Sokka elaborates.

This seems to make the man understand and he gestures for us to follow him. There’s a hesitance but since he’s no longer attacking it might be worth hearing what he has to say. I return my bow to my back, but I keep my hand ready to draw just in case.

“So, who are you then?” Katara asks as we follow the man up the roots that lead to the centre of the tree.

“I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fellow with his big knife,” The man tells us, gesturing to Sokka.

“See? Completely reasonable, not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home,” Sokka remarks, ignoring the comment at him “Nothing mystical about it.”

“Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right,” the man corrects, “It’s sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did.”

“Sure you did. It seems really chatty,” Sokka rolls his eyes, clearly not believing a word the man says.

It is a hard thing to believe, especially when he starts describing how the whole swamp is one tree and the world.

“I get how the tree is one big thing, but the world?” Aang questions when the man finishes explaining.

“Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree?” He starts to say “If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree.”

During the man’s speech, we all sit down, invested in what he’s telling us. And suddenly I find myself wanting to believe in it all, it means that even so far away I’m still connected to my home, to Bumi.

“But what did our visions mean?” Katara asks, and suddenly I don’t think I want to know what he has to say.

“In the swamp, we see visions of people we’ve lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they’re not. We’re still connected to ‘em. Time is an illusion and so is death.” He explains and for the first time, I roll my eyes at his words. Guess the swamp got confused this time because I don’t care if I’m still connected to that woman.

“And sometimes the swamp knows us better than we know ourselves, and it can give us answers we didn’t know we were searching for,” He adds on and I can feel him looking at me but I refuse to acknowledge him.

“But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met,” Aang tells him, wanting his answer.

“You’re the Avatar. You tell me,” the old man prompts.

“Time is an illusion, so it’s someone I will meet,” Aang concludes, making the man nod.

“Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo,” Sokka points out, getting up and stretching.

“I think I know how to find them. Everything is connected,” Aang places his palm on the tree and suddenly his tattoos begin glowing. I look at Katara and Sokka stunned, but they don’t seem phased about the glowing Avatar.

Suddenly Aang stands up looking really concerned, “Come on. We’ve got to hurry,” he urges before racing off towards the swamp.

Aang and Katara get ahead of Sokka, the man and I, and we catch up just in time to see the two talking to some men in boats, Appa in a net close by.

“Hey, Huu. How you been?” A lanky guy asks the older man.

“You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual,” Huu replies, like pretending to be a monster is no big deal.

-------
We talk to the swamp people and they release Appa and Momo without any fuss. They’re actually very friendly and invite us to have dinner with them before we go, which after a day without food is an offer we can’t refuse.

Huu spends a lot of the dinner sending me pointed looks I still choose to ignore, I know he wants me to accept whatever the swamp was trying to tell me with the visions, but he’s just going to have to accept that the swamp was wrong this time.

As soon as the food is done, we say goodbye not wanting to stay another night, I think we’ve all had as much mystic swamp knowledge as we can take.

Chapter Text

Ever since the swamp, Aang has been watching carefully for any sign of this ‘mysterious girl’, stopping every now and again when he thinks he sees something.

Currently, we’re stopped at a clearing in some woods, not much else in sight except trees and a lake nearby. I think I’ve finally started to get used to the whole ‘camping’ thing, and it turns out it’s really nice on nights when the stars are visible, stretched across the sky.

And the sunrises are always beautiful, just like the one now rising over the lake I’ve wandered over to this morning. The others think that my waking up early every day is strange, since they themselves prefer to sleep in, especially Sokka. But I love it, I always have.

Plus, waking up early in Omashu meant I was always able to get everything done that day. And now in the chaos that has been the last few weeks, it’s nice to have one thing that’s still the same.

I return to the campsite from my small walk, just in time to see Sokka lecturing Momo about something, whole the lemur is happily ignoring him, munching on something instead.

“Sokka, I don’t think he’s really listening to you,” I say awkwardly as said lemur just jumps on Sokka’s head.

Before Sokka can reply, however, the ground starts to rumble and I can hear the sound of approaching footsteps. All of this wakes up the other two just in time for komodo rhinos to appear from some bushes nearby.

“Give up. You’re completely surrounded!” A tough-looking guy declares from atop a rock, while his four companions circle us.

Aang, who was sleeping on Appa, is already behind the reins and ready to go. I run towards the bison, while Sokka awkwardly crawls in his sleeping bag until it gets shot with flaming arrows forcing him out of it.

“Come on!” He yells now running, and I grab his hand to help pull him into the saddle.

Katara is about to join us when she realises she left behind her scrolls, which in turn makes Aang also notice his staff still on the ground. I hold my breath as they grab their forgotten items, quickly returning and Aang immediately signals for Appa to go, narrowingly avoiding a fireball sent by the leader.

“Wait, my boomerang,” Sokka calls, reaching out, noticing the weapon lying on the ground by his discarded sleeping bag.

“There’s no time,” Katara tells him as the men get smaller in the distance. And with no chance to go back and get it with those guys there, we just have to move on without the beloved weapon much to Sokka’s disappointment.

-------

We fly over the lake to make it harder for the men to follow and continue on further before landing on an open field that has a small stall nearby. Katara and I go to get some supplies to replace the ones that got left behind, and Aang decides to talk to an upset Sokka.

“Sorry about your boomerang, Sokka,” Aang consoles to no avail.

“I feel like I’ve lost part of my identity. Imagine if you lost your arrows, or if Katara lost her hair loopies, or Solmi lost her bow.”

“You can always buy a new one,” I suggest, but he sulks even more.

“It wouldn’t be the same,“ he replies. He gets up and makes his way over to his sister, who gives him a hug making him look a little better. Until the guy from the stall comes over, calling him ‘ponytail guy’ which makes him sad again.

The guy comes back out of the stall as Katara hands him a coin, which he looks at fascinated by the watertribe money. He then closes the window to his stall to leave. “Have a nice Avatar day!”

I blink, the words immediately striking me as something familiar, but I don’t remember why. I shake my head, it’s probably nothing.

“Avatar day?” Aang questions, attention caught by the man's words.

“You guys are going to the festival, right?” But he doesn’t wait for an answer and heads down the path to a village we saw flying over.

It’s obvious Aang at least is curious, and it’s not like we have any other plans today. So, we put the food away and follow after the man, leaving Appa behind to draw less attention. Not that he minds once he finds a bush full of berries.

The town is decorated in different lanterns and decorations, and there must be a band nearby because the sound of the music is flowing through the streets, mingling with the excited chattering of the people as they explore the festivities.

As I walk through the streets the feeling that I’ve heard of this before gets stronger and maybe I have. Even with the regulations, Omashu would still get many travellers, and most people love to talk about where they’ve come from and what they’ve seen.

Though as I try to recall a specific instance of where I heard it, all I can remember are angry voices and disbelief, as well as something about statues.

“There’s a holiday for the Avatar. Who knew?” Aang says excitedly, his voice bringing me out of my train of thought.

And just in time to see a large statue of Avatar Kiyoshi being wheeled past.

“Look! They made a giant Kiyoshi float,” Katara points, and then we’re all chasing after it.

My steps falter as I follow the others, actually seeing the large wooden float brings back more memories and I suddenly realise why those voices weren’t happy, and that maybe being here isn’t such a good idea.

“And here comes Avatar Roku,” Sokka adds when the second statue rolls by.

“Hey guys,” I try to get their attention, but the crowd is cheering loudly next to us and it drowns out my voice, which just reminds me of why I like to avoid lots of people.

“Having a huge festival in your honour is great, but frankly, it’s just nice to be appreciated,” Aang states, making me wince, I have to get us away from here without him finding out.

“Guys, maybe we should go back. Appa is probably getting lonely,” I say, trying to convince them, but even to me, it’s a weak excuse. My hands automatically go to my bowstring, and I contemplate just dragging Aang away, but that’ll be too suspicious.

“We can’t go yet. Look there’s Aang,” Katara points to the float of the newest Avatar being wheeled by.

“That’s the biggest me I’ve ever seen!” Aang remarks excitedly, and I give up knowing I won’t be able to get them to leave now.

I see a man with a torch come running towards the statues and feel myself take a step back away from the others not wanting to see their reactions.

My stomach drops as the first float is set up in flames, the second one following quickly. Part of me was hoping I had remembered it wrong, so Aang wouldn’t have to see this. And it’s made worse as the crowd just gets more excited as his float burns after the torch gets thrown at it.

“I have to do something,” Katara states, immediately running towards flaming floats. I try to grab her arm and hold her back from causing a scene, but she’s quickly out of reach.

She bends the water out of two barrels nearby and douses all the statues, putting the fires out. Much to the audience’s displeasure.

“That party pooper is ruining Avatar day!” Some guy yells from the crowd. Aang frowns at the words and jumps to stand on his counterpart's shoulder.

“Aang, please, don’t do something stupid,” I quietly beg, knowing this can’t turn out well.

“That party pooper's my friend,” Aang says before tossing the hat covering his arrow to the side, showing everyone his identity.

The crowd gasps, taking in Aang’s sudden appearance, then the air turns hostile as the townspeople reveal their fear of the airbender.

“I suggest you leave,” A man in green demands, obviously in charge. “You’re not welcome here, Avatar.”

“Why not?” Katara asks, confused by the negative response. “Aang helps people.”

“It’s true. I’m on your side,” Aang defends himself, floating down from the larger statue.

The man explains how the previous Avatar Kiyoshi had killed their leader Chin the Great, much to Aang and Katara’s shock. They try to argue for Aang and the Avatar’s honour but it doesn’t look like the townspeople want to listen to them.

I look at Sokka, nervous about what’s going to happen since everyone just seems so angry, but honestly, he looks just as concerned as I am. Still, we go to stand by their sides.

“Give me a chance to clear my name,” Aang demands, stepping forward in determination.

“The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial,” the mayor tells him.

“I’ll gladly stand trial,” Aang agrees easily, ready to prove himself.

“Aang, I…” I feel myself wanting to protest on his behalf, he doesn’t have to stand trial for something he didn’t do. Plus we don’t know anything about this town or their system. But neither he nor the mayor notices my attempt to say anything.

“You’ll have to follow all our rules. That includes paying bail,” the mayor says smirking.

And it should be no problem to do. Except unlike the nice man from the stall, the mayor refuses to take watertribe money, and has Aang in stocks and thrown in a cell before I can offer to pay myself.

Now I’m standing outside said cell door with two frustrated water tribe siblings and Momo.

“It’s okay guys, I’ll just go pay the bail since I still have some money from Omashu,” I tell them. It’d mean a quick trip to Appa and back, but it’s not that far.

“Don’t worry about it, Solmi. It’s your money and I don’t want you to have to pay for me,” Aang tells me, at least looking a little guilty about the situation he got himself in.

“I don’t get it. So, some people don’t like you, big deal. There’s a whole nation of firebenders who hate you,” Sokka says like that’s something Aang should find comfort in, I find myself resisting to smack him for his idiocy like I used to do with one of my friends. “Now let’s bust you out of here.”

But Aang refuses, even when Katara tries to convince him otherwise, desperately wanting to prove his innocence to these people.

“How are we gonna do that? The crime happened over 300 years ago,” Sokka states, pointing out to Aang the difficulty of what he’s asking. And Katara pushes her brother further, bringing some seal jerky mystery from their home. Though as soon as Sokka starts bragging about his discovery, I can tell Katara regrets bringing it up.

“See, you’ve had plenty of experience to be able to figure this out,” I tell him encouragingly, and he appears to puff out even more.

“Ok, I guess I am pretty good,” Sokka concedes to his own ‘skill’.

“So, you’ll help me with my case?” Aang asks again, even though by now he knows the answer.

“Fine,” the boy finally agrees, “But I’m gonna need some new props.”

This causes a quick shopping trip (which is interesting in a town where most people don’t like you) and with many things, I’m sure he doesn’t need Sokka is finally ready to investigate.

“Guess we should head out now,” Katara says, waving goodbye to the locked up Avatar. She and Sokka go to leave, but this time I stay by the cell. “You coming, Solmi?”

“I think I might stay here and keep Aang company,” I tell them, sitting down by the door “Plus, we never know if the mayor might come up with a new ‘rule’ we missed.”

“Are you sure?” Sokka asks, and I nod in reply so he and Katara leave to go and do some ‘detective work.

I sigh, leaning my head back against the brick walls, hopefully getting the chance to enjoy a few minutes without anything happening.

I’m seriously beginning to question why Bumi thought this was a good idea. I do enjoy being able to see new places and explore, but these stressful situations and all the people are quickly becoming too much. But it’s not like I could ever figure my uncle out that well to begin with.

“Are you okay out there?” I hear Aang ask. I twist myself around to see him sitting by the cell door looking at me worriedly.

“Me? Yeah, I’m good. Though I have to ask, why are you still in those stocks? They were obviously meant, no offence, for people a lot bigger than you,” I comment, because looking at the piece of wood just dangling from his limbs, it’s clear he can just slip out of it.

“I told them I’d play by their rules, and I guess this is a part of that,” Aang replies and I hum in acknowledgement.

A sort of comfortable silence falls over us as we wait for the siblings to return, and to my joy, neither the mayor nor any townspeople come down to ruin it, so I get the chance to relax for a moment.

“You got a bald head, some nice tattoos…” I hear a deep voice come from within the cell. I get up just in time to see a big guy run at Aang, causing the airbender to sink down against the wall, but luckily the chain around his neck stops the larger man in his tracks.

“...You’re gonna fit in real well around here,” the man purrs, the new light revealing a snake tattoo wrapped around his body. I look past him and realise there are actually a group of people in the cell with Aang that we’d missed in the shadows.

“Aang, you sure you don’t want to leave?” I ask, ready to find Sokka and Katara if a quick escape is needed.

“I’ll be fine. He just said I’ll fit in so I’m sure he just wants to be friends,” Aang replies optimistically, walking over to the chained man.

“Yes, exactly. Why don’t you come meet my other friends,” the guy wraps his arm around Aang’s shoulder and leads him over to the other men deeper in the cell, while I stand by the door watching on worried, ready to intervene if I have to.

-----

As it turns out I have no reason to worry because apparently, Aang can become friends with just about anybody. He instantly settles in the group and begins telling them all about his adventures, bringing up Sokka and Katara and his immediate crush on the watertribe girl, moaning about how she never seems to notice.

“This girl you’re talking about, she’ll come around. You just got to hang in there,” the first guy tells Aang, and I’m just stunned that the Avatar is getting romance advice from random criminals in a cell.

“You think so?” Aang asks, finally slipping out of the stocks to lean on them. More caught up in this conversation than the rules from before.

The others in their circle let out a chorus of agreements to Aang’s question, all seemingly wanting to encourage him in one way or another.

“Don’t be afraid to tell her how you feel,” the biggest of them all says, wiping away a tear.

I listen to their praise and bite my lip wondering if I should say what I want to say. “So, Aang. You’re saying you’ve been in love with Katara since the first time you met?” I can’t help but ask. It’s been obvious that he likes her, but I never knew the whole thing.

“I’m not sure I would say that, but the first moment I laid eyes on her I knew she was special,” he replies, looking off to the sky with a dreamy look in his eyes.

“I don’t want to be mean or anything. But don’t you think that’s a little naive? She could’ve been a terrible person,” I question, trying to be polite, the last thing I want is for Aang to be mad at me.

“I just knew…” He replies, so assured of himself.

“But you know love at first sight doesn’t exist right?” I finally let slip the words that were on my mind the whole time.

“What, of course it does.” Aang says, taken aback.

“Why are you being so critical of his feelings?” The bigger guy demands, feeling the need to come to Aang’s defence.

I flinch at the accusation and instinctively step back a little from the door. “No reason, I was just wondering.”

“Solmi? What’s wrong?” Aang asks, now concerned by my retreat. I sigh, knowing I’ll have to say something or suffer from his sad eyes, so I lock my eyes on a wall rather than the airbender himself.

“You know after my mom left no one really talked about her,” I admit, forcing the words out my mouth. I hear confused muttering at the random topic, but they decide to keep quiet and let me continue. “The only one who did was my dad, but even then it wasn’t often. If I did ask, he would only tell me about when they met. He would always say that it was love at first sight, that he knew she was the one, that she was special. And that she felt it too”

A silence fills the cell area, and immediately I regret saying anything. I spent so long not even thinking about her, and now this. I blame the swamp.

“I’m sorry Solmi,” Aang says, and I just shrug him off, turning around to stand by the wall next to the bars, out of sight from deeper in the cell.

“Yeah well, what did he know. In the end, she left him and she left me. Couldn’t have been that special,” I reply, trying to play nonchalant and failing. Still, at least he can’t see me taking deep breaths, fingers tapping across my crossed arms attempting to clear away all the bitterness I feel whenever I think of her. This is not the time or the place.

Talk slowly resumes in the cell, men giving Aang advice, presumably to cheer him up. But this time I decide firmly to stay out of it

----

Eventually, after the sun sets Sokka and Katara return with the mayor in tow. Aang says goodbye to his new friends and comes over to meet us at the gate, stocks back in place.

“Honorable Mayor. We’ve prepared a solid defence for the Avatar. We did an investigation and found some very strong evidence,” Katara announces and I see out of the corner of my eye Sokka giving Aang a thumbs up.

“Evidence? Ha! That’s not how our court system works,” The mayor laughs at us mockingly.

“Then how can I prove my innocence?” Aang asks the man.

“Simple. I say what happened, and then you say what happened, and then I decide who’s right,” The mayor replies to our disbelief. “That’s why they call it justice, because it’s just us.”

I watch his back as he leaves with a maniacal laugh and now I think I know why so many kind people are also in that cell.

With nothing else to do after that revelation, Sokka and Katara tell us about the information they gathered so Aang can argue his own defence when the time comes.

In the morning a guard takes the airbender to his trial, and Sokka, Katara and I have to join the townspeople in the seats surrounding an open area and try to remain hopeful.

But by the time the mayor is done explaining how great Chin was, it’s obvious how this will turn out. Especially when it gets to Aang’s turn and his defence is more jumbled words than an actual defence.

“I don’t suppose you have a plan B?” I ask the siblings, cringing as Aang continues to butcher everything he was told.

And as it turns at least Katara has another plan, but as I watch Aang return from where Katara dragged him away, drowning in oversized clothes and face paint, I wonder if maybe we should just give the talking thing another chance.

“What are you doing?” Sokka whispers urgently, voicing my own thoughts.

“Well, she is Aang’s past life. Maybe wearing her stuff will trigger something,” Katara reasons sitting back next to us.

“I do believe in the power of stuff,” Sokka agrees, playing with his fancy monocle.

“Let’s just hope it actually works,” I say, seeing the mayor shooting us unhappy looks over Katara’s shoulder.

It almost doesn’t, the mayor continues to get angry the longer the former Avatar doesn’t appear, despite Aang’s best efforts to pretend she has. The older man is about to put an end to the trial, but before he can a tornado of wind surrounds the airbender and the area is bathed in darkness. The wind clears and standing in the front of the cloud is not the Avatar I’m used to seeing.

I watch mesmerized as Kiyoshi speaks. She explains what happened that day, how Chin the Great refused to move from his spot and fell into the ocean, but part of me is more entranced by the fact I’m seeing one of the past Avatars right in front of my eyes.

Once she says her peace she disappears once again, leaving Aang swaying in her clothing. Katara rushes forward and manages to catch the airbender before he falls to the ground.

But once the shock clears, I realise, like everyone else, that Kiyoshi just confessed to doing exactly what the mayor said. The crowd starts cheering in excitement and I begin to panic. Aang must want to leave now, he stayed to prove his innocence and managed to do the complete opposite.

A man brings out a wheel, with a variety of different punishments on it, from being burnt alive to being eaten by a shark.

Aang stands in front of the wheel, sending a guilty look back towards us and the crowd, telling us he’s already decided what he plans to do.

“I said I would face justice, so I will,” he says before giving the wheel a powerful spin.

The crowd yells the punishments they want to see, while Katara and Sokka hope for community service, I just wish Aang would leave all this behind.

It starts to slow, looking like it might land on the community service at least, but it slides past stopping on a picture of a person in a burning pot, deciding his punishment to be boiled in oil.

My hand immediately goes to my bow. I know what Aang said but I’m not just going to let him get boiled alive.

Suddenly, an explosion breaks the sound of cheering and smoke fills the air.

“We’ve come to claim this village for the Fire Lord!” A gruff voice yells, and I turn to see the same men from the other day looking down at us from their komodo rhinos.

The men demand for the mayor, and one villager does not hesitate to out him, causing him to hide behind the punishment wheel. I keep one eye on the men, the other watching the mayor convince Aang to help them, changing his punishment to community service instead.

Aang smirks and easily takes down the first guy, knocking him into the ocean with only a little bit of airbending, meeting the leader with a stare when he’s done.

“Rough Rhinos. To the town!” The leader yells and the others charge towards the town ready to destroy it.

“We have to do something!” Katara commands, running off after the men, Sokka following closely behind.

I watch them go hesitantly, not so fast to follow. But Katara is right, we have to help. I look to the rhino of the first man, now abandoned without its rider and shrug. I hop on the animal, freeing it from the wheel, then chasing after the others to the town.

As soon as I arrive I see bombs being thrown and I quickly draw my bow, shooting the objects and making them explode in the air rather than in a house. The man glares at me, angry at my interruption and throws a bomb at me next.

I gasp and pull the reins for the komodo rhino to get it to move, but it’s too late and the bomb lands close enough to throw me off the animal.

I lay on the ground for a moment, regaining my senses before using the small amount of smoke created to roll out the way before Fire Nation man can throw anything else at me. I hide behind a nearby wall and watch as he pulls another bomb, looking around for me.

I look down the alley near me and wonder if there’s a way I can sneak away without him noticing, but I shake my head. I started this now so I should finish it.

I quietly pull another arrow, and when his back is turned I aim it at the explosive in his hand, knocking it away before it explodes throwing him into a wall.

I take a breath, before immediately tensing when I hear footsteps, only to see Sokka running down an alley.

I sigh in relief and follow after him, soon after we find both Aang and Katara, the airbender just haven taken out the leader, causing any of the remaining rough rhinos to retreat.

We make our way back into the centre of the town, where the burnt statues used to sit, and suddenly everyone is surrounding us, cheering and thanking us for getting rid of the rhinos, which is a stark difference from the negative reactions from before.

When the night comes they hold a new Avatar festival praising Aang instead for his heroic deeds, which for some reason includes unfried dough.

I move away from the crowd, not used to this sort of attention and praise, whereas the others almost revel in it.

Part of me wonders if it’s something I should even be allowed to be involved in. It almost feels wrong to get all this praise when for a moment I hesitated, wondered if I should even be in the fight. Once again I look at the others, forcing themselves to eat the Aang dough but appreciating the gesture, and I wonder if it’s just something I have to get used to doing.

Chapter Text

I lean against the wall, watching people strolling the streets of the new town we’ve stopped at today. The others are browsing the stalls in the market, but I’ve got caught up watching everyone around me.

This town is definitely larger in size, and the streets are full of a different array of people. From a man pulling a wagon of goods to a rich couple being pulled in a carriage by horses. This place is clearly diverse with its rich and poor in a way that reminds me of home.

“It’s pricey, but I really do like it,” Sokka contemplates, pulling me out of my musings. He’s still debating over a bag which just reminds me of why I got distracted in the first place.

I roll my eyes as he goes back and forth, Katara getting increasingly annoyed until he finally walks away, just to run back and get it anyway.

I follow along, just to make sure he doesn’t go back to questioning his decision, and we make our way back to the other two, bag happily clutched in his arms

“What you got there?” I ask, looking over Aang’s shoulder at a piece of paper he’s staring intently at.

“It’s a coupon for a free earthbending lesson, I think Aang should go,” Katara tells me as I quickly skim the words on the page.

With no reason not to try it, Aang goes to find this academy, and the rest of us sit on a ledge outside waiting for his lesson to be over.

“Hey, Solmi, while we’re waiting, can I ask a question?” Katara asks, piquing my interest, I nod signalling her to continue. “Are you sure you’re not an earthbender?”

“I’m pretty sure, my dad was a non-bender,” I reply easily, already used to this question. A lot of people would assume I get along with Bumi as much as I do because we were both earthbenders and that’s why he took me in.

“Neither of our parents could bend but I’m still a waterbender,” Katara says, motioning between her and her brother.

“Yeah, and you said your Mom left when you were a kid, so maybe she was an earthbender,” Sokka adds. I try to hide my flinch at the casual mention of my mother, but Katara catches it and wacks her brother for his lack of tact.

“I will admit I used to wonder about that too, but Dad never said anything,” I tell her, I can tell she still wants to ask more so before she does I continue. “And I did try to get Bumi to teach me once, but nothing happened, I couldn’t even move a pebble.”

This finally seems to satiate Katara’s curiosity, just in time for Aang to return, wearing the academy’s uniform.

“He’s not the one,” he announces, knocking dust out of his ears.

I go to ask what exactly happened there when the loud voices of two kids also leaving the academy cut through. I feel myself being drawn to their conversation, listening to them argue over something called Earth rumble.

“Excuse me, but where is this earthbending tournament exactly?” Aang asks running after them, attention caught.

“It’s on the island of Noneoya… none o’ ya business,” one of the kids snarks, he and his friend walking away laughing at the terrible joke, though it does make Sokka snigger too.

“We'll take care of this,” Katara comforts the now upset airbender, pulling me after the two boys with a friendly call.

I’m confused as to why, but once she has them frozen I think she just wanted the sight of the bow to scare them even more into spilling.

I gape at her, ignoring the cries of the boys, but she holds her finger to her mouth with a wink and cheerfully pulls me back away from the alley.

“You ready to find an earthbending teacher? Because we’re going to Earth Rumble 6,” Katara announces, to Aang’s surprise.

“How did you get them to tell you?” He asks, but Katara just blows it off innocently, and now I know I don’t want to get on the wrong side of her.

---

Once we make it to the location of the rumble the back seats are already packed with people, though the closer seats remain completely empty.

“Hey, front row seats. I wonder why no one else is sitting here,” Aang says and he takes a seat, only to get his answer from a boulder crashing right next to us.

“Okay, well after spending most of my childhood around earthbenders, I think I know how this will turn out, so I’m just going to go sit a couple of seats back, let me know if you find anything,” I tell them, already used to dodging flying rocks from watching the guards train. But still, I sit close enough I can get back quickly if Aang happens to find a teacher here.

The announcer appears in the middle of the ring, introducing himself to loud cheering all around. He explains the basic rules, then leaves the ring so that the matches can start.

They’re all pretty basic matches. The men are strong I can admit, but compared to what I’ve seen Bumi do, it’s also a little boring. So, instead I mostly just watch the trio in front of me, Sokka, is very much into the whole thing, while Aang just seems disappointed by each person who comes out.

It’s only when they announce the final match that I feel myself being taken in, someone being called the ‘Blind Bandit’ is very attention catching. However, the surprise at the name is replaced when I look in the ring to see a young girl holding the belt proudly above her head.

I feel myself lean forward in my seat, trying to get a closer look to see if she really is blind like her name suggests. But by the time the match starts it’s already over, the girl needing no effort whatsoever to send the Boulder flying.

“To make things a little more interesting. I’m offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit,” Xin Fu announces, and I see Aang eagerly jump down from his seat to get to the stage.

“What is he doing?” I ask, going back to join the siblings as Aang makes his way to the stairs.

“He thinks she might be the one Bumi was talking about,” Katara replies worriedly.

Aang happily walks onto the ring to accept the challenge, not concerned about all the shocked looks sent his way from the crowd.

“Go, Aang! Avenge the Boulder!” Sokka yells excitedly, though Katara and I are more concerned about what Aang is going to do against the skilled earthbender.

“Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here?” The Bling Bandit mocks, bringing a loud ‘ohhh’ from the audience.

“I don’t really want to fight you. I just want to talk to you,” Aang tells her, ignoring the challenge he accepted by going on the stage in the first place.

“Boo! No talking,” Sokka heckles which gets him a slap from Katara.

“Don’t you think you might be too into this, Sokka?” I ask the watertribe boy, but he just shrugs, immediately going back to yelling when the girl tries to attack Aang.

He jumps out the way, landing gracefully with his airbending. He continues to evade her attacks while trying to talk until she sends a large rock at him which he airbends back at her, knocking her off the ring.

The crowd cheers for the new winner, but Aang just runs off chasing after the girl. I get up, getting to the middle of the ring with Sokka and Katara at the same time Aang returns looking very disappointed.

“So, what happened?” Katara asks

“She just didn’t want to listen to me,” Aang replies, clearly upset about not being able to talk to her.

“I’m sure she’s just upset she lost. We can try looking for her tomorrow after she’s had time to cool down, and she might be more willing to listen,” I tell him, though I can’t be sure because she seemed pretty hot-headed from the start. Even so, the idea picks up Aang’s mood, and with it decided we go back to Appa for tonight with a plan of searching tomorrow.

----

“I got to admit, now I’m really glad I bought this bag, it matches the belt perfectly,” Sokka comments, wearing the belt Aang had won yesterday since the airbender didn’t want it.

“That is a big relief,” Katara replies sarcastically

“You might want to be a little careful wearing that belt around, Sokka,” I tell him looking around nervously, a lot of people saw that match last night and some might not react nicely to seeing the belt just being shown off.

“If we want to find the Blind Bandit, the earthbending academy is a good place to start,” Aang says, walking up the same stairs we were sitting on the day before.

As soon as we get to the academy I immediately notice the two boys from before are there practising.

“Oh, great, you again,” the nearly bald one moans, but the second they see Katara and I they jump back afraid.

I didn’t think I particularly did anything to scare them, but I guess being dragged along with Katara caused this. At least it might work to our advantage.

It’s then that they recognise Aang as the one who beat the Blind Bandit, which gives the perfect opportunity to ask about her. But as it turns out she’s a mystery, not even Katara’s threatening can get them to say anything else.

“That’s because we’re asking about the wrong person,” Aang realises, “In my vision, I saw a girl in a white dress with a pet flying boar. Know anybody like that?”

“Well, a flying boar is the symbol of the Beifong family. They’re the richest people in town, probably the whole world,” the kid with the ponytail tells us.

“Yeah. But they don’t have a daughter,” the other one adds, peeking out from where he had hidden behind his friend.

“A flying boar is good enough for me. Let’s check it out,” Aang motions for us to go so we leave, Katara sending a warning to the boys as we go.

-----

As the richest family, it’s not hard to track down the Beifong estate and once we do we hide behind some rocks, studying a giant set of gates.

“That’s the flying boar from my vision. Come on,” Aang says, looking at the emblem on the gate. We all move, sneaking around the walls that surround the mansion. We watch as a guard turns a corner and quickly take the opportunity to jump the wall. Aang first, then Sokka, Katara and me, Aang and Sokka gently catching me on my way down.

Running forward I hide in a bush to scout the area when I feel the ground underneath me start to rumble, and before I know what’s happening I’m being thrown in the air, only narrowly managing to land in a bush. Though from the looks of it, Sokka was not as lucky.

“What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?” There’s a young girl standing in front of Aang, dressed in elegant clothing, hair nicely pulled up. It’s almost impossible to recognise the girl from last night now that she’s dressed in her high-class clothing.

“How did you know it was me?” Aang asks, looking at the girl upside down from where he landed.

“Don’t answer to Twinkle Toes it’s not manly,” Sokka reproaches from the ground.

I slowly slide myself out of the bush, brushing off leaves and petals before making my way over to Sokka to help him up as Katara mocks him for his matching bag and belt.

“How did you find me?” The Blind Bandit demands.

“Well, a crazy king told me I had to find the earthbender who listens to the earth,” Aang starts to explain.

“Hey, he wasn’t that crazy, just… unorthodox,” I mutter, defending my uncle but Aang is lost in a rant at this point.

“And then I had a vision in a magic swamp, and…”

“What Aang is trying to say. Is he’s the Avatar, and if he doesn’t master earthbending soon he won’t be able to defeat the Fire Lord,” Katara finishes explaining for him.

“Not my problem,” the girl dismisses. “Now get out of here or I’ll call the guards.”

“Look, we all have to do our part to win this war. And yours is to teach Aang earthbending,” Sokka tries to convince her, and something inside me flinches at his words. I think this is the most serious I’ve ever heard him since we met.

The Blind Bandit stands for a moment as if contemplating, but then yells for the guards. I immediately dive to the shrine nearby, hiding behind the wall. While the others run aimlessly for a couple of seconds, finding their hiding spots just as two guards arrive to escort the girl back to the mansion. Luckily for us, she decided not to report us for whatever reason.

We slip back over the wall undetected and gather around to think of a new plan. Still, I can’t get something out of my head.

“Don’t you think it was a bit much to tell her she’s needed to help end the war?” I ask, it’s a lot of pressure to just put on somebody.

“Maybe it was, but Sokka is right, we all have our part in this and this just might be hers,” Katara stresses.

“Right, of course,” I reply hesitantly, adjusting the bow around my chest. She has a point I guess.

“Guys, I think I have a way to get us in,” Aang says, grinning mischievously.

His plan as it turns out is to use his Avatar status to get us in the house, under the guise of wanting to talk to her parents.

Fortunately for us, they seem to be very excited about having the Avatar come to their home. We’re warmly welcomed in and brought to a large table where food is being served ready for supper.

Already at the table is the girl, and two people I assume are her parents, as well as the guy from the leaflet of the academy. After the introduction, where we finally learn Toph’s name, the meal begins and I’m secretly glad for all those times Bumi insisted on teaching me higher class dinner manners even if they weren’t used in the palace.

“Blow on it, it’s too hot for her,” Lao orders the servant after he brings out a bowl of soup for Toph. I can instantly tell he’s a little overprotective.

Aang decides to use this moment to impress the family, using a small tornado to cool down the soup.

“Avatar Aang, it’s an honour to have you visit us,” Poppy proclaims, making conversation.

“In your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last?” Lao asks, and a similar tense from before hits me again, making me put a little more effort into keeping my polite smile in place.

“I’d like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer…” Aang begins to say and my smile drops just a little from the shock. He continues to hint about an earthbending teacher but the words fly over my head.

End of summer? That’s not that far away. Sure it’s many months but it still seems impossibly close when put into a time frame like that. Katara and Sokka don’t even seem surprised so I assume this was probably the plan for a while, and it makes sense, everyone just wants this war to end.

But the way the others play around and always seem so carefree, it’s easy to forget that they all have this huge thing that they’re a part of.

It makes me wonder, when Sokka and Katara said everyone had their part if they also meant me. But they couldn't have. I'm not as strong or as smart as they are, I couldn't help whatsoever. What would my part even be? I’m here because Bumi said I should be, and even then I don’t know why.

I feel someone poking my shoulder, and I see Katara standing next to me. “Are you okay?” She asks, concern obvious.

I look around at the now-empty table realising I must have gotten lost in my thoughts while the rest of dinner happened.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking,” I reassure her, finally leaving the table to follow her to the room we’re staying in.

There are two large beds and a large window where Appa is poking his nose through, and I let myself flop back into bed as the others discuss the situation that happened between Aang and Toph.

My eyes begin to close slowly, but they open again when I hear Aang yell.

“Relax. Look I’m sorry about dinner,” Toph says leaning against the door frame. “Let’s call it a truce, okay?”

Aang relaxes and they decide to go on a walk around the gardens to talk it out.

“So what had you distracted during dinner?” Sokka asks me, lying down on the other bed. “You basically missed a whole food fight.”

“It was nothing, don’t worry,” I tell him, not sure if I want to explain what I was thinking about, it’s probably old news to them.

“You know you can come to us if something is bothering you, right?” Katara fixes me with this look, one that could probably be described as mothering.

“Of course I do,” I say anyways, feeling guilty about not being completely honest.

Suddenly, there’s a loud series of noises coming from the direction of the gardens, so we all hurry out, running into the Beifong parents and master Yu on the way over.

The garden is a mess, a rock trail leads to two square-shaped indents left in the ground, along with a piece of paper being pinned down with a sword. But the worst part is that Aang and Toph are nowhere to be seen, which can only mean one thing.

“Whoever took Aang and Toph left this,” Sokka says, picking up the sword and pointing it at Katara so she can take the note.

“If you want to see your daughter again, bring 500 gold pieces to the arena. It’s signed Xin-Fu and the Boulder,” Katara reads, as Toph’s parents look on horrified. Though Sokka is more excited about having Boulder’s autograph.

“Sokka, they just kidnapped your friend. Why are you still a fan?” I ask, not understanding his obsession with the basic earthbender anyways. But he just looks at me offended then goes back to admiring the paper.

At least everyone else is still sane, so manage to make a plan, retrieving the money Aang got from winning his match and heading to the arena to return it with Master Yu and Lao accompanying us.

When we get there Aang and Toph are hanging from the ceiling in metal cages, Xin-Fu and Boulder standing below them.

“Toph!” Lao yells, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Here’s your money. Now, let them go,” Sokka demands, dropping the bag of coins on the floor. Xin-Fu earth bends the pouch over to them, checking the amount and then gestures for Toph’s cage to be lowered.

Once the cage is low enough, the bottom opens, dropping Toph out who runs to her father. He wraps his arm around her and begins to lead her out.

“What about Aang?” Katara asks when Aang’s cage doesn’t move.

“I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty price for the Avatar,” Xin-Fu reveals, unravelling a wanted poster with Aang’s face on it.

It’s clear we’re going to have to fight to get Aang back, and it should be easy, until one after another all the fighters from the previous matches appear.

“Go. I’ll be okay,” Aang calls down. My shoulders drop, I know we can’t fight this many and so do Sokka and Katara, so we listen to Aang’s words and leave.

Not one to give up though, the watertribe siblings chase after Toph to convince her to help. But I stand, waiting at the bottom of the stairs, an uncomfortable familiarity coming over me as Aang’s cage gets lowered into waiting hands.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see Toph marching out of the tunnel, face furrowed in determination.

“Let him go. I beat you all before, and I’ll do it again,” Toph declares, bending a wall in front of them to stop them from leaving.

Predictably they don’t listen and start attacking, so Toph creates a dust cloud that settles around the ring preventing anyone from seeing what’s going on.

Sokka pokes me on the shoulder, pointing over to where Aang’s cage lay forgotten in all the commotion. Katara and I follow his lead and go to set Aang free, Katara pulls at the doors on the bottom while Sokka hits the lock with a rock. I grab an arrow and push it into the seams of the cage, trying to pry them open but every attempt just breaks the arrow instead.

Eventually, Sokka manages to break the lock and Aang crawls out, immediately ready to join the fight, but Sokka stops him, pointing out how easily Toph is doing it on her own, men flying out of the cloud to land in a big pile.

The fight is over quickly, the dust settles with only her standing in the middle of the ring. I clap slightly, impressed which she accepts gladly.

We go with her back to her dad and Yu then back to the house, Poppy welcoming her daughter back until Lao declares there needs to be a meeting in the main room.

Toph stands, shrinking in front of her parents, while we sit on the bench behind.

She finally tells her parents the truth, that she loves fighting and earthbending and that she’s not as helpless as they always thought she was. And it’s easy to see that despite her dad hiding her from the world she does love him. It’s a strange thing to see from a girl who just single-handedly took down 8 earthbenders, but everyone has their different sides.

“Of course it doesn’t change the way I feel about you, Toph,” Lao says in response to her speech “It’s made me realise something.“

“It has?” Toph seems hopeful, excited that her dad might just accept her as she is.

“Yes. I’ve let you have far too much freedom,” he replies, ruining that hope “From now on, you will be cared for and guarded 24 hours a day.”

Toph tries to argue but her parents don’t let her, and we’re dismissed by Lao, no longer welcome in the Beifong home.

But I can’t just leave like this, Toph looks so crushed by her father’s response and it’s not fair, no father should treat their daughter like that.

I pull myself away from the guards and march over to stand in front of the Beifong’s. Lao glares at me in contempt and I almost give up, but I know I just have to do this so I push through the nervousness.

“You know my uncle is… was the King of Omashu,” I start, and even this bitter man can’t stop the shock that spreads across his face. “Not by blood, but he and my father were really close, then after my dad… was gone, we were all we had. And that was scary. And he could have sheltered me, kept me safe from the world that took my dad. But in the end, he knew that wouldn’t be what was best for me, and he loved me enough to let me live my life how I wanted to. I know it must be terrifying the idea of letting Toph go, but it’s your responsibility to let her live the life she wants, whether or not you want it to.”

“It’s my responsibility to keep her safe,” Lao replies coldly, taking everything I said and choosing to ignore it. “You may leave now.”

With nothing left to do we leave, no other ideas coming to mind on how to convince Toph’s parents when they seem so against everything. We grab Appa and head to a nearby cliff to look over supplies before we leave.

We get ready to fly when the sound of someone out of breath breaks through the silence around us. I look behind me and see Toph running at us from the woods, a giant grin on her face.

“Toph, what are you doing here?” Aang asks excitedly.

“My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world,” Toph replies just as excited.

“Well, we’d better get out of here before your dad changes his mind again,” Sokka says.

Toph agrees but does make sure to get Aang back by earthbending him into a tree. She also asks Sokka for the belt back, and I’m glad he can’t brag about it anymore.

We grab her arms and pull her onto the bison, double-checking everything once more.

“Hey, Solmi,” Toph says, getting my attention. “I just wanted to say thanks, for what you said back there. I think it helped change his mind,”

“No problem, I’m just glad you’re getting to do what you want,” I tell her, smiling which she returns.

Chapter Text

After leaving Goaling Aang decides to look for a place further away where he can learn earthbending without disturbing anyone. Unfortunately for us, the surrounding area is mostly forests and mountains so it takes a while to find an open clearing for Appa to land.

“Hey, you guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft,” Toph comments once she slides off the bison, noticeably relaxing now her feet are on solid ground.

I look down from where I was handing stuff to Sokka on the saddle, not remembering seeing any grass when we landed.

“That’s not grass, Appa’s shedding,” Sokka tells her, looking at the white fluff now covering the ground.

“Oh, gross,” Katara cringes, trying to get off the fur.

“That’s not gross. It’s just a part of spring. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa gets a new coat,” Aang explains, a bird landing on his head to prove his point.

“I can’t believe so much gathered this quickly,” I muse, landing on the ground to grab a handful of the soft fur. You could make a bed with how much is here.

And it only gets worse when Appa sneezes, an entire new cloud of fur coming raining down much to Katara’s annoyance.

I grab the stuff abandoned in all the fur dramatics and move them further away so they don’t end up getting coated too, ignoring Aang messing with Appa’s fur from the saddle.

“It’s not that bad Katara, it makes a great wig,” I hear Sokka say and turn around just in time to see Aang jump down, fur beard in place making the two laugh.

“I’m just glad we have another girl in the group, now we can outnumber your two’s stupidity,” Katara remarks, glaring at the giggling boys.

Only to have her words thrown back at her when Toph rocks up, shirt full of fur to give her some hairy pits.

“Don’t worry Katara, still me and you,” I tell her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Though in the end, we both can’t help laughing along with the others.

And it’s nice to have a moment like this, fun and not stressful. It helps me push aside those bad feelings I got when we were in Goaling.

But the sun is quickly getting low so we all move to complete our various jobs for the night, which for me today is checking through the food to see what we can make for dinner. I’m thinking maybe soup.

I go to ask Katara who was next to me, only to see she’s now over by Toph who’s lazing against some rocks. I can see Katara’s form starting to tense and I deliberate for a second before deciding to put down the sack of food and head over to see what they’re talking about.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” I ask cautiously, hearing the tautness of Katara’s voice.

“I was telling Toph about how we all help out setting up camp,” Katara replies, tone getting sharper.

“And I was telling her that I’m fine. I can carry my own weight. I don’t need a fire, I’ve already collected my own food. And look…” Toph earthbends two walls around her to create a tent-like shape. “...My tent’s all set up.”

“Well, that’s great for you, but we still need to finish…” Katara starts but I decide to cut her off.

“Oh yeah, Katara, I figured we could make a soup tonight, we should probably start that before it gets too late,” I say, trying to draw her attention to anything else than Toph

“You can start it yourself can’t you?” She argues, and I try not to flinch at the harsh tone.

“Please,” I plead, just wanting to get her away from the other girl so they can cool down a little.

“Fine,” she grumbles, going to join the boys. I cheer a little in my head, glad that’s been dealt with.

“Well, I’ll leave you be now. Uh, have a good night and if you want any soup, you know where it is.” I mumble awkwardly to the earthbender, Katara’s comments putting her in a bad mood.

“Why did you stop me?” Katara demands as soon as I walk back to the food. “She should learn to help.”

“She’s still new to this, just let her settle first,” I tell her and she seems to accept it as she returns to cleaning the water ready for cooking.

But she’s barely there before she abruptly stands up, saying she has to apologise to Toph, and this time I decide to stay out of it, neither of them seemed to appreciate my interference before. Which might’ve been a mistake when Katara comes marching back clearly frustrated with whatever happened with Toph.

When it comes time to sleep I am just glad to relax after dealing with Katara’s testiness the rest of the night. I can feel myself just starting to drift off when Toph’s voice wakes me again.

“There’s something coming towards us,” she yells, making me scramble out of my tent.

“What is it?” Aang questions, all of us now tense.

“It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche,” Toph tries to explain, crouching down to feel what it is.

“Your powers of perception are frightening,” Sokka mocks, eyes barely open.

“Should we leave?” Katara asks concerned, Toph’s description not helping us figure out what to do.

“Better safe than sorry,” Aang decides, so we quickly pack up camp and hop on Appa to find somewhere else to sleep. As we do we can see a cloud of dirt heading for where we just left.

-----

We fly well into the late-night, slow blinking eyes and yawns reaching everyone as we find somewhere else to land.

Appa lands heavily, too tired to care about being gentle. Toph jumps off with no hesitation, collapsing onto the ground.

Toph immediately goes to go to bed when Katara stop her retreat. I sigh, waiting for a fight to happen.

I try to ignore the bickering, just passing Aang supplies, actually unloading while they argue, but it’s not long before both Aang and Sokka get distracted by it.

“Look here, Sugar Queen. I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending. So don’t you talk to me about being selfish,” Toph drops to the floor and earthbends her tent back up so she can block out Katara.

I can feel my hands shaking as they tense around the bag I’m holding listening to Toph’s words. I take a deep breath to get rid of the sudden doubt that comes over me and drop the bag, I leave the rest of the stuff and make my way over to where Katara is banging on the makeshift door to Toph’s tent.

“Ok, ok. You both need to calm down,” Aang tries to mediate, but by the look of Katara’s tensing shoulders, it’s not the right thing to do.

“Both?! I am completely calm!” She yells at him, making him awkwardly sidestep away from the fuming girl.

“Come one, Katara, leave it for tonight. We’ve already gotten the sleeping bags down, let's just get as much rest as we can so we can figure out what that thing was in the morning,” I reason with the waterbender, slightly begging.

I expect an outburst like the one she sent at Aang but instead, she just lets out a deep breath, “Okay, you’re right, sleep is probably the best idea right now.” She agrees, sending one last glowering look at Toph’s tent before going back to the sleeping bags.

I lie down next to Aang, taking a deep calming breath as my eyes close. I wish I knew what to do about the arguing girls. As the eldest, I feel like maybe I should try and take control and meditate, but I’m more used to dealing with building leases or supply prices, not little arguments.

I feel myself thinking back to the words I heard Toph say during their heated discussion, and I try not to give into the doubt that comes from it because I know I can’t relate. When I think of what my life was just a mere few months ago, this is never where I expected to be. And I don’t know if it’d be a choice I’d have made, not like Toph did.

“The stars really are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can’t see them, Toph!” Katara snipes and I feel a sting of irritation go through me, causing me to take another deep breath.

Toph retaliates by earthbending Katara onto Sokka, much to the older boy's displeasure. I get ready to tell them to behave when Toph emerges from her tent.

“That thing is back,” she says urgently.

“Well, how far away is it? Maybe we can close our eyes just for a few minutes,” Sokka hides back in his sleeping bag, but from how close the cloud from before is, I don't think any sleep will be happening right now.

So, once again we pack our stuff onto Appa and fly away from whatever it is that seems to be following us.

Aang takes us an extravagant route, over hills and ditches to the top of a nearby mountain, where Appa, the poor creature, just falls straight overthrowing all of us onto the ground.

Sokka caterpillars away in his sleeping bag, too tired to even get up from the fall. Though the same cannot be said for the girls who immediately start arguing again.

“Come on, guys. There’s something after us, and we don’t even know what or who it is,” Aang moans at them.

“It could be Zuko. We haven’t seen him since the North Pole,” Katara guesses. I tilt my head in confusion, I think I heard them mention that name before, but they just said he was a bad guy.

“Who’s Zuko?” Toph asks, and I wonder if they’ll go into more details if they think he’s after us.

“Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who’s tracked us all over the world,” Sokka replies, which helps a little I guess.

Still, to think there’s someone that determined out there to follow them everywhere, I would be lying to say I’m not intrigued. Once we get away from whatever is following us and get some sleep, maybe I’ll try and get some more details from them.

“Anyway, whoever is chasing us, they couldn’t have followed us here, now would everyone just shush,” Sokka demands after arguing with his sister about his ‘wolf tail’. Pushing Momo away when the lemur decided to chatter at him in response to his request.

Momo jumps over him, looking out at the mountains, ears moving rapidly before he turns around to screech at us.

“What is it Momo?” I ask the distressed animal, who’s gone back to looking out at the distance.

“Oh don’t tell me,” Sokka groans.

I run over to where Momo is staring intensely, and sure enough, the now-familiar cloud of smoke is getting closer.

“Let’s get out of here,” Katara suggests, already heading for the barely standing bison.

But Aang stands in the same place watching whatever is coming nearer. “Maybe we should face them and find out who they are. Who knows? Maybe they’re friendly.”

Soon we’re able to see the smoke belongs to an intricate machine, and once it stops the door opens to reveal three girls on mongoose lizards who I know are not friendly.

My eyes are instantly drawn to the girl with the buns, drawing my bow. She’s the one whose family now lives in what used to be my home, so why is she here?

“We can take them, three on three,” Toph states challengingly, and I feel my face furrow at the number.

“Actually Toph, there’s five of us,” Sokka corrects her, though I’m sure she meant what she said.

“Oh, I’m sorry, didn’t count you and girly over there, you know, no bending and all,” Toph jokes.

“I can still fight,” Sokka and I say at the same time, though I’m sure my voice gets drowned out by his yelling.

“Ok, three on three, plus Sokka and Solmi,” Toph ‘corrects’ herself.

I shot arrows at them the same time Toph earthbends rocks their way. But they dodge it all with an ease that’s hard to comprehend in my sleep-deprived state.

“Well, we wanted to find out who they were, and we found out. Now let's get outta here,” Sokka says, grabbing my arm and running towards Appa, Aang and Katara quickly following.

Toph bends a wall in front of them to slow them down, but the firebender in the middle breaks it immediately. Just giving Toph enough time to get herself onto the bison and for us to take off before blue flames light up right where we were.

“I can’t believe these girls followed us all the way from Omashu,” Katara says, exhausted.

Toph insists we could’ve stayed and taken them, but I think the lack of sleep has affected her judgement. Those girls are strong enough without all of us being too sleep-deprived to fight properly.

And just to prove a point the sun decides to make its appearance over the horizon, causing Sokka to freak out about a night of no sleep.

“Every time we land, those girls are there. So we’ll just have to keep flying,” Katara reasons.

“We can’t keep flying forever,” Aang replies frustrated.

“Maybe not. But hopefully, by the time we land next we’ll have figured something out,” I say, trying Aang’s optimism for once.

And it sounds like an okay plan, but as the day drags on it gets increasingly difficult for any of us to even keep our eyes open for longer than a couple of seconds, let alone think of any plan.

I see the water tribe siblings start to nod off when suddenly everyone starts flying off Appa, the bison himself having fallen asleep.

I force my hands to hold on as tight as I can as I watch the ground get closer and closer. There’s a jerk as Appa wakes up, stopping the rapid descent by flying into the trees. But he’s barely able to straighten out before he falls again, landing heavily on the ground and sliding, leaving a trail in the dirt behind.

“Appa’s exhausted,” Aang tells us, sliding off the bison’s head. I crawl across the saddle, stroking the sleeping creature and praising him for flying as long as he did.

“Ok, we put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa’s lead and get some sleep,” Sokka says, clutching his sleeping bag tight and looking for a place to lie down.

“Of course, we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn’t have such issues,” Katara starts on the girl just lying on the ground.

I groan, sliding off Appa with my sleeping bag in tow as Toph screams in response.

“All right, all right! Everyone’s exhausted. Let’s just get some rest,” Aang tries to mediate, but the two girls are already heated.

“No, I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?” Toph demands stamping her foot.

“Guys, seriously let’s not do this now. We only have a short time to sleep so...” I start to say in between them, but Katara’s glare cuts me off.

“Solmi, will you stay out of this. You’ve been trying to deter me from saying this all day, well I’m done,” Katara snaps at me. I blink at the hostile words before putting my hands up and walking to sit by Appa’s head.

If they don’t want me to interfere I won’t, but I can at the very least close my eyes and try to rest.

Though that idea goes out the window when Toph brings up Appa and Aang goes from trying to stop their fight to being involved in it. Though Toph does have a point, even now the wind is carrying Appa’s loose fur out into the distance.

“I’m out of here,” Toph declares, grabbing her bag and walking away. Sokka attempts to stop her, but she simply earthbends him out of her way.

She walks into the forest before I sigh, forcing myself to get up, “I’ll go after her.”

“No, if she wants to go sulk, let her,” Katara retorts pettily.

“Katara, don’t be an idiot. She’s still Aang’s earthbending teacher. And we can’t just leave her on her own with those girls still chasing us,” I say, following after Toph before anyone can say anything else.

----

It seemed like a good idea at the time until I remember that she can probably feel my following her and can avoid running into me, whereas I have no idea where I’m going Still, I don’t give up and continue to aimlessly walk around the large forest until the sun gets lower, and there’s a chance her tired self won’t sense me coming.

I look around as I walk, searching for little hiding places, or tracks she could have left behind. Unfortunately, that does mean I’m not quite paying attention when I walk past a low branch, and I end up bumping into someone on the other side.

I get excited thinking maybe I finally found Toph, but that hope is dismissed when I actually take in the form of a kind-looking old man standing across from me.

“I’m sorry,” I immediately apologise, but he waves his hand at it.

“Don’t worry about it. It seems these woods are a great place to bump into many strangers,” he replies kindly. I wonder for a second if that means he also ran into Toph, but I doubt she’d let herself be found by a random person.

“Sorry again, but I really should be going,” I tell him, but at the same time, I feel myself not wanting to leave.

“You seem troubled,” he observes as I stand awkwardly, my feet not letting me go.

“I’m fine,” I say, forcing my legs to move, but the disbelief in his eyes is clear and I feel like I should elaborate. “It’s nothing, just a lot has happened recently.”

He sits down on the ground across from me and gestures his hand inviting me to sit with him. I know I should really continue looking for Toph, and I don’t even know him. Still, something compels me to take his invitation.

“What’s on your mind?” He asks kindly, no pressure to talk if I don’t want to. But there’s something about him that reminds me of Bumi, and just that small reminder helps me open up in a way I know I usually wouldn’t.

“My home was taken by the Fire nation a couple of weeks ago,” I start, leaving out certain details. “They destroyed my home, and now I’ve been separated from everyone I grew up with, including my uncle.”

“You’re not out here alone are you?” He asks, concern slipping onto his face, but I shake my head.

“No. I met this group of people and I’ve been travelling with them,” I tell him which makes him look a little happier.

“But…” He encourages, knowing there’s more and I wonder if I’m just an open book right now.

“I feel like I don’t belong,” I sigh, finally acknowledging how I’ve been feeling for the first time. “They all seem to have this… purpose, and I don’t know if I fit into with it, or even if I want to or… I can’t even get two of them to stop arguing,” I mumble vaguely because I'm not even sure what I’m really trying to say, I just know everything’s been a mess since I left Omashu.

“You don't have to follow the same path if it's not something you want to do. If you talked to your friends I'm sure they would understand,” he advises, but it frustrates me.

“But they all seem to sure of themselves and I... I feel like I don't know who I am anymore. My uncle seemed to think I'd be fine, but I really wish he would’ve helped me figure out what I’m supposed to do,” I feel like I’ve let Bumi down, he was so confident I’d be able to help Aang on his journey, but I know I can’t.

“I’m sure he knew this was something you had to work out for yourself. And it’s okay to feel lost, to struggle to know who you are. But, it could be leaning on those around you that help you through your struggles the most, even if they aren’t the people you expected it to be,” he says wisely, through his eyes drift away, like he has somebody else in mind he wishes he were talking to.

I take in his words, and maybe he’s right, maybe I should just give myself time to figure it out. “Thank you,” I tell him gratefully, brushing leaves off my legs when I stand up. I reach my hand down to help him stand as well.

“You are most welcome, I hope you find your answer.” And with that he continues on his way, waving before disappearing behind some trees.

I look up at the darkening sky and remember why I’m even out here in the first place. I decide to go back to the others to see if Toph went back on her own when I catch a flicker of blue flames lighting up the dark sky behind the tree line.

“Oh no,” I whisper to myself, running in the direction of the flames.

Eventually, the trees end and I come across a ruin of a town. I follow the trail left from the fighting, from burn marks to wet soil and soon I come across the others, Toph included, chasing after the firebending girl.

I quickly hide behind a nearby building, surveying the surroundings. She’s the only one I see, but her friends could be anywhere nearby.

She runs down an alley near me, so I’m about to step out to help, but before I can, the old man from before stops her instead.

I stop in my tracks, surprised by his appearance, watching as he and my friends back the girl into a corner. It’s only then I take notice of another guy I don’t know, scar standing out from the angle I’m looking at him from.

My heart starts racing as I stare, not being able to pull my eyes away from him even though I know I should help.

I jump hearing a pained yelp, ripping my eyes from the guy just in time to see blue flames vanishing and the old man falling to the ground, gripping his shoulder.

Everyone takes this as a signal to attack, and I look on stunned to see all the elements heading for the girl at once. She creates a wall of flames to protect herself, creating a huge explosion that fills the area with dust.

With almost everyone else blinded in the cloud, only I can see her running away behind the buildings. I lift the bow that I had drawn previously and shoot, aiming for her legs to at least stop her from escaping. But she notices at the last second, and dodges, but not before the arrow puts a hole through her swaying cloak.

She stops, looking at the new hole in her clothing before glaring at me, hatred filling her eyes. However, somebody makes a noise as the cloud begins to settle causing her to remember the group nearby and she takes off again, ducking behind some ruins making me lose sight of her.

I watch, wondering if I should chase after her, but I know there’s no way I could handle her alone, so I turn my attention back on my friends.

I see them walking up to the stranger, who’s kneeling next to the unconscious old man.

“Get away from us!” He yells upset. I can only guess that they must be close, the pain in his voice sounding unsettlingly familiar.

“Zuko, I can help,” Katara says walking closer to them.

I gasp. So that’s Zuko? He’s not at all like what I imagined he would be. He looks so lost, not like someone with an endless amount of determination to chase the Avatar around the world.

“Leave!” He sends a stream of fire at the others, making the duck afraid. And that’s apparently what it takes for them to realise maybe they should listen to the distraught man.

They walk away, presumably back to camp, and I know I should follow. But I can’t help but give the two men one last longing look.

I sneak behind the buildings to catch up with the others, not wanting Zuko to catch me and get mad, and I finally reach them when they get to the beginning of the trees.

“Solmi! Where were you? I was so worried,” Katara says once she sees me, drawing the attention of everyone else.

“I got lost in the woods looking for Toph,” is all I can bring myself to say. I should probably explain more, but my mind is elsewhere.

“You’re lucky, we ran into that firebending girl again and she got away. But, hopefully, that’ll be the last we see of her,” Sokka tells me. But I recall the look in her eyes as she ran and I know it won’t be.

I follow the others back to where they left Appa, no one saying anything since everyone is too exhausted. Which gives me time to think about what I’m about to do.

It doesn’t make any sense, not even to me, but I know I’m going to do it anyway. He was so nice to me, helped me see things I couldn’t figure out myself, and he did say about getting help from unexpected people.

We get back to the bison, eyes slowly blinking forcing himself to stay awake in case he’s needed for a quick escape once again. I walk over, petting Appa’s head which he huffs at happily. I hear Momo chattering from above me, and I call him down so I can pet him too, the animals almost instinctively knowing what’s gonna happen.

Everyone slowly climbs onto the saddle, settling in place. But I stay on the ground, hands firmly clutching my bowstring.

“Solmi? You getting on?” Katara asks, leaning over.

I take a deep breath to prepare myself for the words I’m about to say. “Aang, you know what Bumi told you in Omashu? I think it’s time.” The other three look at me confused, but I can tell Aang understands.

“Are you sure?” He asks concerned, and I nod.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I say with a confidence I didn’t know I possessed.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Sokka asks, and I’m surprised he’s still awake.

“Solmi’s going away for a while, like Bumi said,” Aang tells them. Toph still looks confused but the watertribe siblings both stare at me, frowns set on their faces. But I look back, trying to muster all the determination I can to show them it’s okay.

“Then here,” Katara hands me a small supply bag. “It’s not a lot but it’ll keep you going till you find another town.”

“Thank you,” I’m grateful none of them push for an explanation because honestly, I don’t know if I could give one when I’m still questioning this decision myself. “And Toph, Katara, please try to get along.”

“Sure thing,” Katara agrees easily.

“Whatever you say,” Toph replies nonchalantly, but I know she listens since she doesn’t outwardly argue.

I put the bag on the ground, checking it glad to see some medical supplies, then I slowly remove my bow and quiver from my back, my hands shaking as I hold it out.

“Hey, Aang. Do you think you could keep these safe for me?” I say handing them to the surprised airbender. I figure Zuko already seems wary, showing up with a weapon isn’t going to help anything.

“Yeah, of course. It’s not like it’s going to be for long,” he replies jokingly, but I can hear the question hidden behind it.

Chapter Text

The sun has now fully set and I am more tired than I have ever been. But, I still know I can’t just sleep in the forest alone, so I head back the way I came to the abandoned town.

I realise my entire plan is hinged on whether or not Zuko saw me during the fight. The man needs help, more help than Zuko can offer by himself out here, so I hope if he thinks I’m a random stranger he might be more accepting. Though going by the little I hear about him that might not be the case.

The trek seems longer than last time, probably from the way my feet slowly drag along the ground, but eventually, the trees clear and the destroyed buildings come into view.

Part of me just wants to collapse right here, deal with this in the morning when I can actually think. Then I realise that they might not even still be here, so I wander over to where the fight happened just moments ago, some building still smouldering.

I look around for the two men but I can’t see any sign of them, for a moment I wonder if maybe they did just leave after the fight. I groan, looking up at the sky unsure of what to do now when I see a light coming from a hill nearby.

With nothing else to go on, I climb my way up the hill coming across a broken house with what looks to be a fire inside, shadows dancing across the walls in a way that resembles a person.

I ponder for a moment about what to do. Should I call out, knock, just go in? From Zuko’s hostile reaction earlier none of them seem like good options, but I have to do something so might as well go for the easiest. I take a deep breath to prepare for whatever reaction I’m going to get.

“Hello?” I call out, trying not to be too loud, but in this still darkness, everything is louder. The shadows move and I hear footsteps approach the opening where a door would be. Zuko only peeks his head around the gap, clearly already defensive.

“Who are you?” He demands, and I hope the dark hides the way I flinch at the hostility.

“No one, in particular, just a traveller,” I say, keeping my voice as friendly as possible while fighting the urge to pull my hands to my chest, no longer having the bow to try and relax me. “I was passing by when I saw that your… friend was hurt. So I went and got some stuff that can help.”

“We don’t want your help, leave,” He snaps, already turning away from me.

“No, wait I have…” I step forward to hand him the bag.

He yells and firebends at me the same way he did the others, but it barely reaches me unlike the powerful stream I saw him make earlier.

“Do you want to help now?” Zuko stood tall, looking down at me in an attempt to intimidate me. And if I didn’t already know he was a firebender it might’ve worked, but now I refuse to back down.

“Yes. Your friend, he helped before and I just want to return the favour,” I reply. I can’t see his face in the dark but I can tell by the way his shoulders drop that he wasn’t expecting that. Maybe now he’ll listen to me.

“Just go away,” he says instead, going back inside the house.

I sigh, but there’s not much else I can do if he’s going to ignore me. I just have to try again in the morning, maybe he’ll have calmed down after some time.

I drag myself back down the hill to find somewhere to sleep myself, hoping that they’ll still be there in the morning.

I know that maybe I should just call it quits, Appa can’t have flown too far with how tired he was so the others must be close by. But I won’t, I will get this guy to accept my help whether he likes it or not.

----

I wake up in the morning to being blinded by the sun coming through a crack in the roof. I groan, turning over to see an almost blue sky which startles me. This might be the first day I’ve missed the sunrise in years, though with two whole days with no sleep it’s not that surprising.

I get up, groaning as I stretch out my sore back from sleeping on the ground, and look around the house I found myself in for anything that might be worth grabbing.

But the only thing of note I find is some old clothes. I look down at my outfit and realise it might be too much for a simple traveller, it’s a good thing it was too dark for Zuko to notice last night.

I keep my trousers and shoes but I grab a large green shirt to replace my tunic since it’s the only thing not covered in holes. It’s too big for me and as soon as I put it on it falls down one of my shoulders, but there’s not much I can do about it. I grab a brown sash to tie around my waist as well as my dagger holder to at least keep the large shirt in place.

Satisfied that I’ve searched the whole house, I grab my bag and make my way back up the hill to the lone house at the top.

The silence of the early morning is eerie, it makes sense there are no people here, but it seems the fight yesterday and the subsequent small fires still burning have scared off all the animals as well.

I reach the top and there is also no noise coming from within the house, which I hope means they’re both asleep and they didn’t take off during the night. Though from the looks of the man’s injuries it didn’t look like he was going anywhere.

As I get closer I notice an ostrich horse tied up nearby, which I must have missed in the dark last night. The creature startles when it sees me squawking in surprise, I quickly but carefully go over to shush it, but I know it’s too late. If Zuko didn’t know I was here before he definitely does now.

I take a deep breath to gather myself, then I leave the animal slowly making my way to the opening in the wall.

“How is he?” I ask politely, looking at the man lying on the ground while Zuko is kneeling by his side.

“I told you to go away,” Zuko says in lieu of answering. He still seems annoyed about my being here, but at least he’s not openly hostile.

“And I told you I wanted to help,” I argue, not ready to back down.

“Why won’t you just leave!?” He yells, getting angrier every second, and I have to control myself not to flinch away.

“Why won’t you just let me help?” I retort and he goes silent with no answer ready. “I get that you don’t know me, that you have no reason to believe I’m here with good intentions. But the bottom line is that your friend is hurt and we’re in the middle of nowhere. What are you going to do when those bandages need replacing? Do you have any more? Do you even have anything to help clean the injury?”

Zuko stares at me stunned, and I can’t blame him, even I just surprised myself. But once I’m determined to do something I have to do it. Bumi would be proud of my stubbornness right now.

I take a hesitant step into the building, I see Zuko tense, but he also doesn’t make any move to stop me. I take it as a win and sit down against the wall right next to the opening.

I dig through my bag to dig out a cloth, clean water, some healing salve and bandages. “Here, the water’s clean so you can use it to wipe down your friend's wound,” I say, leaning over to set down the items right in the middle of Zuko and I.

He glances at me warily but takes them nonetheless. He then goes over to the old man and I close my eyes trying to relax and appear as non-threatening as I can.

“Uncle,” my eyes shoot open to see Zuko looking between me and the man, “he’s my uncle.”

He gets to work, not fully turning his back to me, but still being able to manoeuvre his uncle to wrap the new bandages around his shoulder. He settles the man back down, but he doesn’t go back to the spot across the room from me instead, he goes over to a pot, adding leaves into what I presume must be a tea.

I watch him silently, not wanting to break the uneasy atmosphere now that he seems to have relaxed a little. But it doesn’t matter because only a moment later a groan breaks through the silence.

“Uncle, you were unconscious,” Zuko tells the waking man, “Azula did this to you. It was a surprise attack.”

“Somehow that’s not so surprising,” his uncle replies, groaning in pain as he sits up against the wall. It’s only then does he notice me also in the room.

“Hi, it’s uhh… nice to see you again,” I wave nervously. He looks between Zuko and I, no way to hide the nervousness in his eyes.

“Hello,” he replies kindly despite it, “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here?”

“I realised I never got to thank you, you know, after you helped me, so I wanted to find you. But I heard a commotion and when I got to the town I saw that you were hurt and I just didn’t want to leave after you were so nice to me,” I explain roughly, hands playing in my lap.

“That was very kind of you, my dear,” he says sincerely, and I smile, glad someone appreciates my efforts.

Zuko then hands the man a cup of steaming tea. “I hope I made it the way you like it,” he says softly, and it almost sounds like a completely different person.

His uncle takes the cup with a fond look, which all but disappears once he takes a sip. I have to contain my laugh at his reactions, but a little slips as I watch him throw his drink out the window when Zuko turns away from him. The firebender turns to glare at me, making me press my lips together and turn away to keep from laughing again.

“So, uncle, I’ve been thinking. It’s only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I’m going to need to know more advanced firebending if I’m going to stand a chance against her,” Zuko says, and I figure it’s a good thing his uncle doesn’t have any more tea, or else it might’ve ended up everywhere.

“What? Firebending? I have no idea what you mean by that.” He splutters, head going back and forth between watching me worried and looking at Zuko like he’s gone crazy.

“Don’t worry, I already know you’re Fire Nation. Your nephew here didn’t do a great job of hiding it last night,” I tell him boldly, and there’s a little satisfaction I feel at the glare Zuko gives me.

His uncle sighs, but not in dread, almost like he might’ve seen this coming.

“If that’s the case I feel like introductions are in order. My name is Iroh, and my nephew here is Zuko,” Iroh explains and I smile to hide my shock. I know where I’ve heard that name before, it’s not that widely known about General Iroh, but since Bumi was around then he had mentioned it. “You never told me your name.”

“It’s Sol,” the nickname slips out to my surprise. People only called me that when I was younger, and only Bumi occasionally does it now.

“Now that all the pleasantries are done, let’s get back to Azula,” Zuko rudely interjects. “I know what you’re going to say: she’s my sister and I should be trying to get along with her.”

“No, she’s crazy and she needs to go down,” Iroh tells him instead, and if they’re referring to the girl with blue firebending I can’t help but agree.

Iroh gets to his feet, groaning and wincing from the fresh injury, I lean forward wanting to help but I stop myself, not sure if he or Zuko would allow me to.

Iroh makes a new pot of tea before he starts, probably so he can actually drink it this time, and my fingers start nervously tapping on my knees. If this is important, maybe it’ll be best for me to leave, but at the same time, neither of them are making any movement to tell me to go.

“Lightning is a pure expression of firebending, without aggression. It is not fuelled by rage or emotion the way other firebending is,” Iroh explains, and I feel myself get drawn in by his words. “Some call lightning the cold-blooded fire. It is precise and deadly, like Azula. To perform this technique requires peace of mind.”

“I see. That’s why we’re drinking tea, to calm the mind,” Zuko assumes, taking his cup from Iroh. I’m pleasantly surprised to see the older man handing me a cup of my own, and I take that to mean I can stay and listen.

We drink our cups and then Iroh gestures for us to follow him outside. I glance at Zuko, and we share a look, but he quickly breaks it and heads out of the broken building.

I follow after him and join Iroh standing at the edge of the hill. I didn’t get a chance to take in the landscape last time since it was dark, but looking out now, at the bare rocks and mountains that surround the abandoned town, it’s clear that we are really in the middle of nowhere.

Iroh starts his lesson, explaining how lighting works with positive and negative energies crashing together. He motions for us to step back from him, after we get to an appropriate distance Iroh begins to move his hands, slow but sure of every movement. The air feels like it's crackling around us and with one last motion he points his fingers over the hill and lighting follows, shooting through the blue sky.

I jump from the noise, and I can feel all of my nerves on edge from the energy, that was amazing… and terrifying.

“I’m ready to try it,” Zuko exclaims as the last of the lighting fizzles away.

"Remember, once you separate the energy, you do not command it. You are simply its humble guide. Breath first," Iroh commands, and Zuko does just that, he takes a deep breath and subconsciously I feel myself follow along.

Iroh gestures for me to stand next to him, so I hurry over, out of the way of any potential danger.

Zuko goes through the same motions as his uncle, face furrowed as he flows through it. I prepare for the terrifying display once again, but it doesn't happen. Instead of any lighting, it ends with an explosion of fire that knocks Zuko backwards towards our feet.

“Let me try again,” the boy says, determined despite the setback. So, he tries again. And again.

Eventually, Iroh and I move to sit by the broken house as Zuko repeatedly attempts to generate lightning and fails, growing more and more frustrated with every explosion instead.

“So, what happened to your friends?” Iroh asks after making more tea. I take my cup and sip on it while trying to figure out what I can tell him. I know I can't mention that I was travelling with the Avatar, from what Sokka said of their history I don’t think they’d take it well.

“After I saw what happened to you, I went back to them and told them I had to go,” I explain vaguely. “I figured they’re a strange group of people so it shouldn’t be so hard to find them again.”

“Why can’t I do it?” Zuko seethes after being knocked over again, “Instead of lighting, it keeps exploding in my face, like everything always does.”

“I was afraid this might happen. You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you,” Iroh explains, walking over to the frustrated boy.

”What turmoil?” Zuko yells something I’m starting to realise he does a lot. He continues to argue with Iroh, getting more irritated when his uncle's words don’t seem to help him figure out how to generate lightning.

“I have another idea. I will teach you a firebending move that even Azula doesn’t know because I made it up myself,” Iroh boasts, presumably putting a pause on the lightning.

Zuko looks at his uncle hopeful, with what almost looks like a smile on his face. It’s a nice change from the frown I’ve only seen him wear, it actually makes him look… handsome, he should do it more often.

“Sol?” I blink, looking over to see Iroh is now looking at me questionably with Zuko sitting in front of him. I feel heat creep to my face as I realise I must have just been staring at nothing too busy thinking about Zuko and that stupid kind of smile. “I asked if you wanted to listen as well?”

“Yeah, I’m coming,” I reply, shaking my head to rid myself of those thoughts. I sit down in front of Iroh, but as far away from Zuko as I can without it looking like I’m avoiding him. Seriously what am I even thinking about, I barely know this guy and yet I still feel drawn to him

I listen intently as Iroh describes the different nations, images of my friends coming to me as he does. I try not to laugh when he says about air nomads having a good sense of humour, because at least in my experience I think Appa might be funnier than Aang.

“Why are you telling me these things?” Zuko asks as Iroh finishes drawing the last of the element’s symbols in the dirt.

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others -the other elements and the other nations- will help you become whole.”

“All this four-element talk is sounding like Avatar stuff,” Zuko comments. The small stick I was playing with breaks in my hand as I tense, making an audible crack that draws the attention of the two men.

“Anything wrong, Sol?” Iroh looks at me, eyebrows raised and I quickly throw the two broken stick pieces behind me.

“Everything’s fine. Just… a weak stick I guess?” I force out, even though I know that was the worst excuse ever. Luckily Iroh takes it and moves on telling Zuko about learning from the waterbenders.

My interest piques at his words, glad to avoid any awkwardness of my reaction, but then I see his eyes glance at me and I know he’s not going to forget it. Iroh gets into a wide leg stance and starts moving his hands from side to side, following along his arms and body in a smooth flow I know I’ve seen Aang and Katara do while practising.

Zuko instantly gets up and follows his uncle, but I stay sitting on the floor, watching curiously trying to figure out what firebending move Iroh could have learnt from the waterbenders. Maybe when I get back I can tell Aang and Katara about it and they might learn something new themselves.

“Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their defence become their offence, turning their opponent's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning,” Iroh reveals and I feel my eyes widen.

“You can teach me to redirect lightning?” Zuko asks, surprised.

Iroh nods and begins to explain how it works. I try to listen but then my eyes drift over to the broken stick and I think back to the way I froze just because Zuko mentioned Aang. I need to pay attention to that reaction, if I do that every time I hear about the Avatar they might begin to piece it together, and I have a feeling that won’t end up well for me.

“Great. I’m ready to try it with real lightning,” Zuko says excitedly and the shock of his words brings me away from any thoughts of Avatars and being discovered.

“What? Are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous,” Iroh tells him and I can see Zuko’s face fall.

“You can’t be serious,” I question, unsure if I even heard him right.

"I thought that was the point, you teaching me how to protect myself from it," Zuko argues. I can see his thinking, but also I can't believe he wants to try it. Just watching Iroh from a safe distance earlier was terrifying enough.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to shoot lightning at you," Iroh yells in bewilderment. "If you're lucky, you will never have to use this technique at all."

The air is tense from their argument, and the dark clouds rolling over the mountain only add to the atmosphere. Iroh walks away, and I stand frozen, unsure of what I should do. Tell Zuko he's being an idiot? Convince Iroh to do it anyway?

I know the smarter of the two options, eyes glancing at the dark-haired boy. But he looks distracted, staring out at the mountains.

"Well, if you won't help me, I'll find my own lightning," Zuko declares, rushing over to the house to grab the ostrich horse before riding off towards the mountains.

I watch mouth agape turning to Iroh to see if he'll do something, but he doesn't. I can tell he's upset about the turn of events, but he also looks conflicted, like he's not sure if he should go after his nephew.

I however am not. "I'll go after him," I say and Iroh looks at me surprised.

"You can't. It's too dangerous," he argues and I know I shouldn't be surprised he cares, he's already shown me that, but it still catches me off guard. But his concern just makes me more determined.

"We might not know each other that well. But you've helped me more than you realise. The least I could do is make sure your nephew doesn't get himself struck by lightning, even if that is what he's hoping for," I tell the older man, I can tell he wants to argue more, but he doesn't. After all, he is the one who said people from the Earth Kingdom are persistent.

I head out quickly, hopefully, I’ll be able to find Zuko before the storm really hits. Though it’s like the clouds can hear me, because right after I finish that thought I hear a loud clap of thunder right overhead, and the downpour quickly follows.

I speed up as much as I can, going at a fast jog since anything more will make me slip, and as I see a flash of lightning light up the sky I know I don’t have that time to waste.

Soon I am back in the town, I stop for a moment looking around to see if maybe Zuko decided to give up and is waiting out the storm. But unfortunately, though I find the ostrich horse tied up in a house with at least a roof to keep it out of the rain, there’s no sign of the idiot firebender I am looking for.

I hope since he left the animal that means he can’t be too far ahead of me, and that could have made things easier, except the rain has washed away any sign of where exactly he went.

I look around, desperate to find anything as the storm rolls nearer, but I know it’s futile. The sun was already beginning to set before the dark clouds took over the sky. Still, I refuse to give up. I go towards the mountain I see first, hoping that because storms are unpredictable Zuko would go for the closest peak rather than the tallest.

The climb is hard with all the rain, but luck seems to be on my side as there is what looks to be a path, worn into the cliffside from multiple people walking it, maybe leftover from whoever lived in the village before.

By the time I get near the top, the storm is in full motion, and it’s hard not to get knocked over by the force of the wind. But as I reach the top it’s worth it because my speculation paid off. Standing there in the middle of the peak is Zuko.

“You’ve always thrown everything you could at me. Well, I can take it. And now I can give it back!” Zuko yells, voice full of so much hurt and rage I can still hear it through the downpour.

“Zuko!” I call out, climbing onto the peak and all of a sudden the full effect of the storm hits me with no mountain to protect me up here. I put my hand up in a pointless attempt to protect my face from the rain, but it protects my eyes enough to see the shock on Zuko’s face before it’s quickly replaced by anger.

“What are you doing here!” He demands, turning to face me rather than staring up into the sky.

“I came to stop you from doing something stupid!” I reply, but his deepening frown shows me he doesn’t appreciate it.

“Just leave me alone!” He snaps, but I’m just glad he didn’t try to firebend at me again, I couldn’t avoid it in this.

“Look, I get that you feel frustrated, but can’t you see how ridiculous this is? You don’t even know if you’ll be able to redirect lightning. And then what? Your uncle said there’s no coming back from that,” I try to hold it back, my frustration at the guy is steadily growing the worse the storm gets.

“You would never understand. I used to have everything and now I have nothing,” something in me snaps at his words.

“I wouldn’t understand? Really? The Fire Nation has taken everything from me. They destroyed my home. The place I grew up, all my memories, gone. Not to mention they’ve taken my uncle, the only family I have left, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again,“ I stop myself before I accidentally say too much, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, calming my frustration before it boils over.

“Don’t say you have nothing. You have your uncle who is probably beside himself with worry, waiting for you to stop whatever you’re trying to prove right now,” I continue, now calmer. Zuko is looking at me, face twisted in a way I can’t read with all this rain. Surprise, concern, understanding? Whatever it is, it isn't important right now. “Look Zuko, let’s just…”

Anything I was going to say gets cut off by a flash, lightning travelling through the sky a lot closer than I like. I’m was so caught up in trying to get through to Zuko that it makes me jump, and the tiny movement is enough to make my feet slip on the wet and muddy ground.

I go to correct myself when my foot lands on a piece of rock sticking out, causing it to bend at a strange angle.

I don't have time to register the pain however before I realise I am much closer to the edge of the mountain than I thought.

I feel myself falling backwards, the ground no longer steady under my feet. The start of a scream starts to tear its way out of my throat, and my arms fling out to try and grab anything that could stop my descent.

Instinctively I clutch my eyes shut, but they shoot open again when a firm hand grabs my wrist. A rush of air passes me as I'm pulled forward, back onto rocky ground, and into a pair of arms that keep me steady so I don't fall again.

It takes me a moment before I can even move, my heart racing from the almost deadly experience. When I look up the only thing I can see are Zuko's golden eyes looking back at me concerned.

We stay like this, looking at each other as the storms starts to slow down around us. My eyes trace a stray raindrop as it falls from his hair down his face making me admire just how good he looks on its slow descent. My heart continues to race, but now I wonder if it’s because of how strong his arms holding me up.

The moment is broken by a last distant clap of thunder, making me flinch from the sudden noise. I blink, bringing myself back to reality and realising just how close we were standing. Zuko backs away, slowly letting go of my arms.

"Are you okay?" He asks awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm…" I cut myself off with a wince as I try to step with my right foot. I pause, then try to put pressure on it again. But the pain makes me gasp and I yank it back up, wobbling a little.

"What happened?" Zuko comes back over to me and lets me put my hand on his shoulder to help keep myself balanced.

"It's nothing. My foot just landed funny on that rock before I fell. I'm sure it'll be fine in a little while," I tell him, hoping that really is the case.

Zuko looks from me to the path back down the mountain. "Do you need help getting down?"

I want to refuse his offer, putting my foot back down, but even a little bit of pressure hurts, and I don't know how long this will take to go away. So all I can do is nod sheepishly.

It's slower getting back down than it took to get up, I have to lean on Zuko the entire way and both of us are being more careful since the ground is still slippery.

By the time we make it to the bottom, the storm has fully passed, giving way to a bright moon which gives us enough light to find our way back to the village.

The ostrich horse squawks in annoyance once we find it again, shaking its slightly damp feathers to show us how he felt about being left in the storm.

Zuko helps me on, then jumps up himself, leading the animal back to where we left Iroh.

He's sat in the opening to the house, teapot steaming beside him. His head perks up when he sees us coming, but he stays where he is, waiting for Zuko to go to him.

Zuko helps me down, but even so, I can't stop my foot from touching the ground as I jump, my face scrunches up and I press my lips together to stop myself from crying out.

I limp my way over to Iroh, his calm expression now one of worry when he sees me favouring one leg.

There's silence. Iroh and Zuko watch each other while I lean on the latter for support.

"Why don't you have some tea to warm up?" Iroh says, finally breaking the tension.

I smile, making my way indoors. Once I’ve finally sat down again I sigh, glad to be off my feet for a while.

I take the cup Iroh gives me gratefully, that is until he comes over, familiar bandages in his hands.

"No, wait. You don't have to. It's not that bad." I stammer, trying to stop him from wrapping my ankle. But still, he removes my shoe to get to it better. "Really, those are supposed to be for you."

"We have more, it'll be fine," Zuko answers, though his gaze is set to the mountains we just came from.

I know I've lost if both of them are agreeing, so I just sip on my tea to hide my wincing when Iroh pulls my ankle in a weird way.

"You won't be able to walk on this for a couple of days at least," Iroh tells me once he's done, and I feel my eyes widen at the news. I didn't realise it was that bad. "Don't worry, we'll happily take you to the next town."

I look at Zuko, expecting him to argue, but instead of looking out the opening, he's looking back at me. His eyes narrow once ours meet, but he doesn't say anything, just nods to show he doesn't mind. And I guess that’s all the confirmation I’m going to get from him.

Chapter Text

I’ve been travelling with Zuko and Iroh for a couple of days now. At first, the idea of going with them sounded easy, but as it turns out trying to fit three people onto one ostrich horse is a bit of a tight squeeze.

There was a slight debacle as we tried to figure out seating positions, I couldn’t sit behind Iroh without the risk of falling off and being squished between the two men seemed uncomfortable. In the end, it was decided that since I’m shorter than Zuko I should sit in front of him, that way he can still see while directing the bird.

Unfortunately for me, this means that I spend most of the day leaning back against Zuko’s chest while his arms grab the reins on either side of me. Neither of us appreciated the suggestion when it was offered by Iroh, but apart from one of us outright walking, this was the only way to go.

So now, I just have to avoid turning around so no one can see the flush on my cheeks and hope Zuko can’t hear my heart racing through my back.

I know I shouldn’t react this way, Sokka’s way of describing the older boy as an ‘angry jerk’ is accurate, but I can’t deny that he’s a good looking jerk. Though it’s not like he’s a jerk all the time, the last few days have shown me just how much he cares about his uncle.

Right now it’s night time so we’ve stopped to make camp, Zuko easily making a fire as I help Iroh change his bandages.

It’s quiet, the only noise is the slight snoring of the Ostrich horse, who fell asleep as soon as it touched the ground. I imagine carrying three people must be difficult for the poor thing.

“I’m going to make some tea,” Zuko says, grabbing the teapot from the sleeping bird. I see Iroh’s eyes widen in horror, and the older man looks at me desperately, making me remember his reaction last time Zuko made tea.

I can tell he’s asking me to interfere, but I don’t know what to do. I can only think of one way to make Zuko stop without being rude, but I haven’t picked up a teapot since my dad...

But Iroh is staring at me so intently, and I do owe him. I hastily finish wrapping his shoulder, leaving him to tie it off as I get up to face the younger firebender. “Actually why don’t I do it?” I suggest, hiding my desperation.

Zuko glares at me, but he also stops his preparations which I am thankful for. “Why would you do it?”

“To show my gratitude of course,” I reply, a small limb still there as I walk over to Zuko, all while he watches me suspiciously.

“You really shouldn’t be walking on that,” I hear him mutter as I kneel down next to him

“It’s fine, it’s basically healed,” I wave him off, hiding the way the corners of my lips twitch at his concern. “Plus I want to do this. My dad used to make tea all the time and he made sure to teach me when I was big enough. But it’s been a while since I’ve done it.”

I take the tea leaves from his hands, while also trying to ignore the way the light from the dancing flames brings out his eyes.

“Whatever,” he grunts in annoyance, before going to help his uncle properly finish tying the bandages. I watch as he goes over, catching Iroh’s grateful smile before I return to making sure the tea is done right. It'd be bad if I took over for it to not be very nice.

“So, Sol, I think I saw a sign for a village a little further up north. If you think your ankle has healed enough, we can take you there tomorrow,” Iroh says, shrugging his sleeve back on.

I freeze as I pour the first cup, quickly correcting myself before it overflows and moving on to the next one. “Sure, that would be great, thank you,” I reply, but I can’t put any sincerity into it.

I should be excited, once I get to the village I can work on finding my friends again. But as I look across the fire to where Zuko and Iroh are quietly bickering about the best way to tie a bandage, then at the steaming cups in front of me, I feel a peace that’s been missing for a while, and part of me doesn’t want to leave this.

But that’s ridiculous, I have friends to get to, and these two have their own stuff. I shake the idea out of my head, handing the first cup to Iroh, before moving on to give Zuko his. But he doesn’t take it, doesn’t even acknowledge the offering, so all I can do is place it in front of him instead.

I try not to be hurt by the rejection, it’s just tea. But part of me starts to wonder if he was just playing nice while I was around and now he knows that I’m leaving, he doesn’t want to keep up the act anymore.

Iroh compliments my tea, which warms me inside since I’m starting to realise how important it is to him. But, as we go to sleep Zuko’s cup still sits in the same place untouched. Maybe Sokka’s description was right after all.

-----

“Sol, we’ve arrived at the village,” Iroh’s gentle voice brings me out of my thoughts the next day.

We’ve been travelling since sunrise, but luckily the village wasn’t too far. I slowly climb off the ostrich horse, grateful to have my feet on the ground after being sat all morning. I shift my weight from each foot and smile when it doesn’t hurt.

I look at the village we’ve come to, taking in the bustling atmosphere of people mingling as they go about their daily lives. It’s a normal village by all accounts that most people would find pleasant, but I don’t, because I know what this means.

“I guess this is where you drop me off,” I say, aiming for nonchalant though I’m sure I failed, my thoughts from last night still mingling in my head. It makes sense, I did what I set out to do by helping Iroh, and now I’m no longer injured and in the middle of nowhere. But as much as it’s the logical thing to do, the thought of leaving just doesn’t sound appealing.

“I’m afraid so, but I figured that while we’re here we can stick around for a little bit. These people look like they’re very generous,” Iroh sits down in front of the now sleeping ostrich horse, straw hat in his hands and his always present friendly smile on his face.

I did try to give them some money for letting me travel with them, but Iroh refused, insisting I keep it for myself. Which is why I make sure to put a silver piece in his hat, he frowns at me but I just smile in return, letting him know I won’t accept it back.

During our interaction, Zuko also sits down with his uncle, but he looks more grumpy than usual. He crosses his arms and legs, pulling them close to his body, and his head down is down letting his hat covers his face, the entire posture screaming ‘I don’t want to be here’.

I look at all the people wandering along the streets, then back to the two men in front of me. There’s nothing saying I have to leave now, I might as well enjoy the time I have before they move on to wherever they’re going next. I take a seat next to Zuko, leaning back against the wall behind me. He still seems determined to ignore me, but I see his eyes glancing at me from under his hat.

“I’ll go find someplace to stay later, my ankle is hurting a bit so I want to rest it for a bit,” I explain awkwardly, and it’s believable enough since my ankle does hurt a little.

“I didn’t ask,” is all he says in return, though it is the first time he’s spoken to me since last night so I guess it’s an accomplishment.

I guess he really does want me gone. I just wonder what happened to the gentleness he had as he helped me down the mountain and made sure I got back alright. For a moment it kind of seemed like he cared, but I must have been imagining it, apparently, almost dying can do that.

I don’t try to start another conversation with Zuko since I know it’ll be shut down, so I spend the afternoon watching as Iroh’s charming and friendly nature pulls spare coins out of passing people’s pockets.

It’s just as another older lady leaves -giving Iroh a couple of silver pieces, beaming from his compliment- that I get the sudden feeling someone’s watching me. I look around, but I don’t see anything obvious. There are people looking, but people always look at travellers, but that feeling I had, there was something else behind it than just general curiosity.

I lean back against the wall, fingers tapping my thigh as I force myself not to keep looking. The feeling is gone now, so whoever it was has looked away, and I hope they were just passing by.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko whispers, eyeing my tapping fingers. I stop, balling my hands into fists on my lap instead.

“It’s nothing,” I reply. It was nothing so there’s no reason to bring it up, I’m just still getting used to new people is all.

And I could make myself believe, that if I didn’t feel the same tense feeling again. This time I don’t swing my head around, just slowly move my eyes to the left and just out the corner of my eye I see a guard staring at me from a shop further along. Though I try to be subtle he still notices, we lock eyes for just a second but then he breaks it, moving on until he’s out of eyesight.

From the look of his uniform, he’s probably just a simple guard, patrolling around the streets making sure everyone behaves. It would explain his staring, he was just checking on the random traveller’s nothing wrong with that. But when I looked into his eyes, I swear I saw just pure anger, but that wouldn’t make sense, we’ve done nothing for him to be angry at.

Maybe he wasn't really looking at us, I could’ve just caught the tail end of a look aimed at someone else. Or maybe he was just deep in thought and didn’t realise he was staring.

I shake my head, whatever the reason I am overthinking it, he’s left now so it’s not like it matters anymore. I should go and do something rather than sit here and let my mind wander.

“I’m going to get us some food,” I declare getting up from my place. My body appreciates moving after being sat on the hard floor for so long.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Iroh refutes, but I just shake my head at him.

“But I want to. Consider it a little goodbye gift as well as a thank you for bringing me all this way,” I offer, forcing the word goodbye out with a smile.

“If you insist,” Iroh says gratefully and I’m glad I can do one last nice thing. I see Zuko glancing at me but I purposefully ignore it, gotta have a little fun before I go.

I wander into the market area, immediately losing sight of the other two as the crowd swarms, everyone having places to be and it quickly becomes overwhelming.

Almost instinctively I turn to my side to ask someone where we’re going before I remember there’s no one there. I take a sharp breath in, heart starting to race as it comes to me that this is the first time in my life I’ve ever been alone like this.

Ever since I was little I’ve always had people around, it comes with being partially raised in a palace, there’s always servants and guards running around. And even if I didn’t always want to be around others, I still had the knowledge they were there if I needed them. Then I had that with Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph, and now even Zuko and Iroh.

But they’re going to leave, or I’m going to leave, and I’m going to be by myself with no one to help me.

I feel myself bump into someone and I falter back a couple of steps surprised. “I’m sorry,” I mutter, glancing at the guard uniform the person is wearing.

I move to step around them when I feel myself being pulled sideways, I stumble as I try to regain my balance but I get pushed into a wall before I can.

“I knew it was you,” a gruff voice says from above me. I glance up, meeting the eyes of the man who I saw staring at me earlier looking down at me. He’s smiling, but it’s not from joy, it’s something worse. And now, he has two friends.

They’re standing close together, blocking me in. I look through the gaps between them and realise they’ve pulled me into an alley, and from the sudden lack of noise I hear, I must have wandered into a more abandoned part of the town.

“What do you want?” I ask, pressing myself against the wall to get as far away from their smirking faces as possible.

“Oh you don’t have to be like that, I was just wondering what Omashu’s princess is doing all the way out here, in such a simple town like this,” the man from before says, making me flinch.

It’s very rare anyone would ever call me ‘princess’. It's never felt like something that belongs to me, and I always hated it so most people knew to avoid using it. Though from the look of this guy’s growing smirk he knows exactly how I feel about it.

“Who are you? How do you know me?” Whoever this guy is, he knew me well enough to pick me out in a crowd, but I still can’t figure out who he is.

“I’m not surprised you don’t know who I am, it must be hard to remember all the people you and your uncle ruined,” the guard spits. “That no-good king, I was living the good life in Omashu til he threw me out. Now I’m forced to work in a pathetic town like this,”

“I do remember you,” I say, a memory slowly coming to me while he talks. He used to be captain of the guards in Omashu until I found out he was stealing from the citizens. I frown up at him, at the memory but I don’t comment, he’s already being irrational with this grudge, I don’t need to make him angrier.

“Hey, didn’t we hear that Omashu got taken by the Fire Nation?” One of his friends asks sadistically.

“Oh yeah, guess your ‘great king’ wasn’t so great after all,” the man slaps his hand on my shoulder pushing me further back against the wall, making me flinch, more from surprise than pain.

“Can… Can’t you just leave me alone,” I plead, hating the way I stumble over the words. But he doesn’t listen, instead, his laughing grows louder and his grip on my shoulder tightens.

“You heard her, let her go,” a familiar voice demands from behind the men. I can’t see because of the men blocking me, but it’s a voice I’ve come to know very well these last few days despite how little he talks to me.

Why is he even here? I thought he would've taken advantage of my wandering off to leave,
It’s not like they owed it to me to stay.

The men take a moment to look at the surprising intruder, and that moment is all I need.

I don’t hesitate, and with all the strength I can I kick the left knee of the guy in front of me. He crumbles forward, hand finally falling off my shoulder. His friends jump back in surprise, and he stumbles back a couple of steps before straightening out again.

However, it doesn’t matter because I’m already halfway through a handstand, hands firmly planted on the ground. I stretch out my right leg, and I feel my foot catch his chin knocking him onto the floor.

I land back on my feet, wincing as my right foot hits the ground, but I don’t have time to worry about it before I’m rushing out of the alley. I grab Zuko’s hand on my way out dragging him along, the two other guards yelling behind us. He grunts in confusion but doesn’t argue. He takes the lead before I realise, now dragging me along to where Iroh is waiting.

When he sees us running behind him, he doesn’t question it, just packs up the stuff onto the ostrich horse. I go to help when I realise I’m still holding Zuko’s hand. I pull away, willing the flush to leave my face.

Soon we are back on the bird and riding out of town. But even as we speed away I can’t get the feeling of Zuko’s hand in mine out of my head. Why did I even grab it? I could’ve just grabbed his arm, or nothing at all, I’m sure he would’ve followed anyway. And why didn’t he pull away? If anything it felt like he held on tighter, though I’m sure that must be my mind tricking me. Still, I can’t help the smile that comes when I think of the way our hands just fit together.

Once we’ve made it far enough away from the village Zuko stops, letting the bird rest after the quick getaway. He hops off the bird but my feet barely hit the ground before he’s whipped round to face me, eyes glaring.

“What was that?” He demands, and he’s already close to yelling.

“It’s not like I asked those men to corner me,” I defend, and I can’t hide the way my voice shakes from my surprise at being targeted, why is he angry at me?

“Why didn’t you fight back? ” He retorts, anger still growing. “Why did I find you just stood there, talking like a coward?”

“Zuko!” Iroh immediately berates his nephew. And his words hurt, but that’s because I know they’re true.

“No, he’s right. I know I’m not exactly very courageous, I never have been. To me, there are some things that I just can’t do,” I admit, pressing my lips together, as my hands bunch up the fabric at the bottom of my shirt. It’s pathetic to say, but I know Zuko wants me gone anyway so I guess it doesn’t matter what he thinks.

“How are you supposed to find your friends if you can’t even stand up for yourself?” Zuko accuses, and I feel myself drawing in at his harsh words.

“I don’t know…” I trail off looking down. He’s right, it’s going to be impossible to find them if I get overwhelmed at every town I go to.

I see a pair of shoes stop in front of me, and I look up to meet Iroh’s kind eyes staring back at me. “Listen, my dear. It’s okay to be afraid, the world is a scary place. You just have to remember, courage is not the same as not being afraid, it just means you don’t let that fear stop you,” Iroh offers wisely, and I smile at his attempt to make me feel better.

“I’ll just have to work on it,” I reply, but it’s easier said than done. But I guess I’ll get a chance to practise in the next town we go to because then I really will be alone.

“Well, I don’t think going back to that village is a good idea. Looks like we’ll have to find somewhere else to drop you off Sol,” Iroh remarks, going to get back on the bird and I tense.

“There’s no point” Zuko argues to my shock. Is he really going to make me go back to that village? I let my eyes fall on him once again, expecting to see his glare demanding me to leave. But when I meet his eyes he doesn’t look angry anymore or even annoyed. He looks nervous. “She can come with us.”

I stare, trying to figure out the real meaning behind the suggestion. “You don’t have to. I know you don’t want me to stay.”

He looks away and I expect him to agree, saying he was just trying to be nice. But he doesn’t. “We can’t just leave you somewhere on your own when you clearly can’t manage to look after yourself,” he replies jumping back on the ostrich horse. “And if I didn’t want you to stay I wouldn’t have said anything.”

I blink, eyes going between his back and Iroh, who doesn’t look all that surprised.

“It doesn’t have to be for long, just however long you feel like until you can be by yourself,” he says comfortingly, not arguing against what his nephew decided. “But, it could be dangerous.”

“I think I can manage,” I murmur, not quite being able to keep up with this turn of events.

I see Zuko’s outstretched hand, and I take it, letting him pull me up to my seat at the front of the bird, revelling in the gentleness that I might not have imagined.

Chapter Text

The area around us turned from dirt to dust a few hours ago, trees and bushes starting to lose their more vibrant colours.

I don’t think Zuko is leading us in any particular direction. We saw a small village yesterday, but after the ‘adventures’ of the last town, it was decided it would be better not to stop. But since then there have been no other signs of civilization as far as I can see.

Honestly, I don’t mind it. Because travelling like this is still better than being holed up alone in a random inn with no idea on what to do.

I can hear Iroh’s exaggerated moaning from behind Zuko and it makes me laugh quietly, but I get it, we haven’t stopped for a full day and it gets a little tiring.

“Maybe we should make camp,” Zuko suggests, finally getting tired of his uncle’s complaining.

“No, please, don’t stop just for me,” Iroh replies, contradicting his own words by continuing to groan.

Zuko pulls on the reins, causing the ostrich horse to come to an abrupt stop. I try to hold onto the saddle to stop myself from falling back against the firebender but it doesn’t help.

Ever since the whole ‘holding hands’ and resounding conflicting feeling about it, I've been trying to avoid contact with Zuko as much as possible, which is pretty hard when having to fit on the small bird creature. But I’ve been managing, choosing to sit as far forward on the saddle as I can, just so I’m not constantly pressed against him.

Now, however, I can feel his firm chest pressed up against my back, his breath blowing loose strands of my hair past my face. His hands are hovering near my shoulders, maybe to stop me from falling off, or most likely he doesn’t know what to do with them. And for a brief moment, I wonder what it would be like to have his hands gently holding mine again like before.

As quick as the moment was there it’s gone again, Zuko quickly removing himself from the ostrich-horse, Iroh closely following.

I move to join Iroh who is sitting on a rock nearby, hand gripping his injured shoulder. “How is it?” I ask, concerned, maybe we should add more salve to it.

But he doesn’t get to reply. The ostrich horse shrieks upset, at the same time I can hear footsteps approaching, fast.

Zuko’s already in a fighting stance, and I stand up next to Iroh, hand waiting to grab my dagger until I see who it is.

“What now?” Iroh groans annoyed, looking towards the direction of the noise.

It only takes a moment before we’re surrounded by a group of men riding Komodo rhinos. I immediately recognise them as the same men who attacked Aang, Sokka, Katara and I during the Avatar day festival. I step back, moving to brush any loose strands of hair in front of my face to cover it as much as possible. It would get really awkward if they started asking where the Avatar is.

“Colonel Mongke, what a pleasant surprise,” Iroh greets though his tone says otherwise.

“If you’re surprised we’re here then the Dragon of the West has lost a few steps,” their leader replies, banging his wrist guards together. The other men take that as a signal to get out their own weapons, all of which are different.

It becomes clear who their targets are and that they’re not planning to leave without Zuko and Iroh so I pull my dagger from my belt ready to fight them, again.

My movement draws the colonels attention as he slides his eyes to look at me. “This is your only chance to leave, girl. We’re here for the fugitives and this is the only time I’m going to be nice.”

I glance at Iroh, unsure of what I should do. I want to help, but I know I might just get in the way of the firebenders.

“Sol, why don’t you stand by that cactus over there,” Iroh says quietly, pointing at a lone cactus a little down the road.

“But, Iroh…” I go to argue, but a stern look from the old man quickly silences me.

“Go, this won’t take long,” Zuko orders confidently. I sigh, but put my dagger back and walk over to the cactus.

I see Mongke smirking at me as I go, most likely looking down at me for being weak. At least I know now he doesn’t remember me or else I don’t think he would of let me go so easily.

But Zuko didn’t lie. By the time I make it over to the cactus three of the men have already been taken down, and the younger firebender is dealing with the colonel, quickly and efficiently firebending him off his komodo rhino.

Iroh grabs the ostrich horse, mounting it and taking off as fast as possible. He rides past Zuko who is still on the colonel’s komodo rhino and he jumps from the animal onto the bird as it runs past.

They run towards me and I wonder how I’m supposed to get on when it’s going so fast. But as they get closer I see Zuko from where he’s sat behind his uncle with his hand reaching out.

I get the message and reach my own hand out, he grabs it as they ride past, pulling me up, and I turn to land on the saddle behind him. I wrap my arms around his chest, disoriented from the sudden change of movement.

Unfortunately, there is still one member following us, one I recognise as the one I fought from before. He throws a smoke bomb that goes off in front of us, and I tuck my head into my shoulder coughing. Luckily the bomb missed and we emerge from out the smoke, with no sounds of footsteps behind us.

“It’s nice to see old friends,” Iroh comments, looking back to make sure we’re not being followed.

“Too bad you don’t have any old friends that don’t want to attack you,” Zuko snarks, but it makes Iroh hum in contemplation.

“So, do you have a plan?” I ask because honestly finding people who don’t want to attack us sounds like a great plan to me.

“I think I know just the person, and luckily they’re not too far away,” Iroh replies, having gotten a map out from one of the bags.

“Sol, do you think you could maybe…” Zuko trails off as he taps on my hands still wrapped around him, and I realise I’m holding on a lot tighter than I should be.

“Right, sorry,” I apologise, loosening my grip. I go to pull back completely, but his hand grabs mine, keeping it in place.

“You should probably keep them there. It would be bad if you… you know fell off. It was just a bit too tight,” Zuko says awkwardly. It takes me a second to comprehend what he’s saying, and once I do I put my face in my shoulder again to hide the growing flush.

“Oh… Okay then,” I reply, letting my arms now rest gently around his torso instead of squeezing it like before.

-----

We arrive not long before nightfall, though I’m not sure I can call the place we arrive at much of anything.

A sign by the gate calls this place ‘Misty Palms Oasis’ but the whole area is just as much desert as the land surrounding it.

The buildings are scarce and there aren’t many people just walking around. I immediately get the chills, freaked out by the staring of the people that are around.

But Iroh does not falter in his steps, immediately heading towards a tavern that stands at the back of the town.

Iroh and Zuko make sure to keep their hats low as they step into the establishment, and I stick close behind them not wanting to stand out. No one bats an eye as we take a seat, but there’s still a feeling that everyone is watching.

“No one's gonna help us. These people just look like filthy wanderers,” Zuko remarks rudely.

“So do we,” Iroh replies, not caring about Zuko’s harsh words.

“Zuko, you shouldn’t be mean,” I scold him quietly, the last thing we need is for someone to overhear and start something.

“Ah, this is interesting. I think I’ve found our friend,” Iroh points to an older gentleman sitting alone at a pai sho table in the corner, to Zuko’s displeasure. But Iroh pays his nephew no mind and strolls over to the table.

Zuko and I share a look, but we follow him anyway. Whatever he has planned, he’s confident it’ll work which gives me some confidence as well.

I try to keep to myself as much as possible as we cross the tavern, looking down to avoid looking at anyone. But as we get closer to the table something catches my eye. I see a man dressed in a way that covers him from head to toe, and leaning on the table next to him is a beautiful bow.

I take in the details, appreciating the designs that are carved into the wood, and I nod in approval when I notice it’s made from the same kind as mine. However, my approval turns to shock when I notice the grip, the green and gold fabric is woven in such a way I know isn’t practised by most bow makers. And I know that because it’s done in such a messy way since I insisted on doing it myself.

I bring my hand to my mouth, stifling my gasp. I left my bow with Aang and the others so how does this random stranger have it?

The man turns to look at me, and I quickly avert my gaze realising I had been staring, in doing so I notice we arrived at the table and Iroh has started a game.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko whispers next to me.

“It’s nothing, “ I reply, trying to keep my eyes from drifting back to the man.

“No, it’s not. I saw you staring at that guy. What is it?” Zuko demands. I hesitate, I could just shrug it off again. I can’t even be sure it’s even my bow. But the worry of what could have happened to the others if it is makes me speak.

“You see that bow next to that guy. I think it might be mine. Except I left it behind with my companions,” I explain, hands fidgeting in my lap nervously. It’s a random claim and he has no reason to believe me.

I see Zuko’s eyes going between me and the gut multiple times before answering. “Maybe they sold it?” He offers and I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by the suggestion or the fact he believed me, no questions asked.

“No. They are not the kind of people to do that,” I instantly deny. “If that is my bow, he must have stolen it or something.”

Whatever Zuko is going to say to that is cut off by Iroh and the other gentleman when they finish whatever game they were playing.

“What are you old gasbags talking about,” Zuko complains.

“I always tried to tell you that pai sho is more than just a game,” Iroh replies to his nephew, flipping a tile between his fingers.

“It’s over!” A man yells storming over to our table, and to my shock, it’s Xin Fu with Master Yu just behind him.

I turn my head and try to hide as much as I can behind Zuko. Today is a day for running into old enemies, it appears. I feel Zuko twist his head to look at me but I stay behind his shoulder, hoping he thinks I’m just afraid.

“You fugitives are coming with me!” Xin Fu declares, obviously targeting the firebenders. His advances however are interrupted by the person Iroh was playing against.

“I knew it! You two are wanted criminals with a giant bounty on your heads!” He shouts, and I can feel all the eyes staring our way. Even without looking, I know what the man is trying to do, and it’s a smart move if it works.

“I thought you said he would help,” Zuko hisses at Iroh.

“He is, just watch,” Iroh replies calmly.

“You think you’re going to capture them and collect all that gold?” It’s now that all the other occupants start to rise from their seats, all of them drawn by the mention of money. A circle forms around the two earthbenders, but to no surprise, Xin Fu doesn’t back down.

There’s no time to watch the fighting however because soon we’re being led out of the tavern, hiding behind all the commotion. I look around for Zuko, noticing that somehow he ended up behind me even though he was sitting next to me right before it all started.

We follow the man closely through the darkness the night brought, the noise from the tavern getting quieter behind us. It’s hard to keep track as he brings us out of the town, luckily the moon is just bright enough to see the silhouette of Iroh in front of me.

We’re not taken far before I spot a series of buildings, the man ushering us into the closest one. I look behind me to see Zuko hesitating at the entrance briefly, making the man wave him in so he can double-check we weren’t followed before closing the door.

I send Zuko a confused glance but he ignores it, walking past me to stand by his uncle.

“It’s an honour to welcome such a high-ranking member of the order of the white lotus,” the man bows to Iroh, while Zuko and I watch him confused. “Being a grandmaster, you must know so many secrets.”

“Now that you’ve played pai sho, are you gonna do some flower arranging? Or is someone in this club going to offer some real help?” Zuko snarks, following the men further into the store.

“Zuko, do you have to be so grumpy all the time?” I ask, half-joking, half curious. But the glare he sends my way shows he doesn’t appreciate it.

Iroh apologises on Zuko’s behalf, before reciting some kind of phrase to a man behind a door at the back of the shop. The door opens to let Iroh and the gentleman from the tavern through, but it shuts in Zuko’s face when he goes to follow.

“I’m afraid it’s members only. Wait out here,” Iroh orders through a small sliding hole, causing Zuko to pout and lean against the wall next to the door.

“I guess we’re stuck out here then,” I say but Zuko doesn’t pay any attention, too caught up in his usual grumpiness.

Normally, I would attempt to try and talk to him, but right now it’s the furthest thing from my mind. I just can’t get that bow out of my head. Aang said he’d take care of it, so if he lost it somehow that means something serious must have happened.

“You’re worried about them aren’t you?” Zuko sighs, taking a break from his pouting to apparently read my mind.

“It’s just, if only I could know for sure it was my bow, then I’d know if I even have a reason to worry,” I tell him. Maybe I can go back to the tavern and take another look, but that’s even if the man is still there. Plus there’s now the two earthbenders to worry about.

I hear Zuko moving about, but I’m too focused on trying to formulate a plan to really pay attention. I’m thinking about asking Zuko if I can borrow his hat when I hear the door to the front of the shop open.

I immediately panic, assuming that we were followed after all, but before the panic can really set in I see Zuko is the one who opened it, barely wide enough for him to stick his arm out of it,

“Zuko, what are you doing that’s…” My words are cut off when he pulls his arm back inside, a familiar object in his hand. It looks even more like my bow from closer up, more details becoming clear in the brighter lights on this shop.

“Here,” he shoves the bow at me and I instinctively grab it, hands automatically curling around the frame in a way that relaxes me instantaneously.

I know the feel of the wood and the fabric edges that are starting to fray from constant use. The small chip near the grip from when I tripped running through the palace, accidentally hitting it on a table. I even recognise the smell of the wood, slightly covered by new scents of changing hands, but still familiar.

“When did you get this?” I ask astonished, I never even saw him sneak away.

“When that guy caused the fighting. I quickly grabbed it in the chaos,” Zuko explains hesitantly. That makes sense, by then I was more focused on making sure Xin Fu and Yu didn’t see me. “I would have given it to you immediately, but I didn’t know what you would think about me stealing it,”

“Well, since this is definitely my bow, it’s not stealing. It’s… returning. Thank you,” the words don’t feel like enough, but I don’t know what else to say.

“It was nothing, I also grabbed these,” Zuko hands me a quiver full of arrows. I recognise it as well, the design made to match the poorly done grip on the bow. The arrows however may have belonged to the man, but I’ll consider it payment for stealing in the first place.

I thank Zuko again, then find a cloth sitting on one of the shelves. I slid myself to the floor, set on cleaning the bow and seeing if any new dents or scratches have been made.

“So what’s so special about this bow? You seem really attached,” Zuko asks, going back to stand by the door.

I pause in my cleaning, realising I should have seen this question coming. “It was the last present I got from my dad,” I tell him, I can feel his curiosity since I’ve only ever mentioned my uncle.

“When I was younger there was this travelling archer that would come to town a couple of times a year, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I would always beg my dad to go and see him. So, when I turned ten my dad got me my own bow for my birthday, this one. You could tell he didn’t know a lot about it because it was way too big for me then, I could barely hold it. But still, it was the best present ever. He promised to get that archer to teach me a couple of tricks next time he came around, but unfortunately, he never got the chance.”

“What happened?” I jump at the voice. At some point during my story, Zuko had sat down in front of a shelf across from me, so we’re not face to face.

“He was running an errand for my uncle when he was killed,” I try not to wince as I force the words out. Even after all these years, it’s not something I like to remember. The week I spent, not long after my birthday, being confused because he didn’t come back when he was supposed to. Only for the search party to come back with belongings and condolences instead.

“Fire Nation?” Zuko asks, and he sounds defeated like he’s already accepted that’s going to be the case.

I hesitate before I answer, but I feel like I have to clarify. “I don’t know who it was exactly, but they said it was most likely random Earth Kingdom bandits.”

His eyes widen slightly, before narrowing in a look I can’t decipher. “I’m sorry,” he says because it’s one of the things people just say.

“It’s alright. It hurt, but he taught me not to focus on negative emotions, that doing so would never bring anything good,” though that lesson has been harder to fulfil recently.

My brain drifts back to the reason I wanted to see the bow in the first place, and now I know it is mine, my concern for my friends comes back worse than before. Because now I am sure something happened to them, but I am also sure I can’t find out what it was without Zuko and Iroh becoming suspicious.

I feel a hand on mine, stopping my fingers from their obsessive plucking of the bowstring. “Your friends are fine,” Zuko tells me. And there is no way he can know that, but still hearing him say that calms my worries if only a little.

After that a silence fills the room, neither of us saying anymore as the hours tick by, waiting for Iroh to emerge.

-----

I don’t realise I’ve fallen asleep until I’m awakened by the sound of a door opening. I blearily open my eyes in time to see Zuko jump up from where he had also fallen asleep across, arms out ready to fight.

“What’s going on? Is the club meeting over?” He asks, watching Iroh stroll out of the secret room.

“Everything is taken care of. We’re heading to Ba Sing Se,” Iroh announces happily, giving me a pointed look when I silently mouth ‘we’.

“Ba Sing Se? Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capital?” Zuko questions.

“The city is filled with refugees, no one will notice three more,” the old man from before says.

“We can hide in plain sight, and it’s the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Even I couldn’t break through to the city,” Iroh adds.

The front door chimes as a younger man comes through. “I have the passports for our guests, but there are two men out on the street looking for them,” he informs. I look through the peek hole in the door and see Xin Fu and Yu holding flyers of Zuko and Iroh.

“You two have to hide in these,” the older man gestures to the two pots with flowers on the lids. Neither of the firebenders looks pleased about the situation, but it’s the only idea that doesn’t involve waiting them out.

Iroh climbs into the first pot once they’re placed on a pull trolley.

“Here miss, you’ll need this to protect you from the sun,” the younger man goes to hand me a hat, and it’s then that I realise there’s a slight problem with this plan.

“Is there a problem Sol?” Iroh asks, noticing when I don’t make a move to take the piece of clothing. I look back to the door where I know who is waiting outside, wondering if I should say anything.

“It’s just that… I sort of had a run-in with the two men out there, and I don’t think they’d be very nice if they saw me,” I try to explain vaguely. There is a chance they might not remember me, but Xin Fu is probably still mad about what happened with Toph, and I had a long dinner with Master Yu.

“Is that why you were hiding before, in the tavern?” Zuko asks and I embarrassingly remember using him as my shield.

“Hm, I’m not quite sure what to do about this, we don’t have a third pot,” the old man wonders aloud, and I think maybe I should hope they don’t look too close under the hat.

“Why don’t you just share with Zuko?” Iroh suggests, almost gleefully. “If I can fit in one I’m sure you two young ones can manage together.”

I look at Iroh startled, wishing I could take back even saying anything.

“Okay, then hurry, we must leave soon,” Iroh’s friend rushed before either Zuko or I can argue against this new plan.

I’m ushered to Zuko’s side and he refused to even look at me. It takes some manoeuvring, but Iroh is right and we both end up fitting in the pot. He goes in first with his legs bent and open, and I follow, sitting between his legs, back to his chest. It’s not the most comfortable position in the world with legs cramped against the other side of the pot, but it’s not that different to how we would sit on the ostrich bird.

I feel the world shift as the man wheels us out of the shop. I can’t hear anything outside the pot, whether it’s because the pot keeps sound in, or because all I can hear is my heart beating in my ears. Either way, I don’t feel us stop so I assume the earthbender duo don’t suspect anything.

“I’m sorry about this,” I whisper to Zuko. I feel bad about getting us into this for something that may not have happened.

“It’s fine. The plan would have been for nothing if they recognised you anyway,” Zuko replies, but his voice sounds tense so I can’t tell if he really means it.

Any idea I had this morning about keeping away from Zuko is gone since there is no space left in this pot that isn’t taken up by the both of us.

I can feel Zuko’s hands resting on his knees beside mine, and I would only have to reach out a little to grab one, test if his hands really do fit well in mine. I fight the urge, wanting to pull my hands to my chest but there’s no way to do that without elbowing Zuko behind me, so instead I have to force them not to move from their place by tapping gently instead, somehow trying to pretend I’m somewhere else.

It’s an uncomfortably long ride, with the pot trapping the desert heat inside, and muscles cramping with no way to move them.

There’s no way to tell the time in the dark, so I don’t know how long passed until we stop. The man knocks on the lid, signalling that it’s safe to come out before removing it, and I have to quint through the sun piercing my eyes after hours spent without it.

Zuko gets out first, hastily climbing over the top and onto the ground. I immediately follow, finally glad to be able to stretch more than just my fingers and toes.

“This is as far as I take you, continue for a few days North and you will find ‘Full moon bay’. There you can get a ferry that takes refugees into Ba Sing Se,” the man informs us, pointing down a pathway.

He hands us our belongings that didn’t fit in the pot then hands Zuko and Iroh their new passports, and I’m glad I thought to bring mine before leaving Omashu.

I miss the ostrich horse, but we had to leave it behind. I’m sure Iroh’s friend will take good care of it, plus I’m not sure if the ferry would allow pets.

Chapter Text

It’s still early by the time we get to the bay, the sun haven risen a couple of hours ago. It has taken us days to get here from the oasis, having taken a longer route to avoid walking directly through the desert.

When we get close it’s not hard to find out where to go, many people walking to the entrance of a cove that overlooks the water.

The inside of the cove leaves me gaping, it’s bigger than I thought it would be. There’s a large wall blocking the water, and I assume the ferries are behind it. Hundreds of people are waiting around the spacious area, all hoping for access to the one place that’s safe from the Fire Nation.

Zuko and Iroh pull their hats low and put their heads down as they head to one of the ticket booths, and I wait behind them.

“Two tickets please,” Iroh requests, lifting his hat to shoot off one of his charming smiles at the lady behind the booth.

“Passports,” the lady demands, not caring at all about Iroh’s efforts.

Iroh grabs his and Zuko’s fake passports and hands them to the woman. There’s a tenseness as we wait to see if somehow she’ll know they're fake, but the lady barely even glances at the passports before stamping two tickets and handing them over.

“Next,” she calls, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I walk forward, digging my own passport out of my bag. I watch as Zuko and Iroh stand off to the side, and I figure they're far enough away they can’t see the detail written on it.

“One ticket please,” I say, sliding my passport to the lady. I expect the same bored glance as she stamps a ticket, but as she looks at my passport her face morphs from annoyed to amazed in seconds.

“This seal…” she gasps and I hurry to shush her.

“Please, it’s not a big deal, I just need a ticket,” I stress. I know what seal she’s talking about, I just didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal. It’s green with a golden image of the outline of Omashu in the middle of it. It’s a seal that someone can only get directly from the King of Omashu, and as one could expect, Bumi didn’t give them out a lot.

“Of course, it would be an honor. May the glory of Omashu soon return,” she hands me my ticker with a slight bow. I thank her, smile tight and shove my passport back into my bag. I turn to face the other two and as I expected they are watching me with eyebrows raised.

“You’re from Omashu,” Zuko states because it’s no longer a question.

“Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention it,” I reply. I realise I spent so long thinking of what I could and could not say to them that wouldn’t bring up Aang, that where I came from just never got brought up.

I can tell Zuko has questions he wants to ask, most likely about the woman and her reaction to what should have been a normal passport. But he doesn’t get the chance to ask before a man comes up to us and checks our tickets before ushering us onto the next ferry.

Before I know it, I’m standing leaning against the side, bowl of soup in my hand and watching the scenery flow by.

“Who would've thought after all these years, I’d return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace… as a tourist?” Iroh brings out a floral hat, a grin spread wide across his face. It’s not how I was expecting him to react, but at least he’s happy. Which is more than could be said about Zuko.

“Look around. We’re not tourists. We’re refugees,” Zuko grumbles. He takes a sip of his soup before spitting it out with a groan.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” I tell him, sipping on my own bowl and trying to hide my grimace as I swallow. “It just… takes some getting used to,” both the food and being a refugee.

“I don’t want to get used to it,” he argues, staring at his food in disdain. “I’m sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. I’m tired of living like this.”

“Aren’t we all?” A deep voice comes from behind us. I look over to see a guy leaning on one of the pillars, a piece of straw sticking out from his mouth. “My name’s Jet and these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot.”

“Hello,” Zuko replies as they come over.

I instinctively fold into myself, fingers tapping on my bowl the closer they get before I can stop them. Zuko shifts, just a little, and moves closer to me. He must’ve noticed.

“Here’s the deal. I hear the captain’s eating like a king. While all us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn’t seem fair does it?” Jet says, confidence radiating off every word he speaks.

“What sort of King is he eating like?” Iroh asks.

“The fat, happy kind,” is Jet’s reply, and Iroh’s face morphs into one of hunger, even though he wasn’t one to complain about food. “You wanna help us liberate some food?”

Zuko barely hesitates before throwing his bowl into the water below, “I’m in.”

“So, what’s your name?” Jet asks, leaning against the side of the boat next to Zuko.

“Lee. This is my uncle Mushi,” Zuko introduces and I glance away to hide my smile. They already told me what their fake names would be, but it’s still strange to hear them.

“And what about the quiet one over there?” I look to see Jet peering over the side of the boat, looking at me from where I’m mostly hidden behind Zuko.

“Sol,” I reply, hoping he’ll move on from me.

“What do you say, Sol? Want to join us? More hands mean more food,” Jet encourages.

I hesitate, usually, I would decline straight away, running around with strangers and stealing food is not really my thing. But, I have no idea who they are, and while they seem genuine this could all be a plan to do something worse that could get Zuko into trouble. And I can’t just let him do that alone.

“Sure,” I agree. I see Zuko looking at me, eyebrows raised. But I ignore it, he doesn’t need to know my reasoning.

“Great. So, here’s what we were thinking…”

-----

Night falls and the plan is put into action. Jet, Smellerbe, Zuko and I sneak up to the top deck where the cooking area is. After watching the guards for most of the evening we know that when this one passes they won’t be back for at least a few minutes, plenty of time to get in and out without anyone noticing.

We hide in the shadow of the stairs and as soon as the light from the guards’ lantern is gone we move.

We pass some windows, looking inside to double-check there’s no one present, and the amount of food we see is startling. I can’t believe the captain would keep this to himself when there are so many people on board who haven’t had a decent meal in weeks.

We turn the corner, Zuko and Jet go to break the door while Smellerbee and I keep watch. They get in easily, and we all pile into the room, sacks ready to put food in. I use my dagger to break open some crates, finding already sealed bowls of dumplings and rice inside. I rush to grab as many as I can, the sack filling fast and getting progressively heavier.

“Guard’s coming,” Smellerbe warns from outside the door. I throw my sack over my shoulder, the weight of it causing me to fall back a bit, but I quickly regain my balance and follow the guys outside.

We get to the predetermined place, a railing overlooking the ship, where Longshot is waiting below. He shoots up an arrow with a rope attached and it sticks firmly in the wood of the railing. The bags of food go first and we follow. I grab my bow from around my chest and use that to slide down the rope.

We land and Longshot pulls the arrow from the wood just as a guard passes by, none the wiser of what just happened as we make our way back to the passengers.

The joy and relief we get from the people on board as we hand them the food is amazing. Just seeing the smiles on their faces makes me feel great, but it also brings about an uncomfortable feeling I try to push to the side.

When enough food is given out we head back to Iroh to enjoy our own meals, though Jet is still surveying the ship, making sure the guards haven’t caught on yet.

I watch the young man intrigued, the amount of confidence he has in everything he does, from coming up with this plan to the way he talks. It amazes me because it’s something I know I could never have.

Smellerbee storms off, pulling my eyes away from Jet and I catch Zuko looking my way. His eyes widen a little like he’d been caught, but then they narrow into his usual frown, except this one looks deeper than usual. And only gets worse when Jet comes back from his looking around and sits across from the firebender.

“From what I heard, people eat like this every night in Ba Sing Se. I can’t wait to set my eyes on that giant wall,” Jet says excitedly, a sentiment common among everyone around us when it comes to the city.

“It is a magnificent sight,” Iroh comments.

“So you’ve been there before?” Jet asks amazed.

Iroh’s eyes grow distant, and I don’t think I could possibly imagine what he’s remembering. “Once, when I was a different man.”

“I’ve done some things in my past I’m not proud of. But that’s why I’m going to Ba Sing Se, for a new beginning, a second chance,” his words spark hope, that maybe I could get that chance as well, a peaceful life until I can go back to Omashu.

But I can’t acknowledge that hope before the feeling from earlier comes back, and suddenly sitting here, I can't stand sitting here surrounded by these kind people.

“I’m gonna go for a walk,” I announce, putting down my half-eaten bowl. I don’t wait for a reply from anyone before heading towards the back of the boat where I hope there won’t be any people.

Whatever this feeling is, it’s sitting under my skin in a way that doesn’t right, like it’s burning to get out. I wonder if this is what my dad meant about bad emotions being trouble.

“Mommy, how long until we can go back home?” I hear the small voice coming from my left and my steps slow. I look to see a young girl staring at her mother with wide eyes, and from the mother’s responding sigh, this isn’t the first time the girl asked that question.

“I don’t know sweetie, for now, think of Ba Sing Se as your new home,” the mother replies, weariness creeping out although she tries to appear happy for her child.

“But I don’t want a new home!” The girl argues, and the tears pooling in her eyes makes the feeling from before worse to the point it hurts.

“Don’t worry. It shouldn’t be long until the Avatar and his friends get rid of the mean Fire Lord and we can all go home. For now, let’s just enjoy the yummy food the nice people gave us,” the girl’s father tells her, and her sadness is wiped away by the thought of food.

I throw my hand to my mouth to hide my gasp and quickly continue on to my destination.

I know now what I’ve been feeling, the burn that’s been crawling under my skin. Guilt. Not guilt for stealing the food, of course, I like helping people. And that’s exactly it, I feel guilty because I had the chance to do so much more for these people than give them a decent meal, and I left it.

I reach the back of the boat and like I suspected there is no one, not even the light reaches back here.

I lean against the edge, staring out to the darkness beyond as the wind blows cold water into my face. But it doesn’t bother me, it helps me clear my head and breath, the cold barely biting at my lungs.

I know why I left, I wanted to help Iroh and I wanted to help Zuko. Because when I saw him, leaning over his uncle’s injured body, I saw how lost he was and it reminded me of how I felt after I realised Bumi was captured in Omashu. I might not have been able to help my uncle, but I knew I could help his.

But it was also an excuse. Suddenly, I was with this new group of people and thrown into something a lot bigger than I ever wanted to be, and it scared me. I couldn’t stand the way Aang and the others would talk about the war so casually when it was something I tried to avoid my entire life.

But that was selfish. None of these people here wanted to be a part of this war, but they lost their choice as soon as the Fire Nation took their home. And now they are all sitting here, on this boat to a new place, hoping for a chance to feel safe again. And I realise it is not my place to try and be one of them.

“Sol?” Zuko’s voice breaks through my thoughts, temporarily dragging me from the guilt crashing over me like the waves under the boat. I guess I must’ve been here longer than I thought.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I call back, and I turn my head as he comes round the corner, joining me in the dark section.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, coming to stand next to me, back leaning against the rail. I can feel the heat coming from his skin and it helps with the cold breeze.

“Just needed to clear my head for a minute. I’ll be right back,” I reply, though I make no move to leave just yet. It’s really peaceful back here.

“I know I’m not very good at this sort of thing, but you can… talk to me… if you want,” Zuko offers and I feel a grin creep onto my face at how awkward he sounds.

“Thank you,” I say, and I mean it. His offering honestly means a lot.

“You’re welcome,” he continues to lean next to me, clearly not going until I also leave.

The fact that he cares enough to stay fills me with a giddiness I try to repress. It’s not like he’s the first person to care about me, removing anyone from Omashu, Iroh certainly cares, and so did Aang, Sokka and Katara. But with him, it’s different.

It shouldn’t surprise me, I’ve had crushes before. But this, it’s more. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such glee just because someone looked at me before. Or have been so flustered because someone was close. It’s new, and fun as well as being a little alarming at how fast it happened. But it’s also terrible timing.

I realise I have a choice to make. I could have my second chance and live peacefully in Ba Sing Se. But I made a mistake before and I think it’s about time to fix it. I turn to face the firebender, preparing myself for his reaction. He glances at me out the side of his eye, but he doesn’t move.

“I’m not gonna be staying in Ba Sing Se,” I tell him bluntly, the words sound harsh even to me, but for the first time I’m not nervous, I know what I want.

“What do you mean?” He asks, now turning to face me as well.

“When we get there, I’m going to take a couple of days to track down my friends, then I’m going to try and find them,” I explain. As I predicted, his confusion quickly turns to anger. But as soon as it’s there it’s gone again, replaced by a softer look in his eyes.

“I guess this is something you think you can do now,” he says, and he sounds calm. But I look down at his shaking fists and I know he’s just trying his best to hide how he really feels.

It’s risky, but I grab one of his hands and hold it in mine until he uncurls his fist. “I am still scared of the idea, and I would love to stay. But there are things I need to do, to fix, that I can’t do behind those walls. So, it’s time to stop letting my fear stop me,” I want him to understand, I don’t think I can leave if I go knowing he’s mad at me.

“Okay,” he accepts, any signs of anger leaving. “You know Uncle’s going to miss having someone who really enjoys his tea.”

I laugh relieved that he’s okay with me going. “What about you? Are you going to miss anything?” I don’t know what drives me to ask. Maybe it’s the lack of anyone else around in the dark space, or how close we’ve gotten, as I tilt my head up slightly to look him in the eyes.

“Maybe,” he replies softly, and it might just be me, but his face looks like it’s getting closer.

My gaze falls to his lips, I can feel the warmth of his hand in mine and I wonder if his lips are just as warm. My eyes slip closed on their own and I can feel the ghost of his lips above mine, and I lean forward, curious to test my theory.

“Hey guys, Mushi wanted me to come and find you,” Smellerbee’s voice calls from nearby, as she makes her way around the corner.

I have to grip the edge of the boat to keep from falling in my shock, and I can feel a twinge of pain in my neck from how quickly I pulled away Zuko.

I look over to said firebender, who is a lot further away than he had been just moments before, and I am very glad at how dark this area is because I am sure my face must be as red as a fire right now.

“Did I interrupt something?” Smellerbee asks, and I feel the flush somehow grow hotter.

“Nope, no, what could you possibly be interrupting? We were just standing here, talking, just talking. You said Mushi wanted us? Well, let’s go then,” I don’t know if most of the sentence I let out was audible, but I can’t bring myself to care as I go back to the others.

I wave my hands in front of my face hoping it’ll get some of the warmth in my cheeks to go away.

When I get back I notice that Jet and Longshot have left, so luckily that’s fewer people I have to deal with and hopefully, Iroh won’t notice anything either.

Though with the look he gives me as I sit down, I don’t think that’ll be the case. “Are you okay?” He asks concerned, and I go to reassure him when I see Zuko coming over from where we just were.

“Yep, perfectly fine. Wow, I’m beat, time for sleep, goodnight,” I rush out, quickly lying down facing away from him so I don’t have to look at Zuko anymore.

Zuko doesn’t say anything as he comes back, he just sits down ignoring any attempt at conversation with his uncle. Iroh must be really confused right now, but right now that isn’t my main concern.

What was I thinking? Was I really going to kiss Zuko? Is that what was even happening? I get that he’s cute and yeah maybe I like him, but it doesn’t matter, I’m leaving and the chances I’ll see him again are so slim it’ll be best to just forget about it.

But getting my racing heart to understand that and slow down enough to actually sleep is easier said than done, especially when the cause for said racing heart is only a couple of feet away.

Chapter Text

When I wake up a mist has settled over, but I can still see an orange glow mixing through as the sun rises. Despite the late-night and hectic days, waking with the sun is a habit I still can’t seem to break. Though I noticed quickly that it’s not a habit I share alone, both Zuko and Iroh are also early risers.

“Isn't it a nice morning, Sol?” Iroh greets as soon as I sit up.

“I guess,” I reply, yawning. I look around and notice Zuko isn’t here and I sigh slightly disappointed.

“Just so you know, Lee told me what happened last night,” Iroh says, staring at me intently.

I rack my brain, pushing past the sleepy fog to figure out what he’s talking about. I remember going to the back of the boat and the family and…

The memories come flooding back and I am now very glad Zuko’s not around, at least I can wallow in my embarrassment without the subject of said embarrassment being here to make it worse.

“He told you about that?” I ask surprised, I didn’t think Zuko would talk to his uncle about the almost… “I don’t know what it was, or if it was really anything, and really, how do you describe a ‘thing’ like that…”

“He told me you were planning on finding your friends once we enter Ba Sing Se,” Iroh interrupts my nervous rambling. I blink at him as my brain catches up with his words.

So, Zuko didn’t mention it. I feel my cheeks heat up and I just hope Iroh didn’t understand any of what I was saying before. I realise he’s still watching me curiously and I still haven’t replied to what Zuko actually told him.

“I only really decided last night, I swear I was going to tell you this morning,” I explain to him, hoping he’s not upset he heard it from Zuko and not me. Maybe I should have made time to talk to him last night rather than going to sleep to avoid Zuko.

“Don’t worry, I know you would have. But I must admit I’ll be sad to see you go,” he replies, eyes downcast despite his overall calmness.

“It’s nothing to do with you or Lee, I just think it’s time I finally talk to them. I have some unresolved things I need to do that I feel like only they can help me with” I insist. He’s done so much for me I need him to understand I’m going for all my own reasons.

“I understand, and I’m proud you feel like you can finally take this step out on your own,” Iroh smiles reassuringly, and a warmth fills my chest from his words.

“Thank you,” I reply happily. I realise that Zuko still isn’t back so I go to ask where he went when I see him coming back from the front of the ship, Jet walking next to him.

The happiness that I usually feel whenever I see the dark-haired boy has been taken over by the self-consciousness of knowing what happened, or almost happened between us, and as much as I don’t like it, I can’t push it away either.

Zuko’s gaze falls on me and we meet eyes for half a second before both of us look away. I try hard to repress the blush threatening to appear, the morning light making it harder to cover than before. It’s ridiculous but I don’t want Zuko to know just how much that moment affects me.

I hope he’ll go with Jet and find the other freedom fighters, but instead, the brown-haired boy sits down next to me which means Zuko joins as well, though he doesn’t appear to be pleased about it.

“Good morning, Sol,” Jet greets smiling, his usual confidence still present despite the early time.

“Good morning,” I reply, attention solely on the earth kingdom boy.

An awkward silence surrounds us as Zuko and I avoid even looking at each other which leaves Jet and Iroh confused.

“I can’t wait to get inside the city and sleep in a bed again. Don’t you agree?” Jet asks aloud and Iroh agrees but Zuko just shrugs silently. I see Jet look to me for my response, but I feel like my voice is stuck in my throat so all I can do is hum my agreement instead. “Okay, did you guys have an argument or something while you were gone last night? You’re being weird.”

I wonder if ‘or something’ covers almost kissing the boy I’ve only known a couple of weeks but yet I have developed a stronger feeling for than anyone I ever have before.

“Or something,” I mutter, but apparently not quiet enough because I see Jet’s eyebrows shoot up and Iroh watching me with a small smirk. “I mean, no, nothing like that, no arguments here.”

I look away embarrassed. I can’t believe I said that out loud, if things weren’t awkward enough before they will be now.

“Ohh, I get it,” Jet smirks, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “I figured you two were dating, you just wanted some alone time didn’t you?”

I gasp, surprised by his comment which causes me to start choking on the air I just inhaled. I feel Iroh patting my back, and I duck my head hoping they’ll think my red cheeks are from the coughing.

“What no,” Zuko snaps at the still smirking boy. I raise my eyes to look at him, and his angry face catches me off guard. “We're not like that and nothing like that would ever happen.”

Suddenly my chest starts to hurt for a completely different reason than lack of air.

“Yeah, no.. it was nothing,” I stumble, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.

I don’t know what I was expecting, we barely know each other, whatever that was last night, it was probably a spur of the moment thing. Or maybe it didn’t happen at all and I just imagined him leaning in when it was just me pushing myself forward.

“No, wait, Sol, I didn’t mean...” Zuko starts to say something, but I don’t need to hear it. He doesn’t need to explain just because I made up a moment between us.

“Don’t worry, I understand. We’re friends,” I say to Zuko, but also use it to answer Jet. If that’s all I can get from the firebender right now, it’s still more than I imagined when I first met the angry boy inside that house.

“Yeah, friends,” Zuko sighs, and I hum happily at that. An awkward silence hangs over the group and I feel bad that Jet and Iroh had to watch that, though it was Jet’s fault.

Luckily, the awkwardness doesn’t last long before it’s interrupted by an approaching guard. I panic for a moment hoping he’s not going to ask about the missing food but he doesn’t. He just tells us that we’re just about to get to the shore and gives us instructions of what to do when we get there.

As soon as he’s gone I lean against the edge of the boat and in the water, I notice something through the lifting mist. “Is that…” I start to say but I can’t finish as we get closer.

“Bas Sing Se,” Iroh whispers, now beside me to stare at the imposing wall.

Just past the edge of the water looms the grand outer wall of Ba Sing Se. I’d heard stories before, but actually seeing it in person is something different entirely. It might be just a wall, but there’s a presence that comes from it. Something that screams safety… but also danger.

------

It’s not long after that, that we arrive at the shores of the lake. Everyone is quickly ushered off and up the path to the entrance of the outer wall. It’s easy to understand why no one has been able to break into it before, just standing next to it makes everything around it look small.

We’re led into a building, which much like Fullmoon Bay has a lot of people waiting at booths to check passports and tickets, as well as a crowd of people sitting or standing around.

We get into line, losing the freedom fighters in the process, though I’m sure it won’t be that hard to find them again if needed. The line moves slowly with all the people here, but eventually, it gets to Zuko and Iroh.

“So, Mr Lee and Mr, um Mushy, is it?” The lady behind the booth asks once the men have given her their tickets.

“It’s pronounced ‘Moo-shi’,” Iroh corrects kindly.

“You telling me how to do my job?” She demands and I begin to wonder if everyone who works at these booths are always in a bad mood.

“Uh, no-no-no. But may I just say, you’re like a flower in bloom, your beauty is intoxicating,” Iroh leans against the booth, charm in full display as I watch stunned.

“Mm, you’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome,” the woman flirts back and I tear my eyes away, catching sight of Zuko who looks just as horrified. “Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

Iroh turns back with the tickets now stamped and Zuko snatches his back. “I’m gonna forget I saw that.”

“I am right there with you,” I agree not needing that display in my head for the rest of my life.

“Next,” the lady calls, clearly in a better mood. I step forward and slide her my ticket while Zuko and Iroh stand to the side. “So, Miss Solmi. I assume from this stamp you’ll want…”

“No, it’s fine,” I say cutting her off. I feel bad but I have a feeling whatever she was about to say is probably related to that seal on my passport. It’s bad enough I couldn’t stop my name from slipping out and I know Zuko and Iroh definitely heard it. “I’d like to stay with these two since we’ve been traveling together.”

“Well, usually we wouldn’t allow it but…” She looks over to Iroh who winks at her which makes her all giddy again, “Okay, if that’s what you want. Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

I take my stamped ticket and quickly move through the doors behind the both with the other two right behind me. I find a place to sit and slouch down, waiting for the monorail to come.

“So, Solmi, is it?” I hear Iroh ask. My hands start immediately fiddling with my bowstring at the question. I should have known they wouldn’t drop it.

“Yeah, that’s my full name, though it’d be better if you called me Sol,” I tell him. I’ve grown attached to the nickname, that it’s almost weird hearing my other name again.

“If you insist, though your full name is very beautiful,” Iroh replies and I smile a little at the compliment.

“I prefer Sol,” Zuko comments. It surprises me but I guess he’s trying to push through the awkwardness from the boat. I can’t help the full-on grin that settles on my cheeks.

“Yeah, I think I do too,” I agree, suddenly more attached to the name than before, not that it has anything to do with Zuko.

“So, you guys got plans once you’re inside the city?” Jet slides into the seat next to Zuko, apparently not having any trouble finding us.

“Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!” A man interrupts, pushing along a cart full of tea supplies.

“Oh, jasmine, please!” Iroh requests to no one’s surprise, I even hear Zuko sigh next to me.

The man comes over and pours a cup moving on his way. Iroh happily takes a sip, but immediately spits it back out.

“Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it,” he complains glaring at his cup. “What a disgrace.”

“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” Jet asks Zuko, nodding his head away from us. He gets up without a reply, but Zuko just sighs and follows anyways.

I turn to comfort Iroh about his cold tea when I hear Jet calling me as well.

“Sol, I meant both of you,” he says, though now I’m confused as to what he’d want both of us for that’s not ‘liberating’ some more food. Nevertheless, I make my way over to them.

“You guys and I have a much better chance of making it in the city if we stick together. You wanna join the freedom fighters?” Jet invites to my surprise.

“Thanks, but I don’t think you want me in your gang,” Zuko replies, looking away.

“Come on, we made a great team looting that captain’s food. Think of all the good we could do for these refugees,” Jet tries to persuade Zuko, but it doesn’t work.

“I said no,” he says finally, walking back to Iroh.

“What about you Sol? You interested?” Jet asks hopefully, and it makes me feel bad for having to decline.

“I wish I could, but unfortunately I’m not going to be staying in the city long,” I tell him.

“That’s too bad, where are you going?” Jet seems to be generally curious and I wonder if this is a good place to start trying to find my friends. He appears to be the kind of person who would appreciate what the Avatar does so maybe he’s heard some recent stories.

I look over my shoulder to make sure Zuko is far enough away he won’t hear, but my attention gets drawn to something else, steam raising from Iroh’s cup.

I turn back to Jet quickly, hoping he won’t notice. But unfortunately, he’s not oblivious and his attention too is caught by the cup.

“Did he just…” Jet starts, eyes narrowing as Zuko knocks the cup out of Iroh’s hand.

“What? Did who what?” I ask innocently, hoping he won’t think too deeply about what he saw.

“Mushi, he just complained about his tea being cold, but now I can see steam rising from it,” Jet states bluntly and I try not to flinch.

“That’s just Mushi, I’m sure it was plenty hot, he just likes to exaggerate since he’s very particular with his tea,” I explain, needing him to take it because I can’t think of any other explanation right now.

Jet’s eyes flicker from me to the pair behind me multiple times before settling on me, though I can’t read what they’re trying to say.

“Yeah, right of course. Anyways I should be getting back to the fighters. Have a safe journey,” he waves and rushes off before I can say anything else.

I let out a tense sigh but there’s not much else I can do now. I head back to the other two, Iroh staring longingly at the tea on the floor.

“You two need to be very careful now. I think I managed to convince Jet that ‘Muhsi’ here didn’t just firebend his tea, but I’m sure he’s still suspicious,” I tell them seriously keeping my voice low. If they get caught in a city like Ba Sing Se it’s not going to end well.

—--

It’s a long day of waiting, monorails arriving and leaving but we have to wait our turn. The time lets me think and I contemplate talking to Zuko about what happened on the ferry, to clear any leftover awkwardness. But if I did imagine it, it’ll only make everything worse and at least he’s actually looking at me now.

Finally, our monorail arrives and we quickly board, taking a seat next to a couple.

“What a handsome baby,” Iroh comments, leaning over to look at the bundle in the lady’s arms.

“Thank you,” she replies and Iroh gently runs his finger over the blanket, baby happily dozing.

I feel the cart start to move and in a few seconds, we’re bathed in the orange glow of the sun coming through the windows. I turn around in my seat to look outside and the sight is amazing. So much land spread out for animals and farming and we’re not even in the city yet. I never thought it would be so enormous, the monorail line stretching and going for a while before it finally stops as we get to the inner wall.

We get off, I look around but I can’t see Jet or any guards specifically targeting the two firebenders, so I just hope that means Jet believed what I said before.

There’s a man telling everyone of the basic rules of the city, but you can tell no one is really paying attention, everyone too excited to get to their new lives.

Iroh leads us to the address of the house we’re going to be staying at. We arrive at a large building, one that has multiple floors for different apartments and Iroh takes us to his and Zuko’s place.

It’s a simple, green and brown interior. The main room is small, and there’s a door that I assume leds to the bedroom.

I yawn, thinking about beds making me realise just how tired I am. I make my way to the couch in the corner of the room and flop on it.

“Sol, you don’t have to stay out here, you can sleep in the bedroom if you’d like,” Iroh’s concerned voice makes its way through the fog as I fall asleep.

“It’s fine, not like I’m gonna be here long,” I mumble, forcing the words to make sense but my consciousness is rapidly fading away. “I sleep now, tell me about it in the morning.”

I hear a chuckle as my eyes slip closed, and the last thing I see before I drift off is a sad smile on Zuko’s face.

Chapter Text

I wake up to the sound of talking and things clattering together. I groan and roll over hoping to get some more sleep. I know usually I’m great at waking up, but this is the first time I’ve slept on something that isn’t ground in a while, so I want to enjoy it as long as I can.

“Sol? Are you awake?” Iroh asks, and I assume the noise was him getting the stuff to make tea.

“No,” I moan, eyes still firmly shut to the world.

I hear a snort of laughter next to me which finally convinces me to open my eyes. It doesn’t take long to find Zuko, his back resting against the couch as he sits on the floor.

“I thought you were a morning person,” Zuko states, turning to look at me with his usual smirk planted on his lips.

I chose not to reply and just drag myself up into sitting up.

“Here, have some tea, it'll wake you up,” Iroh suggests, handing me a cup that confirms my theory.

“Thank you,” I take the cup gratefully and hold it in my hands while it cools down, but just the smell is enough to bring me more into the land of the living.

“We were planning to head into town in a moment if you wanted to come with us,” Iroh says, I take a sip of my tea to avoid answering right away.

I know I should, the sooner I start trying to find the others the better, but I also know I’ll really miss waking up like this.

“Of course,” I reply finishing my tea. Because no matter how much I want to stay, I made my decision to go back and help my friends.

—--

We head to the market area and the place is a lot different during the day. There are people all around the streets going about whatever business they have. The shopkeepers are yelling, and new people are trying to find their way around. Though it’s clear this is the lower class part of the city.

It’s a big place and figuring out where I’m supposed to start is going to be impossible.

“Sol, are you alright?” Iroh asks concerned. I realise I had slowed to a stop while I was taking in the surroundings.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about the best place to start asking about my friends,” I reply, giving him a smile to calm his worries.

“Well then, Lee and I will continue our browsing, but we won’t be too far,” Iroh says and I nod gratefully.

I go to walk away when I feel Zuko grab my hand, gently pulling me back. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” He stresses, and I know he remembers my fear from before. And honestly, part of worries about that too, but I just have to push past it.

“I’m sure, and if I’m not at least I know I can find you,” I reassure him, and while he still hesitates he lets go of my hand and follows his uncle.

I watch them go, and then finally turn to observe all the people around. It’ll be best to start with refugees that have just arrived, they’re probably most likely to have heard stories of the Avatar on their journey here.

I look across the street and see two men in the opening of an alley, one of them presumably showing off his new sword, which looks very dangerous. Probably best to avoid talking to them.

I hear a sound coming from my left and I see a carriage coming my way, so I step out the path as I continue to look for people.

It’s so hard to figure out who to talk to, that I’ll probably just have to ask most people I see. Even then Aang travels a lot so there’s no guarantee that if one person saw him in one place someone else would say the same.

I groan, throwing my head back, realising that finding this kid is going to be harder than I thought.

“Solmi?” Someone calls from behind me. I know that voice, but it can’t be. I just think it’s him because I’ve been thinking about him.

I turn around to find out who called and if it was even for me, and my eyes widen as I catch sight of a familiar bald head leaning out the window of the carriage.

“Aang?” I gasp, not fully believing it is him.

“It really is you!” He yells, rushing out of the carriage door. The next thing I know it’s like he’s trying to suck all the air out of me with his airbending, his arms wrapped tight around my middle in a crushing hug.

“Jeez Twinkle Toes, let her breath,” I look over Aang’s head to see Toph standing there with a smirk on her face, Katara and Sokka stood beside her.
“Oh, sorry,” Aang apologises sheepish, letting me go.

“It’s fine, I missed you too,” I tell him, pulling him in for a more gentle hug. Once he lets go again, Katara easily takes his place.

“It’s good to see you again,” Sokka says smiling, arm on my shoulder, and I can’t help but smile back.

“How long have you been in Ba Sing Se?” Katara asks when she pulls away.

“I only just got here yesterday,” I tell them, still stunned by the fact it took less than a day to find them all again, and here of all places.

“Wow, we only entered the city today, What are the chances?” Aang comments, and I agree, this is the best luck ever.

I hear someone clear their throat and I look to see a formally dressed lady still sitting inside the carriage. “May I ask who this is?” She asks the others, trying to sound friendly but clearly on edge.

“This is our friend, Solmi. She used to travel with us but we got separated for a little while,” Katara explains, and I feel beyond glad that they still consider me their friend.

“Ah, I see, well we should continue on. I still have a lot more to show you,” the lady says, urging the others to get back in the carriage.

“You have to come with us, Solmi,” Aang insists excited, “She can, can’t she Joo Dee?”

“Of course, any friend of the Avatar,” she replies, though her smile looks a little bit more forced. The others look back at me hopeful.

“I would love to. But I found someone while I was on my own and I actually came to Ba Sing Se with them. I couldn’t just leave,” I explain and I can see Aang’s smile drop.

“I understand,” he replies dejected, and it makes my heart crack a little.

“But, we came out together this morning and I know they’re not far, so if you can wait a few minutes I can run after them and explain,” I suggest and Aang’s smile comes right back.

“We could come with you if you want?” Sokka asks and I’m about to take him up on that in my excitement when I remember just who I’m going to.

“No!” I yell, startling them all and myself. I clear my throat embarrassed and continue on calmer. “I mean, the whole ‘meeting the Avatar’ thing might be a bit much. I promise it won’t take long.”

They share a look between them, but they do agree and get back in the carriage to wait. I wave at them and quickly head in the direction I saw Zuko and Iroh go last. Luckily, when I do spot them it’s on a completely different street to the others.

“Lee! Mushi!” I call, still remembering to use the aliases even though I’m excited. I can see the confusion on their faces when I stop in front of them.

“What happened? You seem rather happy about something,” Iroh says and I can’t do anything to hide the smile on my face.

“You won’t believe it. I found them. My friends, they’re here in Ba Sing Se!” I beam. Iroh looks happy at the news, Zuko however I can’t tell. It’s like he’s made his expression unreadable, and my excitement dies down a little at that.

“That’s great news,” Iroh comments, making me smile again.

“Yeah it is, anyway I should really go now. I told them I’d go with them so we can catch up,” I tell them, starting to head back to the others.

“Oh yeah, before you go, I got Lee and I jobs at the tea shop down the street,” Iroh points behind him where I can vaguely see a building that looks like a tea shop.

“Great, I’ll be sure to visit tomorrow,” I say, waving goodbye. I hesitate, waiting to see if Zuko will say anything, but he doesn’t. I try not to think about it or his expression as I walk down the streets, I can worry about that tomorrow when I see him again.

I get back to where the carriage is and climb in, sitting in between Sokka and Joo Dee.

“You good?” Katara asks and I nod.

“Yep, let’s go,” I say, and with that Joo Dee motions for the rider to start going again.

I stare out the window, fascinated by the dramatic change of scenery once we get to the next ring, the buildings are a lot nicer and spaced out and there are lots of different plants and trees around.

“This is the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, home to the financial district, shops and restaurants, and the university,” Joo Dee explains as we pass over a beautiful river.

“Yeah, we met a professor from Ba Sing Se University,” Sokka comments “He took us to an ancient underground library where we discovered information about the war that is absolutely crucial for the King to hear!”

“Isn’t history fascinating? Look, here's one of the oldest buildings in the middle ring, town hall,” Joo Dee points out, like Sokka didn’t just tell her the most important thing ever.

I swing my head around looking at everyone, hoping someone might add something about this information, I meet eyes with Katara, but she just shrugs as if to say ‘I’ll explain later’.

I slouch back in my seat, feeling a familiar sense of panic rise at just the mention of the war, but I push it away. I told myself I would stop being so afraid, and if I want to help those refugees this is the way to do it.

Eventually, we make it to the upper ring, which is even more stunning than the middle ring and gives off an aura of sophistication that reminds me of the palace back home.

“The upper ring is home to our most important citizens. Your house is not too far from here,” Joo Dee says. It’s strange to think they have so much space here, yet the lower ring is so crowded.

We pass by a giant wall concerned with Earth Kingdom symbols with what looks like guards hanging by the opening.

“What’s inside that wall?” Katara asks, looking out the window. As we go by the guards turn to stare at us which is a little odd.

“And who are the mean-looking guys in robes?” Sokka adds on.

“Inside is the royal palace. Those men are agents of the Dai Li, the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se. They are the guardians of all our traditions,” Joo Dee explains.

“Can we see the King now?” Aang asks since we’re outside the palace anyway.

“Oh no,” Joo Dee laughs, “One does not just pop in on the Earth King.”

That’s clearly not the answer anyone wanted and we all just sit in silence until the carriage finally stops outside a decent sized fancy house.

“Here we are, your new home,” Joo Dee announces and just then a man runs up to hand her a scroll. “More good news. Your request for an audience with the Earth King is being processed and should be put through in about a month. Much more quickly than usual.”

“A month?” Sokka cries out, distressed by the news.

“Six to eight weeks, actually,” Joo Dee clarifies making it worse. I furrow my brows at her as she walks towards the house, I get it’s a big city but that’s still a long time to wait.

I follow everyone into the main room, Toph and Katara head to the table in the middle and take a seat, while Sokka, Aang and I stay standing.

“Isn’t it nice? I think you’ll really enjoy it here,” Joo Dee says.

“I think we’d enjoy it more if we weren’t staying so long,” Sokka replies. “Can’t we see the Earth King any sooner?”

“The Earth King is very busy running the finest city in the world, but he will see you as soon as time permits,” Joo See explains, every word sounding scripted.

“That’s ridiculous,” I retort, trying to keep myself from glaring at the woman “What could he be doing that means he can’t see us?”

“The Earth King has a lot of important business that needs to be done on a day to day basis that keeps the city running” Joo Dee insists, though it doesn’t actually answer the question.

“What should be important is what’s best for the people in his city.” I stress, not understanding her reasoning at all. I can tell the others are looking at me, surprised by the outburst, but I refuse to stay quiet about this.

“There are thousands of refugees who just want to go home, and while they’re in his city they’re his responsibility. Listening to the Avatar who has information that could end this war and let everybody go home should be his main priority right now.”

I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down as Joo Dee’s ever present smile falls. “The matters of the Earth King are very hard to understand,” is all she can say.

“Maybe that’s what you can tell others, but I used to spend all my time watching and helping my uncle Bumi run Omashu, so I know what goes into running a city, but he always had time to take care of his citizens,” I accuse. It might be a lot bigger than Omashu, but if the earth King doesn’t have time to see the citizens then he’s running his city wrong.

“Ah yes, we got word from Fullmoon Bay that the princess of Omashu was coming to Ba Sing Se, I do hope you enjoy your stay,” she replies, her smile back in full force. I cringe at the title, realising that’s the only part of what I said she even heard.

I give up trying to reason with her and sit down next to the other girls with a groan.

“If we’re going to be here for a month, we should spend our time looking for Appa,” Aang says, which brings to my attention the lack of the giant creature, I assume that’s part of the ‘explain later’ story.

—--

We spend the rest of the day going from place to place, first an exotic pet shop to ask about Appa, then the university so Sokka can question professors about the war. But everywhere strikes out, everyone getting overly nervous any time anything bad gets brought up. In the end, we just have to go home, clearly not getting anywhere today.

“Well, I’m sorry no one has seen your bison,” Joo dee says, dropping us off after babysitting us all day. “Why don’t you get some rest, someone will be over with dinner later.”

We watch the carriage leave and I’m happy to see her go, she is far too happy and helpful that it feels wrong. Though maybe that’s because I’ve spent too much time around Zuko and his grumpiness.

“Hey, come with me,” Sokka says, pointing at the house across the street.

He knocks on the door and an older gentleman answers the door, wearing the same forced smile as Joo Dee. It’s clear he’s nervous as Sokka questions him, saying he doesn’t want to get in trouble.

“Get in trouble with who?” Katara asks.

“Shh, listen, you can’t mention the war here, and whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li,” he doesn’t even say goodbye, just shuts the door in our face.

“Well that was strange,” I comment, still staring at the wooden door.

“Just add it to the list,” Sokka replies, then gestures back towards our house as we go back.

When we get back inside the group separates into the two rooms, boys in one, girls in another. I follow Toph and Katara into our room, the design a lot like the main room just with two large beds pushed against the walls.

For lack of anything better to do, I decide to look through the cabinets, though to my surprise I find them full of clothes. I look down at the outfit I got from the abandoned town, and while it’s comfy I get why Joo Dee looked hesitant about me at first, and if I’m going to be spending time in the upper ring I should try to fit in a little.

I pull out different articles of clothing, mixing them until I find an outfit I like. I end up with a light green tie up long sleeves shirt with gold details, and over the top, I throw on a long no sleeve darker green robe that opens at the bottom. I find a random pair of light brown pants to go with it since mine are torn, and I put aside my scuffed boots for a pair of green flats.

I notice the other two have left, probably finished with their own exploring, so I close the draws and join them in the main room.

Everyone is sitting around the middle table, so I sit with them, removing my bow and sitting it on the floor next to me. No one speaks as they’ve all drifted off into their own worlds, but I’m just happy to be with them again, although I do miss Zuko and Iroh.

I look at my bow and remember the worry I had when I realised something must have happened to them if they lost possession of it, and I know now whatever happened to Appa must have led to my bow being in the hands of someone else.

“Where did you get the bow?” Katara asks. It takes me a couple of seconds to realise who she’s talking to, she must have seen me looking at it.

“I found some guy with it in a tavern in this place near a desert,” I tell them.

“Wait a second, this tavern didn’t happen to be in a place called the Misty Palms Oasis did it?” Sokka asks, head perking up from where he was leaning on it before.

“Yeah, I think that’s what it was called. How did you know that?” I stare at him confused, from how run down it was I can’t imagine it’s a well-known place.

“Because we ended up there as well,” Katara replies. “That's where we met the professor from Ba Sing Se University.”

“Yeah, he led us to this huge library in the middle of the desert that was guarded by some angry owl spirit, and when we were there we learnt about an upcoming solar eclipse which will cause all the firebenders to lose their powers,” Sokka explains, waving his arms around to further explain the story.

“So that’s what's absolutely crucial you tell the king” I realise and it’s good to be caught up despite how insane that sounds. Although now there’s still one thing I need to know, “So, what happened to Appa?”

“Sandbenders,” Aang says, anger clear in his voice. “They followed us from the oasis and stole him while we were in the library.”

“Oh no, Aang I am so sorry” I whisper. Aang hangs his head as Katara puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“We ended up coming across those sandbenders and they told us they traded Appa to some merchants where he would be brought to Ba Sing Se. That's sort of the reason we’re here. As well as telling the king about the eclipse,” Katara explains, rubbing Aang’s back.

“I guess that’s why a random guy had my bow, they must have sold the stuff on the saddle,” I figure out. It couldn’t have been too long after this happened if the guy was still in the area

“How did you get it back by the way? Those people didn’t look like the kind to return something,” Sokka questions, and he has a point.

“My friend got it back for me,” I say discreetly

“Who are these people you found?” Sokka asks amazed.

“Just two simple travellers,” I should have thought this through, of course, they would want to know who I was with, I just have to make sure I don’t say too much, it reminds me of having to do the same with Zuko and Iroh.

“You know I can tell when someone is hiding something,” Toph comments, she’s looking away but I know it was directed at me. The others now look at me curiously and I try not to panic “So what are you not telling us?”

“Me? Hiding something? Of course not. It’s just simple Lee and Mushi, nothing out of the ordinary there,” I stutter, tapping the table, which I realise is not helping my case.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to tell, I already know,” Toph says smirking. I can feel my heart racing, I have no idea how she could know about Zuko, I just hope the others aren’t too mad. “You’re dating this Lee aren’t you?”

I almost don’t even register what Toph says at first still worried about being found out, and when I do realise what it was my heart starts pounding in a completely different way

“What? No, Me and Lee are not anything,” I try to put confidence into my voice as I say it. But then I remember how close he was on the ferry, and my cheeks take on a now-familiar flush.

“Ohhh, Solmi’s got a boyfriend,” Sokka sings and I bring my hands up to cover my face.

“No, really. It’s not like that,” I stress, the words muffled through my hands.

“But you want it to be like that,” Toph replies and I groan.

I can hear the others laughing at my apparent embarrassment, and I continue to hide until my face is no longer red. At least this is better than them figuring out I’ve been travelling with the guy who had been trying to capture Aang.

The laughter dies down and fortunately, the conversation steers away from me as the others decide to fill me in on the rest of what had been going on, like Aang learning earth bending, and Azula trying to take down the Ba Sing Se wall.

I wish I could say I was really paying attention, but my mind is too busy thinking about what could happen if they did find out the truth. If they found out Zuko and Iroh were here in Ba Sing Se they might report them to the king or the Dai Li. I can’t let that happen, they’re just trying to get on and live their lives right now, they don't deserve to get in trouble for whatever they did in the past.

Soon there’s a knock on the door, a woman standing there with a basket with what I assume is dinner based on what Joo Dee told us. It’s an uneventful meal, tiredness from the day settling in and it’s not long after that when everyone decides to go to bed, plans on figuring out more about this city tomorrow.

As I lay down, I wonder how Zuko is, the look he gave me when I said I was going to go with the others still in my kind. I just hope he’ll be better when I go and see them tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The next morning I find myself staring out the window, sipping on the tea I just made. It’s hard to believe that just yesterday I wasn’t sure when I’d see my friends again, and now they’re all here surrounding me.

Katara emerges from our room stretching, heading out the front door presumably to get some fresh air. But she isn’t gone more than ten seconds before she comes running back in, eyes now wide awake.

“I’ve got it!” She yells, holding a rolled-up piece of paper in her hand, “I know how we’re gonna see the Earth King.”

“How’re we supposed to do that? One doesn’t just ‘pop in’ on the Earth King remember,” Tophs says mimicking Joo Dee.

“The King is having a party tonight for his pet bear,” Katara explains reading off the paper, which gets everyone confused on what kind of bear, but apparently it’s just a bear. “The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with a crowd.”

“Won’t work,” Toph shoots down.

“Why not?” Katara asks frustrated at the immediate refusal of her plan.

“Well, no offence to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you a mile away, you’ve got no manners” Toph explains and I frown.

“You do remember I was raised in a palace, right?” I say defensively. Usually, I don’t bring it up, but I also didn’t spend years learning proper etiquette for it to be ignored when it’s actually needed.

“Fine, except for princess here,” Toph adds on and I frown. I regret saying anything if that’s the nickname I get from it, though I’m sure she had that ready since Joo Dee said it yesterday.

“Excuse me? I’ve got no manners? You’re not exactly lady fancy fingers,” Katara retorts, pointing out the way the earthbender is just lazing around eating pastries from the tray next to her.

“I learned proper society behaviour and chose to leave it. You never learned anything, and frankly, it’s a little too late,” Toph decides.

“Ah-ha! But you learned it,” Sokka exclaims, heading popping up from the floor. “You could teach us, and Solmi can help too.”

I wince at the suggestion, I should’ve known I’d be dragged into this. just hope it won’t take long, since I told Iroh and Zuko I’d visit today and I don’t want them to think I forgot them just because I found my friends. But I also know this is important.

“I’m sure it won’t be too difficult,” I vouch.

“Yeah, I’m mastering every element. How hard can manners be?” Aang questions, grabbing a curtain from the wall and wrapping it around himself.

Which ends up proving Toph’s point as Sokka joins him and both of them talk in ‘fancy’ voices until they get into a bowing competition and predictably end up headbutting each other.

“Okay, it might be harder than I thought,” I correct myself, somehow forgetting while I was away, the stupidity these two can create together.

“Yeah, Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys,” Toph says, mocking the boys on the floor.

“But I feel so fancy,” Sokka comments rubbing his head.

“It’ll be better this way, a smaller group has a better chance of blending in anyways,” I reason to make the other two feel better.

—--

Toph, Katara and I head back into our room to find some gowns that would look fancy enough to blend into a high-class party. Luckily we find some in the wardrobe and it looks like they were placed there specifically for an occasion like this.

“So, Miss Fancy Fingers, would you care to bestow your infinite knowledge on this simple country girl,” Katara asks dramatically, curtsying to Toph.

“Where to begin, there’s so much for you to learn,” Toph mocks, back to making Katara roll her eyes. “What do you think Solmi?”

I rub my hand together nervously, knowing now is probably the best time to bring up my worry from before. “About that… I kinda told my friends that I would visit them today.”

“Oh I see, you want to leave us with all the work so you can go and see your boyfriend,” Toph jokes.

“No, it’s not like…” I go to argue when I realised exactly what she said and my face heats up. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“It’s fine, I’m sure I can learn from Toph just fine,” Katara says, smiling at me comfortingly.

“Are you sure? They can probably wait another day,” I argue, not wanting to leave if they really need me.

“Just go,” Katara laughs pushing me towards the door.

“Thank you, I’ll be back before the party starts,” I tell them, rushing to grab my stuff.

“Oh don’t rush for us, you gotta make sure you spend as much time with your boyfriend as possible,” Toph teases, but I ignore her to rush out the door, waving goodbye to the boys as I leave.

I honestly feel bad for leaving, I know this plan is important for being able to talk to the Earth King, but Katara is right, Toph can teach her just fine and as long as I’m back before they go then everything will work out fine.

—--

Getting back to the lower ring is surprisingly simple, monorails easy to find. I get a couple of weird looks when I get off from the men pushing the cart and from the lower ring people around, but I ignore it in favour of finding the way to the tea shop Iroh mentioned the day before.

I wander the streets trying to remember the roads the carriage took, and I end up getting distracted by my own thoughts.

Part of me can’t help but wonder if all of this, being here in Ba Sing Se would be easier if I told everyone the truth. I know with the history between everyone that maybe it’d be difficult, but Zuko hasn’t even mentioned Aang apart from when Iroh was talking about the nations. He’s completely different from the supposedly obsessed boy who chased them around the world.

And I’m sure that if I just talk to the others and explained that Zuko is different now they’d be able to move past what he did. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I just want all of the people in my life to be together without me having to lie about it all.

I sigh, looking around to see where I’d even gotten to since I stopped paying attention to where I was going and to my surprise, in front of me is a simple-looing shop with a sign over the door that reads ‘Pao family tea house’.

I open the door and immediately I see Iroh, teapot in hand talking to a customer at one of the tables. The door closes behind me with a rush of air, blowing my hair in front of my face, and I realise in my rush to leave I forgot to tie my hair up.

“Welcome, please take a seat,” Iroh says with ease like he’s been doing it his whole life rather than a day, but it doesn’t surprise me. He puts down the teapot, turning to face me to welcome me properly, all the while his usual charming smile on his face.

“It didn’t take long for you to take over Mushi,” I tease, happy to see him enjoying himself.

His eyebrows rise as he looks at me, and I push my hair behind my ears, nervous at the lack of response. “Sol?” he asks surprised before his face lights up, “I hardly even recognised you!”

“It’s only been a day I haven’t changed that much have I?” I wonder looking down at my outfit, I didn’t think it’d make that much of a difference. I glance around the shop realising in this exchange that a certain firebender is missing. “Where’s Lee?”

“He’s out the back cleaning, let me just get him for you,” Iroh says, turning around and heading for the back of the shop before I can stop him.

For some reason, standing here right now, just waiting for Iroh to get Zuko, I’m more nervous than I was when I went to talk to him for the first time. And at that point, I didn’t know if he was going to attack me or not. I blame Toph and her teasing.

“Uncle, I was almost done,” I hear Zuko complaining at his uncle, and I turn my head to hide my laugh at the familiar sound.

“You can do that in a minute, look who came to see us,” Iroh insists. I see them come out the door, practically dragging his nephew.

“I…” Whatever he was going to say he doesn’t finish, mouth snapping shut when Iroh points him in my direction.

My nervousness from before doubles and part of me wants to walk out the door and come back another day. But my feet stay planted on the floor as Zuko continues to stare.

I wonder if he’s angry about my leaving. He sounded fine about it on the ferry, but his face when I said goodbye comes back to me and I realise it was really sudden, it would make sense if he was mad about it.

I scan his face to try and find any hints of him being angry, or at least any more grumpy than usual, but instead I notice his eyes. His golden orbs aren’t in one place either looking at me or ignoring me, rather they’re moving all around, studying something intently, and with a flush, I realise the only thing in the direction he’s looking at is me.

He stops, eyes reaching mine and notices my watching him making him look away, awkwardly clearing his throat.

“New… uh… new look?” He stutters, rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh, uh, yeah. The place I’m staying had some spare clothes so I borrowed them,” I reply, belatedly realising these aren’t the clothes you'd find in the lower ring, but luckily it seems Zuko didn’t hear the slip-up.

“You look nice,” he compliments, before quickly turning around and heading back to what he was doing at the back of the shop. Which works great for me because it means he can’t see the blush that takes over my entire face.

“I think he was happy to see you,” Iroh says from beside me, making me jump. I feel my face get hotter once I realise that Iroh just watched all of that, and so did the few customers that are in the shop.

Luckily, there aren’t that many people who were here to witness my embarrassment, but on the other hand, that means there’s no one here to distract Iroh and his giddy smirk.

Fortunately for me, before Iroh can roll out any teasing comment the door opens behind me and four men walk in, taking a seat nearby. Iroh sends me a final glance before going to deal with the new customers, and I take that moment to sit down and cool my face off before ordering myself a drink.

While I’m here I might as well get some good tea for energy for this party tonight.

—--

I laugh at the story one of the customers is telling, getting lost as he explains a prank some kids pulled in the town that he came from. I put down my empty cup, already having lost count of how many cups I’ve finished. It’s not my fault, Iroh just happens to always be nearby and ready to refill the empty cup.

I watch Zuko somewhat gracefully moving around the tables, cloth in hand. He didn’t come out of the backroom for a while, but he ended up being forced out when it had gotten busier in the afternoon.

As soon as I saw him I felt myself looking away from the leftover embarrassment from before, but I forced myself to look back and gave him a wave with a small smile not wanting things to be weird again. Luckily, he returned it before going back to work and I breathed a sigh of relief that everything was normal again.

I look at the door when I hear it open, a guard most likely on their break coming in, but whoever it is gets forgotten when I notice the lack of light coming from behind them.

“Oh no,” I moan, I can’t believe it’s already this late. Maybe it’s Iroh’s aura, or his tea, but everyone who has come through the doors today have been the nicest people, and it reminds me so much of Omashu, just sitting here and listening to people talk, I completely lost track of time.

This easy feeling just brings back my thoughts from earlier, and it’s getting very tempting to just blurt out the truth and get it over with. It’ll be so much easier to explain always having to go if it’s about ending the war.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko asks from where he’s gathering cups.

“I was supposed to go to this party with my friends this evening, if I don’t go now I’m going to be late,” I put my face in my hands. I can’t believe I let this happen, I just hope they’ll still be waiting.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Zuko says, awkwardly patting my shoulder and I drag my face away from my hands to give him a grateful smile.

I look between the door and him, I don’t have a lot of time, but maybe I should say it now before I talk myself out of it. “Zuko, I need to talk to you, you and Iroh really, it’s kind of imp…”

My words are cut off as the door is shoved open, hitting the wall with a loud bang.

I jump, startled by the sudden noise, but that turns into confusion when I see who is standing in the doorway, and Jet does not look happy. The confusion quickly vanishes when I see the heated glare set at the firebenders and I can tell that he hasn’t dropped the incident from before like I hoped he would have.

“I’m tired of waiting around! These two men and that girl are firebenders!” Jet yells, pointing at the three of us.

The shock I feel at the accusation is doubled when I realise exactly what he said. I stare at the boy wide-eyed as I try to figure out how I got brought into this because last time I checked I wasn’t a firebender. He must’ve thought because I was defending Iroh I was covering for myself as well.

Jet draws his hook swords and advances further into the shop, glare never leaving our direction. “I know they’re firebenders! I saw the old man heating his tea!”

“He works in a tea shop,” one of the customers’ counters, and I am just glad they don’t seem to believe Jet.

“He’s a firebender I’m telling you!” Jet yells, not giving up.

“What do we do?” I whisper at Zuko panicking. He might not have evidence, but if he makes enough of a fuss people might look into it. I know I’ll be fine, but I don’t want Zuko and Iroh to be thrown in prison and they might have a harder time talking their way out of it.

Luckily the same customer from before, who happens to be a guard takes over the situation. “Drop your swords, boy, nice and easy,” he demands, getting up from his seat.

“You’ll have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know,” Jet says, stalking closer with his swords raised. “Go ahead, show them what you can do.”

I go interfere, at least if I fight him I don’t have a secret I can risk exposing, but Zuko puts a hand on my shoulder gently pushing my back into my seat.

“You want a show?” He demands, grabbing the guard’s swords, pulling the joint blades apart, “I’ll give you a show.”

Zuko hooks his ankle around the table I’m sitting at, pulling it out then kicking it towards Jet. I jump up from my chair, quickly moving around the boy to go stand beside Iroh as Jet jumps over the flying object, landing with his swords coming down against Zuko’s.

“Guys, sto…” I make to get in between them, but Iroh grabs my wrist and pulls me back. “We have to stop them, this is ridiculous.”

“I agree, but if you try now you’ll get hurt and that won’t help anything. Let’s just leave it be for now,” Iroh says, refusing to let go of my arm even when I try to pull away.

I sigh, but I do as he says, anxiously standing by the side and watching the two continue their fight, both of them paying very little attention to what getting damaged in the meantime.

Their swords meet again with a loud clash, and Jet starts rapidly swinging his swords, making Zuko step back and he blocks until Jet manages to kick through the closed store doors, sending him flying outside before quickly following after.

I forget about staying out of it and force my arm out of Iroh’s grip chasing them outside pushing through the other customers who pile at the now broken door.

“You must be getting tired of using those swords,” Jet says pushing against Zuko, “Why don’t you go ahead and firebend at me?”

“Please, son, you’re confused,” Iroh yells from the doorway, trying and failing to get Jet to stop. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Seriously, this is just a misunderstanding, so stop before something bad happens,” I demand, stepping out into the street. I look for an opening and when I see them separate a little to get ready to attack again I force myself in between the two, shoving them apart, and keeping them on either side of my arms.

They both stare at me shocked. But Jet looks gleeful, like my interjection proves his point. I try my best not to look at Zuko too long because I know he’ll be mad, but the longer the fight goes on the more risk something goes wrong. It’s quiet as they both stand there breathing heavy, and my arms relax a little thinking that maybe they’ve come to their senses.

“Oh, I bet you want to help your boyfriend out with a little fire blast don’t you,” Jet taunts, proving me wrong by catching me off guard with a swift kick to my stomach knocking me out of the way. I land harshly on the ground and Iroh rushes over, hands on my shoulders.

I hear Zuko growl and he immediately goes back to attacking Jet, more aggressive now than he was before. I glare at Earth Kingdom boy, then move to pull my bow off my back as I stand up.

“Sol, don’t!” Zuko yells at me. I look at him surprised, but he hasn’t looked away from Jet since the fight started again so there’s no way he could know what I was doing. Still, he’s made it clear he doesn’t want me involved, so I slide my bow back over my chest and just stand next to Iroh, who’s clearly concerned about the events unfolding.

Zuko catches the end of Jet’s sword, sticking it to the ground with his own. “You’re the one who needs help,” Zuko tells him, swinging his lone sword. Jet ducks under the swing, but the sword still cuts the piece of straw he has in his mouth.

Jet jumps back onto the well behind him, “You see that?” He yells to the crowd who has slowly gathered at the commotion, “The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! It’ll never happen.”

Jet uses his hook to swing himself forward, legs stretched out to kick Zuko, which he easily dodges. They end up back to back, attacking and blocking in quick succession, both of them trying to get the upper hand once and for all.

“Drop your weapons!” A man calls out, and the crowd parts to reveal a man dressed in the same clothes as those people I saw in front of the palace.

I try to hide my panic at their appearance, this can’t be good if they’ve come from the upper ring for a scuffle. I begin trying to think of a way to explain this that doesn’t end up with Zuko and Iroh in trouble.

Zuko and Jet separate at the sight of the official, though Jet still looks agitated, Zuko lowers his blade.

“Arrest them, they’re firebenders!” Jet yells to the Dai Li.

“This poor boy is confused, we’re just simple refugees,” Iroh comments, and for a second, even I believe him.

“This young man wrecked my tea shop, and assaulted my employees and a customer!” The shop owner yells, pointing at Jet.

“It’s true sir, we saw the whole thing,” the guard from before informs the agent. “This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city.”

Apparently, this is all they need to hear, because the two come forward and stand on either side of Jet. “Come with us, son,” one of them says, but the younger boy retaliates by swinging his sword at him, though it’s easily caught in the man’s hand.

Both of the agents quickly restrain him, making him drop his sword and forcing his arms behind his back.

“You don’t understand. They’re Fire Nation!” Jet yells as they drag him away, “You have to believe me.”

I watch as they push him into a carriage with bars on it, and ride away as the crowd parts to let them through.

There’s a silence as everyone takes in what happened, then the crowd disperses, most people going home, though some of the customers make their way back into the shop.

I see Zuko giving the swords back to the guard he borrowed them from, and I walk up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder before he can go back into the tea shop.

“Hey,” he says when he faces me, and I find myself scanning him to see if he had gotten injured in the fight, but apart from a couple of scuff marks, he looks fine.

“Hi,” I reply softly, before smacking him on the shoulder. He groans, grabbing it, but I roll my eyes knowing I didn’t hit him that hard.

“What was that for?” He moans and I shake my head at him.

“Do you know how reckless that was? What if something had happened to you, or you did that thing you’re not supposed to?” I demand, still trying to keep it vague. Despite everyone having left it doesn’t mean there might not be people listening, especially after the accusations.

“And what about you, getting in the middle like that,” he argues glaring at me, though it’s not as harsh as the one’s I’ve seen before.

“I know, but I had to do something” I sigh, looking away. “It’s not like you were going to let the guards handle it, or better yet let me of dealt with it from the beginning”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Zuko admits, his voice softer than I’ve ever heard it as he looks at my arm still wrapped around my middle. I have to admit, Jet has a decent kick.

“And I didn’t want you to get hurt either but here we are,” I reply, smiling when his face turns from embarrassed to shocked.

“What were you going to tell me earlier, before we got interrupted?” Zuko asks suddenly. I stare at him wide-eyed, the plan from before coming back to me. But I look back to where the carriage pulled Jet away, and now that plan doesn’t sound like such a good idea anymore. I don’t want to risk losing Zuko and Iroh just to make my life a little easier.

“It’s nothing, I’ll tell you some other time,” I say, looking up at the moon that’s now above the buildings and I feel a groan build “Anyway, I really have to go. There’s no way I’m going to make it to this party now. But, hopefully, I can get back before my friends so I have enough time to explain.”

“I forgot about that. You should have just gone,” Zuko says, sounding as worried about my being late as I feel.

“I couldn’t do that, I had to make sure you were okay first,” I reply, not asking because I know what he’ll say.

“Of course I’m okay,” he answers anyway making me grin stupidly. I wave before heading towards the monorail. I feel bad for not checking on Iroh and saying goodbye, but I trust Zuko will explain.

Now I just have to find a way to explain myself to the others.

—--

Unfortunately, when I get back the others are already there waiting for me.

“There she is!” Aang yells as soon as I open the door to the upper ring home. Immediately I’m confronted with three worried faces in front of me.

“Where were you? We were so worried we almost weren’t going to go, but then I thought you’d meet us at the party but you weren’t there either,” Katara says and I instantly feel bad about almost ruining the plan.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to be late but I was with Lee and…” I try to explain when Toph cits me off.

“See, I told you she was fine at her boyfriend’s. Lost track of time with him did ya?” Toph taunts, raising her eyebrows at me, and I try not to let the blush melt onto my cheeks cause that would only prove her right.

“No, it wasn’t like that, some things happened and I couldn’t leave,” I say, really wishing I had thought of my explanation on the way here.

“Don’t worry about it. In the end, it was probably better you weren’t there,” Sokka comments, and I feel relieved he’s not mad until it’s quickly replaced by concern.

“What happened?”

I stare horrified as they tell me what happened with Long Feng, and it makes sense now why the Dai Li showed up after Jet’s accusations, but it also makes me more worried about what would happen if Zuko and Iroh do get discovered in the city. But from what they said, at least I have some time here to A) help Aang find Appa and B) stop anyone else from trying to reveal the firebenders.

Chapter Text

“So, what’s on everybody’s plans today?” Katara asks as she pulls her hair into her signature style. The question is directed to everyone, well mostly everyone, Toph has yet to get out of bed and I’m sure she would sleep until the war’s over if Katara would let her.

“I’m not sure, I think I might do some sneaking around, see if I can get any more information on how this place works,” Sokka replies, clearly getting ready to go back into detective mode.

“Do you really think that's a good idea?” I ask him worried, remembering what he told me about Long Feng, if he gets caught he’ll get in a lot of trouble.

“It’ll be fine. I’m not going to be talking to anyone or asking questions I shouldn’t be. It’ll just be… strategically placed words,” Sokka assures me, and I sigh knowing there’s no way to convince him otherwise.

“What about you Solmi? I suppose you’ll be going to see ‘that friend’ of yours again,” Katara teases and I do my best to show no reaction to it.

Ever since I was late my ‘friend’, as Katara puts it has become a very popular topic with the others. I don’t know what’s worse, the teasing about my relationship with said friend, or the discussion on who he could be. Both make me very nervous in completely different ways.

Actually, I know what’s worse, the little grins Toph sends me every time the topic is brought up, it make me feel like she knows something. I’ve been getting better at keeping my face calm and pushing the blush away whenever Zuko gets brought up, but still the earthbender always know when I’m flustered

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I say ignoring the way the others all snicker and share a knowing look.

“There’s a zoo in the lower ring that I’ve heard about so I’m going there today to see if maybe they’ve heard anything about Appa,” Aang announces hopefully. At first, the words go right over my head as I let out a noise of agreement because it sounds like a good plan Long Feng can’t get mad about, but then it hits me.

Aang is going to the lower ring, the same lower ring where Zuko and Iroh are. Sure it’s huge, and it’s not like either of the firebenders are likely to leave the tea house to go for a casual stroll to the zoo. But even so, just the idea of all of them being in the same area together is enough to make me start to panic a little.

“Actually, I might come with you Aang,” I propose keeping my voice as steady as possible. “I heard some people talking about that zoo and I’ve been meaning to go and see it.” It’s a flimsy excuse, but it’s the only thing I could come up with before Aang walks out the door.

“Okay,“ Aang agrees easily anyway, looking more cheerful than he did before, “It’ll be great to spend some time with you again.”

I smile at his words, but the joy on his face makes it hard to ignore the now familiar feeling of guilt that attacks my heart, both at having to lie and how much he must’ve missed me when I was gone. I should really make time to catch up with him more.

-------

Once we get to the lower ring I relax a little when I realise that the zoo is in fact in the complete opposite area to where the tea house is. This lets me actually enjoy being with Aang and listening to his excited ramblings about a zoo he had been to in the Earth Kingdom a hundred years before.

“Oh look there it is,” Aang points excitedly to an area between houses where we can see a bunch of cages from the higher ground we’re on. He quickly pulls out his glider and flies off towards it, gone before I can even say anything.

I shake my head but I can’t be annoyed at his haste so I just do my best to get there as quickly as I can.

“You know, we can’t all fly,” I say laughing once I meet him at the front of the gates, and he at least looks a little sheepish at the fact he left me behind

“Sorry,” he replies, rubbing the back of his head.

“It’s okay, I get it. Let’s go,” I say brushing off his apology and gesture for us to go inside the zoo.

The walls are lined up with bars and animals behind them, most of them clearly cramped in the tiny space provided for them. We pass by a cage with three hog monkeys inside, and I can feel my heartbreak when one of them just looks at us with the saddest look on their face.

I look over at Aang but he’s staring up at a tiny hanging cage that is holding a bunch of dragonflies. Seeing these poor animals like this must be terrible for him, picturing Appa in the same scenario, I just hope where ever he is he’s being well taken care of,

No words are said as we continue to look around the zoo hoping to find the owner or at least who takes care of it. We pass many more trapped animals including a sleeping elephant mandrill stuck in a pit. Eventually, Aang stops by an armadillo lion chewing on its cage bar, either in boredom or trying to escape its confinement.

“Hey, there fella,” Aang says walking up to the cage, making the creature growl, back hunched up in agitation.

“Aang, you probably shouldn’t do that,” I warn, noticing the scowl taking over the animal's face but Aang pays no mind.

“You look hungry,” he continues, sticking his hand closer to the cage. The animal roars at the appendage, making Aang jump back afraid. It curls itself up and rolls further back in its cage, though it’s not very far.

“They are hungry,” A man says, walking towards us, broom in his hand sweeping the floor. “Are you two here visiting?”

“Sort of,” Aang replies clearly distracted from the condition of these animals.

“We actually came to ask you something,” I clarify, noticing Aang’s wandering eyes, “But it can wait.”

“Well, why don’t I show you around then,” the man suggests putting his broom to the side and gesturing for us to follow him up to one of the higher floors. “The name’s Kenji by the way.”

“I’m Aang, and this is Solmi,” Aang introduces and I nod my head in greeting to the man.

“How come the animals are so hungry?” I ask, hoping it doesn’t come out as targeted towards Kenji, it’s easy to tell he cares a lot about the animals in his care.

“The Dai Li won’t give me any money because the kids stopped coming. And the kids won’t come because my zoo’s nasty and broke,” Kenji explains frustration leaking into his voice as we walk around the enclosures.

“What kind of animal is that?” Aang stops, looking into the cage next to us. The inhabitant is hard to see, slouched over in the back corner looking very depressed.

“That’s a rabbiroo” Kenji replies, looking at the creature sadly. “I wish I could get her a big, open prairie, like she likes. I’d let her hop her way to happiness.”

Kenji keeps walking but I stop to watch as Aang’s face changes to a look of contemplation, and then a large grin, “Let’s do it.”

“Say again?” Kenji asks, confused by Aang’s sudden enthusiasm.

“Aang, what are you about to do?” I question, knowing the kind of ideas he gets. But I also know I probably won’t be able to change his mind, whatever he’s come up with.

“There’s a big open space right outside the wall of the city,” Aang explains easily, looking out to the wall.

“But how are you gonna transport all these wild critters?” Kenji frets, concerned about the well-being of his animals.

“Don’t worry, I’m great with animals,” Aang assures.

Despite Aang’s clear confidence, I feel like it’s not going to take long for this to all go horribly wrong. “Just make sure the guards are ready to open the gate.”

“Are you going to help Solmi?” Aang asks excitedly like my reply would be anything other than,

“Of course”

----

I sigh as I watch the hog monkeys smashing pots and plates in some poor person’s shop before the owner comes chasing them out with a broom. I can hear screaming coming from all around us, as well as other things being broken, as the different animals chase and antagonise the citizens in the street.

“Aang, if you had any plan apart from being ‘great with animals’ now would be the perfect time to use it,” I tell him, trying to shoo away the sad rabbiroo from before who is now happily enjoying some cabbages from a cart to the owner's complete distress. I think I might even recognise the man.

“Just give me a second,” Aang replies before running off to help some people being attacked by dragonflies. He airbends the critters off, letting the people run away, then stops to scratch his head. “This was so much easier in my head.”

“Come on, you’ve got to have something rattling around up there,” I encourage, rubbing his head.

It takes a second but he snaps his fingers coming up with an idea, “I might be heading off ahead again, you’ll probably want to stand back” he warns pulling out his bison whistle from under his shirt.

I nod, standing back to the edges of the street so as to not get in the way. Aang throws the whistle up, uses his bedding to take in as much air as possible before grabbing the whistle and blowing into it.

I hear nothing, but it doesn’t take long to feel the ground start to rumble as all the freed animals come running, the whistle having as much effect on them as it does a flying bison. Aang quickly creates his air scooter before flying off to the walls, still blowing the whistle to get the animals to continue following him.

I whistle to myself as I watch all kinds of different creatures run past, eyes focused ahead on following the noise of the whistle. Once they pass I make my way to the outer wall, along with a crowd that has gathered to see what the commotion was.

It’s amazing what Aang has done, all of the animals now getting to enjoy a wide expanse of the exposed area, with walls made with earthbending keeping them contained, and it’s immediately clear that they’re all a lot happier, the hog monkeys jumping up and down on the rocks in their enclosure.

I spot Aang and Kenji by the rabiroo and wander over to them, eyes darting from one enclosure to the next. “I must say Aang, you did an amazing job,” I compliment watching the sweet animal drinking water in her pen, babies popping out from her pouch.

“Thank you Solmi,” he replies before looking back at Kenji. “Well, Mr Zooker, how do you like your new facilities?”

“Excellent job, Avatar. You should think about working with animals for a living” Kenji says impressed.

“Mommy, Miss Snowflake got out of the house again,” I hear a kid complain, looking into one of the enclosures. Another voice pops up from the elephant mandrill area, we look over to see a cat hissing at the giant animal “Fluffikins, what are you doing down there?

“On second thought, you should probably stick to saving people,“ Kenji retracts and it’s hard not to agree with him. “What is it that you wanted to ask anyway?”

“Oh yeah, see I’m really in Ba Sing Se to look for Appa, my flying bison that was stolen, I don’t suppose you know anything about it?” Aang asks hopefully, going back to his original plan for coming to the zoo now that the animals are happy.

“I’m afraid not, I haven’t heard anything about a creature like that in Ba Sing Se,” Kenji replies frowning.

“It’s okay, I hope your animals enjoy their new home,” Aang says trying to hide his disappointment, but I can still see it in his eyes.

Kenji walks away to help rescue some of the animals who aren’t supposed to be here, while Aang looks down at the rabiroo, eyes downcast as she hops around happily.

My chest aches as I watch him, I’m not used to seeing the usually cheerful boy like this and it’s awful. And it’s worse knowing there’s nothing I can really do for him to make him feel better, that’s not getting Appa back. I sigh leaning over the edge of the enclosure next to him.

“I’m sorry, Aang,” I say, making the airbender’s head pop up surprised.

“What for?” he asks confused. I tap my fingers on the wall wondering if I should say what I’ve been thinking, but I know if I don’t it’ll just keep bugging me.

“I feel like part of this is my fault,” I admit guiltily, acknowledging what’s been in my head ever since he told me about what happened in the desert. “Maybe if I hadn’t left, if I had just been there with you like I was supposed to I could’ve done something. Then Appa might still be here and we wouldn’t be in this mess with Long Feng.”

I feel awful, knowing I was in that tavern, happily looking at my bow that I had gotten back, while my friends were close by suffering and Appa was being sold. In the end, all I can think is that I should’ve been there. But the worst part, the part that makes me feel even more guilty, is that I can’t even bring myself to regret going, because then I wouldn’t have met Zuko and Iroh.

“No,” Aang states firmly, causing me to look at him as he stares me down. “I knew from the moment I saw you here that something about you has changed, and it’s a good thing. Don’t feel bad that you left, because I’m glad you did, it meant you can be who you are now.”

I feel tears start to gather in my eyes but I forcefully blink them back. I missed Aang more than I thought was possible and it killed me to think maybe he thought the same way I did, that he was mad that I left. Knowing he’s not, that he’s even happy I did lift a weight on me that has been making it hard to breathe for days.

I let out a long breath, then pull Aang into a hug that rivals the one he gave me when we met in the lower ring. I can tell he’s surprised, but he doesn’t question it and just hugs me back.

I know he says he doesn’t care that I left, but there will always be a part of me that feels guilty for it. I just have to make it up by doing everything I can to get Appa back.

Chapter Text

“Sol, back again I see,” Iroh teases as I enter the tea house. It’s been over a week since the incident with Jet and I try to visit at least once a day, well apart from when I went to the zoo with Aang.

“Of course, Mushi. What would I do without your tea?” I tease back, sitting down at my usual spot near the counter, waving at Zuko who is cleaning tables as I pass. My seat is at a table right in the corner, but also next to where Zuko and Iroh make the tea which helps me when the shop gets crowded, which seems to be happening more and more lately.

Iroh places a cup of steaming tea in front of me and I thank him. I never usually order something myself, I just let Iroh decide because I know whatever he makes will be delicious. And right now this sweet taste of jasmine is just what I need to relax.

It’s hard back at the house. Long Feng’s threat is making it difficult to try and make any plans about the war, and there’s been no further leads on finding Appa, it’s stressing everyone out.

I try my best to help, which is one of the reasons I come here so often, the lower ring doesn’t seem to have as many strict rules and I can often hear people whispering about something or other. I’ve heard many interesting things going on down here, but unfortunately nothing about a giant flying bison so far.

It’s also because it’s good to be able to come and clear my head, I’d invite the others if it wasn’t for the obvious problem.

“Welcome,” I hear Iroh say. I look at the door like I always do to see who’s coming in, a habit I developed just in case the others come by.

Standing there is a guy, probably the same age a Zuko. He’s got a strong build and from the tight sleeveless top, he’s wearing I would say he knows it too. His brown hair is spiked to suit his square-cut face, and he holds himself with an air of confidence you know means trouble.

His eyes sweep the shop, and for a brief second, it appears they stop on me before they move on spotting an empty seat two tables down.

“You know, you don’t have to come by every day,” Zuko says leaning over the counter behind me.

“I know I don’t, but I want to,” I reply turning to face him. He has the usual look that screams he’d rather be anywhere else, and it’s a good thing this place has Iroh’s friendliness to match with Zuko’s grouch.

“I will never understand why people like tea so much,” he complains which just makes me laugh.

“I don’t know about others but I know it’s definitely your warm and wonderful personality that draws me back here,” I tease, though making sure I see Zuko and Iroh is kind of the reason I keep coming back, though the tea is amazing.

“Lee, I need a cup of ginseng tea!” Iroh orders. Zuko groans before slumping off to go do his job.

I end up falling into a conversation with one of the regulars who talks about his family and the farm he used to have in a town close to Omashu.

“Hey, you,” a voice interrupts and I look to see the guy from before now sliding into the seat across from me.

“Umm, hi,” I reply hesitantly, looking around to see if he’d gotten the wrong person.

“What do you say me and you get out of this dump?” He suggests, and I’m not sure if I’m more surprised by how forward he is or how openly he just insulted the shop.

“I’m sorry, what?” I ask confused because surely I heard him wrong.

“Come on, I only came to this boring place because I heard there was this cute girl who would come by every day. It’s not like I would actually come to drink this disgusting swill,” he scoffs, looking at his cup like it has personally offended him.

“Umm, I happen to be good friends of the man who makes this tea. So could you maybe, not insult him,” I stammer, uncomfortable with the hostility this guy has. I find it hard to believe he would just come in here and be so rude.

“Don’t be such a good girl. I know a guy who can get us into the upper ring, there are much better places there than this hovel,” he boasts, and I’m sure being able to sneak into the upper ring is great for any other girl, except I don’t need his help there.

“Sorry, but no thanks. I’d rather stay here,” I say politely, raising my cup.

I see the anger that takes over his face, and before I can do anything he’s reached forward and knocked the cup straight out of my hands onto the floor.

“You’re such a loser, I should have known only pathetic people would actually waste their time here,” he snarls. If people weren’t already watching they are now, which just make me all the more uncomfortable. But I force myself to take a deep breath and try to deal with this guy before anything gets worse.

“Look, I told you I’m not interested, and you clearly don’t want to be here, so maybe it’d be best if you just go,” I suggest, hoping he’ll figure out what’s best for him.

“Oh! Now you think you can tell me what to do,” he refuses stubbornly, and I sigh rubbing my hands together annoyed.

“She told you to leave,” Zuko interrupts coming to stand over by the table, and I knew it was only a matter of time.

“And what are you gonna do about it, pretty boy?” The guy mocks, standing from his chair to face Zuko.

I watch as the anger moves through Zuko as he glares and clenches his fist ready for a fight. I quickly get up, grabbing his arm and pulling him back so I’m standing between the two.

“Lee, it’s fine, I can handle this myself,” I tell him because the last thing this shop needs is another fight breaking out.

Unfortunately for me, because I was busy dealing with Zuko I didn’t notice the other guy coming forward, and throwing a punch in my direction. I catch it out the corner of my eye in the last second and manage to dodge, but my feet get twisted under me causing me to fall to the ground.

I expect the usual dull ache that comes with falling, but I’m not ready for a sharp pain that travels up my arm from my hand.

“Ow,” I cry out, bringing my hand up to my chest. I look down at the ground and notice the broken remnants of the cup the guy knocked out my hands, except now mixed in with the tea, are drops of blood.

“Sol! Are you okay?” Iroh asks, concerned eyes also falling to the broken pieces.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I tell him, though I can still feel the stinging in my palm.

I look up to Zuko who now looks more wound up than before, and I know I have to do something before this gets out of hand. I swing my leg out, catching the guy in the back of his knees. He falls easily clearly not expecting me to do anything. I don’t hesitate once he’s on the ground, using my good hand to grab his arm, twisting him over onto his stomach, then I yank his arm behind his back causing him to yell out in pain.

I use the fact that he’s surprised, and therefore more unsteady to force him up on his feet and towards the door. I push him out, the door opening easily under his weight and I watch as he trips and lands on the dirt outside the shop.

I don’t say anything as the doors close once again, sure that he will come to his senses and leave rather than try and pick another fight.

The customers look at me stunned, but my gaze falls to one person.

“I told you I could deal with it myself,” I say to Zuko’s shocked face.

“Sol, you’re bleeding,” Iroh points out, and I look at my hand where blood is slowly but steadily falling from a decent sized cut on my palm. “Lee, you take Sol to the back and help her deal with that injury. Meanwhile, how about a free cup of tea for everyone as an apology for the trouble.”

Zuko comes out of his shock and leads the way to the back, and I follow knowing there’s no point arguing against Iroh, even though I know Katara could heal this easily.

Zuko points me towards a chair around a small table before going to the opposite side of the small room to her whatever he needs.

I sit on the chair that allows me to see the rest of the room, and watch as Zuko goes around collecting different things. It’s hard to tell if he’s still angry or not, while he’s not stomping around and grumbling like he usually would, his movements do have tenseness to them that I wouldn’t consider calm.

Either way, he comes back, putting what he has on the table, then moves the other chair so it’s next to me but also facing me to make it easier to get at my injured left palm, although that does mean he has to lean across to reach the table.

It’s silent as he uses a damp cloth to clean off the dried blood that has dripped onto my fingers. I can now see from his pinched expression that he is still angry, but he’s also trying not to be. So, I leave him to figure it out himself, in favour of watching his movements as he treats my hand.

The tenseness from before is gone, replaced by soft and careful touches, afraid he might cause me more pain. It’s amazing that these hands, -which are rough from what I imagine would have been years of training to use dao swords as well as he does, as well as the firebending- can also be so gentle and soothing.

I flinch, a shock of pain bringing me out of my thoughts as Zuko presses down on the wound in an attempt to get the bleeding to stop.

“Sorry,” he says quietly, barely above a whisper, but it’s the first thing he’s said to break the silence and I take it gratefully.

“It’s fine. I’ve had worse than this when I was learning to use my bow,” I tell him, gently laughing at myself, “I was a very clumsy kid, the fact I even managed to learn at all is amazing.”

Zuko smirks, still holding the cloth to my hand and it’s better than the frown he was wearing before so I take it as a win. But just a moment later I notice his eyes flickering and his smile wavers.

“You know, that guy was being a jerk, I don’t know how you managed to deal with him for so long,” he says after a moment of contemplation then his smile comes back. “But at least stood up for yourself this time.”

I grin, noticing the praise, but I don’t acknowledge it. “Patience is a virtue, as they say, Honestly, you should probably learn it too,” I joke, but he doesn’t seem like he’s willing to accept the light-heartedness yet.

“But if you had done something sooner, then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” he sighs, pulling away the now bloodied cloth to look at the wound. Deciding the bleeding has stopped enough, he adjusts his chair, our knees knocking against each other as he reaches over to the table to grab something else.

“Hey,” I say grabbing his attention while he’s still leaning over, “If I acted quickly with every jerk who was mean to me, then I wouldn’t have stuck around long enough to get to know you.”

He pulls his hand away from the table, but instead of retracting back to his seat, he stays there, leaning over me, one hand now on the arm of my chair, the other still holding my injured hand.

Seeing his face so close to mine reminds me of the last time we were this close, and my eyes automatically travel down to his lips once again. My heart starts racing in my chest as I see Zuko getting closer, then it stops altogether when I feel the slightest pressure of his lips on mine.

It’s barely even a touch, yet my entire body starts to tingle like there’s a spark just waiting to ignite, it’s amazing, but it’s not enough. I lean in closer, wanting to get more, wanting the spark to burn, and subconsciously I move my hand in Zuko’s wanting as much contact as I can get.

But it’s a dumb thing to do because even the minute movement is enough to cause a sensation of pain to shoot up my arm, making me pull away from Zuko with a grimace.

For a brief movement, I think maybe Zuko didn’t notice. But then he pulls away so fast his chair screeches as it grates against the floor.

I open my eyes, not even sure when I had closed them, and all I see is Zuko’s horrified face staring down at me. A moment passes before I can get my brain to function again and I realise I should probably say something.

“Zuko…” I start to explain, hoping I can get across that it’s my fault and he’s not the one who hurt my hand, but he interrupts before I can.

“No… no, I get it,” he stutters “You can finish with that right? Uncle is probably really busy so I should go and help.”

He pushes himself away from his chair, the thing almost falling over from the force of it, and leaves before I can get another word out.

Not that I would know what to say because honestly, I have no idea what just happened. I look at my hand, the thing that seems to have caused this mess, to begin with, and I don’t particularly feel like dealing with it at right now. So, I just grab a clean cloth and wrap it around the injury, gripping my hand closed to keep pressure on it until I get back to Katara.

I take a breath before heading back out into the main part of the shop, it looks like everything has been dealt with as everyone sits with new steaming cups, and Iroh walks around making sure the people are happy.

I shoot Zuko a look, but he completely avoids me and I know there’s no way he’s going to talk to me today.

“Mushi,” I call out, grabbing the man’s attention. “I’m gonna head out now, my hand’s still sore so…”

“Of course, dear. I hope your hand gets better soon,” he tells me and I smile gratefully.

“Thanks,” I say, before waving goodbye to a couple of other people and heading back to the house.

I walk in a haze, brain still trying to catch up with everything that happened, but it’s hard to process, from the kiss to Zuko’s reaction. In the end, I decide I’ll deal with it tomorrow.

Once I get back to the house it doesn’t take Katara long to hone in on my still bleeding hand. “Solmi! Oh no, what happened?” The waterbender demands, taking my hand into hers.

She bends the water from a nearby container and holds it over my hand, the water is soothing as it heals the cut until there is no evidence that it was ever there in the first place. If only I can do that with everything else about this day.

But I don’t mean that, because as nice as the water is, it’s not the same as feeling Zuko gently holding my hand in his, and I don’t want to erase that feeling.

“It’s nothing, just a broken cup,” I eventually answer Katara’s question, but not getting into the incident that lead to the broken cup in the first place.

“Are you sure?” She pushes, but I wave it off.

“I’m sure, that’s the only thing that happened,” I tell her, and somehow that’s what seems the most disappointing.

Chapter Text

I let out a dramatic sigh of boredom. Looking around the empty room before starting a new staring contest with the ceiling.

It was late morning by the time I dragged myself out of bed, a late night of overthinking leaving me exceptionally tired today. The others have all already left for the day, at some point Katara invited me to a ‘girls day’ with her and Toph, but I declined not in the mood, a decision I now sort of regret.

I didn’t realise how much of my time I spent at the tea house, but it’s obvious now that I lay here on the ground. But even so, I can’t bring myself to think about going, knowing the object of my overthinking will be there, which will not make anything easier.

For once spending the day in the house sounded like a great idea, initially, but it’s been hours and the lack of anyone else around has left me bored.

I have to admit I’m surprised by this, while I’ve never been someone who preferred being completely alone, I would also enjoy the time I was. In Omashu I would be glad to get away and have a few moments to myself to just read or practise with my bow.

“Come on, Solmi, you can’t lie here all day,” I say to myself determined, getting get up from the floor. For the first time in a long time, I have time to myself without having anything that needs to be done, and I will enjoy this.

I leave the house and automatically I start towards the monorail heading to the lower ring, I may be enjoying some alone time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be useful. Exploring the lower ring for any hidden establishments sounds interesting, and could hopefully bring up any information on Appa.

I’ve already been starting to see the more rebellious refugees who care less about the city’s rules, hints of underground going ons being whispered as I walk past, maybe if I find the right people I can find that black market Sokka wanted.

I’m brought out of my thinking when I gently bump into someone.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention,” I apologise to the girl in front of me. I briefly scan over her, noticing how pretty she is with her green eyes and hair tied into two braids.

“No, it was my fault, I also wasn’t focused,” she says with a smile, her politeness taking me back.

“I guess we both have our heads in the clouds,” I joke shyly and the girl laughs.

“I’m Jin,” she introduces, and I make sure to remember the name, “What’s got you so distracted?”

My mind immediately fills with everything that I could say, and none of them seem appropriate. “I’m Solmi. And just exploring I guess, wondering where to go next,” I settle with.

“Ohh, there’s this place in the middle ring, with a fountain and lights, that’s just so beautiful at night,” she exclaims excitedly, and her cheerfulness is one to rival Aang’s. “I’m going out with a guy tonight and I can’t wait to take him there, it’s the kind of place where things just click. ”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say politely, even though I know that’s not exactly the kind of place I’m looking for. “Good luck with your guy.”

“Thank you, I hope you enjoy your exploring,” she says, waving goodbye and heading on her way.

I watch her go, momentarily envious of her ability to actually talk to the person she likes. My eyes widen a little at my own thoughts and I shake my head, pushing them away, that is not what I need to be thinking about right now.

I look around, wondering where I should start when I notice that in my distracted walking I made my way to the tea shop. I turn around and quickly head in the opposite direction, realising that if I hadn’t bumped into Jin I would’ve walked right in without a second thought.

—--

The sun finally not too long ago, and after an entire day of searching, I found nothing. I only meant to investigate for a little while, listening in on specific conversations in dark alleys, but as it turns out, even with the less than lawful people, the Dai Li’s influence is strong, and no one wants to say anything directly that could get them in trouble.

And it’s not like I could go up and ask them directly, between Long Feng’s threat and my own lack of ability to communicate it wouldn’t have turned out well.

Maybe I should have waited and brought Toph, at least she would be able to get something if only from their minute reactions.

I groan annoyed, realising that my day of enjoying my time alone turned into a fruitless mission after all. I should probably head back now it’s getting late, the others are probably wondering where I went since I forgot to leave a note.

But then I see a man lighting a lantern outside his shop and it reminds me of what Jin said about the fountain. I doubt I’ll be able to find it specifically, but maybe looking around the middle ring will be a good way to salvage my day.

And I’m right since the middle ring is made for a lot of people to wonder about, it’s prettily decorated with lights and plants and decorations that make it suitable for upper ring citizens to visit.

Late-night shops and restaurants are lit up with lanterns, and despite the hour, there are still many people walking in and out of various establishments.

I notice a crowd gathered around a particular area, and by the sounds of it there might be some performers out entertaining citizens. I barely notice myself reacting to the crowd and slowly backing away. After a day of having my guard up, not wanting to get caught by the people I was listening to or the Dai Li, the sudden loudness of the crowd’s excitement is enough to have me turning down a side alley instead of continuing up the main street.

Though it’s clear much less attention has gone into these parts since it’s not where most people would go, there’s still a certain beauty to the small parts where owners of the buildings would decorate, not for anyone else but just because they want their place to look nice.

I see a flicker of orange light up ahead and follow it, assuming it is from a shop that will lead me back to the main street, just hopefully further away from the crowd. Instead, however, once I get closer I see that the light is coming from several lamps all situated in a circle around a fountain, which is similarly set up with lanterns floating on the water.

It takes me a moment, too stunned by just how beautiful the lights dance on the water, but I come to the realisation that this must be the place that Jin told me about.

I gaze around, amazed that someone would take the time to light all of these when I see two people by the edge of the fountain, gazing at the water. By the way they’re standing it’s clear they must be a couple, shoulders touching as they hold hands.

I throw a hand over my mouth realising this must be Jin’s date. Her back is turned but I recognise the braids, so I go to sneak away quietly as not to disturb when they turn to face each other and I catch sight of the guy she’s with.

It’s dark, the firelight causing shadows to dance in a way that makes features hard to see, but the scar over his left eye tells me everything I need to know.

My breath catches in my throat, choking me.

Jin’s date, is Zuko. Zuko is on a date with Jin and right now my heart feels like it might explode.

Now I know why he backed away from me because he already had someone else he liked. How could I have been so stupid to miss this? Did I really let my feelings blind me from something I should have noticed? Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Jin before, in the tea shop, but I was always more focused on Zuko and Iroh that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the other customers. Maybe if I had I would’ve seen Zuko getting closer to another girl.

I feel something inside me crack as I watch their interactions, there is something sharp prickling at my skin and all I know is that I need to leave, now.

My feet start taking me back, and logically I know I should turn around, stop looking at them. But I hold my gaze, like maybe if I stare long enough it’ll fade away and just be a figment of my imagination.

Not turning around really ends up being a mistake when my foot catches against the map that’s light brought me here in the first place, as if it’s mocking me, forcing me to stay and watch as the two lean towards each other, breaking my heart even more.

Unfortunately, the collision causes a loud bang to reverberate around the small area, and before I can even think of running. Zuko has already turned to face me, ever quick instincts making him alert.

I catch Zuko’s eyes without meaning to, and I watch as they widen briefly before narrowing into a defensive glare.

“Solmi? Is that you?” Jin’s voice pulls me away from Zuko, her tone just as happy as it was earlier, maybe even more so, but for some reason now it sounds more grating than it did this morning, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Really, you’re the one who told me about this place,” I snap harshly. She flinches back and I take a sharp breath, surprised by my own hostile tone, I’ve never talked to someone like that.

Her smile falters as she lets out an awkward laugh, put off by the words, “Oh, right, I did.”

“I’m sorry,” I force myself to say, she didn’t deserve that. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you and Lee’s date.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” She asks, voice jumping higher in surprise, and I clench my fists annoyed at myself for bringing it up.

“Yeah. We’re umm…” I trail off, many words coming to mind but none of them seems to fit like they used to.

“...just friends,” Zuko finished instead, gaze held firmly away from everything else.

And that word suddenly hurts more than it used to.

“Right, anyway I should go, it’s late and all,” I mutter awkwardly, pointing behind me to signal my leaving. With no other words from the happy couple I turn around, starting down the alley I came from.

“Sol, wait!” Zuko calls, stopping me in my tracks. I turn around, my heart thumping as I wait for words I refuse to acknowledge I want to hear.

It takes the firebender a few seconds, his mouth opening and closing as he struggles to speak. “Do you think you could come by tomorrow? Uncle was asking about you,” he says eventually, and though my heart drops I still force myself to smile.

“Yeah, of course,” I reply, a false cheer to my voice before I walk away as quickly as possible.

—--

Honestly, I don’t know how I get back to the house. I don’t remember any of the lights, or people, or paths. All I do know is how grateful I am to see the front door.

I expect everyone else to be asleep, so it’s to my great surprise I see Sokka sat up, reading a scroll with candlelight.

“How come you’re still up?” I ask, awkwardly standing by the door.

“I was just reading,” he replies casually, barely glancing up from his scroll. He then suddenly looks up more serious. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

I feel his eyes studying, and I’m sure my face must look like a mess of emotions for him to look that concerned.

“I’m… fine,” I reply immediately, but the stammer gives me away.

“Did something happen?” He asks, putting his scroll down to meet me by the door.

“It’s nothing,” I try to brush it off, but his caring look tells me he doesn’t believe it.

“I know I’m not as good at all these comforting things as Katara, but I’m here if you want to talk,” he says, not pushing. He’s so kind and I can feel my vulnerable emotions reaching out to him as images of Zuko and Jin come springing into my mind.

“It’s really nothing. I was bored, so I went exploring, ran into a nice girl, continued exploring, ran into the same nice girl on a date with Lee, came back here. Really it was a simple day.”

I try to explain it casually. Like it wasn’t a big deal, because it really shouldn’t have been. But the sentence is too quick and I feel myself choke on the word date.

“Wait, Lee was on a date? I thought you two were together?” Sokka asks concerned, and he means well, but the question makes me flinch.

“I told you we’re just friends,” I say, mimicking Zuko’s words.

“Okay, if you insist,” the watertribe boy replies, but his doubt is clear, “But, you know there’s nothing wrong with wanting more than that.”

“There is something wrong because he obviously likes someone else,” I snap, feeling the anger I felt at seeing Jin with Zuko coming back. “Sorry,” I apologise immediately, I don’t want to feel like this but it’s hard.

“It’s fine. And hey, maybe you didn’t see what you thought you did, maybe they’re friends and you misunderstood?” Sokka questions, easily brushing of my hostility.

“I don’t think there was anything to be misunderstood,” I mumble, remembering how close they were, I’m sure that if I hadn’t accidentally interrupted they were going to kiss.

“Look, I don’t know this Lee guy, mostly because you won’t let us meet him,” Sokka remarks, and I narrow my eyes at the added on comment, making him quickly move on. “But, you should just talk to him.”

“What’s the point, he’s clearly not interested,” I say bitterly.

“How do you know?” Sokka asks, clearly trying to get me to think positively.

“Because he kissed me one day and went out with another girl the next,” I admit, embarrassment washing over me as I remember that barely-there kiss. Now I know why he left so quick.

Sokka stares at me, eyes wide at the admission and I look away feeling a flush on my cheeks. I can’t believe I just blurted that out.

“Okay, as I see, there’s clearly something going on between you two. I think at this point all you can do is figure out what you want to do about it,” he shrugs like it’s the simplest thing to do.

He stands there, waiting for my reply, but it doesn’t come. Because despite how determined he seems that I know what I want, I don’t. The question is there, do I try for more, or just leave it as friends? And honestly, I wish I knew the answer.

I wish friends could be enough but it’s not, I want to be closer to him than anyone I’ve ever known before, but he also means so much to me that if he’s happy with Jin I don’t want to ruin that, he deserves it.

“I’m going to bed,” I say instead, getting up and heading to the room. Whatever I think it doesn’t matter anymore. Right now I just want to sleep, the entire day leaving me physically, and emotionally exhausted, which seems to be becoming a common occurrence recently.

—--

My heart is pounding the closer to the shop I get, and though my brain pleads with them to stop, turn around and give me another day, my feet just continue to take me closer.

I’m sure Zuko told his uncle I was going to come by today, and Iroh is probably still worried about the incident the other day. So despite the fact just thinking of the younger firebender makes it harder to breathe, I know if I don’t make an appearance it’ll upset Iroh, and I don’t want to do that.

So, I steel myself, struggle to take a deep breath in, and force my hands to relax as I open the door with what I hope is a convincing smile planted on my cheeks.

“Mushi, how has your day been?” I ask as soon as I enter. The enthusiasm sounds fake in my own ears, but hopefully, Iroh will be glad I’m here and ignore it.

“Sol. It’s nice to see you,” Iroh says, placing the tea he was making down. “How are you, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say. Taken aback by just how worried he really is.

He makes his way over and grabs my hands. “That was a pretty bad cut, I wanted to make sure it’s healing right,” he remarks, flipping my hand over, eyes taking in the now markless skin.

My eyes widen, completely forgetting about Katara healing it. “My friend, she uh… she knows this great healer in the city,” I explain though he doesn’t ask, he doesn’t even seem that surprised.

Rather than that his face is so serious for a moment, it’s worrying, but he soon drops my hand, a smile back on his usually happy face. “Aren’t you lucky? Now sit down while I make you some tea.”

He leads me to my usual table, going back behind the counter happily chatting away to everyone around.

I clench my hand into a fist, Iroh is smart, surely he knows only a waterbender could heal my hand this fast. But that doesn’t mean he could relate that to Katara, it might be rare but there must be other waterbenders who have left the North Pole. Still, I can’t help but start to wonder how long it’s going to be until someone figures out something I don’t want them to.

“So, uh, where’s Lee?” I ask nervously, honestly, I’m glad the boy doesn’t seem to be here, I don’t think I can handle seeing him right now.

“He’s doing inventory out the back, I figured I’d give him an easier job since he came back late last night,” Iroh comments, placing a cup in front of me.

My hands clutch my cup at the mention of the date. I take a sip of my drink despite it still being hot, hoping the burning from the tea will mask the ache in my chest. “He, uh, he went out?” I feel myself asking, and immediately I berate myself, I don’t need any more details.

“Oh yeah, with a nice girl, though he didn’t seem all that happy when he got back, he wouldn’t tell me why,” Iroh replies, bringing his finger to his chin in question. I guess he didn’t appreciate it being interrupted. “Actually, he was pretty adamant about not coming in at all today.”

I stare at the table as I pretend the older man’s words don’t hurt. I’m sure Zuko didn’t want to see me, probably why he took such a boring job as inventory just so he wouldn’t have to be out here when I came by.

Maybe I should take Sokka’s advice.

I put my hands firmly on the table, pushing myself up. I refuse to let this go on. I can push my emotions into their corner, but I will not push Zuko away, and neither will I let him do the same.

“I’m pretty sure I know why he’s upset, do you mind if I go and talk to him?” I ask Iroh politely since it’s still his workplace so I don’t want to storm around without permission.

“Sure, go right ahead,” he grants. “But make sure you finish a cup of tea before you leave this time,” I laugh at his stipulation, but easily agree. Hopefully, they’ll be no need to rush out after this conversation.

I go to the back and it’s definitely cleaner now than it was yesterday, the few amount of shelves having been put in order rather than everything just placed where there was space.

I see Zuko crouching in the corner, a box in his hands. But he doesn’t appear to be doing anything with it, just holding it as he stares at the wall. He doesn’t even move as the door closes behind me and I wonder if he just didn’t hear it, or if he’s purposefully ignoring me.

“So, how was the date?” I ask abruptly, breaking the silence. Apparently, the lack of original reaction was that he didn’t hear me, because my speaking causes him to jump and drop the box.

I don’t know why that’s what I decide to ask, why I seem to be purposefully setting myself up for the worst, but I can’t take it back now.

Zuko comes back from where he was, grabbing the box from the floor and putting it on a shelf. “None of your business,” he replies, back stubbornly facing me.

“Come on, don’t be like that,” I press, coming away from the door to lean against the wall next to the table since it’s the only one without stuff in front of it. “We’re friends, right? You can tell me.” The terms still feels wrong now, but I’ll have to get used to it.

“I said it’s none of your business!” Zuko yells swinging around to face me. I try not to flinch at his reaction, but I think this is the fastest I’ve ever seen him get this angry.

“Okay, okay,” I put my hands up hoping to calm him down. “Guess it didn’t go that well,” I mutter to myself, not able to keep the slight joy out of my voice that maybe his anger means he won’t be seeing that girl again.

However, by Zuko’s steaming expression he must have heard the quiet words. “Why do you even care! What? Are you jealous?” He mocks storming over to me, his words clearly trying to get a reaction from me.

Except, where he’s trying to make me angry his words affect me in a different way. Because standing here, with him so close, I may not have had an answer to Sokka’s question last night, but I do now.

So, instead of getting mad at his provocation, I decide to be honest. “Maybe I am.”

I barely register his eyes widening before I reach forward, grabbing his shirt and pulling his forward so my lips can land on his.

There is no almost, not slight brush. It’s a gentle kiss, but it still sends all my senses reeling with a feeling I don’t think I could ever explain. The spark it back, burning brighter but I don’t let it go farther.

It only lasts a few seconds before I pull away, eyes still firmly closed from where I snapped them closed when I grabbed him, and I let my hand slowly fall from his shirt. I open my eyes, hesitant to look at Zuko’s reaction, sure he’s going to be mad, but I needed to get this out of my system.

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have. But I had to let you know that I like you, as more than ‘friends’.”

I feel his sigh on my face and I cringe, waiting for the backlash of my impulsive actions. He steps forward, closing the small amount of gap that was left between us and forcing me to step backwards, my back bumping against the wall I was previously leaning on.

“Look at me,” Zuko demands. I shake my head, it’s childish but I want to delay this as long as I can. He doesn’t allow it, his hand coming up to gently grip my chin, guiding it up and I’m looking into his eyes before I even have the idea to shut mine.

And his eyes are burning, the gold reflecting a fire from within, but it’s not the anger I was expecting, that I’m familiar with. It’s something else entirely, dare I say it’s more like… want. But that can’t be right, why would he look at me like that?

He answers my unasked question by crashing his lips onto mine once again. But it’s not like the previous one, it’s more. If I thought there was a spark before, it’s ignited now and started a full-on fire. My whole body feels like it’s burning and I don’t want it to stop, because the heat is everything I ever wanted.

His hand slides up to cup my cheeks, leaving a burning path in its wake as he uses its place to tilt my head so he can press his lips harder onto mine. I go along, returning the favour and wrapping my arms around his neck as I try to convey all of my emotions into this moment. Too quick for my liking the burning travels to my lungs, but I know this is for an entirely different reason.

I’m not sure who pulls way first, both of us now more focused on pulling air into our lungs.

“I like you, too,” Zuko whispers, and I can feel the breath from every word land on my cheek.

I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face, and try as I might I can’t tamper it down to a reasonable level, I wonder if I look the same way Jin had.

That thought does the trick of stopping the excited grin, and it falls away completely as I think about the situation that caused all of this. “What about Jin? And your date?” I ask, voice barely making it’s way out my throat.

I hear as he sucks in a breath, not expecting the question. “Uncle’s the one who accepted the date, I just went along so he would leave me alone. And because I thought you didn’t like me.”

His answer startles me. Not the part about Iroh because that I can see, but the other part and honestly his whole confession is just now catching up to me. “Why would you think that?”

“Back on the ferry after we almost, kissed. You told Jet we were friends…” he explains awkwardly, face scrunching at the mention of the boy.

It takes only a moment to remember what he’s referring to and I immediately feel guilty about my reaction when he used the same title. “I’m sorry. But you said it was nothing, so I was trying to put it behind us.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t nothing,” he says leaning forward to rest his forehead against mine, “But you were leaving so I wasn’t sure what it meant, and then the other day when you flinched, I thought for sure it was just me who felt like this.”

He looks over at the chairs, but I don’t follow his gaze, instead, I stare at him in shock before pulling away enough to smack his arm.

He cries in pain, hand leaving me to rub his shoulder instead. “What was that for?”

“You mean the same say I hurt my hand?” I ask incredulously.

I watch the realisation fall over him. “Oh,” he lets out quietly, cheeks darkening with embarrassment.

I shake my head, but a giddiness washes over me knowing he’s let down his guard enough to be this awkward with me.

“You can be dense sometimes,” I say, which just causes him to groan in displeasure, but before he can go I reach up and kiss his still red cheek. “It’s fine, so can I.”

I sneak around him, grabbing his hand to pull him back into the main shop before he explodes from embarrassment.

I’m barely into the room before I stop in my tracks, Zuko bumping into my back. He groans at me until he also notices the reason for my sudden halt.

Stood at the counter, happily talking to Iroh is Jin. I immediately tense up and plan to drag Zuko back into the back room until she leaves, but it’s a small shop and she sees us before I can even try.

Her eyes gaze down to our still connected hands, and despite how I felt about her just last night, guilt still sets in as I wait for her face to drop. But it never does, rather it seems like her smile just gets wider.

“It looks like it worked Mushi,” she says, pointing at us to get Iroh to turn around. He does and once he also notices what she’s pointing at, his face too breaks out into a giant grin.

“What’s going on?” I ask hesitantly, both of their happy faces starting to unsettle me.

Turns out Jin, as a regular, started picking up what was going on between Zuko and I, and just so happens to love playing matchmaker. She went to Iroh and devised a plan to go out with Zuko, hoping he’d be more willing to talk to someone who didn’t know me.

My running into them was not supposed to happen, and Jin actually came in today to apologise and explain.

I stare wide-eyed, embarrassment filling me when I realised I read the entire situation with Jin all wrong. A part of me is angry, between the leftover jealousy and hurt I felt seeing the two together, but I’m also just glad that this is how it worked out. It may not have been the best way, but I have Zuko, and I guess that’s all that matters

Chapter Text

“May I have another cup Miss?” A customer asks and I rush over to take away his empty cup and pour him another one.

Due to the shops growing popularity, I’ve been roped in to help out whenever I can. It’s hard, but I don’t mind since it’s a great way to pass the time, and spending any extra time with Zuko is always a plus.

And today it gave me an excuse to get away from Sokka and his drawings. He would ask my opinion after finishing a new sketch of Appa, and I didn’t want to be mean and say his drawing looked nothing like the flying bison.

I glance over at Zuko and I can’t help the sigh that escapes. Once these posters are out it’s not going to take long before he finds out the others are in the city. Part of me regrets not telling him the truth all those days ago, but the memory of Jet being dragged away is still fresh. Even so, I have to tell him soon, his reaction to the news is unpredictable and it’ll be a lot easier to manage if I don’t have to lie through half of what I say.

I feel a nudge on my arm and I turn to see the said boy looking at me, a touch of concern in his eyes since I haven’t moved in a while. I smile to answer his silent question, letting him know I’m okay so he goes back to work. I feel my heart flutter at his kindness and I shake my head at my own ridiculousness.

“So, you’re the genius behind this incredible brew,” my attention is drawn to a gentleman talking to Iroh. He has two other men with him and his clothes and jewelled fingers show he is from the upper ring. I tense a little as I watch him, confused by his presence.”The whole city is buzzing about you. I hope Pao pays you well.”

“Good tea is its own reward,” Iroh replies humbly, his sincerity clear in the way he speaks.

“But it doesn’t have to be the only reward. How would you like to have your own tea shop?” The man proposes, I gasp as Iroh stares at him in shock.

“My own tea shop? It’s a dream come true,” Iroh replies excitedly.

I see Pao’s head poke up from behind Iroh as he gets wind of the conversation and he’s quick to scurry over. I make my way over to Zuko, and nudge him, grabbing his attention and pointing it in the direction of the conversation happening.

Pao is fighting to get Iroh to stay, but the man easily beats his offers, with an upper ring apartment and creative freedom.

“I even get to name the shop?” Iroh asks, excitement growing and it’s clearly a done deal, even as Pao tries once again to give Iroh a more ‘important’ role. Iroh easily hands his teapot to Pao, bowing at the gentleman in gratitude. “Did you hear, nephew, Sol? This man wants to give us our own tea shop in the upper ring of the city.”

“That’s right you two, your lives are about to change for the better,” the gentleman declares, and I appreciate being included despite already living in the upper ring, it’s nice to know Iroh considers me in part of his dream.

“I’ll try to contain my joy,” Zuko grouches, tossing his tray on a random table and storming out the door.

I share a look with Iroh, both concerned and confused about Zuko’s reaction. “I’ll go talk to him,” I say, heading out after him.

It doesn’t take long to find him since he’s only leaning against the wall next to the door, arms crossed glaring at the floor. I gently close the door behind me, then I go to stand next to him.

“What’s the matter?” I ask, trying to gauge any emotion from his downturned face.

“It’s nothing,” he growls, purposefully turning away from my peering gaze.

I sigh and push away from the wall to stand in front of him. I grab one of his hands forcing his arms to uncross, and when he doesn’t immediately pull it away I take it as a sign to continue.

“Look, I get this probably isn’t the life you expected or even wanted, I know it wasn’t for me,” I say, keeping my voice soft as I talk, hoping he’s actually listening to me, “But it won’t be like this forever, so we can at least be happy for your uncle right now, can’t we?”

Zuko tenses for a moment, but then he twists his hand so our hands are joined instead o just me holding the back of his.

“I am happy for him,” he admits, frown lifting a little.

“Good, because he is absolutely going to drag you into naming this new shop,” I laugh as he pouts, glad he seems to be feeling better.

“Now it’s your turn,” he says, suddenly looking me in the eye.

“What do you mean?” I ask, surprised by the random change of subject.

“You looked very concerned about something in there, what were you thinking about?” He asks in return, fully focused on me.

I go to clench my fist, completely forgetting it’s currently in Zuko’s hand which gives away just how nervous the question made me. To my surprise, I feel his thumb gently rubbing along my hand.

It’s a soft motion, one meant to calm me down and it helps more than he could realise. Because this is the Zuko I know, kind and sweet and caring, and it makes the idea of telling him so much easier. “Actually, I have something I need to tell you, and you might not like it.”

He opens his mouth to reply, but his eyes flicker to something above me, attention caught. He reaches his free hand up, catching a piece of paper that was floating down from the sky. I only get a brief look before he turns it towards himself, but I have a feeling I already know what it is.

“He’s here,” Zuko whispers, staring at the paper wide-eyed. He pulls away from me, circling wildly staring up at the sky.

“Who is?” I ask, playing dumb just for this moment, wanting to gauge his reaction first. Zuko turns back to me sharply like he completely forgot I was here.

“No one,” he says, but he continues his searching. I follow him into a small alley by the shop, before I lose him when he climbs his way onto a roof of a house.

“What are you doing?!” I yell up at him.

“Tell Uncle I’ll be back in a little while,” is all I get as a reply before he rushes off, and there’s no chance I can follow as he’s already out of sight.

I feel myself starting to panic, but I force myself to take some calming breaths, There’s not much I can do with ZUko now that he’s already left, but what I can do is go back to the others. As much as I want to believe everything is going to be okay, I need to be there if everything is not.

I hear the door to the shop open and Iroh wanders out, eyes darting around trying to find Zuko. “Where’s Lee?” He asks as soon as he spots me.

“He went to clear his head, said he’ll be back in a little bit,” I reply, trying my best to appear calm. “By the way, I am so happy for you, but I really have to go. I’ll stop by tomorrow and help with anything you need though.”

“I appreciate it,” he says. I can tell by the way he hesitates there’s more he wants to ask, but I guess he can see how urgently I need to go.

I wave and hurry as quickly as I can to get back to the house. A million different situations run through my head and I debate back and forth with myself about telling the others.

On one hand, I don’t want to say anything if Zuko doesn’t do anything, because I don’t want to get him in trouble if he decides to move on. But I also feel like it’s not my call to make, I wasn’t there when he was chasing Aang around the world so maybe I shouldn’t get to choose what they do about him.

By the time I get back, the conflicting sides are still bouncing around in my head and I haven’t come any closer to making a decision.

I force myself to slow down and act calm as I walk up to the house, but that goes out the window when I see the side of it explode.

I run over, just in time to see the others coming out of the front door, “What was that?” I ask frantically, but none of them seem concerned.

“Toph,” Katara replies and I immediately calm down at the explanation. I look over at the girl in question, but her carefree grin tells me she does not regret putting a giant hole in the house.

“Got it, so where are we going?” I ask calmer, now the original panic has faded.

Aang holds up a bag full of posters and I get the message, following them to the town. I can’t relax completely, still alert for a danger I don’t know is a danger, but I still make sure to listen to Aang’s excited rambling, sure that he’s going to finally find Appa now.

We end up splitting up to cover more ground, everyone going alone except Toph and Sokka after Toph ultimately proves she can’t put posters up alone. I try my best to stay close to Aang without him noticing, while at the same time making sure to put up my own set of posters.

Everything is fine until I hear the sound of a commotion coming from the direction Katara went it, and I figure that my heart is not allowed to rest today. I drop the posters I was holding and draw my bow, running to the source of the noise. I meet everyone at the end of an alley at the same time, spotting Katara at the end of it.

“Katara what is it?” Sokka questions, worriedly staring at his sister, who hasn’t even turned to look at us.

I step to the side, looking around her to figure out what’s going on. I barely hold in a gasp as I recognise the familiar boy the waterbender has pinned to the wall.

“Jet’s back,” Katara announces to the others, voice dripping in disdain that makes it clear I’m not the only one who has a bad past with him.

“Jet?” I can’t help the name falling from my mouth, I didn’t think I’d ever see him again after he was taken by the Dai Li. Though remembering his capture reminds me that he also knows about Zuko and this situation has just gotten really bad.

“Wait, you know this guy?” Sokka asks and I nod.

“We met on the ferry into the city,” I explain, staring at Jet trying to get the message across not to say anything. But as I meet his eyes I don’t see the same hatred as when he thought I was a firebender, he just looks confused.

“What are you talking about? I’ve never met you,” he says, genuinely looking taken aback by my words. Either he’s great at pretending, or for some reason, he doesn’t remember me.

“Solmi? What’s going on?” Aang questions, looking back and forth between Jet and I.

I look back at the pinned boy and decide that for now, maybe it’ll be better to go along with him. “It’s nothing,” I reassure Aang, “It was a while ago, and there were a lot of people, I’m not surprised he forgot.”

“In any case, we can’t trust anything Jet says,” Katara accuses, hands put keeping anyone from getting closer.

“But we don’t even know why he’s here,” Sokka retorts.

“I don’t care why he’s here. Whatever the reason is it can’t be good,” Katara snaps at her brother. I flinch away from her, shocked by the anger in her voice, whatever Jet did, it must have been bad.

“I’m here to help you find Appa,” Jet interrupts, unfurling a piece of paper in his hands to reveal the missing poster.

Aang strolls past Katara to look at the poster carefully, before turning to the waterbender. “Katara, we have to give him a chance.”

“I swear, I’ve changed,” Jet insists. “I was a troubled person and I let my anger get out of control. But I don’t even have the gang now. I’ve put all that behind me.”

I feel my eyes narrowing as he talks. I may not know the details, but the way he introduced Longshot and Smellerbee as part of his ‘Freedom fighters’ sure sounds like a ‘gang’ to me.

“You’re lying” Katara accuses angrily, and I clench my fist around my bow to stop myself from agreeing with her.

Toph pushes past the girl, striding up to the wall and putting her hand on it next to where Jet is still pinned. “He’s not lying.”

“How can you tell?” Sokka asks.

I feel my heartbeat skip as Toph explains being able to feel when people are lying. She has to have known every time I lied about Zuko and Iroh, it also explains how she also always knew when I was flustered when they brought up Lee.

But it also leaves me confused, because despite what Toph says, I know he’s lying. But the earthbender seems very confident, so I keep my mouth closed and decide to just keep an eye on Jet for now.

Aang manages to convince Katara to let Jet take them to Appa, but she’s very reluctant about it.

—--

Though she agreed, Katara is still hesitant to let Jet go, but she does and he leads us all to a giant warehouse in the lower ring. But it’s empty, no sign of Appa and I swear if he did all this just to get Aan’s hopes up, I don’t care if he remembers me or not, I will still hurt him.

“If this is a trap…” Katara instantly gets ready to fight at the notion.

“I told you, I work nearby,” Jet replies annoyed. “Two guys were talkin’ about some giant furry creature they had. I figured it must be Appa.”

“You know, that’s not exactly specific,” I scoff. Jet looks at me surprised by the attitude, but I don’t care. Just because he doesn’t remember what he did doesn’t mean I will.

“He was here!” Toph yells, and we all run over to where she’s holding a clump of Appa’s fur in her hand.

Aang drops his staff, taking the clump into his own hands. “We missed him,” he grieves, stroking the fur.

“They took that big thing yesterday.” An old man says, walking past as he sweeps. “Shipped him out to some island. About time. I’ve been sweeping up fur and various…leavings all day.”

Aang’s face lights up as he questions the man, finding out Appa is at Whaletail island. I stare in disbelief as Sokka rolls open his map and points to an island just past the bottom of the Earth Kingdom, close to the South Pole.

“Aang, it’ll take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom. And then we’ll need to find a boat to get to the island,” Katara observes, studying the map.

“I don’t care, we have a chance to find Appa. We have to try,” Aang decides and there’s no way to convince him otherwise.

“You know, I recognise some of these towns further down. I think I know some people who came from there to Omashu so there’s a good chance they might’ve gone back. It shouldn’t be hard to find someone that wouldn’t mind helping get a boat,” I remark, having looked closely at the map.

“You’re right Aang. Right now, our first concern has to be finding Appa, and if Solmi knows people even better. We can come back when we have him,” Katara says, comforting Aang.

“All right, let’s get moving,” Sokka leads and we all follow him out the warehouse, plans to be made.

—--

“We can take the train out to the wall, but then we’ll have to walk,” Sokka plans and the idea of all that walking does not sound appealing.

“Don’t worry, on the way back we’ll be flying,” Aang says, his excitement clear as day, which is nice to see after how down he’s been.

“We’re finally leaving Ba Sing Se,” Toph cheers exhaustedly, “Worst city ever.”

Her words bring me to a stop. Of course, we’re leaving, but I only now understand just what that means.

“I can’t go,” I gasp quietly and everyone immediately turns to look at me.

“What do you mean you can’t go?” Sokka asks frantically. “You have to go, you’re a big part of this plan.”

“No, no, wait, I meant I can’t go right now,” I correct him, though he still looks confused.

“Right, you’re friends,” Aang realises, looking guilty.

“Just give me an hour,” I plead. I hate to make Aang wait when he’s so excited, but I think he understands that I can’t just leave, not when I have people I’m leaving behind.

“Tell you what. It’s already pretty late in the day and we need to get supplies anyways. So let’s say we’ll leave tomorrow morning,” Sokka compromises, and everyone nods in agreement.

“Thank you,” I say gratefully, immediately heading for the firebenders apartment.

I plan over what to say in my head, and it shouldn’t be hard since this was what was supposed to happen all those weeks ago when I got here originally. But so much has changed since then, especially with Zuko, and now the idea of goodbye sounds impossible.

I get to the apartment, still remembering the exact door despite not being back since that first night. I stand, staring at the door, and my mind goes blank. I calm myself with the reminder that at least for now, I’ll be coming back after we find Appa, we still need to talk to the Earth King after all.

I knock, taking a sharp breath in as I wait to be confronted by the people I have to leave… but nothing, no one answers the door. I knock again, leaning closer to the wood, but there’s not even the sound of footsteps coming from behind it.

I wasn’t sure if Zuko would have returned after he ran away earlier, but I thought at least Iroh would be here packing for the big move.

It’s a shame I won’t be there for the grand opening.

I rest my hand on the door handle, sad. It’s clear they’re not home, and as much as I hate the idea of leaving without saying anything, I also can’t stand out here all night waiting for them to return.

I go to push away from the door, putting pressure on the handle as I do, and to my surprise, the door opens a crack.

I hesitate for a moment, but I may not be able to wait out here but I can wait inside. I slide in the door, closing it firmly behind me and take in the familiar sight of the apartment.

I decide to look around, hoping that maybe I can find something that tells me where the two have gone. I can see a trunk half-packed on the table so it’s clear they must have been here at some point.

I sit by the table with a sigh, as I do I hear a small noise and notice a piece of paper fluttering to the ground. I pick it up, none too surprised to see Appa’s likeness looking back at me.

I should have known this would have something to do with the missing firebenders, and I’m starting to think that maybe staying in the city just a little longer is a bad idea.

I look out the window, the sky turning a beautiful shade of orange, but I can’t appreciate it because I know it also means I have been here too long.

Still, I refuse to just leave. I look around and find some ink with a brush, but I can’t see any empty piece of paper. I look back down at Appa and sigh, turning the flyer over to write on the back.

I begin to start writing the truth, pushed by Appa’s picture I think that maybe it’ll be better this way. Then they’ll have a few weeks to digest the news before I come back. But I barely get a sentence in before I stop, because that is just a cowardly way to handle this.

I cross out the words, and with no time to find more paper, I start again, then cross that out and start again, and again. The words won’t fall from my mind onto the paper how I want and I am running out of space. In the end, I’m left with a mostly black page with just a few words on the bottom.

‘I’m sorry, I’ll be back in a few weeks. - Solmi’

I groan, looking at the few words that do not say what I need them to, but it’s already dark out and I really need to go. I put the paper on the table, using a teacup to hold it there when a small gust of wind pushes it off the table again.

I leave, giving the door a final glance before heading back to find the others. I just pass the location where we split up and to my surprise I see Toph standing there.

She takes me to Jet’s apartment as she explains running into Longshot and Smellerbee, finding out Jet was brainwashed and that Appa is still here in Ba Sing Se. I guess that explains why he forgot who I was, though if he remembers now, seeing him might be a pain.

The second I enter the small room I feel Jet’s glare on me, and I can tell from the way his whole body tenses that the only reason he hasn’t drawn his swords yet is because of everyone else around.

I catch his eyes, pleading with him not to make a scene because none of us needs that right now. I know everybody is watching us with various degrees of concern and confusion. I’m sure Jet can feel it too, and he breaks the eye contact, looking away with a noise of annoyance but that’s all.

I sigh in relief, I can see he’s still weary by the way he keeps the complete other side of the room, but it looks like he won’t bring up his accusations again. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s realised the clothes trust me so I can’t be that much of a problem, or he learned after being taken away. Either way, I’m grateful I won’t have that mess to deal with.

“Did you manage to talk to your friends?” Katara asks, breaking the awkward silence, and everyone takes it as their cue to go back to whatever they were doing before.

“No, they weren’t home,” I reply, sinking down to the floor, suddenly really tired.

“I guess that’s a good thing since we don’t have to leave now,” Katara reasons and I know she’s right, but I can’t help but feel unsettled by the day’s events. I really wish I had managed to talk to Zuko.

—--

Once it becomes lighter Jet takes us to where he was brainwashed, except the only thing to be seen is a clear open lake, no buildings in sight. That is until Toph reveal a secret tunnel that leads under the lake. I look down the deep tube, and I can’t stop the shiver that runs down my spine at the darkness. But I follow everyone else as we all climb down the ladder one by one.

It’s harder to sneak around in a large group, but we manage. I stay at the back, bow in hand and ready to draw an arrow any second. It’s an amazing feat I manage to stop myself every time I hear a drop of water or an animal scurrying by.

“It’s all coming back to me,” Jet says as he leads around a series of complicated tunnels.

We pass a door that’s cracked open, and I let my gaze look in curious, only to be horrified to see a bunch of women all dressed the same standing in front of a Dai Li agent, repeating synchronised sentences.

“I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead,” Jet directs.

My eyes dart in every direction, watching every corner and shadow to make sure we don’t miss anything. Suddenly, I spot a figure running into one of the hallways we just passed.

I go to call it out when the person leans out of the shadow revealing their face. Iroh leans against the wall, holding his finger to his lips and beckoning me over.

My heart stops as I look between him and Aang, but he doesn’t appear to care, as he continues to look at me imploringly.

“You guys go ahead,” I say, surprising all of them. “I’m going to keep watch out here, make sure no one shows up while you investigate.”

“Are you sure, Solmi?” Aang asks worriedly, but I wave her off.

“I’m sure. Don’t worry, I’ll stay hidden and come find you if something happens,” I reassure him. I see Jet’s eyes narrow suspiciously, but I ignore it.

I can tell they’re hesitant, but I just wave at them until they finally move on, desperation to find Appa strong.

Once they’re out of sight I make my way over to Iroh who went back to hiding when the others turned to look at me.

“What are you doing here?” I demand, thrown off by the entire situation.

“I was following Zuko,” Iroh whispers, pulling me into the shadow of the hallway with him. “I think he found out the same thing your friends did about the bison. I did not want to involve you because I knew it would be difficult for you. But I’m afraid my nephew might be about to do something foolish and when I saw you I knew you might be able to help.

I gape at the older firebender, struggling to be able to form a coherent sentence after realising he knows about the others. “But… you… them… how?”

“There’ll be time for that later, but I believe we must hurry,” Iroh insists, though I can tell he’s amused by my reaction.

“Right, sorry, let’s go,” I say, pushing my confusion away for now. Like Iroh said I can ask him all about it when we get out of here.

I follow him along one of the many hallways I originally passed, wondering where exactly he’s taking me when I hear the unmistakable sound of Appa’s growl.

I forget about being discrete and run towards the noise, stopping when I come to a large set of closed doors. I go to push the door open but I hesitate, unsure of who might be behind it. But Iroh does not, as soon as he catches up he pushes the doors easily, revealing a figure in a blue mask standing in front of Appa.

I briefly worry about the others, if Appa is here then Jet must have taken them to the wrong place, but my concern is immediately taken by the way the bison is growling, clearly very upset.

Iroh steps into the room and I follow closely behind, half hiding in the shadows as the door closes behind us, worried about the person in the mask. Though from Iroh’s lack of a reaction I have a feeling I know who it is.

The figure turns, Dao swords at the ready, but quickly lowers them. “Uncle?”

“So, the blue spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask,” Iroh jokes rhetorically, making Zuko sigh and remove the mask.

I feel my heart jump in my chest as I see Iroh subtly gesturing for me to come forward. I take a silent breath, and my hands shake as they grip my bow, but I told Iroh I would help, and I guess that means finally revealing the truth.

“Zuko,” I say stepping forward out of the shadows, nowhere left to hide. “Please don’t do anything to Appa.”

Zuko looks at me stunned, I think he’s just more surprised to see me here, that is until I can see the words registering. “Wait? You know this creature?”

“I do,” I reveal, slowly walking around him to get closer to the sky bison. Appa’s growling stops once he notices me and I smile up at him patting his nose reassuringly, though I don’t know which one of us I’m trying to reassure more. This is it, I’ve come this far so I might as well tell the whole truth. “And I know Aang has really missed him. And I know you have your history with him but please, just let Appa go.”

The room is silent, the only noise is Appa’s quiet happy grumbles as I continue to pet him, and for just a moment I wish I could take it back, anything to get rid of the guilt clawing at my insides.

“I can’t believe it,” Zuko’s whisper barely breaks the stillness of the room.

But then he yells, and it’s so full of pain that it reminds me of what I heard when he was on top of that mountain, I can barely contain my flinch at knowing I’m the one who made him sound like this.

“Zuk…” I try to say, but he spins around to face me and this time I do flinch, his glare burning a hole in my heart.

“I can’t believe I fell for your act! The whole time we’ve been here you’ve been playing your games with me then going back to the Avatar?! Was that the plan, they sent you to keep an eye on me?!” He growls, I can see his shoulders shaking as his breath picks up, hands tightening around his swords.

“No, it’s not like that” I deny, desperately trying to ignore the way his words hurt because I deserve it. “They don’t even know you’re in Ba Sing Se.”

My fingers twitch, aching to reach and try to do something, but I force them to stay by my side, knowing anything I do will only anger the firebender more.

“Then why!” He screams, he takes a step forward but Appa growls, keeping him in place. He stumbles, looking up at the giant creature like he forgot he was there, but he’s not distracted for long before his gaze is pointed back at me.

“What was the point of any of this?” His voice is quieter now, but the anger is still there, and I think that’s worse than the yelling, because I know Zuko, I’ve gotten used to his yelling and I can deal with it. But this, this broken voice, I don’t think I can handle it.

“I...I “ I stutter, I try to put the words together to somehow explain but it’s just like the letter nothing sounds right.

“I was scared,” I finally get out “I was a part of something I didn’t want to be. I know how that sounds and I am not proud of it. But when I came to you I was running away, it had nothing to do with what the others wanted.”

Zuko scoffs, rolling his eyes at my answer, and it hurts but I didn’t expect anything different. “Whatever, I don’t even know if what you’re telling me is real right now.”

I bite my lip trying to hold back exasperated tears. This isn’t about me, his reaction is perfectly logical. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. “I know I made a mistake, but I’m asking you to trust me....”

“Trust you?!” He yells, disbelief clear on his face, “How am I supposed to trust you? All you’ve ever done is lie to me.”

“That’s not true,” my voice cracks, I close my eyes willing the tears not to appear, “I didn’t tell you about Aang but that doesn’t mean everything was a lie.”

“Like what?” He challenges, and there are probably so many things I could say, but I can only think of one.

“Like how I feel about you, I didn’t lie when I told you I liked you,” I say. And maybe there’s something more important I should bring up, something that might mean more. But I just can’t stand the idea of him thinking I lied about that. “And maybe you don’t believe it right now but that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth.”

“But you had to have been,” he insists, “Because if you knew who I was, how could you like me?”

“Because I didn’t know you,” I explain, risking stepping closer, but he backs away. “I may have heard the stories but I didn’t know you.”

I take another step, and this time he lets me. “I didn’t know that you’re terrible at making tea, or that you’re really awkward when it comes to people, or that you’re probably one of the most caring people I’ve ever met.” With every point, I step closer and closer, and when I take the last step to stand in front of him. I reach out, gently grabbing one of his shaking hands which is holding his sword tight. “And there are so many other things that meant I just couldn’t help but like you, and that could never be a lie.”

I hear a grumble and I look up at Appa, realising what I have to do next. I let go of Zuko’s hand a slowly back away, towards Iroh. “That’s how I know that you’re going to do the right thing and let Appa go.”

I hear Appa start to whine as I leave so I hurry back to pat his nose. “Shh, it’s okay. I’ll see you really soon. But you better hurry because Aang’s been missing you like crazy.”

Finally, I stride past the firebenders, Iroh giving me an appreciative look as I pass. I head out the door, hearing Iroh starting to talk, but I don’t stick around. I need to find the others and make sure they’re okay.

I run back the way I came, and I get to the hall where I originally left when I find the others again.

“Solmi! You’re okay!” Katara cries, also running.

“Yeah, I got caught off guard by some Dai Li agents but I managed to deal with it,” I tell her, the lie feeling wrong on my tongue after what happened with Zuko.

“We’ve got to hurry, we know where Appa is!” Aang yells, rushing down the corridor I just came from.

I swallow nervously but follow anyway, I hope Zuko and Iroh have managed to get out.

We get to the familiar door and Toph slams it open, and I expect to be confronted by the sight I just left, but there’s nothing, the room is completely empty.

“Appa’s gone!” Aang cries out in dismay, “Long Feng beat us here.”

I grit my teeth, not wanting to risk saying anything yet, I’m sure Zuko let him go, but maybe Long Feng did get him after.

“If we keep moving maybe we can catch up with them,” Sokka suggests urgently.

We rush to get out of the underground prison, Toph earthbending our way out. The fresh air hits me as I jump out of the new tunnel and the light is almost blinding, but there’s no time to stop as Dai Li agents start coming out of the tunnel as well.

“You think we can outrun them?” Sokka asks staring at Aang.

“I don’t think it’s gonna matter,” the airbender replies as Dai Li agents earthbend a giant wall in front of us, Long Feng standing on top. We stop dead, looking behind us just to see another wall being formed, effectively trapping us on the edge of the lake.

There’s no time to think of a plan as Momo flies over, the lemur chirping happily to everyone’s confusion. But I smile.

“What is it, Momo?” Aang questions the lemur, but he just flies away again.

Aang’s question is answered, however, by the sound of a very familiar grumbling.

“Appa!” Aang beams, watching the giant bison fly towards us. And I let out a sigh of relief, glad Zuko did the right thing.

Appa breaks the walls with ease, and Aang and Toph are quick to deal with the ones on the cliff face once they’re distracted.

Appa lands in front of Long Feng, growling menacingly at the bender whose just getting up, the rest of the agents running away at the sight of the giant creature.

“I can handle you by myself,” the man claims, but as soon as he goes to attack Appa bites his leg and swiftly throws him in the lake, spitting out his shoes when he’s done.

Aang runs over as fast as he can, jumping onto the bison’s head to give him the biggest hug he can.

Everyone cheers and I can’t help but share a knowing look with Appa, which he grumbles at quietly. We let Aang have a moment to reconnect with his lost friend, before we climb on top, sitting on the bison’s head since he no longer has a saddle.

He flies off and the others squish together in a group hug I get dragged into, but my mind is elsewhere, looking back to the lake, I can’t help but wonder if Zuko’s okay.

Chapter Text

Appa flies us over to a small island in the middle of the lake before landing, letting us slide off, except for Aang who seems determined to never leave his friend’s side again.

“I missed you more than you’ll ever know, buddy,” Aang says, hugging Appa’s head which Momo is happy to join in on. Appa returns the favour and the airbender’s laugh is infectious.

“Look, we escaped from the Dai Li, we got Appa back, I’m telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We’re on a roll,” Sokka proposes confidently, and I feel my head perk up at the idea we might go back to the city, honestly, I thought we would just leave.

“One good hour after weeks of trouble isn’t much of a roll,” Katara argues, staring her brother down.

“We can build,” Sokka insists, “If we wanna invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we need the Earth King’s support.”

“What makes you think we’ll get it?” Toph protests from her spot on the floor. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things don’t usually go that smoothly for our little gang.”

“I know. But I’ve got a good feeling about this. This time it’ll be different,” Sokka assures, with an optimism I don’t usually hear coming from the watertribe boy.

“Honestly, I’m with Sokka. If we want the Earth King’s help, now is the perfect opportunity,” I say, standing next to Sokka. He shoots me a surprised but grateful look before setting his eyes on his sister again.

“Guys, Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful,” Katara stresses, “I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us.”

“But he’ll be thrown off by us finding his secret lake and getting Appa, we should go before he has a chance to compose himself,” I argue, trying to be logical.

“Please Princess, we all know why you want to stay. I’m with Sweetness,” Toph says, and them actually agreeing on something would be great at any other time. “I’ve seen enough of Ba Sing Se, and I can’t even see!”

Aang hops over to join our discussion, apparently done playing with Appa for now. “But now that we have Appa back there’s nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth. About the conspiracy and the war.”

“See, Aang’s with me as well, it’s three against two,” Sokka wraps his arms around Aang and I. “It’s the whole reason we came here in the first place, we have to try.”

Katara puts her hand to her chin, finally taking a moment to think it through. “Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change.”

I grin, glad to have pulled Katara over to our side, though I severely doubt Toph will change her hatred of the city.

Suddenly, Aang runs over to the shore of the island, looking out to the water where many ships have started to gather.

“That’s probably the Dai Li searching for us,” Sokka says panicked, looking at his sister. “So?”

“Let’s fly,” Katara decides, and we all climb back onto Appa to head back to the city.

Appa soars, and with the lack of anything else to hold onto, I can only grab onto handfuls of fur like everyone else. And usually, I don’t mind flying, but this, not a fan.

“Can we please buy a new saddle?” Toph complains,” Riding bareback is terrifying.” I look over to see the fear in her wide eyes, and carefully crawl over to put a comforting hand on her arm, and she relaxes just a little.

I watch as the city draws near, and I can’t hold back a sigh as I look at the lower ring. I feel eyes on me and look up to see Aang watching me carefully. Whatever he’s looking for he appears to find when I meet his eyes and the next thing I know he’s guiding Apps down before we even reach the palace.

“Aang, what are you doing?” I ask, once he somehow finds a place to put the giant bison in the crowded lower ring.

“I’m dropping you off here, I heard you talking to Katara last night, and if the Earth King doesn’t believe us, we’ll have to leave quickly. This might be your last chance to see your friends for a while,” the airbender explains quickly, keeping an eye out for any Dai Li.

I’m touched by the gesture, but I don’t know how to tell him it’s not necessary because there’s no way to explain how I managed to talk to them after all. Plus, I don’t think Zuko would want to see me right now anyway.

“Aang, it’s fine, I should go with you,” I argue, “I can talk to the Earth King, tell him about what happened to Omashu and Bumi.”

“Aang is right,” Sokka suddenly interjects. “Either way it’s better for you to stay behind right now. If the King really doesn’t know about the war, Long Feng could turn this into some political battle between your two cities,” he reasons and I frown realising he has a point. There’s no way Long Feng doesn’t know where I’m from, and I wouldn’t put it past him to use that.

“Fine,” I huff climbing off Appa, “Just fly low and I’ll be sure to be looking out the window, in case it all goes wrong.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine,” Sokka dismisses and with that, they take off again.

I decide to go to the apartment anyway despite my earlier reluctance. Even if Zuko wants nothing to do with me, at least I’ll be able to see him again and talk to Iroh, I still want to ask how he knew.

Luckily, I’m not too far, and I’m pretty sure Aang planned that, once I get to the door I start to get nervous again, and wonder if this is going to be a thing whenever I show up at their house. But the undetermined time limit is in the back of my mind so I knock quickly before I can talk myself out of it.

I hear footsteps and sigh in relief that at least they’re actually here this time. I barely recognise Iroh as being the one to open the door before words start pouring out of me.

“I doubt either of you really want to see me right now, but I have to talk to you,” I blurt out in one breath before he can say anything along the lines of wanting me to leave.

“Come on in,” he replies, opening the door wider to let me through. “Though whatever you wish to say may have to wait. I’m afraid my nephew fell unconscious as soon as we arrived home.”

“What, why?” I quickly look around the apartment, but I don’t see any signs of the firebender.“Is he okay?”

“He is battling with his decision to let the Avatar’s bison go free,” Iroh explains, opening the door to the bedroom, showing me where the boy is.

I gasp as soon as I see Zuko, lying on the floor, sweat on his brow noticeable even from this distance. I immediately knee down beside him, worry overtaking me as the closer look lets me see the way his face is pinched together in pain, and if I listen carefully, I can hear a slight wheeze to his breath.

“He doesn’t look very good,” I note, clenching my fists on my lap to avoid reaching out to him. It’s not my place. Not anymore

Iroh sits across from me, pulling a cloth from a bucket of water next to him and putting it on the sick firebenders forehead. The coolness of the water appears to be soothing at least and Zuko’s face relaxes just a touch.

“So what did you want to say?” Iroh asks attention now fully on me. For a moment I think about brushing him off, more concerned about Zuko. But then I remember this could be the last time I see him, and I really should talk about this.

“Aang and the others are currently talking to the Earth King, but if things go wrong we’re going to have to leave,” I explain, barely able to say the airbenders name after months of stopping myself. “I just didn’t want to go without saying goodbye. And that I’m sorry, to both Zuko and to you.”

“Is that what the note was about?” I feel flush at the mention of that messy note, I had completely forgotten I’d even left it.

“No, that was about something else. It’s been a difficult couple of days,” I admit, hands tightening on my legs, as I glance out the window. “But I guess the message is the same. I really am sorry about all of this.”

“It’s alright dear, I understand why you didn’t wish to reveal your friend’s identities and your relation to them. My nephew is a complicated young man, with an even more complicated past. Even I was unsure of how he would react to such news,” Iroh reassures me, but I still can’t get rid of the guilt I feel at lying to them for so long.

I reach over and grab Zuko’s limp hand, just wanting to let myself have this, if only for a moment. “I’ve been thinking, about why I never told the truth,” I say gently, talking to Iroh but hoping that somehow Zuko can hear them too. “At first when I met you it made sense. The only thing I knew was that Zuko had tried to capture Aang, so I was a little wary. But when we got here, and I found the others here as well, I knew I should have said something, I wanted to say something.”

I feel a stray tear fall against my cheek, but I make no move to wipe it away, I know doing that will just make more take its place.

“But then the thing with Jet happened, and suddenly I was scared, because I didn’t want to lose you. I convinced myself that if I told the truth, either the Dai Li would find out, or he would leave. And I just didn’t want him to hate me. I guess running away from my problems is something I’m good at. But it turned out to be a vicious circle because the longer I didn’t tell him, the more he was bound to hate me. But it’s not like I don’t deserve it in the end.”

I feel Zuko’s hand tighten in mine, and my eyes shift from where I’d been staring out the window to look at his face to see if he’s in pain again, but it looks more relaxed than before. I smile softly, rubbing my thumb across the back of his hand, at least he looks like he’s getting better.

“Zuko does not hate you,” I jump as Iroh puts a comforting hand on my shoulder, and I blush at the fact I got so lost in my own world I forgot he was here. “He may be hurt, but I believe he will come to understand your true intentions and forgive.”

“I hope you're right.”

—--

I spend the next couple of hours talking to Iroh and watching over Zuko with him. The firebender woke up a few times, but it was only ever to take a sip of water, or if his coughing got bad, then he’d fall right back to his unconscious state.

After my initial conversation with Iroh, I stopped staring out the window, and then a while after that I stopped the occasional glances as well, figuring that if something was going to go wrong it would have already. Though I do make sure I keep an ear out for the sound of familiar grumbling or excited people.

“You never did tell me how you knew about me,” I suddenly realised, remembering his insistence of ‘later’ when I originally asked below the lake.

“Ah yes, well. I had my suspicion as soon as I woke up in that abandoned town, not really the kind of place many people would travel to let alone on the same day,” Iroh explains and I cringe, realising now that it was a little suspicious I said I was passing by the same day Aang was there. “Then after that, pieces just start falling together.”

“But you never told…” I trail off, looking at the sleeping firebender.

“It was not my secret to share,” Iroh says simply, and I guess it is that simple.

By the time the sun starts to set I know it’s time to go and find out what happened, though I wish I could stay until Zuko gets better.

“Thank you for letting me stay,” I say, heading for the front door. I hesitate for a second before turning back and grabbing Iroh in a hug. He doesn’t waste a second before he wraps his arms around me and it’s comforting in a way that reminds me of my own uncle. “Just in case, and if this is goodbye, just… tell Zuko I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, your friends can be very good at getting what they want. So, you have to make sure you come to the opening of my new tea shop,” Iroh jokes, and I decide to believe in the faith he has in my friends.

“Of course,” I agree. I use his cheerfulness to push myself out the door, letting myself have faith that it won’t be the last time.

I head back to the main street, eyes focusing both on the sky and around me as I head for the train. If they aren’t flying around then the next best place to look is the palace, and I will get myself inside whatever it takes.

Though that apparently won’t be necessary.

I whistle loudly, catching the annoyed attention of the people around me, but also from the bison I can see flying above me. I quickly apologise to the people rubbing their ears, before rushing over to where Appa landed, climbing on.

And to my surprise, it’s not just Aang and the others I see, but an elegantly dressed young man and a couple of guards.

“So, how’s the plan going?” I ask, settling down as Appa takes off.

“We’re all good, this is the Earth King and he’s on our side and Long Feng has been arrested,” Katara explains. I nod, deciding to leave any other questions until we arrive back at the palace.

I try not to stare as we enter the palace, but it is far grander than the one at Omashu. The King sits on his throne and I use this chance to properly bow in respect since I couldn’t when we were flying.

“Please, that is unnecessary, though now that we’re here may I ask your name?” The Earth King asks, motioning for me to stand normally.

I look at Sokka, and he gives me a thumbs up to tell me I don’t have to worry about any political issues. “My name is Solmi, I’m from Omashu.”

“Solmi? Ah yes, you’re the niece of King Bumi and therefore next in line to take over the city,” The Earth King replies, surprising me which he notices. “I remember all of the names of people who could be important to Ba Sing Se’s future.”

“Right, of course,” I say, trying to hide my sadness, hard to be next in line for a city that’s no longer yours.

“My apologies, I did not mean to upset,” The Earth King frets, but I shake my head telling him it’s okay. “Perhaps we should move on to the matter at hand. I want to thank you, young heroes, for opening my eyes. All this time, what I thought was a great metropolis was merely a city of fools. And that makes me the King fool.”

The king’s bear, Bosco, growls sadly at his feet, and I feel my heart clench for this king who clearly does care about his city. “We’re at war. With the Fire Nation.”

“That’s why we came to Ba Sing Se, your highness,” Sokka interrupts, “Because we think you could help us end the war.”

Aang and Sokka tell the Earth King about the comet and Sokka’s plan for the upcoming eclipse. I do my best to keep my face unreadable as I listen, I’ve heard of the comet before but even so. the Fire Nation is already an overwhelming force, and the idea that there is something that’ll make them stronger is terrifying.

“I don’t know,” The Earth King replies doubtfully after listening to Sokka’s plan. “That would require moving troops out of Ba Sing Se. We’d be completely vulnerable.”

“You’re already vulnerable. The Fire Nation won’t stop until Ba Sing Se falls,” Sokka insists.

“He’s right, they already have Omashu,” I chime in, ignoring the way my heart clenches at the memory. “It was already too late by the time they got to us and my Uncle knew the best choice was not to fight them because that was best for the people. But you don’t have to make that choice yet. This is the last place they have left to conquer and they will have their way if you let them.”

“Exactly, so you can either sit back and wait for that to happen. Or take the offensive and give yourself a fighting chance,” Sokka concludes, and my heart starts racing as we wait for the Earth King’s answer, because there is no other plan than this.

The silence is tense as he thinks it over, no one even breaths until he replies. “Very well. You have my support.”

I feel myself get dragged into a group hug by Sokka with Katara and Toph, Aang beside us celebrating on an airball.

“Your majesty,” a voice interrupts, and a high official-looking man strides across the room before bowing at the bottom of the stairs, “I apologise for the interruption.”

“This is General How,” the Earth King introduces. “He’s the leader of the council of five, my highest ranking general.”

The General raises from his bow before addressing the Earth King, “We searched Long Feng’s office. I think we found something that will interest everyone.”

We all look at each other curious, but just decide to go along as the general leads us to an office room. The Earth King takes a seat at the table while we stand to one side.

The general gestures for a guard to come over, “There are secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se, including you kids.” the guard puts a box down on the table before leaving.

The Earth King opens the box to show a bunch of different scrolls. He passes them along and they’re all exciting. Toph’s mom wants to reconnect, Aang gets a scroll that was tied to Appa from one of the air temples, and Sokka and Katara get an intelligence report about a watertribe fleet their dad is in nearby.

I smile as I watch them, glad everyone has something to look forward to after the tough month it’s been.

“What about Solmi?” Katara asks, looking away from the report long enough to realise I didn’t get a letter. But I don’t mind, I can’t think of who would try and send me a letter anyway.

“Ah yes, she has her own box,” General How says, passing over a small box.

I gasp, opening it to see it filled to the top with different scrolls. I quickly open the one on top, skimming over the words too curious to read it through. My eyes widen at the words on the page and I put the first scroll down then read the next and the next.”

“What is it?” Aang asks concerned, picking up one of the scrolls I already read.

“They’re from my friends in Omashu. Apparently, quite a few of them settled into the same town and they just wanted to let me know how they are and that they miss me,” I explain, eyes watering as I read over the comforting letters. I was worried after I left that maybe the people from Omashu wouldn’t be able to find a new home, but it looks like most of them did.

“We shall leave you all to discuss your news,” The Earth King says, leading the other soldiers out of the room.

We all gather in a circle on the floor, taking turns to talk about our letters and what to do about them.

“This is all such big news. Where do we even start?” Sokka asks excitedly.

“I hate to say it, but… we have to split up,” Katara suggests sadly.

“Split up? Solmi’s back and we just found Appa and got the family back together,” Aang protests, and my heart warms knowing he thinks of me as part of his family, “Now you want us to separate?”

“You have to meet this Guru, Aang. If we’re gonna invade the Fire Nation you need to be ready,” Katara reasons.

Aang looks down disappointed, but he doesn’t argue. “Well if I’m going to the eastern air temple, Appa and I can drop you off at chameleon bay to see your dad. And Solmi, we can take you to that village so you can see your friends again,” Aang suggests, at least now more excited because he’ll be able to help his friends.

“Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion,” Sokka proposes and I quickly stand up.

“I’ll do it,” I volunteer, “As great as it’d be to see everyone, it’ll be even better if it’s to bring them home after the war is over.”

I miss everyone terribly, even more so after reading their letter, but I don’t deserve to see them again until they have a home to return to. And selfishly, I’ll feel better if I can stay here to at least make sure Zuko gets better.

“I guess I’ll stay too,” Sokka says. I go to protest but he cuts me off, “We haven’t told you everything about the invasion plan, someone will have to stay and help you.”

“No, Sokka, I know how badly you want to help Dad. You go to chameleon bay, I’ll stay here with the King and Solmi,” Katara decided instead.

Tears gather in Sokka’s eyes as he rushes over to his sister, declaring her the ‘nicest sister ever’ before kissing her on the cheek.

“At least it’ll be the two of us,” I nudge her, secretly glad to have someone to keep me company.

—-

The morning comes and with it, Aang, Toph and Sokka get ready to go. We all gather at the bottom of the palace stairs, and I watch as Katara hugs Appa goodbye before taking my turn as Aang goes to talk to the waterbender.

“Katara, I need to tell you something,” he says nervously. I turn away pretending not to listen, but I hold out my fist in silent encouragement wondering if Aang is finally gonna take those prisoners advice.

“All right!” Sokka jumps at Aang, wrapping his arm around the airbender. I groan annoyed at the older boys interruption. “Who’s ready to get going on a little men only, man trip?”

I walk to Sokka and smack him on the back of his head. He complains, rubbing his head and looking at me annoyed.

“What? I was just saying goodbye,” I keep my face blank, pretending innocence.

“Aang and Sokka, I wish you a good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks,” The earth King says to the boys, “And we look forward to your safe return.”

We all bow to the King, grateful for his words.

“Your majesty, there are three female warriors here to see you, “ a guard informs. “They’re from the island of Kiyoshi.”

“That’s Suki!” Sokka yells, getting distracted from his climbing onto Appa and falling off. I stare at him, surprised something could distract him from his dad for even a moment, she must be someone important.

“You know these warriors?” The Earth King asks, and I look at the others also curious. I know of Kiyoshi island, but no warriors from there.

“Oh yeah,” Sokka replies getting up from the floor, “The Kiyoshi Warriors are a skilled group of fighters. Trustworthy too. They’re good friends of ours.”

“Then we shall welcome them as honoured guests,” the Earth King insists.

Aang turns to climb onto Appa when Katara stops him with the hug, before kissing his cheek. His face shines red, and I meet his eye giving him a thumbs-up behind Katara which makes him roll his eyes at me.

“I’m really gonna miss you guys,” Toph says gently, and I’m surprised to hear the vulnerability coming from the usually tough earthbender, though I guess I shouldn’t be.

Katara, Aang and I all simultaneously agree, everyone gathering to pull the girl into a group hug. Everyone but Sokka that is, who stands determinedly to the side, but with one look, we all move to drag him into it as well.

“Great, that’s enough. Okay, we love each other, seriously,” he jokes, patting Aang and Katara’s heads.

Unfortunately, it’s a long way to the air temple so we have to pull away so the boys can get going. Us girls wave goodbye as they fly off, and then Katara and I bid farewell to Toph as she decides to go into the city and find her mother.

Chapter Text

“That meeting went on forever,” I moan, throwing myself to the floor the second I get into the house.

“At least we made some real progress today,” Katara replies cheerfully, taking to sitting down normally instead of my approach.

“I guess,” I agree hesitantly. Honestly, I can’t say I was paying enough attention as I should have. Between trying to not worry about Zuko, and just being nervous about the number of high officials there who seemed to really want my opinion on certain things, the entire day was a mess.

But Katara is right, we at least got somewhere today compared to yesterday. Apparently, there are still those who seem to doubt the invasion plan and are determined to make things more difficult than they need to be.

“Soo, how was Lee?” Katara asks teasingly, and I groan hiding my face on the floor.

I know she means well but it is not the kind of question I need right now. I barely managed to find some time to visit yesterday between the hours of almost pointless negotiations. And when I did I could only just tell Iroh about my staying in the city as he rushed around the apartment getting ready to move to the upper ring.

He did manage to inform me that Zuko had been up and moving around for a brief moment, and handed me a piece of paper with directions to their new place before I had to rush back for more meetings. I’m starting to wonder if I should even go by anymore, maybe I should just stay away until Zuko wakes up and I know if he even wants me there or not.

“It’s complicated,” I grumble, turning sideways so I at least face her as I talk. “And he’s sick right now so I can’t even talk to him…”

“Oh no, should I go and heal him,” Katara gasps, and I realise my mistake of mentioning his condition.

“No, no, it’s fine,” I immediately decline, shooting up from the floor which startles her. “It’s just something he has to work through himself.”

“Is that what’s wrong? You want to help him?” Katara asks and I know at this point she’s in caring mode and is determined to help me if she can’t heal him.

“I mean yeah of course I do, but…” I groan frustrated. This entire situation is such a mess and I wish I could get my emotions under control enough to be able to figure it out. I take a deep breath to gather my thoughts before I continue. “I messed up, Katara, like really bad.”

“What did you do?” She asks surprised like she couldn’t imagine me doing that, which hits me in just the wrong way.

“I lied,” I admit, letting myself have this one moment where I can tell the truth or at least part of it. “ I lied to him about something really important, and I can’t fix it. I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.”

I hold my breath as Katara hums, I expect her to be upset, tell me he shouldn’t forgive me for lying to him. “If he didn’t forgive you, would you still care about him?” She asks instead, throwing me off.

“Of course,” I don’t hesitate to reply, I already know that even if Zuko never talks to me again he’ll always be important to me.

“Then that’s all that really matters, even if he’s mad as long as your there for him anyway, he’ll see that,” Katara smiles reassuringly. “Plus I know you, you wouldn’t lie without a good reason and that should be taken into consideration.”

“I hope you’ll remember that,” I whisper to myself. If Katara truly believes that then maybe telling everyone the truth when they return will be a little easier, because at this point I am done with the lying, but it’ll be better to do it all at once.

“Anyway, let’s go get dinner, we have another full day tomorrow.”

—--

Tomorrow comes and with the sky painted orange as the sun starts to rise, I make my way over to Zuko and Iroh’s new apartment. I decide to listen to Katara and be there for Zuko even if he’ll kick me out the moment he wakes up, and I figure I’ll have more time if I go before the meetings start, since there’s no way to know when they’ll end.

Despite the early time, I’m sure Iroh will be awake, and it’ll be great to get some good tea before another day of talking strategies.

“Sol! You’re just in time to try my new batch of ginseng tea,” Iroh says as soon as he opens the door. I’m pulled in before I can even say my own ‘hello’. “I put in some honey and jasmine to give it some extra flavour.

He puts the cup down in front of me as soon as I’m sat down at the new table. I take a sip despite the hot temperature at the tea makers eagerness. “It’s amazing,” I compliment easily, putting it down to cool before I drink more.

“That’s good,” he sighs “My new tea shop opens today so I was trying to find something exciting to serve.”

“You need to, you’re tea is amazing because of the love and care you put into it,” I tell him, then I think back on what he said. “Wait it opens today? I’m so sorry but I don’t think I can make it.”

“It’s okay,” he reassures cutting of my building guilt. “I know you’re busy right now.”

“I’m still sorry since I said I would,” I grouch disappointed. “What did you name it in the end?”

“I decided on the Jasmine dragon,” Iroh replies proudly.

“I like it, I’m sure it’ll bring in a lot of customers,” I say, still upset about not being able to go, but I guess there’s not much I can do about it so I try to move, “How’s Zuko today?”

“He’s good, his fever broke last night and he was moving around more,” Iroh replies, and I smile relieved that he’s going to be okay at least. “I’m about to make jook, do you want some?”

“No thank you,” I refuse politely. “My uncle used to make it and I was never a fan.”

“You speak very fondly of your uncle,” Iroh observes as he pulls out the equipment needed for the food.

“Yeah, Bumi may be a bit eccentric to some, but I love him anyway,” I say fondly, it shouldn’t be too long until I get him back now.

I hear a crash and I jump startled, looking over I see Iroh standing over a pot which I assume he must’ve just dropped. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, just, lost my grip,” he brushes off picking up the large pot again, “Did you say Bumi? As in King Bumi of Omashu?”

“Yeah, have you heard of him?” I ask curious, I didn’t think people from the Fire Nation would care about Earth Kingdom monarchs.

“I can say I’ve known of him for a while now,” Iroh says cryptically, putting ingredients in the pot. “I didn’t know he had a niece though.”

I laugh and begin explaining the… complicated events that lead to me being in Bumi’s care while Iroh cooks, leaving out a few more difficult details of course. I’m interrupted by the sound of a yawn coming from the other side of the divides in the large room.

“What’s that smell?” Zuko asks, rubbing his eyes as he comes into the room.

I feel my heart stop at the sight of him, standing up and looking completely healthy again. I know Iroh already said he was better, but actually being able to see it is different. And as much as it relieves me to see him like this, I am also now terrified at what his reaction is going to be.

“It’s jook, I’m sure you wouldn’t like it,” Iroh says hesitantly, stirring the porridge. But he moves out the way when Zuko stands by the pot, smelling it.

“Actually, it smells delicious,” he claims, grabbing a bowl. “I’d love a bowl, Uncle.”

Iroh gives him a sceptical look, but fill his bowl anyways, which Zuko takes and comes to sit next to me.

My chest starts pounding, I had planned for this so much in the last couple of days, but all my words are stuck in my throat.

“Zuko…” I whisper, the only word I can bring myself to say. I wait for him to yell, scream, demand I leave this very moment. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t do anything but sit there are watching me. Instinctively I feel my hands curl over my heart, where the bowstring crosses it, and I build my courage. “I know I need to explain…”

“Solmi,” he cuts me off and the use of my full name shocks me enough to snap my mouth closed. I brace myself, ready to take whatever he has to say. “It’s okay.”

Except that.

“What?” The stunned question falls out of my mouth as I stare gaping at the not angry Zuko.

“You told me to trust you, so I am,” he says with a finality that tells me he doesn’t expect me to argue.

I should be grateful, but part of me still wants to explain it all anyway, try and make everything right because he can’t just have forgiven me like this.

He gets up from his seat and steps over to me, I can’t resist as he takes my hand, loosening my white knuckle grip on my bow and using it to pull me up as well. I see him leaning towards me and I feel like I should pull away, that it can’t be this easy. But my eyes close on instinct and the second our lips touch all my doubts fade when I feel the gentleness of the caress.

I hold back and sigh. I want to push back harder, tell him everything I couldn’t in words and explain just how guilty I felt, but Iroh is still in the toom so I don’t fight it when he pulls away.

“I forgive you.”

He smiles at me, the small one that still lights up his face, the one only I get to see. I feel my legs shake and I stumble as he lets go of my hand, grabbing onto the closest chair. He reaches out to steady me, gently pushing me to sit back down, and I can’t even bring myself to be embarrassed at his soft laugh.

“Now that your fever is gone you seem different somehow,” Iroh comments from the kitchen and I can’t help but think ‘different’ is a bit of an understatement.

“It’s a new day,” Zuko laughs happily, “We’ve got a new apartment, new furniture, Sol’s here and today’s the grand opening of your new tea shop. Things are looking up, Uncle.”

I look out the window at the beautiful blue sky, and not even the idea of upcoming meetings can damper my mood. Though I am still disappointed. “I have to go, I’m really sorry again about missing your opening, Iroh.”

“Sol, wait,” Zuko calls grabbing my wrist. “Would you like to go on a date tonight, after closing?”

I feel my cheeks heat up at the question and I realise this will be the first time Zuko and I actually go out together. I go to agree before I remember Katara saying something about some evening meeting with the King.

“I can’t tonight, I’m pretty busy,” I reply sadly, and I watch Zuko’s face fall. But I am determined not to ruin the great mood this morning was, so I reach up and kiss his cheek, “But I’ll make sure I have time tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow it is,” Zuko agrees, and I can’t wait for tomorrow to come.

—--

“General Fong’s base will serve as the launching point for the attack,” General How dictates from the other side of the giant map table. “In exactly two months, the Army and Navy will invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun.”

He moved pieces into place on the table with his earthbending, but Momo sees the pieces as a toy to play with and jumps on the map knocking them over.

“Or we could send in Momo to do some damage,” Katara jokes laughing at the flying lemur’s antics. I join in, but I try to at least hide my grin behind my hand. Not that any of the generals find it funny and we soon stop at their serious glances.

General How raises the pieces, scaring Momo off the table in the process. He runs off, scampering onto Katara’s shoulder and I reach over to scratch him comfortingly.

“All we need is the Earth King’s seal in order to execute the plan,” General How puts the scroll on the table before earthbending it to Katara and I.

Katara grabs and ti we stand up from where we were kneeling on the ground. “We’ll get these scrolls to him right away. Thank you, General How.”

Unfortunately for us, the war room is on the other side of the upper ring to the palace, but it’s nice to stretch and get some fresh air after being sat all morning.

“You seem to be in a better mood today. Is everything good now?” Katara asks while we walk.

I feel a blush rise to my cheeks when I remember this morning, I had been doing a good job at forgetting about it during the meeting. “Yeah, everything’s great.”

“I see that blush,” the waterbender teases, poking my hot cheek. “Come on, give me details.”

“Stop it,” I slap her fingers away laughing, but she continues to poke until I break. “Fine, Lee asked me out on a date tomorrow.”

“Ohh, I guess you made up then,” Katara grins and I roll my eyes, but that little bit seems to have gotten her to leave the teasing be. “Oh look. What do you say, guys? A cup of tea before we get back to the King?”

I look around confused before I see a crowd of people in front of a tea shop promoting its new opening. My body stops dead when I see the sign ‘Jasmine Dragon’.

“I don’t know, we should really get the scroll to the Earth King,” I deflect nervously. I berate myself for not paying attention to my surroundings, or even asking Iroh where this new shop would be.

“It’s fine,” Katara starts walking towards the entrance and I almost reach out to grab her to force her to stop, but that would be even more suspicious.

“Really though, punctuality is an important trait to have, we should start now,” I urge, walking in front of her to nudge her away, but she just walks around me, staring at me strangely.

“It’s one cup, we won’t be late,” At this point, I think I may as well throw subtly out the window.

I turn around, ready to grab her and run, but it’s too late and she’s already talking to the ladies a the door. “Table for three, please.”

I wish I could appreciate the beauty of Iroh’s shop, and be happy about how busy it appears already. But as it is I would rather be anywhere else, and I am inches away from yanking Katara away from this place.

“Uncle, I need two jasmines, one green and one lychee!” Zuko’s voice yells from inside and I risk glancing past Katara to see him standing by the counter.

“I’m brewing as fast as I can,” Iroh replies as Katara’s head twists in their direction.

Any hope I have that maybe she doesn’t recognise them is gone the second she grabs my arm and sprints away from the shop, much like I wanted to do to her a few moments ago.

“Katara! Stop!” I yell, digging my heel into the ground to get her to slow down.

“Solmi, that was Zuko, the firebender who chased us everywhere trying to get Aang. I can’t believe he found us here!” She growls and I flinch at just how angry she sounds. “We have to go and tell the Earth King.”

“No! You can’t,” I protest, forcing my arm out of her grip which gets her to stop.

“Why not? He’s dangerous,” she insists, clearly confused by my arguing. I keep myself from getting mad at her claim, she doesn’t know any different, but I do, and I can’t let her ruin this new chance he’s built for himself.

“No, he’s not,” I deny, my hands are shaking but I have to go through with this. “He’s a different person now, he doesn’t care about Aang.”

“How would you…” she trails off. It doesn’t take her long to figure it out and I watch the realisation flash in her eyes as she meets mine. “That’s Lee, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I confirm, refusing to look away, even as I watch her face furrow, betrayal setting in her eyes. Even Momo looks upset as his tail lays limp on her shoulder.

She doesn’t move, and I wonder if that means that she’ll let me explain. But before I know it she bends water out from her bottle she carries and freezes my feet to the ground.

“Katara, please, don’t do this,” I beg, grabbing my dagger to start breaking the ice. “What happened to knowing I wouldn’t lie without a good reason, can you please listen to me?

“I have to, you don’t know what he’s done, he can’t be trusted,” she says. She sends me one more regretful look before taking off towards the palace.

I hack away at my feet and stumble once I finally manage to get both of them free. I look back towards the shop and think about going to warn them, but I shake my head. There’s no need to worry them if I can just catch up and convince Katara, and if not her then at least the Earth King might listen to me.

I make my way to the palace, looking out for the waterbender the entire way but there’s no sight of her. I reach the stairs out of breath and stop in front of one of the guards I’m starting to recognise. He’s here every day and I know he knows who we are.

“Hey, have you seen Katara?” I ask, still catching my breath. He looks at me concerned but shakes his head in response.

So, that means she hasn’t gotten here yet, I’m not sure how I beat her but I’m glad. I wait, watching the sun get lower in the sky, but she still doesn’t show up.

Maybe she thought about it and decided not to report Zuko, maybe she’s at home waiting for me. Except she’s not and now I’m getting concerned.

If she still thinks he’s dangerous she wouldn’t go to Zuko and Iroh alone, but I’ve run out of idea on where she could’ve gone and it’s already late.

I sit at the table in front of the door with a sigh. Wherever she went she’ll have to come back and hopefully the fact she didn’t go straight to the Earth King means she’s out there cooling off and we can talk when she gets back.

Chapter Text

The sound of a door being shoved open startles me out of my sleep, and I immediately go to grab my bow on the floor next to me when I spot Aang, Sokka and Toph coming into the room.

I feel a weight I didn’t realise I had lift off as Momo scurries over to Aang, climbing up the airbender, and I stretch my shoulders wondering when the lemur even got there in the first place.

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, I didn’t think the boys would be back for many more days at least.

Aang doesn’t reply at first, just starts looking around the house. “Where’s Katara?” He questions, urgency coating his voice.

The sudden awakening made me forget why I was sat on the floor in the first place, but Aang’s question brings back the events of last night. “She’s not here,” I say slowly, almost questioning it myself. “We had an argument and she ran off. I haven’t seen her since. Why what happened?”

“Aang had one of his freaky Avatar visions and now he thinks Katara’s in trouble. We asked the King and he said she was with the Kiyoshi warriors,” Sokka explains, he tries to sound nonchalant, but I can see him also looking around for his missing sister.

“There’s no one here,” Toph says, confirming our worries.

I look away, suddenly feeling guilty. This is my fault. I should have looked for her instead of waiting for her to come back, and I even fell asleep doing that. If I had just tried harder to get her away from the tea shop she wouldn’t have run away in the first place.

“Katara is in trouble, I knew it,” Aang frets, looking at Sokka who looks just as panicked at the news.

“Wait, someone’s at the door,” Toph says suddenly, and immediately after there’s a knock on the door. I get up, grabbing my bow, but Toph doesn’t look too concerned. “Actually, I know who it is. It’s an old friend of mine. Glad to see you’re okay.”

Toph opens the door and I drop my bow, throwing my hands over my mouth to hide my gasp when I see Iroh is the one standing behind it.

“I need your help,” he says gravely, and my heart drops, I can only think of one reason he would risk exposing himself like this, or rather one person.

Aang and Sokka yell in shock, not as cheerful to see him as Toph is, though I’m suddenly curious what happened between the earthbender and Iroh.

“You guys know each other?” Aang accuses, befuddled by the recent turn of events.

“I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me tea and some really good advice,” Toph explains as Iroh rubs the back of his head.

Despite the situation, I can’t stop the small laugh that escapes me at how typically Iroh that sounds, which unfortunately draws all eyes to me, but I know there’s no point in hiding anything anymore. “Is that your thing, Iroh? Advice in the woods?”

“You know him too?” Sokka demands and I nod.

“May I come in?” He asks politely, and both Toph and I give him permission. He strides past us, further into the house before turning back looking serious. “Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se.”

“She must have Katara,” Aang figures out, and now the situation is ten times worse.

But Iroh apparently isn’t done. “She has captured my nephew, as well,” he says, looking directly at me.

“No,” I whisper, throat closing up as I barely manage to get that word out. I knew something had to be wrong, but this, this is awful.

I try to suck in a breath when I notice everyone’s concerned looks, but it gets stuck and it’s hard to focus on anything other than my racing heartbeat. I lost one of my best friends and someone I really care about, all of this while I was still in the city, basically happening under my nose.

I shake my head violently, making myself dizzy from the speed. Now is not the time to feel guilty about this, because that is not going to rescue Katara and Zuko from his evil sister.

“Sol, are you all right?” Iroh asks concerned, which is nice since he has a lot more to worry about than my terrible reaction.

“I will be,” I say, grabbing my bow and arrows and swiftly attaching them to my back. “As soon as we get them back.”

“Then we’ll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko,” Aang declares, though he doesn’t look happy about it.

“Whoa there,” Sokka interrupts, “You lost me at, Zuko,” he protests, and I glare ready to argue, but Iroh gets there first.

“I know how you must feel about my nephew. But believe me when I tell you there is good insider him,” Iroh insists, grabbing Sokka’s shoulder desperately.

“Good inside him isn’t enough,” the watertribe boy replies, removing Iroh’s hands then pushing him away. “Why don’t you come back when it’s outside him too, okay?”

“Sokka please,” I beg, trying to get past his stubbornness. “This is not the time to hold grudges.”

Instead of listening, however, he just does a full turn, pointing his finger at me. “And you. How do you even know Zuko? Better Yet, why do you even care what happens to him?”

Instinctively, I think about lying, telling him that I just want Katara back, but I know better and I refuse to do that anymore.

“He’s your little loverboy, isn’t he?” Toph teases, and while her term is still embarrassing, I don’t let it affect me because there’s no time for that.

“Yes, he is,” I confirm and I hear Sokka make an impressively high squeak. “Now, can we go and rescue him and your sister?” I ask the stubborn boy, though his answer isn’t going to stop me anyway, it’ll be easier with all of us.

“Katara’s in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance,” Aang reasons with him.

Sokka looks down regretfully but nods anyway.

“I brought someone along who might be able to help,” Iroh says, heading towards the door. We share a look before following along.

Toph quickly rushes ahead, and by the time the rest of us get outside there’s already a tied up Dai Li agent trapped between two pieces of earth.

The man spills his secrets instantly, not even bothering to try and hide anything, and soon enough we’re heading to the crystal catacombs.

—-

We get there quickly enough thanks to Appa, and once we do Toph immediately crouches down the feel the ground. “Well, what do you know? There is an ancient city down there, but it’s deep.” She gets up then proceeds to earthbend the start of a tunnel into the ground.

“We should split up,” Sokka suggest. “Aang, Solmi, you go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk, no offence.”

“None taken,” Iroh shrugs, but I still slap him on the arm for his comment.

“Ow. And I’ll go with Toph to warn the Earth King about Azula’s coup,” he finishes, rubbing his arm.

He and Toph rush up to the palace, while Aang stands in front of the already made hole and starts to earthbend it deeper.

“We might need a light,” Iroh says looking into the dark of the tunnel before bending a small steady fire into his hand. I see Aang flinch slightly away as he does, but the airbender still thanks him.

We start our journey down the deepening tunnel and for a while, the only sound is from our footsteps and both the men’s bending. There’s somehow both too much and not enough to say at the same time and it makes the silence tense. I wish I could start a conversation, but my mind is not in the right place, too concerned about the two missing teens. I’ve already lost so much to the Fire Nation, I’m not going to lose them.

“So, Toph thinks you give pretty good advice,” Aang says breaking the silence by talking to Iroh, “And great tea.”

“I can vouch for that,” I comment, glad someone is finally talking.

“The key to both is proper ageing. What’s on your mind?” Iroh asks, apparently always ready to help someone, even in this situation.

“Well, I met with this Guru who was supposed to help me master the Avatar state, and control this great power. But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love, and I just couldn’t,” Aang explains, sadly looking down. I really want to reach out and help, but I know I should leave it to Iroh, he always knows what to say.

“Perfection and power are overrated. I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love,” Iroh commends the airebender, but I see him sneaking a glance back at me at the last word, which makes me blush.

“What happens if we can’t save everyone and beat Azula? Without the Avatar state, what if I’m not powerful enough,” Aand doubts, and this time I really do reach out, resting my hand on his shoulder.

“Even if you don’t have the Avatar state, you still have us, and we’re here for you no matter what,” I try to reassure him, and he smiles at me gratefully.

“I don’t know the answer,” Iroh says, replying to Aang’s question himself. “Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving…” Iroh is interrupted as a bright light comes into the tunnel, and a rush of air blows out his flame as Aang earthbends the last of the rock away. “...you will come to a better place.”

I gasp looking out to the catacombs, the entire area appears to be lit by the crystal that covers every surface. It’s huge with even a waterfall flowing into a pool in the middle. But amongst the beauty, it’s easy to notice the lack of anyone else except us, and I can’t believe that despite how large this room is, there’s more to this place”

“They’re not here, we should keep going,” Aang comments, observing the same thing as me and bending another tunnel into a wall nearby.

The pattern repeats, Aang earthbending into a new segment of the catacombs, searching quickly and when we don’t see either of the missing benders we move on to the next.

Aang breaks through into another cave, familiar green light filling the small tunnel, as well as familiar voices.

“Aang!” Katara calls and I exit the tunnel to see her standing next to Zuko.

Before I even know what I’m doing, I run forward, trapping Zuko in a hug. He instantly wraps his arms around me, which I am grateful for because the relief of seeing them both here and okay made my legs feel a little wobbly.

Then I remember Iroh, so I force myself to pull away from Zuko so the worried man can also hug his nephew.

“Aang, I knew you would come,” Katara says, hugging the airbender.

“Uncle, I don’t understand. What are you doing with the Avatar? Did Sol find you?” Zuko demands confused.

I shake my head, “No, he’s the one who found us.”

“And we’re saving you, that’s what,” Aang mocks, and luckily Iroh grabs Zuko before he does anything.

“Aang, be nice,” I chide standing between the two pairs. I’m just glad Sokka isn’t here, or else there would be a commotion.

“Zuko, it’s time we talked,” Iroh tells his nephew, still holding on. “Go help your other friends. We’ll catch up with you.”

Aang Katara immediately do as they’re told and head back the way we came, Katara shooting a small glance back at Zuko before disappearing into the tunnel.

I hesitate, looking back and forth between the tunnel and the firebenders.

“Go on Sol, we’ll be right there,” Iroh insists.

I sigh, running over to hug them both, “You better be,” I tell them before going to join the other two.

I quickly meet up with Aang and Katara who were waiting for me on the other side. Katara glances at me concerned, but I shake my head telling her this is not the right time, and we can talk about everything later. We all continue forward and finally, we get to the large room with the waterfall.

“We’ve gotta find Sokka and Toph!” Katara yells as we run.

Suddenly, there’s a sound from behind us and we turn around just in time for Aang to bend a wall to protect us from the blue flame coming towards us.

I duck down, covering my face from the debris, while the force of the blast knocks Aang back. Katara reacts quickly, sidestepping from behind the wall and pulling a giant wave from the pool next to us, sending it towards the princess.

I peak out behind the earth wall, quickly grabbing and shooting multiple arrows towards Azula while she’s distracted with Katara.

Unfortunately, she notices and destroys both the wave and arrows with a giant fire on the ground, causing all the water to turn into steam. Aang and Katara regroup, looking around for the girl. However, I carefully watch for a moment in the steam, and I notice a shadow appear higher up and I shoot an arrow before Azula even emerges from the steam.

It soars through the air and only misses her by a hair, she glares at me and starts shooting fireballs in my direction. I roll to avoid them, getting behind a large group of crystals for cover.

She moves target to Aang and Katara and they simultaneously create a large waterwall to protect themselves. Azula lands on a rock pillar, but Aang quickly breaks it under her feet causing her to land in the middle of the two benders, causing her to have to point two fingers and both of them.

I get up from my spot, drawing my bow and aiming it at her, but it does not faze her and a stillness suffocates the air as everyone waits to see who will make the next move.

The waiting is broken by a fireball landing between Azula and Aang. I turn my bow in that direction, but I lower it once I see who was behind it. I catch his eyes and smile, glad he did manage to catch up.

But he quickly looks away from me, and he doesn’t look happy, in fact, the only thing I can see in his eyes is guilt as he looks between Aang and Azula, but I don’t get why.

The next moment happens in slow motion, yet still seems too fast that I barely understand what’s happening. Zuko sets his gaze on Aang, who barely lets out a gasp before the firebender is aiming at him

I watch as Aang airbends a ball around him to protect himself from the fire and Azula starts her attack on Katara. And I know I should help, but I can’t move, I can’t breathe, I feel like my feet have been earthbended to the ground. I watch on, in a daze, like maybe this is all a dream I’m about to wake up from, because right now that is the only thing that would make sense as to why Zuko would do this.

I thought he moved on when he chose to let Appa go, he looked like he’d moved on just yesterday in that apartment. All I can think is that someone must have gotten to him, and I have a strong feeling that someone is Azula.

My eyes track as Aang knocks Zuko back, flying over to attack close up, but Zuko dodges and sends another fire blast at the airbender causing him to jump up and away to some crystals growing on a pillar higher up.

Zuko grunts, sending a giant fireball up at Aang, who attempts to block it by bending the crystals in the way, but the force is too strong and it shatters the gems, knocking Aang over.

I watch as Zuko turns his fire into whips ready to continue his attack, but now I’ve snapped out of my daze and I have had enough. Before I even realise it I’ve grabbed an arrow and shot it just in front of Zuko’s feet, grabbing his attention away from Aang, and now his glare is turned towards me.

“Zuko! Stop!” I yell, putting myself in front of the firebender, blocking his view of Aang who’s still sitting on the crystals. I put my bow on my back, hoping he’ll listen if he knows I don’t want to attack.

“Get out of my way,” he growls, fire still burning in his hands. His voice is harsh, so much like when we first met and he didn’t know who I was. But hearing it now, is so much worse because I never thought I would hear it aimed at me like this.

But I refuse to let him deter me, and I match his glare with my own. “No, not until you stop this.”

He goes to step around me, but I just follow his steps blocking him. “Sol, I mean it.”

“So do I,” I argue, trying to keep my glare on him, even as I feel myself starting to tremble. “It’s not too late, you can still fix this,” my voice cracks, just a little, despite my efforts to stay calm, and I take a breath to try and force everything away.

“There’s nothing to fix. I’m exactly where I want to be,” he moves, instead of just standing in front of me he now looks ready to fight. “Now move.”

I don’t, because I know if I do it’s all over. I feel an itch under my skin grow with every word he says and any grip I had on my composure starts to rapidly fall away.

“I thought after everything, things were going to be different now. Are you really going to just throw it all away?” I attempt to reason, though I’m sure every hitch in my breath makes me sound less convincing. Still, I refuse to believe the happiness I saw in him yesterday morning was fake.

“I have nothing to lose,” he scoffs, but his heated gaze flickers away as he says it, which is the only reason I continue.

“Not even me?” I ask, and it’s a fight to keep my voice strong. It’s a stupid and selfish question, but to be honest my ability to think rationally left when Zuko shot that first blast at Aang.

I stare into Zuko’s eyes, looking for anything that would tell me that this isn’t really what he wants, and for a brief second I think I see something. But it’s gone so fast and all that’s left in its place is a cold emotionless stare.

“You?” He scoffs harshly, and the sound feels like it pierces straight through my heart.“I never even cared about to begin with.”

The bluntness of his words makes my legs feel weak, and I stumble back away from him. I thought I felt heartbreak before, with my dad, with Bumi. But this, this is a crushing pain that cannot be compared.

“Zuko...” My voice breaks around his name, and I can’t stop the silent tears that start streaming down my face, despite how pathetic I know I must look right now.

“Enough!” He shouts and it echoes around the catacombs.

He reignites his whips, which I hadn’t realised went out in the first place. When I don’t move he just walks around me, and this time I can’t bring myself to stop his advance on Aang.

I can feel everything just boiling under my skin, and no amount of breathing can make it go away. Everything hurts and I don’t know what to do about it. I want to cry, to scream, to laugh and pretend it was all a joke. But most of all I just want this feeling to disappear.

It’s pure instinct that I turn around, and with a scream, I thrust my hands towards Zuko, who barely glances back at the angry exclamation. I don’t know why or what I expect to happen, there’s just a force that pushes me to do it, that tells me it’ll make me feel better.

So, I definitely do not expect the giant ball of fire that shoots out from my hands.

I yank my hands back towards me in shock, but it’s too late and the fireball that apparently I created is now heading towards Zuko.

Despite the surprise clear on his face, he’s fast and manages to dodge out the way, before sending his own attack at me.

Except I’m not as fast, the shock coursing through my system slowing my reaction time. I move, throwing myself to the side to avoid the main blast, arm instinctively crossing in front of me to protect my face. But my slow reaction time costs me as the outer reaches of the fire catch my wrist.

I cry out in pain when I crash to the floor, bringing my arm up to cradle it against my chest. But it only makes it worse, the slightest touch sending a wave of burning pain coursing through my body. I remember how I thought kissing Zuko felt like burning, but now I know this is how it really feels.

My mind tries to focus through the pain, and I have enough sense to know I can’t just lie here. So, I force myself up to my knees and quickly survey my surroundings.

But no one is fighting, everything in the catacombs seems to be frozen as all eyes are on me in a mix of shock and concern. Even Azula stares, surprise decorating her face.

“Solmi! Are you okay?” Katara calls worried. And really at this moment, I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again, but I notice as Azula starts to recollect herself so I nod, knowing there’s no time to dwell.

The next thing I know Azula is now aiming at me, and with no way to dodge I am extremely grateful when Katara is quick enough to bend a wall of water in front of me, blocking the attack and drawing Azula’s attention back to her.

Zuko goes back to attacking Aang, and even after everything I wish I could talk to him again. But instead, I drag myself to a large patch of crystals to get out of the way. I settle myself down on a rock and let my gaze fall to my arm. It’s not pretty, half of my forearm is already starting to blister, and anything that hasn’t is a nasty red that stands out against my pale skin.

I can hear the fighting going on, but I can’t even move my fingers without it sending shooting pain through my arm, there’s no way I can draw my bow and help. And I cross off any idea of escaping because the way out is the opposite side of the catacombs from where I am, so I can’t get there without drawing either firebenders attention.

As much as it sucks, all I can do is wait here until it’s over.

I rip off a strip of fabric from my vest and wrap it around my wound, ignoring the pain as much as I can, at least with it covered it’s one less thing I have to worry about.

I watch helplessly as Katara is attacked by the firebending siblings and when Aang goes to help they’re outnumbered by the sudden arrival of Dai Li agents.

I get up from my hiding spot, determined I’m going to help despite the pain, when all of a sudden Aang, in the middle of the floor encased himself in crystals. It starts to glow and not long after it crystals open and Aang floats out in a beam of light, his eyes and arrows glowing as well.

I quickly realise this must be the Avatar state I’ve heard the others talks about, but I didn’t think it’d be so… terrifying, and yet I can’t look away.

The crackle of lighting is sudden and instant as it hits Aang, his body convulsing in pain still in the air. I look towards Azula knowing she’s the only one who could do this, and the princess smirks as Aang falls.

I immediately start running towards him, but I know I’m too far. Luckily, Katara manages to get there quickly, riding a wave that knocks over everyone as she catches the fallen Avatar.

My heart stops as I look at the lifeless body in her arms as she cries. I reach them, knees harshly knocking into the puddles on the ground, and I feel the tears leave my own eyes as I realise I’ve lost another person I cared about.

Zuko and Azula start to advance, but they’re stopped by a stream of fire crossing in front of them. I look over and to my relief I see Iroh jumping to stand in front of us, ready to fight his niece and nephew.

“You’ve got to get out of here! I’ll hold them off as long as I can!” He yells, firing at the Dai Li surrounding us.

Katara gets up, wrapping one of Aang’s arms around her shoulder as I grab the other.

“You’re still going to catch up, right?” I yell back, wishing I could ask him to come with me, but I know he won’t.

“Of course, now go on!” He replies, even though we both know it’s a lie. I guess he can have this one.

Katara and I drag Aang to the waterfall, and Katara uses the water to push us up, out of the opening which also leads out of the catacombs.

Luckily for us, it appears most of the Dai Li were down there with Azula because we don’t come across anybody until we get back to the palace, and find Appa with the others, along with The Earth King and Bosco.

“Katara, Solmi? What happened?” Sokka demands as we climb on board, concern evident as he takes in the state we’re in.

“I’ll explain later but we have to go now. Appa, yip yip.” Katara commands and the Appa takes off into the night, the city quickly disappearing behind us.

I collapse onto the bison, the weight of everything that happened making me unable to move as Katara starts to heal Aang. I see a familiar glow come from where Katara has the airbender on Appa’s head, and the following groan lifts the slightest bit of the weight off my chest. At least Aang is okay even if I have no idea if I’ll be.

Chapter Text

I watch through the darkness as the water ripples underneath the stolen ship, moon reflecting brightly on its surface.

I can hear the others talking behind me but I make no move to join. It’s been a few weeks since we escaped Ba Sing Se and I’ve spent most of it alone.

At first, they tried to talk to me, starting with questions about Zuko and what happened, and then moving on to casual greetings, but after continuously getting no response they soon stopped that as well.

The only one who still tries is Sokka and Katara’s dad. It surprised me how kind he was as soon as we got to chameleon bay. Even when his children started keeping their distance, he would still bring me food or just check on me. And as much as I want to be alone after everything, it’s nice to have one person who just doesn’t have all these questions.

It’s not fair, I know that. The others deserve answers. Katara briefed them a little on what happened in the catacombs, but I know she didn’t mention what happened to me, and I can tell Toph and Sokka are curious. But every time I think of explaining I lose all the words.

Because how do I explain that I made the choice to trust someone I knew they didn’t like, someone I had been told was dangerous, only for him to prove them right and stab me in the back.

And I’m still trying to figure out how to explain the firebending to myself. So, I’ll keep my distance until I can give them the answers they want.

I hear a noise of someone falling onto the metal of the ship, but I don’t think twice, probably Toph using her newfound metalbending to make Sokka trip again, that does seem to be her favourite thing to do right now.

“Momo?” A familiar voice says, and I freeze, not sure if I even heard it.

Then Toph speaks up, “Twinkle-toes, that’s gotta be you.”

I turn around, and without a doubt, there’s Aang standing in the middle of the deck. Everyone else rushes over to the airbender, and before even thinking about it I start to go too. But I hold myself back, suddenly unsure of how to be around the others.

“Aang, you’re awake!” Katara cheers and everyone mirrors her excitement. Except for Aang who just looks very confused.

And apparently seeing Sokka in a Fire Nation uniform is too much for the newly awoken airbender, because Toph just barely manages to get out a warning before he collapses. Luckily caught by Katara.

I rush over, hesitation pushed aside in my worry. “Katara, what happened? Is he still hurt?”

The waterbender quickly runs her hands over Aang before pulling away with a sigh. “He’s fine. I think it was just the shock of all of this.”

Just as she finishes her sentence Aang groans, and the adults disperse with a sharp look from the girl and a warning about overcrowding him.

Katara sits him up and takes a seat across from him, while Toph and Sokka stand next to them.

I sit down next to Appa, a little bit farther away, not wanting to leave Aang now he’s awake, but also not able to ignore the feeling that I can’t be there with them.

“Why are we on a Fire Nation ship? Why is everyone dressed this way? And why am I the only one who’s completely out of it?” Aang demands frantically. I notice Toph and Sokka taking a couple of steps away, not wanting to freak him out anymore than he is, but I can tell they’re still listening.

“You need to take it easy, ok?” Katara says, attempting to calm Aang down. “You got hurt pretty bad.”

“Wait, where’s Solmi?” Aang asks suddenly, swinging his head around, as Katara grabs his shoulders, stopping him from moving too much.

“Right behind you,” I answer, and I see everyone’s attention peak since it’s the first time I’ve spoken in a while. Aang finally stops his random twisting, gently turning around to look at me.

“Was what I saw just some sort of dream, or did that really happen?” He doesn’t specify, but it’s not hard to figure out what he means.

“It definitely was not a dream, since I saw it too,” Katara adds as she gives me a pointed look.

“What are you two talking about?” Sokka asks, curiosity over the unexplained events drawing him in.

They all look at me for an answer, but the words get stuck in what seems to be becoming a reflex.

But apparently, Katara is done with my silence, so she answers for me. “Solmi here, is a firebender.”

I feel my breath get knocked out of me hearing the words I’ve been hesitant to think about said aloud. It makes it real, and real is that last thing I want it to be.

The words settle in the air as everyone takes a moment to fully take in what they heard, and I wait, shoulder hunching, for the outburst.

“She’s what!” Sokka screams in disbelief, and I watch his face twitch as his brain malfunctions trying to process this information.

“You didn’t tell them?” Aang asks me surprised, and I wonder what he’d think if I told him I haven’t been telling them a lot of things recently.

I shrug in response, not knowing what he wants to hear so I settle with the truth. “I was trying to come to terms with it myself.”

“Wait, is that why you were with Zuko? So he could teach you firebending?” Sokka demands, suddenly very in my face.

And just like that my chest feels like it’s ready to cave in on itself, the heart-wrenching pain coming back in full force at the first mention of the firebender since we escaped.

I don’t even bother to acknowledge Sokka, I just gently push him out of the way and make my way over to the other side of the ship.

I think I’m far enough away, but I still hear the sound of someone being punched. “Nice going, genius,” Toph mocks and I hear Sokka complaining.

I feel bad, Sokka was just asking a question, he shouldn’t get blamed for my awful reaction. I just wish I knew how to react since any thought of the prince brings waves of pain all over again.

I hear footsteps approaching, and I see out of the corner of my eye Sokka leaning against the railing next to me.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” he apologises, guilt clear in his voice.

“It’s fine, really, I was just overreacting,” I argue, not wanting him to feel guilty over a silly comment.

There’s a moment of silence before Sokka speaks again. “You really liked him, didn’t you?” No judgement, no teasing, he sounds like he genuinely cares and is concerned.

“No,” I deny not wanting to make it a big deal anymore. “He was a friend, I guess.”

“I don’t even need Toph’s freaky ability to tell you’re lying,” he retaliates.

I scoff, I guess everyone is finally done with letting me get away with keeping to myself. “Okay, maybe I did. But it’s not like it even matters anymore. He made his choice.”

I try my best not to choke on the words as I feel my throat starting to close, but it doesn’t stop a stray tear from making its way down my cheek.

I go to subtly wipe it away, hoping Sokka doesn’t notice. But judging from the arm that comes around my shoulder and pulls me into his side, my attempt was futile.

“Hey guys, I’m going to take Aang for some healing, it’s probably a good idea for all of us to get some rest,” Katara interrupts, Aang leaning against her side.

I nod and pull away from Sokka, giving him a grateful smile before heading to the room I was given, though all of them look the same. Honestly, I’m slightly glad Katara interrupted, as nice as it was to be close to at least one of my friends again, it also hurts as part of me screams I don’t deserve it.

I shrug off my red cape, setting it down on the table next to the bed before going through my nightly routine of removing the bandages off my right arm to check on the burn.

I knew from how bad it hurt when it happened that it was going to be terrible, but I didn’t expect the amount of damage. Even looking at it now is startling, and it’s almost fully healed.

I run my fingers over the once smooth skin, feeling all of the bumps and raised scarring that covers a third of my forearm, wrapping around the back of my arm as well.

I thought about going to Katara, but she was so focused on Aang I couldn’t bring myself to take any of her attention from him. I figured I could deal with a little burn myself, and no one noticed under the cloak anyway.

I apply some cream against the damaged skin and don’t bother re-wrapping it tonight, just letting it breathe as I go to sleep even though I’ll regret it in the morning.

—--

The sun is already out by the time I make it onto the deck, after spending the morning trying to wrangle the bandages back on my arm, still a difficult task to do with my less dominant hand even after all the times I’ve done it.

I spot the others all crowded in a circle, bowls in hand, and I suck in a breath, deciding since everything is out in the open now I should suck it up and try being social again.

“We’ve seen a few Fire Nation ships, but none have bothered us,” I hear Sokka explaining the events of the escape, though I can’t say I really remember them.

“So, what now?” Aang asks, glancing at me briefly when I sit next to him. I feel myself also looking a the Sokka curiously, just as clueless about what’s going to happen, maybe avoiding everyone wasn’t the best plan.

“We’ve been working on a modified version of the invasion plan,” Hakoda tells us and I feel myself nodding along.

“It’s Sokka’s invasion plan,” Katara bites annoyed, and it’s something I had noticed she’d been doing a lot since we met up with her dad. Though I have no idea why since from what I’ve seen he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met.

“Yes, Sokka’s plan,” he corrects warily, “We won’t be able to mount a massive invasion without the Earth King’s armies, but the solar eclipse will still leave the Fire Nation vulnerable…”

“...So we’re planning a smaller invasion,” Sokka chimes in. He points out the large and small dude I’ve seen around as he talks about finding allies from the Earth Kingdom.

I remember hearing someone say they were a part of Jet’s group and I feel myself tense, suddenly hoping they weren’t around to hear what Katara said about my abilities yesterday.

“And the best part is, the eclipse isn’t even our biggest advantage. We have an advantage, you,” Sokka whispers at the end.

“Me?” Aang asks, confused.

“Yep, the whole world thinks your dead. Isn’t that great?” Sokka yells. I stare at the watertribe boy wide-eyed, slowly realising that he’s right, word would have spread about the loss of Ba Sing Se and why it happened.

Aang doesn’t react well, quickly getting to his feet and rushing away from the group. “The world thinks I’m dead? How is that good news? That’s terrible.”

“No it’s great,” Sokka insists. “It means the Fire Nation won’t be hunting us anymore. And even better they won’t be expecting you on the day of Black Sun.”

“No, no, no, you have no idea, this is so messed up,” Aang groans, hands clutching at his new hair.

Suddenly, a horn sounds interrupting the airbender’s crisis, and I turn around to see another Fire Nation ship heading towards us.

“I’ll handle this. The Avatar is back,” Aang declares, getting his glider out. But immediately he curls up in pain, holding his chest, though he still tries to get on his glider.

Katara grabs the boy, convincing him to stand down, and considering the sweat starting to gather on his face from that small movement I know it’s the best thing to do.

We all gather below deck while Hakoda and Bato get dressed in the Fire Nation uniform and go to meet with the other ship.

“I hate not being able to do anything,” Aang complains. I settle next to him and wrap my arm around his shoulders, both to comfort him and keep him in place.

We watch as the other ship lines up with ours and lowers its walkway, letting three men on board. It’s a tense wait, not being able to hear what’s being said, but soon enough the three men are leaving and heading back to their own ship.

I let out a sigh of relief, but it doesn’t last.

“They know!” Toph suddenly yells, coming up from her place and metalbending the walkway to fall into the water with the men still on it.

Katara creates a giant wave between the ships, and pushes the other one away to give us a head start.

Yet, even though they’re behind, the enemy ship doesn’t hesitate to start firing flaming rocks at us.

I grab my bow, aiming at the mechanisms of the catapult and shoot, the arrow flies through the air avoiding the rocks, and gets stuck in the gear, making it unable to fire. It’s only temporary until they remove the arrow, but it gives Toph an opening to destroy the catapult by earthbending a disk into it.

The ship shakes as it’s hit, but I see Katara out the corner of my eye quickly dealing with it. “I’m gonna give us some cover!” She yells before creating a large cloud of mist around the ships.

Still, the Fire Nation fires on and I wince as they manage to get a direct hit on the pile of rocks Toph was using to attack, destroying our best counter until we get out of the mist. The other ship continues to land hits, even setting part of our deck on fire as we exit the cover, which Katara quickly puts out. I line up another shot now that I can see, ready to help as little as I can.

“How we doing?” Toph asks from where she’s clinging to the side of the ship.

“Thing couldn’t get much worse,” Sokka replies right before the ship shakes, causing me to miss the gears I was aiming for. I turn around surprised by the sudden movement to see a giant serpent coming out of the water.

“The universe just loves proving me wrong doesn’t it?” Sokka complains at the presence of the creature.

“You make it too easy,” Toph jeers despite the situation.

The serpent looks ready to attack the ship until a flaming rock hits its face, redirecting its anger to the other ship instead. It dives under the water and reemerges, wrapping its body around the Fire Nation ship, inadvertently letting us escape.

Immediately everyone starts moving around the shop, checking for holes and putting out any fires that linger, but I look around, noticing the lack of a certain airbender.

“Where’s Aang?” I ask, stomping out a small fire.

“I think he went back to his room,” Sokka says. I nod in thanks and checking that almost everything has been handled I head down to find him.

I remember which door is the younger boys when I had to bring Katara food once when we first boarded the ship. I knock on the door and wait until I hear a shout from inside to enter.

Inside Aang is just lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, glider leaning against the wall next to him.

“Are you okay?” I ask, gently shutting the door behind me.

He tilts his head up to see who he’s talking to before resting it back down, “I guess.”

I sit down on the edge of the bed, and we just sit in silence for a while, enjoying the company until Aang feels better enough to break it.

“So, firebender, huh?” He says, I can tell he’s doing so I won’t ask about him, but the ease of which he brings it up is starling.

“Apparently so.”

“And you had no idea?”

“No, I just always assumed I was a non-bender like my dad,” I tell him, saying aloud the same things I’ve been running through my head for weeks.

“You think that’s where you got it from? Your mom? Do you think that’s why your dad never talked about her?” Aang asks, now sitting up with general curiosity. I recognise the questions as ones I have asked myself so many times already, and I have to say it’s kind of nice to be able to actually talk about this with someone, then struggling with the answers myself.

“I don’t know. The only thing he would tell me when I asked why she left was that ‘she never felt like she could be her true self’,” I recount the words that have been replaying in my head since I was a kid. “Of course back then I never understood, but I guess he meant she couldn’t be a firebender inside the walls of Omashu.”

“That means he must have known who she was,” Aand comes to the same conclusion I did.

“And he must have known who I was going to be…” I realise.

(flashback)
Dad was just starting to light the candles in the house when I came storming inside, slamming the door behind me which made the small flames flicker.

“That mean, stupid, stupid head!” I yelled, bringing out the worst insults I could.

“Solmi, what the matter?” Dad asked in his typical sweet tone, quickly coming over to kneel in front of me, calming hand on my shoulder

“Keng is a big meanie!” I continue to yell as mad as a five-year-old can be. “He said bad things about me, and mom, and he wouldn’t stop even when I asked nicely, and I don’t like him and I don’t want to be his friend anymore!”

My voice kept getting louder until finally at the end I was yelling as loud as my little lungs would let me. Suddenly, I noticed the shadows on the wall were moving strangely and when I looked around to see why I saw that all the flames on the candles had gotten taller and were shaking.

“Daddy, what’s wrong with the candles?” I asked quietly, the anger quickly replaced by confusion.

“Nothing sweeties, they’re just normal candles,” Dad replied, but his voice didn’t sound as calm as normal.

“But the fire was moving funny,” I tried to point it out, but when I looked back the flames were just burning normally.

“I’m sure it was just your imagination,” Dad told me sighing, he then reached down and grabbed my hands. “Hey, why don’t I show you something your Mommy always did when she got upset? It’ll make you feel better.”
(End flashback)

“That’s when he taught me to use breathing as a way to control my emotions. I guess now I know why he was insistent with it,” I recall the memory to Aang, realising quickly that must have been the first time I showed signs of being a firebender.

“Do you think Bumi knows?” Aang asks and I look at him surprised.

“I… I hadn’t actually thought about it. But he must do, my dad told him everything. Then again I wouldn’t think he’s just let a firebender stay inside Omashu” I wonder aloud, looking to Aang to see what he thinks, only to be met by his sad gaze.

“Wait, Solmi…”

Aang is interrupted when his door squeaks open, Toph, Sokka and Katara entering.

“Hey, Aang, Solmi,” Toph greets, “We’re going into town to find some dinner.”

“Well I am pretty hungry,” Aang admits, stomach grumbling at the mention of food, “Maybe dinner’s a good idea.”

“I could go for food,” I hesitantly agree, it’ll be the first time I’ve eaten with them for a while.

“Here, tie this around your head,” Sokka says, pulling a strip of fabric out to give to Aang. “It’ll cover your arrow.”

Instantly Aang’s mood drops and he refuses to go. Katara ushers us out the door so she can talk to the boy, I look at him over her shoulder but she waves his hand at me, telling me to go.

Sokka, Toph and I go on ahead, waiting in silence at the ramp for Katara to arrive. Eventually, she does, with a rueful shake of her head in place of Aang.

We head down the ramp of the ship, and I just want to go with them and enjoy being around them again, but I have too many thoughts bouncing around in my head to relax.

“I have to ask…” I start, knowing I won’t enjoy anything until I do and it’s been a long time coming. “Are you guys mad at me? I would completely understand if you are and I get that I haven’t been honest or even really explained myself, but it’s not like I didn’t want to, I do but…”

My words are cut off by Katara pulling me into a hug.

And I want to accept it, but I feel myself tensing up, wanting to push her away because it makes me feel worse. I know all of this is my fault, if I didn’t trust Zuko the way I did, if I had told the others he was in Ba Sing Se, then none of this would have happened.

“Solmi, no one is mad at you,” Katara says pulling back when she notices how tense I get, she catches my eyes and makes me look at her so I can tell she’s serious. “I get why you feel like that, but whatever happened, happened. Sure you might have trusted the wrong person, but we can all see you’ve been hurt by it worse than any of us, so we’re not going to be mad because you made a mistake.”

“But what about, you know, the other thing?” I hint, because I still don’t know if I can say the words myself out loud yet.

“You mean the firebending?” Sokka asks and I try my best to hide my flinch as I nod. “It’s whatever. You can’t help who your parents are.”

“Plus, it’s kinda cool when you think about it,” Toph adds and while I don’t exactly agree, I feel my lips twitch, hope coming back that maybe everything can go back to normal.

—--

The sun had set when we get back to the ship and I head to my room to relax, but I don’t even make it to the door before Sokka comes bursting down the hall.

“Hurry and grab your thing. Aang’s left,” is all he says before he’s gone again.

I don’t hesitate, quickly entering my room to grab my bag I never emptied -not wanting to feel comfortable on this ship- as well as my weapons and soon I’m following Sokka’s steps.

We all meet next to Appa, letting the watertribe siblings say goodbye to their father and making plans to meet for the invasion before we climb onto the bison and head out.

“Where could he have gone?” I ask aloud, unsure if anyone can even answer.

“He’s heading to the Fire Nation,” Katara replies confidently.

“Well he can’t just go straight there, it’s too far, he’ll have to stop somewhere,” Sokka reasons, manoeuvring Appa closer to the water to better spot any signs of the missing airbender.

It takes all night, and the sudden storm almost makes us take a break, but finally, we spot a volcanic crescent island, a body that can only be Aang lying on the shore.

Aang growls as he lands in the shallow water, and Momo is the first one off and over to the airbender. I quickly jump off the saddle, not even worrying about being safe and run over to him, and I lose my footing from relief when I see him sit up.

It’s hard to know who gets there first, but soon Aang is bundled in the middle of a big group hug even Appa can’t stay out of.

“I have so much to do,” Aang says pulling away, weariness pulling at his expression.

“I know, but you’ll have our help,” Katara reassures him.

“You know we would never let you do this alone,” I say, shaking my head at his recklessness.

“You didn’t think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?” Toph jokes, making Aang smile.

“What about the invasion?” Aang asks

“We’ll join up with my dad and the invasion force on the day of the eclipse,” Sokka explains.

“Hey, what’s…” Toph suddenly says confused. She turns around to grab something out of the water. It’s hard to identify at first, but I soon realise the familiarity of the tattered stick. “Oh, it’s your glider.”

“That’s okay,” Aang takes it from the girl, getting up. But his words don’t match the sadness in his eyes as he looks at the staff. “If anyone saw it, it would give away my identity. It’s better for now that no one knows I’m alive.”

Aang moves towards the cliffs, jumping up; he places his glider in one of the lava-filled cracks, and he watches as one of the last reminders of his identity bursts into flames.

Chapter Text

The flight into the Fire Nation is weary, Aang works hard to maintain a cloud cover over Appa once we get closer and the risk of being spotted goes up.

It’s been weird being so close to everyone again after my weeks of chosen isolation, but I can also recognise just how much I’ve missed it and I’m just glad there’s not much awkwardness between us.

“I think I see a cave below,” Aang announces, flying closer to an island.

Sokka immediately shushes the airbender as the ground approaches. “Keep quiet.”

Once we’re close enough, Aang releases the cloud cover with a big blast of air, and I hear the nearby birds squawk in distress.

Sokka is the first to dismount and immediately moves to hide behind a rock. “Great job with the cloud cover, but next time, let’s disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud who knows how to keep its mouth shut.”

“Sokka, there’s literally no one around to hear us,” I say, rolling my eyes at his paranoia.

“I don’t know, we wouldn’t want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in,” Toph mocks.

“Hey, we’re in enemy territory. Those are enemy birds,” Sokka retorts, pointing up at the birds sitting on the rock above him.

However, it appears the birds get the message about the boy’s hostility as one of them happily jumps off the rock to sit on his head.

It’s just so outrageous that everyone laughs, and I feel my lips quirk up at the sides, a real smile making an appearance for the first time in a while. And it feels good to just joke around and be happy again, even if I know it doesn’t really fix anything.

We head to the cave entrance but barely get a few steps in before Sokka comes barreling overhead and crashes into the ground.

“What are you doing now?” I moan, watching him scour the cave floor.

“Who knows what kind of evil thing could be lying around in the Fire Nation,” he replies as if that’s actually a helpful answer.

“Get off the floor,” I roll my eyes, actually taking the chance to look around the cave, and at least it’s spacious and has an ocean view.

“Well, this is it,” Sokka says getting up. “This is how we’ll be living until the invasion begins. Hiding in cave, after cave, after cave…” His voice trailers off as he realises just how depressing that sounds.

“Sokka we don’t need to become cave people. What we need is some new clothes,” Katara points out, motioning to the rags most of us are wearing.

“Yeah, blending in is better than hiding out,” Aang agrees. “If we get Fire Nation disguises we’ll be just as safe as we would be hiding in a cave.”

“Plus, they have real food out there. Does anyone wanna sit in the dirt and eat cave-hoppers?” Toph punches the wall next to her, causing a bunch of small white creatures to come jumping out, which Momo happily pounces on and starts munching away.

“You agree with me, right Solmi?” Sokka asks, turning his hopeful eyes on me.

“It is a nice cave…” I say nervously. I was hoping I could stay out of it, because as depressing as it sounds living in caves, being out in the Fire Nation is also the last place I want to be right now. But as I look over and see the faces of the others I know it’s not fair. “...But civilisation does sound better.”

“Well, looks like we got outvoted, sport,” Sokka says to the lemur still happily eating. “Let’s get some new clothes.”

—--

We leave the cave and Appa, and head out to look for somewhere that would have some clothes. Luckily for us, we stumble upon a house nearby, clothes out on a line to dry.

“I don’t know about this. Those clothes belong to somebody,” Aang frets, but Katara does not share the same concern.

“I call the silk robe!” She yells, vaulting over the wall we’re hiding behind, and snatching the article of clothing from the line.

That seems to get rid of Aang’s hesitation as he goes next, and soon we all have our new outfits and we leave the area to change before we get seen.

I ended up grabbing a two-piece outfit of a tie-up crop top, and long trousers with a short layered skirt over the top, as well as a pair of sandals. I hesitate for a moment, the thought of abandoning the ruined green or my last outfit for the red of this one does not feel right, but I know it’s for the best.

I come out from behind the rock I was changing behind and see that Toph, Aang and Sokka have also already finished.

I just manage to avoid the sole of a shoe to the face by ducking out of the way, though I turn around and see Sokka wasn’t quite so lucky.

“Finally, a stylish shoe for the blind earthbender,” Toph says, wiggling her toes, revealing the reason for the sudden attack.

“How do I look?” I hear Katara ask. I turn around to look at her, and I have to admit she looks very pretty, and from the blush, I can see on Aang’s face, I know he agrees.

“Uh, your Mom’s necklace,” Aang points out awkwardly, face dropping.

“Oh… yeah. I guess it’s pretty obviously Water Tribe, isn’t it?” Katara realises sadly, taking it off.

“Why don’t we go and get you a new necklace?” I suggest, not liking her frown. I throw my arm around her shoulders, hoping to make her feel better, and it looks like it works until I see her face drop in horror.

I look around quickly to see if I can find anything to cause that reaction, wondering if maybe we’ve been found. But all I see are the others, except for Toph, looking at me the same way.

“What?” I ask confused and feeling very self-conscious, wondering if maybe I just haven’t noticed something.

“What happened to your arm?” Sokka questions, voice quiet as he points to the limb I have around Katara’s shoulder.

“Right, that…” I slowly pull away, trying to sound calm even though I suddenly have the urge to hide my arm behind me. I thought I would get some kind of reaction when I noticed I no longer had anything to cover it, but I didn’t think it would be like this.

I force myself to hold my arm out so they can see the scar, having abandoned the bandages a couple of days ago.

“That looks bad,” Aang observes, hand reaching like he wants to touch but then he pulls away.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t even hurt anymore and it’s fully healed,” I try to placate them, but it doesn’t work.

“Is that what happened in Ba Sing Se?” Katara asks, and she gasps when I nod. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You had to focus on healing Aang, and yeah maybe it hurt but I could deal with it,” I reason, not wanting her to feel guilty. I hide the fact I also didn’t feel like I deserved to be healed, this was my consequence for all my mistakes.

I know now that wasn’t right, but there’s also nothing that can be done since it’s healed, it’s now something I just have to live with.

“What’s going on with Princess?” Toph asks after a few moments of tense silence.

“Nothing, they’re just worrying over a scar, it’s no big deal,” I reply looking at the others. And they seem to get the message that there’s nothing they can do now, so they drop it.

—--

We make our way into a nearby town and find a kind lady selling various accessory pieces so we all decide to get something to make our outfits just a little more believable.

I grab a gold armband with a red sun symbol in the middle of it, and I’m about to pay for it, when I see a beautiful but simple red and gold necklace that I can’t get but get. I tie it firmly around my neck and run my fingers across the short fabric.

“I like that necklace,” Katara compliments, “It matches your eyes.”

It’s a simple comment, one most people wouldn’t think twice about, but it makes me tense.

“I suppose it would,” I comment, and I can’t believe I sound so pitiful, but my eyes have always been different, and it didn’t take me long to figure out why just another thing I got from my mother.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean…” Katara goes to correct herself, noticing my mood but I stop her.

“It’s okay,” I tell her, pulling myself from the sudden bout of sadness and going to join the others who moved on during our talking.

“I used to visit my friend Kuzon here 100 years ago,” Aang states. “So everyone just follow my lead and stay cool. Or as they say in the Fire Nation, stay flamin’.”

Aang strides confidently around the corner to a more populated street, and we follow along with no real reason to doubt him. Though by his first ‘Greeting, my good hotman’ to the closest stranger I realise maybe questioning what he would have known 100 years ago would have been a good idea.

I avoid eye contact with the man who just looks confused by the encounter and keep my head down until we stop outside a restaurant with various meat on display. Aang immediately backs away, repulsed by the idea, but encourages us to go in without him.

“Are you sure? I can stay with you?” I suggest, not happy with the idea of leaving Aang alone in the middle of a Fire Nation town.

“Solmi, I’ll be fine, and you need to eat something,” Aang replies, I see him gesturing to my clothes, which admittedly, hang a little loose. Weeks of avoiding the others, and therefore meals where I would run into them may have had some effect.

I nod in defeat and follow the rest of the gang into the restaurant where we quickly find a table big enough for the four of us.

We order food, and just sit and talk as we wait, but I can’t let myself relax fully, still worried that somehow all of this will be discovered.

There aren’t many people around, but it’s loud, meaning if you want to talk you have to speak up, which is probably why -along with being nervous- I can hear the conversation of a group of girls a couple of tables down.

The food arrives as they’re talking about the latest affairs around and my interest piques, wondering if maybe they know any important information. It's a small chance, but it doesn’t hurt to listen.

I swirl my noodles around my bowl, waiting for the soup to cool down while I listen.

“Did you hear that Prince Zuko has returned from his banishment?” One of the girls asks and my hand instantly stops its movement. I can feel my whole body go rigid and I try to push it aside to continue on with my food.

“No way,” her friend replies, “What I would do to date the Prince.”

“Really? I don’t think I could do it. Didn’t you hear, apparently he has a scar that covers his face, he can’t be that good looking,” another girl speaks up and I feel my hand clench around my bowl.

“Plus, I’ve heard he has a really bad attitude, not exactly boyfriend material,” the original girl adds.

“Yeah, but he’s the prince. Think of the luxury.”

I finally get myself to move, if only to turn my head and find a distraction so I don’t have to listen to the rest of that conversation.

I just want to yell at them, let them know that his scar does nothing to hide how handsome he is, that he is wonderful and sweet and kind once you get to know him, that you can’t just use him for materialistic gain.

But I can’t, not only do I not want to risk exposing anything, I don’t even know if it’s true anymore. That was the Zuko I knew, the one from the Earth Kingdom. Prince Zuko may as well be a different person entirely.

I look over to my friends, only to find the concerned faces of Sokka and Katara looking back at me, and I realise they must have overheard as well.

“I’m fine,” I say before they can even ask or say anything, but their frowns only deepen at the words.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Katara suggests, but that is the last thing I want to do.

“No, I just want to eat my food,” I reply, though now when I look at my bowl of noodles they don’t look as appetising as before.

“Solmi…” Katara’s voice trails off, and I can hear the empathy and it should make me feel better that she care, but it doesn’t.

“I think I’m going to go for a walk,” I tell them, getting up and leaving before they can argue.

I walk away as calmly as I can, but inside I can feel everything swirling in a rapidly familiar way whenever I have to think about anything I find unpleasant.

I pick a random direction and just go that way, hands clenched down by my sides in a futile attempt to try and control my emotions that are continuing to build. The last thing I need is to either start screaming or burst into tears in an unfamiliar town, surrounded by strangers. Or do the other thing.

I unclench my fists and stare down at my hands in front of me. I remember what it was like, to firebend that time. The heat I could sense by not really feel, the power coursing through my body, but most importantly I remember the way it made me feel empty, if only for a moment.

It was like all the hurt inside me came rushing out, fueling the fire. And not just from that night, all of the years I spent bottling up my anger, frustration, sadness, every emotion, all of it was gone in that moment.

But ever since it’s like I lost any ability to keep my feelings in control, like now my body knows there’s a way to deal with it and repressing them just isn't an option anymore.

But neither is firebending, because… I just can’t. It’s so dangerous, I have the evidence of that marked on my skin. So with no way to know how to even try to deal, I’m stuck with my mess of emotions and trying not to let everyone else see how bad it is.

I’m brought out of my musings by the sound of a familiar laugh. I stop in my tracks and look around but I have no idea where I am.

I hear the laugh again and I’m sure it’s Aang, so I follow it, only to find the airbender playing with a group of kids that look his age.

“A…” I go to call out but stop myself, I don’t know who these people are but I’m pretty sure they don’t know who Aang is. “Hey!” I yell instead to get his attention.

Aang immediately spots me, and there’s a big smile on his face as he excuses himself to run over to me.

“Solmi, what are you doing here?” He asks, briefly looking behind him to see if anyone followed him over.

“Just… exploring,” I reply hesitantly. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain fully later, but I kind of enrolled in a Fire Nation school and some kids invited me to play,” he explains quickly and I try to hold back my reaction, noticing the other kids watching.

“We left you alone for five minutes,” I sigh, shaking my head at the trouble this kid always finds.

“You should come and join us,” he suggests, though he doesn’t give me an option since he’s already dragging me over.

“Hey, Kuzon, who’s this?” One of the boys asks.

“This is my friend…” Aang trails off, and I get why, there’s no way to know how much the FIre Nation knows about us, and our names.

“Uyisa,” I fill in for him, saying the first name I could think of, though I regret it immediately. I’m not looking forward to being called by my mothers name the rest of the afternoon.

“She’s from the colonies too,” Aang tells them.

“Oh, okay. We’re playing hide and explode. Come on, we’ll explain the rules.”

—--

It’s late evening before we finally return back to the cave, and I was right, hours of being called that name sitting off to the side wasn’t the best, though it was nice seeing Aang having fun. But now I’m not ready for the reaction we’re sure to get.

“Where have you two been?” Katara demands as soon as she sees us. “We’ve been worried sick.”

“I got invited to play with some kids after school, adn Solmi ended up joining us,” Aang explains and Sokka’s loud reaction is exactly what I expected, as well as the fainting.

“Solmi, why didn’t you stop him when you saw this?” Katara scolds.

“To be fair I didn’t really know what was going on,” I defend before quietly adding on, “Plus, I kind of wanted the distraction.”

Aang gathers everyone around the fire made in the cave and manages to convince Sokka to continue letting him go to school under the guise of gathering information, and he looks so excited when the older boy says yes it makes it hard for anyone to argue once he’s off to school the next morning

The rest of us decide to spend the day lazing around the cave and beach, Katara keeps shooting me these looks, but I avoid it, spending my time talking to either Sokka or Toph, or just by myself, anything to get away from the waterbenders' peering gaze.

Her look is interrupted, however, when Aang returns, much earlier than he was supposed, telling us how he got into trouble, and she and Sokka have to go and pretend to be his parents.

The ‘family’ eventually gets back, and Aang doesn’t look that much happier than when he left.

“That settles it. No more school for you, young man,” Sokka scolds, stroking his fake beard apparently still pretending to be a parent.

“I’m not ready to leave. I’m having fun for once, just being a normal kid. You don;t know what it’s like, Sokka. You get to be normal all the time,” Aang complains, making Toph laugh at his dig at Sokka. “Listen, guys, those kids at school are the future of the Fire Nation. If we want to change this place for the better we need to show them a little taste of freedom.”

“What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire monsters?” Sokka asks, and I glare at him.

“They’re not bad kids, Sokka,” I scold, and Sokka at least has the sense to look a little guilty.

“I’m gonna throw them a secret dance party,” Aang declares with a little dance of his own.

Sokka immediately shuts him down, but the airbender refuses to listen and starts explaining how to set up the cave for this party.

—--

Toph earthbends some platforms for a band to perform on, while Sokka and I work on placing candles everywhere to add some atmosphere, lighting them as we go.

“You know, you could make this go faster if you just lit all these candles with your firebending,” Sokka suggests, and it’s an off-handed comment, but it makes me trip over my own feet in surprise. “Kidding,” he quickly corrects himself when all I do is stare at him like he’s gone crazy.

Which to be fair, I think he might have if he thinks I can just light all these candles so easily, I’m pretty sure if I tried I would light up the whole cave instead.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around just to be faced with the waterbender I’d been trying to avoid. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” I sigh, putting my last candle down.

“Look, about yesterday…” she starts and I should have known she wouldn’t have given it up.

“Katara, seriously I’m…”

“Fine, I know,” she cuts me off and my mouth snaps closed at the annoyance of her tone. “But that’s the thing, you’re not, and you're not going to be if you keep avoiding this and shutting yourself off.”

“Well, what exactly do you want me to do? I don’t know how to get past this, every time I think I do something just drags me back to him, that day, my mistakes,” I admit, frustrated by her words because I know that they’re true.

“Well for one I think you should start being more open about how you actually feel,” Katara replies, annoyance being replaced by the empathy I saw the day before, but this time I don’t let it bother me. “And two, you need to learn to let go. I know you don’t think you deserve to, but you do.”

“They’re coming!” Toph suddenly yells, startling me. “Everyone stop bending!”

Aang hurries over to get Appa to hide further in the cave, which he gives an unhappy growl to, and I meet Katara’s eyes one last time before she goes to stand next to her brother as the students pile into the cave.

Soon, it’s full of people, and I can feel myself tense at the number of them, the crowd making me uncomfortable, but this is for Aang so the least I can do is stick around.

A group holding instruments go to stand on their platform and immediately start playing some upbeat music, but despite that, no one seems to want to do anything but stand around. Aang ends up getting up to show them some classic Fire Nation dances, swiftly moving from one move to the other in an impressive display that actually gets people clapping and cheering.

“Who knew Twinkle-toes could dance?” Toph comments surprised from the earth table she made.

Aang moves to grab a girl from the crowd, pulling her into the middle to show her how to dance along, which encourages others to join.

“Wow, they look pretty good together,” Sokak says, watching Aang and the girl.

“Eh, if that’s what you like,” Katara replies bitterly, and I smirk at the reaction.

“Do you want to join me?” I hear a guy ask, and it takes me a second to realise he’s talking to me.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know,” I stumble, surprised that he’s even asking, I didn’t think I’d be taking part in the party, just be more of an observer.

I meet Katara’s eyes, and she raises an eyebrow at me and I can tell she’s trying to get me to go, but I still hesitate.

The guy looks disappointed, but before he can walk away I feel myself being pushed towards him, I turn back around and glare at a smirking Sokka.

“Go, have fun,” his words are deliberate and I’m sure he heard what I was talking to Katara about. He waves as the boy pulls me to the crowd and I glare in return, but I also don’t pull away.

The music is pretty catchy and I don’t remember the last time I ever did something like this, probably a party I went to when I was just a kid. So, I let myself relax and feel the music as I let the guy show me whatever dance Aang was doing, and then we sort of make it up as we go along.

Suddenly, everyone stops, and they’re staring at the mouth of the cave. I follow their gaze to see an older man with three guards standing by his sides.

“He’s the one we want. The boy with the headband,” the man declares, pointing at Aang.

The guards head after Aang, who realises and runs into the crowd of students. The rest of us head to the back of the cave where Appa is hiding unnoticed, and we wait for Aang to follow. I notice a couple of the students taking their uniform belts off and tying them around their heads like Aang does, and I instantly realise that they’re trying to protect him from being caught.

Aang reaches us, and we quickly depart before the man and the guards can recover from the deception, Toph sealing the entrance behind us as Appa flies off into the night.

I feel the adrenaline from the dancing and the near escape start to die down as the others compliment Aang on a dance party well done. And I don’t know if it’s from the fact that for a moment there I actually felt okay, or if it’s because I can feel it slipping away even as everyone is smiling, but all I know is I suddenly really miss being happy, and I want careless joy back.

“Guys…” I choke out, voice barely making it out of my throat. Everyone looks at me concerned over the sudden tears in my eyes, and their care makes it easier to force out the next words. “I’m not fine.”

And with that admission comes the flood of tears that have been held back for far too long to stop now.

Katara is the first one to pull me into a hug and I instantly bury my face in her shoulder, hoping to muffle the sounds of my sobs as they are ripped out my throat. The others aren’t far behind, covering me in a group hug that makes me feel all warm, and not just from the joint body heat.

I thought this would make me feel worse, that if I acknowledge what I was feeling out loud and admit I wasn’t fine, it would make everything hurt worse. But instead, it’s like every tear is lifting a tiny part of the grip on my heart.

It doesn’t go away, and right now I don’t know if it ever will, but I finally feel like maybe I can try and move on and get back to being myself again, not this cold shell I turned into.

“There, there, Sokka’s got you,” Sokka says, putting on his ‘Wang Fire’ voice as he pats my head.

I feel more than see Katara reaching up to rip the fake beard off Sokka’s face and the following cry of pain has me choking out a laugh.

Chapter Text

I watch over the saddle as Aang ducks in and out of the river, playing with Momo as the lemur tries to catch him. I fight the urge to tell him to get out because the water does not look all that clean, he’s having fun so I decide to let him be.

Eventually, Momo catches him and he takes that as the end of his game and jumps back onto Appa, dripping the filthy water onto the saddle. “Hey guys, I think this river’s polluted,” he remarks as he notices the state of himself. He airbends the mess off of himself, which of course covers all of us instead.

“Relly Aang?” I complain, wiping the water away from my eyes. He gives a sheepish look before also airbending the water off us.

“Well that explains why I can’t catch a fish around here,” Sokka states, and I see a glint in his eyes that has me groaning already. “Because normally my fishing skills are… off the hook.”

“Too bad your skills aren’t on the hook,” Toph mocks his terrible joke, which we all laugh at instead.

“It looks like we’ll need to go somewhere else to get food,” Katara says, looking at the disgusting water.

I feel myself nodding in agreement. “Yeah, not sure I wanna eat anything caught out of these waters anyway.”

Suddenly a long, unfortunately, familiar piece of paper rolls down the middle of the saddle.

“Assuming that’ll fit into Sokka’s master schedule,” Katara comments sarcastically.

“Hmm, it’s doable,” Sokka replies, not noticing her tone. “But that means only two potty breaks today.”

“Hey, maybe we can get food there,” Aang points out what looks like a village in the middle of the river.

We take a quick detour to find somewhere to hide Appa and Momo, leaving them both hidden under some loose grass, before heading to the edge of the cliff looking out at the village.

“I don’t feel anything,” Toph remarks not being able to ‘see’ something in the water. “Where’s this village?”

“It’s in the middle of the river,” Sokka replies excitedly.

“Sure is,” a man says. I look down the cliff to see a man with a small boat on the water. “My name’s Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?”

“We’re umm, from the Earth Kingdom colonies,” Katara tells him nervously. And honestly, I like that that’s our cover, at least I can still say I’m from the Earth Kingdom.

“Wow, colonials,” Dock says fascinated. “Hop on, I’ll give you a ride into town,” he offers and I’m glad we don’t have to figure out how to get over to the village, for a moment I thought we’d have to swim.

We all get on, Aang and Katara at the back, me on the floor in the middle, and Toph and Sokka at the front with Dock steering all the way at the back.

“Why do you live on the river?” Katara asks politely to pass the time.

“We’re a fishing town,” Dock replies and I barely notice out the corner of my eye as the large pole Dock had been using to steer comes flying overhead. I duck in time to avoid that nasty hit to the head, then turn around to glare at the man. “At least that’s how it was before the factory moved in.”

I follow his gaze to the metal factory that stands out against the green grass and cliffs, which I can see is also pouring out waste from many huge pipes that lead straight into the water.

“Army makes their metal there,” Dock explains. “Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive.”

There’s a deep sadness in his voice as he talks, and it’s the kind of sadness I’m starting to get used to hearing whenever some talks about what the Fire Nation has done, I just never thought I’d hear it inside the country as well.

“Of course, they’d be so awful as to treat their own people like this,” I spit quietly, feeling a heat build in my hands.

It was meant to be more to myself, but I can see Toph and Sokka looking at me worriedly, and when I turn around I can see the same looks from Aang and Katara. Maybe I wasn’t as quiet as I thought, but if Dock heard he’s not showing any sign of it.

We reach the wooden village and the first thing I notice is the people, clothes just hanging off them, slumping around with no energy to do anything.

I feel myself getting angry all over again and a familiar sensation building under my skin. At least I know what this feeling is after all this time, but instead of being relieved at knowing how to explain this, I panic, forcing myself to calm down before I do something I can’t control.

“Look at this place,” Katara comments horrified. “It’s so sad, we have to do something to help.”

“No, we can’t waste our time here,” Sokka immediately disagrees. “We have a bigger mission that we need to say focused on. These people are on their own.”

He goes to walk away, but Katara stops him with a hand on his shoulder, and I can see the fight starting to brew. I glance around as they argue, hoping no one is paying attention to the siblings, or Sokka’s lack of ability to stay quiet when it comes to ‘taking out the Fire Lord.’

“Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first,” Sokka tells her objectively, clearly done with their argument.

“I guess so,” Katar gives in, though her frown makes it clear she is not happy about it,

“Let’s just get what we need and go,” Aang suggests, his usual cheerfulness enough to make Katara smile at least.

We move to head further into the village, but I notice Katara hanging back, so I slow down to match her steps.

“Are you okay?” I ask her, I know it’s probably not the best question to ask, but my comforting skills have never been great, to begin with so at least this will get her to talk to me.

“Not really,” she admits sadly, “I just really wish we could help,”

“I get where you’re coming from,” I look around at all the helpless people we pass, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from getting angry again. “I would like nothing more than to save this village, but really, what can we do without exposing ourselves?”

I see Katara deflate as she realises I’m right, and I frown along with her. Honestly, I’ve had the same question in my head ever since Dock pointed out the factory, but I haven’t been able to come up with an answer other than Sokka’s long plan.

We come to what looks like a shop in the middle of the village, with the back of the man inside looking familiar.

Sokka walks up to the counter and dings the bell, and as expected Dock turns around to face us. “Hey, Dock, you work here too?” he asks when he notices the man.

This leads to a very confusing conversation about Dock and Shoe and brothers, and honestly, I’m just nodding along pretending I understand anything that’s happening. Eventually, whoever is behind the counter brings up a box of food, though I use the term lightly because I can’t say any of it actually looks edible.

“Hey, I’ll give you a special deal,” Shoe offers, “If you buy three fish I’ll throw in a clam for free.”

Sokka pokes one of the ‘clams’ making the sludge water from the river pour out of its mouth with an unpleasant squishing sound.

“Nope,” I back away from the box and its horrifying contents, suddenly considering switching over to Aang’s diet.

Sokka just takes the fish and asks for a lift back to the shore, and I ignore the appearance of the other ‘brother’, watching Katara as she gives one of the fish to a kid with a scar on his shoulder. It takes everything I have to just let myself walk away.

—--

We get back to Appa and Momo, then start setting up to get ready for dinner and unfortunately, I get left with preparing the fish while Katra, Aang and Toph work to clean the water so it’s usable.

“Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule,” Sokka complains staring at his scroll as he paces, not helping with dinner at all. “It’s gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track.”

“Finagle away, oh schedule master,” Toph mocks annoyed by his obsession with this schedule, which I am starting to understand.

“Well for starters, it looks like we’ll have to wake up 43 minutes earlier every day,” Sokka declares as we all gather around to listen to his new plan.

“43 minutes?” Katara asks in disbelief.

“Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse, which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes,” Sokka explains frantically. “And we just lost a whole day. So if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule, we have to wake up early!”

“I’m okay with that,” I say, not caring about the new plan, it won’t affect me much.

“You would be, Mrs, awake at sunrise. You wake up before us all anyway,” Toph taunts and I shrug my shoulders, I can’t help that I wake up early. “Well, I’m not waking up early.”

“Or we could just cut out all our eating breaks,” Sokka suggests instead, which everyone disagrees to. “I got it, how’s this? From now on, we’ll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time.”

“Come on, guys. You’ll like getting up early. The colours of the sun, the rising animals, the fresh crisp air. Trust me it’s worth it,” I try to convince them because none of Sokka’s other ideas are going to work. But I’m just met with groaning.

“Either way, we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning,” Sokka announces, storming off with his schedule.

I sigh, going back to cutting up the fish, and resist looking out to the river full of people we can’t help.

—--

Morning comes, and with it I go for my usual sunrise walk, enjoying and really taking in all the things I told the others about yesterday. But when I get back I notice Appa on his side panting, tongue out with the others gathered around.

“What’s going on?” I ask, looking at the bison concerned.

“Appa’s sick,” Katara informs me, patting the poorly animal.

“Katara, can you heal him?” Aang asks the waterbender desperately.

“It looks like he needs some medicine,” Katara suggests, “Maybe we can find the right herbs in town.”

“You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay here and keep an eye on him,” I offer, stroking Appa’s arrow. They hesitate for only a moment, before they leave, knowing helping Appa is what’ important right now.

I sit down next to the bison, hand not leaving his head as I continue to slowly stroke his fur hoping the company will make him feel better. But also, I don’t think I can go back to that village, just thinking of all those poor people makes me so mad, and the last thing we need is for me to say something stupid again, or better yet accidentally firebend in the wooden town.

No, for now, it’s better if I just keep my distance.

Though I regret my decision a little when everyone gets back and they tell me about how much livelier the village was, something about a spirit helping them. But as soon as they tell me they couldn’t get any medicine for Appa because the factory take it all I know I made the right choice.

“What kind of heartless people take medicine from innocent civilians, their own people,” I snap, shoving myself up from the ground in anger. But as I turn I can see the burn marks in the grass from where I pushed myself up.

“Not you too,” Sokka moans.

We end up having to stay since no medicine means Appa has to get better on his own. And the next day goes a similar way. The others go to the village for food, I stay behind and when they come back they tell me how this ‘spirit’ has healed all the sick now too.

Except this time, Katara doesn’t look as happy as she did the day before, she looks deep in thought as Aang and Sokka discuss what noises spirits make.

Night comes, and just like all the nights before, as soon as everyone has gone to bed I wake up to see Katara sneaking off.

Usually, I leave her to it, it’s probably hard for her to sleep thinking about the poor village. I had my suspicions the first time the others told me about the townspeople getting better, but I can’t prove it and I don’t care much to anyway.

But the look Katara has earlier has me concerned enough to get out of my own ‘bed’ and follow her.

I quietly make my way over to where I saw her slip behind a rock, I peek around the corner and see her putting on face paint while dressed in a large robe, and it looks like my suspicions of her doing something is correct.

But I don’t have a chance to think more about it before having to duck behind the rock I was looking over as she gets up, puts on a hat with a long veil, and heads towards the village.

I contemplate just going back to sleep and asking her about it in the morning, but then I hear Aang, who is also apparently awake.

“It’s her,” he says excitedly, and I see him quickly get out of bed to follow Katara. “Hello, painted lady spirit!”

Hearing Aang’s yelling Katara speeds up, but the airbender is fast on the trail and at the speed, they’re going I know there’s no point in trying to follow them.

Aang’s words ring in my mind, and everything falls into place, though it really doesn’t surprise me Katara is the ‘spirit’. There’s no way she couldn’t not help the villagers.

Though I wonder what she even has planned for tonight, she gave them food, and healed the sick, the only other real problem they have is the polluted water and yeah she could try to fix it herself, but the factory would just keep polluting it.

My eyes widen as I remember Sokka talking about spirits and explosions and Katara’s far away gaze. I put a hand over my mouth to hide my gasp. “She wouldn’t.”

I don’t want to believe it, but either way, I grab my bow and quickly start making my way over to the factory looming on the cliffside.

—--

I don’t immediately see any signs of trouble when I arrive, and for a moment I think maybe I was wrong about Katara’s intentions, but then I see two silhouettes approaching from the water. I sigh realising that could only mean Aang found out, and has also decided to go along with the waterbender.

I make my way down to the large pipes hanging over the water and wait in the shadows, using the noise of stuff rushing out to mask the sound of my anxious breathing.

The silhouettes soon appear and I hear Aang’s familiar voice. “You want to destroy this factory?”

“Yeah, Katara, I’d like to know the answer to that as well,” I use the airbender’s question and my chance to make myself know, stepping out of the shadows, arms crossed in a way I hope shows my disappointment.

“What are you doing here?” Katara asks after she gets over the initial panic of my appearance.

“Hopefully stopping you from doing something as stupid as destroying a Fire Nation factory,” I have to make an effort to keep myself from yelling, anger very quickly rising as I try to understand why the usual responsible Katara would do this.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Aang begs.

“I can’t. I am done with hiding and lying when it comes to important things,” I admit, knowing the trouble not saying anything can do. “And this seems pretty important.”

“Well you’re not going to stop us,” Katara argues, standing her ground. “But you could come with us. You said you wanted to save the village. Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people permanently.”

I open my mouth to argue, but then I realise she has a point. This is beyond dangerous, especially in our position, but as I look at all the waste just continuously being poured into the river, my anger just gets worse, but it’s no longer directed at the two in front of me.

“Fine,” I agree, barely believing I let myself get talked into this. “So what’s the plan?”

“It’s simple, we sneak in and cause as much destruction as we can so hopefully they won’t be able to operate anymore,” Katara explains quickly. “Aang and I can use our bending and Solmi you can…”

She trails off, but I can tell what she wants to say by the way she glances at my hands. All at once, my hesitance of the plan comes back and I can even see Aang tensing up next to her.

“Katara, I don’t…” I warn cautiously, hoping she won’t expect me to go through with her thought.

“Yeah, Katara, I’m not sure you’re thinking this through,” Aang adds on warily.

“I mean, I know we all have our feelings about firebending. But you’re our friend, Solmi, and you’ll be using it for a good reason,” I can tell not even Katara is all that confident about me potentially using my abilities. But the reason for the hesitance is because we all know how destructive it can be, which is perfect for this exact situation.

I slowly take a deep breath in and let it out before silently nodding. If there was ever a place to really try this again, a place where it doesn’t matter if anything gets damaged is as good as it can get.

Katara quickly leads us into the factory and any chance I have to change my mind is gone.

We get into a large room full of pots and melted metal, we all share a look before separating to be able to do the most damage.

It’s when I’m on my own I finally understand the implications of what I’ve agreed to do, but I can’t back out now. I have my bow, but everything here is big and strong and built in a way I know my arrows couldn’t destroy even if I tried.

I look up at one of the buckets hanging from the ceiling, and it’s as good a place to start as any. I can hear Aang and Katara getting to their own destruction and I know I should start soon if I want to be of any help at all.

“I can do this,” I say in an attempt to motivate myself.

It’s just, I’m not sure what it is that I need to do. It looks so easy every time I see someone firebending at me, but now it’s my turn I’m clueless. The only thing I can think of is to remember what it was like that time in Ba Sing Se.

But the first thing that comes to mind was how angry and hurt I felt, which is now only amplified by how I’ve been feeling the last couple of days. Yet it works, I feel the warm sensations growing, wanting to make itself known.

But I don’t let it, I take a deep breath and try to hold onto that sensation but also force the emotions to the side. I step through what I hope is a simple form I’d seen both Zuko and Iroh do and before I know it by the time I reach the end I feel the sharp heat of fire leave my hands.

Except instead of a small fire heading for the chains I expect, the flame is large and out of control. I feel myself instinctively duck, holding my hands over my head as the fire heads instead for the factory wall.

There’s a loud bang when it hits, and it quickly disappears with nothing in the metal room to keep it burning, but in its wake is a large dent left in the wall, scorch marks surrounding it.

I stand frozen, shocked by the absolute opposite thing I had planned happening. I snap out of it, and despite the unexpected result I decide to try again. I think I understand the feeling of it and that at least gives me a little confidence.

But I try again, and again, and again, and every time it’s never what I wanted. My confidence vanishes at the realisation that I have absolutely no control over this, I’ve heard that fire can have a mind of its own, but I’m only now starting to get that.

I step back away from the dented walls and broken windows and end up running into Aang.

“Solmi, are you okay?” He asks once he sees me, and I can tell from the concerned scrunch of his face that I must look like a mess.

“I… I can’t, I can’t do this,” I stammer, fear taking over from where I pushed it away earlier, now understanding just how bad things could have been.

I’m lucky all I did was dent some walls, I could have seriously hurt my friends with how much I wasn’t in control. I even ended up focusing so much on the fire that I forgot to even think about where they were.

I shouldn’t have done this. I’m not a firebender. I shouldn’t be playing around with something so dangerous.

“It’s okay,” Aang immediately stops what he’s doing to comfort me. “You don’t have to do anything else. Just stay near the entrance, we’re nearly done, then we can leave, okay?”

I feel guilty, still wanting to help, but there’s not much I can do now, even if I wanted to try and use my bow I doubt I could hold it steady enough to take a straight shot.

Despite Aang’s words, he and Katara spend a lot of the night making sure to destroy certain parts of the factory, making sure the waste production comes to a complete stop before they finish. I can tell once we finally do leave they’re satisfied with what they’ve done, so I do my best to push away the lingering fear and negativity as to not ruin their good mood, because they did at least help the village.

We walk back along the cliffs to the camp, and I feel myself smile as Aang laughs and mimics the explosion noises.

“Shh, we don’t want to wake Sokka,” Katara warns as we get closer.

But her warning ends up being futile as we turn a corner and see Sokka and Toph, both standing waiting.

“Hi… Sokka,” Katara says nervously as soon as she spots her older brother. “We were just out on a morning walk. You know, taking Solmi’s advice.”

“Oh, really? A morning walk?” Sokka holds up Katara’s sleeping bag, emptying out the grass she’d filled it with to pretend she was still in it, exposing her lie.

Sokka begins to lecture his sister about her irresponsibility, but I can only bring myself to half pay attention, mind still stuck on what happened in the factory.

“And how long did you two know about this?” Sokka suddenly asks Aang and I, and I notice Katara solemnly walking back to the camp.

“Hey, I just found out this morning,” Aang defends before running away.

I feel Sokka’s glare turn to me once the airbender leaves. “Uh… sure… This morning,” I manage to get out.

“Did something happen?” Sokka’s glare immediately drops when he notices my shakiness. I think about keeping quiet, still trying to process, but then I see him glance back at his sister and I know it’s not just me he’s worried about.

“No, nothing bad, it’s just… I used my… you know,” I fling my hands around hoping he would understand even without me saying it. And by the way his eyes look like they’re about to fall out of his head, I think he does.

“Oh, really?” He says, at a loss of how to respond. “How was it?”

“It was… a lot,” I admit, and he just awkwardly nods. “We should probably help.”

I can tell he’s glad or the way out of the conversation, and I would be upset, but I’m not surprised considering even I barely know how to talk about it.

I pack my stuff away quickly and then tell the others I’m going for a walk to stretch my legs before we go. I don’t go far since I know we have to leave soon, but I also just need to be away from the others for a moment, and I think they get that.

I look down at my hands I hold out in front of me and the worry and dear I felt in the factory instinctively start to build up again.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I can’t just ignore this, the risk of accidentally firebending again and hurting someone is too high now. But I have no idea how I’m supposed to learn, I think briefly about finding a teacher, but I immediately shit it down knowing it’s too risky, not only with the whole ‘wanted’ thing, but I don’t know how I would explain how I’m old as I am but also have no idea how to firebend.

“Solmi!” I hear Aang yell, and I make my way back to the camp, assuming it's time to depart. To my surprise though, I see Katara, once again in her painted lady outfit and no one looks ready to go anywhere.

“We need to hurry, soldiers from the factory are making their way to the village,” Sokka rushes an explanation, grabbing my wrist and pulling me with him as he quickly goes over the plan.

I just follow him to our position at a nearby cave and he hands me a flute similar to the one in his hand. It’s painful to watch the soldier damage the village while we have to wait until Katara is ready. And it’s even worse having to just sit back and play some haunting tune when all I want to do is go over to the soldier and make sure they never hurt the villagers again with my own two hands.

But I do what I have to as Katara and Aang work to scare the soldiers with their incredible ‘spiritness’ and it’s not long before the soldiers run away, and I let a satisfied smirk settle on my face as I go with Sokka on a boat to get Toph.

Once we get to the village everyone is cheering and thanking the ‘painted lady’. That is until Dock, or Shoe steps forward.

“Me and my brothers really owe you a lot,” he says, getting closer to Katara, which is when he startles. “Hey, wait a minute, I know you. You’re not the painted lady. You’re the colonial girl.” Katara reaches her hand up, realising her face paint is being taken off by the mist around her. “You’ve been tricking us. You’re a waterbender.”

I tense as the villagers go from joyful to angry at the revelation, but Sokka is quick to run in front of his sister to defend her. “Maybe she is a waterbender, but she’s just trying to help you. Because of her, that factory won’t be polluting your river and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her.”

“Sokka, it’s okay,” Katara says, gentling pushing him out of the way while removing her hat and veil covering her face. “I shouldn’t have acted like someone I wasn’t, and I shouldn’t have tricked you. But I felt like I had to do something. It doesn’t matter if the painted lady is real or not. Because your problems are real, and this river is real. You can’t wait for someone to help you. You have to help yourself.”

The villagers settle down as they take in Katara’s words, and I feel myself being drawn in by them as well, maybe I shouldn’t wait to find a teacher to start to learn, maybe I should take the chance and try by myself. It’s at least better than sitting around, nervous for my abilities to go out of control again.

“She’s right, but what should we do?” Dock asks.

“Maybe we can clean the river,” I see Toph speaking up from inside the crowd, and pretty quickly everyone jumps on board with the plan.

So, that’s what we end up doing, Sokka’s schedule gets thrown completely off, but we make sure to stick around until the river is back to being a beautiful, calming blue. And I’m glad to help, but I’m also really excited to leave and start learning how to control my firebending.

Chapter Text

I stare up at the night sky, not a cloud in sight which means the falling stars are clearly visible and giving off a beautiful show.

“Wow, this is amazing to watch,” Katara beams from next to me.

“Kind of makes you realise how insignificant we are,” Sokka muses, and I pull my eyes away from the sky for just a moment to glare at him.

“Can’t you just enjoy the sight, Sokka,” I chide the watertribe boy.

“Eh, you’ve seen nothing once, you’ve seen it a thousand times,” Toph remarks from the far end of our little watching line, still joining us despite not being able to enjoy the same view, but the sentiment makes me smile.

I look back to the sky just as a bright flash lights it up as another star falls, except this one looks a lot closer than the others, like it’s coming towards us.

“You’ve never not seen anything like this,” Sokka states, both fascinated and nervous about the sight.

I shoot up from my reclined state to watch the falling object, which ends up being a mistake as it sails directly overhead, and instinctively I duck at how close it appears. I whip my head around just in time to see it land nearby, a large blue flame engulfing the area which soon turns red.

We waste no time clambering onto Appa to go investigate the area, soon arriving and quickly noticing that the large fire is dangerously close to civilisation.

“The fire is gonna destroy that town,” Katara yells as we fly closer.

“Not if we can stop it,” Aang replies, Appa landing next to the roaring flames.

We all jump off except Katra who takes the reigns. “There’s a creek over here. I’ll bend the water onto the fire,” she says, taking off.

“Toph, let’s make a trench to keep the fire from coming any closer,” Aang commands immediately taking control of the situation. “Solmi, you…”

I start at the call of my name, a little lost watching the fire dance in front of me, but I immediately turn my attention to the airbender. Except his sentence has trailed off and he doesn’t look like he knows where to go with it, and I have a suspicion I know why.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he eventually finishes, confirming to me that whatever he was going to say had something to do with my firebending. And after what happened before no doubt he’s hesitant to ask me to use it.

And honestly, I’m a little glad, which is terrible because I do want to help, but with how little control I have over it I can only imagine I would just end up making this whole situation worse.

“What should I do?” Sokka asks the airbender at the same time Momo comes flying past.

“Keep an eye on Momo,” Aang suggests before rushing off with Toph to start controlling the fire.

“So what, I’m just a lemur-sitter?” Sokka complains as Momo sits on his shoulders. “There, there. Feel better?” He says sarcastically, patting Momo’s head.

“At least you have a job,” I tell him, trying to cheer him up.

Stray sparks come flying towards us as Aang and Toph start earthbending, and they light new smaller fires on the untouched grass. Instinctively I feel myself step back away from the sparks, suddenly irrationally worried that my firebending might react to it with all the emotions I can feel twisting up my insides.

All I can do is stand back and watch as my friends work together and put out the fire, even Momo helps to put out the stay sparks.

I hear a grumble as Katara returns and before I know it the fire is out and there’s snow covering the area.

“Good work, everybody,” Aang congratulates, clapping his hands to a job well done.

Though instead of feeling good, his words sting, knowing they aren’t aimed at me since I didn’t do a single thing. But I also know it was my choice so I try not to let it bother me.

—--

The next day we head into the same town the clothes saved to get some food. But as soon as the food is in front of me I realise I don’t particularly feel like eating, so I just end up pushing the rice around the plate.

“These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night,” Aang comments, looking around at the townspeople in the restaurant.

“Yeah, the worst thing about being in disguise is we don’t get the hero-worship anymore,” Toph moans. “I miss the love.”

“I don’t think it’s ‘love’ we’ll be getting in these towns,” I murmur absentmindedly, but if the earthbender heard me she doesn’t reply.

“Boo-hoo, poor heroes,” Sokka jeers from where he’d decided to sit away from the rest of us.

“What’s your problem?” Katara asks her brother, put off by his sudden negativity. “You haven’t even touched your smoked sea slug.”

“It’s just, all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff. Like putting out forest fires, and flying around, and making other stuff fly around. I can’t fly around, okay? I can’t do anything,” Sokka confesses, clearly upset. I glance over at his hunched shoulders as the others look at each other, confused by his somberness.

I push my food away, getting up to go and sit next to him, one leg dangling off the wall while I rest my cheek on my other knee.

“This is about last night isn’t it?” I ask, and he doesn’t answer since we both already know it is. “I get it, I couldn’t do anything either.”

“That doesn’t count,” he argues. “You could’ve, you’re just too afraid.”

I feel myself flinch back from the bluntness of his words, but I can’t be offended since I know it’s true, I just didn’t expect it to be thrown at me so straightforward.

I sigh, then look back at the others at the table, sending them a pleading look to get them to help me since my attempt appears to have failed.

“You can do things,” Katara speaks up to comfort her brother. “No one can read a map like you.”

“I can’t read at all,” Toph adds on in her attempt to be helpful.

“Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time?” Aang asks rhetorically. “I mean, look at Katara’s hair, right? What’s up with that?” The airbender attempts to joke, but all he ends up doing is accidentally offending the girl.

“Look, I appreciate the effort, but the fact is each of you is so amazing and so special, and I’m… not. I’m just the guy in the group who’s regular,” Sokka sighs sadly, and it hurts to hear him put himself down like this.

Katara makes her way over and I move aside to give her space to sit next to Sokka. “I’m sorry you're feeling so down, but I hope you know none of us see you that way,” she says to try and cherry him up, but he doesn’t react to any of it. “I know something that’s gonna make you feel better.”

“You do?” Sokka asks, eyes peering at his sister hopefully.

And the answer is apparently shopping. But it’s nice to see Sokka so happy as he claps in the doorway to a weapons shop. He runs around excited, looking at all the different kinds of weapons they have on display.

I stand by the open door as I watch, very content with my bow so I have nothing to browse at. I feel my gaze glide out the door, watching people going about their daily business when I notice a small bookstore across the street.

I think back to Sokka’s comment about being afraid to use my firebending, and I did tell myself I needed to start learning.

“Hey, Katara, I’m just going to go over to that store over there,” I tell the waterbender since she’s the closest, and she nods showing she heard me.

With that acknowledgement, I cross the street and enter the store. It’s not the biggest, but there are many shelves and each of them are packed, top to bottom with books, scrolls and other parchments.

I sigh quietly at the sight, but quickly I begin my search. I figure since this is a Fire Nation town, it must have some information on firebending or some teaching scrolls. But the only problem is, I have no idea of what I’m supposed to be looking for. I might be here longer than I thought.

“May I help you?” I hear a friendly voice as from behind the counter. I turn around and see a young man, older than me but probably not by much. He has long black hair that he lets hang loosely, which frames his kind-looking face nicely. His gold eyes stare at me patiently, and I belatedly realise that his question must mean he works here.

“Oh, ah, yes,” I stutter, thrown off by the unexpected conversation. “I was looking for a firebending scroll? Preferably one with some easy techniques?” I ask hesitantly, still not sure if it’s even the kind of thing you can just buy.

“I think I know of one,” he replies, and my shoulders drop slightly in relief. I follow him as he moves along the shelves, finally stopping to pull out a weathered scroll.

“Though I must tell you, these techniques are usually what kids practise with when they start learning,” he says, looking at the scroll wearily as he hands it to me.

I bow my head as I take it gratefully. “It’s perfect,” I tell him, though the comment earns me a look, which makes sense since I am clearly not a child. “It’s never a bad thing to go back to the basics,” I add on nervously, hoping he doesn’t feel like questioning it.

He continues to stare at me, and it’s like he’s looking straight through me reading all of the secrets I have hidden.

Abruptly he turns around, heading back to the counter. I follow him, putting my hand in my pocket and digging around to find the right amount of change to pay for the scroll.

“Don’t worry about it,” the man says stopping me. “That scroll has been sitting on that shelf for years. Plus, if I’m going to be honest, you remind me of a certain someone.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” I say, wondering who I could remind him of that he would just give me the scroll. I bow again, holding the scroll tightly in my hands and leave.

As I walk through the door I pass another woman, I only partly see her out the corner of my eye, but I can tell she’s beautiful. I stop, suddenly feeling the urge to talk to her, but at the same time, I see the others coming out of the weapons shop so I ignore the feeling and hurry over.

“Hey, Solmi, did you find something?” Katara asks spotting the scroll.

“Yeah, it’s a firebending scroll. I was thinking of going up to that crash site to practise,” I tell her, hands tightening around the scroll just at the thought of it, but I try to push it away.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Aang asks, noticing the gesture, but I shake my head.

“No, I think I want to try and do this alone,” I reply, forcing myself to sound confident.

We part, and I wish Sokka good luck when he tells me about going to train with a swordmaster in the town, and he returns the gesture.

It’s a long trek without Appa to get to where the meteor is, but I finally make it by midday, the sun hot and bearing down, but instead of making me tired, it makes me feel stronger.

—--

It was harder to notice last night, but the meteor has left a large crater in the ground, a lot of the ground surrounding it is now rock and dirt instead of part of the grassy field it was before.

I jump down into the hole, pulling out the scroll after a quick glance to make there’s no one around. I take a deep breath then sit on the dirt, rolling it out in front of me.

I study the images on the paper, the whole thing consisting of step by step drawings of different forms, with a couple of directions added next to them. True to the shopkeeper’s word, they all look like the basic forms you could, or at least they don’t look like any of the complicated things I’ve seen other firebenders do.

I spend a while trying to memorise all the steps, and once they are, I stare a little longer, my heart racing at the idea of actually trying this again. But I know I can’t just sit here all day, so I roll the scroll back up, and then place it on the grass outside the crater, accidentally burning it would not be helpful in any way

I get into the starting stance for the first form, and I can feel my skin buzzing with nervous energy, but I can also sense the energy there as well. I let myself get lost in the movements, trying to flow from one step to the other without hesitation, feeling the burning within growing every moment.

I finish, punching my right arm forward to finish the move. Except, just like in the factory, instead of a small stream of fire like it’s supposed to be, it’s a huge blast, the heat of which makes me have to stumble back a few steps. The fire goes high, hitting the edge at the top of the crater, and I’m just glad all of the grass up there is already burnt or else I might have just started another forest fire.

I sigh, but I try not to be discouraged. That was just my first attempt, it wasn’t going to be perfect. So I take a moment to compose myself before trying again.

But yet again, it goes wrong, over and over again it keeps going wrong. I go back to the scroll at some point to see if maybe I was following the steps wrong, but that’s not it. It seems no matter what I do, I just get an out of control blaze that just does whatever it wants, and I’m starting to think this might be more than me not knowing what to do.

I groan as I wait for yet another out of place fire to burn out, having nothing on the hard rock of the ground to keep it going. Once it’s out I get back into the stance I’m sure I’ll be doing in my sleep when all of this is done. I move, but the exhaustion of doing this for hours catches up with me, and my legs end up getting twisted by each other, knocking me off balance and sending me to the floor.

I stare up at the sky, watching the clouds lazily floating by and make no move to get up, finally letting myself rest for a moment as my mind wanders.

But the beautiful blue is replaced by the face of someone staring down at me. “Need a hand?” The person asks, and I recognise them as the man from the bookstore.

I stare at the hand hovering over me, debating before sighing and giving in. “Thanks,” I say, firmly grabbing the outstretched palm, letting him pull me up.

“Don’t worry about it,” He replies smiling. “I realise I never introduced myself, my name’s Kazuya.”

“Uyisa,” I return, deciding to play it safe. A twinkle of something appears in his eyes at the introduction, but it’s gone before I can place it, and I wonder if maybe it’s just a weird name. “What are you doing up here?”

“I saw a lot of smoke coming from this direction last night, so I thought I’d see what happened,” he replies, and I nod along.

“It’s quite something,” I say, looking down at the now harmless piece of rock that had caused so much damage.

“Though, I can’t say I was expecting to see that kind of fire display. I thought by the way you were acting in the store, but you’re new to firebending aren’t you?” He inquires, looking at me curiously. I tense at the questioning, trying to think of the best way to get myself out of this situation, and he must have noticed. “Don’t worry, whatever your reasons I won’t ask.”

I look at him cautiously, unsure of what to make of his unquestioning nature, but he appears sincere about it, and for some reason, I feel like I can trust him, though I still don’t let my guard down.

“I guess I’m a late bloomer,” I tell him hesitantly, and just leave it at that.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he replies easily, and instinctively I feel my shoulders drop a little at how casual he seems. “Though, do you mind if I give you some advice?”

“Please,” I say, actually a little relieved by the idea. At this point, I think I need all the help I can get.

“Okay, well I will admit, I was watching you for a while, and I have to say, for someone new to this your breath control is pretty spot-on. So you at least have one of the fundamentals down,” he compliments, and I try to focus on that rather than the embarrassment weaving through me at the idea that he saw my numerous mistakes.

“Thank you. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” I say, glad there’s at least one thing I know how to do, despite not knowing what I was practising it for.

“Now, fire is a powerful element, it comes from within and feeds off your chi, but it can also feed off your emotions so you need to be in control, you can’t get distracted and hesitate because you’re upset or afraid,” he explains sternly.

“I’m not afraid,” I immediately defend, but I see his eyes glance down to the scar on my arm. I fidget uncomfortable, automatically crossing my arms in front of my stomach, using my left to cover the burn on my right. “It’s not like that, this is just… a bad memory.”

“How about this, why do you want to learn?” Kazuya suddenly asks, gaze softening. “You’ve obviously been without it long enough I doubt you need it.”

“I want to be able to help my friends,” I admit, looking at the charred dirt at my feet. “They’re all so amazing, and they’ve helped me in a way I don’t think I could ever repay. So I want to be able to support them in any way I can.”

“Now, think about that when you firebend. No bad memories or fear, just let the thoughts of your friends help clear your head,” Kazuya takes a step back, gesturing for me to try again.

I’m nervous at the thought of doing it in front of someone, and I almost want to ask him to step further away. But then I do as he suggested. I think of the gang and the ways I know I can help if I can just start with this one simple move.

I move through the form once again, feet suddenly feeling lighter and it’s easier to get from one stance to the other. I watch the fire leave my hands, and it’s not perfect, it doesn’t seem like it knows where to go and it fizzles out at the wrong time. But it’s not out of control, it’s just clear I still need a lot of practice.

I beam up at Kazuya and he’s smiling down at me, genuine joy coming through his eyes. I spend the next hour practising with Kazuya, him mostly there to correct the small mistake in my form that I immediately commit to memory.

Kazuya has to leave not long after, but I stay, lost in my own world of firebending until I’m pulled out of my training by the appearance of some familiar faces.

“Solmi! How are you?” Aang asks, peering down from the edge of the crater, the others right beside him.

“I’m good. What are you guys doing here?” I question and they all share a look.

—--

I manage to help them haul the meteor to a large mansion off the edge of the town, all while listening to Sokka explain the training he’s been doing.

We get to the gate and Sokka steps forward grabs the handles and starts knocking furiously. He’s knocked off balance when one of the gates opens abruptly, revealing an older gentleman holding a sword.

“Who’s this?” The man asks, eyes roaming all of us standing by.

“Oh, these are my friends. Just other good Fire Nation folks,” Sokka replies. “Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?”

The man steps forward to examine the large rock. “We’ll make a sword unlike any other in the world.”

He lets us all in, and for the rest of the night, we watch Sokka make his own sword. And I have to say I’m impressed, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him focus so hard on anything before.

Morning comes, and as much as I would love to see Sokka collect his sword, I know there’s also something I have to do. So I wish him luck with a hug and head back into town.

I quickly locate the bookstore, and just like I was hoping Kazuya is behind the counter again.

“Uyisa, I wasn’t expecting you,” he greets, it’s friendly but he also sounds a little tense, I wonder if it’s been a busy day.

“I just wanted to come and thank you again before I leave,” I tell him, bowing gratefully even as he urges me to stand up.

“You’re leaving so soon?” He asks, and his face drops in disappointment.

“Yeah, my friends and I have some important stuff to do. But I’ll come back when it’s done,” I promise, feeling the need to see him again. I just hope he won’t be mad when he learns about the whole Earth Kingdom thing.

“I’ll hold you to that then,” he replies, a smile lighting up his face again. “Oh wait, while you’re here, I actually found something last night,” he bends down underneath the counter before coming back with three scrolls in his hands. “These are for you.”

“No, I couldn’t,” I politely decline. “You already gave me the other one.”

“Yes, you can, that was a gift and so are these. You’re my friend now and like I said, you remind me of someone,” he says, forcing the scrolls into my hands.

“Well then, thank you again,” I tell him gratefully. I want to say more but I don’t get the chance.

“Kazuya!” A female voice calls. I guess it’s coming from the closed door behind him. It’s a beautiful voice and I immediately picture the women I briefly saw yesterday.

“That’s my mother, I should probably go help her,” he tells me sadly. “Remember what you promised.”

“I will. Goodbye,” I wave, gathering all the scrolls into one arm so I can get out of the door.

I make my way up to the mansion from before, and I see everyone standing outside the gates. “What’s going on?” I ask as I walk up to them.

“Master gave me this, but I have no idea why,” Sokka holds up a pai show tile, showing it to me.

I bite my lip to hide my gasp, and I look at the mansion gate which has the same design on it. There’s only one thing that could mean, that this ‘master’ is a part of the white lotus just like Iroh is.

I fight the urge to run in there and ask if he knows how Iroh is doing, It’s probably a huge group and I doubt they even know each other, but still, the chance is tempting.

“Oh, that reminds me. Toph, I thought you might like this since you’ve probably never had a chance to bend space earth before,” Sokka says, holding out a small piece of the meteorite.

“Sweet,” Toph replies excitedly, taking it and bending it into different shapes.

“You know, I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘space earth’. If it’s from space, then it’s not really earth,” Katara points out.

“Must you ruin everything?” Sokka complains at his sister.

“I can’t believe I missed you,” she replies.

“Wow, you missed Sokka, now I wanna know what I missed,” I joke, and just being around my friends like this, all the lightheartedness and joy, it just strengthens my resolve to become a great firebender so I can help them and put an end to the war.

Chapter Text

“Aang, I know swimming is fun and all. But do you really think you should be exposing yourself like that? Cover up,” Toph’s yelling at the airbender brings me back to reality from where I’ve been slightly dosing off by the water's edge.

While we were flying Sokka spotted an area surrounded by walls, and figured that’s as safe a place as any to land and make camp for the day. And he was right, it’s so closed off and away from anything else that we can actually relax, Aang taking the opportunity to be able to float around lazily in the lake with Momo on his chest.

I look around, taking in Sokka sitting on a rock trying to catch dinner, and Toph and Katara both enjoying the cool water. I slip further into the water, enjoying the way the coolness just relaxes me.

“Hey, Solmi. You have to join me!” I hear Aang yell excitedly as he swims over to me. I look over to see what he’s talking about and find that he’s gesturing to the large opening in one of the walls, water from the lake rushing out of it, to where I’m not sure.

“Oh no, I am not doing that,” I instantly decline. But Aang doesn’t waste a second before he turns his puppy eyes onto me with full force.

“Please,” he begs, staring at me. And it’s too late, even if I look away now those eyes will be baring onto my soul for the rest of the day.

“Fine,” I cave with a sigh. “You’re as bad as Bumi, always trying to get me to ride the mail system.”

I follow the airbender to the opening and without hesitation, as soon as we’re close enough he jumps over the rock in the middle and down the hole, Momo still clinging to his shoulders, and I follow quickly before I can change my mind.

It’s dark and the rushing water takes me down many twists and turns which is pretty disorienting. I can hear Aang cheering in front of me as well as Momo’s unhappy chirping, while I’m trying my best not to scream. I avoid closing my eyes, knowing that will only make it worse, and soon enough -though it felt like way too long- I see the light at the end.

Instinctively I shut my eyes to the bright light as the rushing water spits me out of the tunnel, and I feel myself flying across the sky before I land in another lake with a splash.

I kick my legs and quickly get to the surface, pushing my wet hair out of my face so I can glare at the grinning Avatar.

“Let’s go again,” he instantly exclaims, lifting the flying lemur’s damp ears.

“I think once was plenty,” I reply, before looking up at the large rock wall in front of me. “Now how are we going to get back up?”

I feel Aang grab my hand and before I know it, he’s pulling me along as he uses his airbending to help him jump the same wall that keeps us hidden.

We scale the peak and fall back into the original lake, and I groan having to push my hair out og my face again. “Well, I think that’s plenty of excitement for one day. I’m going to go and practise now,” I tell the airbender, making my way to the shore.

“You’re not gonna go again,” he replies sadly.

“Why don’t you take Sokka, I’m sure he’ll love it,” I suggest, the memory of that experience being enough to help me resist Aang’s eyes, if only for a couple of hours. His head perks up excitedly and the next thing I hear is Sokka’s noise of distress from where Aang must have forcefully pulled him away from his fishing.

I get out of the water and just lay on the ground while I let the sun dry me off a little before I get out my scrolls, giggling to myself as Sokka’s shrieks echo from the tunnel.

I spend the afternoon practising my forms, hesitant to actually practise any firebending while in such a closed-off area. Katara tells me I can try if I want, that she can help if any goes wrong, but I’m still reluctant. I have gotten better at controlling the power of the fire over the last couple of days, but my aim still isn’t where it should be for me to consider trying it around my friends.

Eventually, it’s time to go to bed and I’m asleep as soon as my head hits the sleeping bag, exhausted from the constant practice.

“Guys, you’re all gonna think I’m crazy,” Toph’s voice wakes me for the second time today, but this time she sounds panicked. “But it feels like a metal man is coming.”

Aang groans and I look over to see a random light shining on him. I follow it to its source on the top of one of the walls, and to my surprise, I see it’s the moonlight reflecting off a metal arm belonging to a large man.

There’s a still moment, everyone tense but no one moving.

Until the stalemate ends and Aang rushes forward at the same time the mystery man sends an explosive blast our way. It looks like firebending, but also doesn’t at the same time, though the strangest part is probably the fact that the source of whatever this is looked like it came from his forehead.. Aang attempts to block the blast, but still, it hits the wall next to us and the force of it sends us all flying back.

I hit the ground hard, making me groan, but I don’t have time to worry about that, quickly getting back to my feet.

Toph has already countered, a large pile of rocks heading straight for the man, but he just blows that up as well, the blast going through the rocks barely giving Aang enough time to airbend away the worst of it.

While not the opportune time to test out my questionable firebending, I also can’t just sit back, not anymore. So, I rush forward trying out one of the newer forms I learnt for long-range attacks, and it almost seems like it’s going to work, the large flame lighting up the pit as it heads for the man, but it veers off at the end, hitting the cliff under his feet instead.

Katara wastes to no time covering, using the lake to make a large wave heading for him, but once again he destroys it, the fire front eh explosion mixing with the water to cover the entire area with steam.

This doesn’t stop him though as he keeps firing and with no way to see to be able to dodge, we just have to duck for cover behind a large wall instead.

“This is crazy!” Sokka yells. “How can we beat a guy who blows things up with his mind?”

“We can’t. Jump on Appa. I’ll try to distract him,” Aang commands, running into the cloud of steam.

I just about see him jump over the cliff walls before I turn around, helping the others gather our stuff and put Appa’s saddle on.

We move quickly, before jumping on and following the sound of explosions to an area filled with rock pillars.

I look down and see Aang flying through the air, crashing into one of the pillars and destroying it, I gasp and lean over the side as I search for the boy, the smoke making me lose sight of him, but it appears the metal man did too.

Suddenly, Aang moves towards him, using rocks as armour and jumps past him. The man fires and Aang uses the blast to propel himself further. Sokka immediately gets Appa underneath him and Katara reaches up, grabbing Aang and pulling him into the saddle.

“I’m okay,” he sighs as soon as he’s safely on familiar ground.

“That’s good,” I say relieved, feeling my heart still racing from the sudden rush of adrenaline.

“Well that was random,” Toph comments, and I assume she’s referring to the strange man that decided to attack us, but my brain is still barely able to catch up with what just happened.

“I don’t think so,” Katara responds. “I get the feeling he knows who we are.”

Chapter Text

I lean over panting, hand on my knees as I take in gulps of air. I’m exhausted, but that’s what I get for training since the sun first rose. At first, it was just my bow, a way to tune it up since it’s been a while since I’ve had to use it, but then when I was done with that I didn’t want to stop, so I moved on to stretching, and hand to hand and firebending, anything really to keep my mind off after yesterday’s events.

It didn’t seem like much when Aang woke up and told us Avatar Roku told him in his dream to go to the previous firebender’s home, just typical Avatar stuff I’ve grown used to. And that’s really all it was as we waited around all day as Aang meditated, entering the spirit world to talk to his past life.

Even after the airbender returned and told us all he learnt about the Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin’s past. It sounded complicated and terrible, but I still would’ve just ended the day thinking ‘it was just one of those days’.

If it wasn’t for that one comment.

I’m sure Toph didn't even mean anything by it. But still, it’s stuck in my head.

“It’s like these people are born bad,” she had said after she heard the tale.

And really it wasn’t even the comment itself, I agree completely with Aang’s point of ‘anyone’s capable of great good and great evil’.

It was the ‘sorry’ the earthbender had murmured afterwards, her head tilted in my direction. It was so quiet I’m not even sure she had meant to say it, I still don’t know if she noticed it herself so at the time I brushed it off.

But once we left the ash-covered island to find camp on a nicer, greener piece of land, I started to think, trying to figure out what it meant.

She’s not the only one, I’ve noticed all of my friends doing it, sending me guilty gazes whenever they say something bad about the Fire Nation, the moment of awkwardness that lingers until we quickly move on.

But I don’t understand why. Sure I might be a firebender but I’m not Fire Nation. Right?

Any plans of sleep were lost for the night as my brain kept circling back to that question.

Maybe that’s why my father never told me the truth, he didn’t want to accept the fact he was related to someone that was a part of that nation. I immediately hate myself for thinking like that, my father loved me and I know that. But he still never told me and there had to be a reason, and all I can think of is this.

A hand on my shoulder startles me and I jump as I turn around to see Sokka’s concerned face looking down at me.

“Lunch is ready if you want some,” he tells me gently.

I look around to find the sun, surprised that so much time had passed as I got caught up in my own thoughts. Honestly, I don’t feel that hungry right now, but I can also feel the gazes from the others and I guess I had just got too caught up in my training. So, I nod at Sokka, following him to the food.

I stretch as I walk, muscles protesting from being used too much in a short amount of time, and I let my eyes survey the area now it’s bright out.

And it’s actually very beautiful, the area is covered in thick grass, flowers of all different colours growing sporadically between the blades. There are enough trees on one side to give us some cover as well as a hill on the other.

I actually feel a little sad I missed seeing all of this is the familiar orange glow I Iove. Maybe I can convince the others to stay one more night so I have the chance.

I join the others, gratefully taking a bowl from Katara once she notices, the smell actually making my appetite return.

“Solmi, are you okay?” Aang asks as soon as I sit down next to him. His worry is clear and I feel awful for losing track of time like that and causing all this fuss.

“I’m fine, I just didn't realise the time, too busy thinking I guess,” I vaguely explain, not wanting to get into it. Luckily, I think he’s just glad I replied at all, so he takes the explanation happily and goes back to his food.

“You know, the Fire Nation is actually a really beautiful place,” Katara says conversationally, mimicking my earlier thoughts. “It could be nice to live here, in a place like this. What do you think, Solmi?”

“Huh,” I reply, more focused on filling my stomach after missing breakfast and using so much energy rather than listening.

“I was just wondering if you’d ever live here?” Katara repeats.

It’s a harmless question, much like Toph’s statement the night before. But after all my thinking, my brain decides to hear it in a completely different way. “Why would I ever live here?” I shoot back defensively, and I can tell the waterbender is shocked by the sudden harsh tone.

“What’s the matter, Princess? I think you’d fit right in. Maybe you can stay here after we win the war,” Toph jokes, never being one to care about reading the room. My hand clench tightly on my bowl as I try to calm down, it’s just Toph being Toph.

“No, when this is over I am going home to Omashu,” I state firmly.

“We didn’t mean it like…” Whatever Katara tries to explain fades away as I realise.

Is Omashu even my home anymore?

My earlier thoughts come back and I wonder if maybe my friends were getting at something with the glances. Maybe the Fire Nation is the place for me. It’s such an amazing place. I love the sun, and the sky and nature, even the towns we visit are so pretty. Plus, mother must have been from here.

But it’s not my home, I was born and raised in the Earth Kingdom so that’s where I belong. And if I stay here it means I couldn’t see Bumi. I don’t want that, I want Omashu, and Bumi, and my friends.

Suddenly the nice thoughts I had about this place being beautiful earlier feel wrong. I can’t lie and say I haven’t been drawn to the Nation ever since I’ve been here. There’s just something about it that feels right and I didn’t think about it before, but now I feel like I’m betraying the Earth Kingdom.

But could I even go back after all this?

It's been easy to somewhat forget the firebender thing with the gang, they have shown they don't mind.

But I'm not sure the people from Omashu are going to think the same. I doubt anyone is going to want a firebender in their home, especially just after the war. I couldn’t bring myself to go back if it made the citizens uncomfortable.

But then what am I supposed to do? There’s nowhere in the Earth Kingdom that I could go that would let me stay if they learnt the truth. At least in the Fire Nation people won’t be afraid because of the things I can do.

“Solmi, what’s wrong?” Someone asks, honestly right now I can’t place the voice. But from the way they’re all staring at me, expressions ranging from concerned to panic, it could have been any of them.

I notice now that my tight grip on my bowl from before has only gotten tighter, the wood starting to splinter from the force. I instantly release my grip, not thinking about it as the bowl falls from my numb hands, spilling the contents on the ground as it rolls to reveal handprints charred into the wood.

“I’m fine,” I say without thinking, then cringe when I realise that it basically said the opposite.

“What was that about?” Sooka demands, staring at the bowl as if to prove I can’t just wave this off.

“I was just thinking is all,” I reply, still trying to act like it’s nothing. But they’re not having it.

“You’ve been doing that a lot today, what’s going on?” Katara asks, grabbing the discarded bowl to fill it with more food.

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing,” I stutter, suddenly afraid to tell them of my thoughts, what if they realise it’s true?

“It must be something. If you tell us maybe we can help,” Toph offers, and I know I must appear really off if she’s abandoned the sarcasm for care.

“No, really. Don’t worry about it,” I insist. Tightening my hands into fists when I feel the heat building.

“Solmi, it’s okay,” Aang says, hand laying softly on my shoulder. His eyes are so kind, and his touch is so gentle, I know he’s just trying to help, but unfortunately -or fortunately- it tips me off the edge.

“I don’t know if I can go home,” I say, voice dropping to no louder than a whisper, but apparently they hear it anyway.

“What are you talking about? Of course, you can go home,” Katara replies easily, and I guess it would be for her.

“No, you guys don't get it,” I groan, getting up to pace as I feel my frustration growing. “All my life, all our lives the Fire Nation was enemy number one. That’s who kids would play as if they wanted a bad guy in their game. That’s who adults would angrily whisper about, discussing the latest event in their long line of horrors. And that’s who they’ll see me as now.”

I collapse back down into my previous spot, all of my energy disappearing with the outburst. “How am I supposed to go home when I am now a part of that Nation that destroyed lives,” I shove my face in my hands, not baring to be able to look at my friends.

Suddenly, I feel multiple arms around me and belatedly I notice I’ve somehow been pulled into the middle of a group hug.

“No one is going to feel that way,” Katara reassures me, being close enough to whisper gently in my ear and her voice is just as soothing as her waterbending can be.

“Why not?” I argue, pulling away from the hug. “My mother was Fire Nation, which means part of me is too. I know you all see it, it’s just taken me this long to figure it out myself, that I’m part of ‘these people’. And as much as I try to fight it, there’s part of me that feels like I belong here.”

I see Toph cringe as she recognises her own words, and I berate myself for letting it slip. “Solmi, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine Toph,” I assure her, not wanting her to feel guilty about something that’s partly true anyway. “I should just accept that the Fire Nation is my home now.”

“You’re home is wherever you want it to be,” Aang declares, grabbing my hands and forcing me to look at him. “It’s wherever you’re heart leads you, and if that’s here or if it’s Omashu, or even if it’s both then that’s okay. At the end of the day, you’re still you no matter where you feel you belong.”

I feel myself caving under his gaze. His words are so sincere and genuine that he could tell me Momo is actually a master swordsman right now and I wouldn’t question it. “Fine, I believe you.”

“And hey, even if everyone from your home completely rejects you at least you’ll still have us,” Sokka adds, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

“Sokka,” Katara scolds her brother.

“What? I was trying to make her feel better,” the watertribe boy defends and I can’t help but laugh.

“Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it,” I say shaking my head.

We all split up to go back to the abandoned food, my bowl now refilled and my stomach rumbling from all the things that kept distracting me from eating.

I determinedly try to stop myself from thinking too much, I feel like most of the initial insecurity has been coaxed away by my friends, but I can tell there’s still a little bit lingering in my heart, and I doubt it’ll ever go away. But as long as I have these idiots around me I think I’ll be able to manage.

Chapter Text

It is once again a bright sunny day in the Fire Nation and I’m taking the chance to relax, sitting on a hill watching the entertainment below me.

Toph had come up with the idea of having Aang train blindfolded so he could learn to ‘see’ the way she does and Katara was excited to help. It’s fun to watch as he dodges out of the way of rocks and water, and even manage to fight back.

All is going well until Aang avoids one of Toph’s attacks which leads to said attack hitting Katara instead, knocking her down, which inevitably starts a fight between the two.

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle some dirt, madame fussy britches?” Toph mocks as the waterbender complains.

Katara responds to the mocking by creating a big wave from the river behind her and dumping it on the Earthbender. “Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?”

“Guys, seriously. Can we not do this?” I beg the girls, but they pay no attention, already caught up glaring.

They don’t hesitate to go at each other, forgetting all about poor Aang who’s still blindfolded and confused.

“Are we taking a break?” He asks, oblivious to the fighting going on. I open my mouth to tell him what’s happening when I see Sokka poke his head out from behind a rock.

He runs towards the airbender screaming. “Sneak attack!” He yells when he gets closer. However, he doesn’t get to ‘attack’ before Aang blocks him easily by earthbending a wall in his way that the watertribe boy runs straight into.

“Sokka, sneak attacks don’t work if you yell it out loud,” Aang berates removing his blindfold. His eyes travel up to where I’m still sitting on the hill watching. “You’re not going to try anything are you?”

“Nop, I’m good right here,” I reply, patting the ground next to me. “Plus, even if I was, I wouldn’t tell you,” I add on with a smirk, and for a moment the airbender looks worried.

But that’s quickly replaced when some mud lands next to him and he notices the fighting girls. I roll my eyes as they wrestle in the mud, trading insults back and forth, and for a moment it looks like it might get even more heated before Aang interrupts them.

“Uh, guys, I thought we were supposed to be training me,” he says to the both of them.

Katara immediately composes herself, like she wasn’t just in a silly fight. “Very well, pupil. I believe we’ve had enough training for today.”

“While Katara cleans up, let’s go have some fun,” Toph suggests after Katara walks off, and the boys quickly get on board.

“Solmi, you coming?” Sokka asks.

“Sure,” I agree. Someone should keep an eye on them at least.

—--

We get into the local town and I immediately take notice of all the industrial buildings, smoke pouring out of them and the sight reminds me of the building they had built in Omashu, but I push that thought away.

We’re strolling along, taking in the sights when we come across a messenger building, birds flying in and out every second.

“Look at all those messenger hawks,” Sokka comments. “You know, I’ve been thinking about getting one for myself. That way I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. I could just send them messages.”

“I got to say, I like the idea of not talking to you,” Toph jokes, which makes Sokka glare at her.

“Don’t worry, Sokka. I’d miss talking to you,” I tell him. “At least like, half the time,” I can’t help but add on.

“Thank you… wait a second,” Sokka frowns when he catches onto the last part making me laugh.

“So, guys, what are we gonna get with our last sliver piece?” Aang asks, holding onto the coin.

“We can get more money,” Toph replies, pointing down to a canal where there’s a bunch of people gathered around a table playing some kind of game. “This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending.”

We make our way down to the table and stand around, faking obliviousness as the man currently playing cries when he loses. The man behind the table immediately notices us and singles us out, or more specifically Toph.

“You there,” he calls out, “Want to play a friendly game?”

“How could I possibly play? I’m blind,” Toph replies innocently, her tone very deceiving if you didn’t know her.

“You don’t have to see to be lucky,” the vendor convinces.

Toph bends down and pats around the floor pretending to not know where she’s going. Deciding to play along, I kneel down and grab her hand ‘helping’ her find the table. Toph then takes the silver piece she took from Aang and puts it on the table.

The man makes a show of showing where the pebble is, before covering it up and moving the shells around. I keep my eyes on the middle shell, easily following it as he moves. He stops and Toph points to the shell on the right, and he lifts it to reveal the pebble underneath.

“Flamey-o’ Toph,” Aang cheers as the dealer hands over two more silver pieces.

“Wow, fancy guessing,” he compliments. “You're amazing at this. Would you like to make the game a little more interesting?”

“More interesting? How?” Toph asks, voice light as she keeps up the facade.

They end up agreeing for 40 silver pieces against Sokka’s sword, which the watertribe boy is none too happy about. This time I don’t even try to watch the shells, the vendor’s hands moving faster than I can keep up with, plus from what Toph said I’m sure he has a way to cheat.

He stops, a smirk already on his face that only grows wider when Toph points to the middle shell. “Sorry, little lady but…” he starts to say smugly, only to cut himself off in shock when he lifts the shell to see a pebble underneath.

“I won!” Toph exclaims happily, quickly snatching up the bag of money. Sokka grabs his sword and we run off before the man can question it further.

—--

We’re all laughing as we return to the campsite, arms full of new supplies. I have to admit, seeing that guys face was pretty funny, it’s clear he wasn’t used to losing so seeing his reaction to his cheating failing him was worth it.

“Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?” Katara asks once she sees us, sitting up straight from where she was kneeling over a pot. I throw my basket down and sit opposite the waterbender to help with the food.

“Toph got us money,” Aang replies, biting into an apple he got out.

Aang and Sokka explain to Katara what happened while I take the spoon and continue stirring the soup. The waterbender doesn’t take the news of Toph’s cheating well, and honestly, I didn’t think she would anyway. And she has a point when she says they shouldn’t make a habit of doing it.

“You know, Katara’s right,” I say and I can see the waterbender glance at me in appreciation. “It was fun sure, but it was still wrong, even if he was cheating.”

“Of course, you two are a pair of goody-goodies,” Toph mocks and I sigh.

Katara goes to argue back, but Aang takes that as his turn to interrupt. “Katara, I’ll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won’t make a habit of doing these scams,” he aware, pushing his headband up to show off his arrow before bowing.

Not that that promise seems to mean anything when we run into another scammer the next day and instantly the other three are off.

At first, I feel like I should bring up Aang’s promise, but I know they won’t listen since they’re having too much fun. So, instead I go with them every time they go to pull something.

Toph takes the lead for most of it, people intentionally picking her out because her short stature and blindness make her look like an easy target, if only they knew.

“I thought you said you didn’t agree with us,” Toph remarks after I once again get up to follow her and the other troublesome boys into the town.

“I don’t. But someone has to make sure you don’t get into any real trouble,” I tell her, arms crossed as she stares me down.

“We don’t need a babysitter, if you hadn’t noticed we’re all pretty capable of taking care of ourselves,” Toph scoffs.

“I know that, but at least I won’t be arrested for using my bending,” I point out, which only makes the younger girl glare harder. I sigh, uncrossing my arms as I step closer to her. “Look, if you want to continue doing this I know there’s no point trying to stop you. But this is still risky and I’ll feel better if I can just keep an eye on you.”

Toph takes a deep breath and I get ready for whatever comment she has planned. But instead, she just pulls a face before walking away, gesturing for the boys to follow. “Whatever, just don’t get in our way.”

I leave it at that, just letting her continue on with her fun, while also making sure to keep an eye on the people who lose, in case any of them look particularly angry about it. But so far it’s all good, until one idea. Toph pretends to get hit by a carriage with a rich guy inside, and Sokka, with his fake beard back on, gets the guy to pay to avoid being ‘arrested’. And at that point I realise it’s gone out of control, it’s no longer just ‘cheating the cheaters’ that was just stealing.

And the whole just stealing from a random man in a carriage just reminds me too much of my dad.

“Guys, I think these scams have gone far enough,” Katara criticises when we get back, something she’s taken to doing every time we return with more things. “If you keep doing them, something bad is gonna happen.”

“Toph, I know I was letting you do your thing, but that last scam went way too far” I tell her, trying to stop my voice from taking on a berating tone.

“I knew you would be too stuck up to actually go along with this, Princess,” Toph accuses and I feel my hands clench at the way she uses the nickname.

“That’s not the point here…” I start, but I trail off trying to find the words.

“Wait if whatever they were doing was going too far then why didn’t you stop them? I thought you were going to keep an eye on them for this specific reason,” Katara demands, and I look at her surprised for her attention to now be on me, but I try not to take it personally since I get that she’s frustrated.

“I was going to but…”

“And just like I told her, we don’t need anyone to ‘keep an eye on us’,” Toph interrupts and I growl.

I throw my arms in the air and walk away from them, not needing both their accusations thrown at me. I’m still close enough to hear the resounding argument that happens between the remaining girls, but I’m far enough they know I don’t want to be a part of whatever they’re saying.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. These scams put us all at risk and we don’t need that,” Katara concludes. “We’ve already got some third-eye freak after us.”

“Speaking of that third-eye freak,” Sokka suddenly pops up after silently watching the argument. “I think I’ve come up with a name for him. What do you think of ‘sparky-sparky boom man’?”

“It might make him feel less intimidating,” I reply when no one else does and Sokka nods along like that was his intention.

“We have enough money,” Katara yells like Sokka hadn’t even spoken. “You need to stop this.”

“I’ll stop when I want to stop, and not when you tell me,” Toph yells back, earthbending a pouch of money into her hand before storming off and making her usual tent to separate herself.

An awkward silence fills the camp until Sokka breaks it. “Speaking of money, I’m off to spend some. See you guys later.”

“Wait up, I’ll go with you!” I call, following after him, anything to get me away from Toph and Katara for a little while.

“So, what are you planning on getting?” I ask when we get to the town.

“I’m gonna get a messenger hawk,” Sokka cheerfully replies.

“Sokka, no,” I groan, I know he said it before but I thought he was joking.

“What? It’s a great idea,” he defends and I sigh.

“I’ve changed my mind, I want no part of this. I’m going to see if I can find any scrolls, I’ll see you back at camp,” I wave at him then head in search of a new store.

I have no idea what I’m looking for exactly, honestly I kind of just want to walk around the town without having to keep an eye on who to scam next. I end up being a little glad about the money when I manage to pick up a couple more firebending scrolls. I haven’t finished the other ones yet, but I’ve been struggling with a couple of the moves so I figured getting a new thing to focus on might help.

When I get back Toph is still in her tent, but I see Aang and Katara practising in the water underneath the cliff nearby so I go to join them, I say a quiet greeting, but apart from that I don’t disturb them, just roll up the bottom of my pants and dip my feet in the water as I read.

Eventually, they stop and head back up and I follow, noticing Sokka’s returned and Toph has come out of her tent. I also do my best to pretend like I don’t see Sokka’s new ‘friend’.

“Sokka, tell me you didn’t buy a bird,” Katara criticises her brother. “Did you let him buy that?”

“Hey, I told him not to,” I defend when Katara turns her look on me.

“Not just a bird, a messenger bird,” Sokka clarifies, like that makes it any better, “Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran-Gran.”

I roll my eyes as Sokka tries to command the bird, but it just squawks in his face, not moving from its place on the boy’s shoulder until Momo appears and starts chasing around, while still on Sokka.

—--

All the next day the atmosphere was so tense that at some point Sokka and Toph decided to leave again. And this time I chose to stay back, for one I am just done with these scams, and two I doubt Toph would even let me at this point.

While they’re gone Katara ends up pacing, and try as we might neither Aang or I can convince her to sit and relax. We look at each other concerned, but there’s no use trying to talk to her.

“That’s it!” The waterbender finally explodes and storms over to Toph’s tent.

“What are you doing?” Aang asks nervously.

“Toph must be hiding something with everything she’s doing, and I’m going to find out,” Katara replies angrily, digging through the bags Toph has by the tent.

“What? Katara you can’t,” I try to stop her but she ignores me.

She spends a few minutes shuffling through the earthbender’s stuff, muttering angrily the whole time. Eventually, she lets out a triumphant yell, holding up a piece of paper.

“I knew it! There’s a wanted poster out for her. ‘The Runaway’. What kind of name is that?” Katara mocks, showing us the poster. ”Did you know about this, Solmi?”

“No, of course not,” I reply but Katara just fixes me with a sceptical glare.

“I mean you haven’t been trying to stop her, maybe you’re secretly really enjoying this,” the girl accuses and I try not to groan.

“You should know Toph well enough by now, the more you tell her not to, the more she’s going to do something. She’s already got you doing that so I didn’t want to add to it,” I try to reason with the waterbender. But before she can reply I notice the missing two approaching, and I do not feel like being a part of the responding argument that’s about to go down.

So, I sit to the side with Aang and Sokka as the girls argue once again, and I can’t help but feel the urge to rub at my head, headache slowly building.

“Sokka! Do I act motherly?” Katara’s demand at her brother and his hawk's subsequent wing flapping in my face makes me pay attention.

“Hey, I’m staying out of this one,” Sokka replies, and I wish I had that attitude a couple of days ago.

“What do you think Aang, do I act like a mom?” Katara asks the airbender next. Only to scold him before he can even reply.

“You know, being motherly isn’t a bad thing,” I mumble, too afraid to say it louder in case it brought the wrath of either girl. But I know I’ve always somewhat appreciated Katara’s caring, mothering nature, especially since I’ve never experienced it before.

Both girls end up going their own ways, and I glance at the guys only for Hawky to squawk.

“I know, Hawky. Why can’t they just get along?” Sokka sighs upset.

—--

Katara and Toph stay firmly away from each other the rest of the day, each of them sitting on either side of the camp.

Which unfortunately for me means I get to deal with Aang and Sokka without anyone around to be their filter. I mean I could do it, but at least I got some fun out of watching Sokka’s ‘impressive’ plan to send Katara a letter from Toph, only for it to surprisingly, not work.

At least I don’t have to convince them out of doing it the other way round because this time they realise the problem themselves. Which leads to Sokka doing things the old fashioned way and going to talk to Toph.

“So, how’s the firebending going?” Aang asks when it’s just the two of us. I laugh at the sudden question, but answer it happily when I realise with all the arguing I haven’t really spoken to the boy in the last couple of days.

Katara returns from wherever she went after she stormed off after ‘Toph’s’ letter, and it’s not long after that Toph and Sokka come back too.

“Hi, Toph,” Katara says, walking up to meet the smaller girl. “Um… I want to…”

“Katara, stop,” Toph interrupts. “You don't need to apologise. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control and I’m done with them.”

“Actually, I wasn’t going to apologise. I was going to say I want to pull a scam with you,” Katara admits. Of all the ways I imagined this conversation going, this was not one of them. I have to force my mouth closed from where it dropped in shock.

“What? You want to pull a scam?” Toph asks, rightfully surprised.

“Not just any scam. The ultimate scam,” Katara declares. I notice Aang and Sokka fainting from the shock of it all, and I can’t say I’m not too far off either. “What do you say, Toph? Just me and you, one last go. You in?”

“You know I’m in,” Toph agreed excitedly. “Now what’s this idea of yours?”

They start talking their plan out while I go check on the two boys, still dazingly laying on the ground.

—--

Aang, Sokka and I are left behind at camp, while Katara and Toph pull off their scam, which once it was explained was a pretty smart idea from Katara.

At least, I thought so until hours passed and there’s no sign of either of the girls.

“Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?” Aang asks pacing, voicing my own concerns out loud.

“It should’ve been in and out, unless maybe there was a problem?” I wonder, fingers tapping on my lap.

“I was just wondering the same thing. We better check it out,” Sokka decides. He lets Hawky off his arm next to Momo, then addresses the animals. “You two behave, Appa’s in charge.”

We head into the town after that, the entire way I’m pulling on my bowstring, and it only gets worse once we arrive and see that the once bustling streets are now empty, the town somehow turning into a ghost town in a matter of hours.

“Guys, can we find them and get out of here quickly please,” I beg, chills being sent down my spine with every step I take in this place.

“Where do you think they might be?” Sokka asks, glancing around.

“Where do you think anyone is?” Aang returns.

We walk past a giant statue of Fire Lord Ozai when Aang suddenly stops, and I think I know why.

“Sokka, Solmi! Watch out!” Aang yells, grabbing Sokka and pulling him behind the statue, at the same time I also start moving to get behind the cover.

All of it just in time as an explosion goes off right where we were just standing.

“It’s Sparky-sparky boom man,” Aang warns. I follow his eye line and there’s no way to mistake the large metal man standing on the roof of a house.

“You know, I’m starting to think that name doesn’t quite fit,” Sokka says, rubbing his head from the sudden motion.

“Yeah, ignore what I said earlier, it does not make him any less intimidating,” I agree as whatever his name is, jumps down from the roof.

He sends another explosion that hits the edge of the statue we were behind, giving us barely any time to jump away from it.

We run away as he continues to fire at us, turning a corner as another blast hits, sending Sokka flying forward into a wooden cart. Aang and I run to catch up with him, pulling said cart up to use as cover.

“This guy is too good. He shoots fire from his brain,” Sokka exclaims, panicking.

“We should split up, he can’t chase all of us, Solmi you come with me!” Aang commands and I nod.

We hear the clang of his footsteps approaching and use that as a signal. We split off from Sokka down one of the separate path next to us. There’s barely a moment before I hear an explosion behind us and tense

Aang decides to jump up onto the roof and run back past the Sparky-sparky boom man to separate us even more. But I stop running, watching horrified as Aang gets blown off the roof, hitting the statue hard and falling to the ground.

“Aang, no!” I yell. I run back towards the man, hoping to use the advantage that he has his back to me.

And it looks like it might work, but as soon as I get close he turns around, already winding up to bend at me and I know it’s too late to try and dodge. At that moment I remember something I learned from one of the scrolls. I plant my feet and just as the explosion comes towards me I move, grabbing the flames, before twisting and directing them back at him.

He dispels the attack with another explosion, but I use that moment to run past him and get to Aang. Except he intercepts me along the way, grabbing my arm and harshly throwing me into the ground next to Aang.

He turns to face us, and I struggle to get up to fight back. But I don’t have to, as just as he winds up a block of ice freezes around his head. He stumbles away, revealing Katara, Toph and Sokka behind him.

“Aang, Solmi, get up,” Katara yells. She grabs Aang as she runs past, and I feel Sokka also pulling me up to my feet.

“Let’s get out of here,” Toph says. She stops momentarily to bend a rock at Sparky-sparky boom man and I hear the resounding explosion but don’t stop.

“Hey, I got it. The perfect name for that guy. Combustion man,” Sokka declares as we continue to get out of the town.

“Good job, Sokka. Now let’s get out of here before Combustion man catches us,” Toph yells.

“See? It fits so well,” Sokka replies, happy about the new name.

We get back to camp without being followed and quickly pack up our stuff and go, not wanting to hang around for a moment longer than necessary. Almost getting blown up again once is already plenty for the day.

Chapter Text

Crickets chirp as the moon shines its brilliant light. It’s a cold night but the fire keeps us warm, crackling at full blast and the familiar orange glow lights up our small circle.

“Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark, ‘ohhh’, It came into the torchlight. And they knew… the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!” Sokka sings/screams a noise at the end of his story, adding to the atmosphere.

However, after so many scary stories they stop being scary. So instead of reacting in fear as he wanted, the rest of us are more bored than anything.

“I think I liked ‘the man with a sword for a hand’ better,” Aang comments lazily.

There’s a distinct pop from the fire which draws our attention as the flame starts to get dimmer. “Fire’s getting low again,” Katara addresses the dwindling flame.

“Solmi, will you do the honors?” Sokka asks, dramatically gesturing to the flame.

“Fine,” I groan, stretching out in my seat.

In all honesty, yes they could have just as easily added some more logs to revive the flame, but we’ve developed a habit of me doing these sorts of things so I can practise fine-tuning my firebending for the little things as well as fighting.

Breathe in, to the campfire, just enough to keep it going.

I breathe out, and with a flick of my wrist, a small ball of fire is heading to the dying flames. However, instead of gently reigniting the sticks it sets them ablaze causing me, as well as the others to cover our faces as it roars higher than it was supposed to. Luckily it quickly dies down to a more appropriate size.

“Sorry,” I apologise sheepishly, I’m finding out fine-tuning isn’t really my speciality.

“Hey, don’t worry, you’ll get there” Katara replies, patting my shoulder.

“Can we get back to the stories now?” Sokka asks, eyes glinting that tells me he has another one already planned.

“Do we have to?” Toph groans annoyed. “Water Tribe slumber parties must stink.”

“No, wait. I’ve got one. And it’s a true Southern Water Tribe story,” Katara says, voice getting quieter

“Is this one of those ‘a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to’ story?” Sokka question, doubt already clear.

“No, it happened to Mom,” Katara replies, which piques Sokka’s interest, as well as my own.

Her following tale about Mimi is actually kind of scary and I feel chills creep up my spine as Katara talks, suddenly more aware of all the creepy noises coming from the woods.

Out of nowhere Toph gasps, “Wait, guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain, and they’re screaming,” Toph cautions, getting up and looking around.

The suddenness of it shoots fear through me and the next thing I know I’m huddled up with Aang and the Water Tribe siblings. “Are you sure?” I hesitate to ask.

“Pfft, nice try,” Sokka scoffs from my left.

“No, I’m serious, I hear something,” Toph says genuinely, which just makes it scarier.

“You’re probably just jumpy from the ghost stories,” Katara tries to reason.

“It just stopped,” the earthbender mutter.

“All right, now I’m getting scared,” Aang trembles still clinging to Katara.

“Hello children,” A voice greets us from what sounds like behind us.

I scream and run, following the others to huddle on the other side of the fire. On this side, we can see that behind where we were just sitting an old woman emerges from the dark of the forest.

“Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama. You children shouldn’t be out in the forest by yourselves at night,” the lady says kindly, and we break away from our panicked huddle once we realise she’s not an evil ghost. “I have an inn nearby, why don’t you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?”

“Yes please,” Sokka agrees easily, being someone inside and safe sounding a lot better than staying out here after the night we’ve had.

—--

We follow Hama into the nearby town and up to her inn. Once we get there she points us towards a table to sit at while she makes the tea.

“Thanks for letting us stay here tonight, you have a lovely inn,” Katara tell the old lady after she returns and starts pouring our tea.

It’s nice, rich and refreshing but still, I don’t think anyone could beat the tea Iroh makes.

“Aren’t you sweet?” Hama replies kindly. “You know you should be careful, people have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in.”

“What do you mean disappearing?” Sokka demands, now worried.

“When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don’t come out,” the words are ominous and laced with mystery. An air of surprise settles around our group. “Who wants more tea?” Hama asks suddenly, easily cheerful again despite the creepy thing she just said.

I look down at my tea, trying to contain my worry about being here now.

“Don’t worry,” Hama eventually says, seeming to realise the mood her words had created. “You’ll all be completely safe here. Why don’t I show you to your rooms, and you can get a good night’s rest?”

She leads up upstairs to the rooms, all of us getting separate ones since, apparently, she’s not very busy right now.

I turn to thank her as I go into my room, and I swear out of the corner of my eye I could see her glaring at me, but once I face her fully her smile is still where it’s been all night. I guess I must have imagined it. I have decided we aren’t doing any more ghost story nights.

—--

When I wake up the next morning it takes a moment for me to remember where I am. Then I take note of the room’s decor and remember the night before, feeling a shiver run down my spine as I recall all the creepy stories.

I stretch and put my shoes on before heading down to the same room with the table as last night, and to no surprise, none of my friends are up yet.

“Oh my, aren’t you awake early,” I hear from behind me. I turn to see Hama standing at the front door like she’s just come in.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” I stutter. I thought I had been getting better around people, but something about her, I don’t know, it just makes me nervous. “I’ve always been an early riser.”

“Really, that’s rare for someone your age,” she comments, and it should be innocent enough but there’s something in the way she said it like she’s trying to figure something out.

“I used to work in a house, in the… colonies where we’re from. And I’d wake up early to get all the chores done. Guess it just stuck with me,” I explain hesitantly.

“You know, I heard it’s quite a popular habit with firebenders, that could have some part,” she replies casually, moving in from the doorway towards me, and subconsciously I feel myself take a step back.

“Y…yeah, it, uh, it could be,” I fumble to get the agreement out, but it doesn’t matter as a large grin settles on her face.

For a moment I think about running back to my room, or even to one of the others, but luckily I don’t have to as Aang and Katara come into the room.

“Good morning, what’s for breakfast?” Aang asks loudly, breaking the tension I didn’t realise had risen.

“Aang, you could be a little more polite,” Katara berates the airbender softly.

“Right, sorry, anyway… is something?” Aang cuts off whatever he was going to say when he notices Hama and I staring at each other.

“Everything’s great deary, we were just having an early morning chat,” Hama replies, the same kind voice from last night returning. “As for breakfast…”

I tune her out, more focused on getting my racing heart to slow down.

What was all that about? What was she trying to learn?

I see Katara looking at me confused and slightly concerned. I attempt to give my best reassuring smile, and it must be convincing enough because she relaxes and follows Aang in helping Hama prepare breakfast.

I decide to go back to my room, foregoing food just to take a moment to calm down. I only come out when Aang invites me to go to the market with the rest of them.

We get dragged around stall after stall, arms full of baskets and each of them full of many different foods and ingredients, Katara right next to Hama the whole, whereas I and the others keep further back.

“Oh right, tomorrow’s a full moon,” a man says warily, talking to a vendor, and I can't help but overhear as I walk past.

“Exactly,” the vendor replies. “I can’t lose another delivery boy in the woods.”

“People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff during full moons. This just reeks of spirit world shenanigans,” Sokka announces, alos9 having overheard the conversation, and it wasn’t even the first of its kind. The entire town seems to be worried about the coming full moon.

“I bet if we take a little walk around town we’ll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad,” Aang declares, already formulating a plan.

“And then you can sew up this little mystery, lickety-split, Avatar style,” Sokka says.

“Helping people, that’s what I do,” Aang grins confidently.

“Why don’t you all take those things back to the inn?” Hama suggests, addressing the rest of us. “I just have to run a couple more errands. I’ll be back in a little while.”

Sokka tries to question Hama about the town, but she pays him no mind before walking off to go and do stuff.

We carry the baskets back to the inn, all the while I can’t help but feel hesitant about going back there at all, but I know I’m the only one who feels this way so I keep quiet about it.

“That Hama seems a little strange,” Sokaa says once he puts down his basket back in the inn.

“I think you might be on to something there,” I agree, the events of this morning still burning questions in my mind.

“She acts like she knows something, or she’s hiding something,” Sokka continues, warning the others and I feel a little hopeful that maybe I wasn’t overthinking the creepy feeling the old woman gives me.

“That’s ridiculous,” Katara shrugs off his concern and I frown. “She’s a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kind of reminds me of Gran-gran.”

But Sokka still doesn’t look convinced, he tries to question it more but when Katara doesn’t budge he decides to look around instead and I instantly follow him, just as curious about this woman.

“Sokka, Solmi, what are you guys doing?” Katara demands as we start heading up the stairs. “You can’t just snoop around someone’s house.”

“It’ll be fine,” Sokka replies unconcerned, going through all the room, opening and closing doors one after the other.

“She could be home any minute,” Aang points out nervously. “Solmi, why are you going along with this?”

“I wish I could explain, I just have a bad feeling,” I say, hoping that for now, they won’t ask more than that. I can tell them about this morning if we find something that proves I wasn’t just overreacting.

We continue to search, -Katara complaining the whole time- but we don’t find anything other than some creepy puppets in a cupboard in a hallway. That is until Sokka climbs up more stairs to find the only locked door in the house, a small room in the back of the attic.

“Just an ordinary, puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Then why does she have a locked door up here?” Sokka demands of his sister as she too comes up the stairs.

“Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff,” Katara criticises.

“She’d only want people out of her stuff if there was something she didn’t want people to see,” I reason ignoring the glare the waterbender sends me for it.

“Exactly,” Sokka cheers, bedding down to look through the keyhole. “It’s empty except for a little chest.”

Toph gasps, suddenly excited from where she’d just been trailing behind this entire adventure. “Maybe it’s treasure.”

Sokka pulls out his sword and starts wiggling it in the keyhole until the door swings open, much to his sister's displeasure.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Aang agonises as we walk into the bare room.

Sokka quickly bends down to grab the small blue box that was sitting in the middle of the room. “Maybe there’s a key here somewhere,” he wonders looking around.

“Oh, hand it over,” Toph demands, taking the box from the boy. Her other hand grabs her space armband, bending it into the rough shape of a key. She wiggles the key around, trying to unlock the box as Sokka tries to get her to hurry.

“You got this, Toph,” I encourage, wanting this to be done as soon as possible.

“Guys, I don’t know about this,” Aang continues his worrying.

“This is crazy, I’m leaving,” Katara declares angrily, but is quick to turn back when there’s an audible click as the box is unlocked and we all crowd around, wanting to see its contents.

“I’ll tell you want’s in the box,” Hama’s voice says from behind us.

I scream, immediately twisting around to see the old lady by the door. She comes into the room, and every step she takes closer makes me want to step back.

Sokka guiltily hands the box over to her, and she takes it, opening it up and reaching in to pull out a simple but beautiful blue and white comb.

“An old comb?” Sokka whines in disbelief.

“It’s my greatest treasure. It’s the last thing I owned from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe,” Hama reveals. I feel my eyes widen in shock and I can’t say I expected it in the least, nothing about her screaming Water Tribe, but I guess that’s the point.

“You’re from the Southern Water Tribe?” Katara questions, surprised by the revelation.

“Just like you,” Hama replies easily, though her knowledge isn’t really that surprising now.

There are questions of course but the older lady just answers all of them easily, and I can see Sokka’s suspicions disappearing.

“I bought all of this food today so I could fix you a big Water Tribe dinner. Of course, iI can’t get all the ingredients I need here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough,” Hama explains cheerfully and I see Aang gag at the end of it.

“I knew I felt a bond with you right away,” Katara beams excitedly.

“And I knew you were keeping a secret, so I guess we were both right,” Sokka interjects, smugly looking at his sister which just causes her to punch his arm. “But I’m sorry we were sneaking around.”

“Apology accepted,” Hama replies happily. “Now let’s get cooking.”

We all go downstairs at Hama’s request, adn even though that should be it, the big secret found out, it’s not enough, not to me. There has to be something that explains why she unsettles me.

We spend the rest of the evening cooking, and once it’s done, we all sit around the table. Hama comes in, bringing the soup with her.

“Who wants five flavour soup?” She asks, and Aang, Sokka and Katara raise their hands.

I expect Hama to get up to pour the soup, but instead, the next thing I know, five identical slithers of it are flying into our bowls.

“You’re a waterbender!” Katara gasps, even more excited than finding out she was Water Tribe. “I’ve never met another waterbender from our tribe.”

“That’s because the Fire nation wiped them all out,” Hama replies grimly, eyes downcast. “I was the last one.”

“So how did you end up out here?” Sokka asks curiously.

“I was stolen from my home,” she seethes. I half-listen as she explains how the Fire Nation captured her and the other waterbenders. Most of the time I keep my attention firmly on the soup I’m just mixing around in the bowl.

It’s not that I don’t want to listen, but it’s hard to ignore the subtle looks Hama keeps sending my way, especially since I know what they’re for, I guess this explains what she was after this morning, she was trying to figure out if I was a firebender. Though if she heard Katara’s story she most definitely saw me firebending the campfire as well.

Katara gets up at some point, resting her arms on Hama to give her some comfort and it seems only the looks stop.

“I was the only one who managed to escape,” she finishes, eyes now firmly on the table in front of her.

“How did you get away? And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?” Sokka questions insistingly.

“I’m sorry. It’s too painful to talk about anymore,” she grieves, shaking her head.

“We completely understand,” Katara acknowledges. “We lost our mother in a raid.”

“Oh you poor things,” Hama grabs Katara’s hand in understanding. No one seems enthused in eating in the now sombre atmosphere.

Everyone goes to bed after Hama offers to teach Katara to keep the Southern Water Tribe traditions going, which the younger waterbender was very excited about.

I wish I could be like the others, all planning on sleeping early for the busy day everyone has planned for tomorrow, but it appears any idea of sleep is evading me. For a moment I think about taking a walk to clear my head, but something tells me that would be a bad idea.

Instead, I decide to go visit Appa, where he’s hiding in the woods nearby, sure the bison’s ever comforting presence will calm me down. It’s dark when I get outside, the moon hidden behind some clouds. Not wanting to trip I light a small fire in my hand to use as light without even thinking about it, this is one thing I’ve actually gotten good at doing.

“So you are a firebender,” a now welcomingly familiar voice says quietly behind me. It takes all of my willpower not to scream as I jump. Though I don’t try to contain my annoyance as I turn around to glare at Hama, this old woman just seems to love sneaking up on people.

“Uh, yeah,” I say hesitantly. The fire in my hand went out when I lost my concentration, but I’m sure she saw it. Though I assumed she’d already figured out my bending abilities, this was probably just the confirmation she needed, and I berate myself for giving it to her this easily.

“How did someone like you end up with your friends?” She poses the question innocently, but it’s not hard to figure out what she really meant by ‘someone like me’.

“That’s a long and complicated story,” I say evasively, though I doubt she really cares.

“I’m sure,” she agrees, and I wonder if that’s the end of the conversation. “I could tell, you know. You’ve got the eyes.”

Subconsciously I reach my hand up to touch the side of my face. “Yeah, I uh, I get that a lot,” I stutter, it was never uncommon for people in the Earth Kingdom to point out the weird colour of my eyes.

“I think you should come with your friends and I tomorrow,” Hama says suddenly. I look at her confused at the sudden change in topic. “Your moral support will be very important.”

“I don’t know, Aang’s a lot more supportive than I am,” I reply quickly. It’s not like I wouldn’t want to be there for Katara, just a day spent with Hama is not my idea of fun right now.

“The support she will need is one only you can provide,” she insists, cryptically leaving out any details.

“Okay,” I agree warily, at least Katara will be there.

“Though you may be a distraction at first, why don’t you stay here at the inn until I come to find you. Just don’t tell your friends, i want it to be a surprise,” the old waterbender demands, and all I can do is nod, not wanting to argue.

She claps happily at my agreement adn goes back indoors, and I go with her, my original plan forgotten in my haste to just go to bed and make this night pass.

—--

The next morning we spilt up. Hama and Katara go to wherever, Toph, Sokka and Aang head into town to figure out this spirit problem. And I, like I was requested stay in the inn.

It was no surprise when everyone protested confused, but at the insistent gaze of Hama I told them I wanted some time to practise after the campfire incident, so reluctantly they let it go.

To my surprise, the inn feels more welcoming when it’s empty, but still the hours pass by slowly. I read, go and play with Appa, meditate and even practise so at the very least I didn’t lie to my friends.

The further into the afternoon it gets I start to debate leaving to join Aang, sure that Katara ended up not needing my ‘support’ in the end. But I stay, on the chance, my help is needed, I don’t want to leave her hanging.

Eventually, just as the sun sets the water bender return to the inn.

“Come deary, it’s time,” Hama announces from the doorway. I roll up the scroll I was reading and get up to follow.

“Solmi? What’s going on?” Katara asks and all I can do is shrug, still just as confused as she is.

“Your friend will be very important for this next lesson,” Hama advises, adn though still visibly confused Katara doesn’t question anymore.

We’re led deep into the woods, to where the only light visible is that from the moon shining through the treetops.

“Can you feel the power the full moon brings?” Hama demands of Katara, taking a deep breath in. “For generations it has blessed waterbenders with its glow, allowing us to do incredible things. I’ve never felt more alive.”

The way she talks, it’s different than before, full of confidence, but for what I don’t know. I look around for anything nearby, but it’s just trees as far as I can see, and that makes me nervous.

“What I’m about to show you. I discovered in that wretched Fire Nation prison,” Hama explains.

Suddenly, I feel a chill go through my entire body. I assume it’s the wind making me feel cold so I go to wrap my arms around myself for warmth. But they don’t respond, my arms won’t move like I want them to.

I suddenly remember Aang’s plan to look for a spirit and I wonder if maybe this is it, but I can’t move my head to check, or even warn the other two. I can’t move anything.

I force myself not to panic and just try to move only my toe as Hama tells Katara about her time in prison. But the more I hear the more I panic as I realise just what is happening to me.

“Once you perfect this technique you can control anything or anyone.”

There’s no spirit, she’s doing this, she’s bloodbending me.

I try to call out to Katara, but I can’t make my voice work, and whether that’s Hama or my own fear I don’t know.

“But to reach inside someone and control them? I don’t know if I want that kind of power,” Katara stutters, now scared of the older waterbender in front of her.

“The choice is not yours. The power exists, look,” I feel myself walking forward, and it’s just wrong. All of my movements are jagged and forced as I try to fight against it, but it’s no use.

Katara looks at me and I watch the emotions fly across her face, confusion, worry, realisation.

“No” Let her go!” She yells at Hama. Her voice is sharp but her eyes easily give away just how scared she is.

“Did you think I didn’t notice your friends’ abilities?” Hama mocks, piercing stare full of the hatred she’d been failing to hide. “It’s your duty to use the gifts you’ve been given to win this war. Katara, it’s people like her that tried to wipe us out, our entire culture, your mother.”

“I know. But Solmi isn’t anything like them,” Katara argues, though her anger dims at the mention of her mother.

“There is no ‘but’ Katara, they’re all the same, just look at her eyes, the eyes of a monster.” The words hurt and they shouldn’t, not coming from someone like Hama, but they do. “You should understand what I’m talking about. We’re the last waterbenders of the Southern Tribe, we have to fight these people whenever we can.”

“N…no,” I force out, my voice finally responding to me. “I am nothing like the people who took you. Not all people from the Fire Nation are the same, but you refuse to see that through your hatred.”

Suddenly my entire body twists at awkward angles, forcing me to fall to the ground, a yell of pain escaping me as pain shoots through my body at my limbs moving in ways they’re not supposed to.

“Stop!” Katara cries in anger, and the twisting stops, but I still can’t move on my own. “It’s you. It’s not just Solmi right now, you’re the one making people disappear during the full moons.”

“They threw me in prison to rot, along with my brothers and sisters, they deserve the same. You must carry on my work,” Hama demands, face contorted with her deep-seated hatred.

“I won’t, I won’t use bloodbending and I won’t allow you to keep terrorising this town,” Katara declares confidently, staring Hama down.

But soon the arm she had pointed out twists, moving out of control. “You should have learned the technique before you turned against me.” Soon Katara’s whole body is frozen the way as mine.

Except I realise I can move. It was hard to feel the feeling returning with the ache sitting in my limbs, but now I can actually freely move my limbs. She must have forgotten about me when she started bloodbending Katara.

I use her talking to Katara as a distraction to sneak up on her. I slowly pull my dagger out of my side holster and get up behind her. But before I can even swing my arm, the wrongness of being controlled is back and the next thing I know I’m soaring through the air until I knock hard into a tree.

I fall to the ground, barely managing a grunt of pain before everything turns fuzzy. I must have hit my head or maybe it’s an effect of the bloodbending, but suddenly it’s hard to concentrate or control my arms enough to push myself off the floor. It feels like I've been walking for days with no break as all of my muscles ache in protest if I even so much as twitch them.

I hear the sound of a confrontation and manage to pull myself up in time to move more slightly behind the tree and out of the way of the two fighting waterbenders.

I hear Hama scream as Katara knocks her down and for a moment I let myself hope that maybe this is over with, and that hope only grows when I see Sokka and Aang running towards us from behind the older lady.

“Solmi!” Aang gasps as soon as he sees me, and considering I know I’m mostly laying limp against the tree next to me I assume I must not look too good. “What did you do to her?”

“We know what you’ve been doing, Hama,” Sokka accuses.

“Give up, you’re outnumbered,” Aang declares, getting ready to fight.

“No. You’ve outnumbered yourselves,” Hama says getting up, and with a raise of her hands, Sokka and Aang are caught in her bending and forced to attack Katara.

I gasp, forcing myself onto my feet despite my legs feeling like they’re about to collapse at any moment.

I lean almost all of my weight against the tree and I light a small fire in my hand as Katra tries to keep the other two away without hurting them.

It’s hard to find a clear shot with the three of them moving around, but I manage just as Katara dodges out of the way of her brother coming at her with his sword.

It’s clear the older waterbender doesn’t expect the attack, the flame is far off course due to my shaky arms but she throws up one arm to bend a small shield in front of her anyway, causing her to lose control of Aang for a moment.

Hama sets her glare on me, and it’s more unhinged than I’ve ever seen it. A scream escapes my lips as I feel everything in my body twist wrongly and the waterbender isn’t even trying to use me against Katara like the other two, she just wants to hurt.

“Stop!” Aang tries to run over to help me, but I feel the woman’s grip leave me as she bends the airbender once again, and this time I can’t bring myself to get up to try and intervene.

Katara easily manages to contain the boys by freezing them to nearby trees, but Hama instead turns them to attack each other.

However, they abruptly stop before they can meet and I watch confused until I see the jerky motions Hama makes behind them. I turn to see Katara with her hands out, and when she lowers them Hama falls to the ground as well.

Suddenly I hear footsteps as Toph and a bunch of people come running towards our group and the villagers are quick to put Hama in chains.

“My work is done,” Hama declares as she’s led away. “Congratulations, Katara. You’re a bloodbender.”

Katara instantly starts crying as the old lady cackles, and I crawl my way over to put a comforting hand on the girl’s knee as he collapses, sobs breaking through her lips.

Chapter Text

The sky is dark when we push the branches of the bushes out of our faces and step onto a large field.

“This is it,” Sokka announces, lowering his map from where he’d been studying it. “The official rendezvous point for the invasion.”

“How did you pick this place?” Toph asks curiously.

“Yeah, it’s really peaceful,” I can’t help but admire. Though I feel like the sleeping Koala sheep do help the atmosphere.

“Before we split up my dad and I found this island on a map. It’s uninhabited, and the harbour surrounded by cliffs seemed like the perfect secluded place,” Sokka responds as we slowly walk further into the area.

“Nice choice, Sokka,” Katara compliments, already starting to relax. “And we’re here four days ahead of schedule.”

For a brief second, it seems like that’s the end of the conversation, and we can finally get some sleep.

Then Aang jumps up so fast I know he used his airbending to do it. “Wait, four days? The invasion’s in four days?”

“Aang, what’s wrong?” I ask concerned by his sudden panicked state.

Sokka, however is much less concerned if his yawning is anything to go by. “Whatever, that’s like… four days from now. Let’s just calm down and…” he doesn’t even finish his sentence before he’s off in dreamland.

“Sokka’s got the right idea, Aang. We’re here, we’re ready. The best thing we can do now is get plenty of rest,” Katara tells the airbender, lying down.

Aang groans but lays down anyways. It’s only then, do I also get into a position to get some sleep.

However, unlike the rest of my friends, and the rest of the surrounding koala sheep I don’t find it so easy.

Four days.

The entire world could change in just four days. I can go home, I can finally rescue Bumi and we can go back to how everything was. A lot will be different now I know, but hopefully, everything what’s important will be the same, and that’s all that matters.

Suddenly, I hear Aanf gasp and shoot up from where he’d been sleeping. I turn over and see him urgently patting his legs. “It was just a dream Momo, I still have my pants.”

“Aang, are you okay?” I whisper, both confused and concerned about the strange comment.

He turns panicked but relaxes once he sees me. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he replies calmly. “Why are you awake?”

“Just thinking I guess,” I tell him, turning to lie on my back and watch the stars. The conversation lulls and after a few moments, I hear him get up.

“Well, I better keep training. You should get some sleep,” he advises kindly, walking away.

“Sure, but don’t stay up too long,” I quietly call out to him, and I get a responding thumbs up.

Eventually, I do manage to fall asleep to the sound of whatever training Aang ends up doing.

—--

It’s the same kind of repetitive noise that wakes me up the following day. The thudding continues on and eventually I groan, getting up.

I see, to my surprise, that it’s morning, but the sky is blue instead of the array of colours I usually see. I guess even my subconsciousness realises how important it is to rest right now.

“Hey, how long have you been up?” I hear Katara ask, adn it brings me back to the noise that woke me in the first place, which I now realise is Aang repeatedly punching a nearby tree.

“A couple hours,” the Avatar responds tense.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t go back to sleep,” I berate the younger boy as I get up, he must have been up all night doing this.

“I got a lot more skills to refine if I’m gonna fight Ozai,” he states, changing to kicking the tree instead.

“You know, there is such a thing as overtraining,” katara tells him when he stops for a moment, his whole body moving from how hard he’s breathing.

But that doesn’t seem to bother him as he moves forward to punch the tree again. Except this punch is stronger and the force of it sends shockwaves that him over, as well as knocking all the leaves off said tree.

But even that doesn’t stop him long and once again he’s back on his feet. “You don’t get it, do you? My form is bad, I’m sloppy, adn I still don’t know any firebending, not even the basics,” Aang critiques himself and I frown.

“That’s okay, Aang, the eclipse will block all firebending anyway, you don’t need to know any,” Sokka says from where he’s casually lying around listening to the somewhat eccentric Avatar. “Plus, it’s a stupid element.”

I send Toph a subtle look and though she can’t see it, I know she can feel my gentle tap on the ground and she gets the message. Without any hesitation, she stamps, earthbending the ground under Sokka to send him flying a couple of feet over the field.

“Thank you,” I say to the earthbender happily, adn she just smirks, glad to cause Sokka pain for whatever reason she can.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Sokka apologies, grumbling as he rubs his back.

“I still have to work on everything else,” Aang argues back to Sokka’s previous point. “I better spend the whole day training.” He does some over the top bow before whisking away on his air scooter.

And in the end, there’s not much we can do to stop him, the only time he takes a break is to eat but he’s soon back to training afterwards.

The rest of us just keep ourselves busy with joint concerns and small tasks so we can keep an eye on the airbender.

Me personally choosing to do some maintenance on my bow so it’s in perfect performance shape since like Sokka said, I won’t be using much firebending, and it’s a good way to keep myself distracted so I don’t end up like Aang.

Soon it’s night again, adn I hope all the exercise would have tired the airbender so that he’ll actually get some sleep.

I hear him yawn as he collapses onto the ground. “Good night, Katara. Good night, Sokka. Good night, Solmi. Good night, Toph. Good night, Appa. Good night, Momo. Good night, Appa and mo…”

“Go to sleep already!” Toph yells, cutting off Aang’s excessive ‘good nights’.

Unlike the night before I am quicker to sleep. I briefly hear Aang wake up again, but I also hear Katara get up to follow so I know he’s in good hands as I drift back off.

—--

When I wake up the next day, the sky is still dark as usual, and Aang is still sleeping to my relief, though I can see the signs of a nightmare brewing as he tosses and turns on the ground.

I slowly crawl over, and gently brush my fingers through his hair, and for the moment it looks like he settles so I decide to take a small walk around the island.

There isn’t much to see, just grass and bushes and cliffs, but the way the sea sends a gentle breeze to flutter the trees, and the koala sheep laze around munching on the grass, it does a great job of setting a relaxing atmosphere despite the reason why we’re here.

I end up getting back to the main area to hear Aang yelling about something.

“Sokka, get up, I need to know what day it is,” he demands frantically.

I quicken my pace and get back to everyone just in time to see Sokka suddenly stand up and headbutt a rock in front of him.

“Relax, it’s still two days before the invasion,” Toph grumbles getting up.

“Sokka, you've got to get up and drill your rock-climbing exercises,” Aang suddenly decides, pulling on Sokka’s limbs.

“What?” the older boy responds, rightfully confused.

“In one of my dreams, you were running for Fire Nation soldiers, trying to climb this cliff. But you were too slow and they got you,” the airbender explains, or at least tries.

Sokka tries to argue but it’s futile seeing the younger boy’s panicked state so he just grumbles and starts climbing the nearby cliff, forced along by Aang’s insistence.

“Don’t drink that!” Aang suddenly yells again, and I jump and turn to see Toph drop the pouch she had just drank from, spitting the water out all over Katara.

“Why, is it poisoned?” She asks panicked.

“In my dream, we were right in the middle of the invasion and you had to stop to use the bathroom. We died because of your tiny bladder,” Aang states, eyes widening crazily. Then he turns to me. “You need to make your shoes smaller. In my dream, you got caught because you couldn’t away because your shoes kept falling off. And you need to start wearing your hair up. In my dream, your hair got caught in a train and…”

He moves to stand in front of Katara as he rambles about her hair, and she takes that moment to cut him off. “Aang I know you’re just trying to help. But you really need to get a grip, you’re unravelling,” she tells him, and on his cheek to at least keep him still.

Aang sighs dramatically. “You’re right, I’m losing my mind.”

It’s only now that he’s calmed down I can see the dark circles that have formed under his eyes and I can’t help but frown sympathetically.

“Come and sit down for a minute, you need to relax,” I offer, grabbing his shoulder gently and leading him to sit on the grass.

Still, even though he agreed about needing to calm down, he’s constantly moving and fidgeting on the ground. It’s like the higher the sun gets, the worse he becomes.

Soon, he’s up on his feet again despite my trying to grab his arm and keep him sitting down. “It’s like every time I think about how stressed I am, I just end up more stressed,” he moans, pacing and fiddling with his fingers in a motion I am familiar with. “I’m like a big growing snowball of nerves.”

“Of course you are. That’s ‘cause you gotta fight the Fire Lord, the baddest man on the planet. And you better win, or we’re all done for,” Sokka supplies ‘helpfully’, which just makes me groan into my hands. I look over to see Aang now looking worse than before, and I didn’t know that was possible.

“Sokka, you’re not helping,” Katara berates.

While she deals with her brother I slowly walk over to the twitching Avatar, as not to startle him. I reach out and gently grab his hands to stop them moving so much, not that it makes a visible difference but I know how much I appreciate it when someone would do the same for me.

“What? It’s true, that’s the deal, he knows it,” Sokka says in defence of himself.

Katara comes over, and I let go of his hands so she can grab his shoulders and use her calming presence to try and get through to him. “You know what, I’ve got just the thing. Get ready to be de-stressified.”

And that starts the day of doing whatever we can do to calm the Avatar down.

Katara starts off with some Yoga, and then Sokka tries to get Aang to open up, and after that Toph attempts some kind of ‘massage’, but nothing worked. It was after Aang ran away screaming from the earthbender that I sighed realising it was my turn.

I guide the boy a little away from the others to the middle of the fields, I push his shaking form down onto the soft grass and sit across from him.

“Now, what I’m about to do is a tried and tested way of calming anyone down, it’s so effective that even parents use it to calm down babies,” I explain. I can see that he looks doubtful so instead of saying more of what it is, I just start.

I open my mouth, letting my words flow in a melody that’s almost second nature to me now.

(maybe)

The lullaby floats around the fields, getting carried along by the trees and trapped by the cliffs.

And against all odds, I can see the tension leaking out of Aang’s shoulders bit by bit, to the point he is now lazing against the ground rather than the rigid position he was in before.

“This is nice. I could listen to this all day,” he compliments, and I smile into the next words I sing, happy I could actually help. “Except then you’d have to sing all day, which will hurt your throat, then if something happens you won’t be able to call for help. Stop. Stop it right now!” Aang spirals and the song is cut off by his hand forcibly covering my mouth.

“Aang, I…” I pry his hand away and try to explain that I won’t lose my voice from singing for a few hours, but he cuts me off.

“Shhh,” he demands. “No talking, you have to preserve your voice.”

It takes hours after that for Aang to finally let me talk again, but by then it’s once again time to sleep.

“Thanks for everything, guys,” Aang says from where he's curled off to the side.

“So, do you feel less stressed, ready for a good night’s sleep?” Katara asks hopefully, but I think I can already tell the answer by the way his shoulders have gone back up to his ears.

“Uh, I kind of think I sort of might slightly feel a little, maybe,” he replies, though it sounds more like he’s throwing words together.

“Then our work here is done,” Sokka declares yawning, laying down and going to sleep immediately. And the rest of us take that as a sign to follow along.

—--

I’m running.

Running as fast as I can. But it doesn’t seem to matter.

Omashu burns, all of the city engulfed in flames as the buildings crumble away,

“Bumi,” I try to scream, but my voice comes out as barely a croak, smoke clogging up my throat.

“This is all how it’s supposed to be,” Bumi replies anyway, his cackling snort echoing in my mind.

I look around, desperately trying to find him.

And find him I do, being dragged away by a horde of Fire Nation soldiers towards the rapidly collapsing palace.

“Bumi!” I croak again. But I can’t move to follow him, a tight grip on my arm keeping me in place.

“How could you ever think I cared about you?” A familiar voice demands. I beg myself not to turn around, I don’t want to face him again.

But my head moves on its own and soon enough I’m confronted by Zuko’s scarred face.

“Z…” I attempt to say, yet no words will leave my mouth. I try again and again but somehow my voice is lost

“You are nothing but a liar and a coward, you could never matter to me,” Zuko laughs cruelly.

Suddenly, I feel the arm he’s holding start to burn. I yank my arm away but it’s too late, I can already see the once clear skin starting to peel away as his laugh rings in my ears.

—--

A scream wakes me up, and for a moment, as my heart races, I’m not sure if it’s mine.

But I soon recognise the familiar tone and get up quickly, rushing over to Aang.

“What happened, Aang?” Katara asks in a worried panic.

The younger boy glances at all of us before turning away. “It’s the nightmares. They just get worse and worse.”

“Looks like it’s time for another therapy session,” Sokka suggests, pulling on his fake beard.

“No, that won’t help. Nothing helps,” Aang snaps frustrated. “There’s only one thing I can do. I’m gonna stay awake straight through to the invasion.”

“Aang, that’s insane, you can’t,” Katara argues, but he doesn’t hear it, too lost in his newfound jittering.

“I’ll stay up with him tonight,” I suggest once I realise there’ll be no convincing him out of this.

“No way, we can’t have two sleep-deprived members,” Sokka disagrees.

“Just tonight. It’s almost sunrise anyway so I’ll sleep in the morning,” I reason calmly. “I just don't think it’ll be a good idea to leave him alone when he’s like this.” I gesture to said airbender who has moved from jittering to full out just rolling around on the grass.

“Okay, fine,” Sokka concedes, giving up because he knows I’m right about this.

Eventually, they all go back to sleep, and I see that Aang has moved from his spot on the grass to continue on his goal of de-leafing every tree in the vicinity.

Figuring that’ll keep him busy for the next while I plant myself next to the tree that’s already missing its leaves from yesterday.

I’m glad the others believed what I said about watching Aang, which isn’t untrue since I have no idea what he might do in this sleep-deprived state, but it also isn’t the reason I’m hesitant to sleep again.

I look at my arm, half worried about finding it in that burned up state again, but I relax seeing the now-familiar scar.

I wish I could say it was Aang’s influence that caused my nightmare, but in all honesty, I’m surprised I’m not in the same position as he is.

But the nightmare has also made me realise something that subconsciously I’ve been trying to repress these last few days.

As the crowned prince, Zuko will be there at his father’s side. Which means I’ll have to see him again, and right now I have no idea if I’ll be able to push everything aside and deal with him if the time comes.

It’s wrong, I know it is. I shouldn’t still care about him, especially since I know he didn’t care about me.

But still, there’s this small part of me that hopes that maybe, he’ll go back to being the Zuko I knew, the one that Iroh believed in.

Which reminds me, I have to convince the other to help me find him when this is all over. I don’t know where he’ll be, probably in a prison, but wherever it is he doesn’t deserve to be there. I’m sure they’ll agree since he did help us escape, and even if they don’t I’ll figure it out myself.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I open my eyes -when did they close- to see Katara crouching next to me with the sun shining behind her.

“Is it morning already?” I ask confused. How did the time pass so fast?

“Mm-hmm,” she nods. “Do you want to try and get some proper sleep now?”

I can see in her eyes her hidden meaning, and I guess I didn’t hide my reasonings for wanting to stay awake that well if her sympathetic gaze is anything to go by.

I wander off to find a more secluded area to sleep, and it’s difficult with the sun overhead since I never usually sleep during the day. But eventually, the exhaustion of staying up, as well as the lack of restful sleep because of the nightmare catches up with me.

—--

However, the exhaustion does nothing to keep the dreams at bay.

They vary in certain ways, none of them lasting long, just quick snippets before moving on to the next, some with the gang, others with Bumi and even my father. The only thing they all have in common is that Zuko is always there.

I can’t say I really ‘slept’ by the time I decide to get up, the nightmares irregularly waking me up, but not enough to force me to get up, always bringing me to the edge of consciousness before I’m swept back into another one.

All to say, I’m still pretty tired when I finally have enough and get up, to discover it’s not dark.

I groggily wander back to the main camp where I run into Katara.

“Are you okay?” She asks worriedly. Apparently, not even the dimming lighting can hide the circles I can feel forming under my eyes. Though I guess I should have known since I could see the same on Aang, I just hoped she’d be more distracted.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply. It’s only then I notice all the naked koala sheep standing around. “What are you guys doing?”

“We saw Twinkle-toes talking to Momo, so at this point, we figured he’s officially lost it,” Toph replies bluntly.

“So, I thought, what could be better to help someone get a good night’s rest than a nice comfy bed,” Sokka explains, gesturing to the rock their piling the wool from the animals onto.

With nothing better to do, I decide to help and I have to admit the wool is really soft.

Soon after its dark, we see Aang stumbling over from wherever he spent the day. Katara creates a mist around the new bed to both draw Aang to it and create a comforting atmosphere.

The airbender spots it and walks over, climbing all over and rubbing his face on the wool. “Oh, look, another hallucination. An imaginary bed made out of clouds.”

“Hye, it’s real. We spent hours working on it,” Toph snaps annoyed.

“We made it for you. A good night’s sleep will probably take the crazy away,” Sokka says. “We hope.”

But even with this really tempting bed in front of him, Aang still fights the idea of sleep, insisting he’s still not ready for the invasion.

“Listen to me. You’ve been training for this since the day we met. I’ve seen your progress. You’re smart, brave and strong enough,” Katara reassures him earnestly, arms wrapped around his shoulder.

“You really think so?” Aang asks hopefully.

“We all do. You can do this, you’re ready,” Sokka replies.

“I don’t doubt it for a second,” I add on encouragingly.

“You’re the man Twinkle-toes,” Toph finishes.

“Thanks, guys,” Aang replies smiling, which gets cut off by a large yawn. Katara leads him to the bed and he doesn’t fight this time, just follows her movements as she lays him down. “You know what? I think I am ready.”

And that’s the last thing he says before he’s gone, finally out like a light.

“And you Solmi,” Katara suddenly turns to me, making me jump. “Don’t forget, we’ll all be there, so anything or anyone you can’t handle, we’ll be right by your side to help you through it.”

The implication is clear, but no one expands which I am grateful for, everyone heading to get their own sleep for the next day's events.

I follow, Katara’s words bringing me some comfort, and I know even if I do see Zuko tomorrow, my friends will be right there to help me with whatever may come from it, and I hold onto that reassurance as I lay down and hope for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Chapter Text

The tension is heavy in the air as soon as I open my eyes.

It’s like even breeze knows about what’s to come and has vacated the area, leaving everything a haunted kind of still.

And it appears the tension has gotten to everyone else. Katara, Sokka and Toph are all awake despite the early hour, thankfully though Aang is still peacefully sleeping in his soft bed.

I can’t believe this could be it, this could be the end of everything. I won't lie and say I’m not terrified, this is the day I was dreading as soon as I left Omashu with Aang that first day. But as much as this scares me, I also can’t deny the part of me that has accepted this is something I have to do.

Speaking of which.

I get up and immediately start searching for a specific person.

“Sokka, I wanted to talk to you about something,” I say as soon as I spot the boy, over by the edge of cliffs studying his charts.

He looks up surprised but doesn’t argue when I sit down across from him.

“Sure, what’s up?” He asks kindly glancing back at the papers

My hands instantly go to my lap and start tapping on my leg as I think of the best way to say what I want. I see Sokka’s eyes follow the movement and he sits up straighter, attention now fully on me.

“I think I shouldn’t use my firebending today,” I finally say, forcing myself not to look away.

Which means I can see the shock overcome the younger boy’s face. “What? Why?”

“It’s just, it’ll be a stressful time and I don’t think we need anyone getting confused about who’s on what side,” I explain carefully. It’s something that’s been on my mind the last couple of days, it’ll be hard to know who to fight when there’s fire coming from both sides.

“I mean, I guess you have a point but…” he acknowledges and I sigh knowing he’d see my reasoning.

“And like you said I won’t be able to use it during the eclipse anyway,” I add on, trying to keep my expression light. It might be my idea, and it might be what’s best, but I’ve gotten used to using my firebending, it’s almost weird to think of fighting without it now.

“Well, if you’re sure,” he replies hesitantly. I smile and go to leave when suddenly a grin breaks out on his face. “Actually, you know what, I might have an idea, just in case.”

I want to ask but before I can he’s gone, heading over to talk to Katara and I don’t want to impose.

I glance at the siblings and I suddenly realise that they’ve changed out of the red I’ve gotten used to back into their Water Tribe clothing, and as I look I see Toph too has gone back to a familiar green.

I look down at myself and realise it’s time I too ditched the red.

I walk over to Appa’s saddle and search through my bags until I find the spare clothes I remember packing from Ba Sing Se, since my old ones are too damaged to try and fix.

It’s a little on the fancy side which makes sense from where I got it from, but it still works. I put on the long shirt which almost works as a dress. It almost looks like two different pieces with a light green material making up most of the shirt, and the sleeves being a darker green with a see-through piece of fabric holding the two parts together. I put on a pair of dark green leggings that reach my knees, and finish off the look by ditching my sandals for a familiar pair of boots.

The only thing I keep the same, is I decide to keep my black hair in my half-up ponytail rather than pull it back into a bun.

When I return from changing I see Sokka is back to intently studying his maps, so much so that Katara has to force his hand away from his chin to put a cup of water in it.

“Top of the morning, Momo!” Aang yells, suddenly springing into sight.

“Sounds like you slept well,” Katara comments happily, but also relieved since we don’t have to deal with a sleep-deprived Avatar anymore.

“Like a baby moose lion,” Aang replies easily. “I’m ready to face the Fire Lord.”

“So, what’s your strategy for taking him down? Going to get your glow on and hit him with a little Avatar state action?” Toph asks, excitedly punching the air.

“I can’t,” the pep that came from a good night’s sleep is now gone, bright eyes now replaced by a frown. “When Azula shot me with lightning my seventh chakra was locked, cutting off my connection to all the cosmic energy in the universe.”

My brain tries to wrap itself around what Aang explained, but I guess I will never understand the diner details of Avatar life, all I understand is that whatever it is, it’s serious so I pat his shoulder sympathetically.

“You know what I just heard?” Toph cuts through the tense atmosphere. “Blah-blah spiritual mumbo jumbo, blah-blah something about space.”

“Toph, you could try to be understanding,” I critique, not that she cares.

“Oh no,” Katara suddenly exclaims. I follow her eye line to see a thick cloud of fog rolling across the sea. “Sokka, do you think the fog will delay the invasion?”

Sokka gets up, moving closer as if to examine the fog. “No, that is the invasion,” he announces excitedly.

It’s quick work after that to get Toph and Aang down to the shore so they can earthbend platforms for the many ships to dock.

Sokka and Katara are off the second the ships stop to greet their dad, Katara hugging him fiercely. I leave them to it, sending the older man a small wave, and Toph and I stand by Aang as he greets other Water tribe members, and also apparently people from the Swamp tribe as well.

Katara eventually joins us while Sokka’s off who knows where and we end up just talking for a bit while people disembark. I have to keep myself from laughing at the appearance of Toph’s old earth rumble opponents, especially when the Hippo just pulls the girl into a bear hug,

A sudden explosion rocks the area, and I immediately look around for the source, finding it from the farthest ship so I quickly make my way over to him.

Aang, Sokka and Hakoda are all there already, and Sokka appears excited instead of worried so I figure they have whatever it is handled.

“Solmi, could you help me out with something, please?” Katara asks kindly.

“Yeah, sure,” I agree, a little glad to be able to get away from the crowds of people. Turns out that something was making enough food to feed a literal army.

But we get it done and soon everyone is gathered on the beach, patiently waiting for Sokka to explain the invasion plan.

I can tell Sokka’s nervous, and I can’t blame him because I know I would be scared to have to talk in front of so many people.

“Good morning everyone,” he greets as he walks on stage, adn he at least sounds partly confident, until he trips. And that just sets the tone for the rest of the presentation as he rambles and mixes up the maps.

In the end, Hakoda steps in and takes over for him, relieving his son of the stress. But even so, it’s hard not to miss the disappointed frown on Sokka’s face as he sits back down.

“Don’t worry, you did fine,” I reassure, sneakily making my way over to him to wrap him in a half hug as Haokoda talks, and he at least gives me a grateful smile.

“Now we have one more matter to attend to. Solmi, come up here if you will,” I jump in surprise at the mention of my name, and look up to see Hakoda with one arm gesturing me onto the stage with him.

I look at Sokka to see if he knows what this is about, and he just gives me an encouraging thumbs-up. So I decide to go along with it.

I walk onto the stage, letting Hakoda guide me to the middle as he stands next to me. Immediately I’m flustered by all the eyes on me making me regret my decision, but I can’t leave now.

“Everyone, this is Solmi. Remember her because she is a firebender,” The Water Tribe leader announces. People are quick to start muttering and I swear I feel the weight of the eyes get heavier.

“What’s going on?” I whisper, panic creeping up my spine. But the man doesn’t answer me.

“The idea is to keep her firebending to a minimum to avoid confusion, but if it ends up being needed, do not attack,” Hakoda declares stern. I look over at Sokka surprised by his father’s words. Was this the idea he had?

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” I ask the chief, announcing my abilities to everyone right before we go and fight the Fire Nation might be dangerous.

“Trust me,” he whispers before addressing the crowd again. “We are in this battle together, that means we also have to trust each other, so if anyone here has a problem with Solmi and who she is, you are free to withdraw from this fight.”

There’s a silence, and a beat passes, but no one moves from their spot. Warmth fills me as I realise no one here judges me by what element I can bend, but just as another comrade fighting by their side.

Hakoda nods and signals that I can leave, so I hurry off the stage, sitting back down by the others.

“Thank you,” I whisper to Sokka, honestly, truly grateful that he’s given me the ability to just be me if it comes to it without having to worry too much about the people around me.

“When this is finished, the Avatar would have defeated the Fire Lord. We will have control of the Fire Nation capital. And this war will be over!” The roar of the cheering is deafening and it’s so filled with hope and determination that I can’t help but join in.

After that everyone moves to get ready, I focus on sharpening my arrows since hopefully I’ll be doing exactly what Hakoda said and firebending as little as possible, maybe that way I can also confuse the opposing firebenders.

I find Aang heading towards the ships, head shaved and arrows proudly on display in his Air Nation clothes.

It’s not long after that until we’re on the boats and off to the Fire Lord.

I stick by Aang, needing his comforting presence right about now. There’s chatter all around, people talking about strategies or just trying to keep themselves occupied until we arrive. But most of it goes over my head since I’m more focused on breathing and calming myself down.

I stand on the deck of one of the ships, watching as we approach multiple giant golden statues that make up the Great Gates of Azulon that Sokka described. I hold my breath, knowing that once we’re past this, there’s no turning back.

A fog settles around us that I know is the waterbenders’ doing, and inch by inch we said closer to the gates and it almost looks like we’ll make it through. Until suddenly, alarms start ringing, and a giant net raises from between the states, which is quickly set on fire as well.

It’s really a sight to see and I’d call it impressive if it wasn’t standing in our way.

Soon after there’s the distinct sound of motors as Fire Nation soldiers approach.

“Everyone below deck,” Hakoda orders, and we all run, single file into the latch that leads to the bottom of the boat.

We’re all led into these metal machines and before I know it, they’re moving, deep under the water out of the Fire Nation’s eyes, so we’re able to sail below the gates without any issues.

I feel a tap on my shoulder as we submerge, and I expect to see one of my friends when I turn around, but I’m pleasantly surprised to see Hakoda looking down at me instead.

“What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be doing chief like duties?” I ask jokingly, trying to get my mind off things.

“We have some time before we have to resurface so I wanted to come and check on you,” he replies, and I try not to show my surprise.

“Me? Why?” I thought he’s want to check on his children rather than one of their friends.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay after the speech, about me telling everyone about you,” His blue eyes radiate guilts and this time I can’t mask the way my eyes widen at his words. I didn’t think he’d be so worried about it. “I realise now I should have checked beforehand, but Sokka only very quickly explained the situation to me before the presentation began.”

“It’s fine I completely get it,” I reassure him quickly. “And really I don’t mind, I’m not ashamed of who I am, even if others might not like it.”

He smiles at my words, and I glance away expecting that to be the end of the conversation before he has to go back to his leadership duties, but he stays around looking like he wants to say something else.

“I know it’s not my place to ask, but are you ready for this?” He asks seriously, and my brows furrow at the sudden shift of tone.

“Of course I am, plus it’s not like I’m the one who has to fight the Fire Lord,” I try to joke, but that just makes his frown deepen.

“But you are the one who has to go up against the one who hurt you.”

I feel the sigh leave before I can stop it. “Did Katara talk to you?”

“A little bit, yes,” the older man admits. “But you forget I was there on that ship. I might not know what happened really, but I saw what it did to you. And seeing the person that caused you that kind of pain again won’t be easy.”

“I’ll be fine, really,” I immediately reply, defensiveness coming up at my least favourite topic. “You shouldn’t be worrying about me, you have so much more to be concerned about.”

“I’d be just as concerned if it was Katara going through this, just remember that,” he leaves after that, the implication in his words clear in a way that makes my throat tighten. From happiness or sadness, I don’t know at the moment, maybe a mixture of both.

Like Hakoda has said we end up having to resurface above water to get more oxygen into the subs, and everyone uses it as a chance to regroup before the final push, and then the invasion truly begins.

I join Toph, Sokka and Katara to meet up with Aang who had been flying on Appa until this moment.

“So this is it, huh?” He says nervously, standing in front of us.

“Are you ready for the Fire Nation to know the Avatar’s alive?” Sokka asks encouragingly.

“I’m ready,” Aang replies determined. They join hands that ends up with all of us piling in for a group hug.

“I hope you kick some serious Fire Lord butt, Twinkle-toes,” Toph tells him.

“You know, as much as I liked the hair, this is definitely better,” I say, rubbing his newly bald head as a way to distract both of us for just a moment. I wish I could tell him to be safe, but it’s a lot to ask. I just don’t want to risk losing him again.

“Everyone, listen up,” Hakoda announces. “The next time we resurface it’ll be on the beaches. So stay alert and fight smart. Now break time’s over, back in the subs.”

We break apart from the hug, Toph, Sokka and I head for the entrance, but I notice Aang and Katara hanging back, but I’m pretty sure I know what it’s for so I continue onward.

The subs sink once again and now everyone is alert, no mindless chit-chat like before, no one wants to risk being distracted when so much is at stake.

“Everyone is position. Earthbenders into your tanks. This is gonna be a rough ride,” Hokoda orders, and this is it, nay moment now and this fight really begins.

My heart is racing, but I try not to think about it as I get to where I need to be and just breathe.

The sound of the Fire Nation’s alarms can still be heard despite the fact we’re underwater, and I feel the sub start to wobble back and forth as it dodges whatever is being fired at us.

All of a sudden, I completely lose my footing adn I'm thrown back against the wall as, what I feel like, the sub is lifted out of the water.

Anf just as suddenly it’s dropped again, sending me and everyone else to the floor. Still, the sub pushes on like nothing happened, and I double my efforts to calm myself down.

“Ready the torpedo,” Hakoda commands, faithfully watching out of the periscope. He wairs a moment, for the sound of the men loading the explosive to stop, then he orders the launch.

The following explosions shake the subs, but as we continue on I remember Sokka’s plan and I know the grates were hit and we are on the edge of the Fire Nation capital’s shores.

Everyone stands at the doors, weapons drawn or bending ready for the second they drop. I tighten my grip on my bow, string already drawn back and arrow in place. I stand further back than my friends, behind the earthbenders. I would be completely behind as a long-range attacker if it wasn’t for the chance of my firebending being necessary.

I feel the telltale bump as the subs beach, and immediately they are assaulted by a barrage of explosions, but the machines hold strong, not falling to the enemy’s firepower.

The doors open. It’s time.

The tanks go first, many of the soldiers standing in between them in a steady march into the Fire Nation, not letting ourselves be disturbed by the explosions surrounding us.

My eyes dart around, taking in as much of the surroundings as I can while being partly blocked by the tanks. But I quickly register the source of the explosions as the battlements sitting on top of walls and hills nearby.

“Toph, make me some cover,” I demand of the earthbender. She complies instantly, bending a wall just big enough for me to hide behind and gt a shot at a battlement while it’s focused on the bigger group.

I quickly look over, aim for the slit and the large weapon poking out and fire. I cover for a moment before looking again to watch as my arrow hits its target, snapping the string of the large crossbow making it useless. I manage to take out a couple more before I notice how far everyone has gone.

I duck and run to catch up with the tanks, noticing out the corner of my eye as Toph, The Boulder and Hippo take out another battlement, providing enough of a distraction for me to get back without being spotted.

I hear the sound of blasts and I see multiple Fire Nation tanks heading towards us, firebenders sending blasts out the front.

One of the earthbending tanks manages to crush a battlement on the ground while another destroys one of the Fire Nation tanks. But it doesn’t seem like enough with more tanks coming in behind us. I use the now ruined ground building as cover and continue targeting the upper ones, but they’ve gotten smarter and start shooting my arrows down in the air.

There’s a large splash from behind me and I quickly turn around to see a familiar-looking monster rising from the ocean and I shouldn’t be surprised that’s the route Hue decided to take.

“Solmi! Watch out!” I hear Toph cry and instinctively I move, avoiding a spear to the head from a soldier riding a komodo rhino. Before they can recover a rock comes rushing over and sends them flying off the creature.

“Thank, Toph,” I say gratefully, before quickly moving to cover, following the still steadily moving tanks.

I glance behind me and gasp at the state of the place. The once pristine area I’m sure this courtyard must have been is now covered in pieces of broken metal and debris, as well as burn marks and ice marking the stone.

I try not to think about it and once again set my focus on the troublesome building above us, but as soon as I do I see Appa flying past, Sokka leaning off his new armour to cut down the tips of the weapons and I know they have it handled.

But as I advert my eyes I see a large flaming arrow heading directly for a lone standing Toph.

“Toph, move!” I yell but instantly I realise she doesn’t have the time. Hands full but no time to draw I have a split second to inhale deeply and exhales, allowing a large stream of fire to exit my mouth and destroy the projectile mid-air.

I ignore the quick subtle looks I get as the arrow crashes into pieces next to the young earthbender. “Guess we’re even now, Princess,” she snarks, making me laugh despite the commission around us.

There’s a growl as Appa lands ahead of everything with Sokka in the saddle. “Listen up, everyone! I want the tanks in wedge formation! Warriors and benders in the middle!” He orders and everyone immediately complies. “We’re taking that tower and headed for the royal palace!”

Everything begins moving, abandoning little fights to follow the boy’s commands. I get into position with everyone else and mount my bow on my back since it’ll be hard to use in the formation.

“Charge!” Sokka yells when everyone is in place, and he takes off on Appa.

With this new formation, we focus on pushing forward, most of the tanks and other machines having already been destroyed. It allows us to pause momentarily as supply vehicles full of explosives are sent forward, destroying the walls of the royal plaza.

We charge, men with shields at the front to block the firebender’s attacks, and I follow closely behind, ready to redirect any straggling flames.

“The Fire Nation is falling back!” An older man I recognise as Katara’s friend’s dad exclaims and its words I never thought I would hear.

But here we are the hope is clear that we are going to win this.

Chapter Text

I aim a fire blast at an incoming missile heading for the tanks surrounding the soldiers, and it hits destroying the object in a large explosion in the air.

I duck for cover for a small moment to catch my breath before repeating the actions, destroying missile after missile.

“Dad!” I hear Sokka yell behind me. I take a peak seeing Katara partially carrying their injured father into our circle of tanks.

The Water Tribe boy gets up from where he’s been strategising with some other men and runs to see his dad. I follow along, feeling my arms going numb and needing a quick breather, and I notice Toph doing the same.

“You’re on your feet again,” Sokka says excitedly.

“Thanks to your sister,” Hakoda replies and I feel slightly guilty for not knowing he was hurt in the first place. “I’m in no shape to fight, but maybe there is some way I could help.”

“Everything is going smoothly and the eclipse hasn’t even kicked in yet,” Sokka roughly explains the situation going on. And even though I experienced it, hearing it being said so easily is hard to believe.

“Let’s hope our luck holds out. Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?” Hakoda asks as Katara suddenly walks away from us.

“Yeah. Is that… is that Aang?” She stammers shocked. I look to where her wide gaze is and the airbender’s familiar form is steadily gliding towards us.

“What?” Sokka exclaims, watching Aang smoothly dodge some flying rocks.

The airbender drops down in front of us, folding his new glider up.

“Are you okay?” I ask, immediately scanning his body for signs of a fight but there doesn’t even appear to be a single scratch. And I would be relieved if this was a lot later in the fight, right now it does not bode well.

“Please tell me you’re here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp, and you didn’t even need the eclipse to take him down?” Sokka begs distraught by the sight of his friend.

“He wasn’t home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned,” Aang explains. The effect is instant, everyone turns glum as it feels like every ounce of hope has been sucked away, probably to wherever the Fire Lord is hiding.

“They knew,” Sokka says as realisation takes over his face and I feel my heart drop to my stomach at his words.

Aang drops his head guiltily/ “It’s over. The Fire Lord is probably long gone. Far away on some remote island and where he’ll be safer during the eclipse.”

“No,” Sokka disagrees immediately as he starts thinking. “My instincts tell me he wouldn’t go too far. He would have a secret bunker. Somewhere he could go, and be safe during the siege, but still be close enough to lead his nation.”

“If it’s an underground bunker we’re looking for, I’m just the girl to find it,” Toph declares, pointing happily at herself.

“The mechanist gave me this timing device. It looks like we’ve got about ten minutes until the full eclipse,” Sokka says, looking down at the contraption in his hand. “Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord.

There’s hope again, but it’s faint. “That’s not a lot of time,” I can’t help but point out. “Even if we find this bunker we still have no idea where he’ll be.”

“It’ll be enough,” Sokka insists, and at this point he has to.

“We can still do this. We can still win today,” Aang grins, eyes bright and full of energy.

“Wait,” Katara interrupts. “If they knew we were coming it could all be a trap. Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out here safely,” the waterbender proposes instead.

“Everyone who’s here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission. They know what’s at stake. If there’s still a chance and there’s still hope, I think they would want Aang to go for it,” Hakoda interjects.

I glance around at the warriors fighting and so few have them have even noticed the airbender’s returned, so focused on continuing their fight. And suddenly I kind of understand how Captain Yung felt that day in Omashu.

“What do you think?” Sokka asks Aang seriously. “You’re the one who has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decided, I’m with you.”

Aang lowers his head and for a moment I think he’ll choose to leave. But then he stands. “I’ve got to try,” he says proudly, body turned to face the palace.

“Okay, Katara stay here and watch over Dad and the army. Solmi, I want you to come with us,” Sokka barks out the orders, already moving to get everything together.

“Me, why?” I ask surprised, I figured I’d be staying behind to help the warriors like I’d been doing.

“This device only gives a close estimate of the time, and we won’t be able to see the eclipse underground. So you’re going to be the best indicator to know when it’s really started,” Sokka explains, hurriedly climbing Appa.

And I realise how much his words make sense so without any more arguments I also jump onto the bison.

With nothing more left to say we’re off, leaving behind the chaotic battlefield of the plaza and heading toward the palace.

The quiet after the cacophony of explosions and yelling is startling. I can still vaguely hear the sound of missiles but it’s so far away from the hill we land on that I could almost pretend it’s not happening. If it wasn’t for the leftover ringing still going on in my ears.

“Do you feel anything down there?” Aang asks as soon as Toph’s feet touch the grass.

“Yep. There are natural tunnels crisscrossing through the inside of the volcano,” the earthbender describes, one hand on the ground to help her ‘look’.

“Anything else?” Sokka inquires impatient. “Is there a structure somewhere?”

Toph gets up, taking a moment to gather herself before she thrusts her hand into the hillside. “There’s something big, dense and made of metal deep in the heart of the volcano.”

“Sound like a secret bunker to me,” Sokka cheers.

Toph stands back and then earthbends a hole in the hill.

I follow in after her, surprised to see that it leads directly into the tunnel system she mentioned.

“This way!” She yells running to the right. “That one’s a dead end.”

“What would we do without you?” Sokka exclaims as we follow after her.

“Perish and burn in hot magma,” she retorts, which is evidently clear looking at the walls that have small pools of said magma just embedded in them.

If I thought having Toph to lead us would make finding the Fire Lord any easier I was quickly corrected, as the tunnel system is filled with natural traps from geysers that spit out lava and hot gas, to a chamber where the floor was just lava.

But we push forward and sure enough, when we get to the end of the treacherous tunnel there is a large metal building.

“That’s some door!” Sokka exclaims looking up at the massive doors that match the size of the building.

“How do we even open this?” I gape, not sure how the Fire Lord managed it.

Toph strides forward, taking her hat off to knock on said giant doors. “Not a problem,” she declares, rushing at doors to bang on them, denting the metal as she does, then easily bending a hole into them before casually walking through and pointing onward.

“I am so glad we added you to the group,” Sokka yells, continuing with his praise of Toph that she definitely deserves right now.

I roll my eyes and push him through the ‘doorway’ where he had stopped to admire Toph’s work. We head down another tunnel, though this one’s smaller and appears to be more for people getting around.

Suddenly, I hear whistling, but the whole tunnel system echoes so it’s hard to tell where it’s coming from. I find the answer though as we exit the smaller tunnel to hear a man gasp horrified as he too exits a joining tunnel.

We all quickly turn to face the man, I grab my dagger unsure of the nature of my bending right now and the others also point their weapons at the older man.

Though it appears futile because he instantly steps back with his hands raised. “The Fire Lord’s chamber is that way, down the hall, to the left and up the stairs. You can’t miss it,” he quickly gives up with zero hesitation.

“Thanks,” Aang replies kindly and with that we just leave, letting the man continue on with his business. He doesn’t seem to be the kind of man who would tell, and even if he does hopefully it'll be too late.

S we run I see Sokka move to pull out his timing device. “Only thirty seconds until the total eclipse,” he announces and I can feel my stomach drop. The nervousness only grows as we approach a large golden door with a Fire Nation emblem decorating it.

I start a countdown in my head.

Aang takes a deep breath and subconsciously I follow along. “I’m ready. I’m ready to face the Fire Lord.”

My nerves dissipate when I hear his determination and I let my back straighten, I see Sokka and Toph doing the same.

Except it’s not the Fire Lord waiting for Aang on the other side of the door.

She’s sat so perfectly casual on the throne that it looks like she’s posing for a painting, like the Vatar bursting in is of no concern to her. “So you are alive after all,” her mocking voice carries through the chamber. “I had a hunch that you survived. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve known about the invasion for months.”

“Where is he? Where is the Fire Lord?” Aang demands of the princess.

“Hm, you mean I’m not good enough for you? You’ve hurt my feelings,” she continues to mock, every syllable expressing how much she looks down on us.

During the whole exchange, the countdown to the eclipse draws to zero. I discreetly adjust my dagger so I’m holding it in my fingers, and attempt to make a small flame.

But nothing, not even a small spark appears on my palm confirming the eclipse has really begun. And it’s weird how wrong it feels, knowing I can’t bend despite how short of a time I’ve had it, or I guess have known about it.

I see Sokka subtly watching my movements, he sends me a look questioning the status of my firebending so I shake my head to signal that it’s gone.

He takes that signal as a sign to be more demanding, taking a step closer to Azula. “Stop wasting our time and give us the information. You’re powerless right now, so you’re in no position to refuse.”

“And stick to the truth. I’ll be able to tell if you’re lying,” toph discloses, giving the firebender no other option.

“Are you sure? I’m a pretty good lair. I am a four-hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings,” she spouts out without any hesitation in her voice, and face deadly still despite how ridiculous it sounded.

“Okay you’re a goof I admit it,” Toph responds to my surprise. But it doesn’t matter because immediately after she had Azula trapped in earth. “But you really ought to consider telling the truth anyway.”

However, the trapped princess just smirks and the rock around her cracks and breaks away. I stare at the girl shocked for the second time in as many minutes.

“When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought home some souvenirs,” she says, casually brushing the debris off her shoulders. Immediately after she’s done speaking two men drop from the ceiling in familiar clothing I didn’t think I’d see again. “Dai Li agents.”

Realising we won’t be able to get her to talk so easily Aang begins attacking with a large air blade sent towards her.

But the Dai Li agents easily block it, bending a wall to protect the princess. That just causes Aang and Toph to go all out, breaking the wall and heading for the agents, but after that I lost sigh as one of the agents build yet another giant wall, trying to cut Aang off.

Toph breaks through, bending a hole in the wall, but it’s too high up for either I or Sokka to cubs and without bending there’s no other way to get through.

“I swear no one has any consideration for the non-bender who can’t create holes in a giant wall,” Sokka complains, banging on the wall with the hilt of his sword.

“Or the firebender who’s temporarily lost her ability,” I add on frustrated by the turn of events.

Sokka makes his way below the hole Toph had made and grumbles something about climbing before attempting to scale up to the way through.

It’s only as he makes it up that he has to narrowly avoid Azula flying back through. A Dai Li agent, Aang and Toph following close after. I quickly throw the dagger in my hand at the princess, but she’s moving too fast and narrowly avoids it before she lands.

Sokka drops to the floor and we share a quick look, chasing after the rest of them, and I quickly grab my dagger as we pass it.

“I can’t pin her down, she’s too quick,” Aang yells exasperated. I notice Toph slipping off to the left, but I ignore it for now more focused on following Aang.

The Dai Li attempt to block the door as Azula exits, which is clearly futile as Aang immediately breaks it down to get out as well.

Suddenly, the agent right behind Azula is knocked aside as Toph reappears from the wall, soon trapping him in a metal beam.

“Wait! Aang, Toph, stop attacking,” Sokka abruptly orders, forcing all of us to stop and listen to him. “Don’t you what she’s doing? She’s just playing with us. She’s not even trying to win this fight!”

“Not true,” Azula counters sarcastically. “I’m giving it my all.”

“You’re trying to keep us here and waste all our time!” Toph exclaims.

“Umm, right. I think your friend just said that genius,” Azula mocks, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance, “And since you can’t see, I should tell you I’m rolling my eyes.”

I quickly grab Toph’s arm before she can charge at the princess. “I’ll roll your whole head!” She snaps instead.

“She’s just baiting you again,” Sokka points out in an attempt to calm the earthbender down.

“Okay, so what do we do?” Aang asks, “Just ignore her?”

“We don’t have a choice, we just have to get out of here and find the Fire Lord on our own somehow,” Sokka advices, I’m sure mentally putting a plan together as gestures for us to walk away.

“It’s a trap. Don't try to say I didn’t warn you,” Azula says, trying to get our attention back to her.

“Ignore!” Sokka yells, continuing to walk away from the girl,

“So, Sokka’s your name right? My favourite prisoner used to mention you all the time,” Azula divulges, and something about it gets Sokka to stop. “She was convinced that you were going to come and rescue her. Of course, you never came and she gave up on you.”

I expect Sokka to just push her words aside and ignore her like he told Aang and Toph. But instead, tears fall from his eyes and he charges at Azula with what I could only describe as a yell of pain.

Suddenly, Toph quickly bends a piece of earth to trap the Azula’s left hand to the wall, causing a blade to drop from it.

I realise her words were a trap for Sokka specifically, and while she’s been stopped from hurting him, her main goal of getting him distracted has been fulfilled.

Sokka grabs her shoulder, using it to pin her full against the wall. “Where is Suki?” He demands and I’ve never seen or heard him so aggressive.

The name Suko vaguely rings a bell, and I remember him mentioning she’s a Kiyoshi warrior, but I can tell there’s more to it than that, only a certain relationship would bring about this kind of pain.

Toph adjusts Azula’s restraints so that both her hands are above her head.

“Where’s Suki?!” Sokka demands again, despite the princess now deciding she wants to be silent. “Answer me!”

“Sokka, she won’t talk,” Aang attempts to reason, grabbing the older boy’s shoulder. But all Sokka does is shrug it off and continue his pointless interrogation.

“Sokka, listen to me. Think about it, we can just get the information of where Suki is when all this is over. But right now we need to go,” I appeal to his logical side and just hope it can win out against his emotions.

The Water Tribe boy takes a deep breath but does stand back from Azula. “You’re right,” he agrees, though his resolve is barely there.

I grin, glad I managed to get through to him. I look at the restrained girl and the smirk she had is gone, replaced by a displeased frown.

“I remember you,” she comments, and the disdain as she looks at me is clear. “You’re that wannabe firebender who had a thing for my brother.”

I can feel my heart clench, but she’s just trying to distract me like she did Sokka, and I won’t fall for her game.

I look away from her, forcing myself to ignore her words and motion for everyone else to start moving.

“You know, he’s completely forgotten about you. He’s got a new girlfriend and everything. I think you know her, the one who now lives in what used to be your home,” Azula spits out, her words dripping with cruelty as she hits every raw nerve possible.

And despite my earlier beliefs, I find it impossible to walk away. My legs feel like liquid where I stand and I want to yell, force her to admit she’s lying since she’s so good at it. But it doesn’t sound like a lie, and that is probably what hurts the worst.

Because deep down, part of me wanted to believe Zuko was suffering, regretting the things he told me, but apparently I was the only one torturing myself over what happened that day.

A loud explosion rocks the tunnels, bringing my awareness back with it, making me realise I’d just been standing here, doing nothing, it wasn’t for long, but long enough the eclipse has faded away.

“Oh, sounds like the firebending’s back on,” Azula grins. I only have a split second to create a wall of fire in front of me to protect myself from the flames following her foot. However, the close impact throws me back, and I just barely avoid bumping into anyone else.

Toph ends up having to tackle Sokka out of the way of a blast aimed for him leaving Aang standing alone against the princess as she frees herself from her restraints.

She jumps forward, giving herself momentum from the wall and aims a kick for the Avatar which he dodges out of the way, landing to stand with the rest of us.

“Dad’s all the way at the end of the hall and down the secret stairway on the left. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to see you now,” Azula directs before quickly running away.

“I fell for it! I used up all our time,” Sokka berates guilty, face downcast.

“So did I,” I groan. I knew what she was doing and I still let myself be pulled into it.

“It’s not your fault, guys. Azula was ready for us. She had every move planned out,” Toph tries to reassure, but it doesn’t make it sting any less.

“And now it’s too late,” Sokka concedes, heading dropping ashamed.

“Maybe it’s not too late,” Aang argues. “The eclipse is over, but I can face the Fire Lord anyway.”

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Soka discourages sternly.

“But I’m ready! I came here with a job to do, and everyone’s counting on me,” Aang insists.

“The Fire Lord knew we were coming this time. We thought we had surprise on our side, but we didn’t. It wasn’t our day. What we need to do now is go help our friends,” Toph reasons. And she has a point, I’m sure they must be struggling out there now the eclipse is over.

I let myself grab Aang’s hand as it hangs next to me, letting myself give and take this comfort I know we both need. “This isn’t the end, and next time we’ll know all their tricks.”

“I guess you guys are right,” Aang gives in unhappily.

“You’ll have another chance. I know you will,” Sokka tells him, words full of confidence and hope.

Toph earthbends us a tunnel out, and luckily Appa and Momo aren’t too far away. It’s a rush to get back to them and down to the battle still raging on, and it only intensifies as many large flying ships take to the sky.

We spot where the army has gathered and Appa lands next to them. Katara runs up to the bison, eyes full of questions and worry.

“It was all a trap. Azula knew we were coming and she’s plotted out every move,” Sokka hurriedly explains climbing out of the saddle. “We just got to get to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely.”

“They’ve got air power, but so do I!” Aang yells from the top of Appa’s head. “I’m gonna do what I can to slow them down,” he declares, throwing his glider and taking off.

“Appa, you and I can help too,” Katara says taking Aang’s place on the bison. She looks over to me, where I haven’t moved from the saddle, but I stare back fiercely determined to make up for my mistake in the tunnels.

With no time to argue she accepts it, pulling Appa’s reigns and following after Aang.

I draw my bow, pulling some arrows in place and aim for the smaller ships. As soon as Katara gets close enough, I let go, the arrows flying through the sky and putting multiple holes in the fabric of the balloon causing the ship to fall. Katara moves to take over the other side, using her water to cut the balloon in half.

We get closer to the bigger ones, dodging fire blasts from benders standing out on platforms. Is heath my bow and get into stance, redirecting the fires that get too close, bending them back at the soldiers when possible. But even so, it all proves to be too much.

“We can’t keep them all back! They’re too many of them!” Katara yells to Aang, using her water to shield off the fires I miss.

“Let’s join the others,” Aang decides, and we fly down to catch up with the retreating warriors.

“Try and find cover!” Sokak orders as soon as we land. “I think we’re about to see some bombs.”

Everyone in our close vicinity huddles closer together as Toph creates a roof over our heads.

There are so many explosions as the ships fly overhead, every single one of them dropping many bombs on top of us. So much so, that the cover Toph had made starts to collapse, causing her to have to bend more pillars to support it.

“Is everyone okay?” I can’t help but ask after the succession of explosions stops. I’m met with multiple different affirmative mutters, which is good enough for now.

I step out of the cover, watching as the ships continue flying.

“Why aren’t they turning around to attack us again?” Katara wonders aloud.

“They’re headed for the beach,” Aang observes curiously before quickly turning eyes wide in panic. “They’re going to destroy the submarines!”

“Oh no,” I gasp horrified, hand coming up to cover my mouth.

“How are we all gonna escape?” Sokka worries, brain turning.

“We’re not,” Hakoda says from where his friend Bato is supporting him.

“Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win!” Sokka insists, determined to get out of this. And as much as I want to support him I can feel my heart drop when I see the look on Hakoda’s face.

“Yes, with the Avatar we could still win, on another day. You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together,” the chief demands confirming my suspicion, and his tone of voice leaves no room for arguments.

“What? We can’t leave you behind,” Katara argues anyway, clutching onto her father’s arms. “We won’t leave anyone behind.”

And as much as no one wants this to be the case, the ships are at the beach before we know it. At this point, there’s nothing we can do but stare on in horror as the swamp benders try their best to hold them off before ultimately falling to their numbers.

Every last sub is destroyed and set ablaze, crushing any hope of everyone making it out of here.

With little time before they return, with many soldiers I’m sure, we have to gather all of the youngest members of this army and load them onto Appa. There are many sombre goodbyes I can’t bare to see, but soon everyone that needs to be is on.

I see Aang’s head bowed from my seat and I just know that tears are falling from his eyes because I can barely hold back my own. But I don’t talk to him like I want to, maybe later when this isn’t so fresh, but for now, I know Katara has it handled.

“Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I’m gonna make this up to you,” Aang addresses the warriors being left behind. His voice wobbles from his crying but at the same time, it’s determined.

And with that we have to leave, Appa quickly taking to the sky with a sad growl.

A large ship appears behind us, and I hold my breath scared, but as well go on it doesn’t attack or make any move to follow and I sigh in relief.

“I know just the place for us to go where we’ll be safe for a while,” Aang announces. “The western air temple.”

Chapter Text

The scorching heat from the sun feels like it’s mocking us as our feet drag along the path. I usually love the sun and its glow and its warmth, but right now I just want it to go back into hiding, because at least asleep the sting of failure isn’t so strong.

No one has the strength to raise their heads, downcasted are eyes locked solely on the floor.

“This is humiliating,” Katara sighs, and it’s the first words that have been said in what feels like forever. The last things anyone really said were brief introductions.

“Do you mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation, or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?” Sokka shots back frustrated, not that anyone can blame him.

“Both,” his sister groans in response.

“Sorry, guys. But Appa gets tired carrying all these people,” Aang explains, defending the bison who looks as close to dropping as any of us, poor thing’s been stuck wearing the armour the entire way which I doubt helped.

“It’s all right, Aang. No one blames him,” I reassure, patting Appa’s nose so he gets it as well.

“I wonder how the rest of the troops are,” Teo comments.

“They’re probably on their way to a prison, seems like my dad just got out, now he’s going back in,” Haru grieves, and my heart goes out to him.

This was supposed to be my chance to save Bumi, but now he’s still trapped there for however long. I hear Sokka complaining and I go to tell him to stop when Toph suddenly stops.

“Hey, we’re here. I can feel it,” she announces from the front of the group.

But the only thing ahead of us is a large open chasm. “Uh, I think your feet need their eyes checked,” Katara tells her, staring out at nothing.

“No, she’s right, we are here,” Aang says relieved, but as I look around I still don't get what they’re talking about.

That is until Aang orders us back on Appa and we fly down into the chasm, finding the air temples built into the mountain underneath the ground we were standing on.

The second it comes into view I feel my jaw drop in amazement. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one, I’ve seen drawings and Aang would talk about them, but seeing it in real life is breathtaking.

We land in a courtyard that has a fountain that’s part waterfall that leads off the edge into the darkness below.

“It’s so different from the Northern Air Temple,” Teo marvels, looking around the magnificent structure. “I wonder if there are any secret rooms.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Haru suggests and gestures for everyone to follow, which Teo and The Duke gladly do.

Aang also runs after them, but Katara blocks him with his own staff. “You guys go… I think we need to talk about some things,” Katara encourages the three boys, and they follow, quickly racing off.

“Why can’t I go?” Aang complains, frowning at the waterbender.

“We need to decide what we’re gonna do now,” Katara tells him. “And since your the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this.”

“Fair enough,” Aang agrees, but he still sulks over to a bench to sit down. “So, what’s the new plan?”

“Well if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan. You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes,” Sokka explains, and I guess that is the only option left.

“Oh, yeah, that’s great, no problem, I’ll just do that,” Aang snarks frustratedly, flicking a nearby pebble.

“Aang, no one said it’s gonna be easy,” Katara says calmly, trying to dampen the airbender’s growing frustration.

“Well, it’s not even gonna be possible. Where am I supposed to find a fire bending teacher?” Aang demands.

“We have one right here,” Sokka points out, and I don’t even need to look at him to know he’s gesturing to me.

“I can’t,” I immediately reply guiltily. “Maybe I could teach you the basics but you’d still need to find someone to teach anything more advanced.”

It’s not like I don’t want to help, but I’ve only just started to fully understand it, and firebending is not something to be taught by someone who isn’t completely in control. If something went wrong I’m not sure I would be able to do anything.

Neither Sokka nor Aang argues with me which I am grateful for, but it does still leave Aang short a teacher.

Katara tries to suggest someone called Jeong Jeong, but Aang immediately shoots it down while Toph and I glance at each other, both confused about who they’re even talking about.

Aang shoots up from where he’d dramatically lied down where he’s been sitting. “Oh well, guess we can’t come up with anybody. Why don’t we just take a nice tour around the temple?” He suggests excitedly, then he’s off on his glider before any of us can argue.

“What’s up with him?” Toph asks, confused by his sudden exit.

Sokka puts his hand to his chin, thinking face in full effect. “There’s got to be someone who can teach him firebending.”

I can feel him side-eyeing me. “Not a chance,” I sigh, now wanting to find someone fast because there’s no way he’ll drop it until then.

“For now we should probably go bring him back,” Katara proposes, to which we all agree. So we climb onto Appa after taking off his armour and make after the runaway airbender.

Luckily the area isn’t too big so Aang is quickly spotted as he glides around. Katara tries to get his attention, but he just pretends he can’t hear her before showing off in an effort to distract us.

“Aang, I think we should be making plans about our future,” Sokka insists, yelling after him.

“Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant pai sho table,” Aang kind of agrees, but does finally make his way back to the fountain area. We land and one by one jump back knot the ground. “Oh, and you’re gonna love the all-day echo chamber.”

“I think that’ll have to wait,” Toph says, suddenly very serious.

I look at her confused by the sudden shift in mood, but she says nothing more, just points behind us as Appa moves.

I follow her finger across the courtyard and the second my eyes land on the figure standing there my whole world stops.

“Hello, Zuko here.”

This can’t be real, he can’t just… be here, in front of me, right now. Not with that friendly smile like he hasn’t just thrown my whole universe upside down… again.

I see the gang move, everyone ready to attack. And I know I should too, but my entire body is frozen, I’m not even sure I’m breathing. The only thing I’m sure is moving is my heart that feels like it’s about ready to burst out of my chest.

“Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so I just thought I’d wait for you here,” he fumbles through the sentence, his eyes jumping between everyone.

And I can’t help the way my lips twitch at his awkwardness, a smile trying to form almost like it’s second nature to me now, but it drops as soon as gold flickers and lands on my own. I should look away, I want to look away, yet I feel myself getting pulled in.

Suddenly, Appa roars at the firebender before licking him, forcing Zuko to raise his arms and block his face, breaking the eye contact.

He speaks afterwards, I know he does, I can see his mouth moving. But I can’t hear him, or anyone. Everyone sounds so far away despite the fact I know they’re right next to me. The words are muffled, blurring together into noise I can’t decipher.

It’s only then I notice I am moving, my entire body shaking from the sudden amount of emotions flooding my system. It’s minute, like my body knows I don’t want to be noticed right now, because that would mean he would look at me again, and I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens.

I try to breathe, calm down my emotions to at least be able to think again without immediately thinking of golden eyes and awkward smiles, but with the object of such thought in front of me it doesn’t really work, though I do manage to concentrate enough to start listening to what’s happening again.

Sokka’s voice comes through first, and maybe it’s because he’s yelling. “...all you’ve ever done hunt us down and try to capture Aang! Not to mention what you did to Solmi!”

I flinch as he says my name, stupidly thinking that I might have been able to be left out of this, maybe I should’ve just left.

“I’ve done some good things,” Zuko insists, and the desperation soaked in his voice is both new but not at the same time. “I mean, I could’ve stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That’s something. Right Sol?”

I don’t know if it’s his familiar smooth voice addressing me, or the use of the nickname I haven’t heard in months, but something about those two words brings me crashing back to reality.

“Don’t talk to her!” Katara snaps, taking a step so she’s now partially in front of me.

But it doesn’t block Zuko completely from my view and I see as he winces at the girl’s harsh tone.

However, that also means he can still see me. I don’t know how, or why he even cares, but I watch him frown as his gaze falls down slightly to stare at my hand that has started to go numb from how tightly I’ve been grasping at the string across my chest.

“Sol, are you okay?” He asks, in what I would have once called concern, but I know better now.

His question draws everyone else’s attention to me, and I snap my hand back down to my side.

“Come one, I’ll take you out of here,” Katara suggests, kindly wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

But to her surprise and my own, I shrug it off and step away from her. I shake my head firmly, looking her in the eyes so she can see how determined I am. It’s stupid to stay, but if I don’t stick it out to whatever conclusion this brings, I know I’ll end up regretting it.

Before Katara can argue Appa takes the chance to lick Zuko again, and I guess it’s safe to say the bison remembers him.

“Appa does seem to like him,” Toph points out calmly, the only one not quite as angry as everyone else.

“He probably just covered himself in honest or something so that Appa would lick him. I’m not buying it,” Sokka instantly refutes. Which is unfair, especially because he knows App’s not like that.

I blink, surprised by my own thoughts. I can’t believe after everything I still want to defend Zuko. But I know what’s true, and I would say that but I know it would just come out weak, plus Sokka will probably just ignore it anyways.

“I can understand why you don’t trust me. And I know I’ve made some mistake in the past,” Zuko looks away, and he sounds regretful.

“Like when you attacked our village?” Sokka immediately uses the chance to attack.

“Or when you stole my mother’s necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?” Katara adds.

“Look, I admit I’ve done some awful things. I was wrong to try and capture you, and I’m sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should’ve sent that Fire Nation assassin after you.”

Whatever Zuko says after that is drowned out by the shock of the last statement.

“Wait, you sent combustion man after us?” Sokka demands, anger sky-rocketing.

“Well, that’s not his name, but…” Zuko stutters in response.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your friend,” Sokka mocks.

“He’s not my friend!” The firebender snaps back and honestly I’m surprised he kept his temper this long.

“That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up,” Toph fumes, her anger now making its appearance as well.

Zuko looks down frustrated, and when he brings his head back up he focuses his gaze on Aang. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” He asks of the silent Avatar. “You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.”

Before Aang replies he looks at us, he probably wants to know how we feel and for that exact reason, I look away from him. “There’s no way we can trust you after everything you’ve done. We’ll never let you join us,” Aang declares firmly.

I keep my gaze away as my heart drops, not wanting anyone to see the water I can feel building in my eyes.

“You need to get out of here, now,” Katara orders.

“I’m trying to explain that I’m not that person anymore,” Zuko argues, and I look back as he angrily steps closer.

Sokka stops him, pointing his boomerang at him and taking a threatening step forward that forces Zuko back. “Either you leave or we attack.”

“Wait,” I choke out desperately. There has to be a better way for this to end.

“If you won’t accept me as a friend, then maybe you’ll take me as a prisoner,” the former prince drops to his knees in complete surrender, willingly holding his hands out to be taken.

“No, we won’t,” Katara snarls, quickly attacking him with her waterbending and knocking him back.

“Katara, no,” I gasp, shocked she just attacked someone so defenceless.

“Get out of here and don’t come back,” she commands. “And if we ever see you again… well, we better not see you again.”

Zuko bows his head defeated. He gets up, soaked through and just leaves, not even glancing back.

Every step he takes sends a shockwave to my heart because this can’t be it. But it doesn’t take long before he’s gone.

I run my hands through my hair, beyond frustrated with myself. My hands catch on the start of my ponytail and I just rip out the ribbon holding it up, getting my hair fall down over my face.

“Solmi, are you okay?” Aang asks, cautiously stepping up to my side.

“Why did you attack him?” I snap at Katara, and I can see her surprise at my sudden rage.

“What do you mean, I had to,” she defends calmly, despite how angry I can tell she still is.

I feel two pairs of hands on my shoulders, and I let myself be lowered to the floor and sat down before I’m pulled into a hug by both Aang and Sokka, and for the first time since I saw Zuko, I feel like I can breathe again.

“See, look what Zuko being here did to Solmi,” Katara seethes, pacing around.

I let myself stay in the hug for a few moments, just letting myself indulge in the comfort before I nudge the boys to tell them they can let go. They do, and I push myself off the floor, them standing up as well, but they stay next to my sides.

“You guys should probably unload, it’s getting late. I just, I need a minute,” I tell them selfishly, and wander off to sit by the edge of the courtyard where the waterfalls, letting my fingers dance in the cool liquid.

I hear feather-light footsteps approaching and I shouldn’t be surprised Aang wouldn’t leave me top myself, and honestly, I’m glad for his presence. Quietly he sits down next to me, both our feet dangling off the edge staring out across the fog.

“You’ve been pretty quiet about all this,” he comments, not in accusation, but just plain concern.

“Yeah, I guess it was just so unexpected to see him, I didn’t know how to react,” I tell him honestly. “It’s weird. I thought I was prepared to see him during the invasion, but here, like this, I had no idea what to do.”

“Are you really okay? Aang asks, comfort seeping out of him.

I sigh expecting the question, not that it means I have an answer. “I don’t know, and that’s the most frustrating part.”

“What do you mean?” Aang’s confusion is clear, which is pretty understandable, but I don’t know if I can make him understand.

“It’s just… ever since Ba Sing Se I’d been trying to just forget. But I had all these emotions mixing inside of me, happiness, anger, betrayal… love,” my voice drops off to a whisper at the last word, like I can pretend if I don’t say it out loud it won’t mean as much. “And seeing him again just brought them all back.”

“So, did you want him here, as part of the group?”

I know Aang, and even if he disagrees I know he won’t judge whatever I say. Now if only I had a clear answer.

“I wish I knew. All I do know is that as much as it hurt to see him, it also hurt to see him go,” I close my eyes against the tears building, but that just pushes them out and they slowly begin their fall down my cheeks. “I just had so much I wanted to say to him.”

Aang doesn’t say anymore, just pulls me into a hug, which I feel like I’m going to end up with a lot more of until this whole thing ends.

I eventually nudge him away, convincing him to go help with the others and that I’ll be there in a little while.

I take a moment to compose myself, brushing away the dry tear tracks and fresh ones still falling until I feel like I can face the others again.

Except when I get closer I can hear raised voices, mainly from the Water tribe siblings.

“And what was all the crazy stuff about seeing Appa free? What a liar,” Katara fumes, and I feel my heart tighten when I realise what they’re talking about, but I don’t run away, in fact I decide to take this chance.

“He did,” I say stepping into the conversation, finally saying what I wanted to earlier. I can see them all flinch when they realise I overhead them, but there’s also no point changing the topic now.

“What do you mean?” Aang asks.

“He did set Appa free, I was there and I know it was a difficult choice for him,” I try to explain matter-of-factly. I still vividly remember how sick he got because of that choice, how could he go back on that?

“Oh, so you’re defending him now?” Katara accuses.

“I’m just telling the truth,” I defend, wanting to avoid a confrontation about this.

“She is,” Toph interjects calmly. “And actually so was he.”

“Oh, hooray. In a lifetime of evil at least he didn’t add animal cruelty to the list,” Sokka mocks, uncaring of our words.

“I’m just saying that considering his messed-up family and how he was raised, he could’ve turned out a lot worse,” Toph reasons and immediately his sister comes to mind.

“You’re right, Toph, let’s go and find him and give him a medal. The ‘not as much of a jerk as you could’ve been’ award,” Katara scoffs, quickly getting angry again the more Toph defends Zuko.

And I can feel my own annoyance rising the more unreasonable Katara is being right now. Part of me is yelling to defend Zuko from her constant criticism, but I also know I am the last person any of them is going to take seriously right now.

“All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere,” Toph discloses, and I stare at her in shock at the reveal. “Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly.”

I can’t help but notice that Toph doesn’t even gesture in my direction at her comment and I’m sure she can tell I’m too confused to be hurt. Because I wish I was angry and I did hate him like the other three. But I also can’t help but think that if he was being sincere then maybe that means he’s back to being the Zuko I know.

I try to ignore the way the others list the things Zuko did, things that happened before I joined because I already knew Zuko was a bad guy when I found him before, and that still didn’t stop the way I cared for him and I doubt it’ll stop me now.

“Why would you even try to defend him?” Katara demands of the earthbender.

“Because, Katara, you’re all ignoring one crucial fact. Aang needs a firebending teacher. We can’t think of a single person in the world to do the job. Now one shows up on a silver platter and you won’t even think about it?” Toph goes off ranting, stamping her feet at the end to drive her point home.

Aang refuses still and it quickly becomes the three of them against Toph, which just makes the earthbender growl and storms off to wherever to calm down.

“Shouldn’t we go after her?” I question concerned, but it seems I’m the only one.

“She’ll come back when she’s come to her senses,” Katara snuffs, before sitting down to start on some food just as the three wanders return to the main group with many stories about the things they found.

—--

Morning comes and with it a newly cleared mind ready to face the day ahead. I had decided to stay in a separate room last night than in the courtyard with the others, just to have a little space, and I leave it now to take the chance to actually explore while everyone is likely still sleeping.

I thought this temple was beautiful when we arrived, but now that’s been completely blown out of the water. The colours of the rising sun coat everything they touch, and there's an early morning haze of fog that barely brushes against the ground.

At some point, I find the pai sho table Aang was talking about and immediately I think about how much Iroh would love it.

I wonder if Zuko knows what happened to him? He probably does, so that just makes one more thing I should’ve asked. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance again.

I shake that thought away and eventually find my way back to the now awake group, just as Katara starts serving food.

She gives me a little wave with her hand holding a spoon, then glances around. “Has anyone seen Toph?”

“I haven’t seen her since she stormed off yesterday,” Sokka replies easily.

“Maybe she’s just exploring the air temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practise earthbending,” Haru suggests.

“I don’t know. I just looked around a lot of the temple and I didn’t see her,” I say, suddenly regretting not paying close attention. I assumed she would’ve returned last night. “I could’ve missed her though.”

But Katara doesn’t look convinced. “I think we should go look for her,” the waterbender proposes and with that The Duke, Haru and Teo all head off to search for the girl, while I’m sure also playing around while they do.

Suddenly, there’s a loud crash, and my heart freezes until I locate the source of the noise being the previously missing earthbender. Though it starts to race instead when I notice that instead of walking she’s dragging herself across the ground.

“Toph?” I gasp, rushing over to kneel by her and my eyes scan over her body trying to figure out why she’s on the ground.

“What happened?” Katara yells as she joins me.

“My feet got burned,” Toph replies, fear creeping into her voice. I move behind her to see that her feet are indeed bright red and starting to blister.

“Oh no, what happened?” Katara gaps, surveying the damage.

“I just told you, my feet got burned,” Toph repeats annoyed. At least she’s okay enough to be snarky.

“I meant how,” Katara responds dryly.

“Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night,” she says and the reaction to her words are instant as Aang and Katara yell, while Sokka just makes a strange noise to show his surprise.

“Really?” I blink, and I can’t hide the hope that takes over more than shock. He must’ve stayed in the area if Toph was able to find him and come back as quick as she had.

“I just thought he could be helpful to us. And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out,” Toph explains as Katara starts working to heal her feet.

“So he attacked you?” Sokak demands angrily.

“Well, he did and he didn’t,” Toph replied vaguely. “It was sort of an accident.”

“Did you sneak up on him?” I ask, remembering the few time I had accidentally done the same when I was first travelling with him.

“I think so,” the earthbender says sheepishly.

“But he did firebend at you?” Aang presses for a clearer answer.

Toph sighs reluctantly, “Yes.”

“Come on, guys. I’ve done the same thing when I was learning,” I argue, not liking how one-sided this is.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sokka interrupts loudly. “You trusted Zuko and you got burned… literally,”

I sigh irritated, and I can hear Toph quietly gowling in a similar state of frustration.

“It’s gonna take a while for your feet to get better,” Katara diagnoses, pulling the water away regretfully. “I wish I couldn’ve worked on them sooner.”

“Yeah, me too,” Toph comments, resigning herself to a couple of days of not being able to ‘see’.

"Zuko’s clearly too dangerous to be left alone, we’re gonna have to go after him,” Sokka decides and I can’t imagine something I want to do less or more.

“I hate to go looking for a fight, but you’re right. After what he did to Toph, I don’t think we have a choice,” Aang hesitantly agrees.

“He’s crafty, but we’ll find a way to capture him,” Sokka starts to plan.

“Maybe just invite him back here,” Toph suggests easily, letting herself get picked up by Aang and Sokka and taken to the fountain. “He’s already offered himself as a prisoner once, and if Solmi asks I’m sure he’d be more than happy to come along.”

“Me? Why me? I still don’t know if I even want him around,” I instantly complain when I feel everyone's eyes on me.

“Yes you do, even like this, I can tell that you’re lying,” Toph deadpans, and I guess she’s got me there, not that it makes the idea of being around him any easier.

“Yeah…” Sokka murmurs excitedly. “Get him to come back and say he’ll be our prisoner. Then we’ll jump him and really make him our prisoner. He’ll never suspect it.”

I rub my hand across my face, both as a way to hide myself from the others, and also try to hide myself away from Sokka’s ‘intelligence’.’

The boys put Toph down with her feet resting in the water which she is instantly grateful for. “Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks.”

Aang goes to grab some towels for Toph to dry her feet on, before worriedly pacing around.

The next thing I know the entire temple shakes as an explosion goes off nearby. A familair explsoion at that. I instinctively cover my head from the falling debris before quickly helping to get Toph out of the water and somewhere safe.

“Stop!” I hear a yell and I pause, following the sound of the voice to see Zuko standing on the same roof as Combustion man. “I don’t want you hunting the Avtar anymore. The mission is off.”

My heart drops as he runs in front of the three-eyed man.

“I’m ordering you to stop,” Zuko commands, but Combustion man just shoves him out of the way, firing at us again and destroying the stone arch over the fountain. Causing the five of us to have to duck behind the small wall to avoid being hit by the raining stone.

“If you keep attacking, I won’t pay you,” I glance over the edge to see the teen running at the large man, fire in his hand ready to attack. But Combustion man easily stops him by grabbing onto his shirt. “All right, I’ll pay you double to stop.”

I know I have to do something, so I slowly make my way away from the fountain, ignoring my friend's insistence to stay put. I make it behind a pillar without being noticed and immediately draw my bow. I take a peak, and while Combustion man is distracted by the struggling boy in his hand and let go of a rapid succession of arrows in his direction.

But unfortunately, he notices them before they can hit, easily batting them away with his metal arm. It also means his attention is now drawn to me and I just manage to see Zuko go rigid in his hold, eyes widening in fear before I have to roll out of the way of the exploding column.

“No, I specifically told you not to hurt her!” He yells as I make my way back to the others. I wish I had a moment to take that in, but before I can Zuko manages to slip out of the assassin’s grip, kicking him and knocking his next attack off course as it hits another building.

Apparently, that was the last straw and now Combustion man focuses his attention on the other firebender. There’s no time to do anything before he attacks, I see Zuko surround himself in fire to block the explosion, but to my absolute horror, the force knocks him right over the edge of the roof.

I feel a scream start to build in my throat, and I throw my hands over my mouth to block it as I chance to look over to where Zuko feel to see the firebender clinging desperately to a long vine.

The relief that floods my system is almost too much to handle, but it doesn’t matter as I help Sokka pull Toph over to a safer area as Aang charges out to attack the assassin.

The man jumps to land on a roof close to the courtyard, and Katara takes that moment to attack with multiple ice picks, causing Combustion man to have to cover himself meaning the other two can run over without being seen.

“Zuko,” I gasp, remembering the state of the firebender. I glance at the others, and I can tell there’s hesitance, but they can also tell I’m not really asking.

“Be careful,” Aang warns, and with that, I’m off.

I avoid the temple I specifically know Combustion man is on as I scale multiple staircases trying to get to the building I last saw Zuko on. I have to steady myself a couple of times as the assassin’s explosions shake the mountain but eventually, I make it to the right place in time to turn around at the largest explosion yet and see an entire building falling into the chasm below.

And then silence.

I hear grunting from the ledge nearby and I kneel down and look over to see Zuko still climbing the vine.

He looks up and we lock eyes. There’s still so much there, so many emotions bouncing between our gazes, so much to say.

But for now, I reach my hand down to his surprise, but he doesn’t hesitate to grab it and I help pull him back up onto solid ground.

The silence stays as we climb down to the others, the four of them waiting on one side, and while Zuko stops a safe distance from them, I continue to join them. Katara shoots me a worried glance as I step beside her, but I shake my head, assuring her I’m fine.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thanks, Zuko,” Aang says gratefully.

“Hey, and what about me? I did the boomerang thing,” Sokka brags, about what I’m sure he’ll tell me later.

“Listen, I know I didn’t explain myself very well yesterday. I’ve been through a lot in the past few years, and it’s been hard,” Zuko starts to explain, bravely taking a step forward that no one reacts negatively to.

“But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right.”

I glance at my friends because I realise this is it, if they’re not okay with him now then they won’t ever be. I just hope they’ll be able to hear him the way I can, because listening to him now makes it finally clear to me how he’s changed.

“All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world,” he finishes before switching his gaze to Toph and bowing. “I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally.”

As much as he’s talking to Toph, I can see the subtle looks he sends at me as well, and I don’t need to follow them to know where he’s glancing and I slowly move my right arm behind my back.

“I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher,” Aang admits surprised. “When I first tried to learn firebending I burned Katara. And after that I never wanted to firebend again,” the remorse is clear in the way he speaks and knowing how he feels I can’t imagine how hard that must've been for him. “But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me.”

Zuko’s face lights up as Aang bows after his speech, a small smile settling on his lips as he returns the bow and I feel myself matching it. “Thank you. I’m so happy you’ve accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast,” Aang immediately counters, to Zuko’s surprise and I feel my heart race. “I still have to ask my friends if it’s okay with them,” he explains reasonably before first turning to Toph. “Toph, you’re the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?”

“Go ahead and let him join. It’ll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet,” the earthbender jokes, punching her hand to her fist threateningly and I’m glad she doesn’t hold a grudge.

“Sokka?”

He’s more hesitant, taking the time to look away and think before answering. “Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I’m all for it.”

“Katara?”

This is the most risk, Katara has done nothing but show how much she doesn’t like Zuko being here ever since he showed up, even now she looks less than happy about the events unfolding. “I’ll go along with whatever you think is right,” she agrees reluctantly.

I cheer a little in my head before I realise everyone is now looking at me.

“Solmi, your opinion really matters, despite what everyone else has said. After what he did, if you don’t him here he doesn’t have to stay,” Aang’s voice is the calmest it can be as he encourages me. I didn’t think Aang would ask since Toph made it clear earlier how I felt about this earlier, but I can tell he wants me to say it.

I take a deep breath and take the chance to meet Zuko’s eyes before I answer.

“Okay.”

Zuko beams, brighter than before. “I won’t let you down, I promise,” he declares, so obviously excited.

But this is still new and no one particularly wants to deal with him. Even I choose to walk away, heading for a larger courtyard I had found this morning.

Honestly, I know the best thing would be to stick around and talk, it’s what I’ve been wanting to do since I saw him yesterday, but if he’s staying there’ll be time for that later. Right now, as glad as I starting to understand I am that he’s here, there are also a lot of other emotions floating around I don’t want to deal with at this particular moment.

So, I do what I’ve found myself doing a lot when I need to vent my frustrations, practise my firebending.

I pull my long shirt off, leaving me in my leggings and plain green undershirt, not in the mood to have to deal with the extra fabric twirling around. Plus, the extra weight feels good off my shoulder as I drop the garment on the floor, now if only I could drop my emotional weight that easily.

I begin with practising longer range attacks, the fight with Combustion man still fresh on my mind. But it soon turns into just firebending at nothing with no particular form because as much as I wanted to take my mind off things, that is apparently hard to do when I know the source of all my turmoil could be just a couple of feet in front of me.

“I guess I didn’t imagine it then,” the previously mentioned source of turmoil says from behind me.

I sigh but extinguish the fire from my hands as I turn to face him. “Yeah, it was just as much a shock for me too.”

“So you didn’t know you could firebend?” Zuko asks surprised, though I can’t blame him. I’m sure he’s never seen someone from the Earth Kingdom firebend before.

“No, I guess all of the hurt brought it out of me,” it’s a cheap shot and I know it too. I don’t even know why I say it, I didn’t want to talk about this right now.

“I am so sorry, Sol,” Zuko instantly replies, everything about him screaming with guilt. I guess we’re talking about it. “I know that’s not enough and you probably still hate me, and you have every right but…”

“I should, shouldn’t I?” I say cutting him off. “I should hate you after everything you did to me.”

I feel the tears quickly falling down my face before I even realised they had built up and I groan, reaching up to rub at them. I see Zuko’s face drop when he sees them, and part of me enjoys knowing he too is hurt over this.

“You made me care about you, made me think we could’ve had something and threw it back into my face,” I aim to make the words hurt, just the same way he did.

“Sol I…” He looks away guilty, and suddenly I regret my harshness, but I also know I can’t stop just yet.

“And do you wanna know the worst part?” I demand angrily. “I didn’t for a second doubt you, as soon as I saw you on the other side of the catacombs I was happy. How am I supposed to believe you now when I thought I could believe in you that day, and you hurt me?”

He flinches back before bravely taking a step closer to me, and when I don’t step back he comes closer and closer until he’s in front of me, and I let him into my space. One part of me still not believing I can be this close to him, the other part screaming to push him away.

He carefully takes ones of my hands into his. “Do you remember in Ba Sing Se, under the lake?” He asks pleadingly and I immediately know where he’s going. “That day you told me to trust you. Now I’m asking for the same thing, trust that I’ve changed now, for good and I won’t hurt you again.”

I go back to that time, when I so desperately wanted him to believe me after all I had done was lie to him, I know I had betrayed him too that day.

I watch as he glances down to where our hands are joined, and force myself to stay still as he brings his other hand to gently lay across my scar.

“Though I understand why you might be hesitant after I did this to you,” his voice is so sad, so heartbroken. “Why didn’t you get Katara to heal you?”

“Because part of me thought I deserved it, and by the time I realised I didn’t it was too late,” I tell him honestly.

“I really am sorry, Sol,” he repeats and seeing the sorrow in his eyes just makes the tears fall harder from mine. “Whatever it takes for you to forgive me, I’ll do it, I don’t care.”

“I forgive you,” I choke out. “Because even after all of that, I never once hated you. I just wanted you back. The Zuko I knew who was angry and really annoying, but who could also be so kind and gentle,” I slowly reach up to place my hand on his cheek, thumb gently wiping away a single stray tear. “I missed you.”

In that moment it’s like whatever hesitance that was keeping us apart finally snaps, and I feel his lips crash onto mine.

My hand goes from his cheek to slid through his hair and I feel the hand that was previously holding mine wrap around my waist and pull me closer, and I easily let myself follow along. I barely register my head tilting as my arms wrap tightly behind his neck, our lips move together in a desperate dance. All these weeks apart throws subtlety and gentleness off the cliff, every movement being too much yet not enough.

I can feel him ask for entrance and I am more than happy to grant it, revealing in any way I can be closer to him. I feel like my heart is ready to explode from all the emotions making it race, and honestly, it’s a miracle my firebending hasn’t made an appearance yet.

I slowly pull back, not away completely yet as I let my lips gently rest on his for a couple of seconds. I pull away and he brings his forehead to rest on mine as we just hold each other close.

And as much as I want to push closer, make up for all the hurt and time apart. I’m starting to understand there’ll be more time for that in the future to come.

Chapter Text

Seeing Zuko here, standing in front of Aang is beyond disorienting, but in such a good way I can’t help the smile that finds itself on my face every time I catch a glance at him.

Right now the three of us are standing on a temple roof that also works as a good training area. Zuko is about to start training and they both invited me along as well, and I wasn't about to argue with that.

“You good?” Aang leans over to whisper at me. I wonder if he’s talking about the lesson that hasn’t started, but then I see his gaze quickly darting between Zuko and I.

It’s a good thing the two of us have everything sorted because Aang is not subtle and I can tell Zuko sees his gaze too.

“We’re good, I reply to Aang while smiling at the older firebender. He shoots back a quick half-grin at me before quickly scolding his face back into his usual stern glare.

“I know you’re nervous, but remember, firebending in and off itself is not something to fear,” Zuko begins his teaching as he addresses Aang.

The younger boy sighs. “Ok, not something to fear,” he says, forcing himself to be calm.

“But if you don’t respect it, it’ll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino,” Zuko yells, effectively riding Aang of any calmness he had gathered. “Now, show me what you’ve got. Any amount of fire you can make.”

Aang takes a deep breath, he quickly moves into a form Zuko showed him, but nothing happens, not even a spark.

He looks back over embarrassed so I pat his shoulder in comfort, understanding how difficult it can be.

“Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?” He suggests hopefully.

“Good idea,” Zuko agrees easily, “You guys might wanna take a couple steps back.”

Is what he says, but to my surprise when he tries he can barely create a flame at all. Aang still claps encouragingly though.

“What was that?” Zuko demands out loud. “That was the worst firebending I’ve ever seen.”

He tries again, but it only amounts to the same result, even after we change location in case it was the altitude. The older boy barely manages to make more than just a small flame, and Aang ends up lazing against a broken pillar, bored.

But I stay standing, watching the former prince intently, knowing his frustration is sure to be rising, and it makes its appearance as he snaps at Aang. Sokka’s presence immediately after with his joke of ‘jerk bending’ only serves to make the firebender’s anger boil over.

I take the advantage as the Water tribe boy leaves to slide up next to the distraught Zuko, whose frown now looks more upset than angry. I wrap my arm around his shoulders and duck my head to catch his eyes. “It’s okay, whatever’s going on we can work it out.”

The smile he gives me is small, but at least he raises his head.

“Solmi, why don’t you give it a try?” Aang proposes.

“I don’t know,” I reply hesitantly, I don’t want to make Zuko feel worse.

But when I look back at him he doesn’t look off-put by the idea, instead, he looks rather interested, and I guess it might distract him for the moment.

I sigh, but shoo the other two to the sides as I take the place in the middle.

I go for something simple but fun as I go through different steps, large but controlled flames exiting from one hand than the other. I glance over to see Aang watching with his wide-eyed excitement, and then my eyes slip to Zuko. And the way he’s standing, arms crossed leaning against a pillar, proud smile as he watches makes my heart flutter.

Which ends up being a problem when I lose concentration, and the pair’s faces transform into slight terror as they have to duck a wayward flame. I instantly drop my hands to my sides, face cringing up as they look at me agape.

“I guess I still have a lot to practise.”

And with that, we all agree today’s training is over.

—--

The rest of the day passes and I spend it between making sure Zuko isn’t sulking too much and helping the others who decided to do inventory in all our supplies.

By the time dinner rolls around I’m just happy to sit down. Zuko’s standing by himself nearby, hiding in the shadow of a large pillar. I’m worried about him shutting himself off, but I know he just needs time to himself to deal with whatever is going on with his firebending. So, I try to leave him be, while also throwing quick glances his way every now and again in case he needs me.

It’s during one of these glances I see that he starts to move. “Listen, everybody,” he calls, walking towards the circle. “I’ve got some pretty bad news. I’ve lost my stuff.”

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t touch your stuff,” Toph immediately defends herself, not quite understanding what Zuko was talking about.

“I’m talking about my firebending, it’s gone,” he corrects her lowering his head, dejected by the admittance.

The silence barely hangs in the air before Katara starts laughing. I glare at the waterbender who looks to be a joy of a time by herself, but she doesn’t seem to care.

“I’m sorry,” she apologies disingenuously. “I’m just laughing at the irony. You know how it would’ve been nice for us if you’d lost your firebending a long time ago.”

“Well, it’s not lost. It’s just… weaker for some reason,” Zuko attempt to explain even though it’s clear he doesn’t really understand either.

“Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are,” Katara continues to mock the already disheartened firebender.

“Katara, knock it off,” I criticise the bitter girl. I get that she doesn’t like Zuko but she doesn’t need to be so openly harsh about it. I put my bowl on the ground, slightly harsher than I meant to, and walk directly across the circle to stand next to Zuko.

“It’s okay, Sol,” Zuko reassures, grabbing my hand and weaving his fingers through mine which eases my frustration a little. “I bet it’s because I changed sides,” he adds to his original point.

“That’s ridiculous,” Katara snarks. I glare at her again, but luckily that’s all she says.

“I don’t know. Maybe it isn’t,” Aang comments speculatively. “Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don’t have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to.”

“So all we need to do is make Zuko angry? Easy enough,” Sokka concludes before repeatedly poking Zuko with the hilt of his sword, laughing madly all the while. I reach to grab the sword but he just dodges out of the way.

Ok, cut it out!” Zuko snaps, forcing Sokka to stop. “Look. Even if you’re right, I don’t want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way.”

“You’re gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source,” Toph suggests.

It takes a moment to figure out the original source of firebending is not in fact a volcano like Sokka thought, but dragons which is exciting to learn, but apparently it’s not a lot of help since Zuko says they’re extinct.

“But maybe there's another way,” the firebender contemplates. “The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient sun warriors.”

Zuko wanders off to look out at the courtyard while he talks, and I let myself get dragged along while Aang gets up to follow. “Sun warriors?” The younger boy questions. “Well, I know they weren’t around when I was a kid.”

“No, they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilisation wasn’t too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around the ruins,” Zuko theorises and with no other option because Zuko absolutely needs his firebending back plans are made.

—--

I let the ocean breeze hit my skin as we fly to where this civilisation was. I managed to convince Aang and Zuko to take me with them, partly to keep an eye on the newfound ‘friends, and also because I just think it’d be interesting to learn more about firebending history.

“We’ve been riding for hours,” Zuko complains from his spot next to me as the sun hits the middle of the sky. “I don’t know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster.”

Appa growls in retaliation.

“Appa’s right, Zuko. In our group, typically we start out our missions with a more upbeat attitude,” Aang explains cheerfully and I have to hide my smirk behind my hand at the thought of Zuko being more like the airbender.

“I can’t believe this,” Zuko groans, throwing his back to look at the sky and I feel my smile drop when I notice his reaction is more than just impatience.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it,” Aang cheers encouragingly, making Zuko groan again.

“Hey, I know you’re concerned about your firebending, but relax, we’ll figure it out,” I attempt to reassure him.

“How can I relax? If this doesn’t work there’ll be no reason for me to be around anymore,” he forests, voice lowered to only I can hear him.

“Don’t worry. No matter what happens there’s no way I’m letting you go again,” I tell him seriously, and I know he knows I mean it. I don’t care what the others might say, but Zuko isn’t going anywhere.

He smiles at me gratefully, then goes back to watching the sky and I join him, letting him lock out fingers together.

Eventually, water turns to land, and land turns into a series of worn down ancient buildings in the middle of a forest.

“Whoa,” we all gasp together, looking down at the magnificent ruins.

Aang lands Appa near the outskirts, then gives him a bunch of fruit to keep him occupied while we wander around the old, Zuko commenting on Fire Nation temples being descended from them.

“Ok, we’ve learned something about architecture. Hopefully, we’ll learn something about firebending too,” Aang replies, ever optimistic. “The past can be a great teacher.”

Just as he finishes saying that he trips on something and since I was walking directly next to him, so do I. I barely have a chance to register that I’m falling before the ground sinks revealing multiple spikes.

Suddenly, I feel a pull on my arm, and the next thing I know I have a familiar pair of arms wrapped tightly around me.

I look up to see Zuko looking rightfully sacred, then I quickly snap my head to the pit, sighing in relief when I see Aang unscathed across it.

“Zuko, I think the past is trying to kill me,” Aang trembles, looking at the pit.

“Apparently it wants to take me with you,” I add, slowly unwrapping myself from Zuko’s safety.

He takes that as a chance to kneel down and inspect the loose rope on the ground I assume lead to this whole thing. “I can’t believe it. This booby trap must be centuries old, and it still works.”

“Well, that’s just great,” I comment sarcastically, nerves still a little frayed.

“There’s probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn’t be here,” Aang cautions.

But Zuko doesn’t listen, just runs across the wall next to us to get over the spikes. “Where’s that upbeat attitude you were talking about?” He jokes as he lands. “Besides, people don’t make traps unless they’ve got something worth protecting.”

“Hey, Aang, I don’t suppose I can have a little help?” I call over to the airbender, not being one to run across walls myself.

“Oh right,” Aang quickly earthbends a platform over the spikes, and I make my way over to them.

We all head further in, focusing towards the large temple in what looks to be the middle of the civilisation. At some point we come across a large wall, it’s cracked and falling apart, but the main image of a man with two dragons is mostly untouched. It’s fascinating to see the creatures shown like this, I’d only ever seen drawing in the books I read as a child.

Aang looks at it with curiosity, but Zuko regards it bitterly. Looking away from it almost like he feels guilty about something.

I share a look with Aang when the older boy starts to walk away. “Zuko, something happened to the dragons in the last a hundred years. Something you’re not telling us,” the airbender speaks up, pausing Zuko in his tracks.

“My great-grandfather Sozin happened,” Zuko admits. This time when he walks away we follow. “He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebender, if you could conquer one your firebending talents would become legendary, and you’d earn the honorary title, dragon.”

“Why does that sound familiar?” I can’t help but ask, searching through my brain of where I’d heard a name like that before.

Zuko sighs placing his hand on a fallen head from a dragon statue in front of us. “Because the last great dragon was conquered long before I was born, by my uncle.”

“No way,” I gasp. I just can’t imagine Iroh doing something like that, he respected life too much.

“Yeah, I thought your uncle was, I don’t know, good?” Aang questions.

“He had a complicated past. Family tradition, I guess,” Zuko looks away, and I can feel my heart ache at what they both must have gone through. “Let’s just move on.”

We eventually get to the bottom of the temple and climb the stairs to the top, only to find the golden locked shut.

I look around since there has to be a way to open it, and there doesn’t appear to be a keyhole present. Suddenly, I feel Zuko’s elbow nudging me and when I look at him he gestures for me to move aside. I step to the side which to my surprise reveals a red light on the ground/

“It’s a celestial calendar,” Zuko announces. “Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples. I bet that sunstone opens the door but only when sunlight hits at just the right angle, on the solstice.”

But that means nothing to use because that is months away, which Aang acknowledges annoyed. But Zuko gets an idea and pulls his sword, reflecting the red light and moving it from its place on the floor to the stone above the door.

For a moment nothing happens, but then it starts rumbling as the golden door opens wide.

“You know, Zuko. I don’t care what everyone else says about you. You’re pretty smart,” Aang ‘compliments’ the firebender with a nudge.

Zuko smiles, happy to be appreciated, then it suddenly drops when he understands all of what Aang said and I can’t stop my snicker as he stares dumbly after the Avatar. He whips his head around to glare at me, and I just offer a comforting pat on his shoulder as an apology, before following Aang into the temple.

Aang suddenly gasps scared and I look over to see a statue of a man with an, admittedly, frightening face.

“Relax. They’re just statues,” Zuko tells him.

The first statue has a duplicate on the other side, and the matching figures continue in an array of different poses before meeting at the back of the room.

“It says this is something called the dancing dragon,” Aang reads off from the large stand the statues are atop of.

I look around the large room, taking in the drawings on the walls as well at the large people themselves, but I don’t stray too far from the door, even as Aang seems to figure something out.

“Zuko, get over here,” Aang demands all of a sudden, running across the room to grab the older firebender. “I want you to dance with me.”

“What?” Zuko asks incredulously. “No. Why don’t you ask Sol?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who can’t firebend,” I immediately refuse, more interested to see whatever Aang wants Zuko to do. “I thought you came here to learn something?”

Aang manages to drag the dark-haired boy where he wants him. Zuko groans but follows anyway and I quickly realise Aang is getting Zuko to follow the movement of the statues.

There’s a loud click as the boys meet at the end, and then there’s a pedestal rising from the ground with a golden egg on it.

Aang cheers, though it’s soon replaced by confusion. “What exactly is that?”

“I’m not sure,” I reply, looking at the strange thing.

“It’s some kind of mystical gemstone,” Zuko deduces, instantly moving to pick it up. Aang tries to stop him, reminding him of the spikes but Zuko ignored him anyway and removes the gemstone from its place. “It feels almost alive.”

He goes to put it back, but he doesn’t get the chance before a strange green liquid comes shooting out of the pedestal, launching Zuko towards the grate on the ceiling.

I take a step forward, ready to help when I hear a squeak from the doors behind me. I don’t hesitate before I launch myself back, barely making it out of the temple despite standing right at the entrance.

I turn back to the doors, reeling the other two are still trapped. I pull my dagger out, trying the same trick Zuko had but this time the doors don’t budge and the same green liquid from before starts seeping out of the gaps.

I groan frustrated, unsure of what to do when I remember the grate on the ceiling. I look around and I see a path that leads upwards, hopefully to the top of the temple.

When I get to the end of the said path it’s easy to spot Zuko and Aang with their faces sticking out of the grate.

“Are you guys okay?” I ask, running over to them. I kneel down next to the opening, making sure to avoid any of the green stuff.

“Yeah, we’re fine, but we’re also stuck, this stuff is like glue,” Aang explains, trying to pull his hands away from the bars and failing.

“Okay, I’ll go see if I can find something to help,” I say getting up, already looking around for perhaps something nearby. What I’m looking for, I don’t know, but surely no one sets up a trap like this without having a way to get out of it.

“No, wait,” Zuko calls, stopping me in my tracks. “We already know this place is covered in booby traps, you shouldn’t go off by yourself.”

“What else is there to do? Like Aang said, you’re both stuck,” I point out annoyed. “Plus, I can handle myself. I got out of this one didn’t I?”

“Zuko’s right, Solmi. You should stay here,” Aang also warns.

“Just give us some time, we’ll figure… something out,” Zuko reasons desperately.

“Fine,” I groan, sitting down arms crossed. I want to be angry but I can see how relieved they both look, so I just feign annoyance instead.

Which ends up turning real when Zuko’s ‘some time’ turns into night and they’re both still stuck with no plan to escape.

“You just had to pick up the glowing egg, didn’t you?” Aang snarks, even his patience wearing thin.

“At least I made something happen. If it were up to you we’d have never made it past the courtyard,” Zuko argues back.

“Can you two stop?” I complain, not wanting to deal with their arguing.

“Help!” Aang yells, the loudness of it echoing around the ruins as I flinch, hands covering my ears.

“Who are you yelling to? Zuko demands annoyed. “Nobody’s lived here for centuries.”

“Well, what do you think we should do?” Aang snipes at him.

Zuko takes a moment to contemplate. “Think about our place in the universe?”

“That’s it!” I exclaim, getting up from where I’d been sitting for the last however many hours. “I’m going to go find something.”

I turn around and to my complete surprise, there are multiple people standing at the edge of the pathway.

“Who is down there?” The man in front, who I assume is the leader, demands.

I put my hands up in a peaceful manner as they come closer. “I know how this seems but…” I try to explain but the other men roughly grab my arms making me groan in pain.

“Let her go!” Zuko yells, now considerably angry.

“Free these two,” the leader orders. How they manage it I don’t know since I end up being dragged away back to the entrance of the temple where Aang and Zuo are eventually dumped with two aardvark sloths there to clean them off the goo.

I rip my arms away from the men, but now I’m where they want me, and there are more people surrounding us wearing similar clothes and face markings, they seem content with letting me go.

“For trying to take our sunstone you must be severely punished,” the leader declares sternly. Zuko tries to argue, but they don’t seem to want to listen,

“Please,” Aang pleads. “I don’t normally play this card, but I’m the Avatar.” For a moment no one looks like they know how to take the news, and I hold my breath, but when they don’t respond negatively Aang continues, now free of the glue. “Just hear us out.”

Zuko, also free, stands next to him. “My name is Zuko, crown prince of the Fire Nation, or at least I used to be.”

“What about the girl?” The leader demands, gesturing at me.

“Right, my name is Solmi. Just a normal firebender here interested in history,” I introduce. The chief makes a face at the introduction, but I can’t read it and he says nothing so I decide to ignore it for now while Zuko respectfully asks the sun warriors to teach us.

“If you wish to learn the ways of the sun. You must learn them from the master's Ran and Shao,” the chief declares.

“Ren and Shao?” Aang immediately questions. “There are two of them?”

“When you present yourselves to them they will examine you,” the older man explains staring us down. “They’ll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry,” I try not to flinch at that but by the way the man is looking at me, I’m sure I failed. “If they deem you worthy, they’ll teach you, If they don’t, you’ll be destroyed on the spot.”

After that dramatic declaration, we’re escorted to a room for us to use as sleeping quarters for tonight, with a couple of guards left at the door so we can’t just leave, though I don’t think it’s necessary because I can tell both Zuko and Aang are stuck on this now.

Aang is quick to sleep, but I guess this situation doesn’t really worry him. Usually, I wouldn’t be far behind, but I just can’t stop thinking about what the chief said.

“Are you worried?” Zuko asks from his place next to me, his voice low to prevent the guards from hearing us.

“A little bit, yeah,” I answer honestly. “It’s just what he said about ancestry.”

“That was probably more targeted towards me,” Zuko comments bitterly.

“The thing is, I don’t even know who my mother is. How am I supposed to know if she was a good person or not?” I let myself admit. She could be awful, I mean she abandoned me so that can’t say a lot about her character.

“You trusted your dad, right?” Zuko asks out of the blue.

“Of course,” I immediately respond despite my confusion.

“Then you should trust now that he would love a good woman.”

My mind flashes back to those times my father would smile on the rare times he talked about her, and the love that would fill his eyes. And I guess maybe if she could make my dad feel like that even after she left she couldn’t have been that bad.

—--

In the morning we’re led to the highest point in the city, where a large fire burns protected by walls.

“If you're going to see the masters, you must bring them a piece of the eternal flame,” the chief explains. “This fire is the very first one. It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years.”

I marvel at the flame with newfound awe at this information, just thinking about everything this fire would have been around to see is astonishing.

“You two will each take a piece of it to the masters,” the older man says, pointedly looking at the boys, much to my confusement.

“Wait, just us? What about Solmi?” Aang asks, interrupting the man.

“No, she will stay while you go,” is all the chief says in reply.

“We’re not leaving her here,” Zuko barks angrily, and I can feel my heart well from the protectiveness, as well as my head hurt from his stubbornness.

“Zuko, I’ll be fine. You saw the statues before, it can probably only be two people at a time,” I attempt to reason, which is hard when even I don’t know why I’m not going.

Zuko looks ready to argue, but one glare from me tells him not to push so he reluctantly mumbles his agreement.

I watch the chief as he explains the ritual, trying to find any reason for my not going but his stoic face gives nothing away and I sigh looking away when he bends two small flames from the eternal flame and gives them to the boys.

“This ritual illustrates the essence of sun warrior philosophy. You must maintain a constant heat, the flame will go out if you make it too small,” he says, focusing more on Aang, then he changes his focus to Zuko. “Make it too big, and you might lose control.”

I subconsciously glance away from the younger firebender, knowing all to well the meaning og those words in particular.

Zuko does not hesitate of course, but Aang nervously reaches out to take it. But once the fire is in his hand his scared look transforms into a smile. “It’s like a little heartbeat.”

“Fire is life, not just destruction,” the chief tells him simply, and I smile at the sentiment, reminding me of how Kazuya taught me that I could use my firebending to help not only hurt. “You will take your flames up there,” the older man points up the mountain to a gap between two high points. ”The cave of the master’s is beneath that rock.”

Zuko and Aang look at me nervously, but I give them an encouraging thumbs up to show them I'll be fine while they’re gone, and with that, they leave on their journey.

“Come, we shall meet them up there,” the chief says once they’re out of the city. Everyone who was kneeling now raises and prepares to start moving. “There is a shortcut we can take.”

It’s a long walk over bumpy terrains, but there are worn rocks and scarcely placed stairs that show it must be a path the sun warriors walk fairly often.

When I get to the top I’m surprised to see a large courtyard-like area placed out in the mountains. The men and women of the tribe split up, each going to their own preplanned places. All except the chief who stands in the middle waiting for the other two to arrive.

Unsure of how long that’ll be, I feel like now would be the time to ask the questions rolling around in my head. “So why didn’t I go with them?”

“Because you did not come here to learn the way your friends did, nor do you need to since I’m sure you already know the ways of the sun warriors.” the man replies with only a side glance my way.

“What do you mean?” I ask, beyond confused. “I’ve only just learnt your civilisation even exists.”

The chief sighs, then finally turns to face me. “You look a lot like your mother and I’m sure she would have taught you the ways in which she was born.”

I’m not sure if shocked is quite the right word for what I feel right now. Because if this man is saying what I think he is that means my mother would have been…

“Are you telling me my mother was a sun warrior?” I demand. I almost hope it’s just a misunderstanding on my part and I’ll just look foolish. But the chief nods his head giving me my answer. “How? Aren’t you a secret civilisation, why was she able to leave?”

“A secret, yes. But we would not force her to stay. Your mother was always different, she wanted to explore, learn about the world she was hiding from. So, she saw the masters before she left and they deemed her trustworthy enough to go. But she vowed if she was ever to bear a child outside our civilisation she would teach them our philosophy.”

I feel myself scoff bitterly at the chief’s words. “Well, you must be mistaken because my mother left me. She didn’t stick around long enough to teach me how to walk let alone any secret philosophy.”

“And yet you know it anyway. I could see it in your eyes when I spoke with your friends by the eternal flame,” the chief replies easily. “She would have taught you, in any way that was most convenient to you.”

And that stumps me because I cannot think of any way in which she could have taught me and I wouldn’t have known. And as much as I want to further ask what he means, I have another question on my mind now.

“Is… is she here?” I ask, voice barely above a whisper, like that would break the illusion and all of this would just be a dream.

But the chief just looks at me sadly and shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. She visited once, many years ago. She had told us the world was different to how she imagined but she also could not return. But she also told us she had a daughter she named ‘Solmi’, and if the girl would ever come to us one day she wanted her to know the truth of where she came from.”

Anything I have to say after that is cut off by the arrival of Aang and Zuko. I look around, surprised to see the sky is now orange as the sun sinks between the mountain peaks.

I wave as they walk towards the middle of the yard, trying to push the previous conversation away so I can focus on them, and I can see their faces fill with relief as soon as they see me.

“Facing the judgement of the firebending masters will be very dangerous for you,” the chief warns. “Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragons' disappearance. The masters might not be too happy to see you.”

Zuko says nothing as his comment from last night is proven right. Aang tries to use his Avatar status to argue, but quickly stops when they mention his disappearance only added to the problem.

“Guys maybe you shouldn’t do this,” I tell them worriedly when the chief moves away to start the ritual. I do not want to have to explain this to the others.

“She’s right. We could turn back now. We’ve already learned more about fire than we’d hoped,” Aang suggests, proudly showing that he can at least hold fire.

“No, we’re seeing this through to the end,” Zuko decides. “We’re gonna meet these masters and find out what’s so great about them.”

“What if they judge us and attack us?” Aang questions scared.

“We’re the Fire Prince and the Avatar, and Sol’s here too,” Zuko replies, hand gesturing to his swords in their hold. “I think we could take these guys in a fight, whoever they are.”

Aang still doesn’t seem confident, but he nods and in the end I know I can’t talk Zuko out of it so I agree as well.

I see the chief motioning me to join him, so I give the boys one more hesitant look before going over to him.

I wait with bated breath as they climb the stairs. I recognise that people from the tribe start banging on drums, but it’s all foggy noise with my whole body tensed and focusing on the now small figures of my friend and boyfriend.

I jump as a loud horn sounds once they make it to the top and a loud crash comes from the caves.

It’s hard to see what happens, both of the firebender's dark silhouettes against the sun right behind them, but the sound of their arguing carries and all I can do is sigh. Guess it’s time to figure out how Aang and Zuko got ‘destroyed’ by two firebending masters when I get back.

Suddenly, a large red creature emerges from one of the caves, and at first I hardly recognise it as a dragon because that was the last thing I expected to see. The first dragon is quickly joined by a second blue one and now I need to figure out how to tell everyone our friends were eaten by dragons, because despite Zuko’s earlier confidence there’s no way we can take on actual dragons.

The people around me all bow, low on the ground so I follow them, now too worried to question anything with the deadly creatures around.

The dragons continue to circle around the two on the platform before eventually stopping on either side of them. I breathe for a second, thinking maybe they're content, then all of a sudden they both simultaneously breath fire at Zuko and Aang.

I jump up, ready to go and do something despite my previous thoughts, but I stop when I realise they aren’t attacking, just firebending above them causing a symphony of colours in the flames that I’ve never seen before.

I pause in my tracks, hypnotised by the beautiful sight, and as quickly as they appeared the dragons are gone, back in their caves, leaving two intact firebenders standing.

I feel my knees shake from the relief and I stand antsy waiting for them both to descend, and once they do I smack both of them.

“That’s what you get for almost getting yourselves eaten by dragons,” I scold before they complain. But I must look more shaken than I thought because they both just take it.

“Their firebending was beautiful. I saw so many colours, colours I’ve never imagined,” Zuko marvels, and I can just imagine what it must have looked like inside.

“Like firebending harmony,” Aang adds.

“Yes. They judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending,” the chief explains to them.

“I can’t believe there are still living dragons,” Zuko says in disbelief. “My uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it.”

“So your uncle lied,” Aang concludes.

“I knew it,” I say happily, I knew Iroh wouldn’t kill something so amazing, he even lied to protect them from other firebenders.

I stand back and let Aang and Zuko come to their own conclusions about what they learned from the masters. Now both successfully being able to firebend with strength and confidence.

“Now that you have learned the secrets and you know about our tribe’s existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever,” the chief declares, and that might have been more intimidating if I hadn’t talked to him earlier. But a small glace to the side shows he gets the other two before he drops the act. “Just kidding. But seriously, don’t tell anyone.”

We head back to Appa and fly away from the land before they can think to change their minds, it’s only then Aang seems to remember something.

“Wait, we never did figure out why Solmi didn’t go,” he points out and I see Zuko tilt his head curiously as well.

“Oh yeah, that’s because I learnt that apparently my mother was a sun warrior,” I tell the boys, almost forgetting they weren’t there. It sounds so easy to say, but the words still don’t feel like I should be saying them. This is going to take some getting used to.

Aang stares at me wide-eyed, but instead of matching him, Zuko is just smiling. “That makes so much sense.”

“It does?” I ask confused, suddenly wondering if he knows something I don’t.

“Of course,” he replies before leaning over to whisper in my ear. “You’ve always been like the sun in my life and now I know why.”

I groan, pushing the firebender away as my face turns red.

“No, ugh, Aang quick take me back I think I’d rather be eaten by a dragon,” I complain, noticing how even though his back is to us the airbender’s ears have turned red.

Zuko ignores my words and pulls me into a hug which I begrudgingly accept, though I do get my revenge later after he and Aang show everyone what they learned and his face explodes as he tells them what it's called.

Chapter Text

I see the sword coming towards me and I manage to duck just in time to avoid being hit. My legs burn as I crouch, but as I look up I can see Zuko already getting ready for his next attack so I can’t let my fatigue get to me.

I put my hands behind me for support, daggers clicking against the ground, and I kick my leg up connecting with Zuko’s extended hand, making him let go of one of his dao swords.

It hits the floor noisily and I’m sure to kick it out of Zuko’s way before he can attempt to grab it. Surprised by the new development he jumps back a couple of paces to gather himself, allowing me time to get up.

We’ve spent most of the morning sparring, just for something to do. It started with him teaching me some firebending combat, and I decided to mix it up and make this match specifically non-bending.

I twirl the daggers in my hands, then charge forward, I swing my arms, bringing one dagger down after the other in rapid motion, but Zuko easily keeps up, blocking every attack with his lone sword.

He grabs my left arm, pulling me forward off my step, and I take another step forward and past him, avoiding where his sword meets the ground with a harsh clang.

I spin back around, bringing both daggers down at once, but he once again blocks holding his sword vertically to stop them both.

His eyes lock onto mine from the other side of the weapons. “You tired yet?” He teases like he doesn’t have sweat dripping from his hair.

“Not even close,” I retaliate, despite barely being able to catch my breath enough to say it.

He simply raises his eyebrows at me challengingly then proceeds to twist his sword around in a way that catches onto my daggers, forcing my arms to twist with it to the point where I have to let the weapons go.

Zuko points his sword at my neck, a smug smile sitting proudly on his face, one that I would find more attractive if I wasn’t irritated.

Because really, he should know me better than to assume I’d just give up.

Before he can react, I’ve reached up and snatched the sword out of his hand, throwing it across the courtyard to join his other one, and I kick my daggers over there as well, raising my eyebrows at him with my own smirk.

It doesn’t take him long to react after that, soon he’s charging at me, swiftly throwing multiple jabs my way.

I use my forearms to block, bating his punches away when I can. Quickly he shifts attack, ducking down and spinning around to kick my legs, which I avoid by jumping out of the way.

He does a forward roll to get up, and I meet him at his standing point, ready to attack, but he just grabs my arms, grappling them to hold me still.

I push back, but he’s a lot stronger than me so I struggle to regain my arms. He takes advantage of that by twisting so I’m behind with my arms still in his hands, and I can tell he’s going to attempt to throw me over his shoulder.

So, before he can I kick his back, forcing him to let go. But he barely stumbles and as quick as a flash he’s turned and crouched down, using his new position to jump at me from my lower left side. He hits my ribs with a jab which knocks me off balance, and all he needs after that is to knock my legs over, sending me tumbling to the ground.

My chest moves rapidly as I stare up at the underside of the temple trying to actually breathe again, while Zuko who stands next to me does the same.

However, I still refuse to let him have the last word, so I reach out to hook my ankle around his and pull, dragging him down as well.

And I know he could have easily stayed up if he wanted to, he’s just letting me have my way, which means he’s also ready to catch himself as he lands above me, avoiding me getting crushed.

My view of the decaying building is now replaced by golden eyes and that’s definitely not something I’ll complain about.

“You should learn to protect your lower left, that’s three times now. I’m beginning to think it’s your weak spot,” Zuko advices, since this is the third time he’s managed to catch me off guard in that particular spot.

But instead of listening I just roll my eyes, and reach my arms up to lock my fingers behind his neck to pull him down, which he goes along with without complaint.

Our lips meet and I feel all the aches from the sparring fade. It never gets old kissing Zuko, and just getting to know that he’s really here.

I can’t stop the contented sight that escapes me, and Zuko just swallows it with a grin that’d have me rolling my eyes again if he wasn’t also running his tongue across my lips, asking for access I’m more than happy to grant, my arms wrapping tighter across his neck to bring his closer.

The moment is ruined, however, by the sound of exaggerated fake gagging from the entrance of the courtyard.

Zuko pulls away just enough so he can glare at the intruder. I follow his movements and I’m not even surprised to see Sokka, leaned over with his hands on his knees as he continues his over the top acting.

“Okay, gross, ugh. No one wants to see that,” the younger boy complains, gesturing to the two of us on the ground.

“Yeah, well, no one’s telling you to look,” Zuko shoots back annoyed. He turns back to me and I can see a glint of something evil in his eyes, and whatever it is I’m good with it.

He bends down to meet me with his lips once again, but unlike before he’s more passionate and I react in kind, tilting my head to deepen the kiss before he even has to ask.

“Oh my eyes!” Sokka yells dramatically, which is followed by the telltale sound of him running away, not before he runs into something because no doubt he has his hands over his eyes.

The kiss is instantly broken by the fact that neither of us can hold back our laughing at the boy's actions.

“You know you should probably do some actual firebending training today,” I say as Zuko leans closer again, not that I don’t want to continue our moment, but he does still have an Avatar to train.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Zuko sighs, pushing himself away to sit next to me instead. “Can you go find Aang for me?”

“Fine,” I reply, getting up and brushing off my clothes.

I head out of the courtyard and for the main fountain area and to my luck that’s exactly where I find the airbender, playing around by the water splashing Katara.

I let myself just watch for a moment before I can bring myself to interrupt. I’ve been trying to divide my time between Zuko and the gang, -since apart from Toph and Aang everyone else is still wary about the firebender’s appearance, but I haven’t seen Katara this playful since the invasion, anytime I see the waterbender a frown is almost always etched on her face.

“Aang, Zuko wants you for training,” I call when it looks like he gets tired. He immediately perks up and moves to start coming over so we can walk back together, but Katara’s voice makes him halt before he even steps away.

“Well he can wait, can’t you see Aang’s busy right now,” Katara snaps, familiar frown now back in place.

I look at her confused because it looked like they were just playing, but I really don’t want to argue with her, and maybe they were doing a special waterbending thing I didn’t get.

“Solmi’s right I should really go train…” Aang starts to say but a glare from Katara has him snapping his mouth closed.

“No it’s fine, I’ll just wait here,” I reply awkwardly, there’s no point going back to Zuko now because if I leave there’s a high chance Aang might get distracted and forget.

I sit on the ground, and Momo comes running over demanding my attention so I decide playing with him will be a good way to pass some time.

“Shouldn't you really get back to your boyfriend? I still don’t think he should be left to wander around by himself,” Katara snarks and I instantly tense at the harsh tone.

“Why not, the temple is fun to explore and I thought Zuko was our friend now?” Aang asks innocently and I’m glad someone thinks that way.

“He might be your ‘friend’ now, but it’s not like he hasn’t betrayed someone he was closed to before,” it’s clear Katara’s words are aimed at me even if the waterbender doesn’t bother to look in my direction.

“You need to stop with your thing against Zuko, he’s already proven that he deserves to be here,” I tell her, annoyance growing at all her snide remarks.

“Well I’m sorry I’m not as obsessed with him as you are,” Katara responds, stepping away from the fountain to actually look at me with a glare now.

I can see Aang slowly slinking off to the side as the tension builds, and I can’t blame him since I wish I could do the same, unfortunately I doubt Katara is going to let this drop.

“Katara, you are being unreasonable,” I groan, getting up to meet her glare. If this is what it takes for her to stop, it might be necessary.

“Unreasonable!” She exclaims, the water behind her jumping as she moves her arms in her anger. “Am I the only person who remembers what he did?”

“Of course, I remember.”

“Then why don’t you care?” The waterbender demands. “Out of everyone I thought you would be on my side about this, but you’re acting like what happened didn’t matter.”

My glare falters for a moment to just stare at the girl shocked. She knew, everyone knew how much I went through after Ba Sing Se that I can’t believe she would even think that. “It mattered, but I’ve dealt with it and chose to forgive him. Why can’t you do the same?”

“Please, the only reason you went back to his waiting arms so easily is because you didn’t want to be left behind again,” Katara mocks, rolling her eyes.

I feel all my frustration leave me at her words, as it gets replaced by how hurt I feel instead. Because I know that yes, some of the reason I forgave Zuko as quickly as I did was because I was afraid he would leave if I didn’t.

But I also know there’s so much more to it that I don’t think Katara will ever understand.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to deal with you,” Katara growls and goes back to the fountain and starts angrily waterbending, making waves that crash loudly against the stone to vent.

I sigh, upset about the way the argument happened, and turn to walk away from the girl when I’m confronted by everyone in the temple, including Zuko, just standing awkwardly inside the main area, most of them dramatically trying to make it look like they weren’t listening.

I groan, now slightly embarrassed that the whole thing had been witnessed by so many people. When they notice my looking, there are awkward mumbles as they disperse to different places, all apart from Zuko and Aang.

Aang walks over to me, stopping briefly to put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Katara,” he says and I shrug not stopping him, but I also doubt it’ll do a lot of good, she made it pretty clear what she thinks of me and the choice I made.

I can see Zuko looking at me frowning, and I try to put on a smile though I know he sees right through it. “So, training? But I don’t think Aang will be joining us after all.”

“I have a better idea,” Zuko replies, and I tilt my head in question. “Why don’t we get out of here for a while.”

I don’t know how he understands exactly what I need, but I’m glad he does. “That sounds great,” I reply, smiling for real when he grabs my hand and leads me out of the temple.

—--

We go out into the forest, not stopping until we’re a good ways away from the temple so that nobody -apart from Toph- would be able to find us.

“Come on, I want to show you something I found the night I was camping out here,” Zuko says, pulling insistently on my hand.

“What are you…” I go to question when I hear the tell-tale sound of rushing water in the close distance. I stare at Zuko wide-eyed and his grin confirms my theory, and the next thing he knows I am now dragging him to the source of the noise.

I break through the tree line and the waterfall that greets me is such a beautiful sight. It’s not huge, but it’s tucked away in a cove, a small ledge wrapping around so somebody could stand behind it if they wanted to. And the water looks so clear with small flowers floating on top and little creatures jumping in and out.

“It’s amazing,” I admire, stepping closer to look over the edge and see the small fish swimming around. Suddenly, I get an idea and I try not to grin too much as I call Zuko over. “Hey, come look at this fish, I wonder what kind it is.”

Zuko dutifully comes right over, standing at the edge of the water. I don’t even hesitate before I take a step back and push the firebender, the rudeness of it causing him to quickly lose balance and fall into the shallow water.

“Sol!” He chides, but I can tell he’s not angry about it.

“Just thought I’d get even after all my losses in training,” I reply happily as he stands up. I expect him to just complain and walk out of the water. But I see the same glint in his eye as earlier and I barely have time to widen mine before he’s grabbed me and pulled me in next to him.

I push my wet hair out of my face before I glare at him challengingly, which he mimics. I go to tackle him, and I can tell he’s ready for it. But suddenly a noise makes me stop.

“Did you hear that?” I ask, straining my ears to hear over the waterfall.

“What is it?” Zuko now looks alert, studying the surroundings.

“I don’t…” the noise interrupts me again, and it sounds like some sort of cry.

I slowly get out of the water and follow the noise quietly not wanting to draw the attention of whatever is making it. I can tell Zuko is right behind me and as we get further away from the rushing water the noise gets easier to hear, and it’s definitely some sort of animal, and it does not sound happy.

I hold my arm out to get Zuko to stop when I hear the cry again very close. I look around and find a tree with what looks like a freshly dug hole underneath. I crouch down, and right there, hidden behind the roots is a baby cat monkey.

It's dark in the hole so I almost didn't see it, but its white baby fur still sticks out amongst the new brown fur growing in so it makes it easier to spot.

“Aww, what are you doing out here all alone?” I coo as soon as I see it, the tiny creature curled into a ball as it cries out. I go to reach my hand into the hole when Zuko gently grabs it, stopping me.

“Sol, be careful, the mothers are very protective,” he warns, eyes looking above us for any sign of an angry animal.

“They also don’t leave their babies on their own,” I reply, pulling my hand away to grab the baby. It screeches, startled but I stay still until it calms again and then slowly pulls it out and into my arms, its own long arms wrapping around my forearm as its tail curls around my hand. It only looks a couple of weeks old, definitely too young to be by itself. “What happened little guy? Did your Mama leave you?”

I check it over to see if maybe it’s sick or injured and that’s why it got left behind. But apart from being scared, it looks completely healthy.

“Wait, Sol, look at this,” I turn to see what Zuko’s talking about and the sight of wheel marks in the dirt makes my heart drop. “This area has been abandoned since the air nomads, but these definitely look fresh.”

I cradle the cat monkey in my arms as my eyes follow the marks until they catch sight of a ripped up net.

“Hunters,” I growl at the sight before forcing myself to calm down as the baby starts squirming.

“That must have been what happened to this one’s mother,” Zuko deduces, putting everything together.

I look back at the hole under the tree. “She hid him to keep him safe before they got her.”

I frown at the scared animal in my arms, and its innocent eyes stare back at me as it rubs its head into my arm, whiskers tickling my skin, and I know I want him to be safe, whatever it takes.

“You want to go after them, don’t you?” Zuko asks, but we both know it’s not really a question.

“Well I’d say, given how we’ve found him, this couldn’t have been too long ago,” I reason happily.

He sighs, but just gestures for me to follow as he makes off after the tracks. I slowly encourage the baby cat monkey to climb onto my back, and make sure to pick some berries I know are edible to keep it occupied as we track down where the hunters went.

Suddenly, we hear voices as we come up to a clearing, and a quick glance through the trees reveals a cart full of cages with different animals, as well as three guys sitting around it.

I grab the baby, shushing it when it starts to whine and gently put it on the ground under some bushes. “Stay here little guy, we’ll go get your Mama back.”

I share a look with Zuko and he pulls his hood to cover his face, just in case, before we walk into the clearing. The guys all jump, clearly not expecting anyone to appear, but neither Zuko nor I start to attack, yet.

“Who are you?” One of the men demands, a scar running down the side of his face.

“It doesn’t matter who we are, what matters is that you let all of these animals go, right now,” I command, arms crossed and staring them down despite all of them being bigger and taller than I am.

The three share a look, then have the nerve to start laughing. “Yeah, I don’t think so, little girl. These little nuisances here are gonna make us some quick coin,” another guy says, dark hair pulled into a long ponytail.

“We won’t tell you again,” Zuko growls, but the men are apparently done listening and all of them pull their weapons.

Scar guy has a sword, ponytail a spear, and the last one a pair of dao swords.

I sigh, not wanting this to have turned into a fight but I’ll do what it takes to rescue these animals. I pull my daggers, really glad Zuko gave them back when he came to find me, and immediately go after the one with the sword, while Zuko takes on his weapon partner.

I see the third guy run off, and I roll my eyes not surprised by the retreat, now if only his friends would do the same. It’s not a difficult fight, these guys clearly only have the weapons for show to scare people rather than actually knowing how to use them. Which is god, I guess since we can’t risk using our firebending here.

I push the scarred man away from me, and he crouches going to attack from the left. But before he can even get close I swing my leg up and kick his hand, his sword flying from his grasp, and before he can recover I grab the same arm and twist it behind him before kicking him to the ground face first.

I turn to look at Zuko -who not surprising has already dealt with his guy- and I can see him looking at me in shock.

“I don’t really have a ‘weak spot’,” I admit grinning, surprised he would really think I had such an obvious blind spot.

“Sol, look out!” Zuko suddenly yells. I look behind me to see that the ponytail man has returned and is charging at me with his spear.

I immediately step out of the way of the weapon, but unfortunately not fast enough and I can feel the blade cut into my side.

I groan, but also quickly take the wooden pole, yanking it from the man’s weak grip and kicking him in the stomach so he falls to the ground with his friends, all of them now looking up at us with fear in their eyes.

“I think it’s obvious to say that if we ever see you around here again, or learn that you’ve been capturing animals, you will regret it,” I hiss, and the men all nod rapidly before taking off into the forest where we’ll hopefully never see them again.

Now that they’re gone I let myself put my hand to my side as I slouch, the pain finally getting to me.

“Are you okay?” Zuko asks coming to stand next to me, hands awkwardly hovering in the air.

“I’m fine,” I reassure, although I can blood steadily leaking it’s a small wound so it should be fine. “Let’s just free these animals.”

Zuko hesitates for a moment, but does what I say, moving towards the cages and quickly unlocking every single one of them until all the different creatures are free and running off into the trees, not before some of them give us a grateful noise.

I get to the last cage, the one holding the adult cat monkey, and even after the cage is open she still sits in it, looking rather sad.

“Hey, there’s no need to look so down, we have someone here for you,” I tell her. I go back to where I know I left the baby, and he’s still sat there happily munching on his berries. He squeaks happily when he sees me and I grin, holding out the hand that’s not on my side so he can crawl onto it.

As soon as the mother sees her baby she bolts out of her cage, standing on the edge of the cart as I bring him over and set him down. They purr as they rub their heads together in greeting, then the baby crawls onto its mother's back, arms clutching tight around her.

They both squeak at us in tandem and I can tell they're grateful, and I watch as they take off into the closest tree until I can’t see them through the leaves anymore.

“We should get back to the temple,” Zuko says after a moment of silence as I smile stupidly up at the tree

“Sure,” I agree, turning to face him and catching his smile that tells me he also feels good about what we did.

I go to take a step but suddenly everything starts swimming and I stumble before being able to right myself again. Zuko is at my side before I can even stand straight again, hands immediately at my sides to help keep me up.

“What was that?” He demands, eyes fixating on my hand where blood has started to leak through my fingers.

“It’s nothing it’s only a little…” my words cut off when I pull my hand back and see that maybe the wound from the blade wasn’t as small as I originally thought.

Zuko sighs and gives me his hood. I look at him confused but the next thing I know the world is moving as he picks me up in his arms.

“It’ll be quicker to get back like this, just hold that to slow the bleeding until we get back,” he orders already making his way back to the temple.

I want to argue but I know it’s futile, so I just do as he says and tightly press the fabric against my injury, trying to focus more on how nice it feels to be close to Zuko like this than the persistent throbbing from my side.

I do argue however when the first thing he does as we get back is start looking for Katara.

“No, you don’t need to bother her, it’ll heal on its own,” I protest, struggling slightly in his arms but he just tightens his grip until we locate the waterbender still by the fountain.

She looks up as we come closer and instinctively she frowns annoyed, until she looks down and sees my hand pressed to my side and then he frown turns into one of worry instead.

“What happened?” She demands as Zuko sets me down by the fountain edge.

“Just reuniting a baby cat monkey with its mother,” I reply casually, trying to stop myself from wincing as Katara pulls the fabric away from the injury.

“Well, that’s a story I need to hear,” Sokka interjects.

Zuko sighs but starts explaining while Katara starts healing my side, and I groan in relief, much more enjoying the feeling of the cold water to the searing pain.

And once it heals enough I can think clearly I immediately feel guilty about the argument this morning. “I’m sorry about this, I know you said you didn’t want to deal with me.”

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Katara replies sadly to my surprise.

“It’s okay,” I reply, before taking the chance to be honest. “I just can’t not like Zuko even though I know you don’t like him. I just wish I didn’t feel like I was losing you as my friend.”

“Solmi, listen to me,” the waterbender says seriously, hands falling away from my side with a splash. “You are my friend and you’re important to me. You won’t lose me because we disagree on something. Just look at me and Toph.”

“Yeah, I guess you have a point,” I admit, looking down at my side to see barely even a line that shows where the wound used to be. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she replies and she smiles at me for the first time in a while. “So you know what you did was completely reckless right?” She demands and I groan knowing I’m in for a long lecture.

Chapter Text

It’s nighttime and also the first time in a while everyone has been all together just chilling in one area. Zuko offered to make everyone tea, apparently not having forgotten any of the skills he learned in the tea shop.

“No one can make tea like Uncle. But hopefully, I learned a thing or two,” he says as he finishes filling the cups. “Would you like to hear Uncle’s favourite tea joke?”

He passes around cups as he tells it and the confidence he has is astounding since he can’t remember most of it. The only thing that can be heard after his ‘punch line’ is the sound of the crackling fire, I could save him since I do actually remember the full joke, -having heard it too many times to count- but it’s nice to see him interacting with everyone else.

“It’s okay, you tried,” I tell him in lew of helping as I grab my cup.

“Well, it’s funnier when Uncle tells it,” he says embarrassed.

“Right,” Katara drawls. “Maybe that’s because he remembers the whole thing.”

Everyone starts laughing, and Zuko just smiles gently which in turn just makes me smile wider that he’s having fun.

“It’s nice to get a chance to relax a little,” Toph comments. “It hardly ever happens.”

Zuko eventually makes his way to Sokka to give him his cup, but the younger boy doesn’t take it. “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” He asks instead.

Sokka walks away before he can get an answer, but Zuko just sets down his tray and follows.

“What do those two have to talk about?” Katara questions aloud, but she’s mainly looking in my direction like I would know.

I resist the urge to go listen, but whatever it is, it seems pretty serious by the looks on their faces and the smile Sokka puts on as he comes back makes it clear he’s planning on doing something he shouldn’t. And when I ask Zuko he doesn’t give a very clear answer.

So when everyone rolls out their sleeping bags and goes to bed, I lay, pretending to sleep. At first I hear Zuko get up from where he’s lying right next to me, and I hold still in case he can tell. But he just quietly moves across everyone and I slowly move my head to watch as he wanders over to Appa.

I decide to ignore it for now, figuring maybe he just can’t sleep, but then not long after I also hear Sokka get up and do the same thing as Zuko.

I sigh and wait until he’s mostly gone before also getting up and following him over to the sky bison.

I struggle not to laugh as I enter the open area and watch the Water Tribe boy fall off the bison which Zuko peering his head over the saddle. Guess he also thought Sokka was planning something.

“Fine, you caught me. I’m gonna rescue my dad. You happy now?” Sokka admits and suddenly my laughter is gone.

“I’m never happy,” Zuko replies and I realise his lack of shock proves he knew Sokka was going to do this.

“You’re going to do what?” I demand, barely able to keep myself from yelling making both of them jump. Well, Sokka jumps, Zuko sort of flinches.

“Oh, why are you up?” Sokka complains once he notices it’s me.

“Because you’re not as sneaky as you think you are,” I snark. “Now what’s this about rescuing your dad?”

“Look, I have to do this. The invasion plan was my idea. It was my decision to stay when things were going wrong. It’s my mistake, and it’s my job to fix it,” Sokka explains desperately, tightening his grip on his bag of supplies. “I have to regain my honour. And neither of you can stop me.”

I get where he’s coming from, and I know I can’t talk because I argued to go with them to get Bumi back in Omashu, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.

“You need to regain your honour? Believe me, I get it. I’m going with you,” Zuko declares. I open my mouth to chime in, but the firebender notices and immediately stops me. “And before you even say anything, you’re not coming.”

“The fact you even said that just proves to me you’re going somewhere dangerous. I’m not just going to let you go,” I argue, because who knows the amount of trouble these two could get into.

“No! I have to do this alone,” Sokka insists, interrupting Zuko and mine’s stare down to climb onto Appa himself.

“How are you going to get there?” Zuko demands. “On App? Last time I checked prisoners don’t have bison daycares.” Sokka sighs in defeat and glares down at the firebender. “We’ll take my war balloon.”

Sokka jumps down off the bison, then comes to stand in front of me. “Look, Zuko’s right, you shouldn’t come along.”

“Sokka, just listen to me. When everything happened your dad was there for me in a way I couldn’t fully appreciate at the time, and I never thanked him for it. Let this be my way of repaying him,” I plead, looking the Water Tribe bo straight in the eyes so he knows how serious I am about this.

“Fine,” he groans, noticeably frustrated at how turned around his plan’s gotten.

“Sokka,” Zuko chides, clearly still unhappy about the idea.

“Nope, you can’t argue now, he said I could go,” I joke challengingly. And at the end of the day, they both know how stubborn I can be when I want to.

So, it ends up being the three of us, sailing through the sky in a small war balloon. I think of the note we left, and how Aang’s going to react to the news of his ‘homework’, especially since I know how noisy those badger frogs can be.

It ends up being a little awkward, Sokka and Zuko not really knowing what to say to each other, and I’ve never been good at small talk in situations like these.

I lean back against the edge of the war balloon, taking the chance to rest my eyes for a moment after being awake most of the night. The sound of the whirring blades is surprisingly relaxing, and so is hearing Zuko periodically firebend more flames into the part that keeps us floating.

I could almost drift off when Sokka actually says something for the first time since we left. “Pretty clouds.”

“Yeah, fluffy,” Zuko agrees awkwardly.

“Guys this is actually painful,” I complain knocking my head against the basket at their attempt at a casual conversation.

“You know, a friend of mine actually designed these war balloons,” Sokka remarks.

“No kidding.”

“Yup. A balloon, but for war.”

“If there’s one thing my dad’s good at, it’s war,” Zuko says, shooting another blast into the flames, though I think that was more for his anger.

“Yeah, it seems to run in the family,” Sokka comments, and I’d smack him if he wasn’t on the other side of the balloon from me so I settle with a glare.

“Hey, hold on. Not everyone in my family is like that,” Zuko instantly defends.

“I know, I know. You’ve changed,” Sokka acknowledges placatingly.

“I meant my uncle,” Zuko corrects him, voice lowering into one of guilt. “He was more of a father to me. And I really let him down.”

“Zuko, you know what you’re doing now makes up for it,” I remind him, not liking him beating himself up for the past.

“Yeah, I think your uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us? That’s hard,” Sokka adds in reassuringly.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Zuko admits.

“Really?” I see Sokka lock eyes with me briefly, and he looks concerned but determined. “You didn’t leave behind anyone you cared about?” He asks in such a deliberate way I know he remembers what happened under the palace and I stare at him shocked he’s bringing it up now.

I hold my breath, not sure if I even want to hear Zuko’s reply. It was something I was purposefully avoiding asking about because well, it was Azula who said it.

Zuko starts shifting nervously before he turns to face. I want to tell him it’s fine, that he doesn’t need to answer, but now the question is out there I know I can’t avoid it anymore.

“It’s complicated,” he finally says. “I did have a girlfriend, Mai.”

I wish I could say that didn’t hurt, but no matter how much I was expecting it hearing that he apparently moved on for a while still hits hard.

“That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?” Sokka asks, slightly jokingly to relieve some of the tension he built.

“Yea,” Zuko sighs guiltily, looking back at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“I sort of already knew,” I admit, glancing away.

“Wait, what? How?” The firebender stutters in shock.

“Azula,” is the only reply I give, and judging by the way Zuko starts muttering angrily I know it’s enough. “So… you did care about Mai?”

Maybe this could’ve waited until we got back, but then again I doubt I’d have the courage to bring this back up again. Might as well get it out of the way now while neither of us can run away from it.

“Like I said, it’s complicated. I had a crush on her when we were kids, and I guess she liked me too. So when I got back to the Fire Nation it was almost expected of me to just go back to liking her,” he explains, eyes trained solely on the floor of the basket.

“No, I get it. I guess it’s hard to forget your first crush,” I reply calmly, though I can see the jealously rising within me I try to push it down.

“It’s not like that,” Zuko argues, finally looking up to meet my amber eyes. “It was expected of me to date her, but no matter what I did I couldn’t bring myself to forget about you. You’re the only person I have ever cared about like that. I might care about Mai but she’s just a friend, nothing more.”

His voice is so desperate, golden eyes pleading with me to believe him. And I do, despite how much it hurts to know he was with somebody else. Because at the end of the day, he’s here with me now and he’s not going anywhere.

“It’s okay,” I tell him and his face instantly floods with relief as he pulls me tight against him.

There’s the sound of rough coughing, and I pull away, completely forgetting Sokka was even here.

“My first girlfriend turned into the moon,” Sokka comments, worming his way back into the conversation.

“That’s rough, buddy,” Zuko responds after a moment of contemplation. And yeah, someone needs to teach him better communication skills.

After that Zuko goes back to his job of keeping the balloon flying, and I sink down to the floor to hopefully get a little sleep before this prison break in.

—--

Day turns to night and when I wake up I have the mind to actually ask where exactly we’re going, and the answer just makes me glad I came along. I took over keeping the flame lit, to let Zuko take a little break and he goes to lean against the edge of the balloon while Sokka’s snoring fills the silence.

“There it is,” Zuko suddenly announces waking Sokka in the process. I close the hatch and glance over the edge to see a large volcano in the middle of the water. “There’s plenty of steam to keep us covered. As long as we’re quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught.”

Zuko takes back control of the balloon as we get closer to the cloud of steam. The second we enter it the heat is noticeable but I barely have a chance to think about that before the war balloon starts falling quick.

“We’re going down,” Zuko warns, panicking as he shoots more fire into the vent. “The balloon’s not working anymore.” He nudges me to continue what he was doing while he starts directing his flames straight into the balloon, but we still continue to fall.

“The air outside is just as hot as the air inside, so we can’t fly,” Sokka explains.

The balloon tilts forward, sending Zuko crashing down against the edge. The only thing that keeps me from following is Sokka’s hand tightly gripping my arm.

“So what are we supposed to do,” Zuko demands worriedly as the ballon gets closer to the ground.

“I don’t know. Crashlanding?” Sokka replies.

“That’s not good,” I say, but it doesn’t matter. The balloon flattens itself as it touches the water and Sokka has to keep himself from screaming as the boiling liquid splashes on his hand. We inevitably hit land, and with nothing to hold onto we all get sent flying into the dirt.

I push myself up and rub my head as I look at the crumbling pieces of the now ruined balloon. “That might be a problem.”

“How are we gonna get off the island if the balloon won’t work?” Zuko questions, voice now dropping into a hushed tone.

“We’ll figure something out. I suspected it might be a one-way ticket,” Sokka says, apparently not as worried as either of us as he walks to the balloon.

I look around as Zuko and Sokka argue about Sokka’s plan, which I ignore since crazy is normal for most of Sokka’s plans, and I get why they would send all the worst criminals here, there really doesn’t look like there’s any way out.

I look back to see Sokka pushing the trashed war balloon into the boiling lake.

“What are you doing?” Zuko demands.

“It doesn’t work anyway, and we don’t want anyone to find it,” Sokak tells him, watching all evidence of the item sink.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Zuko tells him seriously. “There’s no turning back now.”

“So, what now?” I ask, as my hands tighten around my bow as I try to push away the sudden fear I feel looking at the large intimidating building, knowing that we’re basically going to be trapped in there.

—--

It takes most of the night to sneak into the prison, and somehow the inside is more unnerving. Eventually, we come across the room where they keep the spare uniforms, knowing that with them, getting around should be a lot easier.

“I hope these disguises work,” Zuko says as Sokka closes the door to the uniform room.

“We just need to lay low and find my dad as soon as possible,” Sokka replies.

“With any luck, it’ll be that simple,” I can’t help but add, though it never usually goes that way. My hands go to my chest but they drop when I remember leaving my bow behind outside the prison to better blend in.

As if testing my comment, a bunch of guards come running past the hallways and we all freeze.

“Guards! There’s a scuffle in the yard. Come on,” one guy stops to point to us. And since we have to blend in we have no choice but to follow.

The guards push past the prisoners who are all standing in a circle to watch whatever is happening, and I follow what they do, spreading out to keep the prisoners back.

I try to focus more on not acting suspiciously than the obviously unfair guard in the middle with a prisoner, but it’s a challenge to keep myself from acting out when the guard point to where Sokka and Zuko are standing together.

Sokka ends up having to take the prisoner Chit Sang to the ‘cooler’ and I make my way back over to Zuko when it seems everything has calmed down.

“What do we do now?” I whisper, looking around to see if anyone is paying attention to us.

“I guess, blend in and continue trying to find out about Sokka’s dad,” Zuko shrugs.

Which is easier said than done since we don’t know anything about how the prison works, but anything odd we do the other guards just chalks it up to being ‘new’ and eventually after some wandering around some guy mentions lunch and directs us to the lounge.

I try to stay near Zuko as much as I can without it looking too obvious, partly because I know with Sokka on his own it’ll be better to avoid separating even further, but mostly because the idea of being alone in this place unsettles me more than I’d like to think about.

I stand next to Zuko as I put food on my tray, but at this point it might be just for show since I can tell I’m way too nervous to eat. My fingers start instinctively tapping the tray as I look around at all the guards, any of which could ruin this entire operation. But I force myself to stop and instead grip the tray tightly when I see Zuko’s eyes glancing at them.

“Hey, new guys!” Someone calls, and I turn around to see an older man sitting at a table with another man and a woman. “I know it’s the rule to have your helmets on at all times, but this is the lounge. Relax!”

I panic a little, knowing Zuko definitely can’t take his helmet off.

“But what if there’s an incident? If I’m not prepared, someone could strike me on the head,” Zuko insists, trying to seem prepared.

“Plus, they’re kind of cool,” I add, purposefully trying to sound excited.

The adults look at each other and start laughing. “Give it a week. They’ll loosen up,” the woman says.

“Can the new guy ask you veterans a few questions about the prison?” Zuko asks, taking the chance to start the investigation on Sokka’s dad as he sits at the end of the table, so I take my tray and sit next to the woman.

“No, you can’t date the female guards,” she replies immediately. And at least that’s something to keep in mind.

“Trust me, you don’t want to,” the first guy jokes, getting a cup thrown at his head for it and I have to hide my grin under my hand.

“No, that’s not it,” Zuko digresses seriously, “The boiling rock. It holds the Fire Nation’s most dangerous criminals, right?” All the guards nod in response. “So what about war criminals?”

—--

Zuko and I head to a high point to search for Sokka after learning the disappointing news that while the prison does have war criminals, none are from the Water Tribe. When we get to a large balcony that overlooks the courtyard there’s already a guard leaning against the rail, though as I get closer I start to recognise just the guy we’re looking for.

“Hey, there, fellow guard. How goes it?” Zuko says awkwardly making me shake my head.

“Zuko, Solmi!” Sokka calls out, lifting his faceplate, which Zuko immediately shushes him for.

“Listen, we asked around the lounge. There are no Water Tribe prisoners. I’m afraid your father’s not here,” Zuko tells him.

And just like I thought, Sokka looks devastated. “What? Are you sure? Did you double-check?”

“We asked everyone there, no one’s heard of any Water Tribe men being brought here,” I tell him glumly. I wish we might’ve missed something, but everyone seems to know everything here.

“No, no!” Sokka yells, banging his fists against the wall angrily.

I go to pull him into a hug but he shrugs away from it, going back to stand by the rail as Zuko tries to comfort him by mimicking his uncle, but ends up going into a long metaphor I know Iroh would never say.

But suddenly, Sokka looks excited. “Maybe we haven’t failed after all.”

“That’s the spirit,” Zuko says encouragingly. “I can’t believe that worked. I didn’t even know what I was saying.”

“No, what you said made no sense at all. But look!” Sokka points to the courtyard, where a glum-looking girl with short brown hair tied into a half ponytail is sitting. “It’s Suki!”

“So that’s the girl I’ve been hearing about,” I comment, looking more intently at her. It’s good to put a face to the girl I know Sokka care a lot about.

A bell rings and she follows the other prisoners to their cells, and when I turn around again Sokka is already rushing back into the prison.

It takes some asking, but we find out what cell she’s being held in, and Sokka looks beyond excited. Zuko and I stand guard outside the door to give them their space, and I decide not to question the loud bang I hear against the door not long after he enters.

“Sol, can I talk to you for a second?” Zuko suddenly asks.

“What’s up?” I reply, keeping my voice quiet so I can still hear any approaching guards.

“You don’t want to be here, do you?” He states, and despite his earlier comment, it is definitely not a question.

“What are you talking about? I’m the one who said I wanted to come didn’t I?” I respond, pulling as face when it came out more defensive than I meant.

“Yeah, but ever since we arrived you’ve been tense,” he says, turning slightly to look at me rather than straight ahead. “And I know it can’t just be because of the situation, I haven’t seen you like this since I first met you.”

I’m glad the helmet covers a lot of my face because I don’t want Zuko to see the shock on my face that he so effortlessly figured out what I’ve been feeling since it would only further prove him right, and he might try to get me to stay out of this.

Suddenly there are footsteps as a guard comes up the stairs which prevent me from answering and Zuko knocks on the door to signal to Sokka to stay put. Unfortunately for us, the female guard walks right to the cell and Zuko has to step out to block her.

“Excuse me. I need to get into that cell,” she orders.

“No, you can’t go in there,” Zuko argues. “The lights are out. The prisoner could sneak up on you.”

Her face sets into a scowl. “Step aside, fool!”

She goes to push Zuko out of the way but he just grabs her arm pushing her into the door.

“Guard, what are you just standing there for? Help me!” She yells at me. I sigh, weighing out blowing my cover to Sokka’s and in the end, I move to grab her other arm to help restrain her.

But she seems to notice this and quickly pushes off the wall, kicking me and then twisting Zuko so he’s in the same position she was.

Zuko grapples back so they're in an awkward position, and I get up to walk over only to see Sokka slowly coming out of Suki’s cell and trying to sneak away unnoticed.

“Guard, help! I think they’re imposters! Get her,” the female guard yells from where she’s still caught up with Zuko.

Sokka and I look at each other, and we know what we have to do. He charges at me, which I dodge out of the way of, but he twists around and grabs my arm before throwing me into the wall. Gentler than most people would, but still my groan as I fall to the floor aren’t all exaggerated.

“Good, now get him off me and arrest him!” The guard yells.

Sokak strides over and grabs Zuko's arm, pulling him off the woman and slamming him onto the ground. “You’re under arrest! And so is your partner.”

The woman guard walks up to me and yanks me off the floor, bending my arm behind my back to hold me.

We get taken to different cells, and I have to give up my guard uniform for the prisoner rags they call clothes.

I try to think and not think as I lay in bed. I felt like we were trapped when we could sneak around and no one knew we were here, but now actually being locked in a cell the feeling is doubled. It was hard enough having to try and escape before but it’s going to be infinitely harder now two of us are essentially useless.

The door opens and before I can ask what the guard wants he shoves a mop in my face and I have to hold back my groan as he leads me to the part of the prison where other prisoners are grouped up cleaning.

I start mopping, inching my way around the hall until I find Zuko, we meet eyes and I can tell he wants to ask if I’m okay, but I just shake my head saying it’s the wrong time so instead he subtly jerks his head to a corner behind the stairs where Suki is cleaning.

We slowly make our way over, and I can see the girl tense as we get closer. She suddenly turns around, mop held in her hands as a weapon and I immediately put my arms up.

“Wait, we’re Sokka’s friends,” I whisper urgently, luckily this part of the hall seems to be out of view of the guards.

“Right, sorry,” she says before putting her mop back on the floor to go back to cleaning.

We exchange quick introductions but after that, not much is said until Sokka comes climbing down the stairs next to us.

“Oh good, you all have met,” he says when he sees us all together.

“Actually, Zuko and I met a long time ago,” Suki admits.

“We did?” Zuko asks confused, clearly not remembering her.

“Yeah, you kind of burned down my village,” she tells him bitterly and I wince.

It does jog Zuko’s memory though. “Oh, sorry about that. Nice to see you again.”

“Solmi’s new. Though I did hear a lot about you from Sokka,” Suki says more cheerfully to me.

“Likewise,” I tell her, and I have a feeling we’ll get along.

With official greeting out of the way we put down our mops and kneel down to keep out of anyone’s eyesight.

“So listen, I think I have an escape plan,” Sokka starts to explain his idea of using the cooler prisoners are sent to as a boat to cross the boiling lake.

“I see you’re back to using that big brain of yours,” I joke trying to hide my nervousness that if this doesn’t work I’m not sure we’ll ever get out of here.

“But how are you gonna get the cooler out?” Suki asks about the only hole in the plan so far.

“Yeah, how are you gonna get the cooler out?” A rough voice demands and my heart skips. I look up to see the prisoner from the scuffle before leaning over the stair railing, before he jumps through to join us on the floor.

“What? We didn’t- we didn’t say that!” Sokka stutters unconvincingly.

“Yeah, you heard wrong,” Zuko protests.

But it’s too late, he obviously heard and we have no choice but to let him join least he tells the warden and everything is ruined.

“I guess we have no choice,” Suki acknowledges defeated.

“But next time we need a lookout,” I grumble, already standing to peer over the edge of the steps for any other strays.

“Okay, you’re in,” Sokka tells Chit Sang before getting back to business. “Now, we need someone to unbolt the cooler from inside,” he says, handing Zuko a tool to do just that.

“Oh, I can get you inside,” the new recruit says, and at least he’s proving himself useful.

And his way of doing that is by starting a dramatic fight with Zuko to get the guard's attention, where Zuko will firebend in retaliation which always gets prisoners thrown into the cooler. I sigh as he’s taken away, he seemed pretty confident about going, but I can’t help but be worried about him being in a place like that.

The commotion means we all have to go back to our cells, and I end up pacing around mine nervously until I give in and end up doing Aang’s homework of hot squats and fire fists, without fire, to keep my mind off worrying.

Eventually, Sokka comes by to let me out, and directs me to the place outside the prison to wait.

It’s a little nerve-racking to be sneaking around by myself, but I somewhat know the guard's patterns by now so actually getting out is no problem.

It’s weird how I start to slightly relax as soon as I leave the walls for the place we originally landed, hopefully, that will be the last I have to see of the inside of that place.

When I get there Suki is already waiting, along with Chit Sang and two more people, I don’t recognise. I look at Suki wondering if she knows who they are but she just shrugs.

There’s a noise from above us and I look up to see Sokka and Zuko rolling the cooler down the hill. I run up to help them stop it as they get closer along with Suki and Chit.

“Took you guys long enough,” the bigger guy complains, “This here’s my girl and my best buddy. They’re coming too.”

“Fine,” Sokka complies, though I can tell he’s not happy about it, it’s too late to fight about it. The cooler stops at the edge of the boiling water. “Everybody in the cooler. Let’s go.”

Sokka goes to the rock his stuff is hidden underneath, and I go to the crack in the rock wall that was big enough for my bow.

“Are you sure you wanna go? You’re the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself, redeem your honour. Rescuing your dad is your chance,” Zuko says, and I abandoned collecting my stuff to look at him shocked.

“Your dad?” Suki question before I get the chance.

“I thought he wasn’t here,” I say confused. I was sure we asked everybody but maybe we missed something.

“If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess. Maybe be sometimes it’s better to call it quits before you fail,” Sokka agonises, and I can that for whatever reason he thinks his dad is here he wants to stay.

“No, it’s not,” Zuko immediately disagrees. “Look, Sokka. You’re going to fail a lot before things work out.”

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Sokka questions bemused, now done gathering his stuff.

“Even though you’ll probably fail over and over and over again…”

“Seriously not helping,” Sokka interrupts.

“...you have to try every time,” Zuko continues anyways. “You can’t quit because you’re afraid you might fail.”

“Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?” Chit Sang demands, holding the cooler in the water.

I look at Sokka, waiting for the answer I know is coming. “No, I’m staying,” he replies, dropping his bag before he turns to Suki. “You guys go. You’ve been here long enough.”

“I’m not leaving without you, Sokka,” she replies determined.

“I’m staying too,” Zuko joins, I can see him glance at me, slight hope in his eyes but I don’t know why he tries.

“If I get back to the temple without Sokka Katara might actually kill me. So that means I’m staying,” I tell him and I see his shoulder slump. I’m surprised at just how confident I managed to sound, but I still can’t deny that going back inside that prison made me hesitate for a moment.

But I’m not going anywhere without the two of them, and rescuing Hakoda is what we came here to do.

“Not me. I’m out,” Chit Sang says. “Let’s roll baby.”

And with that, he and his friends are off, our best chance at freedom going with them.

“We gave up our only chance of escaping. I hope we haven’t just made a huge escape,” Sokka says, looking back at the prison.

—--

It’s as we’re sneaking back into the prison that a bunch of alarms start ringing and guards start running around moving towards the place where the others took off.

“Tha plan failed! They’re caught!” Sokka realises panicked.

Now I’m very glad I didn’t go with them. But there’s not much time to think about it as we hurry along, desperate to get to the main area before the new prisoners arrive.

Sokka peeks his head around the corner looking up to the gondola coming down from the top of the volcano.

“The gondola’s moving,” he announces nervously. Soon we’ll find out if this was worth it. “If my dad’s not there we risked everything for nothing.”

“We had to,” Suki tells him, grabbing his hand.

“And it’s not for nothing. We risked it for a chance and that chance is worth everything,” I reassure, saying out loud the same thing I’ve been telling myself and he looks a little grateful. I reach my hand beside me, grabbing Zuko’s to help my nerves and he squeezes back comfortingly.

One by one we watch criminals walk out of the gondola, none of them the Chief of the Southen Water Tribe, and then the tickle of men stops, my breath along with it.

“That’s it? That can’t be it,” Sokka gapes in disbelief.

“I’m sorry, Sokka,” Suki tries to comfort the disappointed boy.

“Hey, you! Get off the gondola!” A guard yells at whoever is left inside.

And to my astonishment, it’s him, it’s Hokoda. And now we know the risk really was worth everything.

Chapter Text

Knowing now that Hakoda is here changes everything.

“Okay, you three need to get back to your cells before someone notices you’re gone,” Sokka explains quickly, brain already in gear trying to come up with new plans. “I’ll talk to my dad and we’ll figure something out from there.”

“He’s right there, why can’t we just grab him and go,” I suddenly say, looking up at the still proud chief. “They don’t even know we’re here so they won’t see it coming.”

Everyone apart from Zuko looks at me surprised since running headfirst into things isn’t usually me thing. And even I know it wouldn’t really work but the idea of staying here even a few days longer has me being irrational.

“No, I get where you’re coming from. But even with the element of surprise, there’s no way we can get past all those guards,” Sokka replies logically, which is better than just calling me out if being ridiculous.

“Don’t worry we’ll get out of here,” Zuko squeezes my hand comfortingly. “Now we should go.”

Sokka leaves to go back up to where his dad is, while Suko, Zuko and I quickly make our way back to our cells. Luckily, it’s easier to sneak back in this time with a lot of the guards ‘welcoming’ the new prisoners.

I pull the heavy door behind me and listen to the sharp locking sound that signals for more nervous pacing to commence.

I try to think positively, with Sokka and Hakoda working together they’ll definitely think of another escape, the two of them are some of the smartest people I’ve ever met so they should be unstoppable, or at least I hope so.

Because I don’t know how much longer I can stand being here, and I can only imagine it’s just a matter of time before the Fire Lord learns of Zuko being here, and then there’s the fact that Sokk could still be discovered any moment, and Suki’s been here so long already.

I’m surprised I haven’t worn a hole in the floor by the next time my cell door opens. Though instead of anyone I know it’s just two guards.

“Hurry up, you’re coming with us,” the larger of the two says, voice gruff with impatience.

“Wha… why?” I ask nervously. Chit Sang and his friends must have given us up.

“There’s someone here who wants to talk to you,” the other guard replies, which just makes me more confused.

Apparently done with the questions the impatient guard comes into my cell and grabs my arm to pull me out of the cell. He drags me across the prison, only to shove me in a different cell, this one with a single chair sitting in the middle.

To my surprise the door doesn’t immediately close behind me, leaving enough light to see the female figure standing in the corner.

And I almost wish I didn’t recognise her, but the two buns and ever-present frown on her face makes it pretty easy.

“Mai,” I say, taking in the presence of the Fire Nation girl.

“And you must be that fake firebender Azula told me about, though I couldn’t be bothered to remember your name,” she goes for bored and I almost believe her, but I can hear the sharp edges of anger seeping through.

“Then I guess it doesn’t matter,” I comment, trying to stop my own mixture of panic and jealously coming out. “What do you want with me?”

“All in due time, you should really learn to be patient,” she replies mockingly.

I go to argue, or at least tell her to leave the dark corner, but then I hear the sound of a familiar voice groning from outside the door and I look at the other girl shocked when I realise this is what he wanted.

I lock eyes with Zuko as he appears at the door’s opening and his glare widens when he sees me. I don’t get a chance to explain before the guards roughly shove him into the room. I grab his arm to attempt to stop him from falling, but it doesn’t work and my hand slips as he crashes to the ground, the chair the only thing that keeps him somewhat held up.

I kneel down to make sure he’s okay as he whips his head around to glare at the guards. “We didn’t do anything wrong!” He yells, assuming like I had that we must be in trouble for something, and I guess we kind of are.

“Come on, Zuko, we all know that’s a lie,” Mai says, finally pulling herself from the corner.

“Mai,” he gasps as soon as he sees her. Then he starts whipping his head back and forth between her and me, now realising the awkward position we’re in.

I shake my head at his questioning look to show him I’m just as confused about this situation. Then I gently grab his arm, pulling him up from the floor and into the chair.

The tension is so thick I’m sure even the guards outside the door can feel it, and I can’t think of anything else to do but awkwardly lean on the wall on the other side of the cell to Mai.

“How did you know I was here?” Zuko asks head dipped to look at his lap.

“Because I know you so well,” Mai snarks, only to clarify when Zuko doesn’t understand the sarcasm. “The warden’s my uncle you idiot.”

Zuko groans at the news and I can’t believe how unlucky we have been since we got here.

“The truth is, I guess I don’t know you,” she continues, pulling out a piece of paper from her sleeve. “All I get is a letter? You could’ve at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart and left me for someone else.”

I feel myself wince at her harsh words, but at the same time, as much as I don’t want to, I can’t help but understand her a little. I know how much it hurt me when I learned Zuko was with her.

“No, wait, I didn’t leave you for Sol,” Zuko argues, gesturing between him and I, before his eyes widen when he realises how what he just said could sound, and I would laugh if the situation wasn’t what it is. “I mean, I am with Sol, but it’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like? Did you even want to date me or was I just supposed to be a replacement for her?” Mai demands, voice still scarily calm.

“Mai, listen to me. I do care about you,” Zuko admits quietly. “You’re important to me and the time we spent together did matter.”

I grip my fists, forcing away the jealousy I can feel bubbling up. Zuko already partially told me this on the balloon and I know he doesn’t mean it in a romantic way, but it still sucks to hear it being said like this.

“But just not that way, huh,” Mai replies bitterly, despite what she said earlier she knows him enough to tell exactly what he means.

“I didn’t mean to…” Zuko tries to defend himself weakly, but there’s really not much to say to that.

“You didn’t mean to?” Mai snaps, holding out the letter in front of her. Starts pacing back and forth behind Zuko, barely even sparing me a glance when she gets close. “Dear Mai, I’m sorry that you have to find out this way but I’m leaving.”

“Stop!” Zuko yells at her making her halt her reading. “This isn’t about you, or even Sol! This is about the Fire Nation.”

“Thanks, Zuko. That makes me feel all better,” Mai drawls out sarcastically, throwing the letter at Zuko’s head.

“Look, I understand this must be hard…” I try to mediate, not liking the way Zuko’s hunched over from the guilt I’m sure he feels.

“No, you don’t get to ‘understand’ anything,” Mai snaps at me, anger bubbling over. “The only reason you’re here is to make this whole thing worse for him.”

“Mai, I never wanted to hurt you like that, any of it. But I have to do this to save my country,” Zuko explains sincerely getting out of the chair to see Mai face to face.

“Save it? You’re betraying your country,” she accuses.

“That’s not how I see it,” Zuko retaliates.

“He’s doing what is best for the Fire Nation, and if you don’t see that then that just means you’re part of the problem,” I tell her, pushing off the wall to walk past her and stand next to Zuko who shoots me a proud smile.

“You know what? I don’t feel like dealing with you anymore. Guards get rid of her!” Mai yells,

“No you need to hear this, what the Fire Nation is doing isn’t right, but you don’t have to be a part of it,” I try to say but the next thing I know my arms are being restrained behind me as I get dragged out of the room.

As I’m taken down the stairs I see the line of prisoners making their way into the yard. The guards stop, obviously confused, but I feel the one holding me shrug and let me go, pushing me to join the others.

I consider trying to make a break back to Zuko, but they appear to know this as they stand arms crossed blocking the hall entrance. I sigh realising there’s nothing I can do right now but go and try to find Sokka and Suki.

Luckily, it’s not too hard and I find them both and Hakoda gathered at the edge of the yard.

“Guys!” I yell, running up to them. “Hi, Chief Hakoda, it’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise, Solmi. Though I had hoped it would’ve been under a better situation than you kids being reckless,” the man can’t help but scold gently and I grin as Sokka looks away sheepishly.

“Solmi, where were you? I went to tell you about our escape plan and you weren’t there,” Sokka tells me worriedly.

“Sorry, I got dragged away by Zuko’s ex,” I attempt to explain, but by the looks I receive, they’re just more confused. “I explain later.”

“Oh yeah, I grabbed this,” Sokka suddenly says and he pulls my bow and quiver off his back and hands them to me. I look at him shocked but it’s still good to feel the familiar shapes in my hands again.

“So we’re doing this now?” I ask, mounting the weapon on my back. My heart soars at the hope that we’re finally gonna get out of here, though it’s dampened a little since Zuko still isn’t here.

“Yes, all we have to do is start a riot?” The Water Tribe boy says, and I know there must be more to it, but it’s too late to ask now.

“Okay, but how do we do that?” Suki asks.

“I’ll show you,” Hakoda replies confidently, before striding over to a group of guys and shoving the biggest one. Only for it to backfire because apparently, he tried to pick a fight with the one person doing some anger management.

“This isn’t working,” Sokka comments disappointed.

I wrack my brain for an idea, but fights aren't really something I excel at. "Maybe I could start firebending or…”

“Hey, you!” A voice interrupts, and unfortunately, it’s one I’ve come to recognise as Chit Sang’slarge form comes strolling over. “You’re lucky I didn’t rat you out. Buy my generosity comes with a price. I know you’re planning another escape attempt, and I want in.”

“Actually, we’re trying to escape right now, but we need a riot,” Sokka tells him. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to start one, would you?”

“A prison riot? Please,” he replies easily. I watch him curiously as he grabs the closest man to him and starts hoisting him into the air. “Hey! Riot!”

The prisoners immediately begin yelling and shooting off flames, the place descending into chaos in seconds.

We all move to a wall to stay out of the way, unable to start to escape without Zuko. I tap my arms nervously waiting for his arrival, trying my best to crush down any fear that maybe Mai will take him back to the Fire Nation.

I let out a deep sigh of relief when I see him come running out of the prison, flipping over a poor prisoner who attempts to attack him on his way over.

“Zuko, good. We’re all here,” Sokka says, equally relieved to see him. “Now, all we need to do is grab the warden and get to the gondolas.”

I look at Suki, and instantly I can tell we have the same idea. Without a word we sprint off, she runs on top of people the get past the crowd, while I quickly flow through all the gaps in the bodies, making sure to bend down and grab a length of rope I see on the ground.

When we get to the building she jumps off someone’s head and twists in the air hooking her feet on a metal bar to hang upside down. I reach up and grab her hands, she swings and with a little firebending help, I twist in the air and land on the platform above.

I turn around and quickly deal with the first guard coming towards us, redirecting his flames back as she flips and lands too. She immediately runs past to deal with the next couple and while she does that I take the moment to swiftly draw my bow and tie the rope around and arrow and shoot it up to the rail above us where it curls around tightly.

I use the rope to help me run up the wall while Suki climbs next to me, making sure to kick a blast of fire at the guard who attempts to uncurl the arrow, and before another one can even try we’ve already made it to the top.

I climb over the rail as Suki slides under the guard closest to the warden and I turn around to grab the arm of the guard who just tried to attack, flipping him onto his back just as Suki grabs the warden.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he challenges, but quickly regrets it as it takes Suki no time at all to get his hands restrained behind his back.

“Sorry, Warden. You're my prisoner now,” she tells him, tying his headband around his mouth.

“Nice work,” I compliment, reaching out to give her a high five which she returns with a smile.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs makes me turn around, but to my relief, it’s just the other.

“We’ve got the warden. Now let’s get out of here,” Suki orders, but everyone else is too busy panting.

“Those are some girls,” Hakoda comments, breathing heavy.

“Tell me about it,” Sokka agrees, happily looking at Suki.

“I didn’t know you had that in you,” Zuko adds looking at me and I shrug, as it turns out the temple is a great place for learning climbing skills.

That’s all the breather they get, Chit Sang grabs the warden and all of us sprint up the stairs to the gondola.

The guards immediately start firebending at us and Zuko shoves Sokka out of the way, blocking their attacks. “Back off! We’ve got the warden,” he warns them, standing back to show the man on Chit Sang’s shoulder.

The guards stand down, letting us pass with no further trouble and after that, we hurry onto the gondola, Zuko staying a few steps back to watch the guards.

“Zuko, come on!” I call after him. He turns away from the guards, rushing over to the lever that makes the gondola work.

The thing shakes as he pulls it, then starts its ascent with a squeak. But Zuko doesn’t immediately start making his way towards us, instead, he starts kicking the lever and the guards take that as a chance to advance.

I takes step towards the open window and fire a shot at the closest guard's feet, making the rest hesitate. Zuko continues kicking the lever until it breaks, only then does he run towards the now leaving gondola, jumping as far as he can while also avoiding the guard's attacks.

Sokka leans out the side window, holding onto the frame with his other hand to push himself out further. He grabs Zuko’s arm, and I see his whole body tense as he pulls the older boy onto the solid floor of the gondola.

“What are you doing?” Sokka demands as Zuko climbs through the window.

“I’m making it so they can’t stop us,” the firebender replies confidently.

“Way to think ahead,” Sokka compliments, slightly proud of the older boy.

“And be an idiot,” I can’t help but add on, glaring at him slightly which he has the decency to look a little sheepish at.

“We’re on our way,” Suki announces happily, and I finally let myself relax, just a little, just glad to be out of the prison.

Though it’s quickly wiped away by the sound of Hakoda’s concerned voice. “Wait, who’s that?”

I look out the window to see the missing two of the trio of girls I’d be happy to never see again in my life.

“That’s a problem,” Zuko answers, now clearly more worried. “It’s my sister and her friend.”

I watch, somewhat amazed as they make their way to the gondola, Ty Lee running across the wires while Azula uses her blue flames to propel her way across.

“This is a rematch I’ve been waiting for,” Suki announces, glaring at the girls as they approach.

“Me too,” Zuko agrees, climbing out of the window to the roof along with Suki.

“Solmi, I want you to keep an eye out and make sure no one else approaches, got it?” Sokka orders pointing down to all the guards below us, before also climbing out.

I growl slightly at the command since it keeps me away from helping them fight these two dangerous women, but I also know that I’m in the best position for it, so I just draw my bow, string pulled back and an arrow pointing out the window ready to fly at anyone who tries to interfere.

I try to ignore the sound of combat above me, mainly focusing on the guards who think they might now be able to figure something out with us further away and the others distracted. But the second any of them make any move closer to the controls there’s an arrow landing where their next step would have been. And when they start ignoring that a stray arrow to the helmet makes them a little wearier.

“Cut the line!” I startle at the loud yell from behind me, turning around to see that somehow the warden got free of his restraints and gag long enough to yell the command, Chit Sang quickly moving to restrain the man again.

It’s only then that his words ring in my head. He can’t mean that, can he? It’s beyond reckless, but as I look back down the guards have already started working on the command.

Two of them grab a long metal pole to stop the gondola, and apparently, the orders of the warden have given them the ability to plan because now they have a couple of men specifically placed to blast my arrows out of the air.

I growl once again and push my bow onto my back. I see sparks as they begin to holt the gondola and I climb out the window to inform the others of the new development.

“Guys, we might have a problem!” I call out to them, standing on the edge of the window frame to peek my head over the edge of the roof.

Just then the entire contraption shakes as it comes to a sudden halt and I feel my balance slip. I desperately grab the edge of the roof to keep from falling when I feel a hand on my leg also holding me steady. I bend my head down to look inside the window, and I’m not surprised to see Hakoda with one hand firmly holding me while his other firmly grip the window frame.

I give him a grateful smile before looking back over to the roof, where Suki is holding on and Zuko is keeping Sokka from falling.

“They’re about to cut the line!” Ty Lee yells at Azula.

I look down and sure enough, two guards are now manning a large blade, sawing at the only thing that keeps us suspended above the boiling lake below.

“Then it’s time to leave,” Azula announces, looking at a new gondola that’s coming down, before using her flames to push herself to her escape. “Goodbye, Zuko.”

Ty Lee flips herself over as it gets closer, and we just watch as they ride to safety.

Zuko jumps back through the window into the main area and I step back into it, though I don’t let go of the frame as the gondola continues to shake the further they cut.

“They’re cutting the line! The gondola’s about to go!” Zuko yells panicked.

“I hope this thing floats,” Hakoda comments, looking down at the hot bubbling water below us.

“We’re not gonna find out,” I say, hand already to my back as I move to the window. As soon as I Iook out I know there’s no chance of doing anything from this distance, there are just too many guards and they’re prepared, but I have another plan.

I put both my hands on the frame and lift one foot up, pushing myself halfway out and onto the roof when two hands around my waist stop me.

“Sol, what are you thinking?” Zuko demands, voice taking on an edge of desperation as pulls me back inside

“I might not be able to do anything from here, but I can use my bow to get down there and at least then I might be able to get the gondola free and distract them long enough for you guys to get to the top,” I explain, twirling the bow in my hands and pulling on the string, hoping it’ll be strong enough to withstand the wire.

“Are you insane?” I look up at the voice, and Suki might have been the one to say it, but from the way everyone is glancing at me, I can tell they’re all thinking it.

“Look we don’t have long and there’s no other option,” I argue, trying to pry Zuko’s hands away, but he only holds on tighter.

Suddenly, the gondola starts moving again to everyone’s surprise.

Sokka runs past me to the window to look down at the prison. “Who is that?”

I look over his shoulder and who I see is the last person I suspected. The buns and tall figure stand out in a completely different way than when she was standing in that cell, because it looks like she's saving us.

“It’s Mai,” Zuko says, just as shocked as I feel.

There’s no more time to watch as the gondola gets to the end of the line, and everyone’s quick to get out in case Mai’s sudden good heart changes.

“Well, we made it out. Now what?” Suki asks as we pass the edge of the volcano, all except Zuko who stops next to me making me stop too.

“Zuko, what are you doing?” Sokka demands impatiently.

“My sister was on that island,” is all he says in response.

“Yeah, and she’s probably right behind us, so let’s not stop,” Sokka insists.

“What I mean is she must’ve come here somehow,” Zuko clarified before running to the edge of the cliff. “There! That’s our way out of here.”

And there, sitting by the water is a much larger war balloon than the one we came here on.

—--

Luckily for us, apart from a couple of guards who are easily dealt with, it seems all of the personnel who should be on board are somewhere else, probably taking a break inside the prison, but whatever they’re doing I’m glad because it makes sneaking onto the ship a lot easier.

The hardest part is when we get to the control room and look down at all the buttons and levers on the panel.

“Does anyone know how to fly this thing?” I ask, immediately confused by everything I’m seeing.

“I’m sure we can figure it out,” Sokka says optimistically, while also frantically pushing random buttons.

“Okay, well I’m going to keep an eye on the entrance while you do that,” I tell him. At least I’ll have a clear exit when this thing crashes straight into the ocean.

“I think I might join you,” Suki says, also looking at her boyfriend warily as he now tries to rope Zuko into helping since apparently being Fire Nation should be all it takes to understand it.

“So, Sol is it?” She asks once we leave the bickering boys behind.

I startle a little at hearing the nickname come from someone other than the usual firebending duo. But I shrug, deciding I don’t mind it. “If you want to call me that.”

“You know, you were really impressive back there,” Suki says and I grin assuming she’s talking about capturing the warden.

“Thanks, you too, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone climbs walls so fast, Sokka should take lessons,” I laugh, complimenting her back.

“I mean in general, I wasn’t lying when I said I heard about you from Sokka, but from what he said I never thought you’d be so courageous, no offence,” she tells me, and I can’t be upset because I know the last time Sokka saw her, she would have had a point.

“Let’s just say a lot has happened,” I reply easily, leaning back against the wall behind me. “And I guess being around these guys for so long, including Zuko, some things just rub off on a person.”

“Including dangerous and reckless plans?” She questions, eyebrows raise and I feel my face scrunch up. Now we’re away I can admit my plan on the gondola wasn’t the brightest.

“That we blame Sokka for,” I say before my eyes widen as I suddenly realise something, I look at Suki seriously. “Also, let’s not tell Katara about that, I’ve had enough lectures from her.”

Suki laughs and suddenly I feel the warship jerk, and I look out the window to see that we’ve started to move.

“Wow, they actually managed to do it,” I gasp as the ship starts getting further away from the water.

“We should probably make sure they don’t crash it,” Suki replies and I nod rapidly before we make our way back to the control room. I feel a smile sitting on my face, and it’s nice to know I’ve made another friend.

Somehow, between all of us, though mainly Sokka and Suki, we manage to get the ship back to the Air temple in one piece by the time night comes around.

I walk down the platform to be greeted by the very confused faces of Aang, Katara and Toph. It may have only been a few days, but the relief of finally being back makes me realise how much I missed them.

“What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?” Katara demands as soon as she sees us, but I ignore answering for pulling her into a quick hug since she’s the closest, which she returns without taking her eyes off the boys.

“It kinda got destroyed,” Zuko replies, cheerful smile not having left his face since halfway back.

“Sounds like a crazy fishing trip,” Aang comments and I almost forgot about the excuse we used.

“Did you at least get some good meat?” Toph asks.

“I did, the best meat of all, the meat of friendship and fatherhood,” Sokka replies dopily.

I step back as the others take that as the cue to exit the ship, and the others crowd around the new people, both confused and excited by their presence.

“Sol,” Zuko calls me quietly, gently nudging my shoulder. I step next to him and look up curious. “About Mai…”

“It’s okay,” I immediately reply before he can even finish. “Whatever happened is in the past, and if she’s still important to you that’s okay too. Just as long as you don’t go leaving me again.”

“Never,” is his instant response, and I smile, leaning into his side.

I watch as Sokka and Katara have their moment with their father, and I’m proud that despite the hardship and stress, it was worth it in the end and I could be a part of it.

“Seriously, you guys didn’t find any meat?” Toph asks, and I shake my head before promising to get some tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The animals are singing across the temple as the sun rises, but I feel no urge to get up from my place on the ground, surrounded by my still sleeping friends as peace sits in the air.

I hear Aang yawn from his place on Appa, and I look over, about to whisper a ‘good morning’ when before I can blink he’s up and blasting away a large object that was coming towards us. And in the next moment, a large explosion shakes the temple, assuring that everybody is no longer asleep.

I get up, looking out to the chasm to see airships raising from the fog below. Another explosion goes off and Aang quickly returns into the main building area, he uses his airbending to close the wooden panels protecting us from the brunt of further blasts that continue to go off.

But the temple still shakes with every hit causing dust and rock to rain from the ceiling.

“Watch out!” Zuko suddenly shouts. I whip my head around to see him tackle Katara, just in time for her to avoid being crushed by a large bit of falling debris. But in her normal Katara way, she barely seems to appreciate it, moaning instead at the firebender before rushing away.

I step over to him with a sympathetic smile and offer my hand to help pull him up, which he makes sure to thank me for.

“Come one, we can get out through here,” Toph commands, pointing at the tunnel she and Haru made in the cliff wall.

I run towards the temple with everyone else, while Aang works on pulling Appa’s reigns to get him to go too.

“What are you doing?” Aang asks panicked, and I only then realise Zuko isn’t by my side but is instead standing in front of the wooden doors.

“Go ahead, I’ll hold them off,” Zuko orders looking back. “I think this is a family visit.”

“Zuko what…” I don’t get a chance to finish my question because he just runs off, towards the explosions and a crazy sister who’s definitely looking for a fight.

“Zuko, no!” Aang cries out after him.

But I can’t bring myself to say anything. I just feel myself move, ready to run after the reckless firebender before he gets himself killed.

A hand on my arms forcefully hold me still, and I jerk back having not expected it. A quick glance shows Sokka staring at me with a frown and his sister has gone to Aang to do a similar thing.

“Come on, we need to get out of here!” Sokka yells to Aang, but the airbender and Katara are struggling to get Appa to go anywhere, then the younger boy turns to look at me gently. “Solmi, we need to help get Appa.”

I know exactly what he’s trying to figure out as the grip on my arm waver, that if he lets me go will I chase after Zuko? I watch the firebender jump over a gap made in the collapsing protection and as much as I want to follow, I understand getting everyone else to safety is more important.

“Let’s go,” I tell him. He still hesitates to let off my arm, but when he does I just rush over to the stubborn bison and he’s right beside me, Toph quickly earthbending a dome around us to protect us as the panels fall.

I can hear a commotion coming from the fountain area, and the explosions continue to ring one after another making me flinch every time.

“I can’t get him to go in there. Appa hate tunnels,” Aang says frustrated as the giant beast continue to fight against us, growling his protest.

“Aang there’s no way we can fly out of here,” Katara replies, the following explosion just proving her point.

“There’s too many of them,” I add on, already knowing just how many Fire Nation soldiers those ships can carry.

“We’ll have to find a way,” Aang decides, letting go of Appa’s reigns.

We split up since there would be no chance if Appa has to carry too many people, so Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki and I plan to go with the bison, while the others take the safe route out of the tunnel.

I check to make sure everything on the saddle is secure while Katara and Sokka hug their dad goodbye, then the Water Tribe boy grabs Suki and helps her climb up.

“I can clear that away and we can fly out through there,” Toph announces gesturing to part of the dome before earthbending onto the saddle.

“Um, there’s an awful lot of fire in that general direction,” Suki points out nervously.

“We'll get through,” Aang replies confidently.

“I’ll try my best to redirect any fire that gets too close,” I tell her, ready to deal with whatever is about to be thrown at us.

Appa takes off, and Toph clears a way in the earth for us to get out, temporarily keeping it in front of Appa to protect us from the first onslaught of attacks.

The earth collapses as we fly over the first airship, and glancing down shows Azula standing on top of said ship, with Zuko facing her standing on another.

But whatever happens next between them gets interrupted by incoming fire blasts from the other ships. I get up next to Katara, both of us working to destroy the blasts before they get close while Aang manoeuvres Appa side to side to dodge others.

But that tactic stops working as we quickly head straight for a ship, Katara and I managing to sit down and hold tight before Aanf pulls on Appa’s reigns, making his fly straight up to avoid flying into the giant machine.

We level out just in time to hear a large explosion.

Panicked I look back to where Zuko was fighting his sister, but now all that’s there is a huge fire. Aang immediately heads back over to the ship and as we get closer I see something that makes my heart stop.

Zuko, free-falling off the ship, heading straight down with nothing around to stop him.

“No!” The scream is pulled from my throat before I can even recognise it as my own, and Suki is pulling me back from where I’d lurched over the saddle.

“Appa, quick!” Aang orders and Appa complies, everything going past in a blur from the speed the bison’s flying.

He manages to get under Zuko and Katara reaches up, snagging the boy’s arm to yank him into the saddle with a groan.

With Zuko now safe I look over to see Azula also falling, but she doesn’t have anyone to catch her. And for a moment it looks like it might be the end, but Azula is crafty and she uses her flames to propel her toward the cliff and she finds a way to hold on, sliding down but eventually stopping, firmly stuck in the rock.

And now away from Azula, away from the danger of the airships that are too slow to follow, I feel my throat clog up and my heart beats again, racing as I realise what almost happened.

“You idiot!” I yell, whipping around on the saddle to face Zuko. I see the panic on his face grow as he notices my no doubt glassy eyes. “What were you thinking?!”

Whatever he is going to say I don’t care, whether it’s to apologise or explain doesn’t matter to me. What matters is me being able to throw my arms around him, my face buried in his neck as my tears inevitably fall.

He wraps his arms around me, one hand going up to stroke through my hair as he whispers into my ear, I’m sure it’s reassurance that he’s okay, but I get that instead by being able to feel his heartbeat.

It’s intimate, but I can’t bring myself to care about all the other people around me, because I know they’re my friends and they won’t judge me.

I take a shaky breath, tears slowing down and I let myself pull away. I stare into his golden, and he doesn’t even need to say anything because I can see the guilt but also the lack of regret. And I get that he did what he thought he had to, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.

He reaches a hand up, his large thumb wiping away the drying and still falling tears from my cheeks.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I whisper, then I fall back towards him, settling into an easy embrace.

And that’s jow we stay for our entire time on Appa, everyone else just adjusting around it and no one saying anything, not even Sokka because I think they can tell that I need this.

—---

We fly the majority of the day before finding a lone island to settle on, just to make sure we’re far enough away Azula can’t find us again. And by the time the tents are made, a fire is set and food is being served night has fallen.

But despite the earlier troubles, everything has styles into a nice calm atmosphere with everyone sitting around the fire.

“Wow, camping… it really seems like old times again, doesn’t it?” Aang comments happily.

“If you really want it to feel like old times, I could uh… chase you around a while and try to capture you,” Zuko jokes.

I smile cheerfully as the others laugh, glad now everyone is finally getting along. Well mostly everyone.

“Ha-ha,” Katara ‘laughs’ bitterly, but no one notices, I only hear her since I’m sitting right next to her.

Sokka raises his cup after he’s finished laughing. “To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he’d be our hero.”

Everyone cheers and Aang and Toph nudge the firebender encouragingly, to which he responds with a shy smile. “I’m touched. I don’t deserve this.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Katara grumbles before getting up and storming away, and it doesn’t take long for Zuko to follow after her. I sigh but go back to my food while everyone else just looks around confused.

By the time I’m done neither of them has returned from whatever conversation I’m sure they’re having so I make my way to my tent to try to relax. But it doesn’t tassel long before I'm interrupted.

“Sol, are you awake?” I hear Zuko whisper from outside my tent.

“Yeah, come in,” I say, inviting him in. He opens the fabric and crawls inside, but he sits awkwardly at the entrance.

“So, what brings you here?” I ask to tempt him into speaking.

“Nothing,” he replies quickly, too quick. “Can’t I just say hi to my girlfriend?”

I ignore the way my heart flutters at the word ‘girlfriend’, more focused on learning why he’s here. “You could, but you haven’t actually done that yet, so that brings me to think there’s a different reason for this visit.”

“Alright fine,” he sighs and actually moves away from the entrance to sit directly in front of me, our crossed knees touching. “I think I’ve figured out why Katara is determined to hate me and I also think I know how to fix it. But it could be dangerous.”

I feel myself flush slightly just from knowing how much he cares. But I also can’t help but roll my eyes as I lean forward to peck him gently on the lips. “You’re the sweetest,” I say to him, which makes him blush as I pull back to sit in my original spot. “It’s okay, yes today was scary and as much as I wish you didn’t have to do anything dangerous I also know we can’t avoid it.”

Zuko smiles at me appreciatively before moving to get up. “I’m going to go and talk to Katara.”

“You know she’s probably asleep by now,” I tell him.

“I’ll think of something,” is all he says. Pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before leaving the tent.

I shrug, before turning my lantern out and deciding to get my own sleep.

—--

The next morning I find myself sitting next to Sokka as he makes a necklace for Suki, and I hand him different flowers while he weeds them together, Aang across from us feeding Appa some hay we found on the island.

The last time I saw Zuko he was waiting outside Katara’s tent for her to get up, I waved at him but just left him to it finding it funny his ‘think of something’ was just to wait it out.

Sokka’s necklace is almost done by the time the two emerge, Katara very pointedly heading to Appa, Zuko following behind her with a bag slung over his shoulder.

“I need to borrow Appa,” she tells Aang, hands clenched at her side.

“Why, is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?” Aang asks jokingly, continuing to feed the bison.

“Yes, it is,” Katara’s reply is serious, any lightheartedness is now gone.

“Oh… what’s going on?” Aang asks, now visibly confused.

“We’re going to find the man who took my mother away from me,” Katara retorts angrily.

I jerk surprised, eerily similar words echoing through my head of a moment that had been blessedly forgotten.

“You didn’t tell me this is what you were doing, Zuko,” I say as I shoot up, and I don’t mean for it to sound like an accusation but my entire body was put on edge by Katara’s words.

“Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it, and I know how to find him,” Zuko explains seriously, stance determined behind Katara.

“Um, and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?” Aang asks them hesitantly.

My brain screams automatically screams ‘nothing’ and I bite my lip to stop me saying it out loud.

Katara just scoffs. “I know you wouldn’t understand.”

She starts to walk away when Aang calls out to her. “Wait, stop, I do understand. You’re feeling unbelievable pain and rage,” he reasons desperately and can’t ignore how much those words hurt to hear a lot more than they would have yesterday. “How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole App? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?”

“She needs this, Aang,” Zuko argues for Katara.

“Maybe you should think this through,” I interrupt awkwardly, not wanting to get in the middle, but also struggling to push away a memory of broken sobs and complete heartbreak.

“What’s there to think about?” Katara demands and I open my mouth to answer but then I realise I don’t have the words or the nerve to explain.

“This is about getting closure and justice,” Zuko continues on.

“I don’t think so,” Aang disagrees. “I think it’s about getting revenge.”

“Fine, maybe it is,” Katara snaps at the airbender. “Maybe that’s what I need. Maybe that’s what he deserves.”

“Katara, you sound like Jet,” Aang says, now getting more concerned.

“It’s not the same,” Katara argues back. “Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he’s a monster.”

I hear laughing, see cruel eyes dead to the suffering in front of them, and I realise too late that this isn’t a conversation I should be a part of. The words around me muffle and I barely have the mind to walk away from the conversation before I can’t anymore, and the others barely even notice in their arguing.

I berate myself as I do, I should’ve explained when Katara questioned me, told her about… but it’s hard. Even so, if they’re going to go, I should really talk to Katara.

—--

It’s easy to see that Katara and Zuko are planning to sneak off despite Aang’s warning, their hiding behind rocks to plan isn’t very discreet.

It’s behind a said rock I find them talking later in the day, after calming down, helping Sokka finish his necklace to clear my mind.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” I ask politely as I walk around the rock, both of their heads swivelling in my direction.

“Sure, what’s up?” Katara replies easily.

“I know you’re both planning to sneak away later,” I reveal, and that makes them both tense.

“Don’t try to stop us,” Zuko demands gently, coming to stand by my side.

“I wasn’t going to,” I insist because I’m really not. “I just want to say something.”

“I know you probably don’t agree with what I’m doing but…” Katara starts to defend, but that has nothing to do with what I have planned to say.

“I was going to say… be prepared,” I tell her, cutting her off. And that seems to have gotten both of their attentions as both their faces furrow in confusion. I breathe, taking the moment to be amazed at myself for going through with this. “I told you my dad died, but what I didn’t tell you was that a year later they actually caught his killers.”

The tension in the air shifts once they realise exactly what I’m talking about and Zuko’s hand almost instinctively finds my own when he sees how serious I am.

I take a shaky breath, not ready to relive this moment, but if it’ll help Katara, I can do it.

–Flashback–
I was playing in Bumi’s throne room when I found out. A guard came in, bursting into the room without really paying attention and blurted out the news.

To be fair back then I didn’t fully understand, still all I knew was the people who hurt my dad were in the prison in the palace.

“I want to see the men who took my daddy away,” I immediately demanded once the guard left.

But Bumi forbid me from seeing them, told me they were too dangerous. But to young me it didn’t matter, I wanted to see them. I thought if they could see how upset I was they might feel guilty and apologise.

My father always taught me that if someone genuinely meant it when they apologised you should forgive them because that’s a hard thing to do.

So I snuck down into the prison, it wasn’t hard since I practically grew up in the palace and knew all of the guards and their rounds. I found them easily after that, mostly because they were the only ones down there, there was no real use of the palace prison after one was built in the city.

They sat in adjacent metal cells, hands and feet bound. Not like it seemed to matter to them, the way they were stretched out comfortably like the cells were their own homes.

Seeing them made me timid, and I wasn’t used to that feeling back then since I always knew the people around me, but here were these two guys and they were big and scary looking, but I was still determined.

I walked up to the cells, and the biggest man -probably the leader- noticed first. He stood straight from where he’s been reclining against the cell wall and came to stand in front of the bars.

“And who are you?” He asked voice dripping with condescension.

“They said you’re the man who took my daddy away from me,” I said, piecing together every bit of strength I had to not crumble under his gaze.

“And what of it?” The other man scoffed, not a care in the world about my presence.

“I just wanted to say that was mean and it really hurt my feelings, and you should apologise,” I could already feel the tears building as I remembered my dad, but I still made myself look the man in the eye because I was taught that was the best way to convey emotions.

But as I looked into the heartless green eyes, I didn’t see guilt, I didn’t see compassion, all I saw was a humourless joy.

Then they started laughing, full out mirth filled laughs like I had just told them the funniest joke they’ve ever heard, and I guess to them I had.

I couldn’t contain my sobs then, as I realised these men didn’t care that they hurt my dad, didn’t care that they hurt me.

The guards came running down at the noise and promptly whisked me away.

“You… you’re a monster,” I whimpered as I was lead away, but that just made them laugh harder, and the cold mocking noise followed me out of the prison.
–End flashback–

“Every step I had taken to move on had all but vanished, and it took years for me to stop hearing the laugh. But even now occasionally, when I think of my dad’s death I can hear it echoing.”

I feel a tremble shoot down my spine as I finish recounting my tale. I wrap my arms around myself, like that could stop the chill coming from inside me, but it does fade when Zuko’s arms join mine and I lean into his side to soak in the warmth.

“Solmi, that’s awful,” Katara gasps horrified, and I remember why I told them in the first place.

“I’m not telling you this to convince you not to go,” I tell her, composing myself. “As awful as it was it still gave me some closure and I know I would’ve grown up regretting it if I hadn’t gone. I’m just going to tell you what I had wished someone told me. Just… be ready, in case it doesn’t turn out the way you expected.”

Katara reaches forward to pull me into a hug. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“And you,” I say, pointing to Zuko as I pull away. “Try not to do anything stupid.”

—--

The next day I’m not surprised to see no sign of them or Appa when I wake up. Aang tells me they did attempt to sneak away at night, even though he and Sokka caught them they let them go anyway.

I end up spending most of the day with Suki, mostly because Aang and Sokka’s freaking out is not helping my own worrying so the warrior's calming presence is exactly what I need as she walks me through some of the training the Kiyoshi warriors do.

Though not even she can keep me distracted when the next day rolls around and Zuko and Katara haven’t returned. I find that just sitting and talking is no longer enough and I end up going for a walk around the island, which isn’t far since it is a small island.

I find a place, not far out that overlooks a cove by the ocean. But even the serene view can’t calm my nerves. I know I should relax, whatever happens, will be what Katara needs and hopefully, at the end of it all the waterbender might actually get along with Zuko.

The tension between the two has been hard, and I never want to choose between them, but it creates such a negative energy it makes it difficult to be around.

In this moment my brain is taken back to Iroh that second day I ever knew him as he tried to teach Zuko how to bend lightning.

I wonder… I didn’t think much of what he was teaching more than something I could maybe tell the others about back then because I couldn’t bend.

I spread my feet apart and think back to the movements I watched Zuko do over and over again. I remember specifically what Iroh said about having peace of mind and maybe this will be a way to further help me balance my thought and emotions.

I glide through the movements eyes closed to help me think clearly, my mind trying to pick out the energies in the air, and it’s definitely calming.

I open my eyes and I can just see sparks of electricity gathering around me. I almost stop, worried now about what I’m doing and realising maybe this was a bad idea to attempt while Katara and Zuko aren’t around.

But I remember how dangerous Iroh said it was, so as nervous as I am, I force myself to calm down and finish going through the motions.

The electricity builds, charging the air until I feel the energies crash and I point my fingers over the water, gilding the lighting into the sky.

It’s loud, and it crackles through the air for only a moment, then it’s gone.

“Woah!” I hear an excited gasp behind me, I twist around to see Aang standing there, mouth agape. “Did you do that?”

“Apparently,” Is all I can reply, equally as surprised as him.

“So cool,” he compliments. “Oh yeah, we need your help. Toph said something about testing how many flaming rocks it can take to beat metal.”

“I’m sorry what?”

—--

After an interesting afternoon -that we’ve all agreed not to tell Katara about, lest she strangles us all- I’m glad to hear a familiar growl as Appa lands. Except only one person jumps off.

“Where’s Katara?” Sokka instantly demands, worried about his sister’s safety.

“Relax, I thought of the perfect place to lay low and she wanted me to drop her off early so she could be alone for a while, but she’s fine,” Zuko recipes placating the agitated Water Tribe boy.

Aang and Sokka are quick to disassemble the camp so they can hurry to the girl and the rest of us just follow along, Zuko explaining what exactly happened on the way to this mystery place.

Honestly, I had no idea what Katara was going to do, but I feel like this might have been the best ending.

It’s sun fall by the time we arrive at a Fire Nation island, and from what I can see it looks beautiful, and I can also see Katara sitting at the end of a peer.

Aang rushes over as soon as we land, and I follow behind more slowly with Zuko.

“Katara, are you okay?” Aang asks once he gets close.

“I’m doing fine,” the waterbender replies.

I watch them talk and I can see that Katara got the closure she needed even if she couldn’t forgive the man.

“But I am ready to forgive you,” she tells Zuko, walking up to him.

Seeing them hug is something that makes me incredibly happy, knowing that the two of the most important people to me finally get along.

“Solmi, I need to thank you, what you said, it really helped,” Katara admits and I’m glad that my opening up helped someone.

“You’re welcome,” I tell her. “Now where exactly are we?”

Chapter Text

The sun is hot as it beams down, fire covering part of the courtyard as Aang, Zuko and I practise, moving simultaneously through our forms, not an arm or spark out of place.

The sequence comes to an end as we relax our bodies and breath. We bow to signal the end of the lesson and instantly the atmosphere becomes lighter.

I sit down on the floor, reaching my legs out in front of me to stretch the sore muscles while the other two do their own stretches.

“Doesn’t it seem kind of weird that we’re hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?” Katara questions aloud from where she and Toph are chilling in the shade.

“I told you, my father hasn’t come here since our family was actually happy, and that was a long time ago,” Zuko replies using a towel to dry the sweat from his hair. “It's the last place anyone would think to look for us.”

I glance at him out the corner of my eye, subtly taking in the built frame I can see as he sits, still shirtless, it’s definitely different from the scrawnier boy I met originally, and I can’t lie and say it doesn’t give me an extra reason to look forward to firebending training.

“You guys are not gonna believe this,” Sokka beams as he comes jogging up to us, rolled up piece of paper in his hands. “There’s a play about us.”

“We were just in town, and we found this poster,” Suki explains, strolling more calmly behind her boyfriend. Sokka reveals said poster, which has a drawing of Sokka, Katara and Aang with Zuko in the background.

“What? How is that possible?” Katara asks confused, getting closer for a better look.

“Listen to this,” Sokka says before reading out the description on the poster and it sounds pretty like this playwright did some research.

“Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players,” Suki finishes and Sokka lets the poster roll back up.

Zuko groans dramatically when he hears that. “My mother uses to take us to see them. They butchered ‘Love amongst the dragons’ every year.”

“Are they really that bad?” I ask surprised, the poster made them sound popular at least, but Zuko just looks at me, face slightly horrified which I guess is enough of an answer.

“Sokka, do you really think it’s a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?” Katara questions her brother.

“Come on, a day at the theatre? This is the kind of wacky, time-wasting nonsense I’ve been missing,” Sokka replies excitedly.

“And if someone happened to notice four people in the crowd who match the poster?” I raise my eyebrows at the boy.

“It’ll be fine, everybody will be more focused on the play,” Sokka deflects.

In the end, with nothing better to do, we all agree to go, though Zuko needs a little more convincing he grumbles as he grabs a cloak to shield his face, and Aang finds a random hat lying around for his arrow.

To my surprise, it’s actually busy, the line for the door going all the way down the hill and I have the sudden urge to turn around and go back to the beach house, but Zuko’s tight grip on my hand and glare that screams ‘if I have to suffer through this so do you’ gets me to stay.

Eventually, we get in and go to sit further away so we’re more secluded from everyone else, less chance of being noticed by an observant or bored audience member.

I immediately sit in the back row as a way to feel less crowded, Suki and Sokka joining me while the others sit in the front. I can’t help but roll my eyes at Zuko’s obliviousness when he sits between Aang and Katara.

The lights dim and despite my apprehension about coming, I can’t deny I feel a little excited.

The curtains open, and the first scene is of Sokka and Katara rowing a boat in the Southern Water Tribe.

I notice Sokka grabbing his sister’s arm, rapidly gesturing between the two, obviously excited at seeing them in a play.

The Katara on stage sighs dramatically. “Sokka, my only brother, we constantly roam these icy South Pole seas and yet, never do we find anything fulfilling.”

“All I want is a full feeling in my stomach. I’m starving!” Sokka jokes.

The audience instantly starts laughing at the ‘joke’ and as fast as the excitement came it’s vanished with the first lines. Sokka and Katara’s faces drop at the, admittedly, over-exaggerated version of themselves, and it does not get any better the more the characters talk.

“This is pathetic, my jokes are way funnier than this,” Sokka complains angrily.

Toph however takes the chance to laugh at his plight. “I think he’s got you pegged.”

“Every day the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears. Still, we cannot give up hope, for hope is all we have,” Katara falls and clings to the side on the boat. “And we must never relinquish it, ever… even to our dying breath.” The girl then starts over the top crying.

“Well, that’s just silly. I don’t sound like that,” Katara protests, ignoring Sokka and Suki’s giggling behind her.

Even I can’t hold back my laughter, though it’s more from the outright terrible acting.

“Oh man, this writer’s a genius,” Toph compliments, happily taking in the Water Tribe sibling’s misfortune.

Suddenly a bright light emits from the stage and a prop is pulled on stage, an iceberg with a silhouette of a person inside, and Aang leans forward, eager for his own introduction as the characters on stage question the iceberg.

“Waterbend! Hi-ya!” Katara yells, ‘waterbending’ the iceberg open.

It cracks and out jumps a cheerful girl with an arrow on her head and airbender clothing.

“Who are you, frozen boy?” Katara asks.

The ‘boy’ laughs. “I’m the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun.”

“Wait, is that a woman playing me?” Aang demands bewildered.

A creature that’s supposed to be Appa pops up from behind Aang and runs around the stage and I have to keep myself from groaning as the scene continues, ending with Aang’s character ‘pranking’ Sokka’s.

“I don’t do that. That’s not what I’m like. And I’m not a woman,” Aang complains desperately amongst the crowd’s laughter.

“Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle-toes,” Toph mocks.

The scene changes slightly, replacing the other three with a Fire Nation ship with Zuko and Iroh on board. I feel myself lean in a little, curious to how this could go, ignoring the fact that the actor’s scar is over the wrong eye already.

“Prince Zuko, you must try this cake,” Iroh insists, holding up a prop cake.

“I don't have time to stuff my face,” Zuko argues angrily from his place looking out from the ship. “I must capture the Avatar to regain my honour.”

“Well, while you do that, maybe I’ll capture another slice,” Iroh says before pretending to eat the whole cake.

“You sicken me,” Zuko tells his uncle before going back to looking out.

I frown watching the actor play Iroh like he’s nothing more than a lazy old man, that just doesn't sit right with me.

“They make me look totally stiff and humourless,” Zuko moans gesturing to his character.

“Actually, I think that actor’s pretty spot on,” Katara smirks at the firebender.

“How could you say that?” Zuko complains at her, only to slump in his seat after his character immediately says the same thing. I reach forward to put a hand on his shoulder, but even I can’t deny that the character on stage does mimic the Zuko I first met.

After that, the play takes us to meet Momo, who is simply a puppet, and then to the Kiyoshi warriors. And I have to admit I would have loved to have seen Sokka wear that outfit.

Then it shows Aang, Sokka and Katara with a familiar-looking city in the background.

“We’ve finally arrived in Omashu, there are so many pranks I can pull here with all those slides,” Aang says mischievously.

“You! Come here! You shall be taken to the King!” A guard comes on stage yelling. The three a gathered and taken away.

I lean back in my seat, suddenly really nervous about whatever is about to happen. An elaborate scheme is set up, with Aang’s character dodging a swinging ball, and Katara’s character being trapped in jennamite, with a guy in a muscle suit as Bumi yelling at them.

There is movement from the side of the stage as I creep my way into the middle.

“Who are you?” Aang asks, while still avoiding the rock.

“Ah, yes, you must meet my niece, Solmi,” Bumi introduces from his high point.

“Oh… uh… hi,” I wave, relatively meek.

I look at the actress, and at least it’s not like a man or a child it’s better than Aang’s one, and the likeness seems pretty okay so far, she seems a little too shy but it’s not as bad as the others.

“Are you an earthbender like your uncle?” Aang asks excitedly.

“Uh, no, actually I’m not a bender at all,” I reply.

The actress turns to the audience and gives a very exaggerated wink which makes me jerk in my seat. Is she implying…

“Solmi, you have to help us or else I’m gonna become Sokka stew, actually that sounds pretty good,” Sokka says, getting lost in the idea of food and tackled by Flopsy.

“Oh no, I can’t, that looks way too scary,” I whimper before running off the stage leaving the others to their troubles.

I can’t even find it in me to complain at the portrayal, I just huff and slouch in my seat, accepting to a certain level that I did use to be like that, even if not to that extent.

The play continues, and at the very least it’s interesting to see what my friends got up to after they left the first time. Apparently stealing scrolls and saving the Nothern Watertribe is par for the course.

And it helps me understand a couple of things, like what Jet meant on the ferry that day and why Sokka said his girlfriend turned into the moon, though I will be sure to actually ask the others the real details later.

A break comes after Aang’s character is finished destroying the Fire Nation ships at the Nothern Water Tribe, and honestly, it couldn’t of come soon enough.

We make our way out to the balcony, glad to be free of seeing that stage if only for a moment.

“So far, this intermission is the best part of the play,” Zuko comments grumpily, leaning against the rail.

This just starts the trio on complaining about their characters, which I feel is a little fair, but I just decide to keep quiet for now, leaning against Zuko tiredly, the first part of the play already having sucked my energy away.

“Guys it’s okay, we know that’s not really you, they’re just over doing it for the show.” I say trying to calm them down.

“I don’t know,” Toph argues. “Listen friends. It’s obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt, but what you’re seeing up there on that stage is the truth.”

I go to comment but then I see people inside start moving so we all go back to our seats as the next part of the play begins. As soon as the curtains open I sink in my seat when I once again recognise the background, only it now has Fire Nation flags over it.

“Oh no, Omashu’s been taken by the Fire Nation,” Aang yells worriedly, hands cupping her face.

“We’ve lost all hope of you finding an earthbending teacher,” Katara says before sobbing again.

“He…hey, guys,” a timid me says, standing on the edge of the stage.

“Are you here to help us take back Omashu?” Sokka asks, “I sure hope they have food, I’m starving.”

“No way, I could never do that, it sounds way too scary,” I decline, waving my hands in panic. “Plus, what could I do, I can’t even bend,” I overpronounce the last part before once again winking at the audience.

I knew it, they are implying I knew about my bending from the beginning. I cross my arms angrily, frown deepening as the characters just leave Omashu as it is.

It goes on next to continue Aang’s search for an earthbending teacher.

“This is it, this must be where I come in,” Toph says, now genuinely excited.

Aang’s character is attached to a wire, and she ‘flies’ around the theatre, making all of us have to subtly duck as she comes by.

She lands and soon after the rock next to the group is lifted as someone is raised from underneath the stage and my eyes fly open at the sight of the large muscled man, this might be worse than Aang as a woman.

“Wait a minute. I sound like a guy. A really buff guy,” Toph says surprised, head tilted to have her ear pointing to the stage.

“Well Toph, what you hear up there is the truth. It hurts doesn’t it?” Katara smirks, trying to get back at the earthbender.

But in a very Toph way, the small girl is ecstatic about the role. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t have cast it any other way,” she giggles. “At least I’m not a flying bald lady.”

The scene moves on and I have to shove my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing at Zuko and Iroh’s separation because of the horrendous wig on Zuko’s actor. Though the characters are quickly reunited in a couple of scenes as everyone confronts Azula as she’s cornered in a raised building.

Everyone but my character of course, who is hiding behind an awkwardly placed rock.

“Azula, my sister, what are you doing here?” Zuko demands.

“You caught me,” she surrenders hands up, then she looks to the distance. “Wait, what’s that? I think it’s your honour.”

“Where?” Zuko asks and everyone looks away letting Azula escape out a secret door.

“She escaped. But how?” Katara asks the audience dumbly.

Everyone aside from Suki simultaneously groans at that. The characters leave the stage, except for mine as she continues to hide whimpering as the scene hangs on before Zuko and Iroh come back on stage.

“I can’t believe my sister bested me again,” Zuko growls, fake kicking a rock and I freeze hearing the voice.

“I know what will make you feel better, nephew. Let’s go find some cake,” Iroh suggests. It’s then that I finally come out from behind the rock.

“Who are you?” Zuko demands defensively.

“I am definitely just a lonely lost traveller who doesn’t know the Avatar,” I say, voice greatly exaggerated to show I’m lying. “I… I was hoping you would let me join you since it’s scary out here all by myself.”

Zuko very obviously runs his eyes up and down me before sighing. “Fine. But you must be my girlfriend.”

I meet Zuko’s eyes as he twists his head back to look at me, clearly offended by that implication, but I just find it funny since all I remember that first day is how much he didn’t want me around.

The play goes through a bit of a slow patch as Aang stops Azula’s drill, and I slide down in my seat almost falling asleep, which is starting to sound like a better option. But unfortunately, Sokka makes sure to elbow my arm as the play continues on to Jet being controlled in ba Sing Se and his subsequent death which just makes my heart clench with guilt.

The curtain opens to the next scene and the crystal painted on the background make me tense, hands clenching on my lap.

“I have to admit, Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive,” Katara tells the firebender, both of them alone in the catacombs.

“You don’t have to make fun of me,” Zuko responds aggressively, making the girl flinch but she pursues.

“But I mean it,” she insists, sliding to sit next to him. “I’ve had eyes for you since the day you first captured me.”

I notice in front of me that Zuko and Katara move further apart as they watch their characters flirt, and Aang leans in suddenly interested. Zuko quickly shoots me a hesitant look but I only roll my eyes in return.

"I must say, you are considerably more… alluring than the girlfriend I have now,” Zuko admits side-eyeing her.

I squint my eyes at that comment and reach forward to slap the back of the real Zuko’s head.

“Why are you hitting me? I didn’t say that?” He complains, holding his head even though I know I didn’t hit him that hard.

“It felt needed,” is all I say, everyone else giggling at the firebender’s pain, even Aang relaxes a little. In reality, I don’t care what his actor does, but I know what’s coming and doing that makes me feel better.

“Wait, I thought you were the Avatar’s girl,” Zuko says, suddenly getting up.

But Katara just laughs. “The Avatar? Why he’s like a little brother to me. I certainly don’t think of him in a romantic way. Besides, how could he ever find out about this?”

The two embrace while lovingly holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes.

Aang suddenly gets up from his seat.

“Oh, you're getting up? Can you get me some fire flakes?” Sokka asks the airbender as he walks away. “Oh, and fire gummies.”

I watch him concerned, wondering if I should go after him because I doubt seeing that scene was appreciated by him, even if it was just acting. But I decide to leave it for now, he could just be getting food.

Though the urge returns when the scene changes and it shows Zuko’s character in the middle with a spotlight on him, with Iroh and Azula standing on either side.I feel myself getting nervous, not ready to watch what happens.

“Well, my brother, what’s it going to be? Your nation, or a life of treachery?” Azula asks, giving him the ultimatum.

Zuko struggles in the light, dramatically moving from one direction to the other.

“Chose treachery, it’s more fun,” Iroh says, tea in hand. And Zuko begins to walk to his uncle.

“No way,” Azula cries in disbelief.

Zuko harshly pushes Iroh over, then walks over to his sister.

“I hate you, Uncle, you smell, and I hate you for all time!” Zuko yells as the Earth Kingdom flag falls over Iroh.

I glance down and I can see Zuko leaning forward, head resting against his arms on the railings.

“You didn’t really say that, did you?” Katara asks shocked.

“I might as well have,” Zuko replies bitterly, looking away from her.

I quietly slip out of my seat and into Aang’s -hopefully he won’t mind- to wrap my arm around the firebender. He startles slightly but smiles when he sees me and reaches out one hand to grab my own.

I look back at the stage where Zuko and Azula are still standing, now joined by Sokka, Katara, Toph and I.

“Zuko, how could you?” I gasp, dramatically crying with my face in my hands. “I thought we had something.”

“I could never love you, you're too much of a coward,” Zuko tells me harshly.

I feel the words go right to my heart, stabbing at the freshly healed wounds. I feel Zuko tense next to me as he sits up and he tries to move away but I don’t let him, holding onto his hand tighter and leaning into him to let him know it’s okay, it’s just a play.

“You’ve given me no choice,” I say, throwing a red ribbon across the stage that represents firebending.

The entire audience gasps in surprise, somehow shocked by the revelation despite the character’s overexaggerated hints throughout.

Everyone on stage stares at me. “Oh no, I guess you’ve finally found out the truth,” I say with a shrug.

“My hope is gone,” Katara cries. “How could you lie to us this entire time?”

And instead of answering, I just run off stage leaving everyone else bewildered.

After that, there’s Mai and Ty Lee fighting some Earth Kingdom soldier, and then Aang appears and I look away already trying to shove away the memories of the moments before, and I do not need to relive seeing my best friend almost get killed again.

The audience cheering tells me it’s over and I look up to see the curtains closing on a fallen Aang.

I get up, beyond ready for this next break and really just for this whole thing to be over already.

We step out into the main area, this time not even having the energy to go much further and I slide down the wall to sit on the ground next to Zuko.

“It seems like every time there’s a big battle, you guys barely make it out alive,” Suki jokes trying to lighten the mood, which Sokka instantly attaches to, joking back.

“Guys I have to know something,” I say seriously, interrupting the couple's light bickering. “You know I wasn’t purposely lying when I said I was a non-bender, right?”

It’s stupid, but I can’t help the worry the play put in my head, I don’t want them to think it was just another thing I lied about.

“Of course, we know that,” Katara replies, instantly being able to calm my nerves the way she always can despite her also being tense about the play. “I saw your face that day and I could tell you were just as shocked as the rest of us in that cave.”

“Thanks, Katara,” I reply gratefully, glad to have that off my chest at least.

Katara smiles at me then looks around confused, “Does anyone know where Aang is?”

“He left to get me fire gummies like, ten minutes ago, and I’m still waiting,” Sokka tells her impatiently.

“I’m gonna check outside,” Katara says before leaving.

A kid in an Aang costume comes running by excitedly, his half on bald cap making me smile a little.

“Suki, what are the chances you can get me backstage?” Sokka questions quickly. “I got some jokes I want to give to the actor me.”

“I’m an elite warrior who’s trained for many years in the art of stealth,” she replies seriously, and I scoot a little further away from her. “I think I could get you backstage,” she continues brightly.

“Don’t get caught!” I call after them as they leave and Suki just waves at me in return, well at least I don’t have to worry about her, Sokka we might need to break out of theatre prison.

“Geez, everyone’s getting so upset about their characters,” Toph comments sarcastically. “Zuko, even you seem more down than usual, and that’s saying something.”

“You don’t get it. It’s different for you,” Zuko tells her frustratedly. “You get a muscly version of yourself taking down ten bad guys at once, and making sassy remarks.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty great,” Toph says happily.

“But for me, it takes all the mistakes I’ve made in my life and shoves them back in my face,” Zuko spits out bitterly. “My uncle, he’s always been on my side, even when things were bad,” Zuko goes on, the same genuine care and admiration in his voice that’s always there when he talks about Iroh. “He was there for me. He taught me so much, and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It’s my greatest regret, and I may never get to redeem myself.”

I crawl around to sit in front of him rather than at his side and grab his hand. “You know Iroh wouldn’t feel that way,” I try to comfort him but I can tell by his side-eye he doesn’t believe me, and I doubt anything I say will make him without him just thinking I’m biased.

Toph slides down the wall on his other side to sit next to him. “You have redeemed yourself to your uncle. You don’t realise it, but you already have,” she says to my surprise.

“How do you know?” Zuko asks her curiously.

“Because I once had a long conversation with the guy, and all he would talk about was you,” Toph tells him, and that doesn’t surprise me in the least.

“Really?” Zuko excitedly removes his hood, sullen face now beaming.

“Yeah, and it was kind of annoying,” she continues which Zuko immediately apologises for. “But it was also very sweet. All your uncle wanted was for you to find your own path and see the light. And now you’re here with us. He’d be proud.”

I can tell it’s exactly what Zuko needed to hear and I hope Toph can tell how grateful I feel that she managed to cheer him up when I couldn’t. The sentiment, however, is slightly ruined by Toph punching Zuko immediately after as her way to show affection.

“Everybody is hitting me today,” Zuko grumbles, pulling his hand from mine to rub the sore spot on his arm.

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” I joke leaning forward and he just rolls his eyes before gently pushing me back.

The boy from before come running past again as I laugh, but this time he stops. “Your Zuko costume’s pretty good, but your scar’s on the wrong side,” he says to Zuko before taking off again.

“The scar’s not on the wrong side!” He yells after the kid, flipping his hood back on with a pout.

—-

The third act comes along, and luckily Sokka and Suki do return but Aang doesn’t, so I take the chance to sit next to Zuko, still a little worried about his reaction to the play.

A lot of what happens next passes in a blur, my interest fading at watching a vague recollection of what happened the last couple of months. I roll my eyes as my character begs the others to let her go with them despite lying because she’s too afraid to be by herself and then it goes on from painted lady all the way to Combustion man.

We get to the invasion before Aang returns from wherever he was. He takes the seat behind me and I can hear Sokka filling him in on what he missed.

Right now on the stage are Aang and Katara’s characters standing on a sub.

“I just want to let you know, Aang, that I’ll always love you. Like a brother,” Katara declares.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Aang agrees, air-punching the other girl’s arm.

They then share a firm handshake before Aang flies away.

Sokka, Toph and I now join Katara on the sub.

“Hey, Toph, would you say you and Aang have a rocky relationship?” Sokka jokes.

The real Sokka bursts out laughing a the joke while Toph’s actor looks visibly confused.

“Good work, Suki,” I say to the girl since apparently her warrior skills got used to their full potential, though it’s funny to watch the other actors try to figure out how to act with the unplanned jokes.

“Um, well, I don’t know if I want to do this,” I stutter.

“You can’t run away on us now, Solmi. Your firebending is the only reason we brought you along, it’s our only hope,” Katara cries.

“But I’m really bad at it,” I reply meekly. “I’m practically a fake firebender.”

I startle at the comment not expecting it at all, I thought Azula would put my firebending down because that’s the kind of person she is, but apparently, that’s just what people from the Fire Nation thinks.

Everyone gathers at the Fire Lord’s throne room, but there’s nobody around.

“We’ve finally made it to the royal palace, by no one’s home,” Aang shrugs.

“Actually I’m home,” Zuko says coming on stage. “And I want to join you.”

“I guess we have no choice, come on,” Sokka replies.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” I exclaim, clinging onto Zuko’s arm as everyone runs off.

I hear Zulo sigh next to me, muttering something about wishing it was that simple and I can’t help the smirk that quirks on my lips.

“I guess that’s it,” Sokka says, getting up from his seat. “The play’s caught up to the present now.”

“Wait, the play’s not over,” Suki corrects him, and she’s right. The lights are still dim and no one else moves as the curtains start to open again.

Fire Lord Ozai is standing in front of his throne, a comet slowly moving overhead.

“With the energy harnessed from that comet, no one will be able to stop the Fire Nation!” He declares.

Suddenly Azula appears. “Father, Zuko and the Avatar are at the palace. They are trying to stop you.”

“You take care of Zuko,” he tells Azula. “I shall face the Avatar myself.”

He disappears in a cloud, Aang and Zuko coming on stage.

“Aang, you find the Fire Lord. I’ll hold her off,” Zuko tells the airbender.

The fight is as boring as I thought it’s be considering they’re using ribbons and I’ve seen the real-life counterparts actually fighting.

The worst part though is when Azula wins, Zuko falling with a yell of ‘honour’ while the crowd just cheers. I tightly grip the railing in front of me, willing myself not to burn it and the whole place down with it. This may be just a play, but the idea of that really happening is a lot to handle.

The scene continues on to Aang and the Fire Lord’s fight, and I watch with bated breath for an inevitable end I know is coming.

It’s no surprise when ‘Aang’ dies surrounded by flames, but the implications of it are the truly worrying thing.

“It’s over father. We’ve done it,” Azula says proudly.

“Yes, we have done it. The dreams of my father and my father’s father have now been realised. The world is mine,” Ozai declares, high on a pedestal as fire surrounds him.

The whole audience jumps up, cheering and applause filling the theatre, but I just look on horrified even as the curtains open again for the actors to take their bow.

It’s something else to be confronted by the realisation that everyone around us, even most of the people in the Fire Nation want us to lose this war.

In the end, we couldn’t get out of there fast enough and we end up taking a walk along the serene beach to get back just to forget about it.

“That… wasn’t a good play,” Zuko says as we walk along.

And everyone shouts out their chorus of agreements, me adding my own ‘never again’ at the end.

“But the effects were decent,” Sokka adds making me roll my eyes.

—--

I gasp, sweat dripping down my face as my eyes burst open, a shout dying on my lips.

Short vivid images continue to flash through my mind, not being good enough, not being able to save my friends or Zuko as he dies just like he has in the play except this time it’s real flames and the scream sounds too much like him for me to pretend it’s an actor, and the worst part was that I just watched and let it happen, too frozen to help.

It takes a few moments for me to calm down, telling myself it’s just a stupid nightmare, it’s not real as I slowly catch my breath.

I can't believe I let that silly play get to me so much. I sigh annoyed, realising there’s little chance of me going back to sleep anytime soon. Stupid or not those images are going to stick around for a while.

I roll out of bed and change into my training gear before quietly heading down to the beach. A little late-night exercise should hopefully exhaust me enough to go back to sleep.

It’s almost relaxing, mindlessly going through the motions, fire lighting up the sky in stark contrast against the black.

“What are you doing out here?”

I jump at the voice, limbs flailing from the shock but luckily I shoot the fire out to the ocean.

“I thought you would know better than to sneak up on someone practising,” I criticise Zuko, who’s standing by the path to the house, arms crossed.

“I called your name three times before I even came down here,” he tells me, coming closer now the fire is gone.

Any annoyance I had, as little as it was, vanishes leaving me feeling deflated instead. “Oh sorry. I guess I was a little distracted.”

“What’s wrong?” He asks, voice softening to match the concern in his eyes.

“Nothing, just a stupid bad dream,” I dismiss, not wanting to talk about it. But just mentioning it brings forward the flood of images and emotions I was trying to push away, and I clench my fists to hold it back.

Zuko looks at me skeptical before his eyes glance down to my white fists and I know I’ve been caught. “You know everything in that play was exaggerated right?”

And I really shouldn’t be surprised that he knows exactly what I’m thinking about, maybe that’s what makes it easier to be honest.

“Is it though?” I can’t help but ask, bottled feelings making their appearance. “I abandoned my home, I abandoned the others when the war was too much, and then even if it wasn’t about my firebending, all I did was lie to them and you for months. I was a liar, a coward and just not good enough and I think my character was perfectly accurate.”

The last few words bite more than I meant for them too, but it’s hard to keep my voice steady when I can already feel the frustrated tears starting to fall, despite how much I want to push them back.

“Hey,” Zuko says gently, hurriedly coming closer to gather my face in his hands and wipe at the traitorous tears. “Firstly, you did what you thought you had to, to keep everyone safe when you lied and we don’t blame you for it. Secondly, there is nothing wrong with being scared, but look at you now, ready to end this war, I wouldn’t call that a coward.”

I peer into his golden eyes, moonlight reflecting off them making the earnestly glow through even more. “Have you been taking lessons in wise words from your uncle?” I laugh a little, unsure of how to handle all of the love I feel welling up inside of me just from how much I can tell her cares,

Zuko just smiles, leaning forward to place a small peck on my forehead. “And lastly, you will always be good enough. I know what others have said about your firebending, but that’s because they’re too blind to see how skilled you are. You haven’t been learning long and you’re already amazing, never doubt that.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, pushing up slightly to gently capture his lips with mine for a moment, hoping to get across how relieved and grateful I am for his words. I may not have always had it, but firebending is important to me. “Now, would you say I’m better than Aang?” I look at him cutely, he always refuses to say who did better in lessons, and while I know the airbender is on a completely different level to me I figure it’s worth a shot.

“Nope, not happening,” he laughs, pulling away to grab my hand. “Now let’s go back.”

We get to the house, and I know I should go to my room, but there’s something else I want instead.

“Umm…” I say quietly, hesitant to voice my thoughts, but Zuko’s encouraging look pushes me forward. “Could I maybe sleep in your room? It’s just after the dream, I think I’ll feel better if you’re there.”

Zuko’s face explodes in a blush, but he doesn’t disagree, instead, he just gently pulls me into his room. I ditch my shoes and we climb into the bed, not really meant for more than one person but we manage, and maybe the body heat from two firebenders should be overwhelming, but it’s not. It’s calming and that along with the sound of Zuko’s heartbeat next to my ear is enough to lull my back to sleep.

Chapter Text

I stretch along the steps in front of the beach house, enjoying the early morning sun shining down.

Zuko has decided to push hard on Aang and I’s training, making us take turns rather than do it at the same time like we usually do, so he can pay closer attention to details.

Right now, Aang is going through the basics to warm up since I had just done mine, and I take the chance to relax and talk to Suki who decided she wanted to watch.

“Sol, your turn,” Zuko orders. I sigh and get up, high fiving Aang as he walks by and takes his turn to relax.

There’s barely time for a breath before Zuko is telling me what to do. Step, swing, kick, punch, I move through the formations, remembering to be both being powerful and precise as Zuko calls out adjustments. “Raise your arm, smaller steps, too hot less power.”

I ache, days of the same things building up, but I push through and do my best to adjust to every comment. It’s hard but with the comet so close now I know why Zuko is pushing.

And I know it’s worth it because, by the time I’m done with the set, it’s almost perfect.

Zuko nods, keeping his smile small due to his reluctance to play favourites. “Well done. Aang get over here.”

“Good luck,” I tell the airbender, then take my previous seat which is now surrounded by everyone else who have dragged themselves out of bed since it’s not so early anymore.

“More ferocious!” Zuko barks at Aang. “Imagine striking through your opponent's heart.”

But this just makes Aang groan frustrated. “I’m trying.”

“Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo,” Zuko orders sternly. Aang attempts it, but it’s weak, fire barely extending from his hands and mouth. “That sounded pathetic. I said roar!”

This time Aang is much louder, and the flames shoot out in an impressive display that unfortunately ends up scaring Momo behind Zuki’s legs.

I clap encouragingly, while Zuko finally nods his praise.

“Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?” Katara calls from behind me, where she’d been preparing the drinks for the last few minutes.

I raise my hand, and I can Aang’s excited yells as well. But he doesn’t get the chance to get one before Zuko grabs his shirt, not letting him run off.

“Hey, your lesson’s not over yet! Get back here!” He yells as the airbender, holding him off the ground which just makes the younger boy pout.

“Come on, Zuko, just take a break,” Suki encourages. “What’s the big deal?”

“Just one drink and we’ll get back to it,” I offer, sipping on my own. I get why he’s stressed, honestly, I am too, but I’ve learnt from before that overtraining isn’t the best way to deal with it.

“Fine,” he concedes grumpily, dropping Aang who is quick to run straight to Katara. “If you wanna lounge around like a bunch of snail sloths all day, then go ahead!”

Zuko storms off and instinctively I put my drink down to go follow him when I feel a hand on my arm. I look at Katara and then just pick my drink back off. I’ll let him cool off and if he’s not back soon, then I’ll go find him.

“Maybe Zuko’s right. Sitting around the house has made us pretty lazy,” Sokka says, lazing back sipping on his watermelon. “But I know just the thing to change that… beach party!”

At the boy’s excited suggestion, we all make our way down to the beach to relax and have some fun. Katara uses her waterbending to create a piece of ice to surf on, while Sokka, Aang and Toph play around in the sand, Suki lazing back watching her boyfriend.

I take myself to the shore, happy to sit in the sand and enjoy the coolness of the water as it rolls in while I marvel at all of the interesting objects it brings with it.

I go to reach for a particularly pretty shell when I hear Aang scream in fear.

I get up quickly and scan around to locate the source of the trouble, only to realise it’s coming from Zuko who is currently chasing the Avatar, fire blasts littering the sand.

“What are you doing?” Aang demands, hiding behind his Appa sculpture.

“Teaching you a lesson,” Zuko snaps back, easily destroying the sand.

Aang runs away and Zuko is quick to follow, both of them making their way back to the house as I stare after them wide-eyed, shock and confusion making my brain slow to try and figure out what is happening.

“What is your boyfriend trying to do?” Toph asks me, breaking me from my trance and making me realise that yes, that did just happen.

“I have no idea,” is all I can reply.

“What happened?” Katara demands as she comes in from the water.

“Zuko’s gone crazy! I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it!” Sokka yells dramatically, trying to fix said sculpture. “Oh and he’s attacking Aang.”

Suki pulls the boy away as the rest of us rush to follow the other two towards the house. I hear crackling as we approach and look up to see the top of a tree and roof is on fire.

“Katara,” I point out to her and she uses water from a nearby barrel to put them out.

Suddenly, there’s a loud crash and I look up to see a blast of air making a hole through the wall on the top floor, and Zuko being pushed out with it into the trees.

I gasp and run over, immediately crouching down when I see him on the ground to check if he’s hurt.

Once I see that he’s okay I can’t resist slapping his arm annoyed. “What was that about?” I glare at him sternly.

“What’s wrong with you? You could have hurt Aang,” Katara criticises immediately after.

“What’s wrong with me?” He replies angrily. “What’s wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin’s Comet is only three days away.”

I sigh, I get it, but apart from Aang they were like this before the invasion as well and I wasn’t going to comment against Aang actually sleeping this time. But when I look at the others, and their simultaneous looks of belief I start to get the feeling there’s something else going on.

“Whey are you all looking at me like I’m crazy?” Zuko asks when no one says anything.

“About Sozin’s comet… I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came,” Aang explains. And I guess that answers my thoughts about why he’s been so calm. “I’m not ready. I need more time to master firebending.”

“And frankly your earthbending could still use some work too,” Toph tells him, making him frown.

“So, you all knew Aang was gonna wait?” Zuko asks, eyes subtly flickering in my direction.

“I didn’t,” I answer honestly before turning to everyone else confused.

And at least they look just as confused about it. “Solmi, I think you might have been with Zuko when we talked about it, and I guess we all assumed the others told you. I’m sorry” Katara tells me, and I just shrug.

It sounded pretty likely, and while it would have been great to not have been working myself this hard the last couple of days, I get the miscommunication.

“Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he’s gonna lose,” Sokka says, despite how harsh it sounds. “No offence.”

“The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war. But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se,” Katara explains sadly. “Things can’t get any worse.”

“You’re wrong,” Zuko replies gravely. “It’s about to get worse than you can even imagine.”

My hand slowly creeps up to my mouth and my eyes widen in horror as Zuko explains what happened the day before the eclipse. This… this can’t be right. It’s too much. Taking over is one thing, but destroying all of the Earth Kingdom? That’s my home… h-he can’t.

“I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan, but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t,” Zuko says, guilt dripping from his words, his face firmly staring down at the ground from the rock he’s sitting on. “My whole life I’ve struggled to gain my father’s love and acceptance. But once I had it I realised I’d lose myself getting there. I’d forgotten who I was.”

I slowly walk over to him and then I rest my hands in his lap as I crouch down beside him, partly because my legs started shaking as soon as he started explaining. “Hey, it’s alright, it’s gonna be okay,” I whisper to him, saying out loud the words I need to hear.

“I can’t believe this,” Katara dismays, she too losing her fight to stay upright.

“I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy. But his plan is just pure evil,” Sokka remarks.

“What am I gonna do?” Aang falters afraid, the sudden pressure of this must be weighing on him.

“I know you’re scared. And I know you’re not ready to save the world. But if you don’t defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won’t be a world to save anymore,” Zuko says solemnly, walking over to directly confront Aang, message loud and clear.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your dad’s crazy plan sooner?” Aang accuses, panic starting to grow.

“I didn’t think I had to,” Zuko defends. “I assumed you were still gonna fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait.”

“This is bad. This is really, really bad,” Aang drops to his knees, hands covering his face as his fear and anxiety radiates, though no one can blame him right now.

Katara manages to get up, comforting Aang overcoming her own shock. “Aang you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Yeah, if we all fight the Fire Lord together we’ve got a shot at taking him down,” Toph exclaims confidently.

“All right! Team Avatar is back!” Sokka yells. “Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Fand and sword!” He gestures to everyone respectively, before holding leaves out to represent his and Suki’s weapons.

“Fighting the Fire Lord is gonna be the hardest thing we’ve ever done together,” Aang warns seriously before his face softens into a smile. “But I wouldn’t wanna do it any other way.”

There’s almost a surge of excitement that fills me amongst my nerves at the thought of what’s to come. I let myself get swept up with everyone else, all towards Aang for a big group hug. Well, all except Zuko who stands awkwardly to the side.

“You can’t just stand over there,” I call out to the firebender, but he still seems hesitant.

“Get over here, Zuko,” Katara adds earnestly. “Being a part of the group also means being a part of group hugs.”

He pulls a face but comes over anyway and I make sure to pull him between Toph and I to help him feel less awkward.

Suddenly there’s a growl and I see Appa descending on us, landing with a heavy thud, head in the group knocking us down.

“I think he felt left out,” I comment laughing as everyone else joins.

—--

We all go back to the house, and Toph, Suki and Sokka all go off to start preparing. But Zuko says he has something important to teach Aang so Katara and I stay in the courtyard to observe.

“There’s a technique you need to know before facing my father,” Zuko instructs seriously. “How to redirect lightning.”

I perk up at the words, remembering that first day with him and Iroh, too long ago. And it’s actually kind of sweet watching Zuko teach Aang the same way Iroh taught him, his words showing just how much he cared about his uncle’s lesson.

“So, have you ever redirected lightning before?” Aang asks curiously, following Zuko’s movements, and I expect him to say no, flashes of memories from that mountain coming back.

“Once, against my father,” Zuko replies to my shock.

“What did it feel like?” Aang questions, almost excited.

Zuko stops moving, relaxing his stance before he answers, finding the words. “Exhilarating, but terrifying. You feel so powerful holding that much energy in your body, but you know if you make the wrong move… it’s over.”

Aang laughs nervously. “Well, not over-over. I mean, there’s always Katara and a little spirit water action, am I right?” He turns to ask said waterbender.

“Actually, I used it all up after Azula shot you,” Katara explains to him which makes him disappointed.

“You’ll have to take the Fire Lord’s life before he takes yours,” Zuko warns gravely.

“Yeah, I’ll just do that,” Aang mutters unconfidently. He then suddenly shakes his head and turns to me. “So, Solmi, what do you say? I do this and you can help me practise?” Aang jokes, trying to cheer himself up.

Now I know how Iroh felt when Zuko asked, even though I know he’s not serious. “Not a chance Aang,” I deny, shaking my head.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Zuko asks confused, looking between us.

“I was joking. I would actually get Solmi to shoot lightning at me,” Aang defends, hands in the air.

“What!?” Zuko yells, suddenly staring at me shocked.

His surprise confuses me until I realise I never did tell him about that specific thing after he returned from his trip with Katara. “Okay, I meant to tell you, but you were gone and then I just… forgot?” I say awkwardly.

“You can generate lightning?” He asks, shock not gone quite yet.

“Kinda,” I draw out hesitantly. “I only did it once.”

His wide eyes are gone and are now replaced by a stern look that tells me I’m in trouble for not only not telling him, but probably trying it in the first place without him there. “Show me,” he demands, and with a look like that, I’m not about to argue.

I sigh as I stand up and go to the middle of the yard before I usher him and Aang back.

Doing it now is a little easier since I know I can and soon the crackle of the electricity is echoing through the yard as the lightning shoots into the sky.

“That’s amazing,” Zuko gapes at me stunned, Aang and Katara mimicking him on either side.

“Thanks,” I reply awkwardly at the reaction, but I can also feel pride blooming in my chest.

“That is impressive,” Katara compliments before her look turns stern. ”But we’re talking about you trying something this dangerous alone,” she frowns and I can tell from Zuko’s crossed arms that he’s not going to help me.

—--

It’s later in the evening when whatever Sokka was planning is done and he calls us all outside.

“Gather around, Team Avatar,” he orders, standing in front of… some sticks with a melon for ahead. “In order to take out the Fire Lord, or in this case, the Melon Lord, our timing has to be perfect.”

He goes on to explain his plan, which consists of him, Suki, Katara and Zuko distracting while Aang sneaks around to take out the ‘Melon Lord’.

“Uh, what about me?” Toph asks, noticing her lack of placement.

“And me?” I say, noticing the same thing.

“For now you two are the Melon Lord’s forces, with two of you it’ll make it more difficult,” Sokka replies.

“So, I get to chuck flaming rocks at all of you?” Toph questions excitedly.

“Whatever makes the training feel more realistic,” Sokka tells her to which she responds very happily. “That also means, Solmi, you can firebend at us.”

I nod, a tad nervous about firebending at my friends, but no one seems to have any problem about it as they get into position and Toph and I go to stand in front of Melon Lord.

The attack force starts moving as Toph starts to laugh maniacally, very into her new role apparently, and I have to admit it’s a little fun trying to stop them.

I hold back enough so that if they do get hit it won’t seriously hurt any of them, but it’s still enough to make the show of an attack they have to block or avoid. Though I can’t say the same can be said for Toph, who has let the Melon Lord’s power go to her head.

I land a blast in front of Zuko’s feet as he gets closer, and he stops to look at me with a playful glare. He firebends back, and I smirk at the simple attack, grabbing it to redirect it back, only for my feet to slip when I step, traces of ice vanishing as quickly as they appeared. At least Katara and Zuko know how to work together now.

“Now Aang!” Sokka yells and the airbender comes jumping over from the side, staff ready to end the Melon Lord.

But he stops just before it makes contact.

“What are you waiting for? Take him out!” Zuko yells at him as everyone comes up the hill.

But he doesn’t, he just lowers his staff. “I can’t.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Sokka accuses, storming past Toph and I to get to the airbender. “If this was the real deal, you’d be shot full of lightning right now.”

“I’m sorry, but it just didn’t feel right,” Aang tells him guiltily. “I didn’t feel like myself.”

Sokka raises his eyebrow unimpressed, before drawing his sword and swiftly cutting the melon in half. “There! That’s how it’s done.”

We end up going back to the house after that, training clearly done for the day and we all sit around a different courtyard while we eat.

Aang however, decided to stay away from everyone else, and every time I glance over he’s in the same position, shoulders slumped and head bowed with his back turned to us. I wish I could do something, but I don’t even know what that something could be.

“I have a surprise for everyone!” Katara exclaims holding a rolled-up piece of paper, and I take my eyes away from Aang to look at the excited waterbender.

“I knew it! You did have a secret thing with Haru!” Toph shouts in reply. I stare at the girl confused, wondering where that even came from.

“Uh… no,” Katara falters from the random outburst before remembering why she was excited. “I was looking for cooking pots in the attic and I found this.” She unrolls the paper in her hands to reveal a painting of a very happy, adorable toddler. “Look at baby Zuko! Isn’t he cute?”

I laugh at her tone, trying to imagine what baby Zuko must have been like. Zuko on the other hand doesn’t look amused.

“Are you okay?” I ask laughing stopped, noticing how his entire body tensed up at the photo.

“Oh lighten up. I’m just teasing,” Katara tells him, noticing his pinched expression as well.

“That’s not me. It’s my father,” Zuko reveals and suddenly the little baby isn’t as cute anymore.

“But he looks so sweet and innocent,” Suki comments, looking at the picture again confused.

Zuko’s frown only deepens. “Well, that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster. And the worst father in the history of fathers,” he replies bitterly.

“But he’s still a human being,” Aang suddenly interrupts, finally turning around to join the conversation.

“You’re defending him now?” Zuko asks shocked by the airbender.

“No, I agree with you. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world will probably be better off without him, but there’s gotta be another way,” Aang tries to reason and it becomes clear he is very against killing the Fire Lord.

The others don’t exactly help with their teasing and I even glare at Zuko when he jokes about showing the Firelord his baby photos.

“Guys maybe you should stop,” I try to say but they ignore me making me frown. None of this looks like it’s easy for Aang and they should at least try to be understanding.

“This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can’t just go around wiping out people I don’t like,” Aang agonises, pacing back and forth.

“Sure you can. You’re the Avatar,” Sokka replies like it’s really that simple. “If it’s in the name of keeping balance, I’m pretty sure the universe will forgive you.”

I see Aang’s shoulders start to shake as Sokka goes on, anger rising in the usually calm boy. “This isn’t a joke, Sokka!” He snaps furiously, making the Water Tribe boy flinch. “None of you understand the position I’m in!”

“Aang, we do understand. It’s just…” Katara tries to calm him, but it only makes him angrier, which in turn makes her angry as well. “We’re just trying to help.”

“Then when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life I’d love to hear it!” Aang yells before he storms away, still seething.

Katara goes to follow him, but Zuko stops her, she huffs a sigh of annoyance, but listens to the firebender and goes back to sit on the steps.

Everyone starts talking about random things again, and I take the chance to slip away unnoticed. I may not understand Aang’s situation, but I can still be there for him with an unbiased ear.

It takes a little searching, but eventually, I find him, sitting in front of some candle on the balcony as he meditates.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Solmi,” he says before I even get a word out.

“Then we won’t talk about it,” I reply, leaning against the wall next to the door.

He sighs, temporarily giving up his meditation to turn and face me. “I can’t just abandon what the monks taught me.”

“I know you can’t, and it’s not fair for you to be asked to. But unfortunately, life just isn’t that simple,” I tell him simply, but I can tell from the way his face falls it’s not exactly what he wanted to hear.

“So you think I should kill the Fire Lord,” he concludes frustratedly.

I push off the wall and walk over to sit in front of him before he can ask me to leave. “That’s the thing, it doesn’t matter what I or anyone else thinks, because you’re the one who has to live with this decision,” I say honestly, and I can see his eyes widen in surprise at not having someone tell him what to think. “Listen to me, I trust you and whatever happens, even if the others don’t agree with it, they’ll always stick by you, and so will I.”

Aang smiles at me gratefully, actually appearing a little calmer. “Thanks.”

I grin back then get up to go back indoors. “Don’t stay out here too long, you need your sleep,” I tell him, before deciding to listen to my own advice and go to bed.

—--

“That’s everything,” Sokka declares, piling the last of our stuff onto Appa’s saddle, who’s happily filling up on hay.

“No, it’s not,” Toph corrects. “Where’s Aang?”

I gasp, looking around to realise she’s right, the airbender isn’t here, which is concerning. I get he was angry last night, but he appeared calm when I left him, and either way, he wouldn’t miss this.

Everyone sprints inside, desperately looking around for the missing boy, we split up and search the rooms and when that shows nothing I make a course for the balcony wondering if by chance he’s still just lost in meditation. But when I get there everything is the same as it was last night, just no Aang.

“He was definitely here when I left him last night,” I say, looking at the half-melted candles with a frown.

“He left his staff,” Sokka says, walking past me to pick up the object still resting against the railing. “That’s so strange.”

“Aang’s not in the house,” Zuko reveals worryingly. “Let’s check the beach.”

So we do, and that at least brings up some sign of him, his footprints leading towards the water, but that just leaves us more confused.

The theories range from captured to spirit world journey, but nothing fits so in the end we just decide to split up to search the island.

“I’m going with Zuko!” Toph exclaims, clinging onto the blushing firebender’s arm, which gains her strange looks. “What? Everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko. Now it’s my turn.”

I see Zuko sending me a pleading gaze, but I just shrug. “You have fun with that,” I tell him, instead going with Sokka to search on Appa.

We fly as low as we can around the edge of the island and out to the water, but nothing, not a single sign of where he could have gone.

I can’t stop my fingers from tapping against the edge of the saddle as I peer over. I’m starting to think that I should have stayed with him last night, hung around until I was sure he went to bed, then maybe then we wouldn’t be in this situation.

We arrive back at the house where everyone else has reconvened out the front, none of their faces screaming of good news.

I sigh as I jump off the bison. “Nothing?” I ask, though I already know the answer.

“No,” Zuko replies grumpily. “It’s like he just disappeared.”

“Hey, wait a minute. Has anyone noticed that Momo is missing too?” Toph asks, and I berate myself for not even realising that.

“Oh no! I knew it was only a matter of time!” Sokka suddenly yells horrified.

“What, what’s going on, Sokka?” I demand, nerve spiking at his fear.

“Appa ate Momo!” He yells in reply. “Momo, I’m coming for you, buddy!”

I heavily resist the urge to smack him, mostly because he’s too far away and inside Appa’s mouth, so I settle for an angry glare that I can tell he feels by the way his body tenses quickly.

“Sokka, Appa didn’t eat Momo. He’s probably with Aang,” Katara tells her brother impatiently.

“That’s just what Appa wants you to think,” Sokka replies, not giving up his search.

“Get out of the bison’s mouth, Sokka,” Zuko scolds, sounding more like he’s dealing with a misbehaving child. “We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away.”

I tense at these words, trying not to show my panic too much, but this entire thing was stressful enough without adding the worry of a missing friend on top of it.

“What should we do, Zuko?” Katara asks the firebender, and I follow her gaze to look at the older teen.

“I don’t know,” he replies but we all continue to stare at him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang,” Katara tells him honestly.

“Yeah, if anyone’s got experience hunting the Avatar, it’s you,” Toph adds on.

Usually, I frown at them bringing up the past like this because I know how guilty Zuko still feels about it, but this time I have to accept they have a point, even if I don’t like the way Zuko subtly tenses.

Zuko thinks for a moment, then quickly ushers everyone onto Appa, taking the reigns as we leave Ember Island behind.

I slink down into the saddle, the stress from the day leaving me exhausted already, but I can’t even think of sleeping, not until I know what happened to Aang.

It’s silent most of the way to wherever Zuko is taking us, everyone too worried to try and start a conversation, and the gathering dark clouds don’t help the mood, it’s like they can sense the tension and incoming disaster.

“Zuko, I don’t wanna tell you how to do your job, but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom?” Sokka asks breaking the silence, leaning over the saddle to question him. “There’s no way Aang’s there.”

“Just trust me,” is all he says.

We eventually arrive at a random tavern in the middle of a forest, and even from far away, you can hear the yelling and commotion from inside, and as soon as the door opens I stick close to Zuko, the sheer amount of people surprising me.

“And the reason you’ve brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?” Katara questions sceptically.

“Jun,” Zuko replies, pointing to a serious-looking lady, easily taking out a guy who tried to attack her. Though when Sokka says she’s a bounty hunter her ability to avoid everyone coming at her without even spiling her drink makes more sense. I draw my attention away slightly when I hear Sokka mention a mole, now understanding why Zuko brought us here.

“The shirshu,” Zuko explains, confirming my theory. “It’s the only animal that can track Aang’s scent anywhere in the world. It’s the one shot we have of finding him.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, I remember her, she helped you attack us!” Sokka realises suddenly, glaring at Zuko as we watch Jun now relaxing after taking down the group of men.

“Yep. Back in the good old days,” Zuko replies jokingly, before striding forward to talk to her.

And it appears she notices pretty quick. “Oh, great, it’s Prince Pouty. Where’s your creepy grandpa?”

“He’s my uncle,” Zuko corrects her annoyed. “And he’s not here.”

“I see you worked things out with your girlfriend,” she says, nodding towards him and Katara, then her eyes flicker to me standing at his other side. “Oh wait, or did you find a new girl?”

“I’m not his girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

They both exclaim at the same time which makes me chuckle at their horrified faces.

“No, wait, she isn’t, she is,” Zuko clarifies pointing correctly between Katara and I.

“Okay, okay. Sheesh, I was only teasing,” Jun complains at their abrupt reaction. “Seriously how do you put up with him?” She asks me directly.

“He’s not so bad when you get used to him,” I reply jokingly, nudging said firebender with my elbow while pointedly ignoring his offender glare.

“So what do you want?” Jun asks Zuko this time, not taking her eyes off her cup.

“I need your help finding the Avatar,” he tells her, voice gravely serious that you would think would leave no room for argument.

“Hm, doesn’t sound too fun,” Jun argues anyway, sounding more bored than anything.

Zuko’s face tightens and his whole body tenses in a classic sign of an outburst. “Does the end of the world sound more fun?” He demands getting in her face.

That at least makes her pause for a moment. She sighs, putting her cup down and grabbing a slab of meat before heading outside, which we take as a cue to follow her.

“Nyla,” she calls happily once she’s outside, waving the meat to grab her shirshu’s attention and once she has it she throws the meat to the animal which it gobbles up greedily.

“Oh, wow. I’ve always wanted to see one,” I marvel, looking at the kind of adorable beast.

Jun coos at the animal for a moment before turning back to us. “Okay, so who’s got something with the Avatar’s scent on it?”

Katara rushes over to Appa’s saddle. “I have Aang’s staff,” she says, grabbing the object and passing it to Jun.

The bounty hunter holds the staff for Nyla to sniff at. After he does he wanders around in a circle sniffing the air to find Aang. But after a full circle, Nyla just collapses to the floor, paws covering his nose as he growls unhappily.

“Well, what does that mean?” Zuko frowns at the creature's reaction.

“It means your friend’s gone,” Jun replies, comforting her friend.

“We know he’s gone. That’s why we’re trying to find him,” Toph tells her annoyed.

“No, I mean he’s gone gone. He doesn’t exist.”

I feel my eyes widen as Jun’s words begin to register and instantly I refuse to let myself believe it.

“Do you mean he’s, you know, dead?” Sokka asks and I shudder to hear the word I didn’t want to think.

“Nope, we could find him if he were dead,” Jun explains and for a moment I let myself sigh relieved that the worst hasn’t happened, then it’s replaced by confusion. “Oh, it’s a real head-scratcher. See ya.”

“Helpful. Real helpful,” Toph grumbles as the woman decides she’s done.

“Wait, I have another idea,” Zuko calls to Jun before she can leave. “There’s only one other person in this world who can help us face the Fire Lord.”

I gasp, realising instantly who he’s talking about. “You don’t mean…” I trail off, not wanting to say it out loud in case I’m wrong.

But Zuko’s smile confirms it. “I’ll be right back with a smell sample,” he tells Jun, and I wonder what he’s been carrying.

As it turns out, it’s an old sandal, that admittedly smells bad, but maybe that’ll make it easier to find Iroh.

It takes only a moment for the shirshu to take off, leaving us scrambling to climb onto Appa and follow before we get left behind.

It takes all of the next day without breaks, with barely any time til the comet arrives, stopping isn’t an option. And when we do finally stop, it’s outside the broken wall of Ba Sing Se to my surprise, I never thought I’d come back here.

“We’re going to Ba Sing Se?” Zuko asks, just as confused as I feel.

“Your uncle is somewhere beyond the wall,” Jun explains as her shirshu continues to scratch at the rock. “Nyla’s getting twitchy, so it can’t be too far. Good luck.”

With that she takes off, probably to find some other tavern to continue her drink.

“It’s been a long day. Let’s camp and start our search again at dawn,” Zuko commands but by the time we dismount Appa, even that seems like too much work. So, instead we all choose a place on the bison and fall asleep, the effect of being awake all day managing to push away the stress of what’s to come once we awaken.

The only warning we get that something is about to happen is the sound of Toph’s tent collapsing, but even that doesn’t give us time to react to the flames that now surround us.

I look around for the source, but the fire makes it hard to see past them to the figures standing behind.

“Well, look who’s here.”

I freeze as the sound of that voice washes over me, the snorting laugh following soon after making my heart feel whole in a way it hasn’t for a long time.

“Bumi!” I cry, tears already streaming down my face as I rush towards where I heard his voice come from.

I barely even think about it as I bend the flames out of my way, making myself a gap big enough that I can run through and throw myself at the familiar hunched-over man behind it.

“Oh, Solmi, I’ve missed you so much my dear,” Bumi wraps his arms around me, one hand stroking through my hair in the way he knows calms me down. But in this instance, the gesture only makes me cry harder, as I realise right now, in his arms just how much I missed him.

I do eventually calm down and pull away, but I stay right by his side needing to feel his presence next to me.

The flames are gone, and I finally take notice of the three other men around us as well, though the only one I recognise is Sokka’s old master.

I listen as Katara introduces everyone, nodding and taking in the two as Paku and the mysterious Jeong Jeong they mentioned before.

“And if you couldn’t already guess, this is King Bumi, Solmi’s uncle,” Katara says and I feel my cheeks heat a little as I realise just how loud my yell was.

“So, wait, how do you all know each other?” Suki asks, and I can’t help but peer up at Bumi also curious.

“All old people know each other, don’t you know that?” Bumi laughs, and I roll my eyes even though I’m just glad he hasn’t changed.

“We're all a part of the same ancient secret society, a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations,” Piandao explains. I meet Zuko’s eyes as old words come rushing back to me.

“The Order of the White Lotus,” he realises excitedly.

“That’s the one,” Bumi agrees, interrupting Piandao before he can talk, making the swordmaster and Jeong Jeong side-eye him in irritation.

“The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty, and truth,” Jeong Jeong explains. “But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important.”

“It came from a Grand Lotus, your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation,” Pakku tells Zuko, making him smile, just a little.

“Well that’s who we’re looking for,” Toph replies excitedly, and I’m glad we weren’t led astray.

“Then we’ll take you to him,” Piandao says easily.

Suddenly he and Jeong Jeong are pushed aside and I only then realise that Bumi’s moved from my side.

“Wait, someone’s missing from your group, someone very important,” Bumi says, dramatically looking around before moving closer to be right in Sokka’s face. “Where’s Momo?”

“He’s gone, and so is Aang,” Sokka replies awkwardly.

“Oh, well, so long as they have each other, I’m sure we have nothing to worry about,” Bumi says casually, though I know he’s just as worried about the missing presence of his oldest friend. “Let’s go.”

And just like that he earthbends himself away with an excited yell and laugh.

“You’re uncle’s crazy,” Zuko comments, watching the earthbender sail away.

“Yeah,” I sigh happily, welcoming the familiar madness that can only come from my uncle.

We follow after him, the other lotus members leading the way to a path inside the walls where Bumi is waiting.

“Was that really necessary, Uncle?” I ask, still questioning his eccentrics after all these years.

“You know me, I like to have a little fun,” he replies.

“So, Bumi, how did you end up escaping your imprisonment in Omashu?” Sokka questions cheerfully as Bumi leads us down the path.

“Escape. I didn’t escape. Everybody else escaped,” he explains though no one else understands.

My attention is rapt as he goes on to describe his retaking of Omashu, so much so that many times I felt a hand lead me around a stray rock or dip in the path, but I can’t help it.

I felt so awful after the failed eclipse invasion, and part of that was knowing I had to wait to save Bumi and Omashu, but now all I can feel is relieved. I just wish I had been there to see the statue and flags as they were taken out of my home.

“Does that mean Omashu is back?” I ask hopeful, forcing my tears not to fall again.

“Yep, it needs some work to repair some damages, but our home is now ours again,” Bumi pulls me to his side, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as my face beams at the great news. “So what about you guys? Did you do anything interesting on the day of the eclipse?”

Zuko and Sokka look at each other before immediately denying anything which makes me laugh.

“That reminds me,” Bumi suddenly stops in the middle of the path, making everyone behind have to stop as well. He quickly twists around to stare straight at Zuko. “I heard you and my niece have a little something going on?”

Zuko instantly looks nervous with Bumi’s attention on him. ”Uh, y-yes sir,” he stammers, back straight as he looks dead ahead.

“Well isn’t that nice,” Bumi grins cheerfully. “Young love is so beautiful and you seem like a nice, smart young man.”

Zuko sighs in relief, letting himself relax at Bumi’s kind words. In the next moment, he’s surrounded by earth on all sides.

“But if you ever hurt my Solmi again, where you will fo would make even the bad prisons in my palace look like a luxury,” Bumi warns, glaring menacingly in the firebender’s face. Zuko gulps afraid and just nods frantically. “See, smart young man.”

Zuko is set free and I abandon Bumi’s side to make sure he’s okay, which he is, apart from looking more than a little terrified.

“Uncle, that wasn’t nice,” I scold him with my own glare, but he only laughs as he starts walking again.

I can see lights in the distance as we continue forward and soon enough we make it to the edge of the camp that’s surrounded by a rock wall Bumi has to lower.

“Well, here we are. Welcome to old people camp,” Bumi announces letting us inside.

“Where? Where is he?” Zuko asks hesitantly, glancing around the camp.

“Your uncle’s in there, Prince Zuko,” Piandao tells him, pointing to a large tent further ahead.

“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask softly, noticing just how anxious Zuko looks but also unsure is this is something he wants to do alone.

“No, it’s okay. You should spend some time with your own uncle, I know how much you’ve missed him,” Zuko replies, giving me a gentle smile to show he really is okay.

“If you’re sure, just, come find me if you need me,” I tell him, getting up on my toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek before leaving to find where Bumi’s gone off to.

Not that he went far, he’s just sitting around a campfire with Sokka, Suki and Toph. I sit between the earthbenders as I listen to Bumi telling them some funny things he witness from inside his cage, as well as a couple of times he would sneakily bend earth to trip up random soldiers, which Toph appreciated a lot.

“Oh yeah, Bumi, did you know Solmi was a firebender? It’s actually kind of cool,” Sokka asks when he notices me. Trust him to ask the question I’m too nervous too. I was going to wait until this was all over with, but now that it’s out there I can’t say I don’t want to know.

Bumi’s following weary sigh tells me most of what I need to know before he even speaks. “I figured this conversation was coming when I saw you bend those flames earlier. Yes, I did know about Solmi’s bending abilities.”

I feel a flash of hurt strike my heart at his answer. Ever since I found out I was giving Bumi the benefit of the doubt, but now I know he was lying to me it stings.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracks a little despite my trying to swallow it down.

“It was what your father wanted. When you first showed hints of being a firebender when you were young he was so worried, he had no idea what to do,” Bumi begins to explain.

“What do you mean?” Katara asks, joining in from wherever he had been, she must have overheard.

“There was no way to predict how the citizens would react to a firebender in the city, even if they were a child,” he says solemnly, and I know he’s right, but my frown still doesn’t let up yet. “So, he came to me and we decided to try to keep your abilities under control.”

“Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you just going to continue to hide it from me until I found out like this?” I accuse, a little angry that they chose to keep a huge part of myself from me.

“Your father was going to tell you when you were old enough to understand, then came his unfortunate passing and the responsibility fell to me. But before I got the chance…” Bumi trails off guiltily and I know what he means.

“The Fire Nation took Omashu,” Sokka finishes for him glumly.

“You were never supposed to find out the way you did. But after I was taken I knew there was a chance it would happen, so I did the only thing I could do,” Bumi’s eyes travel around the groups, making me follow and take in my friends around me. “I made sure you would have the chance to be around people who would support you in those confusing times.”

“That’s why you told me to go with Aang,” I realise. I had always wondered why got me to go off with these friends I barely knew rather than stay with the citizens, and now I get it. Because if I did discover my abilities he knew Aang at least would not judge me for them, and I’m sure after meeting Sokka and Katara he learnt they wouldn’t too.

“Partly yes. Though I will admit I did have another ulterior motive,” Bumi says cheerfully, and I glance at him confused. “You had some challenges to overcome before you could become the next ruler of Omashu.”

I gasp, my entire body freezing as the words run through my mind. And a quick glance shows me everyone else is feeling a similar way.

“I-I’m supposed to rule Omashu?” My voice is shaky and even saying the words myself doesn’t make it feel real. “I can’t. There’s no way.”

“Of course, you can. You were already so kind and passionate and smart,” Bumi compliments making me blush, which just gets many teasing noises thrown my way by the others. “But I can already tell that in our time apart you have become more confident and sure of yourself. I know you’ll become a great leader for our home.”

My heart bursts with joy just hearing the pride in Bumi’s voice. I never thought I needed someone to acknowledge how much I’ve changed, how I’ve learned and grown these few months, but hearing it from him and knowing he’s proud of me for it means the world.

“So, what about Solmi’s mother, she must’ve been a firebender, right?” Toph asks curiously. This time however I don’t think I want to know the answer, at least not yet.

Bumi snorts, but I don’t miss the way he looks at me. “She was, but that is a story for another day. Now everybody, better get your rest.”

Bumi gets up and ushers us all into a nearby tense so we can sleep, ready for the big day tomorrow.

—--

Food has just been served as I sit around with the others, trying to figure out strategies in this uncertain situation.

I hear movement coming towards us, and when I look up I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face as I see the man next to Zuko. I place my bowl on the ground and get up, wrapping my arms around the now slimmer Iroh.

“It’s so good to see you again, Sol,” Iroh says earnestly.

“It’s good to see you, too,” I reply, still smiling. “You should have told me you knew my uncle.”

“That would have ruined the surprise,” he laughs before sending me a wink. Everyone moves around to fit the two firebenders into the circle, passing them some food. “So, my nephew has filled me in on the situation you have found yourselves in.”

“Uncle, you’re the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Fatherlord,” Zuko urges and I feel my eyebrows raise at the way he messes up the words, not even realising even after Toph corrects him.

“Hmm,” Iroh hums unsure.

“We need you to come with us,” Zuko insists desperately.

But Iroh just shakes his head. “No, Zuko. It won’t turn out well.”

“You can beat him, and we’ll be there to help,” Zuko encourages, but I can’t imagine not being confident enough is Iroh’s reason for not agreeing.

“Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don’t know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end a war,” Iroh explains, mixing around the food in his bowl. “History will see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.”

“And then… then would you come and take your rightful place on the throne?” Zuko asks hopefully.

Iroh glances down, eyes closed for a moment before he looks up again. “No. Someone new must take the throne, an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honour,” he says, golden eyes beaming with pride as he looks at Zuko. “It has to be you, Prince Zuko.”

I look at Iroh shocked. It’s not like I don’t think Zuko will make a good Fire Lord because I know he'd be perfect, I’m just wondering if our uncles were talking and decided to set us up for our new positions together.

But to no surprise, Zuko’s eyes are only filled with doubt. “Unquestionable honour? But I’ve made so many mistakes.”

“Yes, you have. You’ve struggled and you’ve suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honour, and only you can restore the honour of the Fire Nation.”

“I’ll try Uncle,” Zuko agrees, still doubtful and I rub his arm encouragingly.

“Well, what if Aang doesn’t come back?” Toph asks the question lingering in the air.

“Sozin’s comet is arriving and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord,” Iroh says, and it’s good at least someone is confident, but that still doesn’t help when we have no idea where he is.

“When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.”

“That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus,” Suki comments, gesturing to all the members around us.

“Yes,” Iroh nods. “Zuko you must return to the Fire Nation so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there waiting for you.”

“I can handle Azula,” Zuko barks. My old nightmare flashes through my head at the thought of Zuko fighting his sister again, but I know I can’t stop him, it’s his part to play.

“Not alone. You’ll need help,” Iroh advices the hot-headed teen.

“You’re right,” Zuko accepts, always ready to listen to his uncle. “Solmi, Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?”

I startle hearing my name and I can’t help but feel a sense of unease wash through me, something that tells me this isn’t what I should do.

“It would be my pleasure,” Katara accepts easily, but when they both look at me I know I can’t. Fighting Azula might be Zuko’s part, but I know it’s not mine.

“I don’t think I should,” I tell him honestly.

I see him flinch at the reply, clearly not expecting it. “Why?” He asks, and I hear the small tint of hurt coming through that makes me want to change my mind, but I push the guilt aside.

“I just don’t think it’ll be the best idea to have us in the same place,” I reason, though I still hate the idea of him going without me.

“She’s right. Azula won’t hesitate to use you two against each other, she already did it during the invasion,” Sokka chimes in and I nod at him in appreciation.

“I guess you’re right,” Zuko sighs sadly.

“Hey, you and Katara got this,” I say encouragingly, not liking his glum expression, and he at least tries to cheer up.

“What about us? What’s our destiny today?” Sokka asks Iroh, and I look at the older man interested.

“What do you think it is?” Iroh just asks back smirking. I guess even he knows Sokka is smart enough to be able to figure out the best plan himself.

And the Water Tribe boy immediately starts thinking of a strategy. “I think that even though we don’t know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet,” he decided determined.

“And that means when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we’ll be right there if he needs us,” Toph adds on cheerfully.

“That I can get on board with,” I admit, my earlier unease turning into anticipation.

Iroh nods pleased, and with the plans made we now move to get everything in motion. Piandao lends our airship team a giant eel hound, while Zuko and Katara are going to take Appa.

It’s sort of a rush to grab a small number of supplies and gear up, as I move I feel my bow bouncing on my back and I let my fingers slowly slide across the strong. I look up to find Bumi watching me nearby and instinctively I walk over to him, one question burning in my mind.

“Do you think he’d be proud of me?” I whisper, hands never leaving the part where my bow crosses across my heart.

“I don’t doubt it for a second,” Bumi tells me, also glancing at the bow that I’ve used to protect myself so many times.

“You’ll keep this safe for me right?” I ask, knowing Bumi can hear the double meaning in my question as he nods. I slowly pull my most precious possession off my back, and mournfully I hand it over. “I just… I hate that I have to leave you again.”

“It won’t be for long this time my dear,” Bumi reassures as he takes my bow and I let myself believe it’s true. “And then we can go home.”

I head back to the main group, Suki and Toph already on the eel hound when I run into Zuko. I know there’s no time, but I also can’t resist letting myself fall into his arms, revealing in the calm before the storm.

“I know you can handle your sister, but please promise me you’ll be safe,” I request, even though I know it’s not fair to ask.

I also know Zuko knows it too, but he still goes along to appease me. “I will, but you better keep the same promise.”

I sigh as I move away, knowing it’s time to go. But I feel a tug as I try to walk away and I look down to see that Zuko hasn’t let go from where his hand slid down to mine.

“I love you.”

My breath gets caught in my throat as Zuko says out loud the words I’ve been thinking since Ba Sing Se, or maybe even before that. I stare into golden eyes, and for a moment it feels like the world stops, there’s no war, no missing Avatar or approaching comet, just us.

I reach up, letting my hand cup his cheek and let myself get trapped in the love and affection I see staring back at me, and I know my own amber pearls must be a perfect reflection.

“I love you too.”

I lean towards him and lay my lips on his. I kiss him like we have all the time in the world, but also like it might be our last.

“Ugh, gross guys,” Sokka interrupts annoyingly. “Come on, Solmi. We need to get going.”

“I’m coming!” I yell to the Water Tribe boy, then I let myself spare one more glance at the man I love. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, later,” he agrees, before leaving to join up with Katara.

I turn around then glare up at Sokka as I approach the eel hound, grabbing a long green Earth Kingdom Tunic to throw on over the top of my Fire nation clothing. “You don’t see us complaining when you and Suki are kissing,” I can’t help but complain as I jump on behind said girlfriend.

“Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it,” Iroh imparts, and with that last hopeful message we take off, ready to save the world.

Chapter Text

The comet soars across the sky, bathing everything the light touches in its brilliant colours and I haven’t been able to stop myself from staring at it since it first appeared.

Partly because I can feel my firebending being drawn to it, but also because I know it means that this is really it. There’s no way to turn back now unless we want the entire earth Kingdom to burn, and that can’t happen.

I didn’t fight when the Fire Nation took my home in Omashu, but this time I will not sit back and let them take my homeland.

The eel hound swims through the red-tinted ocean as we hastily make out way to where the airships should be waiting.

“It’s weird to say, but the comet actually looks beautiful,” Suki marvels, staring back at where to powerful object continues its journey.

“Too bad the Fire Lord’s about to use it to destroy the world,” Toph shoots back, replacing the pretty hues with a dangerous tint.

“Can you feel anything yet, Solmi?” Sokka asks, not taking his eyes off the land ahead of us.

“I’m not sure,” I reply honestly, apart from the pull I can’t tell if I feel any stronger. My muscles tense and it almost feels like my blood is boiling under my skin, but whether that’s from the comet of the tension of what’s to come I’m still unsure.

We arrive at the shore of the land and the eel hound lowers itself so we can jump off. None of us wastes any time, sprinting up the hill in front of us as the deepening red sky almost taunts us.

We get to the top, just in time to see the first ship take off, the rest of the fleet quickly following, raising from the ground one by one.

“We’re too late!” Sokka yells in dismay. “The fleet’s already taking off!”

“No! We have to do something,” I fret. Our destiny can’t stop here, not before it’s even started.

“Then we’re taking off too,” Toph replies easily. “Where’s the closest airship?”

“It’s right…” Sokka starts to say, pointing at the airship directly in front of us.

He doesn’t get to finish though before I fell a hand grabbing the back of my shirt and soon after I feel myself flying through the air. Before I even realise the edge of the ship is now directly in front of me and instinctively I angle myself to let the momentum tug me down, feet landing on the solid metal with a harsh thud, two more landing at the same time.
I quickly turn around, helping Sokka and Suki catch the earthbender who go us here and then we scramble up the ladder next to us as Sokka mutters a brief plan about getting to the control room.

We sneak quietly through the ship, heading straight for the said room, and it’s a good thing all these ships are designed the same way because now Sokka, Suki and I know exactly where it is.

We make it there with no problem, the Fire Nation is apparently confident enough to feel like they don’t need a lot of guards to patrol, and all other crew members are clearly more focused on their jobs.

Sokka slides next to the door frame, holding his finger to his lips, Suki takes place on the other side, while Toph walks straight up to the door and I stand a few steps behind her.

The metalbender knocks quietly on the door first before kicking it down, announcing her presence to the men in the room. She falls forward into the fallen door, and bend the metal around her to use as armour against the immediate fire attacks.

It becomes apparent that the comet’s power is in full effect when the flames can’t be contained in the small room and the edges of them come shooting out the open door.

Sokka and Suki duck out of the way of the large blast and I move quickly, grabbing the astray flames before they can hurt the other two and bending them back into the room, avoiding Toph and hitting the man who shot them.

“Thanks,” Sokka nods at me, before peaking his head back around the frame.

Toph quickly deals with the rest of the crew in the meantime, the last one coming flying out much like the fire before.

The room’s a mess, but it’s now empty aside from Toph who is removing her metal outwear in the middle of it.

“That’s how it’s done,” she brags, stepping out of the crumpled remains.

“Good work, Toph,” Sokka compliments before turning his attention to Suki. “Time to take control of the ship. Take the wheel.”

“What a great idea. Let the blind girl steer the giant airship,” Toph snarks having missed Sokka’s look.

“I was talking to Suki,” Sokka corrects as the girl moves to do as she was instructed.

“What are you gonna do about the rest of the crew?” Suki asks from the wheel.

“Take us down closer to the water. I’ve got an idea,” Sokka smirks.

“What are you up to?” I ask him warily, watching as he looks around before pulling down a speaking device that lets him speak to the whole ship.

He clears his throat before speaking into it with his fake voice. “Attention, crew, this is your captain speaking. Everyone, please report to the bomb bay immediately, for hotcakes and sweet cream. We have a very special birthday to celebrate.”

I resist the urge to facepalm as I stare at the Water Tribe boy in disbelief. “How do you even know if that’ll work?”

“Please, everybody loves cake,” Sokka replies confidently.

Despite said confidence, I take Toph with me to check, and to my surprise, there in the bomb bay is everyone from the ship, even a guy whose birthday is actually today, poor guy.

The doors to the bay open, dumping everyone into the ocean below, and after a quick check to make sure they’re no stragglers, Toph and I go back to the control room.

“Okay, you have a point,” I conceded to Sokka as I enter the room.

“Thank you,” he replies before glaring up at the largest ship above us through a broken window. “Fire Lord Ozai, here we come.”

He pushes a lever and we head full speed towards Ozai’s ship, but my heart drops as I realise he must have designed his to be quicker because as fast as we approach Earth Kingdom land, he’s still ahead.

“We’re not gonna catch up to him in time!” Sokka panics, looking out of his spyglass at the man still so far ahead.

“No,” Suki cries quietly.

I watch in silent horror as the Fire Lord gets closer and closer to the Earth Kingdom border. A growl escapes my throat at the helplessness I feel, and I can’t just sit here and watch him do this.

I step over to the broken window Sokka was previously at. I focus my mind, now purposefully drawing in the power of the comet as it draws nearer, and I can feel my entire body scream with an energy I’ve never experienced before.

I breathe before setting my sight on the ship once again. The fire I create is bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything I’ve ever done before. It’s almost scary, but I know I can control it, I keep it streamlined enough to fit through the gap and it soars through the air, blending in with the equally red sky.

But it’s not enough, I’m not enough, and burns away to nothing, Ozai’s ship still too far out of reach.

I try again and again, but every blast stops just shy of the giant ship, not reaching far enough to do any damage to the flying machine and stop this. I change stance, if fire can’t reach, maybe something else can.

“Solmi, Stop!” Sokka yells, pushing me away from the window before I can try. “You’re just going to tire yourself out.”

The ship crosses over the shoreline and just like that a giant fire, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen in my life streams down from the front. My legs give out but I barely even feel myself collide with the floor as the land beneath us is instantly engulfed in the flames, a part of the Earth Kingdom now reduced to ash.

There’s a swarm as all the birds from the trees fly to escape the burning trail, and I just hope all the creatures on the ground are doing the same.

Suddenly, a series of explosions hit the Fire Lord’s ship, the fire coming to an abrupt stop. Smoke streams from the ship as it begins to fall and a further fire blast shoots out from ahead of it to help it along.

My face breaks out in a grin because there’s only one person who could be behind this.

The Fire Lord’s ship crashes into the rocky landscape in front of us, and at the very least that’s one less thing to deal with right now.

“What just happened?” Suki questions, staring out at the carnage in front of us.

Sokka’s smile splits across his face as he looks out of his spyglass. “It’s Aang!” He reveals excitedly. “He’s back!”

“I knew it,” I cheer alongside Sokka, a sense of relief filling me knowing that the destruction has stopped for now. But I also know this isn’t the end just because the Avatar is here now.

“Shouldn’t we be helping him?” Suki asks, worriedly watching the explosion of flames crashing together.

“The Fire Lord is Aang’s fight,” Sokka tells her resolutely. “We need to stay focused on stopping that fleet from burning down the Earth Kingdom.

“And how do we do that, Captain Boomerang? I can’t see outside this floating hunk of metal, and we don’t even know if Solmi can’t possibly take down all the ships herself,” Toph points out and I know she’s right.

“I can still try,” I argue anyway, ready to fight as hard as I need to.

“No, I’ve got a better idea,” Sokka says, looking out the window towards the other ships. “Airship slice!” He exclaims, making a slicing movement with his arm.

He takes the wheel, expertly controlling the ship to get into the position he needs. It’s unfortunate though, that slowing down to get back in line means the other ships have time to catch up to the mainland. And they are ready to continue Ozai’s plan, even if the Fire Lord is otherwise engaged.

If I thought the fire from just Ozai was bad, this is just, so much worse. The combined forces of the firebenders on the ships wreak an indescribable amount of damage, leaving a scar on the land that might never heal.

But the worst part is that despite being in the air, I can still feel the heat from the fire through the broken windows.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of fire, isn’t it?” Toph gaps, blindly gazing out the window as we fly over it.

“Yeah, Toph, it is,” I reply sadly.

But then Sokka drastically spins the wheel and it’s all I can do to hold on as the ship turns going at full speed.

But he doesn’t stop there, as soon as the line of airships are in view he pushes the ship past its limit, the whole contraption shaking as explosions go off around us.

“It’s gonna be a rough ride,” Sokka warns over the noise of the ship protesting. He runs, grabbing Toph’s hand as he goes, Suki and I following after them. “We need to get to the top of this thing, fast.”

He stops at the doorway, letting go of Toph’s hand which I grab instead as I run past.

“Then what?” I overhear Suki ask.

“Watch each other’s backs, and if we make it that far, I’ll let you know,” Sokka replies, which is not as encouraging as it could be.

I flinch as I feel the ship violently tremble as it crashes into the others, each following explosions seemingly louder than the last. We manage to make it to the ladder that goes to the top of the ship and start climbing just before the floor below us starts falling away from the continuous damage.

Toph pushes away the hatch, the rest of us hurrying up after her, and I struggle to keep my balance with the ship still shaking. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Toph begin to slip down the balloon and Sokka and I quickly scramble after her, grabbing the earthbender’s hands to pull her back up.

We run along the length of the top as the airship continues to destroy as many of the others as it can, smoke and debris collecting in the air and blowing in my face making it hard to breathe.

Suki suddenly gasps and as I turn around I see the ship breaking away, a gap forming between Sokka, Toph and I, and her. She screams as a large chunk falls away and there’s no time to stop her from going with it.

“Suki!” Sokka yells after her, reaching his hand despite knowing it’s futile.

My heart skips, seeing her land on the last ship ours had crashed into, barely any damage having been done to it, meaning she is safe for now.

“I’m okay. Just finish the mission!” She yells up at us encouragingly.

“No,” Sokka gasps in disbelief, staring down to where Suki is getting further away.

“She’ll be fine,” I tell him, but he doesn’t look away.

“Guys, I think we gotta…” Toph yells the now piece of scrap metal we’re on still falling apart.

We jump off, landing onto the next ship as our old one crashes straight into it, a loud explosion going off behind us.

I stand and start blasting away any large chunks of debris that fall close to Sokka and Toph, even as Sokka throws his body over the smaller girl. Once the majority of the danger is gone we run since annoyingly enough some of the ships managed to avoid the ‘airship slice’, and are still continuing on with their destruction undisturbed.

“Toph, metalbend the rudder so it’s jammed in the turning position,” Sokka commands as we come up to the large part of the ship. “The ship will spiral and slam into the others.”

“Got it,” she acknowledges, before moving both Sokka and I out of her way.

She groans as she pulls at the metal, twisting it just that way Sokka ordered and the shop lurches sideways, crashing into another.

“Have I ever mentioned how sweet it is that you invented metalbending?” Sokka asks the girl happily.

“You could stand to mention it more,” Toph smirks back at the compliment.

There’s a loud crash behind us and I manage to nudge the other two out of the way and quickly form a wall of fire to protect us from an opposing blast coming down at us. I look up and to my dismay, there’s a lone ship now looming above us, firebenders standing on the platform looking down.

“They must have gotten out of the way!” Sokka cries disappointed hiding on the other side of the rudder, out of the firebender’s view. “It’s too high, we can’t get to it.”

“Leave it to me,” I tell him, I already know any fire attack I try the soldiers will block and there’s too many to try and take out individually. But I have my backup plan.

I stand behind the rudder to keep myself safe as I get ready, and it’s hard to focus with all the trembling and metal scraping together but I force myself to forget about it. Soon enough I can feel the energy build, even stronger with the power of the comet and at the last moment I slide out from behind the metal and point my fingers towards the other airship.

The lightning crackles and the blue flash stands out starkly against the red background of the sky. I aimed for the platform the soldiers were standing on, and when it hits the lightning travels through the metal and the men writhe as they collapse.

I take advantage of their being out of the way before sending another shot towards the engine, watching as it explodes and the ship falls to join the rest of the fleet.

“Okay, that was pretty awesome,” Sokka admits staring at me, mouth slightly agape.

I go to thank him when we hear the sound of a hatch opening, a guard appearing out of it behind us.

“Go!” I order Sokka and Toph, sending my own attack to cancel out the guards.

But the fire is too big, too out of control with the power of the comet and it doesn’t stop as it meets in the middle, it shoots out in all directions.

I hear screaming and my eyes lock on Sokka’s as he and Toph fall over the edge of the ship, pushed that way to avoid the stray flames.

“No! Sokka, Toph!” I yell, my eyes solely focused on my friends disappearing down the side of the ship.

Which is a mistake, I realise as a blast to my side sends me flying to my left. I twist in the air, hoping to land on my back but there’s not enough time and pain shoots through me as my shoulder harshly meets the metal of the ship.

But I can’t think of it with the guard now walking towards me. I lie still as he approaches, then once he’s close enough I push myself up on my hands, ignoring the screaming pain from my shoulder, fire streaming from my feet as I kick out.

The guard has no time to defend as the fire has him stumbling back, and a swift foot to the jaw right after has him lying flat on the ground.

Once I’m sure he won’t be getting up anytime soon, I move over to the edge of the balloon, trying to peer down as much as I can without falling off myself. I beath a quick sigh of relief when I see Sokka and Toph on the platform, but it’s gone when I notice their position, Toph dangling off the ship with only Sokka holding her keeping her from falling.

I climb down the hatch, quickly and efficiently taking out any guards in my way, desperate to get to my friends.

Once I get to the entrance of the platform there’s a line of soldiers facing my friends, and I don’t really think about it as I sneak behind the soldier closest to me, grabbing their arm and throwing them over my shoulder and into the wall behind me. They slump down just as all the other soldiers turn their attention to me.

“Guys, hang on!” I yell at them, and I can see Sokka shooting me a look that just screams of how crazy he thinks I’m being. And he’s right, even I know I’m crazy for trying to take on so many with only one good arm, but at least with their attention on me, there’s not that danger lingering on him and Toph.

Suddenly all the soldiers gasp and run away. My brows furrow in confusion until I see the airship heading straight at us. Luckily the point of it crashes just below the platform and Sokka lets go of Toph’s hand, letting her fall safely below. He jumps off after her and I quickly follow before it moves on without me.

I see Sokka holding his leg in pain, and I kneel down worried beside him.

“How did that happen?” Toph questions frantically. “Did boomerang come back?”

“No, Suki did,” Sokka replies, I look at his gleeful expression and I turn around to see the girl happily hanging off the ship.

I get up as she comes over, and a quick glance around reveals that all of the ships, apart from ours, are gone, all of them in different states on damage smoking on the ground below.

We did it.

We actually did it, we stopped the Earth Kingdom’s destruction!

A crash echoes out from behind us and it’s the first time since his reappearance I’ve actually been able to think about Aang’s battle. I frown, realising that despite stopping the fleet if Aang can’t defeat the Fire Lord it won’t matter in the end anyway.

Suki and I help Sokka inside our new ship and luckily I find some bandages to roughly wrap around my shoulder to keep it from moving too much as Suki moves the ship somewhere safe to watch the unfolding battle.

The distance makes it hard to see, just glances of elements flying around, though fire is still the most noticeable. Sokka props himself up, leaning against the window and pulls out his spyglass, trying to give us a rough play by play. It’s terrible, more noises and cheering than anything descriptive, but the rest of us don’t know enough about what’s going on to be able to correct him.

And it sucks, having to just stand by and watch, knowing there’s nothing we can do now that our part is done.

Suddenly there’s an incredible blue light that takes over the sky, a beam shooting out from where Aang is and reaches up into the sky, parting the clouds above it as the brightness masks even the natural red from the comet.

And then as quick as it was there, it’s gone.

“What do you think that was?” Suki asks astounded as the glow disappears.

“I don’t know, but it’s probably a good thing,” Sokka shrugs, looking for his spyglass since he dropped it in shock when the light appeared.

“I think it’s over,” I mutter, mostly to myself but I know that light was familiar.

Toph hands Sokka his spyglass and he reveals that from what he can see, Aang has defeated the Fire Lord.

Suki hurries to the wheel to get us over to the airbender as quick as possible, manoeuvring the ship to stop next to the rock stack the younger boy is on.

Suki and Toph help carry Sokka out of the ship, and I follow clutching my shoulder as the pain starts to settle in at the thought of it all being over.

As we exit I let myself look at the slowly fading red of the sky, and I look around finding the comet now further away, its journey almost completed.

“You did it!” Sokka exclaims as soon as he sees Aang standing waiting for us, Momo on his shoulder. “You should’ve seen yourself! It was amazing!”

“Sokka, stop, you’re gonna hurt yourself more,” I berate the excited teen but I get drowned out by sound effects so instead I let my attention switch to the man also lying on the rock as I inch closer.

Suki walks to stand directly in front of him and part of me wants to warn her not to, but I’m also curious, and at the very least he looks harmless.

“So, did you, you know, finish the job?” Suki stammers, pointing at the beaten Fire Lord.

“I’m still alive,” Ozai growls, making Suki and I flinch away.

“I learned there was another way to defeat him and restore balance. I took his benign away,” Aang reveals.

I stare at him wide-eyed, not realising that was a thing Avatars could do, though maybe it’s just an Aang thing.

“Wow, who taught you that?” Toph asks surprised.

“A giant lion turtle,” Aang replies casually and I can’t help the bark of a laugh that leaves me from the absurdity.

“You have the craziest adventures when you disappear,” Toph comments in astonishment.

“But that’s it, right? Without his bending, it means it’s finally over?” I have to ask, though even saying the words doesn't make it feel real.

“It’s over,” Aang confirms and I fall to the floor as it feels like a weight has lifted off the entire world.

Toph and Sokka take advantage of the former Fire Lord’s weakened state to bring out their mocking sides, and I just giggle from the complete joy of it all than the actual jokes.

The red begins to completely disappear from the sky, the familiar darkness of night falling around us as the comet finally passes through, gone for the next 100 years.

—--

By the time we get back to the Fire Nation capital, it’s still dark, and the happiness of the victory has lapsed into more nervous energy as everyone remembers the unknown state of our two remaining friends.

I can see the damage of the buildings as we fly over which only serves to make me more nervous, but when we land at the palace and there’s a lack of any immediate attack I let myself get my hopes up that everything went well on this end.

The airship door opens, and my hopes are proven right when we’re immediately greeted by the sight of Zuko and Katara waiting for us, a little roughed up from the looks of it, but okay.

There’s a moment of silence as everyone waits with bated breath for someone to speak.

“Did we…?” Zuko says first, voice hesitant as he looks towards Aang.

“We won.”

Just like that, the silence is broken and everybody is yelling in joy. There are hugs and storytelling and Katara’s concerned fretting once she notices Sokka’s injury, but my eyes are solely on the dark-haired teen in front of me, shirt half off exposing the roll of bandages around his chest.

“You said you’d be careful,” I scold him, but it has no heat since I am both too happy and exhausted.

“You don’t look uninjured yourself,” Zuko jokes, nodding his head to where I’m supporting my arm.

“Wait, Solmi you’re hurt too? Why are you guys so careless?” Katara frets once she hears Zuko’s words, and I glare at the firebender for bringing it to her attention.

She pulls me away as Zuko laughs and I can’t stop myself from getting lost in his sparkling golden eyes as the sun starts to rise, its shining light signalling the start of a new era.

—--

I rush around the palace, me and everyone else trying to get everything ready for the coronation, which is harder with one arm since it hurts to raise my injured one. The coronation is short notice, but with the defeat of Ozai and Azula, there’s no time to leave a gap in power.

I’m currently on my way to find Zuko, his presence being one of the last things that needed to be sorted. I head to the last room I saw him in, but the palace halls, while magnificent, are also very confusing. Luckily I hear the familiar soothing voice echo from a room ahead of me, and I sigh in relief.

I go to step around the golden arch to enter the room when I hear another familiar voice, except this one isn’t particularly wanted.

“...doesn’t hurt when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend,” Mai's voice rings out causing my steps to falter.

Suddenly, going into that room is the last thing I want to do.

This can’t be right, I know it’s probably not what it sounds like and if I could bring myself to look around the corner it’ll prove it. But I can’t do anything but just stand here awkwardly, listening in.

“Mai…” Zuko sighs, and it’s not a happy noise, it’s full of guilt and regret, I just don’t know what for.

“I know, I know,” I was only really a replacement for her,” Mai replies, but she doesn’t sound that upset.

“I told you it’s not like that,” Zuko immediately argues.

“I was just kidding, you really need to learn to lighten up,” Mai responds, her usual bored tone mixed with a little bit of humour. “Look I thought about it and I realised we shouldn’t have tried to pretend what we felt when we were children would still make sense now.”

“Does that mean you don’t hate me anymore?” Zuko asks hopefully.

“No, I don’t. But I hope that we can at least go back to being friends,” Mai tells him.

“Me too.”

I lean back against the wall as relief courses through me, I can’t believe I let myself think anything else could have been happening.

Though my own self scolding makes me miss the sound of footsteps coming my way until it’s too late. I look up and I can’t miss meeting a pair of sharp eyes as they round the corner.

Mai and I don’t say anything, we just share this look before she moves on like nothing happened. And I know we probably won’t ever be friends ourselves, but we can at least get along for Zuko’s sake.

Speaking of, I finally step into the room, seeing him fiddling with his hair as he tries to tie it up.

“Are you ready for this, Fire Lord Zuko?” I can’t resist teasing as I walk up to him.

He grins as soon as he sees me, and I feel myself copying it without a thought. “Not really. But all I can do is try my best.”

I hold out my hand for the ribbon in his and he hands it over with a sheepish smile, sitting down on one of the chairs so I can pull his hair up without having to raise my arm too much. And if I spend a couple of extra minutes just running my hands through the dark locks in a way to calm him down, well that’s just between us.

“Are you coming to Ba Sing Se with us after the ceremony?” He asks once I’m done, and I know why he is.

“Yep, and then it’s back to Omashu with Bumi to help rebuild and bring the citizens back,” I reply, forcing myself to sound as happy about it as I should be.

And I am, I’m really glad to be able to go back home and just spend some time with Bumi again, but after all these months I know being away from everyone is going to hurt.

“I’m going to miss you,” he says honestly, one hand on my shoulder as he stares down at me so I can’t avoid his sad gaze. And I almost want to take it back and stay here, but I know I can’t.

“It won’t be for that long. Plus you’ll have all your Fire Lord duties to keep you busy,” I remind him encouragingly. I’m sure with how much work we each have to do the time will just fly by.

He leans down and I meet him halfway, letting this kiss seal a pact that no matter what happens, we won’t be away from each other for too long.

“Anyway, I came to tell you that it’s almost time. So I should go and join the others and I’ll see you out there. Good luck,” I tell him, reluctantly pulling away knowing the ceremony is about to start.

I grin as I take in the sight of everyone who could make it before I make my way over to the Water Tribe family with the Kiyoshi warriors standing by, making sure to give Hakoda a quick hug.

“Ohh, I bet I could guess what took you so long to go find your favourite firebender,” Katara teases as soon as she sees me and I can hear Sokka snorting from beside her.

“Well, it is hard work making sure the new Fire Lord is ready for his coronation,” I tease back before the gong sounds signalling the start of the ceremony.

And despite being relatively simple considering what we could do on such short notice it’s beautiful. Because it shows that this is really it, it’s the start of a whole new beginning and I can’t stop the tears from falling as Zuko is officially crowned as Fire Lord, Aang right by his side.

—--

A beautiful and peaceful melody flows throughout the Jasmine Dragon as Iroh plays the tsungi horn, and I accompany the instrument by singing along with an old Earth Kingdom lullaby.

For the first time in a very long time, there’s nothing to do but sit and relax. Enjoy the music, each other’s company and the tea Zuko serves.

All of us wear clothes fancier than we usually would, wanting to indulge in the upper ring of the reclaimed upper ring of Ba Sing Se. My long light green dress brushes against the floor where I sit and the sleeves fall down my arm slightly as I take my cup from Zuko with a grateful smile, halting my singing to take a sip of the steaming beverage.

“Zuko, stop moving!” Sokak demands from his table. “I’m trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting so we’d always remember the good time together.”

Touched by Sokka’s sentiments I get up from my spot next to Iroh to head over and look at this art the teen must’ve been working hard on.

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Sokka,” Katara compliments her brother. But that quickly changes when we all catch sight of his work. “Wait, why did you give me Momo’s ears?”

“Those are your hair loopies,” Sokak defends.

“At least you don’t look like a boarcupine,” Zuko complains. “My hair is not that spiky.”

“I look like I have a second head,” I point out, looking at what I assume is supposed to be my hair bun but it’s as big as my head.

“And why did you paint me firebending?” Suki demands.

“I thought it looked more exciting that way,” Sokak shrugs before Momo hops onto the table and starts chattering at him. “Oh, you think you could do a better job, Momo?”

“He probably could,” I joke, watching the lemur playing with a brush.

“Hey, my belly is not that big anymore. I’ve really trimmed down,” Iroh points out, also coming to join.

“Well, I think you all look perfect!” Toph exclaims from the other side of the table.

I laugh at her joke, and then just keep laughing from pure unfiltered joy.

I know there’s a lot of work to come for all of us. Zuko as Fire Lord, Aang to keep the peace in this new world, and even I have plenty to do before I can become queen. But through it all, we’ll always remember this moment, with each other, and we’ll know if we ever need one another, we’ll be there.