Warning: Contains heavy spoilers for Book Two to the end of Book Three.
The Dai Li waited until they were sure that Jet had breathed his last before swooping down on the three of them.
Longshot wondered if he should feel fortunate, really. They had actually waited for them to say goodbye and to make sure that Jet's eyes were closed before falling from the ceiling and surrounding he and Smellerbee.
Carefully, Longshot blinked the remaining tears from his eyes, raising his bow and readying an arrow for the closest agent. Deep inside, his heart was breaking, and his fingers trembled when he knocked the arrow to the thread, but he kept his face impassive and blank. It was the only way he could face this.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that Smellerbee was still in tears, her face covered by her hands, her shoulders shaking from the violence of her despair. She either hadn't noticed that they were now surrounded, or she didn't care. Beside her, with his eyes closed and his hands open but empty, Jet lay still as a stone, and quickly Longshot dragged his eyes away, afraid that he, too, would succumb if he focused too long on the reality.
"You're surrounded," one of the Dai Li stated flatly. Longshot's eyes moved up, from the hand of his dead friend, to the hidden eyes of the one who had spoken. He said nothing, but narrowed his eyes at him, one finger on the arrow twitching.
My intent doesn't get any clearer than that, you bastard.
"We understand how your mind may be clouded by-," the agent started, but he was cut off.
Smellerbee shot to her feet, her face red and stained with tears. Her black eyes, usually hooded and blank, were wide and livid. Her lips were drawn back in the most ferocious snarl that Longshot had ever seen. "You understand? You understand?! You just murdered an innocent man, and you think you can talk about understanding?" She laughed, the sound a cross between shrill giggles and thick sobs. Deep within his breast, Longshot's heart broke for good at hearing that sound.
She reached to her sides and pulled out her twin daggers, the flash of the blades almost perversely loud. Upon her lips, replacing that snarl, was a wide, feral smile. However, she was still in tears, her face streaked and her lips trembling.
Slowly, her eyes slid to his, and he nodded, almost imperceptivity. They edged closer together, back-to-back, just like old times when raiding the camps of the Fire Nation settlers, and faced the murderers of their leader, who was charismatic, deeply flawed, but also unfailingly loyal and deeply routed in protecting his comrades.
He saved us, brought us together, and we were too late to do the same...
The least we can do, then, is this, Longshot thought, raising his bow and taking careful aim. Behind him, Smellerbee raised her daggers, taking aim herself.
"Lower your weapons and surrender," one agent said, his voice emotionless but sharp. "Otherwise you will be subject to punishment as we see fit."
Smellerbee laughed again, her voice choked. Without a word, she made a long, drawn out noise in the back of her throat, then spat it out at the closest agent's feet. It was all she needed to do, really, to make her point clear.
With that, the Dai Li lunged forward. With a scream that tore from her throat and into Longshot's heart, Smellerbee shot forward to meet them. He took aim, narrowed his eyes, and fired, just as the sound of slicing blades and gushing blood filled the air and painted the cave red.
The battle was over in a matter of minutes. Despite being able to take down more than half, neither of them were benders, and the Dai Li were trained to be quick and efficient. It was over with Smellerbee's hands shackled to the floor and Longshot being struck upside the head. Smellerbee's screams and sobs of rage were the last he heard before everything went black.
Later, much later, Longshot awoke to find Smellerbee curled up against his back, shivering so hard that it was, he realised, what had awakened him. He opened his eyes to darkness, or what was at first darkness until he was able to focus a little. Slowly, he turned his head and looked up, seeing concrete slabs and a barred window.
Prison.
His head ached, but it was bearable. His hat and weapons were gone, and he felt a little naked without them. He turned on his side, slipping out of Smellerbee's grasp, and saw that she was sleeping, curled up in a tight ball on her side, cold. He cuddled her close to him, shutting his eyes and burying his face into her thick and uneven hair, finally allowing the grief to catch up with him.
It was a long time spent in that cell. The Dai Li, apparently, didn't deem them worthy of reprogramming, nor did they think that the two would be content with leaving Ba Sing Se and getting on with their lives. Since those were, apparently, the most commonly-used methods of getting rid of unwanted people, the Dai Li were at a loss on how to deal with Smellerbee and Longshot.
The worst day decided it for them. It had been over a week since Jet had died, and for some reason, on that day, both Longshot and Smellerbee were feeling it. There was something in the air that suggested melancholy, despair, and it seemed to seep into their skin.
When the guard arrived with their poor excuse for food, Smellerbee shot to her feet and glared through the small window in the door, the sight of the guard obscured by bars. Her hands clenched the door, like she was trying to claw her way out.
The words she shouted startled Longshot. "What did you do with him?"
The guard paused. "What did I do with..?"
"Him. Our leader. The one your master murdered." Her voice was hard, but it didn't escape Longshot's notice that she couldn't say Jet's name. "Where is he? Did you at least...did you at least...?" and here her voice left her, her courage failing.
"Did you bury him?" Longshot broke in, his voice flat.
The guard blinked slowly. "As far as I know, yes, he was buried. But as to the details of where and with what ceremony, I'm sorry, but I cannot help you." He turned to leave.
Smellerbee screamed out, her voice tearing from her throat, "Did you bury him, or did you burn him like your damned Fire Nation allies do?"
Longshot was on his feet in a second. He joined her at her side, placing a firm hand on her forearm, trying to tug her away. She jerked free. "Did you honour him, or did you desecrate him like you have the honour of this city?!"
The guard froze, his back to them. Longshot slipped his arms around Smellerbee's waist, trying to drag her away from the door and out of sight.
"Why did you do this to us?" she went on, her voice breaking. Longshot tugged her closer. "Why did you kill him? Why are we trapped here?"
"And what do you plan to do with us?" Longshot broke in, unable to keep the words locked inside.
"I do not have such information for you," the soldier said, his voice carefully flat. On those words, he left, not once looking back or offering other words to them.
Smellerbee buried her face into Longshot's shoulder, trembling with her reborn grief. Longshot held her, feeling his own guts churning from his muted despair.
"I want to go home," she whispered, and for a moment, he felt like they were half their age again, just meeting for the first time, just trying to come to terms with the fact that they no longer had families, and that there was no going back home. Only this time, if was far worse, because Jet was dead and there was no one left, really no one left...
Gently, without saying a word, he gave the top of her head a light kiss and closed his eyes, resting his cheek on her hair.
It was perhaps an hour later that more guards, this time actual Dai Li agents, came to their cell. They were huddled in the furthest corner from the door, sitting in the shadows, holding each other close and just listening to each other breathing, when the sound of footsteps and muttering sent them both to their feet and instantly ready for a fight.
To Longshot's surprise, the door slowly opened, revealing a trio of agents in its wake. The leader looked, as usual, rather expressionless. On instinct, Longshot edged closer to Smellerbee, standing just a few inches in front of her.
"So," the agent said, his voice as flat as his face. "You seem to have a lot of questions."
Longshot said nothing, but Smellerbee, of course, had something to say. "Yes, of course we do. All we want to know is what you did to Jet. That's hardly unreasonable."
It wasn't the words that made Longshot's blood turn to ice. It was the tone: her voice was completely and utterly flat. It sounded so monotonous that it sounded...almost dead.
"Jet was the man who betrayed the kindness of Ba Sing Se, correct?" the agent asked.
"No," Smellerbee answered, her eyes narrowed. "He was the man who was brainwashed for telling the truth, then murdered by your leader when he tried to fight against it."
"Either way," the agent replied, "the conclusion that was met was inevitable."
Longshot gritted his teeth. Sometimes it was hard not to speak, but he learned early in his life that words tended to cause more trouble than good.
Smellerbee, however, didn't have such problems. "Were you brainwashed into someone soulless and heartless?" she wondered, her voice still flat.
To Longshot's surprise, the agent actually smiled. "I assure you, it's all natural," he replied.
Smellerbee's mask cracked with a smile. "Of course it is. That's why you and the Fire Nation get along so well."
"In any case," the agent pressed on. "You asked as to whether or not we had plans for you. In honesty, we had rather thought that disposal was the keenest solution to the problem."
Smellerbee bared her teeth. "But?"
"But," the agent replied, his voice suddenly silky. "We've discovered a better use for you."
And that was how, of all of the fates that they could have had, they ended up deep within the Fire Nation, slaves in the coal mines deep within the ground.
It was hard work, really. So hard that it was easy to lose track of any time that passed. Longshot was dismayed when he learned that he had to be separated from Smellerbee, and he actually spoke out in front of the agents and soldiers that took her away. He actually yelled, the first time he had done that since he watched his village burn, and it still did nothing. They still took her away from him.
So most of his thoughts were on her, and hoping that she was still alive, still powering through it, still using that internal passion to keep her head held high.
His duties were pretty straight forward: because he wasn't a bender, everything he did was done manually. He was forced deep within the mines, with a small skin of water and a sickle, and was told to hack away at the hard rock and stone until he found anything useful. His days were made up of personal goals (how many buckets can I fill today? How much can I find with one skin of water?) and endless work. At night, he was so exhausted that he could barely sleep, his thoughts on Smellerbee and Jet, as well as Aang and his friends. Where were they now? What were they doing? Was anything happening out there?
Months passed. He could only feel it in his muscles. He had no real indication of time. He longed for sunlight, longed for clean hands and short hair, longed for the sight of Smellerbee's black eyes, the arrogance of Jet's smirk...he longed to be free.
The moment that changed everything happened at night. He knew it from the start, because he was awake, like always.
Longshot was lying on his back, his hands folded behind his head. His eyes were open and staring at the ceiling. His cell lacked any windows, and it was small, it smelled, and it was damp. He hated it, but it was quiet and dustless, so it was better than the alternative.
He was thinking about Jet, about how bewildered he looked after he learned that they, the Dai Li, had brainwashed him. How happy he looked in his ignorance. How terrible it was for him to remember the past that made him who he was.
He was thinking about Smellerbee, about how she made it seem like she didn't care about her looks, but how, deep down, he knew, she wished she were beautiful. He was also thinking about how, in those weeks in Ba Sing Se, he had wanted to tell her she was beautiful, not because of her looks, but because of her spirit, her fighting, her inability to give up, her consistent persistence to keep caring, keep trying, and always fight back...
It was then that Longshot heard it. What sounded like a huge explosion, followed by muffled shouts and cries of men and women. Longshot jolted up, his heart racing. Nothing had ever happened like this in the whole time he had been here. He listened, hard, trying to hear over the sound of his heart.
More screams, then a voice he had never heard before, saying rather stiffly, "Isn't it obvious who I am? I don't have to explain myself to you! You better open these doors if you don't want to find yourself on the Boiling Rock!"
Then, another voice, so familiar that it hurt; "Relax, Zuko. You're screaming again. You know they don't listen to that."
"Everyone, just calm down and focus, shall we?" This voice was male, and once bore frustration for Longshot, but now he welcomed it. "Which cell did the guy with the hat say it was?"
The second voice laughed gaily. "That hat sure was stupid, wasn't it?"
"Like you're one to talk about taste, Aang," the first voice snarled. "What did the man say?"
"You're boring," a flat female voice broke in. "Bye."
"That's not what he said," the third voice piped in.
There was the sound of light, quick footsteps, stopping at each cell down what Longshot knew was the hallway of this wing of the prison. He shot to his feet and raced to the door, standing on his toes and peering out of the barred square of a window. His hands shook.
Suddenly, unfamiliar dark yellow eyes peered into his, almost hidden under a curtain of straight bangs. "Oh, hey. I think this is him."
Longshot stared into those eyes, his mouth dry. He wanted so badly for this to be real, but the sight of this unfamiliar person didn't bode well.
The woman stepped back and threw something that sang through the air, then sliced through the lock on the door. With a hard kick, the woman forced the door open, forcing Longshot to scramble backwards out of the way.
He stood, shaking from head to foot, before the strange woman, his hands out and his fingers itching to hold a bow. His eyes darted out of the door, slowly backing away from what looked like freedom but could also be a trap.
Then, in a blur of orange and yellow, it became clear to him. The blur dashed into the cell and threw itself on him, hugging tightly. "You're alive!" it cried. "We're so glad!"
Longshot swallowed hard, unable to move. His eyes widened, looking from face to face as they moved into view. Two were strangers, but Aang and Sokka were like shadows of a horrid past.
Sokka also came forward and joined in on the hug, which surprised Longshot, if he were to be honest; he and Sokka had never gotten along too well, especially since it was Longshot's arrow that ignited the blasting jelly upon the dam. Still, though, during those last moments in Ba Sing Se...perhaps all could be forgotten.
"That's him," the male stranger said, his face somewhat marred by a rather angry scar on his eye. His hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, which seemed to bring the scar to focus. The woman beside him nodded slowly. "Must be," she said. "They're all over him."
Wordlessly, Longshot pulled himself away and met Aang's gaze with his own. He frowned, narrowing his eyes. Aang nodded. "I'm sorry," he replied, completely misunderstanding. "We know it's been too long, but it was hard to find you."
"We almost lost track for good when the Dai Li decided to follow Azula's advice and ship you away," Sokka added.
Longshot sighed, closing his eyes. "Who are they?" he asked softly. "And where is Smellerbee?"
The man stepped forward. "I'm...Zuko," he said slowly, hesitating. "You really don't recognise me?"
Longshot frowned, looking closer. His eyes raked over the man's features, and suddenly it clicked: Lee. The man that forced Jet to his doom.
Without a word, Longshot lunged forward, his hands out and clawed. The woman stepped forward and raised a hand sharply, and suddenly Longshot was pinned to the back wall by small, sharp knives. They didn't slice his skin, but they didn't leave much room for movement, either.
"Mai!" the man, Zuko, cried in disbelief. "You can't do that!"
"He was going to attack you," she answered.
"Listen, we don't have time for this," Sokka answered, as Aang went to Longshot's side and yanked out the knives. "We have to get out of here before they send reinforcements."
"How can they send reinforcements without my approval?" Zuko answered.
"If they managed to have this mine without you knowing, they can do it," Sokka shook his head. "We need to meet up with Katara and the others." He turned to Longshot, who was now rubbing his wrists slowly, glaring at both Zuko and the woman, Mai. "Can you walk?"
When he nodded, they started to run. Run away. Run to freedom.
The sun burned when it fell upon him. He winced, cowering and stepping back. A hand went to his shoulder and squeezed, and he jumped, turning to find Zuko standing there. "It will be better again," he said softly. "It won't be the enemy for long."
He let go, leaving Longshot very puzzled in return. He acts like he knows something about being imprisoned. But they kept running. On and on, through what was Longshot's personal hell for so long, until a flash of white was spotted in the blinding sun, and suddenly Longshot was grabbed up and thrown onto the back of Appa.
And then, the sweetest thing: The sound of his name, and someone throwing their arms around him and holding him close. "Smellerbee," he whispered, closing his eyes and hugging back. She nodded against him. "You're alive."
"So are you," she snapped, looking up at him. Her face was thin, and her hair was long and didn't suit her at all. Her eyes were full, but she looked furious. "You should have found a way to tell me."
He smiled, cupping her cheek with his hand.
During Longshot's rescue, Katara, Toph, and another stranger, a woman named Suki, had broken in on the other side and managed to rescue Smellerbee. They had made it back to Appa first, and both Katara and Suki had to keep Smellerbee from falling off of Appa in pursuit of Longshot.
The flight was awkward. Both Smellerbee and Longshot recognised Zuko for who he was and hated him on the spot, even though deep down, Longshot knew it was irrational. It just felt good to blame someone for Jet's death, even if it wasn't really Zuko's fault.
Zuko, however, took it hard, and he sat as far away from them as he could, looking away. Mai held a hand to his back, but he said nothing.
"What's going on?" Smellerbee wondered. "What happened? How long were we gone?"
"A long time," Katara answered, her eyes sad. "We were sure you had been killed. It was only recently that we learned you were alive."
"Which is amazing," Aang added. "It's been...way too long."
Smellerbee's eyes were glued to Zuko, her face hard. "And why did it take so long?" she wondered. "Was it because...was it because Jet was right all along, and that Lee is Fire Nation?" When her voice caught on Jet's name, Longshot's grip on her hand tightened, but he, too, looked at Zuko, wanting answers.
Zuko met their gazes calmly, although Mai's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. To Longshot's surprise, he looked...guilty. He looked worn out, tired, and almost as if he knew the weight of what he had, however indirectly, had caused.
"Yes," Zuko said, surprising not only Longshot, but everyone else around him. "I am Fire Nation. I'm as Fire Nation as you can get, and Jet was right about me: I'm also a firebender."
Smellerbee's eyes filled, her teeth bared, but she kept quiet.
"However, I wasn't a spy, and I wasn't trying to destroy Ba Sing Se," he went on. Longshot could tell, right from the start, that he wasn't lying. "I was just like you. I was just trying to get a new start. I was..." and here his hand went to his nose, pinching the bridge a little. "I was running away."
"Jet was right?" Smellerbee murmured, the tears falling free. "You were Fire Nation? They caught him, and killed him, because of you?"
Zuko winced, but again, surprising Longshot, he nodded slowly. "I don't deny the part I played in his death," he admitted. He looked up again. "And for that, I am truly sorry."
And he meant it, Longshot realised, feeling something loosen deep within his breast. His eyes burned, but he looked right back into the lopsided gaze of this man before him. He could see the pain, and the regret, not just in Zuko, but also in Mai, who had stopped glaring and was looking away.
Katara's voice broke in, a gentle sound. "We heard of the mine through one of Zuko's correspondences with the former colonies throughout the nations."
Smellerbee turned towards her with a jerk. "Former colonies?" she echoed. "The Fire Nation withdrew? How?"
"I told them to," Zuko's voice was hard.
"How could you tell them to?" Smellerbee snapped back. "You're just a tea merchant." She sneered the last two words, her mouth twisted in a hateful grin, but Zuko's only reaction was to smile faintly.
Aang broke in. "That's probably something we should get into once we've all had a good meal and a decent night's sleep," he replied.
"Agreed," Sokka nodded. "I'm starving and exhausted and in need of days of sleep."
"Aang wasn't talking about you," Katara glared at her older brother.
Sokka shrugged. "Doesn't mean I'm any less hungry."
Toph snorted, rolling her eyes, while Suki whapped the back of his head lightly, forcing him to yelp out in surprise. He protested, claiming her actions abuse, only to have her do it again to him, harder, which brought more protests.
It was completely out of place, highly inappropriate, and ridiculous, but for some reason, for Longshot, it felt like home.
Appa landed in Fire Nation lands, right in the middle of the capitol city. This was, apparently, expected, as a handful of orderlies dressed in Fire Nation clothing immediately went to Appa and started helping his passengers down. Smellerbee slapped the helping hands away, shouting out a very rude word, but Longshot accepted the help, somewhat setting her at ease, and he helped her down, himself.
After that, Longshot felt so tired that it was all a blur. He remembered being led into what could have been, but also could not have been, the Fire Nation's royal palace, and being shown private quarters and a bathing area. He remembered being offered some food, which he declined, and the last memory was of him falling face-first into the softest bed he had ever come across. Then, sleep. Sleep without nightmares. Sleep without fear.
When he awoke, he felt something he hadn't felt in over a year: real hunger. He got up, his long hair in his face, and trudged out of the room, unable to think of anything else but food.
The hallways were long, and decorated with lots of red and black. It was a far cry from his years in the treetops. Something deep in his gut rebelled at seeing so much evidence of Fire Nation, but that small part, the part that loosened when Zuko admitted his guilt, made him think, to each their own.
Slowly, gradually, from what he could remember of the previous night, he made his way to the kitchens and managed to scare the cooks enough to give him a decent sized helping of good food. He ate it on the spot, then asked (softly) for directions to the baths. Once there, he scrubbed off the dirt and grime and sorrows of all that he had gone through. And once the water was dirty and he was clean, he felt better. Much better.
Aang managed to track him down some time between his second meal and his second nap. "Longshot!" he called out, surprising him. "Did you sleep well?"
When Longshot nodded, Aang smiled. "Good," he replied. "Did you want to come with me? Katara is meeting me in the main hallway, and from there we're going to have a sort of meeting."
Longshot hesitated – a second nap still sounded really good – but he ended up nodding all the same. Sleep could wait until he had all of the answers.
Katara greeted him with the same kind of genuine enthusiasm that Aang had shown, and he had to admit that it touched him, deeply, to know that after all of the strife, they still cared about him and Smellerbee. He wished he was good with words, so that he could tell them. Instead, before they entered what was obviously the meeting room, he reached out and touched both boy and girl on the shoulder and squeezed, smiling faintly at them both. They smiled back, Katara reaching up and squeezing back, while Aang touching Longshot's shoulder and returned the squeeze there.
Together, they walked into the room. It was large, but not as devoid of personal touch as Longshot had initial thought it would be. Of course it was decorated with too much red and black for his taste, but it looked like it was done with feeling, so it set him, albeit minutely, at ease.
A large round table was the focal point of the room. Longshot's friends, as well as Mai and Zuko, sat around it, picking at the food set before them. He could tell that, before he had walked in, they were chatting amicably, but when the doors opened, immediately everything was serious.
Aang, Katara, and Longshot sat down, Longshot sitting beside Smellerbee and Sokka. Once everyone was settled, Zuko got to his feet slowly.
"Let me first start by apologising to you, Smellerbee, Longshot," he began, meeting their eyes with his own when he said their names. "My negligence has cost you many months of your lives, for which I am truly regretful. Please do not hold my nation responsible for my own fault."
"But it was your nation that put us there," Smellerbee muttered, her arms crossed. Even though she looked cleaner and well-fed, there was a bitter quality to her that threatened to shatter Longshot's heart all over again.
Zuko, however, met her words calmly. "Yes," he agreed. "I don't deny this. A lot of my people have been rather persistent in their need to behave badly. I've tried my best to make sure they get what's coming to them, but it's hard to be everywhere at once."
Longshot nodded slowly. Smellerbee glared at him, obviously feeling betrayed, but he shrugged; Zuko was right. He was trying his best.
"Please accept my hospitality within the Palace until you are strong again," Zuko went on. "You will be taken care of to the fullest, until you are ready to return to your home in the Earth Kingdom, to which I will provide and escort you to, personally."
And here, oddly, he smiled. It was a real, friendly smile. It was a little shy, but it was real. Longshot, despite all of his hatred and fury for the Fire Nation, felt actual affection for this scarred, wary man. He's actually trying, he though, bemused. He wants to help us, out of care, not out of obligation.
"If you're not comfortable with Zuko coming with you, any of us would be more than happy to," Katara broke in.
Smellerbee sighed, deeply, closing her eyes. She shrugged one shoulder. "Whatever," she replied.
Mai smiled. "A woman I can relate to," she said.
Longshot placed a hand on Smellerbee's shoulder. She looked over at him, and he nodded a little. "I know," she admitted. "We have to give him a chance. It's hard."
"I know," Zuko replied, surprising them both. "I know how hard it is to give second chances. I also know how hard it is to earn them. But I assure you; this Fire Lord is not going to destroy you."
Longshot stared. For some reason, he hadn't connected it until just then. It was so shocking that he couldn't keep the words in. "You're the Fire Lord?"
Everyone turned to look at him, which he could understand. Zuko, however, nodded slowly, looking right into Longshot's eyes. "Yes," he agreed.
Longshot was still confused. "You went out in the open. You put yourself in danger's way, you went into an illegal mine, and all for people you have never met?" His voice was incredulous, but he couldn't help it; from all he had ever learned about the Fire Lord, past and present, none of what Zuko had done made any sense.
Zuko gave Mai a sideways look. She smirked at him. "I told you it was stupid to go," she told him.
Zuko sighed, then looked back over at Longshot, moving his gaze from him and Smellerbee while he spoke. "Yes," he said again.
"Why?" Smellerbee snapped, her eyes narrowed. "It doesn't give you anything in return."
Aang opened his mouth to protest, but Zuko spoke over him. "Actually, it does," he said easily. "It gives people who were wronged a second chance. It gives friends of my friends the freedom they deserved. It also gives me a chance to make new friends, for myself..." And here, the Fire Lord actually went pink.
Smellerbee looked at Longshot, her mouth open. Like him, she was completely disarmed by this show of honesty and...humanity.
"So what do you say, guys?" Aang finally broke in, leaning over the table with a careful smile. "Do you think Zuko could escort you back to the Earth Kingdom?"
Longshot placed a hand on Smellerbee's, nodding slowly. Smellerbee nodded to Aang. She, like Longshot, suddenly just couldn't look at the Fire Lord the same way anymore. "Yes. It should be fine."
"When you are ready," Zuko said softly, "no matter how long it takes, let me know. There is someplace I would like to take you to before you settle back home."
His words puzzled Longshot over the few days he spent within the Fire Nation Palace. Within the walls he was treated with the utmost respect, given absolute freedom to do whatever he wanted. In those days, he felt himself getting healthier, and he actually started to feel better, both physically and emotionally.
However, the void that Jet's death left deep within him still lingered.
It took a week and a half for both Longshot and Smellerbee to be well enough to travel again. Despite Smellerbee's bravado, her mouth had gotten her into more trouble within the mine, and she had ended up punished more than Longshot. It took her an extra couple of days to be healthy again. Once they were, however, Zuko was notified, and he started things into motion.
He arranged for the trip to be done on zeppelin. Both Longshot and Smellerbee balked at the idea - the machines huge and frightening for people used to life in the trees - but Zuko not only reassured them, but offered to give them a tour before they left, stating that if they were still afraid afterwards that he would find another way to travel. Inside, the zeppelins were actually rather comfortable, being remodelled for travel rather than warfare, and they both relented.
The trip itself was rather awkward. Despite his trying, Zuko made a terrible conversationalist. He kept trying to fill silences with dumb smalltalk, despite obviously loathing it and adding to the awkwardness rather than defusing it.
In the middle of a particularly painful anecdote, Smellerbee cut in with, "Oh, really, do you really think you have to? Honestly?"
Zuko froze, his good eye widening. "What do you mean?"
"First of all, I really hope your lady friend handles all of your political stuff, because you are terrible at it," Smellerbee said, rolling her eyes. "Second of all, I don't know what your problem is, whether it's 'cuz you're nervous or something, but you don't have to worry. We're fine. We don't need silences filled, okay?"
Zuko considered, putting a hand to his chin. "So, basically, you're telling me to shut up."
Longshot smiled, and to his delight, so did Smellerbee. "Yes, please, for the love of everything, shut up."
Zuko smiled. "I suppose I can arrange that," he agreed.
And for the rest of the trip, he actually was quiet. It was comforting, but it was also, Longshot knew, a sign of respect. Zuko was putting himself at ease in a different way. It meant alot.
When they were landing, Zuko spoke, his voice soft. "It took me a long time to find this location, but the point is that I found it. I hope you don't mind making a brief detour on your way home."
Smellerbee opened her mouth to protest, but Longshot placed a hand on her shoulder. Something was there, he saw, something sombre and dark in the Fire Lord's eyes. Slowly, Longshot nodded his consent.
Together, the three stepped off the zeppelin, two of Zuko's guards shortly following behind. They were within the Earth Kingdom, on top of a large expanse of a hill. It was close to sunset, and everything was painted with oranges and pinks, and the breeze was cool. Everything would have been perfect for a picnic, had it not been the graveyard that was stretched out before them.
Longshot swallowed hard, but Smellerbee narrowed her eyes. She hadn't gotten it, yet.
Silently, Zuko led them deeper within the graveyard, following a dirt path that wound around the various plots of land. The place he stopped in front of was close to the water, and in the plot, there stood a single gravestone, of simple granite. Smellerbee and Longshot stood a foot behind Zuko, who was staring at the stone with dark eyes.
"I know it doesn't make it all go away," he whispered. "But I hope you are comforted to know that he was buried with full Earth Kingdom customs."
Smellerbee started forward, her eyes wide on her face, her cheeks pale. She pushed Zuko aside roughly, but he didn't protest. She trembled, her eyes raking over the characters upon the stone.
"Jet
Freedom Fighter
Earth Kingdom"
She dropped to her knees before it like a stone, covering her face with her hands and sobbing, hard, the tears that Longshot knew she had buried in those months within the mine. Longshot, himself, was crying, visibly, audibly, but not as loud as she. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the characters. They had known who he was. They honoured him.
Zuko stood a few feet away to give them privacy, but his eyes remained dark. He said nothing.
Longshot joined Smellerbee before the gravestone, placing his palm on the cold granite of it. He lowered his head, closing his eyes, assaulted by memory and longing, wishing he could go back and save his friend, his leader, his hero, from the fate that he hadn't deserved, despite his shortcomings.
Smellerbee leaned into his leg, her head lowered.
It took them a long time to stop their tears. No one knew how long, but it must have been a while, because when Longshot was finally able to look up, the sun was gone and the sky was dusted with stars. Smellerbee wiped her nose and eyes with her sleeve, getting to her feet slowly and shivering from the chill of the night.
Zuko raised his head. He said nothing.
Smellerbee bit her lip, staring at him. She reached out with one hand, stretching out her fingers to him. Zuko looked confused, but he stepped closer to her. Wordlessly, she placed her hand onto his shoulder and squeezed, hard, her face a window into her emotions. Gratitude, forgiveness, longing...it was all there.
Zuko nodded, reaching up and patting her hand before pulling it away.
"Thank you," Longshot murmured, meaning it.
"I'm sorry," Zuko answered, his voice cracking.
"We know," Smellerbee's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was sincere. "We know."