"Lil!"
A man lightly kicked his friend on the floor. She turned over quickly in her sheets, gripping small daggers she had at her side. Realizing who had called her, she released her grip and rolled back over in her sheets.
"Nmmhmm…" she muttered, throwing her arm up to push him away.
"Oh, wake up," he said, kneeling down to shake her awake. "By now our pictures will be out and the Earth King will have a warrant on our heads. We need go—now."
"Just gimme five more minutes, Jet," she muttered into the pillow.
Sighing, Jet sat down next to her. "Do you want to get caught by Earth Kingdom guards again?"
The girl rolled over in her sheets, pulling them down so she could show her face. It was set in a glare. "That last time didn't count."
Taking the opportunity, Jet grabbed Lil, yanking her body up so that her face met his. "Last time we were surrounded by at least fifty men. I'm not going to stand by and let that happen again. Now wake up and help me pack our things. We need to leave by high noon so we can blend into the crowds." He lowered his arm to set Lil down. She scowled at him.
"It may have been fifty men," she started, sitting up and rising from her make-shift bed. "But you and I both know, we could take on a hundred together."
He walked over a window in the hut, glancing outside. "The crowds are starting to come. We need to get going if we want to use this cover. "
Lil tightened a green bandana around her hair, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail. She looked at Jet, smiling. "I'm ready. Let's go."
He grabbed his bags. "Do you have the documents?" he asked, flashing her a serious glance.
"No, I forgot them," Lil replied, rolling her eyes. "Yes, of course I have them. That's why we came here, isn't it?"
"Just checking." He grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the door. "Let's go, shall we?" He smirked at her.
Lil grinned, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Right behind you."
"What do you mean, there's a water bender that bends without a source?!"
Avatar Aang paced around his home in the Western Air Temple, glancing at his advisor for answers.
"That's just… just—"
"Unnatural? Unreal? I know, Aang, I thought the same thing when Arto told me." Katara walked towards her friend, grabbing his hand for comfort. "Don't get upset. We can find her. We will."
The man pulled his hand back to himself. "Katara, I'm responsible for this world, for these people. If there's a menace on the loose and I can't catch her…" Aang clenched his hands in anger, forcing himself to calm down. "I don't want anything to happen while I'm still the Avatar. I don't want the world to go to ruin on my watch—again," he added in a whisper.
"Aang…" Katara began, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He shrugged it off.
"Toph?" he called out. "Toph, you around here?"
A teenage girl flew down from the floor above Aang and Katara. She smirked as the two jumped. "What do you need, twinkle-toes?"
"Toph, how many times do I have to ask you—"
"When you felt for Jet's breathing patterns a few years back, are you certain that there was no chance of survival? That he really was going to die?" Aang questioned, cutting Katara off.
"Aang, I was talking to—"
"Yeah, why?" Toph responded, cutting Katara off again.
"Are you absolutely positive? There was no chance, even with a great healer with him, that he could've survived?"
"Can I not even get a word—"
"Unless there was someone who could reach into his body and grab the broken rib out of his lung without killing him and fix his internal bleeding within the little amount of time that he had and not be seen by us while doing so, then no. There was no chance."
"YOU TWO ARE SO UNBEARABLE SOMETIMES!" Katara raged, storming off to her quarters.
Toph blinked. "What's her problem?"
Aang shook his head. "We need to focus on this. The Earth Kingdom guard who described the attackers described one looking exactly like Jet. Katara confirmed it. If he's alive… I don't know, you can never tell with him. And there was another, a girl a little less than Katara's age that was with him. She was—is—an extraordinary water bender that bends water without a source and permanently altered a man's body temperature!"
Aang took a deep breath and started pacing again, Toph 'watching' him with a raised eyebrow.
"This is all barely above impossible!" Aang raved. "How could Jet be alive? How could a water bender bend without a source?? Katara can't do that! I can't do that! No one I know of has ever been able to do that!" He stopped unexpectedly, letting out a forced, slow exhale.
"You know," Toph began. "Some benders don't exactly go to the molds of what 'every other bender' is like. Look at me!" She opened out her arms. "I'm a blind girl who learned to bend from moles and invented metal bending."
"What has that got to do with anything, Toph?" Aang breathed, now sitting down cross-legged on his meditation mat, eyes forced to a close.
"What it means, twinkle-toes," Toph replied, hitting Aang in the head with her hand. "Is that some benders are special. Some can do what others only dream of accomplishing. Maybe what you've got here is that kind of bender."
Aang opened his eyes abruptly. He stared out blankly. "If she can bend without a source, then that means that she can probably heal to a degree that Katara and I can only dream of. Which means that she could've healed Jet where Katara couldn't, which means that Jet could be alive, which means that… that…"
"Which means that we're dealing with the most powerful match up yet," Toph finished, plopping herself down on the ground near Aang.
Aang closed his eyes again, breathing deeply. "I need to meditate. Thank you, Toph."
Recognizing her dismissal, Toph stood, casually strolling towards the door. "Not a problem, twinkle-toes."
