Chapter 2:

Freya sat with Sokka and the Water Tribe members in a war tent around several pieces of paper. Katara was with Aang as she had been the last few days, checking him over and making sure he was okay. Toph, much to her annoyance, had been given the duty of protecting the Earth King, keeping an eye on him, figuratively speaking.

Freya and Sokka had been in many discussions about what they were to do now that the Earth Kingdom had fallen. The first plan was to get a disguise.

"As expected the bay is being overrun by more and more Fire Navy ships." Bato admitted

"All we need is to get close to one, they're easy to board from there." Freya explained. "The helm is located high in order to give it a good vantage point."

"If we went in at night we can blend in with the darkness. The problem will be getting close enough."

"Our boats are rather too inconspicuous for that." Bato agreed and a murmur went around.

"That wont be a problem." Freya said "I can get us closer without them noticing. Katara as well. We'll create a current to move the canoes towards the ship, use the water as our cover, we can jump on board from the side and use a few of the helms blind spots for our boarding points."

"There's still a matter of what to do with the crew members." Hakoda thought

"I had an idea for that." Sokka said and everyone turned to him. "Knockout gas." he grinned

"Do we even have any of that?" Freya wondered

"Actually we do, in the form of small cylinders." Hakoda admitted

"We roll them into the helm, the rooms, the kitchen and anywhere else the guards are and knock them out while they're sleeping. We'll move them off ship and they'll never know what happened." Sokka grinned

"Except that their ship was captured." Freya said

"Yes but by the time they walk to Ba Sing Se or find someone to tell it'll be much too late." Sokka believed "We can't keep them on board and how will they know which ship is theirs?"

"Well I don't know about now, but when my dad had his fleet he had everything catalogued by reference number, position and which crew members were on each vessel."

"But that was before the war and with so many soldiers and so many ships who's to say the Generals even do that anymore?" Sokka asked Freya. She sighed and looked around at everyone.

"Well, I agree we shouldn't have them on board." she admitted and Sokka grinned. "We don't need them hearing what we're up to and somehow escaping or something." he nodded

"So we'll gas them out." he grinned

"You're too excited about this." Freya mumbled "What we also need to do is get Appa a new saddle." Freya said "Just because we'll have a boat doesn't mean we can neglect the option of being found. If that happens we need to get Aang out quickly at the very least."

"We'll worry about that," Hakoda assured and Freya nodded.

"We don't need to be worrying about slipping off him all the time." she muttered.

"Well then, men prepare for a sneak attack, Freya, go and tell Katara about the plan and meet us on the beach." Freya nodded and with everyone else she got to her feet and moved from the tent.

The girl moved across the sand and towards Hakoda's boat, climbing aboard she descended below deck and found Katara checking over Aang who was lying in one of the cots.

"How's he doing?"

"He's still unconscious." Katara said as she glanced at the older girl and then sat back down. "I'm a bit worried."

"You've checked his vitals, haven't you?" Freya asked as she looked over the young boy.

"Yes, and they're all fine."

"Then don't be worried. His body just needs to recover, I wouldn't be surprised if he was unconscious for a while. Lightning's not really something you play with." Katara nodded

"How'd it go by the way?" Katara asked "Do we have a plan for what's happening?"

"We're going to commandeer one of the Fire Navy ships. You and I are going to bend the warriors over under the cover of darkness. We can't approach with the water tribe ships they're two obvious and easily spotted, so small canoes are going to be the use of passage, however a canoe will never catch a Fire Navy ship by themselves." Katara nodded but she didn't look happy.

"Katara?" Freya asked

"What?"

"You don't look very happy." Freya admitted and then her eyebrows furrowed "Tell the truth I don't think you've left this boat very much either, have you even spoke to your dad?"

"Course I have." she responded

"Properly?" Freya nudged. Katara sighed.

"No."

Freya sighed.

"Well you can't avoid him forever, soon we'll be stuck on a boat together." Freya warned "But if you don't want to I'll be the one to transport your dad over the bay."

"Freya it's fine, it's not an issue." Katara said

"Sure it's not." Freya said and Katara glanced at her and the older girl gave her a look before turning to climb back onto the deck.

"Wait Freya, how about you? Are you alright?" Katara asked quickly

"Yeah, I'm good. I'll be better once Aang wakes up though. We've got a lot to do though so I'm sure it'll all be alright." she smiled and Katara watched her leave with a concerned expression.

"That's not what I meant." she sat back down regardless.

Freya jumped off the boat and saw Toph standing with Hakoda, Sokka and the Earth King, Bosco with him as he usually was, a little ways away. The blind girl looked frustrated.

"What's wrong?" Freya asked as she approached.

"It's the Earth King!" Sokka said surprised pointing at him "He's decided he's going to travel the world!" Freya blinked and looked at the man who smiled.

"Well, good on him." she decided and Sokka gapped at her "Sokka first of all, he's a bit of a liability if we need to worry about him all the time. Second he's never been outside the palace before, how'd you feel if you were locked up your entire life?" Freya asked him.

"He could be kidnapped!"

"He'll be fine as long as he doesn't have his royal gear with him. You can't really stop him." Freya said before she turned to the man who smiled at her. "Sorry Your majesty, but you're going to have to loose the garments." she admitted. He bowed to her smiling.

"Many thanks young Freya."

"Any time." she returned it and Hakoda called someone over to help the King change into something less flashy.

"By the way, how's this commandeering of a ship happening?"

"Sorry Toph but you'll have to wait here till it's done." Sokka said

"Why? You need me." Toph pointed at him

"You can't bend on the ship."

"Actually I can."

"We can't load earth onto it until we have the ship Toph, you might as well stay till we do that, look after Aang." Sokka instructed

"That's not what I meant." Toph said

"How can you bend on a ship made of metal?" Freya asked confused

"By bending the metal."

The two benders stared at the blind girl before Sokka's mouth dropped open and Freya just stared in amazement.

"You can bend metal?" Sokka demanded

"I can now." Toph grinned

"How'd you learn to do that?" Freya questioned

"That letter from my mum, turned out to be a trap." Toph confessed "Those two dunderheads Master Yu and Xin Fu trapped me in a metal cage and tried to transport me back to my parents." Toph explained

"And you metal bended your way out of the cage." Freya smiled

"How!?" Sokka questioned

"Well Metal is found in the earth, it's really just an extraction of it, like lightning is to fire and magma is to earth bending." Freya explained "That's really impressive Toph."

"Thanks." Toph grinned "So I'm coming onto the ship."

"As long as you don't wreck anything, we have any signs of wreckage and it'll blow our cover." Freya said and Sokka looked at her as he still comprehended the news.

"You take the fun out of everything." Toph grumbled, but the girl only smiled.

"Chief Hakoda." the four turned and the Earth King stood behind them now in dark rags and Bosco had lost his hat and jacket. The man who'd escorted him left as they turned to him.

"I'd like to thank you for all your help." the King smiled "For my freedom and for opening my eyes."

"Someone had to." Toph responded

"Thank you for agreeing to help us, even if it didn't go well." Freya returned.

"I wish you luck in your future endeavours." the King bowed before he patted Bosco's head and the two turned to move off from the camp and away from the beach.

"I can't believe we're letting the Earth King just leave." Sokka mumbled as they watched him.

"Like I said you can't stop him." Freya admitted "Now, let's get ready for tonight, the sooner we take a ship, the quicker we can move on to other endeavours." the others nodded in agreement before they all moved off.

"You know Freya, you make a very good leader." Hakoda smiled at her.

"Well, as you've heard my father was a General, it's in my blood." she smiled

"I do not quite understand that though I'll admit." Hakoda admitted

"Yes," Freya sighed before she turned to face the chief. "The truth is Chief, my father was actually a Fire Nation General and was a firebender. I'm not sure if Sokka or Bato or if anyone told you but when we found Aang it became clear that before Katara and Sokka found me, I'd been stuck in that ice block for around ninety-five years. My parents grew up in an age where the war was only just coming to be." she said as she bowed to him.

"I see, I guess that would make sense a few things." Freya was a little surprised of the man's reaction but she didn't dwell on it. Hakoda was a smart man after all, he could put all the information together rather quickly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." she said but he shook his head.

"Regardless of that, you're still the girl who took care of my son and daughter and adopted to protecting the village despite it being filled with strangers. That is who you are, not you're background." Freya smiled and nodded at him.

"Hakoda, the sun will be setting soon, the canoes are ready." the two turned to a carrier and Hakoda nodded.

"Let's get going, we're going to need to scout the ships before we board one." Hakoda called and everyone moved towards the canoes that were sitting on the shore. Katara stood at one with Toph and Sokka spoke to a few of the men as Hakoda and Freya joined them, all hopping into a canoe.

The sun had begun to set and Freya and Katara shared a look as the men began to first paddle the canoes out into the water.

The sun set long after they left the shore behind them and the darkness fell as they spied a ship. The two water benders shared a look before they nodded and with a wave of their arms the men and Toph grabbed hard onto the canoes' sides and they went sprinting forwards across the water, catching up with the ship easily and moving along side it, hiding in the blind spots of the helms.

The warriors had grappling hooks which they used to climb up the side of the ship while Freya grabbed Toph and with a wave of her hand the two were shoved up and landing on the deck with the others.

The warriors fanned out as everyone had a mask covering their mouths. Freya moved into the ship with Toph following and while others took the helm and the quarters along the ship Freya moved to the weapons vault which Toph locked for the moment incase anyone managed to move against the gas and then the older girl moved off to the brig, checking it was empty.

When the deck was covered in sleeping Fire Nation soldiers Freya moved to the helm to show many of the men how to use the mechanism, which buttons did what and which levers were to be pulled.

Sokka moved through the captains quarters looking for information before he was suddenly smashing into the helm were Hakoda was deciding on what they were going to do next.

"Dad!"

"What is it Sokka?" Hakoda asked as everyone stopped and stared at him, surprised by the outburst of the boy.

"I found something important." He had a scroll in his hand which he handed to his father. Freya watched patiently as Hakoda read through it.

"It seems the Fire Nation is under the impression that the Avatar is dead." everyone stared at the chief shocked.

"What?" Katara asked

"That's no surprise." Toph believed

"Well, it makes sense." Freya said "Aang was out of it when we left and Azula shot him with lightning. They don't know we had special water in which we could save him with."

"The Fire Nation will have told the world about this event." Hakoda thought

"But this is perfect!" Sokka suddenly cheered and everyone turned to him "If they think Aang's dead they wont expect him on the day of black sun!"

"Sokka." Katara complained

"Sokka do you not know Aang at all!?" Freya demanded "He'll be so cut that the world thinks he's dead again! It'll just prove he failed in Ba Sing Se and let everyone down!"

"Yeah but if he stays a secret he can pop up and save it again during the eclipse and everything will be fine!" Sokka thought.

Freya groaned and ran her hands through her hair.

"Aang wont like it."

"He'll be fine." Sokka thought.

"What other information did you find Sokka?" Hakoda asked

"Anything that matches the Avatar being gone?" Freya prompted

"No, just orders to move to Ba Sing Se and help with the occupation." he said and a few nodded.

"Chief, the shore's coming into view." The water tribe boats were ahead on the shore and the Fire Nation ship began to slow down as the warriors pulled on the levers and hit the buttons to do so.

"You kids wait here while we load some of the supplies onto the ship." Hakoda decided

"I suggest we use Appa to remove the soldiers and we move them away from the bay." Freya said and many nodded in agreement. Several men followed Hakoda from the helm as the anchor was dropped.

"Sokka, come help me get Aang." Katara said "We can set him down in one of the rooms." Sokka nodded and they followed the men

"We should find something to cover up with." Freya said to Toph. "If we're seen in our Nation's colours they'll know we don't belong here." the two moved and one man was left at the helm as they moved though the ship.

"If I remember correctly the armour vault should be…" Freya opened a door and the room was filled with Fire Nation Uniforms. "Bingo." Freya unloaded a few and handed them to Toph before they moved to the weapons vault, unlocked it and grabbed a few of those as well.

The warriors began to climb back onto the Fire Nation ship and Freya and Toph gave out the uniforms as Sokka and Katara moved Aang to one of the quarters above deck. Appa was used to help move supplies from the shore to the ship and the canoes were stored below deck as well with the river boats.

The soldiers who had been knocked out with gas were loaded up onto Appa and Freya flew them a fair distance away from the bay, where a couple of soldiers who'd come with them off loaded the men and lay them in a clearing. The Bison had to make a few trips before the ship was free of Fire Nation soldiers.

"So what now?" Katara asked turning to Sokka

"We need to start gathering some old friends. One of our stops has to be the Northern Air Temple. We'll need some supplies and I reckon the Mechanist will have most of what we need." Sokka believed

"Well in order to accomplish both of those I suggest we head West." Freya said and turned to point in the direction. "That way we can move through the Earth Kingdom and find some people we've previously run into." she said "Also, it keeps us away from Ba Sing Se." The girl moved to Toph who handed her some faded red material.

"Katara, here." Katara took the cape and pinned it around her as Toph did the same. "This will stop other ships from spotting our colours from far away and keep our covers." Freya wrapped one around her own shoulders with a smile. "At least until we find something else to wear."

"Good thinking Freya." Katara smiled and the girl made a mock bow in return.

"Well let's get moving." Sokka cheered.