They had all plunged 10 feet down. Jinora and Ikki airbended themselves out of the water while meelo continued to sink. He was unconscious, floating deeper and deeper. Mako plunged in with an assist from his bending which disappeared under the water and took him under his arm and floated up to the top. He resurfaced breathing hard. He saw Jinora and Ikki holding hands floating at the top of the water.
"Where are we?" Mako managed to say with all the water in his lungs.
"I don't know" Jinora blandly stated. They turned around and saw a netted rope. Spread wide as far as they could see. Before they knew it the rope caught flame. Mako did as best he could to shield them, but holding Meelo was obstructing him. He swam far from the gates. Staring back at them.
"Hold on a second" Jinora said. "I think I might know where we are" she swam back wards and pointed towards a giant bronze statue of an old man with a long beard.
"The great gates of Azulon" Mako breathed.
"How are we in the fire nation? Weren't we just in the south pole? What are the great gates of Azulon? I'm so scared." Ikki said breathlessly.
"What should we do?" Jinora asked. She was normally so mature, so intelligent, so calm. But there was panic in her voice, panic that made Mako worry.
"We should try to find land, let's go this way" Mako said trying to sound the least bit worried.
They began to swim when Jinora stopped. She looked past the gates and the ships. He could tell she was thinking. But what else was there. Her eyes widened and she swam towards him. "We must get to land, but don't tell anyone who you are. Don't bend and make sure no one see's you."
Confused and glad Mako took the orders. He was glad that Jinora was thinking again. But what was she thinking?
They swam for 10 minutes or so until they reached a cliff that the children escalated with ease, having airbender agility. Mako took longer with the burden of an unconscious Meelo on his back. They found a nice patch of grass at the top of the cliffs. Where they set Meelo down and easily revived him.
"O.K, talk" Mako said to Jinora.
"Yes, we are in the fire nation a couple miles down and we'll be in the fire lords lap. But I don't think that it's the current fire lord. Those boats, that was the invasion force gran-gran told me about. The day they invaded the fire nation, the day of black sun."
Mako looked up to see the sun and moon close to intersection. "Oh my god" he whispered.
"We're not in our time are we?" Meelo stated solemnly. As Jinora placed her arm around him.
"So you mean, that the fire nation could kill us, if they found out who we were?" Mako said.
"Yes, that's why I said no bending." Jinora replied. She stood up took a couple steps forward to see the invasion force making their way to the royal palace. She wished she could tell them that it was a trap, but that could change everything. She simply sighed and sat down to watch the battle.
They felt sick watching and not fighting, but what else were they supposed to do, barge in there and create confusion. They sat and watched without saying a word. Waiting for the failure to come.