The first several days came and went, and the four boys could tell they were improving. They had jumped head-first into their training with a new vigor, and hadn't let up an inch. Though they were evenly matched in sparring bouts, the fights had grown noticeably more intense and more impressive to watch.

None of this passed by the watchful eye of Master Kengen unnoticed. He didn't know the reason for this renewed energy from his students, but he was impressed. In the past, he'd been teaching all of them the same techniques, and their abilities had remained more or less equal with only mild differences. Now, though, each had taken to a different specialty, which would in time make them a formidable team. Yao turned his fights into quite the aerobic workout, dodging and weaving and running circles around his opponent. He began to focus on techniques that could be performed on the move, such as ice spikes and the water knife. Leng began using the octopus form almost exclusively, and soon he could control the eight tendrils quite independently of each other. He approached training and sparring with an enthusiasm that bordered excitement. In contrast, Kuku's clear-headed and stoic determination on the battlefield made him an intimidating adversary. Of the four of them he possessed the greatest amount of sheer bending power, able to manipulate large amounts of water to unleash devastating blows—if they hit. As often as not he was bested by little Yao with his small, quick hits.

But none showed as much versatility as Ori. Master Kengen had always been able to tell Ori liked the water whip, but now Ori was really letting himself use it. On one memorable occasion, during a sparring free-for-all (an event requested by the four of them), Ori used the whip to knock Yao off his feet and grab Kuku's arm mid-bending, while using another to pull one of Leng's reaching tendrils away from him. Master Kengen was impressed that, though Ori's and Leng's water streams were locked together, it was clear that Ori's actually had hold of the other. He was so proud of his students that day he couldn't even remember who had won.

Eleven days before the day of the eclipse—or the Day of Black Sun, as Leng liked to call it—the boys gathered in the fort at the end of the day. Ori was the last to arrive, and his jaw dropped. Leng stood in the middle, modeling himself, dressed in a full Fire Nation uniform. He stroked one of the shoulder spikes with the same demeanor one would use polishing an invisible apple on one's shirt.

"Where did you get that?" Kuku demanded.

Leng shrugged. "I nicked it."

"You've been sneaking down to the Fire Nation post?"

"Yeah. Somebody had to. How else are we going to figure out how to get there? We can't just sail one of our ships right over and knock on the door. I figured out a way to get there and back unnoticed—and even sneak past the guards to get this," he added with a grin.

Kuku ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. "Don't do that again. You could've been killed, and we need all four of us to be a part of this next week."

"Yes, father," Leng mocked.

Quick as a flash, Kuku's arm shot out onto Leng's chest and pushed him against the wall of the fort. Leng made contact with the ice so hard they could hear it crack. "This isn't a game! What part of 'killed' don't you understand? Those soldiers aren't playing around!"

Leng pushed Kuku off him. "Of course I understand! But we need this, too. If I hadn't done this, we'd be missing a key ingredient to our little plan—step one. And if you'll stop harassing me for a minute, I can show you what it is."

Kuku reluctantly agreed. Leng led them down to the water's edge directly toward the Fire Nation outpost. "Remember the water bubble Master Kengen taught us? It's the key. We can swim underwater the entire way there." Without another word, he turned and dived into the icy water. His head never hit the water though—it parted to accept him as though he were wearing a glass helmet. When he resurfaced, his hair was still completely dry. "We can swim underwater the whole way there. They never even see us coming."

Kuku's scorn for Leng's rashness went away quickly. "Wow. That's actually pretty smart."

Leng grinned. "Our teacher taught us more than he guesses, I think."

Ori was playing out the scene in his head. They would swim over in their stolen Fire Nation uniforms, find a place to sneak into the post, and emerge looking like they belonged. Then when the sun was completely hidden, they would throw off their disguises and wreak havoc on the defenseless firebenders. He could picture it now—that moment of truth, when the firebenders were still trying to adjust to the fact that their bending could be taken away completely, Ori and the others would toss aside their disguises. He would find their leader and personally make him their prisoner. The rest of the firebenders would try to defend themselves, and would probably die. They were soldiers, after all, and such were the ways of war.

War. So far it hadn't touched the Northern Water Tribe, even though it kept peeking at them from around the corner. Ori and his friends were acting in the best interests of the tribe, of course, but their actions next week may actually serve to bring the war to their tribe. They weren't going to wait for the war to come knocking—they would go and get it.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Captain Teng."

The captain stood up from his desk as Admiral Jeong entered his quarters. "Sir."

"I want you to prepare a ship that can take me to our outpost overlooking the Northern Water Tribe. The Fire Lord wants everything to remain in-place until we've disposed of the Air Nomads, and I intend to ensure that it does. Not a warship—we don't want to attract any unwanted attention from the waterbenders. How soon can a small, fast ship take me there?"

"Well, sir, if we left tomorrow morning we can be there in six days."

The admiral nodded. "Good. We will leave at dawn." The captain bowed, and Admiral Jeong left. Captain Teng put on his uniform to head down to the docks, and exhaled. He hoped the northern outpost was in working order, because even if he sent them a messenger hawk tonight they would have only a day or two to prepare themselves for the visit. That poor lieutenant in charge of the place is going to have a heart attack when he finds himself with a full-fledged admiral looking it over. Captain Teng went over the docked ships in his head, and decided on the best one for the mission. It was nearly sundown, meaning the dock crew had only one night to prepare the ship for its important task. It was the fastest, but not the best-looking, and that would not befit the admiral. If only they had been given time to prepare for this!