Chapter 10: New

Smellerbee's dream was strange: a swirl of people, changing landscapes, and confused emotions – but instantly, it seemed, she was opening her eyes to see Longshot over her, and the dream was lost.

Longshot was fully dressed already, crouched by Smellerbee's head, a hand on her shoulder to wake her up. He jerked his head towards the door as if to say time to go, then left in silence. Smellerbee scrambled up and pulled on her armor, scattered haphazardly around her mat, and double-checked that she had her slingshot and dagger before heading out. She'd decided that the swords were too much for today – there weren't that many soldiers and she didn't want to be held down by the weight. And anyway, she could always improvise if she needed to.

"We're just waiting for Pipsqueak and The Duke," Jet said quietly to her as she joined him, Sneers, and Longshot on the ground. The Duke swung down from the trees and said, "I got him; he's coming."

"Excellent," Jet said. "So here's the plan: we'll sneak around their encampment and hide in the trees. We'll wait for a distraction, and then I'll start and you guys join a little later – they won't even see the rest of you coming."

Pipsqueak came down just then, and Sneers explained the plan to him while Jet addressed Smellerbee. "Keep an eye on me," he said. "I might need you to take out someone with the slingshot, got it?" She nodded. "Let's go," Jet whispered to all of them, and they set off through the trees.

When they could see the faint glow from the soldiers' fire, Jet stopped them. He pointed to everyone in turn, giving each of them a direction to head in wordlessly. He had Smellerbee position herself in a tree right beside his and once they were set he let out a soft birdcall. The response came form across the clearing a moment later; the others were in position, too. Now, there was nothing to do but wait.

:–:–:–:

There was an hour of waiting before the soldiers began to wake up, and another as they ate breakfast. Smellerbee was just beginning to wonder if their food was as delicious as it smelled when she heard a voice in the distance coming closer – one that was too young to belong to a soldier.

" . . . but the important thing is that –" a boy a year or two younger than Smellerbee pushed aside a branch as he stepped into the clearing. He was dressed entirely in blue. Water tribe? "– we're safe from the . . ." His two companions had entered the clearing behind him, now, one a girl dressed in blue and the other bald with arrow tattoos. Airbender tattoos! Smellerbee recognized them from a drawing she'd seen in what must have been a past life – in her old home, tutored like all proper rich children.

Smellerbee watched as the three were trapped by fire, the boy in blue's shirt catching for a moment before the girl put it out with waterbending. So they have to be Water Tribe. Smellerbee looked over at Jet as the boy said, "If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you," and Jet nodded to her. She took careful aim with her slingshot and pebble at the soldier now speaking to the kids and hit him exactly where she'd been told. He fell forward onto the ground, unconscious.

Jet now leapt boldly onto a lower branch, pausing for a moment, preparing to strike.

"Look!" the girl cried, pointing to him.

Jet pulled out his swords and Smellerbee smiled smugly as he took out four soldiers swiftly, and she stood up, preparing to drop.

"They're in the trees!" a soldier shouted across the clearing, staring up into a tree that held The Duke. The child jumped down from his branch and landed on the soldier's shoulders, spinning his helmet around backwards, laughing as the man stumbled around blindly. Arrows immediately hit three surrounding soldiers, and Smellerbee saw that Longshot was now hanging upside down, sending more and more arrows flying across the clearing. She marveled momentarily at his perfect aim before she watched Sneers drop and take out two soldiers. It was time to join the fray. She put away her slingshot, withdrew her dagger, and leapt to the ground.

The tattooed boy and the girl in blue were handling a trio of soldiers with bending to her right while the boy in blue screamed like an idiot in an apparent attempt at a battle cry. To her left she saw that The Duke's soldier – still unable to see while The Duke clanged on his still-backwards helmet – was shouting for help, and three more soldiers were rising to the occasion. Without thinking twice, Smellerbee ran at them, clubbing one with the handle of her dagger, knocking him out. The other two turned on her, and she ran towards a nearby tree, launched herself off of its trunk, and body-slammed one of the soldiers, driving her shoulder into his broad chest. He had a pair of swords in a sheath on his back, which she pulled out (after putting her dagger in her teeth), turning to face the other soldier, who was likewise armed. He stared at her for a moment, incredulous, then ran off, dropping his swords behind him. She turned back to the soldier on the ground, kicked him over, and took the sheath from him and slung it across her own back just before a soldier with a spear approached her.

She let out a derisive laugh before she swung the sword in her left hand upwards to push the spear away and pushed him against the pole of one of the soldiers' tents, her right sword across his throat. The man dropped his spear and stared at her, terrified, before ducking away and running as his companion had. Smellerbee laughed after him then turned into the clearing, anticipating another attack, but all of the soldiers had scattered. Even those knocked unconscious had either woken up enough to scramble to safety or been dragged away by their friends. Smellerbee grinned in a self-satisfied way. They'd showed them what happens when you mess with the Freedom Fighters.

She heard footsteps running and turned to watch the very last soldier, who had been hiding in a tent, run into the woods. You'd better run. Swords were embedded in the ground around her, and she still held those she'd stolen from the soldier in her hands. She, like all of the others, turned her attention to Jet and the newcomers. He told them proudly, "My name's Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters." He introduced them each individually. "Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee," she brandished the swords upon hearing her name. She wouldn't let them think her weak just because she was the girl of the group. She was no token – she was one of them. "The Duke, and Pipsqueak."

The airbender walked over to The Duke and Pipsqueak and mistakenly addressed The Duke, Pipsqueak . . . that's a funny name!"

"You think my name's funny?" the real Pipsqueak asked in his booming voice.

"It's hilarious!" the airbender said, and they both laughed.

Smellerbee wondered why this airbender had needed their help so much. She'd heard there were no airbenders left – except for possibly the Avatar, but surely the Avatar could have taken out the army single-handedly? Anyway, he was only a kid. He and his friends had barely done anything as far as she had seen. She glanced at Longshot and thought she saw thoughts she couldn't quite read etched across his face.

"All right, guys, you know what to do!" Jet called to them, and they scattered themselves in the camp, going through tents and boxes in search of anything useful. The Duke called out to Smellerbee for help with something he'd found – a barrel full of staves too heavy for him to lift. She sent him off to find something else while she took the staves out – they didn't have much need for the barrel, they already had one full of similar weapons – and she carried them out to the fire pit where they'd put everything worth taking. She passed by the boy in blue and was determined not to look at him – she could feel his disapproval radiating from him. She didn't trust him. He and the girl – who looked like she must be his sister – were too unskilled and useless, she decided harshly. And she didn't like the way the girl fawned over Jet. She glanced over at them talking and felt inexplicably irritable. While Pipsqueak and Sneers pulled one of the soldiers' carts into place between several tents and The Duke discovered more barrels of supplies, Longshot pulled Smellerbee aside.

"What?" she snapped. He glanced over her shoulder at the water tribe boy. "I don't trust them," she said. Longshot glanced at the Avatar.

"So?" she challenged. "We still don't know anything about them. I mean, they barely even fought just now!" Longshot gave her a look that said unmistakably be reasonable. "Come on," Smellerbee groaned. Longshot looked over to Jet and the girl and then back to Smellerbee. Jet seems to trust them, his look said. "They're just talking," Smellerbee said. Longshot looked at her strangely for a moment. They heard Jet call to everyone that they were heading out. "Let's go," she said, annoyed. She knew Longshot well enough by now to know what he was thinking, and she didn't like it. Especially since, though she wouldn't admit it to herself, he was right.

Her temper was not improved when she realized that the Avatar and his friends were joining them to the hideout. She leaned on the wagon and watched as the boy was dragged up by a rope while the Avatar leapt up easily. (She had to at least acknowledge that it was impressive watching him fly up through the trees.) But she as not impressed by the way Jet carried the girl up with him, his arm around her waist and her hand on his chest. Can she not hold a rope on her own? Smellerbee thought scathingly. As she reached up for a rope of her own, she noticed Longshot looking at her appraisingly. She let out a frustrated breath as she pulled on the rope. She did not care what Longshot thought, but she couldn't get that look out of her mind.

As she approached to top, she heard Jet saying, " . . . the Fire Nation can't find us."

"They would love to find you, wouldn't they, Jet?" she said, grinning and landing lightly on the platform.

"It's not gonna happen, Smellerbee," he said confidently, and she believed him.

The others started coming up on ropes now, until the platform was full. Jet led the way across a bridge, the girl beside him, as he told her about what Freedom Fighters did.

"One day, we'll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good and free that town," Jet concluded.

"That's so brave," the girl said breathlessly. Twit, Smellerbee thought.

"Yeah, nothing's braver than a guy in a treehouse," the boy said. Smellerbee felt a rush of anger. This from the idiot who couldn't take down a single soldier on his own.

"Don't pay any attention to my brother," the girl said. As Jet told her some of their stories, Smellerbee decided that these newcomers were annoying but harmless ad that Jet was just being nice to the girl. They stopped, talking, and Smellerbee watched them out of the corner of her eye as she passed, all the while feeling the gaze of someone else's observant eyes.