Chapter Ten

Hello Again

It was just about noon, and even up in the mountains the air was beginning to heat up. It was a nice day, with hardly a cloud at all in the sky and birds singing sweetly. It would be a perfect day if no for the events of that morning staining the whole thing. And they were still trying to figure out why.

"How do those soldiers keep finding us," questioned Katara angrily, wishing the trees would answer her. "And why us? What do they want?"

The two males in the group stopped walking when they heard the girl say this and turned to face her, their expressions displaying the same thing as hers.

"I don't know why," began Iroh. "I'm not even certain if it is you or us that they are after."

Zuko nodded. "Then the best thing to do is split up."

"Aw, that's a shame," came a voice from above. Hanging from the branch of a tree, the person they least expected jumped down, swinging around the tree trunk to slow his momentum, and landed softly on he ground. "After all the trouble we went through to find you, too."

Three others went through the same routine of getting down to the ground, and the Wind Rebels stood in front of them.

Seeing Zuko getting ready to fight, Taru stated calmly, "Relax. We're not here to fight."

Katara didn't know whether to get out her bending water or listen to what they had to say; although when she saw the blonde one, Binh, wink at her and grin, she felt an inclination towards the former.

"So, why did you follow us here?"

"Back at the complex, we thought the Firebenders were trying to help you, but it seems they've been trying to kill you. Any enemy of the Fire Nation is a friend of ours!"

"And just why should we trust you?" Zuko's eyes scanned the boy's face for any signs that he was lying.

One of the other rebels reached behind them and took something out, an action Katara caught out of the corner of her eye. Arash had a bow out and an arrow in his hand. Before she could move, he had taken aim and fired.

"Hey!" She cried out as the arrow whizzed toward her. She felt a gust of wind as it passed her by and shot through some undergrowth. Whatever it hit groaned and fell down with a soft thud.

"Relax," Taru said and went over to it, pushing aside a few plants so everyone could see. A man in camouflage lie on the ground, face down in the dirt, an arrow through his chest. Taru yanked off the man's cloak, revealing a red uniform underneath. "It was just a scout. But this means they're done with the village." He locked eyes with Zuko, "Reason enough?"

The boy glanced over to his Uncle; giving him a look meaning he wanted his opinion on it. The older man thought it over, glaring at the dead scout, and quickly made up his mind.

"It's agreed, then," he said. "We're allies."

"Good," agreed the green-eyed boy. "Now all we need is a plan."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Up past the treetops Katara could see the stars sparkling. The sky looked like a sheet of black silk covered with a hundred fireflies. The only thing to be heard was the sound of sleep as her newfound allies rested for the day ahead. The excitement buzzed about her head too much to allow her to sleep, so even though she hadn't been the one to draw the short straw for guard duty, she laid awake anyway, staring at the stars.

In fact, the only one in the campsite awake other than Katara was the one who'd drawn the short straw. After cursing his luck under his breath, he'd dedicated himself to the job admirably. Of course, this was Zuko on guard duty.

Suddenly the silence hit a spot in her mind, compelling her to speak to him; anything to break the heaviness of the air.

In a hushed voice the girl got his attention. "Hey," she said, "Why don't you let me take over your shift? I can't sleep, anyway."

"It's fine," he said, "I can't sleep either."

Something in his voice made her not believe him.

"No, really. You've been doing that half the night. I can handle it, you should get some rest."

"I drew the short straw," Zuko said with resolve, "I'm doing it."

She decided not to push any further, and took up staring at the back of his head. "Fine." She hadn't noticed before, strange that she see it now that it's so dark you almost can't see, Zuko had cut his hair. Of course, she'd seen his hair plenty of times in the past few days, but the change hadn't sunk in until know. She'd always found his topknot interesting and exotic, much different than the haircuts back home. Why'd he cut it?

When a yawn snuck up on her and escaped, at last did she decide to try to get some shut-eye.

"Good night," Katara told him, and when she heard Zuko mutter a response she laid down on the grass, using her hands as pillows.

He's so quiet, I wonder what he's thinking about…

XOXOXOXOXOX

It was morning. Zuko had switched with Binh a few hours after Katara fell asleep, but that still only made for less than half a night's rest. It was fine, though; tonight he could sleep plenty, after all of this was done.

At dawn the plan had been explained in detail to everyone. It was a good plan, really. It was quite clever, provided it worked. There were a lot of uncertainties; a lot of things could go wrong. But if they pulled it off, the battle would be as good as won.

The first step was to find a suitable place and leave a trail of breadcrumbs to it, so to speak. The fine soldiers of the Fire Nation were sure to be able to follow their little path of broken twigs displaced leaves. What they were looking for was specifically a nice open area, surrounded by forest. Having some source of water nearby was the deciding factor, since there were an abundance of sizeable clearings.

What they finally settled on was an old farming field. It looked abandoned, with grass and weeds overgrowing the soil, and was encircled by plenty of woods. As a final touch, there was an old irrigation pond right next to it, which meant Katara would be a major factor in the fight.

Now for step two.

Wood was brought and a fire was lit. Katara got out the fish she'd caught and gave it to Iroh, who speared it on a stick and sat roasting it over the campfire. All the others rushed over to their hiding spots to sit and wait for the prey to take the bait.

Zuko and Katara shared a hiding place, since they had to appear at the same time and location. Theirs was behind a fallen tree, and provided a clear view of the clearing and quick exit while still keeping out of sight. They didn't know where the Wind Rebels had hidden, but it was probably on the other side of the field.

The smoke from the roasting fish drifted up into the sky and the delicious smell spread out on the wind. Those soldiers were certain to smell that and find Iroh. If the old man just acted like the fish was his lunch that he'd just caught, the soldiers would be just a little suspicious of him; then everything would be set up just perfectly. This was an easy task for the man who drove his nephew crazy with his ham acting and exaggerations.

Now all that was left to do was to watch and wait.

Minutes passed. Crouched down in the leaves and dirt, Katara began to get fidgety. She took a strand of her hair and twirled it around a bit. She glanced over at the boy beside her. Zuko was sitting perfectly still, with his back straight, and she wondered how he could sit like that for so long. For some reason it really made him look tall.

He caught her staring at him and turned to look back, so that their eyes locked for a heart-pounding moment. Then, she could have sworn, he gave a microsecond smile.

"You ready," he whispered. "They're here."

The soft thumps that she'd taken to be her heartbeat were the footsteps of the red-uniformed soldiers they'd been waiting for. On cue they were on the side of the field towards Zuko and Katara, standing before Iroh in formation. At the front stood the brown-haired leader, the one without the mask.