Finding Ways

Zuko was sweeping the tea shop's front stoop when Jet walked up. He paused to admire the rich chestnut sheen the morning sun picked out in his friend's dark hair. It was such a dark brown it looked black in most light. While they rarely saw each other so early in the day, that would never explain why Zuko's face turned red when he noticed Jet watching him. Luckily the General was inside.

The blush earned a sly grin in response. Jet tucked his thumbs into the new belt at his waist. The whole outfit was new, bought so he'd fit in at the stationery shop, located in a better part of town. Jet thought he looked good, too.

"Hi," Zuko said.

"Hi. I knew you'd do that," Jet replied, feeling both smug and amused.

Zuko scowled. He seem to debate applying a smack of his broom to Jet's skull. He didn't, probably out of deference to the clean fabric. Instead he said sharply, "What?"

"Your know your face always gives you away, right? You should never take up gambling, it'll be your ruin."

"I'll bear that in mind if I ever forget how bad my luck usually is," Zuko snapped. "What did you want at this time of day, anyway?"

Jet bit back a laugh. Zuko always got mad when he was embarrassed. Watching him react was the main reason Jet enjoyed teasing him so much. That wasn't what he'd come here for today, though. " I came here to tell you I won't be around for a while, a few days, maybe a week. You didn't do anything," he added quickly in response to Zuko's quiet "Oh". "I have to give you time to think. I pushed you hard last night."

"You didn't."

"I did. I saw my chance and grabbed it. We're friends and I'm not giving that up." Zuko visibly relaxed. Jet continued, "I'd like other things, too, but you need to poke the idea around, see how it feels. If I hang around you'll get nervous and start worrying about the wrong stuff, like how I'd feel instead of what you want. Our friendship's important, anything else is optional. I've been rejected before, you know."

That was a lie, but he believed it to be in a good cause. As the charismatic leader of the Freedom Fighters, he'd generally been the one who had to let unwelcome admirers down with varying degrees of kindness. If Zuko did reject him, he'd just have to learn to deal with it. Still, he couldn't resist taking a few steps closer to whisper in Zuko's ear. "Besides, you need to stop blushing. I really don't want to explain myself to the Dragon of the West."

"Stop being a clown!"

He took a half step back. Yes, Zuko's face was crimson. "You asked what I wanted and I've promised myself I'd be honest with you. There's another reason I need to keep some distance for now. What I want is to find us a quiet spot and show you how persuasive I can be. Nice as that'd be, it wouldn't really be fair to you."

Zuko shivered, or did he shudder? He turned away so Jet couldn't read his face. "No one will ever say you aren't confident."

"Probably not. I put on a really good show," Jet replied, stepping back. He knew better than to play too much. He might just drive Zuko away. "I'd better be going."

"Wait! Your lunch. I'll go get it." The prince rushed inside.

When he came back out, Jet found himself smiling with simple affection as he accepted the lunchbox. "You really don't have to feed me."

That earned him a frown. "Just don't poison yourself eating from the wrong cart."

Laughing, Jet turned and walked away. He couldn't resist a look back. Having finished sweeping, Zuko was already inside.

################

This being Jet's first day, the boss spent a lot of time teaching him. Jet had never imagined there were so many types of ink, let alone grades of paper, and he was a little surprised that a retired scholar had hired a guy like him. By the standards of this part of town he was barely literate. He hadn't suspected working in a shop could be so tiring, either. Jet was glad when he was asked to fill shelves that afternoon. Who knew there was so much work in scholarship?

His day was done by midafternoon and being out in the fresh air rapidly cleared his head. That was good news because Jet had another appointment soon and he needed clarity. His interest in city politics hadn't waned. The crazier the place seemed the more he wanted to do something about it. Today's meeting was unusual in a promising way. It was invitation only and he'd been invited.

Most meetings they'd attended had been about as useful as Pan Beifong's group's had been, although a few had seemed clearer on their purpose. It was mostly talk and complaints, nothing inspiring or effective, with any action stifled by fear of the Dai Li. At a recent meeting a curly headed guy had approached Jet. They talked a while, then the man, calling himself Brick, offered Jet a chance to attend what he called a serious meeting. He'd agreed because Brick, despite the silly alias, seemed like he actually had an agenda.

This works out pretty well, he thought. The shop isn't far and I finished work with plenty of time to spare. He was eager, even hopeful, for the first time in a long while. Ba Sing Se's secrecy and restrictions were driving him crazy. He had to keep telling himself that Long Feng's Dai Li weren't nearly the threat that Fire Nation soldiers had been.

Longshot pointed out one night that the Fire Nation locked you up or killed you. They had an army of fighters, not disturbingly smiley women who all appeared to share a name. He seemed less trustful of the Dai Li and even the Earth King than Jet was himself, which was saying something.

Jet was to meet Brick at a busy outdoor market, from which he'd be escorted to the actual meeting place. It was all too melodramatic for Jet, but if they made sense at the meeting he'd bring in his Freedom Fighters. Spotting Brick, he waved. Brick waved back, sauntering toward him.

Good, Jet thought, two ordinary guys just hanging out. No secret handshakes or hokey passwords. That stuff would draw the Dai Li like waving a banner. As the two young men walked, they spoke idly: Would Earth Rumble ever be allowed in the city? Could one of the Dai Li take down the Boulder? That stuff about the Blind Bandit being a kid wasn't true, was it? She'd supposedly beaten all the sport's big names.

They entered a gaming parlor. As they crossed the crowded room, Jet wondered what it was with old men and pai sho. It's like an old guy brotherhood, he thought. They're everywhere.

A door at the back concealed a staircase. The meeting was on the second floor. Brick claimed it was a precaution against the Dai Li. That was possible. At ground level or in a basement, the Dai Li could easily find ways to spy on dissidents, then burst in to arrest everyone.

On the other hand, maybe the old guys wouldn't give up the main room, he thought, concealing a smirk.

There were a couple of familiar faces, like that angry farmer from the same day he first saw Jin. He forced himself not to wonder if she was at Pao's trying again with Zuko. The farmer looked through Jet without recognition, scratching his beard.

That got his mind off distracting images of flirtatious girls because he didn't like it. He'd spent years as a leader, respected and recognized. Then he'd tried to join the official war effort before coming to Ba Sing Se. He'd been told that the Freedom Fighters were welcome to enlist -when they were of age. Coming to Ba Sing Se was even worse. The war that had shaped their lives didn't exist inside the city's walls. The place was like a sinkhole pulling him and every other refugee into helpless anonymity. Jet wasn't about to let that happen.

Before they got down to business, he was pulled aside by the pair in charge. They looked like siblings, similar in age and appearance, and introduced themselves as Kono and Kem Tong. They asked Jet a lot of questions. More security. He could respect that.

They passed the questioning back and forth in a practiced technique meant to get him off balance and keep him there. Kono played the charmer, relaxed and curious, ready to be a friend and mentor to the youth. Kem Tong, his sister, played it harder. Jet couldn't tell if it was all technique or if she really was the more distrustful of the pair. Eventually they decided he could stay.

Once the meeting began, nobody wasted time on idle chatter. Several protest methods were in the works, starting with a bunch of posters and banners, to be put out in waves and rapidly replaced. Sure they'd be pulled down, but some would be read and passed around. The idea was to get people thinking.

Anywhere else, he'd have called it a weak effort, but for a population as cowed as Ba Sing Se's it would seem incredibly bold. Then they'd take action against the city's worst exploiters.

"That's what I've been waiting to hear," Jet said. "Some of those so-called civic leaders are scum. You heard of that guy who locks workers in his factory all day?"

The farmer looked at him, not recognizing but acknowledging him. It was a start.

"There's a story going around," the man said with a grin. "Seems he went to open one morning and all the doors were gone. Someone took them right off the hinges."

"Yeah. Maybe he knows better now."

"It was you?"

Jet just gave him a close-lipped smile. It hadn't been him, but he liked that look of respect. He also didn't intend to admit that he had no idea who'd done the deed. They talked about similar direct actions, breaking windows and equipment to cost the exploiters time and money.

These guys are doing more than spouting off, Jet thought as the meeting wound down. He went home whistling.

Smellerbee came in with Longshot, much earlier than usual. When he asked about it, Smellerbee admitted that she and the other girls had demanded to leave work earlier at night. "We're all terrified of the Shadow Man," she claimed, then giggled.

"Who?" he asked, wondering if she was finally breaking down from exhaustion.

"Shadow Man. The guy beat up the guards at my job one night, took the doors down at Mu Ying's assembly shop a couple nights ago and now he's hung up a safe."

"A safe? Why would he do that?"

"To show he could?" She giggled again. "This one is so good. Mu Ying got these dog things. Lizard-dogs or porcupine dogs, whatever they are everyone says they're almost as ugly as they are mean. They're supposed to guard the place at night like we've got people to, but the Shadow Man went back, anyway. Mu Ying keeps saying he does what he wants at his place so he put the bars on once the doors were back up. This time the Shadow Man sawed both the bars in four pieces, plus he hung the safe from a roof beam. It was just dangling over the middle row of work tables."

"What'd he do with the guard whatevers?"

She smirked. "They were inside. After all, it rained last night. "He fed them, too."

Jet laughed and was fairly sure he heard Longshot chuckle. "So he's a dangerous animal lover?"

"I guess." Once she started eating, she had a decent appetite for once. Her bowl emptied so fast that, sharing a look, he and Longshot both transferred some of their own meal, a filling stew, to it. "You guys don't have to do that," she said, but ate heartily.

"Still hungry? There's stuff in the icebox," Jet said, glad that he'd been influenced by Zuko's insistence that a home required at least a few staples in its cabinets. "I could put something together easy."

"I'm good." She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, belching.

"How about it, Longshot? Still hungry?"

Longshot declined with a twist of his lips: he'd have to be really hungry to eat Jet's cooking.

"You're hilarious," Jet replied.

"So, how was this meeting?" Smellerbee asked.

"They made some good points and they don't seem to just be talking." Jet described the group, their intended actions and ideas. "They have potential. If they follow through I thought you guys might want in."

"Yeah!" Smellerbee grinned, more like herself than she'd been in ages. "Maybe we can start at my job."

"I've been thinking," Jet said. "Longshot and I are both earning decent money now. How'd you like to quit? You hate it there, we hate the way they treat you, and even if it takes time to find something better we've got our rent covered."

Her face lit up. He could feel his own grin and saw that even sober Longshot wore a hint of a smile. "It's decided, then."

"This is so great!" She jumped up from the table, raising both fists in triumphant glee. "I'm outta that pit!"

Picking up their empty dishes, she hesitated. "It's kind of unfair, though. I can leave but most of the others can't. They have families. Some have kids and they barely see them."

"That's why people like us need to do something,"Jet replied. "We're free enough that we can help others get more freedom, too."

Longshot and she nodded. This was the kind of thinking that bound them together as Freedom Fighters.

"You'll talk to Li tomorrow, right?"

Jet was glad her back was to him when she asked. It took a second to smooth his face back into a calm mask. Longshot he'd have to talk to later. The archer had a very sharp eye. "I've got work."

They both gave him a look. Work or not, he saw the scarred refugee every chance he got and they knew it.

Smellerbee had this way grabbing any issue that annoyed her in her proverbial teeth and shaking it until she got answers. Turning her back to the sink, she leaned against it, crossing her arms. She scowled. "Li's one of us. What's the problem?"

"No problem. I just told him this morning that I'd really need to focus on this new job. I have a lot to learn."

"So? You don't think he could help? Him and Mushi are class. I know you can tell, too."

Class was a loose term. It could mean nobly born, rich or simply well educated. He couldn't tell them how accurate it was in Zuko's case. Jet felt his face flush. Lying was usually no concern for him, but these were his friends and comrades.

The truth, then, at least the lesser, merely embarrassing part. "He had a date with this girl. I didn't like seeing them together so I, uh," closing his eyes, he concluded, "kissed him after he left her."

It was really quiet, almost like they'd left the room, but Jet knew better.

A fist bopped him on the head, just hard enough to make his eyes pop open. Longshot looked really disapproving.

"Why'd you do it?" Smellerbee stalked the few steps back to their table, slapping her hands down to lean in and glare from mere inches away. No one else could pack that much menace into such a small body, he thought. "I know you like playing around but Li's, he's nice. He'll never figure out the rules you go by."

Like, Jet recalled guiltily, It was fun, it's over, you can go now. It wasn't like that with Li, though. They were friends, too close for him to give up. "It was an impulse," he admitted. "I knew it was a bad idea before I did it."

Longshot really could speak volumes without a word.

"I know! Stupid. Pushy. Impatient."

"You know better," Smellerbee said, easing off a little. "He's twitchy, you know?"

More code. Twitchy, skittish, nervous, they all came down to traumatized in one or another way. They'd grown used to seeing it in their friends among the Freedom Fighters. Longshot's silence was among the healthiest quirks Jet had seen. He was the bedrock under everyone's feet. He just chose not to talk while being their support.

He looked to the archer now for his steadying influence. When Longshot nodded encouragingly Jet sighed. "You're right. I don't know what happened. He isn't ready to tell me. I don't even think his uncle knows. When he's ready to talk I plan to be there."

"You don't just like him," Smellerbee said, wide-eyed. "Was he really upset? Is that why you're staying away?" She sat in her chair again, not angry like she'd been but clearly concerned. Jet felt a sudden urge to dive out the window. Was she planning to give him romantic advice?

"He was but he wasn't," he replied. It was humbling to imagine, but maybe he did need help or reassurance, something to get him through the week. "He didn't seem horrified, but he didn't seem like he'd been waiting for it, either. I surprised him." He left out that brief, bitter instant when the fugitive had thought that Jet might, after all, want to use him.

"Li's one of us and a good friend," he continued, "and if he decided he wanted me, too, I'd be glad, really glad." He cleared his throat. "Only I ambushed him and I owe him time to think. I promised to keep away for a while so I couldn't pressure him."

Both looked insultingly impressed at his decision. Well, I always have been single-minded, he told himself. Maybe I overdo it sometimes? The three of them sat in silence for several minutes, then Longshot brightened. He tipped his head slightly toward Smellerbee, then raised his chin. They could keep Li informed about the Freedom Fighters' plans and activities. There was no reason to leave him out. He was one of them. That was already decided.

Jet couldn't believe how relieved he felt. The others would be letting Zuko know that his decision about Jet wouldn't cost him their friendship. It'd also prove that he really did value Zuko's abilities, too. "Good thinking."