"Wow..." I whispered as I gazed up at the red and orange trees. "What a beautiful forest."
Right after I finished my sentence, an animal shriek pierced the air. We looked around and found Momo dangling from a trap alongside two hog monkeys. We released them. Sokka knelt by one of the traps.
"These are Fire Nation contraptions," Sokka said. "We'd better pack up and get moving before they find us."
We agreed and started to load our items.
"Wait a minute. I think it would be best if we traveled by land," Sokka said.
"What? Why?" Aang said.
"Think about it. The Fire Nation is always finding us no matter where we go. It's because Appa is a giant, flying bison, making him really easy to spot. We should tough it out and walk."
"Oh, yeah? And who made you boss?" Katara said.
"I'm not the boss, I'm the leader."
Katara snickered. "Leader? If anything, it's Aang. After all, he is the Avatar."
"Look, my instincts tell me we'll have a better chance of slipping through on foot, and a leader has to trust his instincts."
"Fine, then, wise and great leader. Lead the way."
Sokka strapped his backpack on. "Thank you."
"Are we there yet?" Aang mumbled as we trudged through the forest.
"No!" Sokka cried over his shoulder.
"How do people manage to get around without flying bisons?"
"Maybe you should ask Sokka's instincts!" Katara said.
"Look, I get that you're tired. I'm tired, too. But as long as we keep walking, we'll be safe from the Fire Nation," Sokka said.
We passed through a large bush and froze in our steps as dozens of pairs of eyes fell on us, all belonging to Fire Nation soldiers hanging around their campsite.
"Run!" Sokka cried. We dropped our stuff and ran. A few soldier threw fireballs at the bushes, blocking our way out.
"Well, well. Look who we have here," one soldier with an eyepatch said.
"If you let us go, we promise not to hurt you," Sokka said.
The soldier laughed. "You hurt us?"
The soldier stopped laughing and collapsed on the ground with a groan.
"Nice job, Sokka. How'd you do that?" Aang said.
"I didn't..." Sokka said.
"Up there!" Katara pointed to a tree branch, where a boy stood. Pulling out two hook swords, he swung off the branch and knocked two soldiers to the ground. He rushed towards two more soldiers, snagged their ankles with his hook swords, and flipped them over.
"They're in the trees!" a soldier said. A young child landed on his shoulders and shoved his helmet over his eyes. A shower of arrows knocks the swords out of the soldiers' hands.
More people fell from the trees and took down the small Fire Nation army. The boy with the hook swords sheathed his weapons and turned to us.
"Hey, there," he said. "The name's Jet. These are my Freedom Fighters."
We glanced over his shoulder at those ransacking the campsite in search of supplies.
"Thank you for saving us, Jet. We'd be in a lot of trouble if it weren't for you," Katara said.
"I should be thanking you. We've been watching those soldiers all morning, waiting for the right moment to strike. Then you guys stumbled in and gave us our chance to act," Jet said.
"We were relying on instinct." Katara glared at Sokka.
Jet chuckled. "Do that, and you'll get yourself killed in no time."
Sokka folded his arms and scowled.
"Hey, Jet!" The Duke called. "We got all the supplies packed. We're heading back to the hideout."
"You have a hideout?" Aang said.
"Want to see it?" Jet said.
"Yes!" Katara cried abruptly.
"Here we are," Jet said, and we stopped in the middle of some trees.
"Where's 'here'? I don't see any hideout," Sokka said.
"Exactly." Jet handed Sokka a rope. "Hold onto this."
"Uh, why-?" The rope yanked Sokka up into the trees.
"Here." Jet offered a rope to me.
"Thanks." I took the rope, tightly wrapping my fingers around it. It tugged, yanking me off the ground, up the side of the tree, and onto a wooden platform high above. I released the rope and walked to the edge of the platform. Multiple treehouses were wedged into the trees, each connected by ziplines, ladders, and bridges.
"What a beautiful place you have," Katara said.
"More importantly, the Fire Nation won't be able to find it," Jet said.
"Although they would love to get their hands on you," Smellerbee said.
"Why does the Fire Nation want to capture you?" Katara said.
"Let's just say that we don't get along very well. I'm always there to stir up a little trouble for any soldier that comes by," Jet said with a proud smile. "A few years ago, they took over a small Earth Kingdom village called Gaipan. We've been doing a lot: cutting off their supplies, ambushing their troops, and doing everything we can to mess with them. One day, we'll take back that village and drive the Fire Nation away from it forever."
"That's so brave of you."
"The only brave thing about him is his willingness to almost get himself killed," Sokka mumbled next to me. "I don't like that guy."
"I never would have guessed." I chuckled.
Nighttime fell, and we sat around a wooden table adorned with apples and meat. Jet lifted his glass and stood up.
"Today, we came one step closer to getting rid of the Fire Nation," Jet said. The Freedom Fighters cheered. "They think that a couple of kids is nothing to worry about... but how wrong they are! Here's to us!"
The Freedom Fighters raised their glasses eagerly, sloshing juice and water on the table and floor.
"I want to thank you again for your help against the Fire Nation," Jet said to Katara and Aang. "I have a plan I've been brewing up, and I want you to help me out."
"Gee, we would love to, but we've got to get going," Sokka said, standing up and walking away.
"Oh, come on, Sokka! I have an important mission that I need you to do for me."
Sokka stopped. "What do you want?"
"Tomorrow morning, we're going to scope out the forest for any Fire Nation people and ambush them. Think you can handle it?"
Sokka sighed. "Fine."
Jet turned to me. "Care to help out, Ursa? I wouldn't want you to be left out of the fun."
"Um..." I glanced up at Sokka, who shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
Standing on a thick branch of a tall tree, I rested my hand on the trunk to keep my balance. Sokka stood on a branch close by, with Jet standing slightly below. He cupped his hands over his mouth and performed a birdcall. Smellerbee and Pipsqueak poked their heads out from the trees and responded with another call. Sokka stabbed his jaw blade into the side of the trunk and cupped his hands over the handle, pressed his ears to it.
"I don't hear anything..." Sokka said. He paused. "Wait. There's someone coming."
"How many?" Jet said.
"Just one, I think."
Jet called to the others. "Good job. Now, get ready."
Placing a hand on one of my water skins, I planted my feet against the branch. However, I stopped when I saw an old man hobbling down the forest path.
"Wait a minute. It's just an old man," I said. I heard the unsheathing of weapons. Jet hopped down from his branch, clutching his hook swords in his hands.
Jet landed in front of the man and approached him. "What are you doing in our forest, you leech?" he said. My eyes widened. I looked over at Sokka, who scowled and nodded. We leaped from the branches and raced to the Freedom Fighters.
"Please, sir, I'm just traveling through," the old man said. Jet swiped his hook sword, knocking the walking cane out of the man's hand. He turned to run, but he rammed into Pipsqueak and fell to the ground. "Please, have mercy!"
"Mercy?! Does the Fire Nation show mercy?! No! All they do is destroy lives!"
Jet brought his foot back, ready to kick the teeth out of the man's mouth. Sokka swung his club and snagged it against Jet's ankle, halting his kick. I bended the water out of one of my water skins and threw it at Pipsqueak, who had his foot on the man's back to keep him on the ground. The ice rammed into him, causing him to stumble back. I scooped up the man's cane and helped him stand.
"Stop it, Jet! He's just an old man!" Sokka said.
"He's Fire Nation!" Jet said. "Search him!"
"But he's not hurting anyone! You're the one who's picking on him," I said. Pipsqueak yanked the man from my hands, and Smellerbee searched his robes.
Jet turned to Sokka, fuming. "Did you forget that the Fire Nation killed your mother? Think of all the suffering they've caused for everyone else! They're all a bunch of monsters!"
I clenched my fists. "No, they're not!"
Jet looked over his shoulder and glared at me. The pure rage in his eyes sent chills down my spine.
"We got his stuff," Smellerbee said, waving a small bag in the air. Pipsqueak dropped the old man.
"Good. Let's go." Jet, Smellerbee, and Pipsqueak shoved past us and down the path. I looked at the old man. "I said, let's go!"
Sokka and I glanced at each other, and we headed down the trail.
I leaned my head against the trunk of one of the treehouses and fiddled with my thumbs. Sokka sat next to me, his arms crossed.
"I really don't like that guy," Sokka mumbled.
"Me neither," I said.
"Hey, guys," Katara said as she rounded the tree trunk. "Have you seen Jet around?"
"No, and I don't care," Sokka said. "We're leaving."
"What? Why?" Katara said.
"Your boyfriend, Jet, is a thug. He's seriously messed up."
"No, he's not. He just has a different way of life," Aang said.
"He attacked a helpless old man this morning. We watched it happen," I said.
"If we weren't there, Jet and his Freedom Fighters would've beaten him to a pulp!" Sokka said.
Katara folded her arms. "I want to hear that from Jet."
"Fine. Let's go talk to Jet. And once we get everything cleared up and you learn about how much of a jerk he is, we're leaving."
Katara rolled her eyes, and we headed to Jet's treehouse. Katara explained the situation to Jet.
"So... you told them about what happened, but you glossed over the fact that he's Fire Nation?" Jet said.
"Even so, he was harmless," I said.
"Are you sure about that?" Jet pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the table in front of him. He twisted the end of the knife, revealing a small vial of poison. "That 'harmless' man was an assassin sent to kill me."
"I didn't see any knife," Sokka said.
"He was concealing it."
"See?" Katara said. "Now everything is cleared up."
"Everything isn't cleared up! I'm telling you, there was no knife!" Sokka sighed and walked to the door. "I'm going to go pack my stuff."
I turned to the door.
"Don't tell me you're leaving, too," Jet said. I glanced back at him with a scowl.
"Sokka is my family, and we both know what we saw," I said. "Goodbye."
"Ursa." A pair of hands shook me away. I opened my eyes and saw Sokka hovering over me.
"What is it?" I whispered.
"Jet's on the move."
I perked up and crawled out of my sleeping bag. We peeled back the blanket door and crawled onto the wooden platform. Joining hands, we jumped off the platform. Sokka grabbed onto one of the dangling ropes, and we rode down to the ground. We followed the Freedom Fighters through the forest, perching high up on a tree branch. They came to a stop on a cliff overlooking Gaipan.
"Remember," Jet said, turning to the Freedom Fighters as they stood around the cart they brought with them, "do not blow the dam until I give the signal. The reservoir had to be filled all the way, or else we risk the Fire Nation surviving."
"What about the other villagers in the town?" The Duke said. We hopped down and crawled to a nearby bush.
"If we're going to rid the forest of the Fire Nation, there has to be a price to pay."
"I can't believe this," Sokka hissed. "We can't let Jet get away with this."
A hand snagged my top-knot and yanked me to my feet. Tears stung my eyes from the pain. The tip of a blade pressed against my neck.
"Looks like we got some nasty bugs eavesdropping on us," Smellerbee said with a grin.
Pipsqueak, holding us by the hair, brought us to Jet. He shoved us forward, and we fell on our knees.
"Sokka. Ursa. To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting with you this morning?" Jet said.
"We heard your plan to destroy Gaipan," Sokka said.
"Our plan is to rid the forest of the Fire Nation."
"There are people living down there, Jet: mothers, father, and children trying to live their lives. You're wanting to take that away from them!"
"A sacrifice I'm willing to make."
"You think doing this will make you a hero? That it'll make you better than the Fire Nation?" I said. "You lied to our friends' faces, and now you're justifying killing hundreds of innocent people. If anything, you're exactly like those of the Fire Nation."
Anger flashed in Jet's eyes as he looked at me. "I'm like the Fire Nation? What about you?!"
I tensed. "What about me?"
Jet stepped closer, leaning in my face. "Isn't it obvious? You've been tainted by their filth. You reek of Fire Nation. You're one of them, aren't you?!"
"You're crazy! Ursa lived in the South Pole with me and Katara when we were kids!" Sokka said.
"Where was she before that?" Jet spat before glaring at me again. "Get them out of my sight."
Smellerbee pressed a dagger to my back while Pipsqueak grabbed Sokka. Smellerbee tied my wrists together and shoved me forward. "Get moving, filth," she hissed.
The forest was silent except for our footsteps. Sokka and I glanced at each other. His eyes searched the forest. They widened for a brief second. I followed his gaze to a small pile of berries sitting atop a pile of leaves. I perked up. The Fire Nation traps.
"Hey, Pipsqueak," Sokka said, "why did the possum chicken cross the road?"
"We don't got time for jokes," Pipsqueak said.
"Oh, come on. Just one!"
Pipsqueak rolled his eyes. "Fine. Why did the possum chicken cross the road?"
Sokka and I looked at each other again and took a hard left.
"Hey!" Smellerbee cried, reaching out to grab me. I slipped from her fingers.
We sprinted through the forest, stepping over the berries. We heard metal snap, and we stopped and looked up to see Pipsqueak and Smellerbee hanging inside the Fire Nation animal traps.
"To outsmart the Freedom Fighters," Sokka said with a grin. He fumbled with his wrists, and the rope fell off his wrists. He untied me, too. We hurried down the forest path.
"What now?" I said. "If we try and warn Katara and Aang, we might get stopped by more of Jet's men."
"We're not going to warn them... we're going to warn the town."
I nodded, and we ran faster.
Riding on the back of Appa, we landed in the center of the town. Those that saw Appa stared in confusion, and the leftovers heard Appa's loud roar.
"Villagers, listen to me!" Sokka said as we climbed off of Appa and stood midst the crowd. "Your town is about to be flooded. We need to have everyone evacuate immediately!"
Fire Nation soldiers pushed their way to the front of the crowd. "Who are you?" they said.
"That's not important. We have to get everyone out of here as soon as possible, or else you'll all be wiped out!"
"How do we know you're not spies?" a voice called from the crowd. The people murmured.
"Please, you have to listen to us!" I said. The soldiers grabbed us.
"Wait!" The crowds behind us separated, and the old man from yesterday approached us. "They're telling the truth."
"Are you sure?" a soldier said.
"Yes. They saved me from being beaten by the Freedom Fighters. They must also be behind what these kids are saying. They are good children. We can trust them," the man said.
The people looked to each other, and they collectively agreed. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go, people! The dams could burst any minute!" Sokka called. We led the people to the gates of Gaipan. I watched as men, women, and children filed out of the town and up the hill, an elevation safe from the floods.
I looked to Sokka with a smile. "We did it."
Sokka nodded. "But we still have Jet to deal with. I can't wait to rub this in his face."
Once all the people were safely evacuated, Sokka and I headed back to Appa. There was a large explosion, and we looked at each other.
"Hurry!" Sokka said. We ran over to Appa and climbed onto his back. Sokka cracked the reins, and Appa lifted up into the sky. I saw the rush of water come crashing toward the town. It plowed through the wall, crushing it, and consumed the town with water. On the side of the river, I saw the people of Gaipan, which helped me relax.
We guided Appa to the cliffside where we first saw Jet. He was still there, but he was stuck to a tree from a layer of ice holding him to it. Katara and Aang turned to us and smiles.
"Ursa! Sokka! You're all right!" Katara said.
I lifted my eyes to Jet. "We stopped your plan, Jet. The people of Gaipan are safe- Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation."
Jet growled. "You traitors! How could you side with the Fire Nation?!"
"No, Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people," Sokka said.
Katara glanced back at Jet. "Goodbye, Jet," she whispered.
Katara and Aang climbed onto Appa, and we rode away from the forest.
"How come you went to the village instead of the dam?" Aang said.
"My instincts told me to," Sokka said. I chuckled.
"...Did your instincts also tell you to go the wrong way?"
Sokka paused and tugged on the reins, turning Appa around. "Okay, so they're not perfect."
I smiled and looked out at the red and orange forest below. I felt eyes on me. I looked up at Sokka. He turned away immediately and cracked the reins.
Great, I thought, now they all have questions.