The shadows seem alive as I peek into the next corner, surveying the whole periphery before I raise my hand and beckon them to come ahead. The attack by the archers was expected but still unexpected and it did manage to shake us up a bit. It also didn't help matters either that by the time the three of us recovered from the shock encounter, the Yu Yen archers had already disappeared into the night; the burn marks,broken arrows embedded in the tree trunks and the scratch marks on our arms being the only reminder of the ambush being true and not part of some collective hallucination.

It took some time to calm Katara down when she saw Sokka bleeding from one arm where an arrow had just grazed off his skin. She was worried about the arrow tips being poisoned but the Yu Yen archers don't need poison to kill you. I sigh, running my hand through my hair, as I see the shadows of Katara and Sokka quickly coming ahead and in a moment they are by my side.

I look at them, no words needed to convey my question and the siblings shake their head in confirmation. Good. No one is following us this time. Though we are still disguised as fire nation civilians, we are not safe under cover anymore. Its just a matter of time before the archers report back to Azula and we don't have that much time to confront Azula. And Mai. My heart wrenches a bit at her thought and I shake my head, trying not to think about her.

I stand up cautiously and take a quick look before dashing forward to the next shadow, behind the walls of what appears to be an old antique shop. Just as I am about to signal Sokka to follow me, I hear a gentle cough about a few feet away from me. I hastily drop my arm, instinctively getting into a fighting stance and peer over the wall. Its a soldier, sitting on the stone steps of the shop and fanning himself with some sort of parchment. I purse my lips, trying to decide whether I should sneak around from the back of the shop or take a chance and knock him unconscious. Before I could even react however, I hear the whoosh of air beside me, followed by the sound of a body slumping unconscious to the floor.

I blink my eyes, as I see the body of the soldier slump to the floor and my eyes catches the glint of ice in the moonlight next to his unconscious form. I look back to see Katara, with her hand still raised in midair and I can only look at her with my mouth hanging open. I can see Sokka shaking his head beside her as they both dash forward to join me.

"What?" Katara asks defensively and I realize I have been staring.

"Why did you do that?" Sokka whispers urgently before I could even get the words out of my mouth. "It is dangerous attacking people when we are trying to sneak in"

"You think they don't know already?" Katara whispers back fiercely. " Its best we take them out before they strike at us again"

Sokka looks at her for a minute and the defiant look on Katara's face almost reminds me of the time when I faced her in the North pole. Time sure flies by fast.

"Fine" I reply. " We will need to tie him up though and hide him away before anyone else notices."

I turn back to look at the soldier and cautiously creep forward, Sokka following close behind. I grip the unconscious soldier's arms and Sokka takes hold of the legs.

"Eeyuck!" Sokka grimaces with disgust. " Does this guy ever wash his feet?"

Katara rolls her eyes.

We manage to bring the body to the back of the store where Katara hands me over some ropes she found on the junk lying around the shop's backyard. I wind the rope carefully around his arms and legs, finishing off by tying a tight sailor's knot. Sokka throws an old rug over the unconscious form and turns to look at me. I nod my head. "Let's go"

The shadows dance around us as we silently make our way uphill, dodging in and out of darkness, the pale moonlight being our only guide as we scan the periphery trying to avoid any soldiers and at the same time trying to make sure no one is following us. We can see the still outline of the house that Sokka said Piando lives in, its gigantic structure looking menacing in the cold night.

"Almost there" Katara whispers behind me, her breath so close to my ears that it sends a strange shiver down my spine. I ignore the feeling and just as I am about to move out into the moonlight again, I can feel her hand grasp my shoulder tightly and pull me back. I turn to look at her in shock but she is looking at something beyond my shoulders, her face alarmed. I dread turning back to look but I do it non the less. At first I can't figure out anything and then I see them. Two guards, sitting on top of two raised platforms overlooking the huge gate. I can hear Sokka groan from behind her.

"Since when did Piando have guards up in the guard towers?" Katara whispers, her hand still holding my shoulder firmly. I grimace a bit at the pain shooting up my numb shoulder.

"Err.. Katara?" I say tentatively. She seems to snap back to attention and immediately lets go of my shoulder. I rub it gratefully, relieved to get the circulation back. A brilliant flush of red touches on her cheeks and I suddenly find my heart beating a bit too fast. I quickly turn back to look at the guard towers, my head whirling in shock at the reaction. I shake my head, mentally trying to stay focussed on what needs to be done. Its a dangerous path I am treading on and I don't need any distraction, especially distractions that I don't really understand.

I never thought I would be so grateful to hear Sokka's voice as he breaks into my thoughts.

" This doesn't seem right. Are they Piando's guards or is he being held hostage or something?" The worry in his voice makes me hesitate a bit, thoughts of the secret society being ambushed and held captive by my father suddenly making their way into my mind.

"So what should we do?" Katara asks. She seems to have got her voice back pretty fast.

"Only one way to find out." I reply. " We need to take them down."

Sokka lets out a sigh. " I thought the whole point of sneaking in is to go undetected without alerting anyone else of our presence. If we had to take down so many soldiers, we could have just rushed in and ambushed everyone of them."

" We can try sneaking in from the back..." I reply hesitantly, not sure if that will work.

"We would have to go all the way back and take the other path." Kaara replies. "We don't have time for this. We need to get out before Azula comes shooting lightning at all of us."

I look at Sokka, indecision, reluctance and finally acceptance flickering over his face as he takes in what Katara just pointed out. He takes a look at the road behind us and then turns over to look at the mansion, finally nodding his head against his better judgment.

" All right." He sighs. "Let's do it."

I nod my head and silently dash ahead, followed closely behind by the water tribe siblings. We run towards the wall surrounding the house and lie flat against it, our backs pressing painfully against the concrete.

"Ok" I whisper, looking back at Sokka next to me. " I am going to climb up that guard tower and surprise him from behind. You take down the other one. And Katara, watch our backs."

They both nod at me and without a word, I run ahead, under the cover of the wall. This feels so familiar, I muse. I have done this so many times before under the guise of the blue spirit, its almost second nature for me to move around without making a sound. I quickly reach the base of the first guard tower and take a running leap across the wall, silently landing right behind the guard.

He didn't even make a sound as the hilt of my sword crashed across his skull and he silently slumped to the floor. I quickly take a look around from the tower and heave a sigh of relief when I notice Katara's shadow right at the place we left her. I look towards the other guard tower and see Sokka waving his arms at me. He is good, I grudgingly tell myself, as I climb down the stairs and he joins me at the base. Katara comes rushing towards us, her face worried as she flings her arms around her brother.

"Now what?" Katara asks.

I quietly try to push the gates open and am not surprised to find them locked.

"We need to climb down the wall from the top of the guard tower." I reply. Without a word, Sokka climbs up the tower, silently followed by Katara and I bring up the rear. Sokka gently nudges the unconscious guard with his foot before taking a coil of rope tied to the guard's belt and hands it over to me.

I tie it securely to the wooden pillar and look over at Sokka, who nods his head and flings himself over the wall, holding on to the rope. I look at Katara, who looks back at me strangely, making the blood rush to me head, and takes the rope and slides down the wall next without a word. I sigh, wearily running my hand through my hair. When I joined the avatar, I was not expecting this, not expecting this strange distraction in the form of a water bender. I am getting strangely attached to Katara and as the realization slowly hits me, I feel fear for the first time in my life.

reviews are always appreciated