We flew over the ocean quickly and quietly. Sokka constantly shushed us whenever we tried to say something. We eventually descended towards a large island, Aang and I "plucked" some clouds out of the sky and used them to hide Appa from any wandering eyes. Whoever saw us might've thought we were just some strange natural phenomenon, I mean, how often do you see a small cloud flying towards the ground?

"I think I see a cave below," Aang said as he squinted, looking through our cloud.

"Shh! Quiet!" Sokka snapped. Aang threw his arms out, and the cloud that surrounded us was destroyed. Nearby birds squawked in surprise, but they didn't fly off. Sokka leaped off of Appa and hid near the large cave that Aang found.

"Great job with the cloud cammo, but next time, let's disguise ourselves as the type of cloud that knows how to keep its mouth shut," The water tribe warrior said.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird hearing and turning us in," Toph sarcastically replied.

"We are in enemy territory, these are enemy birds," Sokka growled, pointing at a bird that was nested on the rock behind him. We all giggled at his strange behavior and moved into the cave. Sokka leaped over us to take the lead and he quickly scanned the cave for any threats.

"Well, this is it!" Sokka exclaimed. "This is where I'll be living until the invasion begins, in cave after cave after cave…after cave…" His shoulders slumped down. No one liked the idea of living in caves.

"Couldn't we just get some Fire Nation clothing?" I suggested.

"Yeah, if we had disguises, we'd be just as safe hiding in a crowd as we would be hiding in a cave," Aang nodded.

"Plus, they have real food out there," Toph added. She was sitting a little deeper in the cave. She smashed her fist into the wall and small white bugs fell to the ground and scurried in all directions. "Does anyone really want to sit in the dirt and eat Cavehoppers?" Momo grabbed one of the little bugs and shoved it into his mouth. The sound of crunching was heard as the lemur chewed on his meal. He looked back at us innocently, but we all shook our heads, dashing the animal's hopes.

We found a nearby home that had a large collection of clothes drying over small holes in the dirt. These holes seemed to exhale some hot air, accelerating the drying process of the clothing.

"I don't know about this…These clothes belong to somebody," Aang nervously whispered.

"I CALL THE SILK ROBE!" Katara cried as she ran towards the clothes lines. Her actions seemed to have knocked out all doubt from Aang's mind as he smiled and ran for a suit. We all collected a nice collection of clothes, and we each got into our new outfits. Aang wore some sort of fancy suit and a head band to cover his arrow. Sokka wore what looked like a soldier's uniform, but seeing as I never saw a Fire Nation soldier without armor, I could've been mistaken. I myself wore what looked like a red kimono with a belt, large pants and tall boots. I also had an under shirt with long dark sleeves that reached my wrists. The suit was surprisingly light and I didn't really feel hot in it, which was a bonus seeing as fire might be thrown in my direction at any moment.

Toph wore a dress with a cloth belt that held the attire to her waist. We were all showing off our clothing when I noticed that, for the first time, Toph was wearing shoes.

"I should probably wear shoes, but then I won't be able to see as well," She sighed. She walked over to a small boulder and sat on it. She then gripped her shoes and violently thrust her foot forward, ripping the soles off.

"You just ruined perfectly good shoes," I remarked.

"I didn't ruin perfectly good shoes, I made perfectly good shoes,"

"That's basically the same thing,"

"How do I look?" Katara interrupted. We all turned to face her, and my god was she pretty. She had a dress that stretched down from her waist, revealing her stomach. He top was sleeveless and matched her curves perfectly. Aang looked like a school boy about to ask his crush out on a date.

"Oh!" Aang gasped. "Your mother's necklace," Katara grabbed the piece of jewelry that was wrapped around her neck and sighed.

"I guess it is obviously water tribe," She removed the necklace and placed it in her pocked. We left into town and the girls picked out some jewelry the wear. Katara had a new necklace around her neck and Toph replaced her headband with what looked like a golden crown. Once we were all set, we decided to start looking for food. Before walking in the town square, Aang gave us a few tips.

"I use to visit my friend Kuzon a hundred years ago, so just follow my lead and stay cool, or as they say in the Fire Nation, stay flamin'," He turned away from us and began to strut.

No one said a word, but we were all puzzled by Aang's odd walk. Every time he walked by someone, he would mutter "hot-man," like it was common curtsey. No one returned the greeting, in fact, most people looked rather confused. Eventually, Sokka took the lead and brought us to a restaurant.

"Oh, we're going to a meat place?" Aang asked in disgust.

"Why not?" Sokka asked. "Everyone here eats meat, even the meat," He pointed at some cow-creature that was busy munching on a large pile of disposed meat.

"Is that a Hippo-Cow?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you have those where you come from?" Katara asked.

"No, I just guessed," I replied. "I think I'm getting the hang of naming these animals," We waved Aang good-bye and we entered into the restaurant. A variety of smells assaulted my nose, and waiters ran back and forth between tables, carrying plates to their customers. We all sat down at a table. Toph and Katara sat together in front of Sokka and I. Menus were delivered to us, and we all started to study the pages, well, all of us except for Toph. I nervously glanced up from my menu with pleading eyes, Katara was too busy going over the choices with Toph to notice me. I turned to Sokka who was salivating over the choices.

"Uh, can you help me out here?" I whispered to him.

"What do you think I should order? The Elephant-Tiger and fries combo or the Bat-Snake meal?" Sokka asked out-loud.

I paused. "You do realize I don't know what any of those things are right?"

"Oh right…what are you having?" There was a small silence. "You can't read that can you?"

"Please read it for me," I grumbled as my cheeks turned red. He started to list off all the available meals, but every time he suggested something to me, I would just shake my head stupidly, unsure if this animal hybrid would taste any good.

"Ready to order?" A voice asked. I took the menu from Sokka and studied it while the others ordered. "How about you?" The voice snapped me from the menu.

"Pork!" I almost cried. I was met with awkward stares from my friends. "Give me something with the word pork in its name,"

The waiter nodded, giving me a quizzical look, but he left us alone. I turned back to my friends, all of which were staring at me.

"Do people usually order their food like that from where you come from?" Toph asked.

"No!" I exclaimed. "No, I just…I just don't know what any of these creatures are," I took a deep breath. "All of their names, hell, what they look like, its all combinations of creatures that I know,"

"What do you mean by that?" Sokka asked.

"You remember your confusion when you first heard of a Bear?" I asked. They all nodded. "A bear is something normal from where I come from, same with a pig, a dog, a bat, and a cow,"

"It must really be hard for you sometimes," Katara sighed.

"Well, to be honest, it wasn't that difficult to adjust," I paused. "You've all been there for me. I would never have been able to read anything if not for you guys to read for me, nor would I have been able to have food or something to sleep on,"

"Well, glad we could've helped out," Sokka smiled.

"Seriously, thank you,"

"We'd all hug you if we weren't in a restaurant," Toph snickered.

"Oh, by the way, Toph!" Sokka grinned widely. "I have something to tell you about-"

"Hey, Sokka, did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer?" I interrupted. Sokka instantly brought his hand to his face in a panic. I quickly smashed his hand into his face, causing him to fall off his chair. This got Katara and Toph laughing hysterically.

"What was that for?" Sokka exclaimed as he got back up. "And what's cancer anyway?"

Our waiter arrived with our plates, Sokka had something that looked absolutely delicious, Katara and Toph had light meals, and I had…something sticky and gross. I poked it with my fork, and whatever it was started to wiggled furiously.

"What is this?" I asked with a hint of fear. "I don't think its dead,"

"Do you want me to eat that?" Sokka asked.

After a while, we managed to finish our meals and head outside. Aang was nowhere to be found, but we weren't worried. We figured that he'd be back at our cave. We eventually made our way back to camp, only to find Appa and Momo alone.

"Where's Aang?" Katara asked nervously.

"Oh don't worry about it," I said. "I bet he's just somewhere, doing Avatar stuff and-"

"AANG CAN'T BE DOING AVATAR STUFF!" Sokka yelled. "WE NEED HIM TO STAY A SECRET!"

"Ok mister military, I'm only trying to calm to lady down," I mumbled.

"Twinkle Toes is fine," Toph said. "He always get's out of trouble somehow,"

"You're telling us, he once turned into a giant fish monster in the North Pole," I laughed.

"What?" Toph asked.

"Long story," I replied holding my hands up in the air.

I proceeded to tell Toph about the siege at the North Pole, how we fought to defend the Northern Water Tribe. As I told the story, I realized just what exactly it was that I had lived through, and not only that, but I was rather surprised that I actually fought at all!

"Anyway, in the end, Aang managed to draw on the powers of the spirits and he managed to push back the invading army," I thought for a moment. "Hey, Sokka, what happened to General Zhao?"

There was a pause. "I don't know," Sokka gasped. "Wasn't he chasing us, why did he suddenly stop?"

"You don't think that maybe he…kicked the bucket?" Another pause followed.

"Well, whatever happened, I'm just glad we haven't seen him again," Sokka sighed.

As the day drew to a close, we began to wonder where exactly Aang was. Katara, of course, was flipping out. She constantly suggested that we go out to look for the Avatar, but Sokka and I kept on shooting down her suggestions. There was no need to chase after him, as it'd be easier for him to find us if we stayed in the cave. Eventually, after Toph and Sokka managed to get a fire going, Aang showed up. He had a large grin on his face, and soot covered his body.

"Where were you!?" Katara exclaimed. "We were worried sick!"

"YOU were worried," I corrected.

"I was invited to play with some kids after school,"

That caught Sokka's attention "After what!?"

"I enrolled in a Fire Nation school,"

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Sokka fell to the ground in defeat.

"I have to agree with him," I muttered. "It's not a good idea,"

"We got our outfits," Toph reminded him. "What do you need school for?"

"Every minute I'm in that classroom, I'm learning new things about the Fire Nation," He pulled out a sketch of a man with a decorative head piece. He had strong features and cool eyes. "This is Fire Lord Ozai," Aang explained.

"I think this is too dangerous," Sokka sighed. "What would we do if you were caught?"

"I guess we'll never find out about the secret river that leads right to the palace," Aang sighed in mock sadness. "We were supposed to learn about it in class tomorrow,"

"I am a fan of secret rivers," I face palmed when Sokka started to think about it. "We'll stay a few more days,"

"FLAMEO HOT-MAN!" Aang exclaimed in victory.

I really wished things would be simple at least once. I would've loved to just wake up one morning, for us to travel a few hundred miles, without any obstacles or any inconvenient problems popping up to stop us. No, our journey was not simple in any way. When Aang got home, he dropped a bomb shell.

"You need to bring in your parents!?" Sokka yelled in absolute terror.

"I don't know what to do!" Aang cried.

"What happened?" I sighed. Aang told me about the fight at school, how the other student attacked him and faked an injury when he tripped.

"Well, looks like we need to fill in those roles." Katara sighed.

"Yeah, makes sense that you'd be the mom," Toph giggled.

"What are you implying?" Katara growled.

"Ok, but who will be my dad?" Aang asked.

"Well, I could-" Sokka began.

"No!" I cried. "There is no way that you could pass as a father,"

"Ok, then what about you?" Toph suggested.

"Do I look like I'm related to Aang?" I asked.

"You all look the same to me," Grinned the blind girl.

"I got a better idea," I sighed. "In a nation like this, I'm sure they honor the military, so we can say that Aang's father died while serving the military," My friends all looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I won't get into specifics, but if this nation is like any country from home, to be able to do the things they do, its people need to be patriotic. Giving Aang this kind of back story might help him gain a bit of slack and get him off the hook," I explained.

In the end, that was what we went with. Katara dressed herself as a pregnant woman and took Aang to school. We wished for the best as we stayed behind. Sokka was busy grumbling about how bad the idea of sending Aang to school was, and Toph and I simply nodded our heads in agreement every time he addressed us.

"So tell me, how is it that you came up with the whole dead dad thing?" Toph asked me.

"It's easy for me to draw parallels between the country I lived in and the Fire Nation," I sighed. "Believe it or not, I don't think the Fire Nation citizens really mean harm to the world, I think that they see this war as an attempt to help the world,"

"How could they have a twisted view of the world?" Toph asked.

"Tell someone a lie long enough, and they will start to believe it," I replied. "Every country in my world is guilty of the crimes committed here, I've seen of heard of all of this before," I laughed. "You could call me a Fire Nation citizen in a way,"

"Don't worry about it," Toph punched my shoulder. "I think you're a good guy,"

I felt my heart beat slightly faster. I don't know why, but the combination of the words "good" and "guy" being used in one sentence to describe me made my face feel hot.

"Are you alright?" I heard Toph laugh. I cursed as I remembered her ability to feel heartbeats.

"Shut-up," I mumbled, turning away.

I looked up and saw Katara and Aang returning. The Water-Tribe girls pulled the pillow out from her shirt and untied her hair. Sokka ran up to Aang, and he didn't look happy.

"That's it, no more school for you!"

"But I'm not ready to leave, I'm having fun for once," Aang protested. "You don't know what it's like to be a normal kid for me. You get to be normal all the time,"

I burst into a fit of laughter. "Sure, he's normal,"

"Listen, those kids are the future of the Fire Nation, if we want to change this place for the better, we need to give them a taste of freedom,"

"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire-monsters?" Sokka asked.

"I'm going to throw them a secret dance party!" Aang smiled as he did a little dance.

"NO!"

Despite Sokka's protests, we decided to help Aang organize his little party. Katara and I went into town to purchase some candles while Toph and Aang got the cave ready with their earth bending. By the end of the day, we had fixed up the cave to have tables and chairs, a stage for musicians and plenty of light to illuminate the interior.

"I can't believe we're having a dance party, it seems so…silly," Sokka said.

"Don't think of it as a dance party, think of it as a cultural event, celebrating the art of fancy footwork,"

"So… A dance party?" I asked.

Toph suddenly ordered us to stop bending, saying that our guests were near. Aang hid Appa deep into the cave, and soon, a large group of kids all dressed in uniforms that were identical to the one Aang wore stepping into the cave. We all greeted them, and Aang led the musicians onto the stage that Toph created. They began to play, and Aang seemed satisfied with the music. I turned to the kids and saw that none of them were dancing. One of the kids stepped forward and looked at Aang nervously.

"Now what do we do?" He asked. I could barely hear him over the music.

"This is when you start dancing!" Beamed the Avatar. His answer was met with a lot of protests. Aang sighed, and began to speak. "Listen guys, dancing isn't something you think about, it's a form of self expression that no one can take away from you."

"Maybe things were different in the colonies Kuzon, but we don't do that here," A boy said.

"Sure you do!" Aang countered. "I happen to know a few classic Fire Nation dances," Aang proceeded to show off a few dance moves to the kids, and after a few nudges of encouragement from Aang, they all started to dance. Some of the kids free-styled while others tried out Aang's moves.

"Who knew that Twinkle-Toes could dance?" Laughed Toph over the music. We were all sitting at a table, a small distance from the crowd.

"You did," I answered. "Isn't that why you call him Twinkle-Toes?" That got me a punch.

"Why don't you show us some dance moves?" Katara asked me.

"I'm no dancer," I replied, taking a sip from my drink.

"Come on, you said you didn't sing, but that didn't stop you,"

"You forced me to sing!" I protested. I felt some earth push me out of my seat and move my feet. I clumsily moved across the cave as Toph would send small pockets of earth beneath my feet to make me move. She was subtle enough to avoid detection, making me look like a complete fool. Many of the kids laughed when they saw me awkwardly step and tumble across the dance floor. I eventually managed to stand and step back to my seat. Toph and Katara were laughing.

"Hey Toph, you finished your drink?" I asked. Toph answered no between giggles. Before she could question why, I grabbed her drink and dunked it onto her. She had a look of utter shock on her face, and Katara just laughed with more ferocity.

"You can't say anything about that," I said, sitting down. "You deserved it," I knew I was going to pay for that later, but I didn't care.

"Hey Toph, what happened to you?" The voice of Aang asked from behind us.

"Nothing," She grumbled. Aang nodded, he then turned to Katara and extended his hand.

"I don't know, these shoes aren't right for dancing," She nervously mumbled. I was extremely tempted to call her out on that, but I held my tongue. Aang looked deep into the girl's eyes and smiled.

"Take my hand," He softly said. Katara smiled and followed him to the dance floor. Aang whispered something into her ear, and she nodded. They then started to dance, locking wrists together and circling around one another. Soon, a circle formed around them as everyone watched their dance.

"Aang, everyone's watching,"

"Don't worry about that, it's just you and me," The boy smiled.

They continued to dance, and as the music picked up, their movements became faster and more aggressive. They started to flip around, and move all around the circle that the kids had formed. They eventually finished, both of them were breathing hard, but their number was rewarded with cheers from the kids.

"I take it you won't do something like that with me?" I asked the drenched Toph next to me. She simply huffed and turned away from me. I laughed, and told her that I'd dry her out later.

"He's the one we want! The one with the headband!" A voice suddenly rang out in the cave. The music stopped and all of us turned to face the cave entrance. There was an old man dressed in a uniform surrounded by three soldiers. He was pointing at Aang who had a surprised look on his face. He ran into the crowd of kids, and the soldiers pursued him.

When one of the soldiers grabbed a kid with a headband, my heart stopped. When I saw the kid's face however, I was relieved to see that it wasn't Aang. I could see kids putting on headbands in the crowd; all of them had mischievous smiles on their faces.

We took the opportunity to slip away through the back of the cave. Toph sealed the tunnel behind us as we left the party without drawing any attention to ourselves. We all piled onto Appa and soon we were flying through the air once again.

"Looks like we're safe," Katara smiled.

"Alright Toph, hold still," I raised my arms and pulled the fluids out of her hair and clothes. As soon as she was dry, her fist flew forward and clobbered me in the face. "Worth it," I groaned as I started to massage my cheek.

"Way to go Aang," Toph smiled as she turned to the Avatar. "I really do think you helped those kids, you taught them to be free,"

"I don't know, it was just a dance party,"

"Sometimes, the small things we do in life bring about big changes," I said in a deep wise voice, earning a few giggles from my companions.

"Whatever the case, it was some dance party, Aang," Katara leaned forward and kissed the Avatar's cheek, causing the boy to blush a deep red.