A/N: Apologies for the delay, my job is systematially murdering most of my free time. But I hope to have this story finished by the end of the year. Thanks to Sylvacoer and enjoy the show.


The Earth Kingdom naval base of Lansung had been destroyed. That, at least, was the official story and one that the Fire Navy supported. Artillery bombardments had broken and shattered it, the ensuing invasion of ground troops had swept the Earth Kingdom defenders away, and the final application of high explosives under the guidance of skilled demolitionists had erased the once-mighty structure for all time. All that remained was blackened rubble, a smoky stain on the rocky western coast. And yet…the deep-carved ocean floor, shaped by earthbenders to let the biggest of warships put into port, remained intact, and the overland road that led into the high mountains, to Earth Army bases, was also intact and securely held. General Fong's soldiers needed supplies, and sometimes, merchant ships docked here in the dead of night to offload cargo, knowing that if they were seen, Fire Navy retribution would be swift. However, the gold from the mines still in Earth Army hands was worth the risk in the minds of the most calculating (or greediest). It was the perfect place for a hidden rendezvous.

The captured warship lay at anchor in Lansung's sheltered bay, alongside several Water Tribe ships, their sails furled. Ashore, the men and women who had pledged their lives to the slimmest chance of victory got to know each other and took this last opportunity to relax. Aboard the ironclad, in the ship's bridge high above the deck, the leaders of the invasion laid their plans.

The table was still crowded. Though it was bigger here on the bridge, there were more people now. Bato had been joined by Hakoda, who now occupied the seat at the head of the table. The head mechanist of the Northern Air Temple—Siensao had never caught his name—was scribbling notes before the meeting began, a pile of scrolls sitting close to hand. A Northern Water Tribe waterbender looked none too happy to be sitting beside Tho and the feeling was mutual from the chilly looks passing between them. Another of the irregulars stood behind Pipsqueak and the Duke. Lastly, much to Siensao's delight, a Tumen archer was the final addition to their ranks, representing some thirty of his people, the finest marksmen that could be spared and were willing to lend their aid to this mad venture. Jomei, Zoukani, Kyuzo, and Reki were also present, but the former three stood behind Siensao rather than getting a chair of their own.

Hakoda was the only remaining challenge to Siensao's leadership of the diversionary force. The southern Chieftain had been leading his people for a long time and successfully recruited, organized, and gathered this invasion force from all over the world in under two months. He wouldn't be comfortable with handing over command of such people to someone he didn't know. He'd want to make his own judgment. He would be difficult to win over. Naturally, it was he who began things.

He made no overt attempt to call things to order. What he did, after the last of the attendees arrived, was to unroll two maps, one of the Fire Nation at large and one of the capital city. They were big maps, so he had to ask for some help from the others, which was readily given, and had the incidental effect of letting them know things were about to start. Subtle, clever, and effective. Siensao liked him already, all the more because she didn't think he'd have chosen that method over another, it was just the way he knew how to lead.

"If you don't know why we're all here by now," he began, a little smile on his face, "I'd be very surprised, so I'll skip that part and get straight to the problem in front of us. You all know, more or less, the forces we've managed to gather here and what they can do, and what you don't know, we'll be covering first. That being said, I have good news and bad news about the overall state of our forces. There are too many of us for just an invasion."

He let that sink in a moment, then chuckled.

"I know, it sounds silly, right? But you'll understand what I mean once we get going. You see, we decided very early on that rather than going straight through whatever naval defenses the Fire Nation has, we needed a way to bypass all of them and get everything we can onto the beaches as fast as possible. Our ships are vulnerable to fire and this warship draws too much water. That's when my son got an idea, which as any of you that have spent time around children know, is a very dangerous thing."

A quiet ripple of laughter echoed throughout the room.

"But in this case," Hakoda went on, "It was a good thing. Our allies from the Northern Air Temple made his idea reality and the result is now sitting in this ship's hold. You've probably seen them, but have no idea what they're for. I'll let our mechanist friend explain." He nodded to the other man, who was grinning excitedly.

"We call them submarines," he said, selecting one of the papers from the pile in front of him and handing it to the person on his right, presumably to pass around. Some hid their confusion better than others as the scroll made its way around. "Or just subs for short. Their purpose, in far too brief terms, is to carry people and equipment underwater."

That statement had most of the attendees looking awestruck or at least very interested. Jomei had gone rather green again, anticipating an underwater journey. Siensao had a struggle keeping her mouth closed.

The mechanist chuckled at the stunned silence.

"Yes, exactly! It revolutionizes everything, doesn't it?! The key was waterbending, you see. That was what our young genius realized. Waterbenders have combined their strength to let ships travel underwater for brief periods before, of course, but it takes quite a few of them, isn't sustainable for any great length of time, and the ships in question simply aren't built for it. With these subs, it will only take a few waterbenders each to make them sink or float, and they have been specifically designed to be able to run up onto a beach and allow quick deployment of a good number of men and machines. With them, we can get past any Fire Nation naval defenses without any trouble. Or so we must hope."

"Do they have weapons?" Reki asked.

He nodded, some of the cheerfulness leaving his face at the remark.

"Yes, each of them has two forward-mounted weapons in case we have to deal with any underwater barriers at the capital. We pack blasting jelly in a sort of tapered cylinder of ice, you see, and a waterbender propels them outwards at great velocity. All the tests have been most successful."

"Could they be used against ships?" Reki asked, a slow smile spreading across her face.

The mechanist looked thoughtful.

"Hm. I hadn't actually thought of that, but yes, I suppose they could be improvised for use against ordinary ships."

"Then I want one," Reki said, leaning forwards slightly.

"We'll get to that," Hakoda promised, raising a hand to forestall the mechanist's reply. "I just needed everyone to understand our position. We only have a limited number of subs and each of them only has so much room. But they have to carry our entire invasion force. As it is, we just have too many people to fit into them. However, we can use that, and this warship, to our advantage and split up into an invasion force and a diversionary force to draw attention and troops away from the capital."

"So we gotta figure out who's going where, huh?" Tho said, looking relieved now that the mechanist had stopped talking. "Easy enough."

"It's a bit more complicated than that," the northern waterbender said, frowning.

"Yes!" the Tumen leader agreed, her braids swaying as she leaned forward. "My people came here to fight, not to throw our lives away in some mad raid!"

Hakoda stood up. There was something about him that commanded attention and halted the brewing argument. His smile was gone and he looked out at the leaders with deadly seriousness. "Let me make one thing clear: this isn't about who's good enough to be in the invasion force. If it was, every one of us would have a place there. It's about where you're needed the most, and I think you know that you all have different skills and not all of them will be the most useful in the invasion. So I want your honest opinions as to where you think you would do the best. We'll start with you, Captain." He nodded towards Dai Shan, who looked faintly admiring.

"My company is mostly heavy infantry with earthbender support," he said. "We should be the core of the invasion force. We'll be most useful in a pitched, close-quarters battle like that."

From there, the decisions came fairly easily and predictably, after much debate and posturing, of course. The swamp benders would go with the invasion force for waterbending support and to get them away from the northern waterbenders. The northern combat style needed more open space and abundant water and its practitioners would be going with the diversionary forces. The irregulars would be split, since their peculiar talents would be an asset to either force. The mechanist's people were needed to operate and maintain the war machines for the invasion. The Southern Water Tribe warriors would be with the invasion, their lighter infantry and fluid fighting style giving that force more mobility and flexibility. The northern warriors would stay with the diversion, since they fought best alongside their waterbenders, combining their talents. The Tumen mounted archers would be wasted in a fight through flat killing fields, but as part of a diversion, their accuracy would prove deadly. Siensao's people all elected to stay with the diversionary force, of course. When everyone had made their preference known, then the crucial point of the meeting began. Siensao braced herself. Curtain's up and the audience is restless.

"There's just one more important problem to attend to before we get ready to move out." His steady gaze settled on the merchant for a moment. "And that's who is in overall command of the diversionary force. You all need to agree on someone. It has to be someone whose orders you'll obey instantly, whose wisdom you trust, and whose skill in battle you respect. I don't want you stopping to second-guess this choice in the middle of the operation. Since all of you are already leaders among your own people, it has to be one of you." He looked towards Siensao. "I've been told that you're responsible for a great deal of our intelligence and supplies thus far, and that you're skilled at planning campaigns. I believe you would make a good leader. But I'm only one person. Everyone else going with you has to believe that, and they deserve a chance to make their opinions known, and tell us who they think should lead and why. So, first off, who here thinks they should lead?"

The northern waterbender, Reki, Siensao, and the leader of the irregulars staying on the warship raised their hands. The swordswoman and merchant had planned that from the beginning. No matter which of them got the job, the other would have a vital role to play, Reki in winning battles, Siensao in planning the war, and either could fill the other's role in a pinch. Hakoda pointed at the irregular, a scrawny, hard-looking woman in battered Fire Army armor that was too big for her and sporting deep burn scars down her neck. Siensao had seen her in firebending practice and knew just how much of her small frame was burned.

"All right, let's start with you," the southern chieftain said. "Tell us why you should lead."

"Name's Ishizuka," the irregular said, grinning brightly. Her reddish-gold eyes roved over the table, reading the signs. "And my firebenders, scrappers, and sappers can whip any gang of any of your lot, if you let us pick the battlefield. That's all war is about, picking fights you know you can win. And we're used to cobbling together odds and ends to make do and whip anyone we have to. You let me at'em, and you won't regret it. That's all I've got to say."

"And why are you fighting your own nation, if you don't mind me asking?" Kyuzo asked.

She looked over at him, seeming honestly surprised.

"'Cause you're paying me a fucking fortune, why else? And there's more coming if we win. Besides, it's kind of what I do, y'know? Fight people and so forth. If the Fire Nation wins the war, they'll make my job a whole fucking lot harder."

"I refuse to serve under a mercenary, much less such a foul-mouthed girl," the northern waterbender stated firmly. Ishizuka let out a loud bark of laughter and she tilted her head from side to side, cracking her neck.

"Oh, you wanna fucking start something?! Anytime, anywhere, buddy. I'll remove that stick from your ass and beat you bloody with it."

"Strange, I didn't know picking fights with your own forces was good leadership," Reki said, her sarcasm on full display.

"Hey, no one asked for your two coppers," Ishizuka shot back. "And in my bunch, you're the leader because you can swat the snot out of anyone that gets uppity like that just as much because you know what the fuck you're doing in a fight and in a war."

"I could kill you now," Reki said calmly, her face deadly serious. "Does that make me fit to lead?"

Ishizuka paled, leaning back slightly.

"Uh, hey," she said, a truculent look on her face. "Didn't mean to offend you. Or anyone. But you gotta have at thick skin in my bunch. Guess that's something I'd have to get used to if you pick me. Hey, boss-man, you wanna move things along? We ain't getting anywhere here."

Hakoda, having watched the entire exchange and made his judgment on her, no doubt, did just that. Next up was the northern waterbender.

"My name is Kiviuk," he said. He was on the wrong side of middle age, with leathery, wind-worn features, brown hair just starting to turn grey in a long wolf-tail, and earrings of carved ivory. "I and my people have fought the Fire Nation all the way down the northwest coast of the Earth Kingdom to get here. And before that, we honed our skills on the pirates of the northern coast, particularly those outcasts of our tribe who turned to murder and thieving. We can face any challenge set before us, no matter who we must work with to do so. Whatever we must do, we will do, by any means we have." He pointed at Ishizuka. "That girl is driftwood from the poisonous cities of the Fire Nation. Cunning, no doubt, and vicious. But it is wisdom and fluidity that win wars. That is what I have to say."

Tho shook his head.

"Mister, you are some kind of liar. You ain't been nothing but stuck-up to me and mine since we met and that sure ain't wisdom."

"Then it's fortunate you won't be joining us," Kiviuk growled.

"You have problems with them," Pipsqueak put in, crossing arms like tree trunks, "you have problems with us, too."

"This is absurd!" Kiviuk protested. "I've bent over backwards to try and treat you fairly! You refuse to behave in a civilized fashion and my people take offense! Must I tell them to tolerate your every foolishness?!"

"You should tell them," Siensao said smoothly, steepling her hands in front of her, "to look for things to admire in the customs of others rather than things to condemn. I understand your tribe is proud and you have much to be proud of. But if you remind others of that too often, it becomes contempt and they respond in kind."

"Or more to the point, respect a strong enemy as much if not more than your friends," Reki added. "And trust in your own strength. It will not be worn away through friendship."

Kiviuk kept his upright posture, but his voice was softer.

"So long as that girl does not lead, I have no wish to either. I know I am not most suited for it. But I will not serve under her."

"Yeah, feeling's mutual, buddy," Ishizuka muttered, scowling across the table at him. "I only tossed my name in there because there's no fucking way I'm gonna bend over and take it from that moony bastard."

"Again, thank you for being honest," Hakoda said, a wry grin on his face. He turned to look at Reki and Siensao.

"The two of you have been working together for a long time, or so I'm told. Why have both of you volunteered?"

"Because that's two chances for someone everyone else can agree on," Reki answered bluntly. "Strength in numbers. Since we're the only two left, though, I withdraw. I win battles and plan wars, but Siensao knows who to fight and when and why better than I do."

"Then I guess that's settled," Hakoda remarked. "Unless anyone has any objections?"

There were none, and Siensao carefully kept a satisfied smile off her face. It would not do to gloat. Silence is as good as a standing ovation sometimes.

"Then let's get down to the finer points of our new equipment, invasion plans, and diversionary plans," the Water Tribe chieftain said. "The world is counting on us. Let's not let them down."

Siensao did smile then, despite herself. Dammit, I like him. Kyuzo with brains, almost. Too bad he won't be with us.


"I'm not sure what to say," Nerrivek said, looking down at her feet.

"Well, you don't need to say anything if you don't want to," Huu said, shoulders rolling in a slow shrug. "We'll sure be sorry to see you go. On the other hand, you might learn better from another waterbender from your neck of the woods."

"Perhaps," the sniper murmured, turning to regard the anchored warship. The two of them stood just outside the coalition encampment on shore, where the fun and games were in full swing. "They will teach me because they know how desperate matters are. But they'll never welcome me as you have. I'll miss that a lot."

"You'll still have your other friends," Huu reminded her. "They seem like good folks, more or less. They'll look after you."

"No, they won't," Nerrivek said, her voice turning bitter and dark. "They know I mean Siensao harm. Only Xin has ever looked at me as anything other than a tool."

"Oh, you still don't like her?" Huu said, scratching his head. "I thought what with how much better you were doing, you'd given that up."

"It doesn't matter if I tried to change things between us or not," Nerrivek murmured, turning to start walking towards the camp at a slow pace. Huu ambled along behind her. "She still wouldn't trust me," the waterbender went on. "And if she'll only ever think of me that way, why shouldn't I be what she expects?"

"Seems kinda like a spider-snake chasing its own tail there," the swamp bender mused. "You don't like her because she doesn't trust you, so you don't do anything to try and earn her trust, so she doesn't trust you, so you don't like her. Just keeps going around and around. I'd say that one of you is going to have to take the first step out of that circle and I don't think your friend is the one to do it. She seems awful proud."

"She is," Nerrivek said, thinking of that cold, triumphant smile burning into her soul as the merchant laid out in exquisitely painful terms just how badly the waterbender was overmatched in a battle of wits. "But it isn't just that. She's still dangerous and still a threat to the Earth Kingdom."

"I'm actually kind of curious about that," Huu remarked. "Just what kind of threat is she? What's she planning to do, take over the place?"

"I'm sure that she wants a strong and united Earth Kingdom under Ba Sing Se," Nerrivek bit out. "With her playing the Earth King like a drum. And then she'd expand that syndicate of hers across the world and within a decade, everyone and everything would be run or manipulated from somewhere in the shadows, hidden away from justice. That kind of thing has to be stopped, now, before she gets going."

Huu laughed, and though he caught himself quickly, Nerrivek whirled about, glaring daggers.

"What's so funny?!" she snapped.

"Well, when you put it like that, it just sounds silly," he explained, still grinning in a rather infuriating fashion. "You're thinking five, ten, twenty years ahead and you can't have any idea of what'll happen between now and then than I do, or anyone does. Why not just wait and see what happens? No need to worry about Siensao for a while yet, I'd figure. And if things do start getting bad, well, you'll be older and wiser and hopefully have friends to help you out. Or let me put it another way. You don't like Siensao, but what do you think of her friends?"

"Most of them are good enough, like you say," Nerrivek said reluctantly. "I honestly don't understand why they don't see the danger, or if they do, why they don't agree with me."

"There you go, then," Huu said, giving another massive shrug. "Just hold off on going up against Siensao for a few years and you and them will get along just fine."

"But as soon as the war's over, she'll have me killed!" Nerrivek protested.

"What, when you're good friends with her good friends? I don't think so," Huu said, shaking his head. "If more people knew each other across the world, there would be a lot less fighting. Most folks are the same as you or me, deep down. We're all just trying to get by and live good lives. That's my advice for you. Put off this whole thing for a while and just focus on what's important."

Nerrivek turned around again and began walking. She wore a troubled look, studying her feet again.

"I'll…think about it," she said.

"Good, good! In the meantime, why don't you come on over and try your hand at swamp skiing?"

"Is that anything like wave riding?" Nerrivek asked, raising an eyebrow. Huu's answering smile looked decidedly cagey.

"Maybe."


This time was going to be different. That was the thought at the back of Jomei's mind throughout the day. All during the war meeting and afterwards, even while enjoying the impromptu festivities before their departure. He admired Jura's ability to shape stone into a rough semblance of an animal in the space of a few minutes, rolled his eyes at The Boulder and some other earthbenders from Dai Shan's company trading insults and volleys of rock, and shook his head at those few who had borrowed some of the Northern Air Temple gliders and were seeing who could fly the farthest from an earthbent ramp. Throughout the day, that one thought still nudged at his mind. This time was going to be different. They were about to attack the Fire Nation on their home ground. The sun was close to the western horizon when at last he spoke to Reki about it. The two of them stood together on a lonely expanse of Lansung's rocky shore, far enough from the camp that the sounds of revelry only drifted towards them faintly. He had put up with the good-natured joking about he and Reki being together, but when talking about that which troubled him, he valued his privacy. But first things first.

"Are you ready?" he asked. "I know you've done all right so far with command and such, but you just got your head on straight a month and a half or so ago and there are bits and pieces of the Blood Drinker still in there, I'd bet. Call me a fool if you like, but I worry about these things."

"You aren't foolish," Reki said gravely. "At least not this time. That's why I asked for you and the others to advise me. If you see anything wrong, say so at once. You can trust me because I trust you."

Jomei let out a relieved sigh. "That's well enough, I guess. So then…do you think I'm ready for this?"

"That question has been on my mind as much as it has yours, I imagine," Reki admitted, frowning. She turned and walked a short distance away. When she turned to face him again, he saw what was to come written on her features and in the way her half-hand had fallen to her sword hilt.

"I will test your skill to its limit," she said grimly, "and we'll see if you're ready."

Jomei unlimbered his hammer and raised it up into a ready position, dropping into the low horse stance of an earthbender born and trained. Reki slid one foot forward as she too took a fighting stance and eased her sword a half inch out of the scabbard, her other hand reaching around to grasp the hilt. For a long moment, the endless, cold wind off the western ocean was all that moved.

Jomei tried to read Reki and the moment like Aariak had taught him, to feel the rising tension and the time to act. He tried to reach out to the earth under his feet like Xin had shown him, striving for even a hint of the attunement he sometimes knew. And his muscles tensed, bracing for speed, for Ganzorig and the Tumen had taught him that, how to be fast, faster, fastest. He brought to mind all the moves that Hanhei had explained, the old forms Dongzhou had pushed him to practice again and again. And he still knew it wasn't enough. Nothing could be enough. But he would still try. The tension jumped sharply and he tasted acid. Now!

He dropped out of sight, burrowing away as Reki's sword appeared in her hand and she flew towards him like an arrow, arriving just barely too late. While he tunneled along, he took the opportunity to harden some of the sand into stone armor. He blasted up out of the ground about thirty paces behind where she had originally stood, wanting distance. She was nowhere to be seen and he knew why. She's done some burrowing herself. He let go of his hammer with one hand to start compacting sand into stone, and that was when she struck, exploding out of the shallow cover she had dug into, not ten paces distant. She rolled forwards and to her feet, sword stabbing at his eyes. He performed the wind stride form, the earth carrying him back and away in a great jolting slide, though it was harder with sand and he didn't go as far as he'd hoped. She sprinted towards him again, but he still had time to try another move.

He slammed his hammer down in front of him and an enormous dust cloud roared into the air, almost catching her full on in the face but she jerked aside at the last second, spinning like a top. Before he could take advantage of their mutual blindness and move, she was there again. Her sword clanged against his hammer in a wild stroke, but from that stroke she knew where the rest of him was and the world blurred into a haze of desperate blocking and blind hammer swings. She was pushing him back, always back, and the dust was the only reason she hadn't found a gap in his armor or used his own force and strength to bring him down and he knew it. He took a horrendous gamble and thrust both arms out ahead of him. His armor burst off him in a flurry of stone shards, peppering the air around him. He heard the muffled thump of a body hitting sand, but also the scuffling that meant she was on the way back to her feet.

He burrowed away again, burning with fear and shame at how easily she forced him into retreat. A great earthbender wouldn't need to keep using the move, he was sure. Emerging a good distance from where he had last stood, armored again, he didn't dare match his ears against hers, but brought down the dust cloud. Reki was twenty paces away this time and he knew she'd come straight at him. He let go of his hammer with one hand again and reached down into the earth below him. Just in time, he shot upwards on a column of stone, rising fifteen feet above the ground and beyond her reach. From there, he could earthbend all day without her being able to get at him. It was another coward's tactic, but it was all he had.

His mind raced, trying to think of possible ways to get at her down at the base of the column. Two walls, crush her between them, wait, no, tried that one already, she got to the top and from there she could jump to me. Basic thrown rock is too easy to dodge. Same with sinking into a pit, or the spiked pit trap. Dammit! I'm not fast enough to catch her with anything while she's so close to me! It's a standoff! I have to come down sometime. In a real fight I'd be a sitting turtle-duck up here!

He swung his hammer, shearing off the column so that it fell towards her. She sidestepped almost casually and kicked sand at his face as he landed. He closed his eyes for a second and that was all she needed to get in close again and he had no dust cloud to hide him. He slammed his hammer down, two-handed, and a minor earthquake shook the beach, sending a small wave of sand puffing outwards all around him. But it wasn't nearly as intense as it would have been with stone. If I was a sandbender, I could do this! I need solid stone to work with! Reki had been knocked back, but not very far, and again he only had a second or two before she came in sword range. He made his choice. Win or lose, here and now.

He dropped his hammer and raised his hands and she stopped at once.

"I surrender," he said, the words scraping his throat raw. "You've got me. I don't think I could have tunneled off again this time. I'm not fast enough with that move yet."

She lowered her sword and returned it to the sheath. "No," she agreed. "You're not. And for the record, you make too much noise when tunneling. I could have put myself behind you when you came up the first time and you'd never have seen the killing blow. There's a gap in your armor where the back plate meets the neck."

Jomei let his armor fall off, hanging his head. So that's how she kept knowing where I'd come up. I should've thought of that.

"All I can say is that fighting you won't be like fighting the Fire Nation," he muttered. Her eyebrows went up.

"Go on," she invited him, closing the remaining distance between them. She was breathing hard, and her brow was damp with sweat, and Jomei was similarly tired. A battle wore you down a lot faster than most people thought.

"Well, we'll all be fighting together and fighting other people who are also fighting together and there'll be all kinds of tactics and things we'll be using. It won't be like this at all. I know that doesn't mean much about how good a fighter I am, but I suppose it's worth mentioning."

"Jomei," Reki said, that gentle smile on her face that few other people saw, "the only object of all this was for me to reassure myself that you aren't the worst warrior that we have. Because that's how you measure the strength of any band of warriors. When you have to work together, the worst of you drags the rest down with them because they have to look after them. We won't have to look after you. You're ready for whatever is coming, because we'll face it together."

Jomei found himself at a loss for words. Then he burst out laughing at his own foolishness. After a moment, Reki was laughing, too.


The last great event of that day took place when the sun was a sliver of gold upon the western horizon. From the deck of the warship, a burning white rocket shrieked upwards and burst in a blue-green fire-flower. More swiftly followed, spreading brief splashes of color across the evening sky and leaving hazy puffs of smoke drifting eastward. Kyuzo had been working hard, turning many of the warship's signal flares into things meant to bring joy and not death, and now, his face and hands streaked with soot but his eyes alight, he listened to the cheering of the people on shore and the grime on his face was soon marked with the passage of tears. Jomei and Reki watched the show from their secluded patch of sand and the miner admitted that maybe the firebender had done something right again. The night saw little sleep from anyone, and the morning came all too soon.

The process of bringing a Fire Navy Inferno-class warship to life was more complex than it looked. First, there was the accounting to be done, with people crawling through the dark, evil-smelling cargo holds with paper and charcoal, marking down how many of one thing or another was stored there. Inspection teams swarmed over the outer hull, too, with waterbenders taking them down under the ship, checking every last rivet and barnacle for weak spots, rust, or leaks in the making. Not that they could do much about it, but the ship would stay afloat until the comet came, at least. The jagged gash near the bow from a Ripper Harpoon shot, patched on the fly when the ship was first captured, had been bent back (or so Siensao was told, though bending metal was so far as she knew impossible) into shape and crimped over, but it was by far the weakest point on the ship.

Then when they were sure nothing had been left behind, there was roll call, making sure that no one had been left behind or was trying to sneak onto the invasion force. The inevitable few who were discovered doing just that were firmly escorted back to their assigned places.

After roll call came the warming up of the engines, with the great boilers lit and the stokers shoveling coal under Sakati's watchful eyes. Steam pressure built slowly but steadily, the needles on gauges climbing on upwards. Smoke belched from the stacks in a growing stream. Down below, the Water Tribe ships unfurled their sails and caught the morning breeze, with waterbenders speeding them on their way out of the cove.

"They're getting ahead of us already," Kyuzo remarked from his place on the bridge. As the person in charge of signal flares and flags if they needed to use either, he had to be close at hand.

"Well, it's only sporting to give them a head start," Siensao said lightly. The captain's chair had some very nice padding on it and was within easy reach of the speaking tubes that led throughout the ship. "All stations, report."

"The helm is ready," Kiviuk said from his place at the wheel. The Water Tribesman was the best they had at navigation and knew the ways of the sea like no other.

"Weapons are ready," Ishizuka said, grinning wickedly. "Want to lob a shot across their bow?"

"Not just yet," Siensao answered, leaning over to one of the speaking tubes. "Engineering, what's your status?"

"My lady is awake and breathing fire, cap'n!" came Sakati's shrill shout, followed by a cackling laugh. "Dragon's breath can't melt her and the spirits are dancing in the coals!"

"Excellent," Siensao said, rolling her eyes. "All ahead, slow, then. Helm, take us out."

The rumble of the engines grew louder and white water foamed at the ship's aft as the heavy props began turning. The people crowding every inch of the railings on deck raised a cheer as the ship began moving.

The massive ironclad took ten minutes, easily, just to get out of the cove, and more to get up to speed. But when they got there…well, the gawkers on deck waved and swore at the Water Tribe ships, tacking into the wind that their own vessel ignored and falling steadily behind, along with the Earth Kingdom. There was nothing but ocean, sky, and cloud ahead. But beyond sight waited their greatest enemy and perhaps, hope for the world.

"We're clear of the shallows and reefs," Kiviuk said, looking reluctantly satisfied at the ship's handling. "What's our course?"

"Let's make this official," Siensao said, leaning towards the speaking tube for addressing all hands, the biggest one. Later, she would claim it was merely an accident, though with a smile and wink. "Set course for the Fire Nation! Steady as she goes!"

And as simply as that, the course of the war began shifting. As they continued west, Siensao found herself thinking of the new name they had given the ship, so as to keep their disguise intact a little longer. Strangely enough, it was Kyuzo's suggestion that had been chosen from among all the potential names on the registry books of the Fire Navy. Now, painted in bright red characters on the bow, was the name Green Fire Within the Depths. Ostensibly, the phrase referred to the deep sea-green of the warm tropical waters of the Fire Nation homeland. But she knew who he had meant it for and the name seemed appropriate. Like the woman whose name it bore, the ship was scarred, but whole, and its crew braver than they had any right to be. And they would need that bravery very soon. There were dark days ahead.