A/n: This is in fact chapter 10. My chapter title was too long to have the chapter number. XD

Last Time…

I smirked and thought about my new connections and power.

"It was a very productive side trip. It was definitely worthwhile to go to Omashu."

My growling stomach calmed a little as I focused on the ripples in the little stream that passed by our camp. My fingertips lightly flitted over the surface of the water. Tiny mismatched rocks decorated the bottom of the clear stream. A school of tadpoles traveled past. The sound of someone huffing made me look up. Walking past my little perch, Sokka was practically dragging himself into camp with what looked like an empty bag.

Aang jumped up and over to Sokka, asking, "Great. You're back. What's for dinner?"

Sokka sighed, "We've got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval-shaped nuts. And some rock-shaped nuts that might just be nuts." He grabbed examples out of the bag to show us. Katara stared at the 'nut' in her hand blankly.

"Seriously, What else you got?" She asked. Sokka opened the bag up to the two. The synchronous falling of their faces told me everything I needed to know about what was in that bag.

BOOM

A loud boom echoed through the forest. I sat up so fast that I got black spots in my vision. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a couple times.

"What was that?" Sokka blanched.

BOOM

I jumped to my feet and spun around trying to find the source of the boom.

"It's coming from over there." Aang pointed before running off in that direction. Katara followed him without any hesitation. I pursed my lips at their recklessness, but ran after them and drew my sword.

"Shouldn't we run away from huge booms, not toward them?" Sokka pleaded behind us.

I yelled over my shoulder, "C'mon Sokka!"

I threw my sword out to the side and lopped a chuck out of every tree we passed, creating a trail for us to follow to get back to camp. Sokka was a faster runner than me and quickly overtook me. Thankfully, the source wasn't so far away that I lost sight of the gang. I crouched behind the same fallen tree as the rest of them. In a small ravine, a young man was lifting rocks and punching them into the stone wall with earthbending. I smiled. Haru was a nice person. I was kinda looking forward to meeting him.

"An earthbender!" Katara gaped.

"Let's go meet him!" Aang added excitedly.

Ever the tactical one, Sokka cautioned, "He looks dangerous, so we better approach cautiously."

Katara was already out in front of the log and greeted Haru.

"Hello there! I'm Katara. What's your name?"

Haru gasped at the sight of her and dropped his boulder. I leapt out from behind the log.

"We're not going to turn you in to the Fire Nation. Please don't-"

It was too late. Haru ran away swiftly causing a small avalanche in his wake. Aang and Sokka joined us girls in the middle of the ravine.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang yelled. For some reason, I doubted that Haru actually heard that.

"I just wanted to say hi." Katara shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and reasoned, "Maybe you should've approached him more cautiously like Sokka said."

"Ha!"

"Don't let that go to your head Sokka. I still think you're an idiot most of the time."

Aang burst out, "Hey guys! That guy's gotta be running somewhere. Maybe we're near a village. And I bet that village has a market."

"Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara cheered.

For the second time within 15 minutes, Aang and Katara ran off into a strange direction with no thought of how to get back. I sighed and Sokka whined beside me,"Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts!"

I clapped him on the back and reassured,"It's ok Sokka. We'll save them for when we might need them again." Then I ran off after our younger friends, creating the same trail as before.

Immediately as we walked in the village, I noticed the depressing atmosphere. Whether people were sitting or standing, their eyes were downcast and drooping. The few who were talking were monotone. My companions didn't seem to notice, instead rushing for the food stalls. I idled in the portal of the town, taking in the scene, and felt disheartened.

The show had never shown us this part: the completely blank expressions in people's faces; their dead eyes; or the lackluster way the kids played like they already knew their future was hopeless. I knew that we'd free this village, but there were many more just like it. The Fire Nation can't fuel all their ships with one village.

I dragged my feet forward to follow my ignorant friends into Haru's house, catching the beginning of the conversation.

"Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid."

Aang called him out in his lie, "No, she doesn't. We saw you earthbending."

Haru's mother ran past me, closing all the doors and windows.

"They saw you doing what?" She hissed angrily, turning on Haru.

Haru held out his arms in defense and argued, "They're crazy Mom! Just look at how they're dressed!"

My friends all adjusted their outfits nervously while I stared unimpressed at the boy. Obviously, Haru's mother wasn't an idiot and she fumed, "You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending."

Loud knocking came from outside the door and a gruff voice demanded, "Open up."

Sokka peered through the window, paled, and whispered, "Fire Nation! Act natural."

I turned to the wall and grabbed a fruit from one of the baskets and pretended to be weighing it in my hand as Haru's mother opened the door. The Fire Nation tax collector walked inside. He scrutinized the four children in front of him who were in the most unnatural poses I could imagine. Aang even fell into the barrel he had been leaning on.

"What do you want? I already paid you this week." Haru's mother demanded, her hands on her hips. The tax collector just smirked.

"The tax just doubled. And we wouldn't want an accident, would we?" He grinned and created a small flame in his hand manipulating it around intimidatingly.

"Fire is sometimes so hard to control."

He put out the fire and arrogantly turned to the woman. She led him to the counter and passed him all the coins that were left in her chest. Haru made his way to the counter and stared with contempt at the man.

"You can keep the copper ones." He sneered and dropped them on the floor. One rolled all the way over to my feet. All Fire Nation soldiers left the house and Haru's mother bent to pick up the coins. I reached down to the one next to me and handed it to the despairing woman with a somber expression.

"Nice guy." Sokka muttered. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

"Five years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships." Haru's mother explained.

Tightening his grip on the edge of the counter, Haru snapped, "They're thugs. They steal from us. And everyone here's too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"Quiet Haru! Don't talk like that!" Haru's mother chastised.

"But Haru's an earthbender. He can help." Katara exclaimed naively, thinking it to be the most obvious solution.

"Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village! He must never use his abilities."

But Katara still didn't understand and stepped forward, positing, "But Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."

Haru's mother shook her head and sighed, "You don't understand."

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara challenged.

"They could take Haru away. Like they took his father."

Katara gasped and went silent. I stepped forward and stated, "We're sorry for the trouble. We don't want to make matters worse for you. We're trying to survive in this horrible world, just like you are. But I imagine you've lost more than we have. I don't want you to think we pity you, but we're sorry for your loss. I'm sure your husband was a great man."

The old woman's eyes softened a bit.

"Thank you. You're very kind. Where are you headed? You must be travelers to have not known about the Fire Nation's presence here."

"We're headed to the Northern Water Tribe. We're trying to find Katara a teacher." Aang spoke up.

Haru's mother nodded, "Well, I can't do much to help. I can give you shelter until you decide to move on, but money's so tight that I can't spare any food for you if we're to make it through the winter."

I bowed my head. "That's more than we could've asked for. Thank you for your kindness."

We left the shop shortly after and wandered around town a bit. We went back around dinnertime and the pair led us to their house. Haru's mother went into their house to start preparing their dinner and Haru took us to their barn.

"My mom said you can sleep here tonight. But you should leave in the morning."

It was a cozy little barn. It would be fine for the night. Appa already walked in and made himself home by helping himself to the hay.

"Thanks." Aang winced, "I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay."

Appa turned to Aang and stopped chewing for a moment, then resumed just as quickly. I smiled and walked up to the huge furry beast. I unstrapped the saddle and stepped out of the way. Appa turned his body and the saddle fell to the ground. I moved everyone's stuff out of it and spread out my sleeping bag. Then I face planted onto it.

Haru asked, "It's only dinnertime. Why are you going to sleep?"

My right eyebrow creeping up my forehead, I raised my head and deadpanned, "So?"

I released the isolated movement and plopped my head back down.

Sokka slapped his hand on Haru's shoulder and laughed, "Don't worry about her. She sleeps all the time."

"Oh."

There was some shuffling and scuffing then silence. Ah, comforting silence.

A cough here.

A shuffle of feet there.

A small gust of the wind.

Peace.

Sokka and Aang were completely silent and, even as I knew that Aang was playing with his airbending, I couldn't even hear it. Sokka was probably eating his portion of our dinner. Oh oops. I forgot about dinner. Eh. One extra portion for us later.

"They took him!"

I jerked up at Katara's sudden declaration. I hurriedly brushed my hair out of my face.

"Huh?"

"They took Haru away!"

I rubbed my eyes and blinked away the blurriness.

"Wha-"

"The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It's all my fault. I forced him into earthbending!"

Sokka, who was already up and folding up his sleeping bag, walked over to his panicking and calmly asked, "Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?"

"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight."

Sokka ruefully looked out the barn door at the open sea.

"Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone."

Katara turned towards the door and clenched her fists. She growled, "We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru."

Aang asked, "And… why would they do that?"

"Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending."

She stomped out of the barn. Sokka and Aang exchanged nervous looks before following her. I rolled my eyes and fell back onto my blanket. After a long arduous process of waking myself up, I went over to Haru's house and found Haru's mother rocking slightly in a rocking chair, humming to herself. I slowly approached her. She didn't acknowledge me even as I ended up right in front of her. I knelt down and took her hands in mine. She blinked a couple times and looked down at her hands.

"Everything's going to be alright. I promise you. You'll see your son again."

Her humming stopped. I bit my lip. I didn't want to break her. Losing her son made her very fragile and I couldn't let her break herself apart.

"I know it seems hopeless right now, but Aang is the Avatar and we're going to do all we can to get him back."

She lifted her head a bit.

"Your friend is... the Avatar?"

I chuckled, "Doesn't look it, does he?"

She breathed out a small laugh and nodded. I gripped her hands tight.

"We'll get your son back," I promised.

She looked into my eyes. I had mine set in a determined stare. This seems to satisfy her and she nodded. I bowed my head and left, looking for my friends. It took me a while to find them. I checked in the barn, in the town, near the front entrance to the mines and found nothing. I shrugged and started wandering the town some more. I ended up sitting on the edge of the docks and just waiting. Eventually, they'd show up. That was a part of their plan anyways.

And as I predicted, Sokka and Aang walked past me with terrible disguises. Aang was strutting and holding his chest up, contorting his body weirdly. Sokka was hunched over on a cane and moaning loudly with each step. I shook my head at their antics. They were horrible at sneaking. Neither of them were Slytherins, that's for sure. I started walking behind them.

"Hey guys. Where's Katara?" I asked nonchalantly. Aang literally jumped ten feet into the air, losing his hat disguise in the process. Sokka dropped his cane and turned around in a horrible fighting pose. My hand flew up to my face and I rubbed my forehead in disappointment. Seriously, I needed to teach these guys some stealth. Sokka brushed himself off.

"Oh Rei, it's you. Don't sneak up on us like that."

"My apologies, Sokka, I'll let you keep walking around in those terrible disguises next time and not decide to help you in whatever foolish and brash rescue plan you have."

"Hey! It's not foolish or brass!" Sokka exclaimed. I smirked and shook my head. God these kids were… well... kids.

"Well what is your plan then? Please inform me of this brilliant plan of yours." I implored, waving my hands about all fancy-like. Sokka and Aang shrunk back and exchanged nervous looks. Although I already knew what the plan was, I wanted them to tell me themselves. Sokka and Aang started fighting to stand behind the other one. I rubbed between my eyes.

"Honestly…"

And I didn't even get to finish that thought because Aang airbended Sokka into me, tipping us both over onto the ground. I pushed Sokka off me and stood. I glared at the withering monk. Then, I took a breath and smiled at him.

"Aang, tell me what the plan is. I just need you guys to tell me so I can help." I cooed holding a teeth-rotting smile plastered on my face. Aang held his hands behind his back.

"Well, um, we- kinda… got Katara… arrested."

I blinked a couple of times at Aang, pretending to not understand what he was saying. Then I gritted my teeth together.

"You… thought it was a good idea to purposefully get Katara arrested by the Fire Nation."

"Um… well it was Katara's idea."

"Aang, that doesn't make it better! You should have brains of your own. You're the Avatar! I know you've been in the ice for a hundred years, but that does not excuse you from not having basic common sense!" I stormed and stomped over to the edge of the dock. As harsh as it was, especially for a 12 year-old, Aang needed to learn as early as possible that his actions had consequences. If we messed this plan up, Katara could be found out and taken. Then Aang would be found out as well. And it would be my fault because everything worked out fine in the show.

"Sorry Rei…"

Aang's tone was heartbreaking. No… I shouldn't have done that. He'd learn eventually even without my involvement. I turned and grasped Aang into a hug.

"I'm sorry Aang. I'm just worried about Katara. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's ok Rei. I messed up."

"No! Don't talk like that. You did fine. I know that Katara always seems like she knows what she's doing. Just, sometimes, you can't blindly follow. Everyone makes mistakes, even me. We're going to get Katara out of this together." I squeezed tighter for a second and leaned into the hug even more. Aang reciprocated and I smiled gently.

"Hey! Where's my love?" Sokka interjected from the side. I whipped my head to him and dragged him into the love huddle. Aang started laughing and I joined in. Sokka huffed, but wrapped his arms around both of us. After a couple seconds, I started to detach myself. Aang and Sokka didn't seem to want to let go.

"Alright. Alright, c'mon guys."

We stepped away from each other. However, at least to me, it felt like we were more connected than ever. I smiled and commanded, "Let's go get her. If possible, we'll get Haru as well, but Katara's the main priority. Lead the way."