We travelled within the cover of a cloud that Aang, Katara and I made, taking turns keeping it surrounding us whilst we were flying so that nobody would notice a huge flying bison in the sky. "I think I see a cave below." Aang called to us as he leaned over the side of Appa's head, looking down through the cloud layer.

"Shh! Keep quiet!" Sokka hissed as Appa brought us down to land and Aang dispersed the cloud with a blast of air. The cloud made it all damp, so I quickly bent the excess water off my clothes before doing the same for Toph, Appa and Momo who swooped overhead, dripping water over me before I got rid of it. Meanwhile, Sokka had jumped off Apaa and started to scout out the area, being comically cautious and looked more than a little ridiculous. "Great job with the cloud camo, but next time, let's disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud who knows how to keep its mouth shut."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in." Toph drawled sarcastically as Sokka turned around and looked at us unhappily.

"Hey! We're in enemy territory." With his back against a rock, he pointed upwards to a group of birds that were perched above his head. "Those are enemy birds."

"Oh no! We're finished!" I threw up my hands and dramatically covered my eyes with my arm. "Done for, it's over! We have been found by the enemy birds…who can't talk." The others laughed at my dramatics but Sokka remained unamused, shaking his head and grumbling as we moved in towards the cave to take a closer look. Sokka inspected it all much like he'd inspected the outside, pinning his back to the outside before leaping in with a chop of his hands, preparing to face some kind of looming threat before he shrugged, deeming it safe to enter.

"Well, this is it. This is how we'll be living until the invasion begins. Hiding in cave after cave...after cave...after cave..."

"Sokka, we don't need to become cave people. What we need is some new clothes." Katara reasoned, pulling at her Water Tribe getup.

"Yeah, blending in is better than hiding out. If we get Fire Nation disguises, we'll be just as safe as we would be hiding in a cave."

"Plus, they have real food out there. Does anyone wanna sit in the dirt and eat cave-hoppers?" Toph questioned, having already made herself at home slouching against a rock, but then she slammed her fist against the wall to make a cluster of hoppers jump out. Momo chittered excitedly and leaped off my head, throwing me off balance as he dove for a hopper and caught it before munching on it happily.

"Looks like we got out voted, sport." Sokka said to Momo before agreeing with the others to go find some new clothes.

"Let me go take a look around first. You know, seeing as I'm actually from the Fire Nation and I'm wearing the most Fire Nation like clothes, I'll blend right in." I said to them, waving my hand in order to take a look at the area. I found a laundry place that had a lot of clothes hanging on the line, so I got the others and brought them over before pointing down. "Well, take your pick."

"I don't know about this. These clothes belong to somebody." Aang fussed slowly, not entirely thrilled with the idea of stealing, but Katara was already completely on board, leaping over the rocks as she shouted.

"I call the silk robe!" She quickly grabbed the clothes she wanted then made a run for it and soon enough the rest of us followed.

"But if it's essential to our survival...then I call the suit!" I went down to find some clean clothes as well, since I was wearing the undershirt of a Fire Nation uniform and pants. I picked a bright scarlet silk top and even found a pair of puffed balloon pants which were totally my style, grinning as I also grabbed myself some ribbon to tie up my hair and a sleeveless long tailed outer robe of darker red. I then helped Toph pick out some clothes for herself, making sure everything matched and she had a set of everything she needed before we all bolted with our prizes.

We changed quickly, folding up our old clothes and trying on our new ones. My outfit was simple but easy to move in, but I'd already made plans to make some adjustments to it later. Once I was dressed, I helped Katara with her hair then with Toph's before we all declared ourselves ready. Aang had chosen a rather smart looking suit, using the belt to tie around his forehead to cover up the point of his arrow, but as I looked at him I frowned with a hum, thinking that I'd seen an outfit like that somewhere before but couldn't quite remember. "Ta-dah! Normal kid." Aang declared as Toph pulled on her shoes.

"Hmm...I should probably wear shoes, but then I won't be able to see as well." Deciding to rip out the soles, Toph grinned as she grabbed hold of them. "Sorry shoes!" Popping out the soles, Toph wiggled her toes happily and shot the sole directly outwards, slapping it against Sokka's face unintentionally but I keeled over laughing. "Finally, a stylish shoe for the blind earth bender."

"Maybe keep the earth bending thing quiet for now, okay Toph?" I reasoned with her as Katara stepped into view.

"How do I look?" Aang completely lost the ability to control his jaw, eyes widening and dilating when he looked at Katara which made me arch an eyebrow and fold my arms curiously as I glanced between the two of them. Now this is interesting. After recovering from seeing Katara looking so beautiful, Aang blinked before noticing something wrong and pointing awkwardly at Katara's neck.

"Uh...your mom's necklace."

"Oh...oh, yeah. I guess it's pretty obviously Water Tribe, isn't it?" Reluctantly removing it, I gave Katara a smile and promised that I'd buy her a pouch to keep her necklace safe in once we headed into town which she thanked me for gratefully.

"Okay! Let's go find food!" Already thinking about his stomach, Sokka lead us all into the bazaar of the town we'd landed close to which immediately got all the kids excited. I'd grown up around places like this so this was nothing new to me, but I was glad to see the others having fun. Katara bought herself a new necklace since she said it felt weird not wearing anything, and whilst she did that I bought a pouch to keep her mother's necklace safe inside. The others kitted themselves out with any accessories they needed, whilst I'd just used the ribbon to tie my hair up in it's usual ponytail.

"You know, you have such lovely long hair. I'd love to style it for you later if you'd like." Katara offered, looking at my hair rather wistfully as so I laughed lightly.

"You just want to play with it, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Fine by me, work away, but let's get some food and supplies first." Heading further into the bazaar, Aang turned around to address us as he kept Momo tucked inside his shirt.

"I used to visit my friend Kuzon here a hundred years ago, so everyone just follow my lead and stay cool. Or as they say in the Fire Nation…'Stay flamin'!" He grinned as I balked, unable to comprehend what I'd just heard.

"Um Aang? Maybe Kayo is probably the best person to ask about blending in. you now, since she's done it her whole life." Sokka suggested as Aang sauntered ahead and had just greeted someone by calling them 'Hotman'. Wow, those dialects were old. Really old. People didn't talk like that anymore and part of me wanted to tell Aang, but he looked so happy I didn't want to ruin his mood. "Shouldn't you say something?" Sokka prompted so I just shrugged with my hands.

"He's having a good time, let the little guy do what he wants. Believe it or not, but Fire Nation people are pretty laid back. All they'll see is a kid messing around, no big deal." I told everyone before quickly adding. "But please don't copy him, whatever you do. It's embarrassing and someone might misunderstand if we all did it." With everyone in agreement, Sokka pulled us over to a meat shop, already salivating as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Oh, we're going to a meat place?" Aang questioned, looking a little repulsed by the strong scent and the excess of meat.

"Come on, Aang. Everyone here eats meat, even the meat!" Gesturing over to a cow-hippo who was eating a pile of fish, Aang shuddered slightly before backing away.

"You guys go ahead. I'll just get some lettuce out of the garbage."

"We can find some noodles or something for you Aang if you like?" I offered before placing a hand on my hips with a smile. "It's a shame you don't eat meat, there's no better charcoal grilled meat in the world than here in the Fire Nation. We do the best barbeque, chargrill and all the rest." Unable to tempt him, I shrugged and left him to it, going inside to order something to eat on the go along with everyone else, but when we got back outside, Aang was gone.

"Uh…where did twinkle-toes go?" Toph questioned, pausing with her mouth full of meat as we all looked.

"Aw man! This is just perfect! Now we gotta go look for him!" Sokka complained so Katara whacked his shoulder.

"He can't be far, maybe he just found somewhere that serves vegetarian meals. Come on, we'll run into him eventually." Returning to our shopping, I purchased threads, needles and other things for our journey whilst we all kept an eye out for Aang, but none of us could find him. It was getting a little worrying since Momo didn't come back either, so after searching the bazaar a third time, we decided to head back to the cave and wait for him there as that's where he would go if we got separated.

Thankfully he came back just before it got late and we'd have to send a search and rescue party for him, though that didn't stop Katara from demanding to know where he'd been the moment he got back. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" For some reason, the kid walked in covered in mud and burn marks, which looked like the result of a game of hide-and-explode. Hey, I remember playing that game all the time as a kid. Huh, nostalgic.

"I got invited to play with some kids after school." Sokka immediately stood up, completely flummoxed by Aang's casual comment.

"After what?!" I didn't realise Sokka's voice hadn't entirely broken yet, but when he practically hit a new octave out of disbelief, I couldn't help but giggle as I turned my head towards Aang.

"Was it hide-and-explode?" I asked as I opened an eye from where I'd been napping and chilling by the fire.

"Yeah!"

"Called it."

"I enrolled in a Fire Nation school, and I'm going back tomorrow." Aang looked so excited that I couldn't help but feel happy for him. I'm glad he's enjoying himself after being so down before, and it looks like he's even made some friends. Sokka on the other hand, didn't seem to feel as happy as I was that Aang had somehow gotten himself enrolled in school.

"Enrolled in what?!" Suddenly it clicked and I sat bolt upright, pointing at Aang's uniform as Sokka fainted from being overwhelmed.

"That's where I've seen that suit before! It's a Fire Nation uniform for school kids. I knew I recognised it. Wow, guess you must have been pulled up when someone saw you in the bazaar, huh? Bad luck Aang, but at least you had a good day." I said as I folded my legs and leaned on my knees. "Did you have fun?"

"It was great! The kids there are really nice, though I guess there's this one guy who looked a little mean but he didn't bother me much. I think I should go back and learn some more whilst I can." Having recovered from his shock, Sokka got back up as we all gathered around.

"Aang, I'm trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea, but it sounds...really terrible." Sokka informed him bluntly as Toph pulled on her clothes.

"Yeah, we got our outfits. What do you need to go to school for?"

"Every minute I'm in that classroom. I'm learning new things about the Fire Nation. I already have a picture of Fire Lord Ozai." Pulling out a poster from his pocket, Aang unravelled it to reveal the face of the terrible villain who we were plotting against. Huh, I could really see a lot of Zuko in him. Or I guess, a lot of Ozai in Zuko? It's kind of weird. "And here's one that I made out of noodles!" Then he showed us his noodle picture, which actually did resemble the Fire Lord a lot.

"Wow! That looks great Aang. I like it." I praised him and he practically glowed as I rubbed his head proudly.

"Impressive, I admit, but I still think it's too dangerous." Sokka put his foot down, and I was just about to argue for Aang when the kid spoke up with a rather mischievous sounding tone.

"I guess we'll never find out about the secret river then. It goes right to the Fire Lord's palace. We were supposed to learn about it in class tomorrow." Catching on quickly, Sokka began to think over the whole letting Aang go to school thing.

"Hmm…I am a fan of secret rivers." Thinking over it some more, he finally agreed. "Fine, let's stay a few more days."

"Flamey-o, Hotman!" Jumping with joy Aang ran off excitedly as I slapped a hand to my forehead. That is such old slang. Even Sokka and Katara were confused, but after brushing that aside, Katara expressed that she was worried that Aang might get found at school.

"Or worse, what if he gets picked on for being the new kid? What if he gets in trouble and we can't help him? What if…"

"Hold up Katara, that's a lot of 'what if' and 'maybe' going on there, just relax." I assured her, waving my hand. "I'll go find a uniform and go to school with him. How's that? I've been to Fire Nation schools before when our troupe were anchored in the off-season, so I know all about it. I'll keep an eye on Aang and keep him out of trouble."

"Won't it look suspicious if another random student just suddenly shows up?" Toph asked but I shook my head.

"Not really, with the colonies still expanding, kids are getting moved around all the time. It's quite normal, and I doubt they'd care. They'd just see me as another young mind ready to be moulded into a brainless, boring, high class moron." Giving them a grin, I stretched upwards as I walked out of the cave in order to find myself a school uniform. Luckily I found one back on the laundry line we'd 'borrowed' from before, so with a quick snatch, I had my uniform for tomorrow, and spent the rest of the evening embroidering my new outfit and also mending any clothes that needed mending.

"Wow, you're really good at this. I tried embroidering before but it never really worked for me, our needles in the Water Tribe aren't fine like this, and we don't exactly have a lot of coloured thread lying around." Katara said to me, having been watching whilst she played with my hair.

"I can teach you if you like. Since you've been tutoring me in water bending, it's only fair I return the favour." I offered and she immediately brightened, getting excited and girly which made me think just how cute she could be.

"Really? I'd love that! Hey Toph, do you want to learn too? It could be fun!" Waving a hand in front of her face, Katara flinched. "Oh right, sorry." Chuckling lightly, I pulled the thread through the fabric of my outer robe to finish one of my first birds, all of them having brightly coloured feathers of different colours as they fluttered among the flowers. By the time people started to get tired, Katara had changed my hairstyle at least a dozen times before settling on one. She'd kept it simple and functional which I liked, but it was also rather feminine and suited my face.

Following the side parting of my hair, Katara had pulled back the hair at the side of my face and braided it before looping it into a bun at the back of my head, leaving the bangs to sit swept to the left side of my face and combing through the rest of my hair which fell loose down my back, though she braided it up for the night. "It feels good, thanks Katara."

"You're welcome. Can I play with your hair some more tomorrow? It's so smooth and silky, how did you make it like that?"

"Well, I was born with pretty straight hair, but I do make sure to take care of it, there's even a lotion I used to used…" Talking about girly things, Katara and I bonded over hair, embroidery and cosmetics, talking until it was late and we both went to sleep so that I could wake Aang up early tomorrow, knowing that the Fire Nation schools started early. Joy.