Just looking at the serpent pass it looked long, slim, tall and extremely treacherous.
"Remind me again why we are doing this." Sokka asked.
"Because Zuko wants to help these people get across. And Zuko is our friend so we're not just going to leave him alone here." Aang replied.
"You don't have to do it." Zuko said. "You can ride on Appa with the elderly and the children if you want."
"Hey no way! If I do that I'll be a lazy bone coward. I'm a young strapping lad so I am coming with you." Sokka stated.
"Then why are you complaining?" Katara asked.
"It's just what I do." Sokka stated. "I sleep, I eat and I complain."
"Can't really argue with that." Katara commented as Aang shook his head.
"Well." Zuko looked at the pass. "If there is something the people of the fire nation have. It's bravery. The will to move forward." he glanced at the people behind him whom did perk up by his words.
"Come on. Children and elderly goes up on Appa!" Aang gestured.
"YAAAAY!" The little girl who had given Zuko some of her fire flakes shouted in delight as she ran for the big bison and Zuko helped her up.
"Ming you take Kulai. I'll walk." Ying insisted to his wife who nodded nervously.
"You go on Appa to." Zuko told the old man who looked pretty doubtful up at the Bison. "It's safe I promise. I flew on him plenty of times."
The old man glared at Zuko but finally allowed Zuko to help him up and soon six people total were on Appa.
"We'll see you on the other side." Zuko promised as Aang padded the bison.
"You heard him Appa. The other side. Yip yip." Aang encouraged padding the Bison and Appa let out a roar and then he was off.
"Come on let's get going. We shouldn't waste any daylight." Zuko said.
"WAIT!"
Everyone turned to see on Kyoshi warrior coming running in full gear as she gasped for air.
"Suki!" Sokka gasped happily as Suki stopped in front of them. "I… I heard you were going to cross the pass. I'm coming with you!" she said.
Sokka, Katara and Aang gaped and then Sokka beamed.
"That's GREAT! We're happy to have you here!" Sokka grinned.
Zuko looked at Suki for a moment, wondering why she was even here but at last nodded. "Come on we need to go." he said as he took the first step unto the treacherous road and everyone followed.
Indeed this was a very hard and steep climb, there was a lot of loose rocks and other places the road was outright slippery nearly making people trip.
Zuko and Aang walked in front and it was not lost on Zuko how people would keep looking at them even if Zuko had spend the entire evening with this group the other night.
"Well so far so good." Aang commented as the shore behind them had become a thin line in the horizon.
"Let's not celebrate before we're all the way on the other side." Zuko replied and Aang nodded though suddenly Zuko halted as he looked towards the ocean and so did all the others.
"It's a fire nation ship!" Katara gasped.
Zuko frowned. "What is it doing here?" he asked. "This is not fire nation territory."
All the rest gasped astounded as well as they swallowed.
"This is weird." Zuko frowned. "That's a military ship. They usually don't sail alone. They sail in formations."
"Yours would always sail alone." Katara pointed out.
"Mine was a special case. It wasn't really a part of the army." Zuko replied in a frown then suddenly a glow came from the ship and his eyes widened. "They spotted us! Everyone back! Let me handle this one."
"Zuko are you sure?" Aang asked.
"Yes!" Zuko stated as he stepped forward. "And I need you to go further back than that!" he stated.
Aangs eyes widened and then ushered the others back. "Everyone back!" Aang demanded. "My fire bending teacher is handling this!"
And everyone tried to scramble as far back as they could on the small road while looking very curiously at Zuko while Zuko stepped forward to the edge taking a stance.
Then the fireball came, a great massive fireball.
Katara looked at Zuko. What was he going to do? Was he going to absorb the fire again? He was taking a water bending stands again.
Then the fireball came, a big and giant fireball and Zuko moved a bit to the side just to get right in front of the big flaming ball of death.
Zuko took a deep breath as he reached out his hand and then.. He didn't absorb it but did what he had done when he had first tried the technique with Aang. He swirled around on his heel, taking the entire fireball with him and threw it right back where it had come from. Right back at the ship where it hit in the side.
Zuko gasped for breath where he stood, pearls of sweat falling down his tendrils. "That should keep them occupied for a while. We need to keep moving."
Zhau-Li gaped. "Ho-How?" he asked. "That shouldn't be possible! You can't re-direct fire! That's not how that works."
Zuko turned to Zhau-Li then smirked. "It is now." he said. Clearly he couldn't help but look pleased with himself. And honestly Katara didn't blame him. "I can give you some pointers if you want. Later though." he said. "Now we need to concentrate on getting to the other side."
The others nodded as Aang gestured. "Come one hurry."
Zhau-Li though kept looking stunned as another young man padded him on the shoulder. "That's the avatars fire bending teacher for you."
Zhau-Li nodded astounded. "Yeah no kidding." he barely even whispered.
Zuko however kept standing as he looked down at the iron ship far below them.
"You okay?" Sokka asked as he approached Zuko.
"Yeah." Zuko said. "That ship though… It worries me." he said.
"Well yeah. Fire nation ships is always kind of a bad sign. We just have to keep going though." Sokka pointed out and Zuko nodded finally going with the others soon joined by Zuki.
"That was some fire bending." Suki smirked. "I sure never seen anything like that before."
"Oh. Thank you. I think." Zuko replied still not really knowing how to interact with this girl.
"Could you do that when we met at Kyoshi island?" Suki asked.
"No." Zuko replied honestly. "I didn't have the knowledge. And even if I did I wouldn't have had the control to do it."
"I thought so." Suki nodded. "You didn't seem to have a lot of control back then." she smirked.
"Yeah… I won't deny that." Zuko said embarrassed.
"Hey you know what they say about great men right?" Suki asked giving Zuko a teasing elbow in the chest. "They are not born. They are made." she winked.
"That sounds like something my uncle would say." Zuko admitted. "I'm not sure I understand what it means though."
Suki smirked. "You'll get it." she stated and headed back towards Sokka eager to walk next to him.
Finally Zuko sighed as he followed the others, giving the ship below them one last worried glance before he continued.
