Getting fire nation uniforms. Easy!
There were patrols all over the city. All they had to do was waiting for a patrol small enough for them to take down and stuff into a hole created by Toph.
Getting into those uniforms…. It was easy to find a perfect fit for Zhau-Li whom was the oldest and tallest out of all of them.
Sokka though was almost disappearing into his armour… And then there was Katara who was even shorter and even more petite.
"How are you even supposed to move in this thing?" Katara asked with the helmet slipping down her face so the eyeholes weren't fitting at all.
"It is supposed to be able to protect you from boulders hurled your way." Zhau-Li explained.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just jump out of the way?" Aang asked.
"Not everyone are air benders Aang." Sokka said lifting up his face plate and then the shoulder plate fell off.
Zhau-Li sighed deeply as he moved over to Sokka and started to fit the armour. Pulling in straps and festooning them again.
"It's not just the boulders." Zhau-Li then admitted. "It's supposed to look scary as well. If you strike fear into the hearts of your enemies before the battle has even begun. Then you already won."
"That doesn't sound nice at all." Aang said.
"Actually that's also what the war paint was for in the water tribe." Sokka said. "To scare the enemy."
"That's what I was taught in the military." Zhau-Li explained. "Make the enemy cover in fear. Let them know the might of the fire nation."
"Kind of explains why Zuko used the act the way he did." Katara couldn't help but point out.
Aang held a face plate in his hand, it always struck him odd how it almost looked like a skull. "So they are designed to look scary on purpose huh." he said.
"Makes sense." Sokka said. "It would be easier to make villages surrender out of fear rather than have to take them over by force. And it would also be easier to control them with fear afterwards instead of leaving soldiers everywhere. That would just be thinning out their troops. Which the fire nation wouldn't be able to afford when the earth kingdom is just so big! And Earth kingdom citizens pretty much outnumber fire nation citizens two to one."
Katara nodded. "Iroh even talked about that. What Zuko was doing was using intimidation tactics. That's what he called it." she sighed better. "Well. Weird as it sounds. Better that than actually killing people."
"Still not very good though." Sokka said. "That's the plan? Having the entire world live in fear so the fire lord can control it all?"
Zhau-Li sighed deeply as he moved away from Sokkas finished armour and started to work on Kataras. "We were always told we were going to rebuild the world. And that we would make it better than before. It all sounded… So good back then. In school." he glanced down.
"That's what you were taught in school?" Katara asked.
"Oh yes. We would make noodle portraits of the fire lord in kinder garden and small school plays about Sozins triumph and that kind of stuff." Zhau-Li said shaking his head while tightening a strap. "Tell me if it gets to tight." he asked. "Womens shape are a bit different then mens. You know."
Katara smiled. "I get it." she assured. "And it's fine."
A little while after Zhau-Li was done with Katara only to make a deep sigh as Sokka took a step.
"You need to stand up straight." Zhau-Li informed. "Larger steps. Do you know how to greet a commander?" he asked. "Like this." he demonstrated putting one fist into the palm of his other hand and bowed.
"Like this?" Sokka tried to copy.
"No! Feet goes here. Back needs to remain straight." Zhau-Li started to move around with Sokkas limps. "Your head stays up!"
"Like this?" Sokka tried again.
"It's… better. But not good." Zhau-Li admitted.
"I think we should Zhau-Li stay in front of us at all times." Katara commented. "And do any greetings or talking."
"Make sense. He is an x-soldier of this very army." Sokka said. "Which is super fortunate for us right now!" he grinned before Zhau-Li could look to ashamed of himself.
"You really made noodle portraits of the fire lord?!" Aang suddenly blurted out,
"Yeah…" Zhau-Li scratched his cheek. "And Crown Prince Iroh. Though that worship stopped really fast when he was blamed for the failure of Ba Sing Se and then Fire lord Azulon died. That all happened in the same week." he said. "One day we were singing songs about the great Iroh. The next day those songs were banned and any books containing those songs and poems burned. It was really weird."
"Wow… Ozai holds a grudge much?" Sokka asked and they all shrugged.
"Before he became fire lord he barely ever got mentioned." Zhau-Li admitted. "And then he became Fire lord! And it seemed like all of General Irohs accomplishments were just burned off the records. And all the books used to teach about it were banned from school. And it happened in like a week!"
"Heh. Sounds like someone was jealous of his brother." Sokka smirked.
"You do realize this is Zukos dad we are talking about right?" Katara asked.
"Oh." Sokka looked down. "Man… Zukos dad sucks."
"Agreed." "Yup." "Well duh." "I thin even Zuko agrees."
Katara sighed deeply as she put her helmet over her head. "I suppose we better get going." she said only for the helmet to become askew.
Zhau-Li sighed deeply as he pulled the helmet off Kataras head, found a piece of cloth to wrap around Kataras head like a turban and put the helmet back on. "Little trick we learned out on the field when some people had smaller heads than the norm."
"Can… Can you do that for me to?" Sokka asked and Zhau-Li turned to him seeing Sokka with his own helmet on. "I can't see." Sokka admitted.
Katara sighed deeply. "There are so many ways this could go wrong. Aren't there?"
Zhau-Li sighed deeply. Well… Yes.