Zuko had finally started to relax in the water tribe camp. After a few days his fever was gone and Katara had given the okay for some light exercise.
Still any bending or swords were strictly forbidden. And Zuko honestly didn't dare to test his luck.
Instead he started to curiously examine the camp and the duties of these tribes men. He saw how they were making and fixing their own nets and Zuko asked some questions.
Next thing he knew he got to try himself.
Zuko had seen other people splice ropes and so on at his ship. But it had never been his duty or chore. His only chore had been to train and capture the Avatar.
Though what Zuko did notice from the start was that Hakoda was doing chores as well. He would also be fixing sails, make traps and cut up and clean the dead animals. Put out the skins to be dried so they could be used later.
He was just as active as any of his men. And didn't mind at all being covered in mud and dirt, in fact he seemed genuinely happy and was often laughing while telling extremely bad jokes.
It was very unlike either Fire nation or earth Kingdom royalty and nobles.
As proven when suddenly Sokka was sneaking up on Hakoda from behind and then thrust himself directly on the Chief throwing them both on the ground.
"I GOT YOU!" Sokka laughed. "I totally got you dad!"
"HAHAHAHA!" Hakoda laughed whole heartedly as he rolled around to grab Sokka. "You did. But now I got you. What are you going to do son?" he asked giving Sokka huge nookie.
"NOOO! My wolfs tail! KATARA!" Sokka screamed.
"You got yourself into that situation. You can get yourself out of it." Katara said while working on one of the sails.
Suddenly Hakoda quieted. His grip around Sokka loosened and he whispered into his ear. Sokka brightened up and nodded as Hakoda let go of Sokka.
And the they both attacked Katara who screamed in surprise.
"HAH! No one beats the water tribe men!" Sokka grinned and Katara pushed them back.
"You jerks!" But Katara was smiling. And Hakoda laughed as he pulled both of them into a hug.
Katara didn't even object but shook her head amused.
Zuko had seen the whole thing… Yup. Nothing like the fire nation at all.
Then again... Zuko suddenly remembered Ba Sing Se. Irohs challenge to him and Aang, to distinquish his little flame. He remembered how he had managed to topple both himself and Iroh. And how Iroh had laughed with his entire being. And as the memory itself played in Zukos mind he smiled warmly looking at the trio in front of him laughing. Then silently promised himself to do something like that again with Iroh.
Then suddenly a sound sounded above them. Sounded like a loud flute that easily carried across the wind currents and suddenly the entire air just changed as everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up.
Hakoda let go of his kids as well and stood up. "It's an code ember." he said. "Everyone move now!" he shouted.
And in a single second everyone was on their legs and suddenly all they had been worked on went into the forests where they couldn't be seen. The boats that had been pulled up on shore were covered in large sheets and then branches making them look like regular hills. The tents seemed to be mysteriously vanishing from sight and Zuko stood there feeling like a lazy idiot for not being helping.
"What's going on?" Aang asked too as he wide-eyed looked at it.
"I don't know. No one told me." Zuko admitted.
"Code ember. That's a fire nation scout vessel coming this way." Sokka informed as he came rushing carrying pelts. "We're camouflaging the camp and hiding what we can. Then hide ourselves and hope the vessel will just turn around. If they go to shore we ambush."
Zukos eyes widened, then nodded. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked.
"Just hide and don't make a sound." Sokka asked. "Follow the Chiefs lead. No one is to attack before he gives the signal."
"What signal?!" Zuko asked but it was to late. Sokka was all ready gone.
Zhau-Li had joined them as well as he looked around. "We should do what he says." he said and finally Zuko nodded as the three of them headed towards the bushes and trees to find a good hiding spot.
And then suddenly it looked like there hadn't been any camp at the bay at all. Even the fire place had gone completely missing now covered in dirt.
And the water tribe men as well. Some joined Zuko, Aang and Zhau-Li being not very far away from them so Zuko himself could see them right next to him. But glancing across the former camp he didn't see anybody.
And then they just waited… Complete silence.
Zuko honestly didn't know for how long they were sitting there… Felt like a long time. It was at least thirty minutes. Probably even more. But nobody moved and no one made a sound. Zuko was just about to assume it was a false alarm.
But then finally it came. A small Fire nation iron ship. And it was true, it was a scout unit. Smaller and slimmer than regular vessels. By design only ten people manned it and the ship itself could be transported by the bigger vessels.
This was good news though. Just ten people. Even if they were all fire benders it would be easy to take them.
But that still wouldn't be desirable as this scout unit was almost certainly supposed to report back to a bigger vessel and if it went missing they would be overrun by the end of the day.
The scout unit came towards the shore… Were they going to go ashore?
Zuko swallowed as he sat in silence and then… The scout vessel started to turn. It sailed in a half circle and then finally left the bay and everyone remained quiet until at last. The scout unit was out of sight.
They kept sitting for another ten minutes and finally Hakoda stepped out with his hand in the air.
"At ease." Hakoda said and everyone came out of the bushs sighing deeply.
Hakoda frowned as he crossed his arms. "The fire nation is growing more reckless." he said. "These are earth kingdom waters."
"Not any more they are not." Zuko said stepping forward. "The fire nation took Ba Sing Se and thus the earth Kingdom itself. They are now freely able to go where-ever they want in the earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom army has been defeated."
Hakodas frown deepened as his head bowed.
"This is bad." Zuko said. "With a scout unit here the main vessel can't be far away."
"It's no longer safe sailing earth kingdom waters." Sokka said. "You can't take water tribe ships out there. They will be spotted and shot down."
"We can't just stay here either." Aang said. "The world needs us. More than ever."
"And we still need to see if we can find help." Zuko said. "For the day of the eclipse."
"That should be our main focus." Sokka said. "Plan and make ready for the invasion. We don't have any army any more. But we can still have a strike force." he said.
"So… Do we fly out on Appa or?" Aang asked.
"NO!" Both Zuko and Sokka shouted simultaneously.
"With these waters now overrun with fire nation ships. Appa would be spotted immediately." Sokka exclaimed.
"Exactly." Zuko said. "We might as well be right in the middle of the fire nation the way things are now. These are now enemy waters."
"Then what do we do?" Aang asked. "We can't just stay here. We have to be able to move."
"Hmm." Sokka frowned as he held his chin.
"What are you thinking Sokka?" Zuko asked.
"We need a way to be able to transport ourselves and Appa." Sokka said. "We can't use water tribe ships. They are too recognisable. We could try to send someone to commandeer a earth kingdom ship. But those would probably be raided by any fire nation ships that sees it. No, our best option. Is to get ourselves a fire nation vessel."
Stunned everyone looked at Sokka.
"What?" Zuko asked.
"And I know just how to do it too." Sokka smirked. "That scout unit means that they are currently fine combing the shores around here. Probably looking for Aang as this would be the last place Appa was spotted. It will be back. But also it means that the main vessel is most likely alone as this is just scouting. When the scouting unit comes back, this time we will ambush it!" he said. "We'll get our best people on the scout and send them back to the main Vessel. They will take out the people on the vessel and sail it back here where the rest boards."
"That's…" Zuko halted. "Brilliant." he had to admit. "As long as you are sure ten of our people can take out an entire vessel of fire nation soldiers."
Hakoda as well was smiling proudly with warmth in his eyes.
Sokka grinned as he held up his hand. And then bend a finger for each person he listed. "We got the worlds first metal bender. A water bending master now in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by her own element. The avatar. And a fire bender who can re-direct fire attacks of any kind! I think we're pretty good."
Zuko blinked… Sokka actually had some really good points. And Sokka seemed to be well aware as he grinned.
"And Zuko. You spend three years on one of those vessels right." Sokka grinned leaning on Zuko. "You know how to sail those things right?"
"Well… I never took the helm myself but I know how it all works." Zuko said.
"You spend three years on that ship and never took the helm?" Sokka asked.
"That wasn't my job." Zuko said. But already knew there really wasn't any defending this. "But I do know how to steer a scout unit. I have done that myself plenty of times. And I did help heat the engine sometimes when it got to cold. Which happened pretty easily at the south pole." he sighed deeply. "I know how the ship works." he said. "When we had issues I actually did my best to learn what those issues were and why it happened. I didn't want to compromise the safety of my crew." then he groaned. "And we had a lot of issues. The Wani was ready to be scrapped long before I got on it in the first place. It was an old, worn out rust bucket with new pipes bursting every second day. Trust me. I know how to fix those things up."
"Good enough for me." Sokka nodded. "Zhau-Li you got any expertise in regards to fire nation ships?"
"No I was part of the ground troops." Zhau-Li said. "The only time I was on one of those ships was when I was transported from the fire nation to the earth kingdom."
"So Zuko will be giving our elite team a crash course then." Sokka smirked.
"Well… I'm glad all the time spend on that dumb ship was good for something." Zuko replied honestly.