The island they arrived at true enough was right between fire nation and earth kingdom waters. Zuko had to guess that it was originally fire nation territory. But honestly he wasn't sure. Didn't really matter though, it was completely inhabited… Well except for a bunch of really fat lion-seals chilling out at the chores. Ty Lee was ecstatic.
Other than that it was a lot of rocks and a bit further in a lot of trees.
Due to the large number in their current group. Appa had to fly twice to get everyone plus their baggage with them to the island.
Still, with two complete flights they were still the first at the island.
But not for long! All ready in the evening as Sokka was scouting at the cliffs did he yell. "DAAAAD!"
At ones as Sokka shouted it he was joined by Katara, Zuko and Aang. The other three girls hanging behind while those four stood at the cliff, waving their arms as they laughed.
And from the deck a group of men was laughing as well as they waved back. It only seemed way to long before finally the ship anchored and the plank was sat out.
And then Sokka and Katara just ran to blatantly attack their dad whom didn't even get to set a foot on the plank before he was thrown backwards down on the ground.
Zhau-Li how-ever managed to actually walk down the plank and then grinned as he saw Zuko. "Prince Zuko!" he grinned stepping forward.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Zuko is fine." Zuko smirked.
"Oh you'll have to tell me that for at least another ten years." Zhau-Li smirked as he raised up a hand and Zuko smirked as he grabbed the hand and they firmly grabbed each others hands and then pulled each other into a brotherly hug before letting go.
"What happened to your hair?" Zuko finally asked.
"Oh…" Zhau-Li halted. "You don't like it?"
"Hey is that a wolfs tail?!" Aang shouted as he was suddenly right next to time.
Because true enough. Zhau-Li's hair had been re-arranged into a water tribes wolfs tail complete with two small braids on his right side hanging down.
"Well…" Zhau-Li hesitated. "You see. We had this game night. And there was you know… a bit of booze. And then we started to make bets and yeah... I lost the bet."
"I think that looks really good on you." Aang smiled.
"It does look good." Zuko smirked. "Though I am afraid that if you still intend to… You know. Ahem." he coughed into his hand.
"Serve you yes. I'll need more proper hair." Zhau-Li smirked a little apologetic. "The deal was that if I lost I had to wear this until our journey was finished. Right!" He looked at a young water tribe man walking next to them.
"But it suites you so well Fire flake!" The tribes man laughed, then winked and continued his walk and Zhau-Li rolled his eyes.
"Sooo." Mai now stepped forward to stand next to Zuko. "Are you going to introduce us or what?"
"Oh. Mai." Zuko blinked.
"I remember you." Zhau-Li breathed. "You told us where the Prince was! I owe you the Princes life." he put a fist into the palm of his hand and bowed. "Thank you."
"Wow no wonder Zuko took a shine to you." Mai commented. "I never thought I would meet anyone more obsessed with honour than Zuko."
"Oh… I'm glad you are okay Ms Mai." Zhau-Li said. "How did you… Get here?" he asked.
"My Prince charming came for me." Mai smirked as she reached out and took Zukos hand. Then she looked up at Zukos face with a smile on her lips. "Literately." she said kissing Zuko on the cheek.
"Oh." Zhau-Li blinked. "Ooooooh." he realized.
"Hi I'm Ty Lee remember me!?" Ty Lee suddenly shouted jumping right in front of them.
"WUARGH!" Zhau-Li jumped back in shock.
"It's okay. I know what you're thinking. But I'm not with Azula any more either! I changed sides like Mai!" Ty Lee grinned. "And you know what. It feels great. Treason is a lot more fun than I thought it would be."
"We're only committing treason against the fire lord not the fire nation!" Zuko exclaimed.
"I think that's pretty debatable." Ty Lee had to admit in a blink.
"No… It's not." Zuko huffed as he crossed his arms and looked away.
"Well okay if you say so." Ty Lee beamed.
"HEY GUYS!" Sokka came running with a big smile on his face. "These guys has seal jerky and sea prunes! There will be sea prune stew for everyone tonight!"
All ready Zhau-Li looked slightly green in the face and Aang looked just about ready to throw up.
"What?" Ty Lee looked between the two. "That sounds delicious! … I think." she halted.
"Judging from those two we should just avoid it." Mai sighed.
"It's not that bad." Zuko replied. "I had worse when we sailed the south pole for three months in a row and only had three month old rations left." he sighed deeply.
"That must have been really bad." Aang gasped.
"It was the worst when you accidentally ate something mouldy." Zuko groaned. "Here's the thing. Even if someone thought they were being clever removing the mould. You can still taste it." and he shivered.
"Wow…" Aang blinked. "That does sound bad."
"HEY LOOSERS!"
Their entire group turned to look up at the plank and saw a small girl with face pant standing there with hands on her hips. And an older boy who wielded a bow behind her.
Aang gasped. "Smellerbee! Longbow!"
"I hear you guys was out to give the fire lord a really bad day. We are all about that." Smellerbee smirked. "It's enough to bring the freedom fighters back together!" she held up a hand and three other people came out behind her. "You remember my friends here right? This is Sneers, the Duke and Pipsqueeck." she smirked.
"GUYS!" Sokka grinned as katara joined the group laughing.
"And of course. Last but not least." Smellerbee stepped aside and then… A teenage boy came.
A mop of messy hair, two hook swords on his back and then he glanced up.
Aang, Sokka and Katara all gaped. "Jet?!"
Slowly Jet lifted his head and looked towards them. He looked nervous, but his eyes weren't glacial!
Zuko gasped. There was a spark in the boy again then slowly Jet walked down to meet them. Smellerbee closely following behind him and then finally Jet was in front of their group.
"Erhm…" Katara hesitated. "Jet… Hi. How."
Then it occurred to Zuko Jet had yet to speak a single word. And they were all standing still.
Then finally Jet opened his mouth. "Hello again. It has been a while hasn't it?"
And Katara exhaled deeply. "You're better."
Smellerbee smirked as she stepped forward. "It was slow. But Jet came back to us bit by bit." she said. "Each time we found a new freedom fighter. Jet made a signifiant recovery."
"That's good… I mean. Erhm." Katara hesitated. "So you want to help against the fire nation too right?" she asked.
"You are though aware that we are not trying to annihilate the fire nation right?" Sokka asked promptly. "The plan is to defeat the Fire lord! Put Zuko on the throne and then let them rebuild on their own! No genocide allowed! And no attacking our fire nation friends."
Jet sighed deeply. "We stayed with the fire nation refuges." he commented. "It erhm… Gave me a lot to think about. It was…" he swallowed. "Hard." he said. "And you…" he turned to Zuko. "I erhm… I owe you my life." he said. "It was… I couldn't even deal with that knowledge. Fire nation is evil, they burn, slaughter and laugh in your face. When I saw fire nation it was all I could see… So it was easier to clock out than you know… erhm."
"Accept the truth in front of you. That it isn't that simple." Zuko said. "Because if you accept that truth, you have to accept that what you did before is unacceptable and you were the evil one."
Jet hissed as he squinted his eyes.
"I can relate." Zuko said.
"There's only one reason I managed to come back." Jet said. "The freedom fighters. They needed me! For them I could… erhm."
"I know it isn't easy." Zuko said. "To accept that what you thought you knew was wrong, and accept you yourself is the problem. It makes you angry, tears you up inside."
"It kind of piss's me off you're such a good guy you know." Jet snorted at Zuko.
Zuko smirked. "I just wanted to say I understand how hard it is. And I admirer your resolve. I'm glad to have your aid now."
"Fuck off your highness." Jet snorted.
"Jet seriously?" Smellerbee asked and Zuko smirked amused.
Yeah he was no stranger to resort to anger when dealing with things that was just too confusing. So he didn't really hold it against Jet. Honestly it was just amazing Jet had come at all and was willing to help.
"So is that everyone?" Katara asked.
"Oh there's one more." Zhau-Li said. "This earth bender! There he is!" he pointed in a smile. "Haru!"
Kataras eyes widened and so did Aangs and Sokka as turned to see a young man smiling as he ran towards them.
"Katara! Sokka! AANG!" Haru grinned. "I hear you could use some help breaking people out of prison!"
"HARU!" Katara screamed as she threw himself at him.
"Wooow!" Sokka gasped. "We're practically having a smaller army now!"
"And Pakku hasn't even arrived with the northern fleet yet. Which will have water benders!" Katara cheered.
"Or Piandao who is his own one man army." Zuko pointed out.
"Holy shit this is going to be the most epic prison break in history!" Sokka gasped. "Across fire nation and earth kingdom! Busting out all the innocent! IT'S GOING TO BE EPIC!"
Zuko couldn't help but smile as well. It couldn't be denied! He felt really good about this!