Out in the wild, under a lush canopy of the beautiful green hues of the forest, Aang and Katara sit on a natural stone patio. A noisy little stream exits the ground from underneath the stone ledge. Katara is folding her sleeping bag while Aang lies back in the exposed roots of an overturned tree. He sees Sokka walking up the stream path with a sack. "Great! You're back! What's for dinner?" Sokka slung the bag off his shoulder to put it down. "We've got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval shaped nuts, and some rock shaped nuts that... might just be rocks. Dig in!" Sokka throws one of the nuts that might be a rock over his shoulder. It lands near Momo. Aang and Katara look at each other then back at Sokka. "Seriously? What else ya got?" Katara asked, taking the bag from Sokka and peeking into it, hoping to find something else. "You know we wouldn't have nuts for dinner if you hadn't eaten most of the food that King Bumi gave us." Aang added, looking at the nuts. Anything else. Momo eyes the nut-like object that Sokka tossed his way with suspicion. He chitters, picks it up, and then taps it on a nearby stone to no effect. So he cocks his arm back and raps it hard against the stone. At that moment, a huge, startling noise disrupts the forest's calm. The group and Appa look up at the noise. Momo looks befuddled over at Sokka. He turns to look back at the nut-like object in his hand, blinking. He drops the nut onto the stone and another huge sound echoes through the forest, startling Momo again. Aang is able to point out where the noise is coming from and Aang and Katara rush off in the direction of the noise, leaving Soka waving his arms at them. "Shouldn't we run away from huge booms- not towards them?"
They are looking down a river bed. The river has been reduced to a small stream. A young earthbender is practicing his art in the river bed, and the three watch him move around a huge boulder. "An Earthbender!" Aang and Katara get excited and are ready to meet him. Sokka is the voice of reason in his head. "He looks dangerous, so we better approach cautiously." But Katara clearly ignored her brother's warning by running out into the river bed to address the young earthbender. "Hello there, I'm Katara! What's your name?" The young earthbender looks over at Katara in surprise, drops his rock and runs back down the river bed. As he runs, he earthbends a load of rock into the riverbed, blocking pursuit.
Katara and Aang share a look. They just wanted to say 'hi.' "Hey," Aang stops moping long enough to use logic, "Hey, that guy's gotta be running somewhere, maybe we're near a village and I bet that village has a market!" Katara gets excited at the thought. "That means no more nuts for dinner!" Sokka looked a little heartbroken at Katara's revelation. "Hey! I work hard for those nuts!," he looks down at Momo, kind of downtrodden, "Yeah… I hate em too." Aang looked a little flustered at everyone's dinner concerns. "No guys. More importantly, this means that we can finally stop weighing Appa down with all that extra jewelry and can finally sell it. Why don't you guys strap on an extra 300 lbs of jewels and memories and take us all over the world?" "Oh yea," Sokka started, "Ya know, Aang, it's not like the big guy can complain. We just forgot. I'm sorry buddy." he says while rubbing Appas snout.
They are in a walled Earth Kingdom village in a steep valley in a market. Aang is at a stall trying out a hat. "It's great. I'll trade you some jewelry." The merchant cocked his head, "I'm listening, young bald one." Aang turns to Sokka with the hat on, beaming and gives him a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Katara has noticed the young earthbender from the river bed enter a nearby building. "Hey!"
The young earthbender is in a long, mostly empty room with an older woman, his mother. "Hi, mom." The woman wastes no time scolding him, "Where have you been, Haru? You're late! Get started on your chores." Katara opens the door and enters, framed in sunlight pouring in behind her. "Hey! You're that kid! I saw you earthbending and it was pretty amazing. Why did you run away before?" Aang and Sokka enter, and frantically, Haru's mother begins closing all the doors and windows, urging everyone to lower their voices. With her hands still on the last window she closed, she calmly turned to Haru. She was too calm. Haru knew he was fucked. "They saw you doing WHAT?" she seethed so low it was a miracle that everyone in the room could hear her. Haru stands up, putting his hands up, knowing better than to be on the floor, defenseless when his mom is in a snit. "They're crazy, mom. I mean..." he puts his hand up to his mouth to cover the words he's saying but doesn't say them any lower, "...Just look at how they're dressed." All three look at their clothing. While they do this, Haru's mother comes over to him, places her hands on both sides of his face, and almost screams, "You know how dangerous that is! You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending!" From outside a heavy knock on the door is heard and Sokka quickly parts the window blinds to identify the intruders. "Fire Nation! Act natural." Haru's mother opens the door and a Fire Nation soldier enters. the others caught freeze-frame in the midst of some very unconvincing "normal" poses. The top of the barrel that Aang is leaning upon shifts and his hand goes into the water up to his shoulder.
While the kids act weird, Haru's mother speaks to the soldier, "What do you want? I've already paid you this week." "The tax just doubled." the soldier said while producing a fireball in his hands and smiling. "Wouldn't want an accident, would we? Fire is sometimes too hard to control." He all but purrs out threateningly. Haru's mother's expression melts from defiance to fear and resignation. She places a small chest on the table and opens it to reveal a few miserable coins. She takes most of them out and gives them to the soldier. He dumps the small ones on the ground. "You can keep the copper ones." He said, almost like he was doing them a favor.
The soldiers exit, leaving the four kids and Haru's mother, all visibly unhappy. Haru's mother picks up the copper coins, tears welling in her eyes, but a completely straight face. Sokka had a rage burning in him hotter than the Fire Nation soldiers' hands threatening a defenseless woman. "Nice guy. How long has the Fire Nation been here?" Haru's mother stood up, dusting herself off from the floor, "Five years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships." At this, Haru's rage matched Sokka's, but his demeanor matched his mother, as he calmly spat out to the strange kids, "They're thugs; they steal from us, and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it." Katara didn't understand. "But we saw you earlier. You're an earthbender. You can help." Haru's mother interjected, " Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities." Now, it was Katara's turn for her blood to boil. "How can you say that? Haru has a gift! Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are." Haru's mother looked more defeated than when her own life was being threatened by a Fire Nation soldier, "You… you just… don't understand." Katara turned on her heels to face Haru's mother. "I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Haru's mother wrung her hands, and sat back down on the floor, strength escaping her, "They could take Haru away! Like they took his father!" and now, she finally let the tears that were welling up escape. And she cried. Both Haru and Katara looked pained at the sight.
It's late afternoon in the surrounding hillsides. Haru and our group have entered one of the outbuildings of a farm, the open double door visible behind them, letting the late day sun pour in. Haru tells the group, "My mom said you can sleep here tonight, but you should leave in the morning." Aang quickly beams, "Thanks! Any accommodations are always greatly appreciated. I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay." Aang and Appa make eye contact for a second, and Appa stops chewing his mouthful of hay, then resumes chewing after eye contact is broken. Haru and Katara leave the group of buildings to go for a walk. Katara took the opportunity to apologize. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't know about your father." Haru looked down for a second, "That's ok. It's funny, the way you were talking back in the store, it reminded me of him." Haru looked up, his eyes twinkling as he remembered, "My father was very courageous. When the Fire Nation invaded, he and the other earthbenders were outnumbered ten to one, but they fought back anyway. After the attack, they rounded up my father and every other earthbender and took them away. We haven't seen them since." Katara finally understood. "So that's why you hide your earthbending." Haru shrugged, "Yeah. The problem is that the only way I can feel close to my father now is when I practice my bending. He taught me everything I know." Katara and Haru have now walked up onto the crest of a small hill that overlooks the surrounding countryside. Haru knelt down and began twirling some small stones while he spoke about his father. When he is done, he turns the stones to sand, which falls through his fingers. Katara comes up and sits next to him. She points to her necklace and begins to speak. "See this? My mother gave it to me. I lost her in a Fire Nation raid and that's all I have left of her." Haru slumped his shoulders sadly, "It's not enough. Is it?" Katara, for the first time since the raid, spoke the truth to another soul. "No." Katara and Haru sit on the hill, the fading glory of the setting sun visible in the space between them.
Katara and Haru walk down a path towards an open mine entrance some way ahead. A boom is heard and rocks and dust come out of the mine entrance. The sound of an old man, probably hurt, can be heard. They both rush to the mine and the old man has almost been buried in by the cave in. The ground still shakes a bit, and more earth threatens to fall on and crush the old man. Haru tries to prevent any more earth falling on the old man by bracing the collapsed mine entrance frame, while Katara tries to get the old man free. Katara struggles. "It's not working. We need to get help." Haru pushed harder against the cave, rooting himself in an earthbender stance to just stop the falling, "There's no time. Pull harder." Katara looked at Haru for a second, long enough to know what stance he was in. "Haru, there's no way around it. You're already technically earthbending right now. There's no one around to see you. Please. He needs help NOW." Indecision dominates Haru's face for a few moments, but then he moves in front of the old man and turns to look back into the mine entrance. He concentrates and with a quick move of his hands and feet he pushes the obstruction of earth and stone back deep into the mine, freeing the old man, whom they help get up. "Thank you." Katara says to Haru.
That night, Momo is sitting in the window of the outbuilding on Haru's farm that the group is sleeping in, while the kids talk, getting ready for bed and in their sleeping bags. Aang lies over the top of Appa, looking at Katara as she talks, "It was so brave of Haru to use his earthbending to help that old man." "You must've really inspired him." Aang said, putting his new hat over his face to cover the lamplight shining on everyone. "I guess so." Katara said blushing. Sokka smoothed out his pillow and told the group, "Everyone should get some sleep. We're leaving at dawn." "Dawn?" Katara started to whine, "Can't we sleep in for once?" Sokka hops up, angry and fully wrapped like a burrito in his sleeping bag, "Absolutely not! This village is crawling with Fire Nation troops. If they discover you're here, Aang, we'll be eating fireballs for breakfast. Now good night!" Then he slams his body back on the ground, landing next to the pillow that he was fluffing moments before. Katara, without acknowledging his utter failure, simply said slyly, "I'd rather eat fireballs than nuts." Which makes Sokka say "good night" again, this time louder and more final. Aang and Katara laugh and then Katara blows out their lamp.
During the night, in light of a full moon, Fire Nation troops walk along a path leading to Haru's farm, lamps on poles swinging back and forth as they march. The soldier who extorted the money from the previous day leads the column. He wears a helmet with horns on either side of his head. And knocks on Haru's house's door three times. The door opens to reveal Haru, who draws an intake of breath in surprise. pointing an accusatory finger at Haru, is the old man saved by Katara and Haru. "That's him! That's the earthbender!" The soldier pushes the old man out of the way and approaches Haru.
At dawn, Katara is exiting the outbuilding, walking to a water pump for water. She carries a pot which she places under the spout. Rather than work the pump, however, she gracefully waterbends some water out of the pump and into the jar. She picks up the pot and, as she turns to go back to her friends, she notices Haru's mother looking out over the farm. She turns and it is clear she is crying. Katara drops her water pot and it breaks. Katara's eyes display her realization that Haru has been captured. She runs to the outbuilding where the others are packing their gear. The door opens and Katara rushes in, tearing at her hair in anguish. "They took him! They took Haru away! The old man turned him in to the Fire Nation. It's all my fault. I forced him into earthbending." Sokka puts an arm around Katara's shoulder, "Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?" as he held her hand in genuine concern. Katara, on the brink of tears, shook as she spoke, but spoke nonetheless. "Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." Sokka sighed, squeezed his sister's hand, and then let go. "Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone." Katara stood up, with a determined look in her eye, "We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru. They're going to arrest me for earthbending." Sokka and Aang both give her concerned glances as she stands there, looking determined as ever.
Katara and Sokka are rolling a boulder on top of an air grate. "I thought you were crazy at first, Katara, but this might work. There are ventilation shafts throughout these mines, all Aang has to do is send an air current from that vent to this one right here. The boulder levitates and – tada! Fake earthbending." When Katara and Sokka finish rolling the boulder on top of the vent, Aang is already on the other side of the vent, it's partially obscured from the path they're on by a large boulder. Sokka looks pleased and self satisfied. Katara looks pissed, with her hands on her hips, looking over at Aang. "Aang. Did you get all that?" Aang is paying no attention at all. He sits cross-legged in front of the vent, blowing air and a little butterfly in front of him while Momo watches. "Sure I get it. Relax. You're taking all the fun out of this." Sokka looks pissed now, hands on hips to match his sister, "By 'this' do you mean intentionally getting captured by an army of ruthless firebenders?" Aang snapped his fingers, as if he made a big discovery, "Exactly! That's fun stuff." Katara facepalms.
As a band of Fire Nation soldiers comes down the path towards them, they all get into position. The soldiers are right up on the siblings now, while Aang is hiding by the vent behind a boulder, and both start talking in exaggerated voices. Sokka starts. "Get out of my way, PIPSQUEAK!" Katara saw her cue. "How dare you call me 'pipsqueak, you giant eared cretin! Look at those things." She put her hands up to her ears and fans out her fingers in imitation of huge ears. "Do herds of animals use them for shade? Do kings use them for fans? Do pe-" "You better back off." Sokka said, loudly at first, and softer as he leaned forward and used his hand to partially block his mouth from the soldier's view and whisper to his sister, "Seriously… back off." Katara overdramatically threw herself back, screaming, "I WILL NOT BACK OFF! I bet elephants get together and make fun of how large your ears are!" Sokka forgot for a second that this was all a fake fight, "That's it!" he screamed wild eyed as he took out both his boomerangs and assumed a fighting stance, "You're going down!" Katara took a deep breath and shouted, "No! You're going down! I'll show you who's boss. Earthbending style." Katara assumes a mock earthbending stance as she shouts her challenge. Katara stood frozen, with the rock she is supposed to be "earthbending" still sitting over the grate. After a few moments of embarrassed silence, she repeats herself angrily. "I said, 'earthbending style'!" On the other side of the rock, Aang finally reacts, jumping up into the air and coming down onto the grate. He airbends into the grate. The air rushing up raises the rock to reveal Momo behind it. A soldier points over to Momo, "That lemur! It's earthbending!" Sokka facepalmed. "No, you idiot! It's the girl!" The boulder falls back onto the grate and Sokka says in a very exaggerated voice, his hands on Katara's shoulders, "I'LL HOLD HER!" then, in a much quieter voice for only his sister, "You've got 12 hours to find Haru. We'll be right behind you."
Katara is being led off by the soldiers. She looks back to see Sokka and Aang, with Momo on his shoulders, standing in the road. Sokka turns to Momo, "YOU have big ears!" he grumbled.
In the village's port, a Fire Navy ship is docked. Katara wearing a brown sackcloth over her blue robe. She is in a wheeled transport with other prisoners being taken to the prison ship. Aang and Sokka are in the crowd watching her being taken aboard. After the ship's takeoff, Appa shoots through the sky following the Fire Navy ship from afar. In the distance, a rig or offshore platform is seen. This is the Fire Navy ship's destination. It is huge, dark, industrial and foreboding. The boys on Appa's back see this. "She'll be fine, Aang. Don't you think? Yeah, you think. What do you think? Oh, you know what? You know nothing! Katara knows what she's doing. I hope so." Sokka keeps talking as he works himself into a frenzy.
The Warden addresses the crowd. "Earthbenders, it is my pleasure to welcome you aboard my modest shipyard. I am your warden. I prefer to think of you not as prisoners, but as honored guests, and I hope you come to think of me as your humble and caring host. You will succeed here if you simply abide –" The Warden's speech is interrupted by a prisoner, who begins to cough uncontrollably. The wardens look hardened as he looks on with disgust. The Warden suddenly leaps away from the prisoner line up, turns and firebends a hug gout of flame at the coughing prisoner. The targeted man jumps backwards. Angrily, he tells two other guards standing beside himself, "What kind of guest dishonors his host by interrupting him!? Take him below!" Quietly, as the two guards took the scared man, the Warden smirked and said, "One week in solitary will improve his manners." He puts his face up to Katara's, but still speaks to the group. "Simply treat me with the courtesy I give you and we'll get along famously. You will notice, earthbenders, that this rig is made entirely of metal. You are miles away from any rock or earth, so if you have any illusions about employing that brutish savagery that passes for bending among you people, forget them. It is impossible. Good day."
After the Warden leaves, everyone breathes a sigh of relief and relaxes, moving around like usual. Katara and Haru see each other and meet up, hugging. Katara is the first to break off from the hug, almost in tears. "It's my fault you were captured. I came to rescue you." "By…" Started Haru, trying to put the pieces together, "getting yourself arrested?" Folding his arms across his chest and smiling, he adds, "You got guts, Katara, I'll give you that." Taking her shoulder, he then leads her past several groups of prisoners, "Come one, there's someone I want you to meet."
Upon coming up to the final group of prisoners, Haru turns to Katara, "Katara, this is my father, Tyro. Dad, this is Katara." An older man is sitting on the ground amongst the group. He is eating, but he turns to his son's voice and sees Katara, who tells him, "It's an honor to meet you sir." Taking a shallow bow. As Katara lifts up from her bow, Tyro hands her a bowl. "Have some dinner, Katara. It's not as bad as it looks." Katara looks at the contents of the bowl with a mixed look of disgust, hunger, anger, and depression. "When in Rome…" Katara takes a bite and Tyro smiles apologetically. "It IS still pretty bad though." A hand appears on Tyro's shoulder, another prisoner trying to get Tyro's attention. "Tyro, the prisoners are complaining there aren't enough blankets to go around." Tyro's shoulders slumped a little. "There never seems to be enough of anything. Okay. I'll talk to the guards. In the meantime, make sure the elderly are taken care of. The rest of us will simply have to be like Olaf and live in a dreamland of eternal summer." Katara shook her head and lowered her neck, with a hand on her hip, to ask incredulously, "What's your escape plan? Cuz that don't sound like anything to actually HELP these people." Tyro spat out some of the gruel he was eating and went bug eyed for a second. "My what? Excuuuuuuuuussssssssseeeee ME Princess!" Katara rolled her eyes at this blatant sarcasm and kept going. "You know, the plan to get everyone off the rig? What is it? Mutiny? Sabotage? Seduction? It's not my cup of tea, but there ARE female guards here… huh, huh?" She finished with a sly smile, wink, and an elbow in Haru's direction. Tyro acted like he was oblivious to the awkward flirt. He kind of liked her spunk. "The plan? The plan is to survive- wait out this war. Hope that one day some of us can get back home and forget this ever happened. Katara, I admire your courage and I envy your youth, but people's lives are at stake here. The Warden is a ruthless man, and he won't stand for any rebellion. I'm sorry, but we're powerless." Katara stood up with grim determination. "We'll see about that."
Elsewhere at sea Zuko is standing with two of his military officers as they wait for Iroh. Zuko was getting impatient and the officers were wondering when they could get back to their jobs. "Sir, should one of us go check on General Iroh to see what is taking so long?" one of the officers asked. "Fine, just hurry up!" Zuko snapped. The officer went and headed first to the kitchen to see if the General was there. When he got there he saw no one, not even someone eating in the galley. Confused, he headed to the General's room. As he got close he heard snoring. The officer sighs and knocks on the door. The snoring stopped and a very tired Iroh shuffled out of his bed and walked to the door sluggishly. "Yes, what is it? Are people hungry again already?" Iroh asked with a yawn opening the door. "No sir, I am sorry to disrupt you, but Prince Zuko's lessons, you're late." The officer said as politely as he could muster to the sleepy General. Iroh just facepalms and groans. "I am so exhausted I completely forgot. I will come with you now." Iroh said exiting the room. The officer looked conflicted for a second then headed back out to the main deck to where the other officer and Prince Zuko were waiting. Zuko was disgusted with how Iroh looked with stains on his clothes from whatever he had cooked that day. "I guess you'll tell me something like, 'it's not on the outside, but the inside that counts. Blah blah blah. Inside you have a knowledge that I wish to possess! Are you ready to teach me, old man?" He takes a box that the guard behind him was holding. "You better be." he hands the box to his Uncle, slightly flustered, and almost shoving the box into him.
Katara stands up on a makeshift raised platform made of boxes, pallets, and crates of raw materials. She bangs on the lid of a pot that she grabbed on her short walk from Tyro and his group of eating prisoners to get everyone's attention. "Earthbenders! You don't know me, but I know of you. Every child of my water tribe village was rocked to sleep with stories of the brave Earth Kingdom and the courageous Earthbenders who guard its borders." The Warden is intrigued in what the blue and brown clag girl had to say, at least enough to watch her speech from a catwalk from above. Katara continues, "Some of you may think that the Fire Nation has made you powerless. Yes, they have taken away your ability to bend, but they can't take away your courage and it is your courage they should truly fear! Because it runs deeper than any mine you've been forced to dig, any ocean that keeps you far from home. It is the strength of your hearts that make you who you are, hearts that will remain unbroken when all rock and stone has eroded away. The time to fight back is now! I can tell you the Avatar has returned! So remember your courage, earthbenders, let us fight for our freedom!" she ended on a very determined note, scanning the crowd of faces around her for any signs of a spark of the same determination on anyone. The only one she seemed to touch was Haru. The groups of prisoners turn away from her, going back to their conversations and their gruel. Katara is crushed. The Warden sees her facial change and smiles and walks away.
Iroh takes the box from his nephew and looks it over. It's small and thick, lightweight and when shaken makes a soft thump. Iroh looks confused. "What is this, Nephew?" Zuko blushes, his cheeks turning almost as deep a red as his scar, and turns to look away from Iroh. "It's nothing Uncle. I'm just tired of your appearance. We have a reputation to uphold. We can't let people think the great General Iroh and the most Perfect Prince sail a shitty ship OR don't own clean clothes."
Iroh finally opened the box. Inside was a brand new apron. 'But we haven't docked since I last needed supplies and I was the only one who left the ship,' he thought. He takes a closer look at the apron. It's red and gold, and upon closer inspection, not really well made. "Nephew, did you make this?" Zuko turned to his Uncled and said, "Don't make me laugh. Me? Make something?" He turned to his guards and dismissed them. When the guards left, Zuko lowered his voice and told his uncle the truth. "I DID make it Uncle. Did you think I'd forget your birthday?" Iroh smiled. It may not be the most exquisite birthday gift, but it was the best birthday gift.
Nighttime. The rig's lighthouse lamp rotates in the darkness. Aang peers over the side of the rig and sees Katara curled up, shivering and asleep on her pitiful looking mat. Aang blows and airbends a harsh yet soft breeze, trying to wake up Katara. She shivers, and still sleeping, puts up a small ice wall in the direction of the winds. Sokka flies Appa closer and has Appa blow on Katara, his warm breath moving her hair, but not stirring her. Aang crouches next to Katara and gives her a wet willy. This wakes Katara with a scream, and Aang "shh's" her. He leads her back to the edge of the rig's main platform where Sokka and Appa are now waiting. Sokka is glad to see his sister, but doesn't let his face show it. "Your 12 hours are up, where's Haru? We've gotta get out of here." Aang hops off the platform and onto Appa while Sokka holds his arms out to Katara. She hesitates for a moment. "I can't. I'm not giving up on these people. We can't abandon them. There HAS to be a way to help." The boys listened to Katara. Aang is the first to speak. "Maybe she's right. Whaddaya say, Sokka?"
Sokka facepalmed. "I say you're both crazy. This is dangerous enough as it is. We need to leave. Now!" Katara looked at her brother firmly in a stance that he knew all too well. "I hate when you get like this. Come on, We better hide."
Iroh, after the "training" session, went to rest for a bit more before he was needed to serve breakfast for everyone. When he got to his room though he took the Apron out of the box again and hung it in his closet. He then took the old one out and went to wash it hoping to get stains out. He instead just stuck it in hot water with some washing herbs that were said to get stains out and left it to soak. He then heads to his room and goes to bed.
It didn't seem like he had slept when he got up, changed his clothes and put on his new aporn and went to the kitchen to fix breakfast with a smile for the first time in a long time again. When he cooked he was humming a merry little tune. The first to come in to get their breakfast was Zuko. He was wondering why his Uncle was humming 'Love is an Open Door.' Iroh, upon seeing Zuko, only hums more as he fixes the plate and hands it to him, knowing now what exactly Zuko likes for his breakfast. Plus, he might have added a few fireflakes to Zuko's breakfast knowing that he loved those. Zuko left with his breakfast as some of the crew came in to eat before taking over for the night shift. An engineer notices Iroh's good mood and new apron. "It has been a while General, that we have seen you in a great mood, also your new apron looks a little fancy. Where did you get it?" the engineer asked. "Ah Good Morning to you. The Apron I forgot I picked up last time we docked for supplies." Iroh replied, fixing everyone their plate as they came in.
Aang whispers something to Appa and he flies off the rig, silently into the night. As a guard and the captain make their rounds and round the bend, Appa flies up and the guards take notice. They run to tell the warden. "Tell me exactly what you saw!" one of the guards said it was a flying bison, one said it was a giant flying buffalo. This pissed off the warden more. "Which was it? A buffalo or a bison?'' Both the guard and captain look at each other. Maybe the Warden has lost it. "Uh, I'm not sure what the difference is, but that's not really the point is it, Sir?" the warden throws the captain over the railing, wailing, "I'll decide what the point is, fool!" After that, the deck was so quiet that all that could be heard was a soft splash below.
As dinner approached, Iroh was making a lovely seasoned roast eel-hound. One passed in the last raid because it stupidly got too close to the cliff and the unagi but off it's leg and tail. That doesn't mean the chef didn't cut, dry, and preserve bits of the rest of the body before he left to pursue his dreams. Iroh was humming to himself while seasoning. To help Iroh so he isn't so tired like this morning, Zuko assigned two footsoldiers to deliver food. A footsoldier saw Iroh humming while he was running in and out delivering meals to the soldiers. He came back in and just had to ask, "What's got you in such a good mood?" Iroh stopped humming long enough to give one of his famous nonsensical sentences. "Pai Sho is more than just a game." The footsoldier scrunched up his face in response. Iroh saw this, noticed his confusion, and told him, "I'm happy with my new apron, which I won in Pai Sho." This seemed satisfactory with the footsoldier, because he just smiled and took the next cart of food trays out.
The Warden turns to the remaining guard, telling him to, "Wake the captain. Search the entire rig!" "Sir," the guard started shyly, "Sir," he spoke up but still didn't get the Warden's attention. "AHEM Sir!" That got it. "That...was the Captain you just threw overboard, so…" The guard fumbled over saying. "Then wake up someone I haven't thrown overboard and search the rig! There's something going on here and I don't like it."
The crates that Katara used for her platform earlier are now being used as Katara, Aang, and Sokka's hiding spot. As they crouch amongst the boxes, Momo peeps over one of the crates. The crates are being loaded onto a dock. Sokka sees this, turns to the others, and says, "We don't have much time. What are we gonna do?" Katara looked saddened by the time frame they had. "I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. They cared more about getting tastier gruel than trying to get to their families and their home cooked meals. If there was just a way to help them help themselves." "Katara, maybe they've been here so long, they forgot the wonders of a home cooked meal." Sokka started. "But for them to help themselves, they'd need some kind of earth, or some rock... something they can bend." Katara looked downtrodden once more, touching the rig platform. "But this entire place is made of metal." Aang cocked his head, trying to see what upset Katara so, and saw… "No, it's not. Look at the smoke. I bet they're burning coal – In other words, earth."
They are looking down into an enormous ventilation shaft which is capped by a grate similar to the ones seen earlier near the mine where Katara got arrested. "It's almost dawn! We're running out of time!" She said frantically, "Are you sure this is gonna work?" Sokka shrugged, still working on getting the ventilation system opened. "It should. These vents reminded me of our little trick back at the village. We're gonna do the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo, and the whole system is ventilated. Aang closed off all the vents except one. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go – right back here." He never could get the vent opened.
As he concludes his explanation, six Fire Nation soldiers point their spears at them and some prisoners also on the deck, including Tyro and Haru. "There's the intruder!" One of the guards yelled. It's morning and getting lighter out and easier to see. Sokka draws his boomerangs. "Stay back! I'm warning you!" Katara assumed a waterbending stance. Tyro turned to Katara and said, "Katara stop! You can't win this fight!" Haru looks stunned at his fathers pronouncement. Katara looks equally as stunned.
The Warden comes from the lower deck to the main rig deck. "Listen to him well, child. You're one mistake away from dying where you stand." The soldiers begin to close in on the group. the grate Sokka was trying to open earlier rumbled, where air begins to rush out, followed by dust and pebbles. Then a living river of coal erupts from the grate, eventually tearing it away. The coal lands in a massive pile between the earthbenders and the firebenders. The prisoners look at the pile of earth that has just appeared. Aang drops down, landing on the coal pile, covered in coal dust. He coughs it off as Katara runs up to the top of the coal. "Here's your chance, earthbenders!" She grabs a lump of coal and raises it high. "Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" Haru begins to move forward, but Tyro stops him. Various prisoners begin to shrink backward, eschewing open conflict.
The Warden comes from behind Katara, taunting, mocking, the only things he really knows how to do. "Hahaha! Foolish girl! You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh? But you still believe in them? How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You've failed." Katara is standing on the coal, her shoulders slumped, looking defeated and lonely. The Warden turns to walk back into the rig. As he does, a lump of coal flies past Katara and hits the Warden in the back of the head. He turns in anger. Haru, with prisoners standing behind him, twirled some lumps of coal above their hands. Haru's looking severe. Royally pissed. the Warden launches a blast of fire at the boy. The gout of flame is about to engulf Haru, who braces for death, when it is blocked by a wall of coal. Tyro, in an earthbending stance, has clearly stepped forward to protect his son, thus joining the fight.
The Warden shouted to his men, "Show no mercy!" The Fire Nation line charges forward, unleashing a wall of flame. Tyro and the three nearest earthbenders, including Haru block it with a huge wall of coal. The coal absorbs the flames. Katara yelled out to the earthbenders, "Show them the same courtesies they've shown you, shown your families, shown your friends." Tyro, in a fit of anger induced inspiration, yells, "For the Earth Kingdom. ATTACK!" Tyro slams the palms of his fists on the deck of the rig, throwing the wall of coal forward towards the Fire Nation line. The Fire Soldiers deflect some of the rocks with flame. All the prisoners have joined in the rebellion and have assumed earthbending stances. The firebenders are in similar poses. General melee ensues. One on one the earthbenders block fire attacks with coal shields and knock out firebender by striking them with huge lumps of coal thrown at high speed. Heaps of burning coal now litter the deck. Katara, Sokka and Aang are rushing forward in the middle of the deck. A Fire Nation soldier tries to cut them off, but Sokka grabs both his boomerangs, turns them to the blunt sides, and hits the soldier on each side of his helmet with both at the same time, causing him to fall in his spot. Tyro and Haru are in front of the coal dump. They raise a huge amount of coal, and then mash it between them to create a boulder. They throw the boulder at the door into the rig. It blasts a boulder shaped hole in the door. Tyro tells all the prisoners, "Get to the ship! We'll hold them off!" at the same time that the Warden is telling his men, "Do not let them escape!" The Warden rallies a few his troops and they begin to barrage the exit with flame. Aang, Katara and Sokka try to exit, when they see the flames hit the wall in front of them. They turn and Aang airbends a small tornado into existence, the end of which is aimed at the firebenders. "Guys, throw me some coal!" Sokka and Katara start dropping chunks of coal into the top of the little whirlwind, which accelerate down the wind tube and exit at high speed towards the Warden's men, knocking them all down.
Tyro and two other earthbenders who earthbend the entire coal dump, with the Warden and all his men on it, out of over the open water. The Warden pleads, hovering above the water. "No! Please! I can't swim!" Tyro just smiled, the same twisted smile the Warden used to give all the prisoners, "Don't worry. I hear shit floats." and as he laughs, he drops the Warden and couple guards in the lump of coal into the water.
A scene of several Fire Nation ships, now under the command of the former prisoners, are steaming away from the rig. Appa, with Sokka and Aang, swims next to the point ship. Katara, Tyro and Haru on the deck of the point ship. Katara beams, looking back at the prison they leave behind. She's missing her necklace. Haru beams, almost as brightly as Katara, "I want to thank you for saving me. For saving us." Katara just rubbed her shoulders in embarrassment, "All it took was a little coal." Haru put a hand on her shoulder and said, "It wasn't the coal. It was you." Tyro came up behind Katara and placed his hand on her other shoulder, "Thank you for helping me find my courage, Katara, of the water tribe. My family and everyone here owes you much.
Tyro, after the celebration of their freedom was over, went over to Katara, Aang, and Sokka. "Thank you for giving us the hope and courage we needed to fight for our freedom." Tyro started. "When this war is over I would like to speak with your father about arranging something between our families." He finished. "Sure, our father would be happy to make allies in the Earth Kingdom." Katara said thinking that is what Tyro meant. Tyro nods and smiles before going over to Haru. He then leans down and whispers to his son, "You better like her, because she's your future wife." Haru's face turned bright red from that comment as Tyro just laughed at his son's blushing embarrassment. Katara, unable to hear this, instead simply asks, "So, I guess you're going home now?" to which Tyro replied, stone faced and iron-willed, "Yes, to take back my village." Raising his fist and addressing the rest of the prisoners, he says, "To take back ALL of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!"
Of the three ships, Tyro's ship is in the middle and ahead with Appa swimming on the right. There are earthbenders everywhere, cheering. All except one… Haru leans over the balcony of the ship to ask Katara, "Come with us?" to which she blushes a bit, and replies, "I can't. Your mission is to take back your home. Ours is to get Aang to the North Pole." Aang is sitting at Appa's reins, airbending a little chunk of coal around. Haru smiles softly. "That's him, isn't it? The Avatar. Katara, thank you for bringing my father back to me. I never thought I'd see him again. I only wish there was some way…" Katara reaches up for her necklace, "I know…" and gasps, startled, that it's gone.
Her necklace is laying on the deck of the rig. An arm in a Fire Nation uniform grabs it and leaves. Leaving his silhouette in the distance as the earthbenders celebrate their victory.
Later, as the group is on Appa flying away, Sokka finally realizes what Tyro's comment meant. "No, no, no. No way! This is not happening." Sokka said, pulling his hair out of its warrior's ponytail as he got frustrated. Katara and Aang just turned and looked at Sokka like he was crazy. "What's not going to happen?" Aang asked tentatively. Sokka sighs now just realizing that he had to explain to his sister and a twelve year old kid who was actually a one hundred and twelve year old adult that Tyro was wanting to ask his father about arranging a marriage for his sister. "Tyro was asking to speak with our father when the war is over to arrange a marriage between Haru and Katara." Sokka said as slowly as he could to see if they understood what he was saying. Katara just starts laughing thinking that Sokka had gone crazy. Aang was confused for a moment before he realized what Sokka was telling them. "So that is what the Monk's taught us about political/arranged marriages still happen today. You think that would have died out by now." Aang said in shock. "You don't really believe Sokka about that, do you?" Katara said, still laughing. "Yes, because it happens. A lot of Royal families or village chiefs use it to help make their villages and families stronger. And in this case make two nations stronger." Aang said as Sokka just nodded. "Yeah, right. You both are just crazy." Katara said, brushing it off.