August 26th, 8:30 AM
Fire Nation Royal Palace
Gaara appeared, arms folded and eyes closed. "You overly enjoy having me at your beck and call, princess." Azula tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, sitting down on a bench in a spartanly decorated room. That bench was one of the two occupants, the other being a table. "Can you blame me? You're far more useful than any of my real guards." He opened his eyes. "You have a planned "use" for me, then?" She tapped the bench next to her. "Sit. This may take a while to explain, and I would hate for your legs to get tired." He sat, back ramrod straight. "You wanted Hayes for this originally. Our only similarity is earthbending. This is why you require my assistance?" She patted the top of his head. "Very perceptive. The main reason was his supposed ability to earthbend without moving very much, something I will need. You can do the same, from what I've seen."
Sand flew out of his gourd, turning into a perfect (albeit monochrome) recreation of Azula. "My specialty is the sand, but my ability translates to other earth to a degree." She appeared somewhat perturbed by the detail on the statue, peering at the face in particular. "I intend to infiltrate Ba Sing Se and stage a coup. If I am to blend in, then I will have to be able to earthbend." He rubbed his chin. "You wish for me to help fake this, hence the lack of movement. I believe I can assist in another way, if you'd grant me a few moments." She waved a hand. "Go ahead, we have a month until it's time." He put a hand to her cheek as rock started to crawl off his fingertips. It gradually morphed around her face, turning her skin a mottled brown, rounding off her jaw and enlarging her nose. "I find Fire Nation people tend to have more angular features, thus, the rounder, the more effective the disguise."
He flicked a hand towards his gourd. A small crystal flew out, opaque and silvery. He held it up to her, allowing her a good look at the face she wore. She tapped her cheeks, pulled at her skin, and rubbed her nose. "Incredible. I far prefer my old one, but nobody would ever recognize me like this." Then her eyes cast a look on him. "Is that your real face?" 'She's smart. If anyone figures out it's me, it'll be her. That makes this all the more dangerous, but I can handle it.' He shook his head. "Who would leave scars on a false image?" She touched her face again. "Please take this off. It's disconcerting not seeing myself in a reflection." He rubbed her cheek, the rock peeling off and flowing back into him.
"I understand why you want my talents. What are the roles?" Her back straightened from the relaxed posture it had been in, her chin pointing up. "I will be Hana Hung-fwei, a noble from the far southern portion of the Earth Kingdom, and you will be, hmm, Yang, my servant. You've been assigned to me since I turned ten, and have come with me to Ba Sing Se to find my lost sister. We'll petition the Earth King for help, then, once we see him in person, force him to do our will with a combination of manipulation and death threats." He folded his arms. "It is to be just us, then? Sending this few people to take over a city of thirty million… the most respectful way I can put this is that it's bold."
"Ten million for each of us! Sounds like fun!" The bubbly voice coming from behind was so cheery it made his head spin. He shook his head without turning. "I have no need for subjects, and if you are speaking of combatants, I will not allow either the princess or her friend to fight while my body still functions." A hand reached around and pinched his cheek. "How'd you know I was her friend? I could've been any number of things! A servant, a soldier, an assassin, a-" the sand statue morphed from Azula to the young woman behind him. "A servant would be possible, but given your age and the fact that you were not reprimanded for speaking out of turn, that was removed. You lack the musculature of a soldier, more lithe and agile, and I doubt that both of you would still be alive if you were an assassin." The hand withdrew.
"You've got a really weird aura around you, you know. Like you're an alien." His eyes narrowed. "Princess, may I borrow her for a moment?" She waved her hand. "Yes, yes. Just bring her back alive. Her name is Ty Lee." He nodded. His hand shot out behind him, grabbing an arm that easily fit in his palm. "Azula! What is he-"
August 26th, 8:45 AM
Fire Nation Royal Palace
Roof
"-doing to… me?" Her sentence finished as she looked out on the area surrounding the palace, the bird's eye view doing wonders towards shutting her up. He shook his head. "The view is nice, but I'd love it if you paid attention to what I was going to say, Ty. Or do you prefer Lee? Either way, makes no difference to me." She blinked and turned towards him. "How did you know I like being up here?"
He paused for a second, hands held behind his back. "Normally, I would bullshit and say that I read your mind, but I am becoming extremely sick of lies. I did not know you liked being up here." She scratched her head, confusion etched on her upturned brow. "Thanks for the honesty, I think. But why did you bring me up here, then? And why are you talking so differently?" He looked around. "Isn't it obvious? Privacy. The other question is more easily shown than answered." He punched himself in the face. His skin cracked, spiderwebbing out, revealing Jacob's real face. "Ta-dah. Believe it or not, "Gaara" is a cover. I'm on a secret mission as a favor to Zuko. You sussed that out immediately, which is why I'm revealing myself. We all clear?" She squinted at him for a second, before smiling and nodding. "I thought you were going to push me off the edge. That's a relief. So who are you really?" He shook his head. "Can't say. Just call me Roy when I'm like this. And it goes without saying, but not a word of this to any living soul, or I'll kill you."
She started to stretch out, posing on one toe and keeping balance perfectly. "Wow, you're almost as scary as Azula when you want to be. It's a good thing I'm used to it, or I'd think you actually meant it." He frowned. "I do mean it. I've killed more people than you've shaken hands with." She flipped into a single handstand. "Well, I never shake hands with anyone. You could be at zero for all I know." He smirked. "Oh, is this a competition? I can't beat you in flexibility, but I'm no slouch in acrobatics." He did a cartwheel, before falling on his ass. She started to giggle before he finished the motion, turning it into a perfect headstand.
"And for the record, seventy-four. So unless you'd like to be seventy-five." She yawned. "You think that's impressive? Try this on for size! And I get the message." She contorted herself so that her shoulder was the only thing on the ground, one arm horizontal, the other vertical, and with both her legs split in front of and behind her. He gave her a thumbs up (thumbs down?) and the rock crawled back around his face. "Aw, Roy is leaving so soon?" "Back to boring old Gaara. I'll return us to our previous location now."
August 26th, 9:00 AM
Fire Nation Royal Palace
They reappeared in the same poses they had been in. "You two certainly took your time, and- what are you doing?" He slowly righted himself. "That is irrelevant. Our discussion is over. My apologies for the wait, princess." She had grabbed a file from somewhere and was paying attention to her nails. "What did you discuss?" His deadpan response of "My enjoyment of flexible women." killed any noise in the room. She looked over at Ty Lee. "And you decided to demonstrate? You always were so forward, I'm surprised you weren't entangled when you came back." Ty flipped upwards, landing on her feet. "With someone I met minutes ago? Never. Well, maybe sometimes."
"Her role is the sister?" She shook her head. "It's good you like her. She's your fiancé." He nodded. "Arranged, I hold a mild distaste for the nature but still enjoy her company." Ty's head spun between the two of them. "Whoa, you're way too calm for someone who just got told they're getting married." He pursed his lips. "You realize this is a fiction, correct? We will not actually be joined in matrimony. There's nothing to be excited over." She stared at him. "You mean being fake married doesn't excite you? Not even a little bit?" He shook his head. "No. Marriage period holds little appeal. My duty is to my lieges, and a permanent relationship would interfere with that. Princess, do you have any more need of me?" She hummed, inspecting her nails one final time before nodding. "Yes. We're going shopping." He blinked, then nodded himself. "Very well."
August 26th - September 17th
It had begun innocently enough. He would wake up and train, occasionally earning a level for a skill or a point in a stat. Every two or three days, he would get the itch in the back of his head that signaled that he was being summoned, and flicker over to Azula's side. She would have some menial task that she asked him to do, and he would do it without complaint. She would then make up an excuse to have him spend the rest of the day with her. First it had been a day of walking through the largest forest the Fire Nation had to offer, then a trip to the western Air Temple, then to Ember Island. Then she had begun asking to go to the other continents, and again he obliged. Several times, they were attacked in the Earth Kingdom, but he simply allowed her to fight to her heart's content and stepped in when danger presented itself. After one of their particularly bloody battles, something odd happened; She kissed his cheek, surrounded by charred corpses and crushed bodies. She seemed almost as surprised to have done it as he did, though neither of them appeared unhappy. Today, they had journeyed to the far west reaches of the Capital Island, to a secluded beach that few people even knew existed.
"Princess, is the beach to your liking?" Azula frowned, grabbing his face. "Gaara, how many times have I told you to stop calling me princess?" He smirked. "Twenty-seven. And I won't listen to you, no matter what you do." Her hands shifted from his face to his neck. "There's absolutely nothing I can do to convince you? Not even this?" She planted a kiss on his lips. "I can feel my resolve crumbling, princess. Maybe you'd better try again." He leaned down and let her get better access for a second try. They groaned into the kiss in unison. "Almost there, Princess Azula." "God, is everything so torturously long with you?" They fell to the sand in the middle of the next one. "How about now?" He stared into her smoldering golden eyes. "I love you, Azula." She looked at him in shock, before settling into his embrace. "I love you too, Gaara." The sun set on them consummating that declaration.
September 18th, 8:30 AM
Fire Nation Royal Palace
He felt that familiar scratching on the back of his head and smiled. He shed the rock covering and the contacts, turning into Jacob for the first time in nearly two months, pulling a black mask over his mouth and nose. 'It's time to reveal myself to her. Won't that come as a shock?' He raced down the halls of the palace, passing several of the faces he'd come to know since then. He winked at Zuko on his way by. "Wha-" "Don't tell me you forgot our deal was up today? I gotta go, it's been a blast."
He flickered over to the balcony outside Azula's room. He knocked on the separating door. "Gaara! You don't have to knock, you've already seen everything there is to see." He pushed open the door. "Oh, yes I have, and I gotta say, I wasn't disappointed." Her eyes widened and she whirled around. "Wha- who are you?!" He chuckled and pulled down the mask. "I'm told you wanted to see me, Princess Azula?" Her mouth opened. "You're… but he told me you were dead!" He rubbed his chin, other hand on the pommel of his sword. "Well, I suppose that I did say that, true. Of course, like so many other things, I have to apologize for lying about it."
Her hands balled into fists. "You keep talking as if you were him." He chuckled and shook his head. "You mean, you don't recognize me? Sure, the voice and the speech patterns and maybe the physique are slightly different, but…" he bent some sand to curl around his finger. "I'm still the same person at my core." Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gods. You… but how?" He shrugged. "Nothing special. I already showed you, actually." Her hand trailed down to her hips and he chuckled. "Like I said. Not bad for a virgin. You could give Ara a run for her money. But that's not the point. No, I'm here to tell you why I did what I did, because you're probably very, very confused." Her hand went up to her chest. "Confused… that doesn't cover half of it. I can't decide whether I love you or I should kill you."
He grinned. "Hey, I was having the same debate for a while. Trust me, it's really, really fucking hard not to choose the second one. But thankfully, there's a reason I couldn't." She blinked. "Love, I can understand. I know you meant every word you said to me on that beach. But kill? What have I ever done to you?" His face fell, and his voice darkened. "Well, you're indirectly responsible for my wife being raped to death, so there's that." Next her hand went to her mouth. "I… what?" He bit the inside of his cheek. "About four months ago now, you sent out wanted posters, with a king's ransom on my living head. A warm summer night three months ago, I was coming home after a day of work to see the most caring, loving woman in the whole damn world." His voice had begun to tremble and his eyes were watering. "I'm sorry, this is hard. I walked in through the front door and called her name. I got no answer, but she did work late pretty often. So I just decided I would wait up for her. Then I saw something that made me panic, something I'd seen hundreds of times at hundreds of crime scenes. A drop of blood. To say that I prayed that she got a papercut would be an understatement. I knew, though. I knew in my heart that she was dead." Tears were flowing freely from his eyes now. "It was only a few weeks after we really got serious. I was completely prepared to spend the rest of my life with her. I felt burning agony every step I took towards the bedroom, overwhelming depression hit me in waves every time I saw another drop. Then I pushed open the door to the room where I'd made love to her, one hundred and seventy three times." His hands crept up over his eyes. "She was spread eagle on the bed. There was blood everywhere, but it was coming from the three places. You know which ones I mean. I'd seen the signs on a young girl a few days earlier on one of our cases together, I had no doubt that she was raped to death. I wept for an hour straight. Then I found him, beat him, and prosecuted him myself. I delivered his death sentence with my bare hands over a seven day period. I learned exactly why he was there, and why he'd done it." Her face morphed into one of horror. "He didn't." He sobbed. "Yes. He did. His plan was to launch me into a depression so deep he could lead me right through the palace gates without even putting a single chain on me. He made a miscalculation, and paid for it the only appropriate way."
She came over and wrapped him in a hug. "I am so, so sorry." Despite the tears running down his face, he smiled. "I hear genuine remorse in your voice. I'm glad. I forgive you, Azula, because that's what she would have wanted." Hope blossomed in her eyes. "Will you stay here with me?" He shook his head. "No. I couldn't hate you, no matter how much I tried. I tried for a whole month. So I gave the flip side a try. I gave myself a month to fall in love with you. I decided that if I did, I could leave you alive without fear that you'd do this to someone else. Then I managed to do that for all of three hours before that faded. I like you, but I don't love you. But if you want to try again after the war is over… I'd be open to that." He took a step back towards the balcony. "Wait! Please, don't go. At least not for a while." He shook his head, pulling up his mask. "I have to. I might like 80% of the royal family, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let the remaining 20 get away with genocide. If you want to live, don't participate in the invasion of the North." He backflipped off the balcony as she rushed over and looked out at him.
He dashed out to the middle of the empty field and stomped a foot on the ground. Slabs of stone popped out of the ground, each weighing several tons, and he arranged them properly. By the time he was done, he nodded and clapped his hands up and down. A jet of fire passed over his head, and he turned around to see a single armored soldier glaring at him through the holes of their mask. "You know, I'm in a very, very good mood today, so I'll settle for this." He dashed at them, doing a split kick into their helmet and popping it off. He drew his sword and cleaved off their armor, not even grazing their skin. He shredded the clothes underneath, and when he saw it was a woman, he spun her around and gave her washboard-flat ass a hard slap. She moaned loudly. "Hmm. Wasn't expecting that reaction. Well, have fun with your partner and that information." He disappeared from view and left her standing there naked in front of the massive construction that read "EAT SHIT OZAI. I'LL BE BACK TO KICK YOUR ASS SOON." Underneath was the Sigil of Gaia, in bright crystalline green.
He breathed in the fresh air as he made for the gates. 'God, it feels like it's been a century. And for the first time in months, I don't feel like a rotten pile of shit. I did it, Hiro. I forgave her. May your soul rest in peace up there.' He ignored the shouts of more soldiers to stop and ripped a pillar of earth from the ground, running up it and using it to vault the walls. He tucked himself into a ball and rolled with the landing, coming back up running. He was now dashing through Caldera City, and he hopped up onto the rooftops, only slightly slanted, enough for him to run along comfortably.
On the top of one in particular, a familiar face came up to meet him. "Oy, I'm trying to get some sleep here! What the hell are you doing running on people's roofs this early in the morning?!" He turned to face Taya Xau. "Meh, just getting the hell out of here. Sorry about that, beautiful. I'll come back and visit sometime to make sure you sleep very soundly." She blinked and squinted her eyes at him. "Do I know you?" He shook his head. "No, for all intents and purposes, you have no idea who I am. That's the point of the mask. But I would like to say something. I've wanted to do this since the second I saw you." He squeezed one of her breasts. "Mmmm. You're very forward." He shrugged. "Hey, I wear my heart on my sleeve whenever I can. I'd love to stay and continue, but I've just made the Fire Lord very, very angry at me, and I think skipping town might be in my best interests. Arrivederci." He flickered away, leaving her there to think 'That kid is fast! I barely even saw him move! And the way he went right for my nipple… but it can't be. He and Gaara looked completely different.'
'Always nice to see her. But she made me lose a little bit of time. And if I want to be off these islands, I don't really have time to spare.' He ran faster, feet pounding the clay tiles as he pressed on further. He now saw the edge of Caldera City approaching rapidly and leapt for the rim of the volcano. He fell short by a few feet, but it was fine, as he jabbed the Reaper into the rock wall and used it to pull himself up. He blinked and it was back in his hand instead of dangling from the rocks where any normal sword would be. He put his lips to the pommel as he slid down the volcano's slope. 'What would I do without you? Even when the rest of the world has abandoned me or I've spurned it, you'll still be by my side.' A voice rang out in his head. 'You betcha. Now come on, pick up the pace!'
He stopped sliding and started running at full tilt, small humps of rock rising behind his feet, letting him propel himself downwards even faster. He kept accelerating further, and by the time he reached the foot of the volcano, he was going far faster than he ever had in his life. He didn't stop there, keeping the humps of rock going and translating his momentum into horizontal speed, bolting along the open ground like greased lightning. 'I must be going well over a hundred miles an hour. I still can't believe this is what happened when I finally got the rest of the blood into the ruby!' He shot through Capital City like a rocket, making people stare in amazement. He weaved between the crowds without a single collision, mostly because people had started screaming and were getting out of his way as fast as they could. He was now approaching the harbor, and smirked. 'I knew planning all this out in advance would be a good idea.' He whipped a small disc of stone out of his inventory and threw it into the water just inches before he hit it. It expanded and became just large enough for him to stand on, the tip flattening and pointing. 'Goddess below, every other earthbender on the planet sucks compared to me. Well, not Toph, or that crazy fucker Bumi.'
His speed helped keep his balance on his earthen surfboard, and he was blasting along, having lost barely any speed at all. 'I see why people like this so much. The wind running through my hair, the smell of the salt water… it's exhilarating.' It was smooth sailing for half an hour, before he saw a large fiery net in his way. He frowned, before a idea hit him and he grinned. He looked for the nearest wave, and instead of skimming over it like the others, he leaned forwards and then back, catching the crest and sending him flying through one of the holes. "HAHAHA! I LOVE THIS!" The shit-eating grin on his face was the first pure joy he had experienced in a quarter of a year. He heard a cheer from his left, and looked over to see a Fire Nation ship and its crew watching him. He waved and pulled down his mask. "YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!"
He dove down into another wave and pulled back up, this time catching far more air on the far larger wave. He flipped on the board seven times in the air and landed perfectly, looking back and giving them a thumbs up. A caucus of whistles and cheers rose and he turned around. 'That's all I can manage for now. I'm making excellent time with the wind and waves at my back like this, but if I lose too much speed, I might get stranded in the middle of the ocean, and oh boy is that not the way I want to go out.' He kept surfing well into the night, until he saw land, and he angled the board to cut a path through the water over there. The shores were dark, without a single person on them, to be expected because the moon was waxing and high in the sky. 'Guess they have a slightly different moon schedule than we do. Ours would be full already.'
He laid down on the sand, content with his work for the day. 'I wonder how long it'll take me to get to the North Pole from here. If my geography is up to date, and there's no reason to think it wouldn't be, I should be able to just go straight north, run into the Earth Kingdom and that wacky place with all the big rock pillars, then cross the rest of the continent going northeast until I hit the pole.' His mind began to wander. 'I wonder what's going to happen when I get there? Hell, they might not even let me in. I dare them to, I'd love to infiltrate Agna Qel'a. But that would make it pretty hard to help them set up defenses if I'm tearing them down. Well, things to worry about later. I have a hunch Marksman's Peak will be more my style anyways.' He laid his head back on the sand, a lump of it forming into a makeshift pillow under his head. He nodded off, resting easy, his soul light for the first time in months.
September 19th, 9:00 AM
Taiping Island
Jacob groaned to feel a foot kicking him in the side. "Is he alive?" A group of boys were looking down at him. Two of them were fair-skinned, while the third had a healthy tan. He waved them off. "I'm alive, now go away and let me go back to sleep." He opened his eyes and the sunlight made him squint. "Well, never mind. It's time I was going." He popped up off the sand and looked towards the lone volcano, turning and setting off towards it at a quick pace. The boys raced alongside him. "Hey mister, where are you going?" He pointed up at the volcano. "Up there. I've got places to be." The first pale one with brown hair poked him in the side. "What's with that scar? How'd you get it?" He chuckled. "I got stabbed in the stomach. The story other than that is way too long. And before you ask, the one on the right is from getting roasted by The Blazing Blade of Caldera herself." A long burn scar stretched from his ribs to his thigh, and the one on the left peered at it as the scenery gradually changed from sandy beach to lush forest.
This set them chattering excitedly. "Is she as pretty as they say?" "Is she that strong?" He grinned stupidly. "No. She's hotter than the sun and strong enough to fry you like an omelet." His head fell forward. "And if I ever see her again, I'm a dead man." "Why?" He waved his hand. "Because now I'm probably an outlaw with some ridiculous bounty on my head. Also, look at what I can do." He took a step and a pillar of earth popped up under him. He did a flip in the air and bowed. "Jacob Hayes, earthbender and swordsman. Pleased to meet you." He had expected a reaction more approaching running away in terror, but instead their eyes filled with adoration. "You're an earthbender?! That's so cool!" "Show us some moves!" "Can you chop up that tree?" He shook his head. 'Kids. They somehow never change, no matter where they are.' His hand sat on the pommel of his sword, and he appeared to draw it part way out, before sliding it back into the sheath. "What tree? All I see is a fallen log." His foot kicked out next to him, and the cleanly cut log fell to the ground. "Now if you gents would excuse me, I have to get to the top of that volcano." "Why would you want to go up there?" "There's nothing but burning magma!" "And it's a really tough hike." He wagged a finger at them. "If you go back to the beach and wait for a while, I'll show you exactly why I want to go up there." He flickered away, leaving them to stare in awe. They turned and ran back the way they came.
He was now on the rim of the volcano. "A full kilometer from the beach, huh? Might be hard to keep all my speed, but I should still get enough to go all the way, especially with that little surprise on my side." He repeated the process from yesterday, running down the fiery mountain at full tilt and gradually accelerating. This volcano was shorter than the one in Caldera, so he didn't break his record, but he still gained a very appreciable amount of speed. He did have one small scare when his knees nearly touched the ground, but a slight angle adjustment to the rock steps saved him from losing any skin. He soon reached the beach, and blasted past the flabbergasted children. His board formed underneath him, but instead of riding it the whole way this time, he waited for a big wave, a real monster over fifteen feet tall, and caught as much air as he could. He flipped the board around so it was over top of him, and flattened and widened it. It turned into a mock hang glider, keeping most of the speed he had generated, the wind whipping through his hair. His hands grabbed on to the short handles he'd bent out of the surface and he let his feet fly back in the wind.
'Now this is traveling in style. So much fucking easier than sitting on a platform in the middle of the ocean for sixteen minutes waiting for my SP to regenerate and I can go another fifteen kilometers.' His tongue ran over the inside of his teeth. 'Let's go over what I know. They're invading Agna Qel'a in twenty or so days with a few hundred ships. I don't know if the others will keep my secret, so let's assume they're not going to, because I don't think Zuko's honor is worth the lives of hundreds to him. Zhao isn't that stupid, but he is overconfident. He might not think it'll make a difference even if they see it coming, and to be fair, it probably wouldn't. But now they have someone with plenty of very, very nasty surprises from another world in store for them, and I'm going to make damn sure that the water tribe stays alive and well.' His face set in a hard line and he angled down slightly, gaining just a tiny bit of speed. 'Every second counts. If I want to give them a fighting chance, I won't be getting any sleep for a while. Good thing that I learned how to make tea from Iroh.'
The sun was well on its way to setting when he saw something surprising. 'No shot that's them. Well, who else would have a sky bison?' The blob in front of him was moving at a far more leisurely pace, only a quarter of his speed, but he saw someone stand up and point at him. "HEYA KIDS! HOW'S IT GOING?!" Three other heads whipped towards him, and one raised a staff. A pair of fans folded out and she dove off. He pulled up a little to slow down, giving her a chance to catch up. Aya pulled along next to him, shock plain on her face. "Sensei?! I thought you died!" He shook his head and grinned, shouting over the wind. "The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated! I was on an undercover mission in the Fire Nation! There's a good reason you haven't seen your pal Zuko for a while!" "You killed him?!" He laughed, heard loud and clear over the rushing air. "No, I cut a deal! I scratched his back and he got off yours! You're heading for the North Pole, right?!"
She nodded excitedly, hair whipping behind her head. "Yeah! Me and Katara are going to learn waterbending!" He nodded. "Good! Listen, I'm heading there too! I'll be pretty busy, but if you want I can squeeze in a lesson or two!" Her grin matched his. "Awesome! What are you gonna be doing?!" His grin faded for a second before it returned full force. "Don't worry about it! I'll meet you in Agna Qel'a in a few days! Now go get back to those three, they seem worried!" She pealed off and turned around, alighting on Appa's back, the bison having worked hard to keep up. Jacob angled more sharply down, picking up speed and leveling off only a few dozen feet from the water. He glanced back at them, chuckling lightly. 'Our hope for the future rests on her shoulders. I've already fucked a lot of this up, but she's the one thing I absolutely can't.'
The further north he got, the colder it became. Whereas the Fire Nation's temperatures were tropical, he was now feeling some cool weather, down in the sixties as he sailed through the night. Thankfully his bet had paid off, and once he leveled out the updrafts from the ocean had let him regain most of the height he lost. The wind had shifted to be at his back and he was whistling "Believe it or Not," the only song he felt appropriate for the situation. 'Believe it or not, I'm walkin on air, I never thought I could feel so free-eee-eee. Flying away, on a wing and a prayer, who could it beee? Believe it or not, it's just meeeeee. Goddess below, I've come so far. From a scraggly fifteen year old running from an overgrown bug to using a rock to hang glide over half the world. Waking up here was the best thing that's ever happened to me.' He kept whistling the whole night long, occasionally thinking 'Menu, Hot Jasmine Tea, Consume' to stay awake.