It isn't until the next day that she discovers the identity of Sokka's companion. She'd been assigned to cleaning duty again, mopping the lower level of the prisoner wards when she caught a mop of shaggy black hair out of the corner of her eye. She saw the scar covering half of his face, and it suddenly clicked in her head who Sokka had infiltrated the prison with. If Prince Zuko had been incarcerated here before now, she'd have definitely heard or seen of him being here. She felt a wild grin tug it's way onto her face. So Zuko joined the Avatar, huh? Prince Zuko, crown prince of the Fire Nation, has become the Avatar's firebending teacher and is fighting to end this war. Maybe my gut wasn't completely wrong about him after all.

He turned to wring out the mop and gold met Suki's blue-green eyes. "Suki!" He dropped his mop and rushed over to her, grabbing her by her shoulders and holding her at arm's length as his eyes quickly flicked up and down her form. "What are you doing here?"

Suki crossed her arms, making sure to cover up his sister's burn scars with her hand as she cocked her hip. "And why wouldn't I be here? Not important enough to merit special treatment?"

"No! Agni, Suki, this isn't funny. You're only a ferry official. There's no reason for you to be here. I'm so sorry that you got caught up in Azula's conquest of Ba Sing Se, but we have to get you out of here." Zuko's face was paler than she remembered, though it seemed to hold less weight than it had all of those months ago.

Oh… right. I never did tell him that I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. And if Team Avatar didn't recognize me without my makeup, why would he? She felt a gentle heat come into her cheeks. If I was a ferry official, I'd be touched that he was so worried. And I suppose that I can't really fault him. Wait, what was that about Ba Sing Se?

"What do you mean, Azula's conquest of Ba Sing Se? Azula captured my warriors and I before that happened." Suki's voice took on an edge of panic. If Ba Sing Se fell, that's the Earth Kingdom. That was the last bastion of resistance, however ineffectual it was.

"Forget Ba Sing Se, what do you mean your warriors? You're a ferry official!"

"...Right, I suppose that I should go first." She straightened herself, looking him dead in the eyes. "I'm Angwar Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors."

Zuko groaned and smacked his forehead. "Ash and bone. Of course. Just my luck." He looked at her with a despairing look in his eye. "Please tell me that there's more than one village on Kyoshi Island."

She patted his shoulder. "You're not forgiven yet, but if it's any consolation, I understand why you did what you did."

He stood silently for a moment before leaning down to recover his mop. He finished wringing it out before quietly continuing. "I am sorry, if that helps at all. I didn't want to break Kyoshi's neutrality, but I had no choice."

Just as she was going to try and reassure him, Sokka descended into the lower level. "Oh good, you guys have found each other." He confidently crossed his arms. Suki could see the hint of a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I was just refreshing Zuko's memory." She smiled teasingly at Zuko, nudging him with her elbow. "He burned down my village."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he propped his mop up against the wall. "Can I apologise again for that? I really am sorry."

"It's fine. We can talk about it later." Why am I smiling so much around him? I mean yeah, he's kinda hot, but- oh no. No no no no. You are not crushing on the Fire Nation prince. Suki abruptly leaned her mop beside Zuko's as Sokka pushed them into the corner, hidden behind the staircase. He took a quick look around the area before ducking into the alcove behind them..

"So listen, I think that I have an escape plan." He raised his visor to talk with them before Zuko reached out and slapped it back down again. "What was that for?"

Zuko rolled his eyes and sighed. "Look, if anyone sees you, you're probably dead. You're a nobody, as far as the warden is concerned. You need to try and keep your identity secret as long as you can."

Sokka facepalmed, but didn't argue. "Fine. Look, I checked out the coolers again. The whole point of them is to keep firebenders contained, right?"

"Yeah…" The firebender among them looked uncertainly at the resident Water Tribe 'genius'. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"They'd have to be completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in. To do that, it also has to keep the heat out. " Suki waved him on, waiting for Sokka to get to the point. "It's a perfect boat" Wiggled his arm in front of them, he imitated a boat. "For sailing through the boiling water!"

She gave Zuko a look, and he returned it. Is this guy for real? Zuko cleared his throat. "The cooler as a boat? Are you sure?"

Sokka dusted imaginary particles from his shoulder piece. "Please. Of course it will. I walked around the perimeter last night. There's a blind spot right between two of the guard towers on the western side of the 's the perfect launching point. We'll roll the cooler down the hill and just float away with the current. It'll take us straight across. As long as we're quiet and don't make a sound, we'll make out like a greased penguin-otter."

"Uhhh… Sokka, I'm not sure if you noticed, but those coolers must be attached pretty securely to the prison wall. How are you going to detach it?" Suki felt some of her confidence in his plan eroding. No. This will work, it has to. This is my best chance to get out of here.

"Yeah, how are you going to get the cooler out?" A vast swath of crimson fabric pushed itself through the railings of the stair to land between Suki and Sokka. Zuko tensed up at her side, fingers twitching as sparks fell to the ground.

Sokka panicked. "What?" His eyes darted from Suki to Zuko. "We didn't… We… didn't say that." He crossed his arms and scoffed dismissively. "That's crazy."

Zuko scowled and glared at him. "Yeah, you heard wrong."

"I heard you hatching an escape plan, and I want in." The man drew himself up to his full height, and Suki had to suppress the urge to take a step back. The man was huge, nearly seven feet tall and his shoulders were easily the length of her arm. She clenched her fists, ready to leap on him, before the woman's cold dead eyes flashed in front of her and she blanched. Sokka couldn't see her around the mountain of a man, but Zuko raised his eyebrow and seemed to peer right into her. She shook her head, waving off the conversation, and he slowly returned his gaze to the other prisoner, though his body leaned her way in a show of silent support.

"There's nothing to get in on." Zuko's tone towards him hadn't changed, despite his body language changing entirely.

"Yeah, the only thing we're hatching is... an egg?" Sokka's voice rose as if asking a question, and Suki sighed at his terrible lie while Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, as if to stave off a headache. She could swear that she heard Zuko mutter 'Idiot' under his breath, which brought a ghost of a smile to her face. He's our idiot, though.

The mountain crossed his broad arms. "Okay, well, here's how I see it. I come with you or the Warden hears about this 'egg' too."

Zuko's foot slid back, and an image of Azula thrusting forward with an arc of flame flashed through her mind, and she put a hand on his forearm, holding him back. She glances past the man and grimaces at Sokka. "I guess that we don't have much of a choice, then."

Sokka grimaces back, but he nods and holds out his hand. "I'm Sokka. This is Suki and that's-"

"Lee." Suki cuts in with a grin, Zuko mutters under his breath, and Sokka gives them a weird look.

The man ignores Sokka's hand and forms the flame with his hands, barely inclining. "I'm Chit Sang."

"Okay, you're in. Now, first we need someone to unbolt the cooler." Sokka reaches behind him and detaches a wrench from his belt. "It'll have to be from the inside." Chit Sang's face paled, and he looked relieved that Zuko seemed to be accepting that responsibility, which immediately set her on edge. Zuko secured the wrench under his tunic, masking it to the best of his limited ability.

"Oh, I can get you inside." Chit Sang grinned savagely. "Don't worry about that." He exchanged a nod with Zuko before walking back out of the little nook, returning to mopping.

"Think that we can trust him?" Zuko looked up at Sokka, concern written across the Tribesman's face.

Zuko sighed. "I don't see that we have much of a choice. Suki, do you know Chit Sang? If we knew why he was in here, we might have a chance to know if he's a psychopath."

She shook her head. "No, they try to keep the male and female populations separate. And I think that I'd remember someone like him. I could ask around, but…"

"But we'd like to be out of here in the next few hours." Zuko nodded in agreement.

Sokka gave Zuko a searching look before reluctantly nodding his head and reaching out to Suki, squeezing her shoulder and resuming his rounds on the prison floor.

Suki's eyebrow raised. I thought that Sokka and Zuko were on good terms? Why else would they trust each other to break into the Boiling Rock? I wonder what that look was for? And why's he being so touchy with me? She lost herself in the repetitive movements of mopping as she moved across the floor, mind abuzz. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she missed the inciting incident, but Chit Sang's booming voice caught her attention.

"Ugh, what are you, stupid as well as ugly? Watch where you're going." Chit Sang and Zuko grabbed each other's shoulders, and she was impressed by both men. Zuko held his ground despite his far smaller frame, and by Chit Sang when he bodily lifted the teen and spun him around his body, throwing him back a half dozen feet.

"Hey, you watch who you're shoving." A genuine thread of anger was woven through Zuko's voice, and Suki could see hints of the Zuko who'd set fire to Busan. He thrust forward with both hands, and shoved the larger man back, Chit Sang stumbling a dozen feet back. I guess that Giman wasn't lying. Firebenders do learn to move their chi. No way does he have the muscle mass to shove him like that.

The larger man scoffed. "I think you mean whom I'm shoving." There was an awkward pause, in which Suki, Zuko and most of the watching prisoners just stared at Chit Sang for a second. Did he… did he really just correct his grammar?

Zuko and Chit Sang grasped hands, each trying to force the other to their knees and cede. She's pretty sure that they're making a show out of it, but she can see the genuine undercurrent of disdain from both of them. Movement from the corner of her eyes catches her attention as all of the prisoners from their area circle around the warring duo, beginning to cheer and call out bets. Most of them heavily favor Chit Sang, though there's a few underdog bettors putting their bets on the fire prince. He does manage to eventually overpower Zuko, forcing him back a step, before Zuko throws a recklessly telegraphed punch at Chit Sang's face. Chit Sang grabbed his arm and assisted his momentum, throwing him up and over his hip in a move that Suki found herself honestly (internally) applauding, regardless of how obvious Zuko's intent had been. A few voices booed, but the majority started cheering even harder for Chit Sang.

Sokka ran out into the circle, calling out to the other guards for backup in breaking up the fight. The duelling prisoners both ignore Sokka and Chit Sang bodily threw himself at Zuko's prone form. In an impressive move, Zuko swung his feet up and around in a circle, pulling himself out of Chit Sang's way before thrusting a fist of flame at his opponent, who'd managed to stand up. The small fireball flew directly at Chit Sang's feet and the bigger man easily hopped up over the blast.

The other guards, who'd been sitting back and watching the fight, finally stepped in. "No firebending, prisoner. Into the cooler." A pair of guards come up from behind him and rush Zuko, tackling him to the ground, before each grabbing an arm and draggin the unresisting firebender away.

Suki shot a worried look at Sokka, and she saw a grim look that mirrored her own on his face. So he isn't a fan of how this is going, either.