Chapter 85
"Holy shit! This can't be happening again!" Smellerbee yelled, watching Pipsqueak carefully depositing Jet on the bunk bed in one of the Freedom Fighter safe houses. Blood was seeping from Jet's combat uniform, quickly staining the bed sheets. "How is he?" Smellerbee asked insistently as Longshot dropped on his knees next to the bed and started to examine Jet's injuries.
"I'm going to guess that he's not doing well," Pipsqueak intoned in his heavy baritone, the almost seven feet tall giant hovering protectively over their cell leader.
"Fuck!" Smellerbee exclaimed in frustration. "Damn those fucking Fire Nation cunts for backing out of the op! Sod them to hell and back!"
"Come on, Bee, I get that you're pissed, we're all are, but how is this the Fire Jerk fault, really?" the Duke asked, the smaller boy as always the voice of reason, not that Smellerbee cared about being reasonable right now. Jet had taken a couple of pistol rounds right in the gut, on what should have been a routine supply raid. And it had been exactly that, until they had run into a guard post that their intel had not warned them about.
"How is this not their fault?" Smellerbee glared back at the Duke. "They gave us bad intel and Jet got shot up because of it! You're damn right it's their fault!"
"Actually, that was not Fire Army intel, Bee. That was intel from our sister cell," the Duke pointed out, Pipsqueak nodding reluctantly. "Seriously, you can check it out for yourself. I'm telling you the truth."
Bee looked ready to argue more, but then finally deflated. "Motherfucker," she muttered to herself. "Well, whoever fucked up will have to answer for this," Smellerbee grunted, her fists balled as she gave Longshot a hard stare. "How is he? Can you do anything for him?" Longshot gave her a rather forlorn look in response.
"I'm not a doctor, but I think Jet needs surgery, and probably quickly," Pipsqueak droned.
"Yeah, Bee, we can't expect Longshot to fix bullet wounds," the Duke nodded in agreement. "None of us know much more beyond basic first aid. You don't see combat medics lining up to enlist with the Freedom Fighters, do you?"
"Would be nice if they were," Smellerbee grunted. She noticed Longshot giving her a particularly intense stare, full of expectation. "It's that bad, eh?" she asked. Longshot nodded.
"It looks life threatening to me," Pipsqueak said.
"Yeah, okay, I get it," Smellerbee sighed. "Get him ready for transportation. As much as I hate the thought, the Fire Army field hospital is the only place where he has a chance."
"Good call, Bee," the Duke nodded, looking relieved. "I'd rather not lose the second cell leader in a few months. Losing Sneers was bad enough."
"Yeah, well, we wouldn't be having this conversation if Jet wasn't a ridiculous idiot trying to play human shield because I was the moron who almost walked into that Earth fucker guard," Smellerbee grunted, turning away and quickly dabbing at the corner of her eyes. It was a very brief moment of weakness, because when she looked at her cellmates again seconds later, Bee was once again all business. "Alright," she said, seeing that Pipsqueak had carefully picked Jet up. He was bleeding considerably less, so Longshot had at least done something. "Let's get Jet in the tender care of our Fire Army friends… and they better treat him right, or there will be hell to pay," she spoke angrily.
Squeezed between her two girlfriends in the backseat of the rented car, Yue was struggling to stay awake. The only reason she hadn't fallen asleep was her odd fascination with driving in the dark, watching almost hypnotically as the headlights slowly revealed the licorice black road snaking ahead of them. It definitely hadn't been the plan to start out the drive from Agna Qel'a to Cape Kuruk so late in the afternoon, but then again, it hadn't been the plan for her to win her first major pro tournament in her home city, with Katara coming close second. There had been a lot of wild partying the night before, meaning that they remained utterly non-functional until midday. Poor Sokka had been forced to wait until they were ready to travel, and now he also had to endure this tiring and challenging night drive, but he was taking it like a champ, without a single complaint. Katara's brother had been delighted for their success as well, but he had wisely skipped out on the worst of the drinking.
This had been their final tournament of the year, and they had finished said year in style. Yue kept expecting for this dream start to their pro careers to come to a screeching halt at some point, waiting for the rest of the Pai Sho world to finally take them seriously and put in a major effort to stop them, but it was yet to happen. Yue was slowly developing the belief that maybe they were just that good and the long time pros were failing to stop them even with serious prep, and her girlfriends vehemently agreed with this sentiment. After all, Gyatso Jetsun had taken part in the tournament, and after having a hard time with Azula and Yue in Ba Sing Se, the girls were sure that he would have prepared well for them. And yet, Yue and Katara had both managed to hold Gyatso to a draw, preparation or not. Gyatso had then lost to Pakku Karetak and finished just off the podium.
Yue and Katara had both thought that Pakku would be unstoppable in Agna Qel'a. After all, he had won this tournament for an unprecedented sixteen times over the many years of his playing career. And yet, Yue and Katara had managed to surge past the old curmudgeon. Yue had squeaked out a draw against him, barely managing to survive, while Katara had defeated her once idol, but now someone she no longer truly respected. Yue and Katara had then faced each other in the final round, with Katara needing only a draw to secure the tournament victory. But as it was often the case with them, needing only a draw created a dangerous mindset. Yue had to win, and since she had nothing to lose, Yue just went for it, while Katara had everything to lose and as a result played too passively. Yue ended up coming out on top, but Katara had shown only the slightest hint of disappointment, the first to congratulate and hug her. The Agna Qel'a tournament would always remain special for Yue, and not only because of her famous first victory. She had enjoyed it also for the petty reason of getting the chance to further emasculate and eviscerate Hahn, and she had done so with aplomb, condemning him to the last place in the standings, far below even Siku Ikuma who had made her professional debut in this tournament, faring reasonably well.
After the tournament was over, Azula had done some number crunching to work out their pro rating now that they had several tournaments under their belt. Azula was confident that when the new rankings would be published at the end of the year, all three of them would have cracked the top twenty among professional players, something they would have never imagined in their wildest dreams. They seemed to be well on their way to make it through to the world championship qualifiers the following summer, although they would still have to play at least three more tournaments at the start of the next year to further cement their ranking and to satisfy the requirement of at least six tournaments played during a qualification cycle.
The rest of the Gaang were not doing quite as well, which was not all that unexpected considering how much younger Aang and Toph were, and Teo, while being a very solid player, was never truly lauded as a prodigy, but more as a hard worker, in a vein similar to Haru Tamang. Aang, Toph and Teo had taken part in another Caldera City tournament in late October, and they had done reasonably well. Aang came in fourth, Toph finished fifth and Teo ended up in the middle of the pack. According to Azula's calculations, Aang was on the cusp of making the coveted top thirty, with Toph and Teo lagging a little further behind. Also, while in Caldera, Mai had finally introduced Aang to her parents, and as predicted, that hadn't gone over well. Mai's father had apparently not simply been rude, but he had also tried to get physical with Aang, and so Mai had decided to sever ties with her parents until they came to their senses. Despite her lukewarm feelings towards the Earth Kingdom, she was now seriously considering moving to Ba Sing Se, but the political situation in Yu Dao was weighing heavily on her mind and she still hadn't made her final decision.
All in all, Yue was as happy with her life as she had ever been. She now had a month free of any commitments that had prevented her from catching up with her studies that had yet again suffered because of Pai Sho. As the year turned, they would probably have to sit down in the Ba Sing Se estate to once again review the tournament schedule and decide which events to target and which ones to skip. And then, if everything went well, at the end of June, the three of them would take part in the most important tournament in their life yet, the qualifiers for the main world championship event. The chance to earn a ticket to the finals and join five powerful grandmasters to contest the title of a world champion, it seemed ridiculous to even harbor such lofty aspirations, but because of their strong play so far, this no longer seemed like a crazy pipe dream. Yue often felt like nothing could stop the three of them, as long as they kept working together, pushing and bettering one another all the time.
Yue turned her head to look at Azula to her left. Her Fire Nation girlfriend was fast asleep, leaning in against Yue's shoulder, her red lips parted slightly and a tiny amount of drool gathering at the corner of her mouth. A few stray locks of hair fell into Azula's face, making her look so irresistibly cute that Yue was having a hard time holding herself back from leaning in and starting to kiss her. But she also didn't want to wake up Azula, not when she looked so peaceful and relaxed, without any of that tension and intensity in her face that always seemed to be there when she was awake. Azula had run herself absolutely ragged during the tournament, making sure that Yue and Katara lacked for nothing. Yue and Katara adored Azula for her efforts, even if they were aware that many on the hotel and restaurant staff ended up thinking that Azula was the worst menace they had ever encountered. Azula would make the lives of the staff very hard by personally making sure that Yue and Katara were always provided with the very best, and she refused to accept anything but perfection. Yue and Katara had already made sure to reward Azula for everything she had done for them, and they were definitely not done with repaying their girlfriend. But the rest of the rewarding would have to wait until they got back to Ba Sing Se, because they definitely would not feel comfortable engaging in such activities at the Enuaraq household.
Yue carefully turned her head right to check on Katara. She was a little surprised to find her other girlfriend still awake, yawning as she stared out of the window at the snow covered fields of white nothingness. "Hey," Yue whispered to Katara. She was well aware of Azula's light sleep, and she didn't want to wake up the Fire Nation girl. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I slept for a bit, but I woke up just now," Katara replied quietly. "Is Azula still out cold?" she asked. Yue nodded. Katara leaned a little forward to look behind Yue at the snoozing Azula. "Spirits, she is so gosh darned cute, I could just-" Katara's words were interrupted by a light but meaningful cough from Sokka in the driver's seat. "Oh, sorry Sokka," Katara giggled, not sounding too apologetic.
"Damn horny lesbians," Sokka sighed. "Keep it in your pants, will you? So gross…"
"Hush, don't wake Azula, please," Yue insisted quietly.
"I don't think there's any danger of that," Katara said, having stared at Azula some more. "She still has a lot of booze in her system. Her sleep isn't that light when she's drunk."
"Good point," Yue chuckled. "I hope she'll sober up before we get to Cape Kuruk, though. Having her trip over her feet because she's drunk wouldn't make a good impression on your family. And I think we want to make the best impression on this visit," she added, a little worriedly. Katara and Sokka immediately looked rather anxious as well.
Indeed, there was a good reason why Yue felt rather tense and worried about this trip to Cape Kuruk. Sokka had decided that it was finally time to come out to his father and grandmother about his relationship with Zuko, a step he had put off for a very long time and was still dreading, fearing Hakoda's disapproval. To encourage Sokka, Katara had decided to accompany him and also come out about Yue being her and Azula's girlfriend. Obviously, Katara was also quite frightened about how the news would be received. As for Yue, well, she was aware that her reputation with Katara's father and grandmother was not the best. She was the girl who had dumped Sokka, and she was also the girl who had made Katara miserable for long stretches of her teenage years. As far as Yue was concerned, there was little reason for Hakoda and Kanna to look at her favorably, even if Katara insisted that the past was water under the bridge. Katara's words ultimately hadn't stopped Yue from freaking out about the whole endeavor.
"It's going to go down well, you guys. You have nothing to worry about, believe me," Yue said, trying to sound encouraging. She couldn't imagine Hakoda Enuaraq reacting badly to anything his children told him. He was just the nicest adult Yue had come across, with the possible exception of Uncle Iroh. But while she didn't think that Hakoda would be upset with Sokka or Katara, she thought that Hakoda might be upset with her, and that thought terrified Yue.
"I think so as well," Katara nodded. She was using that voice when she was trying to convince herself of something she didn't necessarily believe in. Yue could by now recognize the way it sounded, more upbeat than it would be naturally.
"I don't know about it going over well, all I know is that to delay it any further would be pure torture," Sokka sighed. "I just want it to be over and done with, regardless of how it goes over."
"I can understand that feeling Sokka, but trust me, I know that your dad will never judge you for not living up to some crazy expectations. I know that for your father, his only expectations of you are to live your own lives and to be happy," Yue said, feeling pleased when both Sokka and Katara appeared a lot happier at her words. If Hakoda Enuaraq was going to be mad at someone by the end of their visit, Yue was determined to make sure that it would be her, and not Sokka or Katara.
Several days had passed in Cape Kuruk, and Sokka kept chickening out of telling his father and grandmother the truth about his relationship with Zuko. Katara and the girls kept encouraging him by being supportive, and Zuko had attempted to do the same during his long distance calls to Ba Sing Se, but Sokka was still waffling, needling Katara to go first and pave the way with her news about Yue being her and Azula's girlfriend. Katara kept refusing, though, and Sokka knew that he had to do something because their flights back to Ba Sing Se were in two days. But it was just so hard when Gran-Gran constantly kept steering the conversation towards potential girlfriends and the resulting great-grandchildren.
On the eve of their day of departure back to Agna Qel'a, Sokka finally felt like he had gathered the courage necessary to make the big step. He didn't feel like he could do this in front of Gran-Gran, however, so he made sure to wait until their grandmother went to bed early in the evening before heading up to his father's room for a heart to heart conversation. Perhaps if everything went smoothly, Sokka could ask Hakoda to break the news gently to his mother, because Sokka didn't think that he would ever be able to break his grandmother's heart. With Katara left waiting out in the hallway, ready to burst in to join them and deliver her own news if everything went well for her brother, Sokka entered his father's room.
For a few minutes they engaged in the usual relaxing small talk, discussing the latest ice hockey developments and similar other nonsense while Sokka tried to find a way to get to the heart of the matter. "I've really missed being home and just having us talk like this," Sokka said eventually. "Although, Gran-Gran being a bit pushy about girlfriends and kids kind of gets a bit much."
Hakoda snorted. "Well, she's really getting on in years, Sokka," he said patiently. "I think she's simply worried that she might not see any great-grandchildren running about the place. But I understand that it's putting undue pressure on you, Sokka."
"You could say that," Sokka sighed. "It's a pressure I really didn't need because I have news that will only disappoint her."
"What do you mean, son?" Hakoda looked worried. "Has something happened?"
"I'm afraid that I won't be able to deliver on the grandchildren front, dad," Sokka muttered.
"Spirits, are you quite certain?" Hakoda exclaimed, looking quite incensed. Sokka nodded, wondering about his father's reaction. "Why, I ought to go over to the Palluq household right now and tell them everything I thought but didn't say at the time! That brat Jotah should have faced more severe consequences for using his hockey stick as a weapon!"
"Umm… why are we talking about Jotah Palluq?" Sokka blinked in incomprehension.
"Have you forgotten the incident in the middle school hockey finals between Cape Kuruk and Puffin Creek?" Hakoda asked. "You scored such a beautiful goal to win the game, but that little pest Jotah skated up to you and speared you in the groin with his stick."
"Oh… that," Sokka winced at the memory. That was probably the most pain he had ever been in his life thus far. He really didn't remember much about the incident, though. The way he recalled it, his triumphant joy at scoring the overtime goal had suddenly turned into the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced, and then he had been rolling around on the ice, clutching his groin. He had ended up going to the ER. Hakoda had later told him that there had been blood, but Sokka was relieved that he no longer remembered the details. He only remembered it as a particularly unpleasant experience.
"I thought that was what you meant," Hakoda said, looking a little puzzled. "Has there been some lasting damage from the incident? I assume that you have had a doctor look into it? Is there nothing they can do?" his father asked.
"Uh… no, there's nothing that can be done, I'm afraid. It doesn't bother me, though, I'm not like… in any pain or something," Sokka lied quickly. This was perfect! He didn't even have to shock his father with his sexual preferences. This was a far more elegant solution, a little white lie to spare the feelings of his father and grandmother.
"Well, that is a blow. You must have been really devastated to learn that, son," Hakoda sighed, clapping him on the shoulder, full of sympathy. "Maybe you and your eventual girlfriend can look into adoption. It's just a thought for the future. I feel like you're sometimes pushing yourself way too hard with your work and your studies. You really should set aside more time for yourself and find a nice girl to settle down with."
"Yeah, that's… definitely among my plans for the near future," Sokka managed. For an elegant solution, he was quickly starting to feel very rotten about it. Lying just didn't come naturally or sat well with him. They talked some more, mostly small talk with the occasional prodding from Hakoda to get a girlfriend, but as time passed, Sokka became more and more weighed down with guilt from having lied. "Listen, dad, I really should have-" he began, only to be interrupted by a light knock on the door.
"Come in," Hakoda called out, and a moment later Katara poked her head into the room, surveying the situation. Sokka had completely forgotten that she had been waiting for him to be done with his confession, so it was no wonder that his sister had become a little anxious. Seeing that Hakoda was smiling at her, Katara immediately relaxed.
"You two had a good talk, everything cleared up?" she asked.
"Of course, sweetie, Sokka and I are as close as ever," Hakoda replied, giving Sokka an affectionate fist bump. "Why don't you join us for a bit?" he asked.
"Well, I intended to do just that, because Sokka isn't the only one who has news for you," Katara began.
"Err, Kat-" Sokka raised his hand in warning, but Katara was not listening, plowing straight onwards.
"I honestly had no idea how I was going to breach the news to you, but seeing as how you have no trouble accepting that Sokka has a boyfriend, I'm guessing that you won't have any problems with the fact that Yue is now my and Azula's girlfriend," Katara rattled off happily. She then hesitated, seeing that their father had gone very quiet, almost numb from the shock. Hakoda's mouth opened several times as he tried to speak, but no sound made it past his lips. Katara looked from their father back to Sokka, and then back to Hakoda again, as understanding began to dawn on her. Then she began to tear up, finally turning around and running out of the room in a state of panic.
Sokka found himself hesitating. He wanted to run after Katara, but he also needed his father to say something. Hakoda was just standing there, leaning heavily against the desk and looking dazed, as if he had been hit on the temples with a hockey puck. Eventually, Sokka could not take the silence any longer, turning around to run after Katara. The trouble was that he had no idea where his sister had run off to. He was sure that Katara hadn't run out of the house, she wouldn't do something so crazy even in a state of panic. After a few minutes of searching, Sokka eventually managed to track Katara down in the dusty old attic, his sister sitting on a large stack of old newspapers, looking at something in her palm as her shoulders shook lightly now and then.
Sokka walked up to his sister and sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. He then looked at the object in Katara's palm, immediately recognizing the familiar looking pendant. "Hey, you found mom's necklace," he said.
"I always knew where it was," Katara's reply surprised him. "It was just too painful to look at it, until recently. Actually, I wanted to pick it up last year, but I sort of forgot to. I think I'm ready to wear it now, though."
"It still hurts, doesn't it?" Sokka asked, stroking her back affectionately.
"Every day," Katara sighed. "Azula and Yue help so much, though." She fell silent for a while. "Do you think about her often, Sokka?" she asked.
"You might think of me as a horrible son if I were to answer this honestly," Sokka sighed. Katara looked at him, vehemently shaking her head. "For me, mom is so closely tied to Cape Kuruk. I think about her every time we come back here, every time I speak with dad or Gran-Gran. But other than that… no, I don't think about mom that much anymore."
"That's good. I'm glad you're not dwelling on it, Sokka," Katara smiled briefly, before her expression fell and she began to tear up again. "Spirits, that was so embarrassing the way I just blurted out everything… dad must hate us now, I'm sure. He really should hate just me, though."
"Kat, don't be ridiculous," Sokka chided her gently. "Dad would never hate us for something like that." He was going to say more before being interrupted by an ominous creaking of the floorboards. They turned around to see their father standing there by the entrance into the attic.
"Listen to your brother, Katara," Hakoda said softly. "That you could think that I might ever hate you… don't you know that you two are everything I have? I don't even remember the last time when I was angry or disappointed with either of you. Mind you, I am disappointed with myself for my poor reaction just now."
"No, that was my fault, I was being a total idiot," Katara sniffled.
"Stop being so hard on yourself, Kat, it was nobody's fault," Sokka sighed at her. "And don't worry about your reaction, dad. It was an accidental blindsiding, so I can understand you being completely stunned. That said, uh… are you really going to be okay with what Katara threw at you?"
"I just need time, Sokka, and I might have a question or two," Hakoda replied. "I hope you can understand why I'm so surprised. You've only had girlfriends until now. In fact, your ex-girlfriend is currently visiting us, and is now… girlfriend to my daughter and Azula? I'm confused. Also, this boyfriend of yours, I would at least like to know something about him if you're not yet ready to bring him home with you."
"Uh, right," Sokka said, wondering where to begin. "Yeah, I get that this seems to have come out of nowhere. I had no idea I was bi, honestly, it was only a while after I had started hanging out with Zuko – that's his name by the way – that I realized how I felt about him. Also, I mean, since I'm bisexual, I guess you don't have to give up on the dream of grandchildren altogether, but… well, I don't want to make any predictions for the future, you know."
"Sokka, I think that it might be prudent to also mention that Zuko is Azula's older brother," Katara added, shaking her head.
"Is that so?" Hakoda wondered, appearing curious. "I remember Azula not being particularly complimentary when speaking about her brother in the past."
"They had a very difficult upbringing," Katara chose to reply. "They were brought up by a cruel father who encouraged distrust and rivalry between them, so they grew up resenting, even hating each other. But that's changing for the better now. Both Azula and Zuko have enough childhood traumas for an entire school bus full of children. They both deserve love and affection."
"I am in complete agreement with that," Hakoda nodded with a smile. "What about you, Katara? I'm confused, and even worried. Did you and Azula run into some trouble, or… why bring Yue into a relationship which seemed so full of genuine love and affection? Perhaps I am old and ignorant and don't understand something, but it seems very odd to me. Besides, I remember that Yue has broken the hearts of you both in the past. I must confess that I don't know what to think of that girl. It makes me afraid about you and Azula."
Katara let out a heavy sigh. "I guess I can understand why people would see it this way, thinking that we're doing this because there's something missing in our relationship," she said. "But nothing could be further from the truth. You know that Yue went through that very traumatic arranged marriage, right?" Hakoda nodded at that, looking quite angry and upset. "It really changed her, dad. After we got her to Ba Sing Se and she came to live with me and Azula, she did so much for us both while asking for nothing in return. Yue and I, we were always going to love one another, the kind of bond that we have never truly goes away. But Yue never tried to interfere in my relationship with Azula, even though she could have tried to win me back. She became our greatest supporter over the years, and she came to forge a deep connection with Azula as well. When Yue's own relationship fell apart back in spring, she tried dating again and again, but we could tell that she wasn't happy. Azula and I hated the thought of her being unhappy and hurt, and we both agreed that we didn't want Yue to date anyone else but us. We were so happy that she agreed to be with us. I know it's weird to think about just how it all works, but honestly dad, this has been the best year of my life. Also, our Pai Sho results are a proof of my words. The three of us together just work."
Hakoda looked touched by Katara's passionate speech, walking up to his children and embracing them both. "I see you've found your mother's necklace. Are you finally ready to keep it?" he asked quietly.
"I will keep it and I will wear it proudly," Katara whispered back.
"I love you so much, both of you," Hakoda continued to hug them, clearly becoming emotional himself. "You have such big hearts, and you have so much love that you are willing to give. That's all Kya… I see her in you both every time I look at either of you."
"That's nice of you to say, dad, but I think you're selling yourself short," Sokka said, happy to share this moment with his father and sister. "You have the biggest heart of us all, and I'm sure Katara would agree with me."
"Of course, I would," Katara hummed her approval, sounding relieved. Sokka fully shared the sentiment. Regardless of how embarrassing the experience had been, at least the truth was finally out there and his father didn't appear to think any less of him or Katara. The only thing Sokka regretted now was having foolishly carried this weight on his chest for so long, when he should have always had faith in the acceptance of his father.
Jet's vision swam with black and white spots dancing in front of his eyes as he tried desperately to open his heavy lids. For a moment, he was wondering if he was in the middle of an acid trip. He'd had a fair share of those in his wilder teenage years, before sorting out his life and going steady with Suki. This didn't feel nearly as much fun as an acid trip, however, so Jet suspected that something else was at work here. His entire torso felt very numb and compressed, but at least there was sensation in his arms and legs, so it didn't seem like he was paralyzed.
After a lengthy struggle, Jet managed to open his eyes. He found himself staring at a pristine white ceiling in a sterile looking room, stinking of disinfectant. Was this… a hospital? Why was he in a hospital? Jet frantically tried to wind his memory back to the last events he could remember, but before he had managed to do so, a face entered his field of vision, someone leaning in over him to place a palm against his forehead. The hand felt soft, but very cold to the touch. The hand withdrew a moment later, but then returned to push a pair of pills past his lips. After he had reluctantly accepted them into his mouth, he found a glass of water pressed against his lips and he swallowed several eager mouthfuls, having realized just how parched he was.
"They said you might be running high fever post-surgery," a feminine voice spoke softly. She sounded oddly familiar. "You're really burning up, so I hope these will help," the girl hovering over him spoke worriedly.
Jet's vision was slowly starting to become more and more focused, and he slowly became able to make out details about the girl's face. He was completely taken by surprise when he recognized the very distinctive large grey eyes looking down at him in sympathy. "Ty… Lee?" Jet croaked in complete astonishment. "What… what are you doing here? And for that matter… where is here?"
Ty Lee smiled, looking relieved. "Well, if you can recognize me, something tells me that you're going to be okay," she said. "You're in a Fire Army hospital, Jet. I'm guessing you don't know how you ended up here?" Ty Lee asked. Jet tried to shake his head, but he couldn't quite feel his neck, the effects of the anesthetic still present in his system. "You got shot up really bad by some Earth Kingdom goons. Your Freedom Fighter friends brought you here with no time to spare. Any delays and you would have died from the loss of blood."
"Ouch," Jet winced. The memories were starting to flood back to him now, memories of having done something stupid and heroic. No, he had tried to protect Smellerbee, that wasn't stupid. That was the right thing to do. "I guess I dodged a bullet there, huh?" he asked, grinning crookedly at Ty Lee.
"No, you didn't, that's why you needed surgery," Ty Lee grinned back at him. "Our doc thinks you'll be okay, but you should prepare to stick around for a while," she added with a wink.
"Oh, there are a lot worse places to be stuck in, I suspect," he winked right back at her. "You haven't told me how you ended up here, though? Is this the fate of all those Fire Nation kids who got nabbed during the Ba Sing Se riots?"
"Yep, all the girls got drafted in as nurses and all the boys got thrown into the meat grinder on the front lines," Ty Lee sighed. "Katara would probably go on a rant about sexism here, but I'm kind of glad that our military is so sexist, or else I'd probably be dead by now. Some of the boys I remember from Ba Sing Se have come through our hospital recently. A few went straight back home in cheap coffins."
"Well, shit," Jet winced. "I'm sorry you're in this situation. You really don't deserve it."
"Like you do," Ty Lee replied. "I freaked out so bad when I recognized you on the operation table, I couldn't believe my eyes," she said, looking unsettled. "I couldn't understand how you had ended up with the Freedom Fighters, but then one soldier told me that your ranks were now full with draft dodgers, so I'm guessing that's how it happened." Jet nodded at her. "Crazy, isn't it, though?" Ty Lee chuckled awkwardly. "The way we just ran into each other, I mean, how likely was that?"
"It must be fate," Jet winked at her. Ty Lee blushed lightly. "I'm glad you're here, though, even if I don't really want to see you anywhere near the frontlines," Jet sighed. "It's just… nice to see a familiar face."
"Yeah, I'm just glad you made it," Ty Lee smiled at him. "But I'm also happy that you're here, Jet, even if working here hasn't been as awful as you might think. War is awful, obviously, but if someone has decided that it's going to happen, then the best we can do is try and save at least some lives, right? I feel like I'm doing some good here." Ty Lee's grin broadened slightly. "And I get to wear a cute uniform to boot," she added, doing a little pirouette and a twirl.
"Okay, that is very cute," Jet added appreciatively, watching Ty Lee blush again. Ty Lee would probably look cute, even hot, in a big and cumbersome plastic bag. Jet thought that maybe he was an asshole for already trying to hit on this girl who had shown interest in him before, wondering if he was moving past Suki way too quickly. But what good would dwelling on Suki do, honestly? There was very little chance of him ever returning to Ba Sing Se as a free man. It was unlikely that he'd ever make it out of Yu Dao alive. Ty Lee was here, and she was as radiant and beautiful as before. If he was about to go out as a rebel with a doomed cause, at the very least he could have a bit of fun with an amazing and hot girl by his side.
Next chapter: as another year turns, Azula decides that she wants to enter the same tournament as her father, so that she can get used to facing him. Let's find out whether this is a good idea, a bad idea or a horrible idea.