Since the night that Zoe nearly killed him, or the night that he followed her as he prefers to think of it as, Zoe had more or less returned to her pre-disappearance self, with the exception of the occasional flinching. They were still staying with Alice and Zeb for another two weeks but Hayden had started leaving for a few days at a time to free dragons from the hunters. Zoe would never come with him, whether it was because Uri wouldn't let her or because she knew her own limits, he didn't know, he honestly suspected it was the former though. When he was in the village, Hayden would go to the forest with Zoe and Remi where he discovered that Zoe was training Remi. The kid was good too, he could hold his own against Hayden pretty well. Alice would come with them every few days as well, helping Remi with his water bending while Hayden and Zoe would sit down and watch them.

Hayden and Remi were currently running after Zoe who had dumped a huge ball of water over their heads when they were sparring and then running off laughing before they could retaliate. They were chasing her through the market, the two boys having to weave through and being careful to not run into anyone, whereas Zoe seemed to just be able to pass right through the crowd who made a path for her. She was finally brought to a stop when she crashed into someone who managed to catch them both before they fell over. It was Mathew, the baker's son and one of Zoe's friends. Hayden stopped in his tracks, watching the events play out, Remi running ahead, oblivious to the fact that the girl that Hayden cared for was currently staring up at another boy with a smile on her face. He watched Remi tackle Zoe from the side, careful of her back, and summoning a ball of water from a nearby bucket so that it fell on both Zoe and Mathew. Hayden decided to continue heading for the laughing trio not wanting to seem suspicious by not joining them. When he got to them, they were in mid conversation, Zoe introducing Remi and Mathew to each other and catching up with Mathew who she hadn't yet seen since returning.

"Sorry about the water," Zoe said to Mathew.

"Don't worry about it," he laughed. Mathew was an earth bender so he couldn't bend the water off of him or dry it with fire.

"Here, let me dry you off." Zoe summoned the water, the droplets forming a steady stream from Mathew's clothes to Zoe's hand where it congregated. Once he was dry, Zoe let the water drop onto Remi who cried out in shock before slapping his sister's arm and starting to complain. Hayden smiled at the exchange, Zoe and Remi were incredibly close considering they'd only known each other for just six and a half months, but then again, being Drago's prisoners for four of those months would speed up the process.

"I should probably get back to help Alice, it was really nice seeing you again," Zoe said to Mathew as Hayden zoned back into the conversation.

"It was nice seeing you too. We should hang out some time," Mathew responded.

"Definitely," Zoe agreed rather eagerly, giving Mathew a hug who returned it, making Hayden feel a weird mixture of anger and jealousy.

"Nice meeting you Remi, see you Hayden," Mathew called out as he went back to the bakery to help his father.

"Alice, can I speak to you and Zeb in private a bit later?" Zoe asked. The sun had just finished setting and Zoe and Alice were in the kitchen preparing the dinner for the five of them, Zeb, Hayden and Remi had gone to the market to get a few last minute things.

"Sure, what about?"

"About Remi," Zoe said with some hesitance.

"I've been meaning to speak to you about him too actually," Alice said, Zoe looking up at her as Alice continued. "You can't take him with you when you and Hayden leave, its too dangerous."

"I know, that's what I wanted to speak to you about," Zoe sighed.

"He can stay with us, if that's what you were going to ask."

"Really? I mean, yes, that's what I was going to ask but you're going to have so much on your plate soon and I feel awful leaving you with something else."

"Zoe, he's no trouble, really, and he can help me and Zeb at work when he's not with the other kids his age."

"Are you sure? Don't you need to speak with Zeb first?"

"He'll do as he's told, but we've already spoken about it. He was the one to bring it up actually, he said that Remi shouldn't tag along with you guys for...multiple reasons," Alice said with a slight pause and a smile pulling at her lips which just confused Zoe.

-o0O0o-

They were leaving already. She didn't want to say goodbye to Remi, even if it wasn't forever. She had already said goodbye to Mathew, Dean, Angel, Zeb and Alice, she just had to let go of Remi who she was fiercely holding onto. "I'll miss you," she mumbled into his hair.

"Me too," Remi whispered back.

"You'll be fine," Zoe was trying to convince herself more than Remi.

"I know I will. I should be more worried about you and your reckless antics," Remi joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"You ready to go?" Hayden asked, walking over to the self-appointed siblings.

"I s'pose," Zoe replied, releasing Remi from her embrace after pressing her lips to the top of his head. "Make sure you help Alice, we'll be back in a couple of months," she said to Remi.

"I will," Remi said, giving his sister one last hug before she mounted Uri, Sharpshot wrapping himself around her shoulders. "Zoe! Thank you, for everything," Remi called out as Uri and Atlas were walking to the cliff's edge.

"Look, I'd say anytime, but some things I'd rather us not repeat," she called back with a smile, Remi laughing. "But, you're welcome," she said more seriously as Uri took off after Atlas.

After a few minutes, Hayden spoke up, "You ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"He'll be fine," Hayden reassured.

"I know he will. I was just thinking..." she trailed off, turning back to watch the slowly shrinking island. "Where are we going?" she asked in a stronger tone.

"I was thinking we go back to the house and use that to plan our next move," Hayden responded.

"But you said you knew what you wanted us to do before we left?"

"I do, I just told you what it was."

"You have the worst plans, you know that right?" Zoe sighed.

"Ok, so maybe I didn't tell you everything," Hayden defended.

"So what else do you have to tell me?"

"I was thinking we could spend a few days collating everything we know about the hunters and start thinking of how to bring them down, permanently," Hayden said more quietly.

"Wait, like permanently as in take out all three leaders and make sure they don't reform with new leaders?"

"Something like that." He sounded nervous, like he was expecting her to laugh at him, laugh at what, she didn't know.

"Let's not waste time flying when we could use Uri's portals then," Zoe said.

"Doesn't it drain her though?" Hayden asked.

"She'll have plenty of time to rest if we're going to be cooped up on your island. You think you can manage?" she asked the last part to Uri out loud.

"Please, you really have to ask?" Uri responded in mock arrogance, making Zoe laugh.

"She can handle it," Zoe told Hayden.

-o0O0o-

They had designated an entire room to their planning, both of them sifting through their notes they had on the hunters, everything from schedules to numbers, camp locations and common tactics that the hunters used. They had everything divided into three, a different section for Drago, Viggo and Grimmel. They had plenty on Drago thanks to Zoe's extended stay at the main camp, and Hayden had a decent amount on Viggo and his operations. Grimmel was the only one proving to be difficult to find information on. They spent almost two weeks cooped up in the small room, Atlas, Uri and Sharpshot abandoning them for the sun outside during the days. They decided that they would take one leader out at a time. They would need to stay at the lead camp for several days afterwards to make sure that the hunters went home or found a new purpose so that a new leader wouldn't just take over the branch of hunters. They would deal with Viggo first, then Drago, and finally Grimmel, figuring this would be the only way to draw Grimmel out into the open.

They had been back with Alice and Zeb for a month now, Hayden freeing dragons and gathering as much information on the hunters as he could in a radius surrounding the village as far as a three day flight. Zoe was handling the rest, being able to get to the other side of the world Below with Uri's portals in seconds. Alice had had the baby three weeks before they arrived, a little girl who they named Celia, with soft brown eyes and a mop of black hair. Hayden had just got back from his latest excursion and was sitting in the backyard with Alice, Remi, Zeb who was holding Celia, Atlas and Rocco, updating them on his and Zoe's plans and what they had been doing in the time that they were away, three months, give or take a few weeks.

"You two seriously need to learn to take a break," Zeb told him as he adjusted Celia in his arms.

"We need to gather as much information as we can on the hunters so we can take all three of them down," he retorted.

"You're going to work yourselves into the ground. Just take one day off? We can all go to the waterfall and make a day of it; all your friends on the island can join us, it'll be fun!" Zeb tried to tempt.

"Fine," he sighed. "One day."

"Yes! We'll go the day after Zoe gets back."

Hayden just laughed to himself and rolled his eyes, Zeb was a big kid through and through.

-o0O0o-

Zoe returned six days later around lunch time, an odd look on her face. "I need to talk to you," she said to him, still sitting on Uri's back with Sharpshot on her left shoulder.

"What's going on? Is everything ok?" he asked, concerned as Atlas came bounding over to them.

"Come on," was all she said before Uri took off again, Hayden scrambling onto Atlas's back before he too took off. They landed in a small clearing at the base of the cliff where Zoe released her lightning when they were staying on the island.

"Ok, what's going on? You're freaking me out."

"Relax, its nothing bad," she told him as she removed her helmet. Before he could speak, Zoe took a deep breath and continued, "I got another tattoo."

"Sorry, what?" he asked completely taken aback. "You got another tattoo? For what? And how?"

"It was a gift," she said as she slid off Uri's back. "Look."

He was very confused now, nothing was happening as far as he was concerned. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" he asked after a few minutes.

"The ground."

"What?- Wait why is the grass growing that fast?"

Zoe just looked at him, a small smile spreading across her face.

"You have the Foreverwing's blessing?" he breathed, Zoe nodding in response. "How? I mean I'm guessing you ran into the Foreverwing, but what did you do to earn its blessing?"

"I saved a flock of seedling dragons from Grimmel's hunters."

"A whole flock? And you said Grimmel?"

"Yes and yes. About 150-200 dragons. Sharpshot nicked some good things from their lead ship too."

"That's amazing! Is that why you were gone for so much longer?"

"Yeah, I followed them back to one of their camps. It wasn't their main camp though. It was pretty well hidden on an island with dense vegetation. A lot of it was under ground in a network of caves that I'm guessing were dug by whispering deaths or quakens, which explains why we can't see them from the air. But that's all I wanted to tell you, I figured I'd tell you since we promised no more secrets," she finished quietly.

"Thank you, for telling me. And it looks like we have more work to do if we want to find those other camps. But, I did promise Zeb we would spend a day having fun and relaxing with everyone once you got back."

"Oh no, why would you promise Zeb something like that?" Zoe responded, laced with sarcasm.

"You're the worst, you know that right?"

-o0O0o-

Hayden, Mathew, Zeb and a number of their male friends were already at the waterfall, Remi, Zoe and Alice who was bringing Celia, would be arriving shortly with four of their female friends; Grace, Maddy, Anna and Kiara. The boys were setting up the food and drinks in the shade of a large oak tree that had a canopy that covered half of the area. It was a warm morning, the temperature would only continue to rise as the day progressed, Hayden wouldn't be surprised if it reached 35 degrees. The girls and Remi arrived about 15 minutes after the boys, their presence only made known when Hayden and Zeb yelled out in shock as the drinks they were stacking became stuck to their hands with a thick layer of ice in between. "Shit this is cold!" Zeb cursed.

"ZOE!" Hayden yelled out as the newly arrived group emerged from the trees, laughing.

"Sorry," Zoe laughed, not sounding remotely sorry, the ice disappearing from their hands and forming a layer around the drinks and the food that would be nicer cold, instead.

"I'm sure you are," Zeb muttered as he rubbed his hand, trying to get some warmth back into it.

"How about you two stop whinging and get in the water before I push you," Alice told them.

"Race you to the top, up the side of the cliff," Zoe said to Mathew.

"That's not fair, I can only earth bend and you'll have an advantage."

"I'll only use my earth bending, c'mon, please?"

"Fine," he huffed and rolling his eyes before a smirk split his face and he darted for the cliff face.

"HEY, CHEATER!" she yelled as she chased after him, laughing. Everyone watched as Zoe leapt at the wall which was still a good five metres away, clearly using her air bending to take her up so she was equal with Mathew who was a quarter of the way up. They both scaled the wall, hand and foot holds appearing exactly where they wanted them to be. Everyone was watching in amazement as they appeared to run up the wall, defying gravity. They both reached the top at the same time, both trying to push each other back down so they could be the winner.

"Draw!" Anna called up to them. The cliff was about 30 metres up, so they couldn't see the pair who had flopped onto their backs, too tired to move, but they did hear a faint grunt in acknowledgment, making them all laugh. Mathew and Zoe appeared at the edge of the ledge just right to the waterfall, Zoe leaping off with no hesitance and landing in the water below. After nearly a whole two minutes she emerged, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I'd say its about seven metres deep, about four times my height, so you'll be fine to jump without water bending to soften the landing," she called up to Mathew who gave a thumbs up in return. Without further ado, he jumped and landed in the water next to Zoe.

"Shit! That hurt!" was the first thing he said after he surfaced. "The water's nice though. I'd say a rematch is in order."

"I agree, you cheated big time."

"So did you! You said you wouldn't use air bending and the first thing you do is air bend!" The group just laughed at their friends' antics, Hayden becoming slightly tense in his posture.

"Let's have a rematch then," one of the boys, Seamus, told them as they climbed out of the water.

"Maybe we should have taken our clothes off first and just climbed the wall in our bathers?" Mathew said, plucking is sopping shirt off his stomach.

"Probably..." Zoe responded, using her water bending to remove the water from her shoes, "but this works too," she said with a laugh to Mathew who was grumbling about earth bending being useless.

"You know what, I'll just leave it in the sun and it'll be dry by the time we leave," Mathew huffed.

"I'll do that too I think, and if they're still wet I'll finish drying them later," Zoe said as she took off her socks and shoes, pulling her shirt over her head and throwing the pile in the sun, Mathew following suit. She was wearing a sports bra underneath, her Lichtenburg on her arm and shoulder exposed to everyone, except Alice, for the first time. Her top covered the worst of her back, but the extent of her scarring was still evident. Hayden inhaled sharply when he saw it, she hadn't let him see her scars before even though he'd asked, so why was she exposing them to everyone without a care? The rest of the group seemed to be oblivious to the scars, but they had healed completely, and maybe they just seemed worse to Hayden because he knew the story behind them?

"Ready?" she asked as she made a line on the ground a short run from the cliff.

"Anna, want to call the shots?" Mathew asked over his shoulder as he went to stand next to Zoe behind the starting line.

"Ok, no cheating this time and no messing with each other either, its a speed race. Ready?" Anna asked, receiving a nod from Zoe and Mathew. "GO!"

They both sprinted towards the cliff, their bare feet leaving wet footprints behind them, the group cheering. Mathew ran to the base of the cliff before he starting scrambling up the wall at a rapid pace. Zoe, just like last time, leapt at the wall, but much more naturally this time, gripping the rock about half a metre above Mathew, scaling the wall without a second's hesitation. Hayden found it incredible that they could climb that fast, but then again, they didn't have to worry about finding anything to grip onto since they just made their own hand holds at the perfect interval. Mathew was gaining on Zoe who was only a step in front of Mathew now, but he didn't seem to be able to get ahead. They were just over two metres from the top, Mathew had finally caught up to Zoe, but Zoe was clearly determined to win, her competitive streak coming through. He had no idea how she did it but she somehow jumped the last two meters in one motion, using the stone to propel her up, her fingers just gripping the top of the cliff and hauling herself up and over the top, Mathew flopping over the edge a second later.

"What was that?" Zeb remarked in awe and excited as always.

"I'd say it was some very creative earth bending," Anna said in a similar tone. A few minutes later they saw the duo jump into the water, Zoe bending a bubble to catch Mathew halfway so he didn't have to deal with the pain of hitting the water from so high up.

"Re-rematch," Mathew panted as he dragged himself out of the water.

"No way, I won. Plus I'm too tired right now."

"What about you bend for two of us to race?" Hayden suggested, walking over to help the two of them up.

"That could work, what do you think, Zoe?"

"Deal. Winner takes all?"

"Of course. Hayden, you're on my team," Mathew said, not breaking eye contact with Zoe.

"Anna?"

"What? I don't think so," Anna stuttered.

"Come on, I won't let anything happen to you. It'll be fun, I know you always want to do things like this but Grace, Maddy and Kiara don't," she added softly so only Anna, Hayden and Mathew could hear.

"Fine, let's talk tactic," she said with a grin.

-o0O0o-

"Ready, set, GO!"

Anna and Hayden ran at the wall, both reaching it at the same time and beginning to climb. They were both hesitant to begin with, unsure as to where they would find the hand and footholds, but after only a few metres, Anna's confidence increased along with her speed. Hayden looked over at her and saw that she had her eyes closed, just putting one hand in front of the other, pulling herself up and planting her feet wherever she felt most comfortable, reaching up again for the next handhold that she knew would be there. Focussing back on himself, Hayden decided to try Anna's tactic of not looking for hand and footholds, but just trusting that they would be there. His pace immediately picked up, but not enough to catch up to Anna who was getting faster by the second. She reached the top nearly three metres ahead of him, both of them lying there for a few minutes and trying to catch their breath, neither of them saying anything.

"That was insane," Anna breathed out eventually, both of them lying on their backs.

"You're telling me? You flew up that, it was like you were the one earth bending," Hayden said, genuinely impressed.

"Thanks, not so bad yourself," she laughed.

"Now we have to get down."

"That's the easy part."

"Not when you can't water bend and you just go 'slap' like Mathew did the first time."

"I can get the water to catch you half way if you want?" Anna offered.

"Zoe will never let me hear the end of it if I do that, but thanks for the offer."

After a short pause, Anna spoke again, rather hesitant, "are you two...?" she trailed off.

"Together?" he finished for her, Anna nodding, "no, just friends. Why?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I guess with the bantering and just the way you behaved with each other, I thought you could be," she told him after a short pause. "You like her though."

It was a statement, not a question. Hayden could feel his cheeks reddening, "that obvious, huh?"

"Yep," she said with no hesitation.

"Great," he groaned, Anna just laughing.

"She'll be the only one oblivious to it all too."

"Can we just stay here before I embarrass myself down there?"

"Nope, they'll be coming up the path soon to see where we are soon. You just need to make your feelings obvious for Zoe. Come on," she said as she got up, offering a hand to Hayden. "You want me to catch you halfway or...?"

"Thanks," he said as he took her hand, "but I have something to prove now," he laughed.

-o0O0o-

They were packing up their things and putting the leftover food and drinks back in the bags, the sun not far off the horizon. They had spent the day messing around in the water, jumping from the waterfall and playing cricket in the sun. The weather had been perfect and everyone had a great time, including Alice who shoved Celia into Zeb's hands so she could jump from the cliff into the water to cool off just before lunch. Hayden noticed that Zoe wasn't with the group who were sitting around a fire now that everything was packed up, enjoying the last moments of the day. The last he saw her was helping Zeb with the food about 20 minutes ago. He looked around the area, not seeing her.

"She's up there," Alice said to him, nodding in the direction of the cliff.

"Thanks," he said, heading towards the path the led up the cliff. When he reached the top, he saw her sitting with her legs over the edge of the cliff, facing the setting sun. She had put her shirt back on but left her socks and shoes off. He had no idea why she would sit on the edge of cliffs in bare feet because she did it a lot. Maybe it was an air bender thing?

"Hey, you ok?" he asked as he sat down next to her, and like always, he kept his legs crossed and not dangling over the edge of a very tall cliff.

"Yeah, just came up to watch the sunset," she replied, softly. They sat there in silence, Hayden not wanting to disturb the silence. Shortly after the sun had sunk below the ocean, Zoe stood up, Hayden following suit.

"Before we go down, can I just say thank you, for today, it was really nice."

"Don't thank me, it was Zeb's idea and he got everyone together," Zoe said to him, clearly confused. Hayden didn't really know what to say, but he didn't want them to go down to the others just yet, he was enjoying the time with Zoe without the dragons messing around. Thankfully, Zoe seemed to pick up on this.

"We need to go back down to the others, we'll have plenty of time for me to condition you to sitting with your legs over the edge of the cliff," she smiled and taking his hand, making his heart leap in his chest. They were definitely making progress Hayden thought, she was telling him about things without him asking her first now, and she was growing more comfortable with him and physical contact that wasn't violent, smiling to himself at that last thought.