As Appa came in to land, Aang dissipated the cloud he and Katara had been using to hide him and sprung off his back, surveying the rocky landscape of the Fire Nation.

With the situation in Ba Sing Se dealt with, they had decided to go to the one place the Fire Nation would hopefully never look for them- the Fire Nation itself. Jet, meanwhile, had elected to stay in Ba Sing Se, partly to help with the rebuilding efforts and partly because he wasn't too fond of Firebenders.

It was now a week until the Invasion, and they planned to blend in as much as possible for rejoining the invasion force at the landing site near the Caldera.

"Welcome to the Fire Nation!" Aang announced. "Very hot, full of volcanoes, and our home for the next week or so!"

"At least provided things go well, you mean," replied Zuko, being helped off the Sky-Bison. He could be relied on to drag the mood down.

"Besides, you make it sound bad. "Trust me, as someone who has lived here all his life, it's actually quite nice if you disregard the whole "trying to take over the world" thing." He said this like disregarding it was easy.

"How do we know we weren't spotted?" Sokka asked, looking around nervously.

"Relax!" Katara reassured him. "There's nobody around to spot us, unless you count those birds."

A couple of gull-pigeons watched them from atop one of the rocks. There was no other sign of life.

"I do, as a matter of fact," Sokka said curtly. "We're in enemy territory now. Those are enemy birds."

"Are you going to be like this for the entire week?" Mai asked.

"If that makes the difference between us getting caught or not, then yes I am."

"Oh no," Mai muttered darkly, seemingly already knowing that she wasn't going to enjoy the next week or so.

"The first order of business should be acquiring disguises," Sokka announced. "For one reason or another, we are all extremely recognisable and will stand out a lot, and if we go into a town like this our cover won't last long."

"Where will we find disguises?"

"I don't know," Sokka had to admit.

"Hold on," said Mai. "I'll go and have a look."

They watched her go.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Katara.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Zuko asked suspiciously.

"What if Mai gets recognised? Or what if... she betrays us?"

Zuko looked offended. "Come on, Mai wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't she?"

"No! Need I remind you that we're just as much enemies of the Fire Nation as you?"

"Quiet!" Toph said. "Someone might hear us!"

The wait was agonising, but eventually they heard footsteps coming back towards them. They looked at Toph.

"It's Mai, and she's alone", the Earthbender affirmed.

"There's a village not too far from here," Mai told them. "There's also a large amount of clothes being hung out to dry in one of the gardens, I couldn't help but notice..."

"And do you think we can raid this garden without being spotted?"

"Probably."

"Off we go then."

And with that, Team Avatar set off down the path, with Toph in the lead to give them advance warning of anyone coming the other way.

Soon enough, they had reached the town, and were able to see people dressed in the red of the Fire Nation moving about in the street. Fortunately though, nobody seemed to notice them.

"There it is," Mai pointed. Sure enough, a garden criss-crossed by washing lines lay ahead, each one laden with a lot of clothes.

"Ordinarily, I would say that stealing is bad and we shouldn't do it," said Aang, "but the alternative is walking about looking like this, so let's steal away!"

Toph immediately grabbed the nearest thing that was her size, while Katara, Suki, Aang, Mai and Zuko took a bit more care. Aang made sure to grab a headband and a hat to obscure his tattoo, which would otherwise have been a major giveaway. Sokka, though, spent ages perusing the clothes on offer, putting first one shirt and then another in front of his body to see how they looked on him, and asking Suki how he looked- repeatedly.

"We don't have all day, Sokka!" Katara called.

"Shhh. This is important!" her brother replied. "I have to get this right!"

"Just pick one, or I will!" Toph shouted, her patience being exhausted just that little bit faster than that of the others.

Sokka held his hands up. "Alright, fine. How about this one?"

"It'll do. Now let's go and change."

Half an hour, and they were all ready. Aang had gone for a black and red outfit, with a headband that he tied around his head to hide the bottom part of his arrow. He hid the rest of it under a wide-brimmed hat, and the tattoos on his arms and legs were hidden by his sleeves and his trousers.

Sokka, meanwhile, had gone for a traditional fire nation hairstyle with a topknot, while his clothes were a fairly subdued affair by Fire Nation standards; there wasn't an awful lot of red on them.

Zuko, by contrast, had gone for a mostly bright red costume, but like Aang he had gone for a wide-brimmed hat to top it off. He wore it much lower to hide his scar. It wouldn't hide it from someone determined, but to casual passers-by it would do the job.

Having confirmed that they all looked presentable, the boys exited the secluded place they had been sent to change and returned to the main campsite, where they stowed their old clothes on Appa's saddle.

Soon afterwards, the girls arrived, having done their changing at a completely different secluded spot on the opposite side of the camp.

Mai had also found a bright red robe to wear, but it wasn't that much different from what she had been wearing before- it needed to have the baggy sleeves Mai required to stow her knives. She was, however, now wearing her hair down, but she had taken precautions to make sure it wouldn't go in her eyes.

Suki had gone for the closest thing she could find to her green Kyoshi warrior uniform, and had modified the sleeve to install her retractable shield. Around her waist she had tied a sash and had put her war-fans in it. Sokka immediately ran to her. "I must say, you look absolutely beautiful in your disguise," he told her.

"Thank you, You look handsome as well." She replied, blushing.

Toph had got a red and gold tunic, with her regular Earth Kingdom headpiece replaced by a similar golden headpiece.

Katara, meanwhile, came out dressed in a bright red dress, having changed her hairstyle to a more traditionally Fire Nation one.

"Well, how do I look?" She asked, seeming to direct the question more at Aang than anyone else even if she didn't specify.

Blushing furiously, Aang replied. "You look... good," having to force the last word out.

"Thank you," Katara replied.

"What about your necklace though?"

Katara realized she was still wearing her mother's necklace, which was pretty obviously not of Fire Nation origin.

"I should probably change that, shouldn't I."

"What about fake names?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka, I don't think that will be necessary..."

"My fake name will be Wang Fire," Sokka pushed on, completely ignoring Zuko's objection.

"We don't need fake names." Mai said firmly.

"You say that, but when we do need them, who will save us? Wang Fire, that's who."

I won't be holding my breath for it."

And together, now appearing for all the world like a group of teenagers from the Fire Nation, the seven walked back into town, with Sokka chattering excitedly about something involving fake beards.