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Previously, on Avatar:

Aang and Ren have escaped Omashu without King Bumi, and are now out on a hunt for Aang's new earthbending master. Ren told Aang of his father's betrayal of the North Pole and has finally begun to trust Aang. What awaits them next?

Meanwhile, Katara, Sokka and their allies travel further through the Earth Kingdom towards Ba Sing Se, in search of military assistance for the 'Day of Black Sun.' Has the group moved past their earlier squabbles?

; ; ;

It had been about two weeks since Katara, Sokka, Bato and Kirima left that small Earth Kingdom town. They had been travelling around aimlessly, despite their earlier conclusions to visit Ba Sing Se and the Earth King, in favour of searching for people to join their cause for the invasion.

They had been lucky. Sokka and Katara reunited with Haru and his father and convinced them, along with a few other benders who had been in the same prison. They would take a different path and meet up with them at Chameleon Bay, the current hub for all revolutionary activity.

They knew this from another note sent from Hakoda. Spirits knows how he managed to address the letter to them, but nonetheless the messenger hawk had soared out of the skies to perch on Bato's shoulder, a scroll of parchment upon its back.

Hakoda talked about wanting to expand their forces, and preparations for an attack on the Fire Nation were well underway. They had found a squadron of lost Northern Water Tribe soldiers who agreed to join their cause, virtually doubling their ranks. Nearby towns sent them food and materials, and Hakoda was hard at work fashioning new boats to carry their troops.

He also mentioned a letter received from the Avatar almost two months ago and how it was addressed for his two children. He was overjoyed to hear that the Avatar was joining their forces and that he had arrived at the North Pole.

They sent a note back in return. Bato explained how he had met with the Avatar before his journey to the North Pole, and how he had been travelling with Katara and Sokka. They were safe, he promised, and were accompanying Bato and the newfound Kirima to Chameleon Bay. Most importantly, though, Bato told him of the eclipse and the comet. He wrote about the solar eclipse in about six months that would render the firebenders vulnerable and the comet not long after that, which would amplify their power hundredfold. (Bato had been told that by Sokka and Katara while being told of a visit to Roku's temple.)

Bato purposefully neglected to mention Kya's survival and imprisonment. This would surely only serve as a distraction for an already-stressed man, and Katara and Sokka begrudgingly agreed that this would only hinder their plans for the invasion if Hakoda sent out search parties.

So they continued in a general direction to the South, careful to avoid Omashu, on the hunt for any further reinforcements.

; ; ;

They were nearing a south-western peninsula of the Earth Kingdom when they saw the town. It was fairly large, and had a great view overlooking the sea from atop great cliffs.

Bato spotted it on a brief reconnaissance mission while they had made camp. He trekked his way back through the forest towards their spot, anxious to share the news.

He came to the small clearing, barely big enough for the foursome's tents, a fire, and their three ostrich horses. Sokka was trying (and failing) to prop up his tent properly, while Katara and Kirima did a little bit of waterbending training off to the side with a stream. Night had fallen, and a pot of food was bubbling over the open flame.

"There's a town just to the south," Bato said, slightly out of breath after his hike back. "Maybe about ten kilometres, looks pretty big. We should be able to find some support from there easily."

Sokka, having finally managed to string up his tent, smiled. "Good. Hopefully that means an actual bed to sleep on, too."

Katara and Kirima dropped their water and walked in to the campfire. "Any signs of the Fire Nation?" Kirima said, wringing out her gloves. Kirima had been looking a lot healthier lately. After years of malnourishment within the Fire Nation prisons, she was finally starting to get some more muscle onto her bones. Her cheeks were less hollow, her skin less pale, and her hair was cut short to her shoulders after years of untamed growth. Bato didn't say it, but she looked really good.

"Not that I could see," he said, scratching the back of his neck. He chuckled nervously as Kirima sent him a small smile and tried not to blush as her arm brushes his as she walked past.

"Let's get some sleep," Sokka yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Dibs on not taking first watch!"

"Me neither!" yelled Katara, who was shuffling into her sleeping bag. Bato laughed at the childishness and turned to Kirima, who was also grinning. He shrugged as if to say, kids, am I right? and sat down on a log around the fire.

"I'll take first watch, Kirima," he said. "You get some sleep. I'll wake you in a few hours."

; ; ;

Kirima was woken up a bit earlier than that.

She couldn't have known what time it was. It was the middle of the night, she knew that much, much too late for anyone to be travelling without risking falling over a loose tree branch. And it obviously was, as the sound of someone tripping and hitting the ground with a thud and a yelp of pain was enough for her eyes to snap open.

Through the weak light of the moon shining through the leaves above, she could see Bato was wide awake as well. His eyes were darting around quickly until they settled onto Kirima's, conveying his nervousness. He slowly lifted his hand and pointed to the right of Kirima's sleeping bag, where she could see a small group of men travelling with some large, scaly animals. They carried small lamps in their hands and wore black – no, red – uniforms. Fire Nation.

Thankfully, their camp hadn't been seen. The group of men were walking just past the camp along the road and none of them seemed to be throwing any attention towards Bato and Kirima. The animals seemed not to have noticed them either, somehow.

Kirima stole a glance at Bato, who nodded gravely. A flash of understanding passed between them, and they both knew to stay perfectly still. Rather than fighting, which would surely end in their defeat, they instead chose to listen. The words of the soldiers were hard to make out through the sounds of the night but were distinguishable.

"Come on! It's the middle of the night! Why don't we just go now?"

"There's no point. We're better off resting here and attacking during the day. This town has no defences anyway. We might as well rest up before heading in. There's an inn about five kilometres west, we should stay there."

"But our orders said to take Chin Village as soon as possible!"

"So what? No one knows that we're here already. May as well just wait around another day and look for the Avatar or somethin'. Rumour has it he's in this area after his little stunt at Omashu."

Hold up. This was news to Kirima. The Avatar? She thought the Avatar had disappeared ages ago? What would he be doing here?

It dawned on her that this must be that kid, Aang, that the other three kept on talking about. They mentioned a few times about him leaving to go off and find a waterbending master, but they somehow failed to mention how important it actually was. But surely not, right? The Avatar disappeared almost 100 years ago, apparently. Surely he'd be like, an old man by now. Wouldn't he have learnt all the elements by now?

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned back to the soldiers. They were leaving, trudging off to where this inn supposedly was. Bato noticed too, and out of the corner of her eye she could see him inaudibly sigh in relief. His eyes look worn, and Kirima suspected he had been taking watch the whole night.

She sent him a smile and mouthed, I'll take watch now. She wasn't sure if he could discern her words with the weak lighting, but he seemed to understand and eased his way into his sleeping bag. Before long, he was dozing off, leaving Kirima awake with her thoughts. She was wide awake by this point, anyway.

; ; ;

Kirima woke the other three a little earlier than they had planned. The sun had barely begun to rise before she shook Bato, rising him out of slumber. He groaned, rubbed his eyes, and looked around the campsite bleakly.

"Why so early?" he grumbled.

"I want to make sure we leave before those soldiers come back. We can't risk getting caught. We should leave."

He sighed. "We can't leave that town unguarded, though."

Kirima agreed begrudgingly. "But we shouldn't go today. We're not ready. They said that they wanted to take over the town today, right? Why don't we catch them once they think the town has been secured? That way we'll have the element of surprise. I'll go wake the kids."

Before she could leave, though, Bato grabbed her arm. "No. We go today. We can't leave the town at their mercy." Kirima sighed, knowing he was right, and nodded.

Kirima walked over to Sokka and Katara's sleeping bags, and nudged them awake (Sokka was a little harder, she noticed. He tended to sleep like a pile of bricks). After a few minutes of packing and cleaning, they set off with their ostrich horses and began to hike through the forest towards the town.

It was still barely morning, and Sokka wouldn't stop grumbling the whole journey. Katara had flicked his face with water a couple of times in annoyance, resulting in a few very petty arguments, but Bato and Kirima just laughed. Two teenagers. Of course they'd be grumpy about waking up early.

It was about an hour or so into the walk that Kirima asked. "Um, who exactly is this Aang kid you guys keep talking about?"

Katara's face lit up. "Oh man, Aang! You'd have loved him Kirima really. Mom too, I suppose…" her voice trailed off, unsure of what she was really saying. Sokka coughed, nudging Katara with his elbow, and raised an eyebrow at her when she gave him a death stare. "Anyways," she continued, sticking out a foot to trip Sokka over, "we had to leave him a while ago so he could go find someone to train him to become a waterbender."

"So he's from the tribe?"

"Oh no silly, he's the Avatar. We've told you that, haven't we?" She paused, a little confused as to why Kirima's eyebrows were raised. "You… you did know that, right?"

Kirima laughed. "Somehow, amidst all the stories of you guys riding giant fish, stealing from pirates or stopping volcanic eruptions, you forgot to mention that."

Katara looked sheepish. "Sorry. We probably should've told you that."

She waved her hand. "Really, no biggie. It's just really good that the Avatar is finally back. Wouldn't he be like an old mann by now, though? I thought Aang was just a kid?"

"He and his flying bison were trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years, and Sokka and I found him on a fishing trip."

"Why was he in an iceberg?"

Katara's face suddenly turned crestfallen, and faced away. "That's, uh, a bit of a touchy subject."

Kirima decided not to press the matter, so she turned to Sokka. "What about you? What was he like?"

Sokka grinned broadly. "It's weird. We didn't know him for very long but he was like a brother to me. We had the same sense of humour and everything. It's still weird, though. Evenn though he was only about twelve years old he sometimes seemed so much older than he was."

"Well maybe that's because of the one hundred years he spent in ice," Bato joked.

"Maybe. But it wasn't really like that. I guess seeming older isn't really the right word, maybe more mature? He's had to go through so much at such a young age. He's the last of his kind after the Air Nomads got wiped out, but he still acts so happy and cares about everyone so much. It's kind of admirable, actually." Sokka sighed. "I miss him, though. No offence to you guys, but it was always fun to travel with someone who didn't want to do anything except laugh."

Kirima shrugged. "None taken. I understand. Bato and I, well, we're adults so I guess we'd take this whole war thing more seriously."

Bato stopped in his tracks, and pointed up the road. The time had passed quickly, and they soon came to a large, open meadow. Further down, they could see Chin Village, built precariously above a large cliff face. "Not wanting to interrupt your heart-to-heart, but I think we're here."

The other three nodded, all instantly dropping the subject of Aang. "Any sign of those warriors?" Katara asked.

"Not that I can see. We'd better head into the village."

; ; ;

Fortunately or unfortunately, they hadn't attacked yet. The streets were bustling with activity and stalls seemed to be open everywhere, selling all kinds of uncooked dough. It seemed like a weird tradition but each to their own, the foursome supposed.

They stopped and asked a few villagers what was going on. Apparently the day earlier they had some sort of 'Avatar Day,' where they celebrate the day their leader Chin was tragically and ruthlessly killed by Avatar Kyoshi. It seemed a bit dramatic, but they chose to ignore it.

The town stood atop the very spot that Avatar Kyoshi moved the island of Kyoshi away from the mainland, simultaneously killing Chin the Conqueror from a high fall. Katara marvelled at how someone was capable of such an extraordinarily powerful feat. If Aang had even half of that kind of power in him, well… this war would be over sooner than she thought.

They spent the rest of their day grabbing supplies and maps, and speaking with the local garrison. The troops there were fairly pathetic and weak, and none seemed interested at first when Bato warned them of an invasion, but they all perked up when he said they were attacking tomorrow. They quickly sprung to attention and jostled each other to get their weapons and armour. These guys won't stand a chance, Bato inwardly groaned.

; ; ;

The foursome had set up a temporary camp on the outskirts of Chin Village. They had tied up their ostrich horses and set down some proper tents, prepared to stay and defend the town from the people the villagers were calling the 'Rough Rhinos'. A band of legendary mercenaries, each specialising in a different skill, each riding atop a fearsome Komodo rhino. The village chief was in for it, alright.

Sokka decided to go for a walk around the forests near the village. He claimed it was to go looking for food and keep an eye on the Rhinos, but in reality it was more to escape the tension back at camp. He could tell that Katara was still a little shaken since their decision to not save Kya, but she hadn't brought it up since, leaving the issue to fester within the group. And as much as he loved his sister (he wouldn't dare tell her that he did, though) it was her problem to come to terms with, not his.

Walking through the forest wasn't much more helpful, though. He twitched with every sound of nature, wary of the chance that the Rough Rhinos were in close proximity. Sure, they were apparently a group of big, burly men riding atop gargantuan Komodo rhinos but if they had managed to slip by so close to their campsite last night without him hearing them, he knew they had to be very stealthy.

Maybe not as stealthy, as they thought, though, because Sokka clearly heard the twig snap. About ten metres away to his left, behind some thick bushes, he had definitely heard someone tread just too heavily. Turning slowly around, he could see a man emerging, who had his long, dark hair pulled back and wore red makeup over his eyes and the bridge of his nose. He had a bow slung across his chest and a quiver of arrows protruded over his shoulder, and he wore a devilish smile.

He tried to pull his boomerang from his back but his reflexes weren't fast enough. The man had surged forward, hitting Sokka in the forehead with the hilt of a hunting knife. Sokka stumbled, reeling, and slumped back against a tree. He groaned and felt his forehead, where he could feel a large welt beginning to groan. The man loomed over him, and gave him a smile. "You shouldn't have come looking for us," he said, an evil glint in his eye. "The others will love to get a piece of you. It's been a while since we've dealt with a Water Tribe warrior."

He reached down and grabbed Sokka, pinning him against the floor with his hands behind his back. Sokka tried to retaliate, but he wasn't strong enough to overcome him. Sure, the archer seemed lithe and agile more than anything, but he was strong. "What… what do you want with me?" he gasped, as the man began to tie his hands together with a rope.

"Proof," the man spat. "The others didn't believe me when I said I saw people last night. But a Yuyan never imagines things. I could see you sleeping. Now the others gotta believe me!"

The Yuyan pulled Sokka up to his feet with the rope and sheathed the hunting knife.

It wasn't to be, thankfully. Almost as soon as Sokka's hands had been bound, he heard a quiet thwip and the Yuyan, standing tall and proud only moments ago, fell face-first into the dirt. Protruding from his neck was a small, feathered dart, no larger than his pinky finger, with tiny red feathers protruding from the tail. Sokka looked around frantically, trying to find where the dart came from, but to no avail. The forest was too thick to see where it had come from, and there were plenty of places for someone to hide.

He had to react soon, though. Clearly the dart wasn't lethal, as he could hear the Yuyan murmuring and grunting slightly. He stood up and awkwardly grabbed the man's knife, using it to cut his hands free. It was sharp, and had a neat little bone hilt. Sokka decided he liked it, and took the scabbard from the man's hilt. He didn't want to hang around any longer though so he began to run back towards Chin Village, not daring to look back at his captor or risk seeing the mysterious person who had saved him.

; ; ;

The group was tense that night. They kept two on watch rather than one, wary that the Rhinos could attack at any point. From their spot they could see a few wandering lanterns around the perimeter of Chin Village, tell-tale signs of the guards now patrolling the borders. They had sprung the village into full defence mode and had evacuated everyone, including the uptight mayor, down to the beaches below. There, temporary tents had been set up and they had been told to wait there until given the all-clear by the garrison. It was a ghost town.

Katara and Sokka were first up. They kept watchful eyes on the forest line, scanning up and down for any sort of movement. It was hard to make out shapes by the light of the crescent moon, but their eyes had adjusted to the dark. They passed the time by chatting about the village and how Katara was going at waterbending. According to Kirima she was progressing faster than anyone she'd ever seen, even faster than her master, a woman named Hama. Sokka talked about the knife he picked up and how it fit into his growing assortment of weapons alongside his club and boomerang. It felt like both of them were finally beginning to step up to the plate, they agreed.

There was silence for a while before Sokka broke the question. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but how are you feeling?"

It threw Katara off, because she knew exactly what he meant. She was just surprised he wanted to talk about it. "I'm fine," she said warily. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that, we haven't really talked about that argument ever since it happened. It feels like we've been avoiding it."

She sighed. "Look, I'll admit it, it probably was smarter not to go looking for Mom. I mean, if we had done that, we wouldn't exactly be able to protect Chin Village now. But I've still got that what if going on in my head. We could probably have freed her by now."

Sokka nodded. Thankfully, he wasn't in a joking mood right now. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I kinda understand why it might've been harder for you than it was for me. I feel like you were always a bit closer to Mom." Sokka raised his arms up in defence as Katara raised an eyebrow. "It's fine, I understand. I was probably closer to Dad anyway, what with the whole wanting-to-become-a-warrior and go-invade-with-Dad-when-I-was-nine thing."

Katara laughed, relieved that he wasn't holding a grudge. "I'm sorry if me wanting to choose Mom hurt you at all."

"Seriously Katara, it's fine. Look, we hadn't seen her in years, you still miss her, you don't have her necklace anymore, it's perfectly understandable. But seeing her once the war is over and she's freed is gonna make this all the more sweeter."

Katara smiled, but not for long. A group of about four small figures flitted across the fields, heading towards the trees. They didn't seem like big warrior men, so she doubted it was the Rhinos, but she stood up nonetheless, pulling the water from her waterskin into a whip. "Sokka, did you see that?" she hissed, not taking her gaze off the figures.

"See what?" he asked, his expression curious as to Katara's sudden defensiveness. He followed her gaze out to the group who were about two hundred metres away, and stiffened. Immediately his hand reached for his boomerang and he stood up, shoulder to shoulder with Katara. "Who are they? They definitely don't look like the Rhinos."

"How do you know?"

He shrugged. "I accidentally ran into them yesterday. Wasn't fun."

Katara gritted her teeth, and lowered her whip slightly. "You mean to tell me that after all of our planning as to how we're gonna fight these guys, you just so happened to fail to mention that you met them?"

"I didn't think it was important! I only saw one of them anyways, and those things out there are too small to be them anyway!"

"Sokka, you could've been killed!"

"I was fine, relax. Some dart came out of nowhere and knocked him unconscious." His brows furrowed. "Wait… what if they're the ones who shot the dart?"

Katara looked at him deliriously. "Sokka, you've officially gone insane."

He shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm serious. I couldn't see where the dart came from, so whoever must've done it was stealthy. Those guys look stealthy. There's no reason to think it couldn't be one of them!"

Katara opened her mouth to reply, but Sokka jumped in. "I'm going to investigate," he said, beginning to walk forward and grabbing a hooded cloak, draping it over himself as he went. "You stay here and watch the camp! Don't tell the others!"

Katara wanted to yell at him, but she was stuck. If she shouted, their campsite would surely be spotted by those people. If she went after him, she would be leaving Bato and Kirima undefended. If she stayed, she'd be leaving Sokka to fend for himself.

As she sat back down and watched him sneak off silently through the grass, she made a mental note to kick him in the shin as hard as she could when he came back.

; ; ;

As he got closer to the group, Sokka could see they definitely weren't men. They were too small, to agile to be large warriors. He couldn't make out fine details, but they seemed like… girls?

He was about fifty metres away when they entered the forest. Sokka swore under his breath. It would be nigh impossible to track someone through a forest, especially at this time of night. He pushed on, determined not to lose his lead. He figured that their camp mustn't be far from the edge of the trees, as if it were any further it would be too hard to navigate. Unless they had lamps of course, which would make following them much easier.

Crouching down, he continued on towards the trees. Subconsciously he kept scanning for the Rhinos, fearful that they'd take this opportunity to attack the village. What if these people were the Rough Rhinos? What if the rest of them besides that archer were all girls? Sokka's head began to spin, and he began to second guess his decision.

It was too late, however. He had reached the trees and had long ago decided he couldn't turn back. He stood up and held onto the tree trunk, peeking his head around to look further into the forest. He couldn't see where those people had gone but they couldn't be far ahead of him. He pulled the cloak further over his head and began to tread gingerly through the woods.

Unfortunately, walking in the dark meant he couldn't see what was beneath him and he heard the tell-tale sound of a tree branch snapping under his foot. He froze, hoping that whoever he was following hadn't heard. He carefully lifted his foot up off the branch and was about to continue further forward before he heard the sound of rushing footsteps.

He turned and tried to run out of the forest, but slipped in a wet patch of dirt. He fell face-first into the mud and groaned, silently praying that whoever was coming wasn't going to kill him. He rolled over onto his bottom to be greeted by the sight of four people standing around him. Their appearances were hard to make out in the dim lighting but their faces seemed almost… white?

Then he heard the voice from behind him. "Who are you and why were you following us?" The voice sounded strangely familiar to him, like a person he hadn't seen in a long time yet remembered easily. Then, as the person walked around to face him, it hit him like a tonne of bricks.

No. Way.

"…Suki?"

; ; ;

Katara was shocked with Sokka walked back to the campsite, and he wasn't alone. She was even more shocked when she realised she recognised who the others were, and even more so when she Sokka holding one of their hands.

"Suki? Is that you?" She asked, stepping forward.

"Katara! It's so good to see you!" the Kyoshi Warrior exclaimed, flinging her arms around the other girl's neck. Katara reciprocated, smiling broadly. "Where's Aang?"

"He left us a while ago," Katara said, ending the hug. "He went up north to find a waterbending master while Sokka and I went to go find our dad."

"Is that him over there?" Suki asked, beckoning towards the sleeping Bato. Katara let out a small laugh.

"Oh, on.. That's our friend Bato and his… friend… Kirima. They're travelling with us on our way to Dad." She shrugged sheepishly. "I'd wake them up to introduce you, but they need their sleep. We're getting ready for an invasion tomorrow."

"You mean the Rough Rhinos? We spotted their campsite in the forest earlier," one of the other Kyoshi Warriors said.

"Yeah, them," Sokka said. "They want to invade Chin Village tomorrow and we can't let that happen. The villagers won't stand a chance."

Suki frowned, stroking her chin. "Historically, there's always been tension between Chin Village and Kyoshi Island. But I suppose if innocent people are in danger…" Her expression changed, and she ground her fist into her palm. "Then we'll help you fight."

Sokka and Katara high-fived, happy they had some new reinforcements. Sokka frowned then, though, and turned to Suki. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Helping you guys, of course?"

"No, like I meant here. On the mainland. Not Kyoshi Island."

Suki noticeably blushed, even under all her battle makeup. "Well, after you guys and Aang saved our village we decided we wanted to come help you guys in the war. We were on the way to Ba Sing Se when we came across a burnt campsite right outside a town." Sokka and Katara shared a look. It was probably the one they rescued Kirima from. "We talked to the villagers and they said that some Water Tribe warriors had come by recently and, well… we figured it was you. So we've been following you and the Rough Rhinos ever since."

Sokka smiled, feeling his heart flutter. He knew it wasn't very manly, but he couldn't care less right now. "I'm assuming it was one of you then that shot that archer yesterday, then."

One of the girls closer to the back raised her hand. "Guilty as charged." Sokka nodded to her in appreciation. "Thank you for saving my butt," he said. He gave Suki's hand a little squeeze, and yawned.

"Well, as much as I love the catch up, we should get some sleep," he said, letting go of Suki and stretching his arms above his head. Katara nodded in agreement.

"It's probably Bato and Kirima's turn for watch anyway-"

Suki interrupted. "Oh no, don't worry about it. My girls and I can keep lookout for the rest of the night" Katara and Sokka looked at each other and just shrugged, before diving into their sleeping bags and falling asleep.

; ; ;

Bato and Kirima woke them both up with bewildered expressions across their faces. They wanted to know exactly why there were five white and red faced girls sitting around their campfire, and why they all seemed so friendly. After a bit of catching up Bato and Kirima were relaxed, but they were still hesitant about playing babysitter for seven kids now.

"Are you sure we need them?" Bato whispered to Sokka when they had a moment alone. They were looking out over the campsite, where the girls were helping Kirima pack their stuff and make breakfast.

"We'll figure out if they're coming with us when we reach that bridge. In the meantime, these girls will make mincemeat of those Rhinos. Trust me." Sokka's eyes scanned over the group, eventually falling on Suki who was talking to Katara. She returned his gaze and gave him a small smile and wave.

"And why is that one looking at you so funny?" Bato asked, whispering and looking in Suki's direction.

Sokka flashed a toothy grin and flexed his biceps. "Must just be my manly charm," he said in a suave tone, making Bato laugh. Sokka frowned.

Soon enough, the group was all back. Two of the girls had run off back to their own site some point during the night and had packed up their gear. The ostrich horses were saddled up and walked to a tree outside the village, away from harm's way. The rest of the group made their way into the town, taking up fortified positions alongside the garrison.

It was eerily quiet in the village. All of the villagers had been evacuated the day before, leaving the streets desolate. Occasionally they could hear an animal barking or a window creaking, but other than that it was completely silent. Bato, Sokka, and Suki had all taken rooftop positions while Kirima, Katara, the garrison and the other Kyoshi warriors stood on the ground, ready to fight. Katara had never really fought anyone besides brief patches of sparring with Kirima, so she was nervous and excited at the same time.

Sokka stood, right hand firmly clasping his boomerang, and peered out over the countryside. There was no sign of them yet and the countryside was deserted… wait. There.

Directly north, five large Komodo rhinos came barging out of the forest. They were still far away, but were gaining ground fast. Sokka glanced over to Bato, who nodded and yelled to the others, "Take position! Get ready!" He turned back towards Sokka and gave a thumbs up, before proceeding to climb down the face of the roof's wall and out of sight.

That left Suki and Sokka up above to coordinate the assault. Suki stood adamantly on a balcony, a glint of wariness in her brown eyes. "I hope this plan of yours works, for the town's sake," she muttered. He was unfazed by her lack of confidence. He knew this plan would work perfectly.

"Trust me, I'm three steps ahead of these guys. They won't stand a chance."

; ; ;

The Rhinos were surprised to see the town completely empty. There wasn't a single person so far, not the slightest bit of resistance. They knew this was too easy. Mongke, the firebender, was the first to split off from the group, ordering the others to do the same. He knew there must be a trap somewhere amidst the streets, and told the others to keep a wary eye for any surprises.

He realised too late that it was a mistake to split up. He and his mount strode into an alleyway between two blocks of houses but before he could react, a large stream of water hit him directly in the side. He was thrown off his rhino and against a brick wall, the water freezing around him, pinning him up and leaving him defenceless. His rhino was startled and took off down the street, leaving him all alone with two waterbenders walking towards him.

"Go help the others," Kirima said to Katara, her eyes trained intently on Mongke. "I'll keep this one under control." Katara nodded in understanding, and ran out of the street. The older woman walked towards Mongke and sneered.

"Filthy water peasant!" the man spat, injecting as much venom as he could into his words. It didn't work, and the lady just laughed.

"If I had a gold piece for every time someone called me that, I'd hardly be a peasant anymore." She pulled water out of a canteen attached to her waist and sent it flying towards the man's mouth, freezing over the surface of his lips. His nose was left open so that he could breathe. "That should teach you to shut up. Let's hope for their sake that your buddies aren't so badmouthed."

; ; ;

The rest of the Rhinos were caught just as off-guard. Vachir was taken out with another dart and Ogodei was tricked into throwing his bolas at Yeh-Lu by Suki, leaving the demolitionist handicapped. She then swiftly kicked the defenceless man off his rhino and began to fight hand-to-hand. He was pretty weak in close combat, and Suki quickly knocked him out with the hilt of her fans. The last remaining Rhino, Kahchi, was surrounded by the Kyoshi warriors, Bato, and the remaining garrison. His guandao was long, and could keep them at bay for a while, but was soon forced to retreat out of the village once his blade had been snapped in half. Sokka got the last laugh, as when Kahchi was trying to run out of the village he was hit in the head with his boomerang, knocking him off his ride. Sokka's plan to divide and conquer had worked beautifully.

All in all, it was a pretty easy fight. Sure, the Rough Rhinos were strong, but they all were weak individually. Shortly after, the Rhinos were all tranquilised and escorted to the local prison, and the rest of the locals were brought up from the beach to give the Rhinos their punishment. Unfortunately, all of them got the community service option on the mayor's "punishment wheel," much to the group's chagrin. They would still be locked away for years, sure, but there'd be no boiling in oil or shark feeding for them.

Now came the hard part: what happens now? This question lingered on Sokka's mind as they all walked back to the ostrich horses. He still needed to get to the Earth King to report on the solar eclipse, but what about the Kyoshi Warriors? What were they going to do? Now that they had been reunited, he was hesitant about leaving Suki again.

She seemed to pick up his distant mood, and walked up next to him as they crossed over the grassy plains. "You all right, Sokka?" She placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah everything's fine, but I'm just stuck thinking… what now?"

She glanced at the rest of her troop, who were laughing and joking alongside Katara, Kirima and Bato. "Well, if it's alright with you, I thought we might as well go with you."

Sokka's ears piped up. "Really? You'd do that?" He gave her a wide grin, and she giggled.

"I mean, for sure. We're heading to the same place anyway, and we'll be safer as a group. Don't worry my girls can pull their weight. We won't slow you down. And besides," she looked down, biting the inside of her cheek. "I kinda missed you, anyway."

Sokka smiled sweetly. "Yeah. Me too."

; ; ;

I wanted to write about the route that the Kyoshi Warriors would take on their to the refugee boats, as they would have had to arrive in the Earth Kingdom somewhere in the southwest. I thought it would be cool to link the two stories together, and introduce Suki a bit earlier into the story.

I've never really written romance before as well, so I might seem a little dumb when writing about Bato/Kirima or Sokka/Suki.

Also, I'd just like to clarify some things about Ren's character, because I'm not sure if I made them obvious enough in the last chapter. Ren was raised to be very polite and had little friends, which is why he doesn't talk very colloquially unless under pressure in missions, and one of the reasons why he has trouble socialising with Aang. And not wanting to spoil the rest of the story, but I plan for his father to play another role within this story to set up a nice plot point.

And a last heads up, it might be a week or two until I release the next chapter. I've got a very busy schedule until then.