Chapter 3

Daddy had green eyes. So did Hyun. And Mommy had brown eyes. She didn't know why hers were so different. Dark amber, the color of the sweet syrup they got from the big tree out int the field. She loved it when they collected syrup. It made their bread taste so much better, and sometimes she could imagine she was eating a sweet roll. They didn't get sweet rolls anymore. The trading lines had all but been cut off, as caravans always end up being looted by Fire Nation soldiers. She hated those soldiers, even if she had never seen one before.

She sat under the big tree now, the sun filtering through its leaves. She had always loved the sun. So warm and bright, bringing life to their little village, helping the crops grow and keeping the chill at bay. Old Man Soshi often told stories of the dark winters of the North Pole. How months at a time, the sun never rose at all. How anyone lived there was beyond her. How do you see without the sun? How do you keep warm and grow things and relax on a cool spring's day when all the chores are done?

"Hey Lil' Bi!" She looked up at Hyun's approach, forcing a smile onto her lips. He sat down beside her, quirking a mischievous smirk at her and said, "Danu and I are setting a trap for Sheya and Lily. But we need someone on mud-ball making duty. You want to help?"

"Okay," she murmured, her smile now real as Hyun stood and hoisted her up. He laughed and ruffled her hair affectionately, before giving a shout of warning and scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She screeched and pounded on his back, struggling out of his grasp as he carried her through the field back towards town. "Put me down!" she demanded, but she was giggling and Hyun was too strong anyway for her to break free. At leas she was feeling better now. Hyun always managed to do that, even if he didn't realize he was doing it.

-0-

Jet was home late. Very late. Smellerbee and Longshot waited up for him, sitting in silent resolution as they prepared to face their friend. Jet needed to calm down. He had already had a very close call with the guards. Next time he wouldn't be so lucky. And Smellerbee hated to think what would happen if it were the Dai Li who happened by at the wrong moment.

Finally, well after the moon had risen in its nightly vigil, the door to their apartment creaked open, and Jet stumbled in, looking absolutely exhausted. He tried to sneak to his mat in the corner, thinking they were asleep, but then Longshot struck two spark-rocks together and lit the candle, illuminating the tiny room.

"Oh." Jet obviously knew what was coming. Despite everything, Smellerbee knew he was rather smart, and playing the fool wouldn't get him anywhere here. "Let's talk in the morning," Jet sighed, heading for his mat, but Longshot reached out and grabbed his wrist, shaking his head. He pulled their friend down to sit across from them at the table, and Jet complied. There was no getting out of this one.

"It's time we talked," Smellerbee started, taking a deep breath as she did so. She wasn't sure how this conversation was going to turn out, but always best that she had control over her emotions. Especially since the candle was right in the middle of the table, for all of them to see. Spirits, she wished she had had time for another lesson with Lee before having this conversation.

Jet shifted uncomfortably before blurting, "Look, I know they're firebenders!"

Yes they are.

"And I know you two don't believe me-"

I, sadly, believe you.

"-but I'm not going to stop until I prove it." Jet had a determined glare in his eye, a sight that unsettled Smellerbee. She had only seen such a look a few times before, and none of those circumstances had turned out that well. It really didn't help that he actually was right this time.

Longshot gave a near silent sigh before staring Jet down. You're being ridiculous.

Jet only narrowed his eyes at the look and grumbled under his breath, "I don't expect you guys to understand."

"We understand," Smellerbee tried saying. "We really do. But this is getting out of hand. You're catching attention Jet, and not in a good way." The image of those two agents, walking down the street with faces hidden appeared in her mind. She remembered how mothers clutched their children to their skirts, people stalled conversations, two boys playing ball suddenly froze. Smellerbee herself scooted close against a wall, frightened and wondering why the Dai Li were here, in the lowest possible part of Ba Sing Se. She wondered if they had heard Jet's cries of 'firebender!' and had come to take him away, but she didn't see the agents again. It wasn't until much later that she learned that the Dai Li occasionally patrolled the streets, making sure the guards were doing their job and there was no talk of war or Fire Nation or Ozai.

"I'm being careful," Jet promised them, even though they both knew he wasn't. He already had a very close call with the guards, and Smellerbee couldn't thank the spirits enough that the Dai Li hadn't been near at the time.

"It's not just about that!" Smellerbee grumbled. "I mean, you're harassing two random refugees because you saw steam coming from their tea! Jet, this is crazy!" She avoided saying anything along the lines that denied Mushi and Lee being firebenders. She was an excellent liar, but Smellerbee found that she just couldn't do it in the face of her friends.

"They're firebenders, I know it!" Jet cried, nearly standing up in defense. He subconsciously reached for his swords, like he always did when he felt threatened. By either enemies or his friends.

Longshot's eyes thinned as he gave the barest flicker of a glare. He was getting frustrated with Jet, and it was showing. Why would two firebenders be in Ba Sing Se in the first place?! he seemed to shout. Smellerbee always wondered how he could be so loud without saying a word.

"Longshot is right," she agreed aloud when he looked to her for support. "Why would firebenders sneak their way into Ba Sing Se? It's not like they can be planning some elaborate takeover, there's only two of them! And they're in the lowest ring of Ba Sing Se!" Smellerbee shouted what she had mentally reassured herself with after agreeing to learn firebending from Mushi, long after she was safe in their apartment and she had a moment to realize just what she had done. Whether through her own desperate excuses or real logic, she had eventually come to the conclusion that the tea-servers couldn't possibly be dangerous, because no 'evil firebender' would be so stupid in their plan of attack.

"Tea doesn't just heat itself!" Jet shouted right back at her. That's it. That was Jet's sole defense on this whole thing. Break that and he'd have nothing to connect Mushi and Lee to fire.

"Maybe you just thought you saw steam rising from the old man's tea," Smellerbee suggested in a careful voice. She tried to think back to that morning that seemed like forever ago, but was really hardly over a week. As far as she could remember, she hadn't actually seen the tea or hear Mushi say it was cold. In fact, Mushi himself didn't seem to remember it (unless he had been lying), and Smellerbee almost had to wonder if the event actually happened at all, and Jet had just happened to pick out the two people in all of Ba Sing Se who really were firebenders.

"I don't think I did, I know I did!" Jet argued. "Why don't you guys believe me?" He banged a fist on the table, and if the candle seemed to flicker in shock, it was simply because its holder had been shaken.

"Because they're not firebenders!" Smellerbee finally exploded, only just managing to keep the wince off her face. She didn't miss the glance Longshot sent her way. But she was just sick of it. Jet wasn't using his head. Okay, yes they really were firebenders, but that doesn't mean they are dangerous! Wasn't that whole thing at Gaipan all about this? How just because someone is Fire Nation doesn't mean they're a bad person? If Mushi and Lee really were evil, they would've reported Jet to the Dai Li and then they'd take him away forever. Or he'd come back...different. Like that one old refugee who kept ranting about the war before being dragged off. Smellerbee saw him only a few days later, all weird smiles and over-friendliness and this general feeling that something was wrong. Smellerbee would never forget that glassy-eyed blank look the old man got when his daughter asked him what the Dai Li did to him.

It was so strange, how just a few months ago, Smellerbee was just as prejudiced. When they attacked that old man, and Sokka protested...when they were about to flood that town, and again the stupid Water Tribe boy seemed determined to save them. But, no, he wasn't really stupid. He got an entire town of Fire Nation soldiers and citizens to listen to him, and Smellerbee wondered what kind of world this was. Sokka, who's mother was killed by the Fire Nation, risked possible death to save people of the same country. And those people listened to him.

But Smellerbee was way off track now. Jet was ranting, as he did most days now, except this time it was directed at them. He ended with an angered shout, before he did bolt up and stalk out the door. Smellerbee could only hope that he was just going out for a stroll to calm himself and not heading to go watch Lee and Mushi again.

Longshot caught her eye, raising an eyebrow that asked so many different things. Smellerbee just shook her head and crawled onto her sleeping mat. It had been a long day. Actually, no, it hadn't, but Jet made it just so tiresome. Smellerbee covered herself with her blanket, just begging to go to sleep, but then Longshot put out the candle and suddenly she wanted it lit again. This was crazy. Everything was crazy.

Smellerbee eventually drifted off into a dazed sort of half-sleep, being woken when Jet finally returned, and never really going into a deep rest. But when morning came, just like every other morning of her entire life, the sun rose and she was up with it, yawning with circles under her eyes, but awake all the same. She made a point of ignoring Jet when she set out to find breakfast at a certain tea shop.

Okay, so this chapter took a long time, isn't all that long, and though I read over it several times, might still be choppy. Maybe I'll come back and fix it one day, but I am simply done with this chapter. The world itself seemed against me finishing it. I could probably double my word-count describing everything that has transpired in the last two weeks or so that made writing this chapter so difficult. But I'll just leave it at this: this chapter sucked big time to write. And I'm sorry if it seemed kind of dry. Next one will be more interesting, I promise.

Usually, I analyze my chapters a little bit, provide a little bit of either my opinions or what I'm aiming for, but I am simply just so fed up with this chapter that all you guys get is my agitated rant.