The rhino-pulled cart ambled slowly along the winding stone bridge leading to Omashu. On either side of it walked a Kyoshi warrior, each bound and held fast by a Fire Nation soldier.
Iroh sat comfortably in the wagon seat wearing his new 'borrowed' civilian garb. It really had been pure dumb luck that the original cart driver had been about the same size, if several years younger. He glanced back at the 'guards' and 'prisoners' to see how they were faring on the long walk.
Zuko looked perfectly at ease in the heavy armor, but Sokka was muttering and complaining…as usual.
"How does anyone fight in this stuff?" he griped.
The banished prince glanced across the wagon at the other teen with a small smirk but said nothing, while the girl in Kyoshi regalia posing as his captive grinned mischievously.
"Would you rather wear the Kyoshi dress?" teased Katara.
"At least that was comfortable!" he retorted, shifting his shoulders under the weight of his disguise.
"You're uncomfortable?!" Toph's muffled voice called indignantly from inside one of the crate, "try being stuffed inside a box!"
"Yeah, Sokka" added Aang, popping the lid off his container just enough to peek out from underneath it, "you've got nothing to complain about compared to this. My whole butt is numb…"
"Actually," said Suki coyly, glancing at her 'captor', "I think the armor makes you look imposing."
"Yeah?" drawled Sokka conceitedly, puffing out his chest in an attempt to appear manlier.
Suki threw a triumphant look over to Katara, who was rolling her eyes.
"I knew that would work," said the Kyoshi warrior smugly to the girl on the other side of the cart, sending them both into giggles.
"All right," Sokka groused, deflated and annoyed at having fallen so easily into Suki's ploy, "that's enough laughing. You're supposed to be prisoners."
Stifling their amusement, they turned their attention back to the road in front of them, and as they did, a strong breeze lifted the curtain of smog looming over Omashu. A glint in the sunlight caught Sokka's eye, and when he looked up, he couldn't repress the dread filled breath that escaped his lips.
"Whoa…it looks like they finished redecorating the city," he said forebodingly.
Following his stare, the whole company came to a halt and they looked for the first time upon the face of their enemy. Glaring down at them from Omashu's peak, the massive visage of Fire Lord Ozai loomed on the horizon like an ill omen, leaving none of them unaffected. But for Zuko, who had not seen his father's face in over three years, the impression was far more powerful...and terrible.
Unbidden, his mind played out in agonizing detail that fateful moment in the Agni Kai arena. Once more, he found himself staring up into his father's pitiless eyes, and the condemning words echoed hollowly in Zuko's ears. You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher. His vision filled with the horrifying memory of searing flames racing toward him.
"Zuko!"
The prince gasped as he was jolted back to the present, and he wrenched his gaze away from the hateful metal effigy to refocus on Katara's alarmed and bewildered face. He closed his eyes painfully, and tried to take a calming breath as a violent shudder raced down his spine.
"Are you alright?" asked Katara worriedly, cautiously taking her bound hands off his shoulder. She'd had to shake him to get his attention, and he still looked like he was about to faint.
Noticing that the others were also regarding him with open concern, he forced himself to nod.
"I'll be fine," he replied in a strained voice.
No one seemed convinced, but the group began moving forward again anyway.
"You boys should put your faceplates on," advised Iroh gently, still feeling anxious about his nephew's distress, "we'll be nearing the gate soon."
Zuko and Sokka complied, and not another word was spoken the rest of the way to the city.
A guard halted them as they approached the gates.
"What's in the cart?" he asked.
"Toys and fireworks for the festival," Iroh answered cheerfully.
"Ah, we've been expecting you," the man replied, and then looking to the Kyoshi warriors, he inquired, "Who are they?"
"We were ambushed on our way here," Iroh explained smoothly, "most of them got away, but my escorts managed to take these two."
The sentry looked at Zuko and Sokka with an approving nod. "Excellent work."
He turned to another nearby guard.
"Show these men to the prisons. We'll detain the captives there until the governor decides what to do with them." Then turning back to Iroh he added, "You can take this stuff to the warehouse on the upper tier where your payment is waiting for you."
"Thank you," said Iroh with a gracious bow from where he sat.
He snapped the reigns lightly against the rhino's back and headed into the city, following behind the other four being escorted to the prisons. Only Toph heard the muted whisper from the crate beside her.
"So far, so good."
The first sound that greeted their ears as the warden lead them down into the detention block was a gravely screech that only barely resembled a song.
"Oh lovely," grumbled the man sarcastically, "he's singing again."
"Singing?" asked Sokka before he could stop himself, "sounds more like torture."
The warden laughed gruffly, "The only ones being tortured down here are us. But if you think that's bad, you should hear his jokes."
"So is that…?" inquired the disguised water tribe warrior tentatively as they were led in the opposite direction of the sound.
"King Bumi?" finished the other man, "Yeah. The old coot is completely cracked in the head."
As they walked through the maze of corridors, both boys made it a point to be carefully observant: Sokka memorizing the path they took, and Zuko taking note of the placement and number of sentries. Much to his surprise, and relief, there weren't many. At last, when they could no longer hear Bumi's ear-grating voice, the warden opened a cell door and stepped to one side.
"Once those two are chained up," he instructed from the hallway, "report to the barracks here on the upper tier for further orders."
The two disguised boys nodded once in compliance, and the other man turned around and headed back down the corridor.
As Zuko adjusted the chains that attached Katara's shackles to the wall, he glanced over his shoulder to ensure the warden was truly gone, and then leaned down toward her ear.
"Can you reach your water?" he asked quietly.
She didn't answer, but merely pulled a small stream from her pouch so Zuko could see that he had left enough slack in the chains for her to bend.
"Remember, that's a last resort," Sokka said lowly as he finished fastening Suki's binds, his hands lingering over hers. "We don't want to give anything away if we don't have to."
"Got it," Katara whispered, returning the water to the pouch hidden beneath the Kyoshi armor.
Her brother stepped back and took a deep breath, looking from one girl to the other, obviously apprehensive about leaving them in a prison.
"We'll be back for you as soon as we can," he murmured.
The two boys then left the cell, and the last thing Katara saw as the door swung shut was a pair of glimmering golden eyes peering uneasily from behind the skull-like faceplate. She and Suki simultaneously let out a long breath as the room fell dark, and the hollow clang of the bolt sliding into place reverberated down the hall like a death knell.
Back at the warehouse, Iroh, Aang, and Toph were hidden behind a stack of boxes, talking quietly while waiting for Sokka and Zuko. Their conversation was cut short as two Fire Nation soldiers suddenly loomed over them. Toph merely sat there, but Iroh and Aang were on their feet in an instant, ready to take action.
"It's just us!" said Sokka, holding his arms up non-threateningly, while Zuko quickly removed his helmet.
"Thanks for telling us someone was coming, Toph," grumbled Aang sarcastically as he and Iroh dropped out of their stances. She only shrugged, completely unconcerned.
"I knew it was them."
Aang didn't have a response to that, so instead he turned to Sokka as the warrior doffed his helm and everyone huddled back down behind the crates.
"What now?" the Avatar asked.
Sokka seemed to consider the options before answering. Thus far, everything had gone way more smoothly than he had expected, and he only hoped that their luck would hold. At last, he gave his response.
"General How agreed to hold off the attack until we return, so as soon as it's dark, we'll sneak into the prisons, get Bumi and the girls, and then head back to the base camp," he explained confidently. "In the meantime," he continued, "we lay low…and wait."
As the sun sank below the mountains, the lower tier of the city still teemed with life. Parents called their reluctant children home for dinner, and teens as yet too young to join the war effort flirted with one another while they strolled along the dusky streets. Laughter rang from the teahouses and restaurants as shopkeepers and barrow merchants began putting away their wares for the night.
High above, in the almost deserted upper tier, the Avatar and his companions made their way to the prisons. Sokka and Zuko had ditched their cumbersome Fire Nation uniforms, and the group moved as silently as the shadows they traversed. Peering from a darkened alley, they were thankful to see that only two guards stood post outside the open archway.
"Go on around," whispered Iroh, motioning with his hands to indicate the direction, "I'll distract the guards."
The four did as he suggested, and a few moments later, the old fire bender shuffled out of the alley and into the lamplight where the guards could see him.
"You there!" called one, stepping forward, "What are you doing here? This area is off limits to civilians after dark."
"Ah!" exclaimed Iroh with enthusiastic relief, "I thought I might never find anyone to help me." He ambled toward them and then stopped as they approached him warily, carrying out his ruse as he did so. "It's my first time in the city, you see and," he feigned embarrassment, "I got lost leaving the warehouses. I don't suppose you kind boys would mind pointing an old man in the direction of the nearest teahouse?"
He smiled disarmingly at them and they relaxed, moving closer to provide their assistance. Neither of them noticed Iroh's crafty grin as four figures slipped into the prisons behind them.
Toph tapped the metal walls with the backs of her hands experimentally and smiled. The metal was thick, but poorly refined, and the tiny shards of earth were densely dispersed enough that bending it would not prove to be a problem.
As they reached the open doorway of the warden's office, she got her chance to test just how much she could do. Laying her hand on the ground to get a feel for the area, she gave a deceivingly small push, sending a ripple of creaking metal down the hall ahead of them.
Hearing the strange sound, the warden got up to investigate. He'd no sooner popped his head through the doorway, peering into the darkness in the direction of the noise, when Zuko slammed the man's helmeted forehead into the metal doorjamb, knocking him out cold. Sokka reached down and grabbed the keys from the unconscious man's belt, and the four continued on their way down the corridor.
As they neared the cell where Suki and Katara had been taken to earlier and Sokka moved to open the door, Toph piped up.
"Are you sure this is the right cell?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Sokka snapped.
"This is where we brought them," Zuko confirmed.
"Seriously, Toph," Sokka added as he fumbled with the lock. "You think I'd leave my sister and gir-, er friend in a prison, and not remember how to get back to them?! Why would you even ask that?" he finished, and swung the door open as Toph answered.
"Because there's no one in there."
And sure enough, when they looked into the room, the cell was vacant. As Sokka began to question his own sense of memory and direction, Zuko stepped inside and knelt down near the wall, summoning a small flame in his hand to see.
"Sokka," the prince whispered urgently, and the warrior came over to take a look. His face paled as he saw what Zuko had noticed.
"What is it?" asked Aang, trying to peek over their shoulders.
"Water," answered Zuko grimly.
Aang's eyes widened in horror as he realized what the water on the floor meant. The girls had been there. But now…
"They're gone."
Commercial break
Author's note: Time to plug a couple more great stories I've been enjoying!
The Swiftly Tilting Balance by Steamboat Ghost: Speculative "Book 4: Air" fan-fic. Paced like an episode with a unique plot and believable character interactions.
Parts of a Whole by MacFie: Excellent post-war story about international conspiracies, long lost relatives, old friends who've changed, and blossoming romance.
You can find these and several other wonderful fan-fics in the "Favorite Stories" list accessible from my bio page. Read, enjoy, and don't forget to leave these authors a well-deserved review!