Author's note:

This story is actually a collaborative effort between me and and a friend. Its the first time I've actually worked together with someone but she and I share the same wavelength about where this story is going.

Again read, review and enjoy.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Freedom's Prodigal Son

Home

"I doubt most of you knew this, but Jet and I were born in the same village, before the fire nation troops had arrived here." Longshot's raspy voice seemed to have mesmerized the boys, and his words seemed to carry the entire room back to a time and place they'd never been.

"Back then, there was peace – an odd concept for those of us who have grown up with spears in our hands and learned to run and hide before walking. But it was true. Not so very long ago, there was peace…"

"Liu!" Jet shouted at the small boy crouched behind a huge, out of place boulder. "Mommy said no earthbending! Liu!" But the six-year-old boy was in no mood to listen, and teetered away from his older brother as fast as he could, screaming joyfully at the top of his lungs.

"Liu, that is not how you play hide-and-seek!" Growling under his breath, Jet ran off after the wobbling boy.

But the minute he left the base, another boy streaked out from behind a tree, straight towards the safety ground like an arrow from a bow. "Home Free! Home Free!" the boy shouted, jumping up and down behind Jet.

"Get over it, Chizen!" Jet shouted. "You little kids are so annoying!"

"I'm seven!" Chizen protested, with a slight lisp, holding up seven chubby fingers. "Seven!" he repeated seriously.

"And I'm eight," Jet concluded logically, "So do what I say and help me catch Liu!"

"Boys!" Liu stopped squealing when his mother's voice reached his ears. "Time to come home."

"Ah mom!" Jet huffed.

She smiled knowingly. "Dinner's ready," she informed the sulking boy, watching her son perk up predictably. "And your father's home earlier!" she added, merriment dancing in her tone.

Jet loved the way her eyes lit up, and the knowing, though often incriminating, way she looked at him. A mother's glow, she had told him once. You make me look that way, darling. You and Liu. You two are my world.

"Chinzen," she asked, turning her smile on the gangly boy, "do you want to come have dinner too, or is you mother expecting you?"

"I go home now too," Chizen declared, with all the authority his seven years could muster.

"Run along then. Liu! Come here, baby!"

"I told him to come," Jet said seriously, "but he wouldn't listen to me."

Their mother laughed as she scooped Liu up into her arms. "You should listen to your brother, Liu," she said, blowing kisses on his chin. She looked at the dirt on his hands. "Were you earthbending again, Liu?"

"No!" Liu huffed immediately.

"Yes, he was," Jet tattled.

"Liu, what did I tell you about earthbending?"

"Only do it… with Daddy!" She looked at the boy suspiciously. He quirked his head, realizing she was waiting for something else. Suddenly pleased to know what it was, he hugged her neck. "I'm sorry for being bad," he said, smiling.

"No he's not!" Jet protested angrily.

But their mother smiled and grabbed Jet's hand in hers. "Hurry, or dinner will get cold," she laughed, pulling Jet behind her as he rushed his short legs to keep up with her stride.

Their village was nestled in a grassy clearing surrounded by trees. Many trees that were so tall Jet wasn't allowed to climb them. His father said the trees had been alive longer than the oldest villager, maybe even since the beginning of time. Jet didn't know if he believed that – his father was always a kidder. But he did believe the trees were old, and beautiful, even if he couldn't climb them.

The golden grass that surrounded the village to either side shifted in the breeze like an ocean. During the winter there was no grass, just icy hills covered in snow, for bark sledding and snowball fights, and during the spring and into summer it was green and fresh, with little gophermoles popping out. But it was mid-fall now, and the grass was golden and as shiny as the sun. Jet loved the way some of it grew tall enough to hide in, and some was short enough to brush his ankles.

Grasshaven, as their village had been nicknamed, had no wall, but it did have two big pillars at the entrance where a road spread far into the distance. Jet knew the road split a few miles out of town, and the left fork lead to a nearby village they often traded with, called Riverford. Jet had never been that far, so to him the road stretched forever. But he had met people from Riverford, and some from even father away. Chizen said his dad took him to Riverford once, but Jet didn't know if he believed the lanky seven-year-old. He also claimed there was a lake there with so much water he couldn't swim to the other side, and that the people there made the lake bigger with a dam. Jet couldn't swim himself, so he preferred not to believe in Chizen's inflated stories, even if Liu loved them.

Jet's father went to Riverford all the time. Everybody loved and respected Tenyu, so he was often asked to travel with the villagers when they took long trips. He helped keep peace between the people of Riverford and Grasshaven, but the real reason they asked Tenyu to come along was because of his martial arts skills. He was a great warrior, and always protected his friends when they went on trips to sell their wares, though he claimed the best way to stop a fight was with friendly words and weapons sheathed. He had been gone on his last trip for almost a month now, helping the old carpenter sell his wears and buy new tools. Jet was determined to ask him when he got back this time if Chizen was telling the truth about the dam and the giant lake.

Tenyu traded with all the local villages, spreading merchandise, and gossip, so he always came home full of stories about people the boys had never met and far off places they could dream of seeing. Chisui would always laugh merrily at her husband's stories, and after the boys went to bed, speak more seriously with him about his trips. Lately, news had been getting worse and worse, and the fire nation was a constant threat that seemed much farther away to Jet and Liu then Tenyu and Chisui.

That was why they could be found in comfortable corner of their thick, square house, relaxing on deep green cushions, but talking about things far more serious than trade, or housing or troublesome boys.

"The fire nation has been moving closer every year," Tenyu insisted. "It goes against reason to assume they would have stopped for no reason."

"But even so," Chisui pointed out hopefully, "Omashu is a long way from hear. News travels slowly, dear."

"I know," Tenyu replied. "There haven't been reports of it, but… I worry for our family. This village is between the last sighting of the fire nation troops and Riverford. I don't know why we haven't seen troops passing through here yet. They can't just have disappeared."

"Tenyu, we are a small town. There would be nothing to gain from occupying Grasshaven. Why would they go out of their way or waist the men here?"

"You're right dear," Tenyu sighed, realizing that projecting his unfounded fears on his wife would do little good. "You always are," he added, pressing her fingers to his lips. Suddenly his eyes turned up. "Jet! What are you doing there?"

Jet flushed when his father saw him. He hadn't understood much of the discussion, but his father's voice when he mention the fire nation held an undercurrent the frightened the eight-year-old. But Jet was Tenyu's son, and not commonly given over to fear. So he swallowed hard and presented himself respectfully to his father, who grinned and mussed his hair. "I was wondering," Jet started awkwardly, "is there really a lake so big you can't swim across it?"

Tenyu laughed, with that big booming voice that immediately dispelled all Jet's fears. "My boy, you cannot swim across the lake because it's not allowed! People there drink that water, and ship it all across the earth kingdom! But the lake is humongous, and you can splash in the water below the dam to your heart's content. It's thanks to that pure water that Riverford is such a big and prosperous village, with so much trade, and it's thanks to their trade that Grasshaven can exist."

"Is trade so important?" Jet asked.

"Indeed it is. Through trade we see that everyone and everything is related. Earth kingdom, fire nation, even the water benders from the distant water tribes trade in Riverford. Everybody has a price, and everybody has needs. That's why I protect the people there, and here in Grasshaven. I can fight, so I protect those who can't. That's trade too. And trade brings the world together, Jet. The entire world." His dad quirked his eyebrow at the boy's serious expression. "Now, didn't your mother already put you to bed once?" he asked, his tone falsely harsh. "You better scamper off before she gets really angry!"

Chisui twisted her lips up in irritation at her husband, but Jet always took his father's words to heart, and fled quickly back to bed before the big green eyes could turn to him.

Jet felt sleep still groggy in his mind as he tried to stir awake. He could hear voices far away, muted, but talking loudly and very quickly. But it was the incessant gong that drew him out of warm slumber.

Liu was still asleep, so he shook his little brother gently until the boy stirred. "Make it stop," Liu pouted. "Make the bell stop."

"Don't be a baby," Jet replied.

"What it is?" Liu asked backwards, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with tiny fists.

"I don't know."

Suddenly their bedroom door burst open. "Jet, Liu, get up," their father barked in a deep, commanding tone.

"What's happening?" Chisui asked, appearing at the door.

Tenyu turned to meet his wife's big eyes, and Jet saw the tightness in his father's face.

"The fire nation is coming."