*Bee*

Boats.

Honestly, I don't love them. I grew up in a forest in the middle of the Earth Kingdom. Not many oceans around.

At the moment, I was below deck, talking to someone who hated them even more than me.

"Why do you hate them, anyways?" I asked.

"I can't see a thing," Toph said. "I see through vibrations in the earth, but a ship's made almost completely out of wood. That and the smell. I'm sorry, but fish is not the best thing to wake up to in the morning."

I chuckled. "Yeah, well, neither is the smell of burnt hair. And flesh. And tree." I glanced over at the Duke.

He noticed. "I'm sorry! I miscalculated!"

"Yeah, no kidding," I laughed. I turned back to Toph. "He used a whole barrel of blasting jelly for one bomb. We're lucky he didn't burn the forest down." It came out before I thought it through.

The Duke looked hurt.

"No, I didn't mean that," I said. "I'm sorry, I didn't think."

He shrugged. "It's okay."

Toph looked confused. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well," I started, "how much did Katara and Aang tell you about us?"

"Just that you were, like, Jet's puppets and tried to flood a town."

"Oh, they think that highly of us?" I grumbled. "Well, sort of. We lived in this forest. There were about… forty of us?" I looked at the Duke.

He nodded. "Forty or fifty."

I turned back to Toph. "We're all orphans. The Fire Nation killed our parents, burned down our villages, stuff like that. It was our job to make sure they never did that to anyone ever again. So we called ourselves the Freedom Fighters.

"The Fire Nation had taken over a nearby village a few years ago. We were trying to get rid of them. And then your friends showed up. Jet tricked them into thinking that the forest was going to be burned down, and we needed the reservoir full so we could fight the fires. But, really, he wanted to blow the dam between the reservoir and the town. To get rid of the Fire Nation. But that would also kill all the people in the town.

"When he told us the plan, the Duke spoke up. But he was the only one. Later on I found out Longshot didn't wanna do it, either, but he didn't say anything. He never does."

"What about you?" Toph asked. "Did you say anything?"

I shook my head. "I didn't even think twice about it. I figured Jet knew best.

"Anyway, so Jet told Aang and Katara to use the steam vents that ran along the edge of the stream that let to the reservoir. They were supposed to bend the water from them into the stream. We had two waterbenders in the group, but they weren't confident enough to try.

"Earlier, Sokka had found out about the plan. Jet made me and Pipsqueak take him so he wouldn't tell Aang and Katara. And he got away and I wound up in a hogmonkey trap. Don't ask. Please.

"Back to Aang and Katara, they found out and froze Jet to a tree, but we wound up blowing the dam, anyways. We thought the plan had worked. And then Sokka came up and told Jet that he'd gotten all the people out. And then your friends left.

"After that, I realized Jet was… crazy. He was ready to kill an entire town just to get rid of a few soldiers. Longshot and I talked about leaving, but we'd been in the Freedom Fighters for years. We didn't know where else to go.

"And then the Fire Nation really did burn the forest down.

"It's kind of ironic, really. I thought we'd gotten our poetic justice when Jet was frozen to a tree. Then I figured we did when they burned the forest down. Everyone survived, but the group split up. Evidently that wasn't enough.

"Jet, Longshot, and I decided to go to Ba Sing Se because it was big, far away, and Fire Nation-free. And then we met "Li and Mushi". I didn't trust them, but trying to get Li to join the group made Jet happy, so I didn't say anything. Well, I didn't say half of what was on my mind.

"After the tea incident… wait do you know about that?"

Toph shook her head.

"We'd gotten off the ferry. Jet was trying to convince Li to join, and a tea cart passed by. Mushi ordered a cup, took a sip, and complained it was too cold. When Jet saw him again, there was steam coming out of the cup.

"He figured he heated it himself, and they were firebenders. Jet was… honestly, stalking them for a week or so, trying to get proof. And then Longshot and I confronted him. I figured maybe we could convince him he was just getting obsessed. But I guess it pushed him over the edge. Because he attacked Li and got arrested. And you know the rest."

She nodded. "I guess because you tried to kill all those people, they had to take someone away from you."

"Yeah, no kidding," I muttered. I turned to the Duke. "And that's pretty much what happened."

"But how did Jet…" he trailed off.

Okay, it was now or never. "Ever heard of the Dai Li?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"They're–" I started. I was cut off by everyone running below deck.

I jumped up and ran over to Longshot. "What happened?" I asked.

(The gates were up. There's at least thirty soldiers coming.)

"So what now?" I asked.

(We pray Sokka's invention works.)