Boy howdy! This was a long one! Everyone seems to like Zuko getting slapped lol! Maybe I can work with that. Shout out to solareclipse, MastaDrumma22, charizardag, Guardian of Balance, Luiz4200, kitkat1327, Sunder the Gold, superkawaiifoxy, Talon88.1, mystery writer5775, number157493, and Akriloth Warrior (my 50th review! Happy Birthday to me! Thank you! Thank you!) Thank you all, and I hope this is worth the long agonizing wait

The Search for Shang-wēifēng

Chapter Six:

The Big Leap

For more than a hundred years, the great Earth city of Ba Sing Se stood as a beacon of hope for the world, an invincible stronghold against Fire Nation advancement, and a safe haven for those who wished to escape the ravages of the war.

Now, after a century-long siege, the protective Outer Wall lay in ruins and Fire Nation banners waved triumphantly in the breeze as crimson armored troops patrolled the streets imposing their will and demonstrating their dominance upon the populace. But they were far from the most frightful aspect of this new status quo.

Though they were seldom spotted, Dai Li agents lurked in every shadow of every alley in the city. Watching. Listening. They enforced a strict curfew that began at sundown. Anyone found outside after dark were thrown into the dungeons. A lenient punishment in comparison to that of a more...serious offense.

As they spied upon the Ba Sing Se citizenry, the Dai Li filed away every bit of information they could gather on any possible insurrectionists against the new regime. Already the heads of those who had spoken out against the Fire Nation coup were on display in the courtyard of the former Earth King's palace, stuck upon pikes and slowly being devoured by insects and carrion fowl. Examples to all who might entertain the idea of rebellion.

From the grate that served as her only window to the outside world, Suki looked up at the severed heads of men, women, even some children, and sighed, trying to look at something else. Anything else.

Her companions, other Kyoshi Warriors who had been captured by that thrice-damned Azula and her thrice-damned lackeys were either sleeping restlessly on the filthy stone floor of their cell or slumped despondently against the wall staring at nothing. Their armor and weapons had been taken away when the Fire Princess had captured them, leaving them with only their small clothes and the dirty burlap smocks that offered little in the way of protection against the cold. Already some of the other girls had fallen ill and rasped coughing fits often cut into the silence.

Against the wall sat dark-haired Ami, once-pretty features marred by a black eye and a fat lip, gently cradling her ill sister Tsui's head in her lap. Curled up on the floor was brown-haired Yukari, her ceremonial makeup blotched and faded from crying so much. Megumi knelt nearby, coughing periodically. Leaning against the bars of their cell was young Myo, once so carefree and happy now stoically kept vigil for signs of their captors' approach. No one knew where the others were.

Suki fought back the tears, she was the eldest among these women. The leader. They looked to her for strength and guidance and she could not allow herself to cry. But she had no strength left. No guidance to give. She couldn't rally their resolve for she had none left to herself.

In the days following the fall of the Impenetrable City, Azula often payed her a visit. She had the other captive Kyoshi Warriors tortured by her pet Dai Li and Fire Nation inquisitors, but she seemed to have taken a special interest in Suki, and personally tormented her with merciless delight. Each day she beat and taunted her, doing everything she could to break her, body, mind, and soul.

Suki hugged herself against the chill that didn't come from the cold, as she recalled the day the hateful Princess had finally succeeded.

It was during one of these beating sessions, after Azula had broken her arm, when Suki let slip a name. His name. The one who gave her strength in this dark and miserable place.

"Sokka," she whispered as Azula released her ruined arm, allowing her to crumple to the floor in a heap.

"Sokka?" repeated the Fire Princess scornfully. "Who's that? Your boyfriend? No wait," she mused thoughtfully. "You don't mean that Water Tribe oaf who traveled with the Avatar do you?"

Suki's eyes widened, but she didn't look up to meet the Princess's sneer. Traveled? She couldn't mean...

"What's wrong?" smirked Azula. "Did I guess right? The Avatar's dead you know."

The Kyoshi Warrior's breath caught. "You're lying!" She said firmly, clumsily raising herself to her knees. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain. To stop the tears.

"Am I?" mocked the Fire Princess. "I killed him myself, you know. Your greatest hope has been extinguished. And as for his friends, well, I doubt your precious boy toy - Sokka was it? - will be galloping through the palace gates, riding a white ostrich-horse to your rescue. If he's not already dead, he's likely cowering in some hovel with that Water Tribe wench and that blind brat who's always following him around."

"I don't believe you!" She felt something warm trickle down her cheeks, and she bit her lower lip as she desperately tried to control her breathing. Each heartbeat brought new pain shooting through her arm.

"Believe whatever you want," shrugged Azula carelessly. "I'm just trying to help you face up to the harsh reality. Your Avatar's dead. Your kingdom has fallen. And to top it all off, your friends have abandoned you. No one is coming to save you."

"You're wrong!" Suki sobbed. She couldn't take it anymore. The pain in her arm, this...creature's constant torment, and now the realization that she was right, all compounded upon her.

Suki, brave, strong, Suki of the proud Kyoshi Warriors, threw back her head and let out an agonized wail that echoed through the dreary dungeons, then collapsed back to the floor sobbing uncontrollably. The Fire Princess only smirked smugly, knowing that she had won. She had broken her.

After that Azula left for the Fire Nation capital, and the torture sessions ceased - for the time being anyway. But the Princess's cruel words still buzzed in Suki's ears, and doubt and shame gnawed at her heart. The Avatar was dead. Sokka had abandoned her. 'No one is coming to save you'. She and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors were going to die in this spirits-forsaken hole.

She gingerly touched her broken arm. Each of the warriors had some training in medicine, but Azula had fractured it in several places and, while they had managed to set some of the bones back into place and put the arm in a sling, it was doubtful she would ever be able to use it again.

Suki tried to gaze past the heads of the executed and at the sliver of the moon hanging in the sky. She thought back to the Serpent's Pass. To that moment she and Sokka shared beneath the full moon. To when he surprised her with a kiss before they parted ways. Before she was brought to this horrible place.

She thought back to Kyoshi Island, her home, where they had first met.

She wept silently, unable to hold the tears back any longer.

Sokka.

"Suki."

Suki lifted her head at the sound of her name. She wasn't sure if it was some trick of her sleep-deprived mind, but the voice seemed to come from everywhere. She turned around and there standing before her was a young Water Tribe woman of serene, ethereal beauty. She appeared no older than herself but, at the same time, she seemed more ancient than the stone beneath her feet. She had flowing silvery white hair, and billowing pearl-white robes, with sapphire eyes overflowing with kindness and empathy. Eyes that have known the greatest joys and the most profound sorrows. A soft white glow radiated from her and filled the dank cell with silvery light.

"Who are you?" asked the Kyoshi warrior in an awed whisper.

"I am Yue, the Moon Spirit," answered the white-haired woman in a strange, almost unsettling echo of a voice. It was as though she were there in the cell but, at the same time, unimaginably far away.

The Kyoshi warrior immediately sank to her knee, winching as her damaged arm throbbed in protest.

The Moon Spirit smiled tenderly and knelt with her so that she could lay her hands upon Suki's arm. Before the warrior could protest she gasped as she felt the pain, the sadness, and the doubt leech out of her and the broken bones knit. When Yue withdrew her hands, Suki lifted her arm in amazement that it was completely healed.

She once again bowed her head in reverence and gratitude.

"You mustn't give in to despair," said the Moon Spirit, smiling gently. "The Avatar is still alive, and his friends are still fighting."

"But," whispered Suki sadly. "No one knows we are here."

"Mark my words," Yue said. "You and your warriors will be free. The Avatar shall need you at the final battle against the Fire Lord. And," the Spirit added after a pause. "He needs you as well."

"Sokka?"

"He blames himself for your capture," answered Yue. "Just as he blames himself for what happened in the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole."

Suki gaped at the otherworldly woman before her, and she remembered what Sokka had told her. 'It's so hard when you lose someone you care about. At the North Pole... something happened...and I couldn't protect someone...'

"You were...?"

Yue nodded sadly. "Please live Suki. Live for him. He sometimes forget that I still watch over him and those he cares for. He needs you to remind him that he's never alone. He loves you, and if you love him as much as I know you do, you will not give up on him. Not ever."

"Suki," murmured Ami blearily from her place against the wall as her sister Tsui stirred restlessly. "Who're you talking to?"

Before Suki could respond she looked where Yue was standing and found that she was gone. Disappeared as though she never was.

Did she imagine it all? Was she going mad? Or perhaps she had caught the sickness that was spreading throughout these foul dungeons. She examined her arm. It was still healed. If she didn't imagine that then...

"No one Ami," said Suki finally. "Go back to sleep."

The Kyoshi warrior smiled and spent the rest of the night praying her thanks to the Moon Spirit for rekindling her hope.

The dirigible floated lazily westward, approaching the coast, surrounded by the four war balloons. Night had fallen and the crescent moon bathed the world in a serene glow with wisps of cloud drifting overhead. So of course no one noticed the tiny nimbus approaching.

Concealed within the cottony plumes, Aang bent both water and air around himself Appa and those of the group who had accompanied him on this rescue mission.

Haru and Sokka were seated in the saddle with stoic expressions, the Water Tribe warrior caressing the hilt of his sword with anticipation. Momo clung to Aang's shoulder, shaking with the tension he could sense in the humans. The others had wanted to come as well, especially Toph, but Sokka would hear any of it. No one was sure what a fight aboard an airship would be like and he feared that her blindness might put her in danger, to which she responded by knocking him on his ass with earthbending and stomping away to the other side of the campsite.

Though she joked about her inability to "see" in the way other people do, she never liked to be reminded of her blindness. Especially not by Sokka. Especially not when it wasn't as a result of the gruff but goofy Water Tribe boy forgetting she was blind.

"There it is," said Aang quietly as they approached the dirigible.

"Remember," said Sokka, raising himself to a crouch along with the earthbender. "Once you get us to the engines, you need to create a diversion."

"Hey," grinned Aang. "I'm the Avatar. Everyone's out to kill me."

He urged Appa toward the back to the airship. There were the humming engines, sending jets of steam into the air as it propelled the massive blimp through the sky. Next to it was a ladder, for what the airbender speculated was for outdoor repairs, adjacent to a door, leading into the engine room. He cleared away some cloud so Sokka and Haru could find the ladder and grab on.

"Wait for the signal," said the warrior, as he and the Earth Kingdom boy grabbed hold of the ladder. Aang waved his understanding and blanketed the clouds around himself and his mount and drifted away. Once he was a good distance he would let the clouds disperse and reveal himself to the Fire Nation, and hopefully Azula would be too busy with him to notice Haru and Sokka rescuing Katara and Zuko. Not to mention the "surprise" the Water Tribe boy had in store for the Fire Princess.

Aang shuddered. He sometimes thought Sokka was as mad as Bumi.

Engineers bustled in the engine room, opening and closing valves and tightening bolts and occasionally removing their steel masks to wipe the sweat from their foreheads. One, who was scratching himself when he thought no one was looking, gave a start when he heard a rap on the door leading out. He didn't think anyone was authorised to be outside while the ship was in motion. He looked around to see who was absent.

The rapping came again, more insistent this time. Shrugging he went to open the door, letting in a rush of air and a foot colliding with his bare chest as a teenager in a Water Tribe tunic swung into the engine room, knocking the engineer to the floor. As the boy drew his black bladed sword, he was followed by a young long-haired Earth Kingdom man sporting a goatee. He removed one of the bags from his belt and emptied the contents, rocks of various shapes and sizes, into his hand.

"Okay," said the Water Tribesman. "Everyone just stay against the wall, and Haru here won't have to...uh...bend...pebbles at you..."

Haru demonstrated with a stomp of his foot and jab of his free hand and sent several rocks ricocheting all over the chamber. The engineers didn't need to be told twice. They all lined up against the wall and stood perfectly still.

"You sure you'll be alright?" the warrior asked the earthbender.

"Of course," smiled Haru grimly. "I've got bigger rocks in my other sacks. You just find Katara."

"And Zuko," added the Water Tribe boy.

The earthbender grunted but made no response, and set to work sabotaging the engines, as the other boy rushed out of the engine room and into the airship corridors.

Meanwhile in the bridge Azula saw one of the scout balloons sent a signal flare.

"What's going on out there?" demanded the Fire Princess.

The captain peered through the spyglass and answered, "It's the Avatar, my Lady. He's been spotted."

"Is there anyone with him?"

"Er...no my Lady. He's all alone."

"He's attacking us all by himself?" Ty Lee pouted. "Aw, why didn't he bring that cute Water Boy with him?"

Odd, the Fire Princess thought to herself. The Avatar has never traveled alone. Why would he be so foolhardy as to take on a Fire Nation airship on his own? Unless...

There was a rumbling noise and the smooth cruising movement gave way to a drifting sensation.

"Sound the alarm!" barked Azula. "We have intruders onboard. Ty Lee, find Mai and while you're at it check on my brother and that waterbender. Captain, send guards to investigate the engine room and tell the firebenders to fire at will. I want that bison brought down."

Zuko ducked back into the supply closet as more soldiers hustled past. An alarm bell's knell reverberated through the corridors as he and Katara slowly made their way towards...well to be honest he really didn't know where he was going. Even if they found a way out they had no way of getting to the ground safely. He had considered going to the bridge and hijacking the airship, but he was no match for Azula without his firebending. Besides there were too many soldiers aboard for him to fight off by himself. At least not quietly. No, their best option was to sneak around until they could find a solution. Unfortunately the Water Tribe girl was of a different opinion.

"We can't keep hiding in every storeroom we find," sniffed the waterbender. "Sooner or later they'll find us."

"Quiet," rasped Zuko, again peering out of the closet. "The coast is clear."

They crept out of the room and swiftly made their way down the corridor. Everything looked the same and Zuko absently hoped he wasn't going in circles. They turned a corner and were immediately confronted by six soldiers with their skull-like face guards lowered and their spears at the ready.

"There they are!" one of them cried.

One of the soldiers sank into a stance before receiving a smack upside the helmet from one of his companions.

"You idiot!" scolded the guard. "You know we can't firebend inside the ship. You wanna blow us all to hell?"

Zuko, raised his swords defensively as his adversaries advanced. A cry from Katara made him turn to see that four more soldiers were advancing on them from the rear. They were trapped.

The Water Tribe girl looked around frantically as the soldiers encircled them. One of them jabbed his lance at Zuko who knocked it away with the flat side of his sword. Another made for a stab, but the Fire Prince sliced the lance in two with a downward swipe. He had positioned himself protectively in front of Katara, which only fueled her fury. She hated not having water nearby to bend. She hated feeling helpless when she needed it most. But most of all she hated having to rely on that treacherous, backstabbing, barracuda of a Prince, trapped on this floating monstrosity of metal, hot air, and pipes. Wait. Pipes! An idea occurred to her as she remembered how she, Aang, and Sokka stole the blueprints to the Fire Nation's giant drill when they reached the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se.

"Zuko," hissed Katara. "Cut the pipes."

"What?"

"Don't argue with me just cut the pipes!"

The Fire Prince whirled around and swung his curved blade at the pipes that ran along the wall and jets of steam whistled out. At last! Water!

Katara sank into a stance, ignoring the twinge of her injuries from her earlier battle with Mai, and sent the steam into the four soldiers to her left, making them cry out in surprise and pain as it burned. She then bent it into ice, and froze her antagonists in place, just as she did with the engineer aboard the drill.

She then turned to do the same to the other six, who were currently trying to beat a hasty retreat, bending the steam at them and freezing it. Again they cried out and again they went still.

"All right!" said Katara, triumphantly pumping her fist in the air. "Let's get going Zuko."

She started walking in the direction they came when she noticed Zuko wasn't following. "Zuko?" she turned back toward the sever frozen figures. Wait, seven? She examined the shorter one holding the dao swords and realized what had happened. "Oops!"

She hurriedly bent the ice back into water, and made it coil around her shoulders, ready to whip at any more enemies they might encounter. The Fire Prince stood shivering and glaring at the waterbender.

"Um," said Katara, trying her best to keep from laughing before managing a weak "Sorry?"

Zuko sneezed but said nothing as he stalked down the corridor, Katara following close behind, going on and on about how rude and unreasonable he was being and how she froze him by accident - twice in one day! - but the Fire Prince just blocked it out and instead pondered the girl he had left bound and gagged in the supply closet - while simultaneously ignoring the sheer wrongness of that statement - and her parting words to him. Sorry Zuzu, but too little too late.

Ty Lee glided gracefully through the corridors, trying to find Mai. All around her men were scrambling to find the intruders, or take positions on the catwalks outside to battle the Avatar. She hummed blissfully to herself, seemingly oblivious to everything but the instructions Azula had given to her. Mai wasn't in her quarters so she decided to check on Zuko and that Water Tribe girl. She danced around crewmen rushing to batten down the hatches or shout "shiver me timbers" or whatever it is that crewmen do.

When she reached the storeroom she had deposited the waterbender in she noticed that the guards were gone. Not unusual in itself, after all everyone was trying to get on Azula's good side by finding whoever that snuck on board. But what she found troubling was the fact that the door was unlatched.

She swung it open and found Mai, dress tattered, arms and legs bound and a gag placed over her mouth. Ty Lee could only stare at her wide eyed before saying, "Wow Mai, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing. Kinky."

Mai glared at the circus performer.

Outside, the air was filled with whirling balls of flame, coming from all directions and all converging upon Aang and Appa. Momo screeched in alarm, while Appa dodged with a grace that belied his great girth. Aang leapt from his mount, opened his glider, and flew at one of the scout balloons. He zig-zagged between the projectiles and he advanced closer and closer to the balloon. Once he was near enough to see the mole over one of the pilots' lips, he swung upside down and delivered a kick that conjured a drilling whirlwind that shredded through the flying machine's canvas. As the balloon plummeted to the earth below, the two firebenders abandoned their vessel, pulled a cord on their packs, and released a dome-like device made of fabric that allowed them to gently float downward.

Aang marveled, in spite of himself, at the ingenuity of the Fire Nation, and wished that they had spent more time making things that saved lives as opposed to the engines of destruction he was all too used to seeing. A screaming ball of fire whizzing past his ear brought him back to reality. There were still three remaining war balloons, two of which were rabidly advancing on Appa, not to mention the dirigible.

Come on Sokka, Aang silently pleaded. Hurry!

In the underbelly of the airship, in the bomb bay chamber, Sokka worked feverishly trying to pry open one of the egg-shaped bombshells with his sword and boomerang, careful not to trigger a detonation. According to Teo, an explosion in the hanger could very well destroy the rest of the ship like Sokka wanted, but, understandably, the swordsman wished to be a safe distance away when that happened.

He wiped away the beads of sweat forming on his forehead and continued his work. Then there came a snapping noise. Sokka cried out in dismay and squeezed his eyes shut.

I screwed up! This is it! he thought mournfully. I'm gonna blow up! I'm sorry Katara! Aang! Toph! Suki! I never even got to...goodbye cruel world!

He took a breath.

Then another.

Nothing happened.

He opened an eye. He had managed to open the casing of the shell. Turning an indignant shade of red, despite the lack of an audience to his embarrassment, he opened the shell, detached the detonator, and removed the heavy container of blasting jelly.

"My Lady," sniveled the captain. "Still no word from the engine room. We believe that an earthbender may be onboard."

"Why would that make any difference?" snarled Azula. "We're in the air."

"Did I fail to mention he brought rocks with him?"

The Fire Princess's patience had at last reached its end.

"You imbecile! You incompetent good-for-nothing..."

"Azula!" Ty Lee interrupted the barrage of insults and the Princess was about to round on her when she noticed that a bedraggled Mai was wither her.

"What happened?" Azula managed.

"Zuko and the Water Tribe girl are gone," explained Ty Lee. "Mai went to check on them and surprised them as they were escaping. They tied her up and left her in the closet."

Azula scrutinized her schoolmate. "Is this true?"

Mai looked at the Fire Princess squarely and nodded, "Yes."

The nobleman's daughter reeled backwards from the backhand slap she received from Azula.

Ty Lee gasped.

The captain gawked.

Mai gazed up at her childhood playmate with a stunned look.

"You should know better than to lie to me Mai," sneered the Fire Princess.

Zuko and Katara raced through the corridors. Any soldiers they met were quickly dispatched. The waterbender made all the difference. The fact that they couldn't firebend aboard the dirigible for some reason was a stroke of pure luck. Maybe if he encountered his sister Zuko stood a chance of defeating her.

Suddenly the floor before them opened up. The Fire Prince held his dao swords ready and Katara sank into a battle position, the water enveloping her arms and becoming deadly twin tendrils.

A head poked out and peered at them curiously, his trade-mark warrior's wolf-tail swaying as he looked at each of them in turn.

"Sokka?" said Katara, her stance relaxing. Zuko, snapped his swords together and sheathed them with a fluid motion.

"Oh good," sighed the warrior. "You're both here. Now I don't have to come back for this."

He disappeared back down below and, after a few moments and the sounds of flint scraping against tinder, he reappeared and quickly dashed down the hallway.

"Hurry!" he called back behind him. "Haru's waiting for us in the engine room and we've got an estimated five minutes before this place lights up like a festival sky!"

"What!?" called the Water Tribe girl and Fire Prince, dashing after him.

"I found some blasting jelly in there and made it into a fuse leading to a detonator," Sokka hurriedly explained. "Once the sparks reach that all the bombs'll go off and ignite the gas that keeps this thing afloat. Eat your heart out Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"

Azula strapped the parachute to her back and opened the door leading outside.

"My Lady," inquired the captain. "What are you doing?"

"I'm abandoning ship captain," drawled Azula, as Ty Lee leaped outside with a gleeful whoop followed by Mai still massaging her cheek where the Fire Princess struck her. After a few moments their chute opened up and they lazily drifted downward. "I don't think any of us will be in the air much longer."

"B-b-but my Lady," whimpered the captain. "You and your friends took the last parachutes. What are the rest of us supposed to do?"

Azula fixed him with a flat stare. "Well captain," she drawled. "It's a lovely ship, I think you should go down with it."

"I-I-I..." stuttered the inept officer.

"Oh don't be so upset," sneered the Fire Princess. "I hear that if you fall in the line of duty you're automatically bumped up two ranks. Enjoy. 'Lieutenant'."

Before he could say another word Azula dived out of the airship, pulled her cord and left the hapless captain to his fate.

Several soldiers barred their way, as Sokka, Katara and Zuko reached the engine room. They were apparently trying to get in but the door way blocked from the inside. With a swift motion, Katara sent her water snaking around the ankles of three and tripping them up while Sokka and Zuko fought off the rest, parrying their spears and kicking at their legs.

Once Sokka had his sword knocked from his hands but when a cry Zuko tossed him one of his own, which the warrior caught and used to parry the pikeman and slice his weapon in two. Once they were driven off, Sokka recovered his black meteorite blade and returned the dao sword to Zuko. They nodded and smiled at one another in mutual respect.

The Water Tribe warrior knocked at the door in a rhythmic pattern and there was a shuffling sound inside. The door opened and Haru smiled when he saw Katara and grinned when the Water Tribe girl caught him in a hug. He glared a Zuko but said nothing.

Sokka whistled when he saw the unconscious engineers. "Geez, you really did a number on them."

"Well," smirked the earthbender. "They didn't stay against the wall like you told them."

"So now that we're here," began Katara nervously. "How do we get off?"

"We jump," answered her brother simply. The waterbender and Fire Prince stared at him flabbergasted.

"Did you say jump?" demanded Katara as Haru opened the door. She looked down at the long distance between them and the ground then turned to her brother incredulously. "After you!"

"Haru," said Sokka, ignoring his sister. "Call Aang."

The Earth Kingdom boy reached into his tunic and produced the airbender's bison whistle and blew into it.

Some distance away, amidst the ariel battle between beast and machine, Appa's ears perked at the high frequency tuned to animals. With a bellow he retreated from the fight and flew in the direction of the whistle followed by his master and Momo. It was coming from the tail end of that floating metal beast that hurled fire at him and his master.

Appa hated and feared fire. A bad man put him in a cage and hurt him with it. That wicked girl always tried to hurt him and his friends with fire. But the bison was bonded for life to the Air Nomad boy and he would brave the hottest flames for him and his friends just as they would for him. With a wave of his flat tail, Appa picked up more speed. His friends needed him now.

Sokka looked at his timing device nervously, sighed and pocketed it.

"It's now or never," he said, and leaped out of the engine room and into the air.

"Sokka!" cried Katara. Suddenly she felt an arm slip around her waist and pull her against a lean muscular body. She turned to look a Zuko, who crushed her against his form.

"What in all the hells do you think you're doing?" she demanded, her cheeks flaring.

"Taking a leap of faith," he said quietly. Then without warning he dashed for the door and jumped out taking a screaming Katara with him, followed by a hard faced Haru.

Katara squeezed her eyes shut, clutched herself as close as she could managed against the Fire Prince and waited for their fall to come to an abrupt end.

When it did it wasn't what she expected. The landing was soft. None of her bones broke. And she was still breathing.

She opened her eyes tentatively. And was greeted by Aang's smiling face. She smiled back until she realized she was still clinging to Zuko for dear life. She shoved him away and was about to berate him for everything she could think of when she heard a deafening crack followed by several more.

She turned and saw that the underbelly of the airship was bursting into flame and the blimp itself was caught on fire, being slowing eaten away before finally disappearing in an expanding plume of smoke and flame and the forest below was rocked with the force of the explosion.

"Yeah!" crowed Sokka triumphantly. "Take that you bastards! South Storm Sokka was here!"

"'South Storm Sokka'?" asked Katara raising an eyebrow. "When did you come up with that?"

"Just now. You wait it'll catch on."

Before Katara could deliver a scathing retort she noticed Zuko looking back at the falling debris of the destroyed airship. She knew who he must be thinking of and gently placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm sure she got away somehow," she said gently.

The Fire Prince only nodded and continued to stare at the fiery ruin.

"Come on Appa," said Aang, taking his place atop the bison's neck. "Let's get out of here."

Far below, the tranquil darkness of the forest was disturbed by the flaring destruction of the sky vessel and concealed within the branches of the trees three black robed figures, their features hidden by veils and scarves, watched the events unfolding overhead. One of the scout balloons had been caught in the explosion and vanished in the flames while the remaining two descended near the hill where those three figures floated down to just before the airship was destroyed. But the figures were more interested in the flying bison fleeing the scene of the wreckage.

The three began to hand talk to one another, an alternate form of communication their people developed for when stealth was required.

What could this mean? motioned the large one.

A sky bison has not been seen outside in over a hundred years, gestured the skinny one.

We must investigate, waved the small one. A bison on the outside may mean an airbender as well.

If that is the case, signaled the skinny one. Then we may have to take extreme measures.

Are you suggesting, the large one gestured. That we kill an Air Nomad?

He and his companions have already been to the Western Air Temple, continued the skinny one. Among their number is a firebender. They discovered the secret of the Pai Sho table and now the White Lotus is in danger of discovery. He turned to the small one. The final decision is yours of course.

After a pause, the small one gestured, For the sake of Shang-wēifēng, they will die!

Then their forms blurred and they disappeared into the night.

Suki snapped into wakefulness as she heard a clamor in the guardroom. She went to kneel next to Megumi who had volunteered to keep watch despite her cough.

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," wheezed Megumi. "But I think it's a jail break."

"You guessed right," said a voice from the shadows. The other Kyoshi Warriors were awake now and ready for a fight.

"Hey," protested the voice. "That's no way to greet your rescuer." A figure materialized out of the shadows. A teenager garbed in light armor with three lines of red war paint beneath each eye, a blue headband that kept matted brown hair out of an otherwise plain face. The figure picked the lock and after a few moments the cell door opened and the teen stood expectantly.

"Come on!" she prompted - Suki decided it was a she. "We have to get out of here. Longshot's waiting and the General can't keep those flame heads busy forever."

After some more hesitation, Yukari helped Megumi to her feet and led her out of the cell followed by Ami cradling her sister and telling her everything would be alright now. Suki took Myo by the hand and regarded their rescuer a mixture of gratitude and confusion.

"Who are you?" she said at last.

"Name's Smellerbee," answered the other girl with a smirk. "Now move your ass 'less you actually like the food here."

Fireflies danced amongst the trunks of trees and somewhere a cat-owl screeched at it made its rounds for its nightly hunt. Otherwise the tranquility of the woods was undisturbed save for the sound of Iroh singing to himself.

Winter, Spring

Summer, and Fall

Winter, Spring

Summer, and Fall

He knew he was being watched, but that was alright. He knew his watchers. His unseen escort was simply a formality as the person he was meeting with was an extremely paranoid personality. And for good reason. He smiled and continued singing.

All seasons

Fooooor Love

All seasons

Fooooor Love

At last he came to the camp fire where a scarred man with wild white hair sat staring into the dancing flames. Iroh, approached him and bowed politely before seating himself across from him

"Good evening," he greeted pleasantly.

"Speak for yourself," grunted Jeong Jeong.

Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Captain Expendable of the Flagship Dumbass...just kidding. I feel bad for the captain. He took all that abuse from Azula dies a fiery death and I didn't even name him. Oh well. Suki fans rejoice, for she's out of jail and also the triumphant return of the Freedom Fighters. Azula's pissed. Mai's sad. And Ty Lee's...well...Ty Lee. What will Ozai's Angels do next to thwart the Avatar and his friends and who are the shadow figures tailing Appa and what is their connection to the Hidden Valley. And will Zuko get his firebending back? More importantly will he score with Katara? And what will Aang and Haru do when he does? Tune in next time for The Sun Warrior City. R&R plz!