Chapter 18: The War Balloon

Jin had made very careful arrangements for their travel. They docked at the harbor city just after nightfall, when only the seediest people walked the streets. She appeared out of the storage decks with an emu-horse and two bags of supplies. Zuko discovered that - unlike his uncle - she had packed well. She used the room granted to her by not bringing useless things to hold a fair amount of dried food and money, an antique compass, a surprisingly up to date map, two sleeping bags, and a whole lot of weaponry. She had even thought ahead to give him a hooded cloak to cast a shadow over his face.

Their paperwork had been forged by a professional. He was posing as Li, a merchant from the colonies, and she was his wife, Mae.

"We're married?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hold you to it."

"Why'd you pick Mae?"

"You're not the only one who gets to come up with an uncreative alias."

"You changed the way my name is spelled."

"Bitch bitch bitch."

They stopped in a bar to come up with a plan and have a last good meal before their camping trip. It was definitely not the best food, but it was cheap and it was warm.

"Were do we go from here?" he whispered.

"I don't really know." She unfolded the map carefully so as not to draw attention. "They say that he headed north from the capital. We should start heading that direction. Once we get out of the city we can discretely ask around."

He sighed and took a swig of his sake. "We don't need to do that. If they were headed north, then I know where they went."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Trust me. I'm an expert."

On the edge of the city, just before dawn, he slowed the emu-horse and gazed back at the capital. The crater was so close. He knew that he should feel something about being so near to his home. But instead he just felt empty. He couldn't go back. He wasn't wanted here. This wasn't his home.

Jin squeezed him around the chest in a consoling way as she followed his gaze toward the palace. "You alright?"

"Yeah," and he kicked the emu horse into movement again.

Jin slept through most of the trip, her head lolling against his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his waist. He couldn't sleep, and didn't bother to stop until they got to the northern shore in the late afternoon. The emu-horse was about to collapse and he got it some water before setting up camp on the rocky, black beach.

"Where do we go from here?" Jin asked

"There should be an airship outpost about three miles east of here. After we've rested we're going to steal a war balloon."

"What?"

"We could steal a boat if you prefer."

"Can't we hire a boat?"

"No."

"Do you have a plan for how to break into an outpost, steal a war balloon, get out alive, and not have them follow us?"

"I'll come up with something."

"While you're coming up with something, remember that you're not in the best condition."

"Thanks for reminding me."

"I just don't want you to bite off more than you can chew. Or re-injure yourself."

"Just get some sleep."

Jin frowned and lay down in her sleeping bag. Lee's breath evened almost immediately. He was probably exhausted. Jin, however, couldn't fall asleep. She had never seen the ocean before she got on the Fire Nation ship. Now she listened to the waves crashing against the stony shore and looked up at the stars. She could see the universe spinning around her, a thousand times brighter than in the city.

It was her job to get Lee to the Avatar. After that she wouldn't have a purpose. She would have to sit back and watch. She wasn't particularly fond of that idea, but it was what she had to do.

The waves continued in an annoyingly monotonous sort of way. She needed to do something. She needed to act. She needed to keep Lee safe and she needed to prove herself.

Sliding silently out of her sleeping bag, she grabbed her swords and Lee's cloak. With a final look at Lee's still form, she kicked the emu-horse into a trot.

It wasn't hard to find the outpost as it was brilliantly lit and surrounded by a thirty foot barricade. She watched the guards for an hour, memorizing their patrols, before she slowly scaled the wall. It wasn't hard and the stones were large and rounded and the sloppy way the mortar had been put on provided excellent hand and foot holds. Once on top of the wall, she hid behind a stack of boxes and held her breath as the next watch passed an arm's length away from her. She slipped into a dark watch tower, poised to attack anyone that came across her path. But the building was empty and she quickly found stairs that led down to the inside of the fort.

She spotted a ditch that must have been some kind of sewer system covered by metal bars that were wide enough to slip through. She slinked through the shadows and for a moment she thought that she had been seen by a passing patrol before she was able to drop down into the dark, stinking tunnel, complete with ankle deep water that splashed upon impact. She held her breath and pressed herself against the slimy wall, not daring to move a muscle.

They would find her. They would capture her and the mission would fail and Lee would be left alone, not knowing where she was. Oh spirits, they were going to find her.

Several minutes passed and no soldier looked into the tunnel. No light shone on her face. No one called out for her surrender or reinforcements.

She managed to take several calming breaths and unclench her muscles. Pull it together, Jin.

The ditch kept her hidden from sight and allowed her to cross the compound easily. From her hiding spot she watched the guards until the timing of their pacing was ingrained in her mind like the ticking of machinery. With careful timing, she dashed across the fifty feet of open yard to a large, bland storehouse.

She knew this would be where the balloons were. She could feel it. Slipping inside the barn she was met with the sight of row upon row of man sized baskets. She snuck up and peered over the edge of one. Inside was a cast iron furnace and a bag that surely held the balloon fabric. She looked around for any sign of how to move one out of the building, much less out of the fort.

Nothing.

Great.

The roof was attached to a series of ropes and pulleys that when pulled, would probably cause the ceiling to retract. If it worked, it was a mechanical marvel. One that she should think about later.

There were two entrances to the room, the one she came in and one at the back. She noticed that both could be barricaded and a ridiculous plan took shape in her mind.

Without thinking she locked the back door and strained to stack several heavy barrels in front of it. She dashed across the room, slashing the fabric of every balloon she passed just for the hell of it, and repeated the procedure on the front door.

Now she just had to figure out how to inflate a large war balloon on her own before the fire benders caught her. No sweat.

After far too much time staring at and experimenting with the equipment in the basket, she figured out how the balloon attached above the furnace and spread the fabric out, laying it over one of the other nearby baskets. Good. Now she just had to fill it with hot air.

This would be the point when a fire bender would come in handy. She bit her lip, looked around, spotted supplies and grabbed them all indiscriminately. She threw a mound of coal into the furnace and doused it with lighter fluid. Was that too much fuel? Not enough? Oh well, too late now. Scraping her tiger hooks against each other, she sent a shower of sparks into the furnace.

The fire caught with a roar and she jumped back to keep from getting burned.

Come on, get hotter. Get hotter. Fill balloon. Fill.

She heard the footsteps of the patrol pass the warehouse. Please, Spirits, please don't let them check in here. Don't let them hear the noise. Please please please.

The footsteps got softer, and Jin released the breath she had been holding. She readjusted the canvas over the furnace, and fanned the flame with her skirt with little result. Was she doing it wrong? No! The fabric was starting to fill! Parts of the canvas were rising slowly, beginning to billow into an ambiguous lumpy form.

Yes! It was working. It was working!

"Do you hear something?"

Oh shit. Jin spun to face the door in a defensive position.

"Sounds like a balloon." The barricaded door jiggled slightly.

"Door's locked."

"It's what?" The door jiggled again. Jin checked on the balloon, which was probably a third full.

There was a bang against the door, then another, then silence.

She swallowed and checked the balloon. Still a third full. Yeah, as if something would have changed since the last time she looked at it.

A bang came from the far door, then the muffled sounds of conversation. Soon she could hear a crowd of soldiers at both doors. Shouting, raising the alarm. Then there was the echoing pound from a battering ram.

They were coming and the balloon was not yet full.

Take strength from your breath. Keep your root. The sword is an extension of your arm.

The door closest to her burst open first and she ran to meet the streaming soldiers. She bent, grabbed the first one's foot, and flipped him over her head. She sliced at the next man and spun her hooks to dissipate the fireball from the one after that. Spin and kick to the face. As her tiger hooks clashed with the soldiers' weapons, they made the same sound as her father's hammer against an anvil. Clang clang clang clang clang spin clang push. She bent backwards as a sword swished past where her head once was and cart wheeled over to land on her feet.

The balloon was filling slowly and surely and she began to fall back towards it. Clang clang left right left swing jump clang clang. A second burst of flame missed her, but caught one of the baskets, which began to burn. The warehouse was full of dancing orange light and the air quickly became stifling as the fire spread to another basket.

Her balloon began to deflate, and she barely blocked another sword. Clang clang kick spin run clang clang swipe. She fought her way to the mechanism that controlled the roof. Slicing through a thick rope in one swing, the mechanism loosened and spun rapidly, the roof fell open with a deafening smash as the cool night air evaded the warehouse. The balloon started to inflate again in the newly chilled air. Clang clang bend kick stab jump.

They had broken through the other door and a second wave was upon her as she reached her now inflated balloon. Men were shouting and she fought desperately to protect her only escape route. Spears were thrown in an attempt to puncture the fabric, and she jumped to divert their trajectory, then battled off three more men with spears. Clang clang swish kick clang shove.

The balloon was straining to escape and she struck at the tethers holding it to the ground. Saw saw saw, block the soldier, and kick, and saw. The balloon shuddered and lifted from the ground, she continued to fight off men who had grabbed hold of the basket. She stepped on their hands and kicked their faces and blocked more shots of fire directed at the balloon as she rose out of the warehouse and out to sea.

The last man fell into the ocean with a scream and a distant splash. It was suddenly quiet- just the wind and the roar of the waning fire in the furnace and her frantically beating heart.

Jin leaned against the side of the basket, staring at the receding fort, expecting to see a second balloon appear and chase her. But there was nothing.

She could hardly believe that she had done it. Surely she hadn't. This was just a dream or something had gone wrong. The shock that she was still alive had yet to hit her.

The lights from the fort grew smaller and smaller.

The furnace spluttered and she again fanned the fire to gain some kind of altitude. Oh no. Now how did she steer it?

Zuko awoke to a shout of "Lee, look out!" and the sound of several trees falling.

"Jin?!"

"Ugg."

He looked around frantically in the pre-dawn light to see the results of a terribly botched war balloon landing.

"Jin!" He raced towards the balloon and sifted through the tangled mass of fabric.

She moaned again and something under the fabric moved. "How do I get out?"

After several minutes, he dug through the balloon enough to see Jin's disheveled hair and victorious smile.

"I traded in the emu-horse of a better model" she explained.

He stared at her in something between disbelief and fury.

She struggled out of the basket and began adjusting things. "I bet you'll really help to keep it aloft. I almost crashed twice."

"Where did you-"

"Help me get it re-inflated. I used up all the coal."