Later, when Zuko and I are talking before bed, I ask him what Sokka wanted.
"It's nothing," Zuko says, but I can tell by the way he avoids my face that it was not nothing.
"Well if it's nothing, then you should have no problem telling me," I sweet-talk.
He smiles at my logic, but it quickly vanishes. With a sigh, he reveals, "He wanted to know where his dad was taken after the invasion. I suggested the Boiling Rock."
Intriguing. "What's the boiling rock?"
"It's the Fire Nation's top security prison, on an island surrounded by boiling water. Completely inescapable."
"I sure hope you didn't tell him where it is," I snort, looking for his favorite song on the iPod. When he doesn't answer, I look up.
"Kind of," he admits. "I told him it was between here and the Fire Nation, and that they passed it on their way here."
"You do know that he's going to go there and try to break out his dad?"
Zuko's face hardens. "We have to stop him. Like I said, the island's completely inescapable."
So, we soon find ourselves in Appa's saddle. It doesn't take long for Sokka to arrive.
"Not up to anything, huh?" Zuko accuses.
Sokka screams in shock and falls back onto the ground. "Fine," he says. "You caught me. I'm going to rescue my dad. Are you happy not?"
"I'm almost never happy," Zuko replies.
"Look, I have to do this," Sokka argues. "The invasion plan was my idea, it was my decision to stay when things were going wrong. My mistake, and it's my job to fix it. I have to regain my honor. You two can't stop me."
"You have to regain your honor?" I almost laugh as Zuko and I climb down.
"Believe me," Zuko promises, "I get it. I'm going with you."
"No," Sokka is adamant. As he climbs onto Appa, he says, "I have to do this alone."
"How are you going to get there?" I ask him. "On Appa?"
"Last I checked, prisons don't have bison day cares," Zuko picks up my train of thought.
Sokka groans in defeat.
"We'll take my war balloon," Zuko decides.
Sokka and I move to follow him to its hiding place. He told me that it's near where his campsite was when he first arrived, above the cliff.
"Where are you going?" Sokka asks me when he sees that I don't go back to my room.
"With you guys," I shoulder my backpack. "Obviously."
"No, it's too dangerous," Zuko worries.
"You honestly think that I'm in danger?" I humor them. "Guys, my Time bending kicks in whenever I even think I'm in danger. Besides, you don't think I'll be useful?"
They look at each other, mulling over my words. Sokka shrugs, and Zuko reluctantly agrees. We leave a note saying we're going fishing and leaving homework for Aang.
Soon enough, we are in the air over the coast. Zuko keeps the fire going to lift the balloon, while I think about a chemistry lesson I had back home. It was the ratio of the balloon's volume to the amount of hot air it needed to stay afloat. I don't remember the exact equation, but Zuko's war balloon was nowhere near the size of the hot-airs in my time. Still, it was flying through the air as we sped toward the Boiling Rock.