Later, the guards open my door again. "Hey, time to get mopping. Follow me." I followed him outside, near the guard's lounge. "Here," he said, throwing a mop at me. "Get to work."

I star mopping and then Suki walks near me. She starts mopping there too. Sokka walked down some nearby stairs. "Oh good! You guys met!"

"Actually, we met a long time ago," Suki said. I stopped mopping. "Wait, we did?"

"Yeah, when you burnt down my village."

"Oh, sorry about that. Nice to see you again."

"Well, that's great," Sokka said. His voice went to a whisper. "But we need to talk." We followed him next to the staircase and crouched down. "Okay, so I think I got an escape plan. I checked out the coolers. The point is to keep Fire Benders inside, right?"

"Yeah..." I said.

"So they are insulated, right? They are supposed to keep the cold in. To keep the cold in, you gotta keep the hot out, right?"

"Just get to the point, Sokka," Suki said.

"Its a perfect boat for getting through the water!" Suki and I look at each other, apparently thinking the same thing. "The coolers...as boats?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"It'll work!" Sokka said. "I checked around the perimeter. There's a blind spot between two guard towers. Its the perfect spot! We just gotta get there! I already tested it. The current should take us there! As long as we're quiet, we'll get through! It's solid! Bing-bang-boom, we're home free!"

"How are you going to get it out?" Suki asked.

"Yeah, how are you going to get the cooler out?" Chit Sang asked from above.

"W-what? W-we didn't say anything!" Sokka said quickly.

"I heard you hatching an escape plan. I want to help. I hate this place. The food is nasty-"

"All right, we get it," I said, stopping him.

"We aren't hatching anything like that!" Sokka said, nervously. "We're just hatching...an egg?" Oh my goodness, Sokka.

"Well, I'm coming with you or the Warden will hear about this...egg," Chit Sang said.

"We got no choice, Sokka," Suki said, glancing at him.

"Oh all right, you're in," Sokka said, finally giving in. "Just don't tell anyone."

"You had to use an egg for the cover up though?" I asked.

"It was the only thing I thought of!" Sokka replied. "That's beside the point." He handed me a wrench. "We need someone to unbolt the cooler, from the inside."

"I can get you inside," Chit Sang said.

"How?" Suki asked. "It's not like we can just walk in there!"

"Just play along," Chit Sang said. "I'll start and your friend here will catch on." He pointed at me with his thumb. We all stood back up. Sokka walked back up the stairs, Suki started mopping again, Chit Sang walked somewhere, and I began to mop. Some guards came down the stairs. Chit Sang whispered to me to bump into him. He walked away. I began mopping and started moving towards him. I barely touched him. "Hey! Watch it! Are you stupid?" He pushed me, making me drop my mop.

"Watch who you're shoving!" I said. I pushed him back. "You mean, 'whom' you're shoving!" he exclaimed. We began pushing each other. A crowd formed around us. They cheered when I pushed Chit Sang. "Yeah! Get him!"

"Show him who's boss, Chit Sang!"

"What happened? Who started it?"

"Hey!" Sokka said from the corner by the stairs. "You two! Stop that! I need backup over here!" Chit Sang turned to face Sokka. "What are you gonna do about it, guard?"

Chit Sang turned in time to catch my punch. 'Assaulting another prisoner is against the rules," another guard said from the top of the stairs. Chit Sang threw me onto the floor. I swept his feet but he jumped over. He tried to elbow me but I blocked it. "A little longer," Chit Sang whispered. I remembered about the guard accusing Chit Sang of Firebending. He said that Firebending was prohibited. I blasted a fire punch at him. Luckily, he dodged it and the fire died on the wall. "Hey!" the guard said, running down the stairs. "Firebending is prohibited! You should know better!"

"Firebending takes you to the cooler!" another guard said.

"You!" the first said, pointing at Sokka. "Escort him to the cooler! I'll be down there in a minute. Gotta take care of Chit Sang first."

Sokka helped another guard take me to the cooler. They took me down some stairs. We took a left turn and stopped in front of a door covered with frost. "Welcome to the cooler," a guard says. I look left and see a Waterbender blasting water into a pipe inside the cooler. "What is he doing?" Sokka asked.

"He's doing his job," another guard said.

"He puts water in the cooler?"

"COLD water."

Another guard walked up behind the Waterbender. "Shift's over! Back to your cell!" The Waterbender sighed of relief and switched with another. The guard opened the door. "Have fun!" he said, shoving me inside. They closed the door behind me. I waited for a minute before I got to work. Sokka handed me the wrench to find the bolts. So far, I found two.

The third bolt wouldn't come out. "Stupid, frozen bolt," I muttered. I breathed a little bit of fire onto it. Uncle taught me that rick a while back. He said it was an old Airbending technique. I've seen Aang use it before. Airbenders gather air in their lungs and blow it all out at once. Uncle taught me to use it for Firebending. If only he could see me now.

The fire melted the frost a little around the bolt, making it easier. I managed to get all the bolts off. I sat down and looked up. I sighed. Of course there's more up top. I stand on my knees to get to the bolts. It's too small to stand in, which makes it harder to reach them. I melted some of the ice around the bolts up there with my hands. After I was done, I did a run down on the walls, just to check if there were any more bolts.

I sat back down and huffed more fire. The longer I stay, the colder it gets. Let's just hope Sokka comes back soon. After a little, I crossed my arms. I put the bolts in my lap so any guard who opens the door couldn't see them.

The door opened. "Have you had enough time in here?" Sokka asked. I huffed fire again. "Yeah," I uncrossed my arms to show the bolts. "Just enough."

Sokka raised his visor. "I told Suki and Chit Sang to meet us at the dock." Footsteps grew louder. "Someone's coming!" I said. I grabbed Sokka's arm and pulled him in the cooler.

"For real?" a female guard asked.

"Yeah. The new arrivals are supposed to be coming at dawn."

"Anyone interesting? Like a bounty hunter?" she asked, intrigued.

"Nah. It's just the usual kind of prisoners. Some of them being war prisoners."

"We don't get war prisoners very often," she said. Sokka looked at me. "I heard one of them might be a pirate."

"For real?" he asked. "I've always wanted to meet a pirate!"

"Don't get your hopes up too high. They're not as cool as you think."

"Aw, darn."

I waited until they walked away. "War prisoners," I told Sokka. "One could be your dad."

"Yeah," Sokka said with worry in his voice.

"Should we wait another night or move on?" I asked. Sokka looked at me. "This is your plan," I said. "I agreed to come help you."

"I-I don't know," Sokka said. "If I wait, I could risk Suki's freedom for my dad. But, I can't leave him behind again!"

"It's your call," I said. "We can go now, or we can save your father and leave together." Sokka paused. Sokka is right. Staying could risk Suki's chance of getting out, but we could manage to save his father and we could all go back. "We'll go…" Sokka said. He sounded uncertain. "Are you sure?" I asked. "We'll be leaving your father. It's the whole reason why we came."

"Yes, I know!" Sokka said. "But…I can't risk Suki being locked up again! Plus, what if my dad isn't there? They could just be other war prisoners. My dad might not even be here." I gave him a look of uncertainty. Sokka really is a good guy; he knows what's best for Suki, but he is willing to risk his father. "All right," I said. "We'll go."

I peeked out the cooler. No guards. Great. "All right, we can take the cooler out but watch your step. It's a little steep."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.

"Well, we gotta take it out, right? You didn't say which way. If we go through the halls, we're more likely to be caught. We have to take it out back." I pushed on the cooler, knocking it loose a little. "Great idea," Sokka said. Sokka sounded a little disappointed. Sokka's willing to risk his father to save Suki. She must mean a lot to him.