As the woman had said, the blacksmith's hammer was clearly audible. It led them directly to a central square whose corners contained the blacksmith, a market, a theatre, and a travel guide shop prominently advertising its guides to the local inn and other noteworthy places. Iroh went there to find out where the inn was, taking Momo with him, and Zuko approached the blacksmith. The man was repairing the blade of a hand plow. Zuko narrowed his eyes. He has to be with the rebels. That piece of hot metal could just as easily be the blade of a sword.
The blacksmith did not look up, so he leaned against a post to wait. Eventually the blacksmith grunted. "What ya want?"
"Are you with the people who want to fight back against the soldiers?" Zuko asked in a whisper.
The blacksmith gave no sign of having been asked an unusual question. He kept hammering the plow blade into shape. "What's it to ya?"
"I need swords."
"Ain't got none here. Sorry, kid."
Zuko stepped away from the post. "I am no child."
"Yeah, you are." The blacksmith glanced up at him. "Anyone without grey hairs is a kid to me. Young'un."
Zuko gritted his teeth. "If you can't get me a sword, who can?"
The blacksmith shrugged. "I got some broken sword hilts if you want 'em." He went to the back of his shop, fiddled around in a dark space where Zuko couldn't see, and tossed two things through the air. Zuko caught both of them. "The blades were trashed, but the hilts are good. Maybe you'll get lucky and find someone with the opposite problem."
Zuko walked away from the blacksmith's shop with steam threatening to billow from his ears. Broken hilts? Are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to help fight off soldiers with broken sword hilts?! As the man had said, the hilts were still good. They had cracks in the wood, but they were still braced by solid metal and could easily have a blade fitted to them. But where was Zuko going to find blades with no hilts?
He passed the scenic well in the middle of the square. No.
Well, there was nothing else to be done. He would have to revise his plan. Without swords, I'm going to have to use my firebending. The soldiers are cowards. That'll work. But if he used firebending on the way in, not only would it broadcast every single movement he made and make his task much harder, but it would also deprive his firebending of the shock value he wanted it to have. Confronting a firebender in the middle of their camp and having their leader captured at the same time would make the soldiers stand down. Having those two things happen separately… Zuko knew enough about theatrics to have doubts. That might not work.
Well, technically speaking there was something else that could be done…
No.
But his plan might not work, and the woman's son who she treasured more than her own health and safety might not be saved.
No. I can't. That's insanity. I would have to be crazy or stupid to consider it.
Or desperate. Which he was, because he happened to be a kind person and kind people became desperate on behalf of others. The woman was desperate to save her son. He couldn't help but absorb some of that feeling. If he had to come back after the fight, having promised so much, and tell her that he had failed… Could he do that? Would he? Was that really a fair price for doing the right thing?
I want to do the right thing. I would do the right thing, if it didn't involve that. He couldn't help but picture it. Her face, tear-streaked but hopeful, shining at him. Disbelief creeping in when he didn't beam at her back. He could see how she would look away, unable to face him, he who had raised her hopes so high only to disappoint. It would be better if he had never come into her life at all. How could I do that to someone? Maybe, this time, it isn't wrong. This time, there's so much more than me at stake. I know I've called on the water spirit for selfish reasons in the past, but I can do better. How could I keep my conscience clean and not do everything I can to keep my promise? I don't break my promises. If there is one thing I can do right, it's that.
Still, he hesitated. Was he rationalizing himself into doing the wrong thing again?
Children can't fight soldiers. Those kids need me.
In a flash, his doubts were dispelled. Something about children leant everything a certain clarity. He couldn't doubt himself around kids. There was no time for doubt when utterly helpless people looked to him to be their savior. Alright, then. I'll do what I need to, and I can worry about it later.
While thinking, he had walked away from the square in the direction of the forest. He would be entering the Rosewoods shortly. He needed to have swords before then. Zuko glanced around and snuck off the road, correctly betting that where there were animals there would be water troughs. He made his way across backyards until he found one where the owners probably had not seen him. There, he crouched behind the bird pen. The half-wild birds roamed around the small yard, looking for something to do and insects to eat. He didn't worry that they would alert the people in the house to his presence; it was more likely that they would attack him themselves. He skirted the edges of the pen and peered inside. That was where the water trough was, right next to a box where they could lay any eggs they happened to have. There had better not be a bird in there ready to defend its nest.
There wasn't, and in a rare stroke of good fortune, the weather was mild. No bird was taking shelter inside the pen at this moment. He snuck in, took the broken hilts from his pockets, and held them underneath the water. Delicate lines of cold, like snowflakes, traced their way along his insides as the water inside the hilts turned to ice. The ice spread from them, blooming into the proper length and shape of broadswords. Zuko took them out of the water and went through a few motions, adjusting himself to the weight of the ice. He really hoped nobody would look closely, or that anybody who did would mistake the ice for white metal. If white metal is a thing that exists. If he was lucky, light shining through the trees would shine on the blades and disguise their true color.
Sadly, he had no scabbard to put them in. Zuko stole a rope and some metal brackets from the wall of the pen and made a makeshift belt to hang them from. With a hand on the swords to keep them steady so they wouldn't slice his leg open, he snuck back to the road. He planned to follow the road out of town into the Rosewoods, because that was the most likely place for the rebellious kids to have a hideout and he needed information from them. The prospect of meeting the Avatar again was off-putting. He planned to say as little as possible and admit nothing.
Fortune smiled upon him once again. Just at the edge of town, where several meters of forest had been turned into compact farmfield, he caught the sound of stealthy footsteps entering the woods. He followed. The footsteps belonged to a small, slight figure with a ratty cowl over their head. Before he could get close enough to call out that he was there to help, the figure vanished entirely. Uh oh. Sure enough, Zuko heard the sound of blades drawing from their sheathes behind him. He placed his swords on the ground, stepped away from them, and turned to face the 3 people who had surrounded him. Their weapons were ragged, their bodies thin, and the looks in their eyes very desperate. "You're with the rebels," he guessed.
All 3 held their weapons higher. "Who are you?" asked the short one facing Zuko. He was the one Zuko had been following. To Zuko's left stood a bigger, burlier guy with decent muscle and an axe, perhaps in his late teenage years. To his right, a tall woman with a hand plow. They stayed silent. Apparently they were taking guidance from the sword-wielding kid.
"I'm traveling with the Avatar. I heard what was happening, and I want to help."
The big, burly guy stared at the broadswords with suspicion. "How'd you just happen to have good swords with you?"
"They're my own. I carry them with me everywhere," Zuko partially lied.
"He holds himself like a lone fighter, not like those soldiers. They fight in groups and don't bother with stealth," the tall woman said. "I think he's telling the truth."
The short kid lowered his sword. "You're going to meet up with the Avatar and help us fight?"
"No." Zuko nodded to the tall woman. "Like she said, I fight better alone. While the Avatar distracts the soldiers, I plan to sneak behind and capture Jin. Hopefully I can make them stand down without putting up too much of a fight." He looked around. "Assuming I heard it right. You're planning to attack the soldiers with the Avatar's help, right?"
The kid nodded. He put his sword away. "Capturing Jin would really help."
The big guy had yet to lower his weapon. "You trust this guy, Viki?"
The short kid nodded. "We'll see how good he is. To the grandfather tree!" All three of them instantly vanished into the forest, heading behind Zuko and to his left. Zuko picked up his swords and followed.
After a short time of running along the ground, he leaped up into the trees, because that was probably where the rebels traveled. He cursed the lack of a scabbard; without one, he had to carry the swords as if ready to fight. It made leaping from tree to tree awkward. Silently, leaping from tree to tree, Zuko scanned the forest for clues. Something he wasn't consciously aware of noticing drew his eye, and he angled right. A bit of rope signaled that he was approaching a significant place. Zuko dropped to the ground as the undergrowth thickened, made his way through it as quietly and quickly as he could, and passed a circle of rocks. He came out on top of a hill. Before him, the ground sloped down into a clearing, at the center of which stood a tree with a disturbing image of a human face in the markings on its trunk. Said face appeared to trail downwards, creating the illusion of long whiskers and a pointed beard.
Viki hopped down from one of the branches of this tree. "He is good," he told the other two. The tall woman smiled. Viki walked up to Zuko. "Tang will give you a map of the woods and show you where the soldiers are hiding."
The tall woman came down from the tree and held out a scroll. Zuko put his swords back on his makeshift belt and took it. Instead of a typical map, what was written on the scroll consisted mainly of landmarks that only someone who intimately knew the forest could recognize. Zuko recognized the circle of rocks he had just passed, and the bit of rope. If he continued on the course he had been following, he would come to a patch of green mushrooms. After that, a left would take him to a tree with a scarred branch, and a right would take him to the site of a skirmish, and he would be close enough to find his way to the soldiers' hideout from there.
Zuko nodded and gave the map back. "Thank you."
"You shouldn't go alone," said the burly guy. His tone of voice made it clear this was not out of concern for Zuko's welfare, but rather out of a desire to keep eyes on him.
"My uncle should be at the inn where the other travelers are staying," Zuko told them. "He'll be distracting them so they don't notice any signs of battle. If you don't know where I am in two hours, go and get him. He can help."
The burly guy accepted this with a nod. Zuko hoped things would turn out in his favor. Offering his uncle up as ransom was something that Iroh might not forgive him for if he learned of it, and definitely something the Avatar and his friends would never forgive him for. Niceness or no, plans or no, they might just kick him off the bison in the middle of a Fire Nation town for it.
"What about you?" Tang asked.
"I've snuck into Fire Nation fortresses before. I'll manage."
"The light's already falling," Viki pointed out. "Tang, Ming, we need to go back." He looked at Zuko. "The assault starts in half an hour, when it's dark. You'd better be quick; you'll need daylight to spot the landmarks."
Zuko nodded. He wasted no time, leaping over Tang's head and running into the forest. She gasped behind him, but he didn't look back. Impatience can be a virtue sometimes. I should tell Uncle that.
Zuko was glad for his haste when he just barely managed to make out the patch of green mushrooms. It was already dark enough for his colour vision to be seriously crippled. There was no way he would have seen them at night. He turned and kept going. The first stars of night (as opposed to the stars of twilight) were visible above the trees when he paused on the branch of a tree that something seemed to have clawed at. But the claw marks were on the upper side of the branch. How had that happened?
Anyway, he turned right, following the map in his head, and felt more than he saw a patch of cleared ground. Blades had sliced at the stems of nearby bushes. Zuko raised his head to listen. The assault should be starting soon.
.
Sokka held up his sword. "One last review. I'm sure you guys got this. But no matter how ready they were, the man who taught me how to be a warrior always did one last review before going off to battle."
The rebels nodded. Sokka felt warm all over. They looked up to him as a person of experience, almost as a master. The praise made him a little lightheaded. He didn't dare tell them that he was just a warrior in training from a tiny tribe in the middle of nowhere who had learned everything he knew by watching his father. What harm could it do if they believed he'd learned from an important, world-renowned master? If Sokka concentrated hard enough, he could convince himself that it was practically true.
He strode up and down before them, back straight and chin up. "Remember the techniques I taught you. Swords are for slicing. You don't need to stand still and put all your strength into it; take advantage of being small, and move past them while slicing at their sides. No matter what, keep moving. Aim for the legs."
They nodded again. Sokka continued. "We've got the cover of darkness and the element of surprise, and the scouts found a weak point in their defenses. All we need is a really powerful first strike. Don't hold back. Don't get nervous. Scream like a lunatic if you want to. Give it everything you've got."
They nodded, firm as stones. Some of them shuffled impatiently, wanting to start the fight as quickly as possible. Sokka was so proud. He wished his father could have been there to hear his speech.
Katara came up to him. "Are they ready?"
"We're ready," Sokka said.
"Good. Viki's been adding some things to the plan. He wants us to really concentrate on making a good first impression."
"That's exactly what I just said!"
Katara turned to the several dozen fighters that stood ready and waiting. "I know all of you are hungry. You've been suffering for a long time. You're not at your strongest. But don't worry. If you can give it all you've got for just a few minutes, we're sure the soldiers will crumble. This won't be a long fight."
They left the fighters and met up with Aang for a last minute talk. "When do I send out the scouts?" Sokka asked.
He did not get an immediate answer.
"Viki's made some serious changes to the plan," Aang said. "We're not sending scouts to sabotage stuff anymore."
"What?! But that's crucial! We're not going to beat soldiers if they can resupply all their stuff."
"He's betting everything on shock and awe now. I think he hopes the soldiers will stand down." Katara bit her lip. "I don't know why he's suddenly so sure. Tang and Ming are so busy, running around doing things last minute. I'm afraid that something's changed."
Sokka threw out his arms. "You mean the plan I just finished selling them on was a complete waste of time?"
"No. Viki said we should stick to it," Aang told Katara.
"Something's going on…" Katara murmured.
"I can barely see my feet," Sokka said. "It's dark, and we're going to be fighting in five minutes. Do we have time to figure out what's going on?"
"No."
"Then I'm just gonna have to stick to the plan." Sokka sighed. "Why did he have to go and change everything last minute?"
"It'll be okay," Aang promised. "He had a smile on his face. I'm sure all these changes are for the better."
Aang's optimism didn't last long. His smile dropped as soon as he laid eyes upon the trap wire his right foot had just tripped. "Wasn't this supposed to be a weak point in their defenses…?" BOOM! Something nearby exploded, making a very loud noise.
All of the fighters froze reflexively. Sokka was the first to shake out of it. "What are we doing? They know we're here! Everybody, run! We have to attack now!" What had been a reasonably coordinated fighting force degenerated into a racing mob, everyone desperately striving to hit before they got hit. Aang tried to take to the air so he could race out in front of them and land the first strike, as planned. But arrows began to fill the air, forcing him back down. The first rebel fighters hit the walls that Aang should have breached and stopped short, unsure what to do.
"This is not ideal," Sokka told Katara as they ran. "But it's all we've got. Go for it, people!" He raised his sword and let loose with a war cry.
.
"Haha! Mommy, his beard is shaped funny!" The little girl, who couldn't have been older than five, pulled on the various parts of Iroh's beard. She honked the part dangling from his chin.
Iroh let her do that. He also let her touch the whiskers on his cheeks, which admittedly were shaped in a very recognizable style. "You have a very curious child," he said to her mother with a smile.
She tried to pull Momo's tail next. The little girl's mother and father pulled her back, apologizing. Meanwhile, the young artist, the young man in search of flowers for his girlfriend, and the wanderer introduced each other. Their exchange contained a lot of, "How'd you get pulled into this party? You met the old guy in the hall? Me too!"
"Does anyone have an instrument?" Iroh looked around. "I can play a number of them. It's been a long time since I had a good music night!"
The little girl handed him a child's toy harmonica. Iroh smiled at her as if she had gifted him the whole sun. She beamed as if her face contained the whole sun. He was thrilled to see that! If nothing else went right, this night would still be a good one because he had made a child smile.
He began to play.
.
Five minutes earlier…
The hideout of the dreaded soldiers-turned-bandits turned out to be a patch of forest dotted with low hills, the hollows between which had been filled with tents. Soldiers on the hills stood lookout duty behind wooden fortifications that would never repel a real assault but could easily withstand the swords and scavenged arrows of ragtag fighters. The defenses had not been hastily erected. Uh oh. Jin the Vicious should be called Jin the Cunning. He prepared for the possibility of a fight. A network of tents dotted throughout the encampment like the holes in a honeycomb did not have soldiers sitting outside them enjoying dinner, and did have crates outside that suggested supplies and weapons. They can resupply, too. What were those kids thinking?
Zuko crouched on a high branch of a tree above the camp. He had taken off the rope belt and refashioned it into a sling that held the swords on his back, shielding them from the light and preventing their shine from giving him away. Since nobody was around to see it, he gave the water spirit free rein to turn the blades to water wherever they otherwise would have sliced at his body. This freed him to pay attention to more important things. It did not occur to him to wonder why he could trust the water spirit with such an important task. It did not occur to him to distrust the spirit at all. Of course it would keep him from harm; that was a given. He didn't think about it.
It was reassuring to see that the soldiers were not in as fine a condition as their fortifications. Many of them were having drinks with their dinner. Zuko found one group holding a drunken conversation that revealed some very interesting things. "He oughtta give me a position. A 'fficial one. 'Cause we live like kings." The lead drunk drunkenly held up his bottle. "Know what I mean?"
Another one yawned. He had probably been on guard duty not long ago; he was still dressed like one, with his helmet still on and a sword across his legs. "He's never goin' to. You know Jin. He's vicious."
"Because he's Jin the Vicious?" The third drunk laughed at his own dumb reference. The other two barely noticed.
"We're the ones with swords. We gotta deal with kids and stand around lookin' tough all day every time he goes anywhere. We oughtta be, like, councillors or something," the first drunk said.
"We're lackeys. Minions," the second argued.
"We oughtta get more credit," the first one continued. 'What's he do? Sit around all day planning? Who cares? Go in with a sword and cut off some heads. Thasshnough."
"We're never gonna get any credit," the second one said. "I got more recognition of my talents in the army."
The third drunk stopped his giggling and shuddered. "Recognition schmecogition. You couldn't pay me to face firebenders again." He rubbed his right arm, seemingly without awareness that he was doing so.
Zuko smiled. Holding his breath, hardly daring to hope that it might be true, he listened in on other fireside conversations. I can't believe it! Not only are they scared of firebenders, but Jin doesn't treat them well! That's the first piece of good news I've had all day. Now he was sure. If he captured Jin and demonstrated firebending, the soldiers would immediately surrender. It would be easy. All he had to do was find Jin.
The water spirit's help came in handy again when he had to disarm the traps surrounding Jin's tent. The traps ensured that nobody could approach the tent from any direction other than the front, where Jin could see them. The traps were supposed to be disarmed only by someone who had come out the back flap of Jin's tent. But thanks to the water spirit, Zuko didn't need just the right angle to access the mechanisms. His sword could just turn to water, slide in, and turn back into a blade inside the mechanisms.
He had disarmed a third of the traps when there was a loud explosion. It didn't shake the ground or make a bright light. It split the air with a sharp crack, making it impossible not to snap your head up and take notice. Zuko heard soldiers cry out and begin to get to their feet. It must be a warning. The fighters have been spotted! I've got to hurry!
He made a hole for himself through the traps, and just in time, for someone came out the back of Jin's tent. The man's eyes bugged in alarm. Zuko's heart skipped a beat. Before the man could make a noise, before Jin could cunningly flee and leave his army to fight a disastrous battle, Zuko threw a fireball. The man gasped and fell onto his backside. Zuko slipped over and wrapped his swords around the man's neck. "Not a sound," he hissed. Carefully, he prodded the man to his feet and marched him into the tent.
Two men turned in surprise. One of them was thin and wore long robes. The other wore the insignias and uniform of several different kinds of high rank in the Earth army. "You must be Jin," Zuko said to the thin man in the robes.
Jin smirked. "Just in time," he said smugly. "All enter!" At just that moment, he had been giving orders to a small group of soldiers just outside his tent. All four, or it could have been five, of them entered. They saw Zuko. "Attack the invader!" Jin ordered.
No! Zuko knew Jin would escape in the melee. If he did, the entire plan would go up in ashes. He released his captive and shoved him aside, intending to run for Jin. But the five soldiers rushed forward with battle cries and blocked his way. Jin chuckled and took a step backward.
Zuko blocked a sword thrust, redirected its force and tripped the soldier behind it. A rumbling sound made him dodge just in time to avoid a boulder to the head. The boulder punched a hole through the side of the tent. The soldier responsible faltered, stepping back uncertainly instead of following up on his attack. Zuko leaped out of the way, causing one attacker to blunder into another. The tent was too small for six people to fight in. It was a waste of time trying to fight them. All they could really do was tangle together and block him from getting to Jin, who was close to the entrance. He seemed to be savoring the fight instead of doing the sensible thing and dashing out. That's his last mistake!
Zuko clenched his fists and set his swords on fire with a roar. The soldiers cried out and fell over. He leaped over their prone bodies. Jin tried to run, but it was too late. Zuko stuck a flaming sword into his path and forced him back in. He put the swords around Jin's neck and extinguished the flames, then marched Jin out.
The camp was in chaos. Just before capturing Jin, Zuko had heard a destructive sound that he had only ever heard from one source. It was the sound of wood being blown apart by force of wind. As he marched Jin out, he saw soldiers running past the hollow towards the source of the sound, and war cries that sounded more like screams coming from youthful throats. I have to hurry!
He set the swords on fire again to make sure Jin didn't try to escape while he half walked and half dragged the man up to the highest hilltop in sight. He put them out at the top. There was a guard post, so he forced Jin up onto the wooden roof. Jin climbed up willingly, with no struggle. Zuko had no time to wonder if that was a bad sign. He took the deepest breath he could and yelled with all of his lung power, "EVERYONE! LISTEN! JIN'S BEEN CAPTURED!"
Not everyone heard him, but enough did. At the sound of Jin's name, soldiers and rebels spared a glance. Then they saw Jin and stopped midfight. The sounds of swords clashing and war cries died. Those who hadn't heard Zuko heard the sudden silence and looked to see what was going on, and so on and so forth. Soon he had the attention of the whole camp.
"Shoot him!" Jin cried. Archers began to raise their bows.
Zuko raised a fist and sent a roaring fireball into the air. "Is it worth it? For a man who rules over a town with your help, yet gives you none of the credit? Do you really want to give up your precious firebender-free lives for him?"
The archers hesitated. The swordsmen hesitated. The earthbenders hesitated. Doubt swept across each and every one of their faces. "What are you doing, you fools?!" Jin snarled. "Shoot him!"
Zuko set his swords on fire again and waved the one he had raised through the air. "Don't you dare." He brought the other one up to Jin's neck. Jin couldn't help but visibly flinch away from the burning edge.
"Hyaa!" The Avatar leaped onto the hill and swept several soldiers away with a blast of wind. The archers dropped their bows. The swordsmen followed suit and the earthbenders dropped to their knees with cries of "We surrender!" and "Don't kill me!"
"What?!" It was hard to believe coming from someone who was supposed to be so clever, but Jin seemed to be genuinely surprised.
Zuko extinguished his swords and brought them both back to Jin's neck. "They have no reason to stay loyal to you. You need them, yet you give them no respect, and they know it. You're a terrible leader."
The fighters had broken out of their shock and started to bind up all the surrendered soldiers. The Avatar looked around and saw that everything was well. The crisis was over. He turned and leaped up to the top of the hill. "Zuko!"
Zuko shoved Jin away; Jin fell to his knees, shaking. Just as he was turning away, Zuko's brain registered what kind of shaking it was. Faster than thought could move, he whirled around and blocked Jin's dagger, sending it spinning out of the man's grip.
Jin gasped, but stayed on his feet, still visibly enraged. "You! A firebender! A monster! My men have fought your kind before. How did you make them stand down? Why didn't they fight?"
Zuko lowered his swords. "Because nobody can fight a monster when they have no leader and no cause, and that's exactly what you weren't." With both fists, Zuko lunged forward and shoved Jin off the side of the roof. He fell directly at the Avatar's feet.
The Avatar's two friends ran up. Sokka bound Jin with expert knotwork, as if he'd bound men a thousand times before. A little impressive. Katara stared up at Zuko with wide, shimmering eyes. "You came to help."
"Of course I did. Did you think I would leave little kids to die?" Zuko put his swords in their makeshift sling and came down from the roof. "They didn't stand a chance without me, and don't pretend that's not true. You know the Avatar couldn't have done it."
"I could've -"
"No. You could not."
The Avatar tried to argue, but he couldn't. Zuko smirked. I am good at this. I can help people. I am good. For a moment, he believed those things.
Then Viki came walking up the hill, with Tang and Ming following. Zuko's heart sank. Firebender. Monster. He prepared several retorts.
Jin was fully bound. Katara helped Sokka lift him and drag him off to the side. The Avatar stepped back. They watched as Viki walked right up to Zuko and stood before him. Viki looked up. His eyes were deep and troubled. It was impossible to tell exactly what he was thinking.
After a pause that could have lasted for a moment or for eternity, Viki opened his mouth. "You're a firebender."
Zuko nodded.
Another pause. Viki swallowed. "Of course you are."
Tang and Ming glanced at him. Carefully, Zuko asked, "What does that mean?"
"Only a firebender could have beaten them." Viki's lips started to twitch. "Only a firebender could have…saved us." He held out a hand. Zuko hesitated, then took it. Viki hesitated, then tightened his grip. "Thank you."
Zuko's head spun. He doesn't think I'm a monster? He's thanking me? He was half sure that this was a joke, that Ming was going to tackle him to the ground at any second. But Tang and Ming stood silently and watched Viki with unreadable expressions. Are they really okay with it? Everything he had ever learned about the people of the Earth Kingdom insisted that they were as stubborn as the rocks they insisted on living among, crude and obnoxious people who were so set in their ways that they couldn't recognize a good idea if it kissed them. They were supposed to be natural enemies to the Fire Nation, which overflowed with good ideas and progress. Zuko had never imagined that he would shake hands with an Earth Kingdom person who knew his real identity. But here he was, doing just that. Maybe not all of them are stubborn and prejudiced?
They let go. Viki turned away. He walked past Tang and Ming and looked out over the camp, where all soldiers had been fully subdued. The fighters were turning to him, looking for instructions. "What are we gonna do with this many soldiers?" Viki whispered.
Zuko looked around. Now that the chaos had ended, he could clearly see how many soldiers there were. He counted between two and three dozen. "You people need protection from bandits," he suggested. "Most of them will scatter, but you should keep some of them."
Viki squared his shoulders and stood as tall as he could. "We'll march them back to town!" he declared.
Some of the fighters looked at each other. "But won't we, um, get in trouble?"
"My uncle is distracting the tourists that are already staying here," Zuko announced. "They won't notice a quiet nighttime march. And if anyone tries to make it not quiet, you'll fail." He casually readjusted his swords.
"We're very desperate not to lose traffic," Viki said.
Most of the soldiers gulped. "We'll be good," promised the man who had been in the tent with Jin, the one who wore all the leadership regalia. The others nodded.
The soldiers were hauled to their feet and marched out of the camp. Katara and Sokka kept Jin bound so firmly he could only shuffle and put him at the back of the group so they could stay right next to him and still keep an eye on everyone else. As everyone else was leaving, Zuko looked back. The camp looked as if dinner might still be eaten there. On impulse, he dashed from fire to fire and put them out. Viki saw this. When Zuko rejoined the group he said, "You're a pretty nice guy for a firebender."
No I'm not. "I keep my promises."
"What promise did you make?"
"Uncle and I met a woman in town. She had nothing nice in her house except a bunch of roses on a table. I promised her that I would keep her son safe."
"A bunch of roses on the greeting room table?"
Zuko looked down at Viki. He hadn't said anything about which table. "Looks like I kept my promise."
Viki smiled. "I joined the fighters because I wanted to keep her safe. She used to look so happy when she had free time to walk in the woods and pick flowers."
"She told me she would give all of that up in a heartbeat if it meant you were safe."
Viki looked down. "But I don't want her to."
Zuko shrugged. "She'll forget about it eventually. Give it a few years. She'll be introducing you as her little hero."
Viki giggled. "I won't tell if you won't."
"I would appreciate that."
Viki ran forward and pulled aside another one of his fighters. He whispered in their ear. The other kid nodded and dashed off, running from rebel to rebel and whispering in their ears. When their party finally made it back to town, despite the late hour, nobody was sleepy. Zuko and the Avatar went ahead to verify that the tourists were distracted. The Avatar went into the inn, found Iroh hosting a party in a room that coincidentally happened to be completely isolated from the outside of the building, and reunited with Momo. He found a room with an outside window, leaned out and gave a thumbs up. Zuko returned it and went back to give the fighters the all clear.
The town had only a very small jail, so many of the soldiers were marched into the inn. Steam threatened to billow from the innkeeper's ears. She agreed to let them sleep one night after Viki asked her where else they should be kept. The soldiers were rebound so that they couldn't even move and kept two or three to a room along with at least one rebel fighter, each of which requested a glass of water so they could smash it in case of escapees. They drank the water eagerly along with all of the half-eaten food that they'd taken the opportunity to stuff into their pockets. Fighting was hungry work.
"There's nothing to do now but join the party," Katara said.
"You guys go ahead," Zuko said. "I'll catch up. There's something I need to do first."
.
Viki knocked quietly on the door of his house. His mother opened it. She was very tired, but her eyes lit up at the sight of her son. They both lunged forward and wrapped each other in a tight hug.
She closed her eyes to savor it. Then she opened them and saw Zuko, standing in the street at the base of her porch. He smiled. She smiled back. Tears ran down her cheeks.
That smile, like Aunt Wu's, was one that he would never forget.