Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: I don't think there should be a fifth element at all. There are four elements, not five. That seems a fairly important part of the world, not least because if there was a fifth element then that would change the structure of the Avatar Cycle.

Zigzagdoublezee: Fortunately, the Earth Kingdom shall have their finest engineers devising ways to play catch up, and they can always copy the Fire Nation. However, they do lack the industrial base of their neighbours.

As Always, Please Review!

Jet groaned as Sokka and Longshot supported him up the hill, his leg not having fully recovered yet.

Yue, Rinzen and Katara trailed behind them, Yue still feeling guilty for not taking part in the fight.

There had been no more survivors; once the Fire Nation had left they had searched the battlefield, but everyone else who was still alive had been taken back in the tanks.

"Who are you?" Jet was asking. "I know she's the Avatar, but you're water tribe and you're an air nomad aren't you? That's a strange group."

Sokka scowled, but Rinzen just launched into a monologue about who they all were. Jet was impressed.

"A Princess, as well as the Avatar?" He said. "No, not just one Princess, two! And a Prince too? I am honoured. I am in the presence of royalty here!"

He made a show of bowing.

Sokka nodded, mollified. Katara had to stifle a giggle, and Sokka's head whipped round to give her a strange look. A moment later he had shrugged and looked back at their new acquaintance.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Because the Fire Nation attacked," was all Jet said. "Earth Kingdom soldiers came to my village, said all men of fighting age are needed for the governor's army. So I went, and was trained on the chariots."

He scowled, the jolly personality falling away for a moment.

"And then on our first mission our commander sees the enemy and rushes straight in. That's why I'm here. I'm just lucky you're here. Otherwise I'd be a prisoner, or left alone in the middle of nowhere, unable to move."

That thought put an end to the conversation, and they lapsed into silence as they traipsed up the hill and back into the forest.

Eventually, Jet found something else to say.

"Why?" He asked. "Why are the Fire Nation doing this?"

Yue could only shrug helplessly.

"I don't know", she said.

Jet scowled, and Yue remembered a few days previously, to something the commander of the Fire Nation river squadron she had destroyed had said.

"Zhao said something about building a new world," she said.

"Who's Zhao?" Jet asked.

"He's a commander in the Fire Navy," Sokka said. "We had a run-in with him a few days ago. Yue blew up his fleet."

Jet rolled his eyes.

"Whatever helps them sleep at night," he said. "A new world? I was happy with this one."

Then he stopped.

"Hold on, did you say Yue blew up a fleet?"

Yue was embarrassed. They hadn't told anyone about her loss of control before.

"Yeah," Sokka carried on. "She started glowing."

"I can't do it at will though," Yue hastened to add, before Jet could demand why she hadn't done it to help them.

"OK," Jet nodded. "Is that why you're going south then? To learn how to control it?"

"I need to learn waterbending," Yue told him. "That's before I can even think about any of the other elements. That's the rules, apparently."

"Well, good luck," said Jet. "I should probably get back to base."

"Why?" Katara asked, looking worried and angry. "They sent you on a suicide mission!"

"They did," Jet looked determined. "But the Fire Nation is still out there. I need to stop them."

"Where is your base?" Sokka asked. But Jet only grinned.

"And what if you're Fire Nation spies?" He asked. "I wouldn't want you to lead them right to us."

"Do we look like spies to you?" Yue folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

Jet looked at her for a moment.

"Fair point," he said. "Oh well, it's not like it's hard to find anyway. The local Governor has a fort nearby. We came from there."

He gestured off to their right.

"I guess it's that way?"

"Aren't you worried about going back?" Katara asked.

"Yes," Jet said frankly. "You saw what happened back there. It was... It was terrifying, unlike anything I've ever experienced. But someone needs to report back on what happened."

Yue frowned.

She had seen firsthand the vulnerability of chariots, Jet's weapon of choice, against firebenders, and even if he simply chose to remain within the walls, it was pretty likely that that tank column had only been the leaders of a much larger army, one that would be headed straight for the fort. Yue had never seen the fort, but she didn't know how long it would be able to stand up against such an attack.

Yue wasn't sure whether, if she allowed Jet to return to his comrades, she would be sending him to his death.

He did seem determined though, and had already demonstrated that he had a knack for survival, though Yue didn't know how much of that was simple luck. And if Jet deserved to live, then surely so did the other men holed up in that fort with the Fire Nation coming for them. Yue knew what she needed to do.

"Can we at least accompany you there?" She asked.

"It's no problem," Jet insisted. "You need to be going south, don't you? IT can walk..."

"Your leg hasn't fully healed yet," Katara pointed out. "I've done what I can but you still need rest."

"And you can have a go on the sky-bison..." Yue hung the opportunity in front of him, and it worked. Jet and Longshot's eyes widened.

"You have one of those?" Jet asked.

"Of course!" Rinzen said. "I'm an air nomad, of course I've got him."

"What's his name?"

"Gembul," Rinzen told him proudly. "I think it fits him."

"Nice," Jet grinned again."I've always wanted a go! Some air nomads came through my village once, I tried to ask them but my parents said no."

"But they allowed you to go to war?" Katara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The Earth King hadn't ordered them to let me go on the sky-bison," Jet shrugged, grinning at her. "Still, I've been looking forward to this for a very long time."

They entered the clearing, and found Gembul, who was asleep. He opened one eye and grunted a hello.

"The name does suit him," Jet confirmed. "He looks tired though."

"Oh yeah," Sokka scratched his head. "We just had a long flight. We should probably wait a while before we leave again."

Jet settled down against a tree.

"Alright," he said. "So we wait."