Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: Precisely, the other kind of loudhailer is a little outside their capabilities at this point.

RonaldM40196867: No, I don't think any of the pets should get their own series. Not really much potential there.

As Always, Please Review!

The crowd's eyes travelled between Yue and the hooded figure who had been fighting the tank.

Yue looked down at him. He still hadn't turned around, which was odd. She turned back to her companions as excited conversation engulfed the crowd.

"What now?"

Jet got up and looked down thoughtfully, at the tank still spinning in the road.

"If that's here, then others can't be far away," he said. "If we let them go, this will just happen again."

He raised his voice.

"Do not be alarmed!" He said, spreading his arms and grinning. Yue had to admit the boy had charisma, in spades. "The Avatar walks among us!"

Hundreds of faces snapped around to stare at him.

"Shouldn't the Avatar be a waterbender?" Someone called.

"No, not me!" Jet shouted back. "Her! She saved my life."

Yue waved, and the crowd stared back. For a moment, she was worried she was going to get another rock thrown at her head as a test. When none came, she spoke again.

"Do you have a leader?" She asked of the people at the front. They shifted and looked at each other warily. Then they shook their heads.

"Great," Sokka groaned. "What now?"

If the Fire Army is nearby, then... how far are we from your fort?" Yue asked Jet.

"Not far," Jet confirmed. "I recognise this road."

Yue looked out at the crowd again, seeing the faces of men, women and children. She thought of the tanks she had seen on their flight here from the clearing.

"They're coming with us," she said.

"Where?" Jet asked.

"To the fort! It's the safest place for them."

"The fort that's probably going to be under siege soon?" Jet clarified. "I'm all for helping them, but that seems like delaying the inevitable."

"What choice do we have?" Yue demanded. "I'm not about to let all these people get captured, and I'm sure your Governor wouldn't want that either. He has a responsibility to them, and so do you!"

Jet turned to look at them again.

Then he nodded.

"Fine," he said. "The fort's not much further up the road."

Yue dismounted the bison and approached the crowd, followed by Sokka, Katara, Jet and Longshot.

"Tell them," she said. "Tell them where we're going."

She scanned the crowd, looking for one particular figure. She hadn't seen the face of the person who had fought the tank, and for some reason they didnt seem keen to stick around. But Yue wanted to speak to them.

The group fanned out and entered the crowd at different points, talking to different people as they went. Yue aimed for a cart behind which a family stood, and the anonymous warrior stood talking quietly to them. They were giving their swords to an older man, who nodded in response to something they said. He took the swords and placed them in the cart. The swordsman looked over his shoulder, and for a moment his eyes met Yue as she approached. They widened.

Suddenly he was gone, pushing his way through the crowd with a hasty excuse given to his companions. Yue frowned as she approached them.

"Greetings," she said. "There's been a change of plans. There's a Fire Nation army in the area, so we're diverting your group to the governor's fort. Its walls will protect you."

They nodded.

"Was that your son?" She asked. "What was his name? He was very brave."

"No, Avatar," the woman said. "He's our... companion. His name's Li."

"Why did he run when he saw me?"

"How should I know? Do you know him?"

There had been something familiar about him, but Yue didn't see how that could really be the case considering this was her first time outside the North Pole. Unless that was some diplomat or something, there would never have been an opportunity for them to meet before.

She shrugged. She had better things to do than chase some man who didn't want to know her through a crowd. There was even some chance that it might be a trap.

"No," she said. "I was impressed by his skill. Just pass on my congratulations when you next see him. For some reason he doesn't seem to want to see me."

They nodded, and Yue bowed formally.

There was a crashing noise from behind her, and she jumped, and turned to see Rinzen blasting the tank off the road with a mighty gust of wind; it flew clean through the hedgerow and beached itself upside down, its tracks finally stopping as the impact caused the driver to stop leaning on his controls.

Yue straightened up and tried to play it cool. Hopefully nobody saw that. She was the cold, aloof, Princess of the North, a stoic symbol of hope. It wouldn't do to go around jumping at any old loud bang. Not in front of so many witnesses, anyway.

Fortunately, nobody seemed to have noticed, as they were all distracted by the tank too. Yue excused herself and went back towards the airbender.

"Don't worry!" Rinzen called as she approached. "Our roadblock is out of the way!"

"Thank you," Yue nodded. "Have I ever told you how good it is to have you with me?"

Rinzen beamed. "You could stand to mention it more."

There was a noise behind them, and they turned to find the soldier Gembul had plucked out of the spinning tank sitting up.

He rubbed his head, and then clocked Yue and Rinzen standing over him, looking down at him warily. His eyes travelled past him to the large crowd of earthbenders.

"Look," he said. "I think there's been some misunderstanding. I'll just go..."

"Misunderstanding?" Yue asked. "You were about to take them prisoner! Where's the misunderstanding in that?"

She saw the man tense.

"I'll let you go," she said. "But I want you to know this. I am the Avatar, and these people are under my protection. Get up."

The Firebender stood up, and Yue realized that the man was in fact a boy- he wasn't much older than she was. She thought about asking him why the Fire Nation was doing this, but suspected that she wouldn't get a straight answer. But she could plant seeds.

"Remember this," she told him. "Remember when your enemies spared your life, and remember the value of mercy. Now go."

The man turned and ran.

"Why did you let him go?" Rinzen asked. "Surely he's just going to tell his commander we're here."

"What else could I do?" Yue asked. "I can't actually hurt him, not yet."

Rinzen frowned.

"Alright," he said. "But we should definitely get moving now. I think we want to be inside that fort by the time their general finds out about this."

Yue nodded, and the two of them moved back towards the sky-bison.