Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Sokka's boomerang and Space Sword and Suki's fans are my favourite.

Zigzagdoublezee: Dragons are proud creatures, and I didn't want them to just be mindless brutes. So they love their masters, but may not be entirely on board with the war of conquest that they are waging.

As Always, Please Review!

Gembul raced away from the Fire Nation marching column, speeding into the sky and out of reach of their fireblasts.

On board, all was silent. For a moment, nobody knew what to say.

Finally, Yue spoke up.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "You don't know how happy I am to see you-"

"What were you thinking?" Katara demanded. "They were going to kill you!"

"You could have died!" Sokka added. "Did they do anything to you?"

Yue couldn't disagree with Sokka's statement, but she shook her head.

"They treated me as nicely as they possibly could," she said. "I think they were trying to make sure they wouldn't set off the Avatar State- that's what the glow is called, apparently- again."

"Lucky for you," Sokka carried on. "I-We missed you, Yue. I thought you were going to-"

"I missed you too," Yue confessed, remembering the kiss. Judging by the blush on Sokka's face, she wasn't the only one remembering it. Then he pointed at her.

"Did I mention you could have died?"

"Did it work?" Yue asked.

"That's not the point!" Sokka blustered.

Yue sighed and repeated the question.

"Did it work?"

"Well, they left," Katara told her. "You saw that."

"And the fort? The refugees?"

"The refugees took their chances and ran," Katara said. "They're on the far side of the fort now so they should be in less danger from the Fire Nation. Their path to Ba Sing Se should be more straightforward."

"Was Zuko with them?"

Katara nodded.

"We let him go too."

She didn't sound entirely happy about it.

"Hey, I met someone who was looking for him," Yue remembered. "Someone from the Fire Nation. I couldn't really tell, but I think it might have been a girlfriend."

"How nice for him," Katara remarked drily.

"What about the fort itself?"

"Well, you've bought them an extra four days to prepare," Jet said. "Two days marching away, and another two days to turn around and march back again. Whether that will be enough, I don't know. The Governor has sent a letter to other Earth Kingdom forces nearby begging for reinforcements, and they will have had plenty of time to get there."

He paused.

"Plus Longshot nailed their General with an arrow, that can't have helped their decision making."

Yue frowned. Something about how he had phrased his description of the fort seemed off.

"What about you?" She asked. "Why did you come here?"

"I came to help you!" Jet said. "You saved my life once, remember! I came to repay the favour. So did he."

Longshot waved at her.

"Thank you," Yue said gratefully, doing her best to bow in a sitting position. Jet grinned and returned the gesture.

"I expect you'll probably be missed back at the fort then," she reasoned. "We should get back and warn them."

Jet and Longshot looked at one another.

"...Actually," Jet began, "We don't want to go back."

Yue looked at them, shocked.

"You want to leave?" She asked.

"We're not deserting!" Jet said. "I asked for permission to do this. I have a plan."

"Oh yeah?" Katara asked, intrigued. "What is it?"

"It's very simple," Jet said. "I'm going to set this country ablaze."

He saw the looks in their eyes.

"Not literally!" He said. "I mean I'm going to set up my own guerrilla band."

"With two people?" Sokka asked.

"To begin with, sure!" Jet nodded. "But I hope we'll end up with a lot more than two. I don't know how many people are trapped out here, on the wrong side of the forts and with the Fire Nation at their door. Someone needs to be there to protect them."

"Where do you want to go then?" Yue asked.

"I don't mind," Jet shrugged. "Preferably somewhere away from the Fire Nation, I don't want to be thrown straight in at the deep end."

"Alright, we'll let you down when we land then, shall we?" Yue nodded.

They flew on again in silence for a while, before suddenly Sokka cried out.

"I forgot!" He said, and began rummaging around in his bag.

"What did you forget?" Yue asked curiously. Sokka pulled out a scroll and opened it.

"We have a map!" He announced. "From the Air Temple, remember?"

Yue did indeed remember, and as she unravelled it she was greeted by the familiar sight of a grinning, self-confident Avatar Aang.

She peered at it.

"What are we looking for?" She asked.

"Something fun!" Sokka told her.

Yue raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do we have time for that?"

"Of course!" Sokka said. "We've all had a very stressful couple of days, so I think a fun activity could do us good."

He took the map and peered at it.

"That's why this map is so good, it specifically points out where all the best places for having fun are."

He looked thoughtful as he perused it.

"Hmmmm. A massive waterfall where the water never reaches the bottom?"

He looked up. None of them seemed impressed.

"A place where you can fly with Condor-Parrots then? Or a huge collection of rock-pools. Apparently the water is so clear there you can make out individual crabs at the bottom of ten-foot deep pools!"

He paused.

"At least, so Aang says."

"That might be nice," Yue said. "Something nice and relaxed. And we can practice waterbending there."

"Where is it?" Katara asked.

"It's on our way south," Sokka peered at the map again. "If we're... about here? It shouldn't be very far away. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere too, and I can't see it having much military value, so hopefully the Fire Nation will be ignoring it."

"What if they don't?" Rinzen shouted back.

"Then we'll just have to leave," Sokka said. "But it's worth a try!"

Yue thought about it.

Why not? She thought. Why shouldn't we go to this rock-pool?

She had spent the past two days cooped up in a small cart, rattling along poor roads and with nobody to talk to except a war-criminal and a passing stranger because the guards kept ignoring her. After all that, she definitely needed a break, and she could even justify it to herself on the grounds of duty because there would be a large quantity of water there that she could bend. Katara still had the scroll, so they could practice. Then they could resume the journey south, towards the sister tribe and a master who could complete her training.

They didn't have much time, but they had enough time for this, surely.

She nodded.

"Alright," she said. "I want to do it."

"Yes!" Sokka punched the air. "Let's go and have fun!"