Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: More pets would be cute, but I don't know what they would add to the story.

Zigzagdoublezee: The man is a danger, both to his enemies and to his own ships and men.

As Always, Please Review!

Yue stared in shock as Zhao cried out, flying backwards and smacking into a catapult.

There were shouts of alarm throughout the deck.

"What was that?" The guard who had been questioning Jeong Jeong demanded furiously. For a moment, the admiral looked just as shocked as everyone else. Then his face hardened. He had made his choice.

"I suppose that was me resigning my commission," he said. "Now, let me leave with the Avatar and nobody else need get hurt."

"But this is treason!" The guard was not deterred. In fact, he looked angrier now. "You made me complicit in it!"

Jeong Jeong shook his head.

"Maybe against Ozai. Not against the Fire Nation. We are being dragged into a hopeless war for the sake of one man's ego. Even if we win, we'll be hated."

He took a step towards the side of the ship, gesturing for Yue to follow him.

Behind him, Zhao began to sit up, his face contorting with rage as he realised what was happening.

"We swore an oath!" He called. "To serve the Firelord!"

"To serve the Fire Nation," Jeong Jeong corrected.

"Don't tell me you've become one of those republicans," Zhao scowled, struggling to his feet. The crew looked back and forth between them, waiting to see what would happen next.

"My quarrel isn't with a system," Jeong Jeong shook his head. "My quarrel is with a man."

"And because of that you want to betray everything we've been working for?"

"Thqt's the point! Everything we've been fighting for is either worthless, or will actively make the world a worse place. The Avatar opened my eyes and made me see."

The Commodore's eyes fell on Yue, full of malice. She felt the eyes of the entire crew on her.

"So that's what it is," he said. "The Avatar's been dripping poison into your ears."

"It's not poison. It's the antidote."

"Whatever. That's not the point. So I assume, then, now you and the Avatar magically agree, that you are not in fact transferring her to a prison in town?"

The way Zhao said this was low, slow, and extremely menacing. Yue could feel his anger bubbling away under the surface. Now his voice hardened.

"You're going to let her escape."

"Please," Jeong Jeong pleaded. "It's not too late. Stand with me, and we can turn this fleet around and end this war in two-"

He didn't even get the chance to finish the sentence because Zhao's patience snapped, his anger flaring as the dam broke.

"You traitor!" He screamed, before letting loose with a fireball of his own. Yue quickly made a hand gesture and then brought her arms across her body, bringing a wave of water up and across the deck to block the fiery projectile from hitting them.

For a moment, the only sound was the hiss of boiling water.

"I think that's a no," Yue observed.

And then all hell broke loose as everyone on the deck charged towards them.

"Get them!" Zhao was screaming. "Get the traitor! Stop the Avatar! Kill them both!"

The guard was the first to react, but Jeong Jeong was faster and a wall of flame blocked his fire dart. Jeong Jeong's fiery barrier then expanded, forcing their assailants backwards.

"Hold on to me," Jeong Jeong told her.

"What?" Yue was stunned. "Why are you doing this?"

"I told you why," the now former Admiral shook his head. "If you have any more questions, maybe I'll answer them when I'm not on imminent danger of being murdered by my own crew."

Yue nodded, and Jeong Jeong gestured for her to go behind him and hold on around his shoulders and neck.

"I'll need to take the firewall down now," he said. "Now hold on. We're going up in the world."

Yue nodded. The flames dissipated, and Zhao gave a shout of mixed fury and triumph as he rushed forwards- but Jeong Jeong gestured downwards with his fists, and Yue barely managed to hold on as they were sent rocketing into the air. Yue had flown before, on Gembul's back, but this wasn't that. This felt violent, and uncontrolled, and a roaring sound accompanied them.

Firebenders can do this?

Eventually, the flames vanished, and the roaring was replaced by the whistling of wind as they slowed down. They were high above the bay, and Yue could see the entire Fire Nation fleet, in all its imposing might, stretched out beneath them. For a moment, all seemed perfectly still as they hung in the air. A moment later, Yue felt them begin to fall. She cried out in shock as the world rushed up to meet them, but Jeong Jeong seemed less bothered.

With a few small fireblasts he gave them a push in the air, so they were now plunging towards the town.

"Admiral?" Yue asked as the roofs of the houses got closer and closer. "Shouldn't we be doing something?"

Her voice was lost in the wind though.

Yue felt her heart speed up, panic beginning to take hold, but just before Jeong Jeong would have hit the ground he punched downwards and another jet of flame slowed their descent. They touched down gently, and then the flames shut off. Yue collapsed, retching. She wanted to be sick.

"Avatar, are you alright?" Jeong Jeong asked gently as he knelt beside her.

It was a few seconds before Yue felt able to respond.

"...fine," she rasped. "You can fly?"

"Sort of," Jeong Jeong shrugged. "It's an advanced firebending technique, it takes a lot of energy. Now we should leave. The guards in the town won't know of my betrayal yet, that news will take time to be passed from the flagship, but I wouldn't want to be here when they do."

"Yes," Yue struggled to her feet. "Thank you."

"No," Jeong Jeong looked at her. "Thank you for helping me to see."

He smiled at her, and then there was a shout. Yue looked up, expecting a fight, but instead an old man with a magnificent grey beard rushed towards them. A young woman dressed in almost identical blue robes with auburn hair followed a few steps behind him. He stopped short at the sight of Jeong Jeong.

"Avatar! You escaped!" He said happily.

"You need to go," Yue told him.

The old man looked hurt.

"But-"

"If you stay here, the guards will come and you'll be in danger," Yue explained patiently. "Pretend you never saw me."

The old man stared at her, baffled, for a few seconds, and then a look of triumph spread across his face. He reached up and tore off the beard to reveal-

"Sokka!" Yue threw herself at him and embraced him deeply. "You came!"

"What were you thinking?" Sokka demanded. "Rushing off on your own like that. And what's he doing here?"

He gestured to Jeong Jeong.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Yue confessed. "But they were going to burn the town! He helped me escape. I think I managed to talk him round."

"So he... he's on our side now?" Sokka asked, hesitantly.

"I suppose I am," Jeong Jeong put in.

Yue looked across to where the young woman who had appeared with Sokka had fallen to her knees reverently a few steps away.

"Who's that?"

"That's Suki, she was helping me find you," Sokka explained.

"It's a huge honour, Avatar!" Suki said quickly.

"Honoured to meet you too," Yue agreed. "But we still should go. The Fire Nation won't wait for us to finish our introductions."