Happy Bonfire Night to all my British readers!

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: If it served the story, perhaps, but I don't think it has ever been necessary. Beyond that, I can't say that I have.

Zigzagdoublezee: Earthbenders are capable of feats of incredible power when they work together!

As Always, Please Review!

From high above, the rubble was easy to make out, nestling in the valley amidst the peaks of the mountains that had escaped destruction. Already, green-coated figures were swarming across it, and the tips of shattered and destroyed trees were just visible through the rock.

As Rinzen put Gembul into a dive, Yue looked down at the fearful sight. The mountain, which had stood for millennia, was another victim of this war. The Earth Kingdom had permanently altered their geography for short term gain.

Gembul landed on top of the pile of rubble, causing a few soldiers to scramble backwards in alarm.

"Who are you?" They asked suspiciously, hands reaching for their weapons. But they obviously didn't look like the Fire Nation, because no weapons were drawn quite yet.

"Yes, hello. I'm Yue." Yue declared, standing up in the saddle to make sure there was no trouble.

"What, like the Avatar?" One of the soldiers asked stupidly.

"Yes," Yue frowned. "Just like the Avatar."

"Look, don't you see the hair?" Sokka demanded. "How many people called Yue do you know, anyway?"

The soldiers exchanged glances, and then the penny seemed to drop. They bowed quickly.

"So sorry, Avatar." they said almost in unison. "We didn't recognise you."

"More like it," Sokka jumped off the bison. "What happened here? Did you do this?"

"We did," the soldier explained. "We did it because-"

"We did it because somewhere under all this rubble is a Fire Nation general and his retinue," a new voice interrupted.

Yue looked, and saw a man who looked to be in his late thirties or early fourties. From his his uniform, he was the one in charge here. He was dressed in impressive looking armour, embossed with the insignia of the Earth King and wrapped in a rich green cloak. His hair was done up in a topknot. He bowed.

"An honour," he said. "I heard what you did in the South Pole, Avatar. My congratulations, the Fire Nation are going to be feeling that for a while."

He grinned.

"I am General Dun."

Yue bowed, as her friends went through introducing themselves to him.

"I think you've come at the right time," Dun told them once they were done. "We've escaped the worst of the war so far, the Fire Nation was too busy in the north, but they're increasingly pressing us hard."

Yue jumped off the bison after Sokka, as the others followed.

"We've had to outsmart them where we can. Even play dirty," Dun was saying.

"Is that what this was?" Suki asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid," the General looked a little abashed. "I may have brought the enemy general here under false pretences."

"And then dropped a mountain on him," Rinzen folded his arms.

"And then dropped a mountain on him," Dun agreed. "I wish it wasn't necessary, but I heard what the Fire Nation did to the North Pole, to the Western Air Temple. They have made it quite clear that there is no promise they will not break, no rule of war they will not violate, to achieve their goals. And if they want to play in the mud, then so must we."

"You destroyed a mountain to get one man?" Rinzen seemed horrified.

"Couldn't you have just ambushed him?" Katara asked.

"I could, but collapsing a mountain sends a message," Dun said firmly. "That we're still here, that we're still strong, and we're in our element. They're in our territory now."

He turned to Rinzen.

"And I did evacuate the area first. I'm not going to let civilians be caught up in all this if I can help it."

Yue held her tongue and nodded. Them being in Dun's territory now was the entire problem. She didn't approve of his tactics, but she understood, and she certainly wasn't going to feel too sorry for the Fire Nation general.

"With any luck, their chain of command will unravel," Cao continued, as he began leading them gingerly down the side of the rubble pile. "Which we will be able to exploit."

"To do what, exactly?" Sokka asked.

"Well, that would be telling," Dun winked. "Nothing that Ozai would like though."

"No, I'm sure," Yue agreed. They reached the bottom of the pile and stepped off onto solid ground. The General turned to face them.

"In the meantime, you should come back with me," he said. "My cousin is the Governor of this province, and he's camped with the main body of the army a few miles away. He can help you with anything you need."

"How many men do you have?"

"Enough," General Dun shrugged. "15,000 men."

Yue had no conception of military affairs, so had no idea if 15,000 was a lot or not. So she had to take his word for it on that front.

"Does your cousin have maps?" Suki asked. "Messages from the capital? Some way of letting us know what's going on across the country?"

"Yes, don't worry," Dun nodded. "Shu is an important part of this country's government, he answers only to Earth King Kuei. Of course he has that stuff."

Suki turned to them, smiling confidently.

"I think we should go and see him," she said.

"Great!" Dun smiled. "He's set up his camp along the coast, somewhere called Chin Village."

The smile dropped off Suki's face.

"I don't think we should go and see him," she said.

"Can't he come to us? She is the Avatar."

She gestured to Yue, who shrugged, baffled.

"What?"

"Don't go to Chin Village," Suki warned. "They hate you. And they hate me, too!"

"Why?" Yue was by now becoming concerned. "I've never been anywhere near the place!"

"Because I'm a Kyoshi Islander, and because she's the Avatar!"

"Oh."

So this was something to do with her past lives, clearly.

"They're very good at holding grudges," Suki explained, "and they've been nursing this one for four hundred years."

"Surely not," Rinzen scoffed. "There's a war on. People must have bigger things to worry about than something which happened four hundred years ago."

"You would hope so," Suki told him, "and you would be disappointed. These people do."

"How do you know this?"

"Because they keep turning up on Kyoshi Island demanding justice, whatever that means to them, and we keep having to send them back. It's become an annual tradition at this point."

"Look, none of this is important," Dun interjected impatiently. "You're not here for the villagers, you're here for my cousin. My cousin, the one with the big army who can stop the villagers from causing trouble for you."

Suki had a disgusted expression on her face, but nodded.

"Don't worry," Katara told her. "We've been fighting the Fire Nation a while now. A bunch of hateful villagers should be no problem."

Dun clapped his hands, as if to say their business was at an end.

"I'll get the men formed up and moving. Then we will go to the Governor, and speak to him. I'm sure we can come to some arrangement."

He nodded, and strode away, barking orders. Soldiers began scrambling down from the rock pile, and appearing out from behind trees and rocks on the surrounding slopes, and began congregating, then forming disciplined lines.

On the surface, then, they now had their plan. So why was Yue still confused? An "arrangement" indicated mutual benefit. What exactly, would Governor Shu want from her? And why did those villagers hate the Avatar so much?