Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Tenzin fighting the Red Lotus I think is certainly up there.

Zigzagdoublezee: "Azula always lies."

As Always, Please Review!

"Have you ever ridden an ostrich-horse before?" Jet asked, offering the reins to them. He was stood in the middle of the road with an ostrich-horse either side of him. With the convoy raided, his force was now preparing to head back to camp. Yue saw the Northerners they had liberated jump on the back of one of the trucks along with some of the loot.

Team Avatar looked at one another.

"No?" Sokka offered. "We don't really have them in the South."

"Or the North," Yue added.

"Or Kyoshi Island," said Suki. Everyone else looked at her.

"If we need to get to another village, it's faster to go by boat," she defended herself. "The Unagi leaves us alone."

Jet raised an eyebrow, and turned to Rinzen.

"Can you at least ride one?" He asked.

Rinzen looked at the animal, and then back at Jet.

"Maybe?" He shrugged. "It's not a sky-bison, but..."

"I think we'll leave it then, shall we?" Jet suggested. "That seems best."

Yue nodded, relieved. Making a spectacle of herself by failing to ride an ostrich-horse and falling off or going round in circles would be a very quick way to ruin the mystique of the Avatar for anyone watching.

Then she looked back at the truck, and her smile faded.

"I should go with my people," she said. "I need to talk to them."

Sokka frowned.

"Is this about what that traitor said?"

"That I abandoned them? Might be," Yue replied.

"I thought we said he was doing that to get in your head," Sokka sighed.

"And it worked," Yue pointed out. "I'm not too proud to admit it. I need to hear what they have to say."

She gave him a weak smile.

"And if they say they don't think of me like that, then the next time he tries running his mouth I'll know he's talking nonsense and can be ignored."

Sokka nodded, acknowledging the logic of this statement.

"And what if they don't tell you what you want to hear?" He asked.

"It'll be fine," Yue said breezily. "They seemed pretty happy to see me. Would they do that if they thought I was a traitor?"

"Alright," Sokka shrugged. "You've convinced me. Lead the way."

Yue stared at him.

"What? Of course we're coming with you."

The others all chimed in to express their agreement.

Yue sighed.

"Come on then," she said, turning and making her way towards the truck. The engines were already burbling and the vehicles had been earthbent free of their muddy prisons. The convoy was ready to move.

The waterbenders looked up as Yue opened the flap, and peered inside.

"Mind if we sit here?" She asked.

One of them nodded, and Yue scrambled up into the back, followed a moment later by Sokka, Katara, Rinzen and Suki. It was a tight squeeze, but they all managed to fit in. A few moments later, there was a jolt and the truck began to move, turning off the road into the forests as a path was cleared for them with earthbending.

"Is everyone alright?" Yue asked. The waterbenders nodded.

"Again, thank you for saving us," one of them said.

"What are your names?" Yue asked.

"Cupun," a woman said.

"Igaluk."

"Kiugak."

"Opik."

"Taktuq."

They went around like that until everyone had introduced themselves. Then Yue leaned back.

"Pleased to meet you all," she said. "It's a shame it's under these circumstances. What the Fire Nation has done to you is terrible, and I will stop it. The North will rise again."

This pronouncement was met with some muted nods. Then there was silence, until Yue could bear it no longer.

"Do you think less of me for running away that night?" She asked.

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" One of them, Taktuq, asked. "Why would we think that?"

"Those traitors we were telling you about," Katara spoke up. "They told her that."

At the mention of the group of Northerners fighting for the Firelord, the waterbenders shook their heads angrily.

"I didn't-" Yue started, and then stopped. "I didn't know if you thought I should have stayed. Shared your fate."

"And died?" Another one said. "Because that's probably what they would have done to you."

"If you had stayed, they would have captured you and you wouldn't be here, now, rescuing us," Opik reasoned. "Everyone in the camp knew why you had to go."

Yue suddenly felt much happier, as if a great weight had been lifted from her. The confirmation that the traitors had been simply trying to get in her head with lies caused her to grin.

"Thank you," she told them, sincerely. "That's all I needed to know. What will you do now?"

"Now we're free?" Cupun looked around the group. "I don't know."

"I suppose trying to get home is not going to work," one of the others said.

"Even if you made it, there's nothing there except ruins," Igaluk remarked sadly. "The Fire Nation made sure of that."

That comment made Yue's heart hurt, as she felt grief for her home all over again.

"You could go South," Sokka suggested helpfully. "We are still standing, as far as I know."

"And well-defended too," Katara added.

"I think it's too dangerous to travel by foot," Cupun said. "I'm sure the South Pole would be nice, but I'm not sure we can get there. I think we'll have to stay right here."

"With the Freedom Fighters?"

"Why not?" Igaluk asked. "I'm sure they can find some uses for waterbenders, just like the Fire Nation. And we can fight."

There was a pause as everyone considered this. There were nods, and murmurs of assent as one by one, everyone came around to the idea.

"Alright," Cupun stood up just in time to nearly fall over as the truck lurched going over a bit of rough terrain. "I'll ask Jet if he'll take us when we get there."

Her hands balled into fists.

"And we'll make the Fire Nation pay for what they did to us."