Happy Kalevala Day to my Finnish readers!

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RonaldM40196867: Yes. The weather might be a bit hot, and the food a little spicy, but other than that it seems like a perfectly nice place to live.

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The sun shone brightly in the sky as Gembul swooped through the air, leaving Jet and his army far behind as he raced north.

On board, the mood among the Yuad was overall positive. Yue had her earthbending teacher at last, they were fully stocked with supplies, and they had a clear goal in mind; the vast city of Ba Sing Se, threatened by Firelord Ozai's invading armies.

The Earth King is there, Yue thought, watching the world go by beneath them. And there's some kind of big Air Nomad event isn't there? I guess Rinzen'll be happy, be can get his tattoos.

Another thought struck her.

So is Prince Zuko, come to think of it.

It had been a while since she had thought of him, she realised. He had saved her life once, long ago, back when all of this had begun, and he had been paying for it ever since, on the run from his own family, forced to take refuge among their enemies. This meant that Prince Zuko was about the only member of the Fire Nation Royal Family that Yue had any time for these days. The rest were either self-righteous hypocrites or unrepentant monsters.

If I can find him again, maybe he'll make a good firebending teacher too, she considered. Fire is the next element after earth, and the only one I haven't got a master for yet. Zuko has no reason to help his father. He's also about the only Firebender, apart from Jeong Jeong, who I know I could convince to help me.

She found herself grinning slightly, coming around to the idea.

Yes, she thought, that would be good. An elegant solution.

Rinzen was singing something under his breath, slightly bobbing up and down in the saddle. By contrast, Suki was asleep, using a bag as a pillow as she napped peacefully. Next to her, Katara had brought a waterbending scroll out and was holding it open with one hand as she practiced hand gestures with other.

Taiyo's face was white, and so were his knuckles, so tightly was he gripping the edge of the saddle. He had his eyes closed, and was murmuring something under his breath. He didn't seem to be a natural flier.

A moment later, he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and turned to find Sokka. The Southern Prince smiled at the earthbender reassuringly.

"Don't worry," he said. "You get used to it. I know I did."

Taiyo's face was still pale, his eyes, now open, were wide, but he swallowed and nodded.

Yue smiled at him, feeling guilt beginning to creep at her. She hadn't anticipated the possibility that Taiyo would be scared of flying.

The earthbender gulped and stubbornly kept his eyes up, avoiding looking down at the ground. He breathed in and out, and seemed to calm down. Yue watched him, concerned. She would need to speak to him about this. He had seemed fine before, when they had been flying back from the dam. Had he just been hiding it then, putting on a brave face, or had Gembul's rather rapid takeoff from Jet's camp scared him?

"Er... guys?" Rinzen called, suddenly shaken out of his reverie. "What's that?"

He was pointing straight ahead of him, and as Yue turned to look she saw, with a pang of horror, a column of smoke rising up into the sky in the distance. A fire, and from the looks of it a big one.

She nudged Katara, who looked up, her initial irritation at being interrupted swiftly vanishing.

"What-Tui and La, what's that?"

"Nothing good," Sokka murmured. "Do you think it's the Fire Nation?"

"Almost certainly," Rinzen said. He had already slightly altered Gembul's course so the Sky-bison was flying directly towards the smoke. Yue nudged Suki with her foot, and the Kyoshi Warrior awoke with a start. She began to ask what was going on, then she too saw the smoke, and fell silent.

As they got closer, the source of the fire turned out to be a small village by a river. One of the larger buildings, which must have been a mill of some kind, had a waterwheel attached, which spun slowly, driven by the ceaseless current.

The rest of the village, though, was absolute pandemonium. People rushed through the street, their screams increasingly audible as Gembul approached. Many buildings, including the mill with the waterwheel, were on fire, contributing to the column of smoke which rose into the sky.

Other figures could also be seen, these ones moving slower and more deliberately. Soldiers. They were carrying boxes out of buildings and piling them up on carts, and then setting them on fire. Some of them were also engaged in rounding up what villagers they could catch, and many had been shepherded into a makeshift enclosure in the town square.

Yue felt anger boil. This war was claiming yet more victims, right in front of her eyes.

But as she got closer, something felt... off. There wasn't as much red as there usually was. And once Gembul was directly overhead, she realised why.

The soldiers were not from the Fire Nation at all. They were wearing the green of the military of the Earth Kingdom.

This revelation did nothing to quell her anger, and soon Gembul was diving towards the town centre. Yue looked at Katara, and then at Rinzen.

"We've got to put out the fire! Bring us over the river!"

Rinzen changed Gembul's course, swinging out in a wide arc around the burning mill and over the river as he slowed down to a crawl. Yue stood up in the saddle, Katara next to her, and together they extended their arms towards the river and pulled. The river reared up out of its banks, higher and higher, and then they swung their hands towards the mill and the water dumped itself onto the roof of the building.

There was a hissing sound, accompanied by yelling from inside the building, and the smoke from it stopped. A pair of soldiers standing outside the mill heard the commotion and looked up just in time to be drenched by the river, being knocked over and washed several feet away.

With that done, Gembul completed his loop of the mill and came in to land in the centre of town, near the enclosure full of terrified civilians. A dozen soldiers whirled to face them, some with anger, some with sudden fear.

Yue jumped down, feeling her feet meet solid ground with a crunch, and strode forward angrily, intending to find someone to shout at.

"Who is in charge here?" She demanded. "And what is going on?"