Luca gulped when he saw the Fire Nation. Firebenders were everywhere. There was nowhere to hide. Syndrome's guards were probably everywhere too. What if someone recognized them?

He was surprised by how green and pleasant the place looked, even with the giant volcano looming over the land. He'd been envisioning a dry, colorless hellscape.

They landed near some caves out by the coast. They huddled together inside one of the caves.

"Now we wait," Ian said.

"We have to stay here for weeks? In a boring, stinky cave?" Alberto said.

"In a safe, peaceful cave," Ian corrected him.

Alberto sighed loudly and slumped down on the ground.

Violet agreed with Ian. They couldn't risk missing the eclipse, so they should lay low and not get into trouble. If anything went wrong, it would put their whole plan in jeopardy.

Alberto went to the mouth of the cave and looked out. "Hey, there's a village down there. Let's go over there."

"No!" Violet and Ian shouted.

"If we get disguises, we'll blend right in," Alberto said. "Come on, Luca."

Luca hesitated. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course it is! Now come on!" Alberto trotted out of the cave, and Luca reluctantly followed. He didn't really want to, but they could use some time together. They hadn't spent any real time together since they'd left the South Pole, and most of their interactions lately were unpleasant. Maybe this would help things go back to the way they were, like the good old days. When they felt like best friends instead of hostile strangers. And besides, it was better than staying in the cave. After seeing the world, he didn't think he could go back to living in a cramped, boring place like that. It reminded him too much of home.

They walked along a dirt path, hiding where they could. They reached the village and looked around.

"Here!" Alberto pulled Luca over to a clothesline, where several Fire Nation outfits were hanging. He yanked some of the clothes off and handed them to Luca.

"Alberto! We can't take these! They belong to someone!"

"They have plenty of clothes, they won't care," Alberto said. "Besides, we need them, and we're gonna save the world, so…the greater good, and all that."

"Well…okay," Luca said.

They put on the clothes. They put on the clothes. Luca had a grey uniform with black robes over it, and a red sash around his waist. Alberto had a short-sleeved brown robe with a wide red collar across his shoulders.

Alberto confidently strolled out into the middle of the street. Luca stayed to the side, trying not to call attention to himself. No one really looked at them, but he still didn't feel safe.

"So, what should we do?" Alberto asked.

Luca shrugged. He didn't know what the Fire Nation had to offer. And what if they messed something up, like an important etiquette thing? They shouldn't be trying to engage with a dangerous culture when they didn't know the rules.

They passed a vendor selling food. They watched as he cooked meat on a grill, bending the flames to get the perfect temperature. It smelled delicious. They stared hungrily at the meat, wishing they had some money.

The vendor looked at them. "Do you kids want to try some flaming fire flakes? I have samples." He handed them small cups of seasoned flakes.

"Thanks," Luca said. He sniffed the bowl, then gasped and coughed as the spices burned his nose and throat. "Those are spicy!"

"I dare you to eat the whole thing, one gulp," Alberto said.

Luca shook his head. "Never in a million years."

Alberto shrugged. "Okay. I'll do it." He poured the entire cup of flakes into his mouth. "That's not so bad." Then his face went bright red. He screamed, and a burst of flame shot out of his mouth.

Luca jumped back. "Whoa! Alberto, are you okay?"

Alberto choked. "That…was…awesome! Hot, though."

Luca gave him some water. Then they continued walking. Luca nibbled a few flaming fire flakes. "Mmm." They were better than he'd expected.

They passed a large brick building. Kids in uniforms stood outside, lined up against the wall as their teacher talked to them.

"A school!" Luca cried. "Alberto, we should attend!" He was already wearing one of the same uniforms. He could blend right in. Alberto could probably get a uniform from the teacher.

"You can't be serious," Alberto said.

"Maybe it'll teach us something useful about the Fire Nation," Luca said. "Like their traditions, or something important in their history." He ran down to the schoolyard.

The teacher looked at him when he ran over. She was holding a large stick in her hand.

"Sorry I'm late, teacher," Luca said respectfully.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What's your name, young man?"

"Luca." He looked around for Alberto so he could introduce him, too, but Alberto wasn't there.

"I don't have a Luca in my class," the teacher said.

"I'm new," Luca said.

"Are you from the colonies?" the teacher asked.

"Um…yup!" Luca nodded. "We just moved here. I'm ready to learn all about the Fire Nation!" He beamed at her.

She nodded. "Okay. Well, allow me to introduce myself." She slapped the stick against her palm. "I'm Lady Hardscrabble. When you're in my classroom, you will pay attention, and you will be quiet and well-behaved."

Luca nodded. He could do that. He'd been a good kid all his life, until running away.

The students went inside and sat down at their desks. Luca wanted to kick his feet with excitement.

Lady Hardscrabble began lecturing about the Fire Nation's army, using the example of how they had strategically conquered the Southern Water Tribe recently. Luca's eyebrows knit together. He raised his hand.

"What, Luca?"

"Is…is that true?" Luca asked.

She looked at him coldly, causing him to shrink back in his seat. "Is what true?"

"That the Water Tribe had a huge army on its shores," Luca said meekly. "'Cause I don't think they did. Weren't all their soldiers gone? Off at sea?"

Lady Hardscrabble's expression didn't change. "And how would you know, young man?"

"I…I just read it somewhere."

"Whatever you read was wrong," Lady Hardscrabble snapped. "The Fire Nation is the one and only source you should be trusting."

He lowered his head. "Yes, ma'am."

During lunch, some of the other students invited Luca to sit with them.

"That was dumb, you talking back to Lady Hardscrabble," one of the boys said. "I'm surprised she didn't tear you a new asshole, then cut off your balls and stuff them in there."

Luca made a face at this descriptive statement. "Don't you ever question if what they're telling you is true?"

"Not really."

"So you just believe everything they tell you?" Luca said.

They shrugged. "Yeah. Why would they tell us that otherwise?"

"'Cause they don't want to look like the bad guys?" Luca suggested. "I'm sure if you asked anyone from one of the other nations, they would have a different view of things."

"You're a weird kid," one of the girls said. "Interesting, but weird."

Luca took this as his cue to stop talking.

~~~~

Violet sat in the cave, studying the map obsessively. She'd been doing this for hours. At this point, she wasn't sure what new knowledge she was expecting to get out of this. She just felt like she needed to be doing something related to the invasion plan, or she'd feel guilty for wasting time.

Alberto walked into the cave. "Hey, Violet. Wanna go explore this place?"

She looked at him doubtfully. "I don't know…" She really didn't want to risk getting caught by any Fire Nation officials. "And weren't you doing that with Luca? Where did he go?"

"He's busy playing schoolboy," Alberto said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh."

"Look, I got a disguise for you." He threw a crumpled-up dress at her. She grunted as it landed in her lap. There was something heavy inside. A gold headband.

She sighed. "Fine." She needed a break from this anyway before she drove herself crazy.

She went off and changed. Then she came back, feeling a bit self-conscious. She wasn't used to having her midriff exposed, or her hair out of her face. Alberto raised an eyebrow when he saw her.

"What?" she said. Was she wearing it wrong? How would he know?

"Nothing."

"No, what?" she said.

"You…you look good," Alberto said. "Like, red is your color."

"Oh." Her cheeks heated up. Her face was probably redder than the dress. "Thanks."

He looked at her, and she looked back at him. Her eyes traveled down his bare arms, then back to his face. She didn't know how long they stared at each other. It probably wasn't that long, but the tension made it feel longer, seconds stretching into minutes. She could almost feel static in the air.

He bit his lip. Then he turned around and walked out of the cave. She followed him down to the village. To her surprise, the disguises seemed to be working. No one batted an eye as they walked down the street.

Alberto jumped up on a low brick wall and walked along it. Violet walked below him, looking up at him. He had developed a nice tan since leaving the North Pole. The sun was doing him good.

He saw her looking at him and offered his hand. "Come up here."

She shook her head. They really shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves. "I don't think we should…"

"We're disguised, it's fine," Alberto said.

She hesitated, then took his hand. It was surprisingly rough for someone so young. She liked the feel of his hand in hers, though. They fit nicely together.

He pulled her up onto the wall. It was nice and open up there. She could feel the breeze. She closed her eyes and let it brush her face and hair.

A man was playing music on the side of the road. Alberto started dancing with Violet, twirling her around. She could feel people looking at them. She wanted to tell him to stop, but she also didn't want to.

They danced along the wall together until it ended. Then Alberto jumped off and helped her down.

They approached the center of the village, where a man was yelling to a crowd. His face and clothes were covered in dirt and stains, and Violet noticed a strong odor coming from him.

"You have to believe me! The full moon possessed me!" he drawled, and Violet could see that his teeth were crooked. "I was just standing there under the moon when I suddenly lost all control of my limbs and started walking out toward the haunted forest!"

"Haunted forest?" Alberto said.

"The forest at the edge of the island, of course!" the man said. "So many people have gone in there and never returned. I fought it tooth and nail, but it was pulling me! I was sure that if I stepped foot in that forest, evil spirits would take me and I would never be seen again. Then the dawn came, and I broke free and ran for my life!"

The crowd walked by, ignoring him.

"Is no one concerned about this?" Violet asked.

"Ignore him, he's the village idiot," a woman said, rolling her eyes.

"He's always making up stupid stories about unbelievable events," another villager said.

"I'm not making it up!" the man insisted. "This really happened!"

Alberto shrugged and walked away. Violet followed, a little uneasy even though she wasn't sure why. He probably was just talking nonsense. So why did she feel nervous, like it might happen to her or her friends while they were here?

They stopped by a fountain. It appeared to be neglected, with no water in it, but the structure itself was gorgeous. They looked at it for a bit, admiring the smooth white stone and elegant design. It looked out of place here in the Fire Nation.

Alberto turned to Violet. "So, uh, I've been meaning to tell you something. I…I think you're pretty cool. I mean, you're all right. As far as girls go."

She raised an eyebrow at him. That wasn't exactly the compliment of the century.

"You know what I mean." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm trying to say I…like you." His face went red.

The butterflies in her stomach turned into a swarm. She tried to keep her cool, but inside, she was jumping up and down like a kid.

He looked down. "I get it if you don't feel the same way, which you probably don't—"

"I didn't say that."

He looked at her, surprised. "Wait, really?"

His genuine surprise made her want to laugh, but she didn't want to offend him. "Yeah. I like you too." She blushed. It sounded so strange to acknowledge it out loud. A few months ago, she wouldn't have thought she'd ever have a crush on someone like him.

You'll also find love in an unexpected place, with an unexpected someone.

Their eyes met. He started leaning forward slowly. Her breath caught in her throat. Was he going to kiss her?

Luca's voice came from behind them. "Alberto!"

They broke away, both of their faces bright red. Luca was running toward them. Alberto cleared his throat. "What?"

"Uh, so I got into some trouble at school," Luca admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Already?" Alberto said.

"What did you do?" Violet asked.

"I think I asked too many questions. They said I was 'disrupting class' and 'questioning their authority.' I just wanted to learn, but I guess they didn't like that." Luca shrugged. "So they want to speak to my parents. So…I need you to pretend to be my parents. Otherwise I'm really going to get in trouble."

"Okay," Alberto said.

He used some of his hair to make a fake mustache and beard. Violet tied her hair back in a bun. Then they set off for the school. Violet felt the knot in her stomach grow as they approached the building.

"This is not going to work," she said. They were teenagers, barely older than Luca himself. Why would anyone believe they were his parents?

"Just follow my lead," Alberto said. "With enough confidence, you can convince anyone of anything."

They went into the classroom, where Lady Hardscrabble was waiting. She was a tall, thin woman, with an extremely hardened expression, as immovable as a rock. Violet felt her conviction falter. She didn't know if she could convincingly lie to that woman. Something about her made Violet want to beg for mercy for even thinking of lying to her.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs…."

"Fire," Violet said quickly, inwardly cringing at how stupid that was.

"So, you want to talk about Luca?" Alberto said in a ridiculously fake low voice as they sat down in front of Lady Hardscrabble's desk.

"Yes," Lady Hardscrabble said. "Your son is causing trouble in class."

"Oh, well, boys do that," Alberto said. "And he's a little troublemaker. Isn't that right, son?" He tousled Luca's hair.

"That's right," Luca said. "Dad." He paused. "I wasn't really being a troublemaker, though. I was just asking questions. Shouldn't that be encouraged?"

"Don't make excuses, young man," Violet said sternly. She agreed with him in principle, but now was not the time or place for that. She just wanted him to pretend to be sorry so they could get out of here as quickly as possible.

"Your son needs to be disciplined."

Alberto stared at Lady Hardscrabble blankly.

"Punished," Violet whispered.

"Oh, yeah. We'll take him home, beat some sense into him," Alberto said casually.

Lady Hardscrabble looked alarmed by this.

"Not literally, of course," Violet said quickly, putting her hand on Luca's shoulder.

"Why not?" Alberto said. "My dad always said a little physical punishment never hurt anyone."

"That's a funny joke, honey, but I don't think his teacher wants to hear it," Violet said, shooting him a look that said Stop it. Was he trying to be funny, or was he serious? Either way, he shouldn't be saying that in front of a teacher.

Lady Hardscrabble looked back and forth between them, her eyebrows knit together in concern.

"So can we go?" Alberto said. He stood up before she could even reply. He walked away. Violet and Luca followed.

"I can't believe that worked," Violet said with a sigh of relief.

"I told you it would," Alberto said. He turned to Luca. "Now do you see why school is a bad idea?"

Luca sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

They returned to the cave. Woody was talking to Ian.

"He'll be okay," Woody said. "You'll save him."

Ian's voice came out a hoarse whisper. "What if I can't?"

Woody didn't give him false hope or cliche platitudes. Instead, he just put his arm around Ian and hugged him.

Their next several days were taken up by the eclipse. Woody and Buzz flew around the palace—keeping a good distance—to try and map out the best route into the building. The others stayed in the cave and practiced their bending.

On the rare occasion when they went out, they heard more stories here and there about people disappearing from the town. So the "village idiot" wasn't so stupid after all, Violet thought. Alberto suggested they go investigate it, but the others were against this. They had other things to worry about.

Then, all too fast, it arrived. The night before the eclipse. They gathered for one last training session. Ian tirelessly tore up and reassembled the entire cave, determined to be his best to save his brother. Luca practiced making water tentacles and sweeping ice walls. Violet practiced every move in her repertoire, even removing air from a lizard's lungs. She had to be willing to do whatever it took to get Jack-Jack.

Alberto was the only one not training. He hadn't practiced once since they'd reached the Fire Nation. He was just sitting against the wall, his hands behind his head, watching the others. Violet tried not to get distracted, but her gaze kept sliding over to him. Along with his tan, he had gotten some muscles during their journey. She told herself to focus. Tomorrow was possibly their last chance to invade the Fire Nation. She couldn't get distracted now.

She knew she should be annoyed that he wasn't training for the most important mission of their lives, but she didn't know if it would make a difference anyway at this point. It should be fine, since the Fire Nation would be powerless anyway. As long as he didn't actively screw anything up, she didn't mind.

Luca had also noticed Alberto's lack of participation. "Are you sure you don't want to train with us, Alberto?" He was trying to hide it, but his tone was tinged with frustration.

"I'm good."

"Maybe you should," Luca said. "We all need to get more powerful."

"Moonwind said we'll both be powerful waterbenders, right?" Alberto said. "And he didn't say anything about training, so that means it'll happen no matter what we do. So you can make it happen your way, and I'll do mine."

Luca frowned. "You told me he was full of crap. You can't cherry pick parts of the fortune you want to believe."

"It's fine, Luca. Don't worry so much."

Luca's mouth tightened into a disapproving line. He felt the rising urge to say what he really felt, no holds barred, to see if that would get through to Alberto. Well, also just for the sake of getting to say it out loud. But they couldn't afford to be at each other's throats right now. So he let it go.

That night, Violet couldn't sleep. Everything hinged on tomorrow going well. And there were a million things that could go wrong. If they screwed this up, they might never get another chance to get Jack-Jack.

She rolled over and looked at Alberto, who was fast asleep. He was lying on his back and snoring softly, his mouth hanging open. She watched him breathing. For some reason, it made her feel incredibly lonely. She wanted to wake him, but she didn't want to be a bother. They all needed their rest before tomorrow.

She turned over. Ian was awake too, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey," she said quietly. "How are you feeling? About tomorrow?"

"Nervous," Ian said. "Do you…do you think we can actually do this?"

Violet wasn't sure what to say. "I hope so."

"We have a plan," Ian said. "We just have to follow it, and everything will be all right. Right?"

"Right," she said. They had to believe that. "By this time tomorrow, your brother will be with us again, and we'll have Jack-Jack, and everything will be fine."

Ian was quiet for a long time, and she wondered if he'd fallen asleep. Then he said, barely audibly, "Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, getting Jack-Jack doesn't mean we won. We still have to defeat the Firelord somehow. How are we going to do that? How long will it take?"

"I…don't know," Violet admitted.

"The Fire Nation will just hunt us down to get the Avatar back," Ian said. "And they still control Ba Sing Se. They'll keep burning and killing and destroying everything in their path. And we won't be able to stop them." His voice was shaking, and his breathing was getting faster as if he were on the verge of a panic attack. That made her nervous, since she didn't know how to talk him down.

"We'll figure that out later," she said, wishing she had something more helpful to say. "For now, let's focus on the eclipse. One challenge at a time."

Ian nodded. "Okay. You're right." He closed his eyes to go to sleep. Violet rolled over and snuggled up to Alberto, hoping he wouldn't mind. He stirred and mumbled something incoherent, then flopped his arm around her. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat until she fell asleep.

The next morning, they crowded into the airship. Violet's heart was banging against her rib cage, and her legs were shaking so badly she could barely stand. She wanted to throw up.

"So here's the plan," Woody said. "Buzz will fly us to the palace. You all run in as quickly as you can, taking out as many guards as you can. They'll still try to stop you even without their bending."

"Try to find the dungeon and the throne room," Buzz said. "I think that's where Barley and Jack-Jack probably are."

"We'll stay and report when the eclipse is ending," Woody said.

They nodded.

They flew to the palace. Violet kept an eye on the Sun's position. The eclipse would start in just a few minutes.

They slowed when they neared the palace. They hovered, waiting for the eclipse to begin.

"We should have about ten minutes, give or take," Ian said. "So we need to be fast. Get in, find Barley and Jack-Jack, and get out."

The others nodded.

"We've got this," Alberto said. "Those Fire Nation jerks won't know what hit 'em."

His confidence made Violet feel better. Even if it was probably misplaced.

The Moon crept over the edge of the Sun. The eclipse was starting.

Buzz flew down to the palace. "Go! Go!"

They leapt off the airship onto the bridge below and rushed toward the doors. Guards had noticed them at this point. They lined up outside the door and put out their hands to build a wall of flames.

The Moon passed in front of the Sun. A shadow fell over the bridge.

The guards went pale as they realized their bending was gone. Ian stamped his foot, shaking the bridge. The helpless guards were thrown off the bridge into the water below.

Violet and her friends ran into the palace.