Chapter Text
"Will War chief Sokka please step forward for the briefing?" Zuko said from his position to the left of Aang,Toph to Zuko's left.
Sokka nodded and stood, leaving his place on Katara's right, who was on Aang's right. He strode to the other side of the table, placing two maps for everyone to see.
"First we need to take stock of the current situation."
He then motioned to Zuko. "Zuko has already relaid all the information he gathered on his way here, if you need a refresher see the notes to your right."
After he took a second to confirm everyone had them he continued. "From the changes that Zuko had already made we can see a massive rise in fire nation desertions, this is good, less time spent banging our heads into walls trying to convince earth nation generals that the citizens and foot soldiers are not evil incarnate."
"Not only that but it gives us a distinct advantage when it comes to directly disposing of Ozai himself, there's likely less people who actively support him and the war itself."
"But, we still have work to do." He pulled a charcoal pencil out and marked several key locations across the earth kingdom.
He then pointed to one of the marks in the southern earth kingdom. "Here is Hei Bai's forest, since it wouldn't be burnt to the ground yet we can take measures to ensure it never will."
Aang raised his hand. "Yes Aang, what is it?"
"Well, it's not like I don't think this is a good idea but if we end the war before Hei Bai's forest burns then we don't have to worry about it, right?"
Sokka shook his head. "Not quite, I ran into Hei Bai after I died and was in the spirit world, turns out it wasn't the fire nation that burnt their forest down. It was just some kids who lost control of their camp fire, that's why he attacked that village."
Sounds like thunder echoed throughout the forest from two separate directions, steadily getting louder and converging. Trees and rock were demolished in the path as the clouds above changed and shifted overhead into otherworldly shapes.
The people of Ha Ba Village fearfully peered out of their homes, trembling at the wrath of Hei Bai.
Many feared it would turn its ire on them.
And for three days and two nights not a soul rested, afraid of what would come should they slip from their vigilance.
Katara spoke up with a thoughtful tone. "So even if we stop the war the forest burns. Alright, so we can combine Toph and Aang's Earthbending to build a river path through the middle of the forest that can meet up with this river here." She leaned forward, picking up a bit of charcoal and drawing out where this river would connect to one further north.
"It'll make putting any fires out easier and make fire in general less likely to completely destroy the forest." Sokka added, following his sister's train of thought.
Toph kicked her feet up on the table. "It'll take a couple of days but me and twinkle toes can do it."
Aang nodded. "And I can go talk to Hei Bai about it before we get started so they don't get upset."
A few days before what the people of Ha ba would come to call "The Three Days of Rage."
A young girl holding a small basket followed a trail with practised ease. With her she had an assortment of fruits for offering.
She hummed an old song as she walked, the melody coming from the old legend of a Black and White spirit who protected the land.
It was something of a right of passage that once someone turned eighteen they would make the journey to Hei Bai's shrine and ask for a prosperous life.
However, as she stepped into the clearing that housed the old stone monument, a bright light flashed, blinding her momentarily.
Through squinting eyes she saw a great shape in the clearing, white shaggy fur and six limbs. Through the bright light she saw dark shadows on the creature.
She shook, basket falling to the ground as she saw Hei Bai. Legend has it that it usually took the form of a panda, however, it would transform into a fearsome six legged beast when enraged.
In fear she ran, not knowing what had angered the peaceful spirit.
Meanwhile, the Gaang sat on Appa, covering their eyes as Aang's form was bathed in a powerful glow.
It stopped just as suddenly as it began and Aang stood up from his meditative position.
"Good news, Hei Bai's fine with it, they were really excited to get a water feature for free!"
Once Sokka finished writing out the plan he clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, now onto the next stage, Jet."
A man standing atop the newly constructed wall stared down the long stretch of road. He, along with his and several other squads, had long since ditched their uniform.
They kept the armoured plating and wore a simple grey uniform under it. Together with the locals they formed a kind of militia to protect the town, even building a simple wall.
It was mostly wood but a few places were reinforced with stone on the inside. There were only a few earth benders in the village, most of whom were young children or badly injured. So while they steadily made a stone wall, the fine nation deserters built this wooden one further out to buy some time if the fire nation military attacked.
Taki came to full attention when he noticed a group approaching. There were half a dozen and as they got closer he saw the old tattered clothing that hung to them.
Refugees most likely, not the first to come their way but definitely the youngest, the two oldest looked to be no older than fourteen at most. He could hear them talk with Shu at the gate.
It was one of the younger ones who spoke from the front of the group. She and one other had dark skin, likely those two are watertribe and considering the south pole is the closest he'd say they're running inland. Poor kids were probably run out of their home by the fire navy. "E-excuse but can we enter? We promise we'll stay out of everyone's way. We just need a place to rest for now."
The taller one with a messy top knot looked antsy, his eyes a bright amber. He hid it well but just barely enough peeked through his stoic facade. He was most likely a Fine nation earth kingdom mix. The thought of what he must have gone through made Taki's heart ache.
But it was the last two that were what really hit him hardest. It was a small girl clinging tightly to the water tribe boy, her eyes cloudy and grey, blind. From the bandages around her face that her eyes stared blankly out he could barely spot red skin. likely burn scars.
The last, and most saddening one, rode on the back of the fire-earth boy mostly limp. Covered head to toe in bandages.
The strong scent of burn cream more than denoted the cause.
His disgust with the cruelty of the war increased ten fold.
Who in the name of Agni would burn children?
Zuko sat up straighter, clearing his throat. "Everything should be going fine in his village. A group of deserters were taken in and have been fortifying the town and those that don't want to fight have been working the fields, mines or as tradesmen."
Sokka nodded. "Good, we should probably still check up on it but otherwise things should be fine."
"We'll need disguises!" Aang said enthusiastically.
Zuko shook his head. "Yeah no. Aang, I'll be taking care of that."
"I'll have to wear fucking shoes won't I?" Toph grumbled.
Taki saw three of them at the end of his shift. The water tribe boy was carrying two loaves of bread and a head of lettuce, the blind girl still stuck firmly to his side.
Next to him was the fire-earth boy, who was watching everything around them like a hawk. His amber eyes scanned the nooks and crannies, lingered down side streets for a few sparse seconds before moving on.
Taki realised he was cataloguing exits and hiding places.
The thought of what events must have inspired such habits hurts to even think about.
He wished with every fibre of his being that the good prince would rise to power soon.
The thought of his prince struck him with an idea and before he could chicken out he walked over.
"You're doing that thing again."
"What?" Zuko was snapped out of his city planning by Sokka. He had gotten caught up thinking about how he would be setting out the town. The best places to put the boiler houses, the paths for the plumbing, the road plan. Ect.
It was a habit he built from visiting the poorer towns in the fire nation while he was restructuring and uplifting the city plans. He wanted only the best for his people and that started from the bottom. He had spent months travelling his nation to personally plan the reconstruction efforts.
"Someone's coming our way, remember our cover." Sokka said as he stopped and turned to face the fire nation deserter coming their way.
He was young and tall but his face was somewhere between sad and hopeful. As he got close he knelt down to be better at their height.
"I know things are bleak. And you all have probably been through hell but…" he seemed to lose steam somewhat before he took a controlled breath.
"...Our prince, Prince Zuko, Will end this war and with it all this suffering. Please remember that. We're all working together so we can live without fear."
Taki watched as that slight edge in the fire-earth boy's eyes fell away, something akin to awe replacing it.
The water tribe boy nodded and pulled the fire-earth boy out of the market, the blind girl at his side but with her head still tilted in his direction.
For all that words are worth these days, Taki hopes he helped them in some way.
Aang pointed at a village on the map that wasn't marked by Sokka earlier. "What about Aunt Woo, specifically the volcano near Ti Sheng village?"
Sokka hummed for a moment. "Well, Zuko can do that whole 'settling the volcano from within' thing he does."
"Yeah, and it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. It's not a permanent solution but it'll be safe for another ten years at least." Zuko replied.
"Alrighty then, next on the agenda is…"
"..Ba Sing Se. Great."
"Hey, sokka."
"Yeah Aang?"
"Remember how annoying it was to go through the serpent's pass?"
"Yeah?"
"We should fix that."
"Um, excuse me sir?"
"What is it, soldier?"
"It appears someone has built a bridge without a permit."
"Just tear it down then."
"That's the issue sir, it spans the entirety of the serpent's pass."
Long Feng took a moment to process that. "Excuse me?"
"It's also nearly entirely condensed iron, it sprung up overnight and no one knows how. Refugees are already using it and the Prismatic Serpent hasn't gone near it."
Long Feng stared at one of his Di Lee agents for a long while. Searching, hoping this was a joke.
"This is going to be a nightmare of paperwork."
Zuko flipped through his notebook as he pointed out a big issue with their goal. "So how exactly are we supposed to hide Druk and Appa while we're in Ba Sing Se. Appa's huge and Druk would be the size of a horse by time we get there. Unless we're forgoing our element of surprise?"
Sokka suddenly got a light in his eyes. "So you would be able to ride Druk by then?"
Zuko warily nodded. "Yeah, what exactly are you planning?"
Sokka just smirked.
A Di Lee agent came running into his office with a panicked look on his face. "Sir! It's an emergency!"
Long Feng rose to his feet, knocking over a stack of paper as he did so. "What is it? Have the fire nation breached our walls?!"
"Yes! No? We're- The Prince of the fire nation is having lunch with The King!" He blurted it out in a jumbled mess.
"What?!"
Long Feng opened the chamber door to see something truly spectacular.
A deep red dragon lay across the centre of the floor, it's head stretched out to be in the fireplace.
And Kuei, sweet and innocent Kuei, who was barely the age to be crowned, was sitting on the thing.
Long Feng rushed over but stopped within arms reach of the earth king. "Kuei, get down from there it's dangerous!"
Kuei just laughed. "Relax Long Feng, it won't harm me. Prince Zuko has total control over it." He Leaned forward and whispered in obvious fascination. "They're spiritually connected!"
"That be as it may we don't know what his goals are, this could be a ploy to lull you into a false sense of security." Long Feng said as he tugged Kuei off the dragon and toward the door.
"If it would make you more comfortable we can have a private meeting?" The sound of a young voice came from a small table where the fire prince sat drinking tea.
Long Feng shut the door to his private study with quick but careful movements. It clicked close with barely any noise, however, it seemed to echo in the silence.
The fire prince strode over to the large desk and sat in the chair in front of it. Long Feng sat in his spot opposite of Prince Zuko with careful eyes observing him.
"So" The Prince began, resting his chin on his palm as he slouched in the chair. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here."
"Indeed." Long feng replied with a wary tone. Whatever the prince was doing here couldn't spell anything good.
The prince smiled. It was all teeth and his eyes shone with a predatory light. "Me and my father don't get along very well."
In a single sentence Long Feng went from nervous to scheming. If the fire prince was alluding to what Long Feng thought he was then…
"Well, let's hope no unfortunate accidents happen to him until you can… sort out your differences."
Prince Zuko's smile stretched to what looked to be an uncomfortable amount.
June is a bounty hunter.
But not the regular kind. She doesn't kill, in fact she's only ever taken one person's life. There isn't much point in killing. It's messy and often pays less. Sure its easier than dealing with a prisoner but that isn't much of a problem for her.
Her shirshu can paralyse a fully grown badger-mole with only twelve lashes of her tongue. As such it only takes one strike and June has her bounty bagged.
And her current bounty was a strange one.
Two run away noble girls.
Now June can appreciate an easy contract but this whole situation smelled funny. All she had to do was track the girls and report on their status. Where they were, what they were doing, and so forth.
So June accepted and tracked them down to a travelling circus in the fire nation colonies. While she was there she saw the two girls act as stage hands.
June quietly laughed to herself, an image popping into her head.
Two maidens with a forbidden love run away from their home and join a circus. The worried parents of both families hire a bounty hunter to find them.
It was like the beginning of a cheesy play.
And June wants to see where it goes.
Plus, she could drag out this contract for as long as possible if she's clever. Seriously, the pay was ridiculous.
Maybe she could finally pay off her bar debt.
Nah.