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Katara's heart lurched as she saw the man sneak up on Lee as he started to disarm his opponents. Clubbing the firebender over the back on the head with a heavy bag that was obviously filled with things they might use to restrain their prisoners.

Poor Lee had been unconscious in seconds.

Without him to 'protect' them, Aang and Katara were apprehended. A man gruffly took Katara's wrists and shackled them behind her back, pushing her forward as he leaned down to pick up Lee's limp form.

Aang walked beside her, cuffed the same way, and he shot her a questioning look. She automatically knew what he was asking.

Should they listen to Lee and keep their bending a secret?

Katara nodded slightly, trusting that the older boy had had a plan when he told them not to bend.

The two of them were marched deeper into the worst by four men while the others went back to the ostrich-horses, presumably to steal their stuff. Katara and Aang marched obediently.

She stared regretfully at Lee's head lolling across the man's back as he walked in front of her.

Finally, they came to a small area of the forest that had been cleared. There, the bandits had set up a camp. There were several tents, some of them arranged around a campfire, and one was obviously serving as some sort of kitchen.

It was probably the most civil camp of thieves Katara had ever seen.

As they were led into the camp, a man and a woman came out of the kitchen tent.

"Ooh, who's this handsome fellow?" The woman cooed, her dark eyes falling on Lee as he was dumped beside Aang and Katara. Strangely, the comment made Katara's blood boil.

The three of them were taken to the edge of the camp, still within the light of the fire, and were tied securely around the base of a small tree.

Katara's hands were still tied behind her, which made it impossible to find a comfortable position against the trunk. Aang was tied up to her left, and Lee on her right.

Their captors left them once they were certain they couldn't get free.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Aang asked her.

Concerned, she glanced over at the firebender. His head was hanging forward and she could see dark blood on the back of his head where he'd been struck. It wasn't anything life-threatening yet, but she would definitely need to heal him as soon as possible.

"For now." She replied. They agreed that it would be best to wait for Lee to wake before trying to come up with an escape plan.

It took almost an hour after that for Lee to start regaining consciousness. Katara's head snapped in his direction as she heard him make a deep groan.

"Lee," She whispered, and the firebender's closed eyes flickered, unwilling to open. She gave him a light nudge, struggling to move against the tight restraints.

"Are you ok, Lee?" Aang asked in concern.

Lee managed to lean back, and then winced when he hit his head on the tree behind him. "Ow," He deadpanned.

"Alright, we have to get out of here." Katara interrupted, careful to keep her voice low so their kidnappers wouldn't hear them.

She looked between the two boys, and saw that Lee had a smirk on his face. "What?"

"These guys aren't very smart. They tied us up with rope."

Katara looked at him weirdly. "They must've hit you harder than I thought. Of course they did."

Lee simply rolled his eyes at her. "No, rope's flammable. And I'm a firebender."

"But won't that give us away?" Aang piped, stretching as far as he could to look around at Lee.

The firebender shook his head. "It isn't unlikely to come across firebenders in the Earth Kingdom."

"Us two however," Katara said, realizing why he'd told them not to bend.

"Exactly. Even if Aang didn't airbend, just revealing that you're a waterbender would be a big red flag, the both of you bending would basically signal the Fire Lord."

Aang nodded in understand. "So, you're going to use the hands that are tied behind your back?"

Katara groaned at the complications, and she heard Lee let out an exasperated sigh.

"Firebenders don't need their hands." He explained.

"You'll roast us alive." Katara exclaimed.

"Wait!" Aang said suddenly. "Why didn't you bend in the woods? Then we wouldn't be in this mess."

Lee shrugged a shoulder. "Like Katara said, I would've roasted us alive. The whole forest would've been set on fire."

They lapsed into a moment of silence as they thought of a plan. Lee's bending was their best bet at the moment, but even Katara knew that creating a flame concentrated enough to cut through the rope instead of burning it to a crisp would be almost impossible using just your mouth.

If he and Katara could manage to move enough so that Katara could use her ice breath on the shackles, Lee should be able to break them, but the trouble there would be trying to make sure that their captors didn't notice.

And even still, the bandits had all their stuff, including Lee's swords, and if they could get out of the restraints they wouldn't be able to fight them off without their bending, and with Lee being injured.

Katara watched the bandits sitting around the fire, laughing and celebrating their success. You won't be celebrating for long.

She looked over at Aang, whose brow was drawn in concentration. On her other side, Lee was staring over at the campfire with his eyes narrowed. Katara noticed that the campfire seemed to get brighter every time he exhaled.

"I have an idea," She whispered.

The two boys turned to her, and she explained her plan. To distract the bandits, Lee would make the fire flare, and as discreetly as he could, Aang would create a wind to carry the burning embers onto one of the tents. With the help of Lee's bending, the tent would set fire and while the thieves tried to save their tent and the belongings inside, Katara would freeze Lee's cuffs so that he could cut the rope.

"It might not work, but it's worth a try." She finished, and saw Aang was nodding. Lee thought for a moment before he nodded as well.

Katara and Lee moved around so that they were prepared to move as quick as possible once the fire had started, and then Lee started to breath deeply, bringing in large intakes of air through his nose.

When he exhaled, small licks of fire came from between his lips, and the campfire climbed higher into the air with each powerful breath. Soon, the flames were towering over the tents, and Aang copied Lee's breathing.

A massive wave of wind swept through the clearing, and the flames followed its direction, burning coals and ashes falling onto the shelters.

Lee breathed in, and the embers swelled into tiny flames, which quickly caught on the material.

Katara felt herself smirk as the tent was soon engulfed in flames, thick smoke rising into the air, and the bandits went into a panic. She couldn't believe it had actually worked.

Lee was leaning as far forward as he could, struggling to get his arms up so Katara could use her ice breath. He pushed his shoulders up, and finally managed to free his hands.

He offered them to Katara, and she twisted in against the tree. Making sure she was close so she wouldn't accidentally freeze Lee's skin, she blew out an icy breath, coating the shackles in a layer of ice.

She wasn't entirely sure how Lee was going to break them, but suddenly the metal started steaming and the ice began to melt. Katara continued to use her ice-breath, and soon the metal was red-hot on one side and ice-cold on the other. The differing tempers promptly caused the metal to shatter. A:N/ I'm not entirely sure if this would work, but I know that steel breaks when you freeze it so...

Katara felt a satisfied smirk make its way onto her face as Lee's hands were freed. The firebender reached forward and a small stream of fire shot from his fingertip like a knife. He brought the flame down on the rope, burning it till it snapped, leaving the charred edges.

Freed from the tree, Aang and Katara jumped, Aang tucking his legs in as he jumped and swinging his arms underneath him. Katara knew there was no way should would be able to do that, so she had to settle with waiting for Lee to get his swords back so that he could cut them off.

Lee bounded into the fray, searching for the tent which held their stolen belongings. Aang stayed by her side to help her against any bandits that would try to recapture her, but while he was still cuffed and unable to use his bending as she was, they were both almost defenseless.

Thankfully, the thieves were mostly preoccupied with saving their things.

As Lee found the tent he was looking for, two men grabbed his arms as he was about to go in. He kicked out at them, revealing himself as a firebender. The two men scrambled back, trying to dodge the blasts of flame Lee to hold them off.

He called for Aang to grab their stuff from inside, and he and Katara ran to join.

As soon as Lee's blades were back in his hands, he cut the shackles of Aang and Katara with swift strokes, and the three of them bolted towards their ostrich-horses, Lee fending off their followers until they were all safely seated.

Katara urged her mount into a run, and the beast shot into the forest, going as fast as it could to escape. The ostrich-horse ran between the trees, and she caught sight and Aang riding in front of her, with Lee to her left.

They didn't slow down until they were sure that there was no way that the bandits were still behind them. Letting her ostrich-horse slow down to a walk, Katara gently patted its neck.

"Where to now?" Aang said, reining in his mount.

"We need to find a river or something," Katara replied, turning to Lee, who had pulled up beside them. "I need to heal your head."

Lee shook his head. He looked a bit confused, and Katara remembered that he didn't know about her ability to heal with water. "I'm fine Katara."

She gave him a look. "Lee, you're bleeding.

"I've had worse," He replied. Katara didn't doubt that, one look at his scar proved it.

"I know, but I still need to heal you."

He didn't reply, but Katara knew the argument wasn't over yet. Lee was too stubborn to let it go like that.

Zhao looked up at the sky, watching the Avatar's giant beast fly further away from them. He knew that the Avatar was aware that he was following him, but he still kept going towards Ba Sing Se.

Stupid boy, Zhao thought spitefully. Maybe the Avatar and his friends they would able to hide behind the walls, or that the Earth King would help protect them.

Little did they know, but Zhao had conversed with Princess Azula. The Princess and her two companions had infiltrated the palace disguised as Kyoshi Warriors. She had taken leadership of the King's secret service, the Dai Lee and was ready to overthrow the Earth King.

They were heading straight into the Fire Princess's hands if they kept going, and if they turned around Zhao's forces would simply follow them. Eventually the bison would grow tired and they would be forced to stop.

"Sir, we are ready to continue," A soldier said as he approached Admiral Zhao.

"Good," Zhao replied curtly, before ordering his soldiers to continue their march.

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