Chapter 9: The Warriors' Rescue

And so, it appears that the siege will take longer than anticipated, Lu Ten wrote. King Bumi is odd, to put it mildly, but he has proven himself to be a powerful bender and a canny strategist, and determined to fight us to the last. I cannot say how long it will be until I can take the city and return home. Nonetheless, I am determined that I will not fail. I will do my father proud, I swear.

I must confess, however, that I already grow weary of this place; the mountains and the city are brown and drab, far less spectacular than the volcanic mountains and fertile hills of the Fire Nation. And of course, my Lady, I miss you as well – I miss your wisdom, your beauty, your smile, and everything else. It pains me that we must be apart, but I promise you that I will return to you as a victor.

Until then, I remain your beloved Lu Ten.

The prince sighed and put his brush aside, regarding what he'd written. Once he was certain the ink was dry, he rolled it up and placed it in a scroll case, and called for his attendant. When he arrived, Lu Ten handed him a scroll he had written earlier in the evening and then the one that he had just finished.

"I have missives to send to the Fire Nation," he said. "The first is for my father; the second, for the lady Zhizhai, my betrothed." He gave a small smile. "Try not to get those mixed up."

The servant seemed uncertain whether it was appropriate to chuckle at his prince's joke or maintain stoic silence, and finally settled on giving a quiet grin as regarded both cases. "I will see to it at once, my lord," he said, and then turned and left the tent to seek the army's messenger hawks.

Lu Ten remained alone for some time after he left, and then rose and left the tent himself. The sky was dark and the moon had risen, and he turned to regard the great bulk of Omashu where it towered defiantly in the distance. The last great Earth Kingdom stronghold – he shook his head. Despite the bold words he'd written to his father and Zhizhai, in the cold moonlight, the city seemed ancient and impregnable.

"Trouble sleeping?" a nearby voice asked, and Lu Ten turned to regard Commander Shong as the older officer approached. He'd apparently been inspecting the night guards, as he still wore his uniform, though he held his helmet under one arm.

Lu Ten sighed. "I know what I have to do," he said, "but I don't know how to do it. If I fail, I bring shame on myself, my father, and this entire army. It's all so much easier when you have an enemy in front of you to fight."

"I think every general feels the same way in his first solo command," Shong said. "But I believe in you. You are your father's son."

Lu Ten began to pace. "Our spies have a hard time getting close to King Bumi," he said. "He holds court at the oddest hours, and nobody's entirely sure where he sleeps – if he even sleeps at all. His new aide, on the other hand, interests me – the young woman who apparently dresses like Avatar Kyoshi. She already slipped away from us once, but we still have her friends." He turned to the commander. "Perhaps one of them knows something that can help us get to her – and through her, to Bumi."

"My prince," Shong said, all business now, "so far the so-called 'Kyoshi Warriors' have proven remarkably resistant to interrogation or attempts to convince them to defect. Their pride in their tradition is strong."

"Well then, maybe threats of force aren't what we need," said Lu Ten. "Have one of them brought to me in the morning; maybe reason and some good tea can do a better job at winning her over."

"I will do as you command, my prince," Shong said.

/

Suki regarded the pai sho board before her with an incredulous expression, then raised her gaze to her opponent. "I can't believe what you just did," she said. "This whole time, it looked like you were just moving your tiles around at random, but you were actually laying a very careful trap for me, and now I can't see a single move I could make that would keep you from winning." She sighed. "I resign."

Across the table, King Bumi regarded her first with one eye, then the other, then, inexplicably, with both closed, and then burst out laughing. "That's always the problem with young people," he crowed. "Paying so much attention to where you're going that you never bother to watch how you're getting there – or how other people are beating you too it!"

"I'll try not to take offence," Suki said, crossing her arms. "Permission to speak freely?" When Bumi tilted his head quizzically and leaned in with one ear pointing towards her, she took it as a 'yes' and continued. "I'm just wondering what the point of all this is?"

"The point is that we're having a rousing game of midnight pai sho and I won!" Bumi said. Then he paused, scratching his chin. "Although, would I still have won if we'd been playing at noon? Would that mean that the point then would have been a different point? Or maybe the point is constantly changing, meaning that there really isn't a point at all – or maybe that everything is the point after all!" The king leaped to his feet and pointed one finger at the ceiling as though he'd just made some grand proclamation, then turned back to Suki. "Ah – what were we talking about again?"

Suki took a deep breath, counted to five, and managed to resist the urge to begin tearing out her hair. "My point is that I came to this city hoping to fight the Fire Nation," she said, "and instead of doing that you've had me running around Omashu using the mail system as a slide, taking care of your pet for a day, getting lessons on a tsungi horn, and now losing at pai sho in the middle of the night. Basically, everything but fighting. I'm starting to think you're wasting my time."

She regretted the last words the moment they left her mouth – eccentric and possibly insane he might be, but Bumi was a king, the last free Earth Kingdom monarch, and was fully capable of having her thrown in some dungeon for speaking to him that way. The old man, however, didn't seem angry at all – instead, he regarded her calmly for a moment, seeming more serious than she'd seen him in days.

"The problem is," Bumi finally said, "that we're all stuck in here, and the Fire Nation has their big camp out there, and they don't have a good way of getting to us, and we don't have a good way of making them pack all their bags and go home. That means that both me and that young prince fellow are waiting and watching for the opportune moment to strike. Until then, we do – nothing!" Then he laughed his snorting laugh again, and Suki found herself wondering once again, for what was probably the thousandth time since arriving in Omashu, how it was that someone who could be brilliant was also so, well, bizarre.

"Well," she said after a moment's thought, "I guess that makes some sense. But it doesn't help much with something that I've really been worrying about. The rest of the Kyoshi Warriors are still being held prisoner in the Fire Nation camp. From what I saw of him, Lu Ten doesn't seem like the kind of person who would torture people for fun, but, well, he is a Fire Nation prince and general, and I'm worried about my friends. I hate leaving them captured by the enemy if there's anything I could possibly do about it."

"Well, now," Bumi said, stroking his chin and wearing an expression of utmost craftiness, "I think there just may be something we can do about that…"

/

The sun had just crested the horizon when Lu Ten finished pouring two cups of tea and seated himself behind the table in his tent. No sooner had he positioned himself then the tent flap opened and two guards stepped inside, holding a wary-looking girl in a prisoner's uniform between them. They deposited her none-to-gently in the chair across from their prince and then stepped back, awaiting orders.

"Leave us," Lu Ten commanded; the soldiers bowed in quick succession and departed without a word. The girl glared at the prince for a long, silent moment, and then finally she spoke.

"So," she said, "do all your prisoners get this kind of treatment, or just the pretty ones?"

"Actually," Lu Ten replied, "I'd been hoping we might have the chance to talk without anyone around to bother us."

The girl arched an eyebrow. "Are you coming on to me?" she asked. "Because if so, I have to admit that you're not bad looking, but you're way too old for me. Oh, and one other thing, too – the fact that you're leading the army that's here to conquer my Kingdom. That's a bit of a turn-off."

"Ah," Lu Ten said, faintly embarrassed. "I think I've given you the wrong impression about what I want from you. Trust me when I tell you I have someone I care about very much back in the Fire Nation, and prisoners of war who are more than ten years younger than me aren't something I'm interested in. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this group you belong to – the Kyoshi Warriors, am I right? – and this leader of yours who managed to avoid being captured." When she made no move to respond, he gently pushed one of the teacups towards her with one hand.

The girl took the cup and stared at it for a moment in quiet surprise. "You're serving your own tea and not making servants do it?" she said. "I'll admit – not what I was expecting."

Lu Ten smiled. "My father always taught me that a true gentleman not only personally serves tea, but can brew it himself. This particular brew is Ginseng – one of the Fire Lord's favorites. Try some. We're not all mindless barbarians in the Fire Nation, you know."

The girl looked at her tea a while longer. "So," she finally said. "You want me to tell you about Suki, and then you'll – what? Get us better conditions? Maybe let me go free? Give me a big sack of gold?"

"That will depend on how useful your information is. You can start with something simple, if it makes it easier. You still haven't told me your name."

"Daini," she said after a long pause. "My name's Daini. And as for your other questions…" she looked up, face hard. "You clearly don't know a lot about the Kyoshi Warriors if you think a few weeks in prison are enough for me to betray my leader or my country, Your Highness." And she splashed the tea in Lu Ten's face.

The prince sighed. "I was afraid you'd do something like that, but it was worth a try. Guards!" The two soldiers burst in almost before Lu Ten finished shouting; Daini looked for a moment like she was going to make a run for it, but clearly decided that her odds against two soldiers and the prince himself weren't good, and allowed them to seize her arms – albeit with a glare on her face.

"Take her back to the others and await my further orders," Lu Ten commanded. The soldiers and their captive departed, and moments later Commander Shong entered the tent. Taking one look at his prince's still-wet face, he sighed.

"I take it things did not go well?"

"That would be accurate," Lu Ten admitted, rubbing his chin. "The girl had spirit, I'll say that for her. Still, I think we can get some advantage out of our prisoners after all. Here is what I want you to do…"

/

Suki brushed aside the curtain and stepped into the shady-looking building near the outer wall of Omashu, and wondered once again what Bumi was thinking in sending her here.

The place appeared to be a seedy bar of the type Suki had read about but never expected to genuinely find herself in. This early in the day, the place wasn't particularly busy – mostly just a handful of unsavory-looking characters who had gathered around the tables to gamble or at the bar to trade gossip, and though many of them looked up curiously at the colorfully-dressed girl who had just entered, they immediately shook their heads and went back to what they'd been doing. Suki threaded her way between tables – stopping briefly to examine a pair of swords mounted on one wall that looked like they'd been captured from the Fire Nation - before finally arriving at a table near the back where two people she hoped were her contacts sat.

They were a man and a woman, both of them with dark hair and fair skin, who weren't doing anything in particular but seemed to be expecting company. They were both fairly young – maybe ten years older than Suki herself at most – and both had the athletic look of trained fighters. The woman wore a sword at her side; if the man was armed, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors couldn't see what with.

"Are you Tai and Daxia?" she asked. "I was sent to meet you both."

"That's us," the woman – Daxia, Suki guessed – said as she gestured at one of the other chairs at their table. "Take a seat. I would imagine from the Avatar Kyoshi outfit and the fact that you know who we are that you must be Suki."

"Last I checked," she replied. "Anyway, I need some help, and the king told me your names and how to find this place. Are you mercenaries?"

"We prefer to think of ourselves as "specialists in problem-solving"," the man, Tai, said with a wink, "but you can call us mercenaries. Everyone else does. What do you need done?"

"Since you work for the king," Daxia put in, "we assume you'll be able to pay us well."

"Money's not an issue," Suki said, and then took a deep breath. "I need your help to rescue five prisoners who are being held somewhere in the Fire Nation camp. I was told you'd be able to help with this."

The two mercenaries looked at each other. "That's going to be tricky," Daxia finally said. "Doable, but tricky. I don't suppose you know where exactly your friends are being held? I've got plans of the camp, but knowing where to start would help a lot."

Suki looked down at her hands. "I don't," she said softly. "I was being held in a different place briefly, but I don't know where they took the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors. I'm sorry."

"Give me a day or two," Daxia said, "and I can figure it out. Then we can go in and get your friends out – and I imagine you'll want to be there with us. That's good – we can always use more hands, especially when they're attached to someone who already knows what they're doing."

"How can you be so sure you can get us into the Fire Nation camp?" Suki said; her eyes roved over the two mercenaries' skin and hair, settled for a moment on Daxia's golden eyes and the particular style of Tai's short beard, and then everything clicked. "You're Fire Nation yourself, aren't you?"

"Not anymore," Tai said. "We're deserters. Daxia used to be an officer, and I have… other talents… but we got fed up with the things we were being asked to do and made a break for it."

Suki raised an eyebrow. "You deserted from the Fire Lord's army and lived to tell the tale?" she said. "I didn't think that happened."

"Not normally," Tai said. "But we had help. Our… benefactor… told us to come here, that King Bumi would shelter us, and he has. But he does ask us the occasional favor."

"And right now that involves us helping you," Daxia finished. "So tell me straight now – are you willing and ready to fight beside two Fire Army deserters to help save your friends?"

Suki looked at her gloves again, then back up at the mercenaries. "If Bumi trusts you," she said, "then I'll trust you too. I want to help my warriors, and if you'll help me do that, then I will fight beside you."

"All right," Daxia said. "Now, we won't know specifics until I can get my hands on some current intel, but for now, let's talk the general plan."

/

When Suki entered the throne room of Omashu later that day, she found it empty save for Bumi himself, who was sprawled on a throne in a most undignified manner, making a tremendous racket of snoring and apparently fast asleep. His pet Flopsy, apparently operating under the impression that he was a much smaller creature than he actually was, lay curled up tightly at the throne's base, and the king's feet appeared to be using him as a fluffy, oversized stool. Flopsy didn't appear to mind this arrangement at all.

Suki took a moment to smile at the scene, and then crept slowly into the room and silently approached the throne. Finally, she reached Bumi's side, and crouched down to whisper into his ear. "I found the people you told me to meet with," she said. "And it looks like we might be able to save my warriors. You didn't tell me they were Fire Nation, though. I can't believe you didn't know? Maybe it was your idea of a joke. Maybe it just slipped your mind. But I think you were testing me. You wanted to see what I would do, if I was willing to work with people from the same nation we're at war with. Well, I'm not sure if I trust them or not, but I do know this – if they help me get my friends back, I'll buy them drinks at that bar every day for the next five years if they want it. So, does that mean I pass?"

Bumi didn't answer, unless a particularly thunderous snore counted. Suki stood up, glanced around, and then quietly made her way back out of the throne room. Just as she stepped out of the door, though, she thought she heard something that didn't sound like snoring – but that did have the distinctive air of an old man's high-pitched snickering.

/

That night, Suki waited near the base of Omashu's wall, dressed in nondescript pants and shirt rather than her usual uniform and facepaint. She leaned back against a nearby building as she regarded the large open space where Daxia and Tai had told her to meet them, wondering exactly what was so special about this place and how it was going to help them.

"Is that you, Suki?" a male voice asked; Suki spun to see Tai approaching, dressed in a dark cloak and accompanied by a bored-looking man in the uniform of one of Omashu's soldiers. "I almost didn't recognize you without the makeup."

"It's me," she said. "Where's Daxia? Are we going to do this tonight or not?"

"We are," Tai said, nodding. He gestured to the soldier, who stepped forward and thrust one hand out in front of himself dramatically; the open space between buildings shuddered and then the ground split apart, revealing a tunnel similar to the one by which Suki had first entered the city.

"After you," Tai said, gesturing. Suki walked to the edge of the opening and saw a metal ladder against one of the sides; taking hold of it, she began to slowly descend into the darkness. After a brief climb, her feet touched solid ground, and she turned to see Daxia waiting for her, dressed in a Fire Nation officer's uniform and holding a torch. What appeared to be another uniform lay folded on the ground by her side.

"You'll want to put this on," Daxia said, prodding the clothing lightly with one booted foot. "Don't worry; the men won't be following you down until I give them the go ahead."

"So I take it you got into the camp after all?" Suki asked as she began to pull the uniform on.

"Yeah. Luckily I deserted from Ba Sing Se and there's no wanted posters of me around here anyway, and I'm thankfully I'm not distinctive enough for most people to remember my face if they just caught a glimpse. Anyway, I found where your friends were being hidden – in a small stockade near the edge of the camp away from Omashu. Most of the area around it, and presumably inside, though I didn't get a chance to check – has been floored with metal, so there's no earthbending through it."

"That's where this comes in, I take it?" Suki asked as she gestured down to herself, now clad as a low-ranking Fire Army soldier.

"Exactly," Daxia said with a cold smile. She raised her hands to her mouth. "All right, boys; you can get down here now." A few moments later, Tai and the earthbender had joined them.

"Here's the plan," Daxia told them. "This tunnel opens near the edge of the camp. Wearing these uniforms, we can walk around without anyone realizing we're out of place, unless we're unlucky enough that someone who knows me got transferred from Ba Sing Se in the last week and happens to cross our path – not likely. Tai, you make a distraction. I'll get rid of the guards around the Kyoshi Warriors, and Suki, you'll get them out of the stockade and back towards the tunnels."

"And that's where I'll be," the eartbender added.

"Got it," Suki said. "Let's get moving."

/

As they made their way down the dark, twisting length of the tunnel, Suki found herself walking beside Tai. "So," she said conversationally, "you mentioned earlier that you have some sort of special skill, and Daxia told you to provide a distraction. What exactly is it that you can do?"

Tai shrugged. "To put it simply, I make things go boom."

Suki arched an eyebrow. "So you're a firebender?"

"I'm afraid not –to my old dad's eternal shame and regret," he said with a small laugh. "You know the Fire Nation's explosives? I know how to make them, and I'm pretty good when it comes to using them. Daxia, she's the brains of the outfit, but me? If you need any standing structure reduced to a crater, I'm your man." He paused. "Which reminds me – I have something for you."

He reached under his cloak and pulled out a heavy pack; after rifling through it for a minute he dug out three long clay cylinders and handed them to Suki. She looked down at them uncertainly. "These are bombs?" she asked.

"Sure are," Tai said. "See that cap on one end? No, don't unscrew it – they're filled with a mixture that ignites after a bit of exposure to the air. If you need to make an escape, pull the cap off, toss one of these behind you, run, and don't look back. The blast is pretty spectacular." He looked her in the eye. "Now, we'll be separated while we're in the camp, but if you run into any trouble, pull the cap off one of these and toss it into the air. I'll see the explosion, and that's my signal to make some noise, maybe pull some pursuit of your back."

"Got it," Suki said. "So, if you don't mind my asking, how did someone with your skills end up deserting? I'd think the Fire Nation would want to keep an eye on people like you."

"Oh, they did," Tai said, voice dark. "They've got a lot of uses for someone with my skills. Using them on enemy soldiers is one thing – a war's a war, and we've all done things we're not proud of. But when my commander wanted me to start blowing up Earth Kingdom civilians to make a point – that crossed a line. I wanted out." He jerked his head at his companion, who walked a ways in front with her torch. "Now I'm a common soldier with a knack for explosions, but Daxia's an officer; she comes from an old family with connections. They pulled strings and got her posted to Ba Sing Se, where… something happened. She won't tell me what, but she learned something there about what the high-ups were getting up to, and it scared her bad – and believe me, Daxia doesn't scare easy."

"So, has she told King Bumi about this… whatever it is?" Suki asked. "That might come in handy."

Tai shrugged. "Don't know; it's her business. She's told our mutual friend, the guy who helped us desert – I know that. He and Bumi know each other, and I imagine he'd have told him, if it was really important."

Suki regarded him for a moment longer; she wanted to know more, but got the feeling that he was telling the truth and didn't know any more than she did. They made the rest of their underground journey in silence.

/

They emerged from the tunnel under a starlit sky, standing on a hill with the Fire Nation camp arrayed below them. "All right," Daxia said. "Follow me, and try to act natural. If we're lucky, this will work." The woman straightened and assumed a stiff posture with a coldly commanding air; Suki took up a position behind her, as did Tai, who shrugged off his cloak to reveal that he too was wearing a uniform beneath it.

The three of them marched to the edge of the camp, which was, as had been reported, now floored with metal, and were met by a pair of sentries in full armor and masks. Daxia regarded them impassively for a long moment as they stared back at her, and then both bowed and quietly murmured the word "lieutenant" before stepping aside. Daxia strode between them imperiously, and Suki followed her into the camp. They turned a bend between two tents, and out of the corner of her eye the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors saw Tai quietly slip away.

They marched in silence past rows of tents with Fire Nation insignias on their sides; Suki desperately hoped that she didn't look as nervous as she felt. Many of the tents had soldiers milling about, many of whom were eating or gambling, but some were obviously on sentry duty, and all of them were armored and armed; but they paid the two young women little attention beyond the occasional appreciative look. Finally, they passed beyond most of the tents and came to an open area near the camp's far edge, where stood a wooden stockade with guards posted around its edges.

Daxia stepped forward. "Soldiers, attention!" she snapped coldly. "You are being relieved of duty at once. Prince Lu Ten has ordered that another company be tasked with guarding the prisoners. You are to report to Commander Shong at once for new assignments. Get moving, now!"

"Ah, Lieutenant," one particularly brave guard said, "we were just given this assignment by Commander Shong himself, and were told that our squad would have the duty until the end of the week. We're just a little confused about why we're being reassigned…"

"Are you questioning my authority?" Daxia said; she marched forward until she was directly in front of the guard who'd spoken, and though she was noticeably shorter than he was, she still seemed to be by far the larger of the two. "That sounds like insubordination. To question my authority is to question the Prince's authority. To question the Prince's authority is to question his father's authority. And to question the Fire Lord's authority is to question civilization itself! Now get moving at once, or must I have you all flogged?"

The guards stared at one another questioningly for a long moment, and then as one they hefted their spears and marched off towards the center of the camp. Daxia watched them go and smirked. "A little melodramatic," she said, "but it got the job done. Now, I'll stay here and try to divert anyone who comes asking questions. You get your friends out."

"Already on it," Suki said. Breaking into a run, she leapt onto the stockade's outer wall and scaled it as quickly as she could, leaped onto the top, and then landed in a crouch on the inside. Five stunned female faces turned to regard her.

"Suki?" Daini asked in a disbelieving tone. "Is that you? How did you get here?"

"I'm here to get you girls out of here," Suki said. "The how can wait. Is anyone hurt?"

The other warriors shook their heads. "The Prince tried to talk me into selling you out," Daini admitted, "but I made it pretty clear I wasn't interested. He took it surprisingly well, but still locked me back up in here."

"Well, you won't be here for long." Suki pulled one of Tai's cylinders from her belt. "Everyone, against the far wall and cover your heads; I think this is going to be pretty loud." The other warriors moved at once to do as she commanded; Suki pulled the top off the cylinder, jammed it into the gate's lock, and then rushed over to join them. No sooner did she have her hands over her head than the device exploded; there was a great roar and wave of heat, and the gate was blasted clean off its hinges.

"Everybody out, now!" Suki ordered; she raced out of the stockade, the other Kyoshi Warriors following close behind. Daxia waited outside, waving smoke away from her face with an expression of great distaste.

"I'll have to remind Tai to try and make those a little less smelly next time," she muttered, then looked up at Suki. "Are these all your friends?"

"Yes," Suki replied, nodding. "Anyone come by?"

Daxia shook her head. "No, and I don't like it. This is a little too easy. But let's see if our luck holds, shall we?" She turned and began to run around the stockade towards the edge of camp, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors following close behind. They didn't see a single soldier as they fled, and Suki flet unease growing in her gut. The deserter was right; this was too easy. Something was going on.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when Daxia suddenly stopped in her tracks and leapt back; a moment later, a fireblast struck the ground where she had been standing. Suki looked up, and there on a rock just outside the camp stood Prince Lu Ten himself, fist still smoldering. A dozen soldiers, firebenders all, stood behind him.

"Where, exactly," he asked, "do you think you're going with my prisoners?"

"Knew it was too easy," Daxia muttered.

"Your prisoners?" Suki demanded, stepping forward. "I think they're my friends, and I'm getting them out of here." She dropped into a fighting stance, desperately wishing she had her fans or katana; behind her, she heard the other Kyoshi Warriors doing the same.

"I had a feeling you'd come for them sooner or later," Lu Ten said; he raised one hand and more soldiers stepped out from between the tents, led by an older officer. "Your friends are very loyal to you, and I had a feeling that loyalty would go both ways. Now, I think we can all be reasonable. You're outnumbered and surrounded, and you can't win. You can come quietly, and if you tell me everything you know about King Bumi and his plans, I might be persuaded to let you go. How does that sound?"

Suki met Lu Ten's eyes for a long moment, and then her gaze shifted back over the other Kyoshi Warriors and Daxia before returning to the prince. One hand brushed her belt and the two explosives that still hung there, and she smiled. "I think," she said slowly, "that it'll never happen. Everybody, down!"

Behind Suki, her companions dropped to the ground as she pulled the cylinder from her belt, tore off the lid, and tossed it into the air. It exploded in a great blast of sound, light, and heat, and even the Fire Nation soldiers stumbled back, shielding their eyes.

The sound was answered. Wherever he was hidden in the Fire Nation camp, Tai had seen the signal, and set off whatever traps he had prepared. Three fireballs blossomed at different points within the camp, and the flames began to spread. Suki smiled tightly. She didn't imagine that would do serious lasting damage to an army full of firebenders, but it ought to keep them nice and occupied.

Lu Ten's eyes widened in surprise, and he took a step backwards. In an instant, Suki had leapt back to her feet and darted towards him, aiming a blow with her fist directly for his face. The prince recovered quickly, though, and darted lightly aside, intercepting further blows with his own hands and arms. He was good, she had to admit, maybe better than she was, but he wasn't even using fire – he must be serious about wanting her alive. Well, Suki could use that to her advantage.

Springing up lightly, she vaulted into the air and came down hard with both hands on Lu Ten's shoulders, driving him to the ground. She rolled lightly off him and landed in a crouch, but even as she did so he spun with his legs and knocked hers out from under her. Suki winced as she hit the ground and looked up to see the prince standing over her; before he could strike she sprang back again and launched a blow with two stiffened fingers towards his side. Before it landed, however, Lu Ten slipped lightly to the side and then looped his arm into hers as it past, holding her fast with his superior size and strength.

"That was a good fight," he admitted. "But you have to admit, it's over." Suki glanced over her shoulder to see that the other warriors had been herded back against the edge of the camp by the Fire Nation soldiers, unarmed and outnumbered, they were in no position to win this fight. She looked back to Lu Ten.

"So," he said, "do you surrender now? For your friends' sake, at least?"

"Actually, I was about to ask you the same question." Lu Ten's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could voice his question Suki held up the final explosive in her free hand and let him take a good, long look; from his sudden intake of breath, she knew he knew exactly what it was. The prince tried to pull away, but this time Suki held him fast, rather than the other way around; he couldn't untangle their arms so easily.

"You're bluffing," he finally said. "You don't seem like the type who'd blow herself up just to kill me too."

"Maybe I'm bluffing," Suki admitted. "But you don't know that for sure. Are you willing to bet your life on it?" She looked over at the older officer. "How about you? Do you want to have to be the one to go home and tell the Fire Lord his only son died on your watch?"

Kyoshi Warrior and Fire Prince started at each other in silence for a long moment, and then Lu Ten finally growled, "let them go," in a soft voice. The soldiers stood still for a moment, and then they parted ranks. Daxia and Daini looked at Suki and traded nods, and then that quickly ran past the prince's men and out into the night.

When they were safely gone, Suki looked back at Lu Ten and nodded. They pulled their arms apart and she stepped back, still holding the explosive in one hand. "So," she said, "are you going to let me go now, or do I have to fight my way out of here?"

Lu Ten inclined his head. "Well-played, Kyoshi Warrior. I could have Commander Shong and his men try to arrest you now, but if your friends and your perfrormance here tonight are any indication, I doubt I'd get much out of you. You have my word as a man of honor that you're free to go."

Suki raised an eyebrow at that – she doubted Daini and the other warriors would have anything good to say about Lu Ten's word or his honor, but the soldiers were making no move to attack her, and that was something, at least. She gave one last backward glance at the prince, and then turned and began to run from the camp, following in the direction her friends had gone.

/

The next morning, Bumi cackled the entire time he listened to Suki's report, while tossing something small back and forth between his hands. "And so," the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors finished, "Lu Ten kept his promise and we weren't followed. We made it back to the city before dawn, and then as soon as possible I came to report to you."

Bumi cackled even louder. "Walking into enemy territory and walking back out with your friends takes nerve," he crowed. "Maybe I could do a painting of it- always wanted to paint something; I think the throne room has nice lighting for it, and Flopsy could hold the canvas so I wouldn't need an easel –oh yes, where was I? Right – do you still have the last explosive?"

Suki shrugged. "I gave it back to Tai. You could ask him for it, I guess – did you want to blow something up?"

"You never know when you'll need a bomb and not have one, so I always say you should be prepared!" Bumi cackled again at that one, and Suki resolved to never give the king any sort of bomb or explosive under any circumstances. Finally he calmed down, and then looked her directly in the eye with a surprisingly serious expression. "Oh, and if you ever see Daxia and Tai again, do give them this for me; they know a friend of mine who's missing one!" Bumi lightly tossed the small object he'd been playing with into the air, and Suki caught it. She held it up to the light, and it proved to be nothing more or less than a Pai Sho piece.

"A white lotus tile?" she asked; Bumi only gave a knowing wink.

"Now then, run along," the king said. "I think you and some friends have some catching up to do!" Suki smiled and bowed, then turned and hurried from the throne room; behind her, she could hear Bumi muttering to himself about Flopsy and whether he could be taught to use a paintbrush.

She made her way back to the palace's guest rooms and pushed open a door to find five familiar young women waiting for her inside. No sooner had she stepped through the door than she found herself buried beneath a group hug.

"So," Daini asked, stepping away, "I hear you're working directly for the king now. What's that like?"

"Oh, it's fine," Suki said. "But knowing the people you care about are safe? I'll take that any day."

/

Lu Ten and Commander Shong stood near the remains of a tent that had been destroyed during the previous night's fire; the prince had a hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"The damage was ultimately minimal, Your Highness," Shong said. "Some of our food and weapons supplies were burned, and there were some injuries, but ultimately nothing serious – our firebenders were able to keep the blaze under control. The real problem it caused was keeping much of the camp tied down and preventing us from getting reinforcements during the escape last night."

Lu Ten was silent for a long moment before he spoke. "I underestimated the girl," he said softly, "and King Bumi as well; somehow, I have a feeling this was his doing. If we're to take this city, we'll need to up our game. Commander, I want you to send two messages for me."

"Of course," Shong replied. "Who to?"

"The first is to Colonel Shynu," Lu Ten said. "I will require the services of some of his troops. The second – I have to send another letter to my betrothed."

Shong raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought you'd want to write that yourself."

Lu Ten shook his head. "This isn't a social call. I need it in code, and I need her to do something for me." He looked Shong directly in the eye. "Tell her that the time has come for me to make use of The Ghost."

/

Sorry it took so long to update, everyone! My computer ate some of my saves, meaning I ended up having to start over from scratch on some of my work (also, Bumi is hard to write – hitting the right blend of intelligent and madcap can be surprisingly challenging, at least for me).

In any event, this is the first chapter where we shift the focus entirely away from both the Gaang and the Zuko/Azula team, and it won't be the last, though this kind of chapter will be the minority. We'll be seeing the Gaang again next time, though, so don't worry!

I did take the opportunity to introduce some OCs here. I don't know if we'll be seeing Daxia and Tai again, but their connections are important (you may have guessed who their and Bumi's mutual friend is…), and Lu Ten's betrothed hasn't shown up in person yet, but she's definitely someone to keep an eye on…

-MasterGhandalf