Title: A Will and a Way

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Pairing: Jet/Smellerbee

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1,062

Summary/Description: For the first time in a long while, she feels like she can really do something, and it's all because of him.

Warning/Spoilers: None at all.

A/N: For Ingrid. I didn't put a fix on their ages, because… I didn't want to, but it's not too long after the FF first formed.

Disclaimer: I am not worthy of owning the sheer awesome that is ATLA.

"You can use these," he says, throwing a couple long knives towards her. Smellerbee jumps a little, but catches them well enough, and manages not to cut herself. He intimidates her, just a little, even though he's not that much older than her. She doesn't let it show, though. More than anything, she wants to gain his respect. She's not even sure why.

She inspects the weapons with a critical eye.

"These are kinda—" She pauses to consider how much she should or shouldn't check her words, and then decides against it. "--crappy." It's true. The hilts are cracked, the blades are rusty, and have seen more than their fair share of battle. She only knows a little more than the bare minimum about knives, but she's pretty sure these aren't going to do her much good.

Jet throws a laugh over his shoulder.

"Yep, pretty much. But it's all we got. You'll have to make do until you can steal yourself something better. Think you can do that?"

There is a pause, and then Smellerbee shrugs and nods. Fair enough. She's got a few dirks of her own that could suffice for the time being. Getting new ones shouldn't be too hard, anyway. If there is one thing she's good at, it's stealing. That's she met up with the Freedom Fighters; she'd been trying to steal Jet's hook swords. It's also how she found out that Jet's a pretty light sleeper, and that the quiet kid with the arrows has pretty good aim.

She quickens her pace, trying to catch up with him a little. They are walking through the forest, away from the hideout, her newly acquired home and newly acquired comrades. He hasn't told her where they are going, and she doesn't ask. Yet, anyway.

"That how you got yours?" she queries, nodding towards his tigerheads strapped to his back. She wants to hear him talk some more. "Stole 'em?"

He nods, smirking slightly, and shifts the ever-present stalk from one side of his mouth to the other.

"Some Fire Nation dignitary. I took them off his hands. Figured if he'd known how to use them, I wouldn't have been able to take them, right? And hey, weapons like these, in useless hands? That's just a shame."

He grins and so does she, looking up at him. For some reason, he makes her feel safe and secure. But not coddled and useless. For the first time in a long while, she feels like she can do something. She wonders what it is about him.

They keep walking.

Smellerbee is just about to give in and ask where they're headed, when he finally stops in a little clearing. She stares at him a little, and he looks back at her, unmoving. She can hear a few hogmonkeys chattering in the trees above; hear the wind rustling and shaking the leaves.

Suddenly he draws his swords and slices at her neck, one blade swinging down from each side.

It catches her totally by surprise, but she's pretty quick, and manages to duck and roll before he can get her. Though she thinks he cut off a bit of her hair. She turns and takes a peek, and sure enough, coarse brown patches are littering the ground where she was standing. She scrabbles to her feet, and draws her weapons. All she can think to say is,

"Huh?!"

Jet shrugs. His swords make light whirring sounds as he swings them casually.

"You need to learn how to fight. And the best way to do that is from experience. You already got the basics, I think, so let's move on."

He advances again, and the look in his eyes is clam and serious and a little unsettling. Smellerbee evades once again, and more successfully this time, since she was expecting it. She scrambles away, heart beating away a quick dull thud in her chest, because she's pretty quick, but Jet's even quicker.

"Hey, whoa, whoa," she says, holding out one hand, and scratching her head with the other. "I—I don't—" She falters and stumbles, because she doesn't know what to say, and he's looking right at her. Her eyes skitter left and right, and she backs away a bit more.

Jet cocks a brow, and walks towards her. This time, his swords are at his sides. He shifts both of them to one hand so that he can reach out and touch her on the shoulder. She can feel those eyes on her, and she can't avoid them for long, not when she can feel them so intently. When she looks up, she swallows.

He speaks firmly, but quietly.

"I know this must be moving pretty fast for you. And I admit, it's probably a lot to handle. But if you're going to be a Freedom Fighter, you're going to have to get used to it. Because those firebenders?" He lifts his swords to point outward, to the forest in general, but never takes his eyes off of her. "The ones we ambush and waylay and steal from? The ones who help fuel this war, and destroy the Earth Kingdom bit by bit every day? They don't care about a few kids hiding in the bushes." The hand tightens on her should, and she doesn't think he even realises. "If they get the chance, they're gonna attack you and kill you. And you gotta be ready. If you're not, you're dead."

He's serious, more so than anyone else she's ever seen, and she can only nod.

"And hey, look, I know you're strong, and smart, and fast. Wouldn't have asked you to join otherwise. But you're gonna have to step it up a little, okay?"

Smellerbee swallows, and nods again, this time, it's with more conviction, and a little bit of awe. Jet seems satisfied, and he backs off, walking back several paces, still facing her.

"Right," he says, getting a firm grip on his swords once again. "We're gonna do this again, and I wanna see you give it your best. Think you can do that for me?"

The stalk in his mouth shifts, and again, Smellerbee wonders how come he can make her feel so… hopeful. So alive.

"Yeah," she says, and holds tight to her battered weapons, waiting for him to come. "I can do that."

A/N: Urk. Jet is such an asshole. :)