Sokka took a deep breath, trying to quiet the pounding of his heart. He needed to be able to hear over it. Jet was counting on him to help strike another blow against the Fire Nation. He wouldn't be able to do that if he couldn't hear the enemy over his own nerves.

Jet and his team began whistling birdcalls over the clearing, adding that much more noise to hear over. This was not working. Sokka reached for his dagger, slamming it into the trunk of the tree on which he was perched.

"What are you doing?" Jet was staring at him as though he was the crazy one.

"Sh. It amplifies vibrations." Sokka put his ear to the handle, cups his hands to make sure he was hearing only what the knife was telling him.

"Good trick." Jet nodded in appreciation.

"Nothing yet. Wait." Sokka closed his eyes, focusing on the faint vibration. "Yes! Someone's approaching."

"How many?"

"I think there's just one." Even then, it was still soft. Whoever it was had a light step.

"Good work Sokka. Ready your weapon." Jet stood, adjusting the grip on his hook swords, prepared to do real damage.

Sokka pulled the knife from the tree, feeling the comfort of its weight in his hands, exhaling in anticipation of battle. It caught in his chest as he saw the intended target. "Wait! False alarm." It was definitely not who they were waiting for. "He's just an old man."

Then Jet launched himself from the tree.

"What are you doing in our woods, you leech." He knocked the old man's cane away with a single stroke. It skittered off in to the bush.

"Please sir. I'm just a traveler." The old man even sounded feeble.

Sokka watched in growing horror as the rest of the Freedom Fighters dropped from the trees. The old man backed into Pipsqueak, flying forward as the giant pushed him hard into the ground.

"Do you like destroying towns? Do you like destroying families? Do you?" Jet's voice rose with every question, finishing on almost a hysterical note, like he needed the old man to say yes.

"Please," the old man murmured, "Please Blue Spirit save me!

"You're asking the Blue Spirit for help? You think he could take us? You're wrong! He's just a coward! He's jut as bad as the Fire Nation! As you!" Jet lifted his foot to deliver a blow that would probable crack the old man's ribs.

He stumbled as Sokka's club caught his foot. "Jet! He's just an old man!"

"He's Fire Nation!" Jet yelled again. "Search him!"

"But he's not hurting anyone!"

"Have you forgotten that the Fire Nation killed your Mother?" Jet leaned in dangerously close, continuing to shout. "Remember why you fight!"

"We got his stuff Jet." Smellerbee held up the small pouch belonging to the villager.

Sokka stiffened his back. He wasn't going to agree to this. "This doesn't feel right."

"It's what has to be done." Jet's tone was quiet but hard. "Now let's get out of here."

Sokka watched as they passed, all looking as though they had did a good deed, as though they had actually struck a blow. He turned to the old man on his knees, feeling guilt as the man watched him with a helpless expression. He was the same age as Gran Gran, maybe older. She'd skin Sokka if she ever found out about this. She'd be right to do so.

"Come on Sokka." Jet's voice demanded his presence.

Sokka turned, allowing the woods to swallow him up and he tried to choke down his guilt.

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Sokka sat with his back against the trunk of the tree, his one leg drawn up to his chest. His face was dark and cloudy and he looked as though he wanted to be left alone to his dark mutterings. "Stupid Jet." His lips continued to move but no sound came out.

"What did he do this time?" I sit down beside Sokka. Or I try to.

He immediately moves to the side, as though under attack, rolling into a defensive crouch. "What did who do? Who wants to know? I didn't say anything!"

"Relax," I hold out the bowl in my hand. "Hungry?"

Sokka stares at the bowl as though it was booby-trapped. Sighing I set it down where he had been sitting, quietly sipping the tea I had made myself, watching the darkening of the evening skyline.

"What do you want?" Sokka rolls back, landing on his seat.

"Tea. And maybe someone to drink it with." He keeps watching me as though I'm about to jump him at any moment. "I'm Lee." I take another sip.

"Sokka." He creeps a little closer, picking up the bowl and sniffing it suspiciously.

"Its dawn berries and jelly candy." He raises an eyebrow. "Katara helped gather the berries. The candy is from the raid where Jet found you. Jelly candy, blasting jelly and the Avatar." It's a bit ironic.

I take another nonchalant sip. We sit there in silence, as much silence as you can get in a forest anyway, and watch as a lazy cloud drifts by.

"What do you think of Jet?" I feel a flash of surprise cross my face before I manage to clamp back down on my expression. Sokka's cleverer than I would have thought, testing the waters before running his mouth off.

Not that I would have ratted him out. I snort into my drink. "Jet's an ass. He's charming, but he's still an ass."

"Yeah…" Sokka let his voice trail back into silence. He fiddles with the spoon in the bowl, mashing the berries and candy together. "If you don't like him then why are you here?"

Now it's my turn to sit in silence. I watch the leaves swirling in the bottom of my cup. When they don't give me an answer I sigh. "Because I have no where else to go. And I'm safe here."

Sokka snorts. "Safe. Yeah right. Not with the Fire Nation about to burn down the forest."

Burn down the forest?

"Spirits Lee, are you okay?"

I look down at my empty hands, feeling heat spreading down my one leg, my teacup rolling to the side. I hiss as the liquid scalds, but it doesn't do much more than that. It wasn't that hot. "I'm fine." I knock Sokka's hands away as they try to dry the wound. "It was cool." Besides, there were more important things going on. "What do you mean 'burn the forest'?"

Sokka's eyes met mine, his gaze whetted by the situation. "Jet told Katara and Aang that they needed to stay to help him because tomorrow the Fire Nation was burning down the forest. You mean he hasn't told you?"

No, he hasn't. Nor has he told any of the children. That doesn't make any sense. I shake my head, my shaggy hair tickling my face as it lands. "That can't be it. He would have made plans for an evacuation, just in case." Jet was an ass but he wasn't stupid.

Sokka sighed, slumping back. "I was afraid of something like that. But what is he planning? Katara won't listen to me about Jet. I knew we couldn't trust him!" He leans back as he groans. "How am I supposed to convince her?"

My mind is frantic with possibility, rejecting plan after plan because of lack of time, lack of resources, lack of manpower. Then it stops on one. "Maybe you won't have to."

Sokka looks at me, his curiosity piqued.

"Come." I stand, offering a hand to help him up. "I have an idea."

A/N-Yes, Zuko has a scar. Having a Zuko without a scar is like having apple pie without apples. Just… no. But then how did he get such a scar even after not being in the palace with daddy dearest? Hmm? Well, I'm not telling you! Not yet, anyway. I did think about it and I do have an explanation planned, but I can't just tell you all now. Remember how long it took the series to explain Zuko's scar and angst? Its no fun if the story started off "once upon a time Zuko and his mummy ran from the palace. Then they met a charizard and Zuko threw rocks at it so the charizard went "argh," and blew fire all over Zuko's face,"[FYI, not what happened by any means]. So these things have been considered and they are being dealt with. And you will find out. You'll just find out later.