While packed next to Appa in a well-hidden, camouflage-covered ditch in the middle of the red-leaf-filled forest, it was clear to everyone that Jet had not been kidding around about the Fire Nation patrols. He hadn't been childing, youthing or even juveniling around. It was so rare to make it half an hour before needing to hide again that it was clearly a miracle they'd made it as deep into the woods as they had before being ambushed.
The long gouge in the forest floor was wide enough for a wagon, lined with packed earth and sturdy planks to keep it from collapsing, but it gave a certain unsettling 'you're in a ribcage' vibe. There was just enough light filtering through to see Aang and Sokka's sunken, baggy eyes.
"Ya know, I hate to say it, but Arzayanagi's weighted better," Sokka muttered as he gripped the Fire Nation spear he'd properly and legally requisitioned for personal use.
Appa rumbled once in the back of his throat, low and uncertain.
Sokka glanced at his big bisony eye. "Just being realistic. Arzaya's like… a big-time war-loving lanky cabbage-blaster, but her spear-craft is peak."
Jet's hand snapped up in a flat, hushing signal—not just to Sokka—and he mouthed quiet with that easy confidence that somehow made Sokka want to punch him and follow him at the same time.
Aang's lingering root-fugue hadn't quite let him go, so he didn't move a muscle; he preferred to stay face first against Appa's ear and emit barely audible assurances that they would all burn to death if he started doing bison things. Somehow that actually worked, and the beast stayed silent.
Katara crouched with her eyes fixed on a thin strip of light, shoulders tense, expression hard, like blinking was for the weak.
The slightest noise of Sokka's spear touching the trodden ditch-dirt got a fast pair of I will end yous from Jet and Katara. He waited until they looked away before he rolled his eyes, like someone would have to be in there with them to hear that.
Above them, muffled by leaves and distance, boots hit gravel. Not at arm's reach, but close enough to catch a whiff of bison if the wind betrayed them.
Voices carried through the cover, sharp with panic and heat.
"Spread out! He must have come through here!"
"Jozo! Maybe bison tracks here?" a woman's clarion voice called out. "Wait, no, probably your mother's."
There was a slight pause. Katara glanced away to give Sokka and Aang a don't laugh look, then set her eyes back on the proof that the female firebenders are just more fun than the asshole male ones who keep trying to kill her and her friends. Her sample size was still very small, alright? Give a girl a break?
"Stop wasting time!" evidently Jozo snapped back with a bark-curling shriek. Katara swore he could airbend with the way he maniacally stirred. "And… damn! The Avatar—he was right here!"
"Any, uhh, sign he met with the rebels?" the woman pondered like she wanted everyone to hate how long she was taking to say it.
Jozo snapped like a whip. "Forget the rebels! You want to chase kids in the trees or you want to keep your head on your shoulders?"
A pause. More boots. Someone coughed.
Then, colder: "We have to report where the Avatar went, or they will start rolling when Captain Rensai wakes up."
Sokka's eyes widened. Wakes up. He saw a quick guilt-tinged look on Aang that said, without words: …I hit him really hard.
Katara's satisfied nod replied: Good.
Jet's quick grin said: I like her.
Thankfully, the patrol clomped past, the sound drifting away down the forest like a storm moving on—heralded and then seen out with so much shouting it's a wonder how they thought they'd ever catch anyone at all.
"Ozai's best, they are not…" Sokka croaked in his tightest whisper. "I think we coulda just taken 'em."
They all waited anyway—long enough it felt pointless, on purpose. The first move was Jet's, turning on a heel to lean against the packed earth and planks, but Appa got the first word in. Or he got the first annoyed grumble at constantly being stuffed into small places lately, anyway.
Sokka completely ignored Appa's valid complaint, saying, "Okay, Jet-the-new-guy. So. You weren't kidding about the patrols being everywhere, though."
"We've hidden from the Fire Nation with him now—hhhhaaaaahhmmm—he's a full-fledged team member now, Sokka," Aang quietly said somewhere amidst his yawn.
"Whoa, I don't need that much heat," Jet quickly added with a smirk that let them know he got the vibe—that he knew they were goofing around. He thumbed towards where the patrol had gone. "Anyone asks, I never heard of you."
Katara had a perfect giggle. Very charming. Even Momo gave a peek at the sound. But her eyes stayed on the thin slit of light like she thought it was up to something. "We—I—owe you one," she whispered to Jet. "Really. I was being an idiot."
Jet's grin was invisible in the shadows as he sidled along, looking for any lingering spear dudes taking a leak or something equally unfortunate. "You seem pretty smart to me," he said without a glance, though it got her to finally look his way, and he went on. "And it's easy to lose your cool with what these Fire Nation bastards get up to. Can't say I haven't done the same."
The appreciative look she gave needed no words, and he turned to see it. First Commander Wei took her seriously, now this Jet guy was making her feel better—Earth Kingdom guys were really scoring a lot of Katara points, and those can be a real challenge to rack up.
Especially for Aang, who said, "my head feels so weird—hhhhhaaammmuuuuhhhggh," and smacked his lips, frankly, like a bit of a dipshit.
Katara was overdone with him. "Ya know, I'm considering changing my mind about Arzaya possessing you. Maybe she had a point."
Aang gave her the most twisted up 'what the HELL?' look for an instant, before it sank to raw, teary-eyed hurt, and Katara's stomach dropped.
"Wow," Sokka flatly glared. "I know dad had a problem for a while after mom, but jeez Katara, lay off Aang, huh? Why do you think he wanted his mind… 'occupied' anyway?"
"She was… in my head too…" Katara trailed off, like she only finished saying it to openly admit she knew she was an asshole in the tone.
That ditch was awfully small, Jet realized. He should have his guys widen it a bit!
Katara just stared for a moment, like she couldn't believe herself. "Aang-!" she started, but the Avatar turned away and buried his face in bison again. "Sokka's-right!" she rapidly peeped. "It's-not-you, I-!"
Crunch-crunch.
Flat. Sudden. Absolute: Ditch silence.
Just two pairs of boots this time. Close enough that Sokka could tell one was heavier on the heel, and Katara hogged the meager strip of visibility to herself again. She had to figure it was that firebender woman and Jozo.
They got really close. Even Appa's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Their two voices followed, low and controlled.
The first voice—Jozo—muttered, "We make this quick."
A woman answered immediately, sharper: "Just talk. What's the news?"
A breath passed. A heel turned on gravel, and a bit of armor rustled. He couldn't do quick, not for this. Jozo said, very quietly, like it was a prayer he didn't want to screw up, "Our Lady has returned."
There was so much recognition going on in the ditch. Even Jet pieced it together—he was a clever boy.
Katara's gaze flicked back to everyone, fierce and immediate: Did you hear that?
Even Momo at the lip of Appa's saddle looked at her like duh.
"No doubt now, she's already taken Crescent Island," Jozo insisted, not a spark of hostility left for the suddenly not sarcastic woman. "Which means we get in position. You should replace one of his firebenders—that one guy won't be back on his feet any time soon."
Katara was pretty sure that was her doing. She wasn't ashamed. She would have smugly crossed her arms if she could have done it silently.
A faint, incredulous sound escaped the woman. "Rensai doesn't trust me."
"Just flirt or something," he pressed, not quite annoyed. "He's a creep—should be easy. We need to be able to take him out at any moment."
The woman inhaled, controlled. "Fine."
There was something in her tone like she'd bitten down on the rest of what she wanted to say.
"You're the better actor," Jozo insisted. "Just don't get sentimental."
A tiny, dangerous pause.
Then she said, too even not to be forced, "What about the rebels?"
He scoffed. "What about the Avatar? Long gone by now, I'm sure. This whole operation is to save face."
The woman didn't let him dodge. "The rebels."
Jozo sighed. There was a soft rustle—paper, maybe. "Captain Rensai's hoarding resources in case we have to pull out fast. I've got a map of every cache he's hiding."
"Oh?"
"Already sent a copy," he added, and there was an ugly little satisfaction in it. "Gave it to Rensai's dumbest, loudest guy—then told him to run it straight through the area the rebels hit most to reach the eastern outpost 'in time'."
The woman actually let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like amusement. Just one tiny chortle, like she knew exactly who he meant, and it would be a doozy.
Jet had the biggest oh, how fun! look on his face. But it narrowed back to wait, this is too easy.
All around everyone in the ditch had their eyebrows in the precise alignment of 'do they know?'
"Let's get back," Jozo insisted.
Their boots shifted, not another word. Two directions. Two ghosts slipping away. The gravel sound faded again.
Jet waited three full heartbeats past silence—like he didn't trust silence—and then he exhaled through his nose with quiet delight.
"Well," he whispered, eyes gleaming like he'd just been handed a birthday present. "That feels too good to be true, but also too good to pass up, huh? Think they knew we were down here?"
"Arzayans are crazy, Jet," Katara stated.
"They're just gonna get crazier with Arzaya back," Sokka sighed.
"Don't work with them," Aang insisted.
Jet raised his hands to defend himself, but smoothly transitioned to lifting the movable part of the camouflage. "I'm not!" he insisted like they were being silly. "Not working with firebenders," he sighed as he poked his head out. "Never."
Sokka squeezed right behind him, and together they pulled the whole facade aside for bison freedom.
"But you're going after the dumb, loud guy?" he asked, not quite disappointed.
Jet's smile went sharp. "I just love dumb and loud enemies, these Arzayans are-"
Katara's whisper hit him like a slap. "Seriously don't."
She joined in on the bison freedom initiative, though.
Jet paused, almost amused. "Don't what?"
"Take the map, but don't start thinking the Arzayans are allies," Katara hissed, eyes flaring. "They're not."
Aang leaned in, deadly serious in a way that made his twelve-year-old face look older for half a second. "They're really not."
Sokka nodded hard. "Like… 'smile while they slit your throat' not."
Jet lifted both hands, palms out, conceding with a lazy little shrug. "These Arzayans are useful, I was going to say. Relax."
Katara didn't relax.
Aang didn't either.
Appa did, though. Shook off the dirt and gave a good long 'aww, yeeeeah…' sort of bellow that was, at least reasonably quiet.
"Either way, you're almost past where they patrol, I'll head back once you're past the river," Jet said, casually returning to strutting along and chewing his straw, which was downright mangled by this point, but he was finally free to poke about for a new one.