The Avatar and the Fire Prince

Book 2: Water, Chapter 9: Jet

"Walking stinks. How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?" Aang groaned.

Zuko had to admit he agreed. He'd gotten used to the speediness and convenience of bison travel; when your method of transportation was flight, you usually didn't have to worry about taking detours through dense forests like the one they had currently been trudging through for the past few hours.

According to Iroh's map, they were now somewhere in the western Earth Kingdom, north of Omashu across the Serpent River. Unfortunately, after they had left the Earth Kingdom city, their luck with evading the Fire Nation had seemingly run out. Just a few weeks ago, they had helped Katara rescue a village of earthbenders from the Fire Navy, and last week, they'd had a run-in with pirates after they had recognized his, Aang's, and Iroh's faces from the Fire Nation wanted posters that now littered the entire west coast of the Earth Kingdom. Zuko was half expecting admiral Zhao to be who they ran into next. It had definitely been too long—months—since Zuko had seen or heard from the man, which was both relieving and somehow unnerving.

After Momo had been caught in a Fire Nation trap earlier that morning, Sokka had insisted on "laying low" by continuing on foot for the time being. Zuko didn't blame him, as he was not eager to have another hostile encounter with the Fire Nation, nor people who wanted to turn them in to the Fire Nation. Iroh had shared Sokka and Zuko's sentiments, while Aang and Katara had been vocal about their displeasure with having to travel on foot, the latter especially so.

"Well I don't know, Aang," Katara replied sarcastically, turning around to look at Aang. "Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything ."

"I'm tired of carrying this pack," Aang complained.

"You know who you should ask to carry it for a while?" Katara continued in her teasing tone. "Sokka's instincts."

"That's a great idea," Aang replied. "Hey, Sokka's instincts, would you mind–"

"Will you two give it a rest?" Zuko interrupted in annoyance. "I don't like walking either, but it's better than being shot at with a thousand flaming boulders."

"Thank you, Zuko," Sokka replied, nodding towards him before turning back to glare at his sister. "Look, guys, I'm tired too. But the important thing is that we're safe from the-"

Before Sokka could finish his sentence, Zuko spotted a plume of smoke rising from just beyond the bushes that the Water Tribe boy was about to walk into, and yanked him back by the collar of his shirt.

"Hey! What was that fo-" Sokka exclaimed before his mouth was promptly covered by Zuko's hand.

"Keep your voice down!" Zuko hissed. "There's a fire burning over there."

Sokka's eyes widened in realization, and Zuko slowly pulled his hand away before motioning for the rest of the group to crouch down.

"Please, we don't know anything!"

Zuko's eyes widened when he peered through the bushes to see an Earth Kingdom mother and young daughter had seemingly been captured by a small camp of Fire Nation soldiers.

"What were you doing this far out into the forest?" a gruff-looking man with an eye patch demanded. "Foraging for berries? " he added sarcastically.

"No, we just got lost on our way to Gaipan! We're from there, my husband is a merchant! His name is Qingqiu!" the distraught woman replied. "Please, if you'll just escort us back-"

"And what if I don't believe you?" the man growled.

"We have to do something," Zuko whispered.

"Zuko," Iroh cautioned. "I don't think it's wise to–"