Koete ↠ Sokka

Chapter 9: The Damned - Part 4

She found him back at their treehouse, shoving all of his belongings back into his bag. "Woah, woah, hang on, you're not actually leaving right?" she asked, standing in the doorway.

"Of course not," Sokka said, giving her a strange look. "Whatever Jet's planning is happening soon, so we've gotta be ready to leave straight after we're done."

"Oh, right," Charlie uttered out in realisation. "Good plan."

Hearing commotion outside, she popped her head back out the door, peering over the platform's edge. Five Freedom Fighters stood far below, pushing and pulling at the cart which held four barrels. She furrowed her eyebrows. There was something wrong about what she was seeing, and it took a moment for the cogs in her brain to catch up.

It was still day time, and they were already trying to prepare the blasting jelly. This was supposed to happen overnight. Charlie's eyes widened and she flung back to Sokka.

"Sokka. Sokka, it's happening now. We've gotta go," she rushed out, tugging at his arm.

"What? As in right now?" he asked, dropping his bag.

"As in if you don't get off your ass right now there won't be a village to save. Shit! We were supposed to have more time," Charlie rambled, not noticing that she started pacing circles around Sokka. "This was supposed to happen tomorrow. Why are they changing it? Did I push too far this time?"

"Hey hey hey, slow down, we still have time to fix this." Sokka stood up and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stop pacing.

"Okay. Okay let's think this through. Jet, Katara and Aang are together right now, probably already starting to fill the reservoir. The other Freedom Fighters just head up to the dam so they can rig it to explode," Charlie explained quickly. "Where do we need to be?"

"We could split up?" Sokka suggested. "One of us goes to evacuate the village, the other tries to stop the dam from blowing."

Charlie grimaced slightly, then sheepishly smiled. "Oh... about that, I kind of have a confession to make."

Across at the reservoir, Katara and Aang trailed slightly behind Jet, sharing a look of discomfort. After Charlie confronted Jet earlier, they weren't so sure they could trust him anymore, but they made a silent agreement to play nice and see what happened.

"So Jet," Katara began after a moment. "Sorry about how Charlie and Sokka have been acting."

"No worries." He took the leaf stem from his mouth, holding it between the pads of his finger and thumb. "Red already apologised for both of them, right after you two left."

Aang furrowed his eyebrows and met Katara's eyes briefly. That wasn't like her at all. "She... apologised." It wasn't so much of a question, but more a statement of disbelief.

"Yeah, I was surprised too. She really seemed to have it out for me," Jet said with a small chuckle. "But I think we're good now."

Aang sensed the air shift before it happened. Under his feet, a burst of hot hair rose, throwing him upwards. He landed softly, using his airbending to slow his fall.

"Alright, we're here," Jet announced. "Underground water's been trying to escape from these vents. I need you guys to help it along."

"I don't know..." Katara muttered, looking at the steaming geysers. "The rainy season is just about to start, what will happen if it overflows? This reservoir leads straight to the village."

"Oh, that won't be a problem. I know you guys can do this," Jet said with a small smirk. Katara furrowed her eyebrows in thought. It wasn't exactly reasonable for Jet to assume the village would remain safe. In fact, filling the reservoir would probably amount to a danger hazard more than anything. She thought back to the words Charlie said earlier about the dam.