White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

27

                The teens were packing up, Toph having finally bitten the bullet and woken up Rezalia. As Rezalia puts her sleeping bag into Appa's saddle, an odd noise sounds out. Exchanging looks with Sokka, Rezalia looks over the lake to see a squad of water jets carrying Fire Nation Soldiers to the little village on the water. Toph asks, "What's going on?"

"Fire Nation soldiers are heading to the village," Aang answers, grabbing his staff. Sokka whips around to glare at his sister.

"What did you do?!"

Katara shifts guiltily. "I...kind of destroyed their factory."

"Sokka you need to calm-"

Sokka ignores Rezalia. "You what?!" Rezalia sets a hand on Sokka's chest just in case. He doesn't notice in his anger.

"It was your idea!" Katara snaps.

"I was joking," Sokka seethes. "I also said to use spirit magic and made funny noises. Did you even think this through? The army's gonna blame the villagers. They're headed there right now to get revenge."

Now Rezalia was getting a little pissed. "What the hell were we supposed to do, then?"

Sokka turns on Rezalia, the frustration in his eyes something she knew so well on someone else's face. "Leave! Do nothing!"

"No. I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me," Katara says lowly as she gets up to leave. "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can."

Sokka watches her go for a moment before gently pushing Rezalia's hand away and following his sister. "Wait. I'm coming too."

"I thought you didn't want to help," Katara mutters.

"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you," Sokka replies.

Katara grins and throws her arms around her brother. "Sokka. You really do have a heart." Sokka scoffs but hugs her back.

"He really does have a heart, doesn't he?" Aang whispers, wiping tears from his eyes. He turns to Toph for confirmation and she promptly socks him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

As Katara gets changed, Rezalia hands out the responsibilities. "Sokka I need you to take this-" She hands him a hollow reed. "-and make spirit noises into it. You'll be on shore so it'll echo and freak them out. Aang, you'll go across the water with Katara and hide under the docks so that you can airbend with her movements. Toph, find a boulder and smack it into the ground a bunch of time. I'll create the mist."

"Ooh! We could get Appa to growl!" Aang suggests.

Rezalia grins. "I knew we kept you around for a reason," she says with a wink. Sokka snorts as they all get into position.

The operation goes smoothly, Katara smashing a few water jets into the cliffs for good measure. When the last Fire Nation man had frantically swam away, Toph, Sokka and Rezalia jumped into the boat and rowed over to the village. Dock-Xu was speaking as they came to stand with Katara and Aang. "Me and my brothers really owe you a lot. " Suddenly he narrows his eyes and Rezalia notices that some of Katara's face paint had washed away. "Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!"

The little boy speaks up suddenly. "Yeah, you're the lady that gave me a fish."

"You've been tricking us. You're a waterbender!" Dock-Xu shouts, expression morphing into one of anger. The other villagers pipe up, shouting their own anger toward Katara.