It wasn't until nightfall that Sokka went to retrieve Zuko. Rezalia had been offered an amazing room - the warden's words not hers - with a view of the courtyard. When the boys passed through it, she could see the slight shivering of the other firebender. The cold truly was horrible for them.
He turned and looked up to where he knew Rezalia would be standing and she nods, making her way to the exit. "Took you guys long enough. This here's my girl and my best buddy, they're coming too," Chit Sang announces. Rezalia feels her eye twitch.
"Fine. Everybody in the cooler. Let's go," Sokka orders, retrieving his clothes from where he'd stashed them. Zuko grabs Sokka by the elbow and murmurs something to him, glancing back at the prison as he does. Rezalia moves away to let them talk. Chit Sang's friend leans in and leered at her. Zuko catches the action and scowls but his focus is recaptured by Suki walking over and joining the conversation, eyebrows furrowed.
Chit Sang turns. "Hey, leave the girl alone. She's spoken for."
Rezalia didn't bother to correct him. Whatever kept the creepy dude away from her. Any other reasoning was her own buisness. Turning to check on the boys, Zuko appeared to be giving Sokka a very passionate speech. Chit Sang's girlfriend sighs and mutters something that causes him to cross his arms. "Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?"
As annoying as Chit Sang was, Rezalia agreed. They were sitting ducks out here.
"No. I'm staying. You guys go." Sokka turns to Suki. "You've been here long enough."
Suki shakes her head. "I'm not leaving without you, Sokka."
"We're staying too," Zuko says, moving to stand at Rezalia's shoulder. She nods, reaching out to softly punch at Sokka's shoulder. The other jailbirds decide to take off, to nobody's surprise.
Sokka sighs. "We gave up our only chance of escaping. I hope we haven't just made a huge mistake."
"Well, doing the impossible is sorta our whole thing, right? If anyone can break out of this joint twice, it's us." Sokka snorts and reluctantly nods. They make their way back to the entrance to the prison, taking their time a bit as they walk. Zuko stays mostly quiet, as was usual for him, and lingers near Rezalia's shoulder. Suki walks on the other side of Sokka, putting space between her and the prince. Everyone pretended not to notice.
Then the alarm goes off.
"The plan failed! They're caught!" Sokka gasps, turning back to where lights had been focused on the escapees.
Zuko and Rezalia exchange looks.
It was easy enough to sneak back into the room, what with everyone and their mothers being so focused on Chit Sang. Maybe the man was good for something after all. Suki and Zuko gathered cleaning supplies while Rezalia sat on the railing to "survey" while they "cleaned" behind her. Sokka lingered nearby under the guise of making sure that the prisoners were behaving.
When the gondala appeared, they all watched for the newcomers, keeping an eye out for Hakoda. True to the dramatic flair that ran through the while family, Hakoda was the last off of the gondola. Suki grabs Sokka by the arm. "Dad..." he murmurs.
As was custom, the newcomers were lined up in front of the warden. Rezalia squeezes Zuko's arm in goodbye and joins them in the courtyard. The warden welcomes her with a wide smile. She ignores him and makes brief eyecontact with Hakoda who quickly controls his expression and twists his face into a sort of neutral but also displeased look. To the side, Rezalia sees Sokka join the line of guards.
The warden begins to pace in front of the prisoners. "Welcome to the Boiling Rock. I'm sure you've all heard the horrible rumors about our little island. Well, I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true, as long as you do everything I say." Suddenly, he stops in front of Hakoda and scowls. "Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you."
Hakoda sets his jaw and keeps his gaze fixed firmly just to the side. "No."
The warden sneers and before anyone could blink, he'd pushed Hakoda down into a sort of bow via a foot to the handcuffs. "I know exactly who you are, Hakoda of the Water Tribe. So strong-willed. [Cut to the warden's face.] But don't worry, we'll get rid of that in time. Now look me in the eye!"
With great reluctance, Hakoda looks up at the warden. Somehow, the warden didn't seem to mind the obvious glare on his face. The warden smiles nastily. "See, isn't that better?" He turns to the others in the line. "You will all do as I say or pay the price. You will all-" As he turns, the warden tangles his own foot in the handcuffs he'd been stepping on and falls flat on his face.
Embarrased, the warden aggresivly shoves the guards who'd stepped forward away and demands that the prisoners be removed from his sight. Sokka trails at an acceptable distance as his father is lead to his cell. Rezalia lingers outside the cell to ward people away, keeping an eye out for Suki and Zuko whenever they were within her line of sight.
When the two of them exit Hakoda's cell, the man brushes shoulders with Rezalia. She gently pushes back, keeping her eyes trained away. Sokka quickly fills her in on the plan and then goes to tell Zuko. Moments later, the warden comes rushing over in a fit of glee. "Come with me, my lady," he rushes out gleefully. "We have him."
In true warden fashion, he was kind of lying. Zuko wasn't yet in the room when I entered. The warden rrushed back out before I could demand answers, returning a moment later with Mai. She stops cold upon seeing me, turning to make sure the door was shut before striding over to me. "Rezalia? Why are you...? How are you...?"
"The official story is that Ozai sent me to hunt down Zuko."
"And the unofficial?" Rezalia doesn't answer, glancing back at the door. Mai nods. "Right. Don't worry, I'm not here to turn him in. My uncle thinks he dumped me over letter."
Rezalia snorts. "Who, Z?"
"Yeah. I haven't told him that I dumped him."
Rezalia continued to pretend to know that she knew that the two of them had even been together. Both of them raised their hands defensively when the door opened again. But it was only some guards dragging zuko between them. They toss him to the floor and he scrambles to his feet. "I didn't do anything wrong!"
"I wouldn't say that," Rezalia murmurs. Zuko whips around to find two girls giving him dark looks. Mai gestures for the guards to leave.
Zuko sits in the chair that'd been set up in the center of the room. "Mai? How did you know I was here?"
"My uncle is the warden, moron," Mai scoffs. "More importantly, did you do what I told you to?"
Zuko relaxes and nods, smiling a bit. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."
Mai glances over to Rezalia, who had settled into the corner of the room and was looking off to the side. "Yeah?"
"Well." Zuko follows Mai's gaze and frowns. "I thought so. Zali?"
Rezalia turns to look at him. "Hm?"
"Are you mad at me?"
"No. Why would you think that?"
"Zali, you just asked me why I would think that. You're obviously mad at me. What did I do?"
"Nothing, Z. Don't worry about it."
Zuko stands and moves to stand in front of Rezalia, eyebrows furrowed. "Rezalia, c'mon. Just talk to me."
Sighing, she reaches out and takes Zuko's hand. "Later, Z."
"She's right," Mai says. "We have to go. I can run distraction but even then, you guys would only have a small window to get out. How many of you are there?"
Zuko turns around fully, keeping a firm hold on Rezalia's hand. "Five."
"Six if you want to come," Rezalia offers.
Mai shakes her head. "No. I have to go back home. I can do damage control there. Maybe try and sneak you guys some information."
Suddenly the door is thrown open. Rezalia drops Zuko's hand. "My ladies!" A soldier calls out. "There's a riot going on! I'm here to protect you!"
Mai and Rezalia exchange looks and Zuko scoffs. "They don't need it."
"I'm sorry, but I'm under direct orders from your uncle to make sure nothing happens," the guard insists. Zuko nods along before sending a blast at the guard and rushing out the door. Rezalia's jaw drops and she rushes out after him.
"Asshole!"
They catch up to the others in the yard where, true to the guard's word a riot had broken out. "Lia! Zuko! Good, we're all here. Now all we need to do is grab the warden, and get to the gondolas!"
"And how do we do that?" Zuko asks.
Sokka kind of shrugs, wincing as the frustration mounted on Zuko's face.
"I thought you thought this through!"
"I thought you told me it's okay not to think everything through!" Sokka argues.
Zuko rubs his hands over his face. "Maybe not everything, but this is kind of important!"
Suki rolls her eyes and takes off. Chit Sang seemed to be the only person who noticed, the others far too engrossed in the argument. "Hey, uh, fellas. I think your girlfriend's taking care of it."
Everyone turns to see Suki kick absolute ass and make it look easy. Rezalia lets out a whoop. In no time, Suki had the warden hogtied and ready to board the gondola. "We've got the warden! Now let's get out of here!"
"I would marry you, Suki," Rezalia exclaims, pressing a quick kiss to Suki's cheek. The other girl laughs and reaches out to pass Zuko on the arm. Once everyone had caught up, they filed onto the gondola. Zuko takes a moment to break the handle and jumps on just in time. Turning back toward the platform they'd just left, Rezalia feels her face drop. "Holy shit, guys, it's Azula!"
Zuko curses and grasps her by the waist, pulling her back. Rezalia places her hands over his and stumbles back to match his quick movement. They distangle, preparing for a fight as Ty Lee and Azula make their way up to the gondola. Suki crouches into a deeper stance, more reminicent of earthbending. Evidently, she had a bone to pick with Ty Lee and the two of them got to it as soon as the fire nation girl was within reach. Likewise, Zuko went after his sister immeaditly. The others stayed back, happy to get out of the way and only step in if necessary.
Azula's attacks were hot and heavy, lashing out against her enemies and allies alike. Sokka interferes, pushing Azula away with his sword. Suddenly, the gondola stops, the leftover momentum swinging them back and forth. It was only years of living on the seas that kept Rezalia standing. Sokka wasn't quite so lucky and went crashing to his knees. If it weren't for Zuko, he'd have slid right out of the gondola.
"They're about to cut the line!" Ty Lee shouts from the top of the gondola. Azula takes this as her cue to leave and her and Ty Lee jump onto a gondola passing by the other way.
In the panic that comes with being faced with the very real possibility that in the near future, they may all be swimming in the boiling rock, nobody bothered much with the fire nation girls. Rezalia prepared to grab as many people as she could and maybe fly out but then the gondola begins moving again.
"Who's that?" Sokka asks, peering down at the dock where one person was kicking the shit out of everyone else.
Zuko and Rezalia exchange grins. "That's Mai."
And boy, was Azula mad. Unfortunately, Rezalia doesn't get to see the result of her anger before the gondola reaches its location and they unboard. They stumble over the edge of the volcano before pausing to take a breather. Zuko suddenly stands up, looking around.
"What is it, Z?"
"My sister was on that island," he replies distractedly. Rezalia's eyebrows shoot up and seh begins to look around as well.
Sokka makes a face at them. "Yeah, and she's probably right behind us, so let's not stop!"
Zuko shakes his head and makes his way up a nearby hill. "What I mean is she must have come here somehow. There!" He exclaims, pointing down toward the beach. "That's our way out of here."
"Race ya," Rezalia chirps before taking off running. Zuko makes a noise of protest and takes off after her.
By the time they make it back to the Air temple, it is once again nighttime. Katara was the forefront of their welcome party and she didn't seem thrilled. "What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?" she asks, looking at the air ship. Zuko winces a bit, wrapping an arm around Rezalia.
"It kind of got destroyed," he offers.
Aang looks between the pair of them, eyes darting to Zuko's arm and back up. "Sounds like a crazy fishing trip."
"Did you at least get some good meat?" Toph asks.
Sokka beams. "I did. The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood."
Toph didn't seem thrilled even as Hakoda, Suki, and Chit Sang file off of the ship. Chit Sang waves to everyone as Katara throws herself at her father. The rest of the politely look away as the water tribe family has their reunion.
"Seriously? You guys didn't find any meat?" Toph cries out. Rezalia snickers and pulls away from Zuko. She tilts her head in the direction of her room and he nods, shooting her a soft smile.