Third Person POV:
The ferry docked in Ba Sing Se in the early morning. The guards in Ba Sing Se directed the people leaving the ferry towards a train station. Jet left the other three for a moment to go check the map and figure out just where they should go to make sure they'd be able to find the rest of their friends again while in the city. That would be if they made it to the city yet.
While reading over the map, Jet saw the old man from the night before- Mushi if Jet remembered correctly -ordering, what looked to be, a cold cup of tea, but Jet guessed cold tea was better than nothing after the sketchy water they'd had on the ferry the night before.
Jet went back to reading over the map when Mushi sat on the bench beside the map. Jet spared him a quick glance only to notice the steam rising off of the cup in Mushi's hands that he was pretty sure wasn't there when Mushi had ordered it. Then Mushi's eyes met Jet's and he noticed just how much his eyes looked like Dao's.
The steam and the eyes, was Mushi a firebender?
But that would mean...
Oh no.
The Fire Nation was in Ba Sing Se. The one place where they were all supposed to be safe from the Fire Nation, actually wasn't? That was just great.
They'd already had to flee the only home they'd known in recent years and now the new place where they were trying to rebuild a new life was already at a risk of falling to the Fire Nation.
Jet pretended to keep calm, gave Mushi a terse, polite smile before making his way back over to Longshot, Dao, and Smellerbee. The worst thing about knowing Smellerbee for so long was that she could read him too easily. Immediately she knew something was up, but with one look between her and Jet, she held off asking anything, but her glare was enough to know that they would be talking later.
When they were seated on the train, Jet quietly told Smellerbee about what he'd seen the old man do to his tea and how he thought that Mushi was a firebender. She encouraged him to just let it go. They'd come here for a fresh start, they didn't need to go around causing trouble in Ba Sing Se.
It wasn't until Dao (who'd been listening in) told him not to go, saying that he didn't want Jet to leave or for him to get hurt trying to prove something that may not even be true.
Jet debated with himself for a bit. He could go after Mushi and wait to prove him guilty. But Smellerbee was right, he could get in some serious trouble and who knows if he'd end up locked away somewhere if he wasn't careful. He looked down at Dao who was still hugging him and at Longshot and Smellerbee who both had an expression that was telling him not to do this. To just take a break from trying to hunt down the Fire Nation and to just embrace this new life for a while.
He couldn't leave them. He couldn't risk getting taken away from them, his family.
So he wouldn't.
"I'm not going anywhere, guys. After all, we still have to find the rest of our family."
╭══❤═════ღ❦ღ══╮
𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀
𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘
╰══ღ❦ღ═════❤══╯
They found an apartment in the lower ring run by a nice old woman. She let them rent it for less than the actual cost with the promise that they would pay her back when they got jobs. They settled in that first day and planned to head out the next day in search of work.
They slept better than they had for the past couple months. They had a place to call home again, no matter how temporarily. But it was enough for now.
The next day the older kids left to find work around the city, something that was proving to be more difficult than any of them expected. By the end of the day, Smellerbee had been the only one to find a job as a server at a restaurant not far from their apartment.
By the end of the week Longshot had found a job at an apothecary and Jet had gotten a job as a postman around the Lower Ring. During those days, Dao had started working in a tea shop just a few blocks away from the restaurant Smellerbee worked at.
Everyday they kept an ear open for any arrival of the rest of their team. Yet there was no news or signs of Pipsqueak, the Duke, or Sneers anywhere in the city. It was somewhat discouraging, but they always tried to keep positive. If they gave up hope now, then all they'd worked for would end up being for nothing.
Life wasn't perfect, but it was enough.
Sure it wasn't what they were used to, but it was a nice change from having to fight for every little supply they needed to survive, and now being able to get exactly what they needed, whenever they needed. No longer just needing to hope that their next raid would have what they needed.
Life was good.
It was calm.