Mangetsu advanced, the mist swirling around his ankles as he pushed steaming whips of water towards screaming soldiers who tried desperately to escape the small bender.
He spotted someone with a softly floating dress, so out of place that he stopped dead and stared. She smiled at him sadly and waved for him to follow. He hesitated, but the serious look in her eye told him there was no time for his pride. Or his fear.
So he followed her in her strange blue dress that floated around her as if she moved through water, her hair like a golden trail that followed loosely.
Away from the fight, into winding by streets, until it was just the two of them.
"Hello, Mangetsu," she said, her hazel eyes smiling sadly.
"Amaya..." he answered, frowning suspiciously. "How..."
"No time," she shook her head. "It's a trap. If you get back to Sokka now, there is still time to use the eclipse as a cover to escape."
"What?"
"Ozai is not in the Palace," she explained. "He knew you were coming. I don't know how."
Mangetsu swore and turned to head back to the battle. "Of course he knew. Nothing is ever this easy!"
"You thought this was easy?"
"...No," he grumbled.
"Hurry, I'll be bringing a friend along next time," she said. "Oh, tell the others 'I'm sorry,' from me, ok?"
Mangetsu nodded, then turned back, pausing a moment. "I..."
"Not now, Mangetsu," she said with a heavy sigh. "There is too much to do before we worry about that."
He hesitated a moment longer before nodding again and then sprinted to find Sokka. There was so little time... the Eclipse was about to start.