CHAPTER SIX
( A TRIP TO CRESCENT ISLAND )
FLO COULDN'T BREATHE, BUT it wasn't like before. It was more as if the air got knocked out of her by the amount of surprise Aang's words brought to her. She sucked in one large breath as if she were about to scream, and shakily let it out. She felt lightheaded a little bit. And terrified. And angry, for multiple reasons but right now mainly because Aang decided that he would go alone right after she admitted to him that she didn't do well with people leaving. So of course, a few minutes after Aang dropped that bomb, she stood in front of Appa with her back to him, arms crossed, as Aang stood beside her, trying and failing at getting the flying bison to move.
"Let's go, Appa! C'mon, boy!" Aang groaned and pulled at the reigns. Appa groaned back, ruffling the girl's clothes and hair.
"Do you have memory loss, Aang?" Flo asked the airbender accusingly, voice firm.
"No, but I'm not letting my friends go into the Fire Nation."
Flo wanted to blurt out that she was the archer some of the Fire Nation Soldiers were terrified of. She didn't know how his innocent mind would react to that though, or how the villagers nearby would react either, so she kept her mouth shut about it for the time being. "I'm not exactly unfamiliar with fighting Fire Nation soldiers," she stated instead.
Aang ignored her and tried again to get Appa to move. And just like the last time, he failed. He moved so he was face to face with his giant companion. "Look, I'm sorry, but the others aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us... If you got hurt, I'd never forgive myself," Aang admitted. Flo didn't miss how the last part was directed at her, and technically the siblings too, despite them not being close enough to hear. Aang's next words were aimed at Appa once again, "So get your big butt off of the ground and let's go!" He continued to pull on the reigns, and did it so much so that he lost his grip and fell to the ground.
Flo moved to stand over him. "I can hold my own." Sleemo, perched on her owner's shoulder, meowed in affirmation.
He had a dejected expression right then. "What does it matter, Appa won't get up anyway," he complained.
"His big butt is trying to tell you something," Sokka spoke as he and Katara walked up. "So is Flo. Listen to them, maybe?"
"Oh, like you so obviously listened to me last night?" Flo muttered to herself, bitter and angry. The others still heard. Aang visibly winced at her words and Sokka, after realizing what she said, shrunk back, sheepish. She frustratedly rolled her eyes at him, and barely noticed how Katara had an expression that said she agreed with the other girl. It soon went away as she spoke to the airbender.
"Please don't go, Aang. The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation. Neither can I."
Aang got off the ground and walked over the two siblings while Flo stayed put. "But I have to talk to Avatar Roku to find out what my vision means. I need to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the Solstice. That's today." He turned and then jumped on Appa where he usually sat, and gripped onto the reigns. As he looked at the three teenagers, Katara and Sokka moved to stand with Flo in front of Appa.
"We're not letting you go into the Fire Nation, Aang," Katara told him.
"At least not alone," Flo added.
Sokka nodded, agreeing. "Not without your friends. We got your back."
Momo chittered happily and landed on Aang's arm. Appa then opened his mouth, and since Sokka was the closest, he ended up being licked from head to toe. He let out an exaggerated, though very understandable, exclamation of ew. With a look of disgust, Flo stepped away and moved to get in the saddle.
+++
Flo would rather do anything other than go to the Fire Nation. Unfortunately, she had no choice (okay, she did, but it more or less felt as if she didn't). She wasn't going to let the trio out if her sight anytime soon, and that meant that she also had to go with them to Crescent Island. A small voice in the back of her mind wondered how the Freedom Fighters would react to this, but she quickly squashed that thought and focused on the people she was with right now. The sun started to rise hours ago, and it now hung in the sky. It reminded her how she hadn't gotten any sleep in the past two nights. The others tried to get her to rest – they could see the dark bags under her eyes – but how could she? They were racing against time to get to the island. The island, that was in Fire a nation territory. The urgency and stress of the situation didn't allow her to rest at all.
"Come on, boy! We've got a long way to go!" Aang yelled at Appa urgently. The bison pumped his tail, and they all went a little bit faster.
The tightness in her chest, she realized then, never went away from earlier. It was still there. Luckily, she didn't feel as though she might begin to have trouble breathing, but she still felt extremely anxious. She did her best not to think about their current situation.
At least the Fire Nation wasn't following them.
"Aang, we got trouble," Katara said as she looked behind them.
Flo's shoulders drooped slightly as she looked behind them. In the ocean, gaining speed, was a small Fire Nation vessel. Of course, she thought bitterly, I just had to be proven wrong.
"Yeah, and it's gaining fast!" Sokka shouted. Flo went to speak, but Sokka slapped his hand over her mouth. "Don't you dare say we're doomed."
She gave him an incredulous look and shoved his hand away. "I haven't said that since Omashu," she defended herself. "I wasn't the one being pessimistic the other day about Aang fighting Hei-Bai! That was you."
Sokka rolled his eyes. He had the decency to look guilty despite her not bringing up him getting kidnapped by the spirit. "So what were you gonna say?"
"That we should get up higher before they shoot a–."
"Fire ball!" Katara yelled.
"That."
"I'm on it!" Aang shouted back. He pulled at Appa's reigns, and the bison swerved out of the way just in time. Even though the Fire ball didn't get to them, the heat and a foul smell certainly did. Flo used her cloak to cover the bottom half of her face while the others covered their noses with their hands.
"We have to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" Katara told them.
"Can't you make Appa go faster?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, there's just one little problem..."
They all looked ahead of themselves. Flo's stomach dropped drastically at the double lines of Fire Nation navy ships. A blockade. An endless one, it looked like. Sokka looked at her, expecting her to say those two words, but she kept her mouth shut and narrowed her eyes at him before looking ahead again.
"If we fly north we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade," Aang said. "It's the only way."
"There's no time," Katara argued.
"This is exactly why I didn't want you to come. It's too dangerous," he told them.
"And that's exactly why we're here," Flo retaliated.
"Let's run this blockade," Sokka said, determination setting in.
"Appa! Yip, yip!"
Katara was suddenly by Flo. The latter looked at the former curiously. "Can you take some soldiers out from up here?" she asked lowly, quiet so the boys didn't hear them. "I know you're the archer Haru talked about."
Flo's eyes widened by a fraction. She slowly shook her head. "I don't want do that anymore, not unless I have no choice," she told her just as quietly. She wanted to ask how Katara figured it out, but decided that it was a conversation for another time.
Katara nodded, yet frowned. "I understand. I just... I want us to get through the blockade."
"I get that, but I can't risk anything. If they figure out who I am..." she trailed off and let Katara figure out the rest on her own. The banished prince wouldn't be the only to chase them.
"What are you two whispering about?" Sokka spoke suddenly. "It's not time for secrets!" He gestured wildly around them as if to prove a point.
"Girl stuff," Katara said automatically. She smirked as her brother immediately became disgusted. Her smirk fell as they all looked forward once more and saw tens of fire balls coming at them.
The three of them yelled and they ducked behind the lip of the saddle as Aang steered Appa through the fire balls. When they stopped, they sat back up. Katara, Sokka, and Momo went on one side to pat out the patches of fur that caught on fire, and Flo and Sleemo did the same thing on the opposite side.
"Appa, you okay?" Aang asked the bison, who groaned as if to say that he was.
They went higher up into the clouds then to get away, only to get surprised by more fire balls breaking through the tops of the clouds as well. Aang lurched Appa sideways and up and down to avoid getting hit; the others barely had time to hold on tightly to the saddle to keep themselves from falling off. Well, the girls held on. Sokka went flying off of Appa and through the clouds below them. They went after him, flying through the air, nearly straight down, at a speed that increased with each second. They caught up with him just in time – right before he had the chance to fall into the water below, and Katara was the one who dragged him back in Appa's saddle. Appa flew right above the water, and with Aang's help they expertly dodged even more fire balls – the smell was overwhelming and Flo honestly wanted to gag.
Everything seemed to stop for a moment until a fire ball was aimed straight at them. Aang leaped off Appa. He used his airbending to break through the fire ball, and landed back on the bison, Sokka and Katara holding his arms to steady him. Finally, they went over the blockade.
Aang pumped his fist in the air. "We made it!"
The three teens kneeled at the lip of the saddle. Amazed, in disbelief, shaken up... Flo never wanted to do that again. Ever.
"We got into the Fire Nation," Sokka said. His shoulders slumped a little. "Great."
Now they just had to get to island, let Aang talk to a dead Avatar, and then leave the Fire Nation. She had a feeling that everything was about to be as easy as dodging those fire balls.
+++
It didn't surprise Flo that the island was an active volcano. Really, given as it was the Fire Nation, she expected it. Well, maybe not an active one; she kind of expected a dormant volcano, one that didn't threaten to erupt anytime soon. But no. The volcano was active. Lava streams spilled in little rivers at random spots. It made her uneasy, and the heat didn't help. It was winter – more accurately, the winter solstice – and it was unfairly hot on the island. She decided to leave her cloak off because of that.
"You did it buddy," Aang said to Appa once they all landed. He patted the bison's face. "Nice flying."
Appa groaned, exhausted, and rolled over. Katara started to rub his belly. "Oh! You must be tired!" the girl exclaimed to the bison.
"No. I'm good. Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders."
Flo turned around, as did Katara, to Sokka. He stretched and jogged in place. The two girls held similar expressions. "I was talking to Appa," Katara said.
Sokka froze. "Well. I was talking to Momo. And- uh, Flo."
The mentioned girl just rolled her eyes.
They walked up the path that lead to the Temple with Aang up front. When they get to a low wall, all four of them, plus Momo and Sleemo, crouched behind it.
"I don't see any guards," Sokka commented.
"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died," Katara guessed. She then flattened Momo's ears to keep the lemur hidden better behind the wall.
"It's almost sundown," Aang told them. "We better hurry." He then jumped over the wall and ran.
They all quickly followed him. He led the way again, and Flo took up the rear with Sleemo. She had an arrow slotted in her bow, the weapon tilted down, ready to use if needed. When they got inside, the two animals landed quietly and the group of four halted their running. Flo stepped quietly and lightly, and the others snuck around on their tip-toes. The teen froze as she heard something behind them; from way Sokka stopped as well, she guessed he heard it too.
"Wait," he said quietly. "I think I heard something."
They all turned. Five elderly men dressed in blood red robes and pointy hats on their heads stood there. They didn't look dangerous, but then again they were in Fire Nation territory. Still, she didn't lift her weapon. She didn't want to attack or get too defensive against someone who might be harmless.
One of the elderly men spoke, "We are the Fire Sages. Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."
Aang stepped forward. "Great! I am the Avatar."
"We know."
The Fire Sages all got into firebending poses. Three fire balls were aimed straight at Aang. The boy quickly assumed an airbending stance and blocked all of the fire balls. He looked at Flo, Katara, and Sokka. "I'll hold them off. Run!"
Flo wanted to protest, but all she did was put the arrow back in the quiver and turned as she placed the bow on her back. She pushed at both of the siblings, and they all ran away from the scene. Sleemo and Momo flew above their heads. None of them knew where they were going but Flo didn't care all that much. She just wanted to get Katara and Sokka away from the firebenders as fast as possible. Aang came running for them as they neared a corner. They skidded to a stop to avoid running into one another.
"Follow me!"
"Do you know where you're going?" Flo asked as they started running again.
"Nope!" Aang went around a corner. They began to follow him until he came running back. "Wrong way!"
"Come back!" the Fire Sage shouted after them as he ran.
Flo glanced over her shoulder for a split second. She wondered why he wasn't attacking them, why he wasn't using his bending to stop them, and her brows knitted together. None of them listened to him. The group kept on running, ignoring the Fire Sage that ran after them. With just their luck though, they got to a dead end. Without hesitation, Flo aimed an arrow at the elderly man as they all turned around. She put herself between him and the others.
"I don't want to fight you," the Fire Sage told them. "I am a friend."
"Firebenders aren't our friends," Sokka said, voice firm.
The Fire Sage didn't say anything to that. Instead, he carefully moved forward. Flo pulled back on the bowstring some more. The man eyed her for a moment before he lowered his head. He dropped to his knees in a bow when he got close enough in front of Aang. Flo kept the arrow trained on him in case he tried to do something.
"I know why you're here, Avatar," the Fire Sage said.
Aang relaxed his pose, confused. Everyone else stayed tense. "You do?"
The Fire Sage stood. "Yes. You wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him."
"How?"
The Fire Sage moved to the wall. He reached for one of the light fixtures and turned it, revealing a small hole. The man breathed and then shot some fire into the hole, which made one of the panels of the wall slide open. Flo blinked, finally lowered the bow and arrow, and she stared at the secret passage of stairs in surprise. Still, she didn't fully trust it, or the Sage for that matter. What if this ended up to be some sort of trap?
The man motioned towards the passage. "This way."
None of them moved.
"Find them," was distantly heard. The other Fire Sages were getting closer by the second.
"Time is running out. Quickly!"
Aang and Katara looked at one another. They two then looked to Flo, and Sokka did too. She suddenly realized that the decision was, more or less, up to her. She couldn't really think about it though, because there were so many possibilities to go through, and there wasn't the time to properly make a good plan. So, after looking at Aang, and hoping the Fire Sage wasn't about to lead them to their deaths, she nodded. Flo waited until the other three, plus the lemur and hawk-cat, went into the passage to go in herself; the Fire Sage followed, last in line, and closed the secret doorway.
"Avatar Roku once called this temple his home. He formed these secret passages out of magma," the Fire Sage – Shyu, he eventually introduced himself – once they got to the bottom of the secret stairway. He led the way, with Aang right behind him and Katara right behind Aang. Flo and Sokka stayed farther away at the back while Sleemo and Momo flew around carefully.
"Did you know Avatar Roku?" Aang asked.
"No," Shyu responded. "But my grandfather knew him. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."
"Is that how you knew I was coming?"
Flo listened to Shyu as she eyed a river of magma close by. "A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of Avatar Roku, it's eyes began to glow!"
"That's when we were at the Air Temple," Katara said. "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there too!"
"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world," Shyu told Aang.
Flo stepped out of the way as Momo landed and started to walk alongside everyone. Sleemo perched on her shoulder, tail loosely going around the back of her neck. Sokka looked over at them at seeing the movement from the corner of his eye. He smiled lightly and reached to pet Sleemo. The hawk-cat's ears flattened and she gently slapped at his hand with a paw before she moved to Flo's other shoulder. Sokka's shoulders slumped as he pouted; Flo scratched under Sleemo's chin with a tiny smile.
"If this is the Avatar's temple, then why did the Sages attack me?" she heard Aang ask.
"Things have changed," Shyu explained dimly. "In the past, the Sages were loyal only to the Avatar. When Roku died, the Sages eagerly waited for the next Avatar to return. But he never came."
Aang stopped walking. He rested a hand against the wall of the tunnel. "They were waiting for me."
Sokka stopped beside him. "Hey, don't feel bad," he started and put an arm over Aang's shoulders. "You're only a hundred years late." It earned him a glare from the younger boy.
The Fire Sage turned around. He stopped walking as well, and when Flo came up beside Katara, she noticed how they were at the end of the tunnel. "They lost hope the Avatar would ever return," Shyu went on. "When Fire Lord Sozin began the war, my grandfather and the other Sages were forced to follow him." Dismayed, he shook his head. "I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other Sages."
With a small smile, Aang gave a barely noticeable bow. "Thank you for helping me."
The group walked up the spiral staircase that seemed to never end. Shyu explained that once they got to the sanctuary, all Aang had to do was go inside and talk to his past life. When they got to the top of the stairs, Shyu removed the panel of the floor and poked his up and out. They climbed out, one by one, into a large, empty room.
Shyu suddenly gasped. "No!"
Aang and Katara walked up to him as he stood in front of two large, closed doors. Flo stayed back a few feet while Sokka leaned his back against the wall beside the doors. She looked at the large Fire Nation golden symbol of fire and the twisting bodies of dragons, their mouths opened. It looked a bit creepy, if Flo was being honest.
"Shyu, what's wrong?" Aang asked.
"The sanctuary doors," the man explained, "they're closed."
While Aang attempted to push the doors open, Katara asked, "Can't you just open them with firebending? Like you opened that other door?"
"No. Only a fully realized Avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise the Sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts," Shyu said.
"Five fire blasts, huh?" Sokka asked slowly. He looked over at them and then smiled as he turned his head up to look at a lantern above him. "I think I can help you out."
Not too soon later, Sokka was crouched on the ground. An empty lamp sat on the ground near him as he filled up five different sacks. Momo was perched on his knee, and the everyone else stood in front of him, watching as he worked.
"This is a little trick I picked up from my father," he told them. "I seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, Shyu lights the oil soaked twine and tada! Fake firebending!" He held up one of the sacks with a proud smirk.
"That's actually really smart," Flo said.
"You've really outdone yourself this time, Sokka," Katara told him, completely genuine.
"This might actually work," said Shyu with a smile.
Sokka stood up. Flo easily took two of the animal skin casings as he handed them to her, and while Aang, Katara, Momo, and Sleemo hid behind the columns, they put the skin casings in the mouths of the dragons. They both ran behind the pillars, and once Shyu told Aang that he had to go in immediately since the other Fire Sages were going to hear the blast, he lit the twines and hid with Aang and Flo. Not a second later, all of the sacks blew up.
Only, the doors were still shut.
"Why won't it open!" Aang shouted and hurled blasts of air at the door.
Katara quickly grabbed his arm to keep him from continuing on. "Aang, stop! There's nothing else we can do."
He hung his head. "I'm sorry I put you through all of this for nothing."
Realization suddenly struck Flo. "It didn't open because they weren't simultaneous," she said and walked to the doors. She carefully stood where Shyu had been. "Shyu was here, right? Meaning this casing was lit first," she pointed to the dragon's mouth closest to her, "and then the others. So it blew up first."
Sokka walked over and touched the soot on the doors. He rubbed his fingers together. "But that blast looked as strong as any firebending I've seen."
She shrugged. "That fact doesn't matter since they didn't go off at the same time."
Katara's face suddenly lit up. "Wait, Sokka! You're a genius!"
Aang looked at her, confused. "How is Sokka a genius? His plan didn't even work."
"Come on, Aang, let her dream."
"You're right. Sokka's plan didn't work...but it looks like it did."
+++
Katara's plan went like this: Shyu would bring the other Sages to the Sanctuary, he would show them the scorch marks and the shadow underneath the door – the shadow, in actuality, would be the flying lemur – and then while the old men are distracted, Sokka and Katara would take two Sages while Shyu would take the last, and Flo would stay behind the pillar with Aang just in case someone decided to come up the stairway.
The plan almost worked.
Flo actually had high hopes that it would, and as it went smoothly with each passing second that hope dwindled into caution because there was no way this plan was going this smoothly. Not with their luck. Then, of course, for a moment, a few things went wrong. Prince Zuko came up from the large stairway, but Flo didn't notice because she naively and truly believed that Aang was going to step into the Sanctuary with ease for a moment. He attacked her first. He covered her mouth with his hand and then hit her head against the pillar and then grabbed Aang before he could properly react.
Flo crumpled to the ground and clutched her head. She could already feel the blood against her palm.
"Aang! Now's your chance!" she heard Katara shout.
"That Avatar's coming with me!" Ugh, Zuko.
"Where's Flo?"
Flo's head hurt. A soft groan escaped her lips and she forced herself up on all fours – well, three. She kept one hand on the side of her head, pressed against her wound, and her eyes stayed closed. It was on the same side her previous gash was on, and she had a feeling that the finally healed wound just got reopened. The Fire Prince said something about closing the doors, then she heard footsteps coming over to her.
With panic, her eyes snapped open. For a split second, she was back in the Earth Kingdom a little over a month ago, getting ambushed and attacked because a group of soldiers caught on to the fact that she was the archer who killed many of their men. She pushed herself off of the ground – it was shiny and smooth, not rough and gravely, she noticed with only slight relief – and spun to face the man coming for her. It was a mistake of a move. Dizziness took over and suddenly there were two very old identical Fire Sages in front of her. She tried to stumble back, vaguely aware of the blood running down the side of her face and dribbling to her jaw and neck, but it was no use.
How hard did the jerk smash her head, anyway?
Next thing she knew, they had chained her up with the Water Tribe siblings.
"Aang got in– oh, man, that's a lot of blood," was the first thing she heard from Sokka's mouth.
Flo peeled her eyes open (when did she close them?) and gave him a stink eye. But her dark eyes moved away from him and his worried gaze, and to Shyu. The man had his hands tied behind his back as he kneeled on the floor in front of Zuko. The other four Sages stood behind their traitor.
"Why did you help the Avatar?" Zuko asked.
"Because it was once the Sages' duty," Shyu answered. "It is still our duty."
Out of nowhere, someone was clapping; someone Flo couldn't see at first. Then, she saw him. A middle-aged man with a weird, pointy beard and too large sideburns. He wore Fire Nation armor, and there were two soldier behind him, one had to be a few or so years older than the teenagers in the room and the other looked to be the same age as the Prince. They older guy and the middle-aged man looked related. The other, not so much with skin a few shades darker, but with how the teen stood with them both, he was an important person to keep an eye on. Finally, behind them stood more troops.
"What a moving and heartfelt performance," the man in charge spoke. "I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him."
The Fire Sages bowed. "Commander Zhao."
The man – Commander Zhao, apparently – then said something to Zuko, but Flo didn't listen. She let her head droop slightly, and suddenly someone was shoving her shoulder with their own.
"Hey, none of that, you need to stay awake."
This wasn't a good situation. She hadn't slept in two days and then her head got smashed into a hard as hell pillar, and it didn't take a genius to figure out she most likely has a concussion. Despite her own body's protest, she lifted her head. She quickly rested it against the surface of the pillar she was chained to. She forced her eyes to stay opened too, and soon found herself watching the prince and who she assumed to be Commander Zhao's son.
The son chained the prince to the other pillar. As Commander Zhao spoke to his troops and the Sages quietly, Flo focused her attention on Zuko and the other guy.
"Lieutenant Mizu," Zuko greeted in a rather deadpan tone.
The Commander's son looked at him with little to no emotion. Then, "Prince Zuko." He sighed, the action so slight that Flo almost missed it. "I do believe I said to stop angering my father."
"And I believe I reminded you that you are not the boss of me," Zuko said.
Mizu yanked the chains to secure them. "You are doing more harm than good."
Deciding that conversation was nothing of importance, she let her eyes drift back to the rest of the soldiers. The teenager who had been standing beside Mizu behind Zhao was already looking at her, amber brown eyes only flickering once with worry before that same stoic expression Mizuki wore reappeared. He looked away quickly as Zhao spoke. Flo rolled her eyes lightly, figured she had imagined that split second concerned look, and clenched her jaw in pain.
Some other things happened that went by in a blur. Shyu got chained up beside her, Zhao ordered his men to attack the moment the doors reopened, and she was pretty sure she wasn't hallucinating when the teen soldier walked up with some ripped pieces of clothing.
Mizu, who was guarding the prince, snapped his gaze to him. "Koda," he said – almost like a warning.
The soldier – Koda, though that didn't sound like a Fire Nation name, and if she wasn't concussed Flo would find that odd – ignored the Lieutenant and continued to come closer. Everyone stared at him with mixed emotions. Flo attempted to move away from his touch. Someone from the Fire Nation so close to her when she couldn't fight back had her growing in panic, though she tried not to show that too much.
Koda paused only to lowly say, "I'm not a firebender." He then easily steadied her and got to work.
"What just happened?" Katara asked, utterly confused, as Koda walked off without a word once he finished.
No one answered her.
Actually, they might have answered her, but Flo's head hurt so terribly bad and she needed to lie down somewhere, because things were starting to get dizzy again and she could barely focus on anything anymore. Some more things happened, and then Katara and Sokka spoke briefly. Shyu attempted to talk to Flo, to get her to stay conscious, but it wasn't working. Their words were garbled and fuzzy. She couldn't understand any of them.
The last thing Flo saw was a glowing old man in Fire Nation clothes.
***
A/N— EDIT: so i changed a few things because of the changes i made in Molten Ice!! Mizu had mentioned Akiko, but now he doesn't and Koda is there while she's in NWT. in case you're confused after said change: they're OCs of another atla fic that's connected to this one :) it's called Molten Ice, so check it out if you to!