Dao and the Freedom Fighters

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐥

Third Person POV:

"I still don't understand the appeal of living in a palace." Jet drawled from the bench he laid across by the turtleduck pond. Dao was petting Druk with one hand and absentmindedly drawing shapes in the water with the other. Longshot leaned back against the tree with Smellerbee leaning against him. "Wouldn't you just get tired of having to pretend to be perfect all the time? Seems like a waste of time."

"Good thing we aren't royalty," Smellerbee piped up from her half asleep position.

Dao's eyes darted away from them, staring off into the pond. After so many years living together, Jet immediately noticed Dao's change of behavior. He cursed himself silently. They'd just learned that Dao was in fact royalty himself.

"You okay there, buddy?"

Dao bit his bottom lip, chewing on it for a moment nervously. "Are you all mad I never told you where I came from?"

The voice that answered shocked all of them. "We could never be mad at you Dao," Longshot replied. "You're still a part of our family. It doesn't matter where you came from."

"Really?"

"Longshot's right," Smellerbee pipped in. "You're a Freedom Fighter for life little buddy."

Jet couldn't help but agree. Sure everything had been a bit of a shock, but so had everything since they'd found Dao. Jet had never thought that after everything he'd seen in his life with the firebender's who had destroyed his home that he'd end up taking one under his wing. And from there things just got weirder. Next thing he knew the Avatar was back. The Freedom Fighters were chased from their forest and split up. They had semi-normal lives for a while in Ba Sing Se before chaos struck again. Before they knew it they were joining the Avatar's attack on the capital Fire Nation city which led them to where they were now.

All it told Jet was that nothing in life was going to make perfect sense. There were always going to be these confusing divisions, but for Dao, he'd do anything. Even if that meant occasionally having to socialize with the Firelord and her family to see his littlest brother. 

Jet smirked, pulling Dao over to him and ruffling his hair. "Who gives a crap if you're a Prince, Dao? You're stuck with us." The younger boy squawked, trying to push Jet's hand out of his hair, but falling subject to his own laughter.

A calmer air came over them all once again, sinking into the normality that they'd all come to know after living together and relying on each other for so long. That was until three young girls cautiously made their way over to them. The first girl looked so much like Dao that it could only be his sister. The other two Jet had briefly seen earlier with the Fire Nation princess, but he could only assume that they too were of high Fire Nation status. 

Jet honestly wasn't quite sure what to do, but Bee came to the rescue, pulling out one of her many hidden blades to show the girls who were immediately fascinated. The slight worry Jet had felt, melted away. Just like when he'd found Dao, he couldn't judge the kid based on the nation he'd come from. They were just children after all. What harm would they do?

So the little Fire Nation girls joined their group. Eventually the Avatar and his friends joined as well. 

And for the first time in so many years, Jet finally felt like he could breathe without having to be prepared to defend his family when things would undoubtedly go haywire.