Open Your Eyes | Book 2

8: Old Scars

Art: Dark Eyes by Santiago Castro

With the use of some clever disguises and the help of the White Lotus, we managed to sneak our way passed Xin Fu and Yu. Before long, we were on our way to Ba Sing Se.

There were many reasons to be a little apprehensive about stepping foot in the city. Zuko didn't believe we could fit in. I, on the other hand, thought it was a brilliant idea up until we arrived at Full Moon Bay. A few things at the ferry terminal made me nervous but I tried not think about it.

Zuko and I stewed silently in or uneasy thoughts, meanwhile, Iroh voiced the reason he should be nervous without much shame.

His voice started out heavily drenched in despair, "Who would have thought after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace..." his expression turned on a copper piece, "as a tourist!"

I couldn't help but giggle at the grinning man and the floral hat he'd put on his head. Zuko was less amused. "Look around!" He motioned to our surroundings.

We were currently on a ferry with a boatload of Earth Kingdom civilians fleeing the war. It was our last stretch of travel before we arrived in the city.

"We're not tourists," Zuko hissed, "we're refugees." He tried to settle his uproar by tipping the bowl of food we'd each been offered to his mouth. The minute the mush touched his lips, he spat it out again. "Ugh! I'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. I'm tired of living like this!"

I sighed and ran a soothing hand across his back. His muscles were tense under my touch but he wasn't burning up which was a good sign. "Relax, this is only temporary."

"That's what everyone says," a new voice spoke up.

I felt an instant rush in my stomach like I was standing at the edge of a never-ending abyss. I had once mistaken this feeling for butterflies. That heart-pounding sensation everyone describes when they like someone. Now I knew better. The butterflies were warning signs. They were the same alarms which triggered just as loudly as they did when I stood at a great a height. It signaled danger.

Zuko pulled away from me, he and Iroh looking to the newcomer. I stood perfectly still. I was trying to process who it was that stood behind me and how he was there - there with Zuko and Iroh. And that fear that I felt was suddenly no longer about my past experience with this person. I was now scared because this was the only person I'd ever met who hated the Fire Nation as much as I once did and I knew exactly what I would have done if I'd come across such people in this circumstance. He couldn't find out.

"My name's Jet," the voice confirmed my suspicions and I felt a chill run down my spine, "and these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot."

I carefully snuck one of my clenched fists to the leather belt around my waist, finding the dagger holstered beside my water pouch.

"Hey," Smellerbee greeted.

"Hello," Zuko responded. He stood just as still beside me. He was studying them carefully, clearly not sure what to make of them.