𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 | 𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘢

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵'𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴

{the serpent's pass}

it took a while, but the three made it to the boat that would take them to ba sing se. their travels were tough and fucking scary, which was mostly caused by them freaking out while in the pots, but they made it.

when they boarded hana could clearly tell the iroh was reminiscing on his times as a general. one of his greatest "fails" as a general was not being able to capture ba sing se.

iroh looked out sadly towards the water, "who would have thought, after all these years, i'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace..." he paused and then smiled. "as a tourist!"

hana laughed, "with an earthbender no less."

"with an earthbender no less!" he laughed with her

maybe they shouldn't be joking about it but they didn't care. they giggled quietly to themselves.

"look around, we're not tourists, we're refugees," he said as he took a sip from a wooden bowl. he immediately regretted it and spat it out, "ugh! i'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. i'm tired of living like this."

hana was about to agree but was interrupted by someone else.

"aren't we all," everyone turned to look at a boy zuko and hana's age. "my name's jet, and these are my freedom fighters, smellerbee and longshot."

hana smiled, "hi."

"hey," smellerbee responded and longshot nodded for a greeting.

zuko looked over the lake, "hello."

oh, cold much?

jet got closer to them, "here's the deal. i hear the captain's eating like a king, while use refugees have to feed off is scraps. doesn't seem fair does it?"

hana stepped back towards iroh. she didn't like him or his attitude.

"what sort of 'king' is he eating like?" iroh practically drooled.

hana shot a glare at the old man and he quickly stopped.

"the fat, happy kind. you want to help us 'liberate' some food?"

"no-" hana was cut off.

"i'm in."

dammit.

they decided to go steal the food at dusk. smellerbee and hana would be on lookout, zuko and jet would rob the place, and longshot would help for a smooth escape.

they waited for a few hours and then it was their time. they quietly snuck their way upstairs passed the guards. they stood with their back against the walls, before zuko gave the clear for them.

hana and smellerbee got into their positions as lookout while jet forced the lock. they watched carefully and saw a guard.

"guards coming!" they whispered.

they came out within a second with two sacks of food. the four of them quickly ran to the edge of the balcony and saw longshot waiting where jet placed him

as longshot fired an arrow she pulled out a piece of fabric that was keeping her coat on. jet and zuko pushed their bundles of food down the rope and they followed using their swords. smellerbee used a piece of rope she had found, and hana followed behind her.

when they landed longshot pulled the arrow out of the balcony, making sure they wouldn't be caught.

they quickly ran back to where they should have been. jet gave some food to iroh first, letting him set their spot up. he then went around passing the rest of it out.

hana and zuko placed seats for everyone and sat down. smellerbeeand longshot sat with them

the air was bit tense because of the heist they had pulled but iroh talked to try and break through it.

"so, smellerbee. that's an unusual name for a young man," he said.

hana sighed, "smellerbee isn't-"

"maybe it's because i'm not a man! i'm a girl!" she got up and began to walk away.

iroh called after her, "oh, now i see! it's a beautiful name for a lovely girl."

hana shook her head in disapproval.

longshot quickly got up and followed. he stopped her from walking away any further and gave her a hard look.

she looked down, "i know. you're right as long as i'm confident with who i am, it doesn't matter what what other people think. thanks longshot."

jet quietly joined them as they ate, "from what i heard, people eat like this every night in ba sing se. i can't wait so set my eyes on that giant wall."

"it is a magnificent sight," iroh informed them.

"so you've been there before?" jet asked.

"once. when i was a different man," he looked down in shame.

jet glanced around, "i've done some things in my past that i'm not proud of." he looked back at them, "but that's why i'm going to ba sing se, for a new beginning. a second chance."

"that's very noble of you. i believe people can change their lives if they want to. i believe in second chance," iroh looked at zuko and zuko looked back at him.

hana watched as jet studied them. something wasn't right and it made her want to vomit.

soon, they went to bed. they knew they'd be arriving at ba sing se soon.

it took a while for hana to get her nerves under uncontrol. she just wanted to know that they were safe, but she didn't. she was afraid that if she fell asleep they were going to be attack. she'd be the reason that they were gone too. it made her feel even worse than when jet was around.

but, she was lucky. she was able to calm herself down by listening to zuko's breathing. she paced hers to his and soon, she too was asleep.

when she woke up zuko was gone. she looked around desperate to try and find him. it was iroh who stopped her panic.

"do not worry. zuko is getting some fresh air with jet," he calmed her.

"oh."

this didn't calm her down completely. she still didn't trust jet. she felt that there was going to be no good coming from him. she wanted iroh and zuko to stay away from jet and his posse.

lexi speaks;
this is really short compared to my usual writing. sorry yall! (its nearly a thousand but yk, it feels wrong lmfaoo) n e ways have a good day.