Pirates. They had to be pirates from the look of the ship, as well as the crew. Tenzin looked around. They could take them. This ship at least. But he knew there were many more sailing not that far. One could almost assume that was not a coincidence. They had to think carefully about their next move.

"Greetings, gentlemen!" Of course Bumi opened his mouth without even thinking first! He stepped off Oogi and onto the boat first, holding his hands in the air since there were about ten swords pointed at him. Lin followed right after him, then Tenzin and finally Kya with Su.

"If you want the bison, we have no problem with that. We stole it a few miles back from some sucker who left it unattended!" Bumi lied with a perfect grin on his face.

"Lies! You have an airbender with you!" one of the men stated the obvious. Well, it was not such a convincing lie...

"That's right... And also a waterbender," Bum looked over to Kya who rose to pillars of water at his cue, "And I don't think you guys ever met a metalbender, Lin if you please."

Hearing him, Lin got into her stance and ripped each sword out of the hand that was holding it and turned them around to be pointed at each pirate. She kept them all in the air like that, inches away from the men's faces.

"Can you hold them like that?" Tenzin asked Lin who was beginning to sweat. She's never attempted something like that, so it required all her concentration. She just nodded, never breaking eye contact with the swords.

"Cut Oogi out of the net..." Tenzin whispered to Kya who was standing closest to the animal.

Bumi heard his brother, too, and attempted to engage the crew in conversation again.

"This must be a new experience for you. Losing to an earthbender. Usually, they're pretty helpless out in the open seas, aye?"

One man saw Kya untangling the net and tried to move. Lin stopped him my pinning his shirt to the ship's hall with his sword. Unfortunately, this distracted her enough, so several crew members managed to slip past the blades she was holding up. Tenzin stepped closer to help knock a few men overboard, but it was too late.

"Lin!"

Lin turned and saw the ship's captain was holding a piece of broken glass at her sister's throat. She could use any of the weapons to attack him, but would it be fast enough? Could she kill him before he hurt her? Did she even want to kill him?

"Lin! Help me!" Tears were starting to run down Su's face as she struggled to get out of the man's grip.

Finally, Lin fell to her knees and about ten blades clashed onto the deck with her. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. Seeing her surrendering, others just followed her lead.

"Bind them!" said the Captain still holding Su, "Rope! No chains!"

This was a bad start to their adventure. Or even worse. A bad ending.

Izumi watched all of this from a safe distance. She couldn't make out what was happening all that well, but she did see that her friends were not being released, but instead taken below deck. They must be counting on her to help them.

She was soaked and cold, but unharmed, so she had no problem swimming to the next nearest ship. The ships were all circling the area before they arrived, but now they all seemed to be leaving in the same direction. With some help from her bending, she managed to climb aboard the ship without being noticed, and hide behind a few crates.

The Princess then hugged her knees and tried to stay warm until the ship docked... Well, wherever they were going. She sat there for maybe a few hours, before they made port. She snuck off the ship almost as easily as she got on. From there she followed the captain who took her friends from the marina into a compound. Her friends were taken there soon after. Izumi was always quiet and graceful by nature, so all this spying wasn't a problem for her. Busting her friends out of that compound... That was probably going to be a problem.

She knew how to bend, she just didn't like confrontation that much. Physical or otherwise...

After observing the building some more, she realized there was no way she could get inside without being spotted by at least three men. But there was no other way. There was no one who could do this, but her.

She was a little nervous, yes, but she didn't know how bad it was until she ran to the building and hid just around the corner from a few guards. Her breathing... It was just too loud and she couldn't seem to get it to calm down. She tried to cover her mouth with her hand, but that only made her more upset. She was sure at least one of the guards could hear her and would come to check it out.

She just needed a few more moments before they noticed...

"Fire!"

Her plan was finally working. She set some dry branches on the other side of the building on fire and hoped these people would know how to put it out. She didn't want to be the one to cause a forest fire. The entrance was unattended for a few moments and that was really all she needed. The door was locked, of course... There could be a hundred bad guys behind that door for all she knew, or it could just be empty. She took a deep breath and blasted it open, burning the edges a little bit. Sorry. She thought before realizing these people kidnapped her friends.

Luckily, all that greeted her was an empty hall.

"Do you even know who we are?!" Kya yelled as soon as the blindfold was taken off her head, "You'll be sorry."

The men in the room payed little attention to her words. They had the kids tied up, moved and now they were... Waiting for something? Or someone... Thought Tenzin.

They were all sitting on the floor, in the corner of a large room, but at least they were all together. And their blindfolds were removed now.

"Are those the same guys from the palace?" Tenzin asked his brother.

"No. They don't have the flower." Bumi told him.

"Are you alright, Su?" Lin glanced over to her sister's neck. It didn't even leave a mark... The glass. Yet, she couldn't even begin to describe the feeling when that thing was so close to hurting her sister. Suyin nodded, trying not to show how scared this situation made her.

"This may be your last chance to set us free," Bumi tried to get their captors' attention, "Since our friend is gathering an army as we speak."

"Bumi..." Tenzin tried to stop him from running his mouth again, but bluffing was always his brother's favorite weapon.

"No, no... I want them to know that every minute now she could bust down their door and unleash fiery vengeance like the world has never seen."

The Captain was just getting ready to reply when everyone heard the big metal door to the room creek open and then closed again. Just as Bumi had predicted, Izumi finally found where they were being held.

Of course, in contrast to Bumi's tale, she didn't appear all that threatening. Her expression was determinant, but her bare feet, girly pajamas and Bumi's rumpled, a few sizes too big, military jacket made her look comically harmless. So much so that it caused a few of the men to chuckle.

"See. I told you she'd get help." Bumi turned to his siblings.

"I've come to bargain." Izumi said, seeing some of the men finally take her seriously and go for their weapons.

"Here it goes... I bet she ran into a Fire Nation Navy ship." Kya whispered.

"We're saved." Tenzin added.

"I come alone." Izumi continued.

"Uh-oh..." Bumi's eyes widened.

"Great. We're screwed." Lin whispered, "Tez, can't you just blow those guys away while they're not looking?"

"Maybe one. It's not strong enough."

"I want to offer myself up as a prisoner in exchange for my friends." Izumi put out her hands, surrendering, "I am the Fire Nation's Crown Princess, you can get a decent ransom for me. More than for all of them combined."

"Do something, Lin..." Su whispered.

"I don't think I can." Lin answered quietly.

"No, Izumi don't!" Bumi yelled.

"You don't have to do this." Kya added.

"We'll be fine!" Tenzin said, even though he wasn't so sure of it.

"So my friends all go free and I won't give you any trouble. Do we have a deal?" Izumi ignored her friends' pleas.

At that moment everyone heard a slow clap coming from behind the Princess. She turned around and saw a middle-aged woman entering the room. She was grinning like crazy while clapping. Upon seeing her enter all the other men immediately stopped whatever they were doing, put away their weapons and walked out of the room.

So she was the boss...

"Brilliant performances everyone... Really. Bravo." the woman said. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but Izumi couldn't quite place it.

"I'm really enjoying this noble sacrifice theme, but I must stop you right there." the woman chuckled, "I asked my men to capture you so we can have a chat. No one is getting hurt if you don't do something stupid."

Bumi could have sworn she looked at him while saying that last part.

"Who are you?" Izumi asked, trying to look confident.

"Has your father never even showed you a painting? A shame, really... I'm your aunt, Izumi."

"Azula?" Izumi took one more look at the woman in front of her. She'd seen a painting of two, but most of them were from a time before her father got his scar. And this woman wore her hair in a long ponytail instead of the usual bun Azula had in all the paintings. She wasn't wearing armor, or red at all, but there was something so undeniably Fire Nation about her...

"Is it her, Izumi?" Lin asked.

"Of course, it's me. Why would anyone risk arrest by pretending to be me?"

"So it was you all this time? You have our parents?" Bumi stood up.

"No." Azula moved so she was directly in front of him, "But I know who does."

"Why the hell would we trust you?" Lin spoke again.

"You tried to kill all of our parents before." Tenzin remembered the stories.

"Listen, you can either hate me because of some exaggerated stories you've heard from your parents or you can let me help you." Azula created a little blue flame at the tip of her index finger and burned the ropes binding Bumi, "How about it?"

"Help us how?" Izumi asked.

"I presume no one's told you anything about what has been going on. So like always, it is all on me." Azula started, "They call themselves the Red Lotus. It is an organization that has rooted itself deep inside the White Lotus you all trusted so much. A few weeks ago they came out of the shadows, finally revealing their one true purpose. Getting rid of all word leaders."

"And you have a problem with that?" Bumi asked, untying Kya.

"I take offence at that question. I've given most of my childhood, my innocence for the strength and prosperity of the Fire Nation. I would sooner die, than watch it descend into chaos. And since Fire Lord Zuzu isn't up to the task, seems I will have to step up once again to deal with this. With your help, of course."

"You seem to be doing fine, why would you need us?" Izumi asked a valid question.

"Because, dear children, I think I would have a hard time convincing the Avatar of my good intentions. Unless I am fighting alongside his kids. Plus, I was intrigued when I heard from my spies you all eluded capture for this long."

"They're after us too?" asked Tenzin, being the last one to be untied.

"Air Temple Island got attacked the night you left. I presumed you knew since you immediately went to save Izumi..." Azula looked the girl up and down, seemingly confused about her attire.

"I told you I had to come with you!" Su raised her voice at her sister.

"Alright. You got lucky, now drop it." Lin never moved her eyes off Azula. She still couldn't help but be suspicious.

"The place Aunt Katara and Aunt Toph went to... Do you know anything about that?" Izumi asked.

"I do," Azula was visibly irritated, if only for a second, that her niece called those two women her aunts, and her by her first name, "My crew and I went to look it over. It's a non-bender prison. No sign of the Fire Lord or the Avatar."

"Are we really believing this?" Kya asked.

"How about this," Izumi started, "you let us go check out that prison on our own, and if it really is what you say it is, we have a reason to trust you... And if we return we prove ourselves to be worthy allies."

"I like the way you think, Izumi. Alright." Azula waved over a few of her men and instructed them to give the kids all the supplies they needed for a three day trip and let them leave.

Tenzin was overjoyed to see Oogi has been fed and taken care of while they were chatting. Izumi got some decent, clean clothes that were her size and after grabbing a few bags of food they left in a hurry before anyone changed their mind.

They spent the next few hours in relative silence, flying towards the island where their mothers were headed. None of them wanted to talk about it, but they were all thinking about what could have happened if they haven't decided to run away that night.

As soon as the immediate danger was over, Suyin stopped talking to her sister again and fell asleep with her head in Kya's lap. Izumi told Lin she shouldn't take it to heart, but Lin seemed more upset by it than usual. Tenzin wanted nothing more than to sit by her and try to make her feel better, but he had the responsibility of steering Oogi.

When the sun started setting they found a nice, small island to spend the night. They unloaded on the beach. Everyone helped set up a camp. Everyone, except Bumi, that is, who was waist deep in the bag of food Azula's men had given them.

"Get out of the water, Su! It's freezing!" Lin lost it when she saw her sister was already completely wet and splashing around in the shallows.

"Don't worry, Lin. I'll get her dry when we're done playing." Kya jumped into the water too and created a wave that splashed over Su. The little girl retaliated immediately.

"Good trick, Izumi. You got us out of there all on your own." Lin decided to focus on something else.

"It wasn't a trick, I really trust Azula." confessed the Princess.

"You can't be serious! You know she's crazy?" Kya interrupted her game with Su for a moment.

"I agree, I don't think it's smart." Tenzin said, "We're the ones standing in for Team Avatar."

"We have to face it..." Bumi walked closer eating something that looked like a pie, "We could work on our cooperation. Our parents had years to get that down perfectly."

"We're fine." Lin said.

"I'm sorry, but you threw me overboard in the middle of a fight. I'm with Bumi on this. We need to work on being a team." Izumi sat down on the sand.

"That's why I propose a bonding game." Bumi started, "How about Never Have I Ever? Everyone know how to play that?"

"Are you telling me Azula packed us booze in those bags?" Kya was drying Suyin.

"No, of course not. We could just play for fun, we can use juice." Bumi pulled two bottles and a few cups from the bag.

"Can I play?" Su ran over to Bumi.

"Sure, little one, I'll walk you through the rules."

Since it was finally dark they all sat in a circle around the fire Izumi built and grabbed a cup each.

"Who'll start then?" asked Tenzin.

"All yours, Airhead." teased Kya.

"Alright..." Tenzin thought about it for a minute, "Never have I ever skipped school."

Bumi and Kya looked at each other and took a sip of their juice almost simultaneously. That was really no surprise to anyone. Su looked around a bit and then took a sip too.

"No, Su. You're only supposed to drink if you've done the thing." Lin said.

"I know." Su smirked.

"Wait, you skipped school? When? Where did you go?"

"Which time?"

"Alright." Bumi tried to stop this from turning into a fight again, "Bonding, remember? No judgement."

"Fine." Lin huffed.

"Can I go next?" Su asked.

"No, we're going in a circle." Lin sighed.

"It's no harm. She can go." Kya said, seemingly just to irritate Lin.

"OK..." Su smiled, "Never have I ever kissed someone."

"Do I have to take a sip for every person I kissed? Because that's a lot!" said Bumi with that smug smirk on his face.

"Are you counting Mom, Bumi?" Kya giggled and took a sip.

Tenzin and Lin tried very hard to look anywhere but at each other while they each drank. Izumi looked at the ground realizing she was the only person there older than ten that has never been kissed.

"Tenzin?" Kya was honestly surprised. She had a womanizer brother, but it sure as hell wasn't Tenzin.

"Does it count if the girl kissed me?" he asked.

"OK, tell us everything. Who is she?" his sister persisted. Lin shot him a deadly look. Don't you dare, baldy.

"She's... This girl from school. You don't know her... I've liked her for some time, but I was always too much of a coward to do something. But she's really special and she gets me."

Lin hoped no one could see her blushing in the dark.

"How have I never heard anything about her?" Kya was enjoying this.

"Oh... She just moved to Republic City. From... The Fire Nation."

"Lin!" Bumi yelled, almost giving both her and his brother a heart attack, "You were supposed to be next."

She thought they were busted...

"Fine. Never have I ever snuck out of the house." she said and turned over to look at Su.

"What?" Su shrugged. Bumi and Kya were the only ones to drink. Well, until Lin turned around, when Su sipped too, causing everyone else to laugh.

"I have one!" Kya said, "Never have I ever slept with a stuffed toy."

"Mean." said Tenzin and sipped, causing Lin to chuckle more than she wanted to. Bumi was the next one to drink, which made everyone laugh even harder. Suyin ran off to their luggage and returned with a stuffed badgermole.

"Here, you can borrow mine." she handed Bumi the toy, continuing the joke.

"Come on, Izumi. Your turn." Bumi tried desperately to change the subject.

"No, I don't know what to ask..." she didn't like all eyes being on her.

"It's easy!" Su yelled.

"The point's making someone uncomfortable." Kya grinned.

"We're all friends here. You can't sound stupid." Tenzin smiled to make the Princess feel better.

"OK. Never have I ever... Stolen something." Izumi smiled.

Kya took a sip and shrugged: "Life happens."

"I told you that in confidence!" Lin took a sip staring at Izumi.

"Lin?!" Su couldn't believe her boring sister actually did something bad.

"Come on, Lin. We wanna hear it." Kya said.

Lin shook her head.

"Come on!"

"Story! Story!" Bumi started chanting and then everyone joined him.

"Alright!" Lin stopped them, "Our Mom had this jewelry box... It was passed down to her from Grandma I think. Anyway, one day I decided it would be cool to carry my writing brushes for school in it, so I... Put an old wooden box in its place and then lost the real box within a week. And Mom hasn't noticed the difference yet... It was six years ago."

Everyone started laughing at her last sentence.

"What? She never uses it. And she's blind..."

"Wait. That thing on the highest shelf in her room?" Su couldn't believe what she was hearing.