THE SHU DROPs (ep. 3)

Summary
"I need your help."As Yiri pleads with them, the group have more time to look at her. They notice her airbender tattoo, her hair and her clothing in-between Earth Kingdom and Air Nomad.

Sena is the first to react:"How can we help you?"As Yiri starts backing up slowly, Sena insists until Yiri explains she's trying to get out of the city because there is someone after her, someone from the Fire Nation — the people who slaughtered them airbenders. Yiri doesn't know where she could be safe; she stops backing up when Cerise mentions the cherry farm. The discussion lingers on until Yiri intimates:"We should move!"They beeline over to the farm where Grandma Avo, in her kitchen, scolds Cerise for disappearing after she made food, and "Now you want dinner!"Cerise explains what happened — No big deal —, adding that they're gonna help their new friend who needs safety. Grandma Avo, seeing the Olive Fox, wonders if they're practicing again. Cerise, in awe, says Yes. The Olive Fox explains"I'm making sure our friend is safe."As dinner is not ready yet, Cerise returns to his workspace, crawling down through the door that leads to it from the kitchen. The others follow him. Yiri, who only follows hesitantly, has her first look on this place; she sees the abandoned dishes where mold grew, and Olive Fox merchandise that includes a picture where Cerise is the Olive Fox's sidekick — the Plowboy .

Yiri, grateful for Cerise's hospitality, thanks him. As she readjusts her scarf to hide her airbender features, Cerise offers to lend her a hat, or the cherry costume. Yiri repeats she just wants to leave the city. There are no ways, the Olive Fox points out, but sneaking past the boats would be easier than by land. Even though Yiri has only seen glances of the man following her, in several places, she can give Sena a description that matches the person Cerise knows as Rollo. Rill assures Yiri they’ll keep an eye out for the Fire Nation spy; the Olive Fox reckons it's not unusual — for them, at least — to be followed; Cerise repeats they'll get her somewhere safe. Rill sees no need to whisper here; they also lay out how the Resistance — to which Cerise already told Yiri Rill belongs — already use their contacts to help people leave. In the meantime, Yiri can have soup and sleep here, in the cave, among cherry pits.

The Olive Fox assures Yiri Cerise means we’ll; Yiri reckons he seems naive — which, the Olive Fox reckons, is a superpower. Rill offers a pep talk about agency and taking one step forward, then asks Yiri whether she has family. Yiri starts a reply: they were on a pilgrimage ...; then she pauses and gets very quiet for a moment as a flash of grief overcomes her; they were accosted by the Fire Nation shortly after ...; Yiri doesn't remember not living like this ...

The Olive Fox, who is familiar with Fire Nation tactics because they've spent a lot of time around them, wants to put more disarray in Fire Nation operations; they know they're very regimental, it'll create disorganization if they take out the top guy. Yiri reckons the Olive Fox is clearly a skilled Resistance person.

The Olive Fox's speech makes Rill wonder aloud whether the prize of an airbender person would bring them to the top guy. Aki, stroking her chin under her mask, gets Rill's idea; which Rill confirms: the Olive Fox would pretend to be the airbender. In response, Yiri takes out an Air Nomad trinket and offers it.

Rill, remarking how their last idea worked really well, suggests another possible course: they could capture the hunter first, and get the intel to get to the commander ... or maybe we just chewie it.

Five bowls appear in this moment; they're followed by Cerise coming through the real door with sleeping bags: Party! The Olive Fox will stay for the soup; Cerise offers them a straw so they don't have to take down their mask. Yiri then directly engages the Olive Fox, the masked hero. Aki replies:"I deal with the Fire Nation when I can."Yiri resumes her tale:"They used to be friends ... We're not at war — we're dealt with ."And everyone she knew is dead.

Aki is sorry, reckons it's neither as simple nor as complicated as it seems.

Sena needs to relax; seeing Yiri has too little hair to braid, she offer to braid Cerise's instead.

The Olive Fox states they know where the commander will be, and how to make him interested; they turn to explain Yiri that the spy she saw doesn't report to Shu, which means Shu will want to get Yiri first and they can use this rivalry to their advantage. Hearing this, Yiri feels better. Cerise adds that the Olive Fox knows everything and We got you!

The Olive Fox then takes their leave, before Cerise has a chance to wonder where Aki is — which hasn't happened yet because Cerise doesn’t know Aki that well: they've only met a few times, at the Tipsy Badgermole.

Before Aki leaves, Rill asks her to drop a statue on her way out as a signal; they also hand her a piece of paper with these words: ''Do you need a sidekick? — Yes — No — Check one''. Aki, thinking about her next move, does as directed with the statue on her way to the bar.

Yiri tries to engage Cerise about his friend the Olive Fox. Because this is a team sleepover, Cerise offers to play games he's made, instead of answering. Yiri tries again: "Do you know who she is?"As Cerise answers No!, Yiri wonders And you still trust her?

Yiri notices that the others say nothing; gears turn in her head: the play, the rumors, the posters ... she doesn't know a lot. Cerise interrupts her thoughts with this comment: "You won't stay much longer."Yiri answers she's used to traveling light. Hearing that she likes sweets, Cerise dives under his bed, pulls out a gigantic crate, opens it with a key ... there is a small tin with six chocolate-covered cherries — the first crop of last year's cherries, saved for a special occasion. Take two!, he offers Yiri, who protests I don't need both. Sena eats one — to show it's not poisoned.

Yiri thanks Cerise for the delicious cherries — You're a friend, he explains — That was fast ... being friends, she reckons, before asking "How do you know you can trust me?"At any rate, Sena can confirm he's always like this.

They play and relax until Rill announces they'll take the first watch. As Yiri meditates before going to sleep, Cerise joins Rill outside. They say hello and keep quiet for a while. Rill breaks the silence:  "What's going on?"Cerise is worried about Rill — There is nothing to be worried about, Rill replies. Cerise keeps talking: Rill means a lot to him; he knows he hasn't made things easy; he's gonna be better ... He starts crying: "You can trust me, I have your back no matter what."Rill hugs him, too tight — so tight that his arms bend:  "I trust you ... I trust you."Cerise trusts Rill too, remembers that The Olive Fox was in my room.

He offers Rill his last cherry. They agree about an alarm — twelve bird calls followed by a frog call.

As Cerise realizes that the braids Sena made are too tight, he decides he'll take the next watch. Cerise and Rill say goodbye with their cool handshake.

Meanwhile, before Sena goes to sleep, she makes a little call to the flower spirit — the one Sena discussed the rot with —; as she asks it to help Rill keep watch, it pops up and sits, invisible, next to Rill.

Later in their watch, Rill and a cat-owl signal and counter-signal each other, after which Rill exchanges information with this informant — this is proof that Aki did what Rill asked her to. Rill tells the informant they have a new assignment — get someone out of the city. There will be collateral if they don't. The plan is to cause a distraction — namely, by going after the Fire Nation captain — to get someone out by ship. Before the intel and Rill's request for a boat go out to Resistance leader Zira and other Resistance cells, the informant warns Rill that it might be a little smelly — fishy — getting out. Rill will take what she gets As long as it floats!

A series of messages are getting passed around in the city; as Zira gets a coded message, her eyes get wide ... it's a busy night for the Resistance.

It's also a busy night for Aki, who has a letter to write to Fire Nation High Command in her ongoing effort to bring Commander Shu down. She writes in her room, with a candle: ''To those in charge. Commander Shu has failed to capture an Air Nomad'' — among other things he's done wrong, like letting teenagers and farmers sabotage his plans. She signs the report: even though she's presumed dead, disappeared in an ambush, she still has a rank. Aki changes out of her Olive Fox gear and into the Fire Nation attire she's kept — including a face-covering helmet — to go and hand off her letter to a Fire Nation outpost; it looks official enough that, even without a stamp, it'll find its way ... and there will be a reaction to it — Aki doesn't care what it is, only that they do something. Aki walks in; the guard is confused: it's late, they're relaxing and Aki looks serious when she says:    "This letter needs to be delivered right away!"Having thus succeeded at establishing her authority, Aki is outta there, so that when the intern soldier hands the letter to the captain and points to the messenger, there is actually no one to point to.

Aki can estimate it will take a day for the Fire Nation's giant running lizards to bring the letter to High Command.

Meanwhile, Cerise and the rest of the group spend the night in a shack with ventilation but no windows. Morning comes and Sena, who's on watch, sees the sun go up. The root spirit at her side is the first to see the sun and, pretending to control it, explains:   "We don't have sunrises in the spirit world ."Sena doesn't understand. The root spirit still takes time to warn Sena about someone being angry at her — whom, it can't say; they didn't meet before yesterday, after all — before disappearing.

Yiri, who has been able to sleep safely for once, sleeps longer than the others.

Her watch over, Sena joins Cerise in the kitchen where he is cooking goat and chicken — the choice of meat is limited to animals that are easy to keep in a city where there isn't a lot of grazing land anymore — for breakfast while his grandma is on a patrol. Sena can smell the sticky starchiness of rice and the energy tea — made of cherries, tea, and whatever else Cerise thinks constitutes energy, such as ginseng root — bumbling on the stove. Cerise wears an apron that says Best Grandma.

Sena doesn't have much to report about the last watch, except she sort of learned about sunsets and sunrises in the spirit realm while talking to a little root friend: they don't have consistent sunrises; they might have sunrises, they might have sunsets; she didn't get far enough in the inquiry to know how the spirits know when to get up.

Sena will have eggs; it turns out Cerise is not good at flipping and cooking eggs. Sena hopes the plan is gonna work; she sees sound logic around the distraction; she just hopes the Fire Nation don't see through it. Cerise tries to hearten her as he scoops a nicely cooked egg into a small bowl of rice: We're gonna win the award for best actors, so I think ... I think we're doing pretty good here. He hands the bowl to Sena. Sena thanks him and starts eating; Cerise offers some pepper that's on the table, if she wants it, and adds:   "Hey, I just wanted to say, er, I'm glad you're my friend ..."She answers:    "I'm glad you're my friend too, Cerise."Cerise has more to say:    "... and I thought the braids were too tight, but I really like the way they make me feel, so ... thank you."In response, Sena offers to loosen them if he wants: it's very easy to loosen them. He asks how, so she explains: ''... the ribbon around you; loosen that a little bit and just pull a little bit ...''

Oh, Cerise replies, that feels way better. He slept the entire night with a too tight braid and That's why I'm really cranky this morning, if you can't tell. He appreciates that Sena will forgive him for his crankiness. Changing topics, he offers her some root tea and, as she accepts — Sure, I love tea — scoops a cup into it. Even though it's probably the most bitter tea Sena's ever had, and also one that makes her definitely feel very energized, she just says Sweet. Cerise corrects her: No, it's not sweet; it's bitter ... it's very bitter; it tastes like you blended up a cactus. It's not pokey, though ... not in the way you think. And it's probably for the best, Cerise reckons, that Sena is gonna finish her rice and egg first, before she goes back to the tea ... to let it cool off a bit.

Cerise, meanwhile, is gonna bring their new friend some snacks. He opens up the door — the small door — and sees Yiri still sleeping, curled up —cocooned —, on one of the mats on the floor. Cerise's arm slides a bowl with two eggs through the door; he puts a nice utensil down on a napkin, pulls out a little fan and fans the sent over to her until the hand goes back and shuts the door.

Yiri will eventually wake up to the smell and emerge ... In the meantime, Rill walks in with Yiri's folded, perfectly dry and clean overcoat : they took an opportunity in the morning to go wring it out and waterbend the dirty water away. Rill places it next to the bowl of food that Cerise thoughtfully put out. Rill then joins the other two in the kitchen, where there is a nice bowl sitting on the table, ready and waiting for Rill. We better fill ourselves up, they say in appreciation of the food, before going to be getting up to some pretty serious Resistance business; is everybody sure they're okay with it?

Cerise is convinced they gotta help their new friend; so, he adds, it sounds scary, and it sounds complicated, and it sounds like everything could go wrong ... but, so does everything else to me; so, if it helps, I wanna do it ... yeah.

Rill then turns to Sena: ''How about you, Sena? Are you okay with it?'' As Sena nods, Rill asks if she has any thoughts. No ..., Sena starts, then adds: I mean general ... general uneasiness ... but this is the right thing. Rill agrees: Yeah, I'm really hoping the Olive Fox has a plan for what to do once we get an audience with ... Cerise cuts Rill off:       "I'm sure the Olive Fox has an absolute great plan here."Rill reckons ''It's gonna be fine! The important thing is that Yiri gets out of the city, which, I feel like, is in our capability''. Cerise adds an enthusiastic ''We got this! We're the Cherry Blossom Players !''

When Yiri rises, she takes the food, eats it and then puts her coat back on. She steps outside and, seeing nobody, goes: ''Hello? I don't know my way around this place''. She cautiously moves through the farm; makes it to the kitchen door; knocks on it very quietly; opens it and hands back the tray and the bowl to Cerise with a grateful Thank you, it was delicious.

Cerise, glad that she liked it, has something else to offer. He opens up the cupboard and grabs a couple things out; he hands over to her a small blanket of cloth that's wrapped up at the top, which clearly has stuff inside of it — a bindle, essentially: it's not a lot, but if everything works out, which it will, I want you to be able to eat while you're on the smelly fish boat, so ... — Oh, there is a boat now?, she asks.

Sena clarifies that's the current plan but we're not sure which boat. Yiri finds it Great!; she assumes getting on a boat and getting past the Fire Nation blockade is easier than evading patrols on land. Well, Cerise cautions, that's where the plan gets a little less planned. Prodded by Sena, Rill adds The boat thing will be fine; that part's fine; we don't have the details yet but we will; my intel will come in today; I'm going to get the schedules of the boats, and we're going to build a distraction to pull the blockade, pull an opening ... — hearing this, Yiri exclaims Oh! — ... away.

To Yiri, this sounds like an excellent plan but she doesn't know a lot about Resistance planning, because she's from a different culture. Taking the bindle, she looks at Rill, and starts: I assume you're the one who cleaned this ... — that is, her coat. Upon Rill's confirmation, she asks what brings a waterbender here?

Rill tells her their family has been here for a long time; there is always work because waterbending is very helpful, and it actually goes along quite well with stone; also, Rill's family were artists before the war.

Yiri wonders whether Rill is worried — the Fire Nation know the Avatar cycle: once they're done with the Air Nomads, they'll go after the Water Tribes. Rill is unconcerned for now:"My feet are in the stream, exactly where they are, and that's where I can see. The worries ahead of me are for future Rill."Yiri agrees there is not much of a point worrying about that now. Still, Rill adds:"But I think it's important to ... that we help each other out at every point: I know that I may need help in the future."Yiri hopes she can be more helpful later, when she's no longer hunted. Rill is sure people could use her, but first we have to get you safe. This prompts Yiri to ask about the person who is going to pretend to be her; Cerise volunteers; Sena suggests they may need help from the Olive Fox, then has Cerise stand right next to Yiri — with his oven mitts and his World's Greatest Grandma apron, and asks Rill if this is gonna work. Rill was actually considering to volunteer themself, because waterbending is quite helpful for getting out of tight spaces.

Whether anybody looks like Yiri, she has not been here for very long, and only a few people would be able to recognize her, so that they could probably trick a majority of people. The Olive Fox, who shows up at this moment, has reason to believe that Commander Shu only knows that there is an Air Nomad in Taku — an airbender that is being hunted by the spy. He's probably also gathered that it's a she and therefore will look for airbender-like things. Cerise, being the youngest of the group, is not so far on the puberty train that he would have a big booming voice: he could pull it off.

Aki, dressed as the Olive Fox, walks in to Cerise, Rill and Sena all like comparing heights, and like putting some scarves on around their faces; Cerise is also going "Ooooof" — practicing airbending. As Aki thought the plan was to have Rill play the part of Yiri, she asks What is going on here? Sena explains they needed the Olive Fox because none of them had the plan as well in their head as the Olive Fox. Aki thinks "Our real airbender should stay behind, not anywhere near any of this."To which Rill adds: Ideally, on a boat.

The Olive Fox agrees, and adds that this whole maneuver is a distraction: if they can get the commander distracted enough and can create a hole in this little blockade, then they can get the boat through. But, really, there isn't much of a plan past the getting on the boat part; once they're all on the ship, in front of the commander, then they'll have to improvise from there; and even I don't know what will happen.

Cerise reckons he would make an excellent distraction, because he's the only one not really capable of using his powers to save himself. The issue with him being the distraction however, in Aki's point of view, is that he has no way to escape from the hands he will be in: someone else will have to do that ; also, he's been yelling about being the Olive Fox all over town. Aki adds, holding up a Wanted poster with his face on it :  "There is Wanted posters of your face."Cerise, not missing a beat, counters:  "Exactly! They won't expect it."Rill adds, in support: "Actually, that's kind go great; that's why the Olive Fox is so effective ... They've been secretly a waterbender ... an airbender, running around rooftops: of course the Olive Fox has been the rogue airbender."It doesn't matter to the Olive Fox if they go for this, but if Cerise is known for being the Olive Fox, and there real Olive Fox is also there ...

Cerise has the perfect comeback again:"It will throw them off; it's the perfect plan!"The Olive Fox is not convinced:"If I'm there and he's there, the plan isn't gonna work."Rill makes another suggestion: what if they had someone pretending to be a Fire Nation person who had caught the airbender known as the Olive Fox, and got some armor to get some credibility to get through ?

Aki starts replying It's not impossible for me to, er ... — she has to use her words wisely — ... I will consult with a friend and be back.

By the time Cerise is done asking Do you want breakfast now?, Aki is gone, like a shadow.

When Aki is back — as Aki this time, about two hours later, they're all just standing in the same positions; they got little boats and pretended to create a map on the table. As Cerise asks What are you doing here?, she points at the red and black getup folded in her arms and explains: The Olive Fox sent me with this. Aki lies so ineffectually that she's incredibly surprised — going Okay!? — when Cerise falls for it and replies: That holds up! before taking some of the stuff from her and setting it on the table.

Cerise offers Aki breakfast, but she'll just pass, thank you. Then, still confused about her reason for coming, he asks whether he should tip her. No, no, she replies, I'm here to help ... with the plan. As he asks What plan?, Aki finally drops the charade, throwing up her arms and revealing:"I am the Olive Fox."Cerise, grabbing Aki by the shirt, just leads her outside, and just stands there, until he shuts the door quietly and whispers to her:"You're so bad at keeping your identity a secret ... you're so bad at it."Cerise, I appreciates your concern, she replies, but you are the only person, other than Yiri , who didn't already know.

Cerise, baffled, wants to know:"This is not a joke?"Oh, no; Aki confirms it isn't.

Cerise, very agitated now, asks:"What; everyone else knew?"In response, Aki moves her hands on and away from her eyes, until Cerise, gobsmacked, just says Oh!

Cerise, opening the door, yells: ''Rill! Get out here! Sena! Get out here!''

Sena replies Hello; Cerise yells Let's go back inside!; to Yiri, who asks ''Do you want me? I can leave'', he replies: "No, you stay ... but not forever, because you're gonna leave soon and you're gonna be safe and everything's gonna be great."Cerise reckons they all have some stuff to unpack about Aki being the Olive Fox. First, Aki confirms to him she liked his performance — which leaves him ecstatic for a while, as Aki herself looks a little bit awkward and feels embarrassed without the mask. Then, Cerise wants to know whether Aki does flips and jumps, like the Olive Fox does. Aki replies by merely doing a backflip, just standing there in the kitchen.

Cerise just collapses, like all the bones left his body; he just collapses to the floor and he gets right back up, realizing:"You're the freaking Olive Fox ."After Aki confirms it — Yep; that's what I've been saying — he adds:"I'm so mad at you two for not telling me."But honestly, Aki says in Sena and Rill's defense, I don't blame them: you have a very big mouth. Cerise, opens his mouth and replies with a Yah!

Yiri starts speaking; Aki interrupts her: ... And I'm hoping that, in telling you, I'm not going to regret it. I hope that you don't regret it either is his reply. Wonderful, Aki retorts, I'm glad we're on the same page.

As Cerise is now just kind of looking over at Rill and Sena, just a little disapprovingly, Rill apologizes: "I'm sorry, Cerise; we should have told you."Cerise says he understands, but when Rill keeps explaining it's just these last few days have been a little intense, he is not pleased to realize that You've known for a few days! Still, he tries to calm down; they'll have to deal with this later.

Meanwhile, in the background of this scene, Aki starts putting on the Fire Nation garb — the plaque and tunic, the red sleeves ... the armor's gloves. It looks sharps. Aki doesn't put on the helmet; she leaves it off, under her arm, for now.

Cerise, admiringly, reckons: ''Wow! That fits you really well! Aki agrees, after a pause: Yep! Cerise continues:      "You must know how to get all these costumes because you're the Olive Fox after all."Rill, grateful because this will help so much'', is sure this isn't Aki's first impersonation — which Aki confirms, adding that it's time they start.

They have to wait under later in the afternoon, though, when Rill gets, via ... carrier ... pigeonmole, the message that confirms today is a good day to get Yiri on a boat. The message names a fishing boat that sticks to the little bit of space around the city and doesn't normally go very far out towards the blockade; this boat will not risk going past the blockade and, unless there is something that causes its ships to part, it will just go out, and fish, and come back in. Rill explains that's the backup plan: if they can't get the blockade open, Yiri shall just stay in the ships; then Rill's people will get her back off of it and they'll try another route. If they do get the opening in the blockade they need, the ship will get Yiri out from these quarters and drop her off outside the blockade, on her way to Ba Sing Se.

Yiri agrees that will work — she can make her own way as soon as she's not being hunted — and whatever they can do to distract the Fire Nation spy would certainly be helpful.

Aki assures Yiri they'll try and make as much space for her as they can, or, in Cerise's words, make a distraction. Yiri thanks them; in return, she'll do everything she can to help, as soon as she can. Cerise thanks Yiri and tells her You don't have to do anything but survive. Yiri will try to do that but is worried that something bad could happen to the group because      "This seems really dangerous, what you're about to do."Aki, pointing at all of the others, asks:      "Everyone knows how to survive, right?"After Yiri leaves, escorted down by some other Resistance individuals, it is time for the group to commence this plan, with Aki instructing:      "Put some manacles on Cerise!"Sena realizes they may need to paint a triangle over his head. Aki confirms they need to do the whole airbender thing, which also involves some costuming. Cerise remembers they have a fair amount of costumes from the play, as well as a lot of leftover stuff.

Aki lays out her plan: the easiest way to do this would be to take Cerise out of town, the closest possible to the nearest Fire Nation prison, or outpost. Then the commander would either come to them immediately, or they'd be taken there immediately, because this is the kind of news he's going to want to know ... personally; and whoever brings the airbender in is gonna get a good pat on the back, so the Fire Nation soldiers have motivation as well:"They're not just gonna keep us in a cage somewhere ... or you in a cage somewhere."That's good!, Cerise replies, I appreciate that. And with that, Cerise is as ready as he'll ever be: Good luck; break legs.

Aki takes the gussied up, dressed up, Yiri's necklace-wearing, manacled Cerise to a Fire Nation garrison. Aki chooses one next to the water. because Commander Shu is stationed on one of the big boats — a big, important ship. As she approaches the outpost, with her Fire Nation getup on, Aki looks at Rill and Sena, conveying Just collaborate, all right?, and pushes Cerise a little more violently than she has to, just like a little bit showy — as Fire Nation-y as she remembers it. Cerise dramatically falls to a knee, looks back, and glares, and painfully gets up.

Aki, doing her best stormtrooper, approaches the two guards at the gate. To their Who goes there?, she replies:"I brought a captive: the Air Nomad and the Olive Fox."One guard, baffled, asks: ''the what? THE WHAT? The Air Nomad? The Olive Fox? I didn't know ...''

As the two guards turn and look at each other in surprise, Rill inquires:"We helped too; there's a reward money, right?"As Sena holds up one of Cerise's Wanted posters, Aki confirms That's what I said , ... and we have to run to the Commander, or they'll be hell to pay. It doesn't go as smoothly as Aki would like, though : the pause, the hesitation in her delivery causes the guards to look in-between each other and whisper among each other before the reply comes:"Okay! Come inside!"Aki and her group go in; the guards lead them and take them to the center tent, and they end up entangled in bureaucracy ; and so the local commander in this middle tent they get taken to looks up, asking: Who's ... What are you doing here?; and one of the two guards explains: We have ... they have the Olive Fox, and then the Olive Fox is frozen , but they also have — at this point they lean in and whisper — an Air Nomad — they pause for a second and repeat — an Air Nomad. Are you sure?, the commander asks. Yes, I'm positive, Aki replies. All right, the commander decides, you stay here.

Then, looking between Rill and Senna, he asks: ''You're here for the ... reward?''

Sena confirms they are, and asks: Rill, did you freeze Cerise with your ice?

Rill, replying to both Sena and the commander, says they've been keeping their airbender immobilized; they're afraid they can't free him and leave without the reward.

Yes! the commander agrees; and, pointing at the two guards that brought the group, he adds:"Take the three of them to a holding cell; don't lock the ... guests in, but put the airbender — the Olive Fox — in a cell and keep an eye on them ... and you, soldier, I need a full report. Hurry along!"Before anybody moves, Aki escalates a little further:"Don't you think it's wise, lieutenant, to move as swiftly as possible on this? The longer we sit this Air Nomad in a cell, the longer he has to escape; they're swift, they're tricky, you know; we can get them onto the ship: where is he gonna go? the ocean?"Aki is not trying to threaten this higher-ranking officer. In a move they first practiced for the Olive Fox play, Cerise feigns trying to escape and Sena does a solid fake punch that stops him in his tracks. She fake-punches him so hard, in fact, that he's now immobilized. This distraction has no other effect than the lieutenant sputtering ''What? What?'' ; still, he takes Aki up on her offer :"Right! All right; we already have a boat, we can ... you're right, you're right; that is an excellent idea, I will take you there."Aki is not surprised that he will come, as will the guards : reckoning that the lieutenant is a bureaucrat who wants the glory for himself, she strokes his ego further:"It was your idea entirely, lieutenant."Thus emboldened, the lieutenant goes on:"I will take you there myself; let's make sure this very dangerous individual makes it directly to Captain Shu: we wouldn't want anything to happen to anyone ... We wouldn't want any unnecessary complications in this situation, so let's just go."The lieutenant and the two guards they met at the gate immediately escort the group to a little — nothing particularly extravagant — Fire Nation boat; as the firebending they use makes it steam powered, it propels the group and accompanying three soldiers to this much larger, much more ominous-looking ship in the distance. It is a short, quiet and tense ride over there, as this ship sails its way across the water. As it arrives at the boat, codes are exchanged, the little craft is hooked and the two guards climb up. The rest of the boat's passengers are hoisted in some capacity — with a winch of some kind, or a dumbwaiter — onto the boat; the airbender at any rate, cannot be allowed to climb on his own. After they've all unloaded, the lieutenant immediately goes: "I'm here to see Captain Shu; we have caught a dangerous criminal — we're so good at this —; me and my soldiers have tracked them down and save this Fire Nation from the ..."He's suddenly left talking to no one, as someone scurries off. There is a moment as he talks to the air around him until this person comes back, with Shu close behind. The commander has gray, short-hair in a topknot and a very short, well-kept goatee; he has a medium build, with Fire Nation armor and shoulder pads ; this is a guy who long ago was probably a really potent soldier, but he's now in a position of authority and paunched out just a little bit. He has a very intent expression — focused — but always keeps his chin slightly higher than everybody else, his attitude suggesting I am a man of authority and a man of respect; watch out for me.

A quiet descends over the ship, and the lieutenant stops talking; he bows and Aki does the same kind of salute. There is only the ominous sound of Commander Shu's foot on the deck as he walks over, crosses his arms and, looking at what he perceives is the rabble in front of him, asks:"This is the Olive Fox? And also an Air Nomad?"Aki elbows Cerise forward a little bit. Shu, reckoning he doesn't look like an Air Nomad, goes up to him, and puts his hand in Cerise's hair — not pulling on Cerise's head, but feeling it in a creepy way.

Cerise spits in his face.

That's a great distraction, in Aki's mind.

With his free hand, Shu immediately throws fire at Cerise, flame-punching him in the face : "How dare you?"Before his friends can react, Cerise urges them not to do anything — and they don't. Aki reckons it would be too soon for them to step in. Instead, she turns her eyes away from this "conversation" and slightly over the bay, where the ships are, to see what she can in that direction before she kicks things off here — because she's gonna kick things off.

Their going out to the ship has not disrupted anything on the blockade; everything looks pretty status quo out there; but if there was some sort of commotion, or something bad happened on the ship, Aki reckons that would certainly pull a gap.

Meanwhile, Cerise's hair is burnt on the side Shu hit and — here is the kicker — his tattoo, the one he painted on his face — very clearly, a portion of it has been, like, smeared away underneath the smoke. Shu, still looking at him, takes him by the shirt and goes:"What is going on here?"This is the stepping-in moment Aki has been waiting for.

Aki steps in front of Cerise, removes her helmet, so that Shu can see her. She looks him directly in the eye and goes:"You sent my patrol out to die ... Impossible odds ... I will never forgive you!"And then she just goes in for it ; she moves like she's gonna throw her helmet away, but brings it back and whacks it across Shu's head. She clocks him around the side of the head, ringing him like a bell with this helmet , making him release his hold on Cerise and drop him to the ground.

As it happens, as Aki yells at Shu, that's when just everyone onboard the ship — which is not super-full of people — scrambles aboard the deck. In reaction, Cerise, still kind of burnt and hurt, gets up from the ground and tries to tie his shackles to Shu's ankles. He doesn't actually have enough time to clap Shu in the irons, but, using the chain between them, Cerise sweeps one of Shu's legs out right after he's been stunned, and he lands on the ground in a very awkward position: that's this villain's reward for escalating the situation after Cerise spat in his face.

Sena and Rill have but little time to deal with the — at least — three other soldiers in their immediate vicinity before alarms are raised and whoever else is on the boat starts mobbing them and things get messy.

Sena doesn't feel like she can help in combat; instead, observing her surroundings carefully, she counts twelve Fire Nation people on the deck, including the crew who're steering or busy on the rigging: this is the most important ship that is out on the blockade. Sena can see they have time before these people are gonna get to them — they're not all immediately on the deck. She also realizes that the wind is picking up, and so there is a lot more water spray on the deck, making it slippery.

As the wind starts picking up, and the ship is tarting to lurch a little bit, we sort of zoom in as the water doesn't quite lurch with the ship, and Rill pulls together a lot of the wet ... moisture on the deck into a very big, and pretty, and filigreed wave that crashes messily into two of the soldiers, sending them careening off the tilt of the ship and splashing into the ocean.

Aki is the first to notice that the lieutenant who brought all of them here is real confused at this point. As he's just looking between all of them, one of the guards launches into attack and another runs up to somewhere — presumably, to sound some sort of alarm and raise a call. On the plus side, that might cause the kind of disruption the group were aiming for with this distraction; meanwhile, the remaining guards pick up weapons and start moving toward them.

Aki realizes that the smaller boat on which the lieutenant brought the group is a boon to them: they have a boat now, to escape on. Aki, seeing the big deck gun on the commander's ship, also starts devising a plan to fire it at the deck on which it sits: she is certain she can get to it using her wire-fu — it is not an issue; but then she needs a firebender to actually fire it — she can't do it herself. Aki's plan, therefore, is to wire-fu her way to where the firebender is who's manning the gun; which is just, like, run along the deck, run up the wall, jump between hinge of the gun and on the outside of it — getting around as agile-y as possible —, and then force him to bend into the gun as she points it down.

Aki has no problem disengaging from her fight with the double-tagged Shu, who would have a hard time going after her anyway; and her friends deal with the commander, thus preventing him from messing her up with his own firebending.

Aki, upon reaching the firebender manning the gun, grabs him by the wrist so as to twist him into the appropriate posture to fire. As he sees her coming, the firebender is immediately going to start firebending — it's almost like electricity, and Aki is moving their energy. Aki, while twisting the firebender into a firing position, also kicks the lever and unhinges the gun onto the deck ... where, she must realize, her friends are. She twists the firebender around; their eyes go really wide as Aki forces the energy out and they fire the gun at the deck. The two are in a very weird posture, with Aki's fingers in the firebender's palm; so that Aki feels the heat of the flame as it is fired, and she just manages to kick the cannon into a position where it's not aimed at the part of the deck her friends are on before it hurls a fireball full of stored energy that smashes into the deck and ruptures it. The ship starts taking on water, but not enough that it would actively sink.

The real kicker, Aki realizes, is that This is a big freaking black smoke signal to our people. In addition to the smoke now rising from the deck, the super-damp conditions also create steam; they're all like in a little sauna now — so it's much harder for the soldiers to see the the group or get to them; as the smoke cloud rises, the alarm starts getting spread among the other ships, which Rill's people out there may or may not see happening.

As Sena alerts Rill about the water coming into the ship and Rill ponders how they could escalate the situation to sink the ship, Shu turns to Cerise, trying to wrestle him in some capacity. Among all the things Rill thinks they can do, they choose to try and waterbend him off the ship and away from the group's intended escape, hoping that this would send his lackeys scampering down after him: all the mist around condenses and gathers around his sort-of-shackled feet, whips him up by his feet violently and sends him end over end, his yelling ended by a loud splash.

Several guards, realziing there is a man — captain — overboard, start converging on that side of the boat, very clearly going to try and rescue, or do something. That leaves the group with only the lieutenant dealing with them, and trying to keep them in threat so they don't just get away. The lieutenant sends one of their guards away: "Go get, rescue Captain Shu ... like, shoo!"The group could just run, but Sena ponders summoning Hei Bai to deal with this lieutenant before they go off this boat. She opts for Mind Warp instead because it involves no attack: it's just about controlling a body. What happens is, as Sena looks over at the lieutenant, and while she's focusing on the lieutenant, she suddenly realizes that she's not just looking at him; she's kind of looking into him; looking, like, almost through his eyes; and it just kinda comes to her like: I'm just gonna move you away; and she tries to have the lieutenant basically go to the steering wheel and turn the ship away from the blockade.

And so, Sena impresses her mind upon the lieutenant; and their eyes go like kind of blank, their face goes a little bit slack; and, the way Sena influences them in this situation, it's almost like they're hearing an order from their commander, so they just think this is something that they have to follow through with — like they must follow this order —; they're like Yes, Captain; and then they kinda turn and start walking toward the steering wheel, away from the group. Seeing this, one of the soldiers, visibly puzzled and ready to fight, doubles down, thinking:    "I don't know why they're leaving, but I'm in charge now ... I guess."Cerise assesses the situation: now that the lieutenant has wandered away, there is one soldier left close by; one of the soldiers has gone to hep Shu, after he's been overboarded. Cerise is technically in the lieutenant's sights but, with the steam, the giant hole in the ship, and the smoke cloud, there is a lot going on to distract them. Cerise wants to attack the soldier. He's not sure he's great at throwing punches, and so he assumes his Olive Fox Jr. persona, taking off the hood and the robe to reveal a faux Olive Fox costume, and sliding on the mask — it's not great quality — he has in his back-pocket. As he does this, the soldier's eyes go wide open and they're like I knew it! — because Cerise said he was the Olive Fox earlier. Cerise starts slowly walking in the mist towards this person — who now go Huh ... because the mist prevents them from seeing the shoddy workmanship — trying to scare him away. As Cerise emerges from the mist in his terrifying mask, the soldier's face shows surprise and fear, and they make weird noises among which Cerise hears I need to ... Commander. With that, the soldier just books it over where Shu is, to try and help him up and get him on the boat.

The group seizes this opportunity — for a brief moment at least, none of them is immediately threatened — to run to the boat on which they came, instead of trying to take the boat. Aki runs along the rail again with a lot of wire-fu-ing — it's very dramatic because she's in the most danger —; the four of them hurry and, seeing, as they get in the boat, that the attention of the other ships in the blockade has clearly turned to the smoking plume that is the captain's boat, they start sailing back to the city of Taku on their small ship; but there is something they notice in the distance; Aki recognizes this bigger boat booming on the horizon — a boat with the flag of the Fire Nation on it — as if, perhaps, Captain Shu is no longer in charge of this operation because someone may have told them that he is doing a terrible job and they should probably take his job away from him and send in reinforcements. As this boat looms on the horizon — a Flagship, perhaps —, a more important ship, a fisher boat, after being stuck on the other side of this blockade, sneak their way through ...