"There's also the possibility that he'll skirt around our forces and head north, toward Ba Sing Se or the Great Desert." Azula traced a possible route with her fingernail.
"Possible," her brother agreed. "But taking such a long way around would cost too much time. Besides, don't forget that his bison was injured in the encounter with Blast. I don't know how badly, but at the very least, the Avatar will have to stop and examine the animal."
"So what do we have nearby that's friendly toward enemies of the Fire Nation?" I asked, studying the map.
"Hmm... Nothing," our foremost expert, General Iroh himself, answered after a minute's thought. "But the swamp dwellers... They attack anyone who enters their territory, regardless of who they are. And they're not far from where Aang was last seen."
"And what do we know about these swamp dwellers?" the princess asked, turning to her uncle.
"Not all that much. There's nothing of value in their lands, they don't involve themselves in the conflict, and they only attack those who venture near their settlements. With the war against the Earth Kingdom in full swing, we decided that wasting time and resources on useless natives wasn't worthwhile."
"The swamp, then. Swamps are bad." I'd rather he had bolted into the desert, but from what we could see, the Foggy Swamp really was just about the only place Aang could have headed. Even if only as a temporary camp, it was his only real option.
"How bad?" Azula was practical as always.
"We won't be able to get heavy equipment in there. And the locals, on their own turf, will be able to quietly sneak up on us at any hour of the day or night."
"Ahem..." Toph pointedly reminded me of one rather significant detail.
"That's not normal ground down there, it's liquid mud. Are you sure you'll be able to pick out a saboteur carefully creeping through it, especially with all the unfamiliar wildlife around?"
"O-okay, you've got me there," the girl conceded.
"We have a small mangrove jungle on our island. It's not quite the same thing, but we do have some experience," Suki offered. "And besides the mud and the danger of running into saboteurs, we shouldn't forget about the swamp's other inhabitants. All sorts of venomous creatures and disease carriers."
"So basically, going in there isn't the best idea," Mai summed up.
"Yeah... On foot." A certain Thought began to take shape in my mind. "But we don't actually have to."
"And what do you suggest? It's not as though we can fly there on 'jet propulsion,'" Azula said acidly.
"No." An anticipatory grin spread across my face. "But we can certainly fly there in a hot-air balloon. The only question is how long it'll take. While we're waiting for it, Aang could just take off on his bison and disappear."
"Well, when you're chasing an airbender, having a flying machine is better than not having one," Suki said with a shrug.
"A hot-air balloon? A flying machine?" The others weren't exactly up to speed—after all, this particular means of transportation was still only in the process of entering production.
"Another one of the Mechanist's inventions, refined by Chan," Suki explained to everyone present with a certain amount of pride. "It lets you travel at high altitude and conduct reconnaissance from the air. It's not particularly fast, admittedly, but otherwise it's incredible."
"Refined by Chan?" The princess raised an eyebrow, mirroring her brother's gesture. Heh, the family resemblance was obvious.
"Nothing major." I waved it off. The idea was already spinning at full speed inside my head as I examined it from every possible angle. And the more I considered it, the more I liked it.
"I need to send a hawk to Yu Dao immediately." I rose to my feet. "I suggest we adjourn the council for half an hour."
The others nodded, already focusing on interrogating Suki—Azula and her friends were very interested in learning just how useful this thing called a hot-air balloon actually was, while Zuko and Iroh had perked up their ears as well. Blast alone couldn't have cared less. He simply sat there drinking his tea. Completely unflappable.
Well, whatever. No point wasting time—we had no idea exactly how long we'd have to wait for the balloon we needed as it was.
***
We had to wait a week for a response from Yu Dao. Over that time, we all cooled off and calmed down a little. Not quite to the level of the world is beautiful and wonderful, but we did at least come down from I can cure constipation with a glare. All this sitting around doing nothing was irritating, of course, but there was nothing to be done about it. Going into the swamp on foot or riding lizards wasn't exactly the brightest idea. And going around it would take two weeks, if not longer. The terrain there was simply too difficult to offer any easy routes.
But the response itself... Oh, that deserves a description of its own.
A shadow fell over the quiet little town. Stunned and frightened, its residents poured out of their homes to stare as the massive bulk of an unusual vessel glided silently through the sky. An elongated balloon, shaped for better aerodynamics, with a gondola fitted snugly beneath it. At the nose of the aerostat was something resembling a ram in the shape of a snarling dragon's maw, while tail fins at the rear provided greater maneuverability. The entire vessel was done in black and crimson, giving it an appearance that wasn't merely sinister but downright infernal.
The cherry on top was the emblem emblazoned across the middle of the aerostat: a sword against a tongue of flame.
My emblem.
(End of Chapter)
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