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Jet’s blood ran cold.
No wonder Li was so irritable and prickly—he was likely terrified, being dragged around by that old Firebender. The scar was old, but—
Jet watched from a distance. The man was putting on a good show of being old and harmless, but Jet could see it now: the way he held himself, the way we spoke, the way his eyes glinted in the dim station light. Li's scar faced him now, and even at a distance, Jet could still see it was brutal. On the ferry, he’d noted the way the skin had been melted away, the remaining eye glazed over, unable to follow the other closely. But now he thought on it, and how it was so neat, so controlled, so very much the size and shape of a hand, forcing a little boy into a flaming palm—
He felt sick. A Firebender, in Ba Sing Se, toting around his victim. Li was a very useful victim—of course anyone that saw him would pity him, and his good-natured uncle.
“We have to save Li,” Jet hissed to Smellerbee. She looked up at him in confusion, glancing over to where the teenager sulked next to the old man.
“What?”
“That man—he’s a Firebender,” he explained, his voice low. “He’s keeping Li hostage. I bet—I bet the scar was some sort of punishment, keeping him around—”
“That’s insane, Jet,” Smellerbee cut him off, but her eyes flickered back over to the pair. “I...Are you sure?”
Jet smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Dead certain. He heated his tea just by holding it.”
Smellerbee hummed in thought. Longshot was now taking a look just under the brim of his hat before he nodded once. “If we’re going to save Li, we can’t just barge in. I’ve heard about this, where the kidnapping victims are afraid to leave, even if they can. It might be a struggle to convince Li, more than getting him away from...what did he say his name was, Mushi?”
“Mushi, yeah.”
“He did seem pretty miserable, though. More so than everyone else, I guess,” Smellerbee thought aloud. “I guess...well, wait, Jet, we need to confirm this.”
“What’s the alternative?” he snapped, a bit louder than he had intended. No one around them seemed to notice. Smellerbee sighed.
“Well...even if the old guy is a Firebender, he could be actually looking out for Li. I mean, maybe they just have Fire Nation ancestry, and they’re fleeing the Colonies?”
Jet snorted. “If they’re Fire Nation, why does Li have that scar, then? It’s like—I saw it up close—it was definitely intentional, like a Firebender put their hand up to his face. Look at it!”
Longshot gave him a hard look before he looked down to Smellerbee. They exchanged a glance that Jet wouldn’t pretend to understand. “We’re here to make a new start, Jet. I’m worried, too, but we have to make sure we know everything before we potentially ruin Li’s life.”
He scowled. “We won’t be ruining it—”
“We don’t know that,” Smellerbee said over him, though her voice had softened. Longshot nodded once, his frown tense.
“Whatever. I’ll get proof,” Jet said. “And then, we’re gonna help out our friend.”