The road to Kolau was long and hot. Jun bought a woven reed hat from the innkeeper before mounting up on Nyla and riding away from the ramshackle farming village. She used it to cover her face against the dust bowling past them, thicker and thicker the further they went. This had been a drought year in the badlands, for sure. After a few miles she stopped Nyla and dismounted. Ripping a bit of cloth from her saddle blanket, Jun soaked it with water from her canteen and tied one piece over her face, the other over Nyla's sensitive nose. The dust stuck to the wet fabric and they both breathed easier.
Jun wouldn't have bothered to go all the way to a wasteland like Kolau, except for the fact that she owed someone there a debt. A few months ago, a rancher who lived in those parts had helped her treat Nyla's front paw after the shirshu was stung by a buzzard wasp. Jun didn't have anything to pay him with at the time, but he took her word that they would settle up the next time she passed through. Not many people would take a promise as collateral these days. Words were as weightless as dust, and just as quick to fly away the moment they were released. Still, that man had helped her to save Nyla. Besides, it did well for someone in her profession to always pay their debts. People were investments. She had to choose carefully which ones were worthy of her time and resources. And once she'd invested, she had to make sure she got her due in the form of information, favors, and opportunities. Even her more outrageous actions had a purpose, such as buying rounds for crowded bars or making a show of arm-wrestling beefy men. The next time she needed to hear something useful from those brutes, they'd remember how she'd kept them entertained and full of booze the week before. It always paid for itself in the end.
It took them half a day of travel before they reached the rural cabin where the rancher lived. She could tell by the dilapidated fences and dust-bowl earth that it had been a hard summer. The man was glad to see her, and even happier to see the burlap bag of coins she hoisted into his hands. He brought her into his home and his cheerful wife prepared what meager food they had with flair. It had been a long time since Jun had sat down for a meal with someone. In a strange way, it was kind of nostalgic. The relaxed conversation, rough table manners, and bawdy stories all reminded her of her childhood with her father. For the first time in a while, she actually laughed.
Afterward, as she prepared to take her leave, she asked the rancher where to find the local bar. Even the most rural communities stayed connected through a casual hub of conversation and business, and these things usually happened in taverns. She got most of the leads for her jobs from local drinking holes. The man gave her directions to a place called The Lowland Bar, and she thanked him and rode away satisfied. She may have parted with almost half of her money, but it was good to get that debt off her shoulders. She didn't like the feeling of owing anything to anyone.
/
Several hours later, Jun winced as she knocked back the last of a frothy drink that seemed to be all this tavern had to offer. She hadn't had much hope of finding good alcohol out in the wastelands, anyway. Leaning back in her seat, she slid her eyes over the peeling paint and scruffy furniture that seemed so familiar even though she'd never been here before. All dive bars had the same sort of feel to them, a gritty roughness that excited her as well as kept her on edge. She was just about to sit up and pay her tab when her wandering eyes caught sight of two vaguely familiar faces staring down at her. Jun righted herself and took a long, hard look at the poster hanging by the door. Yes, she'd remember those faces anywhere. They belonged a set of clients who had hired her for one of her most disastrous jobs in recent memory. The old man at the bottom of the page had the same tranquil expression as his real-life counterpart, and the young man above him…. Jun bit her lip to stifle a sudden laugh. It was Prince Zuko all right, the topknot and the scar proved that much, but the look on his face was far too calm to mimic anything Jun had seen in real life. He ought to be shouting, or glaring, or staring moodily into the distance. Then Jun saw the number written underneath their names and she almost fell out of her seat.
"Hey! Bartend. How long has that been there?" she called to the pot-bellied man who'd been eyeing her since she walked in.
The geezer set a half-wiped glass on the counter with a thunk. "Oh, the poster? Don't know, sweetheart, I'd say about a day or two? Some fire nation riders came through here 'round that time. From the looks of it, I guess the royals are trying to capture one of their own; ain't that somethin'?"
"The fire nation's offering all that money?" Jun slid out of her chair and walked closer to the painted notice, making sure she had read the amount correctly.
"From what I hear, it's the fire lord himself who's put out a warrant for their capture. That's what them soldiers said anyway, when they was sittin' in here barkin' orders like they was king of the world. Word has it the boy was spotted in the plains region a few days ago, so that's where they were headed. Bah! Shite tippers they were, too. Didn't leave me with hardly nothin' for my troubles-"
Jun reached up and took hold of the poster with one hand, plunging her other into the burlap sack in her pocket. In one smooth movement, she tore the notice from the wall and tossed several coins onto the counter behind her before striding out the door. She heard the barkeep scrambling to gather them into his apron before giving a surprised yelp when he looked up and realized she was gone. "Hey there, hold on, honey! Sun's goin' down, and it ain't safe for a woman to travel these parts at night! I got me a nice warm bed an' I bet you'd look real pretty in-"
Jun whistled sharply and the grey silhouette that was Nyla reared to her feet and growled in the man's direction. He fell back, gibbering in astonishment as she mounted up and folded the poster carefully into her side pocket. If Zuko had been spotted in the plains region, then that was where she could go to catch his scent. She had no idea how widely these posters had been distributed, but every bounty hunter with a set of eyes was bound to be on the trail as soon as they spotted one. Jun nudged Nyla with her heel and the shirshu bolted forward into the dusk as Jun gripped the swell of her saddle. It didn't make a bit of difference to Nyla whether it was night or day. The blind hunter didn't need light, and she could follow a scent in any kind of weather. Their partnership made them the most effective tracking team in this whole crazy world, and they were not going to fall behind now. Not when their greatest opportunity was right in front of them.