Author's Note: Hey, guys! More people to thank! Thank you to: bubbahcakes, Master of all 118 Elements, and Midnight Starshine for following/favoriting me or my story! Okay. Here's chapter four. Enjoy! - Fira (P.S. - My readers are all awesome. You guys make my day.)

Four

The next few days had been hell for the three of them. They'd spent their time trying to find anyone who would give them supplies. All they got were clothes, which Maya thought was sort of okay, because all the clothes were Earth Kingdom green, which meant they'd blend in more. But, other than that, they'd been completely on their own.

Now, here they were, deep within a forest, in a clearing. Despite the fact that they didn't have any food, Maya was actually pretty happy with their situation. It was beautiful here. Bright streams of sunlight came through the break in the trees, lighting up the foliage and making everything look green-gold. There were flowers everywhere, and great mossy boulders that looked as if they had been there since the beginning of time.

At the moment, Maya was sitting beside Uncle, who was staring at some sort of flower. It was odd, Maya thought, because the bush upon which the flower was sprouting from was all by itself in a part of the clearing where nothing else was growing except for a few patches of grass. It was a beautiful flower. Its white petals were long and wound back on themselves at the tips. The insides of the petals were streaked with a bright red, and the center was yellow. There were three more flowers growing from the bush, but only one was actually in bloom. The others were still closed and small.

It was then that Zuko decided to come back from his foraging expedition. With a few irritated grunts, he managed to push through the bush that was in his way and came tumbling out into the open, looking disheveled and angry. Maya stifled a giggle. Ever since Zuko had cut his hair, it had been growing out with a vengeance. Even within the last three days, it had grown long enough to cover his entire head. Maya liked him with hair. She thought it made him look more approachable and less like I'm-going-to-murder-you-if-you-get-close-to-me.

"I didn't find anything to eat," Zuko said, picking himself up after his fight with the bush. I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive. This is impossible!" He turned and kicked a rock, and then lifted his hands over his head dramatically. And then he seemed to realize that no one was paying him any attention, so he turned to look at Uncle and Maya. His face took on a look of confusion. "Uncle… What are you doing?"

As Zuko approached them, Uncle broke into a smile. "You're looking at the rare White Dragon Bush," he said, waving his hands around mysteriously. "Its leaves make a tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking." Here, he clasped his hands together and looked up at the sky like a little girl thinking about her crush.

Zuko raised his eyebrow skeptically.

Uncle seemed to come back to reality. He leaned down again to examine the flower more closely, putting his hand to his chin in thought. His brows furrowed. "That, or it's the White Jade Bush, which is poisonous."

"We need food, not tea," Zuko said. "I'm going fishing."

Uncle paid him no mind, still contemplating his flower dilemma. "Hmm," he murmured. "Delectable tea, or deadly poison?" He frowned hard in concentration.

Maya stood up. "Wait, Zuko!" she called to him. "I'm coming with you!" She did not feel like sticking around to see how this resolved itself.

Zuko, who was rapidly disappearing into the brush, raised a hand over his head in acknowledgement. "Fine. Hurry up!"

She grinned and ran after him.


Watching Zuko fish had to be one of the most entertaining things Maya had ever seen. It wasn't fair to think that, she knew, but it was still true. He was so impatient about it. When they'd gotten to a stream not far from camp, Zuko had taken a small branch off of one of the surrounding trees and sharpened it into a spear.

For the next two hours, she'd watched as his patience had slowly disappeared. She had some experience with fishing, and had at one point asked Zuko if he wanted help, but he'd predictably brushed her off, saying, "I don't need any help! I can do this myself!"

So, with a shrug, Maya had sat back against a boulder and watched. His technique was all wrong. First of all, he kept aiming straight at the fish, without taking water displacement into account, not to mention the fact that the fish scattered the second the water was disturbed. Maya had suggested little things to him. "Try aiming at the place where the fish is going to be." Things like that.

He'd ignored her at first, too prideful to listen, but eventually he had settled down and tried things her way. It still hadn't really worked, and after two hours, Zuko had caught only one small fish, but even that was enough for him. He had turned and grinned at her in a look-what-I-did sort of way.

And so, they had returned to camp. Zuko told her on the way back that he was determined to try again the next day, but fate, it seemed, had other plans. When they arrived back at the clearing, Uncle was sitting right where they had left him, which immediately frightened Maya.

"Uncle?" Maya said, taking a step towards him.

"Zuko, Maya," Uncle replied, not facing them. "Remember that plant I thought might be tea?"

Zuko's eyes widened. "You didn't."

"I did," he said, turning to face them. "And it wasn't."

Maya jumped. Uncle's face was covered in a red rash. She saw that it was also on his arms and hands.

Uncle stood up and began scratching his back with a small branch he had been holding, and using his other hand to scratch at his stomach. "When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing." Without changing pace, he came forward with a smile on his face. "But look what I found!" he exclaimed, holding out the branch for Maya and Zuko to examine. There were clusters of red berries hanging off of it. "These are Pakui berries, known to cure the poison of the White Jade plant. That, or Makaole berries that cause blindness."

Zuko swiped the branch from Uncle's hand and flung it as far away as he could. "We're not taking anymore chances with these plants!" he yelled. "We need to get help."

"But where are we going to go?" Uncle asked, still scratching himself like a madman. He got down on one knee to reach behind himself and scratch his ankle. "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom, and fugitives from the Fire Nation." He began scratching at his legs.

Watching him was making Maya itchy. Feeling a little paranoid, she backed away from him, thinking that maybe if she got too close that she was going to get the rash, too.

Zuko put his chin in his hand. "If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed."

"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula."

All three of them looked at each other, flinching. Then they all simultaneously nodded.

"Earth Kingdom it is," Zuko said.