The next doors that we burst into revealed a bunch of nuns in an Abbey. The Shirshu sniffed around a little bit and then snarled.
"We're getting close." Jun said.
She whipped the Shirshu and we ran off again out of the doors. About a mile away from the Abbey, we found the source of the scent. It came from a girl dressed in all blue with brown hair. She was walking back towards the abbey with a boy, also dressed in blue, that looked similar to her. Looking at them made me wish that I remembered my brother's face, or anything about him for the matter. I shook my head, pushing the thought out of my mind. The Shirshu made a little noise when it stepped on a twig and the boy noticed us. He put his arm out in front of the girl. Jun made the Shirshu pounce in front of the two.
"So this is your other girlfriend. No wonder she left, she's way too pretty for you..." Jun said.
Zuko ignored her and hopped off the Shirshu, heading towards the girl.
"I don't see why you're with him either. You're just as pretty as she is." Jun said to me.
I laughed a little.
"Where is he? Where's the Avatar?" Zuko demanded.
"We split up. He's long gone." the boy said, stepping in front of his sister a little bit.
"How stupid do you think I am?" Zuko asked.
"Pretty stupid... RUN!" The boy said, pulling his sister away from us.
They didn't get far before the Shirshu paralyzed both of them with its tongue.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Zuko asked.
I looked down at the Shirshu.
"It looks like its caught onto something else." I said.
"It's seeking a different scent. Perhaps something the Avatar held." Jun said.
The Shirshu smelled the boy's bag and a parchment fell out of it. It smelled the parchment and was about to run off again.
"Wait! Shouldn't we take them?" I said.
Jun stopped. "You're right. We should."
She hopped off off the Shirshu and slung one on each of her shoulders, putting them on the back of the Shirshu.
Iroh laughed. "You continue to impress me."
Jun scoffed a little. She saddled up on the Shirshu and cracked her whip on the ground. We ran off into the Abbey again. It started walking around in circles in the middle of the abbey.
"What's it doing? It's just going in a circle!" Zuko asked.
It looked up and spotted the Avatar, flying. It went on its hind legs to try and hit him with its tongue, but it just toppled over onto its back, making all of us fall off of it.
"Aang..." the girl said, looking up at Aang flying around.
Jun got up first and shook her head.
"Up!" She said, cracking her whip next to the Shirshu.
I got up after she got ontop of the Shirshu and started heading the for Avatar. Before she could touch him, a huge bison headbutted her and the Shirshu into the wall. Both of them were out, cold. My head turned to Zuko, who clenched his fist. A little bit of fire came out and and he looked at Aang. I was trying to decide whether or not to join in the fight, and looked at Iroh. He shook his head, meaning no, so I stayed put. They looked at each other for a second and then started fighting. I ran over to Jun and tried to wake her up.
"C'mon! Wake up, Jun!" I said, shaking her shoulders.
She was still out. I looked back after feeling a little heat from a little explosion to see Aang and Zuko smoking on opposite sides of the roof. Iroh ran over to Jun and me. He knelt down next to Jun and rubbed her face lightly. She opened her eyes softly, but then scrunched her nose up. She bolted up and cracked her whip again.
"C'mon, get up!" she said.
She got ontop of her Shirshu and then reached her hand out towards me as she ran. I caught it and she swung me on its back behind her. We ran towards the large bison on the ground. He leaped up and flew in the air before we could get to him, but the Shirshu's tongue scratched the pads of one of its feet. It fell to the ground, struggling against the paralysis. It opened its eyes again and shot up. Jun cracked the whip and we charged for the bison. The Shirshu and it collided skulls, sending both of us flying. Jun cracked her whip at the bison before a hard landing on the floor. I on the other hand just slammed on the floor without doing anything. Before the bison could smash down on Jun with its large foot, I summoned a spirit leopard that pounced through its legs with its jaws open. The bison cried out a little and collapsed. The spirit leopard returned, glowing bright blue, as opposed to its normal purple color,with whisps as it ran. It had stolen some of the bisons' energy. My tattoos on my face, eyes, and tattoo of the leopard flashed as the leopard disappeared into me.
"Got a thing for animals, I see... No wonder you were lookin' at my Shirshu like you wanted to eat it when we met." Jun said.
I smirked and got back on the Shirshu with Jun. She cracked her whip and we went after Aang on the roofs. We chased him over to a well, where Zuko started attacking him again. Aang jumped into the well and Zuko blasted fire into it. Water exploded out of the well, sending Zuko flying in the air. I jumped and slid on the wet ground as water fell on it and caught half of his body, lessening the blow to him. He nodded to me and then got up, running after Aang. The bison growled and headed towards him when he got too close. Before I could do anything, the Shirshu's tongue lashed out at the bison's face. With a smile on her face, Jun cracked her whip again. The Shirshu shot its tongue at the bison two more times as it walked towards them and it fell. I ran over in between Zuko and Jun, who was on top of the Shirshu. Aang was up against the wall, dodging Zuko's fire, my energy stealing blasts and the tongue of the Shirshu. I turned around to see a huge wave of perfume heading towards us, controlled by the girl. She was a water bender... I stepped closer to the Shirshu and brought my hands up, making spirit hawks appear that flew around in a sphere around us. The girl bended the perfume, trying to get in an opening, but I continued to block the perfume while Zuko and Jun tried to get the Avatar. I dispelled the hawks after she made a final wave, but it was still too much for the Shirshu to handle around it even though none had gotten on it. It roared and lashed its tongue out on everything around it, hitting me, then Jun and Zuko. Iroh screamed her name and then went under her as she fell. I watched as the Shirshu ran around the abbey for a little and knocked over more pots of perfume as it escaped.
"Ah, damn..." I said.
Zuko looked at Iroh, holding Jun.
"Uncle? I didn't see you get hit with the tongue..." He said.
Iroh put his pointer finger to his lips and then closed his eyes. I laughed and Jun scrunched her face up.
When the toxins wore off, we gave Jun her money back at the ship and then she went her separate way to look for her Shirshu. Right now, we were at sea again.
"C'mon, Prince Zuko! You play the Tsungi horn better than I do! Music night would be a great experience for you! Liiru went last time and had a great time!" Iroh pleaded.
"I'm not playing it! It's a waste of my time..." Zuko replied.
"We've got nothing better to do while we're at sea, Zuko." I said.
He grunted.
"You can go if you want. I'm not." Zuko said, crossing his arms.
I sighed and looked at Iroh and made a little face. Iroh nodded.
"Alright. You're both welcome to come up if you change your minds." Iroh said before closing the door to Zuko's room behind him.
"So this is what you do all day when you're at sea? Mope around?" I asked, sitting down on the floor next to Zuko.
He didn't answer.
"You've got to enjoy yourself sometime, Zuko..." I said.
"I don't have any reason or time to enjoy myself. I'm trying to get my home and my honor back." Zuko replied.
"You've got right now... Just because you're trying to do something, doesn't mean you shouldn't be happy for at least a little bit." I said.
Zuko crossed his arms and looked away again. "Hmph... Says the one who was locked up in a cage for her life..."
"It's surprising that the one who's been locked up in a cage has a better attitude than the one who's been free for his entire life... C'mon, you usually seem a little bit less angry when we talk. What's wrong today?" I said.
"I lost him... again..."
I groaned and stood up. "Zuko! That happened a week ago! We're tracking him again, so get over it! This is why you have a ship, so when you lose him, you can get around and find him again! Spirits, you're so... UGHHH!... I'm going to the deck if you need me..."
I was about to open the door, but it opened before I touched it.
"For the last time, I'm not playing the Tsungi Horn!" Zuko said.
"No, it's about our plans. There's a bit of a problem..." Iroh said.
Zhao stepped forward from behind Iroh. He smirked at me.
"Well hello there, Liiru... I was wondering where you went off to..." Zhao said.
"We found her in the earth country. We decided to keep her here until we had a chance to bring her back to the fire nation." Iroh said.
"Well then, I'll be taking her from here... Along with your crew." Zhao said, grabbing my wrist.
"What?" Zuko said, getting up.
"Let go of me!" I said, trying to get away from Zhao.
Zhao grabbed my throat with one hand and slammed me into the wall of the room. I gasped for breath as his hand tightened around my throat.
"I don't know how the hell you managed to escape, but trust me. You're not getting away this time... I'll personally make sure of it..." Zhao whispered in my ear.
His hand heated up a little around my throat. I yelled out as tears began to form in my eyes. He let go of me and I sank to the ground next to him, ceasing my struggling. I looked at Zuko. His hands were clenched so hard into fists that his knuckles were white. Iroh had been trying to mask a look of anger as well.
"That's a good girl, now." Zhao said.
He turned to Zuko. "As for your crew, I've recruited them for a little expedition to the north pole."
"Uncle, is that true?" Zuko asked.
"I'm afraid so. He's taking everyone, even the cook...!"
"Sorry you can't be there to watch me catch the Avatar, but I can't have you in my way, again."
He stopped talking and looked at me. "As for this one."
"You should thank General Iroh and Prince Zuko for being so kind and keeping you here with them so they could return you to me." Zhao said.
I didn't get up.
"I said thank them!" Zhao yelled.
When the words "thank them" came out of his mouth, he grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to my feet before pushing me in front of Zuko and Iroh. I let out a little yell before I stumbled on the floor in front of them. I was full on crying at this point. Zhao terrified me more than anything else. I bowed to them on my knees.
"Thank you, Prince Zuko. Thank you, General Iroh." I said in between sobs.
Zhao looked at Zuko.
"Why so angry, Prince Zuko? I thought that you'd loosened up a little bit once you had someone to take your anger out on..." Zhao said with a smirk.
Zuko growled a little and went to charge at Zhao, but Iroh stopped him. In my tears, I clenched my fist and looked at Iroh. This time could be different from the last times I'd met Zhao. I had enough energy, right now I could kill him if I wanted to. Iroh looked at me as my eyes flashed and shook his head. Something in Zuko's room caught his eye and he walked towards it. Iroh helped me up.
"Don't do anything that you're going to regret, Liiru. There are too many men on this ship that will go after you if you lay a finger on that man... Go, hide somewhere!" Iroh whispered to me.
I looked at Zuko and our eyes locked for a couple seconds. Then I quickly but silently crept out of the room, making my way to the engine room as fast as I could. When I got there, I opened the door as quickly as I could and slammed it shut. Since we had put anchor down for the night, no one was in here and there was no light. I could barely make out what was around the room and hid behind what I guessed to be one of the engines. I plopped down behind it, hugging my knees to my chest, my breathing heavy. Sweat was dripping from my forehead and I could hear my heartbeat racing in my head. I was shaking uncontrollably. My neck was burning in pain, but I was too preoccupied to care about it. I was scared to death of the thought that I could be thrown back into that cell... Scared to death of Zhao. Every second in there seemed like an eternity. My mind started playing tricks with me; I thought I was hearing Zhao laughing and slow footsteps that drew closer and closer. It felt like I was in that dark room forever. I was so nervous that Zhao would find me. Just as I was starting to calm down a little, I heard footsteps... for real this time. I clutched my left wrist with my right hand, hugging my knees closer to me, and closed my eyes tightly. I was even holding my breath in fear that he would hear me. My heart beat echoed in my head. The door opened and I bit my lip as tears welled up in my closed eyes once again... This was it. I was going to be locked up again...