Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender

Chapter Ten: Perfume Shopping

Iroh sat on the main deck of the ship, sipping tea. Zuko was practicing his firebending. Ellie walked up onto the deck to join Iroh. He silently poured her some tea and they watched his nephew practice. When Zuko stopped, he walked over to talk with his uncle. Iroh noticed a pale blush creep up Ellie's cheeks as the prince approached. She stood up abruptly.

"Oh, sorry Iroh. I just remembered I have a uh—a—laundry to do!" she exclaimed, flushing red as Zuko stared at her, confused.

"No, dear I'm sure you can do that later," Iroh smiled at her.

"B-but it's urgent! I have to—"

"I was going to help you learn some new forms," Iroh finished, pretending she hadn't talked straight over him. She faltered. Zuko, however looked angry.

"How come she gets to learn advanced moves and I don't!" he asked heatedly.

"Because, Prince Zuko, she actually has the patience to learn the basics. More or less any way."

Ellie grinned sheepishly. "Actually," she said. "I think I recall setting my target on fire in anger."

"But it was very strong fire," Iroh said, smiling.

Zuko huffed and stormed off deck.

"So what are you teaching me today?" she finally asked.

"I am going to teach you how to redirect lightning."

"Really?" Ellie asked excitedly, hopping up and down.

Iroh grinned at her happiness. "Yes. It is actually a technique I learned while studying waterbenders. They use their opponents own weight against them. Now, you see lightning is a pure form of firebending, without aggression. It is not by emotion the way other firebending is."

"Why don't you teach me how to create lightning instead of redirect it?" Ellie asked.

"You are not yet ready," Iroh replied. "Normally it takes years to master firebending and you are cramming it all into one trip. To create lightning you must be a master at firebending and be able to guide the lightning but not force it. Anyway, there is energy all around us. The energy is both yin and yang. Separate it, and it wants to restore balance. The two opposite energies clash together to form lightning. But lightning needs guidance. The creator of it can guide it toward where they want it to go, but you can guide it back away. If you let the energy within your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulder, then down into your stomach." Iroh did a motion to demonstrate the path the lightning should take as he instructed her. "The stomach is the source of energy in your body. From the stomach, you direct it up again, and out the other arm. The stomach detour is very important. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, where the damage could be deadly. Try a physical motion to get a feel for the pathway's flow."

He continued the motions and Ellie began to copy him, trying to flow smoothly through the motions like her teacher did. After a second, she could begin to feel her chi in her stomach flowing with her arms. It was almost like tai chi, a stress relief method her counselor had told her to try ages ago.

"Can you feel your chi move in, down, up, and out?" Iroh asked her.

"Yes," she replied. "Thank you for teaching me this," she said, bowing to Iroh as was usual.

Iroh bowed back with a smile. "I always love passing on my knowledge to those younger and more fit than I."

OA

Zuko, Ellie, and Iroh sat at the low table, each sipping a cup of tea. Iroh let out a satisfied sigh and set his cup down.

"See Prince Zuko?" he said. "A moment of quiet is good for your mental well-being."

He poured the solemn prince more tea. Zuko looked at it skeptically before raising it slowly to his lips. Then, just as he was about to take a sip, the ship jolted beneath them. Ellie, who had taken a reasonably large mouthful of the hot beverage, choked and sputtered, spraying tea everywhere. She blushed and dried herself off with her napkin as Zuko stood up and headed out of the room to see what was going on. Iroh raised his eyebrow at her and fixed her with a knowing look before following his nephew out. Ellie sighed and finally went after the two of them. When she arrived on the main deck, she saw a woman with dark hair, heavily lidded eyes, and dark lipstick on the deck of the ship, riding atop an odd mole-like creature. A shirshu, Ellie reminded herself.

"Get back!" she was shouting. "We're after a stowaway!"

"There are no stowaways on my ship," Zuko grouched indignantly.

The shirshu tore away a chunk of the deck and hurled it in the prince's direction. Caught off guard, Zuko dove to the side and the metal flooring hit the doorway that Ellie had only just vacated. An angry vein ticked in Zuko's forehead.

Then, a small grungy man fled through the whole in the deck. The shirshu angrily slapped him with its tongue and he fell to the floor, unable to move.

"He's paralyzed," Zuko said, looking down at the man in surprise.

"Only temporarily," the woman replied. She lifted the man and slung him over her shoulder. "The toxins will wear off in an hour. By then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money."

She walked over to her mount and tossed the man over its furry back.

"But how did you find him on my ship?" Zuko asked.

The woman swung onto her shirshu.

"My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away."

"Well," Iroh said. "I'm impressed." The woman cracked her whip ad rode away swiftly. The older man leaned on the railing of the ship and watched her go, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Very impressed."

Both Ellie and Zuko turned and gave him disgusted, mortified looks. Then an idea struck Zuko.

OA

Ellie, Zuko, and Iroh walked up to a seedy looking tavern. Night had fallen and golden light spilled out of its windows. From feet away, they could hear wild cheers and loud arguments. There were some figures visible in the windows, fighting.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Ellie asked.

"I'm sure it is perfectly safe," Iroh replied.

Just then a man came soaring through the roof and landed in the bushes nearby. Zuko raised his eyebrows at his uncle and Ellie choked back a giggle. They headed inside, but many people were gathered in the doorway.

"Out of my way, filth!" Zuko shouted, shoving his way through.

Ellie followed and smirked when Iroh, who was behind her, said, "He means no offense! I am certain you bathe regularly."

They found the woman from before armwrestling a man that was sweating with concentration. "I need to talk to you!" Zuko said, walking up to her.

"Well," the woman replied. "If it isn't my new friends. Angry Boy and Uncle Lazy."

"Your beast destroyed my ship!" Zuko exclaimed."You have to pay me back!"

The woman won her fight and began shoving her winnings into her money pouch.

"I'd love to help, but I'm afraid I'm a little short on money." She turned to the crowd and said, receiving cheers, "Drinks on me!"

Zuko scowled and started forward.

"Money isn't what I had in mind."

The three of them led the woman, June, outside where she had left her shirshu.

"I need you to find someone," Zuko said, holding up a blue necklace with a Water Tribe pendant on it. It was Katara's necklace!

June leaned against her beast and tossed a gold piece up and down in her right hand.

"What happened, your girlfriend run off on you?" she asked sarcastically.

Zuko started angrily and shot back, "It's not the girl I'm after, it's the bald monk she's traveling with."

"Oh, right," June replied. "I figured that you and sandy over here looked like an item."

Ellie was surprised when she realized June was indicating to her. At the exact same moment, both she and Zuko blushed and retorted, "We're not together!"

Iroh smirked and June muttered, "Whatever you say."

"If you find them, I'll consider the damage on my ship paid for."

June scoffed when she realized she wasn't getting a reward for his task.

"Forget it,"she said, climbing into her saddle.

"Plus we'll pay your weight in gold," Iroh added with an innocent smile. June stopped and looked at them, seriously reconsidering taking up the offer. She smiled and swung off the shirshu, walking over to the elderly man.

"Make it your weight," she said, poking Iroh's stomach, "and we gotta deal."

Iroh laughed.

"Deal," Zuko muttered, still flushed a delicate pink.

"Climb on," June said, turning back to the shirshu.

Iroh climbed on first and Zuko glanced at Ellie nervously, indicating for her to climb on. She did so and he followed. Then, June took the necklace and held it in front of the beats's nose. It sniffed around for a second before taking off at a rapid speed. June swung herself into the saddle as they passed, and they were off.

They passed a herbalist near Colonel Shino's base, a village with a crazy old fortune teller, and then finally reached an abby near the coast. When they reached there, June said, "We're getting close."

She whipped her shirshu and they took off into the woods. After ten minutes, they finally found Katara and Sokka. June turned to Zuko.

"So this is the girl your tracking?" she asked him. He nodded. "I guess you were telling the truth. She's way too pretty for you."

Zuko growled and hopped off of the shirshu.

"Where is he?" he asked the two Water Tribe teens. "Where is the Avatar?"

"We split up," Sokka replied. "He's long gone."

"How stupid do you think I am?" Zuko growled.

"Pretty stupid," the other boy shot back. Then he grabbed his sister and shouted, "Run!"

They started running, but the shirshu flicked its tongue out and paralyzed the two of them.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Zuko asked.

Ellie watched the shirshu as it leaned forward and started sniffing them.

"It's seeking a different scent," June informed them. "Perhaps something the Avatar held."

The shirshu knocked Sokka's pack open an started sniffing a rolled up parchment. Then, without warning, it took off again with such speed that Ellie fell back onto Zuko. Then, she sat up as quick as possible. They rode through the gates of the abby and the shirshu broke them as it went. Nuns scattered as it ran into the square and started walking around in a circle.

"What's it doing?" Zuko asked. "It's going in a circle."

Then, the beast stood up on its hind legs, causing them all to fall off its back. The shirshu tried to stun Aang, but missed and fell over.

"Aang!" Katara shouted, looking up.

"Up!" June exclaimed, cracking her whip. The beast stood up and its owner mounted it again.

Then, the two of them charged at Aang, but Appa knocked them down. Then, the sky bison growled and snorted at them. Behind them, two nuns were dragging Sokka and Katara into the abby as Zuko and Aang faced each other. Zuko sent a blast of fire at the boy, who stopped the trail by spinning his glider. Aang sent a gust of air at Zuko, but he sidestepped it and sent two fire balls at the Avatar. Aang then threw his staff and jumped up, twisting in the air to duck around them. Then, Aang and Zuko bent their elements at each other, where the blasts hit each other and created a giant mushroom cloud and blasting both boys into roofs behind them.

Ellie had no idea what to do. Zuko and Aang were fighting, Sokka and Katara were sitting up against a wall, June had been hit by Nyla, the shirshu, and Iroh was helping her up. Then, she was struck with an idea. The girl ran to one of the nuns.

"The perfume!" she exclaimed. The nun looked at her in surprise. She was probably startled that a girl wearing Fire Nation clothes was talking to her. It didn't help that Ellie's hair was blonde. "The perfume will cancel out the shirshu's toxins!"

The nun started before grabbing a vial of perfume and giving it to the two Water Tribe teens to smell. Then, they both shot to their feet.

"That thing sees with its nose," Ellie heard him say as she back away to join Iroh. "Let's give it something to look at."

"The perfume?" the nun asked.

Ellie watched as Zuko and Nyla both cornered Aang. Sokka and the nuns pushed pots of perfume, causing their contents to spill onto the ground. Then, Katara bended the perfume onto Nyla. Then, chaos ensued.

Nyla, who couldn't tell where she was or who was where, began shooting its tongue everywhere, hitting everyone. It paralyzed June and Zuko, and Ellie narrowly avoided the toxic tongue. Then, confused, the beast crashed into more pots of perfume before jumping over the abby wall. Team Avatar hopped on Appa and flew away before Zuko could move again. Then, Ellie got some perfume and gave it to Zuko to rejuvenate him. She, Iroh, and Zuko left, now needing to move on as the Avatar had left.

Here's chapter ten. I know it took a while to get out, but I haven't had time to write very well in weeks. We are now nearing the end of part one. Don't forget to review your thoughts!

~LittleMissMycroft