Thirty-six

Two days later, they were stopped at another Earth Kingdom town. Zuko, to Maya's relief, had stopped disappearing in the middle of the night. At the moment , she, Zuko, and Uncle, were just sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea. As Uncle poured the tea, he said, "Sometimes just sitting and relaxing can be good for your mental health."

Maya sat holding the cup in her hands. Zuko lifted the cup to his lips, but right as he was about to take a sip, something big slammed into the ship. The tea in Zuko's cup spilled out, and some of it splashed across his face, and got into his ponytail, which had flipped forward in the jolt. Maya flinched. The tea was still hot, and she was afraid Zuko had burned himself on it. But he didn't seem physically hurt – just pissed off. With a growl, he flipped his hair the right way, slammed his teacup onto the table, stood and stormed up on deck.

Maya and Uncle quickly followed, wondering what the hell was going on. In a few moments, Maya was up the stairs and standing on deck, staring at the biggest… thing she'd ever seen. It looked like a cross between a fox and a rat. It was maybe a little smaller than Aang's fluff-monster, but it was still huge. And it was standing on the deck!

"What's the meaning of this?" Zuko shouted.

At first, Maya wondered if he was talking to this thing, and then she realized that there was a woman sitting atop it. The woman had a red tattoo on her shoulder. "Stay back!" she replied. "We're after a stowaway!"

"There are no stowaways on my ship!"

Suddenly, with a crack from the woman's whip, the creature lunged forward, dug its teeth into the metal deck and ripped a piece of it off, flinging it away. Maya backed up against the railing, afraid to get in its way. From below, she heard a scream. The creature stuck its head into the rip it had made in the deck, and then lifted its head back out. A second later, a man in Earth Kingdom garb lifted himself up out of the hole and tried to run. Suddenly, the creature's long, forked long lashed out of its mouth and slashed the man in the back, twice. The man fell over and did not get up again, seemingly frozen.

Zuko stared down at the man. "He's paralyzed," he murmured, shock clear in his voice.

"Only temporarily. The toxins will wear off in about an hour, but by then he'll be in jail, and I'll have my money," the black-haired woman replied, smirking as she threw him over her shoulder and climbed onto the creature's back.

"But… How did you find him?" Zuko asked.

The woman patted the creature's neck. "My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away. Well, be seeing ya!" And then she cracked the whip again and they jumped down onto the dock and sprinted away.

Maya, Uncle, and Zuko all ran to the side of the ship to watch them leave.

"I am impressed," Uncle murmured, stroking his beard. "Very impressed."

The next day, Maya could tell that Zuko was angry about what had happened the day before. The woman had destroyed a part of his ship, and he was up on deck fuming about it. Maya went to him. "Are you okay, Zuko?"

He whirled around. "Does it seem like I'm okay? That stupid girl and rat thing destroyed my ship!"

"We can get it fixed, you know."

"That doesn't mean it's okay that she did it!"

Maya sighed. "So, what do you want to do about it, then?"

"Maybe I will employ her to help me capture the Avatar."

"How?"

"Well, from what she said, that thing can track with its nose. Remember, she said My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away."

"Okay. But that means you need something of Aang's for the thing to track, otherwise it won't know what it's doing."

"Oh, I've got something. Remember when I took that Water Tribe girl's necklace? I still have it, and I know that they're traveling together. I could use that. If we find the girl then we find the Avatar."

"Right. Well. Good luck trying to get that woman to help you. Where the hell are you even going to find her?"

"Oh, I'll find her."

That evening, Uncle, Maya and Zuko found themselves in a bar. The whole situation was extremely awkward for Maya, as she had never particularly liked bars. From her experience, they were horrible places filled with horrible people. This bar was no different. All around her, she could smell alcohol and sweat, and the noise was unbearable to her ears. Already, she had a headache.

Zuko charged past the people in the crowd. "Out of my way, filth!" he yelled, shoving people aside.

"He means no offence," Uncle said to the people he passed, looking around and smiling. "I'm sure you all bathe regularly."

Despite her current situation, Maya laughed.

When they had all made their way to the center of the crowd, Maya was actually kind of impressed. There sat the woman with the shirshu. Maya had honestly not believed that Zuko would be able to find her, but here she sat. At the moment, she was in the middle of an arm wrestling match with a man three times the size of her. From what Maya could see, the man was struggling and sweaty and the woman simply had a smirk on her face.

Zuko walked up to the table and said to her, "I need to talk to you."

She looked up. "Well, if it isn't my new friends. Angry Boy, Angry Boy's girlfriend, and Uncle Lazy."

Uncle laughed at this, and at the same time, Zuko and Maya slowly inched away from one another.

In the next few seconds, she gave a burst of strength and slammed the man's arm down on the table. There were mixed cheers and boos from the occupants in the bar, and suddenly the table was littered with coins.

"Your beast trashed my ship," Zuko said angrily. "You have to pay me back."

"Aww, I'd love to help you out, but I'm a little short on money." She smiled sweetly at Zuko and then yelled, "Drinks on me!"

A massive cheer went through the crowd. Zuko leaned in and grabbed the woman by the wrist. "Money isn't what I had in mind."