Chapter 51:
Everyone sat on the front steps of the Royal Family's holiday home. Zuko had his head in his hands, Katara, now in her water tribe clothes, sat beside Suki who'd slumped in her seat, as Toph was leaning her elbow on the step to support her head. Freya was standing on the path still staring at the water.
Appa flew down with Sokka on his head and stopped between Freya and the others on the steps as he looked at them all looking disappointed.
"Judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you guys didn't find Aang either." he said before jumping down.
"No." Zuko confessed as the two older girls looked at him. "But Freya said something a bit… strange." he confessed and they all turned to her. "She said she saw an island just off the shore last night."
"An island?" Suki asked
"How is that possible?" Katara asked "There's nothing there."
"I know, but I swear I woke up and saw it. Aang wasn't there but Momo was sitting on the railing staring at it too. Before I could do much else I was suddenly back asleep again." Freya said turning to them. "It's like the island moved."
"How is that possible?" Sokka asked but Freya only shrugged.
"I thought I dreamt it at first but Aang footprints lead directly to where the island was, and if he's not here and he didn't take Appa or his glider than a moving island makes the most sense." she said
"Well he can't just disappear." Zuko thought.
"Hey, wait a minute," Toph said sitting up, crossing her arms and legs. "Has anyone noticed that Momo's missing too?"
"Oh no!" Sokka gasped, turning around to the bison behind him as Freya stood by his head. "I knew it was only a matter of time." he cried to the sky before jumping down beside Freya and to Appa. "Appa ate Momo!" he opened the bison's mouth, waking him from his daze. "Momo, I'm coming for ya, buddy." Sokka cried, climbing into the bison's mouth.
"Sokka, Appa didn't eat Momo. He's probably with Aang." Katara said obviously.
"That's just what Appa wants you to think." Sokka said before he crawled along the bison's tongue and Appa closed his mouth so that only Sokka's feet were visible.
"Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only 2 days away." Zuko reminded them.
"What should we do Zuko?" Katara asked as she, Suki and Toph all looked at him and Sokka slipped out of the bisons mouth covered in saliva, a pool of it slaying out around him as Freya side stepped out of the way.
"I don't know. If he's in the middle of the ocean it would likely take us the two days to search it all." he said standing up as Freya moved to stand on the bottom step.
"We don't have to search the entire ocean." Freya said confidently as everyone stared at Zuko and waited. He looked at them all for a moment as even Sokka lifted his head from the slime he was lying in.
"Why are you all looking at me?" he asked
"Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang." Katara reminded him as Sokka stood up and waved his hands trying to get the bison saliva from his clothes.
"Yeah, if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar, it's you." Toph agreed as Sokka took a step and slipped back over into the puddle of saliva.
Zuko looked at them all before turning to Freya, she returned the gaze before he glanced to the side.
"Everyone on the bison." he instructed and they all followed him as he climbed onto Appa's head, Sokka crawled out of the puddle and Freya flicked her wrist for the slobber to fly from him. They then all climbed onto the beast as Freya sat beside Zuko, the two sharing a glance.
"Yip, yip." Zuko flicked the reins and they rose up and over the water. The sky began to change colours as they moved across the sea. Freya glanced at Zuko beside her as they began to leave the Fire Nation. Sokka leaned on the saddle looking down at the two as Suki and Katara glanced at the boy unsurely.
"Zuko, I don't want to tell you how to do your job but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there." Sokka thought
"Just trust me." Zuko said. Freya glanced at Sokka who rose an eyebrow at her and she glanced back at Zuko. They needed a way to track Aang, a way to find him, and somehow Zuko actually knew of a way to do that. He tried so many plans and yet here he is with an instant one when needed?
Unless he's trying an old one… she thought.
"Why couldn't Freya just find this moving island she's so confident she saw?" Sokka asked smirking. Freya looked annoyed.
"And how do you expect me to find something that I don't know where it is?" She offered "Finding Aang was different, I had an idea on where to look. The Fire Nation. Where do you find a moving island amongst an entire world of oceans!" she turned snapping at him. Sokka ducked slightly behind the saddle. "He could be a continent away!" she stopped and turned to Zuko surprised.
"Bounty hunter!" she remembered and he nodded. "Wow, I forgot about her."
"About who?" Sokka questioned before sharing a look with Katara who shrugged.
Zuko landed the bison by a cavern amongst a forest in the Earth Kingdom. Everyone disembarked the animal in confusion as Zuko lead his way to the door.
Shouts were coming from inside and as the door was opened it was clear why, there was a fight inside.
"And the reason you brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?" Katara questioned.
Zuko rose his arm and pointed at the middle of the kerfuffle. "June."
The bounty hunter who'd once ruined Zuko's ship was sitting at a table with a cup in her hand, her skin pale and flawless her hair dark and covering half of her face and the tattoo on her shoulder. She rose her leg to block a man running at her with his fist raised as she took a sip from her cup. She knocked his neck and pushed him down to her side, knocking his head onto the chair. She smirked at him before licking her lips.
"Oh yeah that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole." Sokka remembered
"Weird?" Freya asked as June got to her feet and spun out of the way of another man who punched through the table, at the same time he punched the other guys head. She moved to dodge his fist a second time, holding her steaming cup above her head.
"Mole? Her skin is flawless." Suki admitted confused.
"No, she has this giant mole creature she rides around on." Sokka explained as June beat up the guy one handed, twisting her way out of his reach.
"Her shirshu." Zuko said
"The shirshu has a paralytic tongue, get hit with it and your paralysed for an hour." Freya said
"It's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the World. It's the one shot we have of finding him." Zuko believed.
June stepped back to dodge the blows from the bandit before she threw her cup up into the air above her. She dodged his fists, threw him over her head were he crashed into a table, causing it's occupants to run for cover. June looked up and grabbed her cup, the liquid falling back into it, before she took a sip.
Toph took a step forward as everyone looked at June in different ways. "I don't know who this June lady is but I like her." she declared grinning as June kicked her chair and sat back into it.
"'June' seems like way too kind a name for her in my opinion." Freya said thinking "'Rose' would work better, looks beautiful and innocent but is covered in thorns." she nodded and Zuko smirked but rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I remember her. She helped you attack us!" Sokka suddenly snapped at Zuko and Freya rolled her eyes.
"Yup, back in the good old days." Zuko said
"Hey it's also what got me back to you guys remember." Freya said as she followed Zuko, moving towards the women. She noticed Zuko easily.
"Oh great, it's Prince Pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?" she asked
"Nice to see you too June." Freya sighed
"He's my Uncle, and he's not here." Zuko said glancing downwards. June blinked at him before glancing at Katara on his other side.
"I see you worked things out with your girlfriend." she said and both Katara and Zuko blushed and gapped.
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Katara and Zuko both chorused, snapping at the women.
"Wow, so defensive." Freya teased earning a glare from them both as June took a sip from her cup and Katara had her hands on her hips.
"Okay, okay, sheesh. I was only teasing." June muttered "So what you want?"
"I need your help finding the Avatar." Zuko admitted
"Hmph. Doesn't sound too fun." she said taking another sip and sounding bored.
Zuko looked at her angrily before he leaned toward her, his fists balled.
"Does the end of the World sound like more fun?" he demanded.
"Zuko, take a chill," Freya said, placing a hand on Zuko's arm. She turned back to June.
"The Fire Lord is gonna destroy the Earth Kingdom unless you help us, so, feel free to back out and kill everyone." she said shrugging and crossing her arms.
June stared at her before she sighed and got to her feet. Zuko looked at Freya who gave him a smirk before they followed the bounty hunter outside of the tavern. Appa and June's Shirshu were facing off one another, growling angrily before Appa licked the shirshu's face. They both lowered to the ground and stared at one another before they turned to the tavern. June was leading the way over to the two beasts before she paused and held up a piece of meat.
"Nyla…" she waved it tauntingly before throwing it to the beast. The Shirshu ran forward and gripped it in it's mouth, chewing and swallowing. June moved forward and grabbed the head of her Shirshu. "Who's my little snuffly wuffly." she pat it's head before he snapped it's jaw and whipped it's tongue. "Whoa! Careful there." June said ducking and then pushing down on the Shirshu's mouth. "Okay, whose got something with the Avatar's scent on it." she held her hand out for it while Katara climbed into Appa's saddle.
"I have Aang's staff." she called before sliding down the bison's side. Katara handed it to June, who held it in her hands for her Shirshu to sniff at. The Shirshu smelt the air and began to walk around, it paused here and there, sniffing but simply walked in circles around the group and past Appa as they all watched. It paused in front of June who still held the staff, sniffing the air before it suddenly dropped down to it's belly and covering it's nose with its paws.
"Well, what does that mean?" Zuko asked crossing his arms.
"It means your friend's gone." June said as she kneeled and pet her Shirshu's head.
"We know he's gone, that's why we're trying to find him." Toph reminded her
"No, I mean he's gone gone. He doesn't exist." June said causing the six to look surprised.
"Well we all know that's not right." Freya said raising an eyebrow. "We know he exists, are you sure your Nyla just can't follow the scent, or find the end of it?"
"My Shirshu can find it regardless." June said and Freya looked skeptical.
"What do you mean Aang doesn't exist?" Sokka demanded as June watched him patting her creature. "Do you mean he's... you know, dead?"
"Nope, we could find him if he were dead. Ah, it's a real head scratcher." June confessed "See ya." and she climbed onto her shirshu's back.
"Helpful, real helpful." Toph muttered
"Wait, I have another idea." Zuko walked forward toward the shirshu. "There's only one other person in this World who can help us face the Fire Lord. I'll be right back with a smell sample." he said to June.
"Someone else?" Katara asked turning to Freya.
"My best guess, Iroh." she said "He's Ozai's older brother, rightful Fire Lord of the Fire Nation and as we all know, on our side." Freya looked at Zuko as he was in the Bison's saddle. "But, I'm not sure if he could beat Ozai, or would choose to."
"So this isn't worth it?" Sokka asked
"No, Iroh always has something to help. He's good with words." Freya smiled as Zuko jumped down and suddenly held up a sandal. Everyone eyed it unsurely. It had flies flying around it as Zuko held as little of it as possible. Freya backed away from the saddle as Sokka, Katara and Suki all held their noses.
"You saved your Uncle's sweaty sandal?" Sokka questioned.
"I think it's kind of sweet." Toph smiled, crossing her arms. The Shirshu jumped toward Zuko, causing June to hold on tightly suddenly as Nyla sniffed at the sandal.
"Let's do this." June smirked before she yanked on the reins and the Shirshu turned before leaping off away from the tavern.
Freya blinked before she realised June was leaving them and turned to Appa, climbing onto his head. The other's realised too.
"Hey, wait up!" Zuko shouted as everyone climbed into the saddle and Freya flicked the reins.
"Yip, yip!" Appa slammed his tail and took off after the Shirshu.
It ran over the rocks and up the mountains. Peaks rose up around the bison as they flew over the shirshu, scuttling quickly over the ground. They continued even as the sun began to rise and the shirshu never stopped. Freya watched Nyla and June as she had the bison follow the Shirshu and she glanced around a few times. The land itself was unfamiliar however if they continued they'd eventually reach Ba Sing Se, and beyond that, the boarder.
Why would Iroh be this way? She wondered. In the Earth Kingdom?
It wasn't until the sun had set on the next day that they arrived at Ba Sing Se's wall. The gap that the Dai Li Agents had created in order to let the Fire Nation troops in sat straight ahead and they all came to a stop, the Shirshu scratching at the broken bricks, wanting to go further.
"We're going to Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asked confused as he glanced at Freya who looked back at him with the same look on her face.
"Your Uncle's somewhere beyond the wall. Nyla's getting twitchy so he can't be too far." June said as she pulled the shirshu away from the rocks. "Good luck." she wished and then with a flick of the reins as he went running away from them all.
Freya and Zuko watched her before the prince turned to everyone else.
"It's been a long day. Let's camp and start our search again at dawn." he decided.
