"You do realise that Prince Zuko is going to come storming in here at any moment with a face of thunder because you changed course without his say so, right General Iroh?" I said to him as I focused on our game of Pai Sho, frowning whilst rubbing my chin thoughtfully, several of the crew gathered around my shoulders to watch our game with avid interest, hoping to finally see the great master defeated by someone.

"I am certain that once I explain, my nephew will understand the severity of the situation." Iroh assured me with a smile as I finally chose my move and placed the corresponding tile down. "Hm…an excellent move. Most interesting…" Right on cue, Zuko came striding into the room with fury, directing it on the helmsman.

"What's the meaning of this mutiny? No one told you to change course!"

"Actually, someone did. I assure you it is a matter of utmost importance, Prince Zuko." Iroh said to him as he continued to ponder over his move, weighing all options and debating the benefits and consequences of each choice he had to make.

"Is it something to do with the Avatar?"

"Even more urgent. It seems…I've lost my lotus tile." Unable to help it, I sniggered at Zuko's facial expression when he heard his uncle's reason for turning his ship off course. Moving a tile forward, I returned my focus and realised that I was soon going to be defeated unless I did something about it. Iroh sure did play a serious game. I don't think anyone on this ship has ever defeated him.

"Lotus tile?" Zuko repeated in bewilderment so Iroh clarified for him.

"For my Pai Sho game. Most people think the lotus tile insignificant, but it is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ."

"You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?" Yep, he's mad. I knew he would be.

"See, you, like most people, underestimate its value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life!" Struggling to control his intense anger and irritation at his uncle's whimsicalness, Zuko expelled fire from his mouth which poured across the ceiling and filled the room with smoke, causing me to cough and wave my hand before my face in order to clear the air before I moved a tile of my own. "I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew." Iroh smiled as Zuko stormed off, clearly resigned to his uncle's whim.

"Shopping here we come!" I celebrated, excited to step onto land for a while and maybe find a few things for myself just for fun. I could always use with some more thread, and you just never know what you're going to find. Sure enough the market was very lively, exactly my kind of scene and I excitedly flit from one stall to another in order to browse through things. Iroh ended up buying a great number of things, calling on me to help drive down the price to save even more money. We found no lotus tile, but it was still a fun expedition all the same, though I don't think Zuko would agree with me.

"I've checked all the shops on this pier. Not a lotus tile in the entire marketplace."

"It's good to know this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone!" Zuko yelled in annoyance just as some of the men passed us with their arms completely full of Iroh's purchases.

"Quite the contrary. I always say the only thing better than finding something you were looking for, is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain!" He seemed rather pleased with himself, especially since he'd gotten a great deal on everything, though there were a few items which I didn't exactly understand why he wanted them. Zuko shared my sentiment on that count, as when one of the men passed carrying a large brass instrument, he turned to his uncle with an incredulous look.

"You bought a sumki horn?"

"For music night on the ship. Now, if we only had some woodwinds." Unable to help but giggle, I pulled on Iroh's sleeve and pointed.

"Let's take a walk down there. I talked to the lady at the dumpling stand and apparently some of those ships are filled with merchandise. Let's take a look!" Agreeing with me, Iroh let me lead the way towards the docked ships with Zuko unwillingly trudging behind. For a while I had wondered why he bothered coming along with us in the first place, but then I thought that maybe Zuko was just worried that something would happen to his uncle again like with those earth benders and wanted to keep an eye on him. He could be so cute sometimes.

"This place looks promising!" Coming to a stop before a wooden vessel, we all boarded in order to take a look at all the interesting objects these merchants had collected. There were things from every nation as far as I could tell, though nothing really caught my eye. On the other hand, Iroh had already spotted some kind of monkey statue with red jewels embedded into the stone. "Oh! That is handsome! Wouldn't it look magnificent in the galley?" He asked both Zuko and I so I went over to take a closer look.

"I don't know. It kind of looks like it's cursing me." I frowned, poking it warily. Behind us, I caught the tail end of a conversation between the ship's captain and one of his crewmates, mentioning something about a water tribe girl and a bald monk and how they had lost them. Bald monk? Water tribe girl? That had to be the Avatar right? How was it that no matter where Zuko showed up, he seemed to always run into the Avatar? It's like they were tied together with a long piece of string.

"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?" Zuko cut into their conversation, wanting information on the monk to ascertain whether or not it was really the Avatar, and I couldn't help but fold my arms smugly as the captain explained that the water tribe girl had stolen a water bending scroll from them then escaped with the monk. Immediately Zuko bargained with the captain to enlist his help capturing the Avatar, though he kept quiet about his real identity. Having reached an agreement, Zuko turned around in order to hurry his uncle out of here, but caught sight of my smug look. "What?"

"Guess this trip wasn't a total waste of everybody's time, huh?" Gritting his teeth in annoyance that I was right, he merely stomped off, yelling over his shoulder that we'd better hurry up. There was no way I was going to be left behind this time. I was going to see the Avatar for sure and get a closer look at that fluffy bison creature. Maybe even make it into my new pet. It would be an amazing addition to the troupe if it would fly for us.

"I guess shopping time is over." Iroh sighed despondently, arms already full of items he intended to buy, including that weird looking monkey statue.

"Afraid so. Don't worry, I'm sure we can stop at another port and look for a tile there." I assured him, helping him to carry his items as he paid for them, making the ship's captain very happy. When I got a proper look at the crew, I got the feeling that these weren't ordinary traders, and when I whispered my concerns to Iroh, he chuckled. "Of course, why didn't I see it before? It's not every day you run into real pirates. You had better keep a close eye on your money, little Kayo."

"Well, it's not like I have any." Joking warmly, I helped Iroh take his new purchases back to his room before we joined Zuko on the skiff in order to head downriver into the woods so that we could search for the Avatar. At first he wasn't too happy about me coming along, but then he was never happy so I took no notice of it. "We're on the water! I'm a water bender, surely that's got to be useful for something, right? At the very least, I want to see the flying bison and talk to the water bender girl. I promise I won't get in your way." I lifted up my hands to signal surrender and innocence, earning a sigh from Zuko.

"Did you bring what I asked for?"

"The necklace? Sure. It's right here." Reaching for the embroidered purse which I'd tied onto my belt, I handed it over to Zuko who immediately pulled the strings open and reached inside to draw out the necklace. "Are you planning on bargaining with the girl for the Avatar? Do you really think she'll give him up for a necklace?"

"She will if she knows what's good for her." He responded darkly before pocketing the necklace and returning the purse. It was nice being on freshwater for a chance and I couldn't help but take the opportunity to practice my bending a little, concentrating on moving in a circle with the water following me. Most of the time my bending happened on instinct, like when we were under fire from Zhao's blockade. It was much harder when I actually concentrated and tried to make something happen, but I was getting better at controlling it. I think the problem might be with my wrist movements, or maybe it's my stance…I don't know. I won't ever know until a proper master teaches me, though I doubt that'll ever happen.

"Shouldn't we stop to search the woods?" The pirate captain asked impatiently as he and Zuko talked together, our ships sailing side by side down the river and I stopped water bending to listen in, being nosy and curious.

"We don't need to stop. They stole a water bending scroll, right?" Sending a sidelong glance at Zuko as the captain affirmed this fact, Zuko lifted his spyglass and continued to survey the treeline. "Then they'll be on the water." Had to hand it to him, that did make a lot of sense. I wonder if the pirates would let me look over the scroll before they took it away. It might be useful for me to look at some real water bending forms rather than just fudging my way through things.

For a while nothing happened so I simply stayed on the skiff and watched the water and the moon's reflection until Zuko gave the order to pull up on shore. By that time I'd fallen asleep, the evening having become early morning and I wasn't interested in staying up all night. Nothing really happened until dawn, where I woke when I heard a scuffle happening and got up to see a girl being chained up to a tree. No way, is that the water tribe girl? Judging by her outfit, it had to be. "Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother." Zuko was saying to her, using his forceful tone to try and make her answer.

"Go jump in the river!" The girl had spunk, I'd give her that. I think I'm the only other person who's ever talked to Zuko like that. Seeing that fear wasn't going to work, Zuko tried another approach by softening his voice and trying to reason with her instead.

"Try to understand, I need to capture the Avatar to restore something I've lost. My honour. Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost." That's when he chose to hold up the necklace the girl had lost, standing behind her where she looked down and instantly recognised it.

"My mother's necklace! How did you get that?"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is." By this point I'd already left the skiff and moved closer to see what was happening, observing everything as a background witness.

"No!"

"Enough of this necklace garbage." Forcing his way forwards, the pirate captain pointed at Zuko as his men all rose to support their captain. "You promised the scroll!" A sneer touched Zuko's face as he produced the scroll from where he'd been holding onto it only to light a fire in the palm of his hand and hold it underneath the clearly very valuable scroll, as the pirates all fussed and nervously backed off at Zuko's clear warning.

"I wonder how much money this is worth?" Observing their reactions, Zuko smirked further. "A lot, apparently. Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here." Seeing no other option but to agree, the pirate captain growled in agreement before ordering his men into the trees. Meanwhile, the girl was struggling against the chains in an attempt to break free, so once the pirates had all gone, I took this opportunity to approach her.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!"

"Whoa easy, I'm not going to hurt you." I promised her, trying to look as friendly as possible. "My name's Kayo, what's yours?"

"I'm not going to tell my name to some Fire Nation monster!" Ouch, that was a little harsh but I could understand her anger towards us. We had tied her up to a tree after all and almost shot her out of the sky several times.

"Okay then, that's fine. I just wanted to meet you. I've never met another water bender before, so I got a little excited when I heard you were travelling with the Avatar." I told her honestly, making her stop her struggling in order to look at me with wide, clear blue eyes. Huh, she was quite pretty now that I'm looking at her properly.

"What do you mean 'another' water bender?" In answer, I shifted into a stance and pulled water from the river, making it circle around me as I streamed it like a long ribbon before I lost control and it burst in front of me, turning into a puddle at my feet whilst the girl just stared at me open mouthed, utterly stupefied.

"As you can see, I'm not very good since I never learned properly." Laughing bashfully I rubbed the back of my head as the girl blinked herself awake.

"You're a water bender? Then why are you with Zuko?! You should be helping us fight against the Fire Nation, Aang is the Avatar and he's the first real hope to end this war in a hundred years! I don't understand." Slightly confused at what she was on about, I shrugged with my hands in a carefree manner.

"What are you talking about? I may be a water bender, but I'm from the Fire Nation, it's where I was born. My mother is a fire bender. Besides, the Fire Nation just want to bring order and stability to the four nations and unite everybody, we're not the bad guys here. Anyway, I've never really paid much attention to the war so it's never bothered me. I just wanted to meet you, and I also wanted to meet that giant fluffy bison thing you guys fly around on." Her eyebrow quirked in disbelief.

"You mean Appa?"

"It's called Appa? Cute name."

"Kayo!" Zuko suddenly yelled, realising I was talking with the water tribe girl. "Get away from the prisoner. Don't even think about causing trouble!" Ugh, way to spoil my fun.

"I've got to go, but it was nice talking to you kid. Don't worry, I'll try and persuade Prince Zuko to leave you and your brother out of his hunt for the Avatar. You might be able to just go home after all this is over." I assured her, turning around to leave her be as she just stared after me. Now I focused on Zuko, sidling up to him and bending down so that I could look up at him through my lashes. "So…that water bending scroll you have right now…" Without even waiting for me to ask my question to have it, Zuko thrust it towards me, already knowing what I wanted. "Yes!"

Completely overjoyed to have some real water bending material to work from, I took the scroll to the water's edge and studied the forms, working on the water whip and the tidal pull though it turned out to be a lot harder than it looked. Several times the water whip just ended up smacking me in the head and it really hurt. "You've got to shift your weight through the stances!" A little kid's voice called out as I hit myself on the head with my own water for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Thank you!" I yelled back without even thinking until I suddenly realised that I'd never heard that voice before. Whirling around and dropping the water I'd been working with, my jaw dropped as I saw a little kid with a blue arrow tattooed onto his shaved head, rather winsome eyes blinking at me whilst he stood bound by the pirates alongside a water tribe boy about my age. "Wow! So you're actually a real person? Here I was thinking you were a total myth this whole time. Are you really that guy? You know? You're just a little kid."

"Last time I checked I was. I'm Aang!" Introducing himself with a broad and adorable smile, I giggled at his cuteness.

"I'm Kayo. Nice to meet you." The kid and I grinned at each other and I completely ignored Zuko's glare as I waved at the Avatar, happy that I'd finally got to see the real thing. I knew Zuko had said he was a kid, but this boy couldn't be older than twelve. It was a little surprising, if I'm honest. How had he survived a hundred years of war without aging and without being found out until now? I was dying to know everything but I doubt Zuko would let me ask all my questions right now.

"Nice work." Zuko complimented as we stood facing the pirates all gathered in line. I'd taken to standing with Iroh beside the water tribe girl, who looked at the Avatar apologetically.

"Aang, this is all my fault."

"No, Katara it isn't." So her name was Katara. Nice name.

"Yeah, it kind of is." Iroh interjected, stroking his beard as I eagerly watched everything with great anticipation. I could just smell the friction in the air, it was exciting.

"Give me the boy."

"You give us the scroll." The pirate captain returned as Zuko demanded that he hand over the Avatar to him.

"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" The water tribe boy spoke up, causing the pirates to all look at him in surprise before turning to Aang who grinned bashfully. He doesn't really act like I'd expect. I thought Avatars were supposed to be wise and all knowing. This kid was just what he seemed. A goofy kid.

"Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other." Zuko yelled but a little too late. The pirates were already paying full attention to the boy.

"Your friend is the Avatar?"

"Sure is, and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market then that fancy scroll."

"Shut your mouth, you water tribe peasant!"

"Maybe you should have given them more incentive than just the scroll." I whispered to Zuko quietly as his fists trembled in anger.

"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth." The Avatar agreed with Zuko on that count, looking around nervously. So the older boy is Sokka, his sister is Katara, and the Avatar is called Aang. I think I've got it all now. Oh, and their awesome furry fluff monster that flies is called Appa. Got it.

"I'm just saying, it's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life!" Sokka continued to reason with the pirates, rather smartly trying to sew discord between them and Zuko so that they would have a better chance at escaping them than they would the prince. Their decision made, the pirate captain pointed at Zuko with a greedy smirk.

"Keep the scroll! We can buy a hundred with the reward we will get for the kid." They started to pull him away, intending to leave with the prize of all prizes.

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me!" Does this mean things are about to get really violent now? I get the feeling we're going down that road. Without a moment's hesitation Zuko and two of his men released a jet of flames at the pirates who all leaped out of the way, dodging the blast to keep their toes from becoming extra crispy. I think I'll just stand here with Iroh, that'll probably be my safest bet. As chaos ensued, some of the pirates dropped smoke bombs which caused a huge cloud to sweep across the battlefield.

Staying safe behind Iroh, he easily pushed back one of the pirates that came towards us, barely even bothering to look up as we watched from the side lines. I had no intention of getting involved, it wasn't my fight after all, though I did notice that some kind of flying lemur came down to chew open the ropes that had the water tribe girl bound to the tree. Aw, another cute animal. How come they get all the fluffy pets?

As she thanked the lemur, calling it Momo, our eyes met. For a moment she froze, uncertain whether or not I'd stop her so I just smiled and gave her a wink before making a hand motion behind my back for her to get out of here. We'll say I drew a blind eye on this occasion, seeing as we're both water benders, I couldn't exactly let her stay captive could I? From the sounds of it, the pirates weren't all too happy with the fact she stole their water bending scroll, so I didn't want to see them get their hands on her.

Though, in a hilarious twist, that same girl was now trying to steal their boat. This is brilliant, high class entertainment and all I had to do was sit back and watch. I was so focused on watching the Avatar and Katara water bend the boat back out onto the river, I didn't notice that Iroh had stopped Zuko and the pirate captain from fighting one another. "Are you so busy fighting you cannot see your own ship has set sail?"

"We have no time for your proverbs, uncle!" Zuko yelled back, thinking that his uncle was trying to use one of his anecdotes to pacify the situation.

"It's no proverb." Pointing downriver to where the pirate ship was sailing away, the pirate captain's jaw dropped as he cursed, running after his ship with a cry.

"Bleeding hog-monkeys!" I was already laughing, clutching my stomach from the stitches and even Zuko laughed to see the pirates having their own vessel stolen, until we realised that our own skiff had been commandeered by the pirates themselves, turning the joke on us. Damn it.

"Hey! That's my boat!"

"Maybe it should be a proverb." Iroh wondered, scratching his beard as I tugged lightly on his sleeve.

"Are we supposed to help?" I wondered until Zuko yelled at us to hurry up, giving me my answer. "Guess so." Running ahead down the riverbank, I overtook Zuko then took a jump, sliding into a stance as I landed before rising up with a flowing motion, redirecting a plume of water into a funnel like how I had been practicing streaming water and I successfully managed to knock one or two of the pirates off the skiff before it passed me, forcing me to play catch up as it continued to go faster. "Hey! Wait! There's a waterfall that way you pirate morons!" I yelled, waving my arms as the ship set on a collision course with the wooden boat.

The Avatar and his friends were fighting off the pirates who had jumped onto the boat and I could only watch from a distance, unable to keep up with them with Zuko and Iroh a few paces behind me. Well, more than a few in Iroh's case. He wasn't exactly the sprinting type. Doing my best with clumsy water bending, I tried to take out a few more pirates, but nothing ended up as successful as my first try, managing only a few pathetic flops which just doused the pirates in water, making them more than a little annoyed.

The boat in front pulled to a stop at the water's edge, two pools of water churning underneath to keep it from falling over as it turned, exposing its broadside to the skiff which slammed against it, pushing the boat as well as the kids over the waterfall. Oh crap! Should I do something? I feel like I should do something, do they even need my help? Turns out, the kids had it all covered as their flying bison came as if summoned somehow and caught them all, flying out of reach as the pirate's boat went over and crashed at the bottom of the falls with the skiff starting to follow.

"My boat!" Reacting on instinct, I began to perform the most basic water bending movement Iroh had shown me, circling my arms and shifting my weight with every movement as I turned the water, copying what I had seen Avatar Aang and Katara do. I was surprised by how quickly it worked, the swirling mass keeping the skiff from going over but the more I tried to hold on, the more difficult it became to maintain. My arms grew heavy and it felt like I was trying to move through thick syrup. Struggling for breath, I grunted as I tried to pull the skiff back, at least to the shore, but I started to lose control of the water as I attempted to make larger waves by reversing the water's flow.

It proved too much for me and even as I strained against it, gritting my teeth and groaning against the sensation of too much weight, my entire body shook as I splayed out my hands in an effort to just hold on until finally, I couldn't hold it any longer. Dropping my arms and letting myself fall to my knees, I released a deep breath as sweat clung to my entire body. Beside me Zuko knelt down, reaching out to touch my shoulder with concern. "I'm sorry…sorry…I tried, but I…I'm no good at this…"

"It's okay, you did your best." Just then Iroh finally caught up with us, panting heavily and taking a moment to catch his breath, but when he suddenly felt something in his sleeve, he gave a laugh of disbelief.

"Prince Zuko, you're really going to get a kick out of this. The missing lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time!" Zuko's face dropped instantly, enraged that this entire trip had been because of a single lotus tile that turned out to not actually be missing after all. With a quick snatch, Zuko grabbed the tile from his uncle who stopped laughing and threw it as far as he could upriver. Seeing Iroh's horrified face, I pulled at the water where it landed, getting a feel for it before giving a sharp tug of my hand with a flexible wrist, snatching the tile back and brought it floating back to Iroh in a bubble of water. He sighed with relief.

"What a calamity it would have been if I had lost this tile for real this time." Completely worn through all his patience, Zuko bellowed with all his might, releasing fire from his mouth and fists as I took a rest on the ground, lying on the grass and closing my eyes for a while. "Now, now Prince Zuko, we must try to see the silver lining in between the clouds of grey. At least you know where the Avatar is and what direction he is headed." This did not help clear up Zuko's mood, who stomped off to sulk on his own for a bit, sitting down against a tree to stew. "How are you feeling little Kayo?"

"Like I wish I'd stayed in bed this morning. Water bending is so hard! I don't get it at all." As it turned out, we didn't even have the water bending scroll either as it had somehow become lost in the scuffle, which was a huge disappointment. In the end we had to walk all the way back to the ship, Zuko stomping around angrily whilst Lieutenant Jee just looked between Iroh and I in confusion, wondering if it was safe to ask what had happened to the skiff. "Don't ask. Just don't ask." I advised him, feeling like mentioning anything about today would just set Zuko off again. "Is there any news for me?"

"I'm afraid not Kayo. No news of your mother or your troupe. It's a large world, unfortunately, which means it'll take some time to find them, especially since we're travelling so much. Perhaps we'll have better luck if we ever sail closer to the colonies up north." He said to me, trying to keep my spirits uplifted and I took it on the chin with a nod. Needing to rest for a while, I went to my room and washed before changing into something clean so that I could sleep for a while, but I ended up just staring at my ceiling blankly. That kid really was the Avatar. My mind was racing, picturing his innocent face in my mind and wondering about what that Katara girl had said about the war and how I should be helping to stop it.

I'd never bothered about it before, so why was it her words kept on circling around in my head? Just ignore it. It's nothing to do with me. What can I do against an entire nation anyway? It's not like me helping was going to make any difference. I'll just continue to keep my head down and focus on trying to get home to my mother. That's all that mattered. That's all.