Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, but I do own the first and second DVD that will come to me Feb 1st and March 28th!

Hey everyone! So sorry it took forever for me to update. Last week was "tech week" for musical show production, which means that it was the opening week of our show, and we had a dress rehearsal every night. Although it turned out AWESOME.

And then this week we have finals, so…yea. I've been busy. Anyway, here it is. Chapter 23. Enjoy.

23

"Now, you understand I must inspect every room on this ship. Including the bunk rooms and the kitchen." Zhao informed with a sneer.

"Isn't that the point of an inspection?" Zuko grumbled to himself.

Iroh just chuckled. "We understand Admiral. Where would you like to start?"

"The kitchen, and then the bunk rooms."

"Of course. Right this way."

Kila paced back and forth in her room. Why didn't Iroh tell her that Zhao would be boarding? Oh man, she was definitely in trouble if he found her, now that she exposed her powers to him.

Why was she locked up in her room anyway? Why was the admiral boarding? He wouldn't have just gotten on this ship for nothing. Was it an inspection? Wouldn't he have been inspecting all the rooms then? Kila gave out an "EEP!" of realization. He was going to find her!

Melia was just walking down the hallway towards the deck when she crossed the paths of the general, admiral and prince.

"Lady Melia! How has your day been going?" Iroh said, stopping the tour for a chat. Melia curtsied and replied "Fine."

"Have you ever had the pleasure of an acquaintance with Admiral Zhao?"

Melia looked up and glared at him. "Yes. My father once entertained him and his crew."

Zhao smiled. "It's good to see you again my lady. My how you've grown."

Zuko looked between these interactions, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened when they had met.

"Lady Melia, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor." Iroh said, pulling her off to the side. "Excuse me Admiral; this will only take a second." Iroh pulled Melia down the corridor a tad and whispered softly to her what he wanted done. Melia nodded quickly and then continued down the hallway, at a quicker speed.

Iroh came back towards the group and said "Shall we continue?"

Kila paced around her room quickly, trying to devise a plan that would make her three sizes smaller around her middle so she could squeeze through the porthole and swim to safety.

Suddenly the door swung open and a very distressed Melia stood in the doorway. "COME ON! Help me stuff your mattress under mine!"

"What? Sorry to tell you, but we have worse problems!" Kila said, freaking out a tad.

"I know that stupid." Melia bent down and tried picking up the mattress by herself. "If we stuff this under mine, then it won't seem as suspicious as having two in a room that's only housing one person."

"Except for the fact that I'm still goning tobe in here!" Kila whined, bending over to help pick up the mattress.

"You really are dim sometimes." Melia groaned. They shuffled quickly over to her own mattress and dumped Kila's on top. Melia bent down and pulled her blankets out from under it and draped them on the top. Then she grabbed Kila's wrist and pulled her. "Come on! And for once, be quiet."

"Where are we going?" Kila whispered.

"Off of the ship, without being seen."

"So, General Iroh, what is it that you told Lady Melia?" Zhao asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I just asked her if she could go into the market and buy some nice outfits and some provisions." Iroh said, waving his hand. "I can't buy dresses and material to save my life, so I let her shop when we come into port sometimes. Shall we continue?"

Melia dragged Kila down the long corridor, stopping every now and then to listen for footsteps. "Zhao's men can search the crew and ask them if they've seen you lately. If we don't run into any men, then we don't have to risk getting caught."

Kila tried to keep up with Melia, but she had suddenly become super-speedy. Melia was running like a gazelle, and Kila was stumbling along like a drunken beaver.

"Melia, why are we running so fast? And what's the point of the secrecy?" Kila asked, trying to keep her voice down.

"Zhao has a reward out for your head." Melia replied calmly.

"WHAT?" Kila screamed. Melia stopped and slammed Kila's head into a nearby wall, to make her shut up.

"Be quiet. No one can hear us." Melia growled. Kila rubbed her head, tears forming in her eyes.

They leaned up against the wall, listening for noises. There was a faint voice coming down the hallway saying something like "Well, if you don't try, then you'll never know if your spear can slice a hand or not."

"Ew…" Kila muttered to herself, grossed out at the idea. But then she was pulled in the opposite direction of the voices by Melia and back down the same hallway in which they had come. "We're not going to get anywhere Melia if we keep going in the same direction."

"Hush up, I have a plan."

Melia dragged her down the hallway, and then down a flight of stairs into the animal paddocks. Treading though that area, she pulled her back up the stairs on the other side of the room. But then they again heard the distinct voices of men, and they ran back down the stairs and jumped into a stallto hide behind a rhino.

"And this, as you have already seen previous to this inspection, is our Komodo Rhino hold." Iroh's voice said as they entered the paddocks. Kila and Melia's eyes went wide from fright, and it seemed as if both of them were holding their breath.

"Enough of this," said an impatient Zhao. "I wish to inspect the bunkrooms and interrogate the crew now."

"You say that as if we have something to hide." Zuko said with malice in his voice.

"Why would you ever think that now, Prince Zuko?" Zhao asked sarcastically.

"Let us keep moving then if you wish to see the bunkrooms." Iroh said, and the party continued through the hold to the other end of the room and ascended the stairs.

Kila and Melia let out a sigh of relief. They quickly both stood up and ran to the stairs and continued up.

"Melia," Kila said, gasping for air, "You know I'm not as good at running as you are."

"Well, seeing as I have to keep tugging on you to move, I can see that." Melia said, rolling her eyes. "But if you're the avatar, shouldn't you be able to run really fast?"

"Obviously I can't. Plus, I can't really air bend."

"No kidding."

They were still meandering at an incredible speed (at least, to Kila it seemed like that.) trying to stay out of the sight of every man on the ship. As you can imagine, this is quite a feat. Melia kept dragging Kila into every nook, cranny, and cupboard they came upon, and it had Kila at her wits end. Melia of coarse was better at running, and was definitely more graceful than Kila, so it seemed like she was only getting her daily exercise. Kila, on the other hand, was about to die from all this overexurtion

"What I want to know" Melia said, jerking Kila out of her daze, "Is where you and Zuko went for that whole month." Melia dragged Kila into an empty room where they both caught their breath, taking a break from running.

"We -gasp- went -heave- back to -gasp- my time." Kila forced out, trying to take in as much air as possible. She tried to bend some into her lungs, but it didn't work as well as she hoped, so she continued with the old fashioned way.

"You went to the future?" Melia said, quite amazed. She thought it might have been along those lines, but it never really occurred. "How did you get there? And how did you get back?"

"Well, I think we got thereand backby –heave- wishing on a full moon." Kila said, most of her air back.

Melia raised an eyebrow. "You wished on the moon to go to the future, and it worked." She said in a monotone voice.

"Yea, that's it."

"That's ridiculous."

"That's what Zuko said also! But it's the only explanation I can think of." Kila said, rolling her eyes.

"It sounds like a stupid idea that some author thought of because they couldn't think of anything better." Melia said chuckling.

"…That makes no sense…"

"Neither does the moon thing. Come on." And with that said, Melia pulled Kila's arm and they were again running down the hallway.

After a few more minutes of running, they emerged onto the top deck. Melia pulled her towards the bow, but then skidded to a halt and pulled her behind a barrel.

"Why didn't I think? Of coarse Zhao's men would be at attention in front of the ship!" she muttered to herself.

"What?" Kila asked confused.

"I can't have you run off the ship like I was planning, because Zhao's men are positioned there! They would just grab you, and all my effort in getting you out unseen would be pointless!"

"Why can't you just create a distraction?"

"Oh yes, because I can really distract all the men he has positioned there. Be reasonable Kila."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Come on; let's go to the stern and think of something." Melia said, slowly standing up to check if the coast was clear.

"The what?"

"The back of the ship. Honestly." Melia said, as she jumped up and grabbed Kila's hand.

They slunk with speed towards the back of the ship, where Melia let Kila go and began pacing around trying to summon an idea into her head.

"Why can't I just stay here?" Kila asked, pushing herself so she could sit on the railing.

"Because I don't know if Zhao has inspected this area yet. And I don't know if any men are going to come back here either." Melia groaned and tried to think of something. She looked at Kila, her eyes narrowed from thought. Then she widened them and smiled.

"What?" Kila asked, rocking back and forth.

Melia ran over towards the railing next to Kila and looked down over the edge. "It seems fine…no rocks…nothing jutting out…"

"What are you talking about?" Kila asked, now getting a sick feeling in her stomach. "You're not suggesting that I-"

"Jump over the edge right here? I think I may actually be suggesting that." Melia said straightening up again and looking at Kila.

"But…but…look at that fall! The water will be cold! And hitting it from this height will be like hitting glass!" Kila said, terror in her voice.

"It won't be like glass if you dive into it with your hands pointed." Melia pointed out.

"But I can't dive!" Kila said with her eyes wide.

"Try!"

"But-" Kila began, but her sentence was cut short by a shove from Melia that pushed her off the railing and falling towards the water. "Sorrrry!" Melia called out, in hopes that Kila would hear. Then she turned around and walked over towards the front of the ship to walk right by the guards. After all, Iroh had asked her to go into town to look for material after she helped Kila.

Even though the fall from Zuko's ship really wasn't that long, it seemed to last forever to Kila. She of coarse knew how to dive, but was never quite good at it. What she was afraid of was the cold water, or maybe some bizarre fish that was going to devour her the second she hit the water.

Quickly turning around, Kila positioned herself into a diving position and shut her eyes tightly closed, preparing for impact.

With a loud "Splash" Kila hit the water, eyes jerking open from the shock of the temperature. She swam up towards the surface and stuck her head out of the water, gasping partly because of the temperature, and because she needed air. Treading, she looked around her new surroundings. There was another ship on her left, so if she swam to the right, she could probably be out of eyesight of any passing Fire Nation Guard. Taking a deep breath, she went back underneath the water and swam to her right.

After some time had passed of her swimming, she decided it was probably time to head onto land. So she resurfaced and looked around, trying to find anything that wasn't wet. Spotting the beach, she smiled and swam towards it, her legs sore from constantly moving.

"And this is Lady Melias' room." Iroh said, opening the door. Zhao walked in and looked around, the sneer drooping from his face. He saw one bed, one dresser, one everything! Not the slightest hint that another person was bunking in here, like he had suspected.

Zhao narrowed his eyes. He would find that girl.

Kila crawled up onto the beach, over-dramatizing her current state; yes she was tired, but not so tired that she couldn't walk. She flopped over onto her back to lie in the sand, trying to warm her body. A few seconds passed, and she quickly stood up and jumped back into the water to wash the sand off. Then she ran out and off the beach, trying to find any place that she could hide. Maybe if there was a market around this area, which she assumed there was, she could hide in one of the shops. Maybe if she could climb a tree and hide up in the branches, no one would see her.

But then how would she know when to get back onto Zuko's ship? What if he just left her here to die? Thinking about it for a second, it seemed what Zuko would most likely do. But would Iroh and Melia let him do that? If Zuko asserted himself and reminded him of the ladder of power, then they probably would. Kila kicked a nearby rock out of frustration. She then sat down on said rock and tried to think of something to do while she rubbed her foot, which hurt after kicking the rock.

Fifteen minutes later, Kila was still drawing a blank on what to do. She couldn't just walk back onto the ship, because she would be arrested. She couldn't wait around for Melia, because Melia didn't know where she was. She couldn't jump into the water again because she didn't know if they would pick her up.

Heaving a large sigh, Kila stood up and trudged along, trying to at least find something to eat. There happened to be a densely populated area of trees about three hundred yards off, so she decided to walk over there, getting some exercise in the bargain.

While entering the forest, she continued to trudge along, careful on where she was stepping. Apparently, she wasn't making much of a noise, because she could hear voices from behind the bushes. Curiosity got the better of her, and she peered though a few branches to see who the voices belonged to.

There standing in a tiny clearing was Aang, Sokka, Katara, Momoand Appa, all eating what was most likely lunch. They were conversing lightly about where they were going to go next, seeing as summer was quickly approaching. Kila didn't really get that part, but she jumped through the bushes out of pure joy of seeing them. "I thought I would never see you guys again!" Kila said as she climbed out of the bushes, making everyone in the other party jump out of surprise. "What a bizarre coincidence!"

Aang and Katara welcomed her back and thanked her for helping them escape those many months ago. Sokka half-heartedly joined in, probably just to humor Katara and Aang.

"So, what have you been up to?" Aang asked.

"Well, after I ran from Zhao, Jet picked me up (literally) and I stayed in his tree house hideaway thing for a couple months, where I met Melia. There Jet and his pals got into a fight with Zuko, and were captured. Then I learned that Melia and Zuko are fiancés, and everyone climbed back onto Zuko's ship, where I've been staying for awhile. But now Zhao has a reward out for my head, so I was just running around Zuko's ship trying to not be seen by anyone. Then I was pushed off the edge of it, swam here and found you guys!" Kila re-caped rather quickly.

"You were with Jet?" Katara asked, her eyes wide.

"Zuko has a fiancé?" Sokka asked laughing.

"You're wanted too?" Aang asked. This was all saidat the same time, so it was quite confusing to understand.

"Um…yes, yes and yes…" Kila said, chuckling a bit. "OH! I have a question for you Aang. What do you know about Sozen's Comet?"

Aangs' smile dropped. "We were just talking about that actually. It's the comet that gave the Firebenders enough power to start this war in the first place. It's circling back this summer, which is actually in about a month. I have to defeat the Fire Nation before they're able to absorb the power again, or else they win."

"Wait, so after they absorb this comet, you can't stop them?" Kila asked with fear in her voice.

"No one can. Not even the Avatar." Katara answered, downcast.

"At least that's what Roku told me…wait, speaking of Avatar, how were you able to airbend that last time?" Aang remembered, his face brightening up again.

So, Kila told them her full story of how she got to this time period, editing out the moon part; she didn't want to be made fun of again.

"So…if you're the Avatar also…then you can help me save the world!" Aang said, jumping up excitedly.

"Oh, I'm sure you would be able to save the world without my help Aang." Kila said laughing. "Have you learned earth bending yet?"

"Yes, we just came from my friend Bumi in Omashu! He taught me the basics, but said I had to start finding out how to get into the Fire Nation. But I can earth bend now! WATCH!" And following his own cue, Aang raised the ground under Sokka and made it move in a wavelike fashion around the campsite, Sokka screaming from fear the whole time.

Kila joined Katara in laughing. When Aang brought Sokka back to his original position, they both clapped. Aang took a bow and sat back down. "Have you been practicing air bending?" He asked Kila.

"Yes, but it's difficult! How do you do it so easily?" Kila asked. Aang just shrugged.

After they continued the small talk for a few more minutes, Sokka jumped into the conversation bringing it to a halt. "Ok, let's get back to business. Before you came," he pointed to Kila at this statement, "we were discussing tactics for getting into the Fire Nation."

"The way I see it, we have two options." Katara explained. "We could get captured and escorted there personally, or we could just find our way there ourselves and wait until the comet comes." She placed her chin into her cupped hands. "Either way, it doesn't really work."

"But if you were captured, then you would most likely be beaten the whole way there." Kila said, propping herself up by her arm.

"That's the problem. And we also don't want to be hanging around outside the Fire Nation, because it's an island, so they know what comes in and out." Katara said, pointing to the map.

"Plus, if we just flew in, then we would still be in enemy territory, and therefore would have to be on our guard one hundred percent of the time, which is really wearing on our nerves." Sokka explained.

"Either way, both ideas are just ready to fail." Aang said starring at the map in thought.

The group was silent for a few moments, when Katara suggested "why don't we wait until it gets closer to the summer solstice, and then get captured? That way, we won't be beaten as much."

"That sounds so depressing, 'beaten as much'". Kila said, thinking. "Although it could work…"

"That would give me time to practice earth and fire bending." Aang said. "I don't think I'm going to have to practice water much longer." He looked towards Katara and smiled at this statement, who in turn smiled right back at him.

The group sat still for a few minutes more, trying to think of a solution. Then Kila clapped her hands in triumphant and sat up straight. "Ok. We follow Zuko's ship-"

"No." Sokka said. "Anything but Zuko."

"Let me finish. We follow Zuko's ship, and at the right moment, I bring you guys on board, saying I caught you."

"Oh thanks." Aang said sarcastically.

"This would make him forgive me for the first time you pulled me off his ship." Kila looked at Aang hard and he blushed, muttering a 'sorry'. Kila smiled and continued. "You guys would get put into the hold, where I'm sure he wouldn't beat you."

"How can you be so sure?" Sokka asked.

"Because Jet and his groupies are down there also. If he hasn't beaten them, then he won't beat you. Plus, he's going to be too excited about going home to think about hitting you guys."

Katara rolled her eyes at this statement, but nodded as well, confirming that she believed it to be true.

"So, Zuko brings you guys to the Fire Nation, and you're put into your cells. By this time, the comet should be getting pretty close, and Zuko and his fiancé Melia would probably be going to many parties, so he won't pay any attention to you afterwards."

"But the guards will." Katara pointed out.

"But they will still be distracted by the fact the comet is coming. And Aang, if you act dejected saying you haven't mastered anything besides water and air, then I'm sure that will raise their spirits, making them think they are stronger, and therefore probably won't beat you as much, maybe not even at all."

"You're giving them too much credit." Sokka said.

"Probably. Anyway so when the comet is almost there, I'll tell the guards that they're needed at the front and that I was sent to watch you guys."

"They'll never buy it." Katara complained.

"Yes they will; they want to fight in this battle. So they will leave, and I can bust you guys out! Then we win!" Kila felt triumphant in her idea, even if it wasn't very strong. "Well?"

Aang looked at her, and then back at his map. He sat silently for a few seconds, trying to think. Then a wide smile spread across his face. "Let's do it." He looked towards Katara, who shrugged and said "I'm in!" Kila jumped up and hugged Aang.

Sokka starred wide eyed at the rejoicing party. "We're all going to die."

So, again, sorry it took forever. But this is a long one. So be grateful.

SeethingxShadows