Disclaimer: I own two DVD's and two episodes on iTunes. That is all I own of Avatar.
Yea, so just in case anyone here has iTunes, you can purchase "The Swamp", which is the next episode of Avatar, right now. You don't have to wait two weeks. It's been like this with the other episodes also. Just a little FYI.
Ok, so I am really really sorry that it has taken so long for me to update. But, if anyone hasn't realized, I haven't been reviewing for your stories either. This is because my AP exam is slowly creeping around the corner, and I have 28 pages of a packet I have to do (one page of a packet equals 5 types pages of information on the computer. It takes A LONG TIME.), then I have to do a 15 pages of a lab review, then I have to write out 15 FRQ's. My amount of homework is just ridiculous. And to top it all off, the two plays that I am in are going to be going on in the next two weeks. So I have those practices also. And then I have the two proms! (And yes, my prom dates are very sexy.) So, I'm just a little busy.
And because I'm so busy, this is a short chapter. It doesn't have as much as I wanted in this, but what can you do? Have fun.
25
Zuko paced up and down his ship when he saw a strangely shaped figure at the edge of the forest. The creature seemed to have two legs, a long fat arm dragging on the ground, and a lump protruding from the right shoulder. It grunted as it walked, sounding like it was completing a very difficult feat.
When the misshaped creature came closer, Zuko was amazed to see that it was actually Kila with someone dressed in orange slung over her shoulder, and that Water Tribe peasant was being dragged behind, half on the ground, half walking.
Quick as a flash, the prince was off of his boat and over to where Kila was gasping for air. "Here…wheeze…you…wheeze…go" she panted.
"How could you Kila?" the Water Tribe girl screamed. "We trusted you!" The Avatar was obviously objecting, but because he was gagged he was only making very loud muffled sounds.
"How did you do this?" Zuko asked amazed.
Kila handed Aang over to Zuko and fell on the floor, completely out of air. Zuko signaled for one of his men to come grab hold of Katara, seeing as Kila had let go. The Avatar however, stayed put slung over Zuko's shoulders; it was not getting away this time.
"Traitor! Traitor!" Katara kept yelling, but was quickly silenced by a gag that was stuffed into her mouth. Now all that came out were some very obscene muffling.
Once Kila got her breath back, she looked up at Zuko with a very sad face. "It was hard, and I feel terrible. Don't ask me anything else."
"Wasn't there another person? A boy?" Zuko asked, looking around.
"I said don't ask me anything else," Kila said, cracking a small smile. "But yes, Sokka got away on Appa. But I figured that was unimportant."
"All I needed was the Avatar, I didn't need this peasant." Zuko said, gesturing to Katara. Her eyebrows shot up at this remark and began another muffled screaming spree.
"Well…I dunno…Less off a chance of Aang getting broken out if both of them are locked up I thought." Kila said shrugging, still on the ground.
Zuko rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I have the Avatar and that is all that matters. Get on, we're going home." He turned around and walked back up the gangplank. Kila smirked at his retreating back; the plan was so far going smoothly.
After that, Kila made her way straight to the kitchen and pushed Mao out so she could cook. Kila then made the dinner for the crew and fed them. Afterwards, she filled two bowls of the stew and made her way down to the prison hold.
When she arrived she was quite confused to see both Aang and Katara in the same prison cell. Turing to Keita, she asked "Why doesn't Katara get a cell all to herself?"
Keita shrugged. "Prince Zuko said the other one was too full." Kila looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened as she remembered that Jet and his posse were still in the prison.
And they were not giving her very happy looks.
"What are you doing down here?" Jet spat.
"I'm bringing Aang and Katara food. I can go get you some if you want…" Kila replied, feeling guilty that she had forgotten all about him.
"Don't bother, Curly already gave us food." Smeller-bee said.
"Yea, she never forgot about us!" The Duke piped in.
"I'm sorry! I've just been busy!" Kila said, sliding the bowls through the bars where Aang and Katara were. They muttered their thanks and stayed quiet during this fray. "Curly?" Kila asked out loud, trying to remember who that was. Then it came to her: Melia! It was her old nickname! "But I thought she was busy also!"
"She is, seeing as she's going to be the next Fire Nation queen. Yet she still has time to visit us." Jet said with his voice full of malice.
"I'm sorry. I'll come visit more." Kila said, sitting on the ground.
"Yea, only because Aang and Katara are here now." Jet said rolling his eyes. Then he rotated so his back faced Kila and sulked.
This only made Kila feel worse. So she got up, waved goodbye to Aang and Katara and left the hold.
Wandering aimlessly, she somehow guided herself towards her old room. Pushing the door open, she found Melia sprawled across her bed reading. Melia looked up at the sound of the door opening, and was quite surprised to see Kila in the entranceway.
"How…what…where…" Melia stuttered.
"Hey." Kila said, about ready to flop onto her bed but then realized there was no bed to flop onto. "Where's my mattress?"
Melia blinked a couple times, trying to reduce the shock of seeing Kila. Then she quickly sprang off her bed and grabbed the bottom mattress. "Help me with this thing will you?" She asked as she tugged.
Kila walked over and grabbed the other side. Together they pulled the mattress out from under the other one and dragged it over to Kila's spot. Melia then tossed some blankets over and then fell back down on her bed, rubbing her eyes. "Where did you come from?"
Kila sat on her bed and rested her chin in her hands. "I hitched a ride with the Avatar."
"What?" Melia said, shooting up into a sitting position. "Does Zuko know?"
"Oh yea. Aang and Katara are in the prison hold now." Kila said waving her hand.
"What makes you so nonchalant about all of this?"
"Well, Zuko doesn't hate me now…" Kila said shrugging.
"You care enough about what Zuko thinks to backstab the Avatar?" Melia accused, a disgusted look on her face. "How could you?"
"There's more too it than that!" Kila said, quite annoyed.
"There is nothing else to it! You just want everything your way!"
"That's not it!"
"That is it! When things don't go your way you get annoyed and have to step in the line so everyone has to pay attention to you! You bring the Avatar, you're from another time where you are the Avatar, Jet loves you, and you're wanted by the Fire Nation! Everything is always about you!" Melia stood up from rage and was shouting at this point.
Kila was quite surprised. "Melia…what's wrong?"
"Get out of my room." Melia said with malice. Kila stood up and backed out, afraid of what happened to her friend. Once she got out of the doorway, Melia slammed the door shut and began kicking the mattresses.
Kila sat on the railing on the front of the ship staring up at the stars. Night had descended a few hours ago, and Kila had been sitting pensively for about an hour and a half.
Hearing a noise behind her, she turned around and saw Melia standing a few feet behind her. "Hey." Kila said softly. Melia walked forward and leaned against the railing.
"I'm sorry I blew up." Melia said. "I was just…I don't know."
"It's ok. But you're right, everything is always about me." Kila said.
"No, not always. I was just mad. Don't listen to what I said." Melia looked down and then back at Kila. "You know, I did look for you at the market place. I didn't exactly know how you were getting back on the ship."
"Oh, I was wondering if you were looking for me!" Kila said, and tapped the railing. "No, I just swam and then walked through a forest."
"Ah. Ok. Well, I'm going to bed. Night." Melia backed away from the railing and then walked back to the room, wondering what possessed her to lie.
Throughout the next week Kila made regular visits down to the prison hold where she would talk to Aang and Katara. She tried to reconcile with Jet and his groupies, but they would never talk to her, all taking the usual pouting position whenever she would enter.
But then, at the beginning of the second week, Kila was able to inform Aang and Katara that they should be reaching the Fire Nation Capital in a few days.
"So, that gives us at least a week and a half to wait until the comet hits then." Aang whispered through the bars towards Kila.
Kila nodded. "I've tried to get Zuko or Iroh to say where the comet is going to strike, so you guys can be ready, but they haven't given a single hint! Zuko just huffs off and Iroh just changes the subject. You would think they would be happier about finally going home after so long…but each to their own I suppose."
"There must be more to it than we know." Katara included. "Something that they probably don't think you should be concerned about."
"Oh, I know. I'm just such a nosey person; you would think they would have been used to it by now!" Kila said while giggling. Aang and Katara forced a chuckle out.
"Now, we shall be arriving in the Capital tomorrow morning." Iroh began. Zuko, Melia, Kila and three crew members with strange looking instruments were all conjugated in a room. "And there will be a fancy dinner to celebrate the capture of the avatar, the immanent win of the war, and Prince Zuko and Lady Melia's upcoming wedding. Therefore, there will be dancing, no matter how much you grumble about it Zuko. So," Iroh clapped his hands and the three crew members held up their instruments at the ready, "we are to practice dancing. Now, Lady Melia and Zuko, you already know how to dance, you just need a refresher I am sure. So you two will be partners. Kila, you get to learn, so you shall dance with the master!"
"And…who is the master?" Kila asked, very frightened of the answer.
"ME!" Iroh said, a broad smile spreading across his face. Kila's eyes widened in shock. "I didn't know you could dance."
"He can't." Zuko said as he put his right arm around Melia's waist reluctantly. Melia grabbed the end of her practice dress and held it up, a smile on her face.
Kila mirrored Melia's movements. She had never really danced before, and was not graceful in the slightest.
"Now Miss Kila," Iroh began. "What kind of dances have you learned?"
"Um…well, there was square dancing from Girl Scouts." Kila said shrugging.
"…right. Ok, well, this should be just like square dancing, only a bit rounder around the edges." Iroh said, not understanding a word that Kila had said before. "Now, pick up the end of your practice skirt, and put your arm on my shoulder." Kila did as he instructed. "Band, begin!"
The crew members began making some type of a sound that reminded Kila of a cat being forced to take a bath. Instantly, Zuko and Melia began gliding across the floor in perfect time, looking like something right out of a Disney movie. Kila tried to follow their pattern and listen to Iroh, but he might as well have just been trying to drag a rhino somewhere it shouldn't have been dragged.
"Uncle, I can't dance!" Kila screamed from exasperation. "I never took ballet when I was five like the other girls; I was taking basketball lessons! Can't I just fake a broken leg that night?"
"No, you can't fake a broken leg. And I don't exactly know what basketball is, but just try and relax." Iroh said, chuckling at first and then wincing because Kila stepped on his foot.
A few minutes and minuets later, Zuko and Melia were permitted to leave because it was obvious they knew what they were doing. Kila had to stay back and learn five different dances, much to the crew members' dismay. This teaching went well into the night, but by then Kila had the idea of dancing grasped a bit more than when she had started. However, Iroh had to be carried out of the room because Kila had stepped on his feet so often, they were bleeding.
"I'm sorry!" Kila called after him. "I'll make you some cookies or a cake or something!"
Early the next morning there was a knock on the door. Melia stood out of bed and opened the door to a tired looking soldier, who informed then that they would be arriving at the port in about an hour and to be ready to leave the ship. Melia thanked him and closed the door. Then she kicked Kila out of bed and repeated the news. This information was interpreted by deaf ears, because Kila was not a morning person.
"Bed. Warm. G'night." Kila said and rolled over.
"You have to get out and get ready to leave." Melia said, kicking her mattress.
"Step one two three step turn." Kila repeated from her dream, where she was being haunted by a ghost dance instructor.
Melia grabbed the blankets and pulled them off Kila quickly, which made Kila just crawl over to Melia's bed and snuggle down under her blankets.
"FINE! Don't be ready to go! See if I care." Melia said, storming out of the room towards the closet to find something to wear. Deciding to pity the poor fool, Melia pulled out a bland green outfit and tossed it down to Kila's unconscious form. Then she pulled out a vibrant red outfit and locked herself in the bathroom so she could get ready; she only had one hour.
When she came out of the bathroom, Melia noticed that Kila was no longer on the floor, and the green dress was gone. She shrugged and went to go see if there was breakfast available. While walking to the meal room, Melia stopped and remembered that if Kila wasn't awake, then there would be no food, because she made it. Shrugging, Melia turned around and made her way down to the prison hold to talk to Jet for the remaining fifteen minutes that she had before she had to report up on the deck.
OK, that's it for right now. Yea, it was short. I'm sorry, but I have so much homework right now, it's pathetic.
So, yea. Have a nice life everyone.