Chapter Seven

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" Stupid ropes, break already!" Yumi yelled at her restraints, trying to pull them apart. It was no good. She looked around the deck and spotted spikes that were on top of the doors for decoration. She walked over to them and looked up. They were too high, she couldn't reach. Yumi started jumping around in place, at a pathetic attempt to reach the spikes.

" What are you doing?" A voice rang out from behind Yumi, she spun around, half expecting it to be Zhao.

Let's just say it wasn't.

" I could ask you the same question! How come your not with Zhao raiding Prince Zukos' ship?" Yumi accused, flailing around, becuase she was off-balance without use of her arms. The person she was yelling at was a boy, taller then her. He just stared at her blankly. " And why do you look so odd!"

" How dare you insult me." The boy said, fiercely.

" Who are you?" Yumi asked, frustrated, he acted like he was royalty or something.

" Prince Zuko." He said, calmly. Yumi froze.

" Prince Zuko?" She gasped. " But..you..I..how..." Yumi slapped her hand to her forehead, then bowed, embaressed.

" Where is the Avatar?" Zuko asked, Yumi looked confused.

" Avatar?"

" Don't play dumb, I know you know. Now tell me." Zuko asked, more firmly.

" I don't know what your talking about." Yumi said, nervously picking at the ropes that bound her hands. " You don't even know me!"

" So?" Zuko stepped up. " I saw you with him, waterbender."

" Waterbender?" Yumi called. " I am not a waterbender, I'm a fi--" Yumi was cut off by the sudden jerk of the ship, she fell and as she was sliding down the deck, Zuko ran towards her and picked her up. He ran with her until he was at the other end of his ship, Zhao had just gotten back onto his ship, apparently not finding Zuko on his, so he decided to go back. Zuko jumped over the dock that connected the two ships and was out of sight before Zhao turned to look back at it.

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" Mmmmmh! Mhuhrrree!" Yumi muttered, her voice stifled by the cloth that had been recently tied around her mouth. Her hands were still tied and she had been placed on a chair in a large room, on Zukos' ship, but only two people besides herself were in there. Prince Zuko and an older man. He looked familiar for some reason.

" Uncle! She's knows where the Avatar is and she's not speaking a word!" Zuko shouted, pointing at Yumi.

" Perhaps that's becuase her mouth is covered." Iroh said, looking down at a tastey plate of fish. Zuko hesitated then grumbling, walking over and took the cloth off of Yumi's face.

" I don't know where the Avatar is!" Yumi cried, rather abrubtly.

" Stop your lying, you are that water tribe girl." Zuko replied, Iroh came up from behind Zuko and examined Yumi's face.

" Prince Zuko, I do not think this is the girl traveling with the Avatar."

" And how do you figure that, Uncle?" Zuko said, appalled.

" Well," Iroh turned to his nephew. " This is Captian Kioytakas' daughter, she's from our Nation." Zuko stared at Yumi.

" Kiyo...taka...?" He said, barley heard over Yumi's mummbling.

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" Prince Zuko, if you lean over the edge, you'll fall!" A man with short black hair and dark grey eyes said, as he walked over to the young prince, he was dressed in a Fire Nation military uniform.

" I'm not gonna fall!" Little Zuko yelled, annoyed as he couldn't reach the fruit he was trying to reach, it was dangeling over the edge of the cliff, and at the moment, so was Zuko.

He reached far down, and lost his balance, his feet came out from under him and he toppled over the cliff. Zuko screamed out for the man.

" Kiyotak--" He started, but was stopped when he felt himself being lifted up, he looked up and Captian Kiyotaka was pulling the boy back up and over the cliff.

" Are you alright, Prince Zuko?" Kiyotaka asked, concerned. Zuko looked up at him.

" You saved me..."

" Of course! It's the right thing to do." He smiled at Zuko, the same warm smile he usually wore.

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" You know my father, so you can help me free him!" Yumi cried, interuppting Zukos' flashback. He looked at Yumi, she had his grey eyes.

" Kiyotaka was a good man...but I'm not going to go against my father." Zuko said, turning his back to her. Iroh started on his fish. Yumi stared back at him, a frown on her face.

" You did before."

" Quiet!" Zuko shouted, he didn't need to be reminded of his mistakes, exspecially from some random girl, even if she was Kiyotakas' daughter.

" Remember your blood pressure, Prince Zuko." Iroh said lightly, sipping some tea. Zuko just gave him an angry glance and turned his attention to Yumi.

" Your of no use to me now." Zuko shrugged and started towards the door. " I'll drop you off at the next port." Iroh got up and followed. Yumi did the first thing that came to her mind, becuase she knew that Prince Zuko was the only one who could help her.

" Fine, I'll show you where the Avatar is!" Yumi called towards them, Zuko and Iroh turned to look at her.

" You just said you didn't know where the Avatar was, do you or not?" Zuko urged.

" I-I know he's in the Earth Kingdom." Yumi was becoming quite good at lying through her teeth, well, sort of.

" Where?"

" I won't tell you unless you agree to take me with you." Yumi said, looking away innocently.

" She could be our only decent lead on finding the Avatar, Prince Zuko." Iroh chirped.

" I know that, Uncle!" Zuko said, frustrated. He thought for a moment. " So be it, but you better be right about this." Zuko said finaly and left the room, with Iroh in tow.

" HEY! I am tied to a chair, I could use a little help over her, hello?" Yumi yelled at the closed door. When she got no answer, she started to fidget around, trying to wriggle out of the ropes. " It's no use, I'm going to die here..." She said, overdramaticaly. At that moment Iroh came through the door with a sword or knife. Yumi started to sweat.

" Greetings!" Iroh said happily, casually swinging the weapon around, Yumi flinched at the sight.

" W-what's that for?"

" Why, to cut your bindings, of course." He said, simply and cut the rope that was holding Yumi's hands together. She tore off the remaining ropes that were around her body and looked down at Iroh, he was a tad bit shorter then herself.

" Thank you, sir." She said, bowing. " It seems odd that a simple knife can break through this rope, but firebending can't." Yumi noticed.

" Well, Zhao did invent that himself." He said, gesturing for her to follow him out the door.

Yumi laughed. " For some reason, I expected that."

She followed Iroh down a hall that looked exactly like every other one, although, occasionally a Fire Nation flag or emblem would appear on the walls, but other that that all metalic and depressing. Eventually, they got to another large room, but it was different then the one before and it had a big, low to the ground, wooden table that sat in the middle. At the very end, sitting and examining something closely was Prince Zuko. He didn't look up when Iroh and Yumi entered. Iroh led her to him, he sat on one side of Zuko, Yumi kept standing awkwardly. Zuko looked up.

" Sit."

Yumi did as she was told and started to rub her wrists where the ropes previously were under the table. They sat there for while until Zuko looked up and at Yumi.

" Show me where the Avatar is." He commanded, dryly, pushing the paper towards Yumi. She took it from him, it was a map of the Earth Kingdom. He wanted Yumi to point on the map where the Avatar was.

Perfect.

Truth be told, she didn't even know that the Avatar had returned, everyone knew he disappeared one hundred years ago. So, what, he magically appeared out of thin air? Yumi didn't question for long, for Zuko was looking at her suspiously.

" Well... It's...here!" She said, pointing to a random spot on the map, Iroh glanced at the map and where Yumis' finger was pointing.

" Teru?"

" Yep, that's the place!" Yumi said, grinning.

Zuko frowned. " Uncle, tell the crew to plot a course for the Earth Kingdom."

" Right away." Iroh said, getting up.

Zuko's gaze went from the map to Yumi. " You better be right about this."

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