Hello again all you readers! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well.. it feels like it anyway. But besides the point, here's a new chapter... so please review! And by the way I don't own Avatar. And I'm running out of witty ways to say that...
I leapt down from the statue, landing softly behind Zhao. I wanted to give as freaky an impression as possible. He must have heard a noise because he turned around swiftly. His eyes widened when he saw me, looking me up and down.
"I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, Zhao." I messed with my vocal chords, trying to keep anyone, especially Zuko, from recognizing my voice. I purposefully left out the term commander when speaking to Zhao.
After he recovered from his initial shock, he glared at me. "It's Commander Zhao, to you."
I let out a rough laugh. "You don't even know who I am." He looked baffled a minute, then did the first thing that seemed to pop into his mind: Obliterate!
Single-minded creature.
I leapt away from his blast, landing out of his reach. "What do you mean, count your chickens?" This apparently puzzled him. I could see Zuko smirk behind him, and he answered for me.
"It means you haven't captured the Avatar yet." Zhao turned to glare at Zuko again, who was being chained to another statue.
"That may be. But he has to come out sooner or later. I can wait." He glared at me now.
Is that all he can do? Glare and shoot fire at people? I seriously wanted to tease him, but I knew Zuko would recognize me if I did. I was also waiting for a good time to rescue Zuko, or at least help him. Now didn't seem like a great time, however.
Just then the doors began opening. Zhao and his men immediately attacked the figure that stepped out of the inner room, but were surprised to see the old man whose statues the two kids, and Zuko were now chained to. The old man turned their fires into a spiral around himself, then directed it back at his attackers knocking them off their feet. The flames didn't stop there, however. Almost instantly the chains binding Zuko and the others were disintegrated, and before I had a chance to shield myself I realized I had no need to; the flames didn't even touch me but passed right around my body.
I stood stunned a moment; apparently the old man was very powerful to have controlled so much fire. Then I noticed Zuko running for the exit, at the same time the ground split and lava begin to erupt from the ground and walls in the temple. I leapt after Zuko, catching up in time to see the ground beneath him crumble into a river of lava.
His eyes widened and I could see fear for the first time as I dove, catching him around his waist and carrying him safely to firm ground just over the growing river of fire. We both lay stunned a few moments before I looked at Zuko, who was also looking at me.
"Who are you?"
I decided not to answer. If he even had the slightest suspicion, that wouldn't be so good for me. I grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him after me as I ran toward the front of the temple.
The temperature continued to rise as we got closer and closer to the entrance. As we were almost out the door, a fresh blast of lava and flames burst from the walls right behind us, and I grabbed Zuko, throwing him outside and away from the flames as I leapt once more into the sky. Before he could look around to see me I was hidden safely in the trees, where I could watch and make sure he made it to the boat safely.
Zuko looked around him bewildered, before he set off at a run for his small craft. Glancing back at the temple a few minutes later, I could see the vague shapes of Zhao's men outside the temple. I frowned.
Crap, he made it out alive.
As soon as I had seen Zuko to his boat unseen, I flew as fast as I could to my clothing, slipped it on over my black ones, and took off through the sky back to the Fire Nation ship with Iroh and the others, including myself supposedly, all waiting for Zuko's safe return. The smoke had only just started to diminish, but still managed to cover my landing as I removed the hood and mask quickly, rushed to my room, and removed my clothes, and rinsed myself quickly to remove the smell of smoke left by the lava.
I walked casually back on deck just in time to see Zuko being pulled on board by his soldiers. Iroh and I eagerly went to see if he was alright, of course I knew he was but they couldn't know. We all knew instinctively to keep our mouths shut about the Avatar, seeing as how he wasn't bound and with Zuko.
But instead of anger, there was something else in his face. He was thinking about something, and as soon as his soldiers had cleared off he pulled Iroh closer.
"There was someone, a woman I think, in the temple. She wore all black, and had a black and white mask. She saved my life, then left…" Iroh stared at his nephew, then a line of concentration formed on his brow.
"You don't know who it was?" I asked.
"No… I never saw her face." Zuko seemed like he was in a daze. "I'm going to… meditate." He walked off slowly.
I blinked.
Wow. That was… unexpected.
Iroh looked almost as confused as I did.
"That was weird." I muttered softly.
"Indeed…" He glanced at me. "You might want to take a bath, dear. You smell like smoke."
I looked at him surprised. "Well, it kind of defeats the purpose if the engine's on fire, blowing smoke everywhere doesn't it?" I quickly covered myself.
He laughed quietly, then followed Prince Zuko below deck.
Mmkay… that was a little close. Does he know? I hope not…
The next few days Zuko wasn't seen much. He'd show up for meals, and go discuss the Avatar's location with his uncle and the captain, but apart from that I didn't see him. That also meant I didn't get any more private lessons in swordsmanship.
Iroh agreed to help me with my martial arts and… 'bending' in the mornings, but in the afternoon and evenings he had other things to do, including Pai Cho. So to occupy my time I continued practicing what I'd learned from Zuko by myself.
It was nice having something to base my practice on, and it was sort of relaxing. I stayed on deck hours after my lessons with Iroh so I could keep practicing with my Katana. After a couple more days, Zuko started to show up on deck to practice his Fire bending again, but neglected to remember my lessons. But I forgave him, after all I think it was my fault in the first place that got him to be like that.
One afternoon, Zuko was Fire bending on the front of the ship while I was practicing on the back when the ship tilted very suddenly and began to change directions. After regaining my footing, I followed Zuko to the Navigation room where Iroh was talking with the captain.
"Uncle, what's going on?"
"I lost a Lotus tile for my game! We need to stop somewhere so I can replace it."
I laughed. Zuko looked furious.
"We will lose track of the Avatar if we stop, Uncle!"
"Well the Avatar needs to stop sometimes as well, Prince Zuko." He had a partially wise and smug look on his face. Zuko sighed in resignation.
"Make it quick."
I followed shyly behind Zuko and Iroh when we docked. This wasn't the same as all those other places we'd been. Instead of kind, friendly fishermen, I was surrounded by lots of rough, dirty sailors who didn't look very respectable. A particularly nasty group stood beside their ship, watching us greedily.
Iroh set off right away to find his tile while Zuko and I followed him. Almost immediately I noticed the market looked like a disaster. There were carts overturned all over the place, and cabbages were squashed all across the ground. People were talking animatedly and very loudly. I guessed Iroh would have a hard time finding what he was looking for. Just then we passed a group of people and overheard their conversation.
"-Overturned my cart again! I could swear those three were in Omashu as well! But the worst is the little bald monk kid; he has no respect for other people's property!"
Zuko stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face the man menacingly.
"Did you say a bald monk did this? With arrows on his head and hands?" He glared down at the man, who cowered under him.
"Y-yes sir."
"Where was he headed?"
"I- I don't know! He- he was running f-from the p-p-" he gulped. Zuko grabbed his shirt front, yanking him closer.
"Tell me!"
"Pirates! Pirates were chasing them!"
Zuko dropped the man unceremoniously on the ground, and turned to head back to the docks.
"Uncle, I'm going on business." Iroh waved his hand absentmindedly.
"Go along, I'll follow shortly." Zuko sighed.
I glanced between Iroh, and Zuko, then chose to follow the Prince to the docks. I had to walk quickly to keep up with his long strides, until finally we were back where we had started. Zuko approached the group of men who had been watching us earlier.
"You. Do you know where I can find the pirates who were chasing a bald monk?"
They grinned mostly toothless grins at each other,
"Of course we know. The girl stole our Waterbending scroll!" They led us to their captain's room on their ship. The man had a very strange looking parrot creature that followed him around, and looked generally rough and dirty. Of course, all of his crew looked worn, nasty, dirty, and gross. They gave me the creeps.
I tuned out for most of the discussion. Seems they had come and tried to buy this 'important' scroll for a very very small sum of money, but when they stole the scroll when they left. Zuko looked pleased.
"My men can help you track down the three and get your scroll back. All I ask for in return is the bald monk traveling with them." The Captain thought a moment, then stuck out his hand which Zuko took in a firm shake.
"Deal." He smiled crookedly. Zuko nodded.
"Have your men start asking where they were seen leaving the village. I will do the same. They have to be along the river somewhere to practice with the scroll, so we will sail in whichever direction they left in. Send someone to my ship when you have heard word and we'll set out immediately."
Zuko motioned to me, and we left their craft in time to find Iroh approaching our ship.
"You find your tile, Iroh?" I asked.
He shook his head sadly. "No, unfortunately, I did not."
"That stinks… Oh, turns out the Avatar was here, so we're going looking for them with the… pirates over there." I gestured over my shoulder to the group who were on their way into the village, again staring at us openly.
"I see…" Iroh looked thoughtful.
While we waited for word of the Avatar to arrive, I began practicing with my Katana again. Zuko was pacing the deck impatiently, but finally settled down and watched me. It didn't bother me, since he was the one who was supposed to be teaching me anyway, so if he saw an error he should fix it. But I made it through all the forms I'd learned, even the ones I had made up on my own while Zuko wasn't in a teaching mood, and he still hadn't mentioned any mistakes or something I should improve on.
I glanced up at him, only to see that he was staring into space, thinking about something. I sighed, and slid my sword back into the sheath as I walked over to him to sit beside him. We sat thus in silence for a few minutes, until one of the pirate crew came aboard looking for Zuko. I nudged him in the side, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"What have you heard?"
"People say they saw them head north, out of the village."
Zuko nodded. Tell your captain to follow our ship. We head north immediately along the riverbank…" I got bored and wandered off.
Well, on the bright side I'll possibly meet the Avatar.
I slipped below deck while the crew was working to get the ship sailing. Zuko was busy giving orders, and Iroh was helping, so I was left to myself. Considering that I would possibly be getting into a fight later on, I put on my black outfit underneath my now normal attire (which consisted of black pants and boots, and some other colored tunic), put the mask and hood in a bag I tied around my waist, then fastened my Katana to my side.
After thinking a minute, I grabbed my iPod stuff and tucked that in the bag too, along with some other personal stuff. Who knew how long we'd be sailing along the river; I didn't want to get too bored.
