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Chap 2: Unagi and Fog
The next day…..
"Princess Katara! Come and see these odd silver fish! They're swimming right at the prow of the ship!"
The girl smiled at the old man's gleeful tone as she came up on deck. The storm had finally died later on last night, leaving clear skies and bright sunshine. It had taken some time to reestablish their course, but they had finally determined that they were about two hundred miles off shore of the larger Earth Kingdom continent, and were closer to the main archipelago out to the east. They were making good time to a nearby island port, the faster to get supplies, make some much needed repairs, and drop off Katara. And set up their trap for the Avatar, as Zuko kept pointing out.
She came over to where the elder stood. Leaning over the side of the rail to get a better look, she gasped. "Those aren't fish, those are dolphins!" She said excitedly. "They come and follow ships all the time in the tribe waters. They bring good luck wherever they go."
"Really?" Iroh asked. "Is there a legend that goes with that belief?"
"Oh yes," Katara said. "A long time ago, back near the beginning, when the first waterbenders began to learn from the moon spirit, one of the great silver fish came and offered the king of the people a deal. He would teach the people how to swim, for the promise that none of the people would ever eat any of his kind. The king agreed, and the Moon Spirit noticed the fish's generosity as he taught the people. He would show them where the fishing was best, how to spot the great whale sharks, and even how to hunt the unagi monsters. The moon rewarded the fish by changing him into the first of the dolphins, giving them the appearance of stars in the water and the ability to breathe the air as humans do.
"All those of his line swore to honor their promise to the king for all of time, so that if men forget how to swim, they will catch him in the water and show him how again. That's what the elders at the North Pole taught me," Katara said.
"So that's the story," one of the soldiers, Xang, remarked as he leaned over the rail to watch the dolphins at play. "I've always wondered what they were called."
"Hmm. They do have a reputation for saving sailors during wrecks and storms," Iroh said thoughtfully. "It is good to have them with us then."
Zuko came out on deck, stomping over to his uncle. "How long until we reach this Port Seiji?"
"It should be but a few more hours' time, Prince Zuko," he answered. "But come, look at the dolphins."
"Dolphins? What are those?" He said, looking to where his uncle pointed. He gasped, a tiny smile coming onto his face and flashing away in an instant. "The silver fish are back?"
"They're called dolphins," Katara said as she walked over to his side. "They breathe air like we do from the hole on their backs."
Zuko glanced over at her before looking back to the spectacle. "Dolphins, eh?" His smile grew as the animals began to jump from the water, flipping and spinning in the air. "I've never seen them do that before."
"They think they can fly," the girl giggled. "Though they always have to return to the water, they never stop trying to fly. That's what my grandmother always told me."
Zuko glanced back over to her. "What are they doing here? Do they always follow ships like ours?"
"No, not just yours," she answered. "They follow all kinds of ships. Some say they're protecting the ships from evil spirits. But they mostly like to follow fishing boats."
"Anything for a free meal, right?"
She frowned. "Not always. We're not fishing and they're still following us. Some water tribe people believe that they're reincarnated loved ones trying to protect us on the ocean."
Zuko leaned back, straightening. "Pretty stories. What kind of idiot believes that sort of garbage?"
Katara scowled behind his back, calling up a small globe of water. Iroh started to chuckle as she formed it into the signature move of the Water Tribe, the whip move. With a quick flick of her wrist, she sent the whip out and soaked him completely. He froze at the feel of the cold fluid going down his back. The prince instantly steamed the water off his body, whirling to face the giggling bender. "Bad move, little girl"—
"Lord Iroh! Prince Zuko! A fog is rolling in from the east!" called the lookout. He tossed down the spyglass to Lieutenant Jee as he began to climb down from the crow's nest.
The elder looked startled. "What?" He faced the starboard side of the ship and stared. A fog was rolling in like a thick wall of grey smoke. He looked up to the still clear skies and scowled. "What kind of fog comes in broad daylight? This is not natural."
"Your friends coming to rescue you?" Zuko snapped at Katara.
"Aang doesn't know how to make fog," she snapped back. She then sent a worried look to the anomaly. "I don't know any waterbenders that can do it either."
Zuko looked startled at her words but quickly snapped out of it. The lieutenant tossed him the spyglass, and he instantly raised it to his good eye. It was indeed a wall of fog, over fifty feet high and it stretched as far as a mile across the horizon. He scowled, trying to mask his worry. He mentally ticked off a list of his enemies, (a rather long list here lately), but had to dismiss all of them. None of them had the ability to make a fog like this. "Jee, get the crew below deck and get those engines going full steam! Make for the nearest island! I don't want to be caught in that stuff," he said angrily. This would delay them for hours at the least.
Iroh turned and face the girl. "My lady, you should get below too. We don't know what this is yet"---
Katara's frightened scream split the air. She immediately sent her hands up, calling the waters to her, but knew that it wouldn't be anywhere near enough for this. Iroh whirled to see what was going on and blanched.
What looked to be a pack of unagi was racing towards the ship from the east. The giant sea serpents were swimming frantically, foaming at their mouths and beginning to spit their terrible water cannons at the ship.
Katara moved, her hands becoming a blur of motion as she tried to bend the pressurized streams away from the ship. Zuko stood at her side with Iroh flanking him, both benders sending out fiery blasts to deter the great beasts as the rest of the crew scrambled to get below decks. But the monsters ignored the flames, still heading straight for the ship. The girl darted everywhere, arms flowing and swirling, sending all her will against the jets of water, barely sending them away to the sides of the ship.
"I can't keep this up much longer," she said, strained. "They're too powerful!"
"Give us as much time as you can to scare them away!" Zuko shouted. "Unagi hate fire!"
She nodded grimly, putting all her effort into her bending. The two men sent fireballs and streams of fire out into the air, singeing some of the closer beasts. The animals roared in pain and fright, but began to speed up. Something was making them still charge in the face of such flames.
Just as they would have slammed into the side of the vessel, the first of the unagi ducked down under the waves. Most of them followed suit, diving under the iron ship. A few actually jumped into the air over the deck, one just barely clearing it before the massive splash sent a large wave crashing into the ship. They could hear the men below deck shouting in panic as the ship listed sharply to the right for a moment.
Katara lost her footing completely, slipping to the deck and sliding down towards the water. She reached out blindly trying to grab anything to hold onto when her wrist was caught in a firm grip. She met Zuko's yellow eyes, and he smirked down at her from his hold on the cabin's ladder. She smiled her thanks to him. With agonizing slowness the ship righted itself, rocking terribly before becoming stable again.
The three stood once more, Iroh clucking over them like a mother hen. "Are you sure you two are alright?"
Zuko brushed off his relative's efforts. "We're fine, uncle." He looked over his shoulder to the disappearing unagi. "But that was almost anticlimactic." The prince glanced back over to where the fog was still creeping towards them. He switched his gaze to the girl. "Have you ever seen unagi act like that?"
She shook her head. "No, never." She paused, thinking about it. "It almost looked like they were running from something."
"But what in the ocean could scare a unagi, let alone a whole pack of them?" Iroh asked, his face a stern mask to hide his worry. "I've never seen anything come close to their power, so what beast could be so great as to chase away more than ten of them?"
"I don't know, and I really don't want to find out," Zuko said. He went over to the cabin door, calling down the pipeway that connected down to the engine room, "Damage report."
"Some water damage to the engine and the entire supply of fuel is soaked. It'll be about three hours before we can get it dried out so we can move again," the engineer replied.
"Too long," Zuko said. "Make it one hour." He turned to Katara. "Can you get us moving?"
She squared her shoulders. "I'll do my best. Where to?"
The young prince pointed to the west. "Away from that fog."
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