Chapter Two
The sun rose steadily on the horizon, tainting the whispy clouds red with its rays. The beautiful scene was broken by a trail of black smoke chugging upwards, smearing the sky with an ugly streak of blackish grey. The source of this smoke was a small, Firenation ship that floated along on the river. There was really no need to burn the coal to fuel the ship as the river was sufficient enough to pull it along, but of course you never tell Prince Zuko how to run his ship.
The banished prince was standing at the bow, hands folded behind his back as his amber eyes gazed lazily across the forest. "Uncle, tell me again why we are going down this river." He asked iritably.
"I told you, there's a village somewhere along here that sells wonderfull tea leaves, and I would like to stop before they get out of stock." Iroh said, stepping forward to stand behind his nephew. Zuko sighed and put his hand to his forhead, shaking his head as he said,
"Uncle, how many times must I tell you, we don't have time for…"
"Now now, Zuko, there will be plenty of time to catch the Avatar. Who knows, he might even be in this forest." Iroh interupted.
"Whatever. I'll be in my cabin." Zuko said. Turning and walking off down the deck, his boots thudding on the wood. Something suddenly caught his attention. There was a komodo rino tied to a tree, grazing by the riverbank. And sleeping not to far away from it was a girl clad in a simple black dress with red trim who wore no shoes and had long, sleek black hair that fell onto her shoulders.
"Stop the ship!" Zuko barked, and soon the ship chugged to a halt as the anchor was thrown overboard. He had a quick confrence with his crew, then the ramp slid down onto the sandy bank and a band of five firebenders, headed by Zuko, slipped as quietly as they could into the forest.
Sarafina slowly opened her eyes to the breaking day. She yawned and streatched, then stood up and ran her fingers through her hair. She lifted her hand to a pile of sticks and soon had a fire going. She patted the rino's flank and it gave a happy grunt. She was preparing to go foraging through the woods for some breakfast when her path was suddenly blocked by firebenders in full uniform. She turned to run to the rino and ran straight into Zuko. He grabbed her wrists and snarled into her face, "Don't move!"
Sarafina looked at his face and saw the red scar that spread across his right eye and instantly knew who she was dealing with. Her emerald eyes betrayed no fear as she tried to pull away. "I mean you no harm, why are you attacking me like this! I'm just a traveler!" she lied. But Zuko only smiled.
"Just a traveler, are you? Well Sarafina, why don't you travel with me? I'm sure my father would love to see you travel right into his dungeons." Zuko said as his crew came forward, blocking any escape she could have made into the forest.
With the speed and ferocity of a born firebender, she whipped out her leg and swiped it across Zuko's, causing him to fall on his back with a thud in the wet sand. She drew a whip of fire from the air and lashed it out at the firebenders blocking her escape. They fell to the ground like wheat beneeth a sythe and Sarafina sprang off into the forest, with Zuko hot in persuit. She turned and blasted a fireball his direction, but he countered it and kept coming. As she turned her head back to focus on the path ahead, she tripped over a root jutting from the ground and gave a gasp of pain as she hit the ground, her foot trapped beneeth the root. And then the world went black as she felt something heavy hit her head.