Book 1: Water

Chapter 9: The Waterbending Scroll

A/N: Second chapter today:) This one makes me happy. Very lovely surprise waiting for you in this chapter, so enjoy;)


Emi could feel the heat of the fire that blazed past her as she neatly dodged it, tossing a streak of fire at Zuko in return. Zuko didn't ask Emi to practice with him often, preferring to ask the crew members that way she didn't have to firebend, but she had convinced him to let her fight just this once. She couldn't let her skills get rusty, she reasoned, while they were on the avatar's trail. A sudden change of the ship's direction threw them both off balance and they tumbled into the side of the ship.

"Someone is changing our course?" Emi asked, confused. Zuko shrugged and headed towards the main room of the ship where the helm was located.

"What's going on here? Nobody told you to change courses!" Zuko snapped at the helmsman.

"Actually, someone did." Uncle Iroh piped up from where he was playing Pai sho with a crew member who was losing miserably. "I assure you, it is a matter of utmost importance." He reassured.

"Does it have something to do with the avatar?" Emi shocked everyone a bit by asking this. Usually the avatar stuff was handled by Zuko.

"No, even more urgent. It seems I have lost my lotus tile." He explained, pushing a different pai sho tile across the board. Emi nodded as if this explained everything, but Zuko didn't get it.

"Lotus tile?" he asked.

"For my Pai Sho game. Most people think the tile insignificant, but it is essential to the strategy I employ." He elaborated.

"You…changed our course, for a Pai Sho tile?" Zuko asked, half amused and half in disbelief.

"See, you, like most people, underestimate it's value. Just give me ten minutes in the shops on this port. Then I can find my lotus tile and get on with my life." He said happily. Zuko clenched his fists and growled in irritation, fire escaping past his lips. Emi sympathetically patted his shoulder but giggled when Uncle said he was relieved he had such an understanding nephew.


Emi and Zuko stood in the middle of the port, waiting not-so-patiently for Uncle Iroh to return. Zuko had his arms crossed tightly in irritation and even Emi was shifting her weight from foot to foot. A hand on her elbow caused her to jump and turn around, revealed Uncle with an exasperated look on his face. Zuko snickered at her jumpiness and she elbowed him playfully. He never laughed much anymore.

"I searched every shop in the marketplace, and not one of them had my lotus tile!" he complained.

"It's nice to know that this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone." Zuko snapped.

"Quite the contrary! You know what I say, the only thing better than finding something you were looking for, is finding something you weren't looking for at a great price!" he said as a few crew members shuffled past them carrying several pieces of merchandise, including a shiny looking tsungi horn.

"You bought a tsungi horn?" Zuko asked.

"It's for music night on the ship. You know how Emi loves to sing." Uncle said, nudging her. She smiled.

"That's true. I do love singing." She said, laughing a bit.

"Now, if only I could find…" the rest of his sentence was lost as he walked on, muttering under his breath. Emi and Zuko followed him until they heard an excited gasp. "This place looks promising!" he said, pointing to a wooden ship with cool looking red flags. They entered the ship and it immediately made Emi uneasy, especially an open mouthed creature decorated with red gems that Uncle insisted was simply handsome.

"We lost the water tribe girl, and the bald monk who was travelling with her…" Emi stopped and listened intently, pulling Zuko to her and indicating with her head to the conversation going on. He looked confused for a moment before realization hit him.

"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?" he asked, walking towards the two men that Emi was sure were pirates.


It was nightfall when Zuko, Emi and Uncle set out with the gang of pirates to look for the avatar.

"Shouldn't we stop and search the woods?" One pirate, the one with some sort of green reptile-bird familiar asked.

"She stole a waterbending scroll right?" The pirate nodded yes. "Then they will be on the water."

"Maybe I should check, just in case." Emi suggested. It was vital that she reached Katara before they did. She had something very important to show her. Everyone else agreed that she should check on land just in case they were smart enough to stay off the water. The head pirate almost pawned one of his men off on her, but she quickly shook her head and insisted she would be fine. It was Uncle who backed her up, saying she could take care of herself, but Zuko still didn't look too happy about letting her go off alone.

As soon as the ships set sail again, Emi took off into the forest, staying close enough to the river so that she could hear what was going on and still not be seen. It wasn't long before she heard splashing and then an angry shout that sounded a lot like Katara. Emi sped up, knowing that with all the noise she was making, it wouldn't be long before Zuko and the pirates caught Katara. She pushed past some branches into a small clearing just in time to hear Katara wonder aloud why she couldn't get a certain move. Emi took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"You're doing it wrong." She said softly. Katara turned to her and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Emi put her hands up as a sign of surrender, and it looked like Katara dropped her guard just a bit.

"How would you know?" Katara asked. "You're a firebender." Emi shifted her weight and wrung her hands a bit, causing Katara to give her a curious look.

"Well…" she began. She paused, looking like she was rather deep in thought, before shaking her hands and taking a deep breath. She focused on the water and moved her wrists easily, pulling the water around her in the correct form, relishing in the ability that she was born with but never got to use anymore. Katara gasped.

"You're…a waterbender!" she said, amazed. "But how?" Just then Emi heard rustling from far off and shook her head frantically.

"Not now! Please, you mustn't tell anyone but Sokka and Aang about this. Please." She pleaded.

"I understand." she said. Emi nodded in thanks before hiding in some bushes. Katara pulled water towards her a whirled around seeing a pirate and gasping. The pirate grabbed her by the arms but she fended him off the water whip, which she had learned watching Emi. She ran in the opposite direction from the man, but was soon stopped by a young, scarred man catching her by the wrists. Zuko.

"I will save you from the pirates." Emi came crashing out of the bushes and took in the scene before her as if she hadn't just seen it all.

"Oh, you still got to her before I did." She lied easily. Zuko and Uncle would know the truth about what just happened, but the crew and pirates could not find out.


Emi stood back as the pirates tied Katara to a small tree. She hated this. She felt a connection with Katara the first time they had met, and she was pretty sure Katara felt the same, even more so now that she knew she was a waterbender as well as a firebender. Even with the crazy and twisted lives they both lived, they could almost be considered friends.

"Tell me where he is." Zuko ground out.

"Go jump in the river!" Katara snarled, straining against the rope tying back her hands.

Zuko thought about this for a moment before trying a different approach. "Try to understand. I need to capture him to restore something I've lost. Maybe in turn, I can restore something you've lost."

"What could you possibly have to return to me?" she asked harshly. Emi sighed and pulled on one end of the silk ribbon tied to her wrist.

"This." She held up the necklace for Katara to see.

"My mother's necklace!" she gasped. She glared at Zuko. She didn't really think Emi had anything to do with using the necklace to bribe her. "How did you get that?" she demanded.

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you were wondering." Zuko sneered. "Tell me where he is."

"Never!"

"Enough of this necklace nonsense." One pirate interrupted, irritated. "You promised us the scroll!"

"Hmm." Zuko hummed smugly, pulling the scroll out from behind his back and holding it over his palm…which just so happened to have a small fire in it. "I wonder how much this costs." The pirates yelled, horrified. "Apparently a lot." He said with a smug smile. "Now, you help me find what I want, then you get the scroll and we all go home happy." He said. "Search the woods for the boy and meet back here."

"Fine." The pirate said shortly, clearly not fond of being bossed around.


By daybreak, both Sokka and Aang were standing across the way from Emi and Zuko, hands bound and held in place by pirates.

"Well done." Zuko said smoothly.

"I'm sorry Aang, this is all my fault." Katara said sadly.

"No Katara, it's not." Aang reassured her.

"Yeah, it kind of is…" Uncle said. Emi elbowed him and he gave her a sheepish look.

"Give me the boy." Zuko demanded.

"You give me the boy!" the pirate snapped.

"You're really going to hand over the avatar for some stupid scroll." Sokka asked. Emi felt Zuko stiffen beside her. The guy had a point!

"Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other!" Zuko warned. The pirate looked over at Aang with newfound interest.

"Your friend is the avatar?" he asked.

"Sure is! And I bet he would fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll." Sokka bragged. Emi was rather impressed. He was obviously smarter than any of them had made him out to be.

"Shut your mouth, you watertribe peasant!" Zuko snarled.

"Yeah Sokka, you really should shut your mouth!" Aang said nervously.

"Keep the scroll. We can buy a thousand of them with the reward we will get from the Firelord." The pirate said smugly.

"You will regret breaking a deal with me." Zuko sent three powerful blasts of fire towards the pirates, and just like that, the fight began. It was pure chaos instantly, with the darkness powder thrown down by the pirates that made it impossible for anyone to see. Emi backed off towards the side of the fray along with Uncle. She had a feeling she would be no help in this fight.

"Uncle look!" Emi exclaimed, pointing to the pirates ship, which was currently being occupied by Aang, Katara, and Sokka. He shook his head and stormed over to where Zuko was dueling the head honcho-pirate, pushing the pirate away and tugging on Zuko's ponytail.

"Are you two so busy fighting you haven't noticed your ship has set sail?" he yelled to them.

"Uncle we have no time for your proverbs!" Zuko said, exasperated.

"It's no proverb, Zuko. Look!" Emi had joined them and was indicating to the pirate's ship.

"Bleeding Hogmonkeys!" the pirate exclaimed, running down the shore as Zuko laughed. His laughter stopped when the pirates floated on by in the ship that He, Emi and Uncle had sailed in on.

"Hey!" He shouted. "That's my ship!"

"That would be a good proverb…" Uncle said thoughtfully as Zuko followed the two ships down shore. Emi giggled and rolled her eyes fondly.

"Come on Uncle." She said, taking off after Zuko. They ran until they reached the edge of the waterfall, watching as their ship plummeted to the bottom.

"Zuko, Emi, you won't believe this!" Uncle said with a breathy laugh. They both turned and regarded him warily, waiting for him to continue. "My Pai Sho tile was in my sleeve the whole time!" he said, smiling widely and holding the tile out for the two of them to see. Zuko growled in frustration, snatching the tile from Uncle's hand and hurling it out into the water.

Uncle pouted at him before stalking away, no doubt in search for a new tile. Emi hung back with Zuko, wringing her hands a bit. Zuko knew something was wrong right away, naturally. He grabbed her hands and held them in his own.

"What did you do?" he asked. Emi blushed but still laughed.

"You always assume the worst." She told him. His lips turned up at the edges. It wasn't a full smile but she would take what she could get. She sobered a bit and looked down, hiding her face behind her hair.

"I told Katara." She said in a small voice.

"Told Katara what?"

"That I was a waterbender."

"Why?" she looked up again, relieved that he didn't seem angry, merely curious about her reasons. He let go of her hands and started slowly up the shore. Emi followed, bending a bit of water between her hands as she walked. It was a very calming thing to her.

"I don't know…I just felt like I needed to tell her. It's so strange, but I have felt some sort of connection with her since we first met in the south pole." She explained, twirling the water between her fingers. Zuko nodded.

"I know you were worried that I would be angry, but I'm not. It was always your secret to tell." Emi beamed at him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Thank you."

"But of course."


"Aang, I'm sorry. I just got so jealous that you were already a good waterbender that I got carried away." Katara said, dropping her head in shame.

"It's okay Katara." Aang said, smiling at her. She gave him a small smile in return.

"Uhm, you guys know that girl who always travels with Zuko, right? Emi?"

"Of course. She travels with our number one enemy yet is kind of sort of on our side, or so we think. It's not easy to forget her." Sokka said.

"Well…I know why now." She said.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"She's a waterbender!" Katara exclaimed.

"That's impossible!" "No Way!" Aang and Sokka exclaimed.

"I saw it with my own eyes! She showed me how to do the water whip."

"But a firebender and a waterbender? How does she do it?" Sokka asked, mystified.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's good for her." Katara said sadly.


A/N: SOO? What do you guys think? I need confirmation that I'm not crazy...haha, that will never happen:) Okay, I need confirmation that you guys like where this is going:) So, I dont know if this will ever get fully explained, so here it goes. The way Emi acts is supposed to symbolize how she is fighting something that comes naturally to her with something that isn't right or isnt good for her...does that make any sense? I do promise that how this all came to be will be explained though. I have it all planned out and everything so I'm excited:) Reviews pretty pretty please!

Much Love,

Em