In the original chapter 15, it was a character building chapter for Jet – Jee and Jet have a deep conversation (The Storm episode) which makes Jet realize some things about himself that he didn't want to (his dependency on Zuko is a result of some trust/abandonment issues), but Jee doesn't fault him and Jet starts branching out and hanging with the rest of the crew (realizing that not everyone is bad or out to get him in some way, shape, or form) while unintentionally drifting from Zuko who obviously takes notice and this is why Zuko's being so cold towards Jet in this chapter. I also love the reviews, they allow me to update faster and not guilt-trip myself into slowing my updates ~ I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Frowning at the table, Zuko had refused to explain to his Uncle why Lion-heart wasn't allowed inside the room or why the jilting bastard was currently waiting outside looking very much like a kicked polar bear-puppy – ever since that stupid storm fiasco where Jet had spoken against him about his treatment of the crew, he'd told him that he couldn't treat the men like they didn't matter, the jerk even had the audacity to throw his words back in his face, claiming the men are as human as he is, that they have feelings, families, and dreams. Zuko had flipped and tossed Jet out of his room, promptly slamming the door in his face. But he'd relented and accepted Jet's words, except, instead of Jet being proud of him or his usual antics, the traitor began spending time with the crew who accepted him into their fold with open arms. He'd abandoned him! He didn't come to his aid when he felt he was losing everything! He didn't even know he'd been out all night until he came back tired and worn out from freeing the Avatar from Zhao's clutches!

Only then did he realize that he'd been ignoring him, and oh-h-h how he tried apologizing to him, tried making it up to him, but Zuko rebuked him each time he tried to win him over, he wasn't going to accept the bastard back into his good graces just like that! He wasn't some push-over!

Iroh places some tea before Zuko, snapping the Prince out of his state of being, "See Prince Zuko," he begins as Zuko takes the cup, "A moment of quiet is good for your mental wellbeing."

BANG!

Anger resurfacing, Zuko sweeps his tea-sodden hair out of his face, slamming his hands on the table he pushes himself to his feet and storms towards the door, throwing it open, he spots Jet with his shuang gou out and ready, a bewildered expression on his face. Sneering, the Prince storms down the hall with both Jet and Iroh following after him – when they reach the top deck; he sees some large, furry beast crawl over the edge of the ship with some woman in the saddle:

"Get back!" the woman snaps, a whip in her hand, "We're after a stowaway!"

Zuko is equal parts annoyed and fascinated, "There are no stowaways on my ship."

The beast lets out a grating roar before it rips the metal from the deck and tosses it in his direction, he ducks in time, looking over his shoulder he turns back to the woman and her beast as it sticks its head within the hole it'd just created. Seconds pass before a frightened man comes scurrying out – Zuko definitely needed to talk to the men, or Jet since he was usually the one to pick up on these things – the animal whips the man with its tongue, immediately, the man falls limp. And isn't that surprising.

Zuko breathes, "He's paralyzed."

The woman jumps from her saddle and grabs the man by his shirt, "Only temporarily. The toxins will wear off in about an hour, but by then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money."

Zuko steps forward, "But how did you find him on my ship?"

The woman pats her steed, "My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away."

And if that isn't noteworthy, then his Uncle's avid interest in the woman, who is probably half his age, is.

oOo

"Stay out here."

"What?" Jet blinks at the hand in his face, he smacks it out of his field of vision, "Why!?"

"Because I said." Zuko hisses, Spirits, Jet can't believe he's still pissed at him, "Or would you rather go back to the ship."

Clenching his teeth, Jet casts his glare to the right and mutters, "I'll wait out here for you until your business is done, Prince Zuko."

Zuko doesn't say anything, just turns and enters the seedy building, Iroh on the other hand, pats Jet's shoulder, "I'm sure he'll come around."

The Earth Kingdom male has to bite down on the inside of his cheek as to not say something caustic to Iroh's back. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he scans the surrounding area, there's plenty of grass, but being outside a place like this, who knows what's been spilled on it, so with nothing to satisfy his habit, he rests against the wall and chews on the inside of his cheek – he's about to blow a gasket when the trio come walking out of the building, Jet pushes himself from the wall, his movement capturing the woman's attention, she gives him a dry look:

"Oh look, you even brought Bushy-Boy with you."

Jet sneers, crossing his arms over his chest, "Clever, how long did it take you to come up with that?"

"Enough." Zuko snaps, he pulls something from his sash and Jet has to do a double-take because, isn't that Katara's necklace? "I need you to find someone."

The woman is going to say something, but Jet can't help but blurt, "How long have you had that?"

Zuko turns to Jet, "What does it matter?"

"What does it - ?" Jet runs a hand over his face, before growling, "Why do you even have it!?"

"I thought it would have been useful!"

"Useful!?" Jet snarls, "The only thing that piece of jewelry is useful for is kindling!" Zuko gives Jet a sardonic look that causes him to bristle, "What!?"

"I thought you would be against burning anything belonging to your girlfriend."

"She isn't - ! One kiss doesn't make her my girlfriend!" Jet jabs Zuko in the chest with his index finger, "And like you're one to talk! You still have her necklace! For Spirits knows how long! Gods, that night you were jealous! You could have been jealous because I had her!"

"I wasn't jealous!" Zuko snaps, steam escaping his mouth, "And I could care less about her or anyone else for that matter!"

Jet reels, Zuko's words hurt, but he's angry as well, "So what does that mean for me!?"

"Nothing! It means nothing for you! I – UGH!"

"Trouble in paradise?"

Iroh remembers the woman, but he laughs, "They have been going through a – rough patch, as of late."

The woman makes an amused sound, "Figures. That Nephew of yours is a little too pretty."

"Will you help my Nephew find this monk the owner of the necklace is traveling with?"

The woman snorts and turns to leave, "Doubt it, I have better things to do with my time than - ,"

"We'll pay your weight in gold."

She stops, turns and pokes his gut, "Make it your weight and we've got a deal."

Iroh laughs boisterously, "You got it ~ !"

The woman snatches the necklace from Zuko's hold, the Prince turning his attention to her with a loud hey; she brings the piece of jewelry to her shirshu's nose and hops into the saddle along with Iroh, Zuko's hesitant but slips in between his Uncle and Jet.

oOo

They come upon some old Earth Kingdom ruins, the place oddly awakening the inner child in Jet, but they spot some elderly woman picking some kind of green vegetation with a white cat at her side, the cat hisses at them, the feline's owner stands to greet them – Jet likes cats, they're independent and a warm, fluffy ball of mystery. Much like the Prince sitting in front of him.

"Out for a bit of fresh air, are we?"

Zuko speaks up and Jet is fairly glad the Prince doesn't shout or anything, "We're looking for someone."

"I hope it's not Miyuki," the woman says, turning to her cat, "Miyuki, did you get in trouble with the Fire Nation again?"

The cat meows at the elderly woman before hiding behind her dress, maybe the cat did get in trouble with the Fire Nation, just not them, but then again, the old woman was certainly off her rocker and the cat was probably doing nothing more than throwing its cat attitude around. The dangerous lady, June her name is, turns to them:

"The Avatar's been through here, let's keep moving."

When she cracks the whip and the shirshu jolts forward, Jet can't help it when he latches onto Zuko's hips out of pure reflex to keep himself from falling off the beast, of course this doesn't matter to the Prince since Jet had dared to touch his royal, Princely body, so he gets an elbow to the gut.

oOo

Their next stop is some small town, albeit, a fairly nice town, where they succeed in terrorizing the residents before the beast stops at some random building with yet another old woman standing before it, Zuko's always been short of patience, and temper, so it doesn't take long for him to start asking questions – Jet can't help the sigh that escapes his lips, this earns a glare from the Prince before he turns back:

"Why are we stopping?"

"Because the girl must have spent a lot of time here."

Zuko growls and reaches for the necklace, Jet doing his best not to look at the firebender's ass, "We have no time for this."

He watches the impatient sovereign jump from the saddle and move towards the front of the shirshu, stuffing the necklace to the thing's nose, and nearly getting whipped. Sure, the Prince looked pretty damn fine when he did that twisting dodge maneuver, but Jet's still annoyed and pretty ticked at the Prince, so he snickers nastily – Spirits, he was so damn petty. The old woman he'd seen near the building soon approaches them, or more like, Iroh as her attention is solely trained on the old war General, and oh God, they're going to flirt.

"Care to hear your fortune, handsome ~ ?"

Called it!

Iroh, the sport his is, offers a kind smile, "At my age, there is only really one big surprise left, and I'd soon leave it a mystery."

Deep.

The Fire Prince climbs back on, Jet catching a mild grimace on his face at what he's just witnessed, and yeah, Jet would feel pretty uncomfortable, or more uncomfortable, if it were his Uncle that flirted with women. Not that Jet had anything about old people getting it on – okay, he was going to stop thinking now.

oOo

They burst through some wooden doors, and Jet has to admit that the place smells pretty fragrant for an out-of-the-way place; the shirshu lets out a shrill sounding roar in the direction of a lone trail leading into the surrounding pine forest. June pulls on the shirshu's reins, getting it back under her control, none of them have to ask what this means for she speaks up a second later:

"We're getting close."

By now, when the shirshu charges onward, Jet no longer has to awkwardly cling to Zuko or Zuko needing to steady himself by reflexively placing his hand upon Jet's thighs – speeding through the forests, Jet takes in the Earth Kingdom scenery. And to think, he could have still been a member of the Earthen country if he'd only turned tail like the rest of those who ran. The shirshu jumps onto a dirt path where he spots both Katara and Sokka, but no Aang. Apparently Zuko realizes this too for he jumps from the saddle and approaches the siblings, Sokka holding an arm before Katara, and really, Jet can't help himself once he sees that the wound he'd inflicted upon the Sokka is no longer there, or bandaged for that matter, he leers at the siblings:

"I see your wound's healed Sokka ~ how long did that take?"

Sokka's eyes flit from Zuko to Jet, almost in surprise before his glare hardens, "That's none of your business Lion-heart!"

Jet wants to play, he slips from the saddle and produces his dagger, "I can give you another if you want ~ ."

"Stay away from him, Lion-heart!" Katara snaps, a hand on her brother's shoulder.

Jet mock-pouts, "What, no more Jet ~ ?" he watches a blush spread through her face, he grins, "Why don't you trustme anymore, Katara?"

Katara opens her mouth to reply, but apparently Zuko's had enough, "Where is the Avatar?"

Sokka glares at Jet a second longer before turning his glare to Zuko, "We split up, he should be long gone by now."

Zuko growls, "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Pretty stupid." Sokka says, his facial expression remains neutral until, "Run!"

Jet bolts after them but stops once the shirshu's tongue zips past him and strikes the two Water Tribe members, he can't help but frown at the wasted opportunity, June clicks her tongue and the shirshu walks towards the two, Jet can hear it sniffing at their packs while June explains that it's sniffing out another scent. Zuko stops beside Jet, both teens watching the animal until some things fall from one of the siblings' pack, the beast has its new scent but Jet turns to Zuko:

"What do we do with these two?"

"We take them with us."

"Right-t-t. Unless you're planning to sit on my lap," Jet looks back to the shirshu, "How do you plan to fit all of us on that thing?"

"We could tie you to its underside, or better yet, make you run."

Jet chuckles dryly, "You really know how to charm a person, Prince Zuko."

Some of the fight leaves Zuko as he sighs, "We'll tie them up with the baggage."

Jet watches the Prince and his Uncle tie the two siblings up, June turns her attention to Jet, "You wounded that Water Tribe boy?"

"Yeah," Jet grins, remembering the moment where he could have slit Sokka's throat, "Could have killed him but circumstances called for a rather merciful card to be dealt."

June smirks, "You could use that talent of yours for mercenary work."

Jet arches a brow, "Now there's a thought ~ ."

"Lion-heart, we're going!"

"That's if your boyfriend will allow it."

Jet rolls his eyes at the insinuation tossed his way but follows Zuko's order nonetheless, and once he's seated, they take off for the temple – breaking through the wooden doors once more evokes the screams of the women, slipping from the saddle; he rolls effortlessly to his feet and produces his shuang gou. Rising to his feet, he scans the area; the only people he can see are those women, so with a derisive smile, he decides they must know something of Aang's whereabouts, but so they won't run ~ he launches his right shuang gou at the closest woman. The dagger-like ending snags her sleeve and embeds itself within the wall behind her, he stalks towards his caught prey as the other women scream and flee, while some stand in place, watching him approach – he thinks he hears Katara shout after him, something about leaving the women alone, but she's quickly admonished by the Prince.

Using the crescent guard of his left sword, he places it to the woman's neck, the woman turns her head away, "You wouldn't happen to know where the Avatar is, would you ~ ?"

The woman glares at him, "You're nothing but a vile demon, I won't tell you anything!"

Jet blinks thrice before sneering, he presses the guard closer to her neck, "Please Sister, I implore you to share what you know."

The woman's upper lip pulls back but a loud boom captures Jet's attention, looking back, he spots the group on the ground with June quickly hopping back onto her shirshu, with a growl, Jet snatches his shuang gou back and pushes the woman towards the others before turning his attention back to the others just as Appa blindsides June and her shirshu. Running towards Aang, he tosses his knife but the kid spots him at the last second and brings up his staff, the sharp weapon digging into the wood of the glider – Aang looks at the blade before looking to Jet in time to dodge the swipe of his swords with a yelp. Kicking Aang's feet out from under him, Jet brings the ends of his swords down on the boy, before it can maim the child, he's greeted with a blast of air to the gut that sends him into the air. Twisting his body to right himself, he lands deftly on his feet beside Iroh who holds out a bottle of – perfume?

Glancing between the small ceramic bottle and the Prince's fight, he shrugs and accepts the bottle from Iroh, if Zuko needed him he'd yell besides, it was no fun if he couldn't taunt anyone – Sokka. Jet watches Iroh move to June's side and wake her, curious, Jet removes the top of the bottle and sniffs at the flowery smell, lavender, wrinkling his nose, he promptly dumps the stuff out:

"That was very wasteful, Lion-heart."

"I don't like lavender." Jet frowns, "Besides, it's not like that's the only bottle."

"Perhaps I wanted that bottle."

"Then why did you hand it to me?"

"For you to take a small whiff."

"Oh please," Jet rolls his eyes, "Who in their right mind likes lavender?"

"Well then, what would you like?"

"I don't know," Jet's brows draw together, "Maybe something – flowery?"

"Lavender is a flower."

"Not that kind of flower, more like a panda-lily or an ash-rose."

"Let us see if they have either one."

"Are you suggesting we steal perfume?"

"I would never suggest the theft of another's possession."

Jet watches Iroh walk towards some bottles, "Pf-ft. Liar."

Walking along the wall and pretty much ignoring the fighting that's going on, they locate a few bottles of perfume, Jet spots a rather enticing pinkish bottle and reaches it for it, popping the cork and sniffing at the light flowery scent, Jet believes that he's just found his ash-rose. Iroh nudges his arm, looking at the old man, he looks to the battlefield where he sees Aang and Zuko fighting around some well. The sight is interesting enough, but Jet doesn't see why - :

"It looks like Prince Zuko may need your help."

Oh.

Handing the bottle to Iroh he quickly locates his shuang gou and makes a run after the two other boys, nearing the well, he watches a large sprout of water shoot into the air, oddly enough, Jet finds himself looking up to see Zuko falling back to earth. Cursing under his breath, Jet takes a few steps back until he's directly under the Prince, he's only mildly surprised when he actually catches Zuko without buckling under the weight. The firebending teenager looks surprised, eyes wide and trained on Jet, but the surprise quickly dies and a blush rises to take its place – Zuko begins wriggling in Jet's hold:

"Let me go!"

Not needing to be told twice, Jet lets Zuko fall, the latter yelping as he does, jumping over Zuko, he moves to chase after Aang when Appa steps in the way causing Jet to backpedal a few steps until he feels the ground shake, looking over his shoulder, he manages to dive out of the way of the shirshu's tongue. Glaring at June, Jet turns his attention to the surrounding area when he spots the Water Tribe siblings setting something up, he chucks his shuang gou at the ceramic pot Sokka was moving, the suddenness of the weapon startles the women and even Sokka, but Katara turns her glare on Jet who runs for them. The women spill the perfume, and really, he should have seen it coming, he's soon hit with a large as all hell perfume wave that sends him crashing into someone just as the shirshu strikes – his muscles feel like they've fallen asleep, and Gods, now he has the taste of perfume in his mouth.

The Avatar and his friends make a quick escape while the person, hey someone's underneath him, moves to get up – Jet finds himself propped up between the person's legs, his back resting against – Zuko?

"Uncle?" Zuko begins, and wow – he sure was close, "I didn't see you get hit with the tongue."

Jet is able to see Iroh with June lying atop of him, the old man puts a finger to his mouth and shushes his Nephew – smooth for an old man.

I'm iffy on the ending, but hey, it's finished ~ I'm also glad that you all like the last chapter as I wasn't sure if it was okay ~