A.N.: We're sorry for the wait, but we weren't able to write on this at all during summer vacation. Okay...now... 'this is Leah's thoughts style' and 'this is Jessica's thoughts style'

Disclaimer: refer to previous chapter

Chapter 11

:Leah's POV:

:next day:

We're now walking around town shopping with the little money we have.

Too bad one of the things that I'd left on the ship had been my money.

Sokka came out of the nearest shop and informed us that we only had three copper pieces left. Only to be informed by Aang that we only had two left, for the young Avatar had spent one on a bison whistle.

The others complained and took the money from Aang. They'll realize how lucky they are that he bought it later.

"So...how was your time on Zuko's ship?" Jessica asked from her spot next to Sokka.

"Eh...riding on a ship all day with not a lot to do gets pretty boring," I replied.

'Yet I miss it already,' I added in my thoughts.

"I suppose it would be; do you have your ipod with you?" Jessica inquired.

Just then a pirate started making sales propositions to Aang.

Of course, everyone wanted to see what curios were being sold.

It had struck me earlier that I'd see Zuko today, but should I go back with him? He had left me after all.

:Jess's POV:

I didn't tell everyone we still had the money I'd earned by selling my kimono. I was afraid that if I told anyone, they'd buy something that could change the plot. The money was for Leah and me to survive or me, depending where she was. I know that Aang, Katara, and Sokka would live. There was no doubt.

Then a thought hit me in the head like a ton of boulders.

"Aang. Do you think someone in the market sells the same material your glider is made out of?" I asked as Katara looked at the melons a woman sold on her cart. I stifled a laugh as she remembered they had no money.

Aang hadn't seemed to have heard me. I sighed and continued to follow them and stopped when Aang stopped to talk with the pirate that I still couldn't tell if he was born with that odd looking face or if he had gotten into some kind of accident. Poor fellow, I remember thinking.

Leah laughed at the ruby encrusted monkey and I grinned. I wish I could have seen the look on Uncle Iroh's face when he saw it. There was no time for any serious shopping before we left and were being chased by the pirates, who brandished their pointy swords like they were candy canes.

Before Leah could run in the direction the others went, I pulled her into an alley way between two buildings. She glared at me, but stayed put as pirates ran past us.

"What did you do that for!" She hissed at me, trying to stay as silent as she could incase the pirates came back.

"You know as well as I do Aang can't pull all four of us out of danger using his glider! Also, we need to buy you some suitable clothes you can wear when you travel with us. You look too much like fire nation scum," I answered her, but as soon as the last word passed my lips she slapped me.

Normally I would retaliate and slap back, but I knew her reason for her assault.

She was in love with Zuko. A shame. She could do better.

"You know what I meant," I grumbled and rubbed my abused face absently as I stepped out of the narrow alley.

"Psh! Still doesn't mean it was a nice thing to say."

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone can't be nice all the time."

"..." was her response to that.

"We'd better hurry. After we get your clothes, we need to go back to our campsite by the river."

It took only a few minutes to find something that was nice enough for Leah to wear in any nation, besides the fire nation, and not be attacked.

When we arrived at the campsite, Sokka was pulling at his hair and screaming at the tree. It was a funny sight to say the least.

He didn't notice us and I caught his last few words.

"Where is she! She shouldn't run away like that! Did the pirates capture her? What should I do? Should I go after her? There's no way I could fight them all off..."

During his rant I snuck up behind him and grinned.

"Hi Sokka!" I greeted cheerfully.

If he'd been an airbender he would have jumped 50 feet into the air.

"Where were you? You scared me senseless. Do you know what could've happened had I not been there to protect you?" he practically screamed in my face, but when his hands grabbed my shoulders in that manly way I couldn't help but get all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Nice to know you were worried about me," I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before I turned around to walk in the direction Leah went towards the river.

:Leah's POV:

I walked around the edge of the river, hoping to find and isolated area in which to bathe. Unfortunately, no such place presented itself, so I sighed and sat down beside the steadily moving water.

I slipped off my sandals and let my feet rest in the cool water.

'Should I go back with Zuko today?' I thought heavily, 'After all he did abandon me. Maybe he doesn't like me after all...'

I glanced over to where the outfit Jess had bought for me earlier lay; it was a pair of loose, dark brown pants, a simple green tunic, and a beaded belt.

I was seriously debating over whether or not to wear it, mainly because of her earlier comment.

I ran my right hand through my thick mass of wavy, brown hair lazily, and then laid back on the soft earth.

The sun was going down, thus the sky was a beautiful blend of color. The sight of the warm red, orange, and golden hues made me feel pleasantly tired.

Just as my eyes started to drift shut, footsteps approached and Jess said, "Still haven't bathed yet?"

"No, the current would probably pull me way," I replied with a yawn.

"I doubt it, but whatever you say," Jess shrugged.

"Um hum," I opened one eye and looked at her, "Besides, there's no privacy around here."

"Leah, you keep forgetting where we are," Jess sighed in exasperation.

:Jess's POV:

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the river bank.

"There's nothing to worry about. Just don't get naked and keep watch for Zuko and the pirates," I told he Rin my 'matter-of-fact' tone.

She just rolled her eyes at me and didn't move to take off her clothes.

"Fine," I said, "I'll take a bath by myself."

Without hesitation I stripped down to my underskirt and shorts. Cautiously, I slipped into the...very, very cold river. Almost instantly goose-bumps appeared on my arms and my lips turned a shade of blue that even I couldn't ignore. This caused me to jump out ten times faster than when I jumped in.

"Cold! Very cold! Ice cold!" I sputtered as best I could despite the chattering of my teeth. My entire body erupted in an unhealthy attack of shivers.

Leah didn't even glance at me.

"Hey!" I yelled as I whacked her upside the head, "Make me a fire; I am freezing!"

She gave me a look that could kill from beneath her hair.

"Please?" I asked sweetly, but I wanted to rip her hair out because I was no longer white, but this liquid blue/white color. I remember thinking that it couldn't be healthy for me.

"Oh, alright," she stood up as if she had all the time in the world and collected firewood like she was lethargic.

I ran up and down the river bank to warm up the best I could. Then I found a big boulder to hide behind while I changed into my dry outer layer of clothes. When I finished, Leah had a large fire going.

"You know...you would be very handy on camping trips. Better than any match I've every used," I teased her.

"Well you would be very handy on a sail boat. Yep, who needs a breeze when you have your own very personal airbender. Comes complete with sarcastic remarks and a free set of batteries," she shot back.

The look I gave her could kill an entire army.

"Are you going back with Zuko?" I changed the subject. I kept my eyes downcast to hide my worry and pulled up blades of grass absently to keep my hands busy. Before she answered the sun finished setting and moonlight made the water shine like liquid glitter.

:Leah's POV:

I felt the strength of my bending weaken as the sun disappeared, and sighed before answering the question, "I really don't know. And it's been bothering me a lot. It's the main reason I've been so irritable...sorry for snapping a you a minute ago."

I ran my hand through my hair, something I usually didn't do unless tense or nervous.

"It's alright. I know how you get," Jessica said.

I sat back down next to the water and dangled my feet in it.

"How are you not freezing your feet off?" Jessica asked, overlooking the obvious answer.

"I'm a firebender. I can control my body temperature," I shrugged, then sniffed the air and grimaced, "I do need a bath."

I slipped into the river and immediately submerged myself. The water was cold, and I surfaced as quickly as I'd submerged myself.

I sputtered and pushed my wet locks out of my face.

I rose my body temperature so that the water seemed pleasant, all the while thanking God that it was the one thing Zuko had taught me that I had no problems with.

"Come on in! The water's great!" I teased Jess with a grin.

She merely glared at me and said, "You do realize you now have no choice but to wear the clothes I bought you."

"Actually I could wear the clothes I was wearing when we first got here," I pointed out.

Before she could respond, I'd disappeared under the water once more.

Jess was still by the fire when I finally got out of the river.

I'd realized something while in the water and chose this moment to point it out, "Dude. I can dry my clothes easily."

Jessica rolled her eyes, "Unless you go back to Zuko, you will have to wear the other clothes to blend in."

"But I was born to stand out," I pointed out with a grin.

"Doesn't mean you should," Jessica rolled her eyes yet again.

I blinked a couple of times as I stared at the fire; it felt as if I'd forgotten something important. Then I realized what day and time it was.

I shot to my feet and gathered my stuff in record time, "Katara and the others have probably been captured already!"

And so we made our way down the river...

We arrived just as Zuko was trying to get Katara to betray Aang to get her necklace back.

"I'm caught between the urge to kick him for leaving me in a collapsing building and hugging him because I've missed him so much," I sighed.

:Jess's POV:

I barely heard the last of Leah's comment before I charged in blindly to kick Zuko in the face. The grass and water blew back with the force of my anger as my bending leaked out with it.

"Okay! This is how it's going to work!" I ignored the tangled mess my hair became, but imagined that I looked a sight, "Hands off the water bender."

Zuko retaliated with a blast of fire, but I countered with a blast of my own, canceling his attacks.

"Where is the Avatar!" he roared, his eyes narrowed at me.

"Oh, come on! Can't you say something else! Avatar this, Avatar that! It's like you're some sort of parrot."

He growled and moved in a complicated Fire bender way and attacked me again. I jumped out of the way instead of countering, causing him to catch a tree on fire. Katara quickly put out the flames. Faithful jumped out of a bush by my feet and onto my shoulder. She purred into my ear, calming me.

"Hey Faithful! How was your hunt?"

Before my bath, Faithful had went off into the woods to hunt for mice. In response to my question, he meowed and licked his lips. My little predator.

"What is that thing?" The pirates that I had forgotten in my haste to beat Zuko up, yelled. The cowards moved three steps back and waved their weapons. I laughed and scratched Faithful beneath his chin.

"A cat."

"A what?"

"A CAT!" I yelled at them as Faithful hissed.

"That...c-a-t...will sell for a lot on the black market," the leader told his goons, "Let's get it!"

"Oh no you don't!" I jumped into the air and blew them back. When I was on ground again with Faithful on my shoulder I hissed, "You're no match for me."

Still they came at me. Probably because they knew I was also an airbender.

"Great Jess. Only you could make a bad situation worse," Leah told me from the side lines.

"Yeah! You can't learn that!" I answered as I moved into a fighting position. Before I could blow the pirates back again, Zuko stepped in and told them to fetch the Avatar.

I raced back to Leah's side before he turned around.

"Brace yourself," I muttered into her ear.

:Leah's POV:

"Do not interfere in my hunt for the Avatar!" Zuko glared.

"Hey, I didn't do a thing," I raised my hands up in my defense, "You, however, abandoned me while I was in a collapsing building."

I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"You were planning on joining the Avatar! I didn't see any point," he replied.

"What?" I blinked.

'When did I ...' my thoughts trailed off as I remembered the last conversation we had had.

"You asked me if I'd attack you should you join the Avatar. I took that to mean you planned on doing so," Zuko explained.

I sighed, "You think too much. I didn't plan on it, but did wind up having to. Now, that point aside, you never answered my question."

"I haven't attacked you yet, so you have your answer already," he gritted his teeth, obviously not enjoying the discussion.

"Fair enough," I replied and say Jessica sneaking over to untie Katara, "Jessica, we've screwed with the plot enough. Leave her where she is."

Zuko's temper flared up and he was about to attack Jess when Uncle Iroh stopped him, "Leave them be, Prince Zuko."

The urge to kick Zuko still lingered in my mind, but now for different reasons.

'Wonder what he'll do if I hug him?' I thought on the idea for a moment.

My necklace emitted a faint turquoise glow and I heard Jessica's voice.

'He probably wouldn't know how to react.'

'Probably...wait. Since when can we chat mentally?'

:Red's POV:

'What! Did we just...mind meld? Cool! This solves a bunch of problems!'

'Now we can keep in touch despite the distance between us.'

Now I really did have a voice in my head! How weird!

'Anyway Leah, Zuko is staring at us like we've lost our minds.'

It was true. Zuko looked dumbfounded and kept switching his weight from foot to foot.

Leah was the first one to break the silence, "Hi Uncle Iroh! How are you?"

My mind wandered and I didn't catch Iroh's response. I absently petted Faithful and paced up and down the river. My thoughts and Faithful my only company.

Then the pirates came back and attacked me again.

"Okay! This is getting old real quick!" I muttered to myself as I dodged a sharp sword. To become pirate booty would not be a good start to a new day.

"Leave her alone," the love of my life, Sokka, yelled from the sidelines. This distracted the ugly pirate, allowing me to punch him in the nose, break his arm, and knock him to the ground.

"Who's next?" I growled at the pirates holding Aang and Sokka prisoner. My adrenaline rush had me itching for a battle.

'Jessica!' Leah yelled in my mind, 'let them fight their own battles.'

I just kicked the pirate writhing on the ground in pain and huffed, but I didn't jump on anyone else. Faithful licked his paws like nothing happened.

'Good cat' I thought.

'Your cat is a very calm creature' Leah commented.

'Yeah. He's smart.'

'Zuko is staring again. Also, the pirates look like they want to tie you and Aang up and sail to the Fire nation.'

'Well they are just going to have to be disappointed' I grinned and curled my hands into fists.

:Leah's POV:

I'd always felt that Sokka didn't trust me completely, and now he stared at me with a betrayed look, "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"Because unlike Jessica, I'm careful about where I interfere," I replied with a shrug and sat down against a tree, "Besides I'm gong back with Zuko today."

"Why..," Sokka's angry tirade was cut off by the start of the battle.

:Jess's POV:

'I can't do anything...' I mind melded with Leah.

'Well, you now we shouldn't even be here.' Leah told me. Even thought I didn't want to think about it.

'I like it here. I have a purpose. A...reason. All my life all I've really wanted was an adventure. This...experience...is almost too good to be true!'

When Leah didn't respond I turned around to see a lone pirate with a net approaching me with a greedy look in his eyes.

'I can't fight a net!' My mind instantly switched into survival mode and I turned to run away. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was the net falling around me and the ugly pirate hitting me over the head with a heavy looking rock. As darkness closed around me I heard one voice above them all, yelling, "Jessica!"

When I awoke again the bright light and loud voices made my head ache worse. Among the voices, I didn't hear Leah's and knew instantly she wasn't there. In new found panic I opened my eyes only to se a pair of blue ones staring back at me.

'Sokka,' I thought to myself in relief, 'He's okay!'

'But where's Leah?'

:Leah's POV:

After the pirate had attacked Jess, I'd went to kick his ass. Only I couldn't because someone was holding me back.

"You yourself said you wouldn't interfere," Uncle Iroh said calmly, "Besides, that water tribe boy has it all under control."

Sokka did indeed have everything under control. In fact, the pirate was so beat up and bloody that he was hard to recognize.

Sokka was untangling Jessica from the net, and Katara and Aang were getting the pirates' ship into the water for their escape.

My shoulders slumped, "You're right, Uncle."

"Hey Leah! Are you coming?" Aang yelled at me, clearly not having heard my conversation with Sokka earlier.

I shook my head, "Go on without me!"

Like last time, Zuko and the pirate captain were too busy arguing to have heard anything going on.

A moment or two after they'd all left, Iroh stepped between the two, "Are you so busy arguing that you can't even see that your own ship has set sail?"

..And the events progressed the same from that moment on.

A.N.: Hope you liked it. Drop us a review if you feel like it.

:Libby and Jess: