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Chapter 7: Arrival

Jackpher opened his eyes as he heard footsteps. He was still embarrassed by the fact he had been taken prisoner on his own ship. He had to take a calming breath and hoped Kirana had gotten his prayer not to rescue him.

When the door opened Zu Ling stepped in, leaving his guards behind. Jackpher had to use what little restraint he had left to keep himself from launching at the intruder. So instead he sneered and said, "Hello pig."

Zu Ling's lip twisted with disgust. "I hate that name." He closed the door.

"What do you want?"

Zu Ling smiled. "Simply, I want to gloat. How's your girl?"

"What have you done to her?" There was no hiding his anger. "If you have harmed her, Spirits forbid I'll kill you." Just one more reason to, Jackpher thought

"Your still not sore over Sienna's death are you? You do know that the poison would not have passed on to Kirana." Jackpher's relief showed on his face. "I had her and the trader, my son, followed. Now we are pursuing them on ship."

Jackpher asked, shocked, "You have a son?"

"I'm surprised you don't know. His name is Johan. You wouldn't happen to know him would you?"

I can't be! Jackpher was up so fast that Zu Ling could not stop the blow to his chin. The guards heard Zu Ling fall on his back and came to wrestle with Jackpher. But there was no more fight, Jackpher felt better.

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Jo watched Kirana, trying to hide his irritation. She has all but mastered Firebending and could beat him at archery, long and high jumps and short distance racing. He sighed. Kirana stood in front of him pulling back on the bowstring at the target forty yards ahead of them. She let go and a yell of triumph came from her. She had also gotten a bull's eye like Jo. He smiled. "Wana race?"

She furrowed her brow. "Why? Because the only thing I haven't beaten you at is long distance racing?"

Jo smiled, going all teenager. "Yep. Two laps around the ship." Kirana looked as if she was going to protest but then nodded. She liked challenges as much as Jo himself did. "Ready. Set. Race!"

They took off at a run. Crewmembers gathered and scattered as they came up to the first corner and Kirana put on a small bit of speed. Oops. As they went on all the crew was out on deck, beating, cheering, and booing. On the homestretch Jo put on a bust of speed using up his reserves. Kirana did the same and they ended, surprisingly, in a tie.

Smiling they turned to each other and shook hands. Jo got a good look at Kirana's face and realized she hadn't been getting enough sleep. Before he could stop himself Jo said, "You should get some rest." He braced himself for an outburst, but it never happened. Instead Kirana simply nodded and headed for her sleeping quarters. Jo shook his head; he truly admired that young woman.

Kirana woke up several hours later, feeling better. At least this time she hadn't been bothered by dreams of secrecy and darkness. She shivered at the thought of those dreams. But she still couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed.

She stretched, got up, dressed and pulled a warm cloak over her armor. Her hair, as usually, was pulled back into a braid and her sword attached to her belt. She left her room and headed for the deck. The man on the crow's nest yelled, "Land Ho!"

Standing at the stern of the ship and stood there, gazing off into the distance, trying to penetrate the fog. She heard barely perceptible footsteps and said, "Hello Jo." The footsteps stopped beside her.

"How did you know it was me," he asked.

She looked at with a what-do-you-think look on her face and said, "How many people on this are trained Unzarin Warriors?" Jo laughed and together they stood watching the fog.

Kirana looked up and saw something black in the fog. The wind direction had changed and was blowing towards them. Lifting a hand she caught it and looked at it. She cursed and Jo looked over. He cursed, worse than her. Kirana whirled around and yelled, "All hands on deck, roll out the catapult!" Only one man came forward and he was wearing an evil smile. "No," Kirana gasped as it hit her. The First Mate was working for Zu Ling, and he'd either killed or imprisoned the other crew members for she could see no others. Jo immediately dropped into a fighting stance, smoke rising from his fists.

Kirana edged toward the horses who were both on deck, and both were ready for a fight. Standing next to her horse Kirana could only hope Jo would catch on to her plan quickly. "You #$," she said to distract the mutinous crew member. The two men looked at the Avatar in shock for she had just used one of the worst swear words ever. Smiling Kirana leapt atop the ships railing as Jo caught on to the plan, and whistling to her horse, dived head first into the freezing water.

Kirana surfaced several feet from the ship and looked around. Jo resurfaced a moment later beside her and they both went to their horses and lead them ashore.

The water seeped through their armor and felt like thousands of knives biting into their skin, and dragged at their cloths as though trying to drown them. The shore was still a ways away but they made in half an hours time. The two ships couldn't go towards shore much farther and the boats aboard took a while to get out, but they still didn't halve much time until they were caught. Using Firebending to dry themselves off Kirana and Jo mounted their horses and rode into he woods, like they did the day they escaped from the palace.