A little bit of girl power.
Zhen P.O.V.
Whilst the men were all preoccupied with the fight, which was typical in Zhen's opinion, she used the opportunity to sneak down to the ramp leading down to the village. Poking her head out, she saw Zuko fighting a water tribe warrior and winning. Zhen's fists clenched as her blood began to boil. How dare this arrogant prince take on a helpless village? Looking round she saw that the village, well if there really was enough there to be a village, many of them were women or children. Where were the men? Something else caught her eye as she scanned the village. It was Karah. Regret replaced her boiling rage. Why had she lost her temper over something so small? Their boat was destroyed from the fight, it's better to bend water and fire on land if you're gonna get into a fight. Just goes to show what a good cup of tea can do to lift your mood. At least Karah was safe and not in a lionwhales stomach. Hearing someone scream Zhen bought her attention back as Zuko handled an elderly lady shouting something. Zhen rolled her eyes.
Oh give it a rest she thought she's just an old lady! It was time to stand up to this selfish prince. Zhen managed to sneak down the ramp unnoticed by the prince. Finally, she had a good connection to her element. She glanced at Karah. Her eyes sparkling mischievously as they always did when she was about to get in a scrap. Taking her stance and breathing deeply. Flicking her wrist, the snow turned to water and wrapped it around Zuko's leg. Most of the village were now staring at her, even Sokka. Zuko noticed the different tension in the air and turned towards Zhen. However Zhen was too quick for him. With a sharp sweep of her arm the prince was pulled down and dragged a good ten meters across the snow. Spitting out snow Zuko furiously glared at Zhen.
"YOU!" He shouted. Zhen mockingly curtsied,
"The one and only." She said cheerfully.
"Guards, arrest her." He said starting to stand with a finger pointing at her.
Finally, some action! Zhen thought. She spread out her arms and fingers, ready for anything.
Karah's P.O.V.
Karah couldn't believe it when she saw Zhen in Zuko's ship. She was so glad that Zhen was okay and not still out there alone in the cold. She stood there, mouth open wide in shock. She didn't react to anything else, even as Zuko grabbed an elderly lady. She watched as Zhen emerged from the ship, effortlessly sneaking behind Prince Zuko. Zhen looked at Karah, her eyes having a mischievous look to them. Karah smirked, she knew Zhen well enough to know what she was going to do next. Zhen bended some water around Zuko's leg and pulled him a good distance across the snow. Karah stood there wondering if she should jump in and help. She heard Zuko shout and Zhen reply with a sarcastic remark.
"Guards, arrest her." Zuko shouted.
Karah figured that was a good time to join in. All around her, chaos broke loose. She noticed the Water Tribe boy, Sokka, and Katara fighting with one of the guards. She ran up to one of the guards and kicked him in the head. It didn't hurt him, but it did catch his attention. The guard started to fire bend, but she dodged his attacks. After a few more advances on his part, she decided that if she didn't start to fire bend, she was going to lose this fight. She sent a few fireballs his way, but they didn't affect the guard at all. She kicked in a slicing motion, sending more fire his way. That made the guard stumble. Karah got low on the ground and kicked some more fire towards his feet, which made him lose his balance and fall. Karah kicked his head, hard, which knocked him out. Suddenly, Karah felt her feet being frozen to the ground, causing her to become unbalanced and fall to the ground. Afterwards, her hands were frozen too. She knew there were only two people here who could have done that, Zhen and Katara. She glanced around. Zhen was in her own fight with Prince Zuko, and Katara was looking directly at her.
"What the heck, Katara! I'm on your side!" Karah yelled.
"No, you're not. You're a firebender, so you are definitely NOT on my side!" Katara yelled back.
"I just knocked a guard out! If I wasn't on your side, would I have done that?"
"You only did that because they were going to arrest that girl, who, if I'm correct, is your missing friend!"
Karah quickly melted the bindings on her hands and feet as she stood up.
"Look, I get it," Karah said as she walked closer. "the Fire Nation did some bad things over the last hundred years and I'm a fire-bender. But not everyone from the Fire Nation is bad, so don't you DARE accuse me of being on their side! They took my parents away and I'm next! Why do you think I left? I have no one else but Zhen! If I had anyone else, I would stay in the Fire Nation living a happy, peaceful life. But instead, I have to go out there and hope they don't catch me."
I walked away from Katara and joined Zhen in fighting Zuko. Thank God he didn't know who I was.
Zhen P.O.V.
The guards had been thankfully "entertained" by two of the water tribe and Karah. Which left her with pretty boy. Wonderful Zhen thought to herself dimly. By the looks of him, she wouldn't be surprised if he burst into flames with the hard glare he was giving her. Obviously not impressed that he had no guards for back up. Both Zhen and Zuko took their fighting positions.
"Let's see how well the fire nation train their prince." Mocked Zhen.
"More than you, peasant!" he retorted.
"Tsk tsk tsk" said Zhen waving her finger, "They certainly teach you very restrictedly on history, I suppose you only know your own nation's history"
Zuko looked momentarily confused then irritated shouting,
"Enough talking!" He let out a series of fireballs from his fists. Zhen quickly brought the snow at her feet up in front of her, bending backwards to keep a safe distance to the heat. Pulling up more snow she sent a huge turbine straight at him. He dived out of the way, growling as he got up again. He raised his leg and brought it down to the floor, sending a wave of fire to Zhen. Zhen rapidly started spinning with snow wrapped around her as a shield. She spun towards Zuko through the fire and turned the shield into a whip. A technique not commonly known. Zuko was sent flying back as the whip went across his chest leaving a wide scratch across his armour. Quickly regaining his footing, he swiftly closed the gap between them aiming to punch a torrent of fire directly at Zhen. Zhen swiftly pushed his arm upwards with the back of her wrist. Redirecting the fire to above her. They started fighting hand to hand combat. Zhen could feel the heat from his flames drying her skin as she narrowly avoided his fiery punches. Zuko could feel the chill coming from the ice she bended to block his fire and was directed at him as well through her own attack. They parted as both had attacked at once, sending them both stumbling back. Zhen saw Karah heading her way. Relief washed over her seeing that she was fine and she was coming to help. Zuko took this distraction to grab hold of Zhen, placing a fist of fire close to Zhen's head and one hand on her shoulder. Of all of the times she had lost a battle this was her lowest method of being defeated. How could she possibly have let this happen? She was now at the mercy of her enemy, a position that she was not accustom to. If I get out of this she thought I will never be able to live this down. I must pay more attention in battle. Zuko's voice was loud in her right ear,
"Give me the avatar and nobody gets hurt." Zhen weighed her chances on how bad the burn would be if she struck him. There was a good possibility that she would be knocked out and shortly die. So much for being optimistic she thought cynically. For once there was literally nothing she could do but hope no one got hurt.
Bum bum bum! Just love a cliff hanger. What will happen to our two adventurers? Will Katara slice Karah up and will Zuko fry Zhen's brain. Find out in the next chapter.