Something dreadful boarded our ship today, nearly landed on me when he jumped aboard. A large, terrifying badger-beast, with a beautiful woman in dark leather wielding a long whip, destroyed the front tip of the ship. No one tried to stop them, everyone was too afraid! The woman, June, said her beast was tracking a convict, and sure enough, the beast paralyzed the hidden man who'd been traveling with us for who knows how long. She took her prize and without a word, leapt away into the forest.
Zuko was irate, and commanded the crew to make repairs at the nearest port while he and Uncle searched for June. He wanted payback.
They returned late that same night for me, but their mount was the beast, and June rode in front of them both. "Sing! You're coming with," Uncle yelled from the back of the saddle. Confused and exhausted, I crawled up and rode behind Uncle Iroh, and without a proper seat on the beast, it was nearly impossible to stay on. I hung onto him as hard as I could, and avoided falling off at all costs, to avoid embarrassment. The animal smelt terrible, something I couldn't describe. We wove in and out of towns, following the avatar, and Katara's path. The woman was just as savage as Zuko, and beat her animal to move faster and faster.
As we entered the forest, she cried, "There she is!" We flew out into a clearing, and Katara and Sokka were walking back towards the last village. "So this is your girlfriend," she mocked with a smirk.
"Where is the avatar?" Zuko yelled from his mount. They started to run, but the badger-beast whipped them with its long, sharp tongue, paralyzing them. I was shocked to see them fall to the ground in an instant; I knew the animal was an extremely powerful tracker, as it had already demonstrated, but I guess I should have assumed it was capable of other feats as well. Iroh strapped them in front of Zuko, behind the woman. The monster caught the avatar's scent from an article of clothing one of the travelers carried, and we were off again.
A town we had seen earlier, which I now saw to be an abbey, was where we stopped for the final time. The nuns and other inhabitants fled to the safety of their buildings, and the large stone courtyard was bare. The girl and boy were dropped to the ground, but we remained mounted, much to my displeasure. The woman cracked her whip, and the badger-beast began frantically sniffing for its quarry.
Then, out of the sky flew the avatar on his flying bison. The beast reared up on its hind legs to strike, and this time I could not help but fall off. I recovered immediately and ran to a safe distance, knowing a fight would ensue. The avatar leapt off the bison, and soared to the ground, but not before delivering a gust of wind powerful enough to knock everyone off the beast. It hissed, and waited for its rider, the woman, to mount and crack her long whip. They charged the avatar but were knocked to the ground by the bison. The woman cracked her whip twice in a row, and the beast faced the bison.
Meanwhile, Zuko had his mind set on the avatar, who knew exactly what he was thinking. Their blows were quick and vigorous, one after the other. The two benders moved all throughout the abbey, on top of buildings, across platforms; they even danced atop a well. I grew scared whenever Zuko was hit, and in my mind readied myself for the first aid he'd need later on.
I peered over to the beasts, and it wasn't looking good for the avatar's bison. He was hit several times by the whip-tongue of the badger-beast, and lay on the ground. He moaned, and I suddenly felt very sad; my heart went out to the creature, as it lay dying in pain.