Everyone on the island was still asleep. Zuko took a band of his best soldiers with him as well as Dale. Iroh followed voluntarily. The captain, at his insistence, took the ship around to the far side of the island where no one would see it. If the Avatar did visit Ember Island, they would catch him completely off guard. Zuko hid his soldiers around the perimeter of the beach and settled down himself near the middle, preparing to wait all day if necessary. He kept Dale far enough away to discourage conversation but still well within the range of a well-aimed fireball. No noise disturbed them except for the sound of the tide slowly moving out…
"CABBAGES! CABBAGE FOR SALE!"
Zuko jumped at the voice that cut through the silence. It had come from his left and a little in front. He looked at Dale but the special agent shook his head, it wasn't any of Zuko's crew making the noise.
"CABBAGES!"
Zuko peeked out from behind a bush and saw a strange man dressed in green Earth Kingdom clothes standing behind a small booth, his face towards the water.
"What is that man doing?" demanded Zuko in a loud whisper.
Dale crept over to where he was hiding. "Don't worry Zuko," he said. "It means I led you to the right place."
"And what on earth makes you think that? No one is going to come within 10 miles of this racket! This is the last place the Avatar is going to make an appearance!"
The low bellow of a sky-bison reached Zuko's ears and he instantly looked to the sky. The cabbage man heard it too and as the shadow of the enormous beast passed over them the man shrieked and began grabbing the cabbages in his stand, attempting to run away with them. He looked to the sky, terror in his eyes and just before it was too late, dropped his cabbages and leapt out of the way as the giant behemoth landed squarely on top of his cabbage stand.
"NO! NOT AGAIN! What is WRONG with you?!" he screamed.
The sky-bison glanced at the man with one eye and bared his teeth for a low growl. The cabbage man shrieked and ran off into the bushes. Zuko looked at the saddle on the sky-bison, tensing up and waiting for the moment to spring.
Aang jumped down first, airbending to slow his descent. The water tribe siblings came next, the girl landing hard on her feet and the boy landing flat on his face.
"You know Aang, you could teach your bison how to let people off properly. Not everyone is a 100 year old airbender!"
"Geez, tell the whole world Sokka! You'd think we could travel with a bit of secrecy from time to time," his sister cautioned.
"Katara, we're travelling with a 100 ton magical flying bison and a kid with an arrow on his head. It's not exactly conducive to secrecy!"
At that moment Zuko jumped out from behind his bush and attacked. His first fire ball knocked down the two water tribe kids which instantly drew Aang's attention. Mistake. In the next moment Zuko had gotten behind Aang and held a sword to his throat. His soldiers quickly jumped forward to grab the two water tribe children before they could attempt to fight him off. Only a few seconds had passed since the skybison had landed and already the entire battle was over.
"Let go of me this instant!" Katara shouted.
Zuko laughed. "Oh well, since you asked… NO."
Katara kicked at the soldier holding her but they held their grip.
"If I even think that you're going to water bend I'll slice this kid's head off right here."
Katara stopped struggling and Zuko smiled. "Perfect. Now, Avatar, tell your pet sky-bison that if it tries to attack any of us I'll have five of my men shooting fireballs at its skull. Lieutenant, tie them up and call in a chi blocker. We're going back to the Fire Nation Capital. I have regained my honour."