Asuni sighed, leaning against the counter as she let the tea steep. This was the same Airbender tea she'd bought at the docks. She inhaled deeply. The smell reminded her of hay and stables. She vividly remembered the times she'd creep into the stables after dark to practice riding ostrich horses when she was little. She smiled fondly at the memory.

Asuni leaned her head back and absently mused, "So long since then…"

So much had happened, and she remembered every minute of it. She had spoken to Zuko, gone on missions with him as the mysterious woman in black. But it wasn't just things she'd done as a Royal guard. There were little things, like the times she'd helped the prince with armor, or the games of pai sho with Iroh, or the conversations she'd had with the crew.

Asuni smiled slightly as she strained the leaves out of the tea. Such a thing wasn't appropriate for an official report, but when she got back to the capital, she would thank Lo Shen on bended knee for sending her on this mission. She treasured every minute of it.

Asuni lifted the teapot onto the tray and set the matching red and gold cups next to it. Hefting the tray into her arms, Asuni set off for the prince's quarters, where Zuko and Iroh waited. She nodded and smiled to a few crew members as she passed, but didn't stop to talk. It simply wouldn't do to serve Iroh cold tea.

They were sitting on either side of a table, candles blazing under the window. Asuni's eyes flicked up the dao broadswords hanging crossed on the wall over Iroh's head. She smiled slightly at them, dipping her head to hide the quirk of her lips as she recalled her last mission with the prince and how it had ended.

"Ah, the Airbender tea!" Iroh said happily as Asuni set the tray down on the table and began to pour.

"It smells like a stable," Zuko grumbled irritably. Asuni smothered a small smile.

He hadn't removed her mask. It was an unbearably sweet gesture, and just thinking about it made her melt a little inside. No matter what Zuko though, he still had his honor. Honor was so deeply ingrained into him that Asuni privately though he would rather die than commit a dishonorable deed. There were times when he wavered, but he was human. It was to be expected.

"Iroh," Asuni said, placing one cup in front of the general with a slight bow. She picked up the other cup and placed it in front of Zuko. "My prince," she demurred. Zuko nodded to her slightly in acknowledgement as he picked up the cup. Iroh already had his beneath his nose, inhaling deeply as steam drifted around his beard. He took a long sip and sighed in pleasure.

"You see, Prince Zuko?" he smiled. "A moment of quiet is good for your mental wellbeing."

Zuko picked up his cup. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the smell, but still raised it to his mouth. He was just about to drink when the ship jerked suddenly under them. The liquid in his cup sloshed wildly, soaking his face. Asuni had to smother a laugh as damp strands of hair fell over his eyes. He growled and she raised her hand, pulling the tea from his face and settling it back into his cup.

"Thanks," he took the time to grunt, before standing from his seat with a low growl and heading for the door.

"A moment indeed," Iroh sighed, getting to his feet with a little groan of effort. He looked at Asuni, mildly amused. "Well? Go defend our prince. Or go save whatever he's angry at."

Asuni couldn't smother the laughs this time. She was giggling quietly to herself as she scampered from the room and up onto the deck, Iroh following behind her. She assumed there'd been some mechanical trouble or something had bumped them.

What she did not expect when she reached the deck was to see six soldiers lined up, facing down a black-clad woman on a shirshu. She clutched the reins of her mount in one hand and the handle of a whip in the other. Asuni's eyes narrowed and she crept around the deck, keeping to the rail. One hand drifted behind her. Water coiled up out of the ocean, the tip resting in her palm, ready to use.

"Get back!" she snapped at the crew. "We're after a stowaway."

Zuko walked down the line of soldiers, Iroh backing him up. "There are no stowaways on my ship," he scowled.

The shirshu let out a growl and reared slightly. Its head bore down on the deck, teeth ripping into the metal. It tore up a chunk of deck about the size of a man's torso, tossing its head and flinging the razor-edged piece at the crew. Asuni's arm lashed. The water coiled around the piece of metal and lifted it up and over, away from the crew. She dropped it gently so that it leaned against the rail.

The woman watched Asuni, eyes narrowed, as her mount thrust its head into the hole it had just made, snuffling loudly. Asuni's eyes narrowed back and she inclined her head slightly. A sort of acknowledgement was made, whereby they both recognized that the other was deserving of some respect.

There was a fearful whimper and a man wearing tattered Earth Kingdom clothes scrambled out of the hole. Driven on by fear of the huge animal looming over him, he made the rather unwise decision of heading right for the line of Firebenders in front of him.

It didn't matter either way. The woman cracked her whip and the shirshu's tongue lashed out, catching him on the back of the neck. Immediately he toppled over, stiff.

"He's paralyzed," Zuko breathed.

"Only temporarily," the woman said, sliding down from her animal and grabbing the man by his collar. She heaved him over her shoulder easily. "The toxins should wear off in about an hour, but by then he'll be in jail and I'll have my money." She threw him up onto the saddle, where he dangled pathetically.

"But how did you find him on my ship?" Zuko demanded. The woman smirked, patting the shirshu's flank.

"My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away." She swung onto her saddle and lashed her whip again.

"Impressive," Iroh mused, stroking his beard. The shirshu reared once more and leapt over the railing. It landed on the dock with enough force to rattle the planks and took off towards the shore. "Very impressive."

Zuko stared after the woman, expression intent. For a moment, Asuni felt a surge of jealousy. Sure, the woman had been very attractive: sleek, dark, and practically oozing sensuality. But she'd assumed the prince had a little more taste than that. Then again, she recalled his brief fling with Mai, so that was a mark against him…

Almost immediately, however, Zuko proved her wrong by saying, "That animal she was riding… That could be the key to tracking the Avatar."

Asuni stepped away from the rail, moving to the prince's side. "A shirshu," she explained. "They're really quite incredible creatures. Their sense of smell is totally unrivalled, they can run for days without food or sleep, and their saliva contains a powerful paralytic."

Zuko twisted to stare at her fully, expression a mixture of surprise and frustration.

"Why do you know that?" he demanded. Asuni shrugged.

"I find them interesting," she said, which wasn't a lie. She just neglected to mention that the first time she came across mention of the animal was when she was studying combat applications of their toxin.

"So you know about them," Zuko said. It wasn't a question, but she answered anyway.

"Yes. To be honest," Asuni admitted, "I'm impressed she has one, even though they're perfect for bounty hunting. Domesticated shirshu are very expensive, far more than your average bounty hunter makes, and it's extremely unlikely that she actually tamed a wild one. They're notoriously ferocious."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "And what does that mean?"

Asuni chuckled. "Best guess? I'd say she's very good what she does."

Zuko nodded, a sharp, decisive gesture. "Good. Then she'd perfect."

The bounty hunter – June, as they found out her name was – wasn't hard to find. There was only one beautiful female bounty hunter who rode around on a shirshu, and everyone seemed all too willing to help them find her, assuming correctly that they wanted to hire her. From what Asuni gathered, June was a bit of a celebrity, and was well-known for spending her free time at a particular bar, the Wandering Ostrich Horse.

Asuni glanced up at the sign above her head. The place was the very definition of a dive, a ramshackle building that stood half on stilts in the water, half on dry land. They'd been able to hear drunken laughter and cheers halfway up the lane.

"Stay close to me," Zuko ordered her. Asuni nodded. She'd been allowed to come along purely because she knew the most about shirshu, and it was the animal Zuko was interested in more than June herself. "This is a rough kind of place. I don't want you getting into trouble."

Two men lingering outside the doorway were puffing on pipes. Both of them had their eyes fixed on Asuni. She was suddenly wishing she'd changed out of the skimpy clothes she wore to fight the heat of the kitchen, no so much because the looks made her uncomfortable – she'd gotten them before – but because they meant she might be the cause of an inconvenience for her prince before the night was out.

Still, she found it a little amusing that Zuko was worried about her. Granted, he couldn't know about the dagger strapped to her thigh, or the fact that she could kill a fully grown man three-hundred and fifty-two different ways. A drunk lecher was the least of her worries. It was a gallant gesture though.

There was a loud shout and the wall above the door burst outward, a man flying through it. He crumpled into a groaning heap on the ground a few feet away.

"Hmm," Iroh said curiously. "I'd say we're at the right place."

Asuni snorted softly as Zuko stepped inside. In the middle of the room June sat at a table across from the sweaty, straining man, smirking as she absolutely destroyed him at arm wrestling. The majority of the bar's patrons were clustered in a thick circle around the match, cheering on their favorites. Judging by the coin purses some held ready, there was quite a bit of money on the match.

Asuni noticed this thoughtfully.

"Out of my way!" Zuko growled, shoving his way through a pair of broad-shouldered men with the tanned skin and scarred hands of dock workers. He tossed aside a skinny man in a conical hat. "Step aside, filth!"

Asuni sighed and hustled after Zuko, following him closely just as he'd asked. If anyone was going to start a fight, it would be him, shooting off his mouth like that. Iroh followed behind, calling apologetically, "He means no disrespect! I'm sure you all bathe quite regularly!"

Zuko paused by the table, staring at June. "I need to talk to you."

She glanced up casually, still holding her arm perfectly upright as the man across from her grunted and poured sweat. Asuni watched curiously. This woman clearly had some serious training; the man she was wrestling was no beanpole. Her hand twitched, and she found herself wanting to try a bout against June herself.

"Well," the bounty hunter drawled. "If it isn't my new friends, Angry Boy and Uncle Lazy. And look, you brought your girlfriend along for the ride," she added, eyes lingering on Asuni.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Zuko snapped as Iroh laughed.

June gave a small grunt and ended her match, slamming the man's hand down on the table. He groaned and toppled off his stool. A couple of his buddies caught him and dragged him off to get more alcohol as the betters cheered, tossing their money onto the table.

"Your beast trashed my ship," Zuko continued. "You have to pay me back."

"Aw, I'd love to help you out, but I'm a bit strapped for cash," June cooed, scooping the armload of coins towards herself. "Drinks on me!"

The bar let out another cheer. The bartender seemed to have been expecting it. He came out with a pair of waiters, each bearing a tray on each arm loaded down with shot glasses. Another moved forwards, scooping a large portion of June's winnings off the table. It still left her with quite a bit of gold to shovel into the pouch at her hip.

"You want to find someone," she guessed as she worked. "I do it, and you forgive the debt?"

Zuko nodded. June smirked up at him. "Alright, I'll take that deal. On one condition."

Zuko's mouth twisted into a snarl, but he didn't bite out an angry comment like Asuni knew he was dying to. He needed June's shirshu for his plan, and ticking off its owner wasn't the way to get it. "What's that?" he asked.

June grinned and placed an elbow on the table, hand up, palm open. "We arm wrestle. You win, you've got a deal. I win… you forgive the debt and you pay me for my services."

"Fine!" Zuko snapped. He went to sit down, but Iroh caught his shoulder.

"Prince Zuko,' he whispered, "we don't have the finances right now to-"

June snorted. "I didn't mean you, Angry. I meant your little girlfriend."

"Not his girlfriend," Asuni corrected automatically as Zuko finally let out that snarl he'd been holding back.

"That's not fair and you know it! I just watched you beat a man twice your size!"

"I'm in," Asuni said, shrugging and taking the seat across from June, who grinned in delight.

"You'll lose!" Zuko protested. Asuni looked up at him, eyes softening.

"Please have some faith in me, my prince."

Zuko blinked. Asuni was quiet, but not cowed. In fact, she looked completely comfortable with the plan, despite the fact that June's last opponent was currently at the bar face-down on the wood, clutching his arm and moaning.

"You really think you can beat her?" he asked quietly. Asuni shrugged.

"I think I have more of a chance than you think I do," she replied.

June scoffed. "I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but I have things to do. Are we doing this or what?" she asked, waving her hand pointedly. Asuni turned to face her fully, resting one forearm on the edge of the table and bracing the other one on the table.

"Ready?" she asked as the two women locked hands.

"Three." June smirked.

"Two." Asuni smirked back.

"One."

Zuko blinked. He could see Asuni and June's arms both flexing. Both of them were pushing, and by the looks of the bunching muscle, they were pushing hard. But their locked hands didn't waver even a fraction of an inch in either direction. In a shift from the last man, Asuni wasn't sweating, cursing, or straining. In fact, she looked just as casual as June.

"You've had some intense strength training," June observed, and Asuni saw the slight twitch of her mouth. She applied more pressure to her hand just as June did the same. Still, neither of them gained an edge.

This was hard. Or rather, it would be hard if Asuni were normal. June was strong. Weirdly, wickedly strong. Asuni was lucky she'd trained and built muscle since she was barely out of diapers, otherwise she'd be up the creek without a paddle.

"You're doing well yourself," Asuni said, nodding to their hands, which were still upright. Around them, she heard the patrons begin whispering amongst themselves. The flash of gold proved that they were back to betting.

Zuko's eyes were wide with surprise. He'd watched the skinny bounty hunter turn a full-grown, muscular man into a sweaty wreck without blinking, yet his cook was giving the woman a run for her money, both in strength and seeming lack of effort.

He knew Asuni was strong. He'd blocked her hits when they sparred, and he knew there was quite a bit of muscle on her lithe frame. He remembered being surprised when he came down to the kitchen one day and saw her organizing ingredients in the storeroom. She'd easily lifted a pair of huge flour sacks onto a shelf over her head. At the time he'd assumed she was juts used to working with things of that weight, and besides, she only held it for a few seconds. Now he was wondering just how strong she actually was.

"So, how does Angry Boy like the fact that his girlfriend is stronger than him?" June said. Her smirk wavered and Asuni noticed. She was wearing June down.

"I've told you," she said, "he's not my boyfriend."

"Then why are you hanging out with him?" June asked. She snorted. "Not for his looks, that's for sure."

Asuni shrugged. "I don't know, I think he's quite attractive. And, to answer your question, I'm the cook," she replied easily.

"Huh, wouldn't have pegged you for a kitchen kind of girl." June grunted slightly, and the watchers gasped. Clearly, they'd never seen June struggle in a match before. "You should be in my line of work. You'd make a hell of a lot more as a bounty hunter than a cook."

Zuko blinked. Much as he hadn't expected June to start giving Asuni career advice, he'd expected even less to heard Asuni speak up for his looks. He knew he wasn't a prize, what with the state of his face, and he'd accepted that. But the hear Asuni didn't find him repulsive… well, that was quite the strike to his ego.

"I'm loyal," Asuni replied coolly. "Until he no longer needs me, I'll be by his side."

And there it was again. Zuko's mouth thinned at Asuni's show of loyalty. She'd proven it time and time again, and he'd accepted that too, but it always threw him off to hear her profess that unflinching loyalty to others, and so proudly too, as if she would rather serve him than anyone else.

Asuni decided she'd had enough of the fight. She'd tested herself against June, and the bounty hunter was no joke. She could feel sweat starting to gather on her forehead, but she didn't show any sign of difficulty in her expression. Still, she knew that if she didn't end this soon if could drag on for who knew how long. So, with a grunt, she slammed June's hand to the table.

For a split second, June looked shocked, and the bar went dead silent. June quickly covered her expression, straightening up and plastering on a smirk. "Well, a deal's a deal. Let's go."

Asuni blinked as coins showered down onto the table around her. She smiled slightly when she realized that it was her winnings. She smirked as she began to scoop them into the small money pouch at her hip. It filled the pouch to the brim, and the thing almost didn't close. It weighed heavily at her hip.

A shot clumked down on the table in front of her. Asuni blinked up at the bartender.

"On the house," he said, looking her over curiously. Asuni realized it was a sort of reward for taking down the house. She grinned and swept up the shot, tossing it back without flinching, and slammed the glass back onto the table upside down. The bar erupted into chairs.

Zuko was gaping at her incredulously, and even Iroh looked thrown as she stood up.

"Very impressive," Iroh said faintly.

Zuko opened his mouth. "how did you-"

Asuni shrugged. "I have layers," she said with a smirk, and Zuko inhaled sharply.

The image of the masked woman danced in his mind, and this time he didn't push it away. The expression on Asuni's face was the kind he'd always imagined the woman in black having behind her mask when he heard that amused lilt in her voice or saw the teasing tilt of her head. Asuni was loyal, she was close to him, and she was strong.

Suddenly the idea of her being his mysterious guardian wasn't looking quite so impossible, but he still didn't necessarily like the idea. If it were true, it meant that there was a whole different side of Asuni that he'd never seen before, and he wasn't quite willing to accept that she was that good of an actress.

"Are we doing this or what?" June called form by the door.

Asuni and Zuko jerked out of the trap of the other's gaze and looked away. Asuni flushed slightly and Zuko glared at the ground. Iroh watched all this in amusement, knowing that giving the ground dirty looks was his nephew's version of embarrassment. The pair of them were vastly entertaining to him.

"Coming!" Iroh called, and headed for the door, leaving the other two scrambling behind him. June rolled her eyes as they all stepped outside.

"Nice job," she congratulated Asuni. "You're the first person to beat me in a while."

Asuni smiled back, and this time it was more of a genuine smile than a smirk. "Not so bad yourself."

June's almost-constant smirk widened. "I like you," she concluded. Asuni grinned back.

"Feeling's mutual."

Zuko stare between the bounty hunter and the cook, suddenly feeling as if he was completely missing something. Beside him, Iroh chuckled quietly.

Wow. Okay, so kind of a short chapter, but after the beast I put out last time, maybe that's good. Actually, this episode was supposed to just be one chapter, but it was getting super long too and this was a good place to stop, hence the part one. But then I put Asuni and June in a room together, and... I don't know. They got away from me, and something happened. Suddenly they were halfway into a hardcore bromance/private badass competition, Zuko was off to the side thinking deep thoughts, and Iroh was watching the whole thing laughing his butt off. Wait, what's the chick version of a bromance? Ah, whatever. As always, please review!