Nine

As the ship drew ever closer to the small Water Tribe village, Zuko readied himself for war. Maya, on the other hand, spent a lot of time trying to talk Zuko out what he was doing.

"Why do you even want to capture the Avatar?" she asked, as Zuko was dressed in armor by a few crewmembers. "What did he ever do to you? The Avatar is supposed to keep balance in the world. Do you want to be the one responsible for tipping the whole world out of balance?"

"Shut up, Maya!" Zuko snapped, exasperated by her constant pestering. "You don't understand. I have to do this!"

"But why?"

He was dressed properly, and began walking out of the room. When he was directly beside her, he turned his head and looked at her. "For my honor," he said quietly.

She turned to watch him leave, and then sighed and followed him out into the corridor.

Maya had given up trying to change Zuko's mind. She decided that when they came to the village she would come out with him to make sure he didn't get himself into too much trouble. She didn't know why she even cared so much. She thought it was probably because earlier he had almost told her the truth about himself. And that meant that he was starting to trust her. The least she could do was give him the benefit of the doubt. If he wanted to capture the Avatar so badly, she wasn't going to stop him. But she wasn't going to help him either.

She was up on deck when she felt a jolt run through the ship. She grabbed the railing to keep from falling over, and then ran to the other side to see what was wrong. The ship had crashed into a giant slab of ice, and was slowly slicing its way through it. In the center of the ice was the village that Zuko had seen the Avatar running to. They were there. She went below decks to join Zuko as he walked purposefully down the ramp and onto the ice.

It was cold. Maya pulled her clothes tighter around herself. She looked around. The village was small. There were a lot of old people and a lot of young children. They all wore blue and white clothing, symbolizing that they were Water Tribe. They all looked scared. Maya didn't like this at all. It felt wrong to come and upheave a village like this. No one had done anything wrong.

As Zuko, Maya, and the guards all made their way down the ramp, a young teenage boy in odd face paint came rushing at Zuko, who was in the front. The boy seemed to be screaming a war cry as he raised his weapon. Before he even had a chance to strike, Zuko kicked him off to the side and the boy went plunging into the snow face-first. Maya flinched.

Zuko finally stepped into the village. He stood there for a moment, looking around. "Where is he?" he asked. No one responded. They all stared with blank expressions. "Where are you hiding him?" Zuko repeated. When everyone continued staring, he reached out a hand and snatched an elderly woman from the group. There was the sound of collective gasps, and the girl who had been standing beside her reached out, as if to grab the woman back.

"He'd be about this age!" Zuko shouted. "Master of all elements! I know you're hiding him somewhere!" He roughly shoved the old woman back into the crowd, and then released a whip of fire that he sent over the heads of the villagers, causing them all to scream.

Maya realized then that the only male in the entire village, besides the little children, was the boy who had attacked Zuko when he had first arrived. And this boy was now up again. He ran in from the side and yelled another battle cry, giving away his position. Zuko ducked and the boy went flying over him, landing hard on his backside. He turned to face Zuko. As a last resort, he took a boomerang from his belt and flung it at Zuko, who quickly moved his head to the side to avoid being smacked in the face with it. It went whizzing past him so far that after a moment Maya could no longer see it.

One of the younger children was holding a spear that was far too big for him. He said, "Show no fear!" and threw the teenager the spear. The boy in face paint got up and charged at Zuko.

Zuko didn't even flinch. He waited until the spear was close enough and then used his arms to break through the thin wooden stick. Then he yanked the end of it out of the boy's hands and smacked it into his head once, twice, three times, causing him to fall. Zuko snapped the rest of the spear in half and threw the pieces down.

Then suddenly the boomerang came whizzing back down and whacked Zuko in the side of the head. Maya was glad he was wearing a helmet, otherwise the metal boomerang could very well have killed him. She could tell he was pissed off. He growled, and his fists were spurting flames.

A moment later, something completely unexpected happened, so fast that Maya nearly missed it. A young boy, who was bald, and had a blue tattoo of an arrow on his head, came sliding down a nearby slope on what looked to be a penguin. Maya stared open-mouthed as the arrow boy slid right into Zuko and flipped him off of his feet and into the air. He landed with a sickening crunch on the ground, directly on his face. Maya flinched.

When Zuko finally stood up again, he spun and glared angrily at Arrow Boy. "Looking for me?" the boy asked. He was holding a staff of some kind in his hand. It was odd-looking, for a staff. Too thin, Maya noticed, to be of any real use.

"You're the airbender?" Zuko asked, voice full of incredulity. "You're the Avatar?"

The girl from earlier, who had been holding onto the old woman that Zuko had grabbed, stared at Arrow Boy. "Aang?" she said.

"No way," muttered the teenage boy who had fought with Zuko.

Maya looked at the boy called Aang. He couldn't have been more than thirteen. Maybe even less than that. But how was that possible? He should've been an old man by now, nearly ready to fall off the wagon. Zuko seemed to be having the same thoughts.

He readied himself for the fight, and the guards began slowly surrounding Aang. "I've spent years readying for this moment," he said, voice quiet and threatening. "Practicing, meditating. You're just a child!"

Aang gave him a funny look. "Well, you're just a teenager," he said.

And then they fought. Zuko sent his usual blasts of fire at the boy, and Aang used his staff to help keep the flames at bay. He spun it in his hands. Maya guessed it was really a tool used to help his airbending, based on the way he was using it. As Zuko and Aang circled each other, and Zuko kept shooting fireballs at him, the villagers screamed. The fire was getting dangerously close to them.

Aang suddenly stopped moving and looked at Zuko. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

Zuko put his hands at his sides and nodded once. The guards surrounded the boy and began propelling him towards the ship. Maya followed behind them. Zuko said, "Head a course for the Fire Nation. I'm going home."

As they all headed up the ramp, the girl who had said the Avatar's name ran forward. "Aang, no!" she cried. "Don't do this!"

"It's okay, Katara. I'll be fine," Aang replied, though it was obvious that he thought nothing of the sort. "Watch Appa for me until I get back." He turned and smiled at her from inside the ship, but his smile disappeared once the ramp was raised high enough for her not to be able to see his face.

Maya looked at him sadly, wishing she could figure out whose side she was on. She wanted to free Aang, but at the same time, she wanted Zuko to be happy. She headed down below with her head in her hands.