Twenty-six

Over the next few days, nothing particularly interesting happened to the group. They stayed on the Avatar's trail and did not lose sight of the flying bison, which was refreshing after so many times where they had no idea where he was. For Maya, it meant that Zuko was in a better mood than usual, which was good since he'd been extremely angry the first day back from the Avatar Roku disaster. He'd refused to eat and had kept to his room all day. So when he'd been almost cordial to her the next morning, Maya was both slightly afraid, and unusually optimistic about her continuing quest to become Zuko's friend.

That is, until this morning. Everything was going smoothly. Zuko was on deck practicing his firebending as usual, and Maya and Uncle were in the wheel room. Uncle was teaching her how to play pai sho.

"You see, Maya," he was whispering to her so that his opponents would not hear. "I have a secret weapon up my sleeve. It is… my lotus tile." And that was when the happiness shriveled up and died and everything returned, unfortunately, to normal. It started when Uncle realized that his lotus tile was missing. And, apparently, missing a lotus tile in a pai sho game is like missing oxygen on Earth. He immediately stopped everything he was doing and desperately told the captain, "We must change course! Find me the nearest town! I must have my lotus tile back!"

The helmsman checked the map for a moment, and then changed direction of the ship accordingly. A few seconds later, Zuko stomped into the room. "What is the meaning of this mutiny?" he yelled, going right up to the helmsman. "No one told you to change course!"

Maya sighed. Hello, Angry Zuko, she thought to herself. Glad you could join us once again.

"Actually," Uncle said, "I told him to change course."

"What?" Zuko exclaimed, spinning to face him, his ponytail whipping around with him.

"You see," Uncle began, raising a finger. "I have lost my lotus tile, and –

"What are you talking about, Uncle?" Zuko interrupted him.

"My lotus tile. For my pai sho game. You see," he began again, "I must have a lotus tile in order to employ my secret weapon in pai sho. I am so far unbeatable in pai sho as long as I use my lotus tile. So, that is why I have changed our course. I must find a new one, so that I can get on with my life."

Zuko stared incredulously. Maya burst out laughing at the stupid expression on his face, but he didn't seem to notice her. "You changed our course for a stupid lotus tile? What's wrong with you, Uncle? I need to be chasing the Avatar!"

"But don't you see?" Maya replied. "If Uncle doesn't get his lotus tile, then he can't go on with his life, and that means he'll die, and then you'll feel bad. So, actually it is more important right now that we get Uncle his lotus tile than for you to be chasing Aang."

Uncle chuckled and said, "Well, I don't know about that, but…"

At the same time, Zuko turned his gaze on her. "I can't believe you're encouraging this, Maya…"

She grinned widely and tried really hard not to laugh. "I think Uncle is rubbing off on me."

Zuko suddenly leaned his head back and let out a burst of flame from his mouth, which scared the crap out of Maya. Uncle just smiled and said, "I'm very lucky to have such an understanding nephew."

An hour or so later, they arrived at the little seaside town. For the next three hours or so, Maya followed Uncle around. They both searched in vain for the famed lotus tile, but any such item seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet. This seemed to make Uncle quite depressed, and in his depressed state, he ended up buying nearly everything in every shop.

Later, when they met Zuko outside a little teashop, Uncle explained the tragedy about how there were no lotus tiles in the entire marketplace!

Maya put her head back and put her arm on her forehead dramatically. "How can he ever get on with his life?"

"Would you stop that already?" Zuko shouted angrily. "It's nice to know that this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone!"

"Well," Uncle said, "not really." Just as he was speaking, three of the crewmembers staggered by, carrying a ridiculous amount of stuff back to the ship.

Zuko stared at them for a moment, and then he said, "And why did you buy all this useless crap, Uncle? I mean, really? A tsungi horn?"

"It's for music night on the ship. I always say, the only thing better than finding something you were looking for is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain."

Maya laughed. Oh, Uncle, she thought. Out loud, she said, "Well, that means we're done, right?"

"Not quite," Uncle replied, smiling mischievously.

"Ugh!" Zuko exclaimed. "What now?"

"I just found a place where they might have a lotus tile." He pointed to the docks, specifically at a particularly pirate-y looking ship.

Maya cringed. Her last run-in with pirates had ended in her near-death. Also, for some reason, this particular ship looked extremely foreboding, like some giant monster was hiding in its depths and was going to pop out and eat them all at any second.

She guessed that Uncle saw her expression, because he said, "I promise I will be quick. I just want to check, and then we'll be on our way."

She smiled. "Yes. We will be on our way, so that you can get –

"Don't even say it," Zuko interrupted.

When the little group stood just inside the ship, Maya felt a chill go up her spine. That was her second guess that something was wrong. Her third was when she looked up from a shelf-full of oddities to see one of the pirates staring at her. He wore a large, tri-corner hat and there was a big green parrot sitting on his shoulder. When she saw him, she froze for a moment, and then instinctually hid herself behind Uncle, who immediately noticed.

He gently pulled her aside. "What is it, Maya?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

"These pirates…" she began. "They're the same ones who… when I was attacked… before you found me… I mean –

"I see," he said. "Don't worry. Just act natural, and they will not even realize that you are on to them. Do not let them scare you. Neither I, nor Zuko would ever let anything happen to you."

This statement calmed her down a little. "Are you sure about that?" she said, jokingly raising an eyebrow in Zuko's direction.

"You still don't think he likes you, do you?"

"No. And I still think you're crazy."

Uncle did one of his belly-deep laughs. "Well, think what you want, Maya. Zuko likes you."

Suddenly, Zuko turned around and said, "What?"

Both Uncle and Maya jumped. "Uh… Nothing, Prince Zuko," Uncle said quickly.

A few minutes later, Maya was doubled over laughing at one of Uncle's crazy antics. He had been looking for something nice to buy, to add to the décor of the ship, and had come across an odd-looking money. The monkey was made of rock, but it had inlaid rubies around its neck, and rubies for eyes. It also had an overly-large, utterly creepy grin plastered across its face that reminded Maya of Commander Zhiao in the worst way possible.

Uncle was now holding the monkey next to his face in comparison and stretching his own grin as much as he could, in an attempt to make the thing seem less creepy. After Maya was done laughing, she said, "That's a pretty good likeness, Uncle. It's actually kind of scaring me more than before."

That was when she heard the words, "We lost the Water Tribe girl and the little bald monk she was traveling with." Slowly, she turned to look at Zuko.

He had already gone up to the pirate who had spoken and said, "This bald monk. Did he have an arrow on his head?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I've been looking for him." Zuko got a gleam in his eye. "I will pay you well if you help me track him down."

"Only if you help us get our waterbending scroll back. That stupid girl stole it from our shop."

"Deal."