Author's Note: Hey, guys. I keep forgetting to put these author's notes in here! . I have a terrible memory... Anyways! I'm sorry about the infrequency of my chapter updates. I just started college and I have a big test coming up in two days and I've been studying/reading a lot, and I haven't had time to write so I've been trying to space out the timing between updates so that I always have something to give you. (Sorry for the run-on sentence. Can I tell that I'm stressed yet, guys?) Sigh. Anyways, I would like to thank Topazione and booklover1598 for your continual support over the months. You guys are GREAT and inspire me to keep writing this fanfic! ... I think this A.N. has run on long enough. Happy Reading, and please Review! - Fira

Twenty-seven

It was nighttime. They had been searching for the Avatar since mid-afternoon, and now Maya guessed it was at least midnight. She was exhausted, but she was too afraid to fall asleep. The circumstances they were under were not good. One, she knew that every time Zuko tried to capture Aang, they always ended up in trouble somehow. Two, there were pirates on board their ship. The same pirates who had nearly killed her before. No. She was definitely not going to get any sleep that night.

She got up from her makeshift bed in the little boat that they were on, and went up on deck to join Zuko and Uncle. Earlier, Zuko had told the pirates to search the riverbanks for any sign of Aang and the others. When asked why, he'd replied, "They stole a waterbending scroll, right? So they'll be on the water."

So now they were going up and down the river, looking for any sign of the Avatar, although the pirates did not know that. Zuko had never told them that the boy they were looking for was the Avatar. He didn't want them turning mutinous on him.

By the time Maya joined them, Zuko had already figured out where Katara was. It wasn't hard to figure out. Even Maya could tell that she was there along the riverbank somewhere. She was making so much noise. At some point, it sounded like she said, "Stupid scroll!"

Zuko ordered their boat to be tied up at the bank a little downriver from where she was, so that she would not have the chance to run away or alert Aang that they were being followed. When they all got off, he ordered one of the pirates to go and capture her, and then followed silently behind. Maya went with him, promising him that she would be quiet as a mouse. Soon enough, she stood silently in a little copse of trees off to the side and watched as Katara was cornered. The pirate came up behind her, frightening her and causing her to turn to run away, which was when Zuko grabbed her by the wrists, smiling and saying, "I'll save you from the pirates."

Maya thought that was a little bit overdramatic, but it was definitely Zuko. He was the biggest drama queen she knew.

A few minutes later, they had Katara tied to a tree, while Zuko interrogated her about Aang's whereabouts. "Tell me where he is!" he shouted at her.

"No!" she shouted right back.

Zuko tried a different tactic. "Try to understand. I need the Avatar to restore something I've lost. Perhaps, in return, I can restore something you've lost." He took her necklace that he had found that day on the destroyed ship out of his pocket and flashed it in front of her face.

She gasped. "My mother's necklace! Where did you get that?" she snapped.

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean. Don't you want it back?"

"I will never tell you where he is!" she yelled. Then she looked directly at Maya. "I can't believe you're letting him do this! Aang told me you let him escape once. So why are you still on Zuko's side about this?"

Maya flinched. Great. Now Zuko would know about that.

"What?" he shouted, spinning to face her. "You let the Avatar escape once?"

"Um… Maybe," she said nervously. "It was that very first time, when he was on the ship right after we left the village at the South Pole. He escaped the guards and he was running around looking for his staff, and I saw him coming, and I just kind of let him go past me."

"I can't believe this! Have you been helping him the whole time?"

"No!" she yelled indignantly. "If he had ever tried to hurt you directly, I would have killed him myself. That day at Kyoshi Island, when he used the fans to slam you into that wall, if I hadn't been worried about your immediate survival, I probably would have beat the crap out of him for it! I thought you were dead before I checked your pulse…"

At this point, Maya knew she had said way too much. Had she just openly admitted to liking Zuko? What? But she didn't like Zuko! What the hell was the matter with her? She quickly looked at the ground, and was glad it was nighttime so that he would not see her blushing.

Any minute now, she was expecting him to do something horrible to her, or tell her that she wasn't allowed back on the ship, or something. But before he could say or do anything, one of the pirates stepped forward.

"I'm tired of this shit," he snapped. "What is this? A love-fest? Give me back my scroll, Scar Boy! I'm outta here!"

Maya looked up. She was fairly certain the Zuko was about to kick his ass for calling him "Scar Boy", but he looked surprisingly calm. He held the waterbending scroll with one hand and looked between it and the pirates. "I wonder how much this is worth?" he murmured. A moment later, he had started a fire in the palm of his other hand and was holding the scroll over the top of it.

All of the pirates simultaneously said something like, "No, don't!" or "Stop!"

Zuko grinned. "A lot, apparently. Now, listen. If you don't help me get what I want, you will never see your precious scroll again. Go search the woods for the boy and bring him back here. Now!"

The pirate leader – the one with the tri-corner hat and the green parrot – hesitated for a moment, and then he grumbled a few curse words and said, "Fine." With a flick of his hand, he and the other pirates spread out through the trees, to search for Aang.