Aaand, yes, I have not posted in a while. Please accept this humble peace offering. Also, we got a Mac (and it took forever for me to figure the dumb thing out. But I'm good now).

Chapter Seven: In Which There Are a Few More Probably Relevant Revelations

"So where are we going again?" Aang asked for the fifth time.

"Crescent Island," Zuko answered for the eleventh time. It wasn't until a while after Aang had woken back up that Zuko had remembered how excitable and, at times, immature Aang had acted during their first encounters. Ursa had become exasperated and gone to Azula's cabin to check up on her, while Lu Ten had claimed Aang to be the best thing since cheese, and promptly left to go check up on the engines. Iroh was sleeping in his room, which left Zuko to take care of Aang. At this point, he was starting to wonder how Katara and Sokka had ever lasted so long with him.

"Why? I'm sure there are some more airbenders that we could fi—"

"We are going to Crescent Island, so you can talk to Avatar Roku, and find out what is wrong with the universe!"

Aang looked around. "The universe is looking all right to me. And I really didn't understand anything that your cousin said was wrong with it."

"No one understands anything that Lu Ten says," Zuko grumbled.

"Why does he act like that, anyway? Did he get hit on the head or something?"

Zuko turned away. "Something like that," he replied flatly. Aang, possibly realizing that he had crossed into very personal territory, said nothing.

For ten seconds.

"Could we go to Kyoshi Island first?"

"What?" asked Zuko.

"Could we go to Kyoshi Island first? I want to ride the giant koi fish there."

"There is no Kyoshi Island," Zuko snapped. "Not anymore."

Aang stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"A few years back, a group of Freedom Fighters made for Kyoshi after destroying part of a major city," Zuko said quietly. "After they got there, three Fire Nation ships arrived and demanded that they be handed over. When night fell, the Freedom Fighters hijacked one of the ships and turned its weapons on the other two. In retaliation, the Fire Nation ships firestormed Kyoshi.

"Firestorm? Is that bad?" Aang asked.

"It's more like Kyoshi Barren Chunk of Shiny Rock That Sticks Out of the Water now," Lu Ten announced cheerfully, walking towards them holding a bucket of something… smelly. Considering who it was, Zuko wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

"Huh?" Aang asked. Zuko sighed.

"We were coming up on Kyoshi—we'd stopped over there before—when it happened. After the fact, the Freedom Fighters swore to avenge the dead, and left. Ursa and Lu Ten went ashore to look for survivors.

"They found three."

Aang stared for a moment. "No. No, no one would do that."

Zuko shook his head. "You haven't met Admiral Zhao yet."

"He hasn't?" asked Lu Ten incredulously.

"No. He hasn't." growled Zuko.

"Hm. If you look over the bow, you'll see Hidden Cove, where we are going to be stopping over briefly. I'm going to go find one of Ursa's hats, okay? Be right back." He hurled the bucket over the side, and left. Aang leaned over the side to watch the splash.

"What's Hidden Cove? And why did he throw the bucket over the side?" he asked.

"First question, Hidden Cove is what Lu Ten calls a trading port that is not called Hidden Cove and is not in fact hidden at all. And second question, this is Lu Ten we're talking… about…" Zuko trailed off, staring at the thick line on the horizon that showed what land was. "Oh… no…" He charged over to the bow, looked harder, and ran back to one of Lu Ten's speaking funnels.

"Is anyone on the bridge?" he shouted into it.

"Me," Lu Ten's voice came back. Zuko sighed.

"So what happened to Mother's hat?" he asked almost sarcastically.

"Oh, is that what I was doing?"

"Argh! That ship out there. Is that what I think it is?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Just TELL ME WHAT IT IS!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh. It's that pirate ship again. And it's at Hidden Cove."

Zuko was already walking toward his cabin, but he turned and ran back.

"Don't go there. Let me ashore a little ways away. And do not, by any account let those pirates see." He ran off again.

"What are you doing?" asked Aang, starting after him.

"Stay on board! You're not going to be ready until after you talk to Roku," Zuko snapped.

"What? Why?"

"Stay on board!"

Zuko slammed the door to his cabin, and looked under his bunk. He pulled a small chest out, and examined it. Then he slid it open.

"People fear a legend," he whispered. "Especially pirates."

In the chest, the blue mask grinned up at him.

Well, that's this chapter. Hopefully, I can update in the next three months.