A/N: Two new chapters in one week! Don't say I never gave you anything, heh :)
Anyway, a big thank you to those who took time to review!
In response to reviewers from Chapter 14:
ArrayePL: Interesting interaction between Katara and Ozai.
= = = I hope that's interesting good and not interesting iiiinteresting ;-) Either way, I'm always glad to hear what you think and I appreciate the feedback! Thanks.
AnnaAza: Don't lose hope, Katara! I admit Zuko...hasn't made much progress, but he will! Oh, and Aang, too.
"Whee!" Lots of tension there! I really wonder if Ozai loved Ursa and how he could have forsaken/forgotten her love, because she clearly was willing to love and expressed it. He sees love as "foolish" and might have lingering longings for the past, but is really angry that a little Water Tribe peasant is "messing around" with his head or something.
= = = I'm glad you enjoyed the tension. I think we're starting to see into a part of Ozai that's been untouched for so long. Thanks for your ever-faithful reviews!
Zuko fanned the smoke away from his face, so thick his hand seemed to cut through it like a knife. Beside him Suki coughed while Sokka and Hakoda stifled a sickened groan.
"This is, uh, quite a place," Hakoda simpered, nearly choking over the words.
Zuko did not respond. The smoke hung heavily, permeating the room, forcing him to squint as he scanned his eyes over the grimy scene. Slowly he took the lead, weaving his way through drunken scuffles and overturned bar chairs toward the back of the tavern.
There she was. In the far right corner, surrounded by a swarm of barking, angry men. A drink in one hand, the poor chumps' shriveling hearts in the other as she shoveled yet another hefty reward onto her substantial mountain of coins. Her signature smoky makeup could not hide that predatory glint in her eyes.
Jun.
"Do you girls give up yet?" she taunted. "Or would you rather just empty the rest of your wallets right now?"
A surge of livid shouts and murmurs broke out amongst the men, some growling idle threats at the woman, others egging each other on to rise to the challenge, but none of them seemed eager to back up their own words with what remained of their meager fortunes.
"No one?" she repeated, eyeing the men with a smug grin. "What a shame. I was hoping to make enough to pay all your mothers for the favors they offered me tonight. I guess this will just have to do."
"Jun," Zuko called over the heated uproar, hidden by a wall of gritty, sweaty backs. The men turned their heads and stepped aside, the ruckus dying down as surprised whispers ofFire Lord hissed through the crowd.
"Ugh, you again? Don't you have better things to be doing? Like running a nation, perhaps?"
"I need your help."
"If it involves one your creepy grandpa's smelly shoes again, you can count me out," she said as she began shoveling the coins into a leather satchel. The crowd around them began to disperse, the drunken saps stumbling on to find the next hollow distraction.
"He's my uncle. And it's not him I'm looking for."
Jun paused for a moment, shifting her gaze past Zuko to skim the other faces standing behind him.
"I see your girlfriend's not here. She run off on you again?"
Zuko tensed slightly and glanced at Hakoda from the corner of his eye.
"She's been kidnapped."
"Well, at least you're not in denial over her anymore. Honestly, I could see through you two like glass on a sunny day."
"Listen, I don't have time for this! She's in a very dangerous hostage situation. You may have heard about the Capital City Prison break, that former Fire Lord Ozai has escaped…"
Her smirk faded slightly, dropping her gaze down to the craggy wooden table. She finished scraping up the last of her reward as he continued.
"You have to help us. We're running out of time. And there's no one else who can track people down with your kind of speed. It's not only about finding Katara – we've got to stop my father before he does something terrible and thrusts the world into chaos again."
Jun tied her satchel shut turned to him with an atypically sincere expression. "I wish I could help you. I honestly do. But my baby, Nyla, is dead. She was killed a few months ago while on a job. Without her… I'm afraid I'm not much use to you. I'm sorry."
Despair sunk his heart like a ball of lead. Jun was their last hope of a timely rescue; without her, it would be nothing but a guessing game and they could not afford that. They would never find them in time.
"But," Jun added, yielding to the anguish on his face, "there is someone I know who may be able to help you. She lives just over the hill here to the north. Seems I'm about finished here anyway. I'll take you to her if you want."
"Yes. Please. Anything you think might help."
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
Dusk was beginning its somber descent, trading the sky's pinks and oranges for darker hues of purple and blue, as they left the tavern and followed Jun up and finally over a steeply climbing hill.
The lonely, decrepit cabin was nestled at the foot of the hill just outside a vast expanse of trees. Judging from its exterior, it hardly seemed possible that anyone could be living there. The thatched roof was falling away in places, the logs that made up the house were beginning to rot, and the tall grass at its base reached up to over half its height, engulfing it like the spindly tentacles of a centipus trying to swallow it whole.
They arrived at the front door and Jun knocked her fist against the splintering wood with unrestrained vigor. How the door had managed to stay on its brittle, rusting hinges as long as it had, Zuko had no idea.
"Who's there?" came a muffled female voice from inside.
"A friend," Jun answered back.
A short pause, then shuffling footsteps, the unbolting of multiple locks, and finally the door opened just wide enough for a pair of eyes to peek through.
"Jun?"
"Hi, Genshi."
"What are you doing here?" The eyes drifted past the bounty hunter to the unfamiliar faces behind her. Without waiting for an answer, she asked, "Who are they?"
"Just some friends. Can we come in?"
The pair of eyes blinked hesitantly. The door did not budge.
"Don't worry, you can trust them," Jun added in answer to the unspoken question.
A momentary pause, and then the door slowly creaked open, revealing a shabby interior bathed in modest candlelight and scattered with a vast assortment of odds and ends. Books, pots and pans, papers, half-eaten food, gadgets and trinkets for who-knows-what. And in the center of it all stood what appeared to Zuko as the unlikeliest of people to lay claim to such an abode. She was tall and slender, fair-skinned, with long raven hair and green hazel eyes. She was young, attractive, probably in her late twenties if he had to guess, though there was a world-weariness in her eyes that suggested she could have been older.
"Genshi, allow me to introduce Fire Lord Zuko."
"Uh, hi there," Zuko nodded politely, shifting bashfully as the girl's mouth gaped open. Knowing Jun was likely ignorant of the others' names, he quickly took the initiative, anxious to shirk the attention. "And this is Suki, Sokka, and his father Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe," he said, gesturing toward them.
"It's an honor to meet you in person, Fire Lord," Genshi bowed meekly. "And you, Chief. All of you. But…" her voice trailed off as she turned back to the bounty hunter, "I don't mean to be rude, Jun, but… is there something I can do for you?"
"Yes, that's why we're here. We need your help. Or rather, they need your help. They need to find someone and they're rather crunched for time. The first person who came to my mind of course was you."
Jun stared at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting for the implicit question to sink in, an entire unspoken conversation passing between the two women. A wave of recognition washed over Genshi's face followed quickly by an undertow of dread.
"No, Jun. Absolutely not. You know I gave that up a long time ago. Don't ask me to do it again."
"Wait, Genshi, just hear them out. Then, if you're still so opposed to it, you can kick us to the curb and we won't bother you again."
Zuko glanced nervously at Jun. What was she doing? He hoped it was just part of her plan, that she would not walk away as easily as that. Knowing Jun, he could not be so sure.
Genshi slumped her shoulders in resignation, folding her arms over her chest. "Fine. I'm listening."
Jun nodded to Zuko; he took the cue, clearing his throat. As concisely as possible, he explained everything she needed to know about the situation and the stakes they were up against, still not sure how the girl would play into any of it.
As Zuko finished, Jun wasted no time in seizing the conversation again. "You see, Genshi…" she lilted, like a mother trying to encourage her timid child. It seemed incredibly counterfeit and unbefitting of her, but Genshi did not seem to notice. "You may be the only one capable of helping them. If Ozai isn't stopped soon, before it's too late, there's no telling what could happen. Can you really live with something of that magnitude on your conscience for the rest of your life?"
The young woman faltered for a moment, then rolled her eyes and heaved an embellished sigh. "Ugghh, damn you, Jun. All I ever wanted was a life of peace and quiet. A life of normalcy. Is that too much to ask?"
So that was her plan, Zuko thought. Bait and switch.
"What is it you do exactly?" Suki chimed in, speaking for everyone's curiosity.
"She's a conjurer," Jun stated.
"Was a conjurer," Genshi quickly corrected her.
"One of the last known to exist. She has a special ability that allows her to see into one's thoughts to conjure a vision of the unknown, relative to those thoughts. In the case of Pouty's girlfriend, she might be able to use an image of the girl in his mind to conjure a vision of her now – her welfare, surroundings, and maybe even the general direction in which find her."
"Are you serious?!" Sokka exclaimed. "What are we waiting for?"
"Hold on a second, not so fast. Jun may be right," Genshi interjected, shooting a quick glare at the bounty hunter, "but there are some things I should tell you before you get too excited. First of all, I haven't done anything like this in… years. It's possible that my abilities have weakened past the point of usefulness."
Jun crossed her arms and tilted her head in a condescending smirk that said, I'm not buying it. With another labored sigh, Genshi continued.
"Secondly, even if I am able to help, I won't be able to tell you her exact location. All I can see are the immediate surroundings, and sense in which direction to go from here. The people themselves are usually blurs, but I can see their auras which can tell me their state of body and mind. But you see, there are many limitations to my abilities. You may want to reconsider staking all your chances on me. I can't guarantee you anything."
The room fell silent for a moment, the four travelers exchanging questioning glances. Finally Zuko turned to back Genshi. "You're still the best chance we have," he said. "It would be far worse not to try it – to try anything – at this point." He paused, searching her face for acquiescence. "So… will you help us?"
Genshi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "All right," she conceded, shaking her head in spite of herself. "I'll do what I can. But first things first. We need to see if I can even call myself a conjurer anymore." She took a step toward Zuko and held up her hands toward his face. "Fire Lord, if I may…"
Zuko tilted his head forward, the girl's fingertips coming to rest on both of his temples.
"I need you to think about her. As clearly and with as much detail as you possibly can. The more vivid your thoughts, the more accurate the vision will be."
He inhaled slowly and deeply, clearing his mind of all thoughts but one: Katara.
"When I conjure the vision, both you and I will see the same thing at the same time. I must warn you though that it can be quite exhausting, both physically and mentally. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I'm sure." He had never been more sure. About anything. Whatever it took – even if it was his dying breath – he would find her.
Genshi closed her eyes, her brows furrowed in concentration. Several moments passed but nothing happened. He felt nothing. Saw nothing. He was beginning to think that perhaps she had lost her power after all when a sudden surge of energy coursed through his body, at once refreshingly cool and blisteringly hot, exhilarating and painful both. His head began pounding, inundated by a strange white void spreading through his mind like a fever. Behind that, an ear-splitting groan was mounting like a hundred wailing banshees, louder and louder until he thought his ears were going to bleed.
A throaty grunt of pain escaped through his clenched teeth. His limbs were growing heavy and against his will Zuko's knees buckled underneath him, dropping his exhausted body to the floor. But for a brief instant, he saw it.
A flash of golden trees, a glistening river. And then a fleeting glimpse, a familiar form. Faint and hazy, like looking through a fogged window. His heart leapt in his chest.
Katara.
A/N: Thanks to all you readers and those of you who are "favoriting" and "story alerting." But you know what's even more terrific? Leaving a review :) Please don't forget to do this. My tank has been kind of sputtering the last couple of chapters and your feedback really does wonders for my motivation! Love it? Hate it? Constructive criticism is always welcome here:)