When he was given the task, he thought that maybe it was easy, after all, how hard would it be to track a kid riding a flying furball with two water tribe kids and the dancer, they would stick out like a sore thumb anywhere. Turns out it was insanely hard as any sightings of Team Avatar led to different places with no clear path, honestly, if Naosong did not know any better he would say that they were just visiting a bunch of random spots, he knew that Zuko would probably blow his lid if he was told this.
That was why he left it to Iroh to tell the prince that they could not track the Avatar, he was his uncle after all, maybe it will help him digest the news, Naosong believed sarcastically as he kept his eyes on the map, trying to figure out a possible next move.
"Naosong!" Roared Zuko, startling the drunk navigator and bodyguard, causing him to slam his knee into the desk in front of him, breaking it, tipping over his wine.
"Damn it! Sorry, yes, Prince Zuko?" Naosong asked as he rubbed his knee, looking at the very angry prince.
"My uncle told me you couldn't find the Avatar, I need to find him!" He growled.
"Well, he's going randomly to these places, so it's hard to track. I currently have two theories, either he is an elusive master or he's visiting random spots and has no idea where he is going." Naosong stated, gesturing to the map, only to be met with an unimpressed glare.
"Naosong, do you really think the Avatar would waste time and visit random spots!?"
–
"Aang, I know you want to have fun, but do you think we should stop visiting these random spots and head for the north pole?" Itika asked her friend as she stroked their newest member, Momo, who chittered before jumping up to join Aang.
"Come on Itika, it's been a hundred years, I just want to stretch my legs before we start." Aang argued, prompting a wistful sigh from the older airbender, she admitted it was fun to travel and do these things, but she knew that Aang was delaying his training.
"By the way, do you have any idea where this place is?" Sokka chimed in as he examined the map.
"Well, I know it's near water." Aang stated weakly as the eldest of the group cast their eyes to the vast ocean beneath them.
"I guess, we're getting close then." Sokka said sarcastically, Itika frowned before placing one of her hands behind her back and suddenly, the map was blown into Sokka's face.
"Very breezy today."
"Hey Katara, check out this airbending trick" Aang stated as he held out his hands and spun two marbles around with a goofy grin, but he stopped when he realised that she was not watching.
"That's great, Aang." Katara said plainly, focusing on the sewing she was doing.
"You didn't even look." He said, crestfallen.
"That's great!" Katara said with fake enthusiasm, making Aang feel even more down.
"But I'm not doing it now."
"Stop bugging her, airhead." Sokka interrupted, prompting an eye roll from Itika, who was waiting to hear what he was going to say next.
"You need to give girls space when they do their sewing."
The air suddenly became a lot colder, even for being near the water as Itika was flashing Sokka, a very tense smile, her eyes screwed shut as what he said floated in the air, Aang was smart enough to put all his focus on the interesting empty ocean before them.
"Really? What does being a girl have to do with it?" Itika asked in a sickly sweet voice, preventing Katara from speaking as she watched the disaster unfold.
"Simple, girls are better at fixing pants than guys and guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things."
Sokka said aloud, completely missing the growing twitch on Itika's face as well as the frantic signs Aang was desperately trying to send him to shut his mouth, but it was too late as Itika's very forced smile turned to Katara.
"Maybe I should check those pants, make sure they are done well."
Katara handed them to the eighteen year monk who looked at the pants for a moment before she suddenly sneezed which caused the hole to double in size.
"Oh, clumsy me." she said sarcastically as she dropped them on the shocked boy's face as she sat back down and raised her hand, Momo leaping off Aang onto her lap as she stroked him.
"Ah Katara, could you?" Sokka asked before letting his jaw drop as his sister ignored him.
"Don't sorry, Sokka, where we're going you don't need pants!" Aang declared as they continued on their course.
Soon enough they touched down on the beach of a small island, much to the chagrin of Sokka who pointed out that they made camp the other day and Both Itika and Katara agreed that should probably make way to the north pole before long, however Aang insisted they stay due to how tired Appa was. The deadpan look from the three made it clear they did not buy it one hit, but Aang promised that this was the last distraction, something Itika did not fully trust and that was how they ended up sitting on the beach as Aang waded in the ocean.
Itika let her mind wander as Aang played with the Elephant Koi, while she hoped that they would not run into any more trouble on their journey, she worried about opponents and two came to mind. The prince that had captured Aang seemed more than determined to capture him, he literally tackled him mid air just so he did not escape, so he clearly was after them and that led to the second person, the one who drank. Itika was puzzled by him, while his fire bending was decent, it was clear that his talent hid in that style he revealed, the way he moved and attacked had thrown her off her rhythm and could prove to be a problem down the line.
"Aang, get out of the water!" Katara's panicked voice grabbed Itsuka's attention as she looked at Aang playing in the water, along with a menacingly large shadow swimming near him.
"Aang, get out now!" Itsuka called out, using her airbending to make a shout echo across the area, grabbing Aang's attention who noticed the shadow and did what anyone would and shot out of the water like a firework. Not soon after they decided to leave, but just as they were about to make their way to Appa, a group of figures appeared before they could react and tackled each of them, tying them up and blindfolding them.
After a trek and being tied to a pole, Itika had hoped that this would be a simple misunderstanding and they could be let go.
"You four have to answer our questions." Said a deep male voice.
"and if you don't we'll throw you to the Unagi." Said a younger female voice.
"Show yourselves, cowards!" Sokka shouted, making Itika wish he had been gagged as well.
Fortunately their blindfolds were taken off and they looked to see girls dressed in green dress like armour with painted faces and behind them stood an entire village who looked at them with pensive stares and an elder who glared at them.
"Where are the men who ambushed us?" Sokka demanded to know, Itika feeling her face twitch at Sokka's blatant sexism before praying his idiocy did not get them imprisoned or worse.
"There were no men, we ambushed you." Stated one of the girls who stood forward, clearly the leader of the group.
"There is no way a bunch of girls captured us." Sokka said.
"A bunch of girls, huh? The unagi is going to eat well." The leader said in a threatening tone as she glared at Sokka, ignoring Itika's protest
"I don't know this guy!" Itika quickly cried as she cursed this thick skulled nitwit and his mouth, she was not going to let him drag them down while Katara tried to defend her dim brother.
"Why have you come here?" The elder demanded, sending the group a scrutinising look.
"It's my fault, I brought them here." Aang admitted, feeling sorry that his friends were captured due to his choices.
"For all we know you can be fire nation spies, Kyoshi has managed to stay out of the war and we aim to keep it that way." The elder declared, causing both Aang and Itika eyes to widen at the name.
"Kyoshi, this place is named after Kyoshi, I know Kyoshi." Aang said, clearly happy to be somewhere he had been in a past life.
"Bah, how could you know Avatar Kyoshi, she was born on this island, she's been dead for centuries!" The Elder pointed out.
"I know her because I am the Avatar." Aang said, hoping it would be enough.
"That's impossible, the last Avatar is supposed to be an airbender."
"Throw the imposter and others to the Unagi."
Clearly it was not as the warriors of Kyoshi quickly advanced on them with their fan blades drawn.
"Aang, do some airbending!" Katara told Aang.
Fortunately, Aang heeded her and quickly flew up with his airbending, cutting his binds and landing atop the statue of Avatar Kyoshi.
"He is the Avatar." Everyone gasped in awe and shock as Aang floated down before them.
"Now, check this out." He said dramatically before doing his marble trick once more, Itika could not see it but she knew he was doing that silly smile of his, the village went crazy over this, one guy even started foaming at the mouth before collapsing, clearly the tension was now gone and Itika was grateful, especially at the sound of a feast being prepared.
–
The crashes alarmed many of the soldiers who walked past the room, causing them to either turn around or scurry past quickly, the shouting also made it worse, anyone would have assumed it was Zuko acting up again after hearing some bad news.
Only Zuko's room was the door next to it and the shouts were coming from the room of his bodyguard and navigator. Eventually, the Prince heard of the commotion and grew tired of the concerns from his troops and marched down to confront the issue.
"Naosong, what is the meaning of all this noise!?" He demanded to know as he banged his fist against the metal door, his mind briefly flashed back to similar moments like this, he prayed that Naosong was dressed this time.
He opened the door and looked inside and baulked at the destruction before him, the bed was overturned, the desk and table thrown to the side and shelves and boxes cleared out and at the centre sat Naosong who was sweating and looked dishevelled.
"It's all gone, not a drop left." He mumbled, Zuko barely managed to hear it, but when he processed the words, he took a breath and closed the door before slowly resting his face in one of his hands, a nearby guard watched with clear confusion.
"Go tell the helmsman we need to make a port as soon as possible." Zuko ordered suddenly, causing the guard to jump as he saluted and quickly went to go do as he was told.
"I've run dry!!!" Shouted Naosong through the metal walls, causing the guard to triple his pace as memories of the ship nearly sinking returned.
-
"They really know how to treat an Avatar!" Aang happily proclaimed as he enjoyed his dessert for breakfast, Itika nodded happily as she enjoyed the bounty of treats brought before them.
Itika enjoyed the comfort they found, Katara was also happy as she enjoyed the treats, much to their mutual amusement, the only person not enjoying himself was Sokka who had been sulking ever since they got released.
"Sokka, why aren't you eating?" Aang asked innocently, oblivious to his friend's damaged pride.
"I'm not hungry." He said gruffly, clearly annoyed.
"He's just upset that he got beaten by a bunch of girls." Katara said snidely, sharing an amused look with Itika.
"They ambushed me, that's all!" he snapped.
"Sorry, you got ambushed by a bunch of girls." Itika chimed, clearly enjoying this chance to have a crack at his male ego.
Sokka clearly had enough of being mocked and decided to head out, Itika could only imagine the trouble he was going to get into, although she shrugged and decided to have her own fun as she bid Aang and Katara a good day and left.
Itika spent her time walking around the village, enjoying the sight of children having fun and everyone enjoying a peaceful existence. Watching Aang being hounded by fangirls was particularly amusing.
Yet, Itika had to pull herself away from this as she decided to head to a decent spot where she was comfortable, taking a deep breath, she started her motions, she focused on the rhythm in her heart as she danced, her movements graceful and loose yet still deliberate. As she completed her basic motions, she allowed her mind to create an opponent to dance with, Itika set the tempo for this encounter and weaved around her opponent, allowing her style to take them by surprise, yet it was by surprise that her opponent disrupted the flow with his own fighting.
Suddenly, the unknown opponent looked alot more familiar as he swayed and moved in a drunken stupor, Itika began her dance anew as she tried to weave and incapacitate the Drunk, but his movements were erratic as he stumbled and attacked at random. It was tiresome for Itika as she tried her best to not resort to her bending because it would not help if her style could not land an attack, then Itika remembered something, with a single swift movement, she grabbed some dirt and flung it in a wide area that covered his face.
Her strategy formed as she began to mocking attack, saying taunts in her head and she saw the result she wanted as his anger boiled over and he lashed out, finally forced to fall into Itika's trap.
It was an assured victory as Itika finished her bout and relaxed, content that she had spent a decent amount of time training, sure she was ready for the next time she ran into the Drunk.
-
"Quick, keep it shut, we can't give up!"
"I don't want to die like this!!"
"We'll make it, we need to hold out a little longer."
The soldier cried out as they did their best to hold their position, but the beast was ruthlessly attacking their defences, if they fell now then they would all surely perish in the raging inferno that would come. Suddenly, the door was pushed open slightly as an unholy roar ripped through the gap.
"LemmeinIcanmakemore!!"
"Damnit, Naosong, get a grip!"
"We can't let you destroy the hull again!"
"Oh hogmonkeys, he's getting through!!"
The panic grew for the poor Fire Nation soldiers who were valiantly trying to keep their sobering navigator from the galley; they feared that they would not last until a voice broke through the chaos.
"Naosong, I have something for you!" Shouted the commanding voice of Prince Zuko, almost instantly, Naosong turned and faced his Prince who was holding a small bottle of what he hoped was wine.
"Aha! Zuko, you glorious Prince you, time to quench my thirst!" Naosong declared happily, and a little deliriously as he lunged forward to take the bottle.
Only for Zuko to move it out of reach just before he could grab it, Naosong's eye twitched as he looked at Zuko who held a serious and cool expression that contrasted Naosong's own manic one.
"My Prince, what's the deal?" Naosong said with an unsteady chuckle.
"The deal is we have word the Avatar is on Kyoshi Island, we need you to plot a course to get there and I'll ration this until we get there."
Zuko had barely finished uttering the last word when Naosong barrelled past him straight towards the bridge, after taking a moment to question how his life had gotten to this point, he walked over to the soldiers in the Galley who were also reeling, one was even crying in the corner.
"You all can take the day off for…obvious reasons."
"Thank you, sir…um." One soldier responded, looking a bit troubled, Zuko frowned as he wondered what else could go wrong.
"What is it?"
"My Prince, I mean no offence, but you did remember to lock the door to the engine, right?"
Zuko took a moment before he felt his eye twitch as he was about to run out of the Galley when everyone felt the ship lurch with a burst of speed, a manic roar filled the air as Zuko did his best to not ignore the irony that his bodyguard may be the thing that kills him in the end and chose to focus on catching the Avatar.