"We've got to get back to the surface!" Aang shouted as he and his companions zigzagged through the maze of towering bookshelves. An ear-piercing screech sounded behind them, and he grimaced fearfully when he looked over his shoulder to see Wan Shi Tong rounding the corner.
He stopped for a moment and motioned for his friends to continue running while he turned to face the owl spirit head on, gripping his staff tightly. He waited for the spirit to get just close enough, then whipped his staff sideways, slamming an air blast into the creature that sent it flying over the edge of the balcony.
Hopefully that'll keep him off our tails long enough for us to get out, Aang thought as he used a gust of air to speed himself forward to catch up with Sokka, Katara, and Zei.
"Sokka, we have to go!" Katara yelled at her brother as Aang came to a stop next to them.
"But we don't know when the next eclipse is gonna be!" Sokka replied, pulling his arm out of his sister's grasp. "The planetarium can tell us! It's the only way we'll find out!"
"Well, what are you going to do?" Katara questioned, hands on her hips. "Just keep putting in dates until you get an eclipse? The next one could be years from now! We don't have that kind of time!"
"Well… Maybe we can at least put in all the dates before Sozin's Comet!" Sokka argued.
"No," Aang said firmly, causing both Water Tribe siblings to look at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, Sokka, but that would take way too long. It's not worth risking our lives."
"If I might add," Professor Zei interjected. "There are other ways to acquire the information you seek. All you need to do is consult an astronomer—we have several at the university."
"See?" Katara said.
Sokka's brow furrowed, and he looked back towards the direction of the planetarium with uncertainty.
Before the warrior could argue further, however, a screech echoed from somewhere far below, and the ground began to shake even more violently than before.
"We have to keep going!" Aang shouted. "He'll be back before long!"
He waved them forward again, and they headed for the stairwell, climbing as fast as they could until at last, they managed to make it to the topmost bridge.
As they reached the rope that they had used to enter the library, Aang turned around to allow his friends to go first. However, he quickly realized Zei was not among them.
"Professor?" he called out, scanning the room anxiously.
"I'm not leaving."
At last, Aang spotted the man sitting down between the bookshelves across the bridge, surrounded by his stack of books and appearing strangely calm.
"I can't leave," Zei replied with a serene smile. "I've spent too long trying to find this place. There's not another collection of knowledge like this on earth."
He sighed, pressing a hand to his chest and closing his eyes.
"I could spend an eternity in here..."
"NO!" Aang shouted, shaking his head rapidly as he began to run towards the man. "I'm not leaving anyone behind!"
However, before he could reach the man, a large, dark shape ascended from below, and Wan Shi Tong landed with a heavy thud between them, his long neck bristling.
"Please," Aang pleaded. "You don't have to do this!"
"Yes, I do," Wan Shi Tong replied darkly. "Humans know how to do nothing but cause destruction and ruin."
Aang shook his head. "You were fond of humans once! You created this library to document our history!"
Wan Shi Tong's eyes narrowed. "I did not know at the time what atrocities humanity could be capable of."
"You have to know deep down that we're not all the same," Aang argued. "Yes, humanity is capable of great evil. But we also have the capacity to learn, and change, and grow for the better. Your library could be a place where people from all over the world could have a chance to do that!"
"You Avatars have always been biased towards humanity," Wan Shi Fong replied with a scoff. "I will not be so easily swayed by your words this time."
With a squawk, the owl spirit lunged at Aang with his beak, and he leapt backwards.
He had no choice. They had to escape.
With a slam of his staff, he sent as powerful of an air blast as he could muster, hurling it into Wan Shi Tong, who was tossed backwards with a grunt.
"Everyone grab on tight!" Aang instructed, flicking his glider open and leaping into the air. As he swooped towards Katara and Sokka, they grabbed onto his ankles, Momo chittering anxiously as he circled them.
He heard the siblings scream from below, and he looked down to see that Wan Shi Tong was hot on their tail, flying up after them, just barely close enough to nip at Sokka's foot.
"AANG, PLEASE FLY FASTER!" the warrior shouted in a panic.
"I'M TRYING!" Aang replied, his heart pounding in his chest.
He turned his glider sideways as he soared through a window at the top of the spire, both Water Tribe siblings still screaming.
With a thud and several grunts, they tumbled into the sand, and as he looked up, he watched the library sink rapidly into the sand within seconds.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, he shook his head and looked down to see that Toph was sitting on the ground, her back facing him and her head hanging low.
"Toph?" he questioned, pushing himself to his feet and jogging over to the small girl. "Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry..." Toph replied, her voice high-pitched and strained. "I had to keep it from sinking…"
Aang shook his head in confusion. "What? Why would you be sorry?"
"Um, this may be a dumb question," Sokka interjected. "But… where's Appa?"
Aang immediately frowned upon hearing this, and he turned to see both Water Tribe siblings scanning the area with concerned looks on their faces as Momo flew in circles above them.
He looked back down at the earthbender, who was still sitting on the sand, her knees curled up to her chest.
"He's gone," she replied quietly, shaking her head.
At that moment, Aang felt his heart drop into his stomach. Slowly, a ringing sound began to grow in intensity within his ears, and a sensation of numbness began to creep up over his entire body.
No. This wasn't real. This wasn't happening.
"What do you mean he's gone…?" Aang murmured, his unfocused eyes beginning to sting with tears.
"Sandbenders… they took him."
Sandbenders… took Appa?
Suddenly, his feelings of numbness were replaced by an all-consuming feeling of rage, and his body began to shake violently.
"How could you let them take Appa?!" he shouted as tears began to stream freely down his cheeks. "Why didn't you stop them?!"
"I– I couldn't!" Toph replied, turning around and looking back up at him with a startled expression. "The library was sinking, and you guys were still inside—"
"You could have come to get us!" he interrupted angrily. "I could've saved him!"
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here!" Toph defended, standing up. "The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for–"
"You just didn't care!" he snapped harshly. "You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!"
"Aang, stop it!" Katara interjected, putting herself between the two, her expression stern. "You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives!"
"Who's going to save our lives now?" Sokka interjected. "We'll never make it out of here."
"That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves!" Aang shouted, throwing his hands up into the air as he marched away from them. "You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"
"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting right now!" Katara replied.
Aang shook his head again, gripping his staff tightly in his hands. "I'm going after Appa."
"Aang, wait!" Katara called out from behind him as he opened his glider.
He ignored her, and took off.
"Appa!" Aang shouted out into the now darkening evening sky, his voice hoarse. "Appa!"
He landed atop one of the many dunes below, and with a deep breath, blew into his bison whistle for what had to be the hundredth time.
No answer.
He felt his eyes begin to sting with tears again as guilt, anger, and grief swirled together in a horrible mixture in his aching chest. It was no use. Appa's captors were likely too far away at this point.
"No…" he murmured to himself.
He clenched his fist at his side, his entire body shaking.
"NO!" he screamed, swiping his staff downward and striking the sand with a powerful air blast.
He fell to his knees, squeezing his eyes closed and sobbing quietly as he pressed his face into the palms of his hands. The dull ache he was now beginning to feel in his body was nothing compared to the aching in his heart.
When he at last opened his stinging eyes again, the sky was dark, save for the dim light of the moon and stars. He wasn't even certain how long he'd been sitting there.
The one thing he was certain of, however, was the painful reality of his failures.
He'd failed to prevent the library's destruction. All of that priceless, irreplaceable knowledge, now gone. The Air Nomad texts—the history of his people—was lost forever.
He'd failed Professor Zei. What was going to happen to the man now that Wan Shi Tong had sunk his library? Would he die? Would he be trapped in the Spirit World for the rest of his life?
He'd failed Appa. Failed to protect him, to foresee the danger the bison had been in from the moment they'd arrive at Misty Palms. Appa, who had trusted him more than anyone in the world. Appa, the one living, breathing connection he had to his people and culture left on earth. Appa, who at this very moment was likely alone, scared, and hurt, not knowing or understanding what had happened to him.
And now, I'm stranded in the middle of the desert, Aang thought as the tears welled up in his eyes again. No food, no water. No directions.
…Am I going to die out here?
What a cruel joke that would be. The first Avatar in existence to die because they got lost in the desert and starved to death.
And what about Katara, Toph, and Sokka, who he'd simply left behind without a thought to go search for Appa? Would they survive? And what about Iroh and Zuko waiting for them back in Misty Palms?
Zuko.
His eyes snapped open, and he sucked in a sharp breath of air.
If he didn't make it out of the desert, he might never see Zuko again.
The thought struck him as if he'd been punched in the gut. He couldn't believe he hadn't even considered the possibility.
The Fire Prince and his uncle had to be worried sick by now. They had been supposed to return that afternoon.
He recalled how distraught he'd been in Agna Qel'a when Zuko and Iroh had been kidnapped. How he had been losing his mind with worry.
Was Zuko now feeling the same way?
The only consolation he could cling to at that moment was that at least this time, he knew where Zuko was, and that he was safe.
"Aang? Aang!"
Aang's brow furrowed as the sound of Katara's yell echoed in the distance behind him.
"Are you alright?" the waterbender asked as he turned his head towards the direction her voice was coming from and saw her, Sokka, and Toph approaching. "We thought we'd lost track of you, but then we saw–"
"A giant mushroom!" Sokka interjected with a strangely wide smile as he picked up Momo under the arms and began to twirl around in the air.
Katara pinched her nose bridge. "Ignore him. He drank some… suspicious liquid from–"
"Cactus juice!" Sokka interrupted with a very exaggerated wink and thumbs up. "It's the quenchiest! "
"... And now he's acting weird," Katara finished with a heavy sigh. "By 'giant mushroom', he means we saw… something that looked like an explosion. Was that…?"
Aang sighed heavily as he pushed himself to his feet, brushing the sand off of his knees. "I'm fine, Katara."
Katara opened her mouth again as if to say something else, but closed it after a moment. "Well… I'm glad for that. Did you… find any clues as to where Appa might be?"
"...What do you think?" Aang muttered, staring at the ground.
"I'm sorry, Aang," Katara said sympathetically, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard for you right now, but…"
Aang jerked himself away from her, and remained silent.
"...It's been a long day," Katara sighed. "Why don't we take some time to rest and figure out what to do? If we work together, we can come up with a plan to get out of—"
"What's the point?" Aang interjected. "We'll never survive without Appa."
"Don't talk like that, Aang," Katara replied with a frown. "I know we're all exhausted and scared. But we can't lose hope."
Hope, Aang thought with a snort. What hope do we have?
"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka interjected in a breathy tone, stumbling over to Aang and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Are you gonna turn into a giant fish again?"
Aang's nose twitched as a spike of irritation coursed through him.
"Get off me," he snapped, pulling himself out of the Water Tribe boy's grip. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault?" Sokka repeated with a confused expression.
"Yes!" Aang raged. "If you'd hadn't been so obsessed with getting that stupid information about that stupid eclipse, we could have left before the sandbenders could get Appa, and the library would still be here!"
"Aang–" Katara began.
"What, Katara?" Aang interrupted, spinning to glare at her. "There's nothing you can say right now that will make this situation better!"
"Well, throwing blame around isn't going to do that either!" Katara argued, puffing up her chest and standing up tall in a refusal to back down. "It's only going to make things worse!"
Aang continued glaring down at the Water Tribe girl for a moment before huffing and turning back around.
He knew she was right. But that didn't help calm his anger.
"It's my fault we're lost…?" Sokka said, looking genuinely distraught. "I'm sorry, captain. I failed to avoid the rocks, and our ship sank…"
Aang turned around and stared at the warrior incredulously as he watched him drop to his knees and hang his head.
"Please, proceed with the execution… I don't deserve to live," the Water Tribe boy groaned dramatically, as if he were performing in a play.
"Sokka, I'm not gonna– Ugh!" Aang grunted exasperatedly, closing his eyes and pinching his nose bridge as he turned away again.
The fact that the warrior was clearly not in his right mind somehow simultaneously infuriated him, but also made it difficult for him to stay angry. How could he be mad at someone who couldn't even comprehend what they'd done wrong?
"Katara, can I have some more water?" a fatigued-looking Toph asked, shuffling over to the waterbender.
"You can have a little bit more, but it's all we've got, so we need to ration it," Katara replied, uncorking her water pouch and bending the water out of it. She moved a portion of it into Toph's open mouth, then into Sokka and Momo's.
"Here," she said, bending a blob over to Aang. "You need to stay hydrated too."
Aang lifted his hands to take the water from her using his own bending and sent it into his open mouth. He grimaced slightly at the taste; seeing as it was bending water, it was not very fresh.
"We can rest for a bit longer," Katara continued. "But as I was saying, we should try to come up with a plan for how to get out of here. We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?"
"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding," Toph replied, shaking her head. "I got nothin'."
"Sokka?" Katara attempted, turning to her brother, who was now laying flat on his back, his eyes wide. "Any ideas how to find our way back to Misty Palms?"
"Why don't we ask Princess Yue?" he replied dreamily, pointing to the sky.
As Aang looked up at the moon, his eyes widened as he spotted a familiar large black shape passing over it.
"Appa!" he exclaimed in joy and relief, bolting to his feet.
"Appa? But why would Princess Yue need him?" Sokka questioned, rubbing Momo's tail against his cheek. "She's the moon! She flies by herself!"
As Aang continued watching the shape, his smile slowly disappeared when he realized what it actually was.
"It's just a cloud," Katara sighed as she walked up next to him. "...Wait! A cloud!" she exclaimed, removing her water pouch and holding it up to him. "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch."
Aang turned to glare at her, then snatched the pouch from her hands and flew up to the cloud, bending what little he could into the pouch before landing and handing it back.
"Wow... there's hardly any in here," Katara said disappointedly as she peered into the pouch.
"I'm sorry, okay!" Aang snapped. "It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?!" He lifted his staff and pointed it directly at her. "What are you doing?!"
Katara did not immediately respond, instead staring back at him with a shocked expression.
"...Trying to keep everyone together," she sighed, closing her eyes. "We need to get moving soon. If we travel as much as we can during the night when it's cool, we can rest during the day when it's hot."
"But how do we even know what direction to go in?" Toph questioned. "Didn't you say you guys left the map in Appa's saddle?"
Katara placed her hand contemplatively on her chin for a moment before her eyebrows rose in realization. "Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library," she said, turning to her brother.
"What?! I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?" Sokka replied, hugging his satchel close, his eyes wide and paranoid. "It was you! " he pointed accusingly at Momo. "You ratted me out!"
"Sokka, I was there," Katara sighed, taking his satchel from him. "We can find out which way Misty Palms Oasis is by using the stars to guide us."
She unfurled one of the scrolls from the satchel, which showed a map of constellations.
"According to this," she continued, looking up at the sky. "West is… that direction. And if I remember correctly, Professor Zei marked the library on his map as being somewhere in the northeast part of the desert… meaning we should head southwest."
"Then we shouldn't waste any more time," Aang said, gripping his staff tightly. "Let's go."
Zuko blinked his tired, dry eyes as he stared at the ceiling, his hands gripping tightly at the bed sheets.
Judging by the faint light that was now filtering into the room from the window to his right, it seemed dawn was approaching.
He turned his head to look over at his uncle, who was snoring loudly in the bed to his left. When his friends hadn't returned after dinner the previous evening, Zuko had decided to take Aang and Sokka's vacant bed that night, sleeping on the same side that Aang had used the night prior.
Please be okay, Aang.
He maneuvered himself to lay on his left side, pressing the scarred portion of his face into the pillow and hugging it close as tears formed in his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he swore he caught a faint whiff of Aang's familiar, comforting scent of sandalwood as he breathed in through his nose. His heart ached.
Trying to sleep that entire night had been a challenge, to say the least. Every time he'd dared to close his eyes and drift off, nightmares had plagued him. The giant owl, chasing him down an endless corridor. The screams of his friends echoing in the distance. Flashes of Aang's face, distraught and stained with tears.
Of course, these dreams could, theoretically, simply be a psychological phenomenon. A product of his intense anxiety.
However, something deep within his gut told him that they were not.
With a sharp inhale, Zuko sat up, swinging his legs over and hopping to his feet. He grabbed his bag from the foot of the bed and placed it onto the corner table, where he began to pack up his belongings and some items from Iroh's grocery basket.
He couldn't just sit around and wait anymore.
"Prince Zuko?"
Zuko turned to see a yawning Iroh sitting up, rubbing his eye.
"...What are you doing?"
"I'm going to go find them," Zuko replied, picking up his outer vest and putting it on. He then retrieved his bamboo hat and placed it on his head.
"What?" Iroh replied confusedly.
"Don't try to stop me, uncle," Zuko said, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he walked over to the door and pulled on his shoes.
"Zuko!" Iroh interjected, scrambling out of bed. "Wait!"
Zuko ignored his uncle's pleas as he exited the room and marched away from the inn into the soft light of early dawn. As he walked, he pulled his bamboo hat down slightly to cover more of his face; he really did not want to deal with any vagrants or bounty hunters right now.
"Zuko!"
He continued walking until he arrived at the center of town, which was thankfully, for the most part, devoid of people, likely due to the early hour. He stopped for a moment and frowned as he spotted a familiar sun-bleached wanted poster hanging on the crowded local bulletin board. This poster featured small portraits of his uncle, himself, and Aang with a list of their crimes. While it was slightly different from the ones he'd seen before, it appeared that the Fire Nation had still not bothered to update their portraits in the past two years, as he and Aang both appeared noticeably younger.
He looked over both of his shoulders carefully to ensure none of the few residents who were out and about were paying attention, and ripped the poster off of the board with a grunt, crumpling it in his fist and burning it to a crisp before discarding the ashes onto the ground.
Before he could take another step forward, however, he felt a hand grab his wrist.
"Zuko, I understand you're worried, but you can't just venture into the desert on your own!" Iroh pleaded from behind him.
"They're in trouble, uncle!" Zuko snapped, spinning around to glare at the former general. "I can feel it. I'm not going to waste time sitting around and waiting anymore. I'm going to find them."
"And how are you going to do that?" Iroh hissed, his expression scrunching up with clear frustration. "You aren't thinking this through! You have no idea where they went. You don't have any method of transportation, and you've barely packed enough food for one day!"
"I would have figured something out on my own!" Zuko argued. "You didn't even give me a chance to–"
"No!" Iroh interrupted. "The Si Wong Desert is harsh and unforgiving, Zuko! Venturing into it unprepared would be suicide."
Zuko blinked several times, taken aback by his uncle's harsh words. After a moment, his gaze lowered to the ground.
"What else am I supposed to do?" he asked quietly, his voice breaking. "I have to do something. If I sit around here for much longer, I think I'll go crazy.. . "
Iroh's harsh gaze softened as Zuko looked back up at him.
"You forget that you don't have to do this alone, Zuko," Iroh sighed, putting his hands on top of Zuko's shoulders.
Zuko shook his head. "You can't come with me. You're still hurt."
"I will be just fine," Iroh replied. "You think I've never dealt with a burn wound before? I've dealt with much worse than this without proper medicine or treatment and survived."
Zuko's brow furrowed as he bit his lip, uncertain.
Before either of them could speak further, their attentions were drawn to the town's entrance, where they spotted a scrawny-looking man running directly towards them, stumbling as he nearly tripped over himself.
"Are you alright, young man?" Iroh questioned as the man stopped and hunched over, clearly catching his breath.
"Please," the man begged, suddenly grabbing Iroh by the shirt, his anxious eyes repeatedly darting over his shoulder. "Please, if a scary-looking woman comes through here and starts asking questions, I was never here, okay?"
Zuko snorted and folded his arms. "What, did you piss off your girlfriend or something?"
"Just… don't say anything, please!" the man pleaded, taking one last fearful look over his shoulder before darting away.
"What is he talking about?" Zuko questioned.
Suddenly, he heard a growling noise, and they both turned back around to see a lithe, ferocious-looking creature galloping into town. This creature seemed to have no eyes, and had a strange, almost star-shaped nose.
In a saddle atop the beast's back sat a woman appearing to be in her mid to late thirties. In contrast to her fearsome mount, the woman herself was rather beautiful. Her long, neatly groomed black hair was styled in a half topknot decorated with a headpiece in the shape of a skull, and her skin was pale and flawless. She almost reminded Zuko of an older version of Mai.
The beast the woman rode snarled and snorted, scrambling from house to house erratically. The noise seemed to be enough to wake several Misty Palms residents, who were now exiting their houses.
"A bounty hunter?" Zuko questioned.
Suddenly, the beast whipped its head directly towards them, and Zuko's eyes widened with terror.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no! he thought frantically, his blood running cold as the beast galloped towards them. It was far too late to run.
Shit!
The creature growled as it stopped with its snout inches away from a wide-eyed Iroh. It sniffed at his shirt several times, then turned to gallop down a different street.
…She's not after us?
A yelp soon sounded from somewhere in the general direction that the woman and her beast had gone. Curiosity getting the best of him, against his better judgment, Zuko followed, and as he turned the corner, he spotted the beast rummaging through a stack of boxes and barrels.
"You can try to hide," the woman said. "But there's no target Nyla here can't sniff out."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, one of the barrels fell onto its side, and the same man from earlier scrambled out of it, panting and terrified as he began to run back towards Iroh and Zuko.
"There you are," the woman said with a smirk. "Get him, boy!"
With a snarl, her beast turned back around and galloped after the fleeing man, and Zuko's eyes widened as a long, barbed tongue darted out of its mouth and lashed the man on the leg, causing him to immediately tumble to the ground.
"I… I can't… I can't move!" the man cried out.
"That would be the shirshu toxin," the woman said, picking the man up and slinging him over her shoulder with a grunt. "Don't worry. The paralysis only lasts about an hour. By that time, you'll be in jail, and I'll have my money."
Zuko stared wide-eyed at this scene for a moment, his brain running several miles a minute. This woman was indeed a bounty hunter. And it seemed she was very good at her job.
"Excuse me!" he said, running up to her as she placed the criminal onto the back of her shirshu.
The woman turned around, an eyebrow slightly raised. Zuko stopped in his tracks, paling slightly as he suddenly realized that, being a bounty hunter, she might very likely recognize himself and Iroh from their wanted posters.
"What do you want, kid? I'm kinda busy right now."
Zuko released the breath he'd been holding. It seemed she didn't recognize him.
"Um," he replied awkwardly as Iroh jogged over to them. "My name is Lee, and this is my uncle, Mushi."
"I must say, that was very impressive!" Iroh interjected, his hands folded together in front of his chest.
Zuko scrunched his nose slightly as he noticed the way his uncle's eyes were shining in admiration as he spoke to the woman.
"I'm afraid Nyla's the impressive one, not me," the woman replied, patting the intimidating beast on the neck.
"You said there's no target he can't sniff out," Zuko said. "Is that true?"
"Yep," the woman replied, turning to put both of her hands on the saddle. "Now, if you'll excuse me–"
"We want to hire you!" Zuko interrupted.
At last, the woman's interest seemed to be piqued, and she turned back to face him, folding her arms as her dark gray eyes surveyed the two of them. "No offense, but you two don't exactly look like the type to be putting out a bounty on anyone."
"This isn't about a bounty," Zuko replied, shaking his head. "It's about finding someone who's very important to me. Someone who might be in trouble. It's urgent."
The woman nodded slowly. "Ah. So this is about love?"
Zuko felt his face begin to burn hotly upon hearing the woman's unexpected reply.
"I– I don't– Th– that's not–" he stuttered, glancing nervously at Iroh as the woman smirked at him in clear amusement. He sighed heavily and pinched his nose bridge. "It's not just one person," he clarified, clearing his throat. "Several of my friends went out into the desert yesterday morning, and they were supposed to return before nightfall. But they didn't. That's a good enough reason for me to believe they're in trouble and need help."
"Why on earth would your friends willingly go out into the middle of the desert?" the woman questioned, her smirk disappearing. "Did they have a death wish?"
"No," Zuko sighed. "Look, it's a long story. All you need to know is I need to find them, and quickly. Can your…" trailed off, nodding to her beast with a wary look.
"Shirshu," the woman said.
"Your shirshu," Zuko repeated. "...Can it track them?"
"Nyla can track down anyone, dead or alive."
"Great!" Zuko sighed in relief. "Then you can take us to find them!"
The woman folded her arms for a moment as she stared at Zuko with slightly narrowed eyes.
"It'll cost double my usual rate," she replied at last.
"Double?" Zuko repeated, his brow furrowing.
"You're asking me to take you into the Si Wong Desert, kid. It's deadly out there."
"That'swhat I told him," Iroh replied, folding his arms and giving Zuko a look before his gaze returned to the woman, smiling pleasantly. "And I can assure you that money is not an issue."
The woman smiled. "You've got yourself a deal, then," she said, jumping back up into her saddle. "I've gotta drop this guy off at the guard's post just outside of town. When I'm done, I'll meet you two at the cantina, then we can get whatever supplies we need and head out from there."
"Actually," Zuko interjected, hoping his nervousness didn't show on his face. "Could… you meet us at the Misty Palms Inn instead? Our room number is 103."
Thankfully, the woman didn't appear to notice anything was amiss, and shrugged. "Sure. Room 103. Got it."
"Wait!" Iroh called out as the woman turned to leave. "We didn't get your name."
"June," she replied over her shoulder before whipping her reins and galloping away.
"Look! Boats!" Sokka shouted.
Aang stopped in his tracks, shaking his head as he was broken out of the semi-dissociative state he had been wallowing in the past few hours they had been walking. He hadn't even realized how light it had gotten; it seemed the sun would likely be rising behind them any minute now.
"Sokka, for the last time, we're not in the ocean," Toph groaned as Aang turned to his companions.
Sokka frowned and shook his head. "I may have been high on cactus juice all night, but I swear my head has cleared up now. Mostly. Look. "
"I can't," Toph replied.
"Oh. Right," Sokka replied sheepishly. "Aang, Katara—you see them too, don't you?"
As Aang squinted in the direction the warrior was pointing, his eyes widened slightly. Surely enough, in the distance he spotted several boat-like vessels surrounding a cluster of tents.
"Those are the gliders the sandbenders use!" Katara exclaimed. "It looks like a camp!"
"Oh thank La," Sokka sighed heavily. "Maybe they'll be willing to share some food…"
"And water," Toph added. "My mouth tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much…"
"Maybe they can help us get back to Misty Palms!" Katara said, grinning at her friends.
"Maybe they can tell us where Appa is," Aang muttered darkly, his eyes narrowing as he began marching towards the camp.
"...We don't know that these are the people who stole Appa," Katara said hesitantly, jogging to catch up with him. "The Si Wong desert is huge. I'm sure there are lots of sandbender tribes out here."
As they approached the campsite, he spotted a handful of sandbenders lazing about, some sitting or laying on the sand sailers. However, at least one of them appeared to be awake—Aang watched as her eyes widened upon spotting him, and she scrambled to stand up straight, jostling the arm of a young man snoozing next to her. Both appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties.
When the boy spotted him as well, he jumped to his feet with a panicked look and gestured for the other two sandbenders sitting on the ground to follow him as he jumped down from the sand sailer's deck.
The boy seemed to steel himself as he and his posse came to a stop face to face with Aang and his companions. Despite clearly being several years older, he was only slightly shorter than Aang, who glared down at him.
"You're trespassing in Altai Tribe territory, strangers," the boy stated, his eyes cautiously scanning the group. "I suggest you turn around and leave the way you came."
Aang opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, Katara stepped forward.
"Please, we don't want any trouble," the waterbender said, holding her palms in the air. "Our bison was stolen yesterday evening, and we're just trying to find our way back to Misty Palms Oasis."
The boy stiffened for a moment, his frown deepening. "You expect us to believe that?" he snorted. "How do we know you're not bandits, or daofei?"
"They're just a bunch of kids, Ghashiun," the girl next to him whispered. "Maybe we should wake your father and–"
"I can handle this on my own, Yargui!" Ghashiun snapped.
Suddenly, Aang felt a small hand grab hold of his wrist from behind.
"I recognize that guy's voice," Toph whispered as the two sandbenders continued arguing. "He's the one that stole Appa."
"Are you sure?" Katara whispered back.
"I never forget a voice," Toph replied darkly.
That was enough for Aang. With a snarl, he whipped his staff forward, and Ghashiun and Yargui both grew silent, flinching backwards at the sudden movement.
"You stole Appa," Aang growled. "Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"You– You dare to accuse us of stealing?" Ghashiun stuttered as he attempted to regain his composure, holding his arms up in a defensive position.
Aang took a deep, sharp breath through his nose, and lifted his staff.
"Aang, no!" Katara shouted, but it was too late.
He slammed his staff down to the side and sent a powerful blast of air towards one of the vacant sand sailers, destroying it in a single blow.
He whipped his gaze back to Ghashiun, who was now staring wide-eyed at him, his mouth agape.
"Ghashiun!" a new voice shouted from behind the sandbender boy, and Aang's eyes moved to the largest tent in the camp, where a man in his forties emerged along with several other tribespeople from other tents in the camp. "What in the name of the knowledge spirit is going on here?"
"Chief Sha-Mo!" one of the sandbenders exclaimed as the man ran over to Ghashiun.
"I– I don't know, father!" Ghashiun stuttered, his eyes repeatedly darting over to Aang as if to ensure that he wasn't about to be attacked next. "These strangers just appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us!"
"Where is my bison?" Aang demanded as he glared directly at Ghashiun. "You tell me where he is now!"
With another downward swing of his staff, he targeted a second sand sailer, slicing it in half with airbending.
Upon seeing this, the chief's eyes widened in shock. "An airbender?"
"That's right," Toph interjected, pointing directly at Ghashiun. "And not just any airbender. Maybe your son should have thought twice before stealing from the Avatar."
Ghashiun's face immediately paled, and Chief Sha-Mo looked at his son incredulously. "You did what?"
"I–it wasn't me!" Ghashiun defended.
"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph shouted.
Upon hearing this, Aang felt the inside of his chest burn with unbridled rage. "You muzzled Appa?"
Suddenly, his vision began to grow brighter, as if the world were being covered in a white haze, and with another powerful swing of his staff, he destroyed a third sand sailer.
"I'm sorry!" Ghashiun admitted at last, his expression terrified as he stumbled backwards. "I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!"
"TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!" Aang demanded, his voice becoming distorted as he spoke in tandem with all of the past Avatars.
"I traded him! To some merchants!" Ghashiun quickly answered. "He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now... they were going to sell him there!"
Ba Sing Se.
Tears began to burn in his eyes again, his arms shaking as he dropped his staff. At last, he felt himself beginning to slip in and out of consciousness as hundreds of minds seemed to meld with his own. He was losing himself.
However, all of the people in his head… They felt the same pain.
"Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!"
The sandbender boy's words were meaningless to Aang now, a mere echo in the distance. He didn't have the willpower to hold on anymore.
And so, he did the only thing he could.
He let go.
"If you keep that up, you'll wear a hole into the ground," Iroh joked.
Zuko stopped pacing and sighed irritably. "It's been nearly an hour, uncle. She could have ditched us! The longer we wait around, the more we risk something bad happening to Aang and everyone else!"
"I'm sure June will be here soon," Iroh replied. "We haven't even paid her yet. I don't see why she'd pass up a job where she gets paid double."
Zuko shook his head. "We can find someone else to take us into the desert. Or maybe we can get an ostrich horse–"
He was interrupted by a knock at their door, and Iroh jumped to his feet immediately, scurrying over to open it.
"June!" he beamed. "Lovely to see you again!"
"Are you two ready to go?" June asked, ignoring Iroh's greeting.
"Yes," Zuko replied quickly, picking up his bag again.
"Nyla can't track someone with nothing," June said. "He needs to catch a scent. Did any of your missing friends leave something of theirs behind?"
Zuko's brow furrowed at this. Had anyone left anything behind?
"Um," Zuko replied anxiously, setting his bag down as he hovered over Sokka and Aang's bed, pulling back the covers and kneeling down to peer underneath it.
"It doesn't have to be anything special," June sighed. "Just something one of your friends held, or came into contact with recently."
Zuko's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Aang's pillow, recalling the faint scent of sandalwood. He quickly picked it up and walked over to the door, where Nyla was crouched down just outside.
The shirshu growled at him when it sensed him getting close, and he slowed his movements. After a moment, however, the beast's nose began to twitch, and it leaned its snout forward. At first, it sniffed the pillow, then sniffed him, then returned to the pillow.
"I know it mostly smells like me now," he grumbled under his breath. "But can you smell anything else?"
It was unlikely that Nyla could understand him, but he figured it couldn't hurt to try.
The shirshu continued sniffing the pillow for several more moments until at last it made a sort of barking sound.
"He's got the scent!" June said, smirking. "And I think he likes you."
"That's good, I guess," Zuko muttered as he returned to the room and tossed the pillow back onto the bed. "As long as he doesn't try to lick me..."
Surprisingly, June laughed at this.
"Come on, then," she said, gesturing towards the door with her arm.
Zuko squinted his eyes as he scanned the desert horizon ahead of them. He was glad he'd decided to wear his bamboo hat, as the heat was certainly growing more intense as the day went on. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it was getting close to noon.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" he asked June, who was sitting directly in front of him.
"Nyla knows exactly where he's going," June replied. "Once he's got a scent, he won't lose it."
Zuko opened his mouth to reply, but turned around when he heard a slight wince from behind him.
"Uncle?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, nephew," Iroh replied, clearly distracted. In one hand, the former general held their map, which flapped in the wind as he studied it, while his other hand gripped tightly onto his own bamboo hat, presumably to keep it from flying off.
"We've been riding for several hours now," Zuko said. "Maybe we should stop so you can rest for a bit."
"Is your uncle feeling alright back there?" June asked.
"He's–"
"I'm fine!" Iroh interrupted loudly, at last looking up from his map. "Never better! Don't worry about me!"
Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes. "June, I think we need to take a break."
"If you say so," the bounty hunter replied, pulling Nyla's reins to slow him down.
"You should have told me it had started hurting," Zuko scolded as he hopped down and helped Iroh dismount.
"I didn't want to delay things any longer," Iroh replied apologetically. "I'm concerned about Aang and the others as well. It really doesn't hurt that much."
Zuko shook his head slowly as he turned to rummage through his bag, finding the container of medicinal burn ointment and a roll of bandages. "It's probably a good time to change your bandages anyway."
Iroh nodded as they both sat down in the sand, pulling down his sleeve and exposing his bandaged burn wound.
"That looks pretty gnarly," June observed as Zuko removed the bandages. "What happened?"
Zuko frowned. "What does it look like?"
"…I'm sorry," June replied after a beat. "I've heard burns from firebenders can be… nasty."
"I'm well aware," Zuko muttered in reply, taking note of how the bounty hunter's eyes lingered on his own scar for a brief moment. When she realized she'd been staring, June quickly looked away.
Zuko sighed and shook his head as he applied the ointment to Iroh's burn, which thankfully did look a lot better now than it had initially. Once he'd finished replacing the bandages, he retrieved his canteen from his bag, handing it to his uncle.
"Here. You need to stay hydrated."
Iroh took the canteen and drank several gulps before handing it back. "The same goes for you."
"I know, uncle."
As he drank, Iroh peered over his shoulder, and Zuko turned to see that June was now leaning against Nyla as she took periodic swigs from her own canteen with a bored expression.
"You really need to tone it down, uncle," Zuko whispered through his teeth.
"Tone what down?" Iroh questioned. Zuko could not tell if he was feigning ignorance or not.
"You're being way too friendly with June," Zuko replied.
"I… I simply think she's a very impressive and capable person," Iroh replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.
Zuko groaned and pinched his nose bridge. "Just… don't get too attached. We're paying her to help us. She's not our friend. She's a bounty hunter, and money is the only thing that drives her. We're lucky she doesn't know who we are."
"Huh," he heard June say from behind him. "Looks like we're not alone out here."
"What?" Zuko demanded, perking up and scrambling to his feet. "What is it?"
"See for yourself," June replied, taking another drink from her canteen as she wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and nodded towards the east.
As Zuko placed a hand over his brow and squinted into the distance, surely enough, several shapes could be seen. As the shapes grew closer, he was able to make out what exactly they were: three boat-like vessels, each being piloted by sandbenders, just as he had seen the day prior before his friends had left for the library.
Without thinking, he immediately began running towards the sandbenders.
"Zu– I mean, nephew!" he heard Iroh shout behind him. "Wait!"
"HEY!" Zuko shouted, ignoring Iroh and waving his arms above his head as the three boats slowed to a stop in front of him. "Excuse me!"
The sandbender who had been piloting the boat at the front quickly dismounted, jogging over to him. As they pulled their face covering down, Zuko was surprised to see a tired but kind-looking man appearing to be in his mid forties.
"Do you need help, young man?" the sandbender asked.
"Yes!" Zuko sighed in relief with a nod. "Yes, I do! We're searching for my friends. They went out into the desert yesterday morning and didn't return to Misty Palms Oasis like they said they would."
"You wouldn't, by chance, have happened to see a flying bison around here recently?" Iroh added, slightly out of breath as he came to a stop next to Zuko. "Big, white, fluffy creature with horns?"
The man's eyes widened slightly, visibly tensing up for a moment before turning around to glare at one of the other sandbenders behind him, who seemed to hang their head shamefully.
"...Are you two, by chance, Lee and Mushi?" the sandbender asked as he turned back around to face them.
Both Zuko and his uncle immediately exchanged a shocked look. How on earth did a random sandbender know their Earth Kingdom cover names?
"...How do you know who we are?" Zuko asked carefully.
"Ah. Forgive my rudeness," the sandbender replied apologetically. "I understand why you would be reluctant to trust someone who knows your names but has not yet revealed their own. I am Sha-Mo, chief of the Altai Tribe. The Avatar instructed us to deliver a message to you at the Misty Palms Inn."
"Wait," Zuko exclaimed, his heart rate picking up. "You've seen Aang? Is he okay? Where is he?"
"We encountered the Avatar and his friends by chance very early this morning," Sha-Mo replied. "They explained to us that they had gotten lost in the desert."
"Lost?" Zuko repeated with a frown.
Sha-Mo sighed, and his expression grew somber. "Unfortunately, my son and his friends stole the Avatar's bison yesterday evening," he replied shamefully. "As a result, your friends were stranded, which is why they were unable to return to the oasis."
Zuko stared at the chief with wide, astonished eyes as flashes of Aang in distress appeared in his mind again. This time, they were accompanied by flashes of Sokka, Katara, and Toph wandering the endless expanse of dunes with no food, no water, no map…
He felt sick to his stomach.
"You're the reason they didn't come back?" he replied at last, his voice trembling with shock and anger. He took a step forward, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
"He didn't have anything to do with this!"
Zuko's vengeful gaze snapped towards this new speaker—the same sandbender who Sha-Mo had glared at a few moments prior, who hopped down from their boat and ran over to them. When the sandbender removed their hood, Zuko was surprised to see a young man who looked strikingly similar to the chief—just with a full head of hair.
"Ghashiun, you've caused enough trouble for today," Sha-Mo snapped. "Stay out of this."
"He didn't know," Ghashiun replied, ignoring his father as he shook his head. "My friends and I acted completely on our own. It was wrong of us, and I'm deeply sorry and ashamed about what we did."
Zuko's nose twitched as he sneered at the young man, anger still blazing inside him. "I don't care how sorry you are!" he shouted, marching towards him. "You left my friends stranded in the desert to die! "
However, before he could go any further, Iroh grabbed hold of his shoulder. Zuko turned to glare at his uncle, whose expression was serious.
"I think it would be wise to let them finish speaking, nephew," Iroh said calmly before looking back at Sha-Mo. "You said you encountered the Avatar and his friends this morning. What happened?"
"Your anger is completely understandable," Sha-Mo said apologetically to Zuko. "Shortly after your friends arrived at our campsite, my son's crimes were brought to light…" The chief was quiet for a moment as he shook his head and looked at the ground. "The Avatar was furious. He destroyed several of our sand sailers, and created a powerful sandstorm."
Did he go into the Avatar State? Zuko thought, his heart aching as he imagined the pain Aang must have been feeling.
"Was that the last you saw of him?" Iroh asked, his brow furrowing.
Sha-Mo shook his head. "We took cover until the storm subsided. Afterwards, we offered to escort them back to Misty Palms, but the Avatar asked us to send an escort with them to the northeastern edge of the desert instead, where they planned to depart for Ba Sing Se."
"Wait, what?" Zuko replied, shaking his head rapidly, his stomach twisting with anxiety. "I don't understand. Why would they go to Ba Sing Se?"
Why wouldn't they come back for us?
"...That's where the beetle-headed merchants said they were going to try and sell the bison," Ghashiun answered meekly.
"Sell him? To who?" Zuko questioned with a frown.
"The circus. A zoo. A rich person," Ghashiun replied with a shrug. "...Possibly… a butcher," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
Zuko's lip curled in horror and disgust at the boy, and it took all of his strength to not jump forward and deck him directly in the face.
"What was the Avatar's message?" Iroh asked.
Sha-Mo reached into his robes and retrieved a roll of paper with a string tied around it. "Here."
Zuko's anger faded as Sha-Mo held out the message, and he slowly reached out a hand to take it from him, wondering what it could possibly say. As he unrolled it, he held it up for Iroh to read as well.
Almost immediately, he recognized Aang's messy—but thankfully still legible—handwriting.
Zuko, Iroh,
I know you must be worried about us. We're okay, but Appa was stolen. We have reason to believe he's in Ba Sing Se now, and that he might be in danger. So that's where we're heading.
I'm sorry we didn't come back for you. I wouldn't have made a decision like this if it wasn't for something so important. I hope you can both forgive me.
Once Iroh is well enough to travel (Katara says he should probably be fine after a few more days of rest), please come to Ba Sing Se as soon as you can. We are planning on speaking to the Earth King when we arrive, and I'm going to ask him to make sure that every guard in the city knows to expect you. When you get here, just let them know you're friends of the Avatar.
Stay safe, and don't do anything reckless.
See you soon.
- Aang
Zuko smiled slightly as his thumb brushed the edges of Aang's signature, relief washing over him. Aang was okay. His friends were okay. There was still hope of finding Appa.
He rolled the message up again and placed it into his shirt, next to his heart.
"Well," Zuko said, turning to Iroh. "Looks like we're going to Ba Sing Se."
Iroh nodded, and they both turned to bow politely to Sha-Mo. "Thank you for passing along this message, and for what you did to help our friends."
Sha-Mo smiled and bowed in return. "It was the least we could do after all that's happened. Would you like an escort out of the desert as well?"
"That's kind of you to offer," Iroh replied, turning around to grin at June, who had remained quiet so far, her arms folded as she continued leaning against Nyla several feet behind them. "But we've already got someone who's helping us."
"I see," Sha-Mo nodded. "Safe journeys to you, then. I wish you well."
With that, father and son departed with the rest of their tribe, and soon, they were left alone with June once more.
"It was lucky we ran into them out here," Iroh said as they turned around to make their way back to June and Nyla. "Otherwise, we never would have gotten Aang's message."
Zuko nodded. He was just glad to know that his friends were alright. Despite having Nyla to sniff out Aang's scent, he had been trying all day to push down the thought in the back of his mind that they might end up finding his friends dead rather than alive.
"You didn't tell me the 'friend' you were searching for was the Avatar."
Zuko looked up to see that June was now staring at both of them.
"...It wasn't important," he replied, his brow furrowing as an uneasy feeling began to arise within him. He hadn't thought she'd been paying attention during their conversation with the sandbenders, but evidently, she had.
June sighed and studied her black painted nails. "Fire Nation's got quite the bounty on his head."
Zuko immediately tensed and gripped the hilts of his broadswords.
"And now that I think about it," June continued. "I'm fairly certain there's just as large a bounty for two of his companions in particular… The traitorous brother and son of the Fire Lord."
Zuko unsheathed his swords and brandished them in front of him. "Uncle, get behind me."
"I thought you two looked familiar," June said, pushing herself off of Nyla and putting her hands on her hips. "I just couldn't remember where I'd seen you before."
"June, please," Iroh replied. "We're trying to help the Avatar put an end to this war. If you turn us in, we can't do that."
"You think I care?" June snorted. "Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe—it's all the same to me. As long as the pay is good, I don't give a damn."
"If you finish helping us cross the desert, we'll still pay you!" Iroh said with a weak smile. "How about triple?"
"Uncle!" Zuko hissed through gritted teeth.
June laughed. "Any money you could give me would be nothing compared to what I'd get from the Fire Nation for capturing the Avatar and two traitors."
"You really think it'll be that easy to capture the Avatar?" Zuko replied, his voice low. "He wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole. He won't let a bounty hunter get the best of him."
June narrowed her eyes at him. "Even the most powerful people in the world aren't immune to a shirshu's toxin."
"Well, it's a good thing Aang is a master of evasion, then," Zuko countered. "Good luck trying to catch him."
June rolled her eyes. "Enough stalling, kid. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And by that, I mean you can either come with me to the nearest Fire Nation military outpost willingly, or unwillingly. "
"I'm afraid we'll have to decline both of those options," Zuko replied, glaring at her as he hunkered down further into his stance.
June sighed heavily. "Suit yourselves."
She put two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly, and almost immediately, the resting Nyla stood up, and June hopped into her saddle as the shirshu began to snarl at them.
Zuko was ready for the beast's attack as it opened its sharp-toothed maw and released its barbed tongue. He quickly deflected it with a swipe of his swords—specifically the unsharpened side, as he did not want to harm the creature if he could help it.
This is bad, he thought nervously as he blocked more of Nyla's attacks. This is really bad.
"June, you don't have to do this," Iroh pleaded. "Doing the right thing may not be extremely profitable , but it can lighten a heavy conscience, which in the long run is much more worthwhile!"
"Don't spout your old man wisdom at me," June snapped, making a disgusted sound. "My conscience doesn't need any clearing."
With that, she grabbed her whip and snapped it towards Zuko, where it wrapped around one of his wrists.
"Agh!" Zuko shouted in surprise and pain as his arm was yanked forward, causing him to lose his grip on one of his swords, dropping it into the sand. With a grunt and as much strength as he could muster, he pulled his arm back, and raised his remaining sword to slice through the material of the whip, freeing himself.
June grunted in frustration at the state of her ruined whip, and flung it into the sand. "Nyla, attack!"
With a snarl, the shirshu's tongue shot out again, and Zuko dodge rolled out of the way, still gripping onto his remaining sword.
Who am I kidding? Zuko thought anxiously as he dodged another attack, wiping the sweat from his brow. Even if we do manage to defeat June, how are we going to get out of the desert on foot? There's no way we can catch up to the sandbenders now. We're–
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he felt a sharp sting in his abdomen as the shirshu's tongue at last managed to strike him. Within seconds, the sting faded, and soon, he felt nothing at all as he fell sideways into the sand.
"Zuko!" Iroh shouted from somewhere he couldn't see.
"Uncle, forget about me," Zuko exclaimed weakly, desperately willing any of his limbs to move as he watched June dismount and begin to walk towards him, a satisfied smirk on her face. "You need to get out of here!"
Stupid, stupid, stupid, he thought to himself, his vision growing blurry as tears began to roll down the side of his face. I'm so stupid!
If he had just waited in Misty Palms a bit longer, they would have gotten Aang's message, and could have found a much safer route to Ba Sing Se. Instead, he'd been reckless and trusted a bounty hunter of all people—a bounty hunter who now had a one-way ticket straight to Aang.
Suddenly, before June could take any further steps forward, a large blast of fire plummeted into the sand between them, and Zuko's eyes widened as Iroh stepped in front of him with his hands in a defensive position.
"Please, June," Iroh begged, his expression serious. "I don't want to fight you. You still have a chance to do the right thing."
"I told you to quit it with the lecturing," June snapped as the flames faded, though Zuko could swear he could see a hint of apprehension in her eyes.
"I was like you once," Iroh said. "All I cared about was myself, and my own ambitions."
"Don't act like you know me," June muttered. "You don't know shit about me."
"I know the consequences of what selfishness and hubris can do to a person," Iroh continued. "My own was what eventually resulted in me losing what was most precious to me. All the power and riches in the world are no substitute for happiness!"
Instead of replying, June remained silent, her expression unreadable.
Is she actually considering uncle's words?
After a moment, however, her expression hardened, and she lifted her fingers to whistle again.
"NO!" Zuko shouted as she moved out of the way for Nyla, who galloped towards Iroh. The former general attempted to shoot another fire blast to defend himself, but when he punched, only a small lick of flames emerged from his fists before he winced in pain, grabbing at his chest as he fell to his knees.
"Uncle?" Zuko shouted in panic. "Uncle!"
There was another abrupt, sharp whistle, and suddenly, Nyla stopped in his tracks.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Zuko bellowed as he watched June slowly walk over to his uncle with a strange expression on her face.
"...You really shouldn't be trying to fight like that in your condition," June said at last as she stared down at the former general.
"You didn't give him a choice!" Zuko spat, glaring at her.
June frowned. "Kid, this isn't personal, okay?" she sighed in frustration. "I'm just doing my job."
"No, you're not!" Zuko countered. "Are you really doing this because you have to?"
"I–" June attempted, opening and closing her mouth.
"My nephew is right, June," Iroh said weakly, smiling up at her. "You can choose a different path. It's not too late."
He turned his head to look back at Zuko, smiling at him as well.
"...I'd wager to say my nephew and I both know that better than anyone."
June was silent for another moment, her brow furrowing as her eyes moved back and forth between Zuko and Iroh.
Then, she turned away from both of them, hunching her shoulders as she shook her head with a groan.
"...I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered under her breath at last, sighing heavily as she turned back around.
Zuko blinked several times. "Doing what?"
"I'll help get you out of the desert," June replied, bending down to help Iroh to his feet. "And I won't turn you in."
Zuko's wide eyes blinked in astonishment. "What? Why?"
"Because I'm trying to do a decent thing for once in my life, okay?" June replied irritably.
"And we're just supposed to trust that you're telling the truth?" Zuko shot back with a glare.
"Look, kid. Do you want to make it out of this desert alive and reunite with your Avatar, or not?" June replied, folding her arms. "Because you don't exactly have any other options at this point."
Zuko grunted loudly in frustration. She was certainly right about that.
"Your kindess is much appreciated!" Iroh said jovially before grimacing slightly, pressing his hand to his chest.
June sighed as she turned around to open one of the bags attached to Nyla's saddle, removing a tiny satchel and a vial of some sort.
"Chew on these herbs," she said, handing the satchel to a surprised Iroh. "They'll help with the pain."
Zuko frowned as she turned to walk back over to where he was laying, cursing the fact that he still couldn't move. When she reached him, she crouched down, lifted his torso up, and held the small vial up to his mouth, which he kept firmly closed.
"Drink it," June instructed. "This is the antidote to the paralysis toxin. Unless you'd rather wait an hour or so for it to wear off naturally."
Zuko glared at the bounty hunter for a moment, then reluctantly opened his mouth, and a medicinal-tasting liquid passed over his tongue and down his throat. He grimaced as he swallowed, and June gently laid him onto his back in the sand.
After a moment, to his immense relief, he began to regain feeling in his fingertips, then his entire hands, followed by his arms and legs, then finally his torso.
"I knew you were hiding some compassion behind that tough exterior, June," Iroh praised with a warm smile as he chewed on his herbs.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't get all mushy on me," the bounty hunter grumbled before turning back to Zuko as he pushed himself to his feet. "We should get going if you want to try and catch up with your friends. Are you two ready?"
Zuko's brow furrowed concernedly as he looked at Iroh.
"I'll be fine, Zuko," Iroh said with a nod. "And I'll be sure to let you know if we need to stop again."
Zuko nodded in return.
"Alright. Let's go."