𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

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Zuko deflected the fire Lieutenant Jee sent at him, responding with a blast of his own that the older man dodged.

The training was going fairly well, until the ship tilted to the side as it turned sharply in the water. Both firebenders stumbled over to the railing of the ship, the prince glared up at the sight of the islander girl atop the command deck.

"What is the meaning of this!" La'kea turned around to see the prince storming through the command tower. "No one told you to change course."

She stared up at him as he scowled down at her. "Actually," She pursued her lips, not liking his tone, even if he was wearing the sleeveless training shirt that exposed his well defined shoulders. "Iroh did."

Zuko pivoted to glare at his uncle incredulously. The retired general just pushed another piece on his pai sho table. "I assure you. It is a matter of upmost importance, Prince Zuko."

"Is it something to do with the Avatar?" The prince demanded. La'kea just braced herself.

"Even more urgent. It seems- It seems I have lost my lotus tile."

She cringed away, but Zuko just blinked. "Lotus tile?"

"For my pai sho game," His uncle explained calmly. "Most people think the lotus tile is insignificant, but it is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ."

His voice was fraught with disbelief. "You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?" He whipped back around towards her, "And you let him?"

Iroh jabbed a finger in the air towards his nephew, "See you, like most people, underestimate it's value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life."

Zuko breathed deeply, reeling in his anger and letting out a breath of fire. 

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The port was a relatively large one, even if their vessel was the largest boat docked. She stayed by Zuko's side as Iroh dragged them through every single market stall available. Scouring over everything from a gaudy emerald necklace that Iroh tried to goad her into letting him buy for her. To an ornate piece of pottery painted green with gold leaves.

By the end of the day, they finally reached the last few merchant boats. "I've checked all the shop on this pier," Iroh lamented, "Not a single lotus tile in the entire marketplace."

Zuko was in a fouler mood than usual, "It's good to know that this trip was a complete waste of time, for everyone!"

"Quite the contrary," His uncle countered, gesturing to the line of soldiers carrying baskets to the ship. "I always say that the only thing better than finding something you are looking for, is finding something that you weren't looking for, at a great bargain!"

La'kea quirked a brow, "When have you said that?"

"You bought a tsungi horn?"

"For music night on the ship," Iroh explained happily, "Now, if only we had some woodwinds, then maybe we could convince Miss La'kea to finally join us."

The girl just patted the old man's shoulder with a laugh. "Not a chance."

"Why don't you show for music night," Zuko asked her as they followed Iroh down the pier.

"Do you attend it?" She inquired sarcastically, assuming the prince, like her, simply tried to sleep through the noise.

He sighed exasperatedly, "I do it to appease my uncle."

The islander grinned at the idea of the impatient prince being forced to sit through song after song. "Maybe it's worth making an appearance then." Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she could have sworn his face turned a shade red.

Iroh ushered them over to a merchant ship, "This one looks promising!"

The inside of the ship was dark, and crammed full of miscellaneous trinkets. Zuko watched irritably as the old general fixated on a stone statue of a monkey with rubies for eyes. She giggled at the old mans antics as she looked over the array of items.

"We lost the Water Tribe girl, and the little bald monk she was travelling with." Someone said to the man behind the counter. Well, that sounded familiar. Zuko shared a look with her before turning towards the people speaking.

"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?"

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After exchanging information with the pirates, they had come to an agreement to work together to retrieve both the boy and a scroll he had stolen.

The captain's ship sailed behind Zuko's skiff as they made their way down the river. What little she knew about pirates, La'kea knew they couldn't trust them. The captain stood next to the prince on the skiff and she sat on the rails behind them.

"Shouldn't we be searching the woods?" He rasped.

"We don't need to stop," Zuko answered, "They stole a waterbending scroll, right?" The pirate gave a grunt of affirmation. "Then they'll be on the water."

La'kea had seen that Water Tribe girls skill, which were almost nonexistent, she relied purely on instinct, and lacked refinement. She thought back to when she was first learning and supposed that as far as waterbenders went, the girl had a decent grasp of the movement of water.

It was well into night when they finally got something. The Water Tribe girl's frustrated cries as she thrashed her tendril of water around. "Come on, water! Work with me here!" Zuko turned to La'kea, jerking his head towards the water as the captain signaled to his pirates. She dived down into the river with hardly so much as a splash, the islander swam silently around the bend.

Keeping her head low, she peeked out of the water to see the girl struggling to balance herself in the Water Tribe style stances. As planned, the metal skiff screeched against the rocky shore, distracting the girl, who dug through the bushes to see it. Gasping, she reeled back, right into a pirate who grabbed the girl's shoulders.

She struggled, "No! Let go of me!" Swinging her arms around, a pillar of water from the river rose up and slammed into the pirates face. The Water Tribe girl ran, only to lurch forward as her legs were encased in ice.

Katara looked around to see the traitorous waterbender stroll out from the river, hand raised in a fist. The Fire Nation prince was suddenly in front of her, snarling, "I'll save you from the pirates."

Zuko's squadron of firebenders and soldiers arrived just the rest of the pirates did. They shackled the Water Tribe girl just as La'kea dismantled the ice around her feet for them to tie her to a tree.

Despite being outnumbered significantly, and restrained, the girl showed no fear, swinging her head around to glare at them all murderously. "Tell me where he is," Zuko demanded, "And I won't hurt you or your brother."

"Go jump in the river," She spat, turning away from them.

La'kea put a hand on the prince's arm before he could spit fire, she took a step towards the younger girl, hands spread in a gesture of surrender. "We are not your enemy. We don't want to hurt you, just tell us where the Avatar is and you can go back to your tribe."

The girl gnashed her teeth, glowering at the islander. "How can you side with them? The Fire Nation stole all the waterbenders from our tribe!"

"I am not from the Water Tribe," She clarified, tilting her head as she wondered what the girl thought of her. "I need the Avatar to get back to my home." Katara blinked in wide eyed confusion.

"Enough," Zuko snapped, leaning towards the girl. "Perhaps in exchange, I can restore something you've lost." He dangled a simple choker with a pendant in front of her.

"My mother's necklace," The girl gasped as the prince walked back over. "How did you get that?"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering," He rolled his eyes. "Tell me where he is."

"No."

The prince exhaled sharply before a thoughtful look replaced his annoyed one. La'kea wondered what he was up to as he walked behind her, putting his hands with the necklace in front of her throat. "This will make an excellent accessory for her then," Zuko goaded to the Water Tribe girl.

The choker must be very significant then, if the girl thrashed against her chains desperately at the prospect of her wearing the necklace. "No!"

"Enough of this necklace garbage," The captain demanded. "You promised the scroll."

Zuko pulled out the scroll from his belt, "I wonder how much money this is worth." The pirate crew gasped at the flame it was suddenly being held above. The prince smiled triumphantly, "A lot apparently. Now, you help me find what I want, you'll get this back, and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here." The captain snarled in compliance, and stomped through the woods with the rest of the pirates.

La'kea rubbed a hand against her throat, tingling with the brush of the prince's fingertips. "They'll never sneak up on the Avatar, stomping like that."

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It took until morning, but the pirates did eventually return with both the Water Tribe boy and the Avatar. They stood bound in ropes on the shore of the river with the pirates as Zuko held the scroll in his hands.

"Nice work," He commended, walking forward to make the exchange. La'kea stood by the girl, still tied to the tree, with Iroh, making sure she didn't escape.

"Aang, this is all my fault." She apologized dejectedly.

The Avatar only blinked, wide-eyed, "No, Katara, it isn't."

"Yeah, it kind of is," Iroh commented snidely.

"Give me the boy." Zuko commanded.

The captain just held his hand out, "You give us the scroll."

"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" Everyone pivoted towards the Water Tribe boy, shocked at his word.

La'kea groaned into her hands as Zuko flung his hand out, "Don't listen to him. He's trying to turn us against each other." It was a smart play on his part, she realized.

"Your friend is the Avatar?" The captain inquired, inspecting the airbender in disbelief.

"Sure is," The Water Tribe boy answered cheekily, "And I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll." Aang didn't seem to catch onto the boy's plot, looking perturbed at the mention of a black market.

"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!" Zuko shouted.

The Avatar leaned forward, "Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth."

Sokka just grinned, "It's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life."

"Keep the scroll," The captain declared, "We can buy a hundred from the reward we'll get for the kid."

La'kea was tired of this happening again and again, every time they had the Avatar within reach he slipped away again. The feeling was shared with the prince, who frowned deeply. "You'll regret breaking a deal with me."

In sync with two other firebenders, they kicked a plume of fire that scattered the pirates. Only for them to retaliate with smoke bombs that filled the air. She ran through the chaos, deflecting blades and dodging the pirates while on the search for the Avatar and his companion. They had known that they would be able to escape in the scuffle.

"Aang!" Sokka called out into the smoke, "Are you there?" She changed her course, running towards his voice, only for something to slam into her.

Someone tackled her to the ground, rolling against the sandy shores. It was a pirate, who promptly slammed a dagger into the spot her head had been occupying a moment earlier. She rolled to her feet with a grunt. "You really shouldn't corner a waterbender against a river."

He only made it one step before being flung all the way into the trees by the force of the water slamming against him.

Zuko was suddenly sprinting past her, with Iroh not far behind. "Our ship," He screeched at her, barreling down the sand. Sure enough, down the river their skiff was floating, hijacked by pirates.

Sputtering a few choice words, La'kea took off after the prince and general. Every time she tried to stop and pull the water around the ship back, it sailed out of range.

To add insult to injury, before they could catch up with the skiff, it careened over the giant waterfall waiting at the end of the river, smashing against the rocks below. La'kea stared over the edge of the cliff in disbelief at the sight of the flying bison soaring away unbothered, time after time again the Avatar continued to evade them.

Iroh finally coughed with a chuckle, "Prince Zuko, you're really gonna get a kick out of this. The lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time!"

The prince did not get a kick out of that.