The Sand Prince

Ch.14 Bato of the Water Tribe

Team Avatar was traveling through the forest near the sea when Aang finds a weapon laying in the grass.

Aang: "Hey, look! A sword made out of a whale's tooth!"

Sokka: "Let me see that. This is a water tribe weapon. See if you can find anything else."

As Aang and Sokka begin searching through the bushes, Katara and Y/n come up behind them. Imoto was perched on Y/n's shoulder, squawking quietly.

Katara: "Did someone lose something?"

Aang: "No, we found something."

While searching, Sokka finds a broken and burned arrow head. He finds evidence of a battle between Water Tribe warriors and fire benders. The trail leads the team to the beach, where the trail ends. Katara then notices a ship that has been beached.

Sokka: "Its one of our boats!"

Katara: "Is it dad's boat?"

Sokka: "No, but it's from his fleet. Dad was here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iroh takes a sip from his tea. He, Azula, and Zuko were sitting around a table in the sibling's room.

Iroh: "See, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula? A moment of quiet is good for your mental well being."

Zuko and Azula go to take drinks from their tea when the ship is rocked violently. They make their way to the deck where they see a woman riding a xierxu.

June: "Get back! We're after a stowaway."

Azula: "There are no stowaways on our ship."

The xierxu tears a hole into the deck of the ship, tossing the metal away. It sticks its head into the hole and a man climbs out and attempts to run away. But he is stung by the xierxu's tongue, paralyzing him.

Zuko: "He's paralyzed."

June: "Only temporarily. The toxins will wear off in about an hour, but by then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money."

Azula: "But how did you find him on our ship?"

June: "My xierxu can smell a rat a continent away."

The woman mounted her beast and quickly rode away. As she left, Zuko and Azula seemed to get an idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun had set and team Avatar had decided to make camp at the beached boat. As Katara, Aang, and Y/n slept Sokka took watch. A noise from behind got his attention.

Sokka: "Who's there?"

A water tribe man walked into the light. H3 had bandages covering the left side of his torso.

Bato: "Sokka?"

Sokka: "Bato?"

The rest of the team had awoken. When Katara saw Bato she smiled.

Katara: "Bato!"

Bato: "Sokka! Katara!"

Sokka and Katara ran to Bato and hugged him while Aang and Y/n stood nearby.

Bato: "It is so good to see you two. Oh. You've grown so much."

Aang and Y/n then walk up and bow to Bato in greeting.

Aang: "Hi. I'm Aang, and this is Y/n."

Sokka: "Where's dad?"

Katara: "Is he here?"

Bato: "No. He and the other warriors should be in the eastern Earth kingdom by now. But, this is no place for a reunion. Let's get inside."

Bato leads the kids to an abbey that was home to coven of sisters that made perfums and other fine smelling liquids.