GIVE ME LOVE ─── atla

xiii. AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!

Perfect.

       "Prince Zuko," Jing-hai mocks him with a bow. "To what do I have the honour?"

He rolls his eyes. "Sit down."

       She adjusts her chains as she sinks into the chair. Zuko stands at the opposite end of the table.

"Let me guess. You wish to know where the Avatar is heading," Jing-hai presumes boredly.

"Let me guess," Zuko responds with equal exasperation. "You have no idea."

      Jing-hai narrows her eyes. "No. I know exactly why my friends are heading. I just have no intention of sharing it with my sworn enemy!"

It was true.

       She may not know the every intention behind the Avatar's pit-stops but she's certainly aware of the final destination. A place she'd run from for far too long. They were heading to the North Pole. They were heading home. And when they got there, they'll discover exactly who their lying friend is. The Lost Princess: Jing-hai of the Northern Water Tribe. Perhaps getting herself captured here was just another way to avoid it. Or, at the very least, stall.

When a furious silence fills the room, Jing-hai stares at her captor. "Do you wish to keep me in chains forever?"

       Zuko slams his hands against the desk. "Do you wish to keep your secrets forever?"

"From you, most certainly."

       "And what about your friends?" Zuko asks. Jing-hai's smile doesn't meet her eyes and suddenly the Prince knows he has her. He smirks. "Of course, they don't know your true identity. Unlike me and my crew. Tell me, Princess, if we ran into the Avatar again, and failed to capture them on your behalf, how do you think your precious friends would react if one of us were to tell them the truth?"

Jing-hai's chest tightens.

She knows she must remain resolute.For their sake. If only he didn't make things so difficult.

     "Then I shall have to make sure you never find them again," Jing-hai retorts, the anger escaping through the bite of her tone. Zuko glares at her with absolute loathing. But before he can blow up at the girl (hopefully metaphorically), one of his crewmates burst in.

"Prince Zuko," the man announces his presence.

        "Yes?" Zuko scowls, clearly irked by the interruption.

"We have arrived."

∘₊𖦹─── ·࿐࿔· ───𖦹₊∘

seedy merchant's pier,
earth kingdom.

       "I'VE CHECKED ALL THE SHOPS ON THIS PIER," IROH DECLARES, his eyes wandering around the marketplace. Jing-hai stands by his side in chains, ignoring the repulsive ogling of sleazy passerbys. One in particular was growing harder to ignore ━━━━━━ smirking at the waterbender who avoided his gaze. Zuko turned to the man and glared. He understood his interest almost immediately. How a pretty young girl with all her teeth still intact could make a fortune being sold across the black market. Her hair alone could match him triple his trinkets in cost. It was imperative nobody discovered her identity. The bounty on her head was far too tempting. And Zuko wasn't finished with her yet. He would find the Avatar. "Not a lotus tile in the entire marketplace."