Daughter of the Moon - Book 1: Water

Chapter 22: The Shirshu

- Elara -

Once Zuko and I had recovered from our failed mission attempt, we returned to the normal routine of tracking the Avatar—at least, that was what we should have been doing. Instead, we were tracking some goth chick and her precious little shirshu.

The bounty hunter had barreled onto our ship a few days prior, tearing the deck to shreds in search of a stowaway. Although Zuko was convinced that there was no way someone could sneak onto his boat like that, the creature that the girl was riding sniffed the criminal out in a matter of seconds. When the man tried to run, the shirshu whipped him with it's tongue, paralyzing him instantly and allowing the girl to take him captive. The stranger ran away before we could investigate further, but both Zuko and Iroh had been extremely impressed by the bounty hunter's resources, meaning we had to change every plan we had previously made to track the Avatar in order to accommodate for this crazy lady (go figures).

Initially, I had prepared myself for months of perilous digging to get to this girl, but I was shocked to learn that Zuko had discovered her location after only a few days of searching. All we had to do was follow the talk. She was a famous bounty hunter, after all, and if money was involved, she wanted to be found.

After a day of hiking through the woods, Zuko, Iroh, and I stumbled upon a rickety old bar with  the mysterious girl's shirshu parked right outside. The lady we were looking for was definitely here, and by the yelps and hollers coming from inside the building, it was safe to assume that she must have been the life of the party.

Zuko stormed into the bar without any reservations, shoving innocent bystanders out of the way as he charged towards the center of the main room.

"Out of my way! Step aside, filth!" he shouted at the men, who all gave a silent reply of their own (I had never known that disgust and the desire to slit a throat could be expressed so many different ways, and it really put Zuko's angst to shame).

Iroh and I followed in the Prince's wake, the former muttering apologies with a kind smile along the way. "He means no offense! I'm sure you bathe regularly."

"The aromas in here would beg to differ," I remarked, being extremely cautious to avoid eye contact with these barbarians all while holding my breath. The stench of alcohol and mold was strong with this group, and I was afraid I would pass out from the smell alone if I wasn't careful.

It didn't take us long to find who we were looking for. Just as I had expected, she was the life of the party. We found her in the middle of the bar, wrestling an extremely muscular man without breaking a sweat as if she were some kind of an unbreakable stone statue. It was pretty entertaining, not gonna lie, but Zuko obviously didn't think twice about it because he walked right up to the girl and started speaking to her.

"I need to talk to you."

The buff man grunted in frustration as the girl glared at us, holding his arm in place like it was nobody's business. "Well, if it isn't my new friends, Angry Boy, Uncle Lazy, and Miss Desperate," she smirked as she delivered the final blow to her opponent, crushing his hand into the table. I really wanted to be mad at her for calling me Miss Desperate (I mean, what could she have possibly believed I would be desperate for?), but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was just too impressed by her raw strength and her ability to defeat that body builder with ease.

The audience roared with mixture of approval and disappointment at the conclusion of the battle of strength, and I watched as money changed hands amongst most members of the audience. A large portion of the cash landed on the table in front of the girl, and she smiled smugly at her opponent as he sulked away in shame. This girl owned the place, and she knew it, and that was strangely admirable.