{the waterbending scroll}
when they returned with no avatar insight, and the two teens looking like they had just fought a saber-tooth moose lion. they knew the next few days would be interesting.
instead, it was quiet, other than zuko's outbursts, of course. which were met with hana continuing to ignore him.
she decided it was best that she stayed in her chambers. she didn't want to stir anything up. zuko could snap on her and he'd reveal the secret they had decided to keep.
hana played with a loose piece of metal she had found. she found it when they were making repairs on the ship. she knew she could practice with it and no one would notice the missing piece.
she heard a knock on the door, "hana! we are going to dock for a bit. i must find my missing lotus tile. i figured you might want to come and look at the merchants stands. besides, you've been in your room an awful lot," iroh said.
she got up, hid the metal, and opened the door, "i would love to."
"that's great!" he clapped his hands together. "we will dock in a few hours."
"that sounds great to me," she smiled.
"good. you took this far better than my nephew. i will let you know when we dock," he laughed.
hana laughed as well, "there is no surprise in that, iroh."
iroh began to walk away and she closed her door. she went back to playing with the metal.
it molded itself around her hand, then into a rock, and she bent it back into its original form.
she still couldn't believe it. this was astonishing. from what she knew no one had ever been able to do that.
she sat there doing this for hours. until she heard a knock like earlier.
iroh.
"we are about to dock! come on! we must find my lotus tile!"
"i'm coming!" she slid the slab under her bed.
she opened the door to a happy iroh, "shall we?"
"we shall," she laughed and linked arms with the older man.
the two of them laughed all the way to the bowsprit. when they got there zuko looked at them. he looked rather confused.
"what? you jealous?" hana teased.
zuko simply grumbled.
they waited a couple of minutes before they officially docked. then the bowsprit lowered creating a ramp.
they walked down it iroh and let go of hana. the elder practically took off running. he was like a child who had gotten sweets.
the two teens stood there for a moment before hana finally caved and spoke, "i'm going to go look around."
"whatever."
she rolled her eyes and shook her head. she walked off heading to a merchant's booth.
"hello? anyone here?" she looked into the booth.
"hiya!" a stalky man popped up.
"hello!" she smiled. "can i have this sir?" she pointed to something that looked sweet.
"of course! coming up ma'am," he quickly got the food ready. "here you go. 3 copper pieces."
she gave him a silver piece, "keep the rest. have a good day."
"thank you!"
she walked around for a little while until she decided that she should go back to the ship.
when she got there she saw iroh and zuko standing next to each other talking.
she stood by iroh as she saw zuko becoming irritated. iroh began, "i've checked all the shops on this pier. not a lotus tile in the entirety marketplace!" he ranted.
"that's no good," she frowned.
zuko turned to iroh, "it's good to know this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone!"
"quite the contrary. i always say the only thing better than finding something you were looking for, is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain! and hana also got something out of it!" iroh pointed at the girl.
"i got a small snack. besides, the merchant looked like he really needs the money," she shrugged her shoulders.
they watched as fire nation soldiers walked by carrying merchandise. she saw some instruments.
"you bought a sumki horn?" zuko asked.
"for music night on the ship. now, if we only had some woodwinds," iroh started to walk down the dock towards a ship.
zuko looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders. the two of them followed him.
iroh pointed at the ship, "this place looks promising!"
they continued walking to it and boarded it. it was rather awkward but she didn't say anything, she just let iroh have his moment.
"that is very handsome! wouldn't that look magnificent in the gallery?" iroh asked.
hana hummed in response. she started to listen in on the pirate's conversation.
"we lost the water tribes girl and the little bald monk she was traveling with."
seriously aang and katara, what the fuck!
zuko had obviously heard this and walked over to the pirates, "this monk, did he have an arrow on his head?"
iroh began monkey noises and zuko and the pirates began a conversation. he was obviously trying to get information from them.
zuko turned back to the two of them, "i have a lead."
"what?"
"the water tribe peasant stole a water bending scroll."
"interesting."
"i made a deal with them. i will get the avatar and they can take the peasants and the scroll," he smirked.
"alright, what do we have to do?" she asked.
"help them find the scroll. they'll be by the water."
the conversation quickly ended. soon, they headed on deck to look for the avatar or any signs of him.
iroh, however, stayed below. he wanted to continue to browse their items.
nightfall hit and within that same hour, they docked at a beach.
they began to search in the woods when they heard rustling. it was katara. one of the pirates grabbed her.
she was able to knock him out with her bending but was still captured by zuko. she ran into him. it was a bit too easy.
katara looked at hana as she was being tied up. hana simply looked away.
zuko began to threaten her. hana hated this. she hated watching people get hurt.
"tell me where he is and i won't hurt you or your brother," he started off.
"go jump in the river!" she snapped.
go katara! we all wanted to say it!
zuko began to circle katara. he was trying to reason with her, "try to understand, i need to capture to restore something i've lost. my honor. perhaps in exchange i can restore something you've lost," he held up a necklace.
it was the one katara always wore. how in the world did he get that?
the shock was plastered on her face. she didn't know how he got it either. "my mother's necklace! how did you get that?"
"i didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. tell me where he is," he told her.
2 gold pieces on him lying.
"no!"
the pirate captain stepped forward. she raised an eyebrow, "enough of this necklace garbage. you promised the scroll."
"i'd shut it if i were you," hana whispered.
zuko pulled a scroll from a pocket and raised it above his hand that was producing fire, "i wonder how much money this is worth."
the pirates began to gasp, some even shouting pleas for him not to do it.
"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," zuko commanded.
"fine." he turned his back to zuko.
his men dispersed throughout the forest. at least she didn't have to do anything. she propped herself on a tree. she barely stayed awake.
zuko stood by katara. he shot hana occasional stares and she stared back.
the sun began to rise and within two hours of it being up the pirates caught sokka and aang.
sokka and aang stood before zuko. hana watched as sokka tried to get of the rope tying him up and she looked at aang. he looked petrified.
"nice work," zuko stepped forward with the scroll.
"aang, this is all my fault."
"no, katara, it isn't."
iroh butted in, "yeah, it kind of is."
hana struggled to keep a straight face. she let a snort out. zuko turned to look at her. her eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.
zuko turned back around, "give me the boy."
"you give us the scroll," he countered.
"you're really gonna hand over the avatar for a stupid piece of parchment," sokka asked.
that's a different approach.
zuko pointed at sokka, "don't listen to him. he's trying to turn us against each other."
its clearly working.
the captaincy looked at aang, "your friend is the avatar?"
sokka slid next to the two of them, "sure us. and i'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."
damn sokka, you're good.
zuko was fired up, "shut your mouth, you water tribe peasant!"
that was unnecessary.
aang looked concerned, "yeah, sokka, you really should shut your mouth...."
sokka ignored him and looked at the pirates, "i'm just sayin', it's bad business sense. just imagine how much the fire lord would pay for the avatar. you guys would be set for life!"
the pirate thought about it, "keep the scroll! we can buy a hundred with the reward we will get for the kid."
the pirates began to walk away.
"you'll regret breaking a deal with me!"
zuko and some of the soldiers unleashed fire at the pirates. they jumped out of the way. one of the pirates charge towards them and drops smoke bombs.
hana ran away from the heap of smoke. she noticed the rest of the pirates guarding sokka and aang. as they did this they set off more smoke bombs.
the other soldiers charged into the smoke. when she realized no one was around she ran to katara.
she untied the rope around the girl, "thank you," katara looked at the older girl.
"of course. now run," hana said.
hana heard screaming and she saw zuko come out of the smoke, but before she could speak a man held a sword to zuko.
the two of them began fighting, but eventually, she had enough.
she stomped on the ground sending a piece of earth flying at the pirate.
the man was knocked down. zuko turned to her. she nodded her head.
another pirate came back out, he looked for assistance but she was gone. she heard aang and sokka screaming for each other.
aang got fed up and air bent the smoke away. he decided that wasn't the best choice and un-did this move.
she realized that they were no longer in there when aang screamed, "run!" she assumed it was to sokka.
she went back to zuko and the pirate fighting. iroh was in the middle of the two, "are you so busy fighting you cannot see your own ship has set sail?"
"we have no time for your proverbs, uncle," zuko snapped.
"it's no proverb," he pointed at the ship going downriver.
"bleeding hog-monkeys!" the pirate ran away.
zuko began to laugh. it was a strange occurrence, and it was a very very rare one.
she stopped looked at zuko and saw another ship following is filled with pirates laughing.
zuko also saw when he stopped laughing, "hey! that's my boat!" he ran towards the boat heading downstream.
iroh scratched his chin, "maybe it should be a proverb."
"it would be a good one," she laughed.
"come on! uncle! hana!" zuko called out.
iroh and hana ran after him. when they got to the edge of the cliff they saw katara, sokka, and aang on appa.
"my boat!" zuko's voice cracked.
iroh panted for a moment and then he began laughing, "prince zuko, hana, you're really going to get a kick out of this. that lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time," he pulled it out of his sleeve and smiled.
hana slapped her face and zuko snatched the tile from iroh's hand. he threw it into the water and it hit one of the pirates.
"nice aim," she laughed hysterically.
lexi speaks;
holy balls this took forever. ANYWAY IDK HOW I FEEL AB THIS BUT YK IT FINE IG. i hope yall know that iroh and her are obviously joking around. there is nothing like that goin on HAHHDNDNDN. have a good day!