Façades [A Zuko x OC Story]

9 - The Sniffer Mole

"Ughh!" I groan, "Can something exciting happen?" Almost as if I had summoned it, a woman riding a giant mole jumps up onto our deck. The crew jumps up and runs to stop her.

"Ahh! That's not what I wanted!" I yell moving away from the giant mole woman until I bump into another person, "Out of my way." Zuko orders shoving me to the side.

"Get back! We're after a stowaway!" The woman declares.

Zuko, walking past me, scowls at the woman, "There are no stowaways on my ship." He states.

The giant mole rips a piece of our deck off with its mouth throwing it over mine and the prince's heads, crashing into the door behind us with a loud 'Clang!'. The mole reaches its head down into the hole it created, pulling a man out. The man tries to run for it but the mole whips the man with its tongue, registering the man paralyzed.

"He's paralyzed," Zuko says, shocked from beside me.

"Only temporarily," The pretty woman lifts the stowaway onto her shoulder, "The toxins will wear off in about an hour. But by then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money." She walks over to her mole throwing the man over the saddle.

"But how did you find him on my ship?" Zuko questions.

"My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away." She mounts her shirshu, cracks her whip, and sets off.

"Well, I'm impressed," Iroh leans over the railing of the deck massaging his beard, "Very impressed." I look over to the other side of Iroh to see Zuko with a disgusted look on his face, "Something tells me it's not the shirshu that's interesting you," I walk away from the railing shaking my head at the old man staring dreamily into the distance.

-

"Tell me. Why are we here again?" I look at the large tavern as a man comes flying through the roof and lands in front of us.

"We're here to make a deal." Zuko marches through the door. I slowly follow him in as he pushes a bunch of the tavern's patrons, "Out of my way! Step aside, filth!" I slap my face with my hand. This boy needs to learn some basic human interactions.

"He means no offence! I'm certain you bathe regularly!" Iroh apologizes to the men Zuko yelled at as we follow the angry prince, "So sorry," I say to the men, "He doesn't talk to very many people," I smile sheepishly.

"I need to talk to you," Zuko declares as he stands next to the pretty woman with the shirsu who is in the middle of an arm-wrestling match. I move to stand next to him with Iroh on his other side.

"Well, if it isn't my new friends: Angry Boy, Uncle Lazy, and Prisoner," Iroh laughs at her remark. She slams her opponent's arm onto the table without breaking a sweat. Everyone starts throwing money at the woman.

"Your beast trashed my ship. You have to pay me back!" Zuko says angrily. She reaches across the table to collect her money, "Well, I'd love to help you out, but I'm a little short on money," She turns to face the crowd, "Drinks on me!" She hollers. The crowd cheers. Zuko grabs her wrist as she goes to take a drink, "Money isn't what I had in mind."

We make our way out of the bar to see June's shirshu sitting outside the door. Zuko pulls out Katara's necklace, "I need you to find someone."

"What happened, your girlfriend run off on you?" June says sarcastically. I snort.

"It's not the girl I'm after, it's the bald monk she's travelling with." Zuko ignores June's previous statement.

"Whatever you say," June says unamused.

"If you find them, I'll consider the damage to my ship paid for." Zuko attempts to make a deal.

June scoffs, "Heh, forget it," She starts to climb onto her shirshu until Iroh speaks up, "Plus, we'll pay your weight in gold." June slides off her shirshu with a smile and pokes Iroh in the stomach, "Make it your weight, and we gotta deal." Iroh just laughs, "You got it!"