Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 23: Daughter of the Dragon of the West

After pulling into another port to get more supplies, at Iroh's insistence, Zuko decided to go ashore with him to make sure he did not waste any more time than necessary.

"I don't want to be here all day," he said. "It's unlikely the Avatar's anywhere near this port. We have to get what we need quickly and leave."

"Not a problem, Nephew," said Iroh, though he was still casually strolling down the dock. "We'll split up." He started ripping his list in half. "I'll go this way, and you take Chiara through those shops," he said to him indicating the stores in the opposite direction.

He held out half of his list to Chiara, but Zuko quickly snatched it before grabbing Chiara's hand and leading her towards the town.

"We need to find a vegetable stand," she said scanning the list.

He pointed ahead. "There's one."

When they arrived at the stand Chiara began inspecting the various vegetables while Zuko stood close by scanning the crowd for a bald head with a blue arrow despite the unlikelihood of spotting his target.

"Oh, look," she said. "Ash bananas."

"Those are imported from Hing Wa Island," said the merchant.

Her eyes ran down the paper in her hand. "They're not on the list."

"Get them anyways," insisted Zuko, eyes still on the people. "You can make your ash banana bread."

She moved on to the tomatoes. "Let me get what's on the list first."

"...I'm sure it was the Avatar," said a male voice. "He was just a kid, but he had airbender tattoos..."

Zuko immediately turned searching for the source of those words. He spotted two men walking ahead, so he grabbed Chiara's wrist.

"C'mon," he said anxiously, trying not to take his eyes off the men.

"But what about the vegetables?"

"We'll get them later."

He pulled her along causing the tomato she was holding to drop onto the cart with the others.

"What's going on?" she asked him as they weaved through the people in the street.

"The Avatar. Somebody spotted him."

Seeing the men far ahead enter a tavern, Zuko quickly headed towards it dragging Chiara with him. As they approached the shabby building, she felt a bit nervous as it sounded far rowdier than the last one they entered where June had been.

"I don't like the looks of this place," she said.

"You'll be okay," he said still pulling her along.

She stopped walking forcing him to a halt. "Wait."

He turned and looked at her.

"I'm going back to the ship."

"No," he said. "You're not walking back by yourself. I'm just going to find out what they know and we'll be done."

Zuko quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the way of a man who had just been physically thrown out of the tavern. She looked up at him still in his arms.

"I'm not comfortable with this, especially without my sword," she said.

"Just stay close to me."

He took her hand and led her towards the entrance, but they were stopped by the bouncer who held his hand up.

"Sorry, lovebirds. This is no place to bring your date."