In the morning, we ate and left again, riding our ostrich horses. Zuko didn't speak a word the whole morning and he looked angry, so Zian didn't get near him or try to speak to him. Instead, he talked to me.
"So," Zian said, walking his ostrich horse next to me, leaving Zuko behind, "You're from the Northern Water Tribe?"
"Yup." I nodded.
"That's cool. I've met the Avatar before," Zian told me.
"Really?" My eyes widened. "What was he like?"
"I was visiting my cousin, Haru, at the time. The firebenders were at our village and they took our money and everything, and they imprisoned us if we earthbended."
"That's horrible," I said, shaking my head. "Why would they do something like that?"
Zian shrugged. "They took Haru, and my other aunt, Haru's mother, was devestated. But the Avatar and his two friends saved all the prisoners."
"Whoa."
"Yeah. Hasn't he met him too?" Zian pointed at Zuko over his shoulder.
"Yeah, but," I lowered my voice, "he wants to capture him."
"So why are you traveling together?" he asked.
"Dunno. He actually is better than before; maybe he won't capture the Avatar after we find him."
"You guys are so different it's funny," Zian laughed.
"Extremely," I agreed, and grabbed the reigns to calm down my ostrich horse.
As we rode, Zian stopped.
"Shh . . ." he put a finger to his lips and brought his ostrich horse to a complete halt. He jumped off as we stopped and knelt on the floor, his feet flat against the floor. "I hear vibrations," he said. "Someone's coming. Actually, more than one person. Run or fight?"
I jumped off. "Fight, of course."
Zian stomped his foot on the ground and a huge chunk of rock rose out of the ground. Zian tied all three ostrich horses to the rock.
Then I saw them. Far in the distance. they were a small army of about twenty, riding on mongoose dragons.
"Damn," Zian mumbled.
The first the he did was lift the ground under us so we had a higher advantage.
I saw the three leaders and my blood started to boil as flames appeared around my balled fists. It was Azula, Ty Lee, and . . . Mai. I looked at Zuko who wasn't in battle mode, just staring at them coming towards us.
"Zuko, what are you doing?" I hissed. They were getting closer.
"Huh? Oh." He put his fists up but his eyes still had that faraway look to them.
I pursed my lips. "Zian, take the creepy one."
Zian started laughing. "What?"
"The one who looks like she wants to run the world over with a giant tank." I smirked, and snuck a glance at Zuko who looked annoyed, his eyes narrowed.
"Wait, there's two who look like that. Be more specific."
"The gloomy goth one," I snickered, starting to laugh.
"The rabbit-ear hair one?" Zian continued laughing, and I punched his arm.
"Ah, I love your sense of humor Zian," I cracked up.
"Uh-huh. Wait why are we targeting her only?" Zian said, grinning.
"Oh." I grinned slyly. "Because she used to be Zuko's—"
