Balance | Old Version

Chapter 26

Elua's POV.

I sigh as I lean my head against the small tree I had been tied to, Katara stands tied to a tree beside me. She glares at Zuko as he stands in front of her.
"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother," Zuko tells Katara.
"Go jump in the river!" She shouts angrily at him.
"Try to understand, I need to capture to restore something I've lost," Zuko says as he walks around her. "My honor," He states.

"Perhaps in exchange, I can restore something you've lost," Zuko says as he holds up Katara's necklace over her neck, her eyes go wide.
"My mother's necklace! How did you get that?" Katara asks furiously as he walks away from her.
"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is." Zuko demands.
"No!" Katara shouts sternly.
"Enough of this necklace garbage. You promised the scroll!" The pirate captain shouts.

"I wonder how much money this is worth?" Zuko asks as he holds a flame in his hand and the scroll in the other.
"NO!" The pirates shout in alarm.
"A lot, apparently," Zuko says as he smirks. "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." He tells them, they all glare at him.
"Fine."

Sunrise.

"Nice work," Zuko tells the pirates as they return with Aang and Sokka tied up.
"Aang, this is all my fault," Katara says in shame.
"No, Katara it isn't," Aang tells her with a small smile.
"Yeah, it kind of is." The old Fire Nation man says.
"Give me the boy," Zuko orders the pirates.
"You give us the scroll." The pirate command.
"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment!?" Sokka suddenly shouts. We all look at him in horror.

"Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other," Zuko tells them.
"Your friend is the Avatar?" The Captain asks Sokka in shock.
"Sure is," Sokka says smiling. "And She's his sister...and the Nadir," He says as he motions to me. "I'll bet they'll fetch a lot more on the black market then that fancy scroll," Sokka tells them, they smirk.
"Shut your mouth, you water tribe peasant!" Zuko shouts in anger.
"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth," Aang tells him as he becomes nervous.

"I'm just sayin', it's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar and the Nadir," Sokka says smiling. "You guys would be set for life!" He says.
"Keep the scroll! We can buy a hundred with the reward we will get for the kid." The Captain says.
"You'll regret breaking a deal with me!" Zuko shouts as he glares at the pirates. "Make sure the Nadir doesn't get away!" He tells a few of his guards as he and the guards on either side of him unleash a flow of flames, submerging the ground underneath the pirates who jump out the way.

One of the Pirates jumps into the middle of the firebenders with a cry. Momo climbs down the trunk of the tree that Katara is tied to and chews open her ropes. He jumps over to the tree I'm on but, seeing as I am chained to the tree, he can't help me. I look in front of me as the two guards are talking to each other, glancing at me every few seconds. I look back over to Katara as she is about to come help me, but I shake my head and she stops in confusion. She was a strong bender, but she couldn't fight two firebenders by herself just yet.

"Go," I mouth to her, she looks at me shock and shakes her head 'no'. I throw my head back in frustration, I look back over to her and jerk my head in the direction of Aang and Sokka.
"Go," I mouth again, a stern look in my eye. She looks at me with a sad frown, I give her a small smile. "I'll be okay," I mouth to her with a reassuring look, she sighs and nods as she runs off.

Third Person POV.

Aang and Sokka get away from the Pirates and run towards the beach where Katara is trying to push the pirate's ship off the shore and into the water, she turns around and sees them.
"Help me get this boat back in the water so we can get out of here!" Katara tells Aang and Sokka. All three begin to push on the boat, but nothing happens. They stop and look up at the head of the ship.
"We need a team of rhinos to budge this ship," Sokka tells his sister, Aang smiles.
"A team of rhinos...or two waterbenders," Aang says.

Katara smiles and they begin to pull the river back and forth up onto the beach, slowly raising the water level around the ship and eventually making it float back into the river.
"Everybody in!" Katara says as they all run onto the ship. Katara looks behind her, she could go back for Elua. But, her expression turns to sadness. They couldn't fight off all the pirates and Zuko's army, she sighs as she turns away and focuses on getting to safety.
"Sokka! Can't you make it go any faster?" Aang asks as they sail along the water.
"I don't know-how. This thing wasn't made by the water tribe." Sokka states.

Aang looks behind them and sees Zuko's ship, but instead of Zuko, he sees the pirates.
The pirates begin jumping onto the ship the group is in. Katara faces two pirates as they run at her. As she backs up, Aang waterbends a huge wave onto the deck that washes one of the pirates overboard. Katara creates a water whip and smacks the other one overboard.
"Hey, you did the water whip!" Aang says smiling.
"I couldn't have done it without your and Elua's help!" Katara tells him, he smiles at her.
"Will you two quit congratulating each other and help me out!" Sokka shouts to them.

"Aang, look!" Katara shouts pointing up ahead, they are quickly nearing a large waterfall.
"Oh, no!" Aang shouts, he takes out the whistle he bought and begins to blow into it.
"Have you lost your mind!? This is no time for flute practice!" Sokka yells to him.
"We can stop the boat!" Katara shouts to them. "Aang, together, push and pull the water!" She says as she and Aang begin to waterbend in unison, making pushing and pulling movements.
"It's working! It's slowing down!" Katara shouts happily as the ship turns to a 90-degree angle.

"But, we have another problem!" Sokka shouts Zuko's ship is aiming down on the pirate ship as it is hanging at the rim of the fall. Zuko's ship collides with the pirate ship, making the three fall off the ship and over the waterfall, the pirate ship falling behind them. They all shout in fear, but Appa swoops down and they land on his back and quickly flies away.
"I knew a bison whistle would come in handy," Aang says smiling as he looks at the white whistle "Thanks, Appa," He says as he pats Appa's head.
"Yeah, we owe ya one," Sokka says in relief.

Sunset.

"Aang, I still owe you an apology," Katara says as they up through some clouds. "You were just so good at waterbending without really trying. I got so competitive that I put us all in danger. I'm sorry," She says as she looks down at her blue tunic.
"That's okay, Katara," Aang says smiling at her.
"Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway," Katara says, somewhat gloomily.
"Is that really how you feel?" Sokka asks holding up the scroll with a smirk.
"The scroll!" Katara says smiling as she reaches for it, but Sokka pulls it away.

"First, what did you learn?" Sokka asks her, Katara sighs.
"Stealing is wrong," Katara says, Sokka smiles and hands it to her. "Unless it's from pirates!" She says laughing as she grabs the scroll.
"Haha! Good one, Katara." Aang says laughing, his laughing quickly stops as he notices the absence of his sister. He looks around in confusion.
"Hey, where's Elua?" He asks worriedly as he looks over to Katara, who looks down sadly.

"Katara, where is she?" Sokka asks, now becoming worried too.
"I was going to help her," Katara starts to say. "But, she told me not to," She explains sadly.
"You mean..." Aang trails off as he realizes what she means.
"She's Zuko's prisoner," Sokka finishes what Aang was going to say. Aang stares at them for a few moments, they all look down sorrowfully. Aang's eyes fill with tears, his sister was the only person he had left from his old life and now she wasn't with them. She was alone and even though Aang wasn't, he felt as if he was too.