To Omashu We Go

-Iroh's Point of View-

"Darn it! Darn it! Darn all of it!" Zuko shouted as he punches the wall. We're currently inside his quarters.

"HOW COULD I HAVE LET HIM ESCAPE AGAIN?! THAT DAMN AVATAR!" He shouted more. It's been hours already since we set sail away from Kiyoshi Island; still, no Avatar in hand.

"Don't be too hard on yourself Prince Zuko. We'll have plenty of time to catch the Avatar," I said trying to comfort him. He didn't reply to me, nor even glanced at me.

Just then one of the crew opened the door to his room and went inside.

"Sorry for the interruption Prince Zuko, but where do we head for now?" the crew asked.

"Now is not the right time for that talk. Let the Prince be for a moment. Just continue sailing," I said to the crew.

"No. Follow the Avatar's direction. He's going north. We might as well head north then. We'll try picking up information from nearby villages," Zuko said calmly as he walked in front of the crew. "Thank you for your great service," Zuko said.

Well what do you know, my nephew does care.

"It is my pleasure, young Prince," the crew said and then he left.

Zuko then walked towards his bed and laid down on top of it.

"You must be tired. I will leave you now," I said and walked towards the door but then Zuko said something that made me stop.

"That water tribe girl is definitely carrying mother's necklace," he said. I looked back at him and then he sat up; looking at me.

"Do you have any idea where Mom could be?" he suddenly asked.

"I'm sorry Zuko, but nobody from the royal family nor the fire nation knows about her whereabouts," I answered.

"Then maybe someone from the water tribes knows," he said.

I looked at him silently; not saying a word.

"I think she might have met Mom. She might know something," he insisted.

That's impossible. Even if she does have Ursa's necklace, that girl must have not known who Ursa is, let alone her whereabouts.

"What do you plan to do about it then?" I asked my nephew.

"I might just have to look for Mom as well. If I'm lucky enough, then I might be able to take both the Avatar and that girl," he explained.

"Alright, so long as you will feel happy about it, then all I can do is support you," I said to him.

"You're not going to stop me? You were so opposed to me getting close to that girl before," he asked.

"Stopping you and belittling you is the last thing I would want you to hear from me. I want you to know that I am always supporting you. You are my family," I answered.

Zuko then smiled at me as he said, "Thank you, uncle. I wouldn't have gotten this far if it weren't for your help."

I nodded my head and then I stood up.

"It's time you sleep. I'll leave you alone now. Have a good rest, my nephew," I said and then I went outside the room.

I went to my quarters and then I locked the doors. I walked towards my cabinet and then took out a painted portrait of a woman.

"Anika... Where have you been? You never showed up after telling me to meet you at the royal palace," I said to myself.

If my guess is right, that girl is probably Anika's daughter, but where could Anika be? Her daughter is traveling around the world. That is the last thing she would want to happen.

Did she encounter trouble on the way back to the palace? Or did she encounter Ursa on the way back?

Either way, it has been 6 years since she last sent me a letter. Something must have happened. I never really got to know what she was planning, why does she suddenly want to go back to the palace after leaving? I guess it's time I look for her.

I took out 5 papers and then I wrote a letter saying,

'How have you been? Any news about Anika? Write back to me, Iroh, as soon as possible. It's been years already. I'm getting more and more worried, and I think I just met her daughter. I hope to hear from you soon.'

I then rolled the papers, tied them, and went outside my quarters.

I headed towards the messenger birds' cages and took out five of them. Good thing that most of the people on the ship are asleep already.

I placed one letter in each of their carrier canisters. Once I was done fixing them up, I looked at all five of them.

"Rio, onward to Master Piandao. Cleo, send that letter to Fung. Ava, send that one to Master Jeong Jeong. Luna, go to Master Pakku," I said to the four birds and they all flew away.

I walked closer to the last one and held it in my arms.

"And lastly, for you Talon, go to Omashu and send the letter to King Bumi," I said as I threw him into the air. He went soaring into the sky and I just stared at him.

"I'm hoping to receive a reply from you all, my friends," I said and then I went back inside.

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-Maya's Point of View-

"WAKE UP!" Aang shouted.

"AH!" I shouted back as I sprightly sat up.

"Okay, you're up! That's good!" Aang said to me with a smile on his face.

"Wha? Where are we? What time is it?" I asked with a sleepy voice.

"We've already landed hours ago. It's most probably noontime by now." Aang replied.

"NOON TIME?! WHAT?!" I quickly stood up and I saw Katara who was feeding Appa, and next to them is Sokka who was sharpening and polishing his weapons.

"Wait, how did I end up on the ground?" I asked Aang.

"Oh, Sokka carried you down when we landed, you were so deep in your sleep that you didn't even feel it. We camped out for a little while after landing because Appa felt tired." Aang explained.

"Geez, why didn't you guys wake me up?" I asked as I walked closer to Sokka and Katara with Aang following behind me.

"You looked like you needed more rest. So I told Sokka not to wake you up," Katara said.

"Still... I could've helped setting out camp if—"

"It's fine Maya, don't worry about it," Sokka butted in.

I looked at them all and I said, "Thank you guys. I promise to not oversleep again next time."

Katara then handed me a spare shirt and said, "Here change into this. I noticed that your collar was ripped. Wear that for the meantime while I fix your shirt,"

Oh! I almost forgot about it. Zuko did rip off a part of my shirt.

"Oh, okay! Thank you, Katara," I said and I started removing my shirt.

"Hey hey! Wait! Are you seriously going naked in front of us?" Sokka suddenly shouted.

"What's wrong? I have an undershirt don't worry about it," I said and I took off my top.

I handed it to Katara and then I wore the spare shirt she gave me.

"Is that Aunt Anika's necklace?" she suddenly asked.

I looked at her and said, "Oh, yeah. I thought about wearing it," I replied.

Sokka stood up to look at the necklace and then he said, "Welp, sorry to say this Maya but, you can't wear that. It has a fire nation symbol on it. People will think of you as a threat if they see it."

"Well I could just hide it under my shirt," I said and then I tucked in the necklace.

"Well you could, but it's better if we were cautious. People might accidentally see it," Katara said agreeing with Sokka.

Well, they are right at some point. Fire Nation people are labeled as an enemy right now. I might get thrown into a dungeon if they see this.

UGH! THIS IS WHY I HATE THE FACT THAT I'M FROM THE FIRE NATION.

I could've just been born as a true water tribe girl, but no! Some mighty being out there decided for me to be a Fire Nation girl. This makes things super complicated.

"You're right. What was I thinking?" I said as I removed the necklace and held it in my hands.

"I'm sorry Maya," Katara said.

"No, it's alright. I will just keep it with me," I said as I put the necklace inside my pocket.

"I'll go pack my sleeping bag," I said and I walked back to where I was laying.

"I'll fix Maya's shirt," I heard Katara say.

"Well, you're gonna have to do that later Katara because we are heading out now," Aang said.

I walked closer to them with my sleeping bag in hand. "We're flying again? But it seems like Appa's still tired," Katara asked.

I climbed up on Appa's saddle and placed my sleeping bag there.

"Who said anything about flying? We are walking there! C'mon! It's just a few walks from here!" Aang said and then he started walking.

I looked at Katara from on top of Appa and said, "Hand me that Katara, I'll just fix that myself later," then I reached out my hand to her.

"Alright..." she said and then she gave me my ripped shirt. I stacked it along with the other stuff and went down.

"Let's go!" I said and we all followed behind Aang.

We walked for a few minutes until we reached the top of a hill where Aang stopped.

"Here we are guys; the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu," Aang said.

He showed us the view of the city and it looks the same as the Southern Air Temple. It's like a pyramid on top of a plateau. It's all rock and everything.

"Woah," I said as I look at the place filled with fascination.

"I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi!" Aang said.

"Wow! We don't have cities like this in the South Pole," Katara said

"They have buildings here that don't melt!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Well let's go slowpokes! The real fun is inside the city!" Aang continued as he ran, down to the other side of the hill.

"Wait Aang. It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar," Katara said, making Aang stop.

"Yeah, Katara is right. If news got out that the Avatar is in Omashu, chances are, fire benders will appear again just like what happened back in Kiyoshi. You'll need a disguise," Sokka agreed.

"So, what am I supposed to do? Grow a mustache?" Aang asked. I looked around to think about the possible disguise he can wear and when I saw Appa, an idea came to mind.

"I think you could grow a mustache," I said, and then I ran towards Appa. "Sokka! Can I borrow your dagger?" I asked.

"What are you planning to do?" Sokka asked as he took his dagger out of his sling bag and handed it to me.

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt Appa," I said as I grabbed the dagger.

"Okay Appa, I'm just gonna take a few hairs from you. Don't worry, you'll grow them back anyway," I said and then I scraped a few of Appa's hair from his tail.

After that, I went to my bag and grabbed the sticky ointment that Gran Gran packed for me. This is for fatigue. Good thing Gran Gran packed this.

I grabbed the scraped fur and went to Aang.

"You can use this as your mustache," I said.

I stood in front of Aang and I placed down the fur.

"Hold still," I told him and then I applied some ointment on his face around the mouth area and then glued some fur on it.

Afterward, I asked Katara for a short thread of rope and I grabbed the remaining fur to tie it around Aang's head.

"There! Disguise!" I exclaimed.

"Ugh... It's so itchy! How do you live in this stuff?" Aang complained to Appa.

Appa just scoffs at him and I chuckled a little.

"Great! Now you look just like my grandfather," Sokka said.

"Well technically, Aang is a hundred and 12 years old," Katara added.

Aang then grabbed his glider and used it as a cane.

"Now let's get to skippin' young whippersnappers. The big city awaits!" he said in an old man's voice.

"Oh! Sokka, give me your bag for props!" Aang requested. Sokka tossed the bag to him and then he started walking like an old man and the three of us just looked at him while trying not to laugh.

We walked down the hill and into the narrow path, just to get to the city's entrance. This city has only one entry and exit point, and since we wanted Aang to be unnoticed, we have to leave Appa on the hill. We covered him with leaves that we got from the trees just so no one would notice. Momo, on the other hand, hid inside Aang's hair, well... fake hair.

The narrow path is like a cliff actually, with no fences at the side. I walked along the sides of the path and looked down. I saw that it was very steep.

Imagine falling into it, there's no way you'll survive, or even if you did, you would be stuck there forever.

Suddenly I felt Aang's hand on my shoulder as he gently pulled me away from the edge.

"Careful. You wouldn't want to fall," he said.

"Oh... yeah. Of course." I replied. I suddenly felt my cheeks getting warmer. Am I blushing?! No! Maya, you can't! Stop that!

I covered my cheeks with my hands and continued walking with them, but I stayed a bit behind because I didn't want them to notice my blushing face.

When we got closer to the gate, Aang looked at us while walking backward and he said, "You guys are going to love Omashu! The people here are the friendliest in the world!"

As soon as he finished saying that, we heard an earthbender guard shouting at an old man.

"Rotten cabbages?! What kind of slum do you think this place is?!" he said as he crushed a bulb of cabbage in his hands and slapped the cabbage out of the old man's hands.

He then earthbent a cart of cabbages out of the path and down the cliff.

"MY CABBAGES!" the old man shouted while looking at the falling cart.

We looked at the falling cart as well and then we looked straight ahead.

Is that what Aang depicts as friendly? They sure are welcoming alright...

"Just keep smiling," Aang said and then he continued walking. The three of us gave each other an awkward look as we tried to give our best smiles.

When Aang got closer to the guards, one of them suddenly stepped forward and drew out a boulder directly on top of Aang.

Talk about being kind people.

"State your business," the guard said.

"My business is my business young man, and none of yours!" Aang suddenly shouted in an old man's voice as he points his finger at the soldier multiple times. The soldier dropped the boulder making the ground shake.

"I've got have a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!" Aang continued shouting at the guard.

The three of us looked at Aang while trying to hide the fear. Aang what are you even doing? I don't remember shouting at the guards as part of the plan!

"Settle down old timer... Just tell me who you are," the guard asked calmly.

That's it? He's convinced? Well, I guess they really are friendly in a way.

"The name's Banzu Pipenpadilopsicopulus... the third!" Aang shouted. I hid my face with my hand as soon as I heard the name.

There is no way they'll believe it. Are they seriously buying that?

"And these are my grandkids!" Aang said.

Katara then walked to his side and said, "Hi! June Pipenpadilopsicopulus! Nice to meet you! And these are my brother and my cousin, Niko, and Mira Pipenpadilopsicopulus," while pointing at me and Sokka.

I guess I'll have to ride along with them...

"Hello, nice to meet you..." I said in a bashful manner.

The guards stared at us for a few seconds before saying, "You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble," he said while pointing at Katara.

"And you!" the guard said while pointing at me. "Make sure you help out your cousin in keeping your grandfather safe," the guard continued.

"Y-yes, sir!" I answered while stuttering.

"Enjoy Omashu," he sternly said and then he stepped aside to let us pass.

Wooh! We made it! For some apparent reason, they bought everything Aang just made up.

"We will!" Katara joyfully said and then we all walked closer to the gate. But then we were stopped by the guard again when he saw Sokka.

"Wait a minute!" the guard shouted.

Oh no. I hope he didn't figure out we were bluffing!

Katara, Aang, and I looked back at the guard and then he grabbed Sokka on the shoulder.

I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to be locked up. Ah!!!!

"You're a strong young boy. Show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag!" the guard commanded.

Whew! That was close. I released a big sigh when I heard that. I thought we were done!

"Good idea!" Aang removed the bag from his shoulders and tossed it to Sokka's face.

Once Sokka was holding the bag, which was his in the first place, we then continued walking towards the gate.

Two earth bender guards opened the walls of the city using earth bending. The walls have three layers— talk about security. This city is really strict.

We passed through the walls but as the first layer closed behind us, I noticed Momo sticking his ears out of Aang's hair. I quickly pushed his ear down before anyone could notice.

"What?" Aang asked me as I pushed Momo's ears.

"No-nothing! Haha!" I said and gave an awkward smile.

We continued walking into the city and once the third layer of the wall was closed, we were bombarded with huge rocky ranges of houses, and all around them are inclined pathways.

Woah! This place is like a mountain of houses! This is awesome!

"Do you guys see that curved paths in there? That is the Omashu Delivery System. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes," Aang said. "Earth bending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them down," he continued.

"Great, so they get their mail on time," Sokka said with fake enthusiasm.

"They do get their mail on time!" Aang replied filled with enthusiasm. "But my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes," Aang said with a mischievous smile on his face.

"What use?" I asked.

Aang looked at me and said, "Look around you. Tell me what do you see?" Aang suddenly asked.

"Uh... The delivery system?" I answered.

"Instead of seeing what they want you to see, you must open your brain to the possibilities," Aang said.

"I'm seeing... houses," Sokka answered.

"The world's biggest super slide!" Aang suddenly exclaimed.

"Wait, is that why we're here for? You're going to ride that thing?" Sokka asked.

"Not me... WE!" Aang cheerfully said. "Now come on! Follow me!" he shouted and then he ran away from us.

"There is no way, I am riding that thing," Sokka argued.

"C'mon Sokka, it sounds fun," Katara said.

"I don't know about you guys but it looks too steep to become a slide," I contradicted.

"Let's just go. You guys wouldn't like Aang to be alone wouldn't you?" Katara asked us.

"Alright. Let's go," Sokka said and then I nodded my head as well.

You know the one thing I hate most? It's heights. I'm afraid of heights okay. I keep on imagining myself falling and it's very horrifying!