“Where are you going exactly?” Fany asked the determined Avatar. “You don’t even know where Sica is!”

              Taeyeon may have gotten stronger ever since she left the Fire Nation, but looking for Sica in the big wide world with absolutely no clues was just absurd. Where would she even start looking? Considering that the band of Water Tribe royalties came with a ship, it was possible that they are out somewhere in the ocean, or in some distant land. Searching all four corners of the map would take ages!

              “I have to find out, don’t I? What if something bad happened to them? Ah, I'm going crazy just imagining it!” Taeyeon worried, biting her lip at the thought of Sica and the others getting into serious trouble. Even the Avatar felt scared at the thought of bigger monsters. She has never really fought any dangerous enemies. How exactly will she save Sica if she got in trouble?

              “Look, Taeng, I know you’re the Avatar and all, but you need a plan for this,” Sunny suggested, patting the troubled Avatar’s tensing shoulders.

              “Any suggestions? Anyone?” Taeyeon looked at Fany, Sunny, Hyomin, and Yoona. Everyone began to think. Nothing seemed to be entering their clueless brains.

              “Let me see that thing!” Sunny grabbed the crumpled up letter from Taeyeon’s hand and scrutinized it for any strange clues. That was all that she had been doing lately anyway—scanning files to look for any clues that might solve her Fire Nation mysteries. She just hopes that -shaped eyes would be able to catch anything suspicious.

              “This Princess Sica,” Hyomin spoke as she peeked over Sunny’s shoulder to look at the letter. “You said that she is a water bender, right?”

              “Yes, she’s one of the best,” answered Fany.

              “She’s even titled as the ‘Ice Princess,’” Sunny added as she stared at the letter.

              “If she’s so great, then why would she ask for help?” Yoona scoffed.

              “Yeah, why would a water bending master ask for help?” Hyomin agreed.

              Taeyeon brought her hand to her chin in deep thought. Now that she thought about it, it really doesn’t even make sense. Sica saved her from drowning once. Sica saved Seohyun and Yonghwa from the vicious polar bears. Sica taught her water bending. Sica can even make crevices in the glaciers. Why would Sica ask for anyone’s help?

              Besides, who else was in that ship with Sica anyway? From what Taeyeon remembered, Secretary Yoochun—also a very powerful water bender and experienced sailor—was there as the royalties’ body guard. Princess Krystal, Sica’s younger sister, had always been competent as the second Ice Princess. Seohyun, a great addition to their team, can be very helpful with her amazing healing skills. Then there was also the water-bending cosmopolitan Kyuhyun…

              “There’s only one way that a team of brilliant water benders could lose,” said Taeyeon after some thought. “There must be no water. They must be on land.”

              “Well, I did see Yoongbird—I mean Ginger—fly in from the east. They must be in the east,” Yoona offered her insight.

              “East? You don’t think they’re in the Earth Kingdom, do you?” Sunny asked, knowing that the Earth Kingdom is just east of the Fire Nation.

              “They could in one of the other Fire Nation Islands in the east too though,” Fany thoughtfully said. Then she turned to Taeyeon and asked, “But Taeyeon, you said you lost them in the ports up northwest. How did they get to the east?”

              “Hmm…” Taeyeon thought for a second. Then she said, “There are plenty of things I don’t understand, but we’ll have to find them soon.”           

***

 A few weeks ago…

              With eyes filled with tears, sadness, and trauma, Seohyun blankly stared out into the churning waves. Kyuhyun, the man she looked up to as a valuable friend and big brother was killed by an unknown masked man about two days ago. They spent their childhood together and played with each other in the icy docks of the North Pole. He had always been drawn to sail out in the ocean just like his parents. Now, along with his parents who drowned in the glassy, blue depths, he rests in peace. Seohyun could not help but feel terrible though. She was considered as one of the best healers, yet she was not able to save him.

              “Hyun,” Yonghwa empathically called, noticing her depression. “It’s time to eat. Sica Noona and Krystal caught some fish.”

              “Why would anyone do such a thing?” Seohyun asked once again. She had been asking that question ever since she watched the lifeless Kyuhyun bleed out the other night. The scene still sickened her to her stomach. It was such an awful sight.

              “I don’t know,” Yonghwa sighed. He also remembered that night. The masked man almost shot him with shurikens and then held a knife so close to his throat. It was another near death experience to add to his list.

              Throughout Yonghwa’s life, he had always been that kid who fell into some kind of danger. He was young, so he suspected that most of them were just caused by his recklessness and poor judgment. When he goes out to play at the tundra, some wild animal would always appear out of nowhere trying to kill him. Sometimes, the ice beneath his feet would crumble for no reason. When fishing with a hook, he often caught the dangerous sharks. Now that someone attempted to take his life, he began to suspect that someone might possibly be behind all those “accidents” during his childhood. Either that or it was becoming paranoia. Maybe it was even just very bad luck. He really wasn’t sure anymore. But one thing absolutely bothered him. Why did that masked assassin kill Kyuhyun after making it look like he was targeting the prince?

              After heading down from the ship’s quarter deck, Yonghwa and Seohyun were welcomed with another disgusting meal cooked by the Ice Princess herself. Last night, Sica served them burnt fish—which tasted more like rocks—and now, it seemed like she changed her menu to raw stingrays, topped with something that looked like muddy seaweed.

              “Eat up guys! This time, it’s not burnt, I promise,” Sica announced proudly.

              “Yeah, it doesn’t look cooked either, ugh,” Yonghwa mumbled close to Seohyun’s ear.

              Seohyun slapped his arm in rebuke. “Be thankful that we still have something to eat.”

              At the moment Seohyun saw the meal, she tried not to show her disgust, but she wouldn’t even try it. Yonghwa couldn’t help but giggle as he watched her hesitantly poke the stingray with her chopsticks.

              “Um, are you sure that this is edible, Eonni?” Seohyun asked in doubt, her face turning more and more squeamish.

              "EW..." Krystal just left and decided not to eat.

              “I tried my best, okay!” Sica yelled and glared at everyone. In all honesty, she wouldn’t even want to try her own dishes.

              This was how most of their meals went. It was no wonder they were suffering from hunger after Taeyeon got lost in the woods. Taeyeon usually cooked their food and it was usually delicious—not to mention edible. Nobody wanted to tell Sica to just give up though. Everyone was scared of her. Besides, Sica just wanted the best for everyone, even if she could not give them the best.

              A week passed and our Water Tribe sailors became even more cranky, tired, and hungry. If that wasn’t worse enough, they all began to argue amongst themselves. They blamed each other—mostly Sica, Yonghwa, and Yoochun—for Kyuhyun’s death and Taeyeon’s disappearance. Seohyun tried her best to stop everyone from arguing like how she constantly asked Taeyeon to make up with Sica back in the North Pole. Just being in the ocean for so long drove them all mad. Who wouldn’t? People just went missing and died and now they were stuck in the middle of the ocean trying to reach the Fire Nation Capital through the long-cut.

              Then, as if they had the worst luck in the world, a terrible ocean storm struck their little ship. This was no ordinary storm though. Most of the time, Secretary Yoochun would be able to spot the storm from the forecastle deck (the front deck of the ship) and make appropriate detours. However, the strong winds and heavy gray storm clouds surrounded them in just a few minutes, making escape unavoidable. Even Yoochun had to admit that he had never experienced such a monstrosity in his in entire life. Pressurized winds tore their sails apart and blown off. A powerful lightning struck their once-sturdy foremast. Soon, it began to rain and waves tossed into turmoil. The battle against nature had officially begun.

              “What the hell is happening?!” Sica yelled out when she reached the struggling Captain Yoochun. He was trying his best to steer the ship into proper balance with the steering wheel.

              “We’re heading for a storm, Princess,” he obviously stated. He can’t have another worthless argument with Sica—not when they might just drown in the ocean.

              “Well, do something about it!” Sica demanded.

              “I’m trying my best, Your Highness!” Yoochun yelled back in frustration.

              Suddenly, another lightning struck them—this time, it was the main mast. The top burned but was immediately extinguished by the rain. However, a huge part of it broke and fell down, breaking the ropes that held the mizzen mast and causing it to fall.

              “Seohyun!” Yonghwa cried out as a warning before parts of the towering mizzen fell on Seohyun. Luckily, Krystal caught the huge wooden planks in a gigantic bubble of water just in time to save her.

              In a few seconds, a horrifying 50-foot wave threatened to swallow them down into the scary blue depths. Sica split the huge wave in half to lessen its impact on the poor, wrecked ship, but another soon followed from the other side tossing them far off course to the east. Water also began to fill their decks. Seohyun and Krystal tried their best to throw as much water out, but there was just too much. Yoochun still tried to keep a steady hold on the wheel despite the violent waves. Unfortunately, even his strong arms had their limits. When another huge strong wave crashed their hull and destroyed their rudder, Yoochun lost control of the ship.

              “Everyone! The rudder is destroyed! I can’t control the ship any longer!” Yoochun announced in the midst of the thunder and rain. Everyone had a horrified look in their faces. It seemed like they were about to die, but Yoochun immediately took charge. “Princess Sica, Princess Krystal, and Seohyun, help me enclose the ship in ice!”

              The water benders tried their best to save the boat from collapsing by enclosing the entire boat in a streamlined ice vessel. Meanwhile, Yonghwa just stood back in awe at what the benders could do. Once again, Sica and Krystal have shown their competence as being the Ice Princesses. Secretary Yoochun’s leadership was something to be commended too. Not even Seohyun would need him. They were all so amazing, while he was nothing but a useless prince.

              They all stayed close to each other as the ice-enclosed ship was tossed and rocked by the violent waves. Although they had no idea where they would be taken by the ocean, they were still safe in the frozen ship. They stayed there for a whole day until the storm had passed.

              After the storm had passed, they thought that they were safe, but not really. Yoochun immediately saw some rocks protruding from the ocean. It seemed that they were very close to land. These rocks were especially dangerous. Hitting them would cause the collapse of the ship. With the Sica and Krystal’s water bending help, they tried their best to steer the huge ship out of harm’s way. With a loud bang, they hit shore. The few left over ice cracked and fell apart upon hitting land (most of the ice had melted earlier on). Their ship was definitely unfit for any more sailing. It seemed that they were stuck on land for now. They had no idea where they were, but somehow, they all felt relieved that the long days of sailing was almost over.

              Before them was a wide stretch of a beach. Past the sand and deeper inland was another hilly forest. They had no idea where they were, and neither were they pleased with this either. It did not look anything like the place they were aiming for, which was the Fire Nation capital. The cool breeze did not feel the same as the warm Fire Nation summer either. Where are they?

              “Ah,” Yonghwa said, stretching his limbs and cracking his knuckles. “It’s good to be back on land!”

              “Yeah, I thought we were all going to die back there in that awful storm,” said Seohyun, fixing her hair into a braid. “Where are we?”

              Sica, who lazily made her way down from the ladder, flopped face-down on the sand, not even caring about her dignity as a princess anymore. She looked rather ridiculous lying down with her face buried in sand like an ostrich. “Ugh, I’m so tired,” she said through the muffling sand. “Water bending against the ocean is the worst. I don’t ever want to sail again.”

              “Hm, where are we?” Krystal asked, carelessly jumping off the ship deck. She fell face-down on the sand too like her sister. “Ah, land!”

              “I’m sorry, Your Highnesses, but I’m afraid I’ve lost track of where we are after that storm,” Secretary Yoochun sincerely apologized.

              “Great, now we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Sica said sarcastically. Then she flipped herself over to face the clear blue skies and said, “Ugh I miss my bed.”

              “Maybe we should head inland and find civilization,” Seohyun suggested, still trying to be optimistic. After all, they already went through the worst of storms, right? Is there anything worse that could possibly happen on land?

              Suddenly, a smoke bomb exploded out of nowhere. A thick cloud of dark haze covered the area. It smelled terribly of nicotine and cigars, throwing them all into a fit of chronic coughs. The smoke was so thick that it was impossible to see farther at a feet’s range. Their eyes watered and their breathing was hampered. Without a doubt, they were thrown off guard.

              “What the heck is this now?!” Sica exclaimed, grabbing hold of her sister’s hand to make sure that she doesn’t get separated from her. “Oh dear, I can’t breathe!” she said after coughing. Krystal was coughing it out too. “Krystal, stay close to me!”

              “Y-yes… Eonni,” Krystal answered in between coughs.

              Yonghwa saw Seohyun moving a few paces beside him. He immediately grabbed her hand and gave her a handkerchief to filter the dirty smoke. They stayed back to back against each other to make sure that no one or nothing sneaks up to them.

              Suddenly, Yonghwa, Seohyun, Sica, and Krystal all heard struggling up at the ship. There were sounds of swords being withdrawn from cases and slashing of blades. Footsteps were all heavy on the planks. There are people out there. If that did not scare them enough, a loud cry that sounded a lot like Yoochun was heard from aboard the ship. “Everyone, run!”

              “Run where?!” Sica frantically yelled back. “I can’t even see or breathe!”

              Without a warning, someone yanked her by her delicate blonde hair from behind, making her yelp and let go of Krystal’s hand. She felt someone’s rough dirty hands grab her arms and soon, her hands were tightly tied behind her back. She could not move no matter how hardly she tried to break free. Krystal was dragged away from Sica by a dirty white cloth that wrapped around , preventing her from squealing. In a second, the sisters were no longer in each other’s sight.

              “Krystal! Krystal!” Sica cried out, but there was no answer. Suddenly, was muffled by a cloth strangling . Now she can’t scream either.

              When Yonghwa heard Sica’s high-pitched voice, he hastily held Seohyun into a protecting embrace. He can’t lose her. He can’t allow her to be harmed by this. Seohyun just held on to him too. She was coughing so hard that she had to lean on Yonghwa for support. While they were in each other’s arms, ropes suddenly came out of nowhere and wrapped around them, tying them down together. They were both pushed down by an unknown enemy, and down they fell together on the sand. Now they were immobilized.

              “Hand over d’ gold!” yelled a man’s voice from up the wrecked ship’s deck.

              Mumbles from what sounded like Secretary Yoochun’s voice followed in answer.

              “Whadd’ye mean ye’ got no gold?! Everyone, search d’ ship!”

              While Yonghwa and Seohyun were trying their best to squirm their way free of the ropes tying them together, Secretary Park Yoochun fell down with a loud thud from the quarterdeck of the ship with his hands in rusty iron cuffs behind his back. They were both shocked to see him fall from the sky like that.

              “Ow, that was a nasty fall,” Secretary Yoochun mumbled.

              “What happened?” Yonghwa whispered through the haze.

              “Pirates, Your Highness,” the secretary whispered back.

              Seohyun gasped, her eyes widened and gaped. “What are they going to do to us?!”

              “Do not panic, my lady,” Yoochun assured them. “They’re not the brightest fellows around. We can easily outsmart them.”

              “Are you sure? I mean, you did just fall from the ship,” Yonghwa frowned.

              “I admit that it was not one of my best moments,” Yoochun said awkwardly. The truth is, he wasn’t really sure if those pirates were dumb or not. They’ll just have to see what happens, which wasn’t the best idea they could come up with since they’re really too tired.

              Yonghwa just rolled his eyes. How could we all be so unlucky these days?

              Due to the sea breeze, the smoke began to clear after a few minutes. The unknown enemies were also almost done with their loot raid. Sica was seen tied just a few feet away from Yonghwa and Seohyun, while Krystal was a few paces away from Secretary Yoochun. Looks like none of them were seriously injured. It was a relief for them all.

              “What is this? Nothin’ but junk!” said the man who purposely kicked Yoochun overboard earlier.

              Soon, six strange looking men with bare chests and worn-out pants jumped off of Kyuhyun’s wrecked ship. One of them—the guy who seemed to call the shots—wore a red bandana over his messy hair. The sleeves of his opened, dirty blouse seemed to have been ripped off. The one on his right hand had broad shoulders and a big strong body, looking like he can break Sica’s skinny limbs off with a snap. He looked like he was wearing a long blue, untied bathrobe. The one on the leader’s left was rather small and scrawny. Out of all the men there, he seemed to be the kindest, sweetest, and least of a threat to anyone. Maybe it was because of the flowery wreath that he was wearing on his head. Beside the little flower boy, was the one who looked the strangest out of them all. He had long, flowing brown hair that reached to his waist. He also carried a big gray cat in his arms and cuddled it like a baby. The fifth guy with a light pink bandana on his head looked quite cute and handsome, but right now, he looked quite scary with dual swords in his hands. The last guy had a turtle shell necklace and also carried what seemed to be a turtle about the size of a big foot.

              “Ya broke fools. How can a bunch o’ royalty have nothin’ on ‘em?” the leader with the red bandana said as he scrutinized the group of Water Tribe royalties. Then he turned to his mate with the gray cat and asked, “Heechul, ya’ sure they’re royalty?”

              “Well, Hangeng, I heard the macho bloke call these pathetic tykes ‘Your Highness,’” replied the weird guy with the cat—apparently called Heechul, referring to Secretary Yoochun. “What else could that mean?”

              “Maybe they’re the poor kinda royalty,” said the guy with the turtle. Then he continued talking, “We should pro’ly just let ‘em go. I mean, that cute tiny girl is too innocent to be tied down like that, and this couple is just too in love…”

              “Shut up, Yesung. You talk too much,” interjected the strong-looking man in a blue robe.

              The guy with the turtle stopped talking immediately. Then he just mumbled to himself, “That Kangin…”

              “I have an idea,” said the guy with the pink bandana. “Let’s just sell ‘em off into the black market in Ba Sing Se as slaves. That way, we still earn some dirty money.”

              “Wooh, Sungmin, that's a good idea,” said the other skinny guy with a flower wreath on his head. “But I feel bad for them though.”

              “Ryeowook, there aren’t no room for pity in our business,” said the leader, apparently named Hangeng. “’Sides, we still got to pay our debts to that Yifan bastard if we ever plan on gettin’ back our precious ship.”

              Upon hearing that they were going to be sold as slaves, Sica began to squirm and squeal in her corner, even when tied up and muzzled. She flailed her little legs as hard as she could in objection.

              “Alright, mates, ready to transport these scallywags,” Hangeng ordered. “And make sure ye tie ‘em all up properly, especially Macho Boy. We don’t want ‘em runnin’ on the lose.”

              The strange looking pirates took the Water Tribe team and tightened their ropes and chains. Seohyun and Yonghwa were separated and tied with separate ropes, and Sica was carried on Kangin’s shoulders because she flailed and kicked the most. All of them were blindfolded and gagged—only to follow by a rope and be pushed around while walking (except Sica, who was carried)—to prevent them from fighting back. The pirates were not benders at all, so they felt the necessity to do this. If water was nearby, the benders were not able to do anything because they were tightly chained.

              They all walked through a hilly forest path for hours. The dusty path steeply shot up and sunk down every few meters, making the royalties’ calves sore (except for Sica) since they are not accustomed to too much walking in hilly ground. The rude pirates did not bother to give them rest or let them drink too much water for fear of being attacked. When the pirates fed them, they made sure to give the “potential slaves” just enough. They were also too careful to give them a drink and would hold they hands firm before giving a miniscule amount of water.

              Sica was especially frustrated. Whenever had the freedom from her muzzle, she would scream and curse the pirates. Everyone else pretty much ignored her, including her own family, but then the weird pirate Heechul with the gray cat got so annoyed with her that he weakly slapped her head often.

              As much as these pirates were mean and disrespectful, they did not do anything so bad that would harm the royalties. Nobody in the black market would buy a bunch of bruised, weak, useless slaves anyway. The products had to be in top shape to grab a high bidder.

              Three days later, as they camped up in the woods, the pirates sat down to discuss. They did not care whether or not the “products” would hear them. All they wanted was to sell and earn money anyway. They just let the Water Tribe team sit in separate places—still tied and blindfolded—where they could easily see them while planning.

              “Ugh, Ba Sing Se’s on the other side o’ the continent an’ there’s still a long, tiring way to go. Is there any way for us to get there faster?” Ryeowook—the small guy with the flower wreath asked.

              Ah, so we’re in the Earth Kingdom, Yonghwa thought. Everyone else pretty much got the idea too.

              I knew it. We drifted far off course to the east on the way to the Fire Nation capital, Secretary said in his thoughts.

              While everyone else from the Water Tribe just kept their mouths shut, Sica suddenly squirmed in her own place tied by a tree. It was a little difficult to decipher what she was saying through the muffling rag, but she said, “…Zhh Erfff Kween ish mee phhweend, an’ she will kickshhh yow vuttsh when y’ gefff zherr!!!” (The Earth Queen is my friend, and she will kick your butts when you get there!!!)

              “Shut up!” Heechul yelled back while petting his cat’s soft gray fur. Then he turned back to his group and said, “Nobody understands her yet she keeps talking. She drivin’ me crazy!”

              “Yeah, there has to be a way for us to make money as soon as possible. It’ll take us weeks o’ walking just to get to Ba Sing Se, an’ our products won’t be as good by then,” Sungmin, the guy with the pink bandana, agreed.

              Suddenly, arrows shot out at blinding speed from near the trees, almost hitting the leader Hangeng. The arrows seemed to be only aimed at the group of pirates and not at the Water Tribe team. The pirates immediately got to their feet and drew out their swords in anticipation of their enemy. The Water Tribe family has no idea of what was happening since they were blindfolded.

              “It’s probably one of Yifan’s men again!” Hangeng said to the other pirates.

              “Hoosshh Y’ffamn?! (Who’s Yifan?!)” Sica squirmed and squealed in her place again, scared of being attacked and not knowing of what was happening.

              “Mnuu-mnna, zzhuh shuuhh uff!” (Noona, just shut up!) Yonghwa said to Sica. He has had enough of Sica’s noise too.

              From the shadows of the trees, a young man dressed in all black clothes slowly stepped out in broad daylight. He had the scariest, wolf-like eyes with dark circles under them, and his dark, piercing glare easily scared the petty pirates to their bones. He also had a number of silver rings attached to his ears and on his fingers and wore a black glove with sharp spikes attached on the knuckles. Other than his bow and arrows, he was also armed with a sword. He seemed to be really young—about fourteen years old—yet his terrifying effect on these grown men was evident; he was not to be messed with.

              “Y-y-you again!” Hangeng exclaimed when he saw the young man’s face.

              “Tch…,” the scary young man scoffed as he approached the trembling men. “I have a name you know.”

              From the way his voice sounded, he did not seem as intimidating as he looked. He just sounded like an ordinary teenage boy with a rough young voice that sounded like he still had many years of puberty to go through. The Water Tribe royalties tried their best to imagine what was happening anyway.

              “Sorry, we forgot your name so…,” Yesung, the guy with the turtle, began talking, but Kangin lightly slapped the back of his head to stop him.

              “How rude,” said the young man. “It’s Tao, you forgetful old peasants!” As a sadistic move, he unexpectedly shot an arrow that grazed Yesung’s hair. Yesung stayed still in fear.

              “Tell Yifan we’re goin’ to pay our debt soon as we can, so stop spying on us and bothering us, kid!” said Hangeng in anger.

              Ignoring the pirates, Tao walked up closer to the captive Water Tribe royalties and asked, “What are these pretty little humans doing in your possession?”

              “We plan on sellin’ ‘em in the black market as slaves to pay for the debt,” Kangin answered. “Heechul says they’re royalty.”

              Tao’s eyes glistened upon hearing Kangin speak. He immediately scrutinized Sica’s and Yonghwa’s face and said, “Royalty?”

              “Yes, they came in a wrecked Royal Water Tribe ship but we found nothin’ of worth to pay for the debt,” Sungmin continued to explain.

              “Water Tribe royals, huh?” Tao approached Sica and pulled down the white rag that covered and took off her black blindfold. Then he asked a mocking tone, “What’s your name, Your Highness?”

              Sica squinted a little upon seeing the bright daylight. When she saw Tao’s face she forgot all her sophistications, unashamedly spat on him, and said, “What’s it to you?!”

              Oh my gosh, did I just hear Eonni spit on someone? Krystal thought in her head.

              “Ew, oh damn, you are so gross!” Tao exclaimed—sounding more like a disgusted little kid than a fearsome menace. Both Sica and Tao exchanged intimidating looks; neither of them blinking an eye at each other’s cold glances. After wiping Sica’s disgusting, sticky saliva off of his face, he grabbed Sica by the chin and asked, “Do you know Kyuhyun Hyung?”

              Sica and the other Water Tribe captives were thrown off-guard. “Uh, y-yes. How do you know him?”

              Tao stood up straight, as if he heard all that he needed to hear from the princess. Then he turned back to the quiet pirates and said, “If you want your debt to be cleared, take the captives and follow me.”

              Once again, Sica was blindfolded. After a whole day of walking again, they stopped in front of a deserted Earth Kingdom village in the middle of a valley. There was absolutely no one there, just a bunch of sandy wrecked houses and rolling tumbleweed. Tao led them to one of the old bamboo houses and said, “Stay here and watch the captives. Don’t let anything bad happen to them, and make sure you idiots don’t lose them.”

              “Where are you going?” asked Hangeng.

              “I’m going to get Kris Hyung.”

***

              Deep in the taverns filled with noisy drunk low-lives, sat a serious, sober man named Wu Yifan, also known as Kris to some people. Just like Tao, he had a quite intimidating aura that could send chills down people’s bones. He has a strange crumbled-rocks-shaped mask that covered the left part of his face and even his left eye. He also had two golden earrings on his left ear, and he wore a dragon-shaped necklace around his neck. Because of his image, everyone feared him. He was even called a gangster by some. However, unlike Tao, he seemed to be more apathetic about most things.

              Rumors say that he was a fire bender, but he was rarely seen in the act. He can fare off well without using his bending. Besides, he did not want to be suspected as the leader of the underground annihilation group in the Earth Kingdom division. He was placed in the Earth Kingdom by the head leader in the Fire Nation to watch over the political events and find ways to overthrow the current Earth Kingdom royal family. In many ways, his role was just like Shim Changmin’s role in the Northern Water Tribe. They were both secret chess pieces placed in a strategic location for a specific purpose.

              “Hyung!” Tao barged in the chaotic tavern that reeked of the smell of alcohol, almost making him gag. He hated this place especially since there were too many drunken men fighting over the last piece of pork ribs. “Ugh, what are you doing here again with this bunch of nobodies?”

              Lazily looking at Tao while holding a drink, Kris took off his mask and answered, “The real question should be, ‘What are these bunch of nobodies doing here and ruining my style?’ I’m just peacefully enjoying my shots. Now what do you want?”

              “I followed the pirates like you told me to,” Tao told him.

              “Oh, you did? Good. They’ll never get away with what they stole from me. I always call the shots.” Kris took his drink and drank it in one gulp. The way he wiped the drops from his lips could make any girl swoon. He was just so full of intimidating charisma.

              “Kris” Wu Yifan was quite rich. He won most of his money from gambling in bars and taverns like this in Ba Sing Se’s Lower Ring. All he usually does was stay sober and not make any dumb mistakes on his bets. After all, most of the men were drunk anyway that he always had the advantage. But then, one day, those sneaky pirates led by Hangeng stole a huge amount of gold from him and used the money for the maintenance of their ship. When Kris found out about what they had done, he purposely hid the ship out of the pirates’ sight—how he did that nobody knows—and spied on them wherever they went. He also sent Tao, his close comrade, to make the pirates suffer and make sure that they do not run away from their debt. Now the pirates are working hard to repay him in order to get their ship back.

              “About the pirates, they captured some Water Tribe sailors,” Tao continued.

              “So?” Yifan seemed apathetic.

              “I think they’re possibly the Northern Water Tribe royalties in the hit list.”

              “What?! Really?” Kris suddenly stood up on his seat. “You mean the ones Changmin and Kyuhyun were supposed to get rid of?”

              “Yes,” said Tao. Then he proceeded to explain, “We received a newsletter earlier that Kyuhyun Hyung was officially responsible of killing the Northern Water Tribe heirs after they boarded his ship, but he is not with them right now. The pirates also said that they found those Water Tribe royalties in a wrecked ship.”

              “Tch… Kyuhyun, that Water Tribe bastard,” Kris scoffed. “What do you expect from an orphaned loser like him? He’s nothing but a shipper and a mailman, and all he does is eat with that fat friend of his in the Xiah Dragon Noodles back before the restaurant moved to the Upper Ring. They shoulda left the killing to the real bad asses like us.”

              Tao chuckled like a little child and said, “Say, Hyung, if we blot out those royalties then we’d earn more points from the Leader, don’t we?”

              “Yes, we do. We’ll kill the Water Tribe heirs and with our spies Amber and Prince Jongin leading the way into the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace, there’s a big chance that we’ll overthrow the naïve young King Eunhyuk and Queen Hyoyeon too. We're so lucky.”

***

              “Lehh ush go!” (Let us go!) Sica squealed once again as she was being tied down by Heechul the pirate. They were all kept and locked in a crude old hut where they can’t escape. Hangeng and his gang made sure that all the windows and doors were secured.

              “Ugh, shut up,” Heechul said while doing his job. “Yer really pretty y’know that? Pretty annoying!” Then he continued laughing at his own joke.

              Meanwhile, Yonghwa was being tied down by Yesung on a post near some haystacks in a crude old hut. As the pirate sat him down on the hay and tied him on the durable post, he sat on something hard and tough. He realized that he could reach it even with his arms tied behind his back. He waited for Yesung to finish, and eventually Yesung and the other pirates left and double locked the crude hut. After a bit of struggle, Yonghwa finally reached what turned out to be two items from under him.

              What are these? Some rocks? he thought as he felt the rocks with his fingers.

              Just to test it out, he struck the rocks together again and again. The haystack behind him suddenly caught on fire, but he did not realize it immediately since he was blindfolded. He had no idea that Seohyun was just lying down behind the haystack. After striking the rocks together a few more times, he began to sweat and felt that his back was feeling really hot. He also began to smell smoke in the air and hear crackling noises from behind him. Before he knew it, he felt a really sharp burning pain in his hands and arms, making him tear up in pain. The rope used to tie him down caught on fire and released him but his sleeves also caught on fire. He immediately got up and took off his blindfold and his burning robes. He was left with nothing but his pants and shoes.

              The fire grew rapidly and spread to the posts. The smoke was getting worse too. In the midst of the roaring flames, Yonghwa heard someone in pain. When he ran to the place behind the huge haystack, he saw Seohyun still tied with ropes and lying down very close to the fire.

              “Seohyun!” he cried as he carried her away from the fire. Even with burnt arms and hands, he took off her blindfold and released her from the ropes.

              “Yong Oppa!” Seohyun cried as she held on to him.

              “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here!”

              Soon, Yonghwa also freed Sica, Krystal, and Yoochun. However, they were all still stuck inside the burning hut.

              “Oh no, what are we going to do now?!” Sica exclaimed in panic. “We’re all gonna die!!!”

              Meanwhile, the pirates outside the hut, still oblivious to what was going on, saw a maroon messenger hawk flying toward them. Heechul’s cat jumped and tried to grab it, but Kangin got a hold of it first. The bird tried to get away from him, but his grip just made it impossible.

              “Ooh, what is this? Some fancy Fire Nation bird with a message thingy?”

              Kangin opened the cylinder and took the letter out. Then he began to read, “My dear friends, I am well and one piece…Your worried Avatar—wait, Avatar?! This letter is from the Avatar?! Who’s her ‘dear friends’? There’s no other name in this letter except for the Avatar’s. I wonder who she’s trying to send it to?”

              “Oh hey, let’s go send a letter to the Avatar as a joke!” Sungmin spoke up with a chuckle.

              “Gimme that,” said Heechul as he snatched the letter from Kangin’s hand. Then he took out a pencil and wrote “HELP US -SICA” at the back of the paper in a really bad handwriting.

              “Who’s Sica?” Sungmin asked as he peeked at Heechul’s writing.

              "You don't know?!" Heechul said in shock.

              "Well how should I know?"

              “It’s the annoying brat we’re taking captive, you idiot,” Heechul answered. Then he began snickering to himself. “Now, it’s up to the Avatar to figure out who Sica is. Let’s see if she’ll come to help her.” After crumpling the letter, he shoved it into the cylinder case and let the bird free.

              Suddenly, Ryeowook screamed, “AH! FIRE!”

              “What fire?” Hangeng asked as he turned to see Ryeowook pointing at the hut where the captives were kept.

              “Oh no.”

              “Men, get in there and rescue the products! That kid Tao says we can’t let nothin’ bad happen to them!”

              The pirates immediately ran to the house in panic. When they opened the door, Yoochun quickly ran out and used a rake that he got from inside the crude barn to fight with the pirates. He was quite strong so he immediately knocked out the weak Ryeowook and Heechul by striking them with the rake. While Yoochun held off the pirates, Yonghwa and the girls hastily ran out in the other direction.

              “Hey, don’t let them get away!” said Hangeng. Kangin and Yesung immediately ran after them.

              Luckily, the deserted valley town was actually a few kilometers near a river. When Sica and the others finally reached the riverside, she bended a huge wave of water at Kangin and Yesung and froze them in ice.

              “You should really carry some water with you at all times,” Yonghwa said to Sica.

              “Ugh, I’ve had enough of those annoying pirates,” Sica said angrily, her eyebrows crumpling up in her forehead.

              Soon, Secretary Yoochun also joined them after successfully getting away from the pirates. It turned out that there was an old well in the deserted town that Yoochun used to water bend the pirates into defeat. Yes, he froze them all in ice too.

              After Seohyun healed their burns and wounds, they just followed the river until they found a quaint riverside town. There, they all stayed in the barn of a nice hospitable farmer named Donghae. For now, they were safe.

***

              “What?! You lost them?!” Kris said to the pirates, obviously angry.

              “Ridiculous fools,” teenage Tao scoffed.

              “Sorry!” The pirates all trembled at Kris’s feet.

              “I even had to melt you all from ice with my fire bending! How could you all be so worthless?!” Kris yelled some more in fury. Then he turned to Tao and said, “We’ll have to find them ourselves. We can’t let them get away."

Author's Note:

The pirates Hangeng, Kangin, Sungmin, Heechul, Yesung, and Ryeowook plus farmer Donghae are all extras and they're not important to the main storyline at all.

Also, here's a map. You're welcome. :)

Blue: Taeyeon and the Water Tribe's path to the Fire Nation

Yellow: Yoona's Path to the Fire Nation

Red: Taeyeon and Yoona's path to the Capital

Purple: Water Tribe's path after Kyuhyun died