The next day we travelled down some path leading somewhere. I was beyond tired and I couldn't think straight for the life of me. Last night was a very fitful sleep.

Oh, and I was extremely uncomfortable.

My injuries were still pretty painful, and riding on an Ostrich-horse was not helping, at all. I rode inbetween Uncle and Zuko. I used Uncle's chest as a pillow and Zuko's shoulders as a footrest. Surprisingly, Uncle was the one complaining.

He kept making exaggerated groans of pain for absolutely no reason. Well, they were for no reason until I began elbowing him for making the sounds.

"Maybe we should make camp." Zuko finally gave in.

"No, please, don't stop just for me." He groaned exaggeratedly.

I huffed at him. "Then, you need to be quiet. If anyone should be complaining it's me. I'm uncomfortable, I'm trying to sleep, and your complaints are making it impossible." I'm very irritable when I can't sleep.

Zuko spared me a glance, but continued anyways. It was peaceful for another two seconds, before Uncle started up again.

I rolled my eyes, and smacked his arm. "Shush."

Zuko stopped the animal, and Uncle got off with another pained groan. I seriously wanted to hurt him right now.

Zuko began to help get me down, but stopped when the Ostrich-horse became alerted to something.

That's when a rumbling in the ground could be heard. "What now?" I muttered. What does everyone have against sleep?

A group of 5 men riding komodo-rhinos appeared from the treelines.

"Colonal Mongke. What a pleasant surprise." Uncle greeted.

"If you're surprised we're here, then the Dragon of the West has lost a few steps." Who I assumed was the head guy retorted.

Each of the guys prepared their weapon of choice.

"You know these guys?" Zuko questioned.

"Sure. Colonal Mongke and the Rough Rhinos are legendary. Each one is a different kind of weapons specialist. They are also a very capable singing group."

"Horay. And if we're lucky maybe they've come to sing to us instead of kill us." I retorted irritably. I couldn't even care that they were there. I just wanted sleep.

"We aren't here to give a concert. We're here to apprehend fugitives." Oh joy.

"Of course. Would you like some tea first? I'd love some. How about you Katche? I take you as a Jasmine man, am I right?" Not now Uncle...

"Enough stalling! Round them up!" Mongke ordered.

I half paid attention to the fight. The only thing that I actually noticed was when a flaming arrow came my way, but Zuko deflected it, and shot a flame through the bow responsible for the attack.

Uncle got on in front of me, and steered us to Zuko, who did a mid-air cartwheel into a sitting position behind me.

I rolled my eyes. "You are such a show off. You could have simply jumped on, you know."

He smirked. "I know."

I leaned into his chest and closed my eyes, mumbling incoherent things about guys, showoffs, and idiots.

Even in my delusional state, I could tell Zuko was holding back a laugh.

☆¤☆¤☆

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember was someone waking me up.

"Not now, Mom... I don't want to go to school today. Five minutes... I'm begging you."

"I need you to get off me, so we can go inside." Zuko pointed out.

I slowly got up and begrudgingly did as I was told. He got down, and then helped me, as well.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked, tiredly rubbing my eyes as Zuko helped me walk into some sort of tavern.

"We need a place to stop for a while. Uncle was complaining and I couldn't take it anymore." Zuko began mumbling something about me being lucky to be able to sleep through it.

"You were the one complaining about needing to stop." Uncle defended.

"That was only because you wouldn't stop moaning." Zuko retorted.

I yawned. "If you two girls are done with your cat-fight, then maybe I can go to sleep." We sat down at table towards the back.

I looked up to see a place serving drinks. "However... I'd like a smoothie before that." I smiled tiredly at Zuko.

"Can you go get me one, please?" I begged.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just this once. Only because you're hurt." He grumbled.

"Then maybe I should get hurt more often." I spoke once Zuko was out of earshot.

Uncle laughed at me. "It wasn't a joke. If getting hurt means I don't have to do anything, then so be it. But first, I'm going to see how long I can make this last." I was only half kidding.

Zuko returned with a beverage that he said was mango flavoured. "Thanks, big brother. You're the best."

I took a sip and smiled delightedly. "Hmm... So good."

Uncle suddenly looked in a direction. "I think we have found our friend." I followed his gaze over to a table where a lone man sat. I'm confused.

"You brought us here to gamble on Pai Sho?" Zuko was obviously just as confused.

"I don't think that this is a gamble." I rose an eyebrow at Uncle's statement. What was he on about?

With a bit of Zuko's help, I followed Uncle over to the table, which I now noticed was a giant gameboard.

"May I have this game?" He asked the man.

"The guest has the first move." He gestured for him to take a seat.

Uncle put a very specific tile in the center. "I see you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways."

"Those who do can always find a friend."

"Then let us play." Uncle is being extremely cryptic right now, and I'm not sure if I like it.

They played quickly. Placing them down consecutively, like it was all planned out. By the end, the tiles on the board had taken the shape of the center tile. Obviously the white lotus.

"Welcome brother. The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets." I blinked, then back tracked.

Zuko seemed just as shocked. "What are you old gas bags talking about?" He was also apparently not liking the idea of being out of the loop.

"Don't be so rude, Moron." I laughed tiredly.

"I always tried to tell you that Pai Sho is more than just a game."

I went back to closing my eyes with a tired smile, as I used Zuko as a pillow. "I should have known that Uncle would be apart of some secret society."

"I'm not waiting all night to wait for these geezers to finish yapping." I heard someone shout from the other side of the room. "Its over! You two fugitives are coming with me!"

Before I could come up with a clever remark, the man Uncle played Pai Sho with Uncle began talking.

"I knew it! You two are wanted criminals with a giant bounty on your heads."

"I thought you said he would help!" Zuko whisper-yelled.

"He is. Just you watch." I mumbled, my eyes still closed.

"You think your going to capture them and collect all that gold?"

At the last word, I heard everyone stand and mummer about gold.

A fight began, and in the middle of the commotion, Zuko pulled me by the wrist and pulled me outside.

Man, did that hurt!

The moment we were a safe distance away, I collapsed. Zuko had to pick me up and carry me to where ever our destination was.

In my tired state, I found him completely comfortable and fell asleep, agaiN thing was on my mind, though. Why wasn't I a fugitive?

☆¤☆¤☆

I slept comfortably, until Zuko started complaining again.

"Now that you've played Pai Sho, are you going to do some flower arranging, or is someone in this club going to offer some real help?!" I rolled my eyes and swatted him.

"Rude child, be quiet, and you can put me down now." He did as he was told and sat me down on a table. Apparently this place had a thing against chairs.

"You must forgive my nephew. They are not yet iniates and he has little appreciation for the cryptic arts." Pai Sho man knocked on the door twice and a hatch slid open, revealing a guy's eyes on the other side.

"Who knocks at the guarded gate?"

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted mysteries." Came Uncle's monotone reply. This place was heavily guarded, wasn't it? Secret gameplay, and password codes doors.

I want to join.

"Why?" I turned my head to see Zuko giving me a dull look.

"Oops. Did I say that out loud?" He nodded.

I shrugged, but decided not to respond.

"Quick question, Zuko. How come there was only a mention of two fugitives? There are three of us."

He could only shrug. He didn't know either.

After about an hour and a half, Zuko started nodding off, so for once, I decided to be the nice sibling, and let him rest on my shoulder.

☆¤☆¤☆

I must have fallen back to sleep as well, because the next thing I remember was Zuko jumping into a defensive position next to me. An action to which I rose an eyebrow.

"What's going on? Is the club meeting over?" He ignored me. Rude child.

"Oh, ye of little intelligence. Of course it's over." I'm no longer tired. That's a relief. Now I have all the energy in the world to make fun of Zuko!

"Everything is taken care of. We are going to Ba Sing Se." Uncle answered, ignoring me. My quips are going unnoticed today. Bummer.

"Ba Sing Se? Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capital?" Why are you so upset about it, Zuko?

"We're going because we can. Come on, Zuko. Keep up." I quipped.

"Ba Sing Se is full of refugees. No one will notice three more." Pai Sho man offered.

"We can hide in plain sight there, and it is the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Even I couldn't breakthrough to the city." Why do I feel like Uncle is being subtly boastful? Not that that he doesn't have the right to. I mean, he is the Dragon of the West, but still.

The door to the shop opened, causing us all to look to a young man.

"I have the passports for our guests, but there are two men out on the street looking for them." Yay. It's those two bozos again.

We climbed into a couple of flower pots, one for each of us, and Pai Sho man put a layer on top  soil above our heads to hide us from suspicion.

We were rolled out of the tea shop, looking like a couple of flower deliveries. The only bad part is that I'll have dirt in my hair for a week.