The poison bubbled under Zuko's skin like lava. His wounds burned at the best of times, but at moments like this, it felt like his entire body was on fire, not just his arm. The only thing that gave him any relief was plunging into cold water.
Agni willing, a stream or pond was nearby.
A sound of unearthly beauty, something like the chiming of temple bells, rang through the trees. Zuko's ears pricked up. The sound lulled him and took his mind off his pain. Its source couldn't possibly be of this world.
Maybe if Zuko followed the sound, he'd find a forest nymph or river spirit who might be able to heal him?
Zuko spurred his horse in the direction of the sound. It brought him to a crystal clear stream that tumbled over rocks covered in thick, green moss. A woman's blue silk dress and brocade traveling cloak hung on the branches of a nearby tree, and a vast straw hat with flowing gauze veils rested atop a boulder.

On a large rock in the middle of the stream, a maiden was combing out her rich brown hair and singing. The cheerful tinkling of the stream accompanied her song. Her wet underthings clung to her full breasts, perky nipples, and narrow waist, her wide hips and shapely legs. Zuko blushed and summoned up all his willpower to keep from staring at her. He would just water his horse, soak his arm in the stream for a moment, and then leave.
With her lovely form and her exquisite, ethereal voice, this maiden could be some sort of fairy and would give Zuko a worse punishment than the poison coursing through his arm if he offended her. But, if not, averting his eyes and letting a lady bathe in privacy was common decency.
Zuko rolled up the sleeve of his tunic and dipped it in the stream. The flesh sizzled and steamed as it cooled down to a bearable temperature. The maiden's song turned to a scream. Zuko looked up.
A burly hooded man crept out from behind a curtain of willow branches. He signaled for two other wooded men, one fat and one skinny, brandishing knives, to join him.
The maiden's screaming had summoned another young woman, a petite girl dressed in green, who rushed to her friend's aid.
"Not one but two," the leader said.
The skinny one leered at the maiden in the water. "Plenty of fun for all of us."
"Don't taint the merchandise. No one buys an apple if someone else's already taken a bite."
Zuko rose to his feet. So this scum wanted to abduct these two lovely damsels and sell them to a brothel? Why the one in green was little more than a child. Zuko drew his swords. If only the poison didn't prevent him from fire bending.
The fat one reached for the little girl in green. The rocks beneath him rumbled and plopped ass first into the stream. The stream's currents knocked the skinny one over when he wadded into the stream to get the maiden on the rock. They both got up, soaking wet, and went running like the pathetic cowards they were.
The leader reached for the maiden on the rock. Zuko challenged him with his sword. "She's mine," he said.
"I'm sure she'll make you a lovely bride." The leader turned to join his comrades. He was tough enough to go after helpless women but crumbled in front of an armed man.
The little girl in green waved to Zuko from the opposite bank of the stream. Then, Zuko's vision went blurry, and everything around him fell silent. His swords slipped from his hands.

A pair of blue eyes greeted Zuko when he returned to the land of the living. Lips brushed against his lips, and a spicy mush filled his mouth.
Zuko blinked.
"Swallow, the owner of the eyes and the lips said. Zuko had no option but to obey. "It's ginseng. Medicine." She took another bite from a ginseng root and chewed it. Zuko received another mouthful of spicy mush.
He blinked again. The one mother-birding him ginseng root was the maiden from the rock.
"Am I interrupting something?" The little girl in green stood over them.
The maiden from the rock blushed and sat up. How they must have looked: her on top of Zuko with their lips touching? "I was just giving our friend some medicine."
"Our handsome friend?"
"Like you'd know if he was handsome."
Zuko wondered what she could mean by that, but then he noticed that the little girl's green eyes had the tell-tale milkiness of a blind person. They looked like pieces of jade from a neckless his mother once owned.
"I could tell by your heartbeat." the little girl giggled. "I could feel it through the ground." She wiggled her bare toes.
The poison had entered through Zuko's right eye and spread to his arm from there. As a result, most of the right side of his face was covered by a scar. Zuko hardly considered himself handsome.
The maiden from the rock wiped ginseng from her mouth. "He was too weak to chew the ginseng himself, so I had to chew it for him. Besides, he'd have to be awake for me to give him a proper kiss of gratitude." She leaned over and kissed him. Her lips still tasted of ginseng.
"Gratitude for what?" Zuko said.
"Aren't damsels usually grateful when a gallant warrior comes to their rescue?"
"From what I saw, the two of you rescued yourselves." Zuko laughed. "I'm not in the habit of kissing ladies I've never met. Might I ask you who you are?"
"I'm Princess Katara. My father is Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe. And this charming, barefooted creature is Lady Toph Bei Fong of Gaoling."
Toph punched Zuko's shoulder. "Pleased to meet you."
"What are the two of you doing out in the woods by yourselves?"
Katara placed a finger on Zuko's lips. "Rest. There'll be plenty of time for questions later."

When night fell, Katara woke Zuko again. She led him back to the stream. They waded into the stream, and the water began to glow. It swirled around Zuko's arm and the wounds healed. Only the scar on the right side of his was left when she was finished.