Azara woke up in the middle of the night again, this time not even remembering what had woken her up. Wiping the sweat from her face, Azara turned over again to try and fall back asleep when she spotted Katara's empty sleeping bag. Sliding silently out of her own sleeping bag, Azara walked over to the sleeping bag. Raising an eyebrow at the stuffed sleeping bag, Azara walked over to their bag, noting how the waterbending scroll was gone.

"Oh, Katara," Azara sighed, standing up quietly and walking into the woods. She followed the river, knowing that Katara was likely somewhere along the bank. Azara tensed as she heard a rustle behind her. Turning around, Azara glared at the pirate that had emerged in front of her. She glanced behind her to see two others behind her.

"So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" the pirate sneered, making Azara's glare harden. "You're outnumbered, girly."

"I'm surprised you can count that high," Azara smirked, knowingly provoking the pirates, who charged forwards. Dodging the first attacks, Azara launched one pirate into the river and knocked another one into the trees. Azara turned to the last pirate when a smoke bomb fell at her feet. "Not . . . fair," she coughed out, holding a hand over her mouth before she collapsed to the ground.

Coming out of her stupor, Azara found herself chained to a tree. Looking around, Azara turned and spotted Zuko and Katara glaring at each other. "Why am I not surprised you're working with pirates, Zuko?" Azara sighed, leaning back on the tree. "You have so much in common. Did they offer you a free eyepatch if you joined the crew?" she asked as Zuko stormed over to his sister.

"Shut your mouth, you traitor! As soon as I have captured the Avatar, I'm bringing you back to the Fire Nation to stand trial for treason!"

"I'm quaking in my chains," Azara rolled her eyes as Zuko growled in frustration before returning to interrogate Katara.

"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother," Zuko offered Katara, who glared up at him and shook her head.

"Go jump in the river!" Katara snapped as Zuko sighed.

"Try to understand. I need to capture him to restore something I've lost, my honor," Zuko explained, walking behind Katara. "Perhaps in exchange for something you've lost." Zuko held up Katara's mother's necklace to her neck, causing Katara's eyes to widen.

"My mother's necklace! How did you get it?" Katara demanded as Zuko walked in front of her.

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is!"

"Enough of necklace garbage! You promised us the scroll!" a pirate yelled, stepping forwards.

"I wonder how much this is worth . . ." Zuko drawled, lighting a small fire in his hand, and holding the scroll over it. At the pirate's reaction, Zuko smirked. "A lot, apparently. Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back, and everyone goes home happy."

"I won't!" Azara joked, causing her brother to growl, sending her a glare over his shoulder.

"Search the woods for the boy and meet back here!" Zuko ordered, turning back to the pirates. The pirates disappeared into the woods as Katara turned to Azara.

"I'm so sorry, Azara. I didn't mean to drag us into this mess with the scroll," Katara apologized as Azara shrugged in response.

"Don't worry about it. I'm confident we'll get out of here," Azara smiled back encouragingly as the sun started to rise. A few minutes later, the pirates returned with Aang and Sokka between them, their hands tied.

"Nice work," Zuko nodded as he stood among his soldiers.

"Aang, this is all my fault," Katara sighed, looking at Aang with distraught clear on her features.

"No, Katara, it isn't," Aang shook his head as Uncle Iroh glanced over at Katara.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Iroh corrected as Azara sighed, leaning back on the tree.

"Give me the boy," Zuko stated firmly, glaring at the pirates.

"You give us the scroll," the pirate replied, glaring right back at Zuko.

"You're really going to hand over the Avatar for some stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka remarked as Azara looked over at him, a small smile on her face as he gained the interest of the pirates.

"Don't listen to him, he's trying to turn us against each other!" Zuko snapped, but the pirates ignored him in favor of Sokka.

"Your friend is the Avatar?"

"Sure is, and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll," Sokka continued, his words causing the pirate's to smirk

"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!" Zuko retaliated, his fuse already short from dealing with Azara.

"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth," Aang spoke out the side of his mouth, looking at Sokka with concern.

"I'm just saying it's bad business sense. Think how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life," Sokka shrugged, a smirk on his face. 

"Keep the scroll; we can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid," the pirate told Zuko, turning around to walk away.

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me," Zuko growled, sending a fire blast at the pirates. The pirates avoided the blast before one charged, throwing smoke bombs at Zuko and his soldiers.

"Nice going, Sokka," Azara praised, sharing a look with Katara as the fighting between the Fire Nation soldiers and pirates intensified. Momo crawled down the tree Katara was tied to, gnawing through the rope easily.

"Thanks, Momo. I owe you a bushel of apples," Katara promised before turning to Azara.

"There wasn't anything in that scroll about cutting through metal was there?" Azara asked as Katara examined the metal restraints. Tying her up with rope would have been dangerous on Zuko's part as Azara could have easily burned through them.

Uncle Iroh walked over, a key slipping out of his sleeve. As he walked by, he winked at Azara, before continuing on his way. Azara smiled and nodded as Katara ran to grab the key, unlocking the restraints easily. "Let's get out of here!" Katara suggested, moving to run to the pirate ship.

"But what about Aang and Sokka?" Azara asked, running alongside her.

"They'll figure something out." Katara ran to the side of the pirate's boat, trying to push it into the water. Azara joined her, but there was no way they were going to push the ship into the water without any help.

"Katara! Azara! You guys are okay!" Aang exclaimed, running over as Sokka hurried after him.

"Help us get this boat back in the water so we can get out of here," Katara instructed, but the boat refused to budge.

"We'd need a team of rhinos to budge this ship," Sokka sighed, staring up at the masts.

"A team of rhinos, or two waterbenders," Aang replied as he and Katara shared a smile. Together, they pulled the water up on the shore until the boat was floating.

"Everybody in!" Katara called, running towards the ladder. Azara climbed up after her, running over to the steering wheel. She shared a confused look with Sokka.

"Do you know how to steer this?" she asked, causing the Water Tribe boy to shake his head. "Well, no time like a present to learn," Azara sighed as Sokka turned the wheel, moving the ship downstream and away from the commotion on the beach.

"Sokka, can't you make this thing go any faster?" Aang questioned, staring off the stern.

"I don't know how! This thing wasn't made by the Water Tribe," Sokka shrugged as Azara glanced behind them. Spotting the pirates in Zuko's steamboat gaining ground on them, Azara sighed.

"Well, we're going to have to do better. We got company!" Azara yelled as the pirates pulled up alongside their stolen ship. Jumping down, Azara quickly busied herself with knocking every pirate off of the ship and into the water. Looking up as one pirate swung from the rafters screaming a war cry, Azara raised an unimpressed eyebrow and sliced the rope with a fire whip, causing the pirate to swing off the ship and take two of his friends with him.

Smirking to herself, Azara turned back to the wheel, her smile dropping as she spotted Sokka being manhandled by two pirates. Azara ran back up, glaring at the pirates. "Put him down!" Azara demanded as one of the pirates lifted Sokka in the air, throwing him into the mast. "That's not what I meant!" Azara growled in frustration before sending two quick fire blasts at the pirates.

One was knocked overboard, but the other held his ground. However, Aang jumped in front of her, spinning the pirate off the boat with his airbending. Azara turned and ran down to Sokka, who was still collapsed on the deck. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think they were going to throw you into the mast," Azara apologized, resting a hand on Sokka's back as he picked up his head.

"Aang, look!" Katara called, pointing at the space in front of them. Azara helped Sokka stand, both of them staring in fear at the waterfall ahead of them. In response, Aang pulled a whistle out of his robes, blowing hard, yet little sound came out of it. The pirate sneaking up behind him looked unimpressed until Sokka kicked him overboard.

"Have you lost your mind? This is no time for flute practice!"

"We can stop the boat! Aang, together, push and pull the water!" Katara explained as she and Aang stood in the middle of the ship, making the same pulling motion over and over again until the ship turned, stopping in its place. Azara smiled for a moment before staring behind them.

"Uh, we have another problem!" she pointed out as Zuko's ship crashed into the pirate ship, forcing it over the edge of the waterfall.

"Jump!"

Azara clenched her eyes as she fell, grunting as she landed in Appa's saddle. Sitting up, she shared an incredulous and relieved look with Sokka.

"Where did Appa come from?" she questioned breathlessly, hugging Appa's saddle in relief.

"In the market, there was a whistle for flying bison. Works wonders, right?" Aang chuckled, showing the bison-shaped white whistle.

"You could say that again," Sokka replied, laying flat on his back.

"Using Zuko's anger against him. Smart," Azara complimented, turning to Sokka, who looked up at her. "You've just unlocked the secret to taking down almost every male firebender in the world."

"Good to know," Sokka nodded, a similar smile on his face.

"Aang, I still owe you an apology. You were so good at waterbending without really trying. I got so competitive that I put us all in danger. I'm sorry," Katara spoke up, pulling Sokka and Azara out of their separate conversation.

"That's okay Katara," Aang waved off, turning around to face her.

"Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway?" Katara shrugged, looking down at her hands.

"Is that really how you feel?" Sokka asked, dangling the scroll in his hand.

"The scroll!" Katara lunged for the scroll, but Sokka held up his hand.

"First, what did you learn?"

"Stealing is wrong," Katara conceded, grabbing the scroll out of Sokka's hands. "Unless it's from pirates," Katara added, a smirk on her face.

"Good one, Katara," Aang laughed as Appa flew away, leaving an angry Zuko and waterlogged pirates behind them.

A.N. Next few chapters will be about the Jet episode, which will start the deepening of Sokka and Azara's relationship and some stuff from Azara's past. Personally, they're some of my favorite chapters I've written so far so I hope you guys enjoy them too!