The Zutara Capfic Cruise!!!

[luthien]

Lu stepped out onto the deck of the ship, then stretched and yawned loudly. Pecan followed suit, but his version was much, much cuter. Walking up to Maha, Luthien asked, "See anything yet? I'm so excited for our next stop! By the way, that was great what you did to Jee back there - I swear he thought you were serious! Speaking of Jee, I'll be right back... I'm going to see how he's doing."

Lu walked over to the erstwhile lieutenant and bade him good morning. Jee gave her a warm welcome, then yawned quietly, apologizing for being rude. "No problem," said Lu, "it was a long night. Great work on the pipa, by the way! The Iroh/Jee Experience did not disappoint. Have you ever thought of playing professionally?"

Jee thoughtfully placed his finger on his chin and said, "Well, maybe when I retire from the military..."

"If you ever do, make sure to let me know, I'll be in the front row of your concert!" Waving to Jee, Lu made her way back to Maha, who was still trying to locate the exact tree that helped spark "Necklacegate."


The above is an actual archival photo of Lieutenant Jee playing the pipa as part of the Iroh/Jee Experience.

[The Blue Chibi]

"Don't say 'spark' in a forest full of trees, lu," mumbled Chibi out of the side of her mouth as they passed each other on the deck, Chibi still stumbling groggily and holding onto the rail.

"Chi, exactly what else did you expect a forest to be full of?" returned luthien, as she turned away to take Pecan on a lap around the deck.

"Makes sense, I guess..." Chibi shook her head, trying to clear the last traces of sleepiness. "Man, that was some kind of cocoa last night. I think I remember something about Aunt Wu looking at my palm and telling me my life line and my heart line were switched. Or the same. Or whatever." Peering fuzzily at her hands, Chibi nearly ran into a wall, the toe of her boot making a clang against it. A voice resounded within: "Hey, leave us alone out there!" "Oh, sorry," Chibi responded blearily, and wandered off to try finding maha, BP, or anyone else on board who might be able to spot the famed, rope-burned tree of legend.

[mahatista]

Maha lowered the telescope.

"I don't think we're quite there." She responded to Lu, showing her what she'd been looking at:



"But there are a lot of trees." She added prying the telescope out of Luthien's hands and putting it up to Pecan's eye. The Zutara dog's head shook the negative.

Suddenly there was a heavy mechanical vibration and Jee announced they'd have to use the small boats to go further.

"Yay! New boats!" Maha said excitedly and left the bridge to tell the others.

[The Blue Chibi]

"Are they shiny boats?" asked Chibi, wandering toward the gangplank while still studying her hands. "'Cause I like shiny boats."

Unable to take it any longer, Toph grabbed Chibi's shirt, yanked her down to her own level, and gave her a resounding smack. "Snap out of it!" the little earthbender yelled. Palms now on her face, Chibi echoed hollowly, "Thanks, Toph, I needed that..."

Nearly all the company set off down the gangplank, cameras and maps in hand, to settle in the rivergoing boats and help out in the search for the tree. "Hey lu," called Chibi. "You are going to be able to keep Pecan away from The Tree if we ever find it, aren't you?"

[luthien]

"I hope so!" Lu called back. Leaning down to look the Zutarian dog in the eye, Luthien said, "Ok, buddy, I have a request. All the other trees in the forest are yours to do with as you please, but please respect The Tree. Do we have a deal?"

Pecan nodded his furry head, then lifted a front paw and placed it in Lu's hand. Shaking hands with the Pembroke pup, Lu said, "Deal!", then Pecan barked his approval. Lu looked over her shoulder at Chi and said, "Ok, I think we're good to go!"

[mahatista]

"Is that it?" Maha pointed at a spot off in the distance.



"The tree's bigger but it's been a while -- maybe?" She added hopefully.

"Hmmm. The leaves are turning here and they weren't just about a mile back." Iroh noticed. "What do you think of that Chibi?"

He'd been trying to think of a conversation opening all day.

[The Blue Chibi]

*cough* "Global warming, Uncle," said Chibi. "Hey, maha, good call ~ that looks like it might be the one, but I can't tell. Maybe we should get some more people out here to help us look."

Back on the main ship, banging could be heard from the brig. "Hey! HEY!! I need to use a tree-- I mean, lemme out of here!!"

[mahatista]

"Lu?" Maha asked. "Do you have any archival pictures of the actual spot?"

Pecan barked in answer, which was fine.

Lu held up a photo.



"Hmmm. Lotta people in it but ... " She got closer to the photo to see the details.

[luthien]

"Hmm, you guys hear something?" Lu asked with feigned innocence, as the yelling continued from the brig. "Ah, it's probably just my ears adjusting to the new climate," she smiled, winking at Maha and Chi.

"As for the tree," Lu continued, "it's tough to tell which one it is from the picture. Maybe I can enlist Pecan's help. Since he's an animal, maybe he's more in tune with nature, or... something. Hey Pecan," Lu addressed the furriest Zutarian, "mind going over there and helping Maha out?" Pecan barked and wiggled his fuzzy bum, then trotted over to offer Maha some assistance.

[The Blue Chibi]

"Well," said Chibi, "there'd be rope marks on it about yea high..." She looked around for Katara to use as reference. "Now, where are those two? Never around when you need them. Oh well ~ the search itself is fun." Momentarily distracted by a sparrowmouse flying by, she trailed off.

"BP and crew went off to find wild mushrooms to eat for lunch," announced Toph, evidently feeling the vibrations of the departing foraging party through the ground. Uncle Iroh started up. "Oh!! They did? I'd better go with them... you never know what's poison around here."

Chibi, munching an apple she'd brought from the ship, said, "I'll wait here with everybody else. I'm sure they'd like to help with the tree search when they get back. 'Til then, maybe we'll take scenery photos or go swimming or something."

[luthien]

"Hmm," Lu mused to Chi, "do you think it's safe that Iroh is helping determine which mushrooms are good and which are poisonous? I mean, there was that incident with the White Jade plant, and we all know how that turned out." Luthien smirked, "Ah well, guess it's a good thing Yugoda's on board. We might need some healing help sooner than we thought!" Then Lu dove into the water to go for a refreshing swim with the others tested their luck with mushrooms.

[bagpipe turtle]

Bagpipe looked around on the ground near a particularly large boulder.
"Why did I get assigned the job of mushroom-collector when I can't tell any of them apart?" She wondered aloud. Picking up another mushroom, she sniffed it before shrugging and putting into a bag full of the fungi.

She called for the crew to head back to the ship with the mushrooms. Bagpipe then stumbled back to the ship herself, accidentally crushing a few bushes on the way.

After she emerged from the edge of the woods, Bagpipe called out, "So, how's the search for The Tree going?"

[The Blue Chibi]

"Exactly why I thought it was funny for him to do so, lu," mused Chibi. "Oh well. With any luck, someone there will be experienced enough to steer them right. And certainly they know not to eat anything they find while still out there."

Just then, TWB and surreal came running back, their hands full. "Guess what we found! Truffles!" Chibi leapt up. "Really?" she said, "I love chocolate!" She grabbed some and stuffed her mouth full. "Uh, guys... you really sure these are truffles?" mumbled Chibi around her mouthful, spitting bits of the tuberous brown material. "Ick."

"Silly girl," said Kana, sitting on a stump and idly cleaning her nails. "Wrong kind of truffle. And weren't you just saying ...? Oh, never mind. Clean yourself up, you're a mess." Chibi looked down at herself and shrugged. "Whatever ~ I was about to go for a swim anyway while we wait for everybody else to come help find this tree. Hey Piandao!" she called. "Let's go jump in the river ~ c'mon!"

"Like it?" asked Chibi, modeling the latest in bathing costumes. "We almost beat out Lo and Li in last year's swimsuit contest." Catching sight of BP just then, Chibi waved and called, "Hey! You wanna come swimming with us? Then we've got The Venerable Tree of Capficcyness to find. Until then, though, you got anything else to eat?"

[bagpipe turtle]

"Sure, I'll go for a swim!" Bagpipe agreed, then held up the little bag of mushrooms.
"And I have some mushrooms, but I don't think any of them are edible. I'm not good at telling the kinds apart."

She looked into the bag, made a face, then suggested they get the cook to make something instead.

[mahatista]

Maha coveted Chibi's swimming atire but put her purple classic one-piece racing suit to the test in the frigid water. She cast a shy glance at the sword master before she dove in. He wasn't looking at her.

Once immersed she pushed off the riverbed and shot upward to the sun, exhaling loudly when her head broke the surface. She quickly checked for any signs of swim snot and then brushed her hair back out of her eyes. She grinned at Bagpipe who was casually lying to Iroh about the raccoon-cat that had "stolen the mushrooms right out of her hand."