“Prince Zuko!” Iroh shouted. He had just come back from the marketplace, as he had started a new search for a lotus tile since Zuko threw his old one over a waterfall.

“What is it Uncle? Have you found the Avatar?” Prince Zuko asked impatiently.

“Even better!” Iroh was holding something behind his back. Zuko tried to get a better look at what it was but his uncle kept the thing well hidden behind himself.

“… Well what is it?” Zuko said kind of annoyed and unenthusiastic. It was probably just something stupid since the way he saw it, his uncle was amused by the weirdest things.

“Guess!”

“I don’t wanna guess! Tell me what it is!”

“You take the fun out of everything.” Iroh pulled his arms around to his front. He was holding a small dog about the size of a house cat. Probably still just a puppy. His fur was a faded auburn color and it was matted and smelled like something had died.

“WHAT IS THAT?!?!” Zuko couldn’t tell it was a dog with all the fur in its eyes. He thought it was a huge rat.

“It’s a dog Prince Zuko. A puppy to be more exact. I found him outside one of the shops. It didn’t look like he belonged to anyone so I bought him with me! I’ve been calling him Ginseng.” The puppy looked up at Iroh and wagged his tail furiously. Some of the fur blew away from his eyes and Zuko could see that the dog’s nose was a little pink.

“Ginseng? Like the tea?” Iroh nodded with a huge smile across his face. “Uncle we can’t keep a dog! It takes responsibility! You have to feed it and walk it and water it and what if it makes a mess! I’m not going to be the one cleaning up after it.” Not that Zuko even cleaned up after himself.

“I will take care of him. It’s not like he has anywhere else to go.”

“Fine. But I better not hear a peep out of it.”

THAT NIGHT!

Zuko was awoken from a deep sleep by the sound of howling.

“What the…?” Then he heard the sound of a sungi horn. He forgot it was music night on the ship. He ran out to the deck.

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked his uncle. Ginseng was sitting on the floor near Iroh, staring at Zuko and wagging his tail. At least he was given a bath earlier so he didn’t smell as bad anymore.

“It’s music night Prince Zuko! Ginseng is accompanying me in a song. I play the instrument and he sings! Who knew he was so talented.”

Zuko growled and went below deck and tried to sleep which was pretty much impossible with the sound of the horn and the howling of the dog and the talking of all the other people above deck.

A FEW DAYS LATER!

“Prince Zuko, we need to stop on that island up ahead. Ginseng needs to ‘go’ and you don’t want him doing his business on the floor do you?” Iroh said.

“Uncle! We can’t keep stopping at every island just because the dog has to pee. We’ll never catch up to the Avatar this way!”

Iroh gave Zuko a big puppy-dog eye look. He didn’t want to have to clean up one of Ginseng’s messes again. But he didn’t want to get rid of him either.

“Fine! Fine! We’ll stop at this island.” Lucky for Zuko, Aang and his friends were on the same exact island.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sokka was setting up their campground.

“We’re going to need food if we’re going to stay here for the night.” He said.

“I’ll get some. And Momo can come too!” Aang said.

“Alright but just be careful.” Said Katara as she was fixing Sokka’s pants.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iroh and Zuko were walking waiting for Ginseng to do what he had to do. None of the guards were with them since it was kind of pointless for the whole ship to go out just to walk a dog. The only reason Zuko was with Iroh was because Zuko didn’t want his uncle getting side tracked and take forever. Ginseng caught the whiff of some scent and ran away from Iroh and Zuko.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!” Zuko shouted.

Ginseng got far ahead of them and ran into Aang.

“Hey little guy!” Aang went to pet Ginseng but he was afraid of Momo and ran away from him… back into the direction of Zuko and Iroh.

“Wait! Come back!!” Aang was not looking where he was going and Momo was flying closely behind him. Aang came real close to catching Ginseng but then he ran right into Iroh’s gut and passed out cold. Well he does have a big gut and Aang was running pretty fast.

Ginseng sat at Iroh’s feet and stared up at him. He wagged his tail and barked as if to say ‘Look what I found!’

IN A PRISON CELL

Aang woke up to Momo’s tail in his face. “Ugh… what… happened? Where am I?” He looked around and saw prison bars and then saw Iroh, Zuko, and the dog he was chasing on the other side of the bars. “AH! WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!?!”

Zuko smirked at Aang and stared down at Ginseng who looked right back up at him. “Good dog. Uncle! Watch the prisoner.” Zuko left. I don’t know where.

After Zuko left, Aang shouted “Let me go! I have to get food for my friends! They’re hungry!”

“Hm… I’m hungry too. Ginseng, watch the prisoner. I’ll get us some food.” Iroh said.

Aang took this to his advantage. He had Momo climb through the bars and get the keys and he escaped. Luckily for him, Prince Zuko’s ship was still on shore.

When Iroh came back Aang was gone. “Ginseng I told you to watch the Avatar!” Iroh quickly informed his nephew of his escape. “How could you let him get away? Weren’t you watching him?”

“Well I went to get some food and I had Ginseng watch him and then--“

“YOU HAD THE DOG WATCH HIM?” Zuko got annoyed and ran off to find Aang. Iroh and Ginseng followed behind him. Too late though. Aang had already gotten back to Appa and everyone else and they got away. They couldn’t follow him since it would take to long to get around the island.

“Well I hope you’re happy.” Said Zuko.

“You can always catch the Avatar another time.”

They were almost back to the ship when the heard someone yell.

“HEY!” It was a little girl who looked about 10 years old and had gotten out of a wooden row boat. “You took my dog!” She said pointing at Ginseng.

“Your dog?” Iroh said.

“Yea, my dog. You took him when I was shopping at a store.”

“I didn’t think he belonged to anyone. Sorry.” After all, he looked like a rat when Iroh found him.

“Come on Puddles!” Ginseng er- Puddles trotted towards the girl.

“Pfft. Puddles.” Zuko scoffed.

Zuko and Iroh watched the girl row away towards the island where they found the dog. Zuko looked at his uncle who looked really sad.

“…Uncle?” Iroh looked away; and right into the direction of a cat licking its paw.

“Ooh! Look at that Persian! Isn’t it handsome?” Iroh said walking towards the cat.

“UNCLE!”