Erok felt his heart drop as the woman's voice cut maliciously through the air. Immediately, he knew the best chance of success in his mission depended on finding the Avatar, now.

"Go and hide," Erok muttered under his breath to Mai, too low for the mystery water bending woman to hear, "And lay low. I'm going to find him, then we'll escape. Good luck."

This enemy was an unknown quantity. If she was another water bending master, a direct confrontation could take too long. As Erok turned and fired a plume of steam to give Mai some cover so she could earth bend into a better hiding spot, he surrounded himself with multiple spheres of ice and ran towards the plume of smoke. Once again, choices were being made beyond Erok's control; he needed to find the Avatar and his teacher, to better the odds of their escape.