He was rudely woken up by his father calling his name.

"Prince Aang! Aang!" His father Gyatso called.

Aang groaned into his pillow, today was his 18th birthday and he was anything but happy. He was being forced to marry today. And worse, his father picked out a weird girl named Meng.

"Aang! Get out here; you have to get ready for your wedding tonight!" Gyatso called.

Aang groaned into his pillow again. He didn't want to be forced to marry; he wanted to choose who he would be with. He got an idea, sneak out and miss the wedding. He didn't want to marry Meng, she was weird and very awkward to be around, Aang wanted a girl who was sweet yet strong, but how many of those were out there? Aang got out of bed and quickly changed clothes and fixed his hair. He slipped on a cloak and slid out of his window. He darted through the royal gardens and climbed up a tree, leaped over the wall and landed on the ground. He darted through the city to get as far away from any potential royal trouble. In his rush, he bumped into someone. "Hey whats your problem?" the person yelled as they turned and glared at him. It was a girl about Aang's age; she had caramel skin and blue eyes. She was dressed in a white shirt and a blue skirt and she had a strange choker around her neck.

"Uh sorry" he stammered. Her bag had dropped onto the ground. He reached over and grabbed it for her Here he said handing her the bag.

"Thanks" she said softening up a bit. "May I ask what you name is?" she said sweetly.

Aang didn't think he could tell her his real name; then again his father had kept him secret up until now. "Uh I'm Kuzon, what may your name be?"

"I'm Katara"

"Its a- a pretty name" Aang managed still finding it hard to speak. Katara was beautiful and sweet. She was way better than Meng. He grimaced at the thought of his soon-to-be wife as his father would say.

"T-thanks" she said blushing. Aang stomach growled. He realized that he hadn't eaten breakfast. Katara heard his stomach growling and decided to invite him for breakfast at her house. "So would you like to eat breakfast at my house?" she offered.

"Sure, I am pretty hungry"

"I can tell" she giggled. She had a beautiful laugh, Aang was mesmerized by her. "So are we going to go or are you just going to stand there staring at me?" she asked.

"Either works" he giggled.

She grabbed his arm and started running. He had to work hard to keep up with her. As they were speeding through the cobblestone streets Aang saw things he had never seen before. People in stockades, poor people, towns people trying hard to make a living. In the palace he had never encountered people like this. Katara finally stopped in front of a small house. Here we are she said grinning. It was a small house, not much to it. There was a store on either side of it, Aang guessed one of which belonged to her family since that was how a lot of things were set up. She opened the door for him to enter. He cautiously walked in; he had grown up being told that villagers should not be easily trusted. As soon as he had entered he was jumped on by someone. Aang shielded his face with his arms as his attacker hit him. Sokka stop! Hes a friend! Katara yelled. Aang's attacker, or Sokka, stopped hitting him and got up.

"Who is this boy Katara?" Sokka said annoyed.

"This is Kuzon. I met him on the streets, he was hungry and I offered for him to come here for breakfast. He isn't a threat, unless you don't see him running toward you." She said referring from how they met.

"Uh yeah. And again I'm sorry for running into you like that" Aang said rubbing the back of his neck.

Sokka had been glaring at Aang the whole time. "Katara! Sokka! Whats going on in here?" a man walked into the room with an irritated look on his face.

"Nothing dad, Sokka just attacked our guest." Katara said annoyed.

"Is this guest going to introduce himself or shall you?" Katara and Sokka's dad said.

"I'm Kuzon" Aang said bowing.

"I'm Katara and Sokka's father, Hakoda" Hakoda said.

"Pleasure to meet you sir"

"So Kuzon, are you Katara's new boyfriend or just a guest?" Hakoda said.

"He's just a guest dad, he was hungry and I invited him to breakfast." Katara said rolling her eyes.

"Well at least he is a gentle man and isn't a thief or a spy or one of those soldiers from the Kingdom of Fire. Boy those lunatics may have a small kingdom but they put up a fight." Hakoda said setting down some dishes. Aang had heard a little bit about the Kingdom of Fire, but he didn't know they affected to commoners so much. He didn't even know the commoners were so poor off.

"Well I'm going to go prepare a little something for breakfast." Katara said walking out of the room.

"I'm going to go open the shop" Hakoda said.

"May I help you sir?" Aang asked. He didn't want to be left in a room with Sokka; he would probably be dead within minutes.

"Sure boy. I'd appreciate the help" Hakoda said. Hakoda left the room and Aang followed him cautiously. The door they had left through was to a hallway and at the end of the short hallway was another door. Hakoda opened the other door and they walked in. It was a shop with some food, some horse supplies, some clothes, some weapons, some bedding, and some other trinkets. "Alright boy, I need you to sort the fruits for me. Yesterday some careless mother let her children rearrange them. We were too busy to reorganize them. By the time you're done with that, Katara will have breakfast done." Hakoda said pointing to the fruit baskets. Aang nodded and started reorganizing the fruits. Sure enough by the time Aang was done breakfast was ready. Katara had prepared some soup with some chicken and vegetables in it. They all sat down and ate. Hakoda next to Sokka, Sokka next to Katara, and Aang next to Katara at the circular table.

"So Kuzon, what part of town are you from?" Katara asked sheepishly.

"Uh the upper ring" he said cautiously.

"Let me guess, your parents work in the castle?" Sokka said.

"You could say that" Aang said.

"So why were you in such a hurry?" Katara asked.

"I was running away from something" he said quickly.

"What?" Katara asked.

"My uh girl friend I guess you can say." He said looking down.

"Oh" Katara started sounding a little disappointed "I guess she isn't very nice huh?"

"Nope. My parents are forcing me to marry her to" he explained.

"Well that isn't very fair" Sokka said.

"Its a custom in my family. When you turn 18, you have to marry."

"Well that is just plain rude." Sokka said.

"You don't love that girl huh?" Katara asked.

"Love her? I cant stand her" Aang said.

"You should be allowed to marry who you want. Most of us down here in the lower circle have that freedom." Hakoda said

"Lucky" Aang said sounding jealous.

"Yeah I guess. But in the upper ring, it is way better than down here" Katara said. That was the end of their conversation. After they finished eating, Aang offered to help the family in the store. After a long day of work in the shop Katara cooked another meal. Aang was just about to leave when Katara stopped him.

He looked at her confused. She had grabbed his arm just before he walked out onto the street. "Stay the night" she offered quietly.

"I really should be going though" he said.

"Its really late and these streets aren't safe at night. I wouldn't want you to get killed because you went out this late. We have an extra bed in the bed room upstairs."

"Well, is it OK with you father?" he asked not wanting to get in trouble.

"Yeah. Please stay, I would kill myself if I knew anything bad happened to you" she said still talking quietly. He grinned at her.

"Sure."

She led him upstairs into the family bed room. Sokka and Hakoda had already fallen asleep. There were two beds on one side of the room which Sokka and Hakoda were sleeping in and two more beds at were currently empty on the other. She led him across the room to the side with the empty beds. She quietly signaled him which one was his bed and he laid down on it. "Good night" she whispered in his ear before going to her bed. She lay down in her bed and went to sleep.