CHAPTER 1
"There's a clearing," pointed Sokka tiredly. Aang tugged the reins and Appa swerved onto the soft ground.
Sokka rolled off the saddle, literally, with his sleeping bag under his head like a pillow. He fell asleep where he landed, which earned an eye roll from his sister. The full moon was up, leaving Katara feeling wide awake and restless after flying for the past five hours.
"I'll take care of camp, guys. Everyone else go head to sleep- Aang!" she said suddenly and Aang whipped around to look at her quizzically. She giggled, "Toph is waiting," Katara pointed out.
Aang looked at his earthbending teacher who was standing up in the bison's saddle, arms crossed and foot tapping. Aang quickly turned red; Toph needed help getting off Appa, and helping her was his job. She could see perfectly fine on land, but seeing through a good thirty feet of fur isn't that easy. "Sorry, Toph," he apologized guiltily and led her down off Appa's tail.
He tossed her the spare sleeping bag while Katara set up the girls' tent. Toph bent down to scoop it up, said a quick goodnight to 'Twinkletoes' and 'Sweetness', and kicked Sokka as she made her way through the camp to her tent.
After Aang knew Toph fell asleep, he turned to Katara.
"Katara, can I ask you something?"
"Hm? Sure, anything, Aang."
"Well, summer is only a few weeks away, and the eclipse and the comet a few weeks after that. Do you think I'll be able to master firebending in time? Not to mention earthbending…"
Katara raised an eyebrow. "…well…um…Hey! I just had a thought! Won't your firebending be affected by the eclipse, too?"
"I never thought about that," he admitted. "But I should still learn. Think of after the," he gulped, "…battle. I'll have to stay in the Fire Nation for a while after that. You know, to make sure everything goes okay over there?"
The waterbender thought on this for a moment. "That's why you've been acting so weird." She stated.
"Weird?"
"Yeah. You've been blanking out, forgetting things; you haven't been eating or sleeping well. You're worried about firebending, right?
"Yes…I guess you're right," he looked at the ground sadly.
A disturbing silence filled the moment. Neither one of them knew how to change the subject, or what to do, really. Katara's head snapped up as she thought of something.
"Would you be able to sleep if I promised you a firebending teacher in the morning?"
Aang looked up, startled obviously. "Really? You mean it?" Katara nodded. Aang sprang forward and hugged her. "You are the…best person ever!"
"Yes, yes I am. Now go to bed." Aang smiled then walked over to Appa and laid down on his leg. Momo fluttered over and fell asleep on his back.
Katara looked at the moon, 'I've got about three and a half hours to find him, convince him to come with us, an get back. Not too easy.' The girl knew exactly what she would have to do.
She scrambled through the woods, searching for that familiar face; to hear that raspy voice. She wasn't afraid. Nope, not her. Heck no. Now way- oh Yue, what was that?- never mind…
The young waterbender walked around that forest for about an hour, trying to find the person she needed. She came to a small river with a few willow trees spilling over some rocks like a curtain; blocking the small scene behind it from view.
She began to think out loud. "Where is he?! He was following us, I know it. I saw him for crying out loud! Ugghh," she groaned as she paced around the side of the stream. One hand on her arched back and biting her fingernails, she considered the consequences of the Avatar waking up with no firebending teacher.
"Aang would be crushed if I don't come back with him."
"With who?"
Finally! The raspy voice for which the owner she was looking for came from behind the weeping willow's curtain. Katara's eyes widened. She spun around and waved back the leafy branches. She grinned.
"I knew you were here," she could have hugged the young firebender.
"How did you know, exactly?" he raised an inquiring eyebrow.
"I saw you with that old man. Where is he anyway?"
"Ba Sing Se. I was there, too, but I had to get out of there. It was too…organized; and creepy, that also." Katara nodded. Katara knew the feeling of having to get out. She'd had it ever since she found out she was a bender back in the South Pole.
She sat down on a small rock and studied the person in front of her. Ruffled, short black hair fell over his ears and golden eyes. His eyes drooped ever so slightly, which they should have been. Firebenders and nighttime don't go to well together. He wore a baggy green tunic over equally baggy pants. His arms were clasped behind his back as he leaned back against the trunk of the massive tree.
He yawned and shook his hair out of his face, showing the bright red scar beneath it. A/N figured out who it is yet. Yeah, like you didn't already know…
"Well?" he inquired.
"'Well' what?" Katara shrugged simply and called over a small globule of water. She jiggled it around in the air, making it shorter, skinny, long, all funny shapes. She giggled and played with a bright grin on her face. 'Giggling ecstasy' is what Gran-Gran would've called this' she thought.
"Well, you can't just be here to talk," he rolled his eyes, "What do you want?"
She dropped the water back into the stream and stared him straight in the eye. All traces of her smile gone, dead seriousness in her eyes. " I need you to teach Aang firebending."
"Who?"
"Aang, the Avatar."
"Oh…what's in it for me?'
"Actual friends?" He raised his eyebrows. 'Worth a shot.' "Um…it was a joke…Naturally, you would become the Fire Lord after Ozai is…killed." Katara still couldn't picture sweet, innocent Aang actually killing anyone. "And there's the whole 'world peace' thing afterwards," she added sarcastically.
He looked at her questioningly, "You swear?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die," she crossed her heart with a few slender fingers.
"Al-alright," he stammered.
Katara stuck her hand out. He resisted for a moment, but the girl didn't stop smiling of lower her hand. He reached out hesitantly and lightly shook her hand a few times.
She got up to leave when she realized he wasn't following. She turned halfway around, "Are you coming?" she asked with a hand on her hip.
He nodded mutely and swung a small bag over his shoulders. For the next hour, they walked in silence. Finally, they reached the camp. Shocking enough, no one was awake yet. Not even Toph who always woke up of she felt anything.
Katara turned to the young man, "You better spend the rest of the night a small distance away. Just in case my brother wakes up and tries to hack you to death with his boomerang," she giggled.
"Boomerang?...wow…" he suppressed a tiny, tiny, tiny A/N: very small! get it? I know he never laughs but come on, a BOOMERANG?? That's just too valuable to pass up. Sorry, guys. laugh. "I guess you're right. Signal me when it's safe," he said and turned to walk back into the forest. She nodded slightly. She touched his arm, sending a shiver through him.
He turned to see her smiling, "Welcome to the fallout, Zuko."
Zuko nodded and turned again. She watched as he walked away with his small bag, hands clasped in front of her. Fumbling with her fingers, she silently walked into the tent she and Toph shared. A/N:I know Toph sleeps in her earth tent, but lets just pretend that she stopped doing that so no one could find them? Yeah, lets go with that.
Katara sighed as she looked at the younger girl. 'Thank Yue she's asleep.'
"You know, Sugar Queen? I have no idea who that guy is, but from the way you talked, I get the vibe that Snoozles isn't too fond of him. Well, that guy's heartbeat tripled its speed when you touched his arm, and that will probably just make Sokka hate him more," mumbled Toph as Katara shifted into her sleeping bag.
The young waterbender turned pink and tried to talk herself out of what Toph said.
'No. He probably just tensed because we're – we were – enemies. Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's all…'
"And, by the way, Sugar Queen, so did yours."
Hi! Just wrote this last night cuz I was bored. If I get some motivation, ill write the next chapter, but ive had only two reviews since I started my account and that's got me depressed so please review.
