"RAAHH!"

Swinging a flaming limb around, the last airbender was countering every move Zuko could throw at him.

Catching him off guard, Zuko swept the flames under Aang and knocked him to the ground.

Recovering, Aang lashed towards the prince with a streak of heat.

Nearby the sparring pair, a young healer was hard at work repairing her comrades.

"Honestly, Sokka! I don't care if you want to spar with him but couldn't you two be more careful? It's not like I don't already have enough to do." Raising her piercing blue eyes to meet his, Katara finished closing the gash on her brother's chest.

Grinning, Sokka pulled his tunic over the newly accumulated scar. "Well, with every mistake I'll get a little stronger. Which is exactly what we need if we're going to win this war."

Grumbling, she moved on to the blind earth bender with the steady stream of blood leaking out of her temple. "And you! Can't you be more careful? I thought you could see everything he was doing?"

"He's the avatar! He's bound to get lucky!" Toph complained.

Chuckling, Katara sincerly hoped that the war wouldn't take away her friends innocent confidance. Eyes drifting toward the scarred fire bender, smile gone, she acknowledged that not everyone would remained unharmed throughout the duration of the war.

Sighing, the water bender rised from her newly healed friends and gravitated toward the fountain that was at her disposal. Pulling a thin stream of liquid towards her, Katara began to practice her art.

Feeling the steady push and pull of her element in her control, all thoughts dissapeared as she settled into the many familliar forms and stances as her warm-up dictated.

Mind clear, the young girl, drew more water from the fountain and began to train both body and mind. Twisting the element throughout itself, manipulating it in the air, twining it around her body, always under control and always aware of where each drop of the liquid was. So deep in concentration she was, Katara did not at first realize that she was under attack.

Zuko had always thought of himself as a rational man. Common sense was, as it should be, common to him. Situations most people would call stressful and taxing were mere child's play to the prince. Though, his sister's unexpected arrival at the Air Temple caused not only severe distress but also a mild sense of panic.

The foremost thoughts on Zuko's mind was how she had found them and how much of a fight were they in for.

The latter was soon dicovered when he saw the swarms of firebenders charging towards his young diciple.

"There's too many! I'll hold them off! Everyone on Appa!" the young avatar was quick to say.

Eyes sweeping the surrounding area, Zuko noted several things. First of all, Toph, still feeling faint from her recent injury and blood loss was having difficulting getting on to Appa. Sokka was the farthest away but making quick time towards the large flying bison. Aang was on his glider, flying above the heads of the enemy and in general causing a rukus by sending his arsenal of elements at the soldiers. And finally, Katara, having interfered with Azula's descent on the avatar, was attacking his sister ruthlessly.

"You dare to think that a pathetic watertribe peasant such as yourself can stop me from reaching that brat of an avatar?" Azula spat, eyes flashing.

Flinging shards of ice at the princess, she smirked. "Well, this water tribe peasant seems to be holding out fine." Katara interjected.

Throwing a coil of water around her, Katara flung Azula across the courtyard and over the edge.

"That won't hold her for long! We have to go!" Zuko called from Appa.

Overwhelmed, Aang cried out for help. "Katara!"

Spinning around she forced a crest of harsh water into the onslaught of soldiers that were forcing Aang out of the air.

"Let's go!" Katara called.

Flying along beside the running water bender, Aang checked on the status of his friends. "Where's Toph?"

"Zuko got her on Appa."

Bright blue flames licked up the side of cliff.

"Sokka?"

"On Appa too."

Lifting Katara onto the already rising bison, Aang turned around and punctured the war balloon with an onslaught of icicles.

"Okay! Now let's get out of here!"

"Aang, look out!"

Pushing Aang to the side, Sokka lept in front of the airbender as a large blue flame engulfed him and pulled him from the saddle.

"Sokka!" several voices chorused.