Zuko began to run after Katara, calling her name. He didn't realize she would run away from him. She could get herself killed! He knew the fire nation warriors wouldn't listen to reason, but she didn't. They had come for one thing and one thing alone: to kill the last water bender from the South Pole. One of the traits that the fire nation people held close to them was their honor. It would be shameful to return to the fire nation and announce that they had failed. Fire Lord Ozai would definitely strip them of all honors or rewards if he didn't kill them or challenge them to an Agni Kai instead. Zuko looked up and saw a giant tail from one of the lizards knock Katara through the air and into a nearby snow drift. "Katara!" he shouted. She didn't move. He panicked as he ran even faster in her direction. She had become his best friend in the short amount of time that he had known her, and now she was lying unconscious in a snow drift all thanks to him. He hoped he hadn't totally ruined his only chance at being her friend. Suddenly he was off his feet and moving in the opposite direction. "What the...". He looked up into the face of a fire nation soldier.
"It is nearly time to depart Prince Zuko", The man said to him. Zuko didn't recognize the man through his helmet, but the voice sounded familiar. He turned his head back to where Katara was in the snowdrift...wait a minute, he thought. She's gone! He frantically turned his head from side to side trying to catch a glimpse of her little brown head bobbing among the people, but she was nowhere to be found. The man towed Zuko onto the ship with him and set him down just inside the door. Zuko immediately took off running towards the upper deck, hoping that if he could get there in time then he could catch a glimpse of Katara and know she was okay. Zuko's feet echoed on the metal stairs as he sprinted up and up and up. He burst out into the freezing air gasping for breath. Zuko hated stairs. They were quite unessecary in his opinion. He walked over to the side of the boat and looked over the side, hoping to find his friend. What he saw instead made him shiver. Injured water tribe warriors littered the ground outside the huts. Women and children were crying as they sat over their dying husbands and fathers. He was suddenly afraid to look. He didn't want to see Katara's body among the others on the ground. What if a soldier had found her? What if they knew she was a water bender? The fire nation has caused this pain, he realized. It was all his fault that his only friend could be down there on the ground, dead or dying. Then he saw her. He was so happy that a grin broke out across his face, until he saw the expression on hers. Her big eyes were staring at the sky, full of tears. His face immediately fell as those tears started to spill over and trickle down her face. Then she spotted him standing on top of the boat. She gave him a halfhearted smile and waved a small brown hand. Wait, hadn't she been wearing gloves a little while ago? Oh! They were still on his hands! He hadn't had a chance to give them back. He pulled them off and held them up to her. How could he get them back to her, he thought. Maybe he could throw them over the side and she could water bend them to shore or something. No, she could be seen by a fire nation soldier. Then she shook her head and began to reach inside her pockets. Did she want him to keep her gloves? Why would she do that? He lives in a tropical climate. She was the one who would need them. Then he saw her pull another pair of the same gloves out of her pocket and slide them on. Oh, he thought. Of course she has other pairs. It was becoming harder and harder to see her as the ship pulled away from the ice. He would miss her. Even though he only knew her for a short time, she was his best friend. If Azula found out that his only friend lived hundreds of miles away on a remote block of ice, she would surely laugh at him or call him names. Zuko clutched the small blue gloves to his chest. He would never forget her...