Author's notes:

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or it's characters. All credit goes to Mike and Bryan.

Things are going to start getting M rated here guys! 'Tis what you get when you read an M rated fic, I will not apologize for my twisted mind! Review please!

Chapter 2 – Imprudent Bastards

Life onboard a pirate ship was both fascinating and infuriating. On one hand there was the new way of life that could only come with a pirate's existence; the seafaring, the gambling, the drinking, the looting of ships. And then, there was the annoying part; the tolerating crusty, stinky men with a desire for nothing but stolen goods and young women, many of whom were bordering on insanity.

Said men had wisely left Katara alone when it came to fulfilling their desires, which she accounted to their innate fear of her and her people. From what she had learned, most of them bore Earth Kingdom roots, and the few that refused to speak of it were readily pushed to "enemy" in her mind. It was clear that the majority of the crew bore a deep-running prejudice to her, which she decided to ignore.

The pirates had found that she had quite the gift for fishing, and this little talent did not go unused. Whenever they were in particularly calm waters, she would dive into the cold blue liquid and scout for prey. Using her bending to form an air bubble, she would dive deeper and deeper, until her air ran out. Then came the challenging part; despite waterbender's naturally great lung capacity, it was still hard to stay at such great depths for more than a couple of minutes. When fish were spotted, she would freeze the waters around them, and follow the ice blocks back to the surface, sometimes taking the time to leisurely check the surface around her for waves signaling other vessels. As petty a job as it seemed to be, she secretly enjoyed the silence of the blue around her. And her shipmates were more than overjoyed about the supplementation to their limited diets.

"Why do you do that?" It was her least favorite companion, a wiry man of about twenty five, with a propensity for getting into her business and grinding on her nerves. She filleted a small fish with her knife and began sucking the flesh off the skin raw, being sure to glare ruthlessly over her meal.

"More nutritious, the natural oils don't cook away, easier on a starved stomach." She smiled as the pirate recoiled, crinkling his upper lip in disgust as she ripped the meat off. "Cooking reduces the amount of water in the flesh too," she tossed the bones overboard; maybe a school of tuna sharks would find it and come near, she much preferred their meat over that of the smaller fish.

"You don't look like you've had to survive much."

"Does it matter?" she retorted, sucking the meat away from the other fillet.

"I guess not…" The man replied warily, glancing at her from the corner of his eye in horror as she picked the carcass clean.

That night, she was awoken by the sound of a nearby ship, a horrible metal clang jolted her awake. They had not fired, so they were probably scouting the vessel before taking action. Katara rushed to pull on her outer night robes, cinching the cloth tight around her waist, thank the spirits the garment was dark green, not some loud color that attracted attention.

The deck was pleasantly cool as she stepped outside, and the moon shone overhead, a waning crescent. Movement caught her trained eyes, and she tracked the form of her wiry, annoying companion. He crossed to the side where the ship‒it must be Fire Nation, with the flames burning inside and the acrid smell of burning coal‒was stopped. Was that a plank they were lowering across for him? He strode across arogantly, meeting two heavily armored guards.

Katara wished she could follow, but she had to make other arrangements. She ducked from her hiding place; running across the deck and diving into the black waters below, it was churning and the undertow was strong, but she managed to swim to the rear of the Fire Nation ship. Using her bending, she propelled herself up and over the railing, rolling over her shoulder before landing neatly on her feet. She bent the water out of her clothes and hair, bending it back to La before sneaking across the deck. Upon reaching the command tower, she scaled the wall, reaching the very peak and then hooking her boot toes into the ledge so she could hang upside down and watch the proceedings within the tower.

Through the large opening she could see a group of armored soldiers and a man standing at the head of the table, speaking to the group with authority.

"Our informant wishes to speak with you, sir."

"Bring him in." 'My Spirits, his voice is beautiful'

The 'informant' was brought in and Katara grimaced. 'Dishonest, backstabbing creep.'

"Prince Zuko, it is an honor." He bowed his head slightly, she sneered silently.

"Just give us the information," the 'Prince' replied haughtily.

"There is a waterbender traveling with us, Your Highness." he waited, but when the Prince did not speak he continued on. "She is traveling to the Earth Kingdom mainland, and mentioned vaguely that she desires to sail as far North as we are able before docking."

"Her name?"

"She calls herself Kanna."

There was some shuffling as the Prince paced, she watched the back of his head; he was bald, save an odd patch of long hair pulled into a ponytail, and his alabaster skin shocked her entirely. Sure, there were some pale people on Kyoshi Island, and she had seen servants from other Nations within her house that were paler than her race, but nothing like this man; his skin caught the light and reflected it like ivory, as if it was of the smoothest texture and the finest quality. Though his soldiers were a little more rugged looking, many of them shared this pale complexion.

His ponytail swished as he looked up to his 'informant' who was speaking, again. She could barely pay attention as she noticed a red mark on his flawless skin; a shriveled shell of a normal outer ear and marked by an angry looking red scar. She could not see his face, but she had a feeling that the scar did not just mar his ear. The black swish of his ponytail brought her back to her senses and she saw the Prince's hands clench against the table's edge. A considerable temper.

"There is a Water Tribe fleet in the Northern Earth Kingdom, in that fleet in the Southern Tribe's Prince." he began, and she could feel the 'informant' shrinking under what must have been a burning glare. "Looks like the heir has come to his rescue." His raspy voice forced the words, growling them out rather than speaking. She shivered as heat radiated from the opening, there was no fire, but the temperature in the tower had suddenly become sweltering.

The Prince stormed from the room, or rather seemed to burn his way through it. He was not the 'storm' type. He was fiery, he was hateful, he was angry, but nothing could ever compare that man to water.

She relaxed on top of the tower, letting out a quiet breath. They knew. She was expected now, a simple pirate had ratted out her existence to a Fire Nation ship, and the Prince had figured her out. Complete surprise would be thrown out the window, they would be waiting for her, but they underestimated. She didn't travel much, the world was still unaware of the extent of her power. They probably assumed she was the replacement; the helpless little sister pretending to be a big girl.

But, she could still keep them wondering. If Sokka could hang on for an extra couple of weeks she could take her time in the Earth Kingdom, and keep them guessing when she would show up. She could send a messenger hawk when she reached mainland, but the message might be intercepted, she wouldn't risk that. She could possibly risk sneaking into the encampment to check on him, then leaving until the other soldiers were letting their guard down, but that would be near close to impossible to leave undetected. Her last option was to go now and be under fire until they could fight their way out, but the injured and sickly probably wouldn't survive.

She searched for the ladder bars beside her, fingers making contact with the slippery, salt-sprayed metal. Releasing her leg hold, she readied for the forward momentum to swing her to the ladder. It never came. Instead she heard the distinct rip of fabric; her night robes had caught on one of the ornate metal spikes making up the eerie decorum of the ship's watch tower, what a lovely surprise. Untangling the mess was a job, with bits of green cloth shredding into nothing more than string. If it was red, she would have compared it to the red strings of fate, but it compared more or less to the stringy boogers Sokka used to spelunk for in his nasal passages. When he was younger, that is.

Around the time Katara was cursing at her robes, a guard happened to be crossing the ship deck to the rear side, to her side. She was too busy flailing to notice the guard, and the guard was too fresh to the world of war to actually be paying attention. They were in the middle of the ocean for gods' sake! What could possibly happen all the way out there?

"You know what," Katara whispered furiously to the hung-up fabric, "fuck you too! Green was never my favorite color anyways!" and with that the robe broke free, casting her away to smash against the ladder with a bang.

The aforementioned guard had picked up bits of the furious whispering, only turning fully when he heard the following crash. The utter shock of seeing a woman hanging on to the tower's emergency ladder caused him to visibly jump, and he was pretty sure she had been shocked as well. What the hell was she doing outside in only a slip anyways? Did they even have women on this ship? Clearly she wouldn't be a female guard, not with those green clothes and dark skin!

Several awkward seconds passed before either moved; Katara was fairly certain he was just as stunned as she was, she could practically see the gears laboring in his mind. He made no move, obviously just a dumbfounded, brainless guard. No worries, she could start moving again. But the moving made something click in his pea-sized brain, so he screamed the first thing that came to:

"Stowaway!" And of course, best to run, in case she was dangerous or something. He would need back up!

The waterbender rolled her eyes, as if his screeching wasn't enough, he was running from her. "Amateur…"

Despite his obvious naiveties on the existence of spies, he managed to alert more competent watch men, who had her surrounded before she even made it to the ground. She resorted to quick acrobatic movements, leaping the remaining distance to the ground.

There were a dozen guards already surrounding her, spread evenly and in ready fighting stances, all of them firebenders by the looks of it, and all of them armored. Katara was only a single teenage girl, outmatched, unarmed and scantily clothed. 'But surrounded by water.'

There was a hesitation as they took in her appearance; did their honor whisper tauntingly in their ears, did it reason with them, did it hold them back? For where was the honor in attacking a young, unarmed girl? But Katara was not concerned with honor, she was concerned with glory. She had no qualms about murdering every single faceless soldier, actually, mask or not she would kill them. Glory demanded drastic measures for those drastic enough to strive for it, if that meant a girl like her, killing a dozen men like them, so be it. Hell, if it meant a girl like her killing the Fire Prince in his sleep, she would. History would forever remember her; glory lived on, she would never die away.

It was with this mindset that she slid into her own stance, calling the great ocean to her in a flurry of salty spray and churning currents. The water formed tentacles, surrounding her in a ring and guarding it's mistress. She watched, and she waited; ever one to adapt by her opponent's victories and mistakes.

They stared her down, eyeing her like hungry polarbear dogs tracking their prey, but they never attacked. Tension rolled off them in hot flashes, making her cheeks burn and her back cold. It seems they were waiting too, no matter how eager.

Angry footsteps indicated a certain Prince's arrival, and if that wasn't enough, he had to shove his guards aside for good measure. Katara finally saw his face, which from that distance wasn't much of a view, but there was no hiding the marred side of his face. A malicious-looking burn scar deformed his left eye and the entirety of his ear, it was gruesome, and undeniably intimidating.

To Katara the scar looked out of place, strange in comparison with his exotic face. At least to her he was exotic, with his raven black hair and ivory skin, there was something about his eyes too, though she was too far away to be sure.

"Who are you?" he demanded, breaking the tension with his furious voice.

"Isn't that much obvious, Prince? You get a tip about a waterbender on the ship directly next to yours, and you have no idea who am I?" Katara paused for good measure, smirking at the irritable child of the sun.

"So you are the heir, then?" he grit the words out, clenching his fists. Were they smoking?

"Why don't you come closer and find out," Yes, they were definitely smoking.

Like a twig snapping, the Prince's cool flew out the proverbial window. He struck at the waterbender with a roar of pure rage, eerie embers floating into the midnight sky as a single arc of fire twisted towards her. With it, an intense heat blasting like wind through the ethereal darkness. Behind it, she could see the spire of the watchtower, the inside a red glow against dark metal. The Nation she was raised to hate was here, their Prince was here, and she was ready.

She grinned; game on.

From what she had been taught, firebending was very offensive, and lacked strong defensive. The Prince was probably accustomed to offensive opponents, but what about defensive opponents? 'A yin opponent, to his very obvious yang.' Katara wracked her brain for information regarding the Fire Prince, his military record, mainly. She remembered learning about his father, the Fire Lord Ozai, and his uncle, General Iroh, The Dragon of the West. But, the curriculum was suspiciously void of all things Fire Prince, considering even Princess Azula was mentioned, in detail.

She would just have to wing it, and be sure to play on his short fuse.

The Prince, meanwhile, fired shot after shot of searing flames, his temper rising as she ducked, parried, leaped, and spun out of the way.

'Another circus freak…' Like his sister's annoying friend, but this one was a waterbender too.

Their game of attack and evade, was eerily quiet, he realized; glancing back to find all twelve of his men frozen where they stood. That little distraction was all Katara needed; landing a gainer, she shifted instantly to a bending stance, calling her element and hurling it over her should, straight at the inattentive Prince.

Her opponent's face was suddenly very cold.

A smirk lit her features, a devious plan already formed in her mind; she just had to wait for the right moment.

The Prince growled, still on the offensive‒naturally‒and spluttering out curses as his wet ponytail slapped him in the eye. It enraged the firebender to know he was being bested by a lowly Water Tribe peasant; his Father would never stand for such failure! He would just have to fight harder.

With his indomitable will, the odds started turning towards his victory, the pre-emptive attack worked on a waterbender unaccustomed to such violent power. Everything was working perfectly for him; he had forced the girl back to the defensive, driving her to the front of the ship, planning to make a display of her failure to his men.

There; an opening in her guard, he stepped across himself, pivoting on the same foot to attack with his already raised left one. For a split second his back was turned, and as he reached with the left foot, sending a surge of flames her way, he felt a sudden lightness to his head, a relief of sorts. He looked down to find his ponytail‒drenched and still bound with the leather tie‒laying defeated and limp over his steel tipped boots.

Katara grinned inwardly, allowing a wicked giggle escape her lips, as she met the eyes of the stunned Prince. His expression turned to that of seething rage, and she vaguely registered that he was closer now; she could pick out the features on his face. She barely had time, though, because he curled in on himself, a huge concentration of fire in his hands before he released, an explosion surrounding him in twists of furious fire. He was the nucleus, the fire the electrons of a combustible element.

It blew her away, literally, sending her sliding across the metal deck. Katara took one last glance at her opponent; he was performing a series of aerial kicks, aiming the fire at her as she slid away. His last strike left him closer than expected, and for one instant their eyes locked; a chill swept over the waterbender as she met his smoldering amber orbs, illuminated by the light of his attacks. She had never seen amber eyes like that; dark, brooding, passionate, angry, eyes that hid a violent past, and foreshadowed an even more violent future.

Zuko thought something similar; how the surface of those striking eyes told of a fearsome hatred, and an even more terrifying coldness, but underneath was a complex sea of painful memories.

Katara ripped away first, feeling the sting of flames meet her guarding arm with a sizzle. She looked behind her, angling her still retreating body between railing and falling headfirst into the black ocean.

Two days. That was how long she had been at sea.

After leaving, or rather falling, from the Fire Nation ship, she had set off on her own, not bothering to tell her so-called ship mates where she was going.

She had decided‒whilst fashioning a sizeable ice floe out of salt water‒she would rather leave her belongings onboard the pirate ship and collect later, than deal with the whole crew of stinky men trying to throw her off anyways. Did she really want to fight twenty men for a few articles of clothing and a few gold pieces? Hell no! What good would any of that do her in Earth Kingdom water?

She couldn't take the ship over either, she'd have to destroy them all first. Then what to do with a huge boat, no crew, and no idea where to port next?

So she boarded her ice floe and set off for Earth Kingdom coastline, recalling the bizarre turn of events. One minute she was happily hitchhiking with pirates, on her way to rescue her brother, then the shady Fire Nation Prince shows up, forcing her to abandon.

'Maybe he thinks I'm dead…' How convenient that would be! It was a pretty far drop, even for a waterbender. She would still need to keep on her toes, the Prince was obviously a force to be reckoned with, but he had demonstrated his tendencies to underestimate. She smiled at the thought of his soggy, decapitated ponytail; the pure rage had been priceless!

Then, another thought occurred to her; she had been so near his head with her watery blade, why not just finish him? Was it to humiliate him? Perhaps to toy with her prey? Maybe it was even the challenge of the fight. Katara had never hesitated to deal a death blow, so why didn't she then? Was she… unable to kill him? How preposterous!

She wrote it off as preservation of her homeland, surely Ozai would attack the South with everything he had if the Water Tribe Princess murdered his son and heir, right? Right.

Two days later, she was becoming dehydrated, she was starving and cold. More specifically her butt was cold, one could only sit on a block of ice for so long…

She sighed, rising up to assume her bending stance, her feet were cold too…

Several hours passed, the quiet swish of waves lulled Katara to sleep, or at least she thought it was sleep. Trance would be a more accurate description as she sat, lotus style, on the ice, bending temporarily abandoned.

In her trance, she sat on a carpet of lush green grass, before her a serene pond, two koi circling one another in an eternal dance. The water was clear blue, beautiful for such an odd scene. The place was enclosed by rock, a wooden arch behind her, and a misty twinge to the air.

This was the Spirit Oasis.

'Come, we bear a message for the water child.' Were the koi speaking? The voices were intriguing; something beyond words or language, it was like smelling violet and touching music notes. She sighed involuntarily, relaxing into the lull of the Oasis; it was spellbinding, irrevocable and undeniable in nature, absolute in power, and captivating in feeling. Katara began to lean forward, forward, forward… Until…

Splash!

"Argh!" the drenched waterbender coughed up the ocean, dragging herself atop her stupid ice.

"Look! A mermaid!"

'Really?' She turned to the noise; a loaded fishing boat carrying a teen boy and an elderly man. She ignored her aversion to the green clothing and Earth Kingdom features, diving for it anyways and swinging herself over the worn wooden edge.

"What do you want waterbender?"

"A ride to shore. I don't hesitate, I don't care how many children you have to feed, just sail."

The old timer simply nodded, holding her eye contact for longer than necessary. The boy did not hesitate to jump in, excitedly.

"Where are you traveling from?"

She snorted, giving him a sidelong glance. Surely he couldn't be serious? "The Southern Water Tribe."

"Oh, that's nice! Are you enjoying the weather? I hear it's very cold in the South."

"I have no interest in discussing the weather with a pre-teen boy, my apologies sir."

He stared at his shoes for a good while, looking genuinely hurt that the waterbending girl did not want to engage in small talk. Judging by the babyish qualities still clouding his face, he was only about fourteen, and to her astonishment, did not seem to harbor repugnance towards her or the Water Tribes.

"You don't hate me."

"I don't know you. Everyone is their own person, be it good or bad."

'Hmph… Insightful…' "I'm a bad person…" was her only reply.

"You don't have to be."

There was no more conversation following his assured statement; Katara felt it unnecessary to speak further to these people, and the boy only allowed his words sink in, the old man being predictably cold to their passenger.

The fishermen eventually deposited her on land, and she left her element to traverse the muggy Earth Kingdom mainland, littered with mountains and altogether too much earth for the waterbender's liking, she missed ice and snow.

Meals were few and far between, fast transport or shelter even more rare, but water was abundant in this lush land, even the trees were rich with water.

Finally, after weeks of walking, she was approaching the camp. It was exactly where Sokka had described, down to the stones surrounding the overgrown path. She could see the seal skin tents, smell the sweet sage burning, hear the serious whispers of military men.

"Hands in the air, little thing. Turn around real slow."

Katara smirked, a gesture quickly becoming her signature expression, and turned to face her old sparring buddy. "Nanoot."

"Princess Katara?" he stared dumbfounded, dropping to his knees in bow. "My apologies Princess, I had no idea it was you!"

She ignored his pleasantries, glancing over the camp and starting off at a near-run. "Come, where's my brother?"

"Master Katara, your brother's in the infirmary." Nanoot scrambled to keep up with the long-legged Princess, catching the almost imperceptible falter in her step.

"Excuse me?" She stopped abruptly, demanding, searching the soldier's eyes for a hint of joking warmth. She found none. "Why is he in the infirmary? He's not a healer!" She refused to believe the truth, refused to grasp reality; Sokka had to be ok, he just had to be.

"He was injured in combat, Your Highness," Nanoot trailed behind, balking as they reached the hospital tent.

"Katara!" He cringed, the Princess would not be pleased.

"Sokka!" Katara stopped before her brother, horrified by his appearance. His leg was set and bandaged, red stains covering the dirty white cloth. His cheek was sutured closed, a deep gash running from cheekbone to below the lip. His torso was by far the worst; completely bound in cloth, and saturated with dried blood, a horrible stench seeping through the bandages.

"Why has a healer not seen him?"

"The few benders we have left are not healers, Your Highness."

Katara turned, horror in her eyes as she assessed the situation; the fleet had left with over 40 benders, and more than 70 non-benders. Small as it was the fleet was strong, and before she left many were still alive.

"There was another attack three days ago…" he spoke as if he could read her mind. "Your brother was here, in the infirmary, when it occurred. A firebender left the main force, snuck in here and attempted to murder Prince Sokka…"

"Give me the details, Nanoot." She began stripping off layers of fabric around Sokka's waist, dropping the soiled fabric on the dirt floor. "In the meantime, I need water."

Nanoot bustled around, gathering supplies as Katara assessed the damage; one, two, three stab wounds to the torso, surrounded by burns, the skin rotting and peeling off in places. The wounds themselves were not cauterized, she noted, watching yellowy liquid ooze from them.

"They struck in the dark hours of the morning, Earth Kingdom soldiers aided by a small number from the Nire Nation Navy. It was more of a raid; they took supplies, weapons, even one of our female waterbenders. God knows what they did with her… Then a masked man attacked the infirmary, he moved like a firebender, that much I know. He wielded double broadswords, with red accents."

"A mask? What of?"

"The Blue Spirit, Your Highness."

She stiffened, what a morbid choice of disguise, and a mockery to her people's legends at that. Her voice was quiet, controlled, deadly, when she spoke next. "A firebender wearing the mask of a Water Tribe spirit… How… Odd…"

Nanoot hummed in agreement, handing Katara a fresh bowl of water to replace her nearly empty one. He gathered the bandages in another bowl, grimacing at the streaks of infection and blood smeared across them.

"Wash those please, Nanoot."

"Of course, Your Highness."

"What happened to your cheek?" the waterbender asked, running her skilled fingers over her brother's stitches.

"I didn't catch boomerang in time… It sorta… Well, backfired." He whispered, sounding very much embarrassed and slightly ashamed, but, as all things with Sokka go, it was quickly forgotten. "What's the plan?" All business now that they were alone.

"We lay low, until you're healed. Then we move,"

"The man who tried to kill me, he was looking for women in here. When he found me, he just stopped and stared, like he knew who I was. Then he stabbed me… He called me by name…"

"I know who it is." She finished up with the wounds, staring into her sibling's eyes as she said the words. "He's the Fire Prince."

Sokka's jaw dropped in a goofy expression of astonishment. "Whaaaa? Since when do you know the Fire Prince?"

"I may have had an unpleasant run in with him on the way here."

"Katara, what happened?"

"I fought him." She briefly met his eyes again, before casting her gaze to the tent wall. "And he beat me… Drove me off the side of the ship, I thought he assumed I was dead… I underestimated."

"You never underestimate."

"This time I did…" Eventually she would have to discuss her plans with Sokka, now was better than never. "I have to go North, Sokka. I'm having these dreams of the Spirit Oasis… They're calling me…" There was a seriousness, a mutual understanding in the ensuing minutes, one that could only exist between siblings. A smile, a memory of the past, a hope for the future, in one instant words were irrelevant, but Sokka opened his big mouth anyways.

"Then go."

Destination: Northern Water Tribe. Estimated Arrival: 1 week. Purpose of Mission: Council of the Tribes, trans-world communication.