Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, and am making no money off of this fanfic.

Summary: See Previous Chapters

A/N: The Confrontation was inspired by Kimberly T's Drabble Series, and thanks for letting me use it. Thanks also go to my awesome reviewers: SCWLC, Liersore, sokkamtylee, AnnaAza, ArrayePL and, again, Kimberly T.
You all rock and I appreciate it!

CHAPTER THREE

Zuko was not jealous that as soon as Sokka saw his sister, he ran toward her, crying that he had thought she was dead. Nor did he envy the way Katara flew into her brother's arms. Just because the only times Azula proclaimed affection was when she was setting him up for something, and hadn't hugged him since she was three, unless it was the time she had tried to plant one of Mai's knives in his back shortly before he had been banished.

Then a small whirlwind was the only warning before the Avatar slammed into both, and Zuko wondered if that was what it was like to have friends. Mai and Ty Lee were always deferential toward Azula, though Ty Lee might have gotten away with such an exuberant display, as long as she bowed first, without getting blasted full of lightning. Maybe.

Zuko privately thought that Azula might have been part of the reason Ty Lee ran away to join the circus in the first place.

Then he told himself that it didn't matter, and that once he captured the Avatar, he would have his father's love and pride, and Azula would have to respect him. He would even try to convince the Fire Lord to let the Avatar go, after making him promise not to fight the Fire Nation, and work with them to restore balance.

He valued Katara's friendship, respect and company, after all, and didn't want to lose it. She might be a bit angry that he wouldn't give up his mission, but at least she wouldn't go back to hating him if he was willing to compromise like that, right?

For some reason, he wasn't so sure.

They had arrived in the Earth Kingdom ahead of schedule, and had two days before they were due to meet up with the Earth Kingdom army. This gave Katara time to catch up with Sokka and Aang on what had been happening in her absence.

Under the impression that Katara was dead, Sokka and Aang had continued on to the Northern Water Tribe, where Aang had been taught by Waterbending Master Pakku. His training had been interrupted when Zhao and a fleet of ships numbering in the thousands had attacked, but had been driven off when a strike team had managed to assassinate the Commanding Officers on the flag ship.

Leaderless, the fleet had fled, but everyone had agreed that if the Fire Nation was bold enough to attempt such an attack, it would be best if the Avatar finished his training in Earth and Fire. Since Aang was not fully trained, and it might be a good idea to look for allies in the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe, a few ships had been sent to convey Aang and Sokka to the Earth Kingdom, before continuing on to the South Pole.

Katara honestly wondered how Sokka managed to keep his mouth shut on that matter, but guessed that he had been indulging his occasional sneaky side and setting the Northerners up for a rude shock, as he seemed to be very much at odds with some of them.

Trying to hide her own smirk and resolving to be nearby when the two Tribes got into that confrontation, Katara wondered if it would be possible for the Master to teach her. She had mastered what was on the stolen scroll, but even that was only a few moves, and as Zuko had said, an untrained bender was an unsafe bender.

Zuko had changed from jealous to smug when Katara dragged him with her to hear the news about the Avatar and her brother.
Lack of resources, proper holding facilities, and any real back-up, not to mention the still-slightly-hostile Water Tribesmen, made capturing Aang very unfeasible, but it was nice to know that he could still do a better job at teaching Katara combat Waterbending than the greatest Master in the North ever could.

Of course, that was partly because the Northern Water Tribe didn't believe in letting girls fight in the first place, a notion that the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation crew loudly proclaimed to be one of the stupidest things they had ever heard, but the point remained.

Zuko felt especially pleased with himself for helping Katara improve her aim when Master Pakku narrowly avoided a barrage of ice-daggers.

That led to a short but furious fight between the two Waterbenders (Sokka showing a remarkable amount of good sense by physically restraining Aang), punctuated by Tetsuko and Zuko loudly cheering Katara on, albeit for different reasons.

Katara got in several near wins, especially with her ice-disks, but was eventually defeated when the Waterbending Master managed to trap her in a cage of ice-spikes. Zuko was sure his heart had stopped for a moment when the mass of spikes had shot down toward Katara, and everyone had frozen for several very long seconds, before Katara had started struggling to get out.

The shocks weren't over yet, though. As Zuko helped Tetsuko carefully melt Katara's arms free, at which point she dispelled the rest of it herself, Master Pakku spotted her necklace, leading to the relevation that Katara's grandmother had been from the Northern Tribe, and Katara's heirloom necklace was actually Kanna's old betrothal necklace.

Zuko choked, and resolved to subtly enquire, or have his Uncle subtly inquire, about Northern Water Tribe customs. The last thing he wanted was to become accidentally betrothed because he had returned Katara's necklace to her. Katara would kill him, and if she didn't, her Father, Brother and 'Uncles' would be lining up to do it for her.

Sokka made a funny, strangled noise, turning a mottled purple. Katara spluttered, trying to find the words. Her necklace was a family heirloom, one that she would eventually pass on to her daughter. Besides, she was too young to be engaged, and Zuko had been the only boy to even touch it, when he… She firmly yanked her thoughts away from that path, and back to the point. "My Gran-Gran was supposed to marry you?"

Hakoda was just as shocked as his children, but a lot less lost for words. "No wonder she left."

Master Pakku snapped out of the past to glare at the Southern Chief. "Watch your tone, boy! We're the ones offering to help against the Fire Nation…"

"That's Chief Hakoda to you, old man! I'm Kanna's son-in-law, by the way, and our tribe has been helping the Earth Kingdom for the past five years, while you ignored requests for aid from them, and we stopped bothering to ask over thirty years ago!"

"So you sailed off and left your people defenceless…"

Zuko absently offered his hand to help Katara over the mud-puddle left by the Waterbending fight, as he would any lady. Katara rolled her eyes as she aimed a whip that was more mud than water at the Northern Master, but accepted as Zuko tried to keep his voice low. "What are they talking about?"

Katara whispered back as she led him out of the line of fire, to where Aang was asking Sokka the same question. Aang already knew the basics, but these were details that she and Sokka hadn't mentioned. "Our Tribe had been asking the Northern Tribe for aid since the raids started. They never answered, so we finally stopped asking a few years before Dad became Chief. Dad sent a final message, when we discovered I was the last Waterbender, asking for someone to come down and teach me, but they never answered."

Zuko was about to make a less-than-flattering remark about the Northern Water Tribe, which Katara probably wouldn't even get angry at him for, but Sokka interrupted, his hand wandering deliberately toward the Water Tribe weapons over his shoulder. "Katara, don't talk to the Angry Jerk! Why do we even have Fire Benders hanging around here anyway?"

Zuko hissed steam, but Katara answered before he could. "Because they treated me as a guest when they stopped the pirates from hurting me, and Zuko and Iroh helped me with Waterbending. It would have been wrong for Dad to kill them after that."

Sokka looked reluctant, but stopped reaching for his machete. "Still, are you sure that was a good idea? When we took prisoners at the Siege of the North, several of them told us that they didn't want to be ransomed, because the Fire Lord would have them killed for failure. Some of them were high ranking officers. The old guy and the Angry Jerk might be part of the Royal Family, but I'm not sure that even capturing Aang will get them off the hook, and someone is going to notice how much your bending improved during captivity, even if they don't get the implications."

Aang might be the Avatar and occasionally wise, but he clearly wasn't as perceptive as Katara had given him credit for. "What implications? Treating Katara as a guest can't be a bad thing, could it?"

And maybe the Water Tribe Idiot wasn't quite as big an idiot as Zuko had thought. "It means that someone on that ship was teaching her, Aang. We're in a war, so helping the enemy, even just teaching them to Waterbend, is going to get you in a lot of trouble."

At least one of them got it, though Zuko didn't like the way that Katara, who he and Uncle had already warned about the consequences, was suddenly looking guilty, as though it were her fault. He wanted to reassure her that his Father wouldn't go that far and kill his own son and brother, even if he been the one to scar Zuko. Aang, on the other hand, clearly had selective hearing. "Really? Maybe they can teach me how to Firebend, as well! I mean, I'll need a Firebending Sifu, and it's not like I can go up to a Fire Nation soldier and ask them."

Zuko was about to reply to the effect that he'd rather swallow live coals and shave off his phoenix tail, but was forestalled when Master Pakku called Aang to practice his Waterbending. Katara followed, intent on learning whether Master Pakku wanted to teach her or not. Zuko and Sokka exchanged glares and decided that hostility came second to watching Katara (Zuko) take another shot at Master Pakku (Sokka) and making sure that none of the Northern Water Tribe boys got any ideas about watching Katara (Both).

Zuko couldn't help but think that things were so much simpler when all he had to worry about was regaining his Honour.

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A/N: Chapter Three done! I had planned to have an encounter between Iroh and an Earth Kingdom officer, where the Water Tribe would have to step in, but that wound up being put off until the next chapter.

I'm really not begging for reviews, but constructive feedback would be much appreciated. Reviews let a writer know that they are doing well, or at least what their problem areas are.

Thanks, Nat