"Appa, can't you fly any faster?" Sokka demanded, pulling on a tuft of the flying bison's fur. The bison growled in protest, and Aang glanced back at the water tribe boy.

"Don't do that!" Aang demanded, and then gently patted Appa's head. "It's okay, boy. Sokka didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Well excuse me! In case you haven't realized, my sister is with the fire nation. Who knows what they're doing to her!" Sokka yelled. Momo jumped from his seat on Appa's saddle to curl up on Aang's head to be as far away from Sokka as he could be.

"I'm worried about her too you know!" Aang exclaimed heatedly, his youthful face scrunched in a combination of worry, exhaustion, and pain. The wounds inflicted on him during his battle with Azula still hadn't fully healed, but his determination to retrieve Katara outweighed any discomfort that he had.

"Hey! You guys realize we're on the same side don't you? So shut up!" Toph shouted, her blind eyes turned in the boys' general direction. "I want Sugar Queen back just as much as you two do. She's the only one that can keep a lid on Snoozles."

"You know what Toph, you're really starting to get on my nerves," Sokka muttered, and drew his boomerang. Toph snorted, and then picked up a bag of dried meat.

"This smells really good. I bet I could eat the whole thing," the girl noted dryly as she reached in for a piece of jerky.

"No! No, I'll shut up. Just don't eat it, okay? That's the last of the meat!" Sokka placed his hands up in surrender, although doing so was pointless.

"No more fighting with Twinkle Toes?" The girl waved the bag in front of Sokka's face, and the boy's eyes followed it as it swayed.

"No more fighting."

"Good boy," Toph replied with a slight smile as she tossed the bag to Sokka. Sokka caught it with one arm, and then clutched the bag to his chest protectively.

"How much longer do you think it will take us?" Sokka asked Aang once he made sure that everything was intact. He watched the bald monk's shoulders droop, and felt a sinking in his stomach. "Aang?"

"Not long. I can smell the smoke," Aang replied softly, and Sokka grinned.

"That's great!" The boy grinned and brandished his boomerang again. "No one hurts my baby sister! Fire nation soldiers are going down."

"You don't sound too sure of yourself, Twinkle Toes," Toph remarked as she stretched out, ignoring Sokka's comments.

Aang straightened suddenly. "I'll be fine," the boy replied, and Sokka turned to the air bender.

"What do you mean you'll be fine? You'd better be great. Because if one hair on Katara's hair is even singed in the slightest while you're fighting, I'll hold you personally responsible!" Sokka shouted, waving his boomerang in the air.

"Wow, Snoozles. I'm sure he's terrified."

Sokka scowled. "Toph, could you please just mind your own business for once in your life?" the boy demanded, glaring at the girl.

"Nope."

Aang interrupted the pair. "Don't worry, Sokka. I won't let her get hurt," the young boy said with conviction. Although he knew Toph and Sokka had an idea of how he felt for Katara, he doubted that either of them knew how deep his love for the girl ran. He would die to shield her from any pain.

"You'd better not." Sokka dipped his hand into the bag of dried meat and pulled out a long sliver, ripping a large piece from the chunk with his teeth.

"That's our dinner." Toph remarked, and Sokka made a point of chewing louder.

"This is really tasty. What a shame that I get to eat it all." He then licked his lips, and took another large chunk into his mouth. "Mmmmm!"

"Snoozles, you're a moron."

Sokka scowled at the girl, and then yelled in outrage when Momo snatched the bag from his hands. "Give me that, you stupid lemur!" the boy shouted. Disturbed at the noise that the water tribe boy was making, Momo launched into the air holding the bag secure with his back paws.

"Aang, make that thing give my food back!"

"If you're so worried about Katara, why are you carrying on about your stupid food?" Aang muttered, but he raised his arm. The lemur dropped down onto the perch offered to him, and dug through the bag to withdraw a strip of meat.

Sokka reached forward and snatched the bag from the lemur's little hands, and then rolled his eyes at the Avatar. "I have a lot of things on my mind right now, kid. If I keep my stomach happy, it'll let me think about the other things that are important."

"Let me get this straight, Snoozles. You're saying that you have to eat to worry about Sugar Queen?" Toph drawled.

"Yes!" Sokka exclaimed before thinking, and then he frowned. "Wait, no! I didn't mean that. What I meant was…" Sokka suddenly broke into a coughing fit, joined by Toph and Aang.

"Way to go, Twinkle Toes. Get us caught directly in the middle of all the smoke," Toph muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring in Aang's general direction after Appa flew to a clearer area.

"It's dark," Aang muttered half heartedly in his defense, and Appa growled almost sympathetically.

Sokka squinted in the darkness. "That's a fire nation ship!" he exclaimed once they got close enough to see the red and black insignia on the side.

"No! Really?"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Toph."

Aang lowered Appa suddenly so that the bison's legs were nearly trailing in the water. "Be quiet. We don't want to alert the ship."

"What are you talking about? I want to fight!" Sokka demanded, and Toph reached forward to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"An entire ship of fire nation soldiers?" the girl asked, and Sokka sighed sharply as he disengaged himself from Toph's grip.

"We're with the Avatar, he can take 'em," Sokka insisted stubbornly. Toph sighed, and Aang looked away, scrutinizing the ship for any particular details. Most of the lights were out, but in one room, a candle was burning in the window.

"Do you see that?" Aang asked, pointing towards the light.

"Yeah!" Toph exclaimed, and both of the boys fixed a glare on her. "Fine, you're right. Not the time." Toph muttered, and then Sokka turned to Aang.

"It's worth a shot," he murmured lowly.

Aang gently jerked on the reigns, and Appa lifted upwards a few feet as they approached the window. "Sokka, look inside," the boy instructed the water tribe warrior, and Sokka nodded slightly. The room was dark, and he had to squint to make out anything.

"What do you see?" Aang asked, and Sokka squinted harder.

"There's a girl lying on the ground, but I don't know who it is. It could be Mai or Ty Lee," Sokka replied, and Aang sighed. Then, the boy's attention was caught by something different. A necklace sat directly beside the candle, and upon inspection, Aang immediately recognized it.

"Sokka! That's Katara in there!" Aang exclaimed a little too loudly, and the lights inside the room suddenly turned on. Sokka ducked so that he wouldn't be seen, and chewed on his lower lip as footsteps approached the window.

"Who's there?" A harsh male voice demanded, and then a second pair of footsteps, lighter this time, walked towards the window.

"Are they here?" The voice that came was so familiar and welcome, that Sokka couldn't help letting loose a whoop of joy. He popped up from his hiding place, and wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Katara!" he exclaimed, crushing the girl and nearly pulling her out the window. Katara squeezed her brother in return and buried her face in his shoulder. "Are you okay?" Sokka demanded as he drew away from her, cupping her face with his hands. "Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Katara whispered, and then glanced to the other figure that was still cloaked in shadow. "Come inside."

"Katara, are you crazy? We have to get you out of here. Just climb onto Appa and…"

"No, Sokka," Katara replied harshly, and then she gentled her tone. "There's someone I have to get out of here, and Appa is pretty conspicuous. Someone will see him unless he's flown away."

"I'm not going to leave you," Aang cut in, standing quickly but wincing when the healing skin on his back pulled. Katara noticed, and she was suddenly overcome with concern.

"Oh, Aang, you shouldn't have come until you were fully healed. If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself!"

Aang colored. "I'm fine, Katara, really. Toph, could you fly Appa far enough away so that he won't be seen?"

Toph groaned. "Blind, remember?"

Aang gave the girl a crooked smile. "Oh, right. Just stay with him. He'll carry you away."

"Look here, Twinkle Toes…"

"Please, Toph. Pretty please?"

Toph growled in the back of her throat. "Fine," she muttered, and Aang handed the girl the reins as she clambered up to the saddle.

"Come on, get in here quickly," Katara whispered, grabbing Sokka's arm. The two boys clambered in through the window, and no sooner did Aang's feet touch the ground than Appa flew off with Toph.

"So what, Katara? Did you meet a guy again? I mean, first there was the deal with Haru and the earth benders, and then there was Jet… Every time you help these guys you meet you wind up in so much trouble. And who has to bust you out? Me! And…"

"Sokka!" Aang and Katara cut in at the same time.

Sokka sighed. "Please tell me that isn't what's going on," he begged, and Katara bit her lip. She could practically feel Zuko's amusement.

"Not exactly."

"Then what, exactly?"

"Before you say anything else, Aang needs to learn how to fire bend, so…" Katara rushed before Sokka could immediately cut her off.

"You are not telling me that you're rescuing a fire bender." Katara said nothing, but fidgeted under her older brother's gaze. "Katara," he moaned.

"Great! I get a new teacher!" Aang exclaimed as he jumped and did a little twirl in the air.

"Aang, don't exert yourself!" Katara cried in dismay, rushing over the boy to check him over.

"Katara, we should move now," Zuko said softly, and Katara nodded.

"Right," she agreed. "Sokka, Aang, I'm going to head down to the prisons. I should be back in just a few minutes if all goes well. My new… friend will be coming with me."

"Katara, do you honesty think that I…" Sokka started, but then stopped. "Wait, who is that guy?" he demanded. Katara winced.

"It'll take too much time to explain right now. We're going to rescue Aang's new master, and then we'll be right back. Hopefully the guards won't detain us for very long." Zuko slunk further into the shadows to make certain that Sokka couldn't see him, and then turned to Katara.

"Hurry," he urged, and made his may to the door.

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed, and his sister gave him a quick peck on the cheek, ignoring his protests.

"Don't worry, Warrior Boy. Stay here." Katara then turned to Aang. "Watch him for me, okay?"

"Sure, Katara." Aang replied, and then tossed Katara something. "We found this before we came after you."

Katara caught it easily, and then glanced at the object. It was her water bending pouch, the one that Azula had ripped from her belt and tossed away once she had been subdued. A quick shake of the pouch let Katara know that it was still full of water. "Thanks."

Katara and Zuko then hurried from the room. When Katara went to run down the halls, Zuko stopped her by grabbing onto the back of her shirt… his uncle's shirt, he noted wryly. "Don't rush. Walk behind me with your hands in front of you and your eyes down," he hissed, and Katara quickly complied.

After a while, it became obvious to Katara that Zuko had absolutely no idea where he was going. Instead of allowing him to wander around in circles, Katara stepped directly beside him and corrected his path. Had he continued the way he was going, they would have wound up in the crew's quarters.

When they arrived at the prison cells, Ryu jumped up from his post. "Prince Zuko!" the man exclaimed with a low bow, and Zuko nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

"Katara," the boy said softly, and the young water bender nodded before rushing over to Iroh's cell. She uncorked the bottle that was now strapped to her hip, and removed some of the water. Through bending, she surrounded a large portion of the bars with it, and then blew to freeze the substance.

"Iroh, quickly! We have to leave," Katara whispered, and Iroh slowly stood up from his cot.

"Well it's about time," he mumbled with a smile as he rubbed his eyes. "I've slept in my clothes for three days now waiting for you to wake me up in the middle of the night." He then glanced over Katara and grinned. "I see that you weren't prepared."

Katara glanced down, and then flushed when she saw what she was wearing. She hadn't remembered to change back into her clothing when she woke. "So that's where that shirt went to," Iroh mumbled. "My nephew must have stolen it."

"What's the meaning of this?" Ryu demanded, and Katara met his cold stare with a sympathetic gaze.

"I'm sorry about this, Ryu," she apologized, and then slammed the back of his head with a water whip. Ryu stumbled, and then fell to the ground, unconscious. "Let's go," she whispered, and took off down up the stairs, around the corridor, and down a maze of halls to Zuko's rooms.

The two men followed close on her heels, and the trio arrives back at the Prince's suite breathing hard. "Katara!" Sokka exclaimed. "I got worried. I was just about to… What are they doing here?" he demanded, pointing at Zuko and Iroh.

Ignoring Sokka, Katara glanced between Aang and Iroh. "Aang, meet you new master, General Iroh, also called the Dragon of the West."

Aang's jaw dropped, but he managed a decent bow.

Iroh smiled and then bowed to the young boy. "It will be a pleasure to teach the Avatar. Perhaps when you get to the more advanced levels, I will be able to train my nephew along with you."

Sokka cut into the conversation before anything more could be said. "No way! Him, I'll take," he exclaimed, pointing to Iroh, "but that…that…monster is getting left here!"

"Sokka! Don't be ridiculous. Azula will kill him if we leave him behind!" Katara exclaimed, moving to stand nose to nose with her brother, her fists clenched tight at her sides.

"I'm telling you that I don't care."

"And I'm telling you that he's coming!"

"No, he is not!" Sokka retorted hotly. The two siblings stood there, glaring each other down, both waiting for the other to capitulate. Neither did.

"We don't have time for this, guys! We have to leave." Aang reached into his pocket and pulled out his bison whistle, and then blew with all of his might.

Katara snatched her clothing off of the ground, and then turned to her brother. "Sokka, cover me, okay!" she exclaimed as she began tugging Iroh's shirt off of her slender form.

"Whoa!" Sokka hurried across the room to shield his sister from the other men's view, keeping a glare pinned on Zuko. "You even look this way, and I'll…"

"She's been with me for four days. If I really wanted to see her, I would have looked earlier," Zuko retorted, and Sokka colored.

"Why you…" He began, stepping away from his sister.

"Sokka!" Katara exclaimed, clutching her garment to her chest as her face began to color. Sokka quickly resumed his duty, glowering at Zuko the entire time.

"Nephew, that was most unnecessary," Iroh rebuked Zuko softly, and Zuko bowed his head.

"I apologize, Uncle." Zuko then turned, and glared straight back at Sokka. Iroh merely sighed. The room fell into a tense silence, broken only by the sound of cloth rustling. When that stopped, the tension in the room grew even thicker.

"I wonder where Appa is," Aang said after a second, peering out the window. "He must have flown really far away."

"Well, you gave the reins to a blind girl. What did you expect?" Sokka retorted. Katara placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, encouraging for him to calm down. It didn't work.

"What were you thinking?" Sokka hissed, glaring at Katara and then the fire benders, and then back at his sister.

"I was trying to help Aang," Katara muttered, and Sokka's shook his head with disgust.

"We could have found…uh… the fire bender that Aang met earlier. What was his name?"

Aang stepped up to Katara's defense. "Jeong-Jeong vanished, remember? We wouldn't know where to look for him. Besides, we know Iroh, and Toph likes him." The boy then narrowed his eyes when he looked at Zuko. The air bender's welcome of Iroh most assuredly didn't extend to his nephew.

"Well, well, Zuzu. It looks like you're rejected everywhere you go," a smooth voice cut in, and the group assembled turned their heads as one to face the entrance to Zuko's room.

"Azula," Zuko growled, and the girl smiled as she raised the lights in the room so that she could see well. Zuko lunged at his sister, but his uncle held him back.

Azula clucked her tongue. "Look at this… You turned your back on the fire nation to associate with betrayers to the crown. That's quite dishonorable, brother. Remember what happened last time you showed dishonor?"

Zuko unleashed a stream of fire, and Azula absorbed it easily. "What a temper. And here I thought you had overcome that." The girl then turned to Iroh. "Uncle, what a surprise to see you out of the prisons. I'm sure father will be quite upset when he learns that you tried to run away. Again," she added in reference to his legendary defeat at Ba Seng Se.

Iroh ignored the insult, and glanced around the room. Mai and Ty Lee flanked either side of Azula; the girl in dark robes had her knives ready and Ty Lee was in her battle stance. The girl in pink caught sight of Sokka, and she bounded forward. "Hi, cutie!" she beamed. "I missed you!"

"Ugh," Sokka muttered in disgust, and shoved the girl away. "Didn't miss you."

Ty Lee pouted, and then beamed again. "One day you'll love me," the girl predicted as she skipped back to Azula's side and blew Sokka a kiss. Sokka shivered.

"Was that really necessary, Ty Lee?" Mai asked in monotone, and Ty Lee grinned and nodded before winking again at Sokka. "I shouldn't have asked," Mai said to herself with a roll of her eyes.

Azula glanced between her two friends and then back over to the group assembled before her. "How are you feeling, Avatar? Tell me; are you even the Avatar anymore since I killed you when you were in the spirit state?"

"It's called Avatar state, hello!" Sokka piped up, and Azula sent a fireball his way. Sokka ducked and grinned.

"Missed me, missed me, now you got to… never mind," Sokka finished quickly, remembering how the rhyme went.

"Real mature, Sokka," Katara remarked dryly.

"I'll kiss you!" Ty Lee exclaimed, and Sokka paled. Azula stopped her friend with one arm as she smirked at the group.

"You should surrender now. You don't stand a chance against us."

"Never!" Aang exclaimed, and gathered large currents of air around him before releasing them all at Azula. Azula met Aang's air with fire, and then absorbed the combined energy.

Katara uncorked her pouch and then sent a water whip towards Azula, only to duck when Mai sent a barrage of knives at her. Aang caught the knives with the air currents and dropped them behind himself. Mai, however, had been prepared for that. She reached into her sleeves and withdrew more.

Meanwhile, Ty Lee cart wheeled her way over to Zuko, and went to stab him in a pressure point, but Iroh kicked the girl away from his nephew. Ty Lee landed hard on the floor, and then slid into the wall. The girl attempted to lift herself from the ground, but the collapsed, unconscious. Azula retaliated to the insult on her friend by releasing an onslaught of fire at her uncle, who easily turned all of the fire aside.

While Azula was distracted, Aang withdrew a large amount of water that had been left in the bathtub and hurled the wave at the young princess. Turning in the nick of time, Azula sent flames at the water, evaporating it into steam.

Mai continued hurling knives at Katara, and it was all that the water bender could do to keep out of their path. When Mai threw three at once, Katara whirled around and ducked, but not quickly enough. One of the knives sliced through the flesh just below Katara's ribcage and she crumpled to the ground in pain.

Seeing his sister on the ground, Sokka let out a war cry and hurled his boomerang at Mai's head. The girl dodged it, and the boomerang flew back into Sokka's outstretched hand. Sokka growled at Mai, and the girl turned her attention towards him. Her aim was accurate, but since Sokka jumped to the side, she merely grazed his arm.

While Sokka and Mai continued their battle, Aang, Iroh, and Zuko carried on their own fight with Azula. The combined forces of the three men were enough to hold Azula at bay while she worked with fire, so she quickly changed tactics. She changed her arsenal from flames to lightning.

She sent the first bolt at Aang, but Iroh stepped in front of the boy and channeled the lightning through his arm, down his belly, out the other arm, and through the window. Azula stepped back in shock. Never had she seen anyone do such a feat. Her surprise quickly turned to rage, and she released multiple bolts at once, focusing on each of the males before her.

Aang had felt the pain of the lightning once before, and was not about to do so again. The boy dodged the bolts, and released his own torrent of air attacks on the fire nation princess. Zuko, who had also learned how to channel lightning, was able to absorb Azula's attacks with little consequence to himself.

Seeing that she was outnumbered, Azula searched the room for her friends. Ty Lee lay on the ground, useless to the battle now, and Mai was busy hurling knives at the water tribe peasant. "Mai!" Azula called, and her friend rushed over to her defense.

It suddenly became harder for the men to deflect both Azula's attacks and the barrage of knives, and injuries began to occur. While ducking one of Mai's knives, Zuko's arm was singed by one of Azula's flames. Iroh quickly compensated for his nephew's diverted attention, and managed tossed a bolt of lightning towards the two girls. Mai fell backwards, temporarily blinded by the bright light, and Azula cursed.

Just then, Toph's voice carried into the room. Appa had arrived. Sokka ran to his sister, who was pressing her hand tight against her abdomen, blood seeping through her fingers. The water tribe warrior gently lifted the girl up into his arms, and then ran to the window, ignoring the stabs of pain shooting upwards from his bicep. Azula made to hit him with a fire bolt, but Aang quickly knocked the girl back with a powerful blast of air.

"Go, both of you!" Iroh commanded his nephew and the avatar. Both boys hesitated for a minute, but with another order from Iroh they both dashed out the window and onto Appa's back.

Iroh turned back to his niece, fending off her attacks as he backed towards the window. Once he reached the sill, a pair of arms quickly yanked him backwards and the bison took off. Azula ran to the window and shot both lightning and bolts of blue flame at the retreating creature, but Zuko and Iroh stood on the saddle, absorbing and deflecting her throws.

"Azula?" a small voice came from the corner as Ty Lee sat up and rubbed her head, wincing when she saw her hand was covered in blood. Mai stumbled up at about the same time, rubbing her sore eyes.

Azula looked from the bison to her friends, and then she sighed sharply. "They got away, no thanks to either of you!" she snapped before letting out a pent up breath. Ty Lee's lips were quivering and the poor gymnast looked as though she were about to burst into tears at any given moment.

Despite herself, Azula felt her anger softening. "Come on, let's get you to the infirmary," she muttered gruffly to hide her concern. The day someone found out that she cared was the day that the fire nation lost the war. Azula knew that neither would ever happen.


"Katara, are you okay?" Sokka demanded as he cradled his little sister gently in his arms. Katara went to sit up, and stifled a cry of pain. All Sokka heard was a whimper. "You! This is all your fault!" Sokka shouted, pointing at Zuko. The banished prince was cradling his own burned arm, and chose to ignore the water tribe warrior for the moment.

"Don't be stupid," Katara muttered, bracing herself as she sat up. White hot pain seemed to attack every nerve ending in her body as she did so, and the girl squeezed her eyes closed to keep the tears from leaking out. "She has really good aim," Katara mumbled resentfully as she glanced down at the wound.

Sokka reached for Katara's water pouch and the girl shook her head. "Don't bother. It's empty. If it had been full I'd have already healed myself."

Sokka's brows furrowed. "Then lie down and let me get a bandage on you. I don't want you exerting yourself."

Katara smiled slightly. "Hey. I thought I was the healer around here." Sokka grinned, and then gently kissed his sister's forehead and went to help her lie back down. Katara, however, had other things in mind. "Did anyone else get hit?" she asked, and all aboard Appa's saddle were silent.

Katara sighed. "Aang, are you alright? Azula didn't hit you again, did she?" Katara demanded, fear edging her voice.

"No." Aang then looked back from where he was holding Appa's reins to Katara. "Do what Sokka says, okay. I don't want your side to get any worse." The boy's eyes were brimming with tears since he had seen Katara's pain.

The girl in question gave the boy a smile. "Don't look so upset, Aang. I'm not dying."

Aang turned around again. "No, but you're hurt. I shouldn't have let you get hurt," he mumbled, and Toph scoffed.

"Come on, Twinkle Toes. You heard the girl. She's fine. All we need to do is get her to some water, and she'll be able to heal herself."

"Yeah, Aang. Don't worry," Katara said soothingly, and her voice seemed to calm the young Avatar down. Katara then looked around the saddle and frowned when she saw Zuko nursing his arm. "Zuko, you're hurt!" the girl exclaimed, and moved forward to look at his arm, forgetting her own injury in the process. Grunting with pain, Katara fell back against her brother's chest.

"See! You did it again!" Sokka yelled, glaring daggers at the fire bender.

Katara rolled her eyes. "It was my fault Sokka." Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but Katara cut him off before he had the chance to speak. "And don't you dare say that it was his fault that he was injured." Sokka's mouth snapped shut, but he glared at the fire bender again.

"What happened?" Katara asked, studying Zuko's arm closely. Zuko shrugged, and turned away.

"You'd better Sugar Queen look at it or she'll never shut up," Toph advised and Sokka groaned.

"Come on, Katara! He's the enemy!" Sokka whined, and Katara ignored the pain long enough to smack her brother upside the head. "Hey! What was that for?"

"For being your stupid self," Toph supplied, and Katara grinned.

"Nephew, show the healer your wound," Iroh instructed, and Zuko turned to glare at his uncle. Then, remembering his betrayal, the boy's shoulders slumped and he nodded. He peeled back his sleeve, hissing as the cold air made contact with the burned flesh.

He then knelt before Katara, extending his arm as far as he was able without hurting himself further. Katara glanced over the wound, her lips forming a little 'o' when she saw the blistering. "It was blue flame," Zuko supplied, and Katara nodded slightly.

"Aang, find us a landing site well protected and close to a river, please," Katara requested and the twelve year old boy nodded, his face still scrunched up from his worry over Katara.

"Now that you've seen everything will you please just lie down?" Sokka begged, and Katara sighed.

"At least he's not talking about food," Toph offered, and Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Food is not all I think about, okay?"

"Yeah it is!" Toph, Katara, and Aang chorused.

Sokka slapped his head and groaned. "Just lie down, will you!" he exclaimed, and Katara finally did as she was told. "You know, you have got to be the single most stubborn…"

"Another word and I won't mend your pants anymore," Katara warned and Sokka snapped his mouth shut.

"Gran-Gran would be ashamed of you," Sokka muttered through narrowed eyes.

"Gran-Gran ran away from a sexist man like you when she was young. If she did that, I think that I'm allowed to refuse to mend your pants." Katara retorted, and Sokka groaned.

"Don't remind me! To think that Gran-Gran was betrothed to a guy like Master Pakku…"

"It was an arranged marriage, Sokka."

Thinking of arranged marriages made Sokka think of Yue, and he glanced up to the moon, which shone brightly in the night sky. Suddenly, all fight went out of him and grabbed a roll of bandages from the sack nearest to him, careful not to disturb Katara.

Katara chewed on her lip. "Sokka, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

Sokka gently touched his sister's hair. "I know you didn't," he murmured with a slight smile as he began untying the girl's obi. "Let me just get this on you," he mumbled, pushing the sides of her outer robe down so that he had access to her waist.

The two fire benders looked at each other and then shrugged. They hadn't received a very warm welcome, and they didn't want to push their luck by asking about personal issues.

"What was that all about?" Toph demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. As usual, no one answered her question. Katara had once told her 'Everyone is entitled to their secrets," and Aang had once said 'Sokka's has more emotions than he seems to,' but that was all anyone had ever said.

Sokka's eyes widened when he saw the gash, and he drew a sharp intake of breath. "This doesn't look too good, Katara," Sokka noted as he reached for the bandages.

"Yeah, well it doesn't feel too good either. Just hurry up, okay?" Sokka quickly did as she asked, and Aang looked back.

"How's she doing?" the boy asked with concern and Toph waved him off.

"She's fine Twinkle Toes. Concentrate on finding us a landing place." Aang turned back around obediently, and continued to search for a secluded area with a stream or river nearby.

Once Sokka was finished wrapping Katara's wound, he carefully redressed her and then cradled her in his arms again. Unfortunately, her face wound up to close to the spot where Mai's blade had nicked him. "Sokka, you idiot! Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" Katara demanded, and Sokka groaned.

"Because I knew you wouldn't lie still if you knew," he muttered, and then pressed his hand over her chest to keep her from sitting up. "Lie down and go to sleep, Katara."

"What?" The girl demanded, attempting to sit up again.

"If you don't get some rest, you'll be of no use to anybody. Now, sleep, will you?"

Katara went to argue, but for once she saw merit in the boy's argument. "Fine," she murmured as she cuddled against her brother's chest and shut her eyes. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief once her breathing evened out, and then he too closed his eyes.

No longer under close scrutiny, Zuko turned to Iroh, remorse written all over his face. "I'm sorry, Uncle," the boy apologized, and Iroh laid his hand on his nephew's shoulder.

"You are forgiven."


I'd like to request feedback so that I can see how you guys like the story so far, what your suggestions are, and what you think that I need to work on. Trust me when I say it helps a lot with the story writing process when I have your reviews as a guide.

Thanks for reading,

Sandra Evans