Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or any of the characters from the series.

Chapter 3: First Encounters

Prince Zuko's ship reached the small harbor near the equally small village. With a display of marching soldiers, firebending, and armor, a man with more expensive-looking armor and a nasty scar on the left side of his face stepped forward.

"I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. I'm looking for the Avatar. Any information regarding his whereabouts will be rewarded. Anyone found sheltering the Avatar from us will be punished." The teen's harsh tone did nothing to encourage anyone to help him. 'This is what I have to put up with for the rest of my life?' Katara thought, watching from the back of the crowd, 'I really hope he's just in a bad mood from the cold.'

"There's nothing here for you to find, firebender. The avatar has not been seen by anyone for a hundred years. We are no exception. Take your soldiers and leave our Tribe." Hakoda stepped to the front and held his weapon threateningly. This, of course angered the hot-tempered Prince, and lead to several volleys between the two, but fortunately nothing more serious, and no injuries were inflicted.

Katara used this distraction, which she was sure her father had planned, to slip behind the crowd and over to the anchor of the ship. As quickly and silently as she could, she climbed up the chain and onto the deck before slipping inside to find a hiding place. With one last glance behind her, she silently said her last good-byes.

"Prince Zuko! Look at what we've got here!" Zuko turned his head, ready to reprimand the soldier for interrupting his training practice. But the words were cut off when he saw the man dragging a blue-clad girl by the arm. It had been two days since they had left the pitiful excuse for a Tribe. Zuko wondered how the girl had managed to get on board, let alone stay hidden for that long. "A stow-away here! Found her with the cargo. What do you make of 'er?"

Zuko studied the water peasant. A young woman, probably a year or two younger than himself. Tan skin, brown hair, and sky blue eyes that was common for the Water people. Pretty, but not overly beautiful. What caught his attention the most was the way she carried herself. Even being held and dragged by a soldier, she stood upright, held her head high, and defiantly met his eye when he looked. This young woman was no coward.

"What are you doing on my ship? We're not here to give joy rides to little girls."

"Little girl? I bet you're no more than a year or two older than me. And I'm not here for a "joy ride", I was trying to escape the Southern Water Tribe."

This amused him. What could be so terrible to this South Pole native that she would want to escape from her home? "From what?"

At this the girl hesitated, making Zuko growl with impatience. She just rolled her eyes at him, and then turned her face to an expressionless mask. "I was escaping my father. He was trying to force me into an arranged marriage with one of his friends, rather than let me learn bending. When I refused, he said I was a disgrace and that a disobedient daughter was no daughter of his. So I did him a favor and got rid of the trouble. No more daughter to cause problems."

"And you thought that stowing away on my ship would be a good way to do that?"

"Why would I think that? This was the only way to do that. Otherwise, I can guarantee that I would have taken the other option. But we don't exactly get too many Earth Kingdom merchants down here."

Iroh, who had wandered closer to see what the commotion was, chuckled. "I like this young lady. She has character. And she's not even flinching at your temper, Prince Zuko! Who is this interesting young woman?"

"A water peasant who stowed away on my ship," Zuko replied.

"The "water peasant" has a name, and prefers to be called Kala." Katara just barely refrained from snapping at him.

Zuko ignored this and crossed his arms. "What should we do with her, uncle?"

"Well, give her a room, of course! What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't give her a place to stay? Would you like to join me for tea? Oh, you wouldn't happen to play Pai Sho would you? I need a new challenge."

Zuko again ignored this. Turning to Katara, he asked, "Do you have any useful skills? Cooking, sewing, anything that would convince me to not dump you overboard right now?"

Katara crossed her arms. He sounded just like Sokka. "I like your uncle's idea better. –okay, okay! I get it! No need to blow your head off!- Yes, I can cook, if you like Water Tribe food. I can catch and skin anything that lives in the snow or water. Sewing's a pain but I know how. I'm a bender, like I mentioned before. But if you were paying attention, you would also remember that my father wouldn't let me learn how to bend. I just know healing, which I'm good at, by the way. Oh," she turned to Iroh and softened her tone, " and yes, I can play Pai Sho. It's my favorite game."

"Fine. You can stay and help the cook and the healer. If your help is needed elsewhere, you will be told. Keep out of the way and you can stay on board. I suppose you'll have to bunk with On Ji. She's the healer and only other woman on the ship. Report to the kitchens when called; otherwise, do what On Ji tells you to do."

Katara was lead back across the deck, supposedly to the medical ward. As she passed Iroh, she heard him say quietly, "And maybe we can get a few hours to play a game of Pai Sho and have a nice cup of tea."

The assassin decided that while she still had no qualms about killing the Prince, she liked his uncle much better.