Chapter 4: In Which There is Much Swimming
Katara watched as Iroh stood and left through the door Zuko had only a moment before. She blinked and wondered if this could be a good chance for an escape. She felt the boat slowly turn and as she looked out the window she noticed an island. It would be a difficult swim, but with water bending on her side she knew she could make it. Rising a pillar of water up to her level, she crawled out the window and slowly lowered herself down.
Safely at sea level, she propelled herself as quickly as he could toward the island. While swimming, she noticed the pirate ship. It looked familiar –she worriedly swam faster. It took only another minute or two to reach the island. She ran up the beach to the forest and hid where she could watch what was going on.
Zuko's ship had fully turned and was headed south of the island. The pirate ship was close behind. Katara wondered how it caught up so fast. Eyes back on the Fire Nation ship, she saw a figure jump into the water and swim towards the island. Her eyes widened in fear. Had they already discovered she was on the island? No… they would have taken a small boat for that. No one would swim to the island just to capture her. She watched transfixed, no longer noticing either the vessel or the events connected with them.
The person swam closer and closer. But when there was still about a quarter of the distance left, the swimmer went under. Seeing that he wasn't coming back up, Katara battled ethics and what was best for her, and made the decision to help the fire nation man.