Ziggy's Corner: Almost 50 reviews now! Sway Kool! It is still going quite slowly because of my loss of my outlines, but I am determined to push forward. I even intend to write new outlines to help me out. Anyway this chapter takes place just around the same time as the last one happened, so we are still basically on the same day, which is of course the 3rd day of the Solstice celebration, although the night is coming, so Sokka and Aang are ready for their plan to save Katara. Let's begin.

Aang stretched and looked at the giant air bison, Appa as night slowly began to fall. "You ready boy?" he asked, petting the bison's long white fur. His mount and best friend opened his large mouth and roared an affirmative, and the avatar smiled. "Good to hear. Now all we need to do is find out where Sokka is, and we can get ready to save Katara."

At the sound of his name, the teenage water warrior rushed forward, hauling numerous figs and small winter berries in his hands and pockets. The twelve year old simple smiled and sighed at him, his friend was always hungry always looking for food, but he did have a good idea. They were going to need supplies on this journey. They knew that she was still just on the other island, but that did not mean that Zuko wouldn't chance his mind and abandon that island leave for another, and then another. And with Admiral Zhao certainly coming sooner or later, they would have to be quick.

"You ready?" Aang asked Sokka.

"You really have to ask me that question?" the older boy snapped. "Bring them on, no one is going to kidnap my little sister and get away with it."

"Appa, yip-yip," Aang said, gently tugging on the reins. His bison gave a yelp and rose into the air, faster and faster until they were far above the islands. The two boys could see almost every single island on the group, small ones, and large ones; islands that looked like they belonged to a forest and others that belonged to vast deserts. It was the oddest collection of islands that the boys had ever seen, and weirdest yet was that they seemed to form a large wreath in the pattern that they were in. But the boys knew which island was the most important, and they were determined that came hell or high water they were going to go in and save their friend.

The bison flew just over the island once, twice, three times, and then landed just a little west of the bay where Zuko's ship was. Once they were on land, it took them only fifteen minutes before they found a small village, with people with such warm dispositions that they seemed to come from the sun.

"My dear boys," said the Earth Kingdom mayor, "we saw those Fire Nation bandits and a young water tribe girl go up near the small town just about two or three hours walk from here, early this afternoon." He was a tall thin man, with a bright face and shining eyes. "But I would not recommend you go up there, especially not at night."

"Why is that?" Aang asked.

"Because of the Daz Boh," he replied. "They are cursed beings that transform into wolf like creatures during the night, and are especially fearsome during the Solstice nights."

"Werewolves," Sokka chuckled. "You are kidding, right?"

"I didn't say werewolves," the mayor corrected. "Werewolves are things of legend. If bitten by one, you become one. But all you need do to become one of the Daz Boh to become one is giving it your name, or are born during the Solstice. Only the strongest of people can overcome the curse. And even if they do, most people on this island shun you even so."

"I think we can take care of a little superstitious things like this Daz Boh," the water warrior smirked with his arms crossed.

"Even if you didn't care about them, there is the war brewing on the island," the mayor's aide sighed, sipping some grog. "Would you boys care for some? Best in the world, right here."

They shook their heads, and she sighed. "You mean the Fire Nation has some kind of military operation here?"

"Until the Fire Bandits arrived a few hours ago, there hasn't been a Fire Nation ship at our island for over twenty years," the mayor said. "But this island is divided, and so many cities and towns settle their differences with wars."

"But that's stupid," Aang protested. "The Fire Nation has made our world suffer enough without other people fighting amongst themselves."

"I truly agree with you, Master Avatar, but people aren't perfect." He sighed and looked at the two boys. "I'm afraid that you won't get anywhere near that city, especially with eastern city's new general, Jet out there too."

"Jet!" the boys asked. They knew all too well that name.

"That settles things, we're going," Sokka snapped.

"Normally I'd try talking him out of this kind of mind frame, but Sokka's right. Jet is dangerous, and if he's on this island, then it can only be bad news."

"I hear that the western city made that Fire Bandit leader, the boy with the scar on his face, their general against the east sir," the mayor's aide said.

"Zuko and Jet, meeting on the battlefield, if we're lucky they'll take each other out, and our problems will be over," Sokka joked.

"Right along with countless innocent lives, and Katara stuck in the middle," Aang snapped.

"Yes, that's right, the water bender girl was also made a captain, or commander or something in their army," the aide said cheerfully.

"What?" If Sokka hadn't been already standing, he would be now. "Aang, we've got to go. Now!"

"I agree," Aang said.

"I don't know about this," the mayor said.

"Well take Appa, we should get Katara long before any true fighting has begun," Aang said. Then a thought came to his mind. "But then all those people would suffer from the fighting between Zuko and Jet."

"That's not our problem," Sokka growled.

"But it is," Aang said. "If conflict between those two cities is allowed to grow, it could bounce from one island to the next, and then the next. Before long all the islands could become infected, and we'd have more than one war going on." He could see the growing dread in his friend's eyes. "I've beaten Zuko before, and I'll do it again. But we have to bring this war to an end before it gets out of hand."

"It's not our job," Sokka said.

"Not yours maybe, but it is mine," Aang said. "It goes with the territory of the title avatar."

Sokka sighed, and looked at his feet. "Fine, we'll do what we can, but we have to get Katara first."

"I agree," Aang said.

/

Katara gathered what children were in the town and hoarded them over into a large building, sternly warning them that none of them were to come out no matter what, and then went to her division.

She had long wanted to learn how to fight, to protect the ones she loved most, and to avenge her mother, she was still a novice a water bending, she knew that, but she did not care. Her blood boiled for the need for justice, the need to do something, even if it was fight a person she had hoped either would never be seen by her eyes ever again, or would have turned his life around. Now here she was, third in command of a medium sized army, second and third only to Zuko and his uncle. Wasn't that just a bite in the rear? But at least she knew she had the Fire Prince's goat by leading a small fraction of his sailors into battle. She giggled, her, a normal Water Tribe peasant girl, leading seasoned Fire Navy sailors into battle. How ironic and frustrating to the cause of the Fire Nation was that? True there were townspeople in her unit too, but the taste of darkly comedic incongruous situation wasn't there about them for her. If she lived past this battle, she would have to thank Iroh for giving her this chance. The only thing that she didn't enjoy was donning the Fire Nation armor, but if she went into battle with her Water Tribe clothes, she wouldn't have lasted very long.

"Don't screw this up, peasant," Zuko snapped, riding up next to her on his massive rhino, his eyes focusing intently on her. For a brief moment there seemed something within those glass windows into his soul that seemed to show a strong interest in her, in her sleek body, her hair, her face and her light blue eyes. But that look disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and his eyes became Draconian in their appearance as he looked at her, shadows creeping around the edges of his eyes. "I mean it."

"Yes master," she bowed with a mock tone in her voice, "I will not fail you. And shall I retrieve your pipe and rub your feet after the battle sire?"

Zuko felt his jaw drop and he blushed with rage as his men chuckled with the jest. "Listen to me, this is serious," he hissed. "This is serious; I need my men intact, if I am going to successfully catch the avatar. So do not go out there on the field, and play this like some water tribe game."

"I'm firmly aware of the seriousness of the situation, thank you," Katara growled. "I've seen just as much suffering and pain as you have in the battlefield."

"I really doubt that," the prince snapped.

"If you weren't so close minded, maybe you wouldn't," the girl growled harsher.

There was something about her; something strong and determined that pulled the prince closer to her than he wanted to be. He stared at Katara for a long time, feeling his heart beat faster than any time he had ever gotten near to catching her friend. And it confused him. He'd been on many dates with many Fire Nation noblewomen, but none of them had made him feel like this. Snap out of it, you've a battle to win, and she's just an ordinary peasant, not worth your time in that field. He shook his head, and glared at her. "Just see that you do not fail me," he said.

She watched him ride off, and shot him a look. "I won't. Fail Aang or Sokka, that is," she whispered under her breath.

The battle commenced just twenty minutes later. Many of the divisions roared in defiance against the large city, as its army marched down toward it. Katara had a hard time controlling her own men. Many of them wanted to charge right into hell's mouth, and she really could not blame them. But the order for her unit to advance had not yet been given, and even she knew that to disobey an order while on a battlefield was a fool's game; the chaos that could be caused could be catastrophic. So she held her unit in place, watching as the prince and his uncle units went first, then more seasoned units advanced, and others took their place as they fell.

It was during the waiting that Katara had realized what Zuko had done. Most of the people in her unit were not trained for war, not seasoned, including Zuko's men. Which meant he wanted her to defend the city from enemy attack, he wasn't sure if he could hold the enemy back. At first anger flushed through her body, but then it abated. Ever since she had first met him, she had seen him as this cold, calculating figure, ready to throw away the lives of his men to get the mends to his ends met, but that was not Zuko. By putting her in charge of the defense of the city, he was really letting her know that he felt that she was stronger than any of his commanders could have been. In a sense, he trusted her. Or his uncle trusted her, but none the less, she was trusted.

Pride swelled in her body for a few minutes, before a blood curdling howl sent ice through her veins. Her unit shifted their weight, and looked at her for reassurance. Katara blinked, and turned her head to watch dozens of dark, hairy bodies dash toward her position, and she had to swallow as glowing ember and jade eyes turned toward their new meals.

"Hold your positions," she barked.

"Against Dah Boz?" one of the townspeople cried. "We can't fight them!"

"If you value your families' safety, your homes, and your future, you will hold your positions and fight," she snapped.

"So you will threaten our lives, just to fight for your battle?" the man growled.

"This is your battle, your enemy," she sighed. "Maybe some of those things might have even been friends, or family members, do you really want them to suffer the way they are?"

"None of them are from this town," another man growled.

"It doesn't matter, you will hold your positions," she commanded. She turned to one of the Fire Navy men and jutted out a finger. "Except for you, I want you to find Prince Zuko and alert him to our situation."

"The prince doesn't want any of his men injured," he snarled. "Send one of the trash instead."

Katara stormed up to him, and held him by the collar. "Listen," she hissed. "Prince Zuko put me in charge of this unit, and that makes me your commander. I happen to believe all life is special, even if it is the life of a Fire Nation sailor. I wouldn't send you out there unprotected, I'll have you well armed, but we need to know if we can get any reinforcements to help us." She released the man and jutted her finger. "Until he say's otherwise, I'm unofficially a commanding Fire Nation officer. Now get going!"

It took him a long time to move, but he finally vanished within the forest surrounding the town, protected with stronger armaments, just as she had promised. Katara turned and looked at the rest of her force, "Prepare for defense!" she yelled over the dim of battle and the howls of the beasts. "You, make sure whatever kind of barrier or shield or deterrent whatsoever will work against those things is set up, now!" The Earth Kingdom man looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

She turned to the Fire Navy had barked out a wave of orders so fast it seemed only natural to her. It was as if she was meant to be in the military. When the last defense had been placed, they waited, and watched as the horde of wolf men stormed down toward the city, and at her order, the unit opened fire with everything that they had. Silver, golden, fire, stone, mortar, mystic spell sheets were sent flying in the direction of the monsters, who seemed to slow, but not stop their advance. Katara sighed and pulled a large dagger Iroh had given her from its sheathe. "Prepare for hand to hand combat," she said in a very low tone.

"This is insanity," one of the Earth Kingdom civilians cried, dropping his weapon. "We can't fight hand to hand with those beasts!"

Katara thought for a moment, narrowing her eyes, and then decided on a course of action. Turning to one for the Fire Navy men in her unit she placed a hand on her hip. "I have an idea, but to make it work, I'll need to leave my post. I leave you in charge; can you guarantee me that you will be fair in your orders?"

"Wait, you can't leave," he gasped. "You may be a commander on the field, but you are still a captive of his highness."

"These things hunt like dogs, like wolves. It makes since that they would prefer a wounded prey than fighting a dozen or so healthy ones," she looked at the monsters and back at the man. "I told one of those things my name, if I'm right, he'll go after me. And if they do hunt like wolves, it makes sense that his friends will also chase me, unless one or more of them have names of other people in this town."

"And if they do, then you'll have abandoned your post for no good reason, put yourself at risk, and I have to be the one to answer to the prince why you escaped," the man growled. "I think it's too risky."

"Then we'll just have to hack and slash them from entering the city," she said with mocked tiredness. "Chances are good we'll all be slaughtered, the city will fall, and if you are very unlucky you will survive to tell Zuko why you let all of us die."

The navy man thought of the consequences and shuddered. Either way he might have been damned to feel Prince Zuko's wrath. He swallowed hard and finally nodded. "All right, we'll give you cover from those things, but if they do take after you, there's not much we can do to protect you then."

"You just leave that to me," the girl said with a smile. She held the large knife in her hand so tightly it made her muscles scream and her arm grow numb. Her heart leapt to her throat, and she bent her knees, ready to make a dash for an open space. "You ready?"

"Good luck, 'commander'," the man said, the last word coming out snidely. He raised his hand, and slashed the air with it, and Katara took of like a bat out of hell. Trees and flames passed by her, the shouts of the wounded, horrified, dying and cursed all rang through her ears, but she kept running, feeling the force of the air press her forward, faster and faster, until everything was one brown splotch of a blur.

"I told you not to let me down," came a roar from behind her. She looked back in time to see Zuko racing up to her on his armored rhino. His eyes were dark and fierce, and the girl felt a pang of fear as she saw him come up, but she refused to let him see it. Then it flashed across her eyes and face, and she grew numb as the prince grabbed her arm and lifted her up. It didn't come from his presence, but from the monsters that were running them down. She had been right.

"I know you must be wondering what I was thinking," she started to say.

"Do not justify," he growled. "I figured you'd do this after the sergeant came to me and told me that you were in need of reinforcements." He looked behind her and groaned. "I figured you knew they were going to do this too. So now what? We can't keep running forever."

"Just lure them from the city, then we can think of something," she said.

"Take too long, we've got to make a move now!" he turned and unleashed his flames at the beasts. Again it slowed them down, but did very little else.

"We already tried that!" she screeched.

"Okay, so we try another route," Zuko said, a little shocked and dismayed. He looked over at a nearby cliff and smiled.

"You really are insane, aren't you?" she grumbled as she looked between those eyes and the cliff.

"War does crazy things to normal people," he chuckled. He flicked the reins and dashed the rhino toward ravine, screeching to a halt just as they reached the edge. Mentally he began a count down as the wolves raced towards them, their black fur flying in the wind, their vicious eyes glowing in the night.

"It could kill them," she cried, realizing what he planned.

"From what we know, death is the only antidote for them," he answered grimly. "Do you really want them to suffer?" She bit her lips and looked away. "I sincerely doubt a fall from this height would kill something like that anyway." He finished counting down, and then shot a flame that landed behind the man wolves. It exploded into a few hundred fiery arches and aimed at them, spreading panic in their ranks. Some fled for the cliff, and leapt off, missing Zuko and Katara just by inches as he moved the rhino out of the way. Others fled for the city, the majority fled for the safety of the woods.

"I suppose that works, but what of those who headed back to the city?" Katara asked.

Zuko looked at her, and tossed another flaming ball ahead of them. Those wolves freaked and headed for the southern woods, howling with hunger, rage, and fear. "So does that settle any problems you've had?" Katara sighed and nodded. "Then let's get back."

/

Jet watches as his force was decimated after the Dah Boz fled or disappeared off the map. His eyes narrowed. His clients would not be very happy with this incident. Pipsqueak had managed to pull a few of the children from the burning school house, had led a battalion to defeat a small fraction of his force, then Katara of all people lead Fire Navy men in defense of the city, and her and Zuko's actions proved that the werewolves were not as useful as their city clamed they were. Not many pay cheeks going to be given out tonight. But he wasn't interested in that.

Why is she fighting for them? And where are Aang and her brother? Did they die, did she betray them? He smirked and stroked his chin. These were mysteries he wanted to further contemplate, but he knew there were reports due to be given.

"Major," he yelled. A short elderly man walked up to him and hunched over in a bow.

"Yes sir?"

"Alert the city to the developments that have transpired here tonight. Then tell the council I will personally arrive and make the appropriate apologies to them for this defeat."

"Very good sir," the major answered.

"Oh, one more thing," the Earth Kingdom rebel groaned. "Tell Avatar Edwin that a pretender may have landed on his land. He may be interested in that bit of information. I'll find out what I can, and then give him the information as soon as possible."

"Yes my lord," the major said; his skin paling. He turned and left.

Aang may be very well dead, but if he's not, and she's here, then there is a very good chance that the pretender is here too. And if he was, he was going to have to deal with the true avatar. As would the Fire Nation would, and as for Katara? Well, she'll learn that her place is with me.

Another Avatar! What the heck? And what's going on with Katara's vision in the last chapter! LOL, well okay I know the answer to these questions, since I'm the author, but I thought it was a little more dramatic to do them sorry. I also have good news, I rewrote my outlines at last, so the going should not be very slow! And I'm taking the ultimate story line in a new direction than the one I thought it would go. Yes, yes, do not worry, it is still a romance between Katara and Zuko, you're starting to see the making of that in this chapter, but you aren't going to believe what is in store in the next couple of chapters. I will try very hard to update in January, but if not, look for the next two chapters in February, and then some extra chapters (meaning more than two, could be eight even, who knows?) in March as the 7th of that month is my birthday. Okay see you all later.

ML7: Thanks for the kind words. I will do my best not to let you down, but you have to be patient, patience is a holy virtue. If I were to speed up my writing, the story would lose some of its edge.

mtm123: I hope to update on the weekend before Christmas. Sorry about Jet, but he makes a good villain and he's only going to be more villainous in the coming chapters.

These chapters will probably be submitted a little after Christmas Day (Sorry about the delay ML7 and mtm123 couldn't be helped), but I hope to have it in before the 6th of January, as that is one day after the Christmas season actually ends. December 25-January 5, the twelve days of Christmas, it was actually celebrated like that in medieval times, a tasty tidbit for you trivia fans.