A/N: As always, thank you to those who have left a few words in review—your thoughts give me the courage and inspiration to plow on! But before we begin, kindly allow me a chance to give you a heads-up as to where we're headed in the next few chapters. The previous chapter ended with Katara and Zuko agreeing on some swordfighting lessons. Rest assured, there will be training sessions in the near future (beginning with the second part of this nine-part saga). In fact, Katara may well forge some swords of her own once we get to—oh, but that would be telling. What's the fun in spoiling the story with my little hints? XD

In the meantime, this particular chapter will be necessarily brief and a bit blah because it primarily serves as a transition into the next chapter, which will essentially be "The Library" but with a critical new tweak at the conclusion (I bet some of you already have guesses as to just what additional misfortune befalls our beloved team). This will be followed with one or two chapters that draw on elements of "The Desert." The end of their journey through the bitter wastelands will mark the conclusion of the first part of this epic—the desert, of course, being the very literal embodiment of the first stanza of "Fire and Ice" when the world of our heroes comes very close to ending in the burning heat of their trek. But there is another world that will be in as much danger from a flaming anger that overtakes our young prince—a barely forged Zutara friendship threatened by the twist at the conclusion of the chapter after this one. You'll just have to wait to see how it all plays out.

Edit: My apologies, the review comments are correct. They should know he is a prince by now and it was my brain that temporarily deceived me. Corrections have been made accordingly. Sorry . . . but as this chapter says, there is nothing (and no one) perfect in life! ^^

When I wake up it's to a warm blanket covering me up and Appa's fur between my fingers. Looking around, I see I'm back in camp on the sky bison's broad tail next to Iroh, who is still asleep. The air is filled with only the faintest light of early morning and the glow of the central fire. Zuko is the only other one of us already awake. He's turning something over in the fire pit with his back to me. I can't know for sure, but I have a faint guess as to how I ended up back here.

I come over to sit beside him. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Not as well as I'd hoped," he admits, again turning over what I now realize are some fish on stones like I set out a few days ago. He seems to not know what to do with his hands again because he unnecessarily adjusts the fish on the stones with a stick over and over. "I kept having nightmares about you cutting yourself on the swords during our practices," he adds at last.

I can't tell if he's actually serious. "Only if my sifu doesn't train me well."

"As long as you listen you'll be fine. But if I impress, you should see my old master. There's no swordsman who can match him."

"Obviously you're right. You need a swordwoman for that."

His hand passes across his face like he's embarrassed by my attempt at a joke. Or maybe it's just the oddness of being part of open, friendly conversation. "Try beating me first before you go see Piandao."

I memorize that name and store it away for later just in case it ever comes up again. "You know, this would go a whole lot faster if you just flash-fried those fish with your bending."

"Faster, but not nearly as good," he explains. "If my uncle were here, he'd remind you to follow the pace of nature whose secret is patience. And then he'd slowly boil some tea and show you the difference between that and heating it up with one blast of fire. That's why no one can make tea like him. Good tea takes time."

"You really respect your uncle, don't you?"

The warm smell of baking fish falls across us both. "I wouldn't have survived exile if it weren't for him," Zuko says, carefully taking out one fish on its stone with a forked twig and setting it on the sands by the fire to cool. "He's more of a father than my real one."

I watch him politely to see if he'll add anything else, but he just lets the calm of silence wash across the clearing. One of these days I'll work up the courage to ask him more about his exile. That and the scar branded across his face.

One by one my friends stir from their sleeping bags and come join us for breakfast. Iroh makes some tea and passes cups around for all of us. Sokka burns his tongue on a hot fish again, Toph punches my arm in place of good morning, and Aang sits down beside me. I go off into a daydream about him finally mastering all the elements and defeating the Fire Lord. It occurs to me that maybe these two firebenders know about the situation in the Fire Nation and can help us figure out a plan going forward.

"I've been thinking," Toph suddenly announces.

"That can't be good," Sokka says in mock horror. "What about?"

She holds up her fish like a torch. "I say we take a series of mini-vacations! Each of us can pick one, starting with me. And then you and Sparky. We should skip Aang because he'll pick something wimpy. And Sweetness because she won't pick something fun."

"Hey," I grumble, though the idea doesn't seem like a bad one.

"Mini-vacations!" Aang shouts. "That sounds like fun."

Zuko chews over a bite of fish. "I don't know. The Avatar has a long way to go before he's mastered all four elements."

"We have plenty of time," Toph says. "Besides, he's not jumping out of the way of my rocks anymore. He'll have it all mastered eventually." She leans over towards Sokka. "And if anything, I need a break from him," she whispers.

"And his waterbending's been going well," I add in. Toph's intentions with these vacations might not be the best, but we all deserve a good break.

"Wait, wait!" Sokka says, getting up. "Okay, so Aang hasn't been falling completely on his face with his earthbending. But we need time to make real plans and figure out how we're going to take down the Fire Lord. We don't have time for vacations."

Zuko looks hard at Sokka, and of course I know why. Prince Zuko, Iroh had once called him. I look at the young firebender. I look at the scar burned across his face and wonder.

"Hmm," Iroh says thoughtfully, pouring out a fresh cup of tea.

His nephew glances over. "Uncle?"

"I think I know where I'd like to take a vacation," he says.

"Oh, that's right. You're boss," Toph says. "You get first pick."

Iroh takes a long sip of tea. "When we were in the north, Zhao intended to kill the spirits of the moon and ocean. During one of our talks, he told me he learned where the spirits were kept through a scroll he found in a hidden library in the Earth Kingdom. It turns out the library he meant belongs to the great knowledge spirit Wan Shi Tong."

"A bunch of old scrolls? That sounds like a party," Toph says.

Iroh sets down his cup. "The library is said to contain a vast collection of lost knowledge. During my travels with my nephew here through the Earth Kingdom, I asked around about the legend of the library. Some say it lies somewhere in the Si Wong Desert."

"But that's the hottest, driest place in the world," Aang says.

"Yeah, I've heard horror stories about people getting lost forever," Toph says. "It's pretty much impossible to navigate."

"But it could contain information that could help you take down the Fire Lord," he says.

"Getting secret information about the Fire Nation—now that's a vacation plan!" Sokka says. "I second his vote."

"If we can even find this place," Toph says.

Iroh smiles. "We won't be flying completely blind. I think I have some ideas of where to being our search. And what we find could be valuable for your goal."

Suddenly Zuko stands right up. "I'm going to go train," he says, leaving behind his half-eaten fish and tea.

"What's his deal?" my brother asks, jabbing a thumb at Zuko's retreating back.

Iroh says nothing, but neither does he make a move to follow his nephew. He looks intently at Aang who gets up instead, saying he's going to go practice waterbending. But I know where the little airbender is really off to: offering comfort for whatever turmoil is burning up our new friend.

"Katara," Iroh says, waving at me. "When you finish your tea, can I speak to you by the creek?"

I set down my cup and follow him to the outskirts of camp. We sit down on the bank where we can't be overheard. I tuck my legs beneath me. "What is it?"

He doesn't say anything at first. Instead he looks at the flowing water as if searching for some meaning in its ripples and the slap of small waves on the shore. "There is nothing perfect in life, but it is very hard for most people to see this," he says at last.

"Oh," I say politely, not sure at all where this is going.

"My nephew is a troubled young man even if he is much too proud to admit it. I think you and your friends will be a good influence on him. You certainly will be. You are not too proud to admit your faults and have courage to stand up to him."

Ah, I see. "He told about last night?"

Iroh pats my hand. "Letting go of anger is one the hardest things there is, Katara of the South Pole. It takes a person who understands there is no perfection and only life." He stands and takes a few steps away. "Ah, a word of advice? Being a swordmaster takes patience, like teamaking. Or cooking fish."

He walks off and leaves me with the feeling that he's seen into my soul with those amber eyes. I don't get up right away to follow him back, looking instead into the water as Iroh did. My ears fill up with the soft splashes of the creek and I have half a mind to jump right in and come out sopping wet. As if the wisdom of the river could soak right into me. But the moment passes and I let the creek go on its way untouched, coiling off down the canyon. The warm eye of the sun slides out from behind a cloud and falls across me, bright against my skin.

When I return to camp half an hour later Zuko is back with his uncle, Toph, and my brother by the now-extinguished fire. The two firebenders are playing some game on a tiny square board. From Zuko's scrunched-up eyebrow, it's clear who's winning.

"Hey Katara," Aang calls to me from his sky bison's saddle. I think he was waiting for me to get back to camp.

"Hey," I say. We sit down on Appa's tail a good twenty feet from the others. "What happened to Zuko?"

"I think he's got some personal issues with the Fire Lord. He wouldn't tell me exactly," Aang says.

"I think there a lot he's still not telling us. But we'll find out."

He nervously fiddles with his glider like he's balancing on the brink of a big decision. Then he lays his hand on my arm. The faintest rush of warmth comes into my face. "I thought he wasn't officially part of this team," he teases. His hand doesn't come off my arm and instead slides lower until our fingers touch.

"Oh, right. We still technically need to vote."

Aang's fingers link with mine so we're holding hands. "Technically?"

I go off into a daydream again, but this one's not about Aang mastering the four elements. "Whatever problems I thought he'd give us, I've realized I was wrong. So he has my vote." I say this fairly absentmindedly because I'm mostly focused on this airbender beside me. On his smile. On the glow coming off his face. From a distance I hear Sokka's hooting laughter come at us. It doesn't take me looking to know who lost the game the two firebenders were playing.

I sit there with Aang and every passing moment is one I collect right inside my heart. Iroh hinted at exactly what I already knew, that perfect things are very rare and when a perfect moment comes along, like this one with the whole team together in peace, you better grab hold of it and not let go until you have to.

Because perfect moments, like all things, tend to end.