Katara
Katara was in trouble. When she didn't answer Long Feng's, he motioned for the Dai Li agent to come forward. Silently, the man grabbed her tied wrists and pressed a sharp blade against her right cheek.
"Now," Long Feng leaned towards her, his eyes glittering with malice, "I will ask you again, what exactly did your friends discover?"
"I promise you, I don't know what you're talking about!" Katara protested, the panic in her voice rising rapidly. Blood had begun to bead where the edge of the blade met her skin. "We never found anything."
Long Feng was losing patience. "You're lying."
Blood droplets rolled down her face. Her voice quieted into a whimper, "You have to believe me…."
Long Feng didn't reply; instead he looked at the Dai Li agent and nodded sharply. The man raised the blade off her face and for a second Katara thought they were letting her go. She was wrong. Fast as lightning the agent brought the knife down. Katara's eyes widened and a scream escaped her before the world went dark….
Katara ran into the camp where Aang was meditating and Toph was cracking nuts with….Aang's staff? "Hey Aang," Katara asked the airbender, "Have you seen-"
"I'm meditating here." The airbender looked pissed; maybe his lessons with Toph still weren't going too well.
"It's important," Katara made the worry in her voice apparent, "It's almost sundown and Sokka isn't back yet. I think we should search for him."
The airbender leapt from the rock, "We'll find him faster if we split up." Aang took off towards the trees. Filled with worry Katara made to head off in the opposite direction.
"Wait," A voice stopped her and she saw the Fire prince leaning against the rock canyon walls, his arms crossed and head down. "I'll come help you."
Katara's eyes narrowed with distaste. "I can look for Sokka on my own."
Zuko rose from against the wall, tilting his head to look at her, "Then I'll come with you and we can talk about why you hate me."
Despite the firebender's words, relatively little talking occurred as the pair of them scoured their side of the canyon. Katara called out for Sokka's name while Zuko followed her like a shadow.
They wandered the area for what felt like hours to no avail. Katara's calls for her brother became more and more shrill as mounting panic began to settle in. Noticing this, the firebender awkwardly began to call out Sokka's name as well while they searched.
Katara reached a clearing where the ground turned into a cliff. The sun was now only barely visible over the horizon. Katara dropped to the ground hugging her knees. Inexplicably, tears began to leak out of her eyes.
She had sniffed loudly when she heard Zuko's footsteps behind her. They stopped. He cleared his throat sounding uncomfortable, "Um...are you ok?"
Katara wiped her eyes, angry at herself and embarrassed for crying in front of the prince, "I'm fine."
Zuko cleared his throat again, "I'm sure Aang and Toph have already found him."
Suddenly Katara's anger at herself pivoted towards the Fire Prince, "You don't understand. My brother-" Her voice wavered, "he's all I have."
"If there's anyone one who understands being alone it's me." Zuko answered and Katara couldn't help but remember Iroh, who had left after he recovered from Azula's attack. Something about fulfilling his passion and letting Zuko face his destiny on his own.
She wiped her eyes and continued, "It's different for me. Gran-gran's back in the North Pole, I don't even know where dad is, and mom-" Her voice broke, "she's gone."
Without saying anything Zuko sat down next to her, his short hair moving slightly in the gentle breeze. Only after a moment did he speak, "My mother is gone too."
Katara couldn't help but look at the firebender in surprise. "I-I'm so sorry" She stammered.
His golden eyes didn't leave the horizon and he looked lost in thought, "You don't need to apologize" His voice was distant but not unkind, "She left a while ago. I think that's when I began to lose myself as well. I guess I always had uncle though." He said it like an afterthought but Katara could tell he missed him.
"You're uncle really cares about you." Katara didn't really know what else to say.
"Just like Sokka cares about you."
The two of them sat in silence watching the sun set before Katara spoke again, "I don't hate you, Zuko." He turned his head towards her and smiled. Katara felt a swooping sensation in her stomach, "I guess it's just that whenever I think Fire Nation...I think of you."
He stood and held out his hand to help her up, "Well hopefully I've changed that by now," She took his hand and returned his smile, "but let's go back before Aang thinks I murdered you or something."
When they reached the camp, the sun had disappeared. Katara's face lit up when she saw Aang, Sokka, Toph and Momo all sitting beside Appa. "Sokka!" She ran to her brother and threw her arms around his neck. Over his shoulder Katara could see Zuko hanging back, scratching his head awkwardly. The two of them made eye contact.
"Hey Katara look what I can do!" Katara turned around towards the avatar, grateful for an excuse to break eye contact with the prince. As Aang maneuvered a large boulder, Katara couldn't help but smile to herself. Boy was she gladl that Zuko couldn't see her blushing.
Katara woke up, the right side of her face stinging painfully. Dazed and disoriented she found herself in a prison cell; the walls were rock and the bars made of iron. Dim green lamps lit the dirty surroundings. Her face had been clumsily bandaged with white, now bloody gauze.
A pale, dirt-stained face with pink lips, green eyes, and black thick curly hair looked over her. The girls face broke in to a dry smile when she saw that Katara was awake. "Hey there, I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se."