disclaimer: Mike and Bryan own the ATLA universe; Mariko belongs to me (: enjoy!

Water X

She looked over the letter she'd written for the third time.

'I'm sorry I couldn't obey your order. I said I would help him, and I meant it. Please forgive me and my insubordination. Thank you for your kindness.'

Making sure the coast was clear she set out of the room and down the hall, making it to the lower front deck of the ship.

It was only a matter of time before she was within the destroyed walls of the Northern Water Tribe, slipping in with the shuffle of soldiers (she'd dressed for the occasion, wearing all black and keeping her sheathed katana covered by likewise black cloth) and on the trail of her reason for coming so far.

The cold winds of the mountaintop blizzard bit at the exposed skin of her face but she followed his footsteps into the howling winds, vainly praying she could find him and soon.

Pausing to take in her surroundings –aside from the billowing snow and wind that continued to nip at her face—she spotted a large dark figure in the distance; a cave, maybe?

Mustering her strength, she hurried in that direction, hoping that he was there.

"…I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me who I am."

"A reckless stubborn-as-hell prat?"

He looked at the entrance to the small cave to see she was there; somehow or another, she was there before his very eyes; he wanted to scold her for coming after him, he wanted to yell at her… But above all and strangely enough, he wanted to kiss her.

She peeled herself away from the entrance to step closer into the cave, smiling wryly at the balking expression on his face. "I know you're going to yell at me for coming after you, and I know what I did was completely reckless, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. What kind of person would I be if I didn't worry about someone I care about?" She explained, exhaling, her breath coming out in a soft fog.

At not hearing his 'prize' make a peep near him, a sign he was still in the Spirit World (or wherever he'd went in his out-of-body experience), he neared her and took note of the rosiness on her pale face, the elated expression brightening her eyes; so instead of yelling at or kissing her, he pulled her into a tight embrace, making her squeak.

"Z-Zuko… crap, you're freezing!" She mumbled, the coldness from his body combined with her own making her teeth chatter.

He blinked at hearing her teeth chatter, pulling away a little to release her and take her hands. "Sorry," he apologized, using his bending to help her warm up; she shivered beneath the layers of clothes, exhaling quietly. "I didn't think you were crazy enough to come all this way after me." He mused.

"Of course I was gonna come after you, you idiot; as far as I know, we're still engaged or something to that effect. Kind of a given to make sure you don't lose your head." She shivered slightly, looking up at his gold eyes with a pout line beginning to form on her lips.

He blinked at the pout forming and chuckled, seeing some color rise into her cheeks, turning them pink. "I'm glad you're not being a pain like normal, Mari." He squeezed her fingers out of habit.

She huffed, looking away into the further recesses of the cave, perking up at seeing the boy still dormant; her brow furrowed softly. "So that's him, then. The last air-bender." She guessed, seeing him glance back at his charge.

He followed her gaze and nodded, releasing her hands reluctantly. "Yeah, that's him. He hasn't woken up yet, though…" He mused, perking up when the boy inhaled in his sleep state.

She drew closer to better see him, noting he didn't look to be much older than twelve. She smiled a little; all this fuss for a twelve-year-old?

Was Fire Lord Ozai so cruel as to want to have him felled just like Fire Lord Sozin did to the rest of the Air Nomads?

The boy stirred, perking her ears; she widened her eyes a little as the tattoo on his head glowed white for a second before he opened his eyes.

Zuko grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her back out of something she assumed was protection, scowling at the awakened air-bender. "Welcome back." He bit out.

"Good to be back." The boy remarked before exhaling a blast of air, making the prince turn to shield his female counterpart and give him enough time to blast out of the cave backwards; he started inching away like a worm before being hoisted up by the prince who'd dashed out after him.

"Zuko," she began warily, looking to see the sky-bison zeroing in on them as it'd dropped lower to the ground, landing and letting the water-tribe girl hop off; she scowled slightly, perking up as the girl summoned a towering wave of ice and sent it screaming in Zuko's direction, slamming into him as it would've done the same to her had she not acted quick.

Mariko grunted and brought up a portion of the cave to shield herself in time, feeling the ground stop rumbling; she poked her head out from the shield to see the girl had knocked him unconscious. She hurried to his side, looking to see she had indeed knocked him out as he would probably remain that way for a few hours.

"We can't just leave them here." The air-bender was saying, perking her ears as she looked up to meet his cobalt eyes, holding his gaze briefly.

The water-tribe boy huffed, "Sure we can!"

He hopped off the bison, "if we leave them here, they'll freeze to death." He pointed out, seeing a slight alarm ignite in the girl's amber eyes. "If you promise you won't try anything, I'll help you get him out of here. Deal?" He flashed a kind smile at her.

She blinked once before nodding, smiling back. "I won't. Thank you for helping. My name's Mariko." She said, hoisting one of his arms over her shoulder as he helped and did the same for his free arm, both earth and air-bender cartering the unconscious prince to the bison's saddle.

"Aren't you an earth-bender? I saw you move part of the cave earlier." The air-bender asked once he was on board and she hopped onto the saddle with him.

She nodded, "Yeah, I am."

"If you're an earth-bender, why're you helping a scum-ball like Zuko?" The water-tribe boy demanded from the saddle as they took off.

Mariko scowled slightly at his insult, exhaling. "It's complicated, but in short, my foster parents raised me in the Fire Nation and I've hidden my bending since I was three." She answered patiently.

The water-tribe girl sent her brother a slight look, shaking her head a little. "You'll have to forgive my brother, he's kind of snarky towards people who're with the Fire Nation. You've obviously met Aang," she gestured to the air-bender who waved briefly between steering the bison. "I'm Katara, my brother's name is Sokka, and this is Princess Yue." She smiled politely.

She nodded and dipped her head briefly in respect to the tribe's princess, looking down at her charge and exhaling. "I'm sorry he's been giving you trouble in the past. If I went into detail about why he's doing it, it'd be a long story and apparently we don't have the time; Zhao has his eyes set on conquering the Northern Water Tribe." She looked from the water-tribe siblings to the princess with hardened amber eyes.

"Yeah, I know. The moon and ocean spirits are the ones who're going to help us defeat the Fire Nation. Appa, yip yip!" Aang added, urging the bison to go faster.

With a groan the flying beast seemed to speed up his pace.

::::::::x-x::::::::

"I'm surprised you aren't trying to capture the Avatar right now." Iroh glanced over at his nephew that seemed to be staring into space.
Zuko shrugged a little, "I'm tired." He glanced to the side to see his uncle place a hand on his shoulder.

"Then you should get some rest; a man needs his rest." He smiled at him, seeing him smile a little in return.

Mariko smiled at them, glancing up at the flag on their makeshift raft, exhaling quietly and resting her back against the post, closing her eyes as if in meditation.

Book II is being worked on as we speak, ladies and germs, so until next chapter, sit tight! thanks for the lovely reviews for Book I, they mean a lot to me. (: