It took around forty-five minutes for us to reach the river. It was a gushing, roaring watercourse with white, foaming rapids everywhere. About twenty yards from the bank, a small campsite had been built. There was a medium sized fire pit lined with rocks and filled with ash.

There was only one person in the encampment. I guessed that everyone else was out and about doing something else. He was sitting on a tree stump close to the fire pit. He had brown hair that was cut short, but not too short. He looked possibly seventeen or around that age. He didn't look older than a teenager at all.

Jang smiled and waved for me to follow. He strolled into the encampment. "Shang! Hi!" he cried. He outstretched his hand to him.

Shang stood up with a smile on his face. He took his hand and did this handshake/man-hug that I noticed a lot of guy friends do.

I wasn't quite sure what to do so I just hung back in the shadows of the forest. I smiled a little at their exchange, but nothing else.

I wasn't awkward around new people normally, but when I was depressed it seemed to be harder to reach out and be friendly to new people. It was strange to try and become friends with other people when I wasn't really feeling up to the challenge.

In all honesty, I felt a thousand mile away from Jang and Shang. I was back away from them, and they were doing their own thing. I felt like I was watching them through a one-way mirror. I felt like they weren't seeing me, but I was seeing them, but that was how I usually felt around anyone, in fact.

I suddenly felt the happiness and joy I had less than an hour ago slipping away, oh, so quickly. As much as I clung to it and tightened my grip on it, it fell through my fingers even faster. I had hoped that it would last for a much longer time. It had been so long since I had been happy for more than a minute or two, I thought that it would be here to stay, but I guess not.

It looked like I was back to my usual, old self again. What a pity.

Jang noticed I wasn't beside him and twisted his head over to me, a smile wide across my face. He waved his hand, ushering me to come over once again.

I hesitated, but pushed my uneasiness and fear aside. Now wasn't the time to bring my depression back into world. If anything, I had to ignore it, and try to move past it. It was time to stop wallowing in my misery.

Although I wanted to move past my depression and problems, I was terrified to. I was absolutely terrified. My depression was what I had known and lived with for almost a year. It would be so drastically different if I wasn't depressed anymore.

The longer I went being depressed, the harder it was to remember recent times when I was happy. The more depressed I became, the less vivid my memories were. It was as if depression was all I knew. It was as if depression was my whole life, but I knew for a fact that it wasn't though my life hadn't been full of puppy dogs and rainbows. I had had my full share of sorrow growing up as much as anyone else in the world. Maybe I had had more sorrow than I deserved though.

Sure, living in a war-torn world wasn't an adequate childhood by any circumstance. And there were plenty of children around the world that had lost loved ones from the war. It wasn't just me, but… I couldn't help but sometimes think that my entire life had been a downhill experience since I was born even though it was most certainly not true. It gave me an adequate reason to be depressed.

I courageously walked over to the two. I didn't bother to smile or with any introductions. I figured Jang would do that, and, of course, he did. I had already realized that he was the type of person to.

"Shang, this is On Ji," he said, waving his hand towards me.

A small smile broke away. "Hi," I said.

Shang did a two-finger salute. "Nice to meet you," he beamed. "So, let me guess," he started, "you're with Jang to join the army?" he asked, giving me a cheeky grin.

"Yup!" I tried to sound excited, but it too forced and I'm sure they both picked up on it. I continued talking though, hoping that if I talked and pushed myself further then my dejection was fade away again. "I'm a waterbender, and just about a year earlier my brother and I had been fighting the Fire Nation, and I figured that it was time to start again."

Ok, that wasn't a total lie, but still…

Shang nodded, taking in my words. "What made you guys stop?" he inquired.

"Well, uh…" Oh, no. What was I going to say? We had to stop fighting because my best friend, the Avatar was killed and I suffered from extreme depression? No, way. I couldn't say that. "We kind of hit a road block," I paused, hoping that that would be enough, but, of course, it wasn't, "…when the Avatar was killed."

"Oh, yeah, I understand. We did also," he said, cooling my nerves down a little. "We needed to take a step back, regroup, and see what we were going to have to do next."

I nodded, pretending that that was exactly what we were doing. "Yeah, same here."

"So where did you and your brother fight?" Shang asked in earnest curiosity.

"Oh, just around the Earth Kingdom; we weren't really with a certain army."

He nodded his head in impressments and Jang smiled with pride.

Was it just me or was Jang proud of me? As if he upheld me with some sort of respect that a… boyfriend would? No, he couldn't. He was just happy that a bender with actual fighting experience was joining the army thanks to him. Yeah, that was all that was going on.

Within the next hour or so everyone else joined the camp. Takeshi had brown eyes and dark, black hair that hung around his ears. He was about twenty-three or so. Diasuke had brown hair in a top knot and he was much burlier than the others were. He was twenty and had gray eyes. Chikyu had his hair in a top knot as well and he looked to be about the same age as Diasuke. He had brown eyes.

We gathered around the fire and bantered about various topics, all of them far from the war. I sensed that none of them wanted to talk about the war in any way, shape, or form and neither did I. War was the last thing I wanted to think about.

I seemed to fit in fairly well with the rest of the group. Well, expect for Takeshi. He didn't seem to trust me at all. I kept catching him watching me, eyeing me from the corner of my eye. I started to think that he assumed that I had other motives for joining the army. Well, I did, but they weren't traitorous to the army.

But what was I going to do if Zuko wasn't in the army? What then? I couldn't just simply walk out on them. If I arrived and suddenly said I had to leave they would lock me up for sure! I mean, what else would they do? Pat my head, hand me a fruit basket, and send me on my merry way?

Chikyu insisted that the night was perfect for "gazing at the twinkling stars up above our heads" as he had said and walked away from the fire and closer to the shore to see the stars clearer. Jang and I followed, thinking it would be fun.

"Amazing," Chikyu sighed as he stretched his arms.

I leaned back nodding. "Sure is."

The blackened sky was cluttered with the bright twinkling stars. A soft blanket of glittering stars had covered the yawning black sky while a brilliant moon now presided in the darkness like a queen among her tiny handmaidens.

"The great kings of the past," he said.

I raised my eyebrow. Great kings? "What do you mean?"

"What great kings?" Jang asked. "We've had some pretty bad ones in the past and lately if you haven't noticed."

Chikyu gave him a look. "I was once told," he explained, "that the great kings of the past were up there, watching over us."

"Really?" Jang asked amazed.

"Hm," I grunted more or less, nodding my head. I had never heard the stars called that before. As a child, I was always told that the stars told our history. The constellations. Each one had a story to tell and a lesson to learn from. They were part of our heritage and every child grew up knowing at least one story by heart.

A shooting star flashed across the charcoal sky, and my eyes widened in admiration and wonder. Never in my life had I seen a shooting star. It was so bright and beautiful, glowing of an ethereal, smoky blue. I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was so compelling and mesmerizing.

Jang leaned over onto his right elbow and whispered to me, "Make a wish."

I closed my eyes, thinking of a wish. What do I want..? "I wish…" I started. For Zuko to understand me, if not forgive me.

"What did you wish for?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I can't tell." Though I knew that that silly little superstition was simply poppycock, I didn't want to take the chance. True, it was childish for me to keep it to myself for that reason, but it felt good to have that small sliver of hope inside my heart that maybe, just maybe, my wish would come true. "Did you wish for anything?"

He nodded once and flipped over onto his back again. "I did."

"And?"

"And," he smiled, "I have an eighty percent chance it will come true." He stretched out his arms above his head and pulled them back behind his head.

I yawned a little, feeling sleep start to shroud over my mind. I covered my gaping mouth with my hand. "What did you wish for?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," he replied elusively with a cheeky smile quickly playing across his lips.

I smiled a little on my own and shook my head wryly. Men. I thought to myself. They will never cease to amaze me.

We soon headed back to camp, realizing that it was much later than we had thought, and that the rest of the group would be heading to bed soon. We rolled out our mats and laid down in them.

I happily curled up into a ball inside mine, relishing in the warmth of the soft blankets and the fire. I closed my eyes, ready for a good nights' sleep, which seemed to be coming more often. A few minutes after everyone had gotten into their sleeping bags, I heard hushed voices.

They belonged to Jang, Diasuke, Takeshi, Shang, and Chikyu. They were talking about…me. They must have thought I was already asleep.

"I'm telling you, she's bad news," I heard Takeshi say. "We need to just drop her off at the next village we pass through." He wanted to get rid of me! He didn't even know me! How dare he!

"We're not passing through another town. We're going to be the forest until we get to the base," Jang said sternly.

"No, I think we should keep her around. She could be a spy." It was Diasuke. "When we go back, we'll show her to him. He'll know what to do."

Him? Who was him?

A small sliver of hope pierced through me that it may just be Zuko, but I knew that that was quite unlikely, and it would only be foolish to get my hopes up only to be horribly disappointed when we reached the base.

"But what if she isn't a spy? Can we risk losing a master waterbender with actual fighting experience?" Chikyu asked. "We need a waterbender!" he cried.

"Quiet, you fool. You'll wake her," warned Jang.

I heard the ruffle of sheets. Someone was coming. I quickly closed my eyes and evened my breath out into deep in takes, pretending to be asleep. I used to do it all the time. When Zuko was living in the beach house with Sokka and me, Sokka would always check on me to make sure I was in bed and asleep, and also that Zuko wasn't in the room. He bought my charade every time.

"Don't worry, she's asleep, but that still doesn't mean you can yell out loud, Chikyu," said Diasuke.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do with On Ji," Jang declared. "We can still take her to the base and have him see her whether or not she's a spy. He will be able to determine if she is or not. Does that sound alright?"

"Fine."

"You're in charge."

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right."

"Sure."

"Good," Jang said. "Now, let's get some sleep."

I heard the ruffle of more sheets and then silence except for the cicadas. After a few minutes, I feel into a blissful sleep. The next morning I awake and everyone was up and getting packed up already. I quickly rolled up my mat and secured it to my backpack.

"On Ji?" I heard Jang call. I was starting to get very used to being called that.

I turned around to see him. "Yeah?"

He held up the dirty pot we had used the night before to cook the soup. "Mind helping me?" he asked with a smile.

I nodded, smiling too. I don't know what it was about Jang that made me happier. Just being around him lifted my spirits for some reason. He just seemed to radiate this happy and peaceful aura that I felt so comfortable being around. In that way, he reminded me of Aang. But he wasn't like Aang at all. He was a grown, handsome man instead of a young boy starting puberty.

Though his features were obviously Fire Nation, he looked nothing like ruthless firebenders that I had run across time and time again. His eyes were a soft honey and not a harsh gold like… like Zuko's.

What was I thinking? No one's eyes could compare to his. His were filled with emotion. I could easily read his feelings with his eyes when his face betrayed no feeling at all. His eyes were a fiery golden that always blazed with passion when we were close.

But Jang's do also.

So what? I'm sure there are plenty of other men who have eyes that "blaze with passion". It's not that uncommon, but with Zuko, it's like I'm in a totally different world.

Jang makes you feel that way also. He makes you feel happy.

Ugh! It doesn't matter! Jang's a friend, not my love!

Is he..?

Yes.

Are you sure?

O-of course! Jang is nothing more than a friend!

I sighed. How could I be arguing with myself about Jang? It was such a silly topic to argue about. Especially with myself!

"What's wrong?" Jang asked, looking concerned.

"Oh," I said. "Nothing's wrong," I said with a reassuring smile.

"Alright."

We walked to the river in a comfortable silence. Jang dumped the pot by the bank and started to roll up his sleeves.

I squatted down by the pot and dipped my hands into the water. It felt so good to have my element wash over my skin. It was so long since I had been able to do just a simple thing as that.

"I can honestly tell you," I said nonchalantly, "that I'm not a spy. I would never betray my country like that." I looked up at him.

He paused, looking a bit shocked. He immediately apologized, and I laughed, "You needn't apologize. I understand; you're just doing your job, watching out for your men." I smiled at him.

He nodded cautiously. "Yeah." He rolled his sleeve once more before kneeling down beside me. "So, you don't mind going and being…" he trailed off, not sure what to say without offending me.

"Judged?" I shook my head. "Nope. Not at all. I'm not a spy, so I have no fear."

He smiled. "Good, I'm glad."

A/N: Hey! I got this chapter out reasonably fast. It wasn't even a month! Ok, this chapter doesn't really have much going on, but if you read the original version, you may recognize some of the writing is the same.

There is one Disney reference in there. Anyone catch it? No? Yes? Maybe? Oh, well. If you've read Fate's Sense of Humor, you'll notice that there are a few of them lol.

Anyone have an idea about "Him"? The person Jang is going to bring Katara to? Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Lol.

I hoped you liked it and please review!

-Neon