Bonding

K: 6:13 p.m.-How's your day going?

A: 6:45 p.m.-Not good

K: 6:46 p.m.-What's Wrong?

A: 8:17 p.m.-A whole lot of shit. I'll call you later.

A: 11:49 p.m.-I know it's pretty late. Are you awake?

K: 11:56 p.m.-I'm awake.

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alo-

Katara picked up her cell "Aang?" she said groggily and looked at her clock that read 1:18.

"I woke you up. I'm sorry. My phone died and I let Azula use my laptop."

She sat up "Is everything okay? Sokka said that you guys had to leave the Fire Nation early, and Toph said that there was something serious going on."

"Yeah." he sighed as he flopped down on the small bed "Ozai escaped and Azula needed to be put into hiding."

She sat up "What?"

"Iroh had a vision that he escaped and came after her a while ago. He was going to send her to hide out at you guys' house, but she didn't want to go because she didn't know anyone there, so I suggested she travel with me. She was worried about her mom and brother, so Ursa is headed to your dad's and Zuko came along with us."

"That's crazy. I thought he was in the toughest prison in the Fire Nation."

"He was. It was all a part of his plan. The last escape attempt was just so they would send him there so that he could break a partner out."

"That's horrible."

"Kuzon's here and Sokka, Toph and The Boulder are going to keep traveling with us to be extra eyes and ears." he smiled through his exhaustion and worry at the thought of the next thing he would say "Would you want to come help us?"

She paused and blinked "I…Are you sure I'd be of help?"

"I really don't think we have anything to worry about, he won't find her. And besides, we already have an entourage, you might as well come too." he made an over exaggerated pout as if she could see him "Please."

She knew immediately that she wanted to go along, but she didn't want to sound too eager "I don't know. Where are you going after you're done here?"

"Toph was saying something about a friend who lives on this little island in the Earth Kingdom. That'll be base camp as soon as she can get the arrangements made." he sat up in anticipation "So are you coming to the sparsely inhabited tropical island with me?"

She bit her lip to fight back a giggle "I suppose. I mean it is to help someone."

He pumped his fist once, but tried to continue to sound calm "Good. I can't wait to see you."

She heard him yawn "Me too. Only two more stops, right?"

"Yeah. I guess I'll be spending my day off on the ship."

"But at least you can get some rest. You sound like you need it."

"Aww. You care about my well being."

Katara blushed "Maybe a little."

"You know what that means, right?"

She smiled and rolled her eyes, knowing full well what he was going to say "Yes, yes. I know."

"I'm glad you know." Aang yawned again and stretched "Talk to you tomorrow?"

"More like later on today." Katara corrected, remembering the time "Yeah, I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Zuko was leaning on the railing of the ship, watching Aang, Gyatso and the photographers load on to Appa in preparation to go up to the Western Air Temple when Sokka came up and leaned beside him.

"Hey." Sokka greeted as his arm touched the cold steel.

"Hey." Zuko echoed.

"So, uh, look." Sokka said looking out at Appa taking off "I owe you an apology."

Zuko looked at Sokka with confusion "You do?"

"Yeah. I judged you when I first met you, and that was pretty fucked up." he shrugged "I just thought you were some emo douche bag, spoiled brat. "

Zuko nodded his head, turned around and leaned back "Guess I owe you an apology too." he looked over at the other man " I thought you were some muscle-bound dumb jock.

Sokka looked at Zuko with knitted eyebrows, then he smiled "Yeah, I get that."

They stood together quietly for a while "So Toph says you're a genius or something." Zuko commented.

"I wouldn't say that. I just like making stuff, that's all."

"Well she would. She thinks highly of you. She likes you a lot." Zuko ducked his head for effect and lowered his voice a bit "a lot."

Sokka's face went red and he held his head down "What did she say?"

"Way more than I wanted to hear, and not much that I would want to repeat."

"That's Toph for you." the Water Tribe prince said, no longer able to look at the Fire Nation prince "She must think a lot of you to have told you any of that. I thought this whole thing was strictly covert."

"I'm thinking I'm the only one she's talking to about this." Zuko answered, looking across the deck "I wish I wasn't though. I know way more about you than I ever wanted to. I can't imagine what she would tell me if she could see." he grimaced and shuttered.

"Ugh." he held his head farther down "Not the way I wanted the conversation to go."

"Sorry."

"So, complete change of an uncomfortable subject," Sokka said as he turned and sat on the deck floor, leaning against the railing "Aang's pretty close to your family, huh?"

Zuko smiled a bit "Aang is family. He's like a brother to us. Mom even calls him her 'little boy'."

The engineer shook his head "He must be a pretty good guy."

"He's the best." Zuko admitted "And he's crazy about you're sister." he sat down.

Sokka rested his arm on a knee "Yeah, Katara really likes him too. I think she may have a hard time really admitting it. She doesn't have a good track record with guys."

"Aang either." Zuko said in a far off way, then he noticed Sokka's head snap towards him and give him a befuddled look "No, I mean Aang doesn't have a good track record with girls."

Sokka raised a eyebrow "Don't we all. The girl I thought I was going to marry fell in love with somebody else, an the girl I want to be with is hiding me."

"That's rough buddy."

Aang opened the door to the room "Hey Azula. I need to get my laptop for a while."

"First I'm told I have to flee my home, then they take everything from me; my cell, my laptop, my tablet, MY CREDIT CARDS. You put me on the boat to who knows where" she thrust her finger at Kuzon who was sitting at the nearby desk with a book in hand "and you have this guard dog on my back all the time, and you're coming to take away the only thing that's keeping me happy right now."

Aang shrugged "Yeah, pretty much. Look, you can get it back later, but I have I video chat date with Katara in 15 minutes."

Azula scowled "I may not want it back after that. I don't know what the two of you talk about."

Aang rolled his eyes, picked his computer up and tucked it under his arm "See you guys later." and walked out of the room.

"It's not so bad Princess." Kuzon said looking up from his book "Fire Lord Iroh gave me a card to use for you, and we'll be able to replace all those things when we get to the North Pole. You just cannot-"

"I know, I know. I can't do anything with my name attached to it." she rolled over on the bed. "Don't you have a laptop?" she asked.

"I do. You are welcomed to use it as much as you like." He said reaching down for the case beside him and handing it to Azula.

She smiled as she happily took the computer out of it's case and opened it. She glanced around at him and stiffly said "Thank you."

Kuzon smiled a small bit "You are welcome Princess."

She looked at him for a moment, then pretended to look at the screen. She hated to admit it, even to herself, he was good looking. Not as tall as she liked, but he hand the dark and handsome part of the old saying covered. And he was a hard worker, loyal, and very brave. Not very many people had the fortitude to spend long periods of time with Azula, yet he did it as if it were no problem. She wondered why that was, and why it didn't bother her. Usually that would irritate her, but is didn't when it came to Kuzon. She didn't mind him being there, but the way he made her feel made her a bit uncomfortable, she wasn't used to feeling this way about anyone.

"Why do you feel the need to hover over me all the time? We're on a boat in the middle of nowhere headed to a convent in the middle of nowhere. You can take a break you know."

"It is my duty to protect you Princess." he said matter of factly and went back to his book.

Azula groaned and buried her head in her crossed arms.

Toph walked up onto the wooden deck and reached her hand out for Aang "We must be getting close, it's so cold I had to put on my boots."

He quickly went to her and grabbed her hand, wrapping it around his arm "We are." he s grinned "I'll get to see Katara first thing in the morning."

"Calm down thirsty. Damn. You act like you two haven't been talking every day."

"It's not the same."

"Whatever."

They stood there for a moment, the wind blowing Toph's black hair around her face. Aang was looking at her, wondering if he should say anything, but she spoke first "Why the hell are you staring at me! I told you I can feel that shit. Cut it out. If you have something to say, say it already."

He didn't waste any time "Are you dating Sokka?"

Toph's eyes squinted, but she got right to the point "Kinda….not really…shit, I can't explain it. How did you know?"

"Well, a couple of times I saw him going into or leaving your room," he scratched his arm nervously "and I heard you guys last night…mostly you. You'd think these ship's walls were thicker."

Toph blushed, but held her demander "Okay, so what. We're both adults. What's the big deal?"

He shrugged "No big deal, I was just wondering. I guess you guys thought everyone was sleeping."

"Well, you at least. His room is on the other side of mine."

"So is this like a secret or something?"

"I guess you can say that. I mean I talk to Zuko just to talk about it."

Aang chuckled "I bet he loves that."

Toph smiled "You know it, but he keeps it quiet and I like to make him squirm."

"Yeah, that is kinda fun. Nobody gets uncomfortable like Zuko."

She laughed "That's for sure."

"So what's the deal with you and Sokka?"

Toph exhaled heavily "There is no deal. We just do what we do."

"So it's all about sex?"

"No." she answered quickly "We laugh and stuff. We care about each other, it's just-" she groaned and snatched away, turning to Aang in frustration "I don't know what to call it, okay. It is what it is and lets just leave it at that. Okay?"

"Okay Toph. Whatever you say."

"See my friend," Ozai postured as he walked into their hide out "It is good to have supporters in high places."

Namae looked around and groaned in agreement. As they plundered thorough the tunnels beneath the mountain he was becoming more and more sure that perhaps following Ozai had been a mistake, but when the wall was moved by some unseen earth bender. The room was lit with glow crystals, and decorated quite poshly with a nice table, plush chairs and a couple of large beds on either side. Whoever this benefactor was, they meant for the two fugitives to live well until Ozai's plan was brought to fruition.

"Namae," Ozai called drawing the man's attention "There is something on your bed for you."

He walked over to the bed where a large box sat. This was truly a strange occasion, he had rarely been given anything, and never taken the time or the care to place it neatly into a box. He reached out and removed the to find delicate red and orange tissue paper folded around the object. He looked back at the prince with confusion.

"Go on." Ozai prompted, sounding slightly like an order.

Namae pulled the paper back and the gleam from his brass prosthetics reflected off his face. He started at the arm and leg like old friends, remembering how he'd taken the money he'd made from his first his and had them specially made by an underground doctor. The man was truly a genius who could do so much for other amputees, but because he dealt with the criminal element he would never be taken seriously. These one of a kind, shining brass appendages were the man's crowning achievements.

Namae turned to Ozai "As promised." the man said with a small bow.

Namae smirked a bit and bowed back.

Katara's ringtone for Aang - One Thousand Years by Christina Perri

(Thanks BaSingTei for having this on her Kataang Playlist, I'd forgotten about this song)