Chapter Twelve

Uncle Iroh sighed and rolled over in bed. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't sleep.

"Ah well. Perhaps a nice cup of hot tea will help me to sleep." He said, and climbed out of bed. He slipped into his shoes and started up the stairs. He stubbed his toe on the bottom one and had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling.

"Stupid stair!" he hissed, giving it a good kick, which only made his foot hurt worse. He finally reached the top and went on deck where he promptly realized that tea would most certainly be downstairs in the kitchen, not on the deck of a ship. He sighed, dreading the long journey back down the stairs, which in truth there were only seven of, when he heard Prince Zuko's voice coming from across the deck. Intrigued he crept silently towards the sound.

"I know he talks to himself but this is a whole new level of insane!" Uncle Iroh muttered. He paused, however, when he suddenly heard another voice. He realized it was Katara, the young water bending girl.

"Hmmm. This could be interesting." He crept up until he could see the two but he himself was hidden from view by a large stack of crates.

"Well, whatever. We can talk about this later." Prince Zuko was saying.

"Yes." answered Katara vaguely, her mind somewhere else.

Zuko reached forward and gently lifted her chin until she was looking at him. She brought her eyes up to meet his and couldn't help but smile. Then he slowly leaned in and they had their second kiss under the silver light of the moon.

Uncle Iroh rolled his eyes. "Teenagers!" he muttered, and stormed away to find the kitchen and his nice hot cup of tea.

'Your doing great Aang. You'll have earth bending down before you know it.'

'I hope so.'

'Those fire nation creeps won't know what hit them!'

'Yeah, and we can get Katara back.'

'Yeah. Hey! Be careful! Don't hit me with that rock!'

'What will we do if we beat the fire nation? I mean with the prisoners or survivors, or whatever?'

'First of all, you will beat the fire nation. Second…..I don't know. We have to make them pay for everything they've done. None can walk free.'

'But…'

'None Aang. Not one.'

Katara opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. The early morning light was filtering in through the small window in her room. After her talk with Zuko on deck they had snuck back down, without getting caught thankfully. She was still exhausted but this recent dream had woken her up.

"What's going on with me?" she said softly. "Surely these couldn't be visions, could they? I mean, Sokka wouldn't really say that…..would he?" She felt uncertainty fill her and she thought back to what Prince Zuko had said earlier. 'And why did he disappear when the fire nation attacked? Seems more like a coward to me.'

"Could he be right?" Katara couldn't come up with the answer. "You know…..I hadn't thought about it, but when I do return…..how will they react? They will never except that Prince Zuko and I are….are…well, together." She trailed off and worry crossed her face. She tried to remind herself of the feelings she had for Aang. He was one of her closest friends! But yet….he did get on her nerves. He was a better bender than her without even trying! And he was so naïve sometimes. "And he'll kill Zuko." She whispered. "No. I can't let that happen! But…he will. There's no way he would let him go. He can't take him away from me!" A tear slid down her face. "He can't." Her voice caught in her throat and she angrily wiped the tear from her cheek. Then she looked up determinedly. "I will not let him defeat Prince Zuko. I will not!"