Chapter Two: A..Kind Zuko?

She didn't know it, but Katara had been lying in her bed for three hours. She had been thinking about what her plans would be to escape. And how she would do it. Firebenders were quite dangerous. Although water beats fire, she hadn't mastered her waterbending skills and the people on this ship have had years to train and probably had someone to teach them. She pulled off the covers and stepped onto the carpet. Was that there before? She stood in front of a fairly large window. Apparently, she hadn't noticed it in the beginning. Her eyes stared out into the sea, and then toward the distant shore. It was slowly disappearing as they moved farther and farther away.

Prince Zuko opened the door quietly and closed it behind him. He stood there for a moment, awed at how calm Katara looked despite her circumstances. Finally, he slowly approached her and placed a gentle, but all the same firm hand on her should. Her body jerked away from him immediately.. "You startled me." She clapped her hand over her chest and closed her eyes for a while, taking a deep breath. "It's lunchtime." He replied and took her wrist. Again, it was a firm, strong grip. He strode beside her, instead of forcing her to follow him. "Uncle Iroh is a pig." He abruptly declared. "He ordered our cook to make a huge feast so I don't think dinner will be a problem." He seemed to put a bit of humor in this, though one couldn't tell by his serious voice. It was like he was always telling excuses about everything. The nice room, decent breakfast, and now a feast for lunch.

They soon entered a large room, decorated with beautiful priceless tapestries. Without knowing it, her hand slipped out of Zuko's grasp and she walked up to a tapestry, awed by it's beauty. Having his back turned, Zuko turned, alarmed. He thought that she was going to try and escape. He calmed down when he saw that she was just studying the tapestries. Katara gasped loudly. "Oh my goodness…Is this…?" She turned around to face him, gesturing toward a certain tapestry that had a scene of the previous Avatar aiding a water tribe. "Yes." Zuko nodded. "That was painted by a waterbender from a water tribe. Uncle has a strange taste in these things. He always chooses the decorations for everything. But I must admit, this is a good one. We got it for over fifteen thousand gold coins."

"This tapestry…" Katara scanned the work of art for some sort of a trademark, or signature that announced who had created this. She found one on the bottom right hand corner. Her hand reached over to it and brushed against the fine material. "My mother made this…" She smiled and her whole face began to brighten up. Zuko couldn't help but let his usually frowning mouth turn into a slight smile as well.

"Lunchtime!" Iroh announced and plopped noisily down on a chair seated next to a large, throne-like one. This certain chair was made of pure gold and the seat was made of one of the best material ever. Prince Zuko walked to the seat next to the throne-like chair and across from his uncle. Katara decided to follow, not knowing where to sit. She thought that he'd sit there, but instead he pulled the chair back a little and gestured for her to sit. Obediently, she sat down. "Thank you." He gave her a quick nod and sat in the elegant chair next to her's. "Let the feast begin."

+ After Lunch +
"Mhhmuhmmm…" Uncle Iroh mumbled in his sleep as he snored loudly. Everyone had just about finished eating and he, Zuko, and Katara were the last at the long table. Zuko stood and motioned to her with his hand. "Come." Katara rose from her seat and followed him out of the room the way they had come in. She couldn't help but think that they were treating her much too kindly. Especially for people from the fire nation. "Uh.." She poked him in the shoulder and stammered, wondering what to call him. Zuko seemed too friendly and Prince Zuko seemed to formal. He had no other names that she knew of.

"Zuko." He said to her, as if reading her mind. "You may call me Zuko." Katara felt her cheeks grow warm. "Zuko…" It felt weird to be saying his name. "Zuko, do you mind if you take me around the ship or something? I get a little bored in my, er, room." She stared down at her feet as she spoke. He laughed, the first cheerful thing she'd heard all day. "Sure. But you wouldn't want to look around here. It's just as boring. I'll take you outside." It was weird to see him so…Happy.. Oh well. Katara shrugged and followed him out to the deck. She took a deep breath, just happy to be out in the fresh air. Zuko took her hand, making her blush even though it was probably to make sure she couldn't run away. Although who would want to jump into the icy ocean?

Author's Note: Hey, sorry that this chapter is so short. 10 minutes until 11 PM and I have school tomorrow. I'm going to be really cranky tomorrow. XDD Thanks to my first two reviewers WHOO! XPP

Silvertails--- Hey this is already a good start! This can definitely lead to places! Keep it up! I'll be looking forward to upcoming chapters! I would like to read your Harry Potter stories as well sometime.

Me--- I'd really really love to let you read them, but they're all on Death-Curse's fanfiction site and I haven't saved it. I think that Death-Curse deleted the site, last time I checked. Sorry. 3