Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Please do not sue me. I don't own the lyrics at the beginning of this chapter. They belong to the song "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. Please don't hurt me!

Author's Notes: Okay, it took me a while to get it up, but it IS a lot longer than the other to. So, happy, happy! Chapter three is up!

Now, responses to people...

Zukos Girl: Don't expect a lemon. I dislike lemons. They make my face scrunch up all funny-like. Now, FLUFF, on the other hand... but be patient. I'm not going to slam those two together for quite a while...

Arwey: Indeed. I am the evillest person I know. Which is why you'll find that (GASP) there is no Zuko in this chapter. (Grievances, I really am evil...) On the bright side, Chapter Four is going to be mostly Zuko. So, yeah.

Chapter Three
Take What You Get

"Life's like this:
You fall, and you crawl,
And you break, and you take
What you get..."

Aang and Sokka spent all night, all morning, and most of the afternoon combing the forest and the beach with only one thought in their mind.

"Katara!" Aang whisper-shouted. "Where are you, Katara?"

He would have been yelling at the top of his lungs if it hadn't been for the fact that Sokka had reminded him of the Fire Nation ship on the other end of the island. Sokka warned him that they may have spotted Appa--he was, after all, a giant, flying furrball.

"Don't worry, Aang," Sokka said, laying a reassuring hand on Aang's shoulder. "She probably just waited out the storm and fell asleep or something." Despite his words, he could not hide the worry in his eyes.

Aang relaxed, thinking that Sokka must be even more stressed than he was, seeing as how Katara was his sister. "You're right. And we're not even shouting, so of course she hasn't woken up yet. She probably found a really good hiding place--" he forced a small laugh. "Really, it's only a matter of time before we run into each other."

"Hey! You two!" a voice shouted from behind them. They both spun around, surprised.

The voice belonged to a boy a year or so older than Aang. He wore a shirt identical to the color of the forest leaves and breeches that matched the bark of the tree he stood next to. His expression was one of friendly curiosity.

"You're the two Nutjobs looking for some girl named 'Katara', right?" he said.

Aang nodded eagerly. "That's us! We're those nutjobs! Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah. Follow me, I'll show you to her." He spun on his heel and began walking briskly into the forest. Aang and Sokka hurried after him, making certain they didn't lose his camoflauged figure in the green setting. Despite of their carefulness, they almost lost him several times, but he periodically stopped and called to them to make sure they still followed him.

Finally, he stopped and turned around, a mischievous smirk on his face. "All right, now just stand right there while I pull the rope."

"Wait, rope?" Sokka said as he hurried off. "What do you mean, 'rope'?"

"I don't think he heard you," Aang said.

"Yeah, well, he's going to listen when--"

Sokka's reply was cut off abruptly as a trapdoor dropped open beneath them and they soon found themselves half-falling down a very steep slide. Their ride did not last long, however, and they soon found themselves in a heap on a pile of hay.

Before they had time to collect their bearings, a female voice spoke to them. "You're the Nutjobs, right? The ones Hagan sent down."

"Well, we don't know if they guy who led us here was Hagan," Aang said as he sat up, brushing a few straws of hay off his shoulder, "but we are the Nutjobs."

Sokka tumbled out of the hay unceremoniously, landing on his rump. He rubbed the back of his head as he looked up at the girl standing over him. "Why does everyone keep calling us nutjobs? And who're you?"

The girl--she was about Katara's age--laughed. "Well, we're calling you that because only crazy people would run around on the beach, practically begging to be attacked by the Fire Nation Raiding Party in the forest next to them. As for me, my name is Tenerli. Come on, I'll show you where Katara is, and I promise it won't involve any trapdoors."

Without another word, she turned around and began walking down a corridoor. Sokka glanced at Aang, who shrugged, and they hurried to follow her through the illogically twisting corridoors.

It seemed hours before they stopped, though in reality it couldn't have been over a minute.

Tenerli opened a door and gestured to Aang and Sokka to step through. Inside they found a yellow-walled room occupied by two cots and a colorful array of wall decor, ranging from finger paintings to pressed wild flowers to solemn poetry in flowery, pink letters. One of the cots was occupied by a girl in a blue robe, sitting up and looking at them with a bright smile on her face.

"Aang! Sokka!" Katara cried, swinging her legs off the cot.

Aang and Sokka hurried over to her, smothering her in a hug before she even had a chance to stand up.

"Katara! I'm so glad you're okay," Aang said, burying his face in her shoulder.

Katara patted him on the back. "I know, Aang. I'm just lucky that these people found me."

"What happened, Katara?" Sokka asked. "Why couldn't you just waterbend out of there? Did you get knocked out or something?"

"No... I don't really remember what happened. I knew I was trying to waterbend, but the storm waves were too strong for me to control... I was trying to call out to you guys, and I must have swallowed some water... I got so dizzy, and then I just... blacked out."

"Murchadh saw her in the ocean," Tenerli stated from the door, "and he swam out to get her. I'd say it's lucky he survived, and with a passenger to boot, but Murchadh's honed his water bending to accomodate chaotic conditions."

"What?" Sokka said.

Tenerli smiled. "He's good in storms. Specially trained for it, in fact."

"Oh. Ah... I knew that," Sokka replied.

Katara pushed her brother's shoulder. "Sure you did," she teased.

"She awake?" someone said from the doorway. Aang, Sokka, and Katara looked to find a scrawny, dark-faced boy of fifteen standing at the door, a curious expression on his face.

Tenerli placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is Murchadh. Murchadh, you know Katara--the other two are the Nutjobs."

"Nifty," Murchadh said, a crooked grin spreading over his face. He looked at Tenerli. "We should show them around. Where's Carlaoh? She usually handles stuff like this."

"Negotiating," Tenerli answered promptly.

"With Fireface?" he asked, surprised.

"The same."

"I thought Carlaoh wanted to avoid conflict with him."

"That was before Geryl overheard Fireface's plans."

"Care to enlighten me, O Wise One?"

"Burn the forest at dawn."

"Ouch."

"No kidding. As soon as Carlaoh got wind, she and Synhard got together and started talking about what they should do about Fireface and his orders."

"I'll bet they finally found something they could agree on."

"No kidding, though they did have a bit of an arguement as to how they'd treat Fireface once they took him prisoner."

"Hold on!" Aang interrupted, stepping away from Katara. "What's going on? Who's Fireface? And those other people you're talking about? What's this about prisoners?"

At first, Murchadh looked surprised to see Aang there, and then his expression turned sheepish. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you guys were there. What's your name, anyway? I can't just keep calling you and your friend over there the Nutjobs forever!"

"My name's Aang, and that's Sokka."

"Which reminds me," Sokka said suspiciously, "just how did you know Katara's name?"

Tenerli giggled. Crooked grin still plastered on his face, Murchadh answered, "Well, you two WERE shouting it at the top of your lungs, right? Anyway, we thought--they're looking for someone, we've got someone. Two and two, right?"

"Anyway," Tenerli interrupted, "we've kept you three standing here long enough. Hey, Anthrype!" she said, suddenly turning away from the door. "You're a junior negotiator. Why don't you fill the Waterkid and the Nutjobs in?"

A blonde head popped up from behind Tenerli, blinking at Aang. She turned back to Tenerli. "Can do, Tenni. Names?"

"Waterkid's Katara, Nutjob B is Sokka, and Nutjob A is Aang."

"Got it." The blonde head disappeared again, and soon a small girl (couldn't be a day over twelve) stepped in front of the door, shoving Murchadh and Tenerli aside. "Okay, give 'em room! They're guests, don't crowd 'em!" The other two left without a word, waving silent goodbyes to them. The girl turned back to them and gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Those older kids have absolutely no manners. Follow me! I'll show you around. Don't worry, I'll answer any questions you've got." She turned and began slowly walking down the corridoor; Aang, Sokka, and Katara soon followed. She spoke as they walked. "My name is Anthrype. I'm a junior negotiator--one of the people around here who deal with outsiders."

"All right, just pause a minute," Katara said. "The other two were talking about someone named Fireface and prisoners. What's that all about?"

Anthrype hesitated. "Well, Carlaoh should really be the ones to tell you about that, since she is the one who knows the most about it." She shrugged. "But I suppose I could tell you what I do know." She began walking again. "As you've probably noticed, we have nicknames for any outsiders we talk about..."

"Yeah, about that," Sokka began, "what was with that 'Nutjob A' and 'Nutjob B' business?"

"Oh, that's easy. You see, 'A' stands for Arrow, as in Aang's arrow tattoo, and 'B' stands for Blue, which is the color of your coat."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess," Sokka said.

"But what about Fireface and that prisoner stuff?" Katara pressed.

"I'm getting there. Anyway, we also have nicknames for important Fire Nation figures. You probably noticed a Fire Nation Ship when you landed on this island, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, that ship belongs to none other than Prince Zuko. He's Fireface."

"But that still doesn't explain what all this prisoner stuff is about."

"Well--"

"Anthrype!"

They turned around to find a dark-eyed teenager gazing at them with a friendly expression. She smiled at them. "Hello, there. My name is Carlaoh, and I am the Leader of Negotiations." She looked at Anthrype. "It's okay, cadet. I'll take it from here."

Anthrype nodded to Carlaoh and took off. They dark-eyed girl turned to them. "Come on. I'll answer all of your questions over a cup of tea." With that, she turned about and began leading them down the corridoor.

"Should we follow her?" Katara asked Aang, uncertain.

"Well, you take what you get, right?" he responded. After taking a deep breath, he followed Carlaoh. Sokka shrugged and followed as well.

After a moment's hesitation, Katara did the same, but she felt a growing uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. All of this strongly reminded her of one thing, and one thing only...

Jet.

Man, I'm addicted to cliff hangers. I'm so evil. Mua-a-a-a-a...

Anyway, please feed my ego (or punish it, whichever suits) and leave a review!