Book 2, Earth CHAPTER 1, AGNI KAI

Book Summary: The Northern Water Tribe has destroyed the Fire Navy fleet as Aang and Katara master Water. Now, they journey towards the Earth kingdom and pick up a few new friends along the way. Zuko+Katara.

Author's Note: This is part of a series of episodes that begins from where the last Avatar episode, The Blue Spirit leaves off. You'll probably enjoy this more if you've read all of my previous stories from The Book of Water in their proper order. They're listed on my profile page (justanotheravatarfan). Thank you and I apologize for any inconvenience.

Chapter Summary: Spring approaches and love is in the air. Katara and Aang master waterbending and our heroes prepare for a journey to the Earth Kingdom. And Zuko is forced to contend with an unexpected challenger for Katara's affections.

To my lovely and wonderful reviewers: My replies are at the end of this chapter. I value your comments, suggestions and critiques immensely and am thrilled that real live humans are actually reading my stories! Or at least, I assume you're all live humans, though it would be rather flattering to also have fans amongst the legions of the undead.

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After a long sleep, Katara awakens, stretches out her arms and yawns. With an automatic motion, she smoothes her hair with the palms of her hands, and then gasps in horror. Instead of her long, soft brunette hair, her hands encounter … razor stubble.

"Eeeew," the girl exclaims in disgust. Then she looks confused and whispers, "Where am I?"

Her eyes scan the room as she takes in her surroundings. She discovers that she is inside of a cozy little dome-shaped tent made from animal hides. Her bed consists of the soft furry skin of a polar bear stretched tautly across wooden stakes driven into the icy floor. The rest of the floor is covered with furry rugs striped in subtle gradations of blue and purple. In the middle of the room, a small fire burns merrily in a pottery stove with a chimney that directs the smoke up through a hole in the roof. Her eyes follow the chimney upwards and squint into the bright sunlight streaming from above. The deep, warm terracotta color of the chimney looks beautiful against the cool, blue color of the sky.

Katara frowns as she gradually recalls her recent adventures.

The decision to disguise her as the Avatar and to conceal Sokka, Zuko and Nilak within a giant ice sculpture of a polar bear to trick Admiral Zhao into bringing them onto his ship. Tupilek, Iroh, and Chief Saghani shaving her head and painting arrows on her scalp, hands and feet. The admiral's brutal assaults upon the Avatar imposter before their escape … and then, Sedna's utterly terrifying destruction of the entire Fire Navy fleet …

"Oh no," Katara whimpers as she buries herself beneath the blankets. "My face!"

Her vanity fills her with self-loathing, as she struggles to remember that she should be grateful that they're safe from the Fire Nation, at least for a little while … Alas, she can't help herself.

Soon, immense thirst and ravenous hunger drive Katara out from beneath the bedcovers. From the corner of her eye, she spies a tall cup of water, along with a dish of yogurt mixed with plump, juicy, garnet-colored lingonberries. Katara gulps down the water and then voraciously gobbles down her food.

As she gratefully places her empty bowl and glass back on the table, her hand suddenly brushes against an object that feels so incredibly warm and soft that she involuntarily gasps with delight.

Startled, she looks towards the table and discovers the simplest, and yet most enchantingly beautiful hat she has ever seen. It is a round cap made from light, supple material with an indescribable color that subtly shimmers between shades of blue, green and purple like waves glimmering in an irridescent sea. The edges are trimmed with a profusion of silky, white ermine fur tipped with blue-ish silver.

The girl tries on the hat, gets out of bed, and glances hopefully towards a small mirror on the other side of the room.

The mirror does not disappoint her. Katara realizes that she must have slept for several days, because the bruises and cuts on her face are barely perceptible. Although she still mourns for her long, shining, brunette tresses of hair, the hat frames her face beautifully and draws attention to her striking blue eyes. Without thinking, she smiles and twirls before the mirror in her nightgown as the fur trim lifts and twirls along with her.

The water girl smiles and thinks of Tupilek, the high water shaman.

"How kind of her," Katara muses to herself, "At least SHE understands how I feel. Boys never understand these things"

Then Katara's brow wrinkles doubtfully. Her mentor is gentle, thoughtful, and often motherly, but the hat seems too preposterously luxurious to have been a gift from her. And how could she have acquired the silky fabric on the isolated North Pole? Despite Katara's extensive traveling, she has never seen a hat remotely like this.

Suddenly, she raises her hands to her head as she discovers a hard, lumpy object pressing disagreeably into her scalp. Katara snatches off her new hat with annoyance, and her mother's necklace tumbles into the palm of her other hand. The necklace that she had hurled down the steely staircase of the Fire Navy's flag ship in order to give herself and her cohorts an opportunity to ambush the guards.

Katara abruptly recalls that only one person had descended the staircase far enough to have possibly retrieved her lost necklace. The same person who had returned her necklace the last time she had lost it.

Her eyes fly open with utter astonishment and she gulps in bewilderment, "Prince ZUKO?"

The unlikely image of the warlike, fierce-tempered fire prince sitting cross-legged with a needle and thread and sewing a hat by candlelight flits through Katara's mind and she bursts into peals of laughter.

"Ridiculous!" she cries out, as tears of mirth roll down her cheeks.

Then the water girl remembers something else that had happened yesterday – or was it several days ago? Surely she must have only imagined it in some feverish delirium.

The fire prince grasping her shoulders, and drawing her close, as he gently wipes the blood and tears from her face with the silken band that he had unwound from his hair. Zuko whispering, "No, Katara. You're … you're … not hideous. That's my department," and Katara softly replying, "I don't think you look hideous, Zuko," and gazing into his glowing amber eyes for … how long?

Katara trembles and sits down on the edge of her bed as she experiences the odd, giddy sensation of her body going boneless. She panics and whispers to her self as she raises the back of her hand towards her forehead, "What's wrong with me? Am I sick? I hope someone comes soon so I can ask them."

But her forehead feels cool to the touch, and the girl soon mutters, "Wait … I think I've felt like this once before." Then she abruptly sits upright as a jolt of recognition surges down her spine like electricity

"Jet!" she exclaims out loud, and then softly adds, "Before he betrayed me."

The girl takes a deep breath, and manages to stand up despite the slight wobble in her knees. "Egads," she bursts forth when she finally exhales. "Zuko?"

Then she composes herself and says, "I had better wash up, get dressed and find the others." She reaches for her clothes, which are neatly folded at the foot of the bed. They smell like they've just been laundered and Katara inhales the clean scent and sighs with contentment.

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The girl is dressed and spinning on her toes in front of the mirror to admire her hat as it shimmers in the light cascading from the ceiling and the fur trim lifts and falls softly with her movements. She abruptly stops and emerges from her reverie when she notices a long shadow stretching across the floor.

Someone has opened the flap to her tent. I hope they haven't been standing there long enough to notice me acting like a total IDIOT, she thinks as her cheeks turn slightly pink. Suddenly, Katara's eyes grow round and her cheeks blaze crimson as she turns around and sees Prince Zuko standing by the opening to the tent.

"Um … Sorry. It's my turn to check up on you," He explains awkwardly with a slight tremor in his voice, "I … I'll go tell the others that you're awake."

Katara notices that the good side of Zuko's face looks slightly flushed. She smiles with sympathy for his embarrassment and declares, "It's okay. I'll go along with you."

But instead of walking towards the water temple where the others are most likely to be found, they find themselves wandering towards a deserted watchtower along the fortress walls. Katara and Zuko silently ascend the icy staircase towards the top, and are rewarded with a breathtaking view of the sparkling ocean speckled with glistening white melting ice floes beneath the vast blue sky. Even with the longer days that herald the coming of spring, the sun has already begun its descent towards the horizon. Side by side, they lean forwards against the wall and gaze outward with the good side of Zuko's face towards Katara's.

Zuko finally breaks the awkward silence as the corner of his mouth turns up in a rueful half-smile and he surmises, "I suppose that since my plan put all of our lives in peril – not to mention your hair – you'll be taking at LEAST ten points away from me!"

Katara laughs at his reference to their ongoing little game, which had sprung from one of the first of their many heated arguments.

Zuko sneers, "So, this is how you treat someone who saved your life?"

"Hah!" Katara laughs defiantly, "Maybe when you've SAVED our lives as many times as you've THREATENED them, THEN I'll make nicey-nice with you!"

She looks at him shyly from the corner of her eye, and softly replies, "Forget that. It seems like such a long time ago, Prince Zuko."

Before Katara even realizes what she is doing, she turns towards Zuko and places a tentative hand on his shoulder for balance. She stands on the tips of her toes, and lightly kisses him on the cheek. She then gasps at her own forwardness as her cheeks turn bright pink and she begins to move away.

Then Zuko brusquely commands, "No."

Startled, Katara turns her face up inquiringly towards his, and suddenly finds herself unable to move.

Blazing embers spark from deep within the fire prince's tawny eyes as they pin down the water girl's softly shimmering blue ones. In a fluid movement as swift and powerful as a cat pouncing on its prey, he grips the small of her back with one hand and the nape of her neck with the other, and pulls the water girl towards him. His hand slides along her neck towards her cheek and jaw line, as he sharply tips her face upwards by the chin, and then leans forward and kisses her hard on the mouth.

For a moment, Katara's eyes widen and her body stiffens as she realizes that her arms are trapped between Zuko's. Then she closes her eyes, leans into him, and slowly glides her hands upwards along Zuko's chest and wraps her arms around his neck as she fervently returns his kiss.

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When the fire prince and the water girl finally release each other, the sky blazes orange and red as the sun sinks below the horizon.

"My gosh! What time is it?" Katara exclaims.

"Probably about three in the afternoon, since we only get a few hours of sunlight these days," Zuko responds.

"We should go back before the others wonder where we are," Katara says with a tinge of regret, as they hold hands and begin descending the staircase.

Then she laughs nervously and groans, "My brother will kill me! And … even worse … Your Uncle Iroh will tease us mercilessly!"

Zuko's jaw tightens and he snaps, "Nobody needs to know … after all, what happens between us is none of their business."

Then he adds, as a knowing smirk sneaks across his face, "Besides, you may find that Iroh and Tupilek are too … um … occupied to notice anything."

The exit the watchtower and let go of each other's hands. Katara bursts out laughing as she gapes at Zuko and trills, "What do you MEAN they're TOO OCCUPIED!"

"You'll see," Zuko replies with a grin, "Apparently, the fire and water thing is contagious!"

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Sure enough, as Katara and Zuko approach the water temple, they spy Iroh and Tupilek standing by the fortress wall enjoying the glorious sunset. The Dragon of the West's arm is wrapped snugly around the High Water Shaman's waist and her head leans against his broad shoulder as strands of her long, silky black hair catch upon his grizzled salt-and-pepper whiskers.

"Sorry to INTERRUPT you and the honorable High Water Shaman, Uncle," the fire prince calls out teasingly, "But I thought that both of you MAY want to know that Katara has finally woken up!"

Startled, Iroh and Tupilek whirl around and then beam happily when they see Katara standing next to Zuko. They rush towards her and envelop the girl in their embraces. Katara squirms as she struggles for breath, and finally the two elders step back.

"Lovely hat, Katara," Tupilek comments, "It matches your eyes perfectly."

Then, Katara's and Zuko's hearts plummet into their stomachs as Iroh and Tupilek both lean back with arms folded against their chests and each raise a quizzical eyebrow as they observe the young people's slightly flushed and disheveled appearances.

Iroh's eyes twinkle with amusement as he observes, "But nephew, we sent you to check up on the girl over an hour ago."

"Yeah, but she … just woke up," Zuko mutters lamely.

The boy and girl sigh with relief when Iroh merely nods and says, "Sokka and Aang will be glad to see that you're finally well, Katara. Let's go and find them."

As they follow Iroh and Tupilek, Katara whispers, "Thank you for the hat … it's so … so … beautiful. Where did you find it?"

The good side of Zuko's face turns red as he mutters, "I, er, um … I made it."

Katara giggles and looks at him with an expression of disbelief.

Zuko glares at her ferociously and snaps, "Soldiers of the Fire Nation are required to keep their weapons and clothing in good repair, Katara … and I guess that includes sewing."

She grins at Zuko and declares, "I wish you'd tell that to SOKKA." And they both laugh.

They find Sokka, Aang and Momo leaning against Appa's warm, furry body and sharing dinner as Appa contentedly munches on a couple bales of kelp. Or, more accurately, Sokka and Momo are in the process of devouring everything in sight while Aang disconsolately picks at his food.

"Sokka! Aang! Momo! Appa!" Katara cries out.

Four faces suffused with joy turn towards Katara. Aang immediately leaps up and ecstatically runs towards the girl. Appa stays put, as Sokka and Momo finish chewing their mouthfuls of fish and berries before they follow Aang.

The Avatar's face glows and his clear gray eyes look up worshipfully into the girl's face, and then he hugs her. He pipes up in a quavering voice, "I'm so glad you're feeling better, Katara."

Katara returns Aang's embrace, as Momo coos and chirps happily and leaps onto the girls shoulder.

Then, Sokka saunters up and gruffly mumbles, "Well, it wasn't like you were going to DIE or anything."

But his eyes fill with tears as he clutches his sister to his chest and murmurs softly into her hat, "Boy, we all sure kicked some Fire Nation butt, didn't we!"

Then Sokka bows his head respectfully towards the ocean as Katara follows suit, and adds, "Thanks to Sedna, Queen of the Sea, of course." A wave swells, peaks, and then crashes onto the shore far below to acknowledge the compliment.

"And you, too, Zuko," Sokka declares as he extends a hand towards Zuko and beams happily towards him. "I'm sorry for ever doubting you."

The fire prince smiles back and grips the Water Tribe boy's hand and shakes it firmly in a gesture of friendship.

Meanwhile, Aang shoots questioning glance towards Zuko and Katara that nobody else observes, as a barely perceptible dim voice in the back of his mind comments, something has changed.

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Tupilek stands between Aang and Katara before the heavy, intricately carved, glistening doors of ice that bar them from the inner sanctuary of the Northern Water Temple. The frozen doors are joined together with two elaborate, hollow bas-relief frozen sea serpents whose bodies coil from each door and twine together in the center in a smooth, complicated pattern with openings at each of their tails.

"Children, this is the final test for whether you two have truly mastered the art of Waterbending," the High Water Shaman proclaims. "You must work together to open the doors to the inner sanctuary."

Aang and Katara take deep breaths and then focus on each other as well as their respective doors. They squeeze their eyes shut as they concentrate on collecting moisture from the air, and then glide their hands in a swirling motion to direct streams of water into the tails of the sea serpents guarding the doors. Then, the Avatar and the water girl gasp in awe as the doors creak, groan, and then swing open.

Glistening ice sculptures of past avatars glimmer in the faint blue light and spiral outwards from the center in concentric circles. Suddenly, the eyes of the most recent waterbending incarnation of the avatar glow phosphorescent blue from within the hood of her parka, and the building trembles, as Tupilek cries, "Avatar Adlartok!"

"Yes, Tupilek, High Water Shaman of the Northern Water Tribe," the past avatar declares in a loud, clear voice that echoes against the icy walls of the inner sanctuary, "I am Adlartok. The new Avatar must travel back to the City of Omashu in the Earth Kingdom in order to master earthbending with his old friend, King Bumi. And his other friends shall accompany him, and I DO mean ALL of his friends."

Tupilek suddenly trembles as she falls to her knees, looks up into the glowing eyes of Adlartok, and whispers, "You mean … that I should go, too?"

"Yes," replies the statue of Adlartok. "The new Avatar will need all the help he can get."

She then adds, "Which is also why you must all depart on the evening of the Spring Equinox to ensure that your journey is blessed by Sedna, Queen of the Sea, our ancestors, and others from the Spirit World."

Aang remembers the Winter Solstice and his encounter with Hei Bai, and whispers, "Because that's one of the times when the portal opens between the Human World and the Spirit World … But that's only a few days away!"

But the statue's eyes grow dim, as the three humans raise their bowed heads, leave the inner sanctuary, and close the heavy doors behind them.

Katara gently takes the shaken Tupilek's hands within hers, looks tenderly into her teacher's midnight blue eyes, and murmurs softly, "I know it's hard to leave home. But I'm also glad that you'll come with us."

Then the water girl darts a mischievous glance towards Tupilek and teases, "And I'm sure that Iroh will not object to you as a guest!"

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Katara and Zuko stand on the watchtower and silently gaze towards the sea as a soft breeze ruffles the fur trim of her hat along with his ponytail. Zuko is standing behind the girl with his arms around her waist and rests his chin on the top her head as she leans back against his chest.

Katara reaches into a pouch hanging from her belt and produces a fresh spring roll with plum sauce. She places the spring roll on the wall, cuts it with her knife, turns around and hands half of it to Zuko. They stand side-by-side looking up at the sky and lean forward against the wall as they eat their lunch.

That's something I like about her, Zuko muses to him self as a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, we can share a spring roll and not say a word.

Meanwhile, Aang, Sokka and Nilak decide to visit the village. "Let's take Momo with us," suggests Sokka with a devilish wink, "He'll make a good conversation piece for the girls!"

Sure enough, as soon as they arrive at the village, they're surrounded by a flock of young ladies who fuss over Momo while casting coy glances towards Aang, Sokka and Nilak from under their eyelashes. Momo enjoys the attention as he preens, chirps, and cooes while batting his enormous eyes at everyone. Sokka and Nilak engage a pair of particularly pretty teenagers in a lively, bantering conversation.

But Aang barely responds to the fetching young lass who is gazing up at him while breathlessly inquiring, "Oooh. Is that your staff?"

The boys' cheeks suddenly flush as sheepish expressions suffuse their faces, when they see Tupilek walking towards them from one direction and Iroh approaching from the other.

"Has anyone seen Katara?" asks Tupilek.

"No, I haven't," responds Iroh, "And I'm looking for Zuko."

Sokka shrugs nonchalantly to disguise how desperately he wants his elders to disappear so he resume his flirtations before the girls get bored and disperse.

But the high water shaman turns towards Sokka and Aang, and excitedly announces, "Since we're leaving tomorrow, Iroh and I are throwing a party! Meet us in our tent at supper time." Then she nods towards Nilak and adds, "And you, too, of course."

Tupilek turns towards Iroh and says, "They're probably up there somewhere."

Sokka and Nilak both sigh with relief as the elders turn around and walk back towards the entrance to the Northern Water Temple, and then continue holding court with the ladies. The older boys do not notice that Aang's face has turned pale and that he has quietly withdrawn from the crowd.

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Iroh and Tupilek preside over the low, round ivory table heaped with delicacies and jugs of lingonberry wine in their tent, as they beam festively upon the faces of their guests. Sokka, Zuko, Katara, and Nilak – who has insisted on accompanying his lieutenant to the Earth Kingdom – smile back as they eagerly anticipate the delicious victuals before them.

But Aang frowns and refuses to meet any one's eyes.

"Surely we deserve a celebratory feast before we proceed towards the Earth Kingdom," exclaims an exuberant Iroh, as he looks eagerly towards a plate of steaming scallion pancakes and a bowl of fragrant noodles.

Tupilek motions for everyone to pass their plates towards her and smiles as she heaps them with food and passes them back. Everyone eats with contentment as they exchange stories, jokes, and idle chatter about how good the food tastes, the coming of spring, and their recent victory.

Soon they're all laughing and making increasingly lively toasts to tomorrow's journey.

Suddenly, Aang hiccups loudly. Thunderheads gather in his large gray eyes, which flash with lightning as his eyebrows knit together in a scowling frown.

The boy darts a ferocious glare towards Zuko as he abruptly declares, "I think I'm ready for firebending now."

Zuko smiles as he meets Aang's stormy eyes with steady amber ones, and replies, "Fine, we can resume training tomorrow morning."

"No," snaps Aang. "I mean right now."

Startled, Zuko shrugs and mutters, "Um … sure. But can we finish eating first?"

Then the boy angrily snarls, "I mean … what do you guys call it? Agni Kai."

Suddenly, everyone's heads jerk up from their plates as though controlled by a single switch and the room grows ominously silent.

A blaze of gold flickers in the fire prince's eyes, but he controls his temper, looks contemptuously at the Avatar and coolly states, "I will not fight you, Aang. You may be the Avatar, but you're also still a child."

Aang springs up lightly from the floor, gathers a ball of fire in his hand, and hurls it towards Zuko's face as he shouts, "You will HAVE to fight me, Prince Zuko!"

"Very well, then," Zuko mutters with a baffled look on his face, as his body slants away from the oncoming missile, "We'll go outside."

Aang indignantly stalks out of the tent with Zuko reluctantly following, as their hosts throw water on the fire. Then, Iroh, Tupilek, Sokka, Nilak and Katara rush out of the tent, their faces clouded with expressions of panic and utter bewilderment.

The antagonists circle around each other warily. Aang makes the first move as he arches low to the ground and blasts a torrential wall of flames towards his reluctant opponent. Zuko nimbly ducks away from the assault, but is nearly overwhelmed as Aang punches and kicks out one flame after another with incredible strength and speed.

Zuko dives and rolls forward in a somersault to dodge the multiple streams of fire, rises in front of Aang and grabs his arms by the wrists while attempting to knock his opponent off balance with his foot. But the boy's eyes fill with a supernatural, blue glowing light as he flings the astonished fire prince against the frozen wall of the fortress with such force that the older boy crumples as he slides towards the ground.

The wind begins howling and lightning flashes in the cloudless sky, as Aang gathers an immense ball of flames between his hands and stands poised to hurl it violently towards Zuko. Katara lunges forward and extinguishes the fire with a torrent of water. She increases the water's volume and velocity, blasts it towards Aang's stomach, and finally knocks him down. Then she blows softly and immobilizes the boy in a straitjacket of ice.

Ice-blue sparks dart from the girl's eyes as they bore into the boy's clear gray ones. She stomps angrily towards the Avatar and drops down beside him.

"What the heck has gotten INTO you, Aang?" Katara screams into Aang's stricken face.

The avatar glares furiously at the girl, and shouts back, "Why didn't you TELL ME!"

The girl's eyes widen and flare coldly with indignation as she snaps, "Tell you WHAT!"

"About you and Zuko," Aang sharply retorts. He then mutters resentfully, "I hate him for even looking at you!"

Sokka roars with laughter as he collapses onto his heels and begins rocking back and forth as tears of hilarity begin to run down his cheeks. He pants for breath, and manages to snort derisively, "My sister with a FIREBENDER? You've got to be KIDDING me!" before he bursts into fresh peals of laughter.

Finally, the Southern Water Tribe boy realizes that his sister has not joined him in his fit of mirth.

Sokka glances nervously towards Katara, and inquires, "Um … this is really hilarious … right?"

But the girl merely meets her brother's eyes apprehensively and then looks sadly towards Aang and melts the ice. She takes his hand and helps him up, as her eyes fill with tears.

Sokka claps the palm of his head to his forehead as he rolls his eyes skyward and cries out in an exasperated tone, "Why doesn't ANYBODY ever TELL me anything!"

Katara looks deep into the Avatar's eyes and then hangs down her head as she softly whispers, "I'm so sorry, Aang. I… I… didn't know."

Her tears fall on the snow between her feet and the boy's. She then turns around and walks sadly towards her tent. Zuko knows that the girl is weeping, but feels that he would make things worse by following her.

Iroh wearily rubs his eyes and announces, "I believe that we could all use a good night's rest."

But the retired general looks slyly towards Tupilek, grins wolfishly, and declares, "But first, you need to arrange for those masks. I am sure you have not forgotten our bet?"

The high water shaman smiles back and replies, "Yes. The girl has definitely mastered waterbending. Though there is still much for her to learn"

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END MATTER

Sources for my stories and notes to those who reviewed my previous story…

My Sources (AKA, Where I get this stuff from)

"Adlartok" is the Inuit word for "Clear Sky."

Also, the thing about Zuko enjoying the fact that he can share a spring roll with Katara without saying a word … I totally stole that from Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman, in which a man falls in love with a woman from afar because he sees her in the park every day, and thinks that she is the sort of girl with whom he could "share a peanut butter sandwich without saying a word." For some reason, I found that to be incredibly sweet, quirky and touching.

NOTE TO THOSE WHO ATTEMPTED TO READ CHAPTER 17: THE SEA SERPENT and couldn't find the story. Oops, sorry! I've posted the correct document and you should be able to read it now! Thanks for letting me know, Lonewolf-Chica.

RESPONSES TO REVIEWERS FOR CHAPTER 19: THE NORTHERN WATER TEMPLE

Harpygirl91: Sorry – I've discovered that Fanfiction site does not let us publish links. So I will give them to you phonetically. The site I mentioned is at FourNations dot Tripod dot com. I also highly recommend the Distant Horizon site at www dot musogato dot com slash avatar slash.

ZukosGirl: Will I end it at one point? Gee, I dunno … probably when the new season comes and does everything differently and knocks the wind out of my sails. Yeah, I guess it wasn't exactly a "love scene," I was just kind of teasing. But it was kind of loving and maybe a beginning. Thanks for reading it anyway, though!

Lucibell: Thanks for the kind words … I enjoy reading "You Don't Hate Me," too and will review soon.

Luna Riven: Thank you for your support!

XseabiscuitX: Dang, you don't know German? Maybe something like "Das is gut!" Of course, I don't know German either. I figure the Japanese meaning for "Kai" makes more sense for Agni Kai (fire meeting). But thank you for telling me that "Kai" also means "Ocean" in Hawaii. How lovely. I'm also jealous that you've been to Hawaii. Now I know where you got YOUR new character's name for your story. That's cool. And I PROMISE I'll bring Haru back … I totally adore that wavy-haired, amethyst-eyed, earthbending hottie!

Lonewolf-Chica: Thanks for your support on the eyebrow issue! Nonetheless, I'll still remember from the reviewer of my previous story that I need to be careful when referring to "eyebrows" in plural!

Spleef: Oooh! I'm glad you like my stories. I like yours, too!

Monito: Aw … honey, I'm sorry you're so upset about Katara's hair. But she is a noble soul, and if she is willing to sacrifice her life for the Avatar, then she would certainly sacrifice her hair. I assure you that it will grow back and that it will look awfully cute while growing back, okay?

RedHawkK'sani: Egads, I figured that if Zhao could accept Aang getting a bit taller, that the Avatar's constant exposure to the elements could make a tan plausible. But then again … nobody actually HAS gotten darker so far in the episodes. I guess they still have an ozone layer back in the Avatar world, though I dunno how much longer that'll last with the Fire Nation belching coal smoke everywhere. Funny, I hadn't even THOUGHT of the skin-tone issue. I am hence obliged to request the favor of your suspending your disbelief for the sake of my story!

Booter-Freak: Sorry for croaking off Admiral Zhao … but after the Avatar's escape in the last episode, along with the avalanche from my Chapter 15 and the defeat of the Fire Navy in my previous chapter, Zhao no longer could have been a viable enemy, because after three failures in a row, Ozai would have sacked his sorry butt and probably killed him. So I figured, why not let Zuko have his nice little revenge. Believe me, more formidable enemies shall arise.