AN: For the last time, I don't own Avatar. Sucks. Royally.

Everybody keep Khazia in their thoughts. Her dog is having puppies! Yayness!

Chapter 16: The Thought

For a tortured moment, Katara, Zuko, and the Fire Nation soldiers just looked at each other, surprise in all eyes. Katara noted that all the Fire Nation soldiers were wearing white bands on their upper right arms. One of them took a step forward.

"P..Pr…Z…Prince Zuko?"

Hearing his name spoken aloud jerked Zuko from his trance. He grabbed Katara's hand and ran.

"Prince Zuko! Wait!" The soldier called, desperation in his voice, but Zuko had disappeared into the crowd.

Katara was glad Zuko had reacted, for she felt like the element she was one with, her heart pounding anxiously in her chest. She risked a glance back, only to discover that the soldiers were not following them.

"Zuko! Stop!"

He stopped and spun around. "What Katara?"

"They're not following us." He looked at her strangely then looked up and around behind her. His forehead tensed and furrowed as he tried to figure out why they weren't. She watched as he sighed and shook his head. How had she ever thought he was ugly? Wait. Where did that come from? He was gripping her hand pretty hard, and she was astonished to find that she didn't care. But he released her anyway.

"Come on, let's get the horses before we run into any more soldiers." She nodded and followed him to the stables.

Zuko was trying to figure out why the soldiers hadn't followed them. After he'd helped the Avatar escape, he should have a pretty big price on his head. Not to mention the fact that he was traveling with the Avatar, and could be used to recapture him. It made no sense. He was blatantly aware that he hadn't meditated in a long time, and all his thoughts were jumbled together. He quickly tacked up the horses, and waited semi-patiently for Sokka and Aang to get there.

As they waited for Sokka and Aang, Katara found herself studying Zuko intently. She kept trying to catch his eye, but he frequently moved his head. Her mother had told her that no matter how much of a mask someone wore, the eyes were always true. If she looked into Zuko's eyes, what would she see? Pain? Anger? Both? Why did she even want to know? She'd finally managed to push Zuko from her mind when Sokka and Aang walked in.

"Hey Zuko, look what I found!" Sokka held up a book and gave it to Zuko. "Thought you might like it." Zuko grinned.

"Thanks Sokka."

"Oh, and these go with it." Sokka handed him a small leather pouch, which had several drawing pencils. Zuko looked delighted, but Katara was just confused.

"What would Zuko do with those?" Zuko looked at her.

"We didn't just discuss girls today, and one of the discussed subjects was hobbies. One of mine is drawing."

Aang was admiring the horses. Zuko's stallion tossed his head spiritedly and snorted forcefully in Aang's face. The other two were a pure white mare and a blue roan gelding. They were both gentle, with much less spirit than the stallion. Zuko had chosen them for this particular reason.

"Whose is who's?"

"The white one is yours, Aang, and the gelding is Sokka's."

"What about Katara?"

Zuko frowned, seemingly considering.

"Katara will ride with me."

Katara's eyebrows disappeared into her hair, even though Sokka and Aang accepted this.

"I will?"

"Think logically, Katara, neither Aang nor Sokka has any experience with riding horses, but I have lots. It makes perfect sense for you to ride with me."

Katara refused to acknowledge the logic in his statement, and instead just huffed her agreement. A few minutes of tying on saddlebags and packing new purchases, and they were off. The mare and gelding took to their rider's inexperience easily, and followed the stallion. The black beast had seemed fierce to Katara, but he didn't act up under Zuko's firm hand. Even so, she kept a tight grip on his waist.

And once again, she found herself thinking about Zuko. It was close to impossible, her hands pressed firmly against his unyielding stomach. The problem was, she knew what she was feeling. It was the same thing she'd felt with Jet. But she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. As this thought registered in her mind, she pulled away from Zuko.

"Feeling more secure?" Zuko said, commenting on the fact that she'd released his waist. She started to nod, but just then the stallion took a misstep and she found herself clutching his waist once more. His stomach rolled lightly beneath her hands as he chuckled. She buried her face in the back of his shoulder and thought about her cool and serene element.

Soon, it was nightfall. They hadn't traveled far, and Zuko found them a suitable camp site. After showing Sokka and Aang how to take care of their mounts, he remounted his horse and then disappeared.

Katara became worried when Zuko didn't return for supper. She refused to let Sokka eat Zuko's share, but Zuko hadn't returned even as Sokka and Aang bedded down for the night.

As Sokka's light snores filled the campsite, Katara placed another log on the fire. She bit her lip, thinking about what could be keeping Zuko, when she heard hoof beats behind her.

Standing and spinning around, she beheld Zuko coming up to the camp. It could be the firelight, but was there a look of pain of his face? It was confirmed when he slid from the saddle to land hard on the ground. The great black horse nickered concernedly and didn't lace his ears back when Katara ran to Zuko's side. To her utmost surprise, he was grinning.

"Not the way I planned to dismount."

"Damn, Zuko, where have you been?"

"Awww…worried for me?"

"Yes! Answer the question!"

"Getting your clothes." Katara paused, she'd forgotten all about her dresses.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Then why did you fall off?"

"Tired, I guess. Must have dozed off. Know something Katara?"

"What?"

"The ground is hard."

Despite her anger towards the boy, she found herself grinning as she pulled him to his feet. He staggered a bit before finding his balance and going to the saddle bags. Pulling out a few parcels wrapped in brown paper, he handed them to her.

"Happy New Year." She frowned, even though she was happy to have her things.

"That made no sense."

"Neither does this. The man in the moon walked over Uranus to get to Pluto, but when he got there he was sad to discover that Jupiter ate all the green cheese."

"What?"

"Ediera used to say that when the new moon was out."

"Oh. Zuko?"

"Yes?"

"You should probably go to bed."

"I think you're right, but I have to take care of the horse."

"I'll get it, you go to bed."

"Ok."

Zuko grabbed his blanket, chose a spot, and without bothering to undress at all, he lay down and pulled the blanket up to his chin. He was asleep in less than a minute.

Katara eyed the big horse, but apparently it was tired too, for it allowed her to un-tack it and tie it with the others. It then shook its black mane and cropped at the grain she gave it. Slipping into her bag, she fell asleep with one hand on her stomach, the other on Zuko's arm.

Princess Zula stared out at the darkening horizon with a darkening mood. The stupid Kyoshi warrior's bluff had cost her dear time because she'd been stupid enough to believe. Zhao would never let her live it down. Now they had nothing to go on, except the fact that they now knew the Avatar was searching for an earth-bending teacher. The Sages at the Northern Water Temple had been kind enough to give them that information. The sun's last rays set, and Zula grinned. She wouldn't lose hope, and she wouldn't be merciful when her dear brother was finally in her grasp.

The room was dark and filled with muffled voices. A throat was cleared, and the well trained soldiers quieted.

"My peers, I want to state simply that you know why you are here if you are here. I thank you for joining us. If you haven't made your final decision yet, I'd like to make a few things clear. What we are doing is...for lack of a better word...treason. If the truth behind our society is discovered, we would all be killed. If you leave this meeting and decide not to join us, you are bound by honor to remain silent. If you reveal any of thisto anyone outside the society, we will know, and we will hunt you down. Do you understand?"

There were murmurs of assent.

"Then let us begin."

I'm exhausted and I'm starting school back tomorrow. tear I might not be able to update for a while. Be thankful, I had planned to make this a little longer and end it with another cliffie.