yay! this one's longer! i've been working on it really hard, 'cause there's only a few more chapters until the end. (oh no!) no worries, there will be a sequel to this that i know you'll all love. here's the show...

"Aang?" Sokka asked, sitting at the reins of the large bison.

It was about midday and they were riding on the back of Appa. Rinoka was sitting with Suki towards the front, comparing their weapons with each other. Haru was silent, staring at the scenery passing by – he was still a little weary of flying. Aang was towards the back, looking around as well, but he did it with a purpose.

The air bender looked up when his friend called for him. "Yeah?"

"How are we getting past the blockade?"

"What blockade?" Suki asked, turning to look where he was.

They all followed his gaze, seeing what he did. A little whiles away from them was a blockade of fire nation ships. There were two lines if them, each heading in one direction, going in full circle around the lands they protected.

"That doesn't look good," Haru pointed out.

"I agree," Suki stated. "How do you plan to get out of this one?"

Aang smiled. "Sokka, do you remember when we saw Aunt Wu?"

The older boy blinked, then looked at him. "Do you really think this is the time to bring up about the village that was too stupid to listen to me?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

He sighed. "I know that part, but do you remember how we got them to listen?"

Sokka gave him a look. "You wanna mess with the clouds and show them that there's volcanic doom in the middle of the ocean?" he asked. "No offence, but none of them have that weird cloud reading book."

"No, but do you remember how we messed with the clouds?"

"You messed with the clouds?" Haru asked.

"We did lots of things," Sokka replied, then looked back to the front. "You and Katara used your bending."

Aang smiled again. "Yeah," he stated. "We'll simply fly above the clouds. If there isn't enough, Rinoka and I'll use our bending to make more, or spread them out."

"So, we're sneaking past them?" Suki asked eyebrow raised, arms crossed. "That seems..."

"Brilliant?" Rinoka tried.

"No, I was heading towards sneaky, but that works," she replied.

"Whatever it is, it should work," Aang added. "I just need you to come over here, Rinoka."

Iroh blinked, then blinked again. He sat with Katara in her quarters, across from her at the table. Set up in front of them was a game of ma-xiong. It was later in the evening, after dinner and the old general had invited her to a game. She agreed to it over her tea that night and there they were.

Katara smiled, holding back her laughter at her husband's uncle's expression. She really didn't want to, but she wound up grinning anyway. She beat him at the game and rather quickly. The expression he had when it happened was comical. Nira simply sat and poured her charge another cup of tea like she asked, looking between the two silently.

"Well," Iroh stated, looking impressed. "You certainly know how to play."

"Actually," she started with a blush as she started to collect the pieces on the board. "This is the first game I've ever played."

He actually laughed out loud and put a hand on his stomach. "We'll just call it beginners' luck," he said chuckling.

Katara simply smiled and sipped her tea as he set up the board again. But, when she did, she grimaced at the taste. "Nira, could you put another two scoops of sugar in it?" she asked.

"Five, my princess?" she asked, blinking. Katara nodded. "Alright."

She did so and gave it to her, just as she yawned suddenly, covering her mouth while doing so. Iroh noticed and looked up with concern. "Tired, my child?" he asked.

"Only a little bit," she replied. "But I'll be fine, really." She waved it off to assure him. "Do you want to play again?"

He gave her a look, but nodded just the same.

When Zuko arrived in his bedroom that night, Katara was already in bed, asleep. Her servant, Nira was there, collecting one of the layers on the bed. She folded it nicely and put it away, turning down the torches. She spotted him and instantly bowed. "Oh, I'm sorry my prince," she said. "I'll go right away."

"No, it's fine," he said. "Finish what you were told."

She nodded and stood, going around the room and doing miscellaneous things around the room quickly. As she did, Zuko went over and sat down next to his wife. She laid on her side and her hair was down. He'd never really seen it down, but he decided she should more often – he liked her hair down. When he brushed a piece of it out of her face, he spoke.

"How long has she been out?"

Nira stopped and faced him. "Not long at all, your highness. In fact, she just fell asleep as you got here," she stated. "She was very tired. I'm not surprised though. She had almost three bowels of rice at dinner. But then, she insisted on five scoops of sugar in all three of her cups of tea, which is strange."

He raised an eyebrow. "Has she been acting strange in any other way?"

She thought a moment. "No, not really. After she yawned the tenth time in a few minutes, I insisted she retire, though. And right before she fell asleep, she told me to take one of her covers off. She said she was warm."

"Alright. You're dismissed."

She bowed again and left the room silently. When he heard her footsteps disappear, he leaned down and kissed his wife's head softly. "What's wrong?"

Nira walked slowly through the halls. Before she could head to supper that night, she had a few last minute chores to do. She carefully walked into her princess's room and went inside the bathroom. She didn't want to waste candles, so she left them off.

Carefully adjusting everything so it was back to normal, she gathered the laundry basket and took it with her into the bedroom. There, she went into the closet and went through a few other things. She could see easily, since the light from the open window in the room was flooding in. She prepared the next day's clothing and she gently took out the dirty things and placed them in the basket carefully. She put everything where it was supposed to and accidently dropped something.

As she was bent over, she could have sworn that she saw something move in the shadows out of the corner of her eye. She quickly picked everything up and went into the room, looking around the room carefully. There was no one there, not even in the shadows. She blinked, she could have sworn...

Oh well. She turned and left the room quietly, heading out to the hallway. But, she still had a confused look on her face when she ran into her cousin. Hajina stopped her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Nira shrugged. "I was in the princess's room and I could have sworn I saw someone sneaking around. But there was no one there."

The older girl giggled, covering her mouth. "You should get to bed. It's getting late. Maybe you just haven't been getting enough sleep."

She nodded. "I will. First i have to drop this down in the laundry."

Hajina smiled and headed the way she was intending, her cousin doing the same. She went down a few flights of stairs and went down to the basement, where the laundry and kitchens were. She made it down and gave the basket to her great aunt, who looked over everything.

She was just about to head to bed, when she remembered something. She forgot to make the bed! Oh, surely the princess wouldn't mind, but if someone found out, she'd get in trouble. It wouldn't take that long, so she quickly went back up to the top floor and went straight into the princess's room.

But when she got there she instantly gasped at what she saw. Immediately, a hand was clasped over her mouth and she was held tightly. Her eyes widened in fear.

ha ha ha! guess what's going on (if you can't, you're really slow). and just guess what's wrong with Katara. (eh he he)