Chapter Two: Losing Grip

I may have had a sleepless night before, but the next day went much better. We got a lot of distance covered on Appa until sundown, and then we landed for the evening.

Sokka slid down Appa's tail and onto the ground, and Katara and I followed. With a strange purring noise, Momo the lemur landed on my shoulder.

Katara giggled. "He likes you, Haru," she told me, stroking his ears affectionately. I gave the creature an awkward pat as well, and Momo didn't leave my shoulder for several hours.

As Sokka was out hunting and I helped Katara light a fire, I heard footsteps in the distance. "Wait," I said to Katara, motioning for her to stop rubbing two twigs together. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked. Momo's ears had perked up as well.

A caravan of silver-clad travelers came into view, rounding the bend ahead of us. Momo hissed, but Katara scooped him into her arms and hushed him. We both sat there, unsure of what to do. Katara looked uneasily towards the woods where her brother disappeared an hour before; I knew that despite her teasing, she felt secure with him there to protect her.

Suddenly an elderly man from the front of the group held up a hand and hailed us. "Greetings, travelers!" he called out in a deep, booming voice. "We come in peace!"

I relaxed only slightly but Katara stood up, smiling. "Hello!" she called back.

In a moment they stood next to our camp. A frail-looking woman with silver hair to match her dress bowed to us. "We are the Ai-Souka clan," she sai, her high voice quivering with age. "I am the leader, Jooi Rousai, and this is my husband," she gestured to the man who had called out earlier, "Ouja Okina."

The man bowed, a perpetual grin on his round face. "So, young ones, where are you headed? Just married, on your honeymoon?"

Both of our faces reddened and Katara stuttered a reply. "Oh, oh no, we're going to Ba-Sing-Sei," she told him, "and this is my friend, Haru. My name is Katara. My brother and other friend are also with us."

"Ahh I see," the man said. "More refugees?"

"Okina, do hush for once in your life," said the woman, "it would do you some good." She then turned to us and put frail but firm hands on each of our shoulders. "Dears, you would be happy to know that you are hardly three days from your destination."

At the sight of our bright smiles she smiled in a motherly way. "And not only that, but the famous Yochi River runs only half a day from here."

"Oh thank you, Jooi, ma'am!" cried Katara, throwing her arms around the old woman's neck. Jooi Rousai was not at all surprised by the gesture but smiled, and I became certain, by her maternal manner, that the woman had several children and grandchildren of her own.

"We will be getting on our way, now, but have a nice trip," she said kindly, breaking away.

"The Ai-Souka clan is famed for being travelers of the night," piped up the old man, beaming, before they began walking again.

I smiled and waved as the small clan passed by. Some smiled joyfully and waved in the bright manner of Ouja Okina, others had the kind but pointed features of Jooi Rousai, and many were somewhere in between.

Minutes later, the two other boys came back to camp with a meal. Katara excitedly relayed the events to them as we ate, and all of us set to bed cheerier than ever.

I tucked the snug sleeping bag around me, certain that nothing could ruin this day. I won't have nightmares tonight, either, I thought as I drifted off…. But I was wrong.

A shriek suddenly pierced my quiet dreams.

I knew that scream. Katara, no… I thought. Don't go, please don't leave me….

"Haru," she cried out, "help! Sokka, Aang, help!" Suddenly the shrill cries were muffled and I woke up, cold sweat on my forehead.

It wasn't a dream.

I only had a second to register the scene after I sat up. A man in armor had a hand forced over Katara's mouth, and the other cradled a flame below her neck. As my eyes adjusted I saw a dark scar over her captor's right eye — was this Firebender the infamous banished Prince Zuko I had heard stories about?

Before I could further speculate I was roughly grabbed by the arms and forced into a standing position. A hand stuffed something foul tasting into my mouth to gag me, and my hands were tied together behind my back. Across the campsite I saw Sokka being treated in a similar way.

Aang, hearing the cries, jumped up immediately and assumed a fighting stance. He narrowed his eyes at Zuko.

"If you want your friends to stay alive, Avatar, hand yourself over," Zuko said to him in a raspy, menacing voice.

Aang's eyes widened and he looked, terrified, at Katara and then to Sokka. As each met his gaze they tried to shake their heads, although firmly in the grasps of the stronger men. Muffled cries of dissent came from both siblings.

"Let them go!" cried Aang in his high, childish voice, and with a whoosh he Airbended his staff into his hand. Was the Avatar any match for the Prince? I wondered, noticing the drastic difference in pitch of the two enemies' voices.

"If you come quietly I won't harm them," Zuko snarled back, the flame in his palm growing. Katara's eyes widened in fright and she struggled to move away from the fire.

One of the soldiers holding Sokka unsheathed a sword and placed the blade below Sokka's neck. I heard a similar sound somewhere behind me and cold metal, the flat of the sword, was pressed against my own neck.

Aang looked around, debating with himself what to do. He looked at every person with his round gray eyes, from Zuko to Katara, and from Sokka to each individual soldier… I noticed a few of the soldiers averted their gaze from Aang's. There was something about that innocent stare of the boy they were trying to capture; it looked like guilt was squirming inside of the men.

Finally, Aang assumed a neutral stance, straightening his body and staring down Zuko without flinching. "I'll go with you."

Zuko did not need to be told twice: he gestured for men to tie up Aang and immediately let go of Katara. Sokka and I were also released, the ropes roughly cut off our hands and gags pulled out of our mouths.

Aang looked back at us as he was being led away. "Don't worry, guys," he said almost cheerily. "I can get away. I have before, isn't that right?"

This did nothing to soothe Katara. "Aang, no…" she cried out. She looked like she was debating weather to run right up to him and take on the whole troop of soldiers single-handedly.

Sokka put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Aang's right— and if he doesn't escape, we'll rescue him."

However I could hear Prince Zuko say in the distance, "I won't underestimate you this time, Avatar…"

We knew what we had to do now. We followed on foot. Sokka led us through woods so that the Firebenders would not notice us. However, they were a good deal ahead of us anyway. Katara said that they probably had their Komodo rhinos with them, which would go much faster than us going on foot.

Soon the trees thinned and we could see the dawn peeking through the foliage. "Wait." Katara held out a hand in front of Sokka and me. "Let's go quietly. We need to surprise them— there's no way we can take all of them on alone."

We crept forward, wary of cracking twigs below our feet, until we could see the clearing. There was a faint sound in the distance, of rushing wind, or…

"A river!" Sokka cried, his eyes wide.

"It must be the Yochi River that the caravan told us about," I told him, looking closer. There weren't any trees for probably a mile. The path I had been following alone last week did not go straight to Zuko's position in the river; I suspected that there was a bridge father down that it led to. The only other thing I could notice was a big dark shadow on the water. "Wait, what's in the river…?"

There were a few moments of silent puzzlement as we all strained our eyes towards the shadow. "It's Zuko's ship!" Katara announced suddenly, she apparently having the best vision out of the three of us.

"Ohh…" Sokka said, realization dawning on him. "Zuko took his boat down here from the ocean to cut us off! He must have heard a rumor that we were travelling to the capitol, or he just guessed since everyone knows Aang needs to learn Earthbending next." I was impressed with his quick thinking; he reminded me of my father and the other tactful Earth Kingdom generals.

"I see," I said, frowning in thought. "So Aang is on the ship? How do we get to him?"

I looked at Katara. Katara looked at Sokka. Sokka shrugged.

After a moment he said something, however. "Well, we could go with same plan as always…"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Make it up as we go along!" Katara told me.

But Sokka narrowed his eyes, still thinking hard. "Well before we do anything we'll need to find a way in," he said, still studying the miniscule ship.

"The ship is on the water. I can use Waterbending." Katara suggested, looking down at Sokka's dirt illustration.

"That's a good idea," I agreed, also bending down to see the drawing better. "From what I can see now, there's no more woods after this piece we're in. We'll have to walk through the clearing…"

There was suddenly a loud click that cut me off. Then a low hum started.

"Zuko's taking off!" Katara cried, jumping up pointing desperately at the slowly but surely moving ship. "We have to hurry!"

"What about surprise…?" I started to say as we all ran to the edge of the woods, but Sokka shook his head.

"Now that they're moving they won't expect us. We just have to risk it!"

We emerged into the clearing, the sudden burst of dawn's sunlight making me squint. Prince Zuko's ship was the only shadow against the sun; there was not a tree in sight. We ran as hard as we could, feet slipping over dewy grass and legs tired from lack of sleep, but we still ran.

By the time we reached the river, Zuko's ship was still in sight. I noticed that it was traveling upstream — so that was why it was moving so slow. But that also meant that we would have to go upstream, too, and the rapid current did not look friendly.

"This way!" Katara said, leading us to the riverbank. The Firebenders could not hear our voices over the rushing water and rumbling engine, luckily, and the ship's massive size protected anyone from seeing us. One could only notice us if he stuck his head right over the edge of the boat.

Sokka frowned, looking up at the ship's huge gray hull. "There's only one way up," he announced, unsheathing his boomerang. "Here goes nothing…" He flung the weapon into the sky, and a long rope trailed after it like a kite string. His aim was perfect; it wrapped itself around the pointy front of the ship three times before coming to a stop.

"Come on!" Sokka said, jumping into the water while still having a firm grip on the rope. Katara and I both grabbed another piece of it and waded in.

"Argh!" I cried. The water was freezing! My opinion of the two Water Tribe teens increased significantly. They were amazing, how were they able to stand this? But they swam through the icy water as easily as if they were merely taking an afternoon stroll. I could only try to keep my head above the water and ignore my heavy, Earth Kingdom-made clothes that were attempting to pull me down.

Finally, we reached the ship. Sokka started to climb, holding onto the rope and walking vertically up the hull. I followed, and Katara went last.

We had all hardly taken three steps when Sokka started sliding back down. "I…can't…hold on!" he grunted, the thin rope slipping through his fingers. It was all I could do to stay up as well, and Katara also didn't look like she was having an easy time.

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "I have an idea!"

Looking down, I could see Katara reach toward the river with one hand and then thrust her palm up. A small wave of water crashed onto the boat. But Katara, concentrating hard, froze several footholds into the ship!

"Awesome idea!" I said, grinning.

"You're a genius!" Sokka told her gleefully, voice cracking.

"Come on, let's keep climbing!" was Katara's only response.

Finally we had made our way almost to the top. I didn't dare look down. Above me I could see Sokka's feet, but he wasn't moving. "Shh," he warned, looking at Katara and me, "I'm waiting for the right time… Okay he's gone! Now!" Sokka pulled himself up onto the deck of the ship, and I followed. Everything I could see was metal: the deck below us, and the tall, layered tower coming out of the deck. However there was also a large, square hole in the deck with steps in it.

"Look, that must be where the dungeons are!" I said to Katara, pointing.

She followed my finger with her gaze. "Ooh, good. Well we need to disappear from the open before anybody notices us. Where to, Sokka?"

Sokka only thought for a moment, looking worriedly at the tower above us for anyone who spotted us. "You and Haru go to the tower, I'll search the dungeon. No time to argue, let's go before they see us!"

I knew I should think more about it, but I agreed and sneaked towards the tower with Katara. We hugged the sides of the ship so that we were less noticeable, however I knew our colorful clothes stood out against the dark gray metal.

"Well, here goes nothing," I said, my heart pounding, as we reached the door to the tower. I knew this could be the door that led to my imprisonment, enslavement, or death. Or worse yet, I thought, Katara's. I suddenly felt stronger— no, I was not going to let that happen. Not another one.

I reached out and shoved the door's lock, a huge, flat bar, to the side and it opened! I thanked the gods that it hadn't been locked. Katara carefully made sure that the door didn't slam, and we proceeded inside.

The maroon hallway was lined with doors and doors, all identical to the one we had just opened. We carefully opened each one — rooms of armor, empty crew's quarters, weaponry, food supplies… Everything was empty.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Katara quietly after coming to the end of the hall. I hardly skipped a breath as we opened each room, now; the suspense was wearing off.

"I don't know," she whispered back worriedly. "But what about Sokka?" She bit her lip.

I nodded. "Yeah, we should go down to the dungeon. He might—"

Suddenly the sound of several pairs of boots clanging against metal rang out, along with a male cry— "Sokka!" Katara cried, sprinting down the corridor before I could stop her.

I had no choice but to follow. "Katara, wait up, don't get yourself caught!" I called as quietly as I could while still being heard. But I realized that she wasn't going to hear anything, much less reason, at this point.

I caught up with her just as she slammed open the door. I knew that had been a mistake on her part, but there was no way to fix it now.

In front of us stood Aang and Sokka, surrounded by twenty Firebenders. "Uh oh," I muttered.

At the loud slam of the door, Zuko turned to us. His eyes widened in surprise before turning back to narrow and fierce. "Get them!" he called out, sweeping his hand to the side so that part of the soldiers would run our way.

"Katara, Haru, no!" called Sokka amidst the fire blasts. "We're trapped! Just leave!"

"But Sokka!" cried Katara, still frozen to where she stood.

"Katara, GO!" Aang ordered while trying to deflect the Firebenders' attacks. "Oof!" He slipped and fell back, a blast coming perilously close to his face.

Sokka fell down and put his arms over his head, defenseless without Aang's spinning staff.

"Sokka!" Katara screamed. "Aang!"

"Come on, Katara, there's nothing we can do!" I cried, grabbing her by the arm. The soldiers were approaching quickly, but I knew we could get away if we ran now because of their hindering armor. "We'll come back for them!"

I didn't wait for her to agree or protest. I pulled her toward the side of the ship and she followed, tears streaming down her cheeks. I stood behind her, put my hands on her shoulders, and said into her ear: "Katara, we need to jump overboard. Please, we'll go back for them."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Don't let go, Haru," she told me. We locked hands and stepped onto the railing. It was a long drop… but Katara didn't let me think twice. She leapt forwards, taking me with her.

We were flying.

With a cry she pushed her free hand forward just before the impact. I shut my eyes, prepared to die, but we entered the water as peacefully as if I was merely sinking into a cold bath. An extremely freezing cold bath.

We swam to shore again and I helped her onto the bank. She was very weak and shuddering uncontrollably. Shivers went through my own body, as well, from the cold water.

Suddenly she broke down and started sobbing, leaning into my embrace.

"Come on, Katara," I said soothingly, wiping the water off her face. It was a strange mix between freezing river water and warm tears. "It'll be okay."

AN: Wow, this took forever! I'm so sorry, hopefully chapter three will be up sooner!

Another thanks to my beta, Hotspur! And also, I hope Katara's method of climbing up the ship wasn't too close tothe one in Booter-Freak'sClose Combat. xP If you've got any problems, I'll try again to get around it...