It became more and more obvious that Zuko and Katara cared for each other with each passing day. Obvious to everyone, that is, except for General Iroh.

Rie was amazed at how clueless about his own nephew's feelings Iroh could at times, when at others it seemed as if Iroh was the only that understood Zuko.

One day, after Zuko finally managed to throw off Rie, the Seer went to Iroh's cabin.

"You're nephew is getting better," Rie remarked, rubbing her lower back. "Though it took him...almost two months to throw me off.

"He's never had a real opponent before, Madam," Iroh said. "I never fought him and the crew wasn't the best benders in the world. Having real opposition has made him stronger." The general handed Rie a cup of tea, which she sipped slowly.

Just then, Zuko, who had still been on deck, passed by the open door and headed to his cabin. The general sighed. Rie noticed.

"Anything wrong, General?"

Iroh sighed. "My nephew."

Rie sipped her tea. "What's wrong with Prince Zuko? He seems fine t'me," Rie remarked.

"He's fallen in love with the Water Tribe girl."

Rie snorted. "How long did it take you to realize this?"

Iroh turned to Rie. "I've known it since Admiral Zhao attempted to blast the girl, Madam. My nephew was never good at hiding his feelings for others."

"And theirs is something wrong with Zuko falling in love with Katara?"

"Yes. My brother will not allow Prince Zuko to return if he has fallen in love with a Waterbender. It is against our culture, as you know."

"I do?" Rie muttered. Louder, though, she said, "Oh, I do. General Iroh, do you really think that Ozai will welcome Zuko back anyway?"

Iroh shook his head. "No. Do not tell Zuko this, but my brother told me that no matter what, Zuko would never gain the throne. Zula will. Ozai plans to write off Zuko and forget he was ever born. He reminds him too much of Lady Li Mei."

This was new. "Why?"

"Without the scar, my nephew would look just like his mother," Iroh explained. "Ozai never liked Li Mei, but our father had arranged the marriage, so they were forced into it. Though Ozai has always favored Zula over Zuko, it was the death of Li Mei that made him detest Zuko even more. Ozai wanted to forget all about the horrible marriage, and as Zuko grew, he took on more and more of his mother's characteristics. While Zula is cruel, Zuko is not, as you can tell." Rie nodded in agreement. The guy was obsessed, but not cruel or evil. The general continued.

"Zula is just like my brother, father, and grandfather in every way, and for that my brother dotes on her. There is virtually no hope for Zuko." Iroh turned away, very upset. Rie set her cup down and left quietly.

Rie walked across the passage to her cabin. As she was opening the door, she heard someone crying out on deck. Curious, Rie went to check.

"Hello?" she called. "Is something wrong?" As Rie was turning the corner, she caught a glimpse of her crew, tied up, before she was knocked out cold.

Rie woke up with a pounding headache. She attempted to move her hands up to her head, but found they were tied with rope, as were her feet. What the hell is goin' on? She thought. She couldn't yell at anyone because, one, there was nobody else in the room, and, two, her mouth was covered with a rag.

Rie thrashed around in an attempt to loosen her bonds. Before long, though, one of her captors came running.

"Stop it!" he cried. Rie just gave him an evil glare. "Don't look at me that way. I have power over you, you realize."

Rie was silently swearing. The person in front of her was wearing Earth Kingdom clothes. She had been captured by Earthbenders!

While Rie was coming to this deduction, two more captors came dashing in. Upon entering, one said, "Where is General Iroh?"

Why are these guys after Iroh? Usually their after Zuko, Rie mused. Duh! They must be trying to get him back for Ba Sing Se. Rie decided it was best to play dumb and not make any type of reply, garbled or otherwise. When he got no reply, the one, obviously the leader, turned to the two others.

"One of you two keep guard outside this cave. Sooner or later, the people she was traveling with will come to find her and then we can talk money or the general, whichever comes first." The other two nodded, then flipped a coin to see who would take first watch. The first one lost and went outside with the others, but stopped at the entrance.

Dummies, Rie thought. What good is keeping guard outside the cave? The trussed up girl began look around for something sharp to cut her bonds, but the Earthbenders had removed every sharp stone. Since that was dud, Rie made sure her back was to the entrance and began burn through her bonds the best she could.

"Rope," Rie whispered upon breaking free and taking off the gag. "Could those guys be any stupider?" Rie looked back to the entrance. It was very late, she could tell. Escaping had taken quite a few hours, much longer than Rie had hoped. Creeping closer to the entrance, Rie looked to see if the guard was there.

He was there, but was, at the moment, sleeping like a baby. Rie chuckled and whispered, "Good night," as she made her way back to wear she thought the ship was.

Though it took many hours of stumbling in the dark, tripping over branches, and swearing, Rie eventually got to the ship. A member of the crew who was walking by, noticed her.

"Madam Rie! What happened?"

"Kidnapping, Lin," Rie replied. "Could you let me on board?"

The flustered Lin dropped a rope down and let Rie up. "Where's the general and the others?" Rie asked, not seeing Zuko practicing, as he usually was, even at this late hour.

"Prince Zuko spotted the Avatar's bison and wanted to take the ship out. General Iroh advised against it, in case the kidnappers came back, so he, the Prince, and the Water girl are out trying to find the Avatar. The rest of the crew, save for me and Zhi, are out trying to find you," Lin said.

Lin then went on to explain who the kidnappers were and why they wanted Iroh. It turned out that they were sons of a great Earth Kingdom General that Iroh's siege had killed long ago. Furious, they swore they'd get Iroh back. It was they who had planned the poisonous arrow, and they had coaxed the Elephant Koi to ram the ship. They had hoped to kidnap Zuko, but had settled for Rie.

"We didn't mean to get ourselves tied up," Lin apologized. "They snuck up on us."

"Okay. As soon as the others get back, we're going after the prince and his uncle," Rie ordered. Lin saluted and left to find Zhi. Rie turned to the railing.

"I hope Zuko doesn't do anything stupid."

Okay, sorry I took so long gettin' this chapter up, I had writer's block. Chapter 14 will be much better and a bit longer.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO AVATAR! I do own Rie, the kidnappers, Zhi, and Lin, however.