Hey guys! Here's another chapter, and there should be less switching around now. As usual, I'll try to make it funny. In the last chapter, Prince Zuko captures Sokka, Aang and Katara go shopping, and Uncle Iroh prepares Sokka's 'cell' behind the scenes. Here it goes, I hope you like it!

Prince Zuko strode towards his ship, a rare smile of triumph creasing his face. Sokka, as he was unconscious at the moment, missed seeing said rare occasion. Zuko's men, on the other hand, were lucky enough to be awake, and all were amazed. In fact, one of them fainted dead away, and had to be dragged back by two of the other men. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Katara had finally made her purchases, and she and Aang were on their way back to their campsite. By now, it was almost dawn, and poor Aang was permanently traumatized, and would scream if anyone so much as thought the word "shopping" in his presence.

When they finally reached the campsite, they found it deserted. Katara looked around the clearing, glanced at Aang, and sighed.

The she inhaled deeply, and yelled, "Sokka!"

Every bird in the clearing and surrounding forest within exactly five miles of her burst into flight; every person within the same range cringed in fear. Aang was painfully tempted to do both, but refrained out of worry for Sokka and his own life. Instead, he started looking for clues to poor Sokka's whereabouts. He air-bended swiftly down to the island in the river. After he looked around for a moment, he relayed what he saw to Katara.

"Hey, Katara! Look, the packs are down here on the island! There's even a fish caught in this little pool – Sokka must have been down here…" He noted the imprint in the sand from Sokka's body. His eyes then wandered to the deep impressions of footprints and the slightly melted sand at a spot next to where Sokka had lain.

"…"

"Well? Is there anything elsedown there?" Katara asked impatiently.

"Hmm…melted sand where someone landed…no footprints from Sokka…melted sand…since when does sand melt? When it's hot…so…hot sand…"

"Well?" Katara was getting impatient, but Aang was still thinking. Finally he reached a conclusion.

" …Ooh! Katara, Sokka's been kidnapped by fire-benders!" He looked up at her, expecting praise for his little revelation, but Katara was long gone. She was already running in the direction of the beach where she knew that Prince Zuko's ship inevitably had landed. Aang sighed, grabbed the packs and the lone captured fish, and tossed them onto Appa, and rushed to catch up with Katara.

Back with the Prince

Zuko reached his ship at exactly the moment Aang and Katara reached the campsite. The ship set sail immediately. When it was docked, the ship was exactly 4.9 miles from Katara, so the prince (a/n: fortunately for my plot P) was out of range of her scream by the time she released it. But that's not the point. Let's backtrack a bit to when Sokka arrived.

Upon boarding, Zuko dismissed his men to go have a victory celebration, and carried the water peasant to her new room.

Yeesh…She's awfully heavy, for a starving water-peasant! Must be all the extra weight from that coat thing...

He passed Uncle Iroh's room, and paused to inform his Uncle of the good news.

"Uncle! I caught her, the water peasant. Is her room prepared?"

Iroh looked up. He had been playing Pi Sho against himself for hours, and had yet to decide who would win, and who would have to go make him some tea.

"Ah, Prince Zuko! Congratulations. I will take the water-bender to her new chambers; you go and celebrate with the men, or meditate or something."

Without another word he strode out of the room, snagging the still-unconscious Sokka from his nephew on the way out. Zuko raised an inquiring eyebrow, but retreated to him room to get some well-deserved rest. His restoration of honor was finally in motion, and in the morning, he would go speak to the water-peasant. He chuckled to himself, well pleased, and walked off, still laughing.

Iroh smiled cheerfully. Not only had the endless Pi Sho game come to an end, he got to set up the water-bender in her new quarters. He'd prepared them especially for his nephew's comfort…the former-general's smile spread wider as he gently placed the captive on the wide, red-satin-sheeted bed, and left, locking the door behind him.

There! It is finished. Sorry, I know it's short…I'm kinda rushed, so…I'll try to get another up soon. Please, please tell me if you think there's something I need to fix for the story, I'm going to worry myself to death if I don't get at least one piece of constructive criticism! But if you don't have any criticism, review anyway. Thanks for reading! Until next chapter, then! Ciao.