A/N: Yay! New chapter! I hope you like it. But just a warning: it's incredibly short and extremely boring. But… the story must go on!

o0oOo0o

Sokka still didn't trust Zuko. Zuko was a firebender and Sokka didn't trust firebenders. Firebenders were scum, especially Zuko. Katara was tired of hearing her brother go around in circles about why they shouldn't trust Zuko. The waterbender wanted to throttle her annoying brother, beat him over the head with a frying pan, water whip him to oblivion—anything to get him to shut up. All afternoon, Sokka had sat staring at the newcomer with venomous hate in his eyes, trusted boomerang in hand. It got old after a while. After five minutes, actually.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Sokka, leave him alone."

"I am." Sokka replied, eyes never leaving the ex-prince.

"No you aren't." the waterbender protested, "You've been staring at him all day long and I'm tired of it. Zuko saved my life and probably yours too. What do you think would have happened if he hadn't redirected Azula's lightning attack?" Said waterbender arched a challenging eyebrow.

To this, Sokka looked up. "Azula?"

Katara rolled her eyes. Her brother couldn't use context clues for his life. "Who do you think? The girl that was shooting lightning!" Her arms flew heavenward and her anger was quickly following. Why was her brother making such a big deal out of this? Why couldn't he just trust Zuko?

"How do you know her name?" Sokka yelled, throwing his arms into the air as well. "Did she tell you? 'Oh, hello. My name is Azula and I'm going to try to kill you today.'" The water tribe boy crossed his arms, rolling his eyes like a small child would to his mother.

"Zuko knows her!"

"Well good for Zuko!" Sokka spat, turning his back to his sister. He hated how his sister seemed to be trying to bring Zuko into things. "And we're ditching Princey Boy at the next stop!"

"Why? Why can't you just trust him—why can't you just trust my judgment? He can help us!" Katara was fuming now. Aang moved back on the saddle, away from the waterbender. He was amazed the water whips hadn't started yet. Toph stared off into space, ears keen so she could figure out what was happening. Zuko had his head in his hand and rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.

"Even if I did, I don't trust him because he likes you!"

Dead silence.

"So what," Katara began, voice already cracking, "just because we're from two different nations we can't like each other? We can't be together? Is that what you're saying?" Katara's cerulean eyes were welling with tears that threatened at any second to take the plunge down her face. She was really beginning to wish she'd never come back to help. Her brother just couldn't understand. He just had to be infuriating.

"It's not that you're from two different nations." Sokka began slowly. An emotional Katara was a hazard to the entire world. Talking to her when she was emotional was an art; you had to master it. "You're complete opposites: Fire and Water! It'll never work!" But in this case, caution was thrown to the wind.

"You don't know it won't work! Nations are just one aspect! We have things in common!" Tears streamed down Katara's cheeks now. Her voice was cracking horribly. Toph flinched while Aang and Zuko looked on in silence. They both wanted desperately to interfere, to stop Sokka from tearing his sister apart, but they couldn't move.

"Like what, Katara? He's a ruthless firebender!"

"No he's not! And we're both determined and focused, powerful benders from broken families--"

Sokka snorted. "Broken family my ass."

"What about your ass?" Zuko cut in. His voice alone was enough to make a full-grown saber-toothed moose-lion turn and run, tail tucked between its legs. "Whether you believe it or not, my family is broken too." Despite the firebender's tone, Sokka spoke again.

"Let's hear it then, Princey Boy."

"My aunt is dead from child birth; her son Lu Ten died in the war. My sister is Azula,"—Zuko got wide eyes from this—"the prodigy firebender and the favorite child. I'm banished from my own country along with my uncle. And my mother disappeared seven years ago."

Dead silence.

"Got anything else to say?" Zuko challenged. Sokka said nothing. "Didn't think so. Now just leave Katara alone. She doesn't need your complaining." Sokka's eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Aang sighed, pulling the map from his bag. He needed to do something to drown out all of the fighting in the background. Toph sat beside him, wanting more than anything to land. She didn't want the vibrations so much as she wanted the space. With space, she could get away from all this senseless fighting. The blind girl rubbed her temples, muttering an insult to the other three. Why couldn't they shut up? By the time ten more minutes had passed of this, Toph thought she would go insane. Aang was still fighting to block out the noise, not having much luck. Chi kept squawking and Momo kept chattering. How would they cope with this on the rest of their journey?

"No! You're a stupid fire--"

"Shut up already!" Toph cut in. "You're driving the rest of us insane! Momo and that horse thing won't shut up and Aang can't concentrate. Just grow up! Katara can like whoever she wants!"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Toph! Why don't you shut up?" Sokka snapped. Aang's gray eyes narrowed as he joined the argument.

"Toph didn't do anything wrong, Sokka! Just leave her alone!"

"I will leave her alone if she keeps her nose out of other peoples business!" the water tribe boy spat, pointing a finger at the Avatar. Aang stood, knocking Sokka's finger away.

"It is her business because you three are fighting while we're flying! There's no place to get away from you!"

"Then land!" said Sokka indignantly.

"I will!" Aang yelled back, stomping over to the reins. He took them in his hands so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Appa, yip-yip!" The Spirit Guide flew lower over a group of islands off the coast of the Earth Kingdom. They landed on one of the bigger ones that had a small village on the west coast. As soon as they had landed, Katara hopped off, running into the woods.

"Katara! Come back!" Sokka yelled, running after his sister.

"Leave me alone!" Katara's voice was already getting farther away. Grumbling, Zuko took off after the siblings. He didn't know if he'd made things better or worse before but if he gave Katara an emotional support, it was worth it.

He found Katara sitting on a log, head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Zuko stayed put when he saw Sokka was hugging her, trying to get her to stop. He hated to see his sister so upset and what was worse was the fact that he'd caused it. The water tribe warrior knew Katara couldn't help who she fell for. It was just so hard for him to deal with. "Katara, I'm sorry." Sokka said. Katara kept bawling.

"I shouldn't have said those things. It's just hard to…"

"Just leave me alone!" Katara shot back. "I knew you'd act this way! I should have just…" The waterbender didn't finish her sentence.

"What?" Sokka asked. "Just what?"

"Hadn't come back." Katara replied, wiping away her tears. Sokka froze, not believing his ears.

o0oOo0o

Sighing, Toph laid down on the sand. The last of the still-arguing voices were fading off into the forest, leaving a calm silence. She rolled over onto her back. "Ah, quiet." she breathed with a sigh. She never thought she would miss such a simple thing so achingly much. Aang lay beside her, looking up at the sky. The first twinkling stars were just beginning to come out, contrasting greatly with the inky black sky.

Aang sighed. "I hope they don't fight the whole time."

"Don't jinx us, Aang." the earthbender replied.

"Right."

The silence enveloped them, chirping crickets off in the forest their only company.

"Aang?"

"Yeah, Toph?"

"Why'd you kiss me the other night?"

o0oOo0o

A/N: Wow, that chapter was short. Shrugs Sorry. I really just want to end the chapter there. Anyway, there's probably only going to be two chapters left; one of them will be the epilogue.

REVIEW!