Chapter One

Katara yawned and rolled over in her sleeping bag.

"Come on Katara get up! We're going into town to get supplies today!"

Katara groaned and slowly opened one eye to glare at the eccentric boy dancing around her in excited circles.

"Aang it's barely evening dawn. Why are you so excited to go to town anyway?" She muttered, closing her eyes again and hoping against hop that he would let her go back to sleep.

Aang stopped his crazy dance and dropped to his knees next to Katara's head. He bent over so that he was right next to her ear. He glanced over his shoulder as if he expected someone to be spying on him. "I hear," he whispered, turning back to her, "that the rare Bujkon bear has been spotted passing by the edge of town. All the animals I've rode in my entire life don't even come close to how completely amazing this would be! I have to find it!"

Katara sighed and opened her eyes. She was clearly not going to get any more sleep that day. "Ok fine, I'm up. But if I have to get up then Sokka does to."

Sokka rolled over so that his back was to them and purposefully pulled the blanket up over his head.

Aang grieved mischievously and crept slowly towards him. Suddenly with a great yell he shot a blast of ice cold air at Sokka, causing his covers to go flying through the air and land several yards away on Appa's back.

Sokka yelped and leapt up. "Hey! What's the big idea! I'm sleeping here!"

Katara laughed. "Come on you two. We better get started if we're going. It's a long walk to the town and I don't think it would be wise to take Appa. He's exhausted from last nights flight anyway."

"What!" Sokka wrapped his arms around his growling stomach, "No breakfast?"

"No breakfast." Katara said firmly. "We'll eat when we get there."

"Aw man!" Sokka groaned but turned and, grudgingly, followed Aang and Katara into the forest and towards the town.

The sun was high in the sky by the time they arrived. Sokka's stomach was growling so loudly that it sounded like a giant bear was following them. Finally the tress parted and they could see the town clearly. It was set on the edge of the ocean with lots of harbors full of fishermen hauling in their catch for the day. Rows and rows of shops and houses lined the streets and they could smell the scent of fish cooking over an open fire outside one of the stores.

Sokka took one look at the cooking fish and was off like a shot, racing for the store with his money already in his outstretched hand.

Katara glanced at Aang. "Where you are going first?" she asked. She was in a much better mood now that they had finally reached the town. She had already spotted several stores that promised interesting surprises inside.

"To the other side of town!" Aang cried eagerly, whipping out his glider. "I'm going to find that bear if it takes me all day."

"Well good luck with that." Katara said. "I'm going to look in some of these shops and then I'll go buy us more supplies. Meet me back here when the sun starts to set. And tell Sokka to do the same. If you can ever get him away from his food that is." She added as she looked over to where Sokka was currently haggling with an old man over the price of salmon.

"Ok." Aang answered, launching himself into the air. Katara watched him until he disappeared from sight then turned and headed for the nearest shop. It had strange markings above the door that she didn't recognize. They looked almost like the symbol she had once seen a Fire Nation soldier wearing but she shook her head. That's crazy. What would fire nation soldiers be doing here? She pulled open the door and heard a soft Ting! above her as a bell rang.

The shop was dark and gloomy. The only source of light, aside from the small window in the main door, were a couple lit candles set on various shelves. As Katara looked around she felt a slight shiver run down her spine. I shouldn't be in here. The thought came out of nowhere. Katara tried to brush it off as nothing but an uneasy feeling hung over her as she began to glance at the shelves. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in here, the usual food and supplies that most other shops had, a couple little trinkets and some jewelry. Katara walked over to examine a row of necklaces resting against a red silk cloth on one of the shelves. She ran her fingertips gently along the smooth metal of one. Her eyes drifted down the shelf. Suddenly her breath seemed to catch in her throat. There. At the very end of the shelf. Katara reached a trembling hand towards it to pull it closer. As she got a clearer view of it, however, her heart sank and she felt tears spring into her eyes. It was a blue necklace with tiny white diamonds along the edges. It was very pretty but it was not what she hoped for. When she had first glimpsed it she had thought for the briefest of seconds that it was her necklace, her mother's, that she had lost and that had somehow fallen into the hands of Prince Zuko.

She blinked the tears quickly from her eyes. It was a silly hope anyway. I'll probably never see my necklace again. Sadness filled the pit of her stomach. She sighed and turned slowly to leave.

"Going somewhere?"

Katara gasped in shock and jolted backwards slightly. Her blood turned to ice as she looked up to see Prince Zuko standing directly in front of her, his face only inches from hers. She stared at him, to shocked to move. How did he sneak up on me? The part of her brain that was still functioning asked. What am I going to do?

He smirked. "I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, "did I startle you?"

"W-what are you doing here?" she managed to gasp. A vision of Aang suddenly flashed through her head and her mind seemed to clear. "Why are you here? You haven't….!" Her cheeks flushed in anger as she debated whether to ask about Aang or not. If he had been caught then it wouldn't really matter but if he hadn't she couldn't let Prince Zuko know that he was here with her.

Prince Zuko laughed slightly. It was not a pleasant sound. "Your friend is safe for the moment if that's what you mean. In fact I didn't even come here to look for the Avatar. We stopped for…supplies. But what a nice bonus that will be leave with supplies and the Avatar. I would call that a day well spent, wouldn't you?"

Katara glared at him, the anger apparent in her eyes. "You can search all you want. You'll never find him."

"Is that so?" His smirk was really beginning to get on Katara's nerves. "I don't time to fool around so let me put it simply. You have two choices. Either tell me where the Avatar is and you leave here unharmed. Choose not to tell me and, well, let's just say that it won't be pleasant."

"No!" Katara spat defiantly, hatred filling her. "I will never tell you where he is!"

"Come on." Prince Zuko said, his voice dropping slightly. "There must be something you want. Jewels? Riches? Tell me where he is and it's yours. What have you got to lose?"

"How about someone I care about? Nothing could ever be worth more than that." She crossed her arms.

"Fine." Zuko spat, suddenly standing up straight, and fire began to glow in his hand. "I guess we'll have to do it the hard way." He took a step towards Katara. She quickly stepped back but felt her stomach turn over as she realized that her back was now against the shelf and there was no place for her to run. She stared up at him, her eyes wide. She tried to mask the fear she felt as he stepped even closer but she was sure it must be apparent in her eyes.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," he hissed, his eyes flashing, "Where is the Avatar?"

"I'm not telling you." Katara whispered, her gaze shifting to his glowing hands.

Without warning he struck. His left hand swung at her suddenly, the fire in his hand going out only seconds before it would have burned her face. Before she could even react his arm had smashed into her, knocking her against the shelf with a dull thud. Katara gave a cry of pain as she felt the shelf jab into her back. Prince Zuko stared angrily at her, never relaxing the arm that now pinned her against the cabinet.

"Where is the Avatar!" He practically screamed at her but at just that moment there was a loud crash from the back of the store and she felt his arm relax slightly as he turned for a split second to see what had happened. It was the opening she had been looking for. While his attention was diverted she brought her knee up as hard as she could into his stomach and at the same time shoved with all her might. Caught off guard, he staggered back a few steps. Katara threw herself sideways, rolling to avoid him as he lunged forward to try to stop her. She rolled for a second, then regained her balance and, springing to her feet, raced as fast as she could towards the door. I knew this shop was trouble! Her mind screamed as she ran.

She heard her pursuer's steps pounding behind her. She gasped for air, her lungs bursting. Suddenly the door loomed in front of her. She reached for the grimy silver door handle and as she did so snuck a quick glance over her shoulder. Prince Zuko was only feet behind her. She jerked the door open, hoping against hope that he didn't follow her outside. Perhaps the crowded street would be enough to persuade him to let her go, though she doubted it. If he was here then other fire nation soldiers must be as well and they could care less about who their leader attacked or where.

To her surprise and utter relief, however, Prince Zuko halted as she burst through the door into the now blinding sunlight. She laughed out loud in relief when she realized that she was no longer being chased but still continued to run until she was well away from the shop. Finally, when she couldn't run any farther, she slowed to a walk and held her side as she tried to catch her breath. She couldn't refrain from constantly looking over her shoulder to check for any signs of Fire Nation soldiers but she saw none.

"Katara! There you are!" Katara whirled around in surprise, expecting another attack. She felt relief wash over her as she saw that it was only Sokka, looking very pleased after a nice lunch of fried salmon.

"Sokka." She stopped and let him catch up to her. "We have to leave. Right away. Where's Aang?"

"I don't know." Sokka answered with a shrug. "I haven't seen him since we arrived. What's wrong?"

Katara hesitated. Did she really want to tell Sokka that she had been attacked by Prince Zuko? It would only make him angry and he would probably try to go looking for him, wanting to fight. And though she didn't like to admit it, Sokka was no match for Prince Zuko.

"There are Fire Nation soldiers here." She said finally, deciding that what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "I think we better get out as soon as we can." She felt a pang of worry at the thought of Aang off by himself. I hope he's ok.

"Well what should we do?" Sokka asked. "Surely we can take a few Fire Nation soldiers."

"No." Katara said firmly. "We have to go. Ok I have an idea. I'll search this area of town and you search the other side. Look at the edges, near the forest especially. Aang said he was looking for some kind of bear. We'll meet back here after we've made our first round and see if either of us found him. If not then we'll trade sides and look again."

"Fine but I better not have to fight any bears." Sokka said grumpily. Katara rolled her eyes and the two separated and headed off in there own direction.