Day Eleven

"Is this place ever dry for more than a few days?" I grumbled, looking out at the rain that plagued us again. Zuko shrugged.

"I don't think so. I wish this rain would go somewhere else, though. The flood waters are never going to go down at this rate," he said. "I'd like to know what happened to my uncle." I felt sorry for Zuko. From what I gathered, only his uncle showed him any kindness when he lived in the Fire Capital.

"Maybe we'll be lucky and this rain will let up and a drought will hit," I joked. Zuko looked at me.

"I thought Waterbenders enjoyed the rain." I snorted.

"Yeah, but this, this is ridiculous," I said, pointing outside. "I've never seen so much rain. Or snow, since we got snow more often than rain in the South Pole," I added.

Zuko looked out in the direction of the shoreline. I knew he was thinking about his uncle and whether or not he was still alive. There was no talking for about an hour. During that time, I brushed my hair, which had pulled completely out of its braid, and redid the braid. Every morning, when I woke up, my hair was free of its braid. Every time I asked Zuko, he just told me that it had come undone while I slept. It was beginning to bother me; I had a sinking feeling that Zuko knew more than he was telling me.

Finally, the rain let up enough to leave the gazebo, which had started to leak. "Can you show me where you found those vegetables?" I asked Zuko. "We're almost out of food."

Zuko nodded. "Follow me." I obeyed. He led me to an overrun vegetable garden.

"Those poor Earthbenders thought of everything," I muttered under my breath. "Too bad they never had the chance to use this." I went along the paths, looking for edible plants. "It's no good," I called back to Zuko, who was watching me. "The rain has ruined these. The only plant, if we could find it, that this rain would not have ruined is that sponge fruit." The sponge fruit looked like a really big peach that absorbed water. The more water, the bigger it got and the healthier it was.

Zuko nodded. "I think I remember seeing some of those trees, but where I can't remember," he called back. I sighed. Great.

"I guess until we a), find some more food or b), you remember, we'll have to skip a meal and eat smaller rations." Zuko nodded. I began walking back.

Walking through the garden, I noticed for the first time how many flowers the rain ruined. The only one that wasn't damaged as bad was the Avatar Blossom; I assumed it was because it was like Aang and was just reborn if it died. But even that was looking bad.

I must have stopped because I felt Zuko's hand on my shoulder. "Is anything the matter?" he asked. I shook my head and continued walking.

"I was just thinking about how, when I found this garden and you in it, all these flowers were simply beautiful. Now, there's nothing that's even remotely pretty in here," I explained.

"There's one thing," Zuko whispered behind me. I turned around to see him watching me. This prince kept surprising me more and more. Was he calling me pretty? I blushed slightly at this thought.

"What are you saying?" I asked. He shook his head and kept going. I sighed and followed. Men, I swear.

Once back at the gazebo, I sat down and reached into the supplies bag. "If we both skip lunch," I said, looking at the food, "then it'll be about five more days before we would need to worry." Zuko nodded. "Are you hungry now?" I asked.

"No," he replied. I nodded. Neither was I. I sighed and lay back on the bench.

"This island is getting old. Same thing, day in and day out." Zuko sat down opposite of me.

"What about yesterday?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" I questioned, sitting up to see him better.

"That sparring match we had was out of the ordinary," Zuko pointed out. I laughed.

"You looked funny when I threw you into the water, Prince Zuko. Like you couldn't believe a female Water peasant had bested you."

"You should have seen your face when I heated up the water. You were embarrassed about something," he said, either playing dumb or genuinely ignorant about what was the cause of my embarrassment. I glared at him.

"Are you trying to aggravate me? It's working." Zuko smirked. What is it with teenaged boys? They could be soooo aggravating. Well, two can play at that game.

I threw a water whip at Zuko, which wiped the smirk from his face. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"Aggravation," I said with a smile. He growled and evaporated the water from his face. I ran from gazebo laughing. "Come and get me," I taunted. Zuko rose to the bait and came chasing after me. I led him all around the garden, laughing all the time. He kept trying to get me in a corner, but I had ran from him often enough to tell when he was going to make a move and dodge it.

Eventually, though, I wasn't paying attention and he got me in a corner. Zuko had chased me into a grove of trees against some large rocks. I held my arms up in an attempt to stop him, but he just took my wrists and pinned them to my sides. "Got you," he muttered. I struggled against his grip.

"Okay, okay, you got me. Mind letting…" I trailed off as I looked up to meet his gaze. Zuko's golden eyes seemed to pierce my sapphire ones, melting them. I felt his hands leave my wrists, their warmth staying behind. Without thinking, I brought my hand up to his scar, tracing it ever so gently. Zuko reached for my hand, grasping it. The warmth of his hand filled my every pore. Before I could react, the Fire Prince pulled me slowly into his embrace. I didn't resist, didn't stiffen. Instead, I leaned into his touch, never breaking eye contact. I felt his hands slide around to the small of my back, bringing me closer. I closed my eyes and buried my head in his tunic. I had never been this close to anyone before.

"Katara," Zuko whispered. I lifted my head.

"Yes?" I asked. A shadow passed over the grove, not much bigger than a bird's silhouette. I felt Zuko's hands leave my back and go to my braid. I pulled away slightly, looking at him with a confused look. "Is something the matter, Zuko?"

He undid my hair tie and teased my hair out of its braid. I let out a small gasp of realization. (I knew that Zuko had known more about why my hair came loose than he was telling!)

A small blush crept across the prince's face. "About why your hair comes loose at night…" Zuko pulled me closer to him again. "I did it."

"Why?" I asked, feeling electricity running through me as he held me. What did all of this, the embrace, letting my hair out, mean? And why wasn't I nervous? I ought to have been nervous, being so close to the Fire Prince, the man who had chased Aang, Sokka, and me for weeks now.

"You're beautiful when you let your hair down," he murmured. I blushed so much, I must have looked like a tomato.

Suddenly, a loud squawk got our attention. It sounded strangely familiar… "Momo," I muttered. "Aang must have sent Momo back to find me. I don't think he knows about you," I said, looking back at Zuko. I was still in his embrace, and I felt reluctant to leave him. I knew that if I didn't go find Momo, however, he would think something had happened to me. I pulled away from Zuko and went to find that annoying little lemur.

The lemur was standing on the gazebo's roof, looking for me. "Momo, I'm down here!" I called, waving at the lemur. He swooped down on my shoulder and hissed at something behind me. Turning, I realized it was Zuko. "Momo! Stop that! Zuko's not that bad," I said, bopping the flying lemur. He stopped and started making weird noises. "Momo, stop. I don't understand you."

The lemur grabbed at something on his leg. I took a closer look at it and unknotted the twine that held the piece of paper to Momo's leg. Once I had it, Momo took off. Zuko took the paper and inspected it.

"There's nothing on it," he stated, looking it over. I took it from him.

"Of course not; neither one of them can write something I can read," I reminded him. "This was just a sign that I am definitely alive. When Momo returns without the paper, then my brother and Aang will know that Momo was able to find me again." I paused. "If only I could tell them that you were here as well."

"Why?"

"So my brother won't assume the worst; that you were the one who trapped me here," I explained. "He might go after you with a hunting knife." The wind blew suddenly, making shiver. I looked up at the sky; it was still overcast, and I could almost sense the rain was coming back. "Let's get in the gazebo," I whispered to Zuko. "I think it's going to rain again."

Sure enough, the rains began their torrent again. I dashed under the protection of the gazebo, shaking my loose hair out. (The tie was back in the grove.) Zuko followed, nearly soaked to the bone.

"You couldn't have bent an umbrella?" he remarked, evaporating the water.

"I was in a hurry!" I exclaimed. "Give me a break!" I shook the last traces of water from my hair, spraying Zuko. I smiled as he yelped in surprise. "Hmm, I've never seen you in shock before, Prince Zuko," I remarked. "Nice change from depressed, angry, haughty, and obsessed."

"What about when you tripped me?" he asked, evaporating that water.

"That was more of a 'what in the world happened?' look," I said, sitting down.

"Like the one you had about fifteen minutes ago?" he asked, sitting next to me and whispering in my ear. It sent a shiver up my spine.

"Yes, like that one." Zuko leaned in closer to me, as did I to him. Our faces were just inches apart…

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit the gazebo, setting it aflame. "Katara, get out of here!" Zuko yelled, pushing me out into the rain.

"Why? I could use the rain to douse the fire," I pointed out.

"Just go!" I realized that arguing was useless and ran. It was about two minutes later that the fire subsided. Worrying, I turned around and ran right back.

The gazebo was half burned, the whole thing black with ashes. "Zuko?" I called. I jumped as I heard someone creep up behind me in the rain. I relaxed when I turned and saw Zuko. The rain left trails of clean in the soot that covered his face. I fell against him, exhausted from that running and the shock of the lightning.

"It's okay, Katara," he murmured, stroking my hair. "The only that's ruined is the gazebo." I sighed with relief, though I didn't know why.

Or did I?

Does she?