Zuko and I decided that the grove he had cornered me in was the only spot we had a chance of not getting wet. (Okay, so we were going to get wet anywhere, but the grove was covered slightly.) It was farther from the gate than the gazebo, but it was drier. The only problem was the bugs.

"Mosquito fire ants!" I said, stomping on the pests. "What works on keeping them away?"

"Smoke," Zuko replied instantly. "They plagued the Fire Palace every summer. The whole place was unbearable with the constant fires going. Of course, to complain was a sign of weakness," he added with a disdainful tone to his voice. I pitied him; from the stories he told me of his life as the Prince of the Fire Nation, it wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

"Where did you go that wasn't smothering?" I asked, setting the pack down. (I had snatched it up as Zuko shoved me out of harm's way.)

"My quarters. There were many windows in there. My mother's garden also was cooler than the inside, and in the Fire Nation, summers are hotter than they are in most parts of the world," Zuko said. "To say an outside garden was cooler than the indoors is not good." I laughed. Zuko looked at me as he took wood from the surrounding trees to make a fire to keep the ant at bay.

"I'm not joking, Katara. It was hot enough to boil an egg. That's what Cook did. He would let a pot with eggs and water set out over night and we'd have boiled eggs the next morning."

"Hey, winters in the South Pole are so cold at times, the salt water in the ocean can freeze over! I've skated on a frozen salt water channel multiple times! Sokka's fallen in a frozen channel before. Thin ice," I added.

"Skating?" I looked at Zuko as if he was crazy.

"Ice skating? Taking two blades, tying them to your boots, and gliding on frozen ice? Haven't you ever heard of it?" Zuko shook his head.

"The only place it got cold enough to freeze water during the winter was in the mountains. We never went there; Father hates the cold," he explained. "Mother didn't mind, but she wasn't the Fire Lord." I understood then that the Fire Lady was dead.

Zuko lit the pile of wood he had made and the smoke sent the little pests scurrying. "Thank you," I said, watching the last ant go. "I wouldn't want to wake up with bugs crawling all over me." I shivered at the thought. That had happened once when Sokka had forgotten to put the food away from dinner. I froze him to a tree while Aang and I packed the next morning.

Zuko cringed. "One of the barracks in the Capital attracted so many lice and flies, Father had to order it burned and the soldiers living in it were locked up for three weeks."

"How can people let themselves go like that? It's disgusting." I yawned. I was tired and it was only noon. I noticed Zuko was also tired, though he tried to hide it. I blushed when I remembered what had gone on between us just a few hours beforehand, in this very grove. Though it was just an embrace, it felt like much more.

I lay down, using the pack as a pillow. "I'm going to take a nap, if you don't mind," I said to Zuko. "That lightning hitting the gazebo shocked me, and I'm exhausted." I rolled over, my back towards Zuko. Within two minutes, I was asleep.

Day Twelve

I slept the rest of the day, surprisingly. I figured Zuko would have woken me up at one point, but he never did. When I did wake up, he was meditating, as he did every morning. "Surprise, surprise," I muttered, getting up. "You just love to meditate, don't you?"

He was clearly crabby this morning, because he just grunted. I sighed. "Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked, brushing my hair out and braiding it. Great, he was cranky.

Zuko didn't respond, just glared at me. I took that as a solid "no". Shrugging, I decided to step out of the grove, to see if Momo was around and if the rain had stopped. Not only was Momo not there, the rain was worse than ever. It was the hardest it had been in the twelve days since Appa was wounded. "I wonder if Aang and Sokka are okay; Appa should be better by now," I muttered to myself, leaning up against a tree. Zuko was crabby, so I decided against going back. Not that I needed to.

It was about half an hour after I left Zuko. I heard the footfalls before I felt him near me. I didn't turn around to face him; I just stood there, acting like I didn't hear him. (He was tired and walked like a flying bison, so it was it kinda hard not to hear him.) He stopped about three steps behind me, probably trying to be sneaky. I tensed slightly, just in case he tried to startle me.

Suddenly, I heard someone muttering. Turning, I saw the reason Zuko had stopped; his arm was bleeding. I winced when I saw the cut.

"What happened?" I asked, coming closer. Well, this would explain his crankiness.

"Nothing," he said quickly. I sighed and grabbed his arm. I gasped. There was a ragged cut on his forearm, bleeding profusely.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have healed this before I fell asleep," I said, reaching for my flask and uncorking it.

"You were tired," Zuko said. "You needed your sleep."

"Not as badly as you need healing! This could have gotten infected!" I pressed the healing waters against Zuko's wound. "How did it happen?"

"A piece of wood from the collapsing gazebo," Zuko said simply. He watched as the horrid wound vanished underneath my hand. I looked up.

"Are there any other places?" I asked. He didn't respond, but winced when he attempted to get up. I held him down. "Your back?" I questioned with a knowing glance. Zuko nodded. I sighed and shook my head. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" he asked. I turned my eyes as he removed his tunic.

"Deny when you are in pain, that's what," I remarked, bending water from my flask and forming a healing glove. I sought the wound and, finding it, pressed my hand to it.

"Because it aggravates you," he smirked. I swatted him.

"Boys," I muttered, blushing slightly. "There. Is that all?" I asked, facing him. This time I didn't avert my gaze as he put his tunic back on. He was so muscular…

He shook his head. "Thank you. I apologize for being so…disagreeable this morning. You were right; I didn't get to sleep last night."

"Did you attempt to?" I asked, corking my flask.

Zuko paused. "No," he admitted. A sudden roll of thunder startled me, causing me to jump back, right into Zuko. We fell into some bushes

"Sorry. That thunder scared me," I murmured, getting up. Zuko stood, dusting his tunic off.

"It's…fine," he said, removing twigs that had stuck to his pants. "Everyone gets startled." I nodded, turning back to the rain. For some reason, I felt a strange longing for…what? I sighed inwardly. I knew what, but there was no way. Besides, I was probably just thinking that was what I wanted.

The air around me suddenly felt warmer. I assumed Zuko had moved closer while my back was turned, since he naturally gave off hotter air than most people did. He placed his hands on my shoulders. I stood stock-still, but did not tense, as he stepped even closer, twigs and dry leaves crackling under his boots. I leaned into his touch, though millions of very good reasons not to roared through my head. For some unknown reason, I trusted the Fire Prince not to…brutally harm me.

Why is the reason unknown? He has helped and saved you multiple times; trust is natural at this stage of the relationship.

Relationship? What relationship? Zuko and I were no longer out for the other's blood, but we weren't anything other than enemies, right? I only felt humane concern for him.

Then why was I standing here in his embrace, not putting up a fight? I groaned inwardly. Being fourteen can be confusing, especially when princes are thrown into the mix.

Pushing all this to the back of my mind, I felt Zuko bring me closer. I leaned against his body, not asking why I enjoyed the heat given off by his body or the feel of his strong chest against my back.

We stood like that, the prince and I, for I don't know how long. The safe feeling that overwhelmed me whenever Zuko held me flooded back, with a hint of…pleasure? I was enjoying having the Prince of the Fire Nation embrace me? Hearing Zuko's heartbeat beat in time with mine and feeling him relax whenever he held me, I realized I did enjoy this, and so did Zuko.

Soon, when I realized the rain was in for the long run, I turned to Zuko. "Are you hungry?" Zuko, who had been elsewhere, came back to earth and nodded. Our embrace slipped and we walked back to where we had left the pack.

Upon reaching it, I swore most uncharacteristically. Ants had gotten into our supply bag and ruined our food. There was about two meals of undamaged food left. "Things just keep better and better, don't they?" I muttered sarcastically, tears stinging my cold face. "First Appa gets wounded, stranding us here, then I sprain my ankle, you and I get stuck in a cursed garden that has it out for us, the gazebo burns down, and now this!" It overwhelmed me, and I collapsed into tears. I had had enough of all this traveling and bad luck and the overall lousy life I had lived since Mom died.

I felt Zuko's hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Katara." I think he realized I wasn't upset over the food, but everything that had happened. This just made me cry harder. I think I may have made poor Zuko uncomfortable; I didn't think he had ever dealt with a weeping teenaged girl before.

Suddenly, a familiar call perked me up. I made a dash to the grove's exit to see…

"Aang!" The Avatar was standing there, his glider in pieces.

"Katara, you're alive!" I hugged Aang, relieved he had found me. "Sokka and I panicked when you didn't come back after the storm," he said. "What happened?"

I pointed to the flooded village. "That's what happened." Aang followed my hand and gaped.

"Whoa. Why didn't you-"

"Bend the water back?" I laughed. "I can't part lakes that large. How's Appa?"

"His wound got infected, or Sokka thinks he'd be better by now and we'd be outta here," Aang replied. "It's healing properly now, but it's taking longer since you're stuck here. I'd take you out with my glider, but…" He nodded to the shredded object he held. I nodded.

"It's fine; I can wait." Suddenly, my stomach rumbled so loudly it startled me. I blushed. Aang smacked his forehead.

"Oh, yeah! I brought you something." He handed me a bag of food, more than I could eat alone. Of course, I wasn't alone…

"Thanks Aang," I said, looking in the bag. "Wait, how'd you get here if the glider is ruined?"

Aang laughed. "The cave isn't that far; the glider lasted that long and I think it has one more trip in it before I'll need you to repair it. Hopefully by then those floodwaters will have gone down enough so you can get back to the cave." I smiled and hugged Aang.

"Thanks. Tell Sokka not to eat everything and that I'm safe," I said. Aang nodded and took off, his glider having trouble getting altitude at first, but gradually got higher and higher until he disappeared.

Zuko came out from behind a tree. "I didn't want to startle the Avatar," he said, noticing my confused look. "He might have, um, gotten the wrong idea." I nodded and blushed slightly at that thought. Zuko took the bag that Aang had handed me and headed back; I followed.

Prince Zuko tied the bag in a tree. I nodded; Dad had done the same thing when Sokka would try to swipe the meat from Dad's hunting trips before they were jerked. If it kept big pests away, then why not little ones?

Zuko restarted the fire, which had burned out, and sighed. "Why don't you go to sleep?" I asked. I had a funny feeling that he hadn't slept in at least two days.

He shook his head, stubbornness taking over his tired features. I rolled my eyes. He was worse than Sokka at times. (And that was bad.) "Why?" I asked.

"Why what?"

"Why won't you admit you're tired and go to sleep?"

"I'm not tired." I snorted.

"You're nearly dead on your feet! No, wait, you're not tired; you're exhausted. If you were my brother, I'd have pelted you with icicles by now," I said, frustrated with the prince.

"But I'm not," he murmured, walking towards me and stopping a few hands' breadth from me.

No, you certainly aren't, I thought, giving him a quick appreciating glance before meeting his golden eyes. Where had that come from? True, Zuko was more fit than my brother, but why did I glance him like that?

I put my hand on Zuko's chest before I could stop myself. I half-expected him to step away, but instead he moved closer. He put one hand under my chin and brought my face up to meet his. There was almost no space between us now…

Hehehe, I'm evil aren't I? Tune in for the next chapter...