"Please, Zuko," Katara pleaded. "Let me talk to Aang. He's probably feeling really bad right now. I want to help him."

Zuko stared at Katara, his eyes narrowed. This had been all she'd been talking about since he'd entered the room ten minutes ago. He wanted to talk about what she had been saying right before the Avatar's "attack". He wanted to know if she'd really been about to say it… If she'd really been about to do it…

Apologize.

"Fine," Zuko said. "You may visit him, but only if you don't make plans for an escape. Guards will be posted out the door so they will hear if you try. And no bending! Of any kind. I will know of it, and you both will be punished for it."

And how would I punish her? Lock her in her room? Zuko truly didn't know how he would go about punishing Katara. She was his prisoner but he didn't want to hurt her. In fact, he kind of liked her.

What?

It was even worse when she smiled up at him like that. Her eyes were so thankful, so appreciative… like he'd done the most amazing, considerate thing in the world instead of allowing her to walk down the hall to her old room and talk to her friend.

Zuko opened the door and Katara followed him.

Down the hall were three guards standing attention at the door to Katara's old room. The chain and lock that Zuko had refrained from spending on Katara was there in full force. It actually took a few minutes for the guards to open the door.

But when they did and Katara walked in the room and the door shut behind her, it was definitely more than worth the wait.

"Aang!"

"Katara!" Katara rushed over to where Aang was sitting on the bed. He stood up and opened his arms as wide as the chains would allow him and hugged her around the neck.

"Ungh- Aang!" Katara stepped back, rubbing her throat. "The chains…" she offered half-amused.

"Oh, yeah," Aang dropped back down to the bed. "I'm sorry, Katara. We tried to save you but it just didn't work. We failed." Aang's eyes teared up. "I failed."

"No, you didn't, Aang," Katara rubbed his back. "It's all right. Everything's fine. They won't kill you at least!" Katara tried to make it sound like a joke but it fell a little flat.

Aang still smiled, though, at her effort. "How's Zuko been treating you?" he asked. "Has he been nice?"

"Erm," Katara considered what to tell Aang. Oh yeah, Aang. He's been swell. While you guys were trying to rescue me, we were making out! "Well… he's not as bad as I thought he was."

"Yeah," Aang sighed and looked down at his hands. "I kind of figured that one out. He doesn't really strike me as evil – not like that Commander guy."

"Zhao?" Katara asked, hoping she got the name right.

"Yeah, him."

There was a silence as Katara's mind drifted over the events of the past few days, ending with the battle that had just taken place.

"Wait a minute!" Katara said indignantly. "Since when was Elsie a firebender?"

Aang looked up confusedly then, realizing what she was talking about, smiled. "Oh yeah," he said. "Elsie's a firebender."

"I got that, Aang," Katara snorted. "What I want to know is when she was able to do this?"

Aang told Katara about Elsie's past and why she had mislead them about her ability to firebend.

Katara shook her head.

"I can't believe what an idiot I've been," she said. "I thought she was just uncomfortable practicing with somebody else, when, in reality, all this time she couldn't bend a single drop of water!"

Aang shrugged. "It's all right," he smiled. "It's not like she was trying to sell us out to Zuko, like Sokka originally thought she was!"

Katara shuddered. "Well, now it's just her and Sokka, right?" Aang nodded. "That's not going to be very much fun for either of them. I hope Sokka can get over his distrust of firebenders."

"Elsie, what are you talking about?"

Sokka waved his arms angrily in the air.

"I was trying to see what that dot was!" Elsie protested. It hadn't taken her long to become comfortable enough to argue with Sokka. Or at least, protect her reputation from his barrage of accusations that seemed to just jump around in his head, waiting for a person he could accuse of them. He was the most paranoid person she'd ever met!

"There is no dot! You were just leaning over the side of the saddle for no good reason! You could've fallen out!"

"It could've been a ship!"

"Elsie, there are no ships! Anywhere! I've checked!"

"I was just looking."

Sokka rolled his eyes and took the reins from Momo who had been holding them while Sokka waved his hands in the air. Momo tilted his head to the other side and squeaked.

"Thanks, Momo," Sokka said.

"Crazy girl," he muttered. (Sokka, not Momo.) "She practically fell off the flying bison, what, is she crazy?"

Elsie rolled her eyes when Sokka couldn't see her and peered over the side of the bison. She couldn't see the speck floating anymore. It was too far directly beneath Appa. So she just leaned forward… it might have been her canoe… she just wanted to check…

"Elsie!"

Elsie's eyes widened and she pitched forward. Her fingernail's scraped at the leather railing and she almost fell off but a pair of hands grabbed her. Sokka pulled her back and she fell on her butt.

"Are you crazy?" he demanded. "I told you not to look over the edge like that! What were you doing?"

"I thought it was my canoe," Elsie said quietly.

Sokka looked over the edge. His brows were furrowed and he was very quiet for a while. "No," he said finally, looking back at her. "It's not your canoe."

Elsie sighed.

"You're an insane little girl, did you know that?" Sokka questioned as he sat down, wiping his forehead.

"Wait a minute," Elsie said, noticing exactly where Sokka was. Her voice became slightly frantic. "Who's flying Appa?"

"Momo," Sokka said unconcernedly.

"You have a lemur flying a bison!"

I actually really love Sokka and Elsie together. Not in the romantic way because that's not how they are, but in the "we don't really get along so well but we're still friends, kinda" way.

It's a nice way to be.