The best thing about tracking the air nomads' bison was that the beasts made huge, very distinguishable foot prints. Unfortunately, once it took off into the air, there was no way of telling which way it had gone.

This was the predicament the princess faced now.

"What are we going to do now, Princess Azula?" Ty Lee asked, a broad grin on her face, despite the day's fruitless travel.

"They headed south, to avoid the men posted outside Nishe, and to avoid being followed, they turned east… or west." Unlike her brother, Azula was not foolish enough to pretend to know all.

"Maybe they landed in the forest," Mai sighed, "If they did, there's no way we'll catch them."

"On the contrary, Mai," Azula smiled maliciously, "Half of us will go one way, and the other half will go the other. You and Ty Lee will take the eastern forest, and I will take the western. It won't be hard to find the bison in the forest; the footprints are unmistakable."

xxx

Sokka wouldn't let Zuko light the fire. Haru wouldn't let Zuko help him close the cavern opening back up; how could he? Katara wouldn't even come into a twenty-foot radius of Zuko. And Aang wasn't talking to anyone, because he said he was 'meditating', which included balancing on an air-ball and chasing Momo around the cave.

Needless to say, it was an unhappy bunch.

Zuko huddled against the cave wall, sitting on his haunches and watching the rest with great interest. He'd chased them for so long, yet he barely knew them.

The water tribe boy was clearly dissatisfied with his situation. He moped around, complaining about everything, but he really had nothing much to complain about; his sister was currently fixing up some sort of stew and trying to calm him down. Zuko wished sorely that he had a sister such as her.

The girl was patient when she had to be; otherwise she was very short-tempered, particularly with Sokka. Her movements flowed, like the water she was so capable of contorting to do her bidding, graceful, but piercing and effective. Her eyes flashed to Zuko from across her place kneeling by the flames, stirring the water by swirling her hand above the small pot's surface. Zuko held his gaze.

Subconsciously, Katara reached up to grab her necklace. Having Zuko here, right in front of her, was like having all of her nightmares come to life and hang about her shoulders, pestering her like arctic moths. The only exception was that he could sting, and it was her great fear that he would. She wouldn't admit it to Sokka, of course, but Katara was strongly apprehensive about Zuko. She trusted Aang's judgment, but he was no sage; he could be wrong. She held Zuko's amber gaze, which, likewise, did not waver.

"Is it done yet? I think my stomach's eating itself!" Sokka whined.

Katara finally ripped her gaze from the prince and turned to her brother, "If you're so hungry, why don't you cook?"

"Men can't cook-."

"Are you saying that that's a woman's job?" Katara snapped, her blue eyes shimmering dangerously.

"No…"

"I didn't think so. I will be done in a little while, Sokka, so just be patient."

Aang finally rested his air-ball, falling with a small thump onto the ground. He had been trying to come up with a logical reasoning to believe Zuko was really not setting him up for capture. The uncle theory was lacking quite a bit of dependable evidence. Zuko seemed to show up when the group was entirely unprepared, and when they did expect him, he did not satisfy their hunches.

Aang wanted to believe Zuko. He so badly wanted to believe him. He hated having enemies. Life a hundred years ago had been friendly, and every stranger was chummy. There were no threatening people in Aang's eyes a century prior. Now he had to question everyone, because there was quite a price on the avatar's head, and almost no one would dare pass up an opportunity to win some points with the fire nation.

He jetted himself upright and walked to the stew pot.

Zuko rolled his head to the side, trying to ignore the gnawing pain in his abdomen. Whatever was in that pot smelled very, very good.

He closed his eyes, feeling slightly at ease because the avatar had stopped his bothersome spinning on that… air current. Zuko was also put more at ease because he knew the boy would let no harm come to him. Sleep claimed him, and the final thought on the tip of conscience was that he trusted Aang; he would put his life in his blue-arrowed hands in a heartbeat.

xxx

He was having a most pleasant dream…Something warm and loving, and he was pretty sure that his father and sister had not been around. In fact, Zuko had been Iroh's son. They sat at a table overlooking the beauty of the fire nation's mountains, and a fat, honey-roasted boar sat expectantly on the table, and Zuko could swear he could taste the succulent meat melting on his tongue. Iroh had smiled at him, and said, "Zuko, wake up. I have something for you."

What did he have?

Zuko muttered back, "What? Tell me what…"

Katara nudged his foot again, "Zuko! Wake up before Sokka does!"

Zuko rolled his head against the wall and blinked up at the girl in front of him.

That was not Iroh…

"What?" He asked groggily, "What do you want?"

She held a wooden bowl in her hands, "Well, if you don't want it, fine. I was going to give you some soup-."

Zuko outstretched his hand immediately. She handed him the bowl with a scowl.

She waited. He said nothing, just began gulping the stew like a man who hadn't eaten in days. She turned away in a huff, so much for thanks.

Zuko said between greedy swallows, "Thank you."

She turned to see the sincerity in his face, and was not disappointed.

"You're…welcome." She said softly.

She returned to her spot between Sokka and Aang, who were both snoozing. Haru was sprawled next to Sokka, also so deep in slumber that he had not witnessed the strange and eye-opening reaction between a water bender from the South Pole and a banished fire nation prince.

She watched him carefully, and he seemed not to be scornful.

She shouldn't have given him the meal at all. It would be 'feeding the enemy', as Sokka would have said, if he had been awake to witness her kindness.

Sleep had claimed her attentions for awhile before that, but she had awoken with the strangest feeling of being hungry. Yet the sensation was fleeting, and a satisfying fullness occupied her stomach once more. She had looked up at Zuko, across the cave, and his uncomfortable slouch against the wall. Her mind provoked her with the thought that the poor boy hadn't had any food.

Her heart practically stopped.

Poor boy? That was the last thing anyone would classify that spoiled teenager as.

Katara paused her thoughts again, and simply watched him polish off the stew. She couldn't wait until he left, and maybe they'd be lucky enough not to see him return ever again. If Aang was right, then Zuko had no reason to chase them anymore.

With this thought, she drifted into an uneasy sleep, where she was, in turn, watched by the mysterious prince that had joined them that night.

xxx

The carriage stumbled for the sixth time that night. Azula scowled. There was no reason for her discomfort, other than her men's inability to walk.

There was the moon to light their path, after all.

She leaned from the carriage, exposing her face to the cool night air. She found the captain and beckoned him to come closer.

"Yes, my lady?"

"Would you kindly tell me, I'm having trouble remembering, what nation are we from?"

"My… my lady?"

"What nation, Captain?"

"The… the fire nation, Princess."

"Oh really? Well, then why is it that we are stumbling in the dark! I thought we were capable of conjuring fire!"

"Yes, yes, your highness. I shall get right to that."

"See to it that you do, or I'll have to 'rediscover' my ability to bend and 'accidentally' burnthe hair off of your scalp!"

She settled back into her seat, momentarily calmed by the shouting.

She wished she were back home. She hated traveling. She hated dealing with stupid low-ranks. But she loved making her father proud, which she did very often. A few more days and she'd have the avatar in her hands, and she'd be able to return to the fire nation, sporting the prize that so many men before her had failed to bag, including that inept failure she called her brother, whom she also had to catch. Once she had the three: Iroh, Zuko, and the avatar, she could resume her place in the palace, doing exactly as she pleased.

The captain rushed to the front of the procession and held a fistful of flames in front of him, just before tripping over a pot-bellied old man huddled against a tree.

Azula's chase just became a little easier.