Special thanks to starlightz1112,almostinsane,Cala Akina Morushiku, nonesofar,Fran, Mystic Water Bender3, frozonedude12, albr62,Tree Flower,Junkfood, Kiriko-sama,LittleYugiBoy,Gmasangel, Animeloverja,TMW, Sirius123,fanfictionfun, and queenyasha for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the last airbender.
I am SO sorry I haven't updated in two months! I've been busy. I plan to update more often! HURRAY! The new season of Avatar has started!
Azula's a piece of work eh?
"I am a very talented fire bender! You know this! With Uncle Iroh's and Zuko's betrayal there are not many others out there who will be able to catch the avatar."said Azula kneeling in front of her father.
"Zhao is also a talented fire bender."said Ozai. Azula hid a look of disgust.
"Yes but one man can't do this alone! The Avatar may be a child but he is dangerous and he has water benders and Zuko on his side. Let me capture them. Bring honor to at least one of your children."said Azula.
"Fine. You will leave with Zhao and Ryu."said Ozai.
"What?"said Ryu who had been looking forward to a nice relaxing bath and to sit around "guarding" the castle all day.
"My daughter needs as much protection as she can get!"Ozai said.
"Yes my lord."said Ryu biting back a pout.
"My lord she is the princess of the fire nation I don't think that she should-"started Zhao but Ozai cut him off.
"You dare disobey my orders?"Ozai said as smoke began to rise from his clenched fists.
"N-no my lord!"said Zhao and bowed. He turned to Azula who wore a smug look. "Lets go."Zhao sighed. He had a crew ready and the three aboarded. Azula looked very pleased. The ship took off and Azula watched as the fire nation shrunk in the distance.
"What are you playing at Princess Azula?"asked Zhao glaring at her.
"First of all, you will never catch the avatar alone. Second I want some glory."said Azula her ember colored eyes glittering mischievously. She looked at Ryu who was pouting.
"What?"asked Azula.
"I was kind of happy to be home you know?"he said.
"Think about it Ryu if we capture the avatar my father will be sure to let you marry me!"Azula said quietly glaring at Zhao but he wasn't listening. He was talking to one of the crew members ordering them around looking angry. Azula smirked.
"Yeah...okay."said Ryu looking out into the ocean. "How are we supposed to find them?"
"There heading for the north pole. Naturally. To teach that little peasant and the avatar water bending."said Azula gazing out into the ocean. "My brother will be SO sorry! I can't wait to see the look on his face when it's ME who captures him!"said Azula.
"I'm sensing a lot of sibling love right now."said Ryu sarcastically.
"I have every right to hate him! He has dishonored my country!"said Azula.
"Yeah...but that's not why you hate him."said Ryu. Azula's eyes narrowed. Annoyed she turned away from Ryu and walked below deck. She found Zhao's room. She whistled loudly. Two crew men walked over to her.
"Yes Princess?"They asked nervously.
"I want you two to load all of Admiral Zhao's items out of this room and into another- a smaller room."said Azula.
"B-but Princess this is his r-room..."said the crew member nervously. In response he got a series of blasts of fire.
"I AM THE PRINCESS. I AM ABOVE ZHAO IN RANK YOU DO WHAT I SAY!"the princess roared than she smiled sweetly. "Thank you so much."she said and walked past them with a smile.
"Here."Zuko said quietly stopping in front of some tall bushes. Sokka pushed his way through followed by the others. They gasped in surprise as they found a small village. It was much smaller than the other village. It had a few huts and a small river. There were many elderly people walking around. Aang saw no little kids. This tribe looked well empty. Clover,Faith,Crystal, and Phoenix dropped the mass of food in the center of the small village and the villagers cheered happily and all got a fair share for themselves.
"They should combine villages."Sokka said tilting his head observing the villagers. They walked in the village. The Gypsy girls shot them nervous looks.
"Welcome to our village!"said an elderly woman with a kind smile. She looked at Aang and her mouth fell open. "Air bending tattoos?"She whispered. A crowd immediately surrounded them.
"It's an air bender! A male air bender!"cried one woman. There were men in the village. Some fire,earth, and water benders but there were no male air benders.
"He's not just an air bender. He's the avatar!"said Sokka. The crowd of people cheered and offered Aang food and gifts and a place to stay for the night. They decided to sleep there. Just for the night. Aang used his whistle to call Appa and they went to sleep. Morning came and Aang woke up to arguing.Katara was arguing with the air bender named Faith.
"We can't just join the other tribe! We have lived here in secrecy for one hundred years! The other village will be furious when they find out we have been taking the food!"Faith yelled.
"I'm sure they will understand that most of your villagers are elderly people who can't farm and that your village is practically empty! I'm sure they will except you if you just explain everything to them!"yelled Katara. Zuko growled rolling over.
"Why did we share a hut with Katara?"He muttered to Aang.
"Because she had no where else to sleep?"said Aang with a shrug. Sokka yawned and stretched.
"But most of us are Gypsies! They wont except Gypsies!"cried Faith.
"I don't see why they would care! I mean all you do is use your bending in different ways to amuse people and you have different beliefs that's it! Your still people!"yelled Katara. Faith growled in anger.
"Talk to our chief!"Faith yelled walking out of the hut grumbling under her breath.
"I WILL!"Katara yelled after her. She turned to the three boys. "Good morning." she said with a smile.
"Whats good about it?"Zuko muttered.
"PRINCESS!"Yelled Zhao. Azula was practicing fire bending on deck and she shot him a look than went back to fire bending.
"What?"she growled.
"I want my room back and I want it now!"Zhao growled.
"That Admiral, is now my room. And I did enjoy sleeping in it last night. If you would prefer I could have you sleeping with the crew?"said Azula. Zhao growled angrily.
"This is MY ship princess and I'll have you know I wont be bossed around by some spoiled pampered-"
"I do think the fire lord wont be pleased that you not only did not follow my orders, but you spoke ill of a royal family member."said Azula.
"But Azula, Zuko's a royal family member and both you and Zhao speak ill of him all the time!"said Ryu.
"IMPORTANT family members!"growled Azula. Zhao stared at Azula angrily and went below deck stomping.
"I think he took that well."said Azula beaming. She turned to the crew. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? TO THE NORTH POLE!"she hollered.
"It would benefit your tribe."Katara said talking to a man. He wasn't young but he wasn't to old. He was the chief of their tribe.
"Yes but we have lived hidden for years. We fear that if we join that tribe word will go out to the fire nation that members of the fire nation are living peacefully with the other tribes, and that they will kill all the air benders in our tribe."said the chief.
"But that village is also hidden. They haven't had many contact with the outside world either!"Katara argued. "You don't have many people! You need new blood to mingle in with your tribe! If you join there's than you wont have to use trickery to steal food!"cried Katara.
"Let me think about it."The chief said with a long sigh. Katara nodded and exited the hut. Aang and Sokka were outside playing some type of game Phoenix had taught them. Zuko sat leaning against Appa scowling. Katara sat next to him.
"What are you thinking about?"asked Katara.
"The sooner we get to the north pole the sooner the avatar can learn to water bend. Than he can do what he has to do and I can help my country. That is the only reason I'm helping you."Zuko growled.
"That, and were your friends."Katara said with a smile. Zuko smiled.
"He still hasn't mastered fire bending. I think my uncle will have to help him with that."said Zuko watching as Aang laughed and twirled around on his air ball. Although they were in a dense forest the sun shone brightly and lit up Katara's face as she laughed when Aang fell. Her ice blue eyes glittered in the sunlight.
"What?"asked Katara noticing Zuko was staring at her.
"Nothing."said Zuko.
"Why are you staring at me?"asked Katara raising her eyebrows. Zuko looked away not able to provide an answer. The chief walked out and that got Katara's attention away from Zuko. Zuko sighed in relief. Aang shot him a suspicious look and walked over to him as the chief and Katara talked.
"Do you like Katara?"asked Aang.
"She is my friend."Zuko replied.
"Yeah but I mean...do you like like her."said Aang.
"I am a prince and she is a water bending peasant."Zuko said coldly. Aang frowned. "I'm not trying to degrade Katara but even if I did like her, which I don't, It would never work. Why should it matter to you? Your a monk."said Zuko.
"It doesn't matter to me!"Aang said quickly and walked over back to Sokka to play more of their game. Katara squealed and started jumping up and down happily.
"What?"asked Sokka. His answer came a few minutes later when the chief called the villagers to the middle of the village.
"We have decided to join the other tribe! It will benefit us with food, and medicine, and with husbands and wives for are young! We will make the journey tomorrow. Katara has offered to tell the other tribe that we will be coming. Pack all of your belongings!"The chief yelled. The villagers yelled happily.
"We what?"yelled Sokka.
"We are going to explain to the other village who they are and why there coming. Then were going to make our way to the north pole. Were close."said Katara with a smile. With much protesting from Zuko they aboarded Appa and headed for the other village. They arrived to find the villagers were cleaning up the town from the party they had last night. Katara explained to the villagers that there was another tribe of people near them and that there weren't many and they wanted to join there tribe. The villagers said they would welcome them. Katara walked back to Appa and they took off into the air.
"Why didn't you tell them that the other tribe has been stealing their food for years?"Aang asked.
"I figured the others could tell them for themselves."Katara said.
"Were going to the north pole now right?"Zuko asked. Katara nodded with a smile.
"Hey Zuko could you teach me some fire bending?"Aang asked.
"NO WAY! Were on Appa not a ship!"cried Sokka. They all stared at him. "I don't want to get burnt!"Sokka cried defensively. They all laughed. Aang sighed looking out into the ocean.
"I'm not the last..."Aang said. Katara put her hand on his shoulder.
"This is great! My people can come back. It just...it's unbelievable."Aang said smiling. Katara and Sokka smiled too. Zuko looked out into the horizon. They passed over a small island. It had no trees on it. Aang looked at it oddly and took control of Appa's reins and landed on the small island. And it was small. Probably a mile wide, a mile long. It had what looked to be like a forest at one time but the forest had died. There were weeds everywhere. There was a statue by Aang. It was a statue of a lemur. Momo stared at it oddly. Etched on the statue were two words. Lemur Island.
"Weird."said Sokka.
"This is just an abandoned island why are we here!"Yelled Zuko with frustration.
"I don't know...I just...I need to be here."said Aang. Zuko rolled his eyes. Aang knelt down next to a stump that once must have been a large tree.
"This must have been a small island full of trees once. And Lemurs must have lived here. End of story. Lets get out of here. If we hurry we can make it to the north pole by night fall."said Zuko. Aang nodded and turned to leave. He tripped on a tree stump. He blinked. He was sure it hadn't been there a minute ago.
"Aang are you okay?"asked Katara helping him up. On the ground was the seed Ozara had given Aang. Everything starts out small like this seed. This resembles the hope in the world. Help it grow. Ozara's words rang in Aang's head. Aang smiled and began digging into a clear patch of grass.
"Aang what are you doing?"asked Sokka. Aang placed the seed gently into the ground and covered it up into dirt. he poured some water on it from his canteen. He stood up and smiled.
"Maybe this forest can grow back?"he said.
"Maybe."said Katara with a smile.
"Lets go to the north pole."said Aang.
"Now your talking!"said Zuko with excitement and he looked at his friends. "Last one to Appa has to give him a bath!"he yelled running.
"No way am I ever doing that again!"Sokka yelled running after Zuko. Katara laughed and was close behind. Aang made his air scooter and beat them to it and grinned. Katara ran past Sokka and got to Appa right after Zuko.
"Looks like you lose Sokka!"said Aang laughing. Sokka crossed his arms. "That's so not fair!"he cried. They got on top of Appa and headed off into the horizon. Towards the North Pole. Little did they know of the danger that was awaiting them.
