Author's Note: A couple of chapters ago, I made enquiries about possibly writing an Ember Island Players chapter. The general consensus of the responses I got was that no, I should not write one. However, the play did still happen. We pick up our story with our heroes on the way home from the theatre, and they aren't happy with what they've just witnessed...

Team Avatar was livid.

Of course, they had gone to the theatre knowing full well that it was a Fire Nation production, meaning they would likely lose in the end, but what upset them was not the ending but, well, everything else.

"I can't believe that they got Ty Lee and I mixed up," huffed Mai.

"Oh come on, you got off lightly. Your subplot was treated as the incredibly romantic story of how you changed the banished Prince, he rescued you and then you ran off together."

"Yeah, but I did all that while behaving like... her!"

Mai suddenly realised what she had said.

"No offense," she added.

"None taken!" Ty Lee chirped. "I wasn't happy about being portrayed all grumpy either."

"At least you were in it." Suki sniffed. "I was in about four scenes!"

"Consider yourself lucky then!"

Aang listened to his friends arguing about who had had it worse from that play. Toph had actually liked her portrayal, but Zuko had objected to his actor being too grumpy (and having his scar on the wrong side) in the first act, Katara had not been happy about how weepy her actor had been, and Sokka thought his counterpart's jokes were awful and not worthy of him.

"Besides, I don't think about food that much, do I?"

He was met with a wall of silence.

"I'm not going to answer that, if that's alright," Suki laughed.

"You don't need to."

Aang, meanwhile, had two main gripes with the play. The first had been that he was portrayed by an actress; he knew that he shouldn't get so worked up about that fact, but he still struggled not to.

The second, though, had nothing to do with his character in the play and everything to do with Katara's. For just before the end of the second act (this play had been unusual in that it had three acts and two intervals) Katara's character had loudly proclaimed her love for Zuko's.

Actor Zuko had immediately rebuffed her, saying that Actress Mai was the only one for him, but it had still hurt. In the break that followed he feared he would have done something rash and stupid if he had seen Katara, but he hadn't seen her for the entire break.

Speaking of Katara, she suddenly quickened her pace and came up beside him.

"Are you alright? She asked. "You haven't said a word."

"I'm fine, Katara. I just regret spending money on a ticket."

"We all do, but I don't think that's it."

Aang breathed in. So she wasn't going to accept that answer.

He didn't really want to give the real reason he was so angry, because that might end up ruining a friendship. Still, there was something he could say.

"I was annoyed by the way they portrayed you."

This was vague enough to be true while hiding exactly which aspect of that portrayal he had objected to.

"Yeah, that was pretty terrible." She mimicked her actress' sobs. "In fact, it's so terrible that 'it's making me tearbend!'"

Aang laughed at Katara's impression.

"Aang, there is something that it is very important to me that you know though."

"Yes?"

"You... you know that scene with Zuko was rubbish, right?"

"Which scene?"

"You know which one. Zuko is a great friend to me, which is not a sentence I would have believed I would say six months ago, but I do not and have never thought of him in that way."

Aang listened intently, his anger ebbing away with every word. So his fears had been baseless! Katara's words were music to his ears. Well, they were always music to his ears, it was Katara, but now more than ever.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Like I say, it's important to me that you know it."

He smiled at her. "And now I do. Thank you, Katara."

By now, the group was approaching the Firelord's holiday home.

As he looked into her eyes and watched her smile at him, he made a spur of the moment choice.

"Actually, Katara, there's something I would like you to know too." He began.

"Oh, what is it?" She looked interestedly at him.

Aang knew that he may very well end up regretting this, but he thought he might as well say it.

"Katara, I... I lo-"

"Wait!" Sokka hissed, drawing his club.

"What?" Aang hissed back, swallowing his disappointment.

"Do you hear that?"

The group fell silent, and soon it became obvious that there were indeed noises coming from within the house.

Suki produced a war-fan, and then she and Sokka took the lead, motioning for the others to follow them.

"What did you want to tell me, Aang?" Katara whispered to him.

"Never mind, now is not the right time."

Ahead of them, Suki motioned towards the living room, and they all moved towards it silently.

Well, mostly silently. Sokka caused a floorboard to creak.

Eventually, they reached the door, and most of them took up positions around it while Sokka and Suki got ready to kick the door in.

Aang silently counted them in, and with a shout the door burst open and they poured in.

Despite having throwing knives, a war-fan, a club, and all four elements levelled at him, the occupant of the room did not even flinch as they entered.

"I was wondering when you would get back."

He was a middle-aged man, dressed in flowing red robes and with black hair tied back in a topknot. A sword was propped against the chair he was sitting on.

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Piandao."

"Who are you?" Sokka demanded. "How did you know we were here?"

"Sokka, there's no need for that hostility," Zuko chided him. "This is my sword fighting master."

"Thank you for vouching for me, but it's fine." Piandao said.

"I am here on behalf of an... organisation. We normally like to keep in the shadows but the present situation isn't giving us a lot of choice."

"And what organisation would that be?"

"It's called the Order of the White Lotus, I suppose you need to know that."

"Why are you here?"

"The Order has ears in many places. And we have heard something distressing. The Firelord intends to destroy the Northern Water Tribe, utilising the power of Sozin's Comet, and that is only a week away. The North is the last major bastion of resistance left against the Fire Nation and they supported your invasion. The Firelord aims to wash away the shame of the failure of his first attempt to take the north, and he means to do it in blood."

Aang's shoulders slumped. So he would have to fight the Firelord on the day of Sozin's Comet after all. Katara noticed this and put her arms around him. He was grateful for her support.

"He did mention something like that before Mai and I defected." Zuko pondered. "It seems like such a long time ago now though."

Alright then," Sokka said. "Holiday's over, people! Looks like we're going back to the North Pole."