Hello! (I sort of forgot this part in the first chapter, my bad, here you go.) So, this is my first Zutara fic, and also first Avatar one in general. I saw this when it first came out on tv, but fell off it because I was a kid who wasn't huge on watching television and missed episodes, and then just gave up on watching. I always had the inclination to finish it (between spoilers and my memory I basically know the ending and it's awesome) but I never did. And then it came to Netflix, and I told my fiance about it, and he decided that he wanted to watch it. Then my love of the Zutara ship made itself known again. Because seriously, Aang and Katara? No thank you. I didn't even like that as a kid.

I have several chapters already written and am still writing more, so I'm going to establish a little schedule of when they will be posted. Once a week, and I'm thinking on Fridays. (Yes I know today is Thursday but I like Fridays better).

Last but not least, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, because if I did then Zutara would be canon.

Aang and Sokka will be back. Aang and Sokka will come back. Aang and Sokka are coming back. Aang and Sokka are coming back for you.

That was her mantra as she was pushed into a cell, falling hard to the floor as the door slammed shut. Staring between the bars, she glared up at her captor. He merely glared back, though his glare had a smirk to it. He was gloating, plain and simple, but also angry she was happy to note. The ever-elusive Avatar had escaped him yet again, but he still had a small victory; he had her. And he knew just like she did that the Avatar would be back for her. He couldn't not; it just wasn't who Aang was. And Prince Angry-Ponytail knew it.

"The Avatar won't let me keep his little girlfriend for long, I bet. So I'll make sure to keep you nice and close for when he plays hero." The sneer had her wishing she could send a gush of water straight into his stupid face.

Katara's brow furrowed, but she still kept her angry expression. "I'm not his girlfriend." She snapped, not really sure why she was bothering to correct him. Wasn't like it mattered, really. Why would he care? Why was she caring? She had to resist the urge to growl and bury her head in her hands. Why was she still thinking about this?

The fire prince scoffed. "Whatever you say." His face changed, morphing into the one by the river, and he fished her necklace from his armour. His cajoling little smile curled his lips again. "All I want is the Avatar. He'll help me; with him in hand I can restore my honor. With that, I can go home again. You must understand wanting to be home?" At her stony silence, his face hardened. "Then again, what's there to miss about a giant slab of ice and some igloos?" He held her necklace aloft tauntingly. "Or maybe since you're not the Avatar's girl, you have a boy back home to miss? Someone who gave you this, maybe?"

Incensed, she surged forward on her knees, gripping the bars of her cell as well as she could with her bound hands. "That necklace was my mother's. And sorry that our homes aren't palaces, but having someone pillage and destroy it over and over kind of makes having that hard!" Katara snarled.

The eerie red light of the ship's prison didn't help his expression seem credible, but something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone so fast she wondered if it had really been there at all. It had almost seemed...sorrowful? Sad, in a way. What could Zuko have to be sad about that though? Didn't causing pain and suffering to others make him happy?

"If you give me the Avatar, you and your brother can go home to her. You can see your mother." He stepped closer, almost crooning, and holding the necklace with two hands to showcase it. "Wouldn't you like that?"

Tears burned behind her eyes, and Katara fought to blink them away. How dare this firebender talk about her mother. How dare he taunt her. How dare he capture her. This list could go on of all the things he dared to do. So, she just shook her head, and spoke of the thing that he was currently daring to do.

"I would give anything to see her again." She said quietly, a tear falling before she could staunch them. Triumph showed in the prince's eyes before she destroyed it with her next words, which were hard and unforgiving and spat out with vitriol. "But I never will because she is dead. Killed by you and yours."

Shaking her head, she grit her teeth. "I will never help murderers like you!"

Zuko's face contorted with fury, and he came even closer. Not as close as he'd been by the river, the cell bars prevented that, but still too close for comfort. Suddenly the temperature of the room both chilled and warmed, and she was having trouble looking away from his gold eyes. The anger in them; how could someone feel that so strongly? Was that what was shown in her eyes, when she spoke of her losses? The thought chilled her a little, as she never wanted to be like him in any way, before she shook herself out of it. It was she who had the right to be angry, to feel that hate. Not him. She was the one who had lost people, lost her home. Not him. It was her and her people that had suffered, not his.

But he had said something about lost honor…

But how could someone like him have had honor to lose in the first place, she wondered?

"You will help me!" His harsh statement halted her thoughts. She couldn't help but flinch, and watched as he shoved the necklace back into his armour. "Whether you like it or not."

His words were a promise, one that both scared and angered her. She swallowed, giving a small shake of her head in denial. Zuko ignored it, and turned to the guard who had dragged her down there. She had kind of forgotten that there were others besides herself and the prince. What were they thinking?

"Keep her here. Maybe some time in a cell will make her see reason."

The other person, the rotund uncle, spoke up as his nephew began to walk away with the guard in tow. "Ah, nephew?" She watched Zuko stop, though he didn't turn around to address the older man.

"What is it, Uncle?" his voice was tight, but nothing more than that. Like he was restraining himself from taking out his anger on the old man.

Hands folded in his robes, the uncle calmly examined the cell she was in. Katara took a quick glance as well. It was bare, save for a short, squat little metal column with a large hole at the top attached to the wall. What did it do, she wondered? Did it even have a purpose? Now that she thought about it, it made a strange noise, almost like…she gasped.

Was there water down there?

Could she use that, to get out? If only her hands weren't bound, she thought in frustration.

"I believe you forgot to specify when she will be fed, and more importantly, when she will be given tea."

All persons present went still at the man's words.

Tea. The old man wanted her to have tea, to be given tea.

Tea.

How exactly was he related to His Royal Fire-jerk, Katara wondered? Because there was a distinct lack of resemblance in both appearance and personality. She knew he was Zuko's uncle, but...honorary, maybe? No member of the royal family could be this...eccentric.

Zuko's head slowly turned, and from what she could see of his face his expression was a mix of irritation, and extreme bafflement. Katara could understand that; his uncle had just talked about serving his prisoner tea.

"Tea?" The prince's tone was disbelieving.

"Yes, of course," the uncle said, seemingly oblivious to the room's reaction. His face was calm, as though he wasn't being stared at like he had grown three heads. "Tea is very important, I've told you before. To deprive one of it would be very cruel. Besides, enjoying a nice cup of tea with a girl as lovely as she is would be splendid indeed. Don't you think so, Prince Zuko?"

The scarred side of his face was what was visible to her, so she couldn't really gauge his reaction, but the strangled noise the prince made was a pretty good indication of it. As was, she felt her own face flush with heat that had nothing to do with the warm air around her, and she couldn't tell what expression was on her face. Seriously, how strange was this man? She wanted to tell the older firebender off, tell him that she wanted nothing to do with him and his tea, but the words escaped her. Not a sound came from her throat though; Katara could only stare. It was just so inconceivable.

Zuko seemed at a loss for words, too. "I—uh—Uncle…" he stopped his stuttering, and she watched his hands clenched into fists. "Do whatever you want! I don't care!" He finally snapped, before storming off with his soldier following close behind. She watched as he stomped up the stairs, out of her sight. Had he been embarrassed, she wondered? He had gotten so flustered, or it seemed like he had. Then again, he could have just been speechless from outrage, she supposed. Him, finding spending time with her, pleasant? It was ridiculous. It wasn't as if she found the thought of spending time with him pleasant either.

"Well my dear," she looked back to the older man, having almost forgotten he was there. He looked cheerful, like he was talking to a friend, instead of a prisoner, but also serene. Calm, like nothing in the world could bother him. "Since my nephew has given me leave to provide for you as I see fit, I shall return soon with a meal, complete with a nice pot of jasmine. Unless you have a preference, miss…?"

"Uh, Katara." She said, blinking at him. Was she dreaming? Surely this bizarre situation wasn't real? "My name is Katara."

A smile from the man accompanied a nod. "And I am Iroh," he told her cheerfully, "and I shall return in time to you with tea!"

She watched in amazement as he turned and walked away, presumably to get the drink that had suddenly become a large part of the situation that she found herself in.

Katara blew out a breath, and sat back on her legs. Her hands were bound in a metal manacle, palms together so that couldn't even really try the movements of waterbending. There was a small space between them, sure, but only just enough to grip something small; like a cup, she guessed. Sighing when she realized that she wasn't going to be able to get them off, she looked around her new, temporary home.

Everything was bathed partially in red from the strange things on the walls, giving it an eerie and vaguely evil atmosphere. The air wasn't exactly warm, but smelled of hot metal; she wondered why that was before remembering that she didn't care about the Fire Nation and their inventions. There were other cells in the room, all empty, but she was nearer to the middle of the aisle than to the start of it by the stairs. All she could hear was muted and far away thuds from other parts of the ship, and the occasional sounds of voices when they were close enough. The cell floor was hard, unyielding metal, and uncomfortably cool. One would think that a place that smelled of burning metal would be a little warmer, but apparently not. It almost wasn't fair. Katara had been raised in the land of ice and snow, but during her travels with Aang she had become spoiled by mild temperatures and apparently lost her tolerance for them.

But it wasn't the cell that had her scared; because she would admit to herself that she was in fact afraid. In all honesty, it was everything that was frightening. She was being held captive on her enemy's ship, who was holding her there to try and capture her friend when he came for her. Or convince her to betray them, whichever way worked for him she was sure. She also had so many questions, so many worries about the unknown. How long would it take the boys to save her? To come up with a plan? What would happen to her while she was there? She had heard stories from the people they had encountered, about what Fire Nation soldiers did...Katara bit at her lip as her mind started filling with dark scenarios described to her by victims, and ones invented by her imagination. Quickly she cast them from her head and drew in a deep, calming breath.

Nothing like that would happen. She wouldn't let anything like that happen to her. She wasn't helpless, like Zuko probably thought. No; she was Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter to Chief Hakoda and Chieftess Kya, a bender of one of the four elements. She could, and would, take care of herself. So it didn't matter how long she was here for, because everything would be fine. Aang was the Avatar; he would figure it out. And if the boys couldn't do it, then she would. She just needed some time to think of something, to come up with a plan.

"Everything's going to be fine." She told herself firmly, nodding. "Everything is going to be fine."

Keeping the thought in her head, she settled and waited to see what would happen next during her time as a prisoner of the Fire Nation.

So there you have it. Again, if you enjoyed it, I will be posting every Friday. Although if you decide to follow this then I guess my telling you the posting dates is irrelevant...so maybe you should do that *wink wink* I'd love a review too, if you're taking requests. Thanks for reading, and see you next Friday!