This was unbearable. Their raft was tiny, and once they managed to tie their belongings on it, there was not much space left for them. They had to sit side by side, their hips and legs touching, which made her hyper-aware of the heat emanating from Zuko and how pleasant it felt. She wanted instinctively to snuggle closer to him. Strictly because of the cold ocean breeze. So she did the only logical thing she could think of; she pulled away as far as she could. Which was definitely not far enough.

He seemed rather awkward, incessantly fiddling with their pitiful sail. Katara channelled her nervousness into waterbending to boost the speed of their little raft. Neither of them spoke much, trying to ignore how close they were to each other, how she could feel his muscles through the thin material of his pants or how his silky strands tickled her skin when he shifted his position. There was an obvious maleness to him that was really distracting.

"How much longer do you think?" Katara couldn't bear anymore the uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sure not much longer," he said, staring desperately towards the hazy horizon with his spy-glass, looking for land.

"The sea is tranquil at least," she remarked.

"Yep. Smooth," he agreed with a nod.

Gah. He was terrible. He was not only an insufferable jerk, he was the worst at conversations ever.

Katara racked her brain for another conversation-starter. "Where did you learn sailing?"

"My family had a summer house on Ember Island. My cousin used to take me," he replied and the expression on his face made it seem like it was a bitter-sweet memory.

"You know, in my tribe, we go out ice-dodging to prove that we are old enough to be warriors of the tribe," Katara noted, conveniently leaving out the fact that only boys were taken. She didn't want him to think that the Water Tribe was backwards. And while the Fire Nation was clearly full of evil, no-good, terrible people, she couldn't help noticing with just a hint of envy how girls got to do exactly the same things as boys. "You have to do it on fast water and find your way around the icebergs."

He shuddered slightly. "Sounds very cold. Have you ever been ice-dodging?"

"Yeah," she smiled proudly, but then her mood darkened again. "You remember, just before when you kidnapped us with the ugly mole?" He had a way of ruining all her fun memories.

He bit his lips again. "Oh, sorry about that. It was a shirshu."

The correction made Katara even more annoyed. She wasn't here to argue zoology. "Whatever. I didn't appreciate it."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled again lowering his eyes.

His constant contrition was grating on her. It was so much easier to hate him when he was a yelling jerk with a ridiculous ponytail. A part of her wished he would be like that again.

"Stop saying sorry," she snapped.

"Sorry. I mean…" he frowned. "What do you want me to say?"

If only she knew. He irritated her with his silence and his words, with his presence and his absence. He was the absolute worst.

"Why are you here?" she turned to him. It made no sense. Well, other than the obvious issue of the ruined balloon. His transformationwas just a bit too unbelievable.

"I told you. I wanted to help the Avatar," Zuko repeated calmly.

"Why now? Your father didn't give you your honour back?" Katara asked sharply.

His face twitched at the mention of "honour" and his hands curled into fists. Katara narrowed her eyes - maybe the angry jerk wasn't so far under the surface.

"No. I realize now that nobody can give you your honor. You have to earn it for yourself. Which is what I'm trying to do. I want to do my part in stopping this war, because it's wrong," he explained, sounding earnest.

Katara quickly reminded herself that he had betrayed her before.

"And it took you this long to realize this?"

"I don't expect you to understand," he sighed.

"Oh, because I'm just a stupid water tribe peasant?" Katara yelled now.

"That's not what I said." He turned away and stared into the setting sun, the last rays of it painting an orange path on the water. Their path to the Western Air Temple.

He broke the frozen silence finally. "Get some sleep. I'll take first watch," he sounded defeated.

Katara fumed. How did he dare pretend that he was in charge here. "I'm not taking orders from you. I'll take first watch."

"Fine. As you wish." He laid down and closed his eyes. After a few minutes his even breaths showed that he was fast asleep.

Katara watched the stars. The soothing glow of the moon tempered her anger. Her back was starting to hurt and looking at the peacefully sleeping jerk, she regretted not taking him up on his offer on the subject of first watch. She laid down too, her head so close to his that she could feel his breath tickling her neck. The night was cold and she shivered, scooting closer to his warmth, listening to the sounds of the waves against the raft, to the eerie quiet of the night ocean. She was exhausted. Maybe it was all right to close her eyes only for a moment, until….

….

…. Something shook the raft. They both jolted awake, their heads knocking together.

"What the…?" he yelped indignantly.

Katara was mortified to see that she ended up wrapped around him, resting her head against his chest and with her knee nestled between his thighs. There was no time for embarrassment though, because the raft shook again. They both jumped to their feet. A huge arm with suckers, the size of a large dish appeared from the foams.

"It's a giant shark-squid," Zuko yelled and blasted a fire at the tentacle, which curled and withdrew under the water.

"Don't anger it," Katara whispered. Zuko observed the water, where the arm disappeared then he picked up his spy-glass to look at the horizon.

"There is land in that direction," he pointed north-west.

Katara squinted. All she could see was hazy blue. "Are you sure it's not just the morning mist?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. Well, pretty sure. Can you give us a boost?"

Katara stood up, twisting her arms around, creating a wave that carried them towards the direction Zuko pointed at.

"You think we managed to get rid of it?" she asked hopefully.

Just as she said the words, another arm appeared, wrapping itself around Katara's ankle.

Zuko pulled out his dao swords and sliced through it, leaving the wiggling end of a tentacle on the raft. At Katara's questioning eyebrow, he shrugged. "I try not to set the raft on fire."

Right, fire on a wood structure was not the best idea. What a useless form of bending. Zuko picked up the cut-off tentacle with his sword and tossed it into the water.

The animal reared its ugly head up. It had big green eyes and horrible sharp teeth. Katara sent a big wave in its direction, but well, fighting water-monsters with water was not the most efficient way either. Great. A giant monster attack on a flimsy raft in the middle of the ocean and neither of their bending did any good.

"Keep bending us towards the shore. I'll deal with it!" Zuko said balancing himself on the raft, with his swords pulled out. He sent fire to his arms, making it look like his swords were ablaze. Katara had to admit that it looked kind of intimidating. The shark-squid must have come to the same conclusion as it backed away in fear and ducked under the water. It emerged on the other side of the raft, and this time wrapped an arm around Katara's waist, squeezing it painfully. Zuko leapt forward and hacked off that arm too, black blood spurting in every direction.

"Can you put me on an ice block?" he asked.

Katara nodded. She never actually tried to do one for anyone else, but she was pretty sure that it was feasible. "What are you planning to do?"

But Zuko was already in the air with an elegant flip. She barely had enough time to bend an iceboard under his feet as he landed, his stance firm despite the slippery surface. He had pretty good balance.

"Keep going in circles!" Zuko yelled as he shot fire blasts from all angles at the confused animal, keeping the flames away from their raft. The shark-squid roared in pain. Zuko made long firewhips as the extension of his swords and hit the beast square in the eye. It let out an ear-piercing scream and disappeared under the waves.

Katara bent a wave to get Zuko back on the raft, offering her arm to steady him.

"I think we got rid of it," he panted with exertion. "That was some impressive bending," he added, nodding towards her in acknowledgment.

The compliment seemed sincere and it filled her with pleasant warmth. In a group consisting of the Avatar and the (self-proclaimed) greatest earthbender, her feats of bending, as she developed new techniques constantly went mostly unnoticed and certainly underappreciated.

"It was the first time I've tried it," she admitted with a hesitant smile.

"You are a natural, you have come such a long way."

His admiring gaze made her feel uncomfortable, so she turned away. "We are close to the island," she pointed into the distance, where the contours of the land were clearly visible.

As she stood at the edge, trying to speed up their raft, a tentacle appeared again suddenly, dragging her under the water. She managed to bend an air-bubble around her head just before sinking. Out of other options, she formed two sharp ice-daggers and stabbed at the sea-monster's arms.

Despite her attack, the shark-squid was holding her in an iron grip, and brought her closer to its giant mouth, the sharp teeth only inches away from her face. Katara struggled against the arm, stabbing it with everything she had, but it didn't seem to make a difference. She didn't want to die. Her mind was racing. Maybe bloodbending would work - but she was under the water, away from the full moon. It wouldn't hurt trying. She raised her hand trying to focus and isolate the blood inside the animal from all the liquid around it...

Her concentration was broken when something crashed into the water next to her. It was Zuko. He stabbed one sword into the monster's mouth, while used the other to slice the arm holding Katara. She got pushed to the surface by the waves of the fight, and all she could see was a maelstrom of the bubbles disappeared, the water went still and she found herself floating alone.

The idiot. She didn't need saving. Where was he?

Katara bent another air-bubble around herself and ducked underwater until she found the sinking corpse of the shark-squid, with a dagger sticking out of its heart. The firebender's limp body was held in one of its two remaining arms. Katara pulled out the pearl dagger and hacked Zuko out of the monster's hold. Holding onto his tunic, she swam towards the surface, just before her air ran out.

She struggled to keep both of them afloat. Relying on all her remaining strength, she propelled themselves onto the beach, dragging him into the sand.

Kneeling next to the boy's lifeless body, she searched frantically for signs of life. He didn't get to quit like this. She pulled the water out his lungs using her bending, but he remained still, and had no heartbeat.

"Wake up, Zuko," she shouted at him in desperation, her eyes filling with angry tears.

She didn't want to lose him. He was an idiot and annoying, but they got into this mess together and they would get out of it the technique Gran-Gran taught her, she pressed down on his chest and breathed air into his mouth. Again. And again. Nothing.

No. No. He couldn't die on her.

"I refuse to let you die," she yelled and hit his chest hard. His body jerked under the impact. Some more water trickled down the corner of his mouth and then he started coughing and retching. Katara let out a relieved sigh.

-0-

He couldn't stop heaving, his mouth tasted like salt and blood. A calming touch on his back helped him to breathe again.

"You almost died, you idiot," Katara laughed through her tears; her face relieved. Was it strange that after almost dying his first thought was that she had such a radiant smile?

"I'm sorry," he tried to form the words, but no sound came out. She probably would have scolded him again for apologising anyway.

"Well, we made it to the next island," Katara noted with relief.

She steadied him as he tried to sit up, taking in their surroundings. The sand was white, and behind the rocks, palm trees swayed in the breeze. Definitely looked like an upgrade compared to the previous desolate rock. It was worth the bumpy ride.

"At least there are trees. Probably, even fresh water," Zuko rasped hopefully. Talking really hurt. They could use the rest of the balloon material to make a better raft. Looking around himself, he frowned. "Where is our gear?"

"Well, I kind of had to make the call between saving you or the stuff," Katara seemed kind of vexed about his comment.

Right. Good people tried to be grateful for what they had and look at the silver sandwich behind the clouds, Iroh used to say. Or something close enough.

"Thank you for saving me," Zuko said to her. As much as she seemed to hate his guts, she still dragged him out of the ocean. That was something. Pointing to her hand, he added cheerfully. "At least we have my dagger."

"What's so important about the stupid dagger?" Katara handed him the weapon.

"Well, it's our only tool. Also, my uncle gave it to me, when I was a young boy," Zuko replied, pulling his finger lovingly along the blade, the inscription that had become the motto of his life. He would never ever give up without a fight.

"How is he?" Katara asked quietly.

Of course, she would think of Iroh fondly, after he selflessly saved her and the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. Saved them from Zuko. The prince felt simultaneously proud of his uncle for doing the right thing and deeply ashamed that he didn't stand with him, like he was supposed to. Staring at each other, realizing that they had ended up on opposing sides of the battle line was one of the worst moments of his life. And his life had plenty of terrible moments. Katara's question reminded him how they had left things, with Iroh barely speaking to him. He missed his quiet advice, his hearty laughs, even the maddening proverbs and his stupid tea. Uncle had been his home for so long, but he had never appreciated it until it was too late.

"I don't know. He hates me probably. He was more like a father to me and I really let him down," he hung his head in shame.

To his surprise, instead of a sharp comment, her blue eyes looked at him with sympathy.

"I'm sure he'd be proud of you," she said with an encouraging smile. "Trying to do the right thing. It must have been difficult walking away from your home."

"Not really. It didn't feel like a home anymore."

It was true. Nothing was like he had imagined it would be. He was surrounded by strangers he couldn't trust, his father and sister kept playing mind-games, excluding him from everything. Even dating Mai kept him on the edge; he never knew where they stood. Breaking up with her and walking out of the palace was hard, but also strangely liberating.

Not wanting any more questions, Zuko struggled to his feet. "Well, we should look around and see where we landed," he suggested, heading for the highest point of elevation, which was a volcano, unsurprisingly.

Walking around for a few hours, they managed to discover most of the island. It had a freshwater stream, bushes with wild star-berries, coconut trees, and the jackpot: a hot-spring.

Katara made a cute squealing noise in delight and stripped down to her white bindings totally oblivious to Zuko's gaping, submerging herself in the hot water with a contented sigh. Zuko had no idea what exactly he was supposed to do, so he stood awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. The water looked delightful, but good people probably wouldn't just jump in without an invitation.

Katara finally noticed his discomfort and called out to him. "I think you could use a bath too - it's plenty big for the two of us." Then she added with a wicked smile. "Unless you are too scared to get in a hot spring with a waterbender."

The challenge was clear and loud; honor required that he accept. Stripping to his underwear, Zuko climbed into the steaming water, staying at a respectful distance from her. They soaked away the salt, the grime, the muscle pain. Zuko tried not to stare at the water drops on Katara's smooth dark skin, or the curve of her breasts under her white bindings, or the way her wet, wavy hair fell to her hips like a dark waterfall. She was mesmerizing. She turned back and caught him staring. Zuko turned away quickly in embarrassment. Good people didn't stare. It was rude.

Using her bending, she washed both their dirty clothes, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It was an oddly familial gesture that Zuko found both mortifying and strangely soothing. He muttered a quiet thank you, as he pulled the tunic over his head.

After the bath, they walked back to the little sheltered cove by the beach that had a small cave, perfect shelter for the night. Zuko was secretly relieved that there was no talk of dividing lines anymore. They reached a comfortable truce.

Task division came naturally. Katara strode into the water to catch fish, while he made a fire and collected palm leaves to build beds. He also climbed a tree to pick coconuts.

As they ate their dinner of roast fish, star-berries and coconut juice, sitting by the fire just outside the little cave, it felt cozy, almost like a home.

"How did you learn climbing coconut trees? Did your cousin teach you?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"As a matter of fact, he did," Zuko replied, feeling subdued. Lu Ten's death left a hole inside him that never really healed.

"What happened to him?" Katara immediately picked up on the change of his mood and her bright eyes shone with concern.

"He died in the war," Zuko said truthfully but not elaborating on the details. He wasn't sure if she realized that his uncle had personally laid siege to Ba Sing Se. Maybe it was better to keep it that way.

"I'm sorry," she put her hand on his. It was an instinctive, simple gesture of comfort; it still made a lump form in his throat.

"It was a long time ago," he said quietly.

"That doesn't make it hurt less," Katara fiddled with her necklace. Her mother's necklace . Zuko wanted to ask her what happened. He wanted to tell her that he understood. But the calm between them was tentative, and talking usually made things worse. Doing was safer. Action had always come easier to him than of words.

"No, it doesn't," he settled finally for agreeing with her.

They sat in silence, staring into the fire that took away so much from both of them, yet it also gave them comfort and light on a chilly night.

"So how do we do the rest of the island hopping?" she broke the silence finally.

Zuko felt relief from her question. Looking into the future was safer territory than talking about the minefield of the past.

"I've been thinking. In the North Pole I used these canoes to get around. I remember my uncle explaining that people made them burning the inside of the wood. We should be able to do that, right?" Zuko asked, hoping that the mention of the North Pole would not disturb the fragile truce they reached.

"I've seen old Bakko do it. It didn't look too hard," she nodded in agreement. Zuko felt a hint of disappointment. He had counted on her having a bit more hands-on experience, being from the Water Tribe herself. Still, good people tried to look into the future with optimism.

"Then, I'm sure we will figure it out together," he tried to imbue his voice with more confidence than he felt, considering their first shipbuilding attempt was not exactly a resounding success. "We made a pretty good team out there today."

To his surprise, she did not argue, but smiled back instead. "Yes, we did."

"You want me to take first watch?" Zuko offered.

"No, you need to sleep. You almost died today," she replied on her strict healer voice. "By the way, thanks for coming after me today."

"What else was I going to do?" Zuko shrugged. It would have been inconceivable to leave her behind. "Are you sure you don't want me to…"

"I said no, Zuko," she interrupted him impatiently. "Anyways, it's full moon tonight. I feel like working off the edge."

"Have fun splashing then," he said with an exaggerated shrug and laid down on his palm-leaf bed, pretending to sleep. When he heard her soft footsteps recede, he got up and hid by the entrance of the cave, watching as she moved the waves with ease in the soft moonlight. Good people probably didn't sneak around, staring at others like creeps, but then again Uncle said he studied waterbenders, and he was a good person, so maybe this was alright. As long as it was strictly for educational purposes.

-0-

Canoe-making turned out to be much trickier than it looked when she had watched old Bakku do it back in their village all those years ago. It took them most of the morning to fell a tree. Their method was simple. Zuko was using a thin fireblade to cut it bit by bit, while Katara used her iceblade on the other side, in a kind of elemental see-saw.

It was tediously slow work, but a good opportunity to learn more things about Zuko. Not that she was curious, but Sokka would have expected her to gather intel on their enemy. Well, it had become extremely difficult to think of Zuko as the enemy. He wasn't really a friend yet, not like Aang or Sokka, or even Toph. But Katara trusted him now - he did earn that - even if he still unnerved her in ways that were new and strange.

New pieces of information, gained from his terse and short answers included the following random facts:

he loved mangos, his mother was a huge theater-fan and Zuko knew a lot of stories, but was a hopeless story-teller, forgetting crucial plot points, he played the tsungi horn as a kid, he studied his sword-mastery with Piandao (Katara was sure that Sokka would find this particular piece of information very interesting), he learnt his ninja-skills sneaking around the palace and hiding from his sister who did sound like a terrible person even by Fire Nation standards.

After they felled the tree, they continued the canoe-building by burning a hole into it. The result was a shapeless abomination. When they tried it on the water, it quickly tipped out of balance and filled up with water. They had no other choice than to abandon it and swim to the shore. A whole day's work was wasted, and they still had no idea how to get off this island and join the others. But Katara gathered another piece of information: Zuko was an excellent swimmer; she even had to use her bending to beat him to the beach.

Katara watched mournfully the ocean. For the first time in her life, the water seemed less like an ally and more like an adversary, separating her from her brother and her friends. The comet was coming, Aang needed her, and here she was playing castaway on an island-paradise with a former enemy with no ship-building skills.

"We'll make it," Zuko's voice came from behind her. It was unclear whether he tried to comfort himself or her.

"How do you know?"

"I refuse to fail," he said grimly. "And I think you are the same. You are the most stubborn person I know, Katara. The ocean is no match for us."

Gah. He was not only useless at making canoes, he was also no good at pep-talks. Even if she was stubborn, which she most definitely was not, it still did not provide them with a feasible way to get off this stupid island. The comet would come and go, and they would grow old here, still trying to figure out how they could make a sea-worthy canoe. It was a grim prospect.

"It's late," she grimaced.

Exhausted from the day's work, she fell onto her soft palm-bed, not bothering to argue about first watch. She drifted off immediately.