The Burning Rose

Chapter Five

Money and the Monkey

OOC- I like this chapter, but again, it is short.

P.S. This is before Zuko has gone into the building. Zuko is still out in the forest from Chapter 5- Chapter 7

I need to put one of these on here, because I haven't yet, so, Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to Mike and Bryan and Nickelodeon. If I did own it, Zuko and Katara would be together from the first chapter.

Katara hadn't gone to sleep for long. When the sun came up at about 12:00, Toph busted open the door and walked into the room.

"Hey, Sugar Queen, I'm hungry. What do you two have around this place?" she said, starting to tap her foot on the floor in impatience as her arms were crossed over her chest.

"If you want meat, you have to get it yourself." Katara said as she picked up her head to look at Toph and slammed it on the pillow, trying to fall back asleep.

"Yeah, I know that, you said that to Sokka," she said as she began to poke Katara. "Wake up, Sugar Queen. We need food!"

"All right!" Katara screamed as she sat up and tried to fix her hair. Toph jumped a little at her scream, but she immediately smiled and just walked out the door.

Katara stood up and slammed the door shut. She grabbed her yellow and orange dress that looked exactly like her water tribe dress and a towel and took a soothing bath. Once she was dressed, she waterbended the water out of her hair and anywhere else she might have missed. She quickly ran a brush through her hair before she put it in a usual braid with her hair loops. She walked out of the bathroom, set her clothes down, and spun around before she saw Aang in the doorway. She jumped before she started to speak.

"Aang," she said, a surprised look on her face as she felt her face become hot. "What are you doing here?"

"I just…" he said as he began to walk toward her. "I just wanted to make sure that you were ok."

"Oh," she said as she pulled him into a hug. "I'm ok, Aang. But, why did you think I was hurt?"

"Well," he said, pushing her out of the hug softly, "I heard a scream."

"Oh," she said as she separated from Aang. "That was Toph. She was trying to wake me up by bugging me, so I screamed to get her away, and she did!" She waited for a minute to let Aang take it in, then she said, "Is Sokka up yet?"

"No. He is still healing, and he should be up soon, thanks to you!" Aang said as a smile spread across his face.

"Thank you for saying that, Aang!" she said as she flashed him a smile. "Now, I have to go and make some lunch for Toph before she starts to bug me again!"

"Ok!" Aang said as he walked down a hallway and into his bedroom, three doors away.

Katara walked down the hallway, thinking of something to do about having no food in the Temple. When she got to the spiral staircase, where she had seen Appa, she thought about the money she had saved for just this moment. Unfortunately, she didn't save much because Aang just had to have his temple monkey with ruby red eyes that they had found on the pirate ship. Now the monkey is in his bedroom, he worships the monkey every day, and claims him to be a god.

With the money she had in her purse she had recently gotten, but she had gotten the purse for a good reason, she had 3 gold coins and 2 silver. That was enough for about a fish and a pear. Not enough to feed everyone there. She would have to ask Suki, Toph, or Zuko if they have any money she could use. With their money, they might be able to get enough to make a stew to last at least 3 days. If Aang or Zuko could go hunting, then they might have enough for her to make individual meals, but it is all on chance that they would get something. Aang wouldn't go hunting because of his beliefs he had shoved onto her. She didn't want to talk and ask Zuko for money, because they weren't exactly the best of friends right now. Before he came to visit, she hadn't seen or heard from him since Sokka had painted the picture at his uncle's tea shop. So, they wouldn't go out to hunt, unless the girls went, but they don't know how to hunt. They didn't know how to sneak up on animals without alerting them, and they would just scare most of the game away before they could catch it.

She sighed, put her back to one of the walls, and slid down to her knees. She hugged her knees, and tried to think about the situation. The only resolution she could come up with is to ask Suki and Toph for money, but she didn't know how much they would have, since they were in the South Pole, making a new station for the Four Nations meeting.

She shook it off, stood, and decided to find Toph and Suki, just in case they did have something.

She sat in a dark corner of her cell, swearing she was going insane. Her black hair was misshapen and everywhere. She could hear the jeers, snide remarks, and even catcalls from the guards as they passed her cell. She could hear them, but paid no mind. She was thinking about her new plan they had devised, and it was brilliant! There was no way this plan could fail. It was, in every way, perfect.

She pulled a scroll she had been saving for years, waiting for this moment. It, like her plan, was perfect. No scratches, marks or tearing. There was a red wax seal over the paper, her own personal stamp. It did look aged, for she had had it for 3 years to the day, by the calendar she had set up with scratches in the wall from her fingernails.

She whistled, but it came out hoarse and soft, lower than a whisper. She didn't have water for… 3 days. She felt like she was going to die from dehydration.

A fire nation messenger falcon came up to the window. It stuck out its left leg and she saw a leather tube strapped to the bird. She slowly crawled to the bird. She was also deprived of food. She hadn't eaten for 2 weeks, and she hated being tortured as so. She barely got the bird before she was going to pass out. She quickly put the scroll in the hollow tube, and slumped down on the ground. She uttered four words before her world went completely black.

"To the Fire Lord."

OOC- Can anyone guess who the girl is in prison? I will give you another cookie!!

The next chapter will come out next weekend! That is the only time I have to send it out!

Man, I might become poor after this..