Disclaimer: I am a college student. Enough Said.

Sokka and Katara turned slowly towards the direction the sound came from. They'd thought that they were alone in the room.

Then the voice spoke again, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"We could ask you the same question."

The owner of the voice stepped out the shadows; he was young man, with jet black hair, pulled back in a ponytail. He was obviously a warrior; the armor he wore only emphasized his board shoulders and muscular body. "My name is Prince Zuko."

Another man, who was short and round, with gray hair and beard, also stepped out of the shadows. The young man spoke again, "This is my uncle Iroh. We are from the Fire Nation. We are here to help the Avatar."

"Fire Nation!" Sokka yelled. "We want nothing to do with the Fire Nation. Come on Katara."

He grabbed Katara's wrist and pulled her into the corner farthest from, the young Fire Nation prince and his uncle. They all sat in uncomfortable silence until Iroh broke it.

"Where are you from to hate the Fire Nation so much?"
"We're from the Southern Water Tribe."

"Ahh, no wonder, it is true that fire and water do not mix very well. So that means that you are also water benders."

"No, only Katara can water bend."

"I see."

The uncomfortable silence descended upon them once again. This time it was broken by the arrival of food. No one made any attempt to grab the food. Katara's stomach growled loudly. She felt her face heat up with embarrassment. She hoped that the room was dark enough for no one to notice her blush.

Suddenly Iroh spoke again, "You know it is a custom in our Nation, to wait until after the women have served themselves."

Katara reached for one of the bowls and began eating. It was some kind of stew and it was delicious. As soon as she brought the bowl up to her lips, she saw out of the corner of her eye the other reach for their own lunch. She noticed that Prince Zuko waited until after everyone else had chosen their lunch, before he himself began to eat.

'He puts others first. I thought that people from the Fire Nation were selfish, and yet he waited until last, interesting.

Everyone ate in silence. Soon after they were done, a man came and took their empty dishes. The room was silent; no one dared to talk even to their neighbor.

Finally, Katara couldn't take it anymore.

"Katara."

"What?"

"My name, it's Katara. And this is my brother Sokka. We're here to help the Avatar."

Zuko snorted, "Here to help the Avatar. What can a water peasant do to help?"
Iroh hit his nephew in the back of the head and said, "Show some respect for the other nations. It's no wonder no one likes the Fire Nation, with you going around insulting everyone."

Iroh turned to Katara, "Please accept my apology on behalf on my nephew. I thought that his mother and I had taught him better manners."

Zuko stopped rubbing the back of his head and shot his uncle a dirty look at that last comment.

"Apology accepted. And for your information he came looking for us. Besides, I could ask you the same thing. What can a spoiled prince do to help the Avatar?"
Zuko lunged up and started to go for Katara, but Iroh stopped him and chuckled, "She's got you there Prince Zuko."

"She insulted me; I won't take that kind of insolence, out of a commoner."

"And you insulted me, your highness, or should I say your lowness. What do you rule over anyway, in case hadn't noticed, you're stuck in here too."

Zuko made another attempt to grab Katara. Katara stuck her tongue out at him, when he was once again restrained by Iroh.

"Enough!" yelled Iroh. Zuko stared at his uncle shocked at hearing him raise his voice. In a quieter, calmer voice, Iroh continued.

"Enough. No one knows how long we'll be in here and since we all have to share this room together, I think we all need to make an attempt to get along."

Zuko looked away from Katara and settled back in his original seat, muttering, "Stupid water peasant."

The room fairly crackled with tension. Sokka and Iroh quietly talked about the best way to cook trout, too afraid to talk above a whisper. Afraid of the two benders, who were currently glaring daggers at each other.

"Spoiled prince."

"Lowly water peasant."

At the same time they both stood up yelling, "What did you say?"

"I called you a spoiled prince. That's what you are, right? Had the world handed to you on a silver platter? I bet you've never had to work a day in your life."

"What do you know? You're only a peasant. A water tribe peasant at that, the lowest of the low. I would wager that you don't know a thing about the civilized world."

Katara snorted, "A lot you know, my village is the largest in our area. People from all around the world come and go."

"Yeah, well, this may come as a shock, but I've had to work hard to become as good of a fire bender as I am. Half my day is spent learning how to be Fire Lord and the other is spent training."

For some unknown reason Katara felt the urge to impress Zuko with her bending skill, "Well, for your information, I'm the only girl in my village that's reached the level of master."

Zuko was stunned by that announcement. He quickly looked away and pondered this new information. Even after they had settled back down into their seats, Katara continued to stare at Zuko. He was interesting; she almost hoped that they would be locked up together for a long time, almost.

You could say that she got her wish, after being locked up together for almost a week, they were eating lunch when suddenly Zuko said, "Hear, that?"

"What?" Sokka asked around a mouthful of noodles.

"Exactly," by now Zuko was standing and has his ear pressed up against the wall.
"There's nothing. The engines have stopped."

The door burst open and eight men came into the room and tied everyone's hands behind their back and forced them to walk, through the maze of hallways and up onto the deck. The sun was bright and blinded them temporarily. Once on deck they were lead to the bridge where the Avatar was waiting.

"So," he said cheerily, "Hope that the accommodations weren't too bad."

Nobody chose to answer him. So he continued, "As you can tell, we've stopped moving."

Sokka rolled his eyes in a 'duh' kind of way.

"And if you look to our left you can see an island."
They all turned and looked at the island. It wasn't a large island, but it wasn't exactly small. It was mostly forest, but there was one large mountain in the middle of the island.

"Now there's something on that island, something that I want. I won't tell you what you have to figure that out yourself. You'll have a week to find this object. The island is deserted, so no one's there to help you. You'll given a few supplies, but not very many. Most of the things you need to survive you have to find. Any questions?"

"Yeah. Why in the name of Angi are you sending us on a wild goose chase! We don't even know what were looking for!" Zuko was so angry, that he had steam coming out of his nose.

"That's part of the fun, well, for me at least." Aang said, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Sokka stared at Aang, and stated, "You're crazy, you know that, right?"

"Yep. Any more questions?" Aang looked around at their surprised faces.

Katara had one. "Why are we bound?"

"Ahh, a very good question. You're bound because only two of you get to go."

"What?" they shouted simultaneously. The only one who didn't seem shocked was Iroh; he thought he knew what the Avatar was planning. 'You're playing with fire; I hope you know what you're doing.'

"Yep, that's right. Only two of you are going. Don't worry you don't have to decide amongst yourselves, it's already been decided. Zuko and Katara will be going."

Zuko and Katara stared at each other in shock, each thinking the same thing, 'Agh I can't stand them, how am I supposed to work with them?'

"Now to make sure that you work together there's an incentive. That's where Sokka and General Iroh come in. Katara you're responsible for whether General Iroh lives or dies. Zuko the same applies for you only you hold Sokka's life in your hands."

Zuko rounded on Katara, "If anything happens to my uncle, I'll kill you and your brother myself."

"If you two fail, they both die. Now there's a boat waiting to take to the island. Your bonds will be severed once you reach the island. Your week begins tomorrow at dawn. Good luck, remember you hold the lives of two people in your hands."