Disclaimer: Do I even need to say it?

As soon as he had woken up, Zuko knew what had happened. A nightmare, and a particularly bad one at that. He looked at his servant girl and saw…concern in her eyes? This confused Zuko, but only for a moment before realizing he was soaking wet. He glared at the girl who was kneeling next to him.

"Your Highness," she started. Zuko cut her off, asking her what had happened, although he already knew the answer. She confirmed this and he looked away, embarrassed. She began to talk again, but Zuko silenced her. He didn't want to hear it. He needed to think.

Zuko stood and began pacing around the tent, painfully remembering what had happened in his nightmare. The servant began to talk, again. Couldn't she tell that he didn't want to hear it?

"I said that's enough," he repeated. I can't think here, Zuko decided, so he went to sort out his thoughts in private.

Zuko wandered into the woods, deep in thought. His mind wandered and always made its way back to that servant girl. What was her name again? Katara? Yes, Katara. That was it.

He thought about her for a while. When he looked into her deep blue eyes, he saw concern. Real concern. The only people who had ever cared about him were his mother and his uncle. And here this lowly servant peasant girl shows up and starts to worry when he has a bad dream. How dare she, he thought.

He couldn't help but feel a little guilty, however. As much as he hated to admit it, he was grateful to her for walking him up. She was right, about being lucky that nobody heard him. That would have been even more embarrassing.

Embarrassment. He had told his uncle he wanted a tent to himself, just for that reason. Now he had that servant mocking him. And that was the last thing he needed.

Katara woke just as the sun was rising. Its light seeped through the walls of the tent, gently urging her to wake up. She rolled over on her mat and saw that Zuko wasn't there.

In an instant the events of the night before flashed into her mind. And suddenly Katara wanted to go straight back to sleep. You were so close, Katara. So close. And you failed.

Katara sighed and pulled herself up off the sleeping mat. After making sure her knife was back in her pack, Katara decided to go take a bath. She left the tent to go find a river.

It didn't take Katara long to find a nice, secluded river. She could feel the water calling to her, almost asking her to bend it. She stripped down to her undergarments and climbed into the water. It felt so good, running through her hair. Katara had been there for a while, relaxing, when she heard something behind her.

Katara spun around and sank lower into the water, afraid it was one of the men in the army. She shuddered to think of what would happen if they found her.

A tall, dark figure made its way out of the bushes. It was a very groggy looking Zuko. Katara stood up, relieved to see him. Who would have thought I'd be happy to see Zuko

"Your highness," Katara said, with a slight bow (the water was up to her shoulders.)

Zuko looked startled to see anyone, let alone the servant girl. He stepped back and turned his head away, embarrassed.

"Sleep well last night, your highness?" Katara asked as she walked out of the water.

Zuko glanced over at her and blushed a bright red. Uncle was right, she is rather pretty…for a servant girl.

"Your highness?" Katara asked as she dried herself off with a towel.

Zuko glared at her and his face hardened. Is she teasing me? That little peasant, he thought. How dare she.

The Prince walked up to Katara and stood right in front of her. He was a full head taller than her and much more built. Katara looked up at him and met his eyes with her own.

"You were saying," Zuko prompted. After a moment, Katara stepped back and looked down at her feet.

"Nothing, your highness," Katara said softly.

Zuko turned away and began to walk when he realized she wasn't following him. He spun and saw her standing there, staring back at him. "We're leaving," he said before continuing his walk back to camp.

When Katara and Zuko got to the camp, the tents were being taken down and the rhinos loaded up. Katara went to their tent and started packing. Zuko just sat and watched her.

After the bags were packed, Katara was allowed to wander. She decided to go see where the dragons were. As terrifying as they were, they must have been the most beautiful creatures Katara had ever seen.

It didn't take her too long to find them. They were in a nearby field, lying down. She sat in the grass and just watched them. After a few minutes, she heard voices behind her.

"Uncle, does she have to ride with me?" It was Zuko.

"Yes, Prince Zuko."

"I don't see why she can't just ride with the men on rhinos." He was getting angry.

"Because of just that. I will not allow a fourteen year old girl to ride with soldiers who were forced to leave their wives behind. She is safe from them in the sky."

"Oh," Zuko replied. He understood. "Then why not let her ride with you?"

"Prince Zuko, that is enough," Iroh said, stern. Then Iroh spotted Katara. "Ah, Miss Katara."

Katara stood and bowed. "General. Your Highness."

Iroh smiled. "Prince Zuko just agreed to let you ride with him again."

Katara's face turned white. "On the dragon?" she asked.

Zuko had to suppress his laughter. This will be fun, he thought.

Iroh nodded to Katara. "Yes, on the dragon." He began walking towards the red one and mounted it. "Prince Zuko, help Miss Katara and meet me back at the camp. I have to help move the men along."

Zuko could barely voice his disagreement before his uncle was gone. He stormed over to Arian and looked back at Katara who had stayed where she was.

He glared at her. "Come here," he ordered her.

She slowly walked over.

"This is Arian," he explained quickly. "She's a dragon, you ride her." Zuko climbed up onto the dragon and waited for Katara to do the same. She slid in behind Zuko and went to grab his waist. He stopped her.

"Do not," he warned.

"But what if I fall?"
"You won't fall," he said, bored.

"Why not?"

"Because." Because I won't let you, he thought. He then mentally slapped himself.

"But-" Before Katara could reply, they were soaring in the air. She reached for Zuko's waist and held on for all she was worth.

"Get off of me," Zuko yelled. He had Arian dive straight down. He heard her scream and squeeze him harder. Zuko looked behind him. Sensing his movement, she looked up at him.

Zuko saw the pure terror in her eyes. Her face was white. "Please stop," she pleaded. He turned back around.

As much as she had annoyed Zuko, he sort of felt bad for her. He pulled Arian out of the dive. He felt her hands tighten around his waist. "Now get off of me," he yelled back at her. She hesitated for a moment before doing so.

As soon as Katara let go of Zuko's waist, she felt as if she was going to fall. But it wasn't just that. She felt safe while holding on to him. She found comfort in his warmth. She stopped herself. He is the enemy. That is it. I cannot let my emotions get in the way of my mission.

They reached the city where the peasant uprising was. Just hearing about the army coming had somewhat silenced it's leaders, but Iroh had decided it would be best to stay around for a few days, just to be sure. He knew his brother would be very mad if they were to come all that way just to turn back and have the peasants revolt again. So he ordered his men to go into the city, march around, intimidate people. The plan was to scare the people. Iroh would prefer not to fight if he could avoid it.

The army camp was set up just outside the city in some large random field belonging to some wealthy random noble. As soon as the camp was set up, most of the men went into the city, including Zuko. This meant Katara could do whatever she wanted with her time. She decided to find a river.

She came across one not too far into the woods nearby. She waded in and tried to relax. It had been so long since she had used her bending. It was hard for her. Katara didn't feel complete without it. She looked around. I guess since there's nobody here… she thought. She lifted her fingers over the water and made it dance around her hand, nothing much. But, of course, one thing led to another and soon the water was swirling up around her. She spun around, water and all, and froze.

Standing on the riverbank was none other than General Iroh.

Katara nearly dropped dead. "General…" she whispered.

Iroh didn't seem mad. "Why did you stop, Miss Katara? You were doing very well."

If Katara wasn't in such a state of shock, she would have been completely confused. "General," she repeated.

Iroh smiled. "It's okay. I won't tell anybody."

Katara made her way out of the water and bowed to Iroh. "But, General, why?"

"Just because you bend water instead of fire does not make you my enemy. Like you said before, your grandmother was water tribe, so it would only make sense for you to be able to bend." Katara looked up at him. His face was serious. "Plus, if you were here to hurt us, I think you would have done that by now."

Ow. It hit Katara. Iroh was right - she should have struck by now. But I'm too damn emotional.

"Thank you, General," Katara replied. She was grateful. Iroh could have had her killed, and perhaps every other Fire Nation citizen would have. She owed him her life.

"It will be dark soon. Walk with me back to camp," Iroh invited. Katara followed him.

As they made their way back, they passed where the dragons were. Iroh saw Katara looking at them. "They are beautiful, aren't they?" he asked.

"And terrifying," Katara added.

Iroh laughed. "They could be."

"Do you fight with them?"

The General shook his head. "As magnificent as they are, dragons will not do anything they don't want to. Although they are incredibly strong, they refuse to fight. The only dragons that have ever even left the Fire Nation have been those that were the Avatar's animal guides."

"Oh," Katara said.

"And they are very rare. Most people in the Fire Nation never even see one."

That night Katara cooked for Iroh and Zuko. Again she was allowed to eat with them and again she was made to sleep in the same tent as Zuko. But how much sleeping she did, Katara wasn't sure.

Iroh's words rang in her head. 'If you were here to hurt us, I think you would have done that by now.' He's right. What would my father say? They were all counting on me to take care of this, and nothing is happening. But what am I supposed to do now? Can I even kill him? I don't know. They made it sound so easy, so simple. This is not supposed to happen. I'm not supposed to like him.

Like him? No. No no no. He's my enemy. I'm supposed to hate Zuko. I'm supposed to kill him. I should have done it already.

By this point, Katara was hysterical. She tried to suppress her cries into her pillow, but she heard movement from the other side of the tent and knew she had woken Zuko up.

The Prince had heard crying coming from Katara. He sat up and looked over at her. It was too dark to see anything so he ignited a flame in the palm of his hand. He hesitated for a moment before getting up and walking over to her.

Katara knew Zuko was standing over her. She turned on her side to look up at him. Zuko saw her blue eyes reflect the fire. Katara stood and walked out of the tent. She needed to get away from him. It was her time now to be alone.

It puzzled Zuko what she could be so upset about. He shrugged it off and went back to sleep. He was tired.

A.N.

I am SOOOOOO sorry I haven't updated in forever. One of my best friends was in the hospital for about a week and a half, most of that time in ICU. She's a little better now, slowly recovering from her near-death experience. So basically, the last few weeks I have spent all of my free time praying or visiting her. I got this up as soon as I could, but its still not as long as I wanted it to be. Oh well. Again, I'm really sorry. I love all of you and would never leave you without an update unless I had a really good reason.

Please review. You have no idea how happy they make me : )