ZUKO
He had the perfect plan. He had the perfect way to capture the Avatar and regain his honor.
It was simple. He would capture those peasants from the water tribe and bait the brat. Then he would take the Avatar back to the Fire Nation along with the other two as slaves.
Prince Zuko smirked to himself and let his now grown out hair down. "Uncle," He yawned. General Iroh looked up and smiled at his nephew.
"Ah, Prince Zuko, have you cut your hair?" Iroh gestured to the cushion in front of him and offered the Prince a cup of tea.
"Not now, Uncle. We need to find the location of the Avatar." The general sighed and sipped his tea, hoisting himself up off of the ground.
"All right then... I heard he's looking for an earthbending teacher." Iroh spread their map out on a table and examained it. Zuko never really learned how to use a map, everyone else always did it for him.
The earth kingdom was the largest of the nations and it could take the two quite a while just to find a trace of them. The Prince tapped Ba Sing Sei, wondering if that group of kids were stupid enough to go right on into the city and try to find a tutor.
A roar from outside brought the two's attention from the map. Iroh stuck his head out from below their small ship and looked up. "Nephew, would that be your friends now?" Prince Zuko stood next to his Uncle and spotted what he had pointed out.
A large, white shape was traveling quickly over them and towards the direction they were headed. It he listened hard enough, he could hear a faint yelling coming from that watertribe girl he had fought in the North Pole before... Katara was it?
Zuko smiled and went back inside. "If we're quick enough, we can catch up to out 'friends' and hope to meet with them."
General Iroh turned away with a look of sadness, wondering why his dear nephew had turned out this way. Always fretting about his honor and thinking of ways to capture the Avatar. What happened to that loving boy not so long ago?
Zuko cackled to himself and mapped out every detail in his head. The brat's look of surprise when he sees that both his loved one and her brother chained to a wall. The Prince hoped that his reaction would be to give up and not to enter that freaky Avatar state he had witnessed before.
"Prince Zuko, it's time for bed." His Uncle said calmly. The Prince waved the older man away and continued to stare at the map, even if he only knew a few things about it.
Iroh looked back at the Prince and sighed to himself. "Oh, what can an old man do...?" He remembered seeing that watertribe girl that had caught Zuko's attention even if the Prince didn't notice it. She was sure better than Mai, who made Zuko angry and frustrated.
'That's one thing they have in common, those two women.' The general turned, smiling to himself. But that smile vanished at the thought of Zuko hurting that girl. He sure would if it meant being able to claim his prize.
KATARA
"Katara!" Sokka whined as she pulled a piece of meat out of his hungry hands. "Just one more!" He made a grab for it but his sister was quick to stuff it back into the basket she had bought full of meat- now half empty- just yesterday.
"No! You've eaten three pieces already! We need to land as soon as we get to a city so we can restore the supplies you devoured." Katara snapped. Aang listened wearily to their never ending bickering and chewed the piece of fruit Katara had picked up for his vegetarian cravings.
Katara finally was able to convince her brother that he would have more meat as soon as they bought some and set the basket back into line with their other supplies. She hoped that they could last the gAang at least until Ba Sing Sei, but those hopes were pretty high for two growing boys and herself.
"If you squint your eyes and turn your head like this you can see Ba Sing Sei!" Aang exclaimed as he mimicked Sokka's head turning. Katara smacked her face to her forehead and turned around, watching the waves on the ocean.
A small boat interrupted their movements and Katara studied it. 'Nothing unusual, just a merchant ship.' She concluded a minute later.
Sokka and Aang were still giggling madly and comparing ways to look at the large land mass in front of them. Katara would never understand boys and their fun.
"Katara don't worry, we'll be in the city in two days." Aang assured the waterbender. Katara shook her head and sighed.
"I sure hope so, otherwise we won't be able to have you learn earthbending in time." She said. Aang stiffened a little but relaxed when Katara chuckled. "You know I'm kidding. It's not like we're going to attack the fire nation in a week." She took up a needle and thread, balancing Sokka's torn pants on her knee.
"Besides, Aang already knows airbending and waterbending, he could take on that Prince Zuko if he came and attacked." Sokka stroked his chin thoughtfully, making Aang burst into a fit of laughter at the thought of Sokka having a beard.
Katara smiled a little and continued to work. "Concentrate guys." She warned. Aang stopped laughing and stared straight ahead. Katara had always wondered why he listened to her. Sokka shook his head and her when she gave him a look that said, 'why does he always obey my commands?'.