Zuko looked at a man that he didn't recognize as he and Katara were walking towards the dock. He looked at Katara and saw her beaming at the man.

'Who is this guy?' Zuko wondered. He was also curious as to how Katara knew him. The gaang had only been in the fire nation for a few weeks, and Zuko was under the impression that they had been training a lot after their 'little' encounter at Ba Sing Se.

"Who is this Katara?" Zuko asked in a whisper.

Katara smiled and was obviously deep in thought. "This is Doc. We came here very shortly before the day of the black sun. I sort of dressed up as a Spirit and blew apart a fire nation factory," she answered his unasked question with a light blush on her cheeks.

"You did that?" Zuko asked her, "I remember how much trouble that caused-Azula was complaining about how disrespectful it was to destroy fire nation property," Zuko added with small chuckle.

Katara's blush deepened as she said, "Well, it's not like I cared what I did to Ozai or his property back then. He was terrible," she said with a disgusted tone.

"You got that right," Zuko said.

Katara muttered something unintelligible underneath her breath. Zuko smiled and then looked back toward Doc.

Doc approached them and said, "Hey, you're that water Bender that helped our village, aren't you?" Doc asked.

Katara nodded and then went up to Doc and gave him a big hug. She pulled back and then asked, "So, how's the village been in the past few weeks. Is everything going well?"

"I'm not sure," Doc said, "Let me call my brother Shoo."

Katara slapped her forehead. "Are we really going to have to go through this again?"

Doc just giggled and then snorted. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said with an evil grin on his wrinkled face. "Let me go get Shoo now."

Doc turned toward Shoo's shop and then ducked behind the counter and changed his hat.

He stood back up and then walked over to them. "Hey there water bender," he said, "It's nice to see you again."

Katara just shook her head and muttered to Zuko, "I'll explain later."

Then, she looked at Shoo and asked hesitantly, "Do you have any edible food?" Shoo just looked at her and laughed.

"The quality of our food has much improved since you helped us," Shoo said happily. "Thank you again."

As soon as he said that, he looked at Zuko. "And who is this?" he asked Katara. Katara opened her mouth, about to speak when Shoo said, "No, no, no. Let me guess. Is he your boyfriend?"

Zuko could feel his cheeks turn bright red, and Katara's were doing the same. 'Why do people always assume we're together?' Zuko thought to himself. Truthfully though, Zuko actually sort of liked it, although he would never say that to anyone.

But, their situation was really awkward, so Zuko said, "I'm not her boyfriend!" while Katara said, "He's not my boyfriend!" with anger in her voice.

Katara took one look at Shoo's face and then said, "I mean, we aren't dating or anything like that. We're really good friends though!"

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Shoo asked Zuko. Zuko looked at Shoo and didn't think he recognized him, and he was about to answer when Katara answered for him.

"You may recognize him because he's the new fire lord," Katara said as he looked up proudly at Zuko.

'She's so motherly sometimes,' Zuko thought to himself. But then he thought about all the times her loving care had helped him, and decided that her motherliness was one of his favorite things about her.

"Oh!" Shoo exclaimed. "I should have known! Sorry for any disrespect my lord," Shoo finished. He was about to bow, but Zuko stopped him.

"That's okay," Zuko said. "I'm just a normal person like you, so there's no need to bow," Zuko finished humbly.

Shoo turned to Katara and said, "You've got yourself a great man!" he exclaimed.

Zuko's cheeks were crimson at this point. Katara sighed and then said to Shoo, "I already told you, we aren't dating," she said.

Zuko could have sworn that there was a hint of remorse in her voice, but he decided that he was probably just imagining things.

Zuko decided that he didn't like the way this conversation was headed, so he quickly changed the subject. "So, back to the topic of food. Do you have any?" Zuko asked Shoo.

Shoo laughed again and then went behind the counter to get some food. He took out a bundle of fish that didn't look so appetizing. Zuko grimaced.

"These look great Shoo!" Katara said happily.

"Thanks water bender! They aren't as muddy anymore, see?" Shoo said while opening up one of the fish's mouth really close to Katara's face.

She took a step backwards and said, "That's great Shoo! I'm so glad that my friends and I could help your village. We are sort of on a tight schedule though, and we are long due for a rest, so we're going to make camp on the other side of the lake. If you need anything, just give me a call!" Katara said contentedly.

She took the fish and paid Shoo. "Thanks again for everything you've done," Shoo said. "Our village really appreciated it."

"See you tomorrow Shoo," Katara and Zuko said simultaneously.

And with that, they went to the other side of the river to set up their camp for the night.