Apologies for how long this took, but I was really unhappy with this for a while. I realized I was setting this up to go in a different direction than what I had originally planned, so I took some time to replan and tweak things.

XXXXX

The next day went very much the same, with Katara waking up early and meeting Zuko in the mess hall. He was quiet while they ate, and hardly said a word when they walked up to the deck.

He began with stretching exercises once again, and then made her perform the techniques he had taught her the previous day, making sure she remembered everything. Once she passed his inspection, he agreed to teach her more.

Katara wondered at his attitude as he showed her how to escape an attacker who grabbed her shoulders. He seemed…different, today. Distant? Was that the word? Impatient with her? His stern face and manner today reminded her of how he first acted towards her when they met.

Had she annoyed him somehow? Did he find this boring, was he regretting his agreement to teach her? Or, was he acting strange because of what had happened the previous night? Was he embarrassed about it, and was putting on an indifferent face to pretend it never happened?

"Katara, are you paying attention?" Zuko demanded, while she was struggling with a certain movement. "I just showed you how to do this."

"No, I have it," she said, knocking his hand off her like she had been taught. "See? It just took me a second."

He frowned at her but didn't comment, moving on to the next method.

After teaching her another small set of techniques, Zuko ended their session. Other crewmembers who didn't have any responsibilities had arrived, and Zuko suggested she work with some of them.

Katara ended up with another firebender, Captain Jee's second, an older man named Ping. He asked if she would be willing to spar using their elements, and Katara happily agreed, excited at the idea of working with someone who she wasn't familiar with.

They didn't have very much space, considering the other members who had were also practicing on deck. With that in mind they were cautious, merely testing each other out, but Katara still had fun. Ping fought much more traditionally than Zuko, and wasn't as nimble, so he wasn't leaping about and spinning the way Katara was used to. He clearly had much more experience on the battlefield, however, and it showed. At the end of their match Katara was worn out. She smiled at Ping when he walked over to shake her hand. He was smiling as well.

"You surprised me, young lady. I had no idea that you would fight so well. You gave my old bones a run for their money."

Katara thanked him for the compliment, and then walked over to Iroh, who was watching from the side of the deck. "Not joining in?" she asked.

Iroh smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm perfectly content watching the others. You had a good match with Ping, my lady."

"Thank you. I'm so used to Zuko as my partner that it was a bit of shock having someone else."

Iroh chuckled. "Yes, that happens. You must be careful about that."

Katara leaned against the railing and sank down it, sitting on the cool metal of the deck. She looked for Zuko, and found him fighting with Captain Jee. They were both brandishing dual dao swords, circling each other.

Katara sat up straight in excitement. She had never seen Zuko fight with swords before.

They clashed back and forth along the deck, swords glinting in the sun. The few members that were practicing as well quickly cleared away, not wanting to be anywhere near the fighters with weapons. It only took moments of watching to recognize that Zuko knew what he was doing with them. Both he and the Captain where fighting hard, near ferocious. Katara watched in awe as they went back and forth. Jee had sweat through his shirt, and Zuko had apparently shed his sometime before. Katara wondered if that was how he looked when he fought her. She doubted that. The pure intensity in his eyes as he fought with Jee…Katara would have remembered it.

Again, the same idea that had come to her the previous night wandered into her mind. As she watched him, she wondered…what if Zuko was the man who was chosen to be her husband?

Katara wasn't sure what she was looking for, but watching him only made her think that it wouldn't be so bad. While she was embarrassed to admit it, she had always been attracted to fighters. And, well...seeing Zuko fighting without a shirt didn't help matters.. Of course, she had fought with him, felt his muscles through his clothes…but now that she was just a spectator, and able to actually see what lay under his shirt, it was a whole different matter.

Realizing that she had been staring, Katara blushed and shook her head. None of that. It wouldn't do for her to be thinking like that, especially about the son of the man she was supposed to marry.

The reminder of Ozai quickly sobered her attitude. Did he teach Zuko to fight like that? Katara couldn't remember hearing about the Fire Lord wielding swords, but she had no trouble imagining that Zuko got that snarl from his father.

Jee and Zuko stopped their fight, bowing to each other to signal they were both done. Katara got to her feet as Zuko walked towards her and Iroh.

"You're getting better," Iroh praised, smiling.

Zuko merely nodded and bent down, scooping up his shirt from the deck. He wiped his face with it. "They've gotten a little dull," he told his uncle, holding up the swords with one hand. "And I don't have what I need to sharpen them."

Iroh leaned in and carefully ran his thumb over the edge of one. "You're right. Well, next time we're at port I'm sure you can go to a blacksmith and have them sharpen it for you."

"Some of the crewmembers might have their own sharpening tools," Katara suggested. "I had no idea you were so good with those," she added, admiring the weapons.

Zuko tugged the shirt into place, not saying anything.

Katara frowned. He was acting strange, it wasn't her imagination. "Maybe I could go with you when you go? I'd love to look around."

"Maybe," he mumbled, noncommittally.

"Zuko, when a beautiful young lady asks for your company you gladly accept," Iroh scolded. Zuko rolled his eyes and turned away. Still frowning at his nephew, Iroh told Katara, "I would happily go with you, Katara. I've been at the port in question before, so I could easily escort you."

Katara smiled at him. "Thank you. I'm glad someone is happy to spend time with me," she said, shooting a venomous look at Zuko's back.

He whirled around. "Excuse me if I don't feel like being dragged along while you run your stupid little errands. I don't have time to babysit you."

"Babysit me!" Katara glared at him, then let out an exasperated growl. "Fine! I don't know where this attitude of yours came from, but if you want to act like a spoiled brat, go ahead. I'm not going to stand around and argue with you, jerk." She tossed up her hands and stormed away.

Iroh turned to his nephew. "What on earth has gotten into you? Did you two have a fight I don't know about? You seemed perfectly alright with each other yesterday!"

Zuko scowled. "Do you know that she was engaged when she was in the Water Tribes?"

"What?" Iroh blinked at him, confused. "How would you know?"

"She practically told me! That necklace she's always wearing? It's a betrothal gift."

"Even if that's true, what does it matter? It was probably just a parting gift."

"She's—she's supposed to marry the Fire Lord! She can't have sweethearts all over the place. What if one of them tries to cause trouble?"

Iroh sighed. "Zuko, you're making this bigger than it is. Perhaps it was given to her by family. It could be an heirloom—you know how women pass down jewelry when their daughters come of age. And even if she did have a sweetheart—which I highly doubt—there is nothing he could do. A single man against all of the Fire Nation—and the Water Tribes?"

Zuko looked away, annoyed by his uncle's logic. What he was saying made complete sense. There was no need for him to get all worked up.

"And, if she did have someone, try to imagine her point of view. You shouldn't get angry, Zuko. She's made her decision. She's agreed to leave everything she knows, family, friends—maybe even a man who loves her—to do this. Imagine the strength that requires. After all the pain she's been through…do you really think that she would let a single man stand in her way?"

XXXXX

Katara glared out over the water. She had no idea why Zuko was acting the way he was. She thought that they had begun to form a decent friendship, but apparently she was wrong. Friends didn't get angry at each other for no reason—and Katara couldn't think of anything she had done to upset him.

She was surprised at how much his sudden behavior hurt her. After all this time, Katara thought maybe this journey wouldn't be so bad. Iroh had been pleasant to her, and she looked forward to the time she spent the Zuko. Really, he was the only one she talked to on the ship. The only one who she wanted to spend time with. And if he was going to start being unpleasant to her…well…

That's just like a firebender,Katara thought darkly. Turning on the ones who trust them when they least expect it.

She glared hard at her hands, then realized that was unfair. She was stereotyping again, falling back on her belief that no firebender could be trusted. Just because Zuko was being moody didn't mean that every single firebender in the world was evil. Maybe he had a reason for his actions.

Was it possible he was having as much trouble accepting what was happening as she did? If Katara was struggling with the idea that all firebenders weren't evil, maybe he was fighting with the idea that he was becoming friends with a waterbender.

That realization made a lot of sense to her, all of a sudden. Hadn't she jumped at the chance to believe, the second that Zuko had been rude to her, that he had never truly been interested in being her friend? Maybe he was looking for an excuse to put distance between them.

Or maybe Katara was just desperate enough to have someone be nice to her that she was willing to forgive how Zuko was acting, as long as he talked to her.

Groaning, Katara shook her head. "Don't think like that," she grumbled to herself, turning around.

And practically walking straight into Zuko.

She jumped back, startled. Zuko raised his hands in apology. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Blushing, Katara glared at him. "What do you want?" she asked, not very nicely.

Zuko winced at her tone. "I think I should apologize. My uncle—"

"If you're just apologizing because your uncle told you to, then save your breath." Katara turned her back on him.

He wanted to snap at her, but Zuko grit his teeth and kept quiet. He was the one who had acted like a jerk first. "Look, I was just—annoyed—with something, and I took it out on you. It won't happen again." Deciding that that was as much as he needed to say, Zuko turned away.

"What were you annoyed about?"

He stopped, surprised at her question. "What?"

She was facing him again. "Was it me? Did I annoy you?" Katara wished that she didn't want his friendship so bad, but it was all she had right now. "I didn't mean to embarrass you last night."

"No, it wasn't you," Zuko muttered, glancing at her necklace, then away before she could notice.

Katara wanted to ask him what it was that was bothering him, then. For him to talk to her. But she didn't think he would tell her. And she didn't to seem so interested. Instead she nodded, and turned away. Zuko was going to leave, thinking their conversation was over, when she asked quietly, "Do you think that two people from the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes could ever get along?"

"Katara, just because we had a little fight doesn't mean—"

"I don't mean us, specifically," Katara said, shaking her head. "I just want to know if you think that the people of your homeland and my homeland could ever get along."

Zuko opened his mouth, about to dismiss her, but then he changed his mind. He thought for a moment, then answered seriously, "Well, they did once. Before."

Before your grandfather declared war on the world? Before your people slaughtered all of the Air Nomads, attempted to invade the Earth Kingdom, killed my mother?Katara bit her tongue. She tried to keep that dark hatred deep inside herself, but it was always there. "That's true," she said softly. "But what about now? After…everything?"

"Well, that's what this whole journey is about, isn't it?" Zuko asked, tip-toeing around the issue. He felt cowardly, but he didn't have the heart to really speak his mind to her. "That's what you're here for, so do you believe it?"

"That's not what I asked," Katara said. She turned to him. Zuko wanted to walk away, but she pinned him with a look that was almost pleading. "Do you think that our people can ever get along?"

"Katara…" Zuko sighed.

"Answer the question!" she demanded, grabbing his arm when it looked like he would turn away.

"I—"

There was a sudden, tremendous screeching noise of metal on metal, and the ship gave a sudden lurching stop. Katara and Zuko were both thrown forward against the rail. Katara let out a shrill shriek as she went over. Zuko desperately grabbed for her, but lost hold of her as he struck the railing, gasping as the wind was knocked out of him. He hung over the edge, still reaching, as Katara splashed into the water and disappeared.

"Katara!" he yelled hoarsely, deaf to all the yelling and shouting that was happening on deck. He stared at the white foamy ripples that were left from where she fell, eyes darting around to see where she came back up. His stomach coiled in panic. When she didn't immediately resurface, Zuko spun to face the deck. "Man overboard!" he bellowed over all the other noises. "Get me a line, now!"

He leaned back over, knuckles white as he grasped the railing. "Katara!" he yelled again, as if she could hear him.

A man ran up beside him. "She went over?" he gasped, passing Zuko a coil of rope.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Ship hit something, sir. We don't know what."

"You mean something could be in the water?" He was getting ready to jump in after her when Katara's dark head broke the surface, gasping for air. "Katara!" Zuko shouted, relief coursing through him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" she shouted back, coughing. She pushed her hair out of her face and treaded water. "Is everyone alright? What happened?"

"The ship hit something!" the deckhand—Ping, Zuko realized—called back to her.

"Grab the line!" Zuko shouted, tossing the rope over. "We'll pull you up!"

Katara raised her hand to shield herself as the rope splashed next to her. "I'm going down to see what the ship hit!"

"What? No! Katara, just get back up here—" Zuko yelled, but she had already taken a deep breath and dove back down. His panic returned as she vanished from his view. He stared for a few seconds, then passed the rope back to Ping. "Tie that off," he ordered him, as he yanked off his shoes.

"You're going in after her?" Ping questioned, incredulous.

"We don't know what's down there! I've heard stories about the giant eel monsters they have in these areas." He yanked off his shirt.

Ping frowned, not wanting to directly question his superior. "Sir—she's a waterbender—and you're—"

"Going to drag her back onto this boat," Zuko snapped, putting a foot on the rail.

His rescue was cut short, however, when Katara popped above the surface. Shaking the water out of her face, she called, "I think it's another ship! It looks like it sunk a while ago, there's barnacles all over it and it's falling apart." She swam over to the rope and grabbed it. "We've got problems—our ship's taking water."

Zuko and Ping began to tug her up, hand over hand. When she was close enough, Zuko reached over and grabbed her, pulling her back onto the deck. Holding her arms, he ducked his head to look her in the eyes. "Are you alright?" he demanded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Katara said, a little startled by his concern.

Zuko looked her up and down as if he hadn't heard her. Katara frowned at him. "Didn't you have a shirt on when I went over?" she asked, wondering if she actually had hit her head.

"He was going to jump in after you, ma'am," Ping said, nodding towards the pile Zuko had made with his shirt and shoes.

Katara blinked down at it, then rose an eyebrow at him. "You were going to jump in after me? Did you forget I'm a waterbender?"

Zuko scowled at her. "Well, excuse me for being concerned," he snapped, releasing her.

Katara opened her mouth, then remembered their bigger problem. "I need to get down below. I'll be able to stop the water from inside." She stepped past him and hurried across the deck.

Zuko glared after her for a moment, then angrily began stuffing his feet back into his shoes. "Let's get down there and see if we can help," he growled at Ping, snatching his shirt up.

XXXXX

They eventually managed to stem the flow of water, keeping the ship from sinking. While Katara bent the water to keep it out of the ship, the firebenders aboard heated the damaged metal hull enough so it was flexible, and forced it back together, melting it into a rough seal. It wasn't pretty, but it would keep the ship from sinking.

After that disaster had been averted, Katara set up shop in the mess hall. She dealt with the injuries sustained during the collision—mostly bumps and bruises, the worst a concussion and broken wrist.

Zuko and Iroh oversaw moving the ship away from the sunken hazard, ordering men out on the ship boats and having them tug it away. They didn't drag the ship completely onto the shore, but they pulled it into shallower water and anchored it so that if it did begin to take on water, they would not lose it completely. It was growing dark by the time they were done.

Katara slumped over a table as the crew met back in the mess, exhausted from the day's work. Jee was giving a report of the situation.

"I think the keel is damaged, which would make the ship near impossible to navigate. And there's still a possibility that the seal could break. The quick patch job that was done weakened the metal, and I do not trust to take the ship back into rougher waters until we have an expert come and examine it, maybe repair it."

"How long will that take?"

Jee sighed. "Luckily, I know of a town nearby that should have men experienced with shipbuilding. However, it's a day's walk away, at least. I'll be sending out a group tomorrow morning. So, best case scenario, three days. And that's only if the ship is cleared for travel. Otherwise, it could take some time. Repairing this ship will be difficult—we wouldn't be able to do repairs here, so it would have to be towed to a harbor with the proper shipwrights."

Iroh cut in, "We think it'll be best if we move what we can off the ship in case she starts taking on water again. We have what we need to set up a temporary camp along the shoreline. A small group will be kept on board to monitor the situation here, but I want everyone else on land for now."

Katara wondered how comfortable it would be to live in a camp with these men, presumably in tents. Lovely. And this would mean that this journey was going to take even longer.

Then again, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It wasn't as if she was eager to get to the Fire Nation palace.

XXXXX

It was well into the night by the time Zuko found Katara leaning against a tree, eyes closed. He hesitated, wondering if perhaps she was asleep, when she opened her eyes and cocked her head up at him. "Hey," she said tiredly.

"Hey." Zuko smiled down at her. "What are you doing over here?"

Katara shrugged, glancing to where the rest of the crew was, farther down the shore. "I don't know how they still have any energy left. They've worked all day, and they're still up, drinking and joking with each other. I just needed somewhere quiet."

"You've worked hard, too," Zuko told her. He spotted a large log of driftwood and dragged it over. He felt his body ache in response, protesting the long day of lifting and heaving and carrying it'd been put through. Setting it alight, Zuko sat down beside her heavily with a groan.

"You sound tired too," she noted, watching as the flame slowly licked around the wood. "I guess we're all tired. It's been a long day."

He merely hummed in response, staring at the fire. They sat like that for some time, soaking up the warmth. "Those colors are different," Katara murmured after a while, watching the blue and green flames.

"I think it has something to do with the salt. Chemicals and whatnot."

Katara smiled. "It's pretty."

Zuko turned his head so he could see her face. "Yeah, pretty." He watched her, then looked back at the fire. "I'm glad you're all right," he said quietly.

It was Katara's turn to look at him. "Thanks. I didn't mean to make fun of you back there. It's just—where I come from, falling into the water isn't any big deal."

"I was worried that something was in the water, that one of those giant eel monsters had knocked into the ship."

"Oh. Well, that would be a problem then," Katara said seriously. And then she was giggling, then all out laughing. Zuko joined in with her. The exhaustion of the day had caught up with them, and now they couldn't stop themselves. They laughed until their sides hurt, wheezing and pushing at each other, tears in their eyes. Eventually they calmed down, but they made the mistake of looking at each other, with their bright red faces, and started laughing all over again.

Finally they managed to quiet themselves, leaning back against the tree, the very last giggles working their way out of their system. A slight chill had crept into the air, and Katara leaned against Zuko, grateful for the warmth he gave off. "I haven't laughed like that in a while," Katara admitted. Not since she had left home. "Thank you."

"I haven't laughed like that ever," Zuko admitted with brutal honesty. Katara twisted to see his face. He looked down at her. "So thank you…for falling off the ship today."

She snorted and shoved him, then settled back against him. "Jerk," she muttered. Zuko didn't argue. Instead, he licked his lips, and then blurted out, "Katara, where'd you get your necklace?"

"It was my mother's," Katara told him sleepily. "Why?"

"No reason."

Katara was too tired to press him. Sitting like this, warm and exhausted, she could barely keep her eyes open. It had been a long, long time since she had felt like this. Content. Relaxed. Safe. If she had the energy, she would have mused at the irony of it all—feeling completely safe while alone with a firebender. Laughable. But it was the truth.

Zuko settled his arm around her when her breathing evened out and she drifted off to sleep. It felt good, sitting with her like this. It felt…right. He couldn't even bother himself to be concerned with getting her back to camp, where she had a tent all to herself. There was no desire in him at all to leave this spot.

So he sat there, with Katara lying against him, and watched the fire slowly die. By the time it finally burned itself out, Zuko had fallen asleep as well, arm around her. His final thought before he drifted off was that he had never answered Katara's question.

XXXXX

While this is short, I'm happy with it. Usually I have something to complain about, but that isn't the case this time (maybe that's because I whipped this out in a day and haven't had long enough to agonize over it).

Updates for this will again be slow, sorry about that. I'm back to working every single day again, so we'll see how this works out. For anyone interested, I've made myself a tumblr account specifically for my writing, which I'll use for any updates, if I make any, under the name maydreiwrites. I think it's much simpler than posting on my profile page, because really, who looks at that?