Chapter 2

Katara woke by a forsaken creek. Actually, at a second glance, it was more of a swamp. "Ugh, what happened?" she asked. "Aaah!" she gasped. Her voice was slightly gravelly now. "JUUUN!" Katara cried angrily. "How dare you!" She felt like crying. How could things have gone so wrong? Jun would regret this soon enough. Maybe. Hopefully.

"My sons, come here," Lord Ozai beckoned his sons near. Jet, Zuko, and Aang came closer. "I am growing old and will soon retire (or die). However, I cannot decide which of you shall be my heir. So I'll hold a contest. There are three parts. Whoever performs best wins. First, go and fetch some linen a hundred yards long that will fit through my signet ring."

"Yes, Father," the three princes replied and set out on their journey.

Katara sighed. "I wish I could bend," she croaked. "I miss it so." She gestured with her webbed hands as if she were bending. Some of the stream rose and followed her motions.

"Oh!" Katara gasped. "I can still bend! I wonder what else I can do! Maybe I can do magic! Okay, let's see. Hocus pocus, magicus startus—No, that won't do! I wish I had…hmm, what do I want? Oh, I wish I had a ribbon!"

Creek. Creek. A cricket chirped.

"Okay. Not the right words. What did Jun always do when she did magic? Well, she usually just seemed to shift her gaze. Inside, through, and on. She didn't say anything," Katara beamed. "That's it! No words, just thoughts." She closed her eyes.

After an hour, Katara had an assorted number of objects. However, try as she might, she could not turn herself back into a human. "This stinks! I guess I'll never be a girl again. This stinks."

I wonder where that girl is, Zuko wondered as he rode his komodo rhino. I wonder if Aang and Jet remember her too. I wonder if I can win this competition. Probably no—

"Whoa!" Jet halted his carriage with a word. Aang and Zuko did the same. Before the three princes, the road split in three directions. Two were well traveled and free of vegetation on the path. The last road, if one could call it that, was so overgrown with weeds and shrubs that it was more like a deer's trail.

"Where do you want to go?" Jet asked his two brothers.

"I'll take the middle path," Aang said and motioned his driver to continue straight. Aang's entourage followed him.

"I'll go to the left," Jet told Zuko and headed down his road with carriages strung out behind him.

"I guess I'll take this one," Zuko whispered gloomily. He stared at the overgrown path. "Yay."

After hours of riding, Zuko's butt was screaming for a break. Zuko pulled up beside a swampy creek and dismounted. As the sun moved towards the horizon, Zuko realized he may end up spending his night here. He walked around, setting up camp. Then, exhausted, he collapsed to the ground and sighed. "What's the point?" Zuko asked his sleeping mount. "Jet and Aang will get the linen and the other two tasks too. I'm just the pathetic middle son. I'm not even a very talented bender. I'm a loser. And you don't care," Zuko sighed as he noticed his mount was asleep.

"What's your problem, sir?"

Zuko whipped his head around at the sound of a gravelly feminine voice. Where was the wench?

"Umm, down here," the voice said.

Zuko looked down to see a small brown toad at his feet. "Waah!" Zuko screamed in a very unmanly way as he stumbled back.

"Hey! Watch it!" Katara shouted as she hopped away quickly. "You almost squished me!"

"Sorry," Zuko apologized.

"Tell me your problem. Maybe I can help you with it," Katara suggested as Zuko sat down again.

"You couldn't help me, toad, even if I did," Zuko told her.

"Tell me. You never know. And my name is Katara," Katara frowned.

"Well, you see, my father, the king, has given my brothers and me a challenge to determine his heir. We must find a hundred yards of linen that will fit through his signet ring."

"Hmm. Linen, eh?" Katara mulled. "Wait here." Katara dove into the water and swam to the bottom. Linen. Linen that will help the prince. The linen appeared before her. It wasn't big enough but she trusted her magic. She grabbed the cloth and swam to the surface. Katara laid it before Zuko. "Take this to your father and it will help you."

"Thank…you," Zuko said carefully. He kept his face straight with great effort. The linen the to—Katara—had given him was no bigger than his finger. He took the linen and placed it in his pocket.

"Good night," Katara said and disappeared into the swamp.

Zuko stood and went to bed.

Meanwhile, Aang and Jet were buying out all the linen in all the towns within sixty miles of the castle. They had some discretion but not much. By the time they turned towards home, bolts of cloth poked out of carriage windows. In their wakes, the peasants chuckled and smiled at their dear king's sense of humor.

The next morning, Zuko left the stream without looking for Katara. He didn't think he could be kind a second time and not laugh again at the prospect of a toad's handkerchief winning him the contest.

Katara watched him leave. "I've seen him before," she whispered. "Oh well, I'll remember eventually. I need to stay in practice." She motioned to the water. "Come on."