(A/N: Sorry for the delay, but classes started. Between the work and writing two stories, my time is limited. But here's the next chapter.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3: The Water Tribe

She began leading him along. Zuko followed without complaint. It seemed as if the gods had decided to grant him some good fortune. But where was she taking him? Her village maybe? If so, what had changed her mind? The frozen frogs? How weird. Then again, who was he to judge the culture of others.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

Before he could get an answer, something suddenly wrapped around his feet. He toppled over, face first, in the snow, wondering what had tripped him.

The girl turned to him, looking surprised. She received another surprise when several people wearing blue appeared, all of them pointing a weapon at the Firebender.

Pulling his face out of the snow, Zuko saw a rope wrapped around his feet. Pulling it off, he got up, only to find himself surrounded by people of the Water Tribe. Had the girl led him into a trap?

Pushing other people aside, one fierce looking warrior marched up to Zuko with a scowl on his face. Zuko got the impression that this guy was in charge. But before he could address him, the girl moved in front of him protectively.

"Jet, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

The warrior, Jet, glared at her. "What are you doing? This man is Fire Nation. You know these demons aren't welcome here."

Though Jet seemed to be very intimidating, the girl didn't seem bothered by him in the least. "There has been a sign!" she argued. "This is a matter for the Painted Lady."

Jet's scowl deepened, but he seemed to accept this, whatever it meant. He motioned to the others, and Zuko suddenly found himself being aggressively dragged along. He didn't bother to fight; there were too many. Besides, he didn't want to make an enemy of these people, not yet anyway.

The Water Tribe warriors led him along, bringing him to their village. Zuko's eyes widened in astonishment at what he saw. The entire village was made of ice. And it wasn't something simple like igloos. There were whole houses here, very big ones too. There was even a palace made of ice in extraordinary detail. Even with Waterbending, how had they managed to make such a structure?

His presence caused a stir in the village. People gathered around, watching him with looks mixed with surprise, anger, curiosity, and hatred.

As they made their way towards the palace, a man came out. With the way he was dressed, Zuko could guess that he was the chief. The people manhandling him brought him before the chief, then bowed their heads in respect.

As the girl stepped forward, the chief turned his attention to her. "Why have you brought this man into our village? You know the Fire Nation are not welcome here."

The girl nodded. "I found him wandering around alone. I was going to kill him, but then-"

"You should have killed him." the chief scolded her. "He'll contaminate our land with his evil."

Zuko felt insulted. "What's that mean?"

The girl glanced at him. "Be quiet. My father is deciding whether we should kill you or not."

Zuko's attention shifted back to the chief. "Your father?" This girl's father was the chief? Maybe she could help him make a good impression. And he would come off as the perfect gentleman. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

He made the mistake of stepping forward, his hand held out to shake the chief's. The entire tribe reacted very violently to this, afraid that he was attempting to harm their chief. Several spears were pressed up against him, the ones wielding them looking more than ready to strike.

"Stop!" a loud voice cried out. "I will look at this Firebender."

A plump old woman with markings painted all over her body exited the palace. She approached Zuko with a look of suspicion and curiosity.

"That's Aunt Wu." The girl told him. "She interoperates the will of Yue."

"Who's Yue?" Zuko asked.

His question went by unanswered as Aunt Wu looked him up and down, studying him carefully. "What's your name?"

Final some progress. "Zuko."

"And why have you come to us?"

"I came to learn."

Aunt Wu didn't look at all pleased by this news. "We've tried teaching other Fire Nation before. But like fire, all they do is burn whatever is given to them."

'Using analogies, eh.' Well he could play that game. "I can't afford to just burn everything in my path. I'm no soldier."

That seemed to get Aunt Wu's attention. "What are you?"

He hoped he wasn't about to make a huge mistake by giving this information. "I'm the prince of the Fire Nation. Son of Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Lady Ursa."

"A prince?" Jet snarled. "We should kill him now. That'll teach the Fire Nation not to mess with us."

The chief held up a hand to stop him. "We will do no such thing. That will be the equivalent of declaring war. Perhaps becoming allies with Fire Nation nobility will allow us to establish peace."

"It is agreed then." Said Aunt Wu. "He shall learn our ways." She turned to the girl. "And you will be the one to teach him."

A look of irritability crossed the girl's face. "Why me? That's not fair."

"You found him, and brought him here." Aunt Wu told her. "Therefore he is your responsibility." She turned back to Zuko. "We have decided to give you a chance. Take your lessons to heart, Prince Zuko, and we'll see if your insanity can be cured."

Zuko nodded his thanks. Things were definitely looking up. He would be able to regain his honor in no time. And he'd get to spend time with the beautiful Waterbender in the process.

He just hoped that the others would come to accept him. But as he sat down at the table for the dinner he was invited to, he received stares of hostility from nearly everyone.

One child made eye contact with him and smiled. Zuko smiled back at him, but the child's parent turned the boy's attention away from Zuko. Perhaps gaining their trust would take longer than he thought.

Glancing at his new 'teacher', he figured he could at least start by getting on friendly terms with her. "You know, I don't even know your name."

She glanced at him suspiciously, almost as if she were wondering if he had a hidden motive. "Katara."

"Kattara?" he repeated.

"Ka-ta-ra." She said slowly and clearly.

"Katara." He received a nod, and returned it with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Katara."

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Zuko had to admit it, there had been times he thought he wouldn't get back. But soon base camp was in sight. He thanked the Water Tribe members who helped him find his way back, then made his way to camp.

His return caused quite a stir. Apparently, everyone had thought that he was dead. Zuko couldn't blame his uncle for assuming the worst. He hadn't thought he would make it out alive. So he wasn't mad that he had been declared as dead. What he was angry about was his uncle suddenly embracing him in public.

"I am so sorry, nephew." Iroh told him. "I shouldn't have given up hope."

"It's all right, uncle." Zuko told him. "Everything worked out." A grin spread across his face. "You're not going to believe what happened."

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It wasn't long before news of Zuko's little adventure had spread throughout the entire camp. Iroh was now making a joke out of how the last thing he saw was his nephew being chased by a hungry Unagi. Yet he was proud of him for making friends with the Water Tribe.

The only one who didn't seem happy about the situation was Aang. He was jealous and felt left out. He was the trained peacekeeper. It was supposed to be his job to make friends with he Water Tribe; not to mention he enjoyed showing off. But now Zuko had taken his place and was now receiving all the attention. It was a real let down.

The Fire Lord could care less who made contact with the Water Tribe. He preferred a member of the Fire Nation on the inside anyway. "So they're giving you a chance?"

Zuko smirked. "I'm practically family."

"Very well done." Zhao told him. "Now we earn their trust, learn their secrets, learn how to take them out."

"I don't care how it's done." Said Ozai. "Whether it's through friendship or war, as long as they bow down to us in the end. My brother insists upon doing things peacefully, but that takes too long." He turned to his son. "Zuko, you have three months. If they're not willing to embrace our ways, then we will use force."

"Three months?" Zuko repeated. "Well then, we're wasting time."

And for the first time since Zuko could remember, his father smiled at him.

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While they were on the hot air balloon heading back to the Water Tribe village, Iroh was teaching Zuko everything he knew about the Water Tribe. Right now they were going over the important figures in the tribe.

Holding up a picture of Aunt Wu, Iroh asked for Zuko to identify her.

"Aunt Wu." Zuko replied. "The dragon lady."

"She's the current Painted Lady." Iroh told him. "The Painted Lady is like a spiritualist."

He held up the next picture, this one of the chief.

"Hakudo." Said Zuko.

"Hakoda." Iroh corrected. "He's the village chief. He's very cautious around people of the Fire Nation. He lost his wife to them, and his son."

Next picture. Zuko knew this one.

"Jet."

"He will be the next chief. After the current chief's son was killed, Jet was named to be the next chief."

Next picture.

"Katara."

Iroh nodded. "Hakoda's daughter. She's to be the next Painted Lady. She's also betrothed to Jet."

Zuko nodded in understanding. "So who's Yue?"

"Who's Yue?" Aang asked, sounding shocked that he didn't know. "She's the spirit of the moon. The one they pray to. Without Yue, they would lose their Waterbending." He sneered at Zuko. "You'd know this if you hadn't spent your whole life locked in the palace."

Zuko held up the drawing of Katara. "Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?" he asked cheekily.

Aang's eye flashed angrily. "Ok, you know what-"

"That's enough." Iroh interrupted. "Things didn't turn out as planned, but as long as we avoid any violence, nothing else matters." He glanced at Katara's picture again and sighed. "Katara's a good girl. She and her brother, Sokka, could always bring a smile to my face. He had a great sense of humor."

Zuko glanced at him curiously. "What happened to him?"

Iroh hesitated a moment, then decided to ignore the question. "Come on, village life starts early."

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Zuko's lessons in how to be one of the Water Tribe were very different from what he was expecting. Today, Katara had brought him to an unfrozen river and had somehow used her Waterbending to call forth giant elephant koi. And, according to Katara, he was supposed to ride one.

"But the water's freezing." Zuko told her.

Katara nodded. "Normally we would use our Waterbending to make the water around us warm as we ride them, but you should be able to do the same with your Firebending."

He supposed that was true. "Ok then."

"Be gentle getting on."

Not entirely sure about this, Zuko hopped onto the giant fish. He had trouble finding his balance, but managed to steady himself.

"Hold onto it's fin and use it to direct it where to go." Katara told him. "Make him go by applying pressure with your feet."

Zuko did so, and the fish suddenly dived under. It swam away as Zuko lost his grip and came sputtering to the surface. Katara couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Zuko glared at her and climbed out, using his Firebending to dry himself off.

At that moment, several other elephant koi appeared, swimming on the surface with tribe members riding them. In the lead was Jet, and he led the others over to Katara and Zuko.

"You should go away." he told Zuko.

The Fire Prince shook his head. "No, you'd miss me." he joked.

Jet just sneered and glanced at Katara. "This Firebender will never learn anything. All fire can do is destroy."

With that said, he and the others took off. Katara just rolled her eyes and waved her hand, summoning another elephant koi with her Waterbending. "Again." she told him.

(A/N: You know, this is actually really fun, incorporating one story into another. I've only did it once before. So let me know how it's going.)