Me: Another long chapter. I'm quite proud of myself! I want to try and get this story finished before the airing of the new Avatar episode. I am going to try and have a new chapter up every three days. There is over 15 but under twenty chapters. It pretty much gets really, really good after this point. I am so excited about it!

Sokka: (Scribbling on a piece of paper)

Katara: What are you doing?

Sokka: (scribbles) Darn it! (crumbles up paper and throws it) I'm gonna prove that I can write a story!

Everybody: (laughing hysterically)

Toph: (wipes tear from eye) That'll be the day!

Sokka: You don't think I can do it?

Zuko: Well no! That's a good one! You, writing a story? HA!

Sokka: I can do it! You guys just wait!

DISCLAIMER: I am getting tired of putting up this disclaimer. The only thing I own is the plot of the story and this piece of chocolate cake I'm eating. (sigh) I am going to try and buy Avatar! I have $85 and like twenty cents….anyway….read the story….

The kitchen was huge. Iroh happily looked around and smiled at Genia. She showed him where all the cooking utensils were kept and showed him where all the food and ingredients were. Dinner would be starting soon and he needed to get a move on if the customers were to be pleased. She handed him a recipe and asked him to make enough for forty-five people. Iroh accepted the challenge and gratefully started.

He finished the meal with minutes to spare and tasted some himself. Satisfied, he relaxed and made himself of cup of tea. Then the thought of his injured nephew ran through his mind and he asked Genia to go see him. Surprised at his ability to cook, she agreed and Iroh was up the stairs in a flash. Zuko was still out cold and Iroh rewrapped his bandages and watched over him for a few minutes until the voice of Genia called him back down. Iroh was uncomfortable with leaving Zuko again but slipped out and locked the door behind him then walked back down the stairs to where Genia was standing. The fraying woman was positively beaming with pride and her strong green eyes seemed to twinkle a surplus of joy.

"Iroh! My customers are raving about your cooking! What did you do to the recipe to make it better?" She asked excitedly.

Iroh held up a finger. "A cook never reveals his secrets." He said modestly.

She chuckled. "Oh you. Whatever you did to it, the customers absolutely love it! When I would make it, they didn't like it at all."

Iroh shrugged, "Secret ingredient."

She laughed again. "Can you make this tomorrow?" She handed him another recipe for some type of fish and a special sauce.

Iroh looked it over and nodded. Genia hugged him. "Oh thank you Iroh! You are probably the best thing that has happened to this ole run down inn." She let go of him and blushed. For an older woman, she was still strong and full of life.

Iroh grinned and told her he was going to the market to buy some herbs for Zuko's wound. He looked sadly at the two gold pieces he had left. Genia rummaged through her pocket and handed him three copper pieces. Iroh looked at her with astonishment written all over his face. She smiled and told him to take the money as payment.

"Oh no. I can't accept this. You are already letting me stay here just for cooking. There is no way I'm going to accept your money too." He waved his hands in front of him.

"Please take it as payment for doing such a great job with the cooking." She pushed the money into his hands and before he could refuse she walked briskly away to the kitchen and shut the door. Iroh smiled to himself and walked out the door and down the streets to find an herbal shop. Around the large central building a large crowd had formed, Iroh tried to peer over the heads of the other townspeople and caught a glimpse of blue and red among the ocean of greens and browns. Soon he gave up trying to see what was going on and spotted an herbal shop on the other side of the street. He went in and bought enough herbs to last about two weeks then shuffled through the crowd to the inn again. On the way he heard loud wailing and saw a child dressed in red and yellow on the ground sobbing.

The Avatar.

Iroh was suddenly happy that Zuko was unconscious, with the Avatar here, they would all be found by the Fire Nation quite easily with Zuko's attitude. He brushed past him quickly then thought about seeing if the kid was okay but decided against it. Zuko was in dire need of these herbs and he needed to get them there as soon as possible. But why was the Avatar crying? And where were his companions? The small lemur was there but what about the bison, the blind girl, the water bender and her brother? He shook the thoughts from his head and continued on his way to the inn. For some reason, he felt as if he should stop by the stable and see the ostrich horse. So instead of going in the front door, he swung around behind the inn and walked through the stables to give the beast a pat. The ostrich horse immediately recognized him and snorted a greeting. Iroh absentmindedly scratched its feathery neck then after giving it a final pat he sluggishly slipped in the back door and headed up the stairs to his room.

It was getting dark by the time Iroh had managed to clean, medicate and rewrap Zuko's wound. He took the bandages off Zuko's chest and washed him with some warm water then tightly rewrapped him. I cup of tea was sitting on his bed stand that he hadn't noticed before. He picked it up and sniffed it. Under the cup was a note.

Dear Iroh,

I really appreciate all you have done so today I came up and dropped off a few things for you. In your closet you'll find fresh clothes and towels. I also brought you a cup of ginseng tea. I saw you drinking it in the kitchen earlier so I brought you up some ginseng tea but you were still out. I hope you don't mind that I was here. Maybe we can sit a talk sometime. Let me know what you think.

Take care,

Genia

P.S. I also brought up a few more rolls of bandages. They are in the closet as well.

Iroh smiled. That woman wouldn't give up on helping him. He stood up and sat on the edge of Zuko's bed running a hand along his nephew's forehead. He felt a little warm but Iroh decided it was nothing to worry about and he kissed his nephew on the head then lay down in his own bed by the door. The room was set up the same as all the others but was red and had flames painted on the ceiling.

He lay down and watched his nephew breathe slowly and shallowly then he slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep. He dreamt that Zuko was running from Azula and he didn't see the cliff in front of him. Iroh tried to stop him but Zuko said,

'Don't worry uncle. I can fly.'

'Don't be silly, people can't fly!' Iroh retorted back to him. Then with a big grin, Zuko jumped into the air and spread his arms out and soared over the canyon. Iroh decided that if Zuko could do it, he could too. So he jumped into the air at the edge of the canyon and soared through the air for a few feet then plunged downwards to a firey pit.

'Zuko! Help me!' he yelled as he started to sweat from the heat of the firey pit.

'I can't. You drink too much tea!' Zuko said to him as he glided along beside him.

'Zuko please!' he pleaded.

Zuko's eyes became sad. 'I'm sorry uncle.' And he flew off.

Iroh screamed and plunged downwards and seconds before he hit the ground he jerked upwards in his bed.

"A dream. It was only a dream." He touched his face with his fingertips and felt a cold sweat beading on his forehead. With a sleeve he wiped it away then estimated the time at around 2:00 in the morning. The room felt particularly hot and Iroh decided to go over and open a window to let some night air in. As he approached the window, the heat became more and more intense; his brain was in a fog so he wasn't processing anything correctly. As he leaned over Zuko to open the window everything snapped into place.

"Zuko!" He exclaimed horror-struck. Zuko was sweating so much the mattress he was laying on was wet. His temperature was through the roof and Iroh frantically opened the window and fanned the cool air over his nephew. The temperature wasn't going down so he pulled the blankets off the bed and unwrapped the soaking wet bandages off Zuko's torso. Beads of sweat were running down his forehead and Iroh had run out of things to try. He ran to the neighboring room and knocked on the door. Room 108.

000000

Loud, frantic knocking woke Katara and she sat up in her bed and yawned. Through the darkness in the room, she could see Toph's out line slinking over to the door. She placed a hand on the door feel the vibrations as to whom it was and before Katara could protest, opened the door. A large, paunch old man was standing outside the door, worry clear on his lined face. Katara jumped from her bed and hurried to the door.

"Aang isn't here." She spat.

Iroh rose his hands in front of him in submission. "I'm not here for the Avatar. My nephew is very ill and has a high fever. I can't get it to stop and I'm afraid he will die." He said through a shaky voice.

Katara felt immediately guilty for assuming that he wanted Aang. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought that since you were with Zuko that you wanted Aang." She apologized.

"I knew it was you. I could recognize your vibrations anywhere." Toph laughed.

A small smile flickered then died on Iroh's face. "Please. Help me." He pleaded. Katara nodded and they all walked next door.

Heat was radiating from the room and Katara immediately grew worried. Quickly she hurried over to Zuko and touched his skin, horror spread across her face when she touched him and saw the bruises on his chest. Instinctively she reached for her water skin but it wasn't there, she had taken it off to sleep. She looked around for something to put water in but there was nothing in sight.

"Toph! Go turn on the facet over there." She commanded. Toph went into the bathroom and turned on the facet. "Now, plug the drain so the sink fills up with cold water." Toph did as she was told and Katara bent the water out and doused Zuko's body in it. It seemed to sizzle on his skin and after twenty minutes of this, Katara decided that he was ready for ice. She froze the water on his body but almost as soon as it was frozen, it melted. She continued refreezing the water over and over again until she was completely exhausted. It had been almost and hour and his temperature was just now going down.

"Toph," Katara panted. "Will you go get the boys? I need Aang to help me. I'm getting to tired to do this anymore." Even around the ice, beads of sweat were forming on Katara's head and running down her face. Iroh said he was going to make some tea and followed Toph out the door.

Sokka and Aang came bursting in the door and for some odd reason, Katara had enjoyed being alone with Zuko. She shushed them and motioned Aang over.

"He's unconscious but his temperature was through the roof and he's not out of danger yet. Can you start refreezing the water on his body for me? I've been going non stop for an hour and I need a break."

Aang pulled up a chair to the bedside. "Of course I'll help." And he started to refreeze the water.

Katara watched him then walked over and sat on Iroh's bed. "I can't believe your helping the enemy!" Sokka argued.

Katara shot daggers at him. "Sokka, he's still a human being! I couldn't just sit by and watch him die from the fever!"

"Still he has been trying to capture Aang for the last…well, it's been a really long time."

"Regardless Sokka, I'm a healer and I feel the urge to help those who are in need." She stood up and placed her hands on her hips.

"But he's the-" He was cut off by a rock that Toph launched at the back of his head. "Ouch!"

"Nice one Toph. Thank you." Katara said. Toph merely grinned and sat down in the corner by the bathroom.

"Where'd you get that rock anyway?" Sokka asked rubbing the back of his head. Toph pointed at the open window. Sokka picked up the rock and held it in his hand, immediately it started to roll around in his hand on it's own. Then it rose up into the air started to pelt him. Toph and Katara laughed and Sokka yelled at her to quit. She did and they all sat in silence until Iroh came back holding a large tray of tea.

Everyone grabbed a cup of tea and sipped at it. Iroh sat the empty tray down then stood over Zuko and watched Aang. There were less and less time between freezings and after another hour Zuko's temperature was down to normal. Katara sat on the bed beside Zuko with her knees folded underneath her.

"How did this happen?" She asked Iroh.

He sighed and proceeded to tell them the story. After the story Toph was looking slightly scared. Fear was clear in her cloudy eyes. She stood up and paced the room.

She thought for a moment. "Why are they after me?"

"Your parents! Your parents must have sent them out to bring you back and that man wanted to collect even more money by getting Zuko and Iroh." Sokka said intuitively.

"How do you know that?" Katara asked.

"Instinct." Sokka replied.

"Ye…ah…The last time we trusted your instinct, was chaos." Aang commented.

"Well, it wasn't all bad. Was I Katara?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, blushing.

"Your boyfriend, Jet." He grinned evilly. Aang looked suddenly sad.

"He wasn't my boyfriend Sokka. He was and evil, conniving, slimy, cockroach who only cared about himself!" Tears formed in her eyes and the water in the sink started to rise up.

"Calm down, calm down. I was just kidding!"

Katara looked down at Zuko's still body then to the bandage around his head. "What happened there?"

"He has a big gash." Iroh unwrapped the bandage and showed the wound to her.

Katara grimaced a the sight of the wound. "What is that stuff on there?"

"Herbs I bought from a shop downtown." Iroh told her.

"I bet that Zuko had an allergic reaction to the herbs and that caused his fever." Katara snapped her fingers and bent some water over to wash the herbs off. Then she wrapped the water around her hand like a glove and placed her hand on his head. Blue aura emitted from her hand and when she removed it, the wound was completely healed over. There was nothing to let someone know there was even a gash there except for the pink scar that ran across the spot.

"You are a healer. It was lucky that you were here tonight. He probably would have died." Iroh complimented.

"Well…" She blushed.

For the next hour, everybody slowly started to fall asleep where they were. Toph had settled down at the foot of Iroh's bed and was curled up asleep. Sokka had sat against the wall under the window by Zuko's bed and fallen asleep on the floor. Aang had fallen asleep in the chair he was sitting in. Iroh was on his bed leaning against the headboard with his arms folded across his chest sleeping. Katara was the last one still up. She was sitting beside Zuko and had sat so that her legs were off to the side of her and she was supporting her weight with one arm. Slowly she felt herself drifting off, and he head slowly falling down into her chest. She snapped herself out of it and crawled out of the bed and curled up beside Sokka. He woke slightly then wrapped an arm around her and went back to sleep. Katara laid her head in her older brothers shoulder and fell asleep.

Me: for those who don't know. Genia's name is pronounced: Guh-nye-uh.

Sokka: (still scribbling)

Others: (watching Sokka try and write)

Sokka: STOP IT! I CAN'T WORK LIKE THIS!

Others: (snicker and move away slowly)

Me: I'm running low on inspiration for my authors notes. So if ya guys have any ideas, PM me. DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR REVIEW! Just PM me. Okay? The best idea will get posted.