Okay here's the chapter about Iroh and Katara's travels. This is the big Blutara chapter. (It just depends on your definition of romance I guess…) Well, on with the chapter.

Oh, and I'm finally half way through this story!! Yay!!

After Katara and Iroh had been dropped off at the edge of the Earth Kingdom, and after they had said there goodbyes, the two masters were off toward the right side of Ba Sing Se.

At dinner a night a four days after they had left the Eastern Air Temple, Katara and Iroh discussed the similarities between firebending and waterbending.

"All I'm saying," Katara was saying, "it that firebending and waterbending don't have very much in common, if any." Katara sipped some of the tea that Iroh had made for her.

"There are a lot of thing in common between fire and water," Iroh replied, bending over slightly like he was about to tell her a secret. "Like the fact that they can both be bent or they are both part of the four elements."

"Well that's obvious."

"Ah, but I wasn't finished. Also the way they both work. Both of the elements are controlled by your feelings where earth and air are not. Well, unless you're the Avatar." He chuckled at his own joke, but Katara was silent.

He continued. "They both have incredible and destructive benders on either side. Both, fire and water have people I care about."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked immediately. Then, she regretted it. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt the general that had helped her and her friends so much.

But he didn't appear mad. He was smiling. "My wife was part of the Water Tribe," he said. "She was a waterbender." Before Katara had time to think up a question Iroh explained. "It was my choice. I could marry whom so ever I wanted. And when I saw her in a battle, I wanted her. And we were married.

"She didn't love me till later. We had to the fact that she was a waterbender a secret because it was against the law to marry someone that wasn't Fire Nation. And, if our son, Lu Tenn, had been a waterbender, I don't know what I would have done. But luckily he wasn't.

"She died. One day, I woke up and wasn't in the bed next to me. It was almost as if she had disappeared. We never found her. My son was devastated as was I."

"Where is your son, now?" she asked.

"He is gone too," Iroh replied sadly. Katara looked down at the ground a little ashamed of why she would even ask such a question.

"That's why I love Zuko so much," he continued. "After everything that had happened, Zuko still asked me how I was doing or if he could teach me a new trick. He had been kind to me when I had no one. And then, when he was banished…I volunteered to help him search for the Avatar not knowing that the young monk was still alive. I figured we'd be on a wild goose chase for a long time."

Katara chose her next question carefully. "Why," she asked. "Why was Zuko banished in the first place? It seems to me that he's pretty loyal to the Fire Nation…"

Iroh smiled. "Don't take the wrong impression. Zuko may seem like a terrible person and when he took Azula's side I could've been more disappointed in him, but I believe there is still good in my nephew's heart."

"Then why was he banished? And why does he have that scar? Was it an accident?" The questions were just pouring out of Katara's mouth

"No," Iroh replied. "It was the furthest thing from an accident."

And so, Iroh told the story of how his nephew had received his burn on his face. He had spoken out against a general in a meeting, trying to save hundreds of millions of Fire Nation soldiers' lives. And how the man challenged to a duel and how Zuko had excepted.

"When he turned around in the Agni Kai it wasn't the general at all. It was his father. You see, when he had spoken out against the general's statement but it was actually his father's request, his order." Iroh paused and Katara's eyes widened.

What!! His father did that to him?

"I looked away," Iroh said, finishing.

Silence.

"That's horrible," Katara said, her hand touching her left eye and cheek. "What kind of father would do that to their own child?"

Iroh shrugged. "Oazi never liked Zuko. He never had time for him. He always liked Azula and coached her to be just like him. Zuko never had a father and after being burnt, he rejected any others. I tried and tried to be the father that Oazi missed out on, but he never wanted me.

"Prince Zuko always felt like he had to prove himself to his father so Oazi would love him again. But my brother is not the forgiving type. Even if Zuko thinks he has restored his honor, he hasn't. And he won't under his father's eyes."

……

Later on that night, Katara walked through the woods. Now that she knew the story behind Prince Zuko she felt a little bad for throwing daggers at his face.

How awful would it be if her father had burnt her? Hokata would never do that to anyone he cared about. He probably would never do that, even to his enemies.

It wasn't fair.

Nothing was fair for Zuko.

But the question that Katara had in her mind wasn't about Zuko's father; it was about the banished prince himself.

If he wanted to restore his honor, if he wanted his throne, why didn't he join her and Aang? He could've overcome his father. He could have had his throne and restored peace toward the world.

I thought you had changed!

I have changed!

Tears stung Katara's eyes as she sat down by a stream. She pulled her water skin over her back and filled it up with the cool liquid.

She sat there awhile thinking of the prince and how hard it would be to be in his shoes.

At first, she thought it would be easy to just except Iroh as her father and fight against her own father. But then again, how hard would it be to fight against the person that was supposed to love you the most?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. She turned toward the sound expecting to see Iroh walk beside her, but it wasn't.

There, not three feet away from her, was the Blue Spirit. She stumbled backwards until she told herself that he had saved Aang. He was good.

He sat down next to her, like he didn't even see her.

And then, he picked up a stick that was on a patch of dirt, in between them. Katara watched the man curiously, wondering what he was going to do next.

He flipped the twig a couple of times and then put it in his hand like a quill. Then he bent over and wrote something in the dirt.

He backed away and Katara read:

Whoar eyo u?

Decode it.

Katara looked at the lettering curiously and figured out what it said: Who are you?

She took the stick from his hand and wrote:

I'mK atara. An dwh oarey ou?

I'm Katara. And who are you?

She couldn't see the man's face but she could have sworn he was smiling when he wrote.

Ia mth eBlu eSpirit.

I am the Blue Spirit.

After that, they both sat there a while not writing or talking. Then he brushed their words off of the dirt and wrote something else:

Wha tarey oudoi ng outhe re?

What are you doing out here?

Katara really didn't know herself. She was thinking about her enemy and she was thinking about her friends. She just wanted to get away from everything that was bothering her.

She wanted to solve the problems that had been bugging her.

So she wrote:

Iwa sthink ingab outso meone.

I was thinking about someone.

The man nodded and then replied:

Wh o?

Who?

She wrote:

Apr ince.

A prince.

His reply:

Whic hone?

Which one?

She took a while before answering. It was weird that she was talking to this person like this and was very strange that she was talking to them about Prince Zuko.

Pri nceZuk o.

Prince Zuko.

The Blue Spirit seemed to be stunned. He moved back a bit but didn't run away. Instead he replied:

Wh yar eyout hinkin gab ou thim?

Why are you thinking about him?

Katara took the stick that he offered. It hovered over the ground for a minute before she answered.

It wasn't fair.

He looked at it inquisitively. And before he could write anything else, Katara dropped the branch and walked away from the river, glancing back once to see the Blue Spirit still looking down at the lettering.

Why was he so interested?

Katara didn't even want to know.

……

The next day, Katara and Iroh walked without exchanging any words. She didn't tell him about her conversation with the Blue Spirit. It was just a one time thing, she had concluded. She didn't have to tell anyone.

"So," Iroh said conversationally, "how was your walk yesterday?"

"Fine."

Stillness wrapped around them. The only sign of life was the sound of their shoes crunching on the ground.

"Which town are we going to first?" he asked.

"An old friend of mine," she replied. "His name is Haru. We met him just a few weeks after meeting Aang. He's really nice and willing to help stop anyone who's Fire Nation. So, when we get there, let's keep your identity hidden."

"You don't have to worry about that Miss Katara," Iroh replied chuckling.

They walked a little longer before resting and the whole time Katara was thinking about the Blue Spirit.

It was so bizarre that he just studied her last words like he had just discovered something sacred.

It was eccentric. He was eccentric.

Was he even a friend?

Or was he an enemy?

Alright that's it. Another chapter shot down (holding up the shot gun proudly.) So, in case you're not good with decoding messages I typed what Katara and the Blue Spirit wrote under what they actually wrote. They didn't write it twice….They would be kinda geeky if they did.

The next chapter is only about Sokka, Suki, and the Earth King going to the first town, and then after that there will be mixed chapters of all the groups along with Zuko and Azula. So don't worry.

I've gotta cram a lot of good fluffy moments along with battles, rebels, and Toph's big swimming scene in only ten more chapters. Oh my…that's gonna take a lot of work. So, expect longer chapters, starting at chapter twelve!

Anyway, review!! See ya!