Tell me what needs improvement -- I'm half asleep (even though it's only 5 pm) and even if it's just some spelling or grammatical quirk, I'd like to know. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

Longest chapter yet... whaddya know...

"I told you so."

If there were even words to describe any emotional or verbal aspect of his sister, these would be right on target. They formed her speech, were written all over her smug expressions, and simply oozed out of her casual yet confident stride in staggering amounts. He couldn't say there were never times when he wanted her to be right - more so because of whatever the situation would be than actually allowing her to gain glory - but as much as her evil demeanor screamed how wrong she was, it could not be denied how much her logic made sense. Or maybe it was just what he wanted to hear. If having her be wrong about things like this proved so disappointing, how could her flawless correct answers be the harbinger of another bad emotion? It was a lose-lose situation, but as he feasted his amber eyes on a delicious sight that he'd been deprived of for years, he really couldn't bring himself to truly care. His dream had been realized to its completion, so joy filled him for the first time in so long. That's what he was supposed to feel. That's what he made himself believe he did feel. He was finally home with the shared honor of capturing a city for his country, just like she had promised he would be. She'd lied before... but how could that matter anymore? She always seemed to be right for some uncanny reason.

"I told you so."

It'd have done him well to also remember all the other promises she had every intention of keeping.

--------------------

Azula tapped her fingers against the dull metal of the ship's walls. The loud groaning of grotesque machinery could be heard as the engined rattled below the common decks of the vessel. Only a dim torch hung on a makeshift stand on a wall, burning away the hours that she spent alone in the little room. There was no view; she didn't need one. All she wanted was a space to herself where no one else dared to venture. The belly of the ship was cold, desolate, and dangerous... but then again, so was she.

The quill in her hand stood erect and poised, ready to take down any small tidbit of information that happened to cross Azula's mind. After seeing the countless disasters and foiled plans that had arisen from incompetent generals and ministers, she had become tired of sitting back and letting her minions do the dirty work. She told herself she would personally see to it that everything worked seamlessly together, and of course, see to it she did.

She remembered the priceless look on her Zuzu's face when she had joyfully called out about the death of the Avatar. He was too busy dwelling in his self-questioning thoughts to give a single care about Azula's out of character certainty about an event that left many questions unanswered. She would have probably found it amusing had that not meant that he was most likely second-guessing her loyalty - which was actually nonexistent - to him... of course that also told her that he would never see what was coming next.

Nighttime had come so the sounds of seafaring life had decreased even further than the stony silence of fearful guards whenever Azula was nearby. The next morning, she would still find Zuko on the ship's upper deck as the boat pulled into port, she already knew that. She could practically hear the thoughts in his head, so strenuous and tense they were... his feelings about everything else were also as palpable as the very desk on which she wrote. Admittedly, there were some... more personal aspects of the group dynamics that she hadn't quite anticipated, but in the long run they would be unimportant; trivial. She had finally been able to tear him away from "his beloved traitor", as she tended to refer to her familial prisoner in Ba Sing Se.

She scanned the sheet in her left hand, skimming down to the final paragraph -- just above the large imprint of the royal family's seal and "Ozai" written in bold, dark characters. The topic of this section had been of relatively low importance and therefore at the bottom of the letter, she noticed. Perfect.

...should be honored for the assassination of the Avatar... I trust that you are certain in his demise...

Azula smirked. She dropped the paper, ready to add the final touches to another long letter which she drew from beneath the desk's top metal sheeting. She smilingly shifted her plume to her left hand, successfully finishing her night's work.

I assure you that everything has gone as planned and that he will no longer hinder your plans, My Lord.

Azula continued to write.

I will take care of all that needs to be done.

Your faithful servant,

Zuko

--------------------

The captain's hands burst into flames as he gave an exasperated yell.

"They're gone again!"

A meek voice from behind offered a suggestion. "M--maybe they weren't here at all, Sir. Remember the other... cabin..." he trailed off, unsure of his words.

"Hmph," the captain grunted, vigorously stroking the short growth of hair on his chin. "Either way, Kijo," he continued more calmly, "someone has some explaining to do about their sources... The princess is not going to be pleased and I will not take the blame. Who did we get the information from?"

"Let me check..."

-----

The thin man was roughly shoved against the wall, his dilated pupils radiating pure fear as a soldier held him by his shirt collar.

"Now, exactly what did you see?" he demanded, face shrouded by the dimness in the alley way although the afternoon sun was still shining directly above the town.

"I-it was -- er... th-there were three people--"

"What kind of people?" the captain demanded, tightening his grip on the civilian. For a second, he didn't expect a response because of the man's violent shaking. Beneath his bright green cap and on his chin, his very hair was trembling, blurring the strands into hazy gray.

"Um... young! They were, uhh, young... c-carrying a, um, body on a... uh, uh, uh--" The large man's grip loosened and the panicking figure fell to the ground, a body swathed in various shades of green besieged by a platoon of red-armored warriors. Clearly, they weren't getting much out of him by threats, so he may as well try a different tactic. The answers he needed were too valuable for him to fool around anymore... even though it would have been immensely amusing to continue watching the somewhat aged man squirm beneath his stare. He rolled his eyes -- even his mousy little advisor didn't stutter that much.

"P-please, Sir... give me time! I'll tell you, I promise! Just don't hurt my--"

"Well, then get to it!" As much as Azula would kill him if he botched this simple task, his patience was rapidly dwindling and he started to think her wrath was worth it if he could just get away from this strangely irritating peasant. You would think a skilled vendor would have more eloquence than this...

Passersby walked past the entrance to the narrow road, peeking inside to view the violent scene and hastily running off once the presence of the Fire Nation army registered in their minds. Attention was the last thing the captain needed, but fortunately, the scared man had finally calmed, and he went over his thoughts slowly. "Well, they were wearing capes... but the one on the... ah! Stretcher! That's the word--"

"Yes, yes, get on with it."

"Well, he was wearing bandages. I do believe a couple were darker skinned... like... Water Tribe! Yes! And um... they might have been wearing... blue? They seemed familiar somehow..."

The captain raised his eyebrows. Now, they were getting somewhere.

"'Familiar' you say?" He leaned close to the seller and spoke lowly. "Were you in acquaintance with the Avatar and his friends?" He fought the urge to gag -- the older man's breath smelled like rotten vegetables... the vendor let out a laugh.

"Hah! How could I not? Those inconsiderate vandals destroyed--" The captain interrupted, having already jumped back onto his Komodo Rhino, and signaling his men to do the same.

"Come on, boys! They're still out there, let's go!" With the wave of his arm, he and his team stampeded to the entrance of the alley and made a right, oblivious to the little wooden stand at the corner. The old man waved his arms and screamed in a frantic high-pitched voice.

"No! Stop! My--"

A large crack resounded in the streets and he sank down to the dirt in agony, pulling at his hair.

"My cabbages!" he wailed morosely.

--------------------

Toph slowly knelt on the ground, placing her hand on the dank soil. She slowly rose and shook the excess dirt from her fingers.

"All clear."

"Finally," Sokka groaned, plunking himself onto a rolled sleeping bag, Katara being alone in the process of helping Aang down from the crest of the incline from which they came. As she approached her brother, she cleared her throat and lightly kicked him with her foot. He looked up and wordlessly hoisted himself off of the roll to untie it so that it would lay out -- such was the wordless communication that they had developed over the past few weeks. Katara let go of Aang and gently pushed him down to the ground but he resisted.

"Aang?"

"Katara, I don't want to take your sleeping roll. I'll be fine somewhere else." Katara would hear none of it.

"No. Your back still needs to heal."

If it ever does, he thought.

Katara continued, "You need this more than I do. You're tired, Aang admit it."

He couldn't deny the fact that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open and body balanced, so he agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Where will you sleep then?" Aang questioned, still unconvinced.

"Sokka's keeping watch. Before I take over for him, I'll be using his, don't worry." Katara smiled reassuringly, unable to fathom how he could be so concerned with her when he was the one who had gone through the near-death experience. She actually wished that she didn't have to be on guard duty so that she could be closer to Aang. She didn't want to risk asking her brother if he'd take over, though. Not only did he deserve his sleep but even though he'd recently been strangely sensitive, he'd probably laugh along with Toph at Katara's over protectiveness of the boy. If it weren't for the fact that she was well aware his safety was dearer to her than life itself, she would probably mock herself as well... she couldn't explain the increase in strength of the bond she felt toward him. She supposed that the old saying was true and that you only fully appreciated what you had once you had lost it... or, in her fortunate case, had almost lost it.

"Um..." Aang murmured uncertainly as Katara's focus drifted off into space. She still had her hand on him to help him down but had already stopped moving a while before. He saw her eyes rest upon him, most likely not of their own accord, and he shifted oddly under her intense gaze. So this is what Katara must feel like when I used to stare at her like that... He quickly shook his head. Just don't think about it...

"Uh, Katara?" Now, Aang was tiring from his position on his partially bent legs. She shook herself out of her trance and quickly let him go so that he could lower himself to the ground.

"Sorry... Will you be okay?"

Aang nodded. "I'm fine." He lay down and tried to force his eyes open, but sleep had already claimed them. The last thing he could feel was the dull throb of his back and a light caress on his hair as he drifted off.

Katara stood straight and began to retreat to the nearby sleeping bag after making sure Aang would be close enough to her. As she neared it, she could tell she was falling asleep during her walk... she could already feel the blanket's warm pelts as she wrapped herself in delightful slumber...

"Katara?" Katara halted and shut her eyes in annoyance. Leave it to my brother. "We need to talk."

"No, we need to sleep."

Toph's voice came muffled from the earth tent she had previously erected. "I think I'm with Sugar Queen on this one. Tomorrow, Snoozles. Tomorrow..."

Sokka shook his head. "No, we're gonna be on the run tomorrow. We need a plan now."

Katara dragged her feet around and toward Sokka who had managed to get a meager fire flaring in front of him. She dropped to a crouch and lay down sideways, eyes at an exhausted droop as her hand supported her head. "I'm listening."

Toph rose a stout pillar from next to Katara and sat on it, elbows on her knees. The late hour was dulling their energy, but Sokka was right; this had to be done before they awoke the next morning. "Let's get this over with," she grumbled.

"All right. So, Aang needs a firebending teacher right?" They nodded. "And we need a plan to invade the Fire Nation but the Earth Kingdom is no longer safe." Katara raised her eyebrows impatiently.

"I think we all remember what happened the past few days, Sokka."

"Okay, okay. Azula isn't sure we're still alive, and we can use that to our advantage. They're not gonna be looking for us and we can get some disguises more easily."

"Woah, hold up, buddy. No one is gonna pretty me up just so that we can break into some nation. Can't we just go into some Earth Kingdom town like we did before and decide everything from there?"

"We can't," Katara interjected. "Ba Sing Se was our destination when we were doing that. And now..." she looked at the sleeping figure on the ground just out of the firelight's reach "...that's gone too..."

"We need to find the rest of the Earth Kingdom forces that aren't loyal to Azula, but before we do that, we need a plan of attack. If we're going to find a way to defeat the Fire Nation, we need to know exactly how they work."

Toph perked up. "So, basically it's like what we did with the drill. We can find its weak points on the inside and deliver the final blow from the outside..."

Sokka voiced his affirmation and continued, "But first, we need to get within the Fire Nation's borders."

"Riight, Snoozles... we pretty much already knew that. If this was all you called us here for..."

Sokka shook his head. "But we need to figure out how to do it."

"Yeah," Katara sighed. "We can't do this the way we are now. The moment we step foot in a town, the soldiers will be all over us..."

"My point exactly! That's just it -- this is exactly what they're looking for - a group of four: two water tribe kids, one from the earth kingdom, and one with obvious tattoos. One waterbender, one warrior, an earthbender, and an airbender. Katara and I wear glaringly bright blue clothes, Aang wears an orange outfit! Toph would be fine if it weren't for the fact she can find her way around although she's blind."

"Rub it in, Snoozles."

"But I'm serious! We can't get away from the Fire Nation enough to survive, much less beat them looking like this. We need a new plan, one that doesn't involve us looking like walking targets."

"You've got a point, Sokka," Katara agreed. "So, now what do we do?"

"We start to blend in."

Katara narrowed her eyes. "Blend in, as in wearing Earth Kingdom clothes?" she asked hopefully. He shook his head.

"No. If we really don't want to raise suspicion or get people asking questions, we can't do that. I mean, there are gonna be Fire Nation soldiers all over the place doubting the loyalty of Earth citizens because some might still resent them. The last thing we want is to attract hostile attention, so to put it one way, if we can't beat them we join 'em!"

Toph groaned. "I was actually starting to believe in what you said until that last part. I'm serious, if it weren't for the fact that I've been with you all the time, I'd think Long Feng did brainwash you." She chuckled. "Unless he brainwashed me at the same time."

Everyone silenced and stared at her. She put up her hands defensively.

"It was a joke, ya know."

Katara's eyes had a faraway look as she fell into the events of weeks ago...

"The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."

She remembered Aang telling her this as the group had flown away from that place.

"That's what Long Feng would say if someone he brainwashed started to remember or have second thoughts... That's how he got Jet to turn on me..."

Katara looked down before responding. "Oh." Aang winced knowing he was striking a raw nerve. He sat down in front of her.

"I'm so sorry Katara," he apologized softly.

She sighed. "No." She looked up at him and smiled slightly into his concerned gry eyes. "It's not your fault, don't worry about it." His lips hesitantly twitched upward before pulling away and retreating to Appa's reigns, allowing Sokka to talk to his sister. At the time, she had truly been stunned at Sokka's sincerity... not once had he berated her for falling for the guy in the first place...

Toph's mind wanderings had led to the same incident as well. He had been a friend of both Katara and Aang -- Toph had found it strange considering Katara apparently harbored feelings for him while Aang obviously had some for her. She had to admire how truthful the airbender had sounded when he said he was sorry it had come to that; she knew it must have been hard to push himself aside, for someone as emotional as he was. He was always so comforting, it hadn't seemed strange to her to hear him give his condolences, when it had been so difficult for him. Still, it wasn't like Toph was going to make Katara aware of that, especially not at the time. As much as consoling wasn't one of her favorite things to do, she knew where to draw the line. Most of the time.

Toph had just become aware of Sokka's moving body, as he headed toward the back of the encampment. Katara followed him with his eyes as he returned with a large but oddly lightweight bag. He dumped its contents in front of the two girls and sat back down, amused by the growing look of dread on Katara's face.

Why now? She thought. Hadn't things already changed too much already? She swallowed her discomfort, however, and reached for a strip of fabric that appeared to be Toph's size. She tossed it to her before holding up a red top that looked suspiciously like it would stop well above her hips.

"You're kidding me, right?"

Toph lowered her makeshift seat and hopelessly felt around the loop of cloth with her fingers. "Please tell me that I'm just imagining the lack of straps on this thing."

"Uh..."

"Sokka," Katara thrust out the hand holding her shirt for emphasis, "we're just there to hide out until the Earth and Water troops are ready, but don't you think you could've gotten something my size?"

"Uh, that is your size. That's just Fire Nation--"

"Well I never saw... saw... anyone wearing something like this." For some reason, the only Fire Nation girl she could think of to prove her point at the moment was none other than the country's princess

She kept her mouth shut.

"Ugh, forget it. Um... what about Aang?"

At this, Sokka let out a sigh and picked up a long-sleeved undershirt with multiple layers of clothing along with it. Partial gloves complete the set along with a small band of red fabric trimmed in gold. "This." Katara's heart sank as she eyed the outfit, obviously meant to hide the airbender's bright arrows.

"He has to wear that load of garbage?" Toph asked incredulously. "It feels heavy, never mind how it's gonna be like once he's wearing it in this stupid humidity." She flopped back onto the dirt, aggravated by their state of clothing and lack of sleep. Sokka grabbed the last of the pile on the ground and placed it next to his sleeping bag.

"We can change into these tomorrow. Let's just try and get some sleep."

"Finally." Toph muttered. She made to sit up before freezing and looking toward Aang. "He's calling for you Sugar Queen." Katara jumped up and ran toward him in record time. She leaned toward him in order to hear his soft words, then nodded and pulled out the stopper of her waterskin.

"When did you have time to get this?" The waterbender asked while giving Aang a long sip of her bending water.

"Me and Toph had a long talk with the village leader. He got a lot of supplies recently and took a few aside for us... well, you three. I'd already had mine, remember?"

So that's why they were out all day.

"Oh, right," she responded, recalling the days at her father's encampment. Capping her waterskin and gently replacing Aang's head on her sleeping bag, she stood and yawned. Sokka watched with a frown as she slung her pouch around her again. Something strange was nagging at the back of his mind...

"How did you heal Aang?" He knew it probably wasn't important but he felt the urge to ask anyway.

Katara jerked her head toward him in suspicious brusqueness. "The Spirit Oasis water that night in Ba Sing Se," she said coolly. "Why?"

"But, I mean after..."

"There was no after."

"But you just told Aang on our way in that you used water to try and heal him practically every night! I saw you most of the time anyway."

Katara blinked. "Oh... that." She vaguely smiled as if in realization. "I had some that I saved up from my waterskin."

"Right, gotcha..." He turned back to his sleeping bag to unroll it.

"Liar," Toph's voice spat out from behind him. He spun toward her to defend himself before noticing that her statement was rather directed at Katara. "You didn't have it. That's why you got a new one when we went to see your dad."

"Well, then I got it from some stream that we found -- I don't remember, it was a long time ago."

"Yes, you do. There were no rivers where we landed -- we were dying of thirst for days!" Toph was dumbfounded at the fact that Katara was lying about something so trivial, but it irritated the earthbender for some reason. If she just went out and told them what happened, or even admitted to lying to Aang about healing him daily, they would leave her alone. But why bother not tell the truth about that?

"So you had extra water on you."

"Yes."

Lying.

"Did you really heal Aang every night?"

"Of course."

Telling the truth...

Katara eyed Toph angrily. Toph wasn't sure if it was because she had doubted Katara's duty to Aang or if she really was pushing this conversation past the waterbender's comfort zone.

Katara squirmed under two intense gazes. Why were they pursuing this? What could have possibly made Sokka ask her something like that? Katara was well aware of Toph's ability to detect false words so she didn't bother trying to convince her... it was just her brother...

"Katara, where'd you get it?" he asked uncharacteristically gravely. He almost thought that she had found some and never told them, instead saving it for Aang... so why did her chapped lips and recurring fatigue and nausea from the past week seem to be connected with it...

She looked down, wincing. "It's no big deal."

"What?" he pressed.

-----

Water. She needed water.

-----

She remembered the night that Aang's fever had spiked as if it had just happened the day before.

-----

There was nothing else to use... Katara grit her teeth. It had to be done. Here goes nothing...

She, once more, held her hands before her and spun one of them in a circle, fingers pointing toward her chest. She brought her fingers together and thrust her arms out...

-----

The girl in the back mused aloud. "There was no water around. The trees were dead so there wasn't any in them." What else needs water to live? "The only other source of water was..."

Sokka finished, eyebrows raised in shock, "You."

-----

Finding a ready stream of water in her hands.

-----

Katara lowered her head in defeat. "You weren't supposed to know. Everything's fine now."

"Katara!" he yelled. "You could have died doing that!"

"Sokka, Aang would've if I hadn't helped him! And anyway, it's not like I've been doing it all this time." She crossed her arms, but then the spark of fury left her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd take it so hard." I didn't think you'd care.

Toph's eyes had widened when she realized the truth about Aang's 'healing sessions'. She hadn't thought that Katara's ever-so-slight decrease in weight had been because of that. What had she been thinking? "You thought we'd try and stop you, didn't you? That's why you never told us."

"If you'd waited a couple days we'd have found water -- and you wouldn't have fainted by the time we got to Dad's ship!" Sokka seemed repulsed by the idea that his sister had done this to herself. "You literally sucked the life out of yourself just to--"

"Just to do what Sokka?" Why didn't he understand? She was becoming almost frantic in trying to explain that she had no other choice, but her dire need of sleep was now creeping into her voice. She continued tiredly, appearing drained of strength from her previous worry and anger. "Just to do what? Just to save Aang?"

Sokka shook his head, still perplexed at her surprising actions. All of this, just for that kid... he couldn't comprehend her lack of judgment, especially when the rest of them needed her so badly... she wouldn't have done anything like that only a couple of months before. He knew well that once you lost one person in your family... it was all too easy for it to happen again. He sighed deeply. "I... I just don't want to lose my sister." He hadn't even noticed that those words had been voiced.

Toph awkwardly cleared her throat. "We should get some sleep."

Sokka nodded and returned to the task of unrolling his sleeping bag for his sister. He stepped away and began to walk up the slope away from the clearing, pausing momentarily to glance at Katara. She had already lay herself in the fetal position facing away from him and Toph. Within seconds, though, she had already stood up and dragged the roll past the campfire, resting it a few feet behind Aang. Sokka continued up the hill.

Toph didn't bother to make Katara aware of the frantic heartbeat of one very awake airbender.