A/N: Thank you to my reviewer! Please keep reading

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

Chapter 2: Meeting Old Friends

Kalaya woke the next morning feeling refreshed. She got up and headed to the washroom. She knocked, and not hearing anything, opened the door and peeked in. No one was there so she headed to the wash basin and turned a lever. She was pleasantly surprised as warm water came out to fill the basin. She washed her face quickly, and then inspected her surroundings. The wash room was half the size of her own room, with pipes all over, the wash basin, and a large tub directly across from it. She went over to inspect the tub, marveling at the plumbing and didn't hear the other door open.

Kozu didn't expect the girl to be up with the dawn as he was, and was surprised she had beaten him to the wash room. He watched as she played with knobs and levers of the tub. She seemed so young, so innocent, yet the light pants and shirt she wore showed enough of her curves to prove that she was indeed a woman.

He coughed as she started to rise from the tub. She spun quickly, almost into a fighting stance before noticing him. She blushed and looked away. "I'm sorry, I was just, um, looking at the bath." She kept her head turned and Kozu was puzzled until he realized he was just wearing a pair of silk, black pants. He smiled at her reaction to him.

"It's alright, but if you're done, could you leave the room?"

"Oh, yeah, ok," she said, still blushing. She left the room quickly and shut her door behind her. She hadn't realized he was so muscular. His armor didn't allow for any of it to show, but his muscles and abs were very well defined, if more wiry than big.

She was puzzled over her reaction to seeing him without a shirt. She had seen many men of her tribe without a shirt, but none had affected her like this. Of course none had such well defined muscles or had been close to her age like this prince.

After finally controlling her emotions, she dressed and was prepared when a knock sounded at the main door. "Come in," she said, expecting Li to be taking her to her boat.

Instead, Kozu was there, clad in his armor and had a small pack with him.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," she said, trying not to blush again as she remembered him in the wash room. She followed him out of the room and off the ship. He did not say a word to her, or even looked at her. They arrived at her canoe and stood looking at one another for a minute.

"Here," he said, thrusting the pack to her. "There are supplies, courtesy of my teacher."

"Thank you," she said, taking the pack from him. "And tell him thank you for the tea last night as well."

She got into the canoe and was about to push off, but Kozu was still standing there, as if waiting for something. She looked up at him.

"Be careful," was all he said, before turning and walking back to his ship. Kalaya sighed as she watched him leave, and pushed off, heading south, away from the water tribe and away from the strange prince.

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Her supplies started running low as she neared another port. She set up a small camp to the south of the town, not wanting to get caught by soldiers again. She wouldn't always have a prince to save her, and she didn't want him to either. She looked deep into the pack Kozu had given her and was surprised to find a small money bag at the bottom. She thanked Li silently, adding the new money bag to her own meager supply before heading into town. She shopped and only bought what she needed, haggling to get the best price. She was just about finished when she heard a familiar voice.

"Kalaya, is that you? What are you doing here?"

She turned to see four young men from the water tribe in earth kingdom clothing. She knew them well, for they had been her brother's friends. The tallest was the one who had spoken and jogged up to Kalaya. He looked at her with light blue eyes and concern was painted all over his face.

"What happened? Why are you here?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She shook it off, irritated. "I'm exiled."

"Exiled? But why?"

"Because I'm a bender, Jake, not a healer. I wanted to fight, and they wouldn't let me."

"But why would you want to bend? That's for men to do, not women," one of the others said.

"Because I can!" she said, getting angry. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you'd be farther north?"

Jake looked at her, "We're trying to find out where the fire nation is going to attack next. There's an admiral's wagon train that passes by here, and I heard that a prince's ship just pulled in."

"Shhhh, Jake! She's exiled, she shouldn't know," one of the boys said, glancing around.

"It's alright, she won't tell any fire nation, will you Kalaya?"

Kalaya thought of Kozu and Li, they had shown her some kindness, and she doubted they would have anything of importance that the water tribe would want.

"No, I won't. They killed my father and brother, remember?"

Jake flinched, "Oh, yeah. Look, I'm sorry about Kaid, he was my best friend."

"Yeah, I know, tell Jenai hi for me when you get home, tell her I'm ok."

Kalaya turned and walked away from Jake, making sure he didn't see her tears as she remembered her brother. Kaid had been a wonderful big brother, five years older than her; he could always make her laugh. He had protected her from any bullies and made sure she worked hard and stayed honest. He had taught her how to fish, and sail, and even defend herself with their fathers' daggers. He had been ecstatic when they learned she could bend, and shared in her failures as she struggled with healing.

"It's ok," he had said, holding her close as she cried after a day of failure. "Dad said mom had trouble healing too, but eventually she got it. She worked hard, just like you do. I know you'll be a great healer one day."

But then he had gone off to war, to defend their tribe, and had not come back. She was so caught up in her memories, she didn't look as she turned a corner, heading out of town, and ran right into a wiry, older man.

"Kalaya!" Li exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you here. Are you all right?" He looked her over, concern on his face.

"Yes, thank you Li," she said, wiping her tears away. "Oh, thank you for the supplies and money you gave me. They helped a lot."

Li looked puzzled. "I didn't give you anything; did Prince Kozu say I did?"

It was Kalaya's turn to look puzzled. "Yes, Kozu gave me a pack of supplies and said they were from you…Oh."

Li smiled as he saw Kalaya thinking about Kozu. He was proud of the boy, and wasn't surprised that Kozu had taken a liking to Kalaya. He came out of his thoughts as he saw Kalaya fidgeting. "Is something wrong, my dear?"

"Well, yes," she said, acting nervous. "I saw some boys I grew up with, and they're, um planning to raid your ship. I don't want anyone to get hurt." She looked into his eyes, appealing for mercy for the men.

Li smiled. "Don't worry; we'll just give them a scare. They can swim, can't they?"

Kalaya still looked nervous, bur more relieved. "Yes, they can. You promise they won't be hurt?"

"I promise. Don't worry, you're an honorable woman. You did the right thing."

"Thank you, Master Li."

"You're welcome, why don't you run along, you look tired."

Kalaya nodded and headed to her camp, both worried and relieved. She knew Li was good on his word, and that the young men wouldn't be hurt. Maybe they might be scared enough to head home. She packed her extra supplies into her canoe, and made dinner, thinking about Kozu.

She was about to head to bed when she heard a commotion in the surrounding forest. She stood up, grabbing one of her daggers, as well as ready to waterbend. An arrow shot through the brush to her left and then a man in black, his face covered by a blue demon mask appeared followed by two fire nation soldiers, an archer and a swordsman.

"Get him! Kill the Blue Spirit!" the swordsman yelled. The masked man turned and engaged the swordsman with dual broadswords. He disarmed him and knocked him out, hitting the man on the head with the hilt of one of his swords. The archer aimed and fired a shot as the swordsman fell.

"Watch out!" Kalaya yelled, bending the seawater to block the arrow from hitting the masked man.

The man raced to the archer, dodging under another arrow before coming upon the archer and knocking him out. He turned and saw Kalaya staring at an arrow in her right shoulder. She looked up at the masked man with shock on her face before passing out.

The blue spirit rushed to Kalaya, and looked over the wound, assessing it. He ripped off his mask, revealing the scarred face of Prince Kozu as he looked around her camp for a rag or piece of clothing to staunch the flow of blood. He finally found a spare shirt in her canoe and came back to her.

"Hang on, Kalaya," he said as he pulled the arrow out. She groaned, but remained unconscious. He pushed the shirt to her wound, but the blood flowed too freely. He made a decision and pulled the shirt away, and placed his hand to the wound, heating it enough to cauterize the wound. He heard the soldiers stirring behind him and knew he couldn't leave her to them. He slipped his mask back on, wrapped her in her bedroll, and placed her in the canoe. He pushed the canoe out to sea and jumped in just as the archer started to wake up.

He kept low, letting the tide pull the canoe out into the mist that enveloped the harbor and surrounding area. He kept her body close to his as he paddled the canoe out and around the harbor. He heard voices and splashing in the water, and pulled the paddle in to keep silent.

"Someone must have told that prince that we were coming."

"Yeah, your girlfriend must have, she was the only other one who knew."

"Kalaya would never tell the fire nation anything, her father and brother were killed by the fire nation."

"Fine, but they still knew."

"Let's just move on, we'll try the admiral next."

Kozu kept low as the voices passed, swimming past him and to shore. Her father and brother were killed in the war? Did she warn Li? His thoughts were confusing and no answers were available at the moment, so he pushed them to the back of his head and started padding the canoe north. Kalaya was starting to shiver, and he knew he'd have to get her to shore soon. He heated his body with firebending to give off more heat. He paddled hard and finally saw a bit of empty shoreline to the north of the town and harbor.

He ran the canoe aground, and jumped out quickly, pulling it in. He took her out, unwrapped her from her sleeping roll and placed her down gently on the ground. Her skin had gone pale, and her teeth were chattering from shock and blood loss.

He knew he'd have to get her warm soon, so he sat down against a tree, and pulled her into his lap, pulling the sleeping roll over them. He pulled off his mask to keep it from banging into her head, then heated his body, keeping her warm until her chattering teeth stopped and her breathing slowed and became even as she fell into a deep sleep. Once he was sure she would be ok, he gently lifted her off and laid her on the ground, wrapping her sleeping roll around her again. He started a fire and checked her again. Her color was coming back, so he made sure she was warm and turned to look out to sea.

Why did she help me? She doesn't know me. Or why I'm doing this. He pulled a sealed letter he had stolen out of a watertight pouch at his belt and looked at it. It had the seal of the fire nation on it, which he tore through quickly and scanned the contents of the letter.

It held hints of the information he wanted, but it wasn't enough. He grew angry and thought about burning it, but instead folded it and placed it back in his pouch.

Was it worth it? Was it worth Kalaya almost dying? He was interrupted by his thoughts as he heard stirring behind him. He slipped his mask back on and turned in a fighting stance to see Kalaya crouched on her elbows, looking at him. She touched the new scar on her shoulder.

"Did you do this?"

Kozu nodded, relaxing.

"Thank you," she said. "I know I don't know you or why you're doing what you're doing, but I couldn't see you get hurt, either tonight or the last time I saw you. But thank you for saving my life."

She helped me before? But she said it was an accident. Idiot! She told Prince Kozu it was an accident, he's fire nation. She needs to leave, to be safe. Kozu lowered his voice before speaking to Kalaya.

"You need to leave; they'll know you helped me. Get as far away from here as you can."

Kalaya nodded. "I have three days of food and water, I'll go soon. She started to stand up, and swayed. Kozu stepped in and held her arm as she steadied. She looked into the mask, trying to see his eyes.

"I want to say thank you," she said reaching for his mask. Kozu grabbed her hands. "I won't take it off," she said, still swaying slightly. He released her hands and she gently lifted the mask until his mouth was uncovered. She leaned in and kissed him deeply. He was surprised but kissed her back. Suddenly he felt her falling. He caught her easily and lowered his mask so that he could see again. She had fallen unconscious again. He lowered her down onto her sleeping roll again and made sure she was warm before leaving.

He knew she'd be ok, and he needed to make a visit for his alibi before heading back to his ship. He quickly headed off to change into his armor, thinking about the kiss she had given him.

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A/N-So who knew what I was going for? Please R&R