A/N: Wow, soo many reviewed, I love you all, thank you for your support! Hope you guys like this longer chapter, and should I slow down the pace or keep it about the same? Please let me know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, and I'm now an AU after 312 ) Great Episode!

Chapter 6

The bison flew down, and Zuko held onto the saddle railing again as they descended. Fortunately, it wasn't as steep as the incline had been, and they landed quickly. As soon as Appa had stopped, Toph jumped off and fell face first onto the ground, almost as if she was hugging the earth.

Aang laughed as he airbended off of the bison and landed next to Toph.

"We weren't airborne that long, Toph!" the Avatar told the earthbender between laughs.

Zuko jumped down easily, smiling and looked up at Katara. She smiled at Toph and Aang before she met Zuko's gaze. She seemed startled as he held out a hand to her. She ignored it and jumped down easily beside him with a frown. She quickly turned from him and went to the boys who had just come out to greet them.

"You're alive!" Sokka yelled as he ran up and hugged Toph. "I thought that firebender would have turned you into charcoal after we left."

"Put me down, Snoozles!" Toph yelled, and Sokka quickly complied, looking ashamed.

Toph grinned and punched the water tribe boy in the arm. "Don't be hard on him. Only I'm allowed to be that way."

Sokka looked at his feet before raising his gaze to look at Zuko. His blue eyes hardened slightly as he looked at the prince.

"So what happened out there?" he asked Zuko.

Zuko was slightly taken aback that the warrior had asked him instead of the earthbender. He glanced around and saw everyone was there.

"Maybe we should get someplace more comfortable," Aang suggested, looking at the two older boys. Zuko and Sokka nodded and followed him inside one of the towers.

They entered a large room with many open windows and murals of airbenders adorned the walls. A fire pit was in the center and lit. Teo wheeled his chair ahead of them and turned quickly into a spot between several orange cushions that circled the fire pit. Zuko waited and took a seat next to Toph. He looked at Aang and nodded at him once as he took the other seat next to Zuko while the other boys took the cushions across from them. Katara sat down next to Aang, her face expressionless. Once they were all seated, Aang turned to Zuko, curiosity on his face.

"So what happened?"

Zuko looked intently at Aang as he started.

"You may have seen the wall Toph created as Appa flew away. I asked her to bring down the wall and attacked the soldiers, taking them off guard. We held our ground, disabling as many as we could, but they trapped us.

Toph came up with an idea, I made a distraction, and she took us underground to a cave system. Toph, maybe you should tell them about the caves."

He looked over at Toph and saw her frown at him, to which he just smirked. He wasn't going to be the only one to talk.

"Fine," she growled. "I led Hothead through the caves, but I knew we'd be followed. Sure enough, we were, about ten of them blasted a hole into the caves and followed us. There were many turns and they split up. Three came up to us and we faced them. Hothead was pretty good with his blades, but I got hit.

I had trouble sinking two of the dunderheads into the granite rock because it had marble in it. He knocked them out, but not before they let the other soldiers know where we were. I led us deeper to where I had felt an exit, but…it wasn't one I wanted."

She turned to face Zuko, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Your turn."

Zuko looked back at her and then at the others. They were listening with rapt attention, and had had all their attention on Toph, but that attention shifted back to Zuko.

"The exit was an underground river. Toph didn't want to take it, but the other soldiers were coming fast. I told her to take a deep breath as I grabbed her and jumped in. We went through the river, and down a waterfall before landing in a small lake.

I checked her, but she wasn't breathing. I got her to shore as quick as I could and got her to breathe again."

Toph kept her milky gaze on Zuko, as he kept his gaze on hers. He had been scared when he saw she wasn't breathing. And when she didn't respond for the agonizing minute that he had been pumping her chest.

"I made sure she was ok before we started heading southeast. Toph then felt some riders coming and we took refuge in a crevice to see who it was."

Zuko became silent as he thought of how he was going to bring Mai and Ty Lee up.

"So who was it?" Aang asked.

Zuko looked into Aangs' grey eyes. He had given everything to join him and end the war, and he needed to tell him everything.

"It was Mai and Ty Lee," he answered the Avatar.

Aang, Sokka, and Katara stared at Zuko in shock. They clearly knew the girls and they didn't like them.

"They left and we headed out again. We came upon the beach as the sun set and found a small grove of trees where we set up camp. That night, Ty Lee and Mai showed up again.

They left us because of my former relationship with Mai. Next time we won't be so lucky. That day I had offered to teach Toph to learn to swim. She took my offer this morning. And that's how Aang and Katara found us."

Everyone was silent as Zuko finished, and then they all broke out in questions.

"Your relationship with Mai?" "What does that mean?" "Who's Mai and Ty Lee?" "Toph, you don't know how to swim?" "Were you guys scared?" "What was the swimming lesson like?"

Toph blushed as Teo asked her the last question. "You don't know how to swim either?"

"Nope," laughed Teo as he patted his useless legs, "not with these legs. The air's good enough for me."

"So what was your relationship with Mai?" Sokka asked Zuko. Blue eyes met golden, and Zuko thought that the warrior was actually interested.

"She was my girlfriend," he replied in a low voice.

He was surprised when Sokka just smirked at him. "I knew you wouldn't go for Ty Lee. Too cheerful and dangerous. Not that Mai isn't dangerous."

Sokka waved his arms in front of his face as if he had offended the prince. Zuko merely smiled.

"You're right, they're both dangerous, and if I face her again, I'll have to fight her."

"Well, we've fought them plenty of times, not as many times as we've fought you," Sokka smirked at Zuko.

"You're probably right."

Zuko's stomach growled, catching him off guard. He grabbed it and glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed. Toph and Aang started giggling next to him until Tophs' stomach copied his. Her expression went from amusement to shock to pain as she clutched her stomach. The younger boys broke out in giggles as Haru and Sokka smirked at Toph and Zuko.

Katara sighed and got up and disappeared from Zuko's sight for a minute. A papaya abruptly landed in his lap before Katara walked around to hand Aang and Toph some of the fruit as well. She sent a glance at the other boys and they quieted. All four of their gazes dropped to their feet as they started looking ashamed.

Zuko almost smirked at them, but Katara turned to him with a frown on her face, and he kept his face straight as he peeled and ate his fruit.

"Zuko, Toph, I'll show you to your rooms," Katara said when they had finished. She rose and started walking off. Toph shrugged and followed her, and Zuko followed them.

Katara walked in front of them with her head held high, and her shoulders straight and stiff. They walked up a flight of stairs before Katara stopped outside a stone door with an old char mark on the top.

"This is your room, Toph. Mine is next door. Zuko, yours is further down the hall. This way."

Zuko and Toph glanced at each other as Zuko passed her before following Katara. The waterbender went down a ways before turning to face him in front of a wooden door.

"This is your room," she stated coldly. "Sokka and Haru and next to you."

"Katara…"

She looked him in the eyes, and her gaze was like cold, blue steel. "I don't want to hear it. Stay away from Aang unless you're training him, and I want at least two of us to be watching you when you are training."

"I'm not going to hurt him, he's all I have!"

"I still don't trust you," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"Fine, then don't trust me, but trust your friends."

He paused for a second, but she didn't respond, just continued to glare at him. He ran one of his hands through his hair as he searched for something to say to her.

"Damn. What I'm trying to say is…I'm sorry."

He noticed her eyes soften slightly, but it was only for a second, though her stance never loosened. "Keep saying that. I haven't forgiven you yet, and that will come long before trust."

She walked past him and didn't look back. Zuko watched as she turned the corner to go back to the others before he opened the door to his room.

The room was small, about ten by eight with a small bed next to the wall on his right. On the far wall, a window let light in from the north. Zuko saw that his pack was on the bed and walked over to inspect it.

The contents look undisturbed so he laid it on the ground next to his bed. He unstrapped his swords, lay down on his bed and closed his eyes.

Zuko awoke to dawn and sat up abruptly, staring at the light coming in through the window. He had fallen asleep during the middle of the afternoon and slept through the night. He grabbed his swords and slowly opened the door. No one else was awake yet, so he made his way out quietly to the open clearing outside the large room.

He strapped his swords onto his back as he walked out. The fire pit had gone out, and no one was in the room. The bison was missing, and Zuko assumed he was elsewhere, sleeping, as he went outside. He unsheathed his swords once he was in the middle of the clearing and started warming up with several forms.

"So you play with swords too? Not just fire?"

Zuko turned to see Sokka studying him. He had a long sword strapped onto his back with the hilt over his right shoulder. His gaze never wavered from the prince, and he looked amused.

"I've been studying swords since I could walk," he replied, frowning.

Zuko joined his swords and sheathed them, and was about to walk past the water tribe boy when the sheathed long sword swung out in front of him. He glanced at Sokka and saw that he still had an amused expression in his face.

"Can I see how good you are?"

"Sure," smirked Zuko as he stepped back. He unsheathed his swords once more, but kept them joined. He knew he was better then the warrior before him, and he could do it with one sword instead of two.

Sokka gave him a wry grin as he saw Zuko face him with only one sword as he unsheathed his long sword.

Sokka attacked with an overhead swing, to which Zuko parried easily. He used the curve of his blades to move the long sword to his left and underneath as he thrust his own swords at the boys' stomach. Sokka jumped back quickly and used the momentum from his sword to bring it around to block the thrust.

He attacked Zuko again, and Zuko blocked again, but instead of redirecting the blade, he took the brunt of the hit and stepped in, locking the hilts together.

"Not bad," Sokka smirked at him.

"Not bad yourself… for a novice."

Zuko noticed Sokka frown and stepped back, twisting his swords to try and disarm his opponent. Surprisingly, Sokka turned with his sword until he was free. He ducked and swung low. Zuko jumped over the swing and swung at Sokka's head, but the boy continued to duck. The prince jumped back as Sokka rose and thrust at him.

Sokka thrust and swung at Zuko relentlessly, causing Zuko to go on the defensive. He was losing ground and losing energy. He knew he had to do something soon or he would lose to the water tribe boy. The firebender saw an opening, deflected another swing, but instead of stepping back, he used his momentum to turn forward, towards the water tribe boy along the long swords' length.

When he had completed his turn, he was eye to eye with Sokka with his sword pressed against the other boys' throat. Sokka looked shocked at the turn of events before a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Not bad," he said as he lowered his sword and stepped away from the broadswords edge. "Master Piandao would have been proud to have you as a student."

Zuko sheathed his swords as he regarded Sokka. "I studied under him for two years before my banishment. When did you meet him?"

"When we were in the fire nation. Between Ba Sing Sae and the invasion. I'm glad to see that someone here doesn't rely solely on bending."

Zuko felt a smile appear on his face. "When you have a prodigy for a sister, you have to learn something that you can be better at than her."

Sokka sighed and rolled his eyes. "I know."

Zuko chuckled until he noticed Katara and Aang come to the edge of the clearing. He turned more serious before talking to Sokka again.

"Now that we've had a workout, is there anyplace to clean up here?"

"Yeah, I'll show you."

Sokka led him back into the large room, past Katara and Aang who were talking in low tones while passing an orb of water back and forth. Aang grinned at the two as they passed, but Katara gave her brother a questioning look before turning back to Aang, ignoring Zuko entirely.

They went through the room to another exit Zuko had not noticed before and walked down a set of stairs. He could hear running water long before they stopped in front of a stone door.

"Katara loves this place, so if she's angry, she'll be in here, and then it's best to stay clear. There's two doors inside. The one on the left is for us, the other is for the girls, though I doubt Toph will ever use it."

Zuko smiled inwardly as he thought of the earthbender and how she loved her element. Katara was clearly the same. He nodded at Sokka and went inside. Sure enough, two more doors faced him at an angle in the six by six foot entryway. Zuko knocked on the door on the left, and entered when he heard nothing.

A stream ran down the far side of the room and a large basin was sunk into the ground next to it. A small stone wedge kept the stream out of the basin, and when Zuko inspected further, another wedge in the bottom of the basin showed where it could be drained.

He opened the wedge between the stream and basin before taking off his shirt. He didn't want to be disturbed, so he hung it on the door handle outside of the washroom. Heating the water with firebending, he enjoyed a nice hot bath. The first he had had since leaving the palace.

Once Zuko was done, he drained the water and dressed, and was surprised to find Haru waiting for him outside. The earthbender looked irritated and was pacing back and forth until Zuko opened the door to go outside. He then stopped and frowned at the firebender.

"What's going on with you and Katara?"

"Nothing," Zuko replied in a flat tone as he tried to walk past Haru.

Haru put his arm between Zuko and the stairs, stopping him. "Then why is she so mad whenever you're around? Whatever you're doing I want you to stop."

Zuko glared at the other teen. "I haven't done anything since I arrived. She's probably still mad because of Ba Sing Sae, and I already tried to apologize to her. Now, move."

He pushed the arm out of the way and started up the stairs.

"I want you to leave her alone." Haru said in an angry tone from behind him.

Zuko glanced back and saw the earthbender fuming. "I plan to."

He continued walking up the stairs and found Sokka and Teo with their heads together over some papers, and Katara and The Duke preparing a meal at the fire pit, but Toph and Aang were absent. He walked past them and headed out to the clearing. He heard rocks smashing against each other as he left the room and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he saw Toph throwing rocks at the Avatar who was blindfolded.

"Don't dodge so much Twinkle toes!" The small earthbender shouted at Aang, to which he responded by kicking the earth, then back kicking the boulder that popped up straight at Toph. She caught it easily with her hand and let it drop.

"Not bad," she said with a smirk. "OK, that's enough for today. I think Hothead wants a turn."

"After breakfast," Katara said from behind Zuko.

Zuko glanced over his shoulder and saw the waterbender frowning at him.

"That's fine with me," he told her, giving her a smile. "I wanted to eat something myself before training."

Aang flashed a smile of gratitude at Zuko as he followed a still frowning Katara inside, but Zuko waited for Toph before following them.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who's hard on him," he told her as they walked inside.

"Ha! I was hard on Twinkle toes from the moment I met him. He had to learn to think like an earthbender, not an airbender."

"Good, then he has a good start for firebending."

Toph smiled at Zuko as they walked inside to a complaining Sokka.

"What do you mean, 'no meat'? C'mon Katara, please let me hunt. I have to have some protein or I'll waste away."

"No! Anything that lives here is probably near extinct."

"Please!"

"Sokka! I. Said. No!"

Zuko and Toph smirked as the warrior's face fell and he looked like he was about to pout. Haru noticed their expressions and frowned at Zuko who frowned back at the teen. Zuko ate his rice quickly and got up once he was finished just to get away from Haru and Katara who kept frowning whenever they happened to look in his direction.

He went out to the clearing and saw Appa and the lemur flying. He sighed as he watched them. They at least didn't have to be in oppressive company.

"I'm ready," Aang said behind him.

Zuko turned and saw the Avatar behind him smiling with Toph and The Duke sitting against the wall, watching. Apparently Katara had told everyone she didn't want Aang alone with him.

"Ok. Today, you're going to create fire." Aang smiled as Zuko walked over to him so that they were side by side, facing away from the temple.

"Remember you're breathing. You're chi and breath resides in your gut. Draw that up and send it out through you're arm and then hand as you punch out. Like this."

Zuko breathed deep, and then punched out, sending a flame out of his fist. Aang watched closely and nodded when Zuko looked at him. He then stepped away from the Avatar.

"Ok, start punching, alternating arms. Slowly at first."

Aang smiled and started punching. His first punch produced a small flame, but the next two none at all.

"Stop thinking like an airbender. Be aggressive." He spotted Toph and smiled. "Think like an earthbender, and you're almost to thinking like a firebender. Now, again!"

Aang continued punching, and flames appeared again, growing larger and larger with each punch.

"Faster!"

Aang complied and punched faster and faster until a light sweat started forming on his brow.

"Stop. That's enough for now. Now, I have a breathing exercise for you." He smiled wryly as Aang sighed while he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Nothing too bad. Hold out your palm and create fire, just like you did when punching. But this time, don't release your chi. Hold it in you're hand and create a flame, then do what you did yesterday."

Aang nodded and tried to create a flame, but nothing appeared. He concentrated harder and harder before sighing and dropping his hand.

"How? Nothing's happening."

Zuko shook his head back and forth, frowning. "Start your punch, but as the fire starts to leave, pull it back until the flame and your chi rests in your palm. And remember to breathe. Start."

Aang nodded and took a deep breath before starting to punch slowly. As a flame appeared, he opened his hand and drew it back to his chest. The flame stayed alive for two seconds in his palm before going out. He did it again, and succeeded. He grinned at Zuko in triumph, but forgot to concentrate on the flame, and it died. The third try was also a success, but this time Aang kept his concentration on the flame and it stayed on his palm, growing and diminishing with his breathing.

"Good job, Aang," Zuko said, with a small smile. Keep it up, alternating hands for a few minutes, and then let it go and begin again. Do that five times, then we'll be done for now." He saw Aang smile with relief before he continued. "But I want you to train some more this afternoon, at sunset."

Aang sighed, and the flame almost went out, but he kept his concentration on it as Zuko walked over to Toph and The Duke. He sat next to the earthbender and watched Aang.

"Here to keep an eye on me?" he asked the two.

The Duke blushed, but Toph just smirked. "He is, but I'm not. I wanted to hear you work Twinkle toes. I like the thinking comment you made. You're right, he still thinks like an airbender, but he's gotten a lot better."

"I know," Zuko sighed. "He's come a long way since we first met, not even a year ago."

"How did you meet him?" The Duke asked.

"Avatar, release the flame and create it again!" Zuko yelled at Aang before answering the boy. "I was banished and searching for the Avatar. Capturing him was my only way back home, but he had been missing for a hundred years. I saw a bright light shoot upwards while in the South Pole

I headed that way and saw a flare go up from an old fire navy ship and saw two figures leave it. I tracked them to a village of the water tribe and attacked. I expected resistance, but there were only women and children. Sokka was the only warrior, if you could call him that then."

Toph and the boy chuckled, and Zuko stopped for a moment before continuing, keeping his eyes on Aang as the Avatar let the flame go again and created a new one.

"Aang appeared riding a penguin and surrendered on the basis that I wouldn't hurt anyone. I got him on my ship and started heading home, but he escaped and we fought until his bison and Katara and Sokka showed up. Aang got tossed in the water and came out waterbending, his eyes and tattoos glowing. They escaped, leaving my men frozen and my ship half encased by snow."

"And you chased them all the way to the North Pole," Toph stated.

"Yeah."

"I'm done, thanks Zuko. I'll see you later," Aang said as he walked past them. Zuko nodded at the Avatar and The Duke got up and followed Aang inside, waving goodbye to Toph and Zuko.

The two sat in silence for a while before Toph sprang to her feet. She started running towards the side of the temple.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, anxious. Last time she had done this, Mai and Ty Lee had been close on their tail.

"There's people coming up a path," she told him as he caught up to her. She yelled as they passed the fire pit room. "Snoozles! We've got company!"

Zuko followed her down a steep path, jumping where he could, until Toph stopped him behind an outcrop. He silently thanked the spirits he still had his swords on from earlier as they waited.

"How many?" he whispered.

"Four, two are injured, but one…wait, it's familiar, but different, like they lost weight." She broke out into a grin and jumped over the outcrop and ran down the path.

A/N: I know I'm becoming evil, requesting reviews, but you guys are sooo wonderful by giving me sooo many, so 5 reviews please, though I get ecstatic over 1!