A/N:
Thanks for the reviews! They make me smile!
Some of you were wondering what ages Katara and Zuko are in each chapter. All you need to do is take a glance at the chapter titles. ;)
Enjoy and let me know what you think!
Zuko feels bad for Chief Hakoda. He's obviously in way over his head.
Mother and Kaya have gone off to the marketplace to shop (boring), Ozai is in a meeting, and Uncle Iroh and Lu Ten are on a trip.
This leaves only Chief Hakoda to watch them.
Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Azula are all out in the garden, searching for something to do. They've already drawn, had music time, played tag, had story time, and they'd already run around in circles for fifteen minutes.
Hakoda is at his wit's end, Zuko can tell.
Suddenly Sokka perks up. "Let's have snack time!"
All the other children agree, and Hakoda looks somewhat relieved. He leaves them for five minutes and makes a trip to the kitchen.
Zuko is used to Mother serving him dumplings, or rice balls, or fruit, or (Agni forbid) vegetables as snacks. Hakoda, however, brings back a plethora of glorious and delectable foods.
There's sesame seed buns, almond cookies, sponge cakes, steamed pears filled with honey, and banana fritters! Zuko has no idea what to chose, so he, along with the other children, take one of everything. Logic!
Ten minutes later Azula and Katara are screaming at the top of their lungs while they rip up flowers and throw around dirt. Hakoda is trying to get them to stop ruining the flower bed.
Zuko and Sokka are much more dignified (they are boys after all), and instead they run around a tree shouting about warriors and evil rhinos.
"Let's climb the tree!" Sokka shouts.
Zuko decides that making friends with Sokka was smart. He always has such great ideas!
They manage to make it past the first branch off of the ground, narrating their "adventure" the whole time.
"Hurry Zuko! The Evil Rhinos are gonna attack us!"
Zuko is trying to hurry, but this second branch is shaky!
"GET DOWN FROM THAT TREE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"
Zuko and Sokka both freeze. They look down to see two very angry looking mothers peering up at them from the ground.
The two boys are sent to the Time Out Corner, and are told to think about why they should be more careful when they play. Azula and Katara are sent to take baths.
Zuko thinks that he and Sokka got off better then Chief Sokka, though. He's been in time out for almost thirty minutes and he can still hear Kaya yelling at him.
No one likes to play Hide and Seek except for Zuko.
Zuko doesn't quite understand this. It's not his fault that they all pick such lousy hiding places, and it's most certainly not his fault that he's so good at finding them.
Sokka hides in the kitchens.
Azula hides either in the room where weapons are displayed or under Zuko's bed.
Katara hides in her bathroom or in the garden by the turtle duck pond.
Today Zuko has convinced them all to play Hide and Seek, and they go off reluctantly to hide while he counts.
Zuko finds Sokka and Azula easily. They both grumble and complain as they make their way back to the nursery in order to wait for him and Katara. Zuko ignores them. He is triumphant once again!
He checks her bathroom. She isn't there. He walks into the garden by the turtle duck pond, knowing he'll find her.
Except…she isn't there either.
Zuko starts to feel a little bit uncomfortable. He looks through the rest of the gardens, doesn't find her. He looks through all of the other bathrooms, doesn't find her. He goes to the kitchen to look, thinking maybe she had gotten hungry, doesn't find her. He searches all through her room, doesn't find her.
Zuko is starting to get worried.
He looks into practically every room in the palace, even going so far as to check the throne room, but he doesn't find her.
Now he's starting to panic. He makes his way to the playroom because that's where Mother and Kaya are.
By the time he reaches the playroom he's in tears because Katara probably got abducted by some evil monster and it's all his fault because he didn't find her in time.
Now he's practically sobbing.
When he walks into the playroom Mother stands up in concern.
"Zuko, what's wrong?"
"I-I c-can't find K-K-Katara!" he chokes out, tears falling down his cheeks.
His mother looks confused. "Sweetie, Katara is right over there."
He looks to his left and sees her playing dolls with Azula.
She had been hiding in the playroom.
Zuko is furious. He'd been outsmarted! But he'll worry about that later; right now he has to wipe the tears off of his face. He must get rid of the evidence.
Except both of the girls turn around and spot him before he can wipe them all off. Azula laughs but the smile on Katara's face fades quickly. "Zuko, why're you crying?" She stands up, still clutching her doll, and starts to make her way over to him.
Zuko high tails it out of the playroom, frustrated.
He doesn't like it when girls see him cry. Especially Katara.
He makes his way back over to the kitchens, knowing that that's where Sokka would be since he wasn't in the playroom.
Sokka (his fellow warrior brother) must never know that he cried over his little sister. Sokka would never let him hear the end of it.