Where are you tonight, Masami?

The news that her sister was definitely still with the Avatar had both relieved and shaken Kali. She hadn't even stopped to consider what she would do if Masami had at some point separated from the Avatar. It made her wonder what kept her with him. Why wasn't she looking for Kali? A sound coming from the vent next to her broke her thoughts. Slowly, a small ginger kitten with pink and black stripes running all across his body pushed open the vent, coughing from the dust and soot that covered him. Kali smiled down as the little cat leapt down from the vent to the floor, then grimaced at the soot that spilled out with him. Fireball, the stray Obi had snuck aboard, often accompanied her when she was cleaning the ship at night. It was fortunate he'd learned by now not to come out much during the day.

"Hey, buddy. You ready for another long night of sweeping the corridors?" She patted him fondly and he mewed softly, then shook himself, spreading more soot.

"Hold still. I don't need you making more work for me." The kitten purred loudly and rubbed against her as she gently swept off most of the dust and soot from his coat. Then, together, they made their way down corridor after corridor, occasionally pausing so the kitten could get a tummy rub. When she'd finally finished, they went back to the kitchen for a small bowl of milk, which she and Obi kept a secret stash of just for him. She sat on the ground and cuddled him for a moment once he'd finished the milk. Then she stood and yawned.

"Well, good night buddy. Time for you to go back into hiding. Can't have the prince and Jee finding you, y'know." The kitten looked up at her with golden eyes and followed her down toward her room.

"Thinking of spending the night with me, hmm? Don't know that that's a good idea. What am I going to do if the jerk upstairs busts in on me and you're there? Or, more likely, if Jee wakes up before me?" They had almost reached the door to the hallway that led to the crew's room when the kitten spotted something and dashed forward. Just beyond Fireball's reach, Kali spotted it. A moose fly.

"Great. Stupid fly." She joined Fireball in swatting at it. Unfortunately, neither of them was a very good aim and the moose fly flew away with Fireball intent on capturing the antlered insect. Hmm, she thought sleepily, kind of like Zuko and the Avatar. She followed them, intending to pull Fireball off and restore him to a proper hiding space.

Of course, however, the moose fly would, in the end, have to pick Zuko's room to buzz into. And Fireball, intent on his goal, would have to follow it in through the barely cracked open door.

The group landed Appa in a copse of trees in late afternoon. They then began to travel through the dimly lit area on foot. They only stopped when they came to a sign ahead of them. Momo flew from Aang's shoulder and headed straight for the sign. He landed on top of it, and scurried around the four walled bulletin board. The group closed the gap with the sign and started to look at what was what.

"We need to find shelter, or food." Masami observed as she looked at her companions. Sokka turned their food bag over.

"See if you can find a menu, I'm starving."He whined. Masami rolled her eyes,

"If you hadn't eaten everything in there, we'd be fine."

"I'm a growing boy!" Sokka snipped,

"So is Aang! I'm not a boy, but I'm certainly not immune to hunger either." She reminded. But looked up as Aang spoke.

"I bet we'll find something to eat here! The Fire Days Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits...jugglers, benders, magicians. This'd be a great place for me to study some real firebenders!" Aang gushed. Masami and Sokka weren't convinced, and Sokka really wasn't once he pointed at the other side of the board.

"You might wanna rethink that. Look at this."

"Hey, a poster of me!" Aang said as he practically jumped up and down.

"A wanted poster. This is bad." Sokka warned as he looked at Aang. Masami came to stand next to them, agreeing with Sokka.

"Sokka's right, this is probably not a good idea." They could find food somewhere else.

"I have to learn firebending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch a master up close." Aang had a point, but Masami was still unsure. Aang was slightly figuring out that Masami couldn't really tell him no though, especially if he was looking at her in the face like he was.

"I guess a little while wouldn't hurt." Aang smiled as Masami caved.

"What!? You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired up with all their, you know, fire?" Sokka cried.

"We'll wear disguises and if it looks like trouble, we'll leave." Aang chimed in, pulling his collar up over his head. He then headed straight for the festival. Masami raised her eyebrows, but followed after him, pulling her cloak out of her bag and wrapping it around her shoulders. Sokka mumbled to himself but did the same. As they neared the town, they left Appa and Momo behind so they could have a small rest. And they entered the town, soon noticing with the amount of people there were that they would need other disguises. They each purchased a mask, none of which were at all flattering, and made their way through the crowds.

As they walked, Sokka stopped to eat multiple times as fire breathers were here and there, and all this made her think of Kali. She was glad no one could see her face because she was sure she looked sad.

After a rather morbid puppet show, the group followed Aang towards a stage. Sokka chided them and nagged them the entire way towards it that getting this close was not a good idea, but Aang kept walking and Masami was stuck in the middle. She had no desire to lose this group that she now called her friends. The man on stage was quite a talented bender as he did a few juggling tricks, then a rather large fire breathing trick. He then needed a volunteer. Aang raised his hand immediately; though his eyes fell more on Masami since he seemed to desire a female assistant.

"Awww, she's shy. Leeet's give her some encouragement, folks!" The performer called as the crowd cheered, and Masami was dragged on stage. She swallowed as the man pushed her into a chair and wrapped a scarf around her mid section.

"This next trick is called "Taming the Dragon." You will be my captured princess!" The man said with a grin, he then created a giant dragon with his bending, and it sailed above the crowd. Masami followed it with her eyes. The dragon swooped close enough for Masami to feel the heat on her head. She ducked her head and closed her eyes behind the mask. As she lifted her head to look again the man had attached a rope do the dragon's neck and was now "controlling" the creature.

"Don't worry, young maiden! I will tame this fiery beast! It's too strong, I can't hold it!" The man brought the flames down again and really did seem to be losing control of them. As he brought them down once more, she flinched noticeably.

"We gotta help her!" Aang cried as he started to move towards the stage; but Sokka held him back.

"No, we don't want to make a scene!" Sokka tugged his arm back.

"The rope, it's breaking!" The man on the stage broke the "rope" and the flaming beast came straight for Masami who in turn screamed, and threw her weight backwards to knock the chair over, landing hard on her side. She winced, and looked up in time to see Aang launch himself up on the stage and dispelled the flames with a large burst of air; the flames giving way to confetti. It would seem she really wasn't in danger at all; but fire coming right at her face was more than a bit not good in her opinion.

"Hey, you tryin' to upstage me, kid?" The man said angrily, Aang looked back over his shoulder, the mask slipping off his face.

"Hey! That kid's the Avatar!" Came from the crowd. As some guards rushed the stage, Aang grabbed Masami bridal-style off the ground, jumped over the crowd and landed near Sokka.

"I think it's time to go." Sokka cried as they tried to make a break for it.

"Follow me! I can git ya outta here!" A mysterious hooded man cried, using explosions and a knowledge of the city to get them to safety.

Kali cautiously peeked into the room through the crack. He was breathing very heavily and appeared to be asleep on his side, his back facing the wall. Staring at him, she couldn't help but appreciate his muscular form. She'd never actually seen him without his practice robe or armor on. He is…in damn fine shape, she thought, then scowled inwardly at herself. He's also a total-

Her thoughts were interrupted as the fly buzzed just in front of the crack Fireball bounced after it. She looked at the prince again then cracked open the door a bit further and took a step inside, leaning forward toward the cat.

"Psst. Fireball. C'mere."

She tried to beckon to the kitten but he was too focused on his prey. Slowly she inched in further, her eyes darting to the sleeping prince constantly. She had just about managed to reach the kitten when a thought struck her. How was she going to keep Fireball from crying out and waking Zuko up? If she grabbed him, she'd be taking the chance that he'd protest and awaken a sleeping explosion waiting to happen. An explosion that already had issues with her. Just then, the moose fly flew up to his altar, perching on its hooves among the unlit candles. Kali stared in horror as the kitten paused, crouched, and sprang up onto the table. Most cats could probably have done this without causing a problem but Fireball was still just a kitten. Two of the candles went down and Kali instinctively dove forward to catch them, clamping her mouth shut as she nearly cried out. Candle wax spilled on her and she gritted her teeth harder as a small whine of pain escaped between them. The prince stirred in his bed. Cautiously, she stood and replaced the candles as Fireball and the fly knocked over the other candles. Again, she dove to catch them and this time nearly lost one. Wax spilled on her and the floor. She'd have to clean that up later.

Suddenly, the prince shouted.

"The Avatar!"

Kali and Fireball started back but Zuko merely groaned and flipped over to his other side. Kali replaced the candles hastily and crept closer to the cat again, determined to just grab him and make a run for it this time. She'd get that fly later. The fly, however, had other plans and buzzed up over the bed. Kali could just barely restrain herself from shouting "No!" as the kitten jumped up onto the bed after it.

The man in the hood took them down an alley, pulling them away from the most populated area of the town. Guards were right on their heels though.

"There they are!" Masami could hear behind them. Sokka had been right, this was a really bad idea. Thankfully the hood seemed to have thought this through more then they had. He threw some sort of smoke bomb at the guards, and it game them enough cover to slip down an alley.

"Over there!" Cried another guard, cutting them off from the left.

"I'm calling Appa!" Aang cried, pulling a whistle from his tunic. Sooner, rather then later, more guards were meeting up from different areas to continue to give chase. As Aang blew the whistle, Masami heard nothing. Was this always how things always happened with this group?!

"I hope he can really hear that bison whistle!" Sokka grossed, as the hooded man pulled them down one more alley.

"This way!" The alley was a dead end. "Okay! Not this way!" He added after a moment. Masami looked at the group of guards, feelings of dread welling up in her throat. But it would seem the chase wasn't over yet. The hood threw another smoke bomb at the guards and the group picked up the pace again, only to find themselves in another tight spot between a high wall and guards. But their saving grace this time came in the form of the skybison.

Appa landed behind the guards after Aang called for him, and he used his tail to blast the guards away form the alley. As the guards were thrown off, the entire group climbed up on the skybison, "Yip yip!" Aang spoke rather frantically, shaking the reins with urgency. The creature was already airborne by the time Masami could look back and see the guards returning for them. To add insult to injury, the man tossed another smoke bomb and ended up setting off a supply of fire works to cover their exit

"Nice touch setting off the fireworks." Aang chimed in with his usually happy smile.

"You seem to really know your explosives." Sokka added.

"I'm familiar." The Hood responded as he removed the hood. His appearance was distinctly Fire Nation, Sokka balked.

"You're a Fire Nation soldier!"

"Was. My name's Chey." The man explained as the group started to descend to the ground a good ways off, down the river a bit.

As the group got settled in for a rest Masami helped started a fire, and the boys set camp. As they sat around, Chey began to speak.

"I serve a man. More than a man really, he's a myth, but he's real, a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general, or wait, was he an admiral?" Chey mused.

"He was very highly ranked, we get it." Sokka said, clearly annoyed.

"Yeh! Way up there! But he couldn't take the madness any more. He's the first person ever to leave the army - and live. I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that. That's okay though. Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius. Some say he's mad - but he's not! He's enlightened." Chey went on.

"You mean there's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord? We've gotta go see him! He can train me!" Aang interjected suddenly. Masami looked up from her spot on the ground without much of a reaction. She understood why people got so bent out of shape about firebenders, she did. But she couldn't bring herself to hate them like some of the world; her only living kin was a firebender; so she had her reasons.

"We're not gonna go find some crazy firebender!" Sokka snipped.

"He's not crazy! He's a genius! And he's the perfect person to train the Avatar! That's why I followed you into the festival." Chey snapped back, standing.

"Look, thanks for the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning." Sokka finished, dismissively, getting to his feet as well.

"Guys-"Masami started, but Aang spoke over her.

"Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me." Aang tried to reason, his voice upset.

"Let's just talk to him, Sokka." Masami said from the ground, looking at the group.

"That's what you said about going to the festival! Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me!?" Sokka yelled, nearly stomping his foot. But the movement was halted by some…jungle people falling from the trees. Spears pressed to each member of the group's throat.

"Don't move!" the leader snarled. The group was rounded up, and herded like cowpachas towards who knew where.

"Jeong Jeong told you not to look for Avatar!" The leader croaked at Chey.

"Hold on, you know these guys!?" Sokka asked, skeptically.

"Oh yeh! Lin Yi's an old buddy! Right Lin Yi?" He enquired the man, cheerfully.

"Shut up! Keep moving." The other man said; yeah seemed to be real good friends. The group cleared the woods after not too long, and they came to what looked like some form of settlement. They were all marched towards a hut, but all stopped outside except Chey.

"Go on. He sees you only." Lin Yi shoved Chey.

"Oh that's okay, we can chat later." Chey assured as he headed off to the hut.

"Is that where Jeong Jeong is? I need to talk to him right away." Aang insisted, but was cut off by a spear shaft.

"No! You wait there." Lin Yi chided with a sharp tone, while shoving Chey again. "Go now!"

"Don't worry! Everything'll be fine. He's a great man, great man!" Chey insisted as he ran into the hut. As much as Chey kept insisting that, Masami was not so sure after everything that had happened tonight.

Fireball scurried around behind Zuko's sleeping form as Kali watched in horror, unsure what to do. She thought about just leaving the room and leaving Fireball in fate's hands but then she rebuked herself. Who knew how Zuko would respond to a kitten awakening him in his ship. Especially if he was having some kind of nightmare, which apparently he was since he shouted, "NO!" right around the time Kali wanted to. Fireball could end up cat toast!

The kitten had started back again at Zuko's second yell, nearly forgetting the fly until it buzzed down in front of his face. Kali took a deep breath, then crept forward to stand right over the bed. The prince's form distracted her again but only for a moment. She didn't have time for those kind of thoughts. She leaned forward over Zuko and carefully started to put her hands around Fireball, not wanting to startle the cat which was now right beside Zuko's head. Then, her luck kicked in again. The same luck that had led Zuko to fall on top of her into a closet that locked behind them. And maybe the same luck that'd led her to this ship in the first place.

The fly buzzed directly in front of Zuko's face and Fireball, taking fate into his own paws, leapt directly onto the prince's head. Zuko shouted loudly, alarmed at the sudden appearance of a cat on his face in the middle of a nightmare, and punched upward into Kali's stomach, throwing her onto the floor. The cat, as alarmed by Zuko as Zuko was alarmed by him, flung himself on top of her, hissing loudly in fright and digging his claws into her back. The fly didn't have much time to be alarmed really. It was unexpectedly swallowed by Zuko as he jolted upward, causing him to choke slightly.

The group was put in a quiet place where they could finally have a little time to relax. Masami drifted off to sleep quickly, pulling the cloak over her head to block out the light from the fire. She didn't hear Chey come back, nor did she hear the exchange between him and Aang about the Master. She made a sound as Sokka flopped back over on his back, and one of his elbows hit her back. She pulled herself in tighter, trying to make herself smaller.

Sleep escaped her quickly as a shout about someone being too weak echoed throughout the camp. She kicked her legs out in panic, catching Sokka in the rear. He squealed, and rolled away from.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, pulling her legs back in.

"Tell that to my butt." Sokka grossed, rubbing his back side.

"I'm sorry-" She started, he turned around and glared at her but she could see the smirk pulling at the sides of his mouth. Attention shifted from Sokka's butt to Aang as he ran back to the group.

"He's going to teach me." Aang nearly shouted, as he threw himself between them.

The rest of the night passed quickly, and the group rose with the sun. Masami put away her cloak and moved with the rest of the group to the river. Aang was perched on a rock, holding an awkward stance while Sokka set himself off to the side to fish.

Masami brought her arms up, and slowly began to just work with the water. She made small waves, and she eventually pulled the water out of the pond in a whip. She moved the water around her, and she just let herself relax. She knew if she was going to be an asset to this group, she had to work on this. Katara could do it, so could she. She kept her breathing steady, and she let the water pass around her body in a circle, spinning herself slowly to keep up with the stream. She smiled, feeling calm for the first time in a while. It was nice just to feel like she had some control over the movement of the water.

She moved her hands closer together and made the water more into a ball. She was fascinated, watching herself control the water. She had known most of her life she was a waterbender, but she'd never had a teacher and she had never truly had the desire to use the water after a flood took her home. Fear was not a good motivation to learn, but it would seem fears could be unlearned, though that seemed a slow process. But this was a step in the right direction.

Her concentration was broken as a rather huffy, "Hey!" Came from Sokka over her shoulder. She had apparently missed something but she wasn't sure what it was. She looked over at Jeong Jeong and Aang and Aang was rather put out about something. Sokka snorted at the way he was being made to stand and breath and Masami herself smiled despite her better judgment. Aang gave them a look over his shoulder, and Masami made a point to drag Sokka somewhere else so Aang could focus.

As the twosome moved away, Sokka began collecting random pieces of his stuff, and Aang's. He looked at Masami for a moment before speaking.

"You don't talk much." He observed.

"You talk enough for both of us." She answered with a grin. He snorted,

"True. But I can't really say I know you all that well; even though you've been here a while." He was right, they weren't really friends. They knew each other.

"I told your sister this once, and I can tell you the same. Ask me if you want to know something." She returned. He seemed to think on this for a moment while he shifted the things in his arms around but he didn't say anything. "What're you doing?" She asked curiously.

"Laundry." He looked at her like she'd grown another head for asking that question. She cocked her head to the side,

"Do you know how to do that?" She asked with a smirk,

"What? Like it's hard?" He shot back with a look that was almost down his nose at the question.

"It can be harder then you think." She spoke from experience, one of the many odd-jobs she and Kali had taken over time was laundresses. It was not as easy at it appeared.

"I'll be fine." He then turned his back and made towards the river. She snorted, and rolled back onto her back.

No sooner had she nearly drifted off did his startled shout pull her from her daze. She pulled herself to her feet, and shuffled down to the river's edge where Sokka was holding his heavier coat, the fur stained slightly pink, presumably from Aang's clothing. Masami snorted, Sokka looking distressed.

"What did I do?!" He asked, shaking the coat. He had apparently never done this. "It's ruined!" He seemed really upset.

"I don't think it's ruined, but it will be pink for a while. Let me have it, I think I can get most of the color out." She knelt beside the water, and flipped the fur away from the rest of the coat, working the soap through the hair gently. She could feel him looking at her, "If you want to say something, go ahead." She urged with a smirk. She assumed the question was about laundry, she was wrong.

"Where are you from?" She looked up, her red eyes looking into his blue ones.

"Hwan-Hye." She answered plainly, never having actually told anyone from the group about her home.

"Where's that?" He asked curiously.

"It was between Kyoshi and Omashu. There were a series of villages near us, few of them are still there; Hwan-Hye isn't. Gi-Hye, and Isuel-Hye are. Most of the others have been left for fear of flooding." She wasn't upset to share where she came from with people, she just didn't want to tell anyone who didn't want to know. Or that's how she always spun it.

"What about your family? Where are they?" He asked, leaning against a tree.

"Kali is my only living family. My grandfather took us after a flood killed my parents, and he died about 4 years ago. It's just been us since." She didn't look up from her scrubbing this time.

"The Fire Nation killed my mother." He informed her, she hadn't known that, her red eyes looked at him with a question. "She told them she was the last waterbender in our tribe. But that's not true. It was Katara, not her." He swallowed.

"Kali's a firebender." She admitted without thinking. He looked at her with the same questioning look she'd given him previously. "Dad wasn't really a good man. He married my mother, and when she had me he got angry. He'd wanted a son, and blamed her for not giving him one. He was in the Earth Nation Army, so when it was time for him to be deployed, he was stationed in a prison camp in the Fire Nation. He slept with a woman there, had Kali and abandoned her too. She came looking for him when the camp was left to rot and he turned her away. She wandered around Gi-Hye for a few days and stayed long enough to be part of the group that came to save those of us who weren't washed away in the monsoon that killed my parents. We would always go on the roof of the bigger houses to keep from being washed away; but this monsoon was worse then usual. We lost a lot of people. So, she approached me after the fact, and we became fast friends. She knew that she was my sister and I didn't, but it didn't matter. We traveled to Kyoshi together, and my Papi took us in. She told me eventually, but it didn't change my opinion of her." She hadn't meant to say so much, but he seemed to accept what she said.

"How're you a waterbender? And why are your eyes red?" He asked quickly, seemingly almost curious now. She smiled,

"They eye color is something natives of the Hye villages have, and I'm a waterbender because my Grandfather came from the Northern Water Tribe." That wasn't apparently the answer he had expected, but he seemed pleased by it somehow. Maybe it gave him some feeling of kinship? She didn't know, but it felt nice knowing there was more to Sokka then food and bad jokes.

Why did things like this always have to happen between them? He'd slipped and dragged her down with him, fallen on her and now, thanks to a cat, he'd punched her halfway across the room. Thanks a lot, Fireball. She looked back at him and acknowledged for the first time the pain he was causing her by digging his claws into her back. She groaned and leaned back and put her hand beneath the cat, catching him as he started to slide down her back.

"Oww."

Zuko was already standing over her, glaring. "What is the meaning of this?!"

He gestured at her and the cat, then swept his hand around to indicate the room. She glanced down at the kitten, wrapped her arms around him protectively, and looked back up at the half-naked Zuko awkwardly.

"Well, you see, the meaning of this would be...that I found this cat in the ship and was trying to catch it but it ran into your room and I came after it to try to stop it from waking you up, but then he-it pounced on your face and you woke up anyway...That would be the meaning…Prince."

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."

She furrowed her brow, slightly annoyed. "Well then, what do you think I was doing?"

"I think you were going to use this cat to do something to me while I was sleeping. And you just messed it up."

"No. Practical jokes are Ga-errrr someone else's job."

"Well then what do you call mutinous pictures in my noodles?"

"That wasn't mutinous. That was just decorative dinner-making," she smirked.

"Well I didn't like it!"

"Well, you ate it just the same, didn't you? Even though you smashed the plate first."

He glared at her stonily. "I want that cat off my ship. And I want you off it too!"

She stared up at him, stunned. All she could manage was, "What?"

"I should never have let you join my crew. I realize that now. Your sister's working with the Avatar. For all I know, she was with him from the beginning and you're a spy for them. That's probably why I've been having such a hard time finding him since you joined."

"I'm not a spy. I just want my sister back."

"It doesn't matter. I want you gone. And," he gestured at the cat furiously, "I don't want any animals on my ship!"

"Too late for that," she muttered to herself and the prince raised an eyebrow, then pointed to the room.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

She held the cat close and walked out, hesitated, then slammed the door after her.

After she was able to get most of the color out of the coat, she handed it back to Sokka so he could hang it out to dry, she moved back to the edge of the water where Aang was still meditating. As she approached, it seemed Jeong Jeong had given him a leaf and told him to practice more. Made sense to Masami, she stood on the shore observing for a moment before he turned to her.

"This is the worst firebending instruction ever. All he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breathe." Aang groused.

"I'm sure he knows better then we do about this so I'd listen to him." She responded, trying to be reasonable. But she could say she'd be annoyed too.

"But I'm ready to do so much more." He insisted, and from what Masami had seen, he was a good bender, and it made sense to her. Aang grounded his body more, pulled his torso straighter and deepened his breathing. The leaf then burst into flames. Masami tilted her head, cautiously, but Aang flourished the flame in his hands.

"I did it! I made fire!" He cried excitedly, turning towards her. Masami took a step towards the water.

"You did, but don't hurt yourself." She tried to be supportive like she'd always heard Katara be, but she wanted him to be careful. He pulled a face at her comment, and the flame grew. That seemed to catch them both off guard. Regaining control, Aang brought the larger flame down to a smaller

"Now that's firebending!" He nearly fell in the river while "firebending" and Masami almost wished he had. Being ever the little showoff, Aang shot the fire way over his head, almost like he would do with Airbending. Masami followed it with her eyes, then looked back at him as he started bouncing a flame back and forth between his hands.

"Aang-" She started, but it was too little too late.

"Wonder how that juggler did it?" He asked himself, as he brought the flames to come around himself, pushing it outwards as he did. Having seen something like this before, Masami pulled herself together, and spun so her back faced Aang, her tunic catching the flames. Throwing herself to the ground with a startled sound, she pulled her over shirt open and rolled out of it.

"Masami!" Aang cried, dropping the flames as he jumped from the rock to the ground.

"Masami, what's wrong!? What did you do?" He yelled at Aang.

"Iiiit was an accident! I was... Masami, I'm so- " He tried to touch her, and Sokka knocked him to the ground with a shove. Masami looked up at this, not really being hurt, and pulled a water whip from the pond and used it to knock Sokka back.

"Don't shove him!" She yelled, her temper rearing its ugly head for the first time in a while. "I don't need saving, I'm fine. Sister's a firebender, remember? This isn't my first rodeo." She snapped, grabbing her over shirt and stomping away from the group.

Kali, not too surprisingly, had managed to lose the cat. Fireball had scurried away and gone through a vent.

"Oops," she muttered sarcastically to herself. She stormed into the room she shared with the crew and struggled to fall asleep. Finally, she gave up. She still felt as though the prince had just punched her in the gut. She walked down towards the kitchen and was surprised to see Garron strolling towards her. He seemed a bit caught off guard at the sight of her but then relaxed.

"Hey there. What are you doing up at this time of the night?"

"Couldn't sleep,"

she sighed miserably.

He grinned down at her and glanced around before leaning towards her conspiratorially. "Okay, well just make sure you don't mess up the surprise I set up for the prince."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What would that be? I hope it's not too obvious a set up, because he'll probably blame me for it if it is."

"Why's that?"

"Well…I just got fired for interrupting his beauty sleep. Fireball got into his room and well…I couldn't just leave him there and risk the fucking steam-shit lighting him up." He looked at her, aghast. She couldn't tell if he was more startled by the announcement or by the cursing.

"Sorry…guess I've been around one too many Earth Kingdom soldiers. Anyway…Fireball's alright," she continued, "I 'accidentally' let him go when I was carrying him to be thrown off the ship, so he's fine. What's the surprise you've got?"

"Wait a minute you don't get to just brush that off. You're fired?"

"Yeah."

Garron swore quietly.

"You off the next time we dock then?"

"I'd assume so."

"He didn't say?"

"…I'd assume so."

"Talk to the the General. Maybe he can change the Prince's mind."

"Yeah." She hated it. Asking for help again when she'd already been given so much help. Uncle was the only reason she'd gotten on this ship in the first place.

"So…what's the surprise?" she asked, determined to put on a brave face for Garron.

"Uh…well, you know how we have to pull out the catapult and take a look at it tomorrow to make sure it still works properly?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the prince likes to come down to take a look at it for himself to make sure it's inspected properly. He always leans down to look into the actual holder for the projectiles. Moment he does that, a perfectly innocent problem with the ship's rigging will occur which will stop the boat suddenly. Let's just say if everything goes well, our prince will be taking a nice morning swim."

He smiled down at her and she gave him a weak smile back. "Sounds like a well-deserved start to the morning."

"Well, I hate to tell you this but he shouldn't be hurt any by it. He'll be doing his inspection right after he practices bending with Jee and Adar, so he'll still be in his practice robe. No armor to pull him down and the water we're sailing in is deep enough there's no danger from rocks."

"No concern about sea serpents or buffalosharks, eh?"

"Maybe if we were near Kyoshi. But nah, they're no serpents around here. And only a stupid buffaloshark would mess with the prince when he's as angry as he'll be after he's dunked."

"What time should I be working on deck?"

"Hmmm...it'll be later this morning. I'll send Hadji to let you know when it's about to happen."

"Sounds good. I'll look forward to it." She started to walk off.

"Hey, Kali? I'm really sorry. Really though, talk to General Iroh. Whatever Zuko's reason for suddenly deciding to throw you off, I'm sure the General can do something about it. You just have to ask him." She nodded, then went on to the kitchen. As she started preparing for the morning's breakfast, she heard a soft mew. Fireball peeked up at her from the vent in the floor.

"We are so fucked, cat."

Storming off from the group, Masami held her tattered shirt away from her body. She had a sleeveless type cover underneath the shirt, but behind this and her hooded cloak she was running out of clothing. She should have been angrier at Aang for the messing around with fire, but she wasn't; not really. She wasn't as mad at Sokka as she had sounded either truth be told. She knelt by the water, and held the shirt under, trying to get some of the singed places off so she could get a better look at it.

"Oh well, I can get another one." She muttered to herself as she lifted the clothing from the water. She looked up as the Deserter walked up from behind her. She used her waterbending to pull the water out of her clothing.

"I have to admit I am envious of your waterbending. I've always wished I were blessed like you - free from this burning curse." He said as he knelt with her.

"You're an incredible bender, you have power that I could never hope to have." She assured him, smiling lightly.

"Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart." The way he thought about fire made her sad, and she wanted to mention that it wasn't true, but they were cut short in their conversation. Fire was shot from approaching ships. Jeong Jeong broke the flames apart with a quick move, putting himself along the shoreline, he looked over his shoulder and spoke,

"Go get your friends and flee! Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed. Hurry!" Masami nodded, staggering up the shore to look for Aang and Sokka.

"Masami!" Sokka cried as she got up the hill. "Are you hurt?" He asked, his voice concerned.

"No, I'm fine. My shirt isn't so much but I don't care. We have to go! Ships are attacking. Where's Aang?" Sokka pointed down the hill to Jeong Jeong's hut, taking off at a sprint Masami flew through the door. "Aang!"

"I'm never firebending again." He answered morosely. "Jeong Jeong tried to tell me that I wasn't ready. I wouldn't listen."

"You will have to do it sometime, but it doesn't matter right now. We need to move!" She urged.

"No, never again."

"If this has to do with me, you don't need to worry about it. You didn't hurt me." She tried a different approach.

"But I could have."

"But you didn't, but we can argue semantics later; we have to go. Zhao's boats just got here and they have Jeong Jeong and he told me to go."

"I have to help him!" Aang cried, airbending himself to his feet and taking off in the direction Masami had just come. She turned and ran right at his heels, though she was stopped by Sokka with a grab to the forearm.

"Jeong Jeong!" Aang cried as he got down to the bottom of the hill and onto the shore.

"Men! Take the deserter!" Zhao ordered, and the men formed a circle around the Master. Aang's scared face was turned into an expression of amazement as the man went from standing in the middle trapped to disappearing in a large fireball.

"It's a trick! He's run off into the woods. Find him!" Zhao ordered his men, before turning to Aang. "Let's find out what my old master has taught you."

"YOU were Jeong Jeong's student?" Aang asked, dubiously.

"Until I got bored." Zhao countered, shooting a fireball at Aang, who dodged it and the following one.

"I see he taught you how to duck and run like a coward. But I doubt he showed you what a firebender is truly capable of!" Zhao shouted, and shot more fireballs at Aang. One sailed right over his head, though Aang was able to get down fast enough that it didn't hit him, he balanced himself on one finger and a spinning blast of flat air.

"Whoa! Wild shot!"

"I'll show you wild!" Zhao snarled. His next attacks were all rapid fire, one right after the other in varying sizes that ended up with Aang unscathed and the trees behind them on fire. The air around them became smokey.

"No self control..." Aang whispered to himself, glancing at Zhao's boats. They were made of wood, this would be perfect.

"Stand and fight, Avatar!" Zhao growled with impatience.

"Oh, were we fighting? I thought you were just getting warmed up." Aang shot back.

"I was!" Zhao fired more and more shots, Aang managing to dodge them all. Aang landed across from him again.

"Is that all you got? Man, they'll make anyone an admiral these days!" Aang cried as he launched himself out of the way of another fire blast, and onto the top deck of the nearest ship. Turning his back to Zhao, he stuck his butt out behind him.

"Ahoy! I'm Admiral Zhao!" He hollered, wiggling his rear as he did. Zhao followed Aang onto the ship, and shot fire right behind him. Jumping his place on the first ship, he landed on the second, landing on the railing. He pulled a face before speaking, "I don't know why, but I thought you'd be better than Zuko." He dropped to his back with a wide eyed expression as a large fire blast past over his head. He looked up in time to see that his plan was working, and Zhao had destroyed one of the former ships guard rails.

"Sloppy. Very sloppy." Aang admonished, pulling himself up and across the deck of the boat. Zhao let out blast after blast as he went. Once on the third ship, Aang pressed himself against the wall; trying to avoid detection.

"No wonder to run now, you little smart mouth!" Zhao snarled ominously as he jumped in front of Aang, hand extended to shoot another fire blast that Aang also dodged. Aang floated to the front of the ship behind Zhao.

"You've lost this battle." Aang informed Zhao as he airbent himself out of harms way again.

"Are you crazy? You haven't thrown a single blow!" Zhao cried,

"No, but you have." Aang informed him, motioning to the other ships. Zhao cringed as he looked over the graveyard of burning ships he'd left in his wake. "Jeong Jeong said you had no restraint." Aang hoped off the side of the boat, landing in the water.

"Have a nice walk home!" He cried as he ran for the bison now waiting for him on the beach.

They all started talking once they were in the air.

"Wait! Where's Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked, looking over the saddle.

"He disappeared. They all did." Sokka said as they looked over the camp, but there was no one left. They all lapsed into silence for a second.

"Are you sure I didn't hurt you?" Aang asked, looking at Masami. She smiled, nodding.

"Lost my shirt, but it's not the first time that's happened. Kali and I had sparring matches where I came out a lot worse then that, it's not a problem." She assured him.

"I figure this is better anyhow, your new look without the extra shirt. I'm sure Aang likes it, right Aang?" Sokka teased with a knowing grin.

"Sokka!" Aang cried with a red face, Masami felt her face redden too but she smiled all the same. It was good to know despite a fight, the group could come back together again, afterall that's what friends did, right?