Riding on Appa is certainly comfortable, or as Katara's brother calls "it sailing in the sky," for Katara is even better because up there in the sky she can feel the tiny droplets around her like dancing stars made of water– around her, up in the sky but nothing can be perfect. her nights had been restless between nightmares and dreams. the attack of the prince of the fire nation brought old memories of her mother, memories of a faceless soldier killing her, but other nights the dreams are the opposite: Katara dreams of flames gently touching her and keeping her warm. she dreams about a master with an absolute control of his element, the element of murder but also the element that gives life. Katara dreams about a boy with glimmering-gold eyes and each time when the dream ends, she repeats to herself as a mantra, "she is absolutely not attracted to an ash-maker no matter how good he looks wielding fire, with his cocky smile."

not far away an angry prince is desperate to know where the avatar is.

"Relax, prince Zuko. the avatar can't be that far away. his bison must eat at some point, if I must guess. and according to the map, Kyoshi Island is surely the avatar's destination " says Zuko's uncle, trying to sound as gentle as possible because it is clear Zuko is pissed off beyond limit. he had the avatar right in his ship; his mission was finally complete and then he lost him. years of traveling around the world, chasing a ghost until finally the ghost become real. finally the ghost has a face. Zuko's thoughts are interrupted by a young soldier, the soldier wondering if he must interrupt his prince.

"My liege" says the soldier, giving g a fire nation salute to his prince, "the bridge informed us the avatar is near. he was fighting some sort of giant snake. we are at full speed and should arrive in less than an hour."

"You are excused, soldier, you may return to your post. I will be planning our assault on the island and informing my troops. this time the avatar will not escape" replies Zuko, trying to hide a devious smile. soon he will be at home.

At the beach, still unaware of the imminent battle, Katara is extremely angry with the avatar. not only Aang is fooling around trying to impress her, he also summoned an entire giant Unagi. Aang surely understands they are being chased by the fire nation and a giant unagi can easily be seen from a great distant.

meanwhile her own brother is also fooling around with girls. it appears she is the only one worried about the prince. A traitorous inner voice interrupts Katara`s legitimate worries: "maybe you are the only one always wondering where he is, always remembering his face.'' again she has to remind herself no matter how curios she is about the prince and always speculating why a member of the royal family was in the south pole with few resources at his command. She has to remind herself it doesn't matter how much she wants those answers; he is still the face of the enemy, so it is better for her to forget him as quickly as possible. besides, what are the odds of a prince hunting them around the world only with a single ship at his command.

little does Katara know, the prince will be in fact a pain in her ass.

While waiting for the boys to fail in their attempt to flirt with girls, Katara sits on the beach. the shores of Kyoshi are beautiful, the waters around it are cold, the currents bringing the cold water from the pole to all around the south sea. but today the sea is not only bringing freezing polar waters, but is also brining a bringer of fire: the black smoke Katara is seeing is the proof, the prince with glimmering-gold eyes is here.

Katara runs quickly, avoiding all the innocent people of the island who are unaware of the dangers. The battle for Kyoshi will soon begin. lucky for her Sokka and Aang are together, talking about why meat is better than fruit.

"Sokka, Aang, Zuko is here. the fire nation is here!" Katara screams. Of course, the young waterbender's screams are heard not only by her friends but also by the people surrounding them. it is not shocking that havoc quickly breaks out and the Kyoshi warriors take position around the shore, around the houses. you can breathe the tension; you can see the Kyoshi warriors' makeup trying to hold against the sweet on their faces. Kyoshi's warriors are without experience of what a real battle is. The temporary peace is finally broken by the commanding voice of the prince.

"Bring me the avatar and I will spare you village" Zuko yells loudly, so everyone can hear his order.

Nobody obeys.

The battle is fierce. Katara is sure the village is at the brink of destruction. the Kyoshi warriors are no match. only Suki and a few can hold their ground, the rest of the battalion decide to help the villagers. Katara is not a coward. even without any true experience, she still a child of the south pole: a cruel place where hunting enormous beasts is the norm. she knows how to escape and the same time trap the enemy because escaping doesn't mean surrendering. it means choosing a better battle ground.

it works. some Kyoshi warriors are able to capture some soldiers. it gets even better in some places: the Kyoshi warriors are actually winning. sadly for team avatar, Zuko is not just a soldier but also a commander in training with general Iroh as his teacher.

"You clever girl, I wasn't expecting urban counterattack." Zuko's eyes follow her running around the village giving orders deep inside him a new feeling emerges like a sleeping dragon slowly waking up by the sight of an undiscovered treasure. the dragon growls in pleasure. a worthy natural leader that is what the dragon sees.

"Soldiers," he says, "don't follow the girl. she is setting traps along the way. remember our objective is the avatar. we are not taking the village."

"Yes, my lord," the soldiers reply to their prince.

The battle continues. thankfully, Aang as the avatar is a powerful foe. the battle reaches a stalemate. the proud prince refuses to accept the outcome: a stalemate means a window for the avatar to escape.

not this time.

Zuko rushes onto a nearby hill, following the avatar and behind them are Katara and Sokka. it is a miscalculated strategy, for Zuko doesn't know the hill is in fact a cliff and the avatar, as a good airbender, promptly jumps and leaves Zuko behind. with the cliff ahead, the only option for Zuko is to surrender or fall to his death.

"Surrender," Katara hears the avatar yell, but what worries her the most is her brother. she has seen it before, the posture his brother is holding: his face, those eyes. this is the look of a hunter; this is Sokka fighting a seal-wolf. he is ready to strike his enemy. Katara knows how deep sokka`s hatred is for the fire nation, but adrenaline is clouding her brother's mind. Sokka is not thinking right; he is not thinking that a strike means Zuko's death.

for a brief moment Katara loses control of her body and instinct takes over. she lift her head a little, focuses on her objective, and with a swift movement, Katara pulls and pushes a nearby puddle and hits her brother right in the back. it is a strong strike since Katara doesn't have great control of her bending yet.

Zuko takes the opportunity and rushes. he runs as fast as he can, leaving the avatar team behind

"Katara, what the hell? control your bending better! we almost won."

"No , Sokka, you dumbass, you almost pushed him to his death. he is not a seal-wolf ; he is a human. a strike with your boomerang would ha ve push ed him into the abyss ."

Sokka just blinks. his sister is right; he didn't think of the consequence. he almost killed Zuko, but that means he would have saved everyone else. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. after all, is not what his father is doing?

"Guys, stop fighting. Zuko is still here. we shall drive him away. Sokka, go to Suki and helps her. Katara, come with me," says Aang, trying to formulate a decent battle plan.

it doesn't take long until they are faced with the fire prince one again and once more Katara is captivated by Zuko's fire and how he masters it. his bending is filled with passion and maybe with some anger, and at the tail end of their match, Zuko is burning the village. Aang notices that too and without thinking he flies towards the sea.

what the hell is he trying to do? Zuko and Katara wonder, but without the avatar on the scene, the battle is now between Zuko and Katara.

Katara knows she has little battle experience, so she scans her surrounding trying to find a way to escape. she notices behind Zuko a child is about to throw a knife. it is impossible for the prince to notice this attack, a deadly attack. in that instant Katara`s body moves without her permission and the water below the little kid freezes, making him trip and miss his target. Zuko sees something similar: an old man with a bow in his hand behind Katara is about to shot. it is obvious a man his age has horrible aim and the arrow is about to hit Katara.

Why save her? her peasant body is a perfect human shield. that would be a rational thing to do on the battlefield, but he is not Zhao.

Not saving her is not an option, especially when there so many questions about her. if this peasant is helping him or not, he must know. after all, having an ally is never a bad thing.

so he punches the air, releasing a massive flame aimed at the old man. as his bow burns, the man feels to the ground.

from Katara's perspective everything is a whirlpool of emotions. first she thought she was about to be hit with massive flames, but the flames feel like warm kissing along her cheeks. it feels so good, she forces herself to not lean into the fire and feel more of the warm because fire is dangerous. as soon the flame dies, an awkward feeling of loss confuses Katara. why is she missing the feeling of Zuko's flame around her?

After everything is done, when the imminent danger against Katara and Zuko's lives is over, an uncomfortable silence surrounds them. Zuko finally is able to look the peasant carefully. her eyes are like the sea they hold the wrath of the ocean. everyone who looks at her this close surely know this peasant is dangerous. Zuko takes a cautionary step, closing the distance between them. he notices how beautiful her face is. he takes another step, remembering she saved him. in order to save him, she attacked her brother.

"you saved her too," a dark voice in his head says with some hint of possessiveness, and finally Zuko takes a final step, leaving almost no distance between them. she is so close to him. her face so close but this time he is not watching how beautiful her eyes are and face is. now this time he is looking curiously, trying to rely on his instincts, trying to figure it out why he is interested in knowing her. Zuko doesn't realize the black smoke coming from his mouth as he gets annoyed by the sudden interruption. it appears the peasant`s brother is calling her, ruining the moment

On Appa, Katara finally sees the consequence of her own actions: the black smoke coming from the island. Saving Zuko meant Suki`s village's destruction.

Did I just betray the Kyoshi people for Zuko?

Zuko stands there watching the girl leave with the avatar while he and his men are being covered by spit from a giant unagi. his ride on the rhino means nothing. the avatar is already in the sky. this time the young prince is even angrier he lost the avatar, and now he is plagued by questions about the waterbender peasant. she is untrained but clearly powerful.

Zuko whispers to the wind so Agni may hear and help him.

"Katara, you should not feel safe. I am coming for you , too . I have questions."

Excuse my rusty English but I from Spain I hope you like this fic

BIG THANKS TO MY BETA READER Gefionne

if you want to contact me my Tumblr is stella-facem-ducens