So, here's the second chapter. I know it's way overdue, but I am on vacation. Which means no internet most of the time. I've had the chapter written (as in written down in a little notebook) since three days, but haven't been able to get it up here yet. Anyways. =)

Chapter 2

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She shouln't have even gone to practice her bending. It was because of that scroll! She had got it for Aang, not her! Aang needed to learn waterbending more than she did, especially if he had to master all the other elements as well by Summer Solstice! And now Aang had no scroll, no waterbending master, or as much of one as she had been, and she had been captured by Zuko!

Why did she have to be obsessed with that scroll?

Katara took three angry steps one way and then the other in her prison. She had been placed in a small cell with metal walls, bare of any furnishing. There were metal walls around her, giving her only enough space to pace three steps before she was at a wall. It had no furniture, no water she could bend, no visible way to escape, no... anything.

Not even a window!

She was sure that if she were kept here for too long, she would go mad.

Katara gave a frustrated sigh and kept pacing, not caring that she was wasting energy; she was too angry to care. It wouldn't be long before Aang and Sokka came to rescue her.

But that was exactly what Zuko wanted.

Oh no. This was suddenly so much worse than she had thought it was.

She sank to the floor in the inside corner of the cell, burying her head in her hands. All her anger had suddenly faded into a hopeless sort of misery.

Zuko couldn't capture Aang, that couldn't happen. She didn't care if she were stuck here forever, or at the very least until she found a way to escape, but Aang and Sokka couldn't come to save her. They had to go to the North Pole, find Aang a water bending master, then an earth bending master and then he had to learn fire bending.

But who was going to tell them that?

"What do we do with these boys, Cap'n?" One pirate asked. Sokka looked miserable, staring at the ground. He didn't even look up. Aang felt as miserable as Sokka looked, but he knew they had to get away from the pirates if they had to rescue Katara.

And they had to rescue Katara.

"Throw them in the river." The captain snarled angrily, and turned to leave. Some pirates sniggered and one started lugging Sokka's net towards the river. Aang took a deep breath, preparing to start a huge wave. He had to get them away from the pirates.

Then Sokka looked up.

"Wait." No one even paused for a second. Sokka shook his head, drew in a breath and then said, in a louder voice,

"We can help you." That stopped the pirates. Even Aang's mouth dropped open and the wave he had been creating fell back in the river with a splash. Sokka felt a little annoyed at that. Couldn't Aang see that this could be their only chance to get Katara? Force. Zuko had an entire team of fire benders with him, and the two of them might not be able to rescue Katara if she was on Zuko's ship.

"What?" Aang asked loudly. The pirates started laughing, at which Sokka looked angry. They laughed!

"I'm serious." Sokka said, looking at all the pirates with an expression that showed how serious he was. He continued, with the most I-mean-business tone he had, "You want the scroll and I and Aang want Katara back. If we work together, we'll both get what we want." He hoped that this would make the pirates see sense. It would work, of course it would.

The laughter faded, and when one pirate laughed again, louder, the captain shot him an irritable look. The captain seemed to be really considering this. Aang frowned, thinking, This could work.

"How do we know you'll be able to find them?" The captain asked, cocking an eyebrow at Sokka. Aang looked at Sokka, hoping he had a response for this; he did.

"We won't have to, he'll chase us." At this, the captain and most of the pirates looked confused.

"Let's just throw them in the river, captain." One said. A few pirates nodded, but the captain paid no attention. He was obviously interested in it. Good.

"Why will he chase you?"

"Aang's the Avatar; Zuko wants to capture him. He's been following us since we left the South Pole." Sokka explained, and Aang nodded fervently, even though all attention was on Sokka.

The pirates all turned to face the captain, who had a dirty smirk on his face. Sokka looked grimly determined and Aand was hopeful.

This could be their best shot at saving Katara.

It was just a matter of time. As soon as the Avatar came to get the girl back, he would capture him. Then he would have his honour back. Father would forgive him and restore him to the throne.

And he'd show Azula. She hadn't believed that he could capture the Avatar, had she? He would capture the Avatar, and he'd show her.

"Nephew. Prince Zuko, I have been calling you from five minutes." Zuko blinked out of thoughts and turned to face his uncle. He gave a small apologetic smile and said,

"Uncle! I was just thinking of when I capture the Avatar. I will have my honour back, Father will forgive me." Zuko said, voicing the thoughts that had been running in his mind since a while now, more to himself than to his uncle.

Iroh nodded slowly. He had expected that his nephew's reason for capturing the waterbending girl would be something like that. But he hoped that Zuko wouldn't get his hopes up; it wasn't that his plan would fail. Iroh had to admit that it was a good plan and it could work, but he doubted that Ozai would forgive Zuko so easily.

Ozai was a cruel man. Iroh couldn't imagine what father would burn his own son! No, Ozai was not the forgiving type.

"Don't count your turtle ducks before they hatch." His uncle said. Zuko nodded even though he knew his plan had no way of failing now. Things were finally looking up for him.

"Anyways, Prince Zuko, I have come here to tell you the good news."

Zuko nodded, trying to keep away all thoughts of the Avatar at his uncle's words. It was too soon, and his uncle generally associated good news with tea or Pai Sho. While this frustrated him to no end at other times, at the moment he was too calm, too happy, to be upset by this.

"Yes?" He asked.

Iroh gave a very, very wide grin.

"The missing Lotus Tile was in my sleeve all this time!"

So, I know it was shorter than the first chapter, but that's because of something I wanted to do... Like, suspense of some sort, I guess. There was more in it but I had to cut all that out and keep it in mind for the next chapter. Or maybe the next to next. Not sure.

Also, as to the reviews, thank you so much to all of you who reviewed. I got 7 reviews on the first chapter! That's great, really! I did reply to your reviews personally, but here's notes, because I like being thorough. Or because I have OCD.

iCraft, sokkantylee, animallover2000, Kariana6 and Cat: Thank you very much. =)
CrazyJulz98: I am a Zutarian to the core. Also, I'm guessing you have gotten answers to some of your questions by now, as for the rest you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? ;)
CatsGurl98: Thanks a whole big bunch, but I'm really not sure what you mean about being posted earlier and updated sooner... =/

Okay, that's mostly it, apart from this one other thing:

I'm looking for a beta. I'd like a beta for this story, and I have no idea how you're supposed to contact a beta reader or something. Therefore, could anyone help me out there? Thanks. =)

Okay, I'm done now. I promise to try and have the next chapter up sooner. =)