A/N: Sorry that it's been taking me a little longer than usual to get chapters up. This week was finals week, but now I'm home for a month long break. Yay! :)

Thankyou to all my wonderful followers and reviewers. Seriously, I can't thank you guys enough!

"Careful now,

With my head.

I said careful now,

With what you do to my head.

Make your mind up,

Make your little mind up."

- Walk the Moon

"Smash it, Toph!" I urge, my voice rising with frustration.

Toph scowls. "What does it look like I'm doing?!" She shouts back at me. There's a loud bang, followed by a high pitched screeching sound. Toph jumps back, swinging her rock-made sledge hammer behind her. She grunts and then groans in a defeated way.

"Did it work?" I ask, hopeful despite already knowing the answer.

"No." Toph hisses and slumps down onto the ground.

Aang slowly shakes his head. "It's no use. It won't break."

All three of us stare down at the small, odd-shaped meteorite. It's about the size of an outstretched hand and oval shaped with jagged edges. It gives off a faint blackish hue. We've spent hours trying to destroy the stupid thing. I used every water move I've ever learned on it. Toph tried dozens of weapons made from both rock and metal, but they couldn't break through. The three of us tried a combination of all our elements at once, which just resulted in a lot of mud. At one very desperate and sleep deprived point, Toph and I even tried to provoke Aang into the Avatar state by throwing pebbles at him and yelling mean things, thinking he'd be able to destroy the meteor then. But all that did was get him to angrily ignore us for a full thirty-six minutes.

Truth be told, I've never actually seen Aang in the Avatar state. I don't know what happens when he enters it. So that probably wasn't the best idea. Actually, it definitely wasn't the best idea.

"Why don't we just bury it somewhere?" Toph offers, with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, right. There could be Fire Nation officers watching us right now."

"You're pretty paranoid." She tells me, hiking up the sleeves of her red shirt. We've all changed into clothes suitable for the Fire Nation.

My jaw clenches and I look down at the ground. "For good reason."

Toph curls her fingers into her palm and a ledge of rock shoots up out of the earth for her to sit up against. Her arms stretch out behind her head and she closes her eyes, followed by a loud sigh. I've come to appreciate Toph's bending. As annoying as she can be, her bending is really incredible. And having her around does help to ease my worrying for Aang's safety. I can tell that she doesn't go down without a fight.

Toph starts muttering,"Maybe if Aang knew how to bend all four elements we could destroy the damn-"

"Toph." I say sternly, effectively silencing her.

She shrugs and crosses her arms tightly over her chest. "I'm just saying."

"She's right, Katara." Aang groans. "Sozin's comet is in a few months and I still haven't mastered water bending, my earth bending skills are terrible, and I'm never gonna find a fire bending teacher."

I place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, Aang. You're supposed to be the optimistic one. We'll find you a teacher, don't worry."

"But we've been here for three weeks. The more time we spend in the Fire Nation, the more of a chance someone will discover us and the Fire Lord will find out you're alive. We can't be here anymore." He argues, slowly shaking his head.

Toph pipes up. "Now that, I have to disagree with. You and I can be here, Aang, she's the one who can't."

"What?!" I hiss, spinning on my heel to face her.

"Think about it. Aang easily hides his tattoos with a hat and some robes and no one has any idea who I am, but with you here we have to keep sneaking around everywhere. It's slowing us down." She says matter-of-factly.

My jaw drops open in anger. "If you think for one second that I'm gonna leave and let you-"

"Katara." Aang catches my forearm in his hand.

I feel myself deflate and my heart starts to pound. "You agree with her? You want me to leave?"

His face softens. "No, of course I don't. But I can't face the Fire Lord without being able to fire bend. And you being here just makes me so worried… Katara, I'm sorry. Don't make that face. Please."

I try to unfurrow my brow and unpurse my lips, but it isn't happening. "You think I don't worry about you? I can't just leave you! I finally got you back!"

Toph makes a tsk sound, the way she always does when she thinks I've said something too melodramatic. "Listen, sweetness, it's nothing personal. We made Appa leave; now you need to, too. It's for everyone's safety."

I want to slap her. I could slap her. I might slap her. She knows how much I hate that sarcastic nickname she's given me. And I hate it even more when she patronizes me.

She must sense my rapidly beating heart because her smug face softens. "I'll take good care of him, I promise you."

I can't do anything except huff loudly. I know they're both right. The people of the Fire Nation have seen my wanted posters, watched me duel the Prince, and hell they even supposedly watched me die. I never should have come here in the first place. But I just couldn't listen when Aang tried to tell me that. Worrying about him is kind of exhausting. Atleast when I'm here I know that I'll be able to protect him. I failed last time, but that's never gonna happen again. But somehow I know that I shouldn't be here. I should be in the Southern Water Tribe, doing my best to lay low. Sokka needs to know what we've discovered about the meteor and Sozin's comet. That information was just too sensitive to try and pass along via messenger hawk. I've been dying to see Sokka, too. Just to show him that I'm alright. He knows that I'm with Aang, but he still must be so worried about me.

Worry, worry, worry. That's all any of us can do anymore. Even Aang, the one person that I could always count on to stay positive. I hate what this war has done to all of us, what it's done to the world. And worse, what it will do if we don't stop it. And right now, the first step in stopping this war is getting Aang a fire bending teacher. But he can't do that if I'm here.

I take a deep breath and swallow hard before finally saying, "Alright."

Aang raises his brows at me. "You're sure?"

"Yes. You guys are right." I see Toph smirking to herself so I quickly add, "But I'm not happy about it. And I'm taking the meteor with me. There's no way I'm risking you getting caught with it, Aang."

Aang reaches out and pulls me into his arms, hugging me tightly. He's my height now. How did I not notice that before? "Everything's gonna be alright." He assures me.

I can't help but smile. "Glad to see that you're optimistic again."

I told Appa that we could stop in the next orchard we see. Once we cross into the South Pole, his apple supplies are going to be limited. There have been an unbelievable amount of Fire Nation attacks during the last week and trade routes are all but shut down. Appa likes his apples and unfortunately all we have in the South Pole for the time being is seafood.

It only took Appa three days to find us after I sent a letter to Sokka, telling him to send the bison to pick me up. Technically it only took him three nights, because he knows not to travel during the day time unless it's storming. I was so hesitant to leave Aang, I almost didn't do it. I don't like the idea of him being alone in the Fire Nation with only Toph to protect him. She's a talented bender, sure, but she's just one person. A small person.

Ugh. I'm really regretting the decision to leave. Although I didn't have a choice. I wouldn't be much use to Aang if I'm dead.

I just hope that they find him a fire bending teacher fast. Like, really fast. Hopefully they'll find a school or something and Aang can just enroll as a pretend Fire Nation student. That would probably be his easiest method. Although… most definitely the slowest method as well.

I sigh and lean my head into my hand. I've been sitting crisscross for so long that I'm starting to lose the feeling in my right foot.

I can hear Appa snoring from a few dozen yards away. It's early morning, I'm not sure of the exact time. We're gonna have to start moving again soon. I know that Appa needs rest, but we've already been here for a few hours. The South Pole isn't far from here and we need to get back there as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, my wrists are yanked behind my back and bound tightly in rope before I even have time to blink. Oh Koh's lair, here we go.

My captor takes a firm grasp of my upper arm and pulls me up so that I'm kneeling on the ground. Their chest presses firmly into my arms and back. Strong fingers viciously grab a handful of hair and yank my head back against their shoulder, exposing my neck. A knife presses against the middle of my throat.

"You have something that belongs to me." My attacker hisses in my ear. I'd know Zuko's raspy voice anywhere.

My mind immediately goes to the meteor that is concealed in the inside pocket of my red robes. Oh, shit. He's gonna get the stupid thing back and it's gonna be so easy. And now Aang is alone in the Fire Nation with Toph. Shit!

Instead of letting my nerves show, I try to play them off. "You better hope that Appa doesn't see you, Zuko. Because he will kill you."

"If I'm correct in assuming that by "Appa" you mean giant flying bison, you should probably work on your cloud bending skills. He was pretty easy to spot." He retorts.

I struggle against Zuko's arms, twisting my body left and right, but his hold on me is too tight and too strong. I don't see why he took his knife out. We both know that he would never use it on me. "So, were you impressed with my acting skills the other week?"

He scoffs and I can feel his breath hot on my ear. "You weren't acting." He pushes me forward and I land with my stomach against the ground. I can feel his weight on my legs for all of a few seconds while he bounds my ankles together similarly to the way he'd bound my wrists. "Sorry about all these formalities." He teases. "Y'know, I like this outfit. Red's a good color on you." La, do I want to punch him in the face. I bet he's so pleased with himself, getting back at me for what happened on his ship.

I feel his hands on my lower back, trying for my pockets. I quickly shift to the left in an attempt to shrug him off. His elbow lands in the center of my back, digging into the skin and pressing painfully into my spine to keep me still. I feel the warmth from his hand as he reaches underneath my robes. I start to panic. "Zuko, you don't know what you're doing! Appa! Appa!"

I can only struggle futilely against his weight as he removes the meteor from my pocket. "Yes, Katara, I do. I'm trying to restore my honor." He's off of me in an instant. Appa lets out a low growl that feels like a rumble through the forest.

I roll over onto my back and stare up at Zuko as he stuffs the meteor into his robes. His golden eyes meet mine and we watch eachother in silence for a short moment as Appa's thunderous footsteps approach us at a rapid pace. "I guess we're at a standstill then."

"Don't come after me." Zuko warns. And then he disappears into the trees, leaving as quickly as he'd appeared.