11 - An awkward morning

Breakfast the next morning was akward. After their fight last night neither Zuko nor Katara was very talkative. Iroh at first tried to get the two teenagers to talk to him. But, it soon became obvious to him that wasn't going to happen."Well," he finally said. "I'm going to hunt down a pai sho partner. You two have a good day." He waited, but his only response was silence. "Already then," he sighed.

After Iroh left things just got more akward. Zuko glanced up at Katara when she wasn't looking only to quickly look away when she glanced at him. They continued this silent akward dance until one of them couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry," Katara said. Zuko's head whipped up at the sound of her voice. "I shouldn't have been so hard on you last night. I'm sure it's difficult for you to think about us having to go our separate ways after just finding out I'm alive. I may have missed you. But, at least I knew you were alive."

"No," Zuko told her. "I'm sorry. You were right. It's difficult for me to think about. But, I know I can't protect you from my father. Once we're back in the Fire Nation I'll need to pretend to be Ozai's loyal son and he would not tolerate a water bender in the palace. I want to be with you. But, I want you safe more. For now it's probably better to plan on you staying with your brother when I bring Aang in. I will find you again once I'm Fire Lord."

"The idea of handing Aang off to your father still upsets me. He's just a kid Zuko and my friend," she said.

"I know, I don't like it either. But, I don't have a choice. Katara, if I could think of some way to end this war without separating from you or turning anyone over to my father i'd do it. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way," Zuko replied.

"I know you would. At least you have some time to think about it. From what I heard there was no clues to where they were headed yesterday," she said cheerfully.

Zuko sighed before responding. "I suppose I can understand why your happy about that. But, it's not a good thing."

"Let's stop talking about this. What are you up to today?" she asked.

"I was going to head to the training arena after breakfast," he replied standing up.

"Can I join you?" she asked. "You did say you wanted to see my bending again."

"Of course you can. We can spar. It'll be fun." Zuko replied with a smile. Katara smiled back as they headed to the arena together.

"Honestly," said Katara. I don't think it's going to be much of a match. Unlike you, I haven't improved much over the years. Iroh has really helped me a lot. But, it's probably going to be pretty boring for you."

"What you have managed to accomplish on your own is amazing. I'm positive I won't be bored," he replied.

At first Katara was embarrassed because like she predicted, she wasn't much of a match. But, Zuko had a smile on his face the whole time. He had missed this so much. When her embarrassment just continued to escalate he finally stopped their sparing. "Was that a move you learned from Uncle? I recognize it," Zuko said. She nodded her head yes."You need to plant your feet more firmly on the ground and lift your elbow just a bit more."

Katara adjusted her stance as he suggested. "Like this?" she asked.

"Close," Zuko replied. "Here, let me show you." He walked up behind her and placed her body in the correct position. "Okay, now don't bend," Zuko told her. I'm just going to show you the movement." Zuko then twisted her body in the correct way to perform the move. "Perfect," he said. "Did you see where you went wrong?" he asked.

"Yeah," she responded as she turned her head to smile at him. "Thanks Zuko." He smiled back at her and opened his mouth to reply only to be interupted by someone clearing thier throat. Both heads snapped to the entrance to find a soldier standing there looking uncomfortable. Zuko was confused until he noticed that he was still holding Katara close, his arms having fallen to her waist. He quickly released her and walked over to the young soldier.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Cogan needs to talk to you, sir," The soldier said.

"Alright, your dismissed," he told him. As the soldier turned and left Zuko walked back to Katara. "I have to go see lieutenant Cogan. I'll see you in a little while. Alright?"

"Sure Zuko, I'll just go see what your Uncle is up to." Katara responded while throwing her arms around him in a big hug. He smiled at Katara before leaving in search of the Lieutenant. It took longer then he thought to find him. He hadn't asked the other soldier where he could find him, because he assumed that Cogan would be pouring over the maps trying to find a clue as to Aang's whereabouts. There was no other reason he would need to talk to him. Strangely enough he found him with Iroh playing pai sho.

"Lieutenant, what was it you needed to speak to me about?" Zuko asked.

The lieutenant gave Zuko a confused look. "What do you mean, Prince Zuko? I didn't need to talk to you about anything."

"What," asked Zuko before he noticed something else. "Where's Katara Uncle?"

"Wasn't she with you the whole morning?" Iroh asked before making another move in the board.

"She was. But, she left to join you. She should have been here by now," said Zuko.

"Maybe you just beat her here," said Cogan.

"I couldn't have. It took me forever to find you," Zuko responded confused.

"I'm sure she'll. .." But, Iroh didn't get to finish his sentence. He was intrupted by a very loud feminine scream.