16- The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

They had docked in the port by morning just as he had expected and Zuko spent most of the morning overseeing restocking and repairs. It was mid afternoon by the time everything had been restocked and the men were making progress on the repairs. So he felt like he could leave it to them. He found Iroh and Katara at dinner, back from thier day of shopping. Katara no longer wore the oversized borrowed clothing from him. But, had found a nice fitting blue tunic set. While he was glad she had clothing of her own again, he would miss seeing her in his clothes. She looked good in red and there was a cuteness about how much his own clothes swam on her.

It sounded like the two of them had also found a few items to place in her room to make it feel a bit more like home. The harsh red and gold theme and fire emblems everywhere wouldn't have made it very welcoming, so he was glad she was able to find a few things to her liking.

Iroh broke off the conversation he was having with Katara on different styles of interior design to greet his nephew. "Ah Zuko, repairs all squared away?"

"Yeah," he replied. "We should be up and in full repair by tomorrow evening."

"That's good. " said Katara. "Aang and Sokka should arrive sometime tomorrow as well."

"And where are we heading from here?" asked Zuko. "Where was Aang heading?"

"To the Northern Water Tribe," she told him. "Aang has only mastered air bending and water is next. We don't have any benders in the South besides myself, as you know. So, we're searching for masters there."

"I knew it," said Zuko while pointing to Iroh. "I told you that was where they were heading."

Itoh rolled his eyes before facing Katara. "So, I have been wondering. Where has he been all this time? Why did he let it get this bad? Why is he so young?"

Katara intrupted Iroh before he could continue. "We found him frozen in an iceberg. We think he's been there for the whole hundred years the war has been happening"

"That's...fascinating" Iroh replied. "But, how..." Iroh was suddenly intrupted by a loud crash from the top deck followed by the ship tipping to the side. After the three recovered from that they heard a loud commotion from the crew. "Are we going to be attacked at every port?" Zuko shouted irritated. The three ran up to the top deck to help the crew fight off their sttacker. Zuko reached first, fist already aflame, angered and ready for battle. But, he stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. "What is that thing?" he asked his uncle who had just arrived. Before his uncle could respond Katara appeared on deck. He tried to shove her back down to safety, not wanting her to be eaten by the strange creature. Instead the minute she caught sight of it her eyes lite up in recognition.

"Appa," she shouted. The beast immediately turned toward her and roared in her direction. Katara slipped from Zuko's arms and ran through the crowd to reach this "Appa". Zuko stood stunned at the sight until two other voices joined the reunion. Apparently Aang and Sokka had been closer then anticipated. Zuko relaxed as he and the rest of the crew watch the happy reunion of the three friends. Now that he saw Aang and Sokka he recognized the beast as the flying creature that had been traveling with Aang.

After a few minutes of hugging each other Aang left the two syblings to run straight up to him. Zuko's first instinct was defense. This was the young boy that he had been hunting since his reappearance. He had even held him in his dungeon for awhile. Despite Katara's reassurances, he was still nervous about coming face to face with him. He was shocked when Aang reached him, he wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Iroh laughed at the shocked look on his face and Zuko just glared at him in response. Aang pulled back with a big grin on his face. "I've heard so much about you from Katara, Zuko. I'm honored to finally meet you." He bowed in respect before continuing. "It's commendable what you have been doing. I know it can't be easy, for any of you," he said turning to address the whole crew. " To turn against your whole country to do what is right. I hope others will soon follow your example and together we can put an end to this war."

"It's an honor to meet you," Iroh greeted Aang bowing and Zuko followed his example.

"It's my hope that we can become friends in addition to allies, Aang told them both looking at Zuko. Before Zuko could respond Katara and Sokka arrived. The look on Sokka's face was much more what Zuko had been expecting. Sokka had his arms crossed glaring at Zuko in distrust. Katara noticed and protested.

"Sokka, he's my friend and he wants to help. You can trust him," she said.

But, the two boys just continued to glare at each other until Iroh spoke up. "I'm sure after some time together on the ship we will on get to know one another. How about Katara shows shows you where your rooms are." Katara smiled at Iroh before showing Aang and Sokka down below deck.

Iroh turned back to to his Nephew who was staring at Aang's flying beast with a calculating look. "Uncle?" he asked. "Where are we going to put that thing?"

The End

Now don't worry. There will be a suquel. As the title implies this story has three points. This is just the end of the first. There is still a lot of story to tell with lots of twists and turns that you would never see coming. If that didn't get you excited check out below for a preview of A Promise Saga: The Mystery of the Scroll. I never wanted to be one of those authors that begged for reviews, but reviews have lowered for recent chapters. With this being the last chapter how about you let me know what you think, please. :)

A Promise Saga: The Mystery of the Scroll - Preview

"Where did you find it?" asked Aang.

"It was just tossed in with the rest of the scrolls. But, I've never seen it before," Zuko told him.

"I've never seen this symbol before," said Katara. "And what nation uses purple?"

"It just cuts off midpoint," said Zuko. "Listen to this 'And there will come a time of war. A war to effect the entire world. The world will destroy itself unless...' It just cuts off there. It's obviously talking about this war. There's never been another war that effects the whole world. But, why would it cut off?"

"Because it's obvious," replied Sokka. "We already know who will end this war, the Avatar. Mystery solved, time to move on. Come on Aang."

Aang shrugged at Katara and Zuko before following Sokka out of the room. "You don't think that's it, do you?" asked Katara

"It just seems like there's more to it then that," Zuko replied.

"I would agree with you," she told him. "But, we'll have to come back to it. We have things of more immediate importance. We need to find a earth bending teacher soon and Aang is being rather picky."

"Your right," Zuko said placing the scroll back down.