o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"How is our little patient doing?" I asked Aang with a smile.

Momo chirped from his bedridden position.

"He's feeling much better today. I think we could probably head out now." He answered.

"Yeah." I agreed. Momo had slept all thorough yesterday, which was expected considering the amount of blood he lost. We had been waiting for him to get better before we left so that that he wouldn't get stressed and then get even worse. Now we'd be able to put him on the saddle and head out before Azula and her little minions came after us again. I imagine she's getting out of that hole about now. "Let's get out of here as quickly as possible."

Aang picked Momo up gently and sat him on his shoulder since I had forbidden Aang from letting him fly for another whole day. "Can you get everyone? I need to get Appa ready."

"Ok, well hurry." I told him and exited Momo's recovery tent. Yet again, Sokka was the only one asleep. Had we not gone to bed at the same time, I would have guessed he'd been up all night. What was it with Sokka and his need for crazy amounts of sleep? I would chalk it all up to being a teenage boy, but Zuko wasn't that way, he really had no excuse. He was just lazy.

I walked over and gave him a push with my foot. "Wakey wakey."

He moaned and rolled over. "I don't wanna."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my secret weapon: the Seal Jerky that I had pilfered from his bag. It only took Sokka seconds to realize that someone was dangling food in front of his face. His hand reached out and snatched it out before I could even blink. All I got was murmured thanks. With frustration on my side, I grabbed his arm, which had been lazily stretched out onto the dirt, and pulled as hard as I could. He didn't budge one bit. "Geeze, you're heavy."

"Its all muscle." He muttered, offended enough to answer even in his sleepy state.

I scoffed. "Sure. Now get up, we need to blow this Popsicle stand."

His head came out of his bed and stared at me. "What?"

I groaned. "Were heading out now, lets go."

He squinted at me once more, his brain still groggy, before his eyes suddenly shot open. "Crap! My schedule!" he burst out of his sleeping bag so fast that I could have sworn he went straight through it.

"Get Toph and the other one!" he yelled, franticly running through camp and picking his things up. I didn't know how he did it, but in the course of an hour or two, he was always able to scatter his things all around the campsite. He even had a few things in Momo's tent and I don't remember him going in there once.

"Zuko." I corrected as he slipped his boomerang in its halter.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He mumbled and ran out to Appa.

"C'mon Toph, I know you're awake." I warned her.

"I'll catch up with you guys!" she yelled back.

"C'mon Toph." I repeated. "You're going to have to fly sometime."

"That's what you think." I heard her say as she walked out of her earth tent and demolished it. "I don't think I can do it."

"What?" I yelled, acting shocked. "The great and powerful Toph is scared?"

She glared at me. "I didn't say that."

I shrugged. "Well, you might not have, but you still cant do it."

When her thrust her chin into the air, I knew my mockery was working. "You don't think I can do it?"

I failed to mention that she was, indeed, the one who said it. "Well…"

"Because I can." Her glare deepened. "Just watch me." She stomped out of the campsite, leaving me alone to clean.

In the back of my mind I knew all along that I would have to be the one to pick up the campsite and cover the fire pit, no one else ever did it, and they all managed to get away with it. But this would be the last time.

I heard Zuko walk into camp from whatever he does in the morning, and turned to him. "We're leaving, so if there's anything you need, get it now."

He wiped a thin layer of sweat off of his brow. "It's about time." He grumbled in his usual manner.

I nodded. "I know, but we had to wait for Momo."

He nodded back and without me even needing to ask, he came over and quickly (or quicker that I would have been able to) disassembled the recovery tent.

"Thank you…" I said.

He ignored my thanks and continued to clean.

I smiled privately to myself. I didn't know whether he was trying to get on my good side or if he just wanted to help, but it was great none the less. In half the time it would have taken me to do it alone, we were completely cleaned up and heading off towards Appa.

"I really am sorry." He mumbled, looking straight ahead.

It didn't take a genius to tell what Zuko was talking about. "I know."

"You do?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about it, and I forgive you."

He let out a big breath of air as if he had been holding it in the whole time. "Thank Agni."

"But." I stressed. "No more secrets, ok? I want to trust you. What is friendship without trust?"

"Ok, sounds good." He agreed.

I held out my hand. "No more secrets?"

He gripped me hand and squeezed lightly. "No more secrets." He agreed and we shook on it.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"C'mon Toph, it isn't that bad." I said.

"Oh yeah…not that bad…" she laughed nervously. "Fun, fun, fun."

I held back my smile. "Just relax, don't be so tense."

"Tense? You think I'm tense?" her laugh borderlined on insanity. "Tense…Ha. I'm not tense; I'm the furthest thing from tense."

"Toph." I called firmly. "You said the word tense five times."

"No I didn't!" she snapped. Her death grip on the saddle tuned her hands white.

I swiped the air out of my face and sighed. "You don't need to worry Toph, you're completely safe. If you were to fall, gods forbid, Aang would save you."

"You have no idea how terrifying this is right now." She told me through clenched teeth, ignoring all of my reassurances.

Yeah, I didnt know how scared she was, but I could imagine. For me, not being able to see would be scary enough, but to fly on an animal that she had no clue to the appearance of? That would be hard. For all she knew, Appa could look like a complete monster. I took it upon myself and crawled over to Toph so that I was right next to her. "I'll tell you what…if you fall out, I'll jump after you."

"You promise?" she asked childishly.

I smirked. "I promise."

I glanced over in time to see Zuko trying to hold back his laughter. When he caught my eye, he shrugged as id to say 'what?'

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Toph's hand in reassurance.

"Hey guys!" Aang called over the roar of the wind. "There's a town coming up, but I don't want to stop until sundown. Ok?"

We all yelled back our yeses, even Appa groaned in answer.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"I am going to go wash my clothes. I'll be back." I called out; leaving the rest of the group to clean up after dinner (I had been serious when I said that they had to clean from now on).

"Good riddance!" Toph yelled, obviously over the fright she had experienced earlier.

I was about to give her a solid shove, when something stopped me dead in my tracks. "Oh my…Toph! You stink!"

Toph glanced up. "Why are you smelling me?"

"I can't help t, its like acid on my brain!" I shuddred. "It hurts."

She frowned and sniffed herself. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, lets go." I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"I am not getting in the water." She insisted, but allowed me to pull her along anyway (although it was probably only because it was either come with me or clean).

"We'll see about that." I murmured.

"Good luck!" Sokka called after me.

Within a few minutes, we reached our water source.

"Ok, take off your clothes and give them to me." I held out me hands and waited.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously." I confirmed.

She huffed and folded her arms stubbornly.

"Toph."

"Katara." She mocked.

"Take it off." I commanded.

She groaned in annoyance. "Fine!"

I reached down and began to untie my shoes, so I could wash myself too, but when I kicked them off and looked back up at Toph, I groaned. She was wearing some kind of wrappings that I wasn't familiar with. "Toph, what is that?"

"What?" her hands went to her forehead. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, what are you wearing?"

"Oh…" she let out a relieved breath. "These are just my bindings. Why? Don't you have them too?"

I groaned again and glanced down at my lacy pink bra and bright red panties. "You guys have those instead of bras? Crap…does that mean I'll have to get some?"

"I don't know…probably." She let her hair out of her bun. "You'd probably be able to practice better in them."

I nodded and started taking off my own clothes. "I'll have to have Aang stop in the next town…"

She plopped onto the floor and stretched herself out in the dirt. I rolled my eyes at her and waded into the water. I had braced myself for the cold, but it did nothing to help. I glanced over at Toph again; she appeared to be making some kind of dirt angel. "Toph, I understand you aversion to the water, but can you at least splash yourself a bit?"

Toph stilled. "Will you leave me alone if I do?"

"Maybe." I hedged. "Can you wash your hair too?"

"Well, mom…I'm not going into the water."

"Come on." I flexed my toes in the tiny pebbles. "There is only a bunch or rocks down here, can't you just…I don't know, make it one big solid one?"

Toph snorted. "You say that like its easy."

"I'm sure that if anyone could do it, it'd be you."

"Damn straight." She yelled. She marched into the water, and at about the time she was waist deep, the determined expression on her face had completely disappeared. Toph plunged her arm into the water and I couldn't see what she was doing, but with a small grunt, the water around her shifted. "Now, I am not moving from this spot, so don't even try."

I laughed and continued cleaning our clothes. When I was done, I tossed them onto the nearest rock. I took a deep breath and plunged under the water, when I popped back up, I used one of my socks like a sponge to scrub myself clean. I didn't like being so dirty, I was used to showering every night back at home, but here, I would be lucky if I could bathe once a week! We were always in a hurry, but now I could just sit back and relax until tomorrow. "Do we have soap?"

"I don't know." She answered.

I grunted in annoyance and dove into the water again so I could work on my long hair. "Do you guys have shampoo and conditioner?"

"Shampooza and Con-what-now?" she cupped her hands into the water and splashed it onto her face.

"Nevermind." I mumbled and trudged my way to the shore to collect my clothes. With a flourish, I pulled the water from my hair and body. With my hair already a wavy mess, I grabbed my hair tie and began pulling it into its usual ponytail. I stretched it to loop one more time, but just as I was about to finish, it snapped. I flinched as it hit my thumb and then cursed. "Damn, this was my only one."

"What happened?" Toph asked. "I can't see a thing from this water."

"I snapped my hair tie."

"What do you mean 'snapped'?"

"Oh, the ones we use are stretchy, and it just broke."

"Hm, that's why I just use a head band, no fuss."

I rolled my eyes and began putting my hair into one large braid at the base of my skull. "Yeah, I'll try that sometime." I used my broken tie to finish the braid off. "So what do you think of the guys?"

"Eh," Toph dipped under the water for only a second, then popped back up again. "They're alright. I liked it better when it was just the three of us."

"Well, I think they are nice." I pulled the water out of my clothes and began putting them on. "I'll miss them when I'm gone."

"If you leave." She answered.

I froze. "Don't say that." I turned to her. "I'll leave, I know it. I can't stay. I'm not supposed to be here."

"The gods obviously don't agree." She began to make her way out of the water. "What if you are supposed to be here?"

"Seriously Toph, drop it." I growled. I did notwant to consider that option.

"Ok, ok." She walked over to the rock and picked up her clothes. Before she could mention the soggy state of them, I pulled the water from it.

I sat down under the shade of a tree and sighed. "Sorry."

I could see her smile as she ran her fingers through her wet and tangled black hair. "Whatever."

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

I stared off into the sunset; the sound of the waves was the only company I had. Flocks of seagulls flew in a v formation towards the descending orb of light and disappeared into the rays. I scooped up a handful of sand and let it slowly trickle through my fingers and back to join the beach.

This was a favorite dream of mine, one where I would just sit and relax, let the sounds of nature lull me into a state of bliss. I've repeated this dream to my friends before, and they told me how boring it sounded, but I loved it. It was just so peaceful, and whenever I woke up I would be completely rejuvenated.

I was always alone during this dream, so when I closed my eyes and relaxed, I was surprised to head the soft padding of feet on the sand.

I opened my eyes and saw the water spirits. I thought I remembered them so well from the first time I saw them, but my memory was shattered as I looked at them again. The beauty of the two was extraordinary.

"Oh, thank the gods…" I nearly cried out.

The woman smiled sweetly while the man showed no emotion. Now that I continued to look at him, I could see that he looked a lot nicer than when he first appeared to me. Maybe it was because I wasn't as scared this time and I knew they weren't trying to kill me. He still looked very cross, but his expression wasn't as severe.

"I was wondering when I'd see you two again." I gushed happily, now I'd be able to go home and take a nice hot soak. I had been gone for more than a month; everyone probably thought I was dead by now. That is if time ran the same for both worlds. I could very well come back and find out that as much as a year had past, I could even appear at the same time I left. Either way, I hoped they would be happy to see me again, I had been through a lot already. I doubt they would believe any of it, but I'm telling them everything anyways.

"Katara, we are not here for the reasons you think we are." Her melodic voice was like a stab to my heart.

My smile stayed in place, but now I wanted to vomit. "What do you mean?" I saw the mans eye twitch and immediately added a "Ma'Am." at the end.

"We need you to stay."

"Stay?!" I shrieked.

"Not permanently." The man growled.

I closed my eyes and began counting until my breathing calmed. "So I will go home…eventually."

"Yes." She answered.

I let out a deep breath. "Good. Can I ask when?"

"We cannot tell you that."

"Then why are you here?" I demanded, suddenly furious. I wanted to go home, I was ready, but now my hopes were dashed.

"You would do well not to anger the spirits." He spoke calmly, but there was no mistaking the dangerous edge to his voice.

I began counting again. "I'm sorry."

The woman sighed. "The reason we are here, is to tell you that you need to teach the avatar."

"Teach him waterbending?" I questioned. "I barely know how myself."

"Katara, you know much more than you think."

"Why do I need to teach him? He's already had a master." I questioned.

The man answered me, a scowl on his face. "The Avatar is-" the woman silenced him with one look, but by the tone of his voice, I could tell that what he was going to say wasn't very polite. "He will learn more from you than from any master."

"What do you mean?"

"We cannot tell you."

For the millionth time, I counted to ten in my head. With these people, loosing my temper would be the last thing I wanted to do. "So you want me to teach him?"

"Yes we do."

I rubbed my face tiredly. "I have to do this, don't I?"

"Yes." The man ground out, he was definitely annoyed at me, but I had a feeling he was like this to everyone.

I exhaled slowly. "But you can't tell me what that is that I need to teach him, cant you?"

She smiled. "Remember to use your friends, they are invaluable."

"Use them for what?"

"Learn from them, love them."

I nodded to her, but I was still as confused as ever.

"Alone you have very little knowledge, but together, you'll know everything."

I looked down at my bare feet and buried them in the sand. "So after I teach him, I can go back to my world?"

She smiled. "Goodbye Katara, we must leave you now." Her shimmering hand reached out to grab her partners and they were gone, leaving only a wisp of smoke behind.

I sighed and flopped back into the sand. "Could they be more cryptic?" I said aloud.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"Is Katara alright?" I heard Sokka ask from his place on the saddle.

I groaned. "Shut up."

"Wow, someone's testy today…" Toph mocked.

I rolled my eyes and held back the urge to stick out my tongue at her. "I'm tired." After that dream, I had woken up and hadn't been able to return to sleep again. My mind had just been reeling with thought. How could they have said so much, but yet so little? All I knew was that I needed to teach the Avatar. That was it. But teach him what? Waterbending? He already knew far more than I did. I didn't know when I could go home, I didn't know at all what they meant by using my friends, and what was all that about me knowing more than the Avatar? He's the Avatar.He should know everything about anything.

Use my friends…what was that all about? I was already using them. I've already learned so much from Toph alone, she's taught me all about this world. I've learned how to waterbend from Aang. What could Zuko and Sokka teach me?

I had figured that I'd be able to catch some sleep on the saddle, but it was hardly comfortable or spacious. Every time I was about to drift off, someone would shift and bump into me causing me to jerk awake. I really didn't have it in me to tell everyone on the saddle to freeze and not move for the rest of the ride, but that didn't make me any less uncomfortable.

I groaned and sat straight up, a sour look on my face. "This sucks."

"Why didn't you sleep last night?"

"I had a bad dream." I lied.

"Just go to sleep now then!"

"I can't!"

Sokka threw his hands up in the air. "It's easy! Just lie down and close your eyes!"

I gave him a look that had Zuko chuckling. "Yeah, well you could sleep through an earthquake."

"Here, I'll move." Zuko said and scooted as close to Toph as possible, so that I had just enough room to lie down next to him.

"Thank you!" I gushed and crawled across the saddle and plopped into the empty space.

I knew I would be able to catch a little bit of sleep next to Zuko, he didn't fidget nearly as much as Sokka, and I was pretty sure he'd be more considerate too. Within a minute or two, I was out. Dead to the world.

It wasn't more than an hour or two after I passed out, before I woke back up to the sound of Zuko and Sokka arguing.

"We don't have the time for that!" Sokka yelled.

"Says who?" Zuko asked back equally as loud.

"Me!" He screamed.

"Oh, well, let's do what you say, because you're Sokka! Sokka knows best!" Zuko's voice took on a nasty edge to it.

Sokka made a strangled noise of exasperation. "Ok and Zuko knows more than me?"

Zuko looked at Sokka in wide eyed incredulity. "Well, maybe Zuko does know more than Sokka."

"Well, Sokka thinks that Zuko doesn't know anything and needs to shut up!"

Aang yelled from his place at Appa's head. "Come on guys, stop arguing."

"Well, Zuko knows more because Azula is Zuko's sister!" He yelled at Sokka.

Sokka threw his arms up. "Well Azula has been chasing Sokka for the last month!"

"But Zuko has lived in the same house with Azula for fourteen years!"

I could hear Toph groan in annoyance. "Toph thinks this is stupid and you both need to shut up, Katara's awake now."

I sighed and sat up. "It's ok."

Sokka turned to me. "Sorry Katara, but Sokka thinks that Zuko is stupid."

"Why are you still referring to yourself in the third person?" I asked and rubbed the sleep out of my eye.

"Because Sokka doesn't know when to quit." Zuko muttered.

"Ok! That is it!" Aang looked about ready to lunge at Zuko. "Aang, land now!"

Aang stuttered. "But I-"

"NOW!" Sokka yelled angrily.

Aang looked at me for reassurance, but I shrugged, I had no idea what was going on, but I needed to find out. "Land." I told Aang. I didn't want there to be a fight, but if there had to be one, I'd rather it take place on solid ground.

Aang furrowed his brows, but did as he was told.

As soon as we set foot on the ground, Sokka went for his sword. "The entire time you've been here, I've been holding back…but not anymore."

"Sokka, come on…" I yelled.

Aang remained on Appa's head. "I don't think…"

"What the hell happened?" I asked Toph.

"Zuko suggested we stop in town for a night and Sokka practically exploded."

"Exploded?" I questioned.

"Yeah." Toph sighed. "We should have seen it coming. They've been overdue for a fight."

My mouth was agape. "And all this started when Zuko Suggested we, what…stay in a hotel?"

Toph smacked her lips. "Pretty much."

"What?" I asked. "That's it!"

"Yeah, I know."

"This is pathetic!"

"Yeah, and Sokka's going to regret it."

With his sword finally in hand, he charged at Zuko.

In less than a second, Zuko pulled his swords from its sheath and parried his blow. With a sidestep, he caught Sokka's sword on his own and led it to the side, letting it hit the ground harmlessly.

"This is stupid." Toph muttered and sat down.

With determination, Sokka swung his sword at his opponent. Although he wasn't nearly as graceful as Zuko, his intent was still clear.

He wanted to hurt Zuko.

I was torn between stopping the fight and letting it play out. On one hand, someone could get seriously hurt. But on the other hand, if they didn't get it out of their system now, it would be ten times worse later on. I could heal them, I was confident in that (as long as someone didn't get an arm chopped off), but even so, there was no guarantee that letting them fight wouldn't just make it worse.

Sokka jabbed his sword at Zuko, but he jumped out of the way just in time. Sokka's desperation seemed to grow. He was frustrated and tired, and every time he tried to hit Zuko, he seemed to slip just out of his grasp. With a yell, he leapt at him, catching him by surprise.

I groaned and covered my eyes so I didn't have to watch.

After the sound of a brief struggle, everything went silent.

My eyes snapped open in surprise only to find Zuko holding Sokka in a choke hold.

"Let him go!" I yelled.

Zuko released him and Sokka scrambled away.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but just as I thought they were done, Sokka lunged towards him again, landing a blow on Zuko's jaw.

"Sokka!" I yelled in frustration. "Seriously, this is stupid!"

Zuko rolled out of the punch and leapt to his feet.

Sokka ran at him, shoulders back and head down, going in for a low tackle. It didn't take a physic to know what would happen next. As if Sokka had been going in slow motion, Zuko grabbed him by the jaw, pulled him up and took a swipe at his legs, sending him straight onto his backside.

I cringed at the sound of the impact, but made no move to stop them. I'd be there to sew them back together in the end, that's all that mattered. I was just thankful they stopped using their swords.

Sokka kicked out hard at Zuko's legs and miraculously landed a blow that sent him stumbling.

Zuko, up until now, had hardly been trying to hurt Sokka; he'd been blocking rather than attacking. I could tell by the expression on his face that it was about to change drastically. It was like that one kick had finally succeeded in releasing Zuko's anger. He was livid.

Sokka didn't stand a chance, and I honestly didn't want to watch.

Zuko swung his fist at Sokka's face.

Sokka was not expecting that punch, and you could see it on his face. Or at least you could…before Zuko's punch connected to his jaw. Sokka flew backwards and groaned from his position in the dirt.

I sighed, finally thinking this fight was over, but just as I braced myself to stand, Sokka got to his feet.

His eyes were unfocused as he stumbled, but as soon as his eyes locked onto Zuko, he shot at him like a bullet.

I sighed and lay down flat on my back, no longer interested. They could beat each other into unconsciousness for all I cared. "Tell me when it's over, ok Toph?"

"This is getting good." Her voice was giddy with excitement.

I stared into the sky; the only noises were those of struggle and the occasional "Oh." or "Ouch." From Toph.

We needed to leave soon, before Azula got to us again. There was no way to tell when that would be, but now that we had Aang…maybe we could get rid of her for good. Aang had fought her off more than once, according to Sokka, so maybe he could do it again.

The sound of fists hitting skin interrupted my thoughts and made me groan in annoyance.

The only chance we had to get rid of Azula was to first get rid of her minions. She sent Ty Lee and Mai out first, which meant that they were expendable. She didn't really care whether they got hurt or not, they were only valuable in tiring us out before she set to work. Without Mai or Ty Lee, we stood a chance. Four against three skilled fighters, each with a different talent, sounded like a long shot. But four against one?

Suddenly, all went quiet. "Um…" Toph let out a laugh. "I think they're done."

I glanced up, and what met my eyes made me want to laugh…or cringe. Sokka was on the floor, sprawled out flat in the dirt with it smeared all over his face. Zuko was sitting a foot or so away, his chest heaving, arms smeared with earth.

"Oh gods…" Sokka groaned loudly and rolled over with a hacking cough.

I stood up and brushed myself off. "Are you done?"

Zuko stood up and walked away, his head held high in triumph.

Sokka groaned again and sat up. Now I could see the full extent of his injuries. A small line of blood flowed down his arm from a small puncture that was caused be their little wrestling match. His jaw was already a deep purple and there were several red marks all up and down his arms that I was sure would turn into bruises. Although he looked bad, I bet he was ten times worse under that shirt he was wearing. He looked about ready to puke.

I sighed and walked over to Sokka. "Would you like to tell me what the hell happened?"

"I-" He groaned and rubbed at his red forehead. "Well, he was being stupid!" he gestured towards Zuko who was climbing onto Appa's back.

"Toph told me it was because he wanted to stop for the night."

"Yeah! That is stupid!"

"Ok Sokka, whatever you say." I got up and joined Zuko and Toph on the saddle. No matter what Sokka said, this fight wasn't about Zuko wanting to stop for the night, it was about something else…and I could take a guess as to what that was. I knew that this was just some testosterone and anger driven fight fest, but that didn't mean I had to like it. Now, hopefully, it was out of his system.

"If he's not back on the saddle in two minutes, we're leaving without him." Toph yelled from her place on the saddle.

"We can't leave him." Aang said.

"Yes we can." Toph remarked.

Aang shook his head and got off of Appa's head so he could help Sokka to his feet. After a minute of struggling with supporting Sokka's weight, he slowly helped Sokka limp over to Appa. With extra care, he sent Sokka onto the saddle with a gentle updraft.

"You're an idiot." I whispered and crawled next to Sokka as Appa lifted up into the air.

"I feel like I got ran over by a carriage." Sokka moaned and leaned back.

"Yeah, good." I pulled water out of my skin and started healing his arms. I could see exactly where Zuko's fingers had grabbed him, and just where he rolled over a rock or two. I moved onto his face and healed the bruise on his jaw and the one that was beginning to form on his temple.

"I love having a healer for a sister." He moaned in bliss.

"Yeah well…if this happens again, I'm not healing you." I grumbled. "Now take off your shirt."

"Oh gods…" he moaned as he pulled his shirt over his head. "My muscles are killing me."

"Oh gods Zuko…" I whispered and turned to him. "What did you do to him?"

Zuko furrowed his forehead in frustration. "Hey, he was the one who attacked me."

"I know, but damn…" I muttered and placed a hand on Sokka's ribs and used the blood inside of him as an extension of my sight. Thankfully, his ribs were unbroken and solid, bruised as hell, but unbroken.

"How the hell did this one happen?" I asked Sokka and pointed to an entire handprint shaped bruise on his chest.

He looked down at it and cringed. "I don't know, the whole fight is kind of fuzzy…"

I finished with Sokka and crawled over to Zuko. "Ok, what's your damage?"

"I'm fine." He said with a frown.

"I know he got you a few times, let me see."

"I'm fine."

"Come on…show me."

"Agni, I'm fine, leave it alone."

"Stop being stubborn!"

"I'm being stubborn?!" he yelled. "You're the one who insists I'm injured when nothings wrong with me."

"Fine." I folded my arms across my chest. "Whatever it is, I hope it gets infected."

"What?" Zuko asked, slightly offended and very annoyed.

"You heard me." I almost stuck my tongue out, but checked myself at the last minute. "Infection."

He threw his hands into the air. "Gods above, you talk so much."

"You're the one who needs to shut up." I muttered.

"Oh yeah, 'Miss. I always need to have the last word', I'm the one who needs to be quiet…"

"Jerk."

"Oh, name calling now?" Zuko yelled.

I leaned in so that I was inches from his face. I was so close that he froze for a second. "Idiot." I whispered with a smile.

"Excuse me?" he yelled, getting closer.

"Ass."

"Dolt."

I stared at him wide eyed. "Hey, that's my insult!"

"Snob!" he yelled.

Toph groaned and covered her ears. "And I thought Sokka's fight was pointless."

Aang continued to fly the bison, oblivious to the conversation happening behind him due to the roar of the wind.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o