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

"Go easy on me… Remember, I'm a beginner." I smirked at Aang and got into a bending stance.

Aang did the same. "Ready?"

I nodded and watched him for the slightest movement, a twitch of the muscle or a shift of posture. Suddenly, I saw it… His right arm made the smallest of a tic.

Just as he moved to lash out at me, I brought up a wall of water.

I heard the thud of his attack making contact with my wall, and before he could attack again, I froze the wall and punched into the ice, sending broken fragments flying at Aang.

He avoided them without a problem and sent a water whip my way. I ducked and dodged the whip and sent one of my own but he was able to dodge it just in time.

I groaned in annoyance, the Avatar never stood still long enough for me to attack him (not that I really expected him too). I used all of my strength to pull a wave of water as high as I could and sent it crashing towards him.

Aang, true to his style, jumped into the air and easily avoided the wave. He pulled the water back to him and sent it flying back towards me in the form of deadly icicles. Without even wasting time to think, I used all of my strength and concentration to push the icicles, which were still flying at great speed, slightly off course so that they landed next to me and shattered harmlessly in the dirt.

"Great reflexes!" Aang yelled.

I smiled in triumph and continued my assault.

I grabbed as much water as I could and covered the ground completely with it, letting the thirsty soil soak it all up. If all went as planned, Aang wouldn't know what hit him.

Aang gave me a strange look, but continued attacking. He sent torrent after torrent of water at me, and I blocked them all. I sent balls of ice his way, and he twisted and ducked to ensure he wouldn't get hit, but he couldn't block them all. One of my concentrated ice balls caught him in the shoulder and sent him crashing to the ground.

My heart began pumping at the strain of the move I began to perform. I closed my eyes and brought the water back up. The ground shook in protest as the water rose from beneath, reluctant to surrender the liquid, but I prevailed.

The water burst from the ground like Old Faithful and covered Aang completely. Before he had the time to get up, I froze the water and sealed him inside an icy tomb.

For several seconds, Aang didn't move. I dropped my stance, worried. Should I help him? Was he, the all powerful Avatar, trapped and unable to break free?

But, in answer to my inner turmoil, the ice exploded. The shock wave sent me flying back and into a bush.

I hissed in pain as my back made contact with a rock.

I rolled over just in time to avoid a wave of water that was aimed towards me. I hopped up and hurled a whip at him with all of my strength, and he danced out of the way.

"Ok, ok!" Aang yelled, his chest heaving. "Let's quit, I'm tired."

I plopped onto the ground in exhaustion. "Thank you."

"You are really good." He arched his back in stretch. "That ice thing…I might have to use that."

"Thanks. But I haven't beaten you yet."

"Well, you've only been training a week, I've trained months…" He got up and grabbed his ankles in another stretch.

My mind went back to what the spirits told me a few days ago. They said I was meant to teach Aang, which meant that I would have to be better than him. Does that mean that I would have to learn faster than I thought? I was already getting better by the day, quicker than I ever thought possible.

"Hm…" the Avatar continued, resting his chin on his hand. "Maybe you should go talk to Zuko."

"Zuko?" I questioned.

"Yeah. I can't teach you anything else; this is all I know, but Zuko's a firebender. Maybe sparring with him…" Aang let his sentence hang. "There's only so much you can teach to someone, the rest has to come from experience and your heart."

'Learn from them.' Was this my chance to learn something from Zuko? The spirits said that my friends were invaluable, and I'm sure Zuko could teach me… But would he agree to it? I had never actually seen him firebend, was he any good? "You think he'd help?

"Yeah, I'm sure he would." He chirped.

"Okay, I'll talk to him when we get back to camp." I told him. "Now let's go… I'm starving.

He chucked and joined me as I walked back to the campsite. "Me too."

"Good fight today." I put my arm around his shoulders and squeezed. He was the perfect height for me to rest on, so I was in no hurry to move.

But he didn't seem to mind me invading his space, because he replied with a shy. "Yeah, good fight."

I gave him another friendly squeeze and continued into camp.

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

"Okay, we really need to stop at the next town, we're running out of supplies." I yelled up to Aang.

Zuko had enough tact not to mention he had suggested the same thing a few days ago, but only to a different reaction.

Speaking of Zuko and Sokka, I was completely flabbergasted by what I was seeing. They still didn't talk, but there was no more glaring… Had letting Zuko beat the crap out of him actually helped like I had hoped? Did he get it out of his system? I hadn't expected them to become the best of friends after that fight, but still, things were a lot better now.

But the strange part wasn't even the lack of a glare… The strangest thing was that for the last few days, Sokka had been up before I had. The first time I thought he was sick and insisted on healing him, but when it happened a second time I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The third morning, Sokka had to wake meup.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, its actually nice not having to dangle food in front of his face every time I want him out of bed. Maybe he figured out that if he wanted to stay on schedule, he actually had to get up on time.

But like I said… I'm not complaining.

Sokka opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "No Sokka, I'm not eating the seal jerky."

"I agree… Appa is tired!" Aang yelled back over the scream of the wind. "I'll stop at the next town I see."

I smiled and hunkered down for a long ride; the next town could be hours away. Hopefully, it would be a big one and have plenty of shops since I still had to purchase some of those bindings Toph had. If I was lucky, they'd even have a spa. I would kill for a decent manicure.

Suddenly, I remembered my question for Zuko. "Hey, Zuko!" I half-yelled so my voice could carry across the saddle.

He glanced my way and threw me a questioning glance.

"I kind of…" I bit my lip and crawled over to him so I didn't have to yell anymore. "I want to know if you can help me train."

"What, you mean sparring practice?" he asked.

"Sure." I gave him a pleading look.

"I guess I can." He nodded and sighed. "We'll have to convince Sokka to let us camp a little earlier.

"Yeah, we're pushing it already, what with all of Aang's lessons." I chewed on my bottom lip in thought. "Too bad Sokka is so paranoid about Azula he'll probably say no."

Zuko let out a sigh. "I know… But I don't think we have to worry about her for a while."

"What do you mean? She's probably close!"

"Well, if you look at it through her eyes…" He paused and chose his words carefully. "You have to realize, until now, Sokka was Aang's only traveling companion, and he only knew how to bend water and air. Now… he has an earthbender and a firebender with him. She's probably in the Fire Nation right now telling the Fire Lord."

"Tell Sokka that."

He gave me a strange look. "Maybe later."

"I'll tell him then, it will probably help our cause."

"Yeah, but he'll still want to stay on schedule."

"Maybe if we bribe him…" I suggested.

"With what, more food?"

"I don't know…something."

"Get him a new knife, and he'll probably do anything." He muttered.

I laughed. "Yeah, good luck. Maybe we'll find one lying around camp somewhere."

"Yeah." He rubbed at his overgrown hair. "Right."

"A knife…" I mumbled. "Where are we going to get one of these?"

"I was kidding about the knife." Zuko pointed out.

"What other options do we have?" I answered.

"I don't know, could we maybe - and this might be a long shot - just ask him to start camping early?" he asked in a monotone.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny." I rolled my eyes at him. "I think something sharp and shiny is our best bet."

"Sharp and shiny… Got it." He leaned back into the saddle and closed his eyes.

I had the feeling he wasn't paying attention anymore. "Sharp… shiny… sharp and shiny." I repeated to myself.

Suddenly, it came to me. "Zuko!" I slapped his knee a few times to get his attention.

He snapped to attention and glared at me. "What?"

"I got it! I have something sharp and shiny!" I yelled.

"You're so loud!" Toph yelled her face pale from fright.

"Sorry…" I grumbled and turned back to Zuko. "She gets a little testy when we fly."

"Back to the point, please."

"Okay, okay… I've had this thing the whole time; I've just never had the chance to show it off."

"What is it?"

I smiled and reached into the secret pocket I had sewn into my tunic. "This!" I yelled and whipped out my pocket knife.

"What is it?" Zuko's only eyebrow rose in confusion.

I held it reverently in my hands and moved in front of him so that I was a hair away from touching him. "It's a utility knife."

"Utility knife?

"Yeah." I pulled the blade out of its frame.

"We have knives like that in the Fire Nation." He didn't sound impressed at all.

"Okay, Mr. The-Fire-Nation-Has-Everything... Its not only a knife." I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out more of the attachments, listing them off as I did, "Scissors, pliers, cork opening thingy, bottle opener, screwdriver, whatever this thing is, and look… Tweezers!"

"Tweezers?" Zuko asked, hiding his laugh.

"What? Those do come in handy!" I yelled, offended with him finding humor in my tweezers.

"Oh, I'm sure." He nodded his head absently.

"Well?" I asked, exasperated.

"'Well' what?" he grumbled.

"Will he like it?"

"Yeah… I think so."

I smiled widely. "Great!"

He stared at me for a long minute, his eyes so intense that I had to look away. I didn't know what he was trying to do, looking at me like that, but it made me feel a little sweaty.

With a slight blush on my face, I crawled over to Sokka's sleeping form, "Hey!" I shouted and flicked his ear. "I have a question for you."

"What?" he yelled back in frustration.

"Can we start camping a little earlier from now on?"

Sokka began to laugh. "That's funny, land earlier? HA! Thank you… I needed that." He closed his eyes and began drifting back to sleep.

"Really, Sokka, I'm serious." I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled anyways.

Sokka's smile fell. "Do you think we have time for that? We don't."

I grunted in annoyance. "Well… How am I supposed to know? I have no idea where were going! I just get on the bison and let you fly us around!"

Sokka rolled his shoulders, a habit he repeats when he gets annoyed. "Aang and I decided it would be best to go to the Air Temple., so we're headed there."

"Why the Air Temple?"

Sokka smiled knowingly. "Well, it seemed like-"

"Shut up!" Zuko shouted. He got to his knees, and I could see the slight movement in his nose as he sniffed the air.

I placed my hand on his arm. "What is it?"

He looked down at me as if in surprise. "Don't you smell that?"

I sniffed the air, but smelled nothing. "No… Nothing. What is it?"

"What's up with him?" Sokka asked with a grunt.

Zuko leaned over the saddle and began searching the land below. "It smells like-

Suddenly, the bison began a steep dive, one so steep even Toph began to scream, and Zuko (who was already leaning half out the saddle) lost his balance and started falling over the edge.

I didn't think about it, I didn't have time too… When I saw Zuko fall, I reached after him, grabbing his legs as he tumbled out of the saddle. I tried to brace myself but my feet had nothing to grab onto, so I, too, began to fall.

I only had a second to scream before I heard a shout and felt strong hands grab onto me.

My eyes, which had been clenched shut in fright, popped open. The first thing I saw was Zuko hanging upside down, only me stopping him from falling. I was hanging over the saddle, the only thing to keep me from plummeting to my death were the strong hands holding my ankles in a death grip.

"Sokka!" I screamed up at him.

"I got you, Katara!" he yelled back, strain clean in his voice.

I closed my eyes and held onto Zuko tighter. "Zuko!"

Zuko was absolutely quiet.

My heart began pumping at lightening speed. I craned my neck back and met his shocked, disbelieving stare. "Are you okay?!" I yelled over the roar of the wind and the yelling taking place atop the saddle.

Zuko said nothing, but I could see him close his eyes in relief… It was almost as if he didn't expect anyone to go after him the way I had, like he knew he was going to die.

I squeezed him as hard as I could, looking him straight into the eye, letting him know that I wouldn't let him go. I would never let go. I don't know how long we stayed like that, staring into each others eyes, my chin resting on his surprisingly hard stomach, (but I couldn't think of that now, our lives were in danger) but it didn't matter.

Eventually, the ground began growing dangerously close, so close that if I didn't do something fast Zuko might get trampled as Appa landed.

I let go with one hand and reached out for Zuko, hoping he would know what to do, and he didn't let me down. He reached out to me and grabbed my forearm in a tight grip. I mouthed a countdown and as soon as I hit one, I let go with my other arm and swung it around so he could grab onto it as well. At the same time, Zuko wrapped his legs around me so he would swing right side up and snap my wrists.

Sokka's nails dig into my calves, and my ankles burned from the rope he had used to tie me to a handhold of the saddle.

"Ready?" I yelled.

"Yeah!" he yelled, talking for the first time in the whole ordeal.

"Pull!" I screamed, giving us no room for hesitation, we were out of time and the ground was fast approaching.

Zuko and I both pulled at the same time, hoisting him up so that we could be at the same level.

Sokka moaned at the strain, and my ankles screamed in protest, but I smiled anyway. There was no chance of Zuko slipping now that he had his arms locked around my waist.

I was so preoccupied with my own relief that there was no warning before Appa landed. As soon as the bison's feet made contact with the ground, we were jerked around and smacked into Appa's side.

It was completely silent for a second before I heard the thump of a body landing next to me and felt hands that I knew to me Sokka's grab me.

"Sokka." I called firmly. "Get Zuko first, I'm still attached to the saddle."

Sokka let go of me and ran around so that he was behind Zuko. Slowly, Zuko slid down and was able to, with Sokka's help, flip right side up again.

Right about now, my head was killing me from being upside down for so long, and I was beginning to feel very dizzy. "Now get me down!"

"Katara!" Aang yelled and ran up to me. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I just-"

"Not now, Aang!" I yelled in annoyance.

"But-"

"Shut up and help her down!" Zuko yelled at Aang.

I reached out and grabbed Sokka's hands. He yelled up to Toph, who had replaced Sokka in holding my legs. "Okay, now slowly untie her feet and let her down! Slowly!"

As soon as the ropes loosened and the blood rushed back into my feet, I couldn't hold back my scream of agony. It felt like I just stepped onto a bed of hot coals. The second they placed me on the ground, I rudely demanded a bucket of water, and both Sokka and Aang ran to comply.

Beside me, Zuko was mumbling incoherently.

"Zuko," I said calmly, or as calmly as I could with the amount of pain I was going through.

As soon as he turned to look at me I slapped him as hard as I could across the face, tears beginning to form in my eyes. The resounding smack was so loud that I felt it myself. "Don't you ever, ever, do that again or so help me, I will murder you!"

His hand reached up to touch his red cheek, then, without thinking about it (for if I had, I probably wouldn't have done it), I dove over to him and gave him a huge hug.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into my neck, his warm breath ghosting across my skin as he squeezed. "But thank you…"

"We got the water!" Aang yelled from the trees, causing Zuko and I to pull apart quickly. I sniffed awkwardly… I hugged people all of the time, but this felt different. I felt that if they saw me hugging him, I would die of embarrassment.

"Well, hurry up!" I yelled back, hoping my cheeks would loose their blush by the time they got to me.

Sokka ran into camp and placed the bucket in front of me. "Here."

"I'm so sorry, Katara, but when I was flying I saw fire coming from the town and I wanted to help, so… I didn't even think, I just-"

"There's a town on fire!?" I yelled, forgetting about my feet.

"That's what I smelled, smoke. It smelled like burning crops." Zuko added.

"Well then what are you doing here?!" I asked. "Go help them!"

Aang frowned. "But you-"

"Katara, your feet-" Sokka began.

"No. Go." I insisted. "You too, Sokka and Toph."

"Katara, I can't just leave you-"

"Aang, you're the Avatar, save them. It's your job. I'm not as important as a whole town." I reminded him, hoping he'd just go. People were in danger and he was just standing here doing nothing.

"But-" Aang and Sokka began at the same time.

"Go now or I'm sure Toph will force you!" I threatened.

"You bet I will." Toph added.

Aang looked towards where a pillar of smoke was beginning to rise and then back at me.

"Go." I insisted.

"Ok…" aang looked at Zuko. "Take care of her."

Zuko nodded.

"Will you be okay?" Sokka asked.

"Yes." I insisted.

Finally, they took off, and I was alone with Zuko.

"Are you really okay?" he asked.

"Hell no, I'm not!" I cried out, not even bothering to hide it as the teard finally spilled over. "It feels like someone is peeling the skin off of my feet!"

"I don't even know how you did it…" He took one of my feet and peeled the shoe off.

"Yeah, me neither, I don't know how I held on for so long." I agreed. "Adrenaline, I guess."

I pulled back my feet and braced myself. "I don't really want to look at it."

Zuko nodded and began heating the bucket of water.

With a deep breath, I pulled back one of my socks and peeked at my ankle. I groaned at the sight that met my eyes, both my ankles were red and raw. I had to look away, if that was what my ankle looked like then I did not to see my feet. They felt numb, and I was betting they were swollen and purple.

"Here, let me help you." Zuko spoke up.

I glanced at him. "No."

"Sokka told me-"

I rolled my eyes. "Since when did you listen to Sokka? And I'm not going to make you-"

Before I could finish, Zuko seized my feet and peeled off my socks.

"Oh, Agni…" he muttered, and I had to force myself to look. My ankles weren't the worse of it; my feet were in fact as purple and swollen as I could have guessed, maybe even more.

"Put my feet down." I begged with a red face.

"You talk too much." He remarked and then placed my feet in the warm water.

"Ahh." I sighed in relief. Without me needing to do anything, the water began glowing. "And I don't talk a lot."

He smirked and began rubbing my feet under water. "Way too much."

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

"I don't understand…" Zuko spoke slowly, unsurely.

"Well I don't know the mechanics of it all either, but this is what it looks like."

"It's so small…the ones we have don't look nothing like these, we only have war vehicles."

"These will get you anywhere, not only just for battle, but also for recreation."

"Cant you people just walk to your destination?" His eyebrow was sky high.

"Well...we could." I bit at my lip. "But we're a pretty lazy people."

"Cars… I'll have to see if we can produce some of these… When I get back to the palace, of course."

"And this one…" I shuffled through pieces of parchment until I found the one I wanted. "…is a computer."

"Computer." He repeated. "Such a strange word."

"It's amazing though, we can store so much information on them. You could probably put the whole palace library on one of these."

"I have a hard time-"

"Katara!" I looked up, and Sokka was running towards us. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I took my feet out of the steaming bucket and pointed them in his direction. "See?"

"Oh good…" He sighed and doubled over in exhaustion. "I was so worried."

"Sokka, did you run all the way here?" I questioned.

"Maybe… But it wasn't very far."

Zuko leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Actually, it was a few miles."

"Where is everyone?" I asked, scanning the tree line for the rest of the gang.

In answer, I heard Appa groan and saw his large form through the large break in the treetops. As soon as Appa's giant paws touched the ground, Aang appeared in front of me in lightening speed. Before he could open his mouth, I beat him to it. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Great." He sighed out the word with feeling.

"How did you guys do? Did you kick some Fire Nation butt?" I asked.

"I wish." Toph rounded Appa and put her hands on her hips lazily. "They were Earth Kingdom soldiers."

"Earth Kingdom soldiers were attacking their own people?"

"Yeah." Aang answered me softly, soberly.

"Happens all of the time." Sokka added.

I glanced towards Toph, but she was too busy cleaning between her toes, so I craned my neck over Toph to see Zuko.

He had a strange look on his face, one that told me he was remembering, but what… I didn't know. I was brought back to when I found out that he lied to me about his name. He had promised no more secrets, would he tell me if I asked him?

I turned my body towards him and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Zuko, are you alright?"

He looked at me and shook his head. "I'm fine." His brows furrowed in annoyance, but whether he was truly annoyed or not, I couldn't tell.

"Are you hiding something from me?" I glanced towards the rest of the group to make sure no one was listening in (besides Toph, because I know she hears everything, but Zuko probably wouldn't mind if Toph knew). Aang and Sokka were digging through the saddle, pulling up (and eating from) bags of food I supposed the town gave them as a gift.

Zuko seemed to be checking the same thing, and when he was satisfied he leaned close and lowered his voice. "I'll tell you later."

I rose my eyebrows at him, but he ignored me and began heating the bucket of water (probably so I'd shut up).

"Hey, Katara!" Toph yelled from the direction of the saddle.

I snapped out of my state of bliss in time to see her throw a bag at me. I caught it and held it up, a large question mark on my face.

Toph smiled, mock innocence plaguing her twelve year old face. "You mentioned you might need one."

By now, everyone was watching curiously, and I understood what. Toph giving a gift was as rare as a blue moon. There was probably a dead animal inside. So with a roll of my eyes and a good natured smile, I reached in and pulled it out.

Immediately, my smile fell and was replaced with a blush. It wasn't a dead raccoon, although I would have preferred it. I managed, in just a few seconds, to embarrass myself in front of the whole camp. For in that bag had been the bindings I wanted.

And I could practically hear the same thought going through all of the males' minds.

'Had she not been wearing those the entire time?'

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

"I've mentioned my uncle before, right?" He asked, the glow of the firelight casting shadows on his face.

"Fleetingly." I set my bedroll a few feet from where Zuko's was and sat down.

"Well he's been with me for years, always by my side, always supporting me, but one day I decided to go on without him… While I was on my own I passed through a town and met a nice family that let me stay with them."

"Did they know who you were?" I asked, doubting they'd let him stay if they'd known he was the Fire Prince.

"No, not then. The town I was staying at was plagued by a group of corrupt Earth Kingdom soldiers. A little boy that belonged to the family I was staying with attacked a soldier, and they took him away."

"They took the boy?" I asked in horror. "What happened?"

"I went to get him of course. I was doing well until an earthbender challenged me. They were all cheering for me…until I called upon my fire. I beat him, but they didn't take to well to me being the Fire Prince." He gave a sardonic smile.

"They told you to leave… Didn't they?"

He nodded his head.

I snuggled into my sleeping bag and continued to watch Zuko.

He honestly looked fine, like it didn't bother him at all that they shunned him. It looked like things similar to that happened to him on a daily basis, and for all I knew it could. I had no idea what it was like living as a hated person.

"Good night, Zuko." I whispered and closed my eyes, praying to the spirits that he wouldn't ever have to go through that again.

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