(A/N)- Heeeyyaaaaa!

Here I be with a new chapter, getting right back into that Season One action. Let's meet Girl!Haru!

Disclaimer: Ha, right. No, I don't Avatar. Bummer.

Replacement

The chill sea breeze lifted tiny droplets onto his face.

Katar shivered slightly, looking out across the waves towards the brightening sun on the horizon. Black smoke from the ruined Fire Nation prison still billowed high into the air, as their escape ships sailed further and further away from the rig.

Adrenaline still ran excitedly through his veins. He couldn't believe the past few days had happened. They'd infiltrated a prison. They'd fought the Fire Nation.

They'd won.

Sokki had been by just a few moments ago, to congratulate him. Of course, she'd made it sound like he'd done it all to play the big strong hero in the eyes of their new friend Haruhi, teasing him about rescuing damsels in distress.

The words had prickled him, and not just because he was absolutely not interested in the earthbender that way.

He hadn't been trying to play the hero he was just... when he'd heard Haruhi had been taken... and it was his fault, again...

Shame had been his first motive. He was ashamed of not being there when it happened, ashamed of failing yet again to protect his friends. His impulse decision to fake earthbending in order to get arrested and sent to the same offshore prison as Haruhi was at first a desperate attempt to make up for the guilt that smothered him.

But then something had happened on the rig. Seeing all those once-proud earthbenders dejectedly accepting their imprisonment, beaten down and spirits broken had ignited something inside him. A passion he didn't know he was capable of.

It made him want to train all the harder, so that if—no, when—the next time came and the Fire Nation was threatening his friends again, threatening her, he would be able to fight by her side.

His gaze drifted, finding Angka at once, sitting atop Appa's head as the bison floated along beside the ship and playing happily with Momo, teasing the lemur with little circling air balls.

He still couldn't believe how good she was with animals. She was so gentle. So comfortable. She rubbed Momo's head like he was a loyal dog and the lemur chirred pleasantly at her touch. Her smile was warm. Beautiful.

He'd do anything to keep seeing it.

"That's her, isn't it?" asked a voice from his left.

Katar glanced up to see Haruhi, standing just a little ways behind him. Her long brown hair brushed her shoulders as she nodded towards Angka.

"The Avatar."

"Yeah..." Katar murmured, watching Angka giggle as Momo crawled into her lap and licked her face.

Haruhi grinned, leaning her arms on the railing. "I was going to ask you to come with us but..." she trailed off.

Katar was already shaking his head.

"You already have a mission don't you?" said Haruhi, answering her own question.

"Yeah," Katar repeated. He fiddled with the bracer on his wrist. "We have to get Angka to the North Pole."

So she could learn waterbending. So she could save the world.

Haruhi's smile faded and she looked down towards the waves, growing somber. "Thank you," she said, "for bringing my father back to me." She shook her head. "I never thought I'd see him again." She straightened, turning to the right to face him. Her eyes were sad as she said, "I only wish there was some way..."

She left the thought unfinished.

A twinge of pain clenched through his head. "I know," he said, his hand absently reaching towards his neck.

The twinge turned into a cold flash of panic as his fingers met with a terrifying nothingness. Katar gasped, eyes darting down.

"My mother's necklace!" he cried. "It's gone!"

Haruhi's eyes widened and Angka looked up at the sound of his distress.

-ATLA-

He looked everywhere.

Well, everywhere it was safe to look. He'd been up and down every inch of the ship, frantically searching every corner, every crevice, praying desperately it was somewhere here and not back on the rig.

Because if it was still at the prison it was as good as gone. They couldn't go back. The Fire Nation would be all over the place. He wouldn't risk Angka's safety just to retrieve a piece of jewelry, even one as precious a memento as his mother's necklace.

Still, it felt like a large chunk had been torn out of his heart, ripped from his chest and flung into the dirt.

The raw wound was still stinging when they made landfall, said goodbye to Haruhi and her father Tyro and the other liberated earthbenders, and started back on their way.

Sokki was unusually quiet, respectful of the loss. She trudged along beside him, carrying the heaviest pack, just clutching the shoulder straps tightly.

Angka was also silent, busy working something in her hands. Momo perched on her shoulder, batting at her hair, and Appa shuffled along in her wake, taking a break from carrying them.

They found a little rocky hollow, bathed orange by the darkening sunset and stopped for the evening. Sokki volunteered herself to go find some firewood, while Katar busied himself with setting out their bedrolls.

He worked numbly. Methodically. Trying not to think too much.

A sudden blur washed over his vision as he patted the bedroll straight. Katar started and blinked furiously, quickly reaching up an arm to wipe his eyes.

None of that. It was just a stupid necklace. He wasn't going to cry over it.

But the image came to him unbidden of a woman's warm face, caring and soft, a bright shine off the pendant at her neck and his vision blurred again, wet drops spilling out and trailing his cheeks.

He rubbed at his face harder now, his sleeve scraping on his skin.

"Hey, uh... Katar?" came Angka's voice, hesitantly.

Katar composed himself and looked up at her, trying for a smile that he could already feel looked forced. "Yes?"

Angka was looking down at her toes, rubbing one foot into the dirt. Her hands clasped something behind her.

"I'm really sorry about your mom's necklace," she said. "And—" She peeked up briefly, then quickly lowered her eyes again. "—and I know I can't ever replace it but..."

She brought her hands out to the front, holding something out to him in her palms.

Katar straightened, his eyes widening.

Angka had somehow found a very thin, very smooth-surfaced blue-white shell that she'd clumsily scratched the Water Tribe waves onto. The shell was threaded through on either side with tautly braided green leaves that trailed into thin knotted ends.

Her cheeks burned pink as she looked everywhere but at him.

"I thought..." she stammered, "...if I made you a new one it might... cheer you up a little?"

He marveled, reaching out a hand to take one of the braided strings and lift the pretty pendant off her hands. "You made this?" he asked. "For me?"

She rubbed a hand up through her hair sheepishly. "I couldn't really remember what the symbol on the front looked like so I kind of just took my best guess, and then I looked for leaves that were bluish but there weren't really any so—"

He interrupted her with arms flung around her small frame. He squeezed tightly, feeling like he would burst if he let her go for even a second.

"You're amazing," he whispered.

He could feel her squirming uncomfortably. "It's just a necklace," she muttered.

He laughed, his heart feeling just a little bit lighter.

"It's just what I needed," he assured her.

(A/N)- Katar gains a little bit of self-confidence and passion, Haruhi's shipper senses are tingling, Katar loses an important plot macguffin to be picked up and passed around by various parties later, and Angka makes him a new necklace a few episodes earlier than in canon because shut up I wanted to and you can't stop me.

The kids are growing sweet on each other quickly. Too bad neither of them are aware of it yet, lol. That will come later.

Reviews are appreciated!