They were finally, truly, actually on their way to the Northern Water Tribe, but Katara couldn't bring herself to be excited about that anymore. Instead, worry and fear and frustration bubbled up inside her.

She was going to have to train with Zuko, which was probably the last thing she wanted to do.

These were the thoughts that were going through her head as she stood alone on the riverbank, a waterbending scroll splayed out on the ground next to her, and shifted through the stances one more time.

Water rose from the river at her command—doing that much was easy. It was the rest of it that never worked.

She leaned onto her back foot, bringing the water closer, then quickly leaned forward and flicked a wrist.

Instead of whipping outward, the water shot back and smacked her on the wrist.

"Ow!" Katara lost concentration, and the little stream of water splashed back into the river and flowed away.

"Ugh." Katara rubbed her wrist, glaring down at the scroll.

A couple hundred feet back, through the trees, Katara heard Aang's laughter echo. He and Zuko were training, too—in airbending, of course—back in the clearing where they'd made camp.

Katara sighed and, glancing up at the darkening sky, decided that she should head back that direction anyway. It was nearly dinnertime, and they were still trying to figure out what exactly their next steps were.

Katara gathered up her scrolls and slid them into her bag, then slowly began to make her way back toward camp.

As she got closer, she could hear Aang talking.

"I can't believe how much you've gotten already," he was saying. "You're a natural at airbending."

Of course he is, Katara thought.

"It won't last." Zuko's monotone voice grated at Katara. "We're just doing basics, right?"

"Well, yeah, but still—it's only been, what, five, six real lessons? It's a lot to learn in a short time."

Zuko didn't respond in words, and Katara was still too far away to see them, but she imagined him shrugging in that noncommittal way of his. Just the image frustrated her.

Of course he was a natural airbender. He'd found out he was the Avatar only a couple months ago, and now he already had a master for two elements and was on his way to a third.

Meanwhile, Katara had been trying to learn how to waterbend for as long as she could remember, and she still didn't have a master. It wasn't fair.

She could tell her face was twisted into an angry expression, so she stopped for a moment behind a tree at the edge of camp, and took a few deep breaths, forcing her expression back into neutral. She entered the clearing.

Aang and Zuko didn't immediately notice her arrival. They were on the far side of the clearing, and Zuko was practicing some basic airbending forms.

Sokka, however, looked up from where he sat poring over a map near the campfire, and gave her a little smile.

"Training go okay, sis?"

"Sure." Katara made her way over to where Appa lay, his head on his massive paws, watching as Aang and Zuko moved the air around. Trying very hard not to look over in their direction, Katara opened one of the sacks that hung off Appa's saddle and began pulling out supplies to make dinner.

When she turned around, Sokka was staring at her with a frown on his face. His expression very clearly read, You okay?

Katara shook her head, hoping he understood the message: not now. She glanced toward Aang and Zuko.

Sokka nodded. He put away his maps and began to help Katara get ready for dinner.


Over the next few weeks of travel, the group slowly became acclimated to each other. Aang and Zuko continued to train in airbending, Katara continued to try to teach herself waterbending, and Sokka put himself in charge of the schedule.

They bounced around, trying not to stay in any place for too long. Not long into their journey, they started getting occasional letters via messenger hawk, addressed to Zuko and the others, from Iroh. He kept them updated on how the "Aang is the Avatar" ruse was going and told them to try to stay low as much as possible.

Zuko was more than happy to do that, and luckily, since Katara and Sokka were from a village that subsisted mostly on hunting and gathering, they were pretty good at finding things for them to eat. However, there were some things they did need to go into town to buy on occasion, and when they did, they tried to switch up who went, or wear disguises.

For the most part, though, they decided that Zuko and Sokka would be the ones to go into town most often, since Katara and Aang's likenesses were still plastered on wanted posters all across the Fire Nation-controlled part of the Earth Kingdom.

Which was why Zuko found himself walking next to Sokka in silence on this particular day. They were traveling down a forested pathway, having left Katara, Aang, and Appa back at the camp a mile or so outside of the nearest town.

"So Zuko," Sokka said, and Zuko tried not to flinch.

"Yes?"

"What do you like to…do…for fun?"

Now Zuko wanted to groan. He hadn't realized that Sokka would try to take this opportunity to make small talk.

"Fun?" he asked. "Uh…" Fun hadn't been a word in his vocabulary for a very long time. Not since his mother disappeared over five years ago now.

But Sokka was looking at him expectantly, and Zuko didn't want to seem like a total loser, so he said, "I guess I like training?"

Sokka's expression told Zuko that had not been a good answer. His eyebrows rose, and his lips twitched upward.

"Training isn't fun." he said. "Training is work."

Zuko shrugged, fixing his gaze on the road before him. "Guess I'm not really into fun, then?"

"Oh, come on, you don't mean that. Who doesn't like fun?"

Zuko just looked at him. After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Zuko turned away and began walking again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sokka shift, as if uncomfortable, but then he followed after Zuko.

The awkward silence continued unbroken for a while longer as they made their way down the twisting forest path—until the sounds of shouting made Zuko motion quickly into the brush, and the two of them ducked off to the side just as about half a dozen people came barreling around the corner.

Zuko crept forward in a crouch and peeked around the bush to get a better look at the people as they rushed by.

It was two separate groups, he realized—the group in the front consisted of about five people of varying ages and apparent genders. They wore the typical garb of the Earth Kingdom, simple greens and browns, but they all seemed to be barefoot. Earthbenders?

Behind them was a smaller group of three people—and Zuko had to bite his tongue to keep himself from gasping, because these were all clearly Fire Nation soldiers, with their distinctive black and red armor and spiked helmets.

"What is it?" Sokka hissed, and Zuko waved at him to shut up as he made his way back quietly.

"Fire Nation soldiers," he whispered, softly as possible, when he had returned to Sokka's side. "They're chasing a group of earthbenders."

Sokka chewed on his lip. "Let me see."

He didn't need to move forward to see, though, because by this point, the two groups were practically in Sokka and Zuko's laps.

The earthbenders were shouting to each other—hurried bursts of conversation that Zuko couldn't clearly make out the words of. Two of them slowed and threw up a giant wall of rock in the path of the firebenders—but which also stretched far into the trees on either side. If the firebenders went around it, they'd run right into Sokka and Zuko on the way back to the path.

Sokka shook his head at Zuko and pointed farther away from the path. As Zuko was beginning to follow him away, he heard an explosion on the path behind him and whipped his head back to look.

The firebenders had blasted through the earthbenders' wall and were now fully engaged with them. They were outnumbered, but they made up for it with skill.

The earthbenders were giving their all, but Zuko could already tell it wouldn't be enough. He'd been around enough talented firebenders in his life to know that these were some of the better ones.

There was a part of him—the part of him that had made him save Hano that day at the market, or that had told him to stay and fight when his uncle and the others had rescued him from arrest—a little part that whispered that he should step in and help these people. His hand was already starting to inch toward the swords he carried on his hip.

But Sokka touched his arm and said, "Come on, Zuko, we've gotta get out of here."

And he listened. He ignored the whisper of guilt that tugged at him and tried to block out the sounds of the earthbenders as they cried out in pain behind him.

Soon, he and Sokka had made it past the earthbenders' wall and were nearly to town, the sounds of the fight far behind them.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to help," Zuko said. He was not going to let guilt creep into his voice. "I would've thought, I don't know…."

Sokka glanced at him. "I prefer to pick my battles strategically."

Zuko bit his lip. "Oh."

"I would've thought you'd be like that, too. You're the one who's always insisting we stay out of sight as much as possible."

"Oh. Yeah," Zuko said. "I guess you're right."

He definitely wasn't going to admit that he was doing that mostly out of fear and not because of any inclination toward pragmatism. He had a feeling Sokka might have been able to read the truth on him anyway, though, because he raised an eyebrow at him.

He didn't say anything though. Neither of them did until they got into town.

When they did get to town, they mostly discussed what they were going to buy, which Zuko was glad for. He wasn't interested in delving into his personal issues any more than he had to, and Sokka didn't seem like he wanted to delve into those issues either.

At least, until they were on their way back to camp after buying some things at the town market. Then Sokka said, "So why do you insist on trying to stay quiet?"

Zuko winced. "My uncle is a smart man. In the letters he's been sending us, he's been telling me to keep myself hidden as much as I can."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?"

Zuko thought about all the times over the past three years, or even before that, when Iroh had tried to advise him to do something, and he had done exactly the opposite. The truth was that he mostly did what suited him, regardless of what others told him. In this case, that just happened to be more or less in line with what his uncle wanted from him.

He sighed. "No."

"Didn't think so."

Zuko glared at Sokka. "I guess you're so smart, yeah?"

Sokka shrugged, clearly unfazed by Zuko's sudden burst of anger. Maybe he was getting used to it. "I'm pretty good at reading people when I want to be." He paused. "You know, you're a lot like my sister."

Zuko couldn't help it—he laughed—a real laugh. "Don't let her hear you say that. She hates me."

A little grin appeared on Sokka's face. "That's what I mean. Katara is always letting her heart get her into trouble. You guys clash so much because you're both very…" He scrunched up his face, and Zuko could tell he was trying to find an adjective that wouldn't be too offensive.

"Hot-headed?" he suggested.

Sokka nodded. "Sure. Anyway, try not to let her get to you too much. She'll come around. You're an okay guy, Zuko."

Zuko wasn't so sure about that, but he nodded. "Uh, okay. Thanks?"

Sokka patted him on the shoulder and gave him a little smile, though it was clearly a bit forced.

Somehow, Zuko felt a little more comfortable walking next to Sokka the rest of the way. Despite the awkwardness of the conversation, it was nice to have Sokka accept him somewhat. He was starting to feel a little bit more like he actually belonged as a part of this group, and that he wasn't just some reluctant freeloader that Aang had forced the others to take on.