Zuko

The travel to the colonies had brought Katara and me closer together, not like a couple but as friends, we spend a lot of time talking both about our bending styles about the spirits about what it meant to be a bender. We also goofed around a lot, Katara apparently liked to dance but the Water Tribes dances were far more fluid than what I was accustomed to, after stumbling a couple of times and several missteps I finally found my rhythm and it had more to do with the fact that the dance was basically a martial art, that had led to several sparring matches that showed me the frightening talent that Katara held.

Despite not having any advanced techniques she put up quite a fight with just the basics that she knew and she was quick to improve on what worked and what didn't, I had to hold back less than I thought I would when I faced her which just showed me the difference in fighting waterbenders and firebenders.

After that Katara decided that she wanted to learn more about what I was taught which lead me to mention that I once had a tutor for both singing and dancing and to tell her the story of how me and Azula used to go around doing recreations of Love Amongst Dragons which prompted Katara to ask him more about the arts I knew.

Apart from dancing and some horrible attempts at singing on both our parts, we tried sharing stories which soon turned strange as Katara's childhood was not the best but these years were all pretty normal whereas I had a pretty good childhood until the 'incident' and it hadn't been that long that things started turning out for the better.

Which had led to a rather intimate moment.

"It's strange, don't you think?" Katara was looking out into the ocean unaffected by the erratic waves that crashed into the ship.

"What's strange?" unlike her I was doing my best to not fall on my ass while another big wave swayed the ship.

"All my life I felt trapped in my home, I guess part of it came from the fact that I was the only bender but I still believed that one day I would have more, see more…sometimes when I stared at the ocean I felt like I could see the distant future…like a vision and in it, I saw myself traveling the world" Katara turned to me and stared deeply into my eyes, "I thought it a fantasy but then you came and offered to take me where I wanted, you made that vision come true"

"Things like that, visions and dreams, always have a way to come true but I'm glad that I was the one to help you with this dream" I broke off our staring match and looked at the moon "I only hope that one day I can fulfill mine"

Katara put her hand on my shoulder making me turn to her and with a voice full of determination she spoke "I will help you accomplish your dream Zuko, together we will stop the Fire Lord"

Perhaps I should have abused my abilities to get her then but I would rather take my time, there was something fun in developing a relationship even when I technically had a girlfriend as Katara knew about Mai, I didn't keep it a secret that she was a possible candidate for my hand in marriage or the fact that Mai and I had a physical relationship apart from being childhood friends.

"You have that look on your face that tells me you're thinking too much" Katara didn't even knock on my door before entering our friendship had blurred the social barrier between us and my men knew better than say anything.

"Maybe I'm just brooding" I raised an eyebrow at her "don't you see how a haunted man looking for redemption is attractive?"

"Oh yes" Katara rolled her eyes at me "brooding in the dark is very attractive, if your done playing we have to prepare the ship is about to dock and the captain says that things will be easier if you're there to show the dockworkers that a royal is around"

"Do I hear some jealousy in your tone? Don't worry Katara if we marry I can make you a royal"

Katara snorted in response to my joke "For your information Zuko, being the daughter of the chief ruling over the Southern Water Tribe makes me a princess"

I had honestly forgotten that, my memories of the show and the actual experience of meeting them didn't give me any royalty vibes. "thanks to the way you act I had forgotten"

"You will pay for that the next time we spar" Katara threatened but the way her eyes lit up told me she was joking.

"You have to score a proper hit first before saying that" I snarkily answered back.

After my answer silence reigned in the room as things seemingly turned serious out of nowhere.

"How are we going to find that man?"

"There is a general overseeing the colonies, he has records of all the soldiers that passed through here and I know for a fact that those involved in the massacre of the waterbenders decided to hide among the colonists in case any relatives wanted revenge, normally taking those records out of a general's hands would be difficult but there are advantages to being royalty"

Katara nodded at me and started walking to the door "Make sure to hurry Zuko, I think I've waited long enough for this."


Sokka

To say that there was a big difference between the Southern Water Tribe and The Northern one was the same to Sokka as someone telling him that meat was just tasty when it was in fact, delicious. The meat analogy certainly helped him calm his nerves as they slowly approached the gates of the city.

Of course, moving in what seemed like a Fire Nation ship soon gathered a dangerous kind of attention, and boats filled with warriors soon surrounded them.

"Identify yourselves before we sink your boat" on the lead boat an old man that didn't carry a weapon called out to them.

"My name is Sokka! I'm the son of chief Hakoda! We come in peace." Sokka shouted out, his voice was firm but not confrontational, Sokka didn't come all this way just to piss them off and die at the entrance of the city.

Murmurs came from the rest of the boats but the old man asked another question.

"Why do you come here in a Fire Nation vessel?"

"General Iroh of the Fire Nation is with me! he wants to speak with your chief, I encountered him on my way here and he offered me to accompany him!" Sokka noticed immediately that the attitude of the old man changed as soon as he mentioned Iroh but unlike the rest of the people in the boats, the old man leading them relaxed.

"You are a brave man, risking your life when faced with a legendary firebender, I want to hear your story and I'm sure the chief will be interested in whatever general Iroh has to say" the old man proved why he was leading the warriors as he raised his hands just like Katara used to do but instead of a small wave to splash him a tidal wave that could drown them rose behind everyone, just before Sokka started screaming the wave slowly pushed everyone forward.

The distraction might have been enough to take everyone's attention away from Iroh but Sokka noticed that the old waterbender nodded to the general in either respect or recognition, maybe both, the lack of any wariness in the waterbender also indicated to Sokka that they had either met before or that both of them were sure that the other wasn't going to be a threat.

Sokka was inclined to believe it was the former as every seasoned warrior knows that overconfidence kills more men than any other thing, Sokka was lucky enough to get a reminder from Zuko in a non-lethal way. His introspection soon came to an end as he saw the magnificence of his sister tribe, the buildings were varied and tall, there were lots of people on the streets and canals dotted the city providing a convenient way of transportation, children ran around without a care and the soldiers while battle ready clearly hadn't done much more than sparring in a while.

Sokka knew so because their weapons had very little indication of heavy use, as he kept looking around he decided that this was what he wanted for his tribe, Sokka would make it so, he would design a city that would leave everyone in awe but for that he was going to need a lot of resources and more importantly he was going to need a long-lasting period of peace to get anything done.

Luckily it seemed like the world would soon know peace, the next Fire Lord wasn't a demented maniac, and thanks to his time on the ship Sokka knew that the people of the Fire Nation despite being very aggressive weren't bad people, conceited, overtly proud and rude, yes, but they weren't bad people.

Peace was possible and Sokka would make sure that everyone here knew it, he also couldn't wait to see their faces when Aang arrived later.


Author note: so life got heavy on me and i needed to take a oause but i'm back! here is a little set up chapter as i try to make everything happening as believable as possible.