Chapter 2: The Returning Tides

The sun had already lowered upon the horizon by the time Aang and Katara made it back to the village, they had obviously underestimated the speed of the penguins while having to head back on foot themselves. As they walked into view of the icy walls of the village, they had finally noticed the numerous heads that begun cropping up as they got closer. Katara's heart pounded in her chest as she looked at Sokka and Gran Gran's faces.

"Yay! Aang's back!" A little girl yelled, all of the children running forward to greet them.

Sokka was the one that stepped forward first. "I knew it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Aang. "You signalled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

Katara stepped in front of Aang, blocking him from Sokka in case her brother decided to have a throw-down. "Aang didn't do anything." She explained to them. "It was an accident."

"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well..." Aang said, scratching his head. "...we 'boobied' right into it."

Gran Gran shook her head in disappointment. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!"

Aang spoke up, raising his hands. "Don't blame Katara! I brought her there, it's my fault."

"Aha! The traitor confesses!" Sokka yelled furiously. "Warriors, away from the enemy."

The children looked between each other as they stalked slowly back to their mothers.

"The foreigner is banned from our village!" Sokka ordered.

Katara stepped forward. "Sokka, you're making a mistake." She said, her voice shaky.

"No, Katara!" Sokka hissed. "I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him!"

"Aang is not our enemy! Don't you see? Aang has brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun," She pointed out.

"Fun?" Sokka snorted. "We can't fight Firebenders with fun!"

"You should try it sometime." Aang smiled to himself, remembering something, but unaware that he wasn't really helping the situation.

Sokka's face twisted in fury. "Get out of our village. Now!" Sokka barked.

"Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this." Katara pleaded, looking to the elderly woman for a second opinion.

"Katara," Gran Gran started. "You knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right, I think it best if the Airbender leaves."

"Fine, then I'm banished too!" Katara shouted, angered. She turned around, grabbing Aang by the arm and began to walk off to Appa. "Come on, Aang, let's go!"

Aang glanced back and forth between Katara and the village people, and noticed the tears welling up in Katara's eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka shouted in a fatherly tone.

Katara refused to look back at him. "To find a Waterbender! Aang is taking me to the North Pole!"

"I am?" Aang looked at her with momentary confusion and then grinned. "Great!"

"Katara! Would you really choose him over your own tribe? Your own family?" Sokka asked, forcing her to pause.

Aang walked in front of her, looking up and into her eyes; seeing her pain.

"Katara," Aang spoke now, catching her attention as he watched her pupils shift from the tears. "I don't want to come between you and your family."

Katara watched as he begun to stalk towards Appa.

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked, casting her gaze down. "This is...goodbye?"

Aang nodded. "Thanks for penguin sledging with me."

"Where will you go?" She asked.

Aang patted Appa's back with a smile. "Guess I'll go back home and look for the Airbenders. Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."

He spun himself into the air, using his air bending to lift himself up and land carefully on Appa's head. Once his fingers interlaced with the reins, he looked to the villagers.

"It was nice meeting everyone." He said, waving back at them. It was Sokka that stepped forward.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy." He mocked.

"Come on, Appa, you can do it! Yip! Yip!" Aang snapped the reins once, but Appa danced around on his heavy feet with a grumble.

"Yeeaah, I thought so." Sokka bellowed.

With a cry, a little girl with short pigtails rushed forward to stand beside Katara. Her eyes glittering with tears. "Aang! Don't go! We'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too." He said sadly, before turning to Katara to stare at her and their eyes speaking for them. He turned around to face the road ahead of him and snapped the reins once again. "Come on, boy..."

The two girls watched him leave, when he was no longer in sight the little girl walked back over to the group, her boots dragging across the snow. She passed Gran Gran on her way back, turning in time to witness Katara batting the old woman's hand away from her.

"You happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!" Katara snapped, storming away and back into the village to hide from everyone else.

"Alright! Ready our defences! The Fire Nation could be on our shores any moment now!" Sokka turned to all of the little boys as they begun to run inside the walls towards the tents.

One boy stopped in front of him to raise his hand, crossing his legs and dancing. "But I gotta-"

Sokka pointed towards the tents. "And no potty breaks!" He seethed.

Appa was still extremely tired and recovering even after the few days of rest from being trapped in the ice, and was definitely in no condition to be swimming all the way until he reached the nomad country, so they decided to rest up in an icy cavern about a mile from the village.

Aang sat on the snow, leaning into Appa's soft fur, and played with the hem of his tunic. Appa's throat rumbled before he let out a huff.

"Yeah," Aang agreed sadly. "I liked her too."

From the distance, Aang picked up a chugging noise and looked out to sea. As he got up to get a better look, he noticed another ship like the one he and Katara had found that same day; steaming away on course for the village.

"The village!" Aang gasped, Airbending himself from of the warmth of leaning on Appa's stomach to a distance away from him and began running. "Appa, wait here!"

Sokka pulled fingerless gloves over his fingers, letting the cuff snap against his wrist. He slipped on brown boots that were knee-high on his feet, before quickly turning his attention to the black and white paints he had beat in the bowl and plate on his table - he dipped his fingers into the black bowl of paint, quickly coating his eyelids in a diamond shape and drew a triangle facing down onto his forehead.

Wiping his fingers very quickly with the cloth he kept on the table, carelessly throwing it aside as he was done with it, he dipped his fingers into the plate of white paint; covering his eyebrows, chin, jawline and cheekbones.

Satisfied, he picked up his boomerang from the table and attached his to his back. He rose, walking over to the exit of his tent and picked up his club on his passing.

Sokka stood atop the icy walls of the village, looking out into the mist. The villagers, who had seemed to have gotten back into their routines since Aang left, looked up as they heard a rumbling and a crash.

Sokka looked down at his feet where the ice began to crack, the ground underneath them rumbling and shaking. With a crack, the watchtower to his right crumbled and fell in a heap of snow.

"Oh man!" He whined.

Below him, villagers begun to run around in a panic, Katara in the mix, but she had stopped when she noticed something taking form from the mist and hurtle it's way towards Sokka.

The bow of a Fire Navy ship.

As the ship cut it's way through the ice as it advanced towards the wall, Katara took her grandmother by the arm and ran towards the tents at the back of the village. The cries of a little boy filled Katara's ears, as she turned around she noticed that the cracks in the ice were spreading towards the little child. She hurried over, scooped him into her arms and dashed to bring him to his mother.

Katara turned back to look up at the ship, only to see that her brother was still standing up there; poised with his weapon.

"Sokka!" Katara screamed, her voice cracking. "Get out of the way!"

As the ship reached the wall, it began to crumble into snow and collapse - carrying Sokka with it. The ship had finally halted, steam puffing from the bow. The villagers peaked from their tents, staring in fright.

With a loud rattling noise, the gangplank of the ship opened and fell onto the man-made avalanche. Sokka fell backwards with a scream to avoid being crushed by it.

Within seconds of the smoke clearing, Zuko stepped forward. Adorned in red and black armour that only belonged in nightmares. His aura radiated through the village, terrifying the children whose mothers held onto them protectively.

Sokka grunted, getting up and charging forward with a weak war cry. As he ran up the slope towards Zuko, the latter made very little effort out of kicking Sokka's hand to disarm him. With another swift kick, he hicked Sokka upside the head.

Sokka cried as he landed back in the snow, his head fully submerged.

Zuko walked over towards the villagers. "Where are you hiding him?"

He glanced between them all, quickly becoming annoyed when they gave him no immediate response. He grabbed Gran Gran by the hood of her jacket and presented her to the rest of the village.

"He'd be about this age?" Master of all elements?" He asked again.

Upon receiving no feedback once again, Zuko angrily threw Gran Gran towards Katara who caught her and kept her close. He grunted in anger, punching a fist of fire over their heads to threaten them.

To show them what he was capable of.

"I know you're hiding him!" He snapped.

Behind him, Sokka had managed to pry himself out of the snow and picked up his boomerang, charging Zuko with another war cry.

Zuko turned to Sokka in annoyance, managing to dodge his charges once again and swiftly flipped Sokka into the air over his head. Zuko fired a small blast of flames at Sokka, thinking that Sokka was weak enough to not be able to dodge him in time, what took him by surprise was Sokka taking the boomerang from his back and throwing it at Zuko.

Zuko ducked just in time, but barely to miss the shot, and glared at Sokka.

"Show no fear!" A little boy in the crowd threw Sokka his spear, to which Sokka caught and immediately begun charging at Zuko once more; adrenaline filling his veins.

As Sokka neared, Zuko shattered the shaft of the spear with his wrists. Taking the opportunity while Sokka is caught off guard, Zuko grabbed the spear from Sokka's hands and boinked his head several times over with it before he fell over. Zuko bent the rest of the staff against his knee, shattering it and threw the pieces at Sokka's feet.

Zuko stood with a still face looking down at Sokka, victorious. Within the next second, Sokka's boomerang struck the backside of Zuko's head - knocking his helmet off a little. Zuko, now extremely furious with flames spitting out of his fists, towered over Sokka who was now completely defenceless.

Just behind them, Aang rushed into the rescue on another penguin. His tongue hanging out in complete concentration, hoping he got there in time to save Sokka, with his staff in his hands. He surfed right into the back of Zuko's legs, knocking him off of his feet and into the air. His helmet flew off with him, as he dived headfirst into the snow with his behind in the air - his helmet fell onto him, crowning his backside.

The children cheered Aang on as he reached them, as he and the penguin skidded to a halt - the children were splattered with snow. They had stopped cheering for a moment, surprised at the impact, but began cheering again for their rescuer.

As before, the penguin pushed Aang off and waddled away as if nothing had occurred.

"Hey Katara. Hey Sokka." He smiled, as happy as ever.

"Hi Aang...Thanks for comin'," Sokka said defeatedly.

Aang looked over at the group of Firebenders. Zuko had already gotten up on his feet and shifted into a fighting stance, his scarred face now showing noticeably. Zuko and six other men begun to circle him, he swung his staff on the ground to the left and to the right, the air shifting the snow right at the six men which knocked them back with the force. Aang swung his staff towards Zuko as well, but he had managed to hold his ground and shield his face from the wind.

Aang stood up once more, giving Zuko a coy taunting smile. "Looking for me?"

Zuko stared at Aang, giving him a completely perplexed look. "You're the last Airbender?" Zuko asked, incredulously. "You're the Avatar?"

Katara looked to Aang, more in shock than confusion. "Aang?"

"No way..." Sokka cried in disbelief.

Aang and Zuko began to circle each other, the village becoming like an arena for their fight.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating. you're just a child!" Zuko scoffed.

Aang snorted at him. "Well, you're just a teenager."

Zuko growled, firing balls of fire from his fist one after another. Aang tried to block each one by twirling his staff like a helicopter blade as he moved around, hoping to throw Zuko off. With Zuko not stopping for even a moment, and Aang not being able to keep up, the flames begun to soar over his staff out of control over the villagers.

Aang looked behind him in shock as the villagers screamed. "Stop!"

He twirled his staff and set it at his side. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

After a moment, Zuko straightened up and nodded curtly. Two soldiers hurried behind Aang and swept him up onto the ship.

"No, Aang!" Katara begged, rushing forward. "Don't do this!"

"Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay." Aang assured her, smiling as usual. The soldiers pushing him roughly forward, a grunt forced from his lips. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

Zuko turned to one of his men. "Head a course to the Fire Nation. I'm going home,"

As they all walked inside and the gangplank rose back up, Aang continued smiling at Katara to reassure her that he was going to be okay. Within the last second that he went out of sight, however, his smile fell; believing that he was never to see her again.

Sakura dived her hand into the pouch on her thigh once more as she trudged slowly along in the snow, placing her feet down one after another carefully. She had been awoken by a loud cracking a considerable distance away and had been trying to catch up to it with her frostbitten legs. Chakra reserves depleting steadily with trying to keep her body warm the past few days and with her not making much progress on finding a warm place to camp out to regain her strength, she highly suspected that she was going to die out here.

She'd read once that Uchiha that held the Mangekyo Sharingan, namely Itachi Uchiha, could trap anyone in an illusion of their own design to torture them. The Genjutsu is used to inflict, say, days worth of pain into mere seconds.

'This could just be one of Sasuke's torture methods.' She thought to herself, frowning as she folded her arms across her chest now after finishing the bag of food pills. 'Placing me in a void, a prison, that I can't escape. It's pretty cheap if you ask me, even for him.'

She took deep breaths. 'It's okay, Sakura. If he wanted to kill you, he would have done so already. He's not done playing his game yet.'

The peaceless night passed since the departure of the Firebenders that took off with Aang, the large gape in the wall now a living memory of the day before. The villagers had somehow managed to return back to their daily lives to start the fire, tighten the strings on the tents while others began to build up Sokka's watchtower.

Katara stood by the water's edge, looking out at the sun rising up and over the sea. Sokka walked back and forth from the canoe to the heap he had lugged from the village.

Katara inhaled and exhaled deeply before she started. "We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our Tribe; now we have to save him."

"Katara, I-!"

"Why can't you realise that he's on our side?" She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "If we don't help him, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and I-"

"Katara! Are you gonna talk all day," Sokka began, catching her attention finally before he pointed at the canoe. "Or are you comin' with me?"

"Sokka!" She gasped. Her eyes lit up, and she ran towards him; enveloping him in a bear hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Best big brother ever." He said, rolling his eyes. "Now get in, we're going to save your boyfriend."

Katara's eyes flashed in anger. "He's not my-"

"Whatever." Sokka interrupted her, as she had done to him.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" Gran Gran asked, scaring both of them. For an older woman, Gran Gran moved around like a ninja when she wanted to.

They both turned to her, scuttling to hide the canoe behind them. The old woman broke out in a rare smile and held up a blue blanket that held various items inside.

"You'll need these, you have a long journey ahead of you." Sokka and Katara look between each other as she speaks, their eyes lighting up. "It's been so long since I've had hope. But you brought it back to life, my little Waterbender." She cooed, closing in to hug Katara tightly.

"And you, my brave warrior," She turned to Sokka, wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing him in. "Be nice to your sister."

"Yeah..." He sighed and rolled his eyes, then smiled at her. "Okay, Gran."

She let him go and now looked at them both more seriously. "Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason, and now your destinies are intertwined with his."

Katara turned around, looking at the small two-man canoe. "But there's no way that we're ever going to catch a warship with a canoe."

Appa roared to get their attention as he spotted them, like any loyal pet he had walked to the village to find out where Aang was after disappearing on him.

"Appa!" Katara gasped, running towards the bison.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't ya?" Sokka muttered.

Aang slowly walked behind Zuko and his uncle on deck, his wrists tied together behind his back as two soldiers stood at either side of him. He watched as Zuko twirled the staff between his fingers before grasping it tightly in his calloused hand and coming to a stop. [2]

"This staff will make an excellent gift for my father. I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers', being raised by monks." Zuko directed at Aang coldly, breaking the silence. He shook his head slightly, turning around to give the staff to his uncle. "Take the Avatar to the prison hold, and take this to my quarters."

They all watched as Zuko as he began walking away and out of sight, his uncle turned to the guard on the left.

"Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" He asked in a soft voice, waiting for the guard to nod before passing it over and walking away.

The two guards guided him down the stairs to below deck into a hallway, beginning to walk along.

"So..." Aang broke the silence. "I guess you've never fought an airbender before. I bet I can take you both with my hands tied behind my back,"

"Silence!" The guard in front of him snapped. He finally stopped in front of a door, forcing Aang and the other guard behind him to come to a stop as well.

As he pulled a key out of his holster, Aang drew in a deep breath before puffing; blowing the guard in front of him against a wall, knocking him out. The gust propelled him into the guard behind him, blowing them back to the stairs. The guard lost his footing, crashing into the steps and knocking him out as well.

Aang airbent himself back up the stairs and onto deck, running towards the door he had seen Zuko enter and kicking a gust of air, forcing the door open.

"The Avatar has escaped!" Aang heard a booming voice call out from behind him, probably from one of the guards he had knocked back.

"Can I not catch a break?" Aang muttered in annoyance as he continued on.

Appa doggy paddled through the water with Katara sitting on his forehead, taking the reins. Sokka had taken to sitting at the back of the saddle, his hands supporting the rest of his face from falling in boredom.

"Go. Fly. Soar." Sokka groaned, Appa growled back at him in response.

"Please, Appa." Katara said, stroking his head. "We need your help. Aang really needs your help."

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." Sokka continued, earning him a glare from Katara.

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly," Katara stated, turning back to Appa and hugged his ginormous fluffy head. "But I do, Appa. Come on, don't you wanna save Aang?"

Appa grumbled in response, not making any movement to speed up or any sign that he was going to lift off and fly.

"What was it that kid said? Yee-ha? Hup hup? Wahoo?" Sokka encouraged, thinking. "Uh...yip yip?"

Appa grunted once more, beginning to splash his tail in the water. His massive body now walking on water, with a mighty heave they finally took flight.

"You did it, Sokka!" Katara cried in glee.

"He's flying! He's flying! Katara, he's-!" Sokka screamed, upon he realising his sister giving him a smug look he sat back once again trying to act aloof. "I mean...big deal, he's flying."

Aang continued down multiple hallways, looking behind him to see if there was anyone following him. As he was doing so, he turned a corner and almost smacked into one of three Fire Nation soldiers that blocked his way with their weapons drawn.

He screamed before sliding to a halt. "You haven't seen my staff around, have you?" He asked, innocently.

His only answer was the three crouching into a fighting stance before any of them had the opportunity to move, Aang ran towards them, using his airbending to run up the wall in a corkscrew pattern to bypass them all.

They all stood deadpanned, only being able to watch in awe at his retreating form.

"Thanks anyway!"

Another hallway he had ran into which was blocked off by a single guard, upon seeing Aang he blasted a fireball from his fist. Aang launched himself in the air, dodging the attack, over the guard's head. His wrist bindings cut easily on the pointed horn of the guard's helmet, the rope ties falling to the floor.

He continued down the hallway, coming across room upon room in order to locate his glider. He opened one, revealing the old uncle laying on his bed snoring away soundly.

"Sorry," Aang whispered, shutting the door quietly behind him before running down the hall again.

Pausing by an open door, Aang looked around for his prize before he spotted it laying against the wall.

"My staff!" He gasped, running into the room and reaching out for it.

Zuko, who was behind the door, swung it shut behind Aang to trap him inside. Aang spun around on the spot and froze at the sight of Zuko approaching him.

"Looks like I underestimated you," Zuko noted, before launching shots of fire from his palms which Aang barely dodged.

As Zuko continued to throw his punches at Aang, like he had when they faced off in the village, Aang rolled underneath him to mimic his movements. Not being able to keep this up for long as Zuko's anger rose, Aang came face to face with his foe once again, managing to escape each fireball now as he formed whirls of air with his hands.

Using his bending to create a large ball which he sat on cross-legged, Aang scootered up and down the walls of the room evading each one of Zuko's attacks until he thought out a plan.

His eyes spotted the red and black tapestry on the walls around the room, particularly the one closest to Zuko. Aang moved quickly over to the tapestry, his face almost becoming sinched at the proximity of him closing in on Zuko. His fingers grasped the tapestry, wrapping Zuko up at least three times before he released his air ball.

Buying him some time, Aang grabbed his staff from where it had been left before Zuko's body burst into flames to release him from his entrapment.

Without much thought, Aang airbent the mattress at the other side of the room towards Zuko, slamming him into the wall. He fell onto the mattress, dazed. For good measure, Aang airbent the mattress up, forcing Zuko to slam against the ceiling.

Upon reaching the floor once again, collecting himself, Zuko seethed as he noticed that Aang had already fled from the room.

Aang continued to run up the hallway, using his airbending to spin the mechanism that opened the hatch for the control room. He jumped up, passing the confused sailor at the ship's wheel. As he made it back on deck, he opened his glider and threw it in the air. As he jumped and grasped the wooden fan, a smile swamped his face when he realised just how easy getting away was.

Zuko who had followed closely behind him, grabbed a hold of his leg and pulled him back forcefully. Crashing back on the deck again, Aang stood up quickly as they both moved into a fighting stance.

A loud roar from above distracted them both, both of them looking up.

"What is that?" Zuko wondered in awe.

"Appa!" Aang cried out, turning just in time to use his staff to block a blast from Zuko.

'I heard something!' Sakura gasped, spinning around on her feet. She looked up in the air, but she saw nothing. 'I'm not going crazy, I know what I heard and it's close!'

Aang! NO!

Aang! Aang! AANG!

Sakura was so sure now that she wasn't going crazy. But then again, it may be due to the fact that she hadn't spoken to anyone in days.

She frowned. 'Naruto, please end this soon. I can't take this anymore.'

Aang drifted underwater, his mouth agape. Katara's morphed screams filtering into his ears. Upon her third scream, his eyes snapped open and his tattoos begun to glow the empty blue like before. He moves his arms slowly, building up a current around his body, propelling up until he broke the surface and a mighty whirlpool edging him up and over the massive ship.

Zuko now looked up at Aang in both dismay and fear, the boy drifting swiftly onto the ship to bend water around him until it formed a complete circle around his body until Zuko could see him no longer. Aang's head twisted to look directly at Zuko before he sprung forward, releasing the ring into a whip towards Zuko and his men who hurtled overboard.

"Did you see what he just did?" Katara yelled in excitement.

"Now that was some Waterbending!" Sokka agreed, astounded.

Aang finally fell to his knees, the light from his tattoos and eyes diming out as he almost passed out from using up so much energy. Appa quickly flew over and landed on deck, Katara and Sokka jumping off to tend to Aang.

"Aang!" Katara cried, helping him up. "Are you okay?"

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Thanks for coming." Aang yawned, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory," Sokka said, grinning.

"I dropped my staff." Aang noted.

"Got it!"

As Sokka ran over to pick up Aang staff that had almost fallen into the water, Zuko had managed to climb his way back onto the ship and clutched the staff. Sokka shrieked, pushing the staff towards Zuko's head and hitting him three times before he released the grip and fell back into the water.

"Ha!" Sokka cried, swinging his arm in the air and pointing to the water below where Zuko fell. "That's from the Water Tribe!"

Katara had helped Aang up and they walked towards Appa, who had already lay down so that Aang didn't have to climb up his feet to get on top of him. Katara turned to find some of the guards that had fallen into the water make their way back on deck, preparing for combat again.

Katara moved her hands and picked up a stream of water that had dripped off of Aang, the soldiers backing away in fear. She threw her arms around to whip the soldiers just like Aang had, but instead of moving towards the soldiers; the water flew backwards freezing the deck and Sokka's feet.

"Katara!" Sokka whined, already beginning to hack away at the ice trapping his feet with his boomerang.

The soldiers began to advance once again, forcing her to move her hands like she had before. A water stream floated in the air in front of her, she swung her arms forward, this time completely freezing them in ice.

She ran for Appa, jumping on top of his head and took the reins. "Hurry up, Sokka!"

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang," He complained, still hacking away at the ice around his feet. "I didn't ask for all this flying and magic."

Upon freeing himself, he ran up Appa's tail, jumping into the saddle on his back. "Yip, yip! Yip, yip!" He cried.

Appa began to run and took off into the sky with a loud roar. Zuko's uncle had just emerged from his room and wandered on deck, stretching while he yawned. He looked up, seeing Appa fly overhead, and his nephew nowhere in sight.

He looked around deck, finally noticing a hand clutching the floor boards for stability. He ran over to help to see that his nephew was about to fall into the water once again, so he grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Shoot them down!" Zuko shouted as soon as he got his footing back on deck.

He and his uncle moved swiftly in unison to create a massive fireball and aimed it directly at Appa, Katara and Sokka looking back at them in horror.

Aang jumped to the back of the saddle with his staff in hand, swinging his staff to create a gust of wind that blew the fireball away from their party into the side of the icy cliff next to the ship.

The fire-ball exploded, causing an avalanche which fell into the narrow canal and onto the ship, blocking their course back home.

Team Avatar laughed as they flew away on Appa, paying no attention to the body that fell from the cliff side and tumbled onto the ship.

Shoot them down!

Within moments, a blast of fire swirled towards her hitting the cliff below. The rocky mountain crumbled at her feet, the snow at her back catching her off guard. She screamed as she tumbled on her way down, the snow considerably breaking her fall as she landed on the deck of the ship that came into existence.

"Good news for the Fire Lord," A hard voice spoke first, filtering into her ears. "The nation's greatest threat is just a little kid."

Sakura turned her head towards the noise, her eyes trying to adjust.

"That kid, Uncle, just did this," She watched as the skinny one, who sounded younger, gesturing in her direction. "I won't underestimate him again."

The boy stood up. "Dig this ship out and follow them!" He ordered, turning around in a different direction. "As soon as you're done with that."

The older man had begun to walk closer, presumably to retreat back into the heart of the ship, until he stopped in front of her. Her eyes cast on his feet.

"Prince Zuko." The man called. "You might want to come and see this."

"What is it, Uncle? I have no time for this!" Zuko stormed over, stopping in his tracks when he eventually noticed what his uncle had seen. "A girl?"

Time had seemed to stand still as Zuko looked her over. The girl lay sprawled at his feet, her form facing them. Her hair fell like a curtain over her face, like pink blossom petals falling in Spring. Even with frostbite flaking on her pale skin, she looked mythical.

Her emerald eyes fixated on him. The black thick lines from the centre of her forehead which crossed her eyes and ran like tears down her cheeks eased their way back up her face, all he could do was watch this phenomenon in awe and his heart racing.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Iroh stepped forward and took a small mirror from his pocket, kneeling down and held it close to Sakura's nose and mouth. He seemed relieved that the glass begun to steam up.

"She's alive, but barely." He said, ushering for one of the soldiers to step forward. "Could you prepare this girl a bed, and make sure to bring out the good blankets?"

The soldier nodded and ran off inside, forcing Zuko to snap back into reality.

"But Uncle! What if she is one of the Avatar's friends?" Zuko complained angrily. "I will not have her on my ship."

His Uncle turned to him. "Prince Zuko, I remember the young boy that cared for anyone. I know these last few years have been harsh on you, but I wish you'd find the young boy somewhere in your heart again just this once."

Zuko sighed. "Fine, do as you wish."

"...And carry her to her room?"

"What do you think of me? A peasant?" Zuko barked. "Get one of the guards to do it."

Zuko looked around, realising that the soldiers were still prying each other from the ice and the only guard that had broken free had already run off to prepare a room for her.

He sighed, defeated. He walked over to her and carefully placed his left arm under her legs and his right arm resting on her back. He hoisted her up with no problem and began to carry her across the deck and through the doorway towards the rooms.

"...Another complaint from you about helping this girl, Prince Zuko, I will suggest that you give her a sponge bath in bed yourself." His Uncle teased, appearing close behind him, a grin on his face.

Zuko's breath hitched at the back of his throat at his uncle's words, a traitorous blush rising to his cheeks.

Her eyes fluttered open once again as she felt the new found warmth against his chest. She grimaced a little as the red plates on his shoulders dug into hers, the plates shifted with the motion of his stride. His fingers twitched ever so slightly against her arm, his grip tightening on her, a quirk that told the doctor in her that he wasn't used to being this close to someone.

Her eyes traveled up his collared neck, focusing on the red and wrinkled scar which adorned his left eye in contrast to his flawless light olive skin.

Her eyes landed on his, catching his eye almost immediately.

Emerald green met metallic gold, and time had seemed to stop.

The sun began to set over the horizon once again as they flew above the clouds on Appa's back, the air around them slowly lulling them to sleep.

"How did you do that?" Katara finally piped up. "With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen,"

She sat on her knees in the saddle and looking up at Aang in wonder, who had taken Appa over from her a while ago, as he looked away from them.

"I don't know. I just sort of...did it." He sighed.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" She asked, completely over her excitement now that she knows that Aang won't be able to teach her the Waterbending move.

"Because..." Aang started, looking at her and then looking away in shame. "I never wanted to be."

"But Aang," She reasoned. "The world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war."

He turned to her again, feeling a wave of pressure wash over him. "And how am I going to do that?"

"According to the legend, you need to first master Water, then Earth, then Fire right?" She asked.

"That's what the monks told me."

She smiled. "Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can learn Waterbending."

He suddenly cheered up at that. "We can learn it together."

"And Sokka," She said, turning to her older brother. "I'm sure you'll get to knock some Firebender heads along the way."

"I'd like that." Sokka said dreamily. "I'd really like that."

"Then we're in this together." Katara smiled at Aang.

Aang produced a scroll from under the seat in the saddle. "All right, but before I learn Waterbending," He said, airbending his way down to their level. "We have some serious business to attend to."

He opened the scroll to reveal a full map of the world. "Here, here and here." Pointing to two spots in yellow and one in white.

"What's there?" Katara asked.

He pointed to the first place on the map again. "Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then waaaaay over here," He then points to the last place on the map. "We'll surf on the backs of giant Koi fish." He moves his finger again to the second place he pointed to. "Then back over here, we'll ride the Hog-Monkeys'. They don't like people ridin' em, but that's what makes it fun!"

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