I meant to get this up earlier, but I left my written draft elsewhere. I apologize for the delay. But this is my longest chapter so far (and probably the longest chapter of them all…) so that should make you happy. (Even if it is only two pages in MS Word)

Chapter 9: In Which Zuko Continues His Game

It really was a silly idea, but he was bored. And curious. Without the Avatar to chase life got boring fast. The girl looked uncomfortable. Squirming where she sat, she looked away.

He decided to humor her and sit down. He wasn't really sure where he was going with this anyways.

"I'm Katara, by the way."

Zuko blinked. The name did sound vaguely familiar and he wondered why he had never remembered it before.

"I don't suppose you have a way off this island?"

His uncle did promise to come for him, but Katara didn't know who Zuko was. Nor did she really need to know what his plans were. So he shook his head no.

She looked surprisingly fine with this. Zuko knew he wasn't… and he had someone coming for him. Did Katara plan on spending the rest of her life on this island?

Better here than as a prisoner, he thought. But that didn't explain her nonchalance.

Zuko looked up, trying to think of a way to converse with her without speaking.

This seemed to be the right thing to do, for a few moments later she asked, "What are you looking at?"

Zuko pointed up.

"The stars?"

Sure, why not? Zuko nodded.

"I love the stars. But they're different here than they were back home."

He glanced at her. She was still looking up at the sky, a small smile across her face. She looked very pretty.

This gave him a new idea for his game. He stood & walked over to the girl, beckoning for her to stand.

She did, though somewhat warily. He stood close to her and pointed to a constellation well known in the fire nation, one of a dragon. Not understanding what he was getting at, he took her hand and used it to point.

A shock went up his arm when he did so. Zuko looked to Katara, who still looked confused, but was catching on.

"Are you showing me a constellation?" she asked.

Zuko reached down to a twig and scratched out the stars in the dragon. Katara looked from the image to the sky.

"Oh, I see it now. What is it supposed to be?"

Continuing his drawing, he turned the dots into a dragon.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell what that is…" she said with an embarrassed voice. He wasn't sure if she was embarrassed for herself or for him.

Maybe he wasn't the best artist after all. Zuko shrugged and dropped this stick into the fire. He only showed her the Great dragon to he could stand next to her.

"I'm guessing it's an animal?" Back home my favorite was a penguin."

Zuko stared at her, unsure of how to respond.

"You probably don't know what a penguin is, do you?"

He shook his head.

"They live at the South Pole, where I'm from. They're a kind of bird that can't fly. But they can swim."

Okay. Sure.

Katara sat back down by the fire and Zuko followed suite– this time directly next to her.