Onigiri

It was the first night of their journey South. The trip to the Fire Navy Communication Tower off the coast of Ember Island had been fruitful, pointing them to an island just within the territories of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara hadn't been so close to home since she'd gathered whatever she could carry and joined Aang on his journey North, to the Northern Water Tribes and a Waterbending teacher for the both of them. She remembered how she and Sokka had saved Aang from Zuko's ship and flown away on Appa, and how she'd counted until they broke the boundaries of the bay in which the village sat. Before she could reach fifty, she was further from home than she'd ever been in her life. If she began counting now, she knew she would reach more than a thousand before she was even close to the air she grew up with.

This did little for her appetite.

"I'm not hungry," she growled between clenched teeth.

Zuko's sigh was annoyingly loud. "You've eaten barely anything since we left! At this rate you're going to die of starvation before we get to the fleet. Can't you at least eat a rice ball?"

Katara snorted. "You really don't understand Waterbenders."

"Do Waterbenders not require food like the rest of us?"

Without looking up, Katara pointed at the sky. Her aim was perfect. Above them, the near full moon was so bright it outshone the stars.

There was a short pause. "Okay, so it's a full moon tomorrow. You still need to eat."

She looked over her shoulder and glared. "No one can beat me during a full moon."

"I remember," Zuko said. A rueful smile briefly appeared on his face, and Katara could hear the soft trickle of the Spirit Oasis, feel fire and ice. "But once you faint from hunger you're sort of... beatable."

She raised one eyebrow. "Did it take you all day to think that up or did you come up with it on the spot?"

He threw up his hands in frustration. "What do you want, a poem? I'm not good with words."

"That's the understatement of the cycle."

He shut his eyes, took a long, deep breath, then opened them again. "I'm still right. You have to eat or you'll be no good when we find the fleet."

She tossed her hair. "It would help if you said 'please.'"

Internally, she cringed. It would help if you said please? What kind of stupid comeback was that? She wasn't starving herself because he wasn't being polite. That was something brats and spoiled people did. Eating just hadn't seemed important in the face of what she was about to do. To her surprise, however, instead of chiding her, Zuko opened his mouth, closed it, and sat back on his haunches. Cautiously, as if he were doing something very dangerous, he held out a rice ball.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Eat this. Please?"

A blush began on her cheeks. Before it could become obvious, she snapped, "Fine!" snatched the food from him, spun around, and stuffed it in her mouth. The rice was a little dry from the duration of their journey, but the pickled plum in the center was still wet and sour and very good. She held out her hand for another one and Zuko handed it to her. It was gone in seconds. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until Zuko had made her eat. Between bites, she suspected that she wouldn't have eaten at all if he hadn't been there, silently passing her food when she held out her hand for more.