"Guys, check this out!" said Aang as he flipped his glider up and above him through the air. Soaring, he kicked his legs up, wrapping them around the long stick, then adjusted himself until he stood. Throwing his arms out with a burst of laughter, he did a somersault across the glider; Katara thought it was an acrobatic worthy of Azula's friend, Ty Lee.

Toph seemed to get the same idea, because she said, "Come on, Twinkletoes, this isn't the circus!" But she smiled and did a handstand, laughing when Aang almost collided with her when he landed.

Katara turned back to her brother as Aang raced up to meet them. She gave Sokka a hard look. "I just don't think it's worth the trouble," she said for the fiftieth time. Ignoring Sokka's pouty look, she folded more blankets and handed both him and Aang a stack. "Just go put these away."

"Okay," chirped Aang, breezing off – literally – to shove the blankets in some abandoned closet.

Sokka plopped on the ground with his stack in his arms, sighing dramatically and crossing his legs. "Katara," he whined. "We haven't been anywhere all week."

"Not today, Sokka." Katara mimicked his sigh and sauntered away. Drawing up water from the canteen at her hip, she bended it around her neck, cooling it just a little. She was relieved when she touched it to her skin; the heat in the Fire Nation was almost blistering. Why did she have so much hair? If only there was a better way to take care of it…

Toph emerged from the temple, through the same door which Aang had used to get in. "Western Air monks were pretty crafty with the architecture, eh?" said the earthbender, marching over to Sokka and dropping down beside him. Tucking her arms behind her head, she licked her lips. "When's the food coming?"

"After I get done with the laundry. Of course, it'd be faster if I had a little help…" replied Katara, irritated, as she snatched the blankets back out of Sokka's hold. "No one is willing to cooperate."

"Well, 'no one' wants to go somewhere," Sokka huffed, throwing himself over on his stomach.

"Sweetness not letting you out of her clutches?" Toph asked, kicking him softly in the leg. "You don't need her permission to leave."

"I know," said Sokka, slapping his hand to his forehead. "It's just that Aang won't go unless Katara approves."

As if he'd heard his name, the airbender materialized at Katara's elbow. "Guys, don't be so rough on Katara. She takes care of us." He smiled sweetly at the girl next to him, and Katara returned his smile, then shoved her armful of fabrics into his hands. He groaned and sped off again.

"I'll go with you," volunteered Toph. "I've been dying to get out of this place too, y'know. Who cares if Twinkletoes doesn't wanna come along? Let's go somewhere fun."

"No." Katara crossed her arms. "Unless I go with you, you'll get into trouble."

"We get into trouble with you around, too, you know."

"Then why don't we just avoid trouble and stay? Besides, Aang needs to work on his bending."

"He's learned everything you and I both know, Katara," protested Toph. "We'll go look for a firebending teacher if it calms your overly paranoid nerves."

"Overly paranoid?" Katara repeated. "Do you hear yourself? We're in the Fire Nation, Toph. We are surrounded by enemies. We should stick together."

"Then come with us! Why's it such a big deal for you to go? You've folded the clothes, and we can get food in the village! You can come with us instead of sitting here, worrying."

"What, so I should worry in town? That's great, Toph. Really great," sighed Katara. "Look, I'm done arguing. You're not going anywhere today."

"You're not our mother, Katara," Toph said, stomping her foot on the ground and unsettling Katara's own feet. Wobbling for her balance, Katara glared at the shorter girl.

"Then stop making it so I have to mother you. Grow up. You guys can't always get what you want. This isn't supposed to be fun. This is supposed to be us, teaching Aang how to survive the day of the comet. Daily trips to places where you buy things you don't need and get into unnecessary trouble aren't what we're supposed to be doing."

"We can have a little fun. Come on, it's not like you've got some scroll that tells us how to teach the Avatar. You don't have all the answers. You don't control us. You're not our mother. You're not our leader. We can go where we want, when we want, and you can't stop us," spat Toph. Without hesitation, she grabbed Sokka by his shirt and dragged him off, into the temple, where Katara heard her yell for Aang to join them.

Sighing again, Katara collapsed onto the dirt, folding her arms around her knees with a forlorn expression on her face. Didn't they know she was just trying to keep them safe, and united? Sure, maybe she could loosen up once in a while, but they'd get out of control – they'd done it before.

I wish they'd just listen, she thought with a sudden burst of anger. I never said I was the leader, but I'm obviously the most responsible one. They're the ones who're being kids and rebelling against everything I say.

She grumbled and got up, dusting her legs off, and raised her chin to stare at the sky. The sun was still high in the sky, so Katara decided to walk it off. "I'm going to find food," she said to no one. What was the point of saying it, anyway?

Venturing off into the wilderness, Katara carried with her a basket for the edible plants. She dreamed up recipes and hummed Southern Water Tribe melodies that she, and every other member of the tribe, knew by heart. She picked berries and nuts and leaves, going only on what she knew was safe to eat. Here and there, she'd pop a bit of it in her mouth, singing quietly to herself.

The day blazed on and the sun beat down on her back; Katara could almost feel her shoulders, arms, and neck blistering. Her vision was getting blurry and the air was getting stuffy, which was a bad sign. Bending water out of her canteen, she found no solace in running the chilled water over her sweltering flesh, and instead became wearier.

Stumbling around, Katara became angry with herself for letting such a simple thing – heat! – slow her down. She was just short of delirious, having to sit herself down on a rock and saturate her hair with the water, when she heard a familiar clomp, clomp, clomp of animal feet.

"Appa…?" she guessed, head spinning.

"Nope. Sorry, sweetie," said a voice she remembered with horrible certainty. But before she could protest, her vision was cut off and she was being lifted off the ground – her basket fell from her hands and she heard it rolling across the dirt – and, trying to call for help, she realized that she was very far from the temple, and that her friends had gone into the village, which was even farther away from here.

June.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left Katara," said Aang as he, Toph, and Sokka returned from their trip to the neighboring village. It was surprising how the Fire Nation had completely taken over, colonizing and claiming the island for their own. However, the gang had found cold ice shavings and thought of Katara, then rushed home to share the food with her before it melted.

However, when they arrived at the temple, the waterbender was nowhere to be found. They searched the temple high and low, to no avail. Brushing it off as another of Katara's ultimatums, they curled into their unfolded blankets and slept happily.

"So tell me," said the bounty hunter as she took Katara across the land, in what felt like a cart. With the black fabric over her head, Katara was as blind as Toph, and very, very frustrated. It made her even more heated, both in temper and temperature. "Where're your friends?"

"Friends," Katara spat, a little too harshly before she realized she had to protect Aang. Gathering her courage, she heaved a breath of defiance in June's general direction and continued, hoping it was believable. "What friends?"

"Ooh, did I touch a sore spot?" June's voice was honey over molten rocks; dangerously sweet. "Let me guess. You left them."

"Maybe," said Katara, knowing she must've give up false information too easily. She turned her head away from where she felt June was, acting childish to play June's thoughts – if the lady was treating her like a kid, why not act like one? June might believe her for her immaturity.

"Aw, honey, I've been there."

Deciding to test the waters, Katara said hesitantly, "Really?" Maybe if she could connect to June in some way, she could persuade June to let her go…or get the jump on June when she was least suspecting it.

"No. Don't lie to me, darling. It won't turn out pretty for you." June's voice cut through Katara and the younger girl felt instantly dumb; that was a path vanished. June wasn't going to be fooled. Hearing June shuffle away, Katara leaned back against what she hoped was a tree – they'd stopped moving when all the tiny holes in the hood had faded away; when it'd gotten dark.

She could tell she was outside, and that all the hunters were to her right – eating, it sounded like. Katara felt her stomach growl but did not ask for food; she would not be at their mercy to that degree. Holding her chin high and proud, she dug the heels of her tied hands into her middle to quiet the grumbles, and tried to fall asleep. It was no doubt that she'd be here for the night.

Two days passed and the gang grew worried, taking Appa over the land to see if they could spot anything suspicious – anything that might've taken Katara. Toph felt through the ground to see if anyone tunneled underneath, but Katara wasn't there either.

The evening of the second day, Aang took his glider and blew himself high into the sky, looking for smoke from fires lit for camps on the ground, but found none. He knew, without question, that Katara wouldn't let anyone get too far away – and besides, it was a small island. Someone would have to have a boat to leave here, and if they were keeping hold of Katara, they'd need a lot of people, which meant a big ship. He and Sokka had seen none in the seas surrounding the island, so they knew Katara was still moving, but on the ground.

Aang returned from flying overhead to the heat of Sokka's fire, a despaired expression etched on his face. When he met Sokka's eyes, he saw his fear reflected in them.

"It's Katara," said Aang, forcing tears back. "She's never been gone this long, Sokka."

"I know, little buddy. I know." Sokka hunched over and glanced at Toph, who was sitting just inside the fire's range of warmth, but out of reach. He frowned and Aang noticed that he looked incredibly tired; pinching the bridge of his nose, Sokka said reluctantly but fiercely, "We shouldn't have left her."

Without words, Toph got up and walked away, and for the first time, she did not pack ground-punches in with her anger. Sokka stared after her for a long time, and then at the rising moon.

Oh, Yue, he thought, bathed in moonlight. Look after Katara until we can find her. Please. And for a moment, he could almost see Yue's face shimmering in front of him, giving him that determined look, and he knew, even if it was just a mirage, that Yue would give Katara her care. Thanks.

High above the band of sudden strangers, perched in a tree, Zuko looked down upon Aang and Sokka. They look so…broken, he thought. Katara. She's gone. He remembered her fiery eyes; remembered how he'd thought she should be a firebender with that scowl, that dragon's heart.

Snatched, he thought further, because it'd obviously been a while since the kids had seen her. Not by me, of course. He counted the gang's other possible enemies on his fingers and sighed. Not Azula – I'd hear about that. Not my dad, I'd hear about that, too. That leaves…

June.

Leaving his place on the farthest, strongest point of the highest branch he could risk climbing onto, Zuko headed stealthily towards the trunk of the tree, sliding down – unpleasant, due to the scratchy bark – and landing nimbly on the ground.

His mind was made up; he wanted to Join the Avatar. What better way than to rescue the kid's waterbending teacher, friend, and possible girlfriend? Bringing her back to Aang would win him great rewards. Ignoring the fact that all other times he'd helped the Avatar, he'd still been shunned by Aang's friends, Zuko began to look for the telltale tracks of June's…pet.

Finding them all too easily, Zuko wondered, How did they miss these? He gave a snarky look over his shoulder to their fire, almost disappointed that they hadn't found these, so close to home, so paramount in finding Katara.

He scoffed, throwing his head back to look at the moon, now full in the night sky, and decided that he'd better call it a night. He'd need a lot of rest for the coming mission.

She'd lost track of the days, of the nights. Only being able to tell when someone was awake, Katara was desperate to get a sense of her whereabouts. But every time she asked a passing pair of feet where she was, where they were, all that answered her was silence.

Now, it most certainly had to be night, because it was cool outside – well, cooler than it was when the sun was up – and because she was, well, outside. She'd been riding during the daytime in what she assumed was a wagon cart – overheated and very musky smelling.

She sat uncomfortably on the ground, knowing that once again, this was how she would sleep. She didn't mind it so much; she'd gotten used to it over the time with Aang. Sometimes when they didn't have a structured shelter to take refuge in, they would sleep either on Appa or on the ground.

June had traded in the bag over Katara's head for a blindfold, which, ironically, had slits cut for eyeholes, so Katara could "see." But they were just crosses and Katara could see hardly anything; thus she had to rely on her other senses to figure out her surroundings.

Toph must be very frustrated all the time, she thought, but then remembered that Toph could, more or less, see with her feet. Forlornly, Katara's still-tied hands moved to her feet, running over the shackle – a metal shackle; where did June get this stuff? – that was clamped shut around her ankle. There was a key to it, but she wouldn't get to it without getting away from the post that the shackle attached her to.

Here I am, in the middle of the night, chained up, really needing to pee, with little food or water, without my friends. Great survival skills, Katara, she thought sarcastically. Really. Excellent.

Katara felt a presence, suddenly. Flinching even though she had no idea how she knew someone was there – no sound came from that direction – Katara tried to peer through the small slits in her annoyingly wrapped blindfold, but found that the night was too black. Waning moon, she guessed, with the horrible realization that it'd been almost four days since she'd been captured.

Movement. A slight scrape of a shoe on the ground in front of her, a huff of frustration, and then a pause: waiting to see if June or her crew heard. Katara's eyes flicked uselessly towards the guard, and although she couldn't see him, his quiet, steady breathing told her that he was still asleep at his post. Her eyes faced in front of her again, but all she saw was blackness. The presence was familiar, though, and her heart began to pound.

"Sokka?" she whispered, hoping that her friends had finally tracked her down. It was still too dark to see, but she sensed more movement, and suddenly he was right in front of her. "Oh, Sokka, you're here, I–"

A hand clamped down over her mouth. She tasted ash and salt, mixed with soap and what tasted like either blood or metal – hopefully the latter. "Quiet," a voice hissed, like wind through tree branches at night.

Katara tensed. She knew that voice. Throwing her head back until his hand fell away from her face, she growled slightly and raised a foot, kicking him in what felt like the leg. She realized he must've been crouching in front of her and scooted away from him as best she could with her bonds and the ground.

"Zuko?" she asked incredulously. Somehow her action made her blindfold slip down just enough so she could see his pale face, illuminated in the moonlight. Currently, it was two shades of purple – one side because of his scarring and the other side because he was hot with rage. His head snapped towards the guard, who, now waking, began to draw a dagger from his belt.

With scary speed, Zuko was up on his feet and charging the man; two long, deadly swords suddenly in his hands. Things bounced on his back, and with a closer look, Katara saw that the swords' sheaths rested there, and also, the mask of the Blue Spirit.

Lashing out with his elegant blades, Zuko cut through the air towards the guard. The man reached up, and Zuko saw that above him, attached to the wagon, was a small bell. Faster he ran, and, chopping the bell off its post with a single flick of his left wrist, he caught it before it fell to the ground. Katara, dumbfounded, could hardly believe that he had carried out the deed without noise.

Too late, Zuko noticed the guard's movement in front of him, and ended up with the lesser half of a dagger lodged in his left shoulder. "Agh," he snarled, almost dropping the dao sword that his left hand held. The man retracted his hand, and with it, the dagger, preparing for another, more precise stab.

Raising his arms with the swords swerving in a deadly arc, Katara was afraid that he would kill the man. She squeezed her eyes shut for half a second then reopened them, staring towards the fighting duo with wide eyes.

The guard raised his arms to block whatever attack that Zuko had coming, but instead of slashing the man's arms like he easily could've, Zuko brought his head forward. A loud, definite crack split the air, and the man fell to the ground like water.

Turning, Zuko staggered back towards Katara, sheathing his swords and scowling heavily. Searching for words, she glanced around him to the guard's slumped form. "What did you do to him?"

Zuko was silent for a moment as he approached her. Slouching, he grabbed her arm and tugged her onto her feet. Despite her struggling, his hand was steady on her arm. With an elbow to his ribs, he grabbed her other arm and gave a slight groan. "He's not dead," he said in his usual raspy voice. "I just knocked him out. Any longer and he would've alerted the whole village to us."

"Us?" Katara growled, still straining. She contemplated biting him, but his arm was bloody. "What do you mean, us?"

Zuko huffed again, breathing steam into Katara's hair and shoulders. He wrestled both her arms into one of his and bent down, taking hold of the chains that attached Katara to the wagon. "Hold still," he snarled with another breath of steam.

She didn't. Giving him a good, solid knee to the gut, Katara wrenched free of his grip and opened her mouth to call for June. Surely there was some price on Zuko's head, as well. She hesitated as Zuko fell to the ground, realizing that if she exposed him, she very well might have to be chained to him.

In that moment, Zuko bounced off the ground as soon as he touched it; swung his legs out and towards Katara's, knocking her down so that she landed on her face. He winced a little before falling to his knees and putting a heavy leg on her back, keeping her from jumping up and kicking him again.

"…Sorry," he managed, coughing around the pain in his loins. He grabbed the chains again, and to Katara's amazement, produced fire in his palms. Dropping the chains shortly after but still holding his fiery hands close to them, he watched as they hissed and bubbled a little, then broke apart.

Katara simply stared. "Why'd you do that?" she asked plainly, after a moment. Clapping her hand to her forehead, she came up with an answer. "What, are you going to use me to get to Aang?"

Zuko put a finger to his lips, pointing in the direction of June and the others. "Run now, discuss later," he whispered. Before she could protest, he had her on her feet again and he was running, dragging a stumbling Katara along behind him.

"Zuko," she said at a couple points, but he'd drawn his mask over his face and was more or less ignoring her, save for the times that she tripped over rocks or sticks in which he lifted her, half-carrying her until she found her balance again.

Finally, they reached a small tent that was hidden well in the middle of the woods. He kicked the flaps open, fidgeting with a lantern for a moment before it lit. Letting Katara go, he ripped his mask off and stuck his head outside.

"What in the name of Tui and La is going on?" Katara heard a voice say, and then with a little embarrassment noticed that it was her own.

Zuko flinched. Returning his head to the inside of the tent, which was blowing around in the slight breeze, he said, "He's going to wake up and tell them you're gone, soon. You'd better get some sleep."

Katara opened her mouth to say something insulting, but her eyebrows twisted further than they already were into disbelief. "Did you headbutt him?" she asked dubiously.

Zuko cut her off before she could say anything else. "Sleep now, discuss later." And with that, he stepped out of the tent, closing the flaps so harshly that if they were real doors, they might've slammed shut.

Katara sat awkwardly in the tent, listening as he walked around outside, and decided it was best that she stay awake. No surprises.

Outside, what sounded like Zuko climbing a tree rolled through the tent, and Katara realized he was either going to keep watch all night or sleep up there. Sniffing, she turned her nose up and started planning how to escape him.

Doubting she could get outside and away fast enough to successfully hide from him, Katara tried to move into a more comfortable position. She brought her legs around and found herself tangled up in the remainders of the chain, which was still manacled to her right ankle.

"You've got to be joking," she muttered. She grasped the broken chain and yanked, but there wasn't enough of it to do anything useful. Tugging half-heartedly a couple more times, Katara gave up and muttered.

Suddenly, there was a thump right outside, and Zuko's head was once again poking in through the flaps of the tent. Without even asking permission, he stepped inside and over Katara, bending down and grabbing her ankle.

Kicking instinctively, Katara's foot made hard contact with Zuko's left shoulder. He sucked in a tight breath, and in the dimness, Katara could see that she had made the stab wound on his arm bleed again, and she almost felt bad as she watched the blood join the already-dry blood in soaking his shirt.

"Can't you ever hold still?" Zuko managed to snarl in a hushed tone. He grasped her leg in one hand and caught hold of the shackle. It began to sizzle, and Katara saw steam rising from it. She kicked again, softer this time; more just to get Zuko to loosen his grip.

"I can get it off myself!" Pushing his hands away and reclaiming her leg, Katara froze the shackle. Smashing it on the ground, she yelped as the ice-metal cut her skin. Blood welled on her shin, and she moaned. "That hurts," she whimpered.

"Now you're bleeding," Zuko hissed.