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Aang watched Zuko unload the bookcase of scrolls and volumes; some were very old and well preserved, and the young prince handled them with extreme care laying them out across the bed.

"Do you want help?"

Zuko looked at Aang a long moment, before he shrugged. "If you can be careful."

"I will!" Aang promised. "Where are these scrolls going?"

"My room. We're going to take down the books and the curios. Tomorrow, we'll move some of the furniture out, and move Ji and his family in."

"Your uncle sure had nice stuff."

Zuko laughed softly, "He liked his luxuries."

+++

They got an easy train going, Aang was delicate with the scrolls, and Zuko was grateful the boy knew when to play and when to be serious. He afforded the things the reverence they were due; whether for their value in coin or their value to Zuko, the prince couldn't be sure.

But his uncle had /so much/, and Zuko recognized so many of the volumes. It was hard not to feel a hand around his heart sometimes; he would stop, and a story had to be told, and Aang laughed.

And as Zuko read a scroll, they collected an audience.

+++

Having left Sokka's room, Katara expected to check on Aang one last time before bed. But voices trailed out of a room she hadn't seen open before.

Fearless, she poked her head in.

Zuko sat, an old scroll unbound on his lap, reading aloud from a tale of a boy born from a peach, while Aang listened avidly. The room was not Zuko's, but it didn't take much for Katara to figure out who it had probably belonged too.

"...what are you two doing?"

"Rattling old ghosts," Zuko replied, once he finished the passage.

"Want to help?" Aang asked hopefully.

+++

The pair became a trio, working in companionable quiet, small instructions given and occasionally stories told of some piece's value or history.

Katara fingered books and read the names of scrolls stamped on the cases.

"History, calligraphy, poetry, legendry. Are you interested?" Zuko asked.

"A little. Especially from your people's perspective."

"It probably won't be appealing."

"Still," Katara protested. "But I'm not that educated, and your calligraphy is different from ours."

Zuko smirked, eyes bright with some unknown purpose. "You could ask for help."

"Would you keep score?"

"Not if you don't."

"Then, will you help?"

"Since you asked, yes."

+++

When the scrolls were moved, they went on to the curios. These had to be boxed carefully, and put tight against the wall. Aang slowed things down considerably, but no one seemed to mind.

When the curios were boxed, Zuko began to fuss with Iroh's desk, getting small things collected.

"What's going to happen to that?" Aang asked.

"Going into my quarters. It's one of the few things he brought with him from the capitol."

"Oh."

He continued to empty the desk drawers, till he found a small red paper.

"What's that?"

"...poetry."

"What kind?" Katara inquired.

"His death verse."

+++

Katara wrinkled her nose. It figured that morbid subject would get poetry from the Fire Nation.

Zuko frowned at her expression. "We write poetry when we leave for battle, long journeys. It's - a way of telling people how we felt at the time without having to spell it out," he explained tersely.

"So what does your uncle's read? Or-" Aang quickly began to back track, "Is it really personal?"

Zuko seemed unwilling to speak at first, before he lifted the paper, and looked at it. "He writes in the old style,

Unburdened,
Beneath the moon,
I sail heavenward."

+++

Katara blinked. For death poetry, it was simple and almost pretty. She'd expected something about enemies and conquest, not moons and boats. Zuko folded it and slid it into a pocket.

"Do you write poetry?" she finally asked.

Zuko eyed her. "I write death verse, like any other warrior."

She frowned slightly. "So that's a conditional 'yes'."

Zuko glanced back. "You're looking for the seven-eighths again."

"Seven-eighths?" Aang inquired sleepily.

"Don't ask," Katara said, before she looked to Zuko again. "And I'm not. I am suitably impressed you write poetry, though."

Zuko gathered calligraphy brushes and ink stones. "Don't be."

+++

Aang was comfortable on that bed. Zuko and Katara were talking about a scroll, but Aang? Aang was really comfortable. The bed was a little musty from disuse, but beneath, he could catch the scent of charcoal, something that all the Firebenders seemed to have, and sandalwood within that.

It was strangely comforting, and it felt right that it was.

They were talking, and talking, and he was ....heavy.

Aang curled around one of the pillows, and fell into a deep sleep. Katara and Zuko didn't notice until it was too late. A quilt was drawn up, tucked around him.

+++

Watching Zuko, Katara said, "That was... Amazingly sweet. So, poetry, Avatar tuck ins - are you going to surprise me with musical skill next?"

Zuko tried not to laugh as he snuffed the candles; Aang was dead asleep, and they exchanged whispers as they left him asleep in Iroh's bed. "It's among my repertoire, actually."

"You're kidding me, right?" Katara looked skeptical. "You? Music?"

"I play several instruments."

"Do you play at 'music night'?"

Zuko flinched. "Who told you about music night?"

"Hua," Katara said.

"Figures," Zuko replied grumpily.

They slipped out of the room and shut the door behind them.

+++

"So what do you play?"

"What don't I play," Zuko said with a sigh. "I play a variety of instruments. Uncle thought it'd give me a 'well-rounded' education."

"Did it?" Katara asked.

He glanced to her and frowned slightly. "It's provided me with little out here. Not much use for calligraphy, dance, and music in the middle of nowhere."

"You /dance/?"

"Alright, enough incrimination for one night," Zuko said as he went for his door.

"Oh, come on. This I've got to see."

"... I'm not dancing alone, and I'm not teaching you/. You've /got a teacher. Dance with Hua."

+++

Katara trailed after Zuko to his door; the idea of Zuko dancing was even more giggle inducing then his poetry. He didn't seem to appreciate her squeal of delight at the idea.

"Do you dance with partners? We only really dance in groups." Katara fished for information.

"Partnered," Zuko said, as he opened his door. "But I don't dance."

Katara stopped before his door. "Why not?"

"I don't like being a spectacle."

"Which is why you stood up before the crew and said, 'We're having a revolution, want to come?' Your palms sweat when you're nervous, too."

"Good /night/, Katara."

+++

When Zuko shut the door, Katara headed back to check on Aang one more time before she went to her own room, and prepared for rest.

She'd learned more from Hua, she'd watched Sokka swallow his pride, found Zuko wasn't a total loss, and watched their whole world change in one little ship. And she'd gotten dirt on Zuko - and the promise of further education in the enemy's thought.

Putting out the lamps, Katara slid into bed feeling immensely satisfied. If the days that followed were this enlightening, she believed they could do anything.

She just hoped they believed, too.

+++

Aang woke up in a strange place. It wasn't a bad place, though. He was tucked in, warm, and this wasn't his room. Sunlight filtered in through a tiny porthole in the wall, and he wriggled out of the quilt that had been laid over him.

He was in Iroh's room. He sat up, observed his surroundings, and then slipped out of bed.

And then he sat down at the desk and pulled open the drawers, and began to investigate. No one would think to look for him /here/.

Except maybe the people that had tucked him in last night.

+++

When morning came, Zuko had decided enough was enough. Hua had forbidden him the use of the bath while his poultice worked, but now it was mostly flaked away. He itched, he wanted a hot bath, and he was going to have one.

The main showers were not far from his own private bath that he and Iroh had split between them. Strangely, the door was open when he went to it. It was normally locked.

Thinking this odd, he tried the latch, and swung the door open....

...and discovered that Ming was pretty in an older woman way /everywhere/.

+++
Ji looked up as a red-faced prince burst into the helm.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, sir?"

"About the arrangements you made for the /women on the ship/?"

"Arrangements?"

"The baths, Lt Ji!"

Ji blinked at the flush-faced boy, and then tried not to laugh. But then he shook his head, and chuckled at Zuko's fluster. "Ah, I'm sorry, Prince Zuko! Slipped my mind. Who'd you walk in on? I hear Second Engineer Humlae's wife is quite young and lovely!"

"I walked in on /yours/!"

Ji stopped laughing.

"Ming?"

"She's very pretty for a /woman her age/!"

+++

After he got clearance that there was no one in the bath, he secured the keys that Ji had and locked it. He bathed, soaked in hot water (how he had missed hot running water) and tried not to think of what he had to do.

Then he realized he'd left Aang alone in Iroh's room. The Airbender was terribly curious -- what would Zuko do, if Aang disturbed it?

Ruin the world's chance of survival and murder the little brat, he thought with a grumble, and submersed himself in his tub.

He didn't want to face the day anymore.

+++

Ji busily attempted to figure out how to explain things. Ming seemed alright, waving off despite his mumbled attempts at explaining that he'd overlooked telling Zuko about the bath arrangements.

"He's a bit innocent, isn't he? Downright shy. Doesn't like public speaking, never seen a woman..."

"He's only sixteen, Ming."

"Dear, we were married when you were sixteen," Ming reminded him, and leaned over to kiss her husband.

"Things are different now."

She laughed, and pushed him back toward their bed. "The only difference between a sixteen year old and a forty year old is /experience/, Ji. Show me, mmm?"

+++

Hua greeted Katara with some herbs and a few more scrolls to read. They sat, exchanging the occasional snippy comment back and forth as they went about their business. For Katara it meant study and for Hua it meant trying to bait her endlessly.

A soldier came downstairs. "Dr. Hua!"

"Yes? Something to report?"

"He's on deck practicing."

"Excellent! Just what I was waiting for." Hua looked far too happy. "Katara? Come see what happens when you don't follow doctor's order."

"Alright," Uncertain of what that meant, she got up from her seat and followed him out of the infirmary.

+++

It was a long walk from the infirmary to the upper deck, but Katara immediately saw the problem.

Zuko. It figured the boy couldn't listen to a simple request of 'no strenuous activity', but when she thought about it, he probably didn't see low impact kata as 'strenuous'. That didn't stop it from being just what Hua had forbidden him from doing, though.

Hua stood at the door, watching the prince, his fingers tightening around his cane.

"Do you know why else Zuko tolerates me?"

"No."

"As ship's physician, I can remove him from command, and he fears losing power."

+++

The sudden shock of the pain that blossomed from the small of his back signaled attack, but Zuko was already stumbling. He twisted, kept his feet, and then whirled, ready - only to see the cane rolling away on the deck.

Katara dashed from her position by Hua, who stood, gripping the doorway, to grab it before it went right overboard.

"What are you doing?" Zuko demanded.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Once Katara returned his cane, Hua began to stalk across the deck, steps unsteady. "I told you no strenuous activity. This definitely counts, Prince Zuko."

+++

Katara wasn't quite sure she'd actually SEEN what just happened. One minute, he stood there, next he'd launched his cane like a javelin with unerring precision. Zuko took a hit, nearly fell.

Now, they were snarling at one another. Hua was not a short man by any stretch-tall and thin, he had inches over Zuko that forced the Prince to look up. On the other hand, Zuko was far more built then he was, and was not lamed. Zuko's hands balled to fists, while Hua angrily shook his cane about.

Such foolish men; were all Firebenders this hot tempered?

++

"I'm not hearing this!"

"Apparently you don't hear much, or this wouldn't be a problem!"

They'd gone on back and forth for fifteen minutes, red faced and angry. Hua wanted Zuko to take care of himself. Zuko insisted he was fine. The cane lashed out, this time against a hip, and Zuko's pain was obvious.

"This is /stupid/!" Katara finally snapped. "He wants to push himself, fine. When he's in the infirmary longer and we're delayed, he'll feel stupid and be to blame."

Hua just stared at her a moment, before he laughed. "He's his own punishment, then?"

"Basically, yeah."

+++

Zuko glared as Hua howled with laughter.

"Oh, I like you, Waterbender," Hua said, limping back toward her. "You're going to keep the prince honest, aren't you?"

"I'm not hoping to keep him at all," she replied tersely. "But I'm not going to let him be foolish."

Hua sighed, and then waved Zuko after him. "Let's make sure nothing is torn open."

"If it is, it's because you /hit me/!'

Katara snorted. "You hit /me/!"

"You were going to sink the ship!"

Arguing, they all went below decks. It seemed to be the natural order of things; conflict and heat.

++

Once they got downstairs, Hua happily looked Zuko over and fixed sutures that had been torn. It seemed as if tempers had cooled. Hua made it clear Ji was going to take command and Zuko was going to take it easy. Zuko grumbled but accepted it.

It was strange; if she had been a stranger, she wouldn't have caught it. But Hua seemed to genuinely care about the prince, and Zuko's deferment was rare enough to be noted.

"You two are quite a pair," Katara said. Hua smiled at her, and it was then she noticed.

"Your eyes are /blue/!"

+++

"She's in the infirmary with me for days, and now she notices." Hua bemoaned to the prone prince. "What have you been paying attention to?"

"Your hands, most of the time, since I'm watching you work!" Katara protested. "But - I didn't think you had-blue eyes among your people."

"Well, that depends on what people you're talking about." Hua said, rolling his eyes. "My mother was from the Water Tribe."

"Really?" Katara almost clapped. "That's incredible. But-how-"

"Well, when a man loves a woman - or pays a prostitute-"

Katara groaned. Hua couldn't be serious for five minutes.

+++

Zuko found Katara leaning over, to put herself at his level. "Did you know?"

"It's rather hard to miss a blue eyed, swarthy physician, Katara."

Katara inspected Hua, and then shook her head. "He's not dark like us."

"He's darker then most Fire Nation."

"But your features are more like the Fire then the Water..."

Hua shook his head. "Listen to her. Next she'll try and figure out what parts of me are what. I'm Fire Nation through and through, born and raised. I love my country and my people."

Katara's voice was small when she said, "That's not it."

+++

With Hua irritated now, Katara stayed closer to Zuko, which he find odd. He sat up quietly, and then got his shirt back. Getting down from the table.

"What-now?"

"Why don't you go keep the Prince out of trouble? Nothing happening about here for now."

Katara opened her mouth, but Zuko shook his head and began to herd her out. "Know when to stop," he said.

"Hey!" She turned on him. "That wasn't what I meant! Don't tell me you're going to-"

"Stop you from picking an old wound? Yes, I am. Walk." Zuko's tone was sharp.

+++

Katara accompanied Zuko up to the decks, before he offered, "I'm going to go to Ji after he's done doing inventory. Do you want to go over Uncle's scrolls?"

She'd totally forgotten about those; the night before, they'd been quite intriguing. "But what about moving the furniture?"

Zuko grimances. "Ji'll have to help. Or you could-"

"I'm not lying to Dr. Hua."

Zuko grimaced.

"So, what do I do about what happened?"

"Leave him alone tonight, and don't mention it tomorrow."

Katara sighed heavily. "Alright." She tried to rouse her mood. "Do I get to read your poetry?"

"/No/."

+++

It was really odd; Zuko dropped himself on his bed, and Katara helped herself to her scrolls. The Fire Nation calligraphy was slightly different; there were words and meanings that didn't mesh to her people's writing.

Zuko was quiet; he took the medication that Hua had given him days before (and hadn't touched till now) and relaxed. It seemed to make him sleepy.

"Would you rather I leave?" Katara asked, as she sat among the scrolls.

A dismissive wave answered her. "M' fine. What are you reading?"

"The Open Air Pavilion."

"Avatar legendry." He looked at her. "It didn't help."

+++

Aang felt /guilty/.

No one had come looking for him. He didn't really expect Zuko too, but Katara might. Sokka didn't know to look, so... He'd stayed here.

It was an alien sensation - having sat for hours among this man's things and explored his life; it was like trying to piece together a past life of his own, only more tangible. He wanted to know who this man had been; he'd seemed... nice. A kinship could be felt.

He looked down at the volume in his hands, feeling his guts twist.

A dead man's journal opened up and spilled secrets.

+++

Halfway through /The Open Air Pavillion/, Katara realized Zuko had fallen asleep. She looked up when he didn't answer a question, and found him on his belly, face buried in a pillow, one arm dangling off the bed.

It was almost normal. The short black hair, the casual, rested position... he could be anybody. Who knew he could look innocent?

She rolled the scroll up and slid it back in its case. She gathered it and another, tucked them both under one arm. He had said she could borrow them.

Slipping out, she realized she hadn't seen Aang all day.

+++

"Aang, what are you still doing in here? Zuko's going to go positively volcanic."

Aang looked at Katara guilty, and motioned for her to close the door. "Well, I slept here."

"Yeah, we noticed."

"And... when I woke up, there was so much /stuff/."

"So much stuff that belonged to Zuko's dead uncle, Aang."

"I know! But-but-Katara. We'll never get to know him the way Zuko did. And - I keep feeling like... that we really would have liked him, Katara. I don't think he would have minded at all."

Katara sat on the bed. "But Zuko will, Aang."

+++

She couldn't believe she was listening - the man's scrolls in her lap were heavy as Aang spoke in a hushed voice about Iroh; his loves, his losses, his nephew.

It was strange to think of anyone in the Fire Nation with mothers or friends. You wanted to think of them like termites in armor, boring through anything that got in their path, destructive and repulsive.

Aang didn't see it that way, even though he'd lost much to them; she recalled that the Avatar was the bridge between this world and the spirit world. Would he be a bridge between Nations?

+++

Eventually, Aang was satisfied and Katara and he made the bed. Zuko had not appeared, and Katara was hesitant to check up on him to see if he was near to waking. :

Aang had seen to it that everything was back in its place. Katara hoped Zuko noticed nothing out of order, and shooed the Avatar into the hall. It was past time for lunch, but with the crew rotations keeping the kitchen busy, something would be found.

She hoped her brother had come up for air from the engines to remember to eat. Then again, it was Sokka...

+++

He was sweaty, grimy, and was certain that he didn't like First Engineer Muu. But Sokka was happy. It was beautiful, he decided. It could stand to be cleaner and less smelly, but it was still /beautiful/. Its parts worked in beautiful symmetry.

It was also totally engrossing. Engrossing enough that when Katara came down with a plate of food and a bottle of water, he hadn't even thought about food.

"It must be /true love/," she quipped as he sat down to devour his food.

"At least I'm not making time with some weirdo Fire Nation /hack/," Sokka grumbled.

+++

He hadn't meant it that way, really. It wasn't a suggestion of romance (oh god, turn his stomach while he eats lunch, why don't you) but - really, the mentor/student was almost as bad!

So when she dumped his drink on him, he was unhappy. It was thirsty work down here, after all.

"Katara! I'm sorry!"

"No you're not!"

So he wasn't. "What's the problem, anyway?"

"Sokka..." Katara chewed her lip. "He's half-blooded. His mother was Water Tribe."

Sokka felt his stomach triple-somersault. "Tell me you're /kidding/, Katara. For the love of moon and sea, tell me that's a sick joke."

+++

It wasn't a joke. Katara's expression was serious, and Sokka felt his lunch suddenly become ashes. He wasn't hungry anymore.

"Alright," he says. "I love you. You're my sister, and I cherish you. But if you ever do something stupid like that with one of /them/, so help me I'll tan your hide. That's /disgusting/!"

Katara looked at him with something he'd never seen before storming in her eyes, and then got up and walked away.

"Hey! Katara! Dammit, KATARA!"

She refused to answer him, leaving him with the heat of the engine room to stew in his own thoughts.

+++

Katara stormed into the room and the ship rocked with every step she took. Aang was at dice with the Firebenders again, and she looked at him for a moment, and then to the men clustered around him.

He'd won them over /easily/. Was that part of being the Avatar? Was that part of his destiny?

Or was it that when he looked at them, he didn't see Gyatso, screaming as he died, like she remembered her mother's death? Was it that he could look at them and see the pale golden eyes of Kuzon, the friend he left behind?

+++

The dice clattered from his fingers when Aang felt the ship tremble. He looked up from his new group of friends and looked up to the person who, he was unashamed to admit, he loved best.

Katara was on the verge of /tears/. "Can we talk, Aang? Please?"

"Uh," Aang said, and rose, dice forgotten. "Gotta go!" He rose, immediately ducking under her arm, and left with the Waterbender.

The seas calmed.

The crewmen looked bewildered; what could have made the Water Tribe girl cry? The first thought was Prince Zuko, but no one had seen him at lunch, either.

+++

Katara stammered out her confusion in the privacy of Appa's paddock. Only the bison was there to overhear her stutter out her story; the doctor's lineage, Sokka's lingering (hypocritical) bitterness, and her own apprehension.

He didn't have an easy answer.

"Things are different. Almost nothing is like how I remembered. I mean, I remember when it wasn't that bad if your parents were from different places. The idea of war..." he sighed. "It wasn't so far off, but..."

But it wasn't like this.

"I wish I could tell you something that'd make this better," he said as she nestled close.

+++

Katara stayed safe with Aang, warmed by Appa and comforted by her friend's presence.

"Am I a bad person?" she finally asked. "I'm not angry because Sokka's an idiot. I'm angry because sometimes I think he's right."

Aang was silent, his face turned away from her.

"I know you don't remember them like we do, Aang. They killed so many people. They killed my mother and they took my father away."

"I know," Aang said quietly, heavy-hearted with sadness. "But there's no easy answer, Katara. It'll take time."

He didn't want to admit that maybe those feelings... would never change.

+++

Zuko awoke to tapping on the door. Bleary eyed, he considered his surroundings. There was something missing. Staggering to his feet, he went to the door and peered out. Hua was waiting for him.

"Nice to see you finally took your medication, my prince," Hua said, scrutinizing. "Finally looking better, too. Have you eaten?"

"Ah, no. I think I slept through lunch."

"And the girl?"

'... I don't even know where she is. She was reading uncle's scrolls..."

Hua looked at him for a moment, and then said, "Your scrolls, my prince. He has no ownership."

"Please don't say that."

+++

Hua left the subject of Iroh's things - now Zuko's - alone. The prince was tired, and the physician didn't feel like pushing his luck. The boy was finally listening to him.

"I suggest a good meal, retiring to do something calm, and then drugging yourself to the gills and sleeping though the night."

Zuko sat down quietly and nodded. "It's alright."

Hua laid more packets of medicine on the table, and made to go. Zuko weighed his words, but could not leave them unsaid.

"You really upset her."

"I really don't care"

Zuko sighed. "She didn't mean it like that, Hua."

+++

"What did she mean by it, Prince Zuko?"

"She was looking for commonality; trying to find herself in someone foreign. She just wants a connection - I don't think she wants to hate us."

"An astute observation, my prince." Hua looked at Zuko for a long moment, his brows furrowing. "You know," Hua said, words slow and caculated, "I don't think I've ever heard you defend someone before. It's unusual. Not undesirable, but still - unusual. You haven't spoken out for another... in some time."

Zuko could not look Hua in the face.

"Compassion is nothing to be guilty over, my prince."

+++

"Just keep her busy tomorrow. I don't want to have to spend more hours trying to stay awake while she struggles with her peasant education through unc-my scrolls." Zuko's sourness told Hua that he had found the mark, but he didn't feel badly about ruffling his feathers one bit.

"Oh, I'll have her back to work. But I want you to endure some prodding in the name of furthering her 'peasant education'."

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Not on your life. You already used me as a study in sutures!"

Hua sighed. This was going to be harder then he thought.

+++

Aang wanted to chew through his chopsticks. On top of Sokka being greasy and smelly, Katara wouldn't look at him or speak to him over dinner. Aang was stuck between the siblings as they ate in miserable silence, perfunctorily chewing their food and refusing to meet each other's gaze.

It was time like this when Aang understood Zuko sticking close to Appa and refusing to get to know either of them. They were both being stupid.

When he realized he hadn't seen Zuko all day, he finished his food as quickly as he could and slipped away from the siblings.

+++

The tall, thin doctor was leaving Zuko's room. He was as Katara said; an awkward mix of Water Tribe and Fire Nation; graying dark hair, thick and coarse, eyes of blue, swarthy skin - all trademarks of the Water Tribe. But the sharp features and the slender frame spoke of the Fire Nation.

Aang looked up at him. He did not look away.

"So you're the Avatar."

"Yup."

"Dr. Hua," the man said, though he did not offer his hand. Aang was beginning to realize that Katara was right; this man was as prickly as the prince.

"Nice to meet you."

+++

Zuko answered the door to the Avatar's smile.

"Hey! How are you feeling?"

"Better," Zuko allowed, before he stepped aside. "And you? You fell asleep last night mid-cleaning."

"Yeah," Aang seemed abashed. "I'm sorry about that."

Zuko dismissed it with a wave of his hand, unconcerned. He sat down at his table again, taking up abacus and paper. "I'm afraid I'm not the most exciting person to be about on the ship. There are lots of things to be done."

"Do you need help?"

Zuko blinked as Aang sat down beside him. Why were they so quick to offer assistance?

+++

Aang proved remarkably adept at math, but he did not enjoy it anymore then Zuko did. They worked toward the important task of figuring out just what their assets were.

"You should really get Katara to help with this. She's really good at managing that sort of thing. We trust her with all our money!"

"How do you fund your little operation, anyway?" Zuko asked, curious. "We traveled on uncle's checkbook, but now we can't."

"Charity, and sometimes we make Sokka work."

Zuko groaned. "I don't think that'll keep this ship afloat."

Aang tilted his head, grinning rueful. "Probably not."

+++

As they worked, Aang asked, "...do you hate the Water Tribe?"

Zuko blinked quietly. "No." But then he frowned, and asked, "Is this about Katara and Dr. Hua?"

"Yeah," Aang admitted.

"Listen." Zuko sighed heavily. "Any feelings I may have about Dr. Hua's breeding is outweighed by two factors-he's a brilliant doctor, and he's saved my life before and my uncle's before that. He could be half rhino and I'd still have him on my ship."

"He kinda acts half rhino..." Aang admitted, face scrunching with irritation.

"You've already met him, then?" Zuko was unsurprised.

"What gave it away?"

+++

As Aang asked more about Hua, Zuko tried to explain without saying too much. The Avatar was innocent; raised a monk in seclusion from the opposite sex, he didn't know about a lot of life's... stickier subjects.

Zuko was not so innocent, but that didn't mean he wanted to explain things like comfort women or what a lonely general would do with one. The short of it was she'd been a prisoner of war and prostituted; Hua knew it, and had never cared about it. Aang couldn't hear that, though.

"I don't know much about his family," Zuko finally lied.

+++

With the subject of Hua seemingly taboo, Aang considered what to move on to. Zuko was still trying to figure out what to do with the ship and its dwindling cash, bent over figures.

"I still think we should get Katara to help."

"Katara will be busy." He sat up then, thinking. "But perhaps we can ask Ji's wife. She's had to run a household - maybe she'll know of ways to stretch money a little further."

"She seems like a nice lady."

Zuko thought to earlier, in the bath, and just nodded his head. "A... lovely woman," he replied stiffly.


+++

Figures set aside, Zuko rubbed his face, tired and unsatisfied. This was getting them nowhere; they needed help to figure it all out. "I'll take this to Ji and his wife tomorrow. I'm sure they'll have some ideas."

"We could give Appa rides at the port?" Aang suggested. "That's always a hit!"

"We're trying to keep low profile, Aang," Zuko chided him gently. "Flying bisons are not low profile. I'd quicker have Sokka get the saddle, bit and bridle."

"Zuko, nothing about you is low profile." Aang laughed. But he paused and then said, "...you don't hate /Sokka/, do you?"

+++

Aang was a worrier; he and Katara had that in common. But the way he addressed it, looking at Zuko with hope and apprehension, made the prince uncomfortable. Still, he tried to address his concern.

"I don't hate Sokka. He aggravates me, but I don't hate him. I just - find his company to be something I could happily live without."

"But you can still work together, and it'll be okay, right?"

"I would rather chew /nails/, but I can work with him, alright?."

Aang didn't seem happy with that answer, but probably figured it was the best he could get.

+++

"Do you feel that way about Katara?"

Zuko frowned a little. "Katara's different from Sokka. Sokka's simple - and I don't mean he's stupid. I wouldn't put a total idiot down in the boilers."

Aang grinned. "He's got hidden talents!"

"Deeply hidden," Zuko said dryly. "But yes, they're there. Katara... Katara's clever," he allowed, the compliment sounding awkward. "But that means she thinks, and thinking means she actually has an idea of how she feels and why she feels it. Sokka doesn't think about why he feels something. He just /does/."

"So you don't hate her, either?"

"I don't hate Katara, Aang."

+++

They dwelled in somewhat unhappy silence from then on; it wasn't a matter of race, that much Aang had concluded; a matter of something else, then-but he didn't know what. Disliking people for much of any reason - short of them trying to kill him or imprison him (and even that could be forgiven) - was hard for the Avatar to fathom.

So trying to understand Zuko's dislike of Sokka and discomfort with Katara was... well, possibly beyond him.

Then Aang decided to ask the hard question: "Don't you want /friends/, Zuko?"

"I don't know. I've never really had any, Aang."

+++

With a few simple words, Zuko had moved himself from 'hard to understand' to 'pitiable'.

"No friends."

"No."

"No playmates."

"None that weren't bought, or didn't think there'd be some gain in it. Lord's sons to spar, race rhinos..." He shrugged; it was the resignation that stabbed at Aang, the sheer acceptance that love was bought and sold, favor traded.

It was so unlike anything he knew.

".../I'm/ your friend," he finally announced, standing in the bench. "Your very first one!"

Zuko's smile was thin when he replied, "Because I'm going to teach you firebending, Aang."

Aang had traded, too.

+++

It was like someone let the air out of the Airbender; Aang seemed to visibly deflate, till he sat on the bench with his head in his small hands. Zuko had not intended to wound him so.

"That's not /right/," Aang said, his voice tense. "You can't - think with those terms anymore. These aren't games, you don't keep /score/!"

Katara's words: You'll keep score.

"Friends do favors without being asked! We came after you, unasked! Then, you agreed to teach me firebending." Grief was on his face. "Was that - payment?"

Please don't say that to him, Prince Zuko.

"No, Aang."

+++

Aang looked at Zuko, and felt like he was going to either hit the Firebender prince, or hug him till he was not /so broken/. Couldn't he know that they weren't doing this for any other reason other then to do the right thing?

Wasn't Prince Zuko acting for the good of his people, who he loved?

The Prince seemed uncertain; this was not something he knew how to deal with, and Aang watched his face shutter, trying to regain composure. This was new territory for both of them. Neither knew the lay of the land.

"Can't we be friends?"

+++

It was the third time he's asked; Would we have been friends? Can we try? Can't we be friends?

Aang asked for it so many ways; confused, hopeful, and now hurt; he wanted something so simple, and yet Zuko didn't know how to give it to him. Was this friendship? Confused and stumbling, but still, Zuko couldn't say.

He had to try, if this was going to work; to try their way.

"Hey, Aang?"

"...what?"

Zuko swallowed the lump in his throat, thinking of Iroh, and then asked, "Let's forget the ledgers for now. You want to... play some pai-sho?"

+++