Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 57: Escorts and Chaperones

The next morning, Zuko and Chiara were up early meditating before the rising sun. Afterwards, they walked to the river together where she caught a few fish for breakfast. While he was cooking in the courtyard, she strolled through the temple garden picking fruit and nuts for Aang.

It was not long before the others were drawn from their sleep by the aroma of the frying fish.

Sokka, seeing Zuko at the fire, rubbed his eyes. "Am I seeing things? Is the Prince of the Fire Nation really cooking breakfast?"

"No, you're still dreaming, Water Tribe," he said. "Go back to bed."

"Hey, with the food smelling that good, I think I'll just stay in this dream for a while until my stomach's full. Then I'll wake up to whatever the women are really cooking...AHH!!" he yelled out suddenly finding himself drenched and dripping with a lot of cold water despite the clear sky above him. "...cold, cold!"

"Huh, guess you're not dreaming," said Katara casually as she walked by him.

"You keep talking like that, you might find yourself rotating over the fire," said Zuko smirking at him.

"Obviously that was a compliment," he said to Katara's back. "How can Zuko possibly be a better cook than my wonderful sister?" Katara ignored him as she was collecting water.

Sokka was just about to go change when he took notice of Chiara laying out the apples, peaches, and nuts she had gathered.

"Chiara...," he started in a pleasant voice that was sure to be followed by a request. "...you're a waterbender. Do you think you could help me out with a little drying action?"

"He deserved it," said Katara kneeling down by the fire.

"Sorry, Sokka," said Chiara, "this woman has to start making the tea."

Zuko and Katara started laughing, so Sokka walked off dripping wet.

"Wow, what happened to you?" asked Aang seeing the trail of water behind him.

"I complimented the cooks," he said wryly.

Aang had no idea what he meant or how that was related to his being wet, but he walked over to the fire pit where he saw the assortment of fruits and nuts.

"This looks good...," he started. "Oh...wait...am I going to end up like Sokka? Because, if so, it doesn't look good?"

Chiara was giggling. "I think you're safe, Aang."

She threw a peach in the air and smiled as Momo leaped up and caught it. Soon everyone came out and Sokka returned in dry clothes and wet hair, and they all ate their fill.

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After breakfast, Chiara collected all the dishes, and she and Katara began cleaning them, but before they finished washing them all, Zuko stood up and took his wife's hand. She knew better than to argue with him.

"Aang, we'll meet you on the balcony," he said anxious to firebend since his encounter with the masters.

Katara huffed as she watched Zuko walk off with Chiara. "He really needs to stop treating her like an object."

"He's just worried about her," said Aang.

"No one here is going to hurt her. He needs to lighten up."

"Says the most uptight person here," said Toph.

Sokka started laughing until he caught Katara's glare, and he was definitely not ready to take another cold shower.

Aang took off to the balcony where he and Zuko began his training with simple warm-ups as Chiara exercised with them. When they started practicing firebending sets, Zuko could feel the difference in his command of the fire, and he was thrilled to see the improvement in his firebending. Chiara, noticing the change, stood still and started watching him.