The Fire Nation ship sails through the sea; the chilly air lets everyone know they are still in South Pole territory. Feeling bad for upsetting Prince Zuko, Kairi decided to confront him and apologize for humiliating him in front of everyone.
Kairi looked at Iroh and excused herself. She turned and walked towards the ship, getting inside. She walked through the hallways to get to Prince Zuko's room.
Kairi stopped walking and stood outside Prince Zuko's room. She knocked on the door and heard a grunting sound. She figured it was the Prince's way of telling her to enter. She opened the door and poked her head inside, spotting the Prince meditating in front of a red dragon shrine.
" What do you want?" Prince Zuko asked, his back facing Kairi.
" I came to apologize for humiliating you in front of everyone," Kairi responded.
Prince Zuko opened his eyes and turned his head back slightly to stare at Kairi.
" What kind of apology is that? It sounds like you don't mean it." He says.
" You did ask what I was doing, and I just told you what I would do," Kairi remarked.
Prince Zuko's eyes intently stared at Kairi's.
" Hm." He looked away to stare at the red dragon shrine.
Kairi's forehead twitched, getting annoyed. She opens her mouth to say something but gets cut off by Prince Zuko.
" Did Uncle told you why I got mad?" Prince Zuko asked.
Kairi didn't know what to say.
" Figured he did." Prince Zuko sighed.
He stands and turns to face Kairi.
" Look. I don't want your pity." He firmly says.
Kairi looked at Prince Zuko.
" I'm not giving you pity. I understand the pain you are going through. Even though he was your Father, a Fire Nation citizen did hurt you." She rolls her right pant sleeve to reveal her burned scar.
Prince Zuko looked at the burned scar with mixed emotions. Like his, the coloring seems old.
" A Fire Nation Soldier burned the right side of my thigh and leg," Kairi says when she sees Prince Zuko staring at it. " It happened six years ago. That same day, I lost my Mother to that same Fire Nation Soldier." She murmured.
Prince Zuko slowly lifts his head to stare at Kairi in the eyes. He didn't know what to say to her.
" I should, um, get going." Kairi turned and was about to walk away but stopped when she heard her name.
" Kairi," Prince Zuko calls out, causing Kairi to turn her head slightly to look at him.
" I want to um. Say that I am sorry for nearly burning your face earlier." He says, causing Kairi to face him.
Even though Prince Zuko had difficulty apologizing, Kairi could see that he was being genuine due to the honesty in his eyes.
Kairi smiled, taking Prince Zuko by surprise.
" I accept your apology, Your Highness." She curtseyed.
Prince Zuko annoyingly stared at Kairi.
" You don't have to curtsey." He says, causing Kairi to look at him curiously. " And call me Zuko when we are alone, of course. Around others, you can still call me by my royal title." He turned around so she wouldn't see his embarrassed face.
" Okay, Zuko. I'll be in my room if anything." Kairi excused herself and closed the door, leaving Prince Zuko in his room.
Prince Zuko turns and sees that Kairi has left. He stayed quiet, remembering the scars on her leg. His hands tightened into fists, angry that his people had hurt someone outside their nation.
He bit his lip when he recalled Kairi looking horrified when the fire was heading in her direction. He saw how she immediately covered her face with her arms.
" No wonder she looked so scared when I sent a fire blast in her direction." He mutters.
At the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka and Aang awakened from their slumber in their shared tent. They got dressed and exited the tent. They looked at one another and nodded, determined to search the world for Kairi.
" Let's go eat and head out to search for my sister," Sokka says.
" Yeah! I am starving. I also need to feed Appa." Aang walks with Sokka to Kanna's tent.
" Hey, Grandma. How are you feeling?" Sokka asked from outside the tent.
" Better than yesterday. However, my heart is still sad that Kairi is out there alone." Kanna says as she walks out of the tent.
" And how is um Katara doing?" Sokka asked while looking at his Grandmother.
Kanna turns to the tent where she last saw her youngest granddaughter.
" Still asleep. We slept late, ensuring you two have everything for your trip." She says.
Sokka nodded.
" Let's go eat. You two have a long day ahead of you." Kanna turns to look at the two boys.
Sokka and Aang walked with Kanna to a fire pit where the tribe's females made food and served it to older people and children.
" What is all of this?" Aang asked, looking at the food curiously.
" Water Tribe cuisine," Sokka responded.
" Do you guys have any fruits or vegetables? I got raised not to eat meat." Aang looks at Sokka and Kanna.
Sokka looked at Aang with mixed emotions. He was shocked to hear that his new friend doesn't eat meat.
" I remember Mother told me that Father said the same thing." Kanna looked at Aang fondly.
" My Mother created this dish for the Water Tribe specifically for my Father. She called it Seaweed Soup since it has Seaweed broth and noodles." She puts a liquid, leafy green substance with green noodles in the brown bowl.
" Cool! Excited to try this. Thank you for the food!" Aang bows his head and takes the brown bowl.
" Here! A spoon." Sokka hands the spoon to Aang.
" Thanks, Sokka!" Aang smiled and took the wooden spoon. He took a bite of the soup and smiled.
" It's delicious!" He praised.
Kanna's gaze softened.
" It goes well with Seaweed bread." She grabs a piece of bread and hands it to Aang.
Aang accepts the bread and takes a bite. He smiled, enjoying the salty bitterness of the seaweed mixed with the bread.
After two servings, Aang got full. He looked at Sokka and saw that he was eating two-headed fish soup. He held in his disgust and stood up, deciding to get food for Appa.
" Do you guys have like hay or something similar that I can give to Appa?" Aang asked, looking at Kanna and the female villagers.
" We have dried seaweed and kale." One of the female villagers responded.
" Can I get that for Appa?" Aang asked.
" Of course, you can," Kanna smiled and nodded at the nearby female villagers.
Two female villagers went to fetch dried seaweed and kale for Aang. A few minutes later, they returned with a batch and handed it to the young male.
" Thank you! I am going to go feed Appa." Aang looks at Sokka.
" Okay! I finished eating and will say my goodbyes to my family." Sokka says.
Aang nodded and turned, running towards Appa, who was playing with the children.
" Hey, Appa! I got food." He approached Appa.
Appa roared as the children ran off to their mothers so the flying bison could eat.
Aang begins to feed Appa dried seaweed and kale. He smiled and petted his furry head.
" You ready to fly? We have a long journey ahead of us. We will search for my Water Bending Master, kidnapped by the Fire Nation." He says.
Appa roared in response.
Sokka finished eating and went to say goodbye to his family and friends. He stopped by his Grandmother's tent, which she shares with his youngest sister, Katara. He poked his head and saw what he assumed was Katara sleeping.
" Hey, Katara. I am heading on out." He says. " I am going with Aang to search for our sister." He looks at Katara's sleeping form.
There was no response, which Sokka figured. He turns and looks back at his youngest sister one last time before closing the tent and going to Aang and Appa.
" You ready?" Sokka asked, seeing Aang finished feeding Appa.
" We are ready!" Aang smiled while Appa roared in response.
" Let's get going," Sokka uses Appa's tail to walk up to the flying bison's back. He stepped over their belongings and made himself comfortable by sitting near where he knew Aang would be sitting, which was on Appa's head.
Aang jumps and lands on top of Appa's head. He grabs the reins tightly with his hands.
" Yip! Yip!" He shouted.
Appa roared and started to run. Once he got the strength, he jumped and started flying.
Everyone at the Southern Water Tribe waved goodbye, watching Appa flying away with Sokka and Aang.
Kanna turns to look at the tent. She shook her head and sighed. She walks towards the tent and gets inside.
" Katara. You should have been awake to see your brother leave." She says and looks down at the second sleeping bag.
She puts her hand, which she assumes was her youngest granddaughter's shoulders. Her eyes blinked when she felt something bizarre and pulled the blanket back. Her eyebrows rose, and her eyes widened when she saw an otter penguin inside the sleeping bag instead of Katara.