A/N: Sry that there wasn't a lot of Katara or Aang in the last one, so I'm going to fix that this chapter. Thank you to all of my WONDERFUL reviewers! .

Aang, Katara and Sokka had stopped on an island just north of the Earthnation. They were stocking up for the final push to the North Pole.

"I'm worried about Leiya." Katara said. She remembered the gaunt face of her friend. They had become like sisters.

"She'll be fine." Sokka said absentmindedly. He was busily taking down the tent. "Leiya can take of herself."

"I'm not so sure about that…" Katara said.

"Don't worry Katara. I'm sure Leiya's safe. In a week we'll see her again." Aang said. His voice was full of hope.

"You're right. I'm sure she'll write to us soon." Katara said. With their belongings packed, the group headed out to the market.

Leiya awoke in her room. Funny, she didn't remember falling asleep there. 'Oh yeah, now I remember what happened!' She thought.

She had been shaken awake, having drifted off during her meditation. She couldn't remember being more relaxed. Usually she was plagued by insomnia.

Zuko had fallen asleep, too. He awoke an hour later with Leiya in his arms. He was surprised at first at how she had so easily fallen asleep. He then noticed the rhythm of her breathing was identical to his own. For a moment he just sat there, holding Leiya close.

Zuko wondered how she would react to waking up like that. However, he decided that people would think things when they saw her walking out of his room in the morning.

He had shaken Leiya, who quickly woke up. She gave him a groggy "thank you" for the lesson and walked gracefully and sleepily, back to her room.

Leiya sighed, and looked at the notes that she had fallen asleep on top of. She decided to work until noon. She was beginning to worry. From what she had heard, the sickness was getting worse. It was spreading quickly, and there were about fifty dead so far. Not too bad…yet.

Zuko walked down to the dining hall, expecting to see Leiya. However, she was missing. 'She must not be hungry this morning…' he thought.

It was afternoon, and Leiya had still not shown her face. However, a large golden bird carrying a scroll on its back had descended on deck. It looked like the bird that Zuko had seen with Leiya, so he let it below deck. He had not seen anything of it since.

He had finished his round of training, and decided to go below and visit Leiya.

'Just to make sure she's alright.' He thought. He went to Leiya's door and knocked.

Leiya opened the door, and said, "Hey, I was just coming down to lunch." She smiled, but seemed a little uneasy.

Zuko could tell something was wrong; he was about to ask when a thought crossed his mind.

'She's just a prisoner, I shouldn't care about her.' He still noticed about how she still didn't seem as strong as she was before he found her.

Leiya normally tried to avoid the rush of people in the dining room, but today she felt famished. That was strange for her. Perhaps those sleepless nights and days of endless work had worn her more than she had thought.

She quickly finished a small bowl of noodles and started to head back towards her room.

However, a voice caught her attention.

"So Leiya, would you care to enlighten us as to why a decent girl like you is traveling with the avatar?" A soldier had the nerve to ask the question that the whole room wondered. Leiya froze.

'I'm not going to start something.' She thought.

"Why would a Earthnation girl want to help the Firenation?" Another soldier countered.

'I can't get him in trouble…' Leiya thought. 'Alright, they were going to know my truth eventually.'

Leiya returned to her seat at the table.

"I believe that this war is not entirely the Firenation's fault. You all just want to prove your strength. You have not seen what I have seen about war. I think that the Avatar can end the war and bring balance back to the world."

"If you side with the Firenation, then why don't you fight with them?" The soldier questioned further.

Both Iroh and Zuko felt the air pressure in the room change. Iroh and Zuko both decided to step in, but their voices fell short of Leiya's quick reply,

"I tried that. It doesn't work. You don't understand. Tell me, have you been to a battlefield right after a battle? Do you fully comprehend war? Or are you too stupid to understand the simple principals of life and death?"

Leiya could feel her temper slipping. She didn't have the energy to catch it.

"How dare you! You Earthnation peasant! So you went to a battlefield. You need to learn respect…"

Before any intervention or before the soldier could continue, Leiya yelled back.

"Me? Learn respect? YOU need to learn respect for life! I worked in a Firenation hospital- I ran a Firenation hospital! I cleaned up the mess of war. I grew up beside the suffering of this war! In addition, if you have not gathered it already, I was born in the Firenation, not the Earthnation!" Leiya took a breath and continued.

Her voice returned to a dangerous tone. "You should be learning respect from me. I was the daughter of a general. In the Firenation, that makes me relative nobility. In addition, I found cures and preventions for many illnesses with new sciences. I received awards for all I did. This all before I was thirteen. I gave up honor and everything I ever had or loved for just a ray of hope that I could help end the war- help the Avatar."

Leiya took a deep breath. The fire seemed to burn out of her eyes. She looked back at the soldier. "I made my decisions on what I believed was right. Not what other people told me was right. Not on the ideas that were instilled in me from a young age. I took a path to go home that is long, and hard. I must stick by that choice. That is why I help the Avatar."

Leiya rose and gave a quick polite bow to the soldier. The room was speechless. Leiya didn't care much. There was work to be done.

She left the room without a word. The soldier would be sorry for provoking her. She already felt guilt trickle in to the back of her mind. She would deal with her temper's outburst later.

Zuko was speechless. He would need to deal with both Leiya and the soldier.

Iroh decided to help the matter. "Why don't we all get back to work now. I'm sure that we all just need to clear our heads. Leiya must not be used to traveling at sea for long periods of time."

"You stay here." Zuko said to the guard that had provoked Leiya's temper.

It had been about an hour. Leiya had not gotten far in her formulas. This new science that helped her was not understood, or even fully believed in. Some still relied on old ways of mixing medicines. Old medicines were excellent for old sicknesses. Leiya's method was all her own.

She heard a timid knock at her door. She briskly opened it.

Leiya saw the guard, who started his apology for his actions.

Leiya smiled. "Hey, it's alright. I'm just a little, er, stressed now. I lost my temper. Don't worry about it. I'm just sorry I lost my temper and singled you out." Leiya smiled sincerely.

She then went back into her room.

It was late at night, and Zuko had not heard from Leiya since her explosion at lunch. He went to check on her, and also to remind her that she was a prisoner. It seemed that she had forgotten that important fact.

Zuko knocked at her door, and hearing no response, he entered.

Leiya was on her bed, close to tears. She did not look up when he entered. She was immersed in her studies. Her ink-tipped brush moved like fluent lightning across her paper.

"Leiya?" Zuko asked, suspiciously.

"Not now, please." Leiya replied. She was trying very hard for her voice not to crack. She pointed to a scroll that lay on a table

'Maybe she broke up with her boyfriend or something stupid.' He thought.

'No! You know that something is wrong.' His conscience replied.

He opened the scroll, and to his surprise it was addressed from a hospital. He expected it to be from a friend. Jasmine was always writing letters to old friends.

He read the letter with surprise.

Leiya,

I am sorry to contact you after you left, but this is important. Aurora said you knew about the disease that has been spreading. I have bad news regarding it.

There have been 50 casualties in the northern Earth Kingdome Crosswinds with Aurora. However, here in the Firenation Crosswinds, 100 have died in the hospital. We have no idea how many have died on the streets.

I asked Lord Ozai to negotiate with the other nations. A temporary truce would be the best thing, and save many lives. But as you know, Ozai is not the understanding type. He refused to call a truce, and I got into trouble for even mentioning such a thing. Now they say that, since I am a girl, that I should not be a doctor…but that is another matter.

This hospital was left to you from your mother. There were the highest survival rates here in history with you at the reins. Please Leiya, come home. Just this once, come back. We need you Leiya. Now more than ever.

I understand that you needed to help the Avatar, that he is the only hope for world peace. But the world needs you. Just apologize to Lord Ozai. Pledge your loyalty. Everything will turn out okay. If you can't or won't then please, help us find the keys to the cure. There are twenty. We were wrong before. So that means, all the doctors and scholars have six out of twenty pieces to a puzzle. Then we have to put the pieces together.

This disease is spreading like wildfire, on dead earth. Out of its hunger, it consumes life. Stop this fire, Leiya. You know me, believing in destiny. I believe that you can do more than anyone.

On the bright side, Aurora and I can at least communicate through various means. I hope that this letter did not bring you down to much.

Never lose hope,

Jade.

Firenation hospital leader

PS-This sickness has been dubbed Earth's Fire. It is because the sickness spread through both armies.

Zuko's eyes widened as he finished the scroll. So this is what Leiya had been doing. This is the activity that consumed her energy.

Leiya looked up from her work. Seeing Zuko was done reading, she said, "I'm sorry I lost my temper before. Um, if it's not too much trouble, can you help me meditate later? It helps me focus better. And helps me not lose my temper, believe it or not." Leiya said, blushing a bit. She wasn't exactly proud of yelling at a soldier in front of most, if not all, the crew.

"Fine." Zuko replied, trying not to smile. "See you later." He tried hard to conceal both his smile and his worry. Leiya was under a lot of pressure. He knew what that was like.

Meanwhile, Katara, Aang and Sokka stopped at a small island to pick up supplies. Unknown to them, a small ship sailed by and saw the group. Black eyes stood out from the vivid fiery sunset.

Jasmine smiled. Soon it would be goodbye Avatar. It would not be long until she had Leiya's friends. Then she would no longer be second best.

A/N: I know, a little boring, but it will pick up next time. There DEFINITELY will be more Aang, Katara and Sokka. Sorry I couldn't really include them this time. I am out of school, so I will try to update wayyy more often.

A/N 2: A/N: This story is finally up and running- whew. That was a lot of deleting and updating to get in the other chapters . Please review! .