Katara went to bed with the other girls, trying to find it in herself to relax and get some shut eye. It was hard though. She felt so far away from her family. From Aang. The chaos of the day and just learning how to survive in this world was enough to keep her mind off things, but the creaks in the boat, the soft breaths of the women sleeping next to her, and the crashing of the waves onto the side of the ship kept her awake.

Everything was so unfamiliar.

She sighed and got up and got the coat she bought that best reminded her of the one she made with her gran-gran and went outside to the main deck.

She took a seat in a corner of the lawn, feeling to small in this world to sit in the center. She leaned back and admired the stars illuminating the night sky. They all twinkled the same way they did back home, but the constellations were like none she's ever seen. It was soothing to create some new constellations, forming pictures of penguins, archers, water benders, temples, and even Momo. She didn't remember when she found sleep. Nor how she ended up back in her bed.

"Good morning, Katara" She heard from somewhere in the room. Robin, she guessed, turning to look at her, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning.." She yawned, getting up, moving to take off her jacket that she had put on earlier, not realizing it had been taken off. "How?"

Robin walked over, handing her a toothbrush, "Zoro had first watch and carried you back when it was time to switch. You really were asleep so I took off your jacket and shoes, tucking you in before my shift."

"Oh." Wow that really was embarrassing. That hasn't happened since before her dad left for the war. "I'm sorry, I just had a hard time falling asleep." She took the toothbrush, following her to the bathroom.

"It's no problem. If it's more comfortable for you, we can do this until you can fall asleep in bed. You just have to tell the people on watch."

"I might do that, yeah." She nodded, following her to the washroom to get a proper tour of it and to work on their hygiene.

They finished up, Katara a little confused at some of the things that Robin did like put on moisturizer and sunscreen.

"I put this on to protect myself from the sun."

"Like from midnight sun madness?" Katara asked, not impressed by this method. There was no way that a cream could help avoid that.

"No, from the UV rays."

"What's a UV?"

Nami walked in, hygiene bag in hand, "Oh hey girls."

Katara put her hairbrush down, now done, "Hello."

"UV means ultra violet. It damages the skin."

"The sun isn't Violet?"

Nami brightened at the conversation she heard when coming in, "Oh are you guys talking about the weather?! I want in."

Robin smiled, "Of course, we were talking about aspects of the sun."

"Did you know the sun is 4.9 billion miles away??" Nami smiled.

"W h a t."

"Yeah! It's honestly really cool. So is evaporation. The weather phenomenons on the islands like drum and punk hazard are incredible. To have the environment be on such polar extremes on each half is unfathomable, but that's the grand line for you." Nami kept talking to Robin, speaking about the many amazing things she was theorizing about the weird islands they went on, not really having anyone to talk to about it. At one point Katara left, feeling way out of her league with the topic of conversation.

Robin, noticing that it's been a good minute since Katara left, the other not realizing, "Nami?"

"Robin, I was talking." She put a hand on her hip, a bit annoyed.

"Our small friend left." She pointed to where Katara wasn't anymore, also cutting nami some slack since it was probably easier for the girl to slip out undetected. Like chopper, she was decently below eye level compared to the rest of the crew, her head only coming to breast level in comparison.

"Awe..." She frowned, genuinely sad that she didn't want to hear after she got her hopes up.

—-

Walking up to the dining room, Katara took a seat at the bar counter as Sanji cooked. "Morning."

"Good morning, Katara-chan." Sanji smiled at her while stirring up the fried noodles he was making. "I heard you had a hard time sleeping. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm doing okay for the most part. I'm more used to sleeping outside so it felt more like home up there."

"I get it. Did you stargaze? The sky was pretty clear when I went to bed."

"Yes I did. It was great. It really helped me, actually."

"That sounds wonderful."

Sanji continued working, allowing the sounds to fill the room rather than conversation. When he was ready to take a small brake to let things sizzle, he poured her a cup of orange juice. "The vitamins should help wake you up." He said kindly, noticing how lethargic she had been. It was a little weird seeing someone so tired on the ship. Especially with luffy living here. Always full of energy. Maybe the time in her world was different and she was just getting used to it.

Katara took it greatfully and asked a question that's been on her mind, "What else could I do to help out around here?"

"Well no one has fallen overboard so you're doing your job well. I don't see why a lady such as yourself should pick up more duties."

"But I want to help. Maybe there's something I can do with water? I dunno, washing the boat? Or maybe just regular chores."

"Well we usually have to stock up with freshwater at the ports we go to, are you able make sea water drinkable?"

Now she had a new project to work on. She drank the rest of her juice and then looked torwards the window, bending the sea water from outside towards it and through the open hole, hovering it over the empty cup. She turned the water into snow, letting it crystalize slower and more separated to get the fluffy feeling she desired. What was a little weird is that it got those freezing crystals much quicker than she would have thought would happen, but shrugging it off, she continued.

If boiling handfuls of snow worked at home, then it should work here too. At least that was the hope.

She then melted the snow, letting the water fall into the cup. She then eyed it a little, not seeing a problem with it. She learned to always check the melted water from the last time one of the kids hid a shrews foot in the snow they were boiling, thinking it was funny.

Deeming it as safe, she took a drink of it, gagging at the taste, quickly and spitting it back into the cup. "Oh ew yuck ew that was so gross." Katara said, regretting having taken a big gulp of her own experiment water:

Sanji, who was in the kitchen watching her dining room project laughed a little, trying not to show how cute he thought she was when she was upset, "You okay? Looks like you took a big swig of saltwater."

"I did!" Katara agreed frustratedly. "I don't get why it didn't work."

"Don't you have to boil it to purify it?" Sanji asked.

"Thats only with freshwater. If you do it with saltwater, the water just goes into the air." She talked as if sanji was dumb.

"Did you..." sanji tried his best not to laugh at how adorable she was in her lack of knowledge but was failing.

Katara knew something was off. He kept looking at her like how Master Paku looked down on her. "Don't you dare laugh it up. It can't be done! I didn't wanna be here anyway." She declared, upset at her failure and the mal treatment she got from both her old master and Sanji.

"No, no, I'm not trying to embarrass you! Katara don't be mad at meeeee" He ran to Katara until she was out the door and sighed when she went back torwards the girls room.

Nami was writing some notes down in their log book and watched as she stormed in. "Is something wrong?"

"Sanji thinks I'm stupid. It's annoying. I'm not stupid! I've always had these men looking down on me, and I hate it! I thought things were different here, but I guess not." Katara said, sitting on the bed, looking glum.

"What?! You're letting yourself get all frustrated because of sanji of all people?"

"Yes, we're you not listening??"

Robin, on the other side of the room, putting on her boots joined in, "Katara, you're a very strong girl. I don't agree with whoever has been treating you that way. Right now or in the past." She finished lacing it up and sat next to her, "What caused all of this anyway?"

"I just wanted to help out and then he gave me an impossible task."

"Nothings impossible, it may just take more time than you thought."

"Making sea water drinkable is impossible. I can't just take out the salt" Nami laughed and both other girls shot her a look. Katara much more angry than the other. "I'm sorry! I'll stop. It's just that it's not impossible. Maybe you just didn't know how to do it right. Do you know about the water cycle?"

"Kind of? Clouds rain either water, snow, or hail, it comes down and it melts and more clouds come back later, taking the moister from the air."

"Not exactly? Where did you learn that?"

"I kind of just figured it out."

Nami raised a brow, "Have you ever received a formal education?"

"No, but I did go to an ainchent library once and I do know how to read and write. My mother taught me how before she died in a fire nation raid."

"Oh, how old were you?"

"Eight."

"Wow. Did you... stop your lessons after that?"

"At the southern water tribe, yes. We had to pick up more chores since we lost all of our strong adults to the raids or they were off at war. Aang, sokka, and I went to go find a Water bending master at the North Pole. We found him but they said that girls couldn't be taught waterbending. They're really sexist."

"Oh, I'm sorry honey..." Robin frowned, hating the thought of someone close to her denying her an education just because of her gender.

"It's okay, I dueled him and won, so I eventually did end up learning from a master."

Nami, huffed, "You shouldn't have had to to been fighting for your right to education. On so many levels, that's wrong! If I were in your shoes, I would have kicked his ass too. You did good. I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself."

Katara felt a warmth in her spirit. Those words were so kind and she could feel how upset they also felt upon hearing the story. Was this what it was like to have a girl friend?

"I have an idea."

"What is it?" She looked up at robin.

"How about nami and I be your teachers? We can tell you much about this world and it's phenomenons. Some of it, like the water cycle, you can even take back with you once you go home and it'll still be relevant. It may be a nice change of pace to have your teacher find you, no?"

"Yeah I think I'd like that." Katara laughed, feeling so elated to not have to fight anymore for her education. This really was nice.

Nami cheered, "Awesome!! Someone will finally listen to why I have to say! Those idiots up on deck have the patience of a toddler and the knowledge of a rock."

Katara laughed at the joke, standing up, turning and bowing slightly to them, right hand in a fist and left in a palm, pushing them together lightly to show her dedication, "Thank you for taking me under your wing. I'm looking forward to being your student." She said and then stood up straight.

Robin and Nami never felt such power. Who knew they needed a disciple to share their vast knowledge with.

Unedited. 2083 words