[Oh. Well, that makes things a little more difficult, but at least it's not like they're total strangers.

Katara reaches for the strands of her abandoned speech.]

He's a good friend of mine, and one of the smartest people that I know. We've sparred three times in the past couple of months and he's beaten me each time. [That - costs her something to admit, but it's the best way she can impress his competency on someone who's seen her fight.]

He's really good at coordinating people in a fight. I worked with him on the last draft, the first day, on the Shifter task force. So when I saw the draft list... this afternoon I went to talk with him.

[A pause to take a breath, maybe a sip of her lemonade for her suddenly dry throat, and to assess Sanji's reaction so far.]