A State of Being
"I'm tired." Zuko says, and it takes a while for that to sink in. It's the kind of tiredness that doesn't ease with sleep, but instead seeps into your bones and weighs them down. He's tired when he wakes up, and he's tired when he re-builds his crew. He's tired as he sits in darkened rooms, listening to old men cough out make-believe pasts, where they were the brave men they wished they had been, and the handsome devils they thought women wanted.
He's tired as he trawls the seas, looking for his way home. His life has been saved not once but twice by the Avatar and his crew and this more than anything makes him want to sleep.
His vision blears with fatigue as he treks through another jungle, hunting after a boy he is not sure he can capture. Later on he'll say it was exhaustion clouding his mind that made him leave his uncle behind.
He stumbles into their camp, a careless error that he could easily have avoided but did not. He is all but defenceless as the water bender weaves him in her watery web, and almost smiling as the warrior's weapon smashes him into the world of sleep.
When he awakens they are all staring at him, wondering what to do with him. They pepper him with questions, and keep his hands and feet encased in water as they search him for hidden weapons. Slowly, achingly slowly, they trust him a little and release him, then feed him. And finally, after so long, he feels awake.