I carefully dipped my brush back into the ink jar and had just touched the scroll when the heavy door to my study flew open and banged into the wall loudly. My hand jerked sharply to the side, smearing heavy black ink across my picture of a komodo rhino. Great, Mai's birthday is in less than a week and now I might have to start it over again. I turned angrily to whoever had just burst in and saw Sokka casually standing in the doorway holding a bowl of noodles.
"Damn it Sokka! Why can't you knock like a normal person?" I shouted at him. He just slurped more of his noodles into his mouth and grinned at me like a moron. No surprise there, considering that he actually was a moron. I felt another stronger surge of anger and felt The Sokka Twitch start up under my right eye.
"We should all go to the beach like we used to!" The random outburst stopped me in my tracks and I blinked stupidly for a moment. Where the hell did that idea come from?
"We can't. I'm too busy trying to get all of the nations to trust each other again and, as Katara likes to say, 'live in harmony'. Unlike a certain Water Tribe Ambassador that I know who just sits around eating all day." As if to prove my point Sokka produced salt from somewhere and quickly shook some on his noodles and kept eating.
"After all that time we spent having to ration food, I think I'm entitled to eat as much as I can. Besides, I had to make these noodles myself! Not one of your chefs would help me. Do you think it's because I wanted to add seal meat to it?" I groaned. Trust Sokka to count making noodles as being busy while antagonizing my chefs. I looked down to see if it would be possible in any way to save the painting. I felt my heart sink when I saw that it definitely wasn't going to be possible. "Sokka you're an idiot! Look what you made me do to Mai's birthday present!"
He briefly considered the painting while eating his noodles. "Oops, Sorry Zuko! It was a stupid painting of a dragon moose anyway. It looked too much like a goat gorilla. He gave me an idiotic grin that perfectly displayed the thin noodles that were hanging out of his overfilled mouth. How charming.
"It's a komodo rhino, you small-brained moron. Komodo rhinos, dragon moose, and goat gorillas don't even look alike in any way! Are you even taking this seriously? Come on, Sokka! It's ruined and I have no time to restart it!" I ranted at him, but of course he either didn't notice or didn't care. After all the time we've spent together, I still have no idea which one it actually was.
"I'm taking the trip to the beach seriously! Everyone one from the group should go. Ever since the war ended, you've been surrounded by your big, scary guards, yes I'm referring to you two by the doors, Toph has been refocusing on her earthbending tournaments and visiting her parents, Aang is going through the air temple ruins again, you know I'm starting to think he's obsessed with that by the way, and Katara and Suki have will be back soon with that child and his father here from the South Pole. We all desperately need a break." I frowned when I noticed his emphasis on child. It seemed a little out of place.
"That's exactly why we can't go. Everyone is gone and we have no idea when most of them will be back." He seemed really determined to convince me to. He had put down his noodles and was waving his arms dramatically to try to prove his point. I smiled slightly to myself when I saw my guards start to tense and watch Sokka closely. Maybe if I was lucky they would escort him out; that would make my day. Of course, then I would have to deal with Sokka's complaining all day tomorrow. That's usually not worth it. But if they were to forcibly escort him out, that might be worth the complaining.
"Well, we'll just talk them into staying when they come back. Just say yes! It's a vacation for a week with our old friends! Why would you want to turn that down when we've all barely talked to each other for months?" What was I actually refusing to say yes? It was the chance to actually catch up with the others without worrying about being overheard by the other royalty and just joking around like we used to.
"You know what, Sokka? Fine. I'll go if you can talk everyone else into going. It is not going to be another adventure where we are alone. Last time, you got us both arrested for animal cruelty."
He looked offended and seemed to be taken off guard that I actually remembered the time we got arrested. Well, one of the times. He's gotten us arrested far more often than I would like. "All I said was that the pygmy puma was not as cute as they said it was! Did you see the teeth that thing had? Terrifying."
"Something is bothering me, Sokka. Why is this child and his father so important that Katara has to bring them here? We have never brought someone here just because Katara felt like she had to; we've usually been able to talk her out of it before." I started to regret bringing the topic up when a miserable expression crossed his normally bright face.
"The kid's name is Hoda, he's about four now, and his father is Koyuk. His father was one of my best friends; we learned to hunt together from my dad since his died just after he was born." If they learned to hunt together than they must be about the same age. His best friend was Sokka's age and already had a four year old son? That's unbelievable.
"Were he and the mother married first? Or was Hoda an acci- not planned?"
"Nope to both questions. The mother was married at the time, just not to him. She was-" He stopped and scratched his head and shuffled around uncomfortably. I was slowly becoming more confused rather than surprised. He swallowed one more time, then finished speaking quickly. "She was married to me. She was my wife. In my culture, we often marry and have children young. You never know when the men have to go off to war or go hunting and won't come back. That's life there."
I was still in stunned disbelief about the fact that Sokka was married. Then it dawned on me that Sokka's best friend had a child with his wife. How could someone do that to their best friend? But I was still missing something. Katara told me once that the Water Tribes don't believe in married couples separating from each other for any reason.
The surprise must have shown on my face because Sokka kept going from where he left off in his story about Hoda. "Kaya, my wife, tried to convince me that Hoda was my child. Kind of tough to do when she was only a month along and I just got back from a two and a half month hunting trip. I'm not stupid. The worst part though was the surge of hope and joy that went through me about being a father before I realized all the reasons that he couldn't really be my child."
The heartbreak on his face at the last admission was too much and I stood up. "Sokka-" I started before I paused. What are you supposed to say when someone tells you something as personal and tragic like that? I just couldn't find any words to convey my sympathy so I merely asked, "What happened next, Sokka?" His eyes snapped to look back at me and I realized that he had quit talking to me awhile ago and had just been reliving it aloud. He looked furious suddenly and I couldn't tell if it was at me for listening or at himself for telling me more than he seemed to have planned to.
"I'm done talking about this right now. I'm going to find food and try to get a message to Katara." He turned towards the door and stomped out, but not before I caught a glimpse of what I thought were tears in his eyes. Numbly, I watched my guards step aside, and through the thin slits in their helmets I saw twin looks of sympathy and relief. Sympathy because of the story they just heard and relief because Sokka always made them anxious when he was in the room due to his high energy and sudden movements. He would never even think about hurting me on purpose but he has a tendency to play with his various weapons when he gets bored. My eyes were drawn to his half-full bowl of noodles that he had left on the table.
I fell back into my chair, bewildered by Sokka's confession about his life before he joined Aang's adventure to master the elements. It hit me then that about the time he left with Katara and Aang was probably when this whole thing had been starting since it has been three years since the war ended and four years since they started traveling around the world to find masters for Aang. I hope he will tell me the rest of the story later; he should know by now that he can trust me with absolutely anything. Spirits, was Katara ever married? I began to realize that I know next to nothing about their lives before they joined Aang's quest. If I didn't know something as big as the fact that Sokka was married, what else don't I know?
For the second time today the doors to my study were flung open; this time a gust of swirling air scattered papers all around the room, including the ruined painting. That means Aang is back again. I frowned to myself when I remembered that he was back later than he had said he would be.
"Hi Zuko! Sorry I'm late; you got the letter from my falcon hawk right? But don't worry, I found Momo!" Aang chattered in his typically cheerful manner while I stared blankly at him. "Guess you didn't get my letter than. Momo ran off at one of the air temples again. Appa and I had to track him down based on the trail of nut shells and droppings. You know Momo's are uniquely ovali-"
"Stop Aang! For my sake stop! I don't need to know the specifics of what Momo's droppings look like." I shook off the image of Aang stooping to study droppings and comparing it to Momo's and replied, "Anyway, that's great. Where did you find him at?" I let myself go back to my thoughts about Sokka while he babbled about Momo's unauthorized escapade.
I absentmindedly picked the brush back up and fiddled around with it. My thoughts were swirling around wildly about Sokka's confession about his past. Consequently, I was taken off guard when Aang brought up that he saw Toph wandering around the palace. He waved cheerfully to me and started to leave.
"Wait Aang, isn't Toph still supposed to be with her parents getting ready for the earthbending tournament?"
"I saw her practically rushing in ahead of me. I think she was upset about something." It took all of my will power not to make a sarcastic comment back. That's two people back who Sokka needs to convince for this beach idea. He might actually have a chance in doing it.
"Whatever, good luck. By the way, you were never married, right Aang?" Who knows, if Sokka was than who else could have been? It's a really scary thought that I may not know my friends as well as I thought. We've been through so much together and there still may be secrets that we haven't told each other.
"Don't be stupid, Zuko! I'm only seventeen! Besides, before the whole iceberg thing I was training to be an Air Monk; anything related to marriage and what comes after is kind of a no-no in their rules. Wait a minute; why do you ask?" So the Air Nomads held completely different view of marriage and commitment than the Water Tribe. Which makes sense since that the Air Nomads are generally not at as high of a risk at a sudden and young death as the Water Tribesman were.
"I was just curious, Aang. Forget I said anything." I knew he didn't take my advice when his eyes widened and I also knew that I was probably going to be in for hell.
""Are you getting married, Zuko! Can I be your best man? Please, please, please, plea-"
"I'm not getting married! I said forget it!" Aang bit his lip and looked like I hurt his feelings. Damn. "Aang, talk to Sokka about his idea for a vacation." I wasn't going to apologize to him. He should know me well enough by now to know that I was probably never going to apologize for offending someone. Unless there was a knife at my throat and even then I would take a few moments to consider it.
Aang's frown grew more pronounced like Sokka had hurt his feelings. "I saw him in the kitchen when I came in. He was sulking over a full bowl of noodles and just grunted at me when I said hello."
I felt a pang in my heart when I heard that because I knew that it was from our previous conversation that caused him to brood like that. It seemed like I felt this way a lot when Sokka got upset. It was like I just wanted to rush in and fix whatever was wrong with him. I've never felt like this about someone else; not even Uncle. I've always assumed that people should always be able to get out of whatever they've gotten themselves into; especially Sokka, I knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself. It was troubling to say the least.
I tried to snap myself out of it. Whatever happened, I will never rush in to fix someone else's problem. Unless I caused it. And I didn't cause that to happen to Sokka. Ergo, not my problem.
My gaze fell back down to my ruined painting and Aang looked down to study it. I sighed, "Sorry Aang, but I really need to start a new painting for Mai."
He studied the painting with renewed interest and scrutiny. He tilted his head then his expression brightened and he exclaimed, "That's an amazing picture of a dragon moose, Zuko! If you start a new one and leave out the weird black mark that goes through the middle of it, it'll look perfect!"
I bristled angrily and opened my mouth to retort when he saw my face and darted out of the room with a quick "bye, Zuko!" before I could actually say something back to him. He was the second person to call my komodo rhino a dragon moose. After he left and the guards resumed their positions behind the door with soft sighs, my friends always stressed them out when they visited due to their sudden arrivals and departures, I let my head fall to my hands with a sigh of my own. Today has already been too eventful with too much to process and it's barely mid-day. I called for another stack of scrolls and started to begin a new painting for Mai. I had an ominous feeling when I touched the brush to the scroll when once again the heavy doors flew open making my hand swoop to the side of the scroll, effectively ruining another painting before I had even begun. I stared at it for a moment in disbelief while the ink started to form a little puddle on the scroll before I regained my sense and placed the brush to the side.
"Zuko! Suki and I are back with Hoda and Koyuk!" I just couldn't take anymore. I dropped my head to my hands again and screamed. I looked back up and saw Katara's jaw drop as she and Suki scurried back into the hall. Behind them I saw a tall, heavily muscled man with dark hair and the same tan skin as Katara and Sokka holding the hand of a small child that watched me with wide, solemn eyes. I still felt like his eyes were trained on me even after they left down the hall.