Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is the brainchild of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and is owned by Viacom. I own none of the characters in this story. If I did, I wouldn't be posting it on a fanfiction site, after all . . . they are all lovingly used without permission. This story is written solely for my personal amusement (and posted for the amusement of others) and to keep the crazy idea from boring a hole in my head, so I can get on with my life. I make no profit from this other than peace of mind!

Storytime at the Summer Cabin

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Zuko relented, his frivolous secret laid bare, even though nobody realized it, "Aang had better pay attention to that part. But after this, bed for everyone, alright?" he made eye contact sternly with every member of the group around the campfire (not that it meant anything with Toph). They all mumbled grudging agreement before Zuko set down his small crate of candles and folded his legs underneath him into a lotus position for meditation. "I do know one story," he began, "It's about Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin."


"The one about how they were best friends until Sozin got the bright idea of conquering the world, then eventually left Roku to die so he could fulfill his plans?" summarized Sokka, casually gesturing with one hand.

"Uh, yeah," Zuko's eyes had widened in surprise at the succinct description of his great-grandfathers' lives. Sokka probably wouldn't be so flippant about it if the group had any idea that Zuko was not only descended from the mad Firelord who'd started the war, but his best friend, the Avatar of the time as well. Zuko had wisely decided to keep that little bombshell to himself. He'd thought about using it in his opening speech to get into the group's good graces back at the Western Air Temple, but figured they'd think he was lying anyway. He was still a little skeptical of it himself, even though it made so much sense, and his surreptitious checking of his mother's bloodline confirmed his uncle's tale. It was best not to make it an issue.

"Heard it," chimed Toph in a sing-song manner.

"How? I thought only people in the Fire Nation had any idea about that?"

Sokka, Toph, and Katara all pointed to a sheepish-looking Aang. "You see," the airbender boy explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "Roku kind of called me to meet with him on the summer solstice and showed me his life story."

"Well, I haven't heard it," muttered Suki half-heartedly.

"Oh," Zuko paused, and the silence extended.

"Umm," Zuko looked decidedly uncomfortable under his friends' expectant stares, "That's all I can really think of. What sort of story did you want?"

"Action!"

"Adventure!"

"Romance . . ."

"Horror!"

Zuko threw up his hands in exasperation, feeling like he was being pulled in five different directions, "I told you already, I don't know any stories like that!"

"How about something that happened to you, then?" Katara suggested, "Like at the North Pole, you had cuts and bruises all over your face . . . you looked pretty awful."

"Yeah," agreed Sokka, "you did look pretty bad. Did one of your rhinos run you over or something?"

Zuko shrugged, "No. Nothing much to that, really." Just some sloppy assassins, he added internally.

"Well, something must have happened," Aang prompted, "I've wondered a bit about that myself."

"Alright, well, you remember the ship I had, right?"

"The one you used to attack our village?"

"And mine?"

"You had a ship?"

"Uh, yeah," Zuko ran a hand through his shaggy black mop of hair nervously and glanced around. The two Water Tribe siblings had narrowed their eyes at him slightly. "Maybe we should talk about something else . . ."

"No, go ahead," Suki encouraged, brightly as ever, "We're just following you." It was always hard to tell Suki's real feelings on matters, especially when she smiled like that. Instead of his sister's unreadable nature, Suki sometimes conveyed the exact opposite of what he knew she must be thinking, unflavored by sarcasm. In the short time he'd actually known Suki, he had learned enough that it frightened him sometimes.

Zuko exhaled loudly, "Alright, well," he breathed in and out carefully, beginning to exert his will on the campfire in front of him which raised with each inhale and lowered with each exhale after a few centering breaths. When he felt he had it, he raised his hands and moved them carefully until the image of his old ship described in red and orange could be seen hovering at eye level over the top of the campfire as if it were sailing the ocean. Awe was written plainly on all the faces that could see it. Even the golden-eyed prince was mildly surprised at how incredibly recognizable the image was.

"It was blown up," Zuko continued. He moved his fingers and the floating image of his old ship was suddenly engulfed in a series of explosions, starting at the base of the command tower and continuing upward until the entire ship was ablaze, the fact it remained floating in the air the only distinguishing factor between it an the campfire below.

"Oh my goodness," Katara breathed, "you and your crew . . ."

"I was the only one on board, actually. Zhao had taken my crew earlier that night for his invasion of the North Pole," Zuko snorted, "Like he really needed them. What's 20 or so misfit men to an invasion fleet of hundreds of ships? It was all so he could make sure I was alone on my ship for when the pirates blew it up. Uncle had asked me to come with him for a walk, but I didn't listen. If I hadn't wandered up to the bridge, I wouldn't have been blown clear of the explosion, and we wouldn't be having story-time right now."

"Wow," Sokka was wrapping his brain around these implications, "So Zhao hated you enough to try to have you killed?"

"He already thought I was a traitor. I was competition for hunting down the Avatar, remember? I got in his way a lot, actually," he shook his head nostalgically, "Seems so long ago, now," Zuko neatly glossed over the part where Zhao had pieced together that the banished prince had freed the Avatar in the guise of the Blue Spirit. He didn't want to have to explain his desperate motivations for the event anyway, and Sokka would probably want him to show off some sword forms. He couldn't really afford the time for two students right now.

"Do you mean the pirates you used to track us down that one time? How can you be sure?" queried Aang.

"Yes. I remembered the pirate captain's reptile bird," Zuko's hands shifted and the disconnected blaze hovering above the fire pit morphed into the shape of a reptile bird in flight. Concentrating a little more, like a train switching tracks in his head, the image of the bird flared a bright, steady green, and the members of the group who weren't blind gasped with awe. Even Momo's huge green eyes were fixed on it, though he couldn't be sure if the lemur truly recognized the image or not. Either way, the black and white creature looked like he was trying to decide if he really wanted to chase the flying intruder as Zuko made it circle around the heads of his audience while he continued, "I saw it take off from outside the bridge right before the explosion hit."

"Geez, you've had a tough life, haven't you, Sparky?" Toph smirked, "People hating you and trying to kill you left and right. Sound like anyone else we know?"

Everyone turned to look at Aang who was still watching the green lizard-parrot circle over their heads in open-mouthed amazement. He jumped when he finally noticed everyone staring. "What?" he blinked.

"Anyway, how about a story that doesn't involve stuff that only half of us already know about? I dunno about Suki, but I'm feeling kinda left out with all this talk about a Zhao, pirates, and some stupid ship."

Zuko snorted indignantly and made his winged green creation dive into the campfire from which it had originated, making the cheery blaze leap for a second with green. He'd spent nearly three years of his life on that "stupid ship." He had to stop himself from pointing out that people only started trying to kill him in earnest after the Avatar woke up. "I thought I just told you guys a story."

"That was more like 20-questions," Toph pointed out.

"And it didn't even start with 'once upon a time,'" added Sokka somewhat childishly, "You can't have a real story without 'once upon a time.'"

There were murmurs of assent among the small audience, making Zuko sigh. They wouldn't let him go with just that. "Alright, fine. What do you want to know? This time, actual story format with no interruptions, ok?"

"How about why you changed your hair?" brainstormed Katara, "Not that it wasn't a good change," she amended hastily.

"Bo-ring," drawled Sokka, "How about something from your own travels through the Earth Kingdom?"

"Like how you got into Ba Sing Se?" added Aang helpfully.

"Or how about what happened to make you finally decide to join us?" chimed Toph.

"Or how you got your scar?"

The room went dead silent. Everyone stared at the one who'd made that comment, and it was Suki's turn to say, "What?"

Toph was the only one whose face wore confusion. "What scar?"

"No, don't worry about it," Zuko said after a short, but uncomfortable silence during which he was painfully aware of the tightness surrounding his left eye all the way to his ear, "It's sort of personal, and I'd prefer not to talk about it." One thing Zuko had been thankful for was the fact that the Avatar and his friends had never really drawn attention to his face much. They hadn't even spat insults concerning it at him while he was still their enemy. He supposed that they just accepted him that way because that was always the way they'd known him and didn't even think about what could have caused such a horrible mark . . . they certainly didn't seem to pity him for it, at least. Suki, though, being fairly new, had no such view of him and no inkling about its attachment to his previous banishment. He wasn't even sure how he wanted her or anyone else to feel about it, but he knew he didn't want their pity. Mai certainly didn't pity him. She'd known him without the scar, too, after all, and her opinion hadn't changed because of it.

"Who cares?" Sokka attempted to bluster brazenly through the uncomfortable atmosphere, "He's a firebender, and it's a burn mark. There's any number of ways a firebender could come across that. It was probably a training accident."

"It was no accident," Zuko snapped before he could stop himself, and the campfire leapt dangerously, the flames reflected in his golden eyes. For a second, he sounded like the banished prince who'd chased them across the world, and their faces bordered on the fearful looks that he remembered from first seeing them all, save Toph. He had to think fast before they became too interested in this topic. He was becoming more uncomfortable by the second. "I just remembered a story that has nothing to do with me. Do you want to hear it, or not?"

Eager for a way out of the dangerous atmosphere, the volatile firebender's friends quickly agreed.