Chapter Four: I Am Cool and Unconcerned.

Over breakfast the next morning, Zuko and I discussed the particulars of our new country. He was a bit restive. I was cool and unconcerned.

"I still don't see why you get to be president," he said, as he stabbed at his grapefruit with a spoon.

I threw a bit of scrambled eggs at him and he jumped out of his chair, breathing in gasps and clutching at his heart.

"That's why, Zuko. You're too on edge. A president needs to be cool and unconcerned."

He sat back down and started stabbing the grapefruit again. "Cool? Just this morning I saw you get your foot stuck in a bucket."

I frowned unconcernedly. "Its merely an ancient Water Tribe custom for one to test out any bucket one might come across in that manner."

"How do you test a bucket?"

I was too busy being cool and unconcerned to answer him.

"Concentrate, Zuko. We need a name for our country. Any ideas?"

"Zukoland."

"I was thinking Sokkania."

We argued for a long time, and eventually we decided on Greece as a name. It just had a nice ring to it. After some more discussion we hammered out the details of Greece:

-National flag: Shall depict a pony on a field of yellow.

-National anthem: Shall be composed by Martha at a later date.

-National motto: Thou shalt not disown.

-National animal: Pony.

-National beverage: Potion.

Having accomplished all of that, I decided to go out and meet some of the village girls, and forced Zuko to come along with me. In no time at all we had met a nice girl named Kim in a tea shop.

"I'm Sokka," I said. "President of Greece. And this is Zuko. He used to be a prince, but now he's vice president of Greece."

She looked skeptical. "Where's Greece?"

I was feeling pretty unconcerned, so I nudged Zuko. "Talk to Kim, Zuko. Don't be shy."

He forced himself to smile at her. It was a bit frightening. "Greece is... um... near the Fire Nation."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

Kim walked away.

"Nice try, Zuko. Maybe next time."

We dawdled some more in the village, and then it was time to depart for the Fire Nation. I won't say much about the sea voyage. It was long and wavy, and rather miserable, as the sea seemed to bolster Zuko's confidence. He tended to stride around the deck bellowing orders, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to make him understand that he was completely unsuited to being president of Greece.

But still, I was unconcerned. Not worried in the least. Some of us are just born that way. And you know, sometimes I wish things would faze me more, because people tend to be put off by how ridiculously cool I am, and it gets tiresome.

So anyways, I suppose there's one moment of note from the sea voyage. I was talking to Martha one day– it was a Wednesday, and I know that because I had a calendar again.

"Martha, can you brew a hallucinogenic potion?"

She frowned. "Yes. You want it?"

"Me? No, no. I'm hardly interested. I'm only mentioning this because I'm bored."

"I see."

"But Martha, hypothetically speaking, one under the influence of such a potion would be very susceptible to emotional trauma right?"

"That's right. Very susceptible. You want it?"

"Me? No, no. Honestly, I'm hardly paying attention to this conversation. Feeling pretty unconcerned today, you know."

"I see."

"But Martha, hypothetically speaking, a potion of this nature would be what, purple? And kept in a small bottle such as that one right there in the side pocket of your crazy potions bag?"

"That's right. Purple. Small bottle. Side pocket. You want it?"

"Want what?"

"The hallucinogenic potion."

"Oh, that. Yes, sorry. I had forgotten what we were talking about, as our conversation was so meaningless and inconsequential to me."

"I see."

As I took my leave from Martha's cabin, I may have accidentally slipped the purple potion in the small bottle into my pocket. The thing is, my hands are so dexterous, I can hardly maintain control of them. The same thing happened that night at dinner. My hands got so overexcited with their own dexterity that the contents of the little bottle ended up flying into Zuko's drinking glass. Completely of their own accord. I tried to say something to him, but then I just felt really overwhelmingly unconcerned, and I decided instead to have another helping of roast chicken.

Later that night, I found Zuko curled up in the corner of his cabin. He was muttering to himself, and his eyes were very wide, and his pupils were very dilated, and he kept waving his arms at the air in front of him, like he was petting a sheep.

"Zuko."

He jerked his head wildly up at me. There's one skill Zuko has which I don't. Wild head jerking.

"Are you God?" he said quietly.

I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Yes."

Remember, its not like I should be held responsible for such lies. Its just a genetic tendency.

"God, I want to be president of Greece."

After that I can't really remember what I said. The memory is hazy. I can vaguely recall implying to Zuko that God might smite him should he aspire to being anything more than a vice president, or do anything less than aiding the great Sokka, the Chosen One, in his glorious mission. I might have said something like that. Its hard to say. Being cool and unconcerned has its drawbacks. Memory loss and so on.

Either way, upon our arrival in the Fire Nation, Zuko was back to teetering on the edge of paranoia, and in addition, he seemed to sort of worship me. Imagine that. What a strange guy.

A.N.

flOofymikO- Yes, this story will be pairing free lol. Sokka will be too busy chipping away at Zuko's sanity to errr... fall in love xD Boys love is sexy, but I'm probably no good at writing it xD