Pointed out by HarukaChan143, Sokka should not actually have his space-sword yet. Uh. My bad; I cannot really fix that, so let's say he found it right after Ba Sing Se, okay?
Special thanks to Gift Of Dragons for beta-ing.
*Five days ago*
~~Z~~
There was an amazingly long time between the conscious decision to become a good person and join the Avatar, and the realization that Zuko had no actual, clear definition of what it meant to be good.
Days of time.
It was not before Zuko found himself on a trail leading straight through the woods, ostrich-horse led on the rein and nothing more to do then put one foot in front of the other before the banished prince even thought of that.
Oh, Zuko knew what it meant to have honor, what it mean to be brave. He knew what he was supposed to do to be a good son, to be a good prince; he even knew what it meant to be a good Fire Nation soldier. But more and more, he had come to believe that these attributes were not necessarily synonym to good. Or, if they had been, it was high time he adjusted his definition.
Of all the people Zuko had known and met, there were only two he was willing to base his redefinition of good on: his uncle Iroh, and the Avatar himself.
Guilt ate at Zuko at the thought of his uncle—the boy wanted nothing more than to go after the man; to safe him. But Iroh was long-gone, sent to the capital as a prisoner by boat. Zuko could not follow there; though not because of guards or even the sea.
Much as he loathed admitting it, it was fear keeping him away. Zuko had been banished a long time ago and he had never considered returning to Fire Nation waters without the Avatar in chains. Flaunting his father's orders; just sailing back into his country of birth, to try and rescue his uncle that might be angry enough to deny Zuko's help even if he came…Maybe Zuko was not as brave as he liked to think, but the very idea made him shudder.
Still, Zuko felt inclined to keep both the Avatar's and his Uncle's examples in thought as he tried to navigate this thing of becoming good.
Now, that in itself did not really help Zuko much with his re-definition; Zuko knew he had as much chance of learning to speak in riddled proverbs like his Uncle as he had to learn to fly like Aang. But a good, thorough comparison between the two might go a long way. After all, on the surface, the Avatar and Uncle Iroh were as different as two people could be; one was a flighty, twelve-year old nomad monk, while the other was a retired, somewhat lazy general with a partiality for tea.
But there were, if you looked, similarities between the two: their friendly manner towards all strangers, even the most bedraggled pauper; their willingness to offer help to those who required it; the ability to believe the best of people until proven wrong; their refusal to resort to violence, even when pressed.
And, of course, the joy they took from the simple pleasures the world had to offer: Zuko knew from stories the Avatar was distracted from his lessons abysmally easily, and took every opportunity to enjoy 'mini-vacations' and the likes. His uncle, too, had a penchant for 'taking breaks', 'taking time to enjoy life', tea, and other such obscurities.
Zuko conceded he might have trouble imitating a few of those traits.
Well, actually, Zuko might well have serious trouble doing any of the above. Still, there was nothing but to try. And as all but one of these targets he had now set himself required human interaction – of which he did not expect any soon, the only thing he could now practice on was... enjoying the little things.
Alright, Zuko told himself, fervently, I can do this – it sounded easier than reigning in his temper so far as that he could abstain from violence altogether, anyway.
Zuko stopped, ostrich-horse stepping besides him and following suit with a surprised frown. Then, with dedication, the boy turned his head up to the sun and spread his arms to better catch its rays.
The light was warming, taking away the last of the night's chills. Drying what little moist pre-dawn had left in his clothes. Zuko took a deep breath; the air smelled of pine and oak and dirt from the living forest. The sound of birds, squirrels. Wind through the trees, blowing softly. An early-summer day, the thick forest nearly drowning with activity and anticipation and—ugh!
No, Zuko told himself. That would not do.
Shaking his head, Zuko started down the path again, rein pulling taught before his pack animal followed suit. He was going to have to work on this, on 'taking in the small pleasures'. Oh, right now, it seemed about as plausible as finally mastering lighting, but Zuko was never one to quit easily. He was going to have to make room for this in his practice schedule. Enjoy the 'little things in live' for a few hours a day.
Beat it into his system until he got it right.
*present*
~~S~~
The soldiers were not actually looking for them.
That was the one thing that gave Sokka hope; the one silver lining within this could of troubles that surrounded them.
Because, right now, they were up to their necks in it; there must have been over a hundred men all together, on this rocky little slope. And they were gathering at the clearing from which Appa had taken off. Sokka supposed it made sense. It was the only clearing big enough to hold that many men, if only barely. And, almost predictably Sokka mused, as soon as the lot of them had gathered in military formation to be barked at by some commander, they started fanning out, to cut down undergrowth around the clearing and set up camp.
Sokka grimly watched the soldier's actions from the ground 'tent' Toph had built then: little more than a blanket of earth that covered them as they both lay flat down on their bellies, hoping not to get noticed amongst the foliage. But then Sokka had learned a long time ago that what he hoped for and what he got where usually opposites on the spectrum of possibilities.
As he watched the soldiers work, coming closer and closer, Sokka came to a single conclusion: "We've got to move."
The girl besides him snorted.
"Do you think?"
Toph Bei Fong: blind earth-bender and demonstrative tough 'grrl' extraordinaire. Sometimes it did get a little tiresome though.
Ignoring the urge to resort to sarcasm as well, Sokka continued smoothly.
"Let's see if we can make it back to the cave. If you can sink us into the walls there I think we would at least be safe."
Sadly, where they were now, there was just too much sand and dirt to try that particular trick. Toph had already explained quite empathically that she would not be able to stop sand and wet mud clogging any breathing holes she would make; if they dug in at this position, their hiding place would soon become their tomb. But the cave was all solid stone; they could hide there.
So, very carefully, they inched away from the clearing. The trip back was nerve-wrecking. Toph had scoffed at his worries and claimed that she would sense anyone coming close enough to see them early, but a water-warrior did not like to take unnecessary chances. So they followed a track parallel to the path, not on it. Soon enough, Toph admitted this was actually a necessary precaution, as the hill was positively swarming with soldiers by now, and even for someone of her skills it became hard to tell between safely-out-of-view and immediate-threat.
The only good thing about their situation was Sokka did not need to worry about tracks; the Fire Nation soldiers made a big enough mess stomping around to prove once and for all they had absolutely no aptitude for tracking. And even if they did, they would have run over any tracks long before anyone would think to look for footprints.
All the same, the little mount that housed the cave was steep, and walking next to the trail had them over sheer drops more than once. It was slow, careful going.
Still, they had almost made it back to the entrance of the cave, before Toph announced, quite placidly: "People up ahead." An almost cheerful grunt: "I think it's the freak-show trio and your sparring partner—ooh! And there's someone coming from behind too!"
Sokka felt his eyebrow twitch as he looked at his earth-bending companion. Seriously, we are in trouble here!
The warrior could see so many scenarios leading to their imminent death, or- perhaps worse - their capture! He had serious trouble navigating and Toph was making it sound like they were on a fun field trip.
Still, as nominal leader and eldest in the group it was up to him to act like a grown-up, and so he bit back his retorts and steered the blind girl to the side, into the deepest bushes.
Then, as silently as they could, the pair tried to pass by the cliff where Sokka had just had his rather brave face-off with a fire-bending prince—even if he had to say so himself. However, as they edged closer, Sokka's ears caught the wisps of a heated argument. And, as much as the Water Tribe warrior had had the intent to continue on, he could not help sneak a peek at the strange scene playing out.
The angry dark-haired girl pacing the path Sokka soon recognized as Azula, the human lightning conduit. She looked decidedly more aggravated than he had ever seen her. On the ground, the two other girls seemed bent over a figure of whom only the shoes were visible. Zuko was still in the exact same spot where Boomerang had struck him down, so it was easy to deduce who was at the center of their attention.
Toph, next to Sokka touched his arm in warning, and after the space of a breath, a soldier stepped from the path Sokka and the earth-bender had been tracking parallel to. The man carried a pail of water, but as soon as he came close, Azula wrenched it from his hands. Then she proceeded to dump it unceremoniously over her brother. There was half a second of clenched hands from her, before Zuko started sputtering and sat up.
His uneven eyes wide, the prince blinked up at his surroundings, before putting his face in his hands. "Ugh. My head!"
"Who cares about your head, you miserable piece of refuse? You were supposed to keep them occupied!" If the princess had been worried about her brother's condition before, she most certainly hid it well now.
Sokka couldn't see the prince's face now, but his hands were traveling past soggy hair, carefully feeling up their way to find what damage Boomerang had done, before he answered in a soft voice. "I think I did, right?"
Azula kicked dirt his way for answer. "You let them pass—and you just lost to a bloody water peasant! One bloody peasant!"
Peasant?Sokka of the southern Water Tribe was a warrior, and the chief's son! That made him equal to a prince in his book, if not better. It was a good thing Toph had put her hand on his arm; else he might have gone out there and tell the crazy bitch what was what.–Well,maybe. Azula really was one verycrazy bitch.
"Technically, the earth-bender was with him. So it was two against one."
Toph whispered a 'damn straight', but the princess in the clearing was unimpressed, tone sarcastic: "Oh, really? You poor thing!"
But it seemed Zuko didn't heed the warning. "And Momo was there too, so three against one."
"Momo?"
"A flying lemur. His chattering is very distracting."
"A lemur makes it three against one." Azula's voice was almost sweet.
"Four, if you want to count Boomerang."
Next to him, Toph gave a muted chuckle.
"I've got to say it, Meat Man. I think I like our Princey. He's funny."
But Sokka rolled his eyes. Suicidal is more like it.
Azula seemed to be of a same mind as Sokka; she had grabbed her brother by the shirt and was shaking him roughly: "How stupid are you trying to make yourself out, Zuzu? And what the hell is up with the swords? You're a fire-bender! Don't you have a shred of pride left?"
Whether due to some survival instinct or some other reason, the prince seemed completely lacking in his usual fiery temper.
"That's actually… a funny story. Tell you when my… headache is gone?"
Zuko's eyes kept studiously away from his sister, hands limp as the young woman seemed set on set on shaking reason back into her brother. Sokka could well understand the desperate need to look anywhere but into the fuming girl's face. Hell, in Sokka's personal opinion, wise men always tread lightly around women. Especially bending women; especially crazy bending women; and crazy Fire Nation fire-bending princesses had to be good for several superlatives.
As well as he understood Zuko's feelings, it was still a shock when the prince's eyes steered away again, and locked onto his own. Sokka's sharp intake of breath might have alerted Toph; or perhaps she had some other sense that told her of the situation.
Whatever the case, the blind bandit whispered aloud what he thought: "Uh-oh. We've just been spotted, huh?"
Apparently not. After another moment, Zuko slapped his sister's hands from his oddly green shirt, calling out calmly: "Yes, thank you Azula. I think I've got it now. I am an idiot. Maybe that's, you know, why they put you in charge?"
Azula gave a rather fake laugh, and then turned to address the soldier still at her back.
"Find my useless brother a medic, and send word to the troops to get back to my tank. It seems we need to pursue the Avatar."
The soldier almost seemed to want to object, likely because all the other troops had seemed set on putting up camp on the hill. But he saluted and turned around. Soon, Azula stalked off down the path herself, and the two girls left seemed distracted enough by the prince's rather loud complaints that Sokka though it was worth trying to make their way back to the cave.
They had a few close calls, especially when the acrobat-girl wanted to show Zuko an exercise that would apparently alleviate his head-ache—though Sokka was hard-pressed to believe standing on your hands with your feet wrapped up around your torso was actually possible for any male, let alone that it would help with concussions.
Still, they had made it into the cave's mouth, and found it – thankfully -unguarded. Toph put a hand to the wall, looking for a good spot, and then announced "Guess what, Snoozles. I think there's actually cavity here, at the other side of this wall. We can hide here easy. All we need is a small air-vent.
Sokka just nodded, before remembering Toph would not be able to see the gesture. She seemed to catch it in some other way though – or perhaps she didn't need his endorsement. With a swipe of her arm the wall gave way to let them pass into total dark.
It was probably only minutes later before Toph spoke up.
"Do you have your spark-stones on you?"
His assent prompted her to continue.
"Because I think there's a torch on the wall there, two steps left from where you're standing."
Confused, Sokka did as she suggested and lit the torch after some groping; what met his eyes was quite the shock, and his intake in breath was answered by Toph's agreeing murmur. She must have already noticed what Sokka could see now; that this cave was not a caveat all.
Legend said the spirits always had their eyes on powerful benders; on heroes and kings and on the descendants of such lines. And, obviously, this would go double for the Avatar.
Him? Sokka was just a guy with a boomerang; he was nothing special. Unfortunately it seemed the spirits got their eye on him anyway, probably by proxy. Toph was likely powerful enough to warrant this kind of attention. Sokka could still hope that, if he ever got away from said company, no spirit would ever take notice of him again.
'If I ever get out of this alive,' Sokka thought grimly, 'I'm going to find myself the safest, most bland water village out there, marry the most common girl I can find and live out my days in obscurity.'
It was a nice plan. It sounded like a nice plan. But Sokka knew, down to his bones, that the spirits would never allow it.
~~Z~~
When the medic began to busy himself, wrapping Zuko's head in bandages, Mai and Ty Lee finally left him alone. Apparently, they had other duties to attend. Well, it was not that he did not appreciate their concern -or rather, it made him feel weird and awkward. But he had to learn to accept help anyway if he was going to be 'good', so Zuko tried his hardest to appreciate their care.
Still, it was good to be left alone, and wait for his bird to be brought up.
"Is this the animal you asked for?"
Despite his headache, Zuko smirked at the soldier's tone.
"That's her. Is there a problem?"
The soldier held her at arm's length, shying away from her almost unconsciously.
"Bird had a nasty temper on her; she bit me. You should have her put down."
"She's not nasty, soldier. She's just got good taste in people." As the medic was done, Zuko reached out for the leads, and narrowly evaded a nasty peck. "See what I mean?"
The man raised an eyebrow at him, and so Zuko opted to try his new 'friendly grin' on the guy. This had the probably-not-so-good, but still rather fortunate effect of the soldier backing up three steps before turning around to flee.
Well, that might just be because anyone in Azula's army should be panicking at the sight of a royal smiling.
Zuko hoped that was it.
With a sigh, he unbuckled his saddle's bag, finding a little book he had worked from since early childhood. This was not the original from back then, of course. That one was burned in an explosion and sunk with his ship. He had also catered a few notes to the intended owner. Zuko dropped the book to the ground, closed his bag back up, and started down the path.
Yeah. That's right. He was helping the Avatar.
Zuko wondered how far he could go with this, before anyone would even notice.
