Takes place before the comet, after the Southern Raiders.

This is my first attempt at an Avatar fic, and I'm hoping to learn more about the characters as I write. We'll see.

Growth in wisdom may be exactly measured by decrease in bitterness.

-Friedrich Nietzsche.

Wisdom

At this point, Zuko was wondering if he should just ask Aang if he would just spar with him until he passed out. But, then again, Katara would be more willing, plus, she wouldn't hold back in a fight. He had given up pretending to sleep over an hour ago, and had walked the short distance to the clearing that sat just adjacent to their camp. It was there, in the relative seclusion that Zuko trained during nights that he couldn't sleep, which was all of them, and trained Aang in the morning.

Katara hadn't been sold on the idea of them training there because of the isolation in possessed, but Zuko had appealed to her motherly instincts and had explained that while Aang was practicing the fire could be wild, and no one was going to get hurt if they were out alone.

When she still hadn't been convinced he had said, "he's the Avatar, it's not like I could defeat him anyways."

For some reason that pacified her.

He sat cross-legged near the edge of the cliff, meditating, his Dao blades beside him. He slowed his heart beat to a mere whisper, and he could feel the energy pooling in his stomach stilling. It was the closest he had gotten to sleep in over two weeks. At some point, he realized, he was going to pass out from exhaustion, but then, he could sleep.

It wasn't all bad. As long as it wasn't during Avatar training.

His eyes snapped open. Someone was moving around in the bush, coming near him. Then just as Zuko was standing up, Sokka came spilling out into the clearing, tripping over the shallow roots and rocks.

Huffing, Sokka straightened and dusted down his clothes, glaring at the offending pieces of nature that had made his travels so troublesome.

"You're lucky I'm not a firebender, or you'd be nothing but a pile of ashes right now."

Sokka raised his eyes and focused on the person across the clearing from him, just realizing he wasn't alone.

His hand went to the sword strapped across his back, curling in on himself, in a defensive position. It wasn't until his eyes had adjusted to the more lit area of the clearing did Sokka realize who he was preparing to battle.

"Zuko?"

He nodded his head and slowly walked towards the watertribe warrior.

"What are you doing here Zuko?"

It wasn't asked with any heat, simply with confusion.

"I was meditating."

"At this time?"

"What are you doing here?"

Sokka looked down, as if embarrassed, then raised his head, scratching the back of his neck, "training with my sword."

The familiar and comfortable weight on his back reminded that he could train with the non-bender as well.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"Just too much to think about."

It was an honest answer and Zuko was surprised at how freely the young man across from him spoke. The young man that was maybe a year younger than himself. Zuko lifted his arm and patted the swords on his back.

"Would you like to spar?"

There was a moment of silence, and Zuko felt a sliver of dread lodging itself into his stomch, he wanted to spar with someone who didn't rely on bending.

Then a huge smile split Sokka's face in half, "better watch your back because I've trained with a master."

Sokka completely unsheathed his blade, holding above his head, blade facing his competitor.

Zuko grabbed his twin blades, placing them in front of his body, protecting his core.

Sokka was the first to move, aiming for Zuko's throat.

Easily deflected, Zuko smiled, and widened his stance. Sokka had been trained well.

Both sitting down where Zuko had been seated before his interruption, Sokka wiped the sweat rolling down his face.

"That was really good," he said taking big gulps of air, "you are really good."

Zuko flushed at the compliment and lowered his head, hiding his face. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair.

"Thank you. You as well."

"Yeah, Master Piandao was an excellent master."

Zuko raised his head sharply and stared at Sokka, "you trained with Master Piandao?"

Sokka sat up straighter and that cocky smile from earlier had returned, "yep and I had to pass judgement and everything."

Zuko nodded his head. He knew of Master Piandao, the greatest swordsman in the firenation, and the world.

"Did he know that you are from the Watertribe?"

Sokka nodded, "yeah, he said that the way of the sword isn't owned to any one nation."

"I've never met him."

Laying down on the clearing floor, Sokka looked a little surprised. "You didn't train with him?"

Shaking his head, Zuko looked out to the cliff side. The sun was rising and the sky was turning orange.

"I kind of thought that since you were royalty...who did you train under then?"

"No one."

"What?"

Sokka was sitting up again, staring at him with those big blue eyes, searching for truth in his statement.

"Then how did you learn?"

Zuko closed his eyes, then opened them again, slowly, as if he was stuck beneath a frozen lake, or stuck underneath the ice and the North Pole again.

"I taught myself."

"How? That's incredible!"

"You quickly learn what works and what doesn't when you're always on the run, and your own nation is chasing after you."

He didn't add that he had been using swords since he was young. Secretly training in the court yard behind the palace where no one could see. It was a passion that wouldn't have been acceptable. He knew what his father would have said had he found out,

"Swords? Prince Zuko, maybe you should stop playing around with useless weapons, and practice firebending. Agni knows you need to work on it. Look at Azula..."

Zuko figured that the only person who knew that he used them was Uncle. After he had been banished and they were loading the warship, Zuko had insisted on bringing along the twin blades and placing them in his room.

"Decorations nephew?"

"I like them Uncle. They're antiques."

Sokka sat there and looked at the older boy.

"You didn't answer my earlier question."

Zuko's face must have shown the confusion, because Sokka continued,

"Why were you here meditating so early."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Obviously. Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Just too much to think about."

Sokka looked like he might drive his black sword into the firebender, but he didn't.

Realizing nothing else was forthcoming, Sokka changed back to a simpler subject.

"You're a firebender. Why do you have swords too?"

"Just in case I'm in a situation where I can't bend, I have a backup plan." His answer seemed to satisfy the other boy. It wasn't the complete reason but it was close enough. Zuko looked down at his reflection in his blades that were sitting by his side. Why did he train so hard with his blades? Maybe it was because it was something that he could do that Azula couldn't. It was something that only Zuko knew how to do.

The time passed in companionable silence. Nothing but the badgerfrog's croaking as they moved into the sunlight to sunbathe. It was his favourite time of the day. When the world started to awaken. It was the most peaceful time, no war, no divisions, no nothing.

Then Sokka cleared his voice, breaking the quiet that had settled over the clearing.

The tone of his voice made it sound like he had been harbouring guilt for a long while,"I don't remember thanking you for all you did at the Boiling Rock."

Zuko nodded his head, "you don't need to thank me."

"I do. If you hadn't been there. I wouldn't have gotten there to begin with and even if I had, then I would have been stuck there with Suki, and possibly my father, with no way out."

"You would have found a way out. You're the plan guy aren't you?"

The somber look on Sokka's face disappeared and his lightened with humour. "Yeah, and don't you forget it."

Zuko looked straight into Sokka's eyes, "don't sell yourself short Sokka. Bending or no, you have saved your family with your many actions and impromptu plans. Trust me, I've seen it in action. There's a couple reasons why I couldn't catch you guys."

Sokka laugh filled the little clearing. Smiling, Zuko turned back to the sky which was now a light blue.

Okay, there we go. Hopefully that did some justice to Sokka's character. I love Sokka.

Just a little note, I didn't write the fight scene, not because I'm lazy or anything, I just didn't want it to become the focus of this chapter.

Please read and review. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.