Reversal of Fortunes
Avatar: The Last Airbender fic by yanocchi
THE STORY SO FAR: Thanks to Sokka and Zuko the gang manages a narrow escape from a group of bandits. Unfortunately, they've unwittingly alerted Azula to their presence...
Standard disclaimer applies.
CHAPTER EIGHT: In which Zuko almost causes an accident and Sokka has an epiphany.
Zuko couldn't stop staring down at the ground as it passed beneath him. Rivers, hills, towns, and plains he had seen on maps suddenly felt that much more real. Flat lines on a piece of paper were given meaning when pictured overlaid with the view from Appa's back.
"Don't throw up or anything," Katara said warily. Zuko raised his head and looked at her. She was mending a tear in one of the packs. Momo was curled cat-like in her lap, examining the contents of the pack.
"I won't throw up," Zuko snapped back, turning away from the view resolutely.
"Just checking," Katara replied with a shrug. She bent her head over her work once again. Zuko watched her measuringly. Of his new companions Zuko was the least sure of himself around the waterbender. Aang treated Zuko much the same as he treated the others, though with a bit more restraint. Sokka and Zuko maneuvered around each other like a pair of roosters in the timeless tradition of teenaged boys. Some small part of Zuko enjoyed the bantering he exchanged with Sokka. Zuko hadn't been around other boys his age in years, and even then the barriers of rank and status kept those relationships stiff and formal.
The past few days Zuko had been on pins and needles around Katara. He really had no way of knowing how to act around her. She was only a year younger than his own sister, but he certainly couldn't treat her like Azula. He had enough trouble treating Sokka and Aang as friends, but he had never had any friends of the female persuasion before. Treating her like just another boy was out of the question. She was far too feminine. Even when she was fighting Zuko sensed a kind of delicacy and grace to her movements that made him wonder how anybody could suggest it was unnatural for a woman to fight.
"Zuko," Iroh said abruptly, rousing his nephew from his reverie. "Have you been keeping up with your training?"
Zuko gave his uncle a curious look. "I've been meditating..." he replied. It was unlike Iroh to urge Zuko to work harder at firebending. Most of the time he advised meditation, preferring to take it slow.
Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully. "You mustn't neglected one aspect of your training at the cost of another."
Katara raised the pack and examined her work before beginning to replace the scattered contents. Momo snatched a few odds and ends and scampered away with them protectively. "That reminds me, Aang," Katara spoke up as she worked. Aang glanced over his shoulder at her quizzically. "We should review some of those scrolls Master Pakku gave me."
"Okay!" the boy replied cheerfully. He peered ahead, raising one hand to shade his eyes. "I think I see a river up ahead. You wanna stop there?"
Before Katara could reply Zuko broke in. "Shouldn't we keep moving?" he suggested in a tone that made the question sound more like an order.
"Moving WHERE?" Sokka drawled. He dangled one of Momo's treasures above the lemur's head teasingly while the big-eared creature rolled about on its back. "Bumi wasn't really that helpful."
"He was plenty helpful!" Aang protested in his friend's defense.
Sokka lost the trinket to Momo and rolled his eyes at Aang. "Sure he was. But don't you think he could have said something like 'go see this guy named Fong, he lives in Sobu?'"
Aang opened his mouth to reply, but realized there wasn't really anything to say to that. Zuko gaped at them before jumping to his feet. "You mean to tell me we've been traveling for three days without a destination!" he shouted.
With the abrupt change in balance and the loud voices, Appa suddenly became nervous. He bellowed and shook his six shoulders anxiously.
"Sit down, you idiot!" Sokka yelled at Zuko.
"Stop shouting!" Aang shouted desperately at Appa's passengers.
"What did you say, you water tribe—"
"Zuko, calm yourself!"
Zuko stumbled as Appa tossed his massive head. The bison's flight had become erratic and the others were clinging to his saddle tightly. Before he lost his balance Zuko managed to right himself and glared fiercely down at Sokka, obviously intending to continue the argument, regardless of the conditions.
"Get down, Zuko!" Katara snapped. Without giving the prince a chance to react she rose to her knees and grabbed him around the waist, dragging him backwards to the ground. For a moment there was a jumble of arms and legs as Zuko extracted himself from Katara's grip and the unfortunate Iroh, on whom the pair had landed, tried to squeeze out from under them.
Unsurprisingly, they came up fighting.
"What were you thinking!" Katara demanded of Zuko. She had released his waist but maintained a grip on his sleeve.
Zuko tried to shake her off to no avail. "That's what I want to ask you! You nearly threw the both of us off!"
"It never would have happened if you hadn't started jumping around!"
"It's his fault! He started it!" Zuko retorted, jabbing his finger at Sokka.
To his surprise Katara didn't snap at him but appeared to be biting back laughter. Glancing over at Sokka, Zuko saw that he too was trembling with suppressed mirth.
"What?" he asked suspiciously. The siblings burst into gales of infectious laughter. Sokka howled and clutched at his stomach, pointing at Zuko with his free hand. Katara released Zuko's sleeve and tumbled back onto her rear with her head thrown back. From his perch on Appa's head Aang joined in, rocking back and forth. Even Iroh was chuckling, diplomatically trying to disguise it as a cough.
"What's so funny?" Zuko repeated.
"D— d'you know how SILLY you sounded?" Katara gasped between spasms of glee. Zuko glared at her.
"I'm starting to get an idea..."
There was a heavy thud against his shoulder and Zuko looked up into Sokka's eyes with mingled anger and surprise. Sokka slapped him a few more times on the back, still laughing.
"How old are you? Three? Bwahaha!"
"I'm seventeen, you peasant! What does it matter to you?" Sokka laughed even harder and Zuko shoved him away. He spun on his uncle, irritation growing at Iroh's struggle to hide his grin. "Uncle, explain!" he ground out between clenched teeth.
Iroh hemmed and hawed for a moment. "Well, you must admit, you did sound rather, erm, juvenile," Iroh told his steaming nephew. He averted his eyes and scratched pensively at his beard. "I haven't heard you say that since you were... hmm, it must have been over ten years ago..." The laughter crescendoed yet again and Zuko felt himself turning red in embarrassment.
"Enough already!" he bellowed. His fisted hands spurted a few harmless flames. Sokka bit his lip to hold back the laughter but continued to grin. Katara smothered her giggles in her hand.
"Hey, Katara! Look!" Aang called over his shoulder. He was pointing down at the river excitedly. Katara looked and wrinkled her brow at the view.
"That river seems... familiar..." she mused. Sokka joined her.
"Oh, hey! It's your puddle!" he remarked.
Katara's eyes widened in recognition. It was here they had stopped after escaping from the pirates after she had stolen the waterbending scroll. There was the shoal where she had taught Aang his first waterbending. That was where they camped, and over there was where Katara had been practicing that night...
"Your puddle?" Iroh repeated curiously. Since Aang was concentrating on guiding Appa down, it was Sokka who answered.
"Yeah, we stopped here once before so Katara and Aang could practice. I said we'd just find them a puddle to splash in. Instead we found this," he finished, gesturing at the picturesque scene.
Iroh examined it with a critical eye. Katara had a feeling the old man remembered this place as well, and for a moment she found herself holding her breath anxiously. Would he bring up their previous encounter? Would the fragile camaraderie that had formed between them be broken? But the moment passed and Iroh grinned with childlike eagerness.
"This looks like an excellent place to practice," he remarked. "Don't you agree, Zuko?"
"How should I know?" Zuko replied sulkily. "I'm not a waterbender."
"I wasn't talking about Katara and Aang," Iroh said mildly. His nephew turned to him in surprise. "You have been letting yourself go, nephew. We, too, should review some forms."
Appa landed just then and Iroh leapt off the bison's back with surprising agility. Zuko followed as his uncle walked downstream a little ways, trying to argue with the older man who simply pretended not to hear. Aang, Sokka and Katara began the familiar routine of unloading Appa and setting up camp. Free of his load, Appa made a beeline for the pool at the base of the waterfall and rolled ecstatically onto his back. Momo took one look at the waves that sloshed up the bank and jumped nervously onto Katara's shoulder.
"Now that I think about it, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Sokka said in an undertone to Aang.
"Why not?"
"Well maybe Zuko'll remember this place..."
"Uncle Iroh remembers it," Katara put it. "I could tell."
Sokka glanced suspiciously over his shoulder at the pair standing slightly downstream. Zuko was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration while Iroh continued to chatter with implacable obliviousness. All in all the two of them looked fairly harmless. Nonetheless, Sokka threw an arm around Aang's shoulders and drew him close. "So what if they try to grab you and make a break for it?" he hissed.
"This close to the water? With no boat or reinforcements or rhinos?" Katara scoffed. She flopped down on the ground and opened her bundle of scrolls. Selecting one she unrolled it and looked it over. "They wouldn't get far."
Aang ducked out from under Sokka's arm and skipped back a few steps, grinning. "Besides, I think we can trust them." He squatted down with Katara and they put their heads together over the scrolls, plunging into deep conversation.
Sokka gaped at their wanton indifference. He snatched a branch from a nearby tree and pointed it threateningly at the pair. "Did you hear me! They're plotting, I can FEEEEL it!"
"More intuition?" Katara said scathingly without looking up.
"I'm right sometimes!"
"Mm hmm..."
"Stop that! Stoppit!" Sokka swung his leafy branch vigorously, trying to draw Aang's attention away from the scroll in front of him. "You've got to be alert at all times! You can't let your guard down!" Still no reaction. Sokka shook his fist at the pair in frustration. Momo peered out from under Katara's braid and mimicked the boy.
Sokka heaved a sigh of defeat let his arms drop limply to his sides. Behind him Appa rumbled and Sokka looked down at the branch he still held. He hesitated and glanced around with faint hope before he shrugged resignedly and waded out to Appa.
"You owe me double for this," he grumped at the bison. Appa just whuffed at him and Sokka sighed again. Why did it always feel like somebody was laughing at him?
ATOGAKI: Remember how I told you that this fic would expand your vocabulary? Here's another word to add to your list: Epiphany. I know a lot of people probably know this word already, but just in case, an epiphany is an illuminating discovery or realization. In this case, Sokka's epiphany is that he's always being laughed at. I think that Sokka gets pushed aside in fics all too often, and he's really such a great character. He never gets enough credit for how smart and brave and strong he is, since he's surrounded by people with super powers. As characters go, he's the most realistic. Ya gotta love 'im!
A note on ages: Aang is 12, Katara 14, Sokka and Azula 15, Zuko 17. I figured that SOMEbody had to have a birthday at some point during the first season, why not Zuko?
I know Zuko was a bit OOC in this chapter, but it was fun anyway. X3
ONE MORE THING: Who thinks I should rename the chapters to match with the FFnet numbering? I know I'm getting a little confused...
