Just Shut Up
The fighting was starting to get annoying.
Like, really annoying. You couldn't even take a decent nap around here anymore.
But as exasperating as the yelling was, no one was willing to do anything about it. Every human in the traveling party was content to just let the waterbender and their new firebending companion scream at each other all day long. It was like they were deaf to the insults and swearing.
Why were all these humans completely blind to the fact that he and Appa were completely sleep deprived? What could they possibly be doing that was more important than daily naps? It's not like they were saving the world or anything. Not with all the excess angst they were carrying around. Sure these humans were impressive with their bending and all, but they didn't even have tails. Seriously, how can you be expected to do anything heroic and not have a tail? These kids probably couldn't even save a cabbage. Literally.
Lucky, they have their good friend Momo to watch out for them. He shudders to think where they would be without him.
So it seems that yet again it was up to Momo to bring peace to the group and save these kids from themselves. Couldn't they do anything for themselves?
It wasn't all that hard to figure out the source of the yelling. He just had to follow the screaming.
Surprisingly enough, it wasn't the smoky-smelling two-legger that was the cause for all the aggression. It was the female that smelled like water. The scarred boy would just be standing there, performing some helpful chore or accomodating task, and she would walk up to him, aggression etched into every step and without any provocation whatsoever, begin to insult and accuse the boy. At first he accepted her harsh words without resistance, an even bigger shock to the lemur, who remembers a time when this two-legger was the very definition of anger.
But you can only take so much unjustified hostility for so long before you snap. And boy did he snap.
Now they argued at even the sight of each other.
It was a daily ritual. She would curse and accuse then he would retort and insult.
But at the end of every fight, as they walked away, no longer able to take the sight of each other anymore. But then Momo would notice this look they would get on their face. Momo didn't really know what it was. It looked to be a mixture of anger and…regret?
Yes, that's what it was. Regret.
If these young two-leggers really did have regrets at the end of every fight, there might be some hope for them yet.
But the problem wasn't really who started the fights, which was usually the female, it was the one who added the fuel to the fire, no pun intended, which was the smoky-smelly male.
So all he had to did was make sure that Zuko didn't make things worse.
Momo had his work cut out for him.
But Momo was nothing if not resourceful. He'd know what to do when the moment presented itself.
"What do you think you're doing?" Like right now.
"What's it look like? I'm making dinner." There was an edge to his tone of voice.
"Since when did banished Princes know when to cook?" Oh, she was getting ready to let him have it.
Wisely, he did not respond. Maybe this human had more intelligence than Momo gave him credit for.
"So what are you making? Soup made from the bones of defenseless families? I heard that's a Fire Nation delicacy."
"No. It's beef jerky stew. But the bone soup does sound better than that trash you made last night. Or has the taste of sea prunes completely ruined your taste buds?"
Maybe not.
"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't you go back to the Fire Nation and eat all the fancy food that you want. Oh wait, you can't. You're banished. They don't want you around any more that the I do."
That seemed to have struck a nerve, because an expression of genuine hurt drifted across Zuko's face. But that was soon replaced with pure hate.
Momo could tell that this would be the fight to end all fights. He had to do something now, before either one did something they would later regret.
Katara turned her back to the Fire Prince, but not walking away, waiting for Zuko's response.
Zuko was more than happy to oblige. He opened his mouth ready to unleash a string of swears and curses at the girl.
But he never got the chance. Because at that moment, Momo leapt from his hiding place and jumped on Zuko's face, effectively cutting him off .
Zuko tried to yell, but all that came out was a kind of muffled whimpering. Zuko couldn't see, speak or even breath. He started to flail around trying to get the stupid animal off his face. He pulled, he pushed, and he even punched, but the lemur would not let go. Momo was hugging the firebender's head with a death grip.
A lemur on his face, spinning around in circles, floundering around like an idiot, Zuko must have been quite the sight.
But the only person in the room was Katara, and she had her back to him, completely unaware of the spectacle behind her. It was obvious that she was still waiting for Zuko's retort so she would have a reason to freeze his butt to the floor.
But there was no angry reply. Only silence in which a boy was fighting for his life.
In those moments, the influence of what Katara said seemed to have backfired on her. Her expression had darkened with regret.
Her back still to the suffocating fire prince, she said "I didn't mean for it to come out that way."
Zuko was too busy trying to breathe to hear what she said.
"I know you've given up a lot to help us. And that I'm the only one in the entire group who hasn't accepted that you've changed."
Zuko's face was turning blue under Momo's belly.
"Even Sokka's talked to me about getting along with you. But it's hard to look at you and not remember all the bad thing's that you and the Fire Nation have done."
Zuko felt dizzy and his thrashing turned sluggish and uncoordinated.
"Aang tells me that you've changed. That you really are a different person. He says that my anger is clouding my judgement, stopping me from seeing the new you. Maybe it is."
Zuko was deathly pale and about 5 seconds from passing out. And about 10 seconds from actually dying.
Having face down generals, angry earthbenders, and an insane Azula, there was no way in hell that Zuko was going to die like this. In a kitchen suffocated by a lemur. This is not how was going out.
"I want to believe that you've changed, but it'll take time…"
Zuko used what energy he had left to light a small flame in his hand. He raised it to his face, hoping to burn the animal off. Desprate times…
Unfortanetly, Momo saw the flame coming and jumped off Zuko's head just before the flame made contact. Zuko ended up burning himself.
Finally being able to breathe, he took in a huge breathe and color returned to his face. The burn on his head really hurt.
Zuko was still gasping for breathe when Katara finally turned around.
"I'll make you a deal; if you promise not to be a jerk, I'll promise to be more civil."
Just now realizing that Katara was in the room, Zuko just stared at her confused.
"Uhmm…okay…?"
"Great. See you at dinner Zuko," she said and walked away.
She didn't smile, but there was definitely a brightness in her face that wasn't there before.
Zuko was thoroughly confused.
He directed his gaze to the lemur that had almost been the death of him and vocalized his confusion and anger.
"What the hell was that about? I thought she hated me and you like me. Now you're trying to kill me and Katara's being nice? What the hell was that about? And if you come near me again, I swear you'll be our next dinner."
Momo gave him an irate look.
The things I do for these kids…
