Once more, a long delay on my part. My computer doesn't seem to like the document I have all the chapters saved on and refuses to open it half the time. I finally have that solved, so no more excuses for me. I need to get off my arse and finish this. And I will. My goal is to have this done by the end of the year. That's a little less than five months to write about seventy of these. So if I start slacking again, feel free to yell at me.
Time to get to cracking….
026. Mothers: Zuko stared at that painting whenever he thought no one was looking. But Sokka saw, and he wasn't going to let his friend suffer in silence.
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Sokka had a tendency to notice the things that others didn't. He was perceptive, he had to be. He was the leader, he needed to protect his family. He kept his eyes peeled for anything. So when the little Fire Nation prince wandered his way into their camp, Sokka did not take his gaze off him. He learned a great deal of information about Zuko this way.
One, the other boy snored. Louder than he did. That was a pleasure to learn.
Two, Zuko had night terrors. They were often loud, not too frequent, and he never talked about them. No one was allowed to talk about them. That had been stressed. He also talked in his sleep, in between snores that is.
Three, he hummed while doing the work Katara assigned him. Sokka didn't know the name of the song, but it sounded pretty. It didn't sound like a Fire Nation song, but something Sokka had heard in the Earth Kingdom a few times too many.
Four, he did Katara's list of tortures without complaint. He didn't complain about much, other than the fact that Sokka kept following him. That couldn't be helped.
Five, he was really good in the kitchen. He did the dishes so Sokka didn't have to. Ta and La bless him for that. And those fire flakes he brought with him, well let's just say Sokka had added those to the grocery list pretty early on.
Six, he had a picture of his Uncle. And one of some woman Sokka assumed was his mother. Zuko kind of resembled her. He kept them in his room, tucked in that little bag of his, and hidden under the pillow.
Sokka hadn't been snooping when he found them. No matter what Toph said, Sokka didn't snoop. Momo had been in the bag, and Sokka had felt it was only right to free the poor lemur. He couldn't help that the small portraits and that little carved turtle duck figurine had fallen out. These things just happened.
He hadn't mentioned his discovery to anyone, let alone Zuko. It wasn't something that was brought up during semi polite fire side dinner. So Sokka kept the information to himself. He sat on this knowledge for weeks. He didn't forget about it though.
In fact, Sokka only watched him more after that. He noticed that Zuko had a tendency to stare at the portrait of that woman late at night. He didn't speak about it, and slammed the door in Sokka's face when he saw him.
He resisted the urge to ask for quite a while. Until that night. The night they went to see that stupid play was the night Sokka finally asked. He had been wandering through the hall of the house, lost as can be, when he ended up outside of Zuko's room.
He was sitting on the bed, staring at that portrait in his hands. There were a few tears on his cheeks and he could be heard stifling a handful of sobs. Zuko looked absolutely miserable sitting there, a huge contradiction to the easy going boy Sokka had gotten to know in the last few months.
Sokka knocked his knuckles against the doorframe. Hearing that, Zuko startled. He quickly whipped the tears off his face and shoved the portrait under his pillow.
"Sokka?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "What are you doing here? It's late, shouldn't you be sleeping or something?"
"Shouldn't you," Sokka countered.
"I was about to," Zuko answered shortly. He did not like being pushed back against in these conversations.
"Clearly," Sokka said, taking a few careful steps into the room. "So, you wanna talk about it?"
Zuko frowned heavily at his friend. He looked surprised that Sokka didn't just leave. "Talk? Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Sokka chuckled. "But seriously, who's the lady in the portrait? And don't tell me there isn't one. I've seen you staring at it since you got with us. And you were crying. I don't think I've ever seen you cry. Except that one time, but you were sick from being in the cooler and I just thought you were going crazy."
"I wasn't crying," Zuko growled. "And I wasn't crying that time, either. Why do you care?"
"Because you're my friend," Sokka answered. He took a spot on the opposite end of the bed. "And friends help each other. You'll learn that the longer you spend with us. Now seriously, what's wrong?"
"I am fine, Sokka," Zuko protested.
He tried to keep a straight face, tried to tell himself that he was fine, but Sokka's unrelenting stare was starting to get to him. He didn't know why the other boy's stare could do this to him. He had faced off against far more challenging frowns before this. But none of them had the same effect that Sokka did.
Zuko sighed, pulling the portrait from under his pillow, knowing that Sokka wouldn't leave until he had his answer and was sure he was fine. This was the part of friendship Zuko was having the hardest time adjusting to. Honestly, couldn't the Water Tribe boy leave him alone for a few hours?
"The portraits of my mother," Zuko said, handing it over to him.
Sokka took it, concentrating on the thin face. "She's pretty."
Sokka stopped for a minute, remembering a bit of information he had acquired months ago. He had needed to know everything there is about the Fire Nation for the invasion. And that included anything from the architectural structures of the house, to the royal family that lead the nation.
"She vanished, didn't she?" Sokka asked cautiously, looking up at his friend.
Zuko nodded, his eyes narrowed. "How did you know that?"
"The invasion. I needed to learn everything I could while planning. And that kind of included trying to figure out who all would be at the palace when we got there. I couldn't find anything on her. Except that she just vanished."
"When I was eight," Zuko said.
"Can I ask what happened?"
Zuko took the portrait back. He held it a moment, looking down at the brush strokes as he tried to find the words. After a moment, he looked back up at Sokka, frowning heavily. "It's just, I don't really want to talk about that night. It's nothing against you, I just…"
"I got it," Sokka knew he shouldn't press on the subject. "You wanna, you wanna tell me about her though? What was she like?"
Zuko smiled just a tad. "She was amazing. Absolutely amazing. She was there for me, no matter what. She never judged, never pressed. Never forced me to be something I wasn't."
He was quite for a moment, as he smiled down at the portrait. His smile faded a bit as he looked down at the brush strokes that really did not capture the light of his mother's eyes. "She gave up everything for me. She kept me safe. She saved my life. And I just…"
Zuko sat the portrait down, refusing to vocalize his next thought. He wondered how disappointed she would be if she knew all he'd done. If she knew the trouble he had caused. He didn't have the best track record, and he doubted his mother would really appreciate his last few years of activities.
Sokka noticed the change in his friend and took the portrait into his hands. He held it a moment, before looking back at Zuko. "You know, you kind of look like her. You have her smile. You should really smile more often. You look less brooding that way."
Zuko didn't know why, but that made him smile. The other boy just had that effect on him. It annoyed Zuko.
"If you ever wanna, you know, talk," Sokka said, "I've been told I make a fairly decent listener. If you offer food that is. I listen best when I eat."
"Thanks, Sokka."
"No problem." Sokka climbed off the bed, stretching and yawning largely. He took a step away, and turned back to smile at his friend. "And Zuko, I might not know your mother, but she looks friendly. So stop worrying. I'm sure she'd be proud of you."
Zuko only stared. After a moment, he smiled and nodded. "Thanks."
Sokka tossed a grin before walking towards the door. One foot in the hall, one still in the room, he looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Oh, and Zuko, can you do us all a favorite and sleep with a pillow over your face. I mean, seriously. I'm on the other end of the hall and I can still hear your snoring."
Zuko didn't bother commenting, just threw his pillow towards his friend. Sokka chuckled as he stepped from the room and once more attempted to find his own bed.
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Next...
027. Half Way Round the World: Down in the South Pole, Pakku finds the only woman he's ever loved. But it will take more than hello to regain Kana's love