AN: Thank you to all of you fabulous reviewers! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, but there was a sudden deluge of Projects that needed attention and then decided it didn't like me. :(
Hopefully, it will be amusing enough to make up for the wait!
"It's tradition," she'd said, smiling. "Try to have fun."
Fun.
The wind was fresh from the night's rain and, though high in the cloudless sky, the sun was still rising. It beamed down on the Southern Water Tribe ship and felt, to Zuko, like a hot eyeball glaring. The Fire Lord's robes – Lin wouldn't let him out of his quarters without them – felt too hot, too heavy for the warm weather and the mantle and ornament seemed to weigh more than usual. He stood at the stern, gripping the upraised side of the ship with both hands and watching the island grow smaller. Turning slowly to look over his shoulder, he stole a glance at Hakoda and Sokka, who were pointing at a map and discussing the best place to find hen-carp.
Which was obviously a code phrase for 'the best place to hide the body.'
Zuko wasn't sure why they were going to the trouble of taking him out of the palace to do the job, since there had been so many witnesses who knew he was going with them. Hau had had a small nervous breakdown when the Fire Lord refused an armed escort, though Zuko's use of the royal palanquin to get to the docks had calmed him somewhat. Certainly, he had felt like a complete idiot riding in a palanquin while his future inlaws walked alongside it – because Hakoda had outright refused a ride – but at least his emissary wasn't foaming at the mouth back at the palace.
Presently and for no reason he could discern, Hakoda peered back at him with a furrowed brow over unreadable eyes. Zuko swallowed and turned back around to say a final silent goodbye to his Nation.
Sokka's voice came to him, seemingly idle. "You know, I think you could probably be a little less helpful if you were really trying."
Zuko turned around, blinking. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The warrior waved the map, frowning and rolling his eyes toward the rigging. "You live here. Give us a hint; where are all the best fish hang-outs?"
For a second, he only stared at Sokka, wondering whether this meant that he was supposed to select his own burial site. Then, with a sigh and a rub of his face, Zuko shook his head. "I don't know anything about fishing. I've actually never even caught a fish before… except for that time-" He cut himself off and shook his head again, deciding that they would not be impressed by the tale of his first and only spear-fishing experience.
Sokka and Hakoda were watching him with very similar expressions of skeptical disappointment on their faces. If this was a test, Zuko realized he was probably failing. He held his hands out to his sides, frustrated. "What? I just don't fish, alright? What do you want me to do?"
Sokka crossed his arms over his narrow chest. "You spent more than two years at sea and you never fished."
Zuko narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't exactly sent out to trawl the depths, Sokka."
"Yeah, but you could have at least plucked a few off the surface while you were practicing that scowl – which, by the way-" Sokka raised a finger, smiling. "-is a feat of facial engineering."
Aware that the aforementioned scowl was spreading across his face at that very moment, Zuko drew a calming breath and peered off to one side. "My uncle kept the ship well-stocked. There was no need for anyone to fish, so I didn't fish."
There was a long, silent moment and, when Zuko looked back up, he discovered that both Sokka and Hakoda were again conferring over the map. He could only see their backs from where he stood, but the older man's shoulders seemed even tenser than before.
Zuko planted a hand over his eyes. He shouldn't have revealed his lack of expertise. He should have lied, pointed to a spot on the map, and made up some excuse as to why the fish weren't biting. Now, Hakoda thought he was useless, helpless – just a spoiled Prince. As if the man hadn't had enough reasons already to detest him…
"You alright there, buddy?"
Zuko looked up to find that Sokka had come to adjust the rudder and was peering at him with seemingly genuine concern. The firebender straightened his posture and cleared his throat. "Where are we going?"
Seemingly unaffected by the brush-off, Sokka smiled as he adjusted the course. "Dad wants to check out Sizzling Sand Cove – he thinks the depth there could be right for Red Slippers."
"Red slippers?"
"It's this kind of…" The tribesman waved a hand, half-shrugging. "…fish. If we catch some, you'll see."
Zuko nodded and turned to look toward the prow. Hakoda was tying off a line beyond the mast and the firebender followed it with his eyes into the system of ropes and canvas above. He was sure sailing couldn't be as complicated as it looked, but didn't want to ask for an explanation. Bad enough that he knew nothing about fish – knowing nothing about wind-powered ships might be all Hakoda could take.
Still, there were things that Zuko did know. "You'll want to keep your distance from that little island up ahead."
"What little island?"
The firebender pointed at the tiny dark spot drawing closer. It wasn't much of an island – little more than a large rock jutting out of the water with a few persistent plants clinging to the top – and it certainly wasn't easy to see unless one knew to look for it. "It's the only island up ahead. It has a really wide reef, just close enough to the surface to puncture the hull on a big ship. Just steer clear of it."
"How clear are we talking about, here?"
"There should be buoys anchored around the outer edges of the reef – I ordered them placed last winter, after the eighth fisherman scuttled himself that season."
Sokka squinted. "I don't see any buoys."
"What?" Zuko squinted as well, trying to catch sight of the white steel markers that should have been bobbing in the swells around the island, but he saw nothing but the flash of the waves. "Maybe the storm broke the anchor lines. I'll have to get those replaced. Just bear to one side and stay clear."
"Which side?"
"It doesn't matter with side – just do it, now. We don't want to get too close to that island."
"How close is too-?"
The ship jolted, sending all three men to sprawl on the deck. As he climbed to his feet, Zuko snarled, "That was too close, Sokka."
The warrior pulled himself up with a grip on the steering shaft. "Oh, so I guess it's all my fault, then. Never-mind all the vague warnings – if something goes wrong, lets all just blame Sokka!"
"What part of 'steer clear of that island' is vague?"
Despite the firebender's combative posture and raised voice, Sokka only crossed his arms and lifted his chin. "It would have been more helpful if you had told me that the reefs stretched over a quarter of a mile from the island. That's all I'm say-"
He cut off at the sound of his father clearing his throat and the cool look on his face dissipated as he hung his head. Zuko turned to find Hakoda frowning at both of them and felt his own temper drain.
Wrecking the ship was so much worse than knowing nothing about fish.
"First, you're both going to help me lower the sail," Hakoda said. His voice was a rigid combination of gentle calm and anger. "Then, one of you is going to jump over the side to see what we hit. The other is going to come with me to check the damage from the inside. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir." Zuko and Sokka shared a sideways glance, but did not remark on speaking at the same time. Rather, they set to their assigned task in silence.
Zuko had to fight his way out of the mantle to free up his arms enough to help with the sail. He set the heavy thing aside, along with the golden ornament from his hair, though he left the topknot in place to keep hair out of his face. The sun and the work only made his robes seem hotter and, once the sail was finally tied down, sweat was rolling down his spine.
Without looking at either of the younger men, Hakoda began climbing down a hatch into the belly of the ship. "Whichever one of you is coming with me had better hurry up."
Zuko looked at Sokka. Sokka looked back. An instant later, both were struggling with their clothes, trying to be the first undressed enough to jump overboard. Despite tearing apart the delicate ties of the Fire Lord's robes in his urgency, Zuko still had the garment half over his head and still wore the light shirt and pants of his under-layers when he heard the splash of Sokka hitting the water. He wadded the silk and flung it at his other possessions before glaring over the side of the ship.
Sokka, floating in his underwear, grinned up at him. "Nothing personal, Zuko. Hey, this could be a great opportunity for you to-"
"Just shut up." Zuko stalked across the deck to the hatch and climbed down with a huff. He made his way down to the hold and found Hakoda at the stem, holding up a lit oil lantern and shaking his head. Water soaked up through the soles of Zuko's soft shoes as he approached, but it was not deep. When he joined the older man and spotted the damage, though, his eyes bulged. "Oh no."
The hole was not too large and was only leaking a bit, blocked as it was by the thing that had pierced between the boards of the hull. The object they had run into looked at first like a big tooth – except it was made of twisted steel, painted white.
Hakoda turned a frown on Zuko, but said nothing.
The firebender drew a breath and cleared his throat. "It's one of the buoys. The storm must have smashed it on the reef."
"If we pull the ship away, we'll take on water too quickly to make it back to the capital."
Zuko swallowed and dipped his chin, then spoke with a slow shake of his head. "There will be search parties by sunset and this is a common site for shipwrecks. I'm sure we'll be found. Chief Hakoda, I'm very sorry for the damage to your ship – I'll gladly pay for the-"
He stopped when the older man's hand fell on his shoulder. Hakoda's expression was dry. "It seems we'll be fishing the reef, today."
With that, he strode back toward the ladder that would take him above, leaving Zuko blinking in the dark.
When he emerged on deck, the firebender found Sokka standing in his underwear before his father, dripping and rubbing the back of his neck. "It's, uh – ha ha! This whole thing is actually kind of funny if you think about it. I mean, it was supposed to keep us from hitting the rocks and, uh, it did that…"
Hakoda, arms crossed, did not look amused. Sokka opened his mouth, apparently to offer up some kind of excuse.
"This was my fault." Zuko found himself stepping forward, drawing both of the tribesmen's attention. "I knew the reef was here, so it was my responsibility to make sure that we did not hit it. As I tried to say, I will pay for the damages to your vessel."
They watched him for a long moment. Hakoda's expression was unreadable, but Sokka's smile kept getting wider. "See, Dad? He admits it. All his fault."
"Actually, I'd say the blame was equally divided." Hakoda shot his son a sideways glance. "You should have taken the warning more seriously, Zuko should have been more specific about how far out the reef stretched, and I should have intervened and prevented a misunderstanding from becoming an ordeal." His gaze turned to the firebender. "I'll take you up on your offer to cover the expenses of repair and-" He rested a hand on his son's shoulder. "-Sokka can help me mend the hull."
Zuko watched the younger man's sheepish grin, watched Hakoda's mouth twitch up as he released a resigned sigh, and some tightness inside him relaxed.
"Now," Hakoda said as he opened a storage box and withdrew three cane fishing poles. "I don't want to hear anything else about it. We came here to fish and, by the Spirits, we're going to catch at least one, today."
There were fish on the reefs. Zuko knew there were fish, because he could see them darting around beneath the waves – bright ones, dark ones, all different sizes – but they didn't touch the cricket-worms hooked to each man's line. He leaned against the rail with Sokka and Hakoda and narrowed his eyes at each shape that glided by below them until the sun lowered to such an angle that the glare off the water was almost blinding.
Silence was a part of fishing. Zuko knew that much. Despite being underwater and having no ears, fish were somehow sensitive to sound. The firebender was determined to not be the reason that this fishing trip failed and, every time Sokka sighed or yawned, he shot the tribesman a frown.
Finally, as the sun neared the horizon, Hakoda cleared his throat. "I think I owe you an apology, Zuko."
It took him a long moment to recover from the multiple levels of shock and there was still a note of incredulity in his voice when he asked, "For what?"
The older man stared at the water. "To start, I should probably apologize on behalf of my brothers in the tribe for our laughter at your expense. While the Southern Water Tribe is not as formal as the Fire Nation and joking is a part of our community, there was an undercurrent of cruelty to our amusement yesterday that is not usually there. For that, I am sorry."
Zuko kept his eyes firmly glued to his line as it slackened and tightened with the passing of the waves. "Considering what you suspected was going on, your hostility wasn't entirely unwarranted."
"That's another thing…" Hakoda was frowning now, shaking his head slowly. "I knew better than to suspect you of… pretty much all of the things I have suspected lately. I have never known you to be less than honorable and it was not reasonable for me to assume that you would do something that would hurt Katara. Men are not always reasonable when it comes to their daughters."
"Or firebenders," Sokka put in, blandly.
"Sokka's right," the chieftain said. Yellow eyes locked with blue and Zuko could see Hakoda squinting at him as if trying to see him through a fog. "It is true that I have treated you unfairly because of your race and station. One hundred years adds up to a lot of blood spilled between our peoples and it would be disrespectful to the dead to forget that. Still, I am not proud of punishing you for the mistakes of your people."
Zuko swallowed and looked back at the water, unsure of what to say. The silence stretched out, punctuated by the sounds of waves lapping at the ship's sides.
"I should also apologize for my actions at the ball, last night."
When the firebender looked over at the older man, he was surprised to find him frowning out toward the horizon. His brown cheeks were a little red. Zuko blinked. "What exactly did happen?"
Hakoda squinted and worked his jaw slowly, still not looking at him. After a beat of silence, Sokka waved a hand, shrugging and forcing a laugh.
"Circumstances beyond our control, really. No one could have seen it coming!" He quieted and stared down at the water, brow furrowing. "Well, Suki may have…"
Zuko's eyes narrowed as frustration began to creep up inside him. "No one could have seen what coming?"
Hakoda cast him a sideways glance, then looked at his son. "You start. I only know what Suki told me."
Sokka cleared his throat, drew in his fishing line, and laid the pole aside so that he could fold his fingers together on the rail as he thought.
"It all started after the toasts. I had just convinced, uh… what's his name? Little nervous guy, always worried about being late or-"
"Emissary Hau?" Zuko asked. He was no longer watching the water, staring instead at the tribesman. Sokka snapped his fingers and smiled.
"That's the one. Anyway, I had just convinced him that the mask was stuck on my head and that I couldn't be heard well enough to make toasts, so the ceremony was kind of short. Still-" He shrugged, raising his brows and gesturing loosely with one hand. "-I guess it was too boring for Katara, because she wasn't there at the end. Which, really, was why this whole thing happened, so if you want to blame someone, Katara is the way to go."
"Sokka." Hakoda narrowed his eyes at his son.
"I'm just saying that, if Katara had been there to protect her turf like any romantically-inclined woman would, the Northern Water Tribe noblewomen wouldn't have jumped me the way they did."
"What?"
In his shock, Zuko dropped his cane pole over the rail. Sokka and Hakoda stared down at it where it bobbed beside the ship, expressions perhaps a little mournful, but the firebender hardly noticed.
"What Northern Water Tribe noblewomen? What do you mean they jumped you?"
"That was our best fishing rod."
"Sokka!"
He glanced at Zuko's furious expression, but only raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the fallen pole. "No, really. My grandfather made it – it's a third-generation heirloom. It's a piece of our culture."
For a second, the firebender could only glare. His good eye twitched. Then, with a snarl, he yanked off his shirt, shuffled out of his pants, kicked off his curl-toed shoes, and prepared to leap overboard.
Sokka raised a finger. "Zuko, that might not be a good-"
It was, of course, too late.
Zuko sat on the deck with his back against the rail and his arm raised over his head, scowling and wincing by turns. Hakoda was working very carefully to extract the fishhook from his left armpit and had an aura of resigned confidence that suggested that he had removed many fishhooks from people over the years, but it was still an agonizing process.
Sokka strolled back and forth along the deck, talking and gesturing.
"I don't know what Chief Arnook told them, but they were determined. I tried to politely decline with that head-shaky, hand-wavy move, but it didn't stop them from begging and pleading and forming a line. So I had to dance with them. I had to." He shrugged, wide-eyed. "And I couldn't stop Suki from getting jealous. I mean, it might have helped if she had gone on thinking I was you, but then she would have spent the whole night looking for me and then she would have been really mad…"
"Augh!"
"There it is." Hakoda sat back and held up the bloodied hook. "Amazing how such a little thing can hurt that much, eh?"
"Yeah." Zuko lightly fingered the puncture, dabbing at the blood that had trailed down his wet side. The older man shooed his hand away and, from a small box he had had Sokka fetch from below, pulled out a clean cloth and a little jar of some kind of paste. As he cleaned the wound and smeared it with a liberal blob of the greasy stuff, he spoke.
"Suki did have a heavy hand in it. She came to me and pointed out that my future son-in-law was passing from woman to woman in a manner she considered completely shameless." His blue eyes met Zuko's and he gave a wry smile. "I agreed whole-heartedly and set about correcting his error."
"What Dad means," Sokka said, crossing his arms and half-smiling in recollection, "is that he stormed across the dance floor, grabbed me by the shoulder, and said, 'Maybe my Northern cousins do things differently, but this behavior is unacceptable for a man who wishes to marry a woman of the Southern Water Tribe. Fire Lord Zuko, if you intend to marry Katara, you will show the proper respect for her as well as our customs.'"
Sokka's impression of his father was accompanied by a pointing finger and a deep frown and Zuko could picture Hakoda doing the same things. He could also imagine his own reaction when faced with a public challenge of his respectfulness. His own father's voice rattled through his head.
You will learn respect…
Zuko sighed and rubbed his face with the hand that was not tucked behind his head. Hakoda, settling a bandage in place, was silent. The firebender peered back up at Sokka, who had crossed his arms again and looked proud of himself for some unfathomable reason. "So what did you do?"
The young tribesman shrugged and grinned loosely. "I hugged him."
Zuko squinted as he tried to understand.
"See, I was so sick of dancing by then that any interruption would have been a huge relief and then here comes Dad with an excuse to stop dancing for the rest of the night and-"
"The important thing," Hakoda interrupted as he finished with the bandage and drew away, "is that it was a son's hug to his father. To the Southern Water Tribe, it was as good as a wedding announcement."
Sokka was still grinning and waved a hand in slow circles as he explained. "So our tribe cheered and other nations started to figure it out and then there were some more toasts… You get the picture."
Zuko only sat still for a long while, looking between the two men as he processed what they had told him. There would be some social uproar about this among the Fire Nation nobility, but he didn't really care about that, now. His eyes settled on Hakoda.
"Sokka said he was starting to get you to like me. You finally accepted me… because Sokka hugged you while pretending to be me?"
"Well." The older man cleared his throat and looked down as he tucked the jar and remaining bandages back into the small box. "It was more the public display of respect for Southern Water Tribe family values than the hug itself." He shut the box and met Zuko's eyes. "And I liked you before any of this began, Zuko. That day you welcomed my tribe into the Capital and clasped my hand as we do in the Southern Water Tribe, I knew you respected my people and I liked you. Well before that, even, I liked you."
Hakoda raised a finger, then, and pointed at a spot on the center of Zuko's belly. When the firebender looked down, he saw the star-shaped scar, Azula's lightning blast.
"You give me very good reasons to like you, Zuko." When he looked up, the Fire Lord saw the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe's half-smile. "But just because I like a man doesn't mean he's good enough to marry Katara."
Zuko blinked, the sting of the remark bringing him back to the present. His arm was still lifted up over his head. He lowered it to his side, moving slowly despite the strange numbness he was experiencing. Setting his jaw, he met Hakoda's eye. "Tell me what to do."
For an instant, the older man's brows rose. Then, he tilted his chin up and regarded Zuko as he thought.
"You know, even though Kaia has been gone for so long, I am still trying to prove myself to Kana. It's good for a man to know that he is expected to be the best man he can be." He settled a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "I will be proud to call you my son-in-law, Zuko. I expect you to continue earning that pride for the rest of your life."
"I will." He barely managed the words through his shock, blinking as the breeze stung his eyes. Hakoda smiled, withdrew his hand from the younger man's shoulder, and politely looked away. He picked up the small box and strode to the hatch to stow it below.
"I wouldn't normally do this," Sokka said from where he leaned with his back against the mast, "but I've got a suggestion."
Zuko stared at him for a moment, uncertain if it was wise to ask.
Sokka went on anyway, pressing a hand to his bare chest. "It's my personal opinion that you should put some clothes on because my psychological scars from seeing you answer the door this morning are way too fresh for this assault on my eyeballs."
"Ah." Zuko cleared his throat and rose to his feet. His face was hot as he scrambled into his pants. Hakoda was climbing back on the deck. "I… should probably apologize… for what you overheard. It wasn't, er…"
"Yeah, you should apologize! I may never-"
"That's not necessary," Hakoda cut in. He glanced at Zuko and, behind the dry expression, the firebender could spot a degree of amusement. "I'm sure things are done differently in the Fire Nation, but the Southern Water Tribe does not have the luxury of pretending that things that are obviously happening are not. That's why the ten-minute leniency period was invented; I can't count the number of times I've tried to visit Bato and his wife, only to turn around and come back later."
"Dad… ew."
Ignoring Sokka, who had pressed a hand over his eyes, Hakoda crossed his arms and leveled a frank gaze on Zuko. "And now that we understand each other, we will never speak of it again." His eyes narrowed a degree. "Not ever."
The firebender, who had frozen with his hands on the ties of his pants, cleared his throat. "Agreed."
"You know, Sweetness, I'm not much for dresses, but that one's really pretty."
"Actually, these are just the under-layers…" Katara smiled at the stout earthbender who had appeared in the door to Seamstress Yun's lair, relieved at the sight of a friend's face despite the repetition of the tired joke. "Toph! You're just in time to help me out of this-"
Two slightly grubby hands popped up and a smug mouth turned up at the corners. "Oh-ho no. I've met Seamstress Yun. I'm not playing that game again."
The waterbender's smile faded, only to be replaced by a resigned frown. "Fine. Don't help a friend in need. Way to be a hero, Toph." She arched a brow and crossed her arms – this dress, thankfully, was not half as constricting as the last. Unfortunately, the outer layer needed a great deal more alteration, since Yun was unwilling to stitch too close on any seam for fear of damaging silk that might need to be visible. Currently, the large woman was in her sewing room, taking in the latest dart.
Toph leaned against the doorframe and picked her teeth with a fingernail. "Shouldn't this have been done yesterday during the Great Male-Bonding Trip? That's when she stuck me in my dress."
"It was." Katara sighed and reached up to rub a palm down her face, only to hold herself back. Lin had cautioned her that touching the makeup would ruin it and the waterbender had been fighting the urge since the midday meal. "Seamstress Yun took in all the under-layers yesterday and it really did take all day."
"Mm. Sounds like a blast. No wonder you went on a rampage at dinner."
Katara frowned and narrowed her eyes at Toph. "They'd been out all day. I was worried. And it wasn't a rampage."
"Could've fooled me. I've known enraged saber-toothed moose-lions that were quieter than you were when you stormed off to find Emissary Jitter-shrew."
Though Katara wasn't about to admit it, it was true; she'd been furious when she showed up for dinner and Zuko, Sokka, and her father were nowhere to be seen. It took almost an hour to pin down Hau and demand where her family was. All he could offer her then were assurances that the search parties had been sent before dark and were sure to come upon Hakoda's vessel at any time.
That was when the rampage had actually begun, only to end abruptly half-an-hour later when the Fire Lord arrived, bedraggled but apparently unharmed. Hakoda and Sokka, of course, hadn't looked any different. It was only in bed that night that Katara noticed the bandaged spot in his armpit. When asked, Zuko explained the important lesson he had learned that day about not swimming too close to fishing lines. Recognizing the tidy bandage as her father's work, Katara had returned his smile and hadn't remarked on his polite refusal of her offer to heal the injury.
Presently, the waterbender craned her neck and tried to peek through the door to Yun's sewing room but couldn't see anything beyond stacked bolts of fabric. "Is there a reason you're here or did you just come to prod at me when there's no water around?"
A smile spread over Toph's face and she pushed away from the doorframe, crossing her arms and standing tall. "Today's the day."
At this, Katara blinked and her resentment faded. "Yeah," she said, a tiny smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. "Today's the day."
At her slightly wistful tone, Toph snorted and waved a hand. "Oh please. This isn't about some boring wedding – I've come to collect my favor, Sweetness. Time to pay up."
AN: So fun!
Amongst the projects that caused the extreme delay in this chapter being posted was a singular project that might potentially interest some of you fabulous readers. I only mention it because some reviewers have expressed an interest in reading more of my writing, including original fiction; this made me so giddily happy that I dove into a revision-frenzy. Thus, if you like my OCs and twisty-plot games and the little details that make it come alive, you might be interested in my new Fictionpress account.
http:/www(dot)fictionpress(dot)com/~shamelessliar
Thanks, everybody! You're all amazing!
