Zuko seemed to get happier as he spent more time with the group.
"No one make tea like uncle, but hopefully I learned something," he said, pouring his tea into cups for each person in the group. "Would you like to hear uncle's favorite tea joke," he asked excitedly.
"Sure, I like jokes," The Duke said. Yun smiled at him; he was so cute.
"Bring it," Toph said.
"Well, I can't remember how it starts," Zuko said, handing out the tea cups. "But the punch line is 'leaf me alone, I'm bushed.'" He got no reaction out of the audience. They all just looked at him with a sympathetic or bored expression.
"Well, it's funnier when uncle tells it," Zuko said.
"Right," Katara said "Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing." That got a few laughs from the crowd.
"It's nice to relax a little. It hardly ever happens," Toph said, holding out a hand for her teacup.
"Hey can I talk to you for a second," Sokka said to Zuko before walking away. Zuko paused for a moment before putting down his tray of teacups and following. The group looked amongst themselves, confused by the interruption.
"What's up with him," Toph asked. No one knew.
"I'm still stuck on that joke," Yun said. "Maybe it was talking about a teenage tea leaf not doing chores and then his mother nagging him?"
"Or maybe a tea leaf husband coming back from his tea shop and his tea leaf wife nagging him," Teo suggested.
"That would be terrible," Toph pointed out. "If there was a tea leaf who owned a tea shop, he would be boiling his fellow tea leaves." Haru gasped and covered The Duke's ears.
"I guess we'll never find out," Aang said, shrugging. They all pondered that for a moment before getting ready for bed. Yun set up her bed roll next to Toph's. She always set herself up next to somebody, as she was always cold and wanted leech warmth off of somebody else. She rotated people, so one person wouldn't get too annoyed at her.
"We could find out the joke if we found General Iroh," Yun said.
"Maybe," Toph murmured before she settled down to go to sleep. Yun did the same, shifting to get comfortable.
She woke up in the morning to the general sound of other people getting up. Yawning, she got ready for the morning. She then walked outside with Aang, Katara, and Toph. Katara found a piece of paper that Momo had been using as a blanket.
"What does it say," Toph asked.
"'Need more meat, gone fishing, back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko'," Katara said, squinting at the paper. Aang shrugged before yawning and going back inside to lie down.
"One more thing," Katara read from the paper. "'Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger frog croak. Zuko.'"
"Nobody else has homework," he complained. However, he diligently set out to do his hot squats. Katara flipped over the paper.
"Oh, another thing," she said. "'Yun, I finished your journal. It's in my room. Zuko. Again.'"
"You gave your journal to Zuko," Toph asked.
"Just for him to read. He said ocean dragons weren't real, so I wanted to show him the journal," Yun explained, before heading over to Zuko's room. She knocked on instrict before realizing that he wasn't there. Gingerly opening the door, she walked inside. She found the journal on his bed. She intended to get the journal and leave quickly, but her curiosity got the best of her. All the times she was here, she never really looked around. It was pretty sparse, but the one thing that stood out was the framed portrait of his uncle. She traced the frame with her fingertips. She hoped that Zuko would find and reconcile with his uncle one day. Quickly picking up her journal, she went out of Zuko's room and softly closed the door behind her. She flipped through Tigok's notes, looking at the messy scrawl, and then she turned to her notes, filled with illustrations and side notes in the margins of the small bound book. It felt nice to have it again. However, the fact that Zuko had it and read it felt nice. It was always nice to share her knowledge and Tigok's hard work with others.
Yun walked out of Zuko's room and gently shut the door. She then wandered over to the common area and began doing the chores of the day.
While washing clothes, she huffed. She was stuck here doing chores while other people did interesting things. It really wasn't fair. She didn't see Aang who was supposed to dry the clothes, so she just hung them up and wandered over to Song who was waddling over a napping Appa. Humming, Yun got an answering warble from Song. She glided onto Yun's shoulder.
"Do you remember Suki and the others," Yun asked Song as she wandered around the temple. Song hooted in reply.
"You should, Song. Suki was the one to find you as a baby, you know. You were super small and cute, and Suki found you first. Then, me and the Kiyoshi warriors helped look after you, because Suki's mom was allergic to you. I remember that you liked Yura so much, because she would bring you fish, and I was so jealous of her, but you always followed me home. I couldn't be as good as the other Kiyoshi warriors in anything, but at least you liked me more for some reason. I don't know why you chose me, but I'm really glad you did." Song cooed in her ear, nuzzling it softly with her muzzle.
"Remember when Suki said that we had to help you catch a fish by yourself so we went to the stream? And we put you by the stream and you fell in. We all started panicking. I'm pretty sure Kena screamed and I was crying, but Suki jumped into the stream to save you, and then we all jumped in. I remember that Auntie was super mad at me. She made me go to bed without lunch or dinner. But I managed to get you some jerky left in the cupboard." Yun sighed and looked up at the cloudless sky. She missed Kiyoshi island and Suki and all the Kiyoshi warriors. She had made so many friends while travelling with everybody, but sometimes, she missed the simplicity of being part of a solid group on Kiyoshi island. People kept going and leaving, and Yun was scared that one day, one of them wouldn't come back. She was just tired of people leaving her.
Yun quickly shook her head. That was such a selfish way of thinking. The world didn't revolve around her. This was about winning a war, not preserving her feelings. Sighing deeply, she walked around the temple more with Song on her shoulder. She was feeling more pensive, more nostalgic, and she wanted to be alone with her somberness.
Whistling tunes and waiting for Song to copy them, Yun wandered through rooms, wondering how life would have been in this temple before Firelord Sozin. She then started thinking about life in the Southern Islands. How would she have turned out if the Fire Nation had never destroyed her home.
"I would probably be a lot whinier than I am now," Yun wondered aloud. "Mama and Papa were always babying me like there was no tomorrow."
Song whistled a tune, and Yun rubbed her stomach with her index finger, eliciting a pleased coo out of her cat owl.
"You know, Song, that I was quite chubby when I was younger. Papa told me that Mama would just keep feeding me. And of course, I just kept eating. You would know. You're looking quite chubby right now, Song. Does that mean now I am the one babying you?" There was no response from Song, who was content just resting on Yun's shoulder.
"Chubby, chubby, chubby," Yun absently sing songed
"What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon," Katara asked, looking at Sokka and Zuko exiting a Fire Nation warship. Yun could only start, slack jawed at how big the warship was from up close.
"It kinda got destroyed," Zuko said, grinning triumphantly.
"Sounds like a crazy fishing trip," Aang commented.
"Did you at least get some good meat," Toph asked.
"I did," Sokka said. "The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood." Suki, Hakoda, and someone else got off the ship.
"I'm new. What's up, everybody," he said waving.
"Dad," Katara said, her voice shaking with emotion. She ran over to hug Hakoda.
"What is going on, where did you go," she asked Sokka.
"We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison." Katara then pulled him in for a hug. Yun watched them with a smile.
"Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat," Toph asked.
Yun startled to find a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Suki.
"Long time no see," Suki said, smiling at Yun. Yun hugged Suki as tight as she could, wrapping her arms and legs around her.
"You're such a purple pentapus. Glad to see you haven't changed," Suki laughed. Sokka walked up to them.
"Is Yun okay," he asked, poking at her form still wrapped around Suki. Suki laughed again and rubbed Yun's back.
"Yeah, she did this to me all the time when she was younger," she said.
"I missed you," Yun whimpered.
"I know, I know," Suki said. "How about we catch up tomorrow. It's late now, and I need to sleep for at least fourteen hours." Yun untangled herself from Suki and stood up straight.
"Yeah, of course," she said. Suki ruffled her hair, and Sokka led her to where they slept. Yun stayed behind. She noticed that Zuko did too.
"You're not tired," she asked him.
"No, not yet," he said.
"So, you broke into a Fire Nation prison," Yun said, looking at him. The grin returned to his face. "Want to tell me about it?" Zuko did. They sat in the warship, and Zuko told her all about their prison break, with occasional interruptions.
"You didn't have a solid plan to get out of prison," Yun exclaimed. Zuko just glared at her and kept talking.
"Why was Suki held in the prison," Yun asked. Zuko shrugged. He then continued telling the story.
"Wait, so you guys were going to get captured but your girlfriend saved your butt," Yun said slowly, trying to process everything Zuko told her. "Wait, not. Not your girlfriend. You dumped her over a letter, so ex-girlfriend. Wow. That's just . . . wow." Zuko pulls at his hair angrily.
"I don't know-it's all just so messed up. I didn't want her to be labeled a traitor too, okay?" Yun pulled her knees up to her chest, and rested her head on them. She turned her to look at Zuko.
"Maybe you just need to talk to her. Once the war is over," she reasoned.
"She's not going to take me back," Zuko sulked.
"Take you back or not, you still need to talk stuff over. My mom and dad did it all the time. After they argued, they would spend some time away, and then they would talk. And that's how my father dealt with arguments within the village too. He would make the two parties still down and talk about their problems."
"Wow, my father told my mother that she would have to help kill my grandfather so that my father would spare me, and then he banished her," Zuko said. Yun blinked a few times, unsure of how to respond.
"Oof," she said.
"Yeah," he sighed into his hands.
"Well, you have a chance to be better than your father. I mean, you already have by helping the Avatar and also helping Sokka get his dad back. You have a chance in another way. I'm not making any sense. I'm so tired I can't think properly. I think it's time to go to bed." Yun got to her feet and started walking out of the warship, before Zuko grabbed her wrist.
"Thanks," he said. Yun smiled.
"No problem," she said. "And thanks for helping Sokka and Suki. Oh, also for returning my journal."
"Yeah," he said, still sitting down.
"Make sure you get some sleep tonight. Goodnight, Zuko," Yun said before making her way over to her bed roll. She pulled it over to Katara and settled down. She looked up at the ceiling of the Western Air Temple. It felt nice talking about her parents; she couldn't wait for them to meet all the amazing friends she had.