"Dad! Dad, I can't find my dress robes."
Nolan had just entered his parent's room. He had been looking for his dress robes, which he needed for a formal dinner the family was going to he having tonight with various council members, ect.
"What do you mean you can't find them?" Zuko asked
"I mean I can't find them. I had them two weeks ago for that meeting Izumi and I attended with you. And then I put them in a laundry pile in my room, which I later that week delivered to the laundry room. Then the servants gave me back my laundry, but my formal robes aren't there. I checked the clothes piled at the bottom of my closet, but I didn't see them there either. So I'm guessing they haven't been washed yet."
Clothes piled at the bottom of the closet. That sounds like Nolan, Zuko thought. Nolan's closet wasn't exactly the most organized.
"Well did you inform the servants that you needed those robes washed by tonight?"
"No, I didn't think of it. I just placed them in the laundry room with the rest of my laundry."
Zuko sighed. "Nolan, you gotta keep track of these things. If you know you are going to be needing your dress robes then you need to make sure that they are washed and ready. And that you know where they are."
"Alright...sorry." Nolan apologized. "So what do I do now?"
Zuko sighed again. "Lets go see if I have something in the closet of old clothes."
Zuko went down the hall to one of the unused bedrooms and Nolan followed. When they arrived to the room, they stepped inside a walk in closet, filled with random garments that were in good shape, but no longer fit the members of the family they once belonged to. Nolan recognized a few clothes that had been his when he was little and others that had been Izumi's. Zuko began looking around, near the back of the closet where the grown up clothes were, most of which Nolan didn't recognize.
"Here," Zuko pulled out a long, red with gold trim, formal robe outfit. "Try this on. It was mine back when I first became fire lord." Zuko handed Nolan the garment, who took it into the bedroom to try on.
Zuko sat down on a hassock, inside the closet and waited for Nolan to return. While Zuko waited, he thought about how Nolan seemed so much...younger than he himself was at that age. Perhaps it was because Nolan was much more sheltered, so to say, than he had been. Nolan had two parents who both loved him, plus a sister he actually gets along with. He wasn't abused. He never had to fend for himself growing up. He wasn't kicked out into the world at 13. Not to mention, he didn't become the monarch of an entire nation at 16. The more Zuko thought about his and Nolan's different experiences growing up, the more it made sense that Nolan didn't seem as old as Zuko did as a teenager. Though Zuko supposed there was also the possibility that maybe he didn't realize just how young he actually was back then.
"It fits." Nolan said, as he appeared in the closet door way to show his dad.
"Hey that actually looks pretty good on you. And you know, you can actually keep it if you want. It obviously hasn't fit me in years."
"Ok, cool. "Nolan smiled.
"Now," Zuko leaned forward towards Nolan, "what would you have done if I hadn't had that set of robes?"
"Well..." Nolan wondered, "I guess I would have just had to wear something else to the dinner tonight, something semi-formal."
"You would have been underdressed, compared to everyone else." Zuko stated.
"I know. It's unlikely anyone would have said something to me about it though, I mean, I am the prince."
"Well, I think as Fire Lord, I could have said something to you." Zuko chuckled.
"Yeah, what are you going to do, not allow me to the dinner?"
"Maybe. I mean I could do that."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, you think so?"
"Yes."
Zuko quickly reached down and grabbed a square shaped, decorative pillow that was being stored at the bottom of the closet. He thew it at Nolan.
"Hey!" Nolan exclaimed, as the pillow hit him. He grabbed it off the floor and threw it back at his dad. Zuko quickly grabbed it, as Nolan grabbed a second pillow and threw it. Pretty soon they were throwing pillows at each other. Nolan then began to hit Zuko with one of the pillows.
"Ok. Alright. Stop!" Zuko said, as he was being smacked with a pillow.
Nolan stopped, still smiling from the escapade. He stood still for a moment, and then threw the pillow at Zuko, who managed to dodge it.
"Ok. Ok. Now go change out of those dress robes until it's time for the dinner."
"Alright." Nolan said, exiting the closet. Zuko leaned down and put the pillows back in order, smiling to himself. Zuko enjoyed rough housing with his son and having fun with him. And he was glad his son was able to be a normal teenager and have fun with him.