Part: One- The Lutdeo
Chapter: Nine- Armistice
Author: Fritters-4-Psi
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only things of my creation in this fanfiction are the Koertan, Kashi, Risha, the concept of the grith coin, and things to come in later chapters.
WARNING: Zuko out-of-characterness. And some under-lying concepts.
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It had been years since the cousins had seen each other; nearing six. Before Risha had left, she and Zuko had a secret handshake-hug that involved their Fire Bending abilities. For old times sake, Zuko said that they should do the handshake-hug. They both had brought fire to their hands and were about to do the handshake-hug, when Sokka burst through the cupboard. Waving his boomerang threateningly, he yelled, "If you want to hurt her, then you'll have to kill me first."
"What could a peasant from a Water tribe do to a Prince of the Fire Nation? Fire is the superior element and I am the superior person. Learn to stay away from fights you can't win," Zuko sneered.
Risha stepped between them. She turned to Zuko, "Cousin, do not hurt him. He is a good friend."
Unexpectedly, a disgusted look crossed Zuko's face. "Risha, how could you? Oh, my . . . I understand what's going on now," Zuko said, receiving an odd look from the others, "It all makes sense now. You two are here, alone. He," --- Zuko pointed to Sokka --- "He is obviously not the respectable type that would wait to be married. You, my dear innocent cousin, were pressured. Then you hear a knock at the door and hear someone yelling. You recognize the voice of your cousin. You throw on a robe and throw him in a cupboard. I can't believe this. If you get pregnant---"
Getting in a fighter's stance, Zuko brought fire to his hands; ready to fight Sokka. Grabbing her cousin's arms and forcing him to lower them, Risha said, "If we had been doing any thing and I did get pregnant, would you want the father of my baby to be dead?"
Finally, Sokka realized what they had been talking about. "I'm a very respectable person, just to let you know. Thoughts like that didn't even enter my mind. That's how respectable I am," Sokka defended himself.
The fire disappeared. Ignoring Sokka, Zuko explained to his cousin, "I'm just trying to protect you."
"And I'm sure you'd do a really great job, if I was actually in trouble. You're not my big brother. You're not even older than I am. I can protect myself," Risha said, "Now. There will no be any fighting in my home. Or on my land."
"But if that Water Tribe peasant is here, then the Avatar can't be far away. I must find the Avatar," Zuko said, "What about torture? Torturing isn't fighting."
"Whoa! Hey, wait a second. There won't be any torture going on," Sokka said.
It was then that Sokka remembered that token that Risha had even him. She had told him to show it to Prince Zuko and he'd understand. After fumbling through the bag, Sokka held up the token. Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked over to Sokka and extended his hand. "I must respect the gift that I gave my cousin many years ago," Zuko said solemnly.
Reluctantly, Sokka shook his enemy's hand. "Now that, I'm assuming, Prince Zuko isn't going to kill me. What did that token mean?" Sokka asked.
"It's a grith coin. As a good-bye present, Zuko made me, like, fifty. He explained that I was supposed to give them away. Anyone who had them and showed them to Zuko, he'd understand that, during his conquest to conquer the other nations, they were not to be attacked or killed. Because they had a coin, in some way I had befriended them," Risha explained, "Basically, it's a statement of a truce."
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A/N: Grith is actually the Anglo-Saxon word for truce.
2nd A/n: Am I the only one who thought the whole Zuko-acting-like-an-older-brother thing was, although OOC, like the cutest thing? Or am I insane?
3rd A/N: OMG. Weird dream last night. Actually, I had two weird dreams. In one, I found lots of money. There was, like, two hundreds, a ten, and a bunch of ones. And I was at school. Okay, in the second weird dream I was captured by Zuko. And he had like this secret base. He brought me there and locked me up in a stable-type thing. There were some Koertan in the stable, too.
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