"Yay! I can't wait...uh...oh I'm sorry, I don't know your name." Aang rubbed the back of head, sheepishly. Katara eyed Aang's newest...friend curiously. His face...his face bore the marks of the Fire Nation's cruelty, something which Katara was intimately familiar with. The angry, just...redness of it all….it had to be a firebender's mark. That much she could be sure of. However, his eyes were a golden colour, almost exactly like Azula's. No, exactly like Azula's. If Katara didn't know better, she'd assume Li and Azula were related. However, she did know better—not everyone in the Fire Nation was related, no matter what some people might say. She knew some people thought this way about the Water Tribes, and it was so inaccurate it really hurt. Not in the offended way, but in the 'why are you so stupid,' way. Besides, gold eyes were probably common in the Fire Nation.
Although, for sure, Li was Fire Nation, which in itself shouldn't be a problem, but it was. It made him all the more suspicious.
Part of her recoiled away from the teenager in disgust. The Fire Nation was evil, and so were all its people. They partook in the slaughters and the violence and did nothing to stop it. The Fire Nation stole her mother away from her and Sokka. They forced their dad to war. They took, and took until she had nothing left. But..staring at the obvious burn scar on his face..maybe the Fire Nation took something from him too.
"My name is…" Li glanced around, avoiding eye contact with everyone, including Toph. "Uh, I go by Li."
He had a giant frown plastered over his face. Katara was half convinced that was his default expression. Toph made a face, but since she didn't call Li out for lying, Katara could only assume his name was actually something like Liander and he went by Li for short. Li and Sokka started bickering, and Katara tuned them out. Sokka was calling Li a no-good-serial-killer again, and Aang, sweet Aang, was trying to defuse the situation to no avail.
"Sokka, you can't say things like that!"
Sokka, the absolute blockhead, stuck his tongue out. "I can say whatever I want to, Aang. Unlike the Fire Nation, this is a free nation."
"Hey! The Fire Nation is a free nation…" Li responded.
"So you ARE Fire Nation! I knew it! Aang, can't you see? We need to get rid of him-"
"I never said I was Fire Nation; I only said they were a free nation! Stop putting words in my mouth!"
Unlike most people, Sokka didn't have a brain-to-mouth filter. In times like these, Katara dearly wished he did. "You can't lie to me! You look Fire Nation!"
"Racist!" Li yelled.
"Ashmaker!" Sokka yelled back. Honestly, while the term was rude and Sokka shouldn't have said it even if Li was a firebender, Li wasn't even a firebender. Katara wanted to smack something. Beside her, Toph cackled in obvious, sadistic delight.
"Sokka, Li, can we please stop fighting?" Aang asked.
Both of the older boys answered his question with much more malice than needed. "NO!"
"He's a serial killer!"
"He's a delusional psychopath!"
"I am not!"
"And I am not a serial killer!"
"Where's your proof?"
Katara wanted to say this is where she stepped in, and stopped this nonsense, but she couldn't. The boys—all three of them—continued arguing. Aang tried being the voice of reason, but it's hard to be one when no one will listen to you. Katara would know.
"So...what's the deal with his face?" Toph whispered to Katara. "Is he super ugly or something?"
"Toph." Katara put on her 'mom voice.' Toph can't go around calling people ugly. She...can't even see people! "You shouldn't call people ugly."
"So, what I'm hearing, is that he's ugly as hell." Toph confirmed.
Katara shook her head, even if there was no point. "No, he's not ugly. Far from it, actually."
Katara realized her mistake almost immediately, and blushed. Maybe Toph wouldn't notice her….error. Unfortunately, Katara hasn't ever been that lucky.
"Oh?" Toph smirked, an expression that would haunt Katara's nightmares. "Does someone have a crush?"
Katara shifted in her spot, a little bit uncomfortable. While Li wasn't ugly, she certainly didn't find him attractive. Well, not really. "What do you mean, Toph?"
"Oh-ho-ho someone's got a little crush on our hostage~" Toph sing-songed. "Is...that reverse Stockholm Syndrome?"
Katara blinked, more than a little confused. "Stockholm? Is that a colony?"
"Ah, nevermind that. Back to your crush…"
Katara flushed darkly, "I don't have a crush on Li, Toph. He's a dangerous criminal who Aang kidnapped. All I said was that he wasn't ugly."
"If he isn't ugly," Toph paused, "Why did you guys collectively gasp when he was unmasked? Unless...ew! Don't tell me it's because all three of you think he's hot."
"What..? No. For the last time, Toph, I don't like Li. At all."
"Yeah, but you can't speak for Sokka or Aang...so you don't know how they feel about our mysterious companion. I've heard teenage girls like bad boys."
"Look-I don't think Aang has a crush on Li, either," She was pretty sure he liked her , not Li She ignored the comment about Sokka. "And you shouldn't stereotype girls like that, Toph. I did not fight the patriarchy for us to stereotype each other."
Toph ignored her. "So...if Aang doesn't like him….?" Toph's voice trailed off, taking on a higher pitch towards the end.
"Toph, I really don't think it's my place to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because it's Li's personal business."
"His personal business? That's a bad excuse and we both know it. Cooooome ooooooon, just tell me." Toph paused, before a giant grin encompassed her face.
Katara shuddered. This couldn't be good. "You aren't not telling because I'm blind, right? WOW. That's low, Katara, even for you."
"What? No, I'm not not telling you because you're blind," Katara protested, weakly. "It's just not my business."
"Tsk, tsk. Katara, I can't see his face. What if we get lost one day, and I need to find him, and someone asks me to describe him? What do I say? Ugly, and three feet tall? What would I do then?" Toph asked. "Help a girl out, O Mighty Waterbender."
"Toph...your Earthbending…" Katara face palmed. She didn't see a way out of this, but she really didn't want to betray Li's trust. "Can't...you….just..?"
"Are you an Earthbender, now, Katara? Please, tell me how to bend." Toph teased, although her expression was terrifying. It was in this moment Katara knew, she was screwed. "Man, just tell me. Pleaseeee."
Katara frowned. She just met Li, and while he didn't say not to tell anyone, or Toph, she couldn't help but feel he didn't want her to talk about it. He seemed defensive when they first saw it. He nearly dared them to ask him about it. But..on the other hand, what was the harm in letting Toph know? Besides, he technically hadn't done any particularly trustworthy, and since Katara didn't know him well, she couldn't assume he didn't want Toph to know. Honestly, the situation wasn't complicated. Katara was overthinking.
"He...has this scar on the left side of his face," Katara gestured, even if it was of no use. A habit really. "It looks like a burn, and a deep one too. I'm not sure how he got it but it looks..bad. Really bad, Toph."
Toph froze. "Oh."
"I don't think he likes talking about it." Katara shrugged. "I probably shouldn't have said anything."
"Oh, please. It doesn't matter all that much. If Mr. Thief over here wanted it to remain a secret, he should've worn a mask."
"Toph. He was wearing a mask. We took it off of him, remember?"
"He should've attached it to his face permanently, with glue or something."
Katara didn't bother responding. She moved slightly to the left of Toph, to put some distance between them. If Toph noticed, she didn't care enough to say something.
"That was anticlimactic," Toph shook her hands a bit. Katara sighed. In general, everything Toph did was either extremely climatic or extremely unhelpful, or both. "I'm going to go bother him now, call me if you need me. I won't help you, but it's the thought that counts."
Katara rolled her eyes. Even if she was in danger, Toph wouldn't be the one she'd call for, anyway. That would end badly for everyone involved, except for Toph, who would cackle sadistically. Toph walked over to Li, pushing Sokka and Aang aside. Sensing an opportunity, Katara moved towards Aang. She poked his shoulder, and smiled when he smiled back at her. She didn't pay attention to Li's screams of indignation. That was his problem.
Zuko rubbed his eye. In the middle of the avatar's campsite (he wouldn't call it his own, no matter how many nights he sat around it) there was a large fire. The main purposes of it was to keep the group warm, and to cook, both of which Zuko could do with firebending, but chose not to. He wasn't an idiot, no matter what Azula said. He understood that these people, besides maybe Toph, didn't particularly like firebenders in the slightest. Well, the avatar seemed to have no problem with them, but the Water Tribe siblings treated the word firebender like a swear or curse. He avoided his bending, which wasn't all that difficult. For the past few years, he had avoided using it. In fact, he didn't know whether he could still use it or not. While he learned never to trust anything his bastard of a father ever said to him, the part about 'never neglecting your already weak inner flame. If it is snuffed out, you will never get it back.,' always stuck with him. He hadn't meditated in years; he never had the time. His inner flame was long gone, or long nullified. He could still feel the pulse from the fire in front of him, but it was weak, even when the fire itself wasn't. Fires were almost living creatures, they had a pseudo heartbeat.
Uncle used to joke that firebenders had two heartbeats inside them; theirs and their inner flame's. Zuko never believed the man, as his tales were ridiculous and likely ripped off from long forgotten fairytales, but his uncle was semi-wise, if a little insane. It seemed insanity ran in his family, really. Zuko reached for his back, and rubbed a small spot Azula injured in one of her games.
He wondered how long it would take for him to lose his mind. Glancing around at the camp, filled with all his Nation's enemies, maybe he already had. Treason was generally considered a stupid, idiotic, insane, and all around awful thing to do, and, well, here he was.
Honestly, the true hilarity lied in the fact that these people, the ones he was committing treason for, didn't even like him. Well, maybe that's not entirely true; the blind earthbender seemed to like him, and the Avatar definitely did. Huh. Maybe it was just the Water Tribe siblings. Again.
What did he ever do to them? Ever since he (unwillingly) joined this group a few days ago, all he'd get from them was cool rejection from Katara, and mild death glares from Sokka.
Zuko put aside thoughts of the Water Tribe siblings. He huffed, and poked the fire. With a stick, not his hand. He had no desire to get a matching burn to the one on his face. His father really was a bastard.
"Hey Mr. Incognito, you know poking fires without touching the wood pieces is weird?" Speak of the blind earthbender, and she shall appear. She was like a demon that way. If you went in front of a mirror and said her name three times, she would appear and kill and eat you and your friends. Or something. Uncle had really weird stories, it's not like Zuko could keep track of them.
"How do you know I'm not poking the pieces of wood? You're blind." Zuko winced right as he said the words. He figured that was extremely rude to say. His mother always told him not to point out people's disabilities. She said it was rude. Of course, his father, and by extension, Azula, did it all the time, so his moral compass was a little...wonky.
Toph said nothing, and Zuko worried he'd offended her, and she'd tell the Water Tribe siblings who would skin him and then the group would eat him, and Sokka would say, "He's already half cooked!"
Of course, the Avatar would eat something else because he's a vegan or something but Zuko didn't want to be eaten in the first place -
Except this wouldn't happen because Toph laughed. Not a small little girly giggle, but a full bellied evil cackle. "You've got balls, Li. I'll give you that."
"Huh?" She wasn't mad? Zuko was pretty sure he said something offensive, but to be fair, his emotional intelligence was terrible. That tends to happen when you spend more time beating people up than talking to them.
"Everyone else tiptoes around my blindness like it's a disease, which I guess some might see it that way, but I don't. I was just born this way, just like you came out of your mom with a wild burn mark on your face."
"What? I wasn't born with this!"
"You weren't? Sorry I just assumed.."
"Why would you assume that? It's a burn mark, not a birth mark!"
"Well, it's not like I know how you got it."
"It's none of your business. How do you even know about it? Are you gossiping about me behind my back? I bet it was Sokka who told you." All Zuko could see was red. Of course Sokka gosspied about him. Why wouldn't he? Everyone gossiped.
Zuko stormed over to the Avatar and the Water Tribe siblings. They were laughing, and chatting, and all chances were, they were laughing about him.
"How long will it take to get to Ba Sing Se?" He straight up demanded. The three paused their conversation.
Katara crossed her arms, and mumbled, "Would it kill you to say please?"
"Yes, it would." He nearly snarled. She was probably talking about him too. He hated two-faced people. "How long will it take?"
She scoffed. "However long it takes us."
"I think around three more days." Aang added, all smiles and sunshine. "Or maybe three weeks? I mean it has been a while since I was flying around the Earth Kingdom, and we're not flying this time…"
The kid's expression turned really dark, really fast. Zuko was no spiritual guru, but the kid's aura seemed to darken by quite a few shades. Every instinct of his said to run, but the rational, or stupid part of Zuko's brain said vegans were harmless, so he stood still.
"We'll let you know when we get there, so we can drop kick you behind the walls." Sokka, ever unhelpful and annoying, added. Unhelpfully. "We're not purposely stalling, if that's what you're accusing us of. We don't you and your serial killer tendencies around any longer than necessary."
"Sokka, stop calling him a serial killer." The Avatar whined.
"If anything, he's a compulsive thief, not murderer. Hey, Sokka, when we first heard of the Blue Spirit, weren't you talking about how cool he was…?"
Sokka turned red. "Hah! I have no clue what you're talking about Katara. Blue Spirit who?"
"Li?" Aang answered. "He's the Blue Spirit. And yeah, Katara I remember that. This is after I got rescued from Zhao, and you assumed it was Li who freed me? You wouldn't stop gushing."
"Hey! I thought we were friends! You don't reveal these things to the enemy!" Sokka gestured vaguely in Zuko's general direction.
Zuko's whole face was the same shade as his burn.
"Wait...Li, did you free Aang?" Katara asked.
Zuko shook his head. "No. I've never freed anyone."
Well, if ostrich horses counted as anyone, and stealing them counted as freeing them, he was a saint. However, he highly doubted they would see it that way.
"Uh, who freed you Aang? If it wasn't Li, I have no idea who it could be, and there's no way it was Katara. She was crazy!"
"You weren't doing much better, Sokka!"
Aang mumbled something under his breath, before clearing his throat. "I regret telling you guys about that. Shouldn't the focus of the story be on you guys sucking frogs?"
They did what to the frogs? Who were these people? Were they the true serial killers all along?
"Aang, we nearly lost the entire war right there, of course you had to tell us. But seriously, if it wasn't Li, who saved you?"
Aang gulped. "You won't believe me."
"Try me." Katara responded.
"Yeah, Aang, try us!" Sokka pumped his fist into the air. For what reason, Zuko didn't know.
"Uh...It was Prince Iroh."
"Iroh?" All three of them shrieked, all for different reasons.