Disclaimer: Still looking for that, I don't own Avatar, auto stamp
A/N: For anyone wanting to know where the Jet Pet took off too, he is hidden in Aang's pocket dimension, aka, his bag of holding for this one.
The Inn's common room was unusually quiet. Aang half expected to hear Sokka's voice and the raucous crowd along with him. He took a moment to think and realized that Sokka hadn't actually done anything at their last Inn either claiming he was too tired and heading to bed. He made his way over to the table where Sokka sat drinking with Zuko. He picked a seat opposite of Sokka so he could get a good look at the man. If he had to say, he looked depressed.
He sat in silence with a mug of his own ale and drank in not only the drink, but also the quiet. When they had been out on the road, it seemed like they never got quiet. Most nights these days were filled with Sokka sitting around the fire singing off key and most days went much the same only with badly written poems.
Sokka had come to the conclusion after winning a Bard contest that it was the life meant for him. He was a warrior in a group with a shaman, priest, necromancer, and mage so he certainly had the material to write about. What had surprised the group was that Sokka's off sense of humor actually had lots of fans. People loved to hear their tales and loved to even listen to Sokka's poorly written off key songs. Aang had decided long ago that it had to be the effort and the love that Sokka put into the things. It just showed through. Sokka had a gift for making others laugh and Aang tried to promote it, even if it meant he was forced to listen to it.
"Is there anything wrong, Sokka?" Aang asked.
Sokka stared down into his mug and said, "Not a thing. Everything is fine."
"If everything is fine then how come you haven't been caterwauling since before the last town?" Zuko asked calling him out.
Aang tilted his head at Zuko in question. Since when had Zuko been so observant? Had he really not noticed at all?
"It was the first time I got a decent nights sleep since Sokka decided to become a bard," Zuko grumbled.
"Shouldn't you just be happy enough that I stopped?" Sokka said glaring at Zuko.
Aang frowned. They all knew it was just Zuko's personality to be gruff. Zuko was someone that was far from honest with himself and would never in a million years admit that some of Sokka's songs actually amused him. The group as a collective had just figured that it had to be that Zuko worked more with dead people then living. One of the downsides of being a necromancer was that people were never something you looked at the same. Aang gave a small sigh of frustration.
"There is obviously something wrong, so why don't you talk to Aang, so he will stop pestering you. You remember the time you didn't want to talk about the fish maiden?" Zuko asked.
Sokka groaned. He had seen a dream about a fish maiden growing legs and coming onto land and cursing him and threatening that it would curse the whole group if he talked about it. Sokka had made it a point of trying to actually avoid talking to the group and Aang practically became his shadow following him everywhere and would keep him up till the early morning light asking repeated if he wanted to talk. The constant pestering and little sleep had practically driven him insane on its own. Sokka was ready to swear that the curse the maiden had talked about was actually Aang himself. He finally broke down and actually told him. He knew he felt better and much more reassured once he knew it had just been a dream. He decided he didn't want to repeat said experience again. He eyed Aang.
"It will be a repeat all over again," Aang said assuredly.
He gave a sigh of defeat and said, "Being a Bard is difficult."
"How so?" Aang asked.
"Well, first of all, there is all the songs and poem and the people. Everyone is constantly all over you for another song. They always have ones they want to hear. They never respect the classics."
Zuko interrupted with, "Its not like you do any of the classics."
Aang added, "I also thought you liked all the people."
"I do like all the people. I have to admit, I like being able to do things and actually have people laughing with me and not just at me, but that doesn't seem to cover the poems or stories themselves. Recently, things have been on a bit of a …." Sokka trailed off.
"A decline?" Zuko added helpfully.
"Is it too much to ask for you guys to have some near misses?" Sokka asked.
"What do you want us to do?" Aang asked a bit in shock.
"It just seems like we win every time. Back when we first formed, it seemed like we were always getting into some kind of mess and it was always a thrill, because we never knew if we would come out of it on top. It made my stories exciting. Lately though, everything has been about such mundane things, I can't possibly write them."
"The sheep thing wasn't so mundane. They had us out there looking for crazy looking bugs!" Aang half shrieked.
"Aang... We stayed up all night in the cold and when the bugs finally showed up, we didn't need more then our boots to smash them. That is seriously mundane. If I can't even use my boomerang, its mundane," Sokka replied.
Aang turned to Zuko looking for help, but he just shrugged.
"I think Sokka has a point," Zuko admitted.
"Did my ears just hear that?" Toph asked making her way into a chair next to Sokka.
"The man has a point. I can't see people wanting to hear about flesh eating bugs that we bloodily massacred one frosty morning. I'm sure there has to be tales of things like doing laundry and stuff that are more interesting," Zuko said nonchalantly.
A look crossed Sokka's face and Aang could tell he had a plan. In an instant the seat was vacant and their warrior and part time Bard was already out of his chair and off to revise his thoughts of one of their last adventures. Toph punched Zuko in the arm.
"Damn it, Zuko! You know we are going to be hearing about that miserable morning for the next three towns!" She complained.
FN: Prompt: Troubles of a Bard (#9 of 50)