AN: In which Suki and Zuko interact and Suki states her position on his redemption. Set at the Western Air Temple.
Olive Branch
"Need a hand?"
Zuko's attention turned from scrubbing out the (annoyingly stubborn) caked-on rice from the pot to Suki, leaning over just behind his shoulder. He hadn't even heard her come up next to him; Kyoshi training. Huh. "Uh...sure." Suki just smiled and grabbed a dirty bowl and spare scrap of cloth. "I thought you'd be with Sokka right now; I mean, you were just reunited and everything." It'd been just a day since their successful breakout from the Boiling Rock (which he still couldn't believe they'd pulled off).
She shook her head. "Nah, he's off with his dad and Katara. I figured some family time was needed, so I made myself scarce. Besides, Sokka and I aren't as close as you probably think we are." Suki blushed slightly. "Well, not yet, anyway. We haven't had much real time together with everything going on, me working with the Kyoshi, him flying all over with Aang and avoiding you."
The firebender chuckled weakly "Yeah...yeah, that'll do it." Well, this was awkward; for a few tense moments, all was heard was the scrubbing of pots. Finally, Zuko broke the silence, giving up on the damn rice pot. "Look Suki, about what I said at the prison; I meant it. About your island, I mean!" He sighed quietly. "I wasn't seeing things clearly then, making a lot of stupid mistakes for all the wrong reasons. I'm trying to change that now."
"It's okay."
"It is?"
"Yeah, it is." Suki finished with the last bowl and went to work on the cutlery "I admit, I was a little skeptical when I was told you were suddenly helping Sokka and the others. But back there at the prison? The warden knew who you were, and was planning to send you back to the Fire Lord for who knows what fate. There was a one-in-a-million chance that Sokka's dad was in that shipment of prisoners, the boat was right there, and it might've been your only chance to stay alive." She rinsed the cleaned spoons and set them aside to dry and turned to Zuko, smiling. "But you stayed. You stayed in the world's worst prison for a guy you'd spent most of the last year fighting against, a girl you'd fought once, and a man you didn't know at all! That says a lot right there, even if some of the others aren't admitting it."
She watched as the wariness in Zuko's eyes softened, and nudged his shoulder teasingly. "Besides! It's not like you're the only guy here that took a while to learn from his mistakes. The first time Sokka and I met, he was a little slow on the uptake too."
Zuko's eyebrow peaked slightly, intrigued. "Oh yeah? What was his mistake, exactly?"
"Thinking that girls couldn't be just as good a warrior as any boy could be." She allowed her smile to sharpen slightly. "When the other Kyoshi and I ambushed him and the others, he demanded to know where the men who captured them were. And later on, he challenged me to a fight in my own dojo. In front of the other Kyoshi."
"He didn't." Zuko snorted. "So how many times did you take him down before he got the point?"
"Oh, it took two or three times before I beat it into him. But he figured it out."
"I guess he did. Though considering his sister, I'm surprised he even needed to." The corners of his mouth turned up, and Suki had to admit, Zuko looked pretty good with a smile on his face. Who knew? "I'm glad he learned his lesson faster than I did; if he hadn't before meeting Azula and her friends, he might never have had the chance to."
"I think Sokka's glad you figured things out too. Same with the others, including me." She flicked her eyes from Zuko to the ignored rice pot in his lap. "...I'll take on that pot if you do the rest of the smaller dishes and help with breakfast tomorrow. I hate cooking."
Zuko eyed the current bane of his existence in distaste before gratefully handing it over. "Deal."