Chapter Text
At sundown, when Uncle brought in the welcome sign and dimmed the lanterns, the Water Tribe siblings returned with two new friends. Zuko surmised that the young boy with blue tattoos must be the Avatar his sister had been hunting, which made his breath catch in his throat at how he was walking right up to him! The Avatar was right there when his sister hadn't even been able to capture him in half a year!- but he managed a quick bow before moving to a six sided table near the center of the room. "Please, sit."
The fourth visitor, a little girl with bare feet and the immovable attitude of an earthbender, came up first to take a seat. The rest soon followed.
Uncle had begun steeping a pot of the most calming blend they owned that was ready to be poured by the time everyone was settled. Katara wrinkled her nose at the offered cup, but took it anyway and placed it on the table. "We're not here to have a tea party, your highness. "
Zuko, who was sitting directly across from her, only met her fiery gaze for a moment before looking around at the others. "I know."
Uncle came to sit at his left and laid a weathered hand over his. "Sharing tea with an interesting stranger is one of life's true delights." He said with a small smile.
"I'm Aang!" Aang inserted happily. "It's nice to meet you."
Katara smacked his arm. "It is not nice to meet them. These are the people who kidnapped my brother!"
"We didn't kidnap him!" Zuko defended. He scowled for a moment before hissing in pain and cupping his eye. "I'm the one who freed him."
The group sat silently at this declaration. Sokka's face got incredibly red the longer it went on. Aang tapped his chin. "Hang on. Sokka said he beat you up and esca-." Sokka reached over to cover his blabbing mouth before it could get any worse, but it was already too late. Zuko's brows rose to his hairline in shock.
"Excuse me?" The offense melted into a smug smirk as he crossed his arms. "You couldn't beat an arma-kitten-dillo. How did you convince them you had beaten me in a fight?"
"We just thought you must be terrible at fighting." Toph said with a shrug.
Zuko shook his head in disbelief. "Im… I was the crowned prince of the Fire Nation. You think they'd let me get away with being unable to defend myself?"
"OK, I've got to know what happened after I left." Sokka pleaded. It was an obvious ploy to get the attention off of his fib and, from the flash in Katara's eye, it had not gone unnoticed.
Zuko took in a deep breath to prepare. The warm hand over his helped ground him. "After you…left… the Fire Lord found out pretty quickly. And as you can probably guess, he was pretty upset."
The group resolutely didn't stare at the fresh red wound taking up half of his face.
"He told me that I needed to prove myself before Agni for going against our nation. But he meant I had to fight him in an Agni Kai." Uncle gripped his hand reassuringly. Zuko kept his focus on their hands and found he couldn't lift his eyes to the others around the table. His face burned with intense shame and sorrow. "I was banished after-" he lifted his other hand to gesture vaguely to his face. "and told that I need to regain my honor."
Sokka looked stricken at the news. "You got burned because of me?"
Zuko startled. He glared at the boy and snarled "I don't want your pity." Katara was about to jump up and straighten his attitude, but Uncle beat her to it by muttering something in the teens ear. Zuko breathed out a plume of smoke, but smoothed his features with a wince.
"So how are you supposed to regain your honor? Bring him back?" Toph asked from down the table.
"It doesn't matter. I don't want to go back."
"That's a lie."
He frowned. "How would you know?"
Aang perked up. "Toph uses her earthbending to feel when someone lies!"
Zuko flushed at the information. "Well… it's not fully a lie. Of course I miss my home. But I'm not willing to do what he wants to go back."
Toph settled back into her seat, seemingly disinterested in the conversation once again. "Truth."
"So you're just hanging out in BaSingSe? The last hope against your nation? And you're just serving tea like a commoner?" Katara crossed her arms and glowered. "I don't buy it."
"I am a commoner." Zuko interjected, but is drowned out by Sokka saying "if he were lying, Toph could sense it."
"His sister is a pretty good liar."
Sokka could see the stormy look brewing on Zuko's face and knew this was a majorly bad discussion to be having. He doesn't know how to get everyone to stop and panics, shouting "Zuko is not his sister!" It worked, if only enough to make everyone freeze and look at him like he'd grown a second head. Zuko especially looked like he had suddenly dropped into a world that made no sense. Sokka calmed his shaking hands (when had they started doing that?) and said "Zuko is a lot of things. Namely, he's a terrible liar. In the time he had me… he never lied."
The table is silent for a while. Finally, Katara asked quietly "how can you be sure?" If he didn't know her so well, he wouldn't have seen the worry, the ever present question that hasn't left since he returned. Looked like it was time to fess up.
Sokka laid his hands on the table and blushed, muttering "I maybe… didn't beat him up to escape?"
Zuko scoffed, but Sokka continued. " The rest was true. He was supposed to interrogate me and he was a real jerk most of the time, but he didn't do anything to me." He paused. "Except he forced me to spar with him."
"So that's where you learned all those new moves?" Aang asked kindly.
Sokka nodded. "On the last day he said he was going to do something crazy and broke the chain with his bare hands. And he let me go."
His sister leveled a harsh glare between the two. "And you lied about it because…?"
Sokka shrugged helplessly. "It sounded cooler. And all those refugees from Omashu were so sad, I thought they could use a good story." She obviously didn't like this explanation, but let it go.
"So what are you going to do now?" Aang asked the two strangers. "I need someone to teach me fire before the end of the season. And I don't think we'll meet another nice firebender."
Uncle turned to Zuko. The decision is up to him. But Zuko is unsure. He hadn't really expected to be asked such a thing, but he was just starting to get used to the idea of just being a common tea server. Uncle gave up everything to come with him in his hour of need, was it fair for him to go when he had just gotten the teashop he wanted?
Sokka coughed into his fist, drawing the teens attention again. His cheeks were pink and he had trouble looking him in the eye. "If you decide to come with us, you'll have to spar against me again." He gave a lopsided grin. "I think I've gotten good enough to beat you fair and square."
Toph laughed and Aang smiled. Katara looked a bit less hostile, since Sokka was giving his approval. Zuko looked around at them, unsure of what teaching the Avatar would entail, but willing to try if they were going to let him. How odd, that father wanted him to track down the Avatar, and this is where he ended up.
"You will always be welcome back, nephew. How many chances do you get to make new friends and see the world?" .
Never. And he would never get this chance again.
"Alright." Zuko said. Sokka walked around the table to clasp arms with him in a way that the Fire teen was unfamiliar with.
"Glad you changed your mind." Sokka said through a wide grin. "I can't wait to knock you to the ground tomorrow."
Zuko balked. "You can't seriously think you'll beat me."
"I don't know, Sparky. He's been practicing a lot since I've met him." Toph elbowed the taller boy in the side. "I think he's been learning new things just to get a rematch with you."
Zuko and Sokka shared matching blushes. They each took a step back and looked anywhere but at the other.
Katara gave the firebender her own jab to the side. But she didn't look angry anymore. She looked like she was biting her cheek to keep from smiling. "I'm keeping my eye on you." She pulled Aang and Sokka along toward the door with Toph following soon after. They each gave a quick goodbye before they were gone, disappearing into the darkened streets.
Zuko stood numbly. "Uncle…"
"I know." He helped Zuko to the back of the restaurant. "Why don't you go back to the apartment and start getting your things together for tomorrow? I'll clean up here." The boy doesn't move to leave, instead continuing to look a little lost for words. Hopeful, but scared. Iroh, always knowing what's going on in his boys head, put his hand on his shoulder. "I told you when we left, didn't I? That this was not the end." His fingers brushed just under the scar and Zuko leaned into the kindness. "You have much to offer. And I am always proud of you."
Zuko sighed and moved to envelop his uncle in a quick hug. It was very uncharacteristic of the boy, especially after the near constant pain his burn gave him, but sometimes he let himself feel comforted. "Thank you, Uncle."
When they pull apart, there are tears in both of their eyes. Uncle tutted and shooed him out the door. "This is not goodbye, my nephew. Go and make new paths for yourself."
Zuko meandered away, slowly picking his way back to their apartment to gather his things.
The next morning he shared a final meal with Uncle, waved goodbye, and set off to find the Avatar and his friends.