Chapter Text
Now I'm feeling guilty for it,
I didn't want to leave.
You are stuck with me,
so I guess I'll be sticking with you.
Zuko stepped onto the deck of the ship, a light wind rustling his clothes gently. The sun held itself high and smoothed over his skin with delicate warmth. It was a nice day to be out, and it occurred to him that maybe he’d even do some haggling, if he could find a willing buyer. He stretched his arms up above his head, feeling a satisfying release of tension in his shoulders. Zuko let his arms fall to his sides as he relaxed.
It was even sort of quiet today--just the soft murmur of voices on land as commoners came and went, trading and selling what they could to get by.
“Oh, you there!” rang a familiar voice. So much for peace and quiet. Zuko’s eyes slid over to watch the exchange happening on land.
“I can see from your clothing that you’re world traveling types.” Tanen said in his usual irritating tone. Zuko’s attention shifted instead to the obvious foreigners--Tanen was right, they did look out of place here. Zuko squinted at the two in soft blue clothes, and the shorter one with the staff. He wore yellow and orange, unusual clothing for any nation. A small white creature with large ears sat on his shoulders.
“Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?”
Zuko watched as the one with the staff turned back to indulge in Tanen’s antics, and before long, the three of them were following Tanen into his ship.
And there it was again: moderate silence.
Zuko basked in it, head tilted up to the sky. Yesterday had started off at nearly the same pace, but as usual, a fight broke out in the market between the pirates and a wealthy-looking water nation merchant who claimed they’d stolen something from him. Zuko didn’t see much use in the petty arguments, although pirates and merchants alike usually stayed out of his way anyway. To be fair, Zuko didn’t exactly have a kind demeanor, and his scar was enough to unsettle anyone if he cared to move his hair behind his ear and show them. Zuko just relished in the fact that he even got sales to begin with (mostly because of all the antique fire nation gear he had taken with him when he dissented, but that was besides the point).
Before leaving the ship to peruse the market, Zuko grabbed his dual-blades and some coins to buy food. Might as well get breakfast while he was gone, he decided, and with that he melted into the crowd.
Sometimes Sokka regretted harboring the avatar, and it was in moments like these that he wished he was catching fish in the south pole.
Things had been easier then, he thought as he narrowly avoided a cart of cabbages, even if he was the only warrior in the tribe, he at least had the comfort of home. And Gran-Gran’s soup. His stomach rumbled, and his shoes dug into the dirt as he made a sharp turn. Sokka heard something crash behind him. Probably Aang, he figured.
“I hope that lemur of yours has nine lives!” a pirate yelled. The three of them skidded to a halt as they found themselves blocked by a dead end. His stomach suddenly lurched, and he had a feeling it wasn’t because he was hungry.
The group of pirates rounded on them, and they were officially trapped. Sokka gripped his boomerang tightly in his palm, eyes jumping from Aang to the pirates, and then to the sturdy walls around them. They could take them, probably. If the pirates stayed still enough, Sokka could maybe even knock them out with one throw of his boomerang. Something told him they weren’t going to stay still, though.
“Not about to pick a fight with benders, are you, Tanen?”
The pirates parted and turned to whoever had addressed them. Sokka leaned to look around Katara and see what they were staring at.
A boy about his age with long, black hair was the source of the distraction. He threw the core of the apple he was eating aside and parted his legs into a fighting stance. Sokka’s posture relaxed by an inch, and Katara turned to look at Aang in confusion. Sokka looked on at the boy, confusion stirring in himself as well.
“This has nothing to do with you, Izeh. Go back to your ship.”
The boy--Izeh, the pirate had called him--reached behind him and retrieved two long blades from their sheaths. His eyes met Aangs, and Sokka saw the avatar nod.
“I think it’s time to pick on someone your own size. Unless you’re scared.”
“It’s one against three, Izeh. Think about this,” Tanen warned. It looked like he and his men couldn’t decide which enemy to face--them or the boy. Their indecision made Sokka think that maybe Izeh was more dangerous than he initially thought.
“Alright. I’ve thought about it,” Izeh adjusted his stance. “Run!”
For a split second Sokka stayed put, watching as Izeh engaged in a fight against three men that were bigger than him, all with sizable blades as weapons. Then, Katara grabbed his arm and the three of them were running away from the scene.
“Grab on tight!” Aang shouted back at them. He unfurled his staff into a glider, and Katara said something about the pirates as Sokka chanced a look over his shoulder. Grabbing onto the back of the glider with one hand, he used the other to fling his boomerang towards the pirates. He thought he saw Izeh look up at him as the boomerang hit its mark.
“Sokka, your boomerang!” Katara chided him, and the glider wobbled as he got a better grip on it.
“We couldn’t just leave him! Those guys were way bigger than him!” he shouted back.
“Nice job, Sokka,” Aang’s washed out voice said through the wind. Sokka accepted the compliment, but he couldn't help not feeling very nice.
When they’d landed back by the waterfall, Sokka’s twisting feeling in his gut hadn’t gotten any better. In fact, it had gotten exponentially worse.
“I used to kind of look up to pirates,” Aang said, folding his glider. “But those guys are terrible.”
Sokka took off his satchel and placed it on the ground.
“I know...that’s why I took this,” Katara said. Sokka snapped his head up to see her revealing the scroll that she had been eyeing on the ship. He felt the sick feeling travel from his gut to his chest.
“No wonder they were trying to hack us up, you stole their waterbending scroll!”
“I prefer to think of it as high-risk trading,” Katara smirked. Sokka frowned at her, his bad feeling deepening.
“Sokka, where do you think they got it? They stole it from a waterbender,” she explained, noticing his apparent frustration.
“It doesn’t matter! You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes!” He said.
“These are real waterbending forms. You know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending.”
Sokka shook his head and sighed. “Whatever,” he turned on his heel and picked up his bag.
“Where are you going?” Aang asked.
“Back to the market.”
“What? What for?”
“To get my boomerang, if those pirates didn’t already steal it.”
He decided to ignore their pleas of “But it’s getting late, you’ll get lost!” and “They’re probably still there, it’s too dangerous!” and kept trudging onward. He was mad at his sister, and mad at Aang for thinking that what she did was okay. But he was especially mad at himself.
Sokka was a warrior, and warriors didn’t leave those who helped them behind. For all he knew, Izeh was dead in a ditch, or worse! And Katara and Aang didn’t even care. He told them he was going to look for his boomerang, which was true, but he also needed to know if Izeh was alright. If he wasn’t...
He couldn’t let himself get that far ahead. Night had fallen already, and Sokka needed to be quick on his toes if he was going to get his boomerang and escape unseen.
Zuko didn’t take much from his quarters, only his dual blades, the coins he had left, and an extra set of clothes. Not to mention, of course--the boomerang. He had known that his life here wouldn't be forever, but he found himself a little heartbroken as he took one last look around his barren room.
Then it was off through the market again. This time there weren't any teenagers in need of saving, luckily. Just the creeps that came out at night, and he could handle those just fine. Usually they were just looking to spend their money or, in some cases, do what they could in order to acquire it.
But Zuko was used to the nightlife here--the smell of the sea filtered through his hair, and brushed enough of it aside so that his scar was visible under the light of the lamp posts.
Before he could leave, there was one last stop he had to make.
Mashi’s shop was almost too close for comfort to where he’d picked that fight, earlier, but stopping there was necessary. He’d promised his uncle that if he had to change hiding spots for any reason, that he’d leave Mashi a message for him. Zuko had already scrawled out the note earlier in his quarters, so the hard part was done. Now all he had to do was give it to Mashi and get the hell out of there.
Thankfully, the light in front of her shop was lit, meaning she was still awake. That, or she wanted people to think she was. Zuko had to get the note in her hands, asleep or awake, no matter what.
He knocked on her door.
“Mmm? Who’s there?”
“Mashi, it’s me, Z-Izeh! Open up.”
He heard her footsteps approaching the door before it opened with a creak. Mashi looked up at him tiredly.
“What can I do for Prince Izeh?” she mumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“Mashi, I have to go. Get this note to Iroh, as soon as possible. The pirates still think I’m in their holding cell, but they won’t for much longer.” He quickly explained.
Mashi raised an eyebrow. “What did you do this time?”
Zuko sighed and placed the note in her hands. “It's not important, just--stay safe. And if they come looking for me, lie.” He leaned down and gave the old woman a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Yes, yes. Now, go! I’ll get this to Iroh as soon as possible.” She nodded, and Zuko took one last look at her and fled.
He hoped Iroh would understand, and that the note didn’t end up in the wrong hands.
Zuko had just rounded the corner when his body bumped into something hard, and he stumbled back. He heard a soft “oof” and took a blade out of its sheath, pointing it under the other person’s chin. It hadn't sounded like any of the pirates he knew, but better safe than sorry.
It was dark where they were standing, but a lamp post stood a few feet behind them. Zuko pressed lightly on the blade until his opponent stumbled back with a string of “woah, woah, hey, I’m sorry man-” and he was bathed in warm light.
Zuko immediately loosened his grip and let the sword fall slightly as he realized who it was.
“You,” he said simply.
The boy opened his eyes and made eye contact, confused for a moment until Zuko took his hood off and put the blade away.
“Holy- you’re still alive!”
Zuko frowned at the surprised smile the other boy was wearing, already digging a hand in his bag.
“Uhh… yeah. Of course I am. No thanks to your friends.” He pulled out the boomerang and handed it to him.
“This is yours,” Zuko said.
The guy took it and looked back up at him, confused.
“You saved it?”
“Yeah,” Zuko answered. “You’re welcome.” He pushed past him and continued on his way, flipping his hood back up to keep from being recognized.
“Hey, wait-!” Zuko heard his footsteps get closer until he was walking behind him.
“Thanks,” he huffed. He sped up a little so that they walked side by side, and held up a hand. “Name’s Sokka. You’re Izeh, right?”
Zuko looked at Sokka’s hand and watched as it fell back to the boy’s side. When had he gotten Zuko's name?
“You shouldn't be here,” Zuko commented. “You and your friends have already caused enough trouble as it is.”
Sokka scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “That was my sister’s fault. She might have stolen something from that pirate back there. Besides, I came back to find my boomerang. Except, well, I thought I’d have to steal it back from those pirates. Thanks for holding on to it.”
Zuko stopped abruptly and turned to him. Sokka kept walking for a few steps before noticing and spinning back to face him.
“What?” he asked.
“Where are your friends?” Zuko wondered, his defenses up. Sokka must have picked up on it because he quickly held up his hands.
“Back at our camp! I swear, it’s just me. I-I felt bad for leaving you to fight those pirates alone.” He grimaced.
Zuko let out a breath. “Why? I had it covered.”
“Well, I can see that now, but before I thought you were just some self-sacrificing idiot! Now I know better.” Sokka crossed his arms, looking pleased.
Zuko groaned and continued walking.
“Where are you going, anyway?” Sokka asked.
“Away from here.”
A beat. Zuko thought for a moment that maybe he’d given up. But no-
“Camp’s this way,” Sokka said.