Chapter Text
The morning is pleasantly cool and sunny, and after breakfast, Toph leads them in the direction of Zuko's camp.
"Oh man," Sokka says ten minutes into their walk, coming to a realization and groping at his belt. "I forgot the gag."
Katara squeezes her hands into fists and sighs in an exasperated way, and just like that their group progression through the woods grinds to a halt. "Sokka, you had one job! Well, go back and get it."
"I remembered the rope," Sokka protests. "If the gag was that important, you should have taken responsibility for it."
"You said you'd bring the stuff to tie him up, that includes the gag!"
"I was including the rope and my incredible knot know-how?" Sokka says sheepishly, because yeah, this was totally his bad. And after Katara emphasized the critical importance of the gag. Oops.
"Sokka this isn't a joke," Katara says, not disguising her irritation with him. "What we're doing is dangerous. This is Zuko."
"Guys, we're almost there," Toph says. "Who cares, we can gag him as soon as we get back."
"I care," Katara says, but reluctantly she adds, "Fine."
"Why wait?" The Duke asks, and he bends down and removes a boot, then strips off his sock and holds it up.
"The Water Tribe doesn't engage in torture," Sokka says, which is not necessarily true at all, but he's allowed to be facetious. The Duke stuffs the sock into a pocket of his tunic instead of putting it back on with his boot, as though he hasn't fully accepted that his unwashed socks are a level of savagery Sokka would barely consent to inflict upon the Fire Lord, and certainly no one of a lesser magnitude of evil. Then they resume walking.
"Don't forget, we need to know the second he lies," Katara reminds Toph.
"You got it," Toph says.
A couple of minutes later, Toph leads them into Zuko's little makeshift camp. "Okay, jerkbender, you're going down," Sokka announces as they emerge from the green underbrush.
Zuko's barren camp features a well-stacked, healthily burning fire, and six feet away Zuko's lying under cover made of a burnt orange-red canopy suspended by ties to several trees. The oiled tarpaulin shelter is decorated with patches of moss for camouflage in the forest terrain. Zuko's head is pillowed on his folded arm. Mere seconds after Toph and Sokka step into the clearing, Zuko rolls over and pushes himself up, taking them in, a surprised, encouraged expression coming over his face. Despite the temperate air, Zuko's got a burgundy cloak pulled over himself like a blanket, and something long and thin like a bow slides out of his arms to the ground as he sits up. Sokka draws his sword as they approach, and Katara has water out and ready to attack.
"Hello," Zuko says brightly, somehow sounding both eager and stilted. "I was hoping you'd come."
Katara glowers at him. "Don't 'hello' us."
Zuko doesn't seem to take her sharp tone to heart. "There are more of you," Zuko says, looking around at the seven of them.
"Oh, you know. Everyone wanted to come, it was shaping up to be a slow morning," Sokka says.
The Duke makes his way to the front of the group and takes a long, unimpressed look at Zuko. "He's the prince of the Fire Nation?"
"Yeah... hello," Zuko says awkwardly to The Duke, as though he isn't sure what to make of this derisive observation.
Zuko returns his attention to Aang, Katara and Sokka. "Have you reconsidered?" Zuko asks hopefully, and his persistent, optimistic elation to see them says he's not getting the purpose of their little visit. "Since I helped you with the assassin?"
"The assassin you hired, you mean," Katara accuses. "We're not convinced you didn't stage that little scene at the temple."
Zuko's lips part in shock, and for a few seconds he's speechless.
"He died," Zuko says finally. "His head exploded! You think I would let someone die to convince you I've changed?!"
"Yes, we do," Katara says. "Of course we do."
"You're giving me way too much credit if you think that was staged," Zuko says unhappily.
"You acted way too brave facing him," Katara counters.
"Too brave," Zuko echoes, and he stares either into space or at a clump of bushes twenty feet away. "I really can't do anything right," he says, quietly enough to be speaking to himself.
"Darting in between him and a fatal fall? You should have dialed the performance back a bit," Katara continues. "Your yelling was a little too loud, too."
"That was my normal yelling," Zuko says, defending himself though his bewilderment and chagrin are still obvious, and Sokka has heard Zuko shouting his head off often enough that he can't help but snort a laugh. "Actually, I'm not even sure I was yelling. It's an aerie," Zuko says, frowning like logic is difficult for him. "The sound probably reverberated a lot off the rock."
Toph cuts in. "So just to be clear, you're saying you didn't stage that?"
"No!" Zuko protests. "No. Of course not." Whatever Zuko's many, many flaws, Zuko looks so flabbergasted, and then so crestfallen, Sokka privately doubts Zuko's confrontation with Combustion Man was a set-up.
"So long story short, we've reconsidered accepting you as a prisoner," Sokka tells him breezily.
"Oh," Zuko says, casting his eyes down.
"Yeah, cause even before your assassin friend's acute brainsplosion, courtesy of Sokka, thank you Sokka, amazing throw-- you showed you're clearly too dangerous to leave alone out here," Sokka says. He's seen Zuko thwarted, frustrated, knocked flat, chained up, trapped in ice, and beaten within what looked like an inch of his life, but he's never seen the guy look so dejected.
"Right," Zuko says, as though he's been half-called, half-dragged back to the present moment. "I'm sorry for what I did to you," he says to Toph, like he's willing her to understand. "I didn't mean to. It was an accident."
"Yeah, yeah," Toph says. "I know."
"Don't make this hard on yourself," Sokka warns Zuko. "You're seriously outnumbered."
"I see that," Zuko says, looking for all the world like a kicked polar-bear-dog puppy.
Sokka swings the blade of his sword in a tiny directive circle. "So are we going to do this the hard way, or --"
"No," Zuko says, scrambling up, and from the set of startled reactions he gets in response-- Sokka raising his sword into a defensive position, Katara's floating pool of water starting to move, Aang adopting an airbending stance-- Zuko immediately seems to realize that if he intended to indicate a swift surrender, he's blown it again. Quickly he puts out his hands, then hits his knees in the dirt. "I volunteered to be your prisoner. I haven't changed my mind," Zuko says hastily, as though he's expecting them to hurt him, and like he's not planning to defend himself if they do. Sokka's not sure how to feel about this reaction. Yes, Katara told Zuko that they better not see him again, but they've sought him out here, so...
Zuko assumes the posture he had at the temple two days prior, his shoulders falling into a slump, putting his wrists up and out in a show of submission. Zuko stops talking, like he knows anything he says now is beside the point.
Sokka sheathes his space sword and pulls out a precious stolen coil of Fire Nation rope, approaching Zuko without much wariness. Zuko appears really and truly defeated and demoralized in a way Sokka couldn't have imagined was possible. Did he think Zuko looked dejected a minute ago? Even in Sokka's most vicious, murderous fantasies of kicking the shit out of the guy, of pounding his obnoxious face until it's an unrecognizable bloody pulp, impaling him on a blue-banded Water Tribe spear, or simply slitting his throat with a keenly honed whale-tooth dagger, Zuko has only ever looked furious. Sokka's seen him surprised once or twice in real life, but Sokka never could have imagined what such bleakness would look like written across Zuko's burned face.
Sokka presses Zuko's wrists together and starts to wind rope around them. Zuko's nails are ragged and bitten to the quick, Sokka notices, and Zuko's skin feels feverishly hot under his fingers.
"Oh, Sokka, tie him in the back, not the front," Katara instructs. "We want him as incapacitated as possible. And tie him tightly."
Sokka glances at her, then steps behind Zuko and pulls each hot, dry hand down behind Zuko's back. Sokka begins to bind Zuko's wrists snugly, but not too tightly. Even jerks from the Fire Nation need some circulation.
Teo seems to be thinking along the same lines. "Let's not go overboard," Teo says to Katara, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know, he tied me pretty tightly to that tree," Katara says sarcastically.
Teo gives Zuko a surprised, disapproving look. "You tied Katara to a tree?"
"Yeah, I did," Zuko sighs. "I'm sorry, Katara."
"And held me there for hours, surrounded by a squad of his soldiers and a bunch of pirates," Katara says, ignoring the apology, skating two fingers possessively against the pendant at her throat like she's confirming for herself that it's still dangling there. "Taunting me with my mother's necklace, saying he didn't want to hurt me, trying to convince me to betray Aang for the sake of his precious honor. He tried to use Sokka as leverage too."
Teo studies Zuko as though trying to reconcile these actions with the subdued, scarred, remorseful teenager currently allowing Sokka to restrain him.
"It's the Fire Lord's son, we can't possibly go overboard," The Duke points out, like that's just common sense.
"Smother the fire, someone, I don't want to waste any of my water," Katara requests.
"I got it," Haru says, and he concentrates and earthbends dirt onto the flames, neatly extinguishing them.
Sokka finishes tying Zuko's wrists and pulls him to his feet. "Congratulations, you're Team Avatar's first prisoner." Zuko looks at Sokka so unhappily Sokka actually feels slightly sorry for him, which is weird. "Alright, let's go."
Zuko glances back at the camp he's abandoning, or that they're politely kidnapping him from. "Can you please... I don't want to leave my stuff behind. Do you mind bringing my bag? Please?"
Sokka half-turns and spots the brown leather knapsack tucked away under a hanging fold of the canopy shelter.
"Yes we'd mind," Katara says. "We're not carrying your trash."
Zuko hangs his head but accepts her verdict.
"What'd you bring?" Aang asks, looking curiously in Sokka's direction as Sokka snags the knapsack and flips the opening cover up. The texture is soft, a smooth and supple leather. Hippo cow, unless Sokka misses his guess. He learned a lot just from belt shopping in a Fire Nation leatherworks shop.
The Duke brightens. "Blasting jelly?" The Duke asks hopefully. "Just going by what you've said about him being a really bad guy."
"Don't see any blasting jelly yet," Sokka says, already poking inside Zuko's knapsack. The tote is chock full of stuff, but what stands out most is a fat brown bag with a sewn-on ribbon, tied to a leather thong along the top of the inner lining of the knapsack to keep it from falling down to the bottom, and it looks for all the world like a coin purse.
"Not that much," Zuko says to Aang, keeping his eyes mostly on the ground. Katara's glaring at him like she wants to drown him right here, right now, and he looks like it's making him very uncomfortable. "A cloak, and my dao, and food and water, and--"
"Spirits and ancestors, a lot of money," Sokka says, holding up and shaking the nondescript brown cloth purse. The bag is so full it hardly jingles when Sokka shakes the contents around. He peeks inside and sees a lot of gold and silver emblazoned with the Fire Nation insignia, and a smaller number of Earth Kingdom coins mixed in as well with their distinctive square center cutouts. "You brought... so much money."
"I've gone hungry before," Zuko says. "I didn't want to again. You can take the money."
Sokka reties the ribbon and hefts the bag up, passing it with clinking noises from one hand to the other and back. "Well yeah, obviously we're not leaving it. Feel how heavy this is," Sokka says as he grabs Toph's hand and presses the bag into her palm, unabashedly delighted.
Toph weighs the bag in her hand, unimpressed by wealth. "Eh."
The Duke says, with zero enthusiasm, "We won't have to steal from the locals to survive now."
Sokka looks skeptically at The Duke. "Why do you sound so disappointed?"
"Because I like stealing."
"Then steal, it's not like I'm going to quit street gambling just because Zuko's carrying some money," Toph says.
"You should have led with 'I brought a ton of gold you guys can have,'" Sokka says to Zuko, rummaging through the knapsack.
"It's not that much," Zuko says, disconcerted.
"You obviously have to learn to live on a budget," Sokka says. But for The Duke to sneak off and steal, for Toph to gleefully swindle cheaters, or for the lot of them to go on a spending spree with Zuko's money, they're going to have to travel a long way back to civilization first. "Okay, I see a bunch of little boxes and stuff wrapped in paper, which is probably the food." Sokka pulls out a rough linen bag, half-full of satisfyingly lumpy-feeling somethings. "Tell us exactly what food you brought, it'll save us the trouble of going through all this stuff." Unrolling the top of the bag, he finds a bunch of glazed buns and immediately takes a bite of one.
"Sokka!" Katara bursts out, like she's alarmed. "Don't eat anything, it's probably all poisoned."
Sokka chews thoughtfully, identifying the flavors in his mouth. "Ash banana sweet bun, 's delicious," Sokka says, passing the linen bag to Aang, then taking another bite of the bun and passing that to Aang too. "You'll like these Aang, they're vegetarian," Sokka says with his mouth full, and then the aftertaste kicks off and makes him narrow one eye suspiciously. "Although... even their sweet food is a little bit spicy."
"Don't even think about eating that, Aang," Katara warns.
Aang stands with the bag in one hand and the partially eaten bun in the other, looking unsure.
"It's not poisoned," Zuko objects. "I mean, I'll eat some, or any of it. It's just food."
"Then it's probably laced with some Fire Nation poison that only affects outsiders."
"Now you're being ridiculous," Zuko tells Katara crossly.
"Really? Cause bringing poisoned food sounds like it would be just like you," Katara accuses more loudly.
Zuko's voice rises and sharpens. "I'm not a witch out of a spooky story and I need to eat, why would I bring poisoned food?"
"To kill Aang, obviously!" Katara retorts, matching Zuko in escalating tone and volume, and at this rate, in thirty seconds they're going to be screaming deafeningly at one another. "Since you failed to do it any other way."
Sokka glances between them as they glare at each other, because somehow it didn't occur to him until just now that prisoner-Zuko and Katara are going to snipe back and forth probably endlessly. Until they gag Zuko, at least, which Katara made clear in advance that she absolutely requires if Zuko's going to be kept around. Her establishing this stipulation during their discussion about taking Zuko as their prisoner makes complete sense now. The two of them do tend to trash talk each other during their epic water-versus-fire bender fights, now that Sokka thinks about it.
Aang is looking at the pair of them like he's dismayed, too.
"It smells great, I'll risk it," Haru says with a slight smile, and Aang passes him the gnawed-on ash banana bun. Sokka's about to ask suspiciously how Haru can smell a long-since-cooled sweet bun from three feet away, the aroma's not exactly wafting around, and then he realizes Haru's trying to bring tranquility to the Western Air Temple forest, just like Sokka.
"If Haru and I drop dead," Sokka tells Katara, "you can say 'I told you so' and save on feeding Zuko by letting him eat his own vittles. Now if you two are done bickering like an old married couple..." Sokka returns to rifling through the bag and listing his discoveries, ignoring Aang scowling at him for his last remark. "Change of clothes, picture of his uncle, picture of his girlfriend--"
"Are you blind? That's my mother!" Zuko snaps.
"Two minutes in and already struggling with your temper," Katara says, cool and a little taunting. Katara's a pro at goading people, probably because she's been practicing getting under Sokka's skin for years. "Clearly you've really changed a lot."
"Okay, yeah, I guess she would be a little old for you," Sokka says after flipping back to the picture of the woman, a small oil painting. Zuko rolls his eyes. Sokka recognized the uncle but not the woman in the second portrait, and he was just casually being an asshole to the guy who's chased them around the world menacing them for the better part of a year, as he's pretty sure that of everything in the world Zuko might have or not have, one thing he doesn't have is a girlfriend. But it follows that the woman in the painting would be Zuko's mom. Sokka pulls the painting out and holds it up for a real examination, and Aang and Haru both crowd closer too. Aang studies the portrait, while Haru looks back and forth between the painting and Zuko.
"You can really see the family resemblance," Toph says from the side.
"You think so?" Sokka says, glancing between the painting and Zuko, before he realizes Toph's gotten him again. "Toph!"
"Good one, Toph," Teo says with a laugh.
Sokka slides the picture back and looks at the other one, a detailed, lifelike black and manilla sketch of Zuko's uncle mounted on a red background. Sokka resumes shuffling through the knapsack. Going through someone else's stuff is really underrated fun. "We also have... what looks like a Fire Nation swimming costume, very fashionable, knee-length must be in this year. Three different canteens. Two look regulation military metal, one's gold in a black leather case and has the Fire Nation symbol embossed on the leather in gold leaf or something," Sokka elaborates. "We have a comb, so important for the modern Fire Nation prince with hair, looks like polished carved bone--"
"It's dragon bone, it's an heirloom," Zuko says distantly.
"Huh, okay. It's pretty girly, kind of scalloped, set with garnets or something, but whatever. Couple of candles, little bottle that's gotta be either angry juice or oil for washing, I know you Fire Nation weirdos don't use a bar of soap like normal people--"
"That's not why," The Duke says. "They carry those bottles of oil so they have explosive devices in a pinch."
"Never heard that before," Sokka says. He looks at Zuko. "Is that true?"
"They're for washing," Zuko answers, still emotionless. "Though there are a couple of tall tales about them being used as improvisational explosives. 'Bottle bombs.'"
"Ha! Told you," The Duke says triumphantly.
"It's military folklore," Zuko objects softly, contesting this claim in a way that's kind of discreet, like he wants to avoid arguing with more of them than he has to.
"And... a dagger," Sokka says. "What is this, black pearl?" Sokka pulls the short blade out and unsheathes it with a flourish, catching the light with the dappled gleam of the pearl hilt, then reading the inscription aloud. "'Never give up without a fight.'" Sokka glances at Zuko. "Not the philosophy for you personally, huh?"
"Just because I'm not fighting you doesn't mean I'm done fighting," Zuko says with a surprising amount of steel in his voice. Behind his back, Zuko bends his arms the six inches he can flex them as though testing his bonds. "I don't see this as giving up."
"What could be more giving up than giving yourself up?" Haru asks, sort of rhetorically, or at least Sokka hopes it was.
"Seeing everything through, and losing yourself," Zuko says quietly, and he lowers his eyes.
Katara sneers, but Zuko doesn't seem aware of her scorn. "Maybe be a little more careful what cause you attach yourself to."
Zuko looks up at her. "I was born into it," Zuko says, calmer and less irate than the last thing he said to Katara.
"LIke that's an excuse," Katara says, her tone biting.
The dagger has another inscription on the other side: Made in Earth Kingdom. "The dagger's gotta be worth something," Sokka says to forestall the next argument, and then out of the corner of his eye he spots the scabbard on the ground, nearly concealed under Zuko's discarded cloak. An inch of a leather strap is showing too, a harness to wear across the body precisely like his own, and Sokka realizes this is what Zuko had loosely wrapped in his arms when he was lying down. Sokka can sort through the rest of Zuko's things later. All Sokka's manual meddling in the carefully packed knapsack has jostled the contents, leaving the bag overfull and looking near to spilling things out. Sokka sticks the Earth Kingdom dagger in his belt, passes the knapsack to Aang and picks up the scabbard.
"Really cool sword," Sokka says, drawing the sword, discovering it's actually two swords and accidentally dropping one. "... --sss." The fallen blade narrowly misses his boot, lodging upright and quivering in the dirt.
Teo uses his grabby device to pick up the burgundy cloak off the ground, as deft with the pick-up tool as though it's an extension of his arm, which makes Sokka think of Piandao. Though knee-length on Zuko, the cloak will probably fall well past shins on most of them. It'll be good for a disguise should they need those again.
Sokka frowns as he picks up the still-wobbling broadsword, thinking back. "I don't think I've ever seen you use these, Zuko." Sokka slices the blades through the air. They're lighter than his awesome space sword, and naturally way less cool. The dagger is a lot fancier in its construction, but the broadswords are sturdy and well-forged with an understated quality despite their plain hilts, and the steel is notched and scratched and scored like they've seen real action.
"I have," Aang says forbiddingly, and he turns to Zuko with accusation in his eyes. "You held them to my throat."
Sokka looks between them blankly. "Wait, what?"
"When I was captured," Aang says. "Zhao. The frogs," Aang adds by way of explanation, and Aang's big gray eyes flick back to Zuko uneasily. "He's really good with them."
"I had no choice to get Zhao to back off," Zuko huffs. "I got us out, didn't I?"
"Yeah," Aang says, and he lowers his eyes. "That's why I didn't let him catch you."
"You've gotta stop being all secretive about adventures you have without us," Sokka says. Sokka tries to feel the two swords as extensions of his arms, but instead he pictures the two swords as extensions of Zuko's arms. It's a haunting mental image. Sokka's never sparred or fought for real with anyone who wielded dual swords, and he tries to think whether he's ever seen a firebender use or carry a weapon at all, Zuko included. How does bending even work when the benders' hands are full?
"We should take the canvas too," Teo suggests. "If it's made out of what I think it's made out of, it's really water resistant." Haru and The Duke look at each other, shrug, and start scaling the trees to pull it down. Zuko silently watches them dismantling his camp and going through his possessions.
Embarrassingly, Sokka fails to sheathe the paired blades on his first try and has to flip and reseat them, examining the funny semi-circular hilts that let them fit so snugly together in the single scabbard.
"Take this back," Toph says, and she whacks Sokka in the chest with the bag of coins, making him yelp.
The hit feels like it staves Sokka's chest in, and Sokka holds both money and swords in one hand and clutches his chest with the other. "Toph, that is gonna bruise."
Toph scoffs. "Toughen up, Snoozles."
"Give this to Katara," Sokka says, passing the bag to Aang, because Katara generally handles their commingled funds. Aang immediately takes aim at Katara and tosses the bag to her in an underhand throw. A gentle throw, softened by the support of a swirly little zephyr, but still. Katara catches the coin-filled broadcloth missile, though the follow-through is heavy enough to send her cupped hands flying back to thunk against her chest. Sokka sighs inwardly, because the bag is heavy like a brick and Aang is as hopeless as Toph, even if Toph is brutal and Aang merely thoughtless.
"Zuko's coming without a fight, I say we bring his stuff," Aang rules, and he shoulders the knapsack.
"Thank you," Zuko says gratefully to Aang.
"Leave the swords here, at least," Katara says. "Zuko shouldn't have access to weapons."
"He is a weapon," Toph mutters.
"But they're so cool," Sokka protests, not putting the broadswords down, and in fact maybe protectively petting the scabbard a little. "We can always sell them."
Sokka catches the despondent look that passes over Zuko's face, and he slaps Zuko on the back as he walks by. "Cheer up, Zuko, you asked to be our prisoner if we didn't want you in the group. At least you're getting your second choice?"
*
"Home sweet inverted pagoda," Sokka says as they reach the Western Air Temple and walk to where they left Appa out near the cliffs. Sokka picks Teo up out of his chair so Aang can airbend Teo's chair up onto Appa. Then Aang hops back down to do the same with Teo, and a third time to transport Zuko since his hands are tied behind his back. Zuko's clearly discomfited to be slung over Aang's narrow shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but he refrains from complaining. The rest of them climb up and at Aang's command, Appa begins to descend from the cliff.
Sokka turns to their prisoner, who appears equal parts nervous and amazed as he looks around in the air, which is a totally standard reaction to riding on a flying bison for the first time. "Actually, Zuko, you might be interested to know I call this place Second Choice Pagoda, because we had to move our camp here after Combustion Man zapped up and destabilized the nicest spot. Blew the fountain right apart. So we're all getting our second choices right now."
"Very comforting," Zuko says. Does Sokka detect sarcasm? He thinks he does!
"Second Choice Pagoda is basically identical to -- you know what, nevermind," Haru says.
"I like this one much better, actually," Toph says with a positive inflection. "The fountain's the same, the balustrades aren't as broken, and it has the wraparound garden going for it."
"The mattresses, though," Haru says, and Katara nods agreement.
"Maybe we could bring over some of the other mattresses on Appa," Aang suggests. "You'd be willing buddy, wouldn't you?"
Appa groans.
After clambering and airbending off Appa, they walk and roll through the courtyard terrace to the fountain. "Sit there," Katara says to Zuko, pointing at a low pillar on the terrace ten feet away from the fountain's bench-like edge and the fire pit they built thirty feet away from that. Zuko obediently walks forward, sits, and regards them.
"And open your mouth," Sokka instructs, and Zuko looks up at him wide-eyed. Sokka grabs the coil of rope he forgot and walks behind Zuko. This rope is narrower and finer and softer, more like thick cord.
"You're going to gag me?" Zuko says, a plea in his voice.
"Yeah, Katara feels like you have a pretty poison tongue there," Sokka says.
"We don't want you to talk," Katara says curtly.
"Sorry, Zuko," Aang says, sounding apologetic. "But we've seen you breathe fire from your mouth and snort it out your nose, so--"
"Are you going to pinch my nostrils shut too?" Zuko asks, frustrated and hostile for a second, but then he visibly represses his ire and takes a deep breath, even as cloudy gray smoke thinly streams in twin lines out of his nose when he releases the breath.
"You're still so angry, aren't you," Katara says condescendingly. Aang looks nonplussed.
"I don't even know him, and this already feels like trying to keep a lion vulture as a pet," Haru says.
"Mmm." Sokka strokes his chin with his free hand, not yet forcing the gag issue. "What should we name him?"
Sokka asks the question quietly and seriously, enough unlike his normal manner that no one ventures an answer, and they all just stand around giving Zuko a second to either chill out or decide to fight them after all. Sokka glances around at his friends, and every eye is glued to Zuko. They all watch as Zuko composes himself, which from shouty Prince Rage Machine is a hell of a thing to watch. A surprisingly fast process, too. Zuko's next exhalation is clear air again, and his incensed glare smooths into a mask of neutrality.
"It's been a rough few years," Zuko says with perfect calm, and then he closes his eyes and parts his lips. He holds very still as Sokka begins winding the cord half a dozen times around his head, forcing his slightly open mouth to open wider. Sokka, for his part, takes care to keep from catching and pulling Zuko's messy hair in the coils as he ties a knot in back, keeping his fingers between Zuko's hair and the cord.
"Are we really just leaving an ashmaker tied up with rope?" The Duke asks.
"Yeah?" Aang says uncertainly.
"The Duke's right. Zuko can definitely burn the rope off his wrists," Katara points out.
"Without burning himself?" Teo asks.
Sometimes Sokka has to remind himself that Teo hasn't seen much of the war at the haven of the Northern Air Temple, nor had many firebenders up close and personal. "Yeah. The strong ones have pretty good control over heat and flame, including where it hits, how to shield themselves against it, all that stuff."
"In the Earth Kingdom, we'd crush his hands to ensure no more firebending, ever," Haru says. "Tying him up is pretty merciful... and dangerous, if he's dangerous."
"It would send a real message if we crushed his hands and sent him back to the Fire Lord," The Duke suggests.
Zuko listens to these threats with his head held high and fixed, stoic in his capitulation, but Sokka has his fingers on Zuko's neck and feels the near-invisible, reflexive jerk of fear or revulsion that passes like a barely perceptible spasm through his body, from his head down along his neck and spine. Sokka finishes knotting the cord. A side effect of being even remotely gentle is that the gag turns out tied slightly slack, but Sokka would rather tie a gag loosely than too tightly. Yeah, it's Zuko, and it's definitely satisfying to have him tied up and at their mercy, but now that the guy is here and so obviously miserable, Sokka can't help but feel traces of what might be real and abundant sympathy if it were just about anyone else. Sokka tests the viability of his knot with a tugging finger in between the cords and Zuko's cheek, and Zuko's golden eyes meet his in a way that makes his stomach feel weird. Sokka chalks it up to how freaky and yellow the guy's eyes are.
"The Duke!" Teo exclaims.
"Well, we're not doing that," Toph says with finality.
Aang's mouth is hanging open. "No, we're not," Aang says forcefully. "That's-- no!"
Katara's expression says she's wondering exactly what message that would send, but she wouldn't rule it out.
Haru shrugs noncommittally. "I'm not suggesting we should," Haru says of the implacable Earth Kingdom practices he was raised around. "Just that, with a recalcitrant firebender, that's how it's handled where I'm from."
"Is that the kind of thing Jet led you to do?" Aang asks The Duke, clearly upset. Zuko startles at the sound of Jet's name, staring at Aang.
"Pipsqueak and I parted ways with Jet because he went too far, but smokestinkers need to be dealt with, Jet wasn't wrong about that," The Duke says with the cynical grit of someone much older and more world-weary. "Permanently is the best way."
Sokka exchanges a glance with Aang, who looks even more openly distressed. Aang's a silver-lining, think-the-best-of-people, rose-colored-spectacles kind of guy, but has he completely forgotten what Jet was like? At some point they're going to need to sit The Duke down and try to counteract some of the intense Fire Nation hate he picked up as one of Jet's freedom fighters. 'Kill all firebenders' isn't really a great response to the genocide of the Air Nomads or the war, even if The Duke has a few more scruples about innocent Earth Kingdom bystanders than Jet.
Teo rubs his chin, thinking. "So what are you saying, Katara? We need chains? Or more rope, to go all around his midsection and his ankles?"
"He can probably melt chains too," Katara says darkly. "Or at least turn them red-hot. Maybe we should consider... other options."
"No!" Aang shouts, rounding on her. Katara looks at him in stunned surprise. "I don't even want to kill the Fire Lord and he's a terrible person! We're not killing Zuko while he's over there looking all depressed and willingly offered himself as a prisoner! We're not having this conversation!"
Zuko's apparently as shocked by this turn of the discussion as the rest of them, going by the way his gaze lifts and the alarmed look in his uneven eyes as his eyes flash from Katara to Aang and back.
"Aang, calm down!" Katara exclaims. "I'm not saying we should kill him, I'm just saying... we can't leave him alone for a second, or safely stash him anywhere in the Temple. If we're keeping him as a prisoner, we need to have eyes on him at all times. Like, we'll have to keep him around. He'll hear everything we say, so even if he's our prisoner, we're kind of going to have him in the group. I'm just saying, it's not ideal."
Aang storms off anyway, grabbing his glider and leaping off the side of the temple, leaving Katara, Sokka, and Haru looking after him, and Toph standing around. Teo pointedly avoids looking out into the ravine, like he thinks calling attention to Aang's outburst would be rude. The Duke has his short arms crossed and is staring at Zuko as if he's a problem to be solved. Zuko has bowed his head and is avoiding everyone's eyes.
"Is it just me, or is Twinkletoes having more meltdowns lately?" Toph asks no one in particular.
Sokka claps a hand on Zuko's shoulder, because Zuko looks like he could use the reassurance. Sokka wouldn't have said he'd be inclined to offer solace to Prince Stupidhair, but it's impossible not to feel sorry for him when he appears so beaten down and Sokka knows, even if no one else does, that he's afraid of what they might do to him.
If their positions were reversed, Sokka's one hundred percent sure Zuko wouldn't say or do anything comforting for him, but that's just one of the innumerable things that make Sokka the far superior man.
"Bet you wouldn't have thrown yourself on your knees so fast if you knew we'd immediately discuss mangling your limbs and offing you, huh?" Sokka asks Zuko, keeping his tone and manner easygoing. "You'll be okay." Ten out of ten, he's awesome. But Zuko's shoulder stays rigid under Sokka's hand, and Zuko keeps his eyes down.
"I said that badly," Katara says unhappily, looking after Aang, though after that she casts an annoyed look at Zuko. "I meant leaving him somewhere. In the North Pole they had an underground ice prison. He'd definitely burn through the ice and try to dig his way out, but it would take weeks, and he'd be far away from us if he did escape, too far to reach us again before the comet."
Zuko's dark brown overtunic feels hot to the touch, like it's been baking under a scorching afternoon sun, but the sun overhead is still of the light morning variety. Plus none of the fabric of Zuko's clothing appears damp. He's hot without sweating. Sokka's noticed in the course of fighting Zuko that he measures in well above regular body temperature, to the point where heat comes off him in waves, but Sokka's never had the leisure to contemplate, at length and up close, just how odd firebenders are. Sokka gives Zuko's shoulder a final pat and lets him go.
"Aang's really stressing about this whole kill-the-Fire-Lord thing," Sokka tells her cheerfully. "Don't let it get to you."
"This is why I didn't want Zuko as a prisoner," Katara says, like Aang getting bent out of shape is Zuko's fault.
"Aang needs to suck it up," The Duke states. "Everyone in this war has had to do things they'd rather not do. Now who's taking the first shift watching the worldburner?"
Zuko, who's been so carefully papering over his reactions to keep an impassive exterior, discernibly winces when The Duke calls him worldburner. Sokka wonders why. Maybe he somehow hasn't heard that one before.
Katara and Sokka exchange glances. "Aang, Sokka, Toph and I will take turns," Katara says. "Zuko's our burden to bear."
Teo offers no objections.
"I don't have any particular desire to be around him, but I'm happy to help out," Haru says. Haru's a strong earthbender, but he'd have no idea what he'd be getting into if he were to fight Zuko.
"I want to help," The Duke announces. "I'm experienced at dealing with Fire spies, pikemen, and benders."
Sokka elbows him. "Yeah, experienced at beating the snot out of them, robbing and executing them." Out of the corner of his eye, Sokka sees Zuko taking a second look at The Duke.
"The Freedom Fighters didn't take prisoners, that's true," The Duke says, blunt and proud. "But I can do a shift of guard duty."
"Let's see how Prince Angryjerk does for a couple of days," Sokka hedges. The truth is, he doesn't trust a kid so heavily influenced by Jet not to accidentally-on-purpose kill the prince of the Fire Nation, bound and at their mercy or not. With the way he's acting, Sokka's not even sure Zuko would defend himself. Especially given Toph's claim about Zuko meaning everything he's said since he showed up at the Western Air Temple. Sokka's had that thought percolating in his brain for two days and two nights now.
"I want to help," The Duke insists.
"Okay, how about this-- you can share my shift," Sokka says, just to circumvent the impending argument. Peacekeeping is a tough job, but somebody has to do it. "It'll be good to have the backup since we're both non-benders."
The Duke nods, satisfied.
"We should probably wait until Twinkletoes comes back to hash out a schedule," Toph says. "Unless you're raring to go with that organizational chart, Snoozles?"
"Actually, The Duke and I will take the first shift, because while yes of course I want to make a guard duty plan, there's something more important I want to do first," Sokka says.
Katara looks at him blankly. "Really?"
"Oh yeah," Sokka says. "The guard schedule can wait." The others look at him curiously. They should have held off a little longer on gagging Zuko, because Sokka wants the lowdown on whatever tasty cuisine Zuko brought, and thus what they now have, and it wouldn't be fair for Sokka to start taking bites of everything to figure each dish out, no matter how tempting an idea that might be. Sokka goes over to him, unknotting and unwinding the gag, and when Zuko's mouth is uncovered, Sokka pulls him a couple inches backward by his tense shoulder. "We're having a 'taking stock of your food' party!"
Zuko licks his dry lips and looks up at Sokka. "Can I go to the bathroom?" he says questioningly, like he's not sure whether he'll be allowed privy trips.
Sokka hesitates, because they didn't discuss in advance how Zuko's bodily needs were going to be handled. Sokka's only willing to assist with Operation Pee Break in one capacity, though, so that settles the question pretty quickly. "Yeah," he says. "Turn around."
Zuko obediently rotates on the pillar, and Sokka starts untying his wrists. "I'll come with you," The Duke volunteers.
"That's okay, I got him," Sokka says.
"Why are you untying him here? You should wait until the last second," Katara says critically, like she's perturbed by what she sees as carelessness. "If at all."
"Guys, come on, I got this," Sokka says, and then he raises his eyebrows meaningfully. "Also, Katara, think about what you're saying."
Katara's cheeks take on a pink tint at the implications of what manner of aid Zuko might need if they refused to untie him at all, and she makes a face. Zuko's eyes fasten on the stone ground and stay there, and the restive flush that creeps over his good cheek is slower to bloom but far deeper in color.
Zuko hasn't been tied up that long or that tightly, but after Sokka nudges him away from Katara, Zuko begins rubbing circles over his wrists to stimulate circulation. "This way," Sokka tells him, and he starts Zuko towards the latrine in the garden. "Walk ahead of me. I'll tell you when to stop."
Zuko starts walking, not all that fast, and Sokka follows him. "Sooo, do you still want to be our prisoner, or are you ruing the day you turned good?" Sokka asks.
Zuko uses his right hand to press his left upper arm tight across his chest, stretching. "I still want to be here."
"You're not going to try to run?" Sokka glances back in the direction of the fountain. Maybe he should have brought Toph or Katara for backup, now that he thinks about it. If Zuko decided to try something, Sokka might not be the best-suited person to take him out. Sokka's still wearing his space sword though, so there's that, and if Zuko runs, Boomerang can handily bring him down. The real danger is Zuko firebending at him, and so Sokka keeps a five foot distance between them, staying wary.
Zuko's mind is pretty clearly not on firebending or escape, though. Zuko finishes stretching his other arm the same way and drops both to his sides before he rolls his shoulders back and down. "No," Zuko says heavily. "I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Well, that's certainly not the most depressing thing I've ever heard," Sokka says, mentally moving 'orphaned starving polar bear dog puppies' down the list of all-time saddest situations to make room for Prince Anger-Management having no one and no place to go to besides his enemies who hate him. But maybe that's just what happens when you're an asshole who lives to kidnap (and/or kill, Zuko seems to have grown flexible on this small detail) the world's last hope for peace.
"Stop and turn right," Sokka says, and Zuko halts in front of the three wild trees where Toph earthbent their latrine. "Straight through, watch your step," Sokka says, pointing. "I'll just... wait here."
Zuko disappears between the wide and shady trees, and Sokka looks around the garden, which he hasn't yet scrutinized in proper daylight. The garden is overgrown and wild, colorful with summer flowers. In the course of their travels, Sokka's learned to identify a number of berries and the corresponding bushes on which they grow, but he has no names for the big bunches of tiny blue flowers, or the flowers that look like folded upturned red napkins, or the yellow flowers that look like hanging bells, or the florid pink blossoms that each sport a spot of fuchsia in the center, the colors and proportions of which remind Sokka of Zuko's scar. Probably because he has Zuko on the brain, yech. The garden wraps all the way around this level of the pagoda, and on the other side are some surviving tomato plants currently bearing fruit, which was why Sokka advised Toph to locate the latrine on this side.
Zuko emerges from the cluster of trees a minute later. Sokka gives him a nod and gets a slight nod in return, and Sokka gestures with a rolling hand like a fancy Earth Kingdom butler for Zuko to walk ahead of him again. On the way back, Zuko puts his forearms vertically behind his head and presses each elbow down in turn. They go back to the terrace, where Haru and The Duke are waiting for them. Katara, Teo and Toph have disappeared, probably to do the inventory of their supplies they were discussing the night before.
When they reach the fountain, Zuko sits back down on his pillar without being told and puts his hands behind his back for retying.
Sokka rebinds Zuko's wrists but leaves the gag off this time, and with a beckoning gesture Sokka directs Zuko to come down to the stone and sit in front of the pillar rather than atop it. "Alright," Sokka announces, and he, Haru, and The Duke take a full accounting of the Fire Nation food with Zuko's help. Zuko identifies for them a small bag of dried cherries, a bundle of golden bean curd puffs, a sack of fig biscuits, a bag of crushed and broken crumbs that were credibly once spicy vegetable chips, and a wrapped paper package of toasted fish jerky. The rice cakes, six links of sausage, and nibbled-on smoked sea slug need no explanation. The crowning jewel of the foodstuffs haul is a full and elegant fruit tart in a custom-sized if somewhat banged-up box, crowded with strawberries, mango, papaya, peaches and pomegranate, and looking fit to be served at the fanciest of ballroom parties. The tart's in excellent shape considering the dented state of the box and how many miles it's traveled in Zuko's knapsack. Sokka takes a closer look at the fruit toppings, which look remarkably well-preserved, and unless he misses his guess the fruit has all been coated with honey to keep it fresh and make it shiny. Zuko gazes at the tart with an oddly wistful look on his face, like it gives him some kind of feelings. Not hunger, Sokka would recognize hunger a mile away.
"You really raided the kitchen," Sokka says half-admiringly.
"I told you, I didn't want to go hungry," Zuko says, distracted away from whatever sentiment the sight of the fruit tart has stirred up in him. "It's a horrible feeling."
"Believe me, I know." Sokka strokes his chin. "So which food has the poison?"
Zuko's face contorts with anger. "For the last time, none of it is--"
Winding Zuko up is way too much fun. Pushing his buttons is hardly the violent revenge Sokka used to routinely daydream about, but it's good times. Sokka hits Zuko lightly in the shoulder with the back of his hand. "I'm just kidding, calm down. I'd eat anything here. And totally will."
Zuko's scowl eases, although he still looks grumpy. Which is fair, because the guy's tied up and surrounded by people who despise him, and Sokka's gonna eat his tasty Fire Nation food. Sokka separately piles up most of Zuko's actual personal effects, his clothes, the swords, the comb, et cetera. Sokka leaves the flasks out, because they can always use more flasks, especially after so recently adding three additional people to the group with no extra supplies. Zuko watches him work, following Sokka's movements like he expects all his things to be disposed of at the end.
Aang sails back onto the terrace as Sokka's finishing up Operation Zuko Snacks. Sokka says nothing about Aang's outburst and disappearing act, and nobody else does either. Aang takes a few steps and pauses by the fountain, looking at the spread of food and the small heap of Zuko's possessions.
Sokka pulls out something thin and elongated and malodorous swaddled in what turns out to be a crimson silk sash. At first, Sokka thinks it might be a particularly fetid cheese, but when he unrolls the length of fabric a well-worn, permanently sweat-darkened sandal comes tumbling into his lap, at which point the full reek assaults him. The sandal's a flip-flop, held to the foot by a leather thong that wedges between the toes; the flip-flop is one of an extensive list of items that Sokka's discovered are another culture's thing. Sokka picks it up with a finger and holds it away from himself. The sandal smells absolutely wretched, like death and unwashed ass, like stinky feet and rancid body odor and beyond, like Sokka's bedroll after he hasn't washed it for a couple months. The sheer strength of the odor is astonishing. At least with his bedroll you have to actually sniff it to get the full effect. Also, there's only one shoe, not a pair. Sokka stares at the offending flip-flop. "What the hell is this?"
Zuko glances at the shoe, and the way he realigns his sight makes Sokka realize that previous to that, Zuko's eyes were on his face. "It's Uncle's bathing sandal."
"Why are you carrying-- actually, you know what, I'm not even going to ask." Sokka expeditiously winds the sash back around the smelly sandal, because his eyes are nearly watering. "Definitely your business and not mine. I guess if that's your thing... who are we to judge." Sokka tucks the sash into itself and makes a show of looking skeptically at the rewrapped sandal parcel as he holds it up between finger and thumb, then lifts a knowing eyebrow before he side-eyes Zuko.
Zuko's mouth falls open, his brow pulling together and darkening as though black storm clouds have descended right onto his face, and he seethes as Sokka sets the package down amidst the collection of Zuko's things. "How dare you insinuate--"
This time Sokka has no need to interrupt him mid-rant, because Zuko breaks off like he has no adequate words to unleash for what Sokka's implying.
"Calm down, you've got to learn to take a joke, or you're gonna rupture something," Sokka advises.
"What just came out of your mouth was disgusting," Zuko says icily, his anger tempered now.
"Then it was perfect for that sandal," Sokka says. Provoking Zuko is like being handed slices of cream-frosted almond cake, like being snuggled by a devoted polar bear dog, like a gift that warms Sokka's heart and keeps on giving. Plus, it's hilarious.
"You ruined your sash, that smell is never gonna come out. Actually, I'm amazed the stench didn't contaminate everything else in here." Sokka's almost to the bottom of the knapsack and reaches in for the last fabric-rolled package. The shape feels wrong to be the match of the mateless sandal. "This feels too hard to be edible. I really hope it's less gross." Sokka pulls it out and discovers something unforeseen: a slender Fire Nation crown loosely wrapped in an old cloth and tightly packed in a silken pillowcase for cushioning and protection. Sokka rolls the regalia in his hand, checking it out. It's a fancy freaking bauble. The adornment features a pair of tall gold wings above a red enameled bun-ring and a matching hair stick, and though Sokka can't think where he's seen it before, the regalia somehow looks vaguely familiar.
"That's Avatar Roku's headpiece," Aang says in shock, neatly solving that mystery. Aang drops his glider and sinks to one knee, taking the headpiece from Sokka and examining it up close, then looking at Zuko almost accusingly. "Where did you get this?"
"My uncle gave it to me a few days ago," Zuko says, quick and forthcoming. The last thing he probably wants is the Avatar madder at him than Aang is already. "It's an ornament traditionally worn by the crown prince of the Fire Nation. My great-grandfather gave it to Avatar Roku as a gift."
A strange, wondering look passes over Aang's face. "Yeah, I only learned recently they were friends."
"I just found out too," Zuko says. "I'm not sure how my uncle got ahold of it, after Avatar Roku died on his island."
"You know about that?" Aang asks.
"Yes," Zuko answers, and he and Aang regard each other briefly before Aang looks back down at Roku's headpiece. Zuko and Sokka both watch Aang toy with the precious ornament in his hands, tracing the red enameled hair stick against the sweeping outline of a golden wing, then slotting the stick through the holes in the bun ring and looking at the ensemble.
"I don't even know why I brought it," Zuko says. "I guess because my uncle wanted me to have it. I'm not attached to it or anything, and I'm definitely disinherited at this point."
"You don't seem especially bothered by that," Sokka comments, because Zuko reports being stricken from the Fire Nation's line of succession with an odd serenity.
"I'm pretty good at serving tea, so I have something to fall back on now."
Aang takes this in with a perplexed look and a cocked eyebrow that soon dissolve into an expression containing something like respect. Haru merely blinks. Sokka laughs at the idea of going from a life of luxury being Fire Lord, with a palace, wealth, power, daily massages, concubines, servants, and who knows what other perks, to a gig on his feet all day serving the public in a tea shop, and Zuko gives him a hard look. Zuko's expression is changing and loaded and layered, with anger rising to the top, maybe, but with a swell of something else below the surface. The angry jerk definitely has feelings, and Sokka appears to have just stepped on them.
Either way, Sokka can tell for sure that Zuko was being deadly serious, not attempting to be funny at all, no matter how amusing it sounded. Zuko just made what must amount to a personal confession, for him, and Sokka laughed aloud. Ooops. Apparently Zuko takes the question of what he's going to do in life with utter solemnity. Being born royalty probably makes people take themselves way too seriously.
Sokka clears his throat loudly. "Quite a discrepancy in plans. At least you know what you want to do when you grow up?"
Zuko dismisses Sokka with a roll of his eyes that's decidedly haughty and imperious even if he has been kicked out of his crappy family, and he looks steadily at Aang. "Do you want it, Avatar?" Zuko asks of the headpiece. "It probably belongs more to you than me."
Aang grins, passing a hand over his smooth-shaven head. "Roku wore it his whole life, but I don't see myself having a lot of use for it. Thanks, though."
"We should put the prisoner to work," The Duke says, evidently stuck on the mental picture of Zuko serving tea.
"Doing what exactly?" Sokka asks, repressing his chuckle this time. Aang hands him the precious headpiece and Sokka rewraps it in the pillowcase, then sticks it back in the empty knapsack. Sokka returns the rest of Zuko's things to the knapsack as well, taking a last glance at Zuko's uncle, and taking care not to damage the corners of the two portraits. "We can store this with the supplies," Sokka says, and he might be imagining it, but he thinks Zuko looks relieved.
"You're right, he'd probably muck up any task we set him," says The Duke. "I'm not drinking tea he serves, that's for sure."
"I'll work, though," Zuko offers.
"Yeah, you will if we tell you to work," The Duke says.
Zuko stares at The Duke for a moment, then refocuses on Aang and Sokka. "What needs to be done?"
"Not that much," Sokka says, looking around the terrace courtyard. "I'd totally make you do laundry or collect leaves or clean mattresses, but I doubt Katara wants you untied. And even if she was okay with that, no one's gonna let you near the cooking or even the washing-up afterwards."
"You could brush Appa," Aang suggests.
"Part of the deal was, he stays tied up," Haru says.
"Mostly what needs doing is--" Sokka's eyes stray to Aang. "Bending practice."
Aang huffs and looks away. "Yeah."
Zuko looks back and forth between them, his lips slightly parted like he's holding back from speaking what Haru doesn't know but the rest of them are thinking: he wants to teach Aang firebending. More than simple want-- Zuko looks like he's yearning to teach Aang firebending. As his mismatched eyes search them, the offer's clearly still more than on the table.
Sokka remembers Aang's unusually explosive reaction from the other night when they argued with Toph. I'm not having Zuko as my teacher!
"I'm going to help Katara," Aang says abruptly, and he rises and takes off for the other side of the terrace.
*
Shortly before lunch, when Sokka's pretty much dying from the delicious smells of food that isn't ready for face-stuffing yet, Toph walks over to where The Duke, Sokka and Zuko are sitting and makes a request. "Untie his gag, would you? I want to talk to him."
"Sure," Sokka says, putting down his knife and the bone fishhook he's whittling. Sokka suddenly realizes he still has Zuko's Earth Kingdom dagger in his belt, having forgotten about it at some point in all the excitement. Sokka has no intention of hanging on to something of Zuko's, and he resolves to stick the weapon in Zuko's knapsack next chance he gets. "C'mere Zuko."
Zuko stands up with surprising grace considering his hands are restrained behind his back, and walks over, standing uncertainly until Sokka gestures for him to turn around. "Turn around and sit," Sokka says, and Zuko puts his back to Sokka as he crouches down, then sits, presenting his back and looking over his shoulder. Leaning forward, Sokka straightens Zuko's head, then unknots the gag and begins unwinding it.
"Yech," Sokka says when he has most of the length of cord in his hand, because about a quarter of the cord's fibers are soaked through with rapidly cooling saliva. Zuko's saliva. Sokka drops the entire length to the stone in disgust. "Ughhh. Did not consider this aspect of gagging a prisoner." Sokka wipes his hands on the sides of his pants. "You sure-- salivate a lot," he says to Zuko.
"You didn't notice that earlier?" The Duke asks.
"Earlier Zuko had the gag in for about two seconds before Sokka took it out," Toph points out. "It probably wasn't enough time to soak it."
Zuko moistens his mouth after Sokka finishes taking the cord out, licking his chapped lips and swallowing several times. "Can I have some water, please?"
Toph punches Zuko in the upper arm, making him recoil.
"Ow!"
"Toph, stop abusing the prisoner," Sokka says, getting up and dipping one of their wooden cups into the water fountain, then coming back and tilting the cup against Zuko's mouth. "If you want to kick his ass for burning your feet, untie him first, it's only sporting."
"Nah," Toph says, and Toph must be able to hear or sonar-watch Zuko gulping the water down, because she waits to continue.
"Why are you punching him, then?" Sokka angles the cup up slowly, trying not to overdo the pour and make the guy choke. There's something strangely intimate about enabling someone helpless to drink. Sokka decides he hates this guard stuff. It's uncomfortable.
They're going to have to hand-feed him too, Sokka would bet his space sword that cooler heads will not prevail. Sokka resolves not to end up personally responsible for that, because feeding Zuko would be too damn much to ask. The guy has nearly burned their faces off what feels like at least a hundred times. Sokka pauses with the cup for a few seconds, allowing Zuko to take a breath in between swallows.
"I feel sorry for him," Toph says.
Zuko looks at her sharply just as Sokka's tilting the cup back against his lips again, causing some water to trickle down onto his tunic. Zuko has his priorities clear, though, and he quickly clamps his mouth back on the rim of the cup.
"You can have a bath later, now's not really a good time," Sokka says of the spill, because although it wasn't his fault or anything, it feels like he should say something. Sokka lifts the bottom of the cup until the lines of it are almost parallel with the ground. When Zuko's finished swallowing, Sokka makes eye contact. "You good now?"
Zuko nods, a little breathless despite Sokka giving him a break in drinking. "Yeah. Thanks."
Sokka can decipher the meaning, even if Zuko can't yet fathom the mysterious workings of Toph's mind. By hitting him, Toph's treating Zuko as a member of the group.
But Sokka also gets where she's coming from. Being close to Zuko, and touching him and talking to him, all have started quickly to make him seem much more like a person. The sight of his shaved skull and stupid ponytail used to raise Sokka's hackles even at a distance; just the sight of him was enough to ratchet up anxiety and kick in an intense fight-or-flight reaction. Sokka rarely got close to him, and when he did he was too busy dodging fire swipes, komodo rhino horns and pirate swords to actually look at the Fire Nation idiot. Now Sokka can look his fill, and on some level it's hard not to like what he sees. Zuko looks softer with hair, apologetic and vulnerable in his subjugation, even if he's still a really hazardous person to have around, and he's polite when he's thanking Sokka for so much as a cup of water. No more attacking them, no more antagonizing them. Sokka finds it all too easy to believe Toph that Zuko's sincere in his reformed intentions, and the guy would be downright pretty if his face wasn't all burned. Even the scar seems kind of... normal on him, especially now that it's offset by a full head of tousled hair.
"I don't want your pity," Zuko tells Toph.
"Too bad," Toph responds. "Okay, I need you to say something outlandish."
Zuko looks confused. "What?"
"Oh yeah, truth serum him, Toph," The Duke says.
Toph explains. "I have a good baseline on you, so I need you to say something out there."
Zuko blinks rapidly. He seems a little afraid, like he thinks he's being tested, perhaps with potential consequences. "Out there? I don't under--"
"Say some things about yourself that are obviously not true," Toph says patiently.
"You want me to lie to you?" Zuko's face turns blank as a wiped-down slate. Whatever he expected Toph wanted to discuss with him, it wasn't this. "What do you want me to say?"
Toph lets her head fall back in annoyance. "Anything false. You can't think of a single lie?"
"Not when you put me on the spot!" Zuko hunches his shoulders inward. "What do you want me to lie about?"
"Anything. Just think of some facts and tell me the opposite. Your sister told me she was a purple platypus bear and four hundred feet tall, and I couldn't read her. She was that cool."
Zuko squeezes his eyes shut like the thought of his sister gives him an instant headache. "Yes, Azula's an incredible liar," Zuko says bitterly. "She practices every day."
"Well, I've heard you say a lot of things I'm pretty sure are the truth. So I just want to know if you can lie like she can," Toph says.
Zuko opens his eyes, his face even. "I can't lie like my sister. And I haven't been lying to you."
"Then stop stalling and prove it already," Toph demands more forcefully, her surprising patience with Zuko apparently dwindling.
"I'm not stalling!" Zuko protests. "This is just-- okay." Zuko considers for another few moments. "Um-- so I'm from the Earth Kingdom and my name is Lee." Zuko pauses, checking their expressions like he's trying to determine whether he's doing well or not. Zuko continues more haltingly. "I'm enjoying being tied up. My father is-- is an airbender. I have a history of making good decisions."
Sokka laughs and Toph snorts. The Duke stays straight-faced. "You're funny, Zuko," Sokka says.
"Okay, that's enough. I have all I need." Toph punches Zuko in the bicep again as she gets up, and then she brings her fist thundering down into Sokka's shoulder like a hammer as she passes by him. Sokka grunts at the blow. Zuko hisses but doesn't cry out this time.
"Toph! I told you, no hitting the prisoner," Sokka says, rubbing his shoulder as she walks away, heading towards the lovely smells of whatever Katara's cooking for lunch. "Only violence against the free people."
"Does she always do that?" Zuko asks Sokka.
"No talking," The Duke tells Zuko sternly.
"Oh, let him talk, what else has he got," Sokka says to The Duke, then turns back to Zuko. "Punch people, or demand lies?" Sokka asks, and Zuko circles the air upwards with his chin to indicate the former, or at least, Sokka assumes. "Yeah. Pretty much a hazard of having her around. You'll get used to it."
"Lunch is ready," Katara announces, and they rise. Zuko stays sitting, as though he's not sure they're going to bring him along for food.
"Come on," Sokka says, putting a hand under Zuko's arm to pull him to his feet. Together they go over to the fallen stone slab that's serving as a table. Lunch looks like a tasty mix of broccoli, rice, and sliced foraged mushrooms cooked in what's probably the last of their walnut oil. Usually they stay away from mushrooms, because fungi are just too risky, but Haru is an expert at separating the delicious safe species from the delicious species that causes a rash and the other extra-delicious variety that induces vomiting.
Katara dishes the mixture into bowls and passes them out. Sokka guides Zuko to a spot beside their makeshift table and sits him down on the ground. As Zuko sits down, Katara slaps one of their three sets of chopsticks on the table in front of him. Zuko looks up at her as though he's not sure what it means.
"So who's feeding the Fire prince?" Haru asks as he accepts his bowl.
"Not it, I'm the knots guy," Sokka says. "I'll tie him up and guard him, I'm not feeding him."
"Me neither. We're doing the guard thing," The Duke agrees.
"Let's let him feed himself," Aang says.
Katara, naturally, strongly objects. "That'll mean untying him."
"Do you want to feed him?" Sokka asks Katara, leaning behind Zuko's back as if to untie him, and Katara shakes her head.
"If we're untying him to go to the bathroom, why are we keeping him tied up during meals?" Aang asks, and it's a fair question, albeit one that no one answers.
To Sokka the answer is obvious: to punish Zuko. To make him miserable for all the times he threatened them, attacked them, frightened them, came after them relentlessly and wouldn't stop coming. Aang doesn't get it, because Aang barely has a vengeful bone in his body.
"I'll feed him," Teo offers. Teo's the same way and with even less reason for a grudge. "I don't mind."
Sokka re-evaluates. Some adjustment will be needed if Teo's going to be the one to feed Zuko, because sitting crosslegged on the ground where Sokka stationed him puts Zuko at the wrong height. "Sit on the table Zuko," Sokka says, swiping the pair of chopsticks off the table, and after Zuko moves where he's told, Sokka sits down next to him. Teo rolls his chair close, and Sokka passes him the chopsticks.
Katara gives Sokka a steaming bowl, and he watches Teo and Zuko kind of by default while he eats, because Zuko's next to him and Teo's in his barrow-chair right in front of them both. Zuko leans forward to accept each bite. The rice is perfectly cooked and clings to the broccoli and mushrooms. Teo patiently ladles the mixture into Zuko's mouth bite by bite, ignoring his own serving in his lap. "You should feed yourself first, yours is going to get cold," Haru says to Teo. Katara looks over.
Teo shrugs and gives Zuko another bite. "Then his will get cold."
"Yes, but he's the prisoner," Katara says.
Teo smiles slightly. "My father did his best to keep us out of the war, but we talked about all that stuff, and I was taught to believe you're only as good as how you treat your captives."
"But no pressure, right?" Sokka says before he shovels some delicious juicy rice-covered mushroom slices into his mouth.
"You're way too nice, Flyboy," Toph says with her mouth full. Toph's lounging on the ground a few feet away from Sokka, and as she talks a few grains of flying rice sail through the air and stick on Sokka's shins like catapulted boulders lodging in Ba Sing Se's wall.
Sokka brushes at them. "Toph, if you're gonna talk with your mouth full, please face... somewhere other than me."
Teo tilts Zuko's bowl and scrapes the sides with the chopsticks, gathering the next bite together. "Do you know what the Fire Nation does with prisoners of war?"
Zuko stiffens almost imperceptibly beside Sokka, although Teo's not addressing him. "Sometimes they dress them up in Fire Nation uniforms and put them weaponless on the front lines," Teo says. "Most go to work camps. The camps are supposed to be awful. There's hunger and abuse. Someone like me would be straightaway executed as useless."
"They kill a lot of people outright," Katara says coldly, her eyes on Zuko.
"I just think we can and should do better. We took a prisoner, we should treat him with kindness," Teo finishes. "He didn't ask to be here."
"Yes he did, actually," Katara points out. "You and The Duke and Haru missed that part. He showed up and literally asked, if we wouldn't accept him as a friend, to stay as our prisoner." Katara adds, somewhat unnecessarily, "And we certainly weren't having him as a friend."
"That's right, you did say he asked," Teo says easily, unbothered as he carefully administers another bite. "But he didn't ask to be mistreated, and it doesn't cost anything to be humane to him. Except lukewarm food, and I can live with that."
"It costs cold food and fussing with chopsticks," Sokka says. They all know Sokka thinks chopsticks are annoying and stupid, which they clearly are except maybe in specific circumstances when they allow a man to pass as a Fire Nation citizen or keep his fingers out of a Fire prince's mouth.
Teo flashes his warm and winning smile. "Katara's a good enough cook that the food's still delicious after it's cool."
Katara smiles back at him, and only Teo could get away with urging benevolence to Zuko and still wheedle a smile out of her.
"Oh, stop flattering her," Sokka says, rolling his eyes. Katara is a good cook, though, Sokka has to give her that. Since Aang so dramatically defrosted into their lives and made them inadvertent world travelers, they've had to figure out how to prepare a lot of unfamiliar foods in real time and with minimal instruction. Katara's got strong instincts for guesstimating how to do all that stuff.
"Give me that," Katara says, reaching for Teo's bowl. "I'll keep it warm for you until you're ready for it," Katara says, and she visibly considers her options--putting the bowl near the fire, or scraping Teo's portion back into the main pot.
"Here," Toph says, and with one hand she casually raises a stone arch over the edge of the fire, then spreads fingers and palm flat to give it a flat top, and Katara sets Teo's bowl on that.
"Hey, what are we doing with the food Zuko brought?" Sokka rattles off the list of Fire Nation grub, which he may or may not have memorized. "Should we split it however many ways based on whomever wants to eat it?"
Sokka and Haru have survived all morning, which is apparently enough for Katara to have mellowed on her fears of poison-laced Fire Nation food. "Sure, that works," Katara says with a shrug, and so after they're done Sokka retrieves the slightly snacked-on smoked sea slug on the grounds that it's probably going to keep the shortest time. Aang, Katara, and Teo all decline, Aang because he's a vegetarian, Katara because she maintains having no interest in Zuko's food, and Teo because it's a sea slug and he's clearly revolted, even if he attempts valiantly to keep that opinion to himself. Everyone else is on board. Sokka impales the slug on a makeshift kebab stick and takes fifteen minutes to warm it over the fire, patiently rotating the meat. Then he cuts the slug into five shares and distributes them into the appropriate lunch bowls, carving off an equal portion for Zuko because that seems only fair.
Then they dig in. Except for Teo, who seems reluctant to so much as poke the sea slug at the end of his utensils. Zuko says nothing, only watching as Teo stares down at Zuko's allotment of slug with his mouth twisted in distaste, and Sokka, with fingers already covered in delectable salty sea slug juices, takes pity on Teo, who really is too nice for this world.
"I'll do it," Sokka sighs, taking Zuko's lunch bowl from Teo and shredding the chunk of smoked meat into pieces. Teo's earlier words send a pair of adages running through his head: no act of kindness is ever wasted; no good deed goes unpunished. Both seem applicable. Picking up a sliver of sea slug with his finger and thumb, Sokka pops the bite into Zuko's mouth, then licks the brine off the tips of his fingers without thinking. He's half-expecting Zuko to complain about hygiene and food sanitation, but Zuko averts his eyes from Sokka and chews and swallows, staying silent the whole time. As Sokka thought, the experience is way too buddy-buddy for enemies. Zuko keeps his eyes lowered while he chews, raises his eyes when he's ready for another mouthful, and opens his mouth when he sees a bite coming his way. Sokka intermittently takes bites of his own serving while Zuko chews, because screw that cold food thing, he is not letting Zuko ruin his savory sea slug dining experience.
All in all, it's like feeding an unusually cooperative toddler. Feeding and toileting the little kids should be women's work, but Sokka used to get conscripted into it from time to time, because in the Southern Water Tribe, everyone does what needs doing at any given time, and also because the boys all seemed to need to go to the bathroom the minute he got them into warrior training hour, which in the end was generally more like half an hour because their attention spans were even smaller than their bladders. Sokka sighs at the memory.
Despite not throwing or spitting out food like one of the village yearlings, the process is made awkward and strained by the fact that Zuko is Sokka's age and an invading jerk from the Fire Nation and Sokka has hated him since the first second they met, if not before.
On top of that, at home it's a long-standing Water Tribe wedding tradition for the new husband and wife to feed seaweed cookies to each other at the celebration. Sokka grimaces just to think about it, because when that day comes for him, it's probably going to dredge up a remembrance of feeding Zuko, just like feeding Zuko is making him think about feeding the toddlers. Maybe by the time he gets married, the memory of handfeeding Prince Pissyass of the Fire Nation will be funny. Right now, it's just super uncomfortable.
Sokka decides to avoid looking at him entirely to give himself some aloofness from the situation, but when he attempts to feed Zuko a bite without looking, he ends up negligently mashing sea slug into Zuko's nostrils.
Zuko jerks his head back and glares and the piece of sea slug tumbles down to his lap. "Watch it," he snaps, like he's the guard indulging a captive with a favor and Sokka's the one tied up. Sea slug juices glisten in a big smear around his nostrils and on the tip of his nose.
"Oops," Sokka says lamely, retrieving the bite. "Smells nice though, doesn't it?"