Agni Kai [2] Zuko

8

    THE GROUP SAT AROUND the campfire, now a week into Zuko joining them. In that time frame, Zuko and Aang went to learn firebending from the source of it, dragons. Now, Toph and Sokka have warmed up to Uzume's love, however, Katara was still cold to him.

Zuko walked around them, handing out cups of tea as he went, "No one can make tea like Uncle. But hopefully I learned a thing or two. Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" He placed a warm cup in Uzume's hands, giving her a small smile.

"Sure." Katara deadpanned.

"I like jokes." Aang offered.

"Bring it." Toph said.

"Okay," Zuko smiled and gave cups to The Duke and Haru, "Well, I can't remember how it starts but the punchline is, Leaf me alone, I'm bushed." Everyone stared at Zuko with a deadpan look. Uzume offered him an awkward smile, trying to comfort the awkward boy.

"Well, it's funnier when Uncle tells it."

Katara gave him a snarky smile, "Right. Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing."

Aang let out a loud laugh as he sipped his tea. His reaction got other laughs from the group and it made Uzume feel warm inside that her new family liked her lover.

Toph leaned against her rock, "It's nice to get a chance to relax a little. It hardly ever happens."

Sokka sat in silence and watched Zuko finish giving out tea and gestured him off to the side, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

Uzume watched as her two favorite boys walked off to the side and talked. She watched them questioningly before returning her attention to the hyper group sipping on tea.  Everyone laughed at Aang's impression of Momo and Uzume decided she felt safer than ever.

The next morning, Uzume felt slightly less safe because of the missing warmth of Zuko's body. She sat up alert while her friends around her yawned and stretched. Katara came into the plaza and noticed Momo sleeping with a paper on him.

"What does it say?" Uzume asked the girl.

Katara began to read off the note, "Need meat. Gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko. One more thing. Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger frog croak. Uzume please watch his form - Zuko." The brunette groaned at the orders and went to lay back down when a badger frog croaked, causing the two airbenders to groan.

Aang grumbled with irritation as he got up, "Nobody else has homework." Uzume sat herself up and began to watch the boy so she could make sure he was doing it properly, "One hot squat. Two hot squat. Three hot squat. Four hot..."

-

Zuko turned to the guard, frustrated that he was being thrown into an empty room with no explanation, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Come on Zuko," a voice behind him said, "We all know that's a lie." Mai stepped into the light, revealing her annoyed face to Zuko. Zuko looked at the sullen girl in surprise, "Mai."

Mai crossed her arms and glared at the prince, "How did you know I was here?"

"Because I know you so well." She replied dryly. Zuko looked at her confused. They hadn't started hanging out until Uzume left.

"But... how?"

"The Warden's my Uncle you idiot. Where's Uzume?" Mai asked the boy facepalming. The teen girl wanted to see her friend and ensure her safety since Azula was with her.

After Zuko didn't respond, Mai immediately assumed the worse.

"Is she okay? She's not hurt is she?" She reaches out to Zuko, panicked at the thought of Uzume being dead.

"No, no. She's with the Avatar." Zuko's late response received a punch on the arm from Mai. Her angry face melted into one of concern.

"She's completely safe right?" Nod "The truth is," Mai sighed and sat with Zuko, "You leaving scared me. It made this war feel so much more real. And I was scared when my uncle told me you were here but not Uzume. I promised her to look after you and I failed."

Zuko shook his head and looked into Mai's eyes, "You didn't fail. I found her and she's safe. I'm just here for something else."

Mai eyed Zuko suspiciously before she gave him a short nod, "As long as she's okay."

A puny guard barged into the room, "Ma'am, there's a riot going on. I'm here to protect you."

Mai scoffed and turned to the guard, "I don't need any protection."

Zuko laughed slightly and thought back to all the times she fought with him, "Hah, believe me. She doesn't."

The guard looked unsure as he walked into the room, "I'm sorry but I'm under direct orders from your Uncle to make sure nothing happens."

Zuko shot fire at the guards feet and pushed him into Mai as he ran out of the room. He slammed the door shut and Mai banged on the door.

They made eye contact through the slot and Mai's eyes watered slightly.

"Get back to her." She said in a strained voice as she held herself back from crying in frustration. Zuko gave her a curt nod and ran to the courtyard, off to find Sokka.

-

Uzume was in the middle of holding Momo up in the air with her fans when a fire nation zeppelin docked near the temple. She dropped Momo on his head as she looked at the air craft with slight fear, which quickly diminished when Sokka and Zuko stepped out.

"What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?" Katara questioned the two boys.

Zuko and Sokka shared a small smile, "It kind of got destroyed."

Aang brushed off the circumstances, "Sounds like a crazy fishing trip."

Uzume looked at them concerned, "You didn't get hurt right?"

Toph ignored Uzume's question and spoke over her, "Did you at least get some good meat?"

"I did. The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood." Sokka answered cryptically as 3 more people stepped out from the air craft.

A bigger man waved at everyone, "I'm new. What's up everybody?"

While Katara reunited with her father, Uzume dashed into Zuko's arms.

She caressed his face and looked into his eyes lovingly, "You okay?" She whispered. Zuko nodded and pulled her closer and hurried his face into her neck.

A female with short hair caught Uzume's attention when Zuko and her broke away from their hug. The girl looked back at Uzume in shock.

"You saved me from being killed." The girl said quite loudly, gathering attention from everyone around. Uzume's eyes lit up as she recognized the girl.

"You're that Kyoshi Warrior? I love your techniques, you have to teach me." And soon, Suki and Uzume stood off to the side as they enthusiastically talked about Kyoshi and fans.

Toph was quick to interrupt all the happy moments, "Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat?"

super short. I couldn't decide if i wanted uzume to join zuko and sokka but i decided against it so she could practice with aang. the next chapter will be up in a day or two and i promise it'll be better written, i just was stumped with this episode