Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Amber ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: I am so, so sorry for the delay! It's the end of my last semester and it has been crazy. School, finals, CPA exam—I am sorry I have neglected y'all, though. I promise I will be better after graduation. This chapter is un-Beta'd so please excuse any grammatical errors or misspellings. I have done my best.

Hopefully 7 will be up in the next couple days—6 & 7 started out as one chapter but it grew so big I decided to split it up into two smaller chappies. P.S. Old faces and new places next chapter.

I really, really hope you like this chapter—I have spent a lot of time trying to make it as well-written as possible, which I thought would be the least I could do since it took so long to post it. This is the last chapter that you have to bear with Sokka's self-denial, so you are free to expect the romance to heat up, and soon! Thanks for the continued support.

Sokka slumped down on the stone bench while he waited for Zuko. Pushing a limp hand over his hair, he cursed under his breath as his finger got snagged halfway across his head by a thick knot. His wolf's tail was becoming raggedy but he couldn't seem to muster up the energy to fix it. He wasn't tired so much as worn out from all the excitement—after Iroh had dropped his bomb yesterday, he and Zuko had spent the entire evening swapping places between grilling the old general and poring over documents in the library. They'd roped off a corner of the drafty room and had maneuvered a large old table with a scarred veneer into an alcove. The surface had been worn smooth in various spots from years of use. Getting it back out of where they had squeezed it in wasn't going to be a sure thing. It was covered in stack where they had methodically sorted practically half of the library's historical section into various piles, including "myths and legends" and "historical records" and of course Sokka's favorite, "astronomically absurd mutilation of historical facts with little to no basis in reality." The last pile was the biggest.

They had been in such a frenzy to gather information that his appointment with the palace manager that evening had completely slipped his mind. By the time he had remembered, it was past dinner and most of the staff had gone home. There wasn't much more he could do but put it off a day. They had migrated from the library to Zuko's room, balancing armloads of books and scrolls precariously as they teetered down the hall. Even now, there was a mountain towering high beside the writing table and a massive second pile beside the bed. He had eventually dozed off, but Zuko had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning scouring a particularly musty parchment with legends and myths from the Flame Mountain foothills area by candlelight. He had slept like a rock until being roughly shaken right as the morning sun was beginning to peek out. Apparently, Iroh had come through the room a few times while Sokka was asleep and he hadn't stirred a muscle. Sleeping in such a weird position, hunched over a desk on an uncomfortable wooden chair he had developed a crick in his neck. That wasn't nearly as bad as the fact that he'd spent about five long disoriented minutes with a bit of parchment stuck to his face before Zuko had taken pity and pointed it out. After what should have been considered a Herculean effort to drag his self into the bathroom to freshen up, he had been promptly whisked away with barely enough time to change clothes amid claims that they had 'tons of important things' to do that day.

Which, in retrospect, must have been utter bullshit. There was no other way to explain why he'd been parked on this bench for over an hour. His mood was becoming increasingly surly by the millisecond. He'd dozed off a couple times but he had just ended up smacking his head on the stone wall behind him—repeatedly. He'd tried to talk to the guard that had been assigned to Sokka detail, but the man had been moody and silent. For some unknown reason he blamed Sokka for being dragged out of bed at the ass crack of dawn. Oh, and by the way, the guy was not a morning person. Goody. A snarky, black part of his soul buried deep, deep down was tempted to request the same guard for morning detail for the next three days. Misery loved company.

A constant hum of noise filled the air, coming from all over the palace. The spot he'd chosen was slightly isolated from the main wing where all of the meetings were being held. The deserted corridor filtered out a lot of the distractions and for the most part left him alone with his thoughts. After the first fifteen minutes of waiting, he'd discovered that he might not have wanted to be left alone with his thoughts after all. There were only two topics on his mind right now and both of them made his head ache. The old spirit woman preoccupied him the most. But, the scene from the day before with Zuko was running a close second.

Thinking back to the day he had met her out in the capital, it chilled Sokka to think of the number of times the spirit lady had probably altered the course of events simply by nudging the fingers of fate. He held out a hand and counted the number of occurrences he could chalk up to her interference. Of course, the encounter in the alley and the purchase of the armband—which later played a part in his reconciliation with Zuko; his chase after her out into the city and the subsequent ass-kicking from the rebels; her conveniently timed package delivery that saved his life; his encounter with her in his bedroom—he was now certain that it was her voice that he'd heard. These were only the most obvious ones he could name off the top of his head. Who knew what she'd influenced while he'd been unconscious.

Sokka slung an arm over the back of the bench and twirled a quill that he'd snagged from the library between his fingers. It was long and plumy—completely old-fashioned and so unlike him, but he had taken a fancy to it. While he watched the feather flutter round and round, he catalogued in his mental filing cabinet what Iroh had told them yesterday. No one knew her real name. She had a number of sobriquets that had floated around, used in various tales and stories throughout history. The Silversmith and Lady Gray were the most common. Obviously, she had a pretty serious silver fetish and didn't mind if the world knew about it. Not much could be said from the scant few tales that they had dug up in the library, but there were still so many scrolls to go through that it made his eyes bleed just thinking about it. It was moments like this that he regretted from his very core drop-kicking that giant chicken and letting the Library sink into the desert. What he wouldn't give for one of those foxy knowledge-seekers right now.

He shifted forward and leaned his elbows on his knees, plucking at the feathers of the quill and peeling apart the pieces that were stuck together. One day he was going to have to sit down with Iroh and have a nice long chat about how exactly he knew so damn much about the spirit world. The depth of that knowledge was downright impressive, albeit scary. Sokka had a feeling that the less he learned about spirits, the more blissfully ignorant his life would be. As it was from what he'd learned about Lady Gray so far, Sokka was desperately half-wishing he'd never made that outing into the capital.

If there was one thing that they had gathered from Iroh's stories and the legends, it was that her involvement always produced spectacular results. The bad news was that it was either spectacularly good—or spectacularly terrifying. Of course, it was possible that a number of legends attributed to her had been exaggerated, or that the spirit involved had been incorrectly identified as Lady Gray. That didn't stop him from gagging at some of the particularly grotesque—and overly detailed—descriptions that the bards and storytellers seemed to relish in sharing. He also had a sickening feeling that all too many of those stories had actually been true. She was also rumored to have an affinity for beasts, both spiritual and real, which explained the odd collection of silver animals she'd been peddling. He shivered. There had been a bunch of furry animals he wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

Once she got involved in a human's affairs, it was very hard to avoid dealing with her. In fact, he realized he hadn't read a single story where the human focus of her interest hadn't had to come to a reckoning, whether good or bad. She liked to test the human soul, like a piece of metal—to see whether it was good quality or whether it would become brittle and break. Whether it was a test of will or a test of the heart, the mind, the body, she didn't seem very particular. Most of what he had learned seemed to be in such a sharp contradiction to the little old lady herself that he was having a hard time believing it was the same little old lady. Sure, she'd been sly and in possession of a sharp tongue, but she'd been like a friendly little grandma not a crazy spirit killing machine. He couldn't recall sensing any malice whatsoever from her. That armband…Sokka dropped his head. He trusted Iroh's advice from yesterday implicitly and he understood that they were now playing her game, but he hated the fact that he was to blame for his best friend walking around with a piece of jewelry connected to a spirit that was basically a ticking time bomb. So, despite his protests, Zuko was wearing the armband.

Zuko. No matter how many other things he tried to think about, his mind always wandered back to the day before. At this point he'd rather have been thinking about Grandma Gray than sitting there trying to sort out the giant shitstorm of emotions that had been mucking up his head since yesterday. He knew he was being stubborn, he knew that. It was just that every time he started to think about Zuko, he would remember that weird feeling in his stomach. It felt like a strong pull at his very core—sort of like the times Appa had dropped out of the sky really suddenly and his stomach had practically flown out of his mouth. The more he thought about what that meant, the more he would start to panic. His breath came fast and shallow the walls seemed to gather up tightly and squeeze him. After his third time experiencing that this morning, he'd tried with all of the meager willpower in his soul to put Zuko ou of his mind altogether. Growling in annoyance, he clenched the quill in his fist. It had not been easy. The more he tried not to think about Zuko, the more the annoying little shit would strut around in his thoughts.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), he was distracted by a sharp cramp that lanced through his side. He clutched at his ribs while waiting for the wave of nausea to pass; his stomach had been bothering him all morning. The healers had forced him to choke down some food earlier but it had been bland and barely recognizable as food. His stomach churned at the very memory. They hadn't been pleased when he had skipped dinner the night before and had voiced their opinions noisily while shoveling the gruel into him. Overall, the experience had left him feeling like a baby animal, just without the bonus of being cute and fuzzy and able to get away with anything he wanted.

After the wave had passed, he turned his attention back to the feather—the only source of entertainment at his disposal in the dreary hallway. The quill was becoming a blur of black and brown as he started to spin it in his palms, faster and faster. He tried to let his mind go blank from all the thoughts troubling him. He pictured his mind as a room and the worries he carried were pieces of dirt on the floor. The blur of feathers was dusting away his apprehension, sweeping the anxious thoughts to a recess of his mind. His eyes became slightly unfocused as the swirling colors seemed to swell and throb in his vision. Despite how hard he tried he couldn't tear them away. A voice in the back of his head was chanting for him to focus, focus, focus and it was like the colors were swallowing up his vision…and suddenly he was vomiting.

He dropped off the bench onto his knees and clutched his side again. Using his other arm to brace his body weight, he watched helplessly as his breakfast found its way into a giant mess in front of him. He gagged as his stomach heaved and clenched even after there was nothing left but bile. After several long miserable minutes he sat back on his butt, drew his legs up, and leaned his head against the cool stone of the bench to try and soothe his heated face. There weren't many things worse than throwing up, but this time he was surprised to find that all he could feel was relief. Cool hands smoothed over his forehead and he closed his eyes. It was kind of embarrassing that he'd seen that, but the fact that Zuko was finally there alleviated some of his discomfort. He felt a scrap of cloth being stuffed into his hand and he gratefully wiped his mouth.

"Thanks, Zuko. I thought you were going to be a while longer. I'm surprised you actually got away from those Earth Kingdom dudes so quickly." The hands swept back the tendrils of hair that had escaped his wolf tail and pulled away. Opening his eyes he glanced over his shoulder and froze. The hallway was empty. The grouchy Fire Nation guard was shifting from foot to foot much farther away than he had started, staring at Sokka like he was madder than King Bumi. He realized that it must have looked like he'd been talking to himself. Immediately, his eyes snapped down to the scrap of cloth in his hand. His stomach, already suffering from the lingering nausea, seemed to drop once more. He clutched his fingers around the gray, silky cloth. "Shit…" he whispered. She was just toying with him now. Or was she—everything she'd done up until then had been for a purpose whether it was obvious or not. His head hurt too much to concentrate very hard at that moment, but he vowed to turn this over in his mind until he figured out what it meant. The vomiting had probably been her doing as well.

Lurching to his feet, he staggered for a step before taking a deep breath and managing to compose himself enough to walk normally. It took a few more steps to completely regroup but he was finally able to calmly approach the guard. The man swallowed visibly and his desire to be anywhere but with Sokka was practically palpable. Sokka rolled his eyes. Spare him from superstitious bastards. The mess with Grandma Gray (he couldn't bring himself to use her "real" titles) had been kept mostly under wraps, but it seemed that the news had started to circulate amongst the guards already. He eased to a halt beside the older man. Taking pity on him, he didn't look at him directly but instead looked past him down the corridor. "My breakfast didn't really agree with me, I'd appreciate it if you would help me out and give the palace staff a call." He hesitate a moment. "…And it might be best to just keep this between us. No point in worrying anyone."

"Ye…Yes sir." The guard muttered.

Sokka glanced at him and nodded. Hesitating, he added after a moment, "Please keep all of it to yourself." The man nodded almost imperceptively. Sokka stalked to the end of the hallway and turned the corner, somehow carrying himself straight despite the pain. He shook his head to try and clear his muddled feelings. There really wasn't a good reason to keep this new encounter from Zuko. He couldn't seem to stop himself, though. A slight twinge of guilt made him wince as he stuffed the neatly folded square of silky gray cloth into his tunic. The less he could involve Zuko with the spirit the better—if it was Sokka she was interested in, he would rather exercise a little disaster control and keep Zuko off her radar.

"Sokka!" He looked up as he heard his name called. He'd been walking along in a daze, lost in his thoughts. Zuko was walking briskly towards him with a hand held up in greeting. "Sokka! I'm sorry it's taken so long. Those Earth Kingdom delegates are really high maintenance." He wrinkled his nose and fell into step beside Sokka.

"That's fine, as long as we can finally get something done today. And dude, you're the Fire Lord. I know your other duties are really important, so there's absolutely no reason to apologize." He sincerely meant it as he said it but he realized that despite that, he couldn't help but feel an irrational sense of irritation. Probably due to the frequent fighting the past couple days, he felt an urge to monopolize Zuko's time. The feeling of annoyance grew as Zuko began to fill him in on the various meetings of the morning. It seemed that there was a particularly amusing new delegate that had recently been appointed. The guy was around their age and had been instrumental in keeping the Fire Lord awake during a thirty-minute long lecture about implementing an Earth Kingdom mail courier system, courtesy of a senior delegate who, in addition to getting on his years, was legendary for his monotone. Apparently, one of the reasons Zuko had been held up and Sokka had been forced to wait was the result of a long, amazingly hilarious joke that this new guy had told and blah blah blah. Zuko's face was lit up as he recalled the meeting for Sokka in infuriatingly minute detail. Sokka's mood was going down the pits. He hadn't met the dude, but he knew he didn't want to.

Zuko must have noticed his unresponsiveness, and the lively conversation died off. The desire to sneak a glance at his face niggled Sokka until he finally caved to the urge. His guilty conscience began pummeling him immediately. Zuko looked so disappointed at Sokka's reaction to his story, that it made him want to stop and cheer him up, make him smile, tell knock-knock jokes—anything to get that look off of his face. Ugh! His emotions were caught in such turmoil between guilt, irritation, and happiness at finally getting to see Zuko that it was enough to make him want to stomp and rage and pull his hair out in an EPIC temper tantrum. He had never felt this conflicted in his life. He was always so sure of everything, so confident—only Zuko could make him feel this off-balance. The silence stretched on as they walked down the empty hallway. Empty…

… Speaking of empty, his attention perked up when he quickly analyzed the hallway. The guard-less hallway. Judging from the sounds drifting through the hallway, he could gauge how close they were to other people. Still, there was a definite lack of guards. "Zuko, where are your guards? Should you really be wandering around without them?"

Zuko shrugged. He seemed a bit relieved that Sokka was talking. "After I finally tracked you down where you were hiding, I was just one wing over. I think I can handle myself over a few meters—Ihave held my own against Azula, Katara, and Aang, Sokka." The corners of Sokka's mouth turned down. He understood, but he still didn't like the fact that Zuko had been wandering around alone, especially if he was the reason. Besides, they didn't have just the assassin to worry about—who knew if Zuko would realize who he was up against if he encountered Grandma Gray. His scowl deepened.

"So…" Zuko began. "You know…I think we should get out of here today." Sokka's head snapped towards him like he was a starving man and Zuko had just announced he had the last bit of blubbered seal jerky in the world. "We don't tell anyone but Iroh where we're going, just take a couple of the royal guards—the ones that you and I trust…there's a little villa farther up the mountains that my mother used to escape to when she needed some time away, back when I was a kid. She took me with her a couple times" There was a light quality in his voice that had been missing for some time now. Hearing Zuko talking in such an unguarded manner was refreshing.

He slowed to a halt and tilted his head, mulling over the idea. Although he hadn't been awake for most of it, they had both been cooped up in the palace for weeks. The mere mental image of fresh air and sunshine was enough to make the dark recesses of the hallway seem brighter. His scowl disappeared as he began to smile slowly at Zuko, who had walked on a little farther and was now leaning against the wall waiting for Sokka to catch up. His head rested on the tapestry behind him while his eyes had drifted shut. A corner of his mouth tilted into a sad little smile. Sokka watched him for a moment. No doubt that he was recalling some distant memory he had shared with his mom. A small pang of regret squeezed Sokka's heart. He remembered the day that Zuko had told him his mother was still alive in perfect detail. He'd been so excited for his best friend that he had started thinking up celebratory plans involving a lot of alcohol and all of their friends. It had taken him a few minutes before he'd noticed that the newly appointed Fire Lord was much more subdued than he himself would have been after such a discovery.

It was also the same day he'd found out that Ozai had been killed by a rogue guard with a major vendetta. He'd died before Zuko could wring any real information out of him about Ursa. That was the first time he'd seen Zuko cry. With a bitter twist to his lips, he looked down from Zuko's face and focused on his chest. He still wasn't sure what would have been more painful for his friend—knowing her fate, or holding on to this warped sense of hope. His own mother was gone, and it hurt—but at least he could lay it to rest in his soul and move forward because he knew. Claiming a patch of wall beside Zuko, he imitated him by leaning his head back to rest on the soft loops of the cloth. Shoving his thumbs into his sword belt, he bumped his shoulder into Zuko's. They leaned comfortably against each other for a moment.

"Are you sure that it would be okay for us to just up and leave while the palace in such a crisis? I mean, it seems a little irresponsible of us." Sokka wanted to go so bad, but there was everything else to think about. Aang's party was a short week and a half away now, and they still had no clue where the assassin could be. To top that, they now had the added worry of a flaky yet powerful spirit breathing down their necks. "Besides, we still need to make up that appointment with the palace manager. I thought you wanted to be there with me while we interviewed the staff?"

"Actually…I did a lot of thinking while you were asleep last night." Sokka stared at him. Zuko blushed and pushed himself off the wall to face Sokka. "Iroh came in and we talked about it. I mean, I wanted to mention it to you before, but I had to go to that meeting all morning. I guess you would have wanted to know when you got up, but I just… Don't say anything—just let me tell you what I think." Sokka gaped at him stupidly. He had no friggin' clue what the hell Zuko was talking about.

Zuko waved his hands in front of him. "Hold on. Let me start over." He took a deep breath and began again. "This assassin is after me, and probably after you. We take ourselves out of the equation completely and they have to play by our rules." Sokka raised an eyebrow but nodded. It made sense. "Now, I'm not saying we go somewhere and sit around on our thumbs. I've already had the royal guard intelligence group pull information for us on all of the employees that were on the list you gave the palace manager. We can look over this stuff, do some digging—we can even have Iroh do some of the interviews and send us a report. You know that out of everyone we know, Iroh is the most likely to notice if something's off about someone. He is my uncle." Zuko tried to smother a proud smile but failed. If Iroh had heard him right now he probably would have been over the moon, racing to come up with a sonnet or ballad or something to commemorate the moment. Maybe it was better that he hadn't heard it. Sokka could only take so much of wailing horns and songs of unrequited love in one week.

"Iroh told me that he can handle most of the remaining preparations for your plan during the Avatar's party by himself. I still don't like it, but I think if we want to have the highest chance of your plan working then we need to back the assassin into a corner. We need to make them make their move when we want them to. By going up to the villa, they'll be forced to wait until the party." Sokka's other eyebrow joined the first one. This was one of the reasons Zuko was Fire Lord. Moments like this reminded Sokka that Zuko had been one of the only people to catch Aang during the war—not just once, but multiple times. When it came to trapping an enemy, he got an A+.

Zuko was pacing in excitement now. "It will also give you time to recover—Shuu hasn't talked about it with Iana and Yami, but she said that you are doing great—you just need to follow a list of exercises that she gave me. I've even gathered every scroll and book where Lady Gray was ever even hinted about so that we can continue to research, and they've already all been packed!" Hitting his hand in his fist for emphasis, he spun towards Sokka with his face glowing in anticipation. He was so adorable when he was excited and he was picking up speed. "I've handpicked every single guard that would go with us and I've known them all since I was a kid. Only Iroh and a couple of the generals would know where we are. The villa has a hawk rookery, so there would be no problem communicating—it's perfect." Wait a minute, had he just thought that Zuko was adorable? He shook his head violently to dislodge the thought. "So…what do you think? You don't like it?" He sounded crestfallen. He must have mistaken Sokka's head movements for disagreement.

Sokka froze from shaking his head. "No! I mean, yes! No, I wasn't shaking my head about that—I think…I think it's a really, really good plan, Zuko." He had really thought about all of the angles. Not only that, but he had actually taken Sokka's plan into consideration—he was sincerely trying to support him, even when he disagreed with it. Sokka's stomach fluttered.

Zuko grinned and did a little bow. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be taking autographs later." He straightened up, suddenly business-like. "But if you're ok with it, that means we need to leave—like, now." He was pretty sure they'd need to borrow Appa to retrieve his eyebrows from the moon. If he wasn't careful, they were going to get stuck up there. Now? Zuko must have seen the hesitation on his face. He turned away but kept looking at Sokka out of the corner of his eye, casually adding, "They have a hot spring, you know."

Zuko stumbled behind him as Sokka dragged him down the hallway by his wrist. "Why the hell are you hesitating, Zuko?" he shouted over his shoulder. "We need to get packed!" He marched them down the short remaining stretch of corridor, towards the meeting rooms. First things first, they needed to pick up a guard. If the assassin had any inkling whatsoever that they were leaving he didn't want to be wandering around the palace before they left with just the two of them. A large mixture of soldiers and politicians were milling about the corridor to waste time before the next meeting. Iroh was standing in the doorway chatting with an attractive young man who had long brown hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail. He sported a tan complexion that was almost rivaled Sokka's. Strong but striking features were not overwhelmingly beautiful, but enough that they made a lasting impression. He must be the new Earth Kingdom delegate Zuko had been ranting about.

Sokka hated him on the spot.

He skidded to an abrupt stop beside Iroh with Zuko still in tow. The other teen bumped into his back at the sudden halt. Iroh glanced between the two of them and apparently got some indication that the plan was a go, because he gave a slight nod to Zuko. Sokka glared at the attractive man standing quietly to the side before making the decision to completely ignore him.

Iroh must have noticed his expression and there was a telltale sly glint in his eye. Sokka did a double take at the old man's expression. It was never a good sign when he got that mischievous look, and a feeling of trepidation rushed him. "Sokka! I'd like you to meet Lang of the Ying family. He recently took over his father's position as a treasury advisor and delegate from the Earth Kingdom. Lang, this is Sokka, our resident Southern Water Tribe Ambassador and close friend of Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang. I am excited that you two finally meet! I hope you can be good friends. You both share a love of…travelling. You should share your stories with one another, perhaps over dinner sometime."

"Yes! I've heard all about you from Fire Lord Zuko! It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person! I'd be delighted to join you for a meal when you have some free time. I know you must be a busy man." He gave Sokka a warm smile with blindingly white teeth and extended his hand. He seemed like a perfectly nice guy, but for some reason all Sokka wanted to do was to knock those perfect white teeth out. He begrudgingly took the proffered hand and gave it a forceful shake. He still had a tight grip on Zuko's wrist behind his back, out of sight of the others.

Simultaneously smiling and baring his teeth, he managed to mutter "It's a pleasure." The young delegate didn't flinch at all from the tight grip and his dazzling smile didn't waver. Sokka snatched his hand back as soon as he could, but kept his mouth stretched in a wide, insincere smile.

"Sokka, you can let go of me now. If you do not, please have no doubt that I will melt your fingers off." Zuko whispered to his back while smiling and nodding politely to Lang. Sokka released his arm immediately. Fingers were good. Fingers were useful. He liked his fingers.

Speaking of fingers, Zuko's slender, pale fingers were clasped between Lang's bronzed palms as he greeted Zuko in a casual, familiar way. Too familiar. Who the hell did he think he was, touching the Fire Lord like that? Sokka tensed as one hand moved to Zuko's shoulder as they shared a laugh. There was no real reason for him to dislike this guy so much but the easy way he was laughing with Zuko acted like sandpaper on his nerves. That was his best friend, his Zuko. Besides, hadn't they just spent like, three hours together?

Trying to figure out a way to butt into their conversation, he scowled at Iroh when the old man took his arm and pulled him a few steps away. "I trust that Zuko has filled you in on your special agenda for the day?" Iroh asked pointedly. Sokka nodded. "Excellent. You don't have any objections, I hope?" Fidgeting, Sokka gave a sharp jerk of his head as a negative indication. He couldn't stop staring at the pair of laughing young men over Iroh's shoulder. "You haven't had anything…strange occur lately, have you?" Sokka's head jerked and he stiffened. His gaze riveting back to the general, a small chill shivered down his spin. How did Iroh know? Iroh studied his face for a moment and found the answer there. "Be careful, Sokka. Knowing you, Zuko does not know yet. But if it gets worse, you must tell him."

Sokka shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Guilt was already gnawing at his stomach for keeping his encounter a secret. He didn't know how the old general had known, but then again there were quite a few things that Iroh just somehow knew. He really didn't want to continue the conversation. Luckily, the old general took pity on him and interjected into the flow of Zuko and Lang's conversation. "Zuko, don't you and Sokka have another meeting you must get to? With palace security, I think?"

Zuko nodded and thanked Iroh for the reminder, then said a few pleasant goodbyes to Lang and the other delegates. While they were waiting, Sokka was busy glaring darkly at Lang when Iroh muttered under his breath in such a low tone that Sokka barely caught it. "Easy as a game of Pai Sho. Can't get some idiots to make a move without a direct attack." Before he could ask him what this meant, Zuko joined them. Iroh walked with them to the end of the hallway and whispered under his breath in a blatantly covert manner as they parted, "You have a very full, well publicized schedule today, my boys. If you were to suddenly disappear, I am sure that the poor assassin would have no forewarning." Zuko rolled his eyes at the cryptic speech.

"Uncle, no one's listening. You don't have to speak in code. Ugh, you've been spending way too much time with your White Lotus buddies lately. Don't they have anything else to do these days?" Iroh grinned at him sheepishly. Zuko continued, "Are the guards we chose ready? Sokka and I still need to go grab some things, but we are going to try to travel light."

"They are assembled and waiting, Nephew. Two of them will meet you outside of your room. Are you sure you are ok traveling by yourselves to the chambers?" Zuko nodded and grumbled about being babied. Iroh opened his mouth as if to say something and stopped. He paused a moment then pulled Zuko into a fierce hug. "Be careful," Sokka heard him whisper. A little pang of loneliness clenched in his heart and for a moment he had a desperate wish to see his dad. It didn't last long as Iroh must have sensed how he was feeling and pulled him in to a giant bear hug as well. Grinning stupidly he half-hugged Iroh back, before rubbing his hand on the back of his head shyly.

The two teens slipped away around the corner towards their next "meeting" and swiftly made their way towards Zuko's bedroom. Every step away from the Earth Kingdom delegates made Sokka feel buoyant, it was like pulling out a splinter. Even better, all of the belongings that Sokka would need for the trip were already in the chamber. In fact, most of his stuff still wasn't unpacked from when he had brought it over from his own room. In short, there was very little he had to do to pack. For some reason this made the whole trip seem more real and pretty soon giddy excitement was starting to grow inside him.

Zuko's disgruntled voice jerked him out of his pleasant thoughts. "Sokka, what the hell was that earlier with Lang? Did you not like him? Normally you love funny people. Have you met him before or something?" Sokka's mood immediately soured again upon mention of the young Earth Kingdom twit. Pulling a face, he shrugged. Zuko glanced at him and sighed when it became apparent that Sokka didn't plan on answering him. "Honestly Sokka, you are a great guy and you're my best friend but sometimes, you're a total ass." Giving up on the topic, Zuko dropped the conversation while they kept walking.

In the following silence Sokka's thoughts wandered. Why did he dislike that guy so much? It wasn't that he really seemed like a bad person. He just annoyed the shit of Sokka for some reason. The guy was way too friendly with Zuko. Sokka frowned. Why should he care about that, though? He glanced over at his friend and studied his profile. Zuko was on his left, so his smooth, unmarred skin faced towards him. Sokka studied the firm yet delicate features. Soft black hair was pulled into a knot and small tendrils escaped at the crown of his head. He had incredibly long, sooty lashes that were thicker than most girls he knew. He knew a village full of women who would kill for those puppies. Inadvertently, his gaze was drawn to Zuko's mouth, which was parted slightly from the brisk pace they had taken up. That weird pressure started to charge the air around him like it had that morning, and he found himself drifting closer to Zuko. He shook himself and jerked back. What the hell was he doing? Once again, he was on the brink of admitting something to himself. Something scary. Inner Sokka was cursing and stomping his feet, trying to rip out his hair by his wolf's tail. Frantically, he began thinking about other things—sea prune stew, fire lilies, dragons—no, wait, that last one was no good…

"You know Sokka, a painting would last longer. I can feel you staring at me. What's up? Do I have something on my face?" His voice was laced with dry humor.

"N-no…nothing. You've just gotten a little thin." He flushed. He hadn't realized he was being that obvious. Of course, he'd only been staring at Zuko so hard that it was a wonder the other teen hadn't caught on fire. Which he could have put out immediately. Because it was fire and all. One of the perks of being a bender. Kicking himself, he cursed his stupidity. Zuko would have had to be blind not to notice.

He tore his eyes from him but kept studying him surreptitiously with his peripheral vision. Overall, Zuko's face really was a lot thinner than usual. Maybe if he stopped worrying about everyone else and started worrying about his own health, he wouldn't look so haggard. That was a trait that Sokka hated but at the same time he loved it because it was so—Zuko. Sweeping the corner of his eye down, he noted that Zuko had lost a little weight all over, not just in his face. Sokka could tell just from glancing that he was still muscular under those robes, and he knew for a fact that Zuko kept himself trained to near-perfection. Still, it was obvious that the stress was taking a toll on him. As they finally reached the door to Zuko's chambers, he hung back a little to watch Zuko enter the lounge-like area that served as a waiting room for the Fire Lord's personal visitors.

It separated the bed chambers from the entrance and was markedly more ostentatious than anything Zuko would have chosen for himself personally. He gave a vague nod to the two guards Iroh had mentioned as he drifted into the tall, gilded doors. He crossed his arms and tilted his head as he closely observed Zuko's confident stride while the firebender collected a few items and tossed them in a pile on the floor to take with them. When he went to retrieve a stack of blank scrolls, Zuko's elbow knocked an empty ink well off the table sending it flying off the edge. Quicker than most normal eyes could follow, he dropped into a graceful crouch with one long leg straight out to the side for balance. His free hand caught the well in mid-air, wrapping the chunk of stone in a tight grip. Sokka sucked in a breath as he watched the play of muscles in his legs and back. The graceful, undulating moves were almost sexual. Zuko bounced back to his feet and gently placed the object back on the desktop.

Confused, Sokka wandered towards the inner bedroom door. No, he wasn't just admiring how graceful Zuko was, that wasn't the only thing… His hand froze on the door handle. All of his efforts he'd exerted that morning to avoid thinking about Zuko had been futile. His mind began to put the pieces together against his will. Shit, he had to think about something else—sea prunes, sea prunes—it was no use! The wheels had already started turning.

The armband…buying presents for Zuko…fierce over-protectiveness…that strange feeling in his stomach…his jealous reaction to Lang…and the fact that he'd just been staring at Zuko's ass—all of this had happened before, with someone else… The realization hit him harder than one of the Mechanist's metal submarines at the exact same moment that he yanked open the door to the bedroom. It only made it halfway open before he felt like he'd been sucker punched in the gut. Sokka's eyes bugged out in horror and he dropped to a crouch, covering his mouth with his free hand as he let out a weird strangled grunt. Zuko's exclamation of worry came through as if Sokka was hearing it underwater.

Holy flaming fireballs. All this had happened. With Suki.

He was in love. With Zuko.

The revelation was so overwhelming that it took a good minute to register what was going on around him. For a moment, he just stared stupidly at the handle of the knife sunk into the soft wood of the door about two inches deep. The pommel was expensive-looking thick, worn ivory carved with a crosshatch pattern that must have come from the imported tusks of a saber-tooth moose lion from all the way in the Earth Kingdom. It was now currently quivering in the doorway above him right where he'd been standing less than 15 seconds ago. He shared a slack-jawed look with Zuko who had come up to stand behind him when he'd collapsed to a crouch. Simultaneously, they looked back at the knife. He'd almost become a Water Tribe shish kabob.

The second knife hit the door frame beside his head with such force that the casing shattered. Splinters of black and red painted wood flew at his face and he had to yank his arm up to knock them away before they sunk into his cheeks. He was temporarily blinded as he shielded himself. The knee-jerk reaction managed to snap him out of his stupor so that his limbs unfroze. With one hand, he grabbed the pommel of the ivory dagger beside his head and yanked it out of the door. It was almost as long as his forearm and felt weighty in his palm. Space Sword Jr made its way into his right hand. All of this had happened in a matter of seconds but it felt like hours. Every second counted with an unknown enemy armed with unknown weapons. A sudden thought struck him and he remembered that Zuko had just walked up behind him. In a panic, he looked back to check on the firebender but he was gone. A blast of flames coming from inside the bedroom answered his next question. Of course the Fire Lord wouldn't keep himself out of harm's way. After that, all hell broke loose.

Next chapter will bring back the action. Woot!