Chapter 3
“This is really weird.”
Sokka adjusted Aang’s tie and took a step back to examine his work. Aang’s eyebrows knitted together.
“The tie?”
“No, the tie looks good. This situation is weird.”
“Oh.”
Sokka stepped forwards and put his hands on Aang’s shoulders to spin him towards the mirror. He smiled shyly at his reflection, tugging on his tie and the hem of his suit jacket.
“I mean, it’s not weird that Ty Lee wanted to go with me, as we all know I’ve got an insane amount of game.” Sokka tugged on his own tie and winked at his reflection over Aang’s head. “It’s just… the way it happened.”
Aang fidgeted with the sleeves of his jacket. “Uh huh.”
“And this dinner, what are we even supposed to talk about? It’s gonna be weird. This whole thing is just… Weird.”
“It’ll be okay, Sokka. You’re great at talking to people.”
“That is true.”
A knock rattled the pristine walls. “You girls decent?” Toph called, and threw open the door before they could answer. She looked a bit strange, all dolled up in a frilly white dress that swept the ground with every step she took. Very pretty, but strange. Not like herself. Her parents had definitely picked out the dress. “Mom wanted us downstairs five minutes ago, so I was wondering if we could stall for ten. Make her squirm.”
“You shouldn’t antagonize your parents, Toph.” Katara walked in after her. She was wearing a teal mermaid dress that she had bought with her own money from an off-season clearance section. Aang’s cheeks turned dangerously red as he took her in, but she didn’t seem to notice. “They’re already stressed enough. You saw them yell at that florist.”
Toph shrugged. “They get like this whenever anyone remotely important comes over. It’s so fake. They didn’t care about the floral arrangements yesterday, but now the firelord’s children are involved everything has to be perfect.”
A twinge of anxiety turned in Sokka’s stomach. Tonight would be the first time he and Zuko had seen each other since the bathroom, minus some subtle looks Sokka had cast in Zuko’s direction earlier today in the cafeteria during lunch. He hadn’t looked at Sokka, or much of anywhere except his own tray. Sokka couldn't blame him. The scandal had been the forefront of conversation since Election Day, and it wasn’t quieting down. This party would be littered with paparazzi hoping to catch a shot of the father and son’s first public appearance since the incident. If Sokka was nervous, he couldn’t imagine how Zuko felt.
Toph’s mother appeared in the doorway. Her face was so heavily painted she looked like a cartoon character. “Toph! What are you doing? I told you to have you and your friends downstairs five minutes ago!”
“We’re going as fast as we can, mother.” Toph’s voice was a mask of innocence. “Sokka and Aang are holding us up. You know how boys are, always taking forever to get ready.”
Sokka ran a hand over the top of Aang’s bald head. “Aang’s having a bad hair day, Mrs Beifong.”
The older woman rolled her eyes and grumbled something before strolling down the stairs, each step a satisfying click under her heels. Sokka and Aang dissolved into laughter as soon as she sounded out of earshot. Katara shook her head, trying to conceal a small smile touching her painted lips.
A knock echoed from the level below, and Mrs Beifong all but screeched “KIDS, GET DOWN THERE.” The four hurried down the stairs and stood in an awkward clump behind Toph’s parents, who fumbled with their outfits a bit before signaling a well-dressed butler to pull the door open.
Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were all dressed in their signature colors: Azula in red, Mai in black, and Ty Lee in pink. Zuko was in a well-tailored tux with a perfectly done bow tie around his neck. He kept his eyes trained on the floor while Azula made direct eye-contact with her hosts. “I’m sorry if we’re a bit late.”
“Not at all!” Mrs Beifong ushered the group inside. “My, you all look lovely. The fire nation certainly knows how to dress.”
“It’s a law my father passed. All citizens must be well-dressed. Any violators are viable to be punished by death.” Mr and Mrs Beifong laughed. Sokka understood what Toph meant about the rich people laugh being insufferable.
Azula walked further inside and looked around. “Well well, the architecture is as eloquent inside as it is out. So many of these earth kingdom houses think that trimming the hedges makes for an impressive living space. This residence is a nice change of pace. Don’t you agree, Zuko?”
Zuko blinked and looked around. “Um… Yes. It’s very… Big. And… Clean.” Sokka bit the inside of his cheek to fend off laughter.
Mr and Mrs Beifong lead the crew into a large dining room with a huge rectangular table with plates already set. They all took a seat in front of fancy dishes in tiny portions. Sokka frowned down at his plate. It looked enough to satiate the hunger of Momo.
“It’s the appetizer,” Ty Lee whispered from her seat next to Sokka.
“Will the entree be bigger? Like, at least five times this size?” Ty Lee giggled a little harder than the question warranted. Sokka laughed along, a bit awkwardly. “Seriously though, I’m going to need more food than this if you want a half tolerable date.”
Sokka’s concerns were met with the doors to the kitchen whisking open. Waiters dressed in black and white set down several dishes in front of each person; a warm, earthy soup, some buttery rolls, and little circles of meat enclosed in fresh dough. A vegetarian substitute was offered for Aang.
Sokka scarfed as he made small talk with Ty Lee. Azula’s chatter with the Beifong’s kept pace throughout the entire dinner. The kindness was an obvious mask to her peers, but Toph’s parents were utterly charmed by her engagement. Zuko barely opened his mouth, not even to eat. His food was only nibbled at by the time the waiters whisked back in to take the plates away. A stab of concern landed itself in the center of Sokka’s chest. He watched Zuko across the table when he wasn’t talking to Ty Lee. He looked even more pale and miserable than usual.
“Did everyone get enough to eat?” Mrs Beifong’s eyes fell to Zuko as she spoke, probably personalizing his lack of an appetite and planning to fire half of the kitchen staff.
“It was delicious,” Azula cut in. When she stood, Mai and Ty Lee did so too. “Thank you for the dinner, I’ll be telling my father of your hospitality when I see him tonight.
“It was nothing,” Mr Beifong insisted, though his eyes had brightened when Azula mentioned her father. Toph was right; they did like important people.
Appa was stationed in the back garden where he always waited when the gang went to Toph’s. Sokka was fully prepared to be a gentleman and help Ty Lee onto the saddle, but she had already mounted the bison, bounding from his tail to the saddle like an acrobat, before he could offer a hand. Aang helped the other three up with verbal instruction, not daring to reach out and touch any of them. They were all on Appa’s back in the span of five minutes. Aang cast a glance over his shoulder before turning to Appa and saying “Yip yip!”
The ride to the party was strange. Ty Lee chatted the entire time, mostly with Sokka, but also with the other members of the gang. She asked Katara how she did her hair and Aang what his favorite element to bend was and Toph what it was like to be able to see with her feet. She was a non-stop chatter machine, adverse to Azula and Mia who sat towards the side of the saddle looking bored. Zuko was facing away from Sokka in a way that felt just a bit personal.
When Appa landed in front of the grand ice castle, a half dozen men dressed head to toe in tan stepped forwards to take his reins. Ty Lee gasped when she saw them.
“I love your outfits! They’re so modern, who designed them?”
“Ty Lee, no,” Mai groaned. “They’re sandbenders.”
Ty Lee looked confused. “What are sandbenders doing at an ice castle?”
“It’s for the transportation animals, Ty Lee.” Azula jumped off of Appa graceful as an air bender and smirked over her shoulder. “Dad had one of these at a fundraiser a few months back. They take the animals to a sandpit behind the castle and watch them while we’re at the party.”
“A sandpit?”
“Think of it as a giant litter box, and be glad you’re not a sandbender staffed at this party. Come on, let’s go inside.”
The party was overwhelming at first glance. Sokka had to blink a few times as though he had just walked into a too-bright room. The wardrobe choices varied in vibrant arrays of velvets and silks with matching scarves and furs slung over bare shoulders. The floor was layered in carpet to prevent a slipping hazard, but the walls were tall and constructed in pure ice which glittered in the light like a diamond dream.
Ty Lee linked her arm with Sokka’s and waded into the crowd, a giddy smile lighting her face. “I just love parties like this, don’t you?”
“Sure, totally!” Sokka replied in a way that hopefully didn’t radiate the energy of someone who had never been to a party like this. He glanced over his shoulder, looking helplessly for one of his friends. They were lost in a sea of lipstick and jeweled necklaces.
“You look very handsome in that suit.” Ty Lee’s voice was a sultry purr, and Sokka should have been transported to heaven. The amount of locker room conversations he had participated in that involved Ty Lee would suggest that he would love to have her talk to him in that tone, but his mind kept traveling elsewhere. He kept seeing the back of Zuko’s head, staring out into the night as Appa flew them here.
“Why thank you,” Sokka forced himself to reply. “You wear that shade of pink pretty good yourself.” Why didn't Zuko eat? Why did he look so sickly?
“It’s my signature color for a reason.”
Sokka shook off the weird Zuko thoughts and looked at Ty Lee. She was undeniably beautiful, with her huge gray eyes and her beach air smile. And she was sweet and charming and she laughed at every single one of his jokes. He’d be an idiot not to try and enjoy this time with her.
“Hey,” Sokka said, a smirk tracing his lips. “Wanna dance?”
Sokka was a terrible dancer. Zuko swallowed a lump of secondhand embarrassment as he watched him fall flat on his back while attempting a moonwalk across the floor, sending Ty Lee nearly to her knees in laughter. He sprung right back up as though nothing happened and continued attempting the dance, laughing as he did so.
“Enjoying the view?” Mai joined Zuko in the corner he had stationed himself.
“No,” Zuko said quickly, his cheeks reddening slightly. Mai raised an eyebrow and followed his eyeline to Sokka and Ty Lee.
“Why do you think Azula asked him out for her?”
“I don’t know.” If Mai could tell it was a lie, she didn’t say anything. Zuko paused for a moment, turning the words over in his mind before saying them. “How do you think he can do that?”
“Who?”
“Sokka. Look at him, he looks like an idiot. And there are people around. Do you think he knows that?”
“I don’t think he cares.”
“How can he not care?”
“It’s easy. I do it every day.”
“Well clearly you don’t, since you’re not out there looking like an idiot with him.”
“It’s individualized. If I cared what people thought of me, I’d be out there trying to socialize and make people like me. But I don’t. Not caring means doing what you want to do, and telling anyone who judges you to screw off.”
“Oh.” Ty Lee was trying the moon walk as well. Her effort was a little better than Sokka’s, but still terrible. Zuko scowled. “Maybe I just have more to care about than Ty Lee and Sokka.”
“Ty Lee cares. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be flirting with every guy who gives her the time of day. She’d be flirting with Azula.”
Zuko looked at Mai, slack jawed. “What!?”
Mai rolled her eyes. “You’re so unobservant.”
“How long—“
“Since they met. It’s so obvious, you and Azula are the only ones who haven’t picked up on it.”
Zuko blinked. “Wow, uh… Ok.”
“If Azula didn’t care, she would cut the little miss perfect act and chew out your dad for everything he's done to both of you. Especially you.”
Zuko crossed his arms. “I doubt that.”
Mai shrugged. “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t sit with us every lunch period.” She jutted her chin in the direction of Sokka. “You’d sit with them.”
Zuko looked back at Sokka and Ty Lee. Aang, Katara, and Toph had joined them. Sokka was still trying and failing at the moon walk. Aang was able to do it flawlessly with the help of air bending, which instantly had Sokka in his face accusing him of cheating. Katara was laughing and Toph had her arms crossed, but she was smiling. Mai was wrong; they did care. Every movement they made was fused with care, but it was a care pointed in a different direction. Instead of caring what others thought, they just cared about each other.
“Dad wants us,” Azula said, seeming to appear out of nowhere. All of the charm she was sporting in the earth kingdom had vanished. Her eyes were sharp and cold.
Zuko took a breath. “Okay.”
Zuko and Azula made their way through the crowd, nodding at some of the more important partygoers as they went. Zuko noticed the eyes that lingered a little longer on his face than usual. He held his chin high and walked tall, though his insides were knotted in anxiety.
They found their father in a back room shielded by a large blue curtain, where the other masters mingled somewhat awkwardly. Arnook was with his daughter Yue, Gyasto stood next to another monk, and Bumi was running a hand down the hairy side of his pet Flopsie. Why he couldn’t have left the giant goat gorilla in the sandpit with the avatar's bison, Zuko didn’t know.
Ozai looked at Zuko like he would prefer the company of a giant goat gorilla over his. “I need you at the house at six tomorrow morning.” He spoke in a dry voice. “We are going to a fundraiser at Wan Shi Tong’s library.”
Zuko nodded.
A stout main dressed in blue shuffled in. “Right then, is everyone ready for the photo op?” Some grumbling consensus among the masters entailed they were ready. “Good, good. Bumi, you stay where you are, Gyasto, step on the other side of Bumi, Arnook and Yue, can you step forward a bit? And Ozai, can your children switch places on either side of you? Here, like this.”
The man grabbed Zuko’s shoulders and shuffled him to the right with surprising force. He tripped and clumsily attempted to recover, which landed him on his ankle. It took every ounce of willpower Zuko possessed to keep from yelping in pain as it twisted painfully in a direction it wasn’t meant to be. Ozai grabbed him by the back of his suit jacket before he could fall down completely and pulled him upright.
“Get it together,” he growled in Zuko’s ear, straightening when the sides of the curtain parted. The party erupted into applause as the newly re-elected masters waved and smiled. Zuko grit his teeth behind a close-mouthed smile, trying his best to stand up straight with his ankle throbbing beneath him. With all the abuse allegations floating around, the last thing Ozai needed was for Zuko to be nurturing an injury on stage.
The majority of the camera flashes were angled towards Zuko and Ozai, which was predictable. Zuko’s eyes took a moment to adjust with all the flashes muddying his vision. He was just able to make out Sokka and Ty Lee, standing beside the rest of their gang. Sokka was looking right at him with an unreadable expression. Zuko looked away, finding a new patch of cameras to grin towards.
When the photo op was done, Zuko ducked behind Azula and hobbled to the nearest table. He figured he would stay sitting until the party was over. That would give his ankle enough time to rest and hopefully be able to carry him the short distance from this party to his Dad’s car. The paps took a few pictures of him sitting, but there were only so many angles they could photograph. Eventually they ditched him for Bumi, who had mounted Flopsie and was bounding in circles around the party.
“Hey.”
A cannon of adrenaline fired in Zuko’s chest as Sokka placed a plate full of food on the table and sat in the empty chair beside him.
Zuko swallowed hard. “Hi.”
Sokka awkwardly touched the back of his neck. “Nice party.”
“Yeah.”
“Very loud.”
“And sparkly.” Zuko made a gesture to the glittering ice walls. Sokka looked them over and nodded in feeble agreement.
“I, uh… I brought you some food.” Sokka pushed the plate towards Zuko. “I, uh, I noticed that you didn’t eat much at the Beifong’s. Which is ok! Earth kingdom food isn’t for everyone. I just thought, y’know, you must be hungry and all that.”
Zuko was hungry, he regarded with slight surprise. He had been too nervous to eat at the Beifong’s, but something about Sokka offering the food made him less nervous, which was weird because he had been nervous at the Beifong’s in the first place because Sokka was there. He decided not to question it and accepted the plate.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Zuko dug into the plate. Sokka looked around the party a few times, whistling softly to himself.
“Where’s Ty Lee?” Zuko asked.
“Freshening up.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah.”
Another awkward silence preceded. Sokka cleared his throat. “Hey, is your foot ok?”
Zuko looked up from his plate, alarmed. “My limp was obvious?”
“No! Not unless you were looking for it. I… I mean, I wasn’t looking for it or anything, I was just looking at you… Woah, I mean uh, that came out weird, I was just—“
“I tripped backstage,” Zuko cut Sokka off with perhaps too much defensiveness. “That’s why I’m limping. I tripped and twisted my ankle.”
“Oh.”
“That’s what happened.”
“Alright.”
“It’s really what happened!”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t!” Sokka held up his hands as though surrendering.
Zuko looked down at his plate. “Sorry,” he murmured. “It’s been a long day.”
“I’d imagine.” Sokka was watching Zuko a little too carefully. “Are you feeling okay?”
“My ankle is fine.”
“I’m not talking about your--”
“I’m fine!”
“Alright, alright, sorry.” Sokka touched the back of his neck again. “You’ve probably got closer friends to talk to about this stuff, huh?” Zuko kept his gaze fixed on the blue tablecloth. Sokka wouldn’t take his eyes off of his face, which drove him insane for a reason he couldn’t name. “You… You do have friends, right?”
“What do you want from me!?”
“I’m just worried about you--”
“Well stop being worried about me! You barely know me!” Zuko didn’t mean for it to come out in a yell, but he did. He looked back at his plate, waiting to hear the chair scoot out and watch Sokka walk away from the corner of his eye. He didn’t.
“Well, let’s change that.” Zuko blinked and looked at Sokka. He was wearing a crooked smile, sorta awkward, sorta embarrassed, sorta…
Zuko blinked again and shook his head. “I don’t want your pity.”
“It’s not pity! We’ve been going to school together for years, and this is the first conversation where you haven't yelled at me.” Zuko raised an eyebrow. Sokka smirked. “As much as usual, anyways. Here.” Sokka reached across the table to grab a blue napkin. He pulled a pen out of his front pocket -- why he had a pen with him, Zuko didn’t know -- and scribbled something down. He capped the pen and handed the napkin to Zuko, smiling. “In case you wanna yell at me less than usual some other time.”
It was a number. Sokka’s number. Scribbled horizontally from one corner of the napkin to the other. Zuko didn’t understand why his heart fluttered, or why two patches of red gathered in his cheeks.
Zuko looked back up at Sokka, who was looking across the room. Ty Lee had emerged from the bathroom and was making her way through the crowd.
“Well, I gotta go, can’t leave my date alone on the dance floor. Later!”
As soon as Sokka had come, he was gone, leaving Zuko with a napkin in his hands and a pounding in his chest.
The rest of the party was fun. Sokka danced with Ty Lee until she had to go. Then, he danced with his friends, and as nice as Ty Lee was, that was the best part. He and Aang made fools out of themselves in a dance battle. Katara refused to be the judge, saying they looked equally ridiculous. Toph kept insisting that she thought they both looked great, which got them every time.
The party was winding down by the time they all agreed to head back. Ozai and Gyasto had already left with their guests, and Bumi was eyeing the door. Sokka offered to stay back and help tidy up a little bit while Aang, Katara, and Toph went to bring Appa out front.
As Sokka folded chairs and picked up plastic dishes, he thought about Zuko. He wondered if he would reach out. Sokka couldn’t quite explain why he had given Zuko his number, other than it seemed the right thing to do at the time. And he was worried. But everyone with half a moral compass was worried about Zuko right now, so that wasn’t weird. Nothing about the night was as weird as Sokka thought it would be, other than Bumi bringing a goat gorilla as his date.
When Sokka stepped into the cold night air, Appa wasn’t waiting out front. He pulled his suit jacket tighter around his body and shivered. He didn’t know how it could be colder outside than it was in the giant ice castle, but it was.
Sokka waited for five minutes that felt like ten before making the trek around the ice castle towards the sand pit. They all probably got hung up playing with the other transportation animals. Sokka swore that without his own leadership, his gang wouldn’t get anywhere. Hence why he always carried a pen around; he never knew when he would need to spell out the details to some plan for his friends to understand what he was saying, or sketch out their face in a missing persons poster in case one of them wandered off.
Sokka realized as he rounded the bend that there was sand in the grass. The sandpit wasn’t too near where he stood, not near enough to scatter as much sand as Sokka stood on. It could be the wind, but it was a fairly still night. A bad feeling accumulated in Sokka’s stomach. He sped up. The closer he got to the sandpit, the more sand he walked on. Something had blown at least half of the sandpit away. Or someone.
Sokka was running by the time he got to the sandpit. The wooden walls were blown clean off with a ruination that could only be explained by a tornado sweeping through while Sokka was cleaning up, or airbending. A chill swept Sokka’s spine. Aang had done this.
Party guests were gathered a nosey distance away, pointing and gossiping. Sokka pushed past them. In the center of it all, Aang was crumpled into Katara’s chest, his shoulders shaking.
“What happened!?” Sokka looked around. He knew Aang was a talented bender, but this wasn’t what he used his gifts for. He had done this out of panic or anger or something that wasn’t his right mind. This wasn’t Aang. This was destruction.
Sokka’s eyes found Toph. She was standing in the center of a half destroyed stall, a stall big enough to have fit Appa when it had it’s wall intact. Except Appa wasn’t there. He wasn’t there.
Sokka looked at Toph. He looked at Katara. He looked at Aang, crying in her arms. He didn't, couldn’t, look at Appa. Appa wasn’t there.
Appa was gone.