The Market Place
The storm had passed overnight, leaving bright blue cloudy skies in its wake. Unfortunately, however, the weather system had also pushed the ship significantly off course, so their journey was now extended.
Eventually, they docked at a small earth kingdom port. It was a quaint little area, not much to do see or do but it was land.
The sun was peaking in through the window of Sokka and Katara’s room, awakening the older boy. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, then glanced over at his sleeping sibling.
He was just grateful she was ok. Spirits knows what he would have done if that bastard Tai had succeeded.He honestly probably wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
A soft knock on the door drew his face away from Katara, and he quickly jumped out of bed and reached for the door.
Zuko stood there awkwardly, staring at his feet, until he shot his head up when Sokka opened the door.
“Hey?” Sokka questioned.
“We uh,” the prince stuttered, “docked on a port. I just thought I’d tell you in case you wanted to get off the ship?”
Before he could answer, he glanced back at his sister.
“Sure, why not,” he replied with a small, tired smile, his lips merely forming a thin line.
Zuko’s expression had a hint of concern in it.
“How’s your sister holding up?”
Sokka scratched his neck
“Decently. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to be after someone tries to murder you so.....”
The firebender bit his lip and nodded, making no effort this time around to try and mask his softer facade.
He looked like an actual human being this way. Well, a very, VERY, awkward human being, but a person nevertheless. It gave him time to appreciate the gracefulness of his face. The scar may have consumed a significant portion of his face, but what remained was undeniably handsome.
And now the prince looked at him with his piercing gold eyes, except they didn’t seem to shear him with their fire as they normally would, but merely shimmered in the sunlight.
“We escorted Tai and the other men that agreed with him off of the ship—if that makes you and Katara feel better.”
Sokka breathed a loud sigh of relief, and couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face. Zuko had done that for them. Zuko, the prince of the fire nation.
It brought him relief, but it also made no sense. So he had to ask,
“Why are you doing this for us?”
Now it was Zuko’s turn to look confused.
“Why would I not?” He questioned, a slight tilt in his head.
Sokka crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows.
“Well the fire nation hasn’t exactly shown hospitality towards people from other nations. I would assume their prince wouldn’t want to help out two kids from the water tribe, especially one that’s a waterbender.”
Zuko seemed to still have a lost expression, almost as if he didn’t understand what Sokka was talking about. But before he could answer, Katara stirred.
“Morning sleeping beauty,” Sokka said teasingly.
Katara groaned in reply, smashing her face back down in her pillow.
Zuko snorted, the closest to laughing Sokka’s ever heard him do. When he turned his head at the prince, he cleared his throat, almost to hide the sound he had just made.
“If you can find a way to drag your sister out of bed, we can maybe visit the marketplace before we leave.”
The marketplace? Shopping? Sokka’s face lit up.
“WE’RE GOING SHOPPING!?” He yelled out in joy as he grabbed Zuko on either side of his arms. The prince looked startled, but he merely shook the other boy off, who flushed with embarrassment.
“Sorry,” he apologized, “I haven’t gone shopping in awhile, and uh, I kinda miss it.”
Zuko rubbed where Sokka had gripped him.
“Kinda?” He said sarcastically, but also in an almost light-hearted manner. Almost.
The blue-eyed warrior chuckled awkwardly, then turned around to his half-awake sibling to move attention away from himself.
“Come Katara, we don’t wanna miss the marketplace, up up up!”
The waterbender finally opened her eyes, mostly to toss a glare at her brother, then finally moved to get up.
“Fineeee,” she drawled out. She stretched out her arms wide as she yawned, unintentionally (perhaps intentionally) hitting Sokka in the face.
“My bad.”
The older boy rubbed the now reddening spot on his cheek, narrowing his eyes at his sister.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” he finally said to Zuko, who was still standing at the doorway watching the scene unfold.
He nodded and retreated from the room, leaving the water tribe siblings to bicker once more before actually getting ready to leave.
.............................................
Finally walking off of the ship and onto dry land was quite literally a breath of fresh air for the water tribe siblings. It almost felt strange to ground both feet on solid ground, and to not have the slightest bit of movement underneath them.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning warmly, with puffy little white clouds painting the cyan sky, and a gentle breeze brushing over the jade trees. Sokka closed his eyes and let the air current graze his face. When he opened his eyes, Zuko was staring at him, his uncle at his side. Somehow his golden eyes didn’t frighten him, mostly because they looked genuinely curious in a strange way. It made his stomach feel weird, but not in a disgusted manner. Quite the opposite actually.
Even if he didn’t mind, the prince seemed to feel embarrassed, because he looked away quickly, almost as if he were caught committing a crime.
Katara was the one to start conversation,
“So where’re we at?”
Iroh pointed at the large wooden sign at the entrance of the small village, almost welcoming them.
“Hai Chéng,” he repeated the name carved onto it, then continued, “it is a small yet great cultural hub of the Earth Kingdom. You can find almost anythingat the market here.”
“Neat,” Katara replied before nudging Sokka with her elbow, “well my brother here absolutely lovesshopping, don’t you Sokka?”
He reddened at that and glared at his sister’s mischievous grin. His face heated even more when he saw a glint of amusement in Zuko’s eyes.
“Yeah yeah I get it,” he said as he crossed his arms.
Iroh smiled in a good-hearted manner at the blushing teen, “I would not be so ashamed. I for one am quite glad to have a young man have such a passion for this hobby.”
“My nephew on the other hand,” he patted a hand on the boy’s shoulder and chuckled, “does not care for it as I do. He’d rather sit in his room and sulk.”
Now it was the prince’s turn to turn red in the face, “Hey I don’t sulk.”
Both siblings looked at Iroh as he looked at them, and they laughed together.
“Yeah, sure you don’t,” Sokka said sarcastically, an eyebrow raised and a smirk wide on his cheeks.
Zuko growled, but no harsh comeback was tossed at them. Instead, he turned and started walking towards the marketplace.
“Let’s just get going already.”
The others quickly followed behind him, soon dazzled by the incredible colors before them.
Neither water tribe sibling had seen so much diversity in product ever before in their life. Anything one could buy was here, from rich red fabric to aromatic amber spices. The merchants seemed like they could be from any part of the word, some donning amber eyes and black hair, or others with brown skin and dazzling blue eyes.
Zuko’s couldn’t help himself from feeling a little less moody when he saw the pure expression of joy and wonder on Sokka’s face. Katara was intrigued, but Sokka’s happiness was utterly contagious. Almost charming.
Soon enough the four had paired themselves off, with Sokka and Iroh ahead talking enthusiastically about the items they were seeing and Zuko and Katara, both walking semi-side-by-side in silence.
The waterbender pursed her lips and swung casually. The prince’s fists were clenched as usual, but she could see him slightly fidgeting his left thumb.
‘I guess I’m not the only one who’s uncomfortable with this silence,’ she thought to herself.
“So.....you’re not much of a shopper?”
“Yeah.”
‘Well at least I got a word out of him,’ she thought to herself once more
“Yeah I’m not much of a shopper either. It’s nice to see all the cool stuff, but I’ll only buy something if I really want it.”
She noticed him unclench his fists, instead folding them in front of himself.
“Me too,” he replied simply.
‘Tui and La this guy doesn’t know how to have a conversation.’
A couple more moments passed quietly before the duo caught up to Sokka and Iroh. The older man appeared to already have quiet a few purchases in his arms, while Sokka had none.
“I couldn’t decide on what to buy!” Sokka explained defensively.
“Well,” Iroh raised his full arms, “I believe I am ready to head back to the ship with all my purchases.”
Katara sighed in relief, “yeah I think I’m good to head back too.”
Sokka made a pouty face and hung his head, “But I haven’t found anything yet, and there’s so much we still haven’t seen!”
Katara rolled her eyes at her brother, mildly annoyed at his childishness.
“Sokka I think we’ve seen enough. And you shouldn’t be going about by yourself.”
Zuko seemed to contemplate for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing before he perked his head up.
“If you wanted to see more, I could stay with you while they go back.”
Katara raised an irritated eyebrow.
‘Oh now he wants to talk.’
When no one appeared to respond, Zuko turned bright red.
“Unless you don’t want to I was just—“
“No no that’s not what I was saying I—“
“No really don’t mind if you don’t—“
Iroh and Katara watched as the two teenagers continued to awkwardly interrupt one another.
“Uhh we’re just gonna....go.....back to the ship,” Katara said as she took a step back.
Sokka finally stopped the jumbled mess that was a conversation with the prince, and his face became concerned.
“Wait, are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Before Katara could answer, Iroh placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“I promise you that she’ll be in safe hands.”
She smiled softly at the older man, before making her smile more smug as she turned to her brother.
“Also, I can kick ass. No need to worry about me.”
“If you insist,” he sighed in reply.
He watched as the firebender walked off towards the ship with his sister, his eyes not moving.
Zuko could sense Sokka’s worry, so he scanned his mind for something to ease him. He wasn’t exactly one for words, however, so it took him a few minutes.
“Umm, my uncle is really overbearing. So you don’t need to worry about your sister. I promise my uncle will keep her safe.”
Zuko might have imagined it, but the tenseness in Sokka’s face seemed to lighten, and he slipped his bottom lip out from under his teeth. He nodded quietly.
“Yeah....yeah ok I’ll trust you.”
For a moment he couldn’t tell if the other boy really meant it, but the delicate smile Sokka gave him after told him that he was sincere.
Before he could overthink anymore, Zuko nodded towards the market.
“Uh, you ready?”
Sokka seemed distracted, but then realized someone was addressing him.
“Hm? Oh yeah let’s go,” he quickly replied.
The two continued to walk past the stands, slowly though, throughout the afternoon, because Sokka seemed to want to look at everything.
“Wow, check out that sword!” He exclaimed as he pointed at a jian.
The sword truly was brilliant. The polished reddish wooden handle was met by a intricate pommel and guard, and the silver blade was sharp and clean to the point where both boys could see their reflection clear as day.
Zuko had seen many a sword created by the finest of craftsmen, but even he was amazed at the beauty of the weapon.
Sokka practically ran up to the stand selling the sword.
“Hey excuse me Mr. Sword Guy,” he pointed at the jian, “how much for that one?”
“80 gold pieces,” the man grunted.
Both boys eyes widened simultaneously.
Eighty gold pieces—
“Why the hell is it that expensive?” Zuko asked aggressively.
The seller seemed impatient and irritated, leaning forward and slanting his eyes at the prince.
“It was supposedly made by Master Piandao boy.”
Zuko’s good eye twitched at the word boy, but he stayed on subject when he growled.
“Look I know Master Piandao and that price is still—“
The man cut him off, chuckling, “oh I’m sure you do, still don’t give a shit kid.”
Sokka was about to grab Zuko’s arm and tell him it didn’t matter. That they should just leave and find something else to buy. But the anger in those golden eyes was so fierce and stubborn he knew that he couldn’t change the prince’s mind.
Zuko instead crossed his arms over his chest, breathing in, then out.
“I’ll challenge you to a duel for it then.”
The man raised an eyebrow “huh?”
“Huh?”
“You heard me,” Zuko responded as he became increasingly hostile.
The man chuckled again, slouching back in his chair and placing two hands behind his head.
“Sorry, I don’t fight half blind children,” he motioned at the scarred side of the firebender’s face.
Zuko really didn’t like that.
“You take the jian. I’ll fight with your dao swords. Whoever wins gets the jian,” he gritted.
Sokka couldn’t help himself from touching the prince’s arm to get his attention.
“I’ve read about dual swords. Aren’t they incredibly difficult to use? You want to fight him? Fine, but don’t be cocky.”
Zuko scoffed, almost offended. He grabbed the dao swords anyway, pulling them out of their sheath and admiring them.
“I know,” he finally reasoned, “but you’ve never seen me fight with them before.”
The fire in his eyes. The sharpness of his clenched jaw. The firm stance he was now assuming. Sokka couldn’t stop him now, nor did he honestly want to.
The man grunted and got up, grabbing the jian sword.
“Alright enough. I’ll indulge you in one dual boy. We’ll see how great you are.”
Spirits he hoped his confidence wasn’t just misplaced pride.
Zuko striked first, the sound of steel clashing causing heads to turn. The man went next, pushing the prince back significantly which brute strength.
The fight seemed to last forever, but forever wasn’t enough for Sokka to watch Zuko duel.
Where the man he was fighting was heavy and brutal, Zuko was graceful and precise. It was almost like he was a completely different person once he held a sword, in this case two, in his hand. It was incredible.
Soon, the man had them in a sword lock, pushing the boy so that he was practically bending backwards.
“Not so great now are we, scar boy?” The older man taunted.
Zuko struggled to hold against the weight, but just as he seemed to collapse, a smirk pressed against his lips.
And in one release of his own leg, the man fell forward, almost directly on top of Zuko, but the boy twisted from beneath him before the man slammed against the ground.
He scrambled, eventually turning to face the blade pointed at him, and his eyes travelled upward to the teenager holding the weapon.
The man panted, sweat glistening from his forehead as he dropped his head in surrender.
Zuko walked up to him and stood there for a moment, before quietly bowing and grabbing the jian from the man. He placed the dao swords at his feet.
“You can keep these,” he said as he walked off with the new sword towards Sokka.
While the people in the market had long gone back to what they were previously doing, Sokka still stood there with his jaw dropped, eyes wide. He was absolutely amazed.
Zuko handed him the sword quietly, “here, it’s yours now.”
He ran his hand delicately over the smooth handle, although he wasn’t really paying much attention to the sword now.
“You....I....that.....you were amazing!” He broke out into a nervous laugh, and the prince seemed proud.
“Thanks,” he said, simple, but he smiled back at Sokka, an actual full smile, and the world seemed to tilt a bit.
‘Did Zuko just smile at me?’
It was...beautiful. Beautiful seemed such a strange word to describe the fire prince, but with the sun against his black hair, and the joy in his lopsided grin, Sokka couldn’t think of any other word.
..................................
The two wondered awhile longer, until the sun began to set on the horizon, and the two made their way into town.
“Man I’m starving,” Sokka complained, grabbing his growling stomach.
Zuko frowned, “yeah I know, you’ve told me six times.”
“Well I am,” he threw his hands up, “What do you want to get?”
The prince shrugged his shoulders in reply. Sokka groaned,
“Ugh fine I guess I’ll be the one to find us something to eat.”
Honestly Sokka used his nose more then his head to find dinner for the two of them. That lead him to a friendly older woman name Pao. “Earth Kingdom delicacy” was the title of her stand, and it smelled good enough that he didn’t care what it was.
Zuko insisted he didn’t need to buy him dinner, but Sokka did anyway.
“Then we can call it even,” he explained. Zuko looked at him, a glint of reluctance present in his golden eyes before he finally accepted the offer.
“Alright, if you insist.”
The two made their way to a small table next to a fountain, lanterns lighting the square and street music playing softly in the background. This town seemed to never stop moving: there were people walking up and down the streets and vendors hard at work and couples dancing happily.
Not a second before they sat down, Sokka bit into the tender meat on his plate, and groaned happily, then took another bite. He looked up to see a half-disgusted half-amused Zuko staring at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Sokka shrugged and continued eating, while Zuko began nibbling into his dish. He chewed for a few moments, before raising his eyebrows—eyebrow—in surprise.
“This is actually pretty good, any clue what it is?” He questioned as he wiped his mouth.
Sokka swallowed his food quickly, “I think the lady said it was turtleduck.”
In an instant, Zuko’s eyes widened in horror, and he spat his food out onto the plate. Sokka stopped what he was doing,
“Spirits Zuko is something wrong?”
The expression on his porcelain features was apprehensive at best, and he looked down at the plate before him as if he had just bitten into a steaming pile of shit.
“I don’t eat turtleduck,” he replied sharply. Sokka couldn’t get over the look he was giving the dish. The water tribe boy had to process what the prince had just said.
“Oh.....OH are you a vegetarian?” Sokka almost gasped, feeling a bit bad if that was the case.
But Zuko’s reaction was immediate, giving him the answer prematurely,
“What? No I just.....look have you ever had a pet before?”
Sokka thought for a moment,
“Me and Katara found a polar bear dog when we were kids, it ran away though after a few days.”
“Yeah well imagine eating that for dinner unintentionally,” Zuko said bitterly, motioning towards his plate.
He snorted in reply, until he saw Zuko’s glare, and straightened up a bit.
“Shit, oh no.....I’m sorry, I had no idea. I didn’t even know fire nation people kept turtleducks as pets. Seems a bit too cute and fluffy for a firebending war-mongering nation.”
“Yeah they probably were,” Zuko replies, a hard, yet almost nostalgic look on his face. Sokka gave him some time before his own stomach growled once more,
“Are you ok with me finishing this or—“
“Yeah yeah go ahead.”
Carefully, he bit once more into his meal, keeping his eyes on the prince to make sure he wasn’t boiling over with anger. It seems however that he was still thinking of something, as he was staring off into the lit square, at the people still dancing to the music. Curiously, almost.
Sokka wiped his mouth on his sleeve,
“You ever been dancing before?” He asked, glancing over at the dancers.
The prince’s fiddled with his fingers,
“No, we’re not allowed to dance in the fire nation.”
He smirked mischievously as he jumped out of his seat, holding a hand out to the firebender, “well we aren’t in the fire nation, are we?”
Zuko, shocked, looked at his hand, then back at his face. The finger fiddling increased.
“Are you....are you suggesting that we—“
He rolled his eyes, “shit Zuko I’m not asking for your hand in marriage. Trust me, it’ll be fun.”
“We’ll look ridiculous.”
“And?”
Blue and gold stared into one another, an unspoken message of ‘trust me’ translating in one glance.
Zuko grabbed his hand.
His hand was warm, so warm yet so rugged at the same time. But it fit so well, and it just felt.....right, somehow.
They practically ran to the square, a big, goofy smile on Sokka’s face as he tugged the prince along with him.
“Ok ok, so basically,” he took Zuko’s other hand, “you put this here,” he placed it on his shoulder.
“Ok.”
“And,” he continued, “I put my hand here,” he placed it at Zuko’s waist, carefully as he tensed.
They were so close he could feel the other boy’s body heat, practically felt the pounding of his heart. Or maybe that was his own heart.
“And we keep these hands together?” Zuko questioned as he gave their hands a squeeze.
Sokka paused as he felt the prince’s breath against his skin, before mentally punching himself back into reality.
“Yeah,” he tried saying, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper.
“And we just....sway?”
“Yeah.”
The firebender shook his head in understanding, and slowly they began to sway, back and forth and back and forth.
Sokka wanted to speak, to say something to end this silence, but he couldn’t find the words. He felt sweaty and nervous and his stomach was doing all sorts of flips. He honestly had no idea that he would feel this way dancing with Zuko, he had only suggested it because he wanted to drag the prince out of his comfort zone, but on the way there, he took himself out of his own unintentionally.
“Do you guys do this a lot in the South Pole?” Zuko asked stiffly. Judging from the slight shake of his hand in his own, Sokka could assume the other teenager was a bit nervous as well.
“No, not really, I’ve only done this once before, when Katara and I stopped at Kyoshi Island. One of the warriors, Suki, taught me how to dance.”
He felt himself blush a bit at the memory, of her perfect confidence and his painful awkwardness. Except it made sense then. She was a pretty, no, beautiful girl who was a total badass who he attracted to. But what did that mean for the situation now? Did he feel the same then as he does now?
“Do you ever miss home?” Zuko asked, off guard, his voice low.
“Yeah, from time to time. Only when I think about it a lot. I miss my Gran Gran and penguins and feeling secure, oh and all the meat!”
Sokka felt him snicker at that, felt his breathe hit his collarbone, warm and delicate as a feather. It’s a feeling he wants to close his eyes to, and just feel.
“What about you?” He asks, but almost immediately regrets asking, because the prince’s grin fades hastily.
“Home,” he says, his eyes far away, and for a moment Sokka doesn’t think he’ll reply to the question.
They sway back and forth and back and forth until—
“I only think about it sometimes, when I can’t sleep at night,” he says carefully, like he’s scared to speak these words.
“I think about chasing my sister around and playing with my cousin and feeding the turtleducks with my mother. Before she—,” and there he stops, and swallows.
And there is no questioning why he did, because Sokka understands.
He knows the pain.
“I’m sorry,” is all he can think to say, all he’s capable of saying.
“Don’t be,” his voice is wavering, “I remember Katara mentioning that you two had lost your mother to the fire nation as well. I should be the sorry one.”
Sokka feels tears gathering, and he holds them in like a dam waiting to burst. He has nothing to say, nothing to distract him. So he steadies himself in those golden eyes in front of him.
They’re undeniably firebender eyes. And he wonders and wonders why it is that he doesn’t want Zuko to apologize for his mother’s death. Why he doesn’t want to scream at him for every evil his nation had done to his home, his family, and him.
It was the scar.
The fire nation had hurt him too, and his face was a reminder of that, wrapped around one of those firebender eyes.
They both had scars from this fucking war, inside and out.
......................................
They don’t speak on the way back to the docks. For some reason, their presence is enough for one another. Just a comfortable silence between two boys, two boys who had lost too much but found each other without even knowing it.