Chapter Text
Aang’s bending wasn’t the only thing that needed work. His storytelling could use some pointers, too.
“So I picked up the giant golden egg-
“We were stuck there for hours. Zuko wasn’t happy.
“And they started licking all the goo off of us, which kinda tickled-
“We thought we were gonna die-
“Fire rainbow tornado sorta thing-
“And that’s what really happened. It was supposed to be a secret though, so please don’t tell the others!”
“So Zuko was playing with Dragon’s fire?” Toph sounded perplexed. “Well if there was ever a good reason for turning into a dragon…”
“They didn’t tell us that was something that could happen,” Aang said, guilt-ridden as the air nomad had ever been.
“So we schmooze our way to the ancient fire temple, and they change Zuko back!” Sokka proclaimed, voice bright yet expressive gestures quiet. He still had a dragon latched onto his back, after all.
Katara put her hands on her hips. “I hate to break it to you, but from what Aang just told us, I don’t think this ancient civilization is going to want you ‘schmoozing’ much of anything.”
Aang pipped up, “Well I could go alone with Zuko-“
“No!” Three of them shouted at once. The airbender shrunk back, visibly caught off-guard by their distress.
“It was just an idea.” He mumbled under his breath.
“Well here’s another idea,” Sokka began, simultaneously biting off another tiny piece of seal jerky. “We leave first thing tomorrow, you beg them with the Avatar’s word or something for help,” he slowly brought the piece over his right shoulder where he knew Zuko was laying, “and we are in and out in a day.”
“And worst case scenario, we can kick their butts.” Toph punched a fist into her palm for emphasis.
Sokka felt Zuko take the little piece of food out of his hand, and it was gone a second later. Sokka could only see a glimpse of blue out of the corner of his eye, but he hesitantly tried to offer his hand to the creature anyway. The talking continued around him, but he was more focused on whether he was about to have his finger bitten off.
“-attacking them unprovoked wouldn’t be nice- Sokka, are you even listening?” His sister said, in the middle of a conversation he’d forgotten he’d been a part of. It didn’t really matter though, because a moment later he felt Zuko’s snout touch his hand. Then he rubbed the side of his face across Sokka’s fingers like a owl cat.
Katara turned her frustration to the dragon once she realized he was the distractor, and the moment Zuko cataloged that her attention was on him he dived back under Sokka’s shirt.
“Why’d you do that Katara? He’s warming up to me!” Sokka whined, huffing because he had still hardly seen what Zuko looked like.
“He. Is. A. Dragon,” Katara bit back.
“Dragons are actually very emotionally intelligent creatures-“ and Aang thought he was helping, but was just adding water to the flood.
“If he is so smart, how come he doesn’t recognize any of us?”
“And while we’re on that,” Toph cut in, “why is he so tiny?”
“He’s a baby!” Aang said it like it was obvious.
Sokka furrowed his eyebrows. “Uh… he’s older than all of us.”
“Yeah, but dragons age slower. They usually don’t even leave the nursery till, like, 10.”
Sokka gasped before he could stop himself. “So when you said ‘baby dragon’ before you didn’t mean like a small dragon. You literally mean that Zuko is a baby.”
“Of course,” Aang replied.
Sokka felt Katara’s glare trying to burn a hole through his shirt where she knew Zuko was hidden. “Do we think he’s… felt aware?” She asked.
“As if a self-aware Zuko would ever catch himself hiding behind Sokka. Under his shirt,” Toph snarked back. None of them could disagree with that, especially Sokka, because Zuko was pressed flat against his shoulder blade at the moment.
“So we head to the fire temple at first light tomorrow,” Sokka announced fist in his palm cementing the idea. “We just need to run it by the others… and explain all this I guess…”
Toph's grin was sharp as a tiger shark. “This is going to be fun.”
__
It was not, in fact, fun. Sokka knew Hakoda already had limited patience for the Fire Prince. Dragons was very much pushing it. No one was more upset than Zuko, though. There was a constant low growl coming off Sokka’s back, especially when he stood nearer to Hakoda.
“Is there a reason he is growling?” Hakoda said, lifting a defensive brow.
“I dunno,” Sokka shrugged.
“Should we get him off your back, maybe?”
“Uh, trying to catch him didn’t go so well last time,” Aang said.
“Please,” Suki rolled her eyes, still in disbelief over this situation. “One creature vs four fighters, one of which can sense every movement-
“Well, I learned something new today,” Toph cut in. “Baby dragons are very quick and very light.”
“Maybe if we work together?” Haru suggested. Toph didn’t respond, and they knew their situation really was bleak if even Toph wasn’t confident.
“It’s not like Zuko has ever made anything easy for us,” Katara said, sounding much more resigned than snarky at this point. She rubbed her temples like a headache was coming on.
“Maybe if he was staying still I could get him in some sorta cage?” Toph suggested.
“Wait,” Sokka said. “We can’t put Zuko in a cage!” Everyone looked at him expectantly for a moment like they were waiting for an explanation, which made him feel far more unsure than he had a moment ago. “He would be scared… Aang, c’mon, back me up here.”
“He would be scared,” Aang nodded. “But it’s sorta partially my fault because I asked him to use dragon fire. And I don’t want to put Zuko in a cage, but if he runs away…”
“Maybe he won’t run away,” Sokka said, feeling oddly defensive over Zuko.
Hakoda clapped very chief-ly like to get everyone’s attention. Sokka felt Zuko flinch. “We don’t need to decide right now. And Aang, Momo has followed you this far. Who’s to say Zuko won’t?”
Aang’s eyes were wide as he nodded. Sokka realized the guilt over this must be eating at him.
“It wasn’t your fault he turned into a dragon,” Sokka told him.
“ I’m the one who asked him to try-“
“Zuko did that all on his own,” Katara said. Sokka felt grateful for it. His sister always seemed to know what to say to Aang. She tucked him under her arm. “Let’s go find something to do around here.” Katara eyed Sokka as she directed Aang away, jerking her head to the left in a motion clearly meaning ‘go somewhere Aang isn’t going to find you so he won’t start moping.’ Sibling telepathy was strange like that.
“I’m going to go…” Sokka furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. Where would Zuko want to go? “To Zuko’s room,” he finished. “Maybe he’ll relax in there.”
“I’ll come,” Toph said, coming to Sokka’s side.
Sokka eyed her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I’ll keep my distance. I just wanna see if I can learn to sense him.”
Sokka wasn’t exactly comfortable with that, but he wasn’t in a position to deny her. With a wave, he walked off to Zuko’s room, Toph in tow. Now Zuko wasn’t hissing, but he was still fully hidden. The pair entered Zuko’s room, Toph staying out of view just outside. Sokka sat down criss-crossed in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. As with most of Sokka’s issues, seal jerky seemed like a good place to start. He pulled the pack out and bit off a few small pieces, and -this wasn’t his smartest plan- he tried his best to form a little trail. Resting his arm, he balanced one piece on his shoulder, one on his forearm, one on his hand, and one on the ground in front of him. Then, he waited.
It reminded him of being stuck in the ground waiting for the saber-tooth moose lion, except this time he was here by choice. Zuko approached the first piece of seal jerky and sat on Sokka’s shoulder for a long moment, seeming to catalog where they were. Most of Zuko’s stuff had long been removed from the room, but he still had his picture of his uncle and a candle for meditation in it. Just as Sokka was beginning to get fidgety, Zuko made his way down Sokka’s arm.
Sokka finally had a good view of Zuko and found a dragon that was so foreign-looking yet so inexplicably Zuko. His scales were a royal blue, and his stomach a darker shade. There were some red and white scales spotting along the sides of his body like freckles. He had incredibly soft-looking white tufts of hair poking out behind his pointed ears. There were two nubs on his forehead, both covered in a layer of fuzz like freshly grown antlers. And of course, those bright gold eyes which surrounded his slitted pupils. To Sokka’s surprise, remnants of Zuko’s scar remained. It was far less drastic, with only a slight discoloration shading the damaged scales. Zuko ate the last two bites in no time, then looked up at Sokka expectantly, pupils big and round. Sokka slowly offered his hand out to Zuko, and just like an owl cat again, Zuko nuzzled his cheek on Sokka’s hand. He pressed close to Sokka’s leg as he glanced around.
“S’that him?” Toph’s voice sounded from around the corner. Zuko scattered up to Sokka’s knee, back curved in a defensive posture as he stared at the door.
“It’s him,” Sokka confirmed, trying to keep the frown out of his voice. He turned his attention to Zuko. “That’s just Toph, buddy. She isn’t gonna hurt you.” Zuko didn’t seem convinced, unmoved from his spot. “Come in here, Toph,” Sokka said finally. When Toph entered, Zuko shot from Sokka’s knee to the middle of his lap, hiss rising. Sokka patted the ground in front of him. “Sit here.”
Toph plopped down, not looking phased by the hissing. “What now?”
“Gimme your hand.”
Sokka took Toph’s hand and made a big show of patting it. “See, Toph is super friendly!”
Zuko stopped hissing, but his glare still pointed daggers.
Toph went to pull her hand back. “I don’t think this is gonna work-“
“Wait! Here.” Sokka bit another piece of seal jerky off (was he going to regret this later? Probably) and put it in Toph’s open palm. “Look, she has food.” Sokka tapped Toph’s palm in front of Zuko. Zuko seemed caught in a great pitfall that Sokka could very easily relate to. What would he risk to get meat?
“Told you,” Toph said after a moment, going to retract her hand.
“Just give him one more minute-“ Zuko snapped out and grabbed the seal jerky, only eating it once he was safely back in Sokka’s lap. Sokka was incredibly happy with himself. “There. He’ll warm up to you before you know it!”
Toph shrugged, wiping her hand on her pants. “Same difference to me.”
Sokka didn’t entirely believe she meant that, but he’d have her convinced soon enough. Dragon-Zuko was going to make a great addition to their team.