ATLA Book 4: Ashes

Getting Down to Business

The sun was still high in the sky as Zuko and his friends approached the royal palace on Appa. The sight of the palace itself brought a mixture of different emotions to Zuko, and though there was still some sadness and regret, he was also focused, and resolute. There were a lot of matters of state that would need to be attended to, as the surrounding charred buildings from his battle with Azula grimly reminded him. There were so many things to do, so many wrongs to right, it was nearly overwhelming...and he was only seventeen. It seemed impossible at times, the thought of him actually ruling a country, but he stubbornly squashed these feelings as soon as they emerged. He had never been one to give up, he always kept fighting to the end, and this was certainly no exception.

When Appa landed on the palace grounds, everyone grabbed their stuff and dismounted, and began to head to the palace itself. Zuko didn't get very far, however, before he was stopped.

"Hey, Zuko?"

Zuko turned to face Sokka, who had grabbed his makeshift crutch and came up next to him, with a serious expression on his face. He recognized that focused look on Sokka's face. It was the same one he had when he was devising a plan, or when he was trying catch Zuko off guard in their sword sparring matches. The other teenager didn't waste any time, either.

"I need to talk to you," he told Zuko, and when he realized that the others had turned to look at them, he gave them a meaningful look, "alone."

Katara looked at her brother suspiciously, "What do you need to talk about now that's so secretive?"

"Oh, nothing. Just....manly stuff."

Anyone could tell just by glancing at Sokka's face that he was hiding something, but Suki seemed to sense that he wanted some privacy, so she gently hooked her arm through Katara's and gave it a pat.

"Come on, let's give the 'men' some time together."

Both Zuko and Sokka frowned a little at her tone, but she just smiled and led a still suspicious Katara on ahead of them. When Sokka was satisfied at the distance between them and the rest of the group, he turned to Zuko.

"So, I wanted to talk to you some more about what happened this morning."

Zuko gritted his teeth in anger, but tried to keep his voice smooth. "I have some ideas on where to start looking for the mercenaries. One way or another, I will find out who sent them."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, except that I couldn't help but notice you never said 'we', only 'I'. She's my sister, Zuko. I need to find out who's after her too."

"I know that," he tried to put as much patience as he could muster in his tone, "but I need you to let me handle this one. You're not the only one who's good at solving problems, you know."

Sokka, however, was still insistent. "Look, I know you're a big stickler on the whole solo honor and redemption thing, but you don't need to do this alone. What happened this morning wasn't your fault. This is something I want to be a part of."

Zuko didn't agree with Sokka on his blamelessness, but he chose to skip over that, and get straight to the point. "Sokka, I'm not insisting on doing this alone because of some honor-bound duty, I'm being realistic. How exactly are you going to go about looking for these mercenaries when you don't even know anything about the city and would probably get lost within the first ten minutes of being on the streets?"

His friend's tone became a little defensive, "You don't have to have the city layout memorized in order to talk to people. Someone in the city has to know who these guys are, and where their hideout is."

"First of all, Sokka, these guys were organized and professional. They're not going to have an 'Assassins for Hire' sign hanging on the door to their headquarters. Second of all, even if we are lucky and find someone who knows something about the mercenaries, they're not going to talk to foreigners. No offense Sokka, but no matter what clothes you wear, anyone who takes a close look at your face will immediately be able to tell you're not from the Fire Nation."