White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

32

        "Woah, Lia, what's wrong?" Sokka asks as Rezalia nearly crashes into him. The girl looks up at him with wide eyes that didn't appear to really be seeing him. Hawky makes a soft cooing noise from his shoulder, drawing the smaller teen's attention.

"Wh...what? Why do you have...?" Her sentences were choppy and small, convincing Sokka that his friend wasn't all there. He gently pulls her to the side by her elbows.

Rezalia doesn't take her eyes off of the messenger hawk even as Sokka begins to speak. "Lia, what happened?"

"Wha...nothing. Nothing, I'm fine. I just..." Her eyes cloud over again. "He..."

That was all Sokka needed to hear. He knew exactly who this was about. "Rezalia, c'mere. Sit down." She does as told. "Look, I don't like Zuko, you know that. I think he's a huge jerk. But you love him. He's your best friend, Lia."

"No," Rezalia protests, shaking her head as if she could physically shake off Sokka's words. "No! He...I can't."

Sokka smiles a bit. "You don't really get a choice, do you? He hurt you, I know that. I know you're mad and hurt and upset. I know he's the one who made you like that. But he's your best friend. Lia, you got banished for him. He's given up the avatar for you. I know it hurts but you never stopped loving him. And when he comes crawling back, you'll forgive him because he's your best friend. Just do me a favor and make him grovel for a while, yeah?"

Rezalia smiles a watery smile and blinks back the wetness in her eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"But he has to come to you, got it?"

"Obviously." And that was the Rezalia he knew, so Sokka nudged her back into the crowd and the two continued on their way.

It doesn't take long for them to make it back to the campsite, neither of them speaking and just reveling in the gentle comfort that blanketed the air around them. Katara and Aang were in the stream bending water back and forth when they returned while Toph sat near the fire pit and counted through her money. "Toph, while I was in town, I found something that you're not gonna like," Sokka says, pulling a paper out of his satchel.

Rezalia sighs as Toph blinks. "Well it sounds like a sheet of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper," the blind earthbender says, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a wanted poster," Sokka explains. "Of you."

"Oh look, they nicknamed you 'The Runaway'. Sick," Rezalia comments idly, not very worried about the warrant out for her friend's arrest. She had quite a few of her own arrest warrants, so she wasn't exactly in a position to judge.

Toph grins at the sound of the name. "A wanted poster! That's so great! "The Runaway." I love my new nickname. Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?"

Sokka holds up the poster and glances between it and the girl a few times. "Well yeah, actually, it does look pretty good. But, Toph, you're missing the point. Maybe Katara was right. These scams are drawing too much attention to us."

"Don't be such a worrywart like your sister." Toph stands and hands Sokka a bag of money. "Think of it this way: Now you've got plenty of money to help with the invasion plan."

Sokka hums a bit. "Well, that is true. I had this idea of making armor for Appa." They all look over at the sky bison, who cracks an eye open upon hearing his name.

"Here's a little extra, so you can get yourself a nice map of the Fire Nation. You know what? Make it an atlas" Toph adds, shoving more money into Sokka's arms.