Traitor - Zuko X Reader

Chapter 7

It was another cold, bright day in the Northern Water Tribe and I was finally allowed to train with the other non-benders in the village. After Katara had basically changed a long-held tradition of sexism in the tribe, within one day at that, she insisted that I be able to practice alongside everyone else in the village. The chief agreed and I was excited to finally have something to do while staying here.

I made my way to the training grounds that were littered with assorted weapons and fighting dummies as well as many non-benders practicing their combat skills. I found an unoccupied training dummy and began to work on perfecting my defensive maneuvers, using my sickles to attack it while also pretending to dodge blows by flipping around it. I worked on making sure my offensive and defensive abilities were balanced and also worked on my agility.

Katara and Aang were also training nearby at Master Pakku's school. Katara had honed her waterbending talents greatly in the short time we've been here. She was one of the most powerful benders I had ever seen and her skills were only growing as she continued perfecting her abilities. Aang on the other hand had fallen behind on his training, instead choosing to goof around. I had scolded him last night after Katara told me of how he wasn't taking his mastering of waterbending seriously and hoped that today would be different.

Sokka was the only member of the GAang who opted not to train. He was already a skilled fighter when it came to water tribe combat and instead decided to spend his days with Princess Yue. He often shared with me how much he adored her and constantly asked me for advice. I had to finally tell him I couldn't help him anymore and that he had to try to win her affection on his own. That had been a few days ago and things seemed to be going well between the two without my help, and despite the fact that she was engaged. I was happy for Sokka and deemed his newfound romance both endearing and off-putting. He was surprisingly very mushy when it came to love and there were many times I had to tell him to shut up to avoid gagging from the overly-sweet sentiment he expressed about Yue.

It seemed as though everyone had found contentment while in the Northern Water Tribe. We all had something to occupy ourselves with and were all honing our abilities and relationships. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something malicious was heading our way.

As if on cue, a small speck of gray found its way into my field of vision, followed by hundreds of others pouring down like imposter snow around me. I held out my hand to inspect it, but already knew the familiar smell. It was soot. Soot from fire nation war ships.

Soon, the sound of large emergency drums were heard all over the village, calling people to its source. I quickly ran along with the other non-benders who had been training around me. I needed to make sure that everyone got there safely. By the amount of soot mixed with snow, the fire nation ships could not be far. I walked inside the large building and weaved through the crowd of people before finally locking eyes with Katara. Her and the rest of the GAang were sitting against a pillar and I was quick to join them, sitting down beside Sokka who had a solemn look on his face.

The chief spoke before I could ask Sokka what was wrong, "The day we have feared for so long has arrived– the fire nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe . . ." He looked around the room, seemingly trying to memorize the face of each member of the tribe, "They will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the ocean! Spirit of the moon! Be with us! I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission . . ."

I knew what was going to happen even before Sokka stood up and announced, "Count me in."

I looked up at him and called his name, he didn't even glance my direction and instead remained focused on the chief who continued, "Be warned: many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark. If you accept the task."