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It’s a beautiful night.
Stars twinkle cheerfully from breaks in the canopy, while fireflies blink captivatingly around moss-coated tree trunks. It’s warm, ground still pleasant to the touch after the heat of the day, but a light breeze dances through the leaves, rustling them in a song most don’t have the patience to stop and appreciate.
They’re seated around a campfire, enjoying the quiet night and rest it offers with full stomachs and soft chatter, sharing stories from their respective cultures and adventures.
Zuko sits a few feet back, listening as he usually does.
He’s still unsure if he’s welcome, the looks Katara throws him not assuring in the slightest, so he simply minds his business during and after dinner, soaking in the obvious kinship his companions enjoy with a quiet wonder.
The palace, for all its overbearing heat, seems somehow cold in comparison to the atmosphere around their little campfire at night. There’s no hint of torches or silent servants; luxuries at his beck and call, but Zuko finds himself more content than he’s ever been, simply absorbing the flow of conversation around him and the laughter that rises and falls with the crackling flames.
“Whoah! That’s a nasty scar!” Sokka exclaims, drawing Zuko from his peaceful haze.
For a moment the ebony-haired teen thinks he’s being addressed and is about to make a scathing quip about the Water Tribe warrior being blinder than Toph if he’d never noticed the painfully red mark across Zuko’s face, but he holds his tongue when he realizes the comment wasn’t directed at him.
“What happened, Toph?” The brown-haired teen asks worry evident in his tone, but Toph only shrugs, pausing her itching to tug the hem of her green trousers further up to reveal the jagged line on her leg, white with age.
“Accident when I was first learning to bend- wait, hold up .” Toph looks like someone just hit her in the face with a boulder. “You can see scars?!?”
“Uh yeah. You can feel them right?” Aang’s head tilts like a fox-puppy in the way it always does when he’s confused.
“Well duh ,” Toph scoffs, “but excuse me for assuming that something no one’s mentioned is visible to you people with working eyes. There’s plenty of other shit I can sence that y’all can’t.”
“Like what?” Sokka asks, sounding extremely interested, but Toph only laughs derisively.
“I can’t exactly give an example when I can’t fucking tell the difference between what you can and can’t see. I usually just assume that if no one says anything, y’all aren’t able to see it. Can’t be sighted and be blind at the same fucking time.”
“You can. Kinda.” Zuko interjects, mildly joking.
Toph raises an eyebrow in his direction, clearly asking for an explanation.
Zuko decides that the possibility of the other’s being unaware of his disability is slim to none and speaks. “I’m half-blind. Half deaf too, actually. Spent a few months stumbling around like a newborn deer-calf when it first happened.”
Toph frowns, adjusting herself to face him fully. “When what first happened?”
Zuko fidgets nervously, twisting his hands in the familiar patterns of an intricate fire-bending move. It’s a nervous tic he often got scolded for at the palace, but the motions are too fast for his current companions to follow, much less recognize.
Besides, it helps him remember that he has the ability to fight if he needs to.
“Uh, there’s a scar that makes up about a quarter of the left side of my face. Goes over my ear and eye. It’s been a few years, so I’m pretty well adjusted to the weakness by now, but it’s still a literal blind spot.” Zuko shrugs, knowing she can’t see the motion, but unable to verbalize how he’s affected by it at this point any further.
“Huh, well Earth Kingdom nobles flip their shit over the smallest injuries so I’d probably be a walking circus with the scars I’ve gotten over the years from my bending.”
Sokka perks up, clapping his hands excitedly. “Watertribe is like that too! Well, the southern one is at least. Scars are a sign of weakness. They mean that either you weren’t strong enough to protect yourself or the people around you failed to-” Sokka suddenly stops, shooting an apologetic glance at Zuko. “Uh, not that I think you’re weak for... yeah. It looks like it hurt, and I have no idea how you got it, so it could be a totally badass explanation. Or someone else’s failure -and actually I’m just gonna go ahead and shut up now.”
Zuko can’t stop his lips from twitching up in a smirk as Sokka puts his head in his hands, but sobers when it’s clear he’s expected to explain his nation’s view on the subject. “The Fire Nation is... similar in that regard. Scars are generally covered. Especially for nobles. It’s unsightly.”
There’s a moment of dead silence in which almost all eyes turn to stare at the left side of his face. Zuko keeps his mouth firmly closed.
It’s Toph who breaks the tension. “Yeah, not to call your nation out or anything, Sparky, but you literally just said that you have a massive, blinding, and deafening scar on the side of your face. As the crown prince, that seems a little hypocritical of them.” Toph snarks, somehow managing to sound brash and apologetic at the same time.
Zuko blinks.
Did they not know he wasn’t crown prince anymore? He’d have thought that his notice of banishment posters would’ve painted the picture pretty clearly, especially because his father was not at all subtle about the reasoning for giving Zuko his scar. They’d gotten the boot from quite a few Fire Nation ports just because he’d shown his face, after all.
The ebony-haired teen clears his throat uncomfortably. “It’s not like they expected me to come back and claim the throne. I was banished, and though it’s protocol to grant some sort of quest to earn back one’s citizenship for nobles, my father gave me what seemed like an impossible task considering the avatar had been gone for a hundred years. It was a pretty big hint that I was no longer welcome.”
“Hold up, hold up.” Sokka interrupts with flailing hands. “I think we’re missing something here. What does Aang coming back and the Firelord have to do with your scar? And for that reason how the hell did you get banished?”
Zuko feels his brow crease in a frown. “You haven’t heard the rumors? My father wasn’t exactly ...subtle.”
He’s met with blank, curious expressions.
Zuko sighs deeply, settling into a more comfortable position to start his tale. “When I was 13, I begged my uncle to let me go to a war council meeting. I was young and naive, thinking that listening in would help me be a better ruler in the future. Iroh was reluctant, but allowed me to sit in the corner as long as I stayed silent.”
The atmosphere around the campfire is growing somber in the face of Zuko’s words, sensing that it’s not headed in a favorable direction, but Zuko continues, heedless of the mounting tension.
“They were planning to send a batch of new recruits to their death by using them as bait in an upcoming battle, and I tried to sit still and stay silent, but one of the more ruthless members made a joke about them being nothing more than cannon fodder, and I was outraged. I spoke up in defense of the division, and in his anger, the man challenged me to an Agni Kai.”
Seeing the confused expressions at an unknown term, Zuko explains.
“It’s a traditional Fire Nation duel. Takes place in a public arena, and though the official terms state that it ends when ‘Agni’s fire is snuffed’, it’s usually to the death. Seeing as the man was old, I agreed. I was confident I could beat him in a fight, but to my dismay, it wasn’t the councilman in the ring with me when the fight began. I’d spoken during a royal war meeting, so I’d disrespected the Firelord himself.”
Zuko pauses to take a fortifying breath, and Katara seizes the chance to speak up.
“Your father was prepared to fight his child to the death over speaking out of turn ?” She whispers, sounding appalled on his behalf.
Zuko lets out a humorless chuckle. “I didn’t want to fight him. Even if he hadn’t been the Firelord, he was my father. So I got onto my knees and begged. I’m not proud of it, but I thought he’d accept my plea as a loyal son. However, that was not the case and instead, he burned the vision and sight from my left side. The last thing I remember was him saying that I needed to learn respect and suffering would be my teacher, and that I’d be welcomed back if I brought him the Avatar. I woke up on a boat a week later. It was not the burn, but infection that stole the remaining senses on my left, but the result is still the same.”
The teen stops, glancing at the horrified expressions of his companions, shrugging awkwardly at their silence.
“It could be worse.” He adds as an afterthought, hoping to dispel at least some of the tension. It’s been years since his Agni Kai, and though he’s still upset, the injustice has faded with time.
Traveling the world has brought him a whole new perspective on his nation’s actions, and the idea that his father truly wanted him out of the picture. He’s also gained a group of travel companions he’d never have met at the palace so he’s not as angry and alone as he once was. Now the thought of his palace days only makes his heart ache for a childhood lost he’ll never get back.
His friends apparently don’t share his sentiment.
There’s a moment of dead silence. Zuko could swear the wind stops blowing for a moment, before Aang bursts into tears, Sokka dry heaves, and Katar gapes, a stricken look on her face.
“It could be worse?!? Do you even fucking hear yourself fright now, Sparky?” Toph exclaims, indignant rage plain on her features, as she stands and begins to pace a line into the dirt.
Zuko’s unscarred eye widens, shocked at the range of reactions and a little overwhelmed about what he’s supposed to do.
Toph continues shouting. “You were a child for fucks sake, and your father permanently fucking blinded and deafened you on one side for what? A few words against him throwing away the lives of an entire division of his own people? What kind of sick freak does that?!?”
“He was merciful. I could be dead.” Zuko says, voice wavering with uncertainty in the face of her righteous anger.
“ Oh my god, man .” Sokka breathes out, moving to wrap him in a hug once he’s gained control over his stomach. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
Zuko swallows but accepts the hug nonetheless, patting Sokka awkwardly on the back, still baffled by how strongly his companions are allowing themselves to be affected by something so distant in his past. It happened years ago and though Zuko will hold a permanent reminder for the rest of his life, it was a valid punishment where the Fire Nation was concerned.
Aang is next to throw himself at the ebony-haired teen, not even waiting for Sokka to back off and almost sending the three of them tumbling. “That’s absolutely horrible! Are you okay? Wait, no. Obviously, you’re not. Is there anything you need? I could get Katara to cook your favorite for dinner tomorrow? Or we could take a day off from Firebending practice? Oh, I know-!” The kid keeps chattering, but Zuko tunes him out as Katara approaches, looking like she might be sick any moment now.
“I didn’t- I had no idea-” She takes a deep breath, bowing. “I’m sorry I treated you the way I did. I- I had no idea what you’d gone through.”
“I forgive you,” Zuko states easily, returning her tear-streaked smile with a soft one of his own.
She laughs wetly, but he can see the earnest light in her eyes as she thanks him, taking one of his hands in hers gently to pull him out from under her friends.
Toph is muttering something about ‘throwing that poor excuse of a father so far underground that his Firebending ass won’t see Agni's light for the rest of his miserable life’, still pacing, and Zuko huffs affectionately at her. Between his Father and Toph, it’s pretty clear who’d win right now, and Zuko would pay good money to watch his small tank of a best friend wipe the floor with the Firelord.
The girl seems to sense that he’s laughing at her, because the next moment he’s got his face full of a spiteful, black-haired Earthbender. “You wanna go, Sparky? I’ll tunnel us straight to the fucking palace and punch that sniveling son of a bitch in the face. Don’t think I won’t. I’m ready anytime .”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” Zuko states in the most deadpan tone he can muster.
Toph looks satisfied right until the ebony-haired teen’s facade breaks and he lets out an undignified snort of laughter.
The expression he pictures on Ozai’s face as Toph pops out of the ground, spitting and snarling like a rabid animal is quite possibly the funniest mental image he’s ever conjured and he really can’t help himself.
“The hell are you laughing at?” The girl in question growls, but Zuko’s too busy chuckling quietly to respond. Toph punches him in the side and he pauses long enough to manage a few words.
“I just- the expression he’d- Angi, his face !!” Zuko dissolves into another fit of giggles. “If you popped out of the ground during a meeting- it’s just- that’s the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever-” No more words make it past Zuko’s lips. He’s bent at the waist, laughing so hard he can feel tears gathering in the corner of his good eye.
Toph grins like a lion-vulture that’s just caught herself lunch. “I think my fist denting his skull would be a lot more satisfying than a silly little expression, but go off.”
“Seriously though, you know that’s like… not normal and horrible to do to any kid ever right?” Sokka asks as soon as Zuko’s calmed down and wiped the moisture from his eye.
Zuko shrugs. In a way, he understands Sokka’s reasoning, but it just doesn’t seem applicable to him and his situation.
If someone like Aang or Toph were burned for what they’d probably consider a minor offense, he might have a different stance on the matter, but Zuko’s different. He’s awkward and has anger issues; demanding and harsh to those around him as was taught in the Fire Nation. He can’t talk to people in a diplomatic way like Katara and Aang can. That’s just not a skill he’d picked up yet.
And besides, as his father said countless times, Zuko is lucky to be born.
“Hey, no shrugging at me,” Sokka argues, shaking a finger at him menacingly. “Seriously dude, I mean it. That’s awful and never should’ve happened. Especially to a 13-year-old. It’s sick.”
Zuko gives him a tight smile. “Thank you, Sokka, but I’m alright.”
Sokka only groans. “That’s not- ugh . I wanna hear you say it, dude. That was extremely not okay for him to do. Firelord or not, parents don’t treat their kids like that.”
“Alright, alright. It was messed up.” Zuko admits, rolling his eyes. Sokka doesn’t look satisfied, but he drops the subject.
“Hey.” Toph sits heavily, in front of the ebony-haired teen, apparently done with her pacing, and effectively ending Zuko’s conversation with Sokka. “Do you need any accommodations?”
Zuko frowns, unsure what she means, but the girl continues talking like she can sense his confusion.
“I mean for your blind and deaf side. Would it be better to approach you from the right and cover you from that angle during fights or are you good?”
Zuko’s chest feels warm all of a sudden, and he subtly checks that he hasn’t caught his shirt on fire. “If you haven’t noticed any weakness in my fighting style as of yet, I assume my enemies are also unaware that I have a literal blind spot, but I’d appreciate being approached from a direction I can hear and see you coming if it’s not too much trouble.”
Aang takes his chance to jump in. “It’s not any trouble at all! We might need to be reminded every so often, but if it would make you more comfortable, we’ll totally do it!”
“I’d appreciate it,” Zuko says, returning the enthusiastic hug from the Avatar, grateful that the kid makes sure to approach on his right side.
“So, is your banishment the reason why you get jumpy in Fire Nation ports?” Katara questions, seeming hesitant to ask.
Zuko nods. “If I’m seen and recognized, I can be killed on sight for knowingly defying the Fire Lord’s orders. It’s hard to guess who’ll recognize me from the posters and pick out which ones are desperate enough to try and capture me for the potential reward money, so I tend to assume everyone is a threat.”
“Jesus fucking christ, man.” Toph breathes. “Your nation has no chill, do they?"
That surprises a laugh out of Zuko. “They’re not known for keeping a cool head, no.”
“Was that a pun? Did you just make a joke ?” Sokka screeches, launching himself at the ebony-haired teen to shake his shoulders roughly. “Where have you been hiding this sense of humor?!”
There’s laughter around the campfire again, though this time Zuko’s welcomed into it. They chat amicably into the night, reveling in the newfound closeness with the previously illusive Firebender, and Zuko finds himself enjoying swapping casual quips with his- actually, companions seems too impersonal now that he thinks about it.
Gone are his days of sitting quietly off to the side, and if the others seem more protective of Zuko in the following weeks, the teen doesn’t mention it, though the warmth in his chest refuses to fade.
For the first time in his life, Zuko is surrounded by a group of friends that appreciates him for his personality and wit rather than his status and title as Prince of the Fire Nation, and he’s never felt more at home than here; under the open sky, the smell of woodsmoke, and cacophony of wildlife lulling him to sleep.
He’s happy. And for now, that’s enough for him.