Chapter Text
After everything they went through, Sokka was relieved to finally make it to Ba Sing Se. The chaos at the spirit library was about as terrifying as he expected it might end up being. He hadn’t intended to steal the documents from there when he first took the damaged manuscripts to the astrology wing. He fully intended to return them to their pedestal afterwards but then Wan Shi Tong attacked and Sokka panicked. He had hastily stuffed the documents into his bag and completely forgot about them until they reached Full Moon Bay’s ferry and had to declare all of their personal effects. Serpent’s pass didn’t make it any easier on him as he navigated his conflicted feelings for Suki and Yue, as his thoughts routinely strayed towards Zuko as well.
Reaching the other side felt like a great relief, until they came face to face with the drill. He felt weak and wobbly in the aftermath as the buzz of adrenaline finally subsided and they could rest. General Sung had been timid but also grateful for their assistance in defending the outer walls of Ba Sing Se.
As Sokka finally slumped into his seat on the tram directly beside Toph, she had wrapped one arm around his bicep and held tight to his side when his jittery spell had yet to subside.
“Ya doing okay?” She asked, cocking her head ever so slightly to address him while still remaining faced forward. Aang and Katara were staring out the windows at the sprawling city with wide eyes filled with awe all the while Sokka was fighting with the churning storm of his stomach at the moment, and counting the seconds until he could get out of this moving car and find the nearest bin to lose what was left in his stomach after two days without food. He doubted there was much in there, especially when Suki had brought them something to eat at Full Moon Bay, but Sokka had given his helping to Toph. She needed it more than he did, being a bender and all.
“I’ll be fine once we’re behind these walls and can finally speak with the Earth King.” He buried his face into his palm and focused on the simple task of breathing through the swells of nausea. As the tram finally slowed to a stop in one of the drop off stations of the lower ring, Sokka felt a slight inkling of solace in the knowledge that they were so close to their goal. As the tram slowed to a stop and the doors opened to permit them passage out of the car, he shot up to his feet in a sudden burst of eagerness.
It lasted only a few seconds as Toph’s grip on his arm tightened. His stomach flipped in displeasure as his knees went weak beneath him and his heart climbed up into his throat as it pulsed rapidly beneath his jaw. The greens and sandy browns of the waiting area clashed with the brightly ornate frame of the entrance as they blurred together before his vision swam and blanked out into darkness.
The darkness only lasted a few seconds as he started to surface to the sound of Katara and Toph’s concerned voices rising loudly in his ears. They were muffled behind the rush of water in his head as it pounded against his skull with the same thunderous beat of his heart in his chest. He tried to speak but all that left him was a miserable groan as he peeked past aching eyes and felt new pain resonating in his face. The taste of metal was thick on his tongue replacing the disgusting earthy tang of the slurry from the drill earlier that afternoon.
“-wrong with him?” He heard what might have been Aang asking as he tried to move his head. Something cold pressed against the opening of his nose as he hissed under his breath. He caught a brief flash of Katara’s face turning away from him to talk to an unfamiliar woman in green with a creepy nervous smile.
Toph’s hand was still clutching his arm but where it had previously had his bicep, it now lowered to his hand as her fingers wove into his with a light squeeze. He tried to squeeze it back but he barely had the energy to make a fist let alone apply any pressure to it. His body felt too heavy and sluggish.
“-not eating.” He heard Katara say as her words swam in and out of his head. “It’s been a rough few days for Sokka.”
“He needs medical attention.” The strange woman insisted as she inspected Sokka over. He tried to reach up and move Katara’s hand away from his face but his arm made it from his side up to his shoulder where it collapsed in place. His stomach tightened painfully as that nausea from earlier returned in full force accompanied by uncomfortable waves of heat that flashed throughout his body and made his cheeks burn.
“I think he’s going to hurl.” Toph warned as Katara took the ice away from his face as Sokka twisted to roll onto his side. He felt the dry heaves come as muscles tensed and lurched in his core but nothing came up. Just this painful choking sensation that wouldn’t stop as he tried to breathe. Blood dripped from his nose leaving a tiny puddle on the cold stonework. Katara’s cool fingers stretched across his shoulders as she hovered a bit of water to rest against the back of his neck ever so gently. The coolness helped with some of the discomfort as pulses of heat flushed through his body and soon subsided to something somewhat manageable.
His eyes watered as that gut wrenching sense of dread overcame him. Nothing came and as the contractions of his stomach abated, he curled up on his side with a watery sniffle and focused on breathing through his mouth. His hip dug into the hard ground as he drew his knees closer to try and alleviate some of the pressure but it was futile. With another groan, he resigned himself to the knowledge that he was definitely going to be feeling it later.
Distantly he was aware that there were conversations going on around him but he couldn’t make sense of or focus on what was going on aside from vaguely recognizing some of the voices. As the conversations continued, Sokka had squeezed his eyes shut to try and ward off some of the worst of how he was feeling when he caught Toph’s voice chime far too loudly and much closer than he anticipated.
“I’m going with Snoozles. You and Twinkle Toes can go on this fancy little tour. We’ll meet back up later.” Before he could lift his head to search for the reason for those words, he felt Toph’s arms around him as the ground started to shift under his body. His head hung as he squinted against the afternoon sun and felt Katara tucked against his side with her cool fingers on his elbow and Toph on the other side supporting most of his weight as his legs tried to find the strength to walk. Being upright again only made that sick twisty feeling in his stomach worse.
“Katara.” He groaned as his head lolled towards his sister’s shoulder. Her eyes met his in the brief glimpse of shade before they stepped out from under the protective shadows of the tram station roof.
“Sokka, it’s going to be alright.” The little wobble of uncertainty in her words didn’t inspire much confidence in him. His head hurt and the sunlight was far too bright as his sister and Toph guided him down the dozens of steps leading towards what appeared to be a large dark green wagon. There were men with strange dark green robes and large rounded cone like helmets that didn’t look like the normal Earth Kingdom uniforms of their soldiers. They had the bright green Earth Kingdom emblem emblazoned on the front of their robes and stern disinterested looks on their faces that left Sokka feeling a little panic stricken. He didn’t like this at all. He didn’t want to go into the wagon with these men and he really didn’t want them to come near him. As he tried to take a step back, he felt the earth beneath his feet move as Toph raised them both up so he was on the same level as the wagon ledge and could step off and into the low hanging doorway. One of the men had joined them in the back as Katara let go and left him and Toph alone with these people. Without his sister shouldering some of his weight, he slumped towards Toph. The strange man in the robe took Sokka’s free arm by the bicep as he felt the firm hand- is his grip made of stone?
To Sokka’s immense horror, it was. Their hands were sheathed in earth like some sort of protective armor that molded around every digit the same way Katara used her water for healing.
“Relax Snoozles, before you make yourself pass out again.” Toph urged as she coaxed him to sit down on the wooden bench that ran along one side of the wagon. The doors shut behind them before he could even search for his sister’s face or call out to her. His words were trapped in his throat, unable to meet his lips as the raw panic clawed its way back up.
“Sokka?” Toph’s tone was worried as Sokka found his lungs absent of the oxygen he so desperately needed. Her hand on his arm tightened and the man by his side had let go of him at one point and perched on the bench opposite both of them. He watched Sokka with an unnerving sort of disinterest. He felt his stomach drop out as he sucked in a hard breath just as he felt the wagon lurch forward. The scuff of the ostrich horses’ talons dug into the earth as the wagon rattled beneath them. His head started to spin all over again as air refused to fill his chest. He curled in on himself as Toph’s fingers found their way to his shoulder to try and soothe his distress.
“Sokka, it’s alright.” She tried to reassure him but her words were lost behind the rushing wall between them as his head swam and he felt that burst of darkness explode across his vision with a sharp pain behind his eyes.
“This city is a prison, Uncle. I don’t want to make a life here.” Zuko grimaced at the thought.
“Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.” Uncle responded casually as he hoisted the pot of bright orange Omashu trumpet creeper against his shoulder. Zuko scowled at the flowers before tearing his eyes away to stare straight ahead into the crowd. The aroma that wafted through the air from the vase made his chest tighten just a touch with a familiar ache that he had tried to silence ever since he left the Northern city. It was the distant pangs of mourning that crept up on him when he least expected it.
Zuko didn’t know whether uncle was fully aware of it, or if this choice of house plant was entirely coincidental, but this particular flower was one Lieutenant Jee had been quite fond of. As a hobbying botanist that he tried to keep discreet, Zuko had discovered it entirely by chance when a late night encounter found the older man going over pressed flowers from the area around the port they had stopped off at for resupply. He could remember it as if it were only yesterday when he had come back from port after sneaking around as the Blue Spirit. He wasn’t tired enough to wind down for the night and decided to get a head start on plotting their next search points for the avatar. It led him up to the bridge where Jee had been enjoying a pot of tea, the peace and quiet of the stars above while he jotted down neat little notes into a book filled with wax pressed plant clippings.
The whole encounter was rather awkward at first as Zuko tried to find the documents he was after only to fumble when said documents were neatly stacked beside the Lieutenant. Their unusual staredown eventually broke with the uncertain little throat clear from Jee as he tried to maintain total professionalism in the face of what may have been an incredibly private and personal moment. Eventually, as the moment passed and Zuko’s curiosity overwhelmed his embarrassment, Jee hesitantly invited him over to inspect what exactly he was doing. It was fascinating if he did say so himself, even if the information went over his head. If it wasn’t for poisons, salves or tea leaves he didn’t quite understand the meaning of half of what the Lieutenant had explained, but it was one of those incredibly rare moments that he got to see the truth of the man he served beside.
A few weeks later, they had made it an unspoken habit that when running into one another on these late nights, Zuko would wander over and sit down to see what new plants Jee had noted grew along the ports they traveled through. It turned out to be highly useful information for Medic Murei when their supplies for the infirmary had grown terrifyingly scarce between stops, and later, had stirred nostalgia as the Lieutenant helped Zuko find the perfect gift to cheer Uncle up with. The Lieutenant had kept a vase full of these same flowers in his personal quarters when traveling near Pohuai during Zuko’s second year of searching, and then picked up another bouquet after following the Avatar in that direction when Zuko had enlisted June and her shirshu’s assistance. It was hard to ignore when the faint fragrance of those flowers trailed the man around the ship and filled every breath Zuko took on the bridge for days until they finally died off.
Standing beside Uncle as he cradled the pot lovingly as he currently was, felt like standing beside Jee on the bridge with the faint aroma of those flowers dancing in his nostrils with the slightest hint of the sea and the smell of sweat and smoke from a morning spent training on deck.
He couldn’t walk fast enough to escape it as that tightness spread up his chest and formed a hard lump in the back of his throat. This city and its towering walls and the silent oppression it wrought over the citizens only made Zuko feel all that much more cooped up. He hated it. He hated being here. He hated the weight that hiding in plain sight left on his shoulders, but uncle had been right at least. There was no place safer from the Fire Nation’s reach than Ba Sing Se. He had proven that on his own years ago, even if Zuko despised it. The facts were lying there right in front of him as he stormed ahead of the old dragon with a huff of air between his lips.
He almost didn’t see the dark green wagon that approached on his blindside in his haste, drawing a startled call from uncle as he reached out for Zuko’s shoulder to draw him back. The ostrich horse was undeterred, spurred on by the urgency of its handler. His eyes rose to find the dark gaze of a Dai Li agent perched on the bench directing the wagon as they rushed past. A flicker of blue caught Zuko’s good eye as he puzzled towards it with a sharp swivel of his head. He could have sworn he saw water tribe blue inside the wagon but as he stared after it, his eyes only found another Dai Li staring back at him through the slotted bars.
“Nephew?” Iroh called with worry as Zuko’s eyes followed the wagon as it made a hasty departure headed towards the middle ring walls. The ostrich horse’s talons and the rattling wheels kicked up a light cloud of dirt that obscured his view of the inside and whatever it was he thought he may have seen.
‘There’s no way Sokka is in the city.’ Zuko scoffed to himself as he tore his eyes away to find uncle studying him with disquiet.
“What?” He barked.
Iroh wanted to say something. It was written clearly in his eyes, far more outspoken and to the point than his words ever were. He directed his attention at the ground with a scowl and caught uncle’s slow shake of his head as he adjusted the hold on the pot and sighed. “Come on, nephew. I found us new jobs and we start this afternoon. We must hurry if we want to get there on time and make a good impression on our new employer.”
The prince grimaced once again, letting the more familiar expression settle on his face as his scar pinched up. As much as he hated the thought of working here, it was a welcome enough distraction. Zuko wasn’t the type to find comfort in idleness and action would guarantee at least a sliver of his sanity would remain at the end of the day.
Zuko spoke too soon, as they departed their apartment in the direction of their new jobs.
“A tea shop?!” The prince blurted with disbelief. He wasn’t even sure why he was even surprised at this point. Of course if uncle was allowed to pick their options, he would find a tea shop to work at. It should have been the only outcome he expected. Still, he glared at the old dragon as he continued to beam excitedly by Zuko’s side as he went on a long, rather eager, tangent about how he envisioned their lives to be like working side by side in a tea shop of all places.
‘Agni have mercy on me.’ He gave a miserable sigh as his shoulders crumpled to accentuate the total defeat he felt in the face of the inevitable.