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Dragon's prey	By : ajj77sunhawk Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Slash - Male/Male > Sokka/Zuko Views: 20843 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, and I do not make any money from these writings.

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Chapter 2 : Ignorance

The 22 year-old Fire Lord listened half heartedly to the droning voice of the Water Tribe Ambassador. The official greeting was long and boring, more so when the Ambassador was a man with no sense of humor and seemed to love the sound of his own voice, if he ever actually made a point, Zuko was sure it was so buried in double speak that it was lost. The Fire Lord felt his patience run out, in the last few years, the stress of ruling and leadership had in may ways tempered and hardened the young man. He still did what was right, but the manner in which he chose to do is was more ruthless and brutal than what Aang or Katara choose to do. Toph understood though, approved even.

Dragons were not creatures of peace, they were creatures of power, Zuko had absolutely no desire for any more power, but what was his, he fought for and held on to ferociously. In his short time as fire Lord he had overcome 2 rebellions, all major fire cities were now firmly loyal to him. His father was all but forgotten, and Azula.. Zuko did not like to think about that. Some 18 months ago, Azula had escaped her prison and cut a swath of destruction through the city. Finally he himself went to fight her. Foolish girl had still expected to win, to beat him. But Zuko was a part of the Fire Spirit now, and the only fire he feared was the fire inside him. It had not even been a challenge to the fire lord, he had defeated her easily, and she had know it. Her defeat snapped the last thread of her sanity, and Zuko was forced to put her down. There had been no sorrow when he did it, no regret, she was a threat to the peace of his country, to his people and Zuko had done want was required.

More and more, Zuko found himself loosing touch with his emotions. He hardly remembered what it was like to feel joy, to be happy or even to be very sad. Mai he had lost almost immediately, she had not been able to stomach the idea of the Fire Spirit in him. To ensure the continuance of the blood line, Zuko had a number of concubines. He did not love them, hell he did not know if he was now capable of loving anything, anyway love was not required. They were well care for and content. He needed them for the small physical released he got, he used them in the hope of getting an heir. Even that was unlikely until the sacrifice was found. His body just burned too hot, his own fire using himself for fuel, not much was left for procreation. The Dragon within was eating away at him, and if he did not find the sacrifice soon, Zuko feared there would be nothing left. And if he died, his nation would be in jeopardy.

Something in all the prattle of the Water Tribe Ambassador caught Zuko’s attention. “Wait, who did you say was the chief of the Southern Water Tribe?” The fire Lord snapped. The Ambassador suddenly realising he had the full attention of the Fire Lord gulped nervously, almost shrinking back.

“Err.. Our Old Chief Hakoda recently retired during the Winter Solstice, my Lord. Water Bender Batek is the our New Chief.” The Ambassador said quickly, he started trembling as the Lord seemed to glare at him.

“Huh! What the hell is that! Why is Sokka son of Hakoda not your Chief?” Zuko snapped.

“Err.. he is not a water bender my Lord, it was decided years ago that we needed a water bender as chief.” The Ambassador said, he suddenly remembered Sokka’s connections to the Avatar party, and began to sweat. If they did not know that Sokka had not been heir for many years..... the Ambassador did not what to be the one to have to break the rest of the news to the Lord.

Zuko, clenched his fist, why did he not know this? He would have to investigate, and this conversation carried out before too interested courtiers were not a good idea. This matter could be discussed during the quarterly bender meet. The Water Ambassador almost melted in relief when the Fire Lord suddenly went blank, nodded and dismissed him.

**

It had been decided that to maintain harmony and peace, every quarter the rulers, or a representative would meet at different nations, for discussions and high level negotiations. The meetings were a pain, but had turned out to be a god send in maintaining peace. Few remembered that the meetings had been conceptualized by a Water Nation Warrior in his conversations with the Avatar on strengthening the bonds between nations. The meeting this quarter was to be held in the North Pole.

As his ship came into dock, Zuko fully expected to see a certain Warrior leading the escort party. He had done a little snooping and now knew that Sokka had left the South Pole on his own, and since he had not heard from him, Zuko assumed that he had rejoined Katara and Aang. During the 2 days of negotiation and discussion, the 4 as they usually did, focused on business at hand. Very little time was given to chit chat and memories. After all official matters were dealt with; the night before they were to leave was an elaborate dinner. This is when they relaxed a little and enjoyed each other’s company.

Finally Zuko had the opportunity to ask. “Hey Katara, where is Sokka, I haven’t seen him in almost what 5 years, if you were sending him off hunting or something – surely it could have waited until after I left.”

Katara looked at the Fire Lord in surprise, “That is a long time you haven’t seen him. I guess he is busy being headman or something. He is very involved in the Southern Tribe.”

Zuko felt everything inside him freeze, then burn hot. What the hell was this? His jaw clenched he asked carefully. “Katara, Aang, when was the last time you saw Sokka?”

“Umm.. come to think of it the last two times I visited the Southern Water Tribe Sokka was not there, I guess its been what, maybe more than 2 years since I saw him. Wow, time flies.” Aang said with a rather confused grin.

“I haven’t seen him, errr.. since my 18th Birthday, he only sent me a gift for my 19th Birthday – he didn’t bother to visit. He better this year, he always seems to be away when I visit too.” Katara said with a find smile. “We should probably send Appa to get him.”

“We should get him to come for one of these meetings, I haven’t seen him in 5 years too. Hey maybe we should meeting in the South Pole next time.” Toph added.

Zuko was silent, he stared at them aghast. “Ummm.. Katara, who is Water Bender Batek?”

“He is the guy who acts as the Tribe Headman when Sokka is not around of course, why?” Katara asked.

“Because Katara, Batek does not act as the headman, he IS the headman. And from what I gather he has been heir for almost 3 years.” The other benders stared at Zuko in astonishment, Katara was shaking her head. Zuko nodded and eyes going hard he carried on, “Also I heard that Sokka left the Southern Water Tribe just after his 20th year, I was expecting to see him here with you.”

There was a clamour of confusion of denial at the words. Katara suddenly stood and summoned all members of the South Water tribe to council. 2 Ambassadors and 3 merchants were called in, and the horrified group finally got the whole disjointed story of Sokka’s self exile and subsequent official excommunication from the tribe. (Done to force Hakoda to stop communicating with Sokka and not tell Katara what had happened, Zuko had not been aware of the exile part) Which included an implicit deal that the details of Sokka’s exile would not be shared unless it was explicitly asked for. Hence the answers of ‘he is on a journey’ to his sister and the Avatar when they visited. No one had heard from Sokka in a year except for the birthday gift sent to Katara.

It was an extremely troubled group that dispersed. Katara and Aang immediately heading to the South Pole to talk to Katara’s dad. Toph and Zuko, headed back to their home lands, all would send out feelers to search for their missing warrior friend. 3 of the benders wondered why Sokka had not contacted them, why he had never shared the truth of what has happening with them, and 2 of the 3 especially felt the burden of never noticing beyond the brash smile, to ask what burdens were borne by the friend.

Zuko stood on the deck of his ship, his most trusted Captain and unofficial Body Guard, Captain Savin beside him. The Fire Lord was feeling a mix of emotions, his dragon was restless and coiling. “Savin, he left after what I did to him. But even then I knew he had forgiven me, even from the North Pole, initially when we were stuck, Sokka gave us advice and plans, he always had someway of helping when we asked for his help. Hell, we never actually had to ask, he’d sent a stupid missive to Katara or Aang that somehow contained the most brilliant way to deal with situations that we faced. Did you know the strategy to overcome the rebellion and gain the trust of the major cities was his?” Fire flared in the Lord’s palms as he gripped the guard rail. “No you didn’t know, how could you know, when Sokka allows all of us, the leaders to take the credit. We are the benders after all, we are the powerful ones, so how the HELL did we miss the fact that Sokka was the one in real need of us? Sokka was so damn proud of being water nation, now he is tribe-less, and no one knows where he is. I have an excuse, I thought he really did not what to hear from me, but what about the others? How the hell could they be that blind, that selfish!” Zuko’s palm slammed against the rail.

“The responsibility of leadership lays heavily on all of you my Lord. You are all new to this kind of responsibility and power, much is demanded of you. It is understandable that some mistakes would have to be made. And from the sounds of it, this Sokka allowed the mistake, because he understood the pressure of leadership, he is a warrior, do not demean his actions by pointless guilt my Lord. Instead accept it for the gift that it was, and now that you have more control and things are not as hectic, do not allow such a thing to happen again.” Savin said softly.

Zuko was silent for a while, then he nodded. “Did you hear the Katara and Aang’s last words?”

“Yes, my Lord they said to make sure that you call them if we find any clues to Sokka’s whereabouts, they will find him and take him home.” Savin said.

Zuko’s smile was slightly ruthless, “A person who has been exiled has no home, and if his sister never even noticed, they do not deserve him. Keep an eye out for Sokka, Savin, but when we find him there is no reason to immediately tell anyone. Sokka is brilliant, bender or not the Water Nation has been foolish beyond words. He was wasted in the South Pole, I will allow him to waste no longer. Sokka is an asset to any nation that he calls home. I wanted him as an Ambassador before, now I want him working for me, for the benefit of our nation. There is no reason for the Avatar or any other to know of Sokka’s where about until he calls the fire nation home and swears loyalty to me. Find him for me, Savin, quietly and WE will bring him home.” Zuko finished his voice booked no argument. He got none, Savin bowed low in acknowledgement, feelers would be sent out as soon as they reached the fire nation.

**

Sokka travelled aimlessly for almost a year. He needed time away from people for a while, he needed time to recover. He did not know what to do or where he was going, so that first year, he drifted around in his Kayak, heading North West carefully avoiding Kyoshi Island. Sokka felt raw, he needed no reminders of his failures. He passed the still abandoned Islands of the Southern Air temple, the new air nation was being built in the Eastern and Western Air Temples. Somehow walking among the ruins, seeing the passage of history helped the young Warrior. Like the temples, he felt empty, used and much older then he should be, and like the temples, he endured.

After a couple of months in the area, Sokka got a little timed of his own company. So he headed out again, visiting outlaying Islands that they had missed or ignored on his journey with the Avatar so long ago. Sokka saw the impact of peace and prosperity in these islands, there was a mix of all cultures here, and even with everything, Sokka had no regrets for how things had turned out. It was in one of the Islands that he saw a ship heading to the North Pole, and had sent Katara a birthday gift. He wanted desperately to send his dad something as well, but he knew it was not allowed.

The Islands were scarcely populated and Sokka found that refreshing. He was able to see people when he wanted some company in the taverns and such, and sped hours by himself. He did not seek meaningful relationship, just companionship of people who wanted to talk about nothing important and take each day as it came. Sokka played the beach bum, swimming, surfing and diving during the day, hanging out in Taverns or on the beach at night. It was a seemingly carefree existence, and it was necessary for the Young Man who had shouldered too much responsibility since he was a child to have this time to recover. It took about 6 months of Island hopping and beach bumming until the depression that had hounded Sokka since his 18th birthday left him. He found his brain thinking in creative ways again, his daily energy levels rising and the need to do something slowly return. No longer satisfied to simply relax, the young man knew he needed to move on with his life.

So one day he left the Islands, he headed to what was once a Fire Nation sea outpost, that now acted as an active sea trading port. From here he could take a ship to anywhere in the world. Once Sokka got to the port he realised that he had no idea where he wanted to go. He knew that he was not going to run to his sister or the Avatar, or any of the other super benders he knew, until he made something of himself. The feeling that he had failed everyone ran deep in the Young Warrior, the events of the past years having eroded his youthful optimism and he simply refused to be a burden. Keeping a low profile he poked around for news of various nations, most of the major cities the world over was at peace. He had the choice of going to the help the fledging air nations rebuilt, of going to the South Earth kingdom lands or the South Fire Nation Lands both of which were overrun with bandits, had only a handful of cities, and were mostly made up of small villages. Both areas were far from the major capitals and due to prioritizing received only a small amount of help from the capitols. All three were viable options to the Warrior, how to decide. Sokka grinned as he had an idea, he would prod groups in the Taverns of stories of the Avatar, and the first to mention his role in any way would be the nation he would go to. And since there were almost no air Nation people around if any water nation mentioned him, he would go to the air kingdom.

For two days, Sokka was disappointed, not surprised, just disappointed. The stories mentioned were always about Aang and Katara. He was not disappointed that he was not mentioned, he found himself very proud of the two, he was only disappointed that his plan was failing and he’d have to come up with a new one. Finally on the third night, a minstrel without him even prompting began to sing about an attack on a fire nation armada. Sokka was impressed, the hero in the song did was not a bender, but he had fought elite benders and won. It was only when the hero lost his strange heavenly black sword, did Sokka go bright red as he realised they were singing about him, seriously if he had done half the stuff the minstrel was singing, he would have definitely thrown his back. Still Sokka grinned, ok now he would soon know where he would be going to.

Sokka waited until the Minstrel was done, and went up to him. After a chat, the Warrior walked out of the tavern. He slumped his back against a wall, leaned back and hit his head against the wall a number of times. Damn, stupid ideas that he had. Why did he have to get so creative, throwing his boomerang at a bloody map would have been much better. Oh well, he would stick with his plan. Sokka looked for the ships and finally found on heading to the South tip of the Fire Nation!

--tbc--
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Dragon's prey