Chapter Text
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Katara asks as she blows on her steaming Jasmine tea. “You don't really seem to be enjoying yourself. ”
“I’m fine,” Sokka grumbles, dodging Earth representatives left and right as he tries to find their assigned table. “Why are there so many people here? And why do they all want my opinion on swamp creatures?”
Katara rolls her eyes. “This is an official nations summit. They want to talk about the plan to integrate the swampy tribes in the Earth Kingdom with the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. Which is an idea that you came up with at 2am after you pulled two all-nighters in a row, and wasn't brought up again until now, because you wrote it down on an official document.”
“My bad.” Sokka finally finds a table that has some familiar faces.
“Hey, Prince Boomerang.” Toph greets him with a smile and a nod of her head.
“I remember when I was only Captain Boomerang,” Sokka says with a sigh, sitting down at the table and setting down his jasmine tea.
Toph shrugs, propping her slipperless feet on the table as she leans back in her chair. “Suki was looking for you a couple of minutes ago. Couldn’t tell where she went, though. There’s too many people here and it’s a bit overwhelming.”
“Tell me about it, if one more person asks me about the possible dangers of Possum Chickens, I'm going to smash the ice sculpture. ”
The ice sculpture in question was crafted by skilled water benders of the Southern Tribe who figured out ways to harness their waterbending powers so they could create breathtaking sculptures. It was crafted in the shape of a Buffalo Yak native to the northern tribes, a Snow Leopard Caribou native to the Southern Water tribe, and a Catgator native to the Foggy Swamp. All three animals were carved in a circle holding hands. It is supposed to represent the unification of all three tribes but Sokka just thinks it looks tacky.
“Good riddance,” Toph says, putting her feet back on the ground and sitting (somewhat) upright in her chair, “I can’t see but from what people have told me it’s uglier than a swampy bog monster.”
Sokka barks a laugh and is about to say more when Katara silences him with a glare.
“The ice sculpture is priceless. We don’t have our benders do labor without pay and it took them almost a week to complete. I think they did good for all of their hard work, and if you smash that sculpture dad won’t let you make a press appearance for at least a week.” Katara huffs, crossing her arms.
“Excuse you, the people love me! Smashed ice sculpture or not, there’s bound to also be backlash against my rugged good looks not appearing in the public for a week. I’m the golden child, the heir to the chiefdom, and the fan-favorite.” Sokka flips what hair he could, since most of it is tied up in his warrior-wolf’s tail and the rest were in two neat dreadlocks on the left side of his head looped with deep blue beads, symbolizing his princedom, and his title as heir of the chiefdom.
“I’m right here,” Katara grumbles, “and I think it’s time for the child who knows how the press works to spread our info if you excuse me.”
Katara stands up from the table and leaves Sokka and Toph alone, which is never a good idea. Tonight is no different as within two minutes of trying and failing to have a civil conversation with Toph that didn’t revolve around fake snide comments and mocking the other leaders attending this event, Sokka finds his eyes falling on Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.
“I’m going to go talk to him.” He stands up, about to approach Zuko when a hand stops him.
“I can’t even see him and I know who you’re talking about. Don’t. No conversation with him ends well and you know it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m just going for a friendly chat.” Sokka pulls his sleeve out of Toph’s grip and is about to make a break for it when she stops him again.
“Really? You’re choosing to ignore what happened during the Sun Festival? The Earth Kingdom wedding? Any diplomatic encounter the Water Tribe has had with the Fire Nation? I can’t even list the disasters on my hands. Or my hands plus my toes. That’s more than 20 disasters, Sokka, you’re playing with fire and you’re going to get burned.”
“There have only been 19 disasters. I have a list. And that list isn’t going to get any longer tonight, I promise.” After Toph lets go of his arm, Sokka makes a beeline to Zuko.
Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation is distant at best. Both being raised as royalty, Sokka knows what kind of scrutiny the Prince was put under at a young age. Although, Sokka didn’t even know Zuko existed until eleven years ago. They never interacted as kids, and children of the Fire Lord were the nation’s best kept secret. Which is why it was so surprising when word of Zuko’s banishment spread across the nations.
Zuko was only thirteen at the time, and was banished from the only place he had ever known along with his uncle. The press initially staged it as a “spiritual vacation” but that changed when it ended up lasting three years. To this day, nobody outside the Royal Family and court of the Fire Nation truly knows why Prince Zuko was banished and how he was allowed back in, three years later. Most don't even know where he disappeared to, all those years ago.
A hand claps Sokka on the shoulder, catching him by surprise. Mentally, Sokka prepares himself for the boring job that is explaining simple topics to the advisors of all nations (although lately the ones in the Earth Kingdom were giving him a run for his money and sanity.)
“For the last time, I don’t know anything about Possum chickens, ” Sokka groans as he turns around to face a short girl, clad in a Kyoshi warrior armour.
“You aren’t a Earth Kingdom advisor.”
“Obviously not, idiot.”
“Suki!!” Sokka cries as he throws his arms around her for a quick hug. “I haven’t seen you in months! How’s the new recruit?”
“A bit of a handful, honestly, she’s really good at Chi blocking and light on her feet but she has a lot to learn about Tessenjutsu.” She takes two cups of tea off of a passing tray and gives one to Sokka as they wander through the crowd. “I’m running security with the rest of the warriors tonight but I have time for a five minute break. So, what’s new with you? Got any potential suitors?”
“Ha ha, very funny.” He rolls his eyes and sips his tea. At the age of 16, both Sokka and Katara became eligible for marriage. Normally, only Katara would get engaged at that age but since Sokka is the heir to the Northern Tribe chiefdom, it was necessary that he got married first and secured the continuation of the monarchy.
Normally, (now at age 23) he and Katara would have been engaged and married respectively for many years. However, Hakoda, the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, found that arranged marriages for both of his kids were not right, and if they wanted to properly carry on the bloodline they both had to find people that they themselves deemed fit for marriage.
Because of this, once Sokka turned 16, he was regularly presented with suitors to date and “get to know” before deciding if they were “the one”. Unfortunately, Sokka didn’t want to get married. Because of his reluctance to marry, he was increasingly picky with his options. And because of his refined tastes of potential suitors, the royal matchmakers gave up looking and agreed that if someone was destined to find Sokka, they would in due time. (They also ruled that if he didn’t find a possible suitor by his 26th birthday that an arranged marriage will be the only option but he tried not to think about that. )
“Thankfully, no. This entire suitor thing is weird. Every single girl that I talk to casually has had at least one gossip page article written about them.”
“What do you think the next article about us would say?” Suki asks, finishing her tea and putting the empty cup on a passing tray.
“You’re a lesbian,” Sokka deadpans. Granted, they dated once until they realized that it wasn’t going to work and then about a year later, Suki came out. The gossip articles had a time with that one.
“Humor me,” She says with a soft smile, “Also, I have to get back to my security staff in about a minute so be quick.”
Sokka taps his chin in thought. “Hmmm.. let’s go with ‘Kyoshi warrior and Prince Sokka seen at the Royal Water tribe banquet drinking tea and having a laugh. Could warrior Suki and the prince be rekindling their steamy romance?’ On the word “romance” Sokka wiggles his eyebrows and grins in a way that always makes Suki smile.
This time wasn’t different as she lets out a giggle and pulls him in for another quick hug before disappearing into the crowd.
Sokka is sad to see her go, but understands that she, like him, has more important duties at the moment. Remembering his plot to interrogate Prince Zuko, he glances around the room but is sad to see no scar faced prince of the fire nation in sight. Already subjecting himself to the three-plus hours of torture via boring speeches about his regrettably good ideas, which he is going to face when he finds his table and the banquet formally starts, he turns around and promptly trips over his own slippered foot.
In the time it took him and Suki to meander around the room, they had landed themselves close to the ice sculpture, which he was about to crash face first into if he didn’t find something, or someone, to steady him soon. Naturally, he grabs onto the nearest arm he could find. Sadly, that arm belonged to one Prince of the Fire nation.
Surprised, Zuko, instead of keeping Sokka from crashing into the statue, falls with him and they both shatter the meticulously crafted sculpture, lying in a heap on the floor.
The banquet hall falls silent.
Groaning on the floor, Sokka covers his face with his hands in an attempt to hide the embarrassed blush quickly spreading across his high cheekbones.
Laying down next to him, Zuko mutters quietly enough so only Sokka could hear him. “My Father is going to kill me.”