Matchmaking - Zuko

When Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe finally laid eyes on the Fire Nation shores, the ten-year-old boy was less than impressed. "This is going to be really boring, isn't it?"

Chief Hakoda reached down and laid a strong hand on his son's shoulder. "No more boring than ice-fishing!" He smiled, but the cheer began draining from his face as soon as it arrived. "Ice-fishing when the other guy you're out on the ice with hasn't done a day's work in his life and only wants to talk about Passage Agreements for your tribe's water routes, and instead of getting fish at the end, you get artic hen with little pieces of dirt on it that make your tongue burn like it's fire." Hakoda looked out at the same spot on the horizon as his son, and saw the fancy, modern dock of the Fire Nation's capital city. "And the ice you're fishing on is owned by a tribe that forgot what fun looked like when your grandfather was still throwing snowballs at your grandmother."

Sokka looked up at his dad. "So, it's going to be really boring."

"Yup." Hakoda sighed. "Maybe you can explore the city."

"Why am I here again?"

"Because you didn't want to stay behind with just your mother, Katara, and Gran-Gran for company."

Sokka sighed in imitation of his father. "Oh, yeah. It's just that when you said you going to the Fire Nation to do Diplo Messy, I thought maybe there would be some fighting. I want to be a warrior!"

Hakoda watched as the Water Tribe ship passed through the so-called Great Gates of Azulon. The statue of the dead Fire Lord stood taller than any iceberg the chief had ever seen. "You shouldn't say things like that, Sokka. I can't imagine anything more terrifying than fighting a war against the Fire Nation."

Hakoda did not bow, but instead reached a friendly hand out towards Prince Ozai. "It is my honor to meet you, Your Highness."

Ozai, evidently trained in the ways of international politeness, pushed out his own hand and grasped Hakoda's arm by the wrist. Hakoda did the same, and so it was established that both came to negotiate in good faith, with no weapons hidden in their sleeves. Ozai's face remained unfriendly, but that wasn't important to the diplomatic process.

Hakoda kept his polite smile in place. "The young man to my right is my son, Sokka. He wanted to see the Fire Nation's legendary grandeur."

Ozai snorted. "He looks more like a boy than a young man, to me. Let him go play in the residential wing of the palace with the other children, while we get down to business, uninterrupted."

Hakoda lost his smile. "My son-"

"Actually, dad, that sounds okay to me."

Prince Zuko turned out to be less than impressive. "We can't play in the palace. My little sister is out there now, and if she sees I have a new friend, she'll beat us both up."

Sokka waited to see if Zuko was going to burst out laughing, but it didn't happen. "Your little sister."

"Uh, huh. She's scary."

Sokka suppressed the urge to give an opinion on that. His dad said to be polite and Diplo Tactic. "Okay. But I heard someone say that there's a garden just outside. Do you have 'grass' there?"

Zuko scratched his hair where it wasn't quite long enough to stay in his topknot. "We can't go there, either. My sister's friends are playing out there right now. They're waiting for Azula- that's my sister- to finish her Firebending training."

Sokka really wanted to say something sarcastic. "More girls."

"Yeah. We can just hide behind some curtains for a while, maybe just an hour, and then Azula will be done and go meet Mai and Ty Lee- they're her friends- and then we can play here in the palace."

"So... Mei and Tai Li will beat us up, too?"

Zuko considered that. "Probably not. They haven't tried yet. But they're annoying. Ty Lee is loud and likes to imitate Azula and make fun of me, and Mai is just annoying. She follows me around when Azula is busy, but won't say anything. When I try to get her to play a game or something, she just runs away."

"Zuko, buddy... you're not a warrior, are you?"

"Nuh uh! I want to be a Diplomat Prince like my dad!"

Sokka nodded. "And yet, you can't get a shy girl to talk."

"Uh..." Zuko blinked. "Are you allowed to talk to a prince like that?"

Sokka put a friendly arm around Zuko. "You know, back home, I'm kind of like a prince myself, and I'm a great talker. Want me to find out what's going on with this Mae for you?"

"Mai."

"That's what I said. So?"

Zuko nodded. "I'd like to see you do that."

One was covered in pink, the other in black. Sokka stood in front of them and pointed at the pink one. "Are you Mei?"

"No, she is. And it's Mai."

"Like I said. So you'd be Tai Li?"

"Ty Lee. But yeah."

"What did I say? Anyway, is it okay if I talk to your friend for a moment?"

Ty Lee looked over at Mai, who remained silent and blank-faced. Then she looked back up at Sokka and gave a wide, disconcerting grin. "You're cute."

"Um, thanks?"

"I'll just leave you two alone for a moment." She threw a look back at Mai, winked obviously, and skipped off.

Mai just continued to stare.

Sokka waited. The girl had an interesting look, fascinatingly toxic... no, exotic was the word... and her hair was the shiniest Sokka had ever seen, even after that time when Katara worked blubber all over her head in an attempt to try new styles. "So, Zuko says you don't talk."

She blushed at that.

Sokka wondered what that was about. "So, if I give you a piece of jerky, will you say something so that I can show Zuko up and tell him you do speak?"

Mai said nothing.

"So, what's with the weird way everyone says your name? Are your parents bad at spelling?"

Mai shrugged.

"So, uh, what do you do for fun?"

Mai pulled a knife the size of her forearm out of her sleeve.

"Whoa. Nice knife. Hey, look, I have a machete!" He produced the sharpened bone weapon from his belt, and held it out to Mai. She took it carefully, running her hands along the grip. Then she slowly and cautiously put a finger on the blade.

She smiled.

Sokka grinned back. "If you like that, check this out!" He reached for the pouch on his back, and whipped out his newest weapon. "This... is Boomerang."

Mai was back to staring blankly.

Sokka sighed. "Look, I'll show you." He took aim at an apple hanging from a tree, and threw.

As Sokka would grow up, he would come to find women increasingly alluring, and would study them accordingly. He would come to know all the various ways they could express themselves, particularly when it came to finding him attractive in turn. His very first taste of this, when he was ten years old, was seeing Mai's face positively light up when she saw Boomerang float through the air and whip back to land in Sokka's hand.

It occurred then, to Sokka, that girls could be pretty. "So... wanna try it?"

Mai opened her mouth, stopped... and then spoke. "Please."

After that, Zuko found that Mai no longer had trouble talking to him, although she didn't seem to have much to say.

END