Chapter Text
The sun raised itself over the mountains, flooding the fire nation with light. A new day had begun.
This day seemed like any other. The birds chirped happily in the trees, letting residents know that the morning had come. People rose out of bed and got ready for the day. Well, mostly everybody.
“Sokka!” Katara yelled, barging into her brother’s room, “The meeting starts in fifteen minutes! Why are you still asleep?”
Sokka quickly sat up and rushed to start getting ready. “Why didn’t you get me up sooner? I need time to get ready! I’m going to be late on my first day of work!”
Sokka stumbled downstairs in his nice water tribe outfit. It used to be his fathers, so it was slightly big, but Katara insisted it was necessary. He grabbed a piece of toast to take with him on the go. Enjoying breakfast is hard when rushing to work but Sokka would manage.
“I look like a kid playing dress-up, Katara! I can’t go to the meeting like this.” Sokka complained through a bite of toast.
Katara shoved her brother out the door, “You’ll do amazing, but you have to get going if you don’t want to be late. You’ve got this.” Katara offered a kind smile to her brother. He returned the smile and then booked it down the street.
Sokka had been appointed the representative for the entire water tribe army. North and South. He was so nervous for his first day. He couldn’t stop thinking of what could go wrong. He was so wrapped up in worry that he didn’t even notice the cabbage vendor right in front of him. He barreled into the cart knocking over all the cabbages.
“My cabbages!” A man yelled.
Sokka didn’t look back. He just scrambled to get up and keep going. He couldn’t be late. “Sorry, sir!” He yelled. He hadn/t broken anything, he didn’t think. He only knocked some cabbages over. The vendor would survive.
Sokka gasped for breath as he arrived at the entrance to the fire lord’s palace. He took a moment to catch his breath.
In that brief moment, Sokka took the time to take in all the beauty around him. The trees were standing tall with green leaves and bright flowers. The water rippled slightly with the cool breeze that contrasted the hot summer’s day. The sun shone brightly with no clouds to hide its light. The day was absolutely beautiful.
After catching his breath, Sokka began to walk up the stairs to the palace. He reached the top and opened the large doors standing in front of him. The palace was beautiful inside and out. Sokka as a child had come to recognize red as a bad color, but now he could enjoy the true beauty of the color. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t realize another person had entered the room.
“Greetings, Sokka.” Zuko said.
Sokka flinched, “Zuko! You scared me! I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Oh. Sorry” Zuko said, looking down at the ground.
Zuko was only a year older than Sokka, but he was now the ruler of the entire nation. His nerves had been soothed slightly by knowing that someone else around his age would be there. The meetings of the nations usually only consisted of older people and strong fighters. Never had there been a 15 year old vouching for an entire nation.
“We should be getting to the meeting now.” Sokka said. Zuko nodded and they headed off together to the meeting hall.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.