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Sokka awoke, and it was night. He came around slowly, only gradually becoming aware of the sounds of his friends, sleeping around him, the blank, the crackling of the fire- the fire? By now, the camp fire should've burned out. He sat up abruptly, his vision still fuzzy, and there was Zuko, facing away from him, shaping a small ball of fire in his hand.
"Zuko." Sokka said aloud unthinkingly, and the prince jumped, the fire flickering out, as he swung around. He recovered the flame with some graceful movements of his fingers before looking over at Sokka, who could see his eyes widen, even from several metres away, such was the light of the moon.
"Have you been crying?"
"What?" Sokka squawked, offended. "No, why on earth would I be crying?" Zuko shrugged.
"You tell me." He tapped his face with his free hand, and Sokka imitated his movement. His fingers came away damp. He stared at the tear drops uncomprehendingly.
"I-" He swallowed thickly. "I can't think why..."
"It happens. Probably a dream you can't remember." Zuko said curtly, but not unkindly. Sokka scrubbed his sleeve over his face twice and got to his feet. There was no way he was going back to sleep now, anyway. He picked his way through the other sleeping figures and approached the cliff's edge, near which Zuko was sat. When Sokka drew near, Zuko let the flame die- it extinguished itself with a hiss.
"You don't have to do that." Sokka said before he could stop himself.
"Do what?"
"It's just-" Sokka dropped down heavily beside Zuko, and stared out into The Valley. "I've never really seen firebending before. Not when someone wasn't trying to kill me with it, I mean."
"Oh." Zuko looked momentarily guilty, before he processed Sokka's request. "Oh, yeah. I can do that."
Instead of summoning a flame straight into his palms, he cupped his hands and blew a short stream of fire into them. Drawing back, he kept his gaze on the blaze. Shapes flickered into existence, suspended for a fraction of a second before shifting and changing into something new. A dragon, a fire ferret, a turtleduck, fast as thought, graceful as a water bender. The amber light played across his face, his eyes shone golden. Sokka watched in fascinated silence, until-
A single snowflake, small and delicate- strange, to see a snowflake made from flame.
"My mother." He said suddenly, startling Zuko, who lost the flame again.
"Sorry," Sokka said embarrassedly. "My dream. I just remembered. It was about my mother."
"Oh," Zuko said, lamely.
"Oh, indeed..." Sokka replied awkwardly, ready to drop the topic. But Zuko surprised him.
"Katara told me about her. Back in... Ba Sing Se." He said reluctantly. "It sounds like you two loved her very much."
"We did." Sokka murmured, blue eyes downcast.
"I miss her too."
Sokka blinked, confused.
"My mother, I mean."
It was Sokka's turn to: "Oh."
After a few seconds, Sokka added;
"I'm sorry that happened to you."
Zuko titled his head, swallowing thickly. He'd never heard that before.
"I... I'm sorry too."
A strange distant light was gradually illuminating the horizon.