AtLA Rewritten: Edition 1

Chapter 7

"Good question, because I have no idea." Athlea looked forward. "Probably with his girlfriend," she said, a hint of annoyance in her tone. "I hate her," she admitted, letting out a sigh. "She's not for my uncle. There's something fishy about her. You know when you get that gut feeling about a situation or a person?" she asked. "That kind of feeling annoys me so much, but I can't do anything about it. He won't listen to me." She shrugged. "He's obsessed with gardening. He knows every herb and every flower. Crazy really." She let her eyes close. "If he opened up a business I'm sure it'll pop off nicely." Her eyes opened and she looked at him. "Pretty sure the two could work together and we'll get along." She grabbed another chip and ate it.

Zuko chuckled as she spoke, but his face quickly sobered as her voice grew more serious. He looked over at her, listening. "I don't think I know the feeling," he admitted, "but I can understand what you mean. The only people I know that aren't great are outright horrible." He laughed softly, even if it wasn't very funny.

Athlea looked at him, taking another chip. "It's that feeling when another person has a bad vibe. It's like a tiny voice inside of you screaming 'Hey, don't do that,' or 'Hey, that person ain't it.'" She frowned as she heard him and kept her gaze forward.

"My father and my sister are the reason my mom disappeared. I thought she was dead, but they recently revealed that she was just... sent somewhere else, I guess?" He nibbled halfheartedly at the edge of a fire chip. After a moment he turned back to her, shaking his head.

"Don't you wanna search for her?" she asked. "You should make it your mission to find your mother after all the chaos is over." Her blue eyes moved back to him. "She feels off; I don't trust her one bit. She seems fake, and not genuine." She shrugged.

Zuko let out a breath. "Of course I want to find her," he said. "It's just that I don't really... remember her, and I'm more focused on getting rid of my dad and sister." Mumbling, he added, "What if she doesn't want to see me, anyways? I mean, I know that's not likely, but she got sent away because she was always trying to protect me... and that is if she's alive still." He took a breath to ask her a question, then hesitated before asking anyways. "So... your parents were from different tribes, right? What... happened to them?" He looked at her, waiting for a response.

At his question Athlea fell silent, and her gaze moved forward, as if she was in deep thought. Silence fell until she parted her lips to speak. "My mother and uncle are water benders from the Water Tribe. Both were very adventurous and loved to travel. My dad was..." she started. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "...one of your dad's most loyal royal commanders. The two met, fell in love and all that kinda lovey dovey stuff." She smiled a bit. "Then I came, and they kept their relationship a secret for a good three more years. That's how old I was when royal guards came and took them away forever." She reached over, popping another chip into her mouth. "Whether they are alive or not, I'm not sure." She shrugged, her eyes moving back to him. "And in regards to your situation, I doubt she wouldn't want to see you. You're her son, no matter what. I'm sure she misses you like crazy, and vice versa." She smiled again. "You need to focus on your mission for now, and after that you'll have plenty of time to find her. And I'm sure you will." She nodded.

Zuko clenched his fist, a bit anxious at her immediate reaction. He didn't move his gaze from her, leaning one elbow on the counter. "Oh... I didn't realize that he might've been working for my father." He looked forward, feeling guilty even though he knew he didn't have control over his father's choices.

Athlea looked at him and then forward. "He was; they were keeping their relationship in secret because you know, firebender and waterbender. Against the rules."

"I didn't know that your uncle was a waterbender," he said quietly. "Is it difficult, hiding it?" He finally turned his head to look at her, his head on his right hand, tracing a circle on the table with his left.

"My uncle managed and is managing just fine. He's doing good at hiding it and being discreet about it." She watched him for a moment, her eyes moving to his hand as he traced circles. Zuko nodded. Being a bender was something natural and couldn't be easily suppressed. Though he had done it himself plenty of times, he had slipped up often. He was lucky that he had never been caught; whenever someone had figured it out, he ran to the next camp. His uncle hadn't been so lucky once, and that had been... complicated.

"I think I could tell your mom by her eyes. I saw that picture in the living room--that's them, right? You definitely have your eyes." He glanced at her again, letting his hood shade his face.

She looked forward, taking a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah, that's them. Unfortunately I have nothing of them besides that picture." She shrugged, then smiled. "I thank my mum's genes, then," she teased.

"You're going to help us, right? With three master benders, and the Avatar, there's no way we can lose, so we'll all still be together after. Maybe I can help you find your parents, too." He looked away again.

"Yeah, I'll try my best to help. Besides, we need to find our prince's firebending."

Zuko rolled his eyes at the comment about his bending. He cleared his throat, looking down at his hand, still tracing circles on the table. He stopped and tapped it a couple times. "We should probably get to sleep if your training is as grueling as you claim," he teased.

Athlea looked at him and she suddenly booped his nose with her finger, a smile on her face. "I'm not the one who will be tired; you will." She took one last fire chip and stood. "I've noticed you're really not fond of people calling you prince." She tilted her head slightly to the side, eyebrow raised. "I'll still keep doing it."

Zuko blinked, his face turning a bit red with surprise. He looked down at her, smirking. "We'll see about that, then." He stood when she did. He smiled a little. "I'm not very proud about being a prince," he admitted. "Not when the king is my father. If my uncle were king it'd be different."

Athlea moved around the kitchen to put the bowl of fire chips away. She closed the lights after her. "Sleepy time."

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A/N more Zukea chemistry! the focus will be on them for a whileee, as there won't be another new shipping for a while. who do you think it will be?