"No one can make tea like Uncle, but hopefully I learned a thing or two. Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" Zuko said serving tea "Sure" katara said "I like jokes." Aang said "Bring it!" Toph said "Okay. Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punch line is "Leaf me alone, I'm bushed!" He said as the place went silent "that was hilarious" Cordelia said sipping the tea "Well, it's funnier when Uncle tells it." Zuko said.
"Right ... maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing." Katara said "give him some credit, Zuko tried...I think" Cordelia said sticking her tongue out at how hot it was "It's nice to get a chance to relax a little. It hardly ever happens" toph said "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Sokka asked "what are they gonna talk about?" Katara asked "stupid boy things" Cordelia replied trying to cool her tongue.
Later
"Where do you two think your going?" Cordelia asked resting against a tree after watching Zuko and Sokka trying to sneak away "why are you awake?" Sokka asked "I should be asking you that question, where are you heading this early in the morning?" She asked staring at him dead in the eye "we were on our way to go save my dad and everyone else" Sokka said "what are you doing up?" Zuko asked preparing his balloon.
"I'm going with you" she said getting into the balloon "no way it's too dangerous" Zuko said trying to get her off "I think it would be best to have a water bender go to a place full of firebenders" Cordelia said "your right" Sokka said placing his hand on his chin.
"Pretty clouds" Sokka said breaking the silence "Yeah ... fluffy. What?" Zuko said as Sokka whistled "What? Oh, I didn't say anything. You know, a friend of mine actually designed these war balloons." Sokka said "No kidding." Zuko said "Yep, a balloon ... but for war." Sokka said "If there's one thing my dad's good at, it's war." Zuko said increasing the fire for the balloon "Yeah, it seems to run in the family." Sokka said "Hey, hold on. Not everyone in my family is like that." Zuko said.
"I know, I know, you've changed." "I meant my uncle. He was more of a father to me. And I really let him down." Zuko said staring down "are we there yet, your conversation is boring" Cordelia asked staring over the side of the balloon "sorry, I think your uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us? That's hard." Sokka said after apologising "It wasn't that hard." Zuko said.
"Really? You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?" Sokka asked "Well, I did have a girlfriend. Mai." Zuko said as Cordelias eyebrow twitched in irritation "That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" Sokka asked with interest "Yeah. Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it." Zuko said smiling "My first girlfriend turned into the moon." Sokka said "That's rough, buddy." Zuko said a bit shocked.
"What about you, Cordelia?" Sokka asked "what's that mean?" Cordelia asked "how is your love life, how are you and Sota?" Sokka asked "Sota?" Zuko said confused "...I don't know, it's a bit complicated" she said letting out a sigh "oh...that's right, you never really mentions how you lost your mother, not trying to be nosy" Sokka said "...it was when I was 9 or 10 I can't remember the specifics but because of me being a princess I was dragged to the fire nation along with my mother to form a peace treaty with the fire lord" Cordelia said.
"Wait your a princess?" Zuko asked surprised "I thought it was obvious we met once before, remember when you came to the northern water tribe looking for Aang? There were two girls with white hair guess who I was" Cordelia said "the one with the diamond?" Zuko asked "ding ding, correct. The other girl was my sister and Sokka first girlfriend she's gone now. I use the water to hide my features so sometimes it might be hard to recognise me, that time in Ba sing Se was the first time you saw with out my features which was why you never reacted negatively" Cordelia pointed out.
"Anyways, I followed my parents to the fire nation and I spotted a boy, he was really kind sweat , he was always sticking to his mothers side like a leach, we shared a tangerine under the tree after I changed into some fire nation clothes" she said as the image popped into her mind.
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"What's his name?" Sokka asked interested "It's Zuko" she said "me?" Zuko said pointing at himself "mhm, I couldn't tell if you were the same person because of the scar but after seeing you act so awkward I instantly knew it was you, anyways the negations failed and the fire benders were attacking us, you protected me and got me back to my parents" she said "then how did your mother die?" Sokka asked curiously "a fire bender attacked her on our way out, Pakku tried to save her but he wasn't that diverted in healing, on our way home she died" Cordelia said averting eye contact "sorry for asking" Sokka said as the place went silent.
"There it is! There's plenty of steam to keep us covered. As long as we're quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught." Zuko pointed out before adding more fire for the balloon "We're going down! The balloon's not working anymore" he said after his failed attempt to keep them in the air "The air outside is just as hot as the air inside so we can't fly!" Sokka said before cordelia bended the steam around them.
"Stop, we can't use your bending right now we don't wanna get spotted" Sokka said stopping her "So what are we supposed to do?" Zuko asked "I don't know! Crash-landing?" Sokka suggested as the balloon skid slong the boiling water causing them to hit land "that wasn't a hard of a landing as I thought" Cordelia said before Zuko tapped her lap rapidly "you were sitting on my face" He said rubbing his nose after she got off "I wish I brought my umbrella" Cordelia said embarrassed.
