Born Beneath An Angry Star

5. Like tears from a star

Zuko was excited to be back at Ember Island his favorite place in all the world. Yesterday was his father's birthday and they had a party for him at the beach house. His mom had helped him pick out a gift to give his father, but today he was going to surprise his father and give him a gift that he'd picked out all by himself, and Zuko knew the perfect present to get him, a seashell. His family loved going to Ember Island and spending time on their private beach. A seashell would remind his father of all of the good times they spent there together.

The first thing he did after eating breakfast was to change into his swimming shorts and run out onto the beach with his pail and sand shovel. The beach was filledwith seashells and he began to collect them right away. It was always a habit of his to collect as many seashells as he could find, but today he needed to find the biggest and fanciest seashell on the entire beach.

"There you are." His mother cried. "You're supposed to wait for me, remember?"

"But I had to get down to the beach right away." He said.

"What was so important that you needed to get down here without waiting for me?"

"Daddy's birthday gift."

His mom smiled. "You're going to give your father the entire beach? I don't know how we're going to wrap that."

Zuko laughed. "No, I'm going to get him a seashell!"

"Oh, well that's much easier to wrap. Do you want me to help you look?"

Zuko gave his head a vigorous shake. "I have to find it myself."

"OK, but don't go too close to the shore."

"But that's where all the best shells are." He protested. He ran towards the shore and used his sand shovel to begin digging for shells. His father came out a few minutes later and lie down on the beach blanket next to his mother. Zuko knew he had to hurry up because it would be only a few moments before his father began swimming laps in the sea. He didn't want his father to see what he was doing. He wanted his gift to be a surprise.

He dug in many different spots until finally he found it. The most perfect shell in all the world. It was huge and bright red with darker red stripes. A giant fire nautilus must have left it behind. It took him most of the day to find the seashell but he didn't care.

 He ran his hand over the surface. It was smooth as glass and shined like a ruby. His father loved jewelry and he knew that he would love the seashell because no one helped him pick it out he did it all by himself.

Zuko was still digging in the sand when his father went to swim his laps. He hid the most wondersome and awesome seashell under a pile of seaweed.

"Must he pervert every trip we take to the beach with his incessant need to collect every seashell he sees?" His father remarked to his mother when he saw Zuko digging in the sand.

"It's just a harmless hobby Ozai, and if it keeps him occupied and out of your hair why do you care?"

"I give the boy the best of everything and he chooses to entertain himself with filthy corpses from the oceans depths. It's no wonder the simpleton cannot preform the most basic of firebending forms."

"He can. He will. You're not giving him enough time."

"And you give him too much!"

Zuko looked back and forth between his parents. He hated when they fought over him. His mom didn't think he could tell when they were fighting over him, but he always knew. It made his stomach hurt to think about it because he knew it was his fault for being bad at his firebending forms but he didn't say a word.