isolated,, sokka

i.

zhavia had walked out of her tent, recently finished with her training as she went to speak with her father. what surprised the young firebended was seeing prince zuko and retired general iroh speaking with zhao by a damaged boat.

"zhavia," zhao mentioned for his daughter to walk over, "prince zuko, retired general iroh, this is my daughter zhavia." zhao introduced, a smirk on his face.

zhavia bowed respectfully, "it's an honor to meet you both."

"thank you, dear." iroh sent her a kind smile, which she returned. zhavia heard many stories of iroh from zaia— his ex wife. zaia and iroh loved each other dearly, but after the loss of lu ten, they couldn't bear seeing each other every day.

"what happened to your ship? that's quite a bit of damage." zhao brought up, looking behind them. zhavia looked too, and her eyes widened after seeing the ship.

"oh yes. uncle, tell commander zhao what happened." zuko's voice wavered a bit, and iroh's widened. zhavia wasn't stupid, and neither was zhao. both knew something was up.

"yes, i will do that. it was incredible," iroh began, before leaning towards zuko, "what, did we crash or something?"

"yes! right into an earth kingdom ship." zuko finished, and zhavia had to refrain from letting out a laugh at their obvious lie.

zuko glanced towards her, as if asking if his story was believable. zhavia couldn't lie to the prince, so she simply replied with a small smirk and shrug.

"really? you must regal me with all the thrilling details. join me and zhavia for a drink?" zhao finished his thought by growing closer to zuko. zhavia could tell zhao didn't believe them either, but neither had a high enough status to call them out on a lie.

"sorry, but we have to go." zuko glared back, pushing past.

"prince zuko, show commander zhao your respect," iroh scolded, before turning to zhao, "we would be honored to join you. do you have any ginseng tea? it's my favorite."  iroh started walking with zhao towards the tent.

zuko stood back along with zhavia, before she let a sigh out and went to walk to the tent. "so, prince zuko, that must have been some earth kingdom ship."

"oh- yes, it was twice the size of ours." zuko's response came jumbled, and zhavia raised her eyebrow once more.

"to cause that much damage, it must have been." she agreed, though zuko could tell that she didn't believe him.

"look, please don't say anything to your father about your skepticism. i want to get out of here as soon as possible." zuko asked as they both almost reached the tent.

"that makes two of us," zhavia mumbled to herself, but zuko caught it. "anyways, i won't say anything." she raised her arms in mock-surrender as she walked between the guards to the back room, zuko following her. zuko thanked her under his breath before they met with both zhao and iroh.

"would you like some tea as well, prince zuko?" zhao asked, pouring a cup for iroh.

"no thanks." zuko rolled his eyes, leaning against the side of the tent with his arms crossed.

"-and zhavia?" zhao questioned.

"i'm okay, father." she replied, shaking her head as she took a seat.

"if i may, i would like to discuss a war plan with you. it would be an honor to receive your advice." zhao pointed towards a map he had on the other side of the tent. iroh nodded, sitting comfortably with his tea.

"-and by years end, the earth kingdom capitol will be under our control. the firelord will finally claim victory in this war." zhao finished explaining, before turning around to see if they agreed.