Vanished

News

Zuko was pacing around the throne room in a panic, tugging at his hair and chewing on his right thumb nail.

"Zuko, It'll be ok!" Suki said, trying to comfort the panicking Firelord.

"Two days, Suki!" Zuko exclaimed. "It's been two days since he was supposed to arrive at the Southern Water Tribe. He told me he'd send a messenger hawk as soon as he arrived!"

Suki came over and put her hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Hey, listen," Suki pleaded. "The messenger hawk might just be delayed. Calm down a little."

Zuko took a deep breath. "Okay, yeah, you're probably right."

Suddenly, the throne room doors slammed open. A distressed young man burst through them, holding a scroll.

"Firelord Zuko!" The young man shouted, out of breath. "There's a letter for you from the Southern Water Tribe!"

Zuko frantically ran over to the young man and snatched the scroll from his hands. "Thank you! You may be dismissed." The Firelord told the young man.

The young man bowed and then exited the throne room quickly. Zuko unfurled the scroll.

"Zuko, come sit." Suki said, pulling up a chair in front of the map.

"Thank you, Suki." Zuko replied, and then sat down in the chair to read the letter.

Dear Firelord Zuko,

I have written to inform you that your husband, Sokka, has not yet arrived at the Southern Water Tribe. I am becoming increasingly more worried, as he is my brother. I am also worried because the tribeswoman, Commander Ikiaq, that we sent to pick up Sokka is a dear friend of mine and Aang's. We will be sending out a search party tomorrow. I will update you if we find (or do not find) anything.

I will write again, soon.

With Love, From,
Chieftain Katara.

Zuko took Sokka's betrothal necklace out of his pocket and started rubbing his thumb on the smooth amber stone.

Suki must have noticed the Firelord's distress because she asked, "What did the letter say?"

Zuko couldn't bring himself to read it out loud, so he just handed the scroll to Suki. As Suki read the letter, her eyes got wider and wider. When she finished, she dropped the letter on the floor and embraced Zuko into a tight hug.

"Oh, Zuko..." Was all the Kyoshi Warrior could manage.

Zuko buried his face into Suki's shoulder and started crying. Zuko thought it was selfish of him to cry. He tried to imagine Katara, writing that letter, probably in tears. She had already lost her mom, how could she bear losing her brother, too? Zuko tried to imagine Hakoda. His only son, missing. Zuko still had his mother. He still had his sister (albeit, not a very good sister, but he still had her). How could he cry when these people had lost so much more than him. Nevertheless, Zuko still cried.

Suki let go of Zuko. She rested her hands on the Firelord's shoulders and crouched in front of him. "Hey, look at me." Suki said. "Sokka isn't gone. They're looking for him. Sokka wouldn't leave you like that."

"I- I know," Zuko choked out. "I-"

"Hey, why don't you take the rest of the day off, huh?" Suki asked. "Help you clear your head? The Kyoshi Warriors and I can look after things while you rest."

Zuko nodded. "That'd be nice."

"Cool. Now, go rest up!"

Zuko stood up and walked to his room. He tried to take a nap, but soon realized that was impossible. He sat up and walked to the garden.

Zuko walked over to the turtle-duck pond and sat down. He took out a piece of bread he'd taken from breakfast and started feeding it to the turtle-ducks.

After a short while, Zuko took Sokka's betrothal necklace out of his pocket and gave the amber stone a kiss. Zuko imagined he was kissing Sokka. The stone was warm from being in the Firelord's pocket all day. Even though he was from the South Pole, Sokka always had a warmth to him. Zuko missed that. He clenched Sokka's betrothal necklace in his hand. No, Sokka wasn't gone. Just... missing.

Zuko suddenly woke up. He didn't remember falling asleep.

    He looked up. Someone was nudging him awake.

    "Mom?" Zuko asked.

    "Hi, Sweetie." Ursa said, smiling sweetly. "How are you feeling?"

    "Tired." Zuko answered.

    "Well, supper's almost ready." Ursa told her son. "Why don't you come try to eat something before you go to bed, hm? You haven't eaten since breakfast."

    Zuko nodded, then rubbed his eyes and stood up. Ursa led him to the dining hall. Zuko didn't eat much and didn't pay attention to what was served.

    "Hey, I- I'm gonna go to bed." Zuko said.

    "Okay, sweetie." Ursa furrowed her brow in concern.

    "I'll walk you there, Zuzu!" Kiyi shouted, standing up on her chair and raising her hand.

    Zuko smiled sadly and took his little sister's hand.

    "Zuzu, how do you think Sokka's doing?" Kiyi asked as they were walking down the hall.

    Zuko winced at the sound of his missing husband's name, but said, "I don't know, Kiyi... I- I haven't heard from him yet."

    "Oh," Kiyi said. "Well, I'm sure he's okay! Right, Zuzu?"

    "I- Uhm... yeah, I hope so." Zuko answered.

    When they arrived at his room, Zuko said, "Thank you for escorting me, Princess Kiyi. It has been an honor." Zuko did a low bow to Kiyi which made her giggle.

    Zuko then entered his room and tried (and failed, miserably) to sleep.

Almost a week had passed since Zuko got the letter from Katara, and he hadn't heard a word since.

    Zuko was pacing around the throne room again. He was tugging at his hair so hard that strands of hair came out. He had bitten his right thumb nail so short that he couldn't bite it anymore, so he switched to gnawing on his left thumb nail.

    The Firelord could hear voices outside the throne room, but he couldn't hear, nor did he care, what they were talking about.

    Sometimes he caught slivers of their conversation. "article...", "Earth Kingdom waters...", "Sokka...".

    What? Zuko stopped in his tracks. Had he heard that right?

    Before he could do anything, one of the big doors to the throne room opened. Suki stood in the doorway. Before she could walk in, one of the men who were talking outside whispered something to her and handed her a piece of paper. Suki furrowed her brows. Whatever the man had told her was apparently not good.

    "Yes, thank you, I'll talk to him." She said, taking the paper from the man.

    "What was that about?" Zuko asked after Suki closed the door.

    "Zuko, you need to read this." Suki explained, handing the Firelord the paper she was holding with a worried expression.

    "What is this-" Zuko started.

    "Just read it, Zuko." Suki looked at him with a concerned expression. "I- I won't be able to say it out loud."

    Zuko nervously looked down at the paper. It was an article. The first thing he noticed about this article was Sokka's face smiling up at him.