Chapter Text
The heavy gangplank clanged onto the rock of the Western Air Temple as it ground to a halt. Hakoda felt a breath of fresh air fill his lungs as he stepped off the airship onto solid ground.
“Dad!” Katara exclaimed as she rushed towards him, a grin lighting up her face while she almost tackled him to the ground. She released him and ran to her brother, pulling him into a tight hug, ignoring his grumbling, which Hakoda knew wasn’t real anyway. He briefly watched his children reunite and walked over to capture them both in a strong embrace. As the man hugged his son and daughter, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Fire Nation Prince silently slipped off the airship and almost ran into the temple without greeting anybody. He shrugged it off and let a contented grin find its way onto his face as he held his children.
Later on that evening, the large group huddled around a fire, soaking in its warmth and enjoying each other’s company. Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda were reminiscing about the past few months that they had missed together, and Aang and Toph were laughing at a joke that Suki had made.
Although he had observed the group before him in battle, it still made his stomach churn with the reminder that they were all still children. Even the quiet Fire Nation Prince, who was sitting silently to the side, staring at the floor with his meal in front of him, was still a child. Hakoda had noticed how he barely talked to any of the others and only returned to the communal area for the set meals. He supposed it might be due to the frosty attitude that his daughter reserved for the subdued boy.
The man still found it hard to believe that the young boy sitting in front of him was the same soldier who spent years chasing the Avatar around the world.
“Zuko, the flames are running a bit low; would you mind keeping it up?” His son addressing the boy with a question shook the man out of his thoughts and brought him back to the current scene.
The pale boy looked up over the dying fire with bags under his eyes. “I’m a little tired; Chit Sang, would you mind?”
Zuko redirected the question to the firebender sitting across the fire from him and next to Hakoda.
“Of course, my Prince.”At the man’s title for Zuko, the small group fell silent.
“There is really no need, Chit Sang; I’m no prince anymore.”
“You will always be a prince to the 41st and their family.”
Zuko fell silent at that, his eyes widening in shock and his face growing paler than should be possible. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Hakoda watched as the man fixed the boy with a piercing gaze, unspeakable emotions flowing through his eyes.
“Your Highness, my daughter was a soldier of the 41st division; I will never forget what you did.”
The Prince’s dropped meal clattered to the ground as his hands started to tremble. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, seeming unable to speak. When he did it, it was in a small, resigned voice. “I have never forgotten them. I failed them; I am sorry.”
“What on earth is the 41st? And how the hell did you fail them?” Sokka cut in.
“Your Highness, you did not fail them; my daughter marched into battle knowing that her prince fought for her life.” The Firebender replied, ignoring the teenager.
“I did not do enough,” Zuko shakily replied.
“There was nothing more for you to do.”
“I should have done something!”
“My Prince, you burned for us! What else was there for you to do?”
Zuko raised a quivering hand to his scar before dropping his hand, and running from the camp and up the stairs of the temple. Chit Sang signed and ran a hand through his hair, his face betraying his tired state.