Momma Turtleduck

by I_Am_Dragon

Summary:

Zuko adopts some Turtleduck ducklings when he returns home after three years away.

This changes more than he would like to admit.

Notes:

Hello, I_Am_Dragon here, with my first fic in the series. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Notes:

So, this is more of a side project at the moment, since I am still writing my other fic, which is almost finished, but that means that I do not know how regularly I will be posting, but after I finish my other one, I will be posting once a week.

Hope you enjoy!

It had been a couple of days since Zuko had gotten back into the good graces of his father. Azula had insisted that they walk around the palace, to get Zuko acquainted with his home. It had taken a couple of days: despite him only being gone for three years, the palace had changed a lot, and it was huge.

The war had done so much damage to his kingdom, Zuko thought bitterly.

“Alright, I think that's all the new kitchens.” Azula said, rolling her eyes, “Even though I still think this was a complete waste of time, Royals do not need to come here, we have servants for a reason. But, you’re the boss. What else do you want to see then, Zuzu?”

Zuko thought for a minute, thinking back to all of the places he loved going to as a kid; his favourite hideouts, the places where he would play with Lu Ten, and the places his mother would take him when they had some time together.

Zuko smiled.

“How about the turtleduck pond?” he asked, “Have any changes been made there?”

Azula wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“I mean… the royal gardens haven’t changed that much since you left, but… I guess we could go see them, if that's what you really want to do, Zuzu.”

She motioned for him to follow her, which he gladly did.

Thankfully, the royal gardens were not that far away from the kitchens, and, as usual, it was mostly deserted. Not many people appreciated the serenity. When Zuko had come here in the past, the only people with him were Azula and her friends, if they were there to play, Zuko’s mother, the gardeners, and Uncle Iroh.

Zuko felt a pang of guilt when he thought of him.

Why did Uncle have to betray the Fire nation like that? Why did he have to leave him?

“Here we are.” Azula said with a condescending monotone voice as they entered the outside, “The Gardens, and your stupid turtleduck’s live. Yay .”

Zuko chose to ignore his sisters remark, and smiled down at the pond. A couple of mother turtleduck’s were bobbing on the top of the pond, quacking in delight at seeing Zuko. They must have remembered me.

Zuko smiled and crouched down next to the old tree, letting them come to him.

The turtleduck’s ran over to him, honking and swimming their way over to Zuko.

“Hi Mamas.” Zuko said, a huge goofy grin plastered on his face. The turtleducks honked in delight and wagged their little tails.

Azula watched on in bored disgust.

“Honestly, Zuzu, you’d think that you would have gotten over this childish behaviour while being banished.” she scoffed.

Zuko glared at her.

“Mum used to take me here.” Zuko said quietly, “She tried to take you as well, but you were too scared of them. It became… it became our thing before…”

Azula's gaze softened minutely.

“Fine, I won’t make fun of your little… creatures.” she said, “But honestly Zuzu, we still have a lot of the palace to look at, so why don’t we wrap this up and-”

Azula reached out to touch Zuko's shoulder, intending to pull him up and drag him away.

The oldest mother turtleduck didn’t know this. But she had been at this pond ever since Zuko had started going with his mother. She knew him well, and she knew the kinds of tricks Azula would play on him.

Unkind tricks, tricks that she interpreted as her way of harming him, though they didn’t result in lasting damage. 

As soon as she registered the fact that Azula was about to touch him, she reacted, honking loudly and scrambling out of the pond, intent on attacking Zuko's younger sister.

And before Zuko even registered what was going on, Azula shrieked and backed away, sending a trail of fire in the turtleduck’s direction.

The little thing howled in pain, and Zuko immediately went to douse the fire with pond water. But it seemed all for nothing. Horrified, he watched as the mother fell to her side and stopped moving.

He turned to Azula angrily, while the other ducks in the pond honked at her.

“What did you do that for?!” Zuko yelled.

“It was attacking me!” Azula yelled back, “Its not my fault she doesn’t like me!”

“It is! You threw rocks at her when we were younger! How could she not, not like you?”

Azula said something else, but Zuko was already on the ground, trying to look at the damage. The lifeless duck didn’t move other than a harsh wheezing breath when Zuko gently prodded her uninjured side. While the shell on her back had saved her from most of the damage, she was still in pain, still withering in agony. A deep burn had scorched through her feathers, leaving an ungodly mark on her neck.

Zuko let out a shaky breath. She wouldn’t survive the rest of the day.

“Get out.” Zuko whispered, just enough for Azula to hear and stop her excuses.

“What?!”

“I said Get. Out.” Zuko growled, “You… you killed her.”

Azula, thankfully, didn’t press on. She just rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Fine. I’ll leave. Just… tell me when you’re ready to continue the tour… I guess.”

She turned around and left, leaving Zuko with the turtleduck.

He could feel his eyes brimming with tears as he picked up the limp body of the mother duck. She whimpered in pain at the movement, but did not protest.

“I-I’m sorry.” he whispered. He only hesitated for a second, watching his trembling hands while reminding himself that there was no way to save her, and this was a mercy.

With a swift snap of the turtleducks neck, she stopped moving entirely.

Zuko didn’t move much for a few seconds, only bringing her closer to his chest before rocking gently back and forth, tears falling down his cheeks.

He then proceeded to get up, walking over to the familiar place he knew her nest was. He found the small nest next to the pond reeds, half hidden by the foliage. He laid her aside and dug a hole with his hands, before placing her gently inside and covering the hole back up with dirt.

He patted the dirt down and stared at the little makeshift grave. He should probably have gone back to the kitchens to get her favourite bread to bury with her, but it was too late now.

Thats when Zuko noticed something in the corner of his eye. There, inside the turtle ducks nest, were four pristine white eggs. Zuko looked up and stared at them.

…They didn’t have a mother anymore.

Just like him.

Zuko stared at them for a long while. He contemplated just moving the eggs to another mothers nest, then quickly dismissed the thought the other mothers would immediately crush the eggs if they found them in their nests. They were highly territorial creatures, and could easily tell if an egg in their nest was not one of their own. But they would also die without their mother.

Zuko would have to figure out what to do with them later. Right now he had to keep them warm.

Practically without thinking, Zuko reached over and pocketed the turtleduck eggs. They would be safe and warm inside his robes, at least until he figured out what to do with them.

He turned to leave, heading towards where he knew the library would be. Maybe he could borrow some books or scrolls about Turtleducks: there had to be something in there about how to care for orphans, or at least, how to give them to a mother without her realizing they were not her own.

It was the least Zuko could do for them.

…………

Chirp! Chirp! 

Zuko had taken all the scrolls and books about Turtleducks he could find in the library and taken them back to his quarters, placing the eggs inside a makeshift nest of blankets he wasn’t using, and spent the rest of the day reading.

He must have fallen asleep.

Chirp! Chirp! 

He hadn't eaten in that long either. No one came to check on him, even though he was the prince. He’d have to get used to that again.

Chirp! Chirp!

What was that noise? Was someone trying to wake him up? Actually, now that he thought about it, he could feel something sharp prodding in his face. In his half asleep state he groaned and moved away the object with a sweep of his hand.

Immediately there was a small shriek.

Zuko's eyes widened and he got up quickly, looking down at his bed. A small newly hatched turtleduck was on his bed, turned on its shell and panicking, trying to get up. There were three more little turtleducks all panicking because the other one was panicking.

Zuko resisted the urge to follow suit - it was way too early in the morning for this, the sun wasn't even out yet - and quickly reached over to help the little turtleduck back onto its feet.

The little ducking immediately stopped panicking, and the others calmed down too, one of them even falling asleep where it was. The duckling instead looked at Zuko with a comically angry expression and tried to peck him on the arm.

“Hey,” he said, “That is not nice.” 

The little gremlin just glared at him and continued to try and peck him.

“I said stop it.” Zuko said, gently picking up the little creature by the shell and lifting it up into the air. The little duckling squeaked in outrage and tried to nip at Zuko's fingers.

Zuko glared at the little thing as it tried to wriggle out of his grip. He then felt something else ram softly into his leg. Zuko looked down to see one of the other ducklings fall over slightly and hit his head on Zuko. It looked slightly disoriented, and wobbled a little as it tried to walk. He gently stopped it from falling over and the little thing looked up at him lopsidedly. One of its eyes had not formed properly, leaving it looking half shut and glassy. It probably didn't help its balance. The other duckling rushed over to him and worriedly tried to nuzzle into him in comfort. The duckling with the bad eye leaned into its brother's touch so much that it almost fell over again. 

Zuko looked down at all of the ducklings, trying to work out where they came from before remembering the event that took place the day before.

These were the little orphans. The ones who had lost their mother. They had probably hatched at some point during the night. One look at the makeshift nest confirmed it. All that remained of the eggs were pieces of broken shell and goop.

Zuko then came to the sudden realization that they had probably all imprinted on him. Turtleducks always imprinted on the first living thing they saw. Which was him.

This was a bit of a problem. 

He couldn't have these ducklings with him all the time! He had things to do around the palace, which was dangerous for these ducklings, especially since most people saw them as pests if they were anywhere but the gardens. How was he supposed to look after them and do his duty as a prince at the same time?

Zuko was taken out of this train of thought by one of the ducklings chirping at him. It was still helping to hold up the duckling with the bad eye, and was looking at him with a curious expression.

They were probably hungry, Zuko realized: they hadn’t eaten yet. 

He gently placed down the angry duckling before getting up off his bed to find something for the ducklings to eat. He had some steamed vegetables from last night's dinner: one of the servants must have given it to him.

It was not much but it would be enough for the little ducklings, at least for now. 

He put the vegetables on a small separate plate and mushed them up as best as he could with the knife that he kept on his bedside table. He placed the food on his bed in front of the ducklings, who immediately went for the food. The little angry one pushed the one with the bad eye to get to the food first, gobbling it up quickly. The one who had defended the duckling with the bad eye chirped angrily at the angry one before pecking its back, leading to a heated argument of chirps. The one that had fallen asleep had perked awake at the smell of food, and used the confusion of the argument to quietly slip in and eat half the plate. 

Zuko had to help the one with the bad eye towards the food, and it immediately faceplanted into one of the steamed vegetables and just started munching without moving its head up. 

After a while the two arguing ducklings settled down to eat, though thanks to the sleepy duckling there was barely anything left. They ate and argued over the last piece of food before they finally finished eating.

Zuko quickly moved the plate away when they were done, having observed the whole ordeal from his seat on the bed. It was very early, and Zuko had things to do when he got up, so he lay down on the bed, leaving enough room for the ducklings who were looking very sleepy to sleep by him.

The little ducklings, who looked exhausted from their first meal, all waddled towards him. Zuko tensed up as they all snuggled into a sleep pile under his chin. They were warm and squirmy, and so very small, their bodies pulsing in breath as they quickly fell asleep, and thier shells still soft and not quite fully formed yet. 

Zuko didn't want to squish them by accident as he was sleeping, but he also didn't want to move them out of the way. He eventually relaxed at their rhythmic breathing beneath his chin, his body instinctively curling up and his hand coming to rest in front of them to keep them warm.

He couldn’t move that much during the night, right?

No, he probably couldn’t.

Soon enough, Zuko fell into a restful sleep, his mind for once, not plagued with nightmares of his thirteen year old self standing in that hall in front of his father.

Notes:

Can anyone guess the names of the turtleducklings? I already have an idea, but I want to see what you guys think.

Anywho, if you like this fic feel free to leave a kudos or a comment, since they really motivate me to continue to write.

Have a great week!

Chapter 2

Notes:

Hi guys, hope you had a great week!

Sorry it took so long to post this. But thanks a lot to all those people who left Kudos and comments, they really help to fuel me.

Anyways hope you enjoy!

It had been three weeks since Zuko had become the ducklings single parent and he had settled into some kind of routine. He would wake up, give them any leftovers for breakfast, and get on with his day. He spent as much time as he could near the turtleduck pond to allow the ducklings to swim, so long, in fact, that Azula would tease him about it every time she saw him. If he had duties that were unavoidable, he would take the ducklings around in the pockets of his clothes, hidden from sight.

When he was in his rooms, they would waddle along after him, all in a neat little row. The duckling with the bad eye would always walk into furniture if it was on his right, but other than that his balance had improved and it could keep up with the other ducklings easily, though its head remained slightly lopsided. The bigger duckling spent most of his time sleeping and eating, though he was happy to snuggle with his siblings whenever they needed it. The two others were always arguing, the mean little duckling always picking fights, usually with the one starting them by pestering the other or trying to playfight too roughly with the other ducklings while the other one was always trying to stop them from hurting the other two.

After about three days, he decided that they needed names.

The lazier but caring duckling he dubbed Iroh, because he reminded him so much of his Uncle, in a fond kind of way. The angry one he called Azula, since it was spiteful and angry all the time, just like his sister. The more protective one he named Lu Ten, since it acted a lot like his cousin had before that battle in Ba Sing Se, always trying to mediate between the siblings bickering and spending time to play with him and Azula. The last one he dubbed Zuzu, because its bad eye kind of looked like Zukos scar.

He later found out that Iroh and Lu Ten were male ducklings, and Azula and Zuzu were females.

He had yet to tell anyone about the ducklings yet, not even his grilfriend Mai, but there was one person he wanted to show first, dispite everything.

Zuko walked up to the guards on duty around the prison, his hood up and the ducklings safely hidden in his various pockets. The guards pointed thier weapons at him as he approached from the shadows, but calmed down after they recognised him from his other visits. He slipped them both a couple of small coins to keep quiet, before they let him in.

Zuko walked down the familiar path in relative quiet, though a few of the prisoners reached through the bars towards him, begging for food. Zuko ignored them, though this area always made him extremely uncomfortable. The little ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as though sensing his discomfort, so Zuko stroked them through the fabric to calm them down. 

There were no guards outside the familiar cell, and Zuko simply opened the door and stepped through, closing it behind him before stepping forwards and sitting cross legged in front of the cage.

His Uncle still wouldn’t look at him. 

It had almost become a routine at this point. Zuko would start off talking, trying to get some sort of acknowledgment from his wayward Uncle, trying to reason with him or say something else. Iroh would simply sit in his cell, staring at the opposite wall, his log, thin silver hair falling down in waves across his back. He wouldn’t turn around. He wouldn’t make a noise. 

And then Zuko would start pleading. He would start to cry and beg and shout and yell at him to say something, say anything. He would shout insults and threats sometimes, though that made him feel guilty and send a shiver up his spine for making him sound so much like his father. But mostly he just begged. 

Iroh was a traitor, but he was also Zukos Uncle, the man who became like a second father in the three years of his banishment. He had stuck with him through everything, and the silent treatment was excruciating.

after a while of silence, Zuko would leave, slamming the door behind him and storming off through the prison, at least until he got back to his rooms where he would leave the ducklings, and they would hound at him to try and comfort him, even Azula. 

Zuko wanted… well, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted but he wished Iroh would just say something to him.

Zuko often found himself wondering if those three years even meant something to his Uncle as the silence dragged on.

”Hi Uncle.” He said, his voice more subdued than usual.

He was met, unsurprisingly, with silence. 

“I… I have something to show you.” He said softly, “I… I won’t talk, I just wanted to introduce you. Th-that’s all.”

Zuko didn’t know what to expect. Iroh stayed still, though Zuko could have sworn he had tensed up at his words. 

He didn’t say anything though, and after a couple of seconds, Zuko looked behind him to make sure that the door was closed before taking out the ducklings one by one. 

They chirped when their feet hit the ground, ruffling thier feathers and looking curiously at thier surroundings.

Lu Ten waddled up to the cage door, and tilted his head curiously at the figure that was sitting there. The little duckling seemed intrigued at the form on the other side of the bars.

At the noise, Zukos uncle half turned towards them, his eyes watching from behind strands of hair. Lu Ten chirped and squeezed himself through the bars of the cage, his shell making the motion a little tricky, before approaching Iroh with more chirps, as if to greet him.

Iroh moved his hand carefully towards the little duckling who immediately hopped onto it, ruffling his feathers before settling down.

Iroh picked him up and moved him closer to his concealed face, and the little duckling watched him with curiosity.

”I-I-“ Zuko hesitated, not entirely sure what to say, “I named him Lu Ten.”

Iroh didn’t say anything, but he moved around to face Zuko, the most he had done in a while, still holding the duckling like it was the most precious thing in the world. 

“Really?” Zukos Uncle said, his voice slightly croaky and rough from misuse. Zuko couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

”I, yeah. He reminded me of him so much that, well…” Zuko trailed off, at a loss for words. 

Uncle Iroh was finally talking to him, but Zuko didn’t feel like he thought he would. Zuko imagined that he would get some kind of relief from it but… this was just sad. Sad and awkward.

”What did you name the others?” Iroh asked, nodding his head towards the three other ducklings that were waddling around the confined space, seemingly trying to explore thier new environment. 

And Zuko told him the names of the others, and why they reminded him of thier namesakes. He chuckled a little at the reasoning for Azula and Irohs names, but he didn’t speak much other than the occasional question about the ducklings. 

And for a while, things were good. 

Zuko purposely avoided the subject of the attack and the Avatar, fearing that it would break the fragile stalemate that he found himself in. Iroh may have betrayed the crown but, he was still Zuko’s Uncle, still someone he cared about, even under all the anger and confusion. 

And seeing his Uncle’s face, however briefly, was nice after the weeks of staring at his back.

”What happened to their mother?” Iroh asked, as he held duckling Iroh in his hands, the little thing having fallen asleep.

Zuko looked away. 

“She’s…” he hesitated for a second, “she died.”

Iroh’s face softened.

”Poor little things.” He said, tracing a finger along the ducklings shell, “To have their parents taken away before they could even meet.” He slowly placed the little duckling down next to his brother and sisters, “But at least they have you now, nephew, to look after them. You have done a good job. I’m… Do you know what happened to her?”

”Azula…” Zuko started, “She, she thought that she was going to hurt me. She rushed in to protect me and…”

Irohs expression grew more sad.

”There is nothing stronger than a mothers love, and will to protect her own.” Iroh said, “No matter the cost. Even at the expense of her life.”

Zuko nodded solemnly, averting his gaze. He gripped his cloak in his hands, his knuckles turning white.

”You should probably go.” Iroh said quietly, “I’m sure someone will notice your absence soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Zuko said quietly, his voice barely reaching above a whisper. 

Iroh frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t in the end. 

“Even so, I’m sure you have many other duties to attend to.” He said, “I do not wish to keep you from fulfilling them.”

Zuko frowned a little. 

Iroh was trying to abandon him again. Zuko wanted to be angry, and maybe sad at the revelation, but all he felt was a deep numbness.

He was right. Why would anyone want him to be around?

The ducklings, as if sensing the tension, quickly ran back to Zuko, and even Azula seemed worried at the change in demeanor.

Zuko just wordlessly picked each of the ducklings up, and placed them back into his pockets.

He stood wordlessly, then turned back to his uncle. 

“…Would you like to see them again, the next time I come around?” He asked, quietly.

”That would be nice, thank you, nephew.” Iroh answered.

Zuko nodded, before pulling his hood back up and stepped to the other side, making sure the door was closed when he left.

He made a mental note to take the ducklings back to see his Uncle the next time he came, even as he ventured through the halls whose halls seemed to be made of reaching hands and metal bars. 

 

 

…He never did. 

 

Because the next time Zuko came back with a new purpose… 

 

…as the moon covered the bright sun…

 

…darkening the sky as well as their powers…

 

 

His Uncle had disappeared.

Notes:

See ya’ll next time! Have a great weekend!

Edit: I got confused with the comet and the eclipse. Fixed it now thou

Chapter 3

Notes:

Hi guys! So sorry for the wait. I had meant to post this chapter last week but I didn’t finish it on time.

The good news is though that I have almost finished my other project, and so I can focus exclusively on this one, and I will update it more regularly.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the next chapter!

How could he be so stupid?

How could he not think things through?

Uncle was gone. Zuko had almost gotten himself and his ducklings killed trying to stand up to his father. 

If Uncle hadn’t taught him how to redirect lightning…

Zuko shivered at the thought. They would have been cooked alive.

And Zuko knew from experience that that wasn’t fun. His scar itched with the memory. 

Zuko shook his head, running as quickly and as silently as he could, trying to get away. He knew his father wouldn’t have been able to mark him a traitor yet, but he had a mission in mind, a new mission, one he had been able to see clearly.

He needed to train the Avatar firebending. The Avatar he could barely see through the smoke and fire of the battle his nation was currently winning. The Avatar he knew had been alive all this time. The Avatar that would get away if he didn’t hurry up and catch up to. And then it would be the last year all over again.

Zuko crept towards the airship yard just outside the castle. The ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as if sensing the tension Zuko had. 

He touched the pockets in a comforting gesture, trying to convey to the little things that he was ok, that they were going to be ok.

They were leaving the palace. They would be safe outside the clutches of his father. They didn’t need to be afraid anymore.

The ducklings seemed to calm down a little at his touch. They did still squirm around, but it felt more like they were trying to be comfortable then actual panic.

As soon as the coast was clear, Zuko ran into the shipyard, taking one of the ships from the far corner where not many people would notice it missing.

He jumped inside, throwing his emergency bag into the ship before scrambling inside himself, careful to land in such a way that wouldn’t hurt the ducklings.

He started it up and quickly got into the air, pulling the anchor inside the gondola, and ducking inside to be hidden from whoever might be able to see him. Once he knew he was safe he looked over the horizon, spotting a small disappearing dot in the distance. Zuko let himself smile. He was finally going to help undo all the harm he had caused, and actually do something to help stop this stupid war for good.

The ducklings seemed to sense Zukos change in demeanour, and they started to chirp and try to wiggle out of Zukos pockets. Azula and Lu Ten came out first, squabbling as usual, and stared at the fluffy clouds in fascination. Zuzu was the third duckling to appear, her head tilted slightly as she watched them too. Iroh was probably sleeping. 

“You won’t have to hide anymore.” He assured them, allowing them to look while being careful not to let them fall, “Everything’s going to change soon.”

The ducklings just chirped in response.

 

They were still in the air a day later. 

Zuko had fallen asleep in the airship to the ducklings pestering him for a meal. Zuko had to scramble up as the fire had gone out during his time asleep and barely stopped them from crashing into a tree.

Azula of course did not appreciate the delay of food and angrily snapped at Zuko until he picked her up by the shell to look for food in peace. The ducklings quickly came to demolish the meal, and soon they were sleepy again. They sat down inside one of Zukos pockets

Zuko was happy with the arrangement. Occasionally he would send a jet of flame towards the furnace, or look towards the horizon to make sure they were still following the Avatar and his friends, and adjust their course accordingly. Most of the day was spent following this monotonous schedule, and after their nap the ducklings spent their time following Zuko around and exploring the space. 

Then, halfway though the afternoon, Zuko felt a pinch on his ankle. Zuko looked down, expecting to see Azula having one of her tantrums, when he saw Lu Ten sitting there and looking up at him with an expectant gaze.

”What?” Zuko asked. The duckling turned and waddled over to the backpack, shuffling inside. Zuko stared until he came back out with a bit of food, waddled over to Zuko and put it on his boot. He then looked up and chirped up at him.

Zuko looked between the piece of slightly stale bread no bigger than his thumb and Lu Ten.

”…You want me to… eat?” Zuko asked slowly. The duckling chirped again and ruffled his feathers. Zuko sighed.

”I’m not hungry.” He told the duckling, before walking back towards the furnace, the little piece of bread falling to the ground as he stepped away, careful where he walked not to hurt the other little ones. 

a few minutes later, Lu Ten came back with the little piece of bread, placed it back on Zuko’s boot and chirped at him. 

Zuko looked down at him with a slightly irritated expression, before sighing and picking it up between two fingers, knowing that the little duckling was just going to persist until he complied, and ate the piece. 

“Happy now?” He asked the duckling, who ruffled his feathers and chirped at him.

Zuko sighed again and went back to checking that they were still on track with chasing following the Avatar and his friends.

Two minutes later there was another peck on his boot. Zuko looked down to see that Lu Ten had picked up another small piece of bread, slightly bigger than the last, and placed it onto Zuko’s boot again.

Zuko gave him a look, but complied anyway, eating the small piece of food before continuing with what he was doing.

This happened five more times by Lu Ten, and soon all the little ducklings were trying to get him to eat, even Azula.

Zuko just stared at them, sighed and ate what was given to him, because honestly what else was he going to do?

By the time the evening came, the ducklings had coearsed him into eating half the loaf he had kept for them.

”Are you happy now?” Zuko asked, “You might not be able to eat later.”

The ducklings all looked up at him innocently with beady little black eyes. 

Zuko felt compelled to sigh again.

 

They had crash landed. 

It was of course Zukos fault: he did not see the tree line in the semi darkness, and after almost seventy-two hours of staying awake, he was positively exhausted. 

As luck would have it though, the Avatars Sky Bison had been heading towards where Zuko now remembered was the Western Air Temple. He had explored the area as he did with the rest of air temples in the early weeks of his banishment, trying to find any trace of where the Avatar could have been.

Needless to say, the endeavour had been fruitless.

still, that meant that Zuko knew which rocks he could climb down so that he would reach the temple area from where he was, which was luckily very close by to where he had crash landed. 

But first of course, he needed to set up camp. He’d go to see the Avatar in the morning he decided.

The ducklings trailed after him as he tugged the tarp of the airship and used it to have a makeshift tent. When they realized that he was trying to gather sticks to act as nails to keep them in place, as well as for an eventual fire, they all tried to pick up twigs to ‘help’ him. He wouldn’t say that the scrawny little pieces of wood were much help for anything, but even so he appreciated the effort.

by the end of the day, Zuko was trembling with exhaustion. He practically fell onto the uncomfortable makeshift bed, heaving a great sigh, before closing his eyes.

tomorrow was going to be a long and hard day.

Just before falling asleep, Zuko felt the ducklings scrambling up onto his chest, trying to nestle down to sleep. He absent mindedly reached out to stroke them gently, and soon a quiet sleep fell over him.

Notes:

Thanks for all those wonderful people who left some kudos and comments, they really help a lot!