It's just me. [ he doesn't hesitate when he says it. he does, however, seem a little crestfallen. it'd been him in the beginning, then it'd been littered with others, or simply just sokka, and now it's back to how it had began. ]

We trained. They helped build some fortifications. [ like snow dragons. he likes to think it worked. he still can't believe, years later, that his blue spirit mask actually frightened a spirit away. but he doesn't say it; the blue spirit is a fugitive in his home world, and someone he sometimes thinks of becoming in the drabwurld. ]

[ he doesn't. for some reason, being zuko is just fine. ]

I never asked any of them if they knew magic, if they were the ... mages some people talk about. But I know they'd want to help. They risk their lives talking to me every day. [ zuko shrugs and lifts his hand to brush some hair from his eyes. ] They're the soldiers you never think to recruit. You think they're too weak, but they're the strongest warriors you have.