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“Lee! Lee, over here!”
Zuko looked up from wiping the counter to see Jet, the young man he’d met on the ferry to Ba Sing Sae, waving to him from the far side of the bustling Tea House. Despite the brief twinge of fear Jet’s appearance brought on, Jet’s crooked smile seemed genuine. After a second, Zuko decided that the other boy wasn’t there to cause trouble.
Counting out five wooden menu plates – one for Jet and each of the people he was sitting with – Zuko carefully navigated his way through the mid-afternoon crowd. Coming up to Jet’s table, he rooted around in his pocket for his order pad as he began his customary introduction.
“Welcome to the Pao Family Tea House. Can I get any of you t-” The last word was lost to a faint choking sound when Zuko looked up to find three pairs of shocked eyes staring back at him.
“What’s going on?” The youngest of them, a girl with clouded and unseeing eyes, cocked her head to one side. “Why’s everyone so quiet all of a sudden?”
“I...I...” Zuko stammered.
Oblivious to the sudden tension at the table, Jet clapped Zuko on the back; the wooden menus in Zuko’s hands rattled. “This is my friend, Lee. We met on the ferry from Full Moon Bay. Lee, this is Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph.”
“Aang,” Katara added slowly, almost warningly. “is the Avatar.”
“O-oh...” Swallowing heavily, Zuko managed to keep his hands from shaking as he set the menus on the table. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
“Don’t you mean it’s an honor?” Sokka shot back coolly.
“Right.” Zuko swallowed again as he fought the conflicting urges to either flee, or to pick up one of the menus and hit the water tribe boy over the head with it. “Of course.”
“Of course,” Sokka echoed. Reaching over his shoulder, he calming drew his boomerang from its sheath and placed it on the table.
Jet eyed it uncertainly. “Something wrong?”
“No.” Sokka eased back in his chair, not taking his eyes off Zuko. “It just isn’t very comfortable to lean on.”
“S-so,” Zuko began, cursing the uncontrolled tremor in his voice. “The Avatar. That sounds...um...interesting.”
“It’s not boring,” Sokka nodded, lightly tapping one finger on his boomerang. “We’ve been on the go for months.”
“Almost like someone was chasing us.” Katara’s icy stare seemed to pin him in place.
“You’re lucky you caught us while we were in town.” Sokka added, baring his teeth in something between a grin and a snarl.
“Sounds dangerous."
“I guess,” Sokka shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like the Fire Nation sent anyone really competent after us.”
Don’t react, Zuko commanded himself, clenching his teeth so hard that his jaw began to ache. Don’t give yourself away.
“That’s not true,” Aang piped up. “Princess Azula and her friends are pretty scary.”
“Good point,” Katara agreed. “So was that Admiral Zhao.”
“What about that monster from the Spirit World. Hey bye?”
Katara rolled her eyes. “It was Hei Bai, Sokka.”
“That’s what I said.”
“And those pirates.” Aang added.
“You mean the ones Katara stole from?”
“They were pirates,” Katara responded primly. “They probably stole it first.”
“Hang on. Are you telling me that Sugar Queen stole something?”
“They were pirates,” Katara repeated. “And they were hired by the Fire Nation to go after us!”
“That’s right,” Sokka glanced back to Zuko and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure that was Admiral Zhao, too.”
“Oh, definitely,” Katara agreed, obviously enjoying Zuko’s barely-supressed indignance.
Don’t defend yourself. Don’t defend yourself. Don’t defend yourself, Zuko repeated silently, feeling very aware of his scar for some reason.
“What about the tracker you guys told me about?” Toph asked, picking up on the game. “The woman riding the shirshu?”
“No, that wasn’t Admiral Zhao.” Sokka shook his head. Zuko’s heart seemed to leap up into his throat. “That was General Iroh.”
“What?!” Jet cried, finally joining the conversation. “The Dragon of the West? That General Iroh?”
“Oh, you’ve heard of him?”
“Everyone in the Earth Kingdom has heard of him, Sokka. He led the Six-Hundred-Day Siege! He’s probably more famous than King Kuei!”
“Huh. Did you hear that, guys?” Despite addressing his friends, Sokka kept his eyes locked on Zuko. “We met someone important.”
“The Dragon of the West,” Jet murmured, shaking his head. “Whatever. Let’s just order something.”
Zuko leapt on the chance to move the conversation in a less uncomfortable direction, lifting his notepad. “Right. Yes. Tea. Today’s specials are...uh... Dianhong, Bai Mudan, and the house Jasmine.”
Jet shrugged. “I’ll just take something spicy.”
“I’ll have whatever that is,” Katara pointed to a nearby steaming teapot, sitting on the counter in plain sight. “And don’t worry about pouring it. I can do that myself.”
“Um...me too, I guess.” Aang said, glancing uncomfortably between Katara and Zuko.
“I’ll have a lightly steeped Chrysanthemum tea with a few drops of honey.” Toph frowned at the brief silence that followed. “What? I wasn’t raised in a barn, you know.”
Zuko scribbled down the girl’s order, then turned to Sokka. “And...er...for you, sir?”
“I’m suddenly not thirsty,” he replied, shifting his boomerang a few inches and smirking when Zuko flinched at the sound.
“Right. Okay. I’ll go get those then.”
He tried very hard not to run from the table, the order slip crumpled in his clenched fist as he burst through the kitchen door. Startled, his uncle dropped an entire bowl of tea leaves into a steaming pot. After taking a moment to gaze mournfully into the ruined tea, Iroh looked up to find an agitated Zuko pacing back and forth.
“Is something the matter, nephew?”
“Is something the matter?” Zuko halted mid-step and pointed at the door. “Do you know who’s out there? Who I just had to take orders from?”
“Customers, I would imagine.”
“The Avatar, uncle,” he hissed. “The Avatar and his friends are sitting in this tea house, right now!"
"Ah." Iroh nodded. “Yes, I noticed that.”
“You what?!”
“I saw them come in with that young man you met on the ferry.”
Zuko gawked at his uncle in disbelief. “Why didn’t you say anything?! Why didn’t you do anything?!”
“What would you have me do?”
“I...we...” Despite himself, Zuko didn’t have an immediate answer to that.
“We are exiled, nephew” Iroh reminded him, lowering his voice to keep from being overheard. “And even if capturing the Avatar might change that, there is nothing for us in the Fire Nation.”
“But...”
Iroh raised a hand, cutting off Zuko’s retort. “I am happy here, Zuko, and I believe you could be as well. Whatever you do now, I will not stop you. I simply hope you choose the peaceful path.”
And so, Zuko made his choice.
He brought the Avatar and his companions their tea. He even managed to be polite in the process. His didn’t rise to the water tribe boy's teasing or to his sister’s thinly veiled jibes, and he tried to ignore the faint pity in the Avatar’s eyes. He endured Jet’s bluster and, despite himself, he even smiled when the blind girl complemented his uncle’s Chrysanthemum tea.
The water tribe boy (whose name Zuko couldn't seem to recall) came to the shop counter when they were finished, took a few seconds to glare at him, then paid the bill without comment before rejoining his companions. Watching them go, Zuko didn’t notice Jin rise from her usual table in the corner and sidle up beside him.
“Tough customers?” she asked, laughing when he jumped.
Turning to the short Earth Kingdom girl who'd somehow managed to wriggle her way into his life, Zuko gave her a mildly confused look. “Huh?”
She pointed to the departing Avatar and his companions. “It looked like they were giving you a hard time.”
“Oh. Er...no.” Shaking his head, Zuko took a second to put his thoughts in order. “We were...uh...we were just catching up.”
“Old friends?”
“Just some people I used to know.”
“Characters from Lee’s mysterious past, eh?” she teased playfully, bumping her hip against his and giggling softly when a light blush spread over his face. “Will they be coming back?”
“Why?”
Jin shrugged.
Zuko’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t pester the customers, Jin.”
She put a hand to her chest in feigned shock. “Are you saying I’m a pest, Lee?”
“Yes,” he answered shortly, mildly annoyed that his sharp response seemed to have no effect on the girl whatsoever.
“Stop bothering that nice young lady, nephew!” Zuko couldn’t help rolling his eyes. He could practically hear the smirk in his uncle’s voice as it floated out of the kitchen. “There is tea waiting to be served!”
He sighed, spared a second to glower at the still-smiling Jin, and adjusted his apron. “I’m on it, uncle.”
-END-