𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚎𝚗

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The streets of the lower ring were surprisingly busy. People gathered at every run down and shabby market stall.

Zuko just walked past them stoically, keeping pace with the islander attached to his hip next to him as she fiddled with the sleeves of her new Earth Kingdom dress. The whole time she had searched for a new outfit she had complained of how green everything was, and he had to agree with her. She looked better in red to him anyway.

His uncle suddenly appeared at his side with a large vase filled with bright orange flowers, La'kea sniffed them once and sneezed. Zuko just glanced at them coldly before looking at Iroh as they continued to walk down the street.

The old man held them away from his nephew protectively, "I just want our new place to look nice in case someone brings home a lady friend." La'kea rolled her eyes and he leaned towards her with a smile, "Or a special guy friend."

The prince's cold stare turned sour at the sight of blush dusting her face, "This city is a prison. I don't want to make a life here." She just nodded silently in agreement.

"Life happens wherever you are," Iroh said sagely. "Whether you make it or not. Now come on, I found us some new jobs, and we start this afternoon!"

"You found all three of us jobs?" La'kea questioned with surprise as she followed after them.

"Of course," The old man replied. "Did you doubt me?"

"No, I just-." The islander stopped in her tracks at a clothing merchant stall, and sucked in a breath.

At the sight of her pale face and wide eyes, Zuko shared a worried glance with his uncle before stepping to her side. "What is it?"

She pointed to a piece of cloth hanging haphazardly off the stall. Walking over, La'kea ran a light and shaking hand over it, the prince peered over her shoulder at what had spooked her so much. It was a square cut piece of dull light brown woven cloth, decorated with an intricate pattern in darker brown.

"Ah," The merchant of the stall finally walked over, "You have a unique eye, Miss. You will not find this piece of decoration anywhere else in the four Nations. It comes from a far away land-."

"I know where its from!" She snapped suddenly, "And it is not decoration. Why do you have it? Who gave it to you?"

The man lifted his hands, shaking his head nervously. "I- I don't know, I bought it from another merchant, and I don't know where he got it from."

The islander narrowed her eyes, the way her heart had dropped to her shoes at the sight of a piece of islander clothing all the way in the Earth Kingdom. She resisted clutching the bark cloth to her chest protectively, running a hand over the pattern. "How much?"

Swallowing, the merchant relayed the price and she clucked her tongue in angry disappointment. "Let's just go," She hissed, grabbing a confused prince and walked away from the stall. "It's too expensive anyway."

As soon as they reached Iroh again, Zuko watched in concern as her face crumpled, dissolving from anger into sorrow. He touched her shoulder gently as they started moving along again, "Hey. Are you okay?"

"Yes..." She choked out. "No. That's an islander bark cloth, a piece of clothing. I know that pattern anywhere- I..." The islander rubbed her eyes, "Sorry. It was just startling to see it here." The prince didn't say anything again as they walked, but his warm hand on her back was comfort enough.

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It was early afternoon, and the three of them stood before their new employer. A man named Pao, who owned a tea shop, they should have expected that Iroh would make a bee line directly for the tea. "Well, you certainly look like official tea servers," Pao commented. "How do you feel?"

"Ridiculous," Zuko answered flatly, utterly perturbed to be a server.

Recovered from her earlier distress, La'kea patted down her apron and sent the shop owner a bright smile. "I feel okay." It was an odd transition to go from being a slave of the Fire Nation to a waitress at a small tea shop.

Iroh struggled with the string of his apron, reaching behind his back. "Does this come in a larger size?"

"I have extra string in the back," Pao replied. "Have some tea while you wait." He quickly poured three cups of tea and handed them each one before disappearing in the back of the shop.

The prince just stared down at his cup blankly as La'kea took a tentative sip and grimaced. And before she could warn Iroh, the old man took a long sip only to make an exaggerated choking noise. "This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice," He held the cup away from himself.

"Uncle," Zuko lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "That's what all tea is."

"How could a member of my own family say something so horrible," The shocked old man demanded as he reached for the teapot. "We'll have to make some major changes around here."

"Yeah, don't drink that." La'kea shook her head, bending the tea from their cups and flinging it out the window. "It's almost as bad as that one time you tried to make tea."

He made an indignant noise, "But you said you liked my tea!"

She just patted his arm, smiling up at him sweetly. "I never said it was good, Zuko." The prince deflated, trying to control his breathing to fight the heat alighting his face.

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Late at night, after a long day of bustling between tables, trying to find the balance of speed and not spilling their customers tea. La'kea and Zuko collapsed as soon as they reached their apartment.

Stretching his arms out on the back, the prince sat against the wide couch that served as the islander's bed since his uncle and him had taken the only room. The waterbender plopped down on the sofa next to him, leaning her head back against his arm as she closed her eyes exhausted. The tapa cloth from the market still weighed on her mind heavily.

"Would you like a pot of tea?" Iroh asked the two older teens from across the room, already pouring water into a pot.

Zuko groaned, "We've been working in a tea shop all day. I'm sick of tea." La'kea didn't even respond, and he wasn't quite sure she was even awake.

"Sick of tea?" His uncle flung out his arms in shock, "That's like being sick of breathing." The old man started rummaging through the cupboards, "Have you seen the spark rocks to heat up the water?"

Iroh left the apartment quickly on his hunt for the rocks. "Someone's watching us," La'kea suddenly breathed next to him, eyes still closed. "Just react normally."

He still tensed, but kept his face cool as he became aware of the open windows in the room. "How can you tell," He whispered, trying to appear nonchalant.

She exhaled slowly, shifting slightly on the couch. "I can feel their blood flowing, on the balcony outside the window."

Slightly disturbed at the notion she could sense things like that, Zuko just hummed, jumping lightly as she abruptly leaned her head against his shoulder. The prince hoped she couldn't feel how fast his heart was beating as his uncle walked back into the apartment.

"I borrowed our neighbors," He announced, walking over to the teapot. "Such kind people."

It was only after he handed both of them a cup of tea that La'kea finally stood up and hastily closed their windows. "They left," She revealed, "Or they died. Either way, they're gone."

Iroh blinked, taken aback. "Who left?"

The waterbender sat back down on the sofa beside the prince, drinking from her cup slowly. "Someone was watching us from the balcony outside that window." The retired general just narrowed his eyes as he looked to the side at the window.

"It was probably Jet," Zuko suggested. "Since he saw you heat your tea."

La'kea closed her eyes again, "You two will just have to be extra careful. He can't do anything without actual proof."

It turned out Jet could do something with almost no proof.

When it was late into the night, and their shift was almost over. Zuko and La'kea moved around the tables collecting and distributing cups.

The prince walked over to his now co-worker and friend, glancing at the coins jingling in her apron pockets. "How have you gotten so many tips?"

The islander just batted her long eyelashes comically, staring up at him with large dark eyes. "I have my ways." When he blanched, she just laughed, walking away, "It's called being nice, Zuko. Maybe smile more."

One of the customers spoke up to Iroh, who was pouring his drink. "This is the best tea in the city," He praised.

Iroh just smiled pleasantly as he brushed a hand through the steam. "The secret ingredient is love." Zuko just stared at his uncle disbelievingly.

Just as La'kea was setting down another cup of tea at a table with a smile, the back of her neck tingled. The front door slammed open aggressively, pulling everyone's attention to the disturbance. It was Jet.

"I'm tired of waiting," He snarled, flinging a finger towards Zuko and Iroh. "Those two men are firebenders!" The customers closest to the Freedom Fighter scrambled out of the way as he drew his two hooked swords. The prince and his uncle exchanged worried glances.

"I know they're firebenders," He insisted. "I saw the old man heating his tea." La'kea silently berated Iroh for that one little slip up that had landed them into... Whatever this was.

"He works in a tea shop," One customer pointed out the obvious.

Jet lifted his swords threateningly, "He's a firebender, I'm telling you!"

That same customer rose slowly from his seat, putting a hand to the hilt of the sword at his hip. "Drop your swords boy, nice and easy."

The Freedom Fighter continued his advance, taunting, "You'll have to defend yourselves. Then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can do." She just squinted, he knew she was waterbender, right?

"You want a show?" Zuko smoothly drew the customers own swords, and separating the dual swords, shifted into a stance. "I'll give you a show!"

He suddenly kicked a table towards Jet, who sliced through it cleanly and swung at the prince who parried the attack. Zuko leapt backwards atop another table that his opponent hacked through with one swipe. As he balanced precariously on one teetering half, La'kea's hand went to the water pouch at her hip only to realize she had left it in the apartment, not thinking she'd need it.

The prince jumped over the swipe of a hooked sword, and when he got back to his feet, struck towards Jet's legs. The Freedom Fighter flipped out of the way, and as he landed he charged at Zuko furiously. The two sets of swords locked against the other and the two young men strained to gain the upper hand.

She rushed forward as Jet suddenly sent Zuko crashing through the front doors onto the street outside. Heaving a sigh of relief when she saw that the prince had managed to get to his feet in time to meet his attacker.

"You must be getting tired of using those swords," Jet goaded. "Why don't you go ahead and firebend at me?"

"Please, son, you're confused," Iroh called from the doorway, pushing down La'kea's hands that she had raised towards Jet. "You don't know what you're doing!"

Zuko spun around, deflecting a sword strike and relaying the attack, only to be blocked again. The Freedom Fighter was proving to be a frustrating opponent. Who proved his point more as he suddenly swung his swords in a wide circle around him, forcing the prince back.

"Bet you wish he'd help you out with a little fire blast right now," The young man jeered breathlessly, growling when Zuko suddenly pinned his blade through the hilt of his dual sword.

"You're the one who needs help," The prince snapped, lunging forward.

The Freedom Fighter arched backwards just as the scarred man's blade passed directly over his nose. Jet quickly up righted himself, retreating to the top of a well as people began to gather at the commotion. "You see that? The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! It'll never happen." He swung from the well towards the prince with a battle cry.

She lifted her hand again, focus trained on Jet, only for Iroh to gently swat her hand down. "No, La'kea!" The waterbender gave a disgruntled sigh, the longer Zuko had to fight Jet, the less she was sure he could win this.

For every attack he made it was block or deflected by the Freedom Fighter, and he had to parry every swing and jab directed at him. The two locked themselves in an odd dance with their backs against each other. Trying to turn and slice through their opponent only for him to ducked out of the way.

Two Dai Li agents suddenly appeared in the crowd. "Drop your weapons," One ordered.

They finally separated to opposite sides of the circle that had formed. Jet flung a finger towards Zuko, "Arrest them, they're firebenders." The prince just scowled at him darkly.

"This poor boy is confused," Iroh explained. "We're just simple refugees."

Pao defended his best tea maker, "This young man wrecked my shop, and assaulted my employees!"

The customer from before stepped forward, "It's true sir, we saw the whole thing. This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city."

"Oh," Iroh chuckled, blushing. "That's very sweet."

The two agents flanked either side of the Freedom Fighter, "Come with us, son."

Jet swung his sword at them in response, only for the man to catch it in his rock encased palm easily. As the two men quickly bound his arms behind him and led him towards the wagon. He protested loudly, "You don't understand. They're Fire Nation! You have to believe me!"

She couldn't explain it, but as she walked up to Zuko's side and watched as the wagon doors slammed shut, the back of her neck tingled. La'kea shivered, but looked up at the prince with concern. "Are you okay?"

Zuko placed a hand on her arm, "Yeah, I'm okay now."