bThis is gonna be my first big avatar series!! There is some shipping in it, but its not the imain/i plot. Here we go!! Oh there is no HappyZuko, sorry. He's his normal angsty emo self! Oh and I think I left out the middle ring… oh well!/b
iThe light of the full moon fell across the rooftops of the lower ring in Ba-sing-se. A shadow sprang from house to house, with the speed of an air bender and the agility of a water bender. The shadow landed in an alley and made its way into a shop. The light of the moon reveals its in fact a teenage boy. He quickly snatches food from the bins and climbs back out of the window. The only thing left behind is one black footprint of ink in the middle of the floor marking that Shadow has struck…/i
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A girl in a simple green dress with brown hair in a half pony tail and brown eyes was walking through the upper ring in ba-sing-se, searching for a job, any job, even just as a maid. Her name was Nariko. After walking all day she decided to just sit down in the shade in the back of some shop.
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Iroh and Zuko had just opened their new tea shop in the upper ring, and business was hopping. Iroh was working in the kitchen while Zuko was working with the other waiters.
"Hey you! Get out of here!" yelled a worker out the back door.
"Who was that?" asked Iroh
"Oh just some teenager loitering around the back. Up to no good I suppose. She looked lower ring, though if she was, how she got in the upper ring I have no idea." replied the employee. Iroh got that curious/helping look on his face and walked out the back door leaving the worker baffled.
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Nariko ran strait into the next street. It surprised her that she ran, she not the cowardly type at all, living in the lower ring means you have to be tough or you wont survive.
iI guess I was just surprised./i she thought. iOh crap, where am I now?!/i
She was lost in the upper ring, great. She was looking around franticly for a path leading to the gate.
"I see your lost" said a voice behind her.
She whipped around, getting into her defensive stance, her lower ring attitude finally kicking in. She didn't get out of her stance even though all she saw was an old man clothed in a fancy green and gold outfit.
iHe's from that shop I was sitting behind/i she concluded
"I'm not going to attack you, you can stand now." The man said. She didn't move an inch.
"You're just like my nephew that way…" he said under his breath. She caught every word, though he didn't notice. The old man sat down on a box and motioned for Nariko to sit next to him. She slowly got out of her stance and warily sat down beside him, still not fully trusting him.
"My name is Mushi and I am the owner of the shop you just got chased away from. I apologize for my employee's actions. You look like some one who needs to talk with some one." The strange upper ring resident said to Nariko.
"Why should I trust you?" she asked icily, eying 'Mushi' suspiciously.
"Because I can give you a job" Mushi/Iroh told her guessing what she was doing in the upper ring. Her eyes widening ever so slightly was her only reaction. Nariko sighed going against everything she had ever learned in the lower ring and slowly opened up to 'Mushi'.
"My name is Nariko and family and I live in the lower ring. My family is my mom, who is sick, me and my 4 younger brothers. They're not really my brothers, we just took them in when they were abandoned by their old families when they were babies. My father left when I was a child. Now that my mom is sick, I need to find a job. There was nothing in the lower ring, I looked everywhere, so I decided to try and look decent enough to get into the upper ring to look. Everywhere I try, they either don't need help or they ignore me because I'm lower ring, a girl, or both." Nariko exhaled and a look of relief spread over her face.
"Hmmm…" said 'Mushi' taking in all that he was told in the past couple minutes.
"Well it's settled then, you will work for me as a waitress!!" he exclaimed getting that huge goofy smile. (ibA/N/b like in the 'Waterbending Scroll' when he found out the lotus tile was in his sleeve all along!/i)Nariko took one look and the strange, strange old man and burst out laughing, something she hadn't done in a while. Mushi's smile got bigger, making Nariko laugh even harder.
"Can you start tomorrow? I'll have your uniform ready then" Mushi/Iroh asked
"Ok!" she said enthusiastically, jumping up from where she was sitting. "What time should I come?" she asked
"An hour before noon" replied Iroh, also getting up. "Ill see you then" Iroh turned and started walking toward his shop again.
"See you! Thanks!" called Nariko. She raced the other way, found her way to the gate and ran home to tell her family.
When Iroh got back to the tea shop Zuko was waiting for him.
"Uncle where have you been?! You cant disappear! Its your shop!!" he almost screamed
"I was just simply getting another employee for the shop. She starts tomorrow" answered Iroh smoothly as he walked away from his steaming nephew.
"What ever…" grumbled Zuko "…wait, SHE?!" (ibA/N/b Iroh hadn't originally hired any girls, though many applied to work there.-I made it up/i)
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When Nariko got home she caught her breath then entered her mother's room.
"Mom, guess what? I got a job! Its in the upper ring so I bet it pays a lot!" Nariko told her sick mother
"That's…great…" she said. clearly the illness had gotten worse, soon she will be…
Nariko left to start dinner. One of her younger brothers came up and asked,
"What happened today?" he asked
"Oh Mizu!, I got a job! It pays a lot too. Everything is going to be all right!" She said. Nariko glanced at Mizu and splashed some water on his head. His thin black hair was plastered to his face.
"Hey!!" he said and then stomped off to dry his head. Nariko burst out laughing and then turned back to dinner.