A.N. The name Amarante means flower that never fades. I just finished the videogame and the ends sucks. It doesn't last long enough. Plus, who would just want to destroy machines and kill Lian, the Maker? BORING! You only see Zuko just a handful of times. It wasn't event ten chapters! My sister and I are planning to take over Nickelodeon and we could use some help. Anyone interested? Enjoy the chapter! (I've raised ten pigs in Maine of the United States of America.)

Disclaimer: The only thing I'll ever own close to Avatar the Last Airbender is the videogame in my Xbox and the DVDs when I get them (and maybe the playing cards if I am too obsessed).

Interesting little bit of info is that the name Lei in Chinese means flower bud and it is a girl's name, but in the show, Zuko is called Lei. Zuko is a pretty flower bud! Also, Lian means the graceful willow and Jun (remember Iroh had a school boy crush on her) means obedient and truthful.

((I had to change the name of the girl. It's no longer Amarante, but Kaiya (also Japanese) which means you'll find out what it means and why later, unless you decide to be a smart but and search it up and then I'll be mad.))

IMPORTANT! Zuko may have had the fever but still is kind of grumpy and tough. He is confused still so he isn't completely cheery or happy. He's just accepted life and doesn't go after the avatar.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the morning of the first day that Zuko was going to have to deal with his uncle's new "assistant" working along besides them. It was an understatement to say that he was not happy about it. But Iroh was ecstatic.

"To think, my nephew that you will interact with other people again! Oh this is wonderful! You will love who I picked out!" Iroh said happier than a pig in mud.

"What do you mean 'picked out'? I think you would find out today!" Zuko said, not pleased to say the least.

"Why I went and pick them out while I was restocking on tea." Iroh innocently replied.

Zuko just grumbled, "That's why it took you so long."

Time Gap of about two or so hours

It was before the Jasmine Dragon open up for the morning when two figures Zuko could blame all his unpleasantness on. One of them held back while the other came up to Iroh and spoke to him quickly so Zuko couldn't hear his words. Iroh nodded and the other man came with a cloaked figure that looked to be about his age and, knowing his uncle Iroh, it was probably a female. He seriously needed to have a talk with his uncle about this later.

"She is here, right on time, like you asked." The first one said.

"Can you please hurry it up? Any on lookers is going to think this is some hostage exchange or something. I hope not anyway." This seemed to come out of the cloaked figure's mouth. "And can I please take of the cloak? It's too hot to wear it right now, especially in a building."

"Might as well take it off." Sigh. "Lei, meet my sister's daughter who will now assist your uncle so you can have less work and more time to yourself, like your uncle said you needed." The first one said.

Zuko's only reply was to give his uncle a glare. His uncle just gave him an innocent look and started making small talk with both of them. He turned back to the girl who looked to be sixteen with brown hair and bronze colored eyes and, would he have actually really been paying attention, he would have seen a pretty girl with bright, intelligent eyes, but of course he didn't see. But he did see that he and the girl were the only ones not included in conversation, whether it was intentional or not.

Great. Uncle thinks he's going to get me to talk to a teenage girl. Well, he can shove it up his -

Zuko's thought were interrupted by the girl speaking. "I think they're going to be there forever taking until you close tonight if we don't get them back on the task at hand." She paused and looked as though she forgot something and then said, "By the way, my name is Kaiya and like the guy over there said, I will be assisting your uncle by making tea, buying tea supplies, etc. so you don't have to. And your name is Lei. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's all that your uncle told me."

"That's correct." Zuko replied, looking at his uncle and the two men, wishing they would hurry up so he could go and not be disturbed until the teahouse opened. They finally stopped talking and his uncle came over. "You can direct any questions to my uncle. And here he comes now."

His uncle gave him a disappointed look before talking to Kaiya about want she is to do and how he'll help her if she doesn't know what to do and etc. Zuko just took this moment while they were both busy to size her up and judge her and found she was a few inches shorter than he was, pale, had some kind of tiny mark underneath her left eye (probably a birthmark), and didn't look much like a threat to anything, except his sanity.

After Closing

He and Kaiya hadn't spoke since then and the day passed like the ones before, except that he had more time to think

"So Zuko, how do you like our new helper? I saw you talking with Kaiya before we opened. It was your first conversation with a girl who wasn't trying to capture you in a long time." Iroh said with a gleam in his eye.

"That's because she wanted to make sure that I knew what was going on, like she thought you weren't going to tell me or left something out." Zuko retorted.

"So how was your conversation with Kaiya?" Iroh said, still smiling.

"If you will leave this alone, I said just TWO words before you came and you heard what came after. So you're going to drop the subject and not get any ideas. And before you say anything else, I have no need, no WANT to talk to that girl, she's YOUR problem, NOT mine." And with Zuko having said that, went to his room and tried to meditate, leaving his uncle with a disappointed but determined look.

After Zuko left, Iroh said, "I will not let my nephew destroy himself."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.N. Hope you enjoyed the short chapter! Anyone who has a Gaia Online account can pm me, angelicdemon333 and we can talk and set up plans to talk over Nickelodeon or just hang out with other fans. Next chapter should be up!

Reason for bronze colored eyes will be explained later. I've never actually seen someone with amber or gold eyes, so in Avatar, some things are more likely (just not pink or violet colored eyes).

I found out that my name means light-footed for females and loving for males in English/Scottish/Welsh so I am now light-footed, I guess.