Chapter 2

Zuko woke up at sunrise. He opened his eyes as the sun rose up, light flooding his small room through various holes in the wall. He felt the pull of the sun, urging him to light a flame, to make the winter of the Earth Kingdom bearable. Zuko almost did, just like he did every morning. He reached his hands out in front of him and just for a moment, just for one tiny second of his life, he felt the fire coursing through his veins, ready and eager to burn. Then, he curled his hands into fists and extinguished it before it could become visible.

There was no fire bending in Ba Sing Se, not unless he was asking for the Dai Li to take him away. Zuko shuddered as he thought about it, or worse, if he came back. Most people the Dai Li took disappeared forever, but every once in a while, Zuko would spot someone he knew. His heart ached for Wei, so many good memories together, only to meet her again and have her be empty. Zuko didn't like seeing her around anymore. Her eyes were always blank, uncaring and wrong. She would smile at him gently and say, "My friend Zuko. I am glad to be seeing you again. I am happy to see you so well after the fire. It was caused by a fallen candle. So foolish," before Zuko ran away from her. Wei wasn't Wei anymore and it scared him. He wouldn't let the Dai Li do that to him.

He stood up. Mourning her was useless. He had a day of work ahead of him. He quickly gathered up his clothing, an old green shirt and pants to match. He frowned as he stuck his finger through one of the many holes in them. Zuko's mediocre sewing skills couldn't mend them and he still didn't have enough money to pay a sewer to do it for him.

He walked to the mirror and looked into it, quickly washing his face. He glowered when he looked at his eyes, pale gold. They were the only sign he hadn't been able to erase that showed he was different. Fire Nation. They were cruel and cold, menacing to people who looked at him. It was proof that he hadn't always been Lee, non bending refuge.

He barely thought about his life before Ba Sing Se. It was almost like a dream, with princes and rich foods, evil sisters and plotting fathers. Some days, he could almost convince himself it was one, until he saw his cold golden eyes in a mirror or felt the sun screaming at him to make a flame. The illusion was broken then. He could never properly be Lee, non bending refugee, not that he deserved it. Anyone descended from Fire Nation monsters didn't, much less the son of the Fire Lord himself. Zuko heard the door creak open.

"Morning," His roommate, Taiyo, stumbled into their apartment. He looked awful, or more awful than usual at least. The dark circles around his eyes seemed worse than normal and there was definitely a rip in his clothing that hadn't been there before. His hair was falling out of it's loose bun; greasy, knotted strands falling to his mid back.

"Rough night?" Zuko asked.

Taiyo nodded, "Factory had a stop. We had to wait three hours to start working again. Unpaid, of course and to get our full pays for today we have to arrive three hours early tonight."

Zuko sighed, "At least your home now."

Taiyo breathed an agreement before he collapsed onto the bed, "You should go. It's almost five."

Zuko nodded, "I'll see you tonight. Pick up a few oranges if you can, we're running out of fruits."

Taiyo waved his hand at Zuko, already half asleep, "Go. I'm tired."

"Yeah, see you later, Tai," He opened the door and walked out. Zuko left his shabby apartment building, greeting the sight of Ba Sing Se with a scowl. The streets were limping to life. A merchants or two were getting set up on the sides of streets and few stragglers from night shifts were stumbling half asleep to their home. Zuko could spot one or two other early wakers. their eyes still blurry with sleep and they were yawning every other minute. Ba Sing Se wasn't for the early bird, that was sure. He was always ready to run a marathon, or start a fight at this time, as long as the sun was up as well. The rest of Ba Sing Se, however, seemed to agree that mornings were for suffering, while afternoons were lively.

Zuko walked to his job. He was a a simple waiter at a local tea shop. The tea was shit and the pay was worse, but with the rate the refugees were coming in, he was lucky to even have a job at all, so he didn't dare complain, not when a simple mention of him getting a raise to his boss would get him thrown onto the streets. There wasn't a shortage of eager workers desperate for a job that would readily line up at Jamoshi's Tea if news of a open spot.

He checked in at 4:45, giving him enough time to throw on his apron and set up some tables with cutlery.

"Good morning, Lee," Jamoshi, his boss, greeted him. He was a short man, with a long, gray beard that was half the size of his body. He always wore the same foul smelling robes that made customers retch when ever they met him. Zuko had long discovered the secret of not breathing when he approached the man.

"And to you," He answered politely.

Jamoshi walked towards the kitchens, "Help me out with the jasmine tea, Lee."

Zuko headed to the kitchen, quickly getting the herbs needed. He set up the fire, fighting the familiar urge to play with it as it heated up the water. It was beyond tempting, but he wouldn't dare, especially with Jamoshi in the same room. He caught sight of the road. They were more crowded now, as low level workers began to walk towards their jobs.

"Jamoshi? The water is ready," He said, heading back to the main part of the restaurant.

The old man hurried to the tea, "You only heated the water?"

Zuko nodded, "Of course." He had discovered early on that he wasn't the most gifted tea maker. Jamoshi had agreed immediately, banning Zuko from doing anything other than boiling water and serving it. Zuko had barely resisted telling him that his tea wasn't anything to compare it too, but he kept his mouth shut. He had already been fired from two jobs for his unwanted opinions and money was running short.

"Good, now open us up," He said.

Zuko wandered to the door and hung the sigh on the door. We're open! It stated in elegant writing. It took a while, but slowly customers began to enter the shop, begging for a nice, warm tea to wake them up. Zuko served them, keeping quiet all the time. He heard snippets of conversations.
"—And she bothered to even show up," A loudmouthed teenage girl complained.

"Did you hear that there was a fight in the streets the other day?" A pair of mother said to each other. Gossip was always lively at his job. No one noticed the server listening in. He knew the secrets of most of his regulars.

Zuko crossed the floor to get to the two old men on the edge of the restaurant. They were dressed more richly than anyone else, probably middle class. Zuko narrowed his eyes, he knew that everyone above lower class thought of them as rats, so why had they come here? They certainly weren't regulars.

"Can I take your orders?" He asked, with a charming smile on his face.

One of the men scowled, "A jasmine."
"One for me too, boy," The other responded rudely. Zuko didn't let the smile fall off his face. He desperately needed the tips and if these people really were middle class, they could give him more than the average customer.

Zuko relayed the order to Jamoshi, before picking up three cups to give to a trio of tired looking workers. On the way back, he passed the two old men again.

"What do you mean you don't know?" One of them asked, looking utterly outraged, "The Avatar is in Ba Sing Se and you don't know?"
Zuko's eyebrows flew up, the Avatar was in Ba Sing Se? He had heard rumours of his return after one hundred years, everyone had. He was supposed to be a boy, still twelve years old. He'd gotten scraps from other refuges, the newer ones at least. It was all secretive, no one knew when the Dai Li would be listening. Zuko wasn't an idiot either, he knew even the slightest mention of the war would meant that the Dai Li was putting a watch on you. He had been lucky that he'd only been eleven when he arrived, people were quick to dismiss the words of a child and he learnt quickly that defending the Fire Nation was greeted with hostile stares and scowls.

"Really? The Avatar?"

The man nodded, "Yeah and I heard he can defeat he Fire Nation."
The words sparked something in Zuko. He slunk closer to the men.

"Really?" The other man sounded doubtful.

The first man nodded, "I heard that he singlehandedly destroyed the Fire Nation Navy and killed one of their generals."
Zuko wasn't the only listening anymore. A few other customers had gone quiet, their eyes fixed on the pair.

"The whole navy?" The other asked, disbelief lacing his voice.

The first man nodded, just as a Dai Li walked into the store. Everyone went quiet. Zuko went up to him, "Sit anywhere." He could see the bright, alarmingly bright green eyes of the man. He felt uncomfortable even looking at them. Their eyes were inhuman, too bright, too hard. No one liked looking them in the eye.

The Dai Li looked around the shop, scanning each table, each person. People stiffened when he looked at them, one little girl even dropped her tea on the floor, making a loud crash. Her mother gripped her arm, pulling her behind her.

The Dai Li didn't even react, all he did was leave the shop and exit onto the bristling street. People let out the breath they were holding. A small crowd quickly left the restaurant, even the two middle class men. Zuko cursed the Dai Li. Their presence always sent business away and less business meant less money. Jamoshi hated them too, but he was able to hide in the kitchen until they went away. Only a few customers were left in the shop and most of them drank their tea as quickly as possible, before leaving the pitiful amount of payment on the table. The prices of tea had gone down again, in order to try and get more business. All it had been doing was making them loose money, but lately, it seemed that all the businesses were loosing money.

As the day went on, Zuko tried to forget about the Avatar. and the Dai Li visit. It was useless to hope that a twelve year old boy could even hope to defeat the Fire Lord. He dismissed the prick of hope that the war might be ending soon, a hundred years of violence wouldn't be solved by a twelve year old.

Work ended at nine and Zuko began walking to his house. Taiyo was probably at work already, though to tell the truth, Zuko didn't really mind. He would enjoy having the apartment to himself. He stopped by the market, which was already closed, sighing to himself because Taiyo was known for forgetting most things. He was about to leave when he heard her.

"My friend Lee!" Her voice echoed around the square. Zuko turned around, face to face with Wei. She was smiling broadly at him, "I am glad to be seeing you again." She was dressed in a simple light green outfit, with a belt tied loosely around her waist. Her brown hair was pinned back with a flower pin. Zuko cringed when he saw it, it had been a birthday present for her last year. He avoided looking into her eyes, they still freaked him out. They were just so blank, empty. Emotionless. The opposite of the Dai Li's too bright eyes, her were faded.

He took a shaky step back, "Wei."

"I am happy to see you so well after the fire," She chirped, stepping closer to him, "It was caused by a fallen candle. So foolish." She extended a hand to him, inviting him to take it. All Zuko could do was stare at the burn covering her hand, it was still red and raw looking, before he backed away, turned and fled. He could hear her small footsteps following him, so he ran faster, sprinting though alleyways and over fences to get away. He couldn't face her, not with her blank eyes and the flower pin in her hair.

Zuko didn't stop until he got to his apartment. He threw himself inside and locked the door behind him. He panted as he looked out the window. He could see her pale green dress on the road, looking for him. Zuko quickly recoiled from the window, collapsing onto the mattress, catching his breath.

He had a restless sleep, the image of the fire, the burn on Wei's hand rough against his skin, her blank eyes that just oozed blame.

That night, Zuko didn't sleep soundly. He turned and twisted in his threadbare sheets as he dreamt of Wei's empty green eyes staring at him. The flames licking her hand as she screamed in pure pain, the sparks flying through the air and the thick smoke filling the air.

And chapter 2 is finished. Hope you all enjoyed.