Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

A/N: I was going to wait until Thursday to update, but I decided that I would go ahead and jump up a day. The introduction was a little small, anyway. An extra update won't hurt. This chapter is a little slower than I would've hoped it to be, but it's okay. It's still opening up to the story.

Zion's Exile: Thank you for the review. I hope that you still think this will be a good story :3

Please read and review!

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Lighting the Fire
By: Cylisy

Chapter One

The humble teashop was bustling in the late afternoon and many people were inside in hopes of avoiding the spring heat of the Earth Kingdom. There was much laughter adrift in the shop, many smiles were shared, and conversations were light-hearted and calm. Only one of the tables was left unaccompanied, which would, inevitably, be filled as the day progressed. Iroh was serving a ragged-looking man, who had become a regular in the shop. The two of them were chatting away in civil conversation, until Iroh was beckoned to another table to refill a cup from his fresh brew of hearty tea.

"Ah, your tea is the best in all of Ba Sing Se," the patron complimented Iroh while downing his cup of tea.

Iroh placed his free hand onto his round belly and laughed, "You're too kind."

"Don't be modest, Mushi," a man spoke up from a neighboring table, "We all know it's true."

A bird-faced woman shrieked with an uncalled-for laugh and said, "This tea is to die for. The best in the world, I imagine."

"Ha ha, you haven't even traveled outside these walls, much less the world," the first man retorted, slightly offending the peevish woman. They all laughed it off, in the end.

The older man smiled and continued with the conversation, refilling cups when needed. As such was the everyday ritual of the retired General, a ritual that he happily welcomed. What life is better suited for an old man than a life filled with tea?

In almost complete mockery to the man's blissful manner, Zuko was glaring daggers at his uncle while striking together two spark rocks to heat up the water in a kettle. Unlike his uncle, Zuko could not stand tea in the least bit. The smell, the sight, and the taste—everything about tea just drove the banished prince mad. Working in the shop for six days out of the week surrounded by tea, was not doing anything but worsening his hatred for tea. What's worse is the irritated adolescent even dreamt of tea the previous night. Luckily, the next day was to be his day off and he would be sure to make the best of it.

"Nephew?" Iroh walked up to his nephew and stopped just short of the boy. He placed his now-empty kettle onto the countertop and wiped the small collection of sweat from his brow. The spring heat and the steam from the teakettles were too much, even for the Fire Nation veteran. "You shouldn't look so angry. You'll frighten the nice customers."

Zuko grunted and said, "I'm not angry."

"Your face tells a different story."

"I'm just sick and tired of all this tea, Uncle!" Zuko burrowed his forehead into his hand, rubbing at a headache that seemed to grow from out of nowhere.

His uncle stepped back, looking appalled, and said, "Sick of tea? That's like--"

"Being sick of breathing," the young Firebender finished in unison. Iroh blinked with a hint of surprise while his nephew exasperatingly said, "You're repeating yourself."

"Ah, no matter," Iroh laughed softly, "It stands true still."

Zuko sighed in defeat. He picked up the empty kettle and disappeared into the backroom, while his uncle continued preparing tea in the now boiling water. The backroom was quaint, rectangular, and wasn't used very much. Zuko was practically the only person to use it, since preparing the tea and cleaning up was usually done in the main area since it wasn't much of a hassle. The only reason he did everything in the backroom was because it provided him with a few minutes of peace and solitude.

A paper lantern suspended from the wooden rafters dimly lighted the room. There were a couple of wall scrolls, similar to those in the main shop, hanging from the walls. A few shelves were mounted to the walls and were covered in various boxes, dishes, and miscellaneous objects that Zuko was not familiar with. There were two doorways, one that he had entered through and another that opened out into the alley and eventually headed towards the main road. A stairway leading up to the small apartment upstairs where the owner and his family lived was located in the far left of the room.

As he was still unfamiliar with the surroundings, it took Zuko a couple of minutes to find what he had been looking for, but, when he found them, he quickly scooped them up and brought them over to the long, low table. What he needed were a basin, a chunk of soap (which, based on looks, was most likely homemade), and a coarse wool cloth. Zuko's responsibilities at the teashop were rather simple. He was in charge of serving, heating the water, cleaning the dishes, and tidying up after patrons, while his uncle was in charge of preparing the tea and being a respectable host. The prince utterly loathed his job.

He set about cleaning the kettle and the pile of used cups in the basin, having already filled the bucket with water from a large, round barrel in the corner. His sleeves were rolled up, but they ended up getting soaked nevertheless. The apron was also wet, soaked through to his pants. Zuko was always too quick to get things done and always found himself in a mess, whether with water or life.

After fifteen or so minutes, Zuko had finished cleaning the dishes and dried most of them, deciding to let the others dry on their own. Even though he was finished he did not head back into the shop as he had decided he would dawdle for just a little while. He believed he had earned some time to himself. A stained log was deemed worthy enough to be his chair for now. For a few moments, he simply sat in the dark but eventually became frustrated at the dullness of it and decided to move to the alley door, taking the stool with him. Zuko placed the stool just outside the door and sat down on it, taking in the new scenery.

The alley wasn't much more than an alley in appearance and it was being used as a shortcut from the neighboring road to the one the teashop was situated. Naturally, there was a moderate amount of traffic, mostly comprised of teenagers and young adults. The shop next door sold hand-sewn clothing at a reasonable price. Earlier, Iroh had bought a large, hideous-looking straw hat there for a small handful of copper coins. The elder Firebender explained that the shop owner's granddaughter had made the hat all on her own, but no one had even thought to purchase it; Iroh bought it to lift her spirits. Zuko called him a gullible fool in return.

Zuko looked to the sky and then the shadows, judging the time, and said out loud, but to no one in particular, "It's nearly closing. I should've been inside a while ago." He stood up and reentered the shop, forgetting the makeshift chair outside.

The sight he walked in on was quite humorous to say the least. There weren't any customers in the shop so Iroh had begun to close-up. Apparently, the owner decided to be nice and pitch in since the required help had been elsewhere. But the owner was not the kind of man to clean and had somehow managed to make a bigger mess of things, breaking a glass or two, spilling kettles, knocking into chairs, etcetera. So, now, Iroh was teaching him the proper way to wash the tabletops. The owner was listening intently, surprisingly. Zuko couldn't help but to laugh at himself as the owner tried to mimic his uncle's hand motions. The prince grabbed an extra cloth, picked a table, and began to scrub as well. It was his duty, no matter how boring or beneath him it was.

Iroh didn't question his nephew as to why he had skipped out on some of his duties, seeing as Zuko was Iroh's superior in the royal family, but mostly because he understood that the boy had many emtions and thoughts raging in him mind. Everyone was entitled to a moment to themselves. When the two of them returned to their humble apartment, the first thing he did was prepare more tea, an action that Zuko spat at.

Their apartment was rather comfortable, but definitely lacked the extra flair of royalty. It was comprised of three rooms. The main room was of a decent size and housed the kitchen, a small table, chairs, shelves, and a small plant that had been bought upon arrival to Ba Sing Se. The only bedroom had been given to Zuko, while Iroh slept on a spare cot in the kitchen (he claimed it was so he could be closer to his tea). The bathroom was the third room and was so small that Zuko could barely fit in it, much less his larger uncle.

"Takumi is such a nice man, giving us jobs so quickly, and the raise, as well," Iroh said while stirring his tealeaves. "We should give him a gift of some sort." He turned to his nephew and asked, "What do you think we should give him?"

Zuko rolled over from his place on Iroh's cot and moodily replied, "Who's Takumi?"

"Our employer."

"Oh," he mumbled, returning to his position of facing away from his uncle. "I was aware of that." Iroh chuckled in reply to this remark.

They were silent for a few, brief moments, until Iroh spoke up and said, "I hope you enjoy your day tomorrow. I will probably be gone when you wake. I promised Takumi that I would give him more lessons about tea making." Zuko remained silent, but stood up to go to his own room. A silent bow of his head bided goodnight to his kind uncle. Iroh looked after his nephew, sighed softly, and continued stirring his tea. It wasn't long after that that Iroh headed off to sleep as well.

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A/N: The name "Takumi" means "craftsman" in Chinese. I didn't know if the tea man had a name or not, so I went ahead and named him.

The quote: "Being sick of tea is like being sick of breathing" is from The Secret of Ba Sing Se. Iroh says the funniest things sometimes :3

Anyway, Review please!