Hey gaang! Wow I'm surprised at how many people commented on the first chapter! I'm glad you all like it! (I wouldn't mind more of those reivews, of course :D ) Anyways, this chapter is slightly more, um...depressing. Yeah, sorry about that, but that's the price you pay for dramatic romances, no? ;)
Enjoy!
Tamerlee's Tea…Tamerlee's Tea…
Ursa repeated the name of the tea shop over and over in her head. If she couldn't find it, then she might as well say goodbye to her future life in the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se.
Seven months ago, Ursa had made it to this magnificent city in one piece. It had been a tough journey, but with the help of friendly and hospitable people along her route, she had managed to get here. For two months, she had struggled to make any kind of living wage in the Lower Ring of the city. She had tried every type of job there was, from cleaning apartments to serving tea. In the end, she had decided that serving tea was a nice way to make some money, and she had stuck it out with a small shop called Meng's Gardens.
It had been boring and she had been given brutally low pay, but with her perseverance, she had eventually been promoted to serve tea in a cozy place in the Middle Ring.
However, there was one slight problem: she couldn't find the Agni forsaken place! Ursa passed by several financial institutions and libraries, but rarely did she see a tea shop. When she did, it was not the right one, so she quickly passed on.
Her former manager at Meng's Gardens had been a polite old woman named Sheni. She had treated Ursa well and had even given her discounted rent on a spare bedroom in the apartment above the shop. It was also with Sheni's help that Ursa found a job in the Middle Ring. Sheni's cousin, Nael Lee owned Tamerlee's Tea Shop with his wife, and at Sheni's recommendation, he offered Ursa fulltime work as a tea server in his expansive shop.
At last, Ursa spotted a ragged old sign sporting the name "Tamerlee's Tea" in brown lettering. She proceeded inside; careful not to tread on her new green Earth Kingdom attire that she had spent weeks saving for and had bought just for this special occasion.
A stout old man stood at the back of the deserted place; grumpily wiping the grime off of an old tea pot.
"Master Lee?" Ursa approached him from behind.
She jumped back in surprise as the man whirled around to face her. He didn't look like the kind man Sheni had told her about; in fact, this guy looked as though he had just crawled out of a trash heap in the Lower Ring. Ursa resisted the strong urge to hold her nose against his sour stench, and what little hair he had left on his balding head was matted and filthy brown. He also had not shaved in a few weeks; a scraggly beard grew from all areas of his chin, and a musty black mustache nearly overlapped his mouth.
"What do you want? We're closed, can't you read the sign?" he asked her irritably.
"I'm looking for Master Lee," Ursa stated plainly, as though she were talking to a small child.
"Lee?" the man limped back and forth behind the counter; once he stopped, he slammed his fist onto the wall, startling Ursa yet again.
"Lee's gone. Evicted. Couldn't pay rent so the Dai Lee took him and his woman away yesterday mornin'."
"What?" Ursa choked. "But…I was…I was sent here to work as a tea server for him!"
The haggard old fellow regarded her carefully for a moment, then grinned. His teeth were pale yellow and bits of meat were lodged in between his gums. Ursa grimaced again and held back a much-needed lecture about regularly cleaning one's teeth.
"Ya know, I'm taking over this here shop…seeing that all the other workers left with Lee, I could use someone like you. Welcome aboard," he held out a grimy hand and nodded for Ursa to shake it. Moaning inwardly, Ursa barely touched it and immediately withdrew her hand. He tossed her an old apron that was covered in holes and motioned for her to get to work.
She already hated her new job.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Woman! The young ladies at the far end table still haven't gotten their jasmine tea! What is taking you so long?"
From the main tea brewing area in the very rear of the shop, Ursa bit back a furious retort. Three weeks she had endured this crazy man's insults and persistent badgering. He was rude, filthy, and lazy. And there was nothing Ursa could do about it. The only good thing about him was that he never paid her more than two weeks late. Usually it was only one week late.
But even with slightly increased pay, Ursa found herself missing her old job in the Lower Ring. At least Sheni had respected her as a person; this guy refused to call her anything but "Woman" and "You." He also didn't put up with any mistakes. If Ursa slipped up, she would pay the price by losing an entire day's wage. If he slipped up, he would blame her and make her fix it for him.
Life was so different here than in the Fire Nation. Back home, she had had servants serve her tea. Here, she served other commoners their tea. Never, ever did she treat her servants as terrible as her current manager treated her, however.
It took every ounce of her patience not to lash out at the man every time he yelled at her. As she shuffled along to serve the sassy university girls their jasmine tea, she noticed someone sitting alone at the very front of the tea shop. Someone quite familiar…
"Hakoda?" she breathed excitedly. She instantly dropped the tray of tea onto the ground and ran towards the Water Tribe chief's table. Tea splattered everywhere and the customers grumbled angrily, but Ursa ignored them. Her manager was pestering the poor man about his order; she knew that needed to help bail him out before Hakoda left the place in annoyance.
When she reached their table, Ursa gracefully shoved her master aside.
"I'll handle this customer," she told him sweetly. Hakoda stared up at her with a mixture of shock and happiness, while her boss simply glared at her. He mumbled something in response, but nodded his approval of Ursa's desire to assist the customer.
When he walked away, Hakoda and Ursa both spoke at the same time.
"What are you doing here?"
They both laughed as Ursa sat down on a rickety old bench across the table from him.
"Okay you first," she told him, anxiously waiting to hear what in the world had drawn the Water Tribe adventurer to such a dull and hopeless place such as Ba Sing Se.
Hakoda grinned. "I was just up here gathering information from the university for my voyage. Why are you here? Do you work here?"
Ursa groaned. "Unfortunately, yes. I hate it here. The man is sourer than a lemon, and the pay isn't too great either. But I have no choice."
Hakoda frowned as Ursa sighed tiredly. It was obvious that she didn't get much sleep anymore; the black circles rounded under her eyes and her repeated yawning were clear indications to her lack of sleep.
"You haven't had a break in a while, have you?" Hakoda asked her seriously. Ursa looked up at him; her left eye gave a small twitch.
"Break?" she asked him hoarsely. A break…well, she had been so overworked lately that she hadn't thought much about anything but serving tea and cleaning the shop. Now that she thought about it, however, she needed to get away from this place. Whether her master approved or not, she was taking a break.
"What do you want to do?" she whispered to Hakoda, part of her wondering if her boss could hear their conversation.
"Uh, do you like tea? I know of a better place in the Upper Ring…"
"The Upper Ring?" Ursa had never been there before. Most of the people who lived there were probably of equal or lesser status as she used to be back in the Fire Nation. This pleased her.
Hakoda nodded. "There's a great tea shop up there, and afterwards we can take a walk or something…"
Ursa smiled softly. "Sounds good. Now let's go before…"
Just as Hakoda and Ursa began to leave, her manager came charging at them and tried to blockade the door.
"Where is she going?" he eyed Ursa suspiciously.
"We…" Ursa didn't exactly have any valid excuses planned out. "We've been invited to a banquet…in the Upper Ring…with…the Earth King?"
She didn't know why, but her last words came off as though she was asking a question. Perhaps because Ursa was terrible at lying, and she was nervous that she would lose her job just because she wanted to spend one evening with the Water Tribe man.
"It's only one night, sir," Hakoda added seriously.
The old man looked back and forth between Ursa and Hakoda several times and eventually shook his head unapologetically.
"She's my only server. She can't leave the shop," he told Hakoda defiantly.
Ursa's golden eyes glowed angrily for a moment before she managed to calm down. She pretended to submissively go back to cleaning the mess she had made after she dropped the tray, while Hakoda looked on sadly. The owner smirked at the chief and limped wildly back to the kitchen at the back of the place.
Hakoda sighed and turned around, ready to leave, when suddenly, Ursa jumped up and yanked him out the door of the shop. She was running quite swiftly for a woman of her age; her long black hair flowed beautifully as she looked back, wondering if her boss had noticed her great escape yet.
"What are you…" Hakoda trailed off as she immediately shushed him.
Once they were a safe distance away, Ursa let go of Hakoda's arm and the stopped running. She wasn't breathing too hard, even though they had just run quite a long distance.
"You thought I was really going to stay there?" Ursa asked him, clearly amused.
Hakoda grinned. "I don't know why anyone would stay there. That man has no respect for you."
Ursa frowned. Hakoda was right. Even Ozai had respected her more than her manager…and that was really saying something!
"Yes well…" she needed to change the subject. "Which way, Chief?"
xXxXxXxXxXx
It was a wonderful evening. They enjoyed tea and delicious food at a small tea shop in the Upper Ring of the city. Hakoda had told Ursa all about his adventures in the Southern Water Tribe, as well as some fun stories about his kids.
Ursa was a good listener, and was glad to hear that there was still some joy left in the world. She had gone to the Royal Fire Academy for girls as a kid, and although she had learned the important statistics and facts about the Water Tribes, Hakoda's stories were more fun and interesting than anything she had ever learned in school. And hearing them from an actual Water Tribe citizen, rather than out of a collection of scrolls, helped her remember the information better. She only wished that other Fire Nation children would be able to learn more about the outside world someday…
For her part, however, Ursa revealed very little about herself. She had kept up the "woman from a small Earth Kingdom village" act, but the more she talked to Hakoda, the harder it was to continue this living this lie.
Hakoda never pestered her to speak more than she wanted to, but this only made her feel guiltier for being dishonest with him.
They were now back in the Middle Ring, taking a quiet stroll under the starry clear night. The gardens in the Middle Ring were immaculately groomed and vibrantly green even under the night's darkened sky. A gentle breeze swirled around the two in the abandoned courtyards. Everything was silent except for the two's soft breathing; it seemed as though everyone in the Middle Ring had decided to go to bed early that night.
"Pretty night," Hakoda commented as he gazed up at the stars.
"Yeah, chilly."
"Are you cold?"
Ursa sighed peacefully. "I'm fine. It's just…not this cool back home. I lived in a very warm area."
Hakoda chuckled. "You probably shouldn't visit the Water Tribes then…it's always much colder than this."
They walked over to a fountain, where the water rained from a large glass statue of a badgermole. Inside the creature's clear body, there was a brilliant flame dancing around on a small torch; it reflected the orange light from behind the shadows of the trickling water.
Ursa found a stone bench for them to rest on, though it was slightly wet from some misfired droplets of water from the fountain.
Hakoda kicked off his boots as he sat next to Ursa; wriggling his tired feet in the cool grass below. They sat there for a while, just silently admiring the beauty of the scene around them.
Just before Ursa was about to speak, she noticed something in the pool that surrounded the badgermole statue. They were hard to see at first, but they soon came into view as they swam around the fiery figurine.
Turtleducks. There were just two of them: a mother and her baby.
They swam blissfully in rotating circles and squawked softly at each other. The baby tried to swim away, but the mother pecked her young one, and it immediately came back to his mother's side.
Ursa looked away. Tears were forming in her eyes, and she didn't want to let Hakoda see her crying over a couple of turtleducks. But it wasn't just the animals…it was the memories…
"Hey Mom, want to see how Azula feeds turtleducks?"
Much to her surprise, Zuko picked up the entire loaf of bread and chucked it at one of the baby turtleducks that was swimming innocently in the murky pond in front of them.
Just as the turtleduck was hit, Zuko sat up in shock at what he had done.
"Zuko, why would you do that?" Ursa scolded her son. Even if he was just imitating Azula, the poor baby didn't deserve to be squashed underwater like that.
The baby turtleduck resurfaced and shook its head as the older animal squawked angrily at the young boy. The mother rejoined her young one and swam up to Zuko, biting him hard on the foot. Zuko yelled at the turtleduck and tried to shake it off without having to use his hands. Ursa carefully picked up the vengeful mother and tossed her lightly back into the pond. She shrieked at Zuko one last time before swimming to the other side of the pond with her offspring.
Zuko sat back, looking rather grumpy. "Stupid turtleduck! Why'd she do that?"
"Zuko, that's what moms are like," she put her arms around him protectively. "If you mess with their babies…"
Ursa pretended she was a mother turtleduck and made a biting sound. "They're going to bite you back."
Zuko laughed and hugged his mother closely as they watched the baby turtleducks play on the other side of the water.
"Ursa?"
"Huh? Oh…" Ursa quickly swiped away a stray tear and faced Hakoda. The fire illuminated in his icy blue eyes, which were trained on something held in his hand. Ursa looked down and silently wondered what it could be.
"This is for you," he told her, opening his palm slowly, revealing a magnificent white stone. In the middle, there was a half-circle mark etched in sapphires. Ursa's heart pounded, wondering what significance this particular stone held.
"I've been saving it for a while," Hakoda said, watching Ursa as she closely examined the beautiful, smooth rock.
"That's known as the mark of the trusted in the Water Tribes," Hakoda mentioned solemnly.
Suddenly, it was as though everything Ursa's body had failed. She felt suffocated and weak, as though someone had just punched her in the stomach.
"Trusted?" she managed to choke. Her heart slowed and beat against her chest like a lumberman would beat his axe against a tree. She noticed her hands shaking and tried to get them to quit it, but it was no use.
"I've been pretty lonely on my journeys," Hakoda continued. "But the both times I've run into you, I've been given the chance to talk about my home…my kids…my past…I can't divulge all of this information to my men. I am the chief, so I must remain strong, not spend time reminiscing about life's joys and problems…Ursa?"
Ursa didn't know why, but she was standing now. Her knees shook terribly, and she had a throbbing headache. She had never felt more terrible for lying about her true past as much as now. Hakoda was a sincere man, so if he had told her that he trusted her…he really meant it.
She watched the flame rise and fall inside of the badgermole. Fire…that was Ursa. She was not the simple Earth Kingdom woman Hakoda had thought her to be. She looked at the stone in her hand one more time.
"You can't trust me," she whispered, still staring at the gift Hakoda had given her.
Hakoda smiled as he stood up and tried to put his hand on her shoulders. "Of course I can. You…"
Ursa jerked away from his kind and comforting grip on her left shoulder. "No. You can't."
Hakoda was no longer smiling. He could tell that something was really bothering her…
He walked to her side and looked sideways at her face. The fire from the fountain was dancing in her sharp golden eyes, and her soft smile was replaced with a stiff, unwelcoming frown.
"What's wrong?" Hakoda ventured. He wondered if it was something he had said. Or perhaps it was the stone he had given her? He wasn't sure.
"I lied to you. You can't trust me."
She tried walking away, but Hakoda immediately reached out to her. He grasped her delicate, unusually warm hand and pulled her around to face him. Ursa's breathing was rapid and shallow, and on her face, a single tear was falling from her right eye. She looked utterly destroyed.
"I can't tell you…" she tried to tell him. "I can't…"
Hakoda's piercing glare was like a sword in the heart. "Calm down, and tell me the truth. I won't tell a soul. But I would like to know the truth…whatever this is about."
He released her, and she stood in place, looking ashamed and sorrowful. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I'm not from the Earth Kingdom," she quietly exhaled, preparing herself for the worst. "I'm from…I'm from…the Fire Nation…"
Her last words were uttered in a nearly inaudible whisper. But he had heard them. Hakoda felt his sympathetic expression contort into one of betrayal and rage. As soon as she mentioned the Earth Kingdom, he knew…he knew that something was wrong…
Oddly, he didn't feel as surprised as he should have felt. Everything seemed to make sense: her hair, her eyes, and her behavior whenever Hakoda mentioned the Fire Nation…
He wondered why he never suspected her sooner. However, this hardly softened the blow. Ursa had flat out lied to him, and not only did she have tons of freely given information about the Water Tribes that she could use against him; she knew about Katara being the last waterbender at the Southern Water Tribe as well…
All sorts of terrible scenarios flashed through Hakoda's mind.
"I'm sorry," she pleaded quietly to him, but it was no use. "If I had told you, I didn't know if you'd have me arrested or…"
She tried reaching for Hakoda's turned back with her outstretched arm, but Hakoda shook it away.
"I would never betray you; I'm not like them…" she whispered fiercely. "Not everyone from the Fire Nation is evil, Hakoda…please believe me…"
Hakoda remained with his back facing her. "Believe you? You want me to believe that someone from the same nation that took my wife away from me…the same nation that began and is now completing this hundred years' war…isn't a terrible person? After all you've lied to me about?"
He wasn't yelling. Instead, his voice was harsh and cold, like the very wastelands he had come from. Ursa winced; his words stung more than the cold night's breeze.
"What next? You're the Firelord's personal spy?"
Actually I used to be his wife, Ursa thought guiltily, but didn't dare speak aloud.
"Do you really believe that all Fire Nation people are born bad, then?" Ursa asked softly after a long pause.
Hakoda was still so angry he could hardly speak. His mind wandered to the last invasion of his tribe…the same invasion that took Kya away from them…
"I don't know," Hakoda said finally. Without turning around, he walked away, leaving Ursa alone in the courtyard.
As she watched him leave, she shivered miserably and tried to get warm. Finally, when Hakoda went out of sight, she began walking in the opposite direction, not even noticing that the fire from the badgermole had gone out.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Ursa stared up at the ceiling in her small apartment. It had been a week since Hakoda had run away from her, and she hadn't slept very well since the incident. Every night, she would go onto her balcony and gaze at the city under the moon's gentle light.
Tonight, however, as she got up and hobbled her sore legs out the door and onto the terrace, Ursa didn't feel like watching the city life. Instead, she subconsciously reached into her pocket and withdrew two small items. One was the wooden fish that Hakoda had given her back at the Great Divide, and the other was the snow-white stone with the sapphires.
She gazed at them longingly, desperately wishing that she was really just in a bad dream. Ursa still couldn't believe she had told him the truth; would it have killed her just to continue living as the person Hakoda thought she was?
Yes, a small voice inside her mind answered.
She contemplated throwing both of the trinkets down into the streets below. Hakoda hated her now; good or evil, she was still Fire Nation, which meant that she was automatically disliked by any outsiders who knew the truth.
Thud.
Ursa whipped around and faced the direction of where the small noise had come from.
"Hello?" she asked cautiously. After a moment or two, she shrugged it off, figuring that it was just a kitten-mouse scurrying through the room behind her.
Instead of tossing the carving and the stone away, she dropped them dejectedly onto the balcony and began walking back to her rickety bed.
Phoom!
Before Ursa could react, two metal handcuffs whizzed behind her, easily catching onto her wrists. She was yanked backwards, and before she could scream, something cold and hard was wrapped around her mouth. Her eyes widened in terror as two men in dark clothing and headwear pulled her in and held her steady. Their robes bore the symbol of the Earth Kingdom, and a single green plume cascaded from their rimmed hats.
"Mmmmpppphhhh!" Ursa tried screaming for them to get away from her, but she couldn't speak.
Their cold green eyes regarded her carefully, as one of the men held a rock-gloved hand up to her chin.
"You sure this is her?" his partner asked.
Ursa shook furiously to get his hand off of her, but she was immobile for the most part. She didn't want to keep looking into those empty jade-colored eyes, especially since these highly-trained men could possibly spot a Fire Nation person just by looking into their golden eyes.
"It's her. Take her into custody."
They began dragging her away, but Ursa fought hard. She tried kicking at them from behind and whipping her head around, but nothing worked. Her earthen bondage only strengthened, and she was forcefully shoved into a shadowy cart pulled by an ostrich-horse down below her apartment building. A hazy green light glared around her, and she blinked several times as she threw her body at the doors as her prison closed in around her. She made no progress at all. Ursa was finally trapped.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Ursa awoke in a room. It was pitch-black inside, and for some reason, she found herself sitting in a chair. At last, her mouth was free of the rock glove that had covered it, and she wondered if she should try calling out for help. Straining her ears for any sign of life, Ursa faintly heard several men whispering not far from where she was.
She tried to sit up, but was held down by more rock gloves on her forehead and her wrists. It was warm and moist in the room; strange, considering how cold it was back up at her apartment.
Suddenly, a small light flickered in the corner of the room. Ursa immediately noticed the shadows of three darkly robed men marching solemnly into the room. Two of them stood on either side of her; the third stood directly in front of her. Around the room, a metal track encircled them; the lamp was beginning to move slowly in a circular path.
"What's going on?" Ursa asked in a voice that didn't quite sound like her own.
"You have been arrested by the Dai Lee for disturbing the peaceful city of Ba Sing Se," one of them informed her tonelessly. The lamp was gaining speed…
"Disturbing the peace? What peace? We all know about the war going on outside…"
Ursa trailed off. Much to her surprise, her eyes were drifting along with the lamp. Her mind would not let her lose sight of the lamp…
Summoning any trace of willpower left in her, Ursa forced herself to close her eyes. However, they immediately fluttered open, not wanting to miss its forgiving light…
"Follow the light. Just let go. Give into it. You will be fine."
Ursa felt sickly weak; her eyes would not obey her anymore, and the Dai Lee agent's soft words were so convincing…
As the lamp rounded another time, Ursa snapped her head up. Memories were flowing from her mind…she was losing them…
"No," she whimpered feebly as all of her recollections of her son became fainter and eventually began to disappear. Her head drooped, but her eyes continued to follow the light. It was over. Hakoda had turned her in to the cultural authority for being Fire Nation. Just because she was from the wrong side, Ursa was being wiped of all her precious memories…
A tear trickled down her face; she had no willpower left. Or so she thought.
"Mom?"
"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change…
"Never forget who you are," Ursa finished aloud. She had barely whispered it; the Dai Lee didn't even notice. Tearfully, she realized that she hadn't been following her own advice. She wasn't the helpless Earth Kingdom woman everyone thought she was.
I am Ursa…I am a firebender.
The thought hit her like a rock in the face. How could she have ignored that? Was she just going to sit there and wash away her mind and life, without even putting up a fight? Had she given up on ever seeing her son again, that she had willingly been lead to her own destruction? Not anymore…
Darkness. For some odd reason, the light in the lamp had completely gone out.
"What the…" the Dai Lee were slightly confused; this was her chance…
With a mighty kick, vibrant orange and red flames erupted all around her right foot, sending the stunned agents stumbling backwards towards the safety of the door.
"She's a firebender!" Ursa heard them yell out in panic. She smirked triumphantly as she wrenched her wrists out of their handcuffs with more powerful bending. The room was alive now…alive with fire.
Ursa saw the men cowering in a corner at the back of the room. They had apparently never been attacked by a firebender before, and they were terrified and unsure of what to do next. They had orders to wipe the woman's memories…but how were they supposed to do that when they were up against a clearly skilled bender?
As she walked towards the door, she darted them a look of pure hatred. Ursa had never felt this overpoweringly furious before. How darethey attempt to steal her few remaining memories of her beloved son…how dare they try to destroy her mind just because she is from the Fire Nation.
Without saying anything to them, Ursa swiftly exited the place, leaving them to fight their way out of the flaming room.
Along her way out of the dimly lit corridor, a few roaming Dai Lee agents tried stopping her. They skillfully aimed walls of earth in her direction, but instead of hitting their target, Ursa unleashed a terrifying display of her bending. The walls were ablaze on either side, and the agents were running for their very lives.
Once Ursa reached the exit at the top of a long ladder, she noticed that she had been underneath a lake the entire time. She would definitely be chased after and arrested within a few hours, but for now, she walked over to the edge of the lake and gazed into her reflection.
She didn't recognize the person looking back up at her. The person's strikingly golden eyes were fraught with hate and shame. Her mouth was twisted into a cruel, satisfied smile, as though attacking several people- enemies or not- had pleased her. What had happened to the kind, motherly smile she used to know? Or the calm, joyful eyes that danced with happiness whenever she was around Zuko? All she saw was a monster.
Finally, Ursa couldn't look at her own face any longer. She threw herself onto the sand and wept.
Prince Pouty, Crazula, Loser Lord...and now Sadursa...we have a whole family of failures now, amirite?
I'm just kidding...I hope Ursa wasn't too out of character, but that's kind of hard to say, considering we never got all that much of her in the first place...thanks for reading!
PS: Reviews make the world go around...my world, at least ;D