I walked around the street asking nearby people if they knew where a tea shop was until finally as night fell I found it, now to wait. Morning came with the sun shining down on my face waking me up; I sat up probably with a yawn rubbing my eyes as I looked around me.

"Hey kid, what are you doing sleeping out here!"

"Eh?"

I looked up and saw an angry man impatiently tapping his finger on his arm glaring down at me.

"Sorry" I yawned once more

"You're scaring away my costumers, get out of here you lazy bum!" he shouted

"I'm going, I'm going" I said standing up stretching my back "say you haven't noticed any new guys coming here have you"

"No now move it!"

"Yeah, yeah" I'm mumbled walking away

"I'm starving... maybe I should have stayed with the gang..."

"Excuse me... sir?"

"Eh?"

I looked behind me and saw a girl who looked about the same age as Katara fidgeting with her hands.

"Yes?" I asked facing her properly

"Umm well I couldn't help but overhear you're conversation with the tea man... are you really homeless?"

"Ahh... it's complicated" I admitted "I'm waiting for someone only I'm not too sure when they will get here"

"You can wait at my house" she said perking up a little "its right across from the tea shop see"

I looked to where she was pointing and saw a kind of fresh vegetable stand, that would explain the apron.

"Thanks but really its ok"

"you will get breakfast and lunch but it will come at a price... you see mum and dad are gone for the day and I kind of told them I would be fine but... well I don't really know what I'm doing" she sighed hanging her head

"My names Senri"

"Maki" she smiled

"Well let's get me suited up then"

"I guess it's a good way to keep an eye on the tea shop"

"So you'll help! Thank you so much"

"No need to thank me, might not be any good at it you know"

"I'm sure you will be fine and maybe mum and dad can give you a permanent job"

"Thanks for the offer but I don't know how long I'll be here"

"Oh... well that doesn't matter" she smiled

While I moved a few heavy boxes and stands out to the front and pretty much just set things up Maki was inside making me something to eat. I didn't blame her for wanting help; some of these things were heavy! But I managed to pull it off. After eating I went back to helping out, things weren't really too busy but well in the nicest way possible she was a little hopeless or maybe just a lot clumsy but either way it turned out to actually be quite fun. I did kind of forget to pay attention to the tea shop and before I knew it Maki was telling me it was closing time and the sun was almost gone.

"Did they come today?" she asked as we put everything away

"Forgot to pay attention actually" I laughed

"I'm sorry! It's all my fault"

"Don't worry about it really, they'll come back" I smiled

"I'm sure my parents won't mind if you stay here... after all you did help out a lot"

"Thanks but..."

I was about to make up some reason when I heard laughing coming from the tea shop, I looked across for no real reason when I saw a group of people laughing at a man who looked to be wearing an apron but his back was facing me so I couldn't quite see.

"What is it? Oh I wonder who that is... I didn't know he hired new people"

"Umm I have to go, thanks for today, it was a lot of fun"

"Oh ahh bye"

I gave her a quick wave before entering the tea shop searching for the man hoping beyond hope it was who I thought it was.

"This is some of the best tea I have ever tasted!" someone called out

"The secret ingredient is love"

I looked over and saw the man from the window holding a teapot with a huge smile while a boy only a short distance from him let out a groan. I was about to look back at the man when I noticed the boy had a scar on his face, I guess others could have a scar to but this had to be them, the ones I was searching for.

"What are you doing here you bum" the owner yelled at me from across the room

Everyone suddenly turned and looked at me making my quite uncomfortable, wasn't good with attention

"Ahh..."

"Senri! I'm glad you're still here" Maki called out running into the shop "you forgot you're pay from today"

I turned towards her completely confused; she walked towards me with a small bag and placed it in my hand.

"You can pay me back later" she whispered before leaving the shop

"What a strange girl..."

"I'm here for tea; do you have a problem with that?" I called out facing the owner once more jingling the bag

"Oh of course not sir" he said with a slight sweat drop

I walked over and sat down at one of the tables with a silent smirk to myself, although if it wasn't for Maki I would probably still be standing there like an idiot.

"Here's your tea" the boy grumbled placing the cup on the table

"You need to work on you're manners, you should serve people with a smile" I said to him

He just let out a small growl, can't say I blamed him. Before he could walk away I quickly grabbed hold of his sleeve making him look even angrier, if that was possible.

"sorry but I need to talk to the man you're with... not here though... could you tell him to meet me near that fountain at the end of the street after his shift?"

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk, look if you're that worried about him you can come to, it really doesn't bother me but please just tell him. I don't mean any harm"

"Fine" he grumbled walking away

I don't know if he would or not but at least now I knew where they worked so if worse came to worse I could just follow them home or something but I didn't really want to do that. After paying for the tea I left the shop and headed to the fountain to wait, at least it wasn't raining or cold or anything like that.

I had almost fallen asleep when I heard the sound of people walking towards me; I sat up properly rubbing my eyes with one hand while I stretched the other above my head. After making out the outline I stood myself up straightening out my back until they were in my sight.

"Thank you for coming out here and thank you for passing on my message" I smiled at both of them

"My nephew here said you had something to talk to me about"

"Yes... I really hope you or probably more you're nephew don't jump to the wrong idea here but... I know who you really are. I've been thinking of the right way to say it but decided just cutting to the truth would be best"

"Know who we are? What do you mean by that!" his nephew snapped at me

"that's what I was afraid of" I winced "look I'm not here to get you guys into trouble... the opposite really I was hoping that maybe you might be able to help me... please at least hear out my story"

"Why don't you come back to my place for tea?"

"You're inviting him back!"

"Of course" he smiled already walking away

"Oh ahh thank you" I said quickly walking after him

After getting back to their place I found myself between smiles and glares, it was kind of weird but I decided for now just to ignore the glaring one.

"Here you go" he said handing me some tea

"Thankyou"

"Now how can we help you?"

"Well you see sir... first I must ask you something. Do you know general Myde?"

His face hardened slightly at the name, there was no doubt that he remembered him.

"Who's that?"

"He is a horrid man with no compassion, only a lust for power and control over people. All the children... no all the people in my village are nothing but his puppets, from a young age the children are put into training to fight for him and the fire lord. Taught us that the rest of the world was evil, filled our minds with lies! Even his own... I was never his child; I was just another puppet to control"

"But I thought he had a da..."

I quickly shot him a look pleading him silently to not say the word.

"What are you doing here then?" he asked

"When I was younger I heard the stories about you... what my father did... I never believed you were a bad person but well going against his word was a bad thing... I knew he wasn't innocent but when I discovered the true horrors of his past I couldn't stay there, I couldn't allow myself to be controlled like that! You're the only other person in this world that I knew I could trust" I sighed "you owe me nothing but... I didn't know what else to do, you're the only others to defy the fire nation and live"

"What is your name?"

"Senri..."

"Such a nice name"

"May I ask... what I might call you? Both you're names are forbidden to speak and even though they are not here to punish me I still fear it plus I would think you would have new names here?"

"I am Mushin and that is my nephew Lee"

"It's lovely to meet you, both of you"

"You must be tired, why don't you rest"

"What? ar-are you sure?"

"Yes, you can take my bed"

"Oh no I couldn't, I will be fine anywhere, honestly"

After I guess what could be called an argument of sorts Mushin finally gave up and slept in his own bed while I slept on the floor, only problem was I couldn't sleep. It wasn't the hard floor or anything, that didn't bother me; I just had the night playing over in my mind. I had planned it all out, every outcome but even though things didn't go badly I was still left with what do I do now?