Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
A/N: Wow, what a cliffie there, huh? I am having so much fun with these things! lol Hope you like this next chapter! The plot's finally starting to move along, isn't it? Don't forget to review!
The Iris and The Lily
Chapter Twelve
A Nice Hot Cup of Tea
My body reacted before my mind could process what was happening. My arms lifted in front of me, one before my waist, the other in front of my face, palm facing my attacker. I called forth a shield of swirling air; the fire's heat just barely reached me before the force of the wind blew it away.
I just barely saw Prince Zuko's eyes narrow in the fading light before the absence of the fire. In less than a second, everything was pitch-dark, and I could no longer see my surroundings, let alone my opponent.
He seemed to notice this just as I did, for he didn't create any more light. Neither of us were unaccustomed to the darkness but, judging by how quickly and surely he'd made his way here, he was familiar with the surroundings. He had the advantage.
"Prince Zuko..." I muttered, trying to track him from the sounds of his footsteps, though it was hard; he was barefoot, and there I was, wearing those ridiculous high-heeled curvy-toed Fire Nation shoes.
He had every single advantage. He was under cover of darkness, untraceable and silent, surefooted, and a master firebender. And in this remote, closed-off garden, no one could hear or see what was going on.
Then the realization hit me, and I sucked in a breath, my mouth going dry.
He was going to kill me himself.
"Prince Zuko!" I tried again, louder this time, growing more desperate. I turned around, my heels clacking against the cement square, and tried vainly to see, to find any silhouette of him, a piece of darkness darker than the rest. "Please, about earlier today, you don't... I mean, you weren't supposed to see that."
"You were going to keep it a secret?" he asked, his voice coming from behind me.
I whipped around instantly, searching for him blindly. "No!" I exclaimed without thinking. Then I grimaced. "Well, yeah, but what else was I supposed to do? If anyone found out I'd get killed! And now you're gonna kill me, so I guess I was -"
"You think I'm going to kill you?" he asked, his voice somewhere to my right now.
My brow furrowed and I turned to my right slowly. "You're not?" I asked, lowering my voice as my mind processed the situation.
I heard a whooshing sound, and the square was bathed in light. I turned around, and there he stood, a ball of crackling fire in his hands.
His brow was furrowed as mine was, though there was still that everlasting look of anger in his eyes.
My mouth moved before I could stop myself. "Why are you angry?" I asked quietly, curiously.
He looked at me through the hair that had fallen into his eyes - it really looked much better down - then blinked and looked away, at the ground. "I only attacked you," he said, ignoring my question, "because I wanted to make sure that what I saw was real. That you were really an airbender."
I had to admit that in an odd way, that made sense. It seemed that people did a lot of smart things in odd ways around here. But then something occurred to me, something I hadn't had the time to think about before.
"And what if I wasn't an airbender?" I asked, putting a hand on my hip and gesturing to him with my other hand so he would understand how upset I was about this. "Did you think about that? About how hurt I would've been?"
He didn't answer, but that was a good enough response for me.
"You were just thinking of yourself, and about getting the answers you wanted." I'd almost completely forgotten who I was talking to; with his hair down and his simple robes, he looked like a mere manservant or a refugee. "You need to think things out before you -"
"Don't tell me what to do!" he yelled, cutting me off, the fire in his hand flaring up and crackling wildly. "Who are you to tell me what to do? You don't know me, you don't know what I want, and you don't know what I think! So don't talk like you do!"
I stepped back and my eyes widened. He was a bomb, a rock resting in a catapult just waiting to be lit on fire. If I wasn't careful, the string holding him back would snap, and I'd be left for dead.
He threw the fire he held to his side before stomping off, fading away into shadows as he walked father away from the light.
I let out a breath, then blew out the fire with a quick flick of my wrist at the base of a plant, avoiding breathing in the smoke as I passed.
I'd cheated death today, but I'd blown my cover to a boy who seemed to hate me. How long would I be here now? How much longer could I skirt by the rules with the consequences catching up?
xXxXxXxXxXx
When I returned to my room, Dana, of course, had many questions.
"Was that really Prince Zuko? It was, wasn't it?"
"Where did he take you?"
"Why did he take you?"
"What did he say?"
"How did he look?"
"Did he look at you?"
"Aren't his eyes amazing?"
"Why aren't you answering, Sen? Is something wrong?"
And to that, I finally answered, "I'm just still tired, Dana. Get some sleep, and drink that remedy I gave you."
She sighed softly, then cuddled under the blankets. "Okay. But we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"
I hesitated in the doorway, then shut the door behind me, silently refusing suggestion. I didn't want to talk about it, not then or for a long time after. Especially with her. Even though she was my friend, she obviously had a raving crush on the Prince, and all she would do while I was talking was defend him and take his side and end up talking about his sexy eyes or something of that nature.
I sat down on my bed, blinking, though I was everything but tired, despite what I'd said to Dana. My adrenaline was still pumping from my encounter with Prince Zuko.
This had been a long night. Dana had gotten sick, Prince Zuko had caught me airbending, Zhao had brought down his guard around me (which still confused me very much, and I promised myself I would figure out what he was doing), and then Prince Zuko had attacked me! This job was proving to be more dangerous than I'd ever though it would be.
I was thirsty. Perhaps all that fire had caused my throat to dry, perhaps it was just the persistent fear, it didn't matter to me.
Water? No, I wanted something better. Something to calm me down, make me feel at home. Something warm and sweet...

Tea.
I furrowed my brow as a memory came to mind.
"Well, I'll be sure to bring you some tea next time I come by, okay, Mr..." I trailed off as I realized I had no idea what his name was.
"Ah, please, call me Uncle," he said, bowing his head to me respectfully.
I bowed my head in return, smiling to myself. I found it funny that he didn't tell me his real name just I hadn't told him mine.
"And make it jasmine, if you wouldn't mind," he added, the childish look on his face once more.
I grinned and nodded. "I'll be sure to do that, Uncle," I replied.
I felt a smile creep onto my lips, and I couldn't stop my thoughts from arranging themselves. It'd been an entire day since I'd last seen Uncle, and I would imagine that would seem like an eternity to someone in prison, especially with that horrible guard. Perhaps it was about time for that hot cup of tea.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The prisoners were sleeping, so luckily no one jumped up and tried to grab me, and therefore I didn't scream and wake up the guard. He was sleeping, yet again, in his chair overlooking Uncle's cell. It made me wonder: did he ever pay any attention to the other prisoners, or just dump all his hate on Uncle?
I rapped quietly on the bars, sticking my face up close, trying not to inhale the sharp, tangy smell of rusting metal. "Uncle!" I whispered loudly, always keeping the guard in my peripheral vision. Didn't want to be standing there when that jerk woke up.
He had seemed to be sleeping, which wouldn't have surprised me; he was hunched over, sitting in the same corner as before, drenched in lonely shadows. But his head snapped to the side, and he moved his body around so quickly and nimbly that for a moment I questioned whether or not I stood in front of the right cell. But sure enough, his golden eyes stared hopefully and happily into mine, and a smile slowly lit his face as he made his way over to the bars. I noticed that he, too, kept a close watch on the guard, letting his eyes flicker to the sleeping man once or twice until he was in front of me, calloused and dirty hands gripping the bars in a mix of desperation and relief. "Sen," he said warmly. "It is so nice to see you again. What brings you here? And so late?"
I lifted up the tray I had prepared. Two cups sat on either side, with a kettle in between the two. "I figured it was about time for that jasmine tea you wanted," I replied, smiling.
I poured the tea and handed him a cup from my side, which he accepted graciously. He said nothing about it, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew what was behind my smile. Not the warmth and happiness I tried to show him in those moments, but a confused little girl in an unfamiliar world about to burst into tears.
Everything seemed to be changing so fast, all pretenses disappearing, and everything that I once never questioned were beginning to be proven wrong one by one. It made me wonder: how long would this smiling mask last?
xXxXxXxXxXx
A/N: Sorry, that one was a little while longer than the rest. You guys know Ellen Hopkins, right? Author of Crank, Glass, Impulse, and so on? Well I just finished her new book, Tricks, and that took up like a week of my life. So I got zero writing done. And now that I'm finished with it, I really want to write more in my old story With Effects Akin to Narcotics. It sounds weird, but I'm in the mood for drugs and sex, man! Lol it seems like whenever I read about something, I wanna write about it. Like, I started writing this story after I read an incredible story by ba77ousai called The Girl of Ba Sing Se. Still waiting for an update!! But yeah, I was watching Avatar, saw the Tales of Ba Sing Se filler episode, and got hooked on Jinko (like Hooked on Phonics, but for Avatar fans! ;D) so I looked up some stories on them (which there really aren't many, and something needs to be done about that) and found The Girl of Ba Sing Se. AMAZING! That's all I can say. She is an inspiration to me, and I can't wait to read her other stories, those Danny Phantom ones that I saw on her page. I used to love Danny Phantom, man! I'm so mad they cancelled it or whatever happened to it. What did happen to it? Anyway, getting off topic.
So! To sum it up, I haven't written in like a week or so, and I'm sorry if you guys were suffering while I was gone =( pardon me for the inconvenience. Love you all! And please review! I love seeing them, it really makes my day if I just get one. And think about it! If I get ten people to review on every single chapter, that's 120 reviews! So please review every single chapter! Even if all it says is "liked it" or "good chapter" or even just "good". At least it's something, right?
Lol I think I'm using you guys as an involuntary boyfriend haha. I haven't talked to my boyfriend since his birthday Saturday, and it's killing me! I miss him so much, and I don't even think he knows how much I miss him when I don't talk to him in a while. It really does some damage to my heart. It'd be so much easier if he had a phone =( anyway, I'll stop incessantly talking and just leave it at this:
Please review! Thanks! Love you guys! P
