I was cleaning the back because we were cleaning up soon when Iroh dashed to me grabbing my arm. There were two men standing there. Zuko was tapping his foot and the owner of the tea shop looked extremely nervous. He was biting down on his fingers, I saw the smile that was etched across Iroh's face and I knew it was going to be good news. "She's here now repeat what you just told us!" Iroh said clapping his hands together.
"Uh, well this man is probably the best tea marker in the whole city. We would like to allow them to open their own tea shop. They would completely own it and make the tea." Iroh glanced down at me and I looked up at Zuko, he was actually smiling. I gave Iroh a smile and a nod. Iroh began to pull off his apron and tossed it at the owner. "We will take it. You two go pack our belongings while I talk to these two lovely men." Zuko grabbed my hand and lead me out of the tea shop. The owner of the shop was begging and pleading for Iroh to stay, but Iroh just waved him off.
I chuckled and began placing things together while Zuko grabbed some bags. "Isn't this great?" I asked placing my clothes up. Zuko smiled and stared down at the clothes that were in his hands. "Yeah it is. Uncle has always wanted to own his own tea shop." He placed his clothes in his bags and picked up another stack of clothes to pack.
"Things are finally looking up, huh?" He placed the clothes down and walked over to me wrapping his arms around my waist. I smirked and wrapped my arms around him also. "It is. Aren't you excited?" I asked resting my head against his chest. I knew he wasn't faking, I haven't seen him smile this much since his mother was still with him. I didn't know if she was dead or not, I just knew she was gone. No one really knew what happened to Zuko's mother, not even her own son.
That sickness must have woken him up. He hasn't talked about the Avatar once. Zuko truly had changed. Not really the real him, but the way he thought things through. I think he finally understood he was never going to make his father proud. Azula would always outshine him in his father's eyes, Azula was heartless and that was the only reason why. Zuko was raised by his mother and I thank every star that she did.
She raised the most amazing guy I could ever ask for.
"Are we all pack? They are waiting to take us to my new tea shop." Iroh asked poking his head into the room. I backed away from Zuko and nodded. I zipped up my bag and watch as Zuko did that same. "We are starting a new life. Are you ready?" I asked throwing my bag over my shoulder.
"As long as I have you by my side." He smiled and followed me out of our old house.
000
I stared out over the counter at all our customers. Ever since we opened, we have been incredible busy. There was actually a line outside the door waiting for a table. I handed Iroh another kettle of freshly made tea and began wiping off the counter. It was about closing time and we had made a lot of money. I began counting the money as the last step of costumers left with Zuko locking up behind them. I spilt the money out into three stacks and handed Iroh's his. I placed mine in my apron and Zuko began counting his up.
"I should probably go to the market, huh?" Zuko's stomach began rumbling and he chuckled. "Alright, I'll be back with dinner soon." I snatched up a basket and walked out the back door towards the market. I swung the basket by my side and walked over to the first vender. I began looking over the vegetables and picked out three. I walked to the next one and froze.
Katara and the small earth-bender girl, who I found out was named Toph was shopping around. I brought some rice and stepped over to the meat vender. I wanted to get out here as face as I could before they noticed me. They didn't know Zuko and I had let their bison go, and I didn't even know if they knew we were here. We just moved on, we didn't need any drama. I ducked behind a buggy and listened as they looked over the meat that I was just looking at.
"Are you sure you want to leave?" Katara asked as she paid for a hunk of meat. "I have to. My mother wants to see me." Toph picked something type of chicken up and felt around at it. I had totally forgotten that she was blind. "Have you ever thought that maybe it was a fake letter?" Katara asked resting against the buggy that I was hiding behind.
"She's in the city. I just have to talk to her. You understand don't you?" Toph reached out and felt for Katara's arm. She finally grabbed her arm and squeezed it lightly. Katara smiled and rested her hand on Toph's small shoulder.
"Of course, I do. I guess I'm just sad because Aang is leaving to find that Guru and Sokka is going to look for dad. I'm just worried I'll get lonely." Katara said sadly looking down at the ground. They began walking off and I slowly stood up. I watched them disappear down the alleyway with my hand over my mouth. They were all going separate ways. I walked back over to the meat vender and brought a hunk of meat. He wrapped it up for me and I placed it in the basket. I ran all the way back to the house. I just had to tell Zuko. He would want to know.
I walked in and handed the basket over to Iroh. I walked quickly over to Zuko, who was lying out of the couch with a book over his face. I tossed it off his face and he sat up quickly glaring at me. "What is it, Harmony? I was sleeping." He grumbled kissing my forehead before lying back down.
"I just found out something." I muttered leaning forward. Zuko raised an eyebrow and smiled, "You're beautiful, you know that right?" I was so taken back that I just gaped at him. Did I really need to tell him what I heard? He had come so far, would knowing that they were all separating him completely destroy our relationship? All that it took. Did I really want it to crumble?
"What do you need to tell me?" He placed his hand on my knee and ran his thumb over my knee.
I smiled, "Nothing. Just that I love you very much." He smiled and kissed me on the mouth before lying back down.
