A few days later, Katara comes barging into my room with Toph, who is being dragged along. "Ciara! Come on, we're going to have a girls' day out."
I sit up and blink at her. "You can't be serious. Unless you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly very girly."
"Then how about we change that?" She grabs my hand and pulls me out of bed. "Now get ready, quickly, I know exactly where we're going for the day."
I sigh and get dressed, since Katara probably won't stop bugging me until I go along with her. But what I dread, and end up seeing, when Katara drags us out into the city, is a place called the Fancy Lady Day Spa.
Toph groans. "The Fancy Lady Day Spa? Sounds like my kind of place…"
Katara looks at us and grins. "Are you ready for some serious pampering?"
"Sure Katara, whatever you say. As long as they don't touch my feet." Toph sounds willing to do this. But I think that she just jinxed herself.
And as expected, Toph jinxed herself and the first item on the list is pedicures. Second up is mud baths, and Toph makes the most hilarious faces out of the mud. I enjoy the heat of the baths myself, but I make sure that no one gets to see my back, not even the spa attendants.
Then, we sit in the sauna to relax. Of course, in the sauna, it's funny. Toph earthbends stones into the pit, I heat the rocks with my firebending, and Katara bends water onto the hot rocks to make the steam. It's an all girls bending party in the sauna.
Last up, we go to the salon in the spa where we get our hair and makeup done. And of course, because of my very rare hair color, the ladies in the salon make a huge fuss over it, before the one working on me shoos them away and starts to comb through the curls. She braids it back from the front, then does the back up with a couple of ornaments. Then comes the makeup, which I make sure they apply only lightly to my face in order to bring out the sharp gold of my eyes.
When we finally leave, we all feel refreshed and pampered. Even Toph, who is actually smiling. "Well, that wasn't so bad. I'm not usually into that stuff, but I actually feel girly."
Katara smiles. "I'm glad. It's about time we actually did something fun together."
I grin and laugh. "Well, it could have been worse. I've never been to a spa before, and it was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Maybe we should go one more time before we leave the city."
"So, what do you plan to do for the rest of the day, Ciara?" Katara looks over at me, noticing that I've turned in a different direction.
I smile. "I'm going down to the lower ring to make a visit. There is someone there that I want to say hello to."
"Alright, have fun!"
I turn away from them at the bridge and head off towards the train station. I board the train heading to the lower ring, and I get a lot of weird looks. Of course, a pretty girl in a dress, rich-looking and young, would get a lot of weird looks if she was heading to the poorest section of the city.
But I ignore them and get off in the lower ring, aware of the Dai Li agent following me. But I'm not doing anything suspicious, so I just walk through the area and find the tea house that I've been looking for. I go inside, and I surprise a lot of the patrons with my quiet entrance.
The owner of the shop approaches me and bows. "I'm honored that such a refined young lady would grace our teashop with her presence. Would you like to sit down and have some tea? Maybe some desserts?"
I smile at him and nod. "Yes please. If you have it, I would like some raspberry tea and berry tarts."
He nods and rushes back to the counter, then looks around the back corner and returns with Iroh in tow. He brings Iroh over and smiles. "Mushi here will see to anything you want."
As the owner walks away, Iroh smiles at me. "It is good to see you again young lady. Now, you wanted raspberry tea?" He puts a cup on the table for me and pours me a sweet-smelling cup of tea. "I will send Lee out with your desserts."
Iroh goes back to the counter, leaving the pot of tea with me, and Zuko comes out, looking a little irritated, but dutifully carrying a tray of tarts. He looks around, then spots me and walks over, setting the tray down carefully. "Here are your tarts, Miss." I flick my eyes to him, and then start giggling. That annoys him and his mouth twitches. "What's so funny?"
"Oh to think that all it takes is a trip to a spa and suddenly, you don't even recognize me." I smirk a little at him and reach for a tart. "Why don't you sit with me for a little while and tell me about how it's been, getting used to Ba Sing Se?"
He looks confused, so I stare directly into his eyes and move my bangs aside so that he can see my eyes. And that's when his confusion turns into shock. "Ciara? You look so…"
"Different?" I giggle again. "Yes, I do, don't I? I went with Katara and Toph to a spa today, a girls' day out kind of thing. Well, Katara wanted to go, and she dragged the two of us along. That's why I look…well…"
"Like a girl." Zuko turns his head away and sits. "You look like a noble girl now."
I raise an eyebrow. "Did I not look like a girl before? Did you honestly mistake me for a boy?"
"With dirty clothes and short hair, yes, I almost did." He crosses his arms and glances at me. "So why are you here? If you've moved to the upper ring, shouldn't you be drinking in the tea shops there?"
I raise an eyebrow. "Tea isn't something that I usually drink. It's a ruse; I wanted to come see the two of you." I take a sip of my tea and it's delicious. "Besides, your uncle makes good tea."
I drop my voice to barely a whisper. "Also, I'm being followed, and this was the safest place I could think of."
"Followed? Do they know that you're a…" He looks around, suddenly very nervous.
I shake my head. "No, it's for another reason. But that's a story for another day. I really did come here to hear how you two are getting on in this place."
He blinks, and then relaxes a little. "It's fine, I guess. I just hate living like this."
"You're used to luxury and adventure. Neither of which you have." I sigh lightly. "Sometimes I wish I could have this kind of stability. But I know that it can't happen. I was just born different."
"Born different…I can understand that, a little." He suddenly looks a little wistful. "Anyway, you don't seem to like the upper ring. Are you just there because your friends are?"
I nod. "I think that I've been on the run too long, and now, I can't settle down anywhere. Even if I was allowed to, I think that I would always be restless and looking for an adventure. It's kind of turned into my entire life. I don't think I'll ever be able to leave it behind. Not until the day I die."
His eyes slide over me and fix themselves on mine, holding my gaze. He looks conflicted, strained, and maybe a little homesick. So I smile and pick up a tart, then bite into it. It's good, really good. So I pick another one up and step on Zuko's foot, causing him to exclaim just long enough for me to shove it into his mouth.
I grin as he chews and swallows the tart. "That's a good boy. It's tasty isn't it?"
He nods, his cheeks going a little pink. "Yeah, it's sweet."
"But not too sweet. And a little sour because of the berries." I take another bite of mine and finish the tart. "I like my desserts sweet and sour. And I like my food spicy or salty. I don't like bitter things, or things that are too sweet, like honey. That's why I do a lot of the cooking for my friends. I can make everything the way I like it."
Zuko snorts and rolls his eyes. "So you do the cooking for them as well. It sounds like you're their mother."
My eyes flick back to the pile of tarts and I take one, twirling it between my fingers. "Well, I am the oldest. Sokka is still only fifteen, and I'm sixteen now. Hah, Aang has even tried to vote me into being the leader of our group, he called for a vote three times before I finally told him that I'm not going to do it. But no, I'm kind of like the older sister of the group. I stop the fights, keep them healthy, and even fly Appa sometimes." Then I freeze after mentioning Appa. "Anyway, it's good to see that the two of you are doing well."
Before Zuko can say anything else, I call over his uncle. "Excuse me; do you have a basket that the rest of the tarts can be put in? My friends would love to try them."
Iroh comes over with a basket and smiles. "Of course, and I put some more in there for you. I hope that your friends enjoy them."
I get up and smile at him before handing him a few silver coins, courtesy of our less than pleasant hosts. "I'm sure that they will. One in particular has a voracious sweet tooth."
I take the basket and leave the shop to find a carriage waiting for me. I sigh and climb into it, then settle the basket on my lap. I look out the window and see Zuko peeking out one of the windows. So I wave a little before the carriage takes me out of sight and back to the train that returns me to the upper ring.
When I get back, we all enjoy the tarts. Then we fall into discussion about how we're going to find Appa in this tremendously huge city. It's going to be a monumental task, and we have no idea where to start our search.
