Jin gathered up her courage and sat down next to Azula in the break room. Azula eyed her warily.

"How are you doing, today?" asked Jin.

"Piss off," said Azula.

Jin frowned, before putting on a smile again. They were the only two in the break room, so she didn't have to worry about people overhearing.

"So, what's the Fire Nation like?"

Azula glared at Jin.

"I mean, I've never been outside of Ba Sing Se. My parents are refugees, or I guess were, since they put down roots here and all, and they've told me about their hometowns. I'm just curious about your home, is all."

"Shut up." Azula snapped.

Jin shrugged. "It must be difficult to be so far from home. I know my parents felt that way when they first came to Ba Sing Se. But, it's really a nice city—"

Azula barked out a sharp laugh. "Nice? This is the worst city in the world. Filled with incompetent bureaucrats and corrupt secret police and crowded slums. Nothing good could ever come out of this city."

It was quite mean, but it was a start. "Well, my parents found each other. They found love. Surely it's not all bad."

Azula glared at Jin again. Her eyes were cold. "My Uncle should have burned this city to the ground when he had the chance."

Jin felt a twinge of fear. She remembered those days. The Dai Li keeping everyone silent. The mysterious disappearances. The way her parents fervently prayed as the Dragon of the West hammered at the walls for six hundred days. No one could speak of the war, but everyone, especially the refugees, knew it was happening.

Now, she worked in the tea shop owned by that very same Dragon of the West, and was trying to befriend the Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Life took weird turns, sometimes.

"What makes you say that?" Jin asked.

Azula sniffed. "Ask him."

0-0-0

Jin knocked gently on Iroh's office door.

"Who is it?" he called.

"It's Jin."

"Come in, come in!"

Jin opened the door and was waved to a seat by Iroh. She sat down nervously.

"What can I help you with, Jin?" asked Iroh as he placed his reading glasses down. He started to use them recently, since he couldn't see the tiny characters as well as he used to.

"If I may, Mr. Mushi, I wanted to ask you something."

"Of course," said Iroh, giving Jin his full attention.

"So, I was talking with Azula earlier, and she really seems to hate Ba Sing Se…"

Iroh's face darkened. "Yes, she has a great hatred for this city, and the Earth Kingdom in general. I apologize if she called you any slurs."

Jin blinked. "Um, no?"

Iroh sighed with relief.

"Anyway," Jin continued, "she mentioned that you, um, 'should have burned this city to the ground when you had the chance.' And when I asked her why, she said to ask you. So, uh, I was curious why she'd say that. But if you don't wanna answer, that's fine!" Jin hunched in her seat. I'm asking the literal Dragon of the West why his niece thinks he should have destroyed my home. What even is my life?

Iroh's face darkened again, but in a different way. He took a deep breath. "When I originally came to besiege Ba Sing Se, my son, Lu Ten, came with me. He was a masterful firebender, a shrewd thinker, and a man of many talents. He was my pride and joy." Iroh's eyes looked far away. His mouth quirked into a smile as he spoke of his son, before frowning again. "On the 595th day of the siege, not long after we had broken through the Outer Wall, Lu Ten was killed. Crushed by a boulder." A tear ran down Iroh's cheek.

Jin put her hand up to her mouth.

"I wasn't—" Iroh choked a bit. "I… I wasn't with him when he died. He had gone ahead of me in the first wave. I only found his body later. My son…" Iroh lowered his head into his hands. "My precious baby boy."

Jin immediately stood up and walked around Iroh's desk. She wrapped him in a big hug. The war hadn't spared anyone who lived through it. Not even the Fire Nation's royal family.

"I am so, so sorry for your loss," said Jin. Iroh returned the hug, and gave her a pat on the back before pulling away.

"Thank you," Iroh sighed. He wiped his eyes. "That was my crossroads. The death of my son caused me to question everything I thought I knew. I pulled out of the siege, and began searching. I was looking for a way to bring him back, but I found the path to peace instead."

"It must have been hard," said Jin.

"It was. It still is," said Iroh. "That kind of loss… it's something I hope you never have to experience, Jin. The pain of a parent who has outlived their child."

Jin gulped. She tried to imagine what her parents would do if she died. She quickly stopped trying. It was too horrible to think about.

"Was Azula close with your son?"

Iroh sniffed, wiping his eyes again. He smiled sadly. "Lu Ten adored his little cousins. They used to fight over who got to play with him. He tried to make things fair by including them both. I remember one time, he taught them how to sneak into the kitchens to steal fruit tarts. They took their 'secret mission' very seriously."

Jin giggled at the thought. "She must have been devastated when he died."

Iroh frowned. "Actually… I don't know… I know she thinks I am weak for not avenging his death."

"Don't you think… that might be her way of grieving him?" asked Jin. Iroh looked at her thoughtfully, and she pressed on. "In her mind, the obvious thing to do would be to destroy the city of the people who killed her beloved big cousin."

Iroh's eyes widened. "You… you're right! How have I not thought of this before?"

"I mean, it doesn't look the same as most grief, but I think that might just be how she expresses it," said Jin. "I could be wrong, though."

Iroh stood from his chair and bowed deeply to Jin. "Jin, I cannot begin to thank you enough. You've just provided me a great insight into how Azula has been feeling. Thank you, thank you so much."

Jin waved her hands. "It's really nothing!"

"No, Jin," said Iroh. "Your help is everything."

0-0-0

The next day, Jin ran up to Azula in the break room.

"Have you been reading Secret Tunnel of Love?"

Azula recoiled in her seat and blinked, surprised. "What?"

"Secret Tunnel of Love! I heard Suki and Toph talking about it! Have you been reading it?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I love that author!" said Jin. "Mei Guan writes some of my favorite romances!"

Azula closed her eyes and leaned her head back in her seat. She was silent for a moment.

"You said she has… more books?"

Jin grinned. "I can tell you all my favorites!"

0-0-0

"Hey, Jin," called Suki.

Jin made her way over to Suki and Toph's table. She felt a bit starstruck again. Two heroes of the Hundred Year War, two Earth Kingdom heroes, were sitting right in front of her. Toph had been visiting the Jasmine Dragon frequently, often sitting with Suki during her shifts.

"Yes? Can I get you anything?" asked Jin.

"I was just curious," said Toph, "why are you so nice to Hotcakes?"

Jin scrunched her eyebrow. "Hotcakes?"

"Mianju," Suki supplied.

"Ohh," said Jin. All these names would be the death of her. She looked to Toph. "Well, she needs a friend."

Toph lowered her voice. "Weren't you here when she conquered Ba Sing Se?"

Jin nodded, before remembering that Toph couldn't see it. "I was. I remember the Fire Nation soldiers marching down the street. My parents crying because they thought they had escaped this."

Toph nodded. "So, why are you so nice to the person who did all that?"

Jin shot Azula a glance. She was sassing Madam Hwang about something. Madam Hwang was one of the only customers who could sass Azula right back.

Jin turned back to Toph. "Because she's hurt, and she needs someone to look out for her. She's just a kid."

Suki squirmed a bit in her seat at Jin's words. Toph arched an eyebrow, but nodded, like she understood. "You're really dripping with sincerity."

Jin blinked. "Um, thank you?"

"You're welcome," Toph said plainly.

0-0-0

They day before Azula and Jin's day off, Jin approached Azula again.

"Hey, so, some friends and I are going to see a play in the Middle Ring," said Jin.

Azula ignored her and continued wiping the table.

"It's a Fire Nation play. It's called Love Amongst the Dragons?"

Azula stilled.

"I just wanted to say, you're welcome to come with us. It'll be at 12:30 at Ba Sing Se University Theater."

Azula turned away and went on to the next table. She would not dignify Jin's prattling with a response.

That's okay, thought Jin. As long as she knows.

0-0-0

Jin was pleasantly surprised when Azula did show up for the play. She looked annoyed and restless, but Jin could see that she had done her makeup and was wearing some of her nicer clothes.

"Mianju!" she greeted Azula. "Over here! These are my friends San and Jia! San, Jia, this is my coworker Mianju, and her friends Suki and Arna."

"Suki?" asked San. "Like the Kyoshi Warrior?"

Suki grinned. Like usual, she wasn't wearing her Kyoshi makeup while in public. "Yep!"

"Wow, that's so cool! To share a name with a hero!"

Suki shrugged. "Eh," she said, smiling mischievously.

Azula crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Nice to meet you all," said Jia.

"Charmed," drawled Azula.

"Let's go in and buy our tickets. I wanna get good seats," said San.

The group made their way inside.

0-0-0

"That was amazing!" said Jin.

"I know!" said Jia. "I mean, the Dragon Emperor's character arc?"

San nodded. "That was perfect!"

"Can we talk about the kiss in the final scene?" Jin fanned herself. "Soooo romantic!"

"What did you think, Mianju?" asked San.

Azula scoffed. "I couldn't take the Dark Water Spirit seriously with that accent."

Jin turned to Azula. "What?"

"The Dark Water Spirit traditionally speaks with a Sei'nakan accent. Not… whatever that was."

The actor playing the Dark Water Spirit in the performance had a Senlin accent. Jin thought it was a nice touch.

"Sei'naka? What's that? I've never heard of that place."

Before Azula could open her mouth, Jin jumped in. "Oh, I think I forgot to mention, Mianju's actually from the Fire Nation! I bet you saw this play all the time over there, huh?"

Azula glared at Jin, but nodded.

"Wow? Really? You're from the Fire Nation? That's so cool!" said San.

"Yeah… cool…" said Jia, more hesitantly.

"Not just the Dark Water Spirit, but all of their accents were wrong! But the Dark Water Spirit was the worst offender!"

"The actors for this performance are from the Earth Kingdom, Mianju," said Suki.

"I thought using regional Earth Kingdom accents gave it a nice flair!" said San.

Jin hadn't noticed it much before, but Azula did have a slight accent. She didn't know how to describe it, but she did notice how Azula carefully annunciated every word. And still, Azula's accent was different from Iroh's. She wondered why that might be.

Azula looked away from the group. "I'm going back. I feel like I need to scrub that terrible performance off of my skin."

Azula left, with Suki and Arna shooting apologetic glances and waving goodbye. Jin was just happy that Azula came at all.

0-0-0

"Bubble tea?" asked Jin as she came into the break room, carrying two cups of Iroh's bubble tea.

Azula glared at her. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Talking to me. Inviting me to a play. Bringing me food. What is your game?"

Jin blinked. "Um, I'm just trying to be friends with you."

That seemed to catch Azula off guard. "Why?"

"Because I have a feeling that you need a friend."

Azula looked away. "I don't need friends. I'm not weak."

"Azula, why do you think that all these things are a weakness?" Jin sat down next to Azula. "People need other people."

"Not me." Azula crossed her arms. "I don't need anyone."

Jin put the two cups of bubble tea on the low table in front of them. "People need other people," she repeated.

Azula pointedly did not reply.

Jin sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm being overbearing. I just wanted to be nice. But, please don't think that having friends is a weakness. Having real friends can really only make you stronger." She got up and took one of the bubble teas, leaving the other one behind.

Azula watched Jin retreat. Once she was alone in the break room again, she picked up the bubble tea. She fumed at Jin for being so presumptuous, and for the fact that the bubble tea was actually quite good, so it was even harder to be properly angry.

How dare she manipulate me like this! thought Azula as she sipped her bubble tea.

Author's Note:

So, I loved the detail in Shadow of Kyoshi how Rangi had a regional accent that slipped out. It's such a cute detail! I decided that the Dark Water Spirit should have that accent. I headcanon it to be a bit like Southern US accents.

Also, anyone else notice how Azula sounds just the tiniest bit British? Not enough to actually be a British accent, but every syllable she says is so perfectly measured! Is it just me?

I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think!

:D