Chapter 4: A Tale of Moro
A week had passed since the teashop incident, and as much as Moro apologized for the broken teapot, Old Man Mushi kept telling her to not worry about it, but that didn't stop her from buying them a really nice one from the Middle Ring market. It was pure porcelain and inlaid with silver paint, she bought it with some of the money she stole, and Mushi was ever thankful for the gift.
However, that still left her short a pretty penny, which was why she was scraping for change in the market with her pai-sho board again.
The burly man she was playing against was losing, badly, and every move she made towards his defeat only deepened the scowl on his face.
Truth be told her mind was a million miles from the game in front of her, despite her obvious future victory; she still had no idea whether or not that crazy guy from the teashop was telling the truth about Mushi and Lee being firebenders. She wanted to trust them, but years of being afraid of others finding out about her being a firebender had made her more than a little wary of others.
Moro placed her white lotus tile in the center of the board, revealing the lotus pattern she'd created. "I win. Maybe come back tomorrow and play again, then I can get even more money when I beat you," she chuckled, counting the gold pieces she'd won.
The man growled loudly, grabbing the back of her head and slamming her face against the board, scattering the tiles all over the ground. "You cocky little brat!" he was yelling so loud it was attracting attention. "You cheated! I know you did, give me my money back!"
She growled; her cheek mushed against the board as the man's fist gripped hard at her hair. She quickly grabbed the money, clutching it tight in her fist and shoving a handful of mud from the ground into the man's eyes. He shouted, letting go of her to rub the filth from his face, and Moro ran, hanging on to her earned gold like her life depended on it.
"Hey! Get back here you street rat!"
His shouts went ignored, Moro already rounding a corner to escape his sight. She would have been home-free if she hadn't run smack into Lee, the two of them grunting as they hit the ground in a tangled heap.
She felt dazed, shaking her head to clear the fog to find herself on top of Lee. "Ugh… Moro?" he groaned, rubbing his head.
With no time to feel embarrassed, Moro grabbed his hand and hoisted him up, practically dragging him behind a grain cart. She pushed him against the cart while she peeked around the edge, watching the sore loser sniff around for a bit before getting frustrated and moving on.
Seeing that they were in the clear, she sighed with relief. "Sorry about that, that guy was a really sore loser."
Lee fixed her with a glare, dusting off his robes and crossing his arms over his chest like he was about to scold her. "You really need to stop getting into trouble."
"Why? Are you worried about me?" she teased, making that face she knew he hated. Where she arches her eyebrow and purses her lips, obviously teasing him. She felt her smirk turn into a grin when se saw him blush, scowling angrily to hide it, but blushing nonetheless.
"Shut up," he muttered, giving her shoulder a rough shove, but Moro just laughed, snickering into her hand as she followed Lee back to Pao's place, she could go for some of Old Man Mushi's tea after such a rough morning anyway.
It was actually a pretty standard morning; scam some fools out of their money, run from them when they try to take it back, and end up at Pao's to enjoy some tea and tease Lee.
Really, the only thing out of the ordinary, was her mother smiling, talking, and looking quite healthy, contently sipping tea with Old Man Mushi.
"Mom?" Esra looked up, her sea-green eyes brighter than Moro had seen them in months. "What're you doing out of bed?"
She rushed to her mother's side to make sure she was okay, but to her surprise, she seemed perfectly fine. Her cheeks were rosy instead of flushed and pale, her hair looked shinier, she even looked like she had some of her energy back! The woman Moro had put to bed last night and the one standing before her were like night and day.
Esra smiled, this smile genuinely happy instead of tired. "I was feeling a lot better today, and heard about Mushi's miraculous tea, I knew I had to try some."
Mushi refilled her cup after she'd drunk it down to the last drop, grinning ear to ear from the praise. "Your mother is a very lovely woman Moro, and she has excellent taste as well!" he said while Lee busied himself behind the counter. "I can see where you get it from,"
Moro nudged his shoulder, feeling her cheeks heat up "Gramps…"
Her mother giggled; a sound Moro hadn't heard for a long time. "Truthfully, she gets it from her father… Moro looks just like him sometimes," Esra smiled at her cup, a wistful look in her eyes, as though after so many years she was still incurably in love.
Her daughter scoffed, "You once told me he had a beard!"
Esra hid her laugh behind her hand, and Moro looked at her mother like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. It was rare she talked about her father ever without becoming sad or scared, sad that the love of her life still hadn't come back, scared for her daughter who was a firebender just like him. To see her talk about him so freely with a smile on her face was a welcomed sight for Moro.
Maybe her mother really was getting better.
"I know exactly what you mean," Mushi added, "He may act tough, but I know my nephew is very kind, he's just like his mother…"
Mushi was quickly interrupted by Lee slamming his hands on the tea counter before storming out through the back, leaving the trio to stare after him.
Moro's head tilted curiously, "What the heck was that about?"
The old man cleared his throat, sighing sadly. "Forgive me, it is a sore subject… my nephew lost his mother when he was very young, I should not have brought it up so callously."
Her mother said something to the old man, but Moro wasn't listening. Without a word to either of them, she left the table and jogged off after the angry boy, leaving the adults to themselves.
Esra sighed, looking down at her hands regretfully. "That's terrible about your nephew's mother… Moro's never met her father, but she's far too much like him, and I worry for her so much." Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and when she tried to hold them back, it only made them flow stronger down her cheeks. Esra bit her lip as she tried not to sob.
Mushi enveloped her trembling hands with his aged ones, looking at her with kind eyes full of understanding.
"As difficult as it is, sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to let them follow their own paths, and be there for them when they need us."
She smiled, an exhaustion in her features that made her look older beyond her years. Not a day went by where she wasn't terrified for her daughter, but as she'd said, Moro was just like her father; spirited and stubborn. She was always more concerned with Esra's health than her own wellbeing, and trying so hard to hide it from her so she wouldn't worry, but Mrs. Linh had told her outright years ago. She knew she couldn't stop her from stealing, but she desperately wished her daughter could have a better life.
A better life where she wouldn't have to steal to survive or hide the gifts she'd been given.
But that could never be, not in Ba Sing Se.
Moro spotted Lee up on the roof, climbing up and shuffling over to sit beside him. He was watching the sun slowly sink below the horizon, the light shining in his golden eyes as the two sat in silence. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, drumming her fingers against the rooftop and trying to come up with something to say that would cheer him up.
"You know," she started, "My dad was a soldier, mom says he left before I was born… I don't think he even knows I exist."
She'd never told anyone that, but after the other night, when Lee tackled a guy swinging swords around to help her out, she felt like she could trust him… even just a little bit.
He didn't say anything for a long time, glaring at the sun as though it were taunting him. "Neither does mine." He finally replied bitterly.
Moro looked at him, the sunset casting a shadow across his face, and suddenly felt like they had a lot more in common than she originally thought. Sure she teased him and annoyed him on purpose, but she really didn't know anything about him, and vice versa. She did like him, and wanted to be his friend, mostly because she'd never really had any friends before, and as much as he denied it he did stick his neck out for her more than once…
It was time for her to pay it forward.
"He sounds like a real jerk." She said, leaning back on her hands. "I mean you're kind of a bummer sometimes but still…"
"Do you EVER stop talking?!"
Moro flinched, Lee standing up and yelling right in her face, his anger worse than she'd ever seen it before. His fists were clenched white and his teeth were ground together as fury burned in his eyes. She could only stare as he trembled with rage.
"I don't need your pity, and we are not friends!" he shouted, "Maybe it's easy for a street rat like you to belong here, but I hate this city! I hate working in a damn teashop, and I hate you! When will you get it through your head that all I want is for you to leave me alone!?"
A stunned pause lingered between them, Moro blinking up at him in shock and Lee slowly deflating into tense annoyance, his fists still clenched tight as he refused to meet her eyes.
She suddenly became angry, standing up and getting in his face. "You think I belong here?!" she scoffed, too upset up to notice the look of surprise he had. "Nobody in the Lower Ring belongs here! I don't, and neither should you! I don't know if you've noticed but it sucks here!"
Now it was Lee's turn to stare in shock; Moro was really fired up now because who did this guy even think he was? He clearly had no idea how hard people had to fight, scratch, and claw their way through mud and grime just to survive in the walled city. Kids like Yuu, Mink, and Ashi were lucky to not have realized how unfair life was yet, thinking they were free to be friends when in reality people in the Upper Ring stuck up their noses and scoffed at the starving poverty of the Lower Ring every day.
If she didn't steal and learn to run away, she probably would have died a long time ago. Moro was only alive because Mrs. Linh took pity on the scrappy little girl and taught her how to pick pockets.
She was a nobody, a stray, and street rat. She steals and cheats and runs away… nobody cared about people like her. People like her didn't matter.
"You're not the only one trapped here Lee," she sighed, staring out at the sun. "I know if I took one step outside that wall… I wouldn't ever come back…"
Once when she was ten, Moro went to the edge of the city, the wall that separated Ba Sing Se from the rest of the world, and she thought about stepping outside. She saw farms in the distance covered in grass and crops, nothing but open skies from horizon to horizon… but knew she couldn't leave. Her mother needed her, what kind of daughter would she be if she just abandoned her?
Moro looked Lee in the eye, gold locked with yellow and blue, and for a moment it felt like they understood each other just a little bit better. Both of them victims of circumstance who had nowhere else in the world to go.
She laughed, breathless and tired, a sound so different from her usual teasing snicker, as she held out her hand for him to take. "You'd die of boredom if you belonged here anyway."
Lee sighed, but took her hand.
The two of them stood there, wrapped in red light from the setting sun with their hands joined, until Moro gave him a playful shove, giggling as he rubbed his shoulder. He scowled again, but this time with none of the annoyance or malice that was there before. "You know this doesn't make us friends; you're still annoying."
She just smiled, walking to the edge of the roof to climb down.
"Keep telling yourself that."
She jumped down, landing in a crouch like a hunting tigerdillo and bounding back inside the teashop, leaving Lee alone.
He turned, looking back at the sun as a smile grew on his face. He quickly caught himself and shook his head, schooling his features back into his unamused frown and following the odd-eyed girl back inside.
He'd never had a friend before…
If Moro was a Disney character, who would she be? This chapter was meant to shed light on some of Moro's deeper personality traits. Yes, she's carefree and likes to tease Zuko, but she also feels shame in having to steal and wanting to leave. She knows if her mother wasn't sick she'd probably leave and never come back, but she has to stay to take care of Esra. This chapter was meant to depict a darker side of Moro's life that she doesn't talk about. She and Zuko will learn to trust each other with their dark secrets and become real friends in later chapters. This ship is a slow frickin burn y'all. Pun intended. See you next chapter for Tale of Zuko! Ciao!