Portrait of a Villain: Zhao part 2

By: Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: Iroh and Avatar: The Last Airbender are on our wishlist

At a recruiting office in the Earth Kingdom, as directed by the Fire Nation:

"Well," the gruff middle-age man began his explanation, staring at a piece of paper. "To be frank with you, Zhao, we can't accept you. The woman you claim as your mother says she doesn't know anything about you, no one's known you for the past five years."

"But, that shouldn't matter," the teenager retorted. "I mean, it's like I told you, I went off to the woods to find myself. I tried being a hermit."

The recruiter sighed. The kid did look like a good kid. But rules were rules. Being at war for the last hundred years, they had learned that their enemy was more than capable of pretending to join their ranks only to stab them in the back.

"Just give it some time," the recruiter suggested. "Go back to your mom, or get a job around here. Just establish your membership in the Earth Kingdom. You need someone who knows you and can vouch for you."

"Fine," young Zhao said bitterly. The man was right, it wasn't as if he'd believe the stupid lies he was spouting. But establishing himself in the community would take a lot of time, and likely a lot of work. Earth Kingdom folk weren't the most trusting, what being conquered slowly by the Fire Nation.

As he was exiting the army recruitment office, planning to go back to the place he was staying he overheard a quarrel.

"I don't want to!" a twenty year old woman shouted at her aging mother. "Why can't you understand that!"

"Sweetie," the older woman coaxed. "It's just a date; you really should take meeting men much more seriously. You're getting so old; all of your friends have married already."

"I have no friends," the homely girl replied. "Men don't like me. I'm not pretty."

"Now, now," the middle-aged woman said gently. "If you have that attitude, you'll never find a husband. Don't focus on your looks; focus on your housekeeping skills, wait, no, never mind, focus on your childbearing hips."

Zhao tried to not look at them as he walked passed them. But the "childbearing hips" comment made him bite his lip to repress a snicker. He wasn't sure what was more pathetic, the unmarried twenty year old or the mother who still had hope for the girl.

"I DON'T WANT TO," the young woman said very loudly. "I don't care if you want me to get married and have babies. I don't want to. I want to stay at home and play with my friends."

Zhao couldn't resist snickering to himself as he walked further and further away. He went back to his room and wrote a letter to the man he was told to report to, asking for guidance. After that, there wasn't much else for the young man to do, so he went out to dinner.

Zhao went to a restaurant known as the Roasting Duck. It was reputed to be cheap, with fast service and good food. Zhao liked eating good food when it wasn't on his dime.

He ordered a dish he had never heard of, figuring that it never heart to try something new. The atmosphere was just how he wanted it, well lit, somewhat crowded, with a background of idle chatter. If he was supposed to be part of this community, he wanted to know a lot about it before it got to know anything about him.

The teenager overheard about that the laundry maid was having an affair with the butcher in the next town over. The school teacher had just gotten engaged. The rich old guy in town that died a few years back might've been murdered. The local law enforcement was being paid off by a new gang. Zhao was drooling merely from the gossip.

Unfortunately the peaceful moment was not to last. "I told you that I don't like him," a shrill whiney voice emerged from the rest. "You don't respect me!"

The woman he had seen earlier fighting with her mother was here. Zhao spotted her getting up from a table, ignoring what the man she was with was saying and storming off, towards him. Her mother.

"Please Bivi," the middle-aged woman said as she followed her.

"No," the young woman retorted. "I'm an adult, leave me alone!"

"But Bivi," the mother pleaded. "You're getting so old; you should find a man to marry even if he's not perfect. Madaa is nice man."

"I don't like him," Bivi said simply. "I don't want to marry him."

"What kind of man do you want to marry?" the exasperated mother asked her willful daughter.

"Someone cute," the young woman said smiling suddenly. "With brown eyes. I like men with brown eyes."

Zhao's food arrived. He was amused that the poor sap hadn't left yet. If he were that fellow, he wouldn't put up with that kind of behavior; he'd have left a while ago. He began to cut and eat the meat while the woman's mother coaxed her to returning to her seat.

Zhao sat thinking about what kind of a job he wanted. He realized he had little skills besides firebending, and firebending wasn't going to win him any friends. There had to be an easier way than getting a job. He knew returning to his mother was out of the question, not that he felt she was really ever his family. Maybe he could get people to form a fake family for him. Or maybe he could start his own.

It hit the young firebender like a ton of bricks. He looked over at the poor sap who was deciding that he wasn't that interested in the homely woman.