Writing Alone has brought my love back for the traveling in the Earth Kingdom. Soooooooooo, naturally, a long time ago, I wrote this. And I wanted to work on it again. Here we are!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Avatar the Last Airbender universe. I hope you enjoy.

A knock on the counter brought Lee to the front of the tea shop. He wiped his hands off on his apron, looked up, and did not even smile at the person leaning against the counter. The person at the counter was a brunette and wore a mild green dress with light pants, as if she were ready to rip off the bottom half of her dress and run somewhere. A belt wrapped around her waist, housing a few different pouches of varying weights.

"Hey, do you guys have any biscuits around here?" Elaki asked, not even waiting for him to ask her what she wanted. Her eyes roamed the store, looking at the shelves full of half clean plates and empty cups of tea. She tapped impatiently on the wood with a copper coin, flipping it between her fingers every so often. Her eyes did not linger on the young man's scar, which was a new thing to the man. His scar had defined him for so long and still did. It was a mark of his failure, of his honor that he would never gain back in Ba Sing Se, of everything he did wrong. But here, now, this girl didn't look at it, which was such a novelty in the city.

Her eyes were bright and golden and looked straight into his eyes after asking her question. He avoided her gaze just because of that. Anyone who kept eye contact with him, and had just met him, was bad news.

"I think we have a few. I'll have to ask my uncle." Lee turned around and yelled, "Uncle, do we have any biscuits?"

There was a crash in the back room, followed by a splash of tea, and a swear from Uncle's mouth. "Don't yell, Lee!" the man yelled back, and he came out of the back of the shop. Elaki was trying to keep a laugh from boiling over.

He walked up to the counter, asked what she wanted, and then nodded. "I can make a batch really quick if you would wait." The man was rather old, but seemed nice and not bothered by his nephew. His beard was long and well kept, she could tell. He smiled and she wished that happened often in the Lower Ring.

"I'm okay with that. I'll just go sit over there and wait," she stated, leaning away from the counter and not letting go of her copper coin.

"Would you like anything to drink, Miss?"

"A water, please."

"Lee, go get her a glass of water."

"Uncle-"

"I'm making the biscuits, go get it."

Lee sighed, grabbed a glass from under the counter and disappeared for a moment. Meanwhile, Elaki picked a table in a corner so her back could lean comfortably against the wall. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of people outside, listened to people talk and bargain and go about their days. It was pleasant and she spent a while just listening to them.

"Here's your water," a gruff voice said, not even bothering to pause as he set it down. Elaki opened her eyes, noticed the glass, and glanced around for the boy. He had disappeared behind the counter again, leaving Elaki alone in the tea shop with one other table full of older looking males. They talked quietly, played a card game, and didn't look up from their table.

Elaki was at ease here. No one asking if this was in the right size, no one bugging her to fix this hole, no one speaking to her at all. She'd have to come here more often just to get away from work and the busy streets of Ba Sing Se.

The apprentice tailor drank from her cup and leaned back again, not a care in the world. She sat for a few minutes, soaked in the smell of the tea shop, and listened to a group of loud, bustling teenagers walk in. They were shouting and that disrupted Elaki's rest time.

She peeked out of one of her eyes to notice one of them coming over to her. He was younger than Elaki's seventeen, lanky, and had a slop of brown hair that had clumps of dirt in it. He would be attractive in say, three years, when he was done with puberty and had cleaned up a bit, but now, no way would someone touch him with a ten foot pole.

"Hey," he stated, not noticing that Elaki's eyes were still closed. She leaned forward, setting the two legs of the chair on the ground again, and opened her eyes to look at the boy again.

"Hi."

"Is anyone sitting here?"

"No, but I'd rather sit alone." The boy didn't pay attention to her and almost went to sit in the seat before choosing to lean against it.

"I'm Dau."

"Elaki."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see one of the other boys giggling and could see Uncle with a tray of biscuits. He didn't move, noting Dau in front of her.

"My order's ready, so I'm going to go." She stood and grabbed her empty cup. Dau made a move to block her path, hands moving forward to stop her, eyes trained on hers.

"No, I want to talk with you."

"Well, I want to go so we might have conflicting wants." There was a movement in her peripheral coming out from behind the counter and she knew it was Lee. "Will you move?"

He shook his head, but Elaki could see that he was frightened by the flare in her eyes. "Okay." She set her cup down, stepped forward before the boy could move, and grabbed his arm and jumped off the table. Pinning it somewhere near his neck, she leaned down on him, placing him against the table with a wabble and a tilt, causing the cup to fly.

Elaki jumped again, caught it, and landed away from the table. The giggling from the boys stopped, and she moved to where Uncle was standing, keeping Lee from pouncing on the teenagers. "Here's your cup."

"Thank you," Uncle said slowly, watching the boy finally stand up and rub his arm. He motioned toward the door, and the other kids followed. "Would you like a bag for the biscuits?"

"Please?" As Uncle pulled something from under the counter, Elaki grabbed for the pouch of coins on her waist. She opened it, and Lee noticed that there was an array of coins amongst the standard Earth Kingdom coins. Water Tribe, Fire Nation, even some he could not immediately identify. He was puzzled but avoided her gaze quickly.

Elaki noticed his stare and smiled, meeting his eyes again and causing him to look away. Curious boy, she thought, placing the required amount on the counter in Earth Kingdom coins and waiting for Uncle to finish wrapping the still warm biscuits.

When he was done, Elaki bowed her head, slid the money over, and thanked him. She grabbed the bag and made her way out the door. She could still hear the racket that the boys were making outside and knew that they would want to ambush her.

Lee watched as she slid the bag of food from her right hand to her left, and she clenched her hand, preparing herself. "Uncle, those boys are still outside."

"I know." And Lee made a move to leave again when the door closed and noise hit his ears. Uncle did not stop him, remembering what he had just seen happen to the boy named Dau.

Outside, Elaki had immediately jumped upon exiting the shop. She thrusted her legs out while she was in the air, hitting one of the boys in the forehead and knocking him down. She used the boy's forehead to jump against the wall of the shop, move upward with one hand, and use her momentum to pull herself onto the roof.

"I really hope you guys didn't hurt my biscuits. They aren't even for me!" she shouted down as she started to clear a few leaves from the gutter to gently place the biscuits there, knowing she couldn't get to the Middle Ring by just climbing the roofs of all the houses, and knowing that the boys would most likely follow her.

"Are you mad at me because I defended myself against Dau?" The boy she had used to get onto the roof was finally standing up and a red welt was forming on the side of his head. She resisted the urge to smile. "If you are, I think you need to back off. He advanced toward me, and I was just trying to get my order."

She looked at the sky, noted where the sun was, and added, "And I really have to go. The ride to the Middle Ring is long! And I didn't bring anything to do!"

The door to the shop opened as she said that, just as she was preparing to jump back down and kick one of the other people in the stomach and run. But the opening of the door frightened them away. Elaki huffed, grabbed her bag of food, and hopped back down. "Man, I was really hoping to get some more exercise today," she grunted, checking again on her purchase. "But I guess it was nice of you to walk out," she added, looking up at the person who opened the door.

It was the boy who got her water: Lee. Now that she was paying close attention, she glanced at his scar, which had been there for a while, she noticed. And was a burn. Ouch, she winced inside. And his eyes. They were golden. Kinda like my mom's, she thought, but did not say it aloud.

"Are you okay?" he asked, glancing back at her and going to touch her arm.

She flinched away but didn't move her gaze from his. "Yeah, I'm fine. I could've beat those guys up without looking. But you really saved me on time. I have to get going."

"Where are you going?"

"The tram to the Middle Ring. I came all the way out here to get some tea from your uncle's shop, but my boss wanted some biscuits instead. I didn't even get any tea," she laughed. "The water was nice, still."

"You came all the way from the Middle Ring?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal. I do it all the time. Plus, it's not that long of a ride that I made it seem. I like just hanging out and looking at people in their natural habitats. It's a fun thing to do. I call it people watching. It's also cheaper to buy the cloth and wool and stuff down here, than get it shipped all the way up the city."

"I could walk you to the station, if you'd like. Help you if those kids show up again."

"Nah, no thanks. I can take care of myself, but thank you. I should get going," Elaki said, moving to walk off. She turned partway, meeting his eyes again, and didn't stop walking. "It's Lee, right?"

"Yeah. I didn't catch your name."

"Elaki. I'll see you around if you're still working in a few days. I have to come get some fabric, and might as well stop by to get something to eat while I'm down here."

He nodded and made his way back to the door, and Elaki was off, briskly walking toward the station so she didn't miss her ride back home.

Elaki's boss, Kenshu, stood with one of his last clients of the day, measuring her for a new dress. He was an aged man of almost fifty. His hair was graying to the point of no return, and his eyes had a small glimmer from his childhood. His client was gossiping up a storm, and he was trying his best to not ask her to be quiet. Instead, he focused on the fabric, and where it was loose, and where it was tight.

She was chatting it up about how the Avatar was in town, that he was such a laugh when he started discussing things. She said that she had passed by him on the tram. "Or was it at the King's party? I can't really recall. Anyway, he talked about how the King having a bear was weird. How is that weird?"

Kenshu "hmm"ed a reply, not really listening in. He didn't care much about the Avatar. All he cared about was Elaki coming back with some snacks. She was really pushing it on time.

As he thought this, the front shop door opened and closed, resulting in a ding from the overhead bell. He knew it was her by her quiet footsteps—all other customers had clicking shoes or heavy feet. His apprentice learned to be quiet during her years as a refugee. She was smart. That was partly why Kenshu hired her to work under his wing.

She walked passed him and the gossiping woman, some bag of fresh smelling food in hand. She glanced at the brightly colored dress, eyeing it carefully, as if it could be dangerous to her. "That looks nice on you," she stated.

The client stood taller and said, "Why, thank you. That means a lot." She smiled down at the teenager, her day obviously better with the easy comment.

A few more moments of silence followed, Elaki moving to the backroom as Kenshu finished up putting pins in the dress. He huffed something before stepping back, saying, "There we are. Now, if you'd just slip it off easily in the dressing room, you can be on your way. It should be finished by the end of the week."

"Thank you." She moved to the curtained off room where people could slip off their clothes, struggled for a few moments before emerging in her old gown.

"If you would like, Miss, I could have it delivered to your home as soon as it is finished?" Kenshu asked, gesturing to the book of addresses that he had sitting on his cluttered desk. "All you would have to do is pay upon delivery."

She paused for a moment, as if seriously contemplating a decision that might change her life, before stating, "If it's not too much trouble on you."

"No, not at all. My apprentice would gladly take it over. Right, Elaki?"

"Yes, Master Kenshu!" she hollered from the back, and movement of pots could be heard behind the doors.

"Then, yes, I would like to have it delivered." The client moved toward the book, wrote down her address and her time of availability, and walked out of the shop. Kenshu followed behind her, locking the door and switching the sign to "Closed". He sighed, walked around a bundle of fabric and mannequins, and pulled the curtains of the front window closed. It had been a long day, and hardly anything had been done.

When he made it to the backroom where Elaki was setting stew to boil, he asked, "Where did you go?"

Without turning around, she said, "Lower Ring. Heard about a really good tea shop with nice people. Turns out it was really good. One of the staff members was a bit grumpy, but the tea maker was nice."

"You went all the way to the Lower Ring to get biscuits?" He sounded shocked by her decision to go almost a three hour tram ride down.

"It was no big deal. I took the express back. And it was a nice partial day off."

"You still have to go down there to get the fabric I ordered," Kenshu stated, grabbing two bowls from a cabinet. The backroom was a small, cluttered mess with a stove for making small pots of food, as well as a coal-burning oven to bake. In a corner sat a small cot where Elaki slept, preferring the small bed to what Kenshu offered in his small apartment.

It was for him and his wife, she had replied when he offered it. She didn't want to impose. She was already a handful.

"They were out of the fabric you ordered. The man said they were getting a new shipment by the end of the week. Do you think Khsula would like some?" Elaki asked, gesturing to the pot of dinner. She was chopping up carrots and onions now, glancing at the water every few minutes.

"I'll put some in a bowl and take it up to her when you finish. Thank you for making dinner."

"Not a problem. Also, grab a couple of biscuits for you two. I'll eat here and make sure the shop is closed before I go to bed."

"Thank you, Elaki." He took a seat by a cluttered table of Elaki's few belongings and her work supplies. She had been working for him for less than two years, but she only owned a handful or so items. It always perplexed him. However, he never pestered about it. She had been through her own stuff that he didn't need to know about, and living meagerly was what she liked.

"Here you go," she stated, setting two steaming wooden bowls in front of him. "I'll see you tomorrow. I might get started on that woman's dress before you come in, if that's okay."

"That's perfect." Her aging boss stood, a few biscuits already wrapped up for him and his wife, and grabbed the bowls. He left through the back door, shutting it almost silently behind him. After he left, Elaki made sure the front door was locked tightly, blew out the lamps in the main room, and shut the adjoining door between the backroom and the shop.

She ate alone and thought of the boy with the scar crossing his face, barely lingering on how his hand had flashed to her arm, as if checking to make sure that nothing was broken. She thought of the even-tempered uncle who made tea, and the way they bickered. She liked that in family. She had it in her own, when they were alive, and it reminded her of times before. Elaki smiled, placing the bowl in the small sink, and made her way to change into her night clothes.

The brunette slipped into bed and blew out the lamp on her nightstand. The wick glowed in the dark for a while, and she stared at it for a while, thinking of nothing. It only took her a few moments to drift into sleep, and the candle inside the lamp flickered as her thoughts disappeared into oblivion.