I don't own the Avatar~ Enjoy!

Chapter 2-

But the girls in the city~

Sunlight poured through the window of my tiny apartment, waking me from my dream of better times and raspberry tarts. Pushing away my far too thin blanket off and tumbling out of bed, I began my daily search for my ever elusive slippers. One day, I was going to remember to put them under my bed at night. Tugging on one of my few green ropes, I quickly knotted the tie quickly before moving on to taming my hair. Keiko and Eun were already screaming at each other, a groan filling the air from every other tenet in our apartment building, cursing the paper thin walls.

"Good morning, Jin dear!" Gyeong greeted, giving me a cup of tea and a motherly peak on the cheek as she passed. "Good morning! Is there anything I can help with?" My sweet land lady tutted at me, shoving a dumpling into Eun's still running mouth, doing the same to Keiko when she laughed at him. "You work too hard, my dear. Enjoy being young every once in a while!" Eun swallowed his dumpling, pointing at me with his chopsticks. "Speaking of, You better get to work, Jin! Want me to walk you? I gotta go to work anyway."

"Thank you, but I'll be fine." Eun shook his head, dumping the rest of his dumplings into Keiko's bowl, his twin giving him a kiss on the cheek in thanks. "Lemme at least walk you to the market. There's been a lot of talk of fire nation soldiers down there." That scared Gyeong so badly that she demanded that he take me. After I finished my tea, She sent us out the door with a kiss on the cheek and a sweetheart cake in our hands before the rest of the tenants in our building came downstairs.

"Why do you think the fire nation still has soldiers here?" I asked, tucking my cake into my basket of clothes I had altered. Eun shrugged, steering me away from a shady man in an alley by my elbow. "I'm not sure. Maybe they're looking for deserters or something. I don't really care, as long as the new fire lord gets the innocent people out of prison soon." I gave his elbow a squeeze, both of us smiling sadly.

"They'll be home and bossing us around before you know it." Eun laughed, hugging me around the waist. Our friend Huan had been missing since the battle for Ba sing se, having used her earth bending to help fight, and we were all terrified that we'd never see her again. Her boyfriend, Shun, was also missing, making our building feel a lot less like home.

It had always been the five of us against the world, or so it seemed. When my parents left me, I had my friends and Gyeong to fall back on, so my life felt incomplete without them. "We'll see them again." Eun gave me a squeeze and pulled me down the street a bit faster. "I know. I just wish I had your optimism."

The second we entered the market, people began shouting at us, trying to get us to buy their wares. Eun hunched over slightly, and we quickly made our way towards my work. Everyone knew not to make eye contact with anyone on the edge of the market, as many of these people were scammers, cheaters, and criminals under the guise of merchants.

We passed the firelight fountain, I stopped briefly to gaze out at the water.

'Close your eyes, and don't peak'

I shook her head, trying to clear away the memories of young love. Even after months of Lee being gone, I knew I'd always have a special place in my heart for him. Maybe it was only a corner, or perhaps he had my whole heart, I'm not sure. All I knew was that the day Lee disappeared from my life was one of the worst days ever.

"You ok, Jin?" Eun asked, shaking his own head, pulling me along once more, glaring not so discreetly at a dozen fire nation soldiers marching down the street. "Yeah. Hey, did you ever get a date with that girl? Anong, right?" Eun sighed, a far away, lovelorn look in his eyes. "Yeah, We're going out tonight." He sighed again, sinking into a daydream as we walked the rest of the way.

Before I knew it, we reached the shop where I work, and Eun promised to pick me up that evening and walk me to Sunan's house. Her wedding was approaching quickly, and I still needed to put a few stitches of embroidery into her dress. Eun laughed, giving my hair a ruffle while chuckling something about me being a good kid. When I pointed out that he was only a year older than me, he waved me off and told me to get to work.

My boss, Ms. Lawan, greeted me with an almost non-existent smile and a stack of bread and cake orders. I settled into the constant routine of taking orders and baking. A few of the customers also picked up or dropped off their clothing that I either already altered or fixed or dropped new ones off. It had started as a necessary hobby, fixing my own clothes as I grew or ripped them, but grew into a little business.

Not a lot of people had the time or money to buy the supplies needed to fix their clothes, but just about everyone had some extra copper in their pockets leftover from grocery shopping, so I had quite a few regular customers. The bakery was busier than normal, everyone rushing in to buy goodies to celebrate the end of the war. I barely had a moment's rest, but Lee was with me the entire time.

He always was. I thought about him and Mushi just about all the time. I worried for them and their safety, and I prayed with all my heart and soul that they were safe. I knew deep down that they were, but I still worried. Keiko said I worried too much. I'm starting to believe her.

I wiped the counter off with a rag, humming under my breath. The store had been closed, the last of the customers had just been taken care of. The sun was setting, painting the store with warm, orange light. I hoped that, wherever he was, Lee was able to see the beautiful sunset.

"Lord Zuko! It's wonderful to see you again so soon!" The earth king greeted me with open arms, though I could see that he was clearly confused. "May I ask the reason for your visit?" A hint of distrust was in his voice, but I couldn't blame him for that. "There's someone here I need to find." The king's eyes widened, and he actually looked concerned. "Are you in danger, my lord?"

I laughed, waving off his concern. "No, your majesty! It's, uh, well I need to see a friend." The Earth King's expression changed, from fear to a knowing smile. "Ah, young lord. I completely understand. Come, let us deal with the formalities so you can find your friend." I glanced out the window at the beautiful sunset, at the orange and pink sky slowly fading to black. I hoped that, wherever she was, Jin was able to see the beautiful sunset.