Chapter 2: Mending Bridges
No matter how many days Rinzen spent in Ba Sing Se, she couldn't shake the feeling that something just seemed off about the city and the Dai Li agents constantly patrolling the streets and rooftops. It didn't help that she felt a twinge of guilt for going behind her friends' backs whenever she snuck off to the lower ring to visit the tea shop where Iroh and Zuko worked.
The first day she returned to the shop after her outburst at Zuko, he was wiping the front counter with a rag sullenly. He looked up, catching her eye, and scowled before turning sharply and disappearing into the back room of the shop. With a sigh, she took a seat at a table once she got a cup of ginseng tea from Pao.
"Well, even if you two seem to be arguing, at least you can always visit me," Iroh offered wryly as he sat down opposite her with a steaming cup of tea. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "What? I can enjoy tea on my break."
"In any case, we're not arguing. I think." She frowned as she took a sip of her own tea. "He's overreacting."
"He does tend to do that," Iroh agreed sagely.
"Anyway, I just don't want him knowing where Aang is. Is that so wrong?" She tightened her hold on her cup. "I know you're both trying to start over, and I really believe that you want to. But I just don't know if he does." She glanced up at Iroh only to find him watching her with a little sad smile. "I'm sorry. You're both my friends, but I can't trust him just yet."
"Your brother's safety comes first. Of course I understand that." Iroh reached over gently, patting her hand. "As I said, you're welcome to visit me anytime you like. Lee will come around." It took her a moment to realize he was referring to Zuko, still not used to the false names yet.
"I hope so." She drained her cup and got to her feet. "When you see him, tell him I said I'm sorry?"
"Provided he's in the mood to listen, then of course," Iroh chuckled even as he nodded, waving her off.
It was pleasant to have a friend who wasn't Aang's friend first. As elderly as he was, Iroh had a good sense of humor and kept her smiling as he regaled her with story after story. It almost felt like being back home with Gyatso and the other monks, and she felt a pang of homesickness every time she bought a cup of butter tea from Pao's shop and sat with Iroh during his break. Zuko continued to give her the cold shoulder, but she shoved aside the twinge of hurt each time he pointedly turned his face away from her whenever she entered the shop.
As Rinzen returned to the house one evening after talking with Iroh, she found Sokka leaning on the doorway, seemingly waiting for her. The house was suspiciously dark, considering it was too early for everyone to have gone to bed.
"What're you doing outside?" she asked as she made to step around Sokka, only to have him stick his arm out in front of her.
"Uh, you can't go in," he insisted abruptly, sounding somewhat panicked.
"Why not?" She tried to duck under his arm, but he moved it again to block her way.
"It's, uh, dirty in there. Yeah. Toph tracked mud in and we're still cleaning up after her-"
"Hey!" Toph protested from inside, sounding insulted.
"-and you know how you get around dirt," Sokka finished his lie smoothly as if Toph hadn't interrupted.
Rinzen blinked back at him, confused. "I'm fine with dirt. We've been sleeping on it for months. And why are you guys cleaning in the dark?" She gestured to the dark windows.
"Um, well, uh..." Sokka floundered, trying to think of an excuse.
The door opened slightly and Katara poked her head out. "It's okay, Sokka, we're ready now."
"Ready for what?" Rinzen demanded as Sokka drew his arm back from the door and instead hurried behind her to usher her inside. She squinted into the darkness of the house, but couldn't see anything. "What's going-?"
"Surprise!" The sudden chorus of voices nearly deafened her as several lamps on the walls flickered on to reveal streamers hanging from the ceiling. A large banner was draped across the back wall, the lettering spelling out, "Happy birthday, Rinzen!" She gaped at the decorations, her heart slowly returning to its normal pace from the shock, before her eyes fell on Aang, who was grinning widely.
"It's the thirteenth day of spring, Rin. Your seventeenth birthday." His smile faded just a little at the look of complete surprise on her face. "You forgot the date, didn't you?"
"I...yeah. Kinda." She couldn't help but smile despite herself as she closed the space between them to pull him into a tight hug. "Thank you."
"Aww." Sokka wrapped his arms around both of them. "Team Avatar group hug!" Chuckling, Katara joined in, too, and Toph reluctantly stepped in once Rinzen pulled back just enough to tug her closer by her sleeve.
"It's kind of a good thing you hung out with Lee all afternoon or we never would've gotten all this done in time," Toph pointed out with a smirk as she pulled back and Rinzen rolled her eyes.
"Wait, you've really been planning this all afternoon?" she asked as it sank in.
"All week, actually. You have any idea how hard it is to get personalized banners in this place? Very!" Sokka pointed at the banner hanging on the wall as Rinzen shook her head fondly.
"Not to mention our present for you, we all chipped in for it," Katara added, nodding to the wrapped long package on the kitchen table.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Rinzen insisted, but Aang shook his head firmly as he stepped back to retrieve the package.
"We wanted to. Besides, it's about time you got one again." He handed it to her and she hesitated before carefully unwrapping it. A long staff rolled out of the paper into her hands as if it belonged in them, smooth and practically gleaming from the fresh wood polish.
"Is this...a glider?" She moved back a few steps, tossing the staff between her hands experimentally before spinning it with a swift air current to snap it open. The wings of the glider were a dark orange much like her old glider's wings had been, with patterns of silver carvings running along the wooden support shafts and twisting around them like air currents. "It's beautiful. How did you even find something like this?" She looked up at Aang only to find him beaming back at her.
"We found a shop in the middle ring to commission it. I had them use mine for reference." She snapped the glider shut again, leaning it gingerly against the wall before tugging him back into a tight embrace.
"I love it. Thank you."
"If you're done fawning over your fancy new toy, can we have cake now?" Sokka complained and Rinzen felt Aang's laughter against her shoulder as he pulled back.
"I made Monk Gyatso's fruit pie recipe, too." He pointed to the table, which Rinzen now noticed was piled with bowls of noodles and tofu, plates of cakes and cookies, and most importantly, gooey-looking fruit pies piled high with jam.
"Guys, this is..." Her voice broke and everyone around her looked vaguely alarmed. "This is all really amazing." She swiped at her eyes as they began to sting.
"No more group hugs!" Toph insisted quickly and it broke the tension in the room as everyone began to laugh and headed to the table to dig into the food.
Rinzen leaned over to Aang once they were seated at the table, her voice lowered so that the others couldn't hear her over their own conversation. "Best birthday ever."
He smiled broadly back at her. "I'm glad. Now eat your pie." He nudged a pie filled with orange jam over to her and she chuckled as she took a bite, humming contentedly. He watched her anxiously for her reaction and she gave him a thumbs-up.
"Just like Gyatso used to make." She pressed their shoulders together affectionately. "Y'know, if this Avatar thing doesn't work out for you, you could be one heck of a baker."
"Huh. Maybe." Aang wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "We could name the bakery, uh...Airy Delights?"
"A little on the nose, but cute." Rinzen settled in to enjoy her fruit pie, content to lean against her brother's side and soak in the warmth of the room and the company around them.
"On the house," Iroh said as he passed a cup of steaming oolong tea to Rinzen the next day, waving away the coins she'd pulled out of her pocket to pay with. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Consider it your present. Rumor has it that it was your birthday yesterday. When the Avatar commissions a traditional Air Nomad glider in this city, word spreads quickly." He nodded to the staff she had placed against the counter while ordering her tea. She had fallen in love with her new glider the moment she had snapped it open that morning and taken off, having been grounded for so long that the wind in her hair and the swooping feeling in her stomach as she guided the air currents around her were intoxicating.
She rolled her eyes as she accepted the cup from Iroh. "In my defense, even I forgot it was my birthday yesterday until everyone scared me senseless last night with a surprise party."
"It was your birthday yesterday?" Zuko spoke up suddenly as he emerged from the back room to grab a stepping stool from under the counter.
"Uh, yeah," she responded after a beat of silence, startled that he was talking to her again. Instinctively, she nudged her staff out of his line of sight, remembering the last time he'd been near a glider that belonged to her.
"Oh." He stared back at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. "Well, happy belated birthday." He disappeared behind the curtain again with his stepping stool.
Iroh began to laugh quietly at the look of surprise on Rinzen's face, which helped her snap out of her shock. "What's he playing at?" she demanded, lowering her voice in case Zuko was still listening. "Is he still mad at me or not?"
"Oh, Rinzen, you have much to learn," Iroh reassured her, still chuckling.
She almost threw her hands in the air in frustration before remembering the hot cup of tea she was holding. "Boys are weird," she muttered instead, shoving the coins onto the counter despite Iroh's protests through his laughter and grabbing her staff before heading out with her cup to nurse it at one of the tables outside.
She glanced through the window into the shop to find Zuko coming back out of the back room, looking somewhat agitated as he kept glancing at one of the customers in the shop. He hissed something to Iroh, who just waved off his concerns, and Rinzen craned her head to look at the customer in question - a pretty Earth Kingdom girl dressed in modest green robes, her dark brown hair braided as she sipped her tea calmly. She got up and went to the counter, saying something to Zuko, who flushed a little - out of anger or embarrassment, Rinzen couldn't tell - and before he could reply, Iroh interrupted quickly with a loud "He'd love to!" that Rinzen heard even from her seat outside.
The girl said her goodbyes and left and it was all Rinzen could do to not grab her sleeve as she passed and ask what she'd said to them. She tightened her hold on her cup instead and stared at the table determinedly until the girl passed her table, looking up only when a shadow fell over her. Zuko was standing awkwardly by her table, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"You're a girl," he said abruptly just as she opened her mouth to ask him what he wanted.
"You don't say," she answered sardonically, sipping her now-cold tea and biting back a shudder at how bitter it tasted when it wasn't hot. "Now that you've finally figured out I'm female, how's that supposed to help you?"
"That Earth Kingdom girl just asked me out on a date tonight. And my uncle said yes for me." Zuko turned faintly pink as he dropped his gaze to the ground, shuffling anxiously.
"So...what am I supposed to do?" Rinzen asked slowly, trying to process the fact that Zuko had just been asked out on a date. Sure, he was handsome, even with the scar, but she hadn't really considered that other girls noticed it. With his hair grown long enough that it hung messily over his forehead, though, she suddenly noticed that every other girl who passed by kept glancing appreciatively at him over their shoulders. Something about the way they looked at him made her selfishly want to hide him from their sight.
"Well, what do girls expect on dates?" Zuko blurted out, sounding frustrated, and she forced herself back to reality, realizing she'd been staring at him.
"You realize I was raised as a monk, right?" His expression twisted into a grimace as if he, in fact, hadn't realized it until then, and laughter bubbled out of her throat before she could stop it. "Oh, wow. You really thought I've been on dates before. That's a good one."
He scowled before letting out a huff and turning to leave. "Serves me right, asking you for help."
"Wait, wait!" Rinzen caught his sleeve, attempting to quell her laughter and just barely succeeding. "Sit down, will you? I'm not laughing at you." He glowered back at her before dropping into the seat opposite her and crossing his arms sullenly. "I'm just saying, you've probably got more experience dating people than I have."
"Well, I mean..." He glanced around furtively before lowering his voice so that they couldn't be overheard. "It wasn't exactly something I had to put effort into when I was a prince."
"Okay, so you're desperate enough to get dating advice from somebody who's never been on a date. That's fair." She shrugged. "Normally, I'd say be yourself, but 'yourself' is kind of a jerk these days."
Looking offended, he opened his mouth to protest and then shutting it again when she narrowed her eyes pointedly at him. "Fine, I deserved that," he conceded even as she felt his foot connect with her shin under the table.
"Hey!" She kicked his leg back in response and, for the first time since the night he had walked her home, he cracked a smile. Reluctantly, she found herself grinning back at him. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said that night. You can't tell me I'm not right to be a little skeptical, though."
"No, I know. I shouldn't've expected you to just believe me right away." He dropped his gaze away from her. "I'm...sorry for being a jerk these days." It took him a moment to force the apology out, but Rinzen was relieved to find that he sounded sincere.
"We're good." She nudged her foot a little more gently against his ankle to make him look back up. The harsh lines that usually creased his expression had smoothed out, and for once he actually looked like the teenager that he was, and handsome enough that she could see why every girl who passed their table kept eyeing him. "What's the plan for your date tonight?" she asked to distract herself.
"She said we're going to some noodle place, I guess," he admitted.
"So that's simple. Just get dinner with her, don't make up stuff about yourself, and pretend to be interested in whatever she says even if you're not," she pointed out.
"What do you mean, don't make up stuff about myself? I'm living undercover here," he complained.
"I meant don't make up anything ridiculous that you can't back up," she said wryly. "I mean, she's not gonna appreciate if you tell her you, I don't know, juggled in the circus or something and then it turns out you didn't. Girls don't like being lied to just because you want to impress them."
"Fine, so I won't tell her I juggled in the circus." He shrugged. "That sounds easy."
"I'll probably be hanging out with your uncle when you get back, so you can tell me how it goes." To Rinzen's surprise, though, her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of Zuko's date going well. "Maybe bring her a flower or something," she added as an afterthought.
"I guess I will." Zuko got to his feet before pausing and glancing back at her. "You've really never been on a date before?"
She blinked, bewildered. "Of course not. Why is that so shocking?"
He turned bright red. "No reason." He hurried back into the tea shop before she could stop him. Shaking her head, she returned to draining her cup of tea, doing her best to stamp down the unfamiliar swirling sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"Maybe I'm just not sure about her because she knows about you two or something," Rinzen said as she sprawled out onto Zuko's cot later that night as she and Iroh waited in the apartment for Zuko to come home from his date.
"Or maybe it's because you're jealous," Iroh offered as he poured water into a mug from his kettle.
"Jealous?" she echoed, sitting up and frowning at him. "It's not the Air Nomad way to feel resentment toward anyone."
"Isn't it?" He looked vaguely disappointed. "I was having fun thinking there was some drama around."
She shook her head wryly, but the more she thought about it, the swirling sensation in the pit of her stomach seemed an awful lot like jealousy, especially when she thought about how much fun Zuko might be having with the Earth Kingdom girl - "Jin," Iroh had informed her cheerfully - and what they might be doing in that moment. Were they done with dinner? Were they taking a walk somewhere romantic? Were they kissing?
She squashed the train of thought down as her stomach twisted unpleasantly, turning her face into the pillow slightly. It smelled faintly of smoke and incense and she just barely managed to stop herself from burying her face into it.
The door slid open and she sat up as Zuko entered the apartment, his expression stormy as he headed straight for the small washroom without looking at either of them.
"How was your date?" Iroh called hopefully after Zuko, who only slammed the door of the washroom shut behind himself. Iroh glanced at Rinzen, who only shrugged back at him, before the door cracked open again and Zuko peeked back out, a little less angry-looking now.
"It was nice." He shut the door more quietly behind himself and she could hear him splashing water from the basin onto his face. She didn't know why the news that his date had gone well made her feel even more sick as she glanced down at her knees, biting her lip as she got to her feet.
"Well, I guess that's that. I should get home." She picked her staff up and headed for the door after wishing Iroh goodnight, snapping her glider open when she reached the street.
"Wait up!" She turned as Zuko hurried out of the building after her. "Want me to walk you?"
"I can fly now," she pointed out wryly, snapping her glider closed again.
"I could always break your glider like old times," he deadpanned and she clutched the staff closer to herself instinctively. Rolling his eyes, he nodded to the train station on the other side of the lower ring. "Come on, it's not as late as it was last time. The trains are open now, I'll drop you at the upper ring station and head back." She had to admit that plan made sure he couldn't find out where she lived, so she nodded and they set off at a walk.
"So the date was nice?" she prompted after a moment and he glanced back at her, nodding a little.
"Yeah. Although..." His expression turned a little sheepish. "I may have told her I was a juggler in a circus before I came to Ba Sing Se."
Rinzen rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what I told you not to say."
"I don't know, she asked me what I did and I panicked," he protested. "And I couldn't stop thinking about what you said about the circus. If I told you not to think about pink elephant-monkeys, you'd think about them!" Unbidden, the thought of pink elephant-monkeys rose up in Rinzen's head and she shook her head to get rid of it. Zuko looked a little triumphant.
"And let me guess, she asked you to juggle and you royally screwed that up." She grinned at the sour look on his face. "Pun intended."
He wrinkled his nose. "I told her I was out of practice. She didn't seem to mind."
"Well, good for you." They stepped onto the train, which was empty, and the doors slid closed as it took off. "So what did you two do after dinner?" Rinzen asked as she took a seat by the window, Zuko joining her.
"We went to a fountain in a square nearby. The lanterns were all out, so I, um, lit them for her after I told her to close her eyes." He glanced down, embarrassed again.
"You lit them? As in, you used your bending?" Rinzen gaped at him. "What if she'd seen you? You could've gotten in serious trouble!"
"Well, she didn't," he answered defensively. "In fact, she kissed me after I lit them."
Rinzen felt a swooping sensation in her stomach that felt far less like the joyous feeling she got when she flew and more like she'd missed a step going down the stairs. "Oh. Well. Great." She dropped her gaze to the rattling floor of the train. "So when are you gonna see her again?"
"I'm not."
"But I thought you said the date went well," she protested, glancing back up at him in surprise.
"It did, but..." He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "It just didn't feel right. It was nice, and she was nice, but I wasn't...me, you know? She doesn't know anything about the real me."
"And how do you know she won't like the real you?" Rinzen offered. "I mean, I get why you wouldn't tell her, obviously, in hiding and all, but she might be non-judgmental, for all you know."
"Come on, be realistic," Zuko said bitterly, looking away again. "I'm the enemy. She's not going to want anything to do with me if she knew who I was."
"Well, I know who you are and I want something to do with you," she retorted, turning a little pink as he glanced up at her again, bewildered, and she registered how that had come out. "I-I mean, things are going okay for us, aren't they?" she added hastily to cover her embarrassment up.
His expression softened into something she'd never seen before. "Yeah. I guess. I mean, we did only just get back on speaking terms after two weeks of me giving you the silent treatment, but, sure, things are going great." She rolled her eyes, elbowing him when she noticed the tiny teasing smile tugging at his lips.
"You're a jerk. Here I am pouring out my heart and you're making fun of me."
"No, no, by all means, keep telling me how you 'want something to do with me,'" he insisted and she elbowed him again, surprised to hear him laughing as he shoved her arm away from his side.
"Excuse me if I just want you to be happy," she grumbled, getting to her feet as the train stopped in the upper ring station. "See you around, I guess."
Zuko hurried off the train after her, grabbing her hand before she could descend down the steps of the deserted station. "What did you just say?" All the humor in his voice had disappeared unnervingly quickly and she turned to face him, confused.
"See you around, I guess?" she repeated slowly.
"The other part," he dismissed quickly.
"I just want you to be happy." Her throat went dry at the stunned look on his face, like he'd been punched in the stomach, and she gave into her instinct to step in and wrap her arms around him as tightly as she could, feeling guilty for making him feel so bad. "Sorry. I just...you deserve to be," she added quietly against his shoulder. She heard him suck in a sharp breath above her before his arms slowly slid around her in return, holding her tightly.
"Thanks," he said quietly after a long moment, his voice hoarse. She leaned back just enough to see that unfamiliar soft expression on his face again and just as she registered that he seemed to be leaning down, the bell signaling the last train departure broke whatever spell was keeping her rooted in place. She pulled back quickly, already missing the warmth of his embrace.
"You'd better catch the train," she pointed out, noticing the confusion on his face. He glanced over his shoulder at the waiting train behind him before exhaling a little, seemingly in frustration.
"Yeah. I, uh...see you." He disappeared into the train and Rinzen watched it take off and round the corner before descending down the steps slowly to make her way back to the house.
Katara was sitting on one of the steps outside, a large clay pot beside her as she pulled a stream of water out and began to twist it in shapes that shimmered under the dim moonlight.
"Were you waiting for me?" Rinzen asked, feeling guilty.
"No, it's a full moon tonight," Katara reassured her. "I just wanted to practice while I'm at my strongest." She looked up, frowning at Rinzen. "Are you okay? You look like something just happened."
"I don't know. Maybe?" Rinzen sank onto the step beside her, watching her continue to bend the stream of water, freezing and unfreezing segments sporadically. "I was talking to Lee tonight. He went on a date with some girl in town."
"Oh, no." Katara gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."
"What? Why?" Rinzen blinked back at her, bewildered. "What're you sorry for?"
"Oh." Katara flushed a little. "Sorry, I just kind of assumed you had a thing for him and felt bad that he's with someone else."
"I've told you guys a million times, Lee and I are just friends," Rinzen sighed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I was hanging out with his uncle waiting for him to get back from his date and then he did, and he said it went fine, but when he was walking me back to the train station, he told me he wasn't gonna see her again, and I don't get why, 'cause if it went well, he'd want to see her again, right? And then when I got off the train, he-" She glanced up only to find Katara watching her with amusement. "What?" she demanded defensively.
"If he just went on a nice date, why do you think he walked you to the station?" Katara pointed out wryly.
Rinzen frowned back at her. "Because we're friends and friends don't let friends walk to the station late at night?"
"Oh, you sweet, naïve monk." Katara was grinning now, but waved a little. "So go on. What did he do after you got off the train?"
"Well, I told him I just wanted him to be happy, which I guess is a bad thing because he looked like I'd slapped him or something." Rinzen shook her head. "And then I hugged him because I felt like a jerk for making him feel bad and then...I don't know. He was looking at me weird. And leaning down. And then the bell for the last train rang and I told him to go catch it and-" Katara began to giggle, muffling it with her hand. "What?" she snapped again.
"Rin, he was going to kiss you!" Katara buried her face into her hands, full-out laughing as the water she was bending splashed harmlessly at their feet. "And you told him to - to go catch the train!"
Rinzen just stared at her, bewildered. "He...what? Why would he want to kiss me? He just went on a date with that other girl. And kissed her."
"But he likes you!" Katara protested, struggling to get her giggling under control. "He probably wished it was you instead of her!"
"Okay, now I know you're just making stuff up. He doesn't like me." Rinzen rolled her eyes as she got to her feet to head inside. "Besides, I saw her, Katara. She's pretty."
"And what, you're not?" Katara had finally stopped laughing, sounding a little out of breath, but indignant now as Rinzen turned to face her.
"I mean, not really." Katara pushed herself to her feet and promptly tipped over the clay pot beside her, spilling the water onto the ground at their feet. "Hey! What was that for?" Rinzen demanded and Katara waved her hand in a fluid movement, freezing the water into a pale white patch.
"Look." She pointed at the patch and Rinzen peered down to find that the ice had hardened into a pristine mirror. Her reflection stared back at her, looking vaguely confused, and she glanced back at Katara, shrugging mildly.
"Cool waterbending trick?" she tried. "But I've seen you do cooler stuff, no offense."
"I'm not talking about the ice, I'm talking about you." Katara elbowed her pointedly before nodding back to the ice. Rinzen dropped her gaze to her reflection again, taking in her brown hair - long enough that it fell just past her shoulderblades now - and her pale gray eyes and her small button-nose. She looked back up at Katara, wondering what exactly she was supposed to be seeing. Katara sighed when she noticed Rinzen's confusion. "You're really pretty, okay? And if Lee can't see that, then I'll...freeze him." She held up a fist to make her point.
Rinzen couldn't help a tiny smile as she instinctively reached out, tugging Katara into a brief embrace. "No freezing anyone. But thank you."
Katara squeezed her back gently. "Anytime." She pulled back and nudged Rinzen toward the door. "Go get some sleep, okay?"
"Thanks." Rinzen slipped inside the house as Katara thawed the ice patch in front of the house and returned the water to the clay pot.
As she took off her shoes and lay down on her sleeping mat next to Aang's, she had to wonder if Katara was really right, and if she had accidentally messed up her chance to get her first kiss. Sure, she hadn't been particularly happy when Zuko had gone out with Jin, but that didn't mean she wanted him to go out with her instead, did it?
She forced the thoughts out of her head, but sleep didn't come easily to her that night.
Every single time, right before an exam/major project, my writer's block abruptly clears up (it doesn't help that I was rewatching Legend of Korra and reading the post-A:TLA comics lol).
I hope this isn't progressing too quickly, since it's hard for me to determine just how much time they spent in Ba Sing Se in the show. I know they were technically supposed to be there for a month while their request to see the Earth King progressed, but then everything with Lake Laogai happened and the timeline is seemingly a little vague from there so I'm kind of winging it as I go and hoping for the best, lol.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!