Katara, Zuko, Suki, and Sokka finish their tour through the exhibit, closely watched by palace guards as they maneuver the thick crowd of fire nation civilians. The number of people surrounding them and ogling at the royalty, like Toph mentioned, is suffocating, and although Zuko has grown used to it, the rest feel overwhelmed and want nothing more than to walk around the city unnoticed. Zuko offers to leave by himself and retreat to the palace so that Sokka and Suki can actually see the city in all its splendor-he had some paperwork to catch up on, anyway, due to his previous month's preoccupation. Katara wants ever so much to kiss him goodbye and to hint at the things she plans to do to him when she returns, but she knows she'll have to wait for such behavior. So he leaves, allowing the rest of his friends to enjoy their afternoon in anonymous peace.
Once the royal carriage disappears out of view, the crowd around the three of them dissipates as though they were never even associated with Zuko in the first place. Katara guesses that they are unrecognizable as the war heros they are simply because they are no longer kids, and for a moment she's grateful. It's nice receiving attention and discounts every now and again, but today she just wants to be normal, even if just for a bit. That peace is quickly interrupted by the obnoxiously loud growl of Sokka's stomach, followed shortly by a complaining groan.
"I'm hungry!" Sokka whines as he points to his mouth, his other hand clutching his stomach.
"Oh, knock it off! You sound like a child," Katara reprimands. Sokka ignores her and continues with his high pitched whine.
"But I'm dying of starvation, how could you hate me so much?"
Katara punches his arm. "If you'd shut up for a minute I could find us a place to eat."
"Ow!" Sokka exclaims and rubs his victimized arm. "Suki, did you see that?"
"Hmm? I'm sorry, I just heard a baby whining about his lunch." Suki jokes dryly, and Katara takes advantage of Sokka's stunned silence to review their surroundings for a restaurant. Down an outdoor corridor she sees a fluttering red banner with golden embroidery depicting a cup of tea. Squinting her eyes, she can distinguish a small menu propped by the entrance, hosting a list of food and drink options. She can't read what exactly they're offering, but at this point anything will work.
Katara gestures her hand toward the unidentified tea shop and tugs on Sokka's shirt sleeve with the other. "Look, dummy, the solution to all of your life's problems: food."
"Food?" Sokka perks up enthusiastically, "What kind of food?"
"Does it matter?" Katara asks.
"I'm sure whatever they have is delicious," Suki interjects before another spat can develop between the volatile siblings, "Let's head there. Now."
The three make it into the tea shop and are seated quickly, as it doesn't seem to be an exactly popular venue. They're provided with a short list of teas and entrees, not quite as extensive as the palace but enough to give them options for a delicious lunch. Katara paruses the list and notices a tea named the Sweet and Spicy tea, a base darjeeling tea with nutmeg and moon peach. She chuckles and sighs softly to herself as she reminisces on her first trip to the Jasmine Dragon branch in Republic City. They have the tea in the palace, of course - Zuko already had it in the palace upon her arrival, not specifically for her, but because it's his favorite tea as well. How would the nutmeg taste in place of the cinnamon, she wonders? Her thoughts trail to the point where she doesn't seem to notice that she chuckles aloud, garnering the attention of her nosy older brother.
"What was that all about?" Sokka asks, "I didn't realize menus could tell jokes."
"Oh, it's nothing," Katara says delicately with her eyes still on the menu, "I was just reminded of something."
"Do tell," Suki says, intrigued at the prospect of gossip.
"Really, guys, it's nothing. It's just that one of these teas sounds very similar to another one I've had in the past. My favorite, actually."
Suki picks up her menu and looks over the tea section. "Which one?"
"This Sweet and Spicy one," she says, "except the other one has cinnamon instead of nutmeg."
Sokka leans his chin on Suki's shoulder, looking at her side of the menu instead of putting forth the effort in searching his own menu for the tea's ingredients. "Moon peach?" He queries, "that does sound like something you'd enjoy."
"Where's this other tea? Is it here in the fire nation?" Suki asks.
"No, no, it's in Republic City. You know the Jasmine Dragon?"
"Iroh opened a branch outside of Ba Sing Se?" Sokka asks, sounding surprised. "How does he manage that? I thought he wanted to retire, not overtake the world with his chain of delicious tea shops."
Katara laughs at the thought of Iroh's face on every corner of every major city. It would be an impressive feat for sure. "Zuko convinced him to expand to Republic City while it was under construction. The city was almost like Zuko's personal project, so he insisted. Iroh only agreed because Zuko accepted all of the managerial responsibilities of that branch."
"Are you serious? Zuko's insane," Suki chuckles.
"He really is," Katara smiles, "but once the fire nation needed back their Fire Lord he signed the lease over to another member of the White Lotus."
Following Zuko's matriculation to the throne, Iroh had proposed he become an official member of the White Lotus. The process of membership approval was long and arduous, despite the fact that he had essentially already proven himself worthy by defeating his sister in Agni Kai and standing up to his tyrant of a father. Members couldn't be selected without due diligence, and there were initiation rituals that needed to be completed before official membership could be bestowed. Nevertheless, Zuko succeeded, and has since become the youngest standing member of the ancient organization.
"Does that mean he created the entire menu himself?" Suki asked, "Maybe he took some inspiration from this place."
Katara takes a glance around the establishment, noting its run-down appearance and multiple holes and water stains scattered on the walls and ceiling. "Something tells me that the royal family members didn't frequent this place very often." She knows that Zuko would never judge a venue by its appearance, but for someone as prissy and cruel and Ozai, she could guess that Zuko never saw the lower-tiered portion of the city during his childhood. Even if he had been there before, a visit from the Fire Lord would have tripled the shop's daily visitors and most certainly yielded enough revenue for the much-needed repairs. "But yes, he did create the menu, with Iroh's help. Named all the teas and everything."
"Oh spirits," Sokka says with a laugh, "Zuko had to be creative? I would pay a fortune to see him struggle with that. What did he name that tea you mentioned? 'Peach and leaf juice'?"
Katara struggles to the hide the blush that creeps over her cheeks. "Actually, he named it after me."
Suki and Sokka exchange a curious look. "Well," Suki finally says after a short moment of silence, "if that necklace didn't already prove it, Zuko's in it deep for you. To name a tea after you… I mean, it sounds silly, but Zuko isn't one to do something like that lightly. He's normally a pretty reserved guy."
"I know he may seem that way," Katara begins, "but he's much more emotional than you'd first believe. I think for so long he'd been afraid to show his true emotions because of his father. I can't imagine you survive banishment without some sort of emotional trauma."
Sokka lets out a short huff of air resembling a laugh. "That's a bit of an understatement, sis. We knew he was pretty fucked up from that time in Ba Sing Se, where he basically spilled his life's struggles to you before running off to join his psychopath sister. And then he started dating that emo chick, Spirits know that couldn't have been healthy for him."
"Yeah, Zuko's been through a lot. I wonder what changed him," Suki ponders as she flicks her eyes up knowingly at Katara, as if she's prompting Katara to provide the explanation they all know exists.
What did cause Zuko to change? Right after the war, Zuko had been frustrated and tumultuous, despite coming to peace with his family and the fire nation. He had too much baggage to handle on his own, and it was only compounded with the stress of being a nation's leader while the world was recovering after the longest war in its history. Despite all of his circumstances, though, he began to soften, letting Katara further in and allowing her to see what laid beyond all of his anger. He isn't the same person who shouted at her at his coronation banquet, or fought her on the beach at the first Avatar Assembly meeting. Now, he's kind and thoughtful, and lets her go through her troubles herself but refuses to let her be alone. In fact, he's been doing so for years, supporting her and letting her spill her heart's troubles to him through rolls and rolls of parchment. Zuko has finally grown up and matured into her true emotional equal, but when did this maturation begin?
Was there a chance that he became the man he is today, because it was exactly what she needed?
"Yeah, I wonder," Katara murmurs almost endearingly before their table is approached by the waiter - someone who is obviously not paid enough to care about their etiquette. They manage to deliver a delicious meal, however, so Katara decides not to take offense at their attitude. She orders the Sweet and Spicy tea and finds that she still prefers her personal blend, which is convenient, since she would feel odd preferring another tea over one in her name. Sokka scarfs his entire meal down in what seems like seconds and is tempted to order another serving while impatiently waiting for the girls to finish their meals in their own time. Unlike Sokka, they prefer to savor their meals, especially when they talk about between bites of food. There's so much to catch up on, especially given the past month of secrecy on Katara's part. She updates Suki on everything she already told Sokka, hinting at the much needed girl talk that they'll get to later tonight.
Once they're all stuffed to the brim with food and tea, Katara leaves enough gold for the bill and an ample tip - she got over her animosity for the waiter rather quickly once she thought about how they might be struggling financially - and they begin the trek back to the palace. They didn't exactly think about how they would get back when Zuko took the carriage, but it's not like they hadn't walked long distances before. So they enjoy the view while they walk, literally stopping to sniff the roses planted in the sparse areas of grass along the paved paths. The flora in the city, as few and far between as it is, contains a multitude of vibrant colors that bring the city to life against the warm, muted colors of the buildings. The trees and vines planted upon Zuko's ascension to the throne have flourished, containing thousands of blooms and littering the streets with a rainbow sprinkling of petals. And through the brightly colored trees, between the winding tree trunks and just slightly hidden from view, Katara catches a glimpse of Toph walking alongside someone in a familiar pink dress.