(Ok I forgot to do this before so i'm going to do it now, because im feeling a little bit more cheerful.)

I would like to thank, yorunes, lemon-rind, tb7753, TheOrderOfTheWhiteLotus, and Dbananad, for your comments. Comments really are the highlights of my day, every time i get one it makes me smile, because it is either a compliment or it is a very helpful little reveiw. Its really the greatest feeling, knowing that people are willing to take the time to say that they enjoy my writing, or give me critisim.

Speaking fo critisim I am going to specialy thank Amakatsu (again) for your very insightful reveiw. you guys are awesome.

Disclaimer, I dont own avatar: the last airbender or any of the character related with it, except Yumi, she is mine.

This was torture, pure agony. The type one would not wish even upon an enemy of the worst kind. Yet here she was, being forced through this pain and suffering, for what? Oh yes, now she remembered.

"Here is your tea sir" Yumi said with a smile, giving the elderly man sitting on the floor his drink. Whiping off her apron Yumi strode about delivering more tea and chatting with customers.

That was how it had gone, all day, and it was sickening. Azula was tempted to vomit; there was simply tea, tea and more tea. It was evil. This had gone on for several hours after Iroh had explained to the girl Yumi that she would be working with them. To the girls credit she seemed completely unfazed by the sudden prospect of someone else working with her on such short notice. Azula herself was saved from having to actually speak to the girl thankfully.

"Yumi, this is Lin. She will be working here with us from now on, she has gone through some very troubling times and I have promised to help look out for her. So be respectful and give her some room, and don't mind anything she says."

So here she was, in a tea shop, making tea, for complete idiots. Azula felt a muscle twitch in her temple. The sheer level of hatred she felt for the demonic leaf juice she was being forced to brew was almost immeasurable. It did not help that the entire room was completely disorganized and overly bright. While it did not appear to be clean to the casual observer, for there were kettles littered about on stoves and jars of different teas everywhere, it was actually free of dust and dirt. Even though the kettles and plates lay about they were free of filth

That did nothing to alleviate Azula's irritation however. The entire room showed no attempt at organization and it grinded on her already overly sensitive nerves.

'Things like this needed to be neat and orderly, too much to ask for clearly. I need to fix the lights. Too bright, way too bright.' Azula thought as she rubbed her eyes which had begun to sting.

Before she began to do anything she pulled down the shades on the window and blew out a few of the lights. With that she went about the business of putting the room in pseudo order. After a few minutes she had managed to move all the kettles to one side of the room and all the tea to the other.

Now that she was actually able to the see the kitchen Azula was surprised by how large it actually was. A large cast iron stove was in the middle of the room with a vent leading to the ceiling. Surrounding this was a variety of sinks and storerooms all of which were either filled with cups and kettles or simply more jars of tea. With plenty of room in between the stove and sinks, one would be able to easily walk about the room with no fear of being burned by the stove. The room itself was tolerable as well. The walls were a soft green tile of some sort that Azula didn't find entirely repulsive and the stone floor was swept.

"Lin," Iroh called out, "I need you to start brewing some green tea."

With a sigh of frustration Azula seized a kettle and dumped it unceremoniously in one of the walls water basins. Looking about the golden eyed women realized she had no idea what the jar of green tea looked like. Glancing at the piles of jars of to the side Azula let out a groan. It was going to be a long day indeed.

'Whoever dreamed up the idea of taking leaves, boiling them and then drinking whatever slimed dribble out, is an absolute idiot.'The golden eyed woman grumbled internally as she brewed yet another pot of tea; she had long since given up trying to remember the name of all the blasted leaves.

Her entire morning had been devoted to finding out what tea was what and how long to brew it for, a task that she utterly despised, but carried out diligently for if there was one thing that Azula could not stand, it was failure. So it went, brew, hate, pour, hate, and give to Yumi to take out. Again and again, all the while Azula glared at the leaves each time she brewed them. She hoped the tea was screaming in agony when it was boiling.

Azula was so completely occupied with hating the tea she was brewing, she failed to notice the odd looks she was receiving every time Yumi came back to get more tea. Granted that the former princess had been overly twitchy for a while with having people walking around her and talking. Deciding to bury herself in her work instead of having to deal with noise, Azula lost herself to the hum of steam and the smell of the leaves. It was only when Azula became aware of someone standing almost right behind her did she break from her self-induced trance. Turning around she was startled to see the pale blue eyes almost on level with her own. Jerking backwards Azula nearly fell onto the stove behind her in her haste to move.

"What!" Azula snapped, as she regained her balance. She wanted nothing more than to be left alone; she was also feeling slightly unnerved with someone so close to her. She never let people that close, except-

"You seem really nervous, is something wrong?" the pale girl asked interrupting her thoughts before they could stray. Concern was heavy in her voice.

"Nothing is wrong, now go away." Azula said glowering at the girl. She didn't have the mental fortitude to even attempt speaking with this girl for any stretch of time. She was barely able to speak with Iroh without wanting to scream. This girl she had just met made her grind her teeth in irritation.

"You've been really quite." Yumi continued ignoring the look Azula was giving her.

"I don't like to talk." Azula said tearsly. She could feel a headache coming on the longer the girl stood their trying to engage her in conversation. "Leave me alone."

Yumi raised an eyebrow at her aggressive behavior, "Well if you need someone to talk to…"

"I don't like to talk. Now go away."

Yumi raised her hands in mock surrender, "Alright I'm leaving, but I mean it, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

Azual grunted in response, turning away and hoping that she would be left alone.

As soon as the girl had been bustled out Azula allowed a small sigh of relief, it was more nerve wracking than she would have imagined having to hold a conversation again. The simple act of speaking to anyone other than herself had long since vanished in the dark of the cell. Yet in a way it was rather soothing, after so long of being trapped in the darkness the warm feeling room with its quite murmur of conversation. It was actually quite enjoyable, even if Azula would rather hang herself than look at more tea.

With that, the day continued to trudge along, with Azula moving about in the small kitchen making the various teas with Iroh, who had been thankfully quite, and then giving the various pots and cups to Yumi who would simply run the tea to their customers. It was a calm repetition that was only punctuated by conversation between Iroh and Yumi, for the former princess still ground her teeth if someone tried to engage her in small talk. Despite the frown that continually displayed itself on Azula face, she had to admit that this was leagues more enjoyable than doing nothing, even if she did hate this place.

The former princess found that it was much easier to deal with the monotonous work when she could just lose herself in the repetition. And while the frown that had creased her features had never left her face since she had arrived, her scowl had lessened somewhat allowing her to relax. She had spent most of her time in the kitchen avoiding any and all contact, and this helped to improve her mood marginally as well. For the one thing she had feared most with doing this was the actual human contact.

"Lin, would you mind brewing one last pot of rose tea then you can go home, Yumi and I can straighten up before closing. " Iroh said whilst wiping a few of the tables down.

Azula mumbled a "Fine" Before heading back to the kitchen to finish the last of the slime brewing for the day. As she moved into the kitchen she heard the small ring of the bell that signaled a new customer had come in off the street. Ignoring it and who ever had decided to stop by, Azula concerned herself with finding the tea for brewing.

After hunting around for a few minutes amongst the teas she finally managed to find the jar that had been requested. She could hear voices in the main room, Yumi and another girl who was most likely a customer, but didn't bother looking to see who it was. However she couldn't shake the feeling that something about the other voice was familiar. Ignoring the feeling in her gut Azula turned to the kettle intent on boiling the leaves and being done with it all; however she was greeted with a kettle devoid of water. Growling in annoyance Azula strode over to the nearest faucet and turned it allowing the water to flow.

Glancing back over to the main room as she placed the kettle under the water she heard the door open and then close with a "Bye Boss!" Guessing that whoever had come in had come in to see Yumi, Azula turned her attention back the basin. She froze.

The water that had been flowing in to the kettle was no longer the clear, clean water it had been before. The water had turned a dark crimson, the same color as blood. Azula stood transfixed at the sight before her as the crimson continued to flow from the tap. It was almost as if a trance had fallen over the former princess as she watched the liquid flow and start to fill the basin. Slowly raising her hand Azula allowed the red liquid to flow over her it, sticky warmth covering her splayed fingers as the blood cascaded around her hand.

Looking down Azula could see the basin filling quickly, faster than it should have been, filling to the very brim with blood. Yet even as the tap continued to add to the basin it never overflowed, the crimson staying just short of the edge. Staring down at it she could see that the surface was flat, despite the copious amounts of blood that continued to pour. Her reflection stared back at her from with its red tinted world. Gold met red as Azula stared into the eyes of her own reflection as all sound around her melted into silence. The reflection was her yet, not her. It was a perfect replica only… why did it smile when she didn't smile.

Azula watched in wonder as the reflections smile grew into a sneer and it began to move its hand away from the flow of blood and toward the surface of the basin. The reflection opened its mouth in a silent scream as its hand moved toward the surface. The blood rippled lightly at each movement of the reflection as its hand moved ever closer to the surface. A slight ripple was the only indication of movement as the hand of her reflection broke the surface, rivulets of red dripping down the hand as it slowly crept out of the water. Fingers splaying as the hand reached for her, drawing ever closer. It drew so close that she could see the blood glistening on the palm. It was so close now, so close that-

"Azula?"

A voice to the side of her snapped her out of her trance as she quickly glanced toward the voice only to see Iroh looking at her confusedly. Snapping her attention back to the basin she saw that it was full of nothing more than clear water as the tap continued to pour. Staring at it in denial for a minute Azula tried to understand what had happened. All the blood, her reflection, and the hand, had none of it been real? Shaking her head Azula attempted to compose herself after what she had seen, moving her attention back to Iroh she scowled in an attempt to look composed.

"What?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly despite her attempts to still herself.

"Are you alright? You've been in here for almost fifteen minutes without making a sound." Iroh asked worry evident on his features.

"It's nothing. Can I go?" Azula asked tersely, she could feel a migraine coming on.

With a nod from Iroh, the former princess moved past him and headed for the door, wanting nothing more than to be away from all of it. The night air was warm and there was a small breeze blowing through the streets. She wished she was away from it, from all of it. The people, the noise, the lights and distractions, Azula ran a hand through her hair feeling the coarseness of it. She would need a bath for certain, and perhaps some scissors to deal with the excess. She felt exhaustion wash over her as she slowly walked through the dark streets of the capital, avoiding any and all people as she journeyed to palace. She hated it, knowing that she was being watched by them, all of them.

She never thought she would miss her cell.

I am not doing well. I'm not happy. It's why I haven't updated, I've been suffering from writers block, and life in general has not been kind to me. Family, school, you name it. Writing this made me feel a little bit better, but I think I poured some of my attitude into Azula in this chapter. Maybe that's why she is so angry. I will continue to slowly get chapters out, I can't give you a time, and I won't bother lying and saying the next chapter will be out soon. However I will get it out when I can.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews and comments appreciated. Bye.

Draconian Calocor