Holy heck more kinda canonness! Hooray!
I must say, I'm quite annoyed though... 4 reviews... And I KNOW it's been read by over a hundred individuals, so yeah... You know... Come on guys...
Disclaimer: I own nothing here so don't sue me or else I'll countersue even though I live in New Zealand and you can't do that here. Hoo-rah.
"All right girls, round it up!"
Jin breathed a deep, exhausted sigh of relief as the deep, bellowing voice of Mrs. Chan rang through the crowded laundry, managing to permeate every corner, despite the near-deafening clanging, hissing, and steaming of coal-driven machinery. With one final turn of the box mangle, Jin and her co-worker Lien were finally able to slump against the wooden contraption, panting with exhaustion.
"I... Hate... Mangling." Jin groaned weakly, her arms as weak as straw and shoulders burning. She rested her elbows against the wooden surface, relieving some pressure from her aching feet as Lien extracted the nearly dry robe from the folds of the clean sheet.
"Tell me about it." The girl, a year younger than Jin, folded the pale green robe and set it into the wicker basket. "I think my shoulders have seized up..."
"Mine too..." Jin touched the tender muscles gently, wincing. It was hell, struggling to keep the machine, weighted down with rocks, constantly turning, pressing the water from the fine clothing with sheer force, force driven by the two teenage girls. "You'd think they'd come up with an easier way to get the water out..."
"Easier, but not cheaper." Lien reminded her friend, taking one handle of the basket. "Come on, let's do this and get out of here."
"No kidding." Jin wiped her bangs, which had been plastered to her forehead by sweat and steam, back from her face, biting her lip as she bent over to help pick up the basket. Oww... "At least we don't have to do it for another week."
"Hopefully more, if Mrs. Chan decides to punish someone." She referred to the matronly dragon of a supervisor, who ruled the dimly-lit, steaming laundry with an iron fist. "Ironing tomorrow... Can't wait."
"Y-Yeah..." The pair let the basket drop beside the oven, a large, intensely heated room that would evaporate any remaining trace of water. Jin rubbed at her eyes, which stung from a mixture of both intense tiredness and the acrid odour of salts, soaps, and other cleaning chemicals that constantly hung in the air. The pair joined the trickle of women who were making their way out of the searing room, some as young as eleven or twelve, others bowed with age, their faces set in hard lines, that told of a lifetime of constant toil, and servitude. Of an existence revolving around a dark, steamy room, a growing cluster of ragged children, and a dilapidated house that was never clean.
Instinctively, Jin shivered. I'm not going to do this forever. She reminded herself, eyes fixed on her worn shoes. I'm going to leave the laundry and home and even Ba Sing Se.
... Sometime. Eyes half-lowered, she slumped her shoulders, feeling the dull ache of exhaustion slowly enfolding her head and limbs. Oh, she was so tired...
"Name?" The snappish voice sounded, and Jin jumped, raising her gaze to focus on the woman behind the desk.
"Uh... Jin." She withdrew her small card, embossed with her name and status. In return, a small handful of copper coins were dropped into her outstretched hand, and her name was stamped in a large book.
"Next!" Jin tightened her hand over the small amount of money, her days' wages, and headed out of the large, crowded office, pushing through the milling crowd of women, and into the warm midday sun.
"Mmm, that's nice." Lien smiled, stretching her arms in a long yawn, her back arched.
"Yeah..." Jin slid the money into the small pouch concealed in her dress. "It is..."
"You're so quiet today." Her co-worker frowned. "Actually, you've been quiet all week. Is it still about that Lee boy?"
"What?" Jin blinked. "Oh... Him..." She gulped, pushing her unruly hair out of her face once more. "Kind of, yeah."
"Ah, he sounds like a right idiot." Lien said easily. "Honestly, what gives him the right to yell at you and storm off when you've been nothing but nice? You can do way better? What about Riku? He's cute! And I heard he got an apprenticeship under an accountant in the middle ring! You can't get much-"
"No." Jin said sharply. "I don't want..." She let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Well, to be honest, I don't even know what I want anymore. But I don't want Riku. Or Liang, or anyone else like that. I want..."
"What?" Lien pressed her elder friend further, interested. "What do you want, miss picky?"
"Something else..." Jin rubbed tiredly at her eyes. "Something more, something different... Something..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Like I said, I don't know." Jin turned away from the girl. "I have to go home... I'm exhausted..."
"All right." Lien frowned. "Look, you should come out tonight. A group of us are going to the Pit, you should go. Might find someone else to take your mind off things..."
"Thanks, but no." Jin murmured. "I just... I want to go home, sorry. I've got a lot on my mind..."
"Okay then." Lien shrugged. "See you tomorrow."
"Crack of dawn, as always." Jin forced a smile, before pushing her way out of the crowded square, weaving her way through the clusters of people down the crowded street. She was as tired as hell, but it was a constant sensation she had put up with years, and not the reason why she had wanted to spend her free time curled up in her room. The truth was, the day had been an exhausting turmoil. It seemed that every moment, Lee was on her mind. She just could not stop thinking about him. The angry, yet strangely nervous boy, who had looked at her, treated her, as no one else had, with an odd kind of tense affection, as though he was afraid of his own actions. It was now when she finally realised why he acted in such a manner. He was from the Fire Nation. And although the thought that still disturbing, it hadn't filled her with the intense panic it had last night. So much.
That doesn't make it any less awful. Jin reminded herself. He's still...
I don't even know! The girl groaned. I don't know what kind of person he was. He could have been the nicest boy ever; he could have been a rebel in his own country. He could be on our side. Or he could be a monster. He could be one of the ones who have caused this pain and damage. I wish I knew. I need to! I need to know, I can't keep driving myself insane like this.
Oh, come now. She groaned. What am I going to do, walk in and ask him? Hey Lee, Fire Nation huh? What did you do to wind up here? Get real, he would never answer that. He'd... Well, I don't know what he would do... But I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty...
I'm tired. Jin rubbed at her eyes. Thankfully, she was less than five minutes away from her house. She turned the corner, making her way onto the narrow side-street she resided with her family in. She passed an elderly man she knew, giving him a quick wave and a smile, and before long she was standing outside of her house. She pushed open the door, wincing as it creaked, the warped wood sagging on rusty hinges, and made her way up the slanted staircase, resting for a moment on the landing. Hope Ma doesn't want me to clean the place... She started to walk again, making her way to the modest second floor dwelling her family rented, her feet starting to drag. After what seemed an age, Jin turned the wobbling brass handle, slipping into the tiny, dimly-lit flat.
"Hello dear." Her mother Shan looked up from the bubbling crock-pot, hey eyes crinkling in a smile. "How was work?"
"Okay." Jin mumbled, sliding out of her shoes. "I had box-mangling today... I'm tired..." She rubbed at her eyes for added effect, hoping her mother had gotten the point. Don't make me work. I can't. She withdrew her slim wages from the inside of her dress, lifting the lid on the small clay pot on the high shelf, where the income Jin, her brother, and her father earned was stashed. Her mother sighed sadly as Jin parted with three-quarters of her hard-earned wages without the merest grumble or moan, as she had done almost daily for over four years.
"Have something to eat." Shan ladled a small amount of stew into a bowl for her only daughter. "Rest your feet for a bit."
"Gladly." Jin sat down with a thump, her forehead quickly finding contact with the rough-hewn table. "My arms... Hurt... So much."
"I know honey..." The bowl was set down with a spoon, which Jin accepted gratefully, her stomach growling. "I'm sorry..."
"Ma, don't be sorry." Jin pleaded. "It's okay. I don't mind. It's better than sweeping up animal filth or scrubbing floors. And with all of these refugees coming rapidly, jobs are getting hard to come by."
"I know, I know." She sat down beside her daughter, with a small pile of potatoes and a small knife. "But still, you work so hard... it's not fair."
"Beats staying at home cooking and cleaning all day." Jin forced a smile, which her mother weakly returned. "And all of that darning..." She referred to the wicker basket beside the stove, filled with torn clothing from busy friends and neighbours, which her mother mended for a few coins.
"Yes, yes." Shan started to cut up the freshly-peeled potato. "And looking after those scamps Chang and Hai when they bother to come home." She referred to Jins' two youngest brothers. "Dirty scoundrels, tracking mud all about the place just as I've finished scrubbing." Jin giggled. "Don't laugh, young lady, you were just as horrible. Nana Heng said that you were the filthiest little girl she'd ever seen, always covered in mud."
"That was Jiro, Ma, always dragging me off to play with his friends. And besides, I could always clean myself up in an instant with earth bending." Jin pushed away her empty bowl, and stood up, arching her back in a stretch. "I'm so tired. I think I might lie down for a-"
"Before you do," Jin sighed as her mother quickly interjected, the girl quickly filling with a very real urge to kick the furniture. "There's a load of washing outside. Do you think you could bring it in? Mrs. Cheung on second said she has uniforms to wash and wants the line this afternoon."
"Yes, Ma." Jin gave a long-suffering sigh, and turned towards the doorway. "Right away."
"Thank you dear." Her mother smiled. "Oh, and after that," Jin's hand tightened on the doorknob, knuckles whitening. "Can you finish up on these potatoes? Qing-Yuan wants her clothes mended by sundown."
"Yes, okay." Jin slammed the door before her mother could heap any more chores on her, stamping her feet as she thundered back down to the ground floor. It was stupid, she knew, and childish, especially since her mother couldn't actually hear her, and it was a drain on the last remnants of her energy, but Jin was too angry to care. She'd just complained that she'd been working that stupid machine for six hours with one short break, and was left exhausted and in pain. Couldn't she even get a few hours respite? Jin knew, deep down, that she was being unreasonable, her mother couldn't be expected to keep on top of keeping the house clean, watching the two younger boys, and finish her hefty load of needlework, and being both the only girl, and the one with the shortest work hours, any of the housework left over fell on her shoulders. She'd been given the speech more times than she could count about tough times and everybody having to pull together, but to her, it seemed as though the 'tough times' had been occurring her entire life. I can't wait for it to end.
But it won't. Jin stepped into the small yard, which was little more than a patch of dirt, edged with herb plants, and containing a washing line, an outhouse, and a tiny coal shed. That was what was so crushing. She was a slave to the family household, and would be, until she was married. And then she would become a slave to her husbands' home, forced to cook and clean for her own children while doing whatever odd jobs she could for a few copper coins. It was the sad fate that swallowed up her mother, her grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and, already, some of her friends.
It's terrifying. Jin swallowed, unpegging the threadbare sheet from the line. I can't let that happen to me. It won't happen to me, I'll make sure. But... The only other option is to be a broke spinster. And I don't want to be alone. I want to get married and have kids, so badly, but I don't want to be some working-class housewife who works her fingers to the bone every day for her entire life! There has to be something else. Some way out. Some way... up.
I could be like cousin Lifen. Marry above my class. She prettied herself up enough to grab a university student and now she lives in the Middle Ring. I'm not exactly ugly...
... But that is so shallow! Jin folded the shirt she took down in half before throwing it into the basket. And... Cheap. I don't want someone like that. I want...
Someone who appreciates me. Someone I can be honest to, someone that won't imprison me in my home with an army of children. Someone who is different. Someone who hasn't resigned themselves to this stupid city. Someone who wants out. Someone with experience, who is actually interested in my mind and personality, not what's under my dress. Someone...
... Like Lee.
Jin sat down onto the ground, winding the cloth of the underdress around her hands. Her eyes stung, and she blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the tears. Stop it! She commanded herself. I can't keep agonizing over him. I have to put Lee out of my mind and keep him out. I have things to do, a life to lead, as dreary as it may be... She sniffed, and stood up again. I mean, seriously. Fire Nation? Do I want to go there? Do I want to actually risk it? Do I want to go through that danger?
Her heart thudded in her chest.
...I don't know.
"I'm taking the first load of luggage up to our new apartment, Prince Zuko." Iroh stood in the doorway of his nephews' room. "Would you like to come and take a look at our new home?"
"No." Zuko muttered evenly, lying on his futon with his arms folded behind his head. "I'm fine here."
"Suit yourself." Iroh sighed. "But please, my nephew, I beg you. Do not do anything stupid."
"Stupid?" Zuko sat up. "Define stupid for me Uncle, please." There was a low bite to Zuko's voice, an undercurrent of violent anger.
"Finding the Avatar or his bison." Iroh said softly. As he predicted, Zuko stood up, fuming.
"That is not stupid, Uncle!" Zuko snapped. "I have struggled for years to capture him! Fulfilling my destiny is not stupid! How dare you say that!" Iroh's eyes widened, the elderly man alarmed.
"Zuko-"
"You wanna know what's stupid?" The teenagerchallenged, taking a step towards Iroh. "Giving up on everything! Resigning yourself to this prison and putting your trust in these peasants! Opening a damn tea-shop when you should be trying to regain your honour! Throwing aside everything you ever worked for and letting go! That's what's stupid, Uncle!" Iroh froze. Usually Zuko regarded him with respect (albeit to a varying degree), even when he was angry, but his nephew had, essentially, just called him stupid in his intense frustration.
"I am sorry you feel that way." Iroh said simply, turning away. He had a niggling suspicion that this had more than the new tea-shop, much more. "But yes, perhaps I have given up. The Fire Nation has nothing more for me, nephew. There is no longer anyone in that country that I care for." He took a deep breath. "Save for you."
"Look, that's not true!" Zuko shot back. "What about your family, huh?"
"You are my family, Prince Zuko." Iroh said softly. "I love you like a so-"
"What have I told you about saying that!" Zuko's voice caught. "I have a father!"
"The man who is responsible for all of the pain and suffering you have endured? The tyrant who only wants you home so he can throw you in prison? The person who-"
"Oh, all right!" Zuko cut his uncle off. "What's your point?" Iroh turned back to regard the teenager who, he quickly noticed, was shaking.
"What do you think." Iroh said. "What do you think I am trying to tell you?"
"That I should swallow this useless slop of a future and become a stupid tea-boy for the rest of my life?" Zuko snarled. "It's not going to happen!"
"Then you haven't listened to a word I have said." Iroh shook his head sadly. "I have to go, my nephew, I need to be there to receive the keys. Please, I beg of you, don't do anything compromising." He chose his words carefully. "I will be grievously disappointed if you do."
"Fine then." Zuko crossed his arms, looking every bit the sulking teenager who had just been grounded or scolded by a parent. "I won't leave the apartment. Happy?"
"Yes." Iroh shook his head at his melodramatic nephew. "I will see you shortly." He nodded, and gently shut Zuko's bedroom door. The moment he did, the teenager sighed, and collapsed into his bed, burying his face in the pillow. He screamed, in frustration, the sound muffled by the bedding, before rolling over onto his back, his gaze fixed once more on the ceiling.
What is wrong with Uncle? Does he not understand or something? How can he not understand? What is wrong with him? This is my chance! He may be happy living here, but I'm not. And I never will be. I tried to, I did, with Jin, I tried to make an effort to assimilate myself with these people, and it all just got thrown back in my face. It's hopeless. And now the Avatar is in Ba Sing Se. And not only that, he's here without a means of escaping, not without that flying bison. This is my last shot. It's my last shot, and I'm taking it. Zuko sat up, his mind racing.
I need the bison. That's the way to get to the Avatar. And hopefully to get to him alone. He cast his mind back to the flyer, which his Uncle had thrown out, much to his chagrin. It said that the bison had been lost in the desert and was in Ba Sing Se. I'm betting that if anyone knows where the bison is, it's the Dai Li. I wouldn't be surprised if they were behind the whole thing. He'd heard some terrifying stories of what the Dai Li did to their own people, the brainwashing and kidnapping. Sometimes, whole families disappeared, and didn't show up again for months, if at all. I need to corner one and find out where they're keeping it. Hardened with resolve, Zuko frowned, thinking.
I can't let Uncle know, of course, not right away, he would try to stop me. And I don't need that. And besides, if I want to get one alone, then it's going to have to be in a very isolated place. Hmm... I'll wait for night to fall. Zuko nodded. Late night. And that way, I can also operate under the cover of darkness.
I'll get you this time, Avatar. Zuko crawled over to the small wooden chest, where he kept his meagre possessions. He lifted the lid and pushed aside the junk he insisted on keeping, his fingertips brushing the cream Jin had given him, cream that actually worked pretty well, and he still used. His heart skipped a beat, but Zuko pushed the sensation away, and instead, lifted the false bottom of the little trunk, to expose his deepest, darkest secret, that only one other soul in the world – his prey – knew about.
The blue mask glared back at him, the deep frown and curved tusks earning a shiver from the teenage boy. Zuko forced it down with a swallow, and lifted the mask, gently running his fingertips over the smooth, cerulean surface.
Time for the Blue Spirit to make a final appearance.
ZOMG DRAMAZZZZZ
Okay sorry, I'm over that. But seriously guys, please, just a few words, you know, show your appreciation and all that. I'll never say 'I'M NOT UPDATING TIL I GET 10 REVIEWS' or something cos that's just sad, but, yeah, I would appreciate the support and feedback.