You've been in Ba-Sing-Se for about a week, you're starting to fall into a routine; you wake up with Zuko, cuddle for a bit, struggle to get him to let you go, bathe, get ready for the day, go to work, walk around the city with Zuko while you look for your brothers and he looks for the avatar, have dinner with Zuko and Iroh, cuddle with Zuko and go to sleep.
Most of the time you wish that Zuko would stop searching for the avatar and just enjoy life, these thoughts also made you feel horrible because of how selfish you were being. You know he misses his home. But why can't his home be with you?
Today was strange, Zuko was already out of bed and getting dressed by the time you woke up. The silly prince was frantically rummaging through his stuff, looking for a clean shirt.
You rubbed your eyes and yawned. Zuko noticed you were awake and went to your side. "Good morning beautiful" he said softly.
"Morning" you yawned again. "You're up early," you half stated, half questioned.
Zuko shrugged and said "its a strange day." Then he kissed you and helped you up.
You gathered your clothes and bathed. You dressed in a corset style strapless green top and a black skirt with green trim. As you walked out of the bathroom and into the living space, you heard Iroh singing, he sounded sad.
"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow, like fragile tiny shells, drifting in the foam, little soldier boy, come marching home, brave little soldier boy, comes marching home..." Iroh didn't even notice that you were in the room.
You walked back into the bedroom and turned to Zuko "what's going on?" you asked. There was something obviously wrong with Iroh.
Zuko sighed, not in annoyance but to show that this was not a fun topic. "When I was little, and Uncle was still a general in the army, his son Lu ten died on the front lines during the siege of Ba-Sing-Se. Uncle hasn't been the same ever since."
You were completely shocked; you had no idea that Iroh had a son. "Poor Iroh" you said softly.
"Uncle has the day off from work" Zuko informed you, "we should probably leave him to his own devices"
You agreed. From outside of the door you heard Iroh singing again.
Suddenly Zuko spoke; he even looked surprised that he was speaking. "Sometimes I wish I had gotten to know Lu ten better, he was much older than me, so we never really bonded." Zuko mused.
You hugged him and after a few moments you let go and said, "we should probably get to work." Zuko nodded a yes.
Before you left the apartment you made sure you hugged Iroh, he smiled a sad smile at you and continued to sing his sad song once you and Zuko left.
As usual the teashop was fairly uneventful, the worst thing that happened was that the boss had Zuko making the tea. And once he realized how bad Zuko's tea is, he had you make the tea and had Zuko cleaning and waiting on the tables.
At one point fairly late in the day Zuko came into the back "we've been found out, one of the customers knows that we're fire nation," he said in a low voice.
You were skeptical "how do you know?" you asked.
"They keep giving me weird looks," Zuko said in frustration.
"Which one is it?" you asked peeking into the teashop. Zuko pointed to a girl sitting by herself, she looked nice but she obviously liked Zuko. You sighed. "I love you but you are so oblivious" you told Zuko.
Zuko just looked confused so you left him in the kitchen and walked over to the girl.
"Hi is everything alright?" you asked politely.
"Its fine" the girl said clearly uninterested. "Um where is the male waiter?" she asked.
"He's in the kitchen" you replied. 'She is making it really hard for me to be civil' you thought in frustration.
"Do you know if he's single?" she asked rather bluntly.
"Sorry, he's taken" you said and with that you walked into the kitchen. "Zuko, the girl has a crush on you," you told him.
"Gross I thought I made it very obvious that I'm dating you" Zuko said frantically.
You nodded, "I thought so too" you replied remembering all the quick kisses he gives you every time he walks by.
"Get back to work!" your boss yelled.
Zuko sighed and went back to sweeping while you brewed some vanilla chai tea.
Suddenly you heard, "Hey would you like to go out sometime?"
You walked into the front and saw that girl talking to a very uncomfortable Zuko. "I'm dating Kana" he told her and with perfect timing you kissed Zuko rather passionately, which normally you wouldn't do in public but you needed to get a point across.
As you heard the girl storm away, you pulled away from Zuko and smiled.
"What was that for?" Zuko asked a little dazed "not that I minded"
"I love you and it was kiss you or claw her eyes out" you said brightly.
Zuko laughed "I love you, you're so adorable even when you're violent" the two of you smiled at each other.
"Get back to work or I'll fire both of you!" your boss yelled.
The rest of the day was boring. After work you and Zuko wandered around but found no trace of your brothers of the avatar. You made dinner for yourself and Zuko, you made sure you left a plate for Iroh who has not returned yet. You spent the rest of the night in Zuko's arms; the two of you went on a romantic nighttime stroll, which was surprisingly Zuko's idea. When you got home, the two of you cuddled until the early morning before you finally fell asleep in each other's arms.