Zuko awoke at sunrise, as if the sun willed him to. He would much rather sleep all day, it would be better than working in the ever busy tea shop. He quietly changed into his work uniform, which was really just his regular clothes with an apron tied overtop. As Zuko rolled up his sleeping mat, he realized something felt off. It took him a few moments of thought to pin it down; he couldn't hear his Uncle. Iroh was notorious for humming/singing to himself as he made the morning tea; but it was silent. Zuko had fallen asleep while his uncle fawned over the fancy tea that the stranger, Lindon, had brought.

A pit formed in his stomach as he remembered the last time his Uncle had discovered "delectable tea", which had turned out to be poisonous. Zuko mentally prepared himself and opened the door to the living area. Worry turned into full blown panic as he found both his uncle and the other man laid out on the floor, their cups of tea spilled beside them and a cold teapot in the middle. He rushed to his Uncle's side and put his ear up to Iroh's mouth; still breathing. Zuko could see Lindon's chest rise and fall as well. He shook his Uncle's shoulder; no response. Pulled on his arm and let it fall to the floor; no response. Zuko got fed up and pulled Iroh's eyelid open…nothing.

He moved over to Lindon and prodded the man's leg gently with his foot; he didn't wake up either. They were both unconscious and neither were waking up. Zuko picked up one of the teacups that had been dropped on the floor and sniffed the residual liquid coating the inside. It smelled more or less just like the jasmine tea his Uncle usually made.

'What the hell am I supposed to do now?' Zuko thought to himself. It didn't look like either of them were going to wake up any time soon. The tea shop was going to open up soon for their morning customers. They really couldn't afford to lose this job, it paid too well now that Iroh was the head tea maker. Zuko ran through the possible actions and eventually found the only viable one; he would have to work alone today and let his Uncle sleep off whatever this was. With a sigh, he shook his Uncle one more time, stood up, and left for work.

There was already a small gathering of customers waiting for the shop to open when Zuko arrived. He walked around back to the kitchen entrance and found the owner prepping the breakfast food options.

He didn't look up, but called out "Mushi! Lee! Good morning. Help me get the porridge ready Lee. Mushi, did you have any new tea blend ideas you had today?"

Zuko cleared his throat "Mr. Poa, my Uncle is going to be out today, he's sick."

Poa's head snapped up and he shot a horrified look at Zuko "What do you mean? Sick how? We need him!?". The man was becoming frantic, pacing back and forth before running up to Zuko with a crazed look in his eye "You need to march home and drag your uncle here! We're about to be swamped with customers who want their breakfast tea!"

Zuko was already having a rough morning and his patience was thin .His Uncle needed rest to fight off whatever the tea had done to him. The teenager pushed past his boss and walked to the tea station, ignoring Poa's protests. He did his best to measure and blend the correct tea leaves and mix them with complimenting fragrant spices. He hadn't spent the past few years traveling with his Uncle without picking up on a few tricks.

Eventually, Mr. Poa quieted down and went back to prepping breakfast food. Eventually it was time to open the shop and let the breakfast crowd in. Zuko was sure Poa would take over his Uncles' role and he would take his usual waiter role. However, Poa insisted Zuko serve the tea. Both because Zuko had made them and because Poa needed to be at the front to greet customers. Poa's daughter ended up taking orders instead.

So Zuko went around to the different tables, explaining what tea was available and what he recommended. He tried to emulate his Uncle best he could. When the tea started to run out, he leapt at the opportunity to escape to the kitchen to make more. Zuko didn't know how much more he could take. Taking orders was bad enough, but he could endure that. His Uncle's position forced him to really interact with customers on a much deeper level. He had to ask their names, find out what they liked, hear about their day, explain the four available teas over and over and over again. The morning rush had ended, but soon lunch would start.

Before he knew it, the tea was made and ready to go. With a sigh, Zuko pulled the tea cart around and made his way back towards the serving room. He had taken three steps when Poa rushed in.

"Lee! Is that tea ready!? It had better be! We have an esteemed guest! Get your butt out there and be on your best behavior! If this goes well, we'll be able to say the Avatar endorsed our tea!"

Zuko's heart raced "The….the Avatar?"

Poa's eyes lit up "Yes! The Avatar! Just imagine how popular we'll become now!"

A pit formed in Zuko's stomach and the hair raised on the back of his neck. "Are you sure it's the Avatar? What if it's just an imposture?"

Poa gave off an air of superiority "I have friends in the Middle Ring, they told me that the Avatar was spotted taking a tour of the school there the other day."

Zuko rushed to find an excuse "Maybe you should serve them then, it would make a better impression.

Poa took a moment to think it over "I would agree that would be better, but they were already asking about you when they came in. Must have heard someone new was serving tea today, word travels fast; they even knew your name"

The walls were closing in, Iroh loved this job. Zuko really didn't want to get them fired. But the Avatar would recognize him in a heartbeat…or maybe not. Zuko's hair had gotten pretty long, if he brushed it over his scar, they might not notice. He furiously ran his fingers through his hair, so that part was off center and his hair swept to the left.

Poa looked at him pityingly, Zuko tried not to let himself get angry, he wasn't trying to hide his scar because he was ashamed of it. But he also wasn't going to explain the real reason, Poa didn't comment on it, just moved to instructions.

"I'll go get a sampler platter ready of our lunch items, give them whatever they want, and remember what's on the line here."

Zuko nodded, took a big breath in, and marched into the room.

The Avatar recognized him immediately, it was obvious with the dumb look plastered on his face. The water tribe girl, Katara, was scowling at him. Her brother, Sokka, was laughing like he had just been told the best joke he had ever heard. There was a fourth person with them, a short girl with black hair. She wasn't looking at him, but he felt her attention on him all the same. Zuko almost ran back into the kitchen, but it seemed too late for that now. He did the only thing he could and pushed the cart up to the table

"Good morning, I'll be serving your tea today, there are four blends available. We have a breakfast black tea with vanilla and…"

Katara cut him off "Really? You think we're dumb? We know it's you Zuko."

Sokka wiped his eyes before giving his input "It's 'Lee' now, isn't it? I didn't believe it at first, but seeing you dressed like that, serving tea. Ha! I needed that."

Aang piped up next "It is surprising, but it's kind of nice. This is a much better line of work for you." Zuko groaned.

The new girl scoffed "More talking, can't we get this show on the road?"

Sokka whipped his head around "Woah, woah, woah. You heard the owner, he's going to bring us free food. And Zuko has to serve us. You can't look a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth."

Katara managed a smug look "I do like the idea of Zuko forced to serve us."

The girl crossed her arms and blew a strand of hair up out of her face "Fine, let's just make it fast."

Zuko looked around and kept his voice low "Can you at least call me Lee while you're here, I can't afford to lose this job."

So Zuko went through the blends and poured them tea. Poa brought them their food, which was almost too much to fit on the table. Zuko stayed and refilled their cups, answered tea related questions and tried to ignore the ribs and jokes sent his way. He learned the new girl's name was Toph, she was apparently an earthbender teacher for Aang. Eventually, when the food was finished, they were ready to start the real questions.

Zuko stopped them immediately. "Here isn't the place. I get a break mid-day to eat lunch. But considering how star-struck the owner is with you, he would probably let me take a longer break if he thought it would help his business."

Aang jumped up with excitement "I'll go ask." he said before running off.

Zuko panicked, he had planned to ask, who knew what the kid would say. While Aang did that, Zuko began clearing plates and cups. Katara started to help.

"Don't worry about it, it's part of my job."

Katara scowled "I was trying to be nice" Of course she would take it the wrong way, he barely kept his eyes from rolling.

"Do what you want." She wasn't going to help now, of course.

Sokka almost suppressed a snort. By the time the table was clear Aang walked over with a big grin.

"Great news! I got you the whole day off."

Zuko looked up to see Mr. Poa giving him a big thumbs up, gesturing with his head at Aang.

'Well,' Zuko thought to himself 'That worked better than expected'.

Zuko led the group down a few streets and back alleys to a quiet, out of the way, spot behind a row of run down buildings.

"I get the impression you didn't find me by accident this morning" he questioned. Aang looked more serious than Zuko thought possible with his goofball personality

"A few weeks ago, Appa, our air bison, was stolen by poachers. We've been looking for him, and his trial led us here. We haven't had much luck. No one here has any information, no one talks about the war, we think the Dai Li are evil, Long Feng doesn't care about the war, we can't see the king…"

Aang was talking faster and faster, his words blending together as he got worked up. Zuko held up his hand and Aang cut off.

"What the hell does any of this have to do with me?"

Katara shouted "hey, language!" and Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Grow up, my Uncle and I are here as refugees. I'm not here to chase you. I'm not here to help you find your pet. I think it may be better if we pretend we never saw each other and go our separate ways."

Aang looked comically hurt, the water siblings looked more offended than anything, and the new girl looked bored.

Sokka looked quizzical "Where is your uncle? We were told he worked at the tea shop too? I didn't see him there"

Zuko didn't get to answer, Toph huffed "Can we please speed this up! We're looking for a bender, maybe an airbender, maybe an earthbender. Jet saw a guy in your tea shop who might be him. There's been too much talking, I'm ready for some action!" She ended her rant in a shout with her fists in the air.

Zuko's eyes narrowed "Airbender or earthbender?"

Aang showed him the reports they had, Lindon definitely fit the description.

He mulled it over for a minute before asking "How do you know Jet?"

Sokka answered "We met that jerk a while back, ran into him again yesterday. We're working together with him and his team to find this bender guy."

That made Zuko pause "What does Jet get out of that deal?"

Sokka shrugged "Probably wants a rematch, from what it sounded like, this guy broke up your fight singlehandedly, I think he wants to payback."

Zuko's brow scrunched together "Not much teamwork from what I can see, they aren't even here."

Katara answered "We split up to cover more ground, we scoped the tea shop and they were checking the apartment building."

Zuko felt worry jolt through him "Who's apartment? My apartment!?"

Katara shrugged "We figured you would be at one or the other. A feeling of dread settled in Zuko's stomach.

"My uncle is at home sleeping off a sickness of some kind. He can't defend himself." Katara looked startled at that.

Aang tried to reassure them "Don't worry, they wouldn't attack a sick old man." The dread only got worse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Longshot was in position, on the roof of the building across the street from the apartment. Smellerbee had snuck up the side of the building to open the shutter from the outside. Now he had a clear view into the apartment. He could see two people on the floor. One was the old man, Iroh. The other was the mysterious man the Avatar was looking for. Their third target, Zuko, was not visible from the window.

Longshot saw Jet ready himself above the window. He had tied a rope off and was going to swing into the room after Longshot fired the first shot. He would aim for the younger man first. Jet didn't think the old man would be a problem, but the younger man was strong. He had stopped Jet's attack with one hand the night before. Jet was in position now and gave the "ready" signal. Longshot readied a blunt-tipped arrow and waited for the signal. Jet counted down on his fingers and then swiped a hand down. Longshot loosed the arrow and it flew right on path at the torso of his target, who still lay asleep.