Sooooo I lapsed on my research and this doesn't quite fit the show's canon but it's in there so per the word's of Korra I'm just gonna have to 'Deal with it.'

Blue and the Healer - Part 3 - Chapter 2/4

He hadn't written this much since his last calligraphy class at the age of eleven, the joints of his fingers ached from the near-constant jotting down of orders.

One pot of Jasmine on two

One pot of Oolong on eight

Two pots of Chrysanthemum with crystal sugar on four

One needs to be cleared

Two to be seated at four

NO!

Two to be seated at three, two pots on four

Pao's free tea coupons were drawing in customer after customer, swamping them for hours. Sunset couldn't come fast enough, then he could close the door, shutter the windows, and cut off the never-ending stream of patrons. Even after they closed, they still wouldn't be able to go home, the pile of dishes that waited for him made him wish he was born a waterbender. She probably has things cleaned up in seconds instead of scrubbing for what felt like forever.

Being in Ba Sing Se had been stifling, he and Uncle had, had to hide their bending for weeks. Only letting off some steam by discretely heating a kettle and the dishwater or lighting candles in the evening. Even meditation wasn't cutting it anymore, he had to get out tonight. The day had been long and Uncle would want to retire early, he shouldn't have much of a problem slipping out into the darkness. He might not be able to conjure fire but like his bending, his swords were an extension of himself. It wasn't the same but it was as close as he could get without going mad.

A bell in the kitchen rang announcing filled orders waiting to be served. Zuko put his nighttime planning on hold and headed for the window between the tearoom and the kitchen. He passed the new orders to Iroh before shoving the small notepad into his apron and hoisting the large tray to his shoulder.

"Nephew! We are out of smoked lapsang, please remove it from the specials." Iroh called across the window, the disappointment was evident in his voice.

The lapsang tea from the Earth Kingdom was smoked over a resinous wood that had green needles for leaves and gave it crisper notes than what was found in the Fire Nation which used the milder River Almond wood. It had quickly become one of Iroh's many favorites to enjoy while they closed. He would have to choose another tonight, which really meant they were having jasmine tea, again.

Zuko nodded to his uncle and headed for the tables, swiftly and none to gently setting down pot after pot as he weaved almost gracefully between the tightly packed tables. He swore Pao was sneaking in more seats every week, the tea room seemed more and more crowded by the day. Carrying the now empty tray, he waved in the couple standing at the entrance, pointed them to table three. Not bothering to see if they made it to their seats he cleared table one before going back to the window to return the tray to Iroh and collect cups. Normally matching cups would come out with the teapot but after had broken about a dozen or so, Pao cautiously suggested he deliver them before taking an order.

He dropped off a pair of cups at three, turning his back on the couple midsentence. He made it back to the window just as Iroh rung the bell.

"You are getting to know the timings Lee, I am glad that you have taken an interest!"

"Sure Uncle." Zuko grumbled not wanting to let 'Mushi' know it was purely coincidence.

One pot of Jasmine on two

Seven needs to be cleared

Two pots of Chrysanthemum with crystal sugar on four

One pot of Oolong on eight

Three needs to order

He hoisted the tray back onto his shoulder and worked his way between the tables narrowly avoiding guests as he all but dropped the scorching teapots on their tables. He started at two, moved to four, ending at eight before turning and loading the empty pot and used cups from seven onto the tray and leaving them there. Working his way back across the room he pulled the notepad from his apron and approached the couple at three.

"What do you want?" he half asked, half demanded startling the couple.

"Umm, d-do you have white tea?" the Earth Kingdom man seated before him was a few inches taller than him but so slight a strong wind could have taken him.

"We have silvertip and peony." replied, irritation slipping into his voice.

"Uh, sweetie what would you like?" he asked the short full-figured woman who sat across from him.

His wife's eyes had been fixed on the left side of Zuko's face tore her gaze from his scar, "What did you say, sweetie?"

"Which tea would you like sweetie, silvertip or peony?" he asked her again with a slight smile for his wife.

"Oh sweetie, you choose. You know what I like." she looked back at her husband adoringly.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and fumed through gritted his teeth, "Pick now or you'll end up with just a pot of scalding water. Your choice."

"P-peony, that sounds good, right sweetie?" the wife stammered.

"Of course sweetie, peony sounds fine." her husband gulped, "That will be fine."

He scribbled on the notepad and turned on his heel, leaving the couple without a word. He had just barely grabbed table four's crystal sugar when the unmistakable crash of a tea set hitting the floor sent silence racing over the busy room.

Zuko quickly turned expecting to see a clumsy yet horrified patron staring at a ruin of ceramic on the floor. Instead, he found the entire crowd looking at table six. Four men, two pots of smoked lapsang his mind recited. A heavy-set man with a patchy beard and thinning hair ignored the roomful of people staring at him. The man had a malevolent grin and his forest-colored eyes were set squarely on Zuko.

"You gonna clean that up, tea boy?" the man sneered.

Both of table six's teapots sat safely on their table but within arm's reach of the grinning man should have been table seven's set still waiting to be cleared. The tray that held the set was now empty. Understanding what the man had done, Zuko's jaw clenched as his hands balled into fists. He marched forward his rage growing with each step, his head running through every possibility of how he could punish this man for his misdeeds. With an iron grip, he reached out and picked up a broom and the dustpan that sat in the corner.

His altercation with Jet and the teahouse's popularity had attracted a great deal of attention to him and Iroh. Giving in to the temptation of feeding the obnoxious man his own teeth, would place them back under unnecessary scrutiny, he'd have to swallow his pride to keep their cover.

Soft chatter began to seep back into the tea room while Zuko approached the mess of broken porcelain on the floor, the red shards clinked softly against each other as they were swept up. He ignored the table of sniggering men behind him as he cleaned.

A lanky man at the table with a bowl cut, wearing a green trimmed brown vest nudged the heavyset man with a grin, "Good one Phirun."

Phirun waited until Zuko had finished with his sweeping, and held up one of his table's teapots.

"Tea boy, my friend Trung here wants another pot."

Zuko pushed his anger down, "We're all out of smoked lapsang, you're welcome to try something else from our wide selection of fine teas." his bored tone matching the disinterested look on his face.

Phirun got up from his chair coming to stand over a foot taller than Zuko. All eyes in the tea room were back on table six. Phirun still holding the teapot removed the lid and peered inside.

"Are you sure tea boy? You didn't even bother to check."

"We're all out of smoked lapsang, you're welcome to try something else from our wide selection of fine teas." Zuko repeated, irritation tinged the bored tone he fought to maintain.

Phirun looked up drawing himself to his full height he attempted to loom over the scarred waiter but the dishonored prince of the Fire Nation who had led troops and faced the avatar head-on stood unfazed and unimpressed.

"You refugees are so lazy," Phirun peered back into the teapot, "but that's ok, it looks like we have a little left."

Phirun quickly overturned the pot dumping the dregs of tea over Zuko's head. Zuko darted back but not far enough, knocking into a table behind him in the too tightly packed space. The still-warm tea splashed down his front soaking his tunic.

"Hey! Quit it!" the woman from table three yelled across the tearoom standing as her husband gripped her arm.

"Shhh sweetie, don't get involved." the slight man whisper yelled to her.

"Yea sweetie, don't get involved." Trung gibed at the couple.

"Leave him alone!" she called wrestling herself from her spouse.

"Shut up hag!" Phirun yelled, jabbing a finger into Zuko's chest he turned to address the room "Outsiders like him, have no place in the wall of Ba Sing Se!"

Zuko reached for Phirun's finger intent on breaking it when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Enough." the word was a command spoken softly and heard by all, bringing the chaos and cacophony to a halt.

Zuko looked over his shoulder to find Pao's hand on his shoulder and Iroh standing beside him.

"Gentlemen thank you for your patronage, your tea is on the house." Pao told Phirun.

Phirun shot a sneer at Zuko, Zuko surged forward but the heavier hand of Iroh fell on his other shoulder, holding him in place.

"You hear that boys, we drink for free." Trung laughed to his grinning friends.

Pao quirked an eyebrow.

"Don't mistake this gesture as kindness," Pao intoned to Trung, "I simply refuse to accept money from disgusting men such as yourselves. So kindly leave my establishment, now."

Phirun eyed Zuko, Iroh, and Pao with an appraising look, "Who's going to make us? You?"

"I could never imagine doing such a thing, but, " Iroh pause and with a twinkle in his eye he gestured to the entrance where two Dai Li agents had appeared on either side of the door, "I'm sure they would have no problem in doing so."

Phirun and his friend's smiles' dropped like gnat-flies, their eyes filling with fear.

Trung shot up from his seat and bowed deeply "Please forgive us, we were just teasing and got carried away. So sorry."

Phirun and their other two friends quickly followed suit bowing and uttering a symphony of apologies before shuffling out the door with the Dai Li agents following close behind. The tea house sat in uneasy quiet, interrupted here and there with the quiet mutters of its patrons. Pao looked to Iroh who gave him an encouraging nod.

Pao clapped his hands getting everyone's attention, "Good evening all, I want to thank you all for your patronage but I believe after this evening's events, it's best for Pao's family tea house to close for the night. So I ask that you please finish your tea and take your leave, we'll be open again tomorrow morning."

Pao and Iroh bowed to the customers with Zuko halfheartedly following suit after a less than discreet nudge from his uncle. Iroh returned to the kitchen and Pao went to tend to customers leaving him to finish with the shattered pot that laid forgotten in the dustpan. Returning from dumping the broken shards in the rubbish he spotted his uncle carrying a small package, approach the couple from table three.

"Hello my dear, may I ask your name?" Iroh asked the woman gently.

"I'm June, you're the brewmaster the entire lower ring has been talking about! It's a pleasure to meet you." she said excitedly giving Iroh a small bow.

"Yes, I'm Mushi, and please, the pleasure is all mine." Iroh smiled, "I wanted to thank you for your fearlessness tonight, the boy you defended is my nephew, Lee."

June gave a sad smile and shook her head, "No, those men were horrible to your nephew and the nasty things he said. I'm so sorry, I hope you don't think we are all like that?"

"Not at all, Ba Sing Se is a beautiful city and I have seen many wonderful things since coming here but that's neither here nor there. I wanted to give you something." Iroh explained pressing the small package into June's hands, "It pales in comparison to your bravery but I wish to give you this small gift nonetheless. It's our white peony tea with crushed crystal sugar, there are brewing instructions inside so you can enjoy it at home."

"Thank you but what I did could hardly be considered bravery-"

"You're right," her husband interjected, clearly irritated, "what you did was reckless and put us in danger."

"Shut up Bonzu." June's eyes shot daggers at her spouse causing Bonzu to wither under her gaze.

June turned back to Iroh with a smile, "Thank you but what those men did was wrong, I couldn't turn my back on your nephew like that."

Iroh bowed to June, "Well in that case I am very thankful that you came to our establishment tonight. I do hope you grace us with your bewitching beauty again soon."

"O-of course." June's cheeks flushed as she broke out in a smile "Thank you again, good night."

June headed for the door but Iroh grabbed Bonzu's arm before he could follow, Bonzu looked back at the general in confusion.

Iroh gave him a knowing smile, "You would do well to remember something young man, 'a flower will always face the light that nourishes it'"

Bonzu scowled at the brewmaster's cryptic words and stumbled off after his wife, leaving, the tea house silent and empty.

"Why don't you two take the rest of the night off, you're covering my brother-in-law's shift tomorrow morning, I'll have him close up shop." Pao told them, "My wife sent dinner, sun plum partridge-chicken and roasted carrot-aloo."

"That is very kind of you Pao." Iroh turned to Zuko, "Lee why don't you go on home and get the food warmed up, I have some suggestions to discuss with Pao. I shouldn't be too long."

Zuko nodded and headed for the back door leaving the two older men alone.

"You did well tonight." Iroh smiled at Pao.

"It's only thanks to you." Pao shrugged, "I would have never grown a backbone without your help."

"It was always there, you just needed some assistance in finding it." Iroh assured him.

"Still, thank you." Pao walked over to table six and shifted the tray to reveal a pair of palms scorched into the tabletop "Though Master, you'll have to tell your nephew to be more careful."

Iroh sighed, "He is still young and so very lost, I am hoping that our time here will help him somehow."

"Do you think he is the key to ending this?"

"No, not him alone, there are many at play here but they are all mere children." Iroh sat in a chair, the knowledge resting heavily on his heart, "I trust the spirits, but it is a great burden they have placed on these young ones."

"'We grow more inflexible as we age.' you told me that. We both know ending the war is just the beginning." Pao traced the black marks, his fingertips coming back dusted in soot.

"The world will be much different after the war. It will need leaders that will straddle that change. Ones that will be brave enough to step one foot into the unknown and wise enough to keep one rooted in consequences of the past. It will be the only way for the world to heal and move forward. I believe these children will be the ones to do exactly that."

"Lee, he is still going on his nightly adventures?"

"Yes." Iroh gave a half-hearted smirk.

"Are you sure it is safe to let him continue?" Pao questioned.

"No, it's not, but it is necessary. The avatar is here in Ba Sing Se. There will be another shift, I just hope it's enough."

The two sat in silence as they were reminded of the weight of what was to come.

"Master you should head home, you have had a long day." Pao said breaking the silence.

"You are quite right, this man's old bones are weary. I want to thank you for help in all of this."

"Anything for the Order."

"My apologies for the unwanted attention we have attracted to you and yours, we will have to move soon."

"It is quite alright but when the time comes I will begrudgingly play along." Pao ribbed.

"You have eaten the fruit." Iroh bowed to Pao

"And now I guard the gate." Pao pressed his fist to his chest and bowed.

Iroh waved to Pao and walked out into the night, his feet bringing him to the rundown building that he and his nephew had been calling home. Looking up he found Zuko's room dark and his window open, the Blue Spirit was already roaming the night.

Ah yes Pipinpadaloxicopolis, I feel the same was Zuko does about the use of sweetie ;P
Hope you liked it, you can let me know your thoughts in a review :)