Lu Ten could hardly believe his luck as the train zipped back into the lower ring. Ayeshi's hand was wrapped in his and she leaned against him. She was so warm. Lu Ten leaned down and gently kissed the top of her head, and while he couldn't quite see her face he was pretty sure she smiled. Ayeshi would be his first ever romantic encounter and he didn't want to muck it up. Then again, Ozai had basically kidnapped Ursa to be his bride so the bar for romantic failure was very low in his family.
"This should go without saying," said Ayehsi, "but my mom doesn't need to know about this."
"Of course not." Lu Ten wrapped his arm around her again and leaned back in his seat, trying not to laugh as he pictured Miyo's face when she found out her daughter was dating a fire bender. The golden light fluttered through the windows, and here in this little train car everything was perfect.
On the walk back from the train station, they noticed people leaning on street vendors' stalls and whispering to each other in dark alleys. Something had happened again. There was not a sense of celebration like when the siege had ended, though. This time people seemed confused and apprehensive. Whatever it was they were talking about, it probably wasn't good.
"It's about time!" Miyo said as they opened the door to the noodle shop. "How was your joyride to the outer wall, Ayeshi?"
"It was just grand. You'd never know, looking over the wall, that we were under siege for so long."
"The Dai Li clean up quickly." Said Miyo, using the same phrase her daughter had."Lee, you're going to love this. More news about your crackpot government. The fire lord's dead!"
"What? Fire lord Azulon, dead?"/
"Yup! Died a few days ago. Thank goodness. Now the world can breathe a little easier."
"No we can't, Mom." Said Ayeshi. "He'll just have one of his sons take over as new fire lord."
"How did he die?" Lu Ten asked.
"Dunno." Miyo shrugged. "He was terribly old, wasn't he? People die of lots of things when they're his age."
"He was in good health when I went to war. Of course, that was a while ago now."
"He's being replaced by his second son." Wei said. "Not the Dragon of the West, the other one. It was his dying wish or something."
"Ozai? But that's not how the line of succession went. Iroh was older. It should be my f— it should be Iroh."
"I heard they switched it because Iroh's bloodline has ended. And Ozai has two kids. That's just what I've heard though."
"That's suspicious." Said Lu Ten. "What?"
"Why do you think it's suspicious?" Said Ayeshi mildly. "It seems like common sense to me if Ozai has two heirs and Iroh has none. Besides, isn't Iroh going mad with grief right now?"
"I suppose. It's just that the fire lord would want to do everything by lineage. Iroh is the oldest son, so Azulon would've wanted to pass the throne to him because that's how it's always done. It's tradition, and the Fire Nation likes tradition. It just doesn't seem right, you know? I told you the fire nation is slimy."
"Weren't you nobility?" Han asked. "Did you know the new fire lord? What was he like?"
"I knew who he was but only really caught glimpses of him at official events." It wasn't far from the truth. Ozai had spent most of his time training Azula or sucking up to Azulon, and held disdain for Iroh's branch of the family. "As for him as fire lord . . . well, he's not a nice guy."
"Great. Just great." Miyo grumbled. "What can we expect from him?"
"I don't know. I really don't know."
"It's been a great month. First Ba Sing Se is liberated, general Iroh gives up, my shop gets a boost, and now the fire lord's dead. Only downside is there's a fire bender still living in my basement, but he makes good tea so he's not all bad."
"Yeah, about that." Said Lu Ten. "I actually wanted to stay on a little longer, if you're all right with that. I—I'm not quite ready to go back to the Fire Nation."
"I don't like you very much and you know that," said Miyo, "However, you're the key to my shop's economic success so I'm actually kind of glad you're staying. Plus, you make my Ayeshi happy, so it's worked out ok."
"Doesn't that make you a deserter?" Wei piped up.
"I guess it does. But after seeing some of the devastation caused by the Fire Nation, I'm ok with that. They never taught us how much pain we caused to others."
"You haven't seen half the devastation caused by them." Ayeshi was standing in the corner, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. "I can show you more. I can show you so much. But I applaud you for your moral compass. That's something you don't see in a lot of Fire Nation soldiers."
"Thanks. I get it from my father. Or, I thought I did."
"That's enough about moral compasses." Said Miyo. "It's late, and you two most certainly do not have the day off tomorrow."
Lu Ten nodded and he and Ayeshi went down to the basement. He settled himself on his bed and Ayeshi sat next to him, her body nestled into his. "This feels right." She whispered. "I'm glad you're staying in Ba Sing Se. So should I . . . should I call you my boyfriend?"
Lu Ten was unable to keep a smile off his face. "If you want to. If you do that I'll start calling you my girlfriend."
"All right then. My boyfriend, Lee the Fire Nation deserter."
"My girlfriend, Ayeshi the Earth Kingdom noodle pro." The lie—Lee—prickled in the back of Lu Ten's mind. Sooner or later he'd have to tell her the truth, and it would be ugly when he finally did.