White Lotus Gambit

After leaving the other half of Team Avatar, going to a bar in a town in the middle of nowhere, playing what Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee could only assume was a very symbolic game of pai sho, dodging a bunch of bounty hunters out for the reward on the two Fire Princes, the three of them finally hid inside a flower shop on the other side of town, where Uncle had then ditched them to go in the back.

This left Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee in the front section of the closed shop with nothing to do but entertain TomTom and talk.

"Soooo," Ty Lee said as she played peek-a-boo with TomTom. "Uncle is part of some secret pai sho society."

"That explains so much," said Zuko, looking like he was recontextualizing his life.

"Like what?" asked Mai, more out of boredom than anything else.

"Like his obsession with that white lotus tile. The fact he kept making excuses about wanting us to make stops at random ports just to disappear for hours when I was searching for the Avatar. How he just so happened to have a friend in the North Pole willing to hide us, and many, many other things," Zuko listed off.

Ty Lee managed to pry a story about one such incident out of him that ended up involving the rest of Team Avatar and a band of pirates. The story was so entertaining to TomTom, that they were able to squeeze a few more out of him as well.

It seemed no matter what life he was in, he would always be a sucker for his nephews.

Eventually, TomTom drifted off into a nap, so they had to take up quieter entertainment. Zuko meditated, Ty Lee pulled out some paper and charcoal and started writing talisman theories alongside sketching pictures of bunnies, and Mai began gathering long dry-looking leaves off a nearby plant to weave into grass butterfly toys for TomTom.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the door to the back room opened, and Uncle waved them in.

"I have been able to procure us passports that will allow us into Ba Sing Se," he said cheerfully, bringing them over to where the fake documents were being made. "There is just one last thing we need to add."

"What?" asked Zuko.

"Well," said Uncle with a smile. "We've actually been very fortunate in our journey to meet people we knew in some fashion, and therefore never had to falsify our names and history. I thought it'd be best to include you all in that decision. Keep in mind, that these will be the names we will go by in public from now on. It would be best for it to be a name you will answer to."

Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee all shared a glance, knowing what he was hinting at.

This was a chance to briefly reclaim their old names or some variation of them if they wanted.

"Family name Jiang, given name Cheng," Zuko said quietly. He then glanced at Ty Lee and added, "Have Jiang as her family name too. She's my sister."

Ty Lee looked touched.

"Shut up," Zuko said before she could say anything.

Ty Lee let out a laugh, then said, "Unfortunately, Ying as a name is already taken in this life, so put my given name down as YingYing."

Mai looked at her in confusion at the modification, and Ty Lee whispered she'd explain later.

"And what would you suggest would be a good given name for myself?" asked Uncle jovially. "I presume my family name would be Jiang as well?"

Zuko hesitated for a long moment. "... Fengmian," he finally muttered quietly.

Ty Lee gasped and Mai shot him a look.

"I suppose that means that name has some significance," observed Uncle curiously.

Zuko looked away from him and said quietly so the old man writing their names in the passport wouldn't hear. "... It was my father's name."

Now it was Uncle's turn to look touched.

(Ty Lee, meanwhile, quietly thought it was fitting. As much as she'd loved Jiang Shushu, Uncle had already been far more of a doting father to Zuko than the real Jiang Fengmian had ever been.)

The old man forging their documents finished up theirs, then looked to Mai expectantly.

"Family name Lan, given name Zhan," she said.

Ty Lee smiled up at her. "We get to call you Lan Zhan again," she said happily.

But for some reason, that made Mai frown and hold out her hand to stop the old man before he could put down her given name. "Actually, have the given name be Yi. Lan Yi," she said.

The forger gave her a confused look, but shrugged and did as she asked.

Seeing Ty Lee's confusion at the change, Mai explained quietly, "Only I call you Wei Ying, and only you call me Lan Zhan."

Ty Lee looked touched again, but Zuko had to interject, "Okay, but why Yi?"

Mai shrugged. "She was a famous ancestor and clan leader. Invented the Chord Assassination Technique. I have always admired her."

"And the little one? What will be his name?" asked the old man as he prepared the last document.

Mai looked down at the still sleeping TomTom in her arms fondly. "Lan Yuan," she said.

"Your little brother?" asked the forger.

"My son," Mai corrected.

The old man squinted at her and TomTom, then shrugged. "People are looking younger every day," he muttered to himself.

Soon enough, the passports were finished, and they reclaimed Peacock the Second and got out of that town as fast as possible.

Ba Sing Se, here they come.

A/N Yes, Ty Lee calling herself YingYing is a SVSSS reference. I thought it'd be cute if it was still only the two of them who called each other by those names.