Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Not really, no. I have no such plans.

Zigzagdoublezee: No, this is a far rowdier establishment in the lower ring.

As Always, Please Review!

"Hua, we meet again," Riku boomed, stepping forwards holding a fake spear and wearing an enormous false moustache. "Come to die?"

The sound of booing echoed around the Jade Phoenix tearoom, accompanied by the low hubbub of talking.

"I've come to stop you!" Sachiko pointed at him defiantly. "For the Earth Kingdom!"

Riku laughed, and levelled the spear at her.

"Come on, then," he said. "Try your best."

Sachiko drew a very obviously fake sword and pointed it at him, her hand trembling. There was a clatter as she dropped it and had to dive for it, but a moment later she was back up on her feet, pointing the weapon at the villain of the show.

From the wings, Zuko sat next to Mai, watching the action play out. The audience was loud, just like they had been warned, but they seemed quite a forgiving one. They hadn't laughed in too many of the wrong places, anyway. They even seemed enthusiastic, which was nice. But they did have a habit of talking through it, which Zuko, used as he was to Fire Nation theatre, found disrespectful. But apparently this was completely normal here, so he tried to let it go.

The two actors were fighting now, trading blows with their prop weapons which were very slow and obviously choreographed.

Meanwhile, Makio sidled up next to Zuko, who passed him another prop spear.

"Ha-ha!" Riku crowed as he knocked Sachiko's weapon out of her hand. Sachiko hesitated, and then threw herself on the ground as Riku advanced on her, weapon raised.

"First I'm going to kill you," he told her, "then I'm going to raze your village, and then I'm going to destroy your entire pathetic excuse for a country!"

"No!" Sachiko called.

"Yes!" Riku crowed, a note of triumph in his voice. "Any last words?"

"Hua!" Another voice called, and Makio rushed onto the stage from behind Riku, wielding his spear which he shoved under the other actor's arm. Riku caught it between his arm and his chest, and then groaned in mock pain, falling to his knees.

"Stabbed in the back!" He proclaimed. Then he fell to the floor, twitching. Makio stepped over him, and then rushed to Sachiko, kneeling beside her.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I thought you were dead!"

"I thought I would die," Makio said. "But I escaped."

"I'm dying!" Riku briefly rose again to shout. "Oh spirits, I'm dying!"

Both the other actors swivelled to look at him.

"Too much?" He whispered. "Sorry."

Then he dropped dead again.

Makio and Sachiko stared at him for a couple more seconds, to make sure he really was done, and then carried on with the script.

"The enemy King is dead!" Sachiko said. "And you killed him! The war is over!"

A cheer rose up from the audience at that.

"I love you," Makio told her.

"And I love you," Sachiko replied. They went in for a kiss to the sound of vaguely enthusiastic cheers from the audience.

This part, at least, wasn't acting; Sachiko and Makio were a real-life couple, apparently, and this was obvious because it was by far the most convincing element of the play.

Then the rest of the actors were rushing out onto the stage, Riku was standing up, and they were forming a line facing the audience. To more vaguely enthusiastic cheers, they bowed, and then bowed again. A few flowers were even thrown, and the cast gathered them up.

Then they filed off the stage, and the play was over. Riku grimaced as he pulled the false moustache off his face.

"I hate this thing," he muttered. "Why do you keep making me wear it?"

"Wearing it was your idea," Chikao reminded him.

"Oh, yeah."

"Pretty good crowd, I think," Airi, one of the other actresses, remarked. "They seemed enthusiastic."

"Gave us a fair bit of money, too," Fumika added approvingly.

"There was an air nomad there, I think," Chikao told them.

Zuko's head snapped towards him.

"There was?"

"Near the back, he had his own table. At least I think he was a nomad, why else would he be wearing all that orange?"

"What's an air nomad doing in the lower ring?" Mai asked.

"The Spirits only know," Riku rumbled. "But that's not our problem. As long as we gave him a good show, that's all that matters."

Zuko nodded, although a small doubt lingered in the back of his mind. It couldn't have anything to do with him, could it?

The door to the backstage area opened, and the owner of the teashop entered, grinning at them.

"Another night, another triumph," he told them happily. "You are becoming quite a good investment."

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Chikao told him warmly, bowing.

"You have an admirer," the owner told them.

Chikao blinked.

"We do?"

"Try not to sound so surprised," Riku hissed at him.

The owner stood aside, allowing the 'admirer' to enter the room. A very tall man entered, wearing the yellow and orange robes of an air nomad. He was bald, with mastery tattoos.

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Greetings," he said. "Well met. My name is Tsering."

The actors all looked at each other.

"...Hi," Chikao stumbled over his words. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Chikao, the director."

The other actors went round introducing themselves in turn. Tsering nodded at each of them in turn, acknowledging them.

"I hear you're refugees," he said. "That you only just arrived in the city."

"That is true," Riku told him.

"Well, you certainly seem to have landed on your feet," Tsering said approvingly.

Then he paused.

"Listen," he said, "I may have a little bit of a proposition for you."

"You do?" The owner of the tearoom sounded a bit dismayed to hear that.

"The Air Nomads are coming together in Ba Sing Se for a conference," the nomad explained. "I'm a part of the southern delegation."

Everyone nodded, not really knowing what this had to do with them.

"We thought it would be nice to hire some local entertainment while we're here," Tsering said. "Then we had a better idea. Why don't we hire specifically refugees? Then we can help people who have been impacted by the war, and they can tell us their stories."

He extended a hand towards them.

"Which is where you come in. I heard a theatre group made up of refugees was performing here, so here I am. I saw your show, I liked it. It was pretty good. Would you like to perform at our conference? We do not care much for worldly possessions, but I'm told the money's good."

Zuko could see Chikao trying not to bite the Air Nomad's arm off in his haste to accept. All of the others looked keen as well.

"Yes please," the director said.

"Excellent," Tsering replied happily. "The elders will be pleased."

His gaze fell upon Zuko and Mai, who had not introduced themselves. He looked for a moment like he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head.

"Wait, you say you're from the south?" Fumika spoke up. "Wasn't Avatar Yue headed that way?"

There were general nods of agreement.

"You met Avatar Yue?" Tsering said, surprised. "Well, even better!"

"Have you seen her?" Fumika asked, voicing the question on Zuko's mind.

"Yes, she passed through on her way to the south pole," Tsering told them. "I haven't seen her since, but I'm told their business there was successful."

Zuko discreetly leaned against a pillar, taking this in. So Yue had managed to escape. She was still out there. He didn't know what to make of it. He knew what his family wanted him to make of it, but his circumstances were now very different to theirs.

Riku stepped forwards.

"We'd love to," he said.

Everyone there had long since learned to tune out the distant thunder of artillery.