The day is long, but filled with tea and cookie making. Zuko is grumpy and doesn't help with any of the baking. Making a cookie is close to making a tart, a reminder of a time when I used to help make the fruit tarts at the temples. It comes back to me naturally. I lose myself in the mixing of the dough in the back, with Iroh making simple talk with the few customers that come in.
We quickly fall into a routine, the three of us. Iroh making the tea, me baking the cookies, and Zuko being the grumpy server. From time to time, I find myself out in the front of the shop, also serving. My smiles bring more out of people than Zuko ever can. On the way home, I say as much.
"You know people will like you more if you smile," I say, nudging him in the side. We all smell like tea and cookies and hard work.
"I don't want these people to like me," Zuko replies, scowling down at me.
"Well, it would definitely help business if you were the one making the cookies and Amrita was out with the crowd!" Iroh offers, also nudging Zuko on his other side.
"That would be a good idea, for all of five minutes, until Lee burns the cookies!" Iroh and I fall into laughter, but it does little to put Zuko in a better mood.
It is well past dark by the time we return to our apartment. Pao had given us some foodstuff for dinner, since we didn't really have a chance to stock our apartment up with anything yet. Despite making tea all day, the first thing Iroh does when we get home is start another pot.
"Would you like a pot of tea?" Iroh asks, grabbing the teapot that I had made on the road and setting it on the counter. Zuko is laying back against the futon, having been on his feet moving all day.
"We've been working in a tea shop all day!" Zuko replies, exasperated. "I'm sick of tea!"
Aghast, Iroh says, "'Sick of tea'! That's like being sick of breathing!" I'm sitting at the dinner table, watching Iroh and Zuko bickering like the family they are. It brings a smile to my face. Iroh is opening drawers, looking for something. "Have you seen the spark rocks to heat up the water?"
So Iroh had time to pick up a few necessitates when shopping for the flower pot? That was smart of him, though he forgot about food.
Neither of us reply, especially since neither of us were aware that Iroh had purchased any. Iroh leaves the apartment, returning back moments later. "I borrowed our neighbor's! Such kind people."
He lights the fire with ease. "Amrita, why don't you get out the dinner Pao sent us home with? We can start heating that up, and we can return the spark rocks to our neighbors when we're done."
I stand up, opening the bag our boss sent us home with. "We should go to the market first thing, since Pao paid us tonight. Get some rice, vegetables, anything that will stay good for a while."
I pull out the wooden containers Pao sent us home with, opening them. A side of meat, though I'm unsure which type. Some steamed vegetables. A large helping of noodles. A jug of broth to combine it all together. "He sent us a lot. Probably to make a bowl of noodles each."
"What about meat?" Zuko asks. "Would we pick up any meat?" Zuko doesn't stand up from the futon, hands crossed behind his head, staring at the far wall.
"Meat doesn't stay good for long, unless it's smoked or salted, so we would have to buy it fresh everyday. We can probably pick some up on the way home from work," I say, searching the cupboards for a pot large enough for all the food Pao gave us.
Once Iroh has finished heating up his water for tea, I use the burner he had set up, placing the pot on top, adding a little more wood to keep it hot. I add everything to the pot, putting a lid on it to let it simmer for a while.
I return to the table, joined by Iroh, who passes me a cup of tea. "I hope we can settle down here," Iroh says.
"I'm sure we will," I say, sipping the tea. It tastes delicious, just like anything else Iroh makes. "I doubt the Fire Nation would even think to look here!"
There may be a lot of walls around us, and theft is just around the corner, but our apartment is cozy, and we're together. It feels safe, comfortable. It feels like a place where we can make a home.
The days comfortably pass by. The tea shop gets busier as more people are drawn by Iroh's delicious tea and accompanying cookies. We are given two days off, each, which we rotate around, so there are always two people in the shop at all times, though there are often the three of us, with Pao taking some nights off himself.
Pao quickly comes to trust us, taking in our tale of fleeing the war for a safer place in Ba Sing Se. He allows us to open and close the shop without him and takes Iroh and I's menu suggestions to heart. Even though Zuko never gets less grumpy, he still finds him a competent tea server and a dishwasher. We've made a place for ourselves, and we've helped Pao's shop get busier.
Nights are busier than days, as we get a lot of people on their way home from work stopping for a pot of tea with a friend, or a section of the Outer Ring Wall guards here, rather than at a bar. It is on such a busy night that Jet reappears, rather violently.
All except for one table is taken, and it's been like that pretty much all night. A lot of people tell Iroh that he makes the best tea in the city, which is often met with Iroh's reply of "The secret ingredient is love!" Personally, I think the reason is the effort he puts into each batch, the care given to every bundle of tea, the -
Jet kicks open the door, a piece of wheat hanging from his mouth, carrying his hooked swords, saying, "I'm tired of waiting. These three workers are firebenders!"
The three of us - Zuko, Iroh, and I - are standing in front of the main counter. Iroh, holding a fresh pot of tea; Zuko, with his plate of dishes; and me, carrying a hot pan of cookies to cool in the front. We stare incredulously at Jet.
Neither Iroh nor Zuko have bended since Iroh's incident at the monorail. They've both been really careful about it. Was it my joke about the Fire Nation that first night that revealed us? Where was our misstep?
Jet pulls his hook swords out, slicing them in the air in front of him.
A few of the people in the tea shop have stood up and backed away from the door. I mean, who wouldn't, Jet has swords in a crowded building? Everyone is staring incredulously at Jet, actually. Nobody believes him. Thank the Spirits.
"I know they're firebenders!" Jet yells. "I saw the old man heating his tea." Oh, he looks even crazier now, considering the job Iroh picked for us.
One of the men Iroh just served says, "He works in a tea shop."
Jet, not listening to reason, says, "He's a firebender! I'm telling you!"
"Drop your swords, boy. Nice and easy." They must be guards, because they stand up to try to calm Jet.
"You'll have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can do." Jet's fighting words are pointed toward Zuko. Luckily, we leave the dao and the bo in the back, just for the walk to and from work, to defend ourselves.
That doesn't stop Zuko. The guard that spoke up for us is reaching for his swords, but Zuko is quicker, especially to anger and his honor. He grabs the guard's swords, saying, "You want a show? I'll give you a show!"
He takes the broadswords and splits them apart, entering a fighting stance. Zuko proceeds to take the table that the guard was out and kicks it at Jet, who hooks onto the table with his hook swords and jumps over it. His weapons are surprisingly versatile, more so than I originally thought.
Jet slices at Zuko, who easily deflects and hops back onto another table. Jet's hook swords slice through the table, and Zuko balances easily on one foot as he continues to dodge each of Jet's moves. Zuko jumps off, landing and swinging both swords at Jet.
There's a lot of damage to the shop, and I hope Pao doesn't take it out of our paychecks.
With ease, Jet kicks Zuko out the front door, knocking him onto his back. Jet doesn't miss a beat, breaking the doors off their hinges and running at Zuko. However, Zuko is quick to recover. Zuko and Jet are locked together with their swords crossed as the entirety of the tea shop looks through the doors and the windows, gaping at the action in front of them.
"Please, son, you're confused! You don't know what you're doing!" Iroh yells.
Despite Iroh's warning, they continue to trade blows. Jet says, "Bet you wish he'd help you out with a little fire blast right now."
Jet swings at Zuko's feet, having combined both his swords somehow, but Zuko is quick to meet Jet's swords. He pins the swords down by the hilt, stopping Jet in his overhead swing. "You're the one who needs help," Zuko says.
Jet removes one of his hook swords and is down to one weapon. Zuko swings at Jet's head, but Jet quickly leans back. The top of his wheat strand is cut off. Jet angrily flips back, landing on the edge of a well.
"You see that? The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! It'll never happen!" Jet yells, jumping straight at Zuko.
As they continue to exchange blows, a small crowd forms around them. Eventually, some soldiers in dark green with the Earth Kingdom symbol on their chest appear. "Drop your weapons," one of them says.
Jet points at Iroh, Zuko, and I, saying, "Arrest them! They're firebenders!"
Iroh and I are standing close to Zuko, and Iroh speaks up, "This poor boy is confused. We're just simple refugees." He spreads his hands out.
"This young man wrecked my tea shop and assaulted my employees!" Pao adds on, gesturing toward Jet.
The guard that Zuko stole his swords from says, "It's true, sir. We saw the whole thing. This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city."
Iroh blushes, saying, "Oh, ho, ho. That's very sweet."
"Actually, Mushi, he attacked Lee, the worst tea maker in the city," I whisper to Iroh, who laughs but quiets me with a look.
The soldiers that arrived earlier walk up to Jet, who is enraged. "Come with us, son," one of them says. However, Jet doesn't go down quietly. He swings his leftover sword at the soldier, who catches it in an earthen palm. He easily disarms Jet, pulling his hands behind his back, securing them with something.
"You don't understand!" Jet pleads as the soldiers drag him away. "They're Fire Nation! You have to believe me!"
We watch in eerie silence as Jet is dragged away to a caged cart. That is the last we see of him.