Zuko and I finish packing in a very comfortable silence. Iroh arrives around midday with lunch for us, and I heat up the balance butter tea for him to try. He doesn't hate it as much as Zuko did, and he enjoys me sharing this part of my history with him.

"Everything is set up for us to move tomorrow morning. The movers will be here early, so we need to make sure everything is already packed for them to take," Iroh says, sitting down with the tea and watching us.

"Oh, Uncle, we already finished packing," Zuko says from the other room.

"Zuko, Zia, you didn't have to! Especially with you just now feeling better, Zuko." However, Iroh looks happy that he doesn't have to finish packing. He takes another sip of the balance butter tea, and smiles. "You're right, Zia, this does grow on you! You'll have to show me how to make it next time."

"Of course. I'm glad you like it," I say, setting out the plates for lunch. Iroh picked up dim sum on his way back from the Upper Ring. A variety of dishes, including dumplings, spring rolls, and different buns filled with meat, are all packed into circular wooden containers. Everything we eat is delicious.

After eating, Iroh sits down heavily onto the couch. It came with the apartment, so we will not be taking a lot of the furnishings with us. However, the Upper Ring's apartments are also furnished. "I think we should go shopping once the movers head to the Upper Ring. That gives them time to put everything away, and time for us to relax and purchase anything we want to put in our new home!" Iroh is incredibly excited for tomorrow to start.

I sit down next to him on the couch, and I see Zuko moving around the other room. I don't know what he's doing, since we packed the majority of everything away before Iroh even came back.

Later, as I'm taking my clothes out for tomorrow to wear, Zuko appears next to me. We are alone in the bedroom, and Iroh is busy sorting through all the things we packed earlier. His reasoning for doing that is to make sure everything is wrapped up safe and will make the trip up. He is especially concerned for the wooden teapot I whittled for him when we were on the run.

"Before we leave tomorrow, I want to show you something," Zuko says. He is nervous again. His demure has changed a lot since he found the flier for Appa, but I can still see the same nervousness in him that he had for his date with Jin.

"When?"

"Tonight."

"That's short notice." I look at him and smile, folding the bright green blouse I intend to wear for shopping tomorrow. He looks troubled, but not in the same way as before.

Zuko is silent for a long time. Then, very quietly so Iroh doesn't hear through the open door, he whispers, "Would you like to go on a date with me?"

To put it shortly, I'm incredibly shocked by his question. It must show on my face because he adds, "I was serious, after my date with Jin, that I wanted to make a life with you here, in Ba Sing Se."

"You had a very vague idea of what that entailed. I mean, the next day you ran off to catch Appa."

"I know. But you and Uncle showed me a different way." Zuko grabs my hand, and I have half a mind to pull it away. I don't know what I want, but Zuko being like this feels different.

"What's changed?" I ask.

"I've grown. Uncle said I would metamorphosis into the prince he always wanted me to be." After a pause, he adds, "Letting the bison go meant giving the Avatar a way to escape out of my reach. I won't search for him anymore. They can leave Ba Sing Se, and I cannot."

"You can, but why would you?" I squeeze his hand, and Zuko smiles a little. "I mean, Azula is officially trying to capture you and return you to your father, and you haven't really done anything wrong to warrant being a fugitive from your own country." His logic makes sense. I nod at him, adding, "Yes, I'll go out with you tonight. You're safe here, in Ba Sing Se, Zuko. Iroh and I will always be here to take care of you. I promise."

I really do. I mean it. I promise that I will always be there for Zuko, and support him. He found his own way to this point in his life, with Iroh and I by his side. It's amazing how much love and guidance can do for a person's spirit.

Zuko goes to tell Iroh of our nighttime plans. While he leaves the room, I sort through my packed clothes. I don't have a lot in the way of date clothes. That is to say, most everything I own I wear to work. I hope Iroh's shopping spree tomorrow will help alleviate my wardrobe.

My hair has grown a bit since we chopped it off at the river. I can now braid it down past my neck, but I don't really have anything to tie it back with. Zuko comes into the room, already having changed into the nicer tunic Iroh bought for him when we came to Ba Sing Se. He holds out the orange ribbon, the only remainder of my Air Nomad clothes.

I smile at him and accept the strip of cloth, using it to tie my hair back. I do a little spin around, and Zuko smiles. It is a smile that marks a new man, and I hold him out at arm's length. "You look good," I say.

"You look . . .amazing."

We go out into the living room for approval from Iroh, and he seems just as happy as we do that we're finally going out on an actual date. He hands me a pouch of money and bids us good night, though I know he will be up late into the night waiting on us.

Zuko takes me up to the Middle Ring, where he guides me through the nighttime crowds. Everyone is dressed so much nicer than I am, but I have a hard time taking my eyes off the lights. However, when I look up at the sky, it is difficult to make out the stars with all the lights around us. I frown, but Zuko pulls me into a side street.

"Since we had such a large lunch with Uncle, I thought we could try some street food," Zuko tells me. He has a dumb grin on his face, and I find it hard to disagree. He stops at a stand with intense smells of fruit. "Two tanghulu, please." They exchange money for skewered fruits, and Zuko passes one to me. "It's fruit that's been dipped in sugar, I think. Just taste it."

The first fruit is a grape, and it is hard to bite into. The sweet and sour mixture of the sugar and fruit bursts into my mouth. Each different fruit down the skewer accompanies the taste of the sugar nicely. "It's good!" I tell Zuko, my mouth mostly full of candied fruits.

The night proceeds like this, Zuko showing me different street food vendors, and me trying things I haven't had before. The cuisine of street vendors is so different from what I am used to, but we primarily have sweet things. A bean curd puff here, a moon peach cake there. I don't know where Zuko found the time to explore Ba Sing Se's cuisine, but I'm glad he did.

We end the night by returning to the Lower Ring. However, he doesn't take me directly back to the apartment. Instead, he leads us deeper into the Lower Ring, further than our normal route from Pao's to our apartment. I admit, I haven't spent a lot of time exploring the Lower Ring, since it fills me with much distaste at how the rich treat the poor. I want to change that, both my distaste to the disparity and the unexplored sections of the city.

However, Zuko asks that I close my eyes when we get closer to our destination. He holds my hand, and his warmth is a comfort in the growing chill. We stop, and he leans in close to me, whispering, "You can open your eyes now."

The area is well lit, and a fountain sits in the middle of the plaza. There are lights in the fountain itself, and they move and reflect the rippling of the fountain. I smile. It feels very homey here, in the middle of the night, with no one around the fountain.

I turn to Zuko, but he is already watching me. He leans toward me, putting a hand on the side of my face and pulling me close. I close my eyes, and I let Zuko pull me into him. We kiss, and I can't help but think, Spirits, I am in love with Zuko.

There is no doubt about it as he pulls me into him, and I wrap my hands into his shaggy hair, deepening the kiss.

We are safe here, in Ba Sing Se. We have a good job, and a new apartment, and Zuko knows what he wants from life.

All the hardship we faced on the boat and on the run melts away from us. Aang is not something either of us strive for - Zuko for freedom and honor, and me for a link to my past, a comfort that doesn't really exist. It is just the two of us, and Iroh.

We have found a home, and each other. Everything feels right, now.

Iroh does a great job directing the movers and Zuko and I. He does it with ease, and we are handing the keys back over to the landlord in less than a hour. The landlord smiles at Iroh and shakes his hand, wishing him great luck in the Upper Ring.

Then, for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, Iroh makes Zuko and I try on way too many different clothes in the Middle Ring, directing us like we are in a play. He makes me try on a dress, with gold and yellow accents. I can see Zuko's blush out of the corner of my eye, but the dress is too form fitting around my legs and arms. I couldn't fight in this, though I don't tell Iroh that.

We're supposed to make a new life here in the Upper Ring, but Zuko and I still walk with our weapons. It's difficult to shake off the feeling that Azula could be around the corner, or that the Rowdy Rhinos are lurking in the shadows of the Middle Ring.

We finish the day with a large dinner, and each of us heads off to our own room to sleep. The apartment is more comfortable than the one we had in the Lower Ring. The kitchen is large, joining onto the main living room with a green rug. Just like our apartment in the Lower Ring, it is already furnished, though the couch and tables are less worn than our previous apartment.

Compared to the Lower Ring, it is a lot better. The windows look out into a clean street, and our neighbors are a lot quieter than they were before. However, the sounds of the Lower Ring were comforting, a white noise that helped me drift off to sleep.

The first night in the new apartment, the eerie silence of the Upper Ring keeps me awake. There is something nagging in the back of my mind, but I can't place it. Instead of sleeping, I spent the whole night unpacking my art supplies and sketching parts of the Western Air Temple in the dim green light.

I don't share my lack of sleep with either Zuko nor Iroh. Instead, I leave my room when I hear Iroh making breakfast, already dressed for the day. "It smells delicious," I tell Iroh, sitting down on the couch. The sound of birds fills the apartment. Everything seems less eerie during the day.

"Good! I think you'll like it. It's jook!" Iroh says, stirring the pot and adding some spices to the cauldron.

It isn't too much longer until Zuko wakes up, yawning and already dressed for the day. He says, "What's that smell?"

"It's jook. I'm sure you wouldn't like it." Iroh looks up questionably at Zuko.

Zuko surprises Iroh and I by saying, "Actually, it smells delicious. I'd love a bowl, Uncle." He holds up a bowl for Iroh to fill.

I wonder why Iroh is so suspicious of Zuko's change of demeanor after his fever, but I don't question it. It was hard for me to believe, but Zuko admitted it to me himself. With Appa freed, there is nothing keeping Aang here in Ba Sing Se. Additionally, there is no easy way for us to track Aang once he leaves.

"Now that your fever is gone, you seem different somehow," Iroh says, ladling a spoonful into Zuko's offered bowl. He also places some in my bowl, and lets Zuko carry it over to the table facing the window.

Zuko seems very excited for the day. I wonder if our date the other day had carried its optimism over. "It's a new day. We've got a new apartment, new furniture, and today's the grand opening of your new tea shop." Zuko sits down, looking out the window and he drinks the jook. "Things are looking up, Uncle."

I smile and move over to the table. It is a new day. I catch Iroh smiling at Zuko, and I smile up at him.

Zuko's worldview has changed, and it is for the better. We are going to be better, moving forward, all of us. Striving to be the best we can be with whatever we have, as long as we have each other.