White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

18

        It was rare for people from the upper ring to come to the lower ring, Rezalia knew that much after a month. So, when people wearing clothes that were cleanly pressed and had gold stitching, Rezalia knew something up. She was tense as she served the men their tea, avoiding eye contact as they asked about Iroh. "He's making another batch of tea, I can go get him if you'd like."

"Please do," the man in charge responds.

Rezalia goes to get Iroh, but Zuko holds his arm out in front of her before she could reach the kitchen. "Are they bothering you?" he asks quietly.

"No. They're from the upper ring and they want to see uncle," Rezalia tells him as she slips from his grip. "I don't think it's bad."

Zuko nods and goes back to sweeping. Rezalia brings Iroh to the front of the shop, where the upp ring men were now standing. "So you're the genius behind this incredible brew. The whole city is buzzing about you. I hope Pao pays you well."

Rezalia relaxes and takes the broom from Zuko, pointing him toward the next tray of tea. "Good tea is its own reward," Iroh replies with a smile.

"But it doesn't have to be the only reward. How would you like to have your own tea shop?" the man offers. Rezalia nearly drops her broom.

"My own tea shop? This is a dream come true!"

Pao runs over and speaks desperately. "What's going on here? Are you trying to poach my tea maker?" Pao throws himself in between Iroh and the upper ring man with a glare toward the latter.

"Sorry Pao, that's business for you, am I right?" the man says with a slight smirk.

Pao turns on Iroh. "Mushie, if you stay, I will make you Assistant Manager. Wait, Senior Assistant manager."

"I'll provide you with a new apartment in the upper ring. The Tea shop is yours to do whatever you want. Complete creative freedom," the upper ring man speaks up with the tone of someone who knew they'd won.

Iroh was practically bouncing in place. "I even get to name the shop?"

"Of course!"

Pao was getting more desperate by the word. "Uh, Senior Executive Assistant Manager?"

Iroh hands the teapot in his hand to Pao, who slumps in defeat. Excitedly, he turns to his nephew who was bussing tables. "Did you hear nephew? This man wants to give us our own tea shop in the upper ring of the city."

"That's right young man. Your life is about to change for the better. The young lady as well if you'd like," the man - whose name they still didn't know - grins at them.

"She stays with us," Zuko says before slipping out the front door. Rezalia frowns at him but shakes it off, letting him brood or whatever it was he was doing out there. A moment later, an odd thudding sounds, the noise travelling up the side of the building before stopping. Rezalia seemed to be the only one who heard it so she let it be. It was probably Zuko being weird.

Iroh plucks the broom from Rezalia's grasp and ushers her out the door, barely giving her time to toss Pao both their robes and the broom. "We need to pack!" Iroh mumbles happily.

The pair enter their apartment and begin shoving things into their bags. Rezalia was playing with one of her bendable bracelets when Zuko returned to the apartment. "So, I was thinking about names for my new tea shop. How ;bout the Jasmine Dragon? It's dramatic, poetic, has a nice ring to it," Iroh says, though nobody was a hundred percent sure who he was talking to.

Zuko ignored his uncle's words all together. "The Avatar's here in Ba Sing Se. And he's lost his bison," he says, holding out a flyer that depicted a drawing of Appa.

"Z," Rezlia sighs. "You're still on that?"

" We have a chance for a new life here. If you start stirring up trouble, we could lose all the good things that are happening for us."

Zuko clenches his fists as he stares out the window. "Good things that are happening for you. Have you ever thought that I want more from life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?"

Rezalia sits up, clasping her bracelet around her wrist. "Z, there's nothing wrong with having a simple life. And if you don't want that, what do you want?"

"I want my destiny," Zuko snaps.

Iroh steps forward and sets his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "What that means is up to you." Zuko shakes him off and walks away. Iroh gasps a bit. " The Tea Weevil! No, that's stupid."

Rezalia smiles at Iroh as Zuko leaves. "He's gonna do something stupid."

"We'll just have to be there for him when he needs us."

~*~

"He's gonna need a hospital when I'm done with him," Rezalia mutters darkly. "That moron! I'm gonna kill him!"

Iroh huffs a bit from where he was walking next to him. "Only if his pride doesn't do the job before you get the chance."

Rezalia grumbles wordlessly as they slip through the door ahead of them. The figure turns around, raising their swords before dropping them in surprise. "Uncle? Zali?"

"So, the Blue Spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask?" Iroh asks sarcastically.

Zuko sighs and removes his mask. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing!" Rezalia snaps. "What do you plan to do not that you have Aang's bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment? Should I go lay out a cot for him?"

"First I have to get it out of here."

Iroh explodes. "AND THEN WHAT?! You never think these things through! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!"

Zuko clenches his fists as he shouts back, "I would have figured something out!"

"Like hell! If Aang's friends hadn't found you, you'd be dead by now!"

"I know my own destiny," Zuko says, stepping back a bit as his knuckles go white around the hilts of his swords.

Rezalia scoffs. Iroh looks his nephew dead in the eyes as he speaks. "Is it your own destiny? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?"

Zuko flinches a bit. "Stop it Uncle. I have to do this."

"You don't!" Rezalia shouts, stepping forward. "Shit, Z, stop looking at what you think you have to do and figure out what you want! Who are you?!"

"You know who I am, Zali."

"Do I? 'Cause sometimes I don't recognize you." At Rezalia's words, Zuko lets out a cry of frustration and hurls his swords and mask at the ground. "What do you want, Zuko?"

Zuko looks down at his weapons. "I...I don't want this," he finally whispers. Rezalia walks up to her friend and forces him to face her.

"Then do something about it."

Zuko reaches down and grabs his swords. Rezalia steps aside as Zuko stalks toward the sky bison. Appa retreats as far as his chains would allow him to. Zuko swings his swords up and back down again, slicing through the metal that bound the bison to the ground. Iroh grins in tandem with Rezalia as Zuko steps away from the sky bison. "GO!" he shouts, gesturing for the bison to leave.

"Let's go, nephew," Iroh says gently. "These caves are bad for my lungs."

It didn't take long for them reach the surface, pausing to stand on the dock. Zuko stares down at his mask. Iroh squeezes his nephew's shoulder. "You did the right thing, nephew. Leave it behind." Zuko steps forward and drops the Blue Spirit mask into the lake.