Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

15

❃ Two Lee's in a Pod ❃

Dawn had already broken out over the large desert by the time that the shop's back door opened. Two White Lotus members stepped out after their long meeting: they finally had a plan. Iroh yawned and stretched his arms above his head as he looked around the small flower shop. To his surprise, the two teens that he had left there were sound asleep. Keya and Zuko were sitting on the stone floor together. Keya was resting her head on Zuko's shoulder, while he in turn rested his head on top of her head. His arms were still crossed, as if he had nodded off unintentionally after a long night.

Iroh's heart warmed at the adorable sight. How nice that they had started to get along! He wondered if they had slept like this intentionally, or if they had somehow fallen asleep like that by accident. He knew that his nephew was never fond of closing his eyes when they were in strange places. The fact that he was leaning against their Earth Kingdom companion spoke volumes. Or perhaps the boy was just exhausted after days of fleeing from bounty hunters...

The old man chuckled and walked over to the pair. He put a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Wake up, Zuko. It's time to leave."

Zuko instantly startled awake. He jumped into a clumsy defensive stance, leaving Keya to grumble and slump over in her sleep. "What's going on? Is the club meeting over?" He stumbled over his words, still sleep-drunk and a bit discombobulated.

"The meeting is indeed over, Prince Zuko. Did you have a good night's rest?"

The pale teen looked back at the girl he'd slept next to and blushed. His calloused hand rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not what it seems. I just happened to fall asleep. Don't get any strange ideas, uncle."

But his uncle just laughed and put a hand on his shoulder teasinly. "Prince Zuko, I'm glad to see that you're starting to enjoy some of life's true pleasures. Go wake our companion, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear where we're going next."

With a red face and an embarrassed scowl, Zuko pushed his uncle's hand off of his shoulder. "You don't know what you're talking about. It's not like that."

His rude attitude did not fase the old man. He just laughed again and walked over to the other White Lotus member to discuss some boring details of their plans. In the meantime, Zuko walked over to Keya and gave her a soft kick to wake her up.

"Wake up. We need to leave." He commanded, but she didn't react to him much. Her eyes remained closed as he tried to wake her. The days past had not done her sleep schedule well, so her body clung to every second of unconscious bliss that it could.

Zuko quickly got frustrated and crouched on the sand to jostle her with his hands. Keya's sleepy form complained softly. The girl mumbled and groaned, before nesting back in the sand. She did not like being jostled. Sadly, the sandy ground was much less comfortable than the warm, firm shoulder she had slept on all night. The smell of jasmine and bonfire wasn't too unwelcome, though. She wondered where it came from.

"Five more minutes, Lei." Her drowsy voice mumbled as Zuko tried to shake her awake.

He grunted and shook her some more. "It's Zuko. Wake up, or uncle and I are leaving without you." He lied.

One grey eye slowly opened and looked up at him. As soon as she was met with a giant burn scar and a familiar scowl, the other eye opened as well and the girl sat up with a yawn. Zuko quickly stood up when her slender arms stretched out to the side.

"Oh, Zuko, it's just you." Her sleepy voice commented drily. "Has your uncle returned?"

The boy nodded and motioned his head over to the two old men in the corner of the shop. It was Iroh and his White Lotus friend, both were just finishing up with their hushed conversation.