Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

25

❃ The Tale of Zuko ❃

The next day, Iroh was busy stacking some new inventory when a worried Zuko approached him. Keya was still recovering at home, so it wasn't a surprise to the old man that his nephew would be anxious all day. However, the intense gaze in the young Prince's golden eyes let him know that something more was going on. He listened carefully as Zuko leaned over to whisper something to him.

"Uncle, we have a problem: one of the customers is onto us." The teen warned softly.

Iroh raised an eyebrow in response. Had Jet's actions lead to more suspicious eyes on their backs? He climbed down from his ladder and walked over to his nephew.

"Don't look now," Zuko said and glanced back subtly, "but there was a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we're Fire Nation."

Without hesitating, Iroh turned his head to look at the girl that his nephew was talking about. He was pretty sure that he knew exactly who had caught the boy's attention, having noticed her presence more and more often in the past few days. His eyes caught sight of her. Oho! It was her indeed!

Zuko's eyes widened angrily when he saw the man look. He instantly grabbed Iroh's arm and pulled him back to face him. "Didn't I say 'don't look'?"

"You're right, Zuko. I've seen that girl in here quite a lot. Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you." Iroh suggested with a jolly laugh and a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"What?!" Zuko gasped and stepped back in surprise. How could his uncle say something so absurd?!

"Thank you for the tea."

Iroh and Zuko jumped and turned around when said girl suddenly appeared behind their whispering forms. The latter of the two quickly collected himself and offered his service. The girl handed Zuko the money shyly. He turned around and put it in the register.

"What's your name?" She asked with a pretty smile.

Zuko cringed awkwardly at being spoken to so directly. He observed her carefully. For a regular Ba Sing Se citizen, she was admittedly not too bad to look at. Something about her Earth Kingdom features looked warm and welcoming to him. Her skin was somewhere between Keya's and his own, tan enough to show some Earth Kingdom heritage, but also pale enough to know that she didn't work outside. Her hazel eyes were bright and friendly. For her outfit she wore a green kimono with pale, yellow rims. Her dark brown hair was kept in two low braids with messy bangs framing her face.

"My name's Lee. My uncle, friend, and I just moved here." He mumbled and handed her some copper coins as change. When she heard his reply, her eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth tugged up a bit further.

"Hi Lee. My name's Jin." She introduced herself. Zuko just nodded as she spoke. "Thank you, and, well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime..."

Her bold request threw the Prince once again. Back in his homeland, a date with a member of the royal family was only meant to be scheduled by the royal elders. If anyone were to confess their romantic interest, they would have done so privately (and most often anonymously as well). And what did she supposedly like about him anyway? Was this a way to separate him from his uncle? Was she going to try to expose his firebending?

Before Zuko could refuse, Iroh jumped in and answered for him. "He'd love to!" The old man exclaimed with an arm around the teen's shoulder.

"Great!" Jin smiled again and bowed politely. "I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown."

With that said, the Earth Kingdom girl walked out of the shop gracefully, leaving behind a rather stupefied Fire Nation Prince. Iroh gave Zuko a suggestive pat on the shoulder. The teenager just scowled. Now he was forced to go on a stupid date... didn't his uncle realise that he had more important things to worry about? Besides, he still didn't trust that she had asked him out because of her interest in him. His insecurities would not let him believe that a girl would just 'like' him, since his scar was so prominent on his face. Then again, he reminded himself, Keya didn't seem to mind it. Speaking of which...