Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

32

❃ Moon Peach Cakes Part II ❃

After practically getting kicked out of the tailor shop by his friend, Prince Zuko begrudgingly made his way to the market by himself. It had been his intention to spend some more time with the girl today, but it seemed that the universe always needed to get in the way of things. Why did girls' outfits take so much longer to make?!

The disgruntled teen kept grumbling to himself as he approached the market. Busy as ever, the whole place was packed with a variety of stalls and people. Fruits and vegetables, meat, pets, pelts, gifts and trinkets, the market provided it all.

However, Zuko had only come here to get one thing: moon peach cakes. They were a popular pastry filled with moon peach jam. It was the perfect treat for a girl like Keya, who had only been exposed to the kind of food that could fill you up enough until the next meal (even though she had a talent for making even that stuff taste good). These past months, he had noticed how curious the girl was about everything the world had to offer. The well-travelled boy was sometimes surprised by what caught her interest. It made him appreciate the things that he had taken for granted all those years. In return, he wanted to introduce the world's greatest things to her, like moon peach cakes.

Yes, ever since they had entered the city, Zuko had seen it as his personal duty to show Keya the ways of a better life. At first, his hatred for his own situation had clouded that goal, but now that he had chosen a different path for himself, he knew that it was his task to take care of her. At least until her brothers arrived, his inner voice taunted him. Yeah, it was likely that she would leave him and his uncle after her brothers arrived in the city. The situation with her brothers left a bad taste in his mouth, a possessive thought that tainted his good intentions with jealousy. Those guys had made their naive sister travel to Ba Sing Se all on her own, but now that she was safe and sound, they were going to take her away from him again? How dare they!

For a dark moment, the drake of jealousy had its sharp claws etched in his mind. Zuko struggled with himself over the issue. He didn't know Keya's brothers after all, so why did the thought of them meeting their sister again drive him to the edge? Was he really that upset at the thought of Keya leaving him? How was he even so sure that he'd never see her again? She deserved to see her family!

Zuko approached the pastry stall, still wrestling with himself as he did so.

"Three moon peach cakes." He ordered bluntly. The boy wanted to bring home an extra cake for his uncle.

The lady behind the stall packed the three pastries in a cloth and set it on the counter. "Three moon peach cakes? My, handsome, are you going to be sharing them with a special someone?"

"I want to buy one for my uncle." Zuko smiled softly. "I'm sharing the other two with my friend."

"Is the friend a girl?"

Zuko blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. That action alone was enough of an answer to satisfy the baker lady. She let out a boisterous laugh and slapped one hand on her stall's counter, before packing the pastries for her customer.

"Oh!" She gushed happily. "Young love! How sweet, here's a discount. Enjoy your date!"

"Thank you." The Prince accepted the discounted moon peach cakes with a surprised smile on his face. Keya would have loved to meet this woman. He was thankful that the girl wasn't around, though. Zuko was embarrassed enough by the lady's teasing without his friend there to poke fun at him for it.

With some extra time to kill, Zuko simply wandered about the rest of the marketplace. He strolled from stall to stall, inspecting their products with barely contained boredom before moving onto the next.