Eclipse (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Chapter 1: The Informant

There was a certain damp smell to the air that Zuko found generally unpleasant, but couldn't identify. The tea shop was dark and dingy, and lined with appropriately worn down and cheap furniture. Wooden chairs that looked as if they'd been thrown in a fight one too many times and matching wooden tables that were chipped and cracked at the edges, the surface marred with the occasional stab of a weapon and stained with tea and the small selection of food that the tea shop apparently offered on the menu. With every second that passed, he found it more than difficult to believe that a girl was willing to take on jobs from the kinds of people who frequented this place.

That alone felt telling about the sort of person that he was going to find here. The person that he was looking for here was a girl around his age who was supposedly adept at collecting information on anything from anywhere. The rumors had it that she was from the Water Tribes, or at least, she wore clothes from there. But that was all that he knew. The people of the Water Tribes were of a darker complexion, so maybe that would be a sign too. Given that she was hanging around a place like this every day, he figured that she was probably one of those unsavory types. He grimaced a little as the image of a jagged, rough, girl formed in his mind and he found himself feeling more and more reluctant to seek her out of his own free will. Still, this was one of the last few, desperate, leads that he had. This supposed genius informant from the Water Tribes.

When he caught a glimpse of the light blue clothing he had been scanning the crowd for at long last, he made a beeline in that general direction only to freeze in place when he got near her. In place of the unkempt, burly girl that he had conjured up in his mind was a girl with the face of a porcelain doll. Her features were delicate, almost ethereal even, and her frame was dainty. Hair the color of rich ink tumbled in gentle waves over her shoulder and curled softly against her ivory skin. It took him a moment to recover his breath, only for him to promptly lose it again when their eyes met. Her eyes were framed with thick lashes and a striking shade of azure. The color shifted like the ocean as her gaze flickered to him, proving her lineage at a glance despite her unusually dark hair and unusually fair skin for someone from the Water Tribes.

He steeled himself as he shoved his way to her table and sat down, the eyes of the other patrons on him like daggers. "I need your help with something."

"Of course, how may I help you?" The smile that she flashed at him was akin to that of a friendly merchant's— all for show.

"I need to restore my honor," he continued, "I need the Avatar."

"Honor." She repeated the word softly as her gaze lowered to the teacup in her hand, almost as though it were to herself. He noticed the way that her eyelashes seemed to flutter with each movement of her eyes as she thought, and that unlike the smile that she had cast in his direction just before, everything about her expression now was genuine.

As her eyes finally flickered from her teacup and back to the young prince, they went from the stormy gray color of the sea on an overcast day to the placid, azure blue of the great oceans. "Honor isn't something I can guarantee," she began, her voice as clear and firm as her gaze, "but if tracking the Avatar down is your goal, then you've come to the right person."

"I heard that you're the best at this sort of thing."

She smiled and took a leisurely sip of her tea. "And you heard right. Information travels to me quickly. I can guarantee that you'll always be at least one step ahead with me on your side."

He wasn't in the mood for extended banter, and he decided to cut right to the chase. She seemed coy enough to avoid bringing up the topic of money, but he wasn't. "Name your price."
"Oh, I won't ask for much." Her eyes shone like jewels as she smiled at him and his breath hitched just a little at the sight.