Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

The Tales of Ba Sing Sei

Author's Note: I'm not going to touch Iroh's tale. That story was perfect and it feels wrong to try to rewrite it.

Instead I'll be focusing on two stories, Zuko's Tale and the Tale of Sokka and Yue.

The Tale of Sokka and Yue.

The sight of a beautiful dark skinned and white haired woman is a striking presence in the middle of Ba Sing Sei. Her illuminant and piercing icy blue eyes add to the allure. Accompanying her is her fiercely protective husband who is practically snarling at other pedestrians who's gazes linger a bit too long for his liking. Still dressed in his everyday travel clothes, Sokka doesn't look too different from usual, aside from maybe a bit of tightness of his shirt around his torso and shoulders. Despite predominantly learning the elements, Zuko regularly spars with Sokka, either using stone or wooden swords to avoid cuts or just in hand to hand combat. The young warrior has bulked up similarly to Zuko and his confidence is only boosted by Yue who's clutching his bicep into her chest as they walk through the streets of the upper district shopping bazaar. Yue on the other hand has chosen to wear a bright gold and green traditional earth kingdom dress that hugs her body tightly. Despite looking dainty at a first glance, her form is tight with muscle from the constant weeks of bending, training and fighting. The shoulders and sleeves are near skin tight from the muscle. Her abs press tightly to the gold silk of the dress, and the chest stretches out against her considerably large bust.

"So, what exactly do you have in mind today?" he asks as she leads the way through the streets. She doesn't even bother looking towards any of the jewelry shops, restaurants or other street vendors.

"I want to go to this fancy restaurant in town tonight, so we have to get you a proper set of robes as well as shoes for the event. Since we don't have to worry about money anymore I wanted to do something, just you and me." She says as they finally get to the front of the store. "We haven't had any alone time since our honeymoon and I want to spend some time with you." Sokka blushes at this statement, but the blush quickly turns to an excited smile.

A small brass bell chimes as the two enter the store with the older woman behind the counter perking her head up when she hears it. "Hey Ming, I brought Sokka along like I said I would." Yue announces and the old woman stands up and pushes the spectacles up her nose to get a better look at him. The easily seventy year old woman dressed in purple and green silks brings a hand to her chin and gives Sokka a once over. The top of her grey haired head barely comes up to Sokka's sternum as she takes her cane and lifts his arm with it. "When you talked about him, I expected someone taller." Sokka immediately deadpans when she says that any confidence he had was just ripped from his sails.

"Thanks." He replies sarcastically, but Ming ignores him and turns to Yue.

"So what brings you here today? Need me to hem up your other dresses for you?" She asks and Sokka shoots a glance at Yue before she shakes her head.

"No, Sokka and I have a date tonight and I wanted you to make something that'd fit him. We're going to a pretty fancy restaurant tonight. I already have reservations." Yue replies prompting Ming to grab Sokka by the hem of his shirt then drag him off into a backroom.

"You going to be wearing that dress to the date?" Ming asks, popping her head out to the front area.

"Yes." She replies.

"Alright. I'll dress him in something that will match it, feel free to read the books out front if you get bored." Ming points out before disappearing into the back room to get Sokka fitted and his robes tailored.

Yue stifles a slight laugh as she hears Sokka yelp at being pricked by a needle, and finds a book beside the door to sit down and read. In the back room, Ming takes a measuring tape and takes Sokka's measurements. First across his torso measuring the width then vertically measuring the length. Next she wraps it around his shoulders and chest and repeats this around his waist. She writes down the lengths of his arms and the widths of his biceps before walking over to a piece of paper and quickly drawing up a sketch of Sokka with his dimensions listed on the paper. He watches as this old woman grabs a set of nearly two dozen needles, and as she opens the box Sokka sees that they're not made of bone but of quartz. With a level of finesse that he didn't think was possible in an earthbender, she stitches together a yukata and haori for him to wear. The forest green haori is accented in gold trim along the inside and the edges of the sleeves. The yukata beneath has the same trim but a much darker tone of green that matches the dark accented flowers on Yue's dress. "Woah, that was fast." Sokka says as Ming just smiles. She brings him over to a mirror on the wall so he can see what he looks like. "This looks amazing." He says, almost at a loss for words as he sees himself. "Years and years of practice my dear boy, now you and your lovely wife go enjoy the day out. I'll write up the bill in a couple days." She says as she walks the pair out of the store.

As the sun begins to set behind the walls of the city, Yue finally decides it's time to go to the restaurant that she had insisted they go to. However the only caveat to this was that Sokka had to keep his eyes closed while they walked to the establishment. She has a bit of trouble trying to cover his eyes with her hand since she's a bit shorter than him however she manages to keep his eyes covered as they approach the restaurant. "So, what's so special about this place anyways?" He asks, causing her to coo at the statement. "Oh, it's their grand opening tonight, and I managed to get this reservation before the official opening." She says, and she feels Sokka arch an eyebrow at this statement as she continues to walk him down the street. "How'd you manage to do that?" He asks but she merely smiles and responds in a cheeky manner. "Oh, I'm good friends with the owner. You'll like him." Sokka furrows his eyebrows at this trying to piece together who it might be. He tries to move his head over her hands but she stops him before breathing freezing cold air on the back of his neck.

"Hey! No peeking!" She protests before exhaling sharply and bending frozen water from her breath onto his neck. "Alright stop. You ready to see the restaurant!?" She asks and he nods allowing her to release her hand. "Open your eyes!" She declares and Sokka opens his eyes before immediately arching an eyebrow at turning to face Yue.

"The Jasmine Dragon? This is Iroh's shop." He says, causing her to laugh slightly.

"He came up with the idea, he even got the others to work in his shop with him. Katara, myself and Toph are waitresses, Aang is the host and Zuko cooks. The grand opening is tomorrow, and I asked if we could have our date tonight as his first customers." Sokka grins at this, wanting more than anything to make fun of Zuko for being a busboy. As the doors to the pristine tea shop open, Sokka has to stop himself from laughing as he's greeted by Aang, still wearing the busboy outfits they stole from the ball. The young airbender stands with his eyes closed, a towel over his arm as if pretending to be a butler.

"Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, Mr and Mrs Sokka Water-tribe." Aang says, and this finally causes Sokka to burst out in laughter. The young airbender's expression turns sour for a moment before he too begins laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.