Protected Princess || Zuko

15 || Welcome To Ba Sing Se

"Hai, wake up." A voice said to me. My eyes fluttered open. I saw a figure leaning over me but my eyes were too blurry to make out who it was. "Hai." The voice said again. Sitting up, I finally realized that the figure and voice was Zuko.

"What is it?" I question while rubbing my eyes.

"We made it to the walls." Zuko said.

"We did?" I ask, shooting up from my laying position, looking for the giant walls. "Woah." The walls were giant. It almost made you feel as if you were falling backwards just by looking at them.

Now that my consciousness is finally catching up to me, I began to wonder why Zuko woke me up instead of Iroh. Zuko never wakes me up.

I see Iroh gathering his things as other passengers got off of the boat. I grabbed my bag and turned to Zuko.

"So I'm assuming you never slept, yeah?" I question.

"I slept for a little while but yeah I stayed up." Zuko replied, looking at the people exiting the boat.

"I don't get how you do that." I said with a jealous tone.

"Do what?" Zuko asked.

"How you go days and hours not sleeping. I wish I could do that." I said turning and itching my neck.

"No, it's not particularly good for the body. Having rest is good." Iroh said as he placed a hand on his nephews shoulder, looking at him.

"You guys coming?" Jet said as he walked past our group towards the exit ramp.

"Yes, of course." Iroh said with a smile as he walked after them. Zuko and I followed in the back.

Upon exiting the boat, we were led into a second building. The building had many arches and looked as if it went on for miles. About thirty feet from each other were lines to check passports, allow entry, and give ring placements, into Ba Sing Se.

We finally reached the front of the line and handed over our papers.

"So, Mr. Lee, Ms. Kyi and Mr, um Mushy? Is it?" The woman asked.

"It's pronounced Moo-shi." Iroh corrected.

"You telling me how to do my job?" The woman asked with an angry expression. My eyebrows ruffled in response. Iroh was just correcting her.

"Uh, no, no, no. But may I just say, you're like a flower in bloom. Your beauty's intoxicating." Iroh said as he inched closer to the woman, smiling.

"Mm, you're pretty easy on the eyes yourself handsome." The woman responded.

Zuko and I shared looks as we cringed our faces.

"Rawr! Welcome to Ba Sing Se." The woman finished as she stamped our passports.

Zuko and I once again shoved our faces into our palms, trying to forget the interaction.

"I'm gonna forget I saw that." Zuko said as he ripped our passports from Iroh's hand. Iroh just stood there with the biggest smile.

"Whatever makes you happy." I said with a smile in return.

We then walked to the train boarding room and sat down by a pillar. No one said anything, we all just sat there with our arms crossed. Iroh sat there observing the room while Zuko just looked at the ground angrily.

I heard foot steps coming our way and looked up, it was Jet. He walked over and sat right in between Zuko and myself.

"So, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" Jet asked as he looked back and forth at Zuko and I.