"Spare coins for weary travelers?" Iroh asked yet another passing pedestrian. He'd been trying to get some money from passers by for like an hour now. Not one person had actually stopped to help yet.
"I'll give you three copper pieces for a smile from the young lady," a creepy man said as he approached us.
Iroh looked at me expectantly, but I just stuck my tongue out at the disgusting man. He scoffed before walking away without giving us anything.
"Hana, you need to work on your customer service," Iroh scolded me.
"This is humiliating! We're royalty! These people should be giving us whatever we want," Zuko snarled.
"They will if you ask nicely," Iroh said, once again speaking to a passing woman. "Spare change for a hungry old man?"
"Aw, here you go," the woman said, giving him a single copper piece.
"The coin is appreciated, but not as much as your smile!" Iroh said to her, making her giggle before walking away.
"How about some entertainment in exchange for... a gold piece?" another man said, showing a single gold piece to our faces.
"We're not performers," Zuko snapped.
"Well... I am," I said, sighing before standing up.
"It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se, but the girls in the city, they look so pretty!" Iroh began singing rhythmically, while I began to dance. I knew I couldn't use the usual firebending tricks I used when performing, so I limited myself to dancing.
"Come on, we're talking a gold piece here! Let's see some action!" the man reached to his back to pull out a couple of swords. "Dance like you mean it!"
"They kiss so sweet that you really got to meet the girls from Ba Sing Se!" Iroh sang louder.
The man began laughing. "Nothing like a pretty girl dancing and a fat man singing for their dinner! Here ya go!"
He finally threw us the gold piece, which Iroh took with a smile.
"Such a kind man!"
I could tell Zuko was not pleased. My guess was the man had gotten on his nerves.
"I used to be a prince. Whatever I wanted, I had without having to even ask twice," he said bitterly. "Now I'm reduced to taking alms from the street in exchange for making myself look like an idiot."
"Well, I think there is no shame in working for your money. It's what most people around the world do," I snapped back to him.
"Hana is right. And look! Now we've got a gold piece. A few more and we could get ourselves a pot of warm jasmine tea for dinner!" Iroh said happily.
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"Iroh, how cooked would you like your fish to be?" I asked him.
"I like my salmon to be toasted entirely on one side, and semi-toasted on the other," Iroh said, practically drooling as he pictured his meal.
I laughed. "Okay, semi-toasted it is."
I summoned a purpled flame and placed it under the fish on the stick. The wound of Zuko walking back to the campsite made me turn to see him. He suddenly dropped a barrel of food by our feet without any explanation.
"Where did you get these?" Iroh asked.
"What does it matter where they came from?" Zuko retorted.
"I hope you are not being reckless, as usual," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
YOU ARE READING
The Fire Prodigy {ATLA}
FanficMy whole life I was taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest empire on Earth. That we were sharing our prosperity with all the other nations. But it wasn't until after two years of banishment with the Crown Prince that I began to realize that it...
