The DragonBorn

Chapter 25

Soon after the sun had risen in the sky, Zuko, Iroh and Zeraphina made it to the refugee pass into Ba Sing Se. Once they were there, they went to one of the booths to get their passports approved and documented.

"So, Mr. Lee, Ms. Mingxia and Mister, um... Mushy, is it?" The woman at the booth read off the names on the passports.

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

"You tellin' me how to do my job?" The woman said with a deeper tone in her voice.

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

Zeraphina and Zuko had to try to their hardest to keep their lunches down after hearing Iroh flirt.

"Mm, you're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome, Rawr!" The woman flirted back, "Welcome to Ba Sing Se."

She stamped their passports and handed them back to Iroh.

"I'm gonna forget I saw that." Zuko said as he snatched their passports from his uncle.

"Honestly, Master. That was far too much for even me to see." Zeraphina sighed and walked with the two to a bench to wait for the train.

As they walked over to the train rails, Zuko took a glance at Zeraphina, only barely noticing the soft dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept properly for a while. He did notice that for the past few days she was tossing and turning in her sleep, even on the boat. But he didn't want to say anything, kind of because of his pride as a great Prince, but also because he wanted her to come to him with her problems instead of him just forcing it out of her.

However, unbeknownst to them, Jet and his Freedom Fighters were watching as they walked away to the train.

"I think Lee would make a good Freedom Fighter." Jet commented, "He's just trying to find his way in the world, like us."

"You don't know anything about him, Jet." Smellerbee said.

"I know he didn't get that scar from a Waterbender."

"Besides, I thought we were going straight now."

"We are. And the new Freedom Fighters could use a guy like Lee. Maybe we could even convince Mingxia to join us."

"Why her? She doesn't look like a fighter."

"Not completely. But, I happened to see some burn scars on her shoulders and neck. She may be a good match if we just train her a little bit in fighting. What do you think, Longshot?"

Longshot just gave Jet a look.

"I can respect that."

Zeraphina yawned as she leaned her head against Zuko's shoulder, slowly falling to sleep. But, she quickly pulled away not wanting to trouble her Prince. Secretly, Zuko wanted her to lean on him, but once again, his pride was too much for him to actually say that.

"So, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" Jet asked as he sat on the other side of Zuko.

"Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!" A man passing by with his tea cart called out to everyone.

Iroh waved to get the man's attention, "Oh, Jasmine, please!"

The man came over and poured Iroh a cup of tea, but as soon as Iroh drank it, he spit it out from its frigid temperatures.

"Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it." He complained.

"Don't worry, Mushi. We'll get some more, much better tea once we get into the city. Does that sound well?"