ᗪㄩ乇ㄥ 乃乇几ᗪ乇尺

Chapter 14

"Ok, I'm going to work. I'll be home tonight." I called out.

A series of byes called out from various places of the house, I smiled to myself and left. I walked to the tea shop and once I arrived I knocked on the door. The door shortly opened and Zuko sidestepped out of the way. I walked inside and he closed the door behind me. "You showed up." I turned around puzzled. "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?" I questioned him.

I looked at him waiting for his response. "Are you ok?" He asked me. "Yeah, I'm just really worried about Appa. Aangs flying bison, he's been missing for a few days now and we have no leads on him. We have a suspicion that he's here but we can't find him." I explained my upset mood. He made a face like he was deep in thought, I questioned him as he did to me. He shrugged and led me to the back explaining how the place is run.

"This is where Uncle Iroh makes the tea. Depending on how busy it is he'll help with customers."

He walked me through the whole process as he continued the tour. Once he was finished Iroh walked down the stairs in the back. I assume those stairs lead to their living area. "Here's your apron." Iroh handed me a black apron. I thanked him and put it on struggling to tie the back. "Here, I'll help you." Zuko said as he took the apron strings from my hands. His hands lightly grazed mine causing me to lightly blush. He tied the apron securely so I thanked him, he nodded his head and then opened the door.

He switched the closed sign to open and after a couple of minutes, customers came inside. I would switch back and forth from helping Iroh make tea to helping Zuko take orders. I was taking orders while Zuko was helping his uncle while having a discussion of some sort. Whatever it was, it sounded serious.

"Here's your tea. Please enjoy." I smiled as I sat the tea down in front of my customer. He thanked me and took a sip as I went to the next table. I walked over to a table and saw Jet and his friends. "Hey, you're that girl we saved earlier." Jet said as he remembered who I was. I mentally groaned. "I didn't need saving, I did far more damage than you ever could. What can I get for you guys?" I asked ready to memorize their order.

Jet frowned but then they ordered. I went to the back and gave Iroh their orders and headed back out for the next table. All of a sudden Jet starts yelling accusing Zuko of being a fire bender. "How can he be a fire bender?" I asked pretending to be puzzled. "I saw him bend fire to heat the tea!" He yelled drawing more attention to him. "He works in a tea shop, that's his job." One of the customers spoke out, and they all started to disagree with Jet as the 'police' came and dragged him away.

I couldn't help but smirk as he was dragged away, he was always a pain in my ass. He noticed my grin and gasped. "They're all fire benders! She's one too, I saw her do it!" He yelled as they continued to try to pry him off the doorway. "How? I bend water." I splashed his face with water to make him lose his grip on the doorway. It worked and he was dragged off, thank you random customer for defending Zuko. I then went back to taking orders and serving people.

"Here is your guys' tea, please enjoy." I smiled once again as I sat the teacups down in front of each person. "Thank you." One of the men spoke as the others drank their tea. "You're very welcome. If you guys have any questions or add ons please feel free to let me know."

"Yes, I have a question." The guy smiled.

"Of course, what is it?"

"What time do you get off work?"

This question took me by surprise, was he really hitting on me right now? "I'm sorry, what?" I asked making sure I heard it right the first time. "What time do you get off work?" He asked again, a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. "I'm flattered sir but I'm going to have to decline whatever offer it is you're about to make." I said a little firmly, I took my tray off the table and was about to leave to get the next order.