𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 ꩜ prince zuko

²²

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

        IT HAD BEEN FIVE long years since the end of the Hundred Year War. Yan still lived at home with her parents, helping out whenever they needed her. Technically, she was an adult now,  though calling 22 grown felt like a stretch. She still clung to the defiance of her teenage years, often sneaking off to ride her shirshu across the Agrarian Zone of Ba Sing Se. In the Capital City, she was somewhat of a local celebrity, though nowhere near as well-known as Avatar Aang. Girls would stop her in the streets, thanking her for her bravery during the war and sometimes even begging her for combat lessons. The war might have ended, but the world still had a long road to recovery.

        Yan returned home after a long ride through the city on Xian's back, having spent the afternoon helping Iroh with tea deliveries, her usual chore when she wasn't off causing mischief. She led her shirshu around to the garden and removed his saddle before stepping in through the back door, letting out a weary sigh as the scent of jasmine and old wood greeted her. As she crossed the room toward the coffee table to reach for a ripe moon peach from the bowl, her mother's voice cut through the quiet, freezing her mid-step.

        "Uh-uh, don't you dare! Straight to the bath before you track dirt through my sitting room!" her mother snapped, finger already pointed down the hallway. Yan groaned, dramatic as ever, and rolled her eyes. Still, she snatched the moon peach from the bowl and took a bite as she trudged toward the washroom, muttering something under her breath.

        "We always track dirt through the house, Māmā; we're earthbenders," she called as she stepped into the washroom, already peeling off her dusty clothes. After a quick soak, she changed into a fresh outfit and emerged from her room, wringing the last bit of water from her hair. On her way down the hall, she paused outside her parents' room, eyebrows rising at the sight of several hanfu boxes stacked neatly by the doorway. "Why are there so many dress boxes out? Don't tell me we're having tea with the Earth King or something."

        Lian scoffed, shaking her head as she opened a few of the boxes, sifting through silks and folds of color. "No, we're not having tea with royalty. We're going on a trip to the Fire Nation. Your father wants to visit your grandmother." she answered. At the mention of her grandmother, Yan let out a dramatic groan and rolled her eyes, wishing she could earthbend herself into the floor and disappear.

        "Why? Is she finally dying?" she asked, earning a slap on the back of her head from her father. "What, it's a genuine question."

        "No, she's not dying," Fengge replied, glancing up as he gave his rarely-worn dress shoes one final polish. "She's just been asking to see us. And we haven't visited the Fire Nation in a long time... well, except for you, when you ran off on your little adventure." Yan made a face and flopped down at the coffee table, already dreading the reunion. Technically, her grandmother was family, but in every other sense, she felt like the enemy. The woman had never hidden her distaste for anything that wasn't Fire Nation which included Yan, her mother, and all of Ba Sing Se. Needless to say, Yan was not a fan; it took constant self-restraint not to entomb the old woman in a tasteful rockslide.

        "Correction, she's been asking to see you, her darling son. Do I really have to go? I can stay here and look after the house. You know... like the responsible adult I am." she smiled a saccharine grin and batted her lashes in exaggerated innocence, but her parents didn't even flinch. Her pleading was met with the cold indifference of seasoned parental resistance, and before long, Yan found herself grudgingly packing for a trip she wanted no part of.

. . .

        The ferry ride to the Fire Nation took several days and the choppy waves left Yan miserably seasick. It had been five years since she'd set foot on a ship or even left Ba Sing Se; with the war over, she'd never had a reason to. Her grandmother supposedly lived in a moderately sized town on one of the islands, though Yan wouldn't have been surprised if the old woman had packed up and moved to the Capital by now. As the Qiang family disembarked, mother and daughter clad in the unmistakable green of the Earth Kingdom, Yan couldn't shake a growing sense of unease. She just knew her grandmother was going to say something.