Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

The Tale of Zuko

When Zuko was a little boy, Iroh would tell stories of the finest tea shops all across the fire nation and even the colonies. Places where tea flowed endlessly, and tasted of cream and honey. Tea houses that would float flowers on top of the cups that would add an attractive aroma to the herbal liquid. He once spoke of a tea house in Yu Dao where the teacups were made of pearl and the teapots were of gold. As highly as he spoke of those places, he also knew of even more that hid poor quality tea behind the prompt and circumstance. The Jasmine Dragon would never be one of those places. Above all else, Iroh believed that tea's perfection lies in its simplicity and purity. A lesson that he has been teaching Zuko since they began traveling together again. When Zuko began his journey with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, his tea was barely drinkable, and was often extremely bitter. Sometimes it would be too concentrated and didn't have enough water, other times it was too diluted, and sometimes the tea leaves would be burnt. It took weeks for his tea to get better and by the time they got to the north pole, even Iroh was impressed with his son's quality of tea.

When The Jasmine Dragon officially opened to the public, a beautiful woman maybe a year or two older than Zuko became their first customer. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her head ending in two braids that rested on her voluptuous chest. Her bangs frame her face ending in slightly spiky points, her piercing green eyes were like emeralds in a sea of white. Her slightly tanned skin is flawless and unblemished. At first, Zuko paid little mind to the customers, let alone this woman who showed up every day at noon. He opts to just prepare the tea, sandwiches, rice, and other meals requested by the patrons. He even begins to enjoy the change of pace from the constant training, battle planning, fighting and fleeing the fire nation.

After the first week of working at the shop, he begins to get weary of her. He even catches her sneaking glances at him every now and then, though he assumes it's his scar she's looking at. As the first week becomes two and then even three, she is there daily and even strikes up a short conversation with him on a few occasions. Zuko doesn't realize what is truly going on with this woman, instead, his years of military training and months of elemental training are telling him that something is amiss with her. At the start of the fourth week of her appearing at the restaurant right at noon does Zuko finally bring this to his uncle's attention.

"Thank you for the tea~." She says in a sing-song-like voice as Zuko brings a cup of jasmine and ginseng tea to her. He sets down a bowl of udon noodles and beef-pork beside her and feigns a smile at the gesture.

"You're welcome." He answers, as he picks up the menu off the table and then the tray he brought her the food with. His gaze lingering on her beautiful form, and he has to stop himself from letting his eyes wander to the woman's chest. Quickly he returns to the front counter where his Dad is counting out a man's change before handing it to him. "I think we have a problem." Zuko says, causing Iroh to lift an eyebrow at this statement. He's quickly pulled around into a two man huddle as Zuko whispers the rest of his warning. "Don't look, but I think that woman is spying on us." Iroh immediately looks before Zuko has to stop him from doing so.

"My boy, you're being paranoid. She isn't spying on us," Iroh dismisses before a grin grows on his face. "I think she has a crush on you." Zuko is taken aback by this and even audibly asks "What?!" out of instinct.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something important." Her voice startles both Zuko and Iroh prompting them to turn to face her. "I-I was going to ask if you had any sweets to go along with the tea."

"Of course, you had the jasmine and ginseng, yes?" Iroh asks before nudging Zuko in the ribs to speak up. "I even have three waterbenders working here so we have ice cream and shaved ice for desserts as well!" Iroh exclaims.

"Yes I did." She says and Zuko immediately whips out a small dessert menu for her to look over.

"I'd recommend the..." Zuko trails off when he reads what his uncle had named the dessert. A strawberry and mango fruit tart with lemon custard known as the: "Avatar's favorite." Zuko says before pointing out the dessert item on the sheet. "It pairs well with the jasmine tea."