𝔸𝕖𝕪𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕒 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝔸𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟: ℤ𝕦𝕜𝕠 𝕩 𝕆𝕔

Chapter 30- The Crossroads of Loyalty

The next morning came too soon. Iroh moved about, pouring tea into two small porcelain cups. Steam curled in the cool air.

"You look very handsome, my nephew," he said warmly, placing one cup on the table beside Zuko.

Zuko barely acknowledged the comment, his mind clearly somewhere else. He mumbled a distracted "Thanks" before turning toward the hallway. "I'll be right back."

He found Aeyenna near the kitchen counter, quietly stacking empty teacups left over from the early morning rush. Her hair was loosely tied back, one strand slipping into her face as she worked. She looked... normal. As if today wasn't important. As if she hadn't been up before dawn deciding she wasn't going.

"Aeya," Zuko called, his voice low.

She glanced up, wiping her hands on a cloth. "You ready?"

He nodded once. "I want you to come with us."

Aeyenna hesitated just long enough for him to notice. She shifted her weight, eyes flicking toward the window where Ba Sing Se's rooftops glinted in the morning sun. She could already picture Iroh and Zuko walking side by side without her wedged between them—no awkward pauses, no clipped conversations. Just them. And as much as she wanted to be there, they needed that.

"I... don't think I should," she said finally, her voice careful. "I'm not feeling the best this morning."

Before Zuko could answer, Iroh appeared in the doorway, concern immediately softening his face. "Oh, my dear, why didn't you say something? I'll make you my special tea something to soothe you."

Aeyenna shook her head quickly, waving him off with a half-smile. "No, no, I'll be fine. You'll both be late if you hang around fussing over me."

"But—" Iroh began.

She cut him off gently, moving toward the door and all but steering them toward it. "No buts. This is important. You two go, enjoy yourselves... and bring me back something nice from the palace. Something shiny."

Zuko gave her a long, searching look, like he was starting to suspect there was more to this than a stomach ache. "You sure?"

"I'm sure," she said, hands firm on their shoulders as  she pushed them into the hallway. "Now go, before I lock the door."

Iroh chuckled at her insistence, and Zuko finally relented. Aeyenna lingered in the doorway as they left, the smell of tea still curling through the apartment and the quiet hope that when they returned, there'd be something warmer between uncle and nephew than when they'd left.

After Zuko and Iroh left, the apartment felt too quiet—too still. Aeyenna tried to busy herself with cleaning or reorganizing the teacups for the third time, but the silence pressed in like a weight. Something didn't sit right, no matter how many times she told herself they'd be fine.

Eventually, she grabbed her cloak and stepped outside, letting the soft breeze pull her down the streets of Ba Sing Se. She didn't have a destination just a need to move, to breathe, to shake off the weird feeling in her chest.

Aeyenna had only made it a few blocks from the tea shop when the wind changed. It hit her hard not like a regular gust, but fast and deliberate, tugging at her cloak like a hand.

She barely had time to react before her feet lifted off the ground.

"What the fu—!" she shouted, heart lurching into her throat as the city below became a blur.

A few seconds later, she landed with a heavy thud into something soft and furry. The impact knocked the breath out of her, and before she could sit up, a pair of familiar arms grabbed her.