Burning Souls - Book 2 // Zuko

Chapter 16

"Shira," Zuko called as he walked down the stairs from the apartment down to the tea shop. "Uncle and I are going to visit the Earth King. Uncle was invited to serve tea and asked me to come. Would you like to come along?"
Shira glanced around the small shop that still had some customers, "I'll skip. I'll finish up here. You two go and have fun."
Zuko smiled before stepping over and planting a quick kiss on her lips, "See you later."
Shira chuckled and playfully pushed him off to join Iroh. Needless to say, she was not expecting things to go totally wrong.

"SHIRA!" Iroh cried, rushing into the shop alone.

Shira almost dropped the tray of cups that she was carrying to the kitchen, the shop entirely empty now. "Iroh? What's wrong? What happened... wait.... Where is Zuko?"
The old man was panting, leaning against the frame of the doorway. Shira quickly set the tray down and rushed over to him, helping him catch his wobbly footing.

"It was a trap," Iroh replied. "Azula is here. Zuko was captured."
"What do we do?" Shira asked, her face suddenly going serious and her eyebrows going down.

"Azula is going for the Avatar," Iroh replied. "We have to find him."
Shira nodded before rushing back into the shop and grabbing up her jacket and sword, throwing both onto her back as she rushed out the door. Iroh closed the door behind her, locked it and then pocketed the key before pulling his cloak hood over his head.

"Azula has taken over the Dy Lee," Iroh explained. "We need to get to the Avatar and save Zuko before Azula takes over the kingdom."
When Iroh finally stopped in front of a house, Shira noticed with silent amusement that a part of the house looked like it had been blown up by an earth bender. Iroh walked over and knocked on the door. There was a long silence until it was opened by none other than the young blind earth bender they had met a few weeks ago: Toph.

There were two other kids there, two boys. One had darker toned skin and dark brown hair, the other was bald with an arrow tattoo on his head.... The Avatar.

"You know each other?" the avatar demanded of Toph, pointing toward Iroh.

"We met a few weeks ago," Toph explained, opening the door more for Iroh and Shira to step in. "They gave me tea and some very good advice.... But something is different."
Almost immediately, Shira noticed the other two kids tense and prepare to pounce but Toph looked in her direction, her eyes wide and a smile on her face. "You got your memories back!"
Shira smiled, "How did you guess?"

"Your heart is lighter. I can tell by the way you breathe... and also it feels like you're more confident. You cut your hair too! You're lighter than before."
Shira chuckled lightly. "That definitely doesn't make me self-conscious Toph."
The little girl smiled. "Oh, you were light before, but I could tell you are less weighed down. Your hair was thick and heavy!"
"Who exactly are you?" the boy inquired. "and what does Toph mean by getting your memories back?"

Shira smiled politely at the boy, "I'm Shirayuki but everyone calls me Shira. As for my memories, I was brainwashed by the fire nation."
"Then why are you with him?" the avatar asked, pointing at Iroh.

"He's a friend," Shira replied. "When I was a slave in the fire nation, he was one of the few people who I could trust."
Toph turned and considered Iroh before speaking, "Something is wrong. I can tell. What happened?"

"My nephew was captured by Azula," Iroh replied. "She is in the city... and she is about to take over the kingdom."
The two boys behind Toph suddenly went serious.

"Katara is missing too," the avatar remarked, talking about obviously one of their group. "We'll help you."
The other boy looked at the avatar in shock, "Aang, what is your problem? How do you know we can trust them?"