We arrived safely at the ferry harbor at nightfall. The three of us all agreed that we will sleep the night before buying tickets tomorrow. Before the young man that brought us here could leave, I handed him some money and asked him to send Mirai back to Song and her mother, her rightful owners.

Unfortunately for me, when I tried to climb out of the pot plant, my dress accidently got caught on something and ripped, and it got ripped bad. I had to change, but the only outfits I had left were brightly colored ones, ones that will bring to much attention to us. Luckily, I had a plain long sleeve light brown shirt. The only problem was, it was an open back shirt.

“Here…” I looked up from inside the tent, in which we were staying in for the time being, when I heard Zuko’s voice. In his hand was a dark brown shoulder scarf. “Where-“ I was about to question him where he got it, when Zuko marched over to me and wrapped the scarf around me, covering my back completely. “Please tell me you didn’t steal this?” I begged as I watched him tie the scarf into a knot so that it doesn’t fall off.

“No, I found it laying on the ground.” Zuko answered, finishing the knot before looking up into my eyes. “Finders keepers.” He added, making me shake my head at him. “This still belongs to somebody Zuko!” I exclaimed as Zuko took my hand in his and pulled me out of the tent. “Somebody that doesn’t need it more than you now.” He said as he walked over to his uncle and Kai, pulling me along. Knowing that I won’t most likely win this argument, I stayed quiet and sat down next to Iroh.

“Good morning, dear Asami!” Iroh said to me with a bright smile. “Good morning, Uncle Iroh! Good morning, Kai!” I said with a bright smile before opening my arms when Kai jumped over to me and hugged him. The retired general had us have our moment before bringing us some bad news. “We have a small problem.”

Both Zuko and I looked to Iroh in question. “The ferry doesn’t allow animals.” Kai yipped in shocked while Zuko and I looked to each other in worry. “What are we going to do?” I asked as I held Kai tightly against my chest. “There is no way I’m leaving Kai here! This little fire ferret is my life!” I said as I held him as if my life dependent on it. “We’ll figure something out.” Zuko said as he gently squeezed my shoulder assuring.

The three of us sat and brainstormed ideas for how we were going to sneak Kai onto the ferry with us, without getting caught. “I got it!” Iroh exclaimed excitedly, catching both mine and Zuko’s attention. “Remember when you two pretended to be engaged?” Both Zuko and I nodded yes with a frown, not understanding what he’s getting at. “Why not pretend that you are married this time, and pregnant?”

“I’m sorry… what?” I asked as both Zuko and I stared at Iroh in disbelief. “If you hide Kai inside your shirt, and if he stays quiet while rolled up, it will look like you are pregnant.”

The retired general explained to us with a big proud smile. Both Zuko and I looked to each other in uncertainty. “You sure this will work Uncle?” Zuko asked as we frowned at his uncle. But Iroh just smiled brightly.

***
“Lay still Kai!” I muttered to my stomach, where Kai was laying as he hid inside my shirt. Iroh was right, I did look pregnant with Kai hiding inside my shirt. Only problem was that the fire ferret couldn’t stay still. “You’re going to get us caught!” I snapped at him as softly as I could, trying not to get attention to ourselves. Luckily, he stopped moving and just in time, because we were now standing in line to buy our tickets.

“I can’t believe your uncle talk me into this!” I mutter to Zuko as we waited inline for our turn. “Seriously?” Zuko asked me with a raised eyebrow. I thought about it for a moment before sighing in defeat. “Okay, yeah I do believe it.” I said, making Zuko chuckle before he took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers. “Now I might just get a slap in the face for saying this,” Zuko started saying, making me frown slightly at him in confusion.

“But you look beautiful pregnant.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scarred prince. “Fake pregnant remember.” I said to him with an amused smile. Zuko chuckled as well before wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. “Still look beautiful.” He whispered in my ear, making me chuckle and shake my head at him while blushing slightly. Zuko just smirked in triumph before kissing my cheek while placing his hand on my “stomach”.

“Next!” Zuko and I snapped out of our moment and looked up at the lady that was selling the tickets, who was also glaring at us. Iroh chuckled in amusement, before nervously walking closer to the booth. “Three tickets please?” He asked the lady before handing her our passports. The lady inspected the passports for a moment before inspecting us with a deep glare. I nervously stepped closer to Zuko while rubbing my “stomach”, trying to calm Kai down when I felt him shiver in fear.

The woman huffed before slamming her stamp three times and handed the tickets to Iroh. We all sighed in relief for not getting caught and getting our tickets. Iroh thanked her before we walked over to the ferry and boarded it. It wasn’t long before the ferry departed, and we were sailing through the open sea.

After an hour on the sea, one of the crew members handed everyone a bowl of food that looked like soup. I nodded my thanks and was about to take a sip of my soup when I smelled the food. I grimaced and glared at the bowl as soon as I realized that the food was rotten. Before I could warn and complain about my food, Iroh spoke to us with a deep, and serious voice.

“Who would have thought after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace...” He stopped talking for a moment before placing a hat with a flower on it, onto his head. “As a tourist!” He finished cheerfully, making me chuckle in amusement, before shushing Kai when he chirps in amusement from inside my shirt. We all agreed to let Kai out once we are at a safe distance away from the harbor. So that they can’t turn around to take Kai back.

“Look around. We're not tourists, we're refugees.” Zuko said to his uncle as he glared at the open sea. I frowned at the scarred prince in sadness before placing my hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Zuko place his hand over mine and returned the squeeze with a small fake smile. He sighed before lifting the bowl to his mouth.

“No, wait Zuko!” I tried to warn and stop him, but I was too late. The second the food entered his mouth, he spit it out just quick. “Ugh!” He growled in disgust and glared at the bowl. “I tried to warn you…” I mutter before flinching when I saw Zuko sigh in defeat. “I'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. I'm tired of living like this!” Zuko exclaimed in frustration as he glared at the open sea.

I opened my mouth to say something when somebody else beat me to it. “Aren't we all?” The three of us turned around and saw a young man around my and Zuko’s age. He was carrying a pair of hook swords with a piece of wheat grass in his mouth. For some reason, I don’t why, but I felt uncomfortable around him. It was like as if he had this heavy negative energy around him, energy I did not want around me.

“My name's Jet and these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot.” He introduced himself and two other kids, the same age. “Hey.” The girl greeted while the boy with the hat and archery set nodded to us. Zuko looked at Jet and his Freedom Fighters for a moment before wrapping his arm around me and looked back to the sea. “Hello.” He said in deadpanned while pulling me closer to him. I frowned slightly to Zuko before looking to the others over my and Zuko’s shoulder.

“Hi, I’m Emiko,” I introduced myself with my fake name as I turned slightly to face them better. “This is Lee and his uncle, Mushi.” I introduced Zuko and Iroh with their fake names. Jet looked me up and down with a smirk before his eyes havered for a moment at my “pregnant” stomach. He quickly snapped out of it before looking over to Zuko, with eyes saying that he was a man on a mission.

“Here's the deal.” Jet said as he walked over closer to us. “I hear the captain's eating like a king while the refugees have to feed off his scraps.” He told us, making me look the Freedom Fighter with wide shocked eyes. “What?” I asked in disbelief. Jet looked to me and nodded before his attention turned back to Zuko and spoke again. “Doesn't seem fair, does it?”

“What sort of king is he eating like?” Iroh asked with a curious frown. “The fat, happy kind.” Jet answered without even thinking over it for a second. Iroh’s mouth fell open and started drooling. Meanwhile, Kai’s stomach started growling like a moose lion. Everyone looked to me, causing me to blush in embarrassment before I placed my hand
on my “stomach” and gently shushed Kai as I rubbed my hand up and down.

“You want to help us liberate some food?” Jet asked Zuko with a smirk. Zuko looked down at the bowl in his hands before looking over to me in concern. I wanted to tell him not to do it, but when saw all the other hungry fugitives, I knew we handed to do something. I nodded softly to Zuko, making him softly squeeze my shoulder before removing his arm from me. He then threw his bowl into the sea before turning to face Jet.

“I'm in.” Zuko answered, making Jet smirk in victory. But his smirk soon fell when I stepped closer and intertwined mine and Zuko’s fingers when I took his hand in mine. “We’re in.” I stated, giving Zuko a pointed look not to argue before looking over to Jet and his Freedom Fighters. Both he and his followers stared in uncertainty. Jet looked to Zuko, as if he was waiting for Zuko to talk me out of it, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Jet looked back to me after a moment. “Uh, not to sound judgmental or anything, but…” He started off, looking to his Freedom Fighters for some help, but they stared at him. Jet sighed in defeat before looking back to me. “Aren’t you a bit too pregnant to help us steal food?” He finally finished saying. I looked to Zuko with a smirked, who secretly smirked back, before I looked back to Jet.

“Now I thought we were liberating food?” I said with a smirk as I crossed my arms. Smellerbee chuckled at my comment while Jet rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.” Jet said as he crossed his arms in annoyance. I simply just huffed in amusement before looking to Iroh, who was also smiling in amusement. He looked to me and nodded with a smile.

“Come on out Kai!” Jet and the Freedom Fighters frowned at me in confusion, and was about to question who Kai was, when a fire ferret’s head popped out from my shirt’s collar. The three of them jumped slightly in surprise before laughing. Kai simply just yipped at them before climbing completely out of my shirt. “Is that a pet fire ferret?” Smellerbee asked with a kind smile.

“Sure is!” I answered as I lifted my arm up to scratch Kai’s chin as he sat on my shoulder. “The ferry doesn’t allow animals.” Iroh said as he stepped over to me and scratched Kai behind the ear. “We had to think of a way to sneak him in.” He added with a bright proud smile. “So you were only pretending to be pregnant?” Jet asked with a smirk while he played with the wheat grass in his mouth.

“Yep!” I answered with a smirk before taking from my shoulder and handed him over to Iroh. “Now…” I said with a smirked as I placed my hands on my hips. “When do we start?” I asked with a smirk.

***

We waited until dark before we snuck upstairs to the upper deck, where the kitchen was. Once we reached the kitchen door, Smellerbee and I checked for any security guards while Jet used his hook swords to break the lock and open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Zuko, Jet, and I entered the kitchen. Jet went and got all the roast duck and chickens, while Zuko placed all the rice and stir fry noodles bowls on top of each other using his swords, before stacking them up and tied them together. Meanwhile, I grabbed all the sugar buns.

“Guard's coming!” Smellerbee warned us silently, alerting us just in time. The three of us exited the kitchen and stood on the deck. We looked down and signaled to Longshot. The archer raised his bow up and fired an arrow with a rope attached to it. Once the arrowhead was in the wood and the rope was straight and strong, we slid the bags of food down before the four of us slid down the rope. Once all our feet hit the floor, Longshot tugged hard, and the arrow fell out and down to our floor.

We silently walked to where all the refugees were resting and started handing out the food. Once all the food was passed out, Zuko, Iroh, Kai, and I sat in a circle and ate our food, along with Smellebee and Longshot sitting with us. Jet was still busy passing food. I took one of the sugar buns and moaned in pleasure when I took a bite. Zuko looked to me when he heard my moan before chuckling softly in amusement. “Jam filled sugar buns?” He asked with a knowing smirk. I simply just nodded yes as I continued eating.

Iroh chuckled as well in amusement while he fed some roast chicken to Kai before looking over to Smellerbee curiously. “So, Smellerbee. That's an unusual name for a young man.” I immediately flinched at Iroh’s words and shook my head. You just messed up big time Iroh. I thought to myself as I silently watched the Freedom Fighter get annoyed.

“Maybe it's because I'm not a man... I'm a girl!” Smellerbee snapped before standing up and walked away. “Oh, now I see.” Iroh said in realization before his eyes widen when he realized what he did. “It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!” He called out to her, but she just kept walking away. Longshot silently stood up from his spot and walked after. Meanwhile, Iroh looked over to me nervously. “How badly did I mess up?”

“Badly.”

I answered without looking to him and took another bite from by jam sugar buns. Iroh groaned before he continued eating. Kai yipped in amusement before he continued eating his chicken. As we all ate, Jet soon came over and sat down in front of us. “From what I heard, people eat like this every night in Ba Sing Se.” He said with a slight smirk, before smiling brightly as he thought of something. “I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall.”

The retired general nodded in agreement before he spoke. “It is a magnificent sight.” Jet looked over to Iroh in slight surprise before asking, “So you've been there before?”

Hearing his question, I froze in mid bite, before lowering my jam sugar bun as I looked to Iroh with small sympathy eyes. I heard the stories on Zuko’s boat about Iroh’s time in Ba Sing Se. I also know that Iroh regrets everything he did.

“Once. When I was a... different man.” Iroh answered as he looked down to his lap in shame. Before I could even try to comfort him, Kai yipped softly before climbing onto Iroh’s lap and jumped onto his shoulder. Kai then chirped and comfortingly rubbed his cheek against Iroh’s. Iroh smiled to the fire ferret and gently petted him behind the ear.

“I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of…” Jet started of talking, stopping for a moment as thought about the past before speaking again. “But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se… for a new beginning. A second chance.” “That's very noble of you. I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances.” Iroh said as he looked to Zuko.

Zuko just stared at his uncle blankly before looking over to me when I grabbed in his hand in mine. He looked down at my hand on his before looking up to me. I smiled to him and comfortingly squeezed his hand. Zuko returned a smile before his eyes widen in worry. Before I could ask him what is wrong, his hand moved to my back and pulled up my shoulder scarf. I immediately realized that the scarf moved down, and my tattoo was sticking out.

“Thank you…” I mutter softly to him with a grateful smile while making sure the scarf is tied around me tightly and won’t drop down again. “Is everything okay?” Jet asked as he stared at Zuko and I questionably. “Yeah, everything is fine! Nothing to worry about!” I answered while tying my scarf. Jet didn’t look convinced at my response, but he stayed quiet, while staring at the scarf wrapped around me.

Getting uncomfortable with his stare, I cleared my throat and continued eating. We all ate in silence for a while until Jet spoke again. ”So Emiko, you seeing anyone?” Caught by surprise, I looked up to the Freedom Fighter with wide eyes. Meanwhile Iroh accidently spitted out his soup in surprise, hitting Kai in the process. The fire ferret squeaked in surprise, jumping up with a fright, before shooting the retired general a glare.

“Terribly sorry Kai!” Iroh said as he wiped mouth dry, while nervously looking over to his nephew, who was sending Jet a death glare, but the Freedom Fighter either didn’t notice it, or just simple ignored it. Jet stared at Iroh’s spitting soup moment with raised eyebrows, before looking over to me with a smirk. “Well? Are you?” He asked again as he played with the piece of grass in his mouth.

Before I could even answer him, Zuko did with a snap. “She is! The guy sitting right next to her, is her boyfriend!” He snapped while taking my hand in his. “Which is me!” He added while pointing to himself with his thumb. Jet looked to Zuko in surprise, before blurting out his surprise as well. “You are?”

Jet’s response only angered Zuko more. The scarred prince was about to tackle the Freedom Fighter and punch the spirits out of him, when I held him back by his arm. I shot Zuko a pointed glare as I held his arm tightly. Zuko closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before calming down. He opened his eyes and slowly nodded to me, reassuring me that he won’t freak out again.

I nodded back before looking over to Jet with a half glare. “To answer your question, yes I am seeing someone, and yes, that someone is Lee. And before even ask the next stupid question… yes, we are serious!” I said to the Freedom Fighter with a warning look before ignoring him as I continued eating my sugar jam buns. Jet blinked at me a few times before he himself continued eating his food.

We continued eating in silence until Jet asked another idiotic question. "How serious?" Zuko growled out in anger and was about to tackle Jet and beat the Freedom Fighter up, but i grabbed his arm and held him back. "He's not worth it!" I exclaimed as I held Zuko back, who tried to get out of my grip and tackle Jet, but couldn't. "He's not worth it." I said softly when Zuko eventually calmed down and looked me right in the eye as his breathing calmed down. As soon as his breathing was slow and calm, I turned and glared at Jet.

"Next time, think before you speak!" I snapped at him before standing up, grabbing Zuko's hand in the proses and pulled him up with me. Once we were both on our feet, I walked over to the railings and pulled Zuko along with me. When we got to the railings, I released Zuko's hand as I turned to face him and brought him in for a tight hug. Zuko froze for a moment when he felt my arms around him. But he soon snapped out of it and wrapped his arms around me and returned the hug.

We stayed like that for a few moments, before I pulled slightly away and cupped his cheek in my hand. "Don't mind him." I said gently as I stared deep into his golden eyes with my grey eyes. Zuko just scoff and moved out of my hold and leaned against the railings with his arms crossed. "He was making a move on you while I was sitting next to you. And then when he found out about our relationship, he continued." He said as he glared to the ground with his arms crossed. "Like I said, don't mind him." I said as I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. "He's just jealous." I said with a slight smirk. "Jealous that you have me, and he never can."

Zuko huffed slightly before smirking and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Yeah, I do have you, and I am everyday grateful for having you in my life." He said before pulling me closer and connected his lips to mine. I smiled as I felt his lips against mine before deepening the kiss as I tightened my arms around his neck. Our lips moved together in sync until we were suddenly interrupted from our enjoyable moment. "Hey Emiko- Whoa! Uh, sorry! Didn't know you guys were busy." Zuko and I stopped kissing and pulled slightly away to glare at the person who interrupted us, who was Jet.

"Can't you see that we are busy here?" Zuko snapped at Jet before cupping my cheek and pulled my face to his. Before either I or Jet could say anything, Zuko connect our lips again, kissing me even more deeply this time, not even caring that Jet was still there and watching. Usually I would be uncomfortable kissing this deeply infront of others, but at this moment, I simply just didn't care, and kissed Zuko back with the same amount of passion he was kissing me. Jet cleared his throat slightly, feeling uncomfortable, and luckily for us, he eventually left us.

"Took him long enough." Zuko said against my lips with a smirk. I laughed at his comment while he continued kissing me. "How long do you think we have until your uncle comes looking for us?" I asked, biting my lip to hold back a moan when Zuko started kissing my neck. He kissed my neck for a moment, before answering. "A few minutes, maybe even more if he saw the blushing Jet." He said before continued kissing my neck. I chuckled slightly at his comment before I continued kissing him when he connected our lips again. "Let's hope he did." I said with a giggle and continued kissing the scarred banish prince.

***

Luckily for us, Iroh did leave us alone for a few minutes longer. Once we had our small fun, we went back to Iroh, and we layed down onto our floor blanket before covering ourselves with another blanket. "Good night," Zuko said kissing my cheek before whispering into my ear. "Protector Asami." I smiled up to him and gently kissed him on the lips before whispering in his ear. "Good night Prince Zuko." He smiled ar me before kissing me one last time before wrapping his arms around me and cuddled us into a comfortable position. A few minutes past and I felt Zuko softly snoring behind me. I smiled softly to myself and closed my eyes, about to let sleepness take over, when someone called to me quietly.

I opened my eyes slowly, and when I saw who was calling me, I couldn't help but glare. "What do you want Jet?" I asked as quietly as I could as I shot him a death glare. "Can't you see that I am trying to sleep? My boyfriend is actually laying next to me, sleeping very peacefully. And I would really like to join him, but you are keeping me from it." I said, laying down and cuddled deeply into Zuko's chest. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep, but Jet spoke again, making me groan in frustration. I opened my eyes and glared at the Freedom Fighter as he spoke to me.

"Just wanna say that I am sorry."

"That all?" I asked him with a glare before closing my eyes again. "And I also-" "Go away Jet." I said without opening my eyes. Thinking that Jet was gone after a minute, I relaxed and then turned around and snuggled right into Zuko's chest. But what I didn't realize, was that when I turned, I untied my scarf's knot, causing my back to be bare. The blanket that was covering both Zuko and I, covered most of my back, covering most of the tattoo, all except the Fire Nation symbol and name.

***

It was the next day, and I was on my way to the railings to meet Zuko there, when I spotted Jet there, standing behind Zuko. "You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were." My heart stopped when I heard the Freedom Fighter's words and was about to charge at him with my war fans to safe and protect Zuko when I heard his next words. His next words stop me in my tracks. "You're an outcast, like me. And us outcasts have to stick together." I stared at the Freedom Fighter and Banished Prince, preparing myself for anything while Jet continued speaking. "We have to watch each other's backs. Because no one else will."

Without turning around to face Jet, Zuko spoke to him. "I've realized lately that being on your own isn't always the best path." The two young men then just stood there, staring at the water before Zuko turned around and excused himself. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find Emiko." He was about to walk away when Jet stop him in his tracks. "How much do you know about her?" Zuko turned slightly and stared blankly at Jet, but I could see in his eyes that he was inspecting him. After a moment of silence, Zuko spoke. "Why?" "Just curious." Jet answered with a simple shrug, but both Zuko and I knew that it was not just a simple hug.

"Enough to know that she chose me... And I chose her."

I smiled brightly at his words and laid against the wall and waited for him to come near me. Once he was close enough, I grabbed his arm and pulled him to me. Zuko was caught by surprise, but he soon snapped out of it when I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him passionatly on the lips. He immediately kissed me back and wrapped his arms around me as well. We kissed passionately for a few moments until we pulled out of the kiss and laid our foreheads against each other. "You regret choosing me?" I asked him with my eyes closed while we had our foreheads resting against each other.

"Never." Zuko answered me with a smirk, before connecting our lips again, kissing me even more passionately. I giggled against his lips as he kissed me, before pulling away and asked the next question, already knowing the answer. "You promise?" "Nope." Shocked at his answer, I pulled away and stared at him with wide eyes. "Excuse me?" I asked him in shocked. Zuko just laughed before pecking my lips. "Just kidding." He said and pecked my lips again. "Absolutely." He said and kissed me before chuckling when I softly slapped his chest and called him a jerk before I continued kissing him as well.

***

After a few hours pasted, and our ferry finally reached the harbour of Ba Sing Se. Before getting off the ferry, I placed Kai back inside my shirt, and pretended to be pregnant again. "You look beautiful pregnant." Zuko said as he came behind me and wrapped his arms around me before kissing my cheek before snuggling into my neck. I giggled when he snuggled into me. "With all the attention I am getting, I could swear that you want me pregnant." I joked with a giggle before pulling away from him and picked up my bag. Instead of laughing along, Zuko just stared lovingly at me.

"Maybe one day."

"What?" I asked in shock as I looked to him with wide eyes. Zuko just continued smiling as he walked over to me and took my bag from me. "I said, maybe one day." He said and gave me a gentle pick on the lips. "After we are married." He added before walking away with my bag in hand. "Married?" I asked in shock, before looking down at my "pregnant" and asked Kai to confirm. "He said married, right?" I asked him, and I got an agreed yip from the fire ferret. "He said married." I said to myself in shock and wide eyes before walking after Zuko and his uncle, both of them waiting for me at the walkway.

Zuko took my hand in his and entertwined our fingers as we walked to the ticket booth to get our tickets stamped. Once we got there, Iroh handed our tickets and passports to the women behind the booth. The lady took the stuff and inspected them. "So Miss. Emiko, Mr. Lee and Mr. ummm... Mushy, is it?" The lady asked as she looked up from the tickets and passwords. "It's pronounced Mushi." Iroh corrected her kindly, but she didn't think so, because she soon snapped at him. "You telling me how to do my job?" She exclaimed at him with a death glare, and I swear her mole on her forehead growed even bigger.

Both Zuko and I looked to each other nervously while Iroh stepped nervously closer to the booth. "Uh, no, no. But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom. Your beauty is intoxicating." Iroh flirted to the women with his own kind of charming smile. Zuko and I looked to each other, grossed out, but it seemed like the ticket lady liked it. "You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome. Raorr!" The ticket lady said and did a claw hand with her long nails, making Zuko and I cringe, even Kai, who was still inside my shirt, making me look pregnant. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se." She said and stamped our tickets before handing them to Iroh.

Iroh turned around and smiled brightly to us. "I'm going to forget I saw that." Zuko said with a disgusted look and grabbed the tickets from Iroh. "Please don't ever do something like that in front of us ever again." I said to Iroh before following after Zuko when he walked away. The retired general just laughed nervously at us before following after us. Once we got to the waiting area for the train, we sat down and leaned against a pillar. When I sat down, I felt Kai moving on my stomach and was about to climb out of my shirt, before I stopped him.

"Not now Kai, later when it is more safe." Kai groaned in frustration at me, but laid still on my stomach. Zuko chuckled softly at the fire ferrets frustration before he patted Kai softly. Both Iroh and I knew he was petting Kai, to others it looked like a loving husband rubbing his pregnant wife's stomach. I chuckled at the image before my smile fell when Jet sat down next to us. "So, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" The Freedom Fighter asked us as he laid against the pillar with crossed arms. Before any of us could answer him, a Tea Seller walk past us.

"Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!" The seller called out as he pushed his cart around. "Ooh! Jasmine please!" Iroh called out to the seller as he waved his hand in the are. The tea seller came over to us and handed Iroh a tea cup before pouring the tea into the cup. Iroh smiled brightly at the tea and took a sip. But as soon as the tea came into his mouth, he spit it out with a grimace. "Blaugh! Ugh, coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it! What a disgrace!" Iroh exclaimed as he glared at the tea cup in his hand. I chuckled at the Tea Loving Firebender's expression as I shook my head in amusement.

Before I could say anything, Jet tapped on Zuko's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked the Scarred Prince, and before Zuko could confirm or deny, Jet motioned his head to follow him. Zuko sighed slightly in reluctance before standing up. "I'll be right back." He said to me before kissing me and followed after Jet.

*Zuko's P.O.V.*

Much to my reluctance, I followed Jet until we were more than an earshot away from Uncle Iroh and Asami. Jet turned to face me when he stopped and offered me a position. "You and I have a much better chance of making it in the city if we stick together. You want to join the Freedom Fighters? Emiko can join us as well." His offer surprised me for a moment, but I didn't let the emotion show on my face. "Thanks, but I don't think you want me in your gang." I said with a neutral face. "And Emiko won't be interrested either." I added, still keeping my expression.

"Come on, we made a great team looting that captain's food. Think of all the good we could do for these refugees." Jet said, trying hard to talk me into joining his gang. I mentally rolled my eyes, before turning around, about to walk away. " I said no." Just as I was about to walk away, Jet spoke again. "Have it your way." I just rolled my eyes, but his next words made me freeze in midstep. "You maybe want to tell me why your girlfriend has a Fire Nation tattoo?" My eyes widen in worry, before my worried eyes moved to Asami, who was laughing at something Uncle Iroh said, while my back was facing Jet.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I answered him slightly over my shoulder. "Really? You don't know about the Fire Nation symbol tattoo on her back?" Jet asked sarcastically as he shook his arms. Her scarf this morning. I flinch mentally as I remembered that Asami's scarf wasn't on her back this morning. Her scarf must have gotten loose while we were sleeping, and Jet must have seen it. With this realization going through me, I still refused to turn around and face him. "Emiko doesn't have a Fire Nation tattoo." I said as I shot him a glare over my shoulder before walking back to uncle and Asami.

On my way back to them, I notice that steam was floating out of the tea cup in Uncle Iroh's hand. The tea my uncle claimed to be cold. My eyes immediately widen in  realization and shock at what my uncle did. After the conversation I just had with Jet, I glanced quickly over my shoulder, hoping and praying that the Freedom Fighter didn't notice. But Jet was staring at us with narrowed eyes before he walked away. Once he was out of eyesight, I stormed over to my uncle and knocked the tea cup out of his hand, spilling the tea all over the ground. "Hey!" Uncle Iroh exclaimed as he stared at the spilled tea, while Asami was staring at me in surprise and confusion.

"What are you doing firebending your tea? For a wise, old man, that was a pretty stupid move!" I said to my uncle through gritted teeth. Asami's eyes widen in shock at my comment before looking to my uncle. "You firebended your tea?" She exclaimed quietly in disbelief. "You didn't see or notice?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Kai keeps moving around in my shirt. I have been trying to calm him down." She answered with shrug. Knowing how active the fire ferret is, I couldn't blame her for having more attention on him than my uncle. "I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but... it's just so sad!" Iroh said, siffing as he stared at the spilt tea on the ground.

Asami shook her head and rolled her eyes. She sighed in frustration before turning to me. "What did Jet want?" She asked as looked up to me, waiting for the answer. I mentally flinched at her question as I remember Jet and I's conversation. Not wanting to worry her, I just shook my head with a shrug before sitting down next to her and wrapped my arm around her. "Nothing." I answered as I mentally prepared myself to protect Asami against Jet.