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Jin blinked in surprise.
There was activity in the Jasmine Dragon.
There hadn’t been anyone inside since before the fall of Ba Sing Se, and it almost seemed poetic that the Jasmine Dragon would come back to life when the rest of the city did, except Jin knew the owner and main server there, and neither had been seen or heard from since the fall.
And yet there was Mushi, humming to himself as he bustled about inside and prepared to open the doors.
Jin couldn’t help herself.
She peeked inside.
“Pardon, but the Jasmine Dragon is not yet open for business,” said Mushi kindly, not quite looking away from where he was adjusting part of the décor.
Jin smiled. “I’m not here for tea, though I wouldn’t turn it down. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
Mushi turned, and his face broke out into a wide grin. “Ah, Jin! It does this old man’s heart good to know you’re alright!”
“Same to you. When the city fell and you and Li were in the palace-!” Jin said, stepping all the way in and closing the door behind her.
“It was a difficult time for us all,” Mushi agreed, “but we came out of it better and wiser.”
Jin nodded, but before she could say something else, the ground shook from the force of a mob’s-worth of feet pounding the pavement outside. The shaking subsided as quickly as it had come, but Jin still scowled. “Five golds says those are some Fire Lord fangirls.”
Mushi’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”
“Yeah, apparently the new Fire Lord is coming to visit. Something about making reparations?” Jin explained, taking a seat at a nearby table. “I mean, good for him, it’s nice to know somebody in the Fire Nation’s royal family isn’t a royal jerkwad in need of a psychiatrist, but I doubt he’ll wanna get mobbed by that crowd.”
Mushi smiled in that knowing way he tended to and turned back to the décor. “Not just the Fire Lord, but my nephew as well.”
Jin lit up. “Li’s coming, too?”
At that, Mushi’s knowing smile turned mischievous for a split second before he nodded. “Yes, he is. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that we came from a rather distant place before moving to Ba Sing Se. He’s been back at home now that the war is over, straightening out what was twisted in our absence, but I managed to convince him to take a break and come visit his uncle’s tea shop for the grand re-opening.”
“Still a workaholic, huh? That’s Li, alright,” Jin declared.
Something started tickling at the edges of her hearing, and Jin blinked. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” asked Mushi innocently.
Jin snorted and crossed her arms. “What game are you playing, you meddling old man?”
“Who, me?” Mushi deflected cheerfully. “I only play Pai Sho.”
The source of the noise either got closer or it got louder, because Jin could now identify it as the sound of screaming fangirls.
Actually, on second thought, they were probably getting closer.
“Oh, boy, here we go,” groaned Jin.
Then a boy dashed into the tea shop and slammed the doors shut behind him, pressing his back against them and peeking nervously out the windows. “Uncle, I thought you told me the city was safe! I put on my casual clothes and everything!”
Jin’s brain stopped working.
The boy in front of her was dressed in Fire Nation colors, his hair done up in a topknot and holding none other than the crown of the Fire Lord himself. His robes were made of elegant fabrics Jin rarely ever got to see, let alone up close, though they were disheveled as though caught and pulled in every possible direction.
He also had the same voice and face as…
“Li, what the fuck.”
The Spirits-damned Fire Lord whipped his head around like a pig-deer in front of a carriage, his face turning bright red, and he honest-to-both-Oma-and-Shu squeaked, “Jin?”
Mushi (who definitely wasn’t actually named Mushi) started chuckling, and Li the Fire Lord whined, “Uncle-!”
The ground started shaking again, and Jin leapt to her feet. “Okay, explanation later! Li, get to the kitchen and stay out of sight! I’ve got this.”
Li gulped, but he nodded, and the moment Jin took his place barricading the doors, he scrambled to get out of sight.
Not a moment too soon, either, because the horde of people came to a stop just outside the tea shop.
Jin dusted herself off, stood a little straighter, and opened the door a crack with a too-sweet smile on her face. “Sorry, everyone. The Jasmine Dragon isn’t quite ready to open yet.”
The boy in front- and how had Jin not seen it coming, there were fangirls and fanboys and more, so why wouldn’t they join forces?- cleared his throat. “Don’t lie. Everyone knows the old man who used to own this shop disappeared months ago. We saw the Fire Lord come in!”
Mushi came up behind her. “Jin, are these people troubling you?”
“I’m not quite sure, Mushi,” said Jin, relishing the looks of shock rippling out into the crowd as the man singlehandedly disproved any rumors about his demise. “They say they saw the Fire Lord, but you, me, and your nephew are the only ones in here right now. I haven’t seen anybody else come in.”
“Hm, interesting.” Mushi gave her shoulder a quick pat, then addressed the crowds. “Unfortunately, Jin and I have been setting up in here for quite some time. If neither of us saw him, then perhaps the Fire Lord dodged into a different building.”
The fanboy in front faltered a bit, and Jin offered him a wide, beaming grin. “Best of luck in your search!”
Mushi closed the door, and once the crowds had dispersed, he chuckled. “Impressive quick thinking, Jin.”
“I mean, it wasn’t technically a lie.” Jin shrugged. “They just didn’t have all the context.”
Mushi burst into outright laughter at that. “You’re a good kid, you know that?”
Li poked his head out from the kitchen. “Are they gone?” he stage-whispered.
“Yes, they’re gone,” Jin said, rolling her eyes lightheartedly. “Now, I figured you had to be some kind of firebender when you lit those lanterns, but I gotta say, I was not expecting the crown.”
Li’s eyes widened. “You figured me out on our date?”
“Eeyup,” said Jin with a nod.
“And you still wanted to..?”
Li’s fingers lifted to his lips, and Jin softened. “Well, yeah. I probably shouldn’t have gone for it on the first date, but you’re nice, and you’re funny, and you care a lot, even if you have trouble figuring out how to show it. And before your dumb sad brain tells you I’m only saying it because of where you are in life now, I’m just repeating the same stuff I told my friends right afterwards. So what if you had the same bending abilities as the soldiers trying to break down the wall? They wouldn’t have lit the fountain for some Earth Kingdom refugee.”
Li’s face screwed up, and Jin almost worried she’d said something wrong, but Mushi just swept in and led Li to the table Jin had taken just a few minutes prior. “Congratulations, Jin. I believe you’re the first person outside of our traveling companions who has gotten it through my nephew’s thick skull that people love him for who he is.”
“High praise, though that award should have been given out after Mr. Fancypants here got coronated, not months later,” Jin said, taking her seat again.
“Unfortunately, such is the way of the world,” said Mushi. “However, where a trickle of water flows, there is always the potential for a roaring river.”
Li snorted. “Your proverbs still don’t make sense, Uncle.”
“I think I get it,” Jin said. “There’s gotta be a little progress before things can get to where you want them to be.”
Li’s face whipped up, and then he snapped around to look at Mushi. “Why can’t you just say that?!”
“It’s less fun that way,” Mushi said unapologetically. “I shall go start some tea, I think. Any preferences?”
“Jasmine, please, Mushi!”
“Yeah, I’ll take jasmine, too.”
“One pot of jasmine tea coming right up!”
Jin beamed as Mushi retreated to the kitchen, then gave Li’s shoulder a squeeze. “So, got any stories from the courts that are just begging to be told, Li?”
“Uh, Zuko, actually,” Li-Zuko murmured. “And my uncle is Iroh.”
Huh. Well, that would make sense. Fire Nation names for Fire Nation royals.
“Oh? Well, then, Zuko, I didn’t hear a ‘no, Jin, I don’t have any stories for you,’ in there,” Jin pointed out, elbowing him with a grin.
Zuko smiled. “Okay, well, there was this one time that Aang- that’s the Avatar, but he’s only, like, twelve, or maybe thirteen, give or take the century in the ice- decided he wanted to teach us all how to make Air Nomad fruit pies, but he didn’t tell us until after that he was gonna throw them at our faces! So that started a food fight, and we didn’t realize the food fight had started overlapping with a scheduled meeting until...”