Violent Delights, ATLA

chapter twenty four, she drew stars around his scars

24
SHE DREW STARS AROUND HIS SCARS

THE LOWER RING OF BA Sing Se proved that the capital city of the Earth Kingdom, the only safe haven left on earth, had an economic gap. Not everything was sunshine and rainbows but what mattered most was that the city's walls had never been fully penetrated before (ignoring Iroh's attempted siege years ago) and it gave people a sense of security, the refugees, especially. San couldn't complain.

"What did you buy those for?" Zuko said coldly to his uncle as San was a little behind them, getting caught up in viewing some antiques.

"Don't you recognise these flowers?" Iroh hummed, raising the bouquet.

"Yes, those are poppies. San's favourites." He mumbled, his voice taking on a tone of nostalgia. It seemed like yesterday when the two of them were having their usual talks by the turtleduck pond, San ranting about her favourite things with Zuko listening in closely, memorising the things she said to heart.

"You remembered." Her voice from behind surprised him, a giggle slipping past her lips as she offered to carry the bouquet of poppies in Iroh's stead. "Oh, these are absolutely lovely, Uncle Iroh! Thank you."

"No need to thank me," He chuckled sincerely, "I simply thought they would help brighten up our place a little. Now come on, I found us some new jobs, and we start this afternoon!"

The jobs Iroh found for them was, to none of their surprise, at a small tea shop. The owner gave all of them sage green aprons and hired them on the spot because no one else worked there for the time being. The apron fit San and Zuko perfectly but Iroh needed extra string so the owner headed to the back to grab some and in the meanwhile, they tried the tea he served them.

San slowly spit it back into the cup. "That's disgusting."

"Indeed." Iroh agreed grimly. "This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!"

"Uncle, that's what all tea is." Zuko pointed out, vexed.

"How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?!" Out of all the times San's been with Iroh, this was the angriest she's seen him. "We'll have to make some major changes around here." He stalked over to the open window to throw the remaining tea away and shut it.

"Speaking of major changes..." She muttered just as the tea store owner returned with the extra string. "Hey, Mister, do you think I can make soup and serve it to the patrons here? I know this is mainly a tea shop but I think it would be lovely to serve soup too as they go well together."

"Ooh, great suggestion." He pondered. "Why don't you make the soup first and I'll taste it? If it's delicious, we could try to serve it and see how it goes."

"All right, thank you!" San exclaimed, eyes bright and cheerful as opposed to Zuko's dull demeanour (he didn't know why she was so optimistic but this was San after all).

Much to her delight, the tea shop owner absolutely adored her soup. He gave her the green light to serve it to patrons if they so desired to and San remained ecstatic the whole day, excited to share her mother's special soup to different people tomorrow.

"The customers love it!" Iroh informed San, who was busy in the kitchen. After he began brewing the tea his own way instead and she started selling her soup, the popularity of the tea shop shot through the roof.

"That's amazing!" She squealed, clapping her hands together. Six and a half months ago when their ship exploded by the port thanks to pirates, her mother's recipe book smouldered to cinders along with the scarlet flames. The only thing she had left of her was the necklace strung around her neck pieced with the dragon pendant. But even though she lost the recipe book in the fire, she remembered most of the recipes by heart. Perhaps if the owner was kind enough, he'd let her experiment and cook other dishes as well.