Kaida Queen Of Ice <<ATLA; Book two: Earth>>

CHAPTER TWENTY

I was serving someone tea when the door opened to Zian he smiled and I smiled back. I finished pouring the tea and he followed me to the counter. I untied the apron and he helped me pull it over my head.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"She could have done it herself." We looked at Zuko after he made the small remark.

"Right!" Zian blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, women can do anything a guy could do, I just wanted to be nice."

I chuckled and he blushed even more. "Ignore him, I think it's a sweet gesture." I told Zian and he smiled weakly. "I'm leaving now, Mushi."

"Have a nice day." Iroh said with a smile and walked over to us. "Take care of her, young man."

"Yes sir." Zian bowed and we walked out of the shop. "Natsumi, you look beautiful today."

"You also look nice today." I replied and we started walking, I glanced back to see Zuko.
He was taking out the trash but clearly also watching us. "Where are we going?"

"I wanted to take you around the market. It's a really nice day and they have the best produce." He spoke excitedly. "Unless you had somewhere specific that you'd like to see of the city. You haven't been here long right?"

I smiled up at him. "Right, but the market does sound fun so we can do that."

   "Right, let's go." He held his hand out for me and I took it.

⇢ ⇢ ⇢

We walked around and honestly it was more fun than I expected it to be. He explained all about the city, well more of what he knew about it since he also just got here.
   I made him talk about himself and he started to tell me about Omashu, I wanted to tell him I've been there before but I didn't have a straight story yet so I had to hold back. Then I found out about it being taken over by Fire Nation and how the Avatar used a scheme to help them escape.

"Zian!" We turned to see two girls.

"Annchi, Daiyu. Hi." He smiled, then looked at me. "This is Natsumi, Natsumi these are the girls who also lived in Omashu."

"It's nice to meet you." I greeted.

"You too." The younger one said. "I'm Annchi and this is my sister, can we take Zian for a quick second?"

"What is it?" He asked confused.

I looked at them. "Go, I'll go get us something to drink and I'll wait for you over there." I pointed to a seating area.

"Alright, thank you." He said and I walked away seeing them talk. I ordered a mango drink that reminded me of the ones we ordered when we were in the desert.
I also ordered Zian one because he usually ordered a mango related tea. I looked over as he came back.

"Thank you again." He sat down next to me. "I apologize for the interruption."

"It's fine." I assured him. "So what do you do? Or your family?"

He smiled. "My mother also own a little shop selling things like clothes and produce. My father works at a bigger shop making shoes. I help my mother with delivery orders."

"You're so sweet." I spoke truthfully. "I'm glad I met you."

"Really?!" He asked surprised. I chuckled. "Sorry it's just, you're really pretty and well I was kind of expecting you to reject me."

"I honestly would have." He looked sad but I panicked. "No not because of you..Uh..You see, I just lost my previous boyfriend. I didn't think I was ready to date anyone but I'm actually glad that I can move on."

"I'm sorry." Zian replied.

"No, don't be. We both knew it was going to happen.." I told him and my heart broke a little, he looked at me with sorry eyes. "It's good for me to move on. I mean it still hurts me a little.."

"I understand." He nodded. "I never lost someone that I loved like that but I understand that you can't move on easily from that person. First loves tend to always hurt."

"Exactly." I said and we sat in silence for a while, it wasn't awkward it was actually quite peacful.

"Ready to keep going?" Zian stood up.

I nodded as we continued walking and joked around for the rest of the time. He took me to some of his favorite places and told me about the small town and little details.
Zian had disappeared but it was nice to walk alone for a while, not that he was annoying or anything but it was calming. It gave me enough to think about Zuko, dating, and what I actually wanted.

"Why did you leave me?" I teased him and he held out a small bouquet of pink and red flowers. "Aww, you didn't have too."

"It's fine," He smiled. "We should get you home, we've been walking all day."

"Sounds good." I replied and we walked back to the tea shop.

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Short chapter, and it's also a filler chapter.

Edited; 11/05/20
Re-Edited; 7/10/21