The DragonBorn

Chapter 27

"I don't know, but if they were here, then maybe something happened to the village."

"Maybe there will be a dream about them later on."

"Maybe."

Zeraphina continued walking through the lanes of stalls, browsing everything that they had to offer. She even bought a small bouquet of white flowers and a couple of candles for a small thing she had to do. She left the town and went to a small hill where she could be alone. On a small rock, Zeraphina set down the doll and wrote a name in the dirt before lighting the candles with her white flames.

She smiled and nearly cried, "Happy birthday, Jian." She said, "You have to be ten by now, right? So much time passes when I'm away from you, mother and father. But I promise, little brother, I'll meet you someday. Just wait a little bit longer for me, okay?"

Zeraphina just stayed there until the sun started to go down. She took the doll, stuffed it into her pocket and went back to the apartment. As soon as she entered the apartment, she was bombarded by Zuko who took her by the shoulders and gripped tightly.

"Where have you been?" He asked, "You weren't here when we got back home and we were worried sick."

Iroh just smirked at the stove while glancing at the two.

Zeraphina sighed and brushed Zuko's hands from her shoulders, "I wasn't allowed to go to work and I got bored staying here all day, so I went for a walk. I needed to do something for today."

"What could possibly be more important than staying at home like we told you?"

"Perhaps celebrating my baby brother's birthday? You're not the only one that has family that they miss."

Zuko was stunned from this and didn't say a thing as Zeraphina walked to the only room in the apartment, slamming the door behind her and flopping onto the bed. She took the doll from her pocket and smiled at it.

"He's going to enjoy it, Child. I know it."

"I really hope so."

~~~~Tale of Zuko~~~~

Zuko glanced over at Zeraphina as she cleaned up a couple of the very few empty tables. He felt guilty about shouting at her the other day, and mulled over what she said to him.

"You're not the one that has family that they miss."

Those words hit him hard, as he too knew the feeling of missing his family. Well, aside from Azula, he could do without her. But he missed mainly his mother who disappeared all those years ago. He remembered that Zeraphina was taken from her family by force, which made her pain all the more painful.

"Lee!" Zeraphina shouted, bringing his attention back to reality, "It's almost time for closing, can you grab the last few plates?"

"Yeah... sure." Zuko said and took the last bit of plates from the rest of the tables. As they cleaned up the rest of the tea shop, Zuko kept giving glances at Zeraphina while she just ignored him. Iroh sighed and pulled the two of them out of the tea shop.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" Zuko shouted.

"There is far too much tension in the tea shop, it will affect the tea leaves for tomorrow. Why don't the two of you go and enjoy the evening? It's so beautiful tonight, so why don't you two just go out and enjoy it?"

"But Master--"

"No buts young lady. Go out and enjoy the night."

And with that, Iroh slammed the doors to the tea shop in their faces and the two teens had no other choice but to go.