𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄: 𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐋𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐙𝐔𝐊𝐎
❝𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍, 𝐙𝐔𝐊𝐎, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑.❞
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Zuko's eyes peered open slowly. His vision opened to a wooden ceiling and light pouring in from the windows. It's his and his uncle's apartment, but what happened? And how had he gotten there? Feeling hot with fever, Zuko pulled the blankets closer to his shoulders. Iroh heard the rustling.
"Zuko, you're awake!" He exclaimed heartily.
"Uncle?" Zuko sat up slowly, "What happened in the square?"
"What happened in the square?" Iroh scoffed, walking closer to Zuko with a cold towel and a glass of water, "What happened to you?"
"What?"
"I found you covered in soot, unconscious in front of the tea shop—with a fever!"
"Oh. Yeah." Zuko tried to recall, head still wearing off sleep, "How long was I asleep?"
Iroh placed the towel on Zuko's forehead, "An entire day. You should continue to rest. The fever has barely gone down."
"I know, I know." Zuko pushed Iroh's hands away to help himself with the cold towel, "But what happened to the square?"
"The Dai Lee arrived, and the citizens were sent to healers." Iroh stood up and walked toward their dining table, "Also, this morning, the Duchess Phoenix troupe left Ba Sing Se."
Zuko's eyes widened. He turned toward his uncle so quickly, his headache stung, "They did?"
"Unfortunately so." Iroh sighed, picking up a letter from the table, "But a young lady left this for you a few hours ago."
Iroh handed him the letter, but Zuko did not feel that eager to open it. It was a farewell letter; he was sure. But wouldn't that be a good thing then? He pondered. She's finally gone—he said in his head then repeated it again out loud. When he said it that time, his voice could only croak a hoarse whisper for it. Iroh thought it was from a dry throat; it was not.
Zuko finally decided to examine the letter. Sora was written on the back, and For Zuko was written on the bottom of it. He opened the letter, and it read:
Zuko,
Today, the Duchess Phoenix troupe will leave on the first ferry back to Full Moon Bay, and I will say that out of all the things I'll miss about this city, it's bothering you that I probably will miss the most.
Jokes aside, I honestly wished I had gotten to know Zuko more in Ba Sing Se. Not Lee. Not whoever you're pretending to be. Seriously, you're not meant for waiting tables, Zuko. Even I could see that as clear as day! I don't know much about books or strategies or politics, but I know enough to know what a hero looks like (that's you).
Seriously, I was wrong about you, and I'm sorry. I wished you'd have spent your energy telling me off about how wrong I was instead of sighing every five seconds like a mother of five dragging home her drunken husband from the bar. It's none of my business really what you do with your life, but prince or not, honor or not—I really don't care. And to be honest, you shouldn't either. The Zuko I saw last night was the coolest person I'd ever seen—the bravest and the kindest too. The Avatar sure has someone coming for him, and he better watch out.
Oh, yeah. I never had the chance to tell you this, but since you told me yours, I'll tell you mine. Still not Shei, but my real name is Seola. I'm no secret princess or daughter of a nobleman. I'm Seola of the Earth Kingdom. I grew up in an orphanage that treated all the kids like dirt. So, I ran away and joined the troupe when I was thirteen.
For as long as I could remember, I've just been running away. I've always been anxious that they'd find me again. Though I guess this is where I should say thank you. Thank you for being brave yesterday. You saved so many people's lives. I want to be brave like that too. I want to be brave enough to stand up for the people I care about. Thank you for inspiring me to be.
I refuse to be any sappier than this. I hope we meet again, Zuko, and I hope you find whatever or whoever it is you're looking for.
Goodbye, Zuko.
Seola.
"What did it say?" Iroh asked.
"Good things." Zuko smiled faintly, "True things."
"Ah," Iroh frowned, "So, it was that kind of break up."
"WHAT?! NO." Zuko turned beet red, "How could you say that?!"
Iroh's bellowing laughter poured over Zuko's flustered complaints, and in a ferry far away, there was the Duchess Phoenix troupe. There, Seola too was trying to explain to her friends how her letter was not a farewell to some forbidden runaway love. Suffice to say, both parties had assumed that every time their young companions had left out of nowhere in the past few days, it was because they were on dates. A symphony of it's not what you think's sang in unison from miles away accompanied by red faces and yelling.
In all honesty, the people of Ba Sing Se are all still actors by their own right. The streets aren't less false or filled with lies; men and women and all of them in between still choose to be anyone they like. After all, there isn't a town better for that than Ba Sing Se. Truly, it is a place where you could be anyone—an anyone town.
Sometimes though, rare as it may be, the very place where people try to be someone else, you'll find that your true self seems to shine brighter than all the rest. And greater it always will be than any lie you could ever tell.
Perhaps, someday, they will meet again. No longer as Lee or Sora, but as
Seola
and Zuko.
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"Thank you."