Outside the shop, the sun was shining happily. The sparrowkeets were singing in the early morning breeze, and Azula glided from table to table, helping customers. The work wasn't drudgery today.

  “Are you humming?” Iroh asked Azula as he poured some tea into a customer's cup.

  She blinked a few times when she remembered that Iroh was talking to her. “I suppose I am. What of it?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Iroh said. “It’s just that I’ve never heard you do that before."

  Azula handed a customer a plate with a delicious pastry on it. “I’m allowed to, aren’t I?”

  “I recommend it, actually,” he said. The customers really like it.” He looked at the tip jar. "Even that rich fellow Quon tipped a little extra."

  "Good," she said, returning to serving tables.

  “Have you heard anything from Jet?”

  She shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Uncle. Why?”

  “Well, it’s only been a day or two. I’m sure he will show up.” With that, Iroh wandered off to help another customer.

  As she watched him fuss over another customer, Azula pondered what he’d said. She’d never been on a date before, nor in a relationship; her family often married for political reasons. Azula, therefore, had never considered that something might be amiss with Jet not visiting her. She made a mental note to search for him. Hopefully, everything was okay. How did others manage this sort of thing?

  ***

  After her shift was over, she made her way to the apartment where Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot were staying. She stared at the two-story apartment across the street. Though warm in the afternoon sun, she felt oddly chilled. She hesitated but didn't know why. Was she actually afraid?

  She smoothed her simple green Earth Kingdom dress. Only a few months ago, she could’ve accessed exorbitant funds and purchased the finest dress and hired the finest tailor in any city in the world. But here she was, a refugee from her own nation. This simple dress, which she thought pretty in its own way, was the best she could afford.

  She breathed deeply and forced herself to approach the door. She knocked and waited with bated breath. After a short while, the door opened, and the little girl, Smellerbee, poked her head out.

  “What do you want?” she said.

  Azula tried to smile. “I was wondering if…uh…if Jet is here.”

  Smellerbee grumpily opened the door. “He’s upstairs. I’ll get him.” She gave Azula a sideways glance and ran up the stairs.

  Azula frowned. Was something wrong? She awkwardly sat down on a chair, then stood up, and then sat down again. She hated waiting.

  After a few minutes, Jet walked down the stairs. She stood back up and tried to give an appealing smile.

  “I missed you at the shop today,” she said.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t make it,” he answered tersely.

  What was she supposed to say to that? “I hope everything is all right?”

  “Everything’s fine,” he said. “Just thinking about getting back into the fight.”

  “The fight?”

  “Against the Fire Nation. You know, kill some ashmakers, slit their throats in their sleep, that sort of thing. I’ve done it before. I once flooded an entire Fire Nation town.”

  Her mouth hung open. She’d never heard him speak so full of hate before. Every word dripped with bile.

  “What’s the matter?” he said. “Don’t want to hear me talk so bluntly?”

  Azula swallowed. “I’ve known a few people from the Fire Nation. They aren’t all bad.”

  “They’re vicious monsters!” he snapped, “Nothing but a nation of scavengers who kill and steal from the rest of us.”

  Her heart beat dully within her. “I’ve known some who are honorable.”

  “Honorable!” Jet hit the wall of the apartment with his fist. “They killed my parents, burned my village. They are nothing but evil snakes.” He glared at her suspiciously. "On the trip to Ba Sing Se, I heard a story. Want to hear it?"

  “I…can see you’re upset,” Azula said.

  He glared at her, nostrils flaring. “Some bandits attacked a town, and the town asked for help. Instead, it was conquered by the Princess of the Fire Nation herself. Her body had burn scars all over it, like some hideous freak. She was so ugly, even her father had cast her out."

  Azula reeled back as if he had hit her in the face. Jet was trying to hurt her, to get a reaction. She resolved not to let him. "That's not the story I'd heard." She'd actually saved that town! How could it have been twisted so horribly?

  His smile was crooked in the late afternoon sun. "Does it bother you to hear me talking like this about the Fire Nation?"

  “Maybe I should come back some other time,” Azula said. She needed to get out of the apartment before she did something she regretted.

  "Come to think of it, you could pass for an ashmaker."

  “I’m a refugee,” Azula said, swallowing. It wasn’t even a lie.

  Jet stormed over to her. “Prove it!”

  She took a step back, fighting the urge to blast him with her fire. It would have been so easy, but it would’ve given her and Uncle Iroh away for sure. “Stay away from me!”

  “What are you going to do to me if I don’t?”

  Swallowing her anger, she hurried toward the door. She’d almost reached it when Jet jumped in front of her. Spite consumed his visage. In that moment, she finally realized who he reminded her of: Jet had the same look her father'd had on the day he burned...

  Now she really desired to kill him. “Get out of my way,” she said, coldly. “Please.”

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  Smellerbee appeared behind them. “Jet, don’t.” She gave Azula an apologetic look.

  The dark-haired boy loomed over her for a few moments. Then, still glaring at her, he stepped aside. Azula quickly exited the little house and nearly ran down the street, her face beet red.

  ***

  After her confrontation with Jet, Azula was so angry and distraught that she hardly noticed where she was going. Streets and carts and booths blended into one another. How could things have gone so wrong? How could she have gone on a date with someone so like her father? More importantly, what was she to do? The look in Jet's eye told her that he suspected her. He would not give up until he exposed her and her uncle. They could not live in peace as long as he was in the picture.

  Part of her wanted to cry, but the stronger part focused on the problem. Jet was going to attack her and Iroh in some way. She was fighting a new enemy, one who needed destroying without raising suspicion.

  She knew what she had to do. Getting ahold of her bearings, she looked around to ensure that no one was following her. She slipped in and out of alleyways, retraced her steps. Once she knew that she was safe from Jet and his men, she made her way to the warehouse district.

  She stopped in front of a small building and knocked on the door. It opened, revealing a short, skinny Earth Kingdom merchant with a green cap on his head and a white tuft of hair from his chin. His mouth dropped slightly when he saw her.

  "Princess?" he whispered.

  She nodded. "Cai." She pressed her lips together. "May I come in?"

  "Of course, of course," Cai said. He stepped back, and she walked past him into the warehouse. It was a small affair, but a cart was there, full of cabbage.

  Azula lifted one. "These look a little damaged."

  Cai scowled. "Courtesy of that rascally Avatar and his team of rapscallions. I swear, they have it out for me."

  "Did you ever return that ostrich horse?" Azula said. The last time she'd seen the merchant had been at the port on the far side of the ferry to Ba Sing Se. As the authorities said she couldn't bring it into Ba Sing Se, she'd left the faithful creature in Cai's care with the instruction to give it back to Song when he had the chance.

  Cai nodded. "The young lady received it like she was expecting its return."

  "Then she has more faith in me than I have in myself," Azula said. She wished Song all the best. The girl and her mother deserved it, not like Azula. "Have you been able to procure the shirshu venom?"

  "Mostly," he said. "I should have it in a week or two."

  "Good," Azula said. The merchant had taken a long time to hunt down some for her, for the animal was very rare. She grew silent, trying to think of the next thing to say.

  "If you don't mind my asking," Cai said, "Is something wrong?"

  She dithered for a moment and then decided to trust him. The cabbage merchant had been one of her best spies. More significantly, Azula appreciated his ability to keep a secret.

  "My life has...changed a lot since I last saw you," Azula said. She gestured at her dress.

  Cai patted her shoulder. "There, there, it can't be that bad."

  "True. It's worse."

  "Is there anything I can do to help?"

  She stared at him. She was poor, cut off from the vast resources of the Fire Nation.

  He gave her a sympathetic smile. "I have a daughter about your age."

  "I don't need your pity."

  "Well then," Cai said, "Let's just say that you were one of my best customers, and I have every faith that you will be again."

  She smiled a little. "That's better."

  "So, what can I do for you?"

  Azula thought ahead to the confrontation she knew was coming.

  ***

  Iroh furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s wrong, Jade?”

  Azula poured some tea for a customer. “What do you mean, Uncle?” She peeked out a window into the night. Out there, Jet, and possibly his friends, were coming for her.

  “You know what I mean.” He surreptitiously glanced over at Azula’s spear hidden in the corner. "You've had that there for the past couple of days."

  Azula walked over to the counter and whispered to him. “I simply believe in being prepared. You know, if we were attacked.”

  “Are you expecting to be attacked?”

  Her face turned red. Her jaw twitched irritably. “In this city, one should always expect to be attacked.”

  “Ba Sing Se has treated us well,” Iroh said. “It’s welcomed us with open arms.”

  She bit her top lip and looked down. “I fear there’s no place for me anywhere.”

  He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Did I ever tell you the secret ingredient to my tea?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You tell everyone. It’s lo—"

  The door to the tea shop slammed open, and Jet stomped in. Azula had never seen him so irate. He brandished his hook swords, pointing one at Azula and Iroh. “This girl and her uncle are firebenders. They’re agents of the Fire Nation!”

  The customers in the shop whispered to one another. One stood up. “These two make the best tea in the city.”

  “That’s right!” Jet said. “And I saw the fat one heat tea for the girl a few nights ago.”

  Azula had been waiting for this. She glanced over to the corner and made eye contact with the cabbage merchant. He slipped out the back. Then, Azula raised an incredulous eyebrow at Jet. “When is it a crime to heat some tea?”

  “I’m sick of this. Show them your firebending. You're Fire Nation.”

  Azula smirked. “If I was Fire Nation, do you think I’d be here?” She raised her hands to the tea shop.

  “We’re refugees,” Iroh said.

  The outside corners of Jet’s dark eyebrows raised even higher. “I’ll prove it to you all.”

  He advanced on Azula, obviously trying to provoke a response. For a moment, her mind flashed back to the night her father burned her. He'd walked in that same slow, ominous way. But she wouldn't let either of them hurt her ever again.

  Azula walked over to her bladed spear. “One bad date, and you accuse me of treachery.” She grabbed it and calmly stood in front of him. “Please leave this shop.”

  “Yes, please leave,” the owner said.

  Jet's eyes widened in rage. He charged her, swinging his swords. She blocked them with the blade of her spear and swung the haft of the spear at Jet’s feet.

  He skipped over it and shuffled back. “I’ll force you to show them.”

  He grabbed a table with his foot and then shoved it at Azula. She flipped over it, then she jumped toward him, swinging her bladed spear toward his head.

  He blocked the blade to the side. He punched toward her face. Azula barely had time to duck, but then she kicked his gut with her heel. He grunted but quickly recovered. In response, he grabbed her collar and threw her out a window. She rolled on the cobblestone street and jumped to her feet as he jumped out to continue the fight.

  “Is that the best you can do?” Azula said.

  He answered with a flurry of strikes with his swords. She parried with her spear. They moved so fast the growing crowd could barely keep up. Few could match her skill with the weapon, but Jet could. She was becoming a bit tired. Rage fueled her limbs.

  Physically, he was stronger than her, more durable. She wasn’t trying to beat him, however. She was merely stalling him.

  “You two, stop your fighting!” Two Dai Li agents commanded, running up.

  Cai was behind them. He gave her a sad smile. He'd done his duty. She'd have to find some way to reward him for his faithful service.

  Azula jumped back and then bowed to the secret police. “He attacked us.” She crouched and held her bladed spear in a defensive position.

  “And destroyed my shop,” Pao said angrily.

  “But…they’re ashmakers!” Jet said. “I can prove it.”

  Iroh shook his head. “We’re just humble refugees trying to make a living.”

  “You’ve earned every penny,” one of the members of the crowd said. He held up a cup of Iroh’s work.

  Iroh beamed. “Thank you!”

  “We’ve heard enough,” the taller Dai Li agent said. “Surrender, young man.”

  Jet turned on them and raised his swords. “Believe me!”

  “Drop your swords,” the other Dai Li agent said.

  They grabbed Jet, disarmed him, and bound his hands by earthbending rocks into the shape of manacles over his wrists. He yelled at Azula as they dragged him away and threw him in a barred wagon. "You! You did this on purpose!"

  Azula glared at him as they locked the door. "Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

  She watched the Dai Li’s wagon rumble away down the street. The secret police were obviously the great power in the city. It was something to consider. At the very least, it would be a distraction from the pain she felt.

  Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She was more afraid of them than she had been of Jet. Her heart had been abused enough over the past few years.

  “Are you all right?” Iroh asked her.

  Her bladed spear shook in her hand. “I’m fine, Uncle,” she lied. “It’s only a few scrapes and bruises.”

  “That’s not what I mean—”

  “Master Pao,” Azula said with a bow, “I’ve had a long night. Would it be possible for me to go home?”

  “Of course,” Pao said, giving her a sympathetic smile.

  She turned and slowly shuffled away.

  ***

  She held herself together until she reached her apartment. Her heart was a tempest of sorrow. She’d hoped to find a new start here, but even now, love eluded her. When she crossed the threshold into the apartment, the spear slipped from her hands and clanged on the floor. She wrapped her arms around her abdomen, fell to her knees, and began to weep. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't anyone love her?

  Azula buried her face in her hands and sobbed.