ATLA: Red Rose Ch.01

Red Rose

Chapter 01


-- Now


‘I swear this is stupid…’ Muttered the banished prince in his mind as he served tea to the ‘filthy’ commoners of the lower rings.

He hated the new way of living like this, it was just a lie, but what else was there that he could do? The Avatar wasn’t around, or so he assumed, and there’s no soldiers to order around like the good old days. Just recently, Jin had been coming for tea every week since after they went on their little date about two weeks ago.

"Uncle, three more jasmines," He sighed in annoyance, and was called out to by a female customer and so he dragged himself reluctantly to her, "yes ma’am?"
"What time are you off night break, cutie?" She caressed his right cheek delicately.
The banished prince moved his face away, "I’m not going to take a break," he lied easily, "I have a lot of work to do today, thank you."
She frowned, "poor Li, you work yourself too hard, it’s not good for you."
"I’ll take my chances then, please excuse me." Li bowed and went to the counter to see his uncle frowning at him, which of course, he didn’t like, "what?"
His uncle shrugged and placed the three jasmine teas on the tray, "nothing."

"Mushi, I find Li lacking recently, is he sick?!" The owner of the tea shop asked worriedly.
Turning his head to the owner, Mushi nodded, "yes, he’s a little ill, but it won’t stop him from do his work regularly. He’s just a little tired is all Pao."
Pao huffed, "he better not get the customers sick or you’ll lose that raise!"
He swayed his hand, "he’ll be fine as long as he occupies his mind a little.

Li hated to be talked about, for the past four days he’s been sick, and there was nothing that was curing it, and his throat always begged for water every minute, including right now. He served out the tea and went to new customers to take more orders, and gave them to his uncle. His hand came up and wiped off the sweat that was on his forehead; he was a little relieved that the sun was down and the cool night air swept the area.

‘I bet my fever hasn’t calmed down yet even.’ He sighed and saw Jin walk in, ‘great, just what I needed, another woman in the tea shop to bug the hell out of me.’
"Hi Li, how are you doing?" The young woman asked happily.
Li mentally growled, "I’m doing fine, and how about yourself?"
"I’m doing great, but all this talk about a midnight Spirit running around at night is starting to make me a little nervous…" She frowned.
"A Spirit?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Is it the Blue Spirit?" Mushi asked sternly and Li looked at him; wondering if he thought it would be him doing the midnight strolling.
Jin shook her head, "I don’t know anything about a Blue Spirit."
"Heh! It ain’t no Blue Spirit, there’s nothing on her that’s blue!" An old man said in a cocky manner and sipped his tea and ate a crumpet.
Li sighed in relief, ‘at least that takes uncles’ suspicion off me.’
Mushi questioned the man and asked, "by ‘her,’ are you saying the Spirit is a woman?"
"Darn right I am," he spat in a nearby spittoon, " the kids’ pretty fast too I might add, saw her the other night on a roof top."

He smiled, "is there anything you can tell us about this female Spirit?"
"Nothing much, only that she wears all black to blend into the dark, and a red mask."
Li scoffed, "so we’re dealing with a ‘Red Spirit’ now?" He pouted lightly, "biter."
"Biter?" Jin looked at Li confusedly, wondering what he meant.
He cleared his throat, "it’s nothing, just that the woman might’ve copied the Blue Spirit."
Mushi raised an eyebrow, "didn’t the Blue Spirit die though?"
The banished prince wasn’t liking his uncle getting on him about that, "yes."

"GET BACK HERE WENCH!" A young man yelled outside.

Women screamed and men yelled in fear as they moved out of the way and Li rushed out to see what all the fuss was about outside. There in black and a red mask stood the young woman they were just discussing about. She looked nearly identically to the Blue Spirit, and his anger started to build up and yelled.

"YOU! RED SPIRIT!" Li growled out.

She skidded to a stop and looked at who called and froze in place as she looked at him; her hidden gaze not leaving his visible one. Mushi came out and she looked to him next, then the young woman and other man behind the one who called out to her. Her hidden eyes could see the sweat on his forehead and walked over as he stood firmly as everyone backed off, and she felt his forehead with her gloved hand and felt a fever.

"WENCH!!!" The young man called out and the Red Spirit jumped away from Li and pulled out a sai and blocked the tiger’s head hook sword that was swung in her direction and she jumped up on top of a roof and looked at him. "Tell me what you did to Katara!"

Her head tilted to look confused and he threw one of his swords at her and she ducked down so that it would miss. She turned her attention to Li once more and wondered why he was there in Ba Sing Se, and a rock was thrown up at her and she glared down at the young man and just disappeared into the night. The Red Spirit was gone for the night.

"Damn it!" The young man growled and kicked the dirt angrily.
"Ah, Jet my young boy, what was that all about?" Mushi asked curiously.
"A friend of mine left my sight and I saw that bitch with sais, I know she did something!"
He looked amused, "I believe you said Katara, could that possibly be water bender?"
Jet looked at him, "yeah… how’d you know?"
The old man smiled and patted Li’s back, "we’ve crossed paths with her many of times."

Li scoffed, ‘hope she got killed then.’

--

Li and Mushi entered their apartment and the teen went straight to his room; having no appetite for food. He yanked off his clothes and washed himself off with a cloth and placed on his night wear. His uncle came in five minutes later to watch over him in case something would happen, and they talked a little.

"Why were you blaming me for the woman?" Li frowned exhaustedly.
Mushi shrugged, "well Prince Zuko, you could’ve been her; so I wasn’t so sure."
Zuko, Li’s true name, blushed and shook his head, "have you gone insane? I don’t have that type of… chest." He fumbled with the word; not really mature enough to say it.
"So? You could’ve placed tea cups on your chest." Iroh, Mushi’s true name, scoffed.

The prince fell back against his futon because he was too tired to deal with this weird interrogation of his uncles. What was going to be next? ‘Is she your girlfriend?’ That thought nearly made him laugh, but instead, he groaned, and stared at the ceiling as he started to think about something confusedly.

"Why did she touch me?" Zuko asked out and touched his forehead.
The old man hummed in thought, "perhaps she could tell you were sick?"
"It’s not that hard to tell uncle," he huffed at the stupid answer.
Iroh chuckled, "it doesn’t matter, I doubt we’ll see her again."
"…" the prince nodded, and closed his eyes to slip into his slumber.

He went to sleep slowly because of his twisting and turning and coughs more violent than a blazing fire. Iroh frowned at his nephew and knew that he wasn’t going to recover any time soon. The old man sighed and looked around the room boredly to see their surrounding in the room.

It was dark with the room barely taking any decoration inside except for a dresser for Zuko’s clothes, and the flowers on top of his desk that the old man brought home. He was surprised that the prince actually kept up with it and watered it weekly. Other then those and the futon, the room was practically empty.

Zuko slipped into his nightmare and cringed at the pictures inflicted him as they had been for the week. There was nothing Iroh could do to help his nephew with his mental issues that haunted him. Iroh sighed, and was only thankful that he could go to sleep at last, and then stared out at the window.

"What do you want, Miss Red Spirit?" Iroh asked gruffly.

Sure enough, the Red Spirit slowly came in and sat on the windowsill, and Iroh stood up in defense; ready to attack if needed. One of her hands raised to show she meant no harm and placed her feet on the flooring and looked at Zuko. Iroh went back to sitting down and watched her observe his nephew and was now watching her sharply as she removed her glove from her hand and touched the banished prince’s head.

"Do you know him miss?" Iroh asked, not trusting the woman, and she nodded, so he raised a curious eyebrow and asked, "what’s his name?"

She looked around I found no pens or paper and sighed silently as she grabbed out her sai and invisibly bit her bottom lip and pulled her sleeve up to sink it into her arm. The Red Spirit didn’t want to carve it into their flooring or walls, and there was nothing else she could use. After three minutes of pain she whipped the blood away on her black pants and showed Iroh.

Zuko.

Iroh looked stunned in many ways; her knowing his nephews’ true identity was the biggest stun though. She placed her sleeve down and brought her attention to the sleeping prince and placed her had against his forehead, causing him to groan lightly. Looking up at Iroh, the Red Spirit pointed to the doors and the old man frowned.

"You want me to leave the room?" He asked sadly and she nodded. "Then may I please have your sais so that I know you won’t harm Prince Zuko?" There was no point in calling him Li if she knew who he was, and she handed over the sais, so he left the room. "I’ll be in the kitchen if I’m needed." Iroh stated and she nodded to him but as he left.

Knock, knock.

The Red Spirit hit the floor board as he was walking away and he looked at her to see her stand up. She tugged on her upper clothing and pointed at Zuko; motioning Iroh that she wanted the prince to have his robe off. Her requests was accepted and Iroh went over and pulled Zuko’s robe off and he shivered at the cold air that attacked his flesh, but she placed the covers up to his chest and as Iroh started to leave, she felt Zuko’s throat.

Feeling that Zuko would be in good hands, Iroh went to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea, but not before telling her that he would check on him in about thirty minutes. She nodded and took the spot where Iroh was earlier and lifted Zuko’s head a little to pass water into his mouth and placed her hand against his throat. The prince started to cough and Iroh came over quickly and peaked through the sliding door to see if he was alright.

Zuko groaned started to stir awake, "uncle…?" The Red Spirit was silent, but placed his bangs to the side of his face. "I’m thirsty…" he said tiredly and she placed the ladle at his lips and he drank it slowly, then slipped back into his slumber, and she continued forth.

Iroh sighed in relief and the Red Spirit looked at him sharply before helping Zuko, and he quickly shut the sliding door and sat at the table. He didn’t understand the cooling chill that went up his spine when the young woman looked at him with her unseen glaring eyes, but quite honestly, he didn’t want to know. His tea was ready and so he finished all the other needed things and drank it happily.

Twenty minutes later or so, Zuko’s sliding door opened and the Red Spirit came out and looked at him. She opened her hand and pretending to write something down, and he pointed to the counter drawer and she went over there to find an ink pen and paper. Taking the items out she began writing on the paper and gave it to Iroh.

St. John’s Wort. Ginseng. Primrose.

"Aren’t these herbs?" Iroh asked out and she nodded. "Oh, are these things that can help Prince Zuko with his illness?" Again, she nodded. "I thank you, but these are expensive in the lower ring." Her head slumped and added on the piece off paper.

I will get some tomorrow.

He smiled, "so you’ll be back tomorrow night?" She shrugged and went over to grab her sais. "Is there anything I need to do for him? You seem like an expert." The Red Spirit pointed to her throat and he frowned. "I know you won’t tell me, but-" Her head shook angrily and pointed at Zuko’s door and then to her throat. "Oh! Check his throat, my apologies!" He chuckled, finding this a fun game, but she didn’t think so. "Is there anything that will help his throat?"

The Red Spirit looked around the room and saw a basket of fruit and grabbed a lemon and placed it next to his tea. He picked it up and looked at it while trying to figure out what a little lemon would do. So she angrily took it, tossed it in the air, and cut it in half with a sai and caught both pieces and drained the juice into his tea.

Iroh frowned, "you ruined my jasmine tea." She pointed towards Zuko’s door and then his tea. "Lemon Jasmine tea will help his throat?" The Red Spirit stabbed the lemon and he smiled nervously. "O-oh, l-lemon tea, I understand," he sipped his tea and beamed happily, "this is magnificent! How much did you put in?! This is like a new recipe!"

"Uncle?" Zuko called out from his room and started to come into the kitchen. "What are you yelling about?"

The masked woman hid herself and as he talked to his uncle, she snuck into his room, but only to see Zuko come walking back in and so she hid into a corner of darkness. He laid back down and cough lightly before falling back to sleep. She went to the windowsill and leaned against it as if to fall asleep.

--

An hour later, Iroh walked in and saw the Red Spirit watching Zuko, but her attention turned to the old man. He smiled at her warmly and then came to Zuko’s side and checked his forehead to find the fever drop completely. Then noticed that his sleeping seemed more peaceful than it had since he became sick.

As the she started to leave through the window, Iroh called out, "Red Spirit," and she stopped to look at him. "Will you mind coming off and on till my nephew recovers? Your treatment seems to help him, what ever it is." Her head nodded slowly and then left.

Jumping rooftops and walls, climbing trees and ladders, she managed to get to the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, and into her room to undress.

Knock, knock.

"Katara, dinner’s ready!" The Avatar said cheerfully.
"Okay, I’ll be out in a minute Aang!" Katara replied happily.
"Kay! Sokka says take a bath too!" Aang then quickly ran away.
She slammed the sliding door and glared at her brother, "you’re the one that smells like sweaty hog-monkeys on a hot summer day!"
Sokka coward behind Aang whimpering, "she’s scary."
Aang looked at him, "does that mean she’s on that ‘period’ you were talking about?"
"Aang-!"
"SOKKA!!!" Katara threw a vase at him.

CRASH!

Toph smirked, "nice once Sugar Queen."