When Zuko was a little boy, Iroh would tell stories of the finest tea shops all across the fire nation and even the colonies. Places where tea flowed endlessly, and tasted of cream and honey. Tea houses that would float flowers on top of the cups that would add an attractive aroma to the herbal liquid. He once spoke of a tea house in Yu Dao where the teacups were made of pearl and the teapots were of gold. As highly as he spoke of those places, he also knew of even more that hid poor quality tea behind the prompt and circumstance. The Jasmine Dragon would never be one of those places. Above all else, Iroh believed that tea's perfection lies in its simplicity and purity. A lesson that he has been teaching Zuko since they began traveling together again. When Zuko began his journey with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, his tea was barely drinkable, and was often extremely bitter. Sometimes it would be too concentrated and didn't have enough water, other times it was too diluted, and sometimes the tea leaves would be burnt. It took weeks for his tea to get better and by the time they got to the north pole, even Iroh was impressed with his son's quality of tea.

When The Jasmine Dragon officially opened to the public, a beautiful woman maybe a year or two older than Zuko became their first customer. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her head ending in two braids that rested on her voluptuous chest. Her bangs frame her face ending in slightly spiky points, her piercing green eyes were like emeralds in a sea of white. Her slightly tanned skin is flawless and unblemished. At first, Zuko paid little mind to the customers, let alone this woman who showed up every day at noon. He opts to just prepare the tea, sandwiches, rice, and other meals requested by the patrons. He even begins to enjoy the change of pace from the constant training, battle planning, fighting and fleeing the fire nation.

After the first week of working at the shop, he begins to get weary of her. He even catches her sneaking glances at him every now and then, though he assumes it's his scar she's looking at. As the first week becomes two and then even three, she is there daily and even strikes up a short conversation with him on a few occasions. Zuko doesn't realize what is truly going on with this woman, instead, his years of military training and months of elemental training are telling him that something is amiss with her. At the start of the fourth week of her appearing at the restaurant right at noon does Zuko finally bring this to his uncle's attention.

"Thank you for the tea~." She says in a sing-song-like voice as Zuko brings a cup of jasmine and ginseng tea to her. He sets down a bowl of udon noodles and beef-pork beside her and feigns a smile at the gesture.

"You're welcome." He answers, as he picks up the menu off the table and then the tray he brought her the food with. His gaze lingering on her beautiful form, and he has to stop himself from letting his eyes wander to the woman's chest. Quickly he returns to the front counter where his Dad is counting out a man's change before handing it to him. "I think we have a problem." Zuko says, causing Iroh to lift an eyebrow at this statement. He's quickly pulled around into a two man huddle as Zuko whispers the rest of his warning. "Don't look, but I think that woman is spying on us." Iroh immediately looks before Zuko has to stop him from doing so.

"My boy, you're being paranoid. She isn't spying on us," Iroh dismisses before a grin grows on his face. "I think she has a crush on you." Zuko is taken aback by this and even audibly asks "What?!" out of instinct.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something important." Her voice startles both Zuko and Iroh prompting them to turn to face her. "I-I was going to ask if you had any sweets to go along with the tea."

"Of course, you had the jasmine and ginseng, yes?" Iroh asks before nudging Zuko in the ribs to speak up. "I even have three waterbenders working here so we have ice cream and shaved ice for desserts as well!" Iroh exclaims.

"Yes I did." She says and Zuko immediately whips out a small dessert menu for her to look over.

"I'd recommend the..." Zuko trails off when he reads what his uncle had named the dessert. A strawberry and mango fruit tart with lemon custard known as the: "Avatar's favorite." Zuko says before pointing out the dessert item on the sheet. "It pairs well with the jasmine tea."

"Then I'll have that then." She says before handing Zuko a couple gold and silver pieces, he turns to put the pieces in the register behind him before she speaks up again. "What's your name?" she asks, and Zuko feels himself blush when she asks this.

"My name's Lee." Zuko says and she arches an eyebrow at this statement. "This is my father Mushi, we just moved here not too long ago." He continues and she giggles at his nervous tone.

"Well hello, Lee. My name's Jin." She replies, her half lidded eyes and smirk cause Zuko's heart to skip a beat when she speaks. "I wanted to ask if you'd like to go out with me sometime?" She asks, and once again Zuko blushes. He's caught so off guard that he can't find the words to say, and stammers out a few incomprehensible noises before Iroh answers for him.

"He'd love to." Iroh answers, wrapping an arm around Zuko's shoulder and grinning. Jin giggles once again before her green eyes lock with Zuko's amber ones.

"I look forward to it," She says before smiling just wide enough to expose her perfect teeth. "I'll meet you in front of the shop tonight just after sundown." she says before returning to her seat to finish her meal.

"Woah..." Is all Zuko can manage to say, as his eyes are still transfixed on the girl from Ba Sing Sei. Iroh chuckles to himself before looking over the window into the kitchen where Sokka and Yue are cutting fruits preparing to make the tart that was ordered.

"Yue. I want you to head to the house and collect Toph and Aang. You and Katara are going to help Lee get prepared for his first date." The husband and wife duo both arch an eyebrow, with Sokka's being his right and Yue's being her left before Iroh's words register in their minds.

"Lee's got a date?!" Yue exclaims but Sokka and Zuko quickly shush her. Feeling a pair of eyes on him, Zuko turns timidly to meet the gaze of Jin who's staring right at him. With a confident smirk and half lidded gaze, she raises a hand and waves her fingers at him. It's at this moment Zuko faints, having had his knees locked the entire time.

After Zuko regains consciousness, Toph and Aang swap out for him and Yue and they return home in order for him to get prepared for the date. The entire time Yue is electric with excitement for Zuko, asking what this woman looks like, who asked who and a dozen other questions Zuko is far too embarrassed to answer. "I feel more nervous than when I fought the Agni-Kai against Ozai." Zuko mumbles, his hand almost shakes as he reaches into his pocket to get the key to the house. As the key touches the lock within the door, it explodes open and Zuko is grabbed by a water whip from Katara before yanked inside and planted in a chair. "Well I guess this is happening now." He comments before scowling at Yue who is having to clutch the door frame in laughter.

"Yue said you have a date tonight. Who's it with? Does she know your real name? Does she know you're firenation? Or know you're the avatar?" Katara quickly grills him.

"Katara, I don't need you to help me with the date, it'll be fine." He replies but his argument is going nowhere and in response to not answering her question, she freezes him to the chair. "Ugh fine." He relents, feeling the ice press against his wrists and ankles. "Her name is Jin, she's been a regular at the tea shop since we opened. She knows my name is Lee, and I don't think she knows I'm the avatar."

"She asked him out on this date tonight too." Yue adds, but Zuko merely deadpans at her. "What? It was an important detail."

"Ok, do you have any idea on what you two are going to do tonight?" Katara asks and Zuko shakes his head no. "That's great, have you ever been on a date before?"

"Not unless you count being tied up and having your shoulder cried on by your ex who was forced to break up with you." Zuko replies but this causes both women to fold their arms and give him a disappointed look. "Then no."

"Which is exactly why we're going to help you, so first things first we need to get you dressed for this evening. The host attire that Uncle Iroh has you wear around the tea shop isn't going to cut it." Katara begins before walking over to Zuko's room then with what sounds like a rush of water, drags his wardrobe out of the room then plops it down on the floor.

"You could have just moved me in there." Zuko comments, but he's ignored as both Katara and Yue begin sorting through his things to find a proper outfit for him. "Ugh, bottom drawer, on the right." He says causing Katara to open up said drawer then fish out both his royal firenation robes and the set that he wore to the earth king's party.

"What else is in here?" Yue asks as she rummages through the other drawers, finding the airbending robes Aang had made for Zuko, a couple parkas and a hide tunic from the north pole as well as a few different green and black shirts and sets of robes from around the earth kingdom. "I think I might have an idea for what you can wear."

"Wonderful." Zuko says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes and rotates his neck to exaggerate the gesture. "I was thinking of going naked but you two saved the day." The sarcasm continues.

"Shut it Zuko. Yue, you take these down to the tailor you like and make sure she incorporates some blue to it. I'll handle the mock date with Zuko so he knows what to expect." Katara says as she hands Yue the set of bronze robes as well as royal garb.

"Mock date?" Zuko echos but Katara just shushes him.

"Take this seriously Zuko. We're trying to help." Katara says before dragging his chair over to the table in the dining room. She melts the ice restraining him to the chair and returns it to her waterskin before taking a seat across from him. "We're going to pretend to be on a date so you don't make a fool of yourself in front of her."

"Ok, but seriously Katara I don't need any help." Zuko says as he tries to stand up again but is stopped by Katara asking a question.

"So, Lee. If you were a flower what kind would you want to be?" Katara asks and Zuko stops dead in his tracks before giving her a confused look.

"What?" He asks but Katara doesn't reply, instead she motions for him to sit back down. "What kind of question is that?"

"One she might ask, now answer the question." Katara replies, gesturing slightly with her hand as she speaks. He stares at her for a solid thirty seconds before his brain manages to fire enough synapses to generate a response.

"Uhh... I don't know, a cactus?" He asks, trying to convince himself more than Katara but she just shakes her head at this.

"That's a plant, Zuko." She says with a sigh. "How about this, what do you like to do for fun?" Now he's actually invested in the conversation.

"I... spend most of my time training, aside from working at the tea shop but I do like Pai Sho." Zuko says, trying to study Katara's reaction.

"What do you train with? Are you a bender?" She asks and Zuko rubs the back of his neck bashfully.

"Y-yeah... I'm an e-earth bender." He replies but Katara stops him.

"Pause, first off you need to answer confidently. Don't stutter, and there's a pretty good chance that the entire city knows you're the avatar so you don't have to hide it if you don't want to." She begins, and Zuko pulls out a small piece of paper before writing down what she's saying with a charcoal pencil. "Two, you need to smile or at least have an expression on your face that isn't resting firebender face."

"If she knows I'm the avatar, do you think she only likes me because of that?" He asks but Katara doesn't entertain this idea for a second.

"I doubt that she's shallow enough to be into you just because of that. Plus we're assuming that she even knows you're the avatar in the first place." Katara says and Zuko is partially relieved to hear it. "Look, I gave you the hard questions to see how you'd react but at the end of the day you need to be yourself. The charming, powerful and selfless man that you are. Sure you can be awkward but you need to be more confident in yourself."

"Thanks Katara." He replies before she reaches up and rummages a hand through his hair.

"I think we need to do something about this, it's starting to get long." She says as her lips purse into a wondering expression. "What do you think about putting it into a top knot? We can tie it with blue or orange silk. Something to allude to you being the avatar."

"I guess that can work." He says as Katara begins pulling his hair back into a proper top knot to inspect him.

"I think it will." She says before getting up to find the silk ribbon to hold his hair in place.

Zuko's heart pounds out of his chest as he walks down the street towards the tea shop. Internally he's praying that she is there waiting for him, his pace is rather quick as he walks the mile from the house to the tea shop. The brown and brass colored tunic he wore to the ball has been retailored to include portions of his firenation royal attire. The under set of robes are now maroon with black accents with the above set still the brown with brass colored accents along the edges of the robes. Around his waist is a blue silk belt with the mandala of Ba Sing Sei in the center and his hair is tied into a top knot by a single orange ribbon at the base of his hair. As the tea shop comes into view, he sees her walking towards it as well. Still dressed in the beautiful light green and yellow robes from earlier in the day. Her hair is now pulled back into a high spiky ponytail held there by a yellow ribbon.

"Wow, you clean up nicely." Jin says as Zuko comes to a stop before her. "I heard your dad talk about having a couple of his workers help you with this."

"Y-yeah. Katara and Yue helped me, they work in the shop too but Yue is Sokka's wife and Katara is his sister. He's the other cook aside from me." Zuko replies before suddenly having his arm grabbed by Jin and pulled into her chest. She tilts her head into his shoulder before pulling him forwards.

"Let's go. I know just the spot for tonight." She says before tugging him along, his face bright red as his upper arm is being clutched tightly against her bust. "It's a restaurant called The Jade Badgermole, it's been in the city for a long time too."

The restaurant she's referring to is quite the distance away from The Jasmine Dragon. It stands just past the upper ring's shopping district and sits on the edge of the residential districts of the noble families. "So, what do you do now that you live in the city?" Jin asks as the couple walks slowly along the marble sidewalks through the shopping district. "I usually work with my father, but a lot of my time is spent training." he answers and she hums in acknowledgement before speaking up again. "Aren't you a little old to still be training, what are you learning?" She asks, her fingers curling gently around the bulk of his bicep. "I'm learning how to earthbend, I just found a proper master a few weeks ago." He replies and she nods at this. "I also practice with dual swords, Sokka and I spar from time to time."

"Maybe you can teach me something, I'd love to learn how to use swords." She replies as her attention is brought towards a shop with a vibrant moon flower sitting on the window sill. "Want to check out the jewelry store? It looks like they're still open." She asks and before Zuko can reply she tugs him inside by the arm exclaiming "Come on!"

The store's interior is rather small with glass display cases illuminated with glowing gemstones common in the earth kingdom. Everything from raw uncut gemstones to pristine necklaces made of platinum and gold glitter against the light from the stones. Zuko let's Jin look around the shop for a moment before an idea comes to mind. He scans the raw gemstones in the room before finding one that might catch her eye. At first glance it looks like an ordinary stone, the rough gemstone sitting behind the counter glitters with muted shades of reds, oranges and purples. Making sure she isn't in earshot, Zuko calls over the jeweler and quickly buys the rough opal behind the counter before Jin walks back over to show him something she found. She points out a gold chain necklace with a single black pearl as the pendant. With a confident smirk, Zuko picks up the necklace before purchasing it for her. However as he holds up the necklace for her to let him put it on her, she takes it from him and then puts it around his neck.

After leaving the jewelry store, the pair finally make it to The Jade Badgermole. In front of the large building sits a statue of a badgermole made entirely of Jade and is polished so well that it reflects the light of the full moon. "I know the hostess here, and she managed to get us a table for tonight." Jin says as they enter. "When did you find out you were the avatar?" She asks and Zuko just sighs. "Was it that obvious?" he replies, causing her to giggle. "You're pretty good at hiding it, but I've seen you waterbend a few times at the tea shop, and you said earlier you were learning how to earthbend." He chuckles when she says this before she continues. "I never imagined you'd say yes when I asked you out. The Good Firebender, The Dragon of the North and also my date." She says with a slight laugh and Zuko finds himself chuckling as well. Their conversation pauses for a moment so the hostess can take them to their seat. It begins again after they place their order and receive their drinks.

"It was earlier this year that I found out, and when the people of the colonies learned that I was the avatar, I was banished." Jin goes quiet when he says this, her expression horrified at what he had said. "This is the mark of the banished." Zuko says as he points to the scar on his face.

"I-i'm... I'm sorry I asked." She says and she almost gets up to leave due to bringing up the bad memories, however Zuko interlocks his fingers with hers.

"I don't care, you wanted to know so I told you. I'm not upset or anything." He says before shifting his foot to draw her chair closer to him. "I bought you something else and the jewelry store." He says, quickly changing subjects and this causes her to perk up. He pulls out the rough glittering gemstone from his robes before holding it to the air. "Watch this." He says before he allows it to levitate in his palm due to his airbending.

Jin's eyes seem to light up with stars as he shows her a taste of his abilities, she feels the gentle breeze being bent around his hand keeping the large piece of rock aloft in his hand. With his other he wraps it over the gemstone before pressing his hands together firmly then flexing his fingers outwards. As he pulls his hands apart, the rough unpolished stone had been broken off of the gem revealing the dragon opal hidden within. He flares his fingers outwards and the crystal seems to liquify in his hand before changing shape. One by one, large flat petals emerge from the center of the stone forming into a wide flower. Her eyes light up when she sees the flower shape and she watches intently as he rotates it in his hand before pinching the bottom and pulling outwards creating a long stem in the delicate jewel. Smirking, he waves his hand in front of the opal flower causing a puff of fire to appear which startles her for a moment before he offers it to her.

"This is... beautiful." She says, her eyes washing over the jeweled lotus, "You said you were just learning how to earthbend but this... looks like a master jeweler had made it." Zuko rubs the back of his neck sheepishly when she says this.

"Well my master is extremely demanding," he admits before extending a hand to her. "May I?" He asks and she hands over the flower to him. He gently reaches up and gently moves her right bang over her ear. He gently tucks the opal flower behind her ear and bends the stem so it'll wrap around her ponytail and not move. She smiles when he pulls his hand away, coyly brushing her cheek with his index and middle finger as he does so.

"I have something else for you too." She says as the same seductive smile begins to grow on her face again. "But you need to close your eyes first." She requests and Zuko does as asked. He closes his eyes, waiting for a moment for her to reveal something from behind her. For a few seconds, nothing happens and part of him begins to worry that if he opens his eyes she will be gone. As that thought finishes passing through his mind, he suddenly feels the collar of his robes get grabbed and he's pulled forwards. Instinctively his eyes open as he's yanked, he's greeted first by the feeling of a pair of soft, sweet and warm lips pressing against his. Jin's eyes are closed and she's holding his robes so tightly that her knuckles are beginning to turn white. After a brief moment of hesitation, he kisses back, pressing his lips against hers with the same force she had captured his with. His arms snaking behind her waist and her back, his left hand finding purchase on the back of her head as the kiss deepens.

His eyes close shortly after, and he feels her hands move to the sides of his head, her thumbs cupping his ears as her fingers wrap around the back of his head. Her gentle touch against his scar, her thumb rubbing against his cheek and her soft lips against his own cause his confidence to grow. Wanting to take this further, Zuko tilts his head to the side and timidly presses against her lips with his tongue and she reciprocates instantly. She retaliates with so much enthusiasm that he quickly loses the fight between their tongues as she kisses him hungrily. Her tongue moves against his with an intense furocity as she pushes her weight further into him. Neither notices that the shift in weight has caused Zuko to lean back in his chair as Jin has practically gotten into his lap with how far she's leaning over. Suddenly, the legs of the chair slide out from under them causing both love birds to end up on the floor having overturned the table in the process.

"Sir, Ma'am. I have to ask that you either stop with the public display of affection or leave the building." the stern voice of the maitre'D says, causing Zuko and Jin to laugh nervously before fixing the table and returning to their seats. Jin takes a moment to fix her hair and make sure that the opal lotus Zuko had given her is undamaged before speaking again.

"S-so... d-do you want to do this again sometime?" She asks, nervously running her fingers through her hair to brush it out slightly.

"Definitely."