Chapter 2: The Trip to Ba Sing Se (Open to everyone)

Two weeks passed since Ryu got the Dragon Ring. Sleeping had been a mayor issue during those weeks. Nightmares kept popping up. It wasn’t clear. Ryu only could recall being afraid but he wasn’t sure about what. He started drinking ome herbal tea to be more relaxed but it wasn’t helping much.

One night Ryu woke up agitated. He was soaked in sweat and he was heavily shaking. His mind was mess; he everything was atop of his head. His heart kept pounding his chest like a ram. Even breathing became a herculean task since each breath hurted more and more. He could only sense dispairand angst

Later that day he had many headaches. He felt like someone was nailing the back of his head. Acupuncture wasn’t helping either since it made the nailing become a heated nailing. He was starting to thought that tearing his skin off would be releiveing comparing it to what he felt.

After some more pins applied he saw it. It was a small temple by the shore in the Earth Kingdom. Inside it there was a scroll. He didn’t knew what was inside the scroll but he was sure it had to do with the curse. The pain, the nightmares,the ring everything had to do with the curse. He decided he would go to the Earth Kingdom, maybe he could found some way to regain status to his clan. After all Okita’s treasure was starting to fade out. “Maybe I could talk to someone at Jasmine Dragon” He thought.

The sun had just risen, the heat that would affect the population of Ba Sing Se was still lurking, just waiting for the sun to rise higher on the skies, creeping in over the population of Ba Sing Se. The temperature was rising with every minute, but still, it was a chilly morning.

Iseul had woken up early this morning, unlike so many other mornings. There was something that had bothered him in his dreams, and now he layed there in his bed, staring up towards the roof, not being able to recall what he had dreamt about.
With a slight grunt, he pushes himself into a seated position, pulling his hand through his hair that had fallen infront of his face, moving it out of the way.

His feet establish contact with the floor, the stone was cold against his skin. With heavy foot/steps, he makes is way to the bathroom. He takes a 'quick' bath, only to fall asleep in the water, sleeping for about an hour more, his skin pruney at this point. The sun had rose above the walls now, the temperature already having reached the extreme considering the time of the year.

He gets dressed, and decides to leave his black coat behind, so he wouldn't boil to death before he could get outside the door. He was too lazy to make breakfast, in this heat, no way. Thus, he heads towards the tea shop where he knows they serve good tea, and something to much on, at a reasonable price.

He made his way through the street, protecting his skin with a ladies umbrella, causing a lot of glances to be sent in his direction. The sun was scorching at this point, but he had portable shade.

Reaching his destination, he makes his way into the Jasmine Dragon, where it was evident that other people had fled to in order to avoid a heat-stroke, and five minutes later, he had a table and an order placed. The time it took for him to get his tea, he spent examining the other people in the room. A boy stood out of the group, only a couple of tables away from himself. By the way he spoke to the waitress, twisting her around his finger, this man got a stamp immediatly. 'Future Con-Artist'

He found himself staring towards the boy so intensely, that he didn't notice that his tea was placed on the table, and if it hadn't been for the heat, it would have gone cold by now.

Ryu was exhasted. Ba Sing Se was way hotter than last time he came by. The people in the streets were frying, the children were so tired they could barely play any game and the fruit and veggies at the market seemed like rotting. The town felt just like an oven or like a burning stake.

Ryu started having second thoughts about going to have some tea but he had to give it a try. He was planning to convince the owner of the Jasmine Dragon to extend his Tea Empire over the Fire Nation. He knew there were some rare tea strands growing at the Ember Island. He was planning producing these strands for the Tea Shop and eventually expanding. But he needed the initial money. He had to buy the land, the seeds, and the crop tools and hire the people. He didn’t had enough money for al that. His intention was to make some money not to spened it all.

As he started you approach the Jasmine Dragon he could hear the people inside. The bar wasn’t croweded but the place was bustling. “Maybe someone special it’s inside” he thought. While he entered entered he heard the most awful phrase someone could pronounce “Madam, it’s just tea.” “No! It’s not just tea you dumbass! For starter not every ‘tea’ is a TEA.”

“The tea brewed with the tea plant it is tea. The other infusion are NOT tea they are just infusion. Infusion it’s not a correct word either since tea it’s also an infusion, a tea infusion. Tisane on the other hand it’s quite more precise.”

“There are various strand of tea but mainly there are 6 varieties of tea: white, yellow, green, blue, red and black. From white to red the fermentation process is longer. Starting from no fermentation, white, and finishing in red totaly fermented. Black is tea that it’s exposed let outdoor to change it flavor and taste. Even there that’s just the start of the clasification. There are dozens of tea for each “color”. For example a Ceylon it’s not like a Daarjeling and both are red. And a Sencha is not like a Gun Powder and both are green.”

As Ryu made this inner monologue he entered the place and starting to look around searching for that irrespectful being. It was a young boy pompously sitting in Ryu’s spot asking for a Jasmine tisane. Ryu could smell the difference between a Jasmin tisane and a Jasmine flavored tea.

“Excuse me young fella. I bet you are a tea connoisseur aren’t you? Why else would you visit the finest tea house of Ba Sing Se and even the world.”

(OOC: You can skip me this round, my character isn't into what is going on, and there is no change)

Ryu was surprise. He didn’t notice how he opened his mouth while saying his inner monologue. He knew he was being rude but he didn’t mean to say any of what he said. He was hoping to trick the kid into his trap but he had made a terrible mistake.

On the other hand Ryu didn’t want a kid to make fun of him. No kid was gonna be rude neither at him nor at tea. Plus they were at the finest tea shop of Ba Sing Se. The kid was also being rude with the owner of the tea shop. Their life was brewing tea and here was this kid making fun of their job.

“Sweetie, I think our friend is leaving” Ryu said to the waitress “I think you won’t allow such an irrespectful people at this place, will you?” Ryu pointed at the kid. “I’ll have what I usually take after you take this irrespectfull being out of my sight. By the way I’d like to have a cup of tea with the owner. I have some business to be done with him.”

Iseul perked his ears, listening to the conversation that was going on a couple of tables ahead of him. If there was one thing he disliked, it was quarreling, and besides, this kid really had no social antennas at all. That kid seemed like the most annoying kid in the entire world.

He sent his waitress a quick glance, waving for her to approach. "Excuse me, the ruckus over there is disturbing me. Could you please ask them to shut up?" He said, a bit too loudly, making sure that the kid would hear what he was saying. His gaze then shifted towards the kid, shooting a sharp glare in his direction. "Actually nevermind.." He then continued, getting up from his chair.

"I won't have my tea at a place where they allow people to talk disrespectfully about tea. I'd usually recommend this place to all my friends, but my views have certainly changed when the staff, who should feel honoured and should value tea greatly, allow for a young 'brat' to talk disrespectfully about the liquid that makes your living. May I have a word with your owner? I'll place a complaint." He said, continuing to speak loudly, making sure that the entire tea shop heard what he was saying, not removing his glance from the boy even once, whilst shooting the boy a satisfied smirk, almost like a challenge, asking him 'What's your next move?'

Kesuk stood at the threshold of the Jasmine dragon for a few moments before walking in. It had been a long journey from his home on the northern shores of the south pole, and he was exhausted in both body and mind. His blue tunic was battered from the trip and his pants and boots were covered in dirt.
As he stepped into the shop the aroma of tea and sweets filled his nose, he found the most secluded table and immediately sat down looking for some peace and quiet. As he sat down he lifted his waterskin off his back and rested it on the table in front of him.
As he waited for the waitress to come he lifted his hand and ran it over his face in an attempt to wake himself up. He looked like hell, his months of travel had left his brown eyes with bags underneath them, and the faint gray of stubble lined his face. His dark brown hair which was normally kept in a warrior's wolf tail now hung loosely over his face. He hadn't had much time to worry about appearance in the few months leading up to his arrival, it had been his goal to put as much distance between himself and the water tribe as possible.
As Kesuk sat with his head resting in his hands his mind wandered back to his last days in his village. His thoughts filled with fire and screams, his mothers screams. A single tear ran down his cheek as he remembered the woman who had given him birth. His mother was dead and his father had gone missing, it was his goal to find his mother's killers and hopefully his father as well.
"Hello young man... Would you like something to drink?" As Kesuk snapped back to reality he looked up to see an elder woman smiling down at him with her hands folded into the sleeves of her cloak. Gesuk wiped off the tear and looked up with a half-hearted smile..
" Yes ma'am, Gyokuro please" The woman bowed and walked off to place his order. Kesuk leaned back in his chair and scanned the quaint tea shop.
Kesuk was surprised to see a boy stand up and storm at the waitress "I won't have my tea at a place where they allow people to talk disrespectfully about tea. I'd usually recommend this place to all my friends, but my views have certainly changed when the staff, who should feel honoured and should value tea greatly, allow for a young 'brat' to talk disrespectfully about the liquid that makes your living. May I have a word with your owner? I'll place a complaint."
"There's no need to take your anger out on the shop" Kesuk said rising to his feet to signify who it was who was speaking, " One can't help when some ignorant person walks in and insults their way of life"