Chapter 6

Chapter 6 There's that same girl. She comes into the tea shop every day. And she's always staring at me. She must suspect that I'm Fire Nation. What other explanation could there be? "Uncle, we have a problem. Don't look now, but there is a girl at the corner table. She knows we're Fire Nation." "I've seen that girl in here a lot," Uncle replied. "Seems she has quite a little crush on you." "What?" A crush? What is he talking about? I'm sure she's a spy and— "Thank you for the tea. What's your name?" It's the girl. She's talking to me! Think fast, Zuko. I have to use the name on my fake passport. "My name's Lee. My uncle and I just moved here." "Hi, Lee. My name's Jin. I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime." "He'd love to," Uncle said, answering before I even had a chance to think. "Great!" Jin said. "I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown." Oh, great! Now Uncle's pushing me into a… a

还是那个女孩。 她每天都来茶馆。 她总是盯着我看。 她一定怀疑我是火宗人。 还有其他的解释吗？ “叔叔，我们有麻烦了。 现在别看，有个女孩坐在角落的桌子旁。 她知道我们是火宗人。” “我在这里见过那个女孩很多次，”叔叔回答。 “看来她对你有点好感。” “什么?”迷吗?他在说什么？ 我肯定她是个间谍，谢谢你的茶。 你叫什么名字？”是那个女孩。 她在跟我说话！想快点，祖寇。 我必须用我假护照上的名字。 “我叫李。我叔叔和我刚搬来这里。” “嗨,李。我叫Jin。我想知道你是否愿意什么时候出去。” “他很乐意。”我还没来得及想，叔叔就回答了。 “太好了!”金说。“日落时我在商店门口等你。” 哦,太棒了!现在叔叔把我推到…a

date! Thanks a lot. I don't want to go on a date. I don't know what to talk about. Everything I can say would just be a lie anyway. I certainly can't tell this girl the truth about who I am. Why did Uncle do that? I really don't want to go. But when the shop closed, Jin was outside waiting for me. She took my arm and we started walking through the city. We stopped at a restaurant and ordered some food. "So, how do you like the city so far?" Jin asked. "It's okay." What am I supposed to say? "What do you do for fun?" "Nothing." Fun. I'm not a child anymore. I don't have time for fun. This really is not going well. Then the waiter came over. At least that stops me from having to talk for a few seconds. "Excuse me, sir. Would you and your girlfriend care for dessert?" Girlfriend! What is he talking about? I just met this girl. I don't even want to be here! "She is not my girlfriend!" I snapped. Great. Now I'm making a scene. She probably hates me for shouting that out. When is this evening going to be over? "So, Lee, where were you and your uncle living before you came here?"

日期!非常感谢。我不想去约会。 我不知道该说什么。 无论如何，我所说的一切都将是谎言。 我当然不能告诉这个女孩我的真实身份。 叔叔为什么要那样做？我真的不想去。 但是当商店关门的时候，Jin在外面等我。 她拉着我的胳膊，我们开始在城市里散步。 我们在一家餐馆停了下来，点了一些食物。 “到目前为止，你觉得这个城市怎么样？”金问。 “没事的。”我该说什么？ “你喜欢做什么？”“没什么。” 乐趣。我不再是个孩子了。 我没有时间玩。 这真的不太顺利。 然后服务员走了过来。 至少这样我就不用说话了。 “对不起，先生。您和您的女朋友要吃甜点吗？”女朋友!他在说什么？ 我刚认识一个女孩。我根本不想待在这里！“她不是我女朋友！”我厉声说。 好了。现在我要大吵大闹了。 她可能因为我大声说出来而恨我。 今晚什么时候结束？ “那么，李，在你来这里之前，你和你叔叔住在哪里？”

How do I answer that one? Keep it vague. "Um, well, we've been traveling all around for a long time." "Oh, why were you traveling so much?" Think of a good lie. Something she'll believe so she'll stop asking all these questions. "We were… part of a traveling circus." Dumb, Zuko. Really dumb. "Really? What did you do? Wait. Let me guess… you juggled." Sure. That's as good a lie as any. "Yes. I juggled." Now can I go home? "I've always wanted to learn how to juggle. Can you show me something?" She's handing me three clay pots. I can't juggle. I'm just going to break this stuff. I tossed the pots into the air and tried to catch them, but they crashed down all around me, smashing to bits. "I haven't practiced for a while." She's going to know I'm lying. "It's all right," Jin said, smiling. She was nice enough not to give me a hard time. "Hey, I want to show you one of my favorite places in the city," she said. "I'm so excited for you to see the Firelight Fountain. The lamps make the water sparkle and reflect in the pool in the most beautiful way."

我怎么回答这个问题？保持模糊。 “嗯，我们已经到处旅行了很长时间了。” “哦，你为什么要到处旅行？”想一个好的谎言。 让她相信，这样她就不会再问这些问题了。 “我们是……巡回马戏团的一员。” 哑,Zuko。真的傻。“真的吗? 你做了什么？等待。让我猜猜……你耍杂耍了。” 确定。这是个弥天大谎。 “是的。我耍弄。”现在我可以回家了吗？ “我一直想学习如何玩杂耍。 你能给我看点东西吗？”她递给我三个陶罐。 我不会玩杂耍。我要把这东西弄坏了。 我把罐子抛向空中，想抓住它们，但它们在我周围摔得粉碎。 “我有一段时间没有练习了。” 她会知道我在撒谎。 “没关系，”金笑着说。 她人很好，没有为难我。 “嘿，我想带你去城里我最喜欢的一个地方，”她说。 “我很高兴你能看到火光喷泉。 这些灯使水闪闪发光，以最美丽的方式反射在池中。”

We came to a large fountain. The water was shooting into the air and splashing down into a large pool, but the lamps all around it were dark. "I can't believe it!" Jin cried. "The lamps aren't lit." She looked so disappointed. She really wanted to show me this and now the evening is turning out badly for her. I shouldn't do this… but she's been so nice to me. It'll be okay if she doesn't see me do it. "Close your eyes and don't peek." When Jin's hands were securely covering her eyes, I performed a simple Firebending move, sending a flame from lamp to lamp until they were all lit. She is right. The water does sparkle, and it is beautiful. It also feels so good to Firebend again, even this little bit. "Okay, now you can look." Jin opened her eyes and her face lit up almost as brightly as the fountain lamps. "Oh, wow! What happened? How did they light? What did you—" She stopped asking questions and her smile just got bigger and bigger. She was so sweet I'm sure that she didn't even think that I might be a Firebender. I did do the right thing. She looked so happy. That kind of makes me feel happy, too. She leaned in to kiss me. I don't know if I should kiss her. I—wait, I almost forgot. "I

我们来到一个大喷泉前。 水喷向空中，溅落成一个大水池，但周围的灯都是黑暗的。 “我简直不敢相信！”金哭了。 “灯还没亮。”她看起来很失望。 她真的很想给我看这个，但现在这个晚上对她来说很糟糕。 我不应该这么做，但她对我很好。 如果她没看到我做就好了。 “闭上眼睛，别偷看。” 当金的手紧紧地捂着她的眼睛时，我表演了一个简单的御火术，把火焰从一盏灯点燃到另一盏灯。 她是对的。水确实闪闪发光，很美。 再次火御术的感觉也很好，哪怕只是一点点。 “好了，现在你可以看了。”金睁开眼睛，她的脸几乎像喷泉灯一样明亮。 “哦,哇!发生了什么事?它们是怎么发光的？ 你怎么——”她不再问问题了，她的笑容变得越来越灿烂。 她太贴心了，我敢肯定她根本没想过我可能是个御火师。 我做的是对的。她看起来很开心。 这也让我觉得很开心。 她靠过来吻我。我不知道该不该吻她。 等等，我差点忘了。 “我

brought you something," I said, holding up a coupon between us. "It's a coupon for a free cup of tea." That made her smile some more. "Lee, this is so sweet." "Don't thank me. It was my uncle's idea. He thinks you are our most valuable customer." "I have something for you, too," she said. "Now it's your turn to close your eyes." Okay, my eyes are closed. What's she going to do? I wonder if—oh, she is, she's kissing me. I can't let her do that. I can't get involved with this girl. Everything she thinks she knows about me is a lie. And that's all it could ever be. I could never let her know the truth. I have to pull away. "What's wrong?" Jin asked. Now I've made her feel bad. I really didn't want to do that. "It's complicated." I can't stay here with her anymore. "I have to go." I hurried back to the apartment. "How was your night, Prince Zuko?" Uncle asked when I walked in. I don't want to talk about it. I stepped into my room and slammed the door shut. I don't know. I actually like this girl. But I can't let this develop into anything. It would be based on lies, and I can't have

我给你带了点东西来，”我说，手里举着一张优惠券。 “这是一张免费喝茶的优惠券。” 这使她笑了起来。 “李，这太贴心了。”“不用谢我。 这是我叔叔的主意。他认为您是我们最有价值的客户。” “我也有东西要给你，”她说。 “现在轮到你闭上眼睛了。” 好吧，我闭上眼睛了。她要做什么？ 我想知道-哦，她在吻我。 我不能让她那么做。我不能和这个女孩扯上关系。 她以为她了解我的一切都是谎言。 这就是所有可能的了。 我永远不能让她知道真相。 我得抽离。“怎么了?”金问。 现在我让她感觉不好了。 我真的不想那么做。 “很复杂”。我不能再和她待在这里了。 “我得走了。”我急忙回到公寓。 “你今晚过得怎么样，祖寇王子？”我走进去的时候，叔叔问。 我不想谈这个。 我走进房间，砰地关上了门。 我不知道。我其实很喜欢这个女孩。 但我不能让这事发展成什么。 那都是谎言，我不能