Don't Ask Me How That Started - Tumblr Posts

Tea shop owners!Zuko and Iroh are basically the Cabbage Man if the Cabbage Man was actually an important character. Like, Zuko abandoned his so-called "mission" once he came to the realization that his father is just hateful and all that jazz.

The ship is where they live still, but they acquire or build a transportable stall they take into (mostly port) towns to sell Iroh's magnificent blends. They eventually settle on something like "the Popup Tea Shop" as a name. (Hehehe. It rhymes.) True to their canon forms, they introduce themselves as Li and Mushi versus Zuko and Iroh to anyone who asks.

The Gaang's first encounter with them happens while the uncle-nephew duo are in search of a rare plant for a new summer special they've been concocting that can only be found in the South Pole. There's a conflict, of course, between the parties, but there's no time for it when the Southern Raiders appear to investigate the big-ass beam of light that lit up the sky. Everybody works together to defeat the Raiders, mutual understanding is reached, and they go their separate ways. Unfortunately, news of the Avatar's return escapes into the world still.

The Jasmine Dragon appears after the Siege of the North Pole; Zuko's ship is destroyed by Zhao because Zuko remains the Blue Spirit who frees Aang from Pohuai Stronghold. The pair can't just show their faces anywhere they want now and build a new life in Ba Sing Se until that investor gives them the opportunity to run a new shop of their own. Then, Azula ruins everything by infiltrating the city, and Zuko joins the Gaang officially in the Crystal Catacombs.