Kahn looked over in the direction of the voice, spotting Azula calmly strolling over.
Unlike before, this ti Azula wasn't alone; beside her were two little girls about their age.
One looked quiet and reserved, while the other was lively and energetic, but both were very cute.
Are these Azula's friends?
"I wasn't crying!"
Upon hearing Azula's taunting words, Zuko raised his voice in protest, quickly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
However, Uncle Iroh, with absolute disregard for Zuko's fragile feelings, burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, it's fine for kids to cry!"
"What's the big deal?!"
Zuko's face instantly stiffened, and he cried out in displeasure.
"I'm not a kid!"
"But only a kid would deny it like that."
"I... Uncle Iroh!"
Zuko was completely flustered by Iroh's teasing.
Seeing this, Azula laughed unreservedly, while Kahn, standing off to the side, looked away, unable to bear witnessing the prince's total defeat.
I didn't expect you, Uncle Iroh, to be so good at throwing your own teammates under the bus.
Finally realizing he had been thoroughly teased, Zuko sulked and completely ignored Iroh.
He then unhappily turned to Azula.
"What are you doing here?"
Azula casually spread her hands.
"Can you please stop talking to with that annoying attitude every ti we et, Zuzu?"
"I haven't even done anything yet."
"Besides, this ti it wasn't my idea to co; it was just that soone hasn't seen you in a long ti, so she was incredibly concerned..."
As she spoke, Azula suddenly shoved one of the quiet little girls beside her completely unprompted.
The little girl was pushed forward entirely unexpectedly.
After stumbling forward a few steps uncontrollably, she was about to faceplant right onto the ground.
However, Zuko suddenly rushed forward and caught the little girl securely in his outstretched arms.
"...You'd say so, wouldn't you, Mai?"
Seeing this, Azula watched the dramatic scene play out with imnse interest, her arms crossed.
Zuko looked down at the girl nad Mai in his arms and asked with genuine concern.
"Are you alright?"
Mai gently shook her head.
"I'm fine."
However, looking at Zuko's face so close to hers, a deep blush suddenly appeared on Mai's pale face.
Zuko, realizing how close they were, also beca incredibly red-faced.
"Shhh~!"
Azula's sharp wolf whistle abruptly startled the two.
They quickly separated, both imdiately looking down and away, looking incredibly embarrassed.
The other girl giggled as she watched Mai and Zuko.
Azula teased them with an exaggerated exclamation.
"Wow~"
At this mont, Mai finally rembered the actual culprit of all this and yelled at her in deep embarrassnt and anger.
"Azula!"
"Uh huh?"
Azula spread her hands again, looking back at her with a completely innocent expression.
Kahn watched the entire interaction, utterly dumbfounded.
If he wasn't completely misunderstanding the situation, Zuko and this girl nad Mai definitely seed to have sothing going on.
But they were only nine or ten years old; were they really that precocious?!
Kahn and Uncle Iroh exchanged a long glance, finding matching expressions of surprise on each other's faces.
"Zuko and that girl, it definitely seems like..."
"Ha, I really didn't expect Zuko to be so impressive; I completely underestimated him."
"And he had the absolute nerve to say he had no friends before; I completely fell for his trick."
Kahn suddenly paused, realizing exactly what he had just said.
Wait, does a girlfriend actually count as a regular friend?
Uncle Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully and said.
"I am quite curious about when they actually t; I have visited the palace so many tis and have never once seen this little girl."
"Interesting."
Kahn also expressed his imnse curiosity.
I definitely have to interrogate this kid later.
Thus, the old man and the boy exchanged grins, both coincidentally revealing the identical smiles of eager gossips.
At this mont, Azula walked straight over to Kahn, stood right in front of him, and pointed boastfully at the two girls behind her.
"et my friends, Mai and Ty Lee."
The quiet one was clearly Mai, so Ty Lee had to be the lively one.
Upon hearing her introduction, Ty Lee waved energetically at Kahn, revealing a pure, brilliantly innocent smile.
"Hello, my na is Ty Lee!"
This is the kind of smile a normal little girl should have, Azula; you should seriously take notes!
Mai had also returned to Azula's side by then and gave Kahn a slight, polite nod.
"My na is Mai."
"Nice to et you all, my na is Kahn, and I'm Zuko's friend."
After Kahn finished his introduction, he suddenly saw Azula glaring at him fiercely out of the corner of his eye.
He imdiately added a belated clarification.
"And Azula's friend too."
Ty Lee asked curiously.
"When did you two et?"
"I don't think I've ever seen you around the palace before?"
Before Kahn could even open his mouth to answer, Azula frowned deeply.
"Don't be a busybody!"
"Ah! I'm sorry!"
Ty Lee imdiately curled up, looking exactly like a frightened little turtleduck.
"...?"
Hearing the bizarre interaction between Azula and Ty Lee, a massive question mark essentially materialized directly above Kahn's head.
You actually call this a friend?
But Azula didn't seem to mind the awkward tension in the slightest and casually invited Kahn.
"How about it, co play with us."
Ty Lee and Mai both looked at her sideways, intensely wondering why Azula's attitude towards this random commoner boy seed so unusually good.
And upon hearing Azula's unexpected invitation to Kahn, Zuko imdiately stepped protectively in front of his friend.
"Kahn won't be playing with you guys; it's more than enough for Kahn to play with and Uncle Iroh!"
"Uncle Iroh, so you're here!"
At this, Azula looked over at Iroh with a perfectly feigned 'surprised' expression, acting exactly as if she had only just noticed the Dragon of the West standing right there.
She then continued speaking.
"Don't you think people of the sa age have much more fun playing together?"
"And if soone completely unsociable is mixed into the group, everyone else will just feel a bit constrained."
A rough translation of her words would be that she wanted the old man to get lost imdiately.
"That makes a lot of sense, it's completely true!"
Uncle Iroh didn't mind Azula's thinly veiled sarcasm in the slightest; instead, he completely agreed with her.
He patted Zuko firmly on the shoulder and laughed heartily.
"In that case, you kids all have a good ti together."
"I'll go take care of so other important business and co back to pick up Kahn later."
"Wait!"
Zuko quickly protested.
"I don't want to play with them!"
"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to?"
"Soone ca all this way specifically to see you because she was deeply worried."
Uncle Iroh asked with a playful twinkle in his eye.
"I..."
Upon hearing this, Zuko looked over at Mai with a guilty expression, completely at a loss for words.
Then, he desperately gestured toward Kahn.
"But Kahn doesn't want to play with them either, right?!"
"?"
Kahn felt Azula's piercing gaze bore into the side of his head.
It definitely felt far more like a death threat than a subtle hint.
He simply shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Isn't it always better to have more people?"
Azula finally withdrew her deadly gaze, looking completely satisfied.
"Alright then."
Seeing that even Kahn had turned against him, Zuko could only seemingly reluctantly accept his harsh reality.
But at the exact sa ti, he secretly stole a quick glance at Mai.
Only to find that Mai was also secretly peeking right back at him.
Their eyes instantly t, then separated just as quickly, both of them blushing furiously once again.
Kahn watched the entire exchange and internally exclaid.
Goodness gracious!
Is this a romance drama?
Or an ancient fantasy romance?
This is absolutely amazing!
Before Uncle Iroh left, he specifically instructed Kahn through aningful eye contact to interrogate Zuko about the little girl nad Mai.
Kahn solemnly nodded in agreent.
The sacred mission of the gossips, I shall protect it with my life!
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