Another one of her honey-like giggles spilled out of the healer's mouth and made her arms shake. In danger of spilling her stew Anhyue quickly set the bowl onto the ground between her feet then pressed a slender hand against her diaphragm to restrain her laughter. Anhyue hadn't anticipated this sort of reaction. She knew Zheng's words weren't meant to be funny, but the delivery of his sentence had just been perfect. It was like something straight out of a script. The waterbender understood how a sentence like that might make someone feel embarrassed, but she had been taught that it was healthy for a person to laugh at him/herself. It showed a level of comfort that made a person highly attractive, at least that's what her mother, Suyin, had preached to the actress when she was a young girl. Suyin often gave Anhyue silly advice, but she was a great doctor and Anhyue had come to respect everything that spilled out of her mouth. However, when Zheng excused himself from the room Anhyue knew that she had overdone it on the giggling.

Zheng wasn't trying to laugh at himself. Made sense since he had excused himself to retrieve utensils that he had already brought over when he had first disappeared to fetch the bowls. They were laying by the fire right where the firebender had left them, right in Anhyue's line of sight. I shouldn't have laughed so much, she thought regretting her earlier actions. I didn't mean to embarrass him. I thought that was really sweet of him to admit, and honest too. Anhyue liked honesty, a lot, but she didn't like making people feel like crap. Silently she made a promise to herself that she'd be more careful with her reactions next time before reaching for the bowl between her feet. To her surprise, and delight, Zheng reappeared with wooden spoons and decided to sit right next to her. Accepting the spoon as he passed it Anhyue couldn't help but notice the red mark on the center of his forehead. When the heck did that get there? she thought bringing the bowl closer to her chest. Hoping that it wasn't a self inflicted mark the actress dove her spoon into the broth and blew on it before heaving the heavenly liquid into her mouth. “Mmm,” she moaned as the stew traveled down her esophagus. “This is splendid.” She consumed a few more mouthfuls before Zheng raised his voice to speak.

“Annnnyyyyway, I have a question, if you don't mind me asking.”

“Shoot,” she said watching Zheng as he chewed a bit on his stew before swallowing.

“Why did you... you know, come with me? Not that I'm not enjoying your company! Far from it, it has been a long time since I've had any real company at all, never mind someone as lovely as yourself!”

Her blue eyes widened as Zheng paused for a breath.

“I just mean, I'm a complete stranger. I mean, I could have been anyone, some nasty criminal chap or something. And then you see me living in a big abandoned warehouse and you still join me for a meal. I don't imagine that many other women would do that.”

Watching her intently Zheng fed himself another spoonful of stew and fell silent.

What was she going to say? Did she even have an answer? Lowering her spoon into the bowl Anhyue suddenly felt her mouth go dry. Her tongue became heavy and rough and the waterbender wasn’t sure if she could move it to talk. It was as if her mouth didn’t want her to talk, didn’t want her to give Zheng an answer. Why did you follow him? her mind asked. Because I wanted to make sure he got home all right. Because he promised me a warm meal. Because I know bad people when I see them, I think. They all seemed like pretty good answers, but would Zheng think of them as such? He had really hit the nail on the head with his series of questions. They were all quite logical and truthful. The firebender could have turned out to be some nasty brute with a dark, hidden agenda, and if that had been the case Anhyue could have been a goner. Of course upon seeing the warehouse the actress had questioned her actions, but Zheng hadn’t done anything to rub her the wrong way. Anhyue wasn’t one to trust easily, and aside from almost burning her, Zheng hadn’t done anything to harm her. But there was always the chance that he could have, her subconscious snickered.

Realizing that she had spent too much time thinking Anhyue shifted a bit in her seat and turned slightly at her waist so that she could answer Zheng directly. Licking her lips she gave him another shy grin and used one of her hands to rub at her bent knee. “I guess I don’t have a hard time noticing good people like other women do.” Flushing at her words she lowered her eyes then quickly lifted them to his dark orbs and held his gaze. “I just wanted to make sure that you got home safely without your wound acting up. My mother’s cautious with her patients after she’s healed them, I guess I picked up on that.”

“And besides,” she continued shrugging her shoulders, “who turns down the offer of a hot meal?” Not this girl, she thought remembering how hungry she had felt after healing Zheng. “I think you secretly knew how hungry I was,” she teased as she spun her spoon around in the broth. “Is that why you decided to offer me food?” Or was there another reason?

Zheng watched his companion intently as she ate her stew, waiting for her reaction and hoping that it was to her approval. He had no doubt that she would be used to far finer foods than day old stew. If her family owned a hotel as she had claimed, she was certainly well off at least, if not on the extreme end of rich. Yet her reaction was just as ecstatic as when she had eaten the apple, maybe even more so, giving a little moan as she took a spoonful of the meal into her mouth. Zheng smiled at her compliment, but he was certain that she was just being polite. Either that, or she was really, really hungry.

After the young firebender had asked his question, Anhyue paused for a long time. He began wondering if perhaps he had insulted her somehow with his words and began thinking back hard over every syllable he had mouthed, searching for any possible way it could have be misconstrued as an insult. That nasty little voice chuckled darkly, bringing up the horrible thought it had conjured previously about her motives for following him. Mayhap she didn't know why she was doing it herself until now. Congratulations, you very well may have brought out someone's darker side. Not content with living with one yourself?

His thoughts were jarred from their unpleasant course when Anhyue finally replied, dispelling the nasty voice's reasoning and making a wave of relief flood through him. She has just wanted to make sure that he was not still hurt from before and to get a hot meal in her. Nothing sinister after all. Of course, the nasty voice piped up again, she could just be keeping it to herself. You might bump into her in another dark alley some day as she's looking for the thrill of danger... she may even be alive when you do. This unwelcome thought pierced his mind and he shuddered a little, shifting himself a little closer to the fire and shoveling an especially large spoonful of stew into his mouth. The warm food filled his stomach, but he still could not shake the chill from his heart at what the voice had said.

Noticing that his female companion was asking him a question now, Zheng quickly swallowed the second mouthful he had scoffed, coughing slightly as some of it tried to escape down the wrong way.

"This may surprise you, but I have very little in the way of valuables in my possession", the firebender began, unwrapping a hair-tie from around his wrist and putting his loose hair back up into a topknot. He shot her a cheeky smile so that she knew he was not being overly serious. "But I was raised to believe in fair exchange. One thing for another. Effort always rewarded. Since I could not offer you anything other than a warm meal for your hand in my healing, a warm meal is what I offered you."

Zheng scooped a far more restrained amount of stew onto his spoon and ate it, stopping himself from explaining that it was his own mother who had taught him that. She might have grown curious about his family, and that as not a road he wanted their talk to go down. It was not exactly proper dinner conversation.

"Not that it was all simple tit for tat", Zheng continued. "It's been a while since I've had any real company or conversation, and I guess I was just eager to extend our interaction."

This was all very true. Outside of the occasional back and forth with his fellow workers and short banter with shop-owners and innkeepers, he had not had any prolonged contact with people for a good long while, and he often found himself feeling lonely despite his best attempts to ignore such sensations.

Finding that his bowl was very much empty, Zheng stood to get seconds from the iron pot. He looked down at Anhyue.

"Care for a refill?" Zheng asked politely, holding his hand down to her for her bowl if she was interested in another helping of stew.

You ask some of the most inane questions, her subconscious snickered forcing Anhyue to glance down at her stew. Her cheeks flushed shyly as a result of her mind’s insensitive attack. It was a harmless little question, the waterbender retorted lifting her long, dark lashes in defense. I’m allowed to experience curiosity, am I not? With that said her subconscious growled and returned to stalking the dark recesses of Anhyue’s mind, and just in time too for Anhyue to witness Zheng’s struggle with swallowing his stew. The actress smiled before stuffing her face with more broth as Zheng endeavored to cough and speak at almost the same time. However, her smile slowly melted away when Zheng spoke of his economic deficiencies. The healer didn’t have to be told to understand that this firebender was certainly not living in the lap of luxury. She had known that the second she had surveyed the warehouse from outside. Sitting beside Zheng the waterbender’s cerulean eyes could not help but lock onto his angular face. They wanted to take notice of the state he was in, of the expression he wore on his face to get some sense of how he felt discussing such personal things, however her oceanic orbs were taken aback by the sight of his new top knot and amused grin.

Anhyue couldn’t help but notice how that smile fit Zheng so perfectly; how it brightened his sharp features and lightened his impenetrable eyes. The very sight of that smile rendered the actress breathless and numbed every one of her senses. It was in this almost trance-like state that Anhyue listened to the rest of Zheng’s explanation. Without her authority Anhyue’s brain decided to part her tan lips a let slip a few words. “I’m glad that you did,” she said dreamily. Tilting her head to one side it was then that Anhy's subconscious set off an extremely loud alarm inside of her head. Waking up as if she had just been sleeping Anhyue held her bowl with one hand while she ran the other a bit nervously over her plaited hair. “Because I was really hungry, you know, from healing you. It really uses up a lot of energy.” Biting her bottom lip Anhyue lowered her face, raised the spoon to her pouted mouth, and quickly began to stuff herself with more stew. Why are you acting this way? her subconscious asked angrily. You’re an actress for spirits sake! ACT differently!

Lucky for her the firebender continued on to describe that this was the first time in a long time that he had had company over for dinner. To her surprise Zheng also admitted that that was part of the reason why he had extended to her his invitation of a warm meal. So, Zheng did want to get to know me a little better, Anhyue thought as she curled and uncurled her manicured toes within her toasty socks. Truth was aside from making sure he got home safely, Anhyue had wanted to get to know Zheng a little better too. His eyes had drawn her in the moment she had looked into them. She had never seen orbs so bottomless and dark as his before; they were certainly a sight to behold. Finding herself too lost in her own thoughts Anhyue suddenly drew in a sharp breath when she noticed a shadowy figure before her feet. It only took the actress a moment to register that the figure was Zheng, but why had he risen to his feet? Tilting her head up she noticed that his hand was extend toward her. Did he want her to rise too?

It was then that he asked her if she cared for a refill. In fact what Anhyue really 'cared for' was to reach out and grab his hand, an impulse that was all too familiar to the actress having taken part in many a romantic comedies in her lifetime. But she ignored the impulse and proceeded with politeness. Lifting the bowl toward his outstretched hand she smiled and said, "Yes, please." When she no longer felt the weight of the bowl in her hands she moved her fingers over to her braid. Pulling it over her left shoulder Anhyue watched Zheng beside the fire. The light given off by the flames accentuated his toned muscles and gave his skin a slight sheen. Anhyue couldn't help that her eyes always seemed to want to wander toward that hip of his that was deliciously uncovered thanks to the unevenness of his tank top. Anhyue attributed his handsome figure to the hard labor of his work. Loading and unloading at docks was no easy task, but the manual labor had its positives, and Anhyue was staring directly at them. The actress was quite fit for her age as well. With her waterbending and regular exercise (dance, jogging, etc.) she kept a tight and toned physique, though she could not ignore some of her girlish curves, and there was no reason to overlook those features. Thinking of her hobbies made Anhyue curious of Zheng's and she figured it was a safe enough topic to dive into. She really wanted to keep their conversation going, to hear his voice, and to hopefully see him smile again.

The nineteen-year-old tried to think of a clever way to word her question, but within a few seconds she gave up and settled on asking it bluntly. "Do you have any hobbies Zheng?" she asked as she waited for him to return with their bowls of stew.

Not noticing the quick backtracking her words implied, Zheng nodded his head at Anhyue’s when she claims that she was glad he had asked her to come back to his “house” and that healing with her skills took a lot of energy out of you. It made sense; it was not so dissimilar to firebending and, he guessed, the other bending arts.

“I expected that much”, the young man said, scratching the side of his sharp nose. “I know little about other bending art’s though, so I did not want to assume.”

Taking the bowl out of the waterbender’s outstretched hand, Zheng scooped out the last remaining bits of stew that clung to the pot’s sides and bottom, just enough to properly fill her bowl up. He had eaten his fill already; he had learned to not filly his belly completely, since he was likely to get ill. He was not used to having proper meals on a regular basis.

Handing the bowl back with a smile, he made a mental note to visit the market tomorrow to buy more food. He had only a few apples and some potatoes left, and he needed to stock back up. He could ask if anyone needed a work hand while he was at it. It had been his last day on the docks today and the sooner he got a new job, the better.

When Anhyue took the second helping off him, he considered her question. Did he really have any real hobbies? Most of his waking hours were spent working, finding work and/or finding somewhere to sleep. Oh, and practising his firebending. Did that count as a hobby? He was not sure. Plenty of people with the ability to bend an element practised it in some way, so it could count.

“I don’t really do much outside of winding work, but I try to practise firebending on a regular basis. Not sure if that counts… Wow, I sound awfully dull, don’t I?” Zheng said, laughing at the last part of his sentence. “I have been thinking of taking up pro-bending, but without a team and money to back us, it’s kind of a pipe dream at this point”, he added, giving a “you can’t get everything” shrug.

Suddenly, Zheng realised that something was wrong. He could not put his finger on it, but he looked up at the warehouse roof in a confused manner before it suddenly hit him: it’s stopped raining! Going to the hole in the wall they came in through and bending down to get to it, Zheng poked his head out to confirm it and was met with the smell of decay this part of town gave out after it was wet, a kind of rusty, muddy scent. Pulling himself back in, the firebender looked back over his shoulder, still bent at the waist.

“Rain’s stopped now. Would you like me to walk you home? Things can get a little dangerous around here after dark”, Zheng offered her.