Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the last airbender. This is a one-shot. Please review. No flames!

It was close to closing time in the Jasmine Dragon; Iroh was cleaning up the tables in the tea shop, and cleaning up the place before departing, when the door to the place opened and in came a young boy. On his head, feet, and arms were those familiar blue arrows tattoos.

Looking up, Iroh smiled at the boy. "Hello young Avatar."

"Hello, General Iroh. And, you can call me Aang." he smiled at the man.

Iroh nodded chuckling, "Of course, Aang. And please, I'm no longer a general. Just call me Iroh, or Uncle Iroh if you want." Iroh placed down the rag that he was using to wipe one of the tables, and looked up at the boy's face and actually stared at it for the first time.

Catching the stare of the old man, one of his eyebrows shot up. "What?" he asked confused as to why Iroh was staring at him.

Iroh smiled; shaking his head, he whispered "Nothing, nothing. It's just, you look tense."

Aang's small smile disappeared; frowning, he sighed. "I am tensed."

Gesturing to an empty chair, he said "Come, come, sit."

Happy to oblige, he sat down in the comfy chair. Iroh stood right next to him, with a tea pot in his hands, he poured them both a cup of jasmine tea. He handed one cup to Aang, who gladly accepted it.

After sitting down himself, he cleared his throat. "So, Aang" he started; Aang looked up from his tea; "Why are you so tensed?"

Aang sighed. Putting down his tea, he said in a whisper "I don't know, I just am."

Iroh shook his head. "For one's tension, there is always a cause - and for every cause, there will be an effect, my boy but-" he paused to talk a sip of his tea before continuing , "Before you can see the light, you must let this tension go with the wind."

Aang tilted his head in confusion, he like Zuko never understood Iroh's proverbs. "Come again?"

Iroh sighed but smiled. "In other words, to get rid of some of your tension or stress, you must be willing to talk it out. The more you talk, the less tense you will feel."

Aang nodded understanding now.

Iroh smiled, pleased to know Aang understood. "So, what is it that has been causing you such tension?"

For Iroh, it was strange to see such a young boy be filled with so much tension at such a young age. But, Iroh knew he was never a teenage boy with the weight of the world along with his own personal problems on his shoulders; he had always had a carefree childhood, most of the time.

"It's the peace meetings." Aang explained.

Taking a sip, Iroh nodded. "I see, and what about these peace meeting have caused you such…tension?"

Aang sighed, and took a sip of his own tea. "It's just some of those people there that I have to work with are so stubborn." He paused.

Iroh nodded in understanding, "Tell me more about how these certain people cause you, a usually carefree boy, to be so tense."

Aang sighed inwardly, "All I'm trying to do is put peace between the nations and those men refuse to accept my plans for peace. They're too stubborn, they refuse to agree on an agreement!"

"I see," Iroh said scratching his chin, "What kind of agreements have you offered?"

Throwing his arms in the air, he groaned "Too many to count." he paused, "I offered that we set aside our differences, but a couple of men from the Earth Kingdom refused to forget about the hundred year struggle."

Iroh nodded but didn't say anything seeing as Aang was not done.

"One man's exact words were, and I quote, 'I would rather perish in hell than forget about what that devil of a nation did to our people. I will never forgive it.'"

Iroh's mouth was gapped open, "They said that?" he asked in disbelief that such person would use such foul words.

Aang nodded, rubbing his temple.

"But, that's just one man's opinion, surely there were more people who agreed with you, young avatar-Aang." Iroh said with a small smile.

Aang shook his head, "No, I wish it was but no. Many of the Earth people sided with that one man-"

Interrupting for the first time, Iroh asked "What about the Water Tribe people, what did they say?"

Aang closed his eyes, in a way to remember. "Well, they were more easy to work deals with but with the Earth people unwilling to set aside differences, I can not yet valid any deals with the Water Tribe."

Scratching his chin, he asked the young boy, "So the water tribe are ready to forgive and forget?"

Biting his lower lip, he sighed "Well…not exactly."

Raising one gray eyebrow, he questioned "What exactly do you imply by that?"

His stormy grey eyes looked down at his tea as if it was suddenly the most interesting this in the room. Finally looking up from the tea and into the old man's golden eyes, he sighed.

"Some Water Tribe men want to forgive, though out of that some, they are disputing that they aren't sure if they are prepared to just forget, and pretend that this hundred years of hardship and war never occurred." he hesitated before continuing.

He glanced at Iroh, who in turn signaled with a wave of his hand for him to continue.

"To some men but only a few, suggested that to teach them a lesson, that some of the Fire Nation soldiers should be executed, but I quickly disparaged that cruel proposal, seeing as any additional violence won't help bring peace-" he paused to take a sip of his tea.

Seeing things the same way, he nodded "And you were correct in doing so. To execute Fire Nation soldiers would only provoke more of them to rebel against the idea in total, causing to furthermore whip up another excruciating war-" balling one hand in a fist, he softly hit the table, "and that is exactly the last thing the world needs."

Nodding, he told him "Yet, one thing that most of the Water Tribe men and some Water Tribe women voiced that caught my attention was that instead of acting as merciless as most of the Fire Nation soldiers and inflicting them harm, was that the Fire Nation pays back all the money they owe the nations and cities they have destroyed." He paused.

Aang sighed, whispering "And, I reason that it is the fairest and best idea I've heard so far, Iroh. The only problem is how am I supposed to get others to agree on that?"

Iroh scratched his chin, "Hmm…As for the idea they have offered, I too believe it to be the fairest and best idea."

Aang nodded, "But, how do I make everyone else realize that?"

"You can't." Iroh explained, "In life, people will always have these differences and view an issue differently than the next person."

Hitting his head down on the table, Aang mumbled "Being the avatar sucks."

Iroh chuckled softly at the manner the boy was behaving. Raising his head off the table, Aang glared at the older man, who in turn ceased his laughter.

Smiling, he apologized "I'm sorry. It's just the fashion you were acting was amusing."

Aang nodded and rested his head against the table.

Studying the boy, Iroh whispered "Aang?"

Glancing up at the sound of his name, he asked "Yes?"

"I know bringing peace back is going to be a tricky thing to do plus this isn't the hardest thing you ever had to do, you faced my brother and won," he began, "And you won't be doing this alone, you will have your friends by your side to help you. Furthermore whatever you decide is reasonable, everyone in the Peace meeting have to stick with." he paused letting this all sink in, "And do you want to know why that is?"

Raising an eyebrow, he asked "Why?"

Pointing one finger at Aang, he put it in plain words "You're the avatar, meaning you get the final say in matters like this. You're in charge, you're the boss." he lingered, letting Aang take in the information.

Aang nodded but didn't say anything having a feeling that Iroh wasn't done.

"You've already taken note to what they had to say. Now they must take notice of you and what you think, not the other way around!" Iroh exclaimed, "What you chose to do goes, as long as it is found justificatory. And I think making the Fire Nation pay back all that it has stolen and damaged in this one hundred year struggle, is the best thing to do." Chuckling, he whispered "And I believe that the new Firelord would too agree."

Aang was shocked, he had forgotten that he had some sort of advantage with being friends with the new Firelord. It had never crossed his mind to ask for this favor from Zuko, his friend and the Firelord; it was like a light went off in his head.

A smile crept upon Aang's boyish face. Standing up, he took Iroh's hand in his and shook it. Iroh smiled back at the boy.

Bowing in thanks, he thanked "Thank you for all your help, Iroh. I feel less tense now, thanks."

Iroh grinned, "No problem. It's always a pleasure to sit and chat over some Jasmine tea."

Aang nodded, smiling. "Well, I'm going to go tell Zuko about my decision. Once again, thank you for listening to my problems and for giving me tea- it was delicious!"

Iroh smiled, happily. "It's always a pleasure to share the love of tea with the young folks." He waved him farewell, "Oh, and when you go to see Zuko, could you please give him this?" he said handing Aang a small box that was wrapped with decorative paper and had a bow resting on the top. Seeing Aang's confused look, he explained "It's his birthday present."

Aang's mouth fell open, but he closed it as quickly as it had dropped. "Oh, right…his birthday…"

Iroh chuckled realizing that Aang had forgotten. "To avert you from the rashness behavior Zuko would get in, if he knew you forgot his birthday, how about you tell him that it's from you and I?"

One foot out the door, and one inside, he turned his head to glance at Iroh. "I don't know…" he said, uncertain.

Iroh waved him along, "I insist!"

Aang shrugged, "Alright. See you-" he was cut off by a small but strong shove from Iroh.

"Go!" he order, but still managed to say it in a way where it sounded nice.

And with that, Aang finally left the Jasmine Dragon to the palace to discuss matters with Firelord Zuko. Aang sighed contently to himself as he entered the Firelord's throne room; after today, things would hopefully start to calm down to an extent. When he walked out of the Firelord's throne room a half hour later with a wide grin on his face, he was certain of three things. One, he was going to be drinking more tea; it really had relaxed him, along with the talking. Second, having the Firelord as his friend was one of the best things to have occurred. And thirdly, now that peace is restored, his goal is to ride the flaming sea-dragon, but that is a different story for a different day to come.