It is an exciting day, full of bustle and preparations, when the Avatar comes to visit the Firelord's palace. Zuko has long ago given up trying to calm his staff, who somehow still see Aang as a figure of awe rather than the friendly airbender he is. He knows they probably prefer the work to sitting around. There is a certain thrill to the cooking of food and hanging of tapestries and preparing of robes. They found some scrolls of Air Nomad recipes many years back, while visiting the Southern Temple in a memorial to the war, and Zuko orders these prepared every time Aang comes to the Fire Nation. Another small step away from his family's terrible legacy.
Mai and Princess Izumi wait on the balcony. Izumi's young son Iroh stands beside them, looking so serious for his age, hands clasped behind his back in imitation of the old Firelord. He doesn't look up as his grandmother waves off the servants fussing over her hair. Zuko looks from his wife to the strong Princess who will eventually take the throne. Soon, if he has his way about it. The world, now at peace, needs younger leaders, and there is still so much for him to see and learn.
Izumi breaks the silence.
"Iroh, you don't need to stay here," she says, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Go play out by the turtleduck pond. We'll come down when Avatar Aang arrives."
With only a brief look of disappointment, he says a quick "Yes, Mother," and starts to leave.
"We'll be in the courtyard for most of the time," Izumi assures him. "There are just some matters of state that must be covered first. Nothing interesting, trust me."
Zuko and Mai look at each other and smile, remembering how much Izumi had hated learning politics as a girl. Even so, years of training and experience, crucial knowledge for the future Firelord, had eventually shaped her into a skilled negotiator. And her son seemed set to grow into the same talent. He already played the peacemaker when his friends fought, taking care to weigh the opinions of all sides. The Firelord watches Iroh's development with great pride; the boy's understanding of balance would make him a wise and cautious leader.
~o~
"Hey, we've been waiting for you!" Chen calls, tossing the last crumbs of the bun into the pond to appreciative turtleduck squawks. Jira leaps down from her perch on the tree and lands beside him. Iroh smiles at his friends, looking from Jira and Chen to the crowd of turtleducks in the water and across the pond to Lee, who absently waves at him and goes back to listening to the radio.
"The Avatar is visiting today! He'll come out here soon." Iroh tells them.
Chen grins. "That's exciting!" he says.
"Yeah, I've heard," Lee says, not looking excited at all. He switches off his radio and stands up.
"Yes, Lee, we know you're not interested," Jira says.
Lee glares. "My grandfather says the Avatar is fearsome, that if he doesn't like you he'll blow you away with his airbending."
Chen steps forward. "Why wouldn't the Avatar like Iroh? He's a great firebender! And he's nice to people! I know the Avatar would like that!"
"I bet he won't," Lee replies.
"I'm sure you can impress him with your firebending!" Jira reassures Iroh, who is beginning to look concerned, "What's the best thing you've got? I'll practice with you." She drops into a fighting form and punches a few bursts of flame.
"Mother showed me the Blue Dragon form last week... but I'm not supposed to try anything that elaborate without a Master watching."
"Then you'll impress the Avatar with basics?" Lee scowls. Before Iroh can answer, a shadow sweeps over the courtyard. The four look up into the sky to see a massive white animal flying overhead.
"What's that?" Chen gasps.
"That's Avatar Aang's sky bison!" Iroh says. He's staring at the creature in wonder, in contrast to Lee, who backs away from the shadow. The bison hovers at the balcony and Iroh catches a glimpse of a man dressed in yellow robes who pats the animal on the head and leaps effortlessly through the window. The bison flies off around the walls and Iroh loses sight of him.
"Come on, Iroh, we've got to do this quickly!" Jira pulls him into an open space by the pond.
"I'll watch your forms!" Chen announces, and scrambles up the tree. Lee crosses his arms and watches.
"I think it went something like this..." Iroh sets his stance, and cautiously models a couple of motions.
"We don't have time for that!" Jira interrupts. "You need to do bending, not dancing!"
"I really shouldn't be doing this at all..." Iroh starts.
"Come on, you're great at it! You can do it!" Chen yells down.
Iroh takes a breath and returns to his stance. A moment of focus, and then he dives into the technique. He flashes through the first few motions, tendrils of flame whipping around his body. He moves into the last position and the certainty abruptly drops from his face. The lines of fire slip from his control, lashing in all directions, whipping into the branches of the tree and raising steam from the pond. Jira scrambles up from where she'd rolled to the ground to avoid the flames and backs away from the burning tree. Iroh stares, horrified, into the blazing branches, and at the boy desperately trying to escape them.
Chen screams. "Get me down! Get me down!"
"Just jump! You'll be fine!" Jira yells at him over the panicked squalling of the turtleducks. He shakes his head, eyes reflecting the light of the fire, and tries to climb higher.
"You've got to, Chen! You can't stay up there!" Iroh yells. Chen only clings harder, screaming as a flame leaps up against his foot.
There's a flurry of wind, then a ball of water coils up from the pond to splash into the tree, killing the flames. Iroh watches as the Avatar rises on a drift of air to lift the shaking boy from the now-smoking branches.
The airbender sets Chen on the ground, makes sure he's unharmed, then looks over the scene. Iroh notices that Lee is nowhere to be seen. But that doesn't matter, because there's no way Iroh is going to escape the Avatar's anger. He had put his friends in danger, disregarded the balance of his element. What sort of honorable Fire Prince does that?
"Now then," the Avatar says sternly, "What happened here?"
Jira brushes off her clothes and looks fearfully up at him. "We were... we were..."
Iroh steps in front of her, takes a deep breath, and speaks. "Avatar Aang, this is my fault." He hangs his head. "I was careless. I'm sorry."
He sees his mother and grandparents hurrying towards the pond, and waits for judgment.
"Jira, Chen, " Mai says, "you should go home now."
"Yes, Lady Mai," Jira replies. She gathers up Lee's abandoned radio, then she and Chen run off. Iroh looks back at the pond, at the smoke and burned leaves of the tree. How could he have been so careless?
Once the children have left, the Avatar kneels down so he's at the boy's level and gently puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Nobody's hurt, " he says, and Iroh forces himself to look up at his face. He's surprised to find not the anger he'd expected, but a kind smile. Aang glances back at the rest of the royal family.
"Honest. Responsible. I like that. He'll make a good Firelord."
"Yes. Still," Izumi says, "you should have known better than that, Iroh."
"Yes, Mother. It was a mistake. I won't do it again."
"You must always be careful with fire," Zuko says, "It is a dangerous element and must be kept in balance."
"Avatar Aang, could you teach me about balance?" Iroh asks.
Aang smiles. "I'll see what I can do. Balance is the Avatar's duty, after all. Although I suspect you've already learned a lot."
"And there are things we must discuss, Aang," Zuko says, "Come inside. We can talk over tea. And you, Iroh."
"You like tea, right?" Aang jokes. Iroh grins, and follows the Avatar out of the courtyard.
"And there's a story I think you should hear, about the first time I tried firebending."