Just a reminder this is an alternate reality where Zuko was never challenged to an Agni Kai and has NO SCAR and NEVER LEFT TO CAPTURE THE AVATAR

Zuko awoke the same way he always had, as Agni peeked over the ocean and began to spread his light over the Fire Nation. As his eyes drifted open and his blood began to warm, Zuko stared up at the canopy of his bed and sighed. Today was not like other days. Today he turned seventeen; today the Fire Prince came of age.

A knock sounded at his door. Zuko ignored it. No doubt some servant was desperate to rouse him so that the day could begin. Before this evening's festivities, he had a final fitting, a meeting with some of the nobles, and a dance lesson which had been scheduled by his father as a last-minute attempt to make the prince presentable to the lords and more importantly the ladies who would be in attendance. Zuko sighed again and rolled in his bed sheets. It was not like him to sleep late or lounge and he hated lying around, but he could not bring himself to get out of bed and face the day.

The knock came again.

"Han!" Zuko growled at the manservant. "I will get up when I wish and would appreciate-"

His complaints were stopped by the soft, placid voice of his uncle.

"Nephew, it is unlike you to still be in bed. The sun is up! I am usually being awoken by the prodding of youth at this hour…. Perhaps the day's celebration keeps you preoccupied….how about a cup of tea then?"

Zuko's heart lightened.

"Coming, Uncle!" He threw back his sheets and put his feet on the floor. Knowing his uncle would be at his side made the day less daunting. Quickly, he dressed in a plain tunic and pants and splashed water on his face. When he pulled the towel away, he took a moment to stare back at his reflection. There was his face. The topknot. His unblemished, royal complexion. His amber eyes were not the familiar eyes he was used to. Today, however, they seemed more and more like those of the man who had given them to him. He shook himself out of his thoughts than hurriedly left his chambers to visit his uncle.

Even with his excited pace he did not make it to Iroh's rooms undisturbed.

"Good morning, Zu-zu." Zuko grimaced.

"Azula,"

Cat-like and predatory, she stood straight and left the wall she had been leaning on to stand by Zuko who instinctively took a step away from his sister as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Happy birthday," she said. Zuko could see something crafty in her eyes that he did not trust.

"Thank you," he said, waiting for her attack.

"Do you feel of age? Grown-up?" she asked, a wry grin on her lips.

"I uh feel the same." Zuko told her, sensing a trap and looking for a retreat.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll finally feel like a man once the festivities are over."

"What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

"Nothing of course," She turned away, waving a wand dismissingly at him, "I have just happened upon father's gift to you and I think once you see it as well, you will agree that it is certainly life-changing."

Zuko opened his mouth to question her further but she was already gone, leaving him feeling as played and confused as ever.

Nevertheless, he continued down the corridor, trying his best to push his sister from his thoughts until he reached the door to his uncle's rooms and knocked softly.

"Come in! Come in!"

Zuko entered to find his uncle sitting before his low tea table. Not yet dressed in his official Fire Nation reds, he wore soft green robes and the same pleased expression as always.

"Sit, Zuko. The tea is getting cold."

"You're a firebender uncle. I'm sure the Dragon of the West can heat his own tea."

Iroh grinned. "Yes, I can; but, I find my morning ritual of making morning tea to be just as worthwhile as the drink itself."

Zuko smiled as Iroh poured him a cup. Steam wafted through the air, and Zuko found that the tea was plenty hot. He sipped gratefully.

For a long while the two princes sat in silence, drinking tea and nibbling rice cakes, blissfully unaware of the bustling of a palace preparing for a ball just beyond the doors.

"Uncle," Zuko finally asked, his brows furrowing as he stared down at his cup, "do you know what my father got me for my birthday?"

"I do not. Why?"

"Well, Azula said she knows and that it'll be life changing."

"I can see how you find this troubling," said Iroh. "What Azula considers life-changing often involves suffering."

Zuko scowled, suddenly afraid.

"But," Iroh cleared his throat and set down is cup, "that is later. Now, I have a gift of my own."

With a grunt the old man stood, retrieved a silk-wrapped box. Zuko stood to assist.

"Uncle, thank you, but I wasn't expecting-"

"And what kind of uncle would I be if I had nothing to present my favorite nephew for his seventeenth birthday?"

Zuko grinned, taking the box, "Please, uncle. I'm your only nephew. Besides, you've given me so much already." He opened the box, which was heavy in his arms, and revealed a deep-red, cast-iron tea set.

"A tea set," Zuko gasped.

"Yes," said Iroh, pulling out one of the cups. "It was my gift to Lu Ten when he came of age. After…well, it's a shame for it to sit unused."

Always awkward and incapable of handling his emotions, Zuko stared down at the box in his hands. He remembered his cousin. All the memories he had of Lu Ten, in fact were from a life so different from the one he lived now. Had their family really once known love? Zuko could no longer tell, those times were so long ago. Iroh was now all he had left of those happy times. Now, he merely wrapped an arm around the old man.

"Thank you, Uncle."

That afternoon, Zuko stood on a stool and held his arms parallel to the floor. Under Han's watchful eye, a tailor busied himself with Zuko's formal robes. For the party tonight, he would have a whole new set and they would be nothing less but magnificent.

Zuko sighed, his breath puffing a strand of hair that had come loose from his topknot. Han coughed.

"Prince Zuko," he sighed as well, "I am aware of your aversions to tonight's gala, but as the heir to this nation, you shall have to get used to it." Han punctuated each of those final words and Zuko scowled hatefully at his new servant.

Han had been appointed by the Fire Lord with the charge of readying the unruly prince for the crown. To Zuko, it seemed that the manservant had found the task much more difficult than he had originally suspected. This thought on its own was pleasant enough to bring Zuko's frown to a blank stare.

The prince breathed, trying not to sigh. It seemed no one was ever happy with him, not since…memories of his childhood wafted back to him like the tide. Ember Island, playing with Azula and Lu Ten in the sand, the loving embrace of his mother's arms.

But all that was gone now. Lu Ten had been killed in the Seige of Ba Sing Se. His mother had disappeared. Azula had become wicked and cruel. Though the Fire Nation was winning the war and the light of its end could be seen at the end of this dark tunnel, Zuko felt as if he had already been defeated. He was simply tired of it all. He no longer wanted to play Azula's games or fall into the traps of his father and the nobles. This is why he had taken so warmly to his uncle. Iroh had no ruses other than tricking his naïve nephew into hearing the haikus he had composed. Even now, thinking of his uncle made him smile. Then a sharp prick nicked his shoulder.

"Hey!" he snarled at the tailor and he watched Han rub his eyes.