Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just revisit from time to time.
Chapter 1: The Assignment
The Jasmine Dragon was supposed to be a peaceful escape. Supposed to be. After business hours, it was an excellent meeting point for members of the Order of the White Lotus, due to how quiet and calm it was. Usually they were some of the lower ranking members who happened to live or be traveling through the area. But four of the Order's most prominent masters made a point of meeting up with Iroh in Ba Sing Se every year on the anniversary of its liberation—an event celebrated throughout the Earth Kingdom. The avatar and his friends tried every year to join them, and some years they were more successful at it than others. It was very, very rare that members of Team Avatar were ever in town whenever one of the other four great masters were.
Which made this occasion particularly unique. Both King Bumi and former Fire Navy admiral Jeong Jeong were in Ba Sing Se on business. And, as it so happened, Toph was in town, introducing her metalbending students to the Earth King, who had become keenly interested in the idea of having a metalbending force of his own to help keep the streets of the huge city safe. Bumi and Toph had met up briefly outside of the Jasmine Dragon and decided that it was high time for that rematch. Aang, Katara and Sokka were due to arrive that day, which made it the perfect opportunity. The very second Appa landed, Toph whisked everyone off to a designated impromptu arena just outside of the outer ring, leaving only Iroh and Jeong Jeong alone in the shop.
Which suited Jeong Jeong just fine. He had internally groaned when he arrived at the tea shop and found Iroh already immersed in conversation with the crazy king of Omashu. It wasn't that Jeong Jeong didn't like Bumi; it was just that the man could be downright insufferable when he wanted to be. Jeong Jeong had learned valuable lessons from him about neutral jing, and for that he was grateful to Bumi. But the earthbender's personality was terribly overbearing, and Jeong Jeong was quickly exhausted by it.
So when the kids took the avatar's oldest friend and left, Jeong Jeong breathed a sigh of relief and settled down with his cup of chamomile while Iroh worked on closing duties.
The bliss lasted a good three hours. Iroh and Jeong Jeong were happily engaged in a game of Pai Sho when the front doors were practically kicked off their hinges, and one irate, dirt-covered, singed, blind teenager came stomping in, yelling at the top of her lungs...
"WHEN DID THAT CRAZY OLD FREAK LEARN HOW TO LAVABEND?!"
Iroh hid a smirk behind his cup of tea as Toph stormed up to the table where the two old masters sat. Jeong Jeong wrinkled his nose as she approached. She smelled vaguely of sulfur and fresh basalt; similar to the pahoihoi that constantly flowed from some of the Fire Nation's more active shield volcanoes.
"Seriously, did you know about this?" Toph demanded of Iroh. "He wouldn't tell me; he just said it was a story for another time!"
"Using lava in an earthbending competition?" Iroh mused, pointedly ignoring Toph's question. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Yeah, well, I should've known something was up when he told me I was allowed to use my metalbending. And...Hey, how come you're not totally shocked that an earthbender can lavabend?" She jabbed an accusatory finger at the two firebenders as they both tried to suppress a chuckle. "You did know about it! Almost like you were there when he first did it!"
"As Bumi said, that is another story for another time," Iroh replied, calmly sipping his tea.
"Is it safe to assume Bumi won the match?" Jeong Jeong asked.
"We tied again," Toph griped. "Snoozles decided it definitely was cheating when King Cray-Cray melted every bit of metal in sight. He made us bend just regular earth after that."
Iroh let loose the laughter he'd been trying to hold back. Jeong Jeong couldn't help but chuckle himself. Toph stood fuming for a moment longer before a smile tugged at the corners of her own mouth.
"You should've felt Twinkle Toes' reaction, though," she said. "Snoozles said the look on his face was priceless; better than mine or the lily livers'. Gotta hand it to that old coot, he got me pretty good."
"I'm glad you're taking it well, considering how attached to the title of 'world's greatest earthbender' you seem to be," Iroh said.
Toph leaned casually against the table with a whump, upsetting the game pieces on the board, much to Jeong Jeong's annoyance. "I like to see it as being presented with a new challenge. If King Cray-Cray can learn to lavabend at a bajillion years old, it should be no problem for me."
"True, you do have your whole life to figure it out," Iroh said. "And here's a hint for you; Bumi studied the methods of waterbenders."
"So?" Toph said. "What does that have to do with earthbending? Twinkle Toes said lavabending used to be something only the avatar could do, because it was basically firebending plus earthbending."
"He may find he's mistaken in that notion," Iroh said sagely. "I've no doubt he's trying to get Bumi to tell him the secret of lavabending right now."
"Him and Snoozles both," Toph said with a nod. "Snoozles said something about it being important to science or whatever. Still, if lavabending requires just earth and no fire, I should be able to do it too. I've never needed anything but good ol' earth. Not to see, not to bend, and definitely not to be completely and totally awesome."
"Awesomeness doesn't cause lavabending," Jeong Jeong pointed out. "There is another element involved. You must learn from the other elements in order to be the best at your own."
Toph scoffed. "That's Aang's job, not mine. I didn't need to learn another element to invent metalbending. I'm good with earth. It's all I need."
"All of the elements need one another," Iroh said.
"But I don't need all of the elements for myself," Toph replied. "If I needed to learn more than one element, I'd be the avatar."
"If that is your attitude, we can be grateful your element is not fire," Jeong Jeong said testily.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toph questioned.
"Yes, please explain," Iroh prodded, looking mildly offended.
Jeong Jeong sighed and leaned back. "Earth does nothing on its own. It sits where it is until something moves it. It poses no threat when left to itself. But fire is just the opposite. Left to its own devices, it grows and consumes everything. Earth needs to be controlled by an earthbender to be powerful. Fire needs to be controlled to keep it from becoming too powerful. And from earth comes life, just as from water comes healing and from air comes breath. But fire only knows how to destroy. It must be kept under very tight control at all times."
Iroh grimaced. "I was under the impression you had let go of the idea that fire is only destruction some time ago, my friend."
"How could I let it go? That's what fire is. It is a burden we are entrusted with. And it is far too easy to misuse."
"It's your element," Toph said. "It's an extension of you, just like earthbending is an extension of me. If I were a firebender, you'd better believe I would've figured out how to use it to see."
Jeong Jeong scoffed. "Fire gives light, but it does not heal. There is nothing about it that should be used as an extension of oneself. The last century has shown how easily it can turn men like us into monsters." He trailed off, staring off into the distance, as if lost in a regretful memory.
"Like us?" Iroh repeated, one eyebrow raised.
"Isn't it true?" Jeong Jeong retorted. "Look at the family history you had to overcome! How easy would it have been for you to follow the same path as your father and grandfather?"
"And yet you imply that it should have been impossible for me to choose a different path, simply because of the element I wield," Iroh countered. "Fire did not make my ancestors evil anymore than it made them good."
"It certainly wouldn't have made them good," Jeong Jeong grumbled. "Nor mine. Nor me."
"Seriously?" Toph said. "You kicked all kinds of butt during the comet, and now you're just gonna sit there for the rest of your life, having a pity party because you had to use fire to do the butt kicking?"
Iroh sighed. "I have had this conversation many times, Toph. Jeong Jeong's history is...well, he's seen more than his share of the destruction our nation caused during the war."
"So have you, but that doesn't stop you from loving being a firebender."
"I see my fire differently than Jeong Jeong does. And it can be quite difficult to change how someone sees something. How they see themselves."
"Firebenders are hated throughout the world for very good reason," Jeong Jeong said.
"Oh, phu-lease!" Toph cried. "Listen to yourself! You sound completely pathetic! I thought you were this totally awesome old guy who can whoop bad guys with the best of them! So why are you sitting here whining about how terrible a person you are just because of something you can do that not everyone else can? You're worse than my metalbending students! They're so good at whining about what they think they can't do that one of them even does it in poetry form!"
Jeong Jeong felt his temper rising. He glowered at the girl. "You did not learn much about respecting your elders, did you?"
"Why the heck should I respect someone who can't even figure out the super basic skill of respecting himself?" Toph challenged.
The two firebenders gaped at her. Toph registered their shocked expressions, but continued her tirade.
"Yeah, I've been all over the world, and I've seen how much people hated and still hate the Fire Nation, and anyone from there. But I've never seen anyone hate someone from the Fire Nation as much as you hate yourself!" She punctuated her statement with a finger jabbed right in Jeong Jeong's face.
Iroh's jaw dropped a moment as he watched Jeong Jeong struggle to compose himself for a response. The teamaker then clamped his jaw shut and grinned. He then began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Jeong Jeong snapped.
"That she's right, and she's not afraid to be right," Iroh replied. The laughter died in his throat as he became serious again. "Listen, old friend, I hadn't realized that you were still struggling so much with this. I would like to help you see your fire as a gift rather than a curse."
Jeong Jeong snorted and looked away. "Nothing can change the fact that this is a curse. For me it is. It's the only way I know to keep myself from falling to it; to the allure of destructive power it produces."
"Fire does not tempt one to power," Iroh said. "Power itself does that."
Jeong Jeong said nothing. Toph crossed her arms, furrowing her brow.
Iroh studied the two, stroking his beard. "I think I know how I can help you," he said. "There's a place I know that can offer you a new perspective of fire; the ancient ruins of the Sun Warriors. I would like you to journey there and study their history and philosophy of fire."
"Is that an order from the Grand Master Lotus of Fire?" Jeong Jeong asked, not looking at Iroh.
"Consider it so."
Jeong Jeong grimaced. "Then I will do it," he said reluctantly.
"The Sun Warrior ruins?" Toph said. "I think that's where Twinkle Toes and Sparky went on their life-changing field trip. Which Sparky still owes me one of those, by the way!"
"Good," Iroh said. "Then you know something about it. That will be very useful to you, as I would like you to accompany Master Jeong Jeong and see that he goes through with his assignment."
Gold eyes and highly attuned ears snapped in Iroh's direction, as the ex-admiral and the blind earthbender simultaneously yelped, "What?!"