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A heavy sigh left from General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, as he surveyed the battlefield beneath him. As his eyes passed over the landscape, they lingered heavily on the large crank in the great wall of Ba-Sing-Se. It was almost a year ago when they had finally torn that crank in the massive stone wall and he still had not beheld the city within it. It had taken countless days to break it and it was taking countless more just to keep it open.
Still, in moments like these he enjoyed reminiscing about that great day. He was so proud of his son, Lu Ten, as he presented the captured Earth Kingdom general and his lieutenant to Iroh's tent.
"Here, father, are the ones who surrendered," said Lu Ten, motioning to the two men that followed him. He gave a short bow to his father and moved to the side of the tent.
Iroh smiled warmly at the two men as they knelt in front of him. His eyes passed over them briefly as he motioned for nearby servant. The lieutenant shifted uncomfortably where he knelt; sneaking glances to the general beside him. The general, however, was stone; in posture, expression and presence.
"Would you like some tea, gentleman?" Iroh offered.
The servant lowered a tray in front of them with freshly poured cups of tea on it. Holding the tray to each one, they both took a cup for themselves. The lieutenant looked at his cup with suspicion, while the general sipped his casually.
"I find that nothing relaxes the nerves and the spirit like a nice cup of tea, would you not agree general?" asked Iroh as he took a cup for himself and kneeling at his place across the table from them. The general nodded slowly and took a long sip. After a long pause he set his cup down and looked at Iroh.
"General Iroh, I presume. I am General Lao, and this is my lieutenant, Lee. May I be the first to congratulate you on your victory? It is an impressive feat."
"That is quite a compliment coming from you, general."
"Enjoy it, for the view through the break will be the closest you ever get to the city."
Iroh chuckled softly. "Well, I suppose we will see. I am a patient man."
"The year you have spent here already is proof of that, general. I merely speak of the strength of the Earth Kingdom. They will not yield to you, or your nation."
"Perhaps not, but I do hope that they will at least consider it before we are forced to burn your city to the ground." Iroh stated, glancing at the general over the rim of his tea cup. Even with his attention on General Lao, however, he still noticed Lieutenant Lee clench his fists strongly at the mention of the city in flames.
"Indeed, we will see," replied the general as he locked eyes with Iroh. After a pregnant pause, they finally broke eye contact and Lao looked toward Lu Ten. "I believe you are the one who has my dagger?" Lu Ten nodded slightly and produced the pearl dagger from his sash. General Lao turned his attention back to Iroh. "Since it is to be a spoil of war, then let me offer it to you as a gift. Consider the inscription carefully, general, and know that it is a creed of the Earth Kingdom."
Lu Ten handed it to his father, who promptly opened the sheath and studied the inscription. "Never give up without a fight," he read aloud. Iroh let a slight smile spread across his face and turned to the enemy general. "I believe we understand each other."
"Very well," Lao stated as he, followed by Lee, raised to their feet. Iroh followed suit and stood with them. They all then politely bowed to each other and the two earth benders exited the tent, escorted by Lu Ten.
Once outside, they paused and Lee leaned closer to Lao.
"What do you mean, never give up? You just surrendered!" He barked in an angry whisper.
"Surrender does not signify utter defeat, Lee. Sometimes the greatest strategy is to wait," General Lao responded calmly as he turned his head ever so slightly toward Lu Ten. Lee's gaze followed his and fell on the fire bender behind them. He then quickly glanced down in shame, realizing that he had spoken so openly in front of the enemy.
Once the guards had come and escorted the two men down the hill, Lu Ten entered his father's tent again.
He found his father holding the dagger in one hand and a newly filled cup of tea in the other. Lu Ten smiled at him warmly as he strode over to his father's side.
"That went much better than I was expecting," he said pouring a cup of tea for himself.
"I must say that it was quite informative. General Lao is an admirable opponent. I wonder if he would be interested in a game of Pai Sho," Iroh stated with a smile as he sheathed the dagger and set it on the table.
"Do you think he was right? About us never getting in?"
Iroh gave a glance to his suddenly serious son. One thing that always pleased him about Lu Ten was his ability to look much deeper into things than most others. It filled Iroh with pride to know that he had turned out so wise even at such an early age. It did, however, tend to make Lu Ten a bit of a worrier at times. He will outgrow that, though, thought the fire general.
"It is up to us to prove him right or wrong, my son. Ultimately, the victor will be the one whose will was the strongest and the most resolute." Iroh said, matching Lu Ten's serious tone.
"But how will I know if my will is strong enough?" asked Lu Ten, turning to face Iroh.
"You can not make your will stronger by choice. Will comes from a devotion to ones own path. If you understand your path in destiny and devote yourself to it, than your will shall become set in it and almost nothing can stop you," Iroh responded as he put a comforting hand on his son's shoulder.
Lu Ten smiled. "Than if will has to do with devotion, then I guess we should just launch all our tea into the city. If we did, you'd be unstoppable."
Iroh instantly grabbed the pot of tea and cradled it closely to his chest. "Don't you even suggest such a terrible thing!"
"Sorry father, I didn't mean it. Besides, you know I'd be lost without it too," Lu Ten said with a chuckle. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," his father responded. Iroh watched as Lu Ten exited the tent, but did not relax his grip on the tea pot until he was sure his son was gone. He knew Lu Ten was joking, but one could never be too sure when it comes to tea.
Iroh paused in his thoughts as he saw several of the catapults launch several fireballs into the gap. He did not realize that the battle field had been cleared enough today to risk firing the catapults, but that was the trouble of being the general, watching everything makes it hard to notice the little things.
Without fail, each fireball was met with a wall of rock that would instantly form from the ground or the wall. Explosions erupted from all over the gap, but none of the fireballs made it through.
Sighing again, Iroh turned to the desk that had been placed outside his tent. Taking a moment, he flipped through assorted maps and orders to and from the battle field. At last he found the page that detailed the campaign plans for Lu Ten's latest mission to the wall. After a year of large and small assaults with many different strategies, lately they had decided to try sneakier methods. Lu Ten and two other elite fire benders were to sneak in and scout for weakness. They were supposed to be back already, but still no sign of Lu his son.
Glancing back to the gap in the wall, Iroh started to feel nervous.