Iroh looked longfully at his nephew. His bandages were dirty covered in blood, sweat and what Iroh could only assume next would be tears. When the Prince, no boy awoke. He would have to let the healer change them soon. In his presence of course, no one in the palace could be trusted with the child's safety anymore.

The boy had been through much, his own father turning on him in an act of pure hatred. The left half of his face melted and disfigured in a gruesome fashion. It managed to turn the old general's stomach the first time he saw the wound for himself. For him the sight of a defiled member of his own kin was worse than a six hundred nights on the battlefield. Iroh knew he was the only one who could or would look out for the boy, he would be a guiding presence for him as he grew abroad. His nephew would never return to the Fire Nation again. The price for his crime a permanent exile. The terms of his banishment were set.

"Have him return to me when the he captures the Avatar dead or alive, until that day he is banished. The banishment starts in one week." Ozai had said before the court.

Noblewomen gasped while Noblemen called out praising to decision. Their red robes fluttering with happiness at the recent announcement. They had always saw Azula as more fit for the throne. Her talents far exceeded her brother.

Iroh remained perfectly composed beside of his younger brother, he had no intentions of revealing his anger at the proclamation that befell this nephew. He remained rigid as a board on the floor pillow at the right hand of the Fire Lord.

He looked out into the gathering of nobles, they were wealthy families from the ten original tribes of the Fire Nation. They had existed long before the Phoenix tribe unified the war torn Fire Nation. There was no more Phoenix tribe, the blood had been lost to marriage but each one of the families in the royal chamber were sure they contained dna from the ancient tribe.

At the corner of his eye Iroh saw a shadow. He turned his head and saw a small figure hunched over behind a pillar. A child? It couldn't be Azula she was at her firebending lessons. He looked closer and caught a glimpse of the child's girlish features. It was certainly not Azula. He noticed a strange shine from her face, it somehow completed her expression of despair. Crying.

There was no more Avatar. This child understood that.