Iroh had been surprised a good many times in his life, but he imagined his young niece managed to top any previous occurrences when he found her seated behind the elaborate mahogany desk in his study for no obvious reason. Clearly unworried about being found, the fire princess sat demurely in a too-large chair, hands crossed in her lap and a worn scroll spread across the shining wood in front of her.

At the sound of his entrance, golden eyes rose from the scroll and studied him intently for a long, quiet moment. Then, as though her presence was not odd in the least, she spoke.

"Azula always lies." The words were mocking. Surprisingly bitter. Of course, Iroh knew where she'd heard them. His young nephew had developed the mantra several years before. Attached to the end, on occasion, was an added, Unless the truth hurts more. "Do you know that's what Zuzu tells himself when I say something that scares him?"

The situation was so odd, so unexpected, that Iroh could not figure out how she wanted him to answer. After some degree of hesitation, he cautiously ventured, "I suppose I may have heard him say something of that nature. Once or twice."

Her lips twisted into an ironic smile.

"It's funny. Zuko- he doesn't know much. That phrase, Azula always lies, that's one thing he actually managed to get right." A dull, humorless laugh. "I always lie. To him. To you." Her eyes found his. "To Father."

Father? Last Iroh knew, Ozai had always been 'Daddy'. What had prompted that change? Something else clicked, and Iroh had to work to keep a frown off his face. Lying to he and Zuko, that was expected from the girl. She had a silver tongue and next to no morals. But lying to her father? Iroh had been under the impression that Azula all but worshipped the firelord.

"And what lies, Princess Azula," he ventured, "do you tell your father?"

Azula reclined back into her chair, and, as though she hadn't heard the question, nodded nonchalantly towards the door. Her smile was sugary sweet.

"You should close that, Uncle. It's drafty in here, and I would hate for you to catch a cold."

There was little subtlety in that. Might as well have simply said, Make sure no one overhears us. In other words, whatever she was going to say was a big deal. Dangerous. It wasn't normal that she was trusting him with something so big, but he didn't want to show suspicion. Not when she may genuinely be opening up to him.

Reservations or no, Iroh shut the door.

"Good. Now come a little closer, will you? I don't bite." A sharp smile. "Promise."

Iroh complied. His eyes dropped to the scroll in front of Azula as he neared the desk, and his heart quickened when he saw what was on the parchment. Elegant drawings in navy blue ink, the figures sketched while in the midst of elaborate katas. His eyes flashed up to his niece's before he could take too close a look, but he already had the movements memorized. All solid footwork and graceful arm motions. Very, very obviously not firebending.

"Princess Azula-"

"You are quite a suspicious man, Uncle Iroh. After you came back from Ba Sing Sae, you have been… different. Separate from the happenings of the court." A hesitation. "Almost as if you no longer agree with my father's goals. Or, at the very least- how shall I say?- dance to a separate tune, than he does."

Her words, Iroh realized with some degree of shock, were purely calculating. There was no hidden threat in them. Rather, her inquiry, despite its ambiguous nature, was almost innocent. The phrasing made him somewhat nervous, but more obvious than Azula's wording was her tone. Not venomous or disgusted. Assessing would be the most accurate way to phrase it. As though she were an army recruiter searching for a suitable soldier.

The nature of the situation was odd enough that Iroh felt as though honesty was important. Foolishly, perhaps, but his instincts rarely led him wrong. Azula wanted to know the truth; nowhere did he sense she wished to manipulate him based on his response. A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but he could feel he was right.

"You are very observant, child."

Full lips pursed, and sagely, the girl nodded.

"Good. I have a secret for you. After what you said, I trust you not to tell father, but remember: one word, and your little admission of disloyalty will grow into a list of crimes that will have you hanged."

Blackmail, then. The notion was almost comforting. Azula was suspicious and untrusting; if she had simply told him whatever it was she had to say, he would have thought it a trap. It probably would have been a trap. Her precaution, the unnecessary step to guarantee silence he would have given anyway, reassured him.

"Threat or no threat, I will not say a word."

Azula nodded. There was a hesitation. The room descended into complete silence.

Then: "You got this scroll from somewhere. You've been to the water tribes."

"Several years ago."

Her eyes dropped. A nervous expression crossed her face that was familiar only because he'd seen it on Zuko. The absence of arrogance on Azula's features was jarring; the girl was near unrecognizable.

"And you studied the bending?"

Such odd questions. A small, niggling suspicion formed in the back of his head, but he dismissed it immediately. Impossible.

"I did."

Two pairs of eyes met. The bright amber of an impossibly old eleven-year-old, and the dark gold of an aged general who had a feeling his world was going to be turned upside down.

"Teach me waterbending."

The words were said casually. No expression on her face that belied their significance. Even having been led into it, albeit discreetly, Iroh's heart stopped for a moment before it resumed beating, fearfully and erratically. He was surprised. He was afraid.

Still looking into Azula's eyes, he realized the fear was not only his own.

"Azula always lies," she went on, as though her previous statement had not been life-changing. "I thought it would work. Do what father says. Be perfect for father. Ignore it. And I tried." Her lower lip quivered. "I made myself his favorite, but- you've heard him talk, haven't you? 'The Avatar must be killed' 'Anyone meant to bring balance to the world is an abomination, Fire Nation or not' 'It is of the utmost importance to find and imprison the Avatar'." Her voice broke. "I hoped it would go away. That if I was good enough, it would- I would be able to- I don't know. Be what he wanted me to be."

"Azula-"

She plowed forward.

"It didn't work." A broken sob. "I didn't- I never wanted to betray my father. It's just- I have to. You try holding out, try ignoring everything you are. It doesn't work. The voices- all the past Avatars- they refuse to shut up about it. And my chi. My chi is out of control. Little movements, and I bend things I'm not supposed to." There were tears in her eyes, but Iroh knew she was too proud to shed them. "I had to tell someone. Do something about it. I would've gotten caught otherwise. Caught and locked up and stripped of everything I have."

There's a sharp laugh then, and she hoarsely managed, "The voices, and the spirits and visions… they're all too much. I've seen everything the Fire Nation has done, Uncle. Avatar Aang, he was the last airbender, he accidentally showed me once, what it was like when they found him." She closed her eyes, and the pain in her voice was haunting. "He didn't want to kill anyone, so they kept getting up, and coming at him, and… and I felt what it was like to burn to death. I'm not… I won't make any promises to save the world. I refuse to be some big, stupid hero. I just- this war- I mean-" She shook her head. "I don't know. I want the war to end but I don't want to stop it. I want balance because that kind of bullshit- I think it's born into me, that or stuffed into my head by those other Avatars. I want- I have to do something- but how can I fight my own father?"

Her lips curved into a heartbreaking smile.

"I don't know what will come of this, Uncle. I still wish it would go away, but it won't. Sometimes I figure, maybe I should just keep lying. Then I'll get a vision or hear voices, and I'll know this thing doesn't work like that. But I can't make myself do anything big yet. Don't know if I want to. If- if you'll teach me waterbending though, or what you know about it… that might be enough. For now. To calm the spirits down. Keep me from bending things I shouldn't. And who knows? Maybe- if I'm lucky- maybe it'll help me ignore… everything. Forever." It was clear that she didn't believe the last statement. Neither did Iroh.

In fact, if it were not for the absolute sincerity in her voice, he would not believe any of what he was hearing.

Azula, the Avatar.

Avatar Azula.

Sixty-four years of seeing what he thought was everything there was to see, and then an eleven-year-old girl, a child he'd previously only been able to describe as a 'little Ozai' dropped a bigger bomb than he ever could have imagined. He could hardly fathom how she'd managed to hide it. Azula had always been smart, but even as a young child, she must have had infallible intuition. Turning herself into exactly what Ozai wanted her to be, deflecting suspicion from all quarters in one perfectly planned ruse. Growing up with so little love clearly affected her- he could see it in her eyes, the lack of trust, the steely set of her face that said it hadn't all been an act- but it also enabled her to survive. To keep her secret until the spirits demanded she acknowledge her destiny.

Then, when she felt she had no choice but to tell someone, she'd managed to find the single person in the Fire Nation who would be willing to help her... and to scrounge up the courage to seek him out, despite the potential consequences.

Iroh, for the first time, found himself genuinely proud of Azula.

If he thought it would be welcome, he would have given the girl a hug.

Instead, he allowed himself a small smile, ignoring how distraught she was and pushing back any pity he may have felt, and said, "Waterbending practice it is, then. Meet me in the garden at midnight."

She bit her lip and nodded, suddenly shy. As though she realized for the first time that she'd all but broken down in front of him and was embarrassed by the fact. It was this expression that prompted Iroh to ignore his reservations and wrap his arms around her thin shoulders as she tried to hurry past.

Azula pushed him off, snapped that she didn't need hugs or pity or anything of the kind, but when Iroh sniffled and said, "It wasn't for you, my niece. I needed the hug to settle my old heart after a shock like the one you just gave me," Azula's guard dropped, and hesitantly, thin, shaking arms were wrapped around his waist.

"Just this once, old codger."

Iroh had to chuckle.

"Of course, Azula." He patted her back comfortingly. "Just this once."

When she left, she didn't thank him. She didn't have to. He could see rare gratitude in her eyes, and Iroh smiled despite himself.

He wouldn't go so far as to say there wasn't anything wrong with that girl, but perhaps his little niece wasn't so bad as he'd previously feared.

…

Azula liked waterbending.

It shocked her, and she thought it maybe shocked Iroh too, but she picked it up quickly. In a way, it was the closest element to firebending, and even though it was most definitely inferior, it was also nice. The smooth motions and elegant katas were relaxing, and there was none of the annoying evasiveness or sluggish non-movement research said was typical of air or earthbending.

It was… it was a graceful push and pull that tugged deep down. So different from the vibrant, offensive life of firebending, but still sensible. Smart, almost, in that it was primarily counterattacking. Not wimpy defense like earthbending or running away like airbending, but taking whatever the opponent did and sending it back, but with more power.

It was also adaptive, which was probably why it fit her so well, why she picked it up so quickly. Her whole life had been adapting; even without having to hide what she was, she supposed being the firelord's daughter would have required it to be so. Adapting was a part of politics.

Before long, Uncle ran out of new material to teach her, and after a handful of repeat run-throughs of things she'd already learned, Azula was, if not perfect, very proficient at most everything she'd been shown.

"If you were going to be an idiot and bring waterbending scrolls to the Fire Nation," Azula said when Uncle revealed he had nothing more to teach, "you might as well have grabbed more than two."

There was a short silence. The moonlit courtyard was dark and empty. Nothing to hold them there now that her lessons were apparently over, but Azula didn't want to leave. Those secret hours in the garden with Uncle… they were the only time she had to be herself. They hadn't been supposed to end so quickly.

"I apologize Azula, but it seems I have nothing more to teach."

Unacceptable.

He couldn't leave, and Azula didn't think he'd stay if she asked him, not when he had so little reason to, so in a voice that demanded he stick around at least long enough to answer her question, she asked "Why on earth did you want to study waterbending anyway? It's not like you'd have a use for it."

To her relief, he took a seat on one of the smooth rocks that surrounded the turtle duck pond. Azula held back a satisfied smirk and elegantly sat herself beside him.

"That, Azula, is not true. As the Avatar-" She cringed at the word, hating the reminder of what she was. Uncle did not seem to notice. "-it is crucial that you know the relationship between all elements. Even normal benders can learn from the techniques of others."

"So you went to the North Pole on the off chance you might pick something up?" Azula rolled her eyes. How Uncle.

"While I wish I could say I was an eager enough learner for that to be true, I did have an ulterior motive. You see, I was looking for a particular… solution, to a problem I had." His eyes lit up, and he went on, now somewhat excitedly, "In fact, my niece, I believe I have found material for your next lesson."

"What a joy." Azula made sure to keep her words sarcastic, no matter that she was a bit curious. Wanting to learn didn't mean she had to turn into a sap about it. She wasn't Zuko.

"Oh, but it is. I hear from your father you've been learning the basics of generating lightning?"

"Uh-huh."

"And has he told you it's unstoppable?"

They locked eyes. Azula wasn't an idiot; she knew what he was getting at.

"You can stop it?"

Uncle smiled broadly. Even though Azula would never, ever admit it, she liked his smile. It was playful and genuine and really not like anything she ever saw on anyone else; although, she'd be the first to admit not many people ever smiled at her anyway.

"I can do better than stop it." He was beaming like a kid with a secret. "I can redirect it. You've learned by now that many waterbending forms allow a person to defend himself while still leaving room for an offensive outlet. I used the theory to develop a firebending move that enables lighting to be absorbed, channeled throughout the body, and expelled to a different location."

Azula eyed him shrewdly.

"Interesting as that is, Uncle, there's only one person I know who bends lightning at all." A frown tugged at the corners of her lips. "You learned this because you wanted to fight Father, didn't you?"

"I never wanted to fight your father, Azula," said Uncle, and she could see in his eyes that he was being honest. Huh. That was… unexpected. "I was only worried he would attack me." A gentle hand rested on her shoulder, and Azula reflexively shrugged it off, even if its presence hadn't been entirely awful. "Now I'm concerned you may be in danger from him as well. It is best you learn. Just in case."

Azula bristled. She wanted to argue, to scream at Uncle and tell him that her father would never hurt her, but if she believed that was true, she never would have gone to him in the first place. Ozai wouldn't kill her, not when it'd mean having to find the next Avatar, but he wouldn't have any qualms about attacking her, knocking her unconscious, and locking her away forever.

"Right." Azula climbed to her feet. "Let's get started then. Are you going to shoot lightning at me?"

Iroh looked horrified.

"That is not how you learn, Azula." It's how I learned when my teachers wanted me to deflect flames. "First, we must go over the movements. Now, think of the flow of waterbending, how you can feel the energy move throughout your body. To redirect lightning, you must mimic that current; the lightning will follow it naturally. Allow a pathway to form from your fingers…"

Azula settled back onto her stone, chin in her hands, and listened attentively to Uncle's lesson.

…