A/N: This is a Junroh story. If that's not your cup of tea, I strongly suggest not reading it, especially since the rating is subject to change.
Iroh absolutely loved his new life in Ba Sing Se.
Three years after the war ended, with the tensions not running as high as they did at the beginning, he could finally relax and allow the youngsters to tend to the problems of this world, and he felt he was exactly were he should be.
He contemplated moving his tea shop to one of the lower rings of the city, but in the end, decided against it. He had too many enemies to allow himself to live in a place as uncontrolled as that, especially after they disposed of the Dai Li - thus, the Jasmine Dragon returned to its original place, and Iroh liked it that way. He liked it very much, but he did try to visit tea shops in the lower rings. He would never consider himself above learning new things, and the most interesting things were to be learned in the most unexpected of places.
Mostly because of that, he could never complain about the lack of excitement. Even without Fire Lords to overthrow and nephews to keep on the path of straight and narrow, Ba Sing Se never failed to provide him with things to take care of. There were former soldiers always longing for a fight, youngsters who, now that a huge part of the army has been disbanded, had trouble finding a purpose in life, and then... there was Jun.
For all of his life, he considered himself a lover of women. Not only in the most literal sense – he genuinely cared for them, could easily relate to them, and unlike many men, had no trouble understanding them. His late wife was the love of his life, and no one could replace her in his heart, but Jun... if anyone ever had a chance, it was her.
It started – or maybe restarted – just after he moved back to Ba Sing Se. He was visiting friends he met while living in the Lowest Ring, and while he talked to Jin, he suddenly spotted her. Or rather, he spotted a commotion and, not seeing any police in the immediate vicinity, shoved Jin into a restaurant that she worked in, and turned his attention to the brawl, at which point he saw a familiar shirshu, with a very familiar woman on top of it, and some poor fellow tangled in what looked like a fishing net.
Of course, there was a very good reason as to why he and Zuko hid in the lower ring while fleeing from Azula, and it was probably the same reason as to why the victim of Jun's beast thought it best to hide there. He must have angered someone quite influential – or did something truly heinous – for Jun to be chasing him inside the city. Iroh could see she didn't feel comfortable in such a close space.
"Lady Jun!" he greeted her, not being able to help himself. " How surprising to see you after all these years!".
She turned to him abruptly, so abruptly in fact that for a moment he was afraid she gave herself a whiplash (the irony of that term was not lost on him). It didn't seem so, because she actually smiled when she recognized him. With a surprisingly honest smile.
"Well well well, who would have thought, Creepy Grampa himself. Shouldn't you be nursing your grandchildren over at the Firelord's palace?"
He laughed. It was public knowledge that he was Zuko's uncle, and not his father, but she seemed to be hell-bent on forgetting about it. And she was one of the only people in the world who wouldn't be afraid of offending him.
"Ah, there's a queue for that role, you know, my dear, and in my old years, I find myself curiously unwilling to battle the crowds."
She responded with laughter, sliding from her mount, and striding towards her captive.
"Well, it was nice seeing you, old man, but this package won't deliver itself" she dragged the man onto the saddle, gave Iroh a little wave with her fingers, and was about to ride away when the old general stopped her.
"Jun... if, by some stroke of luck, you find yourself in the Upper Ring, do stop by "The Jasmine Dragon". Tea is on the house."
She looked at him with amusement that would have broken a lesser man.
"Dream on" was the only reply she graced him with.
-;;-
Despite her quite straightforward refusal to visit him, she did contemplate the possibility of actually going to "The Jasmine Dragon" that evening, especially when she saw the lice ridden bed they wanted her to sleep in. She could afford the best hotel in Ba Sing Se, but there was a limited amount of establishments that would have allowed her to have Nyla with her, and that was a deal braker. Both of them or neither.
In the end, she decided against it. Mostly because she didn't want to go back on her word, but also because she couldn't possibly imagine what she would do in a tea shop. Not that she didn't like tea, but she did prefer stronger poisons.
It was ironic, when she thought about it, that her next assignment in Ba Sing Se actually required her to invade the house of his neighbors. The New Dai Li weren't very happy with her, even when she showed them that the man she was chasing was one they put a prize on. She should have expected it, after all, the chaos of war couldn't last forever, and Ba Sing Se did love its order. She was in the middle of damage control (mainly because without earthbending, she really had no hope escaping the inner ring just with Nyla's ability to paralyze) when the crowd gathered before her mark's house suddenly split to make place for a new arrival, and who would appear, if not him?
She didn't expect anything from him, because after the way she behave towards him, why would he want to help her? But he did. The new Dai Li almost fell over themselves, so quick they were to please him, and when he explained that he knew her and that she had a long history of helping to execute justice, they agreed that fining her would be enough. It almost killed her, to look into his kind eyes looking at her with laughter when the Dai Li finally allowed her to go.
"You. How convenient" she finally said when the police got busy with dispersing the crowd.
"You are welcome" she could see in his eyes that he might be making fun of her, but he didn't really expect her to thank him. Which made her stop in her tracks and look at the situation from a more objective perspective.
"General Iroh" it was probably the first time she used his name. And his title. "Thank you. I am in your debt."
Even if her thanks were sincere, it still brought her some measure of satisfaction to know that she managed to stun him into silence.
"As I said, you are welcome. And the only payment I could ever demand of you is for you to join me for tea."
She couldn't stop the relieved laughter that escaped her. She expected something much worse, but apparently, despite his rather fervent appreciation of her assets, he was too much of a gentleman to ask for more than a chance. Though she certainly respected his persistence.
"You never give up, do you?" she petted Nyla absentmindedly, looking at him with one eyebrow raised.
"It runs in the family" he grinned at her, joining his hands inside the sleeves of his lavish green robes. "Is it really so surprising that I find myself drawn to such a fascinating woman as you, my dear?"
Her second eyebrow joined the first one a centimeter above their usual resting place. He wasn't the first person ever to call her fascinating, but she really didn't believe that was the main reason he wanted her company. It never was.
"Fascinating, eh? I really think you are trying to bite off too much, old man".
It was his turn to respond with laughter.
"Ah, but would it be such a pleasure to feel rose's sweet scent if one didn't first feel its thorns?"
She snorted, feeling her cheeks heat up under a blush. Poetry wasn't her thing, but it was nonetheless rather flattering to be the subject of it, especially from the Dragon of the West. Or would be, if he didn't seem like the kind of guy that sprouted it to every pretty woman he met. She allowed her gaze to linger on the building behind him.
"So this is your shop?" she asked, changing the subject. She was never very comfortable with flattery.
He followed her gaze with his own.
"Indeed. If you are interested, the offer of tea still stands."
She didn't know why, but the twinkle in his eye suddenly made her want to agree to his offer. What was it about this man that made her want to do things that were so completely unlike her? Or at least unlike her confronted with any other old pervert?
Except that despite all the evidence, and all her insults, she didn't think of him like that. She knew too much, had seen too much.
"You know, after the day I've had... I can as well finish it with tea".
For a moment, he looked like he didn't know whether to be happy that she agreed, or offended about the way she did it. Tea was sacred, after all... but apparently getting her into his home meant extenuating circumstances.
"Hah! There is no better way to finish it, if you ask me!" She didn't, but she decided not to say it out loud. There were only so many blows a man's ego could take. Even if that man was someone like Iroh.
"There is a stable in the backyard" - he indicated the path with his hand. "You can leave your shirshu there. I don't have a stable boy, but the supplies are there".
She nodded, jumping on Nyla and leading her to what she assumed was the stable.