It's been three days ... and since I already have this all typed up, I figured I'd post another chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and even those that didn't review but still read the story. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday if you don't celebrate it). Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Three

"What do you think I should do?" Zuko asked as he eyed his sleeping uncle. The doctor had come back in after an hour to make sure Iroh was alright. He sighed, pondering the very same question in his own mind before answering the Fire Lord.

"You told him his wife was in the garden, am I right?" he asked. Zuko nodded in response. "Then I suggest when he wakes up, simply say that Maylin has gone to the market and he can't see her just yet." The doctor shook his head in pity. "I'm not sure what you'll be able to say tomorrow, though. Obviously you can't keep using the same excuse every time."

"I know," Zuko replied.

"Do you know anything about Maylin that you could utilize as a believable excuse for her absence?" the doctor asked. "For instance, did she like to travel? If so, you could say she went traveling with her friends for a few days."

Zuko shook his head as he spoke. "I don't know anything about my aunt. She died before my parents even got married." The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but Zuko interrupted, answering his unspoken question. "I already checked the archives. They don't give any information about her, except how old she was when she died."

"How old was she?" the doctor asked out of curiosity.

"Thirty-three," Zuko answered, his voice keeping the same tone it always had. It didn't bother him that the doctor had asked such an extraneous question.

"They had a son, didn't they?" the doctor questioned, obviously somewhat learned in the history of the Royal Family. "Lu Ten, was it?"

"Yes. He was my cousin," Zuko answered.

"Then maybe she died of birth complications." The doctor suggested.

"No," Zuko answered. "The scrolls in the archives said Lu Ten was two years old when she died. And Uncle was thirty-five."

The doctor shook his head. "Such a shame to lose a loved one so early in life," he said. "And then he lost his son years later at the Battle of Ba Sing Se. I'm surprised his mental and emotional health stayed relatively stable after such grievous events."

Zuko merely glanced at the doctor, giving him a look. He returned his gaze to his Uncle Iroh, already knowing how it was he managed to recover after such losses. He had me … his conscience told him, though he refused to say that out loud to the doctor.

"Have you tried asking anybody else here in the palace about your aunt?" the doctor said, returning the subject to that of Maylin. "Maybe someone who has been working here long enough knows something."

"They would have to have worked here for over …" Zuko paused, doing the math in his head. "… sixty years or so. I don't think anyone has been around that long."

"Not even the old chef?" the doctor asked, trying to help.

Zuko thought in silence for a second, wondering how old the chef was. "No …" he said, though he was unsure of his answer. "I believe he's only sixty years old. That's not old enough to have been working here that long."

"Well," the doctor said, standing up and taking the bag he always had with him. "I don't know what it would do for your uncle, but it seems you have a little mystery on your hands." The doctor started to walk out the door, but Zuko turned and looked at him questioningly. The doctor answered his gaze. "You know, your aunt has been dead for over forty years. There's probably not many people still alive that remember much of anything about her. But," he said pausing. "the one man who knew her best is lying in that bed right there."

"…And his memory is failing." Zuko said, piecing the puzzle together in his mind. "And the archives didn't provide many details at all."

"Exactly," the doctor said. "So, her life and death may be buried forever in that man's mind." He said, pointing at Iroh. "I'd love to help you solve the mystery, Fire Lord Zuko," the man paused, running his hand through his hair in a most nervous sort of way. "But I wouldn't know where to begin, myself." He turned to leave the room, but once again stopped himself, starting to talk to Zuko again. "And please, as much as you'd like to find out about her, don't ask your uncle how she died. Remember, he thinks she's still alive."

Zuko nodded in response, and the doctor left the room. He turned back to look at his uncle, tears welling up in his eyes. He imagined what it must have been like for Iroh to lose the love of his life, and then years later the one person he still had that was connected to her in some way; Lu Ten. He then continued to wonder why his parents, or Iroh for that matter, never talked about Maylin that much. They didn't even have a portrait of her that Zuko knew of.

The Fire Lord stared at his uncle, wondering when he would wake up next. In a way, Zuko wished he wouldn't wake up, because then he wouldn't have to break his heart by telling him he couldn't see his wife. Not yet, at least. Zuko folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes in thought. "What are you dreaming about, Uncle?" he asked, wishing he could jump into Iroh's memories and find out for himself.

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Iroh was panting with childish delight as he and Maylin dashed across the lawn, practically tripping over their own feet. Clutching their treasure in their hands, they continued running with renewed vigor after hearing the yells coming from the angry chef.

"You kids get back here! I don't care if you're the Fire Lord's son, Iroh! Give it back now! Don't make me come looking for you!" Iroh turned back for but a second to glance at the large, angry man as he emerged from the kitchen and waved his large butcher knife in the children's direction. Fear caused his heart to skip a few beats, and he grabbed Maylin's wrist.

"Faster!" he said hurriedly as he willed his legs to move more than they had been before, if it was even possible.

"Iroh," Maylin said, her voice revealing that she was out of breath. "My legs don't move any faster!"

"Just a little bit … farther …" Iroh said, his own voice starting to sound winded. When they approached the large stone wall that bordered the garden, Iroh ducked behind it, pulling Maylin down with him. The two children sat on the ground, panting as perspiration formed little beads on their foreheads. After catching their breath for a few minutes, Iroh poured his treasure out of the protection of his shirt and watched it fall onto the ground.

"How many did you get?" he asked, still panting a little bit.

Maylin emptied her hands to reveal only slightly less than Iroh had gathered. The two put their fortune into one big stockpile, and started eating right away, Iroh stuffing three of the scrumptious desserts into his mouth at once.

"Iroh!" Maylin said as she daintily bit out of one. "Don't put so much into your mouth at once. You won't even be able to taste it."

"So?" Iroh said, shrugging. "We have to get rid of the evidence as soon as possible! That old chef is gonna come out here and butcher us both!"

The mature seven-year-old looked at her friend, who, even though he was nine years old already, sometimes acted like he was still five. "I don't think he's going to butcher us, Iroh!" she said rationally. "He may be old and bitter, but he wouldn't hurt a spider-fly."

Iroh glared at her after swallowing the large amount of food he had in his mouth. "You just kill the fun in everything, don't you?"

Maylin glared back with a stare that equaled Iroh's. "Do not."

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"You shut your mouth, Iroh!" she said loudly, picking up a delicate dessert and forcing it into his mouth. Iroh refused to chew the food, crossing his arms in indignation as the two proceeded to have an unannounced staring contest. Maylin glared at him, raising one eyebrow to make the stare even more intimidating. But she couldn't help herself. The sight of Iroh with cream oozing out of his mouth was too much to bear. She burst out laughing after trying to contain the spell of the giggles.

"What's your problem?" Iroh said.

"Look at yourself!" she said in between giggles. "You've got … cream coming out of the corners of your mouth! You look like a rabid squirrel-dog!" Her last observation caused her to collapse in a fit of laughter, unable to stop herself for the next five minutes at least.

Iroh just stared at her as she smiled, and couldn't help but notice the way her genuine laugh revealed her toothy smile, and the tiny space she had in between her two front teeth on the top. He wiped the cream off his face and gave in to chewing the food Maylin had forced into his mouth, swallowing it with an exaggerated gulp. After a couple of seconds, he opened his mouth and let out a huge burp.

"Ew!" Maylin said, her laughter suddenly dying. "You're disgusting!"

Iroh was unmoved by her comment. He went back to eating some of the delicious desserts, and Maylin stood up in an attempt to see over the top of the stone wall. He looked up when he noticed she was struggling to jump high enough in order to look over the edge. Standing up, he said, "Move aside. I'll look over the edge."

He stood on his toes, but still couldn't see over the edge of the stones. He jumped, just barely making it any higher than she had.

She smiled. "I don't think you'll be able to do it. You're only an inch or two taller than me."

He stopped jumping and turned to look at her, crossing his arms and squinting his eyes dangerously. "Thanks for reminding me how short I am!" When she said, "You're welcome," he only stared at her, saying, "I was being sarcastic."

"I know," she said teasingly. "So was I." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to where the stone wall began in the first place, leaving the treats behind. "Let's just look around the side, since neither of us are tall enough to look over the top."

The two of them looked cautiously around the side of the stone wall, both of them wondering what their eyes would come to meet. But it was nothing unusual. They saw the trees, the grass, and the tiny turtle-duck pond. They were both looking for the angry chef, though, but he was nowhere to be found. "I think it's safe," Iroh said. "Come on, let's go." He started to walk out from behind the wall, but Maylin stayed behind.

"What are you waiting for?" he said, going back and grabbing her wrist. "Come on!"

"We're just going to leave the food there?" she asked. "After all the trouble we went through to steal it?"

"Um, yeah?" Iroh said, shrugging. "It's okay. Maybe some kind of bird will eat them."

"Well, shouldn't we at least clean them up?"

"Maylin!" he said, exasperated. "It's okay, I'm telling you!" He dragged her out from behind the wall, and she willingly started walking after a few seconds.

They reached the turtle-duck pond where they had first told each other their names, and they sat down by the water's edge. Iroh took his shoes off and stuck his feet in the pond, watching the ripples they made with fascination. "Come on," he urged. "Take your shoes off. The water's really refreshing."

She reluctantly took her little shoes off and slowly stuck her feet in the water. She gently swung them back and forth, creating little waves in the otherwise peaceful surface of the pond. She giggled and looked back at him, watching him watch the ripples in the pond. She looked at his eyes. There was something in them that made them sparkle, and she wasn't sure what it was, but she liked looking at them.

"What's it like being the Fire Lord's son?" she asked randomly. He turned to give her a look, but she had switched her position to watching the turtle-ducks playing in the water, and was waiting for his answer. He thought about her question for a moment. No one had ever asked him that before. And there was no way to answer it, really, because he had never not been the Fire Lord's son. He wasn't sure how to compare it to a normal life.

"I don't know," he said. "It's okay, I guess. I get all the tea I want. And I take firebending lessons everyday."

"So do I," she said. "Well … not everyday. I take them once every other day." A silence followed after her comment, and she decided to ask another question related to Iroh's heritage.

"Do you think you'll like being Fire Lord someday?"

"I don't know," he said again. "I've never been Fire Lord before."

"Of course you haven't, silly!" she said, even though he was being completely serious. "But you are going to be it, right? You don't have any brothers."

"Yeah, I guess," he responded. "It would be fun, maybe."

"Zhou Han says he thinks being Fire Lord would be fun." she said, speaking of her twelve-year-old brother. "But if he can't be that, then he wants to join the Fire Nation army one day and go fight in the war." Iroh wasn't sure how to respond to her last comment. He didn't know what he thought of the war. His father didn't talk about it that much.

"Zhou Han also says if he were Fire Lord, he already knows who his Fire Lady would be," she said smiling.

"You would be my Fire Lady," Iroh answered. "You're the only girl I know that I would want to be it. Is that okay with you? Since I am going to be Fire Lord one day."

She blushed, smiling. "Yes, that's fine."

"Great!" he said enthusiastically. "Now I'm all set for the rest of my life." Maylin smiled inwardly, wondering if he realized that having her as a Fire Lady meant they would have to get married. She decided not to bring up that aspect of the situation.

"Maylin!" a voice was calling. The two stood up and immediately put their shoes back on after drying their feet off in the grass. "Maylin, where are you? It's time to go home!" The young girl turned to Iroh at hearing her mother's voice.

"Bye Iroh! I'll see you next time my mother comes to visit Lady Ilah." She opened her arms wide and gave and unsuspecting Iroh a gentle but firm hug. Just as he was about to start hugging her back, she pulled away and said bye one last time. She then started running off into the distance, her long dark hair, bound in a braid, bouncing against her back with every step she took. Iroh stared after her with an odd expression on his face, wondering what the feeling of butterflies in his stomach meant.