Iroh sighed, pushing the flap of his tent out of his way he entered for the night. He and his men had been pounding away at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se for months already and they were still no closer to conquering the great city than they had when they'd first arrived. Of course Iroh had understood going into this fight that nothing about it would be easy, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Stretching the tight muscles in his lower back he wandered over to the small wooden cabinet that sat along one of his walls. Reaching inside Iroh retrieved a small clay pot, removing the lid he couldn't help the moan of disappointment as he looked at its bleak contents. A soft chuckle drew the general's attention away from the item in his hands to the door of his tent. "Out of tea again General?"
"Your humor is not appreciated Lieutenant." Iroh frowned as he replaced the empty pot in the cabinet and closed the doors. Turning around his whiskey eyes belied his harsh words as he stared at his visitor. "So what brings you all the way across camp my Son?"
Lu Ten shrugged his shoulders as he walked further into the tent that was large enough to house his entire platoon with room to spare. "Not much really, just passing by. Can't a son stop in to say hello to his father?"
Iroh raised a brow, his eyes narrowing as he noticed how the boy was very careful to keep his hands behind his back. "Perhaps."
"Well anyway, like I said, I was just passing by and got to thinking, 'I wonder what the General is up to tonight?'" Lu Ten walked to one of the many tables around the edge of the cloth room and study a small statue as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. Again careful to keep his back and hands from his father's view.
"Did you?" Iroh walked over to one of his more comfortable chairs and sat down. If anyone else had come into his tent behaving as Lu Ten was Iroh would have already called his guards and had them detained. As it was he just sat, more intrigued than concerned by the boy's antics.
"Oh yes, most definitely." The young man turned very sincere brown eyes toward his father.
"You are a terrible liar Lieutenant." Iroh's words lost the sting they might have held for the wide smile that spread over his face.
"Am not, I'm a fantastic liar." Lu Ten said with mock hurt in his voice. "You, my Father, are just an untrusting old man, and getting older."
Lu Ten laughed then, it was a deep sound had become much like his father's and it made Iroh's smile grow. Finally taking his hands from his back, the young man held out a small wrapped package. "Happy Birthday Dad."
Iroh blinked in confusion, looking at the calendar on a nearby table he confirm the date. "Well I'll be…"
Again Lu Ten's laugh filled the room as he pushed the gift into Iroh's bewildered hands. "You know Aunt Ursa told me you would forget your own birthday, guess this means I owe her an apology in my next letter. The present is from all of us by the way; Aunt Ursa, Zuko, Azula, and me. It was mostly my idea, but they picked it out and had it sent all the way over from Capital City."
Though Iroh doubted that his niece, the Princess Azula, had anything to do with getting him a present he didn't mention it as he laughingly started to tear into the wrapping like an excited child. Opening the box, he looked inside to find a set of finely painted Pai Sho tiles with gold embossing. Pulling out one of the disks, he rolled it over his knuckles as he looked at his son in question.
"Do you like it?" Lu Ten asked his smile slightly mischievous.
"Yes of course I do." Iroh said still fingering the tile; his tone nearly as confused as it had been when his son had pointed out that it was his birthday.
"Good," The young man went to the tent door and held open the flap. "Then you will love the rest of it."
At the Lieutenant's signal four soldiers trooped in carrying a large round table and two chairs. Following their commander's directions the men arranged the items in the middle of the room and then left again without a word. The last man to leave pulled a brown paper bag from his belt and handed it to the young prince as he passed.
"And the final piece, the finest ginseng tea royal money can buy." Lu Ten held out the bag to his father as he bowed respectfully.
"This is fantastic!" Iroh exclaimed as he jumped up from his seat and pulled his son in for a hug. His fatigue and irritation at the slow progress of battle that he'd felt upon entering his tent earlier was forgotten. "It is one of the best gifts I have ever received, thank you my Son."
Lu Ten smiled as he hugged his father back. "I'm glad you like it, the others will be thrilled too."
"Oh yes, I must write to my darling Sister and the children as soon as possible to thank them. But first," Iroh pulled back a little, looking up at his son with a grin. "You think you can take your old man at a game?"
"I thought you'd never ask. I'll make the tea." Lu Ten stepped out of his father's hands and busied himself gathering the necessary items.
With his back to his father Lu Ten's smile faltered. It felt strange for the young man to think that just outside the cloth barricade that surrounded them there was a war going on. Right at that moment inside these simple walls things seemed so normal.
It should have been impossible that less than a hundred yards away there were rows of tents filled with injured, and in some cases dying, men. A part of Lu Ten wondered if victory, whatever that truly meant, in this war was really worth everything those men sacrificed. Looking over his shoulder the young man studied his father, wondering if the General had ever asked himself the same question.
Iroh looked up and caught his son's strange expression. "Is something troubling you my Boy?"
Lu Ten shrugged noncommittally, his smile returning to hide the turn of his thoughts. "I was just curious, how old does today make you?"
"We are all the age in our heart, my Son."
Lu Ten laughed, turning back to finish the tea. "In that case you're going to outlive us all."
アエ 父の日 恋仲
The prophetic words of more than a year earlier burned into Iroh's soul threatening to devour him. His heart stopped as mind rebelled against the information that was being whispered in his ear. 'It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible.'
Standing abruptly the messenger was knocked backward as the General spun away to prove the man's report false. Crowds of men parted the way for the running man whose eyes had grown fixed on their destination. As the General burst through the door of the junior officers' tent his body turning to stone the instant his eyes fell on a cot against the distant wall.
"No." The soft denial was no more than a whisper but everyone in the small space froze. Iroh tried to move forward but his legs had turned to water causing him to stumbled and fall. Somewhere in the pain filled darkness that threatened to drown him Iroh was aware of arms that reached out to catch him; steadying him on his feet once more. With considerable effort, and the support of the unknown arms, Iroh made it to his son's bedside.
Once there however his knees buckled under the weight of his misery, and this time the arms allowed him to sink to the ground. How had everything gone so terribly wrong? They'd been winning; they'd broken through the first wall and forced the surrender of an entire Earth Kingdom Division. This was not supposed to have happened; a father is supposed to be able to protect his son.
The rest of the world fell away as Iroh studied his son. Lu Ten was propped up in a half sitting position on several pillows in an attempt to ease his ragged breathing. His ribcage had obviously been crushed, and the far side of his handsome face was covered in bruises so dark they were almost black. His once perfect eye, an eye the same deep brown color he'd shared with his beautiful mother, on that side had been forced out of its bloodied socket and was now missing.
Iroh suddenly aged five hundred years and his hand shook violently as he reached out to hold his son's already icy fingers. Iroh closed his eyes as his mind rushed back to a time when the hand he held had been so tiny as to have barely covered the older man's palm. Surly that time had not been so long ago. Gritting his teeth the father bowed his head onto the back of that hand, trying in vain to hold back the tortured sound of his despair.
"Dad?" A soft whisper blew across the General's ears.
Iroh's head shot up as he looked to his son's face. Mercifully his mind focused only on the clean pale side of the boy's features rather than his injuries. "Lu Ten."
"I'm sorry." Lu Ten's voice was airy and frail under drugs and pain, and his father was forced to draw closer to hear him clearly.
"Oh Son," Iroh's words came out on a strangle whimper as he touched the undamaged line of his son's cheek. "There is nothing for you to be sorry for."
"My men," Tears slipped from Lu Ten's remaining eye, and the years melted from his features as the little boy he'd been not long ago surfaced. "I failed."
"No, no you didn't fail. You didn't." Iroh wanted to scream at fate for its cruelty; for now, however, he let all the love and pride he felt for his son fill his eyes. He wanted his boy to know what he truly felt. He would not let him slip into nothingness thinking he had somehow not met, and surpassed, every one of his father's expectations.
"You did everything right Lieutenant, everything. You cared for your people, watched after them, and did everything just as you should have. I have never known, nor served with anyone better."
Lu Ten tried to smile but fell short, and the turn of his lips was merely a shadow of its previous self. "You're biased."
"Maybe," Iroh's laugh mixed with the tears that fell unchecked from his eyes making the sound agonizingly tragic. "But it doesn't make it any less true."
"I'm scared Dad." Lu Ten choked on a breath, his voice belonging to a child and not a man. "It hurts."
"I know, but I'm here now." Iroh watched as the light started to fade from his son's face. "I won't let anything else happen to you. Sleep now my Son, the pain will go away soon. I love you Lu Ten."
"I love you too." Lu Ten said slowly, his words fading out on a sigh, his eye closing for the last time. Iroh knelt before the figure of his young son's lifeless body as white hot tears burning down his face. Prince Lu Ten had only graced the earth nineteen years before passing on to the Spirit World.