Chapter Ten

"Heh, heh, heh…" Iroh chuckled to himself as he remembered that first kiss he gave to Maylin. Looking back on the memories, he questioned himself why it took him so long to finally make his best friend his girlfriend. The attraction was always there, pulling them ever closer together … but for some reason it didn't pull them into that first kiss until he was sixteen.

He glanced at the medium-sized box sitting on the wooden bench next to him. It almost mocked him, the way it just sat there, enticing him to open it up and read the letters inside. He wanted to read them, too, but he somehow knew that opening them up would break his heart, because Maylin wasn't here to read them with him.

"She … isn't here," he said to himself, and the realization hit him that she wasn't at the market, and she wasn't in the garden either. She was gone. That was part of the reason some of those letters were sitting in the box next to him in the first place. Only part of the reason though. Not all of it.

He gave into the temptation, and took out the letter that lay on top of the others; the one he had first glanced at. Opening it up, he began to read, thinking to himself that he would recognize her manuscript anywhere, even if she did write it when she was only sixteen years old.

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An eighteen-year-old Iroh lay on his bed, watching the sun as it slowly set outside his window. He relaxed his eyes, though he wasn't intending to fall asleep this early, reliving the day he had just spent with Maylin. The two of them had gone on a long picnic together, spending most of the afternoon talking rather than eating. For two whole years they'd considered themselves a couple, leaving a lot of girls Iroh's age depressed, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. There was just something different about Maylin. She didn't like him for one or two traits, she liked him because of all of them. And she didn't merely tolerate his bad qualities, she liked him in spite of them. She accepted those traits as part of who he was. And besides all that, they'd known each other for years. They had a such a solid friendship, it was only natural that it would blossom into love.

At that moment, a knocking was heard on his bedroom door. "Come in," he said, recognizing the knock, as hard as that was for even him to believe. The door opened to reveal Maylin, and he silently congratulated himself for being right.

"I had a feeling it was you," he said, patting the bed beside him. "Come, sit down. What are you doing still here? I thought you were going home."

She made her way over to the bed and sat on it, and he noticed she was holding a scroll in his hands. He didn't ask about it, though, imagining she would explain soon enough. Just as he'd guessed, she held the scroll out for him to take, and started saying, "I was about to start back to my house when a messenger came to the palace with this scroll. He said it was for you. Lady Ilah asked if I could bring it up to you, so I did."

"What does it say?" he asked curiously, not even bothering to open the scroll.

"I didn't read it," she said. "It's your scroll, not mine."

He swelled on the inside, pleased that Maylin had been courteous enough to not read it because it wasn't meant for her. Although he wouldn't have minded if she had read it ahead of time.

Untying the string around the middle, he unrolled it, and began to read silently to himself. Maylin eagerly watched his expression, hoping his face would give away what the scroll said. She watched, starting to get worried when his eyebrows knit into a furrow.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked, and he rolled the scroll back up, placing it on the nightstand beside his bed.

"I'm being drafted," he said, not looking at her. "Into the army."

"What?" she said. "But you're the Fire Lord's son … Prince Iroh! You're the heir to the throne. They can't do that!"

"Yes, they can," he said dryly. "They can draft anyone who is of age."

She stayed silent for a second or two, knowing that what he said was true, whether she wanted it to be or not. She started wringing her hands, positive that there had to be some way to get Iroh out of this predicament. Turning her head to look at him, though he didn't return the gaze, she tried to read his face, wondering if he wanted to go or not.

"Are you going to go?" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Of course," he answered, though not enthusiastically. "I have to go. I have no choice."

"But if you did have a choice," she said hopefully. "Would you still go?"

He nodded, still not looking at her. "If they needed me, I would. Everyone needs to do their part to win the war. Looks like my part is helping with the actual fighting."

Her lower lip trembled and she tried not to sound selfish as she said, "But … what about me? What about us?"

For the first time since he read the scroll, he turned to look at her. "I don't know what'll happen," he said, trying to be honest. "I don't know how long they'll need me for, or how long the war will last. I don't know anything."

"When are you leaving?" she asked, tears brimming her eyes.

"The scroll said I have one week from the day I receive the message," he said. "I need to go to the nearest place of service and sign up. They'll tell me what to do from there."

Maylin's voice was barely audible as she broke down crying, saying, "One week is all we have left?"

He didn't say anything, also feeling his insides get turned upside down after having received the news. He brought her into a gentle hug, caressing her head as she cried onto his shoulder.

"It's not fair," she wept. "You were mine first…"

"And I'll always be yours," he added, trying to soothe her.

"Why did they have to … take you away?" she said in between sobs.

Not sure how to answer her, he just tightened his embrace around her, his own eyes threatening to fill with tears if he thought too much about leaving. He tried to remind himself that he still had her right now, and he would for another week to come.

Crying wore her out, as it always did, and by the time she had cried out all the tears there were inside of her, the sun had set and the stars were out already. Knowing she was about to fall asleep anyway, he told her that she could sleep in his bed tonight.

"Where are you going to sleep?" she asked through half-closed eyes.

"The bed is big enough for two people," he answered.

Her eyes shot opened and she stared at him. "I wanted to wait … for marriage …" she stuttered, and she hoped he wouldn't get mad at her.

"That's not what I was suggesting," he said, smiling. "But even so, I respect that. We won't do anything until you're ready." He moved to the far side of the bed. "I'll stay over here … and you can stay over there."

She smiled at him, tempted to laugh at how he made everything seem so simple. She turned on her side, her back facing him. "Goodnight," she whispered, thinking to herself that maybe this wouldn't be the last time she said those words to him while he was only on the other side of the bed.

"Goodnight," he said, and she fell asleep.

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She rolled over in her bed, reaching her hand over the edge to feel her nightstand that always had a glass of water on it in case she got thirsty in the middle of the night. Her hand met nothing. Opening her eyes in confusion, she looked around her. This wasn't her room, it was … Iroh's? She rolled over and saw him sleeping on the other side of the bed, only a few feet away from her, his chest rising and falling with each silent breath he took. For a second after she had woken up, she couldn't remember why she was here -- and then it hit her. She had been crying because he was going to leave. He was going to leave her, and go to the army. She felt her heart breaking all over again, and she reached her hand up to touch the area just below her eyes. They felt swollen from weeping.

A sudden fit of panic seized her when she realized her mother would be worrying about her. It was still dark outside, so she couldn't have been asleep for too long, but she never went home after her picnic with Iroh. And Ilah probably assumed she went home after giving Iroh the message, so she wouldn't have said anything about it to Zhen. Maybe I can still go home, she thought to herself. I could just climb out the window and sneak back to my house… It couldn't be that hard. Iroh had done it plenty of times before.

Just as she was getting ready to climb out of the bed, some common sense was knocked into her head. Even if she went home then and there, she'd still have to explain her absence to her mother. Staying the rest of the night wouldn't make a difference, really. Besides, Iroh's bed was so soft, and outside was so chilly. And she only had six days left with Iroh anyway. She surrendered to the physical comfort of the bed, and snuggled herself back in, trying to think of a way to explain the situation to her mother when she went home the next day. At least she would have Iroh to vouch for her. Not that that would make her mother any more forgiving.

She slid in closer to Iroh and lifted up his arm, wrapping it around her as she laid her head on his chest. Breathing in deeply and closing her eyes, she attempted to go back to sleep.

But her movements had woken him up, and he opened both eyes to find Maylin snuggled up against him. It didn't take him long to remember why she was there in the first place, and he moved down to make his face even with hers. She opened her eyes in confusion, wondering why he had moved her out of position, only to see him come in for a kiss. Returning his affections, she brought her hand up and ran it through his thick hair. She ran her other hand along his bare chest, feeling the texture of his skin and tightness of his muscles. One of his hands lay on her waist, and the other one fingered the tie on the back of her night gown that kept it on. He remembered what she said about waiting, though, and he didn't go any farther than deepening the kiss.

"Iroh?" she said, her lips still pressed up against his.

"Mm?" he responded, not stopping.

"I love you," she said softly, knowing that now was a good a time as ever to tell him.

He stopped just long enough to look into her eyes and say those words back to her. "I love you, too." She closed her eyes and started kissing him again, and he followed her lead.

When they woke up the next morning, neither one could remember for how long they had shared their affections like that before they fell back asleep. What they did know, though, was when the sun came streaming through the window and rested on their skin, causing them to wake up, the first thing they saw was the other's face, and in a way, it made them feel like everything was going to be okay.