Chapter 10
Mako looked down at the bowl of fire chili he had just been served. It looked and smelled a hundred times better then the water tribe food. He looked up and saw almost everybody else sitting around the table looked for the most part happy to not see it was water tribe food save Kattara and Sokka. Aang was giving a salad to ad hear to his costumes.
The fire nation ship gently rocked as it moved southward towards the Fire Nation. Unable to turn the detective part of him off Mako watched the group. Korra and Iroh sat next to each other as usual and as usual Iroh was often glancing over at Korra every now and then while Korra didn't seem to have any other interests then her food. Bolin and Sokka were exchanging horrible jokes while Zuko, who sat next to them, tried to ignore them. Kattara seemed to have lost interest in her meal and was staring intently at Korra. So was Uncle Iroh for that matter. Mako narrowed his eyes. This wasn't their first meal with Korra why stare at her now?
He looked at Aang to see what he was doing. Aang was eyeing Iroh suspiciously. Mako raised an eyebrow. What's that all about? Mako moved his attention to Suki who sat on the other side of Sokka and was actually laughing at the jokes. Finally he looked over at Toph and had to suppress a smirk, she and Korra's actions and mannerisms where almost identical. Well ok, Korra seemed to show a bit more nuanced facial expressions when someone talked to her, but now her face was neutral. Mako watched as Korra took a deep breath. She's drained.
Korra had kept a small wind constantly revolving around the room. It was so faint the only one who seemed to be aware of it was Iroh who she knew was watching her trying to read her face. She had noticed Kattara's and the elder Iroh's stairs, and had picked up on Aang's actions as well. Korra tired not to let any of it bother her but she was becoming increasingly aware of the eyes on her.
She turned toward where Kattara was sitting. "Is there something you want to ask me? Or are you just staring off into space?"
"Sorry, I was just looking at your necklace." Kattara's voice sounded flustered. "It's beautiful."
Korra reached up to check which one she was wearing, it was her engagement necklace. "Thanks, it was a gift."
"Are you engaged?"
Korra shook her head. "No, I'm not engaged." She might not have meant to sound so relieved but that's how it came out.
"Oh. So do you have a boyfriend?"
Korra shook her head. "No, no boy friend." Korra braced herself for what she guessed was going to be the next inevitable questions and was surprised that nothing fallowed it. Korra felt confused. Ok…guess question time is over for now. She smiled. "So do you have a boyfriend?" Korra knew the answer but it seemed like the right thing to ask. It would at least distract Kattara from staring in to her soul more.
Iroh looked over suddenly interested in the conversation going on. Did I miss something? Korra despised small talk like this and she already knew about Kattara's relationship with Aang so why start a whole conversation about it? The rest of their group looked just as confused as he was. Iroh felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Sokka standing there.
"Hey can I talk to you outside?"
Iroh nodded. Maybe he knew what was up with the conversation topic. He excused himself and fallowed Sokka out of the room onto the deck of the ship. He leaned against the railing. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
Sokka leaned against the wall. "I saw your sword earlier when you left it with Mako."
"Oh?" Iroh looked and felt confused. Mako had returned to sword intact and with out any marring so Iroh couldn't think of a reason to bring it up.
"Yeah, if you don't mind me asking how did that sword come into your possession?"
"It belonged to my father who I believe was given it from his father." Iroh paused trying to remember if Bumi had told him anything more about the sword. He recalled him telling him something but the memory was very fuzzy. That's what happens when you tell vital family history to a person who's still on heavy pain medication. The person you tell it to doesn't remember much at all. When Bumi had given Iroh the sword the younger man was having issues with the concept of 'sword' let alone what ever else Bumi was talking about.
"Oh, did your father tell you anything about the sword other then who had had it?" Sokka knew what Mako had told him, but he wanted to know whether Iroh's story would match.
Iroh shook his head. "My father didn't even tell me that. He died before I was born. I was much older when I was given the sword and told who my father was."
Sokka looked past Iroh out at the ocean. "Oh, so do you know who your father's father was?"
Iroh nodded. "Yeah, I do. The question is do you want to know?"
"I think I know but I just want it to be confirmed." Sokka looked Iroh in the eye. "Are you my grandson?"
Iroh nodded. "Yeah, I'm your grandson and the oldest of the third generation."
Sokka looked Iroh up and down. "I guess I could do worse in the grandkid department. Can I hug you?"
Iroh made a face. "Sure? I guess."
Sokka hugged Iroh. "Ok this is weird." He stepped back. "So…oldest of the third gen huh? How old does that make you?"
"I'm only 29."
"Huh you look older."
"Stress and a water tribe bone structure with fire nation coloring can give a person a mature look. Fun fact when I joined the United Forces I might have been two years younger then the age requirement and they didn't even notice. They saw the cheekbones and just assumed. I didn't bother to correct them."
Sokka chuckled. "So my grandson's a bit of a rule breaker huh?"
"I may or may not have gotten into my fair share of trouble even before meeting Korra and later joining team avatar." Iroh flashed his best roughish smile. "I did manage to become the youngest General in the United Forces after all, which did cause a little bit of a stir."
Sokka smiled. "So why did you join team avatar? I mean you're a General surly you have duties to see to or did you join because you became the Avatar's body guard and aid?"
"My current mission allows me to be close to Korra not the reason I'm close to her or the reason why I'm considered part of the team." Iroh's mind went back to Korra's reasoning for why he counted as part of the group. He tried to hide his smirk.
"Ok, so why join the team? I'm sure dealing with people who aren't military and younger then you isn't exactly what every high ranking officer dreams of."
Iroh looked up at the night sky. "I joined the team because, as cheesy as this sounds, I fell in love with the avatar." He looked over at Sokka who looked shocked. "There's a very long and painful story involved but she does know about my feeling for her."
"So if she knows why aren't you together? Korra doesn't seem to like anyone touching her but you…" He paused and looked up at the full moon shining overhead. "My mother-in-law's the moon." Sokka started chuckling. He looked up at Iroh with amused astonishment. "You lucky bastard, Korra's not engaged or has a boyfriend anymore because she got her heart broken but because she's married. Ha! She is my granddaughter…in a way." Sokka looked over at Iroh who looked confused. "It's something that came up earlier. So how long you two been hitched?"
"Two months, we were married on December 4th."
"Congratulations, so was your wedding day happiest day of your lives?"
Iroh shook his head. "No, that was the day after when we no longer had to deal with everybody under the sun trying to help with the wedding or give their opinion on how such a union was…in poor judgment." Iroh tried and failed to hide the bitterness in his voice.
"Poor judgment?" Sokka smirked. "What they afraid you're going to try to take over the world?"
Iroh smirked. "Not quite…well one guy did." Iroh refrained mentioning that that guy was the new King of Ba Sing Say. He sighed. "The future is a much more political and public place. People who have power, rank or fame tend to have their lives scrutinized by everyone else. Sadly, Korra and I are often the subject of such scrutiny. We both hate it but endure because we have duties to perform, I'm a General in the United Forces who, while protecting the avatar, must attend to what seems like hundreds or other tasks and Korra's the avatar and much of what she deals with is being a type of ambassador between the spirits, the political interests, and the United Forces since all three entities are not ever on the same side of an issue."
Sokka grimaced. "I hope I never have to deal with politics it sounds messy."
"It is and unfortunately the most efficient way to deal with politicians is hardly ever the correct or best way. The only person I know that actually enjoys politics is Fire Lord Honora, she's Mako's aunt. Don't get me wrong her actions keep her people safe and her nation out of the chaos often associated with the new and ever changing world." Iroh shook his head. "Sorry got off on a little bit of a rant there."
Sokka shrugged. "If dealing with politics in your time is anything like dealing with the people of Ba Sing Say then I feel for you man." Sokka pulled his jacket close to him as the breeze chilled the two. "We should go back in it's getting cold and they might start wondering where we are."
Iroh nodded. "Yeah probably."
"Hey before we go back in just one question, how much older are you?"
"Only seven years. Do you have a problem with that?"
Sokka shrugged. "My 15 year old sister is dating and will eventually marry a guy who at the moment is 113. 7 years is not that bad even in normal situations and compared to Aang and Kattara getting upset would be highly hypocritical."
Iroh nodded. "So do you think the rest of your companions will be so cool with the age difference?"
"Nope they'll be big hypocrites and say you're too old and look like a villain."
Iroh paused. "Oh, well at least I know what's coming."
"Yeah, well I think we can tell them about all this later. Aang doesn't seem to trust you right now and finding out you're my grandson and married to the avatar might just send him into the avatar state. You might have to work to get his trust."
Iroh nodded sadly. "And Korra trusts me more then anyone else in the world. Irony at it's finest."
