Several hours later Iroh had not moved as men milled behind him in the tent lighting lanterns for the night. "Sir, we really should start preparing the body for burial."

Iroh turned toward the sound of a small frightened voice that intruded on his grief. The soldier that stood wringing his hands nervously looked like he'd much rather be facing an entire army of enemy benders than be there at that moment. When Iroh spoke his voice held a quiet distance, as if his soul was talking from some far off place. "What is your name Corporal?"

The man's eyes darted back and forth as if trying to figure out who the General was talking to; either that or the nearest escape route. Finding neither the man stuttered a reply. "I'm called Chen, General."

Iroh nodded, turning away from the man. "Do you have family Corporal Chen; a wife and children, a son perhaps?"

The Corporal swallowed audibly, he really didn't think he should be having this conversation with his superior officer. Still the man seemed to be waiting for an answer. "Not yet Sir, my Lan is waiting for me back home. We're to be married as soon as I get back."

Again Iroh nodded, "I am sure it will be lovely, autumn weddings are always very romantic."

"Autumn Sir?"

Iroh pushed himself to his feet and slowly turned around. His face was blank of any emotion, his tears spent, as he looked at the younger man. The Corporal's shocked expression barely registered in the sorrow clouded mind of the once great General as he walked away. "Six hundred days and the Ba Sing Se remains. This siege is over; I'm taking my son home."

アエ父の日 恋仲

Princess Ursa didn't try to hold back her tears as she reread the letter a servant had just handed her as she sat beneath an apple tree in the palace courtyard near one of the many fountains. The characters that adored the page were few and written in an obviously shaking hand. While some of the ink had run as if rain, or something more human, had fallen on it before it had a chance to dry, the meaning was dreadfully clear.

The shock and pain of what was written drove Ursa to her feet. Zuko, who had been play running from his sister nearby, saw his mother's reaction and stopped. The question in his young face did not have long to wait for an answer. Ursa's voice was quiet as she looked away. "Iroh has lost his son. Your cousin Lu Ten did not survive the battle."

Zuko's eyes grew wide as the meaning of his mother's words slammed into his mind and burned through his heart. Lu Ten was gone, and he was never coming home. Shaking his head, he refused to believe what his mother said; Lu Ten was his best friend he couldn't be dead. Turning around Zuko ran away as fast as his short legs could carry him.

He ran ignoring the shouts of his mother and the servants he past. He ignored everything but the pounding of his heart in his chest and his feet on the ground as he ran to the spot where he'd last been with his cousin. Once he crested the green hilltop, he let himself fall forward, uncaring, into the grass. Tears gushing from his tightly clutched golden eyes to soaked into the soil below as he repeated one word over and over again. "Why?"

アエ父の日 恋仲

The sun had all but disappeared from the sky and the cooling night wind danced over the ground when Ursa walked slowly up to her son. Prince Zuko had his back against the tree as he sat hugging his knees to his chest. Looking up at his mother, his large eyes shown with tears yet unshed. "He really isn't coming back is he?"

Ursa shook her head as she sat and pulled her son close to her. She felt fresh tears burn her eyes as she thought of the time she'd held another young boy like this under the very same tree. While Lu Ten had already been half grown when she'd first meet him, he had been as dear to her as either of her own children. "I'm sorry, Zuko."

Her son nodded, but got to his feet and walked a little bit away from his mother. Even though he didn't understand it, Zuko just didn't want to be touched at the moment. Turning around anger mixed with uncertainty on his young face as he looked at his mom. "It doesn't seem right. He was my best friend, and now I'm never going to see him again. He promised he would teach me how to fight with a sword, he didn't keep his word."

Ursa's bottom lip trembled as she tried to be strong for the boy. "Zuko you know he didn't mean to, Lu Ten loved you. He would never break a promise to you, or anyone, on purpose."

"Yeah but he still did. I want him back!" Zuko shouted as turned away his hands fisted on his hips. His ten year old anger, however, burned out as quickly as it ignited and his chin fell to his chest. "I miss him."

The last of his words had been mumbled into the front of his shirt but they were still loud enough for his mother to hear. Ursa rushed to her feet and grabbed the boy in a tight hug. She couldn't stop her tears as she cried with the boy in her arms. "I know you do, my Darling. I miss him too, we all do."

Zuko turned into his mother's embrace wrapping his small arms around her neck. He knew his mom told the truth and took comfort in the fact that even adults felt the way he did. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift as he thought of all of the good times he'd spent with his cousin. The image of young man with laughing brown eyes floated to the forefront of his imagining. 'Why did you have to go away brother?'

アエ 父の日 恋仲

"Hum, a second letter in as many weeks. My dear brother must have taken quite a liking to you." The hair on the back of Ursa's neck rose at the deep sound of her husband's voice behind her. She may have put aside her hatred of the man she'd married for the sake of her children, but no matter how hard she tried she could not forget what he'd done to her. Even when they had been creating Azula she had to fight the urge to run screaming from the room.

It had taken all of her will and very careful meditation to place another's face over Ozai's while he'd been on top of her. The same meditation helped her now keep any emotion from her voice and eyes as she look up at the man in question. "You read too much into things, Prince Ozai."

"Do I?" Ozai's words where as cold and calculating as ever. He was not so blind as to have not seen the way his wife and brother would look at each other when they believed no one was watching. It was clear the two where in love, just how much and how far that love went however Ozai did not know. While there was no real proof that his wife had ever been unfaithful in her vows to him, he still had his suspicions.

"Yes Husband, you do." Ursa got to her feet and handed the parchment she'd been reading to her husband.

As Ozai read he felt a pleased smile touch his lips. "So the great General has giving up, and is coming home. Oh this is too perfect."

Ursa frowned at her husband; she did not like the gleam that came into his cold amber eyes. Holding out her hand she asked, "May I have my letter back?"

Ozai shrugged, as he past it back as if it was no more interest. "I'm going to see my father. Get the children ready, I will want you all with me."

Without a backward glance Ozai left his wife to wonder at his departing back. Looking down at Iroh's letter she felt her chest grow tight. 'What was Ozai up to? Iroh please hurry home, I have a very bad feeling about this.'

アエ 父の日 恋仲

Iroh sat his calligraphy brush in the tray next to the ink as he finished penning the last character in his final letter to Ursa. He closed his eyes as he whispered into the night. "Forgive me my Love."

Gently blowing warm breath over the letter he caused the ink to dry almost instantly. Then carefully he rolled the parchment into a tube and secured it with a deep red silk ribbon. Getting up from the small desk in his quarters of the ship that carried him and his fallen son home he went to the door. Opening it he handed the scroll to one of the guards, "I want this sent to the Princess Ursa at the Fire Palace without delay."

The guard bowed and hurried off to carry out the command. Looking at the remaining guard Iroh's eyes went hard. "I am going to sit with my son. I am not to be disturbed for anything. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir." The guard bowed, no matter what people were saying about the General's weakened emotional state, there was nothing weak about the look in the older man's eyes.

Iroh didn't look back at the man as he stepped into the metal corridor and headed deeper into the ship's hold. He moved like a shadow as he turned through the maze of hallways until he came to a door flanked by more guards. The men bowed at his approach. Iroh's responding bow was more habit then thought as he spoke, "You two may go I want to be alone."

The two men exchanged nervous glances as if unsure what to do. Something about the way the general was acting seemed strange. Still he was a general and the Crown Prince of their nation and like the guard at had stood at his own door neither man wanted to incur his anger. Bowing again, the men stepped away from the door and proceeded down the hall.

Iroh waited for the sounds of booted feet to disappear before going the rest of the way into the room. The door swung in on the dully lit chamber with a fittingly melancholy whine. Iroh stepped over the threshold and closed the rest of the world out. The space was not overly large but it seemed to the broken man like a vast cavern empty save the small alter sitting opposite the door.

Walking slowly forward Iroh knelt before the golden urn that held the ashes of his beloved Lu Ten. Reaching into the sleeve of the robe he wore, Iroh removed a roll of parchment and carefully opened it. The simple ink portrait had been made the day Lu Ten received his commission, and now it was the only way, besides in memory, that his father would look on his face again. Without a sound Iroh propped the picture in front of the urn.

Bowing his head Iroh reached up his sleeve once more and pulled out a simple black handled tanto. Unsheathing the blade Iroh looked at his reflection in the shining metal for a moment. Placing the blade on the table, Iroh closed his eyes and felt a warm tear slid down his cheek.

The letter he had written to Ursa had not mentioned his intentions for tonight just in case some less scrupulous member of the ship's crew decide to read it before sending it, and then tried to stop him. It had, however, outlined his wishes for his son's burial and gave her thanks for all the kindness she'd shown him and Lu Ten over the years. He had not been able to tell her how much he loved her, nor how sorry he was for everything he'd done, and was about to do. Still he hoped she would understand what he hadn't been able to say someday.

Opening his eyes again Iroh silently began to remove his robe from his upper body. Pulling the trailing ends of his sleeves across his lap he tucked them securely under the opposite knee. Once his chest and abdomen, both much less firm then they had been in his younger days, were bare he reached out for the waiting knife. Taking a white silk cloth from his belt Iroh wrapped it, almost lovingly, around the sharp implement.

Aligning the point of the blade against his skin just below his left rib Iroh looked up at his son's face, and finally broke the silence room. "We will see each other again."