Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All of the rights belong to Nickelodean and the creators of the show.

So now that Iroh is gonna meet the gaang, there's gonna be a clash between him and Holly on what curriculum is fit for Aang. Holly and Iroh are both the best at their form of firebending, but they're completely different. Kinda hard to explain, but hopefully I'll do a good job at writing it :P

Holly didn't know what to say. The innocent man named Iroh looked relieved, but he also looked dissappointed at the damage she had caused to the nature around them. Her white fire killed the entire area to black ash, and so were the sides of the tree trunks and the edges of their leaves. Holly allowed herself to stand up straight to look less threatening. She was the one who was shaken up the most.

"I apologize if I appear threatening to you, friend of Avatar Aang. I am a simple refugee that is looking for a safe haven."

Aang flinched confusingly. Wasn't that her last name? He never connected the two terms together until now, since the sound of the word and the sound of her name have been altered.

Holly thought that the spirits were playing with her feelings. If Iroh would have shown up to her life a good few years ago, then he would be invited into her mob. The mob was originally a safe haven for lost firebenders, such as himself.

". . . You mine as well be a mobster, then, Iroh. But you won't find a safe haven 'round here. Try lookin' in the desert across the ocean. I'm sure they'd love someone like you to join 'em." The blank look on Iroh's face was another clue that Holly's accusations were off. She was choosing to not determine his honesty.

"I am afraid that I don't know what you are talking about."

Holly paced from side to side in front of Iroh, while Aang sat back and watched, not wanting to get between two of the greatest firebenders. His curious eyes rolled around Holly's pacing body. Her hips moved along with her struggling legs that supported her own build.

"Are you familiar of the Haven organization?"

Iroh stroked his long, gritty beard in thought. ". . . No, I'm afraid not."

"So this is the first time you have been secluded from the fire nation, I suspect?"

"You are correct. My younger brother's code of laws are growing in corruption each and every day. Upon realizing what a tragedy it would be for the world to experience Sozin's comet, I chose to help the avatar about a month previous, and the fire nation threw me in jail for betrayal." Iroh's explination was sincere, but Holly wasn't stupid. She listened with her eyes, rather then her weakened ears, and analyzed it all in her mind.

"You are the Fire Lord's brother. . . what inspired you to break out?"

"I wasn't intending on doing so until the comet has arrived, but unfortunately, I had to change my plans. . ." He paused for a moment. Holly's piercing eyes was definately a surprise to him. He has never seen eyes like her's in his life, but he remembers learning of the significance of pure golden eyes. She is truly a blessed firebender.

"Not only am I the Fire Lord's brother, but I am also Prince Zuko and Princess Azula's Uncle. They have gone missing, and nobody in the fire nation has been able to retrieve them. It is my duty to find them."

Holly debated on wether she should inform him on their whereabouts or not. She was still giving off the impression that she hated Iroh and had no trust in him. But she knew in her heart that she has been defeated at her own judgement. It was only fair to tell him the truth.

"The fire nation is telling you lies. They know exactly where they are."

"You have seen them?" It was more like a statement. It was such a coincidence for the first person he runs into will know where he can find his nephew. He would spare of Azula's life, despite all else. It would be cruel to save Zuko and leave Azula.

"They picked me up in their little airship a couple weeks ago. We mingled a bit, I shook up their nerves, ate some food, and left. That wasn't the jist of it, though: Your newphew and niece actually chased our asses," she gestured towards her and Aang, "a couple o' days later, all the way to Haven City. Now, I have more things against Azula then Zuko, she was the one who ordered them all in the city of sick mobsters. She was there to capture Aang, we were there to get our friends back, and we managed to survive the battle." Holly squared her shoulders. "We were the first ones to mainly defeat a handful of mobsters, including the leader, escape, live and tell the tale."

"Are you implying that I am too late?" he asked desperately. His entire face fell and his eyes sunk miserably.

"Judging by Azula's attitude. . . yeah, she's got no chance in the mob." Holly had to try hard not to laugh. "As for the other one, Zuko. . . I don't wanna make it official that it's too late."

"There is a chance for my nephew?"

"Oh yeah," she concluded with a reassuring nod. "Just consider him absent for now."

He slipped into his penthouse just when the sun was beginning to set. He shut the door right behind him and leaned against his front door. He was so close to not making it on time without being seen. He breathed a few relieving sighs and closed his eyes to calm himself down. It was a huge risk for him to stroll through the city with the kind of reputation that he had. If he was ever spotted by the leader, then Mainyu would be the last face that he would ever see.

"Who goes there!"

A guy that looked like he was around the same age popped into his foyer from one of his hallways. He had too many cuts and bruises across his skin to count, but the one slashed on the side of his face was the one that stuck out the most. His dark hair hung over his amber eyes, and it was covered in exhausting dirt and sweat. There was a malnourishment tone to his body. His quick reactions made it seem like the mobsters abused and tortured him. He was shaking in his own firebending stance like he was in his own house.

"Who the hell are you and who the fuck gave you the idea that you can just walk into my house?" Chris asked him unbelievably. They were about the same height with the same build, but he was in better condition. He did not feel like he was in any danger. The other young man stepped back in fear.

". . . My name is Prince Zuko, heir to the fire nation throne."

"Are you tryin' to hide from 'em too?"

Zuko lowered his fists. He wanted to say something in reply, but no words could escape his dry throat.

"Look, man, I know exactly what you're goin' through. If anyone sees that I'm still here, then I'm dead," he explained. No one has literally told him so, but he knew that it was true. Mainyu wanted to kill him since the first day that they met. But the feeling was mutual.

"How can I trust you?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking the questions?"

"What kind of questions?"

Chris put his hand to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay, let's go sit down first. We gotta find out how to get the hell outta here."

Holly couldn't believe that Aang was inviting him to spend the night along with our gaang. She hated how the two of them clashed, and she already gave herself a bad reputation. Now, she has to finish her lesson with Aang with him observing. She was expecting to there to be problems. Holly was taught how to firebend differently then those who are a part of the fire nation. And Iroh's wise appearance probably meant that he was going to be right more then she would be.

The three of them made their way back to the courtyard, where Sokka, Katara and Toph were in the same place as where Holly left them. Sokka lifted his head up to get a closer look at the man following Holly and Aang.

"Iroh? Is that you?" Upon his word, the three of them stood up to greet him. Toph felt the familiar vibrations of the man she ran into when she ran away from camp about a month ago. She felt her own face lightening up when she sensed his presence.

"Greetings, friends of the avatar. I apologize for running into you all at such an inconvenient time-" Holly crossed her arms and huffed poutingly. "But I only ask for one night with everyone in this humble mansion. I have a long journey ahead of me that I have to fulfill, but I require a night to ready myself."

"Oh, well I'm sure that it won't be a problem, there's tons of empty bedrooms you can stay in," Katara suggested to him kindly.

"Thank you, young waterbender. Your kindness is greatly appreciated," Iroh complimented by bowing respectfully.

"Well, I still have to finish my firebending lesson with Holly, but you're welcome to watch with Sokka, Katara and Toph," Aang said suggestively. Iroh nodded once, and made his way to the edge of the courtyard like he was sitting in a front row seat. He sat in a meditive position and paciently waited for Holly and Aang to begin their training. Holly rolled her eyes before pulling herself to the center of attention.

"Okay, get back in your stance like last time," she directed. "Remember my word on keeping a steady pattern of breath."

Aang nodded calmly and got in his usual stance. He tried to have confidence in himself. He needed to master this element before he confronts the Fire Lord. It determines the fate of the world.

He was successful. A rather large flame flew in the air in front of his palm, but he didn't know how to control it yet. Holly threw her head to the side before his fire burned her face. When she leaned to one side, she raised her right arm to pull his flame back alongside her inhale. Sokka and Katara gasped. After the flame died, Aang fell silent. He thought that he did something wrong.

She regained her balance and resituated herself in front of her pupil.

"I am so sorry," Aang apologized. "I-"

"Sorry?" Holly asked, her lips turning into a smile. "Aang, that was awesome! I didn't think you'd get it that fast!"

"Really?" he asked. "Are you sure that I didn't do anything wrong?"

"Well, it wasn't perfect, of course. You still gotta work on your control, but you've made it a long way," she assured.

"Shouldn't you have taught the avatar control before he begins firebending?" Iroh interrupted.

"He needs to learn how to firebend in of itself before he can control it. How can you learn how to control fire if you can't conjure it yourself?" Holly's answer was quick and whitty. It was like she knew that Iroh was going to interrupt her. She knew exactly what she was doing by her standards.

"One has to learn to control their own fire within. That is the first lesson in basic training methods." Iroh went by the book when it came to teaching firebending, just like he did with his nephew. He had all of the stances, movements, spars, and anything else that someone could think of to become a better firebender.

"I've already told him the two sources of fire that he could use before we started, and I made sure that he's aware of how to use them properly."

"Two sources?" he asked. "I apologize if I am taking up your time in this lesson, but I must tell you that I am only familiar of one source and once source only for firebending."

"Well then it's great to know that you're really not as great of a firebender as you look-"

"You must not be implying that you are using your own pulse as a source of firebending! That is very dangerous and life-threatening, and it should not be trifled with!" Iroh spoke as if he was concerned for Holly's safety. "There are other ways to create fire when you are a master such as yourself."

Holly gritted her teeth, her head lowered to the ground. Aang saw the familiar signs of Holly getting ready to explode. Both of her fists clenched together so tightly that they turned as red as a rose. He thought that she was going to attack Iroh for speaking up during her lesson, but that was all that she did for a while. Holly was experiencing flashbacks of when Mainyu would critisize her style of firebending. Frankly, Mainyu was a hyppocrite because he uses the same source that Holly does. That was where she got it from. Iroh was certainly not as brutal as Mainyu because he was being truthful and acted like he actually cared. That was something that Holly chose not to see.

She lifted her head up. Aang throught that she was going to continue with her lesson the way that Iroh said. Instead, she didn't say a word to anybody, and she didn't make eye contact with anybody. She began to walk herself back inside the mansion.

"Where are you going?" Aang asked, although he found out quickly that his words were futile.

Iroh has searched and searched around the mansion for Holly so that they could talk about what happened. He found it necessary to find some middle ground with her and apologize for speaking out of turn. But he didn't find her in any of the rooms. He checked them all at least three times, he checked the hallways, the closets, the cupboards in the kitchen - anything that was large enough to contain a small human being like her. He decided after one solid hour that he was going to head back to the gaang so they can help him on his search.

"She's not in any one of the rooms?" Katara asked, forgetting about her grudge against Holly. She hasn't forgotten about their connection that they still shared.

"I have checked every one at least three times. She is nowhere to be seen! I can't believe that I brought this upon her. . ." Iroh sighed.

"She couldn't of gone far. It's not like she has any place to go," Sokka said with a shrug.

"Are you kidding me? Holly can fly with her white fire faster then I can on my glider! She could be anywhere on this island!" Aang stressed.

"Okay, freaking out about it isn't going to make finding Holly any easier. I think the quickest way to find her is if we all split up," Sokka said demandingly.

"I got dibs to be with Sokka!" Toph called out from behind the small gathered crowd.

"I guess that I could go with Aang," Katara hinted innocently, trying to make mutual eye contact with him.

"Actually, Katara, I think that you should go with Iroh. . . I think I'm gonna try and look for her on my glider." Aang scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He didn't want to intentionally sound like he wasn't interested, but he wanted to what's best for finding Holly. Without her, he would have no firebending teacher. And he couldn't help but add in his mind that he cared for her at this point.

"Oh. . ." Katara was slightly crestfallen. "I guess that'll be okay." She rubbed the edge of her shoulder and began to twirl her long brown hair around her finger as a distraction.

Sokka and Toph

Sokka asigned themselves to check the edge of the island where they first arrived with Appa. It was quite relaxing, in Sokka's opinion, to be strolling through the beaches of Ember Island under the setting sun. The evening tide was just beginning to creep up on the sand, bringing up many exotic shells and oysters. It was nice to take such a relaxing walk to get away from everything that's been happening lately. It was starting to get hard on focusing on finding Holly after a while.

Toph, on the other hand, was only as calm as she was because she got to be with Sokka. Her vision was extremely blurred when walking over sand, and it reminded her greatly of the dry desert that surrounded Haven City. She kept stepping on sharp rocks and shells because of that blurred vision, and what was even worse for her, is that the edge of the ocean's waves were touching her feet, too. The salts that were in the ocean water were irritating all of her minor cuts that covered the bottom of her rough feet.

"So. . ." Toph began, trying to start a conversation.

"Can you believe that she just walked away like that?" Sokka's topic choice was of Holly, which didn't surprise her, since nothing else was going on.

"Well, in a way, I can kind of relate," Toph admitted. "I sure wouldn't like it if some other old earthbender walked up to me when I was teaching Aang and told me that I was doing everything wrong. I know what it's like to want independence."

"I don't know, Toph. I don't think Iroh would interrupt Holly like that about firebending unless he was serious."

"Even if Holly was using some kind of dangerous source for her firebending, I don't think she would ever teach Aang the same thing. I was there when she told him that he doesn't deserve to learn how to learn some of the things that she knows."

"Maybe she doesn't deserve it, either."

Katara and Iroh

Katara and Iroh decided to check the landscapes that surrounded the deserted mansion. There were plenty of hiding spots that she could have been in around the edges of the walls or within any of the tall grasses surrounding it. The sun was hiding just below the tops of the trees, and the clouds above it were the colors orange and pink. The fresh air was definately something that she missed while being in that dry desert for so long. She took in an extra deep breath every now and then to calm herself down.

"I can't believe she just attacked you like that just because of the way you looked," she said surprisingly.

"I admit, that she could have handled the situation differently, but I do not want to hold her actions against her. We are all human beings, and therefore, we are all going to judge one time or another. One who claims that they do not judge anybody is very unwise."

"I think that I judged her that first day we met. . ." Katara admitted. "But we've all been through so much, already, and I didn't want any of us to get hurt again."

The two of them turned a corner and began strolling the backyard of the mansion by the edge of the meadow. They crossed the scorched path of ash where Holly destroyed the meadow's grasses.

"There is absalutely nothing wrong in being protective of the people you love. I think that if you looked a little harder, then you will start to realize that you are not that much different than Holly. I do not think that she is a bad person. I believe that she is lost."

"Honestly, I don't blame her for being the way that she is. It's just hard to cope with someone like her when her own people captured us all," she said. "She can be really scary sometimes."

"Ah, yes, I will admit that witnissing white fire for the first time was truly a great shock to me. I didn't think that the legends were actually true."

"There are legends?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, yes, of course. Many people have never heard of them because the legend has grown so old and out-dated. But I was lucky enough to learn about the fire's qualities by a dragon long ago when they were not extinct. This dragon's name was Ren, and he is one of the few spirits who have lived since almost the beginning of time. He said that the first spirit to ever be a firebender was equipped with white fire, and he said that it was because she was granted the power from the benders of the light within. The flames are considered to not only be the hottest and the most powerful that time has ever been given, but it is also supposed to be a blessing that symbolizes The Great Spirit of Fire."

"Do you mean to say that it means that Holly's really some kind of. . . blessed fire spirit?"

Iroh chuckled. "Yes, something like that."

Aang

Aang felt relaxed to finally being able to glide in some fresh air for once. He didn't know how Holly survived living in such a dry desert all of her life, because he was sick of it after the first day. His first reaction to Holly's actions was that it was immature of her to walk away just because Iroh wanted to express his opinions. He understands that he isn't he one teaching him, but the situation could've been handled differently. Now, he is only concerned. The last time Holly ran away from them, she ended up ruining her skin even more by ripping her piercings out herself. She could be capable of anything, this time. That really scared him.

He strained his eyes even harder at the ground below, but it was hard to see anything with all of the trees and bushes in the way. The trees became so thick that it turned into a forest of green. Nothing was physically possible to see through all of the leaves at his height, so he decided to check out the forest on foot. There wasn't really any place to safely land without getting attacked by sticks and branches. After lowering himself to being just above one of the trees, he shut his glider and slipped through.

It was like it was already night time. Barely any sunlight was peering through the numerous leaves that englulfed every branch available. It was hard to see anything in the forest he stood in. There wasn't any lush grass beneath his feet because there was such a lack of sunlight. It was purely dry soil. Long dark roots surrounded every tree trunk, and it gave him the feel that every tree was connected, just like the trees back at the swamp, except there was much less water.

He suspiciously began do walk down a wide trail of nothing but large tree trunks and roots. It sounded much too quiet for his liking. How was he supposed to find Holly in a place like this?

Holly

Holly fell asleep. She knew by stressing over everything was not going to solve her problems. She just needed to get away a bit before she causes any permanent damage. Ending an innocent man's life before she realizes it wasn't something she was really wishing upon herself. Iroh seems much more qualified to teach Aang firebending then herself, but she knows that Iroh is going to leave in the morning anyway, so she decided to not leave for good.

Holly has always liked sleeping. She only likes to sleep because she loves to dream. Dreaming has no limits and you can be in your own little world where all of your wishes come true. It's one of her clean ways to go to her happy place. She gave up on drugs a long time ago, but she would still be tragically spiraling out of control if it wasn't for Chris. Not only did he save her life from Austain, but he also helped her get rid of her addiction before it was too late. He was the one that told her to dream about him when times got tough. He told her to think about the good times that they have shared and think about all of the good that she's doing for the world in helping the avatar. Holly missed him so much that it was hurting. He was the only person on the planet that had genuine feelings for her. She felt like no one else in her life gave a damn. Chris was always her solid ground in telling her that what she is doing is right - in telling her that she is worth something in this world to somebody. Holly is losing that sense of self confidence without him.

Aang and Holly

Finally, he has found her, nuzzled up against a tree trunk on her side with her eyelids gently closed. Why would she be sleeping in a place like this? At first, he wanted to just carry her back to camp so that she can sleep more peacefully, but he was afraid of something not settling too well with Iroh, or maybe even Katara if he didn't talk to her first.

Aang knelt down next to Holly's sleeping body. Her whole waist was covered in dirt from laying all over it, and it took the shimmer away. His hand was so close to touching her curvy waist. . . this time, he decided to nudge her shoulder a bit. He did his best to avoid what he really wanted. He whispered her name a few times, but she barely budged.

He stopped nudging her bare shoulder around. Her skin was even softer then it looked, and the warmth was definately a comfortable temperature. It made him want to cuddle up and fall asleep next to her.

As carefully as possible, he slid his arms under Holly's back and legs, and he couldn't help but notice something weird about the feel of her legs above both of her knees. She was still wearing the stretchy tight pants that she found in Haven City, only she ripped them up to about where her calf was. It felt extremely bumpy and grotesque, like there were lines and dents that traced them.

They were scars.

Tell me if the story Iroh told was cheesy or not, seriously lol. Idk wether to have Iroh and Holly talk before he leaves or what.. but I guess I'll think of something. But I'm pretty proud of myself of coming up with the idea of teaming up Zuko and Chris :P What do you think?