Lost in the screams of pain is a chapter story,
All the stories are about fragments out of Zuko's and Iroh's lives.
This story happens after: [Book 1, ep. 8: Avatar Roku. ]
A memory chapter, some background info and funny Irko moments. This chapter takes places immediately after Chapter 25. Winter solstice!
Iroh is sixty-four.
Lost in the screams of pain,
Chapter 26: Memories of my family.
Hours had passed since the talk with Zuko. Iroh couldn't sleep that night, he was thinking about what his nephew had told him. The man thought about avatar Roku and Zuko's families, about his mother's and father's side.
He lay on his side and frowned, this situation was so unusual. His brother Ozai had met young Lady Ursa in the Ember Islands when they were children. They didn't knew about each other's families past, they were just good friends. They later fell in love as young teenagers.
Iroh remembered the changes in his family after Lady Ursa was introduced to their father, Fire Lord Azulon. Azulon had always disliked Ozai, which became worse when he engaged with his girlfriend.
The man sat up and glared to the sailing, he remembered that time very well. There were many tensions in the family back then. "My brother took me in trust. So many times, he saw me more as a father then our own father." Iroh muttered emotional.
"They could marry with conditions; my brother had to redeem his honor within our family. He had to travel around the world and find some trails of the avatar, Ursa needed to sign a marriage contract. She had to promise to never mention her family against her children, the children would never meet her side of the family and they had to follow our strict regime, the regime of Fire Lord Sozin."
Iroh sighed deep and glared at his hands. "My brother and sister needed to choose between love and family, they had chosen for love." The man smirked. "Ursa had lost her family, her parents moved out of the capital and she could visit them rarely. Ozai lost his honor and was seen as a betrayer."
"It was a long time mystery to me! I always thought that her family had done some criminal facts? But later, Ozai mentioned the name Roku. They wanted to name their firstborn to her grandfather and Ursa told me some stories about how special her grandfather Roku was. So, I was almost sure that Ursa and avatar Roku were family."
Iroh smiled a bit. "But I kept it as a secret!"
The man expression turned onto a sad one when he thought about his brother and sister again. He couldn't understand why his brother lost his way so badly. Ozai later blamed Ursa for his sad life into the family. He became so unsure and aggressive. He changed personalities, he changed into a monster. Iroh closed his eyes and felt a bit guilty. "Why couldn't I help him?"
"I try to help Zuko, but I failed my brother. I hope to not fail my nephew."
Uncle Iroh lay down and thought again. A subsequent memory arose in his mind, the man started to smile. This memory was one of Iroh's favorites. He always teased his young nephew with it. Iroh giggled and tried to memorize the memory.
Ursa's father had passed away; she and Ozai went to the funeral in the Ember Islands. They had lied against the kids; they had told that they had to go to a sort of conference.
Princess Azula did difficult about the conference; she wanted her parents to stay. Ozai did everything to please his daughter and arranged an accommodation at Ty Lee's home. Prince Lu Ten was at a military camp that week and Zuko stayed with his uncle and grandfather.
The young boy stood in the huge hall and stared at his uncle Iroh. He was eight years today, and his parents weren't there.
"What's wrong, Prince Zuko?" Iroh smiled softly.
Zuko pouted. "There is no party this year?"
Uncle tugged his beard and thought about the situation. "We can make a party; we can do something different this year! What do you think about the light celebrations?"
The young boy tills his head slightly. "Light celebration?"
"Uhu, what do you think? Will we go to a PARTY and have some FUN?"
Zuko eyes widened and smiled with enthusiasm. "Is it allowed?"
"Put your coat on and quickly!" The man teased his young nephew. He ran after the boy and made him wild. The boy screamed and raged through the corridors. Iroh liked that, he loved some action in the castle, but that wasn't at the wish of his father Azulon who loved the silence.
The Fire Lord glared out of his meditation room and frowned at the scene. "What's going on, Prince Iroh?"
Iroh grabbed his young nephew into his arms and turned to his father. "Euhm, we were? Phuh, we were just preparing to-?"
"We were preparing on a PARTY and some FUN!" The young boy spoke out loud.
Azulon grimaced at the two princes. "What?"
Zuko jumped up and down."You can go with us!"
Their ran a little shock though Iroh's body, he pulled at his nephew's shoulders, tried to calm him down. "Euhm, we were planning to visit the light celebrations and we will try to do it in silence. Isn't it Prince Zuko?"
The young Prince smiled and bowed before the old Fire Lord. "It is an honor pledge." The old man frowned at the boy and turned away.
Iroh couldn't help but smirked. "What? An honor pledge? Where do you get it?"
The boy shrugged. "I had to say something!"
The amused uncle rolled his eyes with a smile and took the boy by his hand, they left the palace.
The two princes visited the light celebrations; they were dressed like normal noble inhabitants. The young Prince was free to do what he wanted today, he glared over the many food stands and smiled at his uncle. He had asked his uncle Iroh for some Sizzle Crisps. The man gave it with pleasure.
"What's that?" The young boy asked his uncle, while he ate his crisps.
The man bowed his legs a bit and smiled. "That's a puppet show! Do you want to see it?"
Zuko stared at the show while he walked towards it. He sat next to an unknown noble boy, his uncle sat next to his nephew. Iroh didn't really like this kind of shows; it was made for young children. He instead observed his nephew and the other young children.
Zuko smiled widely at his uncle and took his arm. "Don't you like it?" The boy whispered.
"I do!" The man whispered back.
Iroh enjoyed the boy's laughs and smiles, he was happy to see his nephew happy. The young boy had never seen a puppet show before. He was so under the impress by the play's, the lights, and the music.
After the show, Iroh took the young boy by his hand and walked through the stands. They had listened to the classic music of the Fire academy.
And watched to the tree burnings, an old ritual for the fire spirits. Today on Mid winter, the spirits are closest present to this world. So, one of the old Fire Nation tradition is to burn trees, to give the old spirits their fire back.
The day passed by, the sun lowered and the sky turned dark blue. The older Prince and his young nephew waited on a little square. Zuko looked up with a frown. "What are we waiting for, uncle?"
"You will see!" Iroh rubbed the boy's head, while he noticed the boy's impatience.
The first shot of fire work exploded into the air, the young boy stood on his tips with his mouth wide open. He tried to see everything clear, but he was a little but to small. There were so many people on the square and they were standing in the boy's sight.
Uncle Iroh took the boy and placed him onto his shoulders. Zuko giggled a bit and watched at the fireworks. He grabbed his uncle's neck and laid his cheek onto his head.
Iroh smiled, while he enjoyed this day.
Uncle returned home with his nephew, he decided to take him to his bedroom. His nephew could have a sleep over in his room for once. Just this once for his birth day.
Iroh glared over to the boy, his hair and clothes were a mess. "You need a bath! You're dirty."
Zuko looked up and frowned at his uncle. "Dirty? I'm not dirty!"
"Come on Zuko, you smell like a pig." The man teased while he subtracted Zuko's shirt and liberated his hair. The young boy fell on Iroh's bed and took his pants off. He threw it over his head and made some ugly faces.
"I don't want to take a bath!" The boy muttered while he jumped up and down on Iroh's huge bed. "I want to have FUN and PARTY!"
Iroh shook his head with a laugh. "Come of that bed! You're like a wild boy out of the woods!"
He couldn't help but enjoyed to see his nephew so free. The boy was always so stuck and silent, but not with Iroh.
The boy giggled and rolled on Iroh's bed, his hair hung free before his face. He jumped widely before his uncle and started to dance and shake in his underwear.
Iroh couldn't help but smashed a hand before his mouth. He always loved those funny little children moments. He had promise himself to remember this and tease his nephew with it when he was a bit older.
"Come on now! Your bath is ready!"
Prince Zuko ran into the bathroom. He took his underwear of and yelled at his uncle. "Close your eyes!" Iroh stopped just before entering and closed his eyes. His nephew was such a shy boy; he had put a towel around his waist.
"You can look." The boy said in a squeaky voice.
Iroh sat on the rand of the bathtub and waited until his nephew entered the huge bath. The boy immediately placed his arms into the water. Uncle just smiled and started to wash the boy's long hair.
The young Prince hated his long hair; he always wanted a shorted coupe like Prince Lu Ten, but his parents loved his cute ponytail.
Prince Zuko made some strange expressions. "Is something wrong?" Iroh asked.
"It sticks in my face again!" The boy muttered.
Iroh smiled, he leaned forwards and helped to remove his troublesome hair. The man slipped away from the edge, he tried to hold himself but Zuko began to see some more fun. The young boy grabbed the man by his sleeve. "NO ZUKO!"
The man fell into the bath, the water flowed over it. The young boy began to laugh widely; he crawled onto his uncle's belly and moved the water like a wild ocean. There were some small waves; but in Zuko's imagination they were immense.
Iroh couldn't stand up, the boy sat with his full weight on the man and moved like a wild Rhino. "Zuko? STOP! You're drowning me!"
The boy didn't seem hear his uncle's screams, he was so busy with his fantasies and fun. The water streamed out of the bathroom. The screams and yells of the two princes could be heard out of the West wing.
Fire Lord Azulon frowned and rushed himself to the noises. He opened the Crown Prince his bedroom door and notices the water and chaos. He glared into the bathroom and shook his head with disappointment.
"What is the meaning of this?" The old man asked directly. He couldn't understand why his son was doing so ridiculous. Lying in a bathtub with a naked boy on him?
Iroh tried to safe himself out of his awkward position, his nephew gazed at his grandfather with fair. Uncle Iroh sat up, water streamed over his face. Zuko tried to hide himself in the water.
"Aren't you ashamed?" Azulon screamed out, anger filled his voice.
"But father….?" Iroh whispered.
"Silence! A punishment is waiting for you both, tomorrow!" The man turned away and slammed the door behind him.
Zuko glared up, his cheeks were red. He didn't knew what to say. Iroh sighed; he didn't care about his father and the punishment. He had enjoyed it, which was good enough.
"Is he angry at us?" the boy whispered.
The man smiled and squeezed in the boy's bottoms. "No, he was just shocked by your naked bottoms!"
The young boy wasn't really sure about this situation; he gave his uncle a tiny smile and grabbed the wet towel from the ground.
Iroh glared over Zuko with a little smirk. "Do you need some help? You can't dry yourself with a wet towel?"
"I can dry myself…" The boy answered with hesitation. He sat down on the ground and hoped to be alone for a moment. Zuko glared at the wet spots onto the ground and tried to stay calm.
He knew that boys from an age of eight needed to be ready to make some heat sources. So, they could dry themselves and object without burning themselves. Zuko couldn't do it, he could create some little sparks of smoke and he could lit a leaf on fire. But that's it.
The wet spots began to dry before Zuko's eyes. The boy looked up at his uncle and he noticed some vapors escaping from his clothes. He stood up and gazed at the man before him. "How, do you do that?"
"The only thing you need Zuko is some; control, self-confidence, training and experience." Iroh kneeled and took the boy's hand. "You get a lot of extra training, you have some experiences, you watch others and learn, but you lack some control. Not discipline, that's good. But control over your emotions, your inner fire and you need to work a lot on your self-confidence."
"I have self-confidence!" The boy whispered.
Iroh grunted as he laughed. "No Zuko, I know more than you see. You pretend like you have a high self-confidence, you will always do or say something even when you're scared. That's true, that's you but that has nothing to do with confidence."
"Confidence is about knowing that you are a good bender."
Zuko shook his head. "I'm not a good bender." He whispered and lowered his gaze. He felt his uncle's hands grabbing his arms; he felt an immense heat in his little body. Zuko looked up with admiration; he had never seen or felt something like that before.
"Don't think of yourself as a failure, I know at one day, you will become as good as me or maybe better." The man replied with a warm smile.
From that day, Prince Zuko had always a special place in his heart for his Uncle Iroh. Even after the General failed in Ba Sing Se. Zuko would always support him with his heart.
And Iroh himself would always tease his nephew with the embarrassing memories.