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When the waiter came back, Zuko murmured quietly to him and the man nodded understandingly before turning and walking away. "What was that about?" I asked warily.
He smiled. "That? That was nothing."
All of sudden, a fat old man with a booming voice appearing, saying, "Nephew! How nice of you to stop by and with such lovely company too!"
I felt my cheeks blush and saw that Zuko's did too.
"It's Katara, right?" the old man continued. "I've heard so much about you!" he exclaimed, while Zuko placed a hand on his face and turned away to hide the blush that was creeping across his face.
"This is my uncle, Iroh," Zuko explained, though no explanation was necessary.
"So nice to meet you," I responded, taking in all of the man. A long beard and balding head, the slight pudginess: he barely resembled Zuko at all, except for the striking gold eyes that shone as brightly as Zuko's. Did that mean that this man was a firebender too?
"We have so much to talk about," Iroh said. "We should return to my house and discuss it over tea."
Admittedly, I was a little nervous about going to Iroh's house. His gold eyes shimmered exactly like Zuko's and Azula's; surely he must be a firebender. So perhaps, logically entering the house of someone who was basically a stranger with two firebenders whose family wanted to eliminate people like me, wasn't the greatest, but with Zuko I felt secure.
So I knew that the butterflies in my stomach were not from fear, though perhaps they should have been. I had to wonder how much Zuko had told this man about me. Did Iroh know that I was a bender as well? And if did, had Zuko told him or had my eyes been the only clue?
We had driven to Iroh's in separate cars, but Iroh's was remarkably similar to Zuko's, another wild sports car that easily was worth over a hundred thousand dollars. Obviously, Zuko and his family were extremely wealthy. But did Zuko consider me poor?
His sister certainly did. What did she call me? Something on the lines of a "worthless peasant."
Iroh's house was borderline a mansion, nearly twice as large as my house. It stood by itself and there was no visible sign of any neighbors for miles. We had driven out a bit and his house hovered near the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ocean.
"It's beautiful," I remarked, stepping out of the car. Zuko merely shrugged.
Inside was just as beautiful, if not more, than inside. The room that we first stepped into was a sort of living room, spread out through most of the first floor. Black and white sofas and chairs were scattered about, and a fireplace roared steadily in the corner. To the left, the room seemed to me open up to a kitchen, one that had recently been used.
"Come. Sit. Sit," Iroh said, his amiable voice booming loudly. "Would you like some tea? I know I do." And he went off into the kitchen.
Zuko sat down on a sofa nearest to the fire and motioned for me to join. The second I got within arm length of him, he reached out and grabbed, pulling me into his arms. I giggled as he kissed me on the cheek.
Iroh came back in the room, and I tried to pull away, embarrassed at this embrace in front of Zuko's uncle, but Zuko refused to let me go.
"So a waterbender?" Iroh laughed, and I blushed. "No, dear one, don't take that the wrong way. I never thought I would be able to meet an actual waterbender. I consider this a true honor. And Zuko says you're pretty good."
"Oh I'm sure he's just saying that," I replied modestly, swishing my hand as if I could physically disregard the compliment.
Zuko raised an eyebrow at my remark, and Iroh merely chuckled. "It doesn't sound like my nephew to say something he didn't mean, even if he was smitten." Iroh winked, and I giggled nervously. Zuko's eyes widened and he went rigid with embarrassment.
"May I see a demonstration?" Iroh asked. Either he was ignoring his nephew's embarrassment or completely ignorant of it. I honestly assumed the former.
"Of course," I agreed, standing. Since there was no water in the room that was readily available, except for Iroh's tea, I pulled some water out of the air. I bent it to my will, freezing it and thawing it, creating shapes. Iroh's eyes were widened in awe and when I finished, he enthusiastically clapped.
"Never in my life did I think I would have the privilege of meeting a waterbender. It's true art in motion. Though I must say, you move more like a firebender." He smiled at that statement, glancing quickly at Zuko.
"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" I asked.
He shook his head quickly. "Of course not, but I have some ancient manuscripts that you might find interesting. I'll go get them." He quickly looked at the two of us and with a knowing smile, headed out of the room.
"Well that was horrifying," Zuko said, the moment the door closed. "At least he didn't try to call me Junior again."
"You're a Junior?" I asked with a laugh.
His eyes widened in horror again as he realized he had said his thought aloud. He quickly turned his head away. "No, I'm not. No one calls me that. It's just…a really long story."
I shrugged. "He seems sweet."
"In his own devious way," Zuko replied, smirking.
Iroh entered the room again and seemed surprised to find us not in some intimate embrace. I stood and met him at a table where he laid the manuscripts out. On the crumpled pages were detailed descriptions of how to do different water bending moves, ones that I hadn't even known existed. "This is incredible!" I exclaimed.
"They're yours," Iroh said.
"What?" I asked incredulously.
"I'm sure you'll get much more use out of them, young one," he said with a smile.
"Thank you!" I squealed, hugging him without a second thought. He seemed surprised at first but then accepted the hug.
"You're welcome," he replied.