In the coming months, as summer started to settle, Ozai intensified his meditation again. Azula's death weighed heavy on his soul but became a drive for him to complete this cycle. He could feel that opening the last chakra would bring him one step closer to finding peace and it monopolised his thoughts. He was striving to open it like a man possessed, making Ozi complain to his mother that he was getting distant again but Taeyang could feel that Ozai was trying his best to keep a balance and had asked her son to be patient. It was afternoon and Ozai had been meditating for hours when he finally stopped to eat something and rest. He was feeling that he was too close to stop but his body had complained. He exited his room and was met with Ozi and Taeyang studying for the boy's homework assignments.
"Everything alright?" she asked him and he nodded. "You look pale…" she said as she made the table for him to dine. "You have a letter," she said and passed him the envelope and he nodded.
"Oh, not θo loud…" Ozi said mockingly and Ozai laughed.
"I am sorry, Ozai, I've been a little busy with this task but I promise you, as soon as I finish I will start spending more time with you."
"I don't care… It'θ Yon that θaid he miθθed you," the boy said and Ozai ate quickly, giving himself a stomach ache but then sat next to Ozi and read a bit of his assignment as he opened the letter from his son. He patted Ozi's hair and received a warm smile by Taeyang that lightened his heart. He started reading the letter but jumped up abruptly as the words sank in.
"My son just became a father!" he said in disbelief and Taeyang congratulated him. "I must go to him," Ozai said but the panic that he felt was reflected on both Taeyang's and Ozi's faces.
"You can't just rush to the Fire Nation's Capital," Taeyang said but could see that he was getting ready to fight her.
"My son needs me! I wasn't there when he was a child, at least let me get there now! I need to prepare him in order not to make the same mistakes I did," he practically yelled at her and moved towards the front door but she lunged at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" she said as she grabbed him by the elbow but he pulled his arm away and they ended up holding hands for a few seconds before she removed hers. "Please be reasonable," she said softly.
"Is it unreasonable to want to help the only child I have left?"
"No, it's not and I will let you go, I will even escort you to the palace, as long as you get Zuko's consent."
Ozai returned to his room and started writing a letter to Zuko asking for his permission to travel to him and sent it off. Two horrible days passed until Zuko's reply arrived. Ozai was getting stressed but he jumped up and snatched the letter off Taeyang's hands excitedly until he read it. Zuko had denied his request telling him that things in the capital were still too dangerous for him and that he would prefer to keep him away for the time being. He did however say that his first child is a girl and they named her Izumi. Ozai ended up sitting in his chair, broken again and this time due to his second child. Taeyang was observing him silently and he motioned to the letter. She skim read it and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Do you want something to drink?" she asked but he shook his head.
"Do you have anything for me to do? Anything to make me feel less useless?" he said and she sighed.
"I do," she said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder "but are you sure you want to spend the afternoon ploughing again? You could help Ozi with his training," she suggested.
"It's fine, training Ozi wouldn't be as challenging," he said.
"Not when he's firebending," she said and he stared at her.
"Not today, I will not be focused," he said.
"Oh Agni…" she said and started laughing, making Ozai frown. "It's been one year, to the day since the last time you ploughed that field and for the same reason…"
"The same reason?"
"You son," she said and he sighed.
"If I have to plough fields every time my son upsets me…" he started saying and suddenly he pictured himself actually doing it while in the Capital and burst into laughter.
"What?" she asked him and he waved it off.
"I might need to find a field near the palace," he said and she smiled before she left to create the noodles.
That day he worked until his arms failed him and then had to rest again for two days before he could move without the soreness. When he recuperated he did start training with Ozi on Saturdays who loved it so much that he asked a stunned Ozai for extra training on the weekdays and he would have accepted had not Taeyang intervened. It took a whole month as well as a dozen letters from Zuko for Ozai to get back to the same level in his meditative journey.
He tried repeatedly to unlock his seventh chakra but everytime he needed to go through and leave behind any earthly attachment Taeyang's smiling face would appear before him and ground him. Ozai hadn't felt more conflicted in his entire life. He couldn't take her off his mind but at the same time he felt irritated that this was hindering him. He didn't know how to overcome this but the answer came to him in the form of a training session. It was a cool morning and Taeyang was outside the garden bending the earth in a more aggressive manner that he was used to and he remembered how she had reacted when Zhao had entered her house. During his next meditation, the image of the kind farmer had transformed to the one of a capable warrior and he became totally aware of all his actions. He saw beyond pettiness and for a glorious moment he felt whole. His eyes fluttered momentarily as his senses returned but he felt too tired to do anything else but sleep.