Chapter 113: Spiritual Aid

"Well, well, Dragon, what a sight you are."

The voice was low and drawling, with the faintest purr to it. Iroh opened his eyes and saw Miyuki lounging before him.

Zuko, who had been lying down with his eye closed, shot to his feet in alarm. He looked around, searching for the source of the voice. His eye settled on the white cat in the middle of their cell and he frowned.

"Uncle? How did a cat get in here?" A thought occurred to him. "There is a cat there, right? This isn't some sort of hallucination or something?"

The cat laughed. "Oh, I am very real. Realer than you, in fact. However, I shall forgive your rudeness as I find you intriguing, young Firebender."

Zuko's frown didn't leave his face. Iroh couldn't help but chuckle. "Miyuki, as she says, is real, Nephew. I did say I was walking on a way out of here."

"Your plan is a talking cat?"

"A Spirit, Nephew. One that is allied with my Order." He turned his attention to Miyuki. "I am pleased to see that you received my request for aid."

"Hmm, yes." Miyuki drawled. "You were shouting quite loudly, metaphysically speaking. A little quieter next time, Dragon. We cats have such sensitive ears, you know."

Iroh nodded, understanding. "My apologies, Miyuki. I was not sure it would even work, let alone reach you specifically. Can you help us leave this place?"

"How did you even get in?" Zuko asked.

"I walked." Miyuki answered. "Walls and doors are nothing to one who is as much Spirit as flesh."

Zuko shook his head. "I'm just going to pretend that I understood that."

Iroh smiled. "That is probably for the best, Zuko. Miyuki, can you get us out the same way you came in?"

The cat shook her head. "Not both of you. In this form I lack the strength to do so; besides, the boy's body is not properly prepared for such a spiritual experience. He would likely not survive the experience. You, however, should. Your spirit is attuned, so to speak. Inured."

Iroh frowned. "I do not wish to leave my Nephew in this place, nor the rest of his friends."

Zuko asked, "What about Aang? The Avatar? Surely he's 'spiritually attuned' or whatever?"

"Hmm, no. In fact, the World Spirit's problem is the exact opposite of your own. Too immersed in spiritual power, as well as bound to the Earth. The Bridge would fight back, possibly tearing himself in two."

Zuko looked over at Iroh. "Uncle, you have to go. You can get help."

Iroh frowned, wanting to argue but knowing his Nephew was right. He grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him in for a tight hug.

He whispered in Zuko's ear, "I will come back for you. I will not leave you in this place."

Zuko nodded into Iroh's shoulder, tears springing up in his working eye. "I know."

"Well, this is all very touching, but we really should be going, Dragon."

Iroh nodded, pulling away from Zuko and trying to smile. "I will see you again soon, my Nephew. So very soon."

Zuko tried to smile as well, though he was less successful than Iroh.

The elder Firebender stood and looked at Miyuki. "What do I need to do?"

The cat stood as well, stretching lazily, and said, "Take a deep breath and close your eyes."

Iroh did so, and the world shifted around him.

Zuko sat alone in his cell, trying to comprehend what he had just seen.

For a split moment there had been a great many versions of his Uncle all stood in the same spot, stretching from the very young through to the very old. Then, in an instant, all of those versions snapped back into one and his Uncle was gone.

He stared at the empty space for a moment longer before settling himself into a meditation pose. His eye closed and his breathing became slow and steady.

Iroh had been to the Spirit World before, shortly after his beloved Lu Ten had passed on. As a student of such things, he knew that the Spirit World possessed many layers, worlds within a world, and that Lu Ten's spirit must surely reside in one of them. At the least, he thought, he must be able to find a Spirit that could help him.

He'd spent years, decades even, wandering the wilds of the Spiritual plane, searching for his son. He'd confronted the terrifying Koh beneath his dead tree, face blank even as his heart wept. He'd conversed with orbs of incandescent light. Communed with Spirits of all elements. He'd even stared down the Great Dragon Spirit, the First Dragon that Agni had fashioned out of His own fiery flesh, and emerged alive to tell the tale.

It had all been in vain, or so he believed at the time. He had not found Lu Ten. Every road led to a dead end. When he had entered the Spirit World, he was broken. When he emerged, after a mere year of time in the physical world, he was no less broken, however he was more accepting of what was.

When he had returned to the Fire Nation, to his home in the Palace, it was to a world he did not truly recognise. His son was gone, as was his father. His dear sister-in-law was missing, with no search being carried out. His brother, who had always been so ambitious, had taken the throne; in truth, Iroh had not possessed the will to contest Ozai's right to it, not then, despite the many Sages and courtiers who had offered him their support were he to try.

What he had found in the Palace was a boy who needed him. Zuko had been so quiet, so timid, so reserved. Yet, Iroh good see the goodness in him, the potential in him. Like the fire lily that had yet to fully bloom. He could also now see the signs that he had overlooked before; the way the boy flinched whenever an adult moved, the way he winced whenever Ozai spoke his name. The burns and bruises that littered his arms. He knew that his brother had inflicted some of them, as had the young Prince's tutors.

That was when he stepped in. He became Zuko's Firebending Master, and had even taken over some of his other lessons such as history, philosophy, and royal etiquette. He'd gotten him training under Piandao, a friend he had made through the Order, though he was new to it himself. Slowly, Iroh felt like he had begun to heal.

Then the Agni Kai happened, and Iroh broke once more. Unlike the last time though, now there was a tangible enemy. When Lu Ten had died, there was just 'the war', 'the Earth Kingdom', 'Ba Sing Se'. Now there was only Ozai.

He had considered, that day, just walking into the throne room and challenging his younger brother to single combat. Taking his birthright back there and then. He hadn't, though. It wouldn't have changed things, not really. For the war to end, properly, the Fire Nation needed to be defeated. Not stopped from within. Their pride had to suffer a little in the process, and the other Nations would need to regain some of their own.

He'd left the Palace that night, left the Fire Nation behind, and he had begun plotting the end of the war. He had travelled to the Water Tribes, all across the Earth Kingdom, amassing allies. He had advanced through the Order of the White Lotus at record speed until he was named Grand Lotus.

Then Iroh's world changed once more. The Avatar returned to the Earth. Unrecognised, but the Avatar nonetheless. His hope became a beacon.

And then, one unremarkable day, Iroh's world brightened even further. Zuko was alive. His son, his second son, his child by choice, returned to him.

And now, once more, they were separated. Iroh's heart ached, but it did not weep. They would not be apart for long.

He trudged after Miyuki through the vast forest that the Spirit World appeared to be at that moment.

"How much further?" Iroh asked.

"A difficult question to answer when time and space are meaningless concepts." Was the cat's response.

Eventually though, Miyuki had stopped walked and said, "Here should do."

And the world shifted once more around him. He stood in the centre of his teashop, closed in his absence, and that's when Iroh felt it. His chi blazed and burned.

"How fast can you get to Pao's teashop?" Iroh asked the cat.

"Faster than you."

"Then go, please. Tell the Boulder that I have need of his services. I will call upon Sister Tin; I believe she should still be residing in the Middle Ring."

"I will bring the large one here." Miyuki promised, disappearing from sight once more.

Iroh was quick to do the same, barely stopping to lock up behind himself.