As his troops sacked the lower two rings, Firelord Ozai entered the Upper Ring in triumph.

He had done it. Ba Sing Se was his. It had taken his failure of a brother 600 days to fail to take the city, and Ozai had done it in less than half that time.

Alongside him, his children walked. Azula looked sullen, but so did Zuko; this was not the reaction Ozai had expected, for he was finally allowing his son to come home.

As the Royal Family processed through the upper ring, with Ozai making sure to soak up the atmosphere as if it were already his triumph, Ozai spotted a building. The sign above the door proudly proclaimed it as the Jasmine Dragon tea-shop. Ozai had heard intelligence reports form within Ba Sing Se, and so he knew just who ran that establishment.

"Zuko, stay out here."

"But-"

"But nothing! Stay out here or I may change my mind about bringing you home."

Ozai went to enter the shop. Azula came to follow him but he gave her such a withering look that she faltered and fell back.

Inside, he found a familiar old man, in the kitchen, making tea. That wasn't surprising; It seemed as if Iroh always had a cup of tea in his hand.

"Firelord Ozai. What an unexpected surprise. I take it you're here to gloat?"

"Actually, I was here to arrest you, but now that you mention it a bit of gloating would be enjoyable."

Iroh rolled his eyes.

"600 days. And you lost. I won. Ba Sing Se is mine. I have done what you could not, and penetrated the impenetrable city. History will remember my glory, and your failure. Unless you invent a new tea or something," he sneered.

"Is this your glory?" Iroh replied.

"You just directed a bunch of men and women to burn down a city. You destroyed countless lives in the process, just as you have done across the entire world. Our ancestor wiped out an entire nation, and you still call it glory? I fear that history will have a rather different name for it. I know the rest of the world does."

Ozai decided that the time for gloating was over. "Look, brother, the game is up. This building is surrounded. Zuko has returned to my side. You are alone and I have an army. Surrender and we shall make this easy."

Iroh only sipped his tea, but Ozai had seen the fleeting look of shock (and was that betrayal?) in his eyes at the mention of Zuko. Ozai took great pleasure in it, but it soon passed as Iroh composed himself.

"You may be right, Firelord. But you forget, they do call me the Dragon of the West."

"Why should I care about a nickname?"

"It's not the nickname. It's how I got it."

And with that, Iroh opened his mouth and spat a stream of fire at his brother. Ozai normally considered himself a more talented firebender than his brother, but Iroh had the element of surprise. Ozai was forced to duck, and by the time he had regained his footing there was only a wall of smoke where Iroh had been. In desperation, Ozai blasted it with lightning, but it hit nothing but the opposite wall.

Iroh was gone.

Ozai cried out in frustration. This day was not to be a total success after all. Still, Iroh couldn't have got far, and he was one old man. What could he do to check the advance of the Fire Nation alone?

The Firelord composed himself, and walked back out of the tea shop. He still had a meeting with destiny to attend.