It was one of the rare moments where he got leave from his duties as general and he chose to spend the day with his young son. Lu Ten chased him up the hill where a lone tree stood, laughing all the way. He imitated the stance that most firebenders used and pretended to strike his father with a blast of fire. "Ha! I got you, Dad!"
Iroh turned and clutched his chest, falling back onto the soft grass. "Oh!" Young Lu Ten ran and jumped on top of his father in a dog pile, landing on his father's belly.
Laughter filled that day.
Years later and under that same tree, he knelt amidst the falling rain. There he had buried his own son who had died in battle. "My beloved Lu Ten..." He whispered unto the grave he had built. "I will see you again."
"Uncle?" Iroh opened his eyes to find his nephew, looking at him with relief in his golden eyes. "You were unconscious." Iroh got up, his chest and shoulder slightly sore still, but bandaged sufficiently. "Azula did this to you... It was a surprise attack."
"Somehow, that's not so surprising." Iroh leaned against the wall with great effort. Zuko took a cup and poured his uncle some tea.
"I hope I made it the way you like it." Zuko handed over the cup to a grateful Iroh. He closed his eyes and took a sip.
The taste sent shivers down his spine and he resisted the urge to spit it back out. "Good." He deadpanned. "That was very...um...bracing."
He gave the cup back to Zuko and gulped nervously when he saw him pour another cup and hand it back to him. Zuko turned back to the kettle to pour himself a cup and Iroh took this opportunity to throw the foul contents out the window behind him.
"So..." Zuko started. "It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I'm going to stand a chance against her." He looked down at the floorboards. "I know what you're going to say: She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her-"
"No, she's crazy and she needs to go down." The prince was a bit taken aback, but he nodded in understanding. Iroh stood up, slowly but surely. "It's time to resume your training."
Kai, Yona and Hachi listened intently as Lily told them what she saw in her mind yesterday. "It was a little girl, she looked like me, but younger... Her face was painted white and she had red lips. She was wearing this beautiful dress... She was spinning and holding golden fans..."
"You must be a Kyoshi Warrior then!" Hachi exclaimed. "If it's painted faces, red lips and fans, you must be Kyoshi Warrior!"
They were in the town proper, showing Lily around the flea market and the plaza. "A Kyoshi warrior huh..." Lily mused as they tugged her to a small library situated in the middle of the plaza, inside were numerous scrolls and leather-bound books that were placed in ceiling-high shelves, as well as stacked in towers from the floor.
Hachi ran to one of the shelves, pulling out a green leather-bound book and turning to a specific page. He showed it to Lily. "This is what a Kyoshi Warrior looks like! They are elite warriors from the Kyoshi Island which is in the southern part of the Earth Kingdom!"
Lily carefully looked at the sketch of the warrior. True enough, they had the same white painted face that she had as well as golden fans. "Maybe I am a Kyoshi Warrior!" A sense of relief filled her, but it was short-lived. "But how will I go to Kyoshi Island?"
"I can take you there." Kai smiled kindly at her. "My father's coming home tomorrow from his fishing trip, and I'll ask my friend to cover for my market deliveries—"
"No, I don't want to be a burden, Kai..."
"You are not a burden at all, Lily. I'll be more than glad to help."
She looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."
Lily may not realize it, but as she smiled; breaths hitched, eyes widened, and lumps in the throat formed.
Iroh had been teaching Zuko the art of creating lightning, just like Azula's technique. However, as skilled as the prince is in firebending, his mind is still clouded. His form and stance may be correct, but when he tries to release the energy, it ends up in an explosion that sends him flying back and on the ground.
"Why can't I do it?!" He clenched his fists in anger. "Instead of lightning it keeps exploding in my face! Like everything always does..."
"I was afraid this might happen." Iroh approached his nephew. "You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside of you."
"What turmoil?!" Zuko snapped.
"Zuko... You must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away..."
The prince stood up to face his uncle. "But I don't feel any shame at all! I'm as proud as ever!"
Uncle Iroh sighed. His nephew still has a lot to learn. "Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."
"Well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately..." Zuko mumbled more to himself. He thought back to the past few days when he journeyed on his own, going hungry, growing tired, being cast out.
The old man sympathized with him. "I have another idea... I will teach you a firebending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself!" Iroh said proudly and Zuko looked back, hope filling him once again.
They sat at the edge of the cliff and Iroh started his lecture. He told his nephew the essences of the four elements, the four nations, and what they represent. But these are things that Zuko already knew. "Why are you telling me these things?"
"Because it is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole."
"All this four elements talk is sounding like Avatar stuff." He looked at the ground where his uncle had drawn the symbol of the four elements.
"It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful," He pointed the staff he had been using to draw on the dirt straight at Zuko's chest. "But it can make you more powerful, too. You see, the technique I'm going to teach you, is one I learned by studying the waterbenders!"
Zuko smiled. If this is a technique from the waterbenders, Azula surely would know nothing about it. He now has the element of surprise.
The sun had started to set and Iroh taught him the basic moves of the waterbenders. It was very different from the rigid styles of firebending. Their movements required flexibility, fluid movements, in the arms, hands, and stances.
"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their defense become their offense, turning their opponent's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning."
"You can teach me to redirect lightning?!" He couldn't help the excitement that mixed into his tone. With this technique, he could actually take Azula head-on.
Iroh nodded. "If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it." He raised a hand at the level of his head, and used his other to demonstrate the flow of lightning. "You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm, to your shoulder, then down to your stomach." He rested his hand on the bulge of his belly. "The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called the sea of chi. Only in my case it is like a vast ocean." He laughed at his own quip, but Zuko was too focused so he resumed. "From the stomach, you direct it up again and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical. You must not let it pass through your heart, for the damage could be deadly."
Zuko imitated as Uncle Iroh had demonstrated, feeling his chi move from his fingertips, to his arm, down his stomach, back up to his shoulder and through his fingertips. He did it several times until he finally got a good feel of it.
Uncle Iroh smiled. "Excellent! You've got it!"
"Great! I'm ready to try it with real lightning!"
"What?! Are you crazy?! Lightning is very dangerous!"
Zuko was dumbfounded. "I thought that was the point? You teaching me how to protect myself from it!"
His fatherly instincts suddenly came out. "Yeah! But I'm not going to shoot lightning at you! If you're lucky, you will never have to use this technique at all!"
The prince turned away from his uncle to look at the distance where a storm was forming. "Well, if you won't help me, I'll find my own lightning!"
"Has Kai finally taken a wife, Aila?" A man with graying hair smiled kindly at the young woman, his eyes crinkling at the sides much like how Kai smiles. They were having dinner out in the front yard, under the light of the moon and stars.
"Father!" The young man's cheeks were tinged slightly pink at his father's query.
"Yeah, dad! That's Kai's girlfriend!"
"A friend that happens to be a girl!" Kai emphasized as he flicked Yona on the forehead, earning a soft slap on the arm from his mother.
Lily laughed and watched the exchange between the family. Her mind trailed off and she wondered if she had a family too. She wondered if her parents were as warm as Aila and Tong. She wondered if she had siblings as caring and cheerful as Kai and Yona.
She wondered if they were somewhere out there, worried and looking for her.
"By the way, father." Kai started. "I'm going to take Lily south, to Kyoshi Island. We figured that she might be one of the Kyoshi Warriors based on the memories she remembered yesterday."
Yona tugged at her brother's shirt. "I'm coming with you, right?"
"I'm afraid you can't, shortstuff." Kai ruffled her hair. "Besides you gotta stay at home and help mom and take care of father."
The girl crossed her arms and looked away. "You're just saying that so that you and Lily could be alone together!"
Lily choked on her rice and Aila had to pat her back, chuckling lightly as she handed her a cup of tea. "I'll prepare your things tonight so you could leave before sunrise tomorrow."
"T-thank you, Aila..." Lily breathed after washing down the rice.
Lily washed the dishes after dinner. She had gotten used to doing most of the household work thanks to Aila and Yona. It was the least she could do, considering all the help they have given her.
As she was scrubbing the last of the pots, she suddenly felt a searing pain in her chest. She dropped the pot, and clutched her chest. Her heart was beating so fast that it almost broke through her ribs. She leaned on the counter, her eyes scrunched close in agony.
And as sudden as it had come, it stopped. She was left breathing heavily through her mouth, sweating coming off her in cold beads.
'What just happened to me?'
Rain pummeled unrelenting on the jagged rock formation where Zuko stood. He looked up at the dark sky, filled with dark, heavy clouds. "You've always thrown everything you could at me!" He shouted angrily, his voice almost being drowned by the strong howls of the wind and rain. "Well I can take it! And now I can give it back!"
He willed the lightning to strike him.
He willed for the universe to reveal its ugly self and unleash the wrath it had always cursed onto him.
And as if in response to him, lightning struck far in the distance, away from him. "COME ON!" He dared the skies to strike him once more. "STRIKE ME! You've never held back before!" His heart hammered against his chest as he let the years of pain, agony, shame and anger all out. He laid it all for the universe to see what it had dealt him.
He closed his eyes tight and let the tears escape, mixing with the rain that fell on his face. He knelt on the ground and yelled out his frustration.