Avatar: The Last Airbender Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Avatar: The Last Airbender Owned By: Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom
All original content and characters © Acastus


Chapter XXXVIII – Rhiannon

As soon as the doors closed behind Tien Shin the governor stepped forward and hugged Iroh fiercely.

"I am so glad to see you, Iroh, thank Agni you're alive," she began, her voice thick.

"I'm so sorry, Rhiannon," he replied, gripping her tightly in return, "I know you loved him."

"Yes, I did, so much," she agreed through tears, "How, Iroh? How could this have happened?"

They released each other and after he removed his helmet, Iroh recounted the central events leading up to Lake Myojin and all that happened after. At the end he produced his cousin's final epistle and handed it to her.

She finished the letter and sobbed bitterly. He took the letter back as she wiped the tears from her fair skin, her eyes closed in grief.

"He knew you loved him, his last thought was of you," he said, trying to comfort her.

"Yes, but that isn't enough," she confessed sadly, "I wanted a life with him."

She opened her eyes, her look now cold and hard.

"I am only glad that you are in command instead of that… that reptile," scorn dripped from her voice as she uttered the last word.

"And as long as I command you have nothing to fear from Tien Shin," Iroh vowed.

"No," she agreed, her countenance still frozen, "as long as you command… but he will never forgive me coming here instead of marrying him as your step-mother willed. If anyone has destroyed our happiness, Iroh, it is her."

"Lady Ila is, I grant you, a formidable opponent," he conceded, unable to keep the bitterness from his own voice.

"You must be careful," she continued, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You have prevailed for now, but you are in danger as long as Tien Shin lives."

"I know, just make sure he doesn't get his hands on any messenger hawks."

"Yes, I read your letter," she said with a wry smile, "He won't send any communications to the capital from Mequon, I promise."

The young general thought for a moment before laying a hand on top of hers and replying.

"You are wise and always were," Iroh squeezed her hand and looked down, "Maybe now I have finally learned the lesson that Father tried to teach me before we began this campaign."

He looked up to see her eyebrows disappear under her bangs, prompting him to continue.

"That I am in constant danger and surrounded by enemies," he explained in a tone of resignation, but then added with a smile, "but if that is true, it is also equally true that I have the greatest of friends who will see me through."

She matched his smile, her expression instantly softening, though her eyes were still red from the tears.

His smile evaporated.

"I'm sorry about your father. We should have come, but father forbade us."

She looked down, her smile vanishing as well.

"I know."

"What happened? Gan had doubts about the official reports and you refused to address it in your letters to us. None of us knew what to believe and father wouldn't speak of it. Was it the Dai Li?"

"No… No, it wasn't," she replied in a mysterious tone, "and though I did find some of the people involved in his murder, I haven't yet discovered what actually killed him."

"What?" Iroh questioned with a perplexed expression, "Don't you mean "who?""

"No," she replied, her expression stoic, "I don't."

Iroh shook his head in dismay. He knew her moods and it was clear she would not elaborate.

"We should have come," he repeated in a tone of sullen distress.

"There was nothing you could have done, Iroh… and we don't have time for it now."

He nodded, for he knew she was right. Changing the subject, he began again, his smile returning.

"I am so glad to see you, Rhiannon, though I never expected it, even if it is under these terrible circumstances. How many years now has it been?"

"Six."

"Six years!" he exclaimed incredulously, "You know Gan of course, but Nikon, Chieng and her mother, Lady Kanjana, will be new to you."

"That's Liu Shiung's wife and daughter, yes?"

Iroh nodded. Briefly he explained their respective roles, highlighting Chieng inventions and astounding achievement in crossing the desert as well as her caustic nature.

"You sound very impressed with her," she observed.

"Well," he replied, suddenly flustered, "shouldn't I be?"

"I suppose you should," she replied, the smile in her eyes spreading to her face, "She has her mother's strength, but she seems a lot like her father."

"Yes," Iroh agreed quickly, recovering his composure with a wry laugh, "I don't remember meeting her father, but tact is apparently not something that comes naturally to the noble house of Shiung."

"I suppose tact isn't necessary for inventors and engineers, but it is required for us," then, tapping him on his shoulder, "not that Xian and I could ever get you to see that."

"It is," he admitted with chagrin, "as I am only just learning. You come by it naturally from your own father. He would be so proud to see you now, a successful governor like him."

"Yes, he would, but I would do anything to have him back," she vowed, "I came with him to avoid a forced marriage to a man I hate. I never wanted to be governor nor did I ever think it a possibility."

"That may be why you came, but I doubt very much that is why you have stayed."

"No, it isn't, but I hoped he would give up on me all the same," she said in exasperation.

Iroh smiled at his friend, wondering whether she knew just how beautiful she was.

"You are a tremendous prize for my step brother, Rhiannon, and you know why. The noble house of T'zan's wealth and power is second only to my own, and is much more closely related to the imperial family than his mother's. I suppose I am fortunate that I don't have a sister."

Her expression soured further at this and murmured, "You make it sound as if he wishes to strengthen a claim for the throne."

"Do you doubt his ambition?" Iroh replied softly, "I don't."

The young governor shook her head slowly.

Silence fell over them like a soft, familiar blanket. Her expression grew apprehensive as she saw the question she dreaded forming in her friend's brown eyes.

"Now, Rhiannon…," he said finally, "tell me truly…what have you seen?"

She made no immediate reply.

"I saw your reaction when Tien Shin asked about Vyazma and the Field of Coins. You've seen something, haven't you?"

"Yes," she answered, unconsciously starting to wring her hands.

"What did you see? Please… I must know."

Rhiannon looked away and walked over to the curule chair. She turned and sat down. Iroh followed her, placing a foot on the arm rest of the chair and placing his arm on his knee. He stared at her intently.

"Please," he repeated softly, for he knew what it would cost her to tell him.

She replied after a short silence, her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her.

"Iroh, don't make me…" she whispered, "It won't help you."

"You don't know that," he contradicted genlty, "If Xian's letter had reached my uncle before the Battle of the Song things might have gone differently. Now, tell me."

Her hands clenched tight, she closed her eyes and began.

"I saw the downs of Vyazma ablaze in a sea of fire, and bloody combat rage across the steppes… I saw the enemy attacking the outer walls of the city… huge tracts of it lay in ruins… I knew then the war would soon return to Mequon, but I did not know how."

"When did you see this?"

"Before your messenger hawk even arrived," she replied, opening her eyes to look at him, "I sent the message you wanted long before I ever heard from you. Whether it will help us or not… I do not know."

He took her face in his hands.

"Rhiannon, you may have just won the war for us."

He kissed her forehead and released her.

"I want to believe that. I do."

She turned her head slightly, regarding him now from only one eye. Clearly there was more.

"What else?" Iroh prompted.

Her eyes closed again, and her forehead creased in concentration as if trying to recall a distant memory.

"I saw… an enormous lake, black and still in a vast cavern… I saw the enemy himself kneel in prayer over the body of a fallen comrade… and…"

She looked up at him then suddenly, her eyes suddenly shimmering with unshed tears.

"…and I saw…I saw you, Iroh, led away from the Fire Lord's palace… in chains."

He stood up and looked down at her. Silent tears cascaded down her face once more.

"Was that all?" he asked finally, his voice unnaturally calm.

"I'm sorry, Iroh," she said failing to answer his question, "I'm so sorry! I don't understand! I don't know whether you will win or not! I don't why you will be in chains! I see these awful things, but never enough to do anything about it! I hate this! I hate it so much!"

She buried her face in her hands and began to sob once again. Iroh placed his hands on her head and ran one hand gently through her blonde locks in a gesture of comfort, though he looked past her into blank space.

"I know, Rhiannon," he remarked somewhat absently as his mind absorbed the disturbing vision, "and I'm sorry I had to ask."

She raised her head, wiped away her tears and pulled his hands into her own.

"How could this ever happen, your Highness? How could this be?"

Iroh refocused his attention on his friend. He briefly recounted his conversation with Gan as they crossed the desert and the public threats issued by Tien Shin upon his unwelcome return.

"So you see," Iroh concluded bitterly, "there's a chance I will be arrested whether I win or lose, but if I am defeated, your vision will certainly come to pass. Tien Shin will make sure of it."

"Then let's arrest Tien Shin now!" she cried, standing up, "I will do it on my own authority! I won't let you –"

"No!" he shouted, terrified that she would suddenly call for the guards to carry out her vow, "We can't! We can't just kill him! We have no grounds! Unless he accepts an agni kai it's murder, you understand?"

She only wrung her hands in reply.

"Besides, Tien Shin doesn't matter! If I lose and survive to return home what do you expect my father to do with me!?"

He pushed her gently back down onto her seat.

"Will we lose then?" she asked finally in a small voice.

"What else can it mean?" he asked in an equally low tone, "Yet what else can I do, but go on? The only way to ensure that your vision comes to pass is to give up – or kill Tien Shin outside of an agni kai. Anyway, maybe it doesn't matter… isn't the fate of the Fire Nation more important than one life, even my own?"

Once again she made no response.

Iroh sighed. He knew there was no answer, neither for him nor for Xian. Unbidden the memory of his cousin's final letter rang clear in his mind.

I have pressed on for many reasons, but none as potent as the certainty that the fastest way to end this war would be to lose it. Even in death I cannot help but do everything in my power to avoid that fate for the country I love beyond measure.

He hadn't fully understood what his cousin had meant with those words until now. Yes, he would go on for the sake of the Fire Nation, no matter his personal fate. There was simply no alternative.

Thrusting these thoughts aside, Iroh continued.

"When you foresaw my uncle's death long ago, how did you know the Battle of the Song would be lost as well?"

She looked up, unprepared for the question. She gathered her thoughts before replying.

"Um… because I remember seeing the earthbenders raise up rock partitions between our formations. I saw our soldiers try desperately to scale the walls to help their comrades, but fail. I watched the enemy cut them to pieces one regiment at a time."

"So you actually saw the battle?"

She nodded, clearly unhappy and rapidly growing exhausted with the questioning. She knew with Iroh's arrival it was inevitable, but the inevitability made it no easier to bear.

"But not this time?"

"No, not this time," she confirmed.

"All right, well, at least I can clear up the part about the lake."

She looked at him expectantly. Quickly he related the story about the underground dam, the monorail station and the massive flood he and Nikon had created.

"Here's the crystal I found," he concluded, drawing forth the polished stone from a pocket.

She took it in her hands, her brow furrowing.

"Ever seen a gem like that before?"

"No," she replied, her countenance troubled, "but it looks like something I read about once… part of a matrix table perhaps."

"A what?"

"Never mind," she said quickly as she handed it back, "Keep it safe somewhere, I don't think it's important now and it's probably not dangerous on its own."

Iroh regarded the crystal for a moment before taking her hand and placing the crystal in her palm.

"No, you keep it. If it's worth something it's safer here with you than going with me into battle."

Rhiannon hesitated, but then inclined her head in acceptance. The crystal disappeared into a fold of her kimono.

"Who else knows about all this?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.

"We told Gan. He was of course immediately intrigued and wanted to go see, but I decided against it. I ordered them not to speak of this to anyone."

"Why?"

"Because it raises a lot of questions I'm not sure anyone should answer," he replied with some hesitation, "That book talked about a lot of other things that, if dug up, could be very dangerous."

"I've read it, Iroh, who do you think gave it to Gan in the first place?"

"Really? I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"No, you shouldn't. I am surprised, however that you read it," she said with wry amusement, "I remember you saying things like "a warrior doesn't need to read" and "the Fire Lord has people to read things for him" when we were little."

"Things have changed… I've changed, I think," Iroh admitted introspectively, "Xian might even have made me a tea drinker," then, before he could stop himself blurted, "Chieng has a nice ginseng tea that I think I really like."

"Oh?" she prompted, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Yes," Iroh confirmed, but escaped further elaboration by returning to the earlier subject, "but anyway, I don't know where that monorail line goes, but it clearly didn't work on earthbending."

Her smile faded as he described the system map on the wall of the monorail station.

"I could read a few of the station names. Omashu was called "Omaha", Amiganza was called, I don't remember exactly, but something close to that. There were a bunch of names in some language I didn't recognize at all. Some city the book called "West Portal" was on it too. Apparently it was destroyed long ago by some enormous monster."

"Yes, Ghidorah," she supplied automatically.

"What?"

"The ancients gave the terrifying monster that destroyed West Portal the name of Ghidorah. It destroyed the last vestiges of the ancient world before it was finally defeated. Some say it was killed by the Avatar, others say it was driven away by the awesome weapons still wielded by mankind in those days… after the wars, plagues and disasters came that transformed the world forever."

Iroh paused, his expression thoughtful.

"Where did you find the name? It wasn't in the book."

"That isn't the only source on the subject, Iroh," she replied with some trepidation.

The young general frowned in confusion.

"You read the book, didn't you? Alhazred," she pronounced the name of the author fluently, though it was clearly of foreign origin, "indirectly referenced a lot of other works, and…," her voice dropping to a whisper, "that isn't the only book Alhazred wrote."

"So, where did you find them? Did you read them?"

She hesitated.

"Like my father's murder, we don't have time for such things now," she concluded finally, her voice suddenly strong and confident.

She stood up and Iroh backed up to allow her to take a few steps forward. The governor's eyes, now hard, locked with Iroh's.

"Yes, you were right to conceal what you found. There are other, darker mysteries even than Ghidorah down that road. Disaster and madness will be the only reward for those who foolishly choose to tread there."

"You're scaring me, Rhiannon… I saw the dam so I believe in these things, yet you seem to know much more about them than I."

The governor eyed him speculatively, wondering how much to reveal. Iroh saw the hesitation and suddenly the questions came tumbling out, one after the other as his mind processed the possibilities.

"What do you know…? What could you know…? What is there to know?"

She looked away. Iroh sighed as he watched her struggle. Rhiannon had always been this way, full of wisdom and secrets. Always intriguing, often infuriating, and, to boot, she was usually right. Still, they were no longer children and this was not a game.

"I have seen the past as well as the future, Iroh," she finally responded in a bleak tone, "and I have seen no good in either."

A moment passed as they regarded each other in silence.

"All right," he said with a sigh and raising his hands in mock defeat, "as you say we have more pressing problems anyway."

"Yes," she agreed, relieved to escape the prior subject, even if it meant considering the destruction of her present home, "Nifong approaches. How will you deal with him? I didn't fully understand the conversation in council. Why would you ever want to fight them in the Field of Coins? They already outnumber us badly, why fight them where they have the advantage of such weapons?"

Iroh smiled.

"I will explain tomorrow. Come to the camp in the morning and I will show you."

She agreed and smiled in return, trying and failing to banish from her mind the image of her friend in chains.