CHAPTER 7-HANA

It did not take long for the two to fall in love. When Iroh was around, Hana softened up. When Hana was near Iroh, he felt comfortable talking about his true journey, and what the change had meant to him.

There was one problem; Iroh did not feel comfortable bringing Hana to the palace. It was not because he was embarrassed of her, but more so afraid of how his family would respond to her. This did bother Hana, while she understood his reasons, she was nonetheless disappointed.

"So when am I going to meet your family?" Hana asked one afternoon, while they were walking around the marketplace.

Iroh sighed, "I know you want to meet my family, but I am not sure if it would be a pleasant experience."

'Iroh, we have been together for months now, they must know you are seeing me."

"My family is uninterested in me, and my social agenda." Iroh looked at her facial expression, "if it means that much to you, you can meet my family for dinner, how about tomorrow?"

Hana's face lit up. "I would love to!"

"I need to head home and get plans set up for dinner tomorrow."

Iroh kissed Hana on the cheek and left for the palace. He reached the palace and requested an audience with his father. His father seemed disinterested in the fact that Iroh had a love interest, but agreed to have her over for dinner the following night.

Dinner went surprisingly smoothly, as well as they could have anyway. Ozai was crude and the firelord was indifferent, but Hana did not seem to mind.

After dinner, while Iroh and Hana were walking home, Iroh stopped at the location in which they first met. "I never told you this, but it was your rejection which persuaded me to explore the world. How you saw me as a bully, I just did not know what to do. That is not who I wanted to be, so I left, to find myself and who I wanted to be."

"I never expected to find you again, or for you to give me another chance. Even on my journey I did not find anyone who I found as beautiful as you. And the more I have gotten to know you, the more I find you both beautiful. You push me to be a better person, and I am not sure if I could ever live without you."

Hana was blushing, unsure of how to respond. Iroh smiled at her and kissed her passionately on the lips. He pulls an intricate red and gold hairpiece out of his pocket, "What I am trying to say is, Hana, will you accept my hand in marriage?"

She hugged him tightly and beamed, "of course I will Iroh!" Hana placed her Fire Nation engagement hairpiece in her hair.

In a few months their wedding was arranged, and it went without a hitch. Hana and Iroh moved into the southern wing of the palace. The two made each other completely and utterly happy. All of their free time, they spent with each other.

Hana provided Iroh a nice break from the duties of being crowned prince of the Fire Nation. Iroh would get her to relax. Normally, she was closed off and intense. She did not open up to anyone inside the palace walls. However, when Iroh was around she was a different person, and for the better.

One night, while in their personal quarters, Hana walked in with something on her mind.

Iroh kissed her on the cheek. "My dear, is something bothering you?"

Hana just shook her head, unable to form any form of sentence. This began to trouble Iroh. "Whatever it is, I am here for you."

She sat down on the bed next to Iroh, held his hand, and looked him in the eyes. "We're pregnant." She stated simply.

"What?!" Iroh was shocked, they were trying to have a child for months with no such luck.

"I did not want to tell you until I was sure. I am pregnant, and at least a couple months along."

Iroh hugged his wife and kissed her. "I am so happy!" Iroh turned and faced his wife's stomach. "You are going to be so loved baby, you have pretty awesome parents. I cannot wait to meet you." Hana smiled at Iroh's excitement for her news. He turned to her and hugged her again, "we're going to be wonderful parents!" Iroh exclaimed.

Hana smiled, but was apprehensive about something. She hid it well from Iroh.

During the remaining months of her pregnancy, Iroh cosseted Hana. For Iroh, this was a wonderful excuse to avoid war meetings and engagements with his family. Their love grew over the months of her being pregnant. While this was true, Hana started to distance herself from Iroh, but he was in too much bliss to notice any difference her attitude.

"And push!" Followed by screaming came from behind a door. Iroh paced back and forth while he heard Hana screaming in pain. After what seemed like hours, Iroh was allowed into the room with Hana and their baby boy.

He turned to the closest servant. "It's a boy!" He hugged the servant. "I am a dad!" The servant was taken aback by Iroh's behavior. "Congratulations Sir" the servant said reluctantly.

Iroh coddled the baby, smiled with the biggest grin. He kissed Hana and on the forehead and held her hand while she rested. He held her hand and continued to kiss both members of his family.

"What do we want to name him?" Hana asked in a half asleep tone of voice. Iroh looked at his baby boy and smiled, "I know exactly what I want to call him. I want to name him Lu Ten."

Hana smiled and nodded before falling asleep.

With baby Lu Ten in his arms, Iroh walked around the palace talking to his son. "You are going to grow up and be so loved. I won't let you make the same mistakes I did. You are going to be twice the man I am."

Beaming, Iroh was incredibly happy with his first born son. He was on his way to show his father his first grandson until he was stopped.

"Prince Iroh!" A servant came running towards Iroh. He was out of breath and looked flushed.

"What's wrong?!" Iroh's heart started to race.

"Your wife, Hana, there is something wrong. Hurry, you need to hurry!" The servant waved Iroh to follow him back to the south corridor of the palace.

Iroh ran as fast as he could with Lu Ten in his arms back to Hana's room. However, by the time Iroh arrived, it was too late-Hana was dead.

Iroh looked upon his wife's corpse. He put the baby in the nearby cradle. "No! You can't be dead! You cannot be dead! You can't leave me here! What about our son? What about our future together?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her as if that was going to wake her.

"Sir, I am so sorry, there was nothing we could do. She had been sick for a long time; she knew she was not going to make it after giving birth to your son."

This crushed Iroh. "WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME?!"

"She instructed us not to. She wanted you to have pleasant memories before she passed," the servant said in a quiet tone. "Sir, I am so sorry. She loved you, and wanted you to enjoy your last few months together."

Iroh was a loss of words. His knees could no longer support him. He crumpled beside his wife's bedside and began to weep. One of the servants tried to console him. "LEAVE ME!" Iroh screamed.

The servants looked upon the person who had become their friend, and was at a loss for words. Once the servants left, baby Lu Ten began to cry. Iroh did not want to see his son, the reminder as to why he lost his wife, he ignored his son's cries and left the room with Lu Ten still inside.

Leaving the palace, Iroh went into the city and began to cause terror in the town's people. He attacked anyone who looked at him. His firebending, was no longer fueled by the idea that fire comes from life, warmth, and energy, rather his firebending was fueled by anger & frustration.

Back in the palace, Iroh walked through the garden. By this point it was past midnight, and Iroh was left alone to walk through the garden. In the pond, there was a mother tutleduck and her turtleducklings. At the sight of seeing the mother happy with her turtleducklings, Iroh was preparing an attack when something weird happened. A burst of light came over Iroh. When the light was gone, he was no longer in the Fire Nation palace; actually, he had no idea where he was.