Chapter 10 — When You're Older

"When he didn't return at all that day, I wondered what could have happened with his father that kept Prince Iroh away."

.

Iroh wondered what this meeting could be about. He was certain his father had just gotten home from the Arena like the rest of them, so the information must have been important to wait for them to discuss it inside the walls of the palace.

Lu Ten and Iroh entered the throne room where Azulon sat behind his curtain of flames. They both bowed, as was custom, and then waited to hear what the Fire Lord had to say. The old man got straight to the point.

"I'm sending you two back to the front." Iroh kept hold of his shocked expression better than his son, but the boy knew enough at least not to say anything.

"When?" Iroh asked.

"I'm sending the newest troops tomorrow," Fire Lord Azulon explained. The time frame was too soon, something must have happened that pushed his father's decision.

At the last strategy meeting, it was decided that the next wave of infantry would be deployed once the siege weapons were ready, and that was months off.

Iroh knew better than to fight with his father over the subject here. He had already expressed his concern at the meeting. Though, being away from the front lines had given him a sense of false hope that the war would end shortly. Maybe this was what needed to happen. Once the war ended and the Fire Nation came out on top, the rest of the world would fall in line. Iroh stood and offered his father another bow; Lu Ten joined him to leave.

"Iroh," called Azulon at the last moment.

"Yes Father?"

"Finish this war my son," Azulon stated. "I'm getting tired. The throne is waiting." Iroh nodded and left the room. Lu Ten did not comment. Iroh figured the boy was smart enough to know what was going on.

It was not surprising that Azulon wanted to wait to pass the throne until the war was over. Iroh figured he wanted the world under his control and in neat order before he gave him his birthright. He was not surprised, his father had always wanted the best for his eldest. Only after seeing his brother Ozai struggle to glean even the slightest portion of his father's respect as an adult did Iroh realize it though.

"You'd better get your stuff together," Iroh stated to Lu Ten. His son nodded, began to walk off, and paused.

"What will you do with the girl?"

"I'll bring her along," Iroh shrugged. He had not thought of what to do with her. Iroh walked back to his rooms to collect his things. He had less than twenty-four hours to get everything set.

Katara was the one piece that he did not know off-hand what to do with. He had taken her in to keep her safe from Zhao. While Iroh respected the man as a soldier, his morals were twisted, along with most of the nobility. He would need to tell Katara of the change in plans.

Iroh was not thrilled to tell her that she would accompany him to the warfront. The last general's tea steward had been a man, so being trapped in a camp of male soldiers was not a big deal.

There were few women soldiers, and the ones who were, were firebenders from lower class families just trying to earn a living, and thus were not likely to step in if they saw their comrades messing with a defenseless servant. As trapped as the young woman was here in the palace, she would truly be a prisoner in a war camp.

Iroh was a very hands-on general. He was not at the very front charge, but he would be on the field giving commands, not holed up in a tent miles away and safe from harm like his second-in-command did. This would mean that she would be left alone in the camp, and even though the men would be under his command, they were a long way from home and he knew many of them lost any morals they kept in the capital.

Iroh walked into the war room and found several other military officers milling about. He knew they had pulled back their attacks at Ba Sing Se to confuse the Earth Kingdom, but for the amount of officers that stood there, it was shocking. He would have guessed they had already won.

"Commander Shu," Iroh called. "Do you have the last year's battle record somewhere?" The man examining the table map at the center of the room nodded and moved to the side of the room. He pulled out a scroll and held it out to Iroh.

"This is the record of our own and the enemy's movements of the last year," Shu stated. "But, I can show you where they are now. I just received a new hawk this morning." Iroh took the scroll and nodded at the commander to explain.

The world map on the table was covered in pieces representing the armies and squadrons of every nation. Flag markers showed towns with quasi-citizen status as well as places that had been destroyed in battle or raids. Iroh had his own marker, being the general. The only other person who had a marker that represented just them as opposed to their unit, was the Fire Lord. Iroh had never understood why the Fire lord would need to be represented on the war map. The flame piece never strayed from the capital.

"Recently, the Earth Kingdom troops have been mounting surprise attacks against our outlaying bases near the west mountains," Shu stated. The other officers made their way over to the table. Iroh knew each one; being an officer for the Fire Nation typically meant one was old, there were very few young officers.

Lu Ten was the youngest at twenty-five, but even he knew his position was in part based on his title rather than experience. He had proven himself before the two of them were called back to the capital, but his rank was still fairly low. Iroh respected that. Officers were usually promoted based on their skills on the field, not how much gold they had at home. At this point in the war, the glory of winning was long gone. These men were battle hardened.

"This camp moved back several miles to avoid the attack they saw coming a week ago," Shu stated, touching the two locations on the map. "The Earth Kingdom troops seem content to slowly drive us back west across the plains to the mountains."

"Have we made any advances?" Iroh questioned, looking over the history scroll. His frown deepened. The General looked to the map.

"We were letting the Earth Kingdom believe we were unsure and not attacking-" stated another officer, seeing the older man's look.

Iroh interrupted, "you were showing them exactly that!" He didn't often raise his voice, but these men had messed up. Luckily, all the ill-timed movements seemed to be recent, as in the last few months.

"Why are there so many of you back in the capital anyway?" Iroh questioned. "Who's leading your troops?" The men looked to each other sheepishly.

"We came to watch the Agni Kai-"

"That was six months ago!" He sighed, "We need to move forward now." He pointed to the table at their armies. "We'll all return to the front with the newest soldiers tomorrow, as I'm sure you've all heard by now." The men nodded, listening to Iroh as he gave his orders.

"Once we make it to the main army, we shall begin our advance to the wall. Our engineers have been working to invent something to help us achieve victory at long last." While the second statement was still months off, it gave the men hope; the eldest prince was glad he kept track of some aspects of the war effort even as removed from it at home as he was. He assumed his officers would have known what to do in his absence, but he had been gone for too long.

Iroh had not prepared a battle plan to share with the others yet, he expected to do that on the march to the wall. It would take at least a week and a half of marching once they got there with the whole new segment of the army in tow; luckily the engineers were working on that as well. The metal tanks they had were quick, but they could not carry everyone at once. There were rumors of flying machines as well, but Iroh refused to get his hopes up on those. Those rumors had been circulating for years in the inner circles of the military.

"General Iroh," said one of the other officers. "I've received the list of all the ships that we are to take with us and the troop numbers as well." Iroh nodded and reached for the new scroll. He set the previous one on the table and scanned the new document.

"Who is the highest ranked officer going with us?" Iroh asked. As per custom, the general always sailed or traveled with the officer with the best rank. They typically had the best accommodations anyway.

"Admiral Zhao will transport you and your son, General Iroh," the officer explained. Iroh froze, remembered the company he was with, and then gave a satisfied nod. Taking Katara was out of the question. She could not be seen by Zhao. Though, with the Admiral out to the country she would be safe if he left her here.

He was tempted to send Shiyu a hawk to let him know that he could have his assistant back. He would need to add that to his to-do list. With what to do with Katara taken care of, Iroh focused on devising a battle plan with the officers as well as looking into their supply-chain needs.

The planning took well into the night; the candles were nearly burned out by the time Iroh left the war room. The remaining time was too short for all he needed to do. At least the boat ride to the western edge of the Earth Kingdom would allow him to catch up on his missed sleep.

It was slightly out of the way for Iroh to head to the roost, but he wanted to warn Shiyu to be ready to take Katara back tomorrow. It was too late tonight; Katara would already be in bed. He hoped he could catch Shiyu before the medic dozed off as well.

The hawkery was silent, as Iroh expected it to be at this hour. He opened the door and walked over to the desk to write Shiyu the missive. The sound of a cage door opening in the back of the room made Iroh pause in the middle of the letter.

"General Iroh."

The hawk squawked as it was taken from the cage. "What a surprise to find you here. Sending your orders to the front?" Iroh refolded the note he was halfway through and held it over the candle till it caught flame. Iroh laughed. The burned pieces of paper floated into the air out the window and vanished.

"I would need to have some orders to send first," Iroh joked. He turned to face the Admiral while grabbing a new parchment sheet. "You missed the meeting this evening."

"Yes," Admiral Zhao smiled without meaning to. "You'll have to forgive me General. I had pressing needs to attend to all day. I had a minor setback in some plans a few days back, and today was needed."

The look the Admiral wore on his face was one most men knew well; though Zhao was especially good at wearing it. Iroh wondered why the Admiral was here, but he was also curious if he had just let slip what he thought he did.

"Oh, I understand Zhao," Iroh stated, "But will one day be enough to hold you through the months that we'll be away?"

"No," Admiral Zhao responded bluntly, "but the girls at the Spitfire made a good effort. It's been nearly a year since I'd gone through that many whores in a single day." Iroh closed his eyes, held them shut for a moment and then looked back at the Admiral. Zhao was still basking in his past performance glow and seemed to be caught off guard by Iroh's next question.

"Who's the message for?"

"My mother," the Admiral said without missing a beat, and rolled his eyes. "It's news of my departure if she wishes to see me off in the morning. And your own?" He had been referring to the missive that Iroh burned.

"It's to my wife," Iroh lied, bowing his head. Zhao grimaced.

"How a sentimental old fool like you wins all the battles you do, I'll never know." Zhao scowled. He stepped to the window, threw open the latches, and tossed the hawk bearing his message out into the sky. Iroh watched the creature flap out of sight, and he moved to the door. He would risk not sending the medic a note and just show up in the morning.

"I'll see you in the morning General Iroh," Zhao stated when the two men left the roost. Iroh bid him goodnight and walked back to this room. Once there, he sent a silent but actual prayer to his wife in the spirit world.

...

The next morning Iroh awoke with the sun as he always did and changed into his formal officer attire. It was never worn otherwise, aside from these public events and at a battle's end. Iroh understood the reason behind the two sets of silks for officers, but it meant bringing both of them to battle. His actual armor, with real, heavy metal plating was packed up and already being transported to Zhao's ship. These formal outfits had little metal on them, making them easier to move in with fewer restrictions. The red silk and leather padding was soft and unbroken without having to withstand years of fire blasts and weapon thrusts. It would do him little good in an actual battle.

Lu Ten met him at the door that led them out of their wing of the palace and into the main building. Lu Ten's uniform was less elaborate then this father's, but still stood out amongst the others of same rank because of his bloodline.

In the main hall, Iroh was intercepted by one of his father's general servants. The man bowed and offered Iroh a scroll, still bound with an unbroken wax seal. Immediately Iroh wondered who it could be from. Wax, unless used by the royal family, was uncommon.

The message must be important. He opened the note as Lu Ten followed him to the dining room. It was still too early for the rest of the family to normally be out; though today, they would all be up and gathered at the docks soon enough.

The grand ceremony that would take place with their departure would not be missed by his brother and his family. Ozai had never been a soldier; he was better suited for the court games the nobles played. Even with his bending at the level it was, he declined Azulon's recent offer to give him a position of command in the military like Iroh's own. The eldest prince did not want to think too hard as to why.

Iroh sat at the table, picked up a slice of bread, and opened the note. He noticed it was from Shiyu and dated with yesterday's date. The runner the medic handed it to had obviously not been in a hurry. He scanned the letter and frowned.

"Who's it from?" Lu Ten asked nonchalantly as he ate his own breakfast. The both of them knew to savor this meal where the table was piled high with everything they could want. The battlefield was no place for such feasts.

"Shiyu. He took on an apprentice. A young man from the Academy."

Lu Ten grinned. "That's great. He took your advice then."

"Except I was going to give him back Katara."

"You changed your mind then about bringing her?"

"Zhao-" Iroh began, but the door was thrown open. A frazzled looking servant bowed low and quickly began speaking.

"Excuse the intrusion your highnesses, but the Fire Lord expects your presence at the docks in seven minutes for the prelaunch check," he stammered. "I tried to get here as fast-" Iroh and Lu Ten had already stood and moved to the door, passing the poor man still catching his breath.

"We're on Zhao's ship for the journey there. He can't see her. I wouldn't be able to hide her the whole time. Now Shiyu wouldn't be able to take her back. I can't leave her in that room for the time it would take to return-"

Lu Ten interrupted. "Someone else could take her." Iroh sighed and shook his head. They neared the doors that led to the main steps leading from the palace. He didn't want to leave Katara here unprotected: even with his own family.

Azulon would have no use for her; his own servants are all highly specialized and loyal to him only. He wouldn't want her around.

Ozai would gladly take her, but Iroh feared what might happen if he caught her alone. His brother's relationship with his wife was off and on. Lady Ursa was a strong woman, but even she could only put up with so much of her husband before refusing to share his bed. Ozai was known to take his frustration out on female servants; he would have saved Katara from one monster just to hand her over to another.

The women, Lady Ursa and Azula, had servants of their own, but they ultimately belonged to Ozai. Some old Fire Lord long ago had decided that woman could not oversee their own servants even though that was how the nobility worked today. Lady Ursa oversaw much of the day-to-day logistics of the servants in Ozai's wing of the palace, but she 'owned' none of their own, and then it hit him.

"Zuko," Iroh smiled and stopped on the top step outside the palace, even as his son passed him by a few steps. "Lu Ten-"

"What?"

"Zuko," Iroh smiled as he caught his breath. "Zuko can-"

"I'll tell him," the boy offered. He seemed to understand his father's train of thought. "I'm not sure if he'll know what to do with her though. He's never had a servant to his name. And we all know how well my first experience went." The boy grimaced.

Iroh laughed. "He'll figure it out. I trust him. I'll see you at the docks." Lu Ten nodded, turned back in the direction they had come from and vanished.

Iroh moved down to the docks with a lighter step. He was positive his nephew would watch over the girl while he was away. She seemed fairly obedient and the youngest prince was not prone to physical attacks on other people when he lost his temper, at least not that he had seen.

Besides, the boy needed to learn responsibility and Iroh figured keeping watch over Katara would be helpful. He had little doubt things would be anything but ok on the home front.

(Original Author's Note) Woo! New chapter! Iroh's turn at carrying the story.

Just so everyone knows, this is now my most reviewed story ever! Yay!

*The chapter title comes from "Trust Me" by The Fray*