It wasn't until a couple days later that Katalina decided to finally introduce the others to Iroh. So she woke up early that morning and found that Jet was also already awake.

"Wow, this is unlike you," he greeted her.

"Shut up," she replied. "I needed to catch you before you left."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"There's someone I know who would like to meet you and the others."

"Who?"

"He's a member of the Order of the White Lotus."

"The what?"

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "The White Lotus Society."

"I have no idea what that is."

"Because it's a secret society. Either way, they want to meet you and the others. Or one member does, at least."

"All right, we'll go once we finish up work at the wall for the day."

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe we could just take a break today. I mean, it'd only be one day and there'd still be plenty more work for us to do tomorrow and every day after that."

"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay."

"Let's go get the others, then."

So the two of them got ready for the day, and then they were off. Their first stop was Jin's house. When they got there, they saw that she was already up and about, watering the plants in front of her house.

"Good morning, Jin," Jet greeted her.

She stopped and turned around before smiling at us. "Good morning."

"We're taking a break from rebuilding the city today," Katalina said back.

"And we're doing what instead?"

"There's someone who wants to meet you. I'll explain more once we have the other three so that way I don't have to keep explaining it over and over again."

"All right. One moment." She went back inside and returned a couple minutes later. "Let's go."

Their next stop was Hakara's house. And coincidentally, as they passed it they saw that she was on her way out. She turned away from the door and saw her three friends and laughed. "I was just going to find you guys."

"Well, we found you first," Jet said back. "C'mon, Lina said that there's someone who wants to meet us."

"Is that so?" Hakara replied.

"It is so," Katalina confirmed. "So no working for us today. Besides, I think we deserve a nice little break."

"The hell we do," a male voice agreed from behind. They all turned to see Yolanda and Shion heading their way. "First all the fighting and now this," Shion went on. "I'd say we definitely deserve a break."

Yolanda laughed. "So what are we doing instead?" she wondered.

"Meeting someone," Jet answered.

"He's an old friend from the Fire Nation who also helped fight the Colonies and put an end to this war," Katalina explained to them as they continued walking. "He's part of the White Lotus Society and he said that he wants to meet you all."

"Oh, is this the same guy—?"

"No Jet, this is someone else," she cut him off.

"So he's another firebender that was against the war?" Jin clarified.

"Yes and no. He actually used to be the Fire Nation's greatest General. He's the man that almost brought down Ba Sing Se the first time."

Shion's eyes widened. "The Dragon of the West?"

"That would be him."

"I've always wondered what stopped him from overtaking Ba Sing Se."

"His son was killed in battle and he just…fell apart. It devastated him and he no longer wanted anything to do with the war."

"That's terrible," Hakara said. "That poor man."

"Yeah, I remember receiving the news that his son had died." Katalina shook her head, sighing. "Anyway…" she trailed off. "He has a teashop in the upper ring and that's where we're going."

"How does he already have a teashop?" Yolanda asked.

"He came here as a refugee before the Colonies took over and opened it then."

"What's the shop called?" Jin wondered.

"The Jasmine Dragon."

The rest of the walk was mostly silent. And when they reached the Jasmine Dragon, there were two men standing outside the shop.

"Is one of them the man?" Shion asked.

"No, those two are Master Piandao of the Fire Nation and Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe," she informed them. "But they're also members of the White Lotus."

"Good morning, Katalina," Master Piandao greeted her with a smile as the six of them walked up to them.

She smiled back. "Good morning."

"Iroh's inside with the others," Master Pakku replied.

With that, the six of them entered the teashop. There were only two more men sitting inside.

"Is he one of them?" Hakara checked.

"Still no," Katalina denied. "These two are King Bumi of Omashu and Master Jeong Jeong of the Fire Nation."

"Hello there, Katalina," King Bumi greeted her now. "And friends."

"King Bumi has been friends with the Avatar since before the Avatar even disappeared," she informed the others.

"Wow, you must be really old," Yolanda thought aloud.

King Bumi paused, staring blankly at her. "Obscenely," he then said shortly after a few moments of awkward silence. Then he started laughing, snorted, and continued to laugh loudly.

"If you're looking for Iroh, he's in the apartment upstairs," Master Jeong Jeong then let her know. "You can go right on up."

"Thank you."

So they headed upstairs. And finally, the next man they saw was indeed Iroh.

"Good morning, Katalina," he greeted here before even turning around to look at her and the others.

"I've brought my friends with me," she replied.

He stopped what he was doing and turned around, smiling. "Introduce me, then."

"This is Yolanda. This is Hakara. This is Shion. This is Jin—"

"You're the man who worked at that small teashop with your nephew," Jin recalled, interrupting Katalina.

"You actually remember me?" Iroh replied. "I must say I'm flattered."

She smiled. "How is your nephew?"

"He's the new Fire Lord."

"Fire Lord?" Jet repeated. "I knew you two were Fire Nation!"

"Yes, you were indeed right," he admitted. "I apologise for all the trouble we caused you."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," Katalina cut back in. "You two," she pointed to Jin and Jet, "have already met Iroh and Zuko?"

"I met them on the ferry into the city," Jet told her.

"I met them here in Ba Sing Sa when they worked at this small, rundown teashop," Jin went on. "At the time, though, they had fake names." She shook her head, breathlessly laughing. "I had no idea I had gone a date with the prince of the Fire Nation."

Katalina's eyes widened. "You went on a date with Zuko?"

"They did," Iroh confirmed, laughing.

Now she laughed as well. "And how did that go?"

"It went really well. Until the end when he said that things were complicated, and then he ran off. But now that I know who he really is, it makes more sense."

"Hey, we're still lost over here," Yolanda spoke up, gesturing to herself, Hakara and Shion.

"Zuko is the son of Ozai," Katalina began, speaking quickly. "And Iroh here is Ozai's brother. When Zuko was thirteen, Ozai burned and disowned him because he spoke 'out of term' during a stupid war meeting when he shouldn't have. Then the only way he could regain his honour was to capture the Avatar—"

"For two years he searched," Iroh continued, cutting her off. "Things only ever got more and more difficult for my young nephew."

"You were talking about him, weren't you?" Jet then realised. He looked over at Katalina. "Your old friend from the Fire Nation was him?"

She nodded. "The Fire Lord's son was my best friend growing up and I was still against the war. And I always believed he would find his way and he did when he finally abandoned his throne to train the Avatar instead. But now he still has his throne." She paused. "Jet, how was he when you met him?"

He shrugged. "I don't have anything to compare it to," he pointed out. "But I mean, he seemed like an okay guy."

She nodded. "It's been three years since I've seen him."

"How have you gone that long without seeing your best friend?" Hakara asked. "That sounds dreadful."

"Not like we really had a choice."

"Why didn't you go with him?" Shion wondered.

"Ozai wouldn't let me go. For whatever reason, he wanted me to stay in the Fire Nation." She swallowed hard. "He really wanted to me to stay." He brushed her hair aside to reveal a scar on the back of her neck. "I told him I would be going and turned to leave and that was when he burned me."

Iroh's eyes widened. "He attacked you when your back was facing him?" He shook his head. "That's cowardly."

She let go of her hair. "Either way, I stayed. But that was when I really started being a pain in his ass. So then when the Colonies formed, he and my parents got together and decided to ship me off." She shrugged. "Talk about the one thing they did right for me."

"Let's talk about a not so depressing topic," Jin suddenly suggested.

"I agree," Yolanda stated.

"Wait, I have one other question," Shion said. "Were you and Zuko only best friends? Or were you ever anything more than that?"

Now Katalina laughed. "Oh, no, no, no, we didn't have any real feelings for each other."

"Are you joking?" Iroh asked in reply. "I'm pretty sure everyone in the Fire Nation expected the two of you to end up together."

"Shut up. That's not true."

"It is true."

"How would you know? We were only kids."

"People talk, Katalina."

She shook her head. "Don't listen to him. Zuko and I are nothing more than best friends. There are no deeper feelings."

"We'll see about that once he returns."

"He's coming back?" Hakara clarified.

"Eventually, yes, he'll be back with the Avatar. By the way, Katalina, who's your roommate?"

"I am," Jet answered.

"Of course. No hard feelings, right?"

He chuckled. "Nah. Any enemy of the Fire Nation is a friend of mine."

He smiled back. "Wonderful!"

"Oh, and what exactly is the White Lotus Society?" he then asked.

"The Order of the White Lotus," Iroh began, "is an ancient secret society. The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth," he went on with the explanation. "And, being a Grand Lotus, I sent out a call about a month ago about how some of the other members were going to be needed here in Ba Sing Se for when the comet came. So we gathered outside the city's wall, and then we waited to strike. And it was all worth it in the end." He paused. "Now let's return downstairs to the others."

And so the seven of them headed back downstairs to rejoin the other White Lotus members. Then they all spent the rest of the day just chatting and trading stories whilst drinking tea.

This was exactly what Katalina needed. She had fallen contently silent and began observing the others as they laughed and exchanged experiences. She couldn't help but to smile at the scene before her. Yet at the same time she couldn't help but to think about a certain boy she wished was also with her now.