Author Notes: While the progression of the story roughly follows that of the show, many events are changed, arranged in a different order or omitted. This is fan fiction, after all.
"Nice place," Mitsu swung a window pane outward, only to have it break off and land near his foot.
"This was our family vacation home when we were younger. A long time ago, when we were happy, "Zuko ran his hand over his untied hair and looked over the portrait of his family that adorned the front room of the otherwise ramshackle chalet. The portrait had him as a little boy and Azula as a mere cherub in her mother's arms, with Fire Lord Ozai in the center, the first time Mitsu saw the face of the man threatening the entire world. He was oddly content, hardly looking like the warlord who almost wiped out the Earth and Water peoples from the face of the planet.
"That was before he became the Fire Lord," Zuko took the picture down from the wall and out of its frame. "When we were just the second prince's family," Zuko reached in and pulled out another picture, this one of Iroh and Lu Tien.
"A long time ago," Mitsu gently slipped the picture of his friend out of its crumbling frame, while Zuko took Iroh's picture and folded it into his pocket.
"It was much simpler back then; we'd just come here and enjoy the breeze, which made my mom so happy. Azula even played with my uncle." Zuko sat on a withered bench, his hands between his knees.
"This place used to have happy memories for you, but I only see hate for it now. What exactly happened to you in Ba Sing Se?"
Zuko shook his head and stood up. "I thought I made a choice that would make everything all okay, one that would help solve my problems. I fought the Avatar when I should have…I don't know…maybe I should have just run away."
"That's not how a prince should behave, especially not a Firebender prince. Running away is not in your culture," Mitsu leaned on a support pillar and threw the piece of the window towards the sea.
"That's just it; I thought I could get honor and praise from my father by doing that. Instead I feel worse than ever. What did you do when we took over the city?"
"I … ran away with some refugees of course. The Earth Kingdom is a big place; it can't be taken that easily."
"That's good, at least I know you're not one of those vile Commandoes," Zuko exhaled. "But why are you wearing the uniform of one here, on Ember Island?"
"I can't get here without 'showing fire', as your people put it. "Back to your story, I guess you didn't get the trust and honors you thought you could. I bet your father just brushed you aside without so much as a thank you."
"Exactly," Zuko crossed his arms and returned to the bench. "What's wrong with me, I can't even hold on to my girlfriend, let alone any kind of reputation."
"She'll come around, just don't lie to her about how you feel," Mitsu looked up at the Moon, "but there's something you have to know, you need to see this…" his hand was on the headpiece of Roku in his pocket, but the sight of Azula coming up the walkway let his empty hand out.
"I knew I'd find you two here. Come on, the others are on the beach. Let's get out of here, this place is depressing," she shot Mitsu a look, nursing her wounded hands. "I hope everyone's learned their lesson today, I know I have."
"What is it you want me to know?" Zuko asked.
"Nothing, we have to see the others first."
The beach was utterly deserted thanks to the party at Chan's, leaving the five to sit around a fire Azula had started earlier. Ty Lee welcomed the three descending from the old vacation house, happy that they had finally reunited after the incidents earlier.
"The fire needs some kindling," she pointed to the coconut-leaf fed flames.
"There's plenty of stuff to burn from up there," Zuko pointed. He pulled out the family portrait and threw it onto the fire. Azula stirred slightly but looked at the fire, raising one hand to let it feed on the tapestry. Her blue flames mixed with the natural yellow and raised the radius of the fire, making it almost glow white. She detested the house almost as much as Zuko did, though she never shared her reasons with anyone.
"We're all here," Mai drawled sitting on a log, sipping a beverage lifted from the party. The corner of her eyes met Zuko's but otherwise she did not stir.
"Glad you could join us," Ty Lee smiled at Mitsu who sat next to her. Azula sat alone on Mitsu's right, wondering how he could have brought her to her knees earlier but also feeling something swirling around in her chest as the fire crackled.
"They kicked you all out?" Mitsu leaned on a rock behind the log.
"We left after you hurled one of the hosts out the window," Mai swallowed the last of her drink. "But thank you," she bowed her head without smiling.
"He does a judo flip and gets thanks, and I'm the one with a temper?"
"You're always angry!" Mai stood up and faced Zuko. "What are you so angry about?"
"Yeah Zuko, who are you angry at, Dad?" Azula raised an eyebrow.
"No!" he turned to them and shook his head.
"Me?"
"No!"
"Your uncle?" Ty Lee also got the negative answer.
"Me?" Mai asked slowly.
"No, definitely not you," Zuko spoke softly and his expression softened.
"Then who are you angry at, brother?" Azula crossed her arms.
"I'm angry at… MYSELF! I don't know what is wrong and right anymore, I feel like no one cares anymore, like I have no more purpose in this world! All I ever do is mess up and I don't know how to do anything about it!"
The fire roared in response, turning Ty Lee's attempt at roasting a marshmallow to ash.
"That's not true, Zuko. I care about you," Mai put her arms around his back and gave him a gentle kiss and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Pathetic," Azula snorted.
"Hey, what's with you two?" Ty Lee noticed Mitsu and Azula were looking in different directions despite sitting right next to each other. "Come on, we can't have both couples arguing now!"
"Says the girl who needs 10 boy friends a week," Mai pointed to the surprised Ty Lee.
"You think you know people that well eh, circus freak?" Zuko joined in.
"You don't know what it's like, coming from where I come from! I have six sisters who are exactly like me, that's why I ran away to the circus! Circus freak is a compliment!" she began sobbing again.
"Oh?" Mai loosened her hair pin and pointed it at Ty Lee. "You try growing up an only child to an overly ambitious politician. Don't do this, don't do that, don't say this, and don't do that, living every single day of my life like I owed the world something. You know how hard it is to express myself?"
"I like it when you express yourself," Zuko tried to lighten the mood.
"I'm still mad at you," Mai crossed her arms but her tone was uncharacteristically sweet.
"What are you all looking at me for?" Azula shot up from her log. "If you're looking for a sob story about how Mother loved Zuko more than me, you're not going to get it! My own mother…she called me a monster. It was true of course, but it still hurt." Azula looked at her reflection in the fire. "And what about you, super hero knight man?"
"You're not a monster; you were just stronger than other children. That's why your mother didn't seem to coddle you so much. You were already able to carry yourself in this world," Mitsu stared blankly at the fire.
"Hey, you don't know me or my mother, and that's not safe territory," Azula pointed at Mitsu.
"My mother died giving birth to me. My father cursed me for eternity, only to die when I was two. I grew up at the mercy of people who took advantage of me and my brother endlessly. I thought I was the stronger person among the both of us and my brother the weakling for just agreeing to everything they said. In the end…he was the one who ended up carrying the can for us both. It got worse when I got these at twelve," he pointed at his glowing eyes.
"I was sent to die in the desert for being a freak," he looked at Ty Lee. "Out there I wasn't strong at all, I was just alone and abandoned with only my attitude to keep me company."
"People at home called me a monster from the Seven Hells," he looked at Azula. "I was supposed to be some harbinger of disaster, of an evil heretical sect, some curse." She wanted to say something, but something in his eyes met with something in hers, and she sat up to listen.
"All throughout, until I was exiled from my home, only my brother ever cared for me. Now I'm not even close to him, at least not as much as I want to be. He's another person now that we're older. So I do kind of know how you feel," he looked at Azula, who turned away.
"I don't care what Zuko is like," she murmured. "I only wanted my mother to like me more, like my father. She didn't even take me to the plays at the Ember Island Theater like she did with you, Zuzu. I was her daughter, for the Fire Lord's sake!"
"I'm sorry; I always asked why she never took you. She always said Dad always didn't let you come and she stopped asking him eventually," Zuko looked northwards towards the Theater, where most of his happy memories on this island were.
"That doesn't make me feel any better," Azula turned away from the whole group.
"Is that why you joined the Commandoes Mitsu, to make a fresh start?" asked Mai, "I live in Omashu when school isn't in session and I only ever hear of the worst being recruited into that division."
"I've been the worst, Mai. The worst brother, the worst friend, the worst son. That's exactly who 'we' are back home."
"Don't talk like that," Ty Lee leaned into him. "You were a great friend tonight, wasn't he, guys?"
"Like a brother," Zuko smiled wide for the first time that night. "I'm sorry Mai, I was a real jerk up there," he took his girlfriend's hand and kissed it. "It's not a sea shell, but they're a Fire dime a dozen here."
"Thank you Zuko," she hugged him and felt him be less tense for the first time in what felt like ages. "This is much better than a sea shell, or ice cream."
"What do you want…?" Azula looked at Mitsu's outstretched hand. "I don't want my hands crushed again, no thank you."
"Peace. That nobody up there kicked us all out and to make things worse he's using his father's name and fame to do it. It's no good if we just snipe at each other."
"Fine," she took his hand. "But I'm in charge this time. Everyone follow me!" Azula broke into a march, walking barefoot up the hill.
"Wow, Lo and Li were right, this beach has made us realize things we never knew about each other!" Ty Lee did a static cartwheel. "I feel so much better!"
"You still haven't given whatever it was to me," Zuko walked up the path, noticing the bulge in Mitsu's pocket.
"You have to ask your uncle," Mitsu ran to catch up to Azula, who had a wicked look in her eye.
The party was getting hotter now, with someone having spiked the fruit drinks and the teenagers either inebriated or exhausted from all the dancing and eating. A bleary eyed Chan opened to door to a grinning Azula, though his blurred vision didn't help much.
"Who…who are you? Oh, you're those people that put Ruon-Jian in the hospital…get…get…out!" Chan stumbled as he reached for the door handle, but Azula kicked his legs out from under him. Ty Lee suddenly appeared in the skylight and smashed it, landing perfectly on the roof's support beam. The party guests ran for their lives as Zuko and Mai joined in, knives and kicks breaking everything in sight. Mitsu stood at the door, arms crossed and staring intently at Chan.
"Hey, you're my father's soldier! I order you, stop this!"
"You're not even in the army," Mitsu shoved Chan into a fish tank, where Chan managed to get his head stuck in the filter pump.
"No!" Chan's words came out as the bubbles popped.
"Now this is fun!" Azula punched holes in the wall portraits of Chan's ancestors. "Hey outlander, why don't you join us?"
"Best for last, beach bum," he leaned on the doorway's dome-like arch. "Everyone out …that includes you."
Chan complied, gargling his acceptance as he fled with the fish tank still on his head.
"Everyone's out," Ty Lee looked at the relaxed Mitsu.
"Goodnight, Chan." He closed his eyes and focused on the stilts that held up the building on the cliff and slowly nails began popping out, making the building lean perilously towards the sea.
"No!" Chan ran back into the house, making it lean downward more.
"Do the honors, Prince Zuko?" Mai handed Zuko a rock. Zuko smiled and tossed the pebble into the house, landing it in the fish tank.
"My pleasure, Lady Mai," he bowed.
The house swung violently up and down as the last nails in the foundation fought gravity, a losing battle that eventually had the entire building crashing into the nearby ocean, a non-too pleased Chan cursing them from the ocean surface.
"That showed him!" Azula grinned and high fived Mitsu. She realized what she had done and quickly brushed her hands, despite the blush she was also trying to hide.
"Admiral Chan's not going to be happy," Zuko crossed his arms.
"Speaking of which, it's the eleventh hour. Those old twins are probably looking for you," Mitsu pointed to the vacation house, which had lit all its lanterns after the building collapse had awakened the whole island.
"You can stay the night over at ours! It'll be so much fun!" Ty Lee put her arm in Mitsu's.
"Find the message," Mitsu looked at Zuko. "And you, next time we go out alone!" he smiled at Ty Lee, who enthusiastically nodded back.
"Thanks for the great party, people. But I have to run!" Mitsu suddenly assumed stance and sent a wave of kinetic force at the Fire Nation gang that sent them all flying head first into the ocean floor beside a shocked Chan.
"What is going on here?" Azula thrashed about in the water. "First he plays nice with us and then he shoves us all into the water with his stupid Earthbending!"
"That wasn't Earthbending…." Ty Lee muttered to herself. "I've seen that before…" Ba Sing Se and the giant drill came to mind, the masked man and his heavy, painful staff blocking all her moves. She opened her mouth to declare it, but closed it right back, smiling to herself. "He kissed me…"
"Hey, what are you kids doing with a broken house in the water at this time of night?" a navy patrol boat flashed a lantern at their location. "Did I just say 'broken house in the water?" the patrolman asked himself.
The lights in Zhao's house dimmed, a lone shadow exiting via the skylight with a bag of items. A group of Navy boats was now in the bay, answering a distress beacon sent by one of their own, with several teenagers apparently stuck in the water amongst the wreckage of a beach house. The whole island was gawking at Azula and her companions, giving ample time for Mitsu to make his exit. The Commando outfit story was total malarkey; with Force Bending everything was as light as a feather. Mitsu smiled to himself as he flew away from the commotion, looking for the airship's telltale beacon. The Fire Nation's main islands soon loomed before him, a brightly lit set of cities and downs that would simply would have taken one's breath away should they have been able to see it from that viewpoint.
After an hour of searching Mitsu finally spotted the flickering yellow signal he was looking for and landed on the deck of the hidden airship, nestled above some cloud cover supplied by a local volcano. The Sand Benders quite cleverly manipulated the volcanic ash to surround the ship, avoiding any breath issues while keeping the ship hidden. Kuei got out to embrace his brother, who was oddly smiling.
"Where have you been? You're a day late! I was getting jittery!" the former Earth King clenched his fists.
"I was delayed at Chan's place. Listen, we have to proceed quickly. We only have one day before Aang will probably arrive. I need to get Iroh out of that prison as soon as possible."
"You're in luck, we've intercepted some Hawks, and they say that the great meeting of counselors is over, which means lesser security on the island. You have the map, I presume."
"Right here," Mitsu pulled the cloth map out of the hollow of his staff. "Iroh is here, at the southwestern tower. Right now…"
"Right now you need to sleep," Kuei picked up his exhausted brother.
"No, we need to carry on. Who knows what they'll do to Iroh if we delay!"
"They won't touch him; he's royalty still to many people in the Fire Nation. Now you get a few hours of sleep, and then break him out in the early morning when the guards are sleepiest. You can't do this looking like you just partied the night away! Now go to sleep, your Earth King commands you!"
"How did you…" Mitsu drifted off to sleep, collapsing right there on the deck.
"It's Ember Island, you idiot," Kuei lifted his younger brother up. "You think you're the only one who reads books? Next time, bring your big brother!" he smiled.
Mitsu finally felt the drowsiness take him over as the realization that he hadn't really slept in four days had finally dawned on him. It was not that he wasn't allowed to sleep underneath Omashu, but that Bumi even cackled in his sleep, something that he wished Kuei would sign an ordinance against. It might not have worked on an accomplished Earthbender like Bumi, but at least he would get the point. The next thing he saw, after a dream of stars and swirling wind was the dawn sun peeking over the volcano, the pale red light mirrored in the swirling lava below.
"Go now, lord," one of the Sand Bender crew pointed to the monolithic palace. "We will move this ship as you ordered."
Mitsu bowed and came to his feet, crackling his bones and noticed the commando armor in the corner, neatly propped up.
"That's useless in the Fire Nation, you'll have to get in the old fashioned way," Kuei had also ditched the leather armor, now dressed in simple red robes the crew had found somewhere in the balloon. "Something bothers me about this thing, and the documents you brought."
"This airship is supposed to be a coal refueler. That means the actual airships are much bigger and could probably carry more than twenty people," Mitsu pored over the plans, which were laid out across a table in what he figured were the captain's quarters, converted to be his makeshift bedroom. "With Firebenders, they could rain down showers of flame. Chan wasn't kidding when he said we'd all burn," Mitsu rolled up the paper to reveal the map underneath. "It's the morning before the eclipse," he pointed to the capital's harbor, which was protected by high stone battlements and multiple tank squadrons.
"You will have this one chance to find Iroh. If you don't find him one hour before midday, you have to get out of there or join the invasion if it's already happened. I don't know how they're going to get past this, though," Kuei tapped something called the Gates of Azulon, indicated by a lone statue on the map. "It's a net that they can set on fire to trap ships."
"The Water Tribe will have no chance of invading that way. But with Sokka and his father on board, who knows what they'll try," Mitsu grabbed his heavy staff.
Kuei formed a thought bubble over his head, with many crazy ideas including a massive catapult that would launch everyone over the ocean, a massive water tunnel made by Waterbenders, a Serpent carrying everyone, Aang using his full power and simply pulling the Fire Nation towards him and many more.
"I've barely met the guy; I already think he's crazy."
"I'm the crazy one today, wish me luck!" Mitsu opened a window and leapt out. He smiled to himself, knowing that his brother wasn't one he had to worry about anymore and vice versa. They would do their jobs, and that was it. Kuei looked down at his diving brother and thought the same thing, nodding in acknowledgement as he closed the port window. There was no Dai Li, no Royal Guard, no Avatar and not even Bosco to guide him now. Kuei felt the world become much heavier on his shoulders, prompting looks from the Sand Benders on board.
"Your Majesty?" one of them worryingly came to him. Kuei looked at the fearful young man and straightened his back, raising his shoulders to their full height. He seemed to grow taller than everyone, a mysterious shadow falling on the crew. Shin Kuei adjusted his spectacles and his mouth opened with a new voice
"I am the King of Earth under Heaven," he repeated the vow he made when he was only four. "The stones will be my hands, the mountains will be my heart and the people will be my soul. The valleys shall be my breath and the desert shall be my skin. I am Kuei, King of the Earth!" he hammered his foot on the wooden floor.
The crew all went on bended knee, noticing that for the first time the Earth King had mentioned their home. The sentries watching the lone balloon from their towers noticed that volcanoes were erupting more loudly than normal in the distance; on Crescent Island the Avatar temple shook mightily, lava seeping slowly out of new cracks. Bumi felt his city rumble in apparent reply, while Toph Bei Fong's heart beat twice as fast in an instant, the sensation akin to a wave of power washing over her. Badger Mole owners found the animals non-responsive to music as they all bowed to an unseen force. Aang, practicing some Earthbending with Haru and his father Tyro felt a, excited sensation from his past lives while the two men felt themselves tingling slightly. As he was mere inches away from the Fire Nation Palace grounds Mitsu smiled, a tear running down his cheek.
"Welcome back, Shin."
"Hey, where is that thing going?" a palace sentry looked at the balloon, which had shifted trajectory to the docks. "The airships aren't going there yet!"
"Neither are you," Mitsu's arm grabbed him and chucked him out the window of his lookout tower, leaving him to hold on for dear life on the railing outside. The other guard grabbed his spear, but the heavy staff blindsided him and sent him crashing to the ground with a broken arm.
"Hey, what gives?"
"Where is the Traitor's Tower?" Mitsu grabbed the guard's collar.
"It's the black one among all the four," the guard pointed to the Palace grounds, "near the main prison but with more guards! What do you want there?"
"The man who should be king," Mitsu dropped the man and snapped his spear in two.
"Nonsense, no one is there! No one's ever been there!"
Mitsu turned on his heels and picked up the man again. "What the hell do you mean?"
"You're talking about Iroh, aren't you? He's not there! They say he ran away from Ba Sing Se! Hell, I'd help you find him in the tower if I could!"
"What do you mean now, Fire Nation scum?"
The man raised the sleeve of his broken left arm to reveal a tattoo inked with rough characters. "457th Brigade, Left Formation Wing… Sergeant Wu reporting!" he hissed through the pain of his arm.
Mitsu's eyes went wide open. The 457th was Lu Tien and Iroh's brigade from six years back. "I'd help you find him, and end this stupid war…" the man stopped struggling against Mitsu and slumped down with a tired breath. "Oh, General Iroh, where are you, we need you more than ever now!"
"What are you blabbering about? Guards!" the other sentry tried to call out from the tower railings he was hanging from. "We have treason here! You can join Iroh in the Black Tower!"
"Shut up," Mitsu force bent the metal railing around his mouth, leaving the second guard with only one hand to grip the unbent part of the railing as vertigo set in and he fainted.
"Look, he's really in the Black Tower," Mitsu looked Wu in the eye. "I'm getting him out now, I promise," he set the man upright and took the speaking tube.
"Central alert, there's been an altercation between Sergeants Wu and …" he looked at Wu.
"Chun. Private Chun."
"…between Sergeant Wu and Private Chun, request medical support immediately." Mitsu nodded at the guard.
"Who is this then?" a voice came over the tube.
"It's me, you idiot!" Wu yelled at the speaking tube. "I was just being formal! Get me a medic, that idiot's broken my arm and fallen off the tower!"
"Yes, sir!" the man on the other end cut himself off. "Stupid newbie," he was heard again.
"Go and rescue the Dragon of the West!" Wu gripped his arm and leaned on the wall.
Mitsu neither nodded and shot himself at the black tower, remembering that Iroh wasn't the only one to have remembered Ba Sing Se, nor was he the only person of similar mind after the 500 day siege. Wu was a scared private back then, but he hadn't lost faith in his general, even when he ordered a retreat. Others grumbled and moaned but Wu sat silent on his Ostrich Horse, knowing that Iroh shared the feeling of many of his men; there was no point in fighting the mighty Earth Kingdom at its own gates. Many of the men hadn't even seen the other Fire Nation Islands, let alone a distant and hostile place. Iroh alone knew where to go and who to talk to; such was his manner of treating the other nations. As the medics broke the tower door open, he smiled to himself.
Iroh wasn't difficult to find, as there were only four cells in the entire tower; one for entire families, two for groups of five to ten and one especially fireproofed and windowless. The Warden himself was responsible for the last one, carrying a plate of steamed rice and crudely sliced chicken meat mixed with cold peas up a spiral staircase on every day bar a sixth day. The sixth day of the week was a holiday for the Warden, so the guards brought food to the lone cell at the top of the tower. Mitsu swung his rod at the side of the tower, assuming a mid flight stance as the dust cleared. Instead of the gruff and arrogant Poon, a rather frightened looking woman was flat on her back, shielding her face.
"I'm trying to have my lunch here!" Iroh called out as he ate his extra spoonful of honeyed jam cake.
"Tired old uncle!" Mitsu force bent the female guard down and put the rocks back together, sweeping the dust up the stairs. "I've come for you!"
Mitsu's wide grin was met with a frown as Iroh kneeled, eating his lunch quietly.
"Uncle? What's going on? Come on, the other guards will be coming!"
"They won't be coming, it's Ming's shift today. She brought me some extra treats which I want to enjoy today," he chewed on an apple.
"They didn't break you, uncle! Tell me they didn't!" Mitsu shook Iroh through the bars, his eyes beginning to well up. "I'm not Zuko, but… please! I need to get you out of here!"
"No," Iroh neatly folded his napkin and put it beside his plate. "You are not Zuko, which is why I need you to leave and let him get me out," Iroh grinned. "It's okay, Ming! He is someone who also considers me a father," Iroh raised his head to meet Mitsu's. The guard dropped her Firebending stance and closed the other door behind her. "It's good to feel wanted, especially at my age."
"Uncle? I didn't know you had another nephew."
"This one made me his uncle, not the other way round. He is very forceful when seeking those that he loves," Iroh put his hand on Mitsu's head. "Like his own brothers."
"Zuko isn't coming to get you out," Mitsu closed his eyes.
"He will, thanks to Ming here leaving him a small note on his door." The guard smiled, nodding in acknowledgement.
"I don't suppose you want me to unlock the cell?"
"She's already done it," Iroh pointed to the reddening Ming.
Mitsu huffed, scratching his head. "You have a way of killing drama, tired old uncle, but I can give you another key to another door."
"Another door? You are starting to sound like that old man on the Eastern Air Temple pagoda, my son."
Mitsu reached into his hip pack and pulled out Sozin's red-gold headpiece with high golden wings that reflected different ways in the cell, radiating all inside with pure solar warmth.
"Where did you get that! " Iroh stood up and grabbed the bars of his cell. "It was lost on Roku's island more than a hundred years ago!"
"What is that, General?" Ming looked over Mitsu's shoulder. Mitsu himself had his head bent down, resembling a page offering the headpiece to Iroh.
"The headpiece of the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation!" Iroh struggled to contain his breath. "Mitsu, where did you find it?"
"It was never lost, uncle. Kari Omoto recovered it from the island just before it was engulfed by the volcano. It has been in my home for over a century, along with Roku's bones. Forgive me for withholding it, but after Kari no golden eye was born until me a hundred years later."
"Kari…Omoto…" Iroh's eyes opened wide, "That is a name from deep antiquity, a mysterious friend of Roku who refused to enter the Fire Nation as the Fire Sages hated him deeply. Kari Omoto was like you, Mitsu?"
"He was an Airbender who was removed from the temples for engendering a new but dangerous technique he simply called 'The End of Air". He travelled with Roku after his Airbending training was finished at the Southern Temple, kind of like Katara and the others travel with Aang. He never came to the Fire Nation until it was too late, and Roku was but a pile of burnt flesh covered by his dragon's own corpse. He watched as Sozin destroyed his people and became a recluse in the library of the Great Rock until he died. The headpiece is all he had to remember the twelve years he spent with Roku, his best friend of all." Mitsu then leaned in and whispered something only Iroh could hear. Iroh let out a heavy breath and nodded sagely.
"I understand, you entrust me with a heavy burden, yet I feel I am the one to carry it, and when I do it will be as light as air." Iroh bowed and took the headpiece from Mitsu's outstretched palms. "I know just what to do with his piece of the past." Iroh held it up one more time and put it away in his robe.
"Oh, one more thing," Mitsu grabbed something out of his pocket. Iroh beamed and hugged the prince as he took the tea leaves.
"Straight from my tea house in Ba Sing Se," he laughed. "Ming, I think you should take the rest of the day off," he turned to his guard.
"But…"
"Take…the…rest…of…the…day…off," Iroh spoke with a harder tone.
"Please, you've proven yourself to be above many of your peers in the Fire Nation.
Please go home, out of the city if you can." Mitsu spoke gently to her. "I beg you."
Ming gave them a knowing bow and closed the door behind her, telling the relief sentries to follow her out. Mitsu smiled and bowed to Iroh.
"I know what day it is today, my son. I also know today is a foolish day to attack Ozai. He has known of this day for a decade."
"The Avatar doesn't know, and I fear he is coming here with armies of the free."
"You must bring him away from this, he is not ready!" Iroh slammed his fist on the floor. Mitsu could see that underneath his robe Iroh had lost his pudgy belly and saggy skin.
"I know, but I have no idea where to find him. Even my messenger hawk isn't back with news… hey, what the!" Mitsu was thrown to one side as the earth shook. Guards could be heard outside the tower yelling while tanks roared through the streets of the capital.
"Aang is here, you have to stop him! It is not time! Hurry, someone is coming! Go, I can handle this!" Iroh went back on his knees and turned his back. Mitsu nodded, taking one last look at the old man. Haggard though he looked, Iroh now had an aura of majesty and pride that few now noticed in the Royal Family.
"Goodbye, but not farewell…father." Mitsu turned the door open and to the right, punching through the tower wall and heading for the pillars of smoke in the distance. The sky was unusually cloudy despite the midday sun blazing away. Mitsu looked up and fear crossed his face for the first time in a long time. Chan's plans weren't mere plans; he had actually built the airships! The Force Bender flew faster than he ever did before, towers and minarets pulled apart in his wake. He was but a lone comet in a meteor shower, but he knew he had to try. Seeing Iroh alive and well was the fire in his heart, seeing Kuei again was what kept his heart going. Aang making the biggest mistake of his life was what threatened to stop his heart.
Iroh heard his cell door open, two light footsteps indicating a single person.
"Uncle, what did you mean by the secrets of my ancestry?" Zuko knelt and grabbed the bars.
Iroh fingered the headpiece in his robe and smiled. "Goodbye, and not farewell…my son," he whispered to himself.
"Uncle?"
I do not speak of your paternal great grandfather Sozin; I speak of your mother's grandfather… Avatar Roku."
Zuko became breathless as his uncle revealed his new treasure. "Do you know what this is, Zuko?"