Still don't own Legend of Korra or Anastasia!
Iroh spent the rest of his afternoon shopping for food and making sure that he had enough money and goods to last him for a few more towns at least. Now that he had the two birds, shopping for the traveling gear was made much easier, and went as smoothly as silk. Even though it was still quick shopping, it still took him until just before sunset to get all of the things that he needed.
It was just after dark when he reached the abandoned mansion that he and Kailee had been lodging in illegally. She gasped as she saw Iroh leading two Ostrich horses down through the street, the ostrich horse on the left being mounted with the necessary travelling goods that they would need.
"Oh! However did you get all of this?" she asked astonished, and he smiled as he dismounted.
"I bought them," he said as he tied the reins off to a board. "We'll use the one of the left for what goods we'll need. Most of the saddle bags are still empty, and if we stack things right then we can sit on the goods that are nonperishable."
"Good idea," she nodded, "Here, let me help you get the things on them."
LOK
"Wow!" Mako breathed as he watched the towns and areas pass by underneath them. "Look at all those towns…"
"Where are we going, Korra?" Ikki asked excitedly.
"To the Earth Kingdom," she said nodding and looking at a map. "Our destination will probably take a few days to get to, even with us riding on Appa."
"Well, Appa looks like he's tired," Ikki said frowning as the flying bison yawned. "Should we stop for the night?"
"That would be wise," Lin nodded, "Mako can start a fire and I'll earthbend us a few tents."
"Ooh! I love your style!" Ikki yelled as she landed the bison.
LOK
"I feel like we need to stay the night," Iroh said at last as they finished gathering everything. "Avatar Korra will be here at any given time. If I am a bender, she'll give it back to me. If not, then we tried and we'll be on our way to Ba Sing Sei."
"Can we stop by Omashu on the way?" Kailee asked, and Iroh nodded before moving his head down to kiss his wife.
"We'll sleep on the couch tonight with our blankets over us. If necessary, we can blind the Avatar temporarily to make our escape," he said dressing down into his pajamas.
"Dearest," Kailee said stepping forwards hesitantly, "What-I mean, we…"
"Don't worry, our body heat will keep us warm," he encouraged with a soft smile just before kissing her again.
"That's not it. What do you think of the idea of little pitter patter on the floor?" she asked, and he blinked at her.
"I love it," he said snaking his arm around the crook of her back. "You are talking about starting a family?"
"Yes, I was," she said blushing nervously, "But I was wondering how you'd react."
"As nervous and anxious as I am about parenthood, I think it will be a good experience for us," he said looking up at the ceiling. "Although… I'm not so sure if I like the idea just right now. Something's telling me that we should wait."
The two were silent for a while before he turned over on his side to face Kailee, who was facing away from him. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek tenderly.
"If it's a family that you want, and I know it is, then I promise you that we will try," he said softly, "just as soon as we discover who we truly are and where we belong. If it happens before that, it happens. I love you, Ikari, nothing can change that."
The two were silent as they drifted off into slumber, the thoughts of parenthood hanging grimly over their heads.
Iroh looked around him, curious about where he was. After what seemed like an eternity, he recognized two people that he could tell were obviously firebenders fighting, and a waterbender nearby. The girl firebender had her hair up messily, as though she were slowly slipping away. The boy was poised and ready for combat, with short hair that matched Iroh's in a way.
"What, no lightning today? What's the matter – afraid I'll redirect it?!" the boy demanded, and it was now that Iroh noticed that the boy had a burn on the left side of his face.
"You want lightning? I'll show you lightning," the firebender female snarled, and Iroh wanted to yell as the female shot a bolt of lightning at the waterbender.
But the boy firebender intervened, using his fingers to absorb the hit as he recognized what his opponent was doing. The lightning rammed him, and the waterbender rushed forwards.
"Zuko!" she yelled, and Iroh recognized the name vaguely.
The firebender male, obviously Zuko, curled up in a ball of pain, and the female attacked the waterbender without mercy. But the waterbender was dodging all of the attacks that were directed at her, and hid just above what Iroh saw was a sewer drainage pipe.
The waterbender saw this as well, and also saw a chain. The firebender female rushed forwards, and the waterbender sent a rush of water up to encase her opponent in. the firebender looked around her inside the ice, unbelieving that she'd been caught. But the waterbender was smart, and breathed out to be able to move within the ice and wrap the chain around the firebender female's wrists, and tying it around some of the metal netting grate.
The water exploded, and both females were now gasping for air. But the waterbender didn't waste a moment to rush to Zuko's aid and begin healing the new burn that was on his abdomen from the location that he'd taken the lightning. Zuko grit his teeth and let out a breath.
"Thank you, Katara," he rasped.
"No, I should be the one thanking you," the waterbender countered, and Iroh blinked at the two.
The firebender female began screaming and sending blue fire out of her mouth and began writhing and crying in a fit. Iroh couldn't help but wonder just who these three were and why he was sent to this location.
"Normally this is only reserved for the Avatar," a male voice came gently from Iroh's left, and he jerked at the alert. "But I felt it necessary that you saw this, young General. Do you see the female and male firebenders?"
"Yes, the boy is called Zuko," Iroh nodded. "The waterbender is called Katara. Where are we? Was I the Avatar?"
"No," the airbender laughed, "But you are the great-great grandson of Avatar Roku, and the grandson of Fire Lord Zuko, named after General Iroh the first, the firebending mentor and uncle of Fire Lord Zuko."
"But why was I named after a firebender if I can't bend?" Iroh asked confused, "And why are you telling me this if I'm not the Avatar?"
"Because, the current Avatar is in her Avatar state," he said calmly, "it is how I am able to visit you in your dream. It's complicated, but I'm Avatar Aang, the last airbender of my day from when Zuko's paternal grandfather, Fire Lord Ozai, destroyed my people. You are here because I called you here. Do not fret, your body is unharmed, but I feel the need to do you a favor that I owed to Fire Lord Zuko."
Aang put his hand on Iroh's forehead and then on his chest, and went into Avatar state for a few seconds.
"There," the airbender said as he finished, and Iroh blinked up at him.
"I'm… a General," Iroh murmured, "I'm a General that was… Oh, Agni, this is bad. Nobody knows where I am, they can't…"
"Relax," Aang laughed, "My successor is on her way. Make your way to Omashu, and you'll meet the daughter of the cousin of one of my mentors. I think you'll find that the two are identical. But for now, why don't you see just who you watched fight?"
The area around them went from night to day, to night, and then a couple more day cycles passed before Iroh noticed that the female was bound, and as was the former Fire Lord. He watched and noticed that he looked an awful lot like his great-grandfather Ozai, and almost shuddered at the thought.
"Zuko!" a teenage Azula yelled at him as she was dragged away to the Fire Nation mental asylum. "Mark my words, I'll come back and haunt you if it's the last thing I do! I was supposed to be Fire Lord!"
"You're welcome to try, Azula," Zuko spat smugly as he held his arm firmly around Mai for support. "I won that Agni Kai, there's no denying that I'm the next Fire Lord!"
"I hate you!" Azula screamed, "I hate you all! Die! Die! DIE!"
Iroh woke with a startled yell, covered in a cold sweat.
I don't blame Iroh at all.
Review, please!