Aang and Azula found themselves walking back to the guest houses early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise. As Azula was walking into her doorway, the two of them shared one last look.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"If I don't sleep through it."

And the two of them laughed for a bit, until Aang walked back to his room. Right as he walked in, he plopped on the bed and tried to fall asleep. After about half an hour of him looking at the ceiling, the sun started to rise, and he decided to go outside for some early breakfast. He gently poked at Momo to wake him up, and blasted a whistle for Appa. Neither of them responded, as it was very early. So Aang just walked outside by himself. The dining room was pretty much empty, save one old man sitting next to a steaming pot of tea.

"Iroh!"

"Ah, Avatar, I see you are here."

"And you as well." Everytime Aang talked with Iroh, he felt like he had to become a lot more formal. Unfortunately, Aang still wasn't that good at maintaining his sage-like facade. All conversations with Iroh were like a test, where Aang had to gather knowledge without letting on that he didn't already have that knowledge. He sat down and baited Iroh with a "How do you feel about your nephew's wedding?"

"He has picked a very nice place to hold it. There is good weather, and good memories to this place. And good tea!" Iroh broke out into a wide grin, the same way he always seemed to when he was talking about tea. Aang was still on guard though.

"There's always good tea where you are it seems," laughed Aang back, trying to disarm Iroh and himself with a little flattery. Iroh nodded, then offered the pot to Aang, along with a small porcelain cup. Aang grabbed both and poured a measured amount into his cup. He held it with both hands, letting the warmth flow through his hands. Aang took a sip and noticed that Iroh had already begun to talk.

"-love for as long as I have known them, but sometimes people are not so lucky. There are many ways for people to arrive at the same place. Some are slow, some are fast, and many simply are, and speed is not a good way to describe them. Young Avatar, have you thought much about this?" Iroh was looking off into the distance, seemingly unaware of Aang's lack of focus.

Aang was prepared for a question, although this one would be harder seeing as he wasn't paying attention to all the context. He decided to answer with brevity. "Sometimes I think about how I have thought too much about this." Aang mentally face-palmed, that was one of the vaguest sentences he'd ever heard, much less said. Iroh just laughed again though.

"Sometimes you are just a child, like my nephew, but sometimes you make it easy to remember that you have thousands of lifetimes within you. We all think too much in our age, don't we?" And with a wink, Iroh downed his tea and poured himself a new cup. "Regardless of your lifetimes, you are still a child sometimes, and just like a child, you are not the best at hiding your emotions. Is something troubling you?"

Aang's blood ran hot for a second in embarrassment. "I'm not sure what you're thinking about, is something troubling you?" Deflecting the topic usually works to avoid a conversation, or at least Aang thought.

"Ava-Aang, you are just like my nephew at this age," Iroh's eyes grew more twinkly than Aang had thought possible. "If you sat where I am, you would see how you look right now. There is never any shame in asking for help from friends."

Aang was caught, and he finally started to know it. All the posturing was for pretty much nothing, if Iroh could catch him like that right away. His heart was cold for a beat or two, and he felt uncomfortably still. "I would ask for help if I had any," he retorted, with what he hoped was a wry smile.

"My nephew is your friend. I am your friend. And unless I was imagining things, there was quite a decent sized group of people who helped you overthrow an empire. Are they not your friends?"

"They were, but we- I- There hasn't- It's been a while since I've talked to any of them, they probably hate me by now."

"I'm sure that they don't, and I may have some inside information," and Iroh gave another wink, "but if you're unsure, we could just ask them." With that, Iroh glanced over Aang's shoulder to lock eyes with a group of people behind him.

"Hey, Gramps!," yelled a voice Aang hadn't heard in about 6 years.

"Sokka," Iroh replied.

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"And Suki, you're looking lovely. And your child is looking healthier than I am. It seemed like only yesterday that he didn't exist and you were as large as a bisonpotamus. But now the child is out and you look as lovely as a flower."

Child? They had a child? And he wasn't there, they didn't even ask for him to be there. They didn't even try. Aang was frozen in silence, allowing the conversation to pass through him and hoping against hope that Sokka and Suki's vision was based on movement.

Suki giggled from the complement, "It has only been a month, and we saw you three months ago. He's a sweet boy so far, doesn't cry, only feeds and sleeps."

"Does he have a name yet?" Iroh asked.

This time Sokka answered. "He does."

Iroh finally called attention to Aang by staring straight at him. "Oh Sokka, it seems you have forgotten to say hello to your friend here. How strange."

Aang's smile was plastered to his face, and he hoped he wouldn't accidentally break it by crying or something. "Oh hey, Sokka, I didn't see you there."

Sokka's lips pulled back in the barest approximation of a smile. "Yeah, you didn't see me here with your back turned towards me . . . ?" Sokka scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Suki was poorly trying to hold back a laugh, probably out of nervousness. Iroh was looking more stern, but a hint of amusement flickered in his eyes. Aang noted this in confusion, then turned his attention back to Sokka.

Sokka had an unblinking stare on his face, with his smile growing more and more uncomfortable, "I also had a baby, that was recent."

"I see you had a baby, it looks very . . . baby."

"Yeah, Suki and I made it, together."

"That sounds nice, you guys have fun?"

Sokka ignored the question, which, as far as Aang was concerned, was a blessing. "You didn't come to the naming."

"I was invited to the naming?"

"Of course you were invited to the naming, we sent Hawky an invitation for you months ago and you never showed up!"

"Why would you even invite me, we haven't talked in years!?"

"Because we all love you and we wanted you to be our kid's godfather!"

Suki was muffling her laughs with Iroh's shoulder, while Iroh looked over Sokka and Aang's heads.

"I love you all too and thought you guys hated me!"

"Why would we hate you!?"

At that moment, Hawky (the bird) which had previously been hovering overhead took this moment to drop a scroll on Aang's head. Aang took a second to unwrap the scroll and read it out loud.

"Dear Aang. We want you to come to our naming ceremony and be named godfather to our kid. P.S. We're naming the kid after you."

Suki finally collapsed into a pile of limbs and wry laughter. "You two are so stupid! I told you, Sokka, that goddamned bird is the worst! And now you gotta deal with this!"

Aang and Sokka had burst into tears at the realization that this whole awkward ten minutes was caused by a dumb bird.

"Sokka! I missed you so much!-" "Aang, buddy, I wanted to see you always!" And they collapsed into each other's arms, both wailing away. "I thought you didn't want to hear from me!" they both said in unison.

Iroh had gathered his composure by then, and sipped at his tea. "All life is communication, and sometimes, miscommunication," he said quietly to himself.