The Fire Nation prince's ship drew close to the coast of the Earth Kingdom. When he docked, he had to travel by land to reach the tea shop. Looking around, he saw Fire Nation soldiers everywhere. Nowhere he looked had Earth Kingdom citizens. This put a small smile on his face, but it did not last long due to remembering why he had gone on this trip. Before long, he reached his destination. The shop was right before him. All he had to do was be persuasive.
Ozai boldly entered the building and saw a man sitting in the back, joyfully speaking with some of the servers. Striding up, he quickly got the attention of his brother. The firelord smiled and rose from his seat. He hugged Ozai who did not return the embrace.
"Brother, I didn't expect to see you."
The younger man forced a smile. "I heard you would be here and needed to talk with you."
Becoming serious, Iroh gestured to the table. "Then, let's talk. Are the kids all right?"
"They're fine. What I want to discuss is a matter of the nations." Ozai paused, frowning. "What do you plan on doing after Ba Sing Se has been conquered?"
"We'll move Fire Nation residents in and live there with the Earth Kingdom citizens obeying the palace." Iroh noticed his brother's change of demeanor. "Is something wrong?"
"Have you considered killing them?"
The firelord's eyes widened. "The Dai Li, but I don't plan on ordering the execution of the other residents."
"Why not?" Ozai asked, fire in his eyes. "We could burn down the world. There would be land engulfed in flames that only our nation could control. What's better than that?"
Iroh's forehead creased in a frown. "I am not burning down the world. The world needs balance."
"Then, what's the point of this war? Grandfather wanted us to rule everywhere. What balance did he create by killing the airbenders? None, but he made it so that we have one less nation to exterminate like the vermin they–"
"Ozai," Iroh interjected, voice scolding and tense. "What our grandfather did is something we cannot change, but I will not add to that during my reign. We have already raged war against the world; I will not also condone killing innocent people. The fact that you would is concerning."
His brother wanted to say more but stopped, seeing the expression on the older man. It held a sternness not often seen on him. Ozai felt like his mind had gone blank on what to say to support his argument. The prince had not forgotten about the firelord's status or skill. Iroh had not even needed to stand in order to seem so large. To add to this, Ozai was aware of the skeptical glances he received from the soldiers who had accompanied their leader to the tea shop. He was filled with rage, yet he could not act on this emotion.
"Now that we've discussed that, enjoy some tea with me, Brother. It calms the nerves."
Iroh ordered some Oolong tea for the prince. Ozai imagined how he could have responded. He could have declined the drink or furiously spilled its contents when it arrived. He could have called his brother a sentimental fool, challenged him to an Agni Kai, then stormed out to prepare for the fight; however, all he did was nod. Begrudgingly, Ozai drank the beverage when it came, only communicating his burning rage with his eyes that could have burned Iroh alive.
"How are Zuko and Azula?" Iroh asked, jovially as though the entire visit had been pleasant.
"They're well."
"How are things going with Piandao and Lo and Li?"
"Well."
Iroh was unfazed by the short responses and was content with enjoying his tea. When he finished, he got up from his seat and walked towards the exit, having to go past his brother on the way. He put a hand on his shoulder.
"Give the kids my best. Hopefully, our next time together will not be too long from now. Take care of yourself, Ozai."
Taking the soldiers with him, the man left the tea shop. It was silent when he was gone, the only sound being that of a cup vibrating on the table in Ozai's furiously shaking hands. This was not the first time he had felt like this in his brother's presence. He hated him more than he feared him. This was because he hated that he feared him. Iroh was the best lightning bender he had ever seen. He was certain that if anyone in the history of firebenders would learn a new way to manipulate the element, it would be him. It was already dangerous. In Iroh's hands, it was lethal in a matter of seconds.
Ozai doubted that Iroh felt as amicably towards him as he acted. If he ever spoke out of turn too much, he would undoubtedly have a bolt of lightning shot through his heart. To make matters worse, the soldiers respected Iroh. Those who had been there were not looking at Ozai with any feelings of agreement. They were judging him–judging him for daring to question their beloved firelord. Judging him for being so bold in one moment and so silent the next. Just judging him. It was humiliating and Ozai was sure that his brother loved every moment of that. He always made him feel so small even though he was taller than the older bender. It had been like that for as long as he could remember.
Why should royal families have more than one child? How could the second born ever compete with the heir? Everything done would be viewed in comparison to the future leader. What is there to do but sit in silent bitterness? Calling attention to this would only be viewed as signs of jealousy despite how justifiable the concerns were. Why should he have been so unfortunate twice in his life? First by being born last and second by having twins. He only planned on having one child. How could that cruel woman have cursed him with two? He was certain it was to spite him as everything else she did was. Everyone wanted to spite him. Such was the fate of the second born prince.
As Ozai left the building, irritated, to return home, his children had already completed training for the day. When Lo and Li dismissed them, Zuko went to his room to grab his weapon. The ship seemed slightly less cold, making him suspicious. He had not seen or heard his father all day. Not sure what he was doing but also not wanting to disturb him, the boy quickly left the vessel to go back to the shipwreck on the ice. A smile spread across his face when he saw Sokka coming. He waved excitedly, holding a thin board of wood.
"Are you ready to get started?" Zuko asked him.
"Born ready! What do I need to learn first?" Sokka wiggled the wooden board. "How to slice? Or how to stab clean through opponents?"
Zuko shook his head. "How to deflect fire."
Sokka's face dropped. "Aw, really?"
"Yes, really. Sword fighting won't help if you get burnt to a crisp before you can land a hit."
"That's fair," he relented. "How do I do that then?"
"You don't do it with a wooden sword. Here."
The firebender handed him his weapon. "You're giving me this?"
"It's not a gift or anything, but it'll help you while we're training until you can get something else." Zuko demonstrated the proper way to hold the weapon. "Make sure your grip is firm so that it won't slip."
"Got it!"
"Good. Now, I'm not going to shoot a fireball at you yet, but I want to see how you'd go to block one coming for your head."
Sokka lifted the weapon with its broad side facing out. Zuko looked at his stance.
"That's actually pretty good."
"Thanks!"
"Maybe make the stance a little lower. If you're too high, you might get thrown off balance and fall backwards."
The Water Tribe boy made the adjustment, impressing his teacher. They did this for a little bit longer until Zuko was confident that he would not kill Sokka with the next part of training.
"I think you're ready to deflect some small blasts."
"Already? Are you sure?"
"We don't really have all the time in the world, so I think the sooner you learn, the better it'll be."
Sokka's expression became determined and he nodded. "Okay, then. I'm ready for you."
After a moment, Zuko sent a tiny blast towards Sokka's right hip. In enough time, the younger boy moved the blade and blocked the attack. His face lit up in surprise.
"I did it! I was going through excuses in my head to tell my dad how I got burnt today without him trying to kill someone."
Zuko chuckled. "I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think you'd be able to block it. We can start off smaller like that for now. Before too long, I'll do the bigger blasts."
"I'll be ready for you! And then I'll get to learn how to do offensive fighting with this too?"
"You've got it. There's a lot of damage that can be done with these blades. I think you'll be happy to learn how to get the most out of them."
After some more time passed, a thought came to Sokka. He was not sure if this was a good idea or not, but he was quite curious how it would go.
"My gran gran knows that we've been hanging out."
"She does? I guess she's not that upset then since you're still here right now."
"Yeah, she was pretty open to it. I was wondering if you wanted to meet her. I don't think I want to meet anyone else from the Fire Nation yet, but you could meet someone else from the Southern Water Tribe. I doubt she'd mind. We'd just have to hide from my sister, but I didn't see her in the hut today."
"Sure. I'd be up for that."
"Cool! Follow me then. Just stay a little further back so that I can make sure the coast is clear."
Sokka handed back the weapon, then began leading Zuko through the village, stealthily avoiding eyes. When he got to his home, he peeked inside and saw that Katara was in there, but the woman was not.
"Where's Gran Gran?"
"She went to get some more sea prunes."
Her brother nodded. "Okay, I wanted to talk to her about something. See you later!"
Katara did not get a chance to ask what he wanted to talk about before he was gone. This worked perfectly. The area for sea prunes was secluded. The three of them could talk and no one would see. Still, just to be on the safe side, Sokka went ahead and made sure this was the case. Seeing that it was, Sokka gestured for Zuko to approach.
"Hi, Gran Gran," the boy said, getting her attention. "There's someone I wanted you to meet."
Turning, the woman smiled at the red clad boy. "You must be the new friend."
"Yes, my name's Zuko."
"Well, it's nice to meet you."
Before Sokka could contain his excitement, he blurted out, "He's teaching me how to sword fight!"
Gran Gran looked surprised by this, but then smiled again. "I appreciate you helping him with this."
"I don't mind," Zuko said. "It's been pretty fun."
"Does this mean you are going to meet the rest of the family soon?"
Zuko looked at Sokka for the answer and saw it with the hesitant expression on his face.
"I don't think we're ready for that just yet," he said. "Maybe one day, but I'm not sure."
"Zuko," the woman asked, "does your family know what you are doing?"
The firebender hesitated, neither wanting to lie nor cause unnecessary concern. "I didn't think it would be a good idea to tell them."
Gran Gran was quiet for a moment, before returning to putting more sea prunes in a basket. "Something I have learned in my many years of life is that secrets only become worse and more difficult to keep with the passing time. Eventually, it all gets revealed. Controlling when that happens is something we can do, but we can't be afraid of the consequences."
Sokka fought against a frown and nodded. "I'll be back to help you with those in a second, Gran Gran. Dad will start wondering where I am soon."
The grandmother sighed as she watched the two leave.
"It was nice meeting you," Zuko called behind him.
She just nodded sadly as they went too far out of view. The woman did not know how she was going to get through to them that they were only making it more dangerous. The deeper they went with this, the harder it would be to come back. They were walking on unsolid ice. The further they went on the frozen lake, the better chance they had for it breaking and the worse chance they had for getting back to safety. She just hoped they would be fine but supposed experience alone could teach some lessons. After all, kids will be kids.
