A/N: LMAO the fact that I immediately fell behind on writing after starting law school is not a good sign. It's so annoying y'all like I still have inspiration for the fic and I walk around with scenes in my head (when I'm not thinking about the law) but I just so rarely have the time to actually write them down anymore. But even if it goes slowly for a bit, I intend to get this done. Extra long chapter to compensate. (And I'm just having fun with the chapter title, this is NOT a mature fic).
Disclaimer: not mine
"Mom," Ursa whispered. Iroh had gone for his bath. Mother and daughter were alone in the greenhouse. Now was the chance.
"What is it, sunshine?"
"Mom, I want to know more about Grandfather and Fire Lord Sozin."
Her mom paused in the midst of pruning a vine. "What for?"
"You know why. You told me to remember."
"Ah…so you decided to join the Lotuses," Mom sighed.
"Did you not want me to?"
"I don't know what I wanted, dear. I just needed to know somebody besides the royal family would be looking out for you, and the Lotuses were the only ones who came to mind." She shook her head. "But I don't know very much about Sozin at all, I'm afraid. I only found out most of it from others when I grew up because I was so young when your Grandpa died."
"Please, what do you know?"
"They grew up as best friends in the capital, where Grandpa had been born a noble worthy of befriending the crown prince. They even shared the same birthday and celebrated it together, so Sozin was there when the Fire Sages came on Grandpa's sixteenth birthday and announced he was the Avatar. After that, Sozin gave him the crown prince headpiece, and Grandpa left to train and travel for twelve long years. He courted and married your Grandmama when he came back. Sozin was even the best man at the wedding."
"So they were still friends at that point. The friendship didn't just fade away while Grandpa was gone."
"Yes, they kept in touch over the years. Grandpa became a full-fledged Avatar, and Sozin became Fire Lord, but they were still close. Sozin was even-" she bit off the sentence suddenly.
"Sozin was what?"
"Never mind," her mother said. "That part's not important. But they weren't close anymore by the time I was born. I met lots of Grandpa's friends, except for Sozin. Apparently, they stopped speaking after Grandpa blew up the palace."
Iroh had mentioned the Avatar's attack on the palace once, the incident that had caused Sozin to build secret tunnels into the walls when it was reconstructed. "Why did he attack the palace?"
"Because Sozin had been building Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, after Grandpa had already warned him not to. They got into a fight. Your grandfather could have killed him, and he nearly did. He blew up the palace instead and spared his life, but their friendship died with that."
So Fire Lord Sozin had been trying to unify the world even decades before the comet had arrived, and Avatar Roku had betrayed the Fire Nation by attacking and nearly killing his Fire Lord to prevent the war. Nothing unbalances the world like war, after all.
"That was it, then?" Ursa asked. "They never made up, and after Grandpa died, Sozin was free to start the war?"
"Yes, that's the gist of it. From what I was told."
There had to be more to the story. Her grandparents had been capital nobles, yet her mother was a village herbalist who'd spent her life hiding from the royal family while climbing the ranks of the White Lotus. Something had happened in between to make Mom so afraid of being found and so cautious about Ursa's safety even now…had she known about the prophecy and gone into hiding to stop Azulon from taking her? Or was there something even beyond that?
"Who told you?" Ursa asked.
Mom focused on untangling a particularly tricky section of vine. "Your grandpa had a friend," she said quietly, "who helped Grandmama and I after he died. Monk Gyatso."
"A monk?"
"Yes, he'd trained with Papa at the Southern Air Temple. He explained these things to me after I grew old enough to understand. Before he died too."
In the comet attacks. "I didn't know you knew any airbenders."
"They used to be everywhere when I was a girl, and it was always so good to see them," she smiled. "Especially the nuns from the Western temple. They would come on their flying bison and bring such wonderful medicines and treats for people in need. Whenever I knew Uncle Gyatso would be coming to visit, I loved looking for his bison in the sky, trying to find it in the clouds before Papa could."
"What were the bison like?"
"Oh, so fluffy, Ursa. Unbelievably fluffy, and very intelligent. I swear Uncle's bison understood everything I said to him. But they also had this smell about them, like the biggest dogs ever, although you hardly ever noticed it in the air."
"You got to ride them?"
"A few times, yes. I'll never forget it. There's nothing in the world like flying. They say air is the element of freedom, and all it takes is a moment in the sky to understand why."
Freedom. Freedom extinguished by fire,
"Ursa…" Mom touched her face. "Dear, be very careful asking questions like this to other people. Knowledge can be dangerous. I haven't allowed myself to remember these things in a long time."
Her eyes looked a bit wet. She must have cried when Monk Gyatso had died, along with all the nuns and the bison she remembered from her youth. Dragging up those memories again for Ursa's curiosity must have been painful all over again.
"I will, Mom. I just feel like I have to know. Sorry I made you remember."
"No, no. I'm glad. Remembering is how I know they were real." She bent down and gathered up all the clippings from the vines. "Never forget what you know to be real, no matter what others try to tell you."
Later that night, Ursa considered those words as she struggled to fall asleep, which wasn't particularly helped by Iroh's soft snoring next to her. The sound, normally comforting, was unusually grating on her anxious nerves. Mom's description of the Air Nation was so different from everything she'd been taught in school. Why would an Air monk befriend a firebending family, why would Air nuns come to help people in need, if the Air Nation had truly hated Fire Nationals and their industrialization like her textbooks had said? The great lie about the Air Nation wasn't the secret army that had never existed; it was everything about them. The powers within the Fire Nation had lied and lied and written those lies into schoolchildren's books as truth. Why would they do that? What good did it do to lie about who the airbenders had been, now that they were gone?
These were not good bedtime thoughts. She needed to walk around, clear her head a little, before falling asleep could be a possibility again.
"Where you goin'?" Iroh's half-asleep mumble caught her as she slipped out of bed.
"I just need a drink of water," she assured him, hoping he was too tired to notice anything odd. "I'll be back soon. Go back to sleep."
"Mmkay." His head flopped back onto the pillow without protest, and his steady snores filled the room again. Ursa smiled. She did love that sound, when she had less confusion in her heart.
But as she slid open the door to the back porch for her breath of fresh air, she saw she wasn't the only one evaded by sleep.
"Mom? Why are you still up?"
"Oh, thinking of your birthday tomorrow." Her mother smiled wanly in the pale moonlight. "I can't believe you're turning nineteen. What about you?"
It didn't seem like the whole truth. Still, Ursa stretched out and lay her head in her mother's lap like she was a little girl. "Can't sleep."
"You never could sleep the night before your birthday when you were small. You were too excited for the cake and the presents," she chuckled, gently massaging Ursa's scalp.
"This is different."
"What is it? Is everything well with your husband?"
"Yes, absolutely. I miss him a lot when he's away in the Earth Kingdom, but when he's home, things are wonderful."
"Good, good. But then what's on your mind, sunshine?"
Ursa couldn't dance around it anymore. "Mom," she closed her eyes, "do you ever think about the airbender children?"
Her mother's fingers in her hair stilled. "The children?"
"I've been thinking about them a lot lately. I've been studying airbenders in the library for my chi-blocking training, and…I learned that there was never an Air Army. I didn't know that before. It makes me sad for their children, that they died for a lie."
"You want to be a chi-blocker, do you?"
"Well, maybe. It's an effective way for a nonbender to defend herself."
"I'm not disagreeing." She resumed massaging her head. "I played with airbender children a little bit growing up, though it was rather difficult to keep up without any airbending of my own. All their games involved speed or wind."
"Were they fun?"
"Such fun, yes. Even just watching them. They learned bending from birth since all Air Nomad children were benders, not like it is here where only some are. They were such naturals with the wind. Graceful little things. The one I remember most is a little boy Uncle Gyatso brought to meet me, a couple years before the comet."
"Why do you remember him most?"
"Because," she whispered, "Uncle said the boy was the new Avatar."
The new Avatar. Grandpa Roku's reincarnation. "Did…the boy know?"
"No, not yet. He was maybe nine or ten, far too young. But Uncle wanted the two of us to meet. He said that it wasn't unusual for a past Avatar's friends and family to support the current incarnation; that was why he'd been made the boy's guardian, because he'd been such good friends with Grandpa. Uncle wanted me to get to know the boy too, so that maybe I could be his firebending teacher when it was time for him to train. If only Uncle had known…"
A tear splashed onto Ursa's face, and she looked up to find her mother crying. "Mama," she sat up and embraced her. "I'm so sorry."
"I do think of them, Ursa. I think of that little boy. Reincarnation's a funny thing; he wasn't much like my Papa, except in the way that he loved playing pranks with Uncle Gyatso. And on him, sometimes," she laughed wetly. "I couldn't wrap my head around the burden that little boy would grow up to carry, and then he never got to grow up at all. I even looked for him and Uncle after the comet. I thought that if there was anyone who could escape that attack and save the Avatar, it was Uncle, but... oh, I can't bear to think of what happened to that boy, if he ran and hid or reincarnated into the Water Tribe or somehow died permanently. It's just another way Papa and Uncle have been erased from this world."
"But they haven't, Mom. Because you're still here, and you remember them. And I do too now."
Her mother sighed softly. "Yes, I suppose so."
They sat silently for a bit, holding each other in the light of the half-moon. "Mom," Ursa whispered after a few moments.
"What, dear?"
"Can you tell me more about the little boy? I want to remember him too."
"Hmm…he was so spirited. All curious and adventurous, traveling the world even at that age. And he had a brilliant joy about him. It practically shone out of those big gray eyes of his." She pulled back and cupped Ursa's face. "With a laugh almost as lively as yours."
Ursa smiled sadly, picturing the laughing boy in her mind. "What was his name?"
"Ah, he had a sweet name. Aang."
Aang. The name ached in Ursa's chest, just one of the many children who'd become ashes on their wind seventy years ago.
Remember.
Kusa was lying in the battlefield.
Young. Vulnerable. Alone.
"Iroh," he gasped, lips turning blue, "Iroh, help me."
Run, Iroh told himself. Get to him and get him out. But even as he launched himself into a desperate sprint towards his friend, Kusa stayed out of reach, never getting any closer despite Iroh's legs pounding the ground and his lungs starting to tire. That didn't mean Kusa was too far away for Iroh to not see his final moments, though; his eyes began to glaze over, his breathing slowing, his cries for help fading until-
Iroh woke up.
He wasn't in Laoshan anymore. He was on Ember Island on the first night of his honeymoon while Kusa had already faded to ashes that had been sent to a mother who'd become ashes herself. Iroh's throat was too tight. His chest wasn't expanding properly like Kusa in his final moments. He needed air.
"Iroh…" Ursa stirred in her sleep when he got out of bed, grasping at him weakly, although she settled down again when he smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. At least she seemed happy with their little island vacation so far; she'd eaten no less than five scoops of ice cream the previous day, elated by the discovery of ice cream cones, and had burned off the sugar high by rearranging and cleaning out the royal beach house. The place was rather neglected these days, considering the family rarely visited except for the Autumn Festival, yet Ursa had breathed new life into it. He trailed his fingers along the wall of portraits she'd set up, featuring pictures of him and his parents and Ozai that had been gathering dust in the attic until she'd dug them out and proudly displayed them. Only her image was missing now. He would have to make sure a portrait of her was brought here before they left.
The sky was starting to lighten, so he hadn't woken up that much earlier than usual. If anything, it was probably his body's sensitivity to sunlight that had heightened his nightmares. He'd thought sleeping next to Ursa again would quell his lingering unrest over Kusa's death…apparently, it was only a temporary balm.
Meditation hadn't helped much either. But Iroh couldn't think of anything else to do, so he crossed his legs, slowed his breathing, and focused on the sun's gradual approach to the eastern horizon. It was almost enough to put Kusa's dying cries for help out of mind. Almost.
The door whispering open behind him broke his concentration. "Iroh?"
She was up early. "Good morning, darling," he replied, automatically turning and smiling.
"What do you mean 'morning'...sun's not even over the horizon," Ursa yawned. "Why'd you go? I was cold."
"Oh, sorry." His heart warmed as she sat next to him and snuggled into his side. "I just had trouble sleeping."
"Why? Was I kicking in my sleep?"
"A little, but nothing I can't handle."
"What's wrong, then?" Ursa propped her chin against his shoulder, gazing up at him with her lovely sunshine eyes. Talk of nightmares would only cloud them.
"Just one of those nights, I guess."
"I didn't know the Dragon of the West gets sleepless nights," she teased.
The Dragon of the West. Kusa had named him that, and Iroh still hadn't really decided how he felt about the title. But it sounded nicer on Ursa's lips, like something to be revered.
"You knew me before I was a dragon," he reminded her.
"I did. For what it's worth, I like you just as much with or without the fancy title."
That was worth the world to him. He kissed her forehead.
"Hmm…" she sighed, "well, if we're gonna be up this early, we should at least make the most of it with a good breakfast."
"Aren't you going to try to go back to sleep?"
"Do you think you'll sleep?"
"Probably not," he admitted.
"Then I won't either. Besides, I think it's nice to be up watching the sunrise sometimes. And we'll be the first ones at the market, so we'll have the first pick of ingredients for breakfast."
"Is that the trick?"
"Mm-hmm. I'll show you when we get there."
Iroh had wanted to employ a chef for their trip, but Ursa had scoffed at the notion ("between restaurants and cooking, we can manage a few weeks, can't we?") The issue with her plan was that Iroh didn't know how to cook anything but tea…if tea even counted as cooking. He suspected it didn't.
But Ursa's enthusiasm smoothed over his anxiety, her hand in his pulling him along the path to the town while her pink sundress fluttered in the morning sun. Neither of them had worn royal robes since leaving the palace, something that clearly suited her. His wife was one of those beauties highlighted by simplicity.
"Here, look." She paused at a vegetable stand in the still rather empty market to begin her lessons. "When you're getting carrots, you should look for them to be a nice, bright orange and smooth all over. No cracks, no roots dangling at the bottom…"
Food was one of those things he just didn't think about much. In the army, there were ration packs and foraging. In the palace, there were perfect meals three times a day on schedule and all the snacks his heart desired. He'd never really considered the spectrum in between: the shopping for ingredients and the preparations, especially in smaller kitchens and markets like on Ember Island. Apparently, if one wasn't picky about meat, the butcher's scrap packages were a good way to get a cheap deal. Who knew?
"Pig-chicken?" Ursa suggested once the butcher had rattled off the sales for the day.
"Sure, I know you like it."
Even with royal funds at her disposal, she was a prudent spender. Discount pig-chicken, rather plain vegetables, fresh eggs; the only thing she splurged on was rice.
"I love sticky rice for breakfast," she explained, after she'd sifted through the grain and assured herself of its quality. "Do you mind carrying a sack of this and the jasmine rice back to the house? It's good to buy in bulk since it'll keep."
"Of course I don't mind. We can never have too much rice."
Was this what the life she'd planned for herself looked like? In a little house on an island, enjoying slow mornings watching the sunrise, then going off and buying her family's food for the day before probably heading to rehearsals with the local theater troupe? There would be a tidy garden behind the house, maybe a greenhouse like her mother's, that she tended to in the evenings.
It was a nice life. Peaceful. He wished he could give it to her.
"So I'm thinking pig-chicken skewers with sticky rice for breakfast, with some gado-gado on the side? We can go out for lunch and have whatever's left with fruits for dinner."
"That sounds delicious," Iroh agreed. "How about oolong tea?"
"Ooh, lovely."
Good that she liked his tea suggestion since he didn't have the skills for much else. Ursa assigned him to cutting vegetables for the gado-gado, a task that quickly went south. "Ouch!" His poor pinky…
"You know five ways to kill a man with that knife, but carrots are your match?" she teased, bandaging the small cut.
"Never underestimate a carrot," he joked even as his ears burned. How stupid and pampered did he seem, a grown man who couldn't even slice up some vegetables?
"Never ever." She kissed his cheek. "How about you get a pot on the fire for the eggs?"
In the time it took Iroh to boil some water and slide the eggs in, Ursa had sliced up the rest of the vegetables and begun frying up her pig-chicken skewers. Embarrassing, he thought as he counted down the eight minutes she'd told him the eggs needed while she whirled around the kitchen. Just embarrassing. He should have been able to do more than boil eggs and make tea. She was managing three different dishes, including the rice. He just had an ingredient and a beverage. Come on, Iroh.
"When did you start learning to cook?" he asked.
"Hmm…I don't actually know." She lifted the lid off the bamboo steamer holding the rice and poked at it, examining its consistency. "I remember being in the kitchen ever since I was little, just to hang out with my parents while they cooked. I guess they started properly teaching me when I was…eight or nine?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, but back then it was just little things. Making rice for dinner, helping with breakfast. Stuff like that."
Iroh had liked being in the kitchen once, back when his mom's death had been a fresh wound and Piandao had been a new friend most reliably found in the kitchen with his own mother. Aisha was always a joy to observe because she made delightful sweet treats and tea almost as good as Mom's. She'd never taught Iroh anything, of course - it just wasn't her place - and so his interest had withered. Piandao had picked up some of her recipes, though.
"I don't know how to cook very much," he admitted.
"I didn't think you did, unless the academy offered cooking lessons." Ursa didn't seem fazed by his confession, taking the rice off the stove as Iroh did the same with the eggs. "I don't mind doing it for both of us while we're here. It's nice to be by ourselves, making our own food, cleaning our own space. I think it's good for the soul to do that from time to time. It reminds us of the value of these things we take for granted. That's what my mom says, anyway."
"I haven't heard your mom be wrong about something yet."
She flashed him a quick smile for that, making his heart flutter. Still, considering Rina's wisdom unsettled him. Sure, Iroh had to clean his own space from time to time in the army, but he never actually did it at home, and he never cooked for himself outside of clumsy campfires in the Earth Kingdom. What did that mean for his soul, by Rina's standards?
The question lingered as they slid open the doors and set up an informal breakfast on the porch, giving them a good view of the ocean for their meal. Iroh showered his wife with praises for each bite he took of the nutty salad and crispy meat and just-slightly-sweet rice. It tasted…different. Ursa's cooking filled him like few other meals could, and the pot of tea he'd brewed seemed like a poor gift in return.
"Let me help you cook while we're here," he proposed, once the food was gone and they were carrying empty dishes into the kitchen. "I should at least know a few things. How to make your favorites, if nothing else."
"You don't have to do that. I like cooking for us."
"But I want to be able to cook for us too." He pulled her against him and kissed her nose. "Really."
"Hmm…" Ursa studied him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Okay. I could use your help starting cooking fires, I guess."
By the end of this month, Iroh promised himself, he would know how to make at least one of her favorite meals.
Iroh, cont.
Traditionally, the purpose of a honeymoon is for a bride and groom to cherish each other's company in the first days of marriage, giving them a strong foundation. By the time Ursa and I got around to our honeymoon, though, we'd been married nearly a year and our foundation was…solid, but arguably still with gaps. Besides, my head wasn't really in a honeymoon space, at the beginning of that month at least. I wanted to spend time with Ursa, it's true, and I wanted to please her by taking her to her family and Ember Island again, but I also wanted to distract myself. By soaking in the company of my wife, I hoped to stop the budding nightmares in my head from taking too deep of a hold.
If you are in search of marriage advice, reader, here's what I have to offer: don't be in two minds during your honeymoon, of all events. It's much more enjoyable to be fully committed from the beginning.
There was some commotion happening on the public beach, which was an odd thing at this hour of the night and immediately set Iroh on edge. A bonfire, music, people jumping over sticks, alcohol no doubt flowing…if he was here alone, he might've gone over and investigated the fuss, but he was supposed to be enjoying a peaceful walk with his wife on their honeymoon.
The wife in question, however, did not need to get much closer to understand what was happening. "Oh, look!" she pointed out eagerly. "They're dancing tinikling."
Tinikling: the word tickled something in the recesses of his brain. This was one of those dances that had been popular in the southern Fire Nation before the country had taken on a more militaristic focus. If he recalled correctly, the premise of the dance was rhythmically hopping between bamboo sticks as they clapped together and threatened to crush the dancer's ankles, reminiscent of a bird cleverly dodging a trap. Quite the feat for these people, if they were in fact drunk. He hadn't realized the dance was still practiced, let alone this far north.
"Come on, let's go closer." Ursa was already forging ahead as she said this, clearly entranced by the show, so Iroh quickly followed. Now that she'd pointed out it was a dance, he could see how the seemingly chaotic sticks clapping together were actually following the rhythm of a pipa song, the dancers' bright skirts and embroidered shirts flashing in the firelight as they twirled and bounced with each step.
"Look at those two," Ursa whispered, pointing out a pair at the edge of the circle. "They're doing a couple's version of the dance."
Sure enough, a man and a woman were circling each other as they danced, separated by the clapping sticks, until the man bravely crossed through and took his partner's hand to finally dance together. It seemed obvious now; how hadn't he noticed that until Ursa had drawn his attention to it?
"Hi there," a new voice greeted: a person their age with a bright smile and a rather androgynous appearance that left Iroh guessing at their gender. "You folks wanna dance?"
"Oh, uh-"
"I'd love to!" Ursa said at once. "But I've never danced tinikling before, I've only seen it at festivals."
"That's alright, we can do a slow song next so you can practice." The teen's eyes raked over Iroh. "Your boyfriend doesn't dance?"
"Husband," Iroh corrected. "And not really."
"You won't dance with me?" Ursa pleaded.
"Uh…" It was incredibly hard to turn down those sunshine eyes, even though he didn't like the idea of either of them getting near those rhythmically clapping sticks. "Well, I've never danced before, darling."
"It's not hard at all," she promised. "Try it with me after watching for a bit, okay?"
And now she was pouting at him. What was he, heartless? "Okay."
Immediately brightening, she skipped ahead with their young host, who introduced themself as Punay and offered her a cup of some clear liquid called lambanog. It made her gasp when she sipped it. "Oh, that's strong!"
"You can mix it with some pineapple juice if you need," Punay offered. "We normally drink it plain."
"Let me mix that," Iroh offered, taking the drink from her a little quickly.
"You want one?" Punay asked.
"No, thanks." He'd prefer to have his wits about him, just in case these strangers readily offering them alcohol in the middle of the night turned out to be trouble.
Nobody pushed him to imbibe any spirits, thankfully. By the time the song changed to a slower one, he'd added pineapple juice to the drink and made some tentative conversation with the non-dancers milling about (they were a university theater troupe from the southern islands traveling for their summer vacation, which explained their interesting skills and rather eye-catching appearance).
"Your wife's a natural," remarked the female pipa player he'd been chatting with, the flowers in her braids swishing as she tilted her head at Ursa.
Sure enough, Ursa seemed to have figured out the basics of the dance within a few short minutes, following Punay's guidance through the sticks that had thankfully slowed their pace. The firelight bounced off her beautifully (like a phoenix) as she made a poor attempt at a twirl step and laughed at her own failure.
"You two been married long?" The player asked.
"No, not long. We're here on our honeymoon."
"Makes sense," she laughed. "You're a smitten kitten."
Yes, he supposed he was. Ursa accepted the pineapple-lambanog drink from him when the song ended, whispering a thanks as she took a few sips.
"That's much stronger than anything I've seen you have," Iroh warned, having gotten a sniff of it. "You normally only take a glass of sake at parties."
"I know, but that's a formal thing. We're on vacation," she giggled. "The dance isn't that hard, see? You wanna try?"
"Ah, maybe I should watch a few more songs."
"What, you scaaared?" she taunted, pushing her face into his till their noses were squished together. "You a little scaaaredy cat?"
"I think your drink's already getting to you."
"Nuh-uh!" She drank a little more, then pushed it back into his hand. "Here, hold please!"
Off she went again, this time joining in a faster song that drew in most of the group for a rather simple dance. They linked hands, forming a circle around the fire that hopped in time with the clapping sticks (one-two-three, one-two-three, Iroh was starting to see how their feet synchronized with the beat). A few dancers began singing the lyrics to the song, something about a bird separated from its flock desperately searching for a way home. Iroh had a vague sense he might've heard it once, back when his mother was still alive. Ursa remembered it better than him, her clear voice joining the chorus in a lovely harmony. There she went, dancing behind the fire and out of Iroh's view, then emerging bright as ever on the other side with a smiling song on her lips. Like a phoenix.
"Drink, please," she requested after the song, taking a good half of the cup's contents this time. "You ready to dance yet?"
"Not quite," he said. "You want some more of this? Or maybe just some juice?"
"I like this," she insisted, even as the liquor was turning her cheeks red. "Why don't you wanna dance?"
"I told you, I've never done it before."
"How come? No dancing lessons in the academy?"
"Not really, no. I'm starting at level zero here," he joked.
"Well, if I can learn how to swordfight, you can learn how to dance," she scoffed. "I'll dance one more song by myself, and then you're trying too."
One more song, and then he would dance. Iroh really focused during this one, tapping his feet along with the dancers' rhythm. He'd probably look like a fool, compared to Ursa's easy grace, but he would at least be a fool who didn't fall on his face.
Punay reached a hand out to Ursa and drew her into a partners' step, the two of them linking arms and dancing circles around each other. Even though it wasn't a romantic move by any means, and Ursa released Punay to link arms with another woman just a moment later, Iroh's ears still burned. What was he doing, standing here and not dancing with his wife on their honeymoon? It wasn't that hard after all, was it? One-two-three, one-two-three, the sticks clapped steadily…sure, he probably wouldn't look very stylish doing it, but he knew how to count and move his legs.
"Iroh, come on!" Ursa waved him towards her. "No backing out, come on, come on!"
Maybe he needed to lose a few of his wits for this. He knocked back the rest of the drink, relishing the sting of pineapple and palm liquor, before letting her grab his hand and pull him towards the fire. The song, thank the spirits, shifted into something slower.
"Here, here, start like this. Just hold my hands and…" Ursa began stepping side to side with the rhythm, prompting Iroh to move with her. "Don't look so scared."
"I'm not," he argued, at which point he spectacularly stepped on her toes. "Oh, shit- sorry."
She just laughed. "You have to get out of your head. It's like what you said to me about floating, how you have to just relax and let the water move you? Only now you're letting the music do it."
Trying to take her words to heart while simultaneously avoiding stepping on her again was no small feat. Still, Ursa didn't really seem to care that he was incapable of moving with the same ease as her; she happily took the lead, showing him how to lift his arm and twirl her, how to hold her waist and dip her just so, and, of course, how to mimic the hopping movements of the tinikling dancers.
"Will you try tinikling with me now?" she asked. "Or do you want to stay doing this?"
He was definitely not coordinated enough for those sticks, but she was literally bouncing with excitement. "I'll try tinikling."
"Yay!" she squeaked. "Okay, if you get hit by the sticks, just step out of the circle until you're ready to join again."
The rhythmic stomp-stomp-clap of the sticks sounded more ominous now, but Ursa leapt in without hesitation.
"Come on, Iroh!"
Easy for her to say after she'd had a good half-hour of practice. Iroh watched for a few more counts, then took her hands and jumped in with her.
Spirits, this was nervewracking, but at the same time…exhilarating. Instead of immediately failing like he'd thought he would, he linked hands with Ursa and moved through a simple sequence: in-in-out, in-in-out, over and over again.
"This is actually kind of fun," he chuckled.
"See?" She performed a little spin, a dazzling move when silhouetted in the fire, "I told you!"
The music picked up again, which was Iroh's cue to step out of the circle; he didn't have that much faith in his skill just yet. But the night felt cooler, easier, now that he'd proven he could join her in this thing that made her so happy. He could just enjoy the sight of her dancing during the fast-paced songs, then she came to him to drink sweet pineapple-lambanog and hold hands in a simpler couple's step for the slow melodies.
"I didn't know you could dance," he told her during one such slow break.
"I didn't know you couldn't," she teased, definitely drunk now.
"You danced a lot in Hira'a?"
"Mmhmm, at festivals and plays n' stuff. No dance parties in the palace, though."
"No, not really. It's not tasteful for us to be hosting dance parties during wartime. But maybe we'll have a nice ball to celebrate the war's end."
"Hmmm…I'd like that," she yawned.
Their dance turned to just swaying back and forth, although he couldn't tell if it was because she was just tired or also dizzy with heat and alcohol after all that spinning and hopping around the fire with liquor in her veins. She leaned heavily against him, nodding groggily when he suggested going home. After bidding a clumsy farewell to Punay and the other troupe members, he ended up carrying Ursa back towards the beach house bridal style. Getting off her feet gave her a small second wind, her lambanog-soaked voice pitching high as she prattled about how much fun she'd had tonight, and how she'd danced at festivals in Hira'a in her life before, and how happy she was to have done it with Iroh.
"You're so silly," she giggled, breath hot on his ear as he climbed the steps to the house, "so silly, so silly…overthinking."
"Overthinking?"
"Thinking too hard!" She threw her hands into the air for emphasis. "Just gotta feel the beat, feel the heat, yeah, yeah, don't you know."
The gibberish tapered off into a little song, making Iroh smile. He didn't think he'd ever seen her drunk before. It was adorable in its own way. "I'll keep it in mind for next time."
"Next time!" she gasped excitedly. "We can dance again!"
"Yes, we can."
"Yay…" Sighing, she sagged limply in his arms. "Thank you…love you…"
He froze in the doorway, processing the words that had slurred past her lips as easily as if she'd said them a thousand times before. Her head drooped against his shoulder, seemingly unaware of the emotions warring within him.
"I love you too," he whispered finally. It was the truth, after all.
For a moment, there was no reaction; then, when he laid her down on the mattress, her arms snaked around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss fueled by the kind of passion only alcohol could stoke. Why bother resisting? He allowed himself to be drawn in, tumbling into the sheets as she crawled on top of him and trailed sloppy kisses down his neck while her hands eagerly tugged at his tunic.
"What do you want, my love?" he asked, relishing the chance to finally vocalize his love for her after all this time. "What do you want from me tonight?"
The tunic came over his head, then she slipped her fingers under the waistband of his trousers. "I want you to make love to me," she moaned. "Please."
Immediately, Iroh began weighing the request in his head - she's drunk, but she wants it, and spirits know I want it, but I might do it wrong - before she made a disgruntled noise and bumped her nose against his. "You're overthinking aga-ain," she complained, "like I sa-aid. I'm not too drunk to know what I want. I love you, and I want you."
What more permission could he ask for? Finding her lips, he let the night dissolve into pale skin beneath his touch and slender hands holding onto him and a chorus of I love you, I love you, I love you.
Losing her virginity was supposed to be this magical, transformational moment. And it was, but it also wasn't. Lying in bed in the haze of the morning after, she felt closer to Iroh than ever, with their bodies intertwined in that metaphorical "can't tell where one ends and the other begins" manner she'd thought only existed in love stories. But she was in her own love story now, wasn't she, because she loved Iroh. Love, love, love; it had come to her so obviously, dancing with him by the firelight on the beach with the stars above. Of course she loved him, and he loved her in return - mind, soul, and body now too - so everything was changed forever.
And yet, that revelation (and the sex that had accompanied it) didn't suddenly change her. She was still Ursa, with secrets about the White Lotus and airbenders and the Avatar that were still teasing at the edge of her mind even in this gorgeous, lovely sunrise filtering through the windows into their room. Surely, now that they were in love, she owed Iroh at least some glimpse of her new interests, even if she couldn't tell him everything just yet.
"Iroh?"
"Yes, my love?" he sighed softly, the new endearment enveloping her like steam from a hot spring.
"Do you feel…different?"
He rolled so she was beneath him, nuzzling her nose with a content smile. "Hmm, do you?"
"Kind of?"
"I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No, no." In all honesty, she was a little sore, but that would go away with practice, wouldn't it? "I mean, like, inside. Emotionally, mentally."
"I do, love. I really do. Mostly because I get to tell you how much I love you now instead of wondering if it's the right time." He kissed her forehead. "I'm so glad you said it first."
Her lips quirked, barely suppressing a smile. "No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did. Last night, after the dancing, on the way back to the house?" He frowned with clear concern. "Do you not remember? I knew I shouldn't have-"
"Iroh," she grinned, recalling his hesitation last night. "I remember all that, silly. But you told me before that."
"What?" He cocked his head, that curious expression she loved with his messy hair framing his face. "When?"
"On New Year's. After you came to get me from Bumi," she reminded him, "and you said to me, 'I'm so sorry, my love…'"
"Oh," Iroh's eyes widened. "I, wow. I didn't even realize."
"I know. That's how I knew you meant it, and you would wait for me to love you too."
"I would've waited the rest of our lives. But I'm glad I didn't have to."
"Me too," she whispered, reaching up to draw him against her and relish the solid, warm weight of him as their lips met.
"What about you?" he asked. "How do you feel?"
Here was her opening. "I feel really close to you now. It's nice."
"Yeah?" He lay back down next to her, giving her the opportunity to flip positions and settle with cheek on his chest.
"Mmhmm."
"I feel the same. It's so strange, thinking it's barely been a year, yet…"
"I know." Indescribably, she completely understood that feeling he was trying to articulate. "Actually, um…"
"Yeah?"
"I was curious about something." She trailed her fingers along his shoulder. "Since we're so close now, I was wondering if you're able to read my energy."
"Your energy? I've always been able to read it."
"Yes, but I meant, if you could pick up finer differences now. Little changes."
"Is there something you're worried about?"
"No, no. It's just an academic interest. I've been studying that chi pathway map Maya gave me, remember? I've been trying to trace the pathways and chakras within myself, and-"
"Chakras?"
"Pools of chi in the body. There's seven of them, from the crown of the head to the base of the spine, associated with different emotions."
"Oh, right. I remember Jinpa trying to teach me about those," he chuckled. "Yes, I'm pretty sure I can see chakras. You want me to look at yours?"
"Mmhmm. I want to make sure you and I are seeing the same things, so I know if I'm doing it right or not."
"Well, can't say I'm used to trying energy reading without my morning meditation, but I do feel oddly centered right now." He nuzzled her hair. "Here, love, sit up in front of me so I can focus."
"You just want an excuse to stare at my breasts."
"Absolutely not. Pull my tunic on if you want, it might actually be less distracting."
Iroh's tunic smelled like him, smoke and sandalwood, so she had no issues with that plan. Leaning over the edge of the bed, she found the garment in question on the floor and tugged it on, before letting Iroh pull her into his lap.
"Hmm," he sighed, tracing her waist, "I actually quite like this, you in my shirt and nothing else."
"Focus," she reminded him, straddling his hips and swatting away the mischievous hands attempting to sneak under the shirt. "You can do that after."
"Promise?"
"Iroh."
He grinned, leaning back against the headboard. "Alright, give me a second to warm up."
It was odd, watching Iroh shift into energy reading. His breathing turned smooth and deep, his amber eyes focusing intently on her face while also seeming to search for something past it. Ursa had only learned how to look within herself; what was it like, to look into others? Was it something a nonbender like her could ever achieve?
"Okay," he breathed after a few minutes, his voice sounding deeper. "Okay, what am I looking for, chakra-wise?"
"Up at the top is the thought chakra. It might be kind of purple."
"Yeah, I see it." His hands tenderly cupped her face. "It's only very faintly purple. Is that normal?"
"Yes. The thought chakra deals with pure cosmic energy, and can be clouded by any kind of earthly attachments. Which most people have a lot of. Only spiritual masters have clear, bright thought chakras."
"I see." Iroh's eyes trained on the crown of her head intently, like he could read her mind there. "What's next?"
Ursa guided his hands along her body as she explained the next four chakras: light in forehead, sound in throat, air in heart, fire in stomach. Just as she'd expected, he found them all to be rather faint in color, meaning they were still closed like Jinpa had said. "This is where that dragon breath of yours comes from," she told him, pressing his hand to her navel through the shirt. "Some call it the sea of chi."
"Sunook mentioned that too." He frowned a little, blinking rapidly.
"Are you okay? Tired?" If her tracing her own chi was taxing, his energy reading must have been practically draining.
"I'm fine. Only two more, right? I want to see all of them."
Her heart warmed. "Right. The next one is the water chakra. It deals with pleasure."
"Pleasure, huh?" Even with his focused eyes, he smirked playfully. "And where's that?"
"The sacrum." She stopped his hand before he could reach for it. "Maybe you touch that one later, hm?"
But Iroh's smirk had dropped. "It's bright," he said, serious again. "Bright orange. And the one below it, at the very base of your spine, is bright red. Is that the last one?"
"Yes. That's the earth chakra, for survival." So, her first two chakras were in fact open, and Iroh could see them. Good to know.
"I didn't remember those were chakras," he muttered. "I might've been able to help you get better faster if I did."
"What do you mean?"
"This was blocked," he touched the base of her spine, "when Ozai dosed you with Red Ash at the wedding. I remember. It was how I figured out it was poison."
Blocked. "Completely?"
"Almost, yes. And the sacrum…when you got that weird fever a few weeks before New Year's, that was when I noticed they were both all bright and…fast. Has it been that way since then?"
"I think so."
"What does it mean?"
That Jinpa was right about my chakras being open, and I might have a clue about how it happened. "I guess it means I feel a lot of pleasure in my life, and I'm secure in my survival."
"Do you really?" he asked, closing his eyes and tipping his head back against the board. All that energy reading must have finally gotten to him.
"Yes, I do." Leaning forward, she kissed his nose. "Because of my husband, whom I love."
He chuckled, keeping his eyes shut. "I love you too, sweetheart. This is what you've been up to while I've been gone, huh? Mastering chakras?"
"Trying to."
"At least one of us is. Maybe I should join you. Jinpa seemed to think it was important for me to learn, but it just never interested me that much."
"Really? Even though you like reading about the Spirit World and meditation?"
"Reading about the Spirit World is interesting mythology. Meditation is about centering my mind and energy for firebending. They're different from working on my individual spirituality. I thought I could be a Fire Lord who respected the spirits without examining my own spirit, but I could be wrong."
"Maybe. But I also don't know much more than you. The chakras are most of it."
"So, we learn about them together." His eyes cracked open, silvers of amber watching her warmly. "Chakras and sex."
His hands shifted from her behind to trace up along her waist. "Back on sex again, are we?" she asked, shivering as he found somewhere sensitive.
"You did promise."
"I don't actually recall promising."
Iroh made a sort of half-groan half-whine sound, nosing into the curve of her neck and nipping softly. "Please?"
"Well," she sighed, allowing him to start working the shirt off her, "Since you said please."
Don't stare, Iroh told himself.
It was a difficult task. Ursa was wearing a pretty rouge two-piece bathing suit that exposed her pale midriff, with a skirt-style bottom that fluttered temptingly over her thighs. In fact, as she twirled and bent to grab the towel she'd dropped, he was pretty sure he was being tempted on purpose.
"Okay, let's go teach me how to swim properly." She kissed his cheek.
"Hmm…maybe we can do that part later?" he proposed, playfully trailing his fingers across her bare waist.
"Hey!" she squeaked, shielding herself with her towel. "I thought we were doing swimming lessons."
"That was before I saw the swimsuit."
"Control yourself for now, and maybe you can help me clean up in the hot tub later," Ursa flirted.
"Deal."
Still, he couldn't resist pulling her into his arms and kissing her properly before they entered the water, Ursa giggling and pressing herself into him as the ocean lapped at their feet. This was what he'd dreamed of doing since the first time they'd been on this beach last autumn, with the moon and stars overhead instead of the bright sun. Part of him still couldn't believe he was able to hold her like this now.
"So, to know how to swim properly and not just paddle, you have to know how to float," he said, holding her hand to guide her into the waves.
"And how do you float?"
"It's about relaxing your body so the water can support it naturally." He lay on his back, positioning his arms just slightly away from his torso in the water. "Puff up your chest a little to help, but don't be tense."
"Okay." She twisted her long hair into a bun and attempted to mimic Iroh's position, only to immediately sink into the water and flail about wildly.
"Hang on, I've got you." Iroh pulled her back to her feet.
"There's some firebending trick to this, isn't there?" she complained, spitting out a mouthful of the sea.
"Not at all, love."
"Hmph."
"Let me help you this time, okay? I'll put my hands under your back so you don't sink again."
"Alright. Don't let me fall!" she warned sharply, before tentatively leaning back into his touch.
The next half-hour or so consisted of more of the same, Iroh carefully supporting his wife in the water only for her to yelp and grab onto him each time she attempted floating by herself.
"I don't know what it is," she said after the tenth or so failure. "I just feel like I'm going to fall. I know it's silly since I'm literally able to stand in it-" she ran her hands through the waist-deep water - "but…I don't know."
"Here's what I think," Iroh proposed. "You just haven't spent enough time in the ocean to let yourself relax in it. It's different from just being in a bath or a lake, and I bet your body senses that and reacts to it subconsciously."
"So how do we fix that? Just come out here everyday until I can relax?"
"Honestly, yeah. Being out in the ocean, learning how it moves, getting used to it; eventually, you'll be able to float."
"I see." Ursa folded her arms, considering what he'd said, before that familiar mischievous glint came into her eyes. Uh-oh. He barely had time to dive into the water before she was attempting to splash him.
"Hey, no fair!" she complained when he resurfaced a few yards away. "I can't do that!"
"You ambushed me!" he called back, ducking underwater again to launch his own surprise attack. Ursa squealed when he pulled her down, her hair falling out of place and plastering itself against her skin as they bobbed back to the surface.
"Now we're even," he told her, tucking her wet hair behind her ears so she could see his smug grin.
"My butt, we're even. You could have drowned me!" She splashed him again, triggering an all-out water fight until Iroh ended it by grabbing her around the hips and hoisting her over his shoulder, ignoring her giggling cries and attempts to kick him as he carried her out of the water.
"Cheater!" she accused when he laid her down on her towel, although the fact that she was pink in the face with sun and laughter took the edge off her words. Beautiful.
"Sure, I'm a cheater," he agreed, settling himself with his arms on either side of her. "So, what do you want as compensation?"
"Hmm…" she cupped his face in her hands, smiling coyly. "How about you have to draw me a bath in that hot tub and kiss me until I feel better?"
"Must you punish me so harshly, darling?" he mock-sighed.
Rolling her eyes, Ursa pulled him down for one of those sunlit seaside kisses he didn't think would ever get old. He savored every moment of it, opening his eyes when it ended to admire her once more. She was gorgeous like this, with the ocean giving her hair lovely waves, and the wide smile on her lips happy and unburdened like nothing else. Nearly a year ago, when they'd been wed, he'd known her to be beautiful, but this…
"You're-sta-ring," Ursa said in a sing-song voice, tapping his nose with each syllable. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"Our wedding."
"Ugh, which part? The ridiculously long vows, or when I threw up on you?"
"Neither, actually. I was thinking about when I saw you walking into the ceremonial hall."
"Really? Why?"
He took her hand and kissed its back, "I remember thinking that you were beautiful. And now I know I had no idea what beauty was because with each passing day, you've been more beautiful than the last."
"Shut up," she blushed, pushing his chest lightly.
"It's true."
"Well, I don't know about my looks, but I'm much happier than I was at the wedding. Because of you."
"Yeah?"
"Mm-hmm. And I think you're more handsome now too, but that may just be because you're not wearing a shirt."
He chuckled, reaching down to wrap her legs around his waist. "If that's your opinion, I better not waste any time getting us into that hot tub."
Iroh's torso was tan from days on the beach, rivulets of saltwater running along the lines of his muscles as he came up out of the ocean for air. Ursa's face warmed as she watched him over the edge of her book. Considering the large umbrella she was settled under, it definitely wasn't the sun making her feel all hot…
"Look at him," a girl somewhere behind her giggled. "Spirits, he looks yummy."
"Is he here alone?" another girl asked.
"I don't know, but I sure hope so. With shoulders and thighs like that, I bet he's fun."
"He's kind of short."
"So he'll be eager to please. You can't have perfection," the first girl laughed. "Do you think I should go talk to him?"
"Why not?"
The girl came into view as she approached Iroh in the water. Ursa fumed at the sight, her toying with her hair and laughing too loudly at something he said before reaching out to touch his shoulder for no real reason. Of course, Iroh just pulled away with a polite smile and smartly stepped around her to approach Ursa. Once again, she found herself distracted by the way the water droplets clung to his skin and trickled a tempting path that she wanted to follow with her tongue…
"This is my wife," he said loudly to the girl who was still trying to strike up a conversation. "Darling, this is…what was your name again?"
"Nina." She looked properly miffed. "Nice to meet you. Anyway, I'll get back to my friends now."
"Have fun!" Ursa said too brightly, and Iroh shot her a smirk.
"How's that book of yours?"
"Fine. But maybe we should go back to the private beach."
"What?" he laughed, settling himself on his own towel in the sunshine. "It was your idea to come over here; have a 'normal' experience and all that."
"Yeah, well, I didn't think about other girls staring at you when I suggested that."
"Someone feeling jealous?" He stretched out on his back as he teased her. Ursa focused very hard on the book in her hands, as if she hadn't been on the same page for the past fifteen minutes.
"I don't know what on Earth you mean," she sniffed.
"Sure." His hand brushed her thigh. "It doesn't matter anyway. I only have eyes for my phoenix, so brilliant I can hardly see others in her light."
Despite herself, she smiled, putting her book aside to drape herself across his torso and taste the ocean on his sun-warmed lips. "Now," she whispered in between careful kisses, "we really do have to go back, because I can't do the things I want to do with you in public."
"But what about your ice cream, love?"
That was a good point; having a private beach meant the ice cream vendors didn't sell there. "Hmm, ice cream and then sex?"
"Deal. What flavor?"
"Surprise me."
He winked and kissed her cheek, before bounding up to go get her ice cream. Ursa giggled, sitting back on her towel to look around the beach. People-watching was fun, now that she wasn't worried about those girls ogling Iroh anymore. There were families building sandcastles, old couples walking hand-in-hand, teenagers gathered to surf and play kuai ball. In fact, one of the teenage boys playing kuai ball a few yards away reminded her a bit of Ozai. The long black hair (albeit up in a ponytail rather than a topknot), the nearly superhuman speed and agility as he flipped through the air to hit the ball, the apparently short temper as he swore and gestured rudely at opponents and teammates alike…wait a minute, that was Ozai.
And he did not want to talk to her, if the look on his face when their eyes met was any indication, but it was definitely too late for that. "Ozai!" she immediately sprang up. "What are you doing here?"
"What, you think you and my brother own the island?" he scoffed.
"That's not what I meant. I didn't know you were here. Why didn't you come say hi?"
"I didn't fancy interrupting a pair of copulating hamster-rabbits."
"Ah…" An embarrassing accusation, but a fair one. "Well, you could've told us, and we would've made sure you didn't walk in on anything. Where are you staying, anyway?"
"My friend Ukano's. A group of us are all here."
"Oh, really? I don't think I've ever met any of your friends."
"And you won't," he said pointedly.
"Calm down, I wasn't asking. I think it's good that you're having your own summer getaway."
"Hey, Ozai," one of the other boys leered, "who's the pretty girl?"
Ozai scowled and punched a fireball at him. "My sister-in-law, you walnut."
"Oh whoops, sorry Princess!"
"Quite alright!" Ursa waved awkwardly. Did she really look young enough for these schoolboys to be interested in her?
"Can you please go away before you embarrass me more?" Ozai asked, folding his arms.
"Well, since you said please," she shrugged. "I guess I'll see you back at the palace."
He made a grumbling sound that might've been "see you" or "shut up" or anything else, but he sort of half-waved before turning back to his game.
Iroh had returned with her precious ice cream. "Was that Ozai I just saw you talking to?" he asked.
"Mmhmm, he says he's here with his friends," she explained between licks. He'd picked cherry and lychee, a good combination. "He sent me away for embarrassing him in front of them."
"Is that right? I could go embarrass him some more, if you like."
"Nah, leave him alone. Don't you remember being fifteen and trying to show off?"
"Not really, but I don't want to spend my honeymoon worrying about him anyway." He pecked her on the cheek. "How's your ice cream?"
"Delicious, thank you."
"Anything for my love."
Ursa blushed, still warmed by that new endearment. "I love you too," she said. "And I really love it here. This honeymoon really was a wonderful idea."
"You really think so?"
"I do. I know we still have a week and a half left, but I kind of miss it already."
Iroh tilted his head, half-smiling. "We can always come back."
"I know, but it won't always be like this, will it?"
"Why can't it be?" His arm went around her waist.
"Because it's our honeymoon."
"Sure, we can never recreate our honeymoon. But we can still make this a tradition, a time to come here and relax and enjoy each other's company around our anniversary every year."
"Every year?"
"Yeah. How does that sound to you?"
"I love it," she smiled, crunching into her ice cream cone. "And you. You really think we can make it here every year?"
"We can certainly try."
"But what about if you're away?"
"I'll come home for this," he nuzzled her nose. "I promise, love."
That warmed her heart. "Okay. Every year, back here for our anniversary. No matter what." Lips sticky with ice cream, she kissed him, giggling when he playfully licked her before deepening the kiss.
Ursa, cont.
Love is a wondrous phenomenon. It can transform the most mundane traits into the most fascinating, riveting things you've ever seen. How the sun looks on his skin, how he tilts his head when thinking, how he always sighs a little after that first sip of tea…love shines on those characteristics like nothing else.
What no one tells you about love before you find it, reader, is that it isn't constantly that bright, shining thing. If you don't tend to it from time to time, it dims. Eventually, it begins to fade. If you go too long neglecting that care, it may go out entirely. For years, Ember Island has been the place where we cared for our love: love for each other, and our family at large. There - watching the annual performance of Love Amongst The Dragons, enjoying ice cream, relaxing in the ocean - was where I found the sweet little slice of life I craved, away from the palace.
I'm very lucky that even when times were hard, and neither Iroh nor I had the will to nurse that light between us anymore, it somehow never went out. And now that there is peace, I have all the time in the world to watch him brew our morning tea and rediscover how fond I am of that little bump in his nose.
A/N: I don't know if it would do any good for me to try to stick to an update schedule anymore but I'll do my best. Little preview, next chapter will involve more time-skipping to kind of shift into the next phase of their marriage.
~Bobbi