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RonaldM40196867: I'm not a very outdoorsy person, but I don't know anything specific I dislike about it.
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Iroh strode down the hall, the flames of his brother's throne burning in front of him. Ozai seemed in a good mood today, and he grinned down at him.
"Ah, brother!" Ozai greeted him. "I have a bone to pick with you."
"I live to serve," Iroh bowed.
"Come now, no need for that," the Firelord said jovially. "I have good news and bad news. But don't worry, the good outweighs the bad."
"Oh?" Iroh asked.
"First, my daughter tells me you sent a prisoner to the South Pole with the fleet."
Ah.
"I did do that," Iroh confirmed. "My intention was to secure a peaceful surrender of the South. Save lives on both sides. And, probably, secure experienced sailors for the fleet."
"But that's not what happened, is it?" Ozai asked. "The Admiral in charge blew it, and lost the fleet. All you did was essentially set Chief Hakoda free, and reinstate him to his throne."
He sighed.
"Look, I am the Firelord. I would have appreciated if you had run your scheme past me first. Next time, make sure that you do."
The warning was clear in his voice. Iroh closed his eyes and bowed his head.
"Maybe I should be angrier," Ozai mused. "I think my daughter expected me to be, when she told me. I even think I was, for a while."
"So why aren't you now?"
Ozai clapped his hands together and stood up.
"I thought about it further," he said. "It is obvious you acted in the best interests of the Fire Nation. We suffered a disaster in the South Pole, and had they accepted your proposal, we would not have done. It is that Zhao who was at fault, not you. He has paid for it with his life."
Iroh looked at his brother, astonished. This was unusually magnanimous from Ozai.
"Besides, I need you," Ozai continued. Iroh resisted the urge to smirk.
Ah, that'll be it.
"I have recieved word from the Earth Kingdom."
Ozai pulled a piece of paper from his robes.
"The day has finally arrived. I have a note from the General in command of our forces in the centre. His scouts have sighted the walls of Ba Sing Se. The rest of his army is not far away. Once they're there, they will commence a siege. Victory in the Earth Kingdom is within our grasp at last."
Iroh looked around.
"That is... joyous news," he said.
"It is," Ozai grinned. "We shall wash the shame of Zhao's failure away. Then, and only then, will we turn our attention south once more."
He turned and began walking back to his throne.
"I have considered going to the Earth Kingdom myself, to lead my armies to glory and victory in person. But my advisors have pointed out that I am needed here, to govern the realm."
He pointed at Iroh.
"So I'm sending you in my place. Lead my armies to victory, brother. For me, for Sozin's dream of unity!"
He spread his arms and turned his face upwards as he said this, earnestly excited by the prospect. But Iroh was not so convinced. He had heard the legends of Ba Sing Se's invincibility. He also suspected he would find far less glory there than Ozai supposed.
"So what's it to be?" Ozai turned to look at him again, and Iroh noticed the look in his brother's eyes. A gleam of vindictive triumph. He thought he had already won. Maybe he had. But Iroh knew the Avatar was still out there. His own son had been sent out to find her, after all.
He bowed again.
"I would be honoured to command your armies," he said.
"Excellent," Ozai grinned. "You do know I don't ask this lightly, don't you? You're the last family I have left here."
"You'll be alone."
"Exactly. My daughter and your son have gone Avatar hunting, you're going to Ba Sing Se, Zuko has gone to ground, there's been no news from the Lady Mai about him, and..."
He trailed off. Iroh knew he had been about to mention Ursa, his wife. He knew better than to do the same.
"Still, I'll manage," Ozai said. "Statecraft keeps a man busy, and so does running a war. I've already ordered the navy to prepare a ship for you."
"I shouldn't think I need it," Iroh pointed out. "I can fly there. Jasmine can take me."
Ozai frowned.
"Alright, but surely you've heard, the dragons have refused to fight for some reason."
"They still carry people."
"But no more. They've shied away from combat at every opportunity. One even had the Avatar in its sights, and did not attack her."
"Then I will not ask Jasmine to fight," Iroh pointed out. "If victory is as certain as we believe, then I shall not have to."
"Very well," Ozai said. "Take your dragon. The Minister of War has been drawing up sets of orders for you to take, appointing you as the commander of the army, as well as instructions for how to deploy your units in the siege. More orders have already gone out sending every available unit towards Ba Sing Se to assist in the siege. Special care has been taken; we cannot afford to get this wrong."
"I understand," Iroh said. "Do I have your permission to offer surrender first?"
"By all means," Ozai nodded. "I do not wish to inflict unnecessary violence upon such a prize. If they roll over and open the gates to us without a fight, so much the better. Our new order will probably benefit from keeping Ba Sing Se intact, and integrating its elites."
"And if they don't?"
"Then you'll do it the hard way," Ozai grinned, "And Ba Sing Se and all its people will burn. It will stand as a scorched monument to the military might of the Fire Nation."
He turned to walk back to his throne.
"Do this right, and nobody will mess with us again," he said. "We will have ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity. Sozin's dream, remember."
Iroh did remember.
"Oh, and if the Avatar tries to stop you, kill her," Ozai added nonchalantly. "Although I expect you already knew that."
Iroh nodded again, and turned to walk out of the room, relieved that good news from the front lines seemed to have let him off the hook for the South Pole debacle.
All he had to do now was take an impenetrable city.
What could possibly go wrong?