A/N: Happy New Year guys! Law school finals really wiped me out for a bit, and by the time I came back to this story I found a severe case of writer's block waiting for me. I think it's because I honestly don't have an outline for this middle section of the story: I had a very clear vision of Ursa and Iroh falling for each other, and I have a semi-clear vision for how the war's going to end, but the stuff in between those two points is highly vibes-based. Doing my best to fill in the gaps.

Disclaimer: don't own it.

"I wish you'd told me," Iroh said, barely audible over the crash of the waves.

Ursa flinched, the quiet admonishment somehow stinging worse than if he'd raised his voice. "I don't know why I didn't," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I know why. Because it was my father, and even I sometimes lack the courage to go against my father." He sighed, scooting closer to her on the beach house porch and wrapping an arm around her. "I do wish you'd told me, even if I don't know if I would've been able to change his mind."

Ursa nodded. She'd suspected as much. Even if she'd told Iroh sooner that Azulon had all but commanded her to get pregnant, what good would it have done? The Fire Lord had been done waiting for grandchildren. It was as simple as that.

"But," Iroh continued, "it would've helped me to be on the same page as you going into this whole parenthood thing. I would've been able to better support you, and I might've better understood why you were struggling. And I would've felt less alone in my own hesitance about having Lu Ten. Instead I felt like you were ready and willing, and I was the one dragging my feet, so I swallowed it down."

"I didn't know." Ursa's throat choked up again. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way, Iroh, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be sorry, love. You didn't do anything wrong. You were in a difficult position, and I should've been more honest about how I felt at the time too." He kissed her temple. "Besides, it's all working out now, isn't it? Because Lu Ten's here, and he's wonderful, and we told each other the truth eventually, so now we can focus on making sure his childhood is good."

Lu Ten was with Ursa's parents on the beach, far enough away that Ursa and Iroh could talk in private but close enough that they could still keep an eye on the baby. Not that there was anything to worry about, of course; her mom and dad adored their grandchild, having hardly put him down since they'd arrived at Ember Island that morning. Lu Ten had quickly warmed up to his grandparents in return, charmed by his Grandpapa's silly faces and his Grandmama's soothing voice. Currently, the three of them were building a sandcastle together, which was to say her parents were doing the building while Lu Ten occasionally flung fistfuls of sand and squealed happily.

"Do you think your childhood was good?" Ursa asked. She knew bits and pieces of it—his mother's death, his feud with Ozai, his detached father—but he'd never outright said whether he'd thought his upbringing was good.

"I used to think it was pretty good, considering I'm the crown prince and I had plenty of classmates who'd kill to have what I did. Then I met your family." He nodded at where Ursa's father was playing peekaboo with Lu Ten. "My father never played peekaboo with me, that I can recall. He didn't like to play pretend like my mother did, and he wasn't one for lullabies. He didn't have patience for games less complex than sparrowbones. After my mother passed away, I grew up quickly because I wanted to rise to my father's level since he was never the type to sink down to mine. The main thing he cared about was making me a good Fire Lord, so most of our father-son bonding was centered around achieving that goal: firebending training and strategy games. I went to my grandparents and my friends when I wanted to be childish, and I thought that was just the way for the world. Parents were for training and learning and hard work, grandparents were for childishness."

"You don't think that anymore," Ursa interpreted.

"No, I don't. Because I met your family, and I remembered my mom liked childish things when she was alive too." Iroh scratched his chin. "Maybe it would've been different if she'd been around, but what I remember most about my childhood was trying to live up to Father's expectations, so he'd be in a good mood and spend time with me when he was home from the war. It was a lot of pressure. And the throne is pressure enough without a father's expectations on top of it. I don't want that for Lu Ten."

"You want to embrace the childish things."

"Yes," he laughed. "Playing pretend, and firebending training, and lullabies, and Pai Sho. I want him to be able to do all of that with me. With both of us."

"No firebending training with me," Ursa pointed out.

"You have your own things to teach him. I've had to lean on your advice many times when foraging for food out in the Earth Kingdom." He pulled her a little closer against him. "I don't know that my childhood was bad per se, but I think it could've been better. I want it to be better for Lu Ten. And I think you and I both being here for him will already make a big difference in that regard."

Both. Lu Ten needed them both. Ursa tried to convince herself that was true, over the little voice in her head that tried to say otherwise.

"What about you?" Iroh nuzzled her hair. "Would you say you had a good childhood?"

On the beach, her parents had switched to playing a clapping game with Lu Ten, Mom holding the baby in her lap and guiding his small hands to meet Dad's gentle pats while both of them sang the song. O-mo-chi-o tsu-ki-mash-o; Ursa hadn't heard that one in a while, but she remembered it from somewhere bone deep anyway.

"I had a great childhood," she answered truthfully. "The only thing that was missing was…the rest of the family, really. It was always just my parents and I, which was wonderful sometimes, and kind of lonely sometimes. I used to wish for grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins like the rest of my friends had."

"Well, lucky Lu Ten gets some pretty good grandparents."

"Yeah, lucky." Ursa smiled, watching her son laugh in his grandmother's lap when his grandfather poked his nose. Part of her had dreaded she'd never get to see this, but it had all worked out. Lu Ten would have three whole grandparents, his Uncle Ozai and whatever cousins came from him, and all of Iroh's maternal family. The big family Ursa had once craved.

"I'm going to give your parents a break," Iroh said, removing his arm from her. "They've had him for a while."

"I don't think they want a break."

"Maybe," he grinned, "but I want my son. And you should spend some time with them. Talk to your mom, at least."

It was a very transparent effort on his part to get Ursa to start working through her issues. But that was why he'd brought them to Ember Island in the first place, and she'd specifically asked for her mom. She just didn't know how to go about opening up about this. Sure, she normally shared everything with her mom, but this was very different from giggling over whether Ikem would ask her to go to a festival with him. What if Mom was disappointed by how poorly Ursa had been behaving?

Her mother seemed to know what she needed, though. "Come on," she stood and passed Lu Ten to Iroh's arms, "let the dads handle the baby while you and I take a walk."

Ursa didn't say anything for a while, and her mother didn't pressure her. They just walked along the wet sand, her mother at the very edge of the water, occasionally dipping her feet in from time to time when the waves came rushing in. Mom was getting older. It had been four years since Uras had left home, and she could see each of them in her mother's lined face, her gray hair, her slowly stooping back. Her mother had always been kind of old compared to other mothers, but this was the first time Ursa had registered that Mom was getting older. Her mother was older than the war; she'd been a teenager when it had started. How many more years could her own healing skills buy her?

"This place reminds me of my home," Mom said suddenly. "The island where I was born. The beaches were black just like this. We'd walk here in the evenings. Papa taught me to swim. Mama collected seashells with me. Uncle Gyatso could do the funniest little tricks with the sand and the wind."

"Could Grandpa bend the sand?"

"Hmm, just a little. He never trained extensively in sandbending. Some say the Avatar isn't supposed to favor any of the elements, but I think Papa liked air best after fire. Because of Uncle Gyatso, of course."

"I think I'd pick air too. Because of the sky bison."

"Yes, that's a very good reason too. Fang wouldn't like me saying so, though. Fang was your grandpa's dragon, back when dragons still lived among us."

"Grandpa had a dragon?"

"Of course he did, dear. He was the Avatar, he needed a worthy companion. And Fang was a wonderful creature. Remarkably patient with me, looking back."

Ursa remembered Ran and Shaw: how imposing they'd been in the light of the setting sun, how they'd bared their teeth at Iroh before consuming him in flame, how they could've ended his life with a flick of their terrifying jaws. Grandpa Roku had been able to keep an animal like that as a companion? The Avatar's power really was something else. And apparently, that power was supposed to make Lu Ten into a dynasty-defining Fire Lord. It was a hard thing to picture, her bouncing baby boy ruling over the world.

"I felt so alone when you were born," Mom said quietly. "There had been so many people around when I was growing up, decades-long friends of my parents who watched over me and helped raise me. Your father and I had only just moved to Hira'a when you came along. People were kind enough to bring food and well wishes for the new neighbors, but they weren't really our friends yet. They couldn't babysit or lend a sympathetic ear to an older mother like me. And even if they could have, what good would it have done for me, with all the secrets I was carrying around? No, it wasn't until you were old enough to walk about and go out into the world a little that the loneliness started to lift. It took some years to really make the village our home, with you starting school and your father working his way up to magistrate and my greenhouse growing, but it eventually happened. And I certainly think you were better for it, once we finally find our place in the community. It really does take a village."

"I don't have a village," Ursa said quietly. "I have a palace. It should be easier for me, shouldn't it?"

"Darling, motherhood is never easy, no matter where the child is raised. If I ever led you to believe otherwise, I'm sorry I didn't do well enough preparing you for this. A palace is not a village, not the sort you need for a child. There is no shame in feeling something is missing there."

"Really?"

"Of course not." Mom embraced her. "Come, tell me all about it."

Lu Ten loved the beach just as much as his mother. His little body wavered precariously where he was sitting, fighting to maintain his balance as he dug his chubby arms into the black sand and laughed with delight. He'd already been transfixed by the ocean today, when his Grandpapa Jinzuk had carried him to the edge of the water and shown him the setting sun glistening on the waves. Now his attention was on the black sand: how it slipped through his tiny fingers, how it held the imprints of his hands, how- ugh, how it tasted.

"None of that," Iroh corrected, gently stopping Lu Ten from lifting another handful of the stuff to his mouth. There was no way it tasted good, was there?

Jinzuk chuckled from where he was lounging in a beach chair. "Ah, there's no taking your eyes off them once they discover food. Suddenly everything's a potential snack. Ursa once chomped down on one of my shoes like it was candy."

Iroh nodded, filing Jinzuk's advice away in his mind. The Fire Lord had not been a particularly hands-on father—he'd raised an eyebrow when he'd seen Iroh burping Lu Ten after dinner once—but Jinzuk had been there for every step of Ursa's childhood just as much as Rina. With Grampa Lu Ten gone, Iroh didn't have anyone else to look to for fatherly guidance. He just wished he was capable of asking. It was already so embarrassing, how badly he'd let Ursa get consumed by what he now knew was postpartum depression. How could he admit he barely felt like he knew what he was doing with Lu Ten too?

Lu Ten babbled happily, extending his arms out to two figures in the distance. Ursa and Rina were on their way back from their sunset walk. Even silhouetted in the orange glow, Iroh could see Rina had an arm around her daughter, Ursa leaning into the touch, both of them walking a bit slowly.

"There's Mommy, Lu Ten," Iroh waved in an exaggerated fashion. "Hi Mommy!"

Faintly, he saw her smile. What a relief that smile was. He'd started to worry he'd never see it again, until they'd come here and Rina had enacted her maternal magic to slowly make her daughter whole once more. "Hi Daddy!" she called, matching his comical wave. "Hi Lu Ten!"

Lu Ten squealed at the sound of his name, finally toppling forward onto the sand like he'd been threatening all evening. Iroh suppressed the instinct to immediately scoop him up; the sand was soft, the baby wasn't crying, and he had to learn how to pick himself back up eventually.

Sure enough, Lu Ten determinedly wriggled himself onto his hands and knees, an achievement he'd managed to unlock while playing in the garden during Ursa's self-imposed exile (it had broken her heart a little that he'd figured it out while she'd been absent, Iroh recalled). Then, looking up at his mother with a gleeful smile, he slowly began crawling towards her.

Crawling.

"Oh!" Jinzuk gasped, even as Iroh's breath seized in his chest. "My, my, look at the little dragon go! He's got wings, alright."

So he did, determinedly pulling himself towards Ursa with each tiny hand and knee digging into the sand. She'd frozen up with shock as well, clasping her hands over her mouth. It was obvious she was crying, even as Rina clapped and cheered for her grandson's newfound mobility.

"Oh, Lu Ten!" Ursa ran forward and sank to her knees, meeting the baby halfway when he began to slow. "Look at you! Mommy's so proud of you, honey. What a great crawler you are!" She was still crying when she picked him up and kissed his cheek. Lu Ten's little hands went to her cheeks in return, like he already knew he was meant to wipe those tears away.

"Look at him, Iroh," she beamed with pride when Iroh approached. "Isn't he such a good crawler?"

"He's the best I've ever seen." Iroh put his arms around his wife and son. "And he did it because he was so happy to see you, can you imagine that?"

Ursa faltered for a moment, and he could practically see those ugly thoughts running around her head (he hates me, I'm not good enough, you both deserve better), but Lu Ten smiled and smacked Iroh's cheek too, making her laugh instead.

"I'm so happy to see you too, baby boy," Ursa cuddled him close. "So, so happy. I love you so much."

Thanks to Ember Island, it seemed like Iroh's little family was going to be okay.

A couple of pelican-gulls were soaring above. Ursa tracked them as they vanished into the sun, just as she would vanish from Ember Island again after today. Back to the palace, back to real life. And she still hadn't told her mother everything. She took a deep breath and stepped into the beach house again. Now that her head was a little clearer, with some of the hormonal fog lifting, she needed some answers from her mom. Iroh and Dad had taken Lu Ten into town for some last minute shopping, giving her the room she needed to dig up these secrets.

"I quit the White Lotus," Ursa whispered, breaking the calm silence of the living room.

Seated on the living room floor, Mom raised her eyebrows but otherwise didn't stop her work folding and sorting the family's laundry. "Why?"

"Because…I talked to Master Qin in the library. He sort of let it slip, why you quit and ran. What the prophecy was really about."

"Qin's managed to keep his palace job, has he?"

"Mom, why didn't you tell me yourself? Why did you send me to them in the first place?"

"Oh, honey, what was the point of hiding from them once the Fire Lord had found you?" Mom finally paused what she was doing to look up at Ursa. "The Lotuses aren't perfect, but they are the only people in the world that can even hope to thwart him. I knew they'd watch over you, even if it was for their own purposes too."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted you to trust them."

"Even though you didn't?"

"The White Lotus I ran from isn't the same one you entered. It's sprawling, far-reaching. No two buds are the same, and none of them all know each other. I didn't want to turn you against all of them from the start."

"You knew Qin, though. You knew he might still be at the palace."

Mom rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Yes, I knew Qin. I knew there was a chance my message would make its way to him in the palace. But I was never worried about him even though I knew he disagreed with me on the prophecy. He's a man of strategy, not much action. I'm surprised he slipped up and told you the truth. It's not like him at all."

"Do you think he might've meant to do it?" Ursa asked, the idea striking her suddenly. "To test me, somehow? To drive me out of the White Lotus if I wasn't dedicated enough?" Qin had talked about wanting Ozai to join. Would it be easier to convince the rest of the White Lotus to go along with that plan if Ursa was out of the picture?

"I don't know, dear. It's certainly a possibility, but don't drive yourself crazy worrying about it. If you're happier being away from the White Lotus, then stay away. You certainly don't need them like I did, not with Iroh looking after you."

"Why did you need them?"

A long moment passed, and it seemed Mom wasn't going to answer. Then, she gestured for Ursa to come sit next to her.

"Because the volcano on my home island erupted," she explained in a thick voice. "And after that, I had nowhere to go."

The volcano that had taken Roku's life. Ursa's heart clenched. "I thought Uncle Gyatso came to get you."

"Oh, he did, but he couldn't keep me. What was he going to do with a little firebending girl at the Southern Air Temple? No, he knew he had to hide me away. He knew something was strange about how Papa had died. And he knew Papa had never fully trusted the White Lotus either, but even back then, they were the only people who could hope to thwart the Fire Lord."

"He thought Fire Lord Sozin was after you," Ursa connected. "After Sozin left Grandpa to die in the volcano."

Mom looked at her with surprise. "Is that what Sozin did? How do you know?"

Belatedly, Ursa realized that no one besides Sozin and Roku actually knew what had transpired on that island. "I…I read it in Sozin's last testament. The White Lotus told me I should find out more about him and Grandpa. Do you…want to know?"

There was an unusual intensity in her mother's eyes. "Tell me," she said finally. "I've always wondered what happened to my father."

Ursa hesitantly recounted the tale. How Sozin had flown to the volcano, and he'd actually helped fight it for a while. How he and Roku together had subdued it, just like Sozin had once envisioned them doing to the world if only Roku had been properly loyal to the Fire Nation. How the toxic gas had suddenly struck the Avatar directly in the face, an unfortunate fissure in the rock sealing his fate. How Sozin had seen his chance to accomplish his goals without being the cursed Fire Lord who'd killed the Avatar. How Sozin had taken it.

Mom didn't cry during the story. She just stared at a picture of Azulon on the wall with hard, hard eyes, and Ursa wondered if she could see Sozin in his son.

"So," she said when Ursa finished, "My mother was right."

"Right about what?"

"I heard her arguing with Uncle Gyatso about it, when they were deciding whether I should go with her or be sent into hiding. And Mama was swearing on her life, on Papa's life, that she'd seen his dragon flying to the island while she'd been on the lifeboat. Sozin's dragon. She was saying Sozin had something to do with it, and that was why she wouldn't just take me with her. Because Sozin would come after me too eventually." Mom's lips curled. "She was right about him coming after me, of course. I just didn't know she was right about the dragon too. Uncle Gyatso thought her eyes were going, even if he agreed to hide me in the end."

"Grandma sent you away?" Ursa asked, aghast. She'd thought Ta Min had died in the volcano too, but she'd survived and still sent Mom away? "You were so young!"

"She was trying to protect me, darling." Mom fixed her with one of those inarguable maternal looks. "If I thought for even a moment that you and I being apart would have kept you safe, I would've made the same choice. But she had friends she could trust, back then. After all the business with the prophecy, I don't know who I could've given you to."

Friends she could trust. Did Mom know about the White Lotus agents who'd been tortured by the Fire Lord while he was hunting her? Would it do any good to bring it up now, after already reopening the wound of Roku's death.

"That's what you need, dear," Mom said, in that final tone indicating she was changing the subject now. "Friends you can trust. A village of your own. That'll make raising your boy much easier, if you know it's not just the royal family's people looking out for him."

Piandao, cont.

Ursa quitting the White Lotus less than a year after she'd pulled me into it was a bit of a shock. The news didn't reach me for a while since I was off on my tours of the Earth Kingdom, where White Lotus business was quite disconnected from whatever was happening in the capital. Moreover, I was still rather lowly ranked at that point. I ran small errands for the Lotuses when I wasn't on the battlefield: transporting messages I couldn't decipher between masters I didn't know, ferrying random supplies back and forth, working as the kitchen boy I was at my roots until I could earn the credibility to do something a little more substantial and figure out what this secret society was really about.

Besides, with Ursa being a new mother, I sort of figured she wasn't going to be very involved with the White Lotus for some time anyway. It wasn't until about six months after Lu Ten's birth that I heard from Iroh, in rather vague terms, that parenthood wasn't exactly going as the two of them had hoped. Jeong Jeong relayed later that Ursa had abruptly resigned from the White Lotus not long before her son's birth, which we both agreed was rather odd considering her enthusiasm for me to join the group in the first place.

So, when Ursa wrote insisting that I attend the party for Lu Ten's first birthday and officially meet the newest prince, I didn't have much choice but to accept. I needed to see for myself how motherhood was treating her.

"Look, Lu Ten! This is Daddy's friend Piandao."

"Pa-pa-pa-" Lu Ten babbled, clearly struggling to wrap his lips around yet another new name. Piandao barely had time to smile in a hopefully baby-appropriate manner before Ursa was shoving Lu Ten into his arms.

"Come on, it's not that hard," she scolded when he tried to protest. "And that's what you get for taking a whole year to come meet him." That was all she said before hurrying off to address some situation with the drinks, apparently trusting Piandao of all people to watch her baby for a few minutes. Yikes.

Lu Ten was dressed in an odd amount of finery for a baby, but it was only appropriate for his birthday party, even if he wouldn't remember the affair. Piandao struggled to shift some of the silk out of the way while keeping his grasp on his precious charge, before Korzu finally took pity on him and showed him how to let Lu Ten sit in the hook of his arm and lean into his chest.

"See, it's not so bad," Korzu teased once Lu Ten was resting against Piandao's one formal tunic and tugging at it experimentally. "I think he likes you."

"I think he just likes new people, if he's anything like his father." Piandao caught Ursa's eye across the room and smiled reassuringly, before dropping his voice to a whisper. "Where is his father?"

"Entertaining some generals in the courtyard. They don't actually care about a baby, as you might imagine, but no one who's anyone can skip the newest prince's first birthday."

"And how do he and Ursa seem to you?"

Korzu shrugged. "Fine, but I haven't been back much longer than you. I met the little prince for the first time last week. You could ask Hana since she's in the capital most of the year, but I heard Ursa didn't take any visitors until Lu Ten was almost nine months old, so I don't think Hana would know much either. What are you worried about, anyway?"

The White Lotus was his real answer, but Korzu couldn't know about that. "Iroh said something in a letter," he deflected. "And you remembered how insane he was when they were trying. I kind of feel like we should check on them."

"Them as a couple, or as people?"

"Both?"

"Hm." Korzu paused to tickle Lu Ten's chin, earning a laugh. "Yes, I think you're right. Should we each check one of them and compare notes after?"

Ursa was making her way back towards them now. "Sure. I can take Ursa," Piandao quickly offered.

"What, you want me to go out into that courtyard of generals?"

"You'll give Iroh a reason to leave, Kor. If I go out there, I'll just get suckered into military talk."

Korzu pulled a face and pushed up his spectacles, meaning Piandao was right but Kor wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it. "Well, off I go, then. I'll find you later. Bye-bye, little dragon."

"Bye-bye!" Lu Ten chirped, waving after Korzu. Yes, the baby was adorable. Piandao couldn't admit that out loud though, or his mother wouldn't shut up about how he needed to settle down before the war beat him up too much for any nice girls to be interested in him anymore.

"Mommy!"

"Hi, baby boy!" Ursa took Lu Ten back easily, kissing his cheeks. "Did Piandao watch over you okay?"

"Well, he's alive, isn't he?"

"Oh, please. Holding him for a few minutes couldn't have been that hard." Ursa adjusted the baby on her hip and flashed Piandao a tired smile. "I'm sorry we haven't had much time to talk, but I'm glad you're here, even though a baby's party really can't be that fun."

"Trust me, I've been to royal parties far more boring than this. You should've seen the Autumn Festivals before you showed up."

"I appreciate that. Here, the party's dying down. Do you want to catch up in the kitchen after I tuck in Lu Ten? I need to thank your mother for her work anyway."

Perfect. "Of course."

In the kitchen, after Ma had accepted the princess's gratitude and left for the night, Ursa finally seemed to let down her princess facade: her posture wavered, her head drooped, and her lungs heaved a loud sigh as she slumped down at a counter. "Oh, Piandao! I can't believe it was a year ago that Lu Ten was born. Iroh and I were saying this morning, it seems like it was yesterday and a hundred years ago at the same time."

"I feel that way about many things since I left home. But your Lu Ten's such a charming little fellow. It was worth coming back to meet him. Thank you for inviting me."

"I'm so glad you think so. You know, I think he likes you. You should visit more once he's old enough to remember you. I worry about how he's going to turn out, growing up in the palace."

"What do you mean?"

Ursa's shoulders drooped further. "Well…you and I, we made a pact to be good to each other right here at this table, remember?"

"Of course."

"Because you and I understand what it is to be outsiders in the capital, people who weren't born into this life but rather chosen for it. But Lu Ten isn't going to be that way. He's born for all this: the palace, the academy, the throne. He's the center of that stupid prophecy. I worry so much about what he's going to become with all that power and pressure from such a young age, and my family can't be his one connection to the world outside the capital, you know?"

"What, and you think I can?"

"Come on, princes learn weapons too. You'd be the best person to teach him swordsmanship, if you earned the right to be home more often."

"Do you know how many swordmasters the academy has?"

"But none of them know the value of that education like you do. Lu Ten has to learn about the outside world from people besides the palace and academy staff."

There was something very odd—borderline desperate, really—about Ursa's voice. "I could do that for him," he offered tentatively, "if you'll tell me why you quit the White Lotus."

"Oh, that." She looked away. "It's…family business, honestly. I'm not even sure quitting was the right decision. I've been thinking I might go back, when Lu Ten's a bit older."

"Really?"

"I don't have time to think about the White Lotus, or anything about my own family, since Lu Ten was born. How could I?"

That made sense. "So…you're just on leave?"

"Well, no. I made it sound very permanent when I left. I probably meant for it to be. I don't know." She combed through her hair nervously. "Can you do something for me, Piandao? Since you're still in it?"

"Depends on what."

"I want to know more about the Lotuses in the capital. I trust Jeong Jeong since he joined along with me, but the others—QIn and Jinpa, especially—I want to know about their careers in the society, their allies, their goals."

"Ursa, I'm in the Earth Kingdom most of the time. The branches of the White Lotus I know are very disconnected from here. I'm not sure what I could possibly find for you."

"But you are here sometimes, and in other parts of the Fire Nation for training."

"Yes," he begrudgingly conceded.

"So do it then. It's not urgent. I just want to hear from some other sources before I decide to go back."

"And what exactly do I get out of fulfilling all the obligations you've thrust upon me in the past ten minutes?"

"I…don't know. I'll think of something. A favor when you need me. Is my word enough?"

Piandao bit the inside of his cheek, contemplating it. Ursa's word was trustworthy, and she wasn't afraid to execute a few royal favors outside of official record. Some five years as princess and occasional White Lotus agent had made her rather daring, and unusually knowledgeable.

"I don't need anything for being good to Lu Ten," he decided. "You and Iroh are two of my dearest friends, so of course I would care about your children and want to help them. For the Lotus stuff, I'll accept your offer and do it on contingency of a favor to call in later."

A relieved smile smoothened out her face. "Deal. I knew I could count on you."

"Of course." Piandao found a pitcher of fruit juice his mother had left in one of the cold stores and poured a couple of glasses. "Tell me about everything else. How are you and Iroh?"

"Oh, perfect. My marriage might be the one thing I haven't fretted about lately." The sparkle in Ursa's eyes made it clear she meant it. "I think I love him even more after seeing him as a father. It's attractive in an entirely new way."

"Ew."

"You asked! Ooh, you should hear this story: the other day, when Lu Ten managed to say 'Dada' for the first time…"

Ursa talked for thirty more minutes before she was yawning her head off, long enough for Piandao to assure himself that aside from the mysterious White Lotus business, she really was fine. Once she'd wished him a good night, he found a bottle of something a little stronger than fruit juice in the servants' stash and walked it out to his usual meeting spot with Korzu outside the palace's northern wall.

"Iroh's not coming?" Piandao asked, tossing the sake to his friend.

"He's a father now, Piandao. He can't drink the night away when we're in town anymore." Kor unscrewed the top of the bottle and sniffed it, making a face. "Ugh, especially when you won't even swipe the good stuff."

"The prince is the one that normally gets us the good stuff, you know. Plus, this has to be better than the swill you're drinking in the villages." Piandao took the bottle back and knocked it back, relishing the burn. Sometimes, if he took just the right amount of drink, he could avoid the war's nightmares without sacrificing his dreams altogether.

"I don't drink on the job like you soldiers. And don't go overboard with the bottle," Korzu warned when he took another swig. A physician's eye was too perceptive; Piandao needed to watch his drinking tonight, or he would give away just how badly all the war and White Lotus business was messing with his head.

"I know my limits, Kor. Come on, fill me in. How's Iroh?"

"Good, actually. Surprisingly good. He enjoys being an official captain in the Army now, although he naturally hates being away from his family for long stretches. He's enthralled with little Lu Ten and is prouder of him than just about anything. He's still worried about the strain of motherhood on Ursa, but he's slowly starting to accept that the worst of it's behind them now that the baby's a year old. And he's pivoting to strategizing about the war seriously again, so I imagine we'll be hearing reports about the Dragon of the West taking to the sea soon."

"The sea, really?"

"He says he's been neglecting his naval training, and he'll have to prepare to face waterbenders in combat sooner or later." Korzu shrugged. "He's got a point. Agna Qel'a is the only stronghold left outside of the Earth Kingdom, and it would be easiest to take them down before they're smart enough to realize isolationism won't protect them forever."

"Of course." Was that the Fire Nation's focus now? Piandao made a mental note for the Lotuses.

"How's Ursa?"

"Ugh, just fine. Loves her husband and her son to a sickening extent. Whatever she was struggling with before, she seems better now."

"Aw, that's wonderful to hear. I'm happy for those two. It seems parenthood has brought them closer together than ever."

"Yeah, it's quite something."

"And it doesn't hurt that Lu Ten's adorable, right?" Korzu nudged him. "I saw you smiling at him at the party."

"Don't say that crap too loudly, Kor. Ma'll hear you and pop out from somewhere talking about how I should take my cues from Iroh and think about starting my own little family."

"Shouldn't you?"

He snorted. "Man, I will when you will."

"How do you know I don't have a secret family in a modest village somewhere? It's not as if I would want to advertise my marriage around these parts."

"Not your style. Besides, you wouldn't keep something like that from Iroh and I, because we'd kill you."

"Ah, the sweet release of death."

"We should make a pact," Piandao declared, wrapping an arm around Korzu and gulping down some more sake.

"What sort of pact?"

"A bachelor pact."

"Count me out," Korzu rolled his eyes, taking the bottle for his own swig.

"Look, I've already lost Iroh to his destiny or whatever, I'm not losing you too. Bachelor pact: you and me against the world, until we're at least thirty. No women."

"Sure, Piandao. No women, as long as you don't get yourself killed before then."

No women. Especially—a familiar lump reappeared in his throat—no more Earth Kingdom women with jade green eyes and a too-quick tongue and a penchant for hanging around White Lotus meetings.

A/N: Thought I might try to break myself out of my writer's block by trying writing from a new character's POV. Piandao's a hard one since I think so much of the intrigue of his character comes from the way he's perceived by the people around him, which means his internal monologue has room to be rather broad. It was fun, and it helped get the creative juices flowing again. Hoping to make some real headway with this story - if not finish it - in 2025!

~Bobbi