#I PROMISE IM GONNA ABIDE BY THE POLL RESULTS OKAY
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mugentakeda Ā· 1 year ago
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the tapping of his fathers pacing on the tile is almost enough to drive him mad.
ā€œdonā€™t let your brotherā€™s incessant whining cause you to falter. this is merely a short visit to discuss the matter at hand, and then youā€™re on your way right back to ba sing se. he will try and whisper doubt in your ear.ā€ the firelord stops to shake a finger at him. ā€œdo not listen to him for anything! i will help you in the best of my ability to have this taken care of.ā€
ā€œiā€™m not,ā€ iroh snaps impatiently, digging his palms into his eyes. ā€œiā€™m not listening to him, father. he doesnā€™t care for lu ten and he doesnā€™t have to. he has his house and i have mine. empty words have little meaning to me at the moment.ā€
his father purses his lips. the sting of his stare digs down to the core.
ā€œyou say that,ā€ azulon snaps, ā€œbut i believe this to be a family affair. its possible lu ten was taken advantage of because he was too busy protecting ozaiā€™s wife and ozaiā€™s children to protect himself. if thatā€™s true, then ozai owes him. i donā€™t give a damn if he cares about him as his nephew or not. lu ten honored his house, so he shall honor lu ten in return by shutting his trap for once.ā€
iroh doesnā€™t have the strength to respond. heā€™d left ba sing se in a rush after receiving the news, and ordered the shipmen to get him back home on the double. heā€™s sick, heā€™s tired, heā€™s terrified and angry, and he misses his son something awful. the last thing iroh cares about right now is what ozai does or has to say.
thereā€™s a heavy, sad sigh from above him. azulon slowly makes himself comfortable on the sitting cushion next to him, grunting as his bones creak. he sets the knocked over teacup straight again and refills it. the familiar heat and fragrance does nothing to soothe iroh, however.
ā€œthere is nothing i can say to make you feel better as of right now,ā€ his old man mutters, sitting the teapot back down with uncharacteristic gentleness, ā€œnor can i say anything sure about ursa or the children. but lu ten, heā€¦. he is a remarkable young man. thick skinned and ornery. lightning generation at only 21, can you believe that? he beat you by a whole year. you must have faith in him.ā€
ā€œitā€™s not about having faith in my son, father, of course i have faith in my son. but i have no faith in whoever has- has stolen him from me!ā€ iroh suddenly exclaims, gesturing wildly. azulon flinches as his hands come dangerously close to knocking over the tea again.
your boy flagrantly disrespected you and stayed home to laze around, ozai had hissed, his narrow eyes locked straight up at the throne. both were kneeling before their fatherā€™s throne, side by side. i donā€™t know why you even bother. if he thinks heā€™s so grown up then he can save his own skin.
iroh didnā€™t bother to respond. he has nothing to say to his brother even on the best of days. all his life, heā€™s been nothing but a background character to iroh. always insisting on holing up in his room or office, never joining family dinners or celebration banquets. never one to offer his congratulations, but expects his older brother to offer his. yet, he always liked to think his word was of any significance to iroh. that he was always to be heeded. respect to his elders only means something to his little brother if thereā€™s something to be gained.
flagrant disrespect. lu ten did not disrespect him if iroh never directly asked or ordered anything of him in the first place. he implied it, and lu ten pushed back. it hurt, but it wouldā€™ve also been the boys first true venture outside the fire nation. so iroh understood the hesitancy.
iroh wouldā€™ve just had lu ten by his side in his war council anyway. he wouldā€™ve never seen the battlefield or the city until iroh leveled it. not a spot of green would be spared by his men.
he had envisioned himself shooting a hole right through the flimsy palace wall with his lightning, and his son by his side. winning.
nothing has gone the way you made it out to be, great spirit. i donā€™t feel very lucky, as of late. the evening sun peaking through the tall windows of the corridor offer his thoughts no response. the general sighs heavily, and continues on his way.
the royal procession had gone through the beach house, along with the rest of the island. not a trace left behind. no sign of a struggle, either.
the procession claims itā€™s like they vanished out of thin air, sir, jee had whispered.
delicate situations such as this one call for holding the ones you trust most closer than ever. thus, iroh took only his personal guards from ba sing se back with him. jee is a rugged and introverted man, one that iroh knows can keep a secret, so he has been acting as his messenger man and valet for the time being.
another member of his most trusted circle is one of his longest working servants, one that belongs to irohā€™s house personally. her name is su, and she is a stout woman around his fatherā€™s age. stern and silent, but trustworthy. she was the one that kept a close eye on lu ten from a distance during the periods of time iroh wasnā€™t around in his youth. she had been the midwife at his birth, she had been the one to pick the wet nurse.
and she had slipped iroh a journal outside of lu tenā€™s room. leather bound and stained in a deep red, with delicate embroidery of lotus flowers decorating its cover. it looked like something the lady ursa would gift him.
i came across this left behind in lady ursaā€™s garden, your highness, she had murmured fiercely. i snatched it right up and held it for you upon your return, lest it fall into the wrong hands.
the dark, warm silence of irohā€™s own chambers is a small comfort, but the cold leather of the journal in his hands chains him to the cruel reality.
one of the vows iroh made for himself when lu ten came into puberty was that he would never violate his sonā€™s privacy. heā€™d like to think that his sonā€™s life possibly being in danger is a good enough reason to break it, but it still feelsā€¦ wrong. especially now that heā€™s an adult himself.
itā€™ll be like eating a dollop of wasabi, he tells himself. spicy and painful one moment, then fading tingling the next.
with a sigh, he cracks it open to the back page. a few lines of familiar scrawl.
and the reason i torture myself trying to ignore all these things about him that bother me is becauseā€¦.
he looks away, shame crawling up his back. the candle sitting at the corner of his desk flicker along with his irregular, fear ridden heart.
a dollop of wasabi, he reminds himself. he opens his eyes again with a long breath and looks back down at the journal once more.
ā€¦well, thatā€™s the crux of it. i just donā€™t know how to finish that sentence anymore.
that tells him a whole lot of nothing.
iroh flips the page back again, and is immediately overwhelmed by completely filled pages. then startled, by the sheer amount of times his own name pops up to his searching eyes among walls of scrawled text.
unease curls in his gut, like a dragon slowly rising from a slumber.
the ink doesnā€™t look too old. and su had said she found it in the lady ursaā€™s garden. and then jee said the royal procession claimed the foursā€™ trip to ember island was only to last three days, tops.
and as far as iroh knew, lu ten had been keeping quietly busy after irohā€™s departure to ba sing se. lu ten willingly buried himself in paper work, always hunting for things he had the power to make into his business. training with lightning generation was grueling, and took hours, on top of the meditation necessary. and it takes a clear mind to even work with lightning, soā€¦
had he done something recently to upset lu ten, and didnā€™t realize it? what things about iroh did lu ten torture himself trying to ignore? dramatic wording like that is difficult to overlook.
the general thinks back to how well his son can hide his emotions. lu tenā€™s court face beats even ozaiā€™s, so it made him a gnarly pai sho opponent, butā€¦ he never did the backhanded comments. he can lie, but heā€™s a man of action before a plotting one. so youā€™ll never see the storm coming until it hits you directly in the face.
the letters he got back from him in ba sing se wereā€¦ neutral. unbothered. he hadnā€™t seemed very troubled at the palace gates during his departure, either. tired and a bit wary, maybe.
but now that he thinks about it, the way lu ten looked at him had beenā€¦ strange. his eyes had an emotion swirling in them that the general couldnā€™t read.
he rapidly rolls over the most recent letters in his head, the days right before leaving, trying to think of what he might have done to set lu ten off-
ā€¦the tiff they had on the evening before irohā€™s departure.
he had forgotten about it completely.
spirits, heā€™d forgotten about it by the time he stepped foot on the shore. the elation of finally arriving at ba sing se, the first big step toward fulfilling the biggest thing heā€™s wanted to accomplish his entire life, the ultimate win, decades of planning and dreaming, inspired by agni herselfā€¦
heā€™d been caught up in the heat of the moment.
it didnā€™t even turn into an actual argument, thatā€™s how small the tiff had been- a few things thrown back and forth during their private dinner, and the rest of it had been spent in awkward silence. iroh had let his hurt get the better of him, and he got testy.
the only thing that spoiled his ongoing luck, his relief of finally being able to go and crush his countryā€™s most stubborn opponent, to make the second biggest win since sozin- was his own son not joining in, or showing any interest.
and that wasnā€™t even it. the closer iroh and his advisors got to bringing their planning to a conclusion, the more withdrawn lu ten became. whenever iroh brought it up, his son would close like a firelily in the night.
i assumed you were above teenage rebellion, iroh had muttered. i understand you want accomplishments of your own, but-
teenage rebellion? youā€™re joking, right? why do you always insist on- on patronizing me whenever we donā€™t agree on something? if you think youā€™re gonna guilt trip me into changing my mind, youā€™ve got it all wrong.
the disbelieving, ever so slightly shriller tone lu tenā€™s voice took on reminded iroh of his mother. she always had the habit of raising her voice a few pitches when she got upset. it reminded iroh of a coyote-eagle, once upon a time. the older lu ten got, the taller and leaner his face and physique became, the more time they spent apart, itā€™s like a vivid repeat of his mother. he even became a hand talker when iroh hadnā€™t been looking, just like fuhua.
(are habits hereditary, or had fuhua died after running away, and came back to haunt him?)
itā€™s probably best to start a bit further back in the journal. it might provide the context this father needs. he flips the pages for a few moments, and stops at random.
i spoke with a gentleman from the earth kingdom today during my observational trip through the colonies closest to the homeland. if you didnā€™t look close enough, you wouldā€™ve thought him to be any old fire nation fisherman, but i know green eyes when i see them.
his wife was a sailor that hails from caldera city. they met across the seas, in a neutral port town. they have two young twins, just barely older than zuko and azula. isnā€™t that something?
now, that is something iroh never bothered doing when he was a young man- itā€™s only now that his joints wonā€™t let him run around chasing skirts anymore that heā€™s become a people person. but heā€™s proud of his boy for taking that initiative and having such a sense of responsibility, to go and mingle with the common man. an empathetic ruler thatā€™s popular with his people will have the surest and furthest reaching authority, after all. iroh couldnā€™t name a single councilman off the top of his head that would be willing to even breathe the same air as a commoner, much less a colonial mutt.
howeverā€¦ this isnā€™t a colonial. heā€™s too keen on the idea of his family membersā€™ abductors being petty, revenge seeking crooks from the earth kingdom to be okay with the idea of his son even conversing with one. for all they claim to be true and steadfast, them sneaking in and attacking an unarmed woman and her young children in their beach house just to get back at iroh is all too realistic of an idea.
but lu ten wasnā€™t unarmed. lu ten is one of the strongest men in the fire nation, and iroh isnā€™t even being biased about that. it takes prodigy to conjure lightning, and mastery to control it. and lu ten was very protective of ursa and the children- almost too protective. back in the day, during celebration parties at the palace, lu ten would damn near prowl around a pregnant ursa to fend off the careless crowd, lest they bump into her and jostle her. and heā€™d only been just a young teenager himself, so it was like watching a polar bear puppy that thought itself a snarly guard dog.
then a few years ago, there had been an incident where lu ten claimed zukoā€™s instructors were smacking him around. heā€™d grabbed both of the men by the collar and dragged them both viciously through the palace and right out the door- only after the sharpest scolding irohā€™s ever heard since his mother was still alive. heā€™d never seen his son so angry. heā€™d chuckled at the way those old instructors had babbled apologies and fell to lu tenā€™s feet, while patting ursaā€™s back gently as she floundered.
no, itā€™s doubtful that an old fisherman had anything to do with it. earth kingdom or not. this is just something he needs to talk to his son about once heā€™s found. it would take a group of very strong benders to take lu ten down, at the very least.
he was wisecracking and friendly. we talked about his business, the officials that take care of the town and the surrounding environment, how he met his wife. he even shared his lunch during our time together- grilled fish, fragrant with sumac and citrus, and a chilled earth kingdom style mint tea. it was refreshing and unique, and i want to do it again. youā€™d think the fire nation would pick up these little things as it expands, but it just drowns it all out. iā€™m not sure if thatā€™s a good thing. what made the food good was its earth kingdom style and seasoning, after all. what made the man interesting was his earth kingdom raised manner.
ā€¦what made lu ten think it was a good idea to write such things in a journal, and then be so careless to just forget it in ursaā€™s garden? heā€™ll have to thank su for her keen eye. if someone lacking critical thinking happened to pick this up and turn it in to his father, heā€™d have to deal with his son having allegations of sedition on top of everything else.
iroh, personally, is more than happy to let all traces of chilled tea get drowned out. itā€™s a frequent and light hearted debate between a father and son, the doā€™s and donā€™ts of tea. iroh is a stickler for tradition and enjoying the natural flavors. the fire nation boasted only the most fragrant flowers to enhance only the most delicate flavors of only the finest tea blends, after all.
his son claimed it all tasted like dinky dirt water, and stubbornly stuck with his cold hibiscus teas with herbs, and his heavily spiced and creamed saffron teas. it had been a big joke back then, but nowā€¦ not so much.
a whole lifetime of a father making his son tea, sharing one of his passions. conversations over tea, tea for soothing a sore throat after screaming matches with councilmen, tea to wash down sea water accidentally swallowed at the beach. traditional methods, ceremonies, porcelain pots precious enough to buy a whole town- but itā€™s dirt water. yet an old fisherman from their greatest enemy shares ice water with a few mint leaves in a tin cup, and its unique.
and he wants to do it again.
the personal betrayal somehow hurts more than the blatant treachery written out plainly on the paper.
to be honest, i think that itā€™s a great shame that a good man like that has to be careful on his own property-property he paid for with his own money and built with his own hands- due to being from the earth kingdom, even if he has a strong marriage to a fire nation citizen. i thought about it for a long time, and realized that even if he wasnā€™t loyal to the crown, i didnā€™t mind. i donā€™t get angry at the idea, and i donā€™t think i ever have. i didnā€™t even think about it until i left. he made good company, offered to share his food with me, and introduced me to his beautiful children as if i was his new neighbor. i think community like that is something the fire nation needs. especially the nobility, who youā€™d think all have iron sticks shoved up their asses.
interactions like that are the most important ones to me, because they challenge me the most. i hate to cheapen that by thinking i just enjoy being challenged to spite my traditions and elders, or to be contrarian. thatā€™s what coming of age means to me- looking inward, and asking the big questions.
ā€¦this canā€™t be why lu ten has been so distant lately.
the general slowly shuts the journal in dull horror. how long has this sickness had time to fester his sonā€™s soul?
he swallows hard, and gingerly slides the journal in the folds of his robes. under no circumstance can anyone get their hands on it.
and later, when his gut quits churning and the candles around him quit threatening to set his room on fire, heā€™ll read this whole journal, front to back. brand every sentence, every symbol into his eyes. then heā€™s gonna burn it, bring his son home, and ask him what the hell heā€™s thinking.
the next morning, after letting the foul scent of burnt leather fade from his chambers, iroh finds jee.
ā€œwhat can i do you for, your highness?ā€
ā€œi need you to bring me the finest bounty hunter money can buy,ā€ iroh murmurs. thereā€™s a madness in his eyes and in his grip now that heā€™s had time to ponder the contents of his sonā€™s journal, and what they entail. ā€œand no matter what, it stays between us. i do not care what measures you must take to keep it that way.ā€
jee swallows hard and salutes with purpose. the poor man must be able to his see stress all over his face, but heā€™s barely containing himself the way it is.
this was no kidnapping. the blasted earth kingdom has everything to do with it, naturally, but it was no kidnapping.
jee returns to him that evening, followed by a lovely young woman, head to toe in black leather. her gait oozes confidence, and her narrow eyes scream danger.
this is definitely not the kind of finest iroh meant by finest bounty hunter money can buy, but heā€™ll take it.
ā€œā€¦iā€™ve, uh. fulfilled your request, your highness,ā€ jee says. he looks flustered, and is clearly refusing to even glance at the woman.
ā€œwith a few breaks in between, iā€™m guessing. your collar is uneven, soldier,ā€ iroh deadpans. heā€™d call it a shame if he wasnā€™t curbing an episode at the moment.
jee makes a faint noise of distress and fumbles with his uniform, blushing a deep red. iroh realizes that was the wrong thing to say at how the fair lady scowls at the crude jab.
she shoves past jee with an aggressive shoulder clip and crosses her arms before the general.
ā€œi was promised a shitload of coin in exchange for some missing royals,ā€ she says, voice clipped. ā€œi donā€™t like to work with your kind, but good money is good money. and i can promise better and quicker results than any phony bounty hunter in the world- my companion is a shirshu. she can sniff out a rat from a whole continent away.ā€
a shirshu, eh? it would seem my luck has made its return after long last.
ā€œimpressive,ā€ iroh praises truthfully. heā€™s a weak man for crass and foul-mouthed women. ā€œiā€™d like to take a look at this beast, and then we can discuss the details and prices. i also hope youā€™re alright with keeping this transaction under wraps, my dear.ā€
she sneers. ā€œyou can call me june. and iā€™d highly suggest keeping a few steps away from my nyla, for your own good.ā€
jee clears his throat. ā€œiā€™d listen to that one, sir. her creature is something else.ā€
iroh hums pleasantly, and keeps a few paces behind june as they go. a strange calm has washed over him now that the universe finally makes sense to him again; he has a few more people heā€™d like to question, and heā€™ll be all set. then sooner, if heā€™s lucky, rather than later, his sister-in-law, his nephew, and his niece will all be found and returned home, safe and sound. his son will be in his arms, whole and unharmed. ba sing se will simply have to wait.
and if theyā€™re lucky, the dragon of the west wonā€™t have thought up a better solution to finally grinding their sorry ashes into their own dirt by the time he gets back. but regardless, he will win.
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