#iroh: what do you have there?

[discordiansamba]

the fire nation gets an unofficial prince.

how else are they supposed to regard the child that fire lord iroh decides to take in? he's clearly not a servant, despite his room being located in their quarters. fire lord iroh dotes on him as he would his own child- indeed, many servants who have been at the palace since lu ten was young confirm this.

fire lord iroh never makes a formal announcement of adoption. many assume this is simply because the boy is an earthbender, though those who have met him attest to him having the gold eyes of the fire nation. they look upon them and wonder, but the caldera's official answer remains a steadfast silence.

(no one ever calls him prince to his face, but historians will eventually add prince shun to the family tree of the fire nation's royal line.

much, much later, historians will begin to conflate prince shun and prince zuko until they become one and the same. history will remember prince zuko as fire lord ozai's bastard son, born an earthbender.)

for the first few years of his residency in the caldera, his presence is a source of hot debate. fire lord iroh has steadily purged those who would support his brother from the ranks of nobility, but a few still remain who are simply smart enough to hold their tongue. they view the young man with disdain- the very fact that iroh would adopt an earthbender viewed as a weakness. even worse, he's a peasant- a dusty sandbender from the si wong desert.

(when he is a little older, he involves himself in the brutish sport that is pro-bending. they point at this and say look. he is uncouth and ill-mannered. not suited for the palace.)

others are more generous. iroh has clearly taught him well. his manners are impeccable. he is of earth, but they can see the fire in him too. he rises with the sun, just as any firebender would, and ends up joining the fire lord in his daily meditations. he watches the palace guard's firebenders train, and when he is a little older, begins sparring with them.

when he is fifteen, he shocks everyone by returning to the palace with a juvenile dragon. he names it druk. the two become inseparable.

when he is fifteen, the avatar and the chief of the southern water tribe will accidentally cost him his first boyfriend with their overzealous meddling. a section of the caldera's terrain is reshaped in his angry pursuit of the avatar.

(when he is sixteen, all who knew prince zuko hold their breath and watch. history never records this.

when he is sixteen, princess azula returns to the caldera. history will record her defeat.)