So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Sokka asked as he, Katara and Harry rested on Appa's back as he flew them back to the rendezvous point.
"I don't see anything we need to discuss," Harry stated simply whilst leaning against Appa's saddle. "We extracted Bumi, got away safely, nobody died, mission successful as far as I am concerned."
"Oh yeah, are we supposed to ignore Zuko being there with those three Fire Nation girls, one of which is not only a Fire Nation Princess but also your fiancée?!" Katara blurted out.
"Alright, first of all, she is not 'a Fire Nation Princess', she is THE Fire Nation Princess," Harry corrected her. "And I didn't know that they would bloody be there, did I? I'm not one of those bloody fortune tellers that you believe in."
"Why the hell didn't you tell us about any of this?!" Sokka demanded with disbelief.
"Because my personal life is my business," Harry glared at him. "It had nothing to do with any of you."
"Well, it does now!" Katara cut in angrily.
"Yeah!" Sokka emphatically agreed. "Now, we've got to deal with four firebending jerks chasing us!"
"Don't insult them!" Harry growled. "And only two of them can fire bend anyway!"
"That doesn't matter!" Sokka shouted. "What matters is that now we've got your girl chasing us as well!"
"It's not like I planned it!" Harry shouted. "I never expected to see her again! I didn't know she'd be here! Alright?! In case you haven't noticed, I'm not fucking pleased about this either! Now, get off my fucking case!" He yelled before standing up and walking off the saddle and sitting on top of Appa's head, the equivalent of slamming the door in the faces of the Water Tribe siblings. Appa let out a small yawn before grunting. "Oh, don't you fucking start either," Harry told him.
"Uncle," Zuko knocked on the door as he stood outside of his uncle's room, he could already smell the scent of his uncle's favourite jasmine tea wafting through the door, the smell had been a constant in the young man's life for the last few years, and truthfully he had grown used to it, found it almost comforting.
"Come in," His uncle's voice called. Zuko slowly opened the door and entered, finding his Uncle sitting on a pillow on the floor, a cup of tea in his hands, as always. "Greetings, Prince Zuko," Iroh said calmly, giving the Fire Nation's prince a small nod. "Please, sit," He told him whilst gesturing to the pillow in front of him. "How may I help you?" He asked.
"Uncle," Zuko closed the door behind him before he walked forwards and sat in front of his oldest living relative and mentor. "I have some concerns that I would like to speak to you about." He admitted.
"Concerns, Prince Zuko?" Uncle Iroh asked, staring at him curiously.
"Concerns about Azula," Zuko replied, taking a heavy breath before he continued. "Today, when we battled against Harry and the Avatar, she seemed...off."
"Off, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked, raising both of his eyebrows to give him a questioning look.
"She wasn't acting like she normally does," Zuko began explaining. "I know Azula. She's smart, cunning, ambitious and calculating. Every move of hers is thought out and planned. She has plans, she has backup plans for her backup plans. But today, I didn't see that in her. She was..." Zuko paused, trying to think up the right words. "...She was angry, rageful, out of control." He said, not wanting to point out that he knew that he was probably not a much better example of calmness. Iroh looked at Zuko for a moment, seemingly wanting to point out the same thing, but thankfully for Zuko, he decided not to.
"Princess Azula is a rather complicated young lady," Iroh said delicately, stopping for a moment to take a sip of his tea. "Neither you nor your sister had what I would describe as easy childhoods," He continued while Zuko sat patiently and waited for him. "You were both already under immense pressure by simply being born in the royal family, a pressure that I am fairly familiar with."
"Hmm," Zuko hummed thoughtfully, often he forgot it was his uncle who was originally supposed to be the Fire Lord and not Zuko's father. 'How different would the Fire Nation be if that was the case?' He couldn't help but wonder.
"Your father, even when we were young, was never the most caring of individuals." Uncle Iroh continued. "He - like many Fire Lords before him - lacked empathy and cared very little for others. He was and still is focused on obtaining power and maintaining his image. Then eventually he had you, one of the cutest babies I had ever seen in my entire life." Iroh said with a fond smile, Zuko blushed slightly before Iroh's smile disappeared. "Unfortunately, my brother cared little for how round and pinchable your cheeks were. He believed that you would not be a talented firebender, whilst I simply believed that you were a late bloomer, and I was glad to be proven right." He smiled warmly at Zuko before his face turned serious once more. "And then Azula was born, and it was very obvious that she would be a prodigy."
"I bet," Zuko murmured, remembering how Azula always seemed to take naturally to firebending.
"The problem Ozai felt he had was that his strongest child was not only born second and wouldn't inherit the throne while the child he believed to be weaker was first to inherit his legacy. Not to mention the fact that Azula was born a girl, and the majority of the Fire Nation, your father included, believe that that makes her inferior and weaker."
"Azula? Weak?" Zuko repeated with disbelief.
"It is not necessarily true, of course," Uncle Iroh hummed. "Though that is the view that many held when she was younger, some still hold it even now. Your father soon realised that Azula was a tremendously talented firebender, something which is a great source of pride for him, tales of her blue flames have spread throughout the land. However, there is a limit to what can be achieved with pure bending talent, it makes one a great warrior, but Ozai had different plans. He considers serving in the Fire Nation Army to be something for peasants and lesser members of society, and that is a big reason why we had not gotten along when we were younger. I was happy to join, to fight alongside my fellow soldiers, Ozai saw himself above it and was of the opinion that I should have never entered it in the first place."
"He doesn't like you because of that?"
"Oh, he doesn't like me for a lot of reasons," Uncle Iroh chuckled amusedly. "But yes, that is one of those reasons, not to mention the bongo drum incident when he was ten."
"The bongo drum incident?"
"Don't ask," Iroh said quickly, wiping his amusement off of his face. "Now, he has had Azula trained in politics."
"He never made me learn politics," Zuko growled, unable to stop the thought that if he had learnt more about politics then he would have been less likely to offend and get himself banished from his home, not to mention burnt.
"Hmm," Iroh hummed for a second before continuing. "Azula would need a husband to work with, our society is very much a male-focused society. The second your father discovered how capable young Harry was in not just firebending, but all forms of bending, he was most likely concocting some plan or the other to arrange for the two to be together. He had hoped to have the Emerald Dragon under his control, combined with the power of your sister and together the two would be unstoppable."
"I can see that," Zuko said thoughtfully as he thought about what it would be like to take on Harry AND Azula, he didn't like anybody's chances with that.
"Azula, the young girl that she was, was starved for affection," Iroh sighed deeply. "I suppose I might be partly to blame for that, I didn't divide my attention between the two of you equally, I must admit. Your mother was much the same."
"She did focus on me, didn't she?" Zuko all but whispered, recalling all the time he had spent with his mother, most of it without Azula.
"Azula naturally turned to Ozai who adored the power Azula brought to the royal family, but Harry was also in the picture. He was much closer to her age and we all could tell that his power would be enormous once he was old enough, Azula latched onto him. She cared for him, and unlike my brother, he eventually started to care for her."
"You don't think Father cares for Azula?" Zuko couldn't stop himself from asking.
"Honestly, no, I don't," Iroh answered bluntly. "If not for Harry's existence, I'm sure that your father would have eventually attempted to marry her off to the richest and most powerful family he could. But Harry is here, his family is not particularly powerful in terms of political or financial power, but Harry is a roaring dragon on two feet. He is perhaps the first of a new breed of men capable of wielding all four elements, maybe even a stronger version of the Avatar. Your father is hoping to get him under his control, with Harry on his side, the Fire Nation would be unstoppable. Any political games would be far easier with Azula's political knowledge combined with her and Harry's firebending strength. As for Azula, your sister truly loved Harry, I could tell, her love was genuine, I'm sure of it. When Harry left, it..."
"Devastated her," Zuko finished,
"Exactly," Iroh nodded. "When you lose someone important to you..." He paused, took a small breath and continued. "It affected her greatly, she wants nothing more than to bring him home."
"Do you have any idea why he left in the first place?" Zuko asked. "It can't be just because of..." He trailed off before gesturing to his face.
"I have no doubt that that is definitely an important factor," Iroh said calmly. "But no, I do not believe it to be the only reason. However, I have to admit that I too am at a loss as to why he has chosen to leave. I know he hated all that he had to do, the violence, the attacks, the boy loved none of it. Perhaps something in him just snapped, or maybe he learnt something new, who can say? Our only hope of knowing is to find Harry and ask."
"That'll be easy," Zuko muttered sarcastically. "Thank you for this talk, Uncle, before I go, I'd like to ask, is it possible for an airbender to summon something?"
"Summon something, Prince Zuko?" Uncle Iroh repeated in a confused voice.
"Mai and Ty Lee, I discussed the fight with them," Zuko began explaining. "They said that Harry was able to summon two metal sticks to his hands, the sticks flew right to his hands."
"Well, it is possible for the air to carry the weapons to him," Iroh replied.
"Perhaps," Zuko said softly as he stood up. "Thank you, Uncle." He nodded respectfully to him before turning and walking out.
"Anytime," Iroh called out. 'Whoever is listening, please protect these kids,' He thought to himself.
"Aang," Harry said with a forced calmness as he and the others landed at their meeting point. "I can't help but notice something," He said as he hopped off of Appa and stared straight at the young Avatar. "I can't help but notice that we seem to be lacking the presence of one King Bumi, where the fuck is he?"
"He said he wasn't coming along," Aang explained. "He said he's going back to Omashu."
"What? Why?!" Sokka blurted out. "We rescued him and everything,"
"Bumi's a bit mad,"
"We can tell, but why the hell's he going back?!" Katara demanded.
"Well, he started talking to me about the jings and how there's like eighty-five of them and how he was using neutral jing," Aang replied.
"What on Earth is neutral jing?" Sokka frowned.
"Doing nothing," Harry realised. "Positive is when you're attacking and..."
"Negative is when you're defending," Aang finished. "Neutral is apparently doing nothing, listening and waiting for the right moment to strike."
"He has a plan of some sort," Harry sighed. "That's why he's not leaving."
"His first priority is his kingdom," Aang nodded. "He told me I need to find a different earthbending teacher, one who has mastered neutral jing, who listens and then strikes."
"So, we're back to square one on the earthbending front," Harry groaned.
"Maybe, what do you guys think we should do now?" Aang frowned.
"We need to get out of here," Harry decided. "Get somewhere safe, think up a plan."
"Cool, by the way, are we going to talk about the fact that you're married?" Aang couldn't help but ask.
"No," Harry said quickly.