"I'll go to the port town," I told Suki.

"You shouldn't," she replied, without hesitation. "I know you weren't here when we were planning for this, but there's a reason why most of our fighting force is staying back in this village. Even though we have the Unagi's presence to protect us from on the northern coast of the island, there's no guarantee that they'll approach through the main port. We don't have enough manpower to defend all the towns and villages across the island, but we can't leave anybody unprotected. The Warriors would be there to deter any thoughts of random looting and pillaging, but not to fight them off. If anything, their job is to help the Fire Nation locate the Avatar and by directing them to this village."

"Won't it be a bit obvious that they're leading them into an ambush?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "But according to the Avatar and his companions, the leader of the group is devoted enough to the prospect of catching the Avatar to care. We're hoping that he would charge straight into an ambush in order to get what he wants, without leaving behind wanton destruction. The Avatar and his companions seem confident that he will."

"And what happens if that doesn't turn out to be the case?" I asked. "What will happen to the Kyoshi Warriors that are stationed across the island?"

"They will call for help," Suki said, with a dour frown on her face, the expression magnified by the face paint she wore. "But they will fight if necessary."

I didn't bother to point out what else might happen as a result of that.

"Then I guess I'm going to the port. Even if the Fire Natio doesn't end up landing there, they'll have to land on the coast somewhere close by," I said. "Like I said, I like the Kyoshi Warriors. I won't let anything bad happen to them or to you."

Suki grimaced, despite the smile I gave her.

"It's too dangerous," she said. "You're just one man."

"I'm not just one man," I said, with a grin. "I'm Ty Lung, greatest of all men."

Suki's lips twitched upwards, but she didn't smile, or even sigh.

"I won't stop you," she said. "But you know you can't make me happy if you're dead, right?"

Despite the dour way that she said the joke, I smiled anyways.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll be fine. When I was still living in the Fire Nation, I discovered a secret weakness that all Firebenders have."

"A secret weakness?" Suki repeated, her eyebrow rising in surprise.

I nodded.

"A firebender's strength draws almost entirely from their breathing," I said. "I discovered that if you punch them really hard in the stomach and wind them entirely, they can't fight for a long time."

Suki stared up at me as the information soaked into her mind. After a few seconds, she smiled and walked towards me. When her arms wrapped around my neck, my first instinct was to assume that she was trying to choke me out again, but she let out a heavy sigh next to my ear as she hugged me tight.

"You idiot," she said. "If you wind anyone badly enough, they'll be out of the fight, firebender or not."

I frowned at the amusement in her voice.

"It's more effective against firebenders though," I said. "The earthbenders I tried it against shook it off faster."

"I assume that's because earthbenders tend to be tougher than firebenders," Suki said with a laugh, as she leaned back away from the hug, though she still hung on my neck with both of her arms. She had a twinkle in her eye as she grinned at me.

I scowled at her. "You don't believe me."

"I'll admit you've probably fought a lot more firebenders than me, but don't you think there's a simpler explanation to it?" Suki asked.

"Fine," I said. "Don't believe me. I don't care."

"I'm sure you don't," Suki said. "That's why you want to face a group of Fire Nation soldiers on your own. Because you don't care."

I gave her a deeper scowl, but that only made her grin wider.

Suki continued to stare up at me for a few more seconds before she drew me in for another quick hug and let me go.

"Don't you dare die, Ty Lung," she said.

"I don't plan to," I replied.

Suki nodded at me, her smile fading into a more serious expression as she turned to her Warriors now. It seemed like they mostly knew what they were doing, so there wasn't a need for Suki to bark out orders at them, watching them silently instead, but with nothing more to say, I walked away from Suki, knowing that I had my own matters to tend to.

I headed to the bathing section of the dojo. I didn't want the Fire Nation soldiers to associate the Kyoshi Warrior uniform with hostility and potentially make it more difficult to funnel them to the main village, so I intended to change back into my old clothes, but when I walked over to where I discarded my clothes, I realized that only my pants were there, with Suki having wandered off with my shirt. Though I considered asking her where she had put it, I knew she was busy, so I started to jog to the port town, not seeing any reason to care about my missing shirt.

Suki had mentioned that we had three hours before the Fire Nation soldiers arrived, but not wanting to potentially miss them, I jogged there faster than might've been necessary, arriving at the port town within two.

Though my anticipation was enough to keep me excited and ready for battle for a short while, when five minutes passed without any sort of action, I started to regret arriving on the scene so early. While I wasn't impatient enough that an hour or two of idle waiting would put me to sleep, I was a little worried that my body would cool down by the time the Fire Nation soldiers arrived.

So as I waited, I did some light exercising. I cycled through some basic katas and did a few sets of push-ups, crunches, and squats at the edge of the port. Though the village seemed mostly empty, with all of the civilians already having been ordered to close their windows and stay indoors by the Kyoshi Warriors assigned to the area, I thought I still heard some confused whispers directed towards me.

I paid them no mind as I continued to warm my body up, eager to put it to use. Though my display seemed to inspire a few people to talk louder than they probably should have been, the voices quickly quieted down when clouds of smoke started to coast over the horizon.

Though it might've been smarter to stop and conserve my energy as the enemy approached, a surge of excitement coursed through me at the sight, and with no place for my excess energy to escape to, I continued to exercise as I analysed the approaching ship.

I was a little confused by what I saw.

With this being a team of Fire Nation benders dedicated to pursuing the avatar, I had initially expected a whole platoon of boats to appear over the horizon, but when I saw only a single boat, I assumed it was a scouting boat before I recognized the design of it.

As a part of my studies back with my father, I had studied the makes and designs of Fire Nation most war machines, including their boats. My father had been under the impression that I would pilot a warship of my own once I became a respected general, and had been more interested in teaching me about the designs of each warship and how they acted as status symbols, rather than the functionality behind their make.

While it had been a few years since I had access to information on Fire Nation warships, I still recognized the type of ship that approached the port, but something about it seemed off.

For some reason, there was a clash in the design of the ship and the functionality of it. The regal design and markings that the ship had was usually reserved for high-ranking officers of war, and it was usually reserved for ships that would lead the charge of an entire platoon, being commanded by a high ranking admiral or a member of the royal family that only answered to the Fire Lord himself. While that in and of itself might have been enough to excite me, the design didn't usually belong on a small ship like the one that I was currently looking at.

Too small to be a warship, and too big to be a scout ship, I had no idea what the high-ranking markings were supposed to indicate. While it probably wouldn't look too strange to an outsider, to someone who studied the Fire Nation military like I had, it almost seemed like a mockery of a ship, with how badly its design and functionality clashed against each other.

By the time the ship pulled up to the port, I still hadn't decided what to make of it, and continued to stare up at it while doing squats.

"Lower the ramp," a voice called from inside the ship.

Immediately, the wall of the ship lowered and crashed down on the port, revealing a small squad of Fire Nation soldiers atop komodo rhino mounts. They looked ready to charge onto the island, but the leader, a teenager with a large burn scar on half of his face furrowed his eyebrows at me, either in confusion or anger, though if I had to guess, he seemed like the type to always look angry in the first place.

"Is this all of you?" I asked, a little sceptical that a ship of this calibre would have such a skeleton crew. Komodo rhinos weren't cheap, and the fact that each of the soldiers that stood in front of me had their own mount was a sign that this group was somehow important, there were still only fifteen soldiers. There were thirteen if I included the old man standing at the back of the room, but given how he had his hands folded behind his back and a gentle smile on his face, wearing no armour whatsoever, I was willing to count him out until he showed signs of life.

But whether I counted him as a part of the crew or not, it was still a pitiful amount of soldiers for how the ship was decorated. There was still the possibility that my knowledge was outdated, and this was just a scout ship, but the commanding air that hung around the scarred teenager made me think that he was the leader of the operation, and that he truly did intend to lead the charge with a small group like this.

The momentary shock of seeing me seemed to wear off as scarface's eyes narrowed at me.

"Move," he said, without even bothering to answer my question. "Or be trampled underfoot."

The fact that he would even give me a warning confused me, but I suppose he had answered my unspoken question of whether he wanted to fight.

I gave the group a bow, though I didn't lower my eyes in case of a surprise attack.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," I said. "This island is under my protection. If you want to pass, you'll have to defeat me first in a duel."

Scarface narrowed his eyes at me, and blinked hard a few times, as if I were a spot in his eyes that he was trying to blink away.

When he decided that I was real, he glowered down at me.

"You can't be serious," he said.

"I am," I said. "I'll take all of you on, one-by-one or all at once."

Scarface narrowed his eyes at me once more, before he spoke again.

"Move or be trampled underfoot," he repeated.

I stared at him, giving him a few seconds to reconsider, but when he didn't I just grinned and shrugged.

"One of these days, one of you fire nation soldiers is going to accept a duel," I said. "But hey. Thanks for the warning."

I drew in a deep breath, and felt it travelling through my entire body. I willed myself to feel the sensation of energy coursing within me, circulating throughout my body, searching for a place to escape. Not wanting to deny it any longer, I lifted my foot and brought it down on the port that we stood on.

The sound of my foot hitting the wood panels of the port made a strange sound, like the sound of a mallet hitting a large drum, rather than the sound of flesh against wood. I couldn't tell if I was shivering, or if the vibrations of the sound were reverberating through my body, but an ear splitting crack rang in the air that pulled me out of my brief moment of reverie.

The Fire Nation soldiers all perked up at the sound of the cracking, but on their mounts, they seemed to be too high in the air to see the thin spiderweb cracks that blossomed out from underneath my foot, spreading quickly across the width of the port.

Scarface's eyes narrowed at me, but rather than caution or wariness, the only emotion I saw in his expression was one of anger and annoyance, like he thought that the only purpose of my stomp had been to hurt his ears with the sound.

"Prince Zuko! Watch out!" the old man shouted from inside the ship.

I quirked my eyebrow up at the realization of who I was fighting, but it didn't make me hesitate in lifting my foot up again and stomping down once more.

The drumbeat sound of my stomp echoed within me once more, and my heartbeat answered it, pumping blood, and excitement through my veins in a song of violence as I rushed forward, feeling the wood of the port cracking underfoot with each step.

Energy coursed through my body as I moved, and as I rushed towards the panicking soldiers, I send a surge of power into both of my legs, stomping down and pushing myself into the air.

Though he was somewhat preoccupied with trying to calm his mount, I saw Prince Zuko's eyes widen as I soared up into the sky, at a violent arc towards him.

"Move!" I shouted. "Or be trampled underfoot."

Maybe it was my warning, or maybe he was just a competent enough fighter to act without my help, but Prince Zuko was surprisingly quick to act. Though he gave one final attempt to calm his mount as the port collapsed beneath its feet, instead of stubbornly trying to take control of it, he let go of the reins, rolling out of his saddle and out of the path of my attack.

Though I tried to reduce the power of my attack to give me more control in my landing and conserve my energy, I was still somewhat unused to the feeling of using my energy to empower my attacks, and ended up sinking the heel of my foot into the side of Prince Zuko's mount. Though its tough hide and abnormally thick muscles made me think I hadn't done too much damage, it still let out a roar of pain as it scrambled against the still collapsing port, and fell over onto its side.

Under the influence of my own momentum, and the wild force of my attack, I had to twist my body to stop myself from falling along with it, landing on all fours to help bleed my momentum dry and to stabilise my balance.

When I looked up to see a blazing gout of fire flying towards my face, I grinned and pushed myself to the side with all four limbs.

"Very good, Prince Zuko!" I shouted, even as I leapt to the side to avoid another fireball thrown in my direction. "Most of the firebenders I've defeated would've been caught off guard by that."

I stayed on all fours, anticipating another attack, but none came. The exiled prince glared at me, with his fists raised at me, but without any flames erupting from them.

"You know who I am," he said, his voice low amidst the sound of his men still crying out in panic, as they found to take control of their panicked mounts.

I stood up on my legs and rolled my eyes.

"Don't disappoint me right after I praised you, Prince Zuko," I said. "I'm not one of those stuck-up snobs that think that you shouldn't talk during a fight, but if you're going to talk, it has to be DURING the fight. You can't just pause what you're doing to have a discussion."

And to prove I wasn't a hypocrite, I whipped my arm around and threw the piece of rubble that I had picked up off the ground. Prince Zuko's eyes widened and he leaned back, judging that he couldn't incinerate the large piece of wood fast enough before it hit him in the head. His eyes widened when he realised that the rubble was just a distraction, and that I was already charging towards him, but he reacted quickly planting both of his hands onto the ground, and summoning a wide wall of fire that blocked my path to him.

I laughed in delight as I fell down to the floor, using my low profile to hide behind his fire. I grabbed handfuls of rubble as I stalked around him, tossing them over the wall to annoy him as I searched for a gap in his defence.

The wall of fire around him receded for a moment, but though my first instinct was to try and use the gap in his defense to attack him, I resisted the urge when I noticed that the Prince was drawing in a large breath. Summoning a burst of energy into my legs and hands, I pushed myself out of the way as the prince summoned a large pillar of flame that burnt the entirety of the ground around him.

"Yeesh," I said, as I dodged backwards, away from a pillar of fire sent in my direction. "You sure do like using that move. Mind stopping it? It's making it a little difficult to punch you."

"Let me hit you once and I'll consider," Prince Zuko responded, as he sent another pillar of flame towards me.

"No thanks," I said, as I rushed towards one of the other Fire Nation soldiers that was struggling to get their mount to settle down.

The section of the port that they were on wasn't completely demolished yet, but that made it more difficult for them to find any purchase, as the komodo rhino's massive size and weight meant that every step it took on the seemingly sturdy wood just demolished it, making it skittish and uncertain about where to go. While they were distracted, I jumped on the komodo rhino's back and grabbed the rider's head, jerking him sideways and putting him between me and the prince. While we were nowhere close to him, the prince was forced to redirect his attack upwards in order to avoid hitting his own man.

"You know, you're pretty good at firebending," I commented, as I dangled the soldier off the edge of his mount, making sure to step on his thigh to pin him against his own saddle and prevent him from regaining his balance. "When I saw your scar, I assumed you were a nonbender that had an accident or a really shit firebender. Guess I hadn't considered I'd be fighting the prince himself. Not sure whether I'm glad about that or not."

I let go of the soldier and let him fall off his mount to duck away from a shockingly well placed blast of fire that was aimed directly at my head. Leaning backwards, I let myself fall off the komodo rhino and used it as a meatshield to deter the prince from attacking me, though I had to jump away as the komodo rhino lashed out with its horn, clearly not a fan of the idea. Not confident that I could do enough damage to incapacitate it if I hit it directly with a glancing blow, I stomped the ground next to it, destroying the already damaged wood and sending it toppling down sideways, right onto its rider.

"Like I said, I can see you're a good firebender yourself," I said, as I darted to the next rider. "But I still can't help but be a little disappointed that you're the one they sent to find the avatar. As good as you are, these men of yours? I guess they thought a competent crew would be wasted on you, given how much of a disgrace you are to the Fire Lord's name."

The prince let out a cry of rage and a huge pillar of flame shot towards where I was, despite how close I was to the next rider. Summoning energy to my feet, I used it to launch myself forward with no regard for control. The komodo rhino let out a squeal of terror, either at my sudden charge or at the prince's fire and reared up on its hind legs. Though I knew komodo rhinos to be agile enough that it might've recovered from that under normal circumstances, a section of the port gave away under its left leg and it toppled backwards, crushing its rider.

"Prince Zuko!" the old man shouted from the ship. "Do not forget yourself!"

I laughed as I landed on all fours, scrambling to find purchase after my wild charge.

"Thanks for the assist, prince Zuko!" I shouted, though I'm not sure if he heard me with how angrily he was screaming. "Didn't expect you to help me thin out your numbers, but I'm proud to have inspired you to commit a bit of treason. Not like they can exile you more, am I right?"

The prince screamed again, but with how far I had launched myself forward, I managed to get behind the next komodo rhino almost immediately.

"Hey," I said, waving casually to the rider.

I was a bit insulted with how he didn't even bother to acknowledge me, but I quickly excused him when I heard the prince scream again, and an intense orange glow bloomed out from where the prince was standing.

I squatted down, ready to launch myself to the side again, but a voice stopped me.

"Stop, prince Zuko," I heard the old man say. His voice was quiet, but despite the command not even being directed at me, I couldn't help but be affected by the intense weight that it carried behind it.

Though the prince stopped screaming, the orange glow didn't fade. I looked up as a pillar of flame shot up into the sky, passing by so close to the komodo rider's head that I'm certain that his head must've felt like it was boiling inside his helmet. When the rider fell gently against his mount, in a dead faint at the near death experience, I could barely blame him.

With the rider incapacitated, and the komodo rhino frozen in place in confusion. I walked around it to see the old man standing by the prince's side, gently grabbing the prince's wrist in one hand, and holding his palm up beneath the prince's outstretched arms with the other. I could only assume that the old man had been responsible for redirecting the prince's fire upwards, stopping the prince from incinerating his own soldier to dust.

"I need to kill him," the prince huffed. "He insulted my honour, uncle."

I froze in place as I registered what the prince had just called the old man.

"And can you afford to lose your humanity to defend it?" the Dragon of the West asked, with a gentle smile. "Besides, you have much more important matters to attend to. Do not forget the reason why we are here."

The prince stared at him for a few seconds, his breath ragged as he seemed to think about the question before his eyes lit up.

"The avatar," he said.

"He may already be off the island by now," Iroh said. "You cannot afford to battle with this man if you wish to regain your honour."

The prince opened his mouth, but closed it quickly. His eyes darted between his uncle and me, his emotions alternating between confusion and anger before he eventually settled on me with a mixture of both.

"I don't think he intends to let us pass without a fight," he said.

"Then maybe I can keep him busy while you look for the avatar," Iroh said with a smile, before turning to me. "How about it? Is that offer of a duel still open?"

I wiped my mouth with the back of my wrist, just in case I had started to salivate. Though my instinct told me to accept the offer immediately, screaming death threats at me to not turn down this opportunity, I forced myself to consider the safety of the island.

Thankfully, my consideration for the safety island easily agreed with my instinct. Not only was this a once in a lifetime chance, by accepting the offer of a duel, I was stopping the Dragon of the West in joining the invading force, and though I wouldn't be confident in the Kyoshi Warriors' ability to fight against General Iroh, with how incompetent the rest of the fighting force seemed, I trusted in their ability to keep themselves safe.

"I humbly accept," I said, with a bow, though I kept my eyes up in case the tendency to make sudden attacks ran in the family.

The corner of Iroh's eyes crinkled in a silent laugh before he turned to the prince.

"You see, Prince Zuko?" he said. "Sometimes, all you need to do is ask politely."

The prince's eyes widened in shock, as if he didn't understand what was going on. He glanced between me and his uncle before he threw his hands up in frustration.

"This isn't the time for your life lessons, uncle," he said, though he seemed visibly conflicted by his own words. "Things don't just happen like that in the real world. He must be luring us into a false sense of security."

"Why would I do that?" I asked. "I was already beating your ass."

"I would politely ask that you stop that," Iroh said, before the prince could say anything. "Your fight is with me now, and as frustrating as it may be to see you insulting my nephew's honour, I have already promised you a duel. You do not need to goad me any further."

"Okay," I said. "Go ahead, prince Zuko."

The prince blinked a few more times and rubbed his eyes as he glanced between me and his uncle again. He threw his arms up in frustration, and when that resulted in nothing happening, he did it one more time.

"The world isn't that convenient!" he cried out, though I wasn't sure who he was directing it towards. "Should I expect someone to lead me to the avatar too, if I just ask politely?"

There was a moment of silence before two Kyoshi Warriors appeared from a nearby house.

"We can lead you to the avatar," they said, hunching their shoulders and bowing their heads to look weaker than they actually were. "Kyoshi Island prefers to remain neutral in the war, but he has done nothing but abuse our hospitality. In return, we only ask that you spare our island."

Zuko stared at the two Kyoshi Warriors with his mouth agape. He looked to the sky, back down at the Warriors, and between me and his uncle, then back at the sky, and back at his uncle.

Iroh smiled up at him.

"See? A polite word has the power to shape the very world itself."

The prince looked back up at the sky.

"Why don't you go with these lovely ladies to capture the avatar, Prince Zuko?" Iroh suggested, patting his nephew on the shoulder and subtly pushing him forwards.

The prince slowly walked forward, as if walking through a fog, but he quickly narrowed his eyes and glared at the Kyoshi Warriors. They flinched under his gaze, and though I knew Tian and Shani well enough to know that they wouldn't be cowed by such a thing, their acting was good enough that I doubted anybody else would see through them.

"Have a nice trip, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, waving at his nephew's back. "Oh and ladies? Be sure to guide my nephew properly. There aren't many forests where we're from, and it would be very upsetting if he twisted his ankle on a tree root."

"Uncle," the prince sighed, more tired than frustrated at this point. "I'm not going to injure myself by travelling through a forest. Besides, we'll be taking the komodo rhinos."

Iroh blinked a few times and slapped his own forehead. "Oh silly me," he said. "I just can't help but be a worrisome old man. I simply don't know what I would do if you got hurt."

When the Warriors shivered in fear, I wasn't sure if they were acting or not, but the prince didn't seem to notice the invisible threat that emanated off of Iroh's seemingly friendly words. He blushed slightly and glared at his uncle before turning away.

"I'm not going to waste any more time here," he said. "Come. Guide me to the avatar... please."

"As you wish," the Warriors said, as they followed the prince to his mount. If I had to give any sort of criticism, it was that they showed no signs of fear at the komodo rhinos and expertly mounted them with minimal help from the prince or his men, but the group seemed to be in too much of a rush to notice.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After the prince gathered all of his men that weren't incapacitated and rode off, I turned to face Iroh, but was surprised to see him kneeling down by one of the soldiers that had been crushed by the komodo rhinos.

"Nobody has died," Iroh said. "But it would probably be easier to count the amount of bones that you didn't break."

"Technically, I didn't do any breaking," I said. I was a bit confused about why we weren't fighting, but the threatening aura that hovered over the Dragon of the West still promised violence. "I barely even touched them."

"That is true," Iroh said, though the concern that permeated his expression as he looked down at the broken men contrasted with his amused voice.

"Are you upset?" I asked.

"What would I be upset about?" Iroh asked, seeming genuinely curious rather than challenging.

I shrugged. "That I beat up your soldiers," I suggested. "I can only assume it'll be a pain for you to look after a bunch of cripples now."

"Soldiers break," Iroh said, with a sigh. "That is the sad nature of war. Though I try not to, I'm afraid that I've become somewhat numb to these sorts of things. At the very least, these men are alive. Not every soldier can claim that."

It sounded like there was a story behind his words, but I didn't want to pry. I watched as Iroh frowned down at the soldiers before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry," he said, smiling at me. "You must be eager to duel me, and here I am, rambling like an old man. Though I suppose at my age, I should no longer be saying 'like.'"

"It's no problem," I said, not wanting to be too rude. "You can get all of your emotions out now if you want. I don't want you to have any excuses for when I beat you."

Iroh laughed, a loud hearty laugh that showed off how far his chest and stomach expanded with each breath he took.

"I'm sure you won't find me to be that easy," he said, with a twinkle in his eye. "But before we begin, may I ask what sort of duel you're looking for exactly?"

I shrugged. "I offered you the duel," I said. "You can choose any conditions you want."

Iroh smiled and reached into his robes, pulling out a small wooden tile from his sleeve. "I don't suppose you would be willing to play a game of Pai Sho with me? A duel of the mind can be just as stimulating as one of the body."

I stared at the tile for a moment, before shaking my head. "Okay, you can't choose that one," I said.

Iroh sighed wistfully, as he put his tile back in his sleeve.

"I didn't think so," he said. "Nobody ever wants to play Pai Sho with me."

"I'm not completely opposed to it," I said, hopping on the spot as I started to sense the start of the fight approaching. "But first we fight. I'll play you after I beat you."

"That is a tempting offer," Iroh said. "But does that mean that we won't get to play if I defeat you?"

"We can play either way," I said. "But I'm going to win."

"Ah, to be young," he said, with a chuckle. "In that case, I won't keep you waiting for much longer. All I ask is that we fight in a location where these men won't be harmed."

"I can accept that," I said.

After Iroh barked a few orders to the crew still on the ship, to bring the injured men back on to the ship, I led Iroh towards a spot where we could fight. Though I wanted nothing more than to attack Iroh on the streets immediately, I still had to consider the fact that Iroh's flames might hurt the residents of the island if the fight grew too wild. Though I only knew of Iroh's abilities through secondhand retellings, I knew there was a reason that he was called the Dragon of the West. If the stories were to be believed, I had no doubt that he could raze an entire village to the ground in a single roar.

Though I had considered leading him to the spot where Suki and I had first fought, it was too surrounded by easily burnable forest for it to be a viable option, so I led him around the island until I found a suitably empty section by the coast.

"Are you ready?" I asked, barely able to keep my voice from shaking.

"I am," Iroh said, despite the fact that he looked completely relaxed, with his arms hidden up his sleeves. "You may start whenever you wish."

Not needing any more prompting, I sprinted towards him.

As I ran towards him, I kept a low profile to dodge any fireballs that he might send my way, but it proved to be pointless as Iroh kept his hands in his sleeves, not reacting to my charge in any way except to track my movement with his eyes.

When I got close enough, I sent a surge of energy into both of my legs and launched myself forwards. Iroh barely flinched as he stepped to the side, taking his arms out of his sleeves, but before he could retaliate, I kicked off the ground and darted to the side.

I frowned as I made some distance from him.

"Why aren't you using your firebending?" I asked.

"I see no reason to," Iroh said simply. "You haven't even attacked me."

"I was testing your reactions," I said. "I'm not going to attack you head on and get incinerated. I'm not that stupid."

"It would be a lot easier for me to beat you if you were," Iroh admitted. "Though I do have to question your choice of location. You're slower with all this sand underfoot, and there's no cover for you to hide behind. Most would look at this situation and say you have no chance of winning."

From the way he said it, it didn't seem like he believed in his own words, but was simply curious about what my answer would be.

Not wanting to disappoint him, I sent a surge of energy into my feet and stomped down. With no solid ground to step down on, my foot sank down into the sand until I was shin deep, and with another surge of energy, I kicked my foot forward, sending a large burst of sand flying into the air.

Though the sand might not have acted as a physical barricade to Iroh's attack, it was enough to provide a visual cover as I sank to the ground to lower my profile against any blind attacks that he might throw through the sand, and though I was just as blind as he was, I heard him laugh softly behind the cloud of sand.

I launched myself forwards towards the sound.

I charged through the sand, leading with my fist flying towards the spot where I heard Iroh's laugh, but was surprised when I felt a rough hand push against the side of my wrist. I braced myself to feel the pain of my flesh melting off my bones, but when no fire came, I didn't hesitate in pulling my arm back and sinking down to the ground, sweeping my leg around with a low kick aimed to hit Iroh's legs, but I hit nothing but air.

The sand finished its arc through the air and fell to the floor, revealing a smiling Iroh standing less than a foot away from where I had swept with my legs, with his palms facing towards me. He thrusted his hands forward and I quickly darted to the side, kicking up another cloud of sand that glimmered under the heat and light of the fireball that flew past where I had been standing a second before.

"You move well," Iroh said, sending another ball of fire at me. I kicked off the ground again, staying low to the ground as I dived towards him, aiming to hit his legs in his moment of recovery. In response, he grinned and kicked his leg towards me, but instead of fire, he kicked up sand.

I closed my eyes to avoid being blinded for too long and stuck my limbs into the ground, cutting my momentum short and diving to the side. Though I couldn't see it, I could feel the heat of another fireball grazing me.

"Thanks," I grunted, through the layer of wet sand that stuck to my lips. "Though it helps that you're going easy on me."

"What makes you think that I'm going easy on you?" Iroh asked, as he threw another fireball at me. "It's difficult to keep up with your agility in my old age. My vision and my reflexes aren't what they used to be."

"Like I believe that," I scoffed, as I darted to the side. "You saw me coming even through a cloud of sand."

"That is because I did not use my eyes to see you coming," he said, with a laugh.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

He paused in his assault to consider the question. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I rushed towards him, watching him for any signs that he might shoot another fireball towards me.

"It's not too difficult to explain," he said, raising his foot up into the air and slamming it down into the sand in a familiar move. "But I assume you're the type to learn faster by example."

Though I was tempted to give him a reply, I kept my mouth closed, anticipating that he would kick a cloud of sand into the air like I had. Though he had been the one to initiate the blind battle this time, he didn't seem too used to using the same technique that I had used, and the kick seemed to knock him off balance, and not wanting to waste the opportunity, I charged into the sand once more.

Iroh laughed again, as if he could see exactly what I was doing, but the sound only gave me more information on where he was. I struck out, but once again, I hit nothing but air.

I felt Iroh's hand push against my wrist again, but before I could pull it away, this time he managed to grab me, pulling me forward and using my momentum to knock me off balance. I tried to scramble forward to find my footing, but he twisted my arm, and my entire body turned with it, until I found myself lying on my back, staring up at Iroh's face.

"You laughed on purpose," I said, glaring up at him. "You couldn't see me so you gave me a target that you knew I would attack."

"You're a very fast learner," Iroh said, as I rolled my body backwards to try and kick him in the face. I doubt I would've done much damage even if I had hit him, but let go of my wrist and lean back to dodge it anyways.

"Thanks," I said, as I used the opportunity to put a bit of pressure on him, throwing punches and kicks at Iroh as he tried to make some distance between us. Though he seemed relaxed enough that I was certain that he could use his firebending to ward me off with a wall of flame at any time, like his nephew had, he used a minimal amount of firebending and hand-to-hand combat to fend away my attacks.

"It is always a pleasure to see an eager student," Iroh said, as he slapped my wrist to the side and aimed his palm directly at me. I fell to the floor, just in time to dodge a fireball that flew through where my head had just been. "But I'm afraid you didn't give me much time to prepare a proper lesson."

"You sell yourself short," I said, pushing energy into my legs and charging forward in a low tackle. In a surprising feat of agility, Iroh ducked even lower than I was charging, and grabbed my arm, using my own momentum to throw me over his shoulder. "It was a good lesson," I said, even as I sailed over him.

"Alas, I cannot take credit for it," Iroh said, as I landed. "I was simply repeating a lesson that an old friend had taught me. He is not a bender, like yourself, so he had to learn to control the environment around him in a different way."

"He sounds strong," I said.

"He is," Iroh replied. "Though he is only one example of what strength can be. Others non-benders that I have met decided that they did not care about the world around them, and focused on developing the strength within."

Iroh lifted his leg above me, and my eyes widened at the sight. I rolled myself out of the way, before he stomped down at where I had just been, an explosion of sand erupting from the impact.

"Hey!" I shouted angrily. "Don't fucking do that!"

Iroh paused, tilting his head at me in confusion.

"I did not think you would take offence at such a thing," he said, sounding genuinely surprised by my reaction.

"It was fucking disgusting," I said, spitting on the floor beside me as if to cleanse my palette of the utter disgust I felt.

"I apologize," Iroh said, closing his eyes and giving me a short bow. "I did not consider that you would be offended if I tried to strike you while you were down. It will not happen again."

"What?" I asked, with it being my turn to be confused with what he was saying. "No, hitting me on the ground is fine. Just don't raise your leg above me. Or wear some damn pants underneath your robes at the very least."

Iroh stared at me for a few seconds before turning away, coughing into his hand.

"Oh, I see," he said, through an embarrassed chuckle.

There was a long silence between us before Iroh thrusted his palm out towards me. I dove to the side to avoid a fireball.

"Anyways," he said. "Like I was saying, some non-benders have decided to cultivate the natural strength that they hold within them, hoping to match the strength of the world outside of it. I had planned to teach you the basics of manipulating your chi, but it seems like you have already had someone to teach you."

"I have?" I asked.

Though I knew vaguely about what chi was through my textbooks back in Fire Nation, I only knew it to be the supposed lifeforce of all living things. Through context clues, I could only assume that Iroh was talking about the energy that I had been using to empower my kicks.

"Do you mean this?" I asked, right before I empowered my legs to charge at him, kicking up an explosion of sand behind me.

"Exactly," Iroh said, as he kicked up a cloud of sand in response.

I stopped my charge short. "I never actually knew what it was called," I said, before darting to the side.

I watched as a pillar of flame tore through the air where I had been a moment before and quickly charged at the direction of the source before Iroh could move. He laughed as he redirected my punch away from him.

"Considering who I assume your teacher is, I'm not surprised," Iroh said.

Though I filed away the information in the back of my mind, I didn't let myself be distracted by the idea that Iroh probably knew the old lady somehow.

"Regardless of how your teacher may be in some areas," Iroh continued. "I will have to concede to her teachings. I haven't practised my chi manipulation enough to be a useful teacher, and if I'm being honest, my knees can't handle copying your technique many more times. It's always a struggle to be reminded of my old age."

"I see," I said, feeling a little disappointed. "So you have nothing else to teach me?"

"Not from a non-bender's perspective, no," Iroh admitted. "But how would you like a lesson in firebending?"

Before I could answer, Iroh took a wide stance and shot a blast of fire towards me. Though it was wide enough that I couldn't dodge to the side, it moved slowly enough that I could jump back out of its reach.

"I'm not a firebender," I said.

"That is not what I asked," Iroh said, with a smile. "I will show you a demonstration of why they call me the Dragon of the West."

I felt a shiver running down my spine, and my lips splitting into a wide grin. In response, Iroh stomped down into a wide horse stance and closed his eyes.

The sudden drop in his guard confused me, but my eyes narrowed when I felt a dry heat hit me. Waves of heat rolled off of iroh's body with each breath he took, distorting the air around him.

It gave off the illusion that I was looking at him through a pond.

I felt sweat dripping down my brow at the sight, and it wasn't simply because of the intense heat that suddenly filled the winter air. My legs began to shake, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that the threatening aura that Iroh gave off made me want to turn in the other direction and run.

But I knew I would never forgive myself if I did that.

Deciding that I'd already given him enough time to gather his strength, I poured my chi into my legs and charged towards him. I knew that even though he seemed defenceless, he most likely had some sort of plan for dealing with my inevitable attack.

Even with the lessons that he'd just taught me running through my mind, I rushed into the obvious trap, hoping to push through it and break it open with pure force. Rushing forward, I pushed as much chi as I could into my hands before I gave him a solid punch in the gut.

It was like punching a boulder. Though it was a solid enough punch, I was shocked by how hard Iroh's gut was. He let out a quiet grunt of pain, but he was nowhere close to being winded. I looked down at him, and before I could even register the fact that his eyes were open, and his lips were curled up into a wide grin, I felt his hand clamp down on my wrist before I could pull away.

"Good good," Iroh said. "A firebender's strength comes from his breath. Take it away and you take away their power, if only for a moment. Unfortunately, it may not be so easy to do the same to an earthbender, who takes power from their firmness, using their connection to the earth itself to empower their bodies."

With each word that rolled out of his mouth, the waves of heat that emanated from his body grew more and more intense as he kept his breath steady as he talked. Something big was coming. I tried to pull away from Iroh's grip, and though he let go of my wrist easily, instead of letting me go completely, his arms snaked over mine, twisting around my elbows and pulling them into awkward positions.

"Many Fire Nation soldiers are eager to underestimate the strength of a waterbender, because they believe that they can swim," Iroh said, as he kicked my legs out from underneath me, stepping on the hem of my pant leg to keep me trapped in a kneeling position. "But not even the strongest ship can resist being pulled under by a strong enough whirlpool."

Iroh smiled down at me, and suddenly, I felt a sudden chill as the world around me turned cold once more, as if the heat that Iroh had been letting out had suddenly been sucked back into his body all at once.

"But I suppose I didn't mention that this would be a lesson about earthbending or waterbending, did I?" Iroh said. "No, my young friend. This is a lesson about firebending."

Iroh opened his mouth, and the entire world was set ablaze.

I didn't scream, not wanting to cook myself from the inside out if I let any of the fire into my lungs. I kept my eyes open, and though my instincts screamed at me to keep them shut to stop them from boiling out of their sockets, I knew that a thin layer of flesh would make no difference so I kept them open out of respect for the Dragon's fire.

I came to regret it a moment later, as I had to spend several seconds blinking away my temporary blindness after staring at the bright flames, but before I could fall backwards at the dizziness I felt after being engulfed in intense heat, I felt Iroh grabbing my shoulder and pulling me upright.

"Careful there," he said. "It's dangerous."

I blinked a few more times before my vision returned and I looked around to see that we were surrounded in a sea of crystalized quartz. I laughed at the sight.

"I'm not sure if that was a good lesson," I admitted. "All I learned was that firebending can be absolutely terrifying."

"That is a lesson in and of itself," Iroh said, with a gentle smile. "It is important to not forget that power can be terrifying, which is why we must learn to control it and ourselves if we do not wish to hurt the people around us."

I patted myself down, checking my body for any burns. I wasn't surprised to find nothing, with even my hair being unsinged, even if it was curling heavily from the heat.

"And why didn't you want to hurt me?" I asked.

"Why would I?" Iroh asked.

"We were fighting," I said.

"There are more ways to win a fight than by hurting your opponent," Iroh said.

I shrugged. "That's fair."

"Also, I wanted your help in getting me to safety," Iroh said, pointing at the sea of crystalized sand around us. "It seems that in my clumsiness, I forgot to leave a path for me to leave, and I would prefer it if I didn't have to ruin my shoes. Would you be so kind as to escort me back to safe ground?"

"Of course," I said, offering my back to Iroh. "Hop on."

Once Iroh climbed onto my back, it wasn't difficult for me to jump out of the small island of sand that we were on, back to solid ground. I let Iroh down, and he looked up at me with a smile.

"So," he said. "What will you do now?"

"I did promise you a game of Pai Sho, didn't I?" I asked.

Though there was a quiet gleam in Iroh's eyes, he kept his lips in a neutral frown.

"You do not wish to assist your friends against my nephew?" he asked.

I thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

"I have complete faith in the Kyoshi Warriors," I said. "And it's hard to imagine that the prince would cause much harm even if I let him run loose."

"Prince Zuko is quite a powerful firebender you know," Iroh said, his frown becoming slightly less neutral. "You should not underestimate him."

"I meant more to praise you than to insult him," I said, with a shrug. "Regardless of how skilled he is, I doubt you would let him go off on his own if you thought he would hurt people."

Iroh blinked in surprise and coughed into his hand. I wasn't sure if I imagined the slight blush on his face.

"Prince Zuko is his own person, and the leader of this expedition," Iroh said. "I cannot control what he does."

"He listens to you, at the very least," I said. "He clearly cares about and respects your opinion."

There was a short silence before Iroh let out a loud, almost thunderous laugh that threatened to burst my eardrums. I rubbed at my ears in pain, but Iroh didn't seem to notice as he slapped my back.

"You are a very amusing one, my young friend," he said. "Very well. Let's go play some Pai Sho, shall we?"

Iroh led me back to his ship, and though the crewmates that stayed on board looked extremely confused as to why I was there, when I had beaten a few of their crewmates not too long ago, they didn't speak up. Leading me to the deck of the ship, he had me wait as he brought up a Pai Sho board for us. He set it down and immediately set all of the pieces down and arranged them in their proper positions before I could even offer to help.

What followed afterwards was a complete massacre. It seemed like he had exhausted the last bits of his mercy during our duel, and was gleefully destroying my board with a ruthlessness that surprised me. Though I hadn't had that much experience with Pai Sho, I was familiar enough with the game to know that I had no chance of beating him.

After a few quick wins, Iroh seemed to calm down from his initial high and started to play a more instructional game, taking his time with explaining his moves and the thought process behind them. Even though I knew exactly what his gameplan was, he still utterly destroyed me, though I felt like I did get better by the end of the game.

We played for a few hours without break until we heard the sounds of heavy footsteps and the grunts of komodo rhinos approaching the ship. Iroh let out a disappointed sigh, but we continued our game until we heard a set of frustrated footsteps stomping up towards the deck.

"Unc-," the prince said, cutting himself off. "What is HE doing on the ship?!"

I didn't turn around to greet him, staring intently down at the board, trying to figure out what my next move should be. It took me a few more seconds to decide on what to do, before I placed my Red Dragon tile down on a place where it could threaten Iroh's White Lotus.

"A bold choice, my young friend," Iroh said. "But too far too aggressive for how open your board is. You need to achieve balance before you go searching for victory."

"Uncle!" the prince shouted before I could give Iroh my response. I turned around to see what the prince was so angry about, before I burst out laughing at the sight.

The prince, and his entire retinue of soldiers stood on the deck of the ship with a series of thick ropes snaking around their bodies, leaving their legs untied but having their arms curled up awkwardly, bent like chicken wings, and their hands buried in their armpits so they couldn't possibly grab anything to try and undo their knots or cut through the ropes unless they tried to use anything but their teeth.

I almost fell backwards onto the board, clutching my stomach in laughter as most of the soldiers turned away in embarrassed shame.

"Ah, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, as if he had just noticed his nephew's arrival. "Did you have a nice visit to Kyoshi village?"

I watched as a vein pulsed in Zuko's forehead, the sight of it more obvious now that he wasn't wearing his helmet. I wondered if the Kyoshi Warriors had taken it as a trophy or just so the prince and his soldiers wouldn't be able to attempt to cut their ropes against the sharp points.

I decided not to comment on his haircut out of respect for Iroh, since I knew the shaved head was a sign of humility in the defeat of an Agni Kai duel, but I filed it away as a tool to use later, if we fought again.

"Does it look like I had fun?" the prince hissed.

"A little bit," I said. "Some people pay to be tied up like that. That guy seems to be enjoying it at least."

Though I had been joking, one of the Fire Nation soldiers' eyes widened for a split second before he pretended like he had no idea what I was talking about. I grinned at him, but didn't get the chance to push the joke further when the prince turned towards me with a glare so intense that it made me believe for a split second that firebenders could shoot flames from their eyeballs.

"Again," he said. "What is he doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Iroh asked. "We're playing Pai Sho! It's been a while since I've had someone to play with, but even though he's too weak to have fun playing against, it is nice to teach beginners from time to time."

"Weak?" I asked, turning back to glare at Iroh.

Iroh gave me a smug grin, and his eyes darted down towards the board. I looked down to see that he had played his move already, immediately placing my board in a terrible position that I had no idea how to recover from. I shot him a glare, and focused my attention back on the board.

"He attacked us!" the prince shouted. "He's an enemy!"

"And we are currently locked in a deadly battle," Iroh said solemnly. "But in a fun way! See what a polite word can do for you, Prince Zuko?"

"A polite word got us ambushed, Uncle," the prince hissed. "I am not in the mood to hear any more of your 'advice.'"

"Hey," I said. "Don't be such an ass. Your uncle's advice is great. You're just too blind to see it."

"Stay out of this, you mongrel!" the prince shouted.

Iroh sighed and reached forward to pat me on the shoulder before standing up.

"It was fun," he said. "But I suppose we should be parting ways."

"It was," I said. "We should do this again sometime."

"Perhaps," Iroh said. "If our paths cross again."