The Dragon and The Ocean // Zutara

Uncle

Zuko's POV

"Zuko!" he says, standing up and coming over to me. He wraps his arms around me, gently, probably because he noticed my wound. Even though I can't see it I can feel him smiling. 

"It is so nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too Uncle." I say as the whole thing hits me. 

I wasn't expecting him to be here this early, so it was really a surprise. I wrap my arms around him hesitantly, almost as if he isn't real. After a few minutes, Uncle pulls away from me and looks down at my wound. 

"You beat Azula, my nephew, but you did not leave the battle unscathed I see." he says. "What happened?" I see Katara's eyes drop to the floor, not ready to hear about the whole ordeal again.

"Azula...played a dirty move. She fired a lightning blast at Katara during our Agni Kai, but I managed to jump in front of it to save her. I wasn't able to redirect it successfully at first though." I say, dropping eye contact with him.

"That was a very brave thing for you to do, Zuko." he says smiling at me proudly before looking at Katara. "It seems you have been healing him?" he asks her. 

"I have sir." she replies. 

"Oh no need for formalities," Uncle says with one of his hearty laughs, "you can just call me Iroh or Uncle."

Katara nods but doesn't say anything else. Uncle leads me over to the couch, saying something about how I should be resting. I sit next to Katara before I explain to him that I'm okay and that she has done a wonderful job of healing me and that I couldn't be more grateful.

"Katara is one of the best healers I have ever seen, so I wouldn't expect anything less." he says smiling softly at her. I see her blush slightly out of the corner of my eye. 

"The other thing that has caught my immediate attention is that I can feel that Zuko's chi is very twisted. I assume that you know what Chi restoration is Katara?" he asks her.

"I do." she says, "I performed the first session on him last night, but at this rate, it is going to take a few weeks to completely untangle everything." I wrap my arm around her shoulders as she breaks eye contact with Uncle and wipes her eyes quickly.

By now, I think Uncle has put together the pieces. He has a lot of experience when it comes to relationships, so I can tell that he knows. Not like I would want to hide it from him anyway though.

"It sounds like you have got this whole thing under control Katara. And it is clear to me that Zuko trusts you more than anyone to heal him. If you never need any help, while I can't actually heal him, I know how all of it works so I would be glad to walk you through it." he says.

"Thank you Iroh." Katara replies softly. 

"You are very welcome my dear." 

"Uncle, how did you battle go at Ba Sing Se?" I ask him, having been curious for a while. 

As I ask this, I start to feel the soreness come back in my chest. I think Katara feels it too, because she bends the water out of her pack again and runs it over the burn. Uncle doesn't say anything about this. All he does is smile at us lovingly, before winking at me when Katara isn't looking. 

"The battle went well my nephew. I think they really underestimated the power of us old folk. It didn't take us long to reach the center of the kingdom and reclaim it in the name of the Earth King." he says, his voice sounding triumphant. 

"That's good. No casualties? Was anyone hurt at all?" I ask, planning on giving anyone who was hurt in the battles that had taken palace a few days ago proper treatment.