Scars and Ashes (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic)

Disturbance

Iroh chuckled.

Hama glared.

And, lectured.

Everything provided a form of normality for his nephew, the banished prince, something he never expected from someone from a different nation, let alone someone so negatively impacted by the Fire Nation, and yet because the Fire Nation impacted Hama so negatively, the Southern Water Tribe healer ended up being one of Zuko's strongest supporters and unexpected found family.

Thus their relationship started a weird dance between the two with words in their old age, with her currently lecturing him about encouraging Kasah's incorrigible interest in introducing her daughter to Zuko, who she knew as Lee.

"Think of it this way," Iroh whispered to her in the back. "She simply sees Zuko as the handsome outsider Lee, never suspecting any of the true politics behind the face, ones you've explained to me her family are apt to want to take advantage of. Isn't, after all, she and her husband seeking to marry their eldest son to the daughter of the head chieftain?"

"As I said, she's incorrigible," Hama said, saying no more as she continued serving the tea.

"And no word of merchants from outside of the Southern Water Tribe paying out shop a visit," Birmeq said, having overheard much of the conversation. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Iroh sighed as Hama gave Birmeq a dirty look. "And this is the problem with you, you don't understand not to upset the spirits."

"What..."

"Mushi!" A regular patron hurried through the front door of the tea shop, obviously out of sorts. "Mushi! There's an incident over at the blacksmiths! Lee's apparently involved!"

"When is that child not involved," Hama said. "He's way to fond of that child they've taken in."

"I'll be back, Hama. If you and Birmeq will hold things down while I find out what's going on," Iroh said, removing his apron and removing with agility certain individuals wouldn't expect from an old man, at least for those who simply knew him as Mushi and didn't know him as the Dragon of the West.

His feet pushed him foward, his breath drawing in as he shook his head. "I told Zuko to stay away from there, lest they ever get a new blacksmith who is keen on turning him in just to return to the life they once lived outside of the South Pole."

The fresh icy air—

Soon, Iroh smelled smoke, driving the fresh icy air he'd become accustomed to whenever he ventured outside his warm shop, noticing merchants tending to put out the last flames that seemed to eminate from one particular spot near the blacksmiths, but as he drew nearer, he saw a small child taking deep breaths while an older man hovered over her, instrucing her on properly breathing to control her fire.

"Chejo! What happened?" Iroh asked, flinching when the child's breathing started staggering.

The man looked up frowning, appearing displeased at seeing Iroh in that moment, at least until Iroh procured some sweets from his robes, plopping them into the child's hands, resulting in her breathing stopping, her eyes twinkling at excitement at the sight of the sweets.

"Remember Yuminio..." Iroh said, lifting a finger.

"You shouldn't spoil her," Chejo sighed. "She..." He waved at the fires others started putting out. "Is the cause of this. Again."

"She's still a child, and learning," Iroh said, lowering himself, smiling at the girl who looked as if she were likely to bend water at him rather than fire. "Remember, Yuminio. You need to practice proper control of your breath for your fire breathing, but doing so also calms your inner self. And of course drink lots of tea. I'll bring some tea leaves later tonight, and Chejo can make you some, whatever it is that upset you this time."

"Lee!" the girl blurted out. "Lee was mean!"

"Huh? My Lee?" Iroh looked up at Chejo, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Head back into the forges, Yuminio. I suspect the nearby merchants will be a tad nervous around you right now," the man said.

"Ah, yes," the girl said, looking at the floor before taking off into the place.

"What is this..."

"I don't know," Chejo said, looking at him, his eyes cold. "There was an outsider here, though, whose presence upset Yuminio."

"Yes, but how is my Lee involved."

"Depends on the story you hear," Chejo said.

Iroh took a deep breath. "That's rather vague, isn't it?"

"Certainly," Chejo said, heading back into the furnace after the child. "But don't think to ask Yuminio. She's quite insistent that Lee was mean and helped the outsider who was being mean to her, staring at her, so he may not want to come around for awhile."

Iroh let out a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "Good grief. What happened?"

"What happened is the situation might have been much worse if Lee hadn't been here, but I heard from the merchants he took off with the outsider."

"Really?" Iroh sucked his breath in, closing his eyes. "Not good, Zuko. What were you thinking?"

"As for what he was thinking, Mushi," Chejo said, standing at the door of the blacksmith shop he ran. "Given the number of incidents where Wolf Cove boys purposefully came around to antagonize Yuminio, which only caused problems for the nearby merchants, I can't blame him."

"You don't?" Iroh let out the breath again.

"I'm actually thankful, as from what I hear, it wasn't one of the Wolf Cove boys this time," Chejo said. "But the last thing my shop needs is an incident involving some outsider who obviously doesn't know anything regarding this place. We'll all be dumped once we get here. He's a good boy, Mushi, so don't be too hard on him for getting involved, all things considered."

"Yes. But do you know where he went?"

"No. I don't know where the boy went with this outsider," Chejo sighed. "No. He ended up giving the merchants the slip, but I'd expect no less from someone taught by Piandao himself. He's got a good head on his shoulders because of you as well."

Iroh took a deep breath as Chejo finally retreated into his shop, the furnaces emanating a lot of heat. "Yes. But Zuko's safety and well-being is still my number one priority."