Letters From Iroh

Seaward

I could feel the wind blowing through my hair. It felt nice. The air had a salty texture and smell to it. I felt like we were getting close to the harbor.

"You know, love." Iroh began, "I didn't notice this before, but you live awfully close to the ports." He laughed a bit. "We'vebeen so close together all this time, and never met. Its funny how destiny works like that." He reached over to lay his hand on top of mine.

"yeah." I giggled a bit. "I guess so." My gaze drifted upward, to the sunny skies. It was a phenomenally beautiful day, and there was a feeling of bliss in the air. It was strange to think. For most of my existence, I had lived so close to Iroh's working place. He'd been sort of near me my whole life.

"Is that a mast?" I asked suddenly, noticing a large, black cylindrical shape jutting out above the trees.

Iroh laughed. "Yep!" he turned to look at me, grinning. "I told you that you lived close."

"Yeah no joking." I mumbled. I was beginning to feel frightened. We were so close to the ship, close to the reality of me having to stand by Iroh's side in front of other people and saying I was his girlfriend. I shuddered a bit.

"If it's cold, love, I can roll up the window."

"thanks." I replied, smiling.

"Too bad you're not an Airbender, huh?" he laughed. "A day like this would be a monk's dream."

"Yeah" I laughed, holding back my fear.
I felt a bump as the Satomobile drove over the dividing barrier of the entrance to the shipyards. It was really happening. I noticed several large vessels, and near the head of the docks, sure enough, was the main united forces ship.

Yep. It was really happening. Iroh drove into a somewhat smallish parking deck, and backed the Satomobile up into an available spot. He was great at driving. My parents had me drive our Satomobile one time and I was a complete wreck.

"well." Iroh began, "we're here." He was smiling.

"Don't you take your car with you on the ship?" I asked, stalling.

"Oh yeah. Xian puts it below deck after I get on. It's not like I can just drive it onto the main deck or anything." He laughed.

"I guess not." I smiled. Dang. That would have been preferable.

"Well, why don't you take your bag up and put it in your old cabin." Iroh continued. "It's just the way you left it. I haven't let anyone else stay there since you left," he paused, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I was kind of hoping you'd....." he paused, and took a deep breath before continuing "come back on your own."

He looked downward. Before I realized what I was doing, I was cupping Iroh's chin in my hand, and out of what appeared to be nowhere, I was kissing him, and ratherpassionately I may add. We kissed for a good while before breaking. Iroh was breathing rapidly.

"I didn't come back on my own because I was scared. And I'm still scared. I'm scared that this can't be real. I still feel like I'min a dream. But...." I paused before continuing. "If this is a dream, then I never want to wake up." I kissed him again, briefly this time, but still with force.

"Boa," he began, "what are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not really sure." I said, before slipping out of the car, and pacing around to the storage compartment to grab my suitcase. Iroh rolled down the window. "I do know, though, that I'm happy, finally." I smiled. "I'm going to go put this in my cabin."

"I'll be right up, love." Iroh said. His cheeks looked red. Was he blushing? I dismissed what I was thinking and began rolling my bag over to the plank to walk up to the main deck of the ship. Before I could reach it however, I noticed two girls, one dressed in red and one in blue, standing next to the ship, whispering to each other.