CH 9 - ATLA 8 - Iroh

(Word Count: 2,809)

When the morning came, I was suddenly unsure about what would happen. Because the only reason that Bato took them sailing was because they thought the message hadn’t arrived yet, and were killing time. But now that they have the message in hand, I doubted Bato would stay for much longer.

That means that Zuko won’t catch them at the Abbey.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. If Zuko has to follow after them until the next city, then I’ll just have to follow along as well. I would just have to observe from a distance.

In the meantime, I packed up my camp.

When I was finished, I sat back down and used Chi Sense to scry on Zuko. I still didn't dare to scry directly on Iroh himself, because he might sense it.

Surprisingly, Zuko and Iroh are already together with the bounty hunter June and were already close by. Judging from the progress of the Gaang and Bato, they should be able to catch them. It didn't really make sense though. Was this fate twisting to ensure their encounter here at the abbey, or were spirits in play? Either way it was concerning. If it was fate, then would I even be able to do some of the missions I wanted to do? Like saving princess Yue's life. If it was the second, it was just as concerning, if not more so. If the spirits were aware of my presence in the world, then who knows what they could do. The last thing I need is a 30 foot killer panda blasting laser beams in my face.

Potentially facing threats like that made me think about grinding out my levels instead of skills, to get that raw power. But I calm myself again. My stats were already double the peak humans plus my earthbending was getting pretty good. I wasn’t defenseless. 

Soon enough, Zuko and his party arrive at the abbey. The large shirshu just blasted through the doors, knocking them off their hinges.

The nuns screamed and ran for cover. The shirshu lashed out with its whip-like tongue at Katara, who was the person it was tracking, but Bato leaped in front of her to protect her. He fell, completely boneless.

Poor Bato.

The fight went on pretty much just like in canon, with Sokka and Katara falling victim to the shirshu as well, Appa fighting it off, and then Aang and Zuko going at each other across the entire roof.

Eventually, the nuns unparalyzed Sokka and Katara and they defeat the shirshu by dumping perfume onto it. I wince, seeing the hundreds of gold coins worth of perfume being dumped like that. The Shirshu, who maneuvers primarily by scent, understandably freaks out, lashes Zuko and June with its poison and runs off.

Wait, it's coming towards me!

I hopped off Book, and waited for it to show up. Hopefully I can channel my inner Dr. Dolittle and try to calm it down. That or my inner cowboy.

It came, crashing against trees, and pawing its snout. It was obviously panicking, the poor thing. I whistled gently, “Hey there, fella. I’m here to help.” I was hoping that the cosmic connection could somehow relay my intentions, but no dice. The shirshu lashed its tongue towards me wildly, and it continued running. Time to get a little hands on.

I dove past the tongue and jumped up, grabbing the reins and pulling myself into the saddle. I could never have done anything so limber before, but now it was childsplay. I pulled the reins tight and tried to get it to stop, but the Shirshu was too panicked to settle down.

Having enough playing cowboy, I used earthbending to lock the entire body and legs at once. Then, I crumbled the soil even finer until it was soft smooth dirt and used that to gently scrub off the perfume from its snout. Repeat the dirt wash several times, and it could smell clearly again.

I slowly released it from the earth. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” I patted its neck gently. Now that it was calmer, I guided it back to Book. Still atop of the Shirshu, I reached over and dug out some dried meat rations to give to the Shirshu as a treat. It reached its long neck around and ate it out of my hand. It was far calmer and gentler with me than it showed in the TV show. Either it's really tired, or I really am Dr. Dolittle. 

I rode on top of the shirshu and guided all three of us back to the abbey.

By the time I got there, the nuns had already unparalyzed Zuko and June. Iroh didn’t need it. June was glaring daggers at Iroh, and shouting. “I’m going to go find my shirshu. And when I come back you two better have my gold ready!”

Zuko shouted back. “I’m not paying you anything, they got away!”

“My job was to find your girlfriend! It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t keep her!”
“Yes it was! It was your shirshu that paralyzed us!”

“I don’t care. My job was done, we found the girl.” By this point Iroh had already noticed me, so I interjected. 

“Excuse me! This shirshu yours?” I asked jovially.

Iroh looked at me curiously, while Zuko and June were gaping at me. It wasn’t so often that someone other than its owner could ride a shirshu so comfortably.

“Er, yeah. That’s my Nyla. How did you calm her down?"

I hopped off Nyla, the shirshu, and handed June the reins. "I have a way with animals I suppose. It did take some care to rub off the perfume from her snout."

She looked me up and down, impressed. "Well, pretty and good with animals. Color me impressed. The name’s June. Got somewhere to be tonight? I could use some company."

I couldn't help it, my eyes nearly bugged out and I was instantly redder than a redneck's sunburn. "Oh, uh." I cleared my throat. "You're beautiful and all, but I actually have some business with these two men."

She smirked. "Aren't you a shy one?" Then she sighed. "Well, if you’re into that instead, I won't hold ya. But I need to finish my business with'em first."

If it was at all possible, I flushed even redder in embarrassment. Of course she was kidding. If I remembered right, she was known to enjoy teasing Zuko. Why did I have to respond so seriously?

I felt the Low Cosmic Connection close once again and I internally groaned. I'll have to spend some time meditating again to reopen it.

Iroh burst out laughing, while Zuko just seemed indignant. Iroh stroked his beard and said, "We have your gold at our ship, if you would accompany us back, you will have your gold. As for you, sir, you are welcome to come and share in a cup of tea."

"I'm not inviting a random stranger onto my ship! We don't have time for this!" Zuko half yelled.

"Just a moment, Prince Zuko, I have a feeling that this man is not so simple. It could do us well to hear him out." Inwardly, I wondered just how much he could discern about me. That's the spiritually attuned Iroh for you. You never knew what insight he might have.

Zuko huffed and said nothing more.

June had enough and said. "Alright, boys. Let's get this show on the road. I'm tired of the nuns giving me the stink eye."

Zuko and Iroh climbed up onto Nyla alongside June. I followed them on Book. About two hours later, we came to a small port town that had Zuko’s ship docked.

June was paid her gold and left, sending a wink my way. "See you around, shy guy."

When she was out of sight, I shook myself out of my stupor. "Right, well. Permission to come aboard?"

"Yes, of course! Please, be our guest." Iroh said, gesturing up the boardwalk.

Zuko just sneered at me. "I'm not interested in whatever this mercenary has to say. I'll be in my quarters while you deal with whatever he wants." And he disappeared into the ship.

Well, that's a bit hurtful.

"I'm sorry about my nephew. He really does have a good heart. Come, we can talk in my own quarters."

So we boarded the ship and settled down next to a pair shop table. Iroh began making a pot of tea. "Do you enjoy a cup of tea?"

"Yes, when I was younger, my mother would always be making different teas from homegrown herbs or wildflowers. I've come to enjoy it."

"She sounds like a very loving mother."

I smiled, reminiscently. "She is. I'm very fortunate to have a mother like her. I have 5 brothers, you know? She had always done her best to care for us."

Iroh chuckled. "6 sons? The poor woman."

I laughed. "Yeah, we gave her a lot of stress growing up."

Iroh poured both of us a cup, and we both paused to take a sip. It really was delicious. Then I realized. Wasn't sharing tea with Iroh a quest as well? I think it was around 50 points or something.

"This is delicious. What tea is it?" I asked.

"My favorite blend of jasmine tea. I find that it calms the nerves and soothes the spirit."

I nodded appreciatively and took another big gulp. "Yes, I think it will be needed. I don't know exactly how to tell you this, but I need your help. You see, I'm not from this world. I'm from another world, not the spirit world, but a world where there were no 'four nations' or benders and spirits. My world had nothing supernatural about it until recently. Now, our world is rapidly evolving into something that I guess will resemble the spirit world in its wildness and power. To save humanity, some great spirits saw fit to give a handful of us the chance to travel to other realities to gain strength. I chose to come here."

Iroh listened patiently as I spoke, then took a big drink from his cup to buy time to think. "Hmmm. You don't seem to be lying."

"I swear, I'm telling you the truth."

"But why would you come to this world? What do you seek from me?"

"This is going to sound weird, but I watched a TV series, which is like a theater play that has been recorded so we can watch it from our own home, that tells the story of the Avatar Aang. It also told the story of you and Prince Zuko."

Iroh raised his eyebrows. "So, we are but characters in a play to you?"

"No, I don't think of it like that. The way I see it, is that creation is infinite, and there are an infinite number of worlds out there. You could imagine the silliest, most illogical world, and somewhere in creation, there is a world that matches precisely what you described. There are also an infinite variation of worlds that are similar to this world, but events played out differently. For example, there are worlds in which you turned vengeful at the loss of your son and destroyed Ba Sing Se, or worlds in which you return to the Fire Nation and become the Fire Lord. Or one in which Avatar Aang died in the Air Nomad's genocide, and so on. The changes could also be as small as you had a different breakfast this morning. The reason I ended up in this world, amongst the infinite other worlds, is because I specifically searched for a world that matched the show that I watched as a kid."

Iroh let out a large sigh. "Well, this is certainly more than I had been expecting from you. I didn't realize creation was so vast."

"You believe me?"

Iroh laughed. "When you get to my age, you get a sense for when someone is lying to you, and you seem to be an honest person, as crazy as you sound. But what do you hope to achieve here?"

I couldn't help but grin. "I've already achieved something, I was able to unlock my Chi with the help of Guru Pathik, and I even obtained the blessing of earthbending from a lion turtle."

"A lion turtle! Really? That is marvelous indeed. It sounds like you've had a fortuitous adventure."

"I'm really grateful for the opportunities I've had here. Admittedly, I was hoping to receive firebending, but now that I have earthbending, it just feels so right. To feel the earth beneath me, it is beautiful." I couldn't help but feel awed whenever I felt the earth.

"I'm glad you have found the beauty in bending. Many overlook their gifts and take it for granted. Though why have you sought me out?"

"Your love for your nephew and the wisdom you share has touched the hearts of many people in my world and Prince Zuko has been shown to become a man of great honor. You are both loved very much. I was hoping to receive some tips on firebending forms. I had been taught some of the airbending forms from Guru Pathik, and have tried to incorporate it into my earthbending technique. I hope to do the same with both firebending and waterbending forms later on."

Iroh chuckled. "You show great wisdom, Callan. To draw wisdom from many sources shows a truly great character. I do not know how long we will be staying here, and I doubt my nephew would be willing to let you stay on his ship, but I would be happy to give you some scrolls with the motions."

"Thank you. That would be wonderful. There's one other thing… I'm planning on heading to the Fire Nation and seek the sword master Piandao. I don't know if he would be willing to teach me, so I wanted to ask if you could give me a recommendation?"

Iroh seemed to understand what I was getting at, as his eyes widened in surprise. But he was still cautious. "And what makes you think that my recommendation will move him?"

"Let's just say that I know you share the same pai sho friends."

"So you do know about that. Wouldn't it have been easier to grab any white lotus tile as a recommendation then? It may have saved you some time."

"It would have, but then I wouldn't have been able to enjoy your tea!" We both chuckled. "Besides, I don't like the idea of being so dishonest with good people like yourselves. Neither of you deserve that disrespect."

Iroh nodded approvingly. "You are a good man. I would be happy to give you the white lotus tile." He finished off his cup of tea and stood up, walked over to his bookshelves, and picked up a few of the scrolls. He bent down to the pai sho table nearby and picked up one of the tiles, and came back.

"Here you are. These are the basics of firebending, and the white lotus tile."

I bowed. "Thank you very much, Iroh, this is a huge help."

"Think nothing of it. Now, why don't we finish off this tea pot, and play some pai sho?"

I look at him, confused. "Aren't you missing a piece now?"

Iroh grinned. "I always carry an extra white lotus tile here." He pulled one out of his sleeve. I couldn't help but remember the pirate episode where he had lost the tile, only to find it in his sleeve. Maybe he really did lose it, and just pulled out his extra because of how pissed Zuko was at the end? Or was he trolling Zuko the entire time? I laughed.

"Well alright then, but I don't really know how to play, you'll have to teach me."

About an hour later, I left the ship feeling much better, and several silver coins lighter. Uncle Iroh is one good hustler. Besides that though, it was good to have finally had good company. I didn't want to admit it, but I was feeling extremely lonely, and telling my story to Uncle Iroh was very therapeutic. There was just something soothing about the old man that made me feel relieved of my burdens.

Now it was getting late, and I needed to find a place to stay for the night. Unbidden, June appeared in my mind. 'See you around, shy guy'. I shake myself out of it. She was obviously just teasing and didn't mean anything by it. 'Get your mind out of the gutter, why would anyone want you?'

I take Book off her post and lead her to find an inn to stay at. I've got some meditation to do.