Camellia:An Iroh FIc

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter I: Long Kisses

" Now let us make a vow together.We shall share the same food,share the same stengths,share the same tastes.We shall be of one mind,we shall observe the vows together;I shall be the Sama,you the Rigveda;I shall be the Upper world,you the earth; I shall be the Sukhilam,you the holder.Togther we shall live and beget children,and other riches thou ,Oh,sweet-worded girl."

Those were the words I said to her;so formal and also so beautiful.There was nothing and is nothing so warm in all the world.It followed the seven steps we made around the fire; expressing our love in the wake of Agnideva.

Soon,the wedding was over,she stepped on the stone and a large feast began like nothing the Fire-nation had seen in a long time.People laughed and drank to their hearts' content ,enjoying food from all corners of the world.I was'nt there to enjoy them.I enjoyed a better time as I walked with my new wife.

Her eyes shown like silver stars in the moon light and her face,like the petals of a camellia,was reddened by the heat of summer and patches of make-up smoothed onto her skin.Redder still were her lips;lined to broaden their fullness.Around her body,the curving lines of her form were spun over with garments of crimson.In short she appeared as a blossom before me.However her spirit was too strong to ever fall,her soul too kind to ever be full of thorns.

" Ai Luo", she always called me by that personal name,while everyone else saw me as Iroh," how are you?"

" Fine,I'm just fine."

" You've been quiet all night long and barely said a word to anyone today."

" I guess I can't think of anything to say. Illah,we're married now and I don't really have a word for us other than married.

" Well, Ai, you laugh a little more than you used to ,but still you're too serious .I can't have a husband who's constantly acting like there's a stick up his Equus asinus.Even though, you're looking sexy as hell in that suit."

" Were'nt we just having a solumn heart to heart conversation?"

" As I remember it,you did'nt know what to say."

" See what you're doing?Even now you're twisting my words.Illah,you..."

And once again she caught me in one of those long kisses;those unbelieveably cruel ways of getting me to shut up.However,I can't say I did'nt always enjoy them.That was the way we began the night and headed into it;the Upper world and the earth.

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter II: A Child Is Born

Some people say birth is the most beautiful thing. The dawn of that new life that at the moment doesn't have a name. However, the impression of beauty is an aquired thing and many a wise men have neglected that it may just be the result of shock and curses wearing off. Of course my wife was never more beautiful and hideously angry as when she gave birth to my son,to our Lu Ten.

" Iroh, I hate you!You stupid dumbass! You did this to me and I went along with it! I went along with it, you stupid bastard! When I get my hands on you,I'll ..." and so she was cut off by another ripping contraction,resuming her breathing with greater strength and will than her curses could show. Of course, I believed she would kill me, if I was just a little more stupid. Thank Agni I was outside of the room,peering in every few minutes to see what was happening.

At that moment her doctor walked out,by the name of Lo. She was an augustly beautiful woman at the age of forty-seven and already long famous for being a medical and fire-bending genius.I had known her almost as an older sister.

" How is she doing?"

" You can guess,Prince Iroh. The pregnancy is unusually dificult.It is almost as if the child wants nothing but another road to tread on than that which leads out of the womb."

" Please, I have no time for proverbs."

"Then the facts are that your wife will survive, her will is stronger than a thousand other ordinary fire-nation girls. Maybe it is because she is Roku's grand-daughter. She will have a beautiful child, that is certain. The infant also has an unusual fire ;which will burn strong, but go out quickly.For this reason Iroh,you must guard their lives;both his and hers."

" Sister Lo,why is your sibling Li not also on the case?"

" She is on another assignment.Even for the crown prince,not all things can be arranged.You must consider me as a momentary best."

" Then please make sure that at this moment everything goes right."

She answered me by simply returning to Illah's bed side. My wife was right to be angry I suppose but soon I hoped it would'nt matter. I knew this horrible pain that with each contraction we shared was soon to pass.Or at least that is what my mother told me.

A scream of all the force in the world was heard throughout the building,I dare every element to challenge its power;the power of life being released.Then there was a cry,of a little, loud thing come into the world;half-blind,half-deaf,and yet none the less lovely.

I joined my wife in the room of her delivery,only to find her alseep.Though drained of all strength and covered in sweat,she still seemed strangly animated;if only by a few slow breathes. Then I looked at the child in her warm arms. He stared up at me;with deep-honey painted in his eyes;half open and barely slits in his rough,strawberry-dough colored face. I went through the old ritual of my fathers and gave him a bit of honey in his crying mouth.Then,and only then did I complete the second part of the ceremony and whispered the name of god in his ear three times;hoping to extend his unusual flame.

"How is it now that I have two flowers in my life. One painted red from giving birth, the other from being born."

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter III:Once All The Petals Fall

It was the third day of spring, and all the budding flowers released their souls.My home was down-wind of a large grove ;blooming cherry and plum, all alighting their scents to the air. In the calm sunlight of near dawn, the cool world of little country-house was perfumed by even the lightest breeze.It was in this place that I celebrated a lapse in the war.Of course,there was a place where fire-nation soliders were encamped;armored and ready for combat,but none would come to them until my father saw need to push forward.For now ,he did not and I decided to spend a moment with my wife and child.Illah was now forty-six years old and our Lu Ten was thirteen.For a moment;life was beautiful...

" Iroh,Iroh. Wake up ,honey." said a voice deserving of every loving name.I heard it,half way into a dream. Then my mind, somehow decided that it would be a good thing to respond.

" Yes?"

" Wake up."

" What time is it?"

" The fourth hour."

" Why?"

" Ai Luo."

" Yes,dear."

" Wake up!"

It was a lovely mourning and I soon found out what it was that my wife had urged me up for. The sky was was on fire with little notches of light;flashing for a second to be erased by an unseen hand.It was then that I made a wish;a wish I will only now tell the pages of this diary.

" May Agni grant my wife and son,ten thousand years of life;even if he must take some of my own to finish the count."


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" My hair" was all she said,as she dug her tears into my shoulder. I ran my hand over it and found that with every finger passing through;it was falling out. I curse myself,and I barely know why anymore.She had been growing thinner by the days,but I barely noticed; counting it as one of the peices in a woman's life. She became ill;more and more everyday.What did I do ,but call it a result of the rain? Now her hair, lovely ,black silk,as if meant for me only to enjoy, told me I was wrong. I was horribly,horribly wrong.

Every doctor told us that her body was fighting against itself and that my wife was being destroyed; simply, clearly by herself. Even more,there was nothing I could ever do. There was nothing anyone could do.All they could offer was a warm bed and a hospis in hopes of extending her life;if only by a day.

I sent her flowers and visited when duty was not pressing about my head. Flowers;from the earth kingdom, the fire nation,and the very edges of the Water-tribe tundra,she loved them;if only for the first time in her life.

I visited her on the seventh day of the eight month and brought a bloom from the Western Air Temple. She loved this too.I looked down at my Illah; her hair was almost gone. Her countenace which was once round like the blazing sun;was now slender and drawn to her cheek bones. Her eyes were still bright stars;if only now a universe away from where they used to reside.

" Iroh." said a voice worthy of every loving name.

" Yes, my love."

" What is a flower once all the petals fall?"

" It is a far more lovely flower."


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The day had come when I looked down at a stone beneath the cherry trees.

My father was with me;wise,old man;now drying out himself but never close to death.

He laid his right hand on my shoulder.For the first time,he was not Fire Lord Azulon,he was Ai Zu Long.

" My boy; I have felt this for the third time and you for the first. In time; strength will approach you."

I said nothing...

[tokogawa]

So what does anyone think?

[The Blue Chibi]

You know, I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm curious, though, about your prologue ~ will Iroh's relationship with Toph be presented as a platonic one?

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter IV: All Float Away With Rain

The ink had yet to fade away,after all these years it was still a strong ,eternal black.

I grasped the portrait;done in a time I bearly remembered. It showed a young woman;her hair a thick and shimmering black, her eyes like little suns shining for themselves and few others.I could tell all this though the artist had used only black,through the prejudiced eyes of memory.I was holding the only picture of my wife that had survived her.The only belonging she wanted in the land of the living and not to burn with her in the cremation.

They say time heals all wounds.

I laid the painting down and walked away,closing the door with as little force as I'd ever use. To the eyes of others I was healed ,but I could still see the scares,I could still feel the sting of their presence.I dared not show that face to Lu Ten, he was the sort of man to make too many provisions simply so I could feel better.I had not obsessed over death,to me she was only absent.Abscence is cold and does'nt require the grace of consideration.It simply exists. As such I only existed for eight long years.


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"What is it?" I asked the old solider;peering at a scroll;worn and written in the vague.
" A map into the Spirit World." he responded with a sip of black tea and a wisk of his long brown hair;trailing from a bald crown.His glance was filmed over by a blindness;slowly acquiring his eyes.For that moment,however, he could see.

" Why do you give this to me?"

" It is sometimes told to a man,in a manner he himself finds difficult, that another man requires something dearly."

" I do not..." and then I stopped.I don't know why,but I simply stopped myself; flooded all the sudden by the realization that it was a lie. I did need it,I required it dearly.

I thanked him and taking the scroll turned about,never to see him again.


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I studied the scroll like a sacred script, and found soon that it was.
The sacred places were marked like pressure points and each one accessed that same vein of existance.The Gaoling Forest,at its very heart, was a chakra of the spirit world. I traveled there,despite what it might expense me, and meditated against an old,worn tree. In its heart;worn from existance was the door to eternal life,which only a determined spirit may violate.Being a man still in possession of a live body;I did in force my way in.

My eyes grew far and I began to see myself drifting into the distance.

It is a strange sensation;to see your own body sitting, breathing slowly. You still feel the heart-beat,but then it begins to become a distant murmur as you ascend. Before long,you can no longer see your body, hear its pulse or feel its breath;you have left. So it was with me.

Then,there was darkness and I opened my eyes; around me was a forest much different from Gaoling.

Above me hung a mask of leaves to hide the ground from every glance of the sun. The trees were huge,gnarling giants with age that no one can expess and roots knowing the course words of the beginning.It was in this place that I walked for what seemed many hours. I heard a sound, not too far to my right,causing me to stop in my tracks,running would be of no avail.There was a bear about. It was then that I saw the creature; huge and covered in tawny fur. He confronted me in a lazy manner,but I knew that he was none the less dangerous. But the bear did not attack, he did not walk away ,but did something I never expected; he spoke.

" Visitor,what causes you to roam the forest?"

" I... I am looking for a person who has died." I responded,barely able to think this possible.

" The deceased subsist in the plain. It lies outside the bounds of the forest. This is if they have not gone to the cave."

" What do you mean?"

" The woman you seek may have returned to the other world."


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Before me was the end of the forest.
I caught sight of the plain and ran with all the strength my legs could deliver to the homes;millions upon millions of homes;all decorated with flowers. Many were already empty with doors wide agape. I knocked on one door and out came an old man,bearing a cold in remedy in his left hand.

" Do you know Illah?"

" A kind woman,her hair tinged by gray and black. A robe of vermillion wrapped about her."

My eyes widened, she had appeared to this old man as she was before the ailment destroyed her.

" What are you to the woman you seek?"

"I am her husband."

" And yet you are still alive."

" I wish to see her."

" It is impossible." the elder replyed,running a hand through his short gray hair. His eyes filled with saddnes more for me than for himself.

" Why is it impossible?" I gasped;intending a scream,but never having the strength.

" Prince,my prince. It is impossible because the princess has gained a new body; four years past."

I shuddered,my eyes down cast and my body weak with wandering and hope that drained from me as a lost passion. My breaths were long and hard, never knowing how to reply and knowing now that I would have never succeeded.I was far too late.

Then the old man laid a hand on my back;remarkably for someone warm who was dead.

" Prince, in one hundred years of life and five years of death;I know all too well that all petals once falllen must float away with rain."

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter V: The Path To Ba Sing Se

They say reconnaissance is the heart of strategy.

Sometimes this is true ,even for a general. My father had ordered Ba Sing Se to be conquered. The inching war we had fought for so long was begining to show signs of gross inadequacy. For nearly ninty years we were the lion trying to swallow an elephant. The only thing was that we were'nt killing it. The Firelord saw it to be time that finnaly killed our dinner. It would take some weeks to organize the whole army for an assault on the capitol. In the mean-time I employed the use of a spy. That spy was myself.


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I set out from the mid earth kingdom on foot.
My journey would be six months long and required no real change in my appearance ,other than my clothing. The common solidier knew my likeness about as well as I knew every one of theirs.

It was no different with the common Earth-kingdom citizen. They had no idea what Prince Iroh looked like. So I became Luo; a traveling man on way to Ba Sing Se after pilgrimage to Omashu. It was easy enough, and I knew that truly no government or army was as powerful as the under-current societies. They were my second life-line.

By the third day of the fifth month I was in sight of the walls. I purchased a ticket and took the ferry across. It was easy going and I was able to know the true beauty of the bay. The ferry was small, a wooden vessel not much different from the modern craft. I traveled on deck as a well-endowed passenger. It was during that time that I met a middle classed merchant and his wife, who was quite obviously pregnant at the time.

" Excuse me,miss,but I would like to congratulate you."

" Oh,yes. Thank you Mr..."

" My name is Luo."

" Well, Luo. My husband and I are traveling to meet some family. We plan to have the baby there."

Something struck me about the couple, a younger woman;almost radiantly beautiful. She would be if not dulled by what seemed a lack of sleep and stress that I would never know. Her husband was one of those men,who paid attention to little but the horizon. He had squeezed out the last drop of his energy into business and finding his 'break'. It would come soon and then he would be a very man, but for now he only waited and plotted on the manner he would grab it.Yet there are times when fate tugs at your collar and screams out, "look there." This was one of those times.

" That seems like quite a plan, I myself am going to see if I can get a job in the city."

" Is your wife already there?"

" My wife?"

" Yes, you seem the type of man to have a woman waiting for him at home."

" Thank you for the kind remark, but my wife passed nine years ago."

" I'm very sorry.Is there anyone to help you in the city?"

" Yes, my son is there."

" Well if you need anything Luo,we'll be staying for a few weeks. Here's a card for the middle ring. When you get there, just ask for Bei Fong"...

[Taintedmushroom]

Interesting! I enjoyed it. ^^ A bit sad... obviously :\, but nice writing. ^^

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

For this chapter,I won't be working with Iroh;I'll give him a rest for the chapter and work with another character entirely.

Chapter VI: The Dragon Of the West

" How were the Hu Sin provinces conquered?"

" By whom?"

" In which years?"

And the tutors questions went on like that, while she barked out half-baked answers, more for the satifaction of her parents than of herself. But what were such questions to a eight year old; let alone an eight year old girl. She was being drilled at a collage level by an anti-soocial Ba-Sing Se book-worm and all because her father wanted his" little princess" to be educated as a replacement for being" small and weak", but most of all for her blindness.

She despised him, greatly, for that. She despised not being able to play outside. She despised having ten body-guards. She despised rudamentary training under that tight-assed Master Yu. And yes, she knew the word tight- assed and used in all her mental diary entries involving the man. She perferred the moles over him, and that was something to say from a person who by all right should have been terrified of the creatures.

She was steeped in boredm and useless knowledge like a man who intends to just take a step into the quick-sand; before she knew it the gloom had swollowed her. Then it was broken, as if a rope was lowered around the last bit of her arm. A body-guard rushed in, panting with a look of desperation on his face. She could feel that something was very wrong. The air grew tense and heavy like a sheet of wool.

" Shifu... The Dragon Of the West..."

" Take your time, Ku. We have all day." the tutor replied,seeming human for the first time.

" The Dragon has broken through the outer wall."

" But how?"

" For three hundred years, until today."

" But my mother, my father... dear god what is going to happen? Do you have any other news. The army. The Dai Li. Someone has to be doing something!"

" Shifu, I know only what I have told and perhaps to pray for your relatives. The prince is in Ba Sing Se. Only an act of god can stop him now."

She heard the news with confusion and interest. Though educated in what war was, she had no real knowledge of what it was. She heard the fear in their voices. She hated her shifu, but she would have never wished something like this on him. The day had grown long and the capitol was under seige. She knew nothing, saw nothing, but the fear of grown-ups and her own uneasiness.

And so was the Dragon of the West; simply fear for these older folks. Yet in him,she sensed something, though never having heard his name before. She was compelled to see a monster in the courses of childish imagination. Yet she fetched a different emotion from him; envy; envy at not being small ,weak and blind. ;envy at gaining the automatic respect of her boring shifu.But ,completely seperate from this was the secret wish to meet him.

She never knew why.

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was gone.He had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he had'nt in many long,cold years. P.S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter VII: Tea For Two

The forest was peaceful, filled with the calls of birds and the pale sunlight.

I'd taken just a moment to rest. A boulder,medium sized and smooth seemed a good place to lean back and tip my hat over these two weary eyes. I was still searching for my nephew. In a usual fashion ,he'd run off ;leaving me to feel guilty not following him. It had been a long trail and things began to worry me, including the presence of a long-tank.

The earth shook and my rock struck me. I guess it did'nt like someone leaning on it? I was turned over, rubbing my behind;now sore beyond understanding.

" That really hurt my tail bone."

I looked about and nearly had a heart-attack. My eyes grew wide with something between fear and disbelief. A twang of quick, unspeakable pain shot through me like an arrow.

" Why did you do that?" I said with all the calmness I could force.

" Why were you hiding?"

" Hiding? I was taking a rest on a boulder when it kicked me."

She stopped a second and had a look in her eyes much like a dog when its sniffing out for something familiar. She was an earth-bender,obviously, a small girl and very much blind.

" I'm... sorry. I've had a hard day. Is there any way I can make it up?"

For a second I was confused by this sudden change of heart,but then I noticed her eyes,tired beyond anything a girl should experiance, and what seemed a hyper-sensitivity of something. She seemed to chew the sincerity out of my every word and heart-beat.

" You can have tea with me. You seem very tired."

It took only a few minutes to make a fine cup for my guest.

" Here is your tea. You seem a little too young to be traveling alone."

Though dressed a little rough and tumble ;she drank in a slow, thoughtful way. She drank like...

" You seem a little too old."

" Perhaps I am."

" I know what you're thinking. I look like I can't handle being by myself."

She woud have said the same thing but..

" I was'nt thinking that."

" You would'nt even let me pour my own tea."

"I poured your tea because I wanted to and for no other reason."

Her eyes grew solemn, and far less feirce than they'd been before.

" People see me and think I'm weak. They want to take care of me,but I can take care of myself."

" You sound like ,my nephew.-"

And really she did, just another pained and individiual soul, wanting independance even at the cost of hurting themselves.

"-Always thinking you need to do things on your own without anyone else's support.There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you.Not that I love you ;I just met you."

But then I guess I lied.As I sat there,talking to her in the calmest voice, giving the calmest advise on her problems and letting loose my own heavy buden I felt two things. First that I had met her before, second that I had the deepest of all feelings towards her. Deeper than if she were my own daughter.And she did'nt mind, in fact she seemed as drawn to me as I to her. In her eyes, pale like the leaves of white tea; I felt the warmth of arms wrapping around me, kisses I had'nt felt in many years and and the absolute love of two human beings. Of course it was'nt even the sensation of such things;only the bare feeling of ...


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" Illah, he is in need of so much help,but Lu Ten won't accept it from me -from his own father."

" What did you say?"

" Son, you can't walk by yourself, you need me."

" Maybe you need him too."


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"Oh and about your nephew,Maybe you should tell him that you need him too."

[tokogawa]

Camellia

Author's Notes: He had always loved his wife,but now she was had seen her off to the other world. Yet ,in this small girl,her eyes frosted over with blindness, he could still see her and feel a warmth he hadn't in many long,cold years. P. S. Camellia is the genus of plant named tea.

Chapter VIII: Crossroad Petals

Ba Sing Se, how can you give so much to a man and then steal it away; pretending that such a thing as peace never existed? I'd hoped that the fire in his eyes had cooled, that he had grown a level head, it was just another foolish attempt to change him into what I wanted.

The smoke cleared from my eyes when he refused to leave the Earth king's palace. There was still a fire in him, a consuming anger that would never accept such a thing as retreat. Zuko wanted to confront his sister, and for reasons that even he didn't know. I suppose I went to that door to save him. Was I so wrong?

I sighed, and knocked at the panel. It opened and she was there. Her friends were predictably shocked, but she still kept a serene look. She remembered me and trusted me, if only a little. There was no hello between us, so I went straight to the point.

" I need your help."

After getting over the initial shock , the avatar was first to say something.

" You guys know each other?"

" I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me tea and very good advice."

"May I come in?" I asked , turning to the girl. She nodded and I entered.

"Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se."

" She must have Katara." The Avatar beamed and I decided to carry things a little further.

"She has captured my nephew as well."

"Then we'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko. "

The water bender's brother was a bit more stubborn. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to save someone who had done nothing but cause pain and frustration to their band. I pleaded with him, placing a hand on his shoulder, telling him in the best way that I could...

The boy removed it, shrugging off the possibility of a change in his adversary.

The avatar did what I couldn't in just a few words, " Katara is in trouble."

The water tribesman, Sokka, closed his eyes and nodded. It was with that I knew things had changed. Was I so wrong?

We came back to the palace and the girl, I learned her name was Toph, took one quick jump onto the ground. In a single shove, so large that I felt it move through my whole body, she cleared a path into the earth. I knew the Avatar and Sokka would have never trusted me if not for her. She couldn't look at me, but she did stare into the void of my direction. I could see two looks on her face. One was a mask of her usual bravado; her other was of deep concern. I have often heard the blind can see into the future. That moment all I could do was look into the past.


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"Iroh."

" Yes."

" You're going on another campaign, aren't you?"

" I am. The men need their commander."

" I know well enough about what the men need. I have three brothers. Iroh, I know well enough about things. I just don't want to see someone come through that door with a white scroll."

" Illah, I'll come back. You know well enough."


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I followed the avatar down. This time, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know whether these feelings were senility or something solid. So I said nothing.