Dragon of the West, breaker of Ba Sing Se's great wall, General of the Imperial Army and Navy, first son of Fire Lord Azulon, Prince of the Fire Nation and Heir to the throne, an impressive array of titles for a single man to hold. One would be prestigious enough but the man who held all those titles, Iroh of the Fire Nation, couldn't care less. The sound of waves crashing against the ice far below filled his ears. Moonlight shone bright on the ice, so bright it was almost blinding, turning everything shades of white and blue. This place was so different than his home.

He shivered atop a glacier the feeling in his hands, toes, and face had long fled. He was colder than he'd ever been, colder than he ever imagined possible. Now the husk of a man stood precariously close to the edge of the glacier, alone and hopeless. He let out a breath and watched the white curls ascend to the heavens then disappear.

Six hundred days of toil and battle would see his legacy cemented in history. Six hundred days he and his men battled the earthbenders as they defended their home. The great city of Ba Sing Se had been an obsession gnawing at Iroh's soul for years. Ever since he faced the great masters and earned the title Dragon, Iroh was determined to descend on the city to do what no one else had done during the course of the war. Ready to do what no one had ever done, break through the walls of Ba Sing Se and take it. He'd gathered the best men, trained them hard, and marched off to battle confident in his victory because of the vision.   

That day, so many years ago, he'd faced the last great dragons and earned their secret, he had a vision. As he stood in their rainbow of fire he saw himself taking the city and declaring victory in the war. As the last real threat to the Fire Nation the successful conquest of the Earth Kingdom capital would bring an end to the war, and see the Fire Nation finally achieve victory after nearly a century of strife. Fire Lord Sozen, Iroh's grandfather, had started the war on the day of the comet which now bore his name, and Iroh was destined to finish it by bringing Ba Sing Se to heel. His story would be told alongside Sozin's, it might even eclipse Sozin's achievements in time. In his great hubris Iroh thought his destiny would be such. 

Break the wall he did after a ferocious siege, but the cost was too high. It was just days after Iroh sent gifts and a letter back home to his family that the hideous blow fell. Iroh was drinking tea by a crackling fire when the soldier rushed inside his tent.

"General Iroh! Come quick, it's your son!" The young guard was pushed aside with all the strength Iroh could muster as he flung himself out of the tent.

The medical barracks were on the far side of camp, quite a distance from his accommodations. Never had Iroh moved so fast. The sea of red tents, banners, and uniforms were a blur to his eyes. The medical tent came into focus bringing with it the sound of groaning from dying men. The faces on the two guards outside the tent were unreadable as they held open the flaps for him.  

Iroh blinked as his eyes adjusted to the lower light. Soldiers cried out for relief from their pain or water as he passed by. Iroh went to the back of the tent, where the head surgeon stood over a body covered by a shroud embroidered with the royal insignia.

"I'm sorry General, his wounds were too great. The rock slide caused by the earthbenders completely crushed his chest." Surgeon Lee had blood on his hands as he went to place one on Iroh's shoulder. Thinking better of it, Lee motioned instead for someone behind him. Two soldiers came and stood at each end of the body. "It would have been fast, General Iroh. Your son didn't suffer, I am certain. We will prepare him for the pyre." Lee washed his hands in a basin of water beside the body.

"No. I need to see him," Iroh's voice was almost pleading. He hadn't sounded like this since he sat at the bedside of his wife, begging her not to leave. He didn't care if the soldiers heard him or thought less of him for seeing this moment of intense vulnerability.

"I don't think that's wise–" Lee began to say.

"Out," Iroh said the word in a whisper but he was obeyed immediately. The surgeon pulled a curtain shut behind them to give the illusion of privacy. The groaning of the men still suffering beyond the curtain soon faded from Iroh's ears. Iroh's eyes drifted to the water basin Lee had washed in. The swirls of red blood floated gently in the water before settling at the bottom of the bowl. His son's blood. He placed a trembling hand over the top of the shroud and pulled. 

     There lay Iroh's son with only a small cut on his face. The son Iroh had played with in the courtyards of the royal palace. The young boy who'd made him a saber tooth moose lion out of clay for Iroh's birthday. The boy he'd consoled when it became clear Lu Ten wasn't a firebender and Ozai ridiculed him for it. Lu Ten's face was lifeless and so pale, even though Iroh knew it was him, a part of Iroh cried out desperately for this to be some lookalike before him, or a hideous dream altogether. Iroh almost convinced himself it was a nightmare, until Lee came back insisting they prepare the body for burning.

Hours later, Iroh knelt alone under a burned tree on a hill top. Lu Ten, his precious only child, was reduced to the contents of a stone pot. Iroh dug and dug under the tree until the hole was so deep, he felt as if he could fall into it and never rise again. Gently he lowered the pot into the earth and covered it with dirt. Iroh was breaking royal protocol burying his son here.

Lu Ten never wanted to be lain to rest with their ancestors in the cold mausoleum of the royal family. As part of the early education to all members of the royal family, one had to tour the mausoleum naming several Fire Lords and their greatest accomplishments. Lu Ten hated it and often said so. Iroh knew his son would want a place warmer where the sun could reach him. 

Iroh sat beside the grave and examined the city. He had a good vantage point from here, but at present Ba Sing Se wasn't much to look at. Smoke rose from several places as firebenders fought to bring the earthbenders to surrender. The Earth Kingdom was a mighty people, except for the Northern Water Tribe which had remained neutral in the war so far, it represented the last true bastion of resistance.

Even when their king was killed in the first half year of combat the city refused to surrender. They'd broken through the wall with newly designed siege engines, and it was only a matter of time before Iroh's soldiers swept through the city and broke the lines leading to the palace. Iroh could unroll the Fire Nation banner from the top of the palace and victory would be his. Iroh could hear the screams of citizens, and the laughter of his soldiers, as his men pushed out the people of Ba Sing Se from their homes and set the houses to burn.

"Goodbye my son. I will see you again. I'm sorry for bringing you here." Iroh bowed to the patch of earth containing his son as tears rolled down his face. Iroh left no marker on the grave. It would be too easily found and vandalized otherwise. This was better, the tree above his son's resting place would bloom again once the Fire Nation soldiers left the city. It would be beautiful and calm, that was all the marker Lu Ten would want. He turned away from the grave to see a city on the verge of destruction at his command. Iroh wiped his tears and marched back into camp where he gathered all his squadron leaders.

"General Iroh," one of the men said. "We've have the siege engines placed at the second wall. At your command we will begin. By our estimates it should take only a few days to break it down, assuming we don't meet with strong resistance from earthbenders. The second wall isn't as well fortified as the first, our victory will soon be complete."

Iroh shook his head. "No, pull the divisions out. We're going home." Iroh said it with strength and conviction but the looks of the men told him they believed he'd lost his mind.

"General that's idiotic," one of the lesser captains said, "we can't leave. We are only a week away, perhaps two from declaring total victory."

"Silence Zhou!" The commander of the squadron snapped. "My man spoke out of turn but he's right. To leave now would make us the laughing stock of the entire world. I won't pull my men."

"If you won't do as I say then I challenge you to an Agni Kai," Iroh stared at the man with cold eyes.

     "I know the death of your son has greatly effected you," the man said, "it's only natural. But don't let the cause he fought for be in vain."

     "Either fight me or do what I say," Iroh commanded. "Pull the divisions out."

      "A duel it will be then." The man stormed out of the tent. He'd already begun to take off his armor as he went, handing it to the captain who'd spoken out earlier. "General Iroh has lost his stomach for combat!" The man screamed at the gathered soldiers. "He wants us to go home when we are so close to victory!" Iroh could hear jeers from the men gathered outside. "But I, Commander Jeong Jeong, will not abandon you or our great cause!"

     Iroh calmly began to strip his armor. The weight coming off him felt more than physical. Iroh exited his tent wearing only a pair of pants as was traditional for male combatants. Hundreds of men were gathered to watch, but even more were still within the walls causing wanton destruction. He needed to end this quickly before it was too late.

"Your father would be ashamed of you," Jeong Jeong said.

"He could never be more ashamed than I am of myself. With my victory all the divisions are to be pulled from the city! We are going home." Neither man turned to bow and there was an uneasy tension running through those gathered.

Jeong Jeong started the fight by sending a wall of fire directly at Iroh. Iroh parted the fire in the middle and passed through it unharmed. Iroh jumped from one leg in a crescent kick and blasted Jeong Jeong back, but the man remained on his feet. There were three ways to win an Agni Kai. The most common was for one of the combatants to knock the other off their feet, the second was to make your opponent surrender, and the third would be to kill them. While Iroh didn't want to kill the man, if that was what it would take to beat Jeong Jeong, then Iroh was ready to do so.

"Come on, master," Zhou screamed from the sidelines. "You can beat him."

Iroh didn't wait for Jeong Jeong to recover. He stepped forward and sent a thin fire blast from his feet toward Jeong Jeong's. Jeong Jeong was no novice though. He summoned a fire blast from his own feet, the blast was powerful enough to send him several feet in the air to avoid Iroh's attack. Jeong Jeong landed with his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"The Dragon of the West isn't as impressive as we've been told," Jeong Jeong screamed to the men. Very few cheered though, seeing the great General Iroh fighting one of the top military leaders had a disheartening effect on the men.

Jeong Jeong's words reminded Iroh of the day he'd faced the two great masters, the last living dragons in the entire world. It was long ago, far to the west in a crumbling city where the Sun Warriors protected their great secret. Before he'd gone to see them, Iroh had wandered into a temple where two sets of statues were posed in a firebending form. It was an ancient form and one Iroh had never seen before. It had fallen from common knowledge with the decline of the Sun Warrior civilization, and it could win Iroh this battle, but first he needed to get Jeong Jeong off balance.

Iroh took a very deep breath through his nose. The breath expanded his chest and held there briefly, before traveling back up his throat and exiting his mouth as a massive fire blast. Iroh bent the fire in a wide circle around himself. He could hear screams from those watching the duel as they scrambled out of the way. Iroh bent the massive flames toward Jeong Jeong who cried in alarm. The fire would disappear quickly, so Iroh took his chance and began the form of the Dancing Dragon. Jeong Jeong didn't have time to act before Iroh sent the wave of flame at him.

Jeong Jeong stumbled back and fell as Iroh completed the form. Iroh stood above Jeong Jeong, his arm extended to deliver the final blow. But in this case it wasn't necessary.

"I yield," Jeong Jeong cried.

"Is there anyone else?" Iroh turned to the spectators as they cowered. None came forward to challenge him. "Pull the divisions out!"

Hours later, as the last of the Fire Nation soldiers and their damaged war machines were exiting the city, Iroh ambled to the edge of town where he stole some clothes off a wash line, they were slightly singed and held the smell of smoke. It was something no member of the Fire Nation royal family would ever wear, which would make it the perfect disguise. Iroh looked around but whomever had lived here was long gone. Iroh left a small pile of gold on the steps of the abandoned home and walked into the night, leaving his soldiers on the long march back home, his son resting in the earth, and what he thought would be his greatest achievement behind.

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Almost one year ago Iroh left the scene of his greatest triumph turned massive military blunder a broken man. He'd run from the memories, the war, all who knew him, and would no doubt be branded a coward should he ever go back home. He could easily imagine his father's disappointed face, and the quiet glee of his brother, upon facing them for the first time since his great failure. It no longer mattered. Iroh's true legacy lay in the ground under a tree, along with his heart.   

Iroh thought the Northern Water Tribe would be far enough to outrun his memories and feelings. He'd taken great care going unnoticed in his journeys. He couldn't start over, but he thought he could live out the remainder of his life in the peace of obscurity. Now he knew no place was far enough to out run the shame which ate him day after day. Iroh collapsed to his knees with a heavy thump and wept into his hands. His old knees protested but the cold of the ice and snow soon dulled the pain. Seconds later he heard the crack.   

The thin ice shelf gave way before he could get up to run. Iroh rapidly descended toward the water. He didn't have time to scream before he plunged into the icy depths that stung every bit of his flesh. He kicked for the surface but the waves forced him down again with so much power he couldn't fight them. Pain was all he knew as he sank. How long does it take to die, he thought miserably. For a moment he thought he was dead as he felt the sensation of rapidly rising through the water.  

Iroh's head burst from the water and he gasped for air. He rose toward the cliff he'd fallen from. He expected there to be a waterbender but the cliff was empty. Only some penguins off in the distance, which certainly couldn't be responsible for this miraculous save, were in the immediate proximity. The shelf wasn't exactly the most remote area, young waterbenders often practiced here but Iroh was alone except for the squawking animals. Gently, the water deposited him on the ice shelf and fell back to the sea below. The ice shelf bobbed up and down in the current. Chunks of it broke off to become small ice bergs and the water settled, as if nothing had happened.

"Iroh." The voice calling his name was female and well-aged with years. Shivering, Iroh spun around in a circle as he searched for his rescuer. "Iroh, I'm here. Look up." 

He did as instructed and saw a kindly old woman dressed in Water Tribe regalia hovering in a beam of moonlight. She was huge and obviously a spirit. She was the moon spirit there could be no mistake. Iroh fell to his knees, but regretted it as the cold of the ice could be felt more keenly through his wet pants. The spirit reached out her hand and held a finger to his forehead. Suddenly, Iroh was not only dry, but felt as though he were back in the royal palaces on a warm summer day.  

"Do not despair," the spirit told him as she withdrew her hand. "Your greatest achievements are yet ahead of you."

"Thank you for saving me, Great One. You must have the wrong man. I am neither great nor deserving of your attention. I am an evil and selfish being."

"True, you have clouded your purpose by a vision misinterpreted," the moon spirit said, "but your destiny is yet to be fulfilled. You are a man of honor, though you have allowed yourself to become polluted with the poisonous and false ideas your people have long held. I too have been granted a vision of the future. My time is rapidly approaching its end. Soon another will take my place."

"Impossible! Who would dare harm a spirit? How could they? It would be a fool's errand."

The spirit smiled at him with warmth. "It is true and you will play a part in my rebirth. More importantly, you will play a part in bringing peace back to the world. That is your true destiny, to help bring about an end to the war by fighting against the nation of your birth, not conquering others for it."

Iroh shook his head with a vengeance, giving him a slight headache. "No. I can't. I have nothing left to give. Not to the world, not to anyone, my purpose, my reason for living died in Ba Sing Se and it's my fault. I pushed Lu Ten to come with me because I wanted him to witness my great triumph," Iroh's words were broken by a sob he just barely managed to cut off.  

The spirit looked at him with kind eyes. With a flash of bright light she began to rapidly shrink in size. In only a few moments she had assumed the height of an ordinary woman and sat beside Iroh. Though she appeared no more than a woman, there was a glow of silver moonlight around her.

"You have lost much, Iroh. And it is a pain many have had to bear throughout the eons, during one war or another. You are not the first to suffer this way and sadly you will not be the last. I have no children, but I have witnessed countless parents dote upon theirs with a love deeper than the ocean. I have seen the love which leads to their creation. You were a loving husband to your wife Yukagi."

Iroh nodded. Yukagi had been an unlikely match for him. She wasn't noble or even rich. Iroh first laid eyes on her in a small town on the northern tip of the Fire Nation, where Yukagi owned and operated a tea house. It'd been in her family for generations and she and her older sister ran it together. It seemed a trick of fate that the two met. He'd been on vacation, but sick of Ember Island he'd decided to go somewhere quiet without all the pomp and circumstance of a royal retinue.

After that vacation was over, Iroh returned there as often as he could. He left poems for her on the table and she'd answer them with her own when he returned. They'd sit and talk so long the tea before them turned cold without it even being sipped. They'd married in secret after a six month courtship and then Iroh brought her back to the royal palace, much to the surprise of his father, and the ire of his brother. Seeing Iroh so happy, his father chose not to oppose the match, but his brother voiced concerns in private about a woman of no special lineage being brought into the family. Iroh spoke to Ozai harshly for his disrespect towards his wife, and the next day Ozai began the search for his own bride.

"Before your wife died in the childbed she charged you with two things. Do you recall them," the moon spirit asked.

"Of course," Iroh said bitterly, "to be a good man worthy of her love and set a good and strong example for our son. I failed her in both." Iroh hung his head in shame.

"You lost your way, that is true, but you haven't totally failed, Iroh. Your son grew to be a good man. Even while he fought to take Ba Sing Se, Lu Ten and his friends delivered food and medical supplies under the cover of night to those in the city most impacted by the siege."

"He was the one stealing supplies? I never knew."

The moon spirit nodded. "He saw you had turned your heart to glory, but still hoped you'd one day be the good man from his childhood he remembered."

Iroh sobbed and his body shook, from anger not sorrow. If he hadn't of insisted Lu Ten come with him, he would still be alive. Before Lu Ten and Iroh left the capital, Lu Ten made it known he intended to propose marriage to his longtime sweetheart once they returned. Iroh had gladly given the boy his blessing. Iroh could have been a grandfather by now if he'd only allowed Lu Ten to stay behind. "It's too late. I can't make a difference for Lu Ten anymore! I can't be the man he wanted after all I've done!"

The spirit watched him cry and gathered Iroh into her arms and began to sing softly. "Leaves from the vine, falling so slow. Like tiny fragile shells drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy, come marching home. Brave soldier boy, come marching home. Those leaves have grown from branches over grown; drifting slowly down resting in the loam. Little soldier boy, taken from home. Forced to fight a war that's not his own. Leaves from the vine, falling so slow. Like tiny fragile shells drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy is carried home. Sleeping soldier boy is carried home."

"Iroh," she said at the conclusion of her song, "it will only be too late if you stay here forever." The spirit let her words hang in the air for Iroh to absorb.

"What would you have me do?" Iroh asked while wiping his tears away. Iroh felt so broken. What possible path in life could he take that would even bring him an ounce of redemption?

"I'm sending a man to meet you. I've granted him a vision and he's on his way now. He's a waterbender named Pakku. You are to stay with him for a period of six months as he has much to teach you about The White Lotus. Do not fear to tell him anything, he knows exactly who you are."

"The White Lotus? Isn't that a Pai Sho tile?"

"All will be revealed in time," she promised. "After the six month period you must return to the Fire Nation. I'm sorry that I must be the one to tell you, but your father has been murdered."

Iroh sprang to his feet in astonishment. "Murdered? What!? Who would dare lay a hand on the Fire Lord?"

"Sit Iroh," the moon spirit commanded. Iroh obeyed the spirit. With a wave of her hand steaming tea appeared before him. "Drink, it's jasmine tea. Your father was murdered by Ozai. Not only has he killed Alzuon, but he has supplanted you as heir and now rules as Fire Lord in his own right."

"Why would Ozai do such a thing?" Iroh felt grief at the loss of his father, and anger at his brother for the despicable deed, but he was surprised to feel no betrayal at losing the position he'd been groomed for his entire life. Iroh took up the tea and sipped. Jasmine tea had never been his favorite but this tasted truly divine. It filled him with all his best memories and sent the feelings of warmth of contentment throughout his body.

"It was Ursa's idea in truth. Ozai went to your father trying to have you replaced after the loss of your son and disappearance. Alzuon didn't take kindly to the suggestion, and he commanded Ozai to kill his own son in penance for even suggesting such a betrayal."

Cold dread raced through Iroh's veins. His father was a hard man, always had been, but it was almost impossible for Iroh to imagine Azulon demanding the death of a young child, and one of his family at that. Almost. Ozai had always been an ambitious man, from their shared youth that was evident. In adulthood, Iroh watched as Ozai treated Zuko poorly and favored Azula. Ozai deemed her to be the better prospect for furthering his gains as she was much like him. Ozai seemed to have no love for his son at all as there was more of Ursa's nature in the boy than his own. Ozai would kill the boy without regret and never spare a thought for his actions again. "Is Prince Zuko alive? Please tell me he didn't!"

"He did not," the spirit soothed his fears. "Ursa proposed the plan to kill Alzuon in order to save the young boy's life, and be free of Ozai. She has gone into exile and Prince Zuko lives. It is for the sake of Zuko that you must return. Not long from now, certain events will unfold that will see Zuko banished from his homeland and he will be in great need of you. Zuko must live, for his destiny in bringing about the future peace is even greater than yours."

Iroh finished his tea and stood. "I'm ready." He bowed to the spirit. "I will do all you charged me with. Thank you."

"Before you leave I have a gift for you." The moon spirit opened her hand and there sat a plain looking hair pin, clearly of Fire Nation origin but old fashioned, so old fashioned as to be considered a relic. "This is a royal artifact of your family nearly going back to founding of the Fire Nation, it's meant to be worn by the crown prince. I give this to you now, and when the time is right, pass it to your nephew."

He took the pin and studied it. It didn't look familiar at all, and he couldn't recall there ever being such an object of import in the family, but Iroh would study the history once back home and see what he could discover of the pin's origin. He tucked the pin into his pocket.

"Pakku will be at your dwelling in three days." The spirit began to morph back into the giantess. She hovered above the water, once again in a beam of moonlight. "Until we meet again, Iroh," and she was gone.

His grief for his son and father were still fresh. Now he had a purpose to help him through instead of wallowing. While he suspected the pain would never go away, he knew that he could learn to live again. He would go and help Prince Zuko and he would be the man Lu Ten had once known. Iroh took one step and then another, back toward the igloo he called home and toward his own destiny.

Just as the moon spirit told him, three days later Pakku arrived at his door. "Please sit, Master Pakku. I'm afraid my dwelling isn't very large. It will be slightly cramped."

"Don't worry, General Iroh. I can make it larger with my water bending." Pakku was kind but a bit standoffish. That was only to be expected though. It wasn't every day you met a general of the enemy without trying to kill him.

"Would you like some jasmine tea? It's my favorite and all I have on hand."

"I would, thank you." Pakku's eyes drifted toward the low table beside Iroh's sleeping roll. "Is that a saber tooth moose lion?"

"Yes." Iroh poured the tea. "My son made it for me long ago," Iroh smiled remembering Lu Ten's face. "The moon spirit said something about the white lotus?"

"Yes." Pakku reached into the small pack he'd brought and pulled out a Pai Sho board and began dividing the pieces. "Shall we begin?"