#i ship irohtea

An anonymous someone sent me an ask on my other account for a continuation of the AU where Zuko is made Azula’s servant.

Continued from: [Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link], and [Link], and [Link].

1. Iroh has always been skilled at being who he needs to be to get what he wants out of the person he’s with. He can dress in simple peasant clothes and be the down to earth true Firelord who knows what it is to struggle, and will listen to the poor and powerless when he takes the throne. He can be the grand prince, unjustly usurped by his unworthy little brother. He can be the grieving father, whose son and throne were taken from him at the same time. He can be the wily old soldier. He can be the peacemaker, who wishes to return the world to a sense of balance, free of Fire Nation aggression.

2. The secret is, he’s all of these things, and he turns the side of himself the person he needs to persuade needs to see to be persuaded.

3. But Zuko is not like Iroh. He is always exactly who he is, in all his facets, all his sides shown at once. He might try to guard his thoughts, but he is never something he is not. It’s a terrible trait for a rebel prince, but Iroh can’t bring himself to be too unhappy. It makes him Zuko, and it will make him a good man. So when he sends Zuko to the Avatar, he has to trust that his nephew’s earnestness, and solemn sense of duty and obligation are exactly the side of their rebellion that the Avatar needs to see.

4. Zuko sails south, and makes good time with a small crew in a small refurbished Fire Navy ship, loaded of useful, but admittedly humble gifts for the Avatar and his hosts, tea, honey, rock sugar, spices from the fire islands, iron teapots and cooking pots, dried and preserved fruits, all things the Southern Water Tribe used to trade for, and which Iroh hopes will endear Zuko to them. They fly stolen Fire Navy flags, until they are within sight of the South Pole. Then, they run up Iroh’s rebel flag, the crown prince’s flag, and a flag of peace. They have no idea if anyone at the pole will recognize the flags, but they have to hope.

5. What they find when they land is, well, Zuko has been living in a rebel camp for a while now. He is used to a temporary life, in the shadow of something grander. But the rebel life has hope, a goal, an endpoint. The South Pole’s villages are clinging to the ice by their fingernails.

An anonymous someone asked on my other account: “Could you give us more of the AU where Iroh and Zuko find Lu Ten brainwashed at Lake Laogai?”

Continued from: [Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link],[Link], and [Link].

1. Meanwhile, back in the Fire Nation, or at least on a specific ship headed to the Fire Nation, with the Fire Nation prince and princess onboard, a certain Dragon of the West whiles away the hours, in a dark, and dank, brig. His nephew sided with Azula, and he has to grieve about that, to deal with the swirl of misery and disappointment, and even that sense of failure, but more than that, he is afraid. He is so deeply afraid of what Zuko might tell his sister and father about Lu Ten. And even if he doesn’t, where is Lu Ten? Is he on his own? He’s far from ready for that. What if he gets hurt? What if he is found? For so long, Iroh believed his son was dead. Now he knows he is alive, and in danger.

2. Zuko has told Azula absolutely nothing about Lu Ten. And no, he has no intention of examining why. For all he desperately wants to believe Azula, to go home and be his father’s son again, deep down, he’s afraid. He knows what his family is capable of, even if he can’t admit it to himself. When he starts to visit his uncle, when he tries to talk to him, but Itoh won’t answer him, this is one of the things he tells him, soft, almost whispering it, so no one else can hear.

3. Zuko doesn’t talk about the brainwashing. He doesn’t want anybody to know. But Azula already does know. The Dai Li told her about brainwashing her brother, and this is information she plans to make use of. Azula is delighted with the Dai Li. After they have done their job securing Ba Sing Se for her, she packs a contingent of them onto a ship and sends them to the Fire Nation palace. They arrive not long after Azula and Zuko do. Every so often, Zuko catches sight of one, his green robes flapping, and can’t breathe.

4. But of course, Azula would never tell Mai and Ty Lee about such things, and neither would Zuko.

5. And on another ship, sailing for the Fire Nation, Lu Ten remembers everything. He remembers being Lu Ten, at least. The fog of his captivity in Ba Sing Se is another thing entirely. And he knows he is among enemies of the Fire Nation. So he concludes the only reasonable thing: he is a captive. And captives have a duty to escape.