A/N: The first section of this was written months ago on tumblr. I tend to take drabble requests there over the weekend and someon asked for Azula and Iroh and I was already planning this so it happened. My tumblr is lariren-shadow if you're interested.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

He's the last person she expected to ever visit her. She watches him as he drinks his tea (she's never shared the same affinity for the drink that Iroh taught Zuko). She has nothing to say to him; she doesn't regret any of her actions towards her distant uncle.

"Why are you even here?" she finally asks hating the slight hitch in her voice.

He carefully sets his cup down, one hand going to stroke his beard and the other falling into his lap. "I want to get to know my niece," he says calmly.

"You already know me," she responds acidly.

He looks her right in the eye. It unnerves her. "I know a brilliant military mind who is as ruthless as she is deadly. I know an amazing firebender who mastered a technique it took me years to learn. I know all this but I don't know Azula."

She looks away. "That's all I am."

She feels his hand, warm and large, on hers. It startles her; no one besides Ty Lee has ever tried to comfort her. "I think you're more." She's startled by the amount of conviction he has in that statement. "And I know how hard it is to wage war and how tired you must be sometimes. When you're ready I'll tell you about my siege of Ba Sing Se."

She jumps on his hesitation. "Why not now? Don't want to relive your failure?"

"No Azula. Right now I want to enjoy my tea and get to know my niece because this is the longest conversation we've ever had."

She hesitates. She tries to think of his motives for wanting to know her. Zuko already visits her, Uncle doesn't speak to Ty Lee or Mai, and she can't think of anyone else he would talk to about her.

She decides to give this a chance. At best she can manipulate him into teaching her new firebending forms. At the worse she can lie. She begins: "Ty Lee is my best friend and I locked her and Mai in prison."

He brings a different flavor of tea everyday. "I'm trying to guess your favorite," he tells her.

"Does that tell you anything about a person?" She inquires. She's sipping the white tea he's brought and finds it rather tasteless.

He watches her and she understands the look. He's gauging the enemy and she's not losing any ground. "Your brother likes jasmine even though he won't admit it. It's calming and helps him think. Your father liked oolong because of its smoky flavor. He drank it because he believes it came from dragons and gives him power. Personally I like ginseng."

She tries to remember what that tea is known for. Maybe she can find his weakness. It's on the tip of her tongue to ask him for a book on teas (she can find an appropriate one to like that shows her as soft and reformed) but doesn't. She doesn't want to give any ground.

Instead she asks Zuko for one the next time he visits. He stares at her with his mouth open and she wants to laugh because this is the Fire Lord.

He brings it to her the next day. She spends a day reading it and picking out which tea she should like. She picks the white peony tea because it sounds delicate enough even if she tends to dislike white teas.

She plans and schemes and always forgets to think of what is best for herself.

She tells her Uncle during his next visit that she likes white peony tea. His responding belly laugh annoys her.

"You know that is the tea I gave you the other day. The one you said was tasteless."

She's forced to retreat and regroup. "Right," she says smoothly, "I always told Ty Lee this was my favorite because it's the only one she likes."

He eyes her. She caught in a lie because she's told him she never thought of her friends before. She hopes (a new emotion) that he won't question her. "Well we'll find your favorite soon enough."

She purposely fills their next few days with idle remembrances. "Mai was the only girl at the Academy who knew more about Fire Nation history than I did." She's not lying when she tells him this. It was one of the first things that attracted her to the gloomy girl. If she couldn't best one of them she had to have her close. The fact that Mai's mother pushed her to be friends with the princess helped.

"And how did you befriend Ty Lee?" Her uncle asks in his most soothing voice. It's the voice she assumes he uses on wild animals.

She tries to remember. Ty Lee was just always there. "I," she pauses, "I can't remember." She wants to. She wants to have a certain reason for Ty Lee being her friend. Chi blocking came later. "She was just my friend." The realization humbles her. She never thought she had a real friend before. It makes her sick and light at the same time.

"You always need someone," Uncle affirms.

She's always assumed she's never needed anyone. Recent experiences have slightly changed her perspective.

The tea he brings today has flowers in it. "I'm not sure if you'll like this but you never know," Uncle says as he hands her a cup.

She blows on it before sipping. It tastes slightly woody and bitter but she loves it. "I usually like it with sugar," she utters without thinking.

"Really?"

She thinks about it. She's had this before and often. "Yes, I do." He hands her the bowl and she takes a spoon full of rock sugar for her cup. Always a spoon full, nothing more.

She remembers her mother making it for her. She very nearly drops the cup. "We drank it every summer at the beach house," she remembers softly. "And every time I had a sore throat Ur-Mo-Mother would make it for me."

"I'll bring it again tomorrow."

She almost protests but she wants it. She likes it. It's supposed to cool a person down and usually the preferred summer tea for firebenders. She needs it.

He teaches her how to make it the next day. He explains that the water added must be boiling and that she should always have a flower in her cup. He adds that she can make more than one pot from each portion: the tea will lose its bright yellow color with each pot.

When he's finished she thinks he'll go. "Make me a pot," he commands.

She hesitates. It's a test, obviously, but she's not sure of what. "Why?"

"We've finished the one I made."

She nods. It might be a test but she can't figure it out right now. She'll think about it after he leaves. She slowly gets up and picks up the pot to fill with water.

"The siege was only supposed to last a month at most," he begins. This is it; he's going to tell her the story.

"Why didn't it?" She asks even though she knows the answer. She's taking her time with the water, heating it slowly.

"I miscalculated." She flinches at the words. "You've met earthbenders and know how stubborn they can be." She nods. "I thought the wall would fall as quickly as every other strong hold. I assumed I was invincible."

She wants him to stop. She knows that feeling and knows what that power can do to a person. "But the wall stood," he continues and she can feel his eyes on her back. "We continued our assault. We had to weather snow, something a lot of my men had never seen. Lu Ten," she hears the hitch in his voice, "lead games among the men."

She turns around and walks back to the table. He's looking far away. She takes the flowers and adds them to the water. She heats it again as he stays lost. "Azulon backed me the entire time," he assures her. "But as the days wore on I wondered if it was worth it. I began to miss my family and home. I had my son but I grew tired. Breaking the wall, though, that gave me hope."

She pours him tea. She knows this all too well but hates to admit it. "Then came the unthinkable. My boy," his voice gets soft and she's sure he's fighting tears. She feels something that she can't name and it's beginning to hurt. "He didn't make it. I was broken and gave up."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asks softly. She feels like she's intruding. She should remember every word to use against him later but there's something in his voice that stops her. For the first time she's aware that it's her cousin he's talking about. She has vague memories of him and will never have more.

"Did you know Zuko never mentioned your mother? Not in all the time we were together."

She's surprised. "She loved him more. I can't believe he wouldn't look for her."

"What did you know about her? From what I understood she was banished but Ozai led Zuko to believe she was dead. Something about trying to raid him of his weakness. Zuko never mentioned a friend either."

Her brother never really had friends till the Avatar and his little crew but she doesn't say that. "You, however, spoke about both. That is why I told you about Ba Sing Se."

"I don't understand."

"You're more willing to talk about your world to me."

"But Zuko-"

"Zuko doesn't talk about things until he has to."

"He did with Mai."

Iroh chuckles. "That is very interesting. And who does he talk to now that she's gone?"

She thinks for a minute. "Me," she replies.

"Exactly. He rarely seeks me out for advice or even to talk to. You were forced to and yet you have been more forthcoming. We are alike in that way." She raises her eyebrow at him. "Whether Zuko knows it or not he is, in some ways, like Ozai. Neither wants to talk about their emotions save but to a few people. Neither seeks advice nor heads it unless they think they should. You, on the other hand, listen and give information when needed. You are much more like me in that way."

She flattered and confused. In many ways she wants to be like the man her uncle used to be. She is much more like him now. He can help her if she wants him to.

As she watches him drink her tea and smile at the taste she's finally ready to accept help. "How did you make it home?" She asks.

He smiles. "That is a story for another day but I'm glad you're curious."

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