Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or its characters

Pointers: 'italics' means that the character is thinking

Summary: He hadn't seen her since the day he was banished, but he could still remember the way the wind had drifted her away. Zuko x OC

The Promise Pt. 2 and Life After War

It had been two days since Jiyuu had stayed with Iroh. There had been a lot of war going on according to the rumors that swirled around the teahouse from customers. She had worked again like before, serving fruit pies and such. Even though she promised she wouldn't work for another teahouse because of her father's friend, Iroh was family and so that was more important. "Ah, its nice to see you again Lady Jiyuu!" Most familiar customers had said, greeting her with a warm welcome. Many of them were more than surprised that the Fire Lady was working here but once she explained how things came to be, the shop grew even more popular. All people wanted to be served by the Fire Lady and the former General of the West. She had expected some animosity because of who they were, but it was the polar opposite. Everyone wanted to hear how the poor airbender, also an earth kingdom girl, had become one of the most influential people in the world

"You are making more gold pieces than I have expected!" Iroh complimented as he had made another pot of tea, "I'm not even sure how we can keep up."

The brunette chuckled, "I am sorry, Uncle. Maybe I should've stayed upstairs with the twins."

"No, no. I'm glad you've decided to work here and besides, the twins are asleep now and Jin said she would take good care of them." Jiyuu nodded her head, "You gave her plenty of enough milk, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I think I might've given her too much. Isao has become a little greedy lately and drinking more than he usually does." The girl had her hand on her head, thinking about her son. "He's growing more and more every day. Li-hua is still picky about what time she drinks and how much."

Iroh smiled and imagined how his great grandnephew and great grandniece had developed eating habits personalities so quickly. "Don't worry then. Everything will be fine."

Jin had slowly came down the steps to the kitchen area, "There was something I wanted to ask you about the twins, Jiyuu." The young mother turned and looked at the babysitter. "Uhm, should I keep them in the same crib? They don't seem to like when I separate them but I wanted to know if its safe."

"Its safe." Jiyuu answered as the girl sighed of relief, "They are very attached to one another and there are times where they want to be together and times they want to be apart. Most likely, they rather sleep alongside each other. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you."

The other girl waved her arms, "No, no. Its fine." She smiled, "They are really adorable and I enjoy babysitting them."

"Thank you so much, Jin. I know we haven't had our good moments before so I'm glad you're able to look past things and do this for me." Jiyuu bowed in apology.

Jin had smiled, "No, its fine. I'm glad we can turn a new leaf and be friends."

Iroh smiled at both girls and then took note that the kettle was whistling, "Jiyuu, we have to get back to work before the customers get riled up."

Jiyuu nodded her head, "You should take a break, Jin. They'll be sleep for a while."

"May I take a cup of tea and go back upstairs, Iroh?" asked the Earth Kingdom girl in which Iroh handed her a cup. Jin said her thanks and scurried back upstairs while Jiyuu and Iroh had went back to work.

They had work from sunrise to moonrise. The bright, crescent moon was shining over them. Jiyuu had taken a seat, feeling tired. "I never thought we would work this hard."

He placed a cup of tea in front of her and then took a seat beside her with his own. "You brought in a lot of customers for me."

Jiyuu smiled and pulled the cup closer to her, "You deserve it."

They both had taken a sip and silence filled the air for a short while. Nothing felt better than a cup of tea after a day's hard work in their opinion. Jin had left a while ago and the twins were currently sleep, everything was fine except for the fact a certain Fire Lord hadn't shown up. Iroh knew that it was eating away at Jiyuu and it was bothering him as well. "Have you heard anything about Zuko?" He asked as she looked at him and then back at her teacup.

"Nope." She quickly answered, taking another sip. He knew that she was trying to act like she didn't care but he could tell she was worried about him.

"Hello, is anyone here?"

"Aang?" Jiyuu quickly recognized the voice and both she and Iroh looked at each other before standing up and walking towards the front door entrance.

They had seen Aang struggling to hold up a tiresome Fire Lord. Jiyuu had stayed sill upon sight of him, but Iroh had gently pushed her forward. "Go on." He said with a smile.

She looked at him and then ran over to Zuko, her hands on his face as she tried to lift his head up. "Zuko, are you alright?"

"Jiyuu…" He mumbled as he weakly placed her arms around her and she stumbled back, trying to help support him. "You're here…"

"Yes, I'm here." She replied as she held him, "He's really tired. Iroh, can you help me put him to bed? He needs a long rest."

"He hasn't been asleep for days." Aang noted as Jiyuu nodded her head.

"He would sleep in spurts and then wake up, trying to act like he has everything in control." She explained to Aang as Iroh then lifted his nephew over his shoulder which both surprised Jiyuu and Aang.

"I can take care of him." Iroh smiled sweetly and then turned around leaving the awe-faced airbenders.

Both of them looked at each other, "Wow." They said in a unision.

"But, anyway," Aang said as he then pulled Jiyuu into a friendly hug. "Its been so long since I've seen you."

"I missed you too, Aang." The girl said as she returned the hug.

Once they pulled apart Aang had looked at her with his usual, large smile. "Where are the twins? Are they back in the Fire Nation?"

"No they are upstairs in a little nursery, Iroh made for them. They should be waking up soon to be fed, you want to see them?" She asked as he excitedly nodded his head and she soon led the way, shutting and locking the front entrance door. Aang followed behind as Jiyuu walked up the stairs and went down the hall and opened the third door to their left. Aang sped into the room and towards the crib, only one of them happened to be awake and it was Li-hua.

"Wow, they are so small." Aang took note as he waved at Li-hua, "Hi! How are you?" He asked as the baby made gurgling noises. "Is she an airbender or a firebender?"

Jiyuu smiled at the question, "Isao is the firebender and Li-hua is an airbender."

Aang smiled, "So she's going to be my student when she gets a little older? I can't wait." He said as Jiyuu nodded her head.

"I'm sure she's excited too, look how she's smiling." She noted as Aang looked down to see the baby grabbing his finger, kicking her small feet around. "You should probably get some sleep too, Aang. I wouldn't want you to stay up like this after all you've been through."

The Avatar looked at her and then down at Li-hua before slowly sliding his finger out of the girl's grasp, "You're right."

"I'll take you to the spare bedroom."

Four days later…

Zuko had shifted around in his bed once more, he opened his eyes and he had seen Jiyuu's sleeping face. At first it surprised him but then he remembered that Aang took him to his Uncle teashop. The sight of her had brought a smile on his face and her had pulled her closer to him, wanting hug her as tightly as her could. "Zuko…" he heard her mumble and she moved around her right hand on his shoulder. She slowly moved back and her eyes widened, "You're awake."

"How long have I been asleep?" He asked as he placed his hand on her cheek, his thumb caressing it in an gentle fashion.

"For four days." She answered, wanting to find a reason to be mad at him but finding none.

"Four days? It feels like a week." He said as he then sat up, "Are the twins here?"

Jiyuu gave him a deadpanned expression, "You think I would leave my babies back in the Fire Nation? Of course they are here, they are one door down from us. You should pay them a visit, they missed you." And with that said, she had laid back down and found herself falling back to sleep.

Zuko then got out of his bed and walked out of the room and towards the door next to them. He walked in to see Iroh playing with Li-hua. Iroh then turned to him and smiled as Zuko walked over towards the crib, his eyes looking over Isao. His son had the stuffed dragon's foot in his mouth as usual, covering in drool as well. Picking him up, Zuko cradled the boy in his arms. "I wish she could've seen them." He finally spoke as Iroh soon stopped play and then looked at his nephew.

"Are you going to search for her?" Iroh had asked as his nephew allowed his son to grab hold of his finger.

"Yes, I plan to. I plan to search for her but there's someone I have to ask to help me." He looked at his Uncle with a serious expression.

Iroh nodded his head understandingly, "If you need me to take care of things at home, I don't mind."

13 years later…

"Isao, why are you being so lazy?!" Li-hua shouted at her brother who was lying on a couch with a book over his face. Li-hua, now thirteen years-old, was an exceptional airbender. Her chestnut colored hair had ended at her upper back, bangs covering her forehead, and two locks of it cut chin-length. She wore a Red Indian choli top that revealed her midriff and scarlet knee-length baggy pants covered with a crimson split skirt. She was a striking image of her mother and also had the same wit and impatience of her parent as well. "Isao! Get up already!"

The boy let out a long, aggravated sigh as he placed the book away from his face. His hair was in its usual topknot and he wore the traditional, militant clothes of the Fire Nation Royal family. The reason why his sister dressed different was because it was easier for her to practice her airbending abilities in those clothes and because she had admired Ty Lee acrobatics or was her current Sifu other than Aang. The hazel eyes of her brother had landed on her and she stood there, confident as usual.

"Why don't you go train or something? Can I get some sleep?" He asked as his sister rolled her eyes.

"That's all you ever want to do. If dad finds out you've been slacking off, you're going to get in so much trouble." And with that said, she quickly spun on her heels and left her brother behind.

As she was making her usual stroll, she had stopped and looked to see her mother was in her room. Li-hua greatly looked up to her mother; always copying after everything she had seen her mother say or do. The twenty-eight year old woman was brushing her hair, her eyes looking in the mirror as she did so. "Li-hua, what's wrong?" She asked without looking at her daughter, but knowing the teenage girl was at the doorway.

"Isao won't stop being lazy." Her daughter huffed and folded her arms, now walking over towards her mother.

She had seen her mother smile at her words, "Your brother isn't lazy. He just doesn't like to do something he finds unnecessary. When time calls for it, he'll get into action." Her mother explained as Li-hua still acted unconvinced.

"Mom, when is Aang coming over? We haven't trained in well over two weeks." She asked as Jiyuu placed the brush down and then took the red ribbon and began to place her hair in its usual ponytail.

"His son was just born, Li-hua. You have to be patient. He wants to spend time with his family and then he'll come and train you, alright? Now why don't you go see your grandmother while I get Isao a little motivated?" With a nod of her head, the young girl had then ran out of the room and went down the hall and that's when she had seen her grandmother.

"Grandmom!" Li-hua called out to her as Ursa turned and looked at her granddaughter. Ursa was older now, her hair a dark-shade of grey and some lines of age on her face. Still, despite her older appearance everyone still considered her beautiful.

The woman smiled warmly at her grandchild, "Hello Li-hua, I see you are up and at it. What are your plans for today?"

"Well, I'm not really sure but Isao is supposed to be training with dad today but he's being a lazy badgermole. And I haven't had any training because little Bumi was just born a couple of weeks ago." Ursa could hear the distress in her granddaughter's voice. It appeared that the young girl was anxious to do something but had nothing to do.

The Fire Lord soon came walking down the hall, his face stern. Zuko was a good 6'2', his hair in its usual topknot but now longer and touching the middle of his back. He did resemble Ozai, but Ursa's features were much more prominent. Even though Li-hua was happy to see her father, she knew he was not happy at the moment. "Dad!" Li-hua then ran over to him, grabbing his arm. "Please don't be too mean to Isao." Even though she knew her twin had it coming, she didn't want him to get in too much trouble.

Her father stopped and turned to look at her, her face softening up somehow. Isao was someone Zuko had to be strict and rough with him, he wouldn't allow his father to play nice. He liked to push his father's buttons just to see what would set him off. In some ways, he resembled his aunt Azula in that aspect. "Where is he anyway?" He asked as his daughter then pointed down the hall, "In the den."

"Zuko, he just needs some time. You can't force him to do something he doesn't want to do." His mother tried to reason with him.

"But he's an older brother. You know how impressionable Zhen is? She won't even train because she wants to train with Isao." He explained. Zhen was the third child of Zuko and Jiyuu, she was six years old and born when the twins had turned seven.

Ursa laughed at the image of the short and small six-year-old behaving lazily at practice. She could imagine how her son's temper flared so quickly at the child's rebellion and lack of seriousness. "Where is Zhen anyway?" She asked as the little girl and her older brother were holding hands and walking down the hall.

"Daddy, I found Isao! He was playing hide and seek with you." Zhen grinned as Isao had a bored expression on his face. Zuko folded his arms and his only son knew that his father was entirely angry by him not showing up for training as he said he would.

"Hide and seek, huh?" He repeated in a cold fashion. Isao, even though acted as if he wasn't, was afraid of his father. He just had a better time not showing it, but he definitely felt fear.

The boy looked away, "It's not like I asked to be a firebender anyway. If I don't want to train then that's up to me." Isao explained, "Nothing good comes out of playing with fire."

"That's not true, Isao." Everyone turned around to see Jiyuu walking towards them, her hands in her sleeves as she made her way to her son. She placed a hand on his shoulder when she was beside him. "Fire is life, fire is harmony, and it is what balances you. You are a firebender through and through, you should embrace who you are and not reject it. If you do then you can never be yourself, you should never abandon or forget who you are and where you come from" His mother said, her hand on his cheek.

Zuko watched as his son softened up, always listening to his mother than he had listened to his own father. "All right." Isao said in which left Zuko with his mouth agape. Even if he had told his own son that same line, he still wouldn't have believed him but because his mother had said it, it made everything different.

Jiyuu watched her husband's face shift from aggravation to shock. She walked over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "Go ahead, Zuko. You have to reason with him; the angrier you are, the less he'll be willing." She whispered as Isao seemed to be preoccupied with an excited Zhen and his sister, who was envious of his training time.

The Fire Lord looked at his wife as she had a smile on her face. It was amazing to believe the transition is wife had made. She grew out of her short-temepredness, more patient and gentle than before but you could guarantee that she was still a bit arrogant and much wanted her way still. "I hate how you always seem to be right." He teased her as she raised a brow.

"That's because I'm always right." Jiyuu said haughtily, her nose now stuck in the air as she teased her husband. "Ursa, let's go have some tea. Li-hua, are you coming with us?" The woman said to her eldest daughter, who felt out of place.

That always worried Jiyuu since Li-hua was the only airbender within the family. She had hoped the Zhen would've been an earthbender like her grandfather, but she came out to be a firebender like Isao. Even though Li-hua was proud to be an airbender, she always seemed like she had wished she was a firebender at certain times. The young girl then looked up at her mother and grandmother, "Sure." She said as she walked along with them, "Does that mean that I'm a woman now since I can have tea with you two?"

"Not yet," Ursa smiled at her granddaughter, "it means that you are well on your way."

Zuko had watched as the trio soon left, leaving him with Isao and Zhen who were looking at him anxiously. "Now can we get to training?"

Zhen jumped up and down, "Yay! We get to train together!" She threw her hands in the air, obviously excited over the idea.

Isao looked at Zhen, wondering how she was excited every day and all day. "Great. Am I enthusiastic enough?" He pointed to his blank face as Zuko gave his son a deadpanned expression. Sometimes it made him wonder what had brought about such a lazy and distant nature.

Zhen looked up at her older brother, imitating him. Even though she fought the smile on her face, she made her mouth a thin hard line and tried to pretend she was bored. "Yeah, me too." She then spoke as she watched her father pinched the bridge of his nose.

His patience was running really thin but at least he had their attention. "All right, let's get going to the training arena. The key to firebending is to make sure that you are concise and focused." He explained as they were walking down the hall.

Zhen was soaking in her father's words as Isao was too busy looking around, his attention elsewhere. "So dad, you trained the Avatar, right?"

"Yes, I did. I was his Firebending teacher." Zuko explained, "What does that have to do with me training you?"

Isao looked away from the paintings on the wall and then at his father, "Its just that I'm confused. Why wouldn't you let the Avatar train us or someone else? Your father didn't train you."

It was true, Ozai did not train Zuko or Azula in firebending. "Because I feel it would better for us to bond that way."

Isao's eyes had widened a bit, "Bond?"

"Yeah," He turned to look over his shoulder, giving him a small smile. "My father and I were close when I was young, but he rarely had time for me. There are going to be days where I won't have time with you but I don't want you to always feel like I never made an effort. So, if I train you both I get to spend as much time with you and you'll grow to be better than me."

"Better than you? Nobody can be a better firebender than you, daddy!" Zhen then ran over and grabbed her father's hand, "You're the best!"

Zuko's eyes softened at his daughter as she gave him a big smile. "I'm not undefeatable. There was a time where I thought I would never surpass your aunt."

"Aunt Azula?" Zhen repeated incredulously, "Aunt Azula is strong, she bends blue fire! How come you don't bend blue fire, daddy?"

Isao had continued to look at his father, waiting for an answer. "That's because people who bend blue fire have better control over their emotions. When they bend, they feel nothing and they can control the intensity of their fire with deep concentration. She's a prodigy and so she doesn't have to concentrate, it comes naturally."

"Wow." Zhen gasped, "Can Aunt Azula teach me?"

"I don't think that's wise." Isao finally spoke again which made his little sister turn to look at him.

"She's different now, Isao. You don't have to be so untrusting." His father spoke, still looking ahead. "We have no reason to fear her."

Zhen appeared confused as her brother narrowed her eyes. "Isao, you don't like Aunt Azula?"

"That's not what I said, Zhen." Her brother said as they had reached the training area, all of them standing in the middle of it.

"All right, we're going to practice on your hot squats first." Zuko instructed, not wanting to keep the conversation where it was before. He watched them get ready before they began simultaneously moving. "One hot squat." Zuko counted, "We're going to do ten today, twenty tomorrow, and thirty the day after."

Isao grunted. What the hell did he allow himself to get into?

Ursa had left them a few minutes earlier to visit Ozai. The woman still saw her husband and spoke with him, even offering him some tea as they would have conversations sometime short or long. Jiyuu had always wondered if the same had happened to her and Zuko. She knew that even though he had done many wrongs, she would still love him too. "Mom." Li-hua said looked up at her mother who was taking a sip of tea.

Her thoughts on the mattered had ended as her daughter called her and she had placed the teacup back on the teaplate. "What's on your mind, Li-hua?" She asked as she had watched her daughter placed her teacup and plate down on the table and then placed her hands on her lap.

"I was wondering… How did you and dad overcome the hatred that people felt about your relationship before? You know, how you were an airbender and he was a firebender?" The question had surprised her undoubtly, but it also made her smile.

"It was hard for a while. Even though we had many people who supported us, we had also many people against us. For instance, older men and women nobleman and council members hate me. They can't stand the fact that their Fire Lady is an airbender. I had thought people would just accept it just like your father, grandmother, uncle, and great cousin had." Jiyuu explained as she looked down at her tea, swirling the hot drink around as she stared back at her own reflection.

The young teen looked at her mother and then tilted her head, "So what did you do?"

"I did nothing. I have no reason to try to suck up to people who can't accept me. Your father loved me for me, me being an airbender didn't bother him and if he did then that wouldn't matter. I love myself, I love who I am, and I love my airbending heritage. You have to accept yourself just the way you are and when you do, others will too and there will be some people who don't."

Silence had filled the air for several minutes, Li-hua nodded her head and soaking in her mother's words. "I see."

"Is there someone you like that's not from the Fire Nation or an airbender?" Jiyuu finally asked as her daughter's eyes widened and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Come on, you can tell me."

"Well, you see I like someone but he's a non-bender." Li-hua began to explain, fiddling with her fingers.

There was only one person she knew her daughter was talking about. "Is it Sheng?"

The girl's eyes widened as her face then went completly red. "That arrogant little kid? I think not!"

"Just because you're a year older than him, doesn't mean he's less of a kid then you are." Jiyuu wanted to smile as he heard a series of huffs escaping her daughter.

"I don't like Sheng!" Li-hua chugged down the rest of her tea, trying to distract herself. "He's an idiot."

"Then who is this boy you speak of, hm? Sheng is the only boy non-bender I've seen you talked to last time we went to Kyoshi Island." Her mother went on which made her daughter grow more and more nervous.

The younger airbender looked at Jiyuu, who remained calm and smiling. "Fine, I do like Sheng."

"I know." Her mother replied, "And you're worried because he's a non-bender and you are the Fire Nation princess who is also an airbender."

The girl nodded her head, "Still, I haven't even told him how I felt anyway. So it doesn't matter, he might like some other girl on Kyoshi Island."

This brought a frown to Jiyuu's face as she wondered the same thing. It was possible that this could happen, that Li-hua wouldn't be able to tell Sheng how she felt and he would fall for a girl closer to home. "You know, I fell in love with someone else before I fell in love with your dad."

"Who?" Her daughter asked, surprised.

"He was your great Uncle Iroh's son, Lu Ten. I was young, way younger than you, when I had fallen for him. I guess you can't say it wasn't love at first, I was infatuated with him. You see, I love the idea with being with him even though I was too young and didn't know much about him. He was strong, kind, and smart but how Lu Ten feelings were, I knew nothing of. He was in love with another girl but she had an arranged marriage. I never even began to think how he even must've felt because I was worried about myself. When you love someone, you should understand their feelings and put them into consideration."

Li-hua nodded her head, "But what happened to him?"

"He died in the war." Jiyuu put it simply, "And I was really sad. He gave me that flower pin that I use to wear in my hair and that red ribbon was apart of the head band that you keep in your hair." There was one lock of hair that Li-hua wrapped the red ribbon around. She thought it was just a simple ribbon that her mother had given to her. "I use to wear it every single day."

"But how come you gave me the ribbon? Doesn't it mean a lot to you?" Li-hua asked.

"Of course, it does. You are apart of me and there's a part of me that will always love and remember Lu Ten, I want that to live forever. And when I pass on, I want you to take my engagement ring. So that your father's love lives on from me to you and I want you to keep passing it down." Jiyuu explained with a smile.

"You're starting a tradition…" Her daughter said as she looked at the ribbon, "but what about the flower and your wedding ring."

"I would like for them to burn with me. There will be something Zhen gets as well, so do not worry about your little sister."

Both of them smile at one another, the air around them calm. Li-hua wondered if she would ever turn out as happy as her mother.

Epilogue / Li-hua P.O.V

My mother had done exactly what she had said she would. When she had died, she had her body cremated with the flower in her hair and her wedding ring on her finger. She had said that she had never taken it off because once her father placed it on, he had sealed his love for her forever in it. My mother lived to be eighty-years-old until she had grown incurably ill and passed away in her sleep. As for my father, he had long ago quit being Fire Lord and decided that he wanted to be a world ambassador and he had gave his throne to Zhen.

My brother and I didn't want to become Fire Lord or Fire Lady, whereas my younger sister was more than eager to make sure there was peace within our Nation and became the female Fire Lord. My brother serves to be an Admiral in the United Forces armed forces, who Zhen's son is the first division general of the naval force.

Where am I? Well, I decided that I wanted to live with Sheng in Republic City. I wanted to help build Air Temple Island along with Aang's youngest son, Tenzin. I didn't plan to live there but I wanted to make sure that the nomads and his growing family was safe and secure.

Things have changed, dramatically, where as there now cars and such roaming about and even there are bending tournaments. The world around us has change and more and more people have married outside their cultures like my mother and father as well as Aang and Katara. The world was growing and it was growing fast, and there are days where I missed my mother and had a hard time visiting my father.

Still, I continue to live on with the tradition with my daughters with the red ribbon and the engagement ring. Just so that a part of her, Lu Ten, and my father lived on through her grandchildren.

Jiyuu: The Japanese name meaning "Freedom"

Isao: The Japanese name meaning "Honor; merit"

Li-hua: The Chinese name meaning "Pearl Blossom"

Zhen: The Chinese name meaning "Precious"

Sheng: The Chinese name meaning "Triumph; victory"

And this is the end.

Sorry if it seems short and bit rushed, but I wasn't sure how to end the story.

Well, there you guys go.