Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sadly.

Aang liked Iroh. He was probably the nicest and wisest Fire Nation person that Aang had ever met, and that included even Aang's friends, like Kuzon and Zuko. Iroh liked Aang, too, though sometimes in a rather impersonal, 'you are the Avatar and the one to bring balance to the world and I respect that' kind of way. But most of the time, Iroh was a good person to go to for advice and a good person to go to when you just wanted a really good cup of tea. So more often than one would think, Aang found himself heading up to Iroh's quarters to invite himself over for tea and a good talk.

It was not rare for Iroh to invite Aang over for social purposes either. However Iroh often invited Aang over to discuss serious issues as well, such as the reviving of the South Pole's waterbending traditions. It was hard to predict whether tea with Iroh was going to be a pleasant chat or a talk about saving the world.

In this case, Iroh was looking rather serious. He sipped his tea slowly, and then, looking straight at Aang, said, "I am getting old."

"Not as old as me," Aang said cheerfully. That was one good thing about being stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years; you were older than pretty much everyone. Except Bumi, and really, who was older than Bumi?

"I will admit that," Iroh said with a smile. "Still, I am getting old and I am not as strong as I used to be. It is even possible that in the near future I will die."

Aang shook his head. "No! You can't die. You're far too strong for that." Inwardly he hoped Iroh wasn't having some kind of premonition. He knew that Zuko still needed Iroh around, and he rather enjoyed having the old man around himself.

Iroh chuckled. "Don't worry. I don't think I will die just yet. But I am getting old. And all my colleagues from the Order of the White Lotus, they are getting old too. Of course, a few of their sons and daughters have joined the order, but all of us great masters of the White Lotus, we are running out of time. The White Lotus ages."

"Which is why," said Iroh. "I am coming to you. Certainly you are older than most of the world, but physically you are only thirteen and I am hoping you can find some young people to join the Order of the White Lotus, so that it can once again bloom with youth."

Aang pondered this for a moment. "So wait. You want me to get people to join the Order of the White Lotus? Am I supposed to walk around endorsing it or something?"

Iroh laughed and took a sip of tea. "Of course not. It is a secret society; if its existence was made known to the public there would be very little point anymore. I just wanted you to see if any of your friends or acquaintances, trustworthy people, would be interested in joining a secret society to save the world. You see, I have been entrusted with the task of recruiting members from the next generation, and being an old man it is difficult for me."

"Oh," Aang said. He pondered over this for another moment, a slightly longer moment. "Can I join? Because, you know, secret societies sound like the kind of thing I could really get into."

"No," said Iroh.

Aang moped. "Why not? I'm the Avatar. Isn't that trustworthy enough for you?"

Iroh smiled gently. "I know that you are trustworthy, but you don't understand. One of the main objectives of the Order of the White Lotus is to protect the Avatar."

"So?" said Aang.

"Well, if the Avatar is a member of the White Lotus himself, then it makes things difficult. For one thing, you would be assigned dangerous missions. And just in general, you can't be part of the secret society that exists to protect you, Aang. It does not work that way."

Aang slumped sadly in his chair. Being the Avatar was very nice most of the time. It got you into parties, peace meetings, feasts and just generally got you respect from others. On the other hand, there were times it really dragged, like when it prevented you from joining amazingly powerful secret societies.

"Well, I guess I'll tell the others," he said sulkily.

"Thank you," said Iroh. "You would make an old man very happy. If I have to go around to every youngster with a good reputation by myself, I'll never be done with it and my back will be very sore. It will be much easier if they come to me."

"Sure thing," Aang said.

/…./…./

The next day, Iroh received an unexpected visitor. Well, no. It wasn't the visitor that was unexpected. It was what he was there for.

"Uncle," said Zuko. "I feel like in the past few years since I became firelord, I've become more mature."

Iroh entirely agreed with this sentiment, and had voiced it himself on many occasions. Of course, running a country did have a tendency to mature people, but particularly in Zuko it had made a marvelous change. The once proud and easily angered boy was now a selfless and good hearted young man.

"I'm not the boy I was when I was kicked out of that White Lotus meeting when we were sneaking into Ba Sing Se. I know now that I'm not the most important person in the world and I don't know everything. I know you're far wiser than me and I should respect that."

Iroh smiled gently, "Zuko, I have seen your growth myself. I think you truly have found your place in this world. You have learned humility, and found peace in your soul."

"So," said Zuko. "Have I learned enough, have I changed enough to join the Order of the White Lotus?"

The old man stared at his nephew as he realized what the boy was here for.

"Erm, nephew," he coughed. "Look, I know that you've changed, but…"

"Not enough?" Zuko asked.

For a moment the room was silent, full of tension. Then, suddenly, Zuko sprang to his feet. "WHEN, uncle?" he yelled. "How good do I have to be to convince you I'm good? I've changed, uncle! I'm trying to be a good person! I've been trusted to rule a whole country with its best interests in mind and you can't even spare me a small position in your secret society because you don't trust me!"

"It's not that, Zuko!" Iroh said. "Calm down, nephew. Of course I trust you."

Zuko sank back into his seat. "Then why?"

"Well, it's like I told Aang," Iroh said. "Diplomatic reasons."

Zuko snorted. "Diplomatic reasons?"

"Members of the Order of the White Lotus have to act in the best interests of all the nations equally. As the ruler of the Fire Nation, you will naturally act with the Fire Nation's interests in mind first and foremost. Thus, as a ruler of a nation you cannot be a member of the White Lotus."

"What," said Zuko.

"Members of the White-"

"No, I heard you," Zuko said. "Just…is that why you never seemed resentful of the fact that Dad was firelord, not you?"

"That and all the paperwork," Iroh said calmly.

"And that's why you didn't want to volunteer to take on the job when we defeated him."

"Well, there were diplomatic reasons too…"

"Wait," Zuko said suddenly. "This makes no sense. What about King Bumi?"

Iroh shrugged. "Well, King Bumi is mad. No one likes to argue with him."

"You allow a madman in the White Lotus but not me?!" Zuko screamed. The temperature of the room was starting to rise, and Iroh had a feeling that any second, Zuko's hands were going to catch on fire.

"Calm down," he said hurriedly. "Look, I have some very nice tea here and no one else to drink it. How about you drink some to soothe your nerves?"

Zuko snarled, "Uncle, this one time you are not going to bribe me with tea."

"I hear Mai likes this flavor," Iroh said conversationally. "Although it's very rare. I bet she'd be surprised that you'd heard of it."

Zuko's shoulders slumped. Quietly he said, "Do you have a cup?"

Iroh nodded and poured some tea into said cup. As Zuko sipped, he said, "Now, isn't that heavenly?"

"Herbal," Zuko said with a wince.

"Mai's an herbal sort of girl, I suppose," Iroh said thoughtfully. "Certainly never give her orange tea, nephew. She would be horrified."

Zuko nodded as he slowly drank more tea.

"So," Iroh said. "I'm sorry that you can't join the Order. But at least you're still firelord, right?"

Zuko grumbled, "Maybe I'll just quit and give the job to Azula."

AN: So, who should apply to join Iroh's secret society next? Should it be Katara? Sokka? Toph? Mai? Ty Lee? Azula? Or maybe someone else? I could really use some suggestions and I would also like to know your opinion on what I've written so far, so please review!