"Haha, well look who's come to the ol' dive."

Groaning as he looked up, General Iroh could only exhale as he saw his old mentor stride in wearing his skintight red glider suit. A different shade than the officer's uniform that the general was wearing, the buttons rather loose at the moment, but red all the same.

"Bumi. I thought Tenzin sent you to the Southern Air Temple?"

The former URN commander laughed as he sat down on the stool next to the general, who was well into his third bowl at this point. "Just to make sure the shipment of supplies got to the city. Ship's on the way, so I figured I'd just glide on by the officer watering hole to see the specimens."

Iroh answered with a non-committal grunt at the tired joke, turning back to his drink.

They were in a bar on Red Sand Island, one which had come to be one of the more popular ones for the United Forces' officers when they wanted to blow off some steam. Rankers like naval crew or line infantry weren't banned from the bar as some sanctioned locales were in the Fire Nation (maintaining stations, as Admiral Choi would say), but the owner had gone through the lengths to establish a second bar upstairs for the officers to get a little more privacy.

"And yet you're up here, not throwing rocks with the Sixth Earthbenders."

"Ahhhhh, it's not fun to beat them when I'm an airbender," he stopped a moment as he looked up. "I'll take a Blue Spirit's Surprise, barkeep!"

Now he's just doing it on purpose, Iroh thought as he glared at the new airbender, sporting a grin all too familiar to him.

"What?" Bumi insisted. "It's not even alcoholic. I don't drunk fly!"

"Says the commander with the most crashed tanks to his name."

"All in combat, and did more damage than the rest of the brigade put together!" he insisted as he turned his nose up. "Besides, I told you about how I took out an entire Northern-"

A grunt cut that off, and Bumi took the hint.

"Anyways, I know you usually don't come up here just for the drinks," the airbender continued as his own arrived and he took a sip of the blue (food-colored) drink in a large cup. "Jinora told me what happened."

Of course, he was here about that. "And Raiko's order?"

"Yeah… look, you weren't the one that made the call. From the sounds of it, you were as reasonable as you could be until you got a direct order otherwise."

"I still passed it on. I bet that stupid campaign manager of his had the spin all ready to go if people hated it – 'Fire Lord's son hoses down Air Nomads! President Raiko demands out-of-control officer's resignation!'," he raised his voice, doing is (rather terrible) impression of Shiro Shinobi's famous radio reporting before exhaling sharp enough he nearly heated up his drink.

"I mean, it's not like my ancestors wiped theirs out. Wiped yours out," he added before he could stop himself, instantly grimacing as he considered what he had just said. He tried to cover it by finishing the bowl.

Bumi went on as he drank. "Look, that's actually a time where 'just following orders' actually applies. I mean, he just told you to use have the waterbenders hose them, not to start bombi-"

Iroh slammed the now-empty bowl back down hard enough that Bumi stopped before he finished.

"Right, wrong words," the older ex-commander admitted, tugging on his collar a moment before taking another drink from his own before continuing. "Look, I've known you for over a decade. If push came to shove, you'd make the right choice. Limited force exists for a reason."

"This wasn't some bar brawl between the rankers, Bumi. It was a peaceful protest."

"Meelo was there."

Iroh silently conceded the point as he gestured for the barkeep to refill the bowl. A part of him bleakly wondered just how high the tab was going to be after this was all said and done, but another part of him was happy for the drink.

"Anyways," Bumi continued, "let's be real here, putting a garrison on the portal is a good idea. I mean, we've got a garrison at the South Pole."

"Who kept their distance, not barricading the portal itself."

"True, but it's still a good idea. The last thing we need is another UnaVaatu popping out in the middle of the city."

"How you can pronounce that stupid name the papers came up with a straight-" Iroh stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "Okay, fine. A garrison near the portal isn't a bad idea. But I still had my waterbenders hose a peaceful protest."

"Even if they were all benders who just declared war for the first time in their history?"

"Even then-" Iroh was about to raise the bowl to drink when he stopped as his brain finally connected the words together. "What did you just say?"

"Tenzin and I helped the Avatar kidnap a sovereign's fiancé. That's an act of war."

"But Kuvira…"

"Was still a sovereign, even if one whose legitimacy was not recognized."

"Was she, though?"

Bumi shrugged. "Bah, history's getting written by the winners anyways. Raiko wasn't going to win that standoff."

"Even then, the United Forces are under his command."

"Yes, well," Bumi drank. "We're sailors. The first thing every good captain learns is when to leave the ship…"

"… and when to go down fighting with it."

The bar fell silent as the two tended to their drinks, leaving the general to his thoughts. He was probably overthinking the whole thing anyways. It was a crisis, if of far less magnitude than what had come before, and it was critical to keep order. The election was in a few weeks anyways, Raiko would sort himself out if his descent from competency continued.

Then I have to get used to taking order's from a traitor's wife, he thought darkly with a grimace. That was going to take getting used to – okay, technically speaking Varrick was Southern Water Tribe, so he was not a traitor to the URN. He was still legally extradited to the URN as his crimes involved defrauding URN citizens and such. Or at least, was until he got a pardon thanks to Kuvira's maneuverings.

"Bumi, have you ever wondered why you never married?" he suddenly asked as the thought hit him.

"Couldn't find a woman crazy enough," he admitted with a shrug. "I mean, you've seen me try."

"Returning flirts from the waitress doesn't count."

"Spoilsport," the older man muttered with a mock pout. "What brought that on, anyways?"

"Can you imagine it? Zhu Li Moon, President of the United Republics?"

"I'm an airbender, kid. My disbelief is suspended by the moon."

"I thought the moon only affected waterbending?"

"And Nuktuk was played by an earthbender!" Bumi snapped with a grin, "Point is, Korra could be tumbling with Asami and I wouldn't even blink!"

Iroh raised an eyebrow, smirking as he realized ignorance at play. "Funny you should mention that…"

Bumi's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? What have I missed?"

"Oh, ask your sister. She's the knowledgeable one there. But the two are-"

"… ugh, no, no, no, nope. Mom and dad's special nights were enough, thank you very much! Bumi's impressionable mind needs no more of that!"

"You know, just because Korra is Aang's reincarnation doesn't make her your…"

"General, this is serious! I already lost my belly fat to three more years of peacekeeping that's going on four, let me have my old man moments! I earned 'em all, damn it!"

Iroh just smiled as Bumi went on. Leaning against the bar, Iroh picked up his drink and took another sip, it was just like old times. Even better, he still knew how to press his mentor's buttons without actually insulting him like some officers would.

"Besides, didn't you consider her?"

Iroh almost spit his drink out at the suddenly asked question ending the tirade. "For an engineer, not a date!"

"Nuh-uh-uh, you're the one who remarked she was easy on the eyes!"

"I was talking about her blueprints compared to Lau Gan-Lan's!"

"Suuuurreeee you were. I mean, it's not like she'd be able to keep up with your shocking antics."

Sighing as he shook his head, Iroh had to silently admit that Bumi also still push his just as well.

"Thanks for stopping by, Bumi. I've missed these hangouts."

"No problem," he said as he hoisted his cup up and drank again, "You still can't unwind properly."

"Someone has to take this seriously. Are you sure I can't talk you into signing back up?"

"Poaching Air Nation officers, general?"

"Apparently," he smirked, raising his bowl. "To a new generation?"

"I'd drink to that, but.." Bumi looked down at his just finished drink. "I'm empty."

Iroh shrugged. "That's what you get for drinking hot leaf juice with food coloring."

Bumi stared at him in mock scandal for several seconds, before both of them burst out laughing, and the evening went on as the surpassing student and retired mentor caught up for the first time in a long while.

XXXXXXX

Author's Note: This was just a short one-shot I wrote out after reading Turf Wars and musing on the optics of General Iroh being ordered to hose the New Air Nomads at Raiko's orders. Wasn't meant to be anything more than a short friendship bit since we never got to see the two interact in the show itself, especially not after Bumi became an airbender.