A/N: I would like to thank Lambda237 for the idea of an Iroh centred drabble series. The series' title is Lambda's as well. Thank you! The prompt for number one here is 'element'. Hope it doesn't disappoint. ;-)

Of Tea and Dragons

Fire isn't Everything

From the cradle it seemed, the power and glory of fire was preached to Iroh. He loved his element. He loved to bend and he was very proficient. His masters, those men who imparted their knowledge to him and worked with young Iroh day after day, were pleased with his progress. His father, Fire Lord Azulon, was pleased with the reports that he received. But, he rarely watched his son and only child, preferring instead to stay behind his wall of flames and deal with the war. That never ending war was all anyone ever talked about. Iroh was ten years old and longed to hear about something else. There had to be more to the world than fire and fighting.

One day, he asked his mother, Ilah, a young woman of thirty, if she knew anything about the other elements. Iroh's question was innocent and unpremeditated, springing simply from his curiosity about the world along with everything and everyone who was a part of it.

"The other elements are inferior." Her words were spoken mechanically, a rote reply.

Iroh pushed. He knew that he shouldn't. He knew that only trouble lay ahead if he persisted. But he couldn't seem to help himself. His warm, kind eyes, the same colour as his mother's, stared up at the short, rather plain woman. "But there are four of them, right? How can one be better than the other three?"

"Fire is the superior element. Do not bring this subject up again unless you wish an unpleasant audience with your father. He would not be pleased." She grabbed hold of the boy's arm and pulled him forward roughly. It hurt but Iroh said nothing. Complaining would only make his mother angrier. "Your tutor is waiting for you. Pay attention to your lessons. They may actually come in handy one day in the future."

"Yes, mother," he agreed resignedly.

He never mentioned the other elements at all unless it was to say, "I'd like a glass of water," or "The air is cool today," or "The earth is hard." But that didn't mean he forgot about them.

Years later, when he had his own son, Lu Ten, his only child with a sweet woman named Kotomi, Iroh made sure to tell him of all the elements, their strengths and their weaknesses. Despite being a loyal Fire Nation citizen and a member of its military, he considered himself a part of the wider world first, a world where everyone and everything had their place and their significance. This 'superiority of fire' concept irked him, gnawed at his conscience like a particularly persistent beaver fox would a tree.

Years later still, after both his wife and his son were gone, leaving him so alone and bereft, he left the world of fighting behind to pursue something nobler, something gentler. He read and he asked questions and he listened. He traveled and absorbed cultures and lived among the people of the world.

Fire was still his element and he would always love it, love the feel of it inside him, the feel of it emerging from his hands. But Iroh knew now that there was so much more to the world than that. It was time he brought that message to someone else.