Inbox for Sn: Pai Sho - Avalon

[uncle_iroh]

(Please note that Iroh still does not quite understand his phone so... this will be.... interesting.)

"My nephew tells me that I should ask you to leave a message. He says he will show me where to find that message once I have one. So please, leave a message."

Comments

[uncle_iroh]

"That is not what I said, Zuko. But what I say is up to me, I can no more change what you hear than you can change what I say." Wait, did that even make sense? No. No it did not. He was... not doing well, right now.

"You need to first figure out how you feel, and only then decide what you should do."

There, that was better. Right?

[rediscovering]

It made sense to Zuko, who's clearly already inclined toward forgiveness, but indeed, needs time to sort it out. So he just nods, and pats his uncle on the back affectionately. Hey, for Zuko, that's a lot. He can only give so many hugs.

"Thank you, Uncle. I'm sorry. But thank you."

He meets Iroh's gaze with an earnest expression, the sincerity at least clear in his voice. Zuko can take a ball and run with it. But he's quite conscious by this point that in all this sordidness... Iroh's hurting, too. And for once, he wants to be there for his uncle, too, even as Iroh's trying so hard to be there for him.

Okay, okay, maybe one more hug. He's a lot more physical than he once was after half a year on a touch-based planet, okay — and he loves his uncle!

[uncle_iroh]

He returned the offered hug, gripping tightly. "You did nothing to be sorry for in this, Zuko," he said, his voice muffled by his nephew's shoulder. "There is nothing in this that is your fault."

[rediscovering]

"I know, but— ...it still happened because of me. And— I hate to see you hurting, Uncle."

It wasn't their typical dynamic and Zuko wasn't sure how to act exactly because of that. But how much Iroh is still trying to be of comfort to Zuko in this, how clear it is that that's his priority even with such news, Zuko can't help but feel moved and extra cognizant of his role as the bearer of bad news here. He may not be at fault, but he can recognize his role here and still empathize all the same. And saying it out loud is a big show of progress for him, too, in his time spent away from home. He wants to be there for Iroh for once, let the tables turn in this, and so he deliberately doesn't release the hug until the old man does.

[uncle_iroh]

He shook his head. "It happened because of my father and because of your father, Zuko. If someone pushes a child who cannot swim into a lake, and someone else dies to save the child, it is not the child's fault. Fault, like responsibility, comes with power. With agency. Your father and my father had power, the fault lies with them. What you can do now, Zuko," he said, he voice rougher than usual as he tried to hold in his own hurt, to push it aside for later, "is learn from this. Do not be the man they chose to be. See the pain that caused, and do not cause that pain in others. It is in you, Zuko, to be a great man. In a way they never could be."