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

[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."