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."

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[uncle_iroh]

He was impressed. And wanted to meet this girl. He sipped his tea as he listened, then set it down and refilled his cup. "It is not dancing, but yes. Look at all the art forms in the Fire Nation, then see how they are expressed in other cultures. Why do you think there are songs that I taught you, or tried to teach you, that were not the few songs allowed and taught in school, prince Zuko?" he said gently, knowing that this could be painful. In many ways Zuko's childhood had been worse than is, but in a great maybe ways... they had been nearly the same. It had been a hard lesson for him to learn. At least he could be here for Zuko.

[rediscovering]

"I never understood it, Uncle, until coming to this world... ...I taught Aurora songs from our world, too, actually. We, uh—" He glances aside, nervously, realizing this is an open admission that he was singing with a stranger — a pretty girl. Not that he's mentioned she's so pretty yet, but it's implied. "We met in a meditation tent. A magic tent that played sounds that relaxed whoever was in it. There was this exercise going on about learning how to synchronize magic with people, a trust exercise. Uncle, when she sang— a forest appeared...! An enchanted forest appeared all around us, an illusion, glowing, and there was the sound of a zheng playing that Fire Nation lullaby about the little soldier boy, and it was like— like magic! I mean, it was magic, but it was like magic, too, you know?"

He'd never seen anything like it in his life, he was stunned from that moment on, amazed at this world, all its possibilities, amazed at his own blindness...

"We also sang Four Seasons. And— I taught Gokudera that song, too, much later on. Not so long ago. He played it for me on the piano, actually — he just copied it when I sang it... Uncle, it was amazing, I wish you could have seen him— I've never heard sounds like that!" Somehow the mafioso has found his way into this conversation, too, as he has many others, with the same kind of energy as Zuko speaks with when speaking about Aurora, little change in his animation and admiration. "And when Aurora sang, too, and her voice, wow— she sang a song about a dream... The way she danced, the way he played— I don't know how to describe it. There's something deeper moving them than like anything I've ever seen back home. It's not like singing 'the Girls In Ba Sing Se,' Uncle. It was different. Is it really just— passion, you called it? That's it?"

That seemed too simple. Zuko felt he knows what passion feels like. But he's far more limited than he even knows yet. He knows what intensity feels like; he knows what drive feels like; passion is something else he's not been allowed to fully explore, whether by his father, his culture, or his own self.

[uncle_iroh]

He listened. He managed to keep most of his own emotions off his face for most of that, other than interested politeness. But it was harder, so much harder at the mention of the lullaby. He did it, but not with ease.

But for all he didn't show the deep emotions, they did colour how he internalized the rest of what he listened to. How he thought about it. When Zuko asked his questions he nodded. "There is no just about passion, Zuko," he said. Where his face was its usual polite and loving self his voice... ah his voice. It was slightly thickened by emotion. "There is no just about any emotion, any drive. It is what we each make of it, and it can be as small and personal as your own heart - itself no small thing - or it can be as bright and fiery as the sun at noon in summer. Passion is individual. It is the flame or flames within us. But with all flames we must nurture it. And we were trained to nurture only the flames of war. We had to learn elsewhere that there were other flames as well."

[rediscovering]

Zuko nods eagerly as Iroh likens artistic passion to nurturing a flame. It must be given fuel, carefully looked after, kept nearby to feel its warmth... Zuko understood and the implications of the well-chosen metaphor made him like both his friends even more.

"I understand. Music...— it makes people feel closer together. That's why you always pushed so hard for the music nights on the ship, isn't it? It wasn't just for a lark with the crew."

He's like a year and a half late on the uptake, but better late than never...

[uncle_iroh]

"You finally understand, yes. And that is part of why I always wanted you to join us. Experiences shared, especially those tied to things other than war, can form bonds that will last." He stood and walked over, putting a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Some leaders lead people through fear and intimidation. Their people will follow until there is something they fear more. Some through distant respect. Their people follow, but it is a distant sort of thing. But some leaders step off their thrones, Zuko. Some leaders show their people that they are a leader when one is needed, and a friend and person the rest of the time. Those leaders are followed out of more than respect, and something greater than fear." He dropped his hand, and acknowledged the problem with that.

"Though the more people one leads, the harder that becomes. Because there will always be people who see proof of humanity as weakness, and there will never be enough hours in the day to connect with everyone. And for people with a temper, there is always the chance of that attempt blowing up in your face."

But then he offered a warm smile. "But as with all things, Zuko, the secret is balance. You want your foes to fear you, your people to respect you, yes. But you also need people who genuinely see and like you. I do not know," his voice got more grave and serious now, "if I would throw myself in harm's way to save my brother." He did not ever want to have to test that. "I would, however, die to protect you, my boy. And that has nothing at all to do with being a leader."

sorry this is so late!!

[rediscovering]

"Uncle, please—" Zuko pleads, his face awash with emotion as Iroh comes to such a tender point. It's hard for him to hear such schmaltzy sentiments sometimes, as much as they resonate and hit their mark — he just never knows how to respond. Like when he was about to embark alone in the North Pole, and Iroh told him he was like a son to him since Lu-Ten's passing. He knows the man doesn't say these things without due gravity, but he says them so much more easily than Zuko does, it seems, and Zuko wishes he had the words to accept such love with as much grace as it's shown with. Instead... Iroh has just had to learn over the years how to interpret nuance in Zuko's facial expressions. And truly there is so much affection and resonance and complexity in his face right now, too, processing all of this, but that comment at the end about his father and himself tugs at his heartstrings and sideswipes him.

"...B-But— A-Anyway. I see what you mean... about balance. Everything always comes back to achieving balance in life, it seems..."

Good place to wrap?Re: sorry this is so late!!

[uncle_iroh]

And he let the emotional moment go, feeling that was what Zuko would prefer. The words had been said, no more needed to be added to adorn them.

"Everything always does, prince Zuko."