Iroh sat on a staircase above deck. He stared at the stars silently.
He was in his pajamas, since he was usually too tired to change once the exhaustion kicked in.
The light of the celestial bodies made his eyes sparkle.
Iroh felt like the stars were brighter out on the sea.
Tonight, the moon was brighter than everything else.
Iroh glanced over his shoulder when he heard footsteps coming down the metal stairs.
He stood up and gave a salute, "Commander."
Bumi raised a brow and shook his head, "We're off the clock."
"I know, but--"
"But nothing. It's the middle of the night and in about two minutes we'll be off this ship."
"What?" Iroh frowned.
Bumi shoved a robe into Iroh's chest, "Come on. We're going to visit someone."
Iroh nodded faintly, shrugging the robe on. He looked down, it was a traditional Earth Kingdom robe.
Iroh and Bumi walked off the ship and exited the docks all together, heading into a somewhat large village.
"Where are we going Dad?" Iroh asked, feeling more comfortable with calling his father as such since they weren't surrounded by soldiers.
"You'll see," Bumi said.
Iroh nodded faintly, following the man.
After about a ten minute walk out of the village, Bumi and Iroh came across a house, surrounded by figures Iroh couldn't identify.
"What is this place?" Iroh frowned.
Bumi walked to the house and knocked on the door.
"Do you even know who lives here?" Iroh scolded, knowing his father would and has walked to a strangers house in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.
The door jerked open a crack.
Iroh jumped at the sudden movement.
The door slammed shut and immediately opened wide.
"Bumi!" A woman squealed, bursting out of the building.
Bumi laughed, catching the woman in a tight hug.
Iroh blinked fast, completely thrown off by the interaction.
The woman pulled away, holding Bumi's elbows and Bumi held her arms.
"I thought you weren't going to be here for at least another day!" She said excitedly.
"I wanted to surprise you," Bumi chuckled.
Iroh frowned at his father.
"Get in here!" The woman said, pulling Bumi into the house.
Iroh stepped in front of the door and hesitated.
"You too, kid," Bumi waved his son in.
Iroh stepped in hesitantly.
Now that they were in better lighting, Iroh could see the woman had Auburn hair and vivid blue eyes.
He looked around the room, tilting his head when he noticed the building had a heavy mixture of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe decorations.
One thing that caught his attention was a golden Earth Kingdom styled headpiece hanging on the wall over a displayed Water Tribe styled machete.
"Is that who I think it is!" The woman asked excitedly, catching Iroh's attention.
Bumi stood against the counter with a prideful grin, "It sure is."
The woman walked up to stand in front of Iroh. She had her hands folded in front of her face, smiling wide.
Iroh could swear he saw tears in her eyes.
She was maybe a foot shorter than him.
Iroh stood there awkwardly, unsure how to react, especially since the woman was practically cornering him.
"The last time I ever saw you. You were this tiny," The woman held her hands at the distance a baby's length would be.
Iroh frowned, looking at his father, trying to get an explanation.
Bumi chuckled, knowing the look he was receiving, "Okay, fine. Iroh, this is my cousin, Yue."
"Granduncle had children?"
"A child," Yue smiled. "Me, obviously."
Bumi shook his head, smiling.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid Dad never told me anything about you," Iroh said to Yue, giving Bumi a displeased look.
Yue waved her hand dismissively, "It's no big deal. At least I finally get to see my Little Fire Prince again!"
Iroh tensed when Yue hugged him tight. He patted her back awkwardly.
Yue pulled away, smiling up at Iroh.
Iroh smiled faintly.
Bumi smiled, "Sorry to surprise you kid, but Yue's been wanting to see you since you were a baby."
"A baby?" Iroh looked at Yue. "Does that mean you never met my sister?"
Yue shook her head, "Unfortunately not, but I do know a lot about her, just like you."
Iroh nodded.
"Oh!" Yue squeaked, turning around.
Iroh frowned as she ran into another room.
"You never told me Sokka and Suki had a child," Iroh crossed his arms, looking at his father.
Bumi shrugged, "Unfortunately, I never really had the chance to take you here, especially since you're the prince and all."
Iroh shrugged, "I still would've loved to meet her. Even if it was a letter."
"I know, but it just would've been too complicated of a scenario," Bumi said.
Iroh nodded.
He looked up when Yue walked back in, carrying two bags tied with strings.
Yue walked to Iroh, holding one of the bags to him.
Iroh took the bag, staring at it a moment before looking at Yue.
"It's for you," She smiled. "I made it once before I was supposed to visit, but unfortunately, I never got to make it."
Iroh pulled the string off and flipped the opening of the bag into his palm.
A small wooden carving of a dragon fell out of the bag and into his hand.
Yue smiled, "I hope you like it. Your Dad had told me you had a bit of an obsession with them."
Iroh glanced at Bumi. He remembered being told he had some ongoing obsession with dragons when he was a toddler.
His favorite toy was a dragon, he said he wanted to be a dragon, anything that had to do with dragons, he wanted it.
Iroh smiled and hugged Yue, "Thank you, Cousin Yue."
Yue hugged back, "No problem. I'm glad you could finally have it."
Once they released each other, Yue handed him the second bag, "This one's for Suki. Your father told me she likes Kyoshi."
Iroh nodded, taking the bag.
"Thank you Yue," Iroh smiled.
Yue nodded.
Bumi crossed his arms, "Are you happy now, Yue?"
Yue nodded, "Very. Next is that little warrior."
"I'll try my best," Bumi nodded.
Yue smiled.
"Can we stay a bit Dad?" Iroh asked, hoping he could get to know his new found cousin a little more.
"Of course," Bumi smiled. "We just have to be back before sunrise."
Iroh smiled wide.
Yue squealed and led them to her sitting room.
Iroh followed her. He stumbled back into Bumi when a giant animal laying in the middle of the floor scared him. It sat next to a lit cooking pit with a tea kettle hanging over the flame.
"What's wrong?" Bumi frowned, catching Iroh before he could fall.
"There's a Saber tooth moose lion in here!" Iroh gasped.
"Yeah," Yue nodded, walking to the creature.
The animal looked up at her, wagging it's tail.
"This is Haro," Yue hugged the moose lion.
"You...You tamed a moose lion?" Iroh blinked.
"Your grandfather tamed a dragon," Yue said, scratching Haro's stomach when he rolled onto his back.
"Good point," Iroh shrugged.
"I rescued my baby when he was a cub," Yue smiled. "His biological mama was unfortunately taken by poachers, but I managed to save him."
Bumi sat down, "Yue runs an animal sanctuary for Earth Kingdom animals. Haro was the reason she started it when she was around your age."
Iroh nodded, sitting next to his father.
"Was it what you wanted to do?" Iroh asked.
"What do you mean?" Yue asked, resting against Haro.
"Was saving animals something you always wanted to do?"
Yue nodded, "Mom and Dad always told me to follow my dreams. So, that's exactly what I did."
Iroh nodded with a smile.
"I always loved animals," Yue giggled. "Dad even learned how to make vegetarian meals from Uncle Aang for me."
"You ruined my visiting weeks by incorporating meatless Mondays," Bumi teased.
Yue giggled. She grabbed the kettle over the fire and poured the liquid into three cups, handing one each to the two.
Iroh smiled faintly, absently playing with the wood dragon in his hands.
He felt an odd sense of relief. He didn't know where it came from or why, he just knew, something that's been sitting in the pit of his stomach for maybe weeks was suddenly gone.
"Are you following your dreams Iroh?" Yue asked.
"Um," Iroh looked to the dragon carving and his mind wandered to his grandfather's dragon, Druk. "Yeah. I am."
Yue smiled, "Good, because if I find out your dad made you do this, Haro gets a new chew toy."
Bumi rolled his eyes as Yue gave him a threatening, yet playful look.
Iroh chuckled.
Iroh looked at Bumi, who wasn't paying attention since him and Yue were now in a taunting war.
He scooted closer to his father and leaned over, resting their shoulders together.
"Are you okay?" Bumi furrowed his brows.
"Yeah," Iroh shrugged. "We just haven't really been able to do this since I was maybe ten. Since we're away from the crew and prying ears, I want to take advantage of this moment."
Bumi smiled faintly and wrapped his arm around Iroh's shoulders, "That's my Little Dragon."
Iroh smiled, actually having forgotten that nickname.
He rested his head on Bumi's shoulder, feeling the exhaustion suddenly kick in.
He tried to keep his eyes open, but it felt impossible with such a comfortable surrounding.
When he was little, to keep him on a somewhat normal sleeping schedule: his grandfather would sit with the little prince in his lap and attempt to rock the boy to sleep.
It tended to work, but when Iroh became too big to sit in his grandfather's lap but not old enough to stay up late, he would sit curled against the man's side with his head on his shoulder, and listen as the Fire Lord would ramble nonsense in attempt to bore his grandson to sleep.
Iroh hated to admit that that worked as well.
Once in awhile, when he hadn't slept for days on end, Zuko would do their old tradition in attempt to get the prince to sleep.
Iroh closed his eyes, giving in to his tired state. He knew he was falling asleep against his father, but he could've sworn he heard his grandfather's voice when he said, "Sleep tight, My Prince."