You & I

The Airbenders

Y/N's POV

My head shot up from Iroh's shoulder as he stood up at the sound of the announcement, he turned and held his hand out to me, pulling me up from the edge of the boat.

I took a deep breath, this was it, I had no idea what to expect... were we to go to war? Why would the avatar summon us?

I felt Iroh place his hand around my shoulder and butterflies filled my stomach, I felt ridiculous, why did I react in such a way to my best friend, he's the prince of the fire nation, he's going to end up with a fancy, rich, fire nation girl from a noble family- she'll probably even end up being a fire bender. She'd be perfect for him.

When we arrived at the docks, we were greeted by Avatar Aang and his youngest son who seemed to only be a few years older than me. It was a great honour to be in the presence of the last airbenders. I bowed to them along with the rest of the soldiers, Iroh tried to bow to the Avatar too but Avatar Aang pulled him in for a hug and ruffled his hair, I chuckled.

"Iroh! You've grown so much since the last time I saw you! How are things at the fire palace? How's your mother doing? And your grandfather?"

Iroh scratched the back of his neck and awkwardly laughed

"Hi Aang, hey Tenzin. Things are good, my mum's let me have full control over my cadets and grandfather is doing great."

Avatar Aang chatted with Iroh for a while before he called me forward.

"Aang, this is Y/N, my most trusted soldier, she'll be acting as my assistant."

This was news to me, despite my confusion, I stepped forward and bowed.

"It's an honour to meet you, Avatar Aang"

Tenzin, his son stepped forward to greet me but froze when his eyes met mine, his cheeks dusted a light pink before he cleared his throat and bowed to me, I returned the respect and bowed back to him.

"I am truly blessed to be in the presence of the only airbenders in the world."

Tenzin replied,

"It is our honour to be met by the great United Forces during this time of need"

Time of need? What was going on? Avatar Aang frowned and explained that team Avatar has been scouring the world, capturing the order of the red lotus and imprisoning them, but there's one left to capture, their leader and mastermind, Zaheer. He wasn't a bender but he was a martial arts expert and extremely knowledgeable of the forms of every bending style.

Team Avatar was in the city and ready to face him, but they needed the United forces to secure the perimeter around the city to ensure Zaheer did not escape.

Avatar Aang sent me into a room with his son to brain storm plans whilst Iroh followed him into a meeting with team Avatar who had already decided on their strategies, Iroh was only really there so that he could catch up with them, they are like family after all.

I sat at a table opposite Tenzin, tapping my pen on the paper. We sat in silence for a while before he broke the ice with:

"So... you're from the fire nation, huh?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"So are you a firebender, or-"

"I'm a waterbender"

He smiled,
"My mother's a waterbender, the greatest in the world, in fact, you should come with me back to the South Pole, you could learn so mu-"

He cut himself off before apologising and bending air around a little marble in his hands.

"Actually, I'd love to learn a thing or two from master Katara"

He perked back up again, before telling me many stories about how his mother trained his older sister, Kaya and recalling all the sparring sessions he's had with her. At some point, he decided that he wanted to show me some air bending tricks. He was flying off of the walls, blowing furniture around the room and eventually showed me the legendary air scooter.

"Wow, that looks to amazing! Didn't Avatar Aang make that move up?"

As he tried to reply to me, he lost balance and came tumbling into me, throwing us both onto the floor.

Iroh ran into the room and hurried over to me, offering me his hand, which I took before standing up and dusting myself down. Then he licked his thumb and used it to wipe some dirt from my cheek, my entire face flushed deep red.

Tenzin stares at us before asking:
"So are you two, like, a thing... or?"

Forward much?

Iroh awkwardly pulled away from me and scratched his neck,
"Aha, no... so... do you guys have the brainstormed ideas written down?"

I handed a sheet of paper to him, he inspected it quickly before informing us that he was going to deliver them to Chief Sokka. As he turned to leave, he looked back at Tenzin and I before clearing his throat and commanding:

"Assistant Y/N, you'll be accompanying me to deliver the plans as afterwards we'll have to inform the rest of the army of their purpose and our strategies."

I nodded before turning to Tenzin and bowing,

"It was an honour to meet you"

He smiled and replied:
"The honour was all mine"

Iroh raised his eyebrow and looked between Tenzin and I before leaving the room with me trailing behind him.

After leaving Tenzin, I asked Iroh:

"Hey, what's up? Are you okay?"

He just nodded and walked into the room that Chief Sokka was waiting in. What was his deal?

I bowed when we walked in, Iroh didn't, but I guess being Fire Lord Zuko's grandson excuses formalities between him and team avatar.

I stood silently behind Iroh whilst he presented the plans to Chief Sokka and did the same when he delivered the instructions to the United Forces. We were to set up a naval blockade surrounding the city, with soldiers on land blocking every entrance and exit, including train stations, this way, Zaheer would be trapped in the city and team Avatar can do their job swiftly.

As the soldiers dispersed onto ships and into the city I cleared my throat before asking:
"Where would you like me stationed general?"

Iroh turned to me, he seemed uneasy, he then instructed me to remain by his side as his assistant.

The dynamic between us felt majorly uncomfortable, like he was mad at me, but I didn't know what I had done wrong for him to be mad at me.