Letters From Iroh

Surprise

I woke up to a reddish-golden late afternoon day sun, shining strongly into my bedroom, leaving no shadows or dark areas. It was as if my entire room was ablaze with light. I rubbed my eyes, and stretched myself out before I slid out from under my cover and padded over to look out of my window. I yawned deeply before mumbling to myself. "It's a beautiful day outthere. You can see all the way to the water. There's no fog or anything."

I stuck my head out of the window-pane and looked straight up into the sky. "The sun is way past its zenith." I said aloud. "I must've slept eighteen hours. It's almost evening." I stopped. "That's it." I thought. "I need something to do. This is getting out of hand." I reached to latch the window before I paused again this time noticing a shiny dark-red Satomobile parked outside our house. I recognized the model, it was the newest release. I knew it wasn't one of ours.

"Who could drive that?" I whispered under my breath, awestruck. "Dad must have a really important business client here." I remembered it wasn't the weekend. I paced over to my bathroom and looked in my mirror. I noticed my hair looked better than it had a few nightsbefore. I was trying out some new shampoo and leave-in oils that were supposed to help fight grease, and they appeared to be helping. "Wow, B." I leered at my reflection.

"Lookin' good for once." I reached for my white, ivory brush and ran it through my hair, and brushed my teeth. After that I went over to my closet and put on my regular, favorite outfit, then folded my pajamas and placed them on my nightstand. For some reason I felt compelled to wear my United Forces Pin on my cardigan, just in case the person whose car was parked outside happened to be from BSSU.

"Just a precaution." I mumbled as I placed the pin on the neckline of my new cardigan I had purchased recently. I actually loved to shop. I made up my bed, and after straightening my room up a bit, I slipped out the door to plod down the stairs into the living room. "Mom?" I called "where are you? Is Dad here?"

I heard voices coming from the dining room. Odd. I thought. We never go in there. "We're in here sweetie!" I heard my mother's voice call out. She seemed to be holding back joy, like she was about to burst. I inhaled deeply before turning to walk into the room. I stopped when I saw my family. I couldn't breathe. My family was gathered at the dining table, which we almost never used except when important guests came over, speaking to a man wearing a burgundy jacket with metals emblazoned on it. He looked up and smiled at me.

"Geez Iroh, don't you ever wear anything else?" I asked, my voice reaching an almost record high "I like your uniform and all....but-"I stopped. I felt like I was going to pass out. My head was spinning so fast I couldn't think. "I need to sit." I finally managed to blurt out after awkwardly holding my head for fiveminutes or so. It seemed like longer than that to me.

"Sit here, honey." My mom said, gesturing to a seat next to her, on Iroh's left side. "Iroh was just telling us how he and Matki have been writing to each other recently." My mother noted, her eyes glinting with mirth.

"M- M- M- Matki?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"It's really quite complicated, love." Iroh finally spoke. "You'll need to wait for him to get here."

"Alright." I squeaked. We must have sat there in silence for about three minutes before Matki burst into the dining room, his hair matted and tousled.

"Aw, IROH. You beat me here!" He sighed. "I was- uh-"He paused. "NOT at Ky's last night." He laughed nervously. He must not have noticed his hair.

"Well, Mat," Iroh chuckled. "Your sister is incapacitated at the moment. Should we let her in on our secret?"

"Yeah, bro." matki laughed back before plopping down at the end of the table. "Mom?"
My mother finally was able to release what appeared to be pent up excitement when she almost screamed