You & I

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Y/N's POV
As we boarded the ship, I kept my professionalism as I followed Iroh back to our cabin, barely containing my excitement.

As soon as we were in our cabin, I shut the door and turned to my husband who was mirroring my expression, grinning from ear to ear.

He pulled me in for a tight hug that I melted into as I asked, "Iroh! Why didn't you tell me?"

He rubbed his hands over my shoulders and exhaled, "I thought it'd be a nice surprise for you- it's about time you were made a commander anyway, you deserve it."

I slightly pulled away before pecking his lips and asking, "Thank you, my love. But, how did you manage to make that happen?"

A smirk played at his lips before he pecked mine again and proudly stated, "it was nothing to do with me, Y/N, your promotion came straight from the council."

I paused for a moment, taking it in.

I did that on my own?

Wow.

Iroh had to ask for my position to be moved from private to lieutenant all those years ago, Iroh was the one who made me his aide- but this, I did this on my own.

I suddenly became very serious and looked back into Iroh's eyes and asked, "okay, so now what?"

He pulled himself away before softly kissing my forehead, "I'm going to get changed out of this, let's discuss your new job at dinner? I've asked the chef to make your favourite in celebration."

He was beaming at me, I smiled at him and nodded before changing out of my own uniform and following him to dinner.

I knew every soldier in the United Forces by name, and worked very closely with Iroh in training all of them as his aide.

When we were called to Republic City, I stayed behind with Bumi at Iroh's request. His excuse was that if something were to happen to him, he'd want me to be on the second fleet because he trusted me as his backup more than anybody else- but I knew he was lying, he was worried about me.

Iroh and I had been trying to have a baby for a few months now, we'd decided that it was time, and I'm sure that he was only trying to protect me in the case that I was carrying a child- even though I'm absolutely certain that I'm not.

As we walked through the ship, many of the soldiers patted my back and congratulated me, everyone seemed to be happy for me- it felt really rewarding.

I sat down with Iroh, digging into my food as he begun, "Of course, we will all train together but you'll be in charge of the second division the way that Bumi was, rather than simply assisting me. You'll be more independent but I'll still be there to help you if you need help, both professionally as a General and of course as your husband- anything you need at all, just come to me."

He paused to take a mouthful of food and I took the opportunity to ask, "how long have you even known about this?"

He placed his hand on his chin, "well, if I'm honest I've known you'd be replacing Bumi for a while, I just didn't know exactly when he would retire. He spoke about it a lot but you know how he is, just doing things on a whim. It wasn't until a few hours ago that I knew he'd be retiring today, he literally handed me his resignation when we found him."

I sighed, "typical Bumi. So, what's he doing now? Is he just going to live with Tenzin and Pema?"

Iroh shrugged, "probably, I don't really know. Bumi sort of just... goes with the flow?"

As we finished up dinner, the sun had almost completely set and the deck was completely empty, Iroh raised his eyebrows at me and asked, "how about a quick sparring session?"

I smirked and took my stance, "you don't have to ask me twice."

The improvement in both Iroh and myself in regards to our fighting abilities since the day we met was astonishing. We were both true masters at our bending and were insanely talented in hand-to-hand combat as well as being quite advanced in most common weapon styles.

People liked to watch us spar when they had the chance, it was often described as mesmerising. It came so naturally to us, but not just as muscle memory- it was like art, beautiful and different every time- it was never the same, it wasn't a routine, it was us feeling what was right in the moment.

As Iroh sent me crashing into the railings of the ship, I pulled myself up and bent the water from the sea behind me, using it to pick him up my his leg, dangling him upside down in front of me and smirking, "not bad, General."

He leaned towards me and gently pressed his lips into mine, "not bad yourself, Commander."

I was so tempted to just drop the water and let him land on his head, but I decided to set him down more gently.

Commander. Wow, that's actually what I am now. After all these years of being a simple Lieutenant.

He made his way over to the edge of the ship, dangling his legs through the railings like we've always done and beckoned me over.

I sat beside him and rested my head in his shoulder, watching as the sunset finally disappeared behind the horizon and moon took her turn lighting the sky, and the twinkling stars' reflections finally danced across the surface of the waves.

"Oh, yeah. Y/N, I received a letter from my mother, we need to take a little trip back home soon, Ursa will be having a formal ball sort of thing. You know how the law goes, she's technically supposed to marry in the next few years- but we'll see how that goes."

"She actually agreed to it? I have to admit, I'm rather surprised. She didn't even entertain the idea at all when your mother brought it up when we were last at the palace."

"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised myself. But, you can ask her about it yourself soon, we'll be going back in a couple of weeks."