Royal Capital

When the carriage and its escort finally reached the Fire Nation's Capital City, they were of course greeted by a large crowd. General Iroh, otherwise known as the Dragon of the West, was one of the most well-known and idolized men in the Fire Nation, his exploits in the Earth Kingdom being classified as a legend. Xiao, who had been picked up a day prior, had woken up eight hours before their arrival, and was understandably startled by the crowd.

He looked out through the carriage's paper windows at the blurred mass of thousands of people lining the street that led to the Royal Palace's main gate.

After they passed through the majestic golden gates however, the crowd disappeared, stopped by the Fire Nation soldiers who had stepped out from behind the wall to prevent anyone from trespassing on the Royal family's grounds. But even when they were stopped from following the carriage, the crowds' cheering remained loud and enthusiastic. for many minutes after the gate had closed, obscuring the returned hero from view.

Finally grinding to a halt near the grand main entrance to the palace, the carriage was quickly surrounded by many governmental officials and Elite Fire Nation soldiers.

"Stay in here until I tell you to come out. I'm saddened to admit that many of those outside would not take too kindly to me bringing you here." Iroh turned and notified the trembling Xiao, who nodded his head fervently. He'd wanted to stay in the carriage as long as possible anyways. He'd never seen so many people before in his life!

As soon as he emerged, Iroh was met with a torrent of words as countless nobles attempted to either question his slight tardiness in order to possibly tarnish his reputation or flood him with compliments to get in his good graces.

"General Iroh, I'm glad you arrived in good health." One cold voice stood out from all the others, and once they heard it, the crowd quickly backed down and made space for a tall man dressed in fine silken robes and wearing a golden crown in the shape of a flame to step forwards.

"However, I believe I ordered you to be back half a month ago, correct? What delayed you so much?" The man continued; his hawk-like amber eyes boring into Iroh's own as his brows furrowed into an angry glare.

"Ozai! It's good to see you too!" Iroh said with a wide grin, going in for a hug, only to be stopped by Ozai's outstretched hand.

"You were once such a fierce man, one worthy of fear. It seems that the loss of your son has affected you even more than what the rumors say. Truly a great loss to the Fire Nation." He said in the same cold, uncaring tone.

His words caused Iroh's smile to become notably more strained, and also led to the normally jovial man stepping back.

Murmurs were heard amongst the crowd, not expecting the Fire Lord to bring up such a sore topic during a supposedly happy occasion.

Inside the carriage, Xiao couldn't help but grimace from anger as he saw this. He could tell that those words had hurt Iroh much more than he was showing, judging by how white his savior's knuckles were from clenching his hands into fists so tightly.

"Must we bring up such a sad topic on an occasion such as this, father? Perhaps we should allow Uncle Iroh to settle in before broaching such a… touchy subject..." A girl spoke as she walked up to the duo, a boy following right behind her. They were obviously siblings, judging by their similar attire and looks.

"Good point, Azula. I apologize for my earlier rude comment, brother. Welcome home. Is there anything that you brought with you that requires the servant's assistance?" Ozai asked, his words significantly lessening the tension that had built up in the crowd. As his attitude took a complete one-eighty.

"I have brought nothing but what I am wearing. However, I did pick up something on my journey that I found to be of great interest. Come here please, little Xiao." Iroh spoke calmly, gently calling towards the carriage from which Xiao emerged, still dressed in his rags but covering them up with a black and violet checkered blanket that Iroh had bought for him on their way here.

He was noticeably cleaner, thanks to the help of Iroh's servants. Sadly, they couldn't find any clothes that fit him on their way here, but Iroh would have some tailored for the boy later on. Xiao was simply too skinny and small for anything to fit him well, all of it hanging loosely on his body and falling off at the slightest disturbance.

"And who might this... child be?" Ozai asked, his voice filled with barely concealed disdain as he gazed at the child who was obviously just some poor beggar his brother had picked up off of the street. Despite Iroh's best efforts to clean him up, the boy's hair was still unkempt, and his rags could still be faintly seen from underneath that blanket.

"My student." Iroh responded coolly, drawing a collective gasp from those present, his words even shocking his brother, whose brows began to twitch.

"Your... student?" He muttered, disbelieving. But Iroh just nodded his head in response, uncaring for the people's reactions.

"But, General Iroh, I asked you two years ago to take my son as your apprentice, only for you to refuse. And yet, you're taking this... random child as your disciple? Do you even know if he can bend?" One man spoke up from the side, his voice full of indignance. This prompted many others in the crowd to voice their opinions as well.

"I did something similar three years ago as well!"

"I have no offspring to speak of, but my nephew begged General Iroh for years only to be turned down too!"

Many of such complaints continued to rise from the crowd. Before long, everyone was trying to speak over each other.

"Enough!" Ozai bellowed, immediately quieting down the almost rioting officials.

"We shall speak of this topic no more. General Iroh has chosen this boy as his student, and therefore we must respect his decision… no matter how much we may disagree with it." Ozai spoke once everyone had calmed down, muttering the last part just loud enough for everyone to here.

"Father, one of the officials did raise an interesting point though. Can the commoner boy even bend?" The girl from before, Azula, interjected, causing Ozai to pause.

Iroh glanced a bit nervously at Xiao. In all honesty, he had never seen Xiao bend. The boy seemed to be reluctant to show him when he asked.

"I think I can do that." A small voice said from behind him.

Looking back, Iroh was surprised to find Xiao tentatively raising his hand.

"Go on then, commoner boy." Azula said, a hint of mockery in her voice. Ozai gave her a look that told her to shut her mouth, so she refrained from saying any more.

"So, I just have to make fire, right?" Xiao whispered to Iroh. He was the only person that the brown-haired boy knew out of everyone here after all. Iroh nodded in response.

Xiao lifted his hand in the same position Iroh had used to create a small fireball to warm him up earlier- his palm pointed towards the sky and his arm held straight out in front of him.

*BOOM!*

With an extremely loud explosion, a pillar of violet flames shot straight into the sky, climbing hundreds of feet in the air before petering out slowly. It was such a large spectacle that even the crowd outside could see it clearly, causing many to cry out in surprise.

When everyone recovered from the shockwave, they found that those closer to the boy had been slightly charred black by the demonstration, suffering from a few third or even second degree burns, while everyone else simply had their hair blown back and their eyebrows singed off of their faces.

"...I guess that confirms it! Come, Xiao! I'll show you to the West Wing where we'll be staying!" Iroh was the first to speak, hurrying off with the boy before anyone could react.