Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall.
"Everything's fine!" Toph declared with a smug grin. "He forgave her."
The Kyoshi Warriors responded with a collective sigh of relief.
***
Several hours later.
Having dealt with the issue of the warrior's wounded self-esteem, I moved on to something far less pleasant—a conversation with my esteemed parent.
Oddly enough, the admiral acknowledged my complaints regarding his right to interfere with my subordinates and simply said that, at the time, he had been a father who had lost his son rather than an officer.
We also cleared up the matter of his attitude toward Suki and the possibility of what he considered a mismatched relationship.
He wasn't displeased by the mere fact of my "romantic interests." The original Chan had been quite the ladies' man. Picking up two or three girls during a beach party had never been a challenge for him, and rumors had inevitably reached the admiral.
What concerned the dutiful parent was where all of that might lead.
"Listen, I understand your feelings. I was your age once myself. But try to understand me as well! Your romance may seem wonderful right now—all passion and strong emotions—but for the love of Agni, use your head! You definitely have one, and it works quite well! What happens once you get used to those feelings? Once the excitement fades? What possible common ground can one of the highest-ranking officers in the Fire Nation—"
The admiral caught sight of my expression.
"Don't make that face. Yes, one of the highest-ranking officers! And a simple girl with no family name or standing? Even if she handles weapons reasonably well… which I'm not entirely convinced of. The daughters of the Tai family would be at least her equals. But beyond martial skill, they were raised by the finest tutors, just as you were. They are educated in the arts, poetry, and etiquette. They even know the tea ceremony!
"As for your..." He very clearly wanted to say something highly inappropriate, but thought better of it after taking another look at my expression. "Your companion, meanwhile, will be viewed by society as little more than a mercenary—if not a village fool."
"Well then, anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to say so to my face!"
Yes, perhaps that was a bit hotheaded, but...
Damn it all, when I died in my first world, I hadn't been that much older than Chan. And now, between my renewed youth, the original Chan's temperament, and my irritation with Father and the entire situation, I was hardly in the mood for careful deliberation and cold logic.
Besides, what logic was I supposed to apply after returning home to find this kind of circus over absolutely nothing?
"Oh, for Agni's sake, come to your senses!" The admiral grabbed his head in frustration. "You know as well as I do that sometimes mere rumors are more than enough to make a person's life considerably more difficult!"
"ENOUGH!"
We were sitting by candlelight, and now every candle in the room now burned with a two-meter column of brilliant blue fire.
My father recoiled from the heat, and that reaction helped sober me somewhat.
I exhaled (a dense cloud of something between steam and smoke accompanying the breath), and partially regained control of myself. The flames shrank back to a normal size, though their color remained unchanged. I had dumped far too much power into the surrounding space with that shout.
"Enough," I repeated more quietly. "I understand your reasons, Father. But I'd like to think I have the right to choose for myself who I want to be with. I don't know what the future holds for us. Maybe things will change. Maybe they won't. But right now we're together, and we're happy together. That's what matters.
"The opinions of everyone else mean nothing to me. I am fully prepared to call her my wife and challenge anyone who has something to say about it to an Agni Kai."
I looked directly at the admiral.
"We'll handle our own affairs."
"Chan..." The admiral stared at me, almost entranced. "As I said before, I understand your feelings, even if I don't agree with them. But you've already proven that you're perfectly capable of standing on your own. Some mistakes have to be made personally before their consequences can truly be understood..."
The commander of the Eastern Fleet cut himself off as he watched the candle flames begin to flare up again.
"Though it doesn't matter. Just know that you'll always be welcome in this house. No matter what happens, you're my son."
The elder Chan lowered his head and looked away, and I felt utterly miserable.
Like some kind of parasite wearing another man's skin.
To simply tell him to go to hell after words like that would have been too much even for the cynical bastard I was gradually becoming.
"Thank you, Father. I... I'll think about what you've said, but that's all I can promise."
"I ask for nothing more. Now, if you'll permit me one question."
"Of course."
"When did your eyes turn amber? And why is it that whenever you're angry, they seem to glow from within, and your pupils become distinctly vertical?"
The question caught me completely off guard.
"Ahem... Yeah. Well. Remember how you asked me about the extinct dragons? Turns out they weren't quite extinct at the time."
"What? How? But General Iroh killed the last one..." My father looked genuinely stunned, and I had to admit, his surprise was oddly gratifying.
"Did it have a sign hanging around its neck saying it was the last one? As it turns out, there was another."
"So that's the reason?"
"Yeah. Fighting a dragon grants many things."
The Dance, of course, granted far more, but I wasn't sharing that information with anyone.
(End of Chapter)
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