It was rare for Uncle Iroh to bring Zuko out with him.
After handing him the spare key, Iroh wandered off to find someone to play Pai Sho with.
Tea, chess, and music—this was Iroh's ideal retired life, and he embraced it wholeheartedly.
Zuko headed straight to Kahn's house. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw his friend sitting cross-legged beneath a tree.
At first glance, Kahn looked as if he were meditating. But his head was tilted to one side, his posture slack, and his breathing slow and steady.
He wasn't meditating.
He was sleeping.
"Kahn, what are you doing?"
Startled awake by Zuko's voice, Kahn instantly straightened his posture and closed his eyes tightly—pretending nothing had happened.
"I'm meditating. Can't you tell?"
"…You were absolutely asleep. Why did you suddenly start meditating?"
"Because meditation is a fundamental skill," Kahn replied calmly, ignoring the first question. "Staying in a meditative state helps with thinking."
In truth, Iroh's suggestion had hit him at the right moment. When he first transmigrated, the original body had already passed the stage of cultivating basic skills.
Though Kahn quickly inherited most of that foundation thanks to his talent and memory integration, something still felt incomplete.
So he decided to retrace the basics—starting with meditation—to rediscover the fundamentals and reflect on Firebending theory.
He just… didn't expect to fall asleep midway.
He still wasn't sure whether meditation enhanced thinking, but it definitely helped with falling asleep.
Unfortunately, he also woke up with soreness all over.
After hearing the full story, Zuko let out a sigh full of envy.
"So you've already started training to become a Firebending master. Of course you have."
He was used to this feeling. Having grown up under Azula's shadow, adding Kahn to the list of people stronger than him didn't even faze him anymore.
Zuko comforted himself accordingly.
Shaking it off, he picked up a fallen leaf and held it between his fingers.
"Speaking of basic skills, I like this exercise better."
A faint wisp of smoke curled up from the center of the leaf. Slowly, it began to burn—but only at the center.
The flame never spread to the edges. After burning a perfect hole through the leaf's middle, the fire stopped entirely, frozen in that precise boundary.
The leaf wasn't consumed. The fire didn't continue. It was suspended perfectly between burning and not burning.
It looked strangely magical.
"Oh, that." Kahn recalled the original body practicing it when he was young.
It was an exercise for refining Firebender control—a way to prevent self-injury when producing fire through body movement.
He grew interested. Picking up a leaf, he ignited it with careful precision.
The fire spread outward until it reached the edge, then froze in place, leaving only a razor-thin burning line before stopping.
A tiny push more would have incinerated the entire leaf.
His control was immaculate.
In terms of fire control alone, Kahn might already be considered a Master.
But something else caught his attention.
This wasn't simple Firebending—it felt closer to heat manipulation.
By definition, fire was simply the release of light and heat through combustion. Even ignoring the "light" aspect, just the precise control of heat made him excited.
Theory was one thing. Reality was another.
Kahn knew most of his wild ideas would be hard to realize. But the fact that even one of them had manifested showed incredible possibilities.
Was this the "starting point" Iroh wanted him to rediscover?
Whatever Iroh intended, Kahn had already decided: this would be the first foundation for his new Firebending research.
Zuko didn't stay long. He had to hurry to Mai—his limited free time each day was brutally short. The fact that he even stopped by was already impressive.
"Tsk." Kahn clicked his tongue.
Not only Zuko—Azula had also been unusually busy. He hadn't seen her much lately. Most likely, she was diligently practicing that secret technique she mentioned before.
Which meant he had to work harder himself. At the very least, he couldn't let Azula surpass him.
He went inside, brought out a glass of cold water—experiments were safer outdoors—and recalled the heat output he controlled while burning the leaf.
Carefully, he channeled his chi into the water.
Soon, steam began to rise. Then the water boiled.
A glass of cold water had been heated to boiling—without any flame.
It worked.
Thrilled by the result, Kahn immediately began the next experiment.
Bending meant control. If he could only transfer heat in one direction, the usefulness would be limited.
So he tried manipulating the heat within the cup itself. When he felt the temperature stabilize, he touched the glass.
It wasn't hot.
The cup wall felt cool to the touch—but the water inside was still boiling furiously.
Success. And it was almost too easy.
He knew his talent was exceptional, but this felt borderline absurd.
Was heat manipulation actually this simple?
Doubts flickered through his mind, but he brushed them aside.
He wasn't done experimenting.
—
Later that evening, Iroh returned home in a cheerful mood—something good had obviously happened during his game.
When he found a steaming cup of tea waiting by Kahn's hand, he was even happier.
"Did you calculate my return time and prepare this just for me?"
"Yes, I did."
Kahn beamed proudly.
Iroh took a sip. The flavor was… mediocre.
Kahn had lived with him for years, yet his tea-making skills never improved. It seemed all his talent had gone into Firebending.
Even so, Iroh drank happily. A disciple preparing tea for him—how could he not appreciate that?
This child truly was filial.
In that moment of warm satisfaction, Iroh completely missed the mischievous glint in Kahn's smile—the exact same expression Azula wore whenever she was up to something.
"Uncle Iroh, I made some new discoveries in Firebending today. I'd like to show you."
"New discoveries?"
Iroh's attention was still half on the tea, but his interest sharpened.
Kahn extended his hand toward Iroh's cup and made a pulling motion.
Instantly, the tea's temperature plummeted. Frost spread across the surface. The hot tea froze into solid ice right before their eyes.
"This is…?"
The biting cold seeping through the cup made Iroh shiver. He stared at the frost-covered teacup, astonished yet again by Kahn's impossible progress.
But instead of praise, his first reaction was—
"You disobedient disciple! Hurry up and unfreeze my tea!"
...
Author's Note:
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