songerein | Tea For Who?

Entry tags:

Tea For Who? - OPEN

Who: Iroh and whomsoever wants to find him
Which: Open Log
Where: Not far from the fountain
What: Iroh enjoying sharing tea with strangers.
Warnings: Possible angst, themes of loss, possible war/death/betrayal mentions.

Iroh had found that he had been able to help people during the crisis in a number of ways. But one of them had been tea and talking. Just being there for people with a calming drink and an open ear. So he was trying that again now, once again by the base of the fountain.

Between conversations he was sipping his own tea and considering what it might take to open a tea shop here. For however long he was going to be here, that was...

For anyone who wanted to find him, he is near the fountain with a small comforting camp fire over which the tea pot is heating and a pair of large picnic style baskets, one of snacks and one of teas and tea fixings. So that he can have enough for every taste and stay a while for whoever showed up without over steeping the tea.

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Can you see the link between him and Bumi now, Aang? He gave a warm smile and a nod. "Then I shall be back shortly," he said. "Please, help yourself to tea." And if not stopped, he walked off to leave.

Well he's not going to leave the tea, not while it's hot, certainly. One of the subtler rules his life has acquired is "never turn down Iroh's tea."

Iroh came back with another basket of goodies and...

Look, the man has many skills, but it would seem creating his own Pai Sho table was not one of them. It was made of broad leaves folded up and lashed together. Something had been nibbling at it in a few places. The lines were drawn on with a shaky hand. He set it down on the ground. It was... very low. Back at what passed for home here he kept it perched on a flat top rock. From the basket he pulled small stones, roughly similar in shape and size. The same shaky hand that had made the lines on the uneven limbs had done its best to paint the symbols on the tiles.

He set everything up without letting Aang see if he was proud of what he had made or bashful about it.

Oh. Oh dear. He hadn't been kidding, had he? Well that was definitely a definition of roughing it - but he can't immediately think of how he'd have done better, either, so.

He merely starts to divide up the tiles with a silent nod.

He refreshed their tea to finish out the pot then pulled a fresh pot from his basket and put it on the fire to warm. He laid out some snacks, then helped Aang with the set up, smiling proudly.

He's not one to argue with any of that, either - but he does make the first move, when the board is set.

"Avatar's privilege?" he says, with a smile.

"If that is what you feel you must do to have a chance to beat an old man..." he said, a twinkle in his eye as he took his move.

"I know better than to cede any advantage to a master," he replied, looking at the board before making one of his own.

He smiled, sipping his tea as he considered the board. "Flattery... will get you... everywhere," he said, drawing it out, moving his piece on the last word.

"Everywhere except closer to victory, because I suspect you play this game without any mercy whatsoever," he replied, with a chuckle, making his own counter move.

He chuckled as well. "There are ways to win, aside from winning."

He makes his next move, arching a brow at Iroh.

"And now I'm really interested to know what that means."

Iroh chuckled, making is move slowly as he spoke.

"It could mean a lot of things. It could mean that sometimes you lose a single game, or a battle, in order to win a tournament. Or a war. Sometimes it means you lose to someone to get them to give you what you want. Or to flatter a pretty young girl." he chuckled. "Not that you're a pretty young girl," he added. Then his smile widened as he withdrew his hand from the board.

"Or maybe it means that I wanted to distract you from the game long enough to give me that opening."

He looked down, frowning. He couldn't see the opening, if indeed it was one. But if it was, he'd realize it soon enough.

"But I do like to flatter pretty young girls. Well, one, at least," he replied, making a bold counter.

"Only one? At a time or at all?" he asked, making his move to build on his last move.

"Just the one," he replies with a small chuckle. "And I think you know that."

He's working on a defence, in part because he can't tell whether it's an offensive Iroh's launching, or a trap.

"I know that for now, but you're still young. Past live's loves don't count. You have lots of years to live and get to know many fine young women," he said. Then he moved a piece. "So long as you play better than that you do, anyway," he said with a chuckle.

A bluff? Or had Aang actually missed something, letting him build to... whatever he was building to?

He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I will undoubtedly meet many excellent people. But in terms of love? Pretty sure I know the course I'll be sailing, there."

Part of the benefit of being the Avatar, really, is a sort of instinct, in the moment. Perhaps forged of so many lifetimes.

He held his chin in his hand, the other hand propped on his knee, watching the board intently. And finally, he moved in return - an airbender's move, small but opening up a new dimension on the board. Not a direct confrontation. Not yet, anyway.

"Perhaps, but you know that the water and the air do not always take a ship where you expect them to, not unless you are prepared to row against the elements themselves. Life is a journey, a feast. And you should allow yourself to sample its many delicious offerings, even if you return to your favorite blend at the end. You'll both be more well rounded for it," he said with a laugh, patting his belly for emphasis.

He'll smile and nod in response, but Iroh doesn't have the certainty of the Avatar, in this regard - though he doesn't think for a moment it won't be a complicated, winding river by itself.

And now he builds on his previous move.

"You make me almost wish that I could remember being young," he said with a chuckle as he sprang his trap.

He sighs, his own stratagems falling down around him.

"I see it now, but I still don't believe it."

He chuckled. "Do you wish to continue, or should we start a new game and you can watch to see if you can spot how I set it up?" Of course, that would be made harder by Iroh having no intention of playing the same strategy again so soon...

He thinks for a moment, then nods.

"Play it through to the end. That's the only way, right?"

"Sometimes there are better ways. Stubbornness can sometimes lead one down to a path of ruin. But sometimes it is wisdom hidden within pride." He played his move.

"There have been multiple times that I could have played things through to the end. My life would have been very different had I played a few specific things to the end, after learning the wisdom of trying something different."

Ba Sing Se, for example.

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