Although Kahn had plenty of ideas about firebending, according to Iroh, it was best not to rashly attempt anything new before reaching a certain level.
This was not just a matter of innovation, but also of personal safety.
Air, water, and earth were relatively gentle elements in themselves. Under normal circumstances, they would not harm the benders themselves, making them quite safe to use.
But fire was different. Even without bending, flames themselves were considerably dangerous.
The slightest mistake while firebending could, at best, cause it to turn back on the user and, at worst, harm their companions. It was a sharp, double-edged sword.
That was probably also one of the reasons the Fire Nation's education championed "restraint." A firebender who could not maintain restraint was quite dangerous on all sorts of levels.
At this point, however, Iroh could not help lamenting that many people nowadays remembered only superficial restraint in their firebending and conduct, but forgot that they should also maintain "restraint" in their thinking. Even a nation was no exception.
Kahn ignored the personal views Iroh slipped into the latter part of his lecture and nodded, temporarily abandoning his plans to get fancy with bending and preparing to build a solid foundation first.
Besides, he already had enough to do. Not only was he learning firebending from Iroh, but there was also earthbending with Kori, chi-blocking with Ty Lee, and publishing books. On top of that, whenever Azula and the others came calling, he had to spend quite a bit of time playing with them.
His life could certainly be called quite full.
So he put that matter on the back burner for now. Lately, however, Kahn had noticed Zuko occasionally staring into space, with a dejected expression unlike his usual self, which made him feel something was wrong.
That afternoon, Zuko stayed for dinner for once, and Azula did not come to disturb them either. Taking the opportunity, Kahn asked Zuko while the two rested in the courtyard after dinner:
"Has something happened lately? You've been looking so glum."
Zuko froze for a moment.
"Is it that obvious?"
Kahn shrugged. "It's written all over your face. So, what's wrong?"
Zuko fell silent for a while. Suddenly, his expression grew somewhat downcast, as though he had shed his disguise, and he said:
"Yesterday was Mother's birthday. I've been missing her a little."
Yesterday was Yin Shu's birthday?
Kahn was surprised for a moment, then understood. No wonder Zuko had become like this, and no wonder he had not seen Azula these past two days.
It seemed that not only Zuko, but Azula was probably in low spirits as well.
That said, seeing Zuko's expression, Kahn did not know what to say for a moment.
When it came to Yin Shu's disappearance, Azula had come to him immediately and even pulled him into her plan. She could certainly be described as moving with the force of thunder and the speed of the wind.
Zuko, by contrast, had never brought up the subject since it happened, and Kahn had not felt comfortable asking him about it himself. Between one thing and another, he had never learned anything about Zuko's thoughts.
But since Zuko had brought up the subject himself this time, this was a good opportunity.
After gathering his thoughts, Kahn asked him:
"Well, I'm not very good at offering comfort, so just know what I mean. But what do you think about this?"
"What do I think about what?"
"Your mother's disappearance, of course. No matter how you look at it, something's very wrong with this whole thing. Don't you have any thoughts about it?"
The first time Azula went to ask Ozai, his answer had been that "Yin Shu" was dead, but he was clearly just brushing her off.
Because if Yin Shu really were dead, there would be no need to act this way about her whereabouts. After all, there were no secrets to be dug out of a corpse. Iroh had also told him that Yin Shu was missing, not dead.
Later, Ozai had changed his story to say that Yin Shu had abandoned the siblings and left alone, but he still would not say a word about anything else.
At the mention of this, Zuko said with some frustration:
"When I heard the news, I immediately went to Father to ask about Mother's whereabouts, but he refused to tell me. Instead, he gave me a harsh scolding."
"And then? You just gave up?"
"Of course not!"
Zuko immediately denied it loudly, then explained:
"I thought that once I was a little older and had learned more, or once Father acknowledged me, perhaps he would tell me."
After saying that, he thought for a moment, then braced himself and added:
"If that still doesn't work, once I grow up, I can look for her myself."
"I see..."
After hearing Zuko's plan, Kahn gave a noncommittal reply, but inwardly sighed.
Yin Shu had indeed raised Zuko well. He was polite, valued friendship, was kindhearted, and so on. Even when faced with Ozai, a father who was extremely harsh toward him, he had never thought of rebellion or resistance, behaving very obediently.
But Ozai was no good person!
Although Kahn had not had much contact with Ozai, one only needed to look at what he had done: murdered his father to usurp the throne, warped his daughter's mind, emotionally abused his son, and driven away his wife through some unknown plot...
Judging solely by these deeds he knew of, there was no doubt that Ozai was a thoroughly psychopathic bastard.
There was nothing wrong with listening to one's father in itself, but if that father was Ozai, Kahn felt there was a very big problem.
Even a vicious tiger would not eat its own cubs, yet Ozai specifically targeted his own family. He truly was a psychopath.
When Yin Shu had still been around, she could offer Zuko some protection. But now that she was missing, if Zuko continued living like this, Kahn felt he might develop "Stockholm syndrome," or be brainwashed like Azula.
Moreover, Zuko lacked Azula's brains and wild streak. Once he fell into the trap, breaking free would be difficult.
The more Kahn thought about it, the more dangerous Zuko's situation seemed. Suddenly, a thought rose in his mind:
Why not bring Zuko over to our side too?
"Our side" referred both to him and Azula, and to him and Iroh, as well as to him, Iroh, and Azula-a total of three groups.
It sounded somewhat baffling, but it was easy to understand.
His partnership with Azula aimed to find Yin Shu's whereabouts, and their enemy was Ozai;
His partnership with Iroh was mainly due to the hostile relationship between Iroh and Ozai;
And because their enemy was the same-Ozai-and Iroh also knew something about Yin Shu's situation and tacitly understood what he and Azula were doing, they had formed a loosely connected trio.
Azula and Zuko had never seen eye to eye, and Azula also thought little of Zuko's abilities and brains, so he had always been excluded from the plan to find Yin Shu.
On Iroh's side, he already had plenty of troubles of his own, and Zuko's sensitive position meant he had not revealed anything to him either, leaving Zuko an outsider.
But now, considering Zuko's own safety, Kahn felt it was time to let him in on a few things, preferably making him one of them as well.
As for whether to bring Zuko into one of the existing groups or form another new group with him, that still required careful consideration.
At that thought, Kahn suddenly froze.
For some reason, he suddenly felt like a playboy juggling multiple lovers.
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