Iroh sighed contentedly as he leaned back on a stool at a table outside the newly repaired Hay Bale Cafe. He watched several pegasi flitting across the sky, some lazily, simply enjoying the freedom of the open air, others with a great deal more speed and purpose. In the distance, a team of four lifted a beam towards the roof of a house.

The last week had been so busy, as all residents of the town, which now included Iroh, who were able to work pitched in and worked to repair the buildings that had been damaged. Once those buildings were repaired, new ones would be built to replace those which had been deemed unsalvageable.

The population of the town seemed to also have grown overnight as specialists from other towns and cities arrived by train, cart or sometimes by wing to offer a helping hoof.

Iroh himself, when he was lending his assistance, was most commonly working in the wood working camp that had been set up nearby the train station.

Four times a day for the last several days, train carts had come in, loaded high with logs and pulled by teams of six burly stallions that towered over most of the locals. As the train slowed to a halt, it was swarmed by ponies, mostly unicorns and pegasi, who began to unload the timber. With their cargo being taken care of, the exhausted stallions uncoupled themselves from the harnesses attached to the front of the train.

As the stallions made their way into town to refresh themselves, the logs were separated and placed onto trusses where a team of ponies lead by Scribed Scroll marked each log with measurements needed by the various construction projects in town.

In short order, the logs were cut into planks or beams, and were sanded, before being loaded onto carts and taken to the project that needed them.

Iroh, for his part, was designated part of the cutting team for the hardest woods, where his precision burning technique could cut through the dense materials faster than most unicorns could manage, and could also seal the ends of the beams - something which was quite important if the wood was exposed to the elements, he was told.

He had made several solid friends the last several days, as the awe some of the ponies had for him turned to respect and camaraderie.

Most surprising of those friendships came from a pair of colts, just barely foals, in the form of Snips and his best friend Snails. The chipper little Snips was often assigned to shave and sand the wood behind Iroh as he cut through it. Snips' longtime friend and fellow unicorn, Snails, on the other hand, delivered drinks to the woodworking camp and was wise beyond his years, a rare trait in the young no matter the species.

A third youngling had come to Iroh just the previous afternoon, and begged him for lessons on fire manipulation.

If it had been any other being, Iroh would have wanted some indication that they could fire bend, or even just generate fire, considering the sheer variety of talents these ponies had displayed.

Of course, the youngling who had come to him was not a pony in the first place, but rather the dragon companion of Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn he had learned had been the one to accost him the day the town had been assaulted by that enormous dragon.

This evening, he had promised. This evening he would see where the dragon was at, and most importantly, if he could be trained in the ways of true fire bending.

"Hello?!"

The call from next to him jolted Iroh from his woolgathering (although he had learned quickly not to call it that while within earshot of one of the local sheep).

Iroh turned to find a pink mare with a bright blonde mane and a wide band of bandages around her torso looking at him expectantly. "Oh? Oh I'm sorry miss, was there something you needed?"

"I..." the mare started, stuttering for a moment in her nervousness before rallying her nerve. "I wanted to thank you for what you did for me the other day."

She swallowed and grimaced slightly before she continued. "I also wanted to say I'm sorry... I'm sorry for being scared of you and thinking you were a monster when I first saw you."

Iroh dredged up the memory of the first pony he had saved from under rubble and her name.

"An honest mistake, my dear Lily, and you are very welcome. In the meantime, come, join me, pull up a seat and tell me a little about yourself. The peach tea here is quite refreshing and we have some time before the next load of logs arrives."

A pair of glowing eyes opened as their owned stood from his meditation and walked to the engawa door of the house his group had been lodged in for the last few days at the edge of the upper 'noble' district of Ba Sing Se. It seemed they simply could not get away from the vapid tour guide Joo Dee and her constant 'handling' of their group while outside their luxurious prison.

"There is something strange going on," said Aang as he narrowed his still glowing eyes, trying to get a better look at the disturbance he had sensed.

"Strange?" said Sokka nervously, he had had more than enough of his fair share of oddities over the last several weeks. "More weird than a giant Fire Nation machine trying to drill through a wall? More weird than someone hiding a sky bison in a city full of people without anyone knowing about it?"

"I don't know. It just feels weird and angry and like it is looking for something."

"So it sounds like some big spirit lost his place in a book. No problem, I lose my place in books all the time." came the voice of Toph from her place reclined on the floor with her hands behind her head.

"Hmm... I don't think even read - " Sokka trailed off as he realised he had just been had by Toph's sense of sarcastic humour... AGAIN.

"Really? Really, do you have to do that?" he lamented.

Katara brushed her grumbling brother to the side as she approached Aang from behind and looked over his shoulder in the same direction he was looking, even though she herself could sense nothing wrong, nor could she peer into the spirit world as he could.

"What do you think it is?" she asked as she come closer to, but did not quite touch the young avatar.

"I don't know, but it feels a little familiar... It feels like..."

Aang's blank eyes widened as he came to a realization. "It feels like how I did back at the library when we discovered Appa was missing!"

"Is it coming this way?" asked Katara worriedly.

Aang shook his head as he released the avatar state. "It doesn't seem to be coming this way. At least I don't think it is."

"Great!" Sokka exclaimed, as he realized that there was not going to be any dangerous shenanigans happening today. He thought. He hoped? Oh who was he kidding, all aboard the good ship Pain and Suffering!

He shook off the feeling of impending doom, squared his shoulders and took charge, at least as much as he could do. "In which case, not your camel yak, not your baggage. Now lets get back to making these posters."

A mare—Mayor Mare, to be precise—and two stallions were huddled around a map in town hall, deep in discussion.

"How about here?" the grey stallion asked.

"Seeing as Buck Star's shop was one of the ones that was demolished, maybe we could move his new place towards Stirrup Street a few paces, then we would have room between there and Deep Blue's aquarium."

"Really?"

The posh Trottingham accent came through strongly as Doctor Hooves gave Scribed Scroll a thoroughly raised eyebrow.

"You want to place what I'm told will become a premier example of a fine tea shop next to that moon-touched bean drinker's establishment?"

"Now, now, Doctor. Let's be nice here," Mayor Mare scolded her official time keeper as Scribed Scroll, who tended to be a night owl himself, bristled at the perceived insult.

"Do you have another suggestion, if we don't put it there?"

Both looked to the brown stallion as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"How about down by South Bridge? There ought to be enough room across the way from Masquerade's joke shop and nearby to the Carousel Boutique."

At this, Scribed Scroll gave a short bark of laughter. "If we put it there, it would sink straight into the soft ground next to the river. I think you need to look at the details more and that dratted pocket watch of yours less."

The mayor flashed an annoyed glance at her record keeper as her time keeper gasped in horror and huddled in the corner to soothe the imaginary ego of his beloved timepiece. She sighed before she turned back studied that area of the map more closely.

"Not a bad idea, Doctor, but instead of near the South Bridge, I think this area just to the north of the Carousel Boutique would be better. It is solid ground and has the added benefit of being on the opposite side of the marketplace to Buck Star's. What do you think, Scribe?"

Scribed Scroll shrugged. "It could work. There is certainly enough room there seeing as it would be in the shadow of Town Hall in the afternoons."

Mayor Mare looked over her shoulder at the Doctor and facehoofed as she realized he was at it again.

"There, there," he crooned as he held his pocket watch against his cheek and stroked it with his other forehoof. "He didn't mean it, my little Timey-Wimey. Don't you worry, you're still my favorite companion..."

"I swear," said Scribed Scroll in a murmur to his boss. "Between that stallion and his clocks and his marefriend and her muffins, it's a wonder they have foals at all."

Mayor Mare leaned in closer to him. "I know what you mean. I almost dread what would happen if they found a clock with muffins on it."

Scribed Scroll chuckled at the thought as he pulled open a set of building plans, already stamped with approval not only by himself and the mayor, but by Princess Celestia herself as well as Sealed Scroll, his father and one of the royal record keepers.

With a small flourish, he noted the chosen location onto the plans and rolled them back up, ready to be delivered to Crafty Crate, the forestallion who was in charge of the construction crews that were rebuilding the town.

Much to Twilight's protests, Iroh now stood alone with Spike on top of a hill on the outskirts of Ponyville. The studious mare had done her utmost to be included in Spike's training, even insisting that she be there for his safety. Argument after logical argument had been thrown at Iroh and when that hadn't worked, she had tried to forbid Spike from having lessons with Iroh unless she was there.

"You are curious; that is good. I understand your desire, no, your need to know absolutely everything, and to learn it as soon as possible, but what good is your curiosity against an unexpected blast of flames? Can you protect yourself from a blazing inferno at a moment's notice?" Iroh had lectured Twilight as if she was a raw recruit in a Fire Nation boot camp.

Twilight opened her mouth to spout another stream of facts before Iroh carried on right through her.

"I am aware that some unicorns are able to create shields of pure energy and no doubt you are one of them. Can you create your shield in an instant? Hold it for hours on end while concentrating on something else? I am not willing to take that chance. With young Spike's permission, I will be teaching him things that if my suspicions are correct are all but tied to his very nature. Notice I said his permission, not yours.

"It is the duty of the teacher to impart knowledge on those he chooses to teach. If and when I am certain Spike has developed the necessary control, I will allow you to sit in on lessons. For now, you would be intruding on private lessons, so go on, spend some time with your friends and leave us be."

With a huff of great annoyance, Twilight knew she was not going to win this argument and even if she did it would only create bad feelings from Spike.

Iroh sat on a log that had been set on the relatively flat plateau at the top of the hill, a popular spot for lovers to watch the sunset, not that he himself knew that.

He had spoken at length with the young dragon for more than an hour, just getting to know him. He gauged the responses of the idealistic little guy as he worked out the best way to teach him. For that matter, he still had no idea if he could teach Spike anything.

Still, it was time to at least give it a try. Taking up the slightly more than arm-length stick he had brought with him, he drew in the dirt to illustrate his points as he made them.

"If we have to start anywhere, I believe it would be best that we cover the source of firebending before we do anything else. Power from firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy within the body. The energy then extends past your limbs and becomes fire. This is one of the most basic lessons of firebending."

"It's not about force or aggression," he continued, "it's about releasing the energy within. You tense up your body muscles then release the energy, not using the power of throwing a punch or kick but the extension of the energy. An example for this would be a bow and arrow; you don't throw the arrow, you pull it back, put tension on the string, then release and the energy sends the arrow flying through the air."

Spike nodded his understanding for a moment until a look of confusion came over his face. "Uh... what's a bow and arrow?"

Iroh realized his mistake and took up his stick and sketched the items in question. "This stick pulls the string tight," he explained. "An arrow, which is a straight stick that has been sharpened to a point at one end is placed with the back end against the string and pulled back. The further you pull the arrow back against the string, the harder it will snap back and launch the arrow.

Iroh looked to his is side and smiled at Spike as the young dragon stared at the simple images he had drawn.

"I bet you might have noticed something similar whenever you breathe fire voluntarily? The harder you concentrate on gathering the energy and the deeper the breath you take, the bigger your flame is."

Spike perked up at that. "Hey, yeah. I had noticed that, but I just assumed it was because I was putting more fire into the flame."

"It is small insights like this that make all the difference when learning these skills, especially for the first time. Once you have learned some measure of patience and self-control, which itself is an extension of your self-awareness, you will have greater control of your abilities and by extension, greater flexibility in what you can do with your inner flame."

Spike leaned back so he could look Iroh in the face more clearly and asked, "So what's your favorite thing to do with fire?"

Iroh grinned happily as he pulled his trusty teacup out of his sleeve. "Keep my tea at the perfect temperature."

Spike was confused. "What does that have to do with using fire?"

What followed was a lecture on the similarities between fire and heat energy and their subtle uses that had the young dragon's eyes crossing with information overload until Iroh noticed his plight and slowed down a little.

Author's Notes:

Much thanks to Nyerguds for his proofreading assistance.