Iroh looks at the sweat dripping from Toph's forehead under the brunt of the desert sun, with it directly overhead, there's no shadow for the two to take cover beneath to get out of the heat. Seeing this, Iroh decides to root through their camping supplies, grabbing some tent support sticks and one of the rain tarps. With the shifting sands beneath them, Toph's seismic sense is all but useless and has rendered her truly blind. It doesn't help that the sun is baking the sands making it burn the soles of her feet. It doesn't take Iroh very long to set up a small gazebo for the two to be shaded by. After this, he uses his firebending to control the temperature around them and reduce the heat making the shade comfortable. "Had I had known that the desert would be this unpleasant, I would have elected to stay at the oasis village." Iroh says as he sits down beside Toph leaning against the lone spire. "It's even too hot for some tea, that's a shame." He complains before grabbing a canteen full of water. "Drink, the heat and winds out here will suck the moisture from your body making you susceptible to heat stroke."

"So you're really the dragon of the west?" Toph asks as Iroh passes her a canteen of water, she takes the canteen from him before taking a drink. "Why'd you leave the firenation?"

"Many years ago, I lost my son to the battlefield, after his death I returned home after I was routed from the outer walls. Immediately after my son died, my father also died and my brother ascended to the throne taking my birthright and his cruelty knows no bounds. Left with little else aside from title and name, I set out on a pilgrimage to relearn firebending and learn about myself. These travels would take me all across the world and even to the spirit world; however I had to return home to take care of Zuko because I knew my brother would turn his cruelty on him." Iroh explains, despite the fact Toph can barely sense Iroh beside her she can feel the pain in his heart. "Zuko had been banished from the firenation and it didn't stop there he was burned by his own father and then disowned. All for speaking out against a disgusting plan that one of my former allies had come up with. He wanted to send a bunch of recruits, men and boys who were no older than 20 into war as bait to get slaughtered and allow the more experienced soldiers to take down that contingent."

"Zuko was banished for saying how wrong it was?" Toph asks, turning her head in Iroh's direction. "He doesn't talk about his past very much. I've even asked him what he wanted to do when the war is over but he didn't answer me."

"Zuko believes there is no home to go back to, and he isn't entirely wrong. There is no home for him in the firenation, but that is the firenation as it currently stands. In order for the war to end, Zuko must ascend to the throne as Firelord. Only then will he be able make the firenation a proper home for himself and turn them away from our warmongering. To do so however means killing my brother." Iroh continues, "Before he was banished, Ozai declared that he had to fight an Agni Kai against the general he dishonored. However, since he spoke out of turn in the firelord's war room, it was Ozai who was dishonored by that act."

"What's an Agni Kai?" Toph asks.

"A fire duel, oftentimes they're to the death." Iroh answers, "Ozai granted Zuko "Mercy" as he saw it and didn't kill him when Zuko refused to fight. Instead he burned his face, took his sight from his left eye and his hearing from his ear on the same side. After that, he was disowned and banished and because of this he lost his title as prince. I prevented that, after Ozai disowned him I adopted Zuko in my name but he doesn't know that. However, in doing so my brother banished me as well since he saw me as a threat now that I once again have an heir."

"Is that why the firelord doesn't go to the battlefield anymore?" Toph asks, "When my uncle was killed, it was said that Firelord Azulon himself killed the Avatar."

"That is precisely why Ozai has never set foot on the battlefield, should he be slain, the crown would go to me since my heir is older than his and I am his next of kin." Iroh explains, "I can't simply return home and defeat Ozai myself, the world will see it as a brother killing a brother to seize power, they wouldn't care for my reasoning nor would the people of the firenation see it that way. The avatar must be the one to bring down the firelord."

"But, Zuko can't be firelord and avatar at the same time, there'd be too many things he'd need to do right?" Toph asks.

"Perhaps, but in our history there have been a few occasions where the Avatar was also the Firelord. It was 3 full cycles of the avatar since the last avatar sat on the throne as firelord. Her name was Avatar Kazza, she was born in Hira'ai much like Zuko's mother but the child was disowned after birth because she had a birth defect. She was born without arms and grew up in an orphanage. Despite her disabilities she overcame her lack of arms through her bending, and at first it was believed she was an airbender since that was the first element that she learned as even as a young girl she had discovered how to use that art to take the place of her arms." Iroh tells her the story of his foremother. "She married the ruling firelord at the time named Ryujin and when he passed from illness before their first child was born, Avatar Kazza became firelord as his widow."

"My uncle was blind like me, and learned how to firebend and waterbend on top of his natural earthbending but even he wasn't strong enough to take down the firelord." Iroh remains silent for a few moments before drinking some water from his own canteen.

"It has been a difficult time for the world, the avatars have failed and now it's on Zuko's shoulders to succeed." Iroh finally answers, "But, Let's change subjects shall we? How are you acclimating to being a part of this team?"

"It's a lot to be honest." Toph begins, "I know you helped me understand teamwork, but at first I didn't know how to be a part of the team, I thought that all I needed to do was carry my own weight and tag along with Zuko to teach him earthbending."

"You're young, even younger than Aang minus the years he spent frozen in ice. You were cooped up your whole life and have never actually taken part in something like this. None of us hold any grudge against it, you just didn't know. Learning how to contribute to the team as a part of it is a crucial skill to learn, as well as learning how to learn and learning how to teach. Remember, when you are with us, don't think I think we as your decisions affect all of us." Toph giggles sheepishly to herself when Iroh says but the two share a laugh for a moment. However she has to stop herself when she hears something odd.

"You hear that?" She asks, causing Iroh to stop laughing and look at her before bringing a hand to his ear. "It sounds like wind, but I don't feel a breeze at all." She says causing Iroh to get to his feet. The two go silent for a moment trying to hear what she's talking about before Iroh begins to hear it as well.

As he turns his head in the direction of the wind without a breeze he spots several strange wooden crafts sailing over a sand dune heading straight for them. "We're not alone." Iroh says, causing Toph to jump to her feet. "Can you bend sand at all?" He asks, "Try to bend the sand together to create something stable enough for you to see and bend with." Not knowing what Iroh is warning her of, Toph opts to just listen to the ancient general and flexes her arms out before clasping her hands together as tight as possible. The sand beneath them shifts and locks together into a small sandstone slab that the two can stand on. "Sandbenders." Iroh finally warns her of the danger. Four sand sailors come flying over the dunes closing the distance between them in mere moments prompting Iroh to shift into his dominant stance and Toph to fold her hands inwards and hold them out with her fingers splayed in a mantis stance. As they glide to a stop, Iroh warns them by flourishing a bit of fire between his hands. "Are you lost? Seems strange for a group of sandbenders to be in the middle of nowhere around some ancient ruins." Iroh asks, stepping out in front of Toph in a protective manner.

"We're not here for a fight, old man, just give us the bison and we'll be on our way." The leader of the sandbenders states his demands but he doesn't bother taking off the turban from around his head. "I'm sure your granddaughter wouldn't want to watch us beat the tar out of you and take the bison by force."

"No, I'm sure she wouldn't want to witness me incinerate you." Iroh says, though Toph can tell that it is a bluff she doesn't open her mouth. "I am the firebending master of the Avatar, it would be wise if you were to leave." With his foot, he shifts his weight allowing Toph to sense the direction he's turning in. "My foot is pointing in the direction of the nearest sand sailer." He whispers, his facial hair being enough to conceal his mouth movements.

"Yeah, and I'm the earth king." The sandbender responds before motioning to his guys to attack them.

The moment Iroh sees the sandbender motion for his men to attack, he shifts his weight towards their leader and blasts flames through his palms. The torrent of fire causes the man and his henchmen to dive to the side allowing the burst of fire to hit Iroh's actual target. The fireball slams into the front of the sand sailer and explodes consuming it in bright orange flames. "Appa!!! Yip yip!" Iroh shouts before a wall of rock is lifted in front of him by Toph protecting the general from getting sand blasted by the benders to his right. Behind him, Toph stomps on the ground lifting a stone from the slab she created before launching it in the direction that Iroh had shifted his foot to earlier. The stone grazes the side of the sand sailor tearing a hole in the right outrigger on the vehicle. Appa hears the command from Iroh and immediately takes flight, the old general having had the foresight to nab the whistle that Aang keeps stored with his belongings on the back of Appa. As Appa takes flight, Iroh sees a few of the sandbenders pull out blow guns from their bags. Left with no other choice he shifts into a different stance and Toph can immediately feel a drastic change in her elderly friend.

She feels his weight become completely grounded on the slab they're on and the air suddenly comes alive with power. Her hair begins to stand on end as she hears the crackling of electricity, feeling the vibrations from Iroh as he generates a bolt of lightning. Suddenly a loud thundercrack reverberates around the desert sands as the bolt of electricity sails past the sandbenders and slams into another sand sailor. Seeing Iroh use lightning, the sand benders immediately turn tail and run as Iroh begins to charge up another bolt preparing to fire it at them again. "Gashwin! We need to get out of here, this dude's crazy!!!" One of the sandbenders screams before grabbing their leader and booking it for the remaining sand sailors. Iroh watches as the men flee from them before pressing his fingers together and then slamming the lightning bolt into the desert sands. As the thunder radiates across the desert, Iroh exhales the excess energy from his system and relaxes slightly as the sandbenders escape. "Well, that was unpleasant." Iroh says before reaching into his bag and pulling out the bison whistle. "You ok, Toph?" He asks before looking up at Appa circling them overhead before blowing into the whistle and gesturing for the sky bison to come back down.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She says before walking over to where Iroh had blasted the sand with lightning. "Did you hit the sand with that last lightning bolt?" She asks, leaning down and feeling around through the sand for a moment.

"Yes, it was a bit of extra incentive for them to leave." Iroh says before walking over to Appa to make sure the bison is alright.

"I feel something in the sand here." She says as she roots around in the sand for a moment. "It feels like... glass?" She asks before pulling a large lightning shaped glass tube from the sand where the lightning strike hit. "What is this thing?" She asks.

"I'm... I'm not sure." Iroh says as he goes to inspect what Toph is looking at. "This is... fascinating." Iroh says as toph feels the glass structure with her hands. "You said this was from the lightning I shot?" He asks, causing her to nod her head 'yes' Iroh scratches his chin for a moment before he gets an idea. "Do you think you could bend it?"

"I don't know." Toph answers as she looks over the fulgurite in her hands, "Let me try." She says before clasping her hands around it for a few moments before the glass begins to change shape and she's able to manipulate it.

"You truly are a very gifted bender." Toph smiles as she continues to bend the glass into various different shapes before finally compressing it into a small marble.

Within The Library.

It took Sokka almost an hour to go through the observatory and find the exact day that an eclipse would take place. Once they have the day Sokka writes down the date on multiple sheets of paper just in case he loses one before giving the extras to Katara, Yue and Aang for added security. After he writes down everything, he looks to see a knowledge seeker sitting at the exit of the room watching them. Sokka opts to reset the tiles back to the way he found it before giving the fox a piece of meat as they exit. Through the halls of the giant library, the four sprint through the halls and back up to where they had left Zuko. Upon seeing him however they're not greeted with Zuko or Roku, instead a different man stands in front of the great knowledge spirit and is surrounded by almost 3 dozen knowledge seekers that are writing down everything that this man is saying.

The man standing before Wan Shi Tong is a fair bit taller than Roku wearing regal red robes similar to that of the fire sages at Roku's island. On his head sits a rather lavish headdress with two flared rectangular flaps on both sides that end right before the center of the forehead, between them sits a large golden ornament at the peak of the headdress. Most notably however, is what is on the man's face. On the center of his forehead is a red tattoo of a vertically turned eye on his forehead. The third eye is flanked by four lines that swerve up/down or pass through the iris in the center of the eye. As they get back to the platform where their rope is still hanging from the tall spire, they hear Wan Shi Tong speak to the avatar before them. "I thank you for giving me your knowledge, Avatar Szeto. It has been most enlightening." Wan Shi Tong says, causing Avatar Szeto to bow to the great spirit before turning blue and his appearance fading and shifting for a few moments. The person that replaces him is a woman, who is shorter than Yue, who doesn't have arms.

"Greetings, Wan Shi Tong. I am Avatar Kazza and a former Firelord. I reigned almost 1,700 years ago after my husband died on the throne." Avatar Kazza's voice is sweet and motherly, almost reminiscent of Katara and Sokka's own mother. "In my time, the earth kingdom was split into a dozen smaller nations that warred constantly with each other. Through dozens of political marriages and treaties it eventually formed into the east and west earth kingdoms that launched a war in an attempt to take the crystal city of Ba Sing Se which had tried to remain neutral through the conflict. I had to battle both armies with the help of the firenation military because I was heavily pregnant with my three sons at the time of the conflict. Despite my disabilities and even my late term pregnancy with three children, I bested and leveled both armies and oversaw the treaty that unified the earth kingdom under the rule of Ba Sing Se." Avatar Kazza greets before beginning to regale Wan Shi Tong with the story of her life and the events of her era.

"I'm afraid we may have to cut this meeting short, Avatar Kazza." Wan Shi Tong says as the quartet returns from the observatory. "I trust you all have learned the information you seek?"

"Yes sir." Sokka responds. "We have 15 weeks before the eclipse." He answers.

"Very well then." Wan Shi Tong says. "Please, finish your tale and then you may leave, however I ask that Avatar Zuko one day return to my library to restore my collection and finish our discussions." Wan Shi Tong says allowing Avatar Kazza to continue to speak.

"My time as the avatar was difficult, due to my disability many nations refused to even train me, the hardest element for me to learn and master was earthbending due to none of the master earthbenders wishing to teach me. However, after I demonstrated that I was able to create my own arms with the help of my bending styles, did they finally allow me to be trained." Kazza continues. "After I learned the elements, I returned home to master myself, and master the avatar state. In the years I spent doing this I met Prince Ryujin and before the winter of that same year we were wed. We were happy together for a little over 7 years after we wed before he fell ill and things took a turn for the worst. After I discovered I was with child, the conflict in the earth kingdom reignited and Ba Sing Se sent us a message asking for my assistance in defending the city. By the time I got the message, my husband was on his deathbed and I wasn't even able to be at his bedside in his last days. His body was riddled with black buboes as the doctors referred to them and I had to use my bending to touch my husband's face one last time as he passed away. I tried making his last moments as peaceful as possible, using what little I knew of healing from the Air nomad nuns and the shamans of the southern watertribe to take his pain away in his last moments. I didn't even have a chance to grieve his death and I was forced to go to war, being eight months pregnant and then having the responsibilities as Firelord foisted upon me after Ryujin's death. It was extremely difficult, during the peace talks at Ba Sing Se, I ended up delivering my sons in the palace of the Lord of the crystal city delaying the talks for almost a month. I don't know if you could imagine how difficult it was trying to run a nation suffering from plague, tend to three infants and manage peace between tribes of a nation who had done nothing but war since the death of my predecessor. However, my patience and perseverance would result in an era of peace that lasted for well into the life of my successor after my death. My eldest son Hajime became firelord after my passing and his descendants now reign over the firenation." Kazza explains before her form fades revealing Zuko who collapses forwards onto one knee before standing up again.

"I thank you for your contribution to my collection, Avatar Zuko. When the war is over I ask that you return here and continue with the tales of your past lives." Wan Shi Tong says as Zuko gets to his feet. "Farewell." Wan Shi Tong says as he and his knowledge seekers walk away back towards the hall of the firenation.

"We heard some lightning from up above, I think Iroh might have gotten into a fight." Sokka says, causing Zuko to jump to his feet before rushing over to the rope and quickly climbing it. "Professor Zei? Are you going to come with us?"

"No, I have spent my life searching for this place, and I can spend an eternity here." Professor Zei says as the rest of Team Avatar climbs up the rope to check on Iroh and Toph. When they finally get back to the surface, they're greeted with Iroh and Toph calmly having tea with each other and Toph bending a glass marble in her hands.