After half an hour of the journey, Alexander reached the Plains Village. He was bewildered by seeing the tattered state of the village. Not even a single building was in good condition. There was less to no crowd on the streets and shops were closed too. A few people that he saw looked malnourished and depressed.
"*Sigh* This is a harsh place to live," Alexander sighed.
"Okay, we will be staying here for today. I need to help people here before we move on." He announced.
Alexander looked at the couple, "Don't worry you two. I am an earth bender from a big family in Ba Sing Se. You don't need to worry about anything."
"But you are a fire..." Zuko tried to speak but Alexander put a lollipop in his mouth out of nowhere.
"Haha, don't be a party pooper," He said and got off.
"He parked the car on the side and put an invisible shield around it, leaving the couple in with the air conditioner on. Yalo still did not leave the Horn.
He walked to the nearest shop with Zuko.
"Why are you so hell-bent on helping people?" Zuko annoyingly asked.
"Everyone has their own way of finding inner peace. To me, helping others is peace. I love it when I am the reason behind someone's smile and I try to preserve it. You should try helping people too, Zuko. It gives a very different feeling. You will feel proud of yourself." Alexander advised.
"Argh, you and uncle are exactly the same. No wonder you became friends," Zuko retorted distastefully.
"Ah, Iroh. He is a good man. Too bad what happened to his son. Maybe he sees you as his son, Zuko. Maybe he sees the shadow of Lu Ten in you and wants you to become a great man.
"During the war, Iroh was a mighty general. The best of the best. Do you really think that your father could have become the Fire Lord if Iroh was serious about taking that position? Iroh at that time controlled the whole military of Fire Kingdom, yet he chose not to pursue power.
"A man willingly didn't succumb to the taste of power and chose to live a simple life. I have nothing but respect for such a man. You should talk to your uncle about his life sometimes, after all, he was indeed a powerful general, you may just learn something useful."
Alexander's lecture put Zuko in deep thoughts about everything so he returned to the car and sat down with closed eyes.
Alexander meanwhile talked to a shop owner in the village, "Hey there, what can you sell me? I mean food."
The depressed-looking shopkeeper spoke, "Nothing for a hot meal. I can sell bags of grains." He answered,
"Hmm, what happened to this place? Why is it in such a bad condition? I am sure there would have been no village here if it was like this from the start." Alexander asked.
"You are right, it was not always like this. A few years ago, this village used to be filled with activity. But then the drought hit our lands. All the wells dried up. People also stopped passing through the village as the crowd decreased due to the war. Everyone wants to go to Ba Sing Se. But those who have their whole life attached to this place can't leave so easily." The shopkeeper explained.
"Hmm, I am a powerful official from Ba Sing Se, I can help you. I can even make it rain but that will bring long-term benefits. What you need now is relief. I will leave behind full granaries in each home." He proposed,
"Oh, I am sorry for not treating you with respect sir, I don't know you were an official from the capital." The man whimpered.
"Don't be scared. you have done nothing wrong." Alexander tried to ease him.
"Sir, even if you leave behind the food. It will only get taken by Commander Gow and his men. They have been harassing this place for a while." The shopkeeper answered while looking around to make sure no one was listening to him.
"Don't worry about them. I will deal with this Gow." Alexander assured him and returned to the car. But there he saw it being surrounded by a few kids.
"Hey, don't go near it." He warned.
"Please, stay for the night. We have food just ready." Gansu invited Alexander. He looked at the sky and it was about to turn dark.
"Hmm, well, I guess I will take you up on that offer. But there are three people with me." He added.
"Zuko, go and help them set things up," Alexander told him.
Surprisingly Zuko didn't argue and went ahead to help. it seemed he was also trying to change himself.
Alexander picked up Yalo and told the couple traveling with him to come and rest in the house.
~*Sigh* I wonder where Dobby is.~
That night, Zuko came up to him and asked something, "How were you able to do Earthbending? I saw you firebend before?"
"*Sigh*, you aren't going to leave me on this are you. Well, I am the Spirit God, that should answer your questions on who I am and why I help the Avatar," he revealed.
Zuko stayed silent. A dumbfounded and shocked expression was clear on his face. He knew it was true as only the Avatar should be able to control more than one element and it was said in the book named history of Avatar written by Avatar Roku that every Avatar meets the Spirit God once in their life.
...
Iroh had just been roaming around with no destination. He was trying to find a town or something from where he could go on to Ba Sing Se.
"Oh, Iroh, what are you doing here?" Dobby appeared on the back of a horse-pulled cart. Shukaku and Kurama were sitting in the back and sleeping.
"Ah, my big friend Dobby. It is a surprise to see you here. I was heading to the capital." Iroh replied.
"Tag along, it's better to have some company on long roads." Dobby offered.
Iroh took out a teapot from his bag as he sat beside Dobby and said with a smile, "Add some tea and the journey becomes much more pleasant."
"Haha, indeed." Dobby laughed and continued his journey while chilling with old man Iroh, who sang many songs all the way.
[You can see Plains village, Ganshu and his family, Gow and his goons on my Discord - .gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - /mister_immortal_novel]
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