4. Winter

The shadowy figures moved swiftly under the cover of night. More importantly, they were as silent as the still earth, passing by patrols of bundled-up red-uniformed guards as they ignored the chilling bite of winter's wind. Their thin uniforms would have been an issue had they been out in the cold; however, these were no normal shadowy figures in the night, for they were the Dai Li of Ba Sing Se.

And the earth, with its warmth and security from the seasons, was their steadfast ally.

The Dai Li agents, who numbered six in total, tunneled in and out of the earth, drilling under the lines of Fire Nation patrols and surfacing when they could for greater speed on land. No doubt they would have been warmer if they only stayed underground, but even for elite earthbenders, constantly digging through the earth was a tedious effort compared to skiing on the surface. For such a dangerous mission, they would need to preserve all the strength they could. They carried cloth sacks on their back, the only out-of-place implement on their otherwise standard uniforms.

As they neared the main encampment of the Fire Nation army, the number of Fire Nation soldiers standing guard increased, forcing the furtive earthbenders underground as they made their way toward their goal. Slowly, they moved through the earth toward their target. The six agents came to a stop in silent understanding. Simultaneously, they burst into the air, breaking the earth with considerably less noise than one might expect.

There was no living soul apart from the six Dai Li agents. Instead, there were bundles of wheat, barrels of rice, racks of dried meats, and the occasional basket of something more luxurious like fruit or spices. Racks of spears and swords were also littered throughout the vast building, along with suits of armor. The lead Dai Li agent smirked. They were in the right place, and with no opposition at all.

The Dai Li had the Fire Nation army by the jugular now, with its main store of food and supplies at their mercy.

A quick hand motion brought all six agents into motion, splitting off in pre-planned directions. The lead Dai Li agent pulled his cloth sack off of his back and put it on the ground. Reaching inside, he pulled out a large jar which he promptly uncapped. Tilting the jar, he poured out its viscous contents over the valuable food and other goods in the supply store.

"Ready?" he uttered, the single word causing the other Dai Li agents to turn to him. The other five nodded, quickly capping their jars and putting their cloth sacks back on their backs. The lead Dai Li agent, however, simply put his jar back into his sack and reached into it, pulling out a small, unlit torch.

"Go," he whispered, gesturing to the hole in the ground. Without another sound, the five Dai Li agents swiftly disappeared down the hole they had tunneled in through, leaving the last Dai Li agent alone with a torch in his hand. Pulling out a small firesteel and a piece of flint from his pocket, he held the piece of flint right over the torch on the ground and struck it with the firesteel. A cascade of sparks fell onto the tip of the unlit torch, quickly starting a small flame that the Dai Li agent fanned into a stronger fire. With a smirk, he tossed the lit torch onto a puddle of the oil that they had poured as he jumped into the hole, closing it behind him as the oil caught fire.

The other five Dai Li agents were waiting for him, and together, they sped off as the rumblings of many frantic footsteps and movements stampeded above them.

Their mission had been completed. An irreversible, almost fatal blow had been dealt to the Fire Nation army of General Iroh.

Kai was shaken awake by the rumblings of the earth. His eyes flickered wildly as he tried to make sense of his surroundings with the whispers of sleep still fighting to pull him back, but he slapped the last of that out of his system as he sat up on his small cot. The thin cloth that was his blanket would have been deadly in the winter were he in a tent, but underground, the bulk of the winter weather was avoided by the protection of the earth.

"What's going on?" he whispered to himself in the darkness. He stood up, walking over to the small eyehole that gave him a little hint of light from the outside. Every five or so seconds, someone ran by, but no one stopped at his cell. Finally, the stream of people stopped, and an unnerving silence resumed. Kai slumped back down onto the ground, taking a deep breath as he sat.

Something was happening. He didn't know what yet, but it was something important.

Mimi woke up with a groan as she stared at the ceiling of the tent, immediately cursing her sore joints and bones. Hot stew would hit the spot for her, but there was increasingly little of that to be found in the camp over the past two weeks. The army had been running on maintenance rations and she, like every other Fire Nation soldier, felt the gnawing hunger crunch in as their bodies slowly withered.

She rolled onto her side and gently brushed Lu Ten's long hair. The prince was still asleep, a luxury that she could afford to give him for only a few minutes longer. The past two weeks had been hard on all of them, but Lu Ten had taken more of the brunt than most. Like his soldiers, he ate only the rations that were fairly allocated to him; though Mimi had no evidence, she would bet that some of the other officers were probably secretly requisitioning extras for themselves. On top of the issues facing the common soldier, he also had the responsibilities of command now that he oversaw half of the army.

The increasingly louder sounds of footsteps outside of the tent became impossible to ignore as the stronger morning patrols replaced the last of the tired night patrols. Mimi shook Lu Ten's shoulder a few times, causing the prince to open his eyes and rapidly blink as he readjusted to the world.

"Morning already?" he whispered, groaning as stretched out his arms and back and sat up in the bed.

"Unfortunately," Mimi wryly replied, grimacing. "Duty calls."

Lu Ten sighed, popping his neck with a turn of his head. "I'm not young anymore, I guess. I don't remember feeling this tired."

"The rationing doesn't help."

"Mm."

Silence reigned as Lu Ten swung his feet off the side of the bed, his back to Mimi.

"You know, you're the commander," Mimi began. Lu Ten cut her off with a raised hand.

"It's not right for me to abuse my position and authority for extra rations. I know the others do that, but I won't."

"The soldiers would understand."

Lu Ten turned around. "Maybe. But they'd still resent it, deep in their hearts. I am as much as a soldier as anyone else in this army, and we all should share the same burdens."

Mimi crawled across the small bed and wrapped her arms around Lu Ten from the back. "You're too good for this world, you know that?"

He snorted. "I wish." Mimi let her arms fall as Lu Ten stood up, flexing his back and arms as he did so. "Where's my shirt?"

"I think you left it by the table last night where… you know."

"Ah."

Wen quickly walked down the hallway, struggling to contain her fear as she held a bundle of clothes close to her chest. Her mind raced with hesitation and anxiety as she considered what she was about to do. But she had no choice. Or at least, it did not feel as if she had any other real choice.

If she did nothing, Kai would die.

She came to a stop in front of the wall that she had spent so much time in the past half-year standing in front. It was a corner of the underground complex that almost no one came through except her, and Kai's cell was the only one still being utilized here – most of the other cells were on a lower level, deeper than the main area utilized by the earthbenders.

Not that it mattered, now that they were executing the prisoners. And this was why she now found herself in front of Kai's cell.

"Kai?" she quietly spoke. There was the sound of shifting inside the cell.

"Yeah?" he replied.

She paused for a moment, mentally taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the plunge. With a hand, she bent open the cell, letting light into the small room for the first time in months.

"Agh," the man inside the cell grunted as he fell backward. "A little warning next time?"

"There won't be one," Wen scoffed. She tossed the bundle of clothes at him. "Change. Quickly."

He removed his hand from his face as he blinked and stared upward. So this was Kai. It was the first time really seeing each other's face for both of them. She examined his features, slightly thinner than healthy from captivity but otherwise fine. He was not the most attractive man she had ever seen, but he was not unpleasant to look at either. His scraggily facial hair, however, left quite a bit to be desired, and in her opinion, knocked a point off of his total if she had to be brutally honest.

For his part, he just stared at her in silence. After a few seconds, she huffed. "You done yet? Hurry and get dressed. We don't have much time."

"Huh," Kai responded, grabbing the clothes. "Somebody's grumpy."

"Because I'm sticking my neck out for you. I didn't have to do this, you know?"

Kai's face was impassive at this. "I see. Just give me a little privacy, yeah?"

Wen quickly nodded and slid the wall back up.

"Wait! I can't really see anything – where did I even put those clothes?"

She groaned. "Fine," she said, opening a small hole just above her head height on the wall. About a minute passed with the only sounds being those of Kai grunting as he changed clothes and hopped on a foot.

"Why are these pants so tight? And the shirt's way too big."

"I stole them," she said with a flat tone. "Are you done now?"

"Yeah."

Wen quickly slid the wall back down, revealing Kai in a mostly authentic Earth Kingdom soldier's uniform. His short, uneven beard and moustache needed trimming or complete shaving and his uniform looked oddly sized for him, but otherwise, it would pass muster.

"Come on," Wen gestured, "we have to go."

"Yes, ma'am," Kai faux-saluted as he stepped out of the cell, which Wen quickly closed. "Corporal… uh, Lee, at your service."

"At this rate, you'll be a private by nightfall," Wen grumbled as she led Kai through the maze of hallways that constituted the underground base. A few minutes passed in silence as Wen carefully checked each corner before walking down the path she had planned beforehand.

"Where are you taking me?" Kai asked, dutifully following behind Wen.

"There's a new group of soldiers from the city that came in today for the attack," she quickly replied, "that you can blend into. But only if we hurry."

"You're kidding."

Wen shook her head, turning around the corner. "I wish–"

She cut off as she walked into a man's back as she rounded the corner. Wen fell backward slightly as the man turned around, revealing an imposing Earth Kingdom officer with a dark, medium-length beard. He looked down at both Wen and Kai, his eyes narrowed in a glare.

"Ge- General How, I didn't see you there," Wen stuttered, trying to keep her calm. Bumping into her commanding officer's commanding officer – the commanding officer of all Earth Kingdom forces, in fact – was not her idea of remaining inconspicuous.

"I can see that much…" General How began, trailing off with narrowed eyes.

"Captain Wen," Wen supplied. "Under the command of Commander Da Gou."

"I see," the eminent general replied. "I'll forget about this incident this time, but you best take care and pay more attention to your surroundings."

Wen hurriedly nodded, grateful for the small slap on the wrist as payment for getting out of a potentially risky situation. However, before she could lead Kai past How, the older man raised a hand and walked up to Kai. The incognito Fire Nation soldier in question gulped as How leaned over and came face-to-face with him, closely examining Kai's features.

"It seems we have an impropriety at hand," General How gravely stated, his cold glare falling upon Wen and Kai.

Mimi kept an impassive expression on her face as she walked closely behind Lu Ten. It had taken some time for them to prepare for the day, but now they were walking between the tents in the middle of the Fire Nation camp, heading toward the command tent as usual.

To her, it was very clear from the faces of the men that walked past them that morale in the army was hanging by a thin thread. Unkempt appearances, thinning physiques, downward expressions – all were common sights. Not a single common soldier was spared from the rationing that had been implemented, and as a result, the entire army was slowly degrading day by day as their bodies withered along with their spirits.

Lu Ten's expression was similarly hard, but he walked with a resolute determination in front of Mimi. She could not help but admire that drive that seemed to be an eternally burning fire within him. He had the will to better those around him and the abilities to make it reality.

"Sir," both of the command tent guards saluted as they approached. Their voices were low and scratchy. Lu Ten simply nodded and walked in, Mimi following close behind.

The chatter in the command tent was the same level of frenetic frenzy that it had been since the Incident, so Mimi paid it little heed as she walked with Lu Ten to the back of the tent. There, the various commanders of the army, along with General Iroh himself, were already seated and waiting.

"Lu Ten," Iroh spoke up, smiling as he saw his son, "we were just having some tea while waiting for you." Lu Ten, for his part, preemptively put up a hand to decline the generous offer he knew was coming from his father.

"We should get started with the important matters of the day," Lu Ten stated in a conciliatory tone.

Iroh looked at his son for a second before he nodded. "Of course, of course," the general enthusiastically agreed, before waving his hand around the room. "See, my son will be a finer general than me in no time at all." There were a few chuckles around the table, but the mood being as it was, humor was scarce.

Commander Jiang cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him. "I believe that my scouts' report is the most concerning issue today." He pulled out a scroll, unfolding it as he looked around. "The long-awaited force from Omashu is finally here. They are less than a day's march from the Outer Wall and subsequently us. What we've just learned, however, is that there is another force that will strike at the same time."

Murmurs filled the table. "Another force?" Commander Jiao asked with a hint of incredulity in his voice. "How can that be? What other Earth Kingdom city can afford to send out any substantial number of troops?"

Jiang sighed as he put down the scroll. "This second force is from Ba Sing Se itself. One of my finest captains died to bring us this information, so you can all be sure that it is very accurate. My Bubai Warriors have observed these hidden troop movements themselves."

Mimi shifted uncomfortably from her position at the side of the tent. As a former captain of the Bubai Warriors herself, it was not unlikely that she would have been out there with her men to scout out the enemy. Perhaps her life would have been the one on the line or indeed lost entirely. But then she would not have met Lu Ten…

"This is grave news indeed," Iroh rumbled, stroking his long beard. "How large are these two armies?"

Jiang turned to face his general directly. "The Omashu army has been estimated to be around seventy-five hundred to ten thousand men. We're less sure of how large the army from Ba Sing Se will be, but my scouts estimated that was likely much smaller than the Omashu army – maybe half the size or less."

"So upward of ten to fifteen thousand men," Lu Ten whispered to himself, drawing attention from the rest of the table. "That nearly matches our own strength, especially if the Ba Sing Se army is larger than we expect. We'd need virtually every soldier, battle-ready or not, to fight in that case."

"It's worse than you think," Jiao rumbled, his fists clenched. "Because the Omashu army is coming from the southwest and the Ba Sing Se army is coming from the city proper, our encampment is going to be surrounded. If we even try to run, we'd be caught in a pincer movement."

"That is unacceptable," Iroh spoke up. All of his commanders looked at him. "We must do whatever we can to avoid an envelopment of the army, or we will all lose our lives here at Ba Sing Se."

There was a pause.

"What if we… split the army?" Lu Ten suggested.

Every pair of eyes in the command tent, including Mimi's, fell on him.

"That's ludicrous," Jiang immediately replied.

"Why?" Lu Ten quickly rebutted, leaving the older man at a loss of words.

"Be- because that makes no sense," Jiang finally spluttered, settling on an argument to use. "Military wisdom has always dictated that the army stays together to preserve its strength – splitting the army will only fracture its integrity and leave two weaker halves."

"But," Lu Ten picked up just as Jiang finished, "that doesn't account for the danger of a double envelopment. If we split the army in two – one force to confront the Omashu army and the other to face the Ba Sing Se one – then we may have a chance to defeat both armies separately before they can overwhelm us. If we don't split and instead opt to hold the center, which is our encampment, then we will be surrounded and defeated. Even if we decide to focus on one of the enemy armies first before the other, the size of our army would give them cause for concern and to fall back, whereas a smaller force would entice them to attack."

The stunned silence was broken by Iroh's booming laughter. "I feel like my son is speaking wisdom. Conventional? Perhaps not, but he makes a compelling argument. What are all of your opinions?"

"I think Commander Lu Ten has a point," Jiao spoke up, nodding as he did so. Behind him, his two captains were nodding as well. "It's not what I would do if I were in command, but this is definitely an exceptional circumstance. Perhaps there is merit to this strategy."

Around the table, others indicated their agreement. Even Jiang grunted an affirmative, and Lu Ten turned and looked at his father expectantly.

"It seems settled then," Iroh said with a gleam in his eye. "We will split the army in two and take the initiative to defeat the Earth Kingdom before they reach us."

He took another sip of his tea and sighed with satisfaction, savoring the aroma as their fates were decided.

"I can't believe that all How noticed was your… scraggly face," Wen huffed as she vaguely gestured, her exasperation only matched by Kai's mirth.

"Hey, that scraggly face is a nice beard and moustache," he replied, slowly shaving off the offending facial hair.

"In no way can that be considered legitimate facial hair. That's an insult to real facial hair everywhere," she retorted, pointing at the fallen hair in the sink of the barracks.

"Mhm," Kai intoned, trimming off the last of his admittedly scraggly facial hair. "Either grow it all out or shave it all off, soldier," Kai quoted, adopting a gruffer voice to imitate General How's deeper sound. "At least he didn't nitpick about the uniform." Kai put the razor down and examined his cleanly shaven visage. "Huh."

"What?"

Kai looked at his reflection. "It's just… this is the first time I've seen myself in a while. I almost don't recognize myself anymore."

Wen leaned in to see his reflection as well. She pursed her lips, begrudgingly admitting to herself that the point he had lost earlier had been completely and deservedly earned back. "You ready yet?"

"Uh huh," Kai quickly replied, wiping any water off his face with a towel before turning to face Wen. "Lead the way."

Wen poked her head out of the barracks and made sure the coast was clear before waving for Kai to follow. The two of them, clad in Earth Kingdom green, walked with their spears down the dimly lit hallway until they reached a larger chamber. Many Earth Kingdom soldiers were already standing in formation, and instead of a wall at the far end of the chamber, there was a wide ramp that led to the sunlight and blue sky of the surface. The mass of soldiers was split into two groups, and at the head of the groups, General How stood on a raised podium.

"Men of the Earth Kingdom!" How bellowed as Kai and Wen hurriedly found spots at the back of the formations to stand with the rest of the soldiers. "I do not need to remind any of you of the burdens that we carry nor of the importance of today, so I will be brief." He paused. "Today… is the day! The day when we take back our land, so that our people may be free from the tyranny of the Fire Nation! Today is the day when we cast out these invaders and show them the true might of earth! To victory!"

"Victory!" the soldiers chanted in a roar, raising their spears with unabated enthusiasm. Wen joined in naturally, but Kai found himself conflicted as he raised his own spear. Regardless of his disguise, he was a Fire Nation citizen, born and raised. Even as part of a ruse, he was cheering for the defeat of his nation. His mind called him a traitor.

But another, newer part of him whispered out to him too. Why did he need to have loyalty to a nation that barely knew he existed and treated him only as a disposable spear, ready to be thrown away after its steel head had gone dull and the wooden shaft had cracked? He had been forced to cross the world to fight in a war that he had no stake in or reason to be a part of.

So, Kai stood there, his mouth open in silence, his arm and spear raised without motion, his body shaking from more than just the might of the Earth Kingdom or the heat of the Fire Nation running through his veins.

"Mimi, I want you to stay behind."

Mimi gaped at him with wide eyes as she came to a stop behind him. They were just outside the command tent, and although every now and then, a passing soldier could see them, neither cared very much about their public appearances.

"No, I won't!" she retorted, indignation in her voice even though she knew this was an argument that she could not win. "I won't leave your side!"

Lu Ten pursed his lips.

"Mimi," he began, but he stopped when Mimi lunged forward and took him by both shoulders.

"Please, Lu Ten, don't leave me behind. Let me be by your side, here and out there. I want to fight beside you."

He shook his head. "No, Mimi, you can't. You know you can't."

"Don't leave me like this," Mimi cried, looking up into Lu Ten's golden eyes with tears in her own. "I don't want you to leave me."

Lu Ten was crying now too, tears falling out of his eyes no matter how hard he squeezed them shut. "I don't want to leave you either, but it's the only way. Please," he pleaded, "just stay here. Stay safe."

Mimi buried her head in his chest. "I know. But it feels wrong."

Lu Ten gently kissed the top of her head, ignoring the tears that streaked down his cheeks, ignoring the stares of soldiers that walked past. "I love you."

"I love you too." Before she could say anything else, however, he pulled away, flinging one last look of longing behind him as he strode away. Toward his duty.

Toward his destiny.

Even though she understood why he had to leave, there was an aching hole in Mimi's chest, and she gently placed one hand on her abdomen as she watched the love of her life walk away for what felt like could be the last time.

"Stay low," Wen whispered, as their entire company moved forward slowly and methodically. They were partially hidden by the tall grasses, but Wen was crouched even lower than most, her head almost entirely covered by the foliage. Unlike her, Kai carried a spear with him, which he held at an angle to keep from standing out too much.

"Why?"

"The first volley of arrows and fire will always go for the people that immediately stand up to fight," Wen explained. "If you stay low, you'll avoid that and have a fighting chance."

Kai pondered her words. It made sense. But "a fighting chance" – that cut deeper than she perhaps intended it to. What she called a fighting chance for the Earth Kingdom soldier meant an opportunity to kill a Fire Nation soldier. For all the events that had happened to him, for all the thoughts he had considered, killing a Fire Nation soldier was something that he was not sure he could do.

I'll cross that bridge when– no, if I get there, he thought to himself, letting that thought float away on the winter wind.

"It's a little chilly," Kai absentmindedly noted. The last time he had breathed fresh, surface air, it had been the hot summer of Ba Sing Se. Now, even with the sun shining between the occasional errant cloud, it was considerably colder.

Wen turned to look at him. "It's winter. I don't know what it's like for you back where you're from, but even though it doesn't snow as much here like it does in the north, it still gets pretty cold, especially at night."

"Well, let's wrap this quick then, yeah? We could all go home early if we work hard," Kai joked, cracking a wide smile as he tried levity in the face of anxiety. Wen rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips curled upward at the poor, if appreciated, attempt at humor.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could make a sound, there was a sharp whistling sound that whizzed past her, as well as a dull grunt and a quick whoosh of air. Suddenly–

"Fire Nation!" a soldier – Kai did not know if he was Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom – yelled, and all hell broke loose.

"Down!" Wen grunted, forcing Kai flat to the ground with one arm as a volley of arrows and spurts of fire flew overhead past them. Without another word, Wen got up and began earthbending, and Kai squeezed his eyes shut hard.

Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out.

He was going to be facing Fire Nation soldiers; some of them were just like him, drafted and sent across the world without any consideration to their own wants and desires. But what choice did he have? Would he kill so that he could live? Was that hypocritical of him?

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

There was no use overthinking it.

His eyes wide open, Kai got up and brandished his spear, ready to fight for his own survival.

Lu Ten grunted as he shot off another blast of fire at the group of Earth Kingdom soldiers that were running toward him. Sweat dripped down his brow, forcing him to wipe them before they stung his eyes.

"Hold the line!" he yelled, forcing some of the soldiers behind him, who were half-turned in retreat, to look at him. "We hold the line here!"

Beside Lu Ten, a Fire Nation soldier – a non-bender with a sword in his hand – took a chunk of earth to the torso, crushing his chest plate and sending him down to the ground with a grunt. The soldier did not stir again.

"Sir!" a soldier that ran up to him cried, his spear pointed toward the air as he came to a stop behind Lu Ten. "There's a messenger at the rear lines for you! It's urgent!" The soldier held up a hand to block an explosion of dirt from getting into his eyes, but he looked up at Lu Ten with expectation.

Lu Ten looked backward with a hesitant expression. If there was a messenger with urgent information, then it was likely important. But, as a commander and a soldier first, he felt that everlasting tug to stay at the front with his men, fighting until their last breath.

"Sir!" the soldier snapped him out of his momentary reverie. "The messenger!"

"I'll go," Lu Ten finally said, squeezing the man's shoulder. "Hold the line."

"Yes sir!" the soldier yelled as he replaced Lu Ten on the front line with his shield and spear at the ready. "For the Fire Nation!"

Lu Ten didn't look back a single time as he ran to the rear line with a handful of soldiers dedicated to guarding his life.

The rear line consisted of a trench of men that acted as a tactical reserve, mainly positioned to relay orders and to watch the flanks for attacks. The hundreds of men that made up the rear line were bored, but more importantly, they were well-rested and ready to be committed at the crucial moment of any given battle. However, among this group, there was one man that stood out from the rest because of his lack of armor – a messenger, and by his lapel, Lu Ten noted that the messenger was from his father's army. Beside the man, a komodo dragon waited, breathing heavily through its large nostrils.

"Your Highness," the messenger greeted, Lu Ten nodding in response. "I send word from the General. The southern Earth Kingdom army has begun retreating."

"Retreating?" Lu Ten exclaimed with a hint of happiness. "So, my father has won?"

The messenger nodded. "When I left, the General's army was pressing the attack. It is likely that by now, the Earth Kingdom army has been defeated. He also told me to tell you that he will be arriving to reinforce your army as soon as possible and to maintain your defense for as long as possible. Specifically, he said to not advance."

Lu Ten chuckled. "Sounds like my father. It's not as if I had any intention of mounting an attack with a half-army."

"Very good, sir. If that will be all, then I shall return to the General."

"Yes, yes, you should. Thank you, corporal."

The messenger saluted and mounted his komodo rhino, speeding off into the distance in the direction he came from. Lu Ten turned to his men, both stationed at the rear line and the ones that had covered his retreat – each soldier openly shared the elation he now felt at the news they had received. The battle would soon be won for the Fire Nation and perhaps even the city of Ba Sing Se itself would be taken on this day.

Before Lu Ten could address his men, however, a cry burst from behind him.

"Sir!" a yell split through the air, causing everyone present to turn and face a Fire Nation soldier that was barreling toward them. "Sir!" One of Lu Ten's guards stopped the man by grabbing his shoulders.

"What is it, soldier?" the guard growled. Lu Ten quickly gestured for the soldier to be released.

"Is there news? I was just about to return to the front."

The soldier panted for a few moments, trying to catch his breath. "The front… the front has fallen. The Earth Kingdom forces massed for an attack and broke through the lines."

Lu Ten's face paled at the news. Immediately, he spun around and addressed all the soldiers assembled behind him.

"Everyone, follow me! We must take to the battle and stop the Earth Kingdom advance before they completely crush us and catch the General's army unawares," Lu Ten yelled. He pointed into the distance "We'll take that hill and hold it with our lives! Forward, for the Fire Nation!"

The soldiers of the rear line cheered as they surged forward with Lu Ten, who himself had the look of grim determination on his face. The battle he was about to fight in would decide the fate of his father's army, the invasion of Ba Sing Se, and perhaps even the course of the war itself.

Wen was not sure how they had gotten caught up in a massive Earth Kingdom push, but one moment she was earthbending against a Fire Nation soldier, and the next she was running forward, Kai by her side, into the Fire Nation army's line, breaking the red with a sea of tan and green. Nonetheless, she fought like she was a loyal soldier of the Earth Kingdom.

And not like she was someone that wanted to cry out in absolute agony, ready to leave this long, horrible war behind.

"Up that hill!" an Earth Kingdom officer ordered. "Take it and we win this battle for our country!"

The Earth Kingdom forces cheered and surged upward the hill, even as soldiers left and right fell to arrows, spears, and fire from the Fire Nation forces that were entrenched at the top. Wen yelped when a soldier in front of her grunted and fell backward, almost on top of her. She shrugged off the dead man to see an imposing figure at the top of the hill – a young firebender like none she had ever seen. His armor was intricate, though sullied by the dirt and grime of battle, and his firebending skill surpassed any that she had seen before. Large blasts of flame swept the top of the hill, pushing away advancing Earth Kingdom soldiers and keeping others at bay. Even so, she could see the powerful firebender starting to crack under fatigue and pressure; his top knot, which must have once been pristinely put together, was loosening with hairs falling to the side of his head, and his uniform and face showed cuts and signs of injuries. He was clearly faltering under the barrage of the Earth Kingdom.

Almost belatedly, Wen realized that one of those spurts of fire was heading for her, and she hastily threw up a thin wall of earth to protect her and Kai, who was now right behind her. However, the fire broke through the wall easily and splashed against her chestplate, pushing her backward into Kai and sending them both tumbling down the hill.

Her vision faded to black almost instantly.

And then she snapped back into reality.

"Agh," Kai moaned. Wen felt better than he sounded, but when she opened her eyes, she realized why – she lay on top of Kai, the Fire Nation… soldier? Deserter? At any rate, Kai had broken her fall quite well, which bode better for her than for him.

"You okay?" she whispered, ignoring the cries and screams all around them as they lay at the bottom of the hill.

"Maybe," he groaned in response, wincing as he sat up. "I hope nothing's broken."

"That's the spirit," she replied mirthlessly, standing up and extending a hand to him. He took it, stretching his shoulders as he stood up as well.

"I'm not going back up that hill," Kai said with a serious tone, looking straight into Wen's eyes. "We won't make it if we go up there."

She nodded. "Let's slowly make our way to the back." She unclasped the ruined chestplate that had saved her life, letting the warped metal fall to the earth. They both spun around to retreat, but each found a hand on their shoulders as an imposing figure loomed over them.

"Commander Da Gou," Wen gulped when she realized who hovered over them. The imperious earthbender looked down at them both. One of his eyes was swollen shut and there were a multitude of new scratches on his face, but he still examined them with his good eye.

"Just where do you think you're going Wen?" he growled. "The battle's that way. And who is this?" he asked, sizing up Kai.

"This is, uh, Lee," Wen hesitantly replied. "He's injured, and I was just, erm, getting him to the healers."

"And he needs one of my finest earthbenders to do that?" Da Gou seemed unconvinced. "I think that you're ju–"

Whatever he may have said next was cut off by the most horrific, ugly, and disconcerting cry that any of them had ever heard. It was loud, it was booming, and it was chilling to hear. A great, terrible cry indeed, one that echoed over the battlefield and caused all within its range to shudder at the calamity that had just befallen them. It was like the cry of a dragon.

And then the dragon's fire was unleashed.

A massive torrent of pure, hot fire rained down upon the Earth Kingdom forces. Some of the faster-reacting earthbenders bent walls of earth, but to little avail as they were melted through along with their bodies. The screams of those that had been subjected to the dragon's breath filled the air, as did the smell of their charred flesh and burnt metal.

Da Gou's face instantly paled. "The Dragon of the West is here," he breathed out, his hand trembling unbeknownst to him. He turned back to Wen and Kai. "Run!" he yelled. "Quickly!" He pushed them both behind him as he shot a multitude of spikes toward the flaming figure that now stood atop the hill.

"C-come on," Kai stuttered, grabbing Wen's hand. "Let's get out of here." He dragged her through the swarm of Earth Kingdom soldiers that were now fleeing for their lives. Their advance had been halted, their formation was shattered, and now it was clear that the entire Earth Kingdom army had degenerated into a full rout as soldiers blindly ran to the rear.

Absentmindedly, Wen's gaze turned backward as she saw Da Gou, a semi-circle wall of protective earth around him, engulfed in a sea of flame, and his sharp shriek of pain filled her ears.

Mimi swallowed at the sight of the carnage. It was worse than she had ever expected, and she clutched her treasured book close to her heart. She did not know why she had felt like she needed to bring it, her treasured collection of Lu Ten's poems and writings, but there was a tug that had led her here with it.

She quietly passed the Fire Nation soldiers that were still picking at the carcasses of the dead, examining them and looking for survivors. There was not much left apart from burnt foliage, black dirt, and the dead that filled the earth.

There was a Fire Nation soldier that looked up when he heard the crunch of rocks beneath her boots, and he approached her with a grim demeanor.

"Is there something I can help you with, ma'am?" the soldier asked. As a captain that was still nominally attached to Bubai Warriors, she distinctly outranked most of the soldiers in the army, and the one in front of her was no exception.

"I'm looking for Commander Lu Ten," Mimi quickly requested. "I wish to speak with him."

The soldier sharply inhaled, before pointing to a small hill in the distance. Miraculously, this hill had one single, lonesome tree that still stood strong, even though its fringes had been burnt and its trunk was pockmarked by rocks and stones. Without another word, the soldier quickly slipped away, leaving Mimi with an increasingly sinking feeling in her stomach as she stared at the tree.

As she approached it, a solitary figure came into view. It was kneeling a short distance from the base of the tree, head hung low.

It was General Iroh.

He had changed out of the dirtied armor of battle and into a clean and pristine uniform that dignified someone of his stature. But the man before Mimi was not the famed Dragon of the West, the great General Iroh. It was not even the Crown Prince Iroh, heir to the throne of the Fire Nation and its empire.

No, before her kneeled a man named Iroh, a father who had lost his dearly beloved son.

Mimi felt her throat constrict, the silence deafening as the future she had once envisioned shattered into a million irreparable pieces. Her heart was gone, broken and buried with her lover.

"My son," Iroh spoke up, his tone unlike any that she had ever heard from the man. It was the voice of a man who spoke of ruin and despair, a hopelessness that would seemingly never end. "My son is dead. He has passed from this world into the great beyond, and I am no longer able to see my son."

"Your Highness," Mimi immediately said, referring to his royalty rather than his military rank, "I am… I am sorry for your loss."

Iroh was silent for a moment. Suddenly, with the ferocity of an angry dragon, he stood up and whipped around. "My loss?" he roared; his voice raised to cry out to all the heavens. "Where were you? You were Lu Ten's guard, the captain I had placed to ensure his life. You were to trade yours for his. Why didn't you?" He advanced on her with each sharp rebuke until they were chest-to-chest, the average-height general still towering over her with his immense, dominant presence.

"Why did you not give your life for his?" Iroh asked again, his voice lower but equally threatening.

There was a pause.

Mimi took a deep breath.

Her hand slid unconsciously to her womb, as if to cradle the life that it contained.

Iroh's eyes followed the small movement, widening as he realized the implications.

"I- I wanted to follow him into battle," Mimi finally responded, her voice cracking as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I wanted to fight beside him. I was ready to die for him, not just as his captain, but as his lover. But…" she trailed off.

A pregnant pause.

"It is his?" Iroh asked, his voice losing all emotion.

"Yes," she whispered.

Iroh's jaw tightened, his eyes flicking around as he tried to process this new, crucial piece of information that seemed to recontextualize the new world he now found himself in. Eventually, he let out a deep breath and backed away from Mimi.

"Go," he murmured, his body almost sagging as he lost strength. "Go and begone from my sight. I never want to see you again. Never return to the Fire Nation. Never let me find the child."

Mimi's mouth opened, as if she wanted to say something, to plead, to argue, to thank him for this final command, but in the end, she could not find those words. Instead, she bowed her head, but just as she was about to turn to leave, she realized that she was still holding Lu Ten's collection.

"Here," she said as calmly as she could. "Lu Ten wanted you to have this… one day."

Without blinking, Iroh quickly took the folder and opened it to its first page, his eyes examining the first piece of poetry Lu Ten ever had Mimi read. He remained unblinking even as large drops of tears fell from his eyes, wetting the parchment that he read. Iroh blinked once and extended the folder back to Mimi.

"Keep it," he uttered, a tremor not present earlier now pervading his words. "I have a lifetime of memories; this is all you will have left." What he left unspoken was understood between them both, and Mimi accepted the folder without any words. Iroh quickly turned and faced the tree as he kneeled once more in front of the crude grave marker, and Mimi herself turned to leave behind the only life she had ever known.

May the child be free from the burden that claimed the father.

As she walked down the hill, she heard a haunted voice sing in a delicate tone that she could never have thought possible from the man it emanated from. It echoed across the ruined land, filling her ears as she walked toward the new world that a new life would bring; a new world far from the horrors of war, and a new life free from the threats of power.

"Leaves from the vine… falling so slow…"

Kai gasped, his face caked in dirt and his armor bent and buckling in places it was not meant to. But he registered none of that as he took a deep breath of air.

"Wen," he breathed, his chest heaving and his throat parched. "Wen, where are you?"

A fit of coughing just a few bodies away alerted him, and he turned to see Wen standing up, looking the worse for wear just as he was. Still, she was alive and he was alive and that was more than he had any right to ask for from Agni.

"Are you okay?" she asked him in a hoarse voice, quickly stumbling over to him. She landed on his shoulder and coughed more, but most of the ash and smoke they had inhaled during the battle was out of their systems, and the wind seemed to have blown much of it away when they were unconscious.

"More or less," he murmured in response, cracking a small smile for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. He had a split lip, but he ignored the sharp pain as he let the joy of still being alive wash over him.

"Who won the battle?" she asked, looking around. There was nothing but death and destruction littering the land outside of the Inner Wall.

Kai sighed as he took in the same view. "No one, maybe." Wen looked at him. "I don't see how anyone wins from this."

Wen slowly nodded. "Yeah."

The two of them leaned on each other in silence for a few moments, standing together against the wind and the elements. There was nothing to say and nothing to be said. For Kai, this was the end of his life, the only life he had ever known – he had taken up arms against the Fire Nation, and there was no way he could ever, in good conscience, return to the land he once called home and find peace in his heart. That life was dead, gone and buried.

"I don't feel like I can go home anymore," Wen whispered, startling Kai with her words. "This…" she gestured vaguely, "this has changed me. More than I can even think about right now."

"I think I know what you mean," he replied, slipping one arm around her back and its hand onto her far shoulder. She looked up at him with an amicable expression. "I can't go home either, not anymore. And I don't think I want to either."

"Yeah, that's it."

There was a long pause as they took in the sight of the sun, now beginning to set beyond the hills and plains to the west, beyond the broken Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, beyond the great Si Wong Desert and mountains of the continent, beyond the great sea that separated lands and peoples from coming together as one.

They had prevailed through so much, and they had done it together.

"Let's… leave," Kai spoke up. "Let's just go somewhere and leave this all behind. This war, this long, meaningless war, let's put it behind us."

Wen was silent, and for a few moments, Kai feared that he had overstepped, that he had misjudged what existed between them. What even existed between them? Kai himself was not sure – it was something, no doubt, but what it truly was eluded his ability to enunciate.

"Yes," she finally responded, looking up at him with a faint smile. "Let's."

Kai let himself smile – a true, full smile, teeth and all – as joy leapt in his heart. Hope was in the air. He and Wen, each supporting the other as they moved forward, walked toward the setting sun.

Toward a new future and life that they could create together.

Fin