Zek

I wanted to kill him right there, and by Raava, I was tempted to. He sat there next to me, humming to himself while he cleaned the blood of the man he killed from his blade, feet rested on the dash, with that stupid fucking carefree grin on his face. I recognized the tune he was humming too. "Clunky Boots". An Earth Kingdom folk song mocking Fire Nation troops, calling them all matter of names, mocking them at every turn. Normally, I didn't mind. It was catchy. I myself had sung it a few times back at Ba Sing Se. We didn't consider the connotations of it. We just enjoyed the sound of it, the catchiness. But something about the way that Kai was humming it now, taking every bit of pleasure he could out of wiping his blade clean, I wanted to grab it out of his hands and add somebody else's blood to the mix.

And I knew he did. The ways I could feel his eyes falling on me. Daring me. Just telling me to try it. And I knew I could. He knew it too. I was bigger than him, better trained. A soldier. Not whatever the hell he pretended to be. But he had something that I didn't-hundreds of allies waiting for him back home.

I was tempted to lead the Fire Nation right back there. To drive in a straight line. Leave one simple trail behind us. Hell, maybe even throw out a piece of paper that says, "This way." Just to make sure they came. I was tempted to just let the Fire Nation follow us back, to plunge Kai's own dagger into his chest, and drive off with Ka'lira, letting the Separatist camp go up in flames behind us.

But I couldn't do that, could I? Because back there, it wasn't just people I wanted to watch get consumed in flames, the burn they feel the last human emotion they ever experience. There were my friends. Boss, Gordez, Luke, Jadoh, even Zadok and Kosah to a degree. They weren't enemies at the very least. And that's what this was, working with the enemy. Not because they were Earth Kingdom, but because, simply put, they were terrorists, killers, the exact things we were supposed to be defending others from, not aiding them.

But could I blame Boss? No. Would I have done differently in his position? Probably. And that's why I wasn't in charge. By doing what he did, Boss kept us alive. I, and more importantly, Ka'lira was still breathing because of the decision Boss had made.

So I covered our tracks. We even spent the night away from camp, no doubt worrying Boss sick, but we couldn't risk leading them back. Kai, of course, demanded we go straight home, but I had to be the one to tell him of the company we may have on our tail. "All the more reason to get back quick" he had said, only after his own skin at the end of the day. I enjoyed no extra minute I had to spend there, next to that man, but I knew that doing so was the least I could do to keep those I cared about safe. Even at the expense of protecting those I wished a fate worse than death for. The next morning, I drove us between the trees, back and forth, taking us north, south, east, west, and east again, until the forest floor was scattered with the tracks of tank treads. We wouldn't be followed.

And in all due time, by around noon, we were back at camp, a few outlier scouts stopping our advance, unsure of whether we were friend or foe, a question that was answered when Kai shoved his way past me and Ka'lira alike, squeezing out of the tank to greet the two scouts, seemingly knowing one of them, and not a moment too soon. The scouts made way for us to pass, and before, and before I gave Kai time to consider pooling back with us to the center of camp, I drove through, leaving him behind, all the gladder for it, though I'm sure he wished he could've tormented me all the longer. With him gone, Ka'lira gladly slid herself down now next to me, setting herself down there, fumbling beneath her at what seemed to be something uncomfortable beneath her, finding it, and pulling it out, scoffing, turning my attention towards her as she revealed Kai's dagger which he had left behind. "Looks like somebody left this behind," he said, prior to immediately turning back, and throwing it in a perfect arc out of the tank.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh as she settled back into her seat, prompting me to ask, "You sure that's a good idea?"

"What?" she asked nonchalantly. "He'll find it on the way back. Or he won't. Not my responsibility anymore."

"As far as he's concerned. It fell out of his pocket and landed on the roof of the tank. Wherever it fell is none of our concern."

"Exactly. Now you're getting it." And despite the limited success she'd had in raising my mood, she was still observant enough to notice the conflict going on inside of me. "Sorry you had to see that."

"It's nothing I'm not used to seeing. I've seen worse. It just felt. So needless. No. The hell am I talking about? I've seen worse. Done worse too. Much worse, but…I guess there's a difference when you see it being done to your own people. No, not even that. When you're on the side of the ones doing it against your people. That's what feels wrong."

"I mean. That's what this is about though, right? Not serving any one nation?"

"I know it is!" I yelled, accidentally. "Sorry. It's just. I know it's about serving no nation, but I feel like I'd have a much easier time doing that if these weren't the type we were working with. I was expecting us to, you know, protect small towns against Fire Nation mercenaries. Stop deserters and thugs from abusing their power. But not, not to join a group of terrorists. And, I know Boss had no choice. It just doesn't make it feel any more right."

"I know," she said. "But it's only for the meanwhile. We'll be back to ourselves again soon. And if it makes you feel any better, seeing these type we're working with right now. I get the feeling we'll be seeing them not long after, probably even on the other side."

I chuckled. "You do know how to make me feel better. I'll give you that."

At that, she leant over, resting her head upon my shoulder, letting it just rest there for a few seconds before the motions of the tank shook her off, but in those few moments, I actually felt the truth in what she said. Things would get better. They had to.

A few separatists stopped us when we reached the camp, motioning for us to leave the vehicle as though they were playing army as a motor pool crew or some garbage like that, but either way, it wasn't them I had a bone to pick with. I grabbed my things, leaving the tank after Ka'lira, picturing what exactly these Seppies had in store for Shanzi. I knew that if Hizo was here, he would've punched in the nose of the first one to try to touch his tank. And not just because they were Earth Kingdom.

"You want us to get the supplies from the back, or?" Ka'lira started.

"Logistics will take care of it," replied one of the troops.

Ka'lira turned to give me a look that just asked, "Are these people fucking serious right now?"

I shrugged back in reply, on the verge of a good laugh, when the other "mechanic" said, "The General wishes to see you in the command room for a full debriefing."

"And which treehouse is the command room if I may ask?"

"Up the east conduit and go straight down main street. It's in the center."

I'd heard some of the Seppies use street names to try to organize the tree structures, but for some reason, I thought it'd just been slang. And so I was proven incorrect as we found the "east conduit", one of the pulleys that hauled us up to the structures above us, the ride up giving us some time at the very least.

"So I guess he's 'The General'?" Ka'lira asked.

"Looks like it. It's unbelievable. The way they're playing at war."

"Kinda like what we do, you mean?"

She had a good point. "Yeah, but we have a kickass boat. They don't."

"We don't have a treehouse fort though."

"Not yet, you mean. We're poised for great economic growth in the years to come," I said, donning an exaggerative formal tone as though emulating one of Yu Dao's financial advisors.

"You wanna take this one?"

"Gonna have to get rid of the pest problem first."

To that, she chuckled. It felt good to make her laugh. Then again, it always felt good to make anybody laugh, but doing it to her, it carried with it its own special charm, being able to entertain somebody you actually cared about. More than the way one usually cared for others.

"So, I didn't ask," she said. "Where do they have you bunking?"

"They've got me in some tents down below. They're still busy building another barracks up here to house some more. I'll give them this: they work hard. They're dedicated. It's just sad that most of it is just for revenge. And you? Where've they got you penned up?"

"In the girls' barracks. Enough room there for about 15 more of us. Not many girls around here, you'll notice."

"I'm sure Jadoh's not too happy about that. More competition."

She chuckled. "Worst case scenario he just finds somewhere quiet in the woods. That's what most guys do. When I was on that Earth Kingdom ship, you wouldn't believe how many the soldiers would do it over the side of the ship."

"You're kidding. They don't have bathrooms or shit like that?"

"This is the Earth Kingdom we're talking about. They wipe their asses with the dirt. No, they don't have bathrooms like you Fire Nation people do."

"Where the fuck did you go?"

There was a pause for me to realize I'd made a mistake by asking, until she eventually said, "He made me go in a bucket in the room. He liked to watch, sick fuck that he was. You never did tell me. Did you see him there when you rescued me? Big fat man, stocky build, a beast."

"Yeah. I did. Put my sword into his guts. He didn't even put up a fight. He was too drunk for that."

She scoffed, trying to suppress it, but I could see the guilty smile on her face as she heard of his fate, then eventually gave up trying to hide it. "Good. He deserved it."

I realized then it would be good to change subjects. She'd heard what she wanted, and I didn't want to see her swell on something that so clearly brought her to this state, but before I could think of anything, it was actually her who snapped out of it, saying, "So yeah. Jadoh should be fine. Besides, with the ratio of men to women here, I have a feeling all chicks are already matched, and probably have a few extras on the side."

"Guess I'm lucky I got you when I did."

"Guess you are. I'm curious. What did you all do at Ba Sing Se?"

"We tried to take over the city. Why do you ask?"

"No no. I mean to get off."

"Oh."

"Yeah," she grinned, likely noticing the slight flush that had come to my face.

"Well," I started. "The common rule is that you do it behind the tent. You face the tent while whacking off, but you have the common decency to not go off on the tent. That's shared property."

"People go inside the tent?"

"Of course not. There's standards."

"You know I don't believe that for a second."

"Yeah, I know. Do it all the time whenever the other person's gone."

"Ever while somebody else is there?"

"Hell no! How would you even get away with something like that?"

She shrugged. "Do it quietly?"

"I don't know what mad abilities you women have, but us men, we're not subtle creatures. No, but we use every moment of peace we can to get off for the day at least. That's something they don't really talk about in the plays. Lot of jerking off. Some people do it in the tanks too."

"Anybody ever do it in Shanzi?"

I actually chocked on air when she mentioned it and when she asked if I was okay, I had to tell her. There was no hiding it.

"As a matter of fact, I have."

"Oh for fuck's sake. Please don't tell me I was sitting in-"

"No no. I swear. We use old MRE packets for that. Besides. I didn't finish. I was doing it as a joke in the first place. Turns out I got snitched on by this gunner we had at the time, damn I forgot what his name was. Anyway, Hizo caught me in the middle of it, and I remember asking me what the hell I was doing, to which I answered, 'Hizo. You've got to face it. I'm not the first random dude to cum inside of Shanzi and I sure as hell am not going to be the last.'"

"Wait. OTHER people have done it in the tank? Shit, I'm gonna be sick."

"No no. You don't get it. Shanzi was the name of his girlfriend back in Yu Dao. He named the tank after her, and we all took to making fun of him for it. His girlfriend was, how should we say, not exclusive? So we all took advantage of that little detail for our own amusement."

Through her giggles that soon turned into laughs, now understanding the joke, she managed to get out, "You people are dicks."

"Look. You amuse yourself how you can in war."

"What about Luke? He ever do shit like that?"

I thought back on it, remembering how he was in those days I knew him, realizing that was about one of the last things he would've been doing. "Being honest with you, no. We didn't serve for too much time together in Ba Sing Se anyway, but in the time I did know him, he'd already seen so much that I think there was no room left in him for thoughts like that."

"I mean. You were there longer than he was, right? How much worse could it have been for him?"

"Believe me when I say, much worse. I told you about our commander before, Iroh?"

"The Dragon of the West, yeah."

"He was commander of the siege, but he didn't have direct command over the division Luke served with. His commander, well, was an idiot. Got a lot of his men killed in stupid ways, left himself open to attack, and threw his men one after another in the hopes of solving a problem. He was the only survivor out of thousands of men in his entire division. I may have been there longer, but at least I had a commander that knew the value of human life. I can't say Luke had that same luxury."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. Fuck. So no. I mean, then again, he was a little more than a kid, not that you could tell out there. Sure, he was a bit shorter, but that made no difference when you had eyes like his."

"And I'm guessing not too many opportunities to develop liking women out there? Bad place to mature."

"Not even. There were women. Lots of them actually from nearby towns."

"Oh. I see."

"No, it's not like that. Believe me. Iroh allowed us to relieve ourselves, but there were strict punishments for rape. And I mean castration by 'strict'. Women have needs too out there, and when their husbands are already dead decades ago, some needs require fulfilling."

"You ever have one?"

"A woman? No. Well, once, but that was before Ba Sing Se, and I was…different then."

"Different how?"

"Different from how I am now, but I don't really want to talk about that right now."

She could see enough from the way I approached the subject that it wasn't anything I wanted to go into, so she carried on, and by that time, the lift had reached the trees, but we carried on the conversation, not too nervous about being overheard as, this time of the day, most people seemed to be active going about their own jobs. So she asked, "What about Boss or Gordez?"

"No, not really. I'm going to be honest, neither of them really showed an interest in women out there. I can understand Gordez, him being pretty shy and all, and I guess Boss was just focused on trying to keep us alive."

"Hmm. Okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm? Nothing?"

"No, what are you thinking about?"

"That maybe they're not into women?"

I actually stopped in my footsteps for a minute there to think. "No," I said. "They're not-. Nooo. Right?"

"Hey. You tell me. I'm just saying, I see the way they act around each other."

"Well yeah. They've served with each other for a long time. And they're both from the Navy so…Oh God!"

"Really? It's the 'Navy' that sells it for you?"

"I'm just saying. There are stereotypes. Besides. No. I really don't think so."

"It's like I said, Zek. You tell me."

I didn't mean to sound hostile, but I couldn't help but do so when I had to turn, and whisper quietly yet with intent, "I'll tell you not to mention it if you can, alright? We're in the middle of two nations, neither of which really have a keenness for that sort of behavior. They can do what they want, but I'll ask that you don't really bring it up again. Not in public at least, alright?"

"No, of course. I'm sorry."

"It's completely fine. I've just seen how both nations treat these kinds of people. The Fire Nation just tosses them in a cell or an asylum. The Earth Kingdom, if you're lucky enough to be in a big city, they kill you. If you're unfortunate enough to be in a small town, they burn you at the stake."

"I promise I won't say anything."

"Alright. Thank you."

By that point, we'd followed down main street, and reached it, the platform they designated the "Command structure," flanked by two guards, the one on the right asking, "What's your business here?"

"Kiu asked us for a debriefing?"

"The general will see you inside."

Great security. Maybe I'll just stab him in the throat now to teach you how to do your jobs. Seeing as how Boss was in the room as well though, I reconsidered doing that. I doubted he would be very fond of me starting a war between our two groups. Not that it would be a long one. We didn't actually have a numerical equilibrium out here. It was good to see Boss here as well though. Made it seem more even at the very least. "You wanted to debrief us?" I asked, refusing to add 'sir' to any statement that wasn't directed towards Boss.

"Yes," Kiu answered. "First of all. Were the supplies there, and if so, did you retrieve it?"

"Yes. 'Logistics' is handling it as we speak," I said, subtly dramatizing the "logistics."

"Excellent. Did you examine what was there?"

"Food and medical supplies by the looks of it."

"How much was there, would you say?"

"Isn't that what we have a logistics division for?"

It was Boss who spoke up this time, saying, "Zek," warning me.

"You're right," Kiu said. "I'll have a full report from them later. Tell me, where's Kai?"

"He left to hang out with some of the forward scouts."

"So he's okay?"

"Physically? Yes."

"Good. Were there any incidents then?"

I wondered what to say at this point now. On one hand, I wanted to say things as they were, that Kai was insane, but I knew those words wouldn't reach the man in front of me. I had to be pragmatic. "While Ka'lira and I were retrieving the supplies, Kai sought to create a distraction for us. In doing so, he attracted the attention of a Fire Nation soldier, who he executed, leaving the body by where our tank was, alerting the nearby troops to our presence, and likely informing them that we are in possession of heavy armor." Maybe I couldn't get Kai busted for being a psychopath, but I could do something about him being an idiot, an incompetent one at that.

"I'd like to get Kai's side of the story before I settle on anything."

Of course you would. I was unsurprised.

"If that's all, then-" he was interrupted by the door to the command center opening behind us, revealing Longshot, allegedly their most skilled archer, thin of face, bow in hand, eyes unflinching, mouth shut, the picture of a sniper. Perhaps even their only image of a soldier here. He handed a slip of paper to Kiu from across the table after he was greeted by Kiu saying, "Longshot. Good to see you're back in one piece."

Longshot merely nodded as Kiu unfolded the paper, checking it over. Ka'lira and I stood there, not really knowing if we were to leave or not. We turned to Boss, who just shrugged, all of us just waiting to see what Kiu had in mind.

In a span of 5 seconds, Kiu read through the report that was apparently just as straight forward and to the point as its author was. "Thank you, Longshot. You can go. Get some rest."

We took that as our leave as well, until Kiu said, "Not you two. Not yet."

So we stayed, and he turned to us, and asked, "What do you know about the foggy bottom swamp?"

Ka'lira and I looked to each other, myself not really knowing Earth Kingdom geography that well, and so Ka'lira answered, more so, questioning, "You mean the one to the East of here?"

"Yes. It's a wasteland. Even my own men are afraid to approach it. Those who go in don't tend to come out. It's been a natural barrier protecting us from the Fire nation to the south. They learned pretty quick they wouldn't get anywhere through there, and they've kept their distance for the better part of a year, but just today, a Fire Nation transport dropped off a squadron of soldiers. The last we saw of them; they were heading directly towards the swamp."

And so I asked, already knowing none of us likely knew the answer, "Who the hell would go into that swamp?"