Zek

I wasn't the type of person who would wince at the necessities of war, but I had to say, I felt bad for the hawk.

It had actually made it over the forest. It was home free for the most part. It had been one of our outlying scouts that shot it out of the sky and brought home the message it had been carrying, as well as dinner.

Apprehend the asset and deliver him to us unharmed. Ransom will be discussed upon meeting tomorrow within the borders of Xinxing at 1500. Don't be late.

There had been no signatory, only the Fire Nation insignia sealing it shut. Naturally, the first question was what the "asset" was. The question after that, however, was wondering what purpose the unknown "asset" was, and on top of that, many more question we knew would go unanswered, and likely would remain so for the time being.

The letter had been addressed towards the Misty Palms Oasis in the Yahazhen province. The bird would have known where to go, but now, sadly, that was no longer a factor. The natural thing to do was to resend the letter, but the "how" of it was now a concern. We had a few messenger hawks of our own, but none directed anywhere near Yahazhen. The only course of action now was via messenger, and lucky for us, we had a few new sets of Fire Nation armor.

We decided that the explanation for messenger would be, "Transactional information is too sensitive to send by bird." We just prayed that whoever the message was directed to would buy the half-assed excuse. We wanted to think that the promise of ransom would outweigh the lack of sense in what was occurring. Kiu had learned from last time, and rather than trying to force integration by pairing some of his and some of mine for a task such as this, he decided on sending me and Gordez out to get the job done. At the very least, we were given the camelephants to ease the strain of the journey. We left at noon. Ka'lira kissed me before I left. It felt nice, having somebody to do that with.

I won't lie when I say that a part of me had been looking at Gordez differently now since the conversation I'd had with Ka'lira. A part of me felt guilty for that as well. It's not that I had anything against it. I'd been in the army long enough to know that desperate times called for desperate measures, and I sure as hell didn't share my nation's views on it, but, still, a part of it felt unnatural to me. I didn't consider them any less of people, but, I guess my thoughts on it still were unclear. A part of me didn't even believe it. Gordez, he didn't act the way that I was raised to believe that they acted. He wasn't femenine, girly, or anything along those lines, but then again, I was raised believing that Earthbenders had horns that grew out of their heads. Who could know what was true at this point?

And Boss? It was funny, after years of serving under him, I still almost knew nothing about him. His past was a mystery to us. It had slipped that he'd been in the Navy. With the Raiders more precisely. That was public domain to be there. Knowledge made available to us when he became our commander, but beyond that, his experiences, what he'd done, I knew almost nothing. And I use to think that I had a bad squad before Ba Sing Se. I couldn't imagine what the hell they'd done to him. But more importantly, I knew nothing about him, what he'd been through, what he'd done. This was just one more piece to the puzzle that I hadn't known existed.

A part of me wanted to ask. I mean, we were going to be riding for a while, and while Gordez may not been aware of the weight of the silence that was on the verge of blowing out my eardrums, it sure as hell was plaguing me, and I had to ask, but I waited. Waited until the forest was miles to our backs. Waited until I knew there was nobody except for the meddling spirits that would overhear what I had to ask.

"Are you gay?"

"What the hell kind of question is that, Zek?"

"Okay that came out very rushed and very wrong. Let me try again. Do you like dudes?"

"Zek!"

"More specifically Boss?"

"ZEK!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was just thinking over it and, well, you two do seem kind of close, I guess?"

"You guess? You're asking me this because you guess?"

"I mean, yeah? Look, Gordez, you know I'm your friend, hell, how couldn't you be after saving my life dozens of times in the last 2 years? I won't hold it against you. I have no reason to do that, but I just want to know."

He was silent for a while in a way that made the silence from earlier feel like a feather on my shoulder. It was a silence I then anticipated to not just last however long it took us to get back to camp but perhaps for the future that followed as well.

It could have been seconds as much as it could have been hours. Right then, time seemed to lose any and all meaning as I started to realize the mistake I'd made.

"Yes"

My mind shot back into action and I wondered for a while if I'd actually heard what he'd said then. "Yes, as in 'yes, I'm gay and I'm with Boss."

"So he's gay too?"

"Zek."

"I said I had nothing wrong with it! I just, you know, was curious. Damn, here I thought me and Ka'lira were the only couple in our unit."

"Sorry to take the limelight away from you too," he said with the makings of a grin. Thank Raava.

"Well. I'm still going to give myself the title of at least being the most sexually active one in the unit."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up for that either."

"Alright alright! You can stop! I said I had nothing against it. I never said I wanted to be picturing it in my head!"

Gordez was chuckling as he then said, "Hey. You're the one who wanted to know."

"I guess I did dig my own grave there, huh? So, we good?"

"Of course we are, but keep it to yourself if you don't mind me asking. I trust you because I know you. Almost as long as I've known Boss."

"Not Luke?"

"No. And definitely not Jadoh or the others. Trust takes a while for me. You've barely earned it yourself."

"Geez thanks. But hey, really, thanks for telling it. Promise I won't put you in any danger."

He scoffed. "I'd say I'd hold you to that, but if word got out, I'm pretty sure I'd be swinging from a tree before I could even try to strangle the life out of you."

"As much as you'd like to, I'm sure."

"Ohhh yeah," he said with a smile, ending the conversation there with what I could call a good ending, easing myself for the rest of the ride.

Around half an hour had passed when the last vestiges of the forest had been left behind, transitioning us into a grassy plain that, were we to travel a few more miles north, would become unrelenting sand dunes. For now, we made do with the growing heat and dryness in the air, working our way northwest towards the desert's outskirts where we'd find this alleged oasis. Then a question crossed my mind, "We don't have any money to pay them with."

"Fire Nation credit is pretty reliable. They get good documentation. They'll trust that."

"I hate to say but, I don't think Fire Nation credit is much good in the middle of the desert. Got the feeling that cash is all that'll really matter to them."

"Hmm. We can promise to deliver the cash later on, but, no, if they won't accept credit, I doubt they'd accept words either."

"We can arrange for them to take them to the 'fleet,'" I said, emphasizing the hand quotations. "We say we need the extra security for the asset, they'll come with us. We take them to our camp, determine the value of the prisoner. If he's worth anything, we arrange for payment. If not, we just hand him to the Fire Nation."

"You think the Seppies will be keen on handing him back over to the Fire Nation?"

"Alright, fine. Then we pay for him either way."

Gordez grunted. "Hmm. That's assuming we want to pay for anything."

I can't say that I was put at ease by what he said. He made a fair argument. Could we try to just get the guy out? Rescue the hostage from whoever's holding them hostage? No. Just two of us? Idiotic. They're bound to have brought backup. Extra muscle.

It wasn't long before we reached the small hill overlooking the rumored luxury resort, but overlooking it from a distance, the truth was apparent.

"What a piece of junk," I said, my eyes drawn to the sad mound of ice in the center of the pathetic watering hole, now serving more to quench the thirst of passing fauna.

"Years haven't been kind to this place, seems like."

"Who the hell would arrange for a meeting here?"

Gordez spurred his camelephant back into a trot, descending the hill towards the sorry excuse for a resort. "Compared to the rest of the desert, this is probably as good as it gets."

"Man. Screw this continent. Why are we trying to take over this continent again?"

Gordez shrugged. "Living Space?"

I scoffed. "We'd be better off turning this desert to glass. Make it a tourist trap. At least then it'd serve some use.

There was no security. Not even paid mercenaries guarding the place. I imagined the flux of shady characters both going in and out was enough to disincentivize any hostilities. We passed underneath the sandstone archway, a number of eyes immediately drawn to the two Fire Nation soldiers riding on camelephants. Most eyes turned away, not wanting trouble with the Fire Nation, and a quick pat of the sword at my side was enough to turn away the other eyes that still maintained a look of dangerous curiosity.

There was no shortage of desperate characters that gave this place the spirit its architecture and upkeep sorely lacked. I could see why this place was still standing. It was a hive of scum and villainy. And sometimes, that was exactly the kind of place that drew people in like flies.

"See anybody who looks like our contact?"

"You mean do I see anybody with a random prisoner in chains out in the open?"

"Good point."

"Best thing's to let them come to us. Thinking we stop by in that bar over there and wait until they come to us. We'll hitch up here."

We dismounted, being sure to hitch our rides somewhere within good view in front of the tavern's doorway so as to enable keeping an eye on them from within the establishment. We had nothing valuable on them that would make the effort of stealing them worth it, but notwithstanding, we weren't taking any chances. Especially in a place like this.

We found a good table from which we could keep an eye on the doorway, both to keep an eye on the camelephants, and to ensure we weren't being set for an ambush. Earth Kingdom nationalism ran as high as it did for the Fire Nation these days. This war has done two things. It's made those in the middle lose absolutely all taste for warfare, no longer caring who wins, and it's even further radicalized the extreme, to the point that they've attack the first enemy on the street regardless of their own risk in doing so.

My eyes were drawn to the barkeep, meticulously wielding his dual blades in preparing cool beverages for his patrons in a fashion so fluid that I couldn't help but order a drink for Gordez and myself in the hopes that the tender's extravagance would translate into a refreshing beverage.

It did not.

"The fruit's rotten." I sighed, sliding the drink aside.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know! He just cut it so nicely I thought it must be a god drink."

"You're an idiot, Zek."

"Don't rub it in."

Some time passed in silence as we scanned the room waiting for some party to make themselves known to us, and I eventually decided to break the awkward silence in saying, "I'll say this. Feels good to be back in uniform again."

"Does it now?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean. It feels like, even if it's just in disguise, like I have a purpose again. As though I'm really part of something bigger than myself."

"You know it's not safe to say things like that. Especially now."

"You mean because of this place or the Seppies?"

"Both."

"I know. I can't help it, I just, I'm getting tired of it, y'know? Working with them. I was fine doing the stuff with Boss. Helping the weak, protecting them from raiders and thugs, but this revolutionary stuff? I can't get behind that. Especially when it feels like I'm deliberately doing things that aren't even hurting the military but hurting the actual people. Luke told me what happened with that convoy. How one of the Seppies tried to kill a random caravanner. Shit's not right."

"Of course it's not, but for now, we have to keep our heads low."

"It's hard for me to do that, Gordez. On one hand, I have a home I actually care about. One with values I respect, a sense of order and law. And here, I'm working with a band of freedom fighters going terrorist who seem to have little qualm with killing whoever gets in their way. Frankly, as somebody who grew up in the Fire Nation, I'm surprised you don't feel as strongly."

"I'm not saying I support these Separatists. I disagree with nearly everything they stand for, and I'll be happy when we cut ties with them and go back to what matters-helping those being abused by both sides of this war, but I guess a big difference between you and me is that I don't have the same idealized view of home that you do, no offense. Hard to love a place where you're viewed as a degenerate."

"Oh. Right. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, but I'm counting the days with the Seppies. I'm thinking I'm going to try to go to town with Luke tomorrow to find some parts for the Patriot. See if we can speed up the repair process."

"Smart, but until we're able to get out of here, what happens when the Seppies start pushing, and they will. There's no way they're just satisfied to sitting in the forest, content with raiding convoys from time to time. I mean, just this, going out of our way to try to gain an edge over the Fire Nation, they're up to something."

"Of course they are. And we'll do what we have to in order to stay alive."

"At the cost of what we value?"

Gordez was silent for a moment. "It's hard to speak in advance about something so idealized. Luke was lucky to get out alive for what he did, killing a Seppie. Make it a repeat offense, and I'm not liking our odds."

"We've dealt with worse odds. Remember Ba Sing Se? Climbing that wall? Felt like it was just us against an entire city, but we made it, and we tore that wall down."

Gordez took a sip of his drink, seemingly more for the sake of the buzz than the taste. "And see what good that did us. Wall's still standing, war's still raging."

That downer note was enough to get me to take a drink as well. The silence between us was screaming so loud into my ear that it was a relief when a bearded man donning a strange headpiece approached us, saying, "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice your uniforms. Does the Fire Nation have some business in Misty Palms?"

Gordez spoke up, saying, "Waiting for some friends."

"Of the Fire Nation variety, or…"

"More like the business variety."

"So I see. May I take a seat then?"

"By all means."

The man sat, ordered a drink for himself, and some time passed as he enjoyed his beverage, until asking, "We were expecting some correspondence before you came. Apologies for keeping you waiting."

"None necessary. We prefer to keep sensitive information about transactions out of the air where it's prone to being shot down."

"So I see. Notwithstanding, if you would please follow us outside. We prefer to do our business away from prying eyes."

I moved up to leave until Gordez motioned for me to sit back down. "On the contrary, we prefer to do quite the opposite. We can hammer out the details here, exchange goods outside."

"Very well," he said reluctantly. "So let's discuss payment."

"Product first."

"The college brat? What's there to know? We have him outside, sedated, ready to go on your orders. So about payment, I'm thinking 500 gold pieces for-"

"500 gold pieces for a college kid? Are you out of your mind?"

Who was this kid? Some kind of royalty's son?

"500 for the information he knows. Been studying this desert for a while. Knows about all kinds of lost relics and artifacts out there. You'll get your money's worth. That, I promise."

"We can discuss payment upon arrival of the asset."

"Upon-are you saying you don't have the money here?"

"In the middle of the desert you mean, guarding by just 2 guards? No, the money's not here."

"No money, no kid."

"Well good, because we offer that you help us escort him back to Fire Nation territory, and we'll throw in an extra 50 gold for your trouble."

"100."

"75. An honest pay for a short trip, wouldn't you say?"

The man scrunched his face, passing his fingers through his beard before saying, "Fine." Him and Gordez shook hands. Follow me. I'll take you to the kid."

We stood up, now following him. They'd have no reason to try and cheat us before getting paid. We were safe, for now. He led us through a back alley bordering the wall to a small loading area where 4 other similarly adorned guards awaited us, and tied onto the back of a rhinoceros beetle, a sleeping man no older than 20. A kid. Not that I'm one to talk.

"Don't worry about damaged goods," the merchant said. "All we had to do was spike his drink. Little shit's addicted to them. You'll have your kid and escort for the agreed price. You can inspect the asset if you want, but the sooner we get going, the better. Sandbenders like to hang out here in the afternoons and evenings. Better to keep our distance and avoid complications.

"In that case," Gordez said. "Let's get to it."

It was nothing that either of us wanted to spend more time than we had to on.

It was a relief to us all, the merchants included, when we finally were out of the desert an hour of travelling later, headed towards our camp. The merchants seemed to be making no fuss out of the route we were taking them. We assumed they suspected nothing of who we really were, likely just making the assumption that we were taking them to some outskirt Fire Nation outpost.

Everything was going smoothly for the most part until, a few minutes into the forest, the prisoner began to stir. None of us had really noticed until he started speaking, starting with just small mumbles, until a few seconds later, he found the capacity for words, saying, "Wait. Wait. Hold up. Wait a minute! What's going on!"

"Prisoner's waking," commented the merchant.

"I can see that. Will it be an issue?" Gordez asked.

"Nah. We have him tight back there. Worst we need to worry about is him giving us a headache. Hey! Shut up back there!" He slammed his elbow into the man's ribcage, met with a reciprocal grunt.

"Agh. Hey! Look! You don't have to do this!"

"Kinda do, kid. Got a big payday riding on this, nothing personal."

"Don't humor him," Gordez said. "He'll figure out soon enough."

"Pay-wait. For what?"

The merchant brushed aside Gordez's complaint, adding, "Got some useful stuff in that college head of yours. Somebody's finally going to get some use out of it, probably before lopping it off, that is."

"Oh Spirits!"

"Was that necessary?" I asked.

The merchant just chuckled.

"You don't have to kill me, please. I'll pay! My parents! They're in Ba Sing Se! Nobles. They'll give you good money, I swear!"

"Sorry, kid. We're already getting paid. A good price at that too."

"Thousands. Thousands of gold pieces."

Woah. That was a hefty fortune. I almost feel bad for these beetle merchants. They were getting the short end of the stick and handing him off to us. We're the ones coming out on…top. Of course, however, I wasn't the only one who had come to that same conclusion. The merchant had reigned in his beetle, and his entourage of guards were dismounting, spears aimed at us.

"Alright alright," the merchant said. "You seem like smart folk, so you know where this goes. Get off your mounts and keep your hands in the air."

"So much for 'already getting paid.'" I commented as two of their guards aimed their spears at me, motioning me off my mount, which I promptly did, likely so we couldn't try to follow them after stealing our asset.

"Hey. No exchange of goods has occurred yet. For all intents and purposes, we're cancelling the deal. No harm done."

"Hey wait?" The student cried. "What's going on over there?!"

"Shut up!" The merchant yelled out.

"Our mounts?" Gordez asked, already dismounting his own beast of burden. "And besides, we shook on it. The deal was made."

"Oh you'll catch up to them, and look, a handshake in the desert is worth little more than a grain of sand. "

"Fire Nation won't be happy about this," Gordez said as the guards slapped the rears of our rides, sending them bolting off into the distance."

"Oh please. You're not Fire Nation. Think we didn't notice you were taking us nowhere near their blockade? We're not idiots. We would have taken your money either way, but I think I'd rather make my deal with a noble than some outlaws."

My eyes turned to Gordez, and he returned the look. Did they know what we were?

"Take their weapons and tie 'em up!" The merchant said. "They may not be Fire Nation, but they're still dangerous. We got some Seppies over here."

Gordez nodded to me. I understood. There was only one way out of this.

As the first guard approached behind me with a pair of binders in hand, I took the opportunity while he held his spear in one hand, reaching behind with my left, grabbing it right under the point, and yanking it forward so that the point stuck into the ground, throwing him off balance, giving me the opportune moment to reach for my own blade with my right hand, twisting, and shoving it into the guard's neck, the steel emerging from the other end.

When I turned to look at Gordez, he'd already dispatched one as well, seemingly quicker than I had, having completely sliced through the man's knee, dropping him to the ground before finishing him with a sword in the back. These men weren't trained fighters, and whether they believed us to be Fire Nation or not, one thing was true, we were trained by them.

The second guard attending me thrusted his spear, missing horribly as I simply deflected the blade, sliding his weapon aside, scraping my sword along the shaft of his spear until it reached his hand, cleanly slicing off his left thumb. He dropped the spear from the pain alone, and ran off, myself making no effort to stop him.

Gordez has downed his attacker as well, and the merchant, realizing his luck was out, was now racing back to his beetle. He didn't make it. Gordez was already right on top of him and made a clean slice to the back of his thigh. A nonfatal wound, but one that dropped him instantly.

"Gah. Fuck!" He yelled. "Fine, just take the kid. I won't try to stop you."

"We know you won't. Would be hard to do so with one good leg anyhow."

"Wait. Come on! You can't just leave me here!"

"I believe we can. Come on, Gordez. Get the kid untied. I'll get our mounts."

"Alright!"

"Please!" the merchant was yelling. "You can't leave me like this. I'll bleed out."

I looked at his leg. He was hardly bleeding. The cut would leave a nasty scar, but it hit nothing but fat. He'd live.

"Oh shut up already, would ya?" I slammed the hilt of my sword into his face, knocking him down to the ground cold.

"Hello?" The boy was still yelling. "Where did y'all go?"

I put the edge of my blade to the rope still binding him to the surprisingly passive beetle. I doubted it was keen on making haste with the burden it was carrying on it. I grabbed its reins before making the cut, ensuring it wouldn't run off once it was free from its burden.

I had no doubt the kid could feel the blade cutting through the rope holding him down, prompting him to ask, still blindfolded, "Who's there? What are you doing? Woah!" Yelling when the last rope was severed, sending him tumbling off of beetle's shell to the grassy floor. Sure enough, the beetle tried bolting, but the grip I had on its reins was thankfully enough to keep it in line. It stopped resisting after a while, but the kid on the other hand, still had more energy left inside of him, screaming and squirming and the like.

"Relax, kid." I said, a part of me feeling awkward calling him 'kid', I myself being no older than 15. My birthday would have already passed by now, right? Back in Winter. Yeah. I'm 15 now.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"You can ask questions later. Now, just let me get those cuffs and that blindfold off of you. There we go," I said, unveiling his face, immediately prompting an exclamation from him.

Get away! Don't hurt me!" I guess he'd heard none of our earlier conversation where we quite literally just saved his life. Amateur. Any one of our guys would have kept his or her ears perked for the slightest clue as to who the people around him were.

"Are you actually kidding me right now, kid? If we wanted to hurt you, don't you think we already would have?"

The boy was still quivering. Oh for Raava's sake. "Look, kid. If it makes you feel any better, we're not Fire Nation soldiers. Getup is just that. A costume. So quit your squirming and get up."

He struggled to rise, hesitantly, the last statement seemingly had no effect on him. Still stuttering, he asked, "W-where are you t-taking me? Who are you?"

"We're the Separatists of the Nip Sea, Nip Sea Separatists, Seppies, whatever you want to call us."

"Haven't heard of you."

"We're fighting the Fire Nation out here."

"Why are you fighting the Fire Nation?"

"You kidding me right now?"

He shook his head.

"Probably for the best, then."

"So is it just you?"

I turned to see where Gordez was and saw him approaching with the two camelephants in tow.

"You sure found 'em fast."

"They're camel elephants. How fast were you expecting them to go?"

"Fair point."

"So we ready to get going? See you managed to keep the beetle around."

"Figured it could be useful. So yeah. Let's get to it."

"Wait," the kid was asking now again. "Where are we going?"

"To our camp. It's not far from here. We'll probably have to put the blindfold back on you. Safer that way."

"I thought you were setting me free."

"We did. We set you free," I commented as Gordez moved on over to the kid, pushing past his feeble effort to defend himself from getting cuffed and blinded again. "Now, however, we're taking you with us."

"So why did you even bother freeing me?"

"Good point. I guess 'new management' was a better term for it."

Gordez effortlessly lifted the kid up, placing him onto the camelephants back, lightly tying his feet to the stirrups, keeping the beast's reins in hand as he climbed onto his own beast of burden and I managed my way slowly onto the beetles back. I figured it couldn't be too different from riding any other mouth. "At least be grateful it's just for the time being. Once we get to camp, you'll be free to do as you please."

"Will I be able to leave?"

"I wouldn't go that far. Not yet. We just have a few questions to ask." I kicked the rhinoceros beetle's sides, and it began into a steady trot, allowing me to fall in line with Gordez who had already set off, kid in tow.

"Well, what questions. I'd be willing to answer them now. I'm all ears."

"That you are. In which case, tell me, who exactly are you?"

Gordez looked over at me. An inquisitive look that knew we were supposed to save questioning until we were back at camp where the others would listen in. He understood quickly enough, but something about his look said that, while he wouldn't snitch on me, he couldn't do anything if I got caught. I can live with that.

"Me? I'm Fennick Hanzu. My parents are Torin and Lee'ah Hanzu. Big family in Ba Sing Se. You've probably heard of them."

"Can't say I have. Tell me, how's Ba Sing Se been doing since the Siege?"

"Siege? What Siege?"

Gordez and I looked at each other, bewildered. Is this kid joking.

I turned back to the kid. "How long have you been out here, in the desert?

"About 6 months. Why?" Gordez turned to look at me again. 6 months ago, the Siege had just been over. What was this kid on about?"

"The Siege? Of Ba Sing Se? You were in Ba Sing Se over 6 months ago, right?"

"I left from there, yeah. I'm a student in the anthropology department. My professor's Professor Zei, head of the Anthropology Department. You've probably heard of him."

"No. I haven't. You know? The Fire Nation? They laid siege to your city for the better part of two years. You have to have been there! Are you telling me you have no memory of this whatsoever?"

"Why would the Fire Nation do something like that? There's no war in Ba Sing Se!"

Gordez was still looking back, seemingly completely befuddled. I shook my head. What the hell is wrong with this kid?

It wasn't too long until the camp's outlier scouts found us, and guided us to the camp, off of the main trail.

"What have you got there?!" joked one of the scouts. "Caught yourself some dinner?"

"Who said that?!" yelped the boy. "What's going on!? Are they going to eat me?!"

"If you wet yourself on the back of my ride," I said, "They will."

It wasn't long until we were back at camp, and were met by Boss, who directed two Seppies to retrieve the boy while he greeted us in person. "Everything go well, I take it?"

"Not quite," Gordez answered. "Merchants tried to double cross us when they heard the ransom the kid's parents would pay for him. In the thousands, he said."

"Probably exaggerating, but I shouldn't be surprised. Greed'll do that. Anyway. Kiu will be happy to hear about the ransom." I considered suggesting we keep it away from Kiu's ears. Give ourselves some spending money for when we hightailed it out of here, but this wasn't the place for it, not while the two Seppies were passing right by us to retrieve the boy.

"We'll get him upstairs for questioning," commented one of the guards.

"Good luck. He's an interesting sort. According to him there's no war."

"No war!?" Exclaimed the Separatist on the right whose name I believed to be Jinji. "Well I wish somebody told me!"

"Don't worry," said the other. "If there's no war then there's no such thing as war crimes!" he finished with an exaggerated upbeat tone. He pulled Fennick off of the camelephant, dropping him with a loud thud onto the ground, his feet still held up by the stirrups as the camelephant, rearing from the noise, took a few steps away, dragging him along with it.

"Is that necessary?" I asked.

"Oh don't worry. We'll keep him safe. Got a nice new room to keep him in. Recently refurbished, may I add." The two of them laughed and joked amongst themselves as they pulled away the kid who, sadly enough, had seemingly passed out from the tiny fall. I hoped he hadn't snapped his neck and had died or something. That would be a shame.

"Alright," Boss said. "I'll give the details for Kiu. You go on and get yourselves something to eat.

"Actually there's one more thing, Boss," Gordez added. "Was thinking about taking Luke to Xinxing tomorrow. Got a list of parts we'll need for fixing the Patriot last time we were there. Want to see if I can get my hands on some of it and start with the repairs. I'll need to borrow Luke for a few days if you don't mind."

"You got the money for it?"

"Have some stashed away onboard."

"Good. I'll think of something to tell Kiu. Just update me when you're done. Things are starting to feel more tense around here for some reason. I can't help but think that this kid you found today is just the start of it. We're getting drawn into something and I'm not sure what. Just that I don't like it."

"Then we'll make sure we have a getaway option for when the time comes."

"Good man. Now go, both of you. I'll find some work for Luke to do this evening so he isn't missed. For now, get some grub and some sleep. We're expanding our patrols tomorrow, sending some expeditions to go out further and cause some trouble. Hell if I know what that means."

"We'll be ready, sir," I said.

"Good, then go."

We turned and left. I didn't know about Gordez, but I could feel it too. Things were becoming more still in the air, as though we were just waiting for something to happen. And when it did, I had a troubling knot in my stomach that told me it would be big.