Luke

The truth was, I had no honest idea what the hell I was doing. I was going along with the movements, removing this, replacing that, screwing a panel here or there. I was just beginning to partially understand how Shanzi's engine worked, but this, it was terrifying to even look at.

Yet now, strangely, the ship completely offline, there was something horrifying about stepping in the engine room, as though I was in the heart of a sleeping beast, somewhere I didn't belong. Being in here while every part of this room was moving around me, it felt right, natural, but now, needless to say it felt wrong.

Or maybe that was only because I felt utterly useless.

"Luke!" Gordez called.

"Yeah?!" I answered back.

"Stop screwing around in there! Need to replace these fuses!"

"Yeah! On it!"

I stepped back away from the room which, for the most part, was back up in working order. Nothing had been really damaged when we'd been hit, it was hull damage for the most part. The engine room had merely been jostling around, some parts coming loose, a curse of these older ship models. I had no doubt in my mind the newer battlecruisers didn't have these same issues.

At this point now, it was a matter of getting the electrics up and running and the gas flowing again. Repairing the hull damage was another matter entirely. Coming across such a quantity of steel wasn't easy, nor cheap. Zadok and Kosah had recommended we strip some of the steel from the ram, use it to patch up the engine, but Gordez was less inclined to do so, noting that Fire Nation tech was made very specifically. Stripping parts from one spot to patch another would unbalance the entire vessel.

The more time that went on, the more I actually found myself having trouble distinguishing between Zadok and his almost twin, Kosah. To think they were unrelated, yet so similar, it was horrifying, as though I were witnessing a botched reincarnation. The only thing that allowed me to tell the difference between them was the subtlest difference in appearance: Zadok's birthmark on the upper left of his forehead, creating the smallest bald spot, and Kosah's mole just below his chin.

It wasn't the most to work off of, and it required me awkwardly scanning their faces whenever one of them engaged me in combat, but at the very least, it worked. Why do their voices have to be nearly the same too?

It wasn't until I actually caught the two of them amidst an argument that the smallest semblance of a distinction between the two of them began to grow. Sadly, such discourse was only limited to politics, but at the very least, the subject matter wasn't about the Seppies which was a welcome change of pace.

I hadn't meant to get myself involved. Had merely been passing through the hallway when I overheard, "Doesn't change the fact that he was next in line," coming from the mess hall. Recognized the voice easily enough. Well, I give myself some credit when I say I "recognized" the voice, only knowing it belonged to one of the "twins" as we'd taken to calling them.

"I don't know. You ask me, I'd prefer a system of meritocracy instead over simple primogeniture any day."

"Woooow. Look at you with your fancy terminology. You want meritocracy, I don't think an Imperial hierarchy is what you're looking for, bud. What about you, Luke?" He asked, having realized I was snooping. "Take a seat. What's your take?"

I entered into the mess, sitting down next to, judging by the forehead mark, Zadok. "Hard to know what I'm taking a stance on before making such a decision."

"It's politics," said Kosah. "Ignore him."

"No no. You brought it up in the first place. You're just worried he'll disagree."

"Oh it's not that I'm worried about. Luke's a sensible sort."

"Oh," I said. "Why thank you. Of all the compliments I've never been given before, that's a nice one."

"Oh come on," Zadok said referring to Kosah now, ignoring my minor quip, as was no surprise. "Let's just hear his take."

"Alright!" Kosah said, dismissively throwing his hands in the air, proceeding to cross them. "So, tell me, Luke, do you think that in an Imperial Succession, as per Fire Nation tradition, the oldest-"

"Hey hey hey hey hey!" Zadok interrupted him. "The way you put it, you're just gonna throw in your own bias."

"Right, because you're just mister neutral."

"More than you are."

"You want to ask me if I support either Iroh or Ozai in the succession?" I asked, getting straight to the point, a small grin on my face in response to the repartee held between the two conflicting parties.

"Or that works too," Zadok said. "So yeah. What's your take? Should the man who, on the brink of victory, failed to follow through, ensuring that this war will come to last years, if not decades longer, disappearing rather than return home and face the truth, be made Fire Lord upon Azulon's death, or should, as it happened, decreed by Azulon, have been Ozai, who would never have made such an error?"

Kosah burst out laughing. "Fucking Mister Neutral my ass."

"I was balancing it since you already were asking the question in a biased way."

"Hey, I let you finish. You interrupted me before I could even begin the indoctrination."

"Alright alright. Fine. Indoctrinate away."

"My pleasure. So do you think it should have been Ozai, a man who never faced combat, living a life of leisure in the capital, suspiciously named Fire Lord immediately after Azulon's strangely-timed death-"

"And here we go with the conspiracy theories."

"Ozai all of a sudden being named successor with no news of such a decision as is customary to inform the people of the Fire Nation, or should it have been Iroh, General, war hero, Dragon of the West, and an actual human being?"

"Actual human being? You want to tell me that Ozai is actually some new Fire Nation machine, hidden underneath those robes, designed to be the perfect Fire Lord."

"Fair from perfect as with everything the Fire Nation makes. Just look what we're busy trying to fix right now! But 'machine' isn't far off. I saw him when he visited Jianghe. Man's uncaring, unfeeling."

"Or maybe you just-"

"Ahem" I coughed. "You know. I can see that this is clearly a discussion to be had between the two of you. Gordez probably has something for me to do so-"

"No no. Sit back down." Zadok said. "We still want your opinion despite Kosah being a mingy twat."

"Hardy har har," Kosah vocalized. "Just answer the question."

"In that case, Iroh, all the way."

"What?!"

"Yes!"

"The man abandoned the Siege of Ba Sing Se! The war was days from being won. If he had followed through, we wouldn't be in this mess right now. Hell, maybe we'd actually be on the other side, where we're supposed to be, burning these rats out of the forest like they deserve instead of trying to play nice with them."

"I don't disagree with the sentiment. Believe me when I say, it's what they deserve, but Iroh not being the clear pick, that's just ridiculous."

"Ha!" Kosah said. "I told you!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Like any of us are good judges of characters for the Royal Family. For all we should be concerned, they're gods. We have no say in what happens. Not even sure if that's a bad thing. Let there be the disconnect."

"Well, lucky for you, Zadok," Kosah said. "Disconnect is precisely what you're going to be getting with Ozai."

"Right. Like it would be any different with Iroh."

"Yeah," I said, speaking up more than I'd expected to. "It would be."

Zadok scoffed. "Right. You would know."

"As a matter of fact I would. I was there. At Ba Sing Se."

That simple statement was enough to quiet the two who had, seconds ago, filled not just the room, but the entire deck with their debate. The two simply turned to face me, the two of them in shock, eyeing me up and down as though they couldn't expect that me, somebody years younger than them, only kids themselves, could have been there. I couldn't blame them.

"You-" Kosah started.

"You were there?" Zadok finished.

I nodded, finding the audible admission that I'd been there too much to handle uttering in that moment.

It seemed that, in the moment, discussion of politics had been set aside, a shared somberness in the room. There was something strange about how disconnected they could be to such an event until they knew somebody in the room had been there, and all of a sudden, the gravity became apparent.

"How bad was it?"

"Worse than any of you could imagine. Imagine Jianghe, but every day, for almost 2 years back-to-back. That was Ba Sing Se. How Iroh managed to keep us alive, keep us together for as long as he did, I'll never know. Even after nearly half of our entire forces were wiped out in a single battle because of an idiot commanding that half, he rallied us together, reminded us why we fought, and he tore down Ba Sing Se's outer wall. I had the strange pleasure of meeting him personally. He helped me find myself, pick myself back up after nearly losing it all. He kept us together."

"So how, why did it all fall apart?" Zadok asked. "Everybody says that it was because he fell apart when his son died."

"When Lu Ten died, we all fell apart the same as he did. Lu Ten was as much a symbol for us as his father was. Everybody in that Siege was willing to follow Lu Ten and the Dragon of the West to the ends of the Earth, not just in this battle, but in the future for the Fire Nation. As far as we all saw, we were the future, the heir apparent and his son, and we would have died for them. They were some of the greatest men I ever knew, and things were going our way, at least, they seemed that way. When Lu Ten fell, it was a reminder of how we were only being held together by a thread, and so had been Iroh. We fell apart, and so did he. No reinforcements, no backup, just the same men who had been fighting in a foreign land to conquer a foreign city, losing years of their lives, we were far from any form of victory."

It was clear that, after I'd said my part, the atmosphere of the room had changed. It was no longer about the politics of succession, but a time for us to put our differences aside and mourn for the tragedy that occurred that day, one that would throw the world into years more of darkness.

I stood up, leaving the room, nothing more needing to be said.

That had been a week into my time working on the Patriot.

I was quiet for the week that followed. The memory of that part of my life, that war, all that had happened, the people that I'd lost: Gan, Gi Gu, Lu Ten, Danev, myself, it was a lot to take in again all at once.

A week after that, we were met with a welcome surprise, one that was just needed to pull me out of my funk.

"Zek, Ka'lira!" I called, seeing them approach the ship while I was out on guard duty, passing the time practicing forms while I knew there was time and space to get away with doing so.

"Looking good, Luke!" Zek said. "May want to be careful where you practice that though! Might be somebody less friendly who comes through the woods next time.

"I'll keep it in mind," I said, jumping down off of the deck, practicing a new move of mine, firing a concentrated blast of fire towards the ground, enough to dampen the impact of my fall, allowing me to land with both of my feet on the ground as opposed to the many other times I'd tried, indicated by the cuts and bruises along my legs, and even one on my head that still hadn't gone away from one particularly embarrassing failure on my part to get a hang of the move.

Ka'lira hugged me, as did Zek, though in a more 'bro-like' fashion, as I suppose one could call it.

"Good to see you two!" I exclaimed. "Boss send you here to help us out?"

"Wish it was just that," Ka'lira said.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say," Zek said. "Next time you plan on killing a Seppie, please finish the job."

I stood confused for a moment, unsure by what he meant, until Ka'lira thankfully cleared the air, saying, "Lei'fo, the Separatist that Boss told us you had an 'altercation' with-"

"That's one way of putting it," I added.

"Yeah, he's alive," Zek finished.

"Oh," I said, the realization slowly donning on me as I realized what this meant. The moment he got back, there was no doubt in my mind that he would tell everybody what transpired, albeit it a creatively liberated version of events. "Well shit. So the gig's up?"

"Boss isn't giving up just yet. Thinks there's still some way to get a hold on the situation."

"And you?"

"I'm inclined to disagree, but if Boss thinks there's a way, I'll trust him, but he told us to get ready for the worst. How's the ship coming along. About ready to get going?"

"I mean…you'd get more out of Gordez. I'd say we're definitely a lot further along than we were two weeks ago, but I don't think she's ready to set off just yet."

"Well, not sure Boss is really gonna like the sound of that. Wants us to have a good backup, worst comes to worst."

"Well, lend a hand, and who knows, maybe we'll be out of here even quicker." Of course, it wasn't as simple as that. Our entire engine block exposed, Gordez had no desire to have us go anyway, the slightest environmental exposure making the possibility of internal combustion more than a slight possibility, but all the same, it would be good to have the help.

"Well, before we do that," Zek started, walking now towards the ship. "Boss wants us getting the gun up on deck."

I paused in the midst of fallowing him, overwhelmed by the sheer insanity of what was being suggested. "The gun?! What's Boss expecting to do?! Blow their entire tree camp to shreds?!"

"Hold 'em off at the very least. Scare em away long enough to keep us breathing for a while longer."

"The second we get on that gun, they'll just get that guy, Longshot, to shoot the head off of whoever's manning it. You ever seen that guy shoot?!"

"Yes. Well, actually, I saw his arrows hit the target. Seeing him, not so much."

"Zek!"

"Look, Luke!" He said, turning, with a passion in his voice I hadn't been expecting. "For somebody at the core of this issue, you're not doing very much to help with your complaining."

"You're pissed at me?"

Zek sighed, I myself now realizing how I must've come across.

"Look," I said, "I'm sorry I was complaining, I'm just-"

"Just," Zek interrupted me. "Be smarter next time. If you're going to kill a Seppie, at least have the decency to not drag us all down too, alright?"

I knew I was in the wrong. There was no mistaking that. It was my fault we were in this position, and I felt powerless now to help us out of this. "I'm sorry."

"I know, but there's more important things to be done. Help us get this gun set up, then we'll see what we can do about getting the Patriot floating again."

I smiled, knowing I was being let off easy. It was a good thing it was Zek doing the drilling. I knew I could expect to hear some of the real disciplining from Gordez later on, maybe even Boss if we made it that far, but for now, it felt good having somebody like him, somebody who didn't hold a grudge, who forgave and forgot the sins of family.

"So how's life back at the camp, excluding recent events of course?"

We continued our pace, headed toward the Patriot's bow, intent on boarding her from there, making our way to the upper deck, and deploying the gun.

"Can't complain," Zek said.

"Been pretty busy these last two weeks," Ka'lira added. "Stepping up our activity against the Fire Nation."

"Oh yeah, how so?" I asked.

"More caravan raids, a few small robberies just to make some cash, and even an ambushed patrol here or there."

"Casualties"

"None for us. And surprisingly, very little for them as well. Kiu's keeping his men on a tight leash. Doesn't want the Fire Nation becoming too antagonistic towards us."

"Yeah?" Zek asked. "Tell that to Kai."

"He still being a dipshit?"

"You know it."

"At least Jet's holding him back for the most part," Ka'lira added.

Right. Kai and Jet. The ones who interrogated both Ka'lira and me. Jet did a pitiful job of it. Kai, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the deed far more than he should have.

Zek sighed. "I don't trust Jet either."

Ka'li scoffed. "Implying you trust anyone here?"

We reached the upper deck, the three of us now working together to remove the tarp covering the gun. We'd put it back up once the gun was raised out of the depths of the deck, but for now, it was better to have it in a position where we could access it with ease should the need arise, though I know we, despite having no love for the Seppies, were hoping it wouldn't come to that. If it would, well, none of us seemed particularly confident in our chances at survival.

"I trust Kiu. Kind of. Maybe a little. Boss seems to like him."

"Uh huh. So one out of a couple hundred people."

"Hey! It's progress! I'm keeping an open mind!"

Ka'lira rolled her eyes, the tarp finally lifted off of the gun while Zek and I moved to the winch, turning it, lifting the platform on which the artillery piece was mounted, raising it out of the depths of the ship's bowels.

The wind was picking up, nearly to the point of blowing the tarp away until Ka'lira managed to chase after it and catch it in time. My hair, growing longer by the way, swept into my eyes, forcing me to close them to spare myself from the unsavory situation.

"Should get your hair cut, Luke," Zek brought up as we continued our tedious effort, the barrel of the gun now exposed to open air, having noticed my struggle. "You've got a sheep growing on your head."

"Strangely enough," I said between pants. "Not the easiest finding a hairdresser out in these parts."

"I can cut your hair!" Ka'lira spoke up with a strange enthusiasm. Zek seemed surprised by her sudden outburst as well, but chose to ignore it, smiling, saying now with a smile, "Ah there ya go! She'll cut your hair."

"You have experience?" I asked Ka'li.

"Are you in any position to be picky?" She retorted.

Touché.

I submitted, simply nodding my head in response, alter saying, "Alright then. I could stand to get this mess off of my head."

"Great!" Zek exclaimed. "It's settled then."

With that, the winch would no longer turn, and the platform was now level with the rest of the upper deck. The gun was in place, albeit rather dusty, but notwithstanding, looking ready to demolish. The barrel and the shells would require some cleaning, but that would be a job for later. One I'd gladly take over not knowing what the hell I was doing in the engine room.

After getting the gun in place, ensuring it was locked down securely, we made our way in doors, Zek and Ka'lira intent on saying "Hi" to Gordez. Needless to say, the reunion was nice.

"Be careful with your hands, big man," Zek said, having sneaked up on Gordez from behind, the big man in question busy replacing a power line that had surged and been burned out. Gordez, started by the statement, immediately shot into attention, hitting his head against the panel, learning from his mistake, and ducking further to back out properly, turning around to meet Zek in a warm embrace appropriate for two men who'd gone through hell together at Ba Sing Se for even longer than I had.

"Should've known you two were here. I knew I smelled something off in the ship."

"Telling me you can smell past the gas, coal, and smoke in here? You really are one with this beast, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I'm finally home. Good to see you too, Ka'lira," he said referring to her, bowing to her rather than hugging her as was more his tyle when it came to people who weren't those he'd gone through war for two years with. Hell, I don't even think I was on a hugging level with him. Didn't mind it. That was just his style.

"So what's going on? Boss send you over to check up on us?"

"Actually more to lend a hand. Boss wants this ship moving."

"Well, not sure if Luke told you, but even though I've for the most part got the engine functional again, the entire block is practically exposed to the elements, and if we try covering it with a tarp, whole thing will just set ablaze. We need to properly shield it if we want to go anywhere. Why, is something wrong back with the Seppies?"

"Let's just say there was a complication. The Seppie, Lei'fo, that Luke thought he killed, managed to survive somehow."

"For crying out, what the hell, Luke!?"

"Don't worry. I already yelled at him sufficiently."

"Didn't do enough if he's still standing right here in one piece!"

"Gordez," Zek spoke up, coming to my defense. "He knows. None of us could have seen this coming.

Gordez sighed, looking at me where I stood, helpless, feeling like a mouse in the room full of people who discussed my failures, not daring to make so much as a squeak. "So what now? Where's Boss? He come back with you?"

"No. He's trying to smooth things over with the Seppies. Him and Kiu both. They're trying to contain the situation."

It was easy to see the worry that came to Gordez's face, the fear for the fate of his lifelong friend. There was no hiding it. "Alone?!"

"Nah, not alone. He has Jadoh," Zek quipped, but realized soon enough that a joke wasn't what was needed at the time. "Hey, look. Boss can handle himself. He's been through worse. He's got Kiu on his side. Worst comes to worse, he won't die. Kiu will get him out of there even if we can't settle this peacefully."

"So we're putting Boss's life in the hands of a Seppie."

"You know I like it just as little as you do, but we need to trust Boss's judgement. If he trusts Kiu, so should we."

"Hardly would call it trust. Moreso mutually assured destruction. Except we don't have an arsenal of artillery guns. They do." Gordez sighed. You can go. Just need to be left alone for a bit.

"Sure you don't want the company?"

"Positive."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zek and Ka'lira give a look to each other, and I could tell we were done here. "Alright, Gordez," Zek said. "No worries. But hey, let's catch some dinner together, alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah sure."

We left. "Hey," I said. "He gonna be alright?"

"Yeah. Boss is just his closest friend is all."

"I guess, yeah. I don't know. Just seemed more worried than I've ever seen him before."

"Well, ain't exactly the best position to find his closest friend in."

"I guess. So what now?"

Ka'lira toyingly grabbed a lock of my hair that went so far down as to brush my shoulder. "Now, we get rid of this mess."

"Wait now?"

"Good a time as any," Zek said, backing up his girlfriend.

"We have anything to cut it with?"

"Oh there's plenty of sharp stuff on board. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Greaaaaat," I moaned. All of a sudden, I was having second thoughts.

Just an hour later though, I was seated on a chair on the upper deck, exposed to the late afternoon breeze, a small trinkle of blood running down my neck originating at my ear where Ka'lira had made a small slip, but at my feet, enough hair to seal an underwater breathing helmet. For once, I could feel the cold against my neck, sending a shiver that went down my spine, but was, despite that, quite the refreshing change of pace.

I brought my hands up to my head, feeling where a small lamb had been resting only moments ago, now having the pleasure of running it through my hair, actually knowing my scalp existed. Man I love the feel of this.

"Ka'lira had certainly had her work cut out for her. So I could tell by the assortment of tools behind her. Somehow, she'd managed to find an actual razor and pair of shears aboard. The razor had broken midway into shaving the back of my neck, at which point she'd scoured the ship on what Zek and I had believed to be a fool's errand, somehow coming back with another. Half an hour later, she was done, and while, judging by the comments the couple had made, I looked like shit. They made no trouble jumping onto making fun of how my hair looked despite them being the ones responsible for it.

"Would have been better off just placing a bowl on his head and cutting around it."

"Before he had a sheep on his head. Now it looks he he's just wearing a dead, half-shaved lamb as some kind of fashion statement."

"Are you two done?"

The wind had already begun to pick up at the hair lying loose on the floor, scattering it to the wind. "That'll be 10 coppers please," Ka'lira said, reaching out with her palm in the expectation of receiving monetary payment for her butcher work.

"I paid you in being a test subject for you to mutilate. Is that not enough?"

"Oh come on. Girl's gotta make a living. You want a shave too?"

"You gonna try charging me for it too?"

"Perhaps."

"Then I'll pass."

Aww," said Zek. "Come on, Luke. Gotta get rid of those baby whiskers somehow.

"I think I'll pass. Knowing you two, you'll somehow find a way to give me a goatee where no hair currently exists just to fuck with me."

"Hey," Ka'lira said, turning to Zek. "That's a great idea. We should try that on Gordez. He's got enough facial hair to work with."

"So long as it's him you're tormenting and not me," I brought up. "That's fine by me."

Such an assault on Gordez would not occur today, seeing as how he didn't particularly seem in the mood to be butchered by the bloodthirsty couple, but a few hours later over the dinner table where he ended up joining us, enjoying a frozen salmon that had been stored in the Patriot's freezer, cooked, and served compliments of Ka'lira.

"Hey, Gordez, you're here!" Zek exclaimed. Just in time! We were just making fun of Luke!"

"Why the hell did I say anything?" I asked myself, placing my face in my hands as Gordez took a seat next to me, opposite of Ka'lira who sat to Zek's left.

I'd made the mistake of talking, apparently. Zek had been asking how the last two weeks had been going over here. I mentioned they'd been going well, talking about my firebending training, how I was combining some of the forms Jeon Jeong had taught me, creating some new techniques, later moving on to how my throat had been bothering me these last few days.

It was at that point that Ka'lira mentioned my voice had been sounding a bit different as well, and that was Zek's "golden opportunity" to jump into the jokes. "My little Lukey is becoming a real man now!" He'd said.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Please no puberty jokes."

"Ooh. I'm sorry." He turned to Ka'lira. "Classic puberty. Mood swings. We need to be very sensitive with his emotions or he'll explode."

"As long as the blast radius is enough to kill you along with me, it'll be worth it."

"So," he said, taking on a professional tone. "Run me through your symptoms."

"An itching desire to stab you in the eye."

"Ah yes. Increased aggression resulting from hormonal change," Zek noted, scribbling fantastical notes on his napkin. "Do go on."

"I'm not going along with this."

"He seeks independence from the will of his superiors."

"Superiors? Oh now that's a fucking laugh."

"And snarkiness. Snarkiness above all."

"Nah I've had this since I was a wee boy. Out of luck there."

"Do go on, then. What physical changes have you observed? Any change in muscle mass?"

"Let's find out. Give me your neck and let's see if I can snap it."

"Already noted facial hair growth earlier. Do you happen to be sporting any hair in the public regions as well?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I'll mark that as a 'maybe'."

"Maybe?"

"Then I'll cross off 'maybe' and write 'definitely."

"Of course."

And that had been the point where Gordez walked in and made his appearance as well, having his own say with the discussion.

"Ha!"

And such was his contribution.

"You know," I said. "I was having a nice last couple of weeks. Now you two are here and I'm downright miserable again."

"Well I'm glad to hear my presence has such a notable impact on you."

"I was referring more to Ka'lira."

She just looked up, confused, "Hey that was all him."

It was around this time that Zadok and Kosah were passing by, seemingly in the middle of some task, looking into the mess to see if they could catch a bite to eat until Zek called out, "You two. Get over here. We're eating."

They seemed surprised initially until Gordez reiterated Zek's statement, saying, "That's an order. Now the two of you stop tiptoeing around us and enjoy some dinner."

Soon enough, the 6 of us were seated, 5 of which were making fun of me, all seated at the one same table in the mess, in the center row, 1 table away from the back wall, within perfect view of the door. There was no knowing why we'd chosen this table, but it had been somehow mutually agreed upon that this was our table. I believe that some subconscious part of us had, in the last 2 weeks, prepared for the inevitability that once this ship was up and running, it would go straight to the Seppies, and so we'd begun carving out our boundaries early on. Now though, that seemed less of a concern. I suppose some part of me was glad that we were drawing away from cooperation with them. I wouldn't mind them being the ones we set our sights on fighting against once more. Fighting about the Fire Nation, my own country, wasn't exactly high on my To-Do list.

Luckily now, at least in this moment in time, seated among new friends and old, I felt happy, at peace, not on edge as I did back at the Separatist camp. In the week that followed, all of us working together onboard the Patriot, pulling along, doing our thing, readying to set out on our own once more, I felt right, happy, where I was meant to be. It had been a while since that'd been the case, but here I was, enjoying what life seemed to have in store. The peace, the quiet, the comfort of knowing I was with those with whom I belonged.

When that week had come to an end though, so had that state of bliss, that oh-so-momentary perfection. Because as reality showed itself then, thing were far from perfect.