Luke

"Where do they get the fucking nerve?!" Zek was crying out as we left the edge of the forest behind, now taking one step after another in the direction the mountain range surrounding the mystical Foggy Swamp forest that we'd all heard so much about. "We spend a week working on getting that ship up and in working order, only for them to kick us out and take our spots. They got gas, electricity, water, all thanks to us!"

"Hey, you were only working on it for a week," I brought up, him and Ka'li having been the late arrivals.

"Oh I'm sorry," Zek jokingly mocked. "I can imagine those are rookie numbers compared to your whole extra week on the job."

"Well, now that you mention it, I do have twice as much experience as you."

"Right right," Ka'lira now decided to add on. "Man, too bad there isn't somebody who was working on that thing for months on end to get it working for us ungrateful asses." The reference towards Gordez was clear enough, but the joke wouldn't end that easily.

"You're absolutely correct, Ka'li," Zek intervened. "We don't give Zadok and Kosah enough credit. Raava bless their souls." He ended with a flourish of his hands in a mocking prayer, head raised to the sky before it was promptly slapped back down towards ground level by a rather swift hand from Ka'lira, eliciting a chuckle from me easily enough.

"But seriously," Zek continued, reverting to his main point. "If they break the lock to my room, I'm going to be pissed the heck off."

"I think you mean Ka'lira's room," I mocked. "Not, of course, that it makes any difference." I could see some red rising to Zek's face while Ka'lira simply turned her head away, the faint tint of an embarrassed smile on her face, but I wasn't done yet. "Frankly, I welcome my new neighbors. Maybe I can finally get some peace and quiet."

Ka'lira started chuckling, finding some humor in the situation where Zek, as opposed to his normal comedic-minded self, seemed to be taking it rather to heart, of course, to no serious degree, pathetically attempting to come back with, "Oh you're just envious."

"Only thing I'm envious of is the good old days. Not even because of the Seppies, but at least I could get a solid night of sleep when things between you two were ambiguous. Now though…," I let out an exaggerated whistle, making my point.

"Now I hope they ransack our rooms just so you can suffer along with me."

"How kind of you. I pity the poor sod who goes through my shit. All they'll get is my old sweaty clothes that I haven't gotten around to washing. They're welcome to 'em as far as I'm concerned. Why? You leave something important to your soul behind?"

"Privacy, for starters."

I chuckled at that. "Just please keep it at least 50 yards from wherever we set up camp."

"You can stop now, Luke. Your young pubescent mind is too innocent to ponder such vile concepts."

"Oh boy. Here we go again. You know, maybe when cutting my hair, you should have cut lower and deeper. Put me out of my misery."

"Your misery's not the only one that would have been reduced," Ka'lira added on. "What about you, Gordez? You're being rather quiet. What? The old bunch lost its appeal already? Shame."

Hmm," Gordez finally vocalized, his first words spoken since we left save for relaying his plan to us. "Not quite the old bunch." Was easy enough for anyone to see his mood wasn't quite as light as the rest of us. Had been that way back on the Patriot too. Only time I'd seen the fullest expression of joy from him was this morning when he saw Boss again. Doubt we'd see that same side of him again until things were finally set right.

"Not yet," Zek admitted. "We'll set things right eventually. Get the old bunch together, do pest control, head out our own way." He chuckled. "Part of me was honestly hoping for a fight this morning."

"Part of you was clearly hoping to die this morning then," Ka'lira said. "Didn't see things from my angle. We were screwed."

"Eh. I coulda taken em," He clearly didn't mean the statement, nor on second analysis did he mean the one about hoping for a fight. Well, perhaps he did mean that one. Even against insurmountable odds, I expected that Zek would have preferred fighting against them than fighting with them. I couldn't say I was any different in my perspective of the situation. Even in doing this, I had my qualms in helping the organize a resistance coalition against the Fire Nation. Felt like I was just drawing out this war all the longer. I'd been waiting in anticipation for a talk we could have about finally leaving the Seppies, even if it meant leaving the Patriot behind, but leaving our own people behind: Boss, Jadoh, Zadok, Kosah, that was out of the question. Just needed more patience. We always do.

We were nearing the mountains, and the day was nearing its end. We agreed upon setting up camp for the night, allowing ourselves to scale the mountain range tomorrow, and the day after, make our way down into the swamp.

We distributed our belongings as we set up camp. We'd only dedicated the latter half of our afternoon to travelling. Not much time all things considered. The early afternoon had been spent finalizing our plans and gathering supplies. As we set up camp now, it was interesting to note that, for a band of ragtag mercenaries, we were equipped. I suppose, however, that it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise. 3 of the 4 of us were military vets. We had plenty of food: dried meat, fish, bread, cheese, other cereals. We had enough water distributed amongst the 4 of us to last us the next week and a half if worst came to worse. We may have had no room to spare for tents, but we had sleeping bags, changes of clothes, weapons, armor, we were set. I myself was travelling no heavier nor light than anybody else.

There'd been a time back in the early days of our "outlaw band" if you could call it such that we'd clung to our Fire Nation armor as though it still defined who we are. Now, the vague remnants of the red and black paint, nearly completely chipped away or worn over from the experiences it's seen, formed a skimpy layer beneath my outerwear, myself only opting for the chest piece, shoulder plates, vambraces, and lower leg guards. Even faded, the colors allowed me to stand out, something I wasn't too keen on, wearing a green poncho over my armor, which, itself, was atop my normal day-clothing. I catalogued through my equipment as I stripped it off for the night. I'd put it back on when my watch came. I was set to have 2nd watch that night. I'd sooner have opted for first or last, but alas, the decision wasn't mine, left to straws, the spirits of luck playing their games as always.

I was set up across from Gordez, a fire I'd started between us, right next to Zek and Ka'lira. Of course. At the very least, the noise they were producing was simply conversation, but my request stood. "For the love of Raava, please. 50 yards."

"Fine fine," Zek said, the shuffling of their feet indicating adherence to my request. At the very least, by the sound of his voice, he didn't seem annoyed.

"Thank you," I mumbled against the cloth of my sleeping bag. I couldn't beat myself up for it. It's like they said. I was a growing boy after all. I needed my rest.