Boss

Dusk had come, and the eerie reminder of what awaited hung high in the sky for all of us to observe. Or, rather, the stark reminder failed to make itself seen, precisely as we all had feared.

Where the moon would normally stand tall, it now lay dormant, invisible to us, its brilliant reflective light gone from the word.

It didn't take a genius to know what was likely in store for our people across the sea. "Our people" the other Separatists had called them. While the term may have evoked some small sense of pride and relief in me, I couldn't help but consider the anger it would espouse from one such as Zek, as Luke, perhaps even Gordez. My family.

"Over my dead body," I could already imagine Zek spouting.

I sighed, my gaze searching for a non-existent glisten of moonlight along the rippling surface of the Nip, the waves dormant for the night. Over that sea, I knew that there would be war tonight. It was unavoidable. A new moon. The Fire Nation would be loath to not take advantage of it.

My friends, my family, "our people" as the rest of us called them, would be fighting for our lives today. And we had to leave them waiting.

"They'll make the night," Kiu told me to my side.

Even as I watched the Separatists loading up the Patriot for her maiden voyage in months, getting used to their new weaponry, strapping on armor for the first times in their lives, getting ready to make the dangerous voyage across the breadth of the Nip, I felt completely and utterly helpless here.

The last week, I had tried to do everything possible to get us ready.

It had taken time, but the Separatists had finally learned the ins and outs of attacking a Fire Nation vessel, learned its defensive positions, its passageways, the secrets stored within, all of it.

It won't be the same as one of the new cruisers, I knew. I knew that, and I had made sure that they knew it as well, even if it had come at the cost of their celebrations. I couldn't have them letting their guard down, believing they knew all there was to know.

Celebrations had resumed in time, however, namely with the resumption of smuggling across the Nip with the thanks of the Revanchist Tribe. Where, normally, optimally, there would have been arms deals as there had been with the Earth Kingdom in the past, Earth Kingdom forces south of the Sea had had their hands tied. We'd gotten the reports Heigou had been attacked again. Completely and utterly destroyed beyond any hope of recovery. I wondered if Gordez and the others knew. I imagine the news would be hitting them all the harder especially after their efforts to try and bring the town back to life.

While we may not have had trade with the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribe had been resuming their harassment of Fire Nation convoys. One such convoy had been an armor en route for Shibi, and the waterbenders had been more than willing to share the spoils. We now were in possession of enough armor for about 2 thirds of us and enough weapons to render us at least substantially armed in steel rather than rusted iron weaponry and what other stolen goods had been laying around.

The boon in supplies had certainly been just cause for celebration among the Separatists.

Today, however, there was none of that celebration. We all knew what was coming. Some were excited, namely those who had been cooped up in the tree camp for the majority of the conflict. Those who had seen combat before, beyond the simple raid here and there, namely such veterans as Kiu and the older kids, they were less excited. There was a very reasonable sense of concern, attempting to quell the excitement of the youth, not at all being helped by Jet who was intent on rallying them into action.

His influence had been unmistakable in the time I've been here. Despite only being 13, he had the ear of those around him. They respected him because he respected them. He treated the others as his equals, never flaunted his experience or authority, but made all around him feel heard. He was a hero for the younger kids, and the object of envy for those his age.

On more than one occasion, his influence had been more than helpful. In first organizing the Separatists to train, it had been him that quelled their resentment, got them in line, and set them up to be properly trained by me and Jadoh.

During the drills, he had always helped lead his comrades to the best of his ability. In victory, he practiced humility in himself, but maintained pride in his comrades. In defeat, he emphasized improvement.

He had the makings of a leader, and perhaps that was what concerned me. As it stood, his rhetoric was only leading those around him into very plausible death.

"We can't have them getting cold feet now," he had answered when I attempted to confront him.

I hadn't disagreed but had told him that we shouldn't give them false notions.

He had countered in stating that it was not disillusionment he was providing, "but hope."

And hopeful they certainly were.

It was a noticeable trend I'd observed over time. A faith in their abilities.

They were improving. That much was clear. But I wasn't blind. They were no match for the Fire Nation army.

Of course, they refused to admit it, boasting of how they were more than ready to "knock some heads", ignoring how a fortress manned by experienced, battle-hardened Earth Kingdom soldiers had been devastated just a week ago.

When we had pieced together that a Fire Nation attack would be coming today, there was no shortage of volunteers to go across the sea and assist in the fighting, but the words of Cholla, the apparent commander of Earth Kingdom forces across the sea, had been clear.

Hold your position.

You will receive new orders once the battle is over.

Assuming we survive.

Kiu and I had been unable to discern if the final line was meant as a joke or not, but it was ominous one way or another.

Even my own pleas to Kiu to allow me to go across the sea and fight with my men had fallen on deaf ears.

"I need you here. The men look up to you as much as they do to me now. You're a part of this. It's not just Gordez and the others who see you as family. They do too."

And so I had submitted, retreating to the coast to assist in the loading of the Patriot. Weapons, armor, foodstuffs, medical supplies, Shanzi, spirits bless her, and all other assortment of things we would need for when we received our orders to move out.

If they came.

The preparations we were making, however, were worrying enough signs of our intentions. It was easy to read the connotation behind our actions.

With or without the Earth Kingdom, we're fighting this war.

So by the time the sun had become half-engulfed by the Nip, the Fire Nation blockade hiding somewhere beyond the horizon, watching the same sight as us, the Patriot had been loaded, ready to transport half of our over two hundred.

It had been 114 when we first got here. The more the fighting went on, the more families that got torn apart, the more there were the lost, the hungry, the purpose-less. We had provided solutions for all of the above, the only catch being they would carry a spear in our name.

Not too different from Fire Nation recruitment, I reflected. Or that of any other nation for that matter.

I recognized many of the faced boarding the Patriot now, ready to spend their nights there once more as they had been doing for the last couple of months, led by Jet, Kai at his side once again, no shortage of resentment for me, but certainly far more respect and/or fear. Whatever one wanted to call it.

Kiu had shared with me his beliefs for what would be in store. His prediction was that, following the battle of Jingping, assuming Earth Kingdom forces prevailed, Cholla would likely wish to lead a ground force to retake the fortress Malinin, granting access to the Mojiang province. A ground war would likely ensue, and the war would shift to the South. The Earth Kingdom would likely spend the next 2 weeks attempting to force the Fire Nation to the coast in time for the full moon, where Fire Nation forces would be pushed permanently out of the South. Such a change in territory would likely, or so Kiu stated he wanted to think, convince Earth Kingdom forces from Gaoling to lend assistance in permanently removing the Fire nation from the Nip Sea region.

It was a plan that saw much more fighting ahead of us, but, at the very least, it was the spark needed. It was the momentum that, should it be maintained, could change everything.

Or so we wanted to think.

Maybe Jet had a point. Maybe hope was what we needed after all.

Fire Nation forces were still solidified in Shibi as well as the near entirety of the Northern Nip. However, these coming battles, the Separatists, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribe all together, I wanted to believe it was what was needed to finally end the fighting on this front.

And then what?

A topic I found myself reluctant to think about, on half part due to the fact that I had no plan, and the other half being that I feared the plan I believe I was starting to have.

I saw myself, whether it was what I wanted or not, continuing this fight, at least until the Fire Nation was truly gone from the Nip.

Then what? Would I keep on fighting?

I saw myself deeper into the continent, within Fire Nation colonial holdings, continuing to fight a war I had convinced myself was no longer mine.

So why could I see myself doing these things?

Why was I so easily able to envision myself doing these things, regardless of what it would mean for those I considered my family?

I wanted to shout into the sea, to let it all out.

I pitied poor Kiu who was waiting beside me, gazing into the sunset as well. He years of age had made him prone to notice the slightest details in one's demeanor, and I wasn't exactly doing a great job of hiding my frustration.

"You're worried," he stated matter-of-factly.

"That obvious?"

"Hmm," he chuckled. "You wonder how much longer you'll be here."

"Until it's over." I answered, not even knowing if the response was my own.

"It's war. It will never be over."

"So why are you still fighting?" You've been fighting this same guerilla war for years now. Why keep going?"

"Because this war is mine?"

"Fighting for the Earth Kingdom?"

"Fighting for my home. The Earth Kingdom can do as it pleases. It is not my home. This sea, the Nip, that is my home. Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, it does not matter. We're separatists," he chuckled. "We believe in neither."

"Not sure if the others feel the same," I observed.

"They are young. They will chant the name of whoever fights alongside them. This. This is their home. They will just as soon raise arms against the Earth King if he threatens what they have fought for so long to defend."

"And you?"

"As will I. The people of this region. They are mine, and I will fight as long as I must for them. Which I suppose will not be much longer. At my advanced age," he guffawed. But you, this is not your cause."

"Not quite sure I even have a cause anymore."

"Yes, you do. It is why you left the Fire Nation. You left for your ideals, as did your family across the sea. But you have traded them in for the ideals of another."

What is he on about? A confused smirk rose to my face. "You lecturing me about helping you guys, now? It was you who convinced us to join you."

"You were trapped behind the Fire Nation blockade, my men wanted to kill you, it was the only choice."

"So it was charity?"

"It was a favor. And you have already returned it tenfold. You have kept my men safe, taught them what you known, shown them how to survive. But to fight on, for a campaign that isn't yours, you don't have to do that."

"Like you said," I scoffed. "Quite a big Fire Nation blockade blocking our way outta here."

"It will break. The Water Tribe will do that. When it does, you can leave. This war is for a home. It's not yours."

"What if it is? I've already been here the better part of a year now. What if this is my home now? My war."

"If…that were the case, then I would welcome you with open arms, but I know that it is not. You know that it is not."

I breathed out a sigh, knowing that he was correct.

"You will always be fighting other peoples' wars. It doesn't need to be that way. I remember why you told me you left the Fire Nation, to help those who couldn't help themselves. This…this isn't that. I am no longer keeping you here. Your ship is repaired, the least we could do, you have supplies, and soon, the chance will arise for you to escape. When it does, you take it."

And just when I though they were my family.

"Are you…are you kicking me out? Telling me to leave."

"I would never do that. You have, in the short time you've been here, become family to me and the others, but you have a family of your own, one you swore to protect, one you made a moral and ethical promise to. You owe it to them, and you owe it to yourself to be who you promised to be, to be the leader that led them away from the Fire Nation on the justification that you would no longer fight other peoples' wars. It's time you live by your word. I will not tell you what to do, but when the time arises, I hope that you will make the right decision."

He stood up to leave, clasping a light, thin hand on my shoulder, leaving me there with more questions than answers, the pit in my stomach all the larger, knowing he was right.

So much time spent here, feeling a responsibility pressed upon me, I had forgotten the primary responsibility I had sworn to, not to these Separatists, not even to Gordez, Zek, Luke, the others, but to myself, to be better.

Damnit.

I knew Kiu was right. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn't sure if I had the strength to do it.

Finally, ever since the Fire Nation, I had found a cause, and lacking faith in my own, I had seized it, not realizing that those who followed me had come to believe the cause I myself had begun to lose faith in—to piece the world together, not tear it apart.

My gaze shifted back to the water surface of the Nip once again, to the Southern horizon. The sun was just about set to my right.

Luke, Ka'lira, Zek, Gordez, I'm sorry. I know what I have to do. Make it past today. I promise. We'll be together again. Just make it past tonight.

No.

Kiu was saying more than just for me to wait until the time was right. Who knew when that time might be, when I might get another chance?

"I know what I have to do," I sighed.

"You okay with making the journey now?"

"It's what I have to do. I have to be there for them. Assuming, you're okay with me leaving."

And he gave me a soft smile then. "I wouldn't dream of stopping you. As I said, you're technically not one of us. Earth Kingdom orders don't apply to you. And besides. Who could blame me? I'm an old man. People slip by me once in a while."

I chuckled. "Thank you," I said. "I'll come back soon. I'll come back with them, and we'll finish this fight."

His soft smile still there, he only said, "You'll finish your fight. Whatever fight you choose after that, it is your choice."

I nodded. I had made up my mind for what to do for tonight. For what lay in the oh so distant future, I still had little clue. But for now, at least, as I loaded up the Patriot's skiff which Jadoh's aid, the two of us readying to depart, I had confidence in the very least that I was doing the right thing for my family. For those who needed me most.