Boss

I hadn't realized just how close I had come to getting an arrow in the eye. When I saw the smoke, I knew I had been too late, the entirety of the Nip occupied by Fire Navy patrols taking as much of an advantage of the new moon as they could.

I should have left earlier.

I waited too long.

Damnit, I never should have let them go alone at all.

Those final agonizing minutes of the ride, knowing only that Jingping burned, no part of me capable of informed of just how the tide of the battle had sorted the living from the dead.

Upon arriving on the shore, it was hard not to notice immediately the hell that had been experienced. The low tide revealed the corpses of Fire Nation soldiers who had hardly made it off of their landing transports, some of them having received only debilitating injuries, left to drown before dying of their wounds. Further inland, however, it was impossible not to notice how the tide of battle had shifted, Earth Kingdom soldiers packed into trenches like mass graves, shell holes lining the terrain, the ratio of Fire Nation casualty to Earth Kingdom rising exponentially. They hadn't stood a chance.

I think the only thing that had guaranteed me not receiving the bolt of a crossbow immediately in my skull had been the apparel I donned, the Fire Nation armor I used for protection thankfully shrouded by the poncho I wore above it, the first words spoken to me being, "Who the fuck are you?"

It was then, looking up, that I realized the precarious nature of my situation. In the few foxholes and trenches that still remained, Earth Kingdom soldiers stood still, weapons raised at me. So the Earth Kingdom held out, so, then why is the town-

"You with the ash makers that burned our homes to the ground?!" one in the lead demanded of me.

"No!" I answered, arms raised, but only just enough that it would indicate surrender without revealing the armor beneath. The state of desperation these troops were in now, I was positive the slightest hint of red and black would spell out my death.

"Don't fucking lie to us, coming in on a skiff like that! Here to gloat?! Brag about killing almost every man, woman, and child here?!

"No!" Arms still raised. "I'm with the Nip Sea Separatists. We're here to help."

"Bullshit! I'll drop you right fucking-"

"Boss!" My head turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Further inland, beyond the scattered Earth Kingdom forces, Luke at the forefront, Zek and Ka'lira trailing immediately behind with equal looks of joyful enthusiasm that couldn't not touch my heart in spite of the noticeable wear and tear they bore, dirtied, bloodied, limping. And behind them…

Gordez. It was as though he was staring at a ghost, and perhaps I was in so similar a state that of the ground between the others and me, it had been them to clear it all, Luke and Zek arriving at one for quick embraces which I managed to return, snapping out of my daze.

They're alive. All of them are alive. Thank you. Thank you, spirits. Thank you.

"I didn't know if you had made it or not," I managed to let out. "I saw the fire and-"

"Oh, come on!" Luke said with a sad chuckle, pulling himself away from me. "You trained us better than that."

"Good to see the Seppies haven't torn you apart yet," Zek said, drawing away as well, the embrace having concluded. The levity was forced. Could see it in his eyes. He was hurting. They all were. How bad was it? What had happened here?

"Not yet," I answered, figuring it best not to confront them on such a thing just yet.

Ka'lira, behind Zek, now approached, placing a hand on my shoulder before coming in for an embrace as well, which I gladly returned, not wanting to leave anybody out. "You alright?" she asked.

Always the one to look out for others. "I'm good," I answered. "Things are good."

"Glad to hear it," she answered with that same sad smile, drawing away.

And behind them all, approaching only now, Gordez.

Thank you. Thank you for sparing him too.

"Boss," he said, giving a nod, the relief apparent on his face. He didn't need to say anything more. I understood. There would be time for more later.

"Gordez," I said, nodding in turn. We know. That was all that mattered. We knew.

Another figure was with the group, one I didn't recognize, and one who seemingly didn't recognize me as well with the way she was hovering further away, like a moon about just ready to leave its planet's orbit. I myself would have asked who she was were it not for Luke speaking first, saying, "Zare, this is our commander. The same one who led our squad in the defense of Ba Sing Se. We call him 'Boss.'"

The 'defense' of Ba Sing Se. I saw what it was, a statement designed for me as much as for her, a hint as to the lie they had told to shroud who we were, a lie that still kept the knives of the Separatists as far from our throats as possible. All except for Kiu.

"So," I said, turning to her now. "You're the straggler the letters mentioned."

"Looks like it," she answered, leaning forward in a bow that I returned. "They've talked a lot about you."

"Only good things, I hope."

"Way they say it, nothing 'bad' to mention."

"Well. Now I know they're lying."

A few chuckles sounded from the crowd of dear friends, making way, however, for the awareness of our surroundings to make its return, aided along the way by the approach of a man in the attire of an Earth Kingdom commander, torn and bloodied as it was. "You said you're with the Separatists?" he asked in the stereotypical gruff voice I'd come to expect of Earth Kingdom soldiers over the years. The others parted in his wake, indicating some semblance of authority that had been fermented between them. They obey his orders, listen to him, follow him into death if they must. So this is who they trust. Already, that was enough for me to want to trust the man. I trusted those whom those I cared about trusted.

"That's right. I came here to help."

"That's right, sir," he corrected. "May call yourselves separatists, but you're still Earth Kingdom citizens, and if you're here to help, I'm afraid you're a bit late."

Well. This is off to a great start. "I know," I answered. "I'm sorry. Fire Nation took advantage of the new moon to patrol. Were probably covering their invasion of Jingping."

"Invasion," Cholla scoffed. "Not an invasion. A raid. And still, it was nearly enough to kill us all and burn everything to the ground. That says something, don't it?" He sighed, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he did so. He hadn't slept through the night. None of them had. Neither had I, but then again, I hadn't spent the night fighting for my life through a burning town. "So who did Kiu send us?"

"What's that?"

"What's that, sir" he said again. "Your rank. Or, at least, what you have that passes for rank. What's your importance to him?"

"I'm his second in command."

"Second in command," he echoed, musing the appointed title. "That's nice. So why'd he send the second most important person there across the sea in the middle of an invasion to 'help'?"

"I came on my own free will, sir."

Cholla pondered what I said, then turned to face the others where they stood, many having, throughout the conversation, drifted over to my side as though in my defense. "I see. Well then, you may still be of use. We need more hands to help us count and clear the bodies before disease breaks out. Once that's done, we will discuss how else you can be of use."

I nodded. Not a part of me blamed him for how he was behaving. I doubted I would be feeling any better in his shoes, surrounded by those I had tried so desperately to defend. And Gordez, I wondered. Knowing him, the defense of Jingping would have become something he'd have tied to give every fiber of his being towards over the last week in preparation of.I doubted it was any easier on him.

We got to work.

By the end of that day, the dead numbered at 4,352, only 67 of which were actual soldiers. 93% of Jingping's population dead, and nearly all of them, civilians.

Zek, Luke, and Ka'lira, they had relayed to me the details of what had happened, of what the Fire Nation-our country-had done.

They had destroyed homes, roads, schools, clinics, but left supply depots, armories, and even the defense fleet, just 2 measly Earth Kingdom ironclads, untouched.

I couldn't understand it. I don't think any of us did.

All we were capable of seeing was that an entire town had been, quite literally, wiped off the map in the span of a single night.

"It doesn't make sense," Luke had stated as we'd moved the bodies, a task I was under the impression, he was no stranger to. "Targeting civilians before anyone else. Clearly they weren't interested in destroying our army as much as our base of support. Are they trying to goad us into an attack? Make us push back before the full moon when we'll be at our strongest?"

I had no answer for him. I was in as much the dark as he was, sad as it was to say. Just as much as me wondered, of course, what Cholla was planning.

I ran through the options in my head. There was the first, my most idiotic, to attack before the full moon. Perhaps Cholla was hoping that the Fire Nation wouldn't be prepared for such a quick counterattack, but without our forces having had time to prepare, without the strength of the waterbenders, it would be suicide one way or another. And attack where? Shibi? It was a likely target, invaluable if in Earth Kingdom possession once again—a primary fueling site for their blockade. If we take it, their hold on this entire region will be crushed.

That, however, would not stop the attack from being suicide, especially at a time so soon. Then there was the alternative, one that still saw us attack, but on the full moon. It was the most logical time to do so. We'd have the greatest advantage, which, while it still wasn't much, could certainly change the tide of the battle and even the war. It would grant Cholla time to arrange a proper plan of attack with the Revanchist Tribe and the Separatists. What that plan would be, I had no way of knowing.

Static defense was practically out of the picture, Jingping nothing more than a ruin, impossible to hold, nothing here to sustain a defense in case of a second attack. So, of course, there was the final option—retreat. They could go south, abandon Jingping, abandon the Nip, abandon the war. Somehow, in the short span of time I had known Cholla-only hours, this did not seem the likely course of action. Logically as well, it was bound for failure. The Fire Nation held much of the territory south of Jingping, and the trek to Gaoling was long enough that Cholla's forces and the survivors of Jingping would likely die of starvation before ever reaching friendly territory.

The only option was to fight.

The Fire Nation had to know this. Which was precisely what I was worried about.

"It's a trap," Luke said, seemingly having come to a similar conclusion on his own. "Isn't it?"

"Maybe."

"No other choice though, is there?"

"I don't think so."

"Guess all we can do then is prepare as much as we can. Fight another one of their battles"

I sighed. Trapped as we still were by the blockade, it seemed we had little choice. I nodded. Luke was noticeably far from being content. "You're worried." No shit he's worried, I thought, wondering why I had even bothered saying something like that.

Luke chuckled. "That obvious?" He sighed. "I'm just saying. I don't see any way this goes well. We lose, we die. We win, somehow, then we're stuck here. Shibi won't be the end of this fight. Might change things, sure, but we'll be stuck here fighting their wars until it kills us."

The way his words had mimicked those of Kiu. It was…uncanny. To say the least.

"I talked with Kiu," I said. "We…talked about this exact same thing for a while."

"Let me guess? He tried to sell you on extending your contract?" Still so much hatred for the Separatists and the man who led them. He hadn't had the last month that I had, hadn't seen them as family, not like I had. He still saw them as the enemy. Or, if not the enemy, then a threat.

"No. He said we should leave. Once the battle is over, their blockade will probably not be quite as airtight, and we can slip through."

"He don't think he needs us anymore?"

"No, I-I don't think it's that. From how it sounded, I think he wants us to stay, but knows we shouldn't." He did not seem convinced. "They're not the enemy, you know."

"So they're our friends?"

"I didn't say that, but…for now at least, they are. We're allies. We have the same goal."

I could tell Luke still his doubts, but whether he did believe me or not, he sighed and said, "If you trust them, then, well, that'll have to do for me at least. Least their leader, that guy Kiu."

I nodded. "Thank you."

I would have to trust the others to trust me. I came to have similar conversations with Zek and Ka'lira throughout the day. Gordez, on the other hand, the way he moved, the way he almost seemed afraid to talk to me, I figured the long-anticipated conversation was something that would best be left for that evening.

The proper day did, of course, eventually come to an end.

By the end of it, the bodies had been gathered, the living 7% of Jingping having spent the last 14 hours stacking the other 93% into a pile to be burned en masse that night.

The survivors of Jingping had advocated for them to be buried, but Cholla had been insistent that there was no time for ceremony, that our Earthbenders were needed on defense rather than burying the dead.

As much as I didn't disagree, it was impossible not to feel sorry for those who had lost everything and everyone, who now couldn't even have the closure of a proper burial. Their loved ones would all be reduced to ashes, just had been the aim of the Fire Nation soldiers who had attacked.

Tents had been erected in the field between the town's edge and the wall. There were enough intact structures to house the meager few who had survived, but those who still lived, they didn't seem too keen on housing in the homes of those whose corpses they had gathered just that day and put to the torch.

Even still, there were hardly enough tents for all. Many slept under the stars, and some put aside the stigma and settled for the shelter available.

We would not be among those to seek shelter. I believe there was a certain guilt attached to it at this point. I did not doubt that many of those few remaining homes would go uninhabited for the night. Frankly, the sooner this town was abandoned, the better.

I figured it wise not to bother Cholla that evening. He was going through enough as it was. Hard as I tried not to bring up the matters of business, he seemed far more inclined to speak about what needed to be said, even as we stood watching the burned rise into the unlit night sky.

"Your Separatists. How many are you?" he asked, eyes lit by the fires of his comrades as he stared off into the distance.

"Around 200."

"Where are they?"

"We have a place. To the north."

"Hmm. Do they have room for more?"

"Excuse me?"

"These civilians, the women and children, they need to be moved. Here isn't safe, and besides, we'll be securing it as much as we can for what comes next. Figure if your separatists have been safe there for this long, they will be too. I would appreciate if you could keep them safe. Take them off our hands."

"Of course. We'll keep em safe."

"Good. We'll escort them there tomorrow. I want a word with whoever is in charge there. Discuss what comes next."

"What comes next?" So soon? The dead are-

"I know. The dead are not even cold and I'm thinking of what comes next. Sad truth is, every moment we spend mourning the dead is a moment our enemy has longer to prepare than us. I guarantee you those ash makers aren't holding a wake for their fallen, and neither should we."

The sentiment, cold as it was, was by no means misplaced. Sad though it was to say.

"You'll take us there tomorrow," he continued. It was not a request, but an order. "Got it?"

I had no intention of starting anything here. I knew he was right. If there was one thing he had shown me throughout the course of the day, it was that his priority was getting the job done, no matter the cost. Perhaps that's what had scared me about him. "Of course," I answered.

He only nodded.

And that had been Cholla, leaving only Gordez. We had to talk, us having been avoiding it far too long, and he knew just that much as well. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised then when Gordez had pulled me aside into a dark side street while we were preparing an abandoned home for prospective dwellers and proceeded to embrace me. Not in the same manner that Luke, Zek, or Ka'lira had, but something much more.

Something I recognized, something I had missed, spent every day of the last month longing for, something I loved.

Somebody I love.

When I did pull away from our wordless embrace, it was only to immediately scan my surroundings to ensure nobody was near before pulling his face towards mine in a kiss that had been on my mind ever since landing.

In spite of the darkness, the horror, the death around us, somehow, everything in that moment felt normal, felt safe, felt right.

"I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to do that," Gordez chuckled, pulling back, a smile lining his face for the first time today, faint as it was. It's still something.

I chuckled in kind, saying, "I told you I'd see you again."

"You have to wait a whole month to do so though?" It wasn't an accusation, and I didn't take it as such. The fact was the feeling was mutual, naturally. Why did it have to have been an entire month? No, don't think about it. You're here. He's here. That's all that matters.

His forehead was to mine, the feeling of him in my arms and myself in his, it was impossible for the world not to matter so much in that moment.

"I saw the fires in the distance," I started, "And I didn't know if-"

"We're fine. You taught us well. You taught me well. I just wish I could have done more."

"You did everything you could have. Fighting the Fire Nation like that, it's only because you were around that more didn't die. I'm sure of that."

Gordez sighed. "Let's not think about that now, yeah? They'll be time for that later. I just want tonight to be for us."

"We need to be careful," I said, my logical reasoning getting the better of me in that moment, threatening to tear everything apart. I had to remain aware of where I was, dead center in Earth Kingdom territory. "If we're seen-"

"We won't," Gordez said. "I found a place for us to spend the night. Just you and me."

I couldn't help but grin at the thought. "I'd like that."

"I know," he smiled in return. "Tomorrow, we can go back to business, but tonight, tonight is for us. We settle down, and have some fun. Maybe I'll be the one you call 'Boss' tonight."

I chuckled, no shortage of fantasies already rising to my mind at the simple thought of it, a noticeable physical change as well that I believe, in our close proximity, he could detect. "I think that can be arranged," I responded.

And as we had planned, the night was indeed ours, no interruptions to be had—just the two of us, in one another's arms, not a care in the world. For just that night, it was paradise. Reality, the war, it could wait. Did I feel guilty? No. I had been a month away from the man I loved most in the world. If feeling fulfilled to be in his arms again made me a horrible person, then, well, I could accept that.

We all knew what was coming. There was no crime in enjoying peace while we could.