Chapter 73

Seeing Xing's heatbending in action was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The way the Water Tribe raiders just suddenly frosted over and gasped out cold clouds of air, the way the campfires crackled as they were snuffed out… There was something inherently unsettling about it that made the lieutenant colonel shudder.

And yet, directly above Xing a few bats dropped from the sky from the sudden, drastic increase in temperature, as what was leached from the raiders was shunted above the colonel. When Mozi took the time to inspect them the flash-fried creatures showed no signs of charring, but they had dried blood staining every orifice, as if their eyeballs and innards had burst out.

Again, it was not a good way to go.

While some firebenders secured the prisoners before warming them up, Mozi took another squad to rifle through the raiders' belongings for any useful information. Their colonel in the meantime led another group to check for any potential stragglers.

For better or worse, these raiders didn't own anything really of note. There was a rudimentary map, but no orders or anything approaching stored intelligence. The Earth Kingdom really had just equipped them and let them loose.

Still, it was a testament to the Water Tribe warriors abilities that they wreaked so much damage, that the princess tasked the 11th to deal with the issue. Despite their small numbers, these men had razed dozens of outposts, ravaged several barracks, and left slaughtered more than four times their number in Fire Nation garrison guards.

Mozi briefly wondered what his commander would do with these prisoners. Even in the early days Xing had a strange soft spot for the tribals, giving them far more respect than many of his peers did not. Maybe it's because he bonded with Kilin and her group of prisoners so closely. Mozi couldn't really be sure of that, but he was almost certain that the latest batch of prisoners would be finding themselves surprised at the soft treatment they'd be getting.

With nothing but personal belongings to gather, Mozi waited for Xing to return before sending off a bolt of fire into the air. And then it was a matter of waiting for a few minutes before a rumbling growl was heard from deep in the darkness.

Lantern lights betrayed the arrival of a small fleet of tracked transports. Based off the tanks that had performed rather well in the Northern Air Temple and the invasion of the North Pole, the longer, open-topped vehicles proved to be excellent transports. Requiring only one firebender to power its motor and a driver to steer the thing in exchange for ferrying almost a score of soldiers around, Mozi could see these tracked carriers become a new staple in the Fire Army.

As marvelous as the contraption was, it still paled compared to what the Earth Kingdom - Ba Sing Se in particular - was pulling off. They had basically been building larger versions of the carriages that the great city used for their famed monorails, and used earthbenders to push it and its cargo around. Last reports from the east stated that those things could disgorge about fifty men, and General Hwa had been publicly appalled that such information had not been taken seriously until she took the reins of the army.

Mozi could understand her anger. If the Earth Kingdom could redeploy and reinforce so many troops so quickly, it would greatly change the calculus for battle. Ba Sing Se could theoretically send out an endless human wave on a front, wearing it down by attrition or forcing the Fire Nation to draw its strength from other areas. Then it could just as quickly move all that manpower to the weakened spots.

Hopefully, this tracked carrier would help even the scales a bit. Xing initially had trouble commissioning them, but with War Minister Qin's demise, he had found a candidate for the office who sought out the crown princess', and therefore the 11th's, support. As a result, he accepted Xing's commission and now the whole regiment and its supply train fully traveled in the vehicles.

Some people still found the ride unnerving, but Mozi personally found it far more agreeable than wagons. Suspensions and simple cushioned seats did wonders for long travel, and the metal hulls offered an obvious sense of protection.

The raiders were led to the transports with jaws hanging and eyes boggled. Mozi wasn't that naive to think that the display of technology would awe them; the warriors were likely already trying to pick apart at what they saw in their minds.

"This area is clear, no signs of other raiders," Xing said casually as he joined his second in command. "We'll quickly head back to camp and settle in the prisoners, then leave the interrogation for after the sun rises."

"As you say, sir." Mozi took a separate transport from Xing - a safety precaution, according to the colonel - and allowed himself to relax as he returned to camp without having to walk or firebend.

The regiment's camp was bustling as it usually was at night, with the night shift keeping guard and a few of the non-combatants still up doing chores. Li Ming would likely be waiting for Mozi in his tent, and it was that motivation that made the lieutenant colonel speed through the closing of the operation. The prisoners were led off to the guarded compound, Xing issued his final orders before heading to bed himself, and the seized items would be stored away for futu-

Mozi turned along with Xing and the others at a commotion in the distance. One of the prisoners, the tribal chieftain, had frozen in place for some reason. As the two commanders hurried over to find out exactly why, Mozi saw Kilin, Yuka and some of the other Water Tribe prisoners ready to welcome the new intake staring with equal confusion at the man.

It was only when the chief spoke that things clicked.

"A-Auntie Kilin?"

*****​

Of all the things she expected, Kilin did not see a family reunion happening at all. Least of all her brother's son. It had taken her a while to actually figure out what was so familiar about him, but when Hakoda called out, Kilin let out an involuntary gasp as she finally saw the traces of Niqo on his face.

Her legs almost gave way, but Kilin managed to stagger forwards as Yuka held her up for support. "Ha-Hakoda?"

The nephew she had once thought lost quickly ran up to her, and even through her own blurring vision she could see the tears welling up in his eyes. Kilin sniffed as she tightly embraced Hakoda, not minding at all that he kept calling her name. Niqo was always the emotional one, it's no surprise that his son inherited it.

"We thought you were dead," Hakoda rasped once they settled down in the main camp. The other prisoners sat around them, not hiding their interest at all. Even Yama wasn't pretending to be asleep. "They said your village was melted to the ground."

It was, but Kilin had been captured instead of killed. She distinctly remembered the bittersweet consolation that she was the one that made the move to this village, and not her brother and his new family.

"They caught me," the healer replied. "But on the way back, the ship got caught in a storm. Me and the other waterbenders managed to break everyone out." And the ship. She remembered the vengeful satisfaction of joining with the others in ripping the warship with an explosion of ice.

"Then…why didn't you return home?"

Kilin smirked dryly. "We couldn't see where we were floating to, and before we knew it, we ended up in Earth Kingdom land. We also learned that the Fire Nation were out hunting for waterbenders, so returning home would only lead them to our loved ones."

She fought the frown and the voice in her head that nagged at her. She did not want to admit that she still was too incensed at Niqo to consider even thinking about him as a loved one. Stupid family fights being stupid, really, but Kilin couldn't stand her brother's attempts to arrange a marriage for her. And with his brutish and unbearable friends too! The bloody nerve of it all…

The elder shook her head of the sour thoughts to return to the more pleasant present. Now that she had the time to appreciate it, Hakoda seemed more and more like Niqo, down to his brow movements and the quirk in his lips when he pronounced certain words.

"I thought you were all gone too," Kilin admitted. "Heard they were conducting raids, and they had razed Yak Bay."

"We fled to Wolf Cove. Dad found their ships approaching."

Well, Niqo did have a talent for slipping out of trouble…

"So you were in the Earth Kingdom all this while?" Hakoda asked with a concerned frown. He even had the same ridges on his forehead as his father when he did that.

Kilin shrugged. "More or less." She and the others had banded together and joined with the first Earth Kingdom state they met, serving as healers and fighters as their talents allowed them to. "Fought with Duke Shuwei for a while, and then…I left." Because he couldn't take no as an answer, and she couldn't see herself as an Earth Kingdom duke's lady no matter how much he tried to make her.

She let out a heavy sigh. "Then I got captured…I fled, then fought with another Earth Kingdom state…" Kilin smiled a bit remembering the late Countess Su and her very…warm welcome. A shame she had to marry such a useless lout to keep her legacy going.

"...and eventually I got captured again." Her smile faded as the darker memories made their appearance.

Hakoda looked appalled. "You've been a prisoner of the 11th for so long?"

Kilin's eyes went wide at the misunderstanding, ignoring Yama's derisive snort as she quickly shook her head. "What? No, no. The Fire Nation held me prisoner in one of their towns. It was…an ugly time." She closed her eyes for a second, forcefully banishing back the soul crushing memories of countless years in a dark cell, or the dark leers of her captors.

Popping sounds drew Kilin back to the present, and she slowly unclenched her fists. A quick surge of chi mended the slight damage the waterbender did to her own joints. "Anyway, eventually I was…transferred here."

"Transferred?"

Kilin offered a wry smirk, one that several other prisoners like Yuka mirrored. "The folks here at the 11th decided that I served a better purpose here than languishing in a cell."

Hakoda did not stop looking utterly revulsed. Kilin waved away his unsaid concerns. "Oh don't worry, they treat us well here. Took a bit of time for me to believe them, but the 11th are good people, for Fire Nation captors anyway." They (well, mostly Xing if she was right) burned down the barracks Yuka had been kept in, they (again, it was Xing with his little band of accomplices) let her and the other prisoners satisfy their bloody vengeance on their former gaolers as a show of trust.

Kilin remembered the bright smile Xing wore when he offered her a dagger in front of the trussed up victims. "Rusty and chipped, so it'll hurt more."

"You'll want to be careful between the legs," she remembered a younger Ping saying as she scowled at the bound rapists and sadists. Kilin still remembered the young woman's old wounds before she healed them away. "Cut them wrong and they'll bleed out too fast."

Kilin remembered her own dark smile at that time as she nicked herself with the dagger and healed the jagged wound before her surprised benefactors. "Oh don't worry, I'll be sure they make it through the night."

Ignoring Hakoda's skeptical look, Kilin offered a reassuring smile as she bended out some water into the teapot someone considerately brought over. "Anyway, enough about me for tonight. What about you? How are you here? Surely you should be a proud father by now?"

Kilin almost shattered the teapot by freezing it too quickly when she heard of what led her nephew here.

As the skies began to brighten to herald the dawn, Kilin fought off her weariness and followed a soldier to Xing's tent. She didn't really need an escort, but it didn't hurt to be formal for things like this.

"Elder Kilin, you're still awake?" he inquired as he welcomed her in and dismissed the guards. She entered with as warm a smile as she could manage, inured by now to the trust he showed her by keeping his bodyguards outside. "Hopefully it's just excitement from reuniting with family?"

Kilin decided to get to the point. The boy wasn't one for beating around the bush anyway. "Unfortunately, no. My nephew, Hakoda… I learned that he had lost his wife some years ago."

"My condolences," Xing said softly with a bow of his head.

"She died protecting her daughter…my grandniece…from a Fire Nation raider." Xing stood silently still, nodding at Kilin to continue. "I've not asked much from you before, Xing, but-"

The young firebender raised a hand to interrupt her, nodding once more with a familiar coldness in his eyes. "I'll see what I can do, elder. Please, get some rest."

"Thank you, Xing." Kilin made to kneel in gratitude, but the boy came up to stop her.

"None of that, elder." His smile was soft and reassuring. "I owe you my life many times already. This is nothing."

Kilin left the tent with a sense of relief. One way or another, Xing would help seek vengeance, she knew it.

*****​

After days of traveling with the 11th, Hakoda stood in shock with his men before the Scorpion. He had to admit that until now their captors had been nothing but respectful, and the chief still found it hard to believe that none of the monstrous tales about the Defiant 11th and its Young Dragon applied to their prisoners.

Auntie Kilin and the other prisoners had been practically gushing in their praise of their Fire Nation guards, even considering them more as protective guardians than malevolent gaolers. Not that they glossed over the atrocities the regiment had committed, but a certain…perspective was added.

Yes, they beat back Earth Kingdom armies by throwing mutilated bodies or starving out whole formations, but the gruesome tactics were employed to break morale and encourage the enemy to flee. The surly General Yama of the Earth Kingdom had strangely remarked that the 11th actually killed far less than other formations, but paradoxically admitted that they also probably killed far more soldiers than anyone else.

Hakoda had to take some time wrapping his head around that idea, until someone told him about Earth Kingdom peasant conscripts.

It made a twisted kind of sense then, but it still did not sit well for him. These men and women were not merciful or benevolent. They still fought to conquer, they still ruthlessly swept aside any opposition in their way. Being honorable through dishonorable acts only gave them so much allowance in Hakoda's eyes.

Yet here he was all of the sudden, with his men, assembled outside of the regiment's camp with a bag of supplies slung under each warrior's arm.

The Scorpion stood before him, smirking faintly. "I owe the good elder a favor…a lot of favors, actually. So, here." The boy raised a scroll in his hand, waving it about slightly.

"This is a map, containing information regarding a particular group of Fire Nation raiders."

That immediately caught Hakoda's attention, as well as several of his comrades'.

"I heard that the leader of this particular group of raiders was responsible for…killing an innocent mother."

Hakoda had to suppress a growl at the dark reminder.

The Scorpion's eyes narrowed into a steely glare. "I might misplace this scroll when my unruly prisoners decide to suicidally break free and escape. Maybe it's because one of them hid a bone knife up their ass or something." The scroll lowered, and Hakoda almost lunged at it before the Scorpion pulled it back up again.

"But I'd have it on your word, or your honor, or whatever it is you hold dear, that you will only seek out the names found on this map. No family members, no collateral. If they're already dead, you can piss on their graves and defile it, but do not take it out on anyone else."

The boy's glare somehow managed to turn sharper. "Otherwise, I'd have to kill the elder for abusing my trust, and then I'll be petitioning the royal court for a visit to the south pole."

Hakoda and his men nodded at the mutual gift and threat. It was more than a fair request.

"After that, after all the names here are crossed off, you will go back and defend your homes and raise your children."

The chief was mildly surprised that the Scorpion didn't ask for their return as prisoners. He'd have gladly done so, considering the generous gift of vengeance.

"Thank you, Sc-"

"None of that," the boy cut in with a wave of the scroll. "I'm doing this for your auntie, but also so that you can tell the other Southern Water Tribe folks you come across to go back to the south pole and stay out of the continent. With the coming daring escape, my regiment might not be keen on taking further prisoners from the south."

Hakoda bowed deeply, and his men followed along. "I understand. Thank you, colonel, for this chance."

"Maybe next time we'll meet in friendlier circumstances." He paused for a second, and then smiled almost wistfully. "I'll see if I can convince Elder Kilin to go down to visit her grandniece and nephew."

The Scorpion gave a final nod and then casually dropped the scroll before turning away.

"I'm sure Sokka and Katara would be grateful for the opportunity to me-"

Hakoda paused, noting the boy uncharacteristically stumbling in his steps and then quickly turning back to him.

"They're your kids?"