Note: This is a collection of side stories, deleted scenes, and offshoots from the main story Shadow of the Dragon King. They don't fit into the pace of the main story and mainly feature original rather than canon characters, so I've decided to separate them out. They're generally in chronological order, though some stories might go back into the past.
The first of these stories is "Patching Up," which I have posted to LJ due to explicit content. It features Shun and Cheng before the final scene of Chapter 12, and is located here:
lunafana livejournal com 13663 html
The following story, "A Night's Work," takes place between the end of Chapter 14 "Confrontations" and the beginning of Chapter 15 "Bargains."
Warnings: Coarse language, partial nudity, sexual innuendo
Stories from the Shadows
A Night's Work
Ozai Year Three / Ji Lian 109, Second Moon of Fire
Two shadowed figures walked around the edge of the courtyard, under the eaves of buildings whose windows were pools of night.
"Over here, sir!"
Cheng and Hong hurried to the guardsmen to join the indistinct outlines in a cluster of jostling shoulders and mingled breaths.
"No movement from the target." The guardsman who had called to Cheng indicated the west wing of the palace for noble guests, its golden roof glimmering under the moon. "We are in position and ready to move."
A piece of the night behind him moved and separated itself out to become a man. "I bring word from his Highness."
"Shun." Cheng's voice was flat.
"He requests a private interview before the subject is processed through official channels." Shun indicated the others behind him. "I came with three of the detail to secure him."
"Wonderful." Her teeth glinted in the dark. "We are only too happy to accommodate his Highness, of course."
Shun gave a bow. "Thank you."
"Send the signal." Cheng turned to Hong. "We're ready to go."
Hong walked into the faint moonlight. A flame appeared in his cupped hands, lighting his face. Another flame glimmered from a window to the right of the wing, and another from its left. Hong closed his hands, extinguishing the fire, and the other signals disappeared in an instant.
"Let's move." The clump of shadows bulged out into the open, splitting into distinct forms in the broader space.
Cheng did not turn to look at Shun behind her. "Our guests from the Prince's security detail have no need to join us."
"We're here to support you, ma'am." He trailed her at a distance just out of sword's reach.
"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "Just stay on my tail."
"Always." He did not keep the laughter from his voice.
Her eyes glared white before she broke into a trot with the others. The first shouts of "Royal Security Service!" crashed into the stillness, and along with it the screaming, the slamming doors, the shouts, and the swish of flames. The night fractured into pieces that skittered away for whatever safety there might exist before the terrible flaming light.
The door to the bedroom banged open to admit a stream of indistinct forms. The pandemonium of the hallway poured in with them, the defiance and distress outside mingling with the languor and heat in the room.
"Rang Han." The foremost of the intruders strode to the canopied bed, the blade in his hand a crescent in the dimness. "You are under arrest for-"
A flash of white sliced across the half-light as the man reached for the bed, and he leapt back with a curse. Confusion answered him, and then the darkness narrowed into shadows as a flame sparked into existence.
The girl's shadow swung across the bed as the flame grew to its full size in the guardsman's hand. The knife in her hand, darkened with a thin stream of red, blazed in the firelight where she stood between the guardsmen and the bed.
"Shit!" Cheng's eyes widened at the sight of her. She knocked aside the firebender's hand, killing the light with a sputter of flame.
"Out." The waving of her arm dragged a frantic shadow across the room. "Get out, all of you!" The men shuffled back, muttering to one another.
"She cut me." Shun didn't move next to her. The metallic smell of blood tinged the air.
"Serves you right for barging in ahead of the firebenders." Cheng pushed him in the chest. "Out."
"But she cut me! What's she doing here and why's she look like that little girl T-"
His voice cut off with a swing of Cheng's arm and the smack of flesh on flesh. Cheng walked past him where he stood in stunned silence, and slammed the door on the rest of her men.
"You hit me." Shun rubbed his mouth.
"Yes, we are all impressed with your talent for stating the obvious." Cheng crossed the room to thrust open a window, letting in a blot of moonlight and the commotion of a disturbed household. "And for saying things better left unsaid."
"You're not taking him away like this." The young woman's bedrobe was half open and the thin material clung to her, doing little to hide a build that indicated she was in her late teens. The rounded contours of her face and huge eyes made her seem younger.
"Actually we are, my lady." Cheng crossed her arms and leaned against the windowsill. "He needs to answer for what he's done, and you need to return home to your mother."
"She's right, dear." Both Cheng and Shun tensed at the voice that came from the blackness under the canopy. "You should go home once Royal City's finest are gone. Sergeant Cheng will see to it that you leave without being seen." The bed shifted as Rang sat up, one bare arm luminescent in the distant light. "Won't you, Sergeant?"
"Of course, sir." Cheng's gaze strayed to the flawless skin.
"No." The young woman shook her head, her brown hair flying. "I won't let you!" She slid a foot forward with her knees bent, the knife a gleam of light in her hand.
Shun took an answering step forward, but Cheng walked past him with a hand against his chest. "Stay back. It's not worth your life to leave a bruise on this one."
"Draw your sword," Shun said to her back.
"Don't need it." Cheng approached the bed step by unhurried step. Her eyes never left the girl's. "Here's what I think this is about. I think right now you'd fight and die to prove you weren't wrong about him. Well, you know what?"
She came to a stop in easy striking distance. "He wasn't worth it. You made a mistake."
The girl lunged with a cry caught between belligerence and pain. Shun broke into a run, but before he completed the first stride Cheng had sidestepped the attack and grabbed hold of the girl's wrist. A hard yank, and the knife clattered to the floor.
The noblewoman tried to dive for it, but Cheng refused to release her and spun her around to wrench the arm behind her back. They fell across the foot of the bed with Cheng on top, pushing her writhing opponent down by the head and arm. The men watched as though they were incapable of looking away.
"Stay still, you silly gosling." Cheng leaned into her grip on the noblewoman's arm, drawing a yelp of pain. "So you bedded a traitorous piece of shit." Her voice grew quiet as if she spoke to herself. "Life goes on."
Shun lowered his gaze while the girl's struggles slackened. The beginning of a wail muffled itself in the mattress.
"Take him away, Guardsman." Cheng kept her hold on the weeping young woman, but eased the pressure on her arm.
Shun found Rang's robe draped over a chair and tossed it to him. Rang took his time threading his arms through the sleeves, watching the entangled women with a connoisseur's interest.
Shun followed Rang's line of sight. "Fire Nation women are crazy."
"Indeed." Rang closed the robe around himself. "I shall miss them."
"You can start missing them right now." Shun hauled him from the bed with enough force that the bedrobe fell open in the process. His jaw clenched at Cheng's hum of appreciation.
Rang belted the robe around his waist. "You seem overeager, Guardsman. Patience is an underappreciated virtue."
"Shut up." Shun grasped his shoulder and pushed him ahead. "You have an appointment to keep."
"Han..." The girl sat up in bed while Cheng kept an eye on her, her robe in disarray and hair down in front of her eyes.
"Go home and forget all this, sweetpuff." Rang smiled over his shoulder. "I hope it was as good for you as it was for me."
The girl started shaking as the men left the room, and tears left new trails down her face. She slumped into herself as the sobs came, and Cheng put an arm around her. After a feeble attempt to push her away the noblewoman collapsed against her, burying the sound of her misery in the embrace.
"Everything's under control," Cheng called in response to inquiries from the hallway. "Don't come in, we're not decent." She chuckled at the answer.
"Clear out, men. You did good work." She held the girl close. "Drinks are on me." She sat with her charge as the guards left, the darkness growing deeper as the lights went out and peace returned to the night.
Note: Incidentally "night work (밤일)" is a colloquial Korean term for sex, especially regular sex between committed couples. "Ji Lian (刏连: severed continuity)" is an age name I made up for the era of Avatar Aang.
Next: A letter from a friend
