Kai Wen's been in the Earth Kingdom for over a year now, which is certainly long enough to realize that war is hell. It's always either too hot or too cold and there's nothing to think about but the weather and the war and between him and the stove, he'd mostly rather think about the weather. Today's too hot—means that tomorrow will be too cold. He doesn't know which is worse: that he can predict the weather or that he's actually getting used to it.
His life's become a pretty stern monotony that he tries to spice up by pulling pranks on everyone (mostly Mako) every so often. In an average day, he wakes up, eats the shit that they serve in the mess tent, goes to post-op, plays poker, scams some money, operates on kids that look no older than seventeen, drinks whatever his distillery's produced, writes home, reads, goes to his post-op shift, pranks Mako, drinks more, and then goes to bed. It seems like a fun life, but it isn't. He's just going through the motions at this point and he still has another year of service to go—that's according to the generals, anyways. Then again, they said that he'd be home by now this time last here. For all Kai knows, he could be here until he's as old as Yung.
The thought of Yung whacking him over the head for calling him old makes Kai smile, and since he's currently bored out of his wits but not enough to prank Mako, he decides to write a letter.
Dear Yung, there's a lull at last after almost four straight days of meatball surgery. That's eighty-five hours of sewing kids together; kids that look more at home behind a desk rather than a rifle. If this keeps up, I'm thinking of asking the army for a raise. He laughs at his own rapier wit before continuing to write. Anyway, Yung, since I haven't really had time to write for a while, let me get you up to speed.
Varrick and Zhu Li, our company clerk, still think that no one's caught wind of their affair. It's actually kind of hilarious. I walked in on them kissing the other day and Varrick said that they weren't kissing, he was just practicing his mouth to mouth. Yeah, sure. I suppose that's what they're calling it these days. I don't know what they see in each other: Zhu Li's half-psychic and so stoic I swear that nothing fazes her, and Varrick's idea of high fashion is a lab coat and safety goggles. But they're happy, and a happy CO's better than an angry one.
I pulled a prank on Mako a while back—I hid his scrubs up in the rafters of our tent, along with a box of stationary and his shoes. I know, you don't have to say anything, I'm pretty brilliant. Korra thought that it was pretty funny. Remember, I told you about Korra? She's the head nurse and Mako's the head twerp. They're both career soldiers, but he's really military and I swear that if I were to stick a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks I'd have a diamond.
Kai jerks up just as Jinora enters the room and collapses on her cot, one arm covering her eyes as a groan spills from her lips. "So," he says awkwardly, "rough day?" For some reason, just being around her makes him uneasy. It's not that he's afraid of her, because that would be ridiculous considering the amount of nurses he's seduced around here. Maybe it's because she's intelligent and one hell of a doctor. Maybe it's because she actually knows the difference between teasing him and getting a rise out of him. Maybe it's because she reminds him of—
No, he won't go there. Not today.
Jinora turns over onto her side so that she's facing his cot. Her arm's still covering her face and her voice is muffled because of it. "Do you have any idea of what I've dealt with today?" Before he can say something sarcastic, she continues. "There's a kid in there whose appendix I removed last night that's begging to go back to the front lines. Apparently he's got a girl back home who won't take him back until he wins a medal, and he wants to either die in battle or go home with an Indigo Crux." She scoffs. "Honestly."
Well, this is definitely interesting. If only Mako had been there, he thinks. He would've torn the kid a new one. "And what'd you do?"
"I sat him down and told him that if his girl only loves him because he's getting a medal, then he needs to find a better girl."
"And what'd he do?"
She removes her arm, revealing a reddening spot next to her jaw. "Cold-cocked me."
Kai nearly trips over himself getting to Jinora. "Let me see," he demands, and she lets him examine her jaw. "It doesn't look too bad but it'll be a hell of a bruise in the morning."
"Thanks, Doctor, I didn't realize that," Jinora says.
"Ah, sarcasm, one of your many dulcet tones," he comments. Anger is swelling inside of him and he wants to storm into post-op so he can lay a punch on the kid that had hurt Jinora to see how he likes it. "Are you sure you're alright, Jinora?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she says, waving him off. "Is the distillery working? I think I need a drink."
"Just what the doctor ordered," he quips. "And yeah, it's always open, help yourself. Just make sure you'll be alright by tonight. Zhu Li's sixth sense claims that choppers are coming later."
"Joy of joys," Jinora grumbles before standing up and moving over to the distillery. Kai returns to his letter from after he sees that she's really okay. Drinking is one of her newer habits—then again, anyone who's anyone in Uijeongbu drinks. It's the only way they cope after hard days.
Sorry about that, Yung. Jinora just came in and…hey, that's right, I haven't told you yet. We got a replacement chest surgeon from Republic City a while ago by the name of Jinora Gyatso. Damn, is she something. Smart, good-looking, witty, knows her way around a person's body—and don't go there with your mind. I haven't made a move on her, she's engaged and I think she'd rip my arm off with her teeth if I tried anything. Either way, she's pretty cool. I like having her around; mostly because Mako doesn't feel comfortable yelling at me when she's in the room and she doesn't tell on me to Varrick when I'm planning a prank. (Speaking of which, got any new ideas? I'm fresh out.) You'd think that she'd be green but in fact she's the opposite. Her first day here she repaired a lacerated pulmonary artery like no one's business and did something so incredible to fix this one kid's hemopneumothorax that I can't even describe 'cause the enemy might intercept this letter and tell the doctors on their side.
Anyways, Jinora aside, I've heard that General Raiko's thinking of running for president. I swear, the things some men do to get out of the army…
While Mako's on leave in Gaoling, they have a new doctor by the name of Captain Riku stay with them. Not one of the best doctors Kai's seen, but he knows how to get the job done, which is the most important job here. Never mind that the nurses don't like him and Zhu Li, the best judge of character around here, gives him hell—if he can restructure a bowel, he's staying until Mako gets back.
Kai's operating, Colonel Varrick's operating, and so's Riku. Jinora's currently doubling as both the chest surgeon and the anesthesiologist. The nurses, led by Korra, are extremely focused on their patients. Not for the first time, Kai thinks that they need to get some respect. Zhu Li's organizing the enlisted men to be prepared to take the finished patients into post-op. Captain Lieng, the camp psychiatrist and Mako's younger brother, is helping them out because they're short a nurse. Everything's running smoothly, or as smoothly as things can run in a war zone.
"Quit daydreaming, Nurse," Riku snaps at Korra, who's delayed half a second in giving him more suction. "Honestly. This is the army, not preschool."
Kai can't help himself. "Hey, Riku." Riku looks up, a fresh sneer on his face. "I'd show some respect if I were you."
"Why? Because she's a woman?" From the way he says 'woman', it's obvious he thinks that Korra's gender is the best insult he can give someone.
Korra speaks up now. "No, because I'm the head nurse here and I happen to outrank you, Captain. Major Korra Iluak, at your service. And here's your damn suction."
Kai exchanges a grin with Colonel Varrick while Riku splutters nonsensical apologies under his breath. Jinora looks up all of a sudden. "Riku, the kid's pulse is weakening, blood pressure's dropping—"
"Don't sass me, I'm doing everything I can!" Riku snaps. Kai's grip tightens on his scalpel. "This soldier's a mess. What'd he do, step on a land mine?"
Actually, that's what happened to get the kid so grievously injured, but no one says anything; their focus is all back on their patients until Jinora says, "No pulse."
A little bit of the air goes out of the room. Shit, not another casualty, Kai thinks. This is the third one today and the ninth this week.
Apparently Riku feels even more despondent because he shrugs and says, "Well, I guess that's that."
Jinora looks as though he's just insulted her grandmother. "Are you insane?" she snaps vehemently. "What do you mean, that's that? Do something, Captain!"
"He didn't have a chance anyways," Riku says, his tone rather condescending. To Korra, he demands, "Get me the next patient."
Jinora stands up from where she's been monitoring the patient's vitals and shoves Riku out of the way. "Cover the belly, Korra," she orders, and even Varrick is stunned by how sharp her tone is. "Bag him, Captain."
"You're not supposed to tell me what to do—"
Jinora slams her hand down on the table, nearly making Riku fall off his seat from fear. "Bag the patient once every five beats, and that's an order," she snaps. Riku's too cowed to do anything but do what Jinora says. She gets to work doing chest compressions, alternating between swearing and ordering Riku to bag.
"Try open heart massage," Kai suggests.
"No, we can do it closed, I saw it done when I was doing residency," Jinora explains, obviously distracted by her patient. Good, Kai thinks. Rather not open his chest. Everyone's eyes are on her, including Riku, as she continues administering compressions. "Bag, damn it!"
"You're going over my head, Gyatso," Riku warns, but before Kai can kill him Korra snaps at Riku to put a sock in it because everything apparently goes over his head. Brilliant woman, Korra is. If she weren't like a sister to him, Kai would kiss her. "Nothing," Riku says after he's been told yet again to bag. "Hah!"
Hah, he says. Like this is all one big game. Kai's seriously thinking of abandoning his appendectomy so he can strangle that pompous piece of shit.
"Come on," Jinora snaps at her patient, continuing her compressions. "Come on, you! Come on, come on!"
"Enjoying your dramatics, Gyatso?" Riku's snarky attitude is met with a yell of, "Bag!" from two aggravated captains. After one more set of compressions, he stares stunned at the instrument used to monitor the kid's vitals. "Hey, I'm getting a pulse. Good…better—hey, it's really going now. We're in the clear."
Jinora's probably beaming under her mask. Kai knows that he is, and Varrick's getting those crinkles around his eyes that only appear when he's genuinely happy. "Another unit of whole blood," Jinora says, switching places with Riku again.
Korra's murmur of "Good work, Doctor," seems to incense Riku even more. "It's stuff like this I'm going to call I-Corps about. The entire unit's losing it."
At that, Varrick looks up. "Don't be ridiculous, Captain Riku. The 6152nd is perfectly normal."
Riku, because he's a doctor first and an absolute bastard second, keeps his hands busy on his patient (alive thanks to Jinora) while he continues raging on. "Oh, yes, completely normal. What kind of a commanding officer are you, anyway, turning a blind eye to these perversions—incompetent nurses, women talking back—"
Zhu Li looks ready to throw something at Riku for smack-talking Varrick. Jinora's knuckles are white on her scalpel. Korra looks ready to commit high treason. Kai isn't having any of this. "For Raava's sake, Riku, shut your cakehole. You know this isn't the time or place to be talking like this."
"Kai's right," Varrick says, before Riku can respond. "And consider that an order, since you respect them so much."
And with that, the noise in the operating room lapses back into the regular clink of instruments and underlying chorus of muttered instructions and moans.
Sorry about that, Yung. Had to go and operate—so much for that lull I was telling you about. Mako's on leave for the next couple days so we got saddled with this pain in the ass from stateside named Captain Riku. He's a misogynistic turd that spent most of operating hours insulting Korra and Jinora. I was ready to tear him a new one—luckily Colonel Varrick ordered him to put a sock in it and he took it. Never thought I'd say this but I actually kinda miss Mako. I'll take a stern stiff over Riku any day.
Took me twelve yuans and the promise of a new pair of glasses to bribe Zhu Li to move Riku out of the Swamp and into the VIP tent. It's nice because now we can play cards in there without Riku glaring holes into the back of our heads.
Better get some sleep. The colonel says that we'll be having a meeting in the morning. I'll write more in about four hours.
At around six in the morning, Jinora and Kai slouch over to Varrick's office in their bathrobes—Kai in red, Jinora in blue—both of them still half asleep. Korra's already there, in uniform, sitting up straight in the chairs in front of Varrick's desk. No matter how awesome Korra is, she's a career army woman and that means she's in uniform whenever the occasion calls for it. It's her only downside, really. Riku doesn't show, not that anyone's complaining. Kai takes a seat on the shorter file cabinet, and Jinora takes the chair next to him. Zhu Li's standing awkwardly next to Varrick's desk, holding a stack of paperwork.
"Let's get down to our real business," Varrick says, skipping roll call since it's pretty obvious that everyone is here. "I called this meeting to inform you that General Raiko will be visiting the camp tomorrow, so," he claps his hands together sharply, causing Kai to startle awake, "let's make sure that everything is ship-shape for him. I really want him to be impressed. I hope the VIP tent is in prime condition."
Kai blinks once. Then twice. No, it isn't a dream. "Varrick, why is General Raiko coming here?"
"Yeah," Korra chimes in, reclining in her chair. "I thought he hated you."
Varrick scoffs. "Hates me? Hates me? Now why on earth would General Raiko hate me?"
Jinora looks like she's wondering the same thing. Despite her obvious competence in the operating room, she's got a long way to go in terms of catching up on everything else. Namely, social things. The rivalry between Colonel Varrick and General Raiko's been going on ever since Kai came to this hellhole, maybe even longer.
Kai eventually answers Varrick's semi-rhetorical question for his sake and Jinora's. "Because the last time you two spoke, he punched you in the face because you hired two guys to kidnap him and bring him here to inspect the place."
"Semantics!" Varrick insists.
"I hope that you aren't thinking of trying the same thing again, sir," says Zhu Li, speaking up for the first time since this meeting began.
"Of course not, Zhu Li. As I recall it took forever for my nose to heal and my black eye to return to normal."
"That's because you kept saying that you didn't want to use the cream that Kai and Skoochy gave you."
Varrick glowers at her, but there's no anger behind it, as usual. Kai wonders how Varrick ever got the position of colonel in the first place when he clearly doesn't follow through on his threats or angry glares. "Maybe so, Zhu Li, but I healed up just fine." To Jinora, he says, "Would you and Captain Wen mind cleaning up the VIP tent for him?"
"Not at all, Colonel," Jinora says. Kai can't tell whether she's being sarcastic or sincere. "But, er, what about Captain Riku? Isn't he staying there now?"
"No, he left last night. Zhu Li made him go down to Gaoling to switch places with Mako. Riku isn't going to be around here anymore, he's a disgrace to the 6152nd." Varrick sounds proud, as if he'd drawn a nice picture and his mother had pinned it to the center of the icebox. Kai's too happy that Riku's gone to tease him. "Major Lieng should be back soon. And as he's coming back, you two should clean up the VIP tent. Major Iluak, I believe you and I are on post-op duty?"
"Yes, Colonel, that's right."
"Then let's get going. Zhu Li—"
"I'll post a new guard shift on the command tent," Zhu Li says, still writing.
"—post a new…guard shift on the—oh, why do I even bother?" Varrick rolls his eyes, waving his hand at everyone. "You're all dismissed."
Jinora and I prepped the VIP tent for General Raiko, but something tells me that he isn't coming. Varrick tends to interpret all of their conversations extremely positively. Me and her got to talking and she's pretty cool. Apparently she's got three younger siblings and her dad's the governor of Republic City. You've probably heard of him—Tenzin Gyatso. You'd think that any kid of his would be stuck up and snotty, but she isn't.
Anyways, while we didn't a visit from General Raiko (thank Raava, I've never really liked him), we got a visit from heavy artillery. Shelling's been getting closer and closer all day. My ears have been ringing all day. According to Zhu Li, all of the wounded are going over to the 8045th. Good for us. Means we get to relax again—least until the new wave of soldiers fresh from the battlefield heads our way.
Don't worry about me, Yung. I'm doing fine, I love you, I miss you, and I'll be home as soon as the war's over. Maybe when I'm old and gray like you, eh? That'd be something.
Write me as soon as you can. Maybe send a care package? I'm in need of some good food and warm socks.
Love,
Your son,
Kai.
On Jinora's twenty-seventh day here, they get mail. Jinora gets two letters and a care package, same as him. Kai's never been much of a big reader, but Yung's letters are something special. He could read them for the entirety of the war and never get bored.
"What does Yung say?"
He's a bit peeved that she's interrupted him, but what can he do. "He misses me, it's been raining lately and he's been planting panda lilies. That and some other things." He looks up from his letter. "How's your fiancé?"
She's already ripped one envelope open and is reading one of her two letters right now. "Oh, I don't know, I didn't open his yet." Her fiancé's letter is at the front and she still opens her other letter first. Their relationship must be swell. "Want an egg cookie?"
"Nah, I'm fine. I've never been the biggest fan of those." He prefers chocolate chip. He goes back to Yung's letter and finishes the first paragraph. "Ha. He wants to know if I've tried to do that thing where I stick someone's hand in a bowl of water and it makes them wet themselves. I haven't. That's a good idea." His mind's already racing to formulate a plan about how he's going to pull it off and when he's going to pull it off. Maybe he should enlist Korra.
Jinora's smiling at him. That funny feeling in his stomach comes back. "I see that pranking runs in the family."
Kai snorts. "Yeah, Yung's just fostered my pranks rather than suppressed them. He's a good guy, Jinora, you'd like him." He pauses. "What's your dad like?"
He doesn't expect an answer, so he's somewhat surprised when she actually gives him one. "Busy. He's the governor of Republic City, so he's always pretty busy. He spends time with our family whenever he can, though." She hesitates for a moment, as if she isn't sure whether she should keep going or not. "He's a good man."
Before they can get back to their respective letters, Zhu Li's on the intercom yelling about incoming wounded, and there's no time to do anything but run to the chopper bay and hope that they won't be quite so inundated tonight.
After six measly hours of surgery, they return to the Swamp. Mako passes out the moment his head hits the pillow, he practically has to carry Jinora to bed, but Kai's not that tired—he'd rather finish reading Yung's letter.
Kai's glad that Yung's doing fine back home. The only thing bothering him about the letter is the postscript. He reads it several times, trying to figure out what Yung's insinuating.
P.S. You know, kid, I've been around a long time. Not long enough to turn my hair gray, but long enough to see when you like someone. This Jinora girl must be something if you've managed to write a letter to me and make it all about her. :)
It hits him like a brick to the head, and then he rolls his eyes, snickering under his breath.
Him? Like Jinora? As if.
