(A/N: There are many different meters to traditional Japenese death poetry, but the most common meter was probably five-seven-five, known as a tanka. This was the kami-no-ku, or "upper phrase", and a second "lower phrase" (seven-seven), the shimo-no-ku, could be added. For example:

Autumn leaves tumble

Past fields of once bright flowers

And fallen soldiers

Do not mourn the dead my son

But thank fate that such men lived

Seeds planted in peace

Grow to promising young men

Eager pride stirs them

Curse war, the early harvest

Now fathers bury their sons

These would typically be composed on one of two occasions: when a warrior was going into a situation that he probably wouldn't survive, and when a warrior was in a situation he knew he wouldn't survive.

Enjoy the chapter.)

It was even more beautiful than he remembered it. They had come in low, out of the northeast, taking three days to skirt around the most heavily patrolled areas of Earth Kingdom border. The people of the world had never entirely forgotten the harsh silhouettes of a squadron of Fire Nation war balloons. The memories there were too painful to let go of.

The verdant green strip grew larger and larger until it emerged out of the horizon. They continued to hug the terrain, their navigator making frantic course adjustments the whole while. Iroh's eyes were locked on the large map in front of him. Toko was nestled at the mouth of a shallow valley that led away and up into the mountains. Before it lay plains and grassy hills, dotted with stands of large evergreen trees. When he looked up, he saw the other Lieutenants were gathered around the table, watching him. Somehow a speech didn't feel appropriate at this point.

"Ten minute warning!" one of the bridge officers shouted down to them.

"The wind is coming in stronger than expected. Some of you are probably going to miss your landing zones. Be ready for anything once we hit the ground. Rally your men and meet up at the RV point, here."

Iroh leveled a ruler at Toko's center-most building.

"From there we can talk to the locals and find out what is going on. Any questions?"

There were none. Each man had been over the plan a thousand times in briefings, and in his own head as he lay awake at night. They were ready.

"Good. Get your platoons ready to jump. May the spirits look favorably on our venture."

Little Miso sat cross legged on the first branch of a tree, pouting. They had not had any food to eat besides what could be scavenged from the woods for the past three days. Berry mash and stale bread got old very quickly, especially when the result was so bitter and tasteless. It was so unfair. Before they had barely been treated like human beings by the mine administrators, and now they had to fend for themselves once again.

A low thumping noise distracted Miso from his sulk. It was distant at first, but grew in intensity until the trees reverberated with the sound. He looked up, and to his amazement saw three massive blimps emerge from behind a mountain, heading straight for them. As they got closer, he could make out the Fire Nation emblem on the side. He stood up and strained his young eyes to make out the details.

He could see ramps falling open and… people, yes, people jumping out. One after another they leapt from the moving gondola and tumbled like autumnal wing-seeds spiraling to earth. This was followed by several large packages. Huge, billowing parachutes opened, slowing the supplies and men down from terminal velocity. They spread over the terrain like ghostly jellyfish.

Miso hopped down from his perch and dashed back to the camp as fast as his legs would carry him. The earth was literally trembling beneath his feet. They were coming back.

"Yana! Yana!"

A young woman looked up from where she was splitting wood. Her features were fair and slender, but she possessed an innate toughness about her that one could only find at the bottom of a mine, pressed shoulder to shoulder with much stronger men.

"What is it Miso? Did you find another mouse-turtle for us to eat?"

"No, they're here!"

Yana understood instantly, and dropped the axe.

"We have to tell my father and wave them off, they can't land here! They'll lead those things right to us!"

"It's too late, they're already on their way down!" Miso replied, panic creeping into his voice.

"On their way… down?"

Iroh ripped off his parachute harness and conducted a three hundred and sixty degree threat scan. The rest of his chalk had landed next to him and were fumbling with their straps even as he stood.

There was far too much noise. Something was wrong. He could already hear the distant clash of swords and battle cries.

"Sergeant Toranaga! What the hell are we engaging?"

Toranga shrugged as his men fell in behind him.

"No idea. Probably whatever made those villagers dis-"

The next second he was interrupted by a tremendous rumble. A sort of badger-molehill emerged spontaneously from the ground, and out of it came a creature that Iroh had never seen before in his life.

It resembled a cave crawler, but it had two bladed front claws and no eyes that he could see. The third difference made itself apparent when the creature screeched, and brought down one of its legs, sending a ripple through the earth that knocked half of the men to the ground.

"These things can earth bend, watch yourself!"

The men regained their feet and fired back with gusto, glad for something to hit. They dispatched the creature, but another three crawled out of the hole to take its place. Iroh scorched one, driving it back until its abdomen was plugging the tunnel. He then removed its head with a blazing backhand stroke whilst the other two were similarly killed.

"Come on, we have to get to the vehicles!" Iroh shouted.

They sprinted down the hillside, following the trail of shattered trees until they located the pallet containing their vehicles. There were already two other crews sitting on top of this, and several more of the creatures circling them, hissing menacingly. Seeing that help had arrived the crews switched from defense to offense, driving the insects into Iroh's group where they were slaughtered like cattle.

"They don't seem to like fire." Toranaga remarked, "Some sort of cave dweller, perhaps?"

"Now we know what happened to Toko." Iroh said, looking around and trying to take stock of their circumstances. "Wait a minute… where is the command tank?"

The pallet in front of them was slightly longer than the standard one, as it had been designed to squeeze on an extra item: Iroh's personal armored vehicle, which had traded its offensive capabilities for a powerful radio system and telescopic sights. The space where it would have been, however, was empty.

"It got jostled loose and fell when we landed. Probably upside-down in a ditch somewhere." One of the crewman said.

Iroh sighed. Of course it is. That would have been too easy.

"Please tell me you have a radio."

"Right here, sir. As soon as we get these things running we can access the command net."

"Then what are you standing around for? Let's go, mount up! Double time!"

The men wrenched open the hatches and crawled down into the war machines, their comrades severing the ropes with their katanas. One by one they roared to life, twin clouds of black smoke shooting from their exhaust manifolds. They had barely gone a few yards when three more mounds appeared, disgorging dozens of crawlers.

Time grew slow. His adrenaline spiked. They would either win here, or they would all die. This was the real thing. The lead two tanks accelerated, crushing bugs underneath their cruel treads. They swerved, and parked directly atop two of the holes in an attempt to stem the tide. They spat fire in all directions, but for every one they took out there was more, an unending tide.

The two tanks that had taken up blocking positions above the holes shook and rattled, until the pressure from below grew too great. A huge spike of rock speared one of them right through the cab, flipping it over onto its neighbor. An errant spark caught the fuel line, and there was a violent explosion, tossing both of them like toys. Some of the crew managed to crawl out of the hatches when they came to rest, trying in vain to put out the inferno that had engulfed them.

Iroh had no time to think about their deaths. His own death was bearing down on him with frightening speed. He sliced at it, and it lunged, knocking him on his back. His sword skidded out of his reach and he rolled, trying to avoid the scythe-like appendages that stabbed the ground where he had just lain. Just as he was certain he would be skewered and all his men devoured alive, a flying boulder smashed into the crawler's head. Its chitinous wings popped out of their casings, fluttering like a spider-fly caught in its own web. A single out-stretched hand entered his field of vision. It was slender, but covered in calluses. He looked up and saw that its owner was a girl not much older than him.

"Well? Are you going to sit there all day soldier-boy, or are you going to help me?"

He pushed himself up, ignoring the hand, and saw that several more earth benders were coming out of the trees to assist them. Together they drove the creatures back, and the new arrivals plugged the holes with boulders and chunks of earth.

"My name's Yana. And you're welcome."

Iroh shook her hand reluctantly.

"I'm Iroh. I guess we could use some help. Sergeant Toranaga, report!"

"We're down two tanks and ten men; the enemy could be back at any moment. Orders, sir?"

Yana turned from the grizzled sergeant to him and back again, looking puzzled.

"Wait a minute… you're in charge here?"

"That's right." Iroh said, hopping up onto the back of one of the tanks. "If you ask politely, I just might give you and your friends a lift into town."

"Oh is that where you're headed?" Yana replied somewhat sarcastically, accepting his hand up onto the body of the vehicle and turning to help lift some other civilians on.

"Yep. That's our RV point."

"What's a Harvey point?" a little boy asked, scooting up next to them.

"This is my cousin, Miso." Yana said. "My father is the mine foreman, or was, before this happened. He's waiting for you in the village."

"Well Miso, RV is short for Rendezvous." Iroh said. "It's an old word, from the-"

At that moment there was another rumble. This one was not a short and sweet affair however. Once it began it continued to get louder and louder and louder, until Iroh thought that the sky would certainly shake loose from the earth. A massive, ugly head jutted out of the soil just a few hundred yards to their rear. It thrashed and struggled, staking the ground with its front mandibles as though trying to pull some gargantuan bulk to the surface. Toranaga made the sign of the monks across his chest.

"Spirits save us…"

Iroh, however, had the presence of mind to remember that the spirits were not coming to save them, and that they would have to do it themselves. He tapped frantically on the top of the mortar tank's turret, and its commander popped out.

"What do you need, Captai- HOLY CRAP!"

"Yeah I know, I see it too, trust me. Just hand me the radio!"

Yana looked at him as though he had lost his mind and was jabbering.

"What are you going to do with that, throw it at him?"

Iroh had no time to explain.

"Overwatch, this is dragon one-five, requesting fire mission, immediate suppression, thirty rounds high explosive! Target that… that big… whatever the hell that thing is!"

The answer crackled back from the blimps high above. The calmness of the operator annoyed him somewhat, although he supposed it was better than panicking.

"Roger that one-five, we can see the ugly bastard now. Fire mission is granted, all guns in effect. Hold on to your hats, gentlemen."

The pause between the time the order went out and the time the guns swiveled onto their target seemed an eternity. There was a distant thumping, like a massive pillow being punched many times in quick succession. Invisible death whistled down from the heavens.

The ground around the creature exploded, massive plumes of earth and flame shooting skywards. The shockwave rushed across the clearing and knocked them all flat against the hull of the tank. The monster recoiled, letting out a piercing scream that made everyone cover their ears and cower. Then, like a mealworm it slithered back underneath the scorched ground, its lackeys fleeing with it.

The noise of the radio broke the long, eerie silence that followed.

"Rounds complete one-five. It looks like they're retreating."

Iroh pressed the headset to his ear.

"Maybe they are, and maybe they aren't. Stay alert. Ground teams, sound off!"

There was a long pause before the replies came in. Both of them sounded breathless.

"Iota Company's all here sir, no casualties. We're on our way into town right now."

"Kai Company's inbound as well. We lost all our mortar tanks on the way in. There are six wounded, but other than that we're combat effective."

Iroh looked around at his own company. Several more tanks had ventured out of the tree line and joined up with their formation while they were retreating, but there were still only seven.

"Where the hell is the rest of Rho Company?"

His fingers strained around the metal handholds as the tank mounted a small boulder and continued on. Toranaga shrugged.

"If they aren't responding to radio, they're probably gone. No time to mount a search party anyway, those bugs could be back at any minute."

"They're not bugs." Yana said.

"What?"

"They're not bugs. I don't know exactly what they are, but we've seen them before. They live deep in the mine shafts. They're blind; they sense people through their earth bending. That's why we ran into the forest; the leaf litter muffles the vibrations from our footsteps. Normally we leave them alone and they leave us alone, but… I don't know. Something must have set them off."

"Like an entire armored battalion falling out of the sky?" Toranaga suggested.

"No, this was before that. It all happened so fast, one minute I was sitting out in the yard, the next thing I know I'm running for my life and these things are swarming all over."

"You don't have to worry anymore." Iroh said. "We're here to evacuate you."

"What, do you want me to thank you? I've lived in this village my whole life. I'm not leaving just because it's convenient for you."

Something in Iroh snapped. He was shouting before he even knew he had opened his mouth.

"Convenient? You think this is convenient for me? Traveling a thousand miles and sacrificing the lives of my men to save a bunch of ungrateful peasants? If you like being dead so much you should have said so before we flew all the way out here to rescue you! I wouldn't have bothered to come at all!"

Yana looked furious, but she said nothing and looked away. The rest of the ride was passed in complete silence.

Toko was definitely the worse for wear. Almost every façade along the main road through town had been crushed or caved in by rocks. Sodden papers and belongings littered the ground. The streets were completely empty as they moved up towards the low hill where the town hall was perched. The other companies were gathered around the base of the hill, milling around. Lieutenant Zumi approached him as he dismounted, and they saluted.

"Sir, we found several dozen villagers out in the woods. We gave them rations and water, but some of them need more help than my medics can provide. We found the mine administrators, too, they were all holed up in the top floor of the town hall."

"Cowards." Yana muttered. "They only sheltered fire benders. The rest of us had to fend for ourselves."

"Regardless of whether that is true or not-" Iroh began, his temper flaring again.

He was interrupted by a murmur of voices. Some people were crying out. The villagers gathered around something on the ground, and one of them called to Yana. Iroh followed in her wake as the villagers made way for her. The object of their attention was a middle aged man lying dead on the ground. His rough-hewn face was completely relaxed, almost calm-looking. He could have been sleeping, if not for the open eyes and large red gash on his chest. Yana dropped to her knees, cradling the man's head in her arms and sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn't hard to guess who he was.

"Yana, I'm sorry." He said, truthfully.

"Get away from me!" Yana screamed. "Everything was fine until you came! We were doing just… just fine…"

Zumi tapped Captain Iroh on the shoulder.

"Sir? One of my patrols just came in. They found the rest of Rho Company."

Iroh's heart sank. He knew what this meant.

"Where are they?"

Lieutenant Zumi pointed to a mostly intact house at the corner of the two largest streets.

"We put them in there. I've got a double guard on them."

"Good. Tell the men to escort the civilians into the town hall and to start digging entrenchments. We don't know when we could be attacked again."

There wasn't much left of the bodies. Some of them were intact, but several were simply a collection of the largest pieces that could be found. Iroh sat upon a ruined table, looking down on the blood-red casualty bags, each stamped with the Fire Nation insignia. They yawned up at him, their voices calling out from beyond the grave.

He had allowed the guards to take a short break while he examined their charges. He had seen dead bodies before, but it was different when he was responsible for them. In some way, he felt like he himself had killed them. Mentally, he reviewed the whole drop again. Had he done something wrong? Should he have tried to raise the whole company earlier?

No, he realized, I did everything I was supposed to do. This is war. People die.

Still, he did not feel much better. This wasn't a war. Not really, anyway. They were fighting a force of nature, a mindless pest. Where was the honor in that?

A small marmalade cat entered his field of vision. It had been sleeping on top of a tarp, one of the only dry places in the whole village. Everything else was coated with a layer of evening dew, deposited by the light fog that had drifted down out of the mountains and settled around them. It arched its back and stretched luxuriously, observing him with a pair of lazy golden eyes as though it had not a care in the world.

"It must be nice," Iroh said, reaching out his hand to scratch it between the ears as it passed him, "not having to worry about all this."

"I'm sure Butter is worried." A voice from behind him said. "She just has a funny way of showing it."

Iroh cast a glance over his shoulder, and saw the marmalade cat rubbing up against Yana's legs. He turned back and set his chin down on his folded arms again, somewhat annoyed. What could she possibly want from him? Not dissuaded by his stony demeanor, Yana came and sat down beside him, following his gaze down to the body bags.

"I came to apologize." She said. "I didn't realize that you lost people too."

He remained silent. Perhaps she would leave.

"How old are you?"

"You first." He said, reluctantly.

"It's not polite to ask a woman her age, but I'll tell if you tell."

Iroh shot her a searching glance. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but otherwise she seemed remarkably even keeled for someone who had just lost a father.

"I'll be seventeen this winter."

Yana whistled.

"You're sixteen? So how did you end up in command? You a noble's son or something?"

Iroh couldn't contain a smirk.

"You could say that."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. You did seem pretty stuck up… kidding! Just kidding!" She said, grinning at his expression of outrage.

"Can I ask you a question?" Iroh said. "Why are you so perky?"

She looked confused for a second, and then realized what he was talking about.

"I don't know. It's just the way I handle it. Like Butter, here. Looking at her, you wouldn't know anything had gone wrong."

Yana stroked the feline at the base of the tail, eliciting a throaty purr.

"Plus I've had to deal with it before. My mother died in a cave in when I was five."

"She worked in the mines too?"

"Of course, that's how they met. Both my parents came here from Omashu because there was no work good-paying work in the city any more."

They both lapsed into silence for a time, and Iroh continued to stare at the casualty bags. At some point Yana got up.

"You can't spend time on might-have-beens. Trust me, those will drive you crazy. You just have to put it out of your mind and accept that this is what has happened."

Iroh nodded and got up as well. He had had enough.

"You should come to the town hall, meet some of the people you're rescuing. It will make you feel better." Yana said.

Iroh opened his mouth to refuse, and then closed it again.

"Sure. I'd like that."

High above the landscape, a messenger hawk swooped down towards the mountainside. A familiar smell was wafting through the air, and the raptor's sharp nostrils followed it down, and into a clearing on the edge of the tree line, where the forest finally gave way to the steep granite slopes of the mountain.

A pair of figures was sitting on a rock ledge that provided them a perfect angle down into the village of Toko. One of them had a disemboweled rat clutch in a gloved hand. The hawk swooped down and snatched it, wolfing it down while its master opened the small capsule strapped to its back.

One of the men was younger than the other. They wore the toughly woven silk breeches and tunics of the Dai Li. Both of them were covered in a thick costume of leaves and foliage which had been secured to their clothing with glue.

"Take this down. Enemy has been located and visually confirmed. They are at least division strength, perhaps more. Several formations of tanks spotted as well as three airships tethered just outside of town, but so far no sign of infantry. They are occupying the village and the high ground, and have started to construct fortifications, but are still in a weak defensive posture, not expecting contact. Several hundred civilians are being held, including Earth Kingdom citizens."

The younger agent scribbled the message down upon a piece of paper and rolled it up tightly, stuffing it into the hawk's container. The bird snapped its beak and let out a low crooning noise.

"I am sorry Akula, I don't have any more." The older man replied, stroking her neck. "I will catch three for when you return. I promise."

It screeched and flew away, disappearing into the darkening sky. The older man retrieved his binoculars and continued to watch the town.

"Whoever is leading those men does not comprehend the idea of light discipline. He is either very green, or very foolish."

"Or it is a trap." The younger man said.

The older man nodded sagely.

"Or it is a trap."

"Hey, can I bum a smoke?"

Sergeant Toranaga turned to find one of the mine administrator's guards standing behind him.

"Sure thing." He said, reaching inside the curve of his raiment for his thoroughly squashed pack of issue cigarettes.

They both lit up, ignoring the fact that they were indoors, and struck up a conversation.

"So you were with Admiral Yen at Song Island?"

"Yep. They ran out of paychecks during the siege so we were being reimbursed in whiskey and roast duck for a while there. Some of the other men complained, but I didn't really mind. I didn't have a family to send money home to yet."

"Yeah… things have really changed. They're a lot more by-the-book now. The old rebels like Yen and Takamori were all politely shown the door."

"And replaced with children, I see." The guard said.

Toranaga followed his gaze up to the second floor balcony that overlooked the large hall. Iroh was leaning against the railing, chatting with a rather pretty girl from the village.

"Unbelievable." Toranaga said, shaking his head. "We're neck deep in the shit, and this kid still has time to hit on the local chicks."

"That's the Fire Lord, right? Maybe he's got the right idea."

"Future Fire Lord." Toranaga said. "Until then he's our problem."

"Got you here in one piece, though, didn't he?"

"Mostly. I guess he did okay for his first time. I'd still rather have Takamori leading me."

"Ah well," the guard said with an exaggerated sigh, blowing a series of thick blue smoke rings, "beggars can't be choosers."

It was an incredible experience. Talking to her seemed the most natural thing in the world. It was like he'd known her his whole life. Most people could tell instantly that he was royalty from the way he conducted himself and treated him accordingly, but if she had figured out who he was, she didn't seem to care in the slightest. He felt strangely exhilarated, as though he had found some great secret or hidden treasure.

Down in the hall the survivors had split into two groups, Fire Nation on one side, Earth Kingdom on the other. Even so, Iroh wasn't thinking about old hostilities now. He had other things on his mind.

"My dad used to tell me stories about how the fire benders would heat the rock, and the earth benders would separate the valuable ore from the chaff. Now it's all done by machines of course."

"Was there always his much bad blood?" Iroh asked, scratching his chin pensively.

He could see this petty disagreement becoming a problem when they went to evacuate.

"For the administration? Yes. They were always iron-fisted and heartless. The Eastern Trading Company made them adopt cruel policies towards the workers. They got their money's worth out of us, but back then there were fire benders who were working in the mines too. We had a kinship, an understanding. Now it's just us." Yana said.

She selected a book from one of the ornately carved shelves that lined the walls, and turned to him.

"Come with me a moment. I want to show you my favorite spot in the whole village."

Iroh did not refuse.