Author's Note: First, let me wish all my readers a happy new year and a merry christmas or whatever holiday it is you choose to celebrate. I've been busily cranking away, and just realized as I was working on the story today how far behind myself I've gotten. So, hopefully you enjoy the three chapter update today. As always, thank you to those of you who are following the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what I can improve, anything I've missed that you think would be relevant, or just to tell me you like it (or not).

Standard disclaimer. Don't own it. Never have. Never will. This is just the ramblings of a bored fan.


Chapter 8

"Sir."

Lee groaned, looking up to see who had interrupted his sleep. At first, he thought he had simply rolled over onto his stomach in bed. But as his senses slowly switched back on, he began to realize that his pillow wasn't under his face. Instead, the surface of his desk was. A piece of parchment tried unsuccessfully to cling to his face as he shot upright. It fluttered down, coming to rest near the edge. He shook his head and looked up at the man that had woke him up.

"Good morning, sir."

"Good morning. What do you need?"

"Communications watch officer, sir. I have a message for you."

The man set a small scroll down on his desk, saluted, and walked out. Lee rubbed his eyes and picked up the message. The emblem on it was familiar, the insignia of the governor's office on Blackwood Island. He smiled as he unrolled it.

Lieutenant Lee,

Good morning. My ship pulled in this morning. I have a couple small matters to take care of, but I plan to call on you around noon. I hope that is acceptable. After that, we will do dinner. Until then.

Qiao

Lee heard footsteps just outside, and looked up. He saw a flash of red and black passing, and spoke up.

"Sailor!"

One of the ship's firebenders took a few steps back to center himself in the doorway.

"Yes sir?"

"What time is it?"

" Ten, I believe."

"Thank you."

Lee stood up, joints popping uncomfortably as he went. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but he did know that it was unusual for him to sleep in for so long. And with the door open, too. He wondered how many crewmen had walked past him and witnessed him asleep at his desk.

The door screeched loudly as he closed it. The sound was miserable, just another reminder of the age and condition of his ship. He stripped out of his dirty uniform, taking care to still fold it neatly and put it away. It took a few minutes for him to put the fresh one on, taking care to avoid wrinkling it as he went. The armored chest plate he selected was a worn one, awarded to him when he'd first made Lieutenant. A few scratches and dings were present, long since painted over but still there to remind him of battles past. Overall, it wasn't something he'd wear while on parade, but he supposed it would be good enough to escort a love interest around in. In his experience, the hints of battle damage always made a girl curious to find out what had caused them in the first place.

After reviewing his appearance in the dingy mirror behind where the door rested when it was open, Lee decided that it was satisfactory. He made his way out of the room, winding through the twisting passageways and up to the wardroom.

At this hour of the morning, there weren't a lot of men eating in the wardroom. The navigator sat at a distant table, in an earnest but hushed conversation with the ordnance officer. Both looked up at Lee when he walked in, and regarded him with cool stares. Lee nodded to the two men, wondering why they didn't seemed pleased to see him, before walking over to the window that opened into the galley.

"Good morning, First Lieutenant sir," a sailor said from the other side. He dimly recognized the young woman as one of the ship's cooks, elevated to the status of cooking for officers a few months before.

"Good morning. What have you got for us today?"

"Well, sir, we have the usual. Rice, noodles. Our special meat today is roast duck. Fire flakes."

Lee thought for a moment, wondering what would be a good meal to get his day started. He eventually settled for roast duck mixed in with his bowl of rice. On his way to a table, he stopped for a pot of tea. The pot rested on one of the clever systems dreamt up by some genius at the research facility, one of the devices that wasn't intended to kill people. It was a small plate, heated by a steam coil that ran underneath it. A hand wheel controlled how much steam entered the coils, and as a result how hot the plate would get. On other ships he'd been on, firebending crewmen were responsible for heating their own tea. Nonbenders were simply out of luck unless they had a good friend that was willing to do it for them.

He took his seat at a lone table in the corner, where he could see the entire room. The navigator and his friend had left, leaving him alone in the space until the ship's combat systems officer walked in. The monster of a man had to duck and turn to get through the doorway. He stood tall enough to have to stoop slightly when he walked in order to avoid the pipes overhead, but it never seemed to change his jovial mood. The man looked around, spotted Lee, and immediately made a beeline for his table.

"Good morning, First," the man said as he walked up, taking a seat next to the table. His voice was completely fitting for a man of his stature. Deep, imposing, gruff. His smile, gapped in a couple places where he'd lost teeth to men in bar fights, seemed to add even more menace to him.

"Morning, Bear," Lee replied with a smile, electing to use the man's aptly earned nickname. Bear laughed and pulled out a pouch and his signature pipe. Almost immediately, he began packing a wad of amber leaves into the bowl. The sweet smell wafted across the table to Lee, triggering a long suppressed desire to smoke with the bigger man.

"Want a smoke?"

"No thanks. I quit a few years ago."

Lee had quit the amber leaves when the Navy had put a regulation into effect barring enlisted men from smoking on the bridge and in engineering spaces. He had stopped smoking in order to set a better example for his men, to show them that the officers they served could be beholden to the same regulations as the rest. The Captain had quit as well, thinking it was a great idea.

"Suit yourself," the big man said, sparking a tiny flame on the end of a finger and lighting the shredded leaves in the pipe. He puffed a few times, sending blue clouds wafting up to the ceiling.

"Any new rumors from the Navy front?" Lee asked. The combat systems officer was up to date on all the latest intel from around the fleet, meaning that he was the best man to talk to in order to brush up on current events.

"Naw. Just the usual stuff on the HRM. Fire Lord's drawing down fleet sizes even as that goes on. Western Fleet's already down a quarter of their wartime strength. Oh, and I figured you and the skipper might want to know this one."

Lee raised an eyebrow as Bear leaned in.

"Word's come down officially. Commander Long is the head of the task force the Fire Lord is gonna be sending our way in about a week's time. Twenty ships. Cruisers, to the last. Long requested an Empire on the off chance that he'd have to face down against Azulon here, but none were available. Lucky for us."

"Independence."

"I'm sorry?"

"We're renaming her, Bear. Independence is what the captain and I came up with."

The man puffed thoughtfully, staring up at the intricate tangle of rusting steam pipes overhead.

"Good name," he said after a moment, "fits this old can surprisingly well. Anyway, Captain Yuan wants us and the rest of the fleet to get underway after the council meeting tomorrow, in order to get our stuff together for the upcoming fight."

Lee nodded, polishing off his bowl of food.

"Might want to hurry up there, Bear. Don't want them cleaning up breakfast before you have a chance to clean 'em out."

The man waved the comment off with another hearty laugh as Lee stood up and left the wardroom.


It was nearly noon by the time Lee had gathered a party of side boys and made it to the quarterdeck. The small party of men stood flanking either side of the brow, armed with well polished spears and immaculate uniforms. A young woman stood off to the side, holding a small boatswain's whistle. Her sole duty would be to pipe the visiting governor on board with the same military honors afforded to the highest level dignitaries or officers.

As Lee stood at the end of the party, he silently wondered whether she would like the side party he'd assembled or not. He supposed it didn't really matter. Friend or not, she was a governor. There was protocol in place for situations like this, as rare as they were.

Footsteps at the bottom of the brow caught his attention, and he snapped to attention.

"Sideboys," he said, and the rest of the party came to attention. As he saw Qiao's head appear at the top of the ramp, he nodded to the young sailor standing off to the side. She took a deep breath, and began blowing the customary call given to distinguished visitors. The beautiful young woman smiled and shook her head as she continued walking towards him. He resisted the urge to return the smile, maintaining the best level of military bearing he could possibly muster. He gave her a bow and salute when she was a few steps away from him.

"Welcome aboard, Governor Qiao," he said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," she replied, looking around at the party of sailors that surrounded them, "was all of this really necessary?"

"I arranged the same side party we have always put in place to greet dignitaries and heads of state."

"Well, I guess that's ok then. But you have to promise me you won't do anything like this again."

"Naval regulation won't let me make a promise like that when it comes to bringing you on board the ship."

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to change regulation at the meeting tomorrow, won't we Lieutenant?"

Lee smiled at that, giving a slight nod. He wondered what his crewmen must be thinking, to see their First Lieutenant having such playful banter with a governor, probably the governor of the island a few of them were from.

"Shall we begin the tour then, ma'am?"

"Of course, Lieutenant. Lead on."

Lee began the walk by heading straight towards the command tower. His first planned stop on the tour was the bridge, which was always a favorite with distinguished visitors. To his surprise, Qiao grabbed his shoulder.

"Aren't you going to show me the cannons?"

He paused, then nodded. The gun deck would be as good a place to start as any. Still, he was shocked that she would want to see one of the most horrible weapons of war yet devised by anyone in the world.

"Well, as you probably know already, these cannons form the ship's primary armament. Similar versions, although much smaller and lighter, were fitted to several airships. The guns are crewed by six men apiece, each crew overseen by a gun chief. The entire gun deck is commanded by the senior gun chief, who reports directly to the gunnery officer."

"Amazingly well thought out for such a new warfighting concept."

"Well, all we really did was modify the Navy standard for catapult crews and expand them to work as needed."

"Still. A remarkable process you guys have. How do they stack up to traditional Fire Navy armament?"

"Well ma'am, the guns don't have the range that Fire Navy trebuchets have. Not by a long shot. But what we lack in range, we more than make up for in destructive capability. The bombs these guns launch have proven more than capable of sinking a cruiser with only a few hits."

He stopped in his explanation, having finally noticed that Qiao was giving him a very hard look.

"Are you going to stop that military courtesy, Lee? I understand that you have to keep up appearances in front of your crewmen, but none of them are around us right now, are they?"

"No ma'am. I mean, Qiao."

"Better. So you were explaining how these monstrosities can sink a cruiser with a few shots?"

"Yes. Well, on the range they were able to sink a couple towed targets that quickly. No damage control parties were on board those targets, but we're confident that even with crewmen on board, the guns will be devastating enough to overwhelm efforts to keep them from sinking. The greatest aspect of the weapons we have on board isn't their destructive power. It's the psychological aspect. Most studies I've seen of combat usage of cannons showed that the psychological impact was far greater than even the most well placed shots."

"Impressive. I expect to see a gunnery exercise someday. Shall we continue?"

"Of course. Anywhere specific you'd like to see next?"

"I've always wanted to have a look at the engine room of a Fire Navy ship. Let's head there next!"


The sun was beginning to set by the time Lee and Qiao found themselves walking into a small cafe near the piers for dinner. Lee had chosen it just for the occasion. It was a personal favorite of his, ever since he'd been a young boy living on the streets. Known locally as the Spirit's Playground Cafe, so named for the small, uninhabited island that had once been the used as a test range for Fire Navy weaponry, the owner of the place had been running it for close to forty years. The walls were adorned with portraits of old ships, officers that had once patronized the establishment, and other memorabilia that came from forty years of working close by the Navy.

Lee and his guest sat at a small table in a secluded corner, watching the activity in the rest of the small restaurant. A few sailors enjoying their last night of shore leave before having to report back on board any one of the six vessels moored at Navy Piers. A CDF gunboat crew arguing quietly over a bowl of noodles as to which island would be the first to be attacked by the Fire Navy, and by extension which branch of the CDF would have the honor of being the first to fight for their homeland. They were soon joined in the argument by a pair of metalworkers just off their all day shift at the fitting out piers.

He tuned out the other things going on and looked across the table at Qiao. She was in the middle of putting away a bowl of dumplings, but still took the time to look up at him and smile. He smiled back, inwardly marveling at how, of all the people that she could have chosen to spend her time on, she would have chosen him.

"Thank you for the tour of your ship today, Lee," she said after she had finished eating. She picked up a cup of tea and took a sip.

"No trouble at all. I've always enjoyed showing her off to people, but the company has never been as good as it was today."

"Flatterer," she replied between sips.

"I mean it," he shot back with a smile, "but I was wondering, why were you so eager to see the engine rooms? Out of all the tours I've ever given, no one has ever been so excited to see the space. In fact, most people don't even care to go down there at all if I ask them about it."

She set her tea cup, now empty, down before looking away for a moment. He wondered whether he'd offended her when she looked back at him.

"All my life, all I ever wanted was to be an engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, all the machinery that the Fire Nation produces has done nothing but fascinate me. I'm not talking about swords or spears or anything like that. Not stuff that kills people."

"Of course."

"Just the way the things work. Tundra tanks, especially the counter-balance system. Propulsion systems on the cruisers. Even the war balloons and air ships. That's all I ever wanted to do. Learn how to make them work, how to fix them and keep them running. But being from a rich family doesn't exactly make that a possibility. Being a girl just hurt my chances even further."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah. But, maybe I can make it different. We're getting a chance to start over, and maybe I can make it so little girls like me can actually chase those dreams. I mean, we've already integrated women into crews, right?"

Lee nodded, thinking about Lieutenant Rikke from the Tempest in particular.

"It's getting late. Would you mind escorting me back to the inn I'm staying at?"

"Of course."

They both stood at the same time. Lee set the money for the meal down on his table, despite Qiao's protests to the contrary, before they walked out into the street together.

"I don't see why you wouldn't let me pay," she said, in a playful huff, "I mean, I'm a governor and you're just a sailor."

"Hey, I may have grown up an orphan, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't ever shown how to treat a lady right."

Qiao laughed before laying a hand on his arm. They walked like that for a few minutes, both silent, simply enjoying the other's company.

"Are you nervous, Lee?" she asked him after they'd turned onto the street that would lead them to her inn.

"What do you mean?"

"About what's to come. Do you ever worry, wonder that we're doing the right thing? That it's not all just going to be a waste of time?"

Lee thought for a moment. He'd had those doubts at the very beginning, when they'd been sailing back from the Fire Nation. Time had changed that, turning doubts into resolve.

"I do think we're doing the right thing. We're fighting for the freedom of the people we are sworn to protect. Whether it's going to be a wasted effort, well, that's not mine to say."

They stopped in front of the inn and turned to face each other. Somewhere up the street, a wind chime tinkled softly in the gentle breeze flowing in from the ocean. It carried with it the smells of burning coal, flowers, and burning amber leaves from some sailor tavern that was likely getting rowdy. Lee stared into Qiao's eyes, wondering just how he should proceed. After a moment, it seemed to him that Qiao was making the decision for him as she embraced him gently and stood up on her toes. She closed her eyes as he leaned in the rest of the way, his lips brushing across her own in a gentle kiss. He felt a soft hand come up to caress his cheek, and he took it in his own.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the council meeting," she whispered, pulling away from the embrace, "Thank you again for a wonderful time."


A/N: Not to sound desperate or anything, but I'd really appreciate any reviews on the last chapter. Romance has never really been my forte, so I'd appreciate any advice or constructive criticism on how I can improve. Thanks again for reading.