It's cooled down quite a bit since their own Earth Day Celebrations several weeks prior, cooled down to the point that Kai can't remember the last time he'd complained about the heat. By day it isn't too bad, but at night everyone's got full winter gear on, from earmuffs to three pairs of socks. The enlisted men and women on evening guard shift had taken to setting fires in trashcans to keep warm. When they work in the operating room at night, it's so cold that steam rises from the body and he or Jinora or Korra or even Mako will warm their hands over the open wound. It's awful as hell and yet they can't help it. It's either do the unbearable or freeze.

At least he's got Jinora. (They still haven't gotten a letter from her parents, but Kai supposes that no news is good news. He's not fond of thinking of any alternatives.) They haven't been able to spend much time with one another lately because of their alternating shifts in postop or on guard duty, but when they do—Spirits, even the mundane is amazing. The feeling of her lips on his parallels no other, and when they hold hands in the mess tent or exchange looks at each other in the OR, he feels truly warm.

His only regret is that in all this time he hasn't had a chance to write to Yung and tell him that he and Jinora are finally in a relationship. Then again, no one's had a chance to write in weeks because the president's going to be visiting Uijeongbu and there are all kinds of precaution that the MPs and the Secret Service are taking. No one in their right mind would send the New Freedom Fighters information in family-addressed envelopes, but the army doesn't give much of a damn about logic. So until the president leaves, no mail comes in and no mail comes out.

Bad news, however, still manages to sneak in through the nooks and crannies.

Kai's instantly awakened by the door in their tent opening and sending a fresh blast of cold air into the room, causing him to curl back under his blanket with a fresh wave of shivers. He doesn't have the energy to see who it is. Probably Mako from postop or something. Then again, what if it's for him? For one of his patients?

Reluctant curiosity gets the best of him, and he squints, barely able to make out what's happening. Someone's standing over Jinora's cot and whispering—no, not just someone, it's Zhu Li wrapped up in an overcoat and a thick woolen scarf. In fact he's about ninety percent sure that that's Varrick's old overcoat she's wearing, but it doesn't matter. "Captain Gyatso," Zhu Li is saying, shaking Jinora's shoulder. "Captain, wake up."

Jinora muffles a curse into her pillow and props herself up on her elbows. Around them Mako and Mitali (who'd finally moved out of the VIP tent and into the Swamp) are still snoring, dead to the world. "What—Zhu Li? What's going on?"

"You've got a telephone call, Captain Gyatso."

That gets Kai's attention quickly, and by the looks of it, Jinora's as well. Everyone knows that people don't call from home unless something major is happening, someone's died, or a combination of the two. He feels his blood freeze in his veins. What if this is about Jinora's letter? Would the Gyatso family call the unit over that?

Jinora appears to be thinking the same. "Who's calling? My parents?"

"What?" Zhu Li blinks, as though the notion of Jinora's parents dialing up the 6152nd is beyond comprehension. "No, Captain, not your parents. The call's from Yu Dao, from Captain Wen's father."

"What?" Kai doesn't mean to speak so loud, but Jinora jumps and Zhu Li whirls around so quickly that she trips over her own two feet and has to grab the cot to steady herself. Apparently neither of them had known that he'd been awake the whole time. "Sorry," he apologizes, sitting up. "Just—Yung's calling Jinora?"

"That's what he said, Captain Wen," says Zhu Li with just a dash of pity sprinkled in amongst her shivers. "He said he would speak with no one but Captain Gyatso."

Rather petulantly, he crosses his arms over his chest and mutters loud enough for them to hear, "That doesn't make sense."

Zhu Li's having none of it today. "If you want me to wake you when something makes sense you'll sleep through the whole war," she says evenly, some of the cold outside seeping into her tone. All three of them stay there shivering for several seconds before the company clerk mumbles a quick apology. "Sorry, Captain. The cold's been getting to me. Captain Gyatso, are you coming?"

"Yeah, m'coming." Jinora gets out of bed and throws on her bathrobe and her jacket, along with her combat boots, before looking at him expectantly. Zhu Li's already moved to the door and is waiting impatiently. "Kai, it's your dad on the line. You're coming, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it," he answers with a quicksilver grin, and he throws the covers off himself. Thank Raava she's asked him to come: he hadn't wanted to overstep his bounds, even if it is Yung on the phone. While he's getting dressed—and sweet Raava it is so damn cold, why the hell is it so cold in the beginning of autumn?—he says, "I wonder why he's calling. I haven't had a chance to write him in ages."

"Maybe that's why," she suggests, shivering where she stands. He's got no idea how Mako and Mitali are still asleep in this weather. "Maybe he just got worried about you and called."

Kai's not so sure. Yung wouldn't call unless something was really wrong—and if he did call, he'd call Kai, not Jinora. What in the world in going on back in Yu Dao that his father's calling a woman he's never even met before?

He stands up, completely dressed, and follows Zhu Li and Jinora out of the tent and across camp. Corporal Tikka and Sergeant Kuji are holding rifles and shivering next to a fiery trash can. The nurses' tent still has its lights on—most likely someone's just returned from postop duty and needs a little warmth from the stove. Korra's doing paperwork in her office and doesn't come out to greet them when they finally get to Zhu Li's adjoined office. The company clerk plops down on one of the chairs, puts on a pair of headphones under her earmuffs and starts fiddling with some dials. "Hello? This is Sergeant Zhu Li Moon from sixty-one fifty-two—oh, okay. Yes sir." She covers the receiver and turns back to them. "Yung Wen is on the line."

Jinora takes the phone from Zhu Li cautiously, like she's afraid it'll bite her if she holds it long enough, and presses it to her ear. "Hello? This is Jinora—hello? I'm sorry, I just—hello? Hello?" She pulls the phone away from her ear and stares at it, brows furrowing in a mix of consternation and concern. "I lost the connection."

Zhu Li starts fiddling with the dials again and tries to connect with someone named Sparky, who Kai's never seen but apparently is one of Zhu Li's best connections in the military. He bites the inside of his cheek and looks over at Jinora, gut clenching in worry. "Did he say anything? Is he okay?"

"He didn't get a chance to say much before the connection fizzled," she answers, looking lost in thought. "He just kept repeating how and why over and over again."

That doesn't make him feel any better. "How and why? That's all he said? Are you sure that's all he said?" The concern welling up in his gut starts to harden and curl up until it's almost physically painful. What in the world is going on back home? Surely the war hasn't advanced that far north—but no, then Yung would've been calling from a refugee shelter instead of Yu Dao. Spirits, he hopes that Yung is alright. "Zhu Li, we need to get him back on the phone."

"I know, Captain, but I can't," she says apologetically, finally looking up from her dials. "The New Freedom Fighters or the storm must have knocked out the lines. Nothing's getting through right now. I'm sorry." Kai curses under his breath. Damn it. It's not Zhu Li's fault of course but he still feels pissed off. "Captain Gyatso, you and Captain Wen should go back to the Swamp. I'll walk over if there's any more phone calls."

He almost takes her up on the offer at the thought of his own warm bed and sleeping, but he shakes his head at the last moment. "I couldn't sleep now," he says truthfully. "I'll stay here just in case the phone rings."

Zhu Li shrugs, as if to say that it didn't matter to her, and goes off to Korra's office—most likely to talk to Korra about Yung's phone call. Jinora stays, putting her jacket back on while Kai plops down in the chair that Zhu Li had just vacated, staring at the phone like it'll ring if he wills it hard enough. "Do you want me to stick around?" she asks, eyes flickering from him to the desk. "I don't have a shift for another few hours."

Kai almost smiles. "Nah, Jin, go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning." He pauses, remembering that it's definitely past midnight by now. "Well, later in the morning at any rate," he amends.

She leans down and presses a kiss to his cheek, which he gives back in turn. "Well, in that case," she says, "I'll see you later." And with that, she folds her jacket closer around her and walks out of the office, closing the door quickly behind her so the cold air from outside won't turn everything inside to ice.

The phone doesn't ring, vibrate or move for the rest of the night, and at seven in the morning Kai leaves for his shift in postop, none the wiser about the situation. He runs smack-dab into someone as he's leaving Zhu Li's office, causing the man to drop the cup of coffee he's holding all over the frost-stained grass. The guy's short, with a chubby sort of face. He looks numb to all of the horrors that war has to offer—they've got that in common, after all. "Sorry about that, uh…"

"Saja. Lieutenant Jeoseung Saja, Quartermaster Corps."

Kai swears that the entire world has gone crazy overnight. What the hell are the Quartermaster Corps doing here? They only come by once a month to collect the bodies or deliver food, and they've already sent a representative this month. "Sorry about that, Lieutenant," he says in an effort to stem the flow of questions welling up inside of him. "You can pick up coffee in the mess tent, but I doubt it'll be better than what you got."

"Duly noted," says Lieutenant Saja with a serious nod. "Oh. Don't suppose you can help me. I'm here to pick up a body, any chance you know who I'm supposed to see?"

"Yeah, I do." Kai gestures aimlessly to Zhu Li's office. "I believe that Sergeant Moon can assist you in this undertaking," he says with a quick grin. Saja rolls his eyes and heads inside. Some people just don't appreciate puns these days, he thinks, walking around the building toward the postop entrance.

By the front entrance Sergeant Kuji's smoking down on what's got to be his fifth cigarette of the day while talking to a giggling Xióng and Sora. Mitali and Zin are exiting postop to go and get breakfast in the mess tent. Mako and Kiyi are sharing a thermos of tea inside, and Mai, Jinora and Opal are already making their rounds without him. Kai and Opal take the left side of the room and Jinora and Mai take the other end.

"Jinora told me," Opal says under her breath while Kai inspects Corporal Pava, who'd come in with a leg wound but would be leaving later today right as rain. "About the phone call, I mean. Did you figure out why?"

Kai shakes his head as they continue down the line of cots. "No, nothing. Zhu Li says nothing's getting through because of the storm. Can't exactly write a letter on account of the president being here either."

"Chin up," Opal says with a sympathetic frown and a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure nothing bad is going on back in Yu Dao. Yung'll call eventually, right?" She pauses. "Remember when…when Varrick got all freaked out when his councilman stopped calling him for votes?"

Kai laughs, because he does. "Yeah, and then Zhu Li had to tell him that it was because he'd already won the election. Good times." It's hurting less and less to talk about Varrick with every passing day—maybe by the end of the war they'll be able to bring him up without stopping and wincing midsentence. They've all taken Zhu Li as inspiration, because if she can bring up Varrick in conversation then by Raava so can they. "Good morning, Private Yang," he greets, plopping down on an empty chair beside the young girl. "I hear you got yourself some interesting battle scars."

Yang grins, showing off some scarring on her shoulder. She'd run straight into a firefight to save her lieutenant, an act of valor that would surely earn her an Indigo Crux. Unfortunately she'd come out of it with a bullet to the shoulder and second degree burns down her legs. "It'll attract the guys, that's for sure."

"They'll come flying in, don't worry," Kai reassures her with a grin. "Did you take your meds last night?" Yang nods. "Okay, great." He checks his clipboard. "I'll be back in a second," he says to Opal, "I need to go and get more lidocaine for her legs. Did you guys bring some here when you were unloading the supplies?"

"We did, but we ran out last night," Opal answers after a moment of contemplation. "We've got some boxes in inventory right now."

Kai files away that information, nods at Yang and Opal, and hops off along to the inventory tent. Luckily, as the tent's only a short distance away from postop, he doesn't have to bundle up too much, and once he arrives he immediately starts looking for the boxes of burn ointment. Instead of lidocaine he finds Jinora, who's rummaging through a crate of bandages. "Hey," he says casually, like they've just run into each other at the supermarket. "Who's your patient?"

"Sergeant Daichi, from the 221st."

He moves closer to her, so close that he can count every one of her eyelashes. So close that the acrid smell of the surplus bandages burns his nostrils. So close that he can hear her breath catch in her lungs, and he's not ashamed to admit that he's getting short of breath around her as well. "Does Daichi need the bandages now?"

"He can wait," she whispers, and then her hands are on his face and he presses his lips to hers, relishing the taste of her mint-flavored lip gloss and building warmth between them as they move together. Spirits, it feels like ages since they've done this, since they've been this close, and he moves even closer, only pausing for air and to suck along the thin skin where her pulse beats in her throat. She moans his name when she gets a chance to breathe and Raava Almighty, he thinks it's one of the sexiest things he's ever heard. With a growl, he moves to unbutton her shirt so her shoulders can be open, but before he can do so, someone says his name from behind.

Jinora yelps and Kai whirls around to see that lieutenant he'd helped earlier, what's-his-name, Saja, standing in the middle of the tent looking rather put out. "Sorry to interrupt, sir, ma'am," he says, looking quite the opposite. In fact, he looks rather sad that they'd stopped kissing at all. "I'm looking for Captain Kai Wen. I was told by a Lieutenant Beifong he was in here."

Spirits, he hates Opal. She was probably inside having a laugh right now. "Present and accounted for," Kai says with a sigh. "How can I help you?"

Saja looks taken aback now and even takes a literal step back to prove it. Now he's staring at Kai like he's a ghost. "You can't be Captain Wen."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am him," he answers. "Captain Kai Wen, assigned to the 6152nd M*A*S*H unit. My serial number's oh-three-two-oh-two-two-one-four. Are you sure you've got the right guy, Lieutenant Saja?"

"Something's wrong," Saja mutters to himself, looking down at the clipboard he's holding and then back to Kai. After a moment, he finally says, "You're not dead." It's phrased as more of a question than a statement.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Kai automatically returns, starting to get a little uneasy. Why in the world is Saja acting like this? Is this a prank? Did Mako or Korra put him up to this? Next to him, Jinora takes his hand—it relaxes him slightly. "I have an excellent tailor."

Saja shakes his head. "You're supposed to be dead, sir. Honest, take a look." He hands Kai the clipboard carefully, like it'll explode if not handled properly.

"Wen, Kai. Captain. Oh-three-two-oh-two-two-one-four." His blood turns to ice and the few moments of warmth he'd just experienced with Jinora disappear like a candle in the wind. When Jinora gets a glimpse of the paper, she barely manages to conceal her gasp. His knees start to shake, and somehow he still manages to say calmly, "This is a death certificate, Lieutenant Saja."

"Just a copy, sir," Saja says, like that's supposed to be reassuring or something. It does the exact opposite for his nerves. "The army's already sent the original back to the next of kin."

"And the next of kin would've been notified by now via telegram," Jinora says slowly. Clearly she's put the pieces together. "Kai—"

Kai's hands are sweaty, and his heart flips at the thought. "No wonder he didn't ask for me last night," he says, voice shaking. "Yung thinks I'm dead."

"So does the army, sir," Saja comments rather unhelpfully. It's like he's completely tuned out to the mess of emotions swirling in Kai's head. "If you're alive, I'm in big trouble."

"You're in trouble?" He's about two seconds away from wrapping his hands around Saja's throat and squeezing tight, but Jinora's presence and the remaining ounce of logic he has stop him from doing so. The last thing he needs right now is to get locked up for murder. "I need to go see Korra," he finally says, fists unclenching. Yes, that's it. Korra will be able to fix this. "If you'll excuse me, Lieutenant."

When he does find Korra, she's in the middle of a phone call. Zhu Li had warned him not to go inside, saying that Korra will kill him if he interrupts her, but he enters anyway—silently, of course. He may be legally dead but he's not crazy enough to make the situation permanent. Mako's sitting straight up in a chair in front of Korra's desk, and when Kai makes his way around the room he can see that Mako looks worried. He tunes into the conversation long enough to hear Korra say, "Please keep me posted," into the receiver before hanging up.

"Any news?" Mako asks.

"Nothing," Korra says, plopping down onto her chair. She traces the rim of her glass of whiskey with her index finger and picks it up, scrutinizing it in the light and then setting it back down. "The army's great about a lot of things but it is shit when it comes to finding people."

"I'm sure she's just busy, Korra," Mako assures her, standing up and moving around the desk to put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll all be alright."

Kai clears his throat, ruining the moment between them. Korra startles like she hadn't even noticed he'd come in. "You lose someone, Major?" he asks, not unkindly. He's got a sneaking suspicion who Korra is worried about but decides to clarify first. "Is it Lieutenant Sato?"

Korra gives him a short nod. "She hasn't responded to any of my letters since the end of the Earth Day Celebrations. I—I got worried, so I called up I-Corps to see if maybe they'd stopped my letters but they didn't. Then I called up military intelligence but there's been no word of the 4077th for weeks." She bites her lip and looks down at her glass, as if it holds the answers to the universe.

Mako is the first to break the silence. "How come you're here, Kai? Don't you have postop duty this morning?"

"I did have postop duty, yeah," Kai says. He hears the door open behind him and figures that Jinora has come to back up his story. "Then some guy from the QC comes over and finds me so he can give me a death certificate." He swallows. "My death certificate."

This gives even Korra pause. "What do you mean he gave you your death certificate?"

"Exactly that—he gave me my damn death certificate, Korra. According to the army, I'm dead as a doornail. Raava only knows why in the world the army thinks so but—"

"Well," says Saja, and it literally takes every ounce of willpower Kai has to not jump out of his skin at the lieutenant's deadpan voice. Spirits Almighty, how did the guy manage to sneak up on him like that? Is he related to Zhu Li or something? "The Quartermaster Corps received word that Captain Kai Wen had been declared dead at this mobile army surgical hospital unit."

Kai whirls around to face Saja, mouth open to yell at the man and ask exactly what the fuck he's talking about, but Jinora's there too and the words leave her mouth mere seconds before the words leave his. "Lieutenant Saja, I believe that we would have remembered if we declared Kai dead," Jinora says, eyes flashing with barely suppressed anger. "We don't make mistakes like this."

"Wait." Kai suddenly feels cold all over. "Wait. I—do you remember right after the Earth Day Celebrations, when we had that sudden rush of wounded?" He swallows the bile rising in his throat. "That other Kai Wen, he died on my operating table. He—he was a captain too. Do you think—?"

"Lieutenant Saja," Korra says. Her voice is casual but anyone could discern the danger behind it. She rises from her chair and strolls over to Saja, who is nearly shaking in his army-issued boots. "Do you seriously mean to tell me that the Quartermaster Corps declared my head surgeon deceased because you confused him with the wrong person?"

Saja gulps. He's probably thinking of who's going to be delivering the eulogy at his funeral right about now. "Uh, yes. Yes, ma'am. It happens more often than you'd think—we're so inundated with casualties and discharge paperwork that it's very possible for the Quartermaster Corps to have confused Captain Wen's serial number with that of the late Captain Wen."

"The fact that the army has let the Quartermaster Corps get away with this for so long is not what we are discussing today, Lieutenant," Korra snaps, and Kai can actually see her transforming from the light, easygoing Korra to the stern Major Iluak right before his eyes. "I would like to know exactly what you are going to do in order to rectify this situation."

"Major Iluak, ma'am, unfortunately the Quartermaster Corps cannot do anything now. You're going to have to…" Saja pauses. Kai can't believe that he's actually still holding his ground. What a patriot. "Uh, I can't exactly say, ma'am. To start, you would have to get in touch with the nearest headquarters—I believe that would be Ba Sing Se for you, correct?"

Korra nods. A slab of metal would be more inviting than her expression right now. "That would be correct, Lieutenant Saja."

"They would have to send down a ranking officer to come and rectify the situation and give you the necessary paperwork. Then you would be able to reverse Captain Wen's status, ma'am." When Korra's eyes finally move off Saja, the lieutenant lets out a tiny sigh of relief. Kai nearly feels bad for him—anyone who withstands an argument with Korra when she's pissed deserves an Indigo Crux and a town named after them. "Is—is that all the information you need, Major?"

"I believe so, yes." Korra steps away from Saja's quivering body and cups her hands over her mouth. "Zhu Li—"

The sergeant's there before Korra's even finished saying her name. Kai won't say it aloud, but he's about ninety percent sure that Zhu Li knows how to teleport. That's the only possible way for her to keep on appearing a heartbeat after being called. "I'll get on the phone with Ba Sing Se HQ, Major Iluak."

"Get on the phone with—why the hell do I even bother, you know what to do." Korra waves her off. Zhu Li flashes her a quicksilver smile. "Anyway, get me General Osina once he's done with his daily poker game. I want to see someone from the QC as soon as possible." Zhu Li shoots Korra a snappy salute and vanishes as quickly as she'd appeared. Lieutenant Saja stares at where she'd just been standing, looking rather dumbstruck. "Lieutenant Saja, you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like."

It's an order disguised as a friendly request, and while Saja's an idiot, he's no fool, so he accepts it graciously. "Thank you, Major."

"Don't thank me until you can reverse Captain Wen's status," Korra says evenly. "Kai, Jinora, you'd better get back to postop. I have a feeling some of your patients can't wait any longer." Kai flushes, remembering Private Yang's lidocaine. Hopefully Opal's gone to get some by now. "Mako, can you take Lieutenant Saja to the VIP tent?"

Mako frowns, coming over to place a consoling hand on her shoulder. "You sure you don't need company? I don't mind staying."

Korra smiles at him. Kai feels slightly relieved that it's genuine. "Nah, it's fine. You go ahead. I'll try to call I-Corps again in a couple of hours." By that, Kai knows that she means she'll call the very second Zhu Li gets off the phone with General Osina. "But thank you." Mako nods, squeezes her shoulder once and then leaves with a clearly relieved lieutenant on his heels. "Kai, Jinora, go on. And Kai, I'll call you back in when we get some concrete information, okay?"

Kai salutes her and, with the thought of his patients once more on his mind, he leaves.

"Scalpel," he says to Kiyi, who passes it over to him without a word. In the name of Almighty Raava, he swears that the temperature's just getting colder and colder with each passing hour. His spit is starting to freeze before it can hit the ground, and Kiyi's probably managed to contract a mild case of frostbite by now. She keeps on shivering and she's nearly dropped her scalpel five times by now because her hands are numb and raw. Poor girl. "How're we looking?"

"I think it's a-alright, Doctor," she says. "Might wanna open it up a little wider though." He blinks and looks closer for a second before doing as she'd requested. Their latest influx of wounded is small for once, and the most strenuous thing they've got is an appendectomy. Jinora and Zin are working with a pulmonary laceration, Korra and Sora have got a ruptured spleen, Mako and Xióng have got a broken femur to set and fix up, and Mitali and Opal have got their third bowel replacement this week. Bolin and Mai are stuck as anesthesiologists this time around—he's on for that next time. Lovely system they have. "Doctor?"

He snaps back to reality. "Uh, right." Ever so carefully, he begins the open procedure—he's always preferred that to a laparoscopic one, even back in residency. He removes the appendix without letting any of the fluids to escape back into the abdominal cavity, which would be a one-way ticket to infection. "Purse string suture."

"Yes, Doctor." Kiyi passes him one and visibly flinches once it leaves her hands. Apparently this time it's not from the cold. "Captain, why is Lieutenant Saja looking at us through the window?"

Kai glances back toward where Kiyi's looking and sure enough, there's Lieutenant Saja staring through the window at their operating table. "He marked me dead so he needs a replacement body, Kiyi," he says, unable to keep a note of irritation out of his voice. "Until he finds one, he's trolling for a cadaver." Jinora's the only one who laughs at his joke, but he thinks that she just feels bad for him. "I'm finished here. Sergeant Kuji?"

"Already here, sir," says the sergeant, appearing almost out of nowhere with Corporal Tikka to remove the soldier from Kai's table. No more soldiers appear to replace the last one, and Kai's relief is visible to all. Literally—he'd sighed and the temperature in the room had created a cloud of cold mist around his mouth.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," Kai says once he enters the room adjacent to the OR, his surgical mask hanging limply around his neck. Korra and Sora are the only ones still working right now. Jinora and Opal are washing their hands, and Zin and Kiyi share a swig of coffee from the thermos being passed around by the nurses. Mitali and Xióng are whispering with each other about something or another, but judging by Mitali's red face Xióng's probably asked her about Zin. Saja looks up. "Sorry to inform you, but my guy made it."

Saja sighs, like the fate of the world rests personally on his shoulders. "I'm sure you did your best," he says, clapping Kai on the shoulder before walking out of the scrubbing room, drawing his jacket tighter around him as he leaves the hospital and goes out into the cold.

Kai snorts and starts to remove his scrubs. He sticks his hands under the faucet, wincing from the sudden rush of heat against his numb hands. Mako and Kiyi leave together, talking about getting a quick cup of coffee from the mess tent. Jinora approaches him, Opal currently engaged in conversation with Bolin. "Hey," she says with a small smile. Her presence warms him up a little. "You know what we ought to do?"

"You know better than me," he says, somewhat curious. Does this have to do with his situation regarding Yung? Then again, it most likely is. It's all that either of them have been able to talk about for the last few days. "What's your plan?"

"If you're dead, we have to have a wake," she says. Beneath the joking tone he hears apprehension, like she's worried that she's pushing it too far. "What kind of a…" She hesitates, unsure of what label to put on their relationship as well. "What kind of a girlfriend would I be to let you pass away without a party?"

"That's sick," Xióng says, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Sora and Mai, who had just entered the scrubbing room with Korra on their heels, nod along with identical looks on their faces. Sometimes Kai thinks how lucky they are to have each other—Xióng and Mai and Sora have been friends for so long that they're all perfectly in sync with each other. "Why would you want the reminder of death if you're still alive?"

"Nah, it's okay," Kai assures Xióng. "Actually, I like the idea. I think I would've wanted it that way."

"Great," Jinora says with a cheeky grin that Kai kind of wants to kiss right off her lips and he would if the others weren't watching. He's not big on large shows of PDA—unlike Bolin and Opal, who don't have a problem being affectionate in public at all. "Then as soon as I get off duty, I'll take care of it all."

"I'll split the cost—"

She waves his protests off, probably knowing exactly how much a wake costs and having no problem with that. "No, this wake's on me." She shrugs. "It's not like I've got anything to really spend money on." That's true. All she really does spend her money on is the occasional drink and poker game. Sometimes on clothes from town. He supposes that there's enough in her repository to plan and pay for his wake.

Before he can quip about what to wear to a wake, Zhu Li comes tearing into the scrubbing room like she's run all the way from the opposite end of camp, nearly knocking down Mitali. "Captain Wen," she says with a quick nod at everyone. "Sorry, Captain Hema." Mitali waves her off good-naturedly. "Anyways, Captain Wen, I just had an idea of how you can get a message through to your father."

Four thousand volts couldn't have shocked him more than that sentence. He clutches Zhu Li's hands in his, unsure of how he had moved so quickly. "How? How? What do I have to do?"

"I thought that since you aren't able to get through long distance because of the weather, you could send your father a telegram through another unit. It'd take a little longer but since the 8045th's mail isn't getting held up, they could reach your father faster than the army."

Hope expands in the bottom of his stomach and he swallows the lump in his throat. "If you can do that, Zhu Li, I'll pay your medical bills for the rest of your life."

Zhu Li nods solemnly, pulling out a pad of paper and a stub of a pencil out of her coat pocket as she does so. "No need to thank me yet, Captain, let's see if it works first," she says, pencil poised to write. "You dictate, I'll write."

He chokes up a little from the pressure. There's so much he wants to say, so many ways that he wants to reassure Yung that he's fine and well and still alive and kicking. The thing is, after a scare like this he's not sure if it'll even be enough for Yung. Clearing his throat, he finally says, "Dear Yung." The words are like lidocaine against a third-degree burn. "I'm not dead. Stop. Army fucked up. Stop." His lips twist into a smile as he adds, "Thinking of spending my life insurance money? Stop." Jinora laughs and Mitali rolls her eyes. "Will call ASAP. Please don't worry." His throat tightens again. "Still kicking, your son, Kai."

"Great," Zhu Li says with a sympathetic look Kai's way. Not pitying, thank Raava. Just sympathetic. "I'll get this out as soon as I can." And with that, she leaves as quickly as she'd entered: like a leaf on the wind, always blowing, never settling in one place for too long.

"I hate to think of what my dad's going through," Kai admits to Jinora once they both leave the scrubbing room to go to their postop shift. "I mean, I've done my fair share of shit when I was growing up but he's never had to deal with something like this."

"It'll work out," Jinora says firmly. "Zhu Li will get through with the message one way or another." She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it tight, a smile on her chapped lips against the biting wind outside. "There's one interesting thing that came out of this."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You're going to be the first man alive to attend his own funeral."

Kai isn't sure just how Jinora had gotten a funeral thrown together so quickly, but he's not complaining. In fact, she'd done a pretty good job and when he actually does die, he kind of wants her to plan his real funeral. (Hopefully that won't happen for another several decades, though.) They've all settled in the mess tent, and it's actually warm thanks to the body heat of all of the personnel who'd showed up. Corporal Tikka and Private Akuyama had moved several stoves inside to make the tent even warmer, and there's good beer and snacks that don't taste like roasted Styrofoam. Everyone's hanging out and having a good time for the first time in a while.

"I'm sure going to miss you, Kai," says Mai with a smirk, passing by with Sora to get another beer. Kai hopes that the two of them won't do anything stupid like they had at the New Year's party last year.

"It's a nice party," Kai comments to Jinora once they've found a semi-quiet corner. Bolin, Opal, Mako and Kiyi are sitting around in the corner telling stories of Kai's time here back when Skoochy and Varrick and the others had all been around, and he doesn't particularly want Jinora to hear some of his old antics. "I only wish I was here to see it."

Jinora hits him on the arm playfully. "You're a real comedian, Captain," she says, rolling her eyes. She hoists her beer higher and clinks her can against his. "Cheers, Kai."

Kai grins, leaning closer to her. "You know, I think I forgot to put this in my will, but I'm donating my nose to the grindstone, my shoulder to the wheel, and my ear to the ground—but I only have eyes for you." It's a shitty pick-up line—one that had once gotten Skoochy thrown out of a Gaoling whorehouse—but the kiss he receives in return lets him know that she's not opposed to it.

Jinora goes to get another beer, and Kai turns around to see Korra taking a seat next to Lieutenant Saja, who's sitting and warming his hands up next to the stove. "Having a rough time there, Lieutenant?"

Saja groans. "Don't ask, Major," he says in a tone that invites her to ask about his problems anyway. Kai had gotten wind of the lieutenant's situation earlier that day—apparently he'll be in huge trouble with the Quartermaster Corps if he doesn't bring back a corpse. Saja's worried he'll be transferred out of morgue detail and be given a worse job. Kai doesn't quite know what could be worse than delivering dead bodies, but to each his own.

Korra pats him on the shoulder. "It'll work out as soon as you bring good news about changing Captain Wen's status." There's a pause. "And possible news about the status of Lieutenant Sato."

Saja furrows his brows. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but who's Lieutenant Sato?"

"It doesn't matter," Korra quickly says, looking away as she stands up. "I—never mind." Before she can say anything incriminating—and it very well could be, as an admission of homosexuality will earn her a dishonorable discharge from the army, which is why she's always kept her relationship with Lieutenant Sato under wraps—she leaves. Saja looks like he doesn't understand what just happened, which is probably for the best. Kai doesn't have the heart to tell him that his jacket's very close to being set on fire.

Just as Jinora comes back over to him with her beer, Zhu Li appears practically out of nowhere, shivering under two jackets and a pair of fluffy earmuffs that used to belong to Varrick. "Captain Wen," she says, "I just got off the phone with the company clerk from the 8045th, and there aren't any telegrams going out from there either. No phone, no mail, no nothing."

Kai bypasses disappointment and goes straight to pissed off. "Zhu Li, I've got to get through to my dad!"

"You think I don't know that, Captain?" She just looks tired now, too tired to be dealing with everyone's problems. He feels bad for her. "There's new security measures being taken because the president's coming over, remember?" He does remember, but it doesn't make him feel any better. "The Secret Service, the military police—nothing can come in and nothing can come out. Corporal Ming from the eastern Ba Sing Se M*A*S*H unit told me that they've locked up a whole bunch of locals."

"What the hell for? Cheering lessons?" Kai's anger is swelling like a balloon, and he'll explode completely if he isn't careful. With effort, he brings his anger down again to a manageable level. "Look, I'm sorry. Just—please keep trying for my dad. Try any way you can. If it comes down to money I'll even pay for it. Just please try."

"I will, Captain, I promise," Zhu Li says firmly. He's not skeptical enough to doubt her word: everyone in the 6152nd knows that Zhu Li always keeps her promises no matter how impossible they are. The fact that she's never broken a deal in all the time that he's ever known her—and even before that—is more dependable than some religions, and Kai knows that she'll do her part to keep this one.

"Thank you," he finally says, because it's all he can say. Zhu Li scurries off again, most likely to go off and try to haggle with the army again.

Jinora places a hand on his shoulder, but he shakes her hand off. He doesn't need her pity now. He needs his father.

The next day brings even more bad news. The mail arrives fresh from Gaoling as the president's finally moved on to other parts of the warring Earth Kingdom, but Kai's mail has been held up because of his status. Jinora had tried to hide her letters from home to make him feel better, but it hadn't done anything to improve his already bad mood. Today's payday—an event that always makes him feel better about the war—but just from the way that the men from Ba Sing Se HQ are acting doesn't make him feel any better.

He lets Jinora go ahead of him, just to see what will happen, and she stops in front of their table in the mess tent with a salute. "Gyatso, Jinora. Captain. Serial number zero-one-one-zero-one-two-one-two."

"Right, right," says the colonel at the head of the table rather dismissively. If Kai squints he can make out the man's name—Ping—embroidered in red just over his heart but under his service medals. What service medals can the man possibly earn while passing out money? An Indigo Crux for a paper cut in the line of duty? "Sign here, please." He flourishes the pay sheet at her, which she signs quickly. After exchanging the paper for a check that he knows contains six thousand and sixty-three yuans, she moves to the side. "Next!"

Kai steps up, nerves making his stomach churn. He doesn't think he can handle any more bad news today. "Wen, Kai. Captain. Serial number zero-three-two-zero-two-two-one-four."

Colonel Ping exchanges a glance with the others sitting near him (a captain and a major, each wearing identical monotone expressions) before glancing down at the pay sheet. "Sorry, fella," he says, sounding like he doesn't care in the slightest. "You've been redlined."

Kai feels like he's been punched in the throat. "Excuse me?"

"You're marked deceased, Captain Wen," says the colonel with a smirk. Clearly he finds this funny. Jinora and Opal and Mitali and the others are all watching this exchange go on with horrified expressions. He's glad that at least someone finds this as wrong as he does. "If you're dead that means that you're off the payroll. Next!"

"Now you hold on just one second, fella," Kai says hotly, temper rising for the second time in forty-eight hours. If this keeps up he's going to explode. "I need my paycheck. It's not like I can work someplace else—there's not another army across the street looking for a surgeon."

"Dead men tell no tales," says Colonel Ping rather nonchalantly. Kai is very close to punching the man in the face. "They also get no money. Move out of the way, Captain Wen, and that's an order."

Something inside of him snaps, and he smashes his hands down on the table and leans forward. "Look here, Colonel," he says dangerously, so close to the colonel that he can smell his breath, "I have had a long couple of days. I'm tired of death, I'm tired to death, and you can clearly see that I'm not deceased, so how about you give me the fucking money that I rightfully deserve and I won't rip your spleen out through your throat."

"Are you threatening me, Captain?" snaps Ping, holding his ground remarkably well. "I could get the army to court-martial you for that!"

Kai's grin is wolfish, rather frightening, and he can't bring himself to care about anything anymore. In the end, he's already dead, so why does it matter? He grabs the collar of the colonel's uniform. "They couldn't court-martial a dead man for breaking every smirk in your face."

"Captain Wen!" Startled, he releases the colonel's collar and turns around to see Korra wearing her best stern-Major-Iluak expression with Zhu Li and Jinora at her side. "Captain, release Colonel Ping this instant. Colonel, by the order of I-Corps, you're required to give all those present their checks—and as you can clearly see that Captain Wen's not in the big hospital in the sky, you ought to give him his check as well." Grumbling, Colonel Ping thrusts the check at Kai, and Kai signs the pay sheet with a flourish. "Captain Wen, my office. Now."

Once they're just outside Korra's office, Korra grabs Kai by the shoulders and gives him a shake. Zhu Li and Jinora, who'd most likely run to tell Korra of what had been happening while he'd been arguing with the colonel, stay silent. "Have you lost your goddamn mind?" she snaps, barely able to keep her voice down. "Do you realize what the fuck you've done, Kai? You can't just pick fights with army officers—"

"Why? I'm dead no matter what." Jinora looks down and away from him. Somehow that just makes things worse. "Why does it matter what I do?"

"Because you are a captain of the United Forces," Korra says through gritted teeth. "And above that, you are a doctor, and you had better damn well act like one otherwise they can suspend your license in the blink of a fucking eye. So behave yourself." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Jinora, Zhu Li, wait here. Kai, follow me inside." He does as his friend asks and follows her into her office, where an average-looking gentleman with a major's insignia is waiting for them. "Zhu Li was finally able to reach HQ, and the Quartermaster Corps sent us Major Kang to rectify your situation."

To be honest, he's sort of forgotten that his situation can be rectified at all. He nods at the major politely. "Sir."

"Captain Wen," says Major Kang, "we've been giving your matter a look, and uh," he looks down at the clipboard he's holding in his hands, "excuse me please—ah, yes. What's clearly happened is that some clerk down at HQ must've switched your name with that of a deceased patient on a death certificate." He chuckles. "Happens all the time."

Korra speaks before Kai can open his mouth, obviously afraid of what he'll say. "And has the real dead man's family been notified, sir?"

That takes the major aback a little. "Um. They will be, Major Iluak." Korra nods, clearly not satisfied, and gestures for him to continue. Kai bites his tongue so hard that he can taste blood. "In your case, Captain Wen, you'll have to submit to the Quartermaster Corps a request to rescind the certificate of death on form…ten-stroke-249 in triplicate. That'll be accompanied by an SF-88-stroke-11-07, signed by three officers of equal or higher rank followed by a personal written report of no less than five hundred words on form 63-stroke-EBY by a ranking officer who actually saw the deceased not die…" He seems to realize how stupid that sounds and swallows, quickly moving on. "Uh, that's in triplicate too."

"What does this come down to in a nutshell?" Kai asks, unable to take this any longer. He feels numb, like he's watching this happen in a mover. He can't bring himself to give a shit about anything. He just wants this fixed as quickly as possible. "Sir?"

Major Kang sighs. "Well, Captain, I'm sorry to say that that is in a nutshell."

"Are you serious?" Korra says disbelievingly. Clearly she's also regretting having the actual answer to Kai's problems. "It'll take me months to actually requisition all of those forms. He could be dead by the time you make him alive again!"

"I don't know any other way around it," Major Kang says, actually sounding sad. "I'm very sorry, Captain, but until you fill out those forms, the army has no choice to see you as anything other than deceased. As an un-person, if you will."

This time when Kai loses his temper, it doesn't come with anger, it just comes with crushing sadness. With a crushing feeling of despair. Like he's being choked with his own grief. "My father," he says, "is unaware that I'm alive. I've been trying to get through to him but no one has let me on account of the president and the fact that I'm considered an 'un-person'. At this very minute, Major, my father is mourning his 'un-son' and is probably aging a couple years for every day he wakes up and remembers that I've shaken off my mortal coil." A lump forms in his throat. "Excuse me, Majors," he says as politely as he can manage, "but I can't take this any longer."

He pushes past a stunned Korra and an equally-stunned Kang, past Jinora and Zhu Li, and walks out of the building. Hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket, he makes his way over to a bus waiting by post-op. Saja's sitting in the front seat, hand on the ignition, and when he sees Kai in front of the bus, he pulls down the lever and opens the door. "Captain? What're you doing here?"

"I want out," Kai says, climbing the steps onto the bus. It's warm in here, at least. Every cot on the bus is occupied by a corpse. The more the merrier. "The final destination, please, and step on it." He takes a seat on one of the empty cots, feeling emptier than the men and women who usually occupy them. He closes his eyes. "Go on, Saja."

The bus doesn't start moving, but he hears the whoosh-crush and the rush of cold air followed by an opening door. There's a whisper, some footsteps, and he feels someone staring at him. "Kai," someone says, and when he opens his eyes he isn't surprised to see Jinora standing there. "Kai, you can't do this."

"I don't have a choice, Jin," he says. "The army says I'm dead, ergo I'm dead." He sighs. "If you're ever in Yu Dao, look me up. I'll be under a tombstone marked Wen."

"Kai." She doesn't sound like she's admonishing him. She just sounds scared. He doesn't want her to sound scared. "I don't care what the army says. You're alive, Kai, you've got a heart and a soul and breath in your lungs and until you don't then you aren't allowed to be on this bus. Got it?" She bites her lip and sits down next to him. "Kai. You can't leave. Not now. Not after all we've been through. You can't just—just give up now when the going gets tough." There's a helicopter whirring in the distance, and Kai can feel the noise right down to his bones. "There's wounded coming."

"I don't care." He's surprised by the monotony of his words. "The wounded will keep coming whether I'm here or not. Skoochy died and they're still coming. Varrick got killed and they're still coming. Where they come from, they'll never run out. And I just don't care anymore. No one needs me around here."

She sucks in a breath through her teeth. "I do," she says softly, so much honesty in her voice that it takes him slightly aback. "I need you."

And he needs her. He needs her, he realizes with the same feeling he'd gotten when she'd been shot all those months ago. He needs her like he needs air, like he needs to tell Yung that he's still alive. He needs her too. "I need you too," he admits, a bit of life going back into him with the admittance. "I just—I need Yung to know that I'm okay too."

"And he'll know," Jinora says. She says it like it's the gospel truth, and against all odds he actually believes her. "He will. We'll get through to him. I'll write him letters myself if it'll help. I promise it will all work out, Kai." She stands up and offers him her hand. Kai looks up at her, searching her face. Her returning gaze is steady, but there's an uncertainty in her expression. She's afraid that he won't go with her. "Will you come with me?"

After three heartbeats that are drowned out by the sounds of whirring helicopter blades, he takes her hand. "With you," he says quietly, "I'll go anywhere."

When they step off the bus, their fellow doctors and nurses are rushing to the landing pad, hoisting up stretchers full of soldiers and carrying them to the operating room. Blood stains the frosty grass a dark crimson, and the whirring of the helicopter blades isn't enough to completely mask the sounds of the wounded's screams of pain. Sergeant Kuji and Corporal Tikka are running through the chaos and ordering the others to do their jobs. Zhu Li stands next to Korra and marks off those needed for triage and those needed for immediate surgery. Mitali and Mako have already scrubbed up.

Jinora looks at him, and he looks back at her.

Together, they leave the land of the dead and return to the land of the dying.

Surgery is as long and grueling as it almost always is—this time it takes them about sixteen hours to fix up the broken bones, torn livers and spleens, and bullet-riddled chests of the 160th Battalion. Kai's neck is cramped and his feet hurt and his stomach is growling with hunger for anything edible, so when Korra tells him that his postop shift won't be for another two hours, he gratefully takes the time to go to the mess tent with Jinora.

Halfway through filling up a second cup of the toxic waste they call coffee, Zhu Li materializes at his shoulder. "Captain Wen," she says, and he almost spills his coffee all over himself in surprise at her sudden appearance. He wishes that she'd just tell everyone that she can teleport; it'd make life so much easier for them all. "I haggled with some of the men in I-Corps and they said that they're able to place long-distance calls now."

He drops his coffee on the ground, the cup shattering at his feet, and takes off at a sprint behind Zhu Li all the way to her office, where the telephone system stands proud and gleaming in the light of day. Zhu Li dials the number for him, presses the telephone to his ear and steps away. "Just redial if you're having trouble," she says. "It'll get through now."

Kai nods but he can barely hear her through the nerves churning in his stomach, making him want to throw up the one cup of coffee he'd had. The phone rings and rings in his ear, each noise making him shake. Just as he's about to give up and redial the number that he knows by heart, he hears a click and a connection. "Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line is hoarse from tears, but just the sound of it makes him want to cry too. "Yung Wen speaking."

Kai nearly chokes on the lump rising in his throat. "Yung?"

There's a pause, a pause long enough for him to think that maybe the line had gone out again, but then there's the sound of someone inhaling sharply. "Kai?"

His entire body slumps with relief and tears leak from his eyes at the sound of his father's voice. "Yung. Oh Raava, Yung, you're okay. You're okay." He hates to admit it but he's been terrified all week that Yung might not have been able to stomach the news of Kai's death and might have committed suicide. But no, here he is, alive. They're both alive. "Yung?"

"Kai." Yung sounds as though he'd just been startled out of a dream and he isn't sure where he is or what's going on anymore. "You—you're dead, Kai. You're dead."

"No, no Yung, it was a mistake, the army fucked up some paperwork down the line and accidentally marked me dead. I'm alive, I promise, I'm alive. I've been trying to get a hold of you ever since I found out the news but the entire unit got cut off because of the storm and the whole thing with the president coming over—I couldn't get a hold of you." Kai's crying now, but they're happy tears just from the sound of hearing Yung's voice. "Yung, I'm okay."

"Kai." On the other side of the world, Yung breaks down crying as well. They're both two fools, sitting here clutching telephones and crying. "Oh Kai, I thought you were dead, they told me you were dead…"

"I'm not dead, Yung, I swear. I'm still kicking, I promise." Kai bites his lip, concern welling up inside of his gut as Yung continues to cry. "Don't cry, Yung, it's okay! I'm fine, I swear." Well, he had almost sent himself home as a corpse, but Yung doesn't have to know that.

Yung inhales quickly. "I'm sorry—I just…oh Kai." There's another sniffle, then Yung sounds a lot more composed. "Does the army know you're still alive?"

"Nah, I'm still legally dead as far as the army's concerned, but they know I'm alive and Korra's trying to rectify the situation as we speak."

Yung reads his mind. "It always comes back down to paperwork, doesn't it?"

Kai snorts. "Yeah, it does." He pauses and wipes his tears aside. "Raava, Yung, it's so good to hear your voice again."

Static breaks up the line momentarily, but then Yung's voice comes through loud and clear. "It's good to hear your voice too, kid." Yung still sounds like he's on the verge of crying, but Kai would rather have happy tears over sad ones any day. "Don't do that to me again, Kai. Please."

"Not if I can help it," Kai promises. Then he remembers another thing that he'd wanted to tell Yung all along and he grins. "Hey, guess what?"

Yung plays along. "What?"

"Jinora and I—we're together now. She broke the engagement."

Yung laughs, and it's one of the sweetest things that Kai's ever heard, better than the voices of angels, better than Zhu Li saying that there aren't any more wounded coming in. "I always knew it'd happen," he says, probably grinning on the other end. "Good for you, Kai."

"Thanks, Yung." He hears the telltale beep on the other end that means their connection's about to be broken up, and he sighs. "I've got to go, the connection's about to be severed. I'll write you soon, okay?"

"Alright." Yung sounds just as reluctant to hang up as Kai does. "I'll write to you soon too. Tell Jinora I say hi, okay?" Kai nods even though Yung can't see him. "Love you, kid."

"Love you too," Kai replies, getting choked up all over again. The dial tone rings in his ear and he hangs up the phone, feeling drained but much happier than he had in almost a week. Yung's okay, he knows that Kai's alive and well, Kai and Jinora are still together, and really, Kai doesn't think that anything can make him happier than he is right now.