Hey guys! I have to say, I really wasn't expecting the support I got in what I mentioned in the last chapter (you know what I'm talking about). You guys are simply incredible. I sincerely mean that. I know its cliché to say, but I feel like I have the best fans in the world, although I'm not sure whether the term fans counts. This is only fanfiction after all. But if you want to consider yourself that, or even if you don't, you are more than welcome to. Now, in other news, some of you may have noticed that I added names to all of my chapters. If you haven't, wellllllll I just told you so maybe now you will (NOTICE THEM SENPAIS!). Doing this meant that I had to go back and skim through all my chapters to be sure I'm naming them properly, and it was quite the memory trip. I hadn't realized just how far we've come since the beginning. A year, over twenty chapters, sixty thousand or so words, fifty reviews….. wow. I feel blessed to have this. Thank you guys.

Now on to the main attraction. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 21

"So just who is this new commander?" Jeong Jeong asked Lieutenant Wu.

Wu shrugged, leaning against a tree. "Nobody told me. All I have is that we have orders to escort him back to the fort. Beyond that, I think he will tell us himself."

They had been waiting two days at the dock the Fire Nation used. Iroh still remembered showing up here all those months ago. This place had seemed so new and magical before, full of opportunity. He had always wanted to get out of the Palace and see the world, and now here it was. The world. All around him.

But now he was sick of it. It had only taken minutes into the trip from the base to here for Iroh to comprehend just how alone he was in this group. There was Zarai of course, who hated him. Then Jeong Jeong, who hated socializing. Wu, who took great pleasure in torturing and disciplining his students. And these two older cadets in training, who Iron didn't know.

And the two days at the dock he had been stuck with this group. Iroh knew he was being immature about this, since being around people he didn't care for was set to be his entire adult life, but he had hated almost every second of this mission. He was bored out of his mind.

The two older kids turned out to be polar opposites. One, a tall and somewhat lanky guy with hair that was almost completely shaved down but not quite, was named Luk. He was the type that always played the victim when incidents happened and was more than happy to rat you out if you were doing something you weren't supposed to. He had high energy, and was extremely paranoid for no reason at all. He had made a life out of lying and stealing to get things, and was constantly scared of someone doing it to him. Not surprisingly, he became quick friends with Zarai.

The other boy was named Fai. He had messy black hair and a plain face, and was a little chubby, but in the way that he was just heavier but no less athletic than other people. He was very…. chill, if Iroh had to find a way to describe him. Nothing seemed to faze him, good or bad. He was constantly relaxed, and seemed to always have helpful advice at whatever he saw anyone else do. He was the kind of person that was always within their own thoughts and interacted in the world rarely, but somehow always made a big impact when they did. Iroh could tell he didn't care to be here, but also didn't care to be anything else. He was the only one Iroh could connect to even slightly.

Wu had naturally wanted to train on the trip to the dock and then while they waited for their new commander to arrive. Iroh had been surprised to find out that the younger trio of cadets far outclassed the abilities of Fai and Luk. Fai had admitted to Iroh one night that although they were the best of their class, their class had been absolutely dreadful. Wu apparently went on and on about how disappointing they were, and then when the younger group had arrived, talked about how much potential they had. Fai had learned to shut it out for the most part, but Luk had taken it to heart and was driving himself hard to finally get some hard-won approval from their teacher. Iroh had almost felt bad for him, then saw him chatting with Zarai and felt the feeling disappear.

"I for one am tired of waiting." Zarai complained to Wu. "I don't think those Earthbenders are even around anymore. He won't really need us to get there."

"Whether he needs us to get there or not isn't the issue." Jeong Jeong answered coldly. "All that matters here is that we were given orders to escort him to the base, so that is what we are going to do. Our duty always comes first."

Zarai looked away and grumbled. He knew any arguments over the importance of their duty were instantly lost with Wu right there. He walked over to a tree and pulled a knife, carving into it on a whim. Luk followed, bored enough that watching Zarai craft crappy art into a tree was entertaining. Iroh turned to the sea, trying for the millionth time to see a black smudge on the horizon to finally signify that this wait was over. Wu was scanning his weapons, checking for even the slightest imperfections to clean away. His golden pupil, Jeong Jeong was doing the same. And Fai was napping against a tree.

After making sure yet again that there wasn't a ship to be seen, Iroh decided to instead let his attention wander over to the forest surrounding them. He had far more familiar with it than he had wanted, and now he knew all of the nearby trees by sight. He wondered how long it was going to be until he started naming them. There was a bird a little ways up one of the trees, one that was black with a red head. Iroh watched it lazily scan the surrounding area much like he was had been doing. Probably looking for food. Iroh decided that he would name it Chin.

Whoa. That had gotten way too close to naming trees. Iroh forced himself to settle back down and relax, finding something else to watch. He thought he saw something move near the ground about fifty meters away, but when he looked closer it was just a rock. No way it could have moved. He sighed. Sitting here so long was making him see things. If they stayed here too much longer he was going to go crazy.

"Hey guys, he's finally here." Fai said quietly, surprising everyone. They all turned towards the ocean. Sure enough, the black iron of a Fire Nation cruiser-class ship could be seen rapidly approaching the dock, presumably with their new commander aboard. Iroh at first felt annoyed, since he had been looking literally a minute ago and there hadn't been anything, but that quickly changed to relief at this wait finally being over.

It took about half an hour for the ship to pull into the dock, where it settled to a creaking stop. After a few tense moments it hissed steam and the front of the ship collapsed down, opening it up to make a ramp. Down walked two men. One was a very old man with a jagged scar that went down his face, from his hair to his chin, in between his nose and his left eye. He had hardened eyes that left no doubt of the considerable experience this man had. But strangely, the man was smiling pleasantly, and it was the infectious kind of smile. It was very off putting from the rest of his appearance. Next to him was a familiar face. Captain Lou Sai, the man who had originally set Iroh on his path here. The two men walked down the ramp, where Wu and his students waited.

Wu bowed, and the others followed suit. The new commander held out a hand, and Wu reached out to shake it. But before their hands could connect a finger-sized rock came whistling at the commander at an incredible speed. Lou Sai somehow managed to deflect it, and it pierced the metal of the ship above them.

"Ambush!" someone shouted. Everyone sprang into action, including the people attacking them. Earthbenders came out of forest like shadows, all throwing rocks of various sizes.

Iroh barely dodged one person attacking him, sending fire back at the Earthbender. He quickly glanced around. They were outnumbered two to one, it seemed. Granted, there were without a doubt several Firebenders and dozens of soldiers inside the ship that would likely be alerted of the threat soon, but Iroh and the others would have to survive until then. Or rather, they would have to protect the commander until then.

"Get inside!" Wu said to the commander, both him and Lou Sai blocking the numerous attacks upon the old man. But the new commander was having none of it. He pushed past the two men, directly attacking the closest Earthbender. Now without his smile, he looked truly fearsome.

And that was before he had even used any Firebending. Iroh was temporarily distracted from his duel when the old man let out some of the most incredible Firebending he had ever seen. Within seconds he had defeated four of the Earthbenders and had many of the others on their heels. But being Earthbenders, the enemy did not back down. They counterattacked, hitting the old man from every direction. He barely managed to survive the first wave, an impressive feat in itself. Iroh knew that facing all of them he would have been destroyed near instantly.

Thankfully, the Earthbender that Iroh had been dueling had also been distracted by the old Firebender. Iroh squared off with the man, both sending attacks. But they proved to be closely matched, neither combatant really getting an advantage. Iroh tried a technique Mylo had thought up. He fired a large attack at the Earthbender, then shot pellet-sized flames at the ground. This brought up a lot of smoke, giving Iroh a moment unseen. He used it to jump behind a tree, extending his cover. The Earthbender, confused at his opponent's disappearance, looked around frantically. When his head was turned, Iroh burst out from behind the tree, attacking furiously. He took the Earthbender off guard, knocking him back and onto the ground. However, the man wasn't defeated. He fell back into the ground, bending himself below the earth. Now it was Iroh's turn to be worried over his enemy's position.

But it turned out that this Earthbender wasn't the thing he needed to be worried about. A rock hit him in the side, from a different opponent. Iroh fell, clutching his side in pain. Something was definitely broken. The new Earthbender turned out to be the one who had battled Jeong Jeong before at the base, the older one with the gray hair and crazy look in his eye. The other Earthbender rose up from the ground right next to Iroh. He grabbed Iroh's wrist and bent cuffs around them, leaving Iroh stuck as well as severely injured.

The old Earthbender glanced back at the ship. At this point soldiers were pouring out, and the assassins were being pushed back. "It would appear we were unsuccessful in killing the new commander. We had best beat a retreat unless we want to end up in the Boiling Rock."

The other Earthbender looked troubled at this. "But this was our best chance to kill him! We might not get another opportunity."

"Well I'm open to ideas on how to reach him. But it doesn't look very doable to me. It would be best to fall back and fight another day."

"But then we would have gained nothing." The younger Earthbender said. "It was all a waste!"

"It was not a waste." The old Earthbender said. "Perhaps here, but we have gained something invaluable. We have gone to the heart of their stronghold and killed their leader, and escaped. Now we have attacked them again, and will escape again. We have shown that we can come and go as we please. We have shown that they should fear us. And they will fear us." The he gave that odd chuckle snort. "Besides, we have this one. He counts as something, doesn't he?" with that he picked up Iroh easily, hoisting him up over his shoulder.

With that they ran into the woods, taking Iroh with him.

Iroh saw a face watching him leave. Jeong Jeong stood there, watching, as Iroh was carried away. He had a shocked expression on his face, but didn't make a move to help. Iroh couldn't believe it. Why wouldn't Jeong Jeong come save him? Then Iroh glanced back at the ship, back at their new commander. And then Iroh understood.

Our duty always comes first.

Iroh felt a deep, dark feeling of disappointment. Was this what Jeong Jeong called duty? Was this what he valued so much? Despicable.

Soon enough Jeong Jeong and all the others disappeared from sight, blocked out by the trees. Iroh was alone, abandoned by his comrades.

All alone.

So what will happen to Iroh now that he has been captured by the Earth Kingdom assassins? Tune in next chapter to find out!

As I pointed out above, I had the opportunity to look back over my old chapters, and I noticed some things. I started writing less and less per chapter, not consistently, but gradually they seemed to get shorter. Also, the author's notes seemed to get longer and more talkative. That author's note part isn't necessarily an issue, but it is kind of weird to see, seeing as this is meant to be a story and not a story with a blog with it. So I'd like to ask you guys: how would you like me to do things moving forward? Whether in the author's notes, or the story itself, or just anything you think I can improve on, I would love to hear it. Thank you guys so much, I can't wait to see you next chapter!

PS: twenty-one chapters in, and this story has come pretty damn far. But in the big picture we have gotten hardly anywhere! To put it into perspective, Iroh is still a teen. And I plan to carry this on until the show starts. So we are in for quite a long ride here. Let's hope it's a good one.