A/N: Surprisingly, nothing to say. No, really, I've got nothing. Thank you to everyone reading, alerting, reviewing and favoriting this story! :)

(Just in case - Lee Hyun-Shik is Colonel Jaipal's assistant, the one he and Zuko discussed sending in for negotiations to gauge the rebels' intentions.)

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Don't sue me.

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"One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is that things are what they are and will be what they will be."

~Oscar Wilde

Lee Hyun-Shik shuffled down the street, trying to make up lost time. The debriefing meeting he was in ran over. Lee looked over his shoulder nervously and spotted a man in a black wrap sitting casually on a bench down the dirt street. Another one was in a classically dark red ensemble but was loitering around a corner ahead of him. He recognized them - they met the prior evening when he first arrived in Natsuno. They were undercover – watching and waiting for violence. He hoped there wasn't any tonight; at least, not at him.

He wondered why his employer, Colonel Jaipal, would send him. I'm a nobody, he had wanted to argue. Surely my involvement will only hurt your negotiations! But then his mind, being all so cynical, wondered if that was what they were looking for. He personally hated it when he wasn't given the full story. Ironic, really, 'cause I'm lucky to get the leftovers of information; even as the messenger, Lee thought. Especially as the messenger.

The house situated at the top of the hill he's currently climbing is where Intelligence Officer Cheveyo said they asked to meet. For a 'compound', this place is wrecked. Lee frowned at the smashed locks and hanging gate that lead into the courtyard. Oh Hell, they probably don't even own this place. The owners are probably in Ba Sing Se for the next few weeks before winter hits, like many do, Lee mused.

He shivered against the cold wind coming from the South Pole and mounted the steps to the house's deck. I really hope I don't blow this for the Colonel and the Fire Lord, Lee thought. And I hope I don't pee my pants; I've always had a weak bladder. How embarrassing.

A man was already standing at the door, guarding, when he walked around to the side entrance. The man had graying hair that didn't match his bulk. By the tan and the clothing, Hyun-Shik guessed the man to be a local farmer. Apparently a mute, too, Lee thought after being given a look and pat down from the Guard. He was escorted inside, only silence and scuffed feet to be heard the whole time. The guard directed him with a slightly curious glare several times, but Lee tried to act casual.

The Guard pulled Hyun-Shik's shoulder roughly, stumping him to a halt, once they were inside of a large office-looking room. The only indicators of it being an office were the desk, shelves, cabinets lining the walls, and chairs flanking said desk, along with the standard box layout. Everything in it, however, was strewn across the floor or on other furniture. Drawers were left hanging and open, papers dumped into a corner where the trashcan overflowed, valuables taken from their places – where the dust, or lack thereof, indicated them to have been – and décor was ripped, dumped, or in an otherwise manner.

Hyun-Shik observed this with a carefully concealed glare at the way the men cast-away everything. No one appreciates private property, he thought bitterly.

"So yer da little errand boy, eh?"

"Yessir." Lee said it shakily and found it starkly evident in situations like these that he was not good with people. Observing them? Yes. Breaking down a situation before it happens? Yes. Relaying information? Yes. Being pleasant and polite with people who weren't going to do the same to you? Hell no.

"'Ell. Let's hear dat offer."

Guard stood in the middle of the room off to the left side in front of a bookcase, watching them both. At the other man's words, he slammed his hand against the shelf. It startled the other man – as it was intended to. He gave a pointed and menacing look and the man speaking puffed his cigar, keeping silent this time.

The seconds dragged as Lee waited. He didn't dare sit in the few chairs that were still upright in the room, seeing how damaged both they and their unstable counterparts were. Instead, he processed the little exchange and filed it away to write down later in his report. The man behind the desk, tossing the ass across the silk rug, was the right-hand to Kaol Lee Shinu. Hyun-Shik still couldn't fathom how anyone would work for something who was dishonorably discharged after openly threatening to start a war himself and then going as far as to destroy a poor woman's shop when she called the locals after him, not realizing him to be in the army – and not only the navy, but the marines too.

This man, Delajit Kaar, was not discharged from the army. He quit the first chance it arose. The file was an interesting study case for Lee when he stayed up the night prior. The man left, stating reasons of not wanting to pursue a military career. Nothing of the sort about the new Fire Lord, the new direction, and et cetera. Truth be told, he probably would've been laid off in the first wave, Lee thought. So why is he going along with this mad and groundless scheme when he didn'treceive a pink slip?

Kaol Shinu slammed open the door opposite the one Lee came in with a resounding thump against the wood paneled wall. They all startled, but none more than Kaar. He bolted up and out of the chair as if it were set on fire. He was so clumsy he didn't take the time to pick up the cigar he stupidly dropped on the floor.

Kaol nodded over to Guard in acknowledgment and walked to the desk. He stopped short and looked down. Hyun-Shik felt his heart hammer at the man's ability to not even say a word and yet send off a resoundingly cruel and dark mood across the room. Whatever the man was mad it, it was not something Lee wanted to know about. Or get in the middle of. Both, he was waist-deep in already.

Kaar flinched when the cigar was thrown back in his face but all he did was catch it. Kaol sneered at him while the other man had the astutely obvious lack-of-spine and looked like a beaten puppy. "Take a seat."

Hyun-Shik looked uncertainly at the chairs once more but sat in the best looking one after a moment. He learned quickly in his job to never refuse a noble – or higher-placed individual – when they asked something of you. Especially so when it was something like sitting down, listening, or fetching tea.

"So you're the one they sent to negotiate. I'm not impressed." His eyes took in the young boy's skinny and knobby form with as much interest as he would give a rabbit he just shot for dinner. Only the starved liked rabbit. No one in the room was near starved of any sort.

"Sorry to disappoint." Hyun-Shik tried to lighten the mood but the other man's beady eyes told him it was of no use. Lee cleared his throat. "As you have given no demands yet, my superiors have put together a list of things they are willing to negotiate on." He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a folder paper, passing it over the desk.

Shinu took the paper and opened it briefly. He tossed it away without regard. "I don't see the resignation of Ozai's incompetent son on there."

"Fire Lord Zuko?"

"I don't care for the names of lowlies, boy." Shinu sneered. "What I want is the resignation of that bastard and a man more suiting of the Fire Lord legacy. Someone like…. Me." His smile was worse than his sneer.

"Impossible. The Fire Nation Royal Family works on bloodlines only! The law is the law. Even if they did bend to your request, other things keep it from being possible." Lee didn't mean to argue and withheld from adding 'and if anyone is a bastard in this situation it is you, as I have met with Fire Lord Zuko and one word of your demands and he will laugh at how moronic you are. Your expectations are severely overestimated and, worse, they're beyond comprehension of anyone with an IQ over the sixty you seem to be hovering. If that ever even happened, the people, the army, and the purse-string-holders would revolt on you so fast you wouldn't be able to blink a menacing blink.'

Lee was glad his Aunt insisted upon behavioral training classes when he was young.

Kaol Shinu's jaw clenched on his broad and prematurely wrinkled face. He leaned back in the chair and picked up a cigar from a beautifully carved wooden box on the side. He lit it from a lamp's flame. Lee noticed with sadness that the box's lid was barely hanging on to the rest of itself because of the torn hinges. "Do you know why the Fire Nation was nearly able to over this whole world? Do you know why we fell short?"

Rhetorical question.

"Because people are stupid, boy." He laughed without humor. Or maybe it was with humor, but Lee honestly couldn't tell. "When the leader says 'jump', the people say 'how high?'. When other countries see their leader falling to the opposite power, they wilt too. It's called survival, boy. The instinct lives within us all. The strong – us – take over the weaklings. The weaklings survive because they let us in order to continue living their meaningless existences.

"Our nation –" He puffed the cigar and took a long, shaking breath. "- fell short because of internal conflict. The greats always do. But what about the gods among men? No one will stop them from getting what they want. Those are the ones who never let the internal conflict take over. They cut it at the bud." He nodded over to Kaar.

Lee felt an explosion of pain on his right cheek and blinked to clear the sudden spots in his vision, finding himself on the musty floor carpet. His lip was split and ached worse than any migraine he remembered. His cheekbone protested against the force. Lee lifted himself up with big eyes, bewildered at how the situation escalated without him seeing it.

"So you see, Ozai, for all that poor fool did, was just a great. He let the internal conflict consume him and now he is known as an evil. His best legacy is lost. That seat warmer holding my crown is not near half as good as Ozai was." Kaol stood and walked over to where Lee was crouched and holding onto the chair. He tapped the cigar and the ash fell around the messenger's face, whispering the threat of burns on his skin. "Now I want you to deliver a message for me." He kicked and Lee felt an explosion of heat and pain hit the front of neck and the back of his skull as it snapped back. He lost his balance and hit the floor.

Kaol Shinu pushed his boot down on Lee's chest, partly restricting his breathing. "Tell that weak bloke holding my throne that we're coming. I won't listen to anymore of his negotiating because, to be honest, it's wasteful of time. And time is all we have now, isn't it?

"You tell him that we're strong and we know all the insides of his little army – the one which he just cut, don't forget. He's wasting good money hosting that child Avatar and his mismatched group of wannabe's." He spit on the boy's face. "Now we won't appreciate anymore visits of your kind or his and we definitely won't be this nice next time. Leave us alone or try and take your best shot." He took his foot off of the messenger's chest and pulled his up by the cloth collar. "I dare him to. We clear?"

Hyun-Shik nodded. The man let him go and he stumbled out of the house, trying to remember which way he came in and what corners he took as the right-hand's smoky laugh echoed through the walls.

It was only when he was three block away and back in town, happily breathing in air untainted by smoke once more, that Lee realized he had pissed himself after all. He just hoped it wasn't in front of those bastards.

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