Rewrite, Rewind

Chapter 33


The earth benders retreated at sunset, which was strange considering they had previously been attacking at dusk and night. Iroh felt unnerved with the silence of the city, his soldiers retreating to the riverside for medical aid. He wasn't the only one to hope that the earth benders wouldn't just send them into the river and seal it off. The moon was climbing higher and higher into the sky, filling the burnt remains of the river-edge with silver light reflecting off red armor and red-stained bandages. His soldiers suffered not just burns to themselves from overuse of their flames, but also crushed bones from flying rocks. If this is what his soldiers looked like, what did the earth kingdom look like?

An indescribable scream made Iroh's attention go from the wandering medics to snapping towards the river, where only Lu Ten floated on the surface. It took only a moment, many soldiers screaming for Hai He, to realize that his younger sister had fallen into the river. He hurried to the river edge, watching several soldiers pull Lu Ten to the edge. He hesitated a moment at his son's side, looking back into the river where three female soldiers resurfaced with Hai He braced between them. Reassured with her wellbeing, Iroh turned to his son, crashing onto his knees and shaking the young man gently.

"Lu Ten?" Iroh called, shaking him, "Lu Ten? Wake up, son." The soldiers backed away as Iroh grabbed his son into his arms, hands patting the man's back to reassure himself of Hai He's healing skills. There was whispering from the river, he didn't catch it, too focused on patting his son down. He ignored the followed chuckles and the weak sounding laughter, his attention solely focused on trying to wake his son.

"Lu Ten?" Iroh pulled his hand back, staring at the strange pink liquid sliding down his palm. "No, she healed you." He patted again, carefully this time, searching for the wounds, "Hai He's the best…" he felt something on his son's back, close to his spine where a direct line could be made to his heart, something small like a paintbrush and hard like stone. Iroh felt numb, his fingers frozen over the foreign object in his son's back, war-time calculations and sword-fights replaying in his mind.

No matter how skilled or spirit-blessed Hai He was, she could not revive the dead.


Many soldiers stared at the glowing water of the river, a beautiful translucent blue as bright as the moon's reflected light. Everyone noticed that the river water seemed to ripple from around Hai He's supported body, the three females supporting looked about at the glowing water uneasily but dared not move. One of the soldiers moved forward and placed his black scorched palm into the water, imminently sighing in relief. After that, each soldier succumbed to their injuries and waded into the glowing water. Even the medics were easing in heavily injured soldiers, standing by their sides and supporting their heads so they could breathe while floating in the river.

"Water is clean and pure," a soldier was saying to their comrade, a young man with a thick bloodied bandage wrapped tight around his eyes. "it glows with spirit light, perhaps it'll help your eyes." The soldier helped support his blind friend into the water, carefully pouring the glowing water over his eyes.

"General Iroh?" one of the female soldiers supporting Hai He called out, her voice shivered as if she were cold. "Where did General Iroh go?" everyone looked about but Iroh and his son were already gone, the place they once were empty of life. The only sign of their presence was smeared in the blackened dirt and small black stone with one sharp end.

"He must've left with Prince Lu Ten," one of the soldiers murmured.

"Maybe he took Prince Lu Ten back to base camp for better treatment?" a medic asked, "surly this water can't heal everything."

"Who cares about healing everything?" a soldier plunging his hands into the river water asked, "my hands have never felt better."

"I kind of hope that La really granted Lady Hai He's wish," one of the female soldiers murmured, a sad look on her face. "But…"

"But at the same time," her friend continued, "We hope not." The former nodded in agreement, sniffling to stifle her tears.

"What wish?" one of the medics asked curiously

"Lady Hai He said, she promised La to trade places with Prince Lu Ten," the last female soldier answered, her voice clear and strong. "She promised the Spirit of Water, La, to die in Prince Lu Ten's place."

"…dose that mean this cold water is a residue of that promise?" a soldier asked

"That's your concern?"

"Seriously? Its lady Hai He!"

"She's giving up everything for us…"

"Lady Hai He is dying and we're doing nothing to stop it!"

"Calm down," everyone turned towards the commanding voice, a familiar captain with sad brown eyes and short black hair stood near the rive edge. He stared at Hai He for a long moment before sighing in defeat. "As far as we know Prince Lu Ten and Lady Hai He are both still living. Unless that changes, we keep Lady Hai He's skills a secret. None of this healing water goes beyond those of us here. Is that understood?"

"Yes Commander Bo Eun," the agreement of the soldiers were broken and scattered, some loud in the night air, others barely a whisper but all the same an agreement was made.

"How is Lady Hai He doing?" Commander Bo Eun asked, turning to look at three soldier's supporting Hai He

"She's unconscious sir," the far right one answered

"She does not appear to have any injuries," the far left added.

"Make sure her breathing remains even," Bo Eun ordered. "If she remains living until all the soldiers are healed, we'll remove her from the river. If she doesn't, Elwell. We have medics who can tend to what she can't."

"Yes commander Bo Eun," the women said together.


Everything hurt, her muscles felt as if they bore weights upon every section of flesh, her eyes pulsed with every heartbeat, her mind was blessedly blank for the exception of the drumbeat, even her toes felt achy. Her nose tickled and her lungs burned with every breath, she could feel a soft clammy warmth in her right hand. She struggled to open her eyes; the pale light felt painful despite its dilution through thick wooden slats overhead.

"Lady Hai He," she took a deep painful breath and turned slowly to look at the person sitting on her side.

"Oh, Saf," she smiled at one of the female soldier's she got along with, her real name was 'Sapphire' but there were so many Sapphires that most just called this one 'Saf'. "You silly girl. Why'd you follow me?"

"…My Lady?" Sapphire blinked slowly at her; her dark gold eyes red-rimmed from crying.

"I told La I'd trade places with Lu Ten, so he must be living now," Hai He smiled bitterly, "Why did you die too? Don't you have a daughter to get back too?"

"I do," Sapphire sniffled, "But my lady… I'm sorry…" Sapphire broke, fresh tears spilling down her face, her eyes clenched tightly shut, her body crumbling in half, her shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," it was all Sapphire was saying, the mantra a plea for forgiveness she did not believe she deserved.

"No," Hai He whispered and Sapphire collapsed at her side, crying loudly.

"La ignored you," Hai He looked past Sapphire's quaking form to see the older woman's two best friends walking towards her. It was Lin and Yu Jing, both with bloodshot eyes and pale complexions. "Prince Lu Ten is dead," Yu Jing's voice was soft with the touch of lemon juice thrown on top. "If La could not grant your wish… what good are the spirits?"

"Yu Jing," Lin called, her voice sounded broken as if she spent days crying. Slowly the older woman walked around Sapphire and kneeled beside Hai He. At first, the smile she gave was gentle and warm but it soon broke as she succumbed to her own heartache. "We didn't think you'd live," Lin admitted. "I'm so happy but then I feel guilty. You're alive… but our prince is dead… I'm sorry… but I'm not…"

"We're retreating," Yu Jing's voice cracked, her head bowed as fresh tears began to fall. "General Iroh has given up on Ba Sing Se. Right now, we're in the medical tent near the entrance of the outer wall."

Hai He's world turned black like the smoke of fires amongst the dark night sky.


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