Every war has a beginning, that one moment in time when those who choose war decide that the time is right to go to war. For some, they make that decision when opposing forces assassinate a leader or kidnap soldiers. The event becomes the springboard and the basis for an entire war. Only those who choose war know if the reason for war is true or not. For the Fire Nation the reason for war was not the death of a Fire Lord at the hands of one of the other nations nor was it the capture of soldiers or land. The reason for war for the Fire Nation was as simple as a lack of an Avatar in the world.
Sixty years ago, the world was peace. The four nations of the world were in perfect harmony with one another. That was until the death of the Avatar. When Avatar Roku of the Fire Nation died, the world waited for the day some seventeen to eighteen years later when the monks of the Air Nomads would announce the name of the new Avatar. The monks of the Air Nomads never made that announcement. Thirteen years after Avatar Roku died a young Airbender named Aang learned of his destiny to become the next Avatar. One stormy night not long after he was informed of this, Aang vanished taking with him not only the hopes of the world but also the only chance the other nations of the world had in defeating the Fire Nation.
Days soon became weeks and weeks became months. Some time after the Avatar vanished from the world two events took place. In the skies above the Fire Nation, a great comet appeared empowering the Firebenders of the world with a surge of power. On that same day, the current Fire Lord, Sozin, declared war upon the entire world. The first nation to feel the wrath of the Fire Nation was the peaceful Air Nomads. After the destruction of the Air Temples, the Fire Nation began to move against its greatest adversary, the Earth Kingdom.
One by one Earth Kingdom villages and city-states fell to the power of the Fire Nation. Some citizens of the Earth Kingdom accepted their fate and gladly welcomed the Fire Nation as their governing body. Others resisted the advancing Fire Nation powers and desperately tried to fight back. Try as they might these citizens of the Earth Kingdom could not hold back the Fire Nation and soon their attackers forced them to become citizens of the Fire Nation. The might and strength of the Fire Nation started to become too much for the people in the western region of the Earth Kingdom. As more villages fell, more and more citizens of the Earth Kingdom began openly accepting rule under their Fire Nation invaders.
There was, however, a single beacon of hope for the people of the western region of the Earth Kingdom. Try as they might the Fire Nation invaders could not make their way to the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. Omashu and its king, Bumi, became a symbol of freedom for the people of the western region of the Fire Nation. Like Ba-Sing-Se in the east, Omashu was an immovable fortress sitting upon a mountaintop watching over the western region of the Earth Kingdom like a great protector. As long as Omashu stood, hope remained in the western region of the Earth Kingdom.
However, hope was only a feeling an emotion that people clung to in order to keep them going from day to day. Hope could not fight in the war. Hope could not hold back the Fire Nation. Hope could not keep the tiny village of Ojeong from becoming the next village overtaken by the forces of the Fire Nation. Ojeong and its neighboring village of Busan were just five miles apart and yet they were a world away. The people of Busan regularly did business with Ojeong trading goods and services. The two villages had a relationship that benefited them both greatly. Then one day everything changed.
It happened without warning. The unprotected village of Ojeong awoke to find themselves surrounded by a mass of soldiers, mongoose-lizards, and komodo-rhinos. The attack came without warning. The tiny village of Ojeong did all they could to protect themselves. However, the tiny homemade militia made up of ordinary villagers and Earthbenders that had very little combat training and experience could not hold the Fire Nation forces back. In a matter of days, the flag of the Earth Kingdom soon became a flag of the Fire Nation signaling Ojeong's capture.
The power in Ojeong changed as the Fire Lord ordered the removal of the village head and named a governor to rule over the village. He was a member of an elite group of generals known as the Fire Tigers. The Five Tigers were a group of generals of noble birth loyal to the royal family of the Fire Nation. Each general received reward for his prowess in battle with governorship over a conquered territory. Ojeong and the area surrounding it soon became the rule of the Third Tiger, General Sun Zhong.
Sun Zhong and the troops he oversaw quickly secured the village and all the people within its borders. Unlike other villages, the people of Ojeong did not welcome Fire Nation rule. At every turn they opposed the Sun family and the Fire Nation troops they commanded. Attempts to overthrow Sun Zhong and return power to the hands of village were in vain, as the army held back the poorly trained villagers. It seemed with each thwarted attempt more and more villagers were giving up the battle to return Ojeong to the Earth Kingdom. The fight was not over, however, for as long as the neighboring village of Busan stood free of Fire Nation rule Ojeong stood a chance. With the war beating down upon their doorstep, the lives of the people of Busan were going to change dramatically.
Of Love and War
Chapter One: Busan
Busan was a large village in the western region of the Earth Kingdom. While it was not large enough to be a city-state, Busan was larger than most villages in the Earth Kingdom. The entire village surrounded a hill that held a large estate upon the top. The estate with its pagoda styled buildings overlooked the center of the village and the large clusters of shops and homes that radiated out from its central location. Around the entire village was a wall of stone that protected it from the evils of the outside world. Try as it might though the wall could not keep everyone from coming to Busan.
Busan was a major stop between the western coast and the mountain city-state of Omashu. Every day people came to Busan to do trade and stay for the night in one of its inns. However, people came to Busan for more than just business or a stopping place during their journeys east. They came to Busan for its Earthbending academy. The academy in Busan was well known throughout the region for its teacher the Earthbending master Fa Xu. While people outside of Busan recognized the teacher and the academy, they were not given recognition within the walls of the village itself.
The head of the ruling family in Busan had a reputation for looking down upon anyone who was not in the same social standing as him. Shin Han believed the wealthy and the less fortunate should not interact with each other. He also believed benders of any kind were not worthy of his or his family's time and effort. It did not matter to him what class a bender was born into; if they could control one of the elements then they were not worthy of anyone's time in Shin's eyes. This view had become a major source of tension within the walls of the Han family estate.
Min Han was just nineteen but she radiated an intelligence and mentality of someone who was years older. Min had spent a good portion of her life living within the walls of the Han estate. Her father had brought in the finest nurses and tutors to care and educate his daughter giving her a life similar to that of a princess. Her mother, on the other hand, wanted her daughter to see that she was no better than those around her were. Iseul Han insisted upon teaching Min a lesson that she could only learn through life experience. On the day Min turned thirteen, Iseul took her daughter out into the heart of the village for the very first time in her life. Min began to see that there were others in the world that were not as fortunate as she was.
As Min began helping the less fortunate people of Busan, she saw exactly what the separation of the classes had done to them. The residents of the tenement lived in sub standard conditions in crowded houses with a single shared well pump to serve everyone who lived there. In certain cases, two or even three families huddled together in a single building trying to scrape together enough money to live from day to day. The bit of food and other supplies Min, her mother, and the wives of the merchants and artisans brought to them each day was a very welcome sight. However, Shin did not like the thought of his daughter commingling with the poorest residents of Busan.
"A young woman of her breeding and social standing in life should not be doing menial tasks such as delivering food to tenement people. She should be learning the things in life that will make her a proper bride and wife to a young man of nobility and wealth." Shin would state to his wife.
Iseul, afraid to speak against her husband's beliefs to him, would respond to Shin's dated thoughts by avoiding direct eye contact with him and quietly questioning his statements.
"What if she became unhappy living a life such as that? What kind of a person would she be?" Iseul would question Shin.
Shin, caring more for social standing and keeping his family line one of nobility and wealth, would then give Iseul the same response, "Then she will be taught to be happy living with a man of noble birth and great wealth."
Iseul did not want her daughter to go through the same life she had gone through. Min was being prepared for marriage to someone not of her own choosing. While Iseul was lucky that she found love with Shin Han, Min would not be as lucky. Min's strong will would clash with anyone her father chose for her to marry. If sent down that path Iseul saw heartache and emotional pain for her daughter. However, there was a ray of hope because Min's own heart led her to love when she was seventeen. Min had fallen for a young man who had a generous heart and a willingness to work wherever he was needed within the village.
Li Xun would have been an easy sell to Shin Han if he were an average citizen of Busan born to a shopkeeper and his wife. However, Xun was not an average citizen of Busan. Li Xun was an Earthbender and a student at the Busan Earthbending academy. To Shin Han Xun was not worthy of even stepping foot upon the grounds of the Han estate. Like the rest of the Earthbenders in Busan, Xun was considered lower than the tenement people were in Shin's eyes. To have Min in love, much less associate, with Xun was the worst thing she could do according to Shin.
Xun, however, worked harder than any other person Min knew. The twenty-one year old Earthbender not only attended the Earthbending academy but he also worked whatever odd job he could get his hands on. When he was not working around the village Xun helped deliver food and goods to the people of the tenement and worked at the academy for Master Fa Xu. Fa Xu gave Xun the chance to supplement what little coins he earned working in the village by cleaning at the Earthending academy. To some of the more well off students Xun was simply the broom boy. However, Xun did not care what the other students called him as long as he was able to become a better Earthbender at the hands of Fa Xu.
Min, unlike her mother, did stand for going along with anything her father said. Anytime Xun's name was mentioned by Shin in conversation, Min would openly stand up for her beliefs. Her relationship with the young Earthbender became a wedge in the relationship between father and daughter. As Shin continued to demand that Min learn the ways of a proper reserved bride only there to serve her husband, Min would spend more time away from the Han manor in the heart of Busan.
"You're throwing away your life and everything you ever learned by spending your time with that…that bender working on your mother's little hobby." Shin would yell at her.
"I'm not throwing away my life father. If anything mother, Xun, and I are doing more good within the village than you are. If it wasn't for mother, those people would starve because of your dated thinking." Min would argue back.
Never wanting to accept that his daughter may have been right about the consequences of his rulings Shin would make excuses for Min's actions and thoughts.
"That bender has poisoned your mind against my rulings and my position of authority within the village." Shin returned right back at his daughter.
"Xun has done no such thing. I've seen with my own eyes how your rule has affected the people of Busan and I vow to do something about it until you learn to open your eyes and see it for yourself." Min snapped back at her father.
The argument would then end with Min storming out of the room angry with her father. Shin would then be left wondering if his daughter had retreated to her room or if she had gone out into the village to spend time with the lower social classes. He would sigh and wonder why she refused to accept his position as her father and head of the village along with his wishes she learn to be a proper wife. Shin would never believe he had anything to do with the decline in their relationship as father and daughter and would always blame the people of the tenement and the Earthbender Xun. In the end, Shin would be left believing he was right and his daughter was wrong about everything and needed to be shown just how wrong she was. Nothing was going to change Shin's way of thinking, not even war.
It was a day like any other when their world changed. Min and Iseul were out in the tenement with the other women in the aid society Iseul oversaw delivering food. Shin, as always, was in the Han estate overseeing village affairs. Iseul and Min were having the same conversation they always had. Once again, Min was trying to figure out how she could get her father to see his way of thinking was wrong.
"Mother, why must father always be this way? What does he have against the people of this village?" Min wanted to know.
Iseul sighed and looked at her daughter. Ever since Min began coming with her to the tenement to help deliver food she began wearing her informal riding clothes more. The white tunic with its brown leather cuffs and the dark green pants looked nice on Min but her father did not approve of her wearing them every day. As Iseul continued looking over her daughter, she watched as Min fixed a button on the shoulder of her short dark green sleeveless overcoat with its high collar and golden yellow trim. The overcoat accented her maturing body nicely making Min look older than she was. Iseul had to admit that her child was growing up to become a fine young woman.
"Your father has nothing against the people of Busan, Min. He was raised to think differently about the different social classes in the village than you or I were raised. He cares about the village as a whole and would never do anything that would cause harm to it." Iseul finally replied as she placed a container of stew into a delivery crate.
Min could not see how her father stating over and over that the wealthy and elite of Busan society should only be seen with each other was caring for the entire village. The things her mother and the women she worked with did for people of Busan were true signs of caring for the entire village. Her father had chosen years ago to dismiss the aid society as his wife's silly little hobby never truly recognizing all the good it did for Busan.
"But mother father always demands I stay away from the Aid Society and from Xun. In fact, he doesn't even recognize all the work you and the other women do. How can you say he cares for the entire village if he doesn't want to associate with the majority of the people in it?" Min argued.
"He may not be out in village every day like you and I are but through his proclamations and decisions as village head he does what he can to keep Busan running well. It's his way of showing he cares." Iseul responded proving her dedication to her husband.
Min let out a heavy sigh and returned to her work in silence. It was obvious to her that her mother could not see how wrong her father's way of thinking was for the village. As long as Shin Han held to his dated beliefs, Busan would continue to remain separated by the classes and the tenement people, the farmers, the artisans and merchants, and the wealthy would not commingle. Iseul, however, was slowly changing those beliefs through her charity work.
As the last of the food was placed inside the delivery crate, Min put its fabric straps over her shoulders and walked out into the streets of Busan. The moment Min stepped outside the building the aid society used for their work a familiar face greeted her. Li Xun, delivery crate strapped upon his back, was also making deliveries for the aid society. Unlike Min's position in the society, Iseul paid Xun to deliver food. It was one of the many ways Xun earned money for his lessons at the academy.
"Xun, you're delivering today too?" Min questioned while smiling at Xun.
Xun could tell Min was happy to see him and responded with a smile and a few words of his own, "Just this one crate today. I have lessons at the academy with Taru later."
Taru, like Xun, was an Earthbender studying under Master Fa Xu at the Busan Earthbending academy. Unlike Xun, Taru believed in the importance of mastering each step in their lessons before moving on to the next maneuver. Xun often found himself on the receiving end of Taru's lectures about not skipping ahead in their lessons and rushing through things. Despite all the lectures and long-winded talk about doing things properly Taru and Xun were the closest of friends. People in the village often commented how they could be brothers with the way they always stuck up for one another and helped each other. Both young men would readily admit that they would not want to be friends with anyone else.
"Are you learning anything new today?" Min inquired engaging in small talk.
"Not anything new but Fa Xu wants us to perfect what we learned in our last lesson. I say I know it well enough and am ready to move on to the next one." Xun replied.
Min could tell Xun did not want to practice the last lesson he learned and would receive yet another lecture from Taru. Xun was a bit impatient and wanted to learn everything he could as fast as he could. Despite that, Min could find the good points in him. Xun was caring and a hard worker within the village and those were qualities Min loved the most about him. They were the same qualities that the women of the village liked about Xun. They would always comment about how he was a bit impatient but a good boy. Xun was well liked by the people in the village.
"Keep thinking like that Xun and Taru will end up giving you yet another lecture." Min teased with a bit of a giggle before she ran ahead of him.
"Oh yeah, you can't get away from me Min Han." Xun retorted as he gave chase.
Giggling and laughing Min ran down the streets of the tenement with Xun close behind. She was about to approach her first delivery destination when she saw it. Stopping in her tracks Min saw a large crowd of tenement dwellers standing around a notice board. Two men dressed in the uniform of the Earth Kingdom army stood near the board. One of the soldiers had a pack slung over his shoulder and held a wooden mallet within his hands. Inside the pack were several rolls of parchment. Behind the soldiers were two military issued ostrich-horses. Curiosity getting the better of her, Min walked over to the crowd to find out what the commotion was.
"Conscription? King Bumi of Omashu wants our sons to fight in the war?" Min heard a male resident question the soldiers.
"It isn't a mandatory call to conscription. However, word has reached Omashu that the Fire Nation army has captured the village of Ojeong. There is good pay for anyone who joins the Earth Kingdom army." One of the soldiers explained.
"We won't allow our sons to be hurt or killed in the name of some crazy king on top of a mountain." Another male declared.
For sixty years the people of Busan had done all they could to remain out of the war between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. With the capture of Ojeong, the war had come close to the doorstep of Busan. Now the people of Busan had a choice to make, stay isolated from the rest of the Earth Kingdom or join in the war and become a part of it.
As Min watched the scene unfold before her, she felt the familiar hand of Xun upon her shoulder. Turning her head to look at Xun, she could see he was interested in the opportunities that the military had to offer. Xun used every coin he earned to pay for his Earthbending lessons at the academy. The money offered by the military would pay for his lessons and have coins left over to help his family's shop. Xun smiled at Min as she placed her hand upon his.
"You're thinking of joining the military aren't you?" Min questioned.
"It's an option I'm considering. I haven't made up my mind about this yet. The coins the military pays has to be better than what I make doing all the odd jobs around the village." Xun responded.
Min pulled Xun's hand off her shoulder as she turned to face him. Looking into his eyes Min gave Xun an encouraging smile. Min loved Xun with all her heart and would do all she could to support any decision Xun made if she thought it was right for him.
"Xun whatever you decide you know I'll always support you no matter what." Min reminded him.
Min's show of support brought a smile to Xun's face. It brought joy to Xun's heart to know that Min would always be there for him with her love and support. Min had many qualities that drew Xun to her, but it was her supportive heart that he loved the most.
"We'd better deliver this food before it gets cold." Xun said returning to the original task.
Min smiled keeping Xun's hand within her own and urged him away from the scene before them with a light tug while responding to his reminder, "Come on Xun, we don't want these poor people to go hungry today."
The delivery that day was satisfying. Xun and Min completed their work and headed over to the Earthbending academy where Xun took his lessons. Although Xun said not a word to Min about the conscription call posted on the notice board in the tenement, she could tell the subject was still on his mind. All during their walk from the tenement to the academy Xun appeared distant and deep in thought while Min chatted about the goings on of the village. As they reached the academy, the young couple noticed Master Fa Xu and the other students of the academy standing around the notice board.
"Master Fa Xu what has everyone so interested in the academy's notice board?" Xun wondered.
Fa Xu, the head of the Earthbending academy, with his dark hair held into a small bun and wrinkles near his dark brown eyes turned to face Xun. Stroking his pencil thin long mustache and long goatee the master Earthbender replied to Xun's question, "Earlier this morning two soldiers posted a call to conscription from the king of Omashu. Ever since the students came to the academy for their lessons they began to discuss which of the young men were going to volunteer for the Earth Kingdom army from Omashu."
"Those two soldiers must have come to the academy before heading to the tenement to post the conscription call there." Min observed.
Xun let out a small sigh and looked towards the students gathered around the notice board. The war with the Fire Nation had to have taken a turn for the worse if conscription calls were being posted in every part of the village. The reactions of the students were very different from the reactions of the residents of the tenement. While the tenement people were angry that the war had reached their borders, the students of the academy were ready to put what they had learned to use against the Fire Nation.
"The war must be really bad if the king sent out conscription calls to every part of the village." Xun commented.