"...nothing I can do about it. It happened, and it's gone."

I had made my way through the morning haze across the FOB to Hei Bai's tent and stopped outside. As I was about to enter I had caught his voice and began eavesdropping as curiosity got the better of me.

Peng's voice answered, "It's not only his life on the line, It's your life, and my life. what kind of damn rookie would have forgotten to put a sling on his rifle."

I cursed myself. It's true, the most important item behind a soldiers rifle and ammo, is his sling. For the normal soldier it is important because he may throw his rifle to his back and not tire his arms on the march or lose it in the field. But for a bender, a one-point sling is our best friend. We may drop our rifle to perform bending, and grab it back again immediately.

That day on the kopje I had taken it off my rifle to fix a broken clasp!

"Well for one, he's no rookie," said Hei Bai. "But if you don't trust him, that's fine. I simply need you to trust me. Worry about yourself. You're dismissed, corporal."

"yes, sir!"

I ducked out of Peng's sight as he exited the tent. I was going to ask Hei Bai about how the war was going for us, but now I wasn't sure if someone as shamed as I was could do so. If you turned on the news you'd think the whole world was ending - that this was an international crisis that threatened world stability, that things were falling apart.

In Jia, it was a different story. Most people went about their day. Political rallies went on in the capital to protest the treatment of the tribals under Water Tribe leadership. There was also the ever provocative rhetoric of The Party. While their speech and activities were legal, it was a no question that they supported the troublemakers. Maybe they even represented them. Even the Air Nomads of all people's were protesting the rule of Water Tribe over the peninsula.

In the bush it was different still. It was a war, but a slow war. A war without front lines or decisive victories. A war by ambush, not by combat. A war by fear, not by resource. A war by subterfuge, and not by action. The enemy was everywhere. The enemy was nowhere. I'm not exactly sure what winning a war like this would look like.

It didn't matter. A couple more months of this, and I can finally retire

In the following weeks combat became a predictable routine. We'd go out, we'd stop an attack without difficulty, and we'd pack it up for the next day. Being part of the quick response force felt a lot better than having to do overwatch. All the tension disappeared as the calls came. At times, it felt less like a war and more like we were police chasing hooligans who had robbed a liquor store. That was assuming we got there in time, before the insurgents had slaughtered Water Tribe farms or executed alleged tribal traitors, or had raped the women if they were left alive. None of us had much of a stomach for showing up to the aftermath of such attacks.

But the Jians had gotten more skilled at fighting these insurgents with every fight. instead of wasting time with autogyros, the sweep line was now dropped in a single pass of a four prop troop transport. They came in so low that the first paratrooper touched the ground by the time the last one was about to jump; far to low to open a second chute if anything went wrong. In the EKA, paratroopers were lucky to combat-jump once in a career. the average for a Jian was four times in a month. One unit completed seventeen drops in that time frame alone. Still, our true enemies eluded us.

After a month of combat Hei Bai pulled us into his tent one early morning and said, "I have a special assignment in the capital that I have to take care of, so for the next several days you'll be on liberty."

Koko began to smile.

"And I did say on *liberty,* not on leave."

Koko's smile vanished.

Hei Bai waved good-bye and walked out of the tent.

"well that sucks. What can we get away with now that Hei Bai's gone?" Koko asked the group

"You know I'm standing right here!" said Buno

"Oh come on, it's just a question."

Those air benders really had no regard for other people's rules. Whatever. I walked outside.

As I left the tent I ran into a pair of men that were walking past. On seeing his rank as an officer I immediately snapped a salute.

"At ease, soldier," he said. "Wait.. you're one of Hei Bai's mercenaries aren't you? I've heard about you. Hiro?"

I recognized him from previous operations in the province as well. Major Pata Dag-Patta. Pata, like, Buno, was one of the old breed. And like many of the old breed, he was stubbornly proud. You could see it on every inch of his swarthy and angular face. He had grown up in the cold, and as a man had managed to survive the heat of the Jian sun. You can call it nepotism, but he made it to major rather quickly with his connections to the Water Tribe elders. And if you were a Water Tribe's man and didn't follow him because of his upbringing or his rank or his heritage, he was also a water bender.

"yes, sir."

"you can cut the 'sir' nonsense. you're not one of ours after all, mercenary. How long have you been in Hei Bai's lance?"

"About a few months at this rate."

"What did he say that got you trust this madness? Oh don't tell me; he did that sad little rat-trap thing on you, too, didn't he? Jeez, I'd expect that from some sort of corporate team building exercise. I mean, for Yui's sake why are you following him? He's a Swamp bender. He's spent his whole life in the Earth Kingdom; never even been to the poles and he calls himself a member of the Water tribe? If I had my way –"

"Walk away," Buno said as he emerged from the tent, Staring Pata down like a canyon crawler. Biting his lip, Pata turned around and left. Even as a superior officer, he did not have the cultural social status to challenge Buno.

Again, I felt a little foolish. Buno and Pata had stormed off in opposite directions. I was making my trek back to my tent as well, when I heard a voice go "pssst!"

I looked back and say Koko peaking her head around the corner of a tent, and she motioned me to come to her. I followed after her and saw Chang in the doorway of a tent, looking around timidly. Koko walked past him into the tent and he pulled me inside, shutting the flaps behind us. Peng was there, too, pouting in the corner.

"Hey, what is this all about?" I was bewildered.

Chang reached into the front of his chest right and produced a large flask.

He said, "we wanted you to drink with us."

"really? What if we get pulled into a mission?"

Chang began passing out wooden shot glasses, "If we get called the moment we finish, we'll be sober by the time our boots touch ground. Just put on you're liar's-face and have a drink."

He poured a clear strong smelling liquor into my cup.

"It's Baijiu," he said. "Drinking it is an important part of our culture, both socially and for communing with our spirits. It's made from the sacred fields of wild sorghum that grow between the villages. Drink it, it's not Xionghuangjiu after all."

I laughed, "I may breath fire but don't worry I'm not dragon."

I took a sip and coughed, it burned so strong. Peng smirked.

"Lets all take a shot together," Peng said. "To surviving another day."

I clanked my cup against the others and took my shot, clenching my fist at the burn to hide it from my face.

"So you guys still believe in spirits, huh?" Peng asked after our heads stopped spinning

"How can we not, they're real?"

"we know they're real," said Peng, "But we don't believe in them, they have no affect on reality anymore"

"That's because you don't believe in them," Chang scolded, wagging his finger. "There are some things like the spirits that an outsider will not understand like arranged marriage or not having a pension. But I've been happily married for ten years to my only lover, and I have no worries about retiring. I was born in my house and I will gladly die in it one day."

"arranged marriage? No, thank you," Said Koko. "would you mind doing the honors, Hiro?" She had passed a cigarette to each of us and I lit them with a touch of my fingers

"You know, arranged marriage sounds like what you air benders do on the communal farms, only by a different name," I said.

"So, sad-boy!" Koko said looking at me, "you ever had a girlfriend?"

"um, yeah." I scoffed, "too many, actually"

Peng smiled and shook his head. Koko asked, "what, you never go steady?"

For some reason I could never bring myself to. The thought of multiple wives or arranged marriages felt alien to me, but so did the thought of any of those relationships being loving. In the Earth Kingdom, women were equals in the work place, and objects in the bedroom. You got married and had kids so that someone could take care of you when you retired. But I could never bring myself to that point, and ended my relationships with women as abruptly as they had started. And just like that, I took another shot and walked out on them, too.

After two uneventful days Hei Bai had returned and things returned to normal. We'd go out on quick response most days, other time's as 'polarbear-dogs' for patrolling in so-called cold zones where regular Jian forces were told to stay clear for risk of friendly fire either by or against our squads. This went on for another two weeks, until the day that Chang came running to Hei Bai with tears in his eyes.

"My boy, Hei Bai," cried Chang, "They've beaten my boy!"

"Who! Who's done this," Hei Bai shouted.

"It was a whole mob of those trouble makers. They did it to him for not helping them," He said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"is he OK? is your wife and daughter safe?"

"They're safe. He's alive. But they've beat him with switches and humiliated him and I don't know what do!"

Buno was shaking, "We will get these people. I swear on my life we'll get them. I need to get in touch with my police immediately."

Chang sat down on the ground and began to weep. Peng approached him to lay his hand atop his head and stroke his hair.

These were not even terrorists we were fighting against anymore but Jia's own citizens. A compromised member of the community and one of these outsiders comes in, and they inflame passions of hostility against the Water Tribe until they've incited a mob who were to go from village to village and beat or bloody anyone not loyal to the Party. Anyone who refused - or wasn't seen actively participating in the beatings - was a 'collaborator.' The outsiders instructed he mob to beat or even kill these collaborators as well. No one's hands were to remain clean.

"He still refused and took his beating. And even then he managed to outrun them to my village and warn them," Chang cried. "I'm so proud of my boy... I'm so proud of my boy..."

I had seen it before, and it was always terrifying. How fast normal people could succumb to Vaatu and be taken up in violent darkness like a state of intoxication. Hei Bai said to Chang "We'll have a double patrol around your village at all times now. This should never have happened. I'm sorry."

For getting away, Chang's son and family could be a target though his son was already very lucky to be alive. In the headlines of the newspapers, a mob burned a man alive for failing to take part in an anti-Water Tribe labor strike.

Buno did everything in his power to identify who had been in the mob and arrest them without pity. It was tough work. Many of the now sobered youths feared the reprisals more than they wanted to tell the truth. Buno could arrest only so many. It did little good without evidence, something the mob orchestrators knew and planned on. Still, more had been sentenced in that case than any of the previous mobs.

Hei Bai had a different approach. He wanted payback. Today, Jian One had a special mission. We'd leave a hole in a sweep line for the terrorists to escape. Then, we would then hunt them down on foot all across the countryside till they either got to their regroup point or we had overtaken them. We waited with our stuff packed, sleeping in our combat gear, for three whole days before we got the call.

As soon as it came, we rushed to the tarmac. We stood outside the hangar, waiting for the plane to get pulled out onto the runway. That's when I noticed there was something in the bushes next to the hangar. I crouched down to see… it was a small black cat. It mewed at me, reached into my ruck and grabbed a piece chow, and presented it to the cat. It was cautious for a second, and then began eating right out of my hand.

"What are you doing, Hiro?" Buno said. "Black cats are bad luck."

"Yeah, but it's good karma."

And in my opinion it was good luck, too. Back when I was seventeen I lived in an apartment block in Ba Sing Sei. Random compulsory service began at age sixteen, but the Earth Kingdom government offered a program to stimulate the economy. Citizens who had a steady job could hold off on service till they were twenty (assuming they passed the quarterly values exam). While I lived in the apartment, there was this random stray cat that lived in the area.

He was a curious stray, like he grew up not knowing how to be a cat. And growing up, whatever that is supposed to mean for him, was difficult. He was missing his left eye – it had been completely covered over in fur. Veterinarians said that it must have been infected so badly that it had burst open from the pressure. One of his ears was permanently fused backwards giving him an odd, almost quizzical, expression. Vets said that one was from a bad case of frostbite. He was emaciated, and you could see his ribs on the parts of his stomach where fur had fallen off in clumps. And on top of that there were scars from previous fights, probably over food. The end of his tail was missing too. He had given up fighting for food and had instead started eating out of dumpsters. A lot of the tenets and neighbors didn't take kindly to this, and they would spray him with their backyard hose-pipes. Of course he didn't know how to be a cat and run away hissing from water. Instead he lowered his head and took it until that person had gotten bored and gave up rinsing him.

I was walking home from work in the factory after my 'quarterly' on the day Rando found his way into my life. Many in the Fire Nation know of and begrudge that every corporation doing business in the Earth Kingdom has a Party member on the board of trustees with ultimate veto power over even the executive. But what most of them don't know is even the Earth Kingdom employees are subjected to the Party human relations representative. So every quarter, all the employees would shuffle into HR for their assessment. It was identical to what people in the Fire Nation or Air Sovereignty would do for a job interview, but with a couple questions about Party values tacked on at the end. It was easy, as we all knew what answers she was looking for. Even then, the worst that could happen if you 'failed' was you might find that random compulsory service had chosen you that year. Aside from the 'where do you see yourself in five years,' the values portion at the end went a little something like this:

Do you believe all people of all nations in the Earth Kingdom's People's Democratic Republic are equals?

"yes."

Do you believe that men and women are equal?

"yes."

Do you feel you are able to start a family at this time? (for female employees, are you pregnant or breed-ready?)

"no"

Do you honor thy father?

"...yes."

Who is the father of the People?

"the Party."

And who is the mother?

"Kuvira."

Do you think that the revolution was a rather bad time for our country's history?

"This is the birth-pains of our society."

But wasn't Kuvira a reprehensible person at times? Don't you think she did some pretty terrible things? (another trick question)

"At least fifty one percent of what Kuvira did was good."

Do you worship any spirits?

"no"

Do you believe in a God?

"no"

This went on for a few minutes more. After it was over I inhaled and exhaled deeply before stepping outside, surgical mask covering my mouth and nose to keep out the smog. (ten more years they kept saying. Just ten more years and we'll have truly unlocked the power of the atom and then we'll all have energy so clean and cheap and abundant that we won't even have to meter houses anymore. Just give it ten more years.)

I stopped for a second to check my watch and felt something rubbing against my leg. It was that random cat. He looked up at, not making a sound, and locked eyes with mine. I pouted. He won this one, but nothing more. I reached into lunch pail and gave him a piece of a dried meat. I then walked up the stoop do the front door of the complex. I looked behind me to see him sitting there, at the base of the steps, patiently waiting. He meowed. Aw, fine. You win again. I took him in that day and gave him a name. Rando! Rando, the random cat!

I took him to the vet the next day; had him vaccinated and treated for a bad case of worms. Even got him a collar. From then on, I made sure that Rando was healthy and well taken care of. Soon, he regained his strength and nearly doubled his weight. I wanted to make sure that the rest of his life somehow made up for everything that had happened before. Still, he never forgot the days he lived on the street. He never turned down a meal. One time he even dragged off and entire cooked chicken-possum before I had managed to take a bite.

In a way, he changed my life, too, even if it wasn't as much as I hoped I had changed his. I was planning on joining the military back then, just to get it out of the way. Rando gave me an excuse to stay a civilian, even if only for a couple more years. And he was always there for me, between each failed relationship and breakup. I imagined the two of us going on adventures, like all the heroes from stories. Aang had his Momo. Korra had her Pabu. I imagined the two of us, traveling the world, befriending the Avatar. Going on an epic quest, with Rando as our mascot. We would restore balance to the world and correct injustices. The forces of good would defeat evil!Alluring as it was, it was just an adolescent fantasy. I realize now, that nothing's turned out the way I planned.

Things did not go according to plan in Jia, either. After the jump, we tracked the insurgents across the countryside for three days, stopping to rest only after they had done the same. We even let them get the head start to make sure they didn't feel too threatened. Early morning of day four we ran into our first snag. The sound of a rifle bullet crackled in our ears, going high and wide off target. We all wheeled around.

"Hold your fire! Hold fire!" shouted Hei Bai. "put your guns on the ground and hold up your hands."

A second later I saw why. A small boy ran up to us, holding a gun. He was wearing short-shorts, a tee-top, and a comically over-sized ammo vest. The rifle looked like a joke in his hands, too. I'm surprised it didn't knock him over when he fired at us. A boy, just like Chang's.

"Dad! Dad!"

"I'm coming, son! Keep the gun on him!"

The father told his son to go back in the house. Hei Bai had the unfortunate responsibility of convincing him that our motley crew were members of the military and not the same insurgent group that we were after. Radio calls were made. K-cars were about to be scrambled in response to 'terrorist activity.' But they were thankfully aborted at the last minute. Dagger Seven, who were overlooking the farmer's village and saw everything happen, had to break their hiding on the hilltop to come down to talk with him. Things weren't settled until Du Lin had been called on the radio and berated every single party involved. Just another day on the job.

As a soldier, you're used to getting shot at or threatened with violence. When it involves children, it's something that's much harder to shake off. Usually they're slaves, child soldiers. This was different. These were the good guys. This was a father and son desperate to hold on to their farm. It wasn't about a patch of dirt growing lettuce, it was about rights. It was about dignity. Something the Water Tribe hasn't received in a good fifty years.

All in all, getting stopped by those farmers had helped us, more than anything. It lead the people we were chasing to believe that we were no longer on their tail. They couldn't have been more wrong. Buno didn't need weapons to hunt. Buno would simply follow his prey for kilometer upon kilometer – never sprinting, never walking, no matter how far ahead the quarry went– until it had collapsed and died from exhaustion. This time we were hunting humans.

Thirty klicks we followed him before Buno told us to stop. There was a clearing where the vegetation gave way from waist high plants to shrubs and ground cover. There were several trees about four hundred meters from our location. That was where our prey had stopped. Hei Bai passed the binoculars to me.

"You see what I see, Hiro?"

"five insurgents we were tracking, twenty more at the rally point," I said.

"Look closer, tell me what else you see about the insurgents?"

Some of the men, about seven or so stood out from the rest. Better posture. In better shape. All around more composed. "Looks like we've got some of the insurgents' handlers. What should we do, sir?"

"For now, nothing. We observe. Any chance they know we're on their tail?"

"Not likely," said Buno. "we're downwind and I can smell them from here."

"Any chance we can get a better angle on them?" asked Koko.

"Wouldn't risk it. We can see them fine, but you haven't seen the terrain. The field in front of us – that's all poison ivy. And those guys are knee deep in it. They're either crazier than you, or they're just stupid."

Poison Ivy was no joke. Not only was it miserable, but it is a serious threat to combat effectiveness. The amount of wash-down and cleanliness procedures that they would have had to follow could be nothing less than religious in devotion. If they wanted to keep prying eyes away from their rally points and weapons caches, there couldn't be a more ideal place.

"Sir," Peng said while looking down the scope of his rifle, "you should see this; it looks like they're doing something."

Hei Bai pulled out another pair of binoculars, and I held onto the pair in my hands.

The suspected handlers began what looked like shouting at the insurgents we had been following. There was a sudden movement among them. We saw the flash first, and the reports came a few seconds later.

"Have we been compromised?" said Chang, "Have we been compromised!'

"They just killed all the troublemakers we've been trackin'," said Peng, "They're all dead."

Hei Bai didn't say a single thing. He kept focusing on them through his binoculars.

Buno, "They know we were following them. Insurgents must have told them so. They don't know we're still tracking them. No way"

Koko said, "Hey do you do smell that?"

"Smells… like smoke"

I could see it now; a fire had been started where the insurgents were.

Hei Bai barked, "Everyone. smokemasks. Now."

"What do you mean? I don't have a respirator," Peng protested.

"Masks for everyone are in my ruck. Get them on and call in casevac, or we're dead right now. Do you understand!"

"What's going on?" Asked Koko, "I don't underst-"

If any of us hadn't figured it out before, we all suddenly did in that instant.

The field before us was poison Ivy.

We were all down wind.

That was the last time any of us made fun of Hei Bai for the amount of spare equipment he carried with him in his rucksack. As soon as I had put my gas mask on, the wind picked up. I was almost immediately enveloped in thick grey smoke. I stumbled around blindly for what felt like hours before Koko found me. She collected myself and the others in poison-free bubble of breathable air. if it wasn't for Hei Bai's and Koko's quick thinking, we'd all be dead.

Five days. Five days I've spent strapped to a hospital bed in Capital city. Maybe I did jinx the operation after all. Some of us, of course, were luckier than others. Koko was able to keep almost all the smoke off of her body from the start. Buno was naturally immune to ivy.

"How are my soldiers favorite soldiers doing today?" there was a hearty laugh that followed that question. I think he was laughing at our misfortune.

"I'm itching, Buno," I said, "I'm itching really bad."

"That's good! Ha! Ha!" he said. "It means you aren't dead, my friend."

"B-Buno?" It was Hei Bai. He was strapped down to the hospital bed next to mine.

"Yes, Boss?"

"Buno! You lucky polar bear-dog, you!"

The two of them started giggling like school-girls.

"Can you do me a favor, Buno?"

"Of course, boss."

"Can you… scratch my belly?"

"aye, boss."

I heard the sound of someone smacking away Buno's hand. That had to be 'doc.'

"For Yue's sake, Buno," the old doctor said. "I've spent the last five days giving spongebaths to grown men. I aint gonna give them a single spongebath more than I have to! My patients are strapped down for a reason, Buno."

Koko's voice now, "Must be horrible to be in that bed right now. All that itching, and itching, itching all over." She was grinning, too.

"Shut! Up!" Peng shouted, "please, shut up."

"You two, got really lucky, you know that?" said Hei-Bai

"You all got lucky," said Buno, "We should be dead."

"Takes more than that to kill a Jian; Jians never die"

Peng said, "Our luck could be worse – we could've been up against the Oni of Si Wong." Everyone laughed.

"Yeah," laughed Chang from two beds over. "Maybe even the Avatar himself's one of the troublemakers"

Good joke. Everyone laughed. If either the Avatar or the Oni of Si Wong were hiding out in the bushes, the Jians must have really made some enemies.

"Well," Koko said. "Buno and I have still got to fill out our after action assessments. The commissars won't stop breathing down our necks about it. Get well soon, boys"

Without warning she jumped onto Buno's back and shouted, ''Yip! Yip!" He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. But he submitted to Koko's piggyback ride.

There was one good thing to come of this: I finally got my chance to speak to Hei Bai one on one.

"When I talked to Du-Lin she told me something very interesting about you, Hei-Bai."

"Oh, really?" He said, turning his head so that he could see me from his hospital bed. "What?"

"She said you hand-picked me. Said she didn't even want to pick me, but you persuaded her to. You're a captain. I dug up what I could about you on my off time, records say you served in the EKA, but don't provide rank."

He rolled his eyes, "did Dag-Patta put you up this?"

"No." Yes.

I swallowed and continued.

"I'm guessing by how old you look that there's no way you could have even made it past Major. so how did you cozy up to the High Chancellor so well, huh?"

"It's my pearly smile," he said winking.

"Then why did you recommend me."

"Because I know you. We've met before, Hiro. Not in person, mind you, but I have met you. I know all about what you've done, before you left the service and after it, and before it. I know the things they put in black ink, too; You've got quite little resume, and quite a skill set, Hiro."

No! no! no! no! no! no! no!, "Special operator records are secret! How in the name of Raava did get your hands on that?"

"Oh, Nuh-no. Can't tell you how, Hiro; only why. I'm not asking you to like me. I'm going to keep you in the dark. That you can count on. But I'm still going to ask you to trust me, Hiro. If I tell you to jump, will you take a leap of faith? The situation is a lot more… complicated than it would seem. And I need you on my side, to help me do the right thing. If you have any misgivings, I really do believe we can win the war, but I'll need your help. Do the right thing, Hiro."