The seven of us were packed like sardines into the back of a truck. The driver didn't say a word to us. We were treated like a deadly virus. Of course the driver and the soldiers in the truck 'escorting' us had no idea what we had discovered. I suspect that they were told that if they discussed it they would be tried for treason and espionage. The hours we spent in the back of the truck were spent in complete silence.

But the silence was deafening. The otherwise boring drone of the diesel motor became deafening when it was the only thing to listen to. Eventually it subsided to the other noises that were creeping in. As we drove through the streets of Capital City, we could hear the chanting of protesters

"Two! Four! Six! Eight! We want to desegregate!"

"What do we want?

"the vote!"

"When do we want it?

"Now!"

"This is not about justice - this is about dignity!"

Those were the natives in the streets. Not those from the Water Tribe voting class. I don't think all of them were being coerced by The Party of the Earth Kingdom. Right or wrong, there really was genuine passion. None of them knew what was about to be unleashed upon their country.

By contrast, all of us in this little sardine can looked exhausted and world weary. None more so than Koko. I'd seen eyes like hers before only once, in another airbender I had once called brother...

There were two instances in my career that awarded me Silver Star. The first was my first real deployment, and the second was awarded for my last. The first one I've already started. Maybe I should finish?

"Anti-personnel, tracer, silicate core," Jian Li whispered Korah

"Do you have eyes on target?" Korah asked.

"Five degrees to your left," Jian Li answered

"Negative. "

"look for tree-cancer"

Tree cancer was a reference to a mistake common among inexperienced snipers. They would try to hide behind trees, with their heads and rifle popping up over the roots of the tree. While their bodies remained hidden, their heads would appear to be a knotted, bulbous, cancerous growth on the tree's trunk. Tree cancer.

"Got him… "

"range: eight hundred meters, elevation: seven degrees. Crosswind: four knots. Hold the air."

"holding"

Korah's airbending didn't just make him an excellent parachutist. It also made him an excellent sniper. He could read the air-currents and put a bullet on coin from five hundred meters away in a typhoon. But sometimes an airbending sniper liked to practice more direct techniques. His bending allowed him to not only hold back the wind but create a vacuum between him and his target along the flight path of the bullet. I didn't notice how loud the breeze was until he had stopped it. Suddenly the whole jungle seemed to go quiet

"Take the shot."

"Sir, I think he can see me, he's looking right at me"

"Take the sh—"

BANG!

It was a million-in-one hit. Korah received the White Death's bullet the exact moment he squeezed the trigger. The round that hit him passed straight through his scope, knocking his barrel of target. I watched the tracer arch its way across the sky, off target by about twenty degrees. Jian Li didn't flinch, he kept staring down his binoculars. He raised his wrist.

Most bullets are made of lead with a copper jacket and go far too fast to be seen. This one had a tracer, a little tiny flare that glowed bright allowing it to clearly seen by anyone behind it or to the side of it. It also had a chip of silicate in the tip instead of just lead – silicate being the compound that makes up the majority of a rock's composition, of course. With a flick of his fingers he used his earthbending to curve the bullet back on path into the White Death's head. Pop! No time to confirm the kill, this was good enough for our intents and purposes. We'd need to get out of here in a hurry. In a bout ten minutes, we would be—

Korrah!

"I-I'm OK," he said. "I'm alright."

I looked at him, and then his gun. The scope had been completely destroyed. The White Death's bullet had pierced cleanly through all of its optics. The tip of the bullet protruded from the end of it, millimeters from Korah's eye. He was lucky his eye wasn't filled with shards of glass.

"R-really, I'm OK."

We packed up our stuff and raced down the hill to the road. Jet made sure to plant several mines and booby traps for anybody passing through the area. Korah had since slung his rifle over his back and switched to a knife and handgun. He was sweating a lot, even for the heat.

"Are you OK, Korah?"

"I'm," he said to me. "Really, I am."

We ran through the jungle as fast as we could. We knew for a fact that a manhunt was being organized and they would catch us if we didn't move. We hurried as fast as we could, but Korrah kept falling out, kept having to sprint to catch back up to our position. On our through the jungle we came upon a clearing, in the center was a village full of locals. We'd all seen it before. The kind of thing they don't show in the press. Children running around naked because they couldn't afford clothing. Their ribs showing and bellies distended because foreign aid had been stolen by the local warlords. Flies covered them. They did have cattle to tend to, but they were too valuable to kill for food. Rumor has it that when things go really bad they would go so far as to lick up their livestock's menstruation.

"This is awful," said korah. "This is absolutely awful. This is disgusting." His hands were shaking.

Jian Li grabbed Korah by his collar and pulled him close, "You better harden up right now, Korah! You think this sucks? This is why we're here. Now get motivated, get tactical, and fall in line, or so help I am leaving you here! Do you understand?"

"yessir"

This is what happens to us when our defenses and coping mechanisms fail us. Somewhere on the inside we were still as human as anyone else, but were tasked to do inhuman things. What else, when confronted with the reality of the world we were living in, could we do but break down into a useless crying heap like Korah? That night, Korah saw the world as it really was, not some television show that was seen through his scope. He was no longer removed; he had become part of the world in which he lived. That's why we all had our different ways of dealing with things. That's why I vowed to never let what I see or did get to me. To keep it contained and bottled away, at least until the mission and the fighting was over.

But Korah no longer had his was no longer an outside observer. He was part of this world now. And it dirtied him. Not all fun and games and grabass now is, Korah?

The bullet whizzed passed our heads with a *kapwing!*

"In the tree line! In the tree line!"

"Fall back!"

"Make for the Jungle!"

We all ran for the tree line on the opposite end of the village as our pursuers, bullets licking at our heels. We about-faced and made prone to return the fire as soon as we got into the jungle.

"How are we getting out of this one?"

"We'll peel," Jian Li said, "And then fall back two hundred meters before retreating."

The peel is a tactic used by a small unit to make it look like reinforcements are showing up, even when their numbers are actually falling back. Each one of us, one at a time, fell back about three to ten meters and then moved ten to twenty meters to the left or right before reengaging. This gave appearance that there were many more of us than there actually were. After each one of us had peeled, in the same order we began falling back one at a time about two hundred meters and waited for the rest of our lance. They had no idea if we had retreated or if we were simply holding our fire. It would buy us some time as they mulled over calling our bluff. Jet set some more explosive booby traps on our rally point before we began to fall back. We only made it about a minute before we heard the mine go off. They had either called our bluff or too stupid to realize we made one.

"Hiro!" shouted Jian Li, "You're up!"

Our pursuers we're downwind of us… so was that village.

But I had a job to do. I was a fire bender. I was a soldier. That's what it means to be a soldier; that sometimes some must die so that others may live.

I set the jungle on fire.

Korah's eyes that day, they looked just like Koko's right now.

Single file, they took us into Du Lin's Office. It must have been weird for the honor guards to see us, wearing their parade uniforms, carrying ceremonial swords, valiantly protecting the expensive royal carpets - and here we were walking in still covered in gunpowder and dirt and sweat and blood, most of the later not even ours, and we were still wearing the same fatigues we went into the field with. All of our butts were green with chlorophyll except Chang who still had his naked ass fully exposed in the inner sanctums of the most important building in the entire nation. The fact that Du Lin didn't care was most telling of all.

We stood there in the office for nearly five minutes, unsure if we were allowed to talk, or take a seat given our present condition. And then Du Lin came into the room. Her brow was sweaty. Her hands and hair looked wet; I can guess that she had taken a moment in the washroom to collect herself.

Most plain were her eyes. None of that burning passion. None of that condescension. There were a lot of things her eyes said, but most of all it was fear. Not so petty now, is it, Du Lin? She looked at the honor guards standing silently in the corners of her office. "Go," she said, and they left us alone.

"You're the only ones who know," She asked. "Is that correct?"

"yes, ma'am." Hei Bai said.

"Then you need to tell me everything that happened."

Hei Bai paused for a moment to make up his words

He Spoke. "We inserted successfully five days ago. Our pilot was shot down during his dummy drop and gave his life for the success of the mission. We traversed the slope, and dug in that night on a hillside overlooking the objective. I personally reconnoitered the hostile hilltop and confirmed that they were the actual handlers that recruited the insurgents. three days later, at o' five hundred, we assaulted the hilltop using the morning fog as concealment. At o' five twenty two, we engaged fifty seven the hostiles and, with difficulty, all targets were reduced. All engagements were ceased by o' five thirty."

"OK." Said Du-Lin. "When did you suspect they were Air Nomads?"

"I was expecting them to begin torching their camp. There was also the fact that the fog was blown off of the hill at a very opportune moment. I didn't immediately put it together though. Koko was the first to act on her suspicion."

"Corporal," Du Lin said. "How did you first suspect the identity of the insurgents' handlers?"

"ma'am… I was suspicious because having been a soldier in the Air Kingdom I knew how soldiers in the air kingdom fight. That, and the evidence that Hei Bai found."

Du-Lin asked, "Is she alright?"

"I don't understand?"

"Are you alright."

Hei Bai interrupted, "Madam Chancellor, with all due respect, Koko is my soldier and it is up to my judgment whether or not she is fit for duty."

"As you wish, Captain. And now we have some very, very tough decisions ahead of us," Du-Lin said

Hei Bai said, "I can offer you the same assessment as any of your political advisors"

"I know you can"

Hei Bai continued, "Then this is what they'll say. We have proof now of the agent provocateurs. If this was the Earth Kingdom like we had thought most of this time, we'd have to bring it before Republic City. If this was the Fire Nation, as originally thought, blackmail is all that it would take to get them to back down; they don't want to be bad-guys again. But the Air Kingdom has just the opposite set of priorities. They'll find a way to spin this into their favor."

"So," Asked Du-Lin, "We bury it then?"

"We hit that hilltop hard. They'll know we know, and now that their cover's blown they'll step up their attacks."

"So then we bring it to the Republic City council, let the world know. Maybe they'll back down."

"Or maybe not."

Du Lin sighed, "Damned if I do, damned if I don't"

"Of course this doesn't mean that someone else was responsible," Thein Kyu said.

"Did you ever suspect that the Air Nomads were behind this?"

"No. They left no tells. But when did you stop suspecting the Fire Nation?"

"You Know those 'jet' fighter-bombers we've started using?" said Hei Bai. "those weren't left over from the Nationalization. We've been purchasing Fire Nation weapons for the last several months now. Serial number scrubbed off of course, all in secret. They probably knew the Air Sovereignty was behind this from the beginning and have been supplying their rebel colony just to spite the Nomads."

And it was at this moment enlightenment had been attained. The first eye peeled open. Hei Bai had said it before but until now I didn't understand. Warfare is not based on deception. Warfare is based on perception. For every war that you see there is a different war, the real war, that is happening behind the scenes. For every war about spreading Fire Nation ideals, the real war is about maintaining resources for a topheavy economy. For every war about uniting the Earth Kingdom, it's really about political power brokering. Republic City comes to stop an ethnic conflict, it's really about a pipeline and access to the seaboard. Two countries fight over some disputed islands with a population of fifty people and invoke 'sovereignty' and 'people's right to self determination.' It's really about one country trying to distract from problems at home with war abroad, and the other is just trying to save face in the international community.

I had wondered why so many peacekeeping operations ended in complete failure. torching that village for the greater good? well, the war ended in disaster. It should have been obvious. It was precisely because of that lack of selfish motivation that the politicians had no reason to win. You fight a 'war on terror' and if you win your country gets access to a whole tin mine. You would do everything to win that war. But take casualties and spend billions of Yuan to get nothing out of it other than the moral high ground? Of course you'd leave the job unfinished. And if your goal is only to play the hero so you get better treatment at the Republic City negotiating table, then you don't even have to try to win the war - you only have to show up.

And now here is Jia. Caught between the Fire Nation and the Air Sovereignty. The Fire Nation sticking their neck out to supply a rogue nation arms? I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being used as pawns in some else's political squabble. I realized then, too, that's why we were probably going to lose this war. Because despite our disagreements Du Lin was not a corrupt politician with an ulterior motive. She was a genuine and true believer in her cause with nothing to lose.

I began to feel nauseous and the room began to spin.

"...are you OK, Hiro," someone asked?

Koko exploded, "So that's it then? We're just 'at war' with the Air Kingdom? Just like that, and what do you suppose is going to happen to your little country? How in Yue's name are we expected to do anything about this?"

"This doesn't change your mission one single iota. You perform counter insurgency. You will continue to perform counterinsurgency. We are not at war with the Air Sovereignty."

I don't know why, but of all the things that Du Lin said, this is the one that made me lose my temper, "with all due respect, ma'am, you can call this war whatever you want. You can call it counterinsurgency. You can call it a limited conflict. And you can even call it a police action, but make no mistake: this is war, whether you like it or not. Those that have bought the farm fighting your war are just as dead regardless of whatever spinsters decide to call it."

"That's enough. You're all dismissed."

Hei Bai spoke to me as we drove back to our FOB

"I understand what you said today, but I want you to know that we are not at war. Not yet. There are other mercs recruited by Jia – almost like you – and do you know where they end up? Personal bodyguards, protecting farms. But Du Lin asked me to make a dream team. Pick anyone I want. I chose you. I'll tell you why: our goal was to put down a war before it started. We can still prevent this war from spreading, keep the situation from deteriorating. Believe me, Hiro, Some noble work can still be done. Help me do the right thing."

When we returned to the camp it was in a state of celebration. Tacky party lights, candles, the fresh BBQ'd meat. The natives were engaged in some sort of happy ritual dancing and the officers looked the other way when canteens of the sorghum wine made their way out of the natives' vest pockets. Because while we were attacking the handlers themselves, the air force and the army regulars hit a terrorist staging ground across the Jian border. Only a company of men (with the aid of bombers) had managed to kill an entire brigade - thousands - of terrorists.

But they were equally excited to see us, because they had gotten word that we had really taken the fight to 'em and killed the handlers. None of them knew the truth though. We couldn't tell them. But I'm sure they would know soon enough.

I laid my weary head down to sleep and when i stopped tossing and turning I had another dream. Another mefloquine dream, like a fever dream. The ones that are solid and vivid and don't evaporate away when you wake up, like the morning fog shone upon by the rising Sun. I dreamed of my mother, and I was a child again. No. Not a dream. It was a memory.

We were in our apartment. I don't remember how I got there, but I remember I was eight years old and it was a blue skied summer morning. Cicadas were busy buzzing outside and I watched a mote of dust suspended in a beam of sunlight coming through the kitchen window. I watched it too long and didn't pay attention to where I was going. I remember tripping into the counter and knocking a piece of pottery onto the floor, and it cracked and shattered into half a dozen pieces.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Mother looked at me quizzically.

"It's OK, Hiro. There's no reason to be ashamed."

She scooped up the pieces from the floor and put them in the corner of the countertop.

"It's better this way," she said. She grabbed another piece of pottery from the window sill. "Come and see!"

It was a beautiful piece of porcelain, but the most beautiful part of it was irregular lines of gold running through it. No two lines were the same, and it ran like a spider's web, or a series of tributaries in the delta of a river. It possessed a beautiful asymmetry; it was beautiful because it was imperfect.

"Broken pottery is put back together with gold, and is more beautiful than when it was broken. You can't build it pottery like this, because it would look fake; you'd know right away. The pottery can only be made and then broken, before it's put back together. It's an art called Kintsugi."

She showed me another bowl. It was put back together like the first one, but with iron staples. And even though all the pieces fit together perfectly, the result was ugly. No beauty. Only function.

"Do you understand, Hiro? If something is broken, and it is put together again with care, it is more beautiful when it is made whole because it was broken, not in spite of it. Even an ugly bowl, when put back together, is prettier than a well-made and untarnished one. Many people experience hardships, Hiro. But if they learn from them and overcome them, and are made whole instead of being made bitter or simply remain destroyed, they are better than they were before. You might experience hardships, too, Hiro; things in life that are difficult and scary. And when you do, I want you to remember this."

"Like when father leaves us?" I asked.

She swallowed, "…yes, like when father leaves us."

It's kind of funny now that I think about it. What a dumb question for me to ask. Those times weren't anywhere near as bad as the times that he came home.