Avatar: The Last Airbender Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Avatar: The Last Airbender Owned By: Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom
All original content and characters © Acastus
Chapter XLI – The Razor's Edge
The Army of the Great Divide poured through the east gate of Mequon without fanfare. Outside they gained the straight, flat surface of the Silk Road that stretched endlessly north and east to the horizon.
The sound of marching feet filled the air, but there was no conversation, laughing or singing amongst the soldiers of the Fire Nation. A short period of rest and fresh food had restored their bodies, but their spirits flagged. They had survived the Dune Sea as their new general had promised, but the cost had been high. Now they marched to face the greatest Earth Kingdom general since Ch'in the Conqueror, the man who had dispatched the most technologically superior army in the world with startling ease.
Corona and Constellation were parked near the gate, but the armor and the other dreadnoughts had left hours ago. Imitating the custom observed on the leviathans, names suddenly sprang up in thick scrawls of red paint, like spatters of blood, on the turret of every machine. "Xian's Revenge" led the procession, followed by "Little Dragon", "Rock Crusher" and "Firefly." Nikon, reunited with his erstwhile tank driver, Sergeant Jin, drove the machine christened "Nikon's Fury." All of them bore the number "five" in gold on their bodies to mark them as part of the daimyo's vaunted Fifth Brigade.
First of all to depart had been the majority of the garrison of Mequon the day before. Requiring the greatest speed, for they had to swing south of the Earth Kingdom vanguard in order to be in position at the right time, they had been afforded all the mongoose dragons available. Now all that remained were barely enough to man the gates of the city.
Chieng and Iroh stood in silence as they watched the army move. The engineer had spent the last day getting the other tank trains underway and stripping the city of every piece of artillery that could be transported.
"Will Gan be prepared?" the young general asked after an eternity.
"Yes."
"How many total artillery pieces recovered?"
"Nineteen."
"Will you be able to catch up to them once you've got the artillery in tow?"
"Yes."
Chieng was often laconic, but Iroh could tell something was wrong.
"Are you afraid?"
The question caught the engineer by surprise.
"What? No, I mean, yes, but…"
"Then what's the matter?" he pressed.
The sharpness of Iroh's question brought her clarity.
"Why did you put Tien Shin in charge of Second Corps?" she suddenly demanded in anger, "That's half the army! Are you blind?"
Iroh sighed. Gan and Nikon had asked the same thing before they had left. He offered her the same answer he had given them. He knew she would have the same reaction.
"More than half actually, but, no, I'm not. I put him in command because he can lead men effectively in combat. We will need him to win. You and Gan must command the tank trains, Nikon commands the armor, and Tien Shin and I command the infantry. Everyone must play their part."
"You are helping him to kill you," she accused with barely restrained emotion through gritted teeth, her golden eyes hard and intense.
"A risk I will have to take, Chieng, and not much of one unless we win."
The engineer folded her arms in what Iroh now recognized as her trademark gesture of self-protection.
"The moment we eliminate the threat of the enemy he will become one."
The young general sighed again, but made no reply. He knew she was right, but there was little he could do. Decisions had to be made with little or no information, loaded with risk and danger at every turn. He recognized that Chieng said these things out of concern for him, but he doubted she realized their effect. He felt so alone. Is this how Xian had felt? He felt certain this was the case.
The curt engineer spared him any further discomfort by changing the subject. She knew Iroh would not change his mind, and it was probably too late to do so anyway.
"My mother was right at least about the need for the army to rest. It was a wise decision to delay. We would have no hope of defeating the enemy hungry and exhausted."
"Ah, your mother," Iroh began, grateful for the segue to a question he'd wanted to ask since he recovered in the desert, "You know I didn't even know Lady Shiung was with us until I woke up in… uh... Or I mean, I saw her at the General Staff meetings, but I had no idea who she was. I was terribly embarrassed when I found out. Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't ask," she replied in obvious confusion, "Not that you'd have had any reason to, and…I didn't think it was important, or at least, important for you to know. General Xian knew, of course, he requested her as he requested me."
Iroh frowned slightly, unhappy with this response, but unable to place his finger on exactly why.
"She took excellent care of me," he continued after a moment, "and I know many others as well. I'm glad she's here."
"She's the best physician we have," Chieng agreed, but offered no other comment.
Once again he found himself wanting to continue the conversation, but uncertain how. He certainly wasn't going to bring up using her bed.
They slipped back into silence, more comfortable than the one before. He knew they would have to say goodbye again, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He scanned her surreptitiously from the side, but she simply stared with an inscrutable expression at the column of soldiers marching before them. For a moment he wondered if perhaps she too was procrastinating, for at this point there was nothing to delay her departure. This thought pleased him, a feeling which he did not care to examine too closely.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Rhiannon approaching.
"Come to see us off, Governor?" he asked with a smile.
She smiled in return, but her fair skin was taut with strain.
"Yes, General, and to offer my prayers for the Spirit of the Sun to protect you."
Chieng regarded the governor coldly.
"You would do better to pray for victory, Lord Governor."
"I do, Commander," she replied without taking her eyes off Iroh, "but I pray for the safety of my friends just the same."
The engineer's eyes shifted quickly back and forth between Iroh and the Rhiannon.
"I had best get moving, General," the engineer concluded abruptly.
Iroh turned to Chieng with a start. He suddenly realized he had intended their goodbye to be private. For the first time since arriving at Mequon he found himself regretting the governor's presence.
"Of course, but are you sure you won't take the Constellation as well? I'd feel better if you had…"
"No, General, you will need her for supply chain purposes at least."
"But –"
"No, Iroh," she replied, cutting him off, "I won't have it. I will not leave you unprotected."
She crossed her arms across her chest for emphasis. Rhiannon arched an eyebrow at her use of the general's given name, but offered no other comment.
"All right," he relented, "but I'm hardly unprotected with thousands of the best soldiers in the Fire Nation around me… and besides," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "I'm not such a bad fighter myself!"
"Yes, I know."
She saluted.
"Don't die on me," she commanded.
The engineer turned and left, unable, as was Iroh, to say goodbye. Moments later the mighty engines of Corona roared to life. The column of infantry parted to allow the leviathan passage.
The governor eyed her friend with a slight smile.
"She likes you, you know."
"What?"
"She likes you, though she has a funny way of showing it."
"Well, uh, sure…" he agreed, suddenly nervous, "She's come to like all of us whether she admits it or not… I mean we've been through a lot together, so I suppose it's only natural…"
"No, Iroh, not like that, I mean the other way."
He hesitated only a moment before launching into a denial.
"Don't be ridiculous! She was just playing off the order I gave her before… before…," he stopped himself mid-sentence, the protest dying on his lips, "Uh, do you really think so?" his voice betraying hope he could not suppress, "How can you tell?"
"I'm a woman," she said with a deliberately mysterious smile, "I know these things."
"Well…"
The governor laughed, a silvery sound that Iroh associated with his childhood.
"Have you ever even been with a woman, Iroh?"
The Crown Prince sputtered, completely unprepared for such a blunt question, though it was entirely in character for his surrogate elder sister.
"Great Agni, Rhiannon, what kind of question is that!?"
"I thought as much," she replied with satisfaction, "Too bad you don't have time right now."
"Time?" he said stupidly, as if he'd never heard the word before, "Time for what?"
"Oh, you're clueless. Typical."
She shook her head and exhaled a deep breath, steeling herself to say farewell. She stepped forward and hugged him, placing a hand on the back of his head.
"I love you, Iroh," she vowed, her voice suddenly thick, "You and Gan have to live, please, I can't lose you too."
"I love you too, Rae," he said, using the childhood nickname he had last used when he and Xian had said goodbye to her on the docks of the capital so many years before, "and I'm not going to die… the vision, remember?"
"But what's worse?" she quailed, "Death or slavery? Imprisonment or exile?"
"I don't know, but I think I'm about to find out."
She hugged him close and then released him.
"You have to find a way out of this, Iroh! You have to destroy the Army of the Granite Mountains and somehow avoid this awful fate. Besides," she said, stabbing a finger into his shoulder for emphasis, "if you let yourself get arrested or killed, you'll be handing me over to Tien Shin! You're not going to let Tien Shin have me, are you?"
"Absolutely not!" he replied instantly, then added with a gallant smile, "I'll marry you myself if I have to!"
They both looked at each other for a few moments then burst out laughing. The idea was ridiculous. As Rhiannon had observed, imperial politics meant neither could choose whom they would marry.
"And how do you think Chieng would like that?" the governor asked quizzically, then continuing in a conspiratorial tone, "Besides, I think your daimyo would be happy to relieve you of the obligation."
"Oh?" the young general prompted, his expression turning instantly suspicious, "what'd he do this time?"
Rhiannon chuckled. Obviously Iroh was used to his friend's amorous adventures.
"If he made a pass at you I swear I'll kill him!" Iroh vowed, exhibiting a mixture of anger and embarrassment that his friend might have committed such an impropriety.
The blonde woman broke into full throated laughter at this.
"No, no, nothing like that."
Quickly the governor related her pernoctation with Nikon in the early morning hours. She chose to elide their speculation around Xian's death, instead focusing on the more humorous aspects of their encounter.
"He's sweet," she concluded, then added in an exaggerated tone of generosity, "You may keep him."
Iroh bowed. He had been shocked many times by Nikon's behavior with women, but never this way. Life was full of surprises.
"He really asked if you were… married?" Iroh repeated dumbly.
"Yes, is that so strange then?"
"Well, uh, no, I mean, yes, I mean… I told you about him and his… uh… favorite sport so to speak, but I've never once heard him ask whether a woman was married or not… I don't think he ever cared one way or the other if you know what I mean."
"Oh dear," Rhiannon remarked, putting her hand over her mouth, "Sounds like your friend may really be in trouble!"
They burst out laughing once again, this time Iroh shaking his head at his best friend's incipient predicament.
"Well, I can hardly blame him," Iroh allowed, still chuckling, "You are wonderful, my dear."
"I am!" she agreed with a mischevious smile.
After their laughter subsided her expression turned serious. It was time to go. She straightened, her posture instantly imbuing her with the formal, regal presence that served her so well in the execution of her office.
Iroh sensed the change and stood to attention himself, his countenance mirroring hers. They regarded each other in silence for a few moments before Rhiannon spoke.
"We stand on the razor's edge, General, and now, I fear, events will move us swiftly to resolution one way or the other. Go now and meet your destiny. Avenge the death of my beloved Xian and win glory everlasting for the Fire Nation!"
"I will, Lord Governor," the Crown Prince replied evenly, adopting a similarly formal tone, "I have no choice. Besides… have you forgotten my own vision I had that day?"
She smiled.
"No, Iroh, I will never forget that day."
The Crown Prince's expression hardened.
"I will avenge Xian's death and destroy the enemy, Governor T'Zan. If I am ever to conquer Ba-Sing-Se, I must."
Iroh raised the red baton he had inherited from his cousin to his forehead in salute. The governor saluted in return.
Moments later the Constellation followed Corona through the east gate of Mequon. Rhiannon watched in silence, wringing her hands in worry.
The time had come for Fate to show its hand.
