As we don't see many soldiers from Iroh's fleet (or even much of Iroh for that matter,) there will be a few OC's introduced to keep the flow of the story going. Thanks everyone for the reviews and follows. I hope I keep hearing from you!

Chapter 5: Brown Dirt

The journey to the next sea-faring town took me four days. I'd picked berries and roots along the way to keep from starving but it wasn't quite enough. Tagon was on his last leg and could barely support me anymore. I'd followed the river and had plenty of water...I kept the dirt, though. The more I looked at myself the less I saw me and the more I saw some strange, young boy.

Now I was standing on the docks at some town I'd barely looked at. My legs felt like they still wanted to keep walking but I tried to stand up straight.

"Name," the strong, buff man in front of me asked. He didn't even look up at me as he kept scribbling on the parchment on his makeshift desk made of boxes. His voice sounded familiar—he was the Lieutenant who'd advanced on me when I had run into Iroh. Which meant that I could be joining Iroh's army after all. Take that, Hamin!

I was currently standing on the pier, dozens of large ships looming high above me. Some of them had Earth Kingdom symbols on the front and Water Tribe insignias on the sides. I assumed these were United Forces Ships. The ocean, which I'd never seen, was blue and bright and cheery in the afternoon sun. This was much different from Jang-Hui's polluted river. I couldn't wait to get on the boat and set sail. The man in front of me was the only thing keeping me from that life.

I hadn't thought much about my name. I couldn't exactly go around spouting a name like "Bujing," especially to a man who'd obviously grown up in the Fire Nation. I tried sounding things out in my head—'Fa Huo'...no, too feminine. Huo can be considered a man's name, so I can keep that... Gao Huo? No, I won't use my great-grandfather's personal name even if it was the last name on earth. But...

"Name," he said again, impatiently, this time looking up at me. He was a Firebender, there was no doubting it. With only having met four or five others, it was easy to feel the aura coming off of him. That, and his eyes were like little angry infernos.

"Lu Huo," I said confidently, standing up a little straighter. It was one way to remember my father, at least. May the spirits grant you peace, Bejing Lu.

"Never heard of your family." He leaned back into his chair and rubbed his scruff with a calloused hand. Those Fire Nation eyes dug into my soul.

I felt my confidence deflate and I let my shoulders slump. "Well, I live on the outskirts of the Fire Nation. I think my family mixed with some Earth Kingdom citizens..."

"No need to explain yourself to me, kid. Birthdate?"

How old was I? I was nineteen summers, but, as a boy, I didn't look any more past puberty. "Nineenth Day of the Seventh Month of the Year of the Dragon. I'm twelve!"

The man raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He leaned forward and started writing again. "Uh-huh. And no Firebending, so—"

"I'm a Firebender!" I shouted, interrupting him. I had a flashback to when the fat old hag in the Golden Dragon tent had assumed that I wasn't one as well. It'd instantly set a fire in my blood. That same fire was burning when I lit a flame in my hand to prove to the recruiter that I could bend. "See?"

The Lieutenant stroked his brown stubble of a beard. "Huh. Well, the General was looking for a new ship's boy. You fit all the qualifications. It'd be better if you were noble, but..."

If he wouldn't let me on the ship then my entire plan was ruined. I pleaded at this guy with my eyes, hoping that my girlish pull would make him choose me. Then I pulled Tagon's head next to my face to add to the cute look. "Look, I've got a dragon-moose to ride into battle and everything! I'll be a good soldier, I promise!"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, I guess. The General likes the charity cases anyhow. You're hired, kid."

I didn't have time to even think about how I was going to pull off being a boy. Everything happened so fast that I just assumed it would be easy. Little did I know how wrong I was going to be.

HHH

They took Tagon and put him down in the hold somewhere. I only hoped that I would be able to see him in my year on the sea.

Walking onto the ship was like walking into what I'd imagine was a large city's market on harvest day. While I'd never seen it, I'd seen what our town looked like when we got our meager harvest and it was like chickens with their heads cut off running around a burning farm. This was a little more organized, but still, I was overwhelmed for a little while.

Some large men were wearing scant little and covered in soot. Others were climbing ladders and fixing metal panels up atop the helm's roof. Yet others were carrying provisions down into the hull of the ship and cleaning. Not a single person, besides me, was standing around and doing nothing.

I was actually getting in the way. One sailor knocked me to the side while carrying a large sack of potatoes over each shoulder. "Watch it, boy!"

Another walked by with a broom and wacked me on the back of the head with its handle. "Get working or get out of the way, boy!"

I finally got out of the way by hanging onto the ship's railings. I was able to look out onto the beautiful sea while I waited to figure out what I needed to do. Pelingulls flew against the current, snatching up fish on the way. The sea air was salty and crisp as I breathed it in. Wind tickled the little hairs around my face.

"You don't have anything to do either, huh?" a small voice suddenly asked from next to me. I jumped and turned to see a little boy, maybe eight or nine or so, standing behind me. He was just as dirty as I was and about the same height, which upset me a little because he appeared to be pretty young and I was actually nineteen. He had curly, light brown hair atop his pale head and bright blue eyes under thick brows. He put his freckled, lanky arms up onto the railing next to me and looked out onto the ocean as I had been. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I'm Kojo. Who're you?"

"Huo," I said in what I hoped was a young boy-sounding voice. My adult, female brain suddenly wondered why there was another little boy on board. "What do you do on board? How old are you?" He's too young to be a soldier.

"I'm eight," he said, swelling his chest in pride. "And I'm the doctor's son. So I'm the lollyloby boy."

Those words made me grimace. A lollyloby boy was the kid who helped saw off people's appendages when they were getting gangrene or mangled beyond repair. He was also the doctor's assistant, training to be a doctor, but the first part was what most people remembered about lollyloby boys. "Oh."

"No, don't say it like that. 'Oh.' Makes it sound awful. It's cool! I've been studying under my dad for two years. I haven't had to cut off anyone's leg yet but I'm learning a lot. My great-great grandma was a really expert healer and everyone in our family has followed in her footsteps."

"'Cool'?"

"Yeah, I'm from the Northern Water Tribe. It's something we say up there. You guys have weird sayings, too. 'Flamin''? Who says that?"

I laughed and shook my head as a weight settled on my shoulders. "No one I know." I stared into his blue eyes for a moment before feeling guilty and looking out. This kid, Kojo, he was looking at me like he wanted to be friends. We were near the same age, technically. I felt bad for having to deceive him. "I'm the General's new ship's boy." Whatever that means.

Kojo's eyes widened like saucers. His millions of freckles moved with his face in a comic way. "No way! You get to train with the General, that's so cool!"

"Huh?" What in Koh's name are you talking about, kid?

"Yeah," he said, turning to look at me, "you get to be the General's personal assistant, but he repays you with training and teaching you the ways of the country! Normally noble kids are saved for that but you must be something special."

I shook my head and stared out to sea. I'm completely fooling all of these people...I should feel bad, but instead I'm looking forward to killing a few Equalists on the other side of this ocean. Something's wrong with me. "Nothing special, Kojo...just a dirty peasant kid, 'sall. Apparently the General likes charity cases."

"You're not just a dirty peasant," Kojo said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You're dirty, but you're more than that!"

A laugh made its way out of my throat. For some reason, I'd always gotten along better with younger kids. He made me feel more at home on a ship full of ornery old men. I pushed him away playfully. "Yeah, sure. You're just as dirty!"

"Shuddap, ya dirty urchins!" a mean, craggy voice yelled from behind us. We turned around and saw that we were being glared at by an old, worn-out man. He was wearing the same uniform that everyone else was wearing, but it was faded from the sun. "The General's coming on deck! Get in line!"

I just noticed that all of the men on board were in lines across the deck. I grabbed Kojo's arm and pulled him with me to stand in the front of the line. Compared to all the well-dressed military men around us, Kojo and I looked like dirty little street urchins. We smelled, too. We were getting glared at by all of the other men around us.

Most were sixteen, which was the legal age to join the military. None of them seemed very different than me, other than they were clean. Others were my actual age, eighteen or nineteen, and yet more were as old as my father had been. They looked less scared and had obviously been in more battles than I could ever imagine.

The ship was a beautiful naval frigate. It held a crew of over one-hundred with room enough on the deck for all of them to fight and go about their daily lives. Now that the deck was clear, I could see platforms and cannons sat every-other on the metal deck, the platforms with Earth Kingdom symbols and the cannons with Fire Nation insignias.

My wandering eyes snapped to attention when the door to the undership burst open. Standing there stood the man that would ferry me across the ocean in order to get my revenge—General Iroh, grandson of Fire Lord Zuko, hero of the United Forces. He'd gotten to his position at a young age by stopping the rebellions between the Earth Kingdom colonies and the Fire Nation citizens who still lived there.

I just hoped that he didn't recognize me.

I didn't take my eyes off of him as he walked his way toward us. "Gentlemen," he said loudly, projecting his voice across the dozens of men on the deck. "Today you become a part of the First Division. I enacted this regiment during the Fire and Earth Rebellions to work special operations. We have one-hundred and eighty-two Firebenders, seventy Earthbenders, fourty-seven Waterbenders, and two-hundred-and-one non-benders. Five-hundred soldiers across ten ships. You all have the privilege of being chosen to be on the flag ship. My ship."

The sound of nervous sweat dripping to the floor rang out through the crowd. With all of the soldiers aboard, I hoped that I could disappear into the crowd, at least until I served my year and got into Republic City. Still, I was nervous to start training. What chance do I have? I've never fought a day in my life. I barely know Firebending. What was I thinking?

"On my ship, we have regulations. Uniform, cleanliness, order, rank, file—" General Iroh was suddenly standing in front of me. He cleared his throat and made me look straight in his eyes. His were molten pools of gold, surrounded by lashes of pure charcoal. His pure, ivory skin wasn't dotted with a single blemish...

Another cleared throat made me jump and stand up straight, looking straight ahead with stained red cheeks. "What in Koh's name is this?"

Hamin was suddenly standing next to him. His snooty, wrinkled face still held that resting grimace. Maybe that wasn't just reserved for me. It's for everybody! He looked me up and down, as well as Kojo, and looked at the clipboard in his hands. "Looks like your new ship's boy and lollyloby boy."

"Name?" Iroh asked, staring practically into my soul.

I tried not to meet his eyes. Please don't recognize me! "Lu Huo, General." My voice cracked. While technically it was because I was nervous, I was glad that it made me sound more like a boy going through puberty.

"Do you have family, Huo? You look familiar."

My brain had a momentary panic attack. He knows! It's over! We haven't even left the dock yet and I've already been found out! Then I took a deep breath and only kind of mumbled. "N-nope," I stuttered, bouncing a little on my toes. "I-I'm an orphan. Been so for a while now." Not that long, but the Prince didn't need to know about that.

"And my dad's the doctor," Kojo said proudly.

Iroh looked to his adviser and ran a hand through his hair. Something other than the normal, stoic look appeared on his face. He's annoyed! "Get them some food, uniforms, and for Agni's sake, clean them up, get them out of the ranks, and off of my deck!"