I didn't have the most fun writing this chapter, but tell me what you think.

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The general paused to gauge my reaction, and when I gave none, he continued "We were a days march away when our scouts came running back to us with news that your village had been destroyed."

"How does that make it your fault? You were on your way to protect it."

He looked me in the eye for a moment and he took a deep breath. "We knew we had an informant in our ranks. And once we pinned down who it was we decided to feed false information to him. That I would be in dingcun with a small patrol group at a certain time. But he must have been fed the wrong date, or there were multiple spies that we didn't manage to catch. They were supposed to attack your village weeks after our arrival, in order to catch me off gaurd."

I felt a frown spread on my face, and just as I was about to yell at him for staging an attack at my village, he spoke over me.

"I assure you, we planned for no harm to come to you or any of the villagers. We had nearly five hundred men behind us on our march there. And they were expecting ten men, including me." He looked down at the table in front of him with a despondent look on his face "I can't express how sorry I am that I wasn't able to make it on time. That we used your village to stage something so risky. That we couldn't protect anyone like we were all meant to do. It is one of my greatest shames and failures."

I clenched and unclenched my fists in my lap for a moment.

He wasn't responsible. He was putting himself in as much risk as he was the village, he was the target after all. Him not being there must have been why all of the fire nation soldiers left so soon after they razed the village.

I tried telling myself that, but the anger and the hurt from that day came welling back up into my throat. Suddenly I could smell the charred blacksmith all over again and it was sickening. The meal that I just had was trying to crawl out of my stomach.

But when I looked up and saw the fear and worry in the generals eyes, I swallowed hard and it all seemed to go away.

"I... understand. You had the nation's best interest at heart. I don't mean to say I'm not hurt... but I'm over what happened, for the most part. I'm not willing to tear down all of that progress just so I can get angry again at someone who was barely responsible for it."

"I'm glad to hear that you have been able to make peace with it. But I still feel I have a debt to pay to you... I know I will never be able to give you back what you lost. But I want to propose something to you." His chair disappeared with a loud crunch and he walked swiftly to his desk. After a few seconds of rifling through papers and drawers he snatched a paper out from the clutter. After looking it over for a moment he nodded to himself and turned to me. "Become my student."

I looked between his face and the paper he held out to me in his hand "What?"

"Become my student. I haven't seen much, but from what I have seen I can tell you are a talented young earth bender. Especially if you've taught yourself so far." He leaned over the table and put his hands on either side of the paper in front of me "Dingcun is halfway across the kingdom, on the opposite end of the continent from the capitol. Yet you and I both ended up here two years after the fact. I believe fate has given us both something back. I will provide for you, teach you proper earth bending personaly. You will always have a place to sleep. You may not have a home, as we will both be traveling the kingdom, but you will always have shelter, clothing, food, and a future. You may leave whenever you wish, but you will always be welcome. All you'll have to do is agree with what is written on the paper."

I looked down at the paper again. Did I really want to become this man's student? I said that I didn't blame him for the death of my family, friends, and entire village. But if it weren't for his plan then none of this would have happened.

I mentally shook my head. He wasn't to blame. So many others would kill, or pay fortunes for the opportunity I was getting. I would be stupid to decline it just because I had lost my village, that had happened to hundreds of people.

Before I could change my mind, I forced myself to nod. "Ok, I accept."

I hesitated when I read what was actually on the paper that I was meant to agree with. It was essentially an adoption. I would be allowed to travel with him as a soldier in training, being bred to join the army and immediately be promoted to corporal as soon I turned 18. But the program was only available to the children of high ranking officials. I wanted to agree, but there was a vague feeling itching at the back of my mind, that I would be replacing my father with this man.

I shook that thought from my head immediately, reminding myself of what I was being offered.

When he confirmed again that I agreed, he quickly wrote something on part of the paper that I didn't read and handed it off to one of the two guards stationed outside his door.

"Bring your things. We'll begin once we've left liqiang, to give you a bit of time to get used to the situation"

When I wasn't in the village, I stayed underground at the opposite edge of the village. It hadn't taken me long to punch a home into the ground, already that put me in a better position than most orphans. Now I was going to start training to be a real earthbender.

My stomach churned at the thought of leaving when I kicked my bag out from its hiding place underground.

When I returned after picking up my things, another stone hut was built for me right next to generals.

Even if I was protected by the army now, I reburied my bag out of habit. With a soft stomp I had a hole big enough for my pack in the ground, and then I slid my foot back under me until I was standing straight again to bend a cover for the hole. The guard that led me there chuckled behind me.

Regardless of how eager I was, Yiban refused to start training me until we left the village.

I wasn't nearly as excited once we started though.