A. N. : A bit of a different chapter today. We're still catching up with how people are living the eclipse, sure, but... Well, you'll see. But man, I had three whole chapters written in advance, and then the holidays happened and I didn't take the train as much and woops ! No chapters left ! I really need a better schedule...

Nobody came.

Xia supposes it's a good thing. After all, his arms still haven't recovered from his encounter with the Dragon of the West, and he can say the same for most of the others' injuries. Well, Ma Chu and Min are alright, and Zhou and Han weren't in Tenuht and so are good to go as well.

Shu is still kept asleep by whatever the healers are giving him, and is slowly recovering from surgery.

They couldn't save his arm.

Wuyue is acting like normal, even though his jaw still doesn't let him speak and he refused to take the stronger painkillers the healers recommended – to stay alert, from what Xia understood of the pantomimes he uses to communicate now. Wuyue acts like normal, except for the part where he refuses to let the healers change his bandages if anyone else is in the room, and his newfound dislike of mirrors.

Jingnan and Yang Wu are still a bit disoriented at times, but they're getting better. Haven't walked in any walls today, at least.

So yeah, it's probably for the best that the promised invasion didn't happen. Or if it does end up happening, it will be after the eclipse, when firebenders aren't completely useless and Xia's men can stay in the back without being accused of treason.

At the same time, Xia thinks he wouldn't have minded the free opportunity for a little attempted regicide. Would have solved some of his problems, one way or another.

Things can't be that simple, he guesses. No escaping their fate.

Xia has to come up with a plan. Has to stop the Fire Lord from burning down the Earth Kingdom. Or to stop him from burning down Ba Sing Se. Or at the very least to ensure the people are safe.

He asked Ma Chu to test how samples of the ground in Ba Sing Se would react to heat. If the underground remains liveable, then at least Ming will –

Xia can't think like that. It would be unfair, unfair to the other Agents, unfair to the City. Duty before all, always. That's the oath he took. The way he's decided to live.

He can't be selfish, not like that, when it affects his work. That's the difference between comforting a young Kyoshi Warrior, and putting Ming before the City.

Even if it ends up killing the both of them.

Maybe it was that kind of desperation, the thought of never seeing him again, that made Xia ask Qin to write a different sign-off than usual in that last letter to Ming.

Qin already knew, of course, not much you can hide from the guy, but even so he looked… taken aback. Or so Xia thinks, at least. Hard to tell sometimes.

He did ask Xia to confirm. If he was sure he really wanted to end the letter that way. That had never happened before. Almost made Xia want to grab that brush himself to save himself the embarrassment – he might have, too, if these weren't characters he couldn't afford to mess up.

I wish I could see you. I love you.

Ming will probably have a heart attack when he reads it. The idea of someone else knowing has always terrified him, and it only got worse after Long Feng named him Head of Formation. Not that Xia blames him.

The Fire Nation was a shock in this regard. Even here, in the Caldera, men call other men husbands, and women call women wives. From what Xia gathered, the status is official, too, not just customary like in some part of the Lower Ring.

Maybe… maybe this, too, was the cause. The fear of never seeing Ming again, and the idle thought that, if they were both here, they could…

But Xia is here, and Ming is there, and the comet will come for them.

If all of Ba Sing Se was somehow saved, but Ming alone died, Xia doesn't know what he'd do. He knows he can't afford himself to consider it, though, or it could distract him from what really matters. Distract him from his responsibilities.

For a second, he wishes he could. For just a moment, he wants to be selfish. And so –

For what little time is left of the eight minutes, he thinks of Ming.