You can find more of this on by Subscribe/Star (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted past Ch. 20 there. You can find the same on my new (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at h-t_t-p_s-:_/-/_discord-._g-g_/-N9yDASt6Cw (taking out hyphens and underscores, 'cause FFnet). If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the 'links in general' section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.

You can also read my original fiction on Kindle, or Kindle Unlimited for free. My author page: www ._amazon ._com / stores / Kaja-Wilder/ (this time taking out underscores and spaces, but leave the one hyphen).

Enjoy!

(Brief note: I just finished writing this arc, at Ch. 25. Lots longer than the last...)

Chap. 8

"Anyway, that's all there is to it," Jo Gai told him, sounding quite as tired as Lin. "The reporting is actually pretty easy, once you get down to it, but don't worry- you'll probably feel very nervous your first dozen times. And if whoever you're reporting to isn't as fair as Captain Taijin or General Quon, of course you'll have to stay on your toes... but it's just a bigger, less-detailed version of the reports you've already been writing up, really."

"Thank you," Lin murmured, rubbing his eyes. They had been up, the two Lieutenants, for thirty-seven hours, since before sunrise of their second day back on the hunt outside of Pingjin. They had crossed back into Jiuquan Province before setting camp that day, and that had been the last bit of relative peace and quiet Lin had seen since.

Every moment after waking was busy. That was sometimes a soldier's lot, of course, and he wasn't complaining. Great periods of boredom were often intermixed with intense activity. This was, unfortunately, just one of those days apparently. Less fortunately still, however, was what came next. A soldier outside Jo Gai's large tent coughed. "Excuse me, Sir? Sirs? There's someone here to see Sergeant- I mean, Lieutenant Lin. One of the, uh, Kyoshis, Sirs."

"What now?" Lin grumbled, unable to stop himself as he rubbed tired eyes.

Jo Gai chuckled, "At least they're a welcome sight for the eyes, even if it seems like they bring nothing but bad news. Still, things should be looking up for you, Lin. It's not all going to be bad. Think about how much more you'll be able to help your family. Maybe even set aside a nice little savings to make an offer for one of those pretty young ladies? Who knows, with an actual officer's commission, you never know who might be interested, eh?"

Lin blushed.

Jo Gai reached around the side of the table to clap his shoulder with another laugh, "Don't worry about this, I'll have Corporal Tan clean it up. I'll make sure Chonji's taking care of your men, too, of course- well, my men still, I s'pose. Maybe I should just retire... at any rate, go see what they want. It's probably important."

Lin could only nod, and take a long, deep breath to steel his nerves before he stepped through the tent flap and back out into the dust.

The rain had stopped while they were bivouaced in Pingjin, thankfully, but with the tail-end of the rainy season on them, his home was suffering from some of the dustiest winds of the year. With it would come more moisture and fertilizer for the crops, but it was always hard to suffer through. Right now, at least, it wasn't that windy, but a lifetime of growing up just a dozen or two li from their current location made him certain that it would be blowing again before long. Even now, he could see the distant currents thrashing through the dusty, dry land in waves.

The locusts would be bad this year, too, but not the worst his family had seen in Lin's lifetime.

He was, however, more concerned with just who had pulled him from very necessary, very unwanted, and very boring lessons with the more experienced officer. Yugao. Of course.

The quiet woman with the devilish, knowing smile looked him up and down, then, in a very forward way, physically reached out and tugged his rumpled uniform back into place. "Eh, it'll have to do," she pronounced after a few moments while Lin sputtered, "Come on."

"Excuse me," he grumbled, though he did start following, "Why am I following you again? The last time I checked I'm not part of your chain of command. What's so important it had to pull me away from things I need to know?"

Yugao didn't answer, only looked back over her shoulder with a smirk before she sped up, forcing him to either turn around, or speed up himself. Lin was starting to hate every single one of the Kyoshi Warriors.

Especially this one. Still, he had little real option, so with a put-upon sigh, he lengthened his own stride.

On his left and right, Lin passed dozens of soldiers breaking their camp once more. Some were still eating, and others had progressed far enough (like the well-disciplined Sandseals, he was proud to see) had already finished breaking camp and were actively running through their exercise and training regimen under the watchful eye of Sergeant Chonji.

Yugao led him past them all, northward, and up one of the endless, nameless rolling hillsides that dotted the area. She seemed careless for the scorpions and snakes despite only wearing their traditional sandals, but Lin was barefoot like most of the Earth Kingdom Mustered Soldiery, so he was even worse off. Still, at least he knew what to watch for, and could console himself by imagining the inexperienced woman being bitten or stung and either catching a terrible illness or, if he was lucky, dying so she couldn't torment him any more.

Then again, he thought morosely, she would probably come back as some sort of evil spirit to haunt him even so.

At least her bum was nice, even if he could barely see it past the robes.

She led the way fully up the rise, which he noticed only as they neared the top was the tallest in the area by at least a half-dozen chi, which meant that it also commanded the best view. By the time they reached the tall, slender figure at the highest point, which happened to be standing atop a boulder a little taller than Lin himself surrounded by scrub grass, he had long since concluded who he was meeting, and why.

"Here you go, Mai," Yugao said cheerfully, "I'm leaving him in your care."

"Thank you," the tall woman answered, not bothering to look down at either of them. "You can head back, Yugao, I'll keep him alive for now."

"Right. See you later, Commander."

Commander? That was a new term... at least, one he heard rarely. It wasn't an official Earth Kingdom term, anyway, though he knew the Fire Nation sometimes used it. But wasn't the Kyoshi Warrior's commander that legendary Tsuki, or Saki, or something? One of the Avatar's friends, and wife of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe?

Yugao left with a wink in his direction, but without another word before she turned and started jogging with far more energy than he'd seen before back toward the camp. Lin only watched her for a few moments before he looked back up at Mai, who was definitely not wearing her Kyoshi Warrior uniform. Instead, she was dressed in all black, which seemed ridiculous in the heat that they would see during the day, though he was sure that was also why her long, dark hair was held back by an ornamental knot as well.

"What do you see down there?" Mai asked quietly after Yugao had jogged a half-li away, well out of earshot.

Lin swallowed, then followed her gaze. "My- my home village," he answered.

Mai nodded, though he didn't see it, and hopped gracefully off the stone. He didn't see how a woman her size could jump more than seven chi without so much as a hair landing out of place or stumbling, but she did, and made it seem effortless. From directly beside him, Mai pointed outward again, further to the west and north, "That river, what's it's name?"

"P- Pingjiang, I think. We always just called it 'the river'."

Mai nodded again. "The Prefecture to the west? Yours is Dukashi, yes?"

"Um- it's Dukato."

"Right... okay. We haven't got clearance to go over there unless we're actively chasing Dai Li agents, so most of the soldiers will have to come up the river side, hope they don't sneak past," Mai muttered, seemingly more to herself than him.

Lin swallowed, "Y- You're sure there are agents in my village, then?"

"No," Mai admitted, "but just in case. No, let me say that again. Not agents, but at least one agent is. Someone from here has been communicating regularly with Hibonyi Valley, and Gaolong Valley, and the Ni Bo Shu forests to the northwest. Someone is either relaying, or actually coordinating, attacks by various bandit forces."

Lin paled. "H- Hibonyi? So Boshi really w- was?"

Mai nodded, "Definitely, and he's not the only one. We're hoping it's just one person here, hiding out where no one would suspect. We're hoping to catch them unawares, that's why we just went on a 'training exercise', and took the long road to Pingjin. But their spies are seemingly everywhere even now, when they've mostly been wiped out. They're starting to panic... but they're also running to ground. Makes them harder to track, and more dangerous."

The farm-grown soldier had a hard time imagining the Earth Kingdom's bogeymen being more dangerous, but the matter-of-fact way Mai had said it told him she was quite sincere. "Wh- What are we doing, then?"

"Us?" Mai asked, sending him a flat glance, though he could see a muted amusement sparkling in her wide, dark, beautiful eyes. "We aren't doing anything. If Ty Lee or I, or any of the Kyoshi Warriors, are spotted near the village the agent will burn everything, every trace, and disappear. You, and your men, are going to go down there and make nice with your family, your headman. Tell them you and your men were given leave to come celebrate while you're on maneuvers in the area."

"Celebrate... what?"

Mai looked at him like he was an idiot for that one, "Your promotion, of course. One of the village's own, making Lieutenant, thanks to your hard work, dedication, and skill? It's bound to make people thrilled... and get them talking. About rumors, outsiders in the town, or people acting strangely, more nervous... even just carrier hawks that are more common than before. Any clue at all could be useful."

He scowled, "You got me promoted to use me for this?"

Mai, to her credit, genuinely looked surprised by both the question and his tone. "No. We got you promoted because we're using you, absolutely, but not just for this. This is just a nice little side benefit. We could've done the same with you being a Sergeant. I don't see the problem."

His frown deepened, "The problem is that I didn't earn either promotion. They gave me Sergeant because you beat the 'bandit king', and then I had to kill him because of politics." He nearly spat the word, though Lin wasn't done yet. "And then making me lieutenant? For what? I'm barely even an Earth Bender, much less someone actually qualified to lead a whole squad!"

Mai sniffed and looked away back at his village, apparently unconcerned about his shouting. "From what the girls and I have seen, you're quite capable of leading a squad, and more. Your men respect you and look up to you, even if you don't see it. They actually genuinely like you, rather than fear you. That's very rare. Even Jo Gai is liked by his men, and yours like you more. And as for being a good Bender, well... I'm not a Bender at all, do you think me less capable? Or Ty Lee? I guarantee, if she and I ever fought for real, she'd win."

"W- Well, n- no," Lin sputtered, "but that's not my- my point is, I didn't earn those promotions, and I don't like it, and I don't like being used!"

"We all use each other," Mai snorted, "it's part of being human, apparently. I tire of this argument. If you want the Dai Li stopped, if you want their reign of terror to end, you'll do what I said. And if you don't, well... one more person who stands aside while people do good in the world is just another casualty of war."

"You- You'd kill me?" Lin asked, his mouth gaping.

"No," Mai told him seriously, now visibly annoyed if he was reading the thin line her lips had become correctly, because it was the only change in her expression, "not at all. Why would I bother? You're nobody, remember? If you don't help, anyway. If you do help us bring an end to all of this, then you'll be wrong. About yourself. Because then you'll be somebody. Someone who helped end the Dai Li once and for all. What's the old saying about a hero needing no grave, because they never die?"

He couldn't help it, he snorted with derisive laughter, "I'm no hero."

"Yet," Mai said simply.

His eyes narrowed.

Hers did, too.

For several seconds, even minutes, the two glared at each other with only a single chi between them, the air growing ever more heated and warm.

Lin worried for most of that period of time if she would simply draw one of her seemingly endless knives and cut his throat.

That was why he was very surprised when Mai leaned in and kissed him.

Briefly, mere moments, but Lin felt his entire world shift on its axis in a way he thought more fitting of his mother's trashy, generations-old pillow-books than his own life.

Before their lips had touched, before the world, his very fate, went sideways in a maelstrom of 'whatever-the-hell-just-happened', things had mostly been orderly. Had mostly made sense. Lin could track the progress of his life (mostly), from birth to youth, to chores, to working the farm, to learning his numbers and letters, to eventually deciding the prospects of the EKMS were better than they would be in his village, and leaving to join up with the tacit blessing of his whole village along with a half-dozen other young men.

He could track his training, even the pathetic attempts at Bending he had barely been able to scratch the surface of that qualified him as a Bender but only barely and with no hope for a promotion. He could even track the events that had led him to Boshi's camp, and his first-ever combat.

After that, well, things got fuzzier, but Lin could still follow the events even if he didn't know why they were happening.

But after, well...

Nothing made sense. Why was he here, following this madwoman? This beautiful, gorgeous, talented, amazing, madwoman? She was hunting bogeymen, and thought his own village was hiding at least one! She'd convinced his general, apparently, that it was true, and even had him going. He would've followed orders, of course.

He was a soldier, and good soldiers follow orders.

Then after shouting at her, she'd... kissed him.

Why? It didn't make any sense, none at all. She was clearly of high breeding and bearing. If not an actual noblewoman, then at least from a very wealthy family, as Yugao and Ty Lee had both implied. He was literally no one. Nobody. He had no future, aside from the trumped-up promotion and officer's commission that Mai herself seemed to have given him.

If she was just using him to get an easy in, to get his village to trust him and his men, or her, then why bother with everything else?

He would've, had, fallen for the temptation of being someone, as ridiculous as that was. The bit about a hero, and him being one? It was beyond the wildest dreams of someone like him, and yet he'd bought into it already, before that kiss.

Nothing made sense.

Then she kissed him again, her body molding against his uniform. The first time had been hesitant, and had taken him completely by surprise. The second was no less shocking, but it was not brief and quick. This time, Lin could feel every modest curve of the tall woman's chest as it pressed into him, the black silk of her clothing as it circled his neck to draw them closer together, and her hot breath as it ghosted against his cheek. He definitely felt her tongue as it slithered against his dry lips, then beyond them.

When Lin pulled away, Mai didn't fight him, though he felt like both an idiot and a cad. This was the literal woman of his dreams (well, one of them, anyway), and she had kissed him. Why had he pulled away?

Mai seemed to question that too, as she suddenly glared even more fiercely. "What? Am I not good enough for you?"

He gulped. "N- No, I..."

"Then what's the problem?"

Lin didn't know how to answer, so he said nothing, only looked away.

Mai did, too, turning back toward the village with a huff and folding her arms over her chest. "Tch... back to being spineless. For a moment, I thought you actually felt something. You glared like you had feelings, anyway. Something."

"Feelings," Lin snorted, "You're the least emotional person I've ever met."

Now that, even Lin knew was the wrong thing to say.

Her head cocked to the side and back to glare at him once more without moving the rest of her body. Mai's eyes were narrowed to mere slits now, and he saw the muscles in her jaw clenching. "I? I suppose you might think that, as a brainless man. But I can assure you, Dukashi Lin, no-name man, worthless bender, helpless soldier, nobody, that the fires of my emotions burn hot enough that a spineless person like you could not hope to tame them. What you see is a mask, fool."

Then she turned and walked back toward the camp. From twenty feet away, she called, "We move in an hour. Follow the plan, Dukashi Lin. You do not want to see me actually upset."

He gulped, and waited. Probably best to give her space... yes.

A full li was probably farther than even she could throw a knife, yes?

Maybe two...?

Lin had just about worked up the courage to follow after her at a (hopefully) safe distance when he heard a sigh that nearly made him jump out of his uniform. When he recovered his wits enough to turn his head, he saw Ty Lee wearing the same sort of black outfit step out from behind the rock. She looked... oddly disappointed. At him.

As she reached his side, the curvy beauty reached up to pat his now lightly-stubbled cheek as if he were a child, and shook her head sadly. "Next time a pretty girl kisses you? Don't question why. Just go with it, or don't. The last person who questioned Mai's motives, well... he has a few new scars. If you just say no, a girl knows you aren't interested. If you say yes, well... who knows where the future roads lead? Don't be late. Your men are already gathering, Lieutenant!"

Then she, too, bounced too-cheerfully down the hill toward the camp, and all Lin could do was follow after, wishing he still had one thing, just one thing that still made sense.

Women, he decided, were as the sages and elders said: Crazy.

"Y- You're sure about this, Lin? Er, Zhōngwèi Lin?"

He sighed at Chonji's question, exasperated, still confused, and even lost, even if he was back in familiar ground at last. "No, Chonji," Lin replied, "I'm not. But it's the plan. Tell the men we're marching in, but we are not being aggressive. We're here to celebrate, not to raid the village like bandits ourselves. This is my home. Please, please be nice and respectful?"

Chonji chuckled and nodded, then turned half away to relay the order to the twelve men and six women following him.

"Oh, and Sergeant?"

"Sir?"

Lin shuddered; it still felt weird to be called that, even after three days. "I know I said have a good time, but let's not burden my village with a dozen more children to feed, shall we?"

He was pretty sure, after all, that he was his father's son... but two of his older brother's weren't, from the last time a group of men had come by. They hadn't even been Earth Kingdom, but Fire Nation soldiers. It still hadn't endeared the populace to them, much.

Chonji nodded and kept moving with a quick, "Yes, Sir."

Lin sighed, and started walking once more. They had stopped after rounding the hill with a green flag held high by Corporal Yuya on the squad's standard, and waited a good ten minutes before the lookout in the village's lone watchtower had wakened enough to notice them and find his horn to signal the rest of the village. Already, he could see farmers hurrying in for several li around the village's center, hoping either to help make a good impression, or to minimize any damage the soldiers would do. Hopefully, at least someone would recognize him with the new haircut (recently shaved again, this time by Yuya of all people) and uniform.

If they didn't, Lin didn't know what he'd do. Cry, probably.

Fortunately, as he led his troop up the road toward the sheep-fencing that served the village as defensible walls (hah!), Lin could see his father, taller than most, heading out of the headman's cottage along with a few other of the more productive farmers he recognized at a distance: his father's friends, one and all, because the older man had been a friendly, garrulous sort who never hesitated to help out when he could.

The headman, an elder, seemed to have changed in the few years Lin had been gone, however. Once, the village's spokesman and leader had been called Po, and he had been kind, wise, and helpful. But the man standing in the front of the small group, fingering their tools nervously like they might have to put them to use, was called Gonju. He was old, crotchety, and not a fan of Lin. Of course.

"Headman, we, members of the Sandseals of the Earth Kingdom Mustered Soldiery," Lin announced as they came to a halt at his gesture a polite ten chi from the fences, "have come to visit your village peacefully."

Gonju sniffed, and made a show of looking left and right before turning his gaze back to Lin. He frowned. "Your face is unknown to me, and we've suffered several bandit attacks of late. If you're really soldiers, then make yourself useful and snuff them out, instead of coming to our poor village and demanding we keep you for who knows how long. We've barely food to eat, much less pay our taxes, and we certainly haven't enough for you trumped-up 'soldiers'."

It was definitely a break from tradition, and several of the men in the crowd muttered among themselves, glaring not at Lin, but at Gonju. He was clearly no more popular now than he had been before Lin joined the army. Worse, antagonizing a group of armed soldiers was just stupid.

Not that Lin would remind him of that fact. Instead, he tried diplomacy, as Mai had told him, and like, at least here, he would much prefer. "I am from this village, Headman Gonju. My name is Lin. Do you not recognize me?"

There was a gasp from behind the old man, and a cry, "I knew it! My boy! My son! That's my son! In a uniform! An officer!"

Titters sounded from behind Lin, and ahead, as the crowd separated slightly to allow a man even taller than he, broader, to shoulder his way through.

"Lin! My Lin, an officer! My boy, come, let me see you!"

Even though his men laughed, or perhaps because of it, Lin found himself blushing. "Hello, father."

Maybe, just maybe, it was good to be home, if only for a while.