Captain Zar'un

The reports had told us nothing. I suppose I really shouldn't have expected a close eye on things to be the sole bearer of good news, or, given the connotations, bad news. It'd accomplished nothing. I initially asked soldiers of my garrison to provide "additional security" for the benders during their training as well as the rest of the trainees during their weekend excursion to ensure there were no hostilities, but they'd all come back with nothing.

I'd even made sure they had a sense of what to look for; vaguely, at least. Still, nothing. Those watching the benders reported nothing unusual but the rate at which they were progressing. At least for the firebenders. My soldiers watching the earthbenders didn't exactly have a sense of what qualified 'good progress,' but they did indicate that all seemed to be training themselves more than actually being taught. Their teacher, Xin Fu, would insult them every now and again on their lack of progress, but for the most part seemed content to watch them figure it out for themselves.

I'll have to re-evaluate his payment when this is said and done, I thought for a moment, but then considered that as long as the trainees were advancing, he was doing his job. As for Jeong Jeong, our soldiers reported that the progress they were seeing was honestly frightening. Even the late-bloomer of the class seemed to be quickly getting the hang of things and was even close to being on par with the upper class of first batchers.

I'll say this about Jeong Jeong. He certainly knows how to scare somebody into shape.

I wasn't sure if fear was the best motivator, but one the battlefield, where fear was abundant, a control and harnessing of it could make for great things.

But I suppose I won't be around to see whether or not it does. I was almost disappointed. Having them under my roof, or rather, within my walls, they were my responsibility, and I'd grown used to having a populated Citadel as of late. But when they left for war, they would be gone, and so would this damned 'Aegis.'

The soldiers I had keeping an eye on things during their weekend leaves too reported nothing. There was drunkenness, brawls, and even a burglary into a convenience shop, but beyond that, no espionage, no colluding with any enemies, and no sign of the paranormal. Almost all had returned in time for their curfew and those who hadn't had quickly been found in one gutter or another and dragged back before having their passes for the next day revoked. I knew that would get the message home.

Sadly though, none had taken the opportunity to openly betray their nation and reveal themselves as this 'Aegis.'

So a more direct approach will be needed.

It was just a matter of how to go about it. I had a few ideas on my mind, none of which would be without arousing Deming's suspicion about his men. If he had the slightest inclination to believe there was a treasure trove of a potential captive within his own division, well, I fear what a man like him advancing through the ranks of the Fire Nation would mean for our country.

My musings were interrupted by the arrival of Lieutenant Zarrow, allowed in with the same routine as per usual.

"Last of the trainees have been rounded up, sir," he started. "All are accounted for. Far less drunkenness and other antics than yesterday. Seems stripping those who got caught of their passes did the trick."

"Any no hints as to our 'Aegis?'"

"None, I'm afraid. Placed special attention on our benders, including the one who stayed within the compound, but none aroused our suspicion.

The one staying behind yesterday had indeed caught our attention, and so while I had platoons of men scouting the streets to keep an eye on the rest of the 114th, 122nd, and 62nd, I too had men within the complex, keeping an eye on the boy who stayed behind. It seemed though that rather than him being a masterful architect of some elaborate plan, he was simply antisocial, choosing to spend his time away from the others and focus on training and educating himself instead.

The reports had been a bore, but at least we could begin crossing off names.

"And our earthbenders?"

"Well-behaved. I compiled a report for him to look over. Used me keeping an eye on them as an excuse to dedicate some men from the 29th for our hunt."

"Good thinking." If our blatantly xenophobic Deming Fu Xiaoqing believed our inquiries were a matter of searching for now more than untrustworthy dirt-eaters, not only would he support us, but quite possibly also unwittingly support us. I believed Zarrow was onto something there. "We might try something similar then?"

Zarrow gave me a look as though he wasn't quite sure where I was going with this. It was a fact I could hardly blame him for as I too was still in the early stages of even putting together this idea. I did have some notions, however.

"We might inform the 64th division that we suspect one of the earthbending street rats of being an Earth Kingdom sympathizer. We might enlist his aid in helping us search for him or "affiliates."

"Such as Aegis."

"Precisely."

"You don't believe Deming may take the presence of a traitor as an excuse to execute the whole batch of earthbenders?" Zarrow asked, concerned. And with good reason too. Deming's hatred of the earthbending soldiers within his division was not well-hidden, but Azulon's re-education campaign demanded the effort. All the same, the initiative wouldn't stand in the way of a bloodthirsty general with a vendetta against the 'dirt-eater' as they were called.

"He may want to," I answered. "And it's his division to do with as he pleases, but so long as he is within our walls, summary executions must go through us. We will temper his inhibitions and ensure his focus settles on catching the 'real' traitor. The idea he may satiate his bloodlust on him should be encouragement enough."

"And how would you suggest we put Deming to use in tracking down our 'mystery boy?' The Major General doesn't strike me as the most intuitive or innovative."

"Precisely why I was hoping you may assist him in 'suggesting' courses of action," I said, observing the possibilities flashing across the lieutenant's eyes. "You have ideas, I take it?"

Zarrow nodded his head. "We still possess the advantage of none of the street kids being aware of what or who we're after."

"So we believe."

"Yes, but if he does already, then what I suggest is of no harm regardless. I suggest we begin with the carrot: announce our search as one with positive benefits for the boy in question. Perhaps lost possessions found in the slums."

"We may attract others claiming to be him."

"We have enough information already to quickly root out the liars and enact punishment accordingly. If the boy does give himself up, then we should have enough to be able to verify his identity through questioning.

"And should he not turn himself in."

"Then he will be on guard," Zarrow announced with what seemed to be enthusiasm.

"You say that like it's a good thing."

"It is. His behavior will change, and we will notice it if such is the case. Sometimes all that is needed is scaring the rat out of its corner to catch it. We know he'll be incapable of escape. I don't suspect he'll get far if he chooses to run.

"And if the boy is unaware of who he is, perhaps even his name?" I asked, wanting to account for every possibility.

"Then we must continue in our efforts to discover more."

It wasn't much, but it was the most we were going to get.

"Very well. Present your report to Deming. Forge what you must, and secure his cooperation. This boy must be found."

Zarrow saluted, answering, "Yes sir" one last time, and left.

We were growing desperate, and I couldn't help but wonder who it was getting cornered: 'Aegis' or us.

Fluke

It'd been half a year since I'd seen Aden. The last time was with a single glimpse behind me as him, Meeko, and Danev had faced off against a lone Fire Nation soldier while trying to steal enough to feed ourselves.

We got our food, but Danev was taken prisoner, Meeko killed, and Aden supposed the same. When Danev told us that he was alive, but the Fire Nation was holding him, we all somewhat assumed he was gone from us, dead, but here he was, lying in a hospital bed, eyes wide upon seeing the two of us enter, allowed in by Oreke's good grace.

"How you feeling, Aden?" Danev asked after the initial shock of our visit had already waned.

Aden groaned, the painkillers that Oreke alleged he was on clearly doing some good, but still leaving him in a state that seemed far from comfortable. "Like I've been asleep for six months and woke up surrounded by ash makers."

Of which I now was, I thought to myself, wondering just how that would go over with him later, but by the sound of it, and his glance over to Oreke as he said it, standing in the corner of his room, it seemed more that he was referring to the nationality than the benders. All the same, his message was clear.

"I'll leave you three alone," Oreke said, clearly identifying that the picture would become a good deal tamer with her out of it.

It was a shame too. Though I'd heard Danev mention her from time to time after he'd first come back from the Fire Nation, his talk about her had become near incessant after the Rats had hospitalized him around a month ago. It wasn't so much that I got a sense of who she was through his talk of her so much as I was seeing a side of Danev that I didn't know existed.

I'd seen him bear affection for people before such as Bee in the slums, but it was as though here, for once, he was actually letting himself grow close to somebody without the immediate fear of them dying of consumption or getting killed in a Rat raid. It was about the only time Danev seemed happy to be here.

As for Oreke, well, she wasn't at all a bad thing to have tying one down. From my brief introduction to her, she seemed rather sweet. Enough so at least that she was allowing trainees such as us in perfectly fine condition to be visiting Aden in the infirmary where he was still being looked at to see if he was ready to rejoin, or rather, join the others.

Is that wise? I wondered, looking at him now as he shuffled through the different medical instruments on the counter next to his bed. He even held a scalpel in his hand, testing the sharpness, and moved to stuff it in his waistband before Danev caught his wrist and gave a shake of his head prompting him to set it back down.

Aden scoffed, but complied. "Gonna need as much as we can get our hands on if we're going to get out of here.

He thinks we mean to leave, I realized with a degree of fear, looking towards Danev so as to verify that he wasn't about to agree. I felt my heart almost jump for the moment before he chose instead to say, "We can't do anything stupid."

"Can hardly just stay," Aden retorted before throwing his head back on the pillow. "Fuck's sake. Six months. Got you two as well, huh?"

I knew what he was referring to. The last he'd seen of us too had been that raid that'd gone so wrong, leaving, so far as he was concerned, all of us here. In a way though, he was right. Whether we were specifically taken by the Fire Nation in that moment or later as a result of them, it hardly made a difference now.

Perhaps that was the same reason Danev used to answer, "Yeah; they did."

Aden sighed. "Glad to see you two are alive though. Even you, Fluke."

I took the compliment for what it was worth. Coming from him, at least.

"And Meeko? Didn't see him come 'round."

"He didn't make it," Danev answered again.

The emotion that flashed across Aden's eyes was unmistakable. In the time I'd been with the Hornets, it'd been impossible to miss that the two, acting as chief Hornet enforcers right behind Danev, were tight. They stood watch, kept guard, and handled business together, the raid against the Fire Nation the last sorry example of that. Meeko was his friend, and the Fire Nation had killed him.

"Fucking Fire Nation," Aden said, trying to push himself up from his bed. "We'll make them pay for-"

"We're not going to do anything," Danev said, pushing him back down. "Yet."

Yet?

"Yet?" Aden said, asking the exact same thing though clearly with different motivation. "Fuck are we waiting for then? Let's leave now, get back to the Hornets in the slums, and start putting together plans to kill these fucking ash makers. Avenge Meeko!"

He doesn't know about the Hornets. I looked up at Danev, equally in pause, no doubt the same thing crossing his mind now. Aden didn't know. He thought us a sight for sore eyes, a taste of home, but we were all that was left, little did he know. All the others, dead, and because of the deal I'd try to strike.

"Aden," I said, feeling the need to tell him, get it out of the way. "The Hornets-"

"The Hornets are going to have to wait," Danev interrupted me, immediately looking my way with one clear message in his eyes–Don't.

What?

"What do you mean?" Aden asked.

"Only reason we and the Hornets are still alive is because we struck a deal," Danev continued. "The Hornets live, and as recompense, we serve them."

It wasn't a lie. It was the truth, though a complete perversion of it, omitting the fact that the deal was null and void, the three of us here the last of the Hornets, our war with the Rats fought and done with. He was going to let Aden believe the Hornets were still out there. No. I looked back at Danev. Why? Don't make me carry this.

My eyes turned back at Aden, lying in bed with a confused look on his face as he asked, "So…what? We're hostages? Let's bust the fuck out then. Fuck the deal. Fuck the Fire Nation! We can take care of ourselves!"

"No!" Danev said harshly. "You want to continue to do the Hornets some good? Then do as you're told."

"So you want us to stay with the ash makers? The ones that fucking killed Meeko!?"

Danev wasn't going to get anywhere good with this–with telling Aden we were permanently the Fire Nation's, and so he gave the answer that would suffice. For now.

"For now," Danev reaffirmed. "Until we figure something out."

"You've been here, what? Six months, and you still haven't got shit sorted?" Aden groaned from the strain, and leaned back in bed. "For fuck's sake. Fine. It's your lead, Danev, but I see my chance to get back to the others, I'm taking it. You'd be smart to follow."

There would be no chance, no opening. Not here. Not with thousands of Fire Nation soldiers garrisoned within these walls.

"You'll do what I tell you to, Aden," Danev said. "So stay put, do what you're told for now, and don't do anything stupid. You hear me."

"I take orders from Riu. Not you."

"Riu isn't here, so you do take them from me. Got it?"

There was a silence.

"Got it?!"

"Got it," Aden sighed.

Danev nodded to Aden, then towards me. Oreke had warned us ahead of time that we would have to keep this little reunion short, and thank the Spirits for that. We left, Danev shutting the door behind him as we were left face-to-face with Oreke again who leaned against the steel wall in her scrubs, asking us, "So how'd it go?"

"Fine," Danev said. "He give you any trouble, you tell me and I'll make sure he stays in that bed for a few more months."

Oreke chuckled. "I'm sorry to say you might miss your chance. He gets dismissed tomorrow before being sent to the 122nd. Divided like the rest of us, but to the rest of us? So soon.

Danev and I exchanged a look.

"Is that a good idea?" I asked. "He's not used to things like the rest of us are."

"Not my decision to make," Oreke said, clearly not about to defend higher command's decision. "You boys'll have to get him acclimated. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

We've been trying that for years, I thought, and while Danev no doubt felt the same, he gave the proper answer which was, "We will."

And how? By lying to him about everything that's happened in the last six months?

Oreke nodded, leaving to head back into Aden's room and shutting the door behind her before I pulled Danev aside to ask that exact thing.

"What the hell was that?" I asked. "Telling him the Rats are still out there?"

"You rather be the one to tell him the Hornets are gone. That it's because of the deals we made that they're all dead?"

"You said yourself the Hornets would have died if we didn't." I myself didn't quite believe that excuse, but it was the one Danev had made. I needed him to stick by it if I could slightly have the loosest thing to hang on to.

"Aden won't see it that way. He hears the full story, you know who he'll blame."

Me. I was aware of that from the start. All the more reason why it was my decision to make.

"I can't hide that from him," I said. "I can't have that on my chest."

Danev shook his head. "I thought you were smart, Fluke. That you wanted to live."

"I do."

"Then don't say a damned word about this to him. It's going to be hard enough to keep him from starting trouble with the other kids, Rats, and the Fire Nation. We can't stop him from getting himself killed if he thinks we're the enemy too. Though maybe that would be the easiest solution."

"Danev," I said, surprised he would go there. Though I shouldn't be. Not after the other things he's done. But all the same, another Hornet… "He's one of us."

Danev sighed. "I know. So if you give a shit about him, about yourself too, then stay quiet."

There was no other way, and though I could already feel the knot in my intestines tightening, I nodded.

Before long, as Oreke had warned us, he was with the rest of us, brought into the barracks after the division's meal time which had, strangely enough, also been ripe with other new faces. Rather, they weren't new, but first batchers, firebenders I'd been training with for a few months, finally being integrated into the rest of the 29th's structure. I didn't see Mykezia, which made sense considering she now belonged to the 114th, rendering lunch the dull affair that is usually was aside from the occasional smalltalk with Gan and Gunji.

Instead, it was mostly just biding my time until we were back in the barracks, awaiting Aden's return, which soon came.

He was escorted by two Fire Nation guards who nodded him inside once they were at the door, pushing him in as Aden tried to shrug them off, the journey here from the infirmary clearly not having been a pleasant one. It didn't take him long of looking around the room to spy Danev and me where our bunk was, and make his way towards us.

His eyes probed the rest of the barracks, hesitantly, no doubt even recognizing some of the other slumdogs here, the Rats in particular who, though we were on good terms with them, stuck around the same cluster of bunks they chose from the beginning.

I wondered just how Aden would adjust, or fail to adjust more likely, curious when he would already pick his first fight, and it seemed that I would get my answer earlier than anticipated.

Approaching us, he took quick notice of an adjacent bunk where Shozi of the 114th's Bat platoon was lying down, waiting for the 122nd to finish their dinner so evening recess could begin.

"Get up," Aden said before either Danev or I could intervene.

Shozi looked down at Aden from his upper bunk, asking absent-mindedly, "What?"

Before Aden could escalate the situation further, Danev quickly took charge of the situation, getting up from his lower bunk to put a hand against Aden's chest and turn to Shozi to say, "Mind giving up the bunk? Split my rations for you for the next week if you do."

"Next month," Shozi countered.

"Two weeks."

Those were agreeable terms. Shozi nodded, pushing himself off of his bunk, now Aden's, to root through his lockbox and grab what was his–not much. He only needed to retrieve his uniform, currently in his underclothes as he was, as well as a few toiletries, before leaving to search for somewhere else to settle down.

The look Aden gave Danev was confused, indicated as such by him saying,
"Should've just told him to fuck off. We're the Hornets."

"Maybe outside. Doesn't work like that here," Danev responded. "We're on equal footing now."

"Saw some fucking Rats on my way in too. Want to tell me the hell they're doing here? They make the same deal as us? Thought they were sucking the Earth Kingdom's cock."

Danev shook his head. "Rats we beat but didn't kill were taken in here. Fire Nation needs people."

"So what the fuck? Hornets are giving people to the Fire Nation now? First us, now Rats. Hell is Riu thinking?"

It'd hardly been Riu's decision. Of course, Aden didn't need to know that, according to Danev at least. As for me, I avoided speaking. The knot in my stomach was making it difficult enough to if even I'd wanted, and so I contented myself with staying quiet, and not saying a word.

"He's probably thinking that this is how he keeps his people safe."

Aden sighed, crawling up to set himself down on the bunk that was now his. "Guess we'll just trust his call then."

Danev nodded, saying nothing, and Aden settled back into his bunk, no doubt Danev and I thankful that there was presently nobody below him to get in the middle of all of this drama. I doubt Aden would have been the most accommodating towards them.

For the relative comfort of the bunks in relation to what we'd been sleeping on for years in the slums, Aden was visibly uncomfortable, shifting every few seconds, fluffing his pillow, abandoning it altogether, and rolling from side to side before giving up and just sitting back up to ask, "So what I miss in the last six months. Looks of it, ash makers have completely pussified you two. Uniforms, haircuts, even talk funny too now."

Aden himself was included in those first two counts same as us, head shaven even more recently in fact, rendering him the most bald of our little trio. He wore the uniform wrong too, making him look rather silly, which didn't help to hide the street slang he still regularly used. Neither Danev or I had dropped our native vernacular, but at least we possessed somewhat stronger a vocabulary now to enhance it. Then again, that'd been somewhat the case even before the Fire Nation, Aden never exactly the smartest of us."Been training for war," Danev answered. "Fire Nation plans on sending us to Ba Sing Se to end the war."

"Ah, so they're still fighting their own turf wars same as us. We'll get out before then anyway. What they teaching here anyway?"

"Combat, weapons training, survival techniques,-"

Danev was cut off by Aden saying, "So all useless shit these ash makers think works, yeah?"

There was a pause. Danev was growing frustrated, I could tell, at Aden seeming prepared to immediately shoot down any reason Danev could think to give him to not lash out, which was possibly what encouraged his next statement, "And Fluke's a firebender."

Aden had mostly been ignoring me up to this point, far more content to converse with the Hornet he actually knew, trusted, and liked, but that last mention changed that. His gaze darted to me, and mine to Danev, wondering, Why the fuck would you say that? I looked back at Aden, wondering just where all this talk about 'ash makers' would lead until, surprisingly, his eyes lit up. "You're kidding," he said, now looking at me.

I shook my head, not about to add another lie to the list.

And the light in his eyes grew even brighter as a smile grew across his face. "Holy shit," he said, now undeniably grinning. "That's fucking amazing! Show me something!"

"Not here," Danev said. "Against the rules."

"Fuck the rules," Aden said dismissively, now looking back at me. "Come on, Fluke. Show me what you got. Just a taste.

Just a taste?

I looked at Danev, hoping maybe he could shut Aden down, but he did no such thing. He was leaving it to me. He hadn't been lying, for once. It was indeed against the rules to use our bending outside of training or when we were expressly told to. But what happens if I don't, I wondered, never knowing Aden to be the most stable of sorts. If this was something that could help my place with him, maybe get him to not hate my guts, then maybe the other news would go over easier if and when the time came. If I do nothing though, things'll get even worse.

I looked around. There were no eyes on me. "Just a taste,' he'd said, and so I did just that, knowing I would be even worse off if I didn't, and I leaned forward to produce a flame in the palm of my hand, lighting up our small cluster of bunks for just long enough for Aden's eyes to go wide and for a few other trainees to look my way before turning back around to mind their own business. None were snitches. Especially not towards Danev and me.

All the same, I let the fire go out, and by the look on Aden's face, it was more than enough of a 'taste.'

"Holy shit," he said, mouth wide in disbelief. That look of amazement soon turned into a chuckle, then a hearty laugh of relief as he said, "Holy shit. That's amazing. You see what this means?"

I certainly didn't. I looked back at Danev, who seemed to have even less of an idea, then I turned to Aden once again.

"It means the streets are ours," he said with elation. "Second we're back in the slums, back with the Hornets, we've won! Can take over in the blink of an eye. We'll be unstoppable."

All three of us? Of course, as Danev had advised me, I said nothing. Even when now suddenly joyous as to my existence, I felt no better, the knot in my stomach even tighter as a result of Aden's praise, not knowing just how much harm for the Hornets I was responsible for.

The 122nd was finally back, the noise of their appearance and entrance of Fashun, our resident earthbender, to his bunk below Aden's. He looked up, surprised by the new arrival, and looked to Danev for answers who just gave a shake of the head that clearly meant, 'Don't ask.'

He nodded, and settled in. I was glad for the interruption that the 122nd's entrance provided at least, breaking the flow of the conversation that would have been too uncomfortable to pursue anyway.

Aden settled back down onto his bunk and Danev gave me a curt nod of his head that I supposed was meant to say that I handled myself well there.

It certainly doesn't feel that way.

The clamor of the 122nd's entrance slowly dwindled down to a halt before it was interrupted by a sound that normally did not accompany such an occurrence.

It was that of the barracks' main door closing, in front of it, two firebenders and an officer–Eemusan.

What's going on here? I thought as I got on my knees on my bunk to look higher than the few rows of other slumdogs in front of me so as to get a better look. I immediately began to panic, thinking to myself, did they know I bent? Supposed to be recess by now. Danev was at attention too, Aden not able to care at all about what was going on, none of this unusual as far as he was aware to be fair.

Colonel Eemusan waited until the commotion of the 29th's confused chatter came to a close before announcing, "Attention! We have become aware that there are a number of possessions that have not yet been distributed to some of the trainees here."

"Fuckers finally giving me back my knife," Danev muttered, no doubt referring to the one that'd been Riu's, and before him, some poor Fire Nation negotiator.

Eemusan, not interrupted by the silent comment, resumed however, saying, "A full list is still being compiled, but for now, we have a series of letters addressed towards somebody by the name of 'Aegis.' Does anybody here go by, or used to go by this name?"

Suddenly, the knot in my stomach was gone. Or at least, if it was still there, it was near impossible to think about in light of the sudden halt in my breathing, the pause in my heart as it skipped a beat, and the unmistakable fear I felt as I only wondered one thing.

How do they know that name?

Danev too seemed perplexed, and his eyes darted up to me. We exchanged a momentary look before we seemed to agree at the same time that whatever the hell was going on, staring at one another certainly was not helping our case.

"Either present yourself now, or come to my office to retrieve your possessions later. We advise you not to lie as we take theft seriously. You may now resume your free time. Dismissed!"

And with that, he left, allowing Danev's eyes to trail right back to me. He'd heard that name, I knew. I'd said it in my sleep. I hadn't thought I had, the words spoken just in my thoughts, but if the look he gave me was any indication, he knew. At least, he knew that I knew something. More than that, nothing. But then again, I'd thought that name was something only Reek and I were aware of.

How the hell does the Fire Nation know that name? Is there another 'Aegis?' It'd be a coincidence, but that'd have to be the only way. Why would they be looking for me? Is it something about the? The ones I hear at night? What the hell is going on?

Danev's eyes were still on me, and mine on his, unable to provide an answer either to him or to myself until we were thankfully interrupted by the approach of Holan, Elephant Platoon, 114th Company, asking Danev, "We still a go for today?"

He was talking about our usual training. Of course.

Danev shot out of his near trance, and turned back to his comrade, saying, "Right. Yeah. We're still a go." he stood up, crossing the aisle to Aden's bunk to shake him awake from the nap he was in. "Aden. Get up!"

"The fuck?" Aden groaned. "Thought it was supposed to be recess."

"Not for us. We have training. You especially."

"Why me especially?" Aden asked as I found myself already out of bed, my eyes tracing back to the barracks' front doors to see they were now open.

Is this a trap? Am I going to step outside and the first thing that's going to happen is they snatch me? No, they would have come to me if they knew. So what do they want? What the hell is happening?

"Because you've been out of practice for half a year," Danev said. "Besides. Shit you know from the streets won't save you here."

Aden grinned. "That a wager?"

Danev was less amused. "Just get up."

And he did.

It would end up being in Aden's best interest that no such wager was made. He seemed almost insulted when Danev suggest he be put up against me, but conceded quickly enough upon the reminder of the discovery he'd made about me just a few moments ago.

"Just don't use any of that fire shit on me," he said before we began with our sparring, CQC for the day at Danev's behest.

Aden never stood a chance.

I tried to think back on the last time we'd fought. It'd been back in the slums, obviously, in a sparring match that Danev had set up for me to get some experience fighting somebody other than himself. Aden had never been my biggest fan, and took those chances as his opportunity to put me in my place. Those had been lessons more in pain tolerance and durability than they had been in fighting.

I considered that I should have resented him for all of that, but the truth was, I couldn't find much anger to spare that wasn't already spent on the dead and myself. More than anything, it was a relief seeing him alive, knowing that there was some semblance of the Hornets beyond Danev and myself that wasn't a rotting corpse. That I hadn't gotten everyone killed. I wanted Aden to be alright, to find his way through this, but the knot in my stomach didn't exactly help interacting with him.

In spite of that same discomfort though, fighting him couldn't have been easier.

It was likely on account of the difference in training, my shaoling firebending fighting style in particular. It too could have easily been Aden having been in bed for months on end, but the way he fought, moved so slowly that I could anticipate his next three moves seconds before he could even carry them out, it wasn't just that. He was untrained, unskilled, and unprepared. I'd overestimated the struggle he would give and threw him to the ground near instantly, drawing enough attention from those around us that Aden rose so quick he actually fell again, face flushed, mortified.

"Back to your own mistakes!" Danev scolded the others, urging them to focus on themselves while I extended a hand to help Aden rise back up which he, obviously, did not take. Once was bad, twice was worse, and though I tried to take things easier as we went, I wasn't half as good as feigning incompetency as I was at tearing him apart to the point that he angrily demand I give him all I got.

So I did. I tried to tell him what he was doing wrong, be it his footing, where he was focusing his eyes, the weight in his stance, everything, but he couldn't find it in him to listen, growing more frustrated by the second to the point it took him only about half of our usual training time to leave.

"Let him go," Danev advised. "Needs to blow off some steam."

"You're not worried how?" I asked in return.

"Soldiers here have knocked out bigger than him. He acts up, they'll protect him from himself."

In other words, don't make him your responsibility right now.

The training ended soon enough. Once again, we were being subjected to bookwork, only it was of a kind that no longer pertained to the history or culture of a nation we were unlikely to ever see. Instead, for the 114th and 122nd, it was survival manuals, instructions for the use of certain weapons such as their fancy hand cannons, and for the 62nd armored, of which I was a tank gunner, it was vehicle specifications, functions, instructions, all the like.

As we left the training room, surprised by the sight of two Fire Nation guards waiting by the entrance as opposed to usual, not stopping anybody, but just watching, I figured I would find Gunji and Gan to begin going over our material. However, the prospect of that was interrupted by Danev pulling me aside, down a hallway.

What?

Fire Nation soldiers there. Danev changed course, pulling us instead into a bathroom, unoccupied but for a guard who waited by the entrance.

What's going on?

Danev checked the stalls, one at a time. We were alone.

"What the hell are you doing?"

He didn't answer just yet, now pacing to the sinks, turning the valves so that the pressure may build and the water may flow. It soon did.

He turned back to face me, the water now running, hiding our voices, and asked immediately, "That name they said. 'Aegis.' What is it?"

"What?" I asked, perhaps, though stupidly thinking I could make him forget what he'd heard me say in the middle of that night. It was a foolish attempt.

"Don't bullshit me. I heard what you said that night. 'Aegis.' What is, who is that?"

What can I tell him? I immediately felt the compulsive urge to ask myself. But why? It was just an old name, my birth name that I somehow remembered. It was just a name that Reek and I had agreed never to use so we might better acclimate ourselves with the slums. And it hadn't done any good at that. It was inconsequential. It was meaningless. Though that begged the question, Why does the Fire Nation care? It couldn't have been me they were looking for. It had to be another. I'd never heard somebody else with that name, but if I had it, that had to mean it was an average one, right? It wasn't me they were after. At least, that's what I told myself so I might let myself give Danev an answer. And so I answered.

"It's my name," I said. "My real name. The one I was born with."

Danev's eyes widened, looking deep into mine so as to make sure I wasn't kidding. "You…you're serious."

I nodded my head.

"How…how does the Fire Nation know that's your name?"

"If the Fire Nation knew that was my name, I don't think they would have bothered asking. I don't think we would be having this conversation."

That calmed Danev down. A bit at least. "Why are they looking for you?"

"I don't know."

"Fluke!"

"I said I don't know! Might not even be me they're after. Could be somebody else."

"How many other people you know have that same weird ass name? If somebody else had it and said it, they'd already have their man. And why would they be asking here if they didn't know it was somebody within these fucking walls?!"

I knew he was right. I'd been trying not to tell myself those simple facts for about an hour now, but it all led back to the same place. They're looking for me. Why? And all the time too, it led right back there. Why me? I didn't do anything wrong.

Danev saw my lack of response, knowing that I had no retort. It was me they were after sure enough, but still, he would try to think of something else, of any excuse.

"How are you," he paused, stuttering. "How are you sure that's your name?"

"Danev,..."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just know. Same way you know yours, I guess."

"But you never used it. Why?"

"Reki and I, we-"

"Reki?" And just like my real name, of course he didn't know Reek's.

"Reek," I answered, clarifying that for him. "We agreed not to use our names. Told ourselves it was the only way to keep ourselves remembering to become different people to survive in the slums. Worked for one of us at least."

"How long since then? How long since 'Fluke?'" Clearly, he was referring to how long that'd been my name.

I shrugged. It was no easy thing to really put a date to. It was about as far back as I could remember. "3," I guessed. "4 maybe. I don't know."

"And it was only Reek who knew?" I nodded, but that wasn't enough. "Nobody else."

"Nobody else," I answered."

Danev didn't say anything immediately after that. He was thinking. And so was I. There's no reason for them to have a problem with me, I told myself. I haven't done anything to the Fire Nation. I'm a soldier for them now, a bender too. They'll want to keep me around. I can't be in danger here, right?

"Maybe," I started. "If I just go to them and talk thing-"

"No. What are you, fucking stupid?"

"I haven't done anything to them."

"So why are they looking for you? No. You don't say shit."

"So now I get to keep shit from Aden and the Fire Nation, that it?"

"If you want to stay alive, yes."

"But if I can get this sorted,-"

"You can't!"

"Danev!"

"You can't. Keep your head low, don't say a damned word, and don't give the Fire Nation, Aden, or anybody else an excuse to come after your ass. We're going to make it out of this, it's not going to be by being idiots."

"And how do we plan on getting out of this? Really plan on listening to Aden? Going back to the slums?"

"Of course not," Danev said, sighing, perhaps aggravated that I may even say such a thing, but it was a relief to me, especially after Danev had given the thought some voice to cool Aden down. "I don't know what to do. Yet. You let me figure that out, and you keep yourself alive, okay?"

By trying to hide in plain sight with two groups of people who might just kill me if they heard the truth?

"Okay?!" Danev asked again.

I nodded. "Okay."

He nodded too, and stopped the sinks one at a time in the bathroom before leaving ahead of me. We were done here.

It wasn't easy to sleep that night. Obviously. If it wasn't my own nerves keeping me up, forcing me to open my eyes and look to either side of me upon hearing any noise upon the suspicion that it was a Fire Nation death squad here to abduct me, then it was what I precisely suspected to be the cause of the suspicion surrounding me.

As such, I heard the voice again, and it called, "Aegis." But there was more this time. "Talk…to me."

I looked around, again. There was nobody to have spoken that voice. That same damned voice. In its place, a faint glow, emanating from the barracks' bathroom, something about it calling me.

Normally, I would have been content to ignore it, discard knowing that as it always did, it would go as quick as it'd come, but now things were different. Now, it wasn't just me who dealt with this voice. Whether it was the Fire Nation after me or Danev at equal risk by merit of being associated with me, there was more at stake, and I wanted answers.

I followed.

I gently lowered myself from my bunk and tiptoed my way towards the bathroom, past roughly five hundred sleeping Fire Nation recruits.

I reached the bathroom, and in a similar trick as to earlier, chose a stall, turned on a sink, and shut myself within, asking immediately in a low voice that would be concealed by the sound of running water, "What's happening?"

I don't know what I'd been expecting–a response? The voice had indeed said, 'Talk to me,' which I now did, but was only left in a deafening silence.

"What's happening?" I asked again. "What do you want?"

A cold wind appeared to pass through the barracks and around me as the frustration grew.

"Damnit!" I said, louder, unable to throw aside the building anger with my predicament. "What do you want?"

"Aegis," it came again, just barely a whisper as though leaving bed had reduced the signal. Nonetheless, I listened closely. "Solstice…Follow…"

And it was gone. The wind had died to a standstill, and I sat alone in an empty stall while water ran from a faucet outside.

What? I thought. That's it? I looked around to my sides. There was nothing. No otherworldly entity that'd visited me, no company, no trace of her, no, it's presence.

It said the solstice. To…follow it? It made no sense, but then again, nothing truly did as of late.

The solstice was in only a few days, I knew, but until then, as I was right in that moment, I was alone. But maybe then though, I would finally have something resembling a damned answer.