31 Luke

"Halt! Halt!" called Lieutenant Zand from his command vehicle, a heavily modified tank lined with not just extra steel plate, but golden rims and patterns imitating that of an exhaling dragon, spouting flames at the enemy.

If his shouting wasn't enough to wake me, then it was the sudden jerk of the tank that did, knocking my head against the side of the gunner's dome. I could hardly hear Gan's apology to me as I clutched the side of my head where I had hit it.

My head still pounding, I peeked at the evening sky ahead of me. We had been driving for 6 days now according to the scratches I had decided to start making on the interior of my gunner's dome. 6 nice white little sticks where I had scraped the paint off to indicate the number of days I had been on the road.

We would have been travelling a lot faster if it wasn't for the 22nd infantry, or, should I say, the infantry portion of the 5th Corps. The 15th armored had had armored transports to carry what little infantry divisions we had, but the 22nd hadn't been equipped the same way. They were forced to march almost constantly just to keep up with us. I almost pitied them.

Ahead of me, the sky was overcast, an indicator of the ending winter and the coming spring. It had been a short winter. There was barely any snow to be had in Citadel, but it was probably for the best. I doubted any of it would still have been white by the time it reached even the tallest building considering the concentration of industry in Citadel.

Citadel. A part of me missed it, but the bigger part of myself was overjoyed to put it behind me. That city held nothing but pain and shitty memories for me. It was where nearly everybody I had ever known and loved had died. The only person left from my life now was Danev. He was the only family I had left.

I spotted Zand easily enough by the "humble" tank, calling out our next orders. "We're stopping here. Keep tanks stationed at coordinates S10, I9. Camp will be set up at coordinates S9, I9. The infantry division will be arriving at 2200 so you'll be setting up camp alone, again. Move out!

"Luke!" Gi Gu called from the cockpit. "Mind getting out and staking camp for us? Get us a spot near the river if you can."

"Sure." I replied. "No problem."

I raised above me to unlatch the lock to the hatch and raised it, letting a welcome breeze of cool air flow into the tank. I grabbed my small supply pack I kept under my seat and threw it out ahead me, unafraid of breaking the few possessions I had brought from Citadel. I crawled out after it, retrieving my bad from where it was lying on the hull, and closed the hatch behind me. I walked around the tank to the rear where our personal supplies were being kept and grabbed the tent, leaving the sleeping bags behind, trusting them to have a better idea where they wanted to sleep. It would be getting dark soon considering I could see the soon below the line of grey clouds. It would be a good idea to get camp set up as quickly as possible. I hope we have a tarp. I looked through the back of the storage compartment, and sure enough, found the nice blood red tarp with a large black blot I imagined would be a Fire Nation emblem once unfolded. I wiped some of the dust off of the tarp before closing the storage compartment, moving up to where the driver's seat would be, and knocked on the side of the tank twice, signaling they were good to go.

More or less, I got the luck of the draw being as small as I was. I got to ride around in a tank all day instead of marching unimaginable distances. I normally got first choosing on where I wanted to camp considering barely any ground was taken, and I was probably the safest person in this entire Corps. I was small and heavily armored. What more could I have asked for?

I saw the river Gi Gu was referring to. So we finally reached the end of it. We had been following the river that flowed south of Citadel for the last week, never reaching the end of it. I guess we had finally found it. I walked, weighed down by both my ill-fitting armor and the luggage I was carrying to a nice elevation in the ground no more than 200 feet from the lake. Any closer and I might have to worry about flooding if it starts to storm.

I planted the 4 stakes in the ground first and set up the foundations around which the tent would be wrapped. I started unfolding the cloth that I hoped the others would help me to wrap around the foundations.

Soon enough, other tank crews started moving in, setting up their own tanks. We had a good spot. Not too far and not too close to the lake. Should be good for the night. Others moved closer to the lake than I had. They had more confidence in the weather than I did. Odds were the river wouldn't flood as wide and long as it was, but I wasn't in the mood to take risks today.

Soon enough, my own crew found me, carrying what was left of our supplies, helping me to set up camp. Once the tent was erect, Gan sent me to collect kindling for warmth and dinner while Gi Gu was sent to try and fish for said dinner. Gan had become something of the leader to our small crew, being the driver, he viewed himself as having the most power. I went along with it. He was the eldest of us anyway and I liked to think he knew what he was doing. He probably did too. I at least hoped so.

Finding kindling was no small task. Trees were scarce around these parts considering we had left the forests behind us three days ago. From that point on, we had come to rely on whatever we could to start a fire. Being a firebender didn't mean shit if the fire died 3 seconds later. Sure, I could probably keep it in my hand, but I didn't think we would be willing to cook a salmon over my out-stretched palm any time soon. We had come close in that tank, but not that close.

I picked up some dead branches and leaves from a tree that hadn't yet been touched by our armored division. I left some behind for at least one other tank crew, and once again came to pity the infantry. They really had the worst end of the deal. That was probably the reason that Lieutenant General Zahckrael had chosen to tag along with us rather than his original unit. I could already see his command pavilion being raised on the biggest hill in the area, a red blot against the dusk sky.

By now, the wind was picking up, nearly blowing all of the kindling I had collected straight out of my arms. I held it close to my chest as I raced back to camp, back against the south-bound wind, quickly stashing what I had collected within the closed walls of the camp. Gan had already set up his sleeping bag in my favorite spot, the right wall. I liked to have my right side facing the doorway while my feet faced it as well. It meant I could keep an eye on it whether lying on my back or on my side and I liked to have eyes on the entrance at all times. Guess Gan felt the same way. I settled for the far back of the tent, straight across from the exit. The entrance of the tent faced west so at least the rising sun wouldn't be in my eyes come the morning.

The fire pit hadn't yet been dug, but neither had the tarp been put up. Judging by the weather, I anticipated the fire pit would end up being dug inside the tent rather than outside, so I decided to grab the tarp off the ground, wiping the dirt off of it, and setting it up above the tent. It didn't take me long to realize I was too short to reach the top of the tent, a discovery I hadn't made prior to a lack of need of the tarp. Now, however, some extra inches would have been welcome.

I saw Gan approach from behind me, slightly chuckling at my failure until offering to help only after a good minute of entertainment. "Go help Gi Gu with dinner. Kid doesn't know how to fish for shit."

So as Gan set up the tarp above our tent, I moved eastwards, towards the river and the empty sky where around 30 soldiers where now gathering around with the same ideas for dinner.

We had been provisioned with rations for the journey, but we realized after taking initial inventory that it wouldn't be enough. We had all made the same discovery and hence, here we all were, fishing for the same fish, all with the same amount of misfortune by the looks of it.

"They won't bite!" Gi Gu exclaimed, visibly frustrated. "Don't like worms, assholes!?" he yelled, most likely at the fish, but I couldn't be sure.

"Is the worm still on the line?" I asked.

"Of course the worm is on the line, look!

He pulled out the line, seemingly frustrated that I would ask such a stupid question, but it had been less stupid than he had expected considering the bait was gone.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled, throwing the pole on the ground. "I'm going to help get a fire ready. You do this or something, I don't know!"

I had never learned how to fish. The next 30 minutes proved as much as rain started coming down as droplets and I found myself still unable to hook a single fish. I made habits of attaching two worms at once hoping for better results that never came. I never had learned how to fish, but I had learned how to shoot fire and the fact I was wasting my time trying to take them alive seemed rather silly to me. SO I would attach bait the hook and the line, leave it shallow enough in the water, leaving the pole on the ground, keeping a foot on it lest a fish decide to take the bait and the pole with it. I stood waiting for the next fish when I heard a voice behind me say, "That's not how you do it you know."

"Don't judge me, Danev. I'm hungry."

"Never learn how to fish?"

"Well. Let's see. I was born in the middle of the slums, never stepping foot outside the city until 6 days ago. Take a wild guess."

"We have sewers."

"You fished in the sewers?"

"No. Just saying we had 'em."

"How are you contributing to this conversation again?"

"Don't know. Just by commenting on your entertaining lack of fishing skills."

"Skills that you possess?"

"I never said that."

Danev had been quiet for the last week ever since I told him about what I had seen with Aden. He refused to believe that Aden kill himself. Of course, eventually, he accepted it. He told me that he never took Aden for the kind of person to go down without a fight. The news took him rather hard. I could tell he cared for Aden. They had been part of the Hornets for a long time and now, we were the only two left. It was a frightening realization, but an honest one. Now, however, the Hornets were gone, buried or burned in Citadel with Aden's corpse. It was pronounced "the 5th Corps" now.

I saw the fish come near, ready to investigate the not at all suspicious food waiting on a hook. He took his bite and I took mine. Once the ripples in the water as well as the steam had cleared, a fish floated to the surface of the water, belly up, a black burn across its body.

As I waded into the water to collect my prize, and a sizable one at that, Danev asked after me, "You been practicing more?"

"My firebending?" I asked as I picked up the fish.

"No, you're fishing skills. Yes, you're firebending."

"Every now and then during the nights. At least now that kind of thing is expected of me."

"It wasn't in Citadel?"

"In Citadel, I was the only firebending student. At least here I'm with others like me."

"There are none others like you. You're still the youngest of them. If anything, you stick out more."

I shrugged. That wasn't the whole truth of it. In reality, my growing habits of practicing more were due to both an admiration of the ability and the fear of what would happen if I didn't know what to do when my life was put on the line.

We started to make our way back to camp, myself holding the fish under one arm and the fishing pole in the other.

"You going to take that fish back to your camp?" he asked.

"Yeah. You wanna join us?

"No thanks. Us officers were invited to the command pavilion for a feast tonight. I'm going to dine with the Lieutenant General himself."

"Your hilarious." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Thanks, but I'll pass on the dinner. We convinced our driver in the transport to pull over because we saw a nice-looking deer. We're splitting it amongst the infantry."

"The entire 22nd?"

"No. Just the infantry from Citadel. Turns out that they're not the bigoted fucks they used to be. Guess being in the same army with the same probability of death does that. Your crew treating you well?"

"I would say so. Knowing I'm the only defense they have in that bucket of bolts keeps them respectful."

Danev chuckled. "Glad to hear it. You're welcome to the venison tonight with us if you want any. Zanrick still has some of the rum he smuggled out of his parents' house before we left. I think his parents would be almost happy to get one last reminder of their kid before he went to war."

"I'm good. You know what they say. 'Say 'no' to peer pressure and all.'"

"You're hilarious."

"Thanks. I'm the only thing keeping morale in my crew alive."

We got to my tent. The tarp was up and sure enough, the black dot was a Fire Nation insignia, facing the sky proudly. And not a moment too soon. The rain was picking up.

"I'll see you this time tomorrow?"

"Probably so. Have a good night."

"Try not to drink too much. We move out at first light tomorrow."

"I'll be there. I don't plan on being left behind. Trust me."

"Good. Good night, Danev."

"You too, Luke."

And sure enough, me, Gan, and Gi Gu, are inside the tent that night. We kept the entrance flap open to release the smoke as I cooked the fish with a nice self-made fire. I boiled water that Gan had taken from the river as well which we used to flush down the fish that had one particularly burnt side from a certain blat of fire.

Nonetheless, as the rain padded against the earth ground as I shot fire over the lake that night, I realized that I wasn't in the worst place in the world. I had more friends than I had ever hand before and this time, it wasn't because of survival, there was an actual bond forming between the people in this army.

I created another burst of fire, sending it down the river to the horizon, never to be seen again and realized that I felt something here that I never felt anywhere else. I felt safe. In the slums, that was never the case, nor in the military district. I had ever been safe, but for some reason, right here, I did. That feeling, I knew, wouldn't last. I was heading into a warzone and that safety wouldn't last.

I put my hands together and created a wall of flame in front of me, creating a mist of steam as the water boiled against it, releasing as gas into the midnight sky.

But I was ready for it.