With the 11th being given time off, most of the troops of the 11th took the opportunity to visit their families back in the home islands, or try establishing new ones in Zilang. The bastard Lieutenant Colonel Mozi had to be smuggled out to the docks to bypass the small mob of women waiting to throw themselves at him, with Li Ming having to make a show of waiting in the tea house to distract them.
Lieutenant Koshi and half of the bodyguards took their turns to return home as well, with the head bodyguard supposedly scheduled for an arranged marriage. Bofang wished his brave leader all the best, and hoped that the lucky girl would be able to deal with long periods of her husband's absence…without resorting to things that made up half the damned stories for stageplays and novellas.
The colonel seemed serious in offering to avenge any infidelity inflicted to the married and betrothed soldiers of the 11th, be they man or woman. "NTR is a trash fetish," he'd declared, whatever that meant. Though with the young commander's origins, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that he found the bonds of loyalty and family to be sacred, and that he was highly protective of his family.
Guarantee of vengeance aside, the 11th Regiment was already rather generous with its perks. Thanks especially to the princess' influence, those serving in the regiment not only enjoyed higher pay and pension, but wounded retirees got enough of a 'hazard reimbursement' from the royal coffers to drag up peasant families into a comfortable middle class life.
Because Princess Azula wanted to remind everyone that the 11th Regiment enjoyed her support, and to ensure that her soldiers would be better off than the other common rabble. And there's also the letters of recommendation with the princess' own seal to guarantee a new line of business if they didn't want teaching positions in the regiment's training grounds.
Regardless of her intentions, the generosity and clear dedication to the 11th was more than enough to 'buy' the loyalty of everyone in the regiment.
Enough so that every time rumors came from the royal capital of some noble or another supposedly making light of the princess and her 'naive inexperience', there were a lot of volunteers eager to investigate the rumors. And spirits help you if you made light of her within earshot of any soldier of the 11th. The last time some brainless troops from the allied 21st Brigade in the First Assault Army made a crass joke about how the princess secured her regiment's loyalty, a one-sided brawl had broken out. Punishment on the 11th's side had been light, considering they were 'correcting' a slight against the crown princess.
Still, Bofang felt it was a shame that the brigade did not survive the encirclement, he'd have liked to get his own licks in at the crude insult. Unfortunately, Captain Ping had been unable to reach them in time. Supposedly, some reckless firebenders had knocked out earthbender projectiles in such a haphazard fashion that many of the boulders crashed onto the men of the 21st Brigade and blocked their retreat. At least her battalion had managed to secure the brigade's supplies, and avenge their demise by putting the resources to good use.
It was a damned shame, but alas…
Without any honor to avenge, the three-month break granted to the regiment posed a new problem for Bofang. And unfortunately for him and his fellow bodyguards it came in the form of his colonel.
"It's a bad idea, sir," Shan-Tsu reiterated, though Colonel Xing only shrugged.
"That's why I'm going in light, if there's trouble I can quickly leave."
Kwan let out a heavy sigh. "'We', sir. You can't go out alone, you know that." Especially after what happened with King Bumi, nobody here wanted to have the colonel vulnerable again. Koshi would likely run across the sea to throttle each and every one of them if he found out.
"Besides," Bofang joined in, "It's obviously a trap."
"But it conveniently solves a few problems for me," Xing said, almost pouting like a boy his age might. "And just because it's a trap-"
"You barely got a draw against the Mad King before," Kwan stated firmly. "Going into Omashu will get you killed, sir. We cannot allow you to leave."
Shan-Tsu nodded with some regret. "Please don't make us use the princess' orders on you, sir."
At the threat, the colonel finally backed down. "Fine, fine. I won't take up King Bumi's invitation to go to Omashu."
There was something about the way he strung the sentence that made the bodyguards frown with concern. At their collective stares, the young commander relented.
"Okay. I won't try to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom lines in any way. I won't even think of going near the front lines. Happy?"
Again, Bofang didn't like the way the colonel said what he did, but it was about the best answer they'd get out of him. Well, until the boy gave a triumphant grin.
And they ended up just barely catching him sneaking into a boat in the middle of the night several days later.
It took Bofang a lucky glance to notice the small, colonel-sized hole in the tapestry outside his room. A quick check into his room to confirm his absence (along with a letter with orders on the desk), and the bodyguards rushed out, alerting the patrols as well.
It'd been a subtle thing, but thankfully Scout Captain Sungho quickly locked onto the commander's trail and found him at the docks with a small sack over his shoulder. Colonel Xing had the decency to look ashamed as he was caught, with Captain Rufen practically stomping over to drag the colonel out of the boat.
"I'll be writing to the princess about this" the captain hissed. "And Kai and Ren."
"Please don't," the colonel simply said as he let himself be dragged to solid ground. Some glares at the town guards nearby bought them some privacy. "I just need to run a quick errand."
Neither bodyguards, captains or soldiers looked amused at the sheepish grin the boy offered them. "Look, it's impossible to explain, but…I need to relay something to King Bumi. It doesn't have to be face to face, I just need to pass a message."
"You're right. It's impossible to explain," the usually quiet Scout Captain said with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you fucking mad?" the captain of the 5th Battalion asked with a rising voice.
"Yes," Colonel Xing immediately replied, catching Captain Rufen off guard. "But I'm not stupid. I'll just land near Omashu, drop off my message at a patrol, and then return. It won't take a month."
"Colonel, sir," Shan-Tsu interrupted, trying to calm things down. "You know the risks are too high, and you know the regiment cannot afford to lose you."
"I'll be fine," the commander insisted.
"Sneaking into an Earth Kingdom city is not the same as sneaking into outskirt towns, colonel," Captain Sungho stated flatly.
"That's why I'm not going to sneak into the city. Seriously. I want to just give the guy a message, and then I'm off."
"What's so important that you're risking abandoning your regiment, colonel?" Bofang asked, and that got the boy to slump a little with some guilt.
"It's…" he tried to begin, but then sighed and regarded them with the eyes of a worried child who was worried about not being believed. "It's a gamble, alright? I want…need to try and secure something."
Captain Rufen calmed down a little, though his skepticism remained. "What does the Mad King have that's so important?"
"Nothing, yet." There was a weight to that cryptic answer that made Bofang frown heavily. Colonel Xing was willing to risk his own life for a trip to Omashu. He was willing to sneak past his own soldiers. Was this a whim of the spirits?
The conversation went back and forth for a while, but eventually, somehow, the colonel got back into the boat, though this time with Bofang and the other bodyguards in tow.
"Two weeks," Captain Rufen warned. "After that, spirits have mercy on you, because I'm sure none of the other captains, nor Mozi or the princess, will."
The small steamboat quietly left the docks after that, and the bodyguards took turns at the boat's helm after promising the colonel that they would not turn back. As the boy went back to sleep, Bofang and his fellows quietly wondered amongst themselves about his stubborn intentions for trying to meet the king of Omashu.
It took them three days to reach the cliff edges of the Kolau mountain range, and eventually come across a suitable landing site. The climb up was hard, but not as strenuous as the training drills, and by the fifth day, Omashu's peaks were sticking out in the far distance.
"We're going to drop off your message," Shan-Tsu confirmed instead of asked, and Colonel Xing shrugged.
"I'd like that as my worst case scenario, but…yeah, the first patrol we come across, I'll drop them the note and we'll leave."
The spirits must have truly wanted their fun, because they did not encounter a single patrol as they climbed their way towards Omashu. Their first Earth Kingdom soldiers they encountered were, the guards of the city's lone stone bridge, just a fire's throw away.
With a smirk and a fake defeated shrug, Colonel Xing stepped out and announced himself to the bridge guards, leaving Bofang and the others hurried to follow after him.
"I think I have an invitation?"
*****
It had been a delight to take to the field once more, despite the danger it posed to his little kingdom. Bumi understood the importance of peace and stability, but going into a fight after decades of sitting in court was refreshing. But all good things had to come to an end, and after that encounter with the prodigious firebender, Bumi had returned to his city as he had promised the boy.
He'd been a good fight, way better than any bender the king had met in his long lifetime. Very polite too, bowing and observing the courtesies of battle even if he didn't have to. And the stories about the Young Dragon and his Defiant 11th... Bumi actually got a kick out of reading through the reports for once. Despite the losses inflicted, despite the methodical applications of brutality, Bumi had to admit he liked the way the kid was thinking.
His 11th Regiment were gruesome foes in combat, throwing limbs to spook their enemies and slipping into camps at night to slit throats. Many said the boy was responsible for refining if not coming up with those tactics.
Yet they were also respectable hosts to their prisoners, and had no record of terrorizing the towns and villages they came across. There were accusations of them luring the womenfolk away, but that sounded utterly tame compared to raping and pillaging that often followed in the wake of armies.
Coupled with the fact that their young colonel was a terror on the battlefield by himself, no wonder the northern Earth Kingdom states were hesitant to engage the Fire Nation regiment even with a significant numbers advantage.
And now, said prodigy had somehow managed to show up at the gates of Omashu out of nowhere, actually taking up Bumi's invitation.
Truly a shame that he had to be a Fire Nation soldier.
Bumi had the boy brought in discreetly into the city and the palace, and found himself grinning as the young colonel stood before him, all formal and polite.
"King Bumi, I thank you for the hospitality."
There was an undercurrent of…something in Xing's voice, though it didn't tickle Bumi's sense of danger.
"Of course, of course. Not everyday I get to meet a boy who can keep up with me. Now then, how are you with spiced roasts?"
Bumi led the boy and his nervous bodyguards to the feast hall, and waited for them to sit down before calling in the first wave of dishes. Amusingly, the boy dug into the appetizers immediately, uncaring that his guards were not-so-subtly cautioning him. Xing instead gave a smirk at Bumi.
"I'm sure the king would have better ways of removing us if he wanted to, instead of relying on poisoning."
"Certainly," he replied, giving a smirk of his own. "I could create a pit underneath you and seal you up." The way the bodyguards suddenly snapped their heads all around them almost made Bumi laugh.
"Or just drop the ceiling on us," Xing said with a shrug, and then returned to his dish. "Soup's good. Lotus?"
Bumi almost frowned. "Turtleduck, actually."
"Ah. I thought with how white and clear it was, it was lotus and eggs."
No way. This boy? Bumi found his lips tugging up into a grin.
"If you'd like, I'm sure I can have my chefs serve up some lotus jelly after this."
"With white cream?"
"Naturally." Yes, this kid was definitely an interesting case. His subtlety could use more work, but his guards were too nervous to notice, and everyone else was similarly on edge about the Fire Nation guests.
Dinner continued with a bit of small talk, though Xing did not bring up the lack of lotus jelly appearing. The king and the colonel bantered about life away from the front lines, and anything related to the war was avoided completely. The boy's guardians eventually got comfortable enough to enjoy their meals, and Bumi noted how they remained tense and always kept Xing in their peripheral vision, ready to act in case of some subtle order or if anything happened to their colonel.
Good lads, these bodyguards. Again, it was a shame they were on the enemy's side.
With dinner over two hours later, Bumi led his stuffed guests to one of the larger guest rooms. Some casual earthbending renovated the room to comfortably house all seven of them.
Bumi was about to leave them to their food coma, but Xing stopped him. "Before we retire for the night, your majesty, would you mind a moment of discussion? Since we'll have to leave first thing tomorrow morning after all…"
Of course he had another agenda for coming here. The king smiled and nodded. "Of course, colonel."
"I hope you don't mind if it's a…discreet conversation." Xing looked to his bodyguards, and a silent staring match commenced. Chuckling, Bumi decided to chip in. With a tap of his foot, the ground underneath the guards shifted and flung them out of the room, and the doorway was closed up by a thick wall of earth.
"Thank you, your majesty."
"Not a problem. Now, what can old Bumi do for an interesting lad like yourself?"
Xing's smile dropped, and a far more serious expression formed on his face. "I've come with news, and a proposal."
The way he voiced those words made Bumi tense just a little, and he too slipped into the same seriousness. "What news?"
"Can you guarantee no one will hear us?"
Another light tap of Bumi's foot thickened the walls around them, and then he nodded.
Xing looked pensive for a second before he exhaled his words. "The Avatar will return in a few years. The…spirits told me." Before Bumi's eyes could fully widen, the boy continued, "You might be familiar with him too."
That sent Bumi's mind racing to figure out who exactly might that be. But before he could delve into that puzzle, or the validity of this news, the present required his attention. "I…see. Is there more?"
The boy shook his head. "That's all that I am sure of, unfortunately."
"Hm… And you said you have a proposal? Is it to help the Avatar?"
Xing shook his head once more. "The Avatar will likely get in the way. I have an…idea about hastening the end of the war."
Bumi's eyes narrowed at that. "To whose favor?"
"My regiment," the colonel answered without hesitation. "My family. And the people who are tired of the long war."
It was not a clear answer, but still…
"So what is it you propose?"
Xing gulped softly before he looked Bumi straight in the eyes with blazing determination. "Your help, as King of Omashu, when the time comes for it."
Help from a king? Now this sounded potentially interesting…
"And what exactly would you need my help with?"
"Treachery. On both ends."
And then Xing fully detailed his proposal, and Bumi found himself wondering if he should pass the mantle of 'Mad' to the boy. It was outright loony, but there was no denying that the proposal promised to be…fun.
"There is much that is left to the mercies of the unknown future, but overall… I agree."
They shook on it, the boy and the king sharing grins. A few ideas were exchanged for a bit, and then finally Bumi thinned the walls and reopened the doorway for the flustered bodyguards. "I'll leave you and your men to your sleep then."
"Thank you for your hospitality, your majesty."
Bumi couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Thank you for the interesting meeting, lad."
The Fire Nation colonel and his guards left the next morning, and Bumi wasted no time in preparing for the future. He'd have to reach out to old contacts and convince (or bully, actually) his court to make preparations for Omashu.
So immersed in the lunatic proposal that Bumi did not consider the potential return of the Avatar, and the possibility of them being a familiar face, until after the initial hectic planning was carried out.
The Avatar brought boring balance, after all. Xing's ambitious idea promised way more fun, even if it failed.