What Measure is a Non-Bender: An ATLA CYOA

I hated Full Moon Bay. It was one of those places where the hopeless were sold hope for everything they had, only for that hope to turn out to be little more than a short trip to someplace else that had no use for them, except this time they didn't even have any funds to fall back on. Ever since the Fire Nation broke the back of General Wei Gang's Army of the Kolau Mountains 5 years ago, people had started fleeing some of the more southerly bits of the Central Earth Kingdom in a hurry. True, some places still held out, Omashu was the shining example there, but many more were either abandoned or even collaborated with the advancing Fire Nation Army. There were rumors that Lao Beifong, Governor of Gaoling, had paid the Fire Nation a massive bribe to bypass Gaoling, though whether it was paid in money or, as some whispered, a continual tribute of war materials, was a matter of some debate. The front had even gotten as far as the Si Wong Desert, before General Yuan Shao's forces had managed to pull off a victory, bolstered by Mercenaries and Si Wong Tribesmen.

What this meant for Full Moon Bay was that the ferry here operated at maximum capacity, 3 times a day, every day, bringing masses of refugees across the lakes to Ba Sing Se. Where there were refugees, there were going to be smugglers, forgers, and black marketeers. Hence my dislike of Full Moon Bay. It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the law here acted like it should and cracked down, but corruption was rampant in the Earth Kingdom Army and Beauracracy, so the criminals just cut in the magistrates and guards and the law turned a blind eye. Hell, there were rumors that the Fire Nation had won some of their victories out west on the march to Ba Sing Se by outright bribing Earth Kingdom Army units with the promise of a big payday to defect. I didn't see it myself, but I heard stories from some of the Veterans of General Iroh's Siege of Ba Sing Se. Some of them told stories about how the Outer Wall had to have been breached by someone who knew exactly what its weaknesses were. The only folks who would know that would be Earth Kingdom Army Engineers.

How do I know this, you ask? Who am I? Why am I in a place I absolutely hate? Good Questions, glad you asked. My Name is Chen Zhen, and I'm a mercenary. No, I'm not a bender, but I have some very unique skills honed over a lifetime of training and fighting that make me employable by the sorts of folks most in need of a little extra muscle. These days? That tends to be the Earth Kingdom Army. Skills that include things like Chi-blocking, Certain internal Chi Techniques, heightened senses, mastery of Dao, Spear, Chain, and Guandao, Martial Arts, and a few other goodies courtesy of a certain Spirit who watches over my family line to ensure it doesn't die out. That's a whole other story I don't have time to tell, suffice to say I'm the last of an old and not very respected noble line.

As for what I'm doing here in Full Moon Bay? Well, that's a story that involves a girl, a bet, and far, far more Baiju than was perhaps sensible of me. Suffice to say, I lost my bet and had to take a contract of her choosing. Suffice to say the contract was for a month's rotation of guard duty at the Full Moon Bay Ferry. I could be out doing something that pays well and actually challenges me, but I just had to shoot my mouth off in front of one of the Kyoshi Warriors. Banished or not, they have a wicked sense of humor. So, here I am, babysitting refugees and having to turn a blind eye to all the corruption while I could be doing something more interesting. At least it was my last day on the contract so I'd be able to head out tomorrow for a new, hopefully, more exciting, job.

It was while I was patrolling the Western District for the last time that something interesting finally happened. Full Moon Bay didn't have a lot of Tea Houses, so when I saw folks running around the corner from one of them, very clearly running away from something, I knew this was one of the few times I'd actually be allowed to investigate. The various gangs and triads that had formed generally left the tea houses alone because only the more well-to-do sorts could afford to eat there and shaking down some dispossessed noble brought down the sort of heat they didn't want to deal with. The nobility tended to have a cousin or 3 in Ba Sing Se, after all, and nobody wanted the Dai Li sniffing around asking questions about why issues in Full Moon Bay had caused a political stink in Ba Sing Se.

I ran around the corner towards the Golden Pheasant Squirrel Tea House, only to come face to snout with an enormous, shaggy, white, beast. Its mouth was filled with fangs and teeth, its front paws able to tear open metal armor like it was paper. I beheld the Polar Bear Dog in all its glory and wondered briefly if I should call for backup.

Then the Polar Bear Dog opened its mouth and licked me in the face. Polar Bear Dog spit was not exactly on my list of desired skincare products and I cringed as the tongue basically bathed the left side of my face in it. "Ew. . .Great, now I smell like fish. . ." I sighed.

It was only after that when I noticed that people weren't fleeing FROM the Polar Bear Dog, but from a commotion inside. I could hear angry shouts and threats of violence.

"What do you mean you don't take Water Tribe Money! My Coin is as Blue as yours!" Came a heated voice from inside.

I looked at the Polar Bear Dog, who had laid down on the street after licking me. "Sounds like your human is in there. I'd better go get him out of there before he threatens anyone actually important." I sighed to the Polar Bear Dog.

The Polar Bear Dog just folded its paws up on top of its snout with a little groan.

"Right, sounds like this happens a lot then." I sighed, before heading inside.

Inside the Golden Pheasant Squirrel was made of golden wood and yellow paper. Delicate paintings of pheasant squirrels frolicking in various bushes were hung up on the walls, paper lanterns emitted a soft golden glow. It was a place for the upscale traveler to relax that was completely at odds with the scene that was unfolding in the main area of the restaurant. Old Man Hou, the owner of the establishment, was busily being berated by a man in Light, Southern Water Tribe, Fur Armor. The guy had a traditional jaw blade sheathed at his belt and a traditional battle club slung over his back. Honestly, if it wasn't for the temper he could fit the Southern Water Tribal stereotype to a T. The temper was odd. Most water tribals I knew of tended to be calmer, more like the ice they so often called up. This guy? Well if it wasn't for his physical appearance, I'd say he's got the temper of a fire bender. He was literally holding poor Old Man Hou up by his collar.

"Apologies, sir. But Earth Kingdom money is in point of fact, not blue." Said Old Man Hou, courteously. Rumors were that he'd been a personal chef to some noble back in his youth, I guess I could see that. The Water Tribal looked like he was liable to start shaking poor old Hou, so that seemed like a good place for me to cut in.

"Alright, what's the issue here?" I asked in as authoritative a voice as I could muster with half my face still slick with Polar Bear Dog spit from earlier.

The Water Tribal turned to look at me, saw that I was armored, carrying at least one visible weapon, and wearing the brown and tan uniform of the Full Moon Bay Guards along with the armor, and seemed to pause. He put Old Man Hou down and turned to face me. "The old man won't take my money!" He accused.

"Let me guess, you've got Southern Water Tribe coins, came in through the Port at Chameleon Bay, and traveled cross country afterward right?" I asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Asked the Water Tribal.

"Cause Chamelon Bay is the only port in the Earth Kingdom that hasn't been either seized by the Fire Nation or cut off from the rest of the Earth Kingdom by Fire Nation Forces. You probably didn't notice traveling overland, but nobody inland takes Water Tribe Coins, North or South. Hell, you'd be lucky to find folks who even know what Water Tribe Money looks like. Those that do, well, with most of the ports overrun by the Fire Nation, they look at anyone using Water Tribe money as a potential spy. Your money is worthless here, worse than that, it's suspicious." I replied.

The water tribal groaned and asked, "So how am I supposed to pay for my food?"

"Hou? Do you have any suggestions?" I asked.

Old Man Hou stroked his wispy goatee in thought. "Ordinarily, I'd set him to washing dishes until he paid me back, but that temper is just too much. I don't know if I can have him around my teahouse." He replied.

I thought for a few minutes. As I did, I looked over at the Water Tribal. He looked like he was a couple of years younger than me. Maybe 14-15? Around the same age I was during the whole Gaipan Campaign. If he could handle himself, he might be worth taking on as a traveling companion. Contracts tended to pay better for multiple mercenaries than just one guy. The ones that still paid well for one guy were either insanely dangerous or assassination missions. My decision made, I said, "Tell you what. I'll pay for your meal if you come work with me." I said.

"Be a guard? Here? Pass. I'm on a journey to prove myself as a warrior and I can't do that guarding some ferry in the interior of the Earth Kingdom. Thanks for the offer, but no." Replied the Water Tribal.

"Well then, isn't it lucky for you that I'm not really a guard. I'm a mercenary whose guard contract runs out at the end of the day. If you travel with me, you'll run into enough stuff that you're bound to prove yourself." I grinned.

"Mercenary? I dunno, you any good?" He asked.

"Well, we could step outside and you could test me. You win, and I'll pay for your meal no strings attached. I beat you, you come work with me. How's that sound?" I asked.

"Sounds like a pretty good deal for me either way. What's in it for you?" Asked the Water Tribal.

"Contracts pay better with more than one guy taking them on. Together we'll get paid more than if I went at this all on my own." I shrugged.

The Water Tribal paused for a moment to think it over, trying to examine every angle to see if there was anything hidden that he couldn't see. I wasn't jerking him around, though. Not unless you counted me being almost certain that I was going to win against him as jerking him around. I felt the nature of the challenge was pretty upfront about that, but you never could tell how other folks thought. Some folks wore their hearts on their sleeve, others though, well you wouldn't know they were out to get you till the knife was already in your back. I applauded his caution, but at this point, it seemed like he was just stalling.

"Well, what'll it be?" I asked.

Frowning, the Water Tribal said, "Alright, you're on."

The pair of us were halfway out the door when Old Man Hou interjected. "Just to be clear, the bill gets paid no matter what, yes?"

"You have my word on that." I replied.

"Ah, yes, the word of a Mercenary. I'm sure you'll not mind me spectating, just in case?" Asked Hou.

"On the contrary, Hou, a Mercenary's word is worth its weight in gold. You don't think I'd still get offered contracts if I welched on prior deals, do you?" I replied.

"Even so, I must insist on watching. To protect my investment, which it seems this fight is." Insisted Hou.

"If you must." I sighed.

And with that, the 3 of us walked out of the Golden Pheasant Squirrel and back out onto the streets of Full Moon Bay. Already a group of spectators had gathered, mostly in curiosity over the Polar Bear Dog, but with more and more taking notice of the pair of myself and the Water Tribal as we gathered weapons. I didn't have my spear or guandao on me at the moment, having left them in the guard barracks I was staying at while under contract, but I had my Dao sheathed at my belt and my weighted chain looped about my waist. In contrast, the Water Tribal seemed to clamber on top of his Polar Bear Dog for a moment and root around in the bundle of gear attached to his saddle, coming out with a bow and quiver of arrows and what looked to be a short spear made from a whale's tooth. He definitely had the advantage in armaments, and if he could feel and manipulate his Chi internally like I could, any advantage in physical capability would likely be equalized. I had Chi-blocking to fall back on, but his armor would reduce the number of Chi points I could reasonably hit all things being equal. It seemed this would come down to skill.

I looked around and saw that even more people had shown up to watch what looked to be a showdown between two warriors, one of which was an exotic Water Tribal. I saw a few faces I knew from my patrols over the past month were Triad Fixers, taking bets and making odds. A few nobles who seemed to be interested in any little bit of entertainment while on the way to Ba Sing Se had also turned up, a few of which were taking the Triad Fixers up on their bets. There were also a few guards from the garrison turning out to see what the commotion was and see if they needed to get a handle on things.

"Good thing this isn't Ba Sing Se. A commotion like this would never fly there." I said.

"You ready?" Asked the Water Tribal.

"I've been ready." I replied, drawing my Dao and steadying my breathing into the rhythm I was taught for moving my Chi around internally.

The Water Tribal picked up his bow and notched an arrow. "Do you need a count?" He asked.

"Let's just get on with it." I said. With that, he drew back his bowstring and I breathed in.

And the duel commenced. . .

 

The second the duel began, the Water Tribal let fly with an arrow. The broad head of the arrow was meant for hunting, to slice into a beast and draw enough blood that it created a trail to follow if the wounded prey escaped. It wouldn't punch through my armor, but not all of me was armored, just torso, shins, and forearms.

I breathed out as time slowed down to a crawl and brief flashes of the future played out in front of my eyes. Any way I dodged found a second arrow snapshot at me which grazed me, either in the arm or leg. That brief glimpse was enough to determine my course of action.

As the arrow came in I slashed out with my dao, channeling a burst of Chi to my movements just as I slashed, and cut the arrow out of the air in a diagonal cut. I moved forwards, bringing my dao back around and cutting the second arrow out of the air in a follow-on cut. My next cut forced the Water Tribal to retreat or have his bowstring cut.

Arrow-cutting was mostly the province of Royal Guards and Elite Units, but I had picked up the technique from serving with General Shang Lao during the defense of Trader Town a few years ago. The small merchant town had been one of 2 unconquered ports connected to Ba Sing Se by Earth Kingdom Controlled Territory, the other being Chameleon Bay Port. It had been attacked by the Yu Yan Archers, so the General had ensured everyone knew how to perform the technique. Trader Town had remained a second open port until last year when it was cut off by Fire Nation Cavalry patrols from Ba Sing Se.

Regardless of how I had picked it up, it was effective when dealing with archers. After the Water Tribal's third arrow was cut out of the air, he discarded his bow and unslung his battle club. With a shout, he charged forward, swinging his club in a wide arc, hoping to catch me no matter how I dodged. He didn't expect me to jump. With a pulse of Chi to my legs, I managed to leap up above his arcing swing and snap out a kick to his face, sending him staggering backward and breaking the momentum he had hoped to build.

As I landed, he bit out a growl in frustration as he kicked out with his legs, trying to sweep my feet out from under me. The Southern Water Tribe were expert grapplers and if I was caught on the ground, he'd have the advantage. As I fell, I turned my fall into a tumble, shoulder-rolling away from his follow-on falling elbow, which thudded harmlessly into the packed earth of the street instead of painfully onto my head.

We both stood and once more readied weapons. This time, I met his battle club with my dao, parrying the heavy bone and wood weapon with the steel of my blade. A clash ensued, he swung wide, I ducked low, he jabbed out, I parried to the side. Eventually, we wound up in a weapons lock, my dao crossed with the haft of his battle club. This was where I noticed that I was stronger than him, even with both of us using our Chi to enhance our abilities. Slowly, I was managing to press his club back into his chest. If this kept up, I'd have the edge of my dao against his throat and be able to pick up the win after only a brief fight.

Instead, he managed to turn the haft of his battle club sideways and use it as a lever to send my dao skidding off to the side to break the weapons lock. Bringing us right back where we started.

"Clever." I said.

"Yeah, well, give me a lever and I can move the world." Smirked the Water Tribal.

Then we were back at it, swinging clubs and slashing dao. An outward thrust of his battle club was parried to the side by my dao and I moved in to take advantage with a punch only for the Water Tribal to let go of his club with one hand and draw his jaw blade. That caused the battle club to go clattering to the street, but now his jaw blade was on target to cut at my punching hand. Thinking quickly, I turned my fist into an ox jaw shape, and instead of a punch, I struck sideways in a chi-blocking strike aimed at the inside of the Water Tribal's wrist. His light fur armor didn't protect his wrists, just his torso, and upper thighs, so when my strike struck his wrist, it disrupted the Chi flow in his hand. That caused him to drop the jaw blade from nerveless fingers.

He staggered back in shock, shaking out his hand to try and get feeling back into it. "What was that?" He asked.

"That was a Chi-blocking strike. You should get feeling back in your hand in a few minutes, but until you do, it's useless. Do you concede, or do you want to try your whalebone spear?" I asked.

"It's a whale tooth scimitar and I can't use it properly with only one hand. I give up. Guess you really do know your stuff, huh?" He replied.

"Yeah, well, fighting in the war for 5 years will do that. Plus training for 7 more before that. I've been at this awhile." I replied.

"Yeah, I guess you would have been." Chuckled the Water Tribal.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked.

"Kid? I'm 15, you can't be that much older than me!" He protested.

"Still older. You didn't answer my question though." I grinned.

"Koni, of the Southern Water Tribe." He replied.

"I'm Chen Zhen. It's nice to meet you." I said.

At that point, Old Man Hou spoke up, "You owe me a Gold Liang for the fish your beast ate and the chicken congee and jasmine tea you had." Said the Tea House Owner.

I chuckled and reached into my purse to fish out a single Gold Liang coin and tossed it to Hou. "I get my backpay tonight anyway. I'll make this back and more." I chuckled.

Old Man Hou caught the coin and tucked it away into the sleeve of his yellow robes before disappearing back into his tea house. Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd began to dissipate. Nobles either frowning at lost coin or happy to have made some pocket change, Triad Fixers quickly paying out, raking in lost bets, and slinking back into the shadows, average folks returning to their daily tasks. Eventually, it was just me, Koni, and the few guards who'd showed up left in the street. Plus Koni's Polar Bear Dog, who was currently curled up on the curb snoozing.

"I didn't know you were that good. What are you doing on guard duty here? You should be taking contracts on the front line!" Exclaimed one of the Guards, Sargeant Fei-Hung.

"Lost a bet to a Kyoshi Warrior. Had to take a contract of her choosing. She chose ferry guarding for a month." I shrugged.

"Well, at least your contract is up tonight. You taking him with you when you go?" Asked Sargeant Fei-Hung.

"That was the deal, sarge." I replied.

"Good means I won't have to use up a cell for him or write up a report on this." Nodded Sargeant Fei-Hung before moving on with his patrol.

I shook my head, "First thing to remember about the Earth Kingdom Army. Some of the men are corrupt as hell. You never know which way they'll jump if offered a big payout, so when on contract, find guys you can trust and stick with them." I said to Koni.

"I always heard mercenaries were more prone to that?" Asked Koni.

"That's a common misconception. You don't stay in the mercenary business by being unreliable. If you welch on contracts, soon enough, no one is going to hire you. Remember that. Your word is as good as gold, cause otherwise you don't get hired." I replied.

"You're telling me that mercenaries are more reliable than the Earth Kingdom Army?" Asked Koni incredulously.

"Kid, have you seen the state of the Earth Kingdom lately? They're taking anyone they can into the army. And because of the loss of so many profitable territories to the Fire Nation over the past century, pay for the average soldier has only decreased since the war began. If you aren't elite forces, an officer, or an earthbender, the Kingdom pays maybe 2 silver Ban a day. That's not exactly a King's ransom." I replied.

"So how are we getting paid so much if the average soldier barely gets a junior craftsman's wages?" Asked Koni.

"Well, part of that is the Review Council. Some of the oldest and most successful mercs in the first phase of the war got together and formed a council that reviews and negotiates contracts in the Earth Kingdom because they got sick of being shafted on payment. Over the years the Review Council has actually become acknowledged by the Earth Kings as a legitimate force. They ensure fair pay based on contract details. It's like the one advance the Earth Kingdom Army has over the Fire Nation." I said.

"What's the other part?" Asked Koni.

"Mercenaries are generally more skilled than the average Earth Kingdom Soldier. While the level of quality varies depending on who you're talking about and the number of mercenaries in a given company, the relative difference in quality remains the same. The average Earth Kingdom Soldier is a fresh conscript with maybe 6 weeks of training before being given a standard kit and shoved into the front lines. The average mercenary, on the other hand, has honed their combat skills for years, maybe even decades, and does this for a living. Professionals cost more." I replied.

"Yeah? So we're professionals, then?" Asked Koni.

"Damn right we are." I grinned.

As I lectured Koni on the finer points of mercenary work, we walked the rest of my patrol beat of the Western District before winding up at the Western District Barracks. I stopped our impromptu dual patrol at the gate and turned to Koni.

"Wait here. I have to collect my pay and other equipment, then we should be good to go." I said.

"Where are we going?" Asked Koni.

"Depends on the contract. Full Moon Bay doesn't have a Council Office in it. Just an underworld bounty station. We don't want to take those kinds of jobs, working for the Triads. You start down that road, you might never leave it. The nearest one would be in Ba Sing Se, but I don't like going in there." I replied.

"Why not?" Asked Koni.

"Ba Sing Se has gotten a little. . .odd in the past 5 years. Ever since the siege was broken, there's been more Dai Li on the streets than ever. Those guys are creepy enough, but the way they enforce order. . .well folks wind up going missing sometimes they say. If they come back, they aren't the same again, more subdued, less willing to act out. It's creepy." I shrugged.

"Right, ok, let's not go to Ba Sing Se." Replied Koni Flatly.

"Then that leaves Misty Palms Oasis or Yunming Town. How do you feel about the desert?" I asked.

"Not great. I don't think Akla could handle it very well." Replied Koni.

"Akla?" I asked.

"My Polar Bear Dog. She's a creature of the tundra. I'm pretty sure she won't do so good in the heat." He replied.

"Alright, then that leaves Yunming Town in the mountains west of here along the south edge of the lake. It's closer to the front lines, so we should get some high-paying work there." I replied.

"Alright, Yunming Town it is. I'll meet you back at the Golden Pheasant Squirrel when you're done." Nodded Koni.

I nodded back at him and entered the barracks. I quickly collected my meager belongings. One set of common clothes, a bedroll, flint, tinder, and waterskin, my Guandao, and my spear, bundling them all up into my travel kit. Then I saw the paymaster to receive the 3 gold Liang stipulated in my contract, bringing my total monetary reserves up to 6 Gold Liang.

Then I put the Full Moon Barracks behind me and met back up with Koni and Akla. My new companion was fixing a saddle to Akla's back and going over his things.

"You know how to ride?" He asked.

"Only ostrich horses. Not polar bear dogs. I didn't even think you could train one of these, let alone train one to take a rider." I responded, shaking my head.

"You have to find one young to really bond, otherwise it's no good. Anyway, I'll take the reins then, you sit behind me and tell me where we're going." He said.

I think he thought I would argue about positioning, but I simply nodded and clambered up into the spot behind him on the saddle, stowing my spear and guandao with his whale tooth scimitar in the baggage rack. He was the one who knew how to handle polar bear dogs after all. My ego would survive riding concubine for a bit.

Thus readied, we set out onto the road from Full Moon Bay, ready to see what challenges awaited us nearer to the front. . .

 

The trip to Yunming Town was relatively uneventful, which was a rarity in this day and age. With the Fire Nation on the advance, there was usually much more chaos in the countryside as entire villages chose to up stakes to head for one of the more defensible cities. Veritable rivers of refugees could usually be seen heading east towards Full Moon Bay, and there were refugees, but what we saw was a trickle compared to a flood. Here and a few families were heading east to the Ferry, maybe a small caravan or 2. Not the massive lines of refugees snaking their way across the plains I had been expecting. Something must have changed with the situation on the front in the time I was on guard duty in Full Moon Bay. I hadn't really bothered listening to the refugee's stories because they all seemed to contradict each other and their tales were often bloated by fear, a company of Fire Nation soldiers would become a battalion as the story was retold, a patrol of Firebenders would become an entire platoon of Royal Guards, things along those lines. As we rode toward Yunming Town, I was kicking myself for writing it off as a bad job. If I'd had the patience to just sift through the bison shit to find reliable intel, this probably wouldn't have caught me flat-footed like this. As it was, we were going to have to ask around when we reached Yunming Town.

The trip took us a week, as we had to skirt the northern edge of the Si Wong Desert for the first half of the trip. We would ride by day, and at night I would begin Koni's instruction on the art of Chi Blocking. We'd only been at this for a short time and I could already tell it was going to be difficult for him to pick up the technique. Chi Blocking was a precise art that relied primarily on striking specific chi points along the meridians that chi flowed through in the body. Disrupt those chi points to block the meridians and obstruct the flow of chi through the body. Without proper chi flow, a bender couldn't move, much less bend. It had a lot in common with certain forms of martial arts that targeted pressure points. Those arts were primarily taught in either the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. The Southern Water Tribe, on the other hand, focused almost exclusively on grappling styles for martial arts. It achieved similar results, if you had a broken leg, it was unlikely you were going to be an effective bender, but the philosophy was much different. What training in a hard style that Koni had was primarily in close-in techniques that could be used to soften someone up for a grapple, knees, headbutts, that sort of thing. Striking a precise point on the body with the fingertips was about as far away from the hand-to-hand styles that Koni was familiar with as it was possible to get. It would be a very long time before he would be proficient enough in Chi Blocking that I'd feel comfortable letting him use it in real combat.

By the time we had made it to the foothills of the Tian Lung Mountains, 5 days had already passed of our trip. The foothills rose out of the grasslands, first as a series of low hills, then as progressively larger hills. Every now and again one of the hills would be topped with a fortified settlement. Thick rammed earth walls enclosed a variety of circular buildings, with stone gates built into the walls and the circular buildings. The people of the Tian Lung had a long history of armed conflict with the neighboring states back before the Earth Kingdom was truly unified. They had been sandwiched between the Powerful City State of Ba Sing Ce and the nomadic Si Wong Tribes who would often raid out of the desert in those days. They had built their settlements accordingly, Tuloubao they called their settlement types, Earth Building Fortresses. The thick rammed earth walls would prevent the sandbending techniques of the Si Wong Tribes from being effective as well as protect from mundane siege weaponry. If more traditional earthbenders showed up to open holes in the walls, the round wood and iron buildings inside would stymie them. Meanwhile, the townspeople inside the round buildings would fire crossbows out of firing ports in the outer wall of the round buildings. It had been sufficient to maintain the independence of the Tian Lung until just before the Earth Kingdom had finally united under the Hao Dynasty. Even Chin the conqueror had needed to use diplomacy to get them to join him, rather than his typical tactic of military conquest.

I was willing to bet that they would be able to hold against the Fire Nation should they make it this far.

It was a day through the foothills before we actually got into the mountains proper. Progressively taller hills arcing upwards until we were within proper mountains. Unlike the foreboding peaks of the Taihua mountains in the Northern Earth Kingdom, whose barren peaks held little but rocks and the promise of chill winds and blizzards, the Tian Lung were relatively forested, though we stuck to the roads leading up into the mountains rather than brave the forests filled with Shirshus, Tigerdillos, and Spidersnakes. As we rode along the road on the final day of our journey, we passed by several terraces cut into the mountainsides where rice and tea were being grown, among other staple crops. Women and children tended to the terrace farms while the men were elsewhere. I noticed a lot of women and children, but very few men in comparison.

Finally, just before sunset on the 7th day, we reached Yunming Town. The city was different from the small towns and villages we had seen thus far. While it had the rammed earth walls of the other Tian Lung settlements, it was much more open than the clusters of Tuloubao with a few regular outbuildings we had seen beforehand, much more like you would expect an Earth Kingdom Settlement to be, with pagodas and stores, tea houses, and gardens. Yunming Town was the first settlement not built primarily for defense we had seen since entering the foothills. It was instead primarily an economic and administrative hub.

Even though it was not a fortress first, the gate guards stopped us all the same. Two large muscular men in blue and yellow uniforms and light armor stepped up warily. They had likely never seen a polar bear dog before. The first one had a short-bladed, curved, knife with a squared-off tip. It looked almost like a militarized meat cleaver, but I'd been to Yunming Town before and I knew the local knives could be just as deadly as any dao. The second had a spear. The second man was pointing the spear at Akla, but the polar bear dog looked unimpressed. The first man approached us from the side.

"What's your business in Yunming Town?" He asked.

"Mercenaries heading to the Review Board Office for our next job." I said from my position riding concubine, behind Koni.

"Mercenaries? What kind of Mercenary rides concubine? I thought you were all supposed to be grizzled, scarred, veteran types. You don't fit that image pretty boy." Grunted the man with the knife.

"I keep trying to pick up a cool scar, it's not my fault the Fire Nation can't land a scratch on me." I shrugged with a grin.

The man with the knife snorted at that, "Yeah well, probably just as well. Wouldn't want to ruin those good looks of yours."

"Hey, I hear some women go for scars." I shrugged before flipping the guards a couple of Silver Ban.

The guard with the knife caught one of the coins, placed it in his mouth, and bit down on it, trying to see if I'd cheated him or not. After a moment, he seemed to agree that it was real silver and waved us on through. "Just a warning. The Fire Nation's been pretty quiet the past couple of weeks. Usually, that means they're building up to something. If you really are mercenaries, something tells me you'll get a job sooner rather than later."

And with that, we were inside the gates of Yunming Town. As we rode down streets packed with shops, tea houses, and actual people I turned to Koni to try and figure out a plan for our stay. It was sunset, and while the Review Board Office would still be open for a few more hours, we'd do just as well to check the job postings in the morning. For now, we should find a place to bed down for the night.

"Yeah, with an actual bed! Being on the road is fun and all, but if I can sleep in a bed, why wouldn't I?" Grinned Koni, excited.

"Yeah, with an actual bed. There's a couple of inns that cater to our kind of crowd on Fire Ferret Street near Jade Road. We can head there and pick one." I agreed.

So it was that we set off for our first night in Yunming Town by checking into the Lucky Jackalope Inn. It was a place that catered to the more adventurous types in the city. Mercenaries, bounty hunters, gamblers, and vagabonds. Not quite a shady criminal establishment, but not exactly all squeaky-clean, either. The common room was full of folks drinking, talking, and gambling away their pay. Koni went up to the bar and paid for a room with the owner. As for me, I was beckoned over towards a Mahjong game by a woman in a black cuirass over a brown robe, she had a pair of war fans hanging from her belt and an impish grin on her face.

That grin had been the reason I had been stuck babysitting refugees in Full Moon Bay for a month.

"Hey, it's the lightweight! Looks like you made it through guard duty in one piece! Come play Mahjong with us!" She grinned.

"Meihua. Why'd it have to be Meihua?" I asked, looking upwards at the spirits.

The spirits didn't deign to answer me.

"Come on, I promise I won't take too much money from you." Grinned the former Kyoshi Warrior.

I sighed, this was going to be a long couple days in town. . .

 

I headed on up to the Mahjong Table with Meihua. Sitting there were two other men. One was a large, grizzled, bearded, man in the same blue and yellow uniform as the town guards at the gate, though of noticeably higher quality, denoting an officer of some kind. The other was smaller and thinner, with a razor-thin mustache and a goatee that came to a sharp point.

"Chen Zhen, meet Lieutenant Yi and Hong Feng of the Thundering Foot School. Guys, this is an old friend of mine, Chen Zhen." Smiled Meihua as she introduced me to the pair of Mahjong Players.

"Finally, now we can play. I thought we'd have to break up the game." Came the gruff voice of Lieutenant Yi.

"We would have had a 4th an hour ago if you hadn't scared away that merchant from Gaoling with your glaring." Replied Hong Feng in a reedy voice.

"Feh, whatever. Take a seat so we can get this show on the road." Huffed Lieutenant Yi.

I sat down, knowing that if I refused to play now, I was likely to start a fight. Lieutenant Yi looked pretty impatient.

"Buy-in is a Gold Liang, you want to make any bets?" Asked Hong Feng.

"Yeah, I bet 2 gold Liang and 5 Silver Ban that I'll win with over 50 percent of the pot." I said.

"Ha! Cocky little shit, ain't ya? I'll bet the same amount on you losing!" Laughed Lieutenant Yi.

"Isn't that a bit much for a junior officer's salary?" I asked.

"Lieutenant Yi can cover it, his family owns a couple of mines up in the mountains, copper, tin, iron, and silver. I am curious to see why you're so confident, however, so I'll put up 1 Liang and 5 Ban on you winning that bet." Replied Hong Feng.

"Huh, sure, I'll take that action and put the same amount up on him losing. I'll also bet 2 Liang, 2 Ban on me winning with over 50 percent of the pot." Grinned Meihua.

"Bullshit, I'll see your 2 Liang, 2 Ban and match you the same on you losing that bet." I growled.

"Your choice lightweight." Replied Meihua smugly, amusement dancing behind her eyes. "You remember what happened last time you bet against me. . ."

"This time will be different." I said.

"Your funeral." She practically sing-songed to me. I swear this is the second time I'd spent an extended amount of time with Meihua and she was establishing a pattern of being able to get under my skin.

With the bets settled, a woman in a jade and azure qipao came forward with the tiles. She placed all 144 face down in the middle of the table and mixed them around until they were thoroughly shuffled, then she started to stack tiles in batches of 6, creating a 4 sided Mahjong wall with each player facing one side of the wall. When the wall was built, the dice were thrown to decide who breaks the wall. Hong Feng was the East Wind, ie the player sitting on the eastern side of the table and thus the first to go, so he threw the dice. 11 meant that Meihua was to throw next and she threw an 8. Lieutenant Yi had to remove 2 tiles from his wall and place them on top of Meihua's wall on the right. Dealing happened next, the dealer took turns dealing sets of 4 tiles until everyone had 12, then we each took 2 tiles from the top of the wall and the game began.

Over the course of the next few hours, hands were laid down, layouts created, and points racked up. It became real clear after the first hour that the contest was largely between myself and Meihua. She played better than I did, but I was much luckier. The first hour was spent with relatively few scoring hands popping up, mostly me and Meihua, but 1 or 2 hands for Hong Feng and Lieutenant Yi. 5 minutes into hour 2, I managed a concealed double wind kong and took a followed that up with a kong of terminals 15 minutes later for 64 and 32 points respectively. That netted me a commanding lead over everyone else.

Over the course of the next hour and a half, my lead only grew, with Meihua barely staying competitive. Lieutenant Yi and Hong Feng were basically duking it out for 3rd place by now. I could tell Meihua was getting frustrated by how she had stopped quipping and making comments. She may have been annoyed, but her silence was music to my ears.

Finally, the last round was called for, as the wall tiles dwindled to only a few hands worth, and in the next 20 minutes, everyone went to go Mahjong. Each of us tried to go for Mahjong, some with special hands, others the old-fashioned way. With our options dwindling as the game went on, and nobody having called out that they only had 1 more tile for Mahjong, it looked like this game might go into overtime and we'd have to deal again.

Finally, with only 5 tiles remaining, Meihua called out, "1 more till Mahjong!"

Tiles were drawn and discarded until it came down to my turn and the last tile. I was positive that the scores would be wiped and we'd be here for another few hours as I pulled up the last tile. It was the 1 of Circles.

"Mahjong!" I called, throwing down the tile in triumph. Drawing the 1 of circles as the last tile on the wall was known as 'Plucking the Moon From the Bottom of the Sea' and was an automatic Mahjong for the lucky son of a bitch who drew it.

"What? No way!" Exclaimed Meihua.

"Unbelievable!" Chuckled Lieutenant Yi, while shaking his head.

"I don't believe I've ever seen that done before." Remarked Hong Feng.

As the points were counted up and doubles applied, I was in 1st place with 55,000 points, Meihua was a distant 2nd with 25,000, Lieutenant Yi was in 3rd with 11,000 and Hong Feng was last with 9,000. I'd won with 55 percent of the points, which meant I won my bets as well as 55 percent of the pot. That made me 10 gold Liang and 8 silver ban richer than I had been before the game just off of bets alone, I made another 12 silver ban off of placement forfeits bringing me up to a total of 13 gold Liang to add to the 6 Liang and 6 Ban that Koni and I had in travel funds.

I raked in the cash and tipped the dealer a couple of Ban before heading on upstairs to the room that Koni and I had paid for. It was just the 2 of us in the room, as Akla had been put in the stables while we were here. As I headed upstairs, I noticed Meihua giving me a look that seemed to promise future issues.

I just hoped they would wait till morning. . .

 

That night was actually quiet. With how Meihua had been looking at me after the Mahjong game I had half-expected some kind of attempt at sabotage in the middle of the night. An attempt to keep me awake all night, or diuretic in my morning tea, something humiliating like that. Not having to deal with some kind of mischief in the middle of the night was a pleasant surprise, honestly. My good mood lasted into the morning as I bathed and dressed with no incidents of ruined clothing or the shampoo being replaced with hair removal creme or anything like that. Koni looked at me oddly as I kept expecting something to happen through my entire morning routine. I had to explain to him about the Mahjong game and what Meihua was usually like, at least in my limited sample size of interactions with her.

"Are you sure you aren't just being paranoid based on one bad interaction?" Asked my Water Tribe associate.

"You don't know what Meihua is like, Koni. I tell you, that woman can be as troublesome as a fox spirit when she feels like it." I replied.

Koni just gave me a doubtful look and said, "If you say so."

As we headed downstairs for breakfast we could hear the morning calls of the mountain crane-eagle echo throughout the town. The birds often hunted woodland rodents and fish in mountain streams at this time of day. The long, trilling calls of the avian hunters helped add to the ambiance as Koni and I had a breakfast of rice, baozi, and da hong pao tea. I half expected to bite into something foul as Meihua's revenge, but I didn't.

Once Koni and I had finished breakfast, we headed off to the rear of the hotel, where Akla was being kept in the stables. Koni had insisted we take her with us around town. He didn't want her cooped up in the stables all day. We found her munching on a fish that had been left out for her by the stablehands. The other animals in the stable, 2 ostrich horses and a shirshu, were giving her a wide berth. I guess she still smelled like a predator to them.

"Akla, come on girl, we're going out!" Called Koni.

Akla looked at Koni, then back to the half-eaten fish, then back at Koni, before giving him sad puppy eyes.

Koni just rolled his eyes and said, "Sure, finish breakfast."

Akla immediately scarfed down the last half of fish in a few chomping bites before moving over to Koni and licking his face with her fish-smelling tongue. I suppressed a wince at the sight, but Koni seemed to be used to it, as he just laughed it off and patted Akla on the side of the neck. Together, the 3 of us left the stables and headed out into Yunming Town.

"So, where to first?" Asked Koni.

"First we find a blacksmith to get you a proper weapon. Your water tribe stuff is fine, but it's all wood, bone, and stone. The fire nation armors its troops in steel, and if you want to do consistent damage to a properly armored opponent, you'll need a steel weapon." I replied.

"I don't know. Back in the south pole, everyone uses these kinds of weapons to hunt." Hedged Koni.

"That's cause the fleet you all sent out took most of the steel weapons with them, and what didn't go with them got taken in fire nation raids." I replied.

"How do you know that?" Asked Koni.

"I've worked with Water Tribals before. Met a mercenary waterbender named Nutak a year or so ago. We fought a couple of skirmishes with fire nation cavalry. He mentioned the situation down south a couple of times. Besides, war isn't like hunting. What works on a hunt won't necessarily translate to fighting a sapient opponent that uses weapons and bending." I said.

Koni gave a reluctant nod at that and we set off down Jade Street in search of a blacksmith who'd have some good gear. I briefly entertained the idea of getting Koni some thicker armor while we were there. His leather armor would be good for turning aside a glancing blow from a sword or for stopping an arrow, but anything heavier would be a problem. The Naginata the fire nation cavalry liked to use would go through that Water Tribe gear like paper. I thought better of that plan after the impracticality of it made itself clear. Armor wasn't like weapons where you could pick one up off a rack and be good. It needed precise measurements and to be forged for the wearer if it was to be good to use for extended duty. At least any good armor did. The Earth Kingdom Army had been pumping out a lot of one size fits all brigandines lately to keep up with the meat grinder of the war but those weren't good for anything but conscripts that were expected to die in their first few engagements. That meant at least a week of fittings and another week of waiting till the armor was finished. No, that could wait for another time.

As we turned off Jade Street and onto Silver Way, we were drawn towards the ringing of hammers. Sandwiched between a dressmaker's shop and a Jeweler's shop was a sign with an anvil painted on it and the words 'Iron Alley' written underneath. The opening to the alley was narrower than the street and framed by the taller buildings to left and right. The alley was shaded compared to the brightly painted shops on either side. However, the metallic smell of iron and the ringing of hammers pounding metal enticed me to the mouth of the alley.

"You can't possibly be thinking of going down there." Frowned Koni.

"Come on, aren't you the least bit curious?" I asked.

"What if we get attacked? Dark alleys are traditionally where muggers hang out, right?" Asked Koni.

"Don't tell me you can't handle a few back-alley thieves?" I grinned.

"Ok, point taken, but Akla can't fit." Protested Koni.

"So, she's trained, yeah? She should be fine to wait here." I retorted.

Koni grumbled and bit out, "Fine, but if this turns out poorly, I'm picking the next place we go!"

"Sure. We can do that." I shrugged. My instincts were screaming at me to go down the alley. Somehow I knew that this was where we wanted to go.

"Akla, stay here, girl. We'll be right back." Said Koni to his large furry companion.

Akla just slumped down by the mouth of the alley and began snoozing in the morning light. Thus situated, Koni and I proceeded down the alleyway. As we entered the alleyway, the sounds of the city grew more muffled, drowned out by the clanging of hammers. The glow of dawn was replaced by the cherry-red glow of iron being worked on a forge. A humming noise resounded off the now cavern-like walls of the alleyway. My senses were twigged that something spiritual was up. I got the same sense whenever a bender was practicing their art, or from my chi while manipulating it, except instead of being localized to one person, or inside of me, it was all around me. A prickling of the skin, a flash of sensation on a phantom 6th sense. Then Koni and I walked past the foreboding alley and out into an open forge. There we found an older man, seated next to a forge still glowing with red hot coals. The man had his torso bare and wore only a pair of shanku pants and shoes. He had wispy hair and a beard down to his navel and was humming a nameless tune while fanning himself with a fan made of feathers.

"Ah, Chen Zhen, I was expecting you, though not perhaps so soon." Grinned the old man.

"I don't like this. We went from outside to inside without ever actually going inside." Said Koni.

"I know, it's like we entered the Spirit World, but I thought that just walking from one realm into another was supposed to be impossible in this day and age." I replied.

"Oh, it's not as impossible as some might wish it to be. Not if certain conditions are arranged." Grinned the old man.

"Which would make this?" I asked.

"A temporary pocket of the Spirit World linked with the Human World. As I said, I've been expecting you." Replied the Old Man.

"Forgive me, it seems I have misplaced my manners. I am Chen Zhen, and this is my associate Koni of the Southern Water Tribe." I replied, suddenly being very polite as not to anger what was clearly an ancestor spirit of some kind.

"Hmm. You are and you are not Chen Zhen. I see that now that I look at you." Replied the Spirit.

"Apologies, honored Spirit, but I do not follow?" I hedged. Of course, I was me, who else would I be?

"I suppose it matters little at this stage. I have something for you. It has been waiting a very long time for you. 368 years to be exact." Replied the Spirit.

"Something for me?" I asked.

"Indeed. You will need it for what lies ahead." Replied the Spirit.

The spirit stood and proceeded to walk towards a corner of the forge where weapons had been placed on racks and on shelves. He passed by racks of dao, jian, qiang, all looked made of gleaming steel and sharp enough to cut or pierce through even the armor of Elite troops. He walked past crates holding arrows of dark wood, fletched in crane and eagle feathers, with all manner of heads from iron spikes, to broad blades, and even odder tips, like bladed crescents and holed, whistling heads. He walked past a shelf full of knives of all descriptions, each with an edge so fine it seemed like it would be able to slice a single hair in half lengthwise. He walked all the way to the back of the racks.

"Ah, here it is." Said the Spirit, picking up a parcel.

When he returned to the light of the forge, he was carrying a long parcel, wrapped in dusty cloth and twine. When he unwrapped it, I beheld a Guandao with a blade made of blackened steel, the metal patterned in ripples that seemed to drink in the light. Where the blade was affixed to the haft, the metal guard was worked into the shape of an open Lion Turtle's head done in bronze. The haft itself was made of lacquered red wood wrapped in leather cord, ending in a blackened steel butt cap at the other end. It was a weapon that seemed almost sinister, intimidating in its appearance, though it was clearly crafted by a master.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It was known, many years ago, as the Lion Turtle Crescent Blade, though it has since faded from the collective memory of Mankind. Only a few old masters and scholars of history might recognize it for what it is in this day and age. It was said to have been crafted by Alchemy in the days before the Four Nations as we know them and was said to grant its wielder unusual facility over chi to enhance the power of their bending twice over. The last known wielder of this blade was a rather infamous ancestor of yours. I will refrain from saying precisely who in the presence of your new companion. Something tells me you have not told anyone your family history in quite some time." Replied the Spirit with a grin.

He was right about that. The last time I had told anyone about my family. . .bad things had happened shortly after. Best to push on past that line of questioning fast.

"I am no bender." I pointed out, deftly changing the subject.

"No. No, you are not. I am quite interested in seeing how the capabilities of the Lion Turtle Crescent Blade adapt to that situation. Perhaps you will find your flashes of intuition grant you true foresight or your extraordinary luck enhanced to more absurd levels. Perhaps it will simply do nothing for you beyond being a master-crafted weapon. Alchemy is a subtle and mysterious thing, mercurial even. It is a lost art in the Human World these days. I will be watching how you cope with future challenges with great interest." Grinned the Spirit, taking my change of subject and running with it.

"You have my thanks, honored spirit." I replied with a respectful bow.

"Yeah, great. We should probably go now, I still need the weapons you wanted me to have after all, and it's probably best not to push our luck with spirits." Whispered Koni to me.

"Indeed, your time here grows quite short indeed. I believe you know the way out." Intoned the Spirit.

With one last bow, Koni and I turned about and headed back the way we came. The tingling sensation I felt when entering through the boundary realm to arrive at the Spirit Forge was multiplied twice over as we left. Almost as if the very realm itself was telling us to leave immediately. Soon enough, we arrived back outside on the streets of Yunming Town, the sensation passing like a fading dream. When we turned around, Iron Alley, its sign, and the foreboding entrance had vanished. A mirage in the Si Wong Desert, replaced by a normal alleyway between two stores. Akla looked up at my bewildered face from where she was huddled down on the sidewalk, tilting her head in question. I could almost believe the whole thing had been a daydream, except that I still carried the Dragon Turtle Crescent Blade with me, solid as anything and real as a heart attack.

After that whole experience, finding a normal blacksmith for Koni was a bit anticlimactic. There were a number of them dotted along Silver Way and the adjacent Golden Boulevard. We picked up a full quiver of 30 arrows with normal, steel, heads for his bow, a knife in the local style to replace his jawblade, and an iron rod to replace his warclub. All that set us back 7 gold Liang to get quality goods leaving us with 12 gold Liang and 4 silver Ban in our war chest. I was tempted to try and find an Ostrich Horse trader and pick up a mount for myself so I didn't have to ride concubine on Akla to our next job but decided against it since it wasn't likely I'd find a quality Ostrich Horse this far up in the mountains.

By the time we were finished with shopping around for prices on weapons, it was around an hour past noon, and Koni and I made our way back towards Fire Ferret Street we would stop for some food and then head on down Fire Ferret Street to the Review Board Office to pick up a job. Lunch was spicy beef noodles and oolong tea with another fish for Akla. Thankfully the prices here were not as extortionate as in Full Moon Bay and we only had to pay 4 silver Ban for the whole fish and around 8 copper Tóng for noodles and tea for 2. By the time we were ready to head to the Review Board Office, it was a little past 2 after noon.

When we arrived we found that most of the decent job postings had been taken by a sudden influx of mercenaries being lead by a Kyoshi Warrior. Meihua had finally wreaked her vengeance on our job prospects while we were otherwise occupied. The only job openings were piddling shit like patrols of the mountains, jobs for more than 2 people, or dangerous jobs likely to take us into harm's way.

"Damn Meihua." I muttered.

"What do you want to do?" Asked Koni.

"The smart thing would be to take a patrol job and try again later. It doesn't pay super well, only 2 Ban a person for a daily patrol, but it should be safer. At worst we're likely to run into hostile wildlife and given our capabilities, I'd put good odds on us being able to kill whatever we come across, or at least outrun it and continue the patrol." I said.

"That's not very exciting." Frowned Koni.

"It's not about being exciting, it's about the fact that those jobs won't get you the experience you need fighting an actual thinking opponent, which was the whole point of taking a job closer to the front." I said.

"Well that leaves the dangerous ones, doesn't it? I think we can handle one of those. What do we have?" Asked Koni.

"An attack on a Fire Nation supply convoy heading from the coast to the garrison of the occupied town of Hubei just west of the Si Wong Desert, a recon mission to the Great Divide to find out why the outpost there went dark, and a dispatch run to General Fong's Fortress." I replied.

"Dispatch Runs don't sound too dangerous." Argued Koni.

"General Fong's Fortress is the last Earth Kingdom outpost in the Hu Xin Provinces that hasn't been conquered by the Fire Nation. It's been cut off from command since almost before I was born, only surviving due to its ridiculous fortifications, self-sufficiency, and the fact that General Fong is a beast of an earthbender who could stop most determined attacks cold. A Dispatch run there is as good as a suicide mission for the two of us. We're not taking that one." I replied, shutting that course of action down immediately.

"Alright, well what about the other 2?" Asked Koni.

"An attack on a supply caravan sounds more doable than recon to the great divide. If the great divide has gone dark, that means that we'd have to do recon in that terrain without a guide. It's an unnecessary risk that we don't want to take." I said.

"So let's do that then." Said Koni.

"Agreed." I replied, bellying up to the mission desk.

The secretary manning the mission desk was one of those rear-echelon types. Not the kind that had seen combat and maybe lost a limb or been crippled and had to retire from active service, but someone you just knew only joined the Review Board Staff because it paid better than low-level administrative work for the Earth Kingdom. He was rail-thin, with a hook nose and a pair of wireframe spectacles, his yellow robes tried to cover for the fact that he barely had any visible muscle mass, but just wound up looking a size too big on him. When he handed us the mission dossier and we signed the roster for taking the mission out, he gave us this look. Like he was doubtful that we'd be able to get the job done with just 2 non-benders. That was only confirmed when he spoke.

"You do know that there is likely to be at least 2 firebenders with this supply convoy, yes?" He asked with a reedy voice.

"Of course. Heading to a territory so close to the front, I'd be surprised if there weren't." I said.

"And niether you nor your partner are benders?" He asked.

"No." I replied.

"Your funeral. You do know the review board won't be held liable for deaths on the job, yes?" He asked.

"How long have you been working here?" I asked.

"Only a few weeks since I transferred from the Town Council. Why?" He replied.

"You're a greenhorn, that explains it." I snorted.

"I beg your pardon?" Asked the Secretary.

"We'll come back having completed the job and not died. While we're gone, I'd pull up my review board file if I were you. You might find it informative." I grinned.

"I doubt that." He said, before turning back to his paperwork.

I just snorted and headed back to Koni with the mission dossier.

"What was that about?" Asked Koni.

"Just normal pro-bending bias. The guy's a greenhorn, he's only been here a few weeks. That clearly wasn't enough time to lose that bias. When we come back victorious, I'll bet you 2 Ban he won't believe it." I shrugged.

Koni just looked back at the guy for a few seconds before turning back to me and shaking his head. "No bet." He replied.

From there, we headed back to the Lucky Jackalope to go over the mission dossier and do some planning.

Tomorrow, we would head out on our first mission as partners. . .