96 AG
The wind had quieted, but the stench of scorched fabric, charred wood, and blood clung stubbornly to the air. Lin walked across the battlefield with measured steps, her boots sinking into a mixture of ash and upturned soil, surrounded by the low murmur of soldiers moving debris, lifting the wounded, and stabilizing the perimeter.
The work continued as it always did once the fires died down, a pattern rehearsed too many times already, though each repetition still tested the limits of patience. Medics moved swiftly around her, guided by discipline and routine, though more than once she caught glimpses of them tending not to their own, but to men clad in green.
Earth Kingdom soldiers, faces drawn with pain and ash, were being offered water, pressure bandages, and what little salve remained from their supply carts. Lin stopped beside one of them. He was an older man, slumped against a shattered boulder, one eye swollen shut, his ribs shifting with each shallow breath, and she watched without comment as a Fire Nation healer gently examined a gash running from shoulder to hip.
She didn't interrupt, nor did she speak to the medic. She decided to voice her disapproval with complete silence, carefully buried beneath a still expression. These were enemy soldiers who had stood on the other side of the line not two hours ago, launching rock volleys, setting ambushes, and cutting down Fire Nation lives without hesitation.
And now, by Han's orders, they were to be preserved and healed. The major had ordered them to be taken as prisoners and to have them secured. The wounded, regardless of allegiance, were to be treated with the same urgency as their own.
Lin understood orders well enough, and she followed them outwardly because doing otherwise would defy the chain of command and by transitivity the Fire Nation. But the logic behind them grated at her sense of utility.
Every minute spent on enemy survivors was a minute lost in tending to the equipment, replenishing ammunition, or even tending to their own men and preparing for the next inevitable skirmish.
Every ration consumed by an Earth Kingdom prisoner was a meal denied to a loyal soldier still standing. It wasn't sentimentality that irritated her, of course; it was the waste of limited resources. The Fire Nation did not bleed its way through half a continent only to chain itself with unnecessary mercy.
She moved on without further pause, letting her presence drift through the ranks as she made her way to the center of the clearing where her company had already begun erecting tents and reinforcing their position without waiting for instruction.
The Red Company rarely needed spoken orders anymore. They followed her rhythm well, and they had been trained to move with a precision born of discipline and loyalty. Delegating to her lieutenants proved to be quite effective; they already knew what her response would be, and if they needed clarification, they would often ask. Something that was becoming less of an occurrence as the company gained experience in battle.
Beyond the ridge to the east, the landscape still smoldered where Zigan's outposts had crumbled beneath coordinated firebomb strikes. Blackened watchtowers stood like broken teeth along the riverbank, and the faint lines of collapsed walls painted the valley with the memory of the enemy's last stand.
Major Han had stood with her earlier, speaking in measured tones about the campaign's next phase, explaining how Zigan would serve as a central hub for the Fire Nation's new strategy. No longer content to hold the western shores, they would now push eastward in full, forming colonies as they advanced and leaving behind small garrisons to maintain supply lines and secure the countryside.
Lin had said little in response, though her thoughts had been far from still. In theory, the plan appeared sound. Establishing footholds, cutting the land into manageable districts could potentially in the long term produce more resources, but in practice, it meant spreading their forces thin across a vast and volatile region.
Each garrison left behind would be another crack in the armor, another opportunity for rebellion to take root. The Earth Kingdom was not broken yet, even after a hundred years, it had been scattered, but not yet crushed. The true powers of the enemy, Omashu to the south and Ba Sing Se to the east, still stood untouched. They still held an organized army and a capable resistance force.
If they truly meant to win the war, or at least force peace talks, then it was not these scattered villages that demanded their attention but the great bastions that continued to hold the heart of the continent. Han spoke of consolidation and permanence, but Lin saw only delay, the slow grind of bureaucracy pushing forward with the illusion of progress.
She would rather burn straight through to the core, cut the head from the beast before it could learn to grow new limbs. Once these cities fell, the rest of the kingdom would surely surrender to Fire Nation rule, maybe through puppet governments, but they could be slowly brought to fire nation standards.
As she reached the crest of the ridge, she allowed her gaze to drift over the remains of the battlefield. The ground below looked like a canvas of ruin, blackened furrows where fire had swept across formations, shattered weapons half-buried in earth and bodies locked in their final positions. The colors had blurred now, for red and green had long since stopped mattering in death.
From behind her, cutting through the low murmur of the cleanup crews, came a sudden, sharp cry of pain, raw, unmistakably human and far too near. Sighing, she turned without hesitation, already altering her course to move toward the sound.
If they were an enemy soldier, she would put him out of his misery but if it was an ally, she had a duty to try and keep them alive or, at the very least, assure them that their deaths were not in vain and that she would carry their last words to their family members.
----0000----
She found him near the shattered edge of a supply cart, his blood smeared across the wood in streaks that had begun to dry. His uniform was soaked through at the side, the fabric clinging dark and heavy to a wound that pulsed with each ragged breath.
His hand trembled as he tried to press against it, fingers slipping each time he applied pressure, the pain leaving his face pale beneath streaks of ash. It was one of her soldiers in the end, and although they were trained to endure she could see his wound was severe.
Lin knelt beside him, brushing aside the broken plank that pinned his leg. His eyes met hers for only a moment before closing again, the tension in his jaw clear even as his voice came low, and cracked.
"It's no use… Captain… J-just end it… please. Let me die without…suffering."
She didn't answer as her fingers worked quickly, unfastening the buckles of his armor and peeling it away with care, revealing the torn flesh underneath. The gash ran deep, just beneath the ribs where an earthbender's stone had torn through the plating. It was a kill wound if left alone, but he wasn't dead yet.
"You will not die here, corporal." she said flatly, not as reassurance, but as instruction. "You will return to duty in time, and you will recover to fight another battle. Your name will be recorded in the campaign archives, and your children will say it aloud when they're taught how this war was won."
He only grunted in response, seemingly disappointed that his suffering wouldn't end quickly, perhaps he didn't believe her. It mattered little to her. She was never someone to waste more words explaining. She was convinced her soldier was going to live through this as much as she was convinced the Fire Nation would triumph.
She cut a piece of his cloth armor and bundled it together on one of her hands, with practiced control, she focused her chi, drawing it down into her other metal hand until it burned hot white, illuminating the wound in flickering light. She closed said hand and a fire blade spurred. She moved quickly and secured his body with her knees. The soldier stirred, then tensed as realization dawned.
"Bite on this." she said simply.
"Captain…wai-" the soldier was cut off as the bundle of cloth was placed in his mouth.
She then pressed the fire blade to the wound in a single, decisive motion while holding his shoulder with her other hand. His body arched as the pain flooded through him, the scream caught somewhere in his throat before dissolving into unconsciousness. The wound turned from red to purple to black, quickly cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding.
Lin snuffed the blade, shocking the heat from her hand to cool it off. The corporal passing out was not ideal, but she supposed losing a lot of blood and adding more pain to it could do that to any man.
With no hesitation, she pulled him over her shoulders, rising with the full weight of his body across her back. Her boots shifted slightly as she adjusted, then she carried him toward the medical tent without a word.
----0000----
The scent of sulfur still clung to the valley, even as the winds shifted and carried most of the smoke toward the river. Major Han stood near the command post, reviewing the charcoal-streaked maps spread across the crate that now served as a planning table.
A courier stood nearby, waiting silently, still catching his breath from the sprint between hills. The message he carried confirmed the scattered reports they had received since midday an Earth Kingdom battalion had been spotted falling back toward the eastern cliffs, pushing through the forest in what appeared to be a disorganized retreat. They had not expected such a large group to remain unaccounted for after the last skirmish.
Han dismissed the runner with a nod and took a long breath through his nose, eyes scanning the map once more. The report changed their posture entirely. If those remnants made it across the narrow divide between the northwestern corridor and the interior provinces, the Fire Nation would be forced to fight for this ground all over again in a matter of months.
It wasn't a full army anymore, but it was large enough to reinforce one of the deeper bastions or worse, disappear into the forests and harass their supply lines for the next year. The river crossing had to be cut off before they regrouped.
He turned his gaze toward the Red Company encampment below the ridge. They had moved quickly after the last push, setting up a proper perimeter with the sort of order most field units lacked after such heavy fighting.
Their discipline was not the product of traditional schooling or noble bloodlines, but rather that of the raising Renshi family. It was then forged under the command of the young captain, who now moved steadily across the clearing, a wounded soldier slung across her back, her posture rigid even under the strain.
Han watched her for a moment longer before stepping away from the map and descending the slope toward her camp. By the time he reached the outer tents, she was already returning from the medical line, her hands blackened with soot, and cloth tied around one wrist where blood had soaked through.
"Major." she said, acknowledging his presence with a nod but little else. He had grown used to that.
"You'll be moving east." Han said, not wasting time with preamble.
"Intelligence confirms two broken enemy companies pushing through the woods near the basin. They're trying to reach the river and link up with reinforcements headed for the territories close to Ba Sing Se, and we cannot allow that to happen."
She said nothing, merely shifted her weight to her back leg, with arms behind her.
"You'll move within the hour, track their retreat path, and harass them constantly. Disrupt their movement, deny them water, bleed them out if possible, but don't engage in a full push until you've cut off their retreat. We'll dispatch reinforcements from the western flank once they've resupplied. Until then, your mission is to hold them there so that they don't escape."
The expected reaction of either bravado, irritation, or even complaint at the mission did not come. There was just silent acknowledgement, her eyes already calculating what needed to be done and which way to do it best. Han knew that she had likely already decided how she would execute the mission before he finished speaking.
It was that clarity that made her so effective. And yet, there was something in her that left him unsettled. He had commanded ruthless men before, driven, merciless, even cruel. But Lin was something different altogether.
Her methods were not fueled by ambition or bloodlust, and he could not accuse her of recklessness. She was deliberate in every step, sharp in her planning, and unwavering in execution. It was almost as if you stripped a person of all feeling or empathy, but left everything else untouched.
She did not celebrate victories, nor mourn casualties. She treated prisoners as dead weight and saw honor as a luxury that held no value on a battlefield. And yet, her loyalty to the Fire Nation was undeniable, carved into her with the same precision she expected from her company.
"Understood." She gave him a sharp salute and moved on.
As she turned to carry out his orders, Han caught himself watching her with the same analytical gaze he had once reserved for enemy commanders. He had come to respect her of course, after the few months of constant battles around her, but part of him wondered if she was human at all.
Maybe Agni had a hand in her making; the spirits were famous for not caring about humans at all. Or maybe she was a spirit in disguise, one of those that cared little for lives but craved combat, but that wouldn't explain her loyalty at all.
He was certain that, at the very least, she was half something else, no human could show so little emotion.
----0000----
The ground vibrated with every impact as another volley of earth crashed against the defensive line, the rock walls fracturing and folding inward like brittle paper, as the firebenders worked tirelessly to repel the flying rocks with their own volley. Zhou ducked instinctively, raising his bracer and lowering his stance; the motion fluid from repetition.
One of the fragments ricocheted close enough to scorch his cheek, but he barely flinched. His focus was ahead, watching the captain. She had not moved in several breaths, standing tall behind the shield wall where the frontline firebenders rotated in tight formation.
Each team lasted barely a minute under the pressure, pushing out waves of flame to counter the rock volleys before retreating to recover their breath and chi. The bombardment from the Earth Kingdom had become rhythmic now, a cycle of precision and exhaustion, and Zhou could feel the tremor of fatigue rippling through their ranks.
At the same time, they had another dedicated team that was in charge of pressing the attack even under constant enemy assaults. The amount of flames and heat around drenched everyone in sweat. As volleys of rock hit their formations, fireballs roared in return to the other side.
Yet the captain remained unshaken, her presence alone anchoring the entire rotation. She was making sure each soldier committed to their assigned task, like a symbol of unyielding and inextinguishable flame.
Zhou had never seen an Earth Kingdom defense this desperate before. The remaining defenders had been backed into a narrow ridge with nowhere left to flee, and it had made them wild with determination.
There was no thought of surrender in them, no signal of retreat or parley. Only the raw certainty that this would be the place they died and that desperation made them dangerous. Their strikes, although uncoordinated and desperate in nature, were fierce and powerful. The type of attack from an army that feared no consequences anymore.
The Red company had matched them volley for volley, but it had been very exhausting. A few steps behind the rotation line, the specialized squad worked tirelessly to intercept incoming boulders, cutting them down with controlled flame jets or redirecting them mid-air with bursts of fire walls. That buffer kept them alive so far.
Zhou wiped the sweat from his brow, his arm trembling slightly from overuse. His squad had already cycled through three times, and he could feel the heavy drag of depleted reserves building behind his ribs. The captain, on the other hand, looked as though she hadn't yet begun.
He turned just in time to see her step forward. He recognized that this was an attack that only she saw, an opportunity on the enemy line that she wanted to exploit. She broke her own lines and pressed forward without giving an order to the rest of the company. Zhou surged after her, fire already sparking at his fingertips.
The captain's flames burst forward in a searing arc, so hot and forceful that the first row of enemy cover dissolved on impact. Wooden barricades melted into smoldering embers, and the stunned Earth Kingdom soldiers behind them had only seconds to react before the second wave of fire swept through.
She did not relent the attack, and flame after flame, the opposition was being dismantled in front of his very eyes. The defenses that the earth kingdom forces had laid out were turning scorching black. Her fire was turning from the usual orange and red to a bright yellow, and her arms had a faint glow of red from the heat.
Zhou had trained under many commanders in his years of service, but none quite like her. She had cunning and a strategic mind that would rival most generals, but at the same time the strength to brute force her way into battle in a deliberate and merciless way. She didn't have the emotional fervor or hatred that fueled most fire nation officers, but she still thrusted into battle without fear and with the same ferocity.
He reached her side just as she switched angles, redirecting her flames to the left flank, where the enemy had begun to regroup. They were trying to rotate in fresh fighters from behind the barricades, still clinging to old tactics and trying to turn back the tide with the same stubbornness that had already doomed them.
The moment the wall cracked under the pressure, she paused and looked back.
"Chaaaaarge!" she screamed, turning around and rushing the enemy, her voice carrying over the din of flame and falling stone. Zhou did not need to hear it twice.
The line surged forward as one. What had been a disciplined formation seconds earlier became a tide of roaring flame and voices, every soldier screaming as they rushed in behind her. Zhou pushed through the collapsing barricades, striking with precision, his chi flaring with renewed fury. Around him, the defenders faltered, some broke into the river, which was easy pickings for later, others threw themselves into a final, hopeless stand.
The captain reached the center of the enemy formation first, cutting through a trio of defenders in a single sweeping motion, her metal gauntlets alight with flame. She moved with the grace of a duelist and the weight of a siege weapon, untouchable and absolute in the chaos. Zhou followed closely, shielding her flank without being told, trusting in her movements completely.
By the time the last earthbender fell, the ridge was silent except for the hiss of settling flames and the wheezing breath of soldiers pulling off their helmets. Some even chanted and cheered for their victory.
Zhou looked back and saw the remnants of the battlefield trailing behind them like the wake of a firestorm. Smoke curled from the broken wood, and the air was thick with ash and heat. He caught the captain's eye for a brief moment.
She gave no nod of recognition, no smile of pride or comment at all. She simply turned away and began the routine inspection of the battlefield, clearing downed enemies, killing the ones that had made a desperate retreat into the water or tending to wounded soldiers.
Zhou, despite the ache in his limbs and the blood on his cheek, followed without hesitation.
----0000----
The fire was still dying behind them when the orders came. Messengers reached the Red Company not long after the ridge was cleared, bearing the final directive from command. Gaipan still held. The town had been bypassed during the push through the valley, and reports now confirmed that a detachment of Earth Kingdom fighters remained entrenched behind its walls.
The company that had been defeated days earlier had not included Gaipan's full strength. What remained was not enough to mount a major counteroffensive, but it was enough to be a thorn in their side. If the Fire Nation wanted complete domination of the region, taking the city was a must.
Lin received the message and contemplated the implications of urban warfare and how to mount an attack. A defensive position with walls was difficult to target and this one was surely well aware that they were next in line for conquest.
She took a moment to read the commander's seal and scanned the updated map the courier carried, committing the route and terrain to memory before sending the runner back with a nod.
She didn't want to lose any more of her fighting force. Training new recruits would decrease their time at the ready and introduce inexperienced fighters to battle if they couldn't keep up with the following orders.
Her company had been shaped through months of attrition and survival, and every soldier left standing had endured enough trials to be counted among the elite. They were not expendable, no matter what others in command assumed.
Gaipan was well-defended. It had three main gates and high walls. A direct assault would drain them, even if it succeeded. The main gates were still intact, and scouts reported makeshift barricades being reinforced with stone and timber, something which the town had in abundance due to its main trade being that of loggers and woodsmen.
Lin walked the perimeter of their new position in silence, passing between campfires and sentries, noting every supply crate, every resting soldier, and every wounded man who had returned to his feet.
The rain from the night before had darkened the soil, and the air was heavy with moisture. She stopped near the edge of the camp and narrowed her eyes toward the west, where mountain runoff fed into a thick tributary that curved around the base of the hill.
She traced its path mentally, following the slope and terrain until she saw her golden egg. Just past the trees, concealed behind a natural rise, a wooden dam stood at the edge of the ravine. Its structure was broad and weatherworn but intact, built generations ago for farming and now repurposed by the Earth Kingdom to control the water flow around their remaining strongholds.
There was no hesitation in her thoughts. The plan revealed itself fully formed, as though it had been waiting for her to notice it. She would not storm Gaipan; she would threaten to drown it. If they took the dam quickly, then they could send a missive to the town to surrender or everyone would die.
The previous rains made it a very believable threat as well. The defenders would have no choice but to take it seriously or brave the water if they didn't comply. The water could soften the entire town for them, destroying its fortifications and defenses. The old dam was mostly made of timber, and no structure like it could withstand focused firebending. The moment it broke, the water would do the rest.
She returned to the command tent and spread the map out again, adjusting markers and drawing a line toward the slope with a piece of charcoal. Her lieutenants gathered without being summoned, watching quietly as she finalized the placements.
She assigned one unit to move along the ridgeline to intercept any retreat from the city. Another would move into the forest to secure a perimeter around the dam itself. She would take a small detachment with her to deliver the strike if necessary.
There would be a call for parlay and a surrender term or there would be death to the entire town. The objective was to remove the last Earth Kingdom presence in the region with the least risk to her company, and this was the cleanest way to do it.
Once the preparations were underway, she returned to the edge of the camp. The sun had begun to set behind the mountains, casting long shadows through the trees and igniting the clouds in soft orange and red.
She stood alone for several moments, arms behind her back, her gaze steady on the hidden dam in the distance. The forest surrounding the town was quiet, only the hush of wind through the leaves and the distant hiss of campfires burning low.
She loved when plans just fell on her lap. Lin returned to work with a rare smile on her face.