Namjoon took in the bunkers with amazement.

They had already been here for a week, but that didn’t make things less astounding. When he first received a letter from one of his men detailing a city he found out about below the Earth Kingdom he almost thought it was too good to be true. But here he was, inside the city itself. Many of the earth citizens didn’t even know about its existence. That was how protected it was. It wasn’t just him down here. There were many different nations. He’d even run into a few of the Southern Water Tribe, although many of the current members didn’t know them but their descendants. Nonetheless, it had invigorated them.

Of course there were some from the Earth Kindom, and a few Fire Nation too. The one’s fed up with war, and realizing the propaganda they were given was not true. Namjoon even heard there were some Air Nomads, although he hadn’t seen any to credit the rumor.

When his own tribe arrived they fit in almost seamlessly. There were a few leaders down here, and they placed him at the head of the Water Tribe. The others were two earth benders that were strangely opposite in personality. One was eerily optimistic, her smile rarely fading from her face. The other always had his brows furrowed even when smiling. It gave him a sad, slightly hopeless look. Perhaps this place ran so well because the two were complete opposites.

“Chief Namjoon?”

Hoseok stood in the doorway, his knuckles white from clutching the door frame tight against his hand. He frowned, eyes dancing across the room landing anywhere but on him.

“Come in, Hoseok. Help yourself.”

He hesitated before placing himself on the edge of a chair across from his desk. “Our army has been organized. They’re training with other groups to improve their fighting techniques and learn Fire Nations tactics.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Namjoon took a sip of his tea, letting out a soft breath as the heat hit the back of this throat. He went to open his mouth but Hoseok beat him to the punch.

“I wish to retire from my duties.”

Namjoon’s jaw dropped and he stared at him flabbergasted. He didn’t understand why Hoseok would quit. He loved running the army. It was something Hoseok had always been passionate about. Perhaps this was a joke, but the look in Hoseok’s eyes said otherwise.

“Why?”

He needed that answer. Hoseok had been pulling away from him for months. He wanted to know if it was something he did, or a rumor about him that Hoseok believed. He didn’t want to lose his closest friend, the only person alive that he could truly be himself with.

Hoseok began to fidget in his seat, something he hadn’t done in years. It served as a testament of how nervous he was. As if Hoseok could stand it no longer he went over to the ledge. The rocks were carved so that he could stare straight down and see what was happening, yet still offered privacy.

“I haven’t been completely truthful with you,” Hoseok admitted, every word forced.

Namjoon swallow. “Well whatever it is I’m sure we can work past it. You don’t have to retire.”

Hoseok gave him a bitter sweet smile, filled with all the hopeful wishes of a world that had been crushed beyond measure. “I’m afraid not, Namjoon. Not this time.” He turned back around so that Namjoon could no longer see his face. “What I’ve done is unforgivable.”

Namjoon stood, standing next to him as they watched the motion from down below. A group of children all wearing different nation’s clothing played together in harmony. A trader unloading his wears, his wife grinning as she held a basket for him and helped balance him as he tried to take on a load too big for him to handle. This feeling of peace was strange after years of war.

“What have you done?” he asked finally.

He couldn’t picture Hoseok ever doing something he could never forgive. Hoseok was like his brother, a person he could always count on.

Hoseok’s throat bobbed. “Do you know that after you were kidnapped Yua appeared back in the North?”

Namjoon placed a comforting hand on Hoseok’s shoulder. “I heard what happened to her and how it all ended. I’m so sorry. You have my deepest condolences. She was a good, kind woman.”

She was older than them by two years. When they were little she used to mess with them, convincing them that monsters lived where there were none. Her giggle was infectious, and she was always the first to share her sweets when she managed to get them. Namjoon remembered her with great fondness, although the older they got the less they interacted with each other. It was no fault of either of them. She moved out of her parent’s house and into the scholar’s dorm, and Namjoon had to learn how to be a chief in the later years.

Hoseok turned to him, meeting his eyes for the first time in what felt like months. “That was my doing.”

Namjoon blinked in incomprehension, unable to get what Hoseok was hinting at.

“It was no accident that Yua appeared after you left. It was because of me. My decision, and what I was willing to sacrifice for the other.”

Namjoon’s body collapsed in on itself. Shoulders slumping, hands dangling uselessly. His chin hit his chest and he swallowed. It wasn’t betrayal he was feeling, but grief as he understood what Hoseok was trying to tell him. Hoseok had given him up for his sister. Namjoon was no normal man. If it was just him and Hoseok, perhaps they could have worked passed this.

But Namjoon was the Chief of the Water Tribe. What Hoseok had done was mutiny.

Namjoon forced all the pain and misery back, his voice coming out steady despite his inner turmoil. “I cannot fault you for what you did, but I can no longer trust you either.”

Hoseok nodded as if he expected that. As he went to say something a knock resonated through the room. Namjoon watched as his oldest friend bowed to him as if they were strangers, leaving through the door that revealed Jimin.

It was what they had to be now, what was best.

One of the soldiers had Jimin by the back of his shirt, shoving him roughly into the room. Jimin wiped at a thin trail of blood on his chin, glaring at Namjoon with defiance.

“He’s been causing trouble, Chief,” the soldier complained.

“I was not!” Jimin burst. “The other water tribe members were mocking my mother, calling her a for birthing me! I’m not just going to sit there and let them call her that.”

Namjoon squeezed the bridge of his nose, dismissing the soldier with a gesture of his hands. He bowed before closing the door behind him.

“I shouldn’t have to defend myself for their disgusting, vile words. My mother never asked for any of this. She-“

“I know.”

Jimin paused, head lolling back as if that were the last thing he expected out of Namjoon. A single, long breath released from him, and it seemed he realized all at once that he had been trying to avoid Namjoon since telling him they were related. “Right, then. I’ll… just be going.” He pointed a severe finger at him, although his face couldn’t seem to keep with the same theme. “Check your soldiers! Some of them are bigots and separatist.”

“They are,” he agreed. “War changes people. I’m not trying to defend them, but it’s how they’ve learned to cope. It’s easier to see all people that can be labeled as ‘other’ as the bad person rather than attempting to muck through all of them. I will speak to them though. We’re not alone in the North anymore. They have to learn to accept other people if they want us to survive.”

Jimin studied his face, searching for any untruths he could be hiding. When he found none he gave a satisfied nod, walking towards the door.

“You don’t have to leave.”

Jimin paused, hand against the door knob as he listened to Namjoon.

“I know you’re having trouble, Jimin,” Namjoon continued. “And I know you lost your major support when Adarshini was taken, but you don’t have to walk this life alone. Don’t be afraid to let others in.”

Jimin furrowed his brows, lips pinched. “What? You want me to open up to someone like you?”

Namjoon shrugged, turning to watch the people down below. “If you want to. It’s your choice. It always has been.”

Silence permeated the room. Namjoon didn’t know Jimin well enough to understand what it meant. His steps clipped softly against the stone floor, leather shoes nearly silent until he was beside Namjoon. The Chief nearly flinched when Jimin reached out, placing his hand against Namjoon’s upper arm.

“Thank you.”

The words sat between them, and Namjoon smiled for the first time in what felt like forever.

Darshi stood at the edge of the wall, watching the far off camp of the Fire Nation for any sudden movements. They hadn’t launched an attack since that first one after Darshi betrayed them, something the Fire Lord seemed to take to heart based on the fire that lit the night.

“The analysis on the patrols has come back,” an earth soldier told her. Darshi nodded, holding her hands out for him to give it to her.

Since that first day she had been running the war from the first wall.

It was a surprise to hear how organized the Earth Kingdom was. They had jobs she’d never heard of, yet she still made use of them. Instead of pouring over maps herself and searching for weak points she sent them to something called a topographer who did it with even more accuracy that she could imagine. There were even decimal places, a concept that had to be explained to her. She had never heard of decimals before. The organization of the patrols was also something she had made sure to look at. There was up to a one minute gap on certain shifts as some people left for as soon as they saw their reprieve from far away. A lot could happen in that time.

“Plug this,” she murmured, pointing at the results. “And I want all soldiers to undergo training so they know how important it is to not leave their station until the next person gets there. The Earth King will pay overtime if he must.”

He had met all her demands so far. She didn’t think this was any worse than the others. At this point the Earth King was only a figure in her head. She didn’t have a clue what he looked like or what he was like.

“About that,” the soldier said sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck. “King Shichiro said he wishes to meet you.”

“If he wants to meet me he knows where I am,” she dismissed. He asked her nearly every day and she always replied the same. The strange thing was he had never demanded it of her. He must be a man with a lot of patience. He couldn’t be too offended since he still sent her troops to maneuver as she pleased. For the most part he let her work the battle field at the edge of Ba Sing Se without any stipulations.

A small group of civilians from the south were coming upon them. She ignored them. The general could handle screening them. Displaced people of the Earth Kingdom showed up every day looking for shelter from the war. She wasn’t sure what happened to them after entering the second ring. Darshi hadn’t gone in so far herself, sticking to the quarters she had been given inside the first wall.

Between the first and second wall was where all the farming and animals were located. When looking one way it felt so peaceful, but if she turned all she could see was the various attacks the Fire Nation had done. Trees were burnt around the walls for miles, the earth dead and blackened. The places that weren’t charred were as good as desert. Darshi hadn’t even seen any animals outside of the wall besides birds, though there were many creatures thriving inside.

From what Darshi understood the city was over spilling with refugees. Many had ended up homeless, searching the third tier past the second wall for their next meal. All Darshi knew that handling this outer ring was enough for her. The Earth King should be the one managing his people. She did not want to overstep