Jimin held a piece of paper up to his face, studying Chief Namjoon from across the room.

Since accepting his help things had changed for the fire bender. Namjoon didn’t give him pointless tasks to do, but he was careful about the things he had Jimin do also. Hoseok had once been Namjoon’s right hand man, and now the closest person that came to that title was Jimin. He didn’t run the army like Hoseok had, but Hoseok worked towards that his entire life and earned each position with hard work and dedication. To become head of the army took the Chief’s approval, but in order to be in the running for that Hoseok had to make his way through all of the ranks himself without Namjoon’s help. Jimin was only beginning, and many people in the water tribe still discriminated against him which made it harder to move up.

Namjoon wanted Jimin to studying fire bending from some of the people under Darshi, but Jimin wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Not if it would stigmatize him further. He was happy now anyways, working in the army and helping to disperse Namjoon’s word. Neither of them admitted to their family ties yet aloud. The cons outweighed the pros at this moment. It could only cause unrest in the tribe when more than ever they had to be united. Things were changing slowly and Jimin didn’t want to do anything to make the tribe worse off. Living was hard enough as it was.

“Namjoon?”

In public Jimin made sure to call him by his title, but in private the young chief didn’t care what Jimin called him. It was strange to think Jimin had once viewed Namjoon as the enemy. Now he was similar to what Darshi had once been to him. Jimin loved her and wished Darshi well, but he wasn’t sure if things ever could be like they once were. Perhaps once the war ended and Darshi had more time for personal relationships they could rekindle, but even that didn’t seem likely.

She was destined for death.

“Hmm?”

Namjoon looked up from one of the numerous scrolls Darshi had thrown at him the other night without explanation. They had been pretty useful so far, even giving out coordinates to a city the Fire Nation planned to attack in the near future.

“Does Darshi have to die?”

His face hardened, turning back to his work. “Yes.”

“But why?”

“You know why.”

Jimin frowned, biting his lower lip. “You’re biased.”

Namjoon snorted, shaking his head. “How am I biased? The law is the law, and what the law says is she must pay for what she’s done with her life.” He massaged his temples, closing his eyes. “I’ve been trying to fix the discrimination we have in the Northern Water Tribe. Teaching some of the girls willing to water bend how to fight is like pulling teeth, by the way. It feels like the whole tribe is mad at me for that decision.”

Jimin frowned woodenly, not getting distracted by Namjoon's veer in the conversation. “If you’re not biased why isn’t Hoseok paying the same price?”

Namjoon flinched, peering at him from across the room. “What?” he whispered in shock.

Namjoon had admitted to Jimin why Hoseok was no longer with them after some prying. “Hoseok made the same decision she did, valuing family over their nation. In fact, Hoseok’s was worse. Darshi isn’t from the Northern Water Tribe, but Hoseok was. He betrayed his own people, betrayed you, for his family. Letting Hoseok walk free while forcing Darshi to repent isn’t right.”

“What do you want me to do?” Namjoon burst. “Kill my own best friend! He’s the only friend I've ever had! Everyone else was either too scared of me or wanted to use me.”

“Darshi realized what she did was wrong,” Jimin insisted. “Darshi sacrificed everything to keep the Earth Nation safe. She thought by doing that she sentenced us to death. Could you make the same decision for the world?”

Namjoon stared him down stubborn, but Jimin had always been good at that sort of thing. Jimin’s chin raised, lip jutting out and he refused to be cowed. After a moment, Namjoon crumpled. “It’s the law. It’s been that way for centuries. Do you want to know the truth about my decision if I was ever faced with what Darshi was?”

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