The Officer and the Princess: The Flames Of War

Chapter 8

Of all the things Sung would have never guessed he would ride on, the Avatars Sky Bison ranked high up there somewhere in between a dragon and a Buzzard Wasp. The fact that something this large could stay airborne without wings scared and confused him. He couldn't help but wonder what people from eras long passed thought of the First time they had seen a Sky Bison rise off the ground and fly as gracefully as a bird. They probably would have thought dark arts were at play.

Sung Sat at the Back of the Saddled, his legs outstretched and his arms crossed as he had attempted to get a few moments of sleep since leaving Sun Dao. That was the thing about his training and experience in the Military that had come in handy in recent years. He could fall asleep almost anywhere...though his sleeps were never restful ones. Though sleep didn't come easy for two reasons. One he was around people who he mostly distrusted and they distrusted him just as much, especially the Water Tribe boy who Sung now knew as Sokka, who kept glancing back at him every so often. Reason two was because of a bad feeling he had in his gut. He couldn't shake that fact that Azula was in danger.

He had known Azula was on Yamagishi for awhile now, since she had escaped from the Hospital she was staying at Sung had been tracking her because some how he knew one day he would have to save her from something. He hadn't done it alone however, it was thanks to a friend he had made who used to work in Army Intelligence that he was really able to find anything at all, she was going under an Alias now and living in a town called Izui. Not the most ideal place to start a new life but with Azula's track record Sung figured she wanted to go somewhere with a lot of faces coming and going. Somewhere that a newcomer wouldn't be Suspicious.

She had made some semblance of a life for herself in the town, working at some bar there. Apparently the pat had been good enough for her to buy a small house on the edge of town.  Sung had seen her only once since Sozins Comet though he didn't make his presence known to her at that time. She seemed happy and that was good enough for him. Though he still had strong feelings for her even after all these years he figured it was best if they both left the past in the past and tried to move on. She seemed to have done a better job of it than he had.

The Sun had long since set a full moon hanging in the night sky, a dryness could be felt in the air, no moisture at all. But he could feel something else too. "I can feel you staring at me Zuko." Sung said as he opened his eyes and sure enough from across the saddle Zuko was looking right back at him. Zuko opened his mouth to speak but Sung held up a finger to silence him. "When you've been in as many battles as I have you learn to pick up when you're being watched. Part of your brain is always on high alert, always scanning for threats. It's a sense that never really dies once you learn it."

"I just...wanted to say Naomi told me about your Mother...and I'm sorry for your loss." Zuko said softly.

Sung took in a deep breath. The death had been a sudden one, some fever that the Doctors couldn't treat outside of a cold water compress that could never break it. It had been a hard loss for Sung and Naomi...but Nikkō who was only five at the time was distraught beyond comfort. For Nikkō the only parent she had any true memories of was gone. Since his mothers Passing Sung had taken up the role of a father figure in Nikkōs life, he did his best to teach her everything their father had taught him. How to survive in a harsh world, but most importantly he had tried to instill in her that he loved her. That he would do anything to protect "his" little girl. In many ways Sung had begun to see her not as his sister, but as his daughter. "Thank you." Sung said with a nod. "News travels slow to Sun Dao but I was overjoyed when I heard Lady Ursa had been found. I remember she was a kind woman."

Lady Ursa was Zukos mother, even at a young Age Sung had been able to she was a kind and beautiful woman, he could also see clearly that she didn't fit in the Royal dynamic she had married into. She had vanished soon after Fire Lord Azulons death. From what he was able to piece together it had been Ursa who had killed Azulon to protect Zuko from Ozai. Just one of the joys of Royal politics. Apparently at some point Ursa had remarried if she had another child.