The Officer and the Princess: The Flames Of War

Chapter 26

Sung sat cross legged on the top deck of the Royal Yacht "The Morning Glory" the warm ocean breeze washing over him as he faced the sun rise. His eyes were closed as he slowly inhaled and exhaled, trying to get into a state of meditation. Once upon a time he had meditated whenever he got more than an hour to himself, the meditation had served him well during the war. Keeping those dark thoughts in check, helping him cope with the strong feelings of despair he felt after a battle. But he had long since fallen out of practice with his routine, and the dark thoughts had long since piled up to the point that most of his waking hours had been spent with the memories gnawing at him, and the few hours he spent sleeping were reserved reliving those events over and over again.

The drink had helped somewhat but never fully and he spent more and more time adding to the palate, but he was done with it, or at least he hoped he was. With an upcoming assault on Sei'naka Island in the works Sung knew he needed his mind as clear as possible, he couldn't command troops if he spent most of his days in a rage filled state thinking of nothing but victory at the cost of lives. Far too many Fire Nation Generals of the past had thought that way and Sung refused to be one of them. It was war, people would die there was no preventing that but Sung wouldn't throw their lives away In pointless human wave attacks if he knew there was a better option to achieve a victory.

He hoped, now he prayed the Temple of Amaterasu could help him. He prayed that the Goddess above would deem him worthy of the redemption he so desired. But most of all he prayed for a short war. The last thing Sung wanted was to spend what remained of his life chasing Kurn and Ozai from Island to Island. He didn't want one hundred years of Civil War.

He heard footsteps coming up behind him. They were small little pitter-pattering footfalls. He slowly opened his eyes, temporarily blinded by the Sun in his eyes and looked over his shoulder. It was the little girl, Kiyi. in her hands was a tiny cloth doll with a sort of pinkish outfit on, it's brown hair cropped short, the loose brown strands of fiber on the doll indicating that at some point the dolls hair had been longer and it was cut. She looked at him almost curiously. "Good morning Princess." Sung said with a kind of smile he only reserved for children, an innocent type of smile.

Kiyi gave a smile of her own. "Good morning G-e-n-ral." She said, the word being somewhat difficult for her to pronounce.

"Please just call me Sung, I get called General enough as it is." He had told someone that once before, well two people to be exact. Lo and Li. Sung had always found those two a little odd, but they had been wise beyond their years. In the years that had followed after the war and he had kept in correspondence with the twin sisters he had come to cherish their advice on certain topics that had troubled him. He had trusted their advice so much he had offered them positions in his court as Political Advisors. The sisters had politely declined the offer saying they wanted to spend what years that remained of their lives on Ember Island. Apparently they had become popular at the Ember Island Community Center on Pai Sho night and they certainly hadn't wanted to miss that. Though with their passing Sung could have used their advice now more than ever. He missed those two greatly.

"Sung." Kiyi said, smiling bigger. "I like that name." She said taking a few steps towards him and sitting down beside him. She looked at him before suddenly pointing at his left eye where a faded scar resided. "How did that happen?" He had almost forgotten how brutally honest some children were with their questions, un afraid to ask...less than appropriate questions.

Sung didn't want to fill her heads of thought of war, and the actions of men killing each other. He leaned towards her. "Can you keep a secret?" He asked, holding a hand by his mouth as if he were whispering a revelation that could topple an Empire. Kiyi nodded furiously at that, excitement growing with in her. Sung paused looking over his shoulders as if he was looking to see if they were being watched. He then looked back at the little girl sitting before him. "I got it battling a spirit." He said.