#operation sfa

"You know," an unfamiliar voice says, "you're very lucky you didn't get killed out there."

Lu Ten sits up gingerly, wincing as he does so. He's in a small house, being served a cup of tea by a large man. For a moment he thinks it's his father. He blinks and the illusion is gone - this man is entirely bald with a full beard, and covered with tattoos of women and symbols and forces of natures. So, not his father. A free-wheeling doctor, maybe?

"I know," Lu Ten agrees, cautiously accepting the warm drink. It's all very familiar, like being taken care of when he was a kid with a cold. But there's something wrong, something rattling around his head trying to come loose.

"You're not the first soldier I've had to bring back from the brink of death," the man says, very casual, eyes closed. "But you are the first from the Fire Nation."

Okay. That's not good.

Panic threatens to take over, but Lu Ten stamps it down with his years of practice. This isn't the first time he's been in enemy territory and had to lie his way out. He's had the good fortune of inheriting his father's people skills, and it's saved his life before. His eyes dart around the room, looking for escape routes and weapons he can use.

"A momentous occaion," Lu Ten says, just as casual as the stranger, sitting up a little straighter and setting the tea back down. The man keeps his eyes closed. "To whom do I owe my life?"

The man smirks, and when Lu Ten scrambles to stand, he presses down on Lu Ten's lower leg, hard. Lu Ten has to bite his lip to keep from screaming. He looks down to find that his right leg has been wrapped, and there are ugly bruises spreading up into his thigh. Great.

"Name's Kōji," the man says, eyes still closed, hand still digging into Lu Ten's leg. Lu Ten stuffs his fist in his mouth, hoping Kōji won't look at him anytime soon. "I'm not gonna hurt you, so don't try to escape, alright?"

"Somehow I don't believe you," Lu Ten says around his fist. Kōji finally opens his eyes and lets out a bark of laughter at the sight, blessedly removing his hand at last. Lu Ten sighs, leaning back against the wall. He doubts he could even use the leg if he wanted to.

"Let's go over your options," Kōji says, turning in his stool to face Lu Ten head on. "You could attack me, incapacitate me with that sword...or that bow, or maybe the butter knife, if you're feeling adventurous." Kōji points with each word at the weapons strewn around his house haphazardly.

"But I'd yell Fire Nation," Kōji says, "and the town would come running. I'm a likable guy."

Lu Ten gulps.

"You could always firebend your way out, if you are one, but trust me, the town really won't like that. They fought off a platoon of benders a year ago and won, but we lost some good people. You wouldn't last the day."

Lu Ten is really panicking now. Kōji's got to have an angle, or worst of all, he knows who Lu Ten is. His chances of escape are dwindling by the second.

"You could always go the peaceful route, try to run away on that leg, but it would just be embarassing. Or, you could stay here, heal up a little, and we can work out a deal," Kōji says, smirking all the while. Lu Ten doesn't know how long the guy's been thinking this speech over, but he does know it's effective.

"What kind of deal would that be?" Lu Ten asks, keeping his voice steady.

"Don't know," Kōji replies, the hint of a laugh in his voice, "but I'll be sure to tell you when I figure that out."

-

-

-

Lu Ten is laid up in bed for almost three weeks.

It's incredibly demeaning, being cared for by Kōji. He's not rude, or even particularly angry that Lu Ten is Fire Nation. He makes decent food, prepares tea every day, lends Lu Ten the clothes off his back even though they're much too big. He's a perfectly gracious host, and under different circumstances, Lu Ten would feel grateful to have wound up here.

The demeaning part is how confident Kōji seems to be that Lu Ten won't escape. The older man leaves him alone for hours at a time, out tending his garden or chatting with neighbors who live quite a ways away from Kōji's remote home. At first it hardly bothers him, Lu Ten spends most of his first week sleeping anyway. But as consciousness steadily comes back, Lu Ten is insulted by the complete lack of concern on Kōji's part.

"You read much?" Kōji asks when Lu Ten finally stays awake for more than three hours.

"Sure," Lu Ten says, sitting up and finding it hurts less than before. "My father and I, we read together all the time."

"Here," Kōji says, handing Lu Ten a thick book that looks hand-bound. Lu Ten takes it gratefully, eager for something to do that isn't staring at Kōji's walls or waiting for a meal. Lu Ten flips through the thick pages, only to find instructions.

"...This is a homemaker's manual," Lu Ten says in disbelief. Kōji frowns at him.

"I don't exactly have a library here," he says, throwing up his hands irritably. "You want something to read or no?"

Lu Ten shrugs.

"It'll be helpful, teach you how to make yourself useful, once you're healed," is Kōji's dismissive reply. "I don't let people stay in my house for free, you know. You've gotta earn your way."

"Why take me in at all?

Kōji only smiles, and goes back to his precious garden.

Lu Ten refuses the book in protest at first. It lasts all of a day before he caves and decides to explore the world of do-it-yourself repairs and housekeeping. His father would probably say this is a learning experience, that it's important to be humbled in life. Lu Ten tells himself that's why he hasn't tried to leave.

When the third week comes and goes, and Lu Ten can finally walk without immediately collapsing, Kōji offers him some makeshift crutches and invites him out to the garden. He makes no demands, doesn't ask that Lu Ten begin "earning his way", just chats amicably and tells Lu Ten about the different plants he's so carefully cultivated.

"The great thing about berry bushes," Kōji explains one bright afternoon, "is that you can pick the berries and can them and make your own jam. They overcharge for jam in the market. I mean, sure, it takes a long time, and canning's quite a process, and you use a lot of berries...well, I suppose it's a decent price. But you won't catch me buying what I can make just fine on my own."

"Very respectable," Lu Ten comments, tilting his head to the sun. He hadn't realized how much he missed the outdoors. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Kōji points out, but he grins good-naturedly. "Shoot."

"You said you want me to work," Lu Ten says. "Put me to work. I'm healed."

Kōji throws his head back and laughs heartily.

"You can't stand without your crutch, you grab your stomach every time you cough. Like hell you're healed," he says, still laughing. "Take it easy. Read your book. You'll work when you're ready."

"Kōji, please," Lu Ten says in an embarassingly pleading voice, "I'm dying over here. I can do something, water your garden-"

"You aren't allowed anywhere near my garden," Kōji says gruffly. "You'll just screw it up. Say, how come you get to know my name but I don't know yours?"

"Bǎi," Lu Ten says quickly, too quickly. He relaxes a little and says, "You can call me Bǎi."

"O-kay," Kōji says, drawing out the first syllable and clearly not believing a word out of Lu Ten's mouth. "Bǎi, enjoy the rest. It won't last long."

Before heading out into the village he calls, "And don't you ignore that book! Plenty of good information in there."

Kōji insists that Lu Ten walk around some, get his strength back. Apparently he'll need crutches for another week or two at least, but it's "no excuse to let his legs turn into limp noodles." When he's not exercising, or whatever you call this poor excuse for exercise, Lu Ten reads the stupid handbook cover to cover, and then he does it again. Kōji offers to let Lu Ten accompany him to market, but he declines, paranoid he might be recognized. It's not likely, considering they're in a small town north of Ba Sing Se and Lu Ten's travels brought him in from the west, but he's still cautious. Kōji doesn't comment, just shrugs and goes about his day as usual.

Slowly Lu Ten learns more about his host, and absolutely nothing at all. Kōji's younger than his father, but older than his uncle. He's a social guy but he never brings friends back home, although that might just be out of respect for his guest. He's traveled all over the Earth Kingdom and then some, but when Lu Ten asks what it is he does, Kōji waves him off and comes up with a vague excuse. It bugs Lu Ten that he doesn't know, even though he knows it's hypocritical to be annoyed at all considering his checkered past. Kōji's been more hospitable than his family would be, if the situation was reversed.

It probably helps that Kōji doesn't know he's the prince of the Fire Nation. He'll hold onto that card for as long as he possibly can.

The garden is what saves him from dying of boredom, in the end. Kōji has been gone for hours, and Lu Ten is bouncing with energy. His stomach still hurts when he twists the wrong way, but any hint of a headache has disappeared and his leg feels stronger, he no longer needs the crutch. It would be easy to leave, he could run northward, find himself a boat and sail west, go home.

He could also jump off a cliff. It'd be less painful.

Kōji finds him crouched at the edge of the garden, staring out at the mountains beyond, a holey blanket knotted into a crappy rucksack. The stars are just beginning to appear in the evening sky, though some areas are still a violet hue.

"You're not a prisoner here," Kōji says, sitting in his chair. "You can leave whenever you'd like."

"Aren't you afraid I'll go back to the Fire Nation?" Lu Ten asks him.

"Way I see it, you either go back and have some empathy for the people you're fighting," Kōji says evenly, "or you desert, and the Fire Nation loses a valuable soldier. Win-win."

"Who says I'm valuable?" Lu Ten grunts.

"You showed up here carrying a fallen soldier on your back begging me to save him," Kōji says, point-blank. "I'm sorry to say it was too late by the time you'd arrived."

The memories Lu Ten had been avoiding come back in a tidal wave - the never-ending siege, the months spent trudging along like turtle-ducks in a snowstorm, the boys he was barely older than who had been placed under his command. Lu Ten remembered his friend, who went off to the navy, who asked that Lu Ten look after his younger brother, since they were in the same unit and all.

"He enlisted too young," Lu Ten says quietly, dipping his head and tucking it into his crossed arms. "He was only 17 when he died."

Kōji doesn't say anything, just sits in his chair and lets the gentle breeze blow over them. Lu Ten shuts his eyes tightly, so that colors dance behind the lids. He wants to block out the memories of ceaseless death and violence, wants to forget that he's all his father has left. It's a useless effort.

"I don't want to go back," Lu Ten admits at last, and it's not as freeing as he thought it would be, but the words feel right. "I don't want to be part of it anymore. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"What do I look like, a spirit guide?" Kōji says gruffly. "I already told you, you're welcome to stay if you work. But I'm not gonna tell you what to do. You're a grown man."

Kōji stands and moves to reenter the house, but stops at the door. He coughs awkwardly, and Lu Ten looks over at him.

"I, uh. I'm sorry. About your friend," Kōji tells him, and despite the hesitancy Lu Ten can tell he's being genuine. He inclines his head in thanks towards his host, and Kōji, apparently satisfied, goes inside.

Lu Ten stays there until his legs go numb, watching the sky go from bluish-purple, to a deep navy, to finally inky black. Kōji's garden smells deceptively similar to the one in the palace, where Aunt Ursa spent most of her time. It's too peaceful, here among the flowers and the cool of springtime. The war rages just to the south, and no matter how hard he listens Lu Ten can't hear the sounds of battle. All he hears is the chirping of crickets and the tinkle of Kōji's assortment of windchimes.

When he goes back inside, rucksack and all, Kōji is getting ready for bed.

"You staying?" asks his host. Lu Ten unties his makeshift pack, puts away the things he had been more than willing to steal not three hours ago.

"And leave without demonstrating my new housekeeping skills?" Lu Ten says easily. "No thanks."

Kōji laughs heartily, a loud rumbling thing that bubbles up from his belly. Lu Ten tries and fails to pretend it doesn't remind him of his father.

-

-

-

"I want you to fix these shutters," Kōji says the moment Lu Ten wakes up.

"The shutters?" Lu Ten repeats blearily, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep away. Kōji uncermoniously shoves a cup of tea into Lu Ten's hands. Lu Ten takes a sip and sighs contentedly. "This ginseng tea?"

"Aren't you the tea conisseur?" Kōji says sarcastically, tossing Lu Ten some clothes.

"My father's favorite," Lu Ten says by way of explanation, pulling on the shirt he's been given and finding it fits. "These new clothes?"

"What is this, 20 questions?" snaps Kōji, adamantly refusing to look at Lu Ten. "If you're gonna be staying you can't exactly keep wearing my clothes, can you? Now hurry up and get dressed, I want those shutters fixed yesterday."

Fixing shutters ends up being more difficult than Lu Ten expected. He has the homemaker's book memorized so well that he doesn't even need to refer back to the chapter on "Maintaing Your Home Furnishings: Tips and Tricks to Keep This Old House Looking Like New", but he leaves it open anyway, hoping that if he keeps looking at the pages, he'll eventually have a breakthrough. He can't even ask Kōji for advice, humiliating as that would be, because the older man left the house in a huff early that morning, mumbling something about local gossip.

The problem, Lu Ten is sure, is the old wood of the house, not his complete lack of skill. No matter how hard he tries to hang the slats evenly, so that they no longer rest in a crooked lean against the window, they somehow go right back to the way they were. Lu Ten works at it for the better part of an hour when Kōji comes back in an uncharacteristically bad mood.

"Let me see," the man mutters, stomping over to Lu Ten's place by the kitchen window.

"Actually, I'm, ah, just fixing this-"

"Are you kidding me?" Kōji gestures wildly to the window, which looks exactly the same as it did an hour ago. "I just asked you to hang them propely!"

"I'm working on it!" Lu Ten snaps.

"You put a hole in my wall!"

While that's true, Lu Ten doesn't feel it's very fair to point out.

"Look, I'm trying to do what the book says," Lu Ten grumbles irritably. "It's not my fault that-"

"The book?" Kōji repeats in disbelief. "You're...you're actually reading the..."

Kōji looks down at the open pages, looks back at Lu Ten, and down at the book again. He opens his mouth, and then closes it with a snap. Then, to Lu Ten's utter confusion, Kōji begins to laugh hysterically.

"The - the homemaker's guide?" Kōji chokes out between laughter, and, frankly, Lu Ten doesn't see what's so funny. "That's just the only book I've got laying around...it was a joke!"

Okay, rude, but Kōji's bright red face and wheezing laughter starts to affect Lu Ten against his will, and he begins to chuckle as well, until he's cracking up right alongside Kōji. He doubles over and has to lean a hand on Kōji's shoulder, while Kōji leans against the counter. It's a few minutes until Kōji wipes the tears away from his eyes and lets out an exaggerated sigh.

"Okay. Okay," he says, as though he's trying to think something through. "What were you, a rich boy or something?"

"Or something," Lu Ten says grinning, wiping his own eyes.

"Well, I'm not having much luck in town..." Kōji says thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll show you how to not be completely useless."

"You're telling me you could've done this yourself?" Lu Ten accuses him good-naturedly.

"What, and miss the look on your face while you try to figure out what a nail is?" Kōji teases. - - - Kōji ends up teaching Lu Ten things he'd never even thought about before. The irony of being served on hand and foot and then being forced to live out in the wilderness among people of every class and rank never failed to amuse Lu Ten, but this is somehow entirely different. In the war Lu Ten was still prince of the Fire Nation, the man who would one day be Firelord, and he had to prove to his comrades that he wasn't soft or lazy. His solution was to train harder, learn survival skills like tracking and hunting until he was an expert, and make damn certain he helped out wherever he could. With Kōji, however, he's...well, he's Bǎi, and as far as Kōji's concerned, Bǎi is a nobody and utterly helpless.

He drives Lu Ten harder than the drill seargents did. Lu Ten's shocked that basic repair-work and chores feels just as exhausting as army boot camp, but then it's not like he's ever had to do anything like this before.

Well, except for when Piandao made him rearrange his stone garden. Somehow menial labor was more fun at 15 when there was a reward of swordfighting at the end of it.

And yet, despite his aching feet and tired bones, Lu Ten can't help but like Kōji, can't help but be proud of the work they do. The shutters come first, and then they sand down the chairs out in Kōji's garden, and then they organize the kitchenware, and so on and so forth.

"This feels like busy work," Lu Ten says as Kōji pours them both a hard drink while they take a break.

"Maybe for you, rich boy," is Kōji's smug reply, "but this is my life, my home. I spent so long keeping you alive I let it fall apart."

Somehow, Lu Ten thinks he wasn't unconsious long enough to be responsible for the multitude of tasks required of them.

"I seem to recall you going out into the market to gossip often enough," Lu Ten points out. Kōji makes a non-committal grunt, and Lu Ten doesn't bother to hide his grin.

Kōji is rough and demanding, but he's patient when Lu Ten makes a mistake, and sits with him until the task is complete. He refuses to out-and-out do anything for Lu Ten, but he's more than happy to provide demonstrations and offer tips. Eventually, Lu Ten figures out how to do things alone, but Kōji still sticks by him, the helpful hints being replaced by personal anecdotes of his journeys across the Earth Kingdom.

"The point is, only idiots enters the Cave of Two Lovers," Kōji is saying while Lu Ten pulls weeds in the back garden, the first task he's ever been assigned anywhere near Kōji's plants. "Of course, the folks I was traveling with were a special kind of stupid-"

"What kind of job takes you all over the Earth Kingdom and lets you chat with your neighbors all day?" Lu Ten asks curiously, wiping the sweat off of his brow. Summer is coming, the heat beginning to creep into the air around them. Kōji doesn't answer him at first, and Lu Ten worries for a moment he's said something wrong, but when he looks over at Kōji, the older man is smiling.

"How long have you been here, Bǎi?" Kōji asks, voice oh-so casual. "One month, two?"

"More than two months," Lu Ten says, rolling his eyes, certain Kōji knows exactly how long it's been.

"More than two months. Hmm." Kōji strokes his thick beard conspiratorially. "I guess that's long enough to introduce you to the business."

"What business is that?" Lu Ten asks, sitting back and abandoning the weeds entirely.