“Surely you can do better than that,” Azula drawled, her tone thick with disappointment as she dusted some loose dirt off her attire.
At least he was honest about being a poor sparring partner.
The test of character was disappointing, very disappointing indeed. Even the palace guards watching them at a distance were muttering their disapproval. Xing’s movements were swift but stiff, greatly lacking in the fluidity required to channel and focus his chi. His punches and kicks were half-hearted and indecisive, creating pitiful gouts of flame that wouldn’t even melt a candle. She barely needed to block or avoid most of his sad attempts at an offensive. The boy was clearly holding back on some misguided attempt to not harm her.
“Are you going to bother trying?” Azula asked right before she lunged into a flurry of punches and whirling kicks, lashing out with tongues of flame. Maybe with enough pressure, she could break Xing from his reticence.
The colonel however dodged her strikes with surprising ease, his gaze never leaving the princess as he sidestepped and whirled aside just enough to avoid the attacks.
Azula allowed a small scowl to grace her features as she continued her attack, leaping to close the distance and launching a series of kicks mid-air that sent a barrage of fiery bolts raining down on Xing. He weaved through the hail of fire effortlessly, and as the princess descended with an axe kick aimed for his head, Xing opted to step back and avoid the flurry of fire punches instead of blocking and stopping the offensive momentum as standard convention dictated.
If nothing else, Xing was good at not getting hit. Was he really that bad a firebender that he had to resort to dodging? Or was the boy merely toying with her? The fact that she even considered the latter thought offended Azula.
“You are starting to annoy me, colonel,” she hissed. “I’m starting to think that all the tales about your exploits are just mirages.”
“They are greatly exaggerated,” Xing replied with an infuriating nod, eyes just low enough to not meet hers. Did he really not care about his prestige?
“If you truly are this incompetent, maybe I should have my father rethink your promotion.”
Ah. A twitch in the corner of his eye.
Azula grinned as she found his weakness. “Perhaps I should suggest another…appointment for the 11th Regiment. Another…promising noble who could use the glory, hm?”
Xing’s body stiffened, and there was a flash of fury in his eyes.
Good.
“Come then, colonel. If you wish to keep your command, prove to me that you are worthy of it.” She settled into a combat stance, grinning with anticipation.
“Fight me. I promise, you don’t have to beat me.” It wouldn’t be fair to set an impossible challenge, after all.
The boy’s stare blazed for a second, and she noticed how his eyes then glazed over with hostility. “As you wish, princess,” he said flatly while bowing deeply. “I deeply apologize in advance for the offense I will commit.” With that, he adopted a crouched, almost hunched stance.
Azula was about to laugh at the proclamation when her instincts screamed at her to leap aside. She did so just as Xing suddenly closed the distance, fists leading the way. Azula’s eyes were wide as she watched the punches fill the space where her head used to be. Her mouth gaped open in further surprise as a jet of blinding white flames then burst out from them.
Before she could comprehend what she just avoided, Azula quickly rolled away as a small orb of the same fire blasted out a small crater on the ground she once occupied. Pure instincts kept her moving as Xing’s leg came down and left a small smoldering crater upon contacting the ground. She made enough distance to safely stand, but had to immediately twist painfully to one side to avoid another punch aimed for her head. The burst of fire erupting from the strike caused some of the guards behind her to shout out. Whether in panic or otherwise, she was too busy to care.
Azula tried to retaliate with a fiery strike of her own, sending a knee up to his guts. Xing shifted aside as she expected, but her ensuing elbow strike was batted aside with a backhand that trailed a curtain of fire which forced the princess to wince and backpedal away.
She wanted to growl her annoyance, but Xing did not give her that luxury. Without hesitation the colonel charged through the dissipating flames, striking and kicking in a pattern that Azula was completely unfamiliar with. The speed at which he delivered his attacks - along with the recent memory of his fiery follow up - made blocking a risky prospect, so she had to desperately dance aside or deflect the blows as they came.
For all his poor posture, Xing was fast, faster than many of her mentors. He also kept close to Azula, never letting up in his offense and never giving her the space and the chance to get into the proper stance to deliver a decisive counterattack. It didn’t help that he kept aiming at her neck and face with fists and knifehands, while his legs swept and whipped about in an attempt to trip and knock her over.
She tried batting aside a jab aimed for the throat, and with the same arm sent an elbow into his face. Xing responded by quickly delivering a quick jab into her now exposed side. It forced her to abort her attack and instead send the elbow down to intercept the strike, landing a sharp blow onto his wrist. But the awkward stance she was forced into put her back in the defensive again, and Xing didn’t seem to register the damage that was supposed to be inflicted to his hand.
Instead he kept a blank stare locked onto her, and Azula noticed how he never spun about or moved in any way that might break his vision. Not that the close proximity allowed him to do anything fancy to begin with. Still, the unrelenting gaze was genuinely unnerving.
Azula’s final attempt at breaking Xing’s momentum was a bold and desperate lunge forwards, using the palm and elbow of one arm to push aside his arms and make way for a swift punch into his throat. However Xing deftly shifted out of the attempt at deflection, and his hand grabbed tightly onto her blocking wrist to yank her towards him just as he lowered his head.
A burst of fire from her feet propelled her away from the waiting headbutt, but he still held onto her arm, and the jarring imbalance from the desperate move allowed him to shift his weight and throw her groundward. Azula’s fall was arrested by strong hands grabbing her shoulders, but that only brought her face inches from his.
Azula remembered the nickname the colonel had earned in the 11th, and saw the wisps of smoke exiting his widening maw as he continued to glare death at her.
This was the end, she thought.
She wanted to cry out her denial, her defiance at the inevitable, but instead Azula found herself frozen and staring in horror as Xing opened his mouth fully…
…and an intense blast of heat washed across the left side of her face, coupled with a deafening roar. And then it was gone, leaving relieving coolness to soak across her warmed skin.
The princess and the colonel stared at each other, the former in incomprehensible shock, while the latter was starting to lose his combat daze. Colonel Xing stepped back, pulling Azula up to her feet in the process. The fury and raw violence in his eyes melted away, and he backed away further before bowing and saluting her. “I hope the demonstration is to your satisfaction, princess.”
Azula blinked at his sudden change in demeanor, and then glanced around her. A small, charred hole in the ground smoldered next to where her head would’ve been just now. The rest of the training grounds were peppered with small craters, a fate shared by parts of the stone walls around it. Some of the palace guards were cowering behind blasted cover.
With the rush from certain death still thick in her veins, the Fire Nation princess stared at the colonel with his lowered gaze.
He had not declared his victory. There was no triumphant mockery from him, no smirk of superiority. The boy was back to his stoic expression again. The lowborn orphan wasn’t even showing signs of exertion, though Azula was still too shaken to take offense at that insult.
“Yes.” She took a steadying breath full of smoke and burnt soil and then forced herself to don the mask of royal aloofness. “Yes, that will be sufficient, colonel.” She paused for a few seconds, waiting in vain for any reply before continuing. “You are clearly…more than capable of leading the 11th Regiment.”
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“Thank you for your praise, your highness.”
Try as she might, Azula found no trace of sarcasm in his voice. If anything, he was…annoyed? Why was he annoyed?
Quickly recovering from her surprise, Azula cleared her throat and regained some of her usual composure. “Indeed. As I promised, the 11th Regiment will have my royal patronage. I will ensure that the needs of your command are not disgracefully overlooked again like before.”
Xing saluted, still as infuriatingly sharp as ever. “My men and women will be most elated to hear of your highness’ generosity. I thank you on their behalf, princess.”
“Yes, yes,” Azula said with forced offhandedness, waving him off. “I’ll not hold you any longer. Return to your task, and see to it that your regiment does not disappoint me, colonel.”
“By your leave then, princess.”
With that, he was gone, and Azula watched as the boy left her sight before she hurried off to her room, the heat from the side of her face quickly growing to encapsulate the other half.
This Xing was a troubling puzzle.
What in the world was his firebending? Surely it couldn’t be something just learned from combat?
And if his firebending was so devastating, why was he insistent about hiding it? Was there something else to it that he didn’t want to draw attention to?
Why was he annoyed at his obvious victory? Was he worried about causing offense? Did he think her to be so petty? (Sure she might be on occasion, but that’s besides the point.)
And why was it that her blood still raced and her heart still pounded even after the match was over? It was clearly not insult or anger Azula was feeling, though that revelation was surprising in itself.
There was something about that display of ruthlessness that was…
If it was not frustrating, then what?
*****
With the sparring over, one of the two figures in the upper floors finally spoke. “What do you think, General Bujing?”
The calculative general nodded thoughtfully. “Colonel Xing seems to be as impressive as the tales make him out to be, your majesty. While inelegant, it’s clear enough that his method of fighting is meant to exploit the earthbenders’ defensive stances. Only the inherent swiftness of firebending kept the princess from any serious harm.” Despite the implied danger to royalty, Bujing smiled. “I can see why the Earth Kingdom has such a high bounty on the Young Dragon.”
“Do his men share his…aptitude for firebending?”
Bujing shook his head slowly. “So far as I know, the firebenders of the 11th show praiseworthy skill in battle, but nothing like the flames of the colonel.” The high general frowned in thought. “Come to think of it, none of the other forces we’ve questioned mentioned anything about the white flames. Perhaps it’s meant to be kept secret?”
Fire Lord Ozai hummed in thought before coming to a decision. “As Colonel Xing shows great talent, we shall not squander it. Have the 11th Regiment be reassigned from resistance suppression. They have a reputation of breaking through stubborn earthbender formations; utilize that.”
“I will adjust our plans accordingly, Fire Lord.”
“The fools who had allowed for the 11th Regiment’s relegation and deterioration. See to it that they are punished for their corruption.”
General Bujing smiled widely. “I know just the front that could use such cowards, your majesty.”
The Fire Lord watched as his daughter stormed off with a bit of a limp, and another thought occurred to him.
“Tell me honestly, general, how much would the Fire Nation stand to gain if we adopted this orphan? Or tie this commoner colonel to the royal family by…other means? Assuming he proves his worth, of course.”
*****
Kai couldn’t help speaking out when Xing entered the meeting, almost late for once. “You alright Xing? You look…pissed.” More frankly, it looked like he was coming down after losing control and slaughtering Earth Kingdom levies again.
The colonel shook his head even as he rubbed at his wrist. “Nothing to concern yourself, captain.”
Ren threw a dirty grin. “How did your meeting with the princess go?”
Kai’s head snapped to the captain, and then back to Xing with trepidation. “Princess?”
The boy waved off, frowning a bit petulantly as he took his place at the head at the table but did not sit. “It’s nothing, can we get on with the meeting?”
Of course, Ren wouldn’t leave it at that. “Did you get rejected, colonel?”
“Ren,” Xing said in his ‘quit-the-dragon-mooseshit’ voice, and thankfully the captain shut up. “Now, how is the regiment? Mozi?”
Said lieutenant colonel gave a single nod. “Supplies are at ideal levels. We’re still weeding out prospective recruits. There’s a lot of work required to bring them up to our standards, but we should still have enough time.”
“Even the extra material request?”
Mozi rolled his eyes. “Yes, even your added requests.”
“Great, thanks!” It was one of the few times Kai saw Xing smile brightly like a boy his age should.
Unfortunately the smile didn’t last too long as he returned to his usual, stony mask. “Any issues with the new officers?” he asked, looking around to the new captains.
“Needed to knock some sense into them, but they should be alright,” Ren reported seriously. “I’m putting them through the same drills as the recruits.”
Weikong, Rufen and Ping nodded to show their shared sentiment. “Me too.” “The same.” “Yeah, same here.”
Xing finally sat down in his seat, and Kai and the others pretended not to notice the colonel wincing. He would need a bit more healing before his back was fully healed. “Huh, and here I was expecting them to throw us more crappy newbies.”
The officers grinned and chuckled. “After all the news the other colonels spread about you, I think even the most petty nobles would know better than to continue their grudge against Colonel Lidai.”
“True…” Xing stared into the air for a moment before shaking his head. “Anyway, I’ve got good and bad news…”
Ren’s face broke into a cheeky smirk again. “Something to do with the princess?”
The colonel let out a suffering sigh before he replied. “Yes, unfortunately. Princess Azula will be personally investing her royal patronage on the regiment. We can hopefully expect that the 11th will not have any logistical issues for the foreseeable future, but that means we might also have to act on her interests when she asks for it.”
Kai was sure all eyes were fixed on Xing, and everyone’s jaws had dropped just like his. How’d he secure royal patronage?
“Did you kiss her or something?”
To his horror, Kai realized it wasn’t Ren that spouted the words, but himself. Damnit, he was supposed to be the dependable big brother!
“No,” Xing replied, giving no time for the captain to regret his slip, “We sparred, she seemed…impressed enough…”
Scared. He meant to say ‘scared’, Kai realized.
“... and the 11th got its patronage.’
Mozi huffed incredulously, though like the other officers he too caught the underlying implication. “When you put it like that, you make it sound so easy. I thought you were trying to avoid further attention?”
“I was,” the boy half-whined. “But she’s a princess, and it’d be worse if I refused her demands.”
Kai found himself nodding with some of the others. Going against the wishes of the Fire Lord or his family would be tantamount to suicide, no matter how brilliant you thought you were.
Mozi joined in with the nodding. “So, when do I break the news?”
“Once we get the official paperwork. Ah f- Do we have to make a big ceremony out of it?”
“It’d be expected,” Ping answered, earning another drawn out sigh from Xing.
“Well, at the very least, you’ve done Colonel Lidai proud,” Kai offered, and at that the colonel’s annoyance seemed to soften significantly.
“Yeah… I guess so. We’ll do it for him then.”
There were resolute nods all around the meeting table, and then they moved on to the next topic. “So, what’s the political situation in the capital like? Whose toes can we afford to step on once we go back out?”