Fires of War <Hokage, Fire Nation>

[longxing]

The sun was high in the sky, plumes of smoke billowed up from the furnaces down at the shipyards. The cracking of whips and the grunts of earthbenders turned slaves. Away form those, soldiers and their families of the Fire Nation mingled, various commoners and errand boys going between shops searching for supplies and goods. Even further from that, the homes, soldiers resting, fathers playing with their sons, mothers teaching their daughters the ways of the house. And children at play...

"So there I was, ankle deep in water, my catch of the day was boarding the ship..." Long Xing, Admiral, was doing a favored past time of his, telling war stories of his career, he had his hand spread out in front of him, looking much like a leader blessing a crowd of people. This crowd was about varying hieghts of 1-4 feet tall at the moment, children from all ages, from 2 years old, to early teens.

"...then suddenly. The ground beneath me dipped down and I fell! Only to be thrown back into the air by the very same ground!" Long bent down quickly to pick up some dirt in his hands and threw it into the air to provide a small theatric to his story. One particular patron was a young girl, maybe 3 years old, who sat transfixed on Long, mouth gaping open. "I came crashing down onto the deck of my ship! Those condemable Earthbenders had followed us and made a surprised attack against my party! The scoundrels." The little girl gasped along with several others, the little girl shaking her head but mouth still gapping open and eyes transfixed on Long.

"But I was nto to be bested by those barbarians! I quickly got up and along with my buddies we fought against them! Fire erupting from our fists and feet again and again!" Now Long made himself parrallel to his crowd and performed quick and short jabs, enough to make fire come out from his hands and feet. But making his breathing more erratic so the flames would extinguish before they could hit anything or a nearby passergoer. This was rewarded with another gasp from the crowd of children and a few claps and a few cheers. "The battle seemed to go on for hours, but it was only minutes. And towards the end, they were able to tip our ship!"

Long stopped bending and crouched while facing the children spreading his hands out as he made a frown of dissapointment. "And let me tell you, I had saved my commanding officer! But at a steep and painful price to myself! Not only did my prisoners get away, but the armor platting from the ship that capsized fell on me!" Using his left hand, he brought it around to his back and made a half-hearted punch to the back of his spine, being dramatic and fell face first into the dirt. The children gasped in horror!

...

...

...

The small girl who was so transfixed on Long slunked over to the fallen Long. Softly poking his head and jumping back and letting out a yelp of surprise to see Long was indeed 'alive' and moved his head up to smile at the girl. He then slowly got up as the girl rejoined the crowd, dusting himself off and wiping his face clean of dirt with a part of his robe. When finished he crossed his arms over his chest and looked over his crowd. Then holding up a hand with his main finger pointed up. "But! Those Earth Kingdom warrior could not keep me down! I escaped with my life, to fight another day and to hunt down those filthy Earth Kingdom Pickens who tried to kill me. Will I find those earth Kingdom Pickens?"

"Yes!" A small boy shouted which prompted several others to shout the same. Long laughed and held up his hands in defeat. "That is a story for another day ladies and gentlemen." This was met by several sighs and 'awws' as the children showed their dissapointment at the conclusion of the story. "Now now, you children will get another story, I promise you all on my life. But not today. Now if you excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I have an important meeting to prepare for." Long bowed as the children of his crowd clapped then returned Long's bow then quickly disperssed. The crowd breaking into several groups as the children went to play together with their friends, some mimicing and pretending to be Fire Nation soldiers.

The little girl was the last to leave, standing there looking at Long shyly, maybe she was thinking of if she should go or not. Long smiled and walked up to the little girl and kneeled before her. "You going to go home?" The little girl looked around and then nodded once then took off running, down a street undoubtedly towards home. Long couldn't help but smile at the little girl as she dissapeared into the streets, littered with people who tower above her. Standing up once again, Long stretched out his arms and legs, taking time to stretch his back and massage it briefly, he could feel a soft pain starting to creep up on him.

Taking a final deep breath, Long turned about to face the ocean and the plumes of smoke from the shipyards and smelting furnices. Sure Sun Sei had the fire Firebender, Lun Yang had the capitol and of course the Fire Lord, but this place, this city has the beeting heart of the Fire Nation, this is where the military might was birthed and set loose, this is the place to fuel the flames of this warmachine.

Long looke dup into the sky and covered his eyes and checked the position of the sun, he still had plenty of time before his meeting, which was at dusk. Wonder if father is working today.

[longxing]

His father wasn't working today, must have had a day off. But that doesn't keep Long from going into the shipyards and watching them work.

Earthbenders. A people proud of their abilities and resilience against the Fire Nation. Yet. Here were Earthbenders, slaved into service until they refuse to work anymore, or simply drop...for whatever reason it may be. The former opportunity leaves up and comming Firebenders a sparring buddy. Least that was the case with Long, more then once he got to try his new prowess against a living target.

Able to go all out as opposed to a fellow classmate. Long's lips went wide as a smile appeared on his face, he remembered his first 'sparring buddy' he got some time with. An Earthbender that was in his prime, until he got captured, until his weaknesses were exposed, up until when his weaknesses were exploited...An image flashed through Long's head as he recalled the hungry flames of that fight, a hungry that was till growing even now.

From behind Long was approached by a shipmaster, a head of a dock. "Admiral Xing, Sir, it's fortunate that you came down here. We just put the ship you asked about into birth today. It's ready to sail once crewed and supplied." Long turned around, the smile still on his face from his childhood memory. Long bowed slightly once with his hands in the sleeves of the opposite side of the robe, which was met by a deeper bow from the shipmaster. "Very good, Shipmaster. I look foreward to testing your work soon. I'll send an aid to you when I want it to start being prepared for sailing." The shipmaster bowed once more, "Very good, Sir." Afterwards the shipmaster promptly left, likely on to another ship to manufacture.

Long turned away and walked towards the more commercial districts of Hokage, only shortly after entering a crowd did he see a young man power walking towards him. The man's name was Nobuta and was one of Long's aids. "Sir!" Nobuta shouted over the crowd before comming up next to Long and walked to his side, only slightly behind. "I've notified several other officers for your meeting, most of them said they'd be there tonight but a few I didn't get an answer from." "Did you get a count of how many would come tonight?" Long came back at him, to which Nobuta quickly nodded, "Yes Sir, count so far is eight out of the fifteen you asked for me to check with. Some mentioned they would ask others too."

This was met with a short glance backward from Long, the smile still prevalent on his face. "Excellent, maybe I can impress some nobles." Long's smile turned into a smirk. If they ever go beyond these shores that is. "Nobuta, when we get home, have my armor readied for me, I was telling a story today and i'll want to wash before my meeting." Nobuta nodded, "Yes Sir, and i'll go ahead and notify to have a war room readied for our meeting." Long nodded, giving his approval. But out of eyesight (since Long returned facing forward) Nobuta nodded eagerly and a smile apeared on his face. Should this go over well, Long would be rewarded, and in turn Long would reward Nobuta for his service.

[longxing]

(Skipping ahead)

Night had fallen and 2 figures walked through the torch light halls of a meeting building. The entire floor had been seectioned off from the rest of the building. One man was was Nobuta, the other, was clad in full military armor, modified for front line combat and psychological warfare. Long Xing strode into the war room, two women looked up as they finished setting out the map of the waters around the Fire Nation and the South Pole, then shuffled out. Spooked as they took notice that Long's helmet was on, showing the ghastly white skull with it's mouth open.

Once the women had left, Long sat down at the head of the low rise table, Nobuta himself picked up a shuffle stick as he laid out several red pieces of wood, made to resemble ships around the spokt labeled Hokage and a few blue houses randomly scattered about the south pole. Finally, Nobuta handed the shuffle stick to Long as he sat down in a hap-hazard lotus position.

Not long after Long had gotten comfortable in his sitting position several oher officers of the Fire Nation Navy trickled in. Each took a seat on a pillow around the table, Long watching and turning his head to follow those that came in. SMiling behid the mask as he noticed one low rank officer show a sign of fear at the sight of Long's mask.

Not long later, the pillows were filled, the room was shut, and more torches were light to provide better lighting. "Gentlemen of the Fire Lord's Navy, thank you for coming here tonight," Long looked around to match eyes with the other officers, ..."Tonight I shall show you how we will eliminate and destroy...

...The Souther Water Tribe."

[longxing]

"Yes gentlemen that is right, we are going after the Southern Water Tribe." Long had stood up and began to pace behind each person, circling the table. "The reason is very simple, you see, after Admiral Zhaos failed attack on the North Pole and the tribe there, I began to think: If a tribe of that size could defeat a fleet that large, if more havens were built, it could pose a threat to our control over the seas. Or in the case of the Southern Water Tribe, grow in power."

Long stopped just above his spot, using the shufflestick to move two wooden red ships to around opposite sides of the Fire Nation. Others sitting over where Hokage would be. "After that defeat our navy took a hit as you know, sso my original intent to take ten ships to the southern pole to eradicate any presence there was changed." A few men went into a mumbling state and a few whispers into one another's ear, but attention was still focused on Long.

"Ten ships is too many you're undoubtedly saying, this is true. Five ships should be able to get the job done." Almost immedietly someone spoke up, "Even that many is to much, we will not spread our forces so thin to leave our shores unprotected. What if the avatar were to come here? He could waltz right into here and we'd miss a chance to get him." Long knew this man enough, another Admiral, and was charged with defense of the shores of the Fire Nation.

"IF the avatar decides to come here, he will not use Earthbenders, but waterbenders! Now I think you'll have a hard time explaining to Fire Lord Ozai about how the Avatar got through your net with the company of Waterbenders, will you not?" The Admiral promptly silenced himself, Long liked it though, to put the Admiral in his place. "Five ships is still to many, most you will get is three. You'll have a harder time explaining to Fire Lord Ozai how the Avatar got through because you took to many ships to defend our shores." The Admiral squeeked out.

Though he didn't show it, this struck a nerve in Long. ONe of his eyes twitched before he took a deep and visible breath. "Three ships will be fine then. Within the next few days I will set sail, I will need officers to help crew and manage these ships. My aid will take your names. We will sail around the eastern shore of the Eastern Air Temple. With this final sweep, make clear where all of our enemies are. After this, the only Waterbenders alive will be at the North Pole."

After that, Long dismissed the others. Long counted as those who left their names with his aid, by the look of it there was enough to command each of those ships. Once the room was empty, Nobuta walked over to Long. "That went rather well, shall I prepare the manifests for the ships?" Long shook his head and let out a sigh, "Not tonight, we'll do that in the morning. I'd feel more comfortable if I could get more ships. Surer chance we'd get them all. What we don't get we can either let them freeze to death or be picked up by future patrols."

Long left, followed quickly by his aid as the women returned to clean up the war room.

[longxing]

Long could feel it, as the cold wind blew through the dark sky he conjured a small flame to keep his hands warm. The past few days went well, but an early rise was needed this morning. He felt diminished, less of a firebender since the sun hadn't risen yet and not for a while now. "Admiral, ships are ready to sail, here is the manifest." A quartermaster came up to long carrying a scroll, aside form the torch the quartermaster was holding was dozens of other torches and lanterns. "Crew and provisons are all set?" Long asked to which was promptly met with a "Yes, Sir." After wich Long dismissed the guartermaster and he left.

Walking up the plank Long, looking over the ship manifest, shouts to the helmsman. "Helm, set our couse and signal for the other ships to follow us, tide is soon and we sail." The helmsman saluted as Long got up the deck and headed below deck. The plank was drawn up, anchors were lifted and ropes tying the three ships were let loose and drawn in. Aboard the flagship, a signalman, using fire emitting from his hands, signals to the other ships.

Then the engies humed to life, smoke poured from the shaft and dissapeared into the air. The flagship lurched forward with the other two already in the bay, heading out of the bay. Over a series of minutes each shiop in turn left the bay, the sun wouldn't rise for a couple more hours, but it wouldn't matter now. Not for a few days at least.

Under the deck, Long made his way to the captain's cabin. Nothing to write home about over the size and decor, but it'd do. Nothing like what would definetly be onboard the ship belonging to Princess Azula. Long let out a sigh as he walked over to a table in his room, laying his helmet down on the table itself and sat down on a chair. He let out a sigh as he placed an arm on the table to prop his head up as he immedietly poured over information (what was known) of the waterbenders in general, maps of the area, and what was known of the Southern Water tribe in general, past and present information.