Hao had been in the fire nation army for a year now, joining at the age of 16. He was not a bender. Though it didn't mean he couldn't advance in the military ranks, it made it much, much harder to do so. As his firebending peers advanced to the ranks of first lieutenant or captain, he was stuck as a lowly Sergeant. He was a capable fighter but whilst he worked his ass off, his superiors earned all the glory. Not that he was all that good at leading but he did his best.
One day, after a skirmish with the earth nation army, his Captain called him into his war tent.
Captain Lee stood behind a table, with a map of the world unfurled upon it, wooden miniature warriors sat around it, signifying the different platoons of the fire nation and the earth kingdom.
"Ah, Sergeant Hao, come here", Captain Lee waved him over.
Hesitantly, he stepped further into the tent. The two fire nation soldiers who stood on either side of Captain Lee stood firm and rigid, not moving a muscle without an order and yet he could feel their stares on him, their golden eyes piercing like a red hot poker. There was pity in those eyes. They wore skull masks showing that they were fire benders. The non benders had different headpieces and wore more dark grey or deep brown colors whilst the benders had those horned skull masks and a red and black color scheme. How he had wished to wear one of those uniforms but alas, Hao wasn't a firebender. He didn't even have the golden eyes that most firebenders had, his eyes were stone grey, a most uncommon sight in the fire nation.
Captain Lee picked up a wooden piece from the map and held it in his hand, "you see this? What is it?"
The piece had been taken from the south western side of the earth kingdom, "That is our platoon captain"
"Yes, it is… and tell me, how many soldiers are in this platoon?", he rotated the piece, looking over it, his eyes not leaving the intricate carving.
"We were 45 soldiers, Captain"
"And how many are we now?"
"Erm- 24 Captain", he winced. The skirmish had taken a heavy toll on the platoon.
"22… Bo and Xi died of their wounds an hour or so ago"
Hao's jaw clenched as he heard that. He had beengood friends with Bo. The war had taken so much from them already and they kept on losing more good men and women.
"Half of our platoon, gone in an instant. It is to be expected to lose a certain amount of soldiers but one unit in particular stood out, that is your unit, Sergeant. Only one survivor, you. You managed to outlive three units since your deployment in this platoon. Three units you led straight into their doom acting with my authority"
"I couldn't have know that they deployed earthbenders below-"
"Silence Sergeant!" Captain Lee snapped, "you are the weakest link in our platoon and weak links have to be eradicated if the chain is supposed to hold under pressure", a flame ignited from the palm of the captain's hand, setting the wooden miniature on fire. His face maintained neutrality even as he channeled his anger into his firebending, "I could demote you and be done with it. You clearly aren't ready to lead but I thought of a more fitting punishment. For the next three years, you will be searching for the Avatar, alone"
"What-?! The cycle is broken though! There is no avatar anymore and if there was, he would be over a hundred years old and in hiding for that exact amount of time. If he managed to evade all those search parties over the years, how am i supposed to find him?!" Rage was Building up in his heart.
"Are you questioning my orders, Sergeant?" Captain Lee locked eyes with him, daring him to challenge his authority again. They held eye contact for a few unbearable seconds. Those golden eyes shone with an inner flame, a spark that you were born with. Hao looked away first, "I thought so… for the time you are searching, you aren't a soldier anymore. You will receive no help from the army and you may not wear your uniform.", he tossed him a bag of coins, fire nation and earth kingdom mixed together, "that is all you will be receiving from us. This 3 year exile can only end early if you capture and bring me the avatar, now go, you have 24 hours to get everything you need. You are dismissed Sergeant"
Hao nodded curtly, walking out of the tent, chaos within his mind. The avatar… where could he be hiding? People had looked all over the world, at every conceivable hiding place except… except the southern air temple. Since the invasion, no one had been there. It was a perilous climb without the metal machinery. In all honesty, it would be the perfect hiding place. The machines were needed elsewhere and the climb without them was suicidal at best but he had no other option. If he or she wasn't there, then he had no leads.
Hao took some food, a map, climbing gear and other essentials from his tent and made his way towards the south, away from the camp. His fellow soldiers shot him with looks of pity and disgust. He could hear them whispering about him. The sun was high above him as he walked out of it. If he made good progress, he should reach the mountain spires upon which the southern air temple was build in just under a week. If only he owned an Ostrich Horse…
As day turned to night, he sank into sleep. Over the next few nights he dreamt of the avatar. Some were nightmares of being crushed by a century old, fully realized avatar whilst others were of triumph, capturing the avatar and being hailed as a hero. As the sixth day began, he could see the southern air temple. Now all he had to do was climb the atrocity.