Ren was glad to leave the capital city for the training grounds. The cutthroat politicking spilling out of the place was why she enlisted in the first place. She had to admit that the trip had been worth it though, and not just because of avenging her comrades. Seeing the resources allocated to the 11th Regiment was gratifying, and it was just as good to have all the prestige they'd fought and toiled for finally be put to use.
The Fire Lord was pleased enough to ensure priority allocation of all resources to the 11th, which extended to choice selection of recruits. It'd be a grueling couple of months of careful culling to raise the battalions and fully fill in the missing numbers of the 11th Regiment. It was already a pain back when they were campaigning to get the trickle of reinforcements up to standard, with the fires of battle often serving as the best method of forging the lost recruits into proper soldiers. Within the Fire Nation, where there were no Earth Kingdom partisans to scare the inexperienced and over-confident rookies straight?
Captain Ren was not looking forward to training up her officers and her rank and file.
She consoled herself that at least she would be free from Fire Nation politicking, unlike poor Xing. It was certain that the poor young colonel would have to constantly deal with nobles and bureaucrats while the 11th was rebuilt. Whether he liked it or not, Xing had to establish the same parody of a friendship that every other influential person had while he remained within the heart of the Fire Nation.
And with the fame and mystique attached to his name, the poor boy would likely have to deal with snakes and bootlickers by the cartload. Ren snickered as she imagined the number of dinner invitations Xing would be forced to attend. Hopefully Colonel Sho would be still around to look after his young peer. The venerable commander was the most level headed and reliable of Colonel Lidai's close circle of friends. He'd make sure Xing didn't get plied with wine or get 'introduced' to bright, pretty daughters.
Hopefully.
If it was Colonel Dao doing the minding, then Ren could only pray that Xing wouldn't become a young father before the rebuilt 11th even have the chance to deploy.
Captain Ren sighed as she imagined all the trouble her young, brilliant adopted brother (screw what Kai thinks) would get dragged into. Shaking off the thoughts, the recently promoted captain got to work in her new office and summoned for her new lieutenants. She'd have a quick look at the new graduates before throwing them into the sparring circle for a few rounds and then seeing how they handled Xing's wargame.
It'd be nice if at least one of them was a cute and well-mannered scion.
*****
"Lieutenant Koshi."
Lieutenant. Koshi didn't realize until now how much he missed that title before his name. He snapped a sharp salute to the smaller figure before him. "Colonel Xing."
"Thank you for accepting this rank," the boy said with a slight frown on his face. "I know you're slated for captaincy, but considering the circumstances…"
Koshi bowed respectfully, fist in palm. "It is no bother, colonel. I am more than happy to serve once more as an honor guard." He knew his limits; Leadership was not something Koshi aspired to anyway, and there was plenty of prestige still to be had as a colonel's bodyguard.
The colonel nodded gratefully. "Thank you. My life is in your hands, Lieutenant."
"The honor is mine, colonel." And it was true. Like everyone else, Koshi respected young Xing for all that he'd done for the 11th. The orphan had quickly been more than just a regimental mascot after being recovered from the ruined colony, and had fearlessly saved plenty of soldiers in the heat of battles, Koshi's included. General Lidai's adoption of his strategies and tactics against the Earth Kingdom marauders had significantly slowed the attrition suffered by the 11th and earned the regiment plenty of renown.
Koshi gritted his teeth as he remembered his shameful inaction as the bastard Shiluo had Xing whipped for voicing his objection to the mistreatment of the prisoners. The spineless general probably could not stand the humiliation from having his delusional battle plans questioned and needed a reason to take it out on Xing.
The captains and lieutenants had protested to no avail, but Koshi should've tried to stop them, like Ren did. He'd been already demoted, he had far less to lose than Ren. It was only Colonel Dao's intervention that Xing still had some skin left on his shredded back.
"I will not fail you again."
Xing's head tilted to one side as he blinked in confusion. "You're an exemplary warrior, Koshi. When have you failed me? I'm pretty sure there's no bad blood between us?"
"I…" Koshi flushed as cowardice kept him from voicing his guilt.
The colonel dismissed the topic with a wave of his hand. "We can worry about it later. For now though, I need you to rebuild the honor guard. Having only you and Yan would overwork the two of you to death."
Koshi straightened, and then shamefully latched onto the new topic. "I understand, colonel."
"I'll leave the recruitment up to you?"