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."
Definitely didn't go well, if he's using ranks instead of names…
Ren grew a dirty grin that seemed more like a gash across her squarish face. "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, though it took a few seconds longer for her grin to fade. "Now, how is the regiment? Mozi?"
Said major gave a single nod. "Supplies are beyond ideal levels. We've a surplus of recruits as well, that means it's going to be a lot of work weeding out the inept and bringing the rest up to our standards."
The captains all groaned at that.
Kai had seen a batch of recruits being put through spear drills. Too aggressive, too overconfident, too entrenched in standard Fire Army doctrine. Granted, none of them knew what it was like being practically abandoned and left to fend for themselves for months at a time against Earth Kingdom incursions, but still, it was going to be a bitch to get the newbies to unlearn and relearn the basics.
"We should still have enough time, though," Mozi continued as Kai wallowed in his thoughts.
"What about the request for extra material?"
Mozi rolled his eyes before he nodded. "They've all been approved, though it would take time for some of the more…novel parts to be crafted."
"Great, thanks!" It was one of the few times Kai saw Xing smile brightly like a boy his age should. A different soberness washed over Kai.
Unfortunately the smile didn't last too long as he returned to his usual, stony mask. "Any issues with the new officers?" he asked, his gaze moving across the captains.
"Need to knock more sense into them, but they should be alright," Ren reported seriously. "I'm putting them through the same drills as the recruits first."
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. And the Fire Lord's commendation would attract the ambitious."
"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 will 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, and the 11th got its patronage.'
Mozi huffed incredulously. "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 with her usual cheeriness, her round face set to a deceptively innocent smile, 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?"
*****
"Lieutenant Koshi."
Lieutenant. Koshi didn't realize until now how much he missed having that title before his name. Damnable Shiluo… Koshi 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 in line 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 Chiya or Ren did. He'd been already demoted, he had far less to lose than them. It was only Colonel Dao's intervention that Xing still had some skin left on his shredded back.
And despite that, and despite Koshi's shameful inaction, Xing still intervened before a dozen Earth Kingdom spears could skewer the lieutenant on Tai Plains.
"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…" 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?"
The lieutenant saluted again, more determined this time. "Yes, colonel. Are there any requirements you wish from them?" Since honor guards reflected the prestige of their charges, it was not uncommon for commanders to be selective of certain traits. Like Colonel Yashen favoring warcleaver specialists, or Colonel Dao's bodyguards consisting completely of men capable of flipping a log end-over-end.
"No, you're free to pick who you deem fitting. Oh…" The boy paused for a second, and Koshi saw from the smirk that twitched at the edge of his lips that an unreasonable request was coming. "Don't recruit anyone named Han just yet."
Koshi couldn't help himself. "Colonel?"
Xing shook his head, stifling a chuckle as he waved the question off. "It's…a pet project, you can say."
Remembering the boy's previous 'projects', Koshi wisely left it at that and left the colonel's office to immediately start on his task. He'll have to ask Yan and the captains for suggestions. No doubt there'd be a problem of culling the eager volunteers once the positions were made known.
There was even a non-zero chance that he'd have to make sure Ren and Kai didn't find a way to demote themselves just for a chance to be closer to their little brother.