The admiral was sitting out on the terrace, admiring the scenery and sipping wine, when our "delegation" approached the house: the Fire Herald, a dozen attractive girls in light clothing (we'd left our armor and weapons back at the hotel with the rest of the baggage; the couple of daggers each of them carried and the sword at my side hardly counted), and Toph, happily scuffing her bare feet along the paved path. As she'd confessed earlier, after days spent on a rocking wooden deck, even gravel felt heavenly beneath her feet.
"Hello, Father…" I broke the awkward silence.
"Hello, Son…" The admiral carefully set his cup of wine down on the table beside him.
"Hm."
As his gaze traveled across the beauties accompanying , his eyebrows climbed steadily higher and higher… until they landed on Toph. At that point, he frowned.
"Hi!" she said, waving cheerfully at him.
"Good afternoon, Admiral Chan," the girls greeted my father almost in unison.
"Ahem… yes… good afternoon, young ladies…" My father's eye twitched. "Son, is there perhaps sothing you'd like to explain to ?"
"Yeah… probably." I noticed Lintao peeking out after hearing the commotion. "Lintao, please show my guests to their rooms."
"Of course, young master." She bowed. "Please follow ," she added, addressing Suki and the others.
I gave a confirming nod, and the girls departed, leaving the admiral and alone.
"You know, when you ntioned a floating harem, I assud you'd simply had a bit too much to drink…" My parent slowly began recovering from the shock.
"What? Ah, no, Father, you misunderstood completely. Those girls are Kyoshi Warriors — our new allies."
"Really?" Oh, the suspicion in that tone. "And you expect to believe you haven't… with a single one of them?"
"Ahem… no, I'm not quite that virtuous."
"All right… fine, let's assu I believe you. But who is the child?"
"Toph Beifong." I shrugged. "She wanted to see the world and, more or less, invited herself along as our earthbender."
"Beifong… Beifong…"
He paused.
"Wait a minute. Those Beifongs? The Beifongs from Gaoling?"
The look he gave was a bizarre mixture of horror and admiration.
"Well, yes. What's so strange about that?"
"No, nothing strange at all."
The admiral's face could've served as the model for a painting titled Dear Spirits, WHY?!
"I sincerely hope you were joking about the princess…"
I opened my mouth.
"No." He held up a hand. "I do not wish to know. My peace of mind is far too precious to .Fine, let's leave that aside. What brings you to the island? Don't tell it turns out Sea Serpents live nearby, or that soone discovered surviving dragons."
Interesting. Was he secretly a prophet?
"Who knows…" Father nearly choked on his own breath while I failed to suppress a smug grin. "But actually, I just ca to collect the promised naval squadron."
"If I recall correctly, the designated eting port was supposed to be Yu Dao."
"Correct. But I sailed from Gaoling. After that little flying bastard's sabotage, taking a route from the far south all the way to the edge of the northern storm belt is, to put it mildly, unsafe. There are far too many pirates around — especially for the slow wooden tub I managed to acquire. Besides, I promised my entourage a vacation at the finest resort in the Fire Nation."
"Reasonable enough. I'll prepare the necessary orders. By the way, your successes greatly impressed the Fire Lord, which allowed to… expand the squadron sowhat, as well as make a few adjustnts to its composition."
The admiral looked extrely pleased with himself.
"Oh? You have a present for , Father?"
Judging by the smug look on his face, there definitely was one.
"Yes. Your squadron will consist of ten cruisers, not counting the Leopard or the escort vessels mandated by regulations."
I let out a low whistle. An escort package for a formation that size included a supply barge — sotis two, if the task force was reinforced — loaded with provisions and ammunition, four to six strike frigates, and roughly two dozen scouting raiders.
"Generous. But what exactly is all that force for?"
"The Western Fleet under Admiral Zhao has received authorization for an assault operation against the Northern Pole. The fleet will depart in a month, once the storms die down. Lord Ozai intends to assign you to the admiral as reinforcents. You'll also be able to learn quite a lot from him — he's an exceptionally talented naval commander."
"And make sure the admiral doesn't commit any… mistakes, I assu?"
"As befits a Herald, Chan." Father smiled faintly at the corners of his mouth.
"Well then, a couple weeks of rest on a resort island won't hurt . Those inspections drained the life out of . But enough business! How about you et the Kyoshi Warriors, Admiral Chan?"
"Why not, Commodore Chan? Why not indeed…" After that, Father and I spoke no more of work.
Our long-awaited vacation had begun.
(End of Chapter)
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