The Officer And The Princess

Chapter 38

Colonel Yuzaky had indeed been surprised when Sung and Azula had walked into his his offices. Sung wearing the Generals insignia on his collar. The Colonel had tried to stammer some kind or response to the revelation but Azula had cut him off every time. Finishing by saying Yuzaky had to move Offices. Sung couldn't help but feel bad about that. Kicking a man out of his office like that, but it was beyond his control. When the Princess Gave and Order it was the same as if the Sun Goddess herself had come down and delivered it.

It had been three days since then and Sung sat in "his" office piled up with more paper work in one day than he had ever seen in his entire career up to this point. Again he realized things were simpler when people had been trying to kill him. He had seen requisition forms for towels, supply forms for leather straps, and most surprising of all was a request form for a new Pai Sho set in the Officers Lounge. If it existed the Army apparently had some kind of form for it. After signing his signature on form number one hundred and five for the day Sung leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes excessively. Everything about this sucked.

There was a knock at the door causing him to sit straight. Most likely someone else with a blasted form for him to fill out. "Enter." He said as he picked up a small tea pot at the edge of his desk and filling his cup with steaming green tea.

The door opened and instead of a dreaded Form delivery he saw Prince Zuko standing in the door way. Wearing some kind of red robes with a slit on either side that exposed a pair of red pants tucked into black boots. "They said I could find you here."

"I'm always here." Sung said with a grumble as he picked up his cup and sipped on the liquid. "Can you explain to me how a single Company can go through three cases of Leather straps in a month?" Sung asked. "Either the factories that make those things are cutting corners and making them out of cheaper materials or the men are using them for non regulation events." Sung set his tea cup down and held up his arm pointing to the strap under his arm that held his shoulder plate of his armor to his bicep. "The last time I changed one of these was after I got back from Kretin. Never had to do it again after that." Sung lowered his arm. Folding his hands on the desk. "Yet here we have eighty men who have gone through three hundred in a month. I could understand it if they were Rangers, we went through Kit like it was going out of style but I have never seen so many men break straps on their armor at the same time. It boggles the mind." Zuko looked at him dumbfounded, unsure what to say.

Sung let out a sigh. "Sorry I'm just stressed." He said as he picked up his tea cup again and sipped it. "Come in, did you want some tea or something?"

Zuko shook his head as he closed the door. Sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "No...I just wanted to talk with you. We haven't had much of a chance to talk since...I got back."

Sung smiled. "Yes please talk to me, it'll give me an excuse to procrastinate." He then let out a laugh. "How are you Brother?"

Zuko stiffened at that. In their Youth together Sung early on in their friendship had started referring to Zuko as his "brother" though Sung never really knew why he had done that. It never seemed to bother the Prince so he never stopped. Sung suspected Zuko may have preferred that to what Azula liked to call him. "I have been...adjusting. I met with Father when we got back and he said something...unsettling."

That caught Sung's attention and he leaned forward at the desk. "Unsettling how?" Sung asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Azula told him that I killed the Avatar." Zuko blurted out immediately turning in his chair to see if someone was behind him. Once he was satisfied that no one was around he turned back to face Sung.

"Did you?" Sung asked, taking another sip of his tea.

Zuko shook his head. "No." He said in a whispered voice. "Sung do you think the Avatar could have survived?"