Delicate

Private Ké was hovering above the general's bed and intently stared at his sleeping boss. He was trying to ascertain if he were still alive by monitoring the gentle rise and fall of the general's chest. Why wasn't he waking up? Was he paralyzed? His thoughts ran wild, but he dared not feel his pulse, for he feared he might not live to tell the story. For the first time in years, this was the first time he would see the man sleeping so peacefully. Normally, Iroh wakes up at the slightest foot movement and then, he would punish anyone who disturbed his sleep. But the private had reported himself twice now and the man had yet to respond, so it was either that the general didn't hear, which was highly unlikely, because he tried to be as loud as possible. The only plausible reason would be that he was passed out and in need of medical attention and that was why he was standing so close to him. Just when he was about to call a physician to check his pulse, the general spoke up. Was he also watching him secretly?

"Wipe that look off your face, I'm not dead yet," said the general groggily, shedding his eyes from the bright sunlight that penetrated into the room and shone directly in his face. "And close those curtains, will you?" He said without opening his eyes and the private hurriedly did as was told.

"Yes my lord," he said smartly and came to hover above him again, "Are you alright, sir?" The private asked worriedly and this time he opened his eyes ever so slowly, he was having a bad headache as the event of the previous night began to roll in his mind. Sitting up abruptly.

"Where were you last night?" he asked sternly.

"I went to Zhang Chu, like you asked. When I returned, the light was turned off, and you were sleeping, so I didn't dare to disturb your sleep." That was the whole truth, but now that he said it. He wondered why the general never stirred when he walked into the room the night before. He had walked in to see everywhere in a mess. He thought about leaving things the way they were, but knew he would throw a fit the next morning, being such a neat freak. Carefully and quietly he tidied everywhere and left as quietly without thinking too much about it. It was only now that everywhere was bright that he saw the red blood stain on the white sheet, "My lord, are you hurt? You seem to be bleeding," he said with concern, and Iroh followed his gaze with his eyes. Sure enough, there was a patch of blood stain on the sheet. This meant that everything he thought he had dreamed about actually happened. Who was the woman in his room last night? And why did she resort to such dirty tricks just to lay with him? Iroh was seething with rage.

"Who was on watch last night?" He asked, getting out of bed instantly. Even though Ké had gone to carry out his orders, he was not completely out of the water yet. To him, everyone is a suspect until proven innocent. How was anyone able to sneak into his room without getting caught? What were they all doing last night?

"I think it was the third platoon sir," the private replied, getting the general a fresh set of clothes.

"Assemble everyone in the yard in two minutes," Iroh barked, and the private scurried out to carry out his order, but not before he heard the rest of the order "If one person was not there by the time I left this room..." he left the rest of the words hanging and Ké knew for sure that there was trouble brewing. Iroh's memories from last night were still a little foggy, but his satisfactory feelings towards everything remained unchanged. It still doesn't mean that whatever happened was okay. He remembered that he had gone to the king upon his emergency summons. The king had then expressed his desire to send him offshore to deal with the Chua people who were trying to invade the palace. Iroh had no problems agreeing. After all, he was living to fight the king's battle. It doesn't matter that he just returned from defending the northern gate against the insurgency and, as usual, he came back a hero. He also knew why the king was in a hurry to send him farther away. Not that he had any problems with going to the battlefield. In fact, Iroh loved fighting and killing his enemies more than anything. He was still mulling over the best way to get Chua's to succumb to his tactics when he arrived home. Everything was as it should be, or so he thought, and he asked that his meal be served to the others, since he already had a meal with the king. By the time he got to his room, he had decided what he was going to do, everything seemed perfect at first, and he was preparing to turn in for the night when he noticed something was indeed amiss. His body suddenly started to get hot, and he knew instantly that he had overlooked the most important thing by allowing himself to get drugged. How foolish? Thinking it could be food from the king, Iroh sat crossed-legged and began the process of detoxification. It was only an aphrodisiac, nothing serious, he thought to himself. But by the time he realized that the incense was lit inside his room, it was already too late as he had inhaled a considerable amount of the vile scent, and this was why, when he tried to detoxify, he only got weaker. As soon as he got up, a figure clad in black approached his bed. He knew from the body frame that it could only be a woman, all he had to do was hold her down until one of his men arrived, but all his senses went haywire the moment he grabbed her plus she kept moving seductively against him, it was only natural that he gave her what she came for. It had been so long since he saw a woman's delicate skin and last night felt particularly special. Everything about the girl just provoked him even more, and he knew he couldn't hold it in any longer, so he did what he had to do to relieve himself. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't clear if she was pushing him away or holding him close. Too bad, he couldn't remember what she looked like now that he was fully lucid, she was sweet and... Wait, why was he thinking this way? She drugged him to sleep with him, he would fish her out and make an example out of her as soon as possible to deter others from having similar thoughts. What made things even worse was the fact that there were no females in his camp, so how did she get in? All his men were waiting when he got out of the room. Iroh was too angry to look at them, so he told them to do squats. This was only something he did when he was in a bad mood, but now he encouraged the entire camp into doing the same. There was grumbling and murmurs around because the majority of them didn't even know why they were being punished.

"Listen everyone, line up according to your platoons and carry out your punishments," Ming Yue, one of the general's right-hand men called to the already grumbling soldiers.

"Did I ask you to arrange them?" Iroh asked irritably, he was getting angrier by the minute because not only had they not started the squats, but some of them had the effrontery to grumble before him.

"Sorry, my lord," Ming Yue said, but the general's fist already connected with his face, sending him reeling backwards. The soldiers immediately began to squat for fear that they might be the next target. If he could punch his right-hand man in the face, then their lives were nothing before him.

"Lang Fé!" He called and a tall, heavily built man stepped out of line to kneel.

"Yes my lord," he said in a slightly rough voice.

"Gather everyone at noon, we are going to war offshore," Iroh said and walked back into his room. He had thought that he would just punish them and then find out who betrayed him, but when he saw their reluctance to carry out a simple task, he decided the best punishment would be to drag them all back to war. He was sure the culprit would try something again and when they did, he would wait.

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