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For the past day or two, ever since he stopped by the Cooper farm and got his car fixed up, Neil has been driving aimlessly around Kansas and the surrounding area.

He's usually happy to stop for a chat. There really isn't that much to do around here except talk to strangers.

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"Yeah."

She glances up, and studies him for a few long seconds. Then accepts it with a nod.

"Or something more complicated, I guess."

"A soldier in an army of four, but still essentially a soldier."

"A soldier's a soldier no matter what army he fights in," she says. "My Dad was a soldier in an army of six."

She has a glamourous view of what he got up to, despite her father-in-law's protests.

"Yeah?"

This is a dangerous question to ask in terms of keeping the conversation friendly. He asks it anyways.

"What was he fighting for?"

"Freedom," Ai-Ling says, sure he was in the right. "Near the end of the war, the Fire Nation was occupying vast areas of the Earth Kingdom, and the people wanted it back."

He nods.

"Of all the reasons there are to fight... it's hard to pick a better one."

Ai-Ling agrees wholeheartedly.

"What about you?"

"We were fighting to end war."

A wry, self-conscious smile.

"It sounds stupid, but it was working."

"All war, forever?"

"For as long as we could."

Wow.

"That's a good reason, then," Ai-Ling agrees. "My parents helped end the hundred years war, which is like ending it for a long time."

"And there weren't any others, after that?"

She shakes her head. "It's only been twenty years. But we still get skirmishes around the borders and colonies, where the Fire Nation didn't withdraw all the way, or they'd been there too long to leave easily. That's what Miki and I do; we help negotiate peace in those areas. But it's complicated, and nothing like the really long war of Fire imperialism."

He smiles.

"Sounds like you're doing pretty well, then."

She nods. Of course, it helps that the Avatar is so good at what he does.

"I think so. It's too early to tell if it'll stick. But as long as we keep the current Fire Lord and Earth King, everyone's working for the same goal."

"if both leaders want peace... yes. And you're several steps ahead of my world if that's the case."

She inclines her head, acknowledging it.

"The war was more or less over when the Avatar dethroned the last Fire Lord in favour of his grandson," she offers.

"Yeah, that'll do it, if the grandson is the right kind of leader. And it sounds like he is."

"He is."

Ai-Ling is a big fan of Fire-Lord Iroh! "His general's really good, too."

"Good."

Her attempt to bring General Luwei into the conversation is thwarted, which is probably for the best.

"Did you have one problem leader, or a few?"

"Too many to count. Well, too many for me to count."

She cringes. "But you're working on it?"

"Yeah. Well, I was."