Chapter Seven: President Ai
Before sunrise the next morning, Asami left Korra snuggled up in their new bed and headed over to the Earth Palace. Upon her arrival she went up the steps and found that there had been a stone reception desk set up just inside the building. Seated behind it was a young woman with a pleasant smile. "Good morning," she said. "Welcome to the Earth Palace. What can I do for you?"
"My name is Asami Sato. I'm here to see President Ai."
"Oh yes, welcome Miss Sato. The President is expecting you. Have a seat and I'll let him know you're here."
Asami almost said that technically she was now "Mrs. Sato," but the woman had picked up a phone and Asami decided not to distract her. Instead of sitting, she wandered a little farther in to the entrance hall and looked up at the ceiling, spinning in a slow circle. She hadn't been inside the Earth Palace in a few months. The last time she'd been here there had been vines growing on the outside of the building, but they hadn't been obstructing or damaging any part of the stone surface.
Now she could see that that had changed. In fact from where she was standing she could see that before long, the vines may actually threaten the structural integrity of the building. The Earth Palace had been built hundreds of years ago, and its construction style was one that most architects had long since stopped using in building designs. A building made out of stone was heavy, and a roof made out of stone was heavy. Asami's favorite technique to use in designing stone buildings was to divide the weight in to sections by creating a curved spine like a ribcage. Having the ribs as support allowed for more leniency in every important aspect—it allowed a higher ceiling, more windows, a stronger skeleton, and was much safer in terms of possible damage to the building. If part of a building that used a spine as its base were to crumble, only directly damaged sections would fall. Each part of the building was self-sustained. Since none of the load-bearing beams were actually connected, it would be easy to both rebuild and expand such a structure.
The Earth Palace wasn't like that. Whoever had designed this building had done it before the advent of the spine technique. This building was stark and less graceful. The weight of the stone in this building was supported with bulk rather than balance. Thick walls took most of the weight of the ceiling, but it wasn't enough to support the entire roof so there were huge, thick pillars placed at regular intervals all throughout the entire building. It was a symmetrical and regular design that was pleasing to the eye, although, in Asami's opinion, it couldn't exactly be called beautiful.
Vines were now creeping in through crevasses and windows all throughout the atrium. Most disturbing were the vines that seemed to be coming right through the miniscule space between the wall and the ceiling. They must have found tiny cracks and were now gradually widening them to make room for more vines. Some of the vines were stretched so far across the ceiling that they were wrapping around the tops of some of the load-bearing pillars towards the center of the room. It was these that made Asami the most nervous. She walked to the bottom of one of the pillars and craned her neck upwards, trying to determine if the stone near the place where the pillar met the ceiling looked damaged or cracked. If it was, it would be a very bad sign indeed.
"Pretty bad, huh," commented someone behind her, and she turned to find Mako and Genly standing there. "I had a feeling you'd notice that right away," continued Genly.
"Can you give me a lift up there?" she asked. "Um, I mean, good morning Mr. President, thank you for meeting with me."
Genly laughed and waved her comment away. Instead of answering he dropped in to a crouch and used earthbending to lift Asami up to the ceiling on a makeshift elevator. At the top, Asami tried to push away some of the vines to look at the stone beneath it, but they were wrapped so tightly they barely budged. From what she could see the stone was intact, but if the vines pressed any harder she couldn't imagine it retaining its integrity for long. "Okay, bring me down," she called to Genly, her voice echoing around the chamber. Once she was back on the ground, she said: "That's no good, Genly. We should get to work on fixing this as soon as possible."
"No," said Genly firmly, and Asami raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's go to my office. We have much to discuss."
As they walked through the halls, Asami looked closely at the building, trying to determine problem areas that might be more urgent than others. She didn't know why Genly had said no to fixing the Palace, but it seemed like a no-brainer to her. The government couldn't risk operating in a palace that might be about to crumble down right on top of them. Luckily there was one place in the building that would probably be okay—the main chamber where congress met had been redesigned very recently in to a ribbed structure with a high, vaulted ceiling. It had been one of Wu's final projects as the last member of the royal family. While preparing for the constitutional convention he'd removed all the pillars from inside the chamber and re-balanced the weight of the stone components in order to make room for the huge semi-circle of chairs where all the Earth Republic representatives sat. What was more, a quick look around the perimeter of the chamber showed Asami that for whatever reason, vines had not yet penetrated this area of the Palace.
Genly's office was just around the corner from the main chamber. He held the door for Mako and Asami, then closed it and went to sit behind his desk. Asami sat in a visitor's chair just in front of it. As Asami dug around in her bag for her notebook and a pen, Mako fixed them all a cup of tea and sat next to Asami. "Thank you for coming, Asami," said Genly. "I hope you and Korra are settling in nicely."
"We are. We're really excited to be here."
"Good. We are glad to have you both. Now, not to be rude, but I think it's best if we get started. There is a lot to explain, and I have a very full schedule today."
"Sure," said Asami, opening her notebook to a blank page. "Perhaps we could start with why you don't want me to fix the Palace for you."
"It's not that I don't want you to, it's just that I don't want you to do that first," clarified Genly. "I think with the general climate in the city, it would be best for you and your team to start on the lower ring and make your way upwards."
"What do you mean?"
"The people of this city are feeling neglected. Ever since the election there has been a lot of… spirited debate about the city of Ba Sing Se."
Mako chuckled. "Genly, you have a way with words. What he means, Asami, is that there has been protesting. It's like what happened in Republic City when Amon was rising to power. People hold secret meetings, start picket lines outside government buildings, and get themselves arrested by attacking police officers."
"Why?" asked Asami, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What do they want?"
"They want a representative in congress," said Mako.
"They want someone who can give them their city back," said Genly in a correctional tone. "Yes, they want a representative, but only because they feel that having a congressional representative will get their city fixed faster."
"But why don't they have a representative? Isn't it reasonable to ask for that?"
"How can I explain this?" said Genly, pressing the tips of his fingers together for a moment as he thought. "Our government is very new. We've just been through three great political upheavals. First, we lost our queen. Then, we lost Kuvira. And then we lost the monarchy entirely. Every representative in this city wants to feel safe in the event of another revolt. By having complete control over the city, we can ensure that we are protected because we will be protecting ourselves. The flip side of that is that we must also be responsible for everything in the city, including the redesign of the city. In the future, when the government of the Earth Republic is more secure, we plan to turn Ba Sing Se in to its own state. But for now, we must keep it under the control of the Presidency."
Asami nodded her understanding, jotting down a few notes. "Do you think that people will calm down when they see that I'm here to rebuild the city?"
"I can only guess, but I think it will help. But we haven't even told you the biggest problem we are having here." Genly sighed, drumming his fingers on the desk.
"I already told her about the BSSPD," chimed in Mako. "They kind of forced it out of me."
"Ah, good," said Genly with relief. "I didn't relish being the one to tell you about that. The BSSPD has been very difficult these last couple of months. If we're being perfectly candid, their practices have been downright questionable."
"Korra and I knew they were corrupt when we were here for the convention, but I kinda thought they would straighten out their act after Gan-Lan and the Regents were arrested," said Mako.
"If they're corrupt, then why don't you just get rid of them?" asked Asami. "You control the city, right?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. As President I do have the power to replace the chief of police and get rid of any lower officers, but only if I have a good, provable reason for it. As it stands, they haven't done anything illegal. They've been unsavory, to be sure, but not criminal in their actions."
"Plus," added Mako, "we can't just dissolve the police department. We need them. They may not be stopping all the crime in the city, but they're stopping some of it at least."
Asami shook her head. "Korra should be here for this. She's the one who's going to be dealing with the police department, not me."
"We plan to tell her everything we're telling you, but we wanted you to come here alone to ask your advice on something," said Genly, and Asami looked at him with curiosity. "The police department is where you are supposed to form the BTF, but they are not particularly amenable to this. We want Korra to go in there and at least try. But there is another force in this city that we must account for." He paused, cleared his throat, then said: "We were wondering how you think Korra might react if we asked her to take control of the Dai Li."
Asami stared at him. "The Dai Li," she repeated flatly.
"Yes," said Genly.
"The same group that aligned itself with Princess Azula during the 100 Years War."
"Yes."
"The same group that imprisoned all the airbenders and hid them under the city in order to turn them in to the Queen's personal army."
"The very same group."
"I'm not sure she'd be too interested in that," concluded Asami.
"I thought you might say that," said Genly, disappointed. "Look, the history of the Dai Li is long and complicated. But without the monarchy, they've just been under the employ of the federal government. They're basically glorified security guards. Most people think they don't exist anymore. If word gets out that the Dai Li is still around, it could cause us a lot of problems. People might think the Presidency is building its own secret service, or worse, its own army."
"So instead, you want to give the Avatar an army," said Asami.
"I want a Balance Task Force," said Genly assertively. "I want my city back. I want peace between the humans and the spirits. And I think Korra has a better chance of doing that with the Dai Li. The BSSPD is too risky."
Asami sat back in her chair, turning everything she had just learned over in her mind. "If Korra uses the Dai Li instead of the BSSPD, then they won't have the authority to arrest any criminals they find hiding amongst the spirits," she said.
"They could still work joint missions with the BSSPD," suggested Mako. "It might be easier to work with them on a case-by-case basis than trying to open up a whole new branch of their department."
"You know what," said Genly, holding up his hand to halt the conversation, "it's not worth discussing this right now. Here's what we'll do: We'll let Korra know everything we've just told you. Then, if she's willing, she can meet both groups and decide which one she wants to work with. If she picks the BSSPD, I'll issue my executive order commanding them to create a BTF. If she picks the Dai Li, I won't do anything. Does that sound reasonable?"
"Sure," said Asami, although she was a little worried about how Korra would feel about having other people decide her course of action without her even being present. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and decided that it was time to move on to other topics. "Okay," she said, flipping to the next page of her notebook, "tell me your biggest problem areas in the lower ring and I'll go down and visit them each sometime over the next week."
"Alright," replied Genly, clearly taking the hint. He opened a portfolio that was sitting in front of him, skimming its contents and paging through it. "There are a lot of options here," he mused.
"Keep in mind, I'll get to all of them," Asami said. "What I'm looking for are places where there is imminent and immediate danger to human life, or places where travel and transit are most hindered to the largest number of people. I like to start with places which will allow my crew and me to travel from site to site easier. The faster we can work, the more we can work. Do you mind if I use this table?" Without waiting for him to answer, she took out a long tube and withdrew what were clearly blueprints for Ba Sing Se. She stood and spread the blueprints out over the table she had indicated. Mako immediately joined her, and Genly followed after a moment. The city of Ba Sing Se was drawn out over the parchment paper, liberally sprinkled with numbers and notes hand-written in pencil. Ba Sing Se was shaped like a circle, with its three rings decreasing in circumference towards the center like a bulls-eye. The lower ring, the outermost ring, was by far the largest. "The way I see it, you've got four major intersections in the lower ring—at twelve, three, six and nine o'clock." She pointed at each spot on the blueprints. "Of course I'm going by business district criteria. I know it sounds callous but in Republic City we found it was better to start by fixing the financial district so that we could revitalize the economy. I think you'll find a lot of your problems will start solving themselves once people are making money again. Once we do that, we can start working on the residential areas. So what I'm wondering is the extent of the damage to these four intersections, and if you think it's worthwhile for me to get them up and running first."
She looked up at Genly, who was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised at her. "You know, Miss Sato, I think I should tell you that I'm very much looking forward to working with you."
"Technically it's Mrs. Sato now, but you can call me Asami," said Asami, grinning. Mako gave a bark of laughter and slapped her on the back.
"Our Mrs. Sato could go toe-to-toe with any representative in the nation, Genly," he said proudly. "I knew you'd like her."
"Yes, well, I feel very confident in the reconstruction efforts now that we've had this little chat," said Genly. He walked over to his desk and picked up a pile of portfolios, including the one he'd been flipping through just a few minutes before. "Here. Take these. This is all the information I've compiled about the state of the city thus far."
Stunned, Asami reached out and took the papers as if they were made out of delicate glass. "Are you sure? This is a lot of stuff. What if there's something you don't want Future Industries to do? How will I know?"
"Just do me a favor and keep me in the loop, but I want you to have free reign on this. Mako is my most trusted aide, and you are one of his most trusted friends. Not to mention, you're married to the Avatar. Those are some pretty convincing credentials."
"I'm flattered," said Asami. Her fingers were itching to break in to the portfolios but she forced herself to be polite. "Thank you. I won't let you down."
"I know you won't. But I should be thanking you. It's not every day that someone walks in to my office and offers to take an enormous load off my shoulders," laughed Genly. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I haven't had breakfast yet and I am starving. Why don't you let me brag about the greatest perk of the Presidency by allowing the chef here to make you something to eat?"
He placed one hand on Mako's shoulder and the other on Asami's and steered them out of the office towards the kitchen down the hall.
