Legal documentation. Contracts, deeds, bylaws, partnerships and a myriad of other forms that served as the basis for every business transaction in the United Republic. The overwhelming consensus among the population at large was that they were dry and banal to the point of being nigh incomprehensible without the aid of professional consultation. Asami couldn't say that they were wrong in their assessment but there was a kind of strange clarity to legal papers that had always appealed to her. Nothing was left open to the hundred different ways a hundred different people could subjectively interpret something if they tried hard enough. Everything was objective, defined and identified so that no misunderstandings, willful or accidental, could be made by the reader. People might not like reading these papers but that was how business was done in Republic City and it had worked quite well so far. But therein lay the problem for her now. All these contracts given to her by Korra and indirectly the Fire Lord were for the Fire Nation, not the United Republic.

Where contracts in Republic City were strictly defined and laid out, the Fire Nation agreements were vague and scant in detail. These papers she had been given only described what the Fire Lord wanted done and that Asami was the one who had agreed to do them. Everything else, the true nature of the contracts wasn't written down and the method of binding wasn't legal in nature. It was social and Asami was a foreigner to the Fire Nation who lacked the experience of being raised in their culture and society. She rubbed at her temples hoping to ease the building headache this conversation with Iroh about his homeland was giving her "Okay, let me see if I understand this correctly. These contracts aren't a job and I haven't been hired for anything. I'm performing a service for the Fire Nation which I don't openly expect to be paid for... but as a reward for my so-called gift, I'll be compensated by the Fire Lord. What kind of system is this? I don't see how it would be effective for an entire nation."

Iroh was holding a low-ball glass in one hand, half filled with an aged whiskey from the small collection of drinks she kept in here. It was an obvious trick but alcohol had a way of making visitors to Asami's office relax more than they would have without it. The general stood up and moved to look out the large window at the city sprawling below them. "You're right about that which is why only the nobility follow this practice. The lower classes are no different than the other nations or Republic City when it comes to business though not as contract heavy but gifts are customary when dealing with nobles."

Asami concealed a frown at his response. That comment about the lower classes felt rather off the cuff and draped in classist overtones. "Well as someone from Republic City I don't know anything about how your gift system works so explain that to me."

The general turned away from the window and leaned against the wall next to it as he took a sip from his glass "The basics are rather simple. When a member of the nobility wants something done that he or she can't accomplish with their own resources they seek out someone who is capable of it and request their services. This request is also accompanied by a gift meant as payment, and that's where it becomes more complicated. Gold or gems, land or resources and political favors are the most common offerings but the nature of the gift could be anything so long as it's within reason."

That meeting where Korra and Asami had encountered that anonymous woman suddenly began to make much more sense now that she had an idea of how Fire Nation nobility made deals with each other. All of these contracts to overhaul the Fire Nation's infrastructure in exchange for... a price that had been far too high. "And how do you decide whether something is within reason or not?"

Iroh frowned slightly into his drink "Now that is a difficult question to answer since there's so many things to take into consideration. The strength of their firebenders, how much money they have or the resources they own. Where do they rank in the hierarchy? Is it a major or minor house? Are they nobility by birth or were they promoted by merit? There's a thousand variables to take into account and it varies from one person to the next."

Asami tapped one fingernail against her glass on the desk she was sitting behind. It wasn't alcohol but this conversation was starting to make her wish that it was, but that wouldn't help Asami in comprehending how such a convoluted system could ever have come into existence in the first place. She shifted in her chair as a realization came to her "Okay so that's how your nation's nobility make deals with each other but what about the other nations? The Northern Water Tribe is still a monarchy but the South elects its Chief now. The Earth Kingdom is starting to become a democracy though I'm not sure how Zaofu will choose its next leader. And the United Republic is a republic with an elected president, we don't have nobility at all. How does that factor in? I know the Fire Nation is engaged in trade with all of them."

Her guest stepped away from the wall and back to her desk where the crystal decanter of whiskey was in order to top his drink off. "An astute question but the answer is a little complicated." Asami grimaced internally, of course it was complicated, as he continued "Trade with the other nations was... slow to develop following the Great War. It's not hard to understand why considering everything that my grandfather's predecessors had done. People didn't trust us or the goods we were trying to sell at first. I'll skip the details but the gist is that a guild was created in order to manage our international trade difficulties. The people were carefully selected from the lower classes to make sure no one who had been directly involved with the Hundred Year War was a member. It took them years to overcome the stigma against us but eventually they succeeded and trade began in earnest."

She eyed him for a moment and shook her head in mild disbelief "And no one realized that guild was a front? They might not have been involved in the war but the resources they were trading must have come from the other houses in the Fire Nation who were."

A flicker of an amused smile played over Iroh's lips for a second before vanishing as quickly as it had come "I'm sure some people did realize that but the world had been devastated by the war. The Southern Water Tribe was a shadow of its former self, the North had been under embargo for decades and the Earth Kingdom had largely been under our sway. People might not have wanted our help at first but the Fire Nation's economy had been almost entirely untouched by the war. This guild may have been a facade but it let people turn a blind eye to who was helping them. Ignorance is bliss. But your question was about trading with nations who don't have a noble class. This wasn't an issue until the last few years and its been a matter of much debate back home. Keeping the guild would have been the optimal solution but their graft has recently become excessive and the guild is currently in the process of being disbanded."

Now that wasn't something Asami had been expecting to hear today, a blatant admission of corruption within the Fire Nation's international trade guild from the Fire Nation's heir to the throne himself. "Acceptable level of graft? Is there even such a thing? I think any amount of stealing should be an arrestable offense."

Iroh shrugged dismissively "They weren't getting paid very much for the amount of work they had been ordered to do so a certain amount of leeway on the books was, unofficially mind you, deemed fair."

What had she gotten herself into? The more Iroh explained how things were done in in the Fire Nation the more she felt like the victim of an enormous practical joke. How could something like this work? Everything felt so vague and ill-conceived that it was like they were purposefully ignoring any form of logic or reason. Was this really the same nation that had started and very nearly won the Hundred-Year War? Asami resisted the urge to rub at her temples again as she steered the conversation back to the question she had asked "I don't see how that answers what I asked. You formed a guild to manage international relations but I was asking how your noble class handles trading with people who aren't nobility in the other nations."

"Well when the guild was around it wasn't an issue since the nobles never came in direct contact with the people they were sending their goods to. But now that we're in the process of disbanding the guild, the nobility has been debating the social stigmas of trading directly with companies and nations that aren't of royal birth. It's been rather heated I'm told but the meritocracy argument has won in all but name."

Asami felt a glimmer of hope flicker to life at that last sentence, finally something that made a bit of sense to her "A meritocracy argument? What's the deal with that?"

The general almost looked like he was going to sit down on the chair in front of her desk for a moment but Iroh opted to continue standing and pacing around like he had been doing ever since his arrival "There are three different classes among the Fire Nation nobility. The highest rank is composed of the oldest and wealthiest houses. The middle is the lower houses who have been established for a few generations but lack the history, prestige and wealth to be considered part of the upper class. The lowest are individuals who have been promoted to the nobility as a reward for their accomplishments. If their descendants continue to be successful then their house may be promoted to the middle class in time, if not then they get demoted and replaced with someone else. The meritocracy argument is that we consider successful foreigners in a similar light to those promoted by merit."

Asami frowned ever so slightly at that last bit "So... what? You're saying someone like me, for example, would be considered a de facto noble of Republic City then? That just seems like a way of lying to yourselves, there's no royal blood in my veins in any way shape or form. It'd honestly be easier for everyone if the Fire Nation just dealt with the fact that most people aren't nobility."

Iroh stopped his slow pacing in the middle of the room and turned to face her "I'll admit that many of my fellow nobles can be rather touchy about the matter but that's simply how things are in the Fire Nation."

"Many of your fellow nobles but not you, is that what you're saying?"

A moment of silence passed while Iroh studied the liquor in his glass as he seemingly gathered his thoughts "No I suppose I'm not... at least not anymore. I have my grandfather to thank for that since it was his order that made me join the United Republic's army. I was something of an arrogant prince in my youth and some of my... escapades were embarrassing now that I'm older and a bit wiser. My drill instructors had a lot to do with that since they were far harder on me than the rest of the recruits. Part of me always thought Zuko or mother was behind it but I never had any proof. It worked out in the end however, my time in Republic City has shown me that blood isn't as important as the Fire Nation believes it to be. But we've talked about this enough, I'm sure it seems strange to you but fortunately I'll be buffering you from having to deal with all this directly."

Now that was certainly a welcome notion but there was a rather large hole in his statement "You will? Correct me if I'm wrong but the life of a United Republic general doesn't leave much time for dealing with something of this magnitude, the amount of companies and labor required for this from the Fire Nation is quite large."

"You're not wrong about that. I haven't had a great deal of spare time since joining the United Republic's army but that will change once I retire."

Asami sat up straighter in her chair at that little revelation. Iroh's rise up the ranks had been meteoric and his promotion to general had been front page news on every paper in town since he was easily the youngest ever in United Nation history. He wasn't exactly a cornerstone of the nation but Iroh had been in the military since before Asami had been born and one of the last major pieces from the days when the United Republic had been ruled by a council. And now he was leaving. "You're retiring? May I ask why?"

He shrugged slightly as he began slowly pacing once again. It didn't seem to be a case of nerves or anything else that had kept him on his feet and moving about Asami decided. If she had to guess, it was probably that he had spent too much time in the military and didn't know what to do with himself in a non-military or crisis situation anymore. "I've been wanting to retire for a few years now but the timing has never been right. I was going to recommend Bumi replace me but he caught us all by surprise with the timing of his retirement after the Equalist rebellion."

Bumi. Tenzin's brother Bumi. The only person she had ever met that could give Varrick a run for his money at being off-beat and eccentric. As a general, one of the leaders of the United Republic's military. The look on her face must have given away her reaction to that idea. "I know he can strike people as odd but he was a genuinely capable tactician. His strategies were as unorthodox as you can get but brilliant nonetheless. The men respected him and he was as brave as a soldier as any I've ever met. I'm not angry that he retired but it meant I had to select a new successor and begin grooming him to take over, but things didn't work out so neatly. Vaatu's attack on the city, the Red Lotus wounding Korra, and then everything that happened with Kuvira. It still isn't the ideal time but I'm not interested in putting it off any longer."

It wasn't something worth bringing up since it most likely would only cause an argument between the two of them, but it was a fact that Asami couldn't help but notice. Iroh's first choice of who he wanted to replace him just happened to be the firstborn son of Korra's predecessor, Avatar Aang. Bumi did have his merits but how much that influenced Iroh's decision was certainly a question worth asking even if Iroh claimed not to value blood as much as the rest of his nation. "So what will you do once you're out?"

"Well, my mother has told me to make assisting you my first priority once my papers have been processed. After that I'm not certain what I'll do aside from return home and stay there though I'm told many houses are hoping to secure an alliance with my house. That will be... interesting." A sly smile on his face appeared for a moment before Iroh hid it behind his hand as he rubbed at his chin.

Now that was a can of worms that Asami had less than no interest in opening but it did give her an idea of why Iroh had taken Korra to dinner but that was a conversation she would have with the Avatar at another time. For the time being she could see what else Iroh was able to do for her "Well, aside from dealing with your nobles what other help can you give me?"

He took a sip from his drink for the first time since he had refilled it before picking up the briefcase he had brought with him. "We've been planning to have this done for some time and got some of the groundwork done in advance." Iroh unlocked the metal case and popped it open to get access to the documents within. "These are topographical maps of the Fire Nation. Izumi wants a maglev train system like what Kuvira built. The biggest problem is that the Fire Nation is volcanically active, especially in the eastern regions."

Asami took the laminated maps and shuffled through them one at a time. A couple were relatively unmarked but the last few were of the islands in the east nearest to Republic City. Those were dotted with dozens of little red marks indicating the presence of volcanoes that had erupted within the past five years according to the key. "Well I don't think a maglev system in the west would be too hard but the east? That I'm not so sure about. And Varrick's the one who invented the maglev system so he owns the patents to it I think, though I'm not one hundred percent sure about that. What else can we plan out with these?"

Iroh finally took a seat in one of the chairs across from her as he started pointing out the aquifers currently in use and potential sites where new ones had been discovered by new drilling techniques. Asami took a drink from her now almost cold tea as they settled in to work on something far more interesting to her than the Fire Nation's social quirks.