Author's Note: Hey guys! If you find any mistakes please message me about them! I plan on making some edits to keep the beginning chapters consistent with the rest of the timeline. Reviews are also always nice to read!
General Iroh increased the magnification on his binoculars surveying the walls that surrounded him. There were no signs of his teams. He had sent two teams of three out on recon to deliver an S.O.S message back to Republic City, but had not heard word from them since. They were most likely captured or worse. Iroh looked at the his men on deck. Most were grim and thin. Their supplies would barely last them for the rest of the week.
He didn't know when the walls crept up on them, but this definitely required a very skilled team of earthbenders. Huge slabs of clay and sand had risen out of the sea and surrounded his three ships before they had gotten to the peninsula.
General Iroh had a simple mission, "To investigate the wall and the concentration camps southeast of Ba Sing Se." Iroh didn't know how much bigger the wall was, but the massive box that trapped them was definitely impressive. His fire blasts had no impact on the walls, but hardened the mixture of earth and clay further. To make matters worse, Iroh suspected that not only were there four walls that surrounded his ships, but that there was a large sheet of earth trapping them underneath the ships also. He had seen the same groups of fish surrounding his boats since he noticed the wall.
He decided to wait one more day. Hopefully one of the teams who had scaled the wall would make it back. If they didn't, his plan would require more drastic measures and Iroh really didn't want to lose another ship. His three battleships were the only remains from the Republic City skirmish.
Korra led the orphans through the city streets behind a slab of ice. She initially started with a slab of earth, but twice another Earth bender attempted to rip the slab from her control. With ice, it was much more difficult for them to attack. Korra had no idea why they were attacking her and she meant to get to the bottom for this meaningless violence right away. The masks that many of the non-benders were wearing made many of them reckless. She saw groups charging at guards with homemade weapons yelling, "Death to King Bolo!" The guards rallied with their orders, "KILL THEM ALL!"
Korra hopped onto the ancient mail chutes and made a crute cart of earth. Then she sand-bended all the debris around her much like how she would air bend. She created a torrent of dirt around the cart and pulled all the children up the chute towards the castle. It was an exhausting feat. She kept envisioning the excercise that LonLon had taught her just days ago. Every so often something would smash into her shield of debris, and Korra would add it to the vortex. On top of that, there must have at least 15 kids, and they weighed so much for skinny, malnourished children.
Korra made note that she ought to weight train a little more.
When they made it to the top, Korra breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the earth/sand debris shield.
Behind her, two of Bolo's personal guard appeared.
"Avatar Korra! We cannot allow these non-benders on the premises. King Bolo's orders! He wants them all killed!"
Korra gave the two a hard look. "They will stay here until I knock some sense into the king. Would you rather fight me, guard?"
The two guards looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Good. For the moment, you no longer protect little Bolo. Remember, Bolo can't beat the crap out of you, but I can. You're gonna protect these kids with your life, otherwise I will have yours. Is that understood?"
The guards stammered, "Y-Yes, Avatar!"
Korra grinned and went searching for this idiot of an Earth King.
Noatak spit on the fool's face. "Tell me again, what makes you think you are like me?"
King Bolo was on his knees against his own will. When Noatak released his hold on the pathetic king, he still stayed on his knees and made no attempt to get up.
Bolo tried to gather his train of thought, but his exasperation prevented a clear flow. "The perfec-We both want a better... I'm creating a better world-like you." King Bolo paused. "We both want a better world, Noatak, but I stand on the other spectrum. The non-benders create too many problems...You... tried to eliminate all the benders."
Noatak leaned backwards onto the throne and sat thoughtfully at the elementary idea. "Haha, so you think you are my equal on your spectrum of ideals, is that it?"
Bolo recognized the trap and carefully conceded, "No, no, Noatak, not your equal, but someone who shares the idea of a perfect society..."
Noatak shook his head solemnly. "I think we have a rather large disagreement on what the perfect world really is then, don't we King Bolo?" He paused. "And if we are both pursuing something for different means, won't that mean that we are competitors?" Noatak didn't wait for an answer. "You see, my perfect world has no need for your silly guards and no need for your bothersome insecurities... because I am not incompetent like you. What are your powers if you truly possess nothing... extraordinary?"
And with that, Noatak placed his thumb on King Bolo's forehead and froze the Ki gateway. King Bolo fainted just as Korra walked into the room.
Barrels of perfume produced from the original Abbey left a sweet lingering smell around the port. Even though most of the barrels were sealed, just a drop of the scent was enough for Asami to notice a hundred meters away. Asami watched as ships loaded with different aromas were stacked onto ships by a mechanized crane.
Asami asked a local merchant how much a barrel was for casual conversation.
"25,000 Yuan a barrel, Miss... would you like a sample?"
Asami smiled, "No, Thank you, I actually have some at home as a gift, I was just curious."
The truth was that Asami had paid 1,000 Yuan earlier for a small bottle in Republic City. She guessed that each barrel could easily make 500 bottles of what she bought. The inhabitants of this city must enjoy a lucrative way of life. Asami asked for a good ramen shop and made her way towards the restaurants of Abbey Port.
Abbey Port was a very new city and looked cleaner than Republic City. They exported tons of perfume and always ran ferries across the narrowest portion of the Mo Ce Sea to the sandy beaches of Shu Jing. Asami planned to take a ferry from Shu Jing and buy a cheap Morgan Motorcycle to cross the bridges from the eastern Ember Isles into the mainland Fire Nation. Asami knew that Morgan produced more vehicles out west than her Father did.
Asami got to the ramen shop and ordered. It was a quaint little restaurant with Pai Sho boards in the center of the tables and a small dedicated corner on Asami's right for her bowl of noodles. Asami was setting up the pieces on the board just toying with the pieces while she ate her ramen by herself when a student from the Order of the White Lotus appeared.
"Would you mind an opponent?", he asked.
"No, not at all. Take a seat."
And Asami played for little over an hour, beating the student wearing the White Lotus cowl time after time. After a while, her opponent conceded when she managed to place her White Lotus tile in the center by creating a harmonious pattern even after all the discord her opponent was placing.
He said, "You are very skilled. Let me get my the master."
Asami nodded. She ordered herself some iced skooma and watched others at the restaurant play.
A woman dressed in a brown hooded tunic took a seat in front of her.
"Miss Sato! How nice of you to come visit us!"
Asami wasn't sure if she knew who this person was.
Asami asked, "Who are you?"
The woman removed her her hood and grinned, "-I am Kya. Daughter of the late Avatar Aang. Would you mind an opponent?"
