Chapter 36: The Weight of Duty
Shu Bei Fong shook his head as Yue finished her tale. "Had that story come from someone else's lips, I wouldn't have believed it," he said. "You say that you are over a century old, but you look as young as my daughter, and that the Fire Empire holds the moon and ocean spirits captive in order to prevent new waterbenders from being born. But at the same time you are a waterbender when no waterbenders have existed in this land since the Empire first rose, and on the evidence of that alone, I find I must believe you."
"Thank you," Yue said, smiling at him. They sat in the small side-cave that had become Shu's home and base of operations while injured- though now healed, he was still somewhat weak from his ordeal and preferred to sit. The rest of the rebels had been sent back into the main cave while their leader conferred with the new arrival and drew up new plans. The small chamber was now empty except for Shu, Chaiy, Yue, and the young man Kanoda from the Southern Water Tribe who was, from what Shu had gathered, Yue's self-appointed bodyguard.
"So tell me," Shu asked. "Why have you come to us now? What is it that you intend to do?"
He was not prepared for the ageless woman's answer. "The spirits have guided me to you because I need your help- no, let me rephrase that. We can help each other." She took a deep breath. "I believe that the time has finally come to free the Moon and Ocean spirits."
Shu realized he was gaping at her and quickly closed his mouth. Today's situation was quickly developing into something surreal, and he was almost convinced that any moment he might wake up and find that his wound was still there and he'd deliriously imagined the waterbender. "Lady Yue," he finally said, "I would certainly be more than willing to provide assistance, but I need my rebels here with me to fight against the Empire, and even if they were free I wouldn't have the slightest idea where or how to begin such a quest."
"Freeing the spirits would greatly help your cause," Yue told him. "Once the Moon and Ocean have been returned to their rightful place, the cycle of the world will be able to resume. Time will finally catch up to the Fire Empire and its Empress, and I don't think that they will find the experience a pleasant one."
"Well, now," Shu said quietly, feeling a smile creep across his face. "That does sound like something worth happening. But I still wouldn't even know where to start looking for the spirits' prison- unless you have some idea, of course."
Yue closed her eyes and seemed to drift to another place, perhaps her own distant past. "Admiral Zhao took the spirits from the Oasis and bound them in great iron boxes," she said in a soft, dreamy voice. "He presented them to the Fire Lord as prize, and was commanded to lock them away in a place where neither man nor spirit would ever find them. He placed the boxes in an iron citadel built on a storm-tossed island in the far northern seas, guarded day and night by warriors sworn on pain of death to secrecy." Her startlingly blue eyes opened again and fixed Shu with their stare. "That is what the Moon Spirit tells me of the place where she is trapped, but she does not perceive the world as you or I do. She cannot reveal it's location to me in terms I can understand."
Shu sighed. "There are probably hundreds of storm-tossed islands in the far northern seas, and without a map to lead us to it, we could search for years and never find the right one. I wouldn't know where to begin such a search."
"But maybe someone does," Chaiy said. "The Fire Empire has to have records of this place somewhere, if they can keep it staffed with guards. She probably doesn't know where they are, but I bet that girl Jiazin could help point us in the right direction."
"Assuming her willingness to help us extends to undoing something that is keeping the Fire Empire dominant," Shu said. "I'm not certain she'd like this plan at all."
A strange look crossed Yue's face. "Tell me," she said, "who is this person you're talking about?"
"The Governor's daughter- she fell in with us a little while back," Chaiy explained. "She's no friend of the Fire Empire, but from what I can tell she's not overly fond of us either. She's got some idea that she can use us to force the Empire to change without bringing it down completely, but she won't tell anyone more than that."
"Tell me where I can find her," Yue said. "Perhaps I could talk to her and see if she'll help."
Chaiy rose. "Follow me," she said.
Shiyan paced in one of the guest rooms of the Governor's Palace like a caged animal. She knew that going out there now with the Governor's hunters and searching through territory she didn't know would be a waste of her time and beneath her dignity, but at the same time part of her mind cried out for action. After spending weeks chasing the spy and the waterbender, it already felt wrong after just a few hours to be sitting here doing nothing.
She turned as the door to the room opened and Cheng slipped inside. "Well?" Shiyan asked. "How is the High Admiral handling things?" One thing she had been happy about was the chance to use this time to get away from the obnoxious man- every snide comment he made about her order made her hand itch for her sword even though she knew she still needed him- but she hadn't been content to let him completely out of her sight, and had consequently set Cheng to watching him.
"Mostly, he is using your name as an excuse to force the Governor to give him anything he wants, all saying that it is how the Empress would wish her top Admiral treated," Cheng reported. "As of right now he is lying on a couch on the palace roof, being fanned by servant girls while drinking expensive tea and expositing at length about his future glories. This seems to be more for the Governor's benefit than his own pleasure- there appears to be great dislike between them, and forcing the Governor to cater to his every whim seems to amuse Yuan greatly." Cheng looked quickly around and leaned in closer to Shiyan. "Honestly, I'm not sure the High Admiral is entirely… stable."
Shiyan snorted. "That much I could have guessed. Later on, I'll have to have a word with him about proper uses of the authority over his peers that traveling in our company grants him, complete with proper emphasis," here her hand brushed the hilt of her sword. "Do you have anything else of interest to report, Sister?"
Cheng looked uncertain for a moment, to Shiyan's displeasure. "A Chosen should not be hesitant about speaking her thoughts, except in the presence of the Mistress or the Empress herself, for she is answerable to none other. Speak."
"Well," Cheng said, "I heard one of the servants saying that the Governor had a daughter, about your age, named Jiazin. I thought that… that it might be interesting to talk to a girl who wasn't part of our order, so I asked around for her, but nobody knew where she was."
"Cheng," Shiyan said darkly, her displeasure rising, "a nobleman's pampered daughter is not a fit companion for a Chosen. Also, we are extensions of the Empress's own will, and seeking out conversation purely for the pleasure of it is not part of our duty. Besides, from what you said, it sounds to me like the girl isn't even here. Do you under… wait." Shiyan paused, a sudden suspicion striking her. "Did you say that nobody knows where this Lady Jiazin is?"
"Yes," Cheng replied. "I thought it was odd, honestly. Why would the Governor let his daughter get lost like that?"
"It's more than odd," Shiyan said. "But I thought he seemed preoccupied during Yuan's little speech to him. Something strange is happening here, and I suspect that the servants have been sworn to secrecy. That means that whatever it is could damage the Governor, and something that a man that powerful fears could be a threat to the Empire." She fixed Cheng with her predator's stare. "I want you to find out as much as you can about this Jiazin and why she has mysteriously vanished. Even if it leads nowhere, it will keep you occupied and your skills sharp."
Cheng saluted. "I understand. I will find the information you seek, Sister." She turned to the door, then looked back over her shoulder at Shiyan. "So while I'm looking for Jiazin, what are you going to do?"
Shiyan gave her a fierce grin and stroked the hilt of her sword. "I'm going to have a little talk with our "friend" the High Admiral that he will not soon forget."
Jiazin sat in her customary spot in the rebels' cave, away from the others and their discomfort around her (and, it must be admitted, her discomfort around them). The former slave Tong had been back to talk to her a couple of times, but she found even being around him difficult, both because she was speaking as an equal to someone who she'd been taught from an early age was at the bottom of the social ladder, and because he was a perpetual reminder of how she'd ignored the suffering of his people all her life.
And now you're trying to use his people to help assuage your own guilt, a soft voice that sounded almost like the Empress said in her mind. Even now, you still can't see them as anything more than tools to be used for your purposes. Child, you are more like me than you can ever admit. Remember the blue flames!
"I'm nothing like you!" Jiazin whispered, but as she remembered the sense of absolute clarity and purpose she'd felt as she'd called the blue fire and driven her blazing sword through Gian's heart, she wasn't so sure.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, she looked up to see Chaiy and another woman in a dark cloak, with distinctly unusual white hair (despite her apparent youth), dark skin, and brilliant blue eyes. This, Jiazin realized, had to be the person who'd been escorted inside with much fanfare a few hours ago, the one they'd called a waterbender. The young noble hadn't been close enough to see any bending, and she was rather dubious of that claim, seeing as the waterbenders had been extinct for a hundred years. Some of High Minister Qing Xi's notes had indicated a possible reason for that, but Jiazin wasn't sure how much she credited something so utterly fanciful.
The possible waterbender motioned Chaiy back and sat down across from Jiazin. "My name is Yue," she said in a voice that was quiet and soft, and yet also had confidence and a certain degree of command buried in it. Had Jiazin not known better, she would have sworn from the voice alone that this woman was noble-born. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"What do you want?" Jiazin asked. Something about Yue made her uncomfortable, though she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
Yue looked at her sadly. "What kind of life have you had, that the first thing you wonder when you meet someone is how they want to use you?"
"For the most part, my life's been fine," Jiazin told her. "It's only the last month or so that things have gotten strange. I've been through a lot lately, and I'd rather not talk about it." She certainly wasn't going to tell a stranger about the plans the Fire Empire had for her. Even the rebels didn't know that, and she planned on keeping it that way for the foreseeable future.
"Only the last month?" Yue asked. "I think you know that's not true. The rebels have told me that you're the only daughter of Long Du Shi's governor- your life would not have been a normal one even had whatever drove you to the rebellion's arms not happened. To be born to power is to carry a heavy duty, and all too often is to be alone. All the more so to be a good person- and I believe you are a good person, or at least you want to be- in a place like the Fire Empire."
"What would you know about it?" Jiazin asked, eyes flaming. "You're not a noble- how could you possibly know what being born with power is like, or having a special des-" she stopped before she said the word "destiny", fearing Yue would question her about it.
"I know more than you know," Yue said softly, her sad blue eyes far away. "I was a princess of my people, the Northern Water Tribe, and I had a special destiny too. I was bound up with the Moon Spirit when I was just a baby, and my father and my people always saw great things for me. Then the comet came, and with it the Fire Nation, and I saw my beautiful city of ice fall, my people die…" Her voice fell silent, but Jiazin didn't speak, almost afraid to break the spell. Then Yue looked back at her and raised a hand, palm up. Water flowed out from a pouch by her waist and began to circle above her palm in time with the small movements of her fingers. "The Moon Spirit is still with me- she made me into the last waterbender so that I could help to put things right. But I can't do it by myself. I need your help."
As Yue finished speaking, Jiazin found herself deeply regretting her outburst. Her family had risen to power on the wings of the Fire Empire, and here was a woman who had been witness to one of that Empire's greatest atrocities. She found herself believing that Yue was telling the truth- there had been something about her pain that simply seemed all to real- and beside her Jiazin suddenly felt a small and wretched person. Of course, part of that might have been due to the proximity of the Moon Spirit- of course a firebender wouldn't be comfortable near the source of bending for her opposite element!
"I've been trying to put things right in my life," she said quietly. "The Fire Empire is part of who I am, and I can't bring myself to want it destroyed, but at the same time I know that things can't go on the way they are." She looked back up at Yue. "Tell me what you want of me, and I'll tell you if I can help you or not."
"In the northern seas," Yue said, "there is an island where High Admiral Yuan's family guards the captive Moon and Ocean Spirits. I intend to free them, but I don't know where the island is. I need someone who can help me find it."
"I can't help you with that. I just don't know where it is. My father and the High Admiral never liked each other- it's not like he ever came over for dinner and spilled all his secrets. I only met him a couple of times, and we didn't talk much. You need to find someone else." Suddenly a thought struck her. "Or maybe I can. Yuan couldn't keep a place like that completely secret- he'd need to rotate guards in and out, get new supplies and equipment, that sort of thing. More than half the trade and supplying in the Empire goes through Long Du Shi, which means it's in my father's records."
"Yuan swears his guards to secrecy," Yue observed. "I don't doubt he'd falsify reports as well."
Jiazin shook her head. "You don't know the Fire Empire government very well, then. Everyone spies on everyone, and my father likes to know where his supplies are going. I doubt he knows what the fortress is, but his spies almost certain know it's there. You just need to look at his private maps to find it. I might be able to get you inside."
"And you would do this?" Yue asked. "Even if it meant betraying your people?"
"As far as my people are concerned, I was a traitor the moment I killed the mercenary Gian," Jiazin told her, though she still felt pain as she said it. "And I'd certainly be willing to help bring down Yuan. Besides, there's something you said that you're right about- power comes with duty. Nobody else in the Fire Empire seems willing to atone for its crimes, but I am. That's why I'll help you- to make up for the evil that happened to your people, not to destroy mine."
"I can accept that," Yue said. She rose. "Come with me. I think we should tell Shu about our agreement."
As Jiazin followed her, she felt as if she'd just crossed an important threshold. Unfortunately, the part of her that sounded like the Empress was whispering doubts in the back of her mind. Was this the start of a new purpose, or just the ultimate proof of her descent into treason? Jiazin wasn't sure, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.