Chapter 49: The Bonds of Slavery
Shiyan sat in her cabin- which had been Yuan's, before she'd taken it over after his death- aboard the Eye of Agni as it sat in the harbor of a naval base on the northern shore of Fire Empire territory. She had allowed the crew to go ashore- she suspected she'd lose a few here, though most of them seemed to have accepted her leadership- and the captain had been instructed to find a messenger hawk and use it to deliver a message Shiyan had written describing the fate of Yuan's armada to the Capital. Rumors would, of course, begin spreading before it arrived, but the truth of what had happened at the North Pole would reach the Empress and her advisors before anyone.
For now, Shiyan sat and waited, legs crossed on the bed before her and her unsheathed sword resting on her lap. She breathed in and out deeply and rhythmically with her eyes half shut- Chosen may have been forbidden to practice firebending, but their meditative techniques drew strongly on its traditions. Now those techniques were proving most helpful in keeping Shiyan's calm and self-control- she'd not witnessed the worst of whatever had really happened at the North Pole, but her mind kept going back to the inescapable truth that a force existed that was powerful enough to tear through the Fire Navy like a hot knife through butter. It hadn't affected her so much at the time, but in hindsight it was deeply disturbing- and Shiyan couldn't afford to let the soldiers, her soldiers now, sense her weakness.
She was distracted from her meditations by the sound of a hand rapping against the steel door. "Chosen Shiyan," the captain's voice came from the other side, "I sent your message to the Capital as requested, and stopped briefly to talk with the base's commander. There is… news that I think you should hear."
Shiyan opened her eyes and focused them on the door. "I would hear this," she said. "You may enter." The door swung open and the captain did so, going down on his knees in the center of the floor- not necessary for an officer in the presence of a Chosen, but the crew had gone rather overboard with their professions of loyalty to her, perhaps out of fear she'd turn on them next.
"According to the commander," the captain said hesitantly, "what happened to our fleet is not the only calamity to have befallen the Fire Empire lately, or even the worst." He took a deep breath as though steeling himself for whatever news he was about to deliver. "Long Du Shi has fallen. The great city is now in rebel hands."
"What?" Shiyan asked, feeling her body go cold and still. Long Du Shi, fallen… it was unthinkable. No rebels could possibly challenge the Fire Empire so openly and succeed- surely the Empress in her wisdom would have foreseen it and taken measures! But then, the Empress hadn't foreseen- or if she had, had neglected to inform her Chosen or her High Admiral- of the peril that awaited them in the North either. Perhaps Azula really hadn't known… no, Shiyan pushed those thoughts away. She was Chosen, and there was no place in her life for doubts. "Are you certain?" she finally managed to say.
"Almost positive," the captain said. "The commander had reports from several different sources, and I checked with his officers as well. If it is some sort of hoax, the whole base is in on it."
Shiyan stood and began to prowl back and forth before the captain. Thoughts whirled in her mind, the loudest and most disquieting of which was that this was all her fault. She'd been the one to lead Yuan to Long Du Shi and used him to remove the Governor from power, and then left the city with a mere girl to watch over things. She was the foremost Chosen trainee of her generation, and now the fall of one of the Empire's most important cities was her fault… no, she pushed that doubt away as well. This situation called for action, and so finally she turned to face her officer again. "This changes things," she said, "but not as much as you might think. We're going back to the former Earth Kingdom; we'll land in the closest port to Long Du Shi that the Empire still holds, and then I'll travel to the city and learn what I can about the situation myself."
"Chosen," the captain said, his tone shocked, "are you certain that is wise? Why put yourself in that kind of danger…"
Shiyan silenced him with a raised hand. "My reasons are none of your concern. You have your orders. Now go carry them out." The captain stood, gave a rather fearful salute, and departed.
The Chosen was left alone in her cabin, lost in her dark reflections. The Fire Navy had been gutted, Long Du Shi had fallen and, a part of her admitted, she was worried about what had happened to Cheng. Still, whether or not the situation really could be laid at Shiyan's feet, she knew one thing- she was Chosen, and she would do everything in her power to put things back in their proper order.
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Chaiy marched down into the prison levels of the palace, Tong following at her side. It was about a week since the rebels had seized the city, and it had taken a great deal of effort- and help from former Governor Yan Li- to keep the city from falling apart from shear panic at the change. The governor's suggestions had been, for the most part, quite good- though Chaiy had refused to institute the punishment's he'd suggested, feeling they were quite draconian and, though he'd said he was actually rather lenient for an Imperial governor, she still didn't want to give him too much influence over her. Now, she finally had time to take care of some other important business "Remind me again," Tong said, "exactly what we're doing down here."
She turned to look at him darkly. "This person killed my father, Tong," she said. "It's been a few days now, and I think I've calmed down enough to face her without tearing her apart. But I need to face her- you might not understand, because you told me you barely remember your parents, but I need this."
"I think I understand," Tong said quietly, and the two walked in silence past the rebel guards and into the prison, which currently held only one occupant. The Chosen girl sat with her back to the bars- she was dressed in a plain, too-large prisoner's uniform scavenged from the guards' storerooms, her hair hung loose, and she no longer wore her facepaint. Just from looking at her, it was hard to tell how dangerous she really was, unless you knew it already.
"Get up, girl," Chaiy said through the bars. "I want to talk to you, whether you want to or not."
"I told you already, I'm not a child," the Chosen shot back. "My name is Cheng. And a Chosen who is held captive is not to speak to her captors, so that she may not reveal to them the secrets of her Order, her mission, or her Empress."
"You're talking to us now," Tong pointed out. Cheng froze- apparently she hadn't considered that- and then lapsed into sullen silence.
"Listen," Chaiy said, "Tong here says I shouldn't kill you, because of how young you are, but that man you so heroically stabbed in the back about a week ago was my father, and I want to know why. Oh, I get that he was an important rebel leader and the Fire Empire wanted him out of the picture, but I want to know why a twelve-year-old took it on herself to do the deed."
"Thirteen," Cheng said, turning around; without her facepaint she looked very young- far too young to have done what Tong knew she had. Obviously, something about what Chaiy had said had struck home. "And I didn't take it upon myself. I am a Chosen, one of the Empress's elite, and it is my duty to destroy her enemies wherever I find them. From almost the moment we can walk we are given practice swords and taught their use, and that our lives exist solely to serve the Empress. That is why I killed the rebel leader, and why I am not a child- I never really have been. I was raised to serve a higher calling. It's an honor you can't know." She finished this with a glare that reminded Tong strongly of the other Chosen, the one named Shiyan, and he wondered if Cheng was deliberately trying to emulate her older comrade.
Chaiy's reaction to that speech, however, was hardly what Cheng must have expected. Her eyes widened in horror, and she looked over at Tong. "Did you hear that?" she said, anger lacing her words. "No wonder the Chosen are as messed up as they are- I knew they started training them young, but I didn't imagine that. No wonder Azula's been able to hold on to her manufactured maniacs, if she steals them right from the cradle and turns them into little copies of herself." She shook her head and glanced from Tong to Cheng and back again. "And this one's proud of it! Azula turns these people into monsters, and that's monstrous itself."
"It's what the Fire Empire does," Tong said thoughtfully, his mind going back to his own years of enslavement. "They break people and control what's left. They needed my people for their labor, and their own for fighting, but it's the same idea." He looked back at Cheng, but found he could no longer hate her- only pity her. "The Chosen are slaves just as much as I was, but they can't see their chains."
From the look on Cheng's face, if Tong had run her through with a sword, he couldn't have caused her greater pain than he did with those words.
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"I'm Aang," the bald kid said.
Kanoda's mind went into a frenzy. He knew that name from somewhere, but at the moment he couldn't immediately bring it to mind- and then suddenly, it hit him. His grandfather's story of Sokka, Katara, and the boy they found in the iceberg, the boy who was an airbender, who was named Aang, and who was also… "The Avatar," Kanoda breathed.
"That's me," Aang confirmed. He looked Kanoda up and down critically. "You look Water Tribe, but I don't remember seeing you at the South Pole. Are you from the North?"
Kanoda shook his head. "No," he said in a baffled tone, "I'm from the South, and right now I'm obviously dreaming."
"From the South…" Aang said slowly. "Wait a minute. Do you know what year it is?"
"It's almost a hundred years since the Fire Empire used the power of Sozin's Comet to seize control of the world," Kanoda told him. "My grandfather told me stories of how two kids from my Tribe saved you from being trapped in ice, but then… you vanished."
Aang's eyes widened. "No- not again!" he breathed and leaned forward, clutching his head. "This wasn't what was supposed to happen. I remember now- Zuko captured me, tied me up real good so I couldn't bend, and then locked me up on his ship. Katara and Sokka tried to save me, but they just got caught to. Zuko hired some old herbalist who made me drink funny stuff that kept my head fuzzy so he could take me back to his father, the Fire Lord." His eyes went distant. "I don't remember much after that, but then I woke up in a cell under the palace, and then- I was here."
"Here, as in my dream," Kanoda said, trying to draw the conversation back to some place he could understand.
"No," Aang said, shaking his head, "the Spirit World- I'm sure this is it, now. I think my past lives must have pulled me here so I could heal from what the Fire Nation did to me. But if I'm in the Spirit World, how am I talking to you?"
"I just spent a while traveling with someone who was… very close to the Spirit World," Kanoda explained, "and I was the one who put the Moon and Ocean Spirits back where they belong. I guess some of that rubbed off on me."
Aang shrugged. "Makes as much sense as anything I thought of. Wait- the Moon and Ocean spirits got stolen, and you put them back? That's got to be some story!"
"It is. Want to hear it?"
"Sure!" Aang exclaimed, looking like little more than a kid happy to have something to distract him from the dark reality of his situation rather than the incarnation of one of the most powerful spirits in existence. Kanoda sat down on the low wall and faced him as he explained everything, trying to remember his grandfather's techniques. He started with the rise of the Fire Empire and went on to describe his own role in events, and how he met Yue, Jiazin, and the rebels and had finally recaptured the Spirits and freed them. He couldn't even bring himself to edit Shiyan out.
"Wow," Aang said when he was done. "You're a really good storyteller, you know."
Kanoda smiled. "Guess it runs in the family."
"I wish I could help you," the Avatar said, "but I don't know how long I'll be stuck in the Spirit World until I'm ready for action again. You probably want to get back to regular sleep right now- I know I would- but I just want to tell you something the monks taught me. The Fire Empire must seem huge and powerful, but in the end, nothing can last forever. Sooner or later, it'll burn itself out, like a fire that's used up all the wood. Just keep at it, and you'll see."
"I will," Kanoda replied. "Thanks. Even if you can't do anything yet, it's good to know that you're still out there, because it means they can't really ever win."
"See ya," Aang said, standing as the dreamscape began to dissolve. "Thanks a lot for the story- I hope we'll be able to talk again soon!" Then he and the Air temple were gone, and Kanoda awoke in his bed aboard the ship, content now with the knowledge that the rebellion was not alone.
