Seven years after the Red Lotus assassinated the Earth Queen, Zaheer, Ming Hua and Ghazan finally visited Ba Sing Se again. At first, the leader of the Red Lotus didn't suspect the city would change much without the presence of anarchy, which he worships as an ideal. However, his eyes told him it cannot be further from the truth.
First thing he noticed as he got off the maglev, was that instead of rebuilding the old city walls that divided the city into upper, middle and lower rings, which was dismantled by the lavabender, the Great Uniter decided to build three additional rings outside of the urban areas for military purpose only. The outmost ring is the shortest in height, and innermost ring is the tallest. That is a smart design, Zaheer thought, in that way the army in all three rings can attack invader outside of the city at the same time. The distance between the rings was merely 30 meters, as it is no longer used to segregate its citizens; that itself is an effective way to force the enemy into a much narrower formation when they managed to break into the out rings. "This is a well defended city," Zaheer did not hold back his compliment.
"Indeed, it is." One of the city guards picked up a conversation. His glance was immediately attracted to the Mandala in the middle of Zaheer's suit, "you must be the Red Lotus," the young man spoke, "the Great Uniter is waiting for you."
"Be careful," another female guard reminded; again, there was no hatred in her voice, "you guys are not necessarily the most popular among the people of Ba Sing Se."
As they entered the city, they were amazed by what they saw: it is a well modernized and rather prosperous city, the roads were clean and wide, occupied by satomobiles and trams, the buildings were kept in well conditions and the people with smiles on their faces, no longer living under the terror of Dai Li agents. They see merchants, street performers and even a couple groups of protestors. What lightened Zaheer's heart the most, though, was the fact that there were no longer walls to separate people into different castes; the social hierarchy of the old Earth Kingdom was gone for good.
"It's them!" Zaheer and his team were surrounded by a group of protestors, "The Red Lotus!" one of them said angrily, "I don't know what was wrong in the Great Uniter's mind for her to collaborate with you people!"
"Without me assassinating the Earth Queen, you will still be living in the filth of the lower ring." The Red Lotus leader responded.
"Yes. But you people just don't know when to stop!" a young man in the crowd spoke, "when Great Uniter Suyin got rid ofthe bandits and rebuilt the city, you turned onto her instead!"
"Chaos is the natural order, the true balance of the universe; true freedom cannot exist with the presence of governments."
"I lost my kids in the hands of the bandit," an old woman spoke, "and you call this freedom?!" her voice was broken due to extreme rage, "you are delusional!" She threw a rotten egg at the anarchist leader, others followed suit.
Zaheer didn't move, instead, allowing the objects to land on his body, tainting his clothes. What these people said were truth. He knows true freedom cannot be achieved without absolute chaos, but if people suffer greatly under such circumstances, is that really balance?
He didn't know how long he had been standing there.
"Okay people," as the situation got worse, the guards intervened. They stood between the Red Lotus and the crowd, shielding Zaheer, Ghazan and Ming Hua from the rotten eggs being thrown at them. "I understand you suffered greatly as a result of their actions," the captain said, "but right now they had stopped their activity altogether and helping us to defend United Republics' attacks. So, let's show some basic respect, alright?"
"Thank you," as the crowds dissipated, the leader of the Red Lotus spoke to the captain. That's the first time Zaheer had ever said anything positive to an authority figure for many years.
"Don't mention it," the man replied, "I'll take you to the Great Uniter."
…
"Master Tenzin radioed me, the mission was a success," Suyin said, "you've proved to be trustworthy." She paused, "what happened to your clothes?"
"The people are not exactly happy with our presence." Zaheer replied, "they made me to reconsider a lot of things."
"I'm not surprised, to be honest." The Great Uniter replied, she knew how bad the bandit problems were when she first arrived to stabilize Ba Sing Se.
"Anyway, before we start to discuss our plan on defending the city," spoke the leader of the Red Lotus, "I need to tell you a few things regarding to the rescue operation: First, the avatar can airbend now; second, the avatar let us leave, deliberately."
"Yes, I am aware of that," Suyin replied, "Master Tenzin and Lin radioed us when they arrived at Zaofu. Jinora also told me the avatar asked her to be her airbending teacher."
"I think it all makes sense now," Kuvira entered the conversation, "the reason why she hides her identity is to gather forces to take revenge on you, mum." She was referring to Suyin, "considering the avatar is from the Southern Water Tribe, it isn't surprising to find her holding some bitterness to the Earth Kingdom's invasion during the Water Tribes Civil War. That's why she chose to betray the Special Forces during her last mission, attempting to kill me and a whole dispatch of elite metalbenders." Her eyes met Suyin's glance, "because she wants to make you suffer. And the reason she works with the United Republics' president is to use their military to launch an invasion against our country. The president wants our mineral resources, so their interests align."
"That's very much true," the Great Uniter nodded, she knew her days as a general of the Earth Kingdom army was going to come back and haunt her, "keep talking."
"With her now being able to bend all four elements, I bet she will be attempting to use the Avatar State in the upcoming battle of Ba Sing Se. We'd better be prepared for the rage of an avatar."