Chapter Seventeen: Good Deeds

Earlier the same day {though it was always the same day} Azula kneeled before the Earth King, head bowed. How many times would she have to do this before she won? Quite a few. She had the feeling that if she just accomplished the perfect conquest, it would somehow end perfectly.

After all, some power must have subjected her to this loop for some reason. If it wanted the Fire Nation to fail then surely, they would have picked the Avatar or Katara or something. Since Azula was chosen, it must want her to win.

"Your Majesty, I have a report for you." said Azula.

And she offered a scroll.

The Earth King came forward and unrolled it. His eyes scanned over it carefully. Eventually, he lowered it and looked at her. "What is this?"

"It is a complete chronicle of corruption within the city of Ba Sing Se." said Azula. "I've had the Dai Li investigate the matter fully. We have reason to believe that everyone on this list has been taking bribes."

She'd spent several loops developing the list and memorizing it. When she conquered this city she wanted it to be run efficiently. The Earth King looked horrified. "This is a very extensive list."

"To be honest, I suspect that Long Feng allowed it." said Azula. "He had massive amounts of evidence on many of these people, dating back years. And as long as he had it, he could easily ask them for favors."

The Earth King nodded. "This is excellent work. I'll set my agents to work getting these people to account for their actions."

"Thank you, your majesty." said Azula. Then she stood. "Oh and here is a list of agents who can't be trusted. I have the Dai Li investigating them as we speak.

"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get the services of a particular servant. One of the ones' going by the name of Joo Dee."

"There are a great many of them." said the Earth King. "Did you have a specific one in mind?"

"Yes." said Azula. "Unfortunately I don't know what she looks like. So I'm going to need someone to identify her."

The Earth King looked at her in surprise. "Who?"

Agni above this fool was easily manipulated.

Once again Azula talked her way past Zuko. This time she was dressed in the garb of the Dai Li. Finding Jin she approached her. The girl put the tea, and then looked up.

She shuddered as Azula reached her.

"Excuse me, are you Jin?" asked Azula.

"Yes, how can I help you." said Jin.

"My name if Azula. I'm from the Earth King." said Azula. "My records indicate that a friend of yours was taken by the Dai Li some time ago. Is this true?"

Jin nodded. "Yes, her name was Sen. Why do you ask?"

Why was everyone afraid of her? Was it the outfit. Quite possibly. Or perhaps it was because she was all business at the moment. "There has been a change of governance recently. We're looking into the possibility of rehabilitating some of the Joo Dees. Our hope is that if we can get them in contact with people they know, that we might be able to get through to them.

"We also need to know their personal details to treat each one.

"I was hoping you could come with me and help me find your friend."

Jin looked around. "Me? But why just me?"

"I'm planning a larger program later." said Azula. "But it won't do any good if being in contact with people they know doesn't help.

"You just got lucky. Or unlucky, as it turns out."

"Alright." said Jin, nodding. Then she made her way over to Uncle. "Mushi I... I'm being called to the Earth King's palace. Can I have the day off?"

Uncle eyed Azula suspiciously. "Of course. But is there something we should know?"

"Let me speak with her, Uncle." said Zuko.

To Azula's surprise, Zuko took her outside instead of Jin. He glared at her seriously. "What are you doing Azula? Why do you want Jin?"

Azula did her best to look innocent. "Would you believe I'm telling the truth?"

"No." said Zuko. "You always lie."

"But you believe me anyway." noted Azula.

Zuko shifted. "...If you hurt her-" he began.

"Yes, yes, I'll suffer a thousand deaths and all that." said Azula. "You don't exactly have the resources to pull anything, though, do you?"

"Don't underestimate me, Azula." said Zuko.

"Fine." said Azula, before looking to the door. "Jin, are you ready to go."

Jin nodded. "Of course."

"Good." said Azula.

Hundreds of the Joo Dees were standing to attention in a large, nondescript room. Jin walked alongside Azula, looking nervous. Azula liked the look it gave her.

"These are all the Joo Dees I could call back on short notice." said Azula. "Tell me any you recognize. Take your time."

"There are so many..." said Jin, clenching her fist.

"Long Feng is a very sick person." said Azula.

Jin walked on and stopped suddenly as she saw a woman. She was a short woman, with plump cheeks. Was this Sen. "I... I remember her. I saw her being arrested for stealing an apple."

"Do you know her name?" asked Azula.

Jin remained silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry, but no."

"All of them are under instructions to stay still and say nothing." said Azula. "When you find someone you know, talk to them. If they react we'll be able to know they remember."

"Alright, but... it could take me a bit." said Jin.

And take a bit it did. Jin walked down one row after another. As they did, Azula became concerned that she'd have wasted her time. Had Jin forgotten Sen's face?

Then Jin stopped by a woman. She was around Jin's age, with red-brown hair and small eyes. Jin stepped toward her. "Sen? Sen is that you?"

Emotion went into Sen's eyes. She clutched her head and leaned forward. "I... there must be some mistake. My name is Joo Dee. I've been assigned to stand here for inspection.

"I appear to have spoken out of turn. Forgive me..."

"Don't concern yourself with it Joo Dee." said Azula, satisfied. "You and Jin will follow me."

She and Jin began to walk toward the door. All of the Joo Dees began to follow, and Azula halted. She sighed. "...Not you."

"But you instructed-" began Sen.

"I want Sen to go with me." said Azula.

"As I said, my name is Joo Dee." said Sen.

"Okay, fine." said Azula. "I want the Joo Dee whose name used to be Sen to come with me and Jin."

And she began to walk again. However, in addition to Sen, several other Joo Dees walked after her. Azula stopped in irritation. "What are you doing?"

"I... I believe I have a vague recollection of once having that name." said one of them.

"Okay, forget it!" said Azula. "This Joo Dee, and no other one will come with me and Jin. The rest of you... take the day off."

This time it stuck.

Azula led Jin and Sen to a pleasantly colored room and sat them down in comfortable seats. "Okay Jin, I've got some other things to attend to. You are going to talk with Sen here and try to get through to her."

"As I said, my name is Joo Dee-" began Sen.

"No it isn't." said Azula. "From this moment forward you will respond to the name Sen."

Sen shifted nervously. "...This is most irregular."

"That's an order." said Azula. "Now, why don't you two chat and I'll conduct some business."

Then she left.

In another room entirely, Azula met with Mai and Ty Lee. Both had arrived before she had and were sitting down. Mai eyed her carefully. "So, how did it go?"

"Not all that well." said Azula. "I did note some emotional reaction. But nothing as instant as what was described by Katara- the water peasant. I've left Jin to have a long chat. We'll see what we can find when we're back.

"What about your end?"

"Well, you asked me to come up with a theoretical system of finding friends and family members of the Joo Dees." said Mai. "On short notice, I had the idea of holding events where people could see if they could find people they knew.

"We could then give them back custody.

"The problem is that the system is prone to abuse."

"How so?" asked Azula.

Mai sighed. "Someone could claim to know a Joo Dee, and we'd have no way of proving otherwise. Not without heavy investigation. And given how many Joo Dees there are, that could take months.

"And some of them won't have any attachments."

"Which means we'll need another way to get them out of their brainwashing." guessed Azula. "Fine, find me all the details on the subject. Ty Lee, what about you?"

"Well um... you wanted me to come up with ideas on how to make people accept Fire Nation rule." said Ty Lee. "Well, I thought that we could throw a huge festival with circuses after we win."

Azula smiled. "Bread and circuses? And old policy, but a good one."

"Maybe I could do some performing as well." said Ty Lee.

"Fine." said Azula. "Anything else?"

"Yes." said Ty Lee. "There are a lot of homeless people in Ba Sing Se. A lot of very poor people. Maybe we could do something for them."

Azula blinked. "You want to help the surplus population?"

"It was just a thought." said Ty Lee.

Azula clasped her hands together thoughtfully. "No, actually this is a very good idea. If we do a better job than the Earth King, we'll get their loyalty very quickly.

"Good thinking Ty Lee. I'll handle it tomorrow."

Then suddenly she laughed. Ty Lee and Mai stared.

"What's funny?" asked Ty Lee.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's an in joke." said Azula. "Anyway, I should check on Jin."

And with that, she stood and walked out.

She made her way back and found Jin and Sen talking together. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying. But Sen looked dazed and conflicted. "Any progress?" she asked.

Sen remained silent. "I... I'm Sen."

"Glad you noticed." said Azula.

"No, I mean. It was like my mind was washed away." said the girl. "But then I talked with Jin and I... I felt like it was all coming back.

"I'm remembering things. Things that were things that used to be. I can't remember it all but...

"Can... can I go home."

Azula found herself smiling. She wasn't sure why. "Of course. Jin, I'll see the two of you off."

As Jin and Sen made their way back home, the sun was setting. Azula watched them leave the palace, feeling strange. Tomorrow she'd wake up, and everything would be back the way it was before. So why did she feel good about this?

"...Why did you do it?" asked a voice.

Azula glanced back and saw Zuko. He was dressed in black, and his arms were crossed. Two swords were on his back.

"You're going to have to be way more specific." said Azula.

"Help those people. You always have a reason." said Zuko.

"Well I have one or two." admitted Azula. "But to be honest, it just feels good to make someone else's life better for once."

And then the Avatar showed up.

"Azula?!" he saw in shock.

And back in prison.

Azula sighed. "...When it rains, it pours."

And yet she didn't really mind it all that much. It would probably take more than one day to solve the Joo Dee problem. But she could come up with a proper course of action to deal with it. In the meantime, she could set about solving the problem of poverty.

Where to start?

Author's Note:

And we've finished the Joo Dee arc. Next up we work with poverty.