Chapter Nineteen: The Seed of Knowledge
It was yet another meeting between the three of them.
Azula leaned back in her seat, Mai and Ty Lee on opposite sides of the table from one another. They shifted through report after report.
"I've made a list of all the areas with gold." said Mai. "I've also contacted the appraisal experts. They estimate that all the valuables in the palace would be enough to feed thousands for a month."
Azula nodded. "Excellent work, Mai. Now there is the matter of the nobility."
"The nobility?" asked Ty Lee.
"Yes." said Azula. "I need to get a general estimate of how valuable everything they have is."
"Azula, what exactly are we planning here?" asked Ty Lee.
"When I eventually take over Ba Sing Se I will strip the nobles of their wealth. And I'll pour it into public works and charities." said Azula.
"Well that's uh… nice." said Ty Lee.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to do this after we stage the coup?" asked Mai.
"I told you, I'm in the middle of a time loop." said Azula. "We can take over Ba Sing Se easily. I want a good plan of what to do afterward."
"Okay, but what is our end goal?" asked Mai.
"To lift the people of the Earth Kingdom out of poverty." said Azula. "To share the Fire Nation's greatness with the world as Sozin intended! To make sure no one has to suffer like Zuko did!"
Dead silence for a moment.
"What is this about Zuko-" began Mai.
"Yes, I'm a hypocrite." said Azula. "Shut up.
"Anyway, I figure bankrupting the nobility and giving their money to the poor will be good for popular."
"Azula, that's just treating the symptom." said Mai. "Charity can help people. But if you don't solve the underlying issues the situation won't improve."
"And what are the underlying issues then?" asked Azula, irritated. Why was she being so much trouble about all this?
Mai sighed. "The Earth Kingdom has been at war for a hundred years. Most of the battles have been on their territory. So the wars have caused a lot of desolation. With all the destruction it would make improving the country much harder.
"Also, a lot of these nobles got their money from plunder."
"So it's the war's fault?" scoffed Azula. "Why hasn't the Fire Nation suffered like this?"
"Well, we are the superior nation." said Mai.
Yesterday Azula never would have questioned that answer. Today, however, was a very different day. So she looked Mai in the eye so hard that the girl flinched. "That doesn't answer my question."
Mai shifted nervously. Finally, she looked away. "The Fire Nation is on an island. Ever since then Prince Ozai crushed the South Pole the only major naval threat to us has been in the North. And they're on the other side of the world.
"Since we have complete naval superiority we can land anywhere along the mainland. That means that we have the initiative. We can attack. They can't."
Azula leaned back in her chair with a sigh. What to do about this? She supposed she could ask for input." "Alright, so let's say you wanted to give employment to people in the Earth Kingdom? How would you do it?"
Mai considered the question for a few long moments. "Industrialization. I'd introduce the factory system.
"Assembly lines have a great many people working to create a single object. You pay them smaller wages, but more of them are employe. It could help raise the standard of living."
"And what would you build?" asked Azula. "Once we conquer the Earth Kingdom we won't need war machines. Not as many anyway."
"Maybe we could build things that could help people?" said Ty Lee. "Like some sort of tank that farms."
Azula put her face in her hands. Leave it to Ty Lee. "A tank that farms?
"Ty Lee, that's got to be…"
"It could work." said Mai suddenly.
Azula looked at Mai incredulously. "What do you mean?"
"If you think about it the whole problem with farming is tilling the earth." said Mai. "Tanks need to have a lot of power to move the armor. Take away the armor, and it could be used to move huge loads."
Azula realized that could work. And so the discussions began. They talked about all kinds of things. They gave input on all kinds of issues. But there was something wrong.
And then Azula realized what it was.
None of them lived in the Earth Kingdom. Ty Lee, Mai and her had never starved to near death. They'd never even had to live in lower class areas. So they lacked experience. If Uncle or Zuko or Jin were here, they could point out all kinds of flaws. Things which they wouldn't see.
"I need to get a second opinion on this." decided Azula as she stood up. "I'm going to invite Zuko and Uncle here."
Mai blinked. "Are they here?"
"Yes." said Azula. "Let me just set things up. Actually, I'd better wait for the next loop. Hang on."
She spent the rest of the loop brainstorming plans. No matter how bloodlessly she conquered Ba Sing Se, she'd still be regarded as an invader. Was there a way to simulate that?
Questions for later.
She spent the rest of the loop at the Jasmine Dragon, reading some of the notes Mai provided. They were very well put together. But they didn't provide understanding.
The coup had become easy to do. Very easy, in fact. It was down to simple math at this point. Say these few phrases with the right emotion to the right people. Strike at these points here and there. Pretty soon the entire palace had fallen, and hardly anyone even knew.
Easy. She didn't even have to be there to pull it off at this point. She could liquidate Long Feng's loyalists in her sleep.
That was why Azula was making her way to the Jasmine Dragon. In theory, she could just invite Zuko, Uncle, and Jin like in any other loop. But if she did that her conversation would be theoretical. They wouldn't take it seriously.
But if Zuko, Jin, and Uncle spoke to her in an occupied city, that would give her an idea of how they would react.
She entered the Jasmine Dragon as they were setting up. Zuko and Uncle looked up in surprise, and she waved. Jin would be coming soon. "Hello, Zuko, Uncle, sorry to appear like this unannounced. I need your help on something, and if you don't help me, there will be problems."
They looked at eachother, then at her. "What do you want, Azula?"
"Well, Ty Lee, Mai and myself are planning to hold a meeting to discuss how to best improve the Earth Kingdom." said Azula. "And I thought you two might have some insight."
Zuko eyed her suspiciously. "….What's in this for you?"
Azula sighed. "Nothing. I've recently realized what a terrible person I am, and I want to fix this." She motioned around her. "All this."
"I'm not certain that-" began Uncle.
"And if you don't help me I'll alert the Dai Li about who you really are." said Azula. "Sorry, I'd like to do this without threats, but it's part of the experiment."
And then the door opened, and Jin rushed in. "Hello, I'm sorry I'm late…" She halted. "Um, who is this?"
Azula looked up and smiled. Jin smiled back, somewhat nervously. She hadn't seen Jin in a while. "Oh, Jin. Nice to see you. How about you accompany us to the palace? We'll need the insight of someone who has lived in Ba Sing Se all her life."
"Who are you?" asked Jin in surprise.
"I'm Lee's sister." said Azula. "I work at the palace, and I wanted to get his and Mushi's insight into certain matters. Of course, we'll need a justification, so we'll just say that you're here to serve tea to the Earth King."
"Will he accept that?" asked Uncle doubtfully.
"Doesn't matter, I've already overthrown him." said Azula.
They halted. "How? When?" asked Zuko.
"You overthrew the Earth King?" asked Jin. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"Oh right. Um…" Azula was used to trusting these people. It had slipped out. "Alright well, I suppose there isn't much point in disguising things now. Dai Li, grab her." And she tapped her foot.
"Jin!" cried Zuko. "Look out!"
In came the Dai Li. Zuko moved instantly, and several of them were knocked flat. Azula was honestly impressed at how many he took out. He was trained in infiltration, wasn't he? So he must have known the Dai Li were there before anyone else.
Either way, he and Uncle were captured quickly.
"Look I was hoping to avoid this, but I can't exactly have her tell everyone about what just happened." said Azula. "I need to buy time for the army to come in."
"You won't get away with this!" cried Jin as they were led away.
Azula reflected that that was true. Getting away implied that her actions would have meaning. And no matter what she did she'd wake up the next day.
Unless maybe, just maybe, she made a day so good it couldn't be repeated. "Believe me, I know that all too well." said Azula.
She let them stay in their cells for a little while.
Azula wanted to simulate things properly. And she had plenty of daylight left before the Avatar arrived. Even if she did, she had dozens of plans in place to remove him. Katara, by now, had been safely neutralized.
At last, they held the meeting.
Jin, Zuko, and Uncle were led into the room as Azula looked through reports. Mai was by her right hand; Ty Lee was at her left.
Zuko glared at her. "What do you want, Azula?"
"Your input, of course." said Azula. "Mai, Ty Lee and myself are planning to fix all the Earth Kingdoms problems. You, Zuko, have been outside of the walls of Ba Sing Se, so your knowledge could be invaluable."
"Zuko?" asked Jin. "And she's your sister. You're… you're that banished Prince whose always hunting the Avatar, aren't you?"
"Yes." said Zuko.
"…Why did you lie to me?" asked Jin.
"Whenever I tell people who I am, they reject me." said Zuko.
"Very charming." said Mai. "Can you sit down so we can discuss this?"
"It's been away Zuko." said Ty Lee. "How'd you end up here anyway?"
"It's a long story." said Zuko.
"Well we've got time." said Azula. "So I want you to explain everything that's happened up until now, with you and Uncle. So everyone is on the same page."
And Zuko did explain. Azula asked questions every so often. Mostly to guide the conversation in one direction or another. Ty Lee often did the same. Jin remained silent, staring in shock as one story after another came about.
Eventually, Azula looked to Jin. "Well, this has been interesting. But I think we'll have to get down to business. Zuko, I have a number of suggestions from both Mai and Ty Lee that they hope will improve the Earth Kingdom.
"I was hoping you could look at them." She slid the file across.
Zuko opened it and looked through it. "…Farming tanks? The Earth Kingdom isn't suffering famine because of manpower shortages."
"Then what is the problem?" asked Azula.
"Soil exhaustion." said Zuko. "I don't think they've figured out the same farming techniques we use in the Fire Nation."
"What do you mean?" asked Jin. "What's this about farming?"
"The Fire Nation never had much good land in it." said Zuko. "So we had to use what we had properly. There are techniques for getting the most out of the land. But if you're careless, you can ruin it.
"I think the Earth Kingdom uses slash and burn agriculture in some places. It isn't their fault, they just haven't had the time to do it. With the war."
"I'm impressed Zuko," said Azula, "when did you become an expert on agriculture?"
Zuko looked up. "I'm sure it seems like news to you. But I paid attention during our lessons."
Ouch.
Come to think of it, Azula had mostly focused on firebending practice and tactics. And after Father began to teach her personally, she'd had even less time to study. While she'd been working on killing people, Zuko had been learning boring subjects. Subjects that were actually much more important to the average person.
"…Jin," said Azula, drawing up the other file, "I'd like you to fill out this form." And she slid it across to her.
"I… I can't read." said Jin.
"Ah," said Azula, "well fine. Zuko, tell her what the questions are and fill it out for her please."
She looked to Uncle. He was eyeing her with a strange expression. "Azula, I have never seen you like this. Might I ask what it was that brought this on?"
"Father taught me nothing." snapped Azula. "All my life I've been told I'm a prodigy. Told I could do anything. I can use techniques of firebending that masters twice my age can't do. I can engineer the downfall of an entire city overnight.
"But I don't know how to run it. I can't build anything from the ashes of the things I destroy.
"I spent my entire childhood scoffing at Zuko because he had to learn all the boring things. Those were the only things he was good at. But he was learning to rule. I was only learning to be Father's attack dog.
"I know nothing, Uncle."
Uncle remained silent. "There is a saying, Azula. That the first step to true wisdom is knowing that you are ignorant. The very fact that you have realized your limitations means you have learned more than many ever did."
"It hardly matters." said Azula. "One day is the same as the next. No matter how much I learn I'll always end up here."
"Then live for today." said Uncle. "Seek to help others. Conquest is not the way to help anyone. And grand plans for the future are often derailed. In my experience, it is small acts of good, done often on a whim, that help the most."
Zuko shoved the file back to her. Azula looked at the form with dead eyes. "That's all. You can go."
Zuko and Iroh departed. Mai went with them. Ty Lee looked in concern at Azula. "Azula, are you okay?"
Azula remained silent. Live for today? Wasn't that what she had been doing?
No, everything she had been doing was in service of tomorrow. In pursuit of a day that might never come. She realized that she might never wake up and find that it was the next day.
What would she do if there was no tomorrow? What if this was permanent?
She read the forms Jin had filled out. Memorizing them, she stood and went to bed early.
What if there was no tomorrow?
Azula awoke on pillows of the finest silk with the sun on her face. And as she stood up, she felt something she hadn't in a long time. Hope.
She stood and walked into the next room.
If there was no tomorrow than today was the most precious gift that she could receive. And she would not waste it.
Author's Note:
You may notice a subtle difference in the opening line and the way Azula wakes up. This was deliberate since it symbolizes her changed mental state.