Snowflake:
"The defeat of the Southern Water Tribe was an extensive operation. As you all know, it was only recently that the waterbenders were entirely wiped out."
Azula tried not to yawn, but yes, as the teacher pointed out, she already knew that. This was meant to be a tactics course, not another history lesson. She still had trouble sleeping, and her patience with her teachers was wearing thin. She understood perfectly that many of the courses taught at the Academy built off one another, but it didn't change the way she felt.
"A series of small raids were made against the Southern Tribe," her only male teacher continued. It irked Azula that the school could provide a female firebending master, but could not locate a single high-ranking veteran to teach a course in strategy. The old man almost seemed amused by the young girls; Azula could see in his eyes that he didn't believe they had any business learning the arts of war. She kept her tongue in check, however. There was no need to pick a fight with him…not yet at least; she hoped he would provide an opportunity for her to show him just how well she'd been paying attention, though, because she hated that he thought so little of her. She wanted to put him in his place.
"These raids served a single purpose – to locate and capture any hostile waterbenders." The man stroked his gray beard and turned his back to the class, pointing to the map on the board of the Southern Tribe. "When the attacks first began, the commanding officer made a single miscalculation. What was meant to be a smooth operation ended up costing him his career. He forgot to take into account the most basic detail – the snow."
Azula rubbed her eyes, struggling to listen to the man drone on. He refused to interact with his class, thinking them incapable of understanding military strategy. He was an old soldier, but surely he knew that women served in the Fire Nation armies. He didn't seem keen on allowing such a trend to continue.
"While he amassed his fleet of ships, the black soot was carried through the wind, blackening the white snow as if the land had been scorched, and signaling the tribe of impending ambush. With the plan of attack given away, the waterbenders were able to put together a defense that withstood for nearly eighty years. If the original ambush had gone ahead as planned, the Southern Tribe would have been wiped out in mere minutes, and all of the benders would have been quickly rounded up. Instead, the Fire Nation was forced to hammer away at their icy walls for decades because of a bit of black snow. Because of the disastrous initial battle, attacks on the Northern Tribe had to be halted in order to direct all our nation's firepower on the weaker Southern Tribe.
"Fortunately the new commander in charge of the operation was able to send in small raiding parties to capture the waterbenders of the tribe without wasting too many resources on fighting the non-benders, who posed little threat to his armies. While fighting with smaller raiding parties was more time consuming, it gave the Fire Nation more people and supplies to be spent elsewhere in other fights."
The voice buzzed in Azula's ears, and grated on her severely. She already knew the history of the waterbenders; the Northern Tribe was older and more civilized, in her opinion. They, at least, had a monarchy. The Southern Tribe was newer, and had little to guide them. It was embarrassing that it took so many years to destroy the peasants of that nation. Even if the original attack had been given away, it still should not have been a defeat. The Southern Tribe consisted of outcasts and peasants that didn't want to follow ancient customs, but were too cowardly to challenge them. They were runaways and traitors.
"The questions we will be discussing include what details the original commander should have taken into account in order to bring about a more decisive victory, and what alternative strategies could have been used. Remember, of course, that the ultimate goal of the operation was to only round up the waterbenders of the tribe without wasting any resources."
Azula rolled her eyes. She didn't need the man to baby her. "It's simple, isn't it?" She relished the look of surprise on the veteran general's face. "No invasion force, no matter how small, would have the capability of slipping into the Southern Tribe without either being seen, or being at a disadvantage. The soot from any substantial raiding party would always give the ships away…"
"Not if they chose to attack at night, when no one would see the snow," a girl in the back of the class chimed in.
Azula groaned. Statements from girls like her were the reason the teacher didn't take her class seriously.
Having previously directed her speech at her teacher, Azula gave a swift, cold glance backwards to the girl that had interrupted her. "If you will permit me to finish, I can explain why that would be stupid." Her eyes glinted and she whipped her head back to the front of the room. "A night ambush, while capable of masking the soot, still renders the navy vulnerable. Though the navy could get soldiers into the city, it would do little good once the waterbenders woke up enough to fight back. Their bending outmatches any firebender when the moon is up. That is where they draw their power. Even if the Fire Nation soldiers weren't tired from sailing the ships all through the day to make it to the Southern Tribe by nightfall, they would still get beaten by the waterbenders, who would have the power of the moon to give them strength. We may be stronger than the other nations, but even we can't fight the spirits."
The corner of her lip pulled into a smirk, and she glanced over her shoulder at the girl who had dared to suggest such an idiotic plan. The girl glared hostilely at her.
"Well, Azula," her teacher said, stroking his beard, "what is your suggestion? How should the commander have proceeded?"
"He should have taken the Southern Tribe by force, not with a series of weak jabs. Only an armada of massive proportions would have the strength to crush the tribe in a single blow."
"Perhaps you didn't understand the assignment," the teacher said in a stern voice. "It was to win using as few resources as possible. Forming an army you seem to be imagining would drain soldiers from posts all over the world."
Azula refrained from groaning at the man's stupidity. "The last eighty years of fighting the Southern Tribe hasn't been a waste in your mind then?" A few people giggled, and Azula recognized Ty Lee's laugh. "I suppose you don't recall that the raids on the Northern and Southern Tribe were some of the first real attacks after the annihilation of the Air Nomads. Besides the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, there was nowhere for Fire Nation soldiers to be. With a single decisive attack against the Southern Tribe, we could have ended the waterbenders as quickly as my great-grandfather ended the Air Nomads. Instead, we've been wasting time trickling in supplies to minor raiding parties. Resources that could be used elsewhere, now that the Fire Nation has forged its way into the Earth Kingdom." Azula paused for a moment to make sure everyone understood her. "If we had focused all of our attention on the Southern Tribe, the war with the waterbenders would have ended long ago, leaving us ample time and equipment to bolster our armies again before taking on the Earth Kingdom."
There was silence as the teacher contemplated Azula's plan. She felt rather good about her idea. It would have saved time and energy that would have been better spent elsewhere. Maybe she should have been born as a general instead of one of the spares to the throne. At least she wouldn't have been outsmarted by some snow.
A/N: A short in which Azula predicts the eventual invasion of the Northern Tribe. Sorry this took so long to post, but I was having difficulty figuring out a storyline for 'Snowflake' when this is a story about the Fire Nation, so it basically turned into a salute to Azula's cold, calculating, and heartless strategies to win (signified in the show by her ready proposal to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground). Read and review please! I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes...I wrote this early in the morning and I'm super jet-lagged.