Chapter 19: Dinner with the Queen
I entered the house where mother lived and quickly examined it. Thought it was poorly furnished there weren't any obvious traps, nor anyone other than mother who might attack me.
"Do you want something to eat?"
I turned to face mother. Though her question sounded innocent I knew that it would be very easy for her to poison my food. Even doping it would give her an advantage. My first instinct was to refuse, however the lingering smell of noodles in this room made me realise how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten since this morning and it I didn't eat tonight I wouldn't have the strength to fend off the Avatar. Without any other source of food I decided to take up mother's offer, then force her eat the food she made. If she refuses I'll make her tell me why she poisoned it.
"What do you have?" I asked.
"I can quickly make some Shoyu Ramen," mother replied.
"Okay then."
Hardly a fitting meal for a princess but given the conditions mother was living in she probably didn't have anything better. Mother then headed off to the kitchen to start preparing the food and I followed her, carefully watched her every move to make sure she didn't poison it. Once mother had finished I suggested she also have some of the ramen. She seemed surprised and initially objected saying that she's already eaten but I was able to convince her to split the meal into two bowls, one for me and a small bowl for her. To make sure she didn't poison my bowl I offered to carry them to the adjoining room, where we'd be eating. Once in the room I put mother's food on the space closest to the door, while I sat furthest away from the door. This arrangement allowed me to see everything mother did and anyone who entered this room.
I was about to start eating when I noticed something mother had forgotten, the tea. When I mentioned this mother realised she'd forgotten to make it. She then left the room to boil the water, I followed to get two cups (so mother couldn't poison my cup). As I'd noticed where mother kept the cups which she was cooking I quickly picked up two cups and returned to my meal. After putting both cups on the table I picked up my chop sticks, moved over to mother's bowl and ate some of her noodles (if mother had added an antidote to her meal I had just taken it). While I was eating her noodles mother suddenly asked what tea I wanted. As I needed to be constantly alert I couldn't take Poppy Tea, it would be useful to determine how available it was. I quickly swallowed the noodles and replied.
"Do you have any Poppy Tea?"
The noise from the kitchen indicated that mother had dropped whatever she was holding. How clumsy. As I went back to where I was sitting when mother suddenly ran into the room.
"Azula why did you ask for Poppy Tea?" she asked.
I quickly sat down, hoping mother didn't realise why I had gotten up while holding my chops sticks.
"I was wondering how available it was here," I replied.
Mother moved closer to me.
"Azula have you ever taken Poppy Tea?"
Mother tried to sound authoritative not I could sense fear in her voice.
"I took it for a while for I had to stop recently because I couldn't get any more."
"You're lying, tell me you're lying," ask mother asked this she put her hands on my shoulders and sounded panicky.
What was wrong with mother, why was she acting like this? I removed her hands from my shoulders (her grip was hurting me).
"What's wrong with drinking Poppy Tea? It helps me relax."
"Azula you have to stop taking it."
"Why should I!"
"It's highly addictive and has terrible withdrawal syndromes."
Withdrawal syndromes?
"What are you talking about?"
"Many of the people who've taken Poppy Tea become ill once they stop taking it. They lose their appetite, feel pain all over their body, especially stomach pains, feel nauseas and start vomiting, have trouble sleeping, and become depressed or paranoid. Even those who manage to quit find it hard to resist taking Poppy Tea again."
I had suffered from stomach pains, felt nauseous, and had trouble sleeping after I stopped taking Poppy Tea; though I hadn't become depressed or paranoid. Did this mean the Kyoshis weren't poisoning me? No, they knew that I'd been taking Poppy Tea and they forced me to stop taking it, which made me feel ill. That's why I couldn't figure out how they were poisoning me. They weren't poisoning me but were stopping me taking something that would make me feel better. It seems meeting mother was useful for something after all. Now I just need to make her stop whining about this and make the tea.
"Okay I promise I won't take it any more. What other tea do you have?"
"I have some Hui MingTea."
I hadn't heard of this type before but I doubted that mother would have any of the finer Fire Nation teas.
"That's fine with me."
Mother then left to make the tea and I was able to eat in peace.
By the time mother returned with the tea pot I had eaten most of the ramen. As I was now feeling full I decided to leave the rest. Mother then poured us each a cup of tea and sat down. I could tell from the look on mother's face that she wanted to ask me something but didn't know how to phrase it. I decided to take the initiative. I picked up my cup and pretended to drink my tea.
"This tea tastes odd."
"It does?"
"How does yours taste?"
Mother then started drinking her tea. As our tea both came from the same pot and I had chosen the cups mother couldn't just poison my tea, so either both of our cups of tea were poisoned or neither were. As mother drank it without hesitation this meant the tea wasn't poisoned.
"I can't taste anything wrong with the tea."
"It's probably nothing then."
I pushed my bowl to one side and moved my cup closer.
"Azula, aren't you going to finish your meal."
"I'm full."
"You really should eat everything."
"I don't want to eat any more of it."
"Azula … you don't need to lose any more weight, you're already so thin and …"
"I don't have an eating disorder, I'm just not hungry!"
What was wrong with mother? I'm an adult I can decide how much I want to eat. As much as I would like to further criticise mother this would just waste time. I came here to find out about the Queen of Smugglers and that's what I was going to do.
"Mother, are you really the Queen of Smugglers?"
"It's just a title."
"So it's true."
"It's complex."
"Tell me all about it."
"After I was exiled from the Fire Nation I was given a villa in the colonies to live in. However the villa was in a remote location and didn't have any servants, so I spent most of the time alone. I found it hard to live all by myself and I greatly missed both you and Zuko. In the end I couldn't stand being so isolated so I left the villa and moved to Guangzhou. But I couldn't stand the noise of the city so I …"
"Get to the point, how did you become the Queen of Smugglers."
"Three years ago I heard that a new orphanage that had been built and as I wanted to spend more time with children so I applied to be one of the carers but because of my previous experience they wanted me to manage the orphanage. I agreed and began running the orphanage. While many of the children were young there were a few older children who …"
"What does any of this have to do with you becoming the Queen of Smugglers!"
Was mother trying to stall me? Who is she waiting for?
"I didn't want the older children to waste their lives, so I contacted the local artisans and merchants to find apprenticeships for these children. After the war ended and high tariffs were introduced on Earth Kingdom goods several merchants trying to smuggler their goods into Fire Nation and other Earth Kingdom areas. However this was often unsuccessful and anyone caught smuggling was executed. So I used my connection to organise everyone into a group where we shared our smuggling techniques. As I was in charge of all the meetings everyone started calling me the Queen of Smugglers."
That's pathetic. Mother isn't the Queen of Smugglers, she's more like a hostess of a smugglers club. Since mother doesn't have a real gang I can't take it over. Though mother seemed to be telling the truth one thing puzzled me about this story, why didn't mother have Zuko lower the tariffs?
"Why didn't you just ask Zuko to lower the tariffs, rather than become smugglers?"
"Zuko doesn't know about the tariffs. They're not officially recorded and many officials claim there's a tariff when they want a bribe."
"The why didn't you tell Zuko about this when you last saw him?"
"I haven't seen Zuko since I was banished."
What?
"Why didn't you visit him after he became Fire Lord?"
"Because …it's been so long since I saw him. I just didn't know how to return to him after all these years."
Mother sounded sad when she said this. Though it seemed like she was telling the truth her story didn't convince me.
"You can't fool me with that lie. You'd never become a smuggler just because you didn't want to talk with Zuko. What are you hiding from me?"
"Azula I'm not hiding anything from you."
"Then why haven't you gone to see Zuko about the illegal tariffs?"
"Someone close to Zuko is preventing him from learning about the tariffs. They're checking his mail and keeping him busy so he can't see anyone. They've even been assassinating anyone who tried to tell Zuko the truth."
It didn't surprise me that Zuko wasn't capable of ruling the Fire Nation but this was good news. Levying illegal tariffs, hiding these tariffs from Zuko, and is too much work for one person. Someone is leading a group trying to get as much money from the Fire Nation as possible. If I can find their leader and force them to submit to me I can gain wealth and control over Zuko, and if they're part of the rebel army I'll also gain an army as well. I have to find out who is leading this group.
"Who's manipulating Zuko and behind the tariffs?"
"I don't know?"
"Then who do you suspect?"
"Colonel Kouhaku, he's a known smuggler and extortionist, and currently a member of the Council."
"How many Colonels are there on the Council?"
"Just Kouhaku."
If there's only one Colonel on the Council and the Colonel from the Western Castle was heading there then it's possible that he was Colonel Kouhaku. Damn it, if he'd stayed in the Western Castle I could have captured him and forced him to tell me everything. Given that the Western Castle was attacked he probably won't return there and will remain in the Pohuai Stronghold. If I want any information about him I'll have to find and interrogate his subordinates.
Regardless I doubt Kouhaku could or would want to do this by himself. He must convinced others on the Council to assist him in manipulating Zuko and hiding his corruption in the Colonies in exchange for a cut of his profits.
"Other than Kouhaku who else in on the Council?"
"Currently General Shinu, General Mashi, Admiral Chan; and the Governors of Dairen, Nanjing, and Guangzhou make up the rest of Council. Though the Governors normally remain in their cities and send a representative."
While I expected generals and admirals to be on the Council to give a city Governor this level of authority was unheard of. Governors were never given control of a region because a Council is supposed to monitor the Governors and to prevent corruption. Worse still Zuko isn't making them attend the Council. Appointing Governors to the Council either means Zuko has no idea what he was doing or he was tricked (either way it means he's incapable of running the Fire Nation). If Zuko had set the Council up properly and staffed it only with high ranking officers then Kouhaku would have only been able to bribe a few other members but as there are only three officers on the Council Kouhaku has probably bribed them all. It's obvious now why the Zuko has lost control of the Colonies.
However the Council should only be able to hide their corruption in the Colonies, they shouldn't be able to steal Zuko's mail or influence his schedule. The fact that they can stop Zuko receiving information means they either have agents in the Fire Nation or they are part of a larger organisation against Zuko that's based in the Fire Nation. Gaining control of the Council will be an important first step in taking the Fire Nation back from Zuko.
While I wanted to know more about the Council I felt that mother would be unable to provide me with details of how many soldiers guarded them or who they had political connections with. As we were both done eating and it was now very late I suggested we go to bed. Mother agreed and showed me to her guest room. After checking the guest room from the outside I entered and closed the door behind me. I then listened to the sound of mother's footsteps heading to the room next door as my eyes adjusted to the dark.
The room was small and just contained a bed, a cupboard, and a window covered with a thin curtain. First I checked under the bed as this was where the Avatar was most likely to be hiding. Next I crept towards the cupboard. It seemed too small for a person to hide in but I wasn't going to take any chances. I stood to the side of the cupboard and opened the door, then looked inside. It just contained some clothes. Good, now that I knew the room was secure I could set a trap for the Avatar. I pulled some of the clothes out of the cupboard, rolled them into a long strip, and put them under the blanket. When the Avatar entered this room he'd think I was asleep in bed, and wouldn't notice I was waiting to ambush him.
As the Avatar could enter this room either through the door I came through or through the window I decided to hide in the corner between the door and the cupboard, as I would be hidden by the door if he came through the door or by the cupboard if he came through the window. So I crouched down in the corner and waited.
While I was waiting I occupied my mind with plans of how to gain access to the Pohuai Stronghold and how to extract information from the Council. However I had a recurring thought that I couldn't dismiss; what if mother hadn't told the Avatar who she was. If Zuko didn't know where mother was and the Avatar couldn't help him, then Zuko would pay a large reward for her return. Though Zuko would never give me the Fire Nation in exchange for mother I could force him to give me part of it. While it was not wise to rely on using mother to help me conquer the Fire Nation ignoring her worth would be even more foolish. She could be a very useful bargaining chip.
Notes:
Sorry for the lack of updates. I was involved in a long course and after it finished I found it difficult to motivate myself to continue writing this fanfic. I do plan to finish this fanfic though it will take a while.
1) Shoyu Ramen is a soy sauce flavoured noodle soup, negi is a Japanese leek, and nori is dried seaweed. I was originally going to have her make 'Dragon-Tiger-Phoenix soup' (Luong Fu Fang Tang) but without refrigerators Ursa wouldn't be able to keep meat.
2) Hui Ming Tea is a green tea grown in the mountains near the Hui Ming temple (which it's named after).
3) The 'previous experiences' Ursa mentions are the things she did after she was banished from the Fire Nation that Azula wasn't interested in listening to.
4) 'Kouhaku' means 'yellow and white' but also means corruption. 'Mashi' means 'extra'.
5) Shinu and Chan are characters from ATLA.