Chapter 5, Ozai's plan.
Prince Ozai was in his study looking over the reports of the Fire nation's most resent attacks, Ozai hated the fact that he had to do this job but his father Fire lord Azulon had ordered him to do this so he had little choice.
Ozai growled as he finished another report, he swore that if he was to ever become the Fire lord then he would never do this type of work again, unfortunately for Ozai he knew that the chances of him ever taking the throne was very slim, he was after all the second born and his older brother Iroh was next in line.
Ozai picked up the next report and stopped as he stared at it, it was the report from Kin Lu the man who had been assigned to interrogate the waterbending witch who was capture 3 months ago.
Ozai had heard about this witch and how she was able to control people like puppets, for the first time today Ozai was actually interested to read a report.
As Ozai read through Kin Lu's report his interest only grew, he learned about this witch's ability that she called bloodbending and how she had used it to control people, as Ozai finished reading countless idea began to form in his head.
Ozai imagined what the Fire nation could do with such a power, they could make armies destroy themselves, they could take down the strongest benders without even trying, even the Avatar would be powerless (If he still existed that is).
However while Ozai could imagine doing great things with this ability there was one problem, they needed a waterbender and this witch was unlikely to do as she was told no mater how much she was tortured.
Ozai sighed as he realised that his plan could never work, however just as Ozai was about to put Kin Lu's report aside he remembered something, something that he had read in another report a couple of months ago.
Ozai quickly looked through a draw of old reports until he found the paper that he was looking for, it was a report from the Southern raiders on their last attack on the Southern water tribe.
Ozai quickly read through the report and came to the part that he was looking for, the Southern raiders had captured a waterbender, a young girl who was only 8 years old.
A smile crawled onto Ozai's face as a plan formed in his mind.
Back at the South pole things had changed, people walked around doing their daily jobs aimlessly, everyone had a defeated look on their faces and the overall atmosphere had become darker and sadder.
Almost everyone in the village had lost hope, Katara was the last waterbender in the entire South pole, she was the first waterbender born in the South pole for decades and many now felt like there may never be another one.
It was easy to see the change in Sokka, the young boy who would play in the snow with his sister and that many thought of as goofy was now spending his days helping his father and the other warriors prepare for their next hunt.
Sokka no longer played in the snow or acted goofy as all, he now had a much more serious expression on his face all day every day, it was as if a part of him had been taken away with Katara.
Sokka was just putting some weapons into a canoe for the warriors to use when his father walked up, "Thanks Sokka, I'll take it from here" said Hakoda, "Dad let me come too, I can help" said Sokka.
Hakoda sighed, he knew that Sokka only wanted to help but he didn't want his son to grow up too quickly, unfortunately ever since Katara was taken it seemed like that was exactly what was happening.
"Sokka I know that you want to help us hunt, but your too young" said Hakoda, "But dad" said a disappointed Sokka, "I promise, I'll let you come with me next year" said Hakoda as he climbed into the canoe and sailed away leaving Sokka to watch as his father left to hunt for the village.
Ozai was standing in front of a large set of decorative doors, behind these doors was the Fire lord's chamber, his father's chamber, Ozai had asked to speak with the Fire lord and fortunately his father had agreed
Ozai walked through the doors and bowed to his father waiting for permission to speak, "Ozai, why did you need to speak to me so badly" asked Fire lord Azulon from atop his throne.
Azulon was not a man who liked his time to be wasted, he had been the Fire lord for the majority of the war and had important battle plans to approve.
"Father I have made a great discovery, I have learned of a waterbending technique that is more powerful than any other" said Ozai looking up to his father, Azulon's eyebrows raised "And what is this technique that you speak of" he asked.
"It is called bloodbending, a prisoner of ours used it to escape many years ago, I have all of the details here" said Ozai as he pulled a scroll from his robes, Azulon stood up and took the scroll from Ozai.
Azulon quickly read the scroll "Interesting, it seems that we have underestimated the waterbenders, how many waterbenders are capable of this ability" he asked as he finished reading, "Only one, she was the one who invented it and we have her in custody" answered Ozai.
"Good, have her executed, we can't afford this knowledge to reach the Water tribe" said Azulon as he rolled up the scroll, Ozai was worried if the bloodbender was killed then his plan would be ruined before it could even begin.
"Actually father I had another idea in mind" said Ozai daring to speak, Azulon gave his son a sour look, he didn't like it when people questioned him but he decided to let Ozai speak for now, "And what is your idea" he asked looking Ozai directly in the eye.
Ozai knew that he would have to make this sound good, "We also have another waterbender imprisoned, a young girl for about 8 years old" he said, "I was thinking that we could have this girl trained in the art of bloodbending", it was at this point that Azulon interrupted.
"And why would we do that, why would we make a waterbender so powerful" said Azulon demanding an answer.
"Father think about it, this girl is only 8, she is highly impressionable, we could turn her into our weapon, our slave, just imagine what damage she could do to the other nations" said Ozai hoping that his father would agree.
Fire lord Azulon thought about his son's proposal, he thought about how powerful bloodbending was and how useful it could be, but it could also be disastrous if it was used against them.
"Tell me Ozai, if I was to agree to this plan do you truly believe that you could control this girl once she has this power" asked Azulon, "Of course father, the girl will grow up fearing me, once she is a trained bloodbender she will be far to frightened to resist" said Ozai very confident in himself.
There was a moment of silence as Azulon thought about this, "Very well Prince Ozai, you may proceed with your plan, but know this, if anything goes wrong with this girl I will hold you fully responsible" he said.