Sultan Asil Arslan-Hiatus: Heh, hopefully this means Kuvira won't become a villain later on.
Re: There'll definitely be some differences, but not in the way you all are imagining. Plans can change, and even if they don't, I've never been one to shy away from unconventional ideas. Like having the primary OC in this story be "less conventionally masculine".
Blaze1992: . . . Why in the world did that guy attack her just for touching him?
Re: Northern Water Tribe clergymen are really full of themselves. It isn't only the Earth Queen that's unashamedly evil for the sake of being unashamedly evil.
And you have to remember, this is a culture that used its own sister tribe as fodder, for literally a hundred years.
As for (Austin)'s comment, Zhu doesn't actually know where the "Red Spirit Oasis" is located. His parents knew, but they took that with them to their graves. And while it's true that the North wants to repatriate him for the Theocracy, being a White Lotus and Korra's (future) husband muddies the waters a bit, since I imagine members of the White Lotus "sever the ties" to their home nations, meaning Earth Kingdom members can't be told what to do by the Earth Queen, and so-on.
As for (Loyal Follower), I'm not caught-up on the comics, but I'll be sure to read them. Not sure if I'll be able to adapt them to what I already have planned though. As for the RPG, I heard of it, but I might just watch the playthrough since I'm already into Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross and Counter:Side.
As for (Big Fan), Zhu sees Opal more like a "kid sister", and Opal recognizes that Zhu and Korra are really happy together, so because she loves him, she'll let him go. At least once she finds the words, and I hope to make it nice and sappy~
*RECONSTRUCTION*
"ZHU! Long time no listen! How've you been?" Varrick's enthusiastic voice said as the call went through, the sound of ocean waves lapping against Zhu's ear.
"Well, I'm engaged to my dream girl, so that's something~" Zhu grinned in the White Lotus' radio room.
"I hear wedding bells! Zhu Li, take a memo! Create a subsidy for wedding paraphernalia!"
"Of course, sir."
"Also, the new police force is coming along well. Replacement Metal Benders are slow to train, but since Noatak de-powered most of the Benders, the Triads are having a hard time bouncing back too, so its dead even right now."
"Also good. Also good."
"The North sent someone to try and repatriate me, but I sent him packing."
"I never did like those guys."
"Tenzin's still trying to enact a presidential system to replace the current council."
"That's a very good idea. The old council system was created in a time where a very young United Republic that was bringing people in from all nations was still in the experimental phase. It did well during Twinkle Toes' life, but it's run its course. It's old hat. Now that the nation has its own identity, it needs its own form of centralized government. True, dissolving the current council will piss off the Earth Bitch a rock's throw over, but, you know. Those are just the growing pains for a prosperous nation."
"I uh… couldn't have said it any better myself," Zhu hummed as Varrick's shrewd acumen peeked through.
It was often easy to forget that the man was staggeringly brilliant… when the guy wasn't hanging himself upside-down by the ankles to dope his own brain so as to come up with his next wacky business ventures. Many of them flopped, obviously, but the ones that found success made enough bank to recoup losses. There was a reason Varrick was one of the richest men in the modern world, eclipsed only by the old money of the royal families in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom.
The exacting distribution of wealth in the North on the other hand, was never so clear-cut. At least in the South, tax money returned to pay utilities like road maintenance, the docks, and so-on. There may have been a palace down in Wolf Cove, but that was more for diplomatic purposes, given the Southern Chief lived in a completely ordinary dwelling.
"So, you making any progress with your little Bending conundrum?"
"Tarrlok and I have been talking, and the best explanation we have is that his brother either broke or blocked the Chakras of those he used his masquerade on. Only reason Korra kept her Airbending is because he'd only ever practiced on Water, Earth, and Fire."
And in all likelihood, even if Noatak had gotten his hands on Tenzin and the kids, it was more likely he'd have just scrambled their eggs and disposed of them discretely than let it get out that "Equalizing" was something that needed trial and error as opposed to being done intuitively.
"So now you need a mad scientist lab to work out of?"
"I prefer the term 'emotionally neutral scientist'."
"Well in that case, I might have the answer to your current problem."
*RECONSTRUCTION*
'How uncle Sokka survived doing this for decades, I'll never know,' Tenzin sighed as the Council once again frittered away most of the day in a malarkey of senseless dialogue.
He'd thought he'd made a compelling argument about why things had to change, but as it turned out, until the situation with their Bending got resolved, it wasn't likely that they'd do away with the present source of their livelihood. At present their pay came from the nations whose interests they were representing in the Uniter Republic, but if the Council became a Presidency, who would sign their paychecks then?
And even if they chose to become ordinary civil servants, it wasn't like they'd be able to maintain the lifestyles to which they'd become accustomed. Tenzin himself was the spiritual leader of his own nation, which was largely self-sustaining, but the others were simply bureaucrats. Without Tarrlok to sweet-talk the others into doing what he wanted, things had fallen into a deadlock.
The council seat for the Northern Water Tribe was still conspicuously empty, and given the stigma about how a Bloodbender, whose brother was Amon had once sat in that seat, he was only thankful that the North hadn't sent in a new delegate so soon. The story he'd caught wind of about one of the North's clergymen accosting Zhu while he entertained the Metal Clan had spread to even his ears as well, and he wondered just what would happen, now that the vilified & exiled Spirit-Touched had become an object of theocratical desire for his homeland.
"Tenzin. Council. Lene me your ear," Zhu said as he sauntered into the room, clad in his Grand Lotus regalia, a stack of papers in his hands.
"Movement to open the floor?" Tenzin put forward hoping for a distraction.
"Passed," the Southern Water Tribe rep replied, if only because Zhu had sent one of the North's clergymen packing in front of Raava and everyone.
Though the North and South were technically one nation, simply split between the two poles of the world they lived on, there was still a bitter rivalry between the two. Sometimes it stemmed from the South being treated as lesser even on their own land, but more-often than not, it was the lingering resentment from the Hundred Year War where the South sacrificed its fighting men while the North sat pretty and waited the entire thing out up until the final year.
Potentially, Tenzin had an ally now, assuming he could convey this tastefully to Zhu.
"So… What do you require of us?" the Fire Nation councilwoman replied.
"I'd like to commence human experimentation to reverse Noatak's 'Equalizing'," Zhu said succinctly as he handed out sheafs of paper from his stack. "Lord Iknik Blackstone Varrick has agreed to loan me one of his medical research facilities in the edge of the Downtown District, but I need your approval to make use of the death row inmates that were Equalized in the civil war, as well as those who have perpetrated more egregious crimes and also had their Bending taken away."
"Human experimentation?!" Tenzin gaped at what was being suggested.
"There's only so much that theoretics between two Bloodbenders can accomplish. The sooner we move onto live clinical trials, the sooner we can mend much of the damage the Equalists caused," Zhu said in a rapid tone. "All in favor of moving forward with the proffered proposal?"
Of course, the thought of getting their Bending back, paid for in the blood of inmates who would be killed anyway, was too tempting to refuse.
"Aye/Aye/Aye."
"That isn't how this works!"
"The 'ayes' have it," Zhu hummed, much to Tenzin's consternation.
*RECONSTRUCTION*
"So Varrick… owns this clinic?" Mako asked as the gang all looked up.
"Prison too," Zhu nodded. "It's how he snuck in his own cell as a line item."
"Why would he want his own prison cell?" Korra blinked. "No, wait, let me guess. It's so in case he breaks the law and get he has nice digs?"
"Prisons to hold Benders are expensive," Asami nodded as they stared up at the building. It was perfectly ordinary with a modern Republic City style as opposed to Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, and already moving crews were ferrying supplies in and debris out.
"So you're really just going to… experiment on people…?" Opal asked worriedly, having ingratiated herself into Zhu's inner circle. Suyin was still helping with humanitarian efforts, Huan was taking in the art scene or collecting interesting-looking detritus, while Wei & Wing were lending their Bending expertise to getting the Pro Bending Arena back to snuff, if only so they could make a Metalbending game based-on. This left Opal free to hang out with Zhu and Korra in the day, but shadowed by Metal Clan guards.
"Well, Katara tried and failed, so it's the only other way to find out what exactly Noatak did and how to undo it," Zhu said as he adjusted a box under his arm, filled with medical texts from the Air Temple's private collection. "I'm also putting Tarrlok to work by having him send out invites to medical researchers from the other nations. Not every day so-many fresh bodies get to be put under the knife in the name of science."
"Just so somebody asked this out loud… who exactly are you and all your new friends going to be cutting up?" Bolin asked cautiously.
"Death row inmates that Amon 'Equalized'. They're going to croak anyway, and it isn't like anyone else's going to volunteer for invasive research."
" . . . Well he isn't wrong…" Korra shrugged after a moment.
"In Zaofu, we don't really believe in capital punishment…" Opal pouted.
"Maybe, but this isn't Zaofu," Mako shrugged.
"Opal, I love you like family, but please choose another hill to die on," Zhu sighed.
" . . . "
*RECONSTRUCTION*
"Kinda forgot I was living with you," Zhu hummed awkwardly as he sat across the table from Tenzin come dinner.
"Indeed."
"Oh, what are you two fighting about now?" Pema sighed.
"Tenzin's upset Zhu and all his new friends are going to cut bad guys open to fix what Noatak did to us," Korra hummed as she ate her meal.
"I can't believe you're just going to let this happen," the Airbending Master protested.
"Tenzin, Gran Gran had her chance. She told us in no uncertain terms there wasn't anything she could do. And seeing as how Aang didn't come down himself to offer some sage advice, Zhu's the best shot we have at getting everything back to normal," Korra argued, putting a hand on Zhu's arm in a show of solidarity.
"Perhaps, but still…"
"Father," Jinora spoke up. "What Zhu's suggesting might seem bad right now, but it's possible that in the far-off future, the medical discoveries made from this line of research could go on to save many lives. While it's true that we know a great deal about what plant and animal parts can cure which ailments, apart from acupuncture, we humans know surprisingly-little about how our own bodies function on a biological level."
"I'm inclined to agree, and not merely because it's in support of Zhu's argument," Tarrlok chimed in from his place in the corner. "When my father altered his appearance in order to flee Republic City, the surgical acumen at the time only consisted of cutting up the face and using Water Healing to mend the damage. With the majority of our Healers bereft of their Bending arts, Republic City is in a very… tenuous position right now as injuries continue to pile up."
"Tenzin, I've studied medicine from the world over, so take my word for it when I say that Water Healing has made things too easy for us over the generations," Zhu spoke up. "While it's true that there were many advancements in how to treat burn and shrapnel wounds throughout the course of the Hundred Year War for when there weren't Water Healers around, when it comes to our own bodies, we know frighteningly little," he said with a shake of his head. "While we've gotten very good at finding out what plant and animal parts heal which maladies, the biological specifics of how those plant and animal parts heal those maladies is still largely unknown to us."
"Oh! Oh! So basically we know 'why' the banana trees bear fruit, but it isn't the same as knowing 'how'!" Ikki chimed in, eager to contribute.
"Amazingly, yes, that is an accurate summation of the extent of our medical knowledge," Jinora hummed. "Fact of the matter is, most of what we know about medicine now is based purely on trial and error, and there are still many diseases out there that Water Healing tends to make worse. Many diseases that remain, for all intents and purposes, untreatable."
"And prior to the Hundred Year War, the most-recent medical discovery of any significance happened when that one Earth King finally figured out that drinking Quicksilver didn't grant you immortality," Zhu added.
"What's Quicksilver?" Ikki asked curiously.
"The liquid metal stuff that goes in thermometers."
"Which Earth King?" Bolin asked in turn.
"Honestly, they all start to blend together after a while," Meifan hummed from her own corner.
" . . . Just don't expose my children to anything in that clinic, and I'll let you carry on with your ongoing research," Tenzin eventually sighed.
"Deal."
"But daaaad-"
"No, 'buts', young lady," Tenzin chastised his eldest child. "I won't have you or your siblings be exposed to something so… graphic."
"It's a fair point," Zhu hummed. "Mutilated bodies lose their novelty really fast."
"I'm inclined to agree," Tarrlok said flexing his off-hand.
" . . . Alright, I won't go anywhere near your lab," Jinora conceded, Tenzin and Pema letting out relieved sighs.
*RECONSTRUCTION*
A few days hence…
"So… who's on the chopping block today?" Zhu asked from the loading bay of his new research facility as an RCPD paddy wagon backed up to the stairs.
"Bao the Butcher," former-Chief of Police Saikhan answered as he oversaw the transfer of the prisoner. Said prisoner was in a set of full-body restraints with a leather grated mask over his face, carried out on a two-wheeled dolly.
Even without his bending, the man was still incredibly dangerous, and if he got loose because any sort of "chance" was taken, it'd be a black mark on the department's already-tarnished record. His own tenure as Chief had been irreparably damaged when it got out that the man who advocated for his promotion was a Bloodbender; and brother to Amon/Noatak notwithstanding.
As it stood, he would be lucky to remain terminal at Captain, so as long as he was heading this detail, the men under his command would treat all criminals being transferred as if they still had their Bending.
"They certainly grow them big in the Fire Nation," Zhu hummed, placing Bao's features to the far west.
"Yeah, well, good riddance to bad rubbish," Saikhan shrugged. "He's your problem now."
"Relax, he won't be anyone's problem for long," Zhu said as he threw out both hands, Bao the Butcher's eyes going wide as his body went rigid before his dolly left the ground, the attending police officers clutching onto small religious icons from their pockets as the red-head levitated the body away. "Gentlemen. See you in a few days."
A moment later the doors fell shut with a resounding *Thump*.
*RECONSTRUCTION*
"So… How was your day at work, sweetie?" Korra hummed that following evening at dinner.
"Bao the Butcher gave his body for science today."
"Bao the Butcher? That Bao the Butcher?!" Tenzin gawped.
"How many Bao the Butchers are there in Republic City?"
"Well, not many, but… Zhu, Bao the Butcher killed thirty people!" Mako said looking up from a police textbook.
"Well then, all the more reason not to feel bad I winked him out of existence," Zhu shrugged, happy Opal wasn't in attendance.
"Did you at least discover anything of use?" Tenzin asked, wishing they wouldn't have this sort of conversation so-close to his kids.
"Tenzin, a single data point isn't enough to complete a hypothesis," Asami hummed poignantly. "Same as with Satomobile engines and parts, you need many working models to make a proof of concept."
"Well, what is your hypothesis?" Tenzin sighed.
"That my brother used Bloodbending to either break or block the Chakras associated with the Bending Arts," Tarrlok hummed, still a little green around the gills from when Zhu and a couple of the local physicians who answered the 'call to action' got to work on Bao the Butcher.
Some had even taken notice that his hand was a "transplant" and expressed an interest in the potential practice of relocating other body parts in the future.
"Did he at least die humanely?" Pema asked, she herself having been a young woman barely out of her teens by the time Bao the Butcher was caught.
"Define 'humanely'," Tarrlok shuddered.
"Relax, I made it quick," Zhu shrugged. "And that's all I'm saying on the matter."
"Thank you," Tenzin sighed.
" . . . So how long do you think it'll take?" Jinora inquired. "Your research, I mean?"
"It's completely uncharted territory, so there's really no telling," Zhu shrugged. "Hopefully some other good will come of it as other researchers with questions they want answered relocated to Republic City."
"Are fresh bodies to open up really that rare?" Bolin asked.
"Like we said before, Water Healing made things too easy, so people were naturally squeamish about cutting open actual bodies. You would not believe half the nonsense from those old medical texts regarding what people think the insides of people look like."
"I'll uh... I'll take your word for it," Bolin hummed as he turned back to his meal.
*RECONSTRUCTION*
A few days later...
"So, how was your day at work, sweetie?" Korra asked in a ritual that was growing steadily familiar around the dinner table.
"Well… I made a discovery," Zhu said excitedly.
"For real?!" Bolin gawped.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense! What is it?" Asami asked eagerly.
"I call them… 'Blood Types'~" Zhu said making showman's hands in a way that wouldn't have been too out-of-place in one of Varrick's infamous board meetings.
"Isn't it all the same stuff?" Mako blinked.
"Not to me it isn't," Zhu answered with a shake of his head. "Over the years, something I noticed when I had to Bloodbend was that it was easier for me to move certain people over others. At first, I thought it was just size, or nationality, but that hypothesis was disproven pretty quickly. After we got our hands on enough samples, either from the inmates or just from volunteers in the lab or off the street and I experimented a little, I found out that different 'types' of blood were uniformly easy or difficult for me to Bend. Hence, 'Blood Types'."
"Which Blood Type was easiest for you to bend?" Korra asked.
"Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the same as my own," Zhu shrugged. "When we aren't cutting open bodies, we're going to look for a way to differentiate Blood Types that doesn't rely on a Bender. I can already think of several medical applications for this discovery, but we'll need to find out how-much blood can be removed from a body safely, and how-long it takes the body to replenish what was taken, before we decide what actually gets done with that blood."
"How come you didn't make this discovery sooner?" Tenzin inquired.
"Tenzin, I was trying to get rid of my Bloodbending. I wasn't exactly interested in the particulars," Zhu deadpanned. "What about you? What'd you get up to today, dear?" he then returned in an equally-familiar ritual.
"Oh, you know. Airbending practice," Korra shrugged like it were completely ordinary to say as such.
Well, ordinary to say in that household.
*RECONSTRUCTION*
AN:
Something I've noticed in fantasy settings with some form of "Healing Magic" is that the discovery of conventional medical practices tends to stagnate. I didn't consider the world of Avatar to be any different with [Water Healing], since the only type of "surgery" we actually see is cosmetic, and there isn't anything to imply that they didn't use [Water Healing] to accelerate the process. At least not that I recall.
As for the Earth King who died by drinking "quicksilver", aka Mercury in pursuit of immortality, that didn't actually happen in Avatar: The Last Airbender lore. Instead, it was based on what happened to the real-life Qin Shi Huang (February 259 to July 12, 210 BC), first emperor of a unified China. While the exacting cause of his death is unknown, one of the main hypotheses is that he was poisoned by an "Elixir" containing Quicksilver/Mercury given to him by his Court Alchemist and Physicians in his quest for Immortality.
China is real big on Elixirs; as is evidenced by their exportation of Xianxia/Wuxia/"Cultivation" Manga.
You know, the ones whose entire plot tends to boil down to people popping pills, sitting on their asses for several years and then when you're done, they go form Rank 8 Ping-Pong to rank 2 Ching Chong, which is still like a hundred ranks below the "Heavenly Golden Dragon God Emperor Star Ancestor", but it's okay since there are still about 3,000 chapters to go and all the big dick characters that could kill you with a fart are currently busy, so they can go and wipe out the Ding-Dong Clan, which obsessively wants you dead because you courted death by destroying the King-Kong Clan after its young master picked a fight with you over your jade-like beauty childhood friend and...
Honestly, most of them are trash, but there are some good ones out there if you're willing to leaf through mountains of garbage for the rare diamond in the rough.
But yeah, since the Earth Kingdom is unashamedly inspired by Chinese culture, and the Red Lotus just-as-unashamedly attempted to use liquid Mercury to kill Korra in Book 3, it seemed all too perfect to have the thing with the Earth King have been the case in Chronicle of Zhu's Lore.
Anywho, hope you liked the chapter, and I'll see you next time on Giant-Slayer: New World.