Unbending 5 - or 'I shall not be King, but Emperor of the Earth' (Pre-ATLA, SI)
Warning: This chapter was commissioned.
So, spirits have noticed I am doing things 'weird' and changing fate itself with my actions… so they sent someone to check on what was going on.
I will be honest and admit that was not something I had predicted. I mean, yes, some spiritual intervention does happen in ATLA from time to time, but it never felt like there was an active effort to railroad the historical development of events.
Was I that much of an anomaly to warrant an intervention?
Nope. At least, not yet. That's what I could glean from the early morning conversation with Yunlong. The dragon was still stuck in bed, lazily sprawled and spread in a lazy posture as she kept on hogging the pillow she had robbed from my bed.
"You are just confusing," She summarized. "You seem out of place."
"...That's because I am out of place."
That answer triggered intrigue through Yunlong's gaze, but I played this battle carefully. I wouldn't say Yunlong manifested any form of threatening behavior. Hers was a role of scout and nothing more.
So, she was just there for answers. And while that may not sound bad, the real worry for me stood by who was going to learn of this knowledge and how they were going to react to it.
After all, I have read and seen enough media of higher authorities arrogantly plotting the elimination and pruning of anomalies for long enough to be genuinely worried about that sort of thing. So, I decided to ultimately toe the middle ground between honesty and silence.
"And what would that mean?"
"Only that I am here to see a better future for both the Human World and the Spirit World," I replied carefully, tapping into something that would please but, sadly, fail to satisfy many concerned higher spirits. "The Avatar that will come after Aang will cause the divide to disappear."
Eyes widened at that affirmation, and the attention was no longer on 'me as me', but more on the future event I just mentioned as the reason for me to be there. It wasn't truly true considering I didn't know why I was there, but I knew that was something I intended to stop.
As much as I couldn't blame Korra for some of the actions she took, her decision to destroy the boundaries between worlds was going to cost humanity a lot. The issue with the Avatar was not the fact it was too tedious of a job- it was because those yielding this power failed to preserve the original Avatar's vision of this role.
The notion of balance was elevated to subjective views of this, with many Avatars having to 'fix' mistakes caused by their predecessors as they tried to justify their support for their own countries as their own pursuit of 'balance'.
Aang's role was to fix Roku's mistake, but he was unprepared to handle the world's differences and thus allowed strife to unfold during the Fire Colonies' crisis. This was not something I was planning to allow to ever happen.
Yunlong tensed up. "Impossible. Why would an Avatar do that?"
I sighed and-
"A-Actually, shouldn't the Avatar… where is the Avatar?"
"To most people? Disappeared. But I know he is somewhere frozen in the Southern Water Tribe region after trying to run away from his responsibilities."
The noodle-like spirit frowned. "Why?"
"He was granted the Avatar's powers as a child," I summarized most of the issue and then unraveled that. "As a young human, such a responsibility in time of peace can be quite tedious, even worse when a war suddenly erupts. To add more to this, he suffered a trauma- a most horrible experience where he was forced to run away from his temple because the Fire Nation attacked and tried to kill the new Avatar."
"That's-" Yunlong went stiff for a moment. "I-Is that why Uncle Fang perished so soon?"
I had to frown at that denomination. "'Uncle' Fang?"
"He was the Dragon of Avatar Roku. He died suddenly and even some high spirits were surprised by his arrival to the Spirit World," The noodle dragon explained, sounding genuinely shocked by this correlation. "This means… the Fire Nation is responsible for killing an Avatar."
"And coming close to slay another one," I added, allowing Yunlong to claim a few minutes of silence to think on what I just told her..
Admittedly, I have no clue on how much the spirits were aware of this detail. After all, I don't think it was ever brought up to those that were common locals within the Spirit World.
And from Yunlong's reaction alone, I have a feeling this was a detail that matters a lot. But as I left her to her thoughts, I also contemplated what to do with someone like her around.
I couldn't exactly expect her to leave anytime soon, and I couldn't exactly tell her to vacate the premises without pissing off some higher entity in the process. So, in the end, as she was done pondering and decided to 'tag along on my day to see if I was trustworthy', I was surprised once more by Yunlong.
"What?"
"You could have told me beforehand you could turn invisible."
She snorted. "How do you think I slipped through your guards?"
"...Noodle moves?"
That guess-response had her recoil a bit. "N-Noodle- Wait, what?!"
"You kind of have the flexibility of a noodle."
"I am the most graceful thing your eyes have ever laid upon and you call me a 'noodle'?"
"...A cute pillow-thief noodle?" I tried to correct myself and she just… double-facepalmed, mask reddening somehow- wait, is that her face?
I think this is the beginning of a most amusing friendship based on teasing. Mostly aimed at this noodle dragon
—-d-d-d-d—-
Crown Prince Iroh showed no emotion as he saw his brother rushing out of their father's tent with a red face and a redder cheek.
He may have not heard it, but Iroh knew the fool had to have said something unkind towards their father, perhaps in an effort to debase what Iroh had offered in his assessment of the Omashu Front.
Fire Lord Azulon had asked him to prepare a report, and what he got from checking the various captains and high officers stanced in the region was… the forest is hell. If before the forest's main issue was banditry, now the groups of Earth Benders infiltrating their bases and destroying their supplies was rendering survival in the region barely sufficient.
Within weeks of prolonged sabotage, this may even worsen to the point of the whole front folding like paper before a proper offensive. So, Iroh prepared a rather vicious report over the chances of retaining the current positions. An orderly retreat to lessen the distance with Taku may be the best option they had.
As a major logistical base, Taku was fortified enough to present a secondary base in case of a major offensive from the Omashu Front. Plus, the halving of the front's size would allow much needed troops to be dispatched to cover the River Front.
After sending the report, Iroh had been, predictably, summoned by his father for a meeting. He didn't expect for his younger brother to be there too, but from the way he retreated, angry and humiliated, it was clear his efforts to prevent a retreat had been rejected by their father.
Despite what many would think of Azulon, there was something he wasn't: a madman. The war itself had been a duty to uphold due to Fire Lord Sozin's will, and while the idea of an empire was something Iroh was intoxicated with, hardly anyone in the family was keen to waste their current advantage due to the greed of such a dream.
So, when Iroh stepped inside the tent, he showed not much emotion at the sight of a new map with the expected retreat front for the Omashu Front. It was slightly altered to allow a bit more land for them to retain, but it was still enough of a comfortable reduction to pump more troops into the wider front in the North.
"Iroh."
The Crown Prince bowed. "Father."
"Some fools think we are running away. I want you to know I don't think it is the case and that I accept your assessment of the situation."
The praise was received and the support much appreciated. Yet, his father wasn't done talking.
"Still, I also understand that a mere retreat wouldn't do. Sabotage shall be faced with sabotage."
Iroh's left eyebrow was raised in curiosity. "What is your order, father?"
"Send a message to rig the abandoned bases. These barbarians shall retain those gifts with as much explosive and fire as possible."
A ruthless retaliation, but one that was needed. Iroh didn't like it, but he understood the merits of it. The people wanted blood for the major losses they suffered. They wanted to 'hurt' the Earth Kingdom somehow and they would see this as a compensation for the blood spilled.
The real problem for Iroh wasn't even a matter of morality. The war was meant to be a vicious thing, yet the last month had proved to be quite tedious to endure without faltering too much.
Troops were scared, captains were already worried of potential mutinies before new defeats so… that retaliation was needed. Still, that was going to warrant the wrath of the Earth King.
King Dafeng had been torn to their sides, and this was going to be turned into a new reason to escalate the war's brutality some more. And they would have a reasonable enough motivation to find popular support in it.
This was, after all, a war of conquest staged by the Fire Nation. Propaganda within these lands was hardly going to outpace and outplay those of the defenders. So, Iroh nodded and saw fit to leave with this small victory…
And the expectation to lead for a larger one for the next battles to come.
"I shall see for the order to be received, father."
Azulon nodded, offering a rare smile.
"Iroh, there's another matter I wish to discuss with you."
"And that would be, father?"
"I have given thought to your request for… relief of your military rank for the time being."
Surprise flashed on Iroh's face as this topic had been dropped months ago.
Azulon had wanted him to be in this war for a long time, but due to how slow paced things had been, that had played in Iroh's mind for a while. The idea of traveling around and learning new skills to add to his arsenal of techniques, and maybe learn more wisdom beyond those yesmen from the Fire Lord's court.
He may be a prince, but he knew the best knowledge resided in hermits and wisemen that lived distant from most settlements, so that's where he would find those answers he sought about his growth.
Then the counter-offensive started and Iroh willingly accepted delaying the conversation until the situation was more stable. Things were far from that, yet this decision felt less driven by kindness and something else.
This 'feeling' was not aimed at Iroh but someone else. Iroh just had this understanding of his father's plotting. His mercy was mostly aimed to ruin someone else's life.
"You wish for me to travel the world?"
"Aye. Learn more, train more, become stronger. And, hopefully, find a worthy wife," Azulon curtly replied. "Your behavior has shown your studies have paid off, but I wish to see if this is the same with your brother."
Translating this meant… Ozai was going to get roasted through these few months. He was too driven at times, and he was going to mess up this strategy. Still, if their father was going to keep the defensive stance for now, things should be fine.
At the very least, he could trust Ozai to not abandon his lucidity now that their father was giving him his full attention and expectation.
AN
Iroh is the ideal counter to Dafeng, but considering his current life situation, he will be out of the picture for a while. Leaving the Fire Troops to deal with Ozai's inexperience and lack of martial understanding of the evolving warfare around their territories.
