Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone.
"TOP OF THE MORNIN' TA' YE'! AND HAVE A GREAT SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!"
Currently the best review: "99 reasons why your government sucks, and how you can fix it! By: Azula the Protestant Princess." Dude, this is gold. More on this at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 13 Protest.
As dawn broke, the inhabitants of Ba Sing Se were abuzz, the daily life of the city seeming much more lively.
Sokka would be the first to admit that walking around with a pole weapon was a tad bit conspicuous, and worse, in the cramped city it's length was a hindrance. Finding it necessary, one afternoon, Sokka sought a blacksmith in the lower ring.
"So, think you can make a smaller one?" Sokka asked, as he and the blacksmith looked at the musket laying on the man's anvil.
"Probably… I mean I've only heard about these things from other refugees, so I'm not sure I could make one myself, but there's plenty of smiths in the lower ring who could. It's not too complicated, the most expensive part'd probably be this bit here." The Blacksmith said, tapping the lock with his hammer. "But if what you're looking for is just a shorter version, I could take a saw to it."
Sokka smiled. "Short is good."
"Come back in a few hours, I should have it done by then." The smith said, before Sokka left the forge.
Walking through the streets, Sokka passed by small crowds gathering around corners.
"Another increase in taxes? Whatever for?"
"I reckon it's to fix that hole in the outer wall."
Sokka ignored the chatter of the crowd.
"The Dai Li arrested some guy last night, he said there were fire benders in the city."
"Well, were there?"
"You think there aren't? He shouldn't have been arrested for speaking about it though."
Sokka was willing to ignore some crack pot's claim of seeing fire benders.
"Paper's for sale, Lower Ring Daily Post, rouge nails thesis to town hall door, releases manifesto to the public by night."
Sokka stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to the man selling papers. "What's this about a manifesto?"
The man selling papers looked at Sokka as he passed a copy off to an interested customer. "Someone nailed one to the town hall up in the middle ring. They sent copies to all of the press in the lower ring. Buy a paper if you want to know more, it'll only be a matter of time before you know who comes to take them." Sokka forked over a copper piece, and took the newsprint. As he walked, he read the paper, and found the supposed thesis on the second page. Sokka's eyes went wide, before he folded up the paper and stuffed it into his tunic for safe keeping. He quickly made his way back to the upper ring via the monorail, and burst through the front door of the house Team Avatar was staying in.
"Guy's, you will not believe what I found!" Sokka said, as he pulled out the newspaper.
"Sounds like paper." Toph said.
"No, it's what's on the paper that's important." Sokka corrected.
"Is it something about Appa?" Aang asked.
"Does it have to do with Long Feng?" Katara asked.
"No, neither of those things. This is way bigger. Someone wrote a whole anti-government rant, and they nailed it to the middle ring town hall!"
"What?!" Aang asked in confusion.
"Did the Dai Li catch them?" Katara asked.
"I don't think so, they sent the message to all of the newspapers in the lower ring last night while The Earth King was having his party for Bosco, and apparently the Dai Li are behind the curve." Sokka said.
"What's in the rant?" Toph asked.
Sokka flipped the paper to the page that had the copy of the thesis on it, and started from the beginning.
"A Thesis
On The
Dissolution
Of
Corrupt
Governance.
By, The People.
There is a natural order by which the world adheres, the strongest among the strong prevail, and the weak often perish without the aid of the masses, or those above them.
It is then only normal for the basis of all systems of government and rule to be derived from this order, wherein the select few who are best fit, do rule, justly, and for the benefit of their nation as true kings. The masses of those who support them, unfit to rule, weaker than they alone, are in turn provided for by their rulers, with life, prosperity, and property. In symbiosis does the ruler and the ruled exist, giving and taking in equal to ensure their continued existence as a nation.
The abnormal then would be the creation of a system by which either the ruled, or the rulers, are disproportionately benefited in their exchanges.
Should a nation be created solely for the gain of the weak and the many, those who are strong and few would undoubtedly abandon, or otherwise succumb to the burdens of providing for them, and in the end, all suffer for it.
Should a nation be created solely for the gain of the strong and few, those who are weak and many would undoubtedly be too trodden upon, or otherwise so ignored, that their structure, which supports the few, crumbles like dry clay, leaving the nation weak and fragmented.
In both cases, the nations that fail, are without balance. It then is not a wonder, how The Earth Kingdom, so vast, fertile and populated, can be such an imbalanced nation, as it is a nation structured solely for the benefit of the few, the rulers of a country they have so neglected.
It is in these ways that the few of The Earth Kingdom have so created this imbalance.
They have refused to pass laws for the good of the nation.
They have refused to pass laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people are of a high social class.
They have segregated the people by an arbitrary ranking of classes, enforced with law and walls created by their army.
They have repeatedly dissolved political dissidents, for opposing their invasions on the rights of the masses.
They have refused, after such dissolution, the assembly of the masses in protest.
They have endeavored to prevent the population from appropriating unclaimed land, that though settled by none is considered property of the government, to which is then surrendered to foreigners.
They have obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing to police their cities of crimes but that of a political nature.
They have created a multitude of new government offices, to eat the taxpayer's wages, and sustain their constituents.
They have kept among the people, in times of peace, an army whose sole purpose is to intimidate the masses.
They have made the military superior to the people, through conscription of earth benders and men of a brutish nature to lord power over their own citizens.
They have protected these soldiers from punishment for any crime which they should commit on the people.
They have cut off our trade with more or less advanced nations, to deprive us of resources and prosperity that other nations enjoy.
They have imposed taxes without just cause.
They have deprived in many cases a trial for supposed crimes.
They have suppressed the channels by which the people are to be informed, be that through paper or speech.
They have allowed foreigners to plunder our seas, ravage our coasts, burn our towns, and destroy the lives of the people.
They have forced both the young and infirm into service of the crown.
They have excited violence among the many peoples of The Earth Kingdom, keeping them pitted against themselves.
These eighteen, and many more grievances, which the people have petitioned, only to be met with injury, are all the doings of a government corrupted by its own weakness, and it's unwillingness to rule it's people both justly and decisively. It can therefore be concluded, that The Earth Kingdom is in great need of swift and affirmative changes within the sitting government, be that through a peaceful transition of rule, or a violent revolution, to first dissolve the corrupt governance, then restore balance within the nation, where law is suited to the individual, not a single collective, with power and justice back back where it belongs, in the hands of The People."
Sokka finished reading the paper, leaving everyone in a state of shock.
"This is crazy. There's no way the Dai Li are going to let this paper stay in circulation." Katara said.
"Maybe they can't keep a lid on everything anymore. I mean this city is massive, no way there's enough agents to stop everyone from talking, especially in the lower ring. They've gotta be outnumbered fifty to one at least." Toph said.
"It's not like the complaints and rhetoric can't hold up to scrutiny either, I mean we've seen like half of these things already, and most of the people of Ba Sing Se don't even know there is a war going on to explain the others." Sokka said, folding up the paper.
"The last thing the Earth Kingdom needs is a civil war though." Aang said.
"I hate to break it to you Twinkle Toes, but the Earth Kingdom is basically always in a state of civil war." Toph said with a shrug.
"Yeah but… If the Earth Kingdom goes to war with itself, it's going to be even more divided than it already is with the Fire Nation invading. Then how would we rally the army and take down the Fire Lord?" Aang asked.
"I'm not stoked about the prospect of the invasion plan falling through, but we've gotta take these things one step at a time. Long Feng is keeping the city under his thumb, and this…" Sokka shook the paper in his hand. "Could be the thing that gets him out of the way. Why fight when you can litigate?" Sokka asked, before he turned towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Katara asked.
"Back to the lower ring… I need to pick something up." Sokka said, remembering he'd left his gun with the blacksmith.
Connor was in the lower ring, making preparations for dinner. On his way down the street, the sound of a crowd grew, until Connor found himself at a market square, and in its center a man standing on a wooden crate to speak over the sea of people. A stone statue of a bespectacled man on a throne sat behind him. Against his better judgment, Connor stopped to listen.
"-could not stomach the truth The People have spoken, that in its current form, the certainty of taxation has become a monstrous arm of the government to ensure no financial mobility among the lower ring. Rather than hear this, and other even more pressing complaints, of which I'm certain all you share, the printers have all been censored in an attempt to keep these truths from being known, as to divide and isolate us." The crier spoke, holding a copy of a newspaper with him.
Connor checked over his shoulder, and saw two men in black robes approaching from down the street, the city's secret police. Connor dipped his conical hat to make sure they couldn't see his hair. The crier seemed to notice the two as well. "That's enough, old man. You don't have a permit for assembly." One agent said, as they passed Connor in the crowd, which parted as they approached the man.
"The crown seeks to silence dissent in all forms!" The man atop the crate shouted to the crowd. "The Fire Nation is at our door, and yet we are further oppressed!"
The two Dai Li, with stone encased hands, shot their rock gloves, and grabbed the man from a distance. They pulled him towards them, but before he could fall into their grip, a clay planting pot filled with dirt, and a moonflower found itself hurled into the head of one of the agents, rendering him unconscious. As the other turned to see his partner hit the ground, a fist met his jaw, and teeth flew. He stumbled before falling into his back, much to the shock and awe of the crowd.
The public crier stood himself up, and turned to see Connor standing over the black robed agents. "You alright old timer?" Connor asked.
"Thank you, I'm in your debt." The man said, before spinning and addressing the crowd. "See now how they coerce and force those who speak out into submission?! It is only a matter of time before they will resort to murder to stifle the truth! Well I say no more! If we must fight for our freedom as citizens of the Earth Kingdom, then so be it!"
Connor punched a fist into the air. "AY! Give me liberty or give me death!"
The crier looked at Connor. "Hey, I like that. It's expressive and to the point." He turned to the crowd. "Give us liberty or give us death!"
"Liberty or death!" Someone else in the crowd shouted. Then another shout came, and another, before soon, the entire square had erupted into a chant.
Seeing that his work was done, Connor began to walk away, the angry mob that had formed behind him, surrounding the two Dai Li agents.
Long Feng, head of the Dai Li, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and shadow ruler of the city, stood within the Earth King's library, reading over reports from his agents. The door creaked open, and an agent came in bloodied, and bruised, holding onto his jaw. "What happened?!" Long Feng asked.
"I'm not exactly sure, Sir. I was in the lower ring with Hei, following leads on any more of those treasonous newspapers. There was a man who was speaking about them in public. We went to arrest him, and when we did, Hei got hit in the head by a rock, and then this… Giant, white as a spirit freak, punched me so hard I passed out. I woke up outside the Middle Ring wall. Hei's still out there… Sir, the lower ring, the refugees and citizens are gathering together. It's a tinderbox."
Long Feng narrowed his eyes. "Then wet the tinder."
The agent nodded. "Yes, Sir…" He left the room.
Long Feng looked into the green glow of the fireplace beside him, and growled. There was only one person who even remotely fit the description he was given. "Gong. Mistress Kyoko's bodyguard… So the Fire Nation has sent infiltrators."
The blacksmith stood at the counter of his forge, as he presented the cut down thunderstick to his well paying customer. Sokka picked up the weapon, and smiled ear to ear. The barrel was cut to about half the length, and the wood surrounding it removed to about a quarter, with the ramrod being similarly cut to match the barrel, kept in place by the remains of the fore stock and two iron rings that had been fixed to the barrel, one with a mount for the sling underneath. The butt stock had been cut down by a third to fit Sokka's smaller frame. Sokka picked up the weapon, and marveled at how different it felt. "It's so light now." He said, shouldering the weapon to see if it still felt natural to wield.
"It wasn't much. Tell you what, if you let me keep the stuff I cut off, I won't charge you a single copper." The blacksmith said.
Sokka chuckled. "Sure, take the scrap metal." Sokka said, before the blacksmith smiled and Sokka walked away, slinging his weapon.
The blacksmith's smile faded as he turned back into his shop, and looked at the scraps that had been left over. A short barrel, the remains of a ram rod, some brass fittings, and a little wood. Picking up the barrel, the blacksmith put it on the hot coals in his forge, and waited…
Zuko stood on the communal deck of his and his uncle's apartment building that evening, the sounds of protest still alive in the city before the Sun had set. Ba Sing Se, even as a safe haven from the Fire Nation, seemed to have its own share of dangers. First there was that guy, Jet, who'd caught onto their true identity as fire benders, which was thankfully resolved by the city's security, or some wing of it, Zuko figured.
Then there was Jin, who despite being a nice girl, definitely knew he was a firebender after that stunt he pulled to impress her. Zuko mentally kicked himself for ditching her. Yeah he'd had a thing for Mai since they were kids, but what were the chances he was ever going to see her again? That and Zuko was actually willing to bet what little money he had that Jin was herself Fire Nation by blood with how bright a hazel her eyes were, so they'd have something in common once his big lie eventually came undone.
Thirdly and most importantly, the city was a firecracker waiting to go off. Ba Sing Se was rotten to the core in all reality, (living in it for a month was evidence enough of that,) and the lower ring's populace was nearly as frustrated as he felt on a regular basis. Zuko wasn't worried about the unrest escalating, because if it did, he wouldn't be a target of any violence, but if Ba Sing Se imploded, The Fire Nation would take its chances invading, likely succeed, and he would be hunted again. Looking down the alley, Zuko saw a man being arrested by two of those secret police who'd taken away Jet.
"Lee, you should come inside, it's getting dark out." Zuko turned and found his uncle in the window.
Zuko gave one last look down the alley, before ducking into the apartment.
Later that night, Azula lay asleep in her bed, rolling onto her side.
She found herself dreaming of the Fire Nation's volcanic sand beaches. Of sitting in a reclined chair on a patio overlooking the sea, as the Sun set to the West. A chair creaked beside her, and as Azula turned her attention, she saw Connor sit down, facing her. He looked older, by a decade or so perhaps. "Alright. You get to choose." Connor said, holding both fists out to her.
"Choose what?" Azula asked, finding she was without control of her own words, before she looked out to the sea once more, and saw a little girl playing in the surf...
"You must choose your own destiny." Looking back to where Connor should have been, Azula found a tall, white bearded man standing before her, as the sands of the Fire Nation faded into white clouds.
"Avatar Roku..." Azula said breathlessly.
Azula's eyes snapped open, and she thrashed in her bed, before sitting up, and lighting a fire in her palm to illuminate the room. Finding that she was awake, Azula groaned, before laying back down. "It's just a dream." She said to herself. "Just a weird dream."
Authors Note.
The review was almost spot on. While the inspiration for the act of Azula nailing her work to the door of the most influential building she could access just to piss people off was taken from the og Martin Luther, (to someone who asked what Connor's faith was, I'll get to that) the work itself was more closely inspired by the US Declaration of Independence, though suited more for an overthrowing, rather than a separation. And though I'm stating the obvious, Azula is not a protestant, she like many in Avatar are spiritual, and have faiths tied to their own cultures, though that's a sliding scale, and Azula's less of a believer in the spiritual than most. But is it really a faith if said spirits actually exist?
Now to those wondering where I got the list of complaints from, I broke out my pocket Declaration, and started taking notes while re-watching every episode that took place in the Earth Kingdom, and yeah there were a lot of grievances that the average Earth Kingdom citizen might have that we did too. Pick a grievance listed and I can show you an episode where it was a problem for the Earth Kingdom's people.
It's also a little bit of a dive into how Azula believes a government should be run, tweaked to her goal of inciting a revolt.
She's not as power crazy as people like to think she is. She understands that she needs people of lower social standing than her. Otherwise why would she bother having friends at all, or using the army at her disposal, or have servants do her hair or nails? Even if it's because she believes it is their place to serve, she acknowledges that these servants are being given housing and clothing, and wages in an exchange for their service. It wasn't until Mai betrayed her that she started to lose her marbles, because it was such a shock to her worldview that someone in a subservient position would so openly defy her... Now who does that sound like in this fic?
Unfortunately due to the timing of this fic, the story is currently in the month of June... (August 1st is the day of black sun invasion, back track from there to when Aang woke up, the few weeks between Aang waking up, along with days going back in the show while the gang was in Ba Sing Se, and my estimate is mid June) so I couldn't write a specific chapter dedicated to Connor celebrating his Irish heritage with drinking and feasting... It doesn't mean he didn't celebrate it, or any other holiday thus far, he just doesn't really have anyone to celebrate his holidays with, that would truly appreciate it. :( Yet... :)
In other news. That blacksmith keeping a section of gun barrel was some pretty heavy handed foreshadowing.