Chapter 24

The news from the Earth Kingdom was dire. The fort at the Western Oasis had been overrun by Earth Kingdom forces. Since their Fire Lord had ordered them to stand down, the soldiers stationed there had surrendered, and were now held as prisoners. Five thousand of them.

Azula heard about their capture in the throne room, during her daily briefing with the generals.

"I told you so," Mai taunted.

"This disaster is entirely your fault!" Ozai thundered. "You tried to have peace with the Earth Kingdom. As if those barbarians are capable of living in peace. That continent was a wasteland before we gifted them with our reign. The dirtbenders understand nothing but force! There is only one way to deal with them: the lash of fire."

Azula lapsed into silence as she puzzled over whether she agreed with her father's tirade. Then she tried to recall the faces of the soldiers she'd encountered as she had passed through the Western Oasis her way to meet Aang in the desert. But she had been so focused on her goal she had not noticed a single one of them. And her order had led to their capture.

As the Fire Lord remained quiet, the generals began to speak, forgetting that she was the one who was supposed to be running the meeting. They began devising an attack to retake the fort and free the prisoners.

"Only we don't know where they've been taken," one of them pointed out.

The generals found themselves unable to come up with a workable plan of attack. When one prim field marshal reminded them that the Fire Lord's ban on violence still held, they began criticizing each other for their roles in the situation, as it was not quite safe to point the finger at their monarch, who they really blamed. But as Azula's silence dragged on, the generals began to feel freer to grumble about her command.

"They could have defended that fort against siege for months. But they were ordered not to harm the Earth Kingdom soldiers in any way," General Mung's tone sharpened just short of sarcasm.

Why did she make that order? Because she was trying to be the benevolent, peaceful ruler Aang would want her to be, while also embodying the strength of the Fire Nation, as she had been trained. She was trying to have it both ways–peace and victory, empire without violence. But now, it seemed, she would have to choose.

If I can only have one, which should I pick? Would I rather be feared or loved? Azula wondered.

"What a ridiculous question!" Father roared. "Fear! Fear is the only reliable way!"

"Oh, I know!" Ty Lee put in. "You want people to be afraid of how much they love you!"

She ignored them and answered her own question. Easy. Both. I want to be feared by the people, and loved by Aang.

"Egotist," Mai sneered.

She sighed. Mai probably had a point, and Father had once again guided her by providing a bad example not to follow. The only problem is that Aang won't love me if I scare people. So I have to find a way to make them obey without violating his principles. She found her beloved's pesky morality incredibly limiting.

Part of her still thought her declaration of victory was a gambit that might have worked, if she'd been able to project her personality around the globe somehow. But of course that was impossible. She'd been naive to attempt to manifest such a contradiction, and now her country's soldiers were endangered by her mistake.

She knew what she should do, what Aang would want her to do, but it would not be easy.

"We don't have to do anything." General Bujing was arguing, as his ruler tuned back in to the conversation. "Let the Earth Kingdom keep them. Those men knew what they were signing up for."

"May I remind you that most of them were drafted?" the field marshal spoke up again, holding up a pedantic finger.

Bujing shrugged. "It's too bad, but that's war."

Azula remembered Zuko's passionate insistence that Father's general's plan to use new recruits as cannon fodder was abhorrent. He had been trained the same way she had, but he had early grasped the magnitude of the responsibility the nation had for its soldiers, never to spend their lives profligately. Why had it taken her so long to see he was right? Father's favoritism had blinded her to her brother's righteousness. If she recalled correctly, Bujing had been the one who wanted to sacrifice the forty-first division as well. She made a mental note that when this crisis was over, she would urge him to retire, and if he refused, sack him.

"Can we do a prisoner exchange?" Azula's throat felt tight as she spoke her first words since hearing the news.

"We don't have that many prisoners to trade," a colonel informed her. "Our main prison in the Earth Kingdom, the one where we kept the earthbenders on a metal rig over the water, had a revolt when the guards were ordered to stop beating the prisoners."

"Those guards were lucky to escape with their lives," chimed in an admiral. "If our ships hadn't been nearby at the time, they would have drifted in those lifeboats until they starved or went mad."

"Ironically, if the Fire Lord had chosen to sue for peace a couple of weeks ago, from the position of strength we held at that time, then the Fire Nation would have been seen as the victor," the foreign secretary stated, her language carefully chosen. Her tone held only the barest hint of reproach, which somehow made it sting all the more. "But now…"

"Now I will preside over the worst defeat….the only defeat our country has suffered in centuries," Azula whispered, eyes staring blankly into the middle distance as she contemplated the magnitude of her miscalculation.

Ozai continued to berate her, a cruel gloating tone in his voice. "You have been defeated for all, time, by your own incompetence! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!"

Azula turned away from him and spoke in the most decided tone she could muster. "We must call a meeting with the Earth Kingdom to negotiate the release of our soldiers. Call the ambassadors and diplomats to the conference room to prepare the message. Generals, take your leave of the palace. Stand down and prepare to disarm." To ensure they didn't get a chance to argue, she stood, signaling that the meeting was adjourned.

As the Fire Lord made her way out of the throne room, she noticed that something was missing. The captain usually walked by her side, she realized. She looked around for him and was surprised to find him sitting in the back of the room, leaning down. She wrinkled her brow. She didn't think she'd ever seen him seated before, or indeed in any posture except upright. She approached, preparing to scold him for laziness.

"Are you well, Captain?" she inquired, her voice a little sharp.

"Truthfully, no." He looked up at her, eyes full of unhappiness. "I believe my friend Akane is among the captured soldiers."

"Oh." Her harshness melted away into awkward inquisitiveness. "How do you know her?"

"We met when we were stationed together in Jang Hui. We…dated for a time." the captain answered, averting his eyes.

Azula blinked. She hadn't thought of the head of her guard in any context except professionally, but now she saw him for the first time as a man who could have a romantic relationship. One that might end tragically. "How long?" she wondered.

"Eight or nine months."

"But you broke up? What was that like?" Despite the terrible circumstances, she couldn't help being curious about another person's experience of a breakup. Ty Lee used to bounce merrily from one relationship to another in a way that made no sense at all to her. But perhaps not all breakups were as devastating as Aang's abandonment had been for her. For the captain's sake she hoped this one wasn't.

His manner seemed to confirm. He shrugged. "We…drifted apart, I guess. Long distance. And we just weren't right for each other."

"So you let go?"

The very corner of his mouth lifted in a wry, regretful half-smile. "Well, I probably let go of her before the relationship was officially over. That was the main problem."

"You didn't love her." She understood his nonchalance now. That was the difference. That was why she was bereft and the captain was perfectly fine.

"No." His brow furrowed, as if she wasn't getting something. "But she's my friend, and now…."

"She's in danger." Azula nodded curtly, retreating from the personal turn their conversation had taken. "I understand. We must do our best to ensure her safety. Akane is her name?"

"Yes, my lord. Thank you."

He stood and followed her to the conference room.

There, the diplomats drafted a message to send to King Keui. They debated word choices endlessly–should we 'demand' or 'request' the return of our men?-and spent hours trying to predict various possible outcomes.

One wall of the room consisted of tall windows overlooking the public square outside the palace. Some noise from outside distracted Azula from the tedious discussion, so that she got up to see what was causing it.

Below, she saw a crowd of mostly women, in mourning white, clutching portraits and signs, arguing with the guards stationed at the gate.

"Captain, what is this?"

Raiden had already had a report from the outside guards who were keeping the crowd under control. "Family members of the captured soldiers, my lord."

She remembered a similar mob about a decade earlier. Soon after Zuko was banished, the division of new recruits he had tried to protect was wiped out, used as cannon fodder by Ozai's general. The relatives of the lost young men had gathered in just this way. Father had ordered them to disperse, and when some of them refused, they had been beaten and jailed.

But these women's sons weren't dead yet.

She walked toward the door, and was almost out when the ambassador to the Earth Kingdom spoke up and objected.

"Keep working, Ambassador," she directed. "I'll be back shortly."

The captain followed her outside.

The crowd quieted when they saw the Fire Lord approach. Through the wrought iron bars surrounding the palace, they called to her.

"Fire Lord, save our sons!"

"Bring them home!"

"You didn't let them fight, and now they're prisoners!" a middle-aged man accused, showing incredible boldness toward his sovereign.

Azula knew that angry father wanted an apology from her, but her throat closed. She blinked and swallowed, turning from him.

The other parents were happy to claim her attention, their manner more importunate than accusatory. They held up baby pictures, medals, the last letters they'd received from their children. One of them caught her eye, a mischievous toddler holding a toy dragon that looked just like one she had played with as a girl. Unconsciously she reached for it, and in response the mother extended the picture as an offering. Their fingers met through the gate.

"What a handsome little boy," she murmured.

"Thank you, my lord," answered the teary mother. "His name's Minato."

"May I keep this? I want to remember Minato when I meet with the Earth Kingdom generals who are holding him captive." The woman nodded. Other mothers gave her their portraits and letters, and the captain helped her gather them.

"I will do my best to ensure their safety," she promised the families. But she had no idea how she would do it.

Author's Note:

Did you catch the reference to Michael Scott from The Office?

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