Morality Chain
On we go. Exams are over, so back to it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Field trip! Field trip!" Ty Lee's excited squeals were annoying at the best of times, but in the confined space of the carriage, it was starting to border on unbearable. Considering that they hadn't even left the palace grounds, Azula was not particularly looking forward to the two day journey that lay ahead of them. For most people, she could believe that they would calm down soon enough and grant her some peace and quiet.
But Ty Lee was not most people.
Normally Azula would have silenced her by accidentally-on-purpose kicking her in the shins, but her mother's presence at her side effectively sealed off violence of any sort as an viable option.
"Field trip! Field tri-"
"It's an excursion, Ty Lee," she said in as officious a tone as she could muster. "Not a field trip."
"What's the difference?" Ty Lee fixed her with an inquisitive gaze. "I mean, I kinda figured they were pretty much the same thing."
Azula opened her mouth to answer, realizing almost too late that she did not in fact know any difference between the two terms. Well, aside from the fact that excursion sounded more official a term than 'field trip', but admitting to that would have been self-defeating.
So she shrugged. "What, you don't even know something as simple as that? Mai, you tell her."
Mai, who had been staring out of the window in boredom, blinked and looked up, "Huh? What?'
"Ooh, you know too? C'mon, tell me! What's the difference?"
With Ty Lee's attention safely diverted, Azula slumped back in her seat and let out a satisfied smile. To her left, Zuko was practically bouncing in his seat, looking as excited as Ty Lee at the prospects of the trip. At least he had the good sense to be more quiet about it.
"Looking forward to this?" she asked.
"Uh-huh!" he nodded. "We haven't been able to go on a trip like this before! All of us together! This is gonna be great!"
Briefly she pondered that she would have liked Father to come along as well. But that hadn't been possible; with Uncle overseas fighting it had fallen to him to be making the public appearances in place of Grandfather. Still, being able to bring along her two friends was treat enough.
And so she nodded," Uh huh. It sure will."
(X)
As a rule, members of the Fire Nation Royal Family did not get themselves involved in disturbances among the villages that comprised the Fire Nation. The police and the army existed for a reason, after all. If it wasn't something big like an insurrection in the making (and only ones that had progressed significantly, at that), it really was beneath their notice.
But today was special. If Zuko was going to get anywhere as Crown Prince he was going to need to learn more about handling problems and conflicts, and so Azula had decided that he should try his hand out at this. If he messed up, well, it was only a silly little fishing village in the middle of nowhere. Nobody important would notice.
Of course, she hadn't put it to him quite like that. More along the lines of letting the people see him and him asserting his return as Crown Prince. Because after all he hadn't done much more than hanging around the palace and Mai's house ever since he had come back, and this was as good a time as any to start. After she'd given her reasoning he'd consented to the trip, although not without a bit of grumbling.
There was also the fact that she'd want some time on this trip to talk to Zuko, hopefully far away from anywhere that might cause her father to overhear. There were some guards in the contingent, of course, and she couldn't be absolutely sure about any of them answering to her father, but eluding them and finding a private place to talk should be easy enough.
With that in mind, she turned her thoughts to the village that they were coming up to. A relatively small fishing village that hadn't been up to much recently. The closest it came to being a point of interest was the factory that had been set up to manufacture… what was it again? Weapons? She vaguely recalled that it made weapons. That factory had been set up several years ago. Before Azula had even been born, in fact.
And it was now destroyed. She sighed once. The report had been annoyingly scarce on details. No doubt whoever was in charge of the factory's security would have been more interested in finding someone to blame than locating the actual culprit. To her complete lack of surprise, they had been unable to find the perpetrator, although the way the report had been phrased gave the impression that the commander thought the village had been responsible somehow. How a bunch of backwater peasants was supposed to have done that was beyond her.
No matter. They'd be able to figure out the truth in person soon enough.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, feeling the gentle and steady rocking of the carriage against her back, looking to get a bit of rest before they arrived.
(X)
The first thing that hit Mai was the smell. Even before the village was anywhere in sight, the stench hit the caravan an overwhelming wave. The smell of rotting fish mingled with that of burning oil for the worst of both the rural and industrial smells.
Quite the pleasant place we ended up in.
At her side, Ty Lee seemed to be trying gamely not to gag, while an expression of disgust passed over Zuko's face. For her own part, Mai wrinkled her nose, her only outward sign of discomfort at the smell.
Fleetingly, she wondered how Azula would be reacting. Probably as straight-faced as ever. As usual.
Another fleeting thought passed as Mai tried to recall the very few times she had seen her friend truly lose her composure. Well it certainly wouldn't involve something as trivial as a bad smell, at least.
"Phew!" Ty Lee said. "It's been a while since I've smelled something like that!"
"You mean you've actually smelled something this bad before?" briefly roused from his vague stupor of grumpiness (something, Mai noted with distant worry, had been happening a lot less frequently over the past couple of days) Zuko looked over to Ty Lee. "When?"
"Oh, when I was in the circus. We travelled around the Earth Kingdom a lot, remember? So when we visited fishing villages near the coast they'd always stink," a frown crossed her face. "I never remembered it being quite this bad though."
"Maybe the destroyed factory had something to do with it."
"Hrm," a noncommittal grunt.
Mai sighed in exasperation and fixed a pointed gaze on Zuko. "You know, you could at least pretend to care about what's going on."
"You're the last person who should be telling me that, you know?"
"Yes, but this is normal for me," Mai said. Before, you used to be grumpy, but your problem was that you cared too much. The second half she kept to herself.
Zuko grunted and turned to glare out the window. "Whatever," he mumbled.
Just then, the carriage thudded to a slow stop. They had arrived.
(X)
The army had already provided motor-powered boats needed to reach the village situated in the middle of the river. The question of why the people who had settled here had decided to make their homes in the middle of the river instead of the banks was one that came briefly to her mind before she dismissed it out of hand. Not really important enough to worry about though; it really amounted to more minor inconveniences for her job there.
She glanced over at Zuko, who theoretically should be the one taking the lead in the investigation. Well, she wasn't sure how well he'd do, so she'd be ready to take over if the situation called for it.
As for Mai and Ty Lee…
"I'm surprised you came along for this," Azula looked over her shoulder at Ty Lee. "I wouldn't have thought this would be the sort of thing you enjoy."
"What?" a confused look crossed her face. "I get to go out on a trip with you and Mai and Zuko! And to a place I've never been before. What's not to like about this?"
"This isn't a vacation, Ty Lee. We'll be doing work," Azula said. "And not work like it was hunting down the Avatar. This is going to be a whole lot of talking and making deals. I don't think you'll enjoy this."
"Well, at least I still get to spend more time with you," Ty Lee's smile remained as brilliant as ever. "Also, maybe we can go enjoy ourselves for a while too after this is done?
"…" Azula closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "I'll think about it."
"Yay!"
(X)
As she stepped onto the wooden dock, she could see the crowds of villagers staring at them. All of them were silent.
Azula suspected that they hadn't had much of a chance to see Fire Nation royalty before this, but she was equally certain that the stony silence that their entourage was being met with was not due to awe or reverence. At least not if the surly expressions on their faces was any indication.
Still, there was something else mixed in with their resentment. Wariness. Fear. Worry about the people who stood before them could order done to their village if they were sufficiently displeased. A smile briefly crossed Azula's lips.
She knew how to use that fear.
A long moment passed, and she stepped forward, "I want to speak to a representative."
A man in rather bedraggled clothes stumbled forward, rubbing his hands together in a gesture of humility, "Welcome, miss! My name's Dock, and here is our humble home town. We've mostly subsisted on fishing all this while and-"
"I know what your village does for a living," Azula cut the man off. "And I'm certain you know why we're here. Where's the mayor? We'll need to speak with him."
"Hm? Mayor? Mayor... Oh, that's right! This way please..." the man turned and began shuffling off.
"He's one of them," the general growled as they fell in behind him. "He's always arguing with people from the factory about how we're ruining his livelihood. Him and his brothers," he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial growl. "What are you going to do about him, Your Highness?"
"Me?" Azula fixed him with a cold gaze – enough to make him flinch ever so slightly. "I'm not going to be the one deciding anything, Commander. The Crown Prince is the one who will decide how best to resolve the issue."
She shifted her gaze over to Zuko, who had at least managed to drop his sullen glower in exchange for a more determined looking expression as they walked through the town. After a moment, she glanced behind her.
The sight of Mai and Ty Lee splitting off, unnoticed, from the rest of their group and ducking into the shadows of one of the wooden huts was enough to place the slightest smirk on her face.
No, today she certainly wouldn't be the one doing much of anything.
(X)
It had seemed to her impossible, but somehow the stench had managed to get even worse as they headed through the centre of the village.
"I can't decide whether to sigh or retch," Mai muttered to herself.
"It's okay, Mai!" Ty Lee grinned. "If the villagers could get used to it, then so can we!"
"The villagers have lived with the smell for their entire lives," Mai pointed out mildly. "Anyway, let's hurry up and finish the work Azula gave us to do."
"On it!" flashing a bright smile, Ty Lee quickly scanned the groups of people huddled close to each other before settling on a tiny gathering of small kids at the water's edge. "Over there! Let's start with them!"
"With kids?" but Ty Lee had already scampered off. With a brief sigh, Mai started after Ty Lee, who had picked out one of the scrawnier looking kids and was now squatting down to get to eye level with her.
"Hey there! What are you playing with?"
The girl she was addressing blinked and stared at Ty Lee, incomprehension in her eyes. After several long minutes she apparently decided that Ty Lee was in fact not a bad person and she held up her ball for Ty Lee to inspect.
"That's a pretty nice ball. Would you mind lending it to me for a second?"
The girl blinked and glanced down uncertainly at the ball in her hands. After another long moment, she hesitantly stretched out her hands to Ty Lee, offering her the toy.
"Thanks!" Ty Lee flashed the girl a big grin before taking the ball in her hand and giving it an experimental toss. Satisfied at the weight of the ball, Ty Lee flipped onto a handstand and began kicking at the ball, keeping it bouncing vertically using only her legs.
The girl's wide-eyed stared turned into a grin of delight, and her excited shouts soon drew the attention of the other children in the area. Soon gasps of awe filled the area as the children stood enraptured, watching Ty Lee's acrobatics.
Standing by the side and watching, Mai resisted the urge to sigh. She doubted that Ty Lee would have gone off on trying to entertain the kids if she hadn't had something planned, but regardless her current antics failed to amuse her at all.
Briefly, her thoughts drifted to Zuko. She wondered what the meeting with the village chief was going. It wasn't very often Mai felt reassured at the thought that Azula would be by his side the whole time, but now… She heaved a sigh.
The sound of clapping and cheering brought her back to the present, and she looked up to see Ty Lee bowing, a humongous grin on her face. No matter the time or place, Ty Lee always loved being the centre of attention.
"You're amazing, big sis!" the little girl Ty Lee had initially addressed gushed, all traces of fear or hesitation long gone by now. "How did you do that?"
"Practice," Ty Lee smiled. "Lots of it. And more than a little bit of luck. Now, I need to ask all of you something. Are you willing to listen to me?"
You should try asking her how they're able to live with this smell. Mai though, but decided to keep her mouth shut. Ty Lee had always been better at dealing with little kids.
"Uh-huh!" an enthusiastic nod.
"Great!" Crouching lower until she was eye level with the girl, Ty Lee pursed her lips. "I need to ask you about that incident that happened a few days ago…"
(X)
"And so, as you can see, these villagers are obviously not loyal Fire Nation citizens!"
As the General finished his rather long-winded rant, Zuko snuck a glance at his side to Azula. To most she would appear to be sitting at rapt attention, her back as straight as a sword and a steely gaze in her eyes.
Someone who knew her better, like Zuko, could tell that she was currently bored out of her skull.
Taking a deep breath, Zuko began to speak.
"These are indeed serious claims. Theft of food and medicine is bad enough, but the destruction of the factory is far worse," he paused. "That said. General, what makes you think that a bunch of fishermen have the will or capacity to destroy the factory, as you claim? And if you allowed these same fishermen to steal such items without you noticing, that does not speak well of your men's attentiveness and discipline."
The general flushed, but before he could respond the mayor cleared his throat.
"Your highness, with all due respect. I can assure you that we are loyal, law-abiding citizens of the Fire Nation. We would never resort to theft," he paused, and a note of hesitancy entered his voice. "Though we have been suffering from the pollution and have repeatedly sent in requests for aid."
"We'll deal with that issue later," Zuko said quickly. One thing at a time. "You can claim to be loyal citizens, but that also does not change the fact that those boxes of food and medicine – boxes that have the emblem of the Fire Nation army, I might add – somehow appeared in your village shortly after they disappeared from the factory."
"I told you!" the boatman – Dock, was that his name? – blurted out. Zuko resisted the urge to sigh. Why had he been allowed into the meeting, again? "It was the Painted Lady! She was the one who helped us!"
"The Painted Lady," Azula spoke up now. "By which you refer to that supposed guardian spirit of the area, correct?"
"Uh-huh!" Dock nodded enthusiastically. "Have you seen her likeness yet? Statuettes of her are all the rage again these days!" as he said so, he started rummaging through his coat for something.
"Maybe later," Azula said in a tone that meant 'certainly not'. "Zuko?"
Zuko shared a brief glance with Azula before standing. "You're right. We should go."
"Your highness?"
"This talk has been informative," he said. "But in order to come to a decision, I'm going to need to pay a visit to the factory itself. Who knows? Maybe I'll manage to find some clues that your men overlooked."
"Maybe," General Mung said, clearly not too pleased at that prospect. "Will you need an escort, your highness?"
"I think we can find our way," Azula said. "It's not like you can miss the factory from here."
As they stepped out into the sunlight, Zuko heaved a sigh. "Did you pick up anything?"
"That boatman isn't telling us the whole story. I'm not sure what it is, but there's definitely something more to this Painted Lady business."
"And you think visiting the factory will help us figure it out?"
"That, and some other leads," Azula nodded as Ty Lee and Mai rounded the corner and began approaching them, something obviously on their minds. "The factory is some way off from here. Plenty of time for a chat on the way."
(X)
"So, they all said that it was some kind of Spirit lady that came and healed them and saved them. And when the soldiers came to punish them, that same Spirit was the one who drove them away!" Ty Lee said. "They were a bit light on the details, though."
"Same thing that boatman said, then," Azula glanced up at the sky thoughtfully. "Did they give any details about the fight itself?"
"Um… they were pretty vague," Ty Lee scratched the side of her head. "First they said that when she showed up she could create a lot of mist around her. Then they blocked the soldier's fire bending with a blast of air."
"They were obviously lying about something," Mai said. "They were happy to say that the Painted Lady saved them, but when we asked for details they became quiet and looked at each other for a while. To be honest, it was only because Ty Lee was so openly enthusiastic that they felt they could trust her with what they did tell her."
"Manipulating air and water, is it?" Azula sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Not what I wanted to hear."
"Something you're not telling us?" Mai's tone was guarded.
She heaved a sigh and glanced out of the corner of her eye at Zuko, whose expression had grown even stormier. "Let's take a look at the factory before we jump to any conclusions."
The boatman also seemed very insistent on the Painted Lady being the one who helped them. I suppose part of it could be attributed to enthusiasm on the part of this region's supposed spirit coming to the village's aid, but… She sighed. Given the children's reluctance to speak about it, and the fact that air and water were specifically described as the elements used…
The image of a young airbender flashed through her mind and she pursed her lips.
She would know more once they arrived at the factory.
(X)
The factory didn't smell of fish.
No, instead of smelled of ash and burnt wood, managing to produce an odour even more offensive than the one in the village. Keeping her expression stoic, Mai stepped carefully through the ruined facility, on the lookout for clues.
"Clear signs of earthbending…"
Azula's voice, somewhat muffled, sounded out a moment before she poked her head out and shook it.
"The pipes here were smashed with great force too." Mai paused a moment from observing the twisted and bent pipes all around the area to throw a glance Azula's way. A drop of water fell from a broken pipe, spattering on the floor with a dull 'plop'. "I've seen enough to recognize skilled waterbending when I see it."
"General Mung is an idiot," she muttered. "If he or any of his men were anything more than glorified factory janitors they'd have seen earthbending and waterbending before, and they'd have recognized it instead of blaming the villagers."
"I take it whatever it is you were worried about has come to pass, then."
Azula pursed her lips. "Waterbending, earthbending, and airbending. One person can do all three, and even more importantly, only one person can do the last."
It was an easy conclusion to make, and so Mai said it, "The Avatar's alive."
A silence fell upon the gathering of Fire Nation nobles, broken only by the thud of Ty Lee somersaulting off a platform onto a hollow pipe.
She could hear Zuko swallow hard, but to his credit, there was no outburst of anger. Just silence, and him lowering his stare to the ground.
"Okay then," Ty Lee piped up. "So the Avatar's alive. Now what?"
"If he's alive, and moving through the Fire Nation in secret, then that just adds weight to the theory of a planned assault during the day of the eclipse," Azula said as she started to pace around the room, obviously deep in thought. "Once we get back to the capital I'll really need to start strengthening the defences."
"True," Mai shared a glance with Zuko. "But that raises another problem. If the Avatar is trying to move undetected through the Fire Nation –"
"Then why would he reveal himself like this?" Azula completed her thought. "Surely a backwater village like this couldn't have provided him anything worth the risk of blowing his cover."
"They wouldn't need to," Zuko spoke up for the first time since they had entered the factory's ruins. "If he found people in trouble, he'd stop to help them. No questions asked. That's," he heaved a sigh. "That's just the sort of person he is."
"Foolish and sentimental? I suppose," Azula sniffed, making her opinion on the matter clear.
"He probably also didn't expect Fire Nation royalty to show up at this backwater and check on things," Mai pointed out.
"True. Well, I believe we've gotten everything we're going to out of this little detour," Azula sighed. "Let's head back to the village."
Silently, they turned to begin the journey back.
(X)
"Well, this trip turned out to be surprisingly informative," Azula commented as the boat continued on its slow journey back towards the fishing village. "I guess now there's only one thing left to do."
"Hm?" Zuko looked up at her, clearly having been lost in thought until a moment ago. "What's that?"
"We're going to need to decide how to punish those villagers."
"Wha – punish?"
"Of course," Azula nodded, her expression stormy. "They've had aid from the Avatar and his gang. The Avatar destroyed a Fire Nation military facility and apparently stole medicine and food for the village's benefit. Then they tried to cover it up by feeding us some cockbull story of a Painted Lady. That merits a charge of treason in my book."
"Wait, wait!" Ty Lee looked over, eyes wide. "You're going to punish the whole village?"
"Why not?" Azula raised and lowered a shoulder. "At the very least, both the boatman and the children were definitely lying to us. We won't know who else was in on the deception either. So, it'd be easier to punish the entire village as one entity. That'll also serve the purpose of making sure they won't be willing to harbour liars and dissidents next time."
"You're going to have them all executed for this?" Mai's eyes narrowed. "That is what a charge of treason usually involves."
"Well, if it were up to me, I'd go easy on them this once. Probably just burn down all of their homes and leave them be afterwards," Azula shrugged. "It's not my call, though. Zuko, what are you going to do with them?"
Zuko looked down at the river for a long moment before looking up again, "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Azula repeated, letting a slight edge leak into her voice. Zuko's gaze didn't waver.
"Nothing," he said again. "We'll leave them be."
"Zuko. Don't do this," she said. "We cannot afford to let our control be challenged – not by anyone, and certainly not by backwater peasants like them. You need to take decisive action at a time like this! You can't show yourself to be weak!"
"Azula-"
"You stay out of this, Ty Lee," Azula snapped before turning back to Zuko. "Don't let yourself be seen as weak at a moment like-"
"I am not being weak!" Zuko said, his golden eyes blazing with intensity as he turned to look Azula full in the face. "We just have more pressing concerns!"
"…" Azula folded her arms. "Explain."
"The Avatar's moving through the Fire Nation. We know it's because of that invasion on the day of the Eclipse. We're supposed to be preparing a trap for them."
"Yes…"
"They need to think it'll still be a surprise. They can't know that we know they're alive. What happens if we punish the village and the Avatar hears about it? He'll realize that we've discovered his trail. And that could change everything about the invasion.
"So, no. We're not doing anything to the village. We can't afford to. Let them be – at least until after the day of the eclipse."
There was silence in the boat for a long moment. And then Azula sat back with a laugh and a shake of her head.
"You have gotten better at lying, Zuzu. Just a little."
Zuko's eyes narrowed.
"You know as well as I do that suppressing any news of the village's punishment being leaked out would be child's play. But it is quite the good excuse not to take harsh action against the village," she sighed. "Good. Making up nice-sounding lies to justify your actions is a start. We'll make a ruler of you yet."
Zuko sighed. "We're still not doing anything to the village."
She raised her hands and gave a genial smile. "Have it your way, Zuko. Have it your way."
(X)
Several days later, Azula sat in her room at the palace, rifling through several reports.
The village had been hit with what Azula considered a slap on the wrist – the supplies that had obviously been stolen from the factory had been returned to the soldiers and no more was to be made of the matter. Neither General Mung nor the villagers were happy with the outcome, but at this point Azula was mostly concerned with getting them to stop bothering her.
More important was tracking the progress of the Avatar. She had collected a few scattered reports of recent disturbances in the Fire Nation, but if all or even most of them were true then he was taking the most long-winded, circuitous route through the Fire Nation possible. Which obviously wasn't the case, and she still wasn't any closer to pinpointing his location.
A part of her wondered if it would be better or worse to capture the Avatar before the date of the planned invasion. It would weaken it immensely, true, but they might be tempted to call it off, and Azula really preferred that she be able to trap what should really be the last vestiges of any effective resistance.
"Hey, Azula!"
She glanced up, "Oh, Ty Lee. What is it?"
"Zuko's been kinda broody lately, don't you think?"
Azula nodded once. "Well, hardly surprising. We now know the Avatar's alive, and likely to show up during the eclipse. If nothing else, he's probably worried that he'll be exiled again."
"That's… not good."
"No, it's not. I don't think he'll have much to worry about, though. Father really would rather no one know the Avatar is alive, and banishing Zuko again is just going to raise too many questions right now. If everything goes right, he's not going to make it out during the eclipse invasion anyway, so it'll all come to the same thing in the end."
"So…"
"He'll be fine as long as he doesn't do anything stupid," Azula concluded. "Is that all you came to ask, Ty Lee?"
"Actually, no," Ty lee paused. "You remember how when we were heading to the village you said we could go out and take a break together after it was done?"
"I remember saying that I would think about it," Azula said without lifting her eyes from the report in front of her. "And that was before the Avatar problem decided to dump itself on my lap. So, no, I don't have the time for this."
"Aw, come on!" Ty Lee said and she ran up and grabbed Azula by the arm. Azula stiffened. "Weren't you the one who taught me that taking regular breaks was more efficient than working nonstop?"
Azula let out a long sigh and lay her pen down on the table. "All right. Fine. You win. You have one hour. Now, what did you have in mind?"
"You remember that old shop by the Old Jade Gate? The one with the best lava pudding ever? Yeah, I thought we could find Mai go there and get ourselves some dinner…"
And as she chattered away excitedly, Ty Lee bounded out of the room, leaving Azula to follow.
(X)
A thick cloak of darkness had fallen over the area, which suited Zuko fine. He didn't want anyone to see him, after all.
Ordinarily he might have been worried about Azula figuring out something and trailing him, but he had managed to get Ty Lee to make her go take a break, so she wouldn't be around for a while.
And this wouldn't take much time.
In the darkness, another figure approached.
"You're sure you weren't followed?"
A brief shake of the head was the response.
Zuko nodded, "All right then. I've heard about you. They say you're good at what you do. So here's my job. The Avatar is alive. I want you to find him, and end him."
The man he was facing nodded just once, letting the light catch on the tattooed eye on his forehead.
Chapter End
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