AN: (EDIT) This'll sound stupid, but I've been playing a lot of video games recently to essentially workshop for this story.
War of Rights to get down musket and maneuvering warfare from both the soldier and command perspective of the general era, (as it's arguably the smoothest of those types of games,) since it'll be relevant soon.
H3VR and Blade and Sorcery for weapon familiarization.
AC: Black Flag, and Sea of Thieves for some naval stuff in the next book I'm storyboarding.
Then finally RDR2 (and H3VR once again,) and War Thunder's early-tier game for stuff that'll be relevant way later in Korra's time. (See Milk Trucks.)
On top of that, my job's been pilling on work recently, since we've got a big project coming up. Progress on the story has slowed, and I won't be posting anything until about June. Mostly I'll be doing quality-of-life edits to existing chapters. (Running the story through Grammarly.)
I went back and added a little blurb to the Day Of Black Sun invasion, having experienced the recent eclipse in totality, I can safely say the show doesn't exactly capture what it looks like.
Chapter 6 A Republic, If You Can Keep It.
The months drove on. In the north nights grew longer, and the days short. The solstice passed, and then the new year and Team Avatar had separated, though temporarily. Those with responsibilities to the Fire Nation had returned to the Capital. Toph had taken her leave to travel across the burgeoning Earth Republic, seeking out others who she believed to be capable of bending metal, before settling in a soon-to-be former Fire Nation Colony, the western half of the Guo Jia state, known to the colonists as Yu Dao. Suki had briefly returned to Kyoshi Island, before departing for the Fire Nation with several of her warriors to jointly train with the new Imperial Guard. Aang, Katara, and Sokka meanwhile had been personally assisting the most recent wave of Fire Nation colonials in returning to their homeland.
In Ba Sing Se, after three long and arduous months, the first Earth Republic Congress had gathered. Hei had made a slight miscalculation when crafting the articles that would federate the Earth Kingdom into a Republic. Firstly, the colonies that were still under Fire Nation Protection, even some run by Earth Kingdom Citizens by blood, had refused to participate, though that was somewhat expected, and a problem for the future. Secondly, the population of the Kingdom, despite the nearly three and a half million who'd died from the fighting, famines, and diseases spread by the war, was estimated to be well over fifty million, with an untold number still living in the colonies. The resulting congregation was expected to be comprised of over one thousand four hundred representatives, however, the states in the furthest reaches of the land, or those with looser cultural ties to the central power of Ba Sing Se, had elected to either send fewer representatives, citing that they would be speaking for their entire state and or city, or in the case of Kyoshi, the island's elder himself made the trip. The result was a congress of only six hundred thirty-four members. Nearly half of which came from Ba Sing Se and its well-populated surrounding states.
Having been crammed into the former King's Throne Room, the congregation set to their first task of selecting who would become the nation's executive minister and chancellor. A process in which Hei abstained from participating, beyond officiating. The resulting proverbial bloodbath of arguing and insult-hurling went on for over two hours, with several states suggesting that their leaders be elected as executive minister, and others threatening to secede. Finally, however, there was a consensus on nine people fit to be the minister, and with just 35% of the vote holding a majority, the former head of the Council of Five, General How was elected for his honor and loyalty to the nation amid the war and its occupation. Even those who didn't vote for him conceded he was adequate for the position.
Hei saw then, that despite his efforts, the nation with its size, varied cultures, and local government types seemed so fraught with corruption, that even a reformation attempt was beset by roadblocks and unforeseen consequences. The Earth Republic was but a day old and being held together only loosely by the same corruption Hei was trying to remove. As he sat alone in his office, writing the summons to General How, informing him of his election, Hei thought that perhaps he'd made a mistake. Corruption was so baked into the politics of the nation that perhaps the source of the Earth Kingdom's problems was the vacuum of power or a combination of both. After all, Long Feng, while a puppeteer, had never put any consideration into his shadow rule beyond the walls of the city.
Pausing, Hei set aside How's summons and began writing another letter in a soon-to-be series of inquiries. He started with the Earth Sages, many of whom remained influential to the whispers of the Dai Li. A request was made for them to begin preaching for the spiritual unity of the Earth People in the wake of the war. Scholars at the University of Ba Sing Se, the exporters of knowledge and learning across the kingdom, would receive persuasive letters as well. Several powerful governors from across the Republic could be convinced that a unified nation would be economically wise. All of this to create the idea of a single "Earth Citizen" identity.
More covertly, Hei's under secretariat in the Dai Li could oversee the excavation of secrets many of the representatives ought to have… But perhaps there was someone who could be of greater use in that regard… And someone else who could act on those secrets.
In Caldera, moonlight shown on the royal palace. The Fire Lord slept soundly, alone in his chambers, as clouds from the west cast the land in darkness. Unknown to the supplemental guards that had been posted, a shadow moved in the night. Further down the hallways of the feudal castle, the other permanent resident rested beside her husband-to-be. Rolling in his sleep, Connor's left arm fell onto the tile floor beside the low-sitting bed. Several seconds passed before all his hair began to stand on end. The earth bender's eyes opened, and he sat up aggressively, throwing off the sheet that covered him and Azula both, before putting his palm flat on the tile beside him, feeling two thumps vibrate through the earthen material. Azula lifted her head up from her pillow. "Connor?" She asked groggily.
"Two people just fell over on the floor below us." He said, before kicking his legs off of the bed.
"What?" Azula asked, sitting up, and rubbing her eyes, as her betrothed quickly grabbed a pair of breeches from the dresser against the wall.
"Someone's in the palace." Connor said, buttoning the pants up. "They're running towards the staircase on the other side of the building." He paused. "Oh shit, Zuko's in trouble."
"Oh, for Agni's sake." Azula said, as she got up, and pulled her night robe off its stand.
Pistol in hand, Connor exited the room first, followed by Azula, her hands raised, fingers poised to cast flames at a moment's notice. The two quickly made their way through the palace, before reaching Zuko's door, the two guards seeming surprised to see them.
"Princes?" The closest of the two asked, breaking his position of attention, the carbine he held being raised into port arms.
"We have an infiltrator." Azula said.
"Have you been attacked? Are they following you?" The second guard asked, as well pulling his cap lock up, through into shoulder arms.
Connor's attention shifted to the end of the hallway, as the last remnant of moonlight peeking through the window curtains faded with the thickening overcast. The two guards looked into the darkness with him. Connor raised his gun, and Azula lit a blue flame in her hand to illuminate the hallway better. The two guards lowered their carbines, but by then it was too late. Two fist-sized stones tethered to chains flew down the hallway, and made impact squarely against the foreheads of the two guards, knocking one down, and stunning the other.
The stunned guard negligently discharged his carbine, filling the hallway with smoke. Connor, having a vague sense of where the attacker was as the chains retracted, waited until Azula threw a fireball down the hallway to give him a better shot.
The intruder was briefly visible under the fireball light, and Connor fired once, before the chain attached to the rock wrapped around his right foot and pulled him over. Azula threw another bright blue fireball down the hallway, but their attacker dodged it. Both Connor and the knocked-over guard got back to their feet, and fired down the hallway together, as the door beside them opened.
Zuko looked around frantically, an orange fire in his palm. "What's going on!?" He asked before the guards shoved him back into the room.
"There's an assassin in the palace!" Azula said loudly, throwing another fireball down the hallway, catching the curtains on fire, which slightly improved their lighting situation. The infiltrator could be seen more clearly. Covered in black, the person stood at just above Azula's height and held a spooled chain in her left hand. Connor raised an eyebrow, seeing how rusty the chain was.
Heavy footfalls came from either end of the hallway, and lantern glow began to peek around the corner. The rest of the palace guard converged on their location after the gunfire alerted them. Looking over their shoulder, the would-be assassin swept their chain across the nearest flaming curtain to clear it from the window, which they would have been able to easily jump out of, had their stone and crude iron linked tether not immediately wrapped around their torso, and dragged them by their heels into Connor's outstretched hand.
The assassin looked up at Connor through their mask, going wide-eyed now that they could see him clearly. He smiled a little. "Pretty smart, putting a rock inside a cage like this. You must be an accomplished earth bender, but steel is my element." Connor said, raising his hand, pistol still drawn to lift the stone attached to the chain with his bending. Zuko peeked out of his room, and the rest of the guards filled the hallway.
"Steel?" The assassin asked quietly to themselves, before Connor pulled the mask away, revealing the attacker to be a woman.
Azula lowered her hands, as Zuko stepped into the hallway, addressing the girl. "You've got some nerve breaking in here."
"Speaking of which…" Connor cut in. "There's a tunnel where this girl dug into the wine cellar, and guards knocked out on the floor below." Nearly half of the guards hurried off to secure the breach into the palace and find their comrades.
Zuko glanced at the still burning curtains, before forcefully exhaling, snuffing the fires. "Now that I know how you broke in, I can ask, why did you do it?"
"You mean other than to kill you?" The assassin asked, before Connor gently tapped her on the top of the head with the grip of his pistol, causing her to flinch.
"Don't be a prat." He said with an eye roll. "And tell the truth, I can feel your heartbeat. I'll know when you're lying." Connor lied, his sensitivity to seismic vibrations not quite up to par with Toph just yet.
"It really would be smart of you to cooperate." Azula said with a smirk. "Ratting out anyone who might have helped you is a good way to avoid execution."
All eyes were on the assassin now, and she blinked hard for a second. "My name is Kori, I'm a citizen of the colonies. My family has been loyal to the throne for generations, ever since Sozin first came to the Earth Kingdom."
Connor scratched the side of his head with the hammers of his gun. "Well, color me surprised, another earth bender who was on our side."
"That was until you betrayed us!" Kori shouted at Zuko, tears welling in her eyes. "We were productive Fire Nation citizens. We supported the war effort. My father sent his only son to die for the glory of our country, and for what? So you could give away our home to the same people that killed him?"
Zuko and Azula looked at each other, and Zuko took a step closer to Kori. "And did your father send you to kill me?"
Kori balled his fists. "My father is a colonial governor. He has too much to lose opposing you… But I've got nothing… I've acted alone."
"Where are you from? Which Colony?" Azula asked.
Connor pulled Kori to her feet so the two were nearly eye to eye. She scowled at him. "Yu Dao."
In Ba Sing Se's lower ring, it was business as usual. While massive swaths of the ring were being reconstructed with the assistance of earth benders and centralized planning that the impoverished boroughs had not seen in centuries, much of the economy was still stagnant. Jin, once she'd returned from her quest to bring Samuel to Hei, had predictably gone back to her life of lowly prostitution, though without the far more gratifying side job of murdering Fire Army officers. On her way to find what would be her third client of the evening, Jin came to a halt, as a woman in a cream-colored dress stood in front of her, a thin smile present. The face was familiar, but it was her gray eyes that made Jin remember the woman. "You're that one servant who was with Hei."
"I'm Joo Dee." The servant said, keeping her hands in her robe sleeves.
"But wasn't the other woman named Joo Dee?" Jin asked, somewhat confused.
The woman smirked. "We all are, darling." Jin raised an eyebrow at that. "But my name isn't as important as why I've been sent to find you."
"Does Hei want something?" Jin asked. "I appreciate that he's been providing for my mother, but unless it's something that pays, or is of massive importance to the Kingdom, I'm not interested."
"Because you've got such important work to do here? Riding dick in what's left of the slums?" Joo Dee asked, her smile disappearing. "Believe me, I lived that life. So unless you've found a way to keep yourself from becoming just another loose Flowering Willow Disease-afflicted whore by age thirty, you'll at least listen to the proposition Hei has in mind for you."
Jin rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Does he want me to be his concubine or something? Because if that's the case, I don't see what difference it would make whether I'm "riding"..." Jin made quotations with her fingers, though her arms still crossed. "The entire lower ring, or just him."
"Oh, no, that would be my job." Joo Dee said, taking her left hand from her sleeve to press her fingers to her chest, her smirk returning. "And while there are many benefits that come with being the only woman Hei can sleep with, sans spreading lover's fire, they're nothing compared to what's being offered to you."
Jin narrowed her eyes. "I'm listening."
Joo Dee's expression became neutral. "Before the walls came down, the Dai Li controlled not just the narrative of the war, but the illicit activities that took place in the Lower Ring. Gambling, opium trade, prostitution, things like that. After all, these things were predominantly caused by the economic downturn due to the war, and unregulated proliferation of these things means they are not being taxed, and the treasury is not getting its cut."
"What does this have to do with Hei's offer?" Jin asked.
Joo Dee smiled slightly. "Provide you with context. The war is over, but these industries of vice remain. Even if the city pulls itself out of the rut it's in, the culture of Ba Sing Se will have grown used to the whoring, the highs, and the wagering. Without Dai Li control, it's never going to go away, and it's not going to be legalized, not until the economy recovers in full and the drugs, hookers, and bet houses can be brought to heel and taxed again without protest, which could take as many as ten years."
"And?" Jin asked, growing somewhat impatient.
"Hei believes that it would be best if the city's crime was self-correcting in a way, or even beneficial to the nation as it stands." Joo Dee held her hand up to Jin. "In short, he wants you to take control of the various prostitution rings throughout Ba Sing Se, organize them, and provide leisure for the many representatives and interstate government officials that will be visiting the city."
"That sounds like a job for a far more experienced whore to me." Jin said with a smirk.
It was Joo Dee's turn to roll her eyes. "My position as a servant to Hei prevents this. Until the time comes when these currently socially unacceptable practices become acceptable to the broader Earth Republic, Hei and the rest of the city's legitimate government can not be associated directly with their existence."
"And I'm supposed to just take over one of the three largest criminal enterprises to ever exist at age sixteen?" Jin asked.
"Who do you think was in charge of Ba Sing Se's pleasure district before it was shut down by the Dai Li?" Joo Dee smirked.
Jin tilted her head a little. "Huh…" She murmured. "So those rumors the other girls on the street talked about. Women going missing and turning up in the upper ring as tea servants? Those are true?"
Joo Dee nodded. "Many former whores had our memories erased or replaced by the former grand secretariat's design. Hei has of course been making efforts to break our conditioning as best he can since he assumed command. Older ladies that had been in for a while recovered quickly, and most are out on their own, but some of the younger more recently "freed" women… Well, they don't fare so well knowing the truth… "rewriting" their history is what we've had to do recently. Give them a pleasant lie to live while still serving."
"That's terrifying… On so many levels." Jin said, rubbing the side of her head. "And you're…?" She trailed off.
"Free? Yes." Joo Dee said.
"Then, why still go by, Joo Dee? Don't you remember your name? Your old life?" Jin asked.
"Remembering it all is part of the reason I choose to be Joo Dee." She said, shivering a little. "Ignorance was such bliss, and unfortunately Hei can not afford to have his right-hand woman being no more than a mindless minion… But still, the question remains if you're willing to be Hei's eyes and ears within the sex trade."
"I don't see how I could do it." Jin shrugged. "I can handle myself, but half of the girls in the lower ring have panderers who they answer to. How exactly am I supposed to deal with several dozen already established men of the trade? Or manage the girls I'd be a madam for?"
Joo Dee smirked once more, as she turned and started walking away. "How'd you deal with the Fire Army?"
Zuko, the diligent Fire Lord he was, had made a decision. The entire reason he agreed to return the colonies to the Earth Republic was for peace and stability, and if there was to be rebellion over this ceding of territory he would do what he must to quell their apprehension to the idea, even if it meant making a personal appearance to guide the citizens of the Fire Nation back to their ancestral home islands.
Kori would be coming with him, though in chains. She was a minor by Fire Nation law despite her apparent competency and would have to be returned to her father before any kind of investigation, or trial could be conducted. Azula and Connor were in tow too. Both for their separate adversarial positions and the level of security that came with them. A company-sized guard detachment would as well be accompanying the royal procession as it traveled from port to the city of Yu Dao within the colonial holding, and the Active Army in the colonies was put on alert.
They'd marched into town, or rode in on a komodo-rhino in Zuko's case, Kori walking in front of the company of soldiers in handcuffs. They pressed onwards directly to the city center intending to go right to the governor's house, but it seemed that would be unnecessary.
"Stop, stop!" A voice shouted from a rickshaw coming out of a side street. A portly man in Fire Nation robes, with sideburns and a top knot, dismounted the human-pulled cart and jogged at a pace befitting his physical disposition up to Kori, who'd broken away from the formation. "Kori, oh good heavenly spirits, where have you been?" He asked, embracing the girl. By now the procession had come to a halt, and Zuko had dismounted his komodo-rhino. Both Connor and Azula had come to stand on either side of him. "Why are you in chains, with these soldiers? What have you done?"
Kori pushed her father away a little. "I… I went to find someone who could solve our problem."
The man looked up, and his heart dropped into his stomach, as the scarred face of the Fire Lord, his sister who'd toppled Ba Sing Se, and their freak of nature bodyguard stood before him. "Fire Lord Zuko…" He said before swallowing.
"Governor Morishita." Zuko said, formally addressing the man. "Your daughter broke into the Royal Palace and tried to kill me…" Morishita made a movement to drop to his knees and prostrate himself, but Zuko held a hand up. "Cease with the groveling and apologizing. She's already explained that you had nothing to do with it. I'm not here to retaliate for her actions."
"Then… Why have you come all this way to the colonies, your highness?" Morishita asked.
"I want to know why the people of the colony would be against reintegrating with the homeland." Zuko said. "Why would you be against the peace brokered between the Fire Nation and Earth Republic?"
Morishita raised an eyebrow at that. "My lord, I feel as if the answer should be quite obvious. My family and I were born here, our fathers were born here, and their fathers were born here. And ordering us to move to the Fire Nation Archipelago isn't brokering peace, it's admitting defeat. After everything that the people of this land have had to do to turn it from a backwoods colony into a functioning state of its own, it would be a dishonor to those who've died fighting for it, to just give it away." Morishita paused. "I might be fire by blood, but my home, my living family are of this earth beneath us…" Morishita held an arm around Kori's shoulders. "And I think I, as well as many others, would be willing to die to keep it."
Zuko closed his eyes for a moment, before looking over his shoulder at both Azula and Connor. "I… I understand." Zuko turned to the guard carrying the key to Kori's handcuffs. "Release her." He said. As the guard freed Kori, another handed her back her stone-headed chain flail. Morishita looked somewhat surprised. "I said I was not here to retaliate."
"Then… It would be an honor for the Fire Lord to be our guest." Morishita said, bowing politely.
On a Fire Nation cargo carrier ship in the Mo Ce Sea, Aang, Sokka, and Katara were assisting in the resettlement of a colonial town from the northern territories back to the Fire Nation proper. Muttered complaints from the citizens after the long boat ride had become all too common. Aang, always the voice of optimism, had tried to convince the town's leader, Mayor Nishi, that the move was for the best. "You're people don't have to worry about a thing. Dozens of colonies have moved back to the home islands, and they've loved coming back."
The two rested on Appa's leg, as the bison napped the mid-afternoon away on the ship's weather deck. Mayor Nishi's ankle had been acting up, and she was at least thankful The Avatar's steed was so comforting to sit on, as the boy himself seemed rather strange. "Returning to the Fire Nation is a remedy for the homesickness many newer colonists feel, but for those of us who've grown roots in the Fire Nation, having to pick up your life and adapt to a different land might be… Uncomfortable." She said, looking up, seeing a messenger hawk fly into the ship's conning tower.
Aang shrugged. "Well, things are different in the Fire Nation now anyway. Fire Lord Zuko's been doing a whole bunch to reform the country and restore classic culture."
"And that might be part of the problem." Mayor Nishi said before the ship began to aggressively roll to the left, nearly throwing Aang to his feet. "We're turning around?" Nishi asked, noticing the ship had begun to pull to the right.
Aang jumped up onto Appa's back, grabbed his staff, and quickly deployed the wings to sail up onto the ship tower's balcony. "Hey, what gives? Why are we going back to the colonies?" Aang asked the ship's captain, who stood beside his helmsman at the wheel, and his navigator, the latter man with a hawk on his shoulder.
"We've just received orders. We're returning these people to their homes." The captain said.
"Orders? Who's orders?" Aang asked, folding up his staff.
The captain looked at the helmsman for a second. "Fire Lord Zuko's… All colonial holdings that have existed for more than twenty years will not be returned to the Earth Kingdom."
Only a short distance north from Yu Dao's city center, in a large single-story building seated along the side of a ridge of low mountains, Toph Beifong "observed" in a manner of speaking, the only three people who she'd come across that had any amount of potential to metal bend… And they were sorely disappointing her.
Really they were disappointing her space-earth bracelet. Truthfully Toph didn't believe the three were capable of bending metal, and they were pretty bad earth benders too, but something in the back of her mind that Connor had said when she'd first taught him to metal bend wouldn't go away. "... Fire Nation cast iron. A twentieth of the metal is impurities, probably more..." Her bracelet was made mostly of metal, but there was plenty of space-earth crud, definitely more than a twentieth. Amid her travels across the kingdom, these three had been the only ones who'd been able to move the bracelet. Not by much, but enough to make it shake when she'd asked them to bend it, and that was saying more than every other earth bender out there who couldn't do it.
She'd tried to recreate the conditions that both she and Connor had been able to learn under. Dissecting the first lesson of lifting the iron pan down to its fundamentals. Depriving the sensation of sight, in the hopes they could feel the earth trapped inside the metal. Treating metal and earth as one and the same. Focusing on the earth, and not what it had become. Simplifying the task down to moving solid metal instead of trying to warp it right away. Even then the three were struggling to lift a lousy pan off the ground, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort. The problem was that her three students were crazy.
Ho Tun was a fat wimp from Ji Qiang Island, a state in the Earth Republic's south, who nearly broke down crying every time Toph raised her voice at him. Penga was a spoiled nine-year-old girl from a rich family in Ba Sing Se's inner ring, but her dad was effectively bankrolling the academy. Moo-Chee was self-loathing and cynical, which was about on par given he was from Yu Dao. At the least, he was patient and level-headed enough to listen to her.
She'd started the day's lesson with her space-earth bracelet broken up into three separate pieces. (She'd need to find some more meteorites when the opportunity presented itself.) The task was simple. Push the bracelet chunk off of the table. While this sounded like a short order, the three had only just finished their blindfolded earth bending lessons the week prior, and none had seemed to develop the same seismic sense that she and Connor had to work with, so the result was predictable that the bracelet pieces rattled, but would not otherwise move.
Sighing, Toph snatched all three pieces of the bracelet off of the table her students were using and reformed it into a single piece wrapping around her bicep.
"Hey!" Penga said in irritation. "Sifu, I was so close."
"Who are you kidding, none of us were moving the space rocks to begin with." Moo-Chee said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah." Toph said as she stood up. "Looks like you three are still a long way off from actually metal bending. Break out the blindfolds, the three of you aren't touching my bracelet again until you can run laps to Yu Dao and back dodging flying rocks with your eyes shut."
"Aw man, I hate the blindfolds." Ho Tun said to himself, as Toph made her way to the building's front door.
"And since someone's been sneaking food from the academy's pantry, I have to do a little wholesale shopping. I want bruises and bloody knuckles when I get back, people!" Toph said, before making her exit, slamming the door for effect.
After Aang had learned which message relay station the hawk that delivered Zuko's orders had been sent from, and consequently where the station would have received the order from, he (with Sokka's help) plotted a course to Yu Dao. Finally arriving after a day of travel, Appa gently landed outside of the city's north gate, and before Aang could even drop down to the ground beside him, he heard a familiar voice.
"I thought that was Appa flying around." Turning, Aang saw Toph approaching them from up the road.
"Toph!" Aang shouted as he, Sokka, and Katara all came down from Appa's saddle to hug their friend.
"Hey, Twinkle Toes." She said with a grin, as The Avatar embraced her, followed by Katara and finally Sokka. Momo of course flew over to circle his fourth favorite human's head.
"I can't believe we ran into you again." Katara said.
"What happened to the whole "travel around the Earth Kingdom to teach metal bending" thing?" Sokka asked.
"Eh, got tired of walking and boat rides after a month." Toph shrugged. "So I just made a school instead. I figure the metal benders can just come to me now. You guys probably flew right over it on the way here."
"That's great, Toph." Sokka said, as Appa groaned and approached her.
Toph giggled, as she reached out and rubbed Appa's fuzzy forehead. "It's nice to see you too, Sheddy." Appa exhaled on her forcefully in protest at the nickname.
Katara placed a hand on Toph's shoulder. "It's actually great that you're here, Toph. We could use all the help we can get."
"Why? What kind of trouble did you three get into without me?" Toph asked.
"We're not in trouble, but someone's about to be. Zuko changed his mind on giving the colonies back to the Earth Republic." Katara said.
"What?" Toph asked, somewhat confused. "It was his idea to hand them over in the first place."
"I know." Aang said somewhat exasperated. "But I trust Zuko. There's got to be a reason why he's doing this, and a way to talk him out of it."
While Appa laid down to rest after his long flight, everyone passed through the city's north gate, where four of the local Fire Army soldiers stationed there welcomed Aang with a respectful bow. Sokka adjusted how his pistol sat in between his waist and his belt as the gang passed by a group of five men outside a bar, none wearing a uniform of any kind, but all carrying muskets over their shoulders. "What's with them?" He asked no one in particular as he followed Aang past a water fountain, through the city center, until they finally reached the governor's house, situated on a short hill.
There were several of Zuko's personal guards posted outside of the house's main gate, which was closed. Aang (gently) set the end of his staff into the ground. "I'm Avatar Aang, I'm here to see Fire Lord Zuko." He said as authoritatively (but respectfully) as he could.
One of the guards disappeared behind the wooden gate, before returning a minute later. "His Majesty will be out to see you in a moment."
Aang nodded at the news, and let his staff rest against his shoulder. Two more minutes passed. Had he not been wearing his shoes Aang would have sensed Zuko's approach as Toph had, and been less anxious. "Here he comes." Toph said a second before the gate was opened for Zuko.
"Aang." Zuko said, not shocked, but not quite sure how he should greet his friend either. "I wasn't expecting you."
"Uh, you probably should have." Katara said, putting her hands on her hips.
"What gives, man? Why'd you go back on your promise to give the Earth Kingdom the colonies?" Sokka asked bluntly.
Zuko paused for a moment. "I…" He sighed. "I think it would work better if I just showed you. Come with me." He said, before motioning for the gang to follow him through the city's busy commercial district. Toph shrugged, seeing no reason not to tag along further. Aang and the others stepped off behind Zuko.
They passed by an ancient statue of a badger mole, the remains of a small shrine that had once been at the city's old heart, before it was well and truly a city. Zuko glanced at it as he spoke. "Yu Dao is one of the three oldest of the Fire Nation colonies. Most of the Fire Nation people living here are the direct descendants of the first immigrants who moved to the Earth Kingdom after the war officially started, back when Yu Dao was nothing more than a hotel stop for travelers going between Taku and Omashu by land." They stopped outside of Mr. Goo-Chee-La-Poo-Chee's forge for a moment, the shop operated by his wife just next door. The mastersmith's apprentice, his second son, beating away on a red hot piece of metal. "But now look at it." Zuko said, moving on. "Yu Dao does some of the finest metal work outside of Caldera, and it's because the two peoples living here use both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom techniques. It's a center of commerce, industry, and artistic beauty." Zuko said as they passed a mural depicting a sun peeking halfway over a mountain. "They've taken wisdom from separate places, and because of that, it's grown to be one of the wealthiest and most successful in the world in only a century."
Katara noticed a shoe polisher off to her right. A man in Earth Kingdom green cleaning scuffs off of an older Fire Nation gentleman's boot, the hat beside him containing a few mixed coins, the majority of which was silver. It didn't exactly paint a good picture of the two people's relationship to her though. "It doesn't seem like the Earth Kingdom citizens are sharing that wealth equally."
Zuko looked left over his shoulder. "Does it matter? Everyone, including the earth people, are so much better off now than they were a hundred years ago, to the point that some of the poorest citizens of this city, the poorest in the wider reaches of the colony itself even, earn enough to import white porcelain tea sets, jade jewelry, and silks."
Sokka looked to the left, seeing two women in luxurious green day dresses pass them by. "They're living better than some people in the Fire Nation are." He said to himself.
Aang looked up at the sky for a moment. "Yeaaaah… The history and economics lesson is great and all, but Zuko, you're breaking the promise you made to the Earth Kingdom. This land belongs to them. This could spark another war."
Zuko looked slightly down as he heard Aang voice his concern. "I'm aware. The reason I came here in the first place was to figure out why the people of Yu Dao didn't want to leave, hoping I could change their minds once I understood them. And if all else failed I was willing to forcefully remove the colonists…"
"But you had a change of heart?" Toph asked as they came to a stop just outside a "Stone & Jewel," store.
"Wouldn't you?" Zuko asked, looking through the store window, a small smile on his face. Everyone looked through the store window to see Azula and Connor at the counter. The princess held her hand up to inspect her fingers, a small gold ring, with a blue gem nestled into the metal. She caught sight of Zuko looking through the window, and scoffed with an eye roll, before saying something to Connor.
Zuko cleared his throat. "The people of Yu Dao, both Earth and Fire, are citizens of the Fire Nation, and it's their wish to remain so." He said, just as Azula booted the shop door open.
The princess smirked. "When I said, Connor and I were going shopping, I didn't mean, "invite everyone we know to come and interrupt," Zuzu."
"They're here about the colony remaining part of the Fire Nation." Zuko said flatly.
Azula's smirk disappeared. "I was being sarcastic, and I know. I was the one who told you they would eventually show up, but oh, don't listen to me, it's a full moon and I'm not thinking straight… It's lovely to see all of you again, by the way." She said, politely bowing to the group. Aang returned the Fire Nation greeting.
Toph grinned. "It's great to "see" you too, Spice Queen."
"So what are you two doing here?" Sokka asked. "I mean, out… accessory shopping, not what are you doing in Yu Dao in a broader sense."
Azula held up her left hand, where a ring with a sapphire in it sat around her fourth finger. "Connor felt bad about having "undersold" his initial proposal to me, and wanted to buy something befitting a royal engagement."
"So he got you a rock?" Aang asked, cocking his head to the right.
"It's an engagement ring." Connor said.
"Oh." Katara said. "Is it sorta like a Water Tribe betrothal necklace, but for the Fire Nation?"
"It's a practice from Connor's world. All the royalty in Europe do it apparently." Azula said, smiling to herself. "I think it's a sweet gesture."
"Riiiight." Aang said. "As you were saying Zuko? The people of the Earth Republic who live here want to be Fire Nation Citizens?"
"It's not some hog-monkey's paw of a deal, Aang." Zuko said, turning to his friend. "The rights and privileges of a Fire Nation Citizen alone would be worth it… Though I'll admit the responsibilities and obligations might be frustrating now that the war is over."
"Responsibilities?" Aang asked.
"He means taxes." Azula said, crossing her arms. "Well that and wartime recruitment participation, but currently it's just the taxes."
"Well… How bad are the taxes?" Katara asked eyebrow raised curiously.
"It's nothing the colony can't handle." Zuko said. "The Fire Nation Home Islands are being taxed more than the colonies, but rates universally had to be increased. The government owes money to all of the companies that made everything the army and navy had, and if it was paid for with money from the treasury right now, the Fire Nation itself would be in the red since previous resource gains from the occupied territories in the Earth Kingdom, like coal and silver aren't something we can profit off of anymore."
"There's a three percent increase on the existing two percent tax on all imports and exports, with some one to two percent extras for luxury goods." Connor said flatly.
Toph raised both eyebrows. "Wait, so luxury imports have a seven percent tax? That's ridiculous."
"If you think that's bad, imagine paying a tax for every piece of paper you purchase." Connor said mostly to himself.
"Like I said though, the colonies can handle it." Zuko said with an eye roll.
"Ok, but what exactly does this have to do with the people of Yu Dao not wanting to be part of the Earth Republic?" Sokka asked.
"The people are pissed that they're being taxed, but have no say in how they're being ruled, or who they're going to be ruled by." Connor explained.
"Earth Republic taxes are just as bad, if not worse right now." Zuko said, rubbing the right side of his head. "Not only does Yu Dao want to avoid that, but they were upset that we were taxing them while actively giving over their land to the Earth Republic. And the citizens of the colony who are earth by blood, the ones who weren't born in the colony, but moved here during the war, would have been left to be reintegrated into the Earth Republic's rule."
"So why not just… Change the law to let them in?" Aang asked.
Zuko sighed. "I already made that consideration, Aang. The people of the colonies no matter their birth nation are allowed full access to the Fire Nation Home Islands, but the people don't want to leave."
"But you can't just go back on your word to Hei and the Earth Republic like this!" Aang nearly shouted.
"Except he can and ought to." Azula said. "The Fire Lord's duty is to his people and country. If his people's will is to remain on the land, then so be it."
"Some things are worth protecting, Aang." Zuko said, looking away from his friend. "And the lives that have been created here, they're worth it."
Aang rubbed his scalp where his tattoo ran out of frustration. "But the whole point of restoring the colonies was to bring back balance to the world, and there can't be balance if the nations are occupying each other, or aren't separate."
"What if…" Katara muttered, glancing between Connor and Azula, then Aang. "What if Yu Dao was an exception?" Aang turned to look at Katara and raised a confused eyebrow. "It's just an idea." She shrugged with a smile.
"Exceptions are being made for all of the colonies. Some of them are older than you are Aang." Zuko said.
Katara held up a hand. "Either way, this is something that the Earth Republic should be involved in."
"I sent a letter to Hei directly when I'd first set out, and I've gotten no response. Either it hasn't been received, or he's taking his sweet time." Zuko said. "I've written to him again, but as a precaution the Army is on alert, and two brigades from the Fourth Light Infantry Division are marching from their colonial garrison down to Yu Dao to support the local forces since this would be the first place the Earth Republic would be able to attack en masse if Hei has simply decided to ignore me and is preparing for war."
"War?!" Aang asked loudly. "Zuko, do you hear yourself? You're the one preparing for war."
"And we have plenty of cause to." Zuko bit back.
"Hold on, what if Aang and I went to see if Hei got the letter, or set up a meeting for you?" Katara suggested. "You know, just to clear up any possible misunderstandings."
"I'd be willing to sit down and talk with Hei." Zuko said, closing his eyes.