A. N. : The name "Awa", which I chose for a Fire Nation island, comes from the Japanese district/city of Awa (as of 2005, the the district ceased to exist as a result of the merging of multiple towns into the city of Awa) in the prefecture of Tokushima, where there is a famous hoodoos site. (Also, fun fact, in French we call hoodoos "cheminées de fées", meaning fairy chimney. It's such a cute name...) Once more, this all barely has anything to do with this chapter.
The Princess will not like this.
Of all the things Qin could picture going wrong, the Avatar turning out to be alive was not one of them. But the message Xia overheard was unmistakeable. An individual bearing the tattoos of a master airbender and showing signs of airbending was spotted on the eastern island of Awa. The individual matches the reported age of the deceased Avatar. Anyone with a minimum of good sense knows what this has to mean.
The Avatar is alive.
This is, of course, terrible news, both for the Fire Nation in general, and for the Princess in particular. Qin could hardly care less for the Fire Nation, if he is to be quite honest, but the Princess is a whole other matter entirely.
If her position suffers from this, as it assuredly will, there is no knowing the exact consequences. It all rests in the Fire Lord's hands, and the information gleaned regarding his potential reactions to failure are far from encouraging. The Princess could find herself standing in quite boiling water pretty soon.
And Qin doesn't know what he will do.
The sight she offered in Ba Sing Se, her brilliance and greatness – it inspired him, it made him want to see how far she would go, made him want to be there, as close as possible, just to find out the results. He still stands by this, too. Still feels a curiosity he usually reserves to the art of brewing and to the workings of the human mind.
He wants to see the realization of the Princess' potential. But he fears there might soon be nothing to witness anymore.
Perhaps it is only a setback that can be corrected through clever planning, perhaps nothing too problematic will come of it. Qin will have to wait and see. But if it turns out the Princess can not recover from this mistake, then…
Qin sighs. His tea has grown cold – a bad sign, he usually deals with such matters much faster. There has to be something he is overlooking, something that's preventing him from making his choice.
Young Agent Han is looking at him worriedly. He too has been quite anxious since this particular piece of news came about. Being restricted to their quarters is of no help either – but the two of them are no spies, and as such, the most they can do in this situation is centralize information and sort it in a way that is both concise and sensible.
But of course, that doesn't mean they cannot discuss their personal worries. It is important that Agent Han doesn't keep things to himself until he breaks – this kind of burden is too heavy, too dangerous on the mind. It would be a shame to lose a promising element this way.
And so Qin offers him tea – a simple attempt at conviviality, really, but one Agent Han awkwardly rejects. He hasn't accepted anything Qin brewed since they left Ba Sing Se either. Clever boy.
Qin asks him what he makes of everything they gathered thus far. This demand easily passes for an exercise in synthesis, but the interpretation Agent Han will offer should give some important clues as to what, precisely, bothers him. Agent Han starts with a rather simple report, before stopping in the middle of a sentence –
Did they make the wrong choice ?
The question catches Qin by surprise. Not only did Agent Han understand Qin's intentions quite fast – this perceptiveness is truly his greatest strength, Qin knew he was right to take him along to the Fire Nation – but this interrogation echoes his own doubts, in a way.
They are, however, not quite the same. To Agent Han, the worry comes from the past – siding with the Fire Nation was an act of pragmatism, he thought, but if the Avatar lives and manages to turn things around, they will suffer greatly. He isn't afraid of death – there is something hard in his voice, and Qin suddenly remembers Agent Han comes from the streets of the Lower Ring – but he has never had a place outside of the Dai Li. If the organization is disbanded, Agent Han doesn't know where he will go.
It is a heavy burden to bear, without a doubt. Qin doesn't quite understand these feelings – he himself only ever followed whatever caught his interest, with no regards for the world around – but he can sympathize.
If it is any comfort, however, Agent Han should know Qin holds no doubts regarding his ability to adapt, no matter the events that might come his way. There is a reason he was chosen for Lake Laogai, after all. If he lives, even alone, he will make a place for himself in this world. He is young. He has the time.
Earth can recover from even the worst of landslides, and that is true of people as well.
Agent Han raises an eyebrow – does this apply to everyone, or just to earthbenders, Sir ? – but Qin can see some of the weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Good. Comforting people was never a strong suit of his, but it seems to have been a success this time. And Agent Han keeps on surprising him – if I may, Sir – asking if Qin, too, is worried.
And isn't that the crux of the issue ? Qin is worried. Not just doubtful or hesitant, not even worried for his own interests, for the possibility of losing his chance to witness something amazing.
Qin worries for the Princess. Simple as that. He has grown to care for her and her friends, it only stands to reason that he would wish for their safety. Why he didn't realize this earlier… probably has to do with the fact that all his relationships for the past twenty years or so were framed in a professional light, which he relied on, while his interactions with the girls have been quite unorthodox in this regard, thanks to Lady Ty Lee's efforts. Manicure sessions and tea parties hardly count as professional, at least in his line of work.
He thanks Agent Han for his concern. There isn't much to worry about with such a competent apprentices around, he says – and he means it. Agent Han lacks experiences, but he has enough maturity and resilience that he could resist the most violent of changes. Qin will need to push his training from now on, to prepare for any possibility.
In the current circumstances, interrogation – especially the subtle kind that doesn't say its name – seems like a reasonable thing to work on. The exercise will be a simple one – Agent Han will have to obtain, through any means he can think of, and directly from the ostrich-horse's mouth, one piece of information of his choice regarding Qin. Anything, from his favorite tea to the name of his first pet, is fair game. The time limit is one day.
Of course, this task is designed to be unfair. The goal here is to push Agent Han's creativity and pinpoint where he is lacking, to allow for more precise work later on. Tomorrow, Qin will also start forming Agent Han to more varied forms of mindbending. There might not be time to do these things at a more relaxed pace anymore soon, after all.
That is the choice Qin made.