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Jasmine swooped low over the water, its rider watching the Serpent's Pass Bridge pass by to his left. He remembered it all too well; he had been there when it opened.

The previous Earth King, seeking a grand engineering project to stamp his authority upon his kingdom, had eventually settled upon trying to bring Ba Sing Se and the rest of the Earth Kingdom closer together by building a huge bridge across what had been known as the Serpent's Pass, a treacherous, narrow, hilly path that had previously been the only way other than by ship or sky-bison to cross the water. Parts of it had been demolished to make room.

Iroh had actually been here before, once, with his mother and father when he was a small boy at the grand opening ceremony of the bridge. He had walked across it, marvelling at its size and the engineering skill of those who had built it. The Earth King had achieved all his ambitions with it.

But now it was turned against his successor.

A line of tanks rumbled across the bridge, followed by troop carriers and supply trucks. Below, an improvised port had been set up, and two merchant ships lay at anchor, being unloaded by swarms of dockhands as Jasmine flew over them.

Now the siege camp itself came into view. The Fire Nation had already been busy. Trenches and roads stretched off in either direction, the troops setting about encircling the city and cutting off all lines of supply. Lines of vehicles were parked up, while improvised barracks had been constructed. Lines of siege artillery were also there, ranging from more modern firebending cannon mounted on tanks to more traditional counterweight trebuchets, onagers, ballistas, and even a couple of mangonels, very old weapons which were used by men physically pulling ropes at the front.

His brother truly was throwing everything at this siege, Iroh knew.

After circling a couple more times, Jasmine began to descend, aiming for the largest and most richly decorated building. His countrymen really had been busy; their command centre and many other buildings were already built from wood, rather than being a tent. Sentries scattered as they saw him approach, and the dragon thudded into the ground with a grunt.

Iroh scrambled off it as men in more finely decorated armour, indicative of higher rank, began to scramble out of the building.

"Prince Iroh," a voice called.

"Ah, General Norimasa," Iroh bowed.

Norimasa was the man in command of the first stage of the siege. He had a severe face and a permanent scowl, but he was good at his job. After all, he had made it here with his army first. He wore the gold-laced armour which marked him out as one of the most senior field commanders in the Fire Nation army.

"My brother has sent me to assume command," he continued, reaching into his robes and pulling out papers which he handed to the General. Norimasa looked down, reading the papers with a satisfied nod.

"I see," he said. "Well, I think we can do all that."

He gestured around them.

"We have 20,000 men here so far, thirty regiments' worth, from all across the Fire Nation. More are arriving every day, as every general in the Earth Kingdom sends what they can spare. We've even managed to pick up a few local auxiliaries."

"Auxiliaries?"

"Earthbenders," Norimasa said, "Who've joined us, either out of fear of mistreatment in our camps or desire to get ahead in our new world order. Many of them feel no particular loyalty to Ba Sing Se."

Iroh narrowed his eyes.

"And would you have mistreated them in prison camps?" He asked.

"Me?" Norimasa looked at him. "I hope not. But I'm not in charge of those camps."

He pointed to the walls.

"Normally, what we would do is tunnel our way towards the outer defences, zig-zagging to make it harder for any artillery they have to fire straight down the trench. But we're fighting Earthbenders, so we may have to rethink that strategy. We don't want our trenches to just swallow our men for no reason."

"What do you propose we do instead?" Iroh asked.

"I did have one idea..." Norimasa suggested. "We have captured an awful lot of prisoners."

"Oh?" Iroh did not like where this was going.

"We chain them together, give them pickaxes and whatever mining tools we can bring in, and order them to begin dismantling the outer walls brick by brick."

Iroh was horrified by the ruthlessness of this situation.

"We can't do that!"

"Why not?" Norimasa asked, genuinely curious. "Either they hold their fire and watch as their walls are broken down around them, or they fire on their own people."

"Look at me," Iroh stared straight into his eyes. "I. Will. Not. Use. Human. Shields. Do you understand?"

Norimasa stared back for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Very well. Understood, my Prince. What do you suggest we do instead?"

"Use boulders instead," Iroh told him. "Bring up the artillery and begin a bombardment of the walls. That will keep them on their toes while we think of a new strategy."

Norimasa nodded to a junior officer, who ran away. Then he turned back to Iroh.

"Oh, by the way, we've recieved news from the south. The Avatar has been spotted in the Earth Kingdom again. She's still travelling with the Prince and Princess of the South, an Air Nomad, and someone new; we think a Warrior from Kyoshi Island in the far South."

"Really?" Iroh mused. "Well, that will make things easier for my son then. Lu Ten's been given a special mission to find her by the Firelord, you see."

"I must pray to the spirits for his success," Norimasa said politely. "But it would be foolish not to assume she's on her way here. What do we do if that happens?"

"Oh it'll be fine," Iroh waved a hand. "I have faith in my son. In the meantime, we have a battle to plan."

He began to walk into the building just as the first rock sailed overhead, fired from a counterweight trebuchet. It slammed into the wall with a crash audible even from where Iroh was standing, as debris plummeted to the ground at the foot of the structure.

"Oh, and do we have someone who can look after Jasmine? She's done very well flying me here."

Jasmine bowed her head and nudged his chest happily. He stroked her forehead, and then turned to begin his planning.