Focused Fire (ATLA)

Kai led the majority of the 11th Regiment out to meet and reinforce their princess. Deciding on what to do had been a contentious issue, especially with how undermanned Ba Sing Se was. In the end, Xing relented to having Weikong’s battalion remain in the city while the rest of the regiment went forth.

Spirits or not, the boy had too much faith in the Earth Kingdom generals. The spate of surprise attacks had shown Kai and the other officers that the spirits either did not consider everything in handing out their advice, or they simply didn’t care because it made for good entertainment. 

Especially now, with news of the Fire Lord’s idiocy, Xing’s position would no doubt become precarious as the dumb fucks in the city might think their chance had come again to remove him. Xing would have to be especially careful as Prince Iroh and the Avatar had left to treat with King Bumi of Omashu and its Coalition of Southern Earth Kingdoms.

But of course, Xing being Xing, he was taking things a bit too casually, and seemed eager to make himself bait. If not for Ren giving a solid smack at the back of his head, their little brother might’ve gone through with the ridiculous plan making another public speech to draw out more opportunistic assassins.

Common sense was asserted, but only just.

Kai sighed at the other barely acceptable ideas Xing managed to convince everyone to adopt. Like getting Yama to train the collaborating Earth Kingdom armies. And including Ren and Kilin as part of a diplomatic mission to go with the Avatar’s friend Sokka to the Northern Water Tribe.

At the same time, the Avatar’s other friends, the blind earthbender Toph Beifong and the Water Tribe girl Katara, were persuaded to work with the Mechanist in optimizing Ba Sing Se’s Agrarian Zone for a potential siege. Whatever ‘optimizing’ meant. Kai had been there for the eccentric man’s presentation, but he still couldn’t grasp how rezoning the farmlands and arranging canals and roads could be as significant as Xing seemed to think it was.

Well, maybe that’s why Xing was prince and Kai wasn’t. The recently promoted lieutenant colonel returned his attention back to the present, glimpsing out of his transport tank to take in the surroundings passing him by. The plains and forests beyond Ba Sing Se’s walls were tranquil, almost pristine save for bits of human artifice like huts and roads. Everything was so serene, it was easy to fool oneself into thinking that there wasn’t a war looming.

Civil war.

Kai scowled at that thought. To think that the ungrateful bastard of a Fire Lord had enough of a rotten brain to set an assassin on his own brother, just to drag Xing down. The fucker and his court of similar-minded scum were the reason the Fire Nation’s stuck in war for so long, parasitizing off the suffering as they callously sent clueless men and women to their deaths. 

In contrast, Xing had turned the 11th’s fate around by defying traditional Fire Nation doctrine, bloodied the Earth Kingdom in such a way that the raiding on colonies had petered out, and taken the supposedly impenetrable Ba Sing Se. Okay, that last one was likely unachievable to anyone else, but still… He did all that, trying to save Fire Nation lives while pushing for a victorious end to the war, and his reward was the envy and treacherous resentment of the fuckwits back in the home islands.

Wastes of their mothers’ suffering in birthing them, all of them.

The biggest shame out of all of this would be that the 11th might have to face fellow soldiers whose only crime was following their orders. Their commanders might be complicit in sipping the shit like the royal court, but the rank and file would be paying the price of it.

Hopefully Xing would come up with a way around that. Sneaking into camps to slit throats can only go so far.

The convoy of tanks eventually met up with Princess Azula’s own train of refugees. To Kai’s relief, they all seemed in good enough spirits despite the bloodstains on many of them. Zilang’s guards were with them, serving as dutiful escorts. Princess Azula led the whole group, riding alongside the blood-caked figures of Governor Hanh and Overseer Dae. Her friends were with her too, Ty Lee and Suki rode just behind her.

“Princess, it is good to see you well and unharmed. Your 11th Lancers are at your service.” Kai and the captains followed Mozi’s lead in kneeling in full deference before their princess.

“Thank you, all of you.” The princess kept a regal mask on, but there was something a bit off about her, Kai noticed. And then a coldness in his guts bloomed when the lieutenant colonel realized that the princess traveled alone; her bodyguards were absent. Mozi also noted that fact, as he was the one who voiced out the dreaded question. “Your safe return was not too…arduous, your highness?”

And there it was, a momentary crack in her expression. A flash of pain and guilt that quivered on her lips and flared in her eyes.

“Not too arduous… Though the…cost has been high.” The princess paused for a moment, no doubt recalling the day of her escape. “Good men died for me…” she muttered, causing her friend Ty Lee to ride up and rest a comforting hand on her arm. “And more good men will die because of me…”

“Nonsense, princess!” One-Armed Dae exclaimed loudly. “You are not to blame for this…this mess. If not for you, many more lives would’ve been wasted by the feckless idiots in the palace.”

Kai found himself nodding in absolute agreement. He wanted to say something in support, but Ping had to beat him to it, her voice just as loud as Dae so that the unsubtle audience behind the princess could hear the words clearly. “You need not bear such a burden, Azula. All who fight for you know what the stakes truly are. You stand for all that’s good in the colonies, and that’s more than enough of a cause for us. Better we die because we have to, defending the good you have fostered and built, than to die to incompetence from the halfwits from the palace who have never so much as set foot on this continent, nor are acquainted with the life here.”

Fuck. That was way better than what he wanted to say.

“Abandoning Zilang is a small inconvenience, your highness,” Governor Hanh added with a reassuring smile. “After all, we’ve heard that there’s plenty enough space in Ba Sing Se. Better to move there, so that your highness need not get torn between your generous attention to us, and Prince Xing.”

Ah shit, and the man had to take up the teasing quota. And it got some good natured chuckles from everyone too. Kai gave up on trying to chip in, and focused on keeping his grumbling non-verbal instead.

“I… Thank you. All of you. Now come, the faster we get to Ba Sing Se, the better.”

Mozi snapped up a crisp salute. “By your will, princess.” He then rose, and the 11th rose up with him. “Alright, captains, see to your battalions! Sungho, I want your scouts ranging out…”

As orders were given, Kai absently picked at what he could’ve contributed to raise the princess’ spirits. It’d be bad if it was all Ren and Fan that left her with a good impression…

*****

The colonies were all in an uproar when the royal decree reached their ears. Zilang had immediately risen up in rebellion, massacring the Fire Lord’s newly appointed administration before the whole colony just up and fled to Ba Sing Se. And that was days before the Fire Lord’s armies began setting their boots on the ruins of the now abandoned colony. 

The colonists had torn up the docks and the shoreline with earthbending, rendering landing operations slow and hazardous. Silos and warehouses were devoid of even a single grain of rice or a speck of flour. Not even the bedding was left in the houses, so complete was their evacuation.

It was a sight that gnawed at the morale of the line troopers, and High General Bujing could do little to counter it. Not yet. He’ll let the other commanders and promoted nobles try their hand at it, and worry about actually figuring out how to win this. 

This was just Zilang. News was coming in from the other colonies, and many were in the similar vein. Practically all of the bigger, more prosperous port towns had thrown their lot with Azula the moment she was denounced as a traitor. Only in one case did anyone from the royal envoys survive the colonists’ indignation at the insult to what they saw as their true ruler, and that was only because she played dead.

On the bright side, there were mixed results from other smaller colonies. A small number were cowed into compliance, though many of its population, especially the Earth Kingdom natives, fled within a few days. Only four colonial out of forty proclaimed their loyalty to the Fire Lord, but Bujing was uncertain if they were being truthful about it. 

Princess Azula had picked up some nasty tricks from the Scorpion and implemented them in political warfare, after all.

Unsurprisingly, most of the Earth Kingdom vassals in the northern and eastern territories had all declared independence from the Fire Nation once the news reached them. The few that remained aligned to the Fire Nation only did so because of the heavy presence of ‘advisors’ and ‘peacekeepers’. The courtiers traveling with the army were confident that it’d be an easy thing to reconquer or even just bribe the recalcitrant states back into being vassals, but Bujing would be happy to just have them stay where they were until this whole internal mess was done with.

Sieging Ba Sing Se would no doubt be a nightmare, so alternatives would have to be found to get the princess and the Scorpion to at least attend some negotiations. With so many colonies emptying out to seek Ba Sing Se, there was the option of catching up with a few refugee groups and taking them as hostages. It’d leave a sour taste, but if they could filter out Fire Nation colonists from Earth Kingdom natives, maybe public sentiment wouldn’t be too damaged. 

Maybe if they got lucky, they’d bag one or two of Azula’s important secondaries who might be leading the refugees. The information they might provide could help secure an entry into Ba Sing Se. It was a slim chance, but right now, Bujing took a slim chance as way better odds than none at all.

Besides, he had to operate on the assumption that the continental armies might not be on his side. General Sho’s ties to Xing was well known, but General Hwa’s steadfast and unmovable resolve was also a known thing. Whether the couple would tear at each other or come to an agreement was anyone’s guess, so the high general planned around them.

There were many more factors to consider, many headaches that plagued the feasibility of taming the continent. Bujing did not like the chances of pulling off a victory over this civil war and then winning over the Earth Kingdom. King Bumi and King Kuei would no doubt be chomping at their bits to take advantage of the Fire Nation’s fracture.

Though, perhaps some accommodation could be made with the latter at least? It’d depend on whether Fire Lord Ozai would agree to acceding all claims on Ba Sing Se, but it’d buy the loyalists a measure of peace from some portion of the Earth Kingdom…

Bah, there were too many problems, too many considerations, and not enough time or resources. Bujing began to remember why he quickly sought the safety of serving as advisor in the palace.

And then a hawk flew in from the east, bearing the Scorpion’s seal. It not only announced the Fire Lord’s hidden source Bao-Zha as an assassin against Prince Iroh, but also was the young prince’s official declaration of secession and war.

As if Bujing didn’t have enough problems already. He’d have to speak with his commanders, to figure out an effective way to stop morale from plummeting and hesitancy from spreading…

*****

Was Sokka glad to see Yue again? Definitely. 

But did he wish the reunion could be done in better circumstances? Most definitely.

“Um, so yeah, this is my grandaunt Kilin, and Captain Ren of the 11th Regiment.”

“11th Royal Regiment,” the captain corrected lightly.

“Yeah, what I said.”

Chief Arnook nodded gravely at Sokka’s companions, particularly frowning at the Fire Nation people with Ren. Xing purposely had her come with only female soldiers, Sokka was sure of it. “I will not lie by saying that you are all warmly welcomed to Agna Qel’a, but after what we owe the Scorpion, and on behalf of my future son-in-law, your presence will be tolerated. Come, a meeting hall will be made ready for us to hear what you have to say.”

Sokka was about to follow after them, but Ren of all people stopped him. He did not like the glint of mischief in her eyes. “Let us adults do some adult talking first, then we’ll call you.” She glanced to Chief Arnook, who nodded in some sort of understanding, and then returned her attention back to Sokka with a grin. “Maybe go catch up with your…fiance?”

Seeing Yue blush a bit made Sokka blush even more, but he managed to nod and watch the Ba Sing Se delegation head off with the leadership of the Northern Water Tribe. Leaving him alone with Yue (well, discounting some guards, but if he could get used to the ones in Ba Sing Se, he’d survive these).

“So… Um, Yue. How’s things been?”

She answered by leaping at him with a warm embrace, and a kiss that just about melted Sokka into a puddle of joy and warmth. “I’ve missed you,” Yue simply said, her bright blue eyes staring deeply into his.

Somehow, he managed to form the words to reply despite being lost in her eyes. “Yeah… You too…” It was a reply, just not a good one.

Yue led him down into the palace, which Sokka frankly didn’t notice much as he enjoyed alternating between staring at her face and at their joined hands. Yue’s skin was warm, her eyes were bright, her voice was warm, her smile was bright… She was warm and bright, and Sokka zoned out everything else just to bask in her presence.

After a while, she noticed that he wasn’t listening to her, and they settled for a comfortable silence together (again, maybe there were guards around, maybe there weren’t - Sokka didn’t care, he wasn’t going to be a perv). Yue smelled very nice as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“You’ll have to go back after this…?”

Those words Sokka registered, as well as the sadness in them. “Yeah…” he answered reluctantly. “I’d like to stay here, but-”

“But you have a job to do,” Yue finished, her words devoid of accusation or resentment. “You’re the Avatar’s companion, and you have to help him save the world.”

Just resignation, which made Sokka feel even worse.

“I’ll try to be back again soon. For good. I promise.”

Her melancholic smile made him almost seriously consider the idea of talking to Aang. Almost. “It’s alright. Take all the time you need, Sokka. I’ll be here. Just…promise me you’ll be back safely, alright?”

“I promise,” Sokka immediately answered without hesitating.

They enjoyed each other’s presence and warmth for a bit more before one of Chief Arnook’s advisors came up to escort Sokka to the meeting. Yue followed along, her hand still in his. Sokka drew strength from her as he faced the Northern Water Tribe’s leadership, meeting Chief Arnook’s gaze with all the will he could muster. The man was mildly annoyed, likely at the smug-looking women sitting at the opposite side of the table. Grandaunt Kilin especially seemed to be preening.

“Sokka. Captain Ren here tells me that you have important information to share. Information about the Fire Nation.”

The boy gulped before he nodded once. The chief’s presence was very intimidating when he got serious. Boy was Sokka glad he didn’t have to face that back when his engagement to Yue was announced. “Um…yeah. So back in the Si Wong desert, we found Wan Shi Tong’s library. And in it, we found mention of the Day of Black Sun…”