Focused Fire (ATLA)

The welcome into the city was understandably somber. General Hwa led the 51st Grand Battalion down the wide avenues of Ba Sing Se, and Azula was by her side in one of the 11th’s transport tanks. The city’s residents stood by and watched the procession with silent trepidation, allowing for the crash of armored boots to ring out and fill the streets.

Azula felt a smug sense of satisfaction knowing that the cityfolk showed far less hate and resentment than she’d expected. Some Earth Kingdom soldiers joined the 11th Regiment in standing guard, no doubt one of Xing’s plans to tame his new realm. They looked woefully under-equipped compared to the veiled faces of the Defiant 11th though, but perhaps that was also the point.

The procession lasted all the way up to the royal palace, and Azula got a good look at the transitioning of the great city’s social strata. The princess frowned at the sharp distinction between the slums, middle class, and upper class regions. The use of walls to separate each region showed a tight control that theoretically allowed for a level of defense in depth, but it also made culling particular classes - like say the nobility - much more convenient.

It was a shame that most of Ba Sing Se’s nobility had fled with some of the garrison when Xing took over. They represented a loss in significant intelligence of the rest of the Earth Kingdom. 

Ah well. 

Now they’d have to pay the price as being collaborators of the foul Dai Li conspiracy. And hopefully they didn’t have time to fully empty out their holdings. If Azula knew her Xing, he’d probably be using their abandoned wealth to fund his rule over the city, while sending off a chunk of the royal vaults back to the Fire Lord as tribute. As they neared the mostly intact royal palace, the princess nodded once more with satisfaction. Judging from all the extravagance on display, Xing might have to secure more than one transport ship.

She’d probably have to tell her fiance about her father’s little hobby of collecting armlets and bracelets. No doubt there’d be some favor in delivering unique Earth Kingdom jewelry to the Fire Lord.

Huh. Fiance.

Azula smiled at the thought of that word.

With the city’s capture, she was more or less engaged now to Xing. All that was needed was for father’s official acknowledgement, and Azula would return to the home islands to personally ensure that such an acknowledgement came to pass unobstructed. She’d have to ask her palace servants to make preparations. Potential troublemakers needed to be identified, dirt needed to be dug up, reminders needed to be delivered, accidents needed to be prepared. 

Azula would have no objections, official or otherwise, to sour Xing’s legitimacy. 

Finishing the last stretch of the palace on foot, Azula finally met Xing at the base of the palace’s overly long flight of stone stairs, standing at attention with the rest of the 11th. The princess pretended not to notice some of the familiar prisoners standing among them like equals.

The soon-to-be prince gave a deep bow and saluted with palm over fist, and the crowd behind him followed suit.

“Crown Princess Azula, welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

She walked up to Xing, ready to give a quick speech, but he continued in a softer, more discreet voice. 

“I hope you find your stay here agreeable, my princess.”

The princess could practically feel her friend Ty Lee, who was standing some distance away, (but not enough of a distance) vibrating with suppressed glee.

All thoughts of the speech were abandoned as Azula stiffened and tried not to sputter. She settled instead for a formal nod as she fought to banish away the burning flush in her cheeks.

“Good work, colonel.”

The princess glanced up to the palace proper, and her Xing got the hint. “Please stay close, princess. If it pleases you, I will show you to the captured palace.”

“Please do.”

Xing gave a gesture with his hand, and to Azula’s mild surprise, a group of people she identified as Earth Kingdom prisoners of the regiment stepped out to form a perimeter. Then, they crouched and began bending the ground the whole entourage stood on, creating a massive platform that began to move up the stairs. 

“This is so cool!” This time, Ty Lee’s excitement could not be caged, and she audibly marveled at the spectacle Xing had orchestrated. Mai was far more reserved with her reaction, but Azula could see a hint of her friend being impressed. Zuko on the other hand managed to appear totally stoic, though it was hard to really tell with the mail covering his face.

General Hwa and her officers representing the 51st Grand Battalion were clearly unnerved by the experience they had, no doubt trying to fight down their combat instincts against earthbending being done in their personal space. The officers of the 11th though looked amused, having been used to living in structures their earthbender prisoners helped construct.

They reached the top to the palace’s entrance in no time. Its doors were obviously missing, and parts of the tiled floor were cracked and singed, marking powerful impacts and Xing’s fire. Azula savored the experience of treading on the Earth Kingdom’s seat of power…well, former seat of power now, and took in the gaudy white, green and gold motifs all around her. Almost everything was made of stone, even the roof support, if Azula’s eyes got the details right.

The Earth King’s throne room was far more cavernous than the Fire Lord’s, and far more ostentatious, she felt. Green-shaded lanterns hung high from monolithic columns, while massive drapes hung from the ceiling and tied back like sails. The massive stylized badgermole behind the throne was specked in soot. Looking up, Azula noticed a hole in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to flood in and mix with the already-annoying green lighting.

She couldn’t help grinning as she took it all in. It was all impressive architecture, and it now belonged to Xing. And through him, it was hers as well.

The princess made a mental note to make sure that every precaution was taken to ensure that nobody spoke out against XIng’s elevation to ruling this princedom. Maybe it was time to excise away some of the deadwood in court just to make sure...

“Well,” Xing said, taking Azula out of her musings, “what do you think?”

General Hwa, dependable and impartial, posed the question everyone wanted to hear. “You really claimed the palace by yourself?”

Xing shrugged lightly as he flashed a grin. “Aye. You can ask the prisoners, who will be made available to ensure that I lived up to the challenge I set for myself. If we can capture the Avatar and the Earth King later, you can add them to the list as well.”

The general gave an impressed nod as her officers looked ready to drop their jaws at Xing. “Sho was right. Your talents have been direly underutilized.” She gave a sigh. “But still, with this capture, we might see an end to the war soon, spirits willing.”

Xing gave a frown of faux concern. “Please don’t jinx us, General Hwa.”

Leaving the general to settler her troops into one of the palace’s wings, and with Ty Lee wandering to who knows where, while Mai went to find a quiet corner to be not-so-dour with Zuko, Azula followed Xing into a study room that he’d converted into an office.

She quirked her eyebrow at the furniture arrangement, particularly the bedroll by the corner. The rest of the room were littered with bamboo scrolls, stacks of paper, and even an occasional clay tablet.

Xing noticed her expression and shrugged off the unasked question. “Saves time. There’s plenty to do.”

With the guards left outside to guard the entrance, and with the privacy of thick stone walls, Azula watched as her brilliant colonel let out a heavy sigh and slumped wearily into a slouch. Only then did she notice the sheer weariness on Xing, especially as he dragged himself towards the seat behind the paper-filled desk and dropped into it with a huff.

“Just how much sleep have you been getting?”

“Eight hours,” he answered quickly.

“Over how many days?” Azula asked sternly.

Xing’s smile was too tinged with exhaustion to be cheeky. “How many days has it been since I made this place my own?”

The princess let out a sigh of exasperation as she placed her hands on her hips. “Really, Xing?”

“Really.” Her colonel nodded to the paper on his desk. “I had the dungeon under Lake Laogai looted for every bit of intel. There’s a list of names, locations and probably passwords or trigger words to go through and corroborate with the interrogation results.”

“Trigger words?”

To show what he meant, Xing’s head lolled back and he spoke aloud, “Ba Sing Se welcomes all valuable guests.”

Azula almost jumped as a wall she once thought was made of solid earth slid open, and a young noble woman smiling too widely strode out with all the elegance of a high-class courtesan.

“Welcome, my lady,” the unblinking woman greeted with a deep bow. “I am Joo Dee. How may I be of service?”

The princess’ gaze shifted from the unnerving woman to the colonel. “Xing?”

The colonel smirked before he spoke again. “Lake Laogai awaits.” 

And the woman’s eyes suddenly went dark as she went eerily still.

“There are guards outside. Seek them out and ask them to take you to the quarantine zone for further instructions.”

“By your will.”

Azula watched the woman calmly exit the room to relay her orders to the startled guards. A couple of Xing’s bodyguards led her away just as the door was closed again, and the princess returned her attention to a smirking Xing.

“Trigger words. I’m going through them as quickly as I can because there might be some phrases that might be accidentally used to cause the women to kill themselves.”

“What?”

“One of the Dai Li threatened such a thing, so I’m not taking any chances.”

Azula nodded even as she glanced at the mess of papers. “I’ll send for some of my staff to come up and help.”

“Much appreciated,” Xing said with a bow from where he sat. “I also had the troops ransack every government building in case some daring official tried to dispose of precious paperwork. They’re now stuffed in several libraries and study rooms throughout this wing.”

“Well done,” she replied with an approving nod before pausing for a second. “So…how complete is this victory?”

Her colonel shrugged his shoulders before answering. “By some fluke, the Dai Li were apprehended in its entirety, so the battalions are taking turns in interrogating them for as much information as we can squeeze out of them. With Kilin and her healers’ help, we can more or less guarantee corroborated evidence to significantly win over the populace’s hearts.”

He paused to let out a slow sigh before continuing. “If we can undo the brainwashing, Ba Sing Se might be fully tolerant, if not accepting, to accept our rule.”

That more or less was as Azula had expected. “What’s stopping the Dai Li from misleading us?”

Despite his tiredness, Xing’s grin was nothing but vicious. “They’re separated into groups, with the information from each group being referenced with each other, as well as our own findings. For every lie or misdirection someone is caught with, we slowly boil his whole group for a while, then let the healers fix them right back up. Then we break their limbs again to ensure they remain…manageable. Thanks to Kilin’s advice, we also make it a point to ensure that they drink the soup they left behind.” 

Leaning back in his seat, Xing struck a rather smug pose. “We started two days ago, the number of boilings has already dropped to just four this morning. And we’ve already gotten a stable of very eager collaborators to work with. A few from the higher leadership as well.”

“That’s…utterly inhumane.”

“Thank you.”

Azula hummed in thought for a few seconds. “Long Feng?” she posed simply, and Xing waved a hand.

“Left him for Ping to work on. Knowing how she likes to be…thorough, it’ll take a while before she comes back with any information.”

Right. Azula remembered that the usually cheery captain had a thing against men of a certain type, after her own dark experience. As a leader of an organization caught brainwashing women, Long Feng likely became the face of everything Ping hated in males.

‘Anyway, Dai Li aside, I’ve got three Earth Kingdom generals and their armies cooperating to serve as city peacekeepers for the time being. It was either that, or watch me burn through whole blocks at any signs of resistance. Also helps that they know I’m making an effort to undo the brainwashing of their wives, daughters and sisters.“

“So, you have them on a tenuous leash.”

“Better tenuous than nothing at all. It’s the same for most of the citizens, though I’m leaving a blind eye on the resistance that still occurs. They do less damage making noise than if I crack down on them. At least until I deal with the Dai Li publicly. Then it’s down to hoping that we can run this city well enough that they forget they’re under Fire Nation rule.”

Azula had her doubts about that means of pacification, but she trusted Xing enough to leave him with governance. Besides, if he was wrong, she could just swoop in to help him and enjoy being superior to him at something.

Still, impressive work. But yet…

“Why’d you let the Avatar and the Earth King go?” It was something that truly gnawed on Azula’s mind. For all the clever wording, she had no doubt that he could have captured both, yet he allowed them to escape.

Xing let out a sigh and then, surprisingly, smiled. “I’ve allowed the Avatar to see what went on under the lake, and considering how shocked he was, I’d say he had preconceptions of the world knocked around a bit. Coupled with the fact that he didn’t outright reject my offer of getting him a firebending master-” 

He WHAT?

“-I think that we have a real chance of winning the Avatar over to our side, or at least keep him coldly neutral to us.”

Ah. That…made some sense.

“That’s a…risky gamble, Xing.” It’d be beyond annoying trying to cover this up from her father. A lot of placating needed to be prepared…

“True, but it’d buy us a crapload of pull from all sides, wouldn’t it? We just need to keep proving that we’re really changing for the better, especially compared to the Earth Kingdom.”

“Hm. And the Earth King?”

Xing shrugged. “He’s young, sheltered and utterly incompetent without any training. With his legitimacy blown out from the Dai Li thing, we can leave him to be a figurehead in some Earth Kingdom state, where he’ll inevitably look to his host lord for advice. Who’d either manipulate him to his own ends, or crow at the sudden influence he’s gaining.”

Ah, right. Azula grinned along with her colonel as he finished his explanation. “With Ba Sing Se gone, I’m sure that various states around this region will take the chance to become the new center of Earth Kingdom resistance. Maybe even fight each other over it.”

And with many southern states still rallied firmly under King Bumi’s legacy, it might even cause significant fractures within the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation might end up facing multiple smaller factions, instead of a single, united front. If that were the case, it’d be an easy thing to just sit back and watch them fight each other to ruination, before stepping in and saving the war-ravaged peasants from their overlords.

“Very well done, Xing,” Azula said as she walked over to him with a savagely proud smile. She startled him a bit by kicking at his seat, pushing the chair away from the desk and allowing her to stand before him.

“Very…very well done…my colonel.” The princess didn’t care that her voice clearly became huskier. She leaned over to plant a soft, grateful kiss on Xing’s lips, shuddering along with him at savoring the long-missed intimacy. As her Xing straightened in his seat to better enjoy the lip sparring, Azula grabbed at his wrists and guided his hands to her breasts.

“I think,” Azula whispered a bit hoarsely, after reluctantly breaking away from the kiss, “that my colonel deserves a much overdue reward.”

Tidied up as best as they could, the couple left the study room and Azula ignored the tinge of awkwardness in the bodyguards’ as she ordered Xing’s bunch to lead him to a real bed. Her own bodyguards kept politely silent as she quickly headed to find the nearest bath. 

Azula wasn’t worried about her bodyguards’ fidgeting. They had a job to do, and they were commendably good at it. She wasn’t feeling self conscious because they might have overheard what had gone on in the room.

The princess was more afraid about running into Ty Lee right now. Thankfully, her friend was nowhere to be seen, for long enough for Azula to enjoy a good soak, and come to terms with the fact that she’d been very…un-princesslike. 

And that she looked forward to seeing Xing as soon as possible to continue being very un-princesslike.