"Come with me if you want to live."
(Excerpt from the handbook on aggressively persuasive recruiting techniques.)
Until our very arrival in Gaoling, I stayed seated in the supply wagon, having hastily rigged together something resembling a writing desk where I sorted through the incoming reports. During the month of my absence, the agents had done solid work, simply traveling around the region and questioning the locals — fortunately, the job was already routine for them.
What could be said about the colonies and the population's attitude there? The matter was far from simple. First, the southern territories had been acquired relatively recently, and our hold over them still remained rather shaky. The result was paranoid suspicion in some regions, where earthbenders were arrested without trial and shipped off to special floating prisons simply for being earthbenders, while other areas embraced outright isolationism — settlers from the Homeland founded their own villages and towns and wanted nothing to do with the locals.
Second, the front line was nearby, and the phrase "war excuses everything" had been invented by mankind a very, very long time ago. Abuse, excesses, and outright terror were widespread everywhere. Hell, one of the Kyoshi warriors had first needed to break the arms and legs of a few Fire Nation soldiers who'd wanted to "have some fun with a local girl," then flee through the forests to escape the manhunt organized by the unlucky romantics' comrades.
The worst part was that there was nothing I could realistically do about it. Fine, say I removed some overgrown commandant from his post — then what? Ninety percent chance another one just like him, if not worse, would take his place. Take over governing the regions myself? That suggestion belonged in the realm of fantasy. There were eleven problematic regions already confirmed, and those were only the ones we knew for certain were complete disasters. Meanwhile, I was only one person and physically couldn't be everywhere at once — especially considering I had entirely different plans and simply couldn't afford to waste time in the colonies. And that wasn't even mentioning my complete lack of proper administrative skills.
Once I finished analyzing the reports, I began drafting a memorandum for Lord Ozai's office. Perhaps they would find a solution, though I doubted it strongly.
Well then, that concluded the inspection. A couple of settlements in the central provinces hardly counted, and everything else was under the control of the earth-diggers. What concerned me far more was Toph and the possibility of recruiting her.
After arriving at the port, we stopped at a small estate rented by my people. An utterly unremarkable house beyond the town limits came with a fenced plot of land where my subordinates could train in their spare time. The distance from the town's noise and unnecessary prying eyes was also extremely convenient.
Unfortunately, the news awaiting me there was anything but pleasant.
"What exactly did they do?" The torch flames wavered uneasily in response to my emotions.
Ever since I'd begun practicing breathing techniques and energy control, fire had become far more responsive and obedient. The problem was that whenever I grew irritated or angry, every nearby flame seemed to intensify. Not good. I needed better control over both myself and my power.
"The Avatar and his companions infiltrated the floating prison and freed the imprisoned earthbenders."
"The guards?"
"Some were killed, some drowned. A few managed to survive."
Fuuuck me.
And I had personally delivered around a hundred earthbenders to that prison, if you counted all the raids and battles! I should have listened to the wise old first mate and followed the principle of "slit their throats and dump them in a well," but back then I'd still been too humane. I only started minimizing the number of prisoners I took later, though even then the stream had never fully dried up…
"How many escaped?"
"All of them who were—"
"That part's already obvious, genius!" The torches erupted into ten-foot pillars of flame. "I need numbers."
"My apologies, Herald! Approximately fifteen hundred prisoners are now at large!" the sergeant reported.
"And what did they escape on?" I already knew what he was about to say, but a faint spark of hope still lingered in my chest.
"Our transport barges and prison frigates. Twelve ships in total."
So four transports, with two escort vessels assigned to each. Right.
"Did we intercept any of them?"
"Negative!" Wonderful. Now there was a small army of earthbenders loose at sea, with at least a hundred of them capable of operating our ships and possessing actual knowledge of naval warfare and military organization. When I finally got my hands on the Avatar, I was going to roast him ve-e-e-ry slowly over an open flame.
"Who was assigned to intercept and eliminate them?"
"The entire Eastern Fleet, Commodore!" the sailor snapped a salute. "Captain Lee and his ship were reassigned to the operation."
So now we were stranded here without transportation, too. Splendid. And my cruiser would be stuck in repairs for at least another month. Which meant I'd have to make my way back to the homeland under my own power. Not that I'd be fighting any wars without a proper ship and crew anyway. Would I get any good news today?
"All right, Sergeant. Much as I'd prefer otherwise, there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is hope our comrades figure out how to deal with those brazen earth-diggers."
"That would be wonderful, Commodore," the warrior nodded.
"Since we can't do anything about that issue, let's move on to the next one. What did you learn about the person I'm interested in?"
"My lord, the person you were inquiring about is Toph Beifong, the only daughter and heir of the Beifong family — the wealthiest people in Gaoling, arguably in the entire Earth Kingdom. Frankly, even in the Fire Nation there are very few families capable of rivaling their fortune. Perhaps only the Fire Lord himself, along with certain high-ranking officials and military commanders."
I see. The largest landowners and those who'd managed to plunder successfully. Logical.
"And what about the girl herself?"
(End of Chapter)
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