To my Beloved Family back home,
"Allow me the honor to be the first to inform you and our Nation that the outer walls of Ba Sing Se have fallen. They were unprepared for the sheer willpower of our Nation's finest soldiers.
We improved upon our previous failures. We amended the errors we made before. And more than anything else, we were truly dedicated in our efforts this time.
My son Lu Ten led an attack to distract the attention of the main Earth Kingdom force while I led my finest Benders and our footmen to tear down the walls of Ba Sing Se.
If the city is as magnificent as its wall, Ba Sing Se must be something to behold. I hope you all may see it someday. If we don't burn it to the ground first."
I added that last bit, chuckling to myself, hoping Zuko and Azula would be around to read it alongside their parents. It had been 3 years since I had seen either of them. I hoped I could dial in on their senses of humor.
"Until then, enjoy these gifts."
I looked at the parcel I had wrapped, knowing what was inside, hoping they would be appreciated by both my niece and nephew.
"For Zuko, a pearl dagger from the General who surrendered when we broke through the outer wall. Note the inscription and the superior craftsmanship.
And for Azula, a new friend. She wears the latest fashion for Earth Kingdom girls."
Zuko had been 9 and Azula had been 7 last I saw them. They would now be 12 and 10 respectively. Were they even the same children I knew. I had to assume so. How much could a child change in 3 years. But then again, with a father such as my brother, who knows what had been done to them. I shivered at the thought, adding a final line that came to the top of my head.
I look forward to seeing you all soon and I hope you are well. When I return, and the war is over, we will finally be able to live as the family we are.
Until then, you cousin Lu Ten and I wish you well.
Your Loving Uncle,
Iroh
I folded the parchment and handed it to the courier seated in my command pavilion, now located practically directly beyond the ruins of the wall, near the rear of the camp.
The Earth sloped downward from my point, providing it a good overlook of the new front. And what a front it was.
2 months of artillery had done their work. The world in front of us, well, it was hard to identify it as a landscape from our planet.
The earth was black. No grass was growing for miles from the base of the outer wall to the horizon. We could see the inner walls from our position. A fraction of their outer counterparts, but a challenge all the same in their own respect, but one I knew we were ready to face. We had to be.
The earth was black, full of mud and muck. Only 1 tree stood where I could only imagine from the toppled wood and charred trunks, for every hundred. Craters lined the ground, carrying in width, and depth, many of them having become pools of water from the rainfall.
I had heard the reports form my men as they dug their trenches and established a new camp. The earth was completely wet, solid in no regard. I had had to send men to cut down trees outside the walls and haul the lumber back to our camp to construct pallets and support beams to keep our trenches standing and stopping the mud from devouring our men in the middle of the night.
The front was near half a mile away from our camp, but that half a mile made all the difference. It was a half a mile we had managed to just barely grasp after we had taken the wall, allocating all our infantry to storm the area and fortify. Then the enemy artillery had begun. 100 men were killed, 500 were injured.
The trenches were then dug right on the outskirts of their firing range, and their trenches were on the outskirts of our own.
And in 3 days, the battle of Ba Sing Se had gone from a massive all-day siege, to a horrific case of trench warfare.
I, however, was no stranger to this form of combat. I had seen it before, and I was ready for it. Trenches had been dug, barbed wire had been lined around them to slow any of their charges. Mines had been placed in no man's land in the middle of the night, each one of them accounted for and plotted on our maps.
Sanitation had been established, I had made a delivery request from Citadel, and in the event they failed, which they would, the nearest 50 occupied Fire Nation cities and towns, for over a thousand pairs of socks, clean uniforms, and boots.
Yes. I was ready for it. And I still had a secret weapon I had up my sleeve. One that would be useful once more, but I had to keep a lookout for at all times. That weapon was a squad of Fire Nation soldiers, behind enemy lines. The selfsame ones that had helped blow the hole in Ba Sing Se's walls. And right now, they were our best hope to get the move on.