Suki was enjoying a short stopover in a village, maybe about halfway to Ba Sing Se, when a rider charged in, pausing only to give out a quick declaration before urging his tired ostrich horse back onto the main road.
"News from the royal capital! By decree of the benevolent Fire Lord Ozai, the former princess Azula is now fully disowned and hereby charged with treason and treachery most foul! The armies of the Fire Nation have been mustered to apprehend her and her conspirators, including the treacherous and ungrateful Prince Iroh and Prince Xing! Any and all who give her and her followers aid will be deemed complicit, and dealt with appropriately!"
The village initially broke into worried murmurs, and Suki joined in the group activity of discerning whether the message was a hoax. Sure, she saw things go a little sour, but surely Azula wouldn't be that…reckless to draw her father's wrath?
If that was the case, what in the world was her father thinking to denounce his daughter so publicly?
Regardless, Azula was clearly in danger now, but the herald's message did hint at a few silver linings; The princess was still at large, and she had an entourage with her. And perhaps just as importantly, the Fire Nation will still require some time to trample across the colonies to crush any potential support for Azula.
All that meant that Suki now had to decide on whether to hurry back to Ba Sing Se to relay the news, or head to the colonies to search for Azula. Suki considered the princess as enough of a friend to warrant that.
The decision was made for her the following morning just as she was leaving the simple inn. This time, it was a Fire Nation transport tank rolling through the village at a road-churning speed, billowing smoke from behind it as its tracks seemed to wobble. The warmachine seemed to have been pushed hard. And so was its crew, judging from how a couple of exhausted soldiers all but fell out of it.
Curiously, while their armor was that of a standard Fire Nation colonial patrol, the men each wore a band of orange cloth on their left arm.
Despite their weariness, the soldiers' voices were strong and clear. "People of the colonies! Fire Lord Ozai has turned against his daughter, Princess Azula! Together with his court, he conspired to not only remove her as colonial minister, but also revert the changes the princess had wrought on the colonies! The Fire Lord had intended to return the policy of discrimination against earthbenders and Earth Kingdom migrants, as well as replace colonial-born officials with those from the home islands! For the crime of questioning such policy changes, the Fire Lord has disowned Princess Azula and sought to detain her!"
The murmurs this time carried far more worry. The first speaker seemed genuinely angry as he spoke, and his comrade continued as he stopped to catch his breath and massage his throat.
"Furthermore! The Fire Lord, for reasons unknown, has denounced Prince Iroh and Prince Xing, his brother and his soon-to-be son-in-law, as rebels conspiring against his throne! The two princes who have served the Fire Nation loyally have been marked as traitors due to baseless accusations!"
The second speaker paused to take in a breath, and by then the crowd was leaning in with anticipation for the coming words.
"Princess Azula is now calling for all the people of the colonies, locals or migrants, to seek shelter before the flames of war spreads through the territories! For the sake of your lives, and that of your families, stock up on what you can and seek refuge away from the main roads! You are not required to join her cause, only to survive! To those from the Earth Kingdom, please do what you can to hide your origins, so that you do not fall prey to the forces of the Fire Lord."
Both men drew up to attention and then bowed. "On behalf of Princess Azula, we extend our deepest apologies for the coming chaos, and wish for your continued safety."
Suki rushed out to the men just as they were going back to their tank. "Wait! Hey, wait a moment! Do you know where Az- Princess Azula is? Does Prince Xing know?"
The men shared glances before shrugging as one. "The princess is leading the people of Zilang to Ba Sing Se. Prince Xing should be notified soon by messenger hawk."
Well, that made Suki's course of action a lot clearer.
She watched as the tank drove off with a violent lurch, a blast of black smoke tainting the space where it used to be. Still, for how much it looked like the metal vehicle was about to fall apart, it still shot off much faster than the ostrich horse from yesterday.
After that, Suki quickly packed her belongings and headed down the road where the messengers had come from. Xing would have plenty of time to work with Ba Sing Se, but Azula might need some help.
*****
"Haiii-YAH! Oh sh-!"
Sokka was forced to quickly convert his downward slash into a desperate block as his instructor casually shifted her wooden knife to threaten him. Just like every bout before this, it was a futile gesture as within seconds the training knife was pressed against his neck.
His training instructor helped him up with a patronizing grin. "Nice try, feinting with the war cry. But seriously, drop the shouting when you're swinging. You're not at the level yet to worry about mind games."
"Yeah…thanks…" As he got up, Sokka glanced at his wooden sword, a blade at least three times longer than Captain Ren's dagger, and felt the doubt creeping back into him. Despite all the traditional advantages of reach, and the training from Master Piandao, the Ren had consistently bested him with just a dagger. And it was clear she wasn't being serious about it, either.
On the bright side, the captain and her colleagues had said that Sokka was still more than a decent swordsman. He just didn't have the first-hand experience to refine what he'd learnt from Master Piandao.
On the other hand, this whole exercise made Sokka clearly aware of the difference between a duel and a battle. His first lesson with Ren had her introducing an important principle of the 11th's style of combat. "Do whatever you can to survive."
She has brought him down in mere seconds by slipping past Sokka's guard and then 'lightly' snapping her shin up between his legs. The wooden knife met his neck as he crumpled to his knees.
On their second fight, Ren spat at him just as he parried her first attack, and the surprise was more than enough to have her dagger resting right underneath his chin.
"You have a sister. You would do anything to protect her, right? Which is more important, what she thinks about you, or that she's alive at all? You are fighting for her, you are fighting for your family. Your life, your reputation, your everything is secondary to that on the battlefield. Do what must be done so that they live, ideally with you coming out of it intact so that you may keep protecting them."
It was basically a wordy way for Ren to say that she encouraged Sokka to fight dirty. She grinned approvingly when he had experimented by throwing the training ground's dirt at her. Unfortunately, it was too slow and telegraphed, and it resulted in Sokka kissing the tip of the dagger.
But at least Ren was a nice sport about it, and didn't give Sokka too much of a hard time. Everyone was the same, in fact. Just like Xing, the captain and her folks were nice enough people to be around with, ignoring the fact that they had a much higher tolerance for appalling acts of violence anyway. They gave no airs of superiority as Sokka learned from them, and even Katara had to admit that the tips she received from the soldiers were not only useful but very politely given.
Aang too looked far less tense during Iroh's absence. From what Sokka could see, the firebending instructors were taking their jobs just as seriously as Aang was learning from them.
Toph, needless to say, was getting on amiably with the Fire Nation folks in the palace. Probably because of the refreshing change of having the hardened warriors all regarding her with wary respect. "Ol' Yama says he's got nothing to teach her," someone had said with admiration. "That practically means the old badgermole's admitting he's worse than a blind girl. The old fart still refuses to acknowledge his loss to Xing, so yeah, that's definitely something."
If not for the tension hanging in the air, Sokka imagined that the gang would've settled in rather swimmingly with the overlords of Ba Sing Se, just like the North Pole. A shame for the political differences and the failed assassination attempt, really.
After Xing caught the three-eyed assassin, Sokka and his friends were barred from entering a section of the palace 'for their own good'. It wasn't a total euphemism, as apparently Toph went pale when she tried sneaking a 'look' through her vibration senses. That she was adamant about not speaking of what she saw further encouraged the gang to abide by the new house rules.
Until it was lifted days later, coincidentally with the announcement that the explosionbending assassin had finally revealed his employer.
"But…but why?" Aang asked, completely stupefied. "Iroh's his own brother!"
Xing was frowning, but he still managed to give a casual shrug. "The Fire Lord might have somehow seen Prince Iroh as a threat, and with his more understandable wariness of me, it was a convenient enough plan. Remove a threat by assassination, and then frame that on the other threat."
"I still find it hard to believe that Ozai has resorted to this," Iroh sighed. Sokka was surprised that the old prince showed no sign of outrage, only deep, disheartened disappointment. "Perhaps I should not have taken my brother at face value…"
"It could not be helped," Xing replied earnestly. "Your time with him was limited in these past few years. None of us were around to witness whatever had changed him." Toph was not alone in frowning at that last sentence. Sokka liked to believe that he'd gotten to know the Scorpion enough to tell he was hiding something. Still, if Toph didn't remark on that, neither would he.
"Azula needs to know," Iroh said with another sigh.
The younger prince nodded. "I guess it's about the best time to see who she trusts more…"
"You're awfully casual about this, you know," Katara commented, unable to help herself. Sokka didn't know what his sister found offensive in Xing, but she made it a point to keep needling him, to which Xing generally countered with a wall of politeness.
In this case, he just offered her a faint smile. "I'd be lying if I said I was completely surprised by this, seeing as to how the Fire Lord has treated his own children. I just thought he'd have come up with a more…justifiable plan." Xing then turned to Iroh. "No offense, Prince Iroh, but my impression of your royal brother as a shit schemer covered up by competent secondaries has yet to change. First knowingly promoting Zhao to show up Zuko, and then this?"
"None taken," Iroh answered with only some unease.
"Anyway, Avatar Aang, we'll have to find a way to hasten your training. Then we can talk about lessons in politics. Probably with King Bumi, since he's been in power the longest. And th-"
"Xing!"
The giant Lieutenant Colonel Kai burst in the meeting room with a message scrunched up in his hand. "Princess Azula!"
That immediately got the Scorpion to rush over and receive the scroll as Kai verbally relayed the news. Azula had been disowned and denounced by the Fire Lord, who was now fleeing Zilang with pretty much its entire population. Xing and Iroh similarly declared treasonous criminals for conspiring with her and the Avatar to usurp the Fire Nation. Zuko was…not really heir yet, but definitely kept in the palace as a prisoner of sorts. And the Fire Nation was redeploying its armies to reconquer the colonies.
Sokka couldn't help it. "Uh, Iroh? Like Xing said. No offense, but your brother's shit."
"Well, look on the bright side," Xing somehow managed to say with a thin smile.
"And what's that?" Aang asked.
"Now we don't have to pussyfoot around the whole matter of making peace with the Fire Nation."
"We don't?"
Xing gave a grave nod, and then drew up straighter to address the room. "Someone get this down on paper… In light of these idiotic actions from the Fire Nation. From the assassination attempt on Prince Iroh, and the uncalled-for insult of Princess Azula, I, Prince Xing of Ba Sing Se, hereby declare my full support of my fiance Princess Azula! Ba Sing Se is now officially in rebellion against the lackwitted, ungrateful Fire Lord and father that is Ozai."
The prince's head lowered a bit, and his voice dropped to a dangerous monotone. "For the sake of the innocents caught up in this madness, I will strive to find a swift conclusion to this civil war. If it means working with the Avatar, or personally swimming to the 'home' islands to slit Ozai's throat, I will see it done."
Sokka was reminded of how glad he was that the gang wasn't at odds with the Scorpion anymore.