Kaito's mouth twists into a half-smile, of which only parts are unconstructed. "You make it sound as though I held any influence over the city or its occupants. I have never even set foot in uncontested Earthkindgom territory. Any predictions I made for, hypothetically, poking at the Dai Li would be wishful thinking at best."
...
Dangerous. Hakoda has had contact with an agent of the organisation who came as the representative of the Earthking. It had been clear that the agent, while bringing the Earthking's thanks and offers of regular supplies for the warriors, he had also carried a warning. It had been a warning not to come too close to the city. A warning not to disturb the peace.
And that, more than anything, made Hakoda believe that there were people in power in the Impenetrable City who did not wish for a change in the balance of power, however skewed it was. He finds very little understanding for this within himself, as the chief of a small people who were once great, he has no need for power as they hold it.
He has no need for wealth when survival was a harsh enough struggle.
Which is why, when he considers what the young man in front of him has just said, he has a great many responses, ranging from calling him an idiot to questioning the wisdom of poking a fat, greedy dragon in its personal domain. But, as he is beginning to see, Kaito takes delight in irritating those around him and would have a response of his own ready. So, all Hakoda does say in the end is "As an enemy, or ally?"
For a short moment, he sees surprise in the slight widening of lazy eyes.
"I should hope as allies, don't you think, chief?" he asks, sounding as though he believes the likelihood of it to be very close to non-existent.
Hakoda understands why. The agent was so lacking in expressions of emotion that he can't believe that what the Dai Li does is at all very palatable. The question is, how does Kaito know of all this? Pakku hadn't mentioned the Dai Li at all, only that there hadn't been word of the representative of the Northern Watertribe they had sent to Ba Sing Se. He had said it with as much concern as he would show a near-stranger.
But as allies against the Fire Nation go, there aren't many to choose from.
Hakoda gives Kaito a look that is half-smile, half-concern. After all, he suspects his children will be involved in this somehow. "The Dai Li thanked the Southern Watertribe in our aid in keeping the peace in Ba Sing Se," he chooses to say and watches with fascination as the knowledge is assimilated.
"How polite," the bender responds absently before his focus returns to Hakoda, "Has the Earthking been in contact?"
That means Kaito definitely separates Dai Li from Earthking and does not believe their interests necessarily align. If Kaito is correct in his assessments, the situation in Ba Sing Se might be worse than Hakoda himself can anticipate with the little he knows with certainty. Puppet leaders have never lived for long once social unrest becomes unbearable. And if Kaito is anything, he is an entity of unrest, even as he appears to require copious amounts of motivation for any task set before him.
"Not separately," Hakoda replies truthfully. "Do you intend to meet him?"
"Me?" Katio laughs, "No, I'll leave meeting the royals to the Avatar. People of power and myself don't go well together."
And yet, he had been friends with the princess of the Northern Watertribe, hadn't he? He was the person Pakku trusted most to protect the Avatar of all people.
"What makes you think the Avatar will be headed there?" Hakoda has to ask. He thinks he can be forgiven when his paranoia concerns his children.
And, secondarily, the fate of the world.
Kaito shrugs and fishes a pipe from his tunic. He begins to pack it, "Even if Aang, Sokka and Katara have been disillusioned about the people in charge in the Earthkingdom, there is still the matter of seeking allies. Contrary to popular belief, the Avatar can't save the entire world on his own," he states it simply as the truth. Hakoda wonders which of his actions Kaito justifies as the cause for helping the Avatar.
"And I still don't know whether he has found an earthbending teacher. If he hasn't, no matter how dangerous the city is, Ba Sing Se holds the most proficient and dangerous benders within its walls," Kaito continues and pauses to light the pipe with practised motions, "Aside from perhaps Gorou."
At the mention of the quiet man, Kaito seems almost uncomfortable.
"Gorou, more dangerous than Dai Li?"
Hakoda can't quite connect the thought to a fact.
"I can only tell you what I've seen. But he's taken on five firebenders and won. He managed to bend precisely while half-delirious from fever, and never once have I seen him afraid," Kaito murmurs, as though he suspects the subject of their conversation might pop up at any moment. "And he's got things he wants to change."
Hakoda isn't sure why that last sentence sounds like the most dreadful of them all.
Kaito glances at him, and sighs. "He's decided to stick close to me because of my grand aspirations for social reformation and transformation of the system."
He sounds resigned. Every young man Hakoda has met with those kinds of dreams has either been naively optimistic or furious. Kaito seems more and more intriguing by the moment. "Which would be…?"
"It'd take too long to explain every detail, so I'll give you an overview," he sends a wryly amused glance Hakoda's way and as he speaks he makes certain to pause for long enough to allow for comprehension in between sentences, "I believe that every person is equal to the next. There is nothing that founds the belief that there should be aristocracy or a ruling class at all.
Even when you take bending into account, it is only another skill that some might employ, but it does not make benders another race.
In the end, what I want is to create a system within which the individual governs themselves, and the community is not riddled with differences in power, be it socially or economically. At the very least, wealth should not constitute the right to rule and ruthlessness should not constitute the right to wealth. For this to even come close to fulfilment, education is the key.
Freedom of thought, speech and the right to decide for oneself what to do, to say, to think and feel, to believe. All of this should be the norm," he pauses, watches Hakoda's reaction to the words, and draws on his pipe. Hakoda isn't certain he can comprehend the enormity of these changes as easily as Kaito has voiced them. Hakoda isn't certain he even understands all the critique within the desire to change things.
Certainly, war is bad. He'd be rather pleased if it were to end. And he realises that in communities larger than his own, wealth is a large factor for social benefits. Money can buy anything that is desired, even forms of love and in places where there is no real enforcement of a moral code that Hakoda would call good, money can even secure freedom from prosecution for what most would consider crimes.
He isn't clear on where his right to believe what he wants is infringed upon that it should make the list. Perhaps he cannot understand, as the leader of a small community of warriors who largely desire the same things he does.
"It's an ideal," Kaito goes on, "What we have now is the blatant profiteering of the war within the walls of Ba Sing Se. The refugees enter the city, desperate for work, for safety and a home. This keeps the numbers of workers up and it makes it so that they are cheaply paid in order to insure the greater profit of the business owner. Education is restricted to those who can afford it. Which means that because the gap between the workers and the educated in terms of wealth is so large, workers will hardly have the chance to reflect upon their circumstances if they do not wish to starve. These are very real existential fears. And those who dare to question and point out the war that is creeping to its doorstep are silenced by the Dai Li."
Kaito shrugs, eyes sharp for once with… Hakoda can't name the emotion. What he does know is that it is dangerous. It is dangerous, and he sees now why he is the one the others of his small group follow, however reluctantly.
"And that's just an overview of Ba Sing Se. We don't know enough about the Fire Nation to even begin thinking about change," he sighs, returning to his usual slightly apathetic expression. He leans backwards slightly. "Change is only ever brought about with power to change."
He huffs a laugh, looking far older than about Sokka's age. He wonders if this is what a person looks like who observes injustice every day and has decided to no longer tolerate it as a given.
"And who has that power?" Kaito goes on to muse. "I should think the Dai Li does. I wonder if I could convince the leader to go against the fascism and institutionalised classism. Probably not. So, in the end, there will have to be a shift in power. I don't claim to be morally untainted enough to believably tell you that I hope this will go over without blood. But I don't anticipate the violence as Gorou does. And I dread the day when I will have to point him at a target and he won't even mind."
Kaito closes his eyes, breathing out slowly. His face is set into a grim frown. "And I can't help but wonder, at the end of it, who I'll be. If I'll be able to tolerate my own self."
Hakoda… doesn't have an answer for him.
But he has made a decision.
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