And the city had quite a few problems...
To solve most of them, we had to stay in the city for almost a week.
During this time, Azula managed to accomplish a lot. Having unlimited power, the girl strove to bring everything to perfection. She conducted interrogations with all the people in power, after which many high-ranking positions among the guards and various officials were vacated. New people were immediately appointed to most of the freed positions and were instantly swamped with work and the Princess's orders. Of course, before such sharp and unexpected promotions, I had to personally check them. It's convenient to check people's memories through dreams, even if that's only possible for Fire Nation people. Some got a promotion during these days, and some lost their heads—just the ordinary routine of an inspection.
The YuYan archers eliminated all the gangs in the area around the city, while inside the city, the soldiers were maintaining order, simultaneously dealing blow after blow to urban crime. The soldiers weren't killing everyone indiscriminately, like butchers, but only the group leaders. Ordinary bandits were destined for prison. Due to the numerous arrests, the criminals even overcrowded the prison, which meant the prisoners had to be transported elsewhere. A couple of letters to the right people from the Princess and the problem was solved, and the convicts were sent to various mines within a week, to toil for the good of the Fire Nation.
Such rapid changes could not but cause certain unrest among the people, but several bombastic speeches in the square delivered by Azula, slandering the criminals and the former governor while praising the Fire Lord and their country, quieted the people a bit, distracting them from rash actions. Thanks to her study of fiction, Azula's oratorical skills had significantly improved. Or did she possess them before, and the chance for them to manifest only presented itself now? Besides, few people liked the governor; most hated him but could do nothing about it. Patriotism and propaganda were widely spread in the Fire Nation, and in the city, she mostly had to work with the local population. And the subsequent lowering of prices for goods and products added to the Princess's universally recognized popular affection.
After a brief discussion, Azula and I decided to use this situation to spread certain rumors about the cruel but very fair Princess of the Fire Nation. Reputation is like that: first, you work for it, and then it works for you. As for the prices, they weren't actually lowered; rather, they were returned to the standard, since the former governor was too brazen and took much higher taxes than he should have. But this didn't stop the Princess from capitalizing on the situation.
This is how time flew in this city. Azula even enlisted me in the work, as well as Mai, Ty Lee, and many of her other subordinates. Even the mercenary found work. Given the goal: to deliver the escaped mayor to the Princess, Berkroot dragged the wounded criminal to her feet four days later. Another execution somehow slipped my attention due to all this routine. But even so, there was a sharp shortage of personnel. However, that would soon cease to be our problem.
On the sixth day, a reply came from the Fire Lord, in which her father dryly praised his daughter and issued several directives regarding the territory where the Princess had executed the governor. Key to this letter was the order to appoint a new governor, who was already on his way, along with soldiers to establish and maintain order in the border territories. This indicated that we would soon continue our journey.
After discussing this with Azula, we decided not to waste time in the city waiting for the new governor. The decision was made to leave the frigate with most of the ship's crew here, while we ourselves would continue the journey—or rather, the inspection of the border lands. And here we faced the question: who should we take with us? The solution came rather quickly: training sparring matches of the elite against the elite, to determine the best of the best of the Princess's subordinates who would be honored to continue the journey with her. All of Azula's direct subordinates participated, with the exception of Berkroot and some firebenders.
The mercenary was too strong and useful; any sparring session would end in injuries after the first use of explosion bending. And to ask them to hold back... they weren't people with that mentality. Among the subordinate firebenders, Azula knew the strongest and most skilled perfectly well. This was due to regular sparring even during the sea voyage, in which the girl unquestionably wiped the deck with the elite benders. Therefore, she had already set aside several places for the people who had stood out earlier.
After brief discussions about how and when best to implement this, the Princess decided to conduct a professional aptitude test for over a hundred of her best warriors from the ship. And so, at sunset that day, this crowd of soldiers gathered at a training ground to demonstrate their skills. Their opponents were the girl's friends: Mai and Ty Lee. And no one was surprised by this; the Princess conducted training with her team too often, so no one thought of the two seemingly fragile girls as weaklings. Almost no one...
All preparations were complete, and then, in the light of the last rays of the red sun, the partners stepped into the ring.
— A fight... finally something interesting lately, — Mai was the first to speak; her opponent was a man armed with a standard Chinese sword.
— Warriors ready? Begin! — Azula commanded in an authoritative voice, and the fight immediately began.
The girl did not waste time, instantly throwing daggers hidden in her clothes at her opponent. With a swing of his sword, the man cleverly deflected half of the projectiles, dodging the rest, and abruptly began to close the distance with his opponent. Mai stopped throwing her weapons, instead settling into a close-combat stance.
The opponents closed the distance!
Ducking down, she evaded the sword swing, immediately counter-attacking. With a quick hand movement, the girl intended to knock the enemy's weapon out of his hands. The swordsman managed to notice this and break the distance. Mai continued to move, demonstrating great agility and speed. Unexpectedly standing on her hands, she knocked the opponent's sword away with a spinning kick, and with the next move, she was right next to the man, pressing a sharp dagger to his throat.
The fight was over in just over a minute.
— Terrible, next!
Following the Princess's command, a practically monotonous beating of the soldiers began. Of course, among the noble men there were professionals capable of straining Mai and even rare talents who defeated the girl, forcing her to roll around in the sand. After all, Azula didn't pick her team from just anyone, but from the elite of her nation. However, in most cases, Mai emerged victorious, especially if she was granted a second round. The girl was used to fighting Azula, and the elite soldiers didn't cause her any problems, even if they were firebenders. Although they were considered masters, they were very far from the Princess.
The Princess's friend was faster and more agile than her opponents, not hesitating to use throwing weapons, while most of her opponents fought with a sword in the same style, using the same techniques. And the thing was that on the ship, in the narrow corridors, wielding a long pole was somewhat difficult. Of course, there were other masters, but they also failed miserably against the agile and incredibly accurate girl.
Firebenders and the YuYan archers caused her the most problems. In a fight against the latter, Mai exceeded all expectations, demonstrating parrying of arrows with throwing daggers. The girl could even dodge an incoming arrow, but the archer masters were too good and launched three arrows in one and a half seconds. Dodging was practically impossible; Mai's clothes got a little worn, acquiring several holes, before she began parrying the arrows with her knives. And it turned out that the archers had more arrows in their quivers than the girl had knives in her clothes.
Watching her fight, her dodges, her strikes, and her victories, I could see her sincere smile. She enjoyed the fight and didn't even hide it. A surprising trait for such a phlegmatic personality as her.
— Mai. Enough, you can rest. Ty Lee, take her place, — Azula ordered, noticing the fatigue on her friend's face after several dozen sparring sessions with minimal time for rest. A decent display of stamina.
— Okay! — the acrobat cartwheeled onto the arena from her spot. Meanwhile, the tired but very pleased Mai proudly left the ring, having first dusted off the sand. Stopping in front of her friend, Ty Lee decided to praise her in her own style: — You held up great! I'm impressed! Will you teach me to throw daggers sometime? They had throwers of all sorts of things in the circus, but they weren't even close to you!
— Ugh, — Mai grumbled discontentedly, lightly tapping the shoulder of the acrobat who was hugging her. — We'll talk about it another time.
— I'll remember that, — they parted with smiles on their faces.
Ty Lee took her place in the ring, and Mai sat down next to the Princess.
— Warriors ready? — Azula asked before giving the command for the start of another sparring match.
— Please be gentle with me, — the circus performer smiled sweetly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, even nervous.
— U-um-ahem... okay? — the man was flustered and dropped his gaze due to the girl's charisma. What a naive thirty-year-old boy. He had already lost, and the long spear wouldn't help him at all.
— Begin! — the Princess's sharp command followed.
— What? — he was surprised by the acrobat's terrifying speed.
The girl performed an acrobatic flip, a tumble, a somersault with a spin, another flip, and another tumble. And in just a couple of seconds, she covered a dozen meters, getting right up close to her opponent. All he managed to do was look surprised as a series of surprisingly powerful blows landed on his leather armor.
— Argh!!! — After a muffled grunt, he fell onto the sand like a broken doll.
Ty Lee's strikes are terrifyingly powerful, so much so that they can be felt even through the best leather armor. In addition, the girl possesses the art of Chi Blocking. This allows her to paralyze an opponent for half an hour or more with just a few finger strikes to the body. It depends on the number of strikes, which are quite painful. Even one strike in the right place would lead to victory, as it would be very difficult to fight with a paralyzed arm or leg. And thanks to her agility, flexibility, and monstrous speed, the distance to her opponents doesn't play a particularly important role.
— That was so terrible that I don't have enough words to describe the utter stupidity of the defeated. Get him out of the ring! — Azula commanded the soldiers, fully aware that the man wouldn't be able to get up anytime soon.
If the fights with Mai mostly looked like a beating of the soldiers, Ty Lee simply humiliated them. With a smile, light flirtatiousness, pomp, and... yes, she was just showing off! If the knife-lover had to hold back so as not to accidentally kill someone, Ty Lee had excellent skills for neutralizing anyone. Benders, spear masters, swordsmen, archers—all of them were utterly helpless against the circus acrobat.
The girl defeated all her opponents without any problems, inadvertently trampling on their male pride and showing off her flexibility and acrobatics. She masterfully beat a swordsman in close combat while standing on her hands. The spearmen also couldn't do anything against such a sudden and quick girl who was constantly dodging, spinning, rolling... but after winning, it wasn't at all necessary to strike a Yoga pose. She beat the benders with stamina and speed; it's impossible to defend with fire for long, and there were terribly few defensive techniques in firebending. Fighting the benders, she didn't forget to comment admiringly on how hot and bright her opponent's fire was. The girl spun, exhausted them, teased them, then abruptly closed the distance and took down her opponent, even knocking some out with two feet several times. The archers ran out of arrows; they simply couldn't hit the astonishingly flexible girl with amazing reflexes, and in close combat, Ty Lee is a monster.
Observing the acrobat's skills, I myself wanted to learn the art of Chi Blocking. By the way, I noticed that Azula was also watching the girl with a very thoughtful look. Hmm, is the Princess perhaps thinking that her friend was holding back in their sparring matches? Perhaps Ty Lee is an extremely strong opponent, even for us. Azula will surely want to resume her attempts to open her chakras after this performance.
The sparring continued. During this time, I only further realized how much personal strength and skill matter in this world. Both Ty Lee and Mai didn't just train their skills; no, they lived by their specialties, which elevated them above the other "masters." Even among benders, mastery and understanding of one's element are extremely important. Because the stronger the bender, the hotter the fire and the faster it flies toward the target. I understood this when comparing the fighters to Azula's skills. Swordsmen and other ordinary soldiers not gifted with bending fought poorly, without imagination, but even they could sometimes slightly surprise. The archers performed excellently, the benders more or less well. Most of the other masters were carried out of the ring, but they could still be useful in our work.
Watching the fighters, I realized even more the difference in power between benders and ordinary people. Non-benders would need dozens of times more effort and training to defeat opponents with the gift of bending. Whereas even a mediocre firebender poses a considerable danger to everything that burns. From this, a logical question arose in my mind: why is the Princess guarded by several dozen guards when her entire frigate crew could have been recruited from firebenders?
And right away, I found, or rather, remembered the answer for myself.
Azula asked a similar question in childhood. The thing was that benders had both advantages and disadvantages. And the first in this matter is that fire is terrible for defense. And firebenders also become slightly weaker every night, and during cold weather. A common prison punishment is to lock a firebender in a freezer for half an hour. After that, the person cannot firebend for about two weeks. So, purely tactically, recruiting a crew or an army consisting only of benders is too shortsighted and foolish. After all, the Earth Kingdom definitely knows about such weaknesses of firebenders. And the bending gift itself is quite rare.
Meanwhile, the fights continued; the girls switched, sometimes other people came out in their place, other masters determined who was better at wielding a weapon or bending an element. And, of course, there were times when benders fought against non-benders and lost. An interesting tournament, where the selection of participants was carried out exclusively by Azula.
In the meantime, time passed and night was approaching. The Princess listed those who would move with her on the further land inspection and concluded the event. There were about fifty lucky people, most of whom were firebenders, followed by archers, and the fewest were ordinary people. Everything was as I expected; magic means a lot in this world.
After receiving their orders, the people dispersed to their own affairs. Asking Azula if she needed me and receiving a negative answer, I also went about my own business. The last night in a calm city before another journey, I should enjoy it properly.
***
Knock-knock-knock.
After the knock on the door, a quiet rustling could be heard behind the barrier.
— Lee? Open up, — Azula commanded in an imperious tone, standing in front of the door to her friend's room.
— Just a moment-just a moment! — the acrobat's reply was heard, after which the sound of footsteps was added to the rustling.
The door soon opened. Ty Lee was already in a sleeping robe of her favorite, pale pink color.
— Azula! What a pleasant surprise! I was just about to go to sleep... — her friend spoke in surprise and confusion, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Instead of her usual braid, her locks were loose.
— I want to talk. Are we going to talk in the doorway, or will you let me into the room?
— Of course-of course, — the circus performer stepped away from the door, moving deeper into the room assigned to her, sitting on the bed. The sheets and blanket were a little wrinkled, but still made. The acrobat hadn't gone to sleep yet. — What does my friend wish to talk to me about at such a late hour?
— Pale pink seashells? — Azula asked, having finished examining the patterns on her friend's sheets.
— Everyone has their own tastes, — the acrobat replied with a slight smile, waving away such a trifle with a little agitation.
— What do you have behind your back? — the Princess noticed small oddities in her behavior. The acrobat was sitting too suspiciously, as if wanting to hide something behind her back. Being very observant and perceptive, Azula quickly guessed that her friend was hiding something.
— Nothing. — The girl deftly stood up, showing the space on the bed previously concealed. — See?
However, the Princess continued to frown. Something was escaping her attention, something small, inconspicuous, yet flickering on the edge of her consciousness.
— Turn your back, — the acrobat obediently spun around, trying in every way to demonstrate that she had nothing to hide.
— Well? — the girl inquired, moving closer to her still doubtful friend.
— You are acting strangely. Almost five minutes have passed since I entered, and you haven't started walking on your hands or assumed a yoga pose. That's not like you, Lee… — Azula said, continuing to stare intently at her friend.
— Oh, you are so observant. Okay, I'll go into the scorpion pose now, watch...
— You don't have to. — However, Ty Lee could not be stopped; standing on her hands, then her elbows, she pulled her legs towards her head. — Fine. I came to talk to you about something... important.
— Knock-knock-knock, — an unexpected knock on the door interrupted the girls' conversation, making both look towards the sound.
— Oh! That must be Mai. I'll open it now! — Ty Lee said a little louder, getting to her feet and preparing to go open the door when…
— Plop, — unexpectedly, a bottle of sake that had fallen out of the girl's robe flopped onto the carpet next to her. Both friends noticed it, immediately focusing their gaze on the miraculously unbroken bottle of alcohol.
— Oh dear. I've been caught red-handed, — the acrobat flustered, looking at the dropped item she had been so carefully hiding.
— Sake then. Go open it; now I want to talk to both of you, — Azula commanded coldly, calmly picking up the bottle and beginning to examine it.
Soon Ty Lee returned with a bewildered Mai. Not acting rashly, Azula questioned each friend about what she was doing here and how it related to the bottle of alcohol. Soon all secrets became clear. The three girls talked calmly. Ty Lee and Mai sat on the bed while Azula paced back and forth in front of them. Despite the Princess's calm tone, tension was felt in the room. And if Mai suspected nothing of her friend's plans and felt safe, the acrobat...
— Ty Lee, we are in a city where every resident could be an Earth Kingdom spy. Tomorrow we will leave this city with a small squad, moving close to the enemy's borders. I am the Princess of the most powerful nation in the world, and the chances that our enemies won't seize the opportunity and attempt an assassination on my life... are very low. Just as low as the chances they won't find out about my route, path, and the number of guards. And you decided that today, of all days, is the most suitable time to cloud not only your mind but Mai's as well. You are my most trusted individuals, my closest confidantes, my friends. This could be viewed as sabotage. You may begin to justify yourself; perhaps I will show mercy and punish you more leniently.
— I'm sorry, I just thought it was the last day we could rest. Because after this, we'll be traveling through dangerous lands, — the acrobat spoke in a timid voice full of guilt.
— Is alcohol mandatory for rest? — the Princess coldly inquired.
— No. It just relaxes so much. I wanted to help Mai relax, and then we could both help you relax. You've been so tense lately. Your aura has become darker. I understand you have a lot of work, too much work these past few days. And this day could have ended on a pleasant note; we could have gathered together, played some games, and gone to sleep in the same room, like we used to as children. I wasn't planning anything bad, — Ty Lee finished, her voice somewhat agitated.
— Hmm… Ha. Yes, how did I not figure it out sooner. Yoaru, come out of her, — after a brief moment of reflection, Azula understood everything completely. Recalling her friend's behavior, the absence of the spirit, and the bottle of sake, she put the pieces together, remembering that something similar had happened before.
A few moments later, the true culprit of the failed crime appeared—Yoaru. The Princess looked at him, and he looked at her with an irritating smile. Silence reigned in the room; the tension seemed so great that it could be physically touched. Yes, she was not physically able to punish the spirit, and this was what angered Azula the most.
— The hour is late, and we all have to get up early tomorrow. I suggest we return to this conversation in the morning, — Yoaru offered peaceably, even though not everyone in the room heard him.
— There is some truth in your words. However. I will sleep here tonight, along with my friends. So that you are not tempted, — Azula replied somewhat ambiguously, with a wicked smile.
She found her way to at least prickle her incorporeal acquaintance, if not punish him. Mai, for her part, merely raised an eyebrow, feigning light interest.
— That suits me just fine, — the spirit smiled even wider.
— Wonderful. An invisible ghost will be watching me sleep, — Mai, who had previously been pretending to be furniture, finally spoke up.
— He was watching before, wasn't he? — Azula noted with a hint of irony.
— Splendid… — Mai replied in a voice full of sarcasm, beginning to prepare for sleep.
— I'm glad everything ended well, — Ty Lee smiled, feeling the tension in the room begin to dissipate.
— I'll still think of a punishment for you; you wanted to assist him in his evil deeds.
— Not so evil deeds. And no, paranoia doesn't suit you, — Yoaru replied, enduring the pressure of Azula's displeased gaze.
— Let's leave everything for tomorrow, I want to sleep…