Even the expedition's essential failure didn't bother me much. And it wasn't a complete failure, either. We might not have learned anything about the flying boy, but Aang could now definitely forget about getting earthbending lessons from its original natural practitioners. Badgermoles could communicate with one another over enormous distances, so every colony from Omashu to Ba Sing Se and the Eastern Coast would be informed that "assisting this particular individual was undesirable."
Yeah, once again I found myself convinced that Toph was an absolute treasure. Without her, they wouldn't even have listened to us—or rather, we wouldn't have been able to communicate with them at all, if only because of the differences in how that communication worked and how they perceived the world.
Well, we were done here. Time to head back.
Nothing interesting had happened in the city during our absence—no suspicious individuals, strange rumors, unusual incidents, or anything else. Well, as much as a port city could ever go without incidents, but honestly, the news that some vandals had smashed up the stall of a cabbage merchant from Yu Dao wasn't particularly valuable.
Things like that happened almost daily around here: dockworkers not exactly distinguished by their intelligence or common sense, ordinary citizens who'd had a bit too much to drink, and competitors certainly weren't asleep at the wheel either. For all I knew, the cabbage seller had been "taken out" by a Gaoling turnip merchant.
It sounded ridiculous, of course, but after respected Lao Beifong had happened to mention the sums of money involved in supplying even the most basic foodstuffs, especially under wartime conditions... Well, suddenly I didn't feel much like laughing anymore. On the other hand, I did start thinking about diverting part of the navy from its intended purpose to increase shipments to the archipelago.
Yeeeah, my thoughts were wandering somewhere they shouldn't again. Anyway, that merchant had actually gotten off lightly. A wrecked stall and spoiled merchandise were small potatoes. In this world—and not just this one, let's be honest—people got killed over sums an order of magnitude smaller.
But local turf wars weren't getting us any closer to our objective, and maintaining constant vigilance for long periods was impossible as well. Either you'd exhaust yourself and miss an attack at the worst possible moment, or paranoia would make you completely lose your marbles.
Drill the soldiers and train myself? We already did that constantly—the cult of strength embedded deep in the very foundations of the Fire Nation practically demanded it.
For lack of anything better to do, we even decided to shake down the infamous Earthbending Academy.
It was... depressing.
"Yeeah..." Azula watched the "demonstration" organized by the headmaster of this so-called educational institution with an indescribable mixture of contempt and disgust on her face.
"..." Mai simply maintained a meaningful silence, her expression carved from stone, yet somehow everyone understood perfectly well what she thought of these "benders."
"And... how long have they been training?" Zuko still clung to a shred of hope.
"This is our advanced class!" continued this... merchant of bending. "Experienced students who have ascended to the upper levels of the art of earthbending. Every one of them has been honing their skills for at least three years!"
"What do you say, General Iroh?" In principle, everything was obvious enough already, but a certain morbid curiosity still demanded a verdict from someone experienced who had seen a great deal in his life.
"Hmmm." The old warrior took a sip of his tea.
After all, as "honored guests," we had been seated on a comfortable little balcony with every amenity, overlooking the training grounds, so the royal siblings' uncle certainly wasn't suffering from any shortage of his favorite beverage.
"A peasant earthbender from some backwater village would be more effective after a week in the militia. But they do swing their legs around beautifully!" With the air of an aesthete savoring a pleasing sight, Iroh once again turned his gaze toward a group of girls practicing a little off to one side.
I suppose I had to agree with him. Their baggy traditional "harem pants" and thick jackets might have concealed all the most interesting parts, but the students really did move gracefully... It was just that all those movements had only the most tenuous connection to actual earthbending.
No, it had been obvious from the start that we weren't going to find any elite benders here. Toph had given this establishment her assessment almost as soon as we first met, and it hadn't exactly been flattering, but... this was Toph. She had a general problem with flattering assessments, and even an average army earthbender ranked somewhere between a cockroach and a turtle duck on her personal scale of rank and ability—which meant either weak and stupid, or clumsy and stupid. But on that occasion, she had actually flattered these, spirits forgive me, "earthbenders."
On the bright side, I finally got to see what a medieval fitness center looked like. There was simply nothing else I could compare this place to. Just a fitness center pretending to be some elite academy staffed by "badass military instructors." Perfect for bored housewives and romantically inclined youngsters eager to get a taste of "real military training." What you got in the end were pretty little dances and a way to achieve a "flat tummy," "defined muscles," and the rest of the package offered by establishments like this back in my first world.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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