Chapter 38.3- And so the Dragons Danced

X-

Perhaps I should have seen this coming, I thought to myself while pinching the bridge of my nose. Could I even deal with this, I silently wondered. Did I even want to? Part of me said yes, but the rest of me was going to b staying far far away from this whole thing with all I had in me. Long Feng had managed to infiltrate the rebel movement, and Azula had begun planning some form of sting operation that involved her infiltrating them disguised as a peasant girl and getting close enough to their leadership to assassinate them from within. She insisted that she had the skill to do it, and Long Feng assured me that the plan was likely to work.

I looked at both of them. Long Feng’s face was placid. He really didn’t care if I approved this or not. He had admitted to having more than a few alternatives in his mind already for if I said no to this plan so it wasn’t;’t like it was going to leave him high and dry. On the other hand, Azula was practically hopping from one foot to another. It was a point in my favour that she was willing to take down her gaurded personality in presence but it made it much harder to say no when I could see how badly she wanted it.

“You know what? Go ahead” I said. Azula technically outranked me as the one in nominal charge of this city so it wasn’t like I could refuse her even if I wanted to. Also, there was the fact that there was no need to get on her bad side or reduce the level of affection we had managed to build. If she got caught, she’d learn a lesson in acceptable risk. I doubted any of them would manage to kill her. The fact that they hadn’t managed to cause any lasting major damage to the city’s infrastructure or resource pool had me assessing them as a minor threat, but still an irritant nonetheless. If this didn’t take them out then whatever harm they caused Azula would be the excuse to levy the weight of the entire Fire Nation Army upon them without the Generals viewing me as a tyrant.

“Thank you, Natsu. You are the best” She said before rushing forwards to place a peck on my cheek and then leaving the room. I watched her leave with a raised eyebrow, never having expected that. I knew she was assertive and never shy about taking what she wanted, but there did tend to be an order to things, I thought with a chuckle.

“So I will be proceeding with the plan as relayed, General Natsu” Long Feng said, acting like he hadn’t just witnessed that.

“Yes please see to it. Thank you” I said to him before turning back to the papers on my desk.

We had finally received the response from the Fire Lord, and it was easy to see that he was not entirely pleased with the way in which we had taken the city. He had congratulated me on taking the city and named Azula as Governor as expected, but he had unexpectedly chosen to dwell on the casualties like he actually gave a fuck about the lost lives and wasn’t just using it to take me down a peg. He had ordered us to stay put and consolidate. A parade would be organised in the Fire Nation to celebrate the victory in six moons, he wrote. The timing was supicious and I wondered what the wait was for, but there was little to do about it. All it meant was that I had the time to see to it that the rest of the Earth Kingdom was flying the flag.