Chapter 35.5- And so the Dragons Danced

“They won’t be if you put them through that meat grinder of a castle” General Aki again, easily riposting the point made by the older man. Looking around at the generals, I could already see that it was a nearly even split between those who wanted to take the castle, damning the cost to lives, and those who would rather take a more measured approach to things. I mentally noted who belonged on which camp. It was a line with which I could play them against each other. I was their equal, but I presently had the upper hand so they would submit to my will. That was only for now though. They would seize authority from me the second the chance presented itself.

“We must also consider the city. We have barely enough men to hold the city as it stands. If we lose even a third of them in taking that castle, then our hold becomes even more precarious than it already stands. This is a city made to house millions and we have scarce thousands of men dedicated to her. We can write for reinforcements but those are at best a fortnight away” General Aoi said next, bringing up a very good point. The city’s wealthy class in the inner city were the easiest to pacify while the outer rings had already erupted in rioting once today. I had no doubts that another would come. The inner city had been shielded from the war. If there was no war in Ba Sing Se, then nowhere was that statement more true than in the inner city. The outer city had people who had immigrated here from outside the city. The ones who had been touched by the war. The ones who had seen the Fire Nation destroy their peoples and places dear to them.

They were the ones most opposed to our presence here and if we lost our military might, then we might find ourselves run out of town in time. Azula had done it in the canon universe by supplanting the Dai Li. The only problem with that is that I’d killed the most of them. Not me, but Toph- my little psychopath, if I was being honest. But the facts remained the same. How would I pacify a city without an elite crop of secret police officers.

“We’ll give it another two days. We’ll maintain a presence around the castle. Surround it. Make sure nothing goes in or out. Hopefully, time spent a prisoner in his own palace will convince the Earth King to come to the table” I said finally.

“So we just sit and twiddle our thumbs?” Hyo asked with a derisive snort.

“No. We will be consolidating our hold on the city in the intervening time. And you and the men you lead will be using the time to move the siege engines from your ships to the inner city. Might as well be ready to storm the castle if it becomes necessary” I said with a smile. A smile that brightened as I could hear him beginning to grind his teeth. I wondered if he would challenge the thinly veiled orders, or my authority to do so. He looked over my shoulder for a second, and then sat ramrod straight. I wondered what Toji had done from my blindspot, but knowing my best friend, it was probably a thinly veiled threatening gesture. I loved Toji like a brother, but he wasn’t the most subtle of creatures.