Chapter 35.4- And so the Dragons Danced

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I wish I could say the taking of Ba Sing Se was some massive battle worthy of a tapestry. It was not. All the things worth anything had happened in that cavern. Kai’s crew had attempted to betray Toji and Maki while they were sneaking into the prison complex holding the Fire Nation Army Azula had brought with her. That proved to be a mistake that hurt the Ba Sing Se defenders more than it hurt my people. Toji was a fighter that was difficult to stop on his worst day. Yesterday was not his worst day. He was said to have fought dozens of men in a running chase while Maki took advantage of their clumping together to brutalize them with explosions.

By the time they had managed to get their wits about them, Amara had secured the release of enough of the Fire Nation Generals and Officers that the tide was turned. From within the City, I had done my part. The gates to the outer gate had taken no time to fall. The inner gates posed some challenge, but between Toph and I, the gates had been opened. Now, I sat at what had once been Long Feng’s desk in the Lake Laogai base. The Earth Kingdom army had turned out to have gained some common sense towards the end of the battle. They’d retreated in good order and cooperated with the palace guards to turn the place into a fortress.

“What say you, Sung?” I asked my war council, a collection of the Generals who I had seen freed. Only the ones that had not shown too much amusement when Azula had paid her insults. For those who had openly laughed (or secretly done so without enough discretion to prevent word reaching my ears), I delegated the busy work of pacifying the city populace. They would not gain any glory in what was to come. I had freed them. Honour and common sense commanded that they take my orders as law until the city was taken.

“I say the Palace is going to be very expensive to take. It was already quite defensible, but with the efforts of the Earth Kingdom Army to transform the steps into a killing field, we will lose dozens for ever inch of progress we make. We cannot afford that loss”

“And yet we cannot afford to leave the Princess in the hands of the Earth King.” General Hyo said, tossing in his two cents. He was an old man. The kind of old that made it clear that his worth as a General was more tied to his power as a strategist and not his worth as a combatant.

“Will you be volunteering yourself to lead the charge to save her then?” General Aki, a broad man whose appearance had more in common with that of a peasant than a noble. He was a bastard son who had risen high on his own merits. He was also very popular with his men for not wasting lives.

“Of course not. Do not be ridiculous. The infantry is plentiful enough” He replied, sounding actually affronted.