Chapter 25.3- And so the Dragons Danced

Of course, the preparations turned out to be moot. They arrived at the walls of Gaoling. They set down and began to form their camp in preparation for a bloody storming of the walls after a brief night’s rest and some hours of strategising. They had no useful maps of the city’s interior to speak off but that was an inconvenience, not the deathblow that it would have been if it had been Omashu they were preparing to storm. Gaoling was not a very large city. Some things would just reveal themselves in time, or with common sense. Like how it didn’t take much thinking to sus out that the large tower that stuck out above the walls from the middle of the village was the city’s command centre and central administrative building so it would be one of the places they took first.

It all ended up not mattering one whit as the city’s gates opened and a soiree of men poked out before riding towards them. Seventeen men in all, he counted. Toji had already moved to stand next to him in case this was truly a trap or assassination attempt. He shot his friend an annoyed look at that. He could take care of himself. All he received in turn was a shrug of his shoulders as Toji did not really care how he felt on the matter. Maki herself had already taken her position at his other side.

As they got closer, it became clear what they were supposed to be. They stopped at half the considerable distance between the Fire Nation Camp and Gaoling and one of them dismounted his horse to stab a pole into the ground, another moved next to him with a white peace of cloth, and in a matter of seconds, all seventeen of the earth kingdom nationals were stood behind a peace flag that blew in the wind. He looked at Toji, and his friend shrugged, not sure what to do either.

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“Okay, who are you and what do you want?” he chose to be the one to start the negotiations, seizing power from the beginning.

“I am Kinvara, the Seventhiet Mayor of the City of Gaoling, with me are several of my advisers and councillors. And who are you?”

“Nuh-uh. My question had two parts. What. Do. You. Want?”

“Ideally, we want you out of our city’s territory, but we understand that might be a tall ask. Instead we seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict. Gaoling surrenders” He said, stunning my half of the negotiation group. Even I found myself speechless at his words. Surrender? Just like that? Surrender wasn’t new to me, but that only happened in weaker towns that lacked walls and fighting men. Gaoling did not seem to be lacking in either.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why?”

“Surely you are not a parrot, Mayor. You heard my questions. Now answer them.”

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn