Chapter 21.1- And so the Dragons Danced

XXXXXXXX- NATSU

It had been a week since he received his promotion, along with command of what had once been Major General Sung’s division- Lieutenant General now, he supposed. Now it was his. The First Division of the fire nation Army, Battalion 1 under the command of Major General Natsu of the noble Wu family, was the official name of his command. And his command now held the Earth Kingdom City of Omashu. He held it under the grace of the noble FireLord so he did not have carte blanche to do as he would with the space.

In fact, he was actually very limited on what he could do. And so he focused on the things he could do. The changes he could make. He would be turning the town over to someone else in a few weeks or months so he had no interest in turning it into some developed bastion of the Fire Nation, only for someone else to take the credit for his actions. With that in mind, his changes and policies could actually be loosely considered as sobatage. Well, only if one stretched the definition by a lot. He’d be long gone by the time the effects of his actions bore fruit.

His first choice had been deciding to keep things broadly as they were. He’d had the entire Kingdom-city searched thrice for soldiers of course, but beyond executing or improving all who bore arms against them, they’d done their best to have as little effect in the lives of the average person as possible. That policy was what led him to his present position.

“Major General Natsu, they are ready for you” Toji said to him with hidden mirth in his eyes. He didn’t feel the same amusement but understood that toji had a peculiar sense of humour.

“Good” I replied and walked forward. We were at the steps of Bumi’s castle. It loomed over Omashu, and from these steps, one could see much of the city. It was also the perfect place to host events that needed public notice. In this case, it was punishment. He made things business as usual as much as possible, but he did still have a few rules to keep order, and more than a few to ensure the security of his men. The seven people knelt at the foot of the stairs had undoubtedly broken those rules in one way or another.

“Lord Confessor. Read out their charges” I projected my voice, making sure that the hundreds of people who gathered to witness the proceedings could hear me.

“Major-General Sir! Three of these men are of the Imperial Army. They were caught trying to rape a local girl” Toji read out the first charge. I sighed. I already knew this would leave me less popular with my troops, but we’d be heading to the battlefield sooner or later, and as a leader who led from the front, there was no better way to gain favour from ones troops than killing on their behalf. Besides, I killed Bumi. I could suffer a little repetitional damage from doing the right thing. And I had made the rules more than clear from the beginning.

“These other four- three men and one women- are citizens of Omashu who were caught attempting to leave the city after curfew.” I nodded at the charges. The punishments clear and rote at this point.

“For the would-be rapists, the punishment is clear. All three of them are to receive 50 lashes of the whip, and will report to the breaking grounds for retraining” I said. I could already see my men whispering among themselves. Sung had run a disciplined camp but had been more than willing to turn a blind eye and allow the men take their liberties with those we conquered. He punished theft, but little more.

“Those caught breaking curfew will receive 40 lashes of the whip each” I pronounced. Here, the Omashu citizens were the ones whispering, but to lesser numbers. This was not the first time I was pronouncing this particular punishment for this precise crime. I considered it a victory in fact that there were only seven who had broken the rules today. On the first day, there had been several dozen. I’d had to spend hours dealing with case by case. Now, I had Toji doing most of the investigating and only those who were assuredly guilty were brought before me.

The second thing I’d done, I thought to myself as I walked away to my next appointment, was empty much of Omashu’s treasury and spend all the money employing every single blacksmith in the city. The Fire Nation military was the most well provisioned of them all, but even we had budgetary limits. With the coffers of an entire Kingdom at my disposal, I could ignore most of those limits. Each and every single one of my men would be armed and armoured to the very max. There was no expense that could not be borne when you weren’t the one paying, I’d come to learn.

A/N; Back on writing this now. Let’s hope I stay