Chapter 21

With the fighting now effectively over, it was time to reorganize the Waegu Archipelago into a proper territory. This was something that Bikki wouldn't be too involved in, outside of structuring the military forces of the protectorate. Indeed, he would wind up finishing this brief war with the rank of Colonel and structuring the forces of the Waegu Protectorate along the same lines as the Liason Troops he had commanded during the war.

The Waegu Protectorate could contribute nine thousand troops in six regiments, and a fleet of fifteen warships, mostly Panokseon or Junks, to its own defense. Of these, perhaps five ships and three thousand troops would be available for expeditionary duties right away, while the remainder needed repair, drill, and equipment. Bikki would organize such repairs, equipping, and drills as best he was able.

There was also the matter of Benders. The Waegu Archipelago had a mixed population, which meant that Firebenders, Earthbenders, and Waterbenders cropped up amongst the population from time to time. General Iroh took a primary hand in organizing training for such benders, utilizing the skills of Defecting Benders such as Moto, Song Wei, Sialuk, Deniigi, and Wong Fei-Yan, alongside himself, to train up a crop of Firebenders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders. He turned Seonan Citadel into a Bending Academy, with the first class taking their training course while he, Zuko, and Bikki were still in the Archipelago.

No, it was to be Prince Zuko and General Iroh who would do the heavy lifting here, along with a number of local pseudo-nobility and merchants. The Criminal Underworld would wind up taking a decent chunk of power on the condition that they transition to legitimate enterprise over the next year. Thankfully, most of the criminal activity had been smuggling or mercenary work, things which could easily be transitioned.

This was largely due to the extensive taxes placed on legitimate trade and the large amount of conscription done on the populace by the Commodore's Regime. With the Pirates deposed, that no longer needed to be the case. True, some level of illicit activity would always be present, but enough could be transitioned over to legitimate enterprise to fulfill the conditions set by the Dragon of the West.

At the same time, local village Headmen and Town Elders filled the gaps that had been created by the defeat of the Pirate Governors and Captains. In some places such as Gimi Port, where the Pirate Captain-Governor had been captured alive and there were willing collaborators amongst the former Pirate Regime, the transition was made much smoother than in places like Seonan City, where the violent overthrow of the entire local hierarchy required time to be spent carefully building things back up.

In general, the outlying islands were much easier to deal with than places on the Capital Island of Seom Yosae. Those Islands had many more local strongmen and pseudo-nobility to help share the burden of administration than the Seom Yosae, which had been the epicenter of pirate control. Especially in places like Tamna Island, which had been a hotbed of support for the invasion. Indeed, some places had even extended titles to members of the Invasion Force. Bikki himself had been offered the position of Gongjak of Tamna Island, while Prince Zuko was invested with the title of Gun of Waegu. General Iroh had refused any titles for himself.

Then there was the economy and rebuilding of infrastructure. The economy had suffered greatly under the misrule of the Waegu Pirates, being taxed into oblivion to fund yet more fortresses, ship construction, and the raising of more troops. That the vast bulk of such garrisons defected or stood down during the invasion was immaterial. The damage to the economy had been done and now needed time to be fixed.

Trade helped. There were a number of trade goods that could be sold abroad in ports belonging to the Northern Water Tribe or some of the Fire Nation Colonies that would command enough of a price to begin re-investing in the fixing of the Archipelago's issues. Furthermore, the pressing of the reformed Liason Troops into a corvee labor force also helped fix the broken infrastructure. Silk, Soju, Iron, Jade, Spices, and Porcelain were all produced on various islands, and while the Jade and Iron Mines of Seom Yosae would need to be repaired and the Spice Plantations of Seang-gang Island would need to be replanted, Corvee Labor and the sale of Silk, Porcelain, and Soju from Tamna Island and elsewhere would help do so.

All told it would take nine months for everything to get to a point where General Iroh felt comfortable leaving things in the hands of the locals. By that point, the year had turned, and the ninety-eighth year of the War had dawned. It was three months into that year when Bikki was summoned to meet with Prince Zuko and General Iroh at Seonan City. He didn't delay in arriving and found himself being escorted to the Seonan Bending Academy by a group of young Benders, one Fire, one Earth, and one Water.

"Colonel, I'm Ban Jia, this is Park Min-Woo and Choi Sang-Cheol, we've been sent to be your escort." Greeted the chipper Earthbending Girl. She couldn't have been much older than thirteen, same for the two boys, a taciturn Waterbender and a smirking Firebender.

"Lead on." Nodded Bikki.

Bikki was led through the city, much of which had been rebuilt over the past nine months, toward the imposing form of Seonan Citadel, the towering fortress of black stone had also been repaired, though it was now home to a class of young teenagers and preteens learning to get a handle on their bending, instead of a garrison of bloodthirsty pirates looking to squeeze every last Ryo out of the populace.

As they entered the grounds of the citadel, Bikki spotted a class in the courtyard going through Earthbending Forms under the instruction of Song Wei. Entering through the Citadel Keep gates and passing by classes in an antechamber going over the candle exercise under the watchful eye of Moto, or attempting to manipulate water in basins under the gaze of the one-eyed form of Sialuk. It looked as if things were actively progressing here.

As he was led up to the main office which had formerly been the residence of Commodore Shun, Bikki couldn't help but feel like their stay in the Waegu Archipelago had actually done the locals a lot of good. Even putting aside the deposition of the pirates, staying to direct the rebuilding had clearly been the right choice. There had to be close to two dozen benders in training here that would have been lost without the establishment of the Seonan Citadel Academy, and that was just for starters.

Finally, he made his way up to the office, where Jia, the lead escort, knocked on the teakwood door three times in rapid succession.

"Enter." Came the wizened voice of General Iroh from inside.

Bikki did so and saw that not only were General Iroh and Prince Zuko present, but so were Deniigi and Wong Fei-Yan. They were seated around a table with a number of sea charts and maps spread out on its surface. That could mean only one thing.

"General, Instructors, My Prince. I've brought Bikki as requested." Saluted Jia.

"Thank you, Jia, you may go." Nodded General Iroh.

Jia turned on her heel and left while Bikki moved further into the room, looking down at the maps and sea charts. Just as he'd thought, the makings of a course to the Eastern Air Temple were being plotted. It looked like the sea charts had been amended, though.

"So we're finally moving on?" Questioned Bikki.

"We are. Deniigi and Fei-Yan have also agreed to accompany us going forward." Confirmed General Iroh.

"There's been reports of Southern Water Tribe Naval Ships near Chameleon Bay, bolstering the last fleet base the Earth Kingdom has." Informed Wong Fei-Yan.

"We figured you'd be thankful for a bit of extra muscle, yeah?" Grinned Deniigi.

"I can see that. It looks like they've hit convoys going from the Khamdo Protectorate west to the Ai Chin Colony and the Occupation Zone further inland." Bikki mused pointing out the annotations on the map.

"Indeed. General Bujing has been quite put out that his supply convoys have been raided." Nodded General Iroh.

"Serves him right." Scoffed Prince Zuko.

"I agree. I'll not shed a tear for General Bujing's difficulties." Concurred Bikki.

"The man himself may be brutal, but the troops under his command do not need to suffer any more than they already do. Perhaps it is best not to celebrate such difficulties." Cautioned General Iroh.

"I agree with the General. I've heard of Bujing. He's the sort who will force harsher treatment of his own men when supplies are low to maintain discipline." Frowned Wong Fei-Yan.

"A Sadist you mean." Scowled Deniigi.

"You don't know the half of it." Grumbled Prince Zuko.

"Either way, it's not our problem. We need to head for Khamdo and the Eastern Air Temple there." Insisted General Iroh.

"Did something happen? Why now?" Queried Bikki.

"You could say that." Snorted Prince Zuko, holding up a piece of paper stamped with the official seal of the Fire Lord.

Bikki took it and read it. It seemed the Royal Court back in the Home Islands had recently heard of the conquest of the Waegu Archipelago and the Fire Lord had judged nine months more than enough time to settle affairs here. He was ordering Prince Zuko to continue his search for the Avatar within the week. Bikki frowned at that, no wonder they were in such a rush.

"I see." Muttered Bikki.

"Do you?" Asked Prince Zuko, snarkily.

"It seems the Fire Lord doesn't like the idea of our Prince having a power base of his own." Offered Wong Fei-Yan.

"Yeah, he can't change who the Protectorate has sworn fealty to without causing a problem, but he can order the Prince to move on so he can't use the Protectorate against him. Typical political bullshit. Agna Q'ela has the same thing going on. It's one of the reasons I left." Huffed Deniigi.

"Either way, we do not have much of a choice. At the moment, only continuing our quest as ordered will allow us a path forward." Intoned General Iroh.

"How soon do we leave?" Questioned Bikki.

"Two days. I hope you have a successor picked out for your position as the head of the Protectorate's Troops." Answered General Iroh.

"Suk-Jong's been my second through the whole Invasion and the establishment of the Protectorate Troops. He can handle it." Affirmed Bikki.

"Then notify him. We're leaving with the tide two days from now." Commanded Prince Zuko.

And like that, their stay in the Waegu Archipelago was over. Bikki cut the orders promoting Suk-Jong as his replacement and moved himself back to his original cabin on board the Dragonhawk. As soon as the rest of the preparations had been made, the Dragonhawk set sail, now with two extra Benders on board in the form of Deniigi and Wong Fei-Yan. They steamed south from the Waegu Archipelago, toward the Khamdo Protectorate. The Eastern Air Temple awaited.

While there, they would find their next clue toward the Avatar's location. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see the end of Bikki's time on the Waegu Archipelago. In total, Zuko, Bikki, and Iroh spent nine months un-fucking what the Waegu Pirates fucked up and generally setting the protectorate up to succeed. In that time, Ozai learned of the conquest of the Archipelago and decided that Zuko having a power base to call his own wasn't something he liked. Now they're being ordered to continue their search for the Avatar.

The thing is, Ozai can't simply remove Zuko from his position as Prince of the Waegu Protectorate. The reasons for that are complex and come from how Fire Lord Sozin had set up a patchwork of colonies, protectorates, and military occupation zones during the initial phase of the war. The Fire Nation still has a bunch of feudal clans and Sozin gave a number of them command over protectorates carved out of the former Air Nomad and Earth Kingdom Territories in order to bolster support for his plans of world conquest.

While the rulers of these protectorates owe fealty to the Fire Lord, removing one isn't done lightly for fear of revolt. Azulon attempted to balance this out by having the Colonial Office and Fire Nation Military administrate territories too, but the protectorates are still powerful enough to cause issues. If Ozai removes Zuko, his own son, from his position as ruler of a Protectorate, what will the Clan-ruled Protectorates, who don't have blood ties to the royal family think? They might start to think they're next and revolt, which would be a major setback that the Earth Kingdom could use to reverse a bunch of gains made in the war.

However, if Ozai instead just orders Zuko to continue his search for the Avatar, that's not technically a removal from his protectorate. It's just forcing Zuko to continue his pre-existing mission. That's eminently more politically viable for Ozai to do. It also still accomplishes his goal of not letting the Son he exiled from the Home Islands use a power base against him.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve the arrival at the Khamdo Protectorate.

Stay tuned. . .