Chapter 17: Days in the capital
"Dear daughter, It's so good to be spending some time together with you." Ursa said besides Azula while a servant washed her hair.
"Don't pretend that we are friends, I've just accepted your request of staying around." Azula stated while showing no emotion.
"But we aren't friends…" Ursa corrected with a gentle smile. "We are family!"
"How insufferable can you really be?" Azula scoffed.
Before silent dawning over them, Ursa spoke. "What do you say about you showing me your progress in the fire bending?"
"Don't make me laugh, you've never been interested in how well I was doing." Azula's expression turned into a scowl. "You've always favored Zuko. Before I never understood why, he was continuously failing and embarrassing himself. But now I see that you knew of his performance…and I even wonder if it wasn't you who had come up with such an idea."
Ursa answered her quickly. "Not at all dear daughter! I've always known as much as you!" She continued as a servant moved to manicure her. "And you're mistaken as well in regards to my care for you."
Azula simply scoffed and both moved elsewhere.
In the training room, the two were greeted by half a dozen royal guards.
They were the ones that Zuko had deemed as the best and subsequently worthy of training Azula. And from previous experience, Azula knew that they wouldn't hold back against her.
Ursa took a seat with a safe distance from the group as Azula moved to face them.
"You know dear daughter, we should've come here first." Ursa pointed out while playing with her hair. "Nothing better than a relaxing hair and nails treatment after a strenuous exercise."
"Nonsense." Remarked Azula while gesturing for the silent guards to begin their spar. "It's only after the stress of luxury that I feel ready for an enjoyable match."
Each royal guard moved to circle Azula while holding proper fire bending posture.
As Azula awaited in patience, each soldier clenched their fist and performed an opening strike.
As two of her opponents shot forth obvious yet powerful fists of flame to meet her.
Her instinct ordered her to dodge the raging blast, but she quelled that impulse, choosing instead to block the combined attack with a wall of her own flame.
She was being tested as a ruler, meaning her role would be to overpower her foes and force them to submit.
Her concern would be to properly use her energy, avoiding at all costs wasting movement and if necessary letting her adversaries to tired themselves.
That meant blocking and avoiding attacks that came her way should be timed so to allow friendly fire in between them.
That would be easy enough if the royal guards continued with straightforward attacks, but it was no surprise when they attacked all at once, and in different patterns.
After all, who knew when they would be outnumbered?
Two of the guards repeated the initial straightforward attack, but the rightmost one launched a curving fireball to hit Azula from the side while the final guard leaped over the combined inferno with the ever popular flaming axe kick.
Azula had to think fast if she wanted to handle them all appropriately and efficiently.
The curved fireball reached her first.
Instead of wasting time and energy blocking it, Azula chose to divert the flame, briefly commanding it to follow the path of her shoulders and fly harmlessly to her other side.
Unfortunately, diverting a light attack like that one was easy. Diverting a combined power blast was not, forcing Azula to once again rely on a fire wall to protect her.
She only had a second after dealing with that attack to nullify the incoming kick from the sky, but since there was no time to attempt a Firebending move of her own, Azula simply weathered the blow and blocked it physically, stopping the physical contact but still having the flame wash over her.
Her lack of armor left her vulnerable from the worst of that, but she shoved her attacker away, head over heels through the air.
The royal guard landed on her feet just fine however, just in time for the remaining three guards to launch a barrage of fireballs from every conceivable direction they could manage.
Still determined to thwart the attacks rather than dodge them, Azula quickly calculated the best way to handle this assault.
She wouldn't be able to react in time if she waited for each sphere of flame to reach her.
Instead, she began launching fireballs of her own to intercept them.
Of course there was only one of her and three of the enemy, so she could not block them all this way, but by nullifying more of the attacks before they reached her, she could block most of the rest through defensive walls.
Azula figured that she would have to be offensive at some point.
After all, you could protect against attacks all day long, but until the enemy was neutralized the threat would not cease.
With this in mind, Azula redirected the next fireball to reach her through the barrage of similar attacks to target one of the Firebenders about to throw another one at her.
Caught in the middle of a motion, the man was unable to react fast enough to protect himself, getting launched backwards by the impact.
Taking advantage of the now decreased number of attacks she had to fend off for a split second, Azula quickly advanced towards the remaining enemies, continuing to counter their attacks as she did so.
Unfortunately the woman who had thrown the axe kick at her earlier now stepped forward to sweep a tendril of flame at her legs, an attack that would easily knock her off balance if it wasn't avoided.
Azula essentially hopped over it, not wanting to expose herself with a high jump into the air. She even managed to block two more fireballs during the maneuver, but she did not manage to block the followup bolt of flame when the only female guard threw a straight kick at her.
The force of the blow sent Azula sailing backwards, though she rolled to her feet as soon as she hit the floor and unleashed a torrent of blue flames back at her trio of attackers, about to be rejoined by the one guard Azula had hit earlier.
Azul took advantage of the blinding flame she had unleashed to close the distance between herself and her group of opponents, a movement they failed to notice whatsoever until their collective Firebending cleared away her inferno.
Unfortunately for them, by the time they were able to see Azula's new proximity to their position, she was close enough to launch two powerful palm strikes at her center foes.
The strikes to the chest, amplified by the concussive force of condensed Firebending, sent two of the guards careening off the edge of the training platform, essentially removing them from the conflict.
Azula did not have long to revel in her small victory however, as her remaining two adversaries began to attack her in close quarters, foregoing Firebending altogether to instead rely on simple martial arts prowess.
Naturally all military Firebenders had significant training in hand-to-hand combat, but it was unusual for it to be used without the associated element.
That said, Azula herself was quite adept at it, much because of her perfectionist nature.
Even so, she was outnumbered by two skilled fighters that were bigger.
She managed to block a few strikes on either side of her body, but her opponents were smart enough to alternate their attacks to catch her off guard.
Azula quickly found one of her legs kicked out from under her, sending her to one knee as she raised both arms to block combined sidekicks to her torso.
But the force of the dual blow broke her guard, and the follow up straight kick to her chest both knocked the wind out of her and sent her reeling backwards.
Despite the tightness in her chest, Azula knew she had to persevere and was determined to keep fighting.
Performing an ukemi that allowed her to windmill her legs in the direction of her two remaining opponents, Azula unleashed two torrents of blue flames that kept them at bay as she used her motion to return to a fighting stance.
Both she and her adversaries were ready to engage once again, exhaustion be damned as Azula decided to use her lightning, but they were prevented from doing so as the voice of the royal guards' captain cut them off with one curt command. "Enough."
Dropping their stances, the royal guards turned to face their captain, bowing to her.
"What are you doing? I haven't allowed this match to end yet." Azula scolded her.
"It wasn't needed. I've got strict orders from Emperor Zuko to test you to your limits, but only to find them." She stated while wearing her metal scarlet helmet. "I've been commanded to inform him of them so that he can personally push them."
Azula was about to threaten the soldier to do as she ordered when she heard claps.
"Wonderful work dear daughter!" Ursa remarked with her soothing voice as she approached.
"It wasn't good enough." Rebutted Azula.
"I agree it wasn't perfect. But harming yourself now would only prevent you from actually improving in the next match." Ursa moved to hug Azula, but was immediately ignored by her. "Rest now darling, I'm sure you will find your training more fruitful once your beloved brother returns home. For now, reflect about what you did wrong… and what you did right."
"So be it." Azula stated and moved to leave the place while wincing a little, as Ursa followed her after thanking the royal guards for their service.
As both royals continued with their day, Azula had been informed that some high rank officers had requested a meeting.
Ursa followed her as she took Zuko's place and attended the meeting.
Most desired to personally report their achievements in reducing crime and guaranteeing security in their districts, while some informed of their advances in regards to infrastructure, farming and agriculture.
But the main reason for the meeting was to discuss attacks from the water tribes' raiders.
They had intensified lately and their scouts were now reporting sighting them joining forces with certain earth kingdom units.
Zuko had made himself clear in regards to not engaging the enemies' main capitals, but such independent attacks to their vulnerable units would be an entirely different matter.
Azula had just received news that her brother would be returning later than expected.
She didn't know if that pleased or annoyed her, but there wasn't much worth dwelling over it, in the end Zuko had sent her ahead to test her ruling skills.
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In the beginning it was very frustrating to Toph that not a single one of the hundreds of potential students had picked up metalbending.
Of course, she knew from the beginning that what Zuko had requested was experimental. It was still possible that Toph was the only person who could ever learn metalbending.
But heck she wanted to impress him.
And maybe Toph could accept all of that, that this whole ordeal was futile, that she was entirely alone in the world of metalbending... had her students been able to pick up even the most basic earthbending technique that would make everything so much easier: Seismic Sense.
Or that's how Zuko had described it to her.
To their credit it wasn't for a lack of trying on their part.
But they couldn't even do that.
So now she stood on the ground in front of the fighting arena with every single one of the new citizens of the empire barefoot and blindfolded in front of her.
Fortunately they weren't complaining.
Safe for a small group that were freaking out about every rock that stuck into their foot and couldn't keep still, which of course resulted in them stepping on even more rocks.
They stood there in silence.
Toph took a deep breath. "I'm really not asking much of you. Just stand still, and concentrate on the earth under your feet. It's really not that hard."
They stood.
Toph could tell they were trying to concentrate, but it didn't seem to be enough. After some time she sat down on a rock and blew a puff of hair off of her face.
Or would if she hadn't tied it properly after Zuko complimented her beautiful face.
This was going to take a while.
Even though the group was now quiet, Toph wasn't sure she could actually call what they were doing concentrating.
But at very least they were trying.
After half an hour, Toph was considering giving up.
That was, until she felt something moving under the ground.
Suddenly, she smiled. This was going to be interesting.
Toph stood up. "Okay. We're going to try something a little different. I want you all to earthbend."
Someone asked. "But how are we supposed to earthbend if we can't see the rocks?"
"I manage." Toph said with as much control in her voice as she could muster. "Now there's earth ALL AROUND YOU! BEND IT!" she shouted.
Her students quickly responded to the order and each one raised a small pillar of earth. It wasn't spectacular earthbending, but it was enough to draw attention.
Toph grinned. At least they haven't harmed one another.
The earth shook.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Asked another person, his voice shaking a little.
"Concentrate" Toph responded.
The shaking got stronger and a woman threw her arms in the air. "We've angered our teacher! Please don't hurt us!"
Toph only laughed. "I told you lily livers, I'm not going to challenge you physically, that's the pebble's job! Maybe if you could feel the earth, you'd know what's happening!"
"I don't want to die!" Shouted a woman, really tempted to take her blind off. She dropped to the ground as her trembling legs gave out beneath her.
Suddenly, something exploded behind the large group of benders and the shaking stopped.
There was silence.
"What's going on?" Tyro questioned respectfully, then something nudged him in the back.
Turned around, almost tripping on a rock. "What was that?!"
'Feel the ground and find out.' Toph thought to herself as she moved under the large group of benders.
Even though none of them could possibly see it, she was grinning ear to ear.
Turns out teaching could be fun after all.
"Mister Boulder?" Tyro responded after moving his head from Toph's previous position.
'Good. You felt it.' Toph thought while grinning.
Toph was finally beginning to have some fun with all of this.
The boulder submerged himself underground again and emerged elsewhere and poked another earth bender.
"Woh! I felt something!" Some people close to his previous position stated.
The crowd began to voice their agreement.
They had felt something when Toph had moved to another position by digging underground tunnels.
Toph chose to remain silent.
It had been a while since she had learned earthbending from the badgermoles, but the intuitive nature of exploring and feeling the vibrations was how she was taught.
"I think they want us to continue to concentrate on the ground!" Said Tyro to the group.
Toph narrowed her eyes.
That's what she wanted them to do.
She had told them that's what she had wanted them to do.
But her students were paying attention to the ground now.
She could feel the concentration in their stance.
Even the slow learners of the batch barely flinched as she and the boulder set the earth to shaking one more time.
This was working.
"I... felt something, again!" Said adult. "I think I can feel the earth."
The silence had done its job and it was time for vocal instructions. "Good!" She said bursting out of the ground. "Now earthbend at us, without hitting one another."
The vibrations stilled as Tyro felt the ground beneath him.
He stomped, and launched a rock to fall over Toph's position.
The girl deflected it easily, but she had a wide grin on her face.
His shot had been dead on.
Even for someone with actual sight, it was a hard precision move for regular earth benders.
Tyro knew exactly where she had been standing.
"Not bad!" Toph remarked.
One by one her students shot rocks at her and the boulder, until they had each done it for days, enough times that Toph knew it wasn't a fluke.
They could feel the earth.
They could feel her and the boulder.
And avoid hurting their own companions.
Toph had tried physically shaking the ground to get her students to feel the earth, and thankfully with another bender's help it had proven to be effective.
Their seismic sense was now working.
Not as precise nor as passive as hers, they still had to pour a lot of concentration which would make fighting in unfamiliar areas really hard.
But it was more a means to an end for metal bending.
Once they had quieted down, Toph turned to the crowd of earth benders as they retrieved their blindfolds. "Thank you." They said, bowing their two teachers.
"I think we're done for the day." Toph said.
"The boulder had found it worth his time!" He said, patting her in the back. "That's how you see the world? Every day?"
"It's not that big of a deal." Toph said. "An earthbender should be able to feel the earth."
"But none of these people have ever received proper earthbending training." The boulder pointed.
"What?!" Toph questioned, completely forgotten that their students had basically lived their lives in a metal prison in the middle of the ocean.
She'd had her students with her for just over a week now, and she didn't even consider why none of them knew any proper bending stance and movements?
Toph wanted to bang her head against a tree.
She must be the worst teacher in the earth kingdom!
She took a deep breath.
She had learned of metal bending from a fire bender.
Surely she could teach it to these lily livers.
"Well, they are learning now. And believe me, what I just taught them today will be essential to metalbending, so I'll be working on it again tomorrow. Try not to break them until then." The boulder gestured his understanding with a large smile. "Good. Take care everyone!."
Maybe her students were greener than a... well Toph couldn't exactly remember what all she had been told was green, but she was sure her students were greener than any of it.
It didn't matter.
They had made progress today and she knew they would make more in the future.
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Szeto was the Fire Nation Avatar preceding Avatar Yangchen chronologically and the fire nation avatar before Roku.
He was the avatar that looked like Jafar and appeared in the original series lavabending the magma from four volcanoes while in the Avatar State.
Living in an era of immense crisis that threatened to destroy the Fire Nation, Szeto saved his home country by becoming a bureaucrat, diplomat, and accountant in service of Fire Lord Yosor.
Believe it or not, that's my favorite thing about him.
Beginning from the bottom eventually rising to the Grand Advisor position, Szeto greatly strengthened the Fire Nation's government, restored economic balance, and set up programs to aid the poor and needy.
Szeto was born into an era of great strife in the Fire Nation.
Plagues and natural disasters destroyed the people's livelihoods, while violent conflicts between the nation's noble clans threatened to tear the nation apart.
To rescue his homeland, Szeto opted for an extremely unusual approach.
Instead of taking control himself or forcefully trying to enforce his decisions as was his right as Avatar, he became a junior minister in the Fire Nation's government.
Notably he rejected any privileges, and began to work as a regular official, advancing in the ranks according to his achievements instead of any birthrights.
He accepted orders from Fire Lord Yosor, and senior ministers, and began to improve his country by using its bureaucracy.
Proving himself to be a talented bureaucrat, diplomat, and accountant, Szeto reinforced the government's authority, as him working for the Fire Lord meant that all his achievements also positively reflected on the Fire Nation's central government.
Eventually, he was appointed Grand Advisor to Fire Lord Yosor, and brokered a lasting peace among the noble clans.
Thereafter, Szeto concentrated on restoring the Fire Nation's economy which had greatly suffered from unrest and mismanagement.
As Grand Advisor, he ended the debasement of coins, and set up the first official relief programs for farmers in times of famine.
All the while, he kept meticulous records of his work.
Szeto eventually died and was reincarnated as Yangchen of the Western Air Temple in accordance with the Avatar Cycle.
After his death, he was included alongside other Fire Avatars in the Fire Nation Royal Palace's Royal Gallery.
His painting depicted him in his trademark minister robes, holding an abacus and a large stamp instead of mighty and intimidating fireballs that fire lords and avatars had traditionally represented in their images.
He became a revered figure in the Fire Nation, and a festival was set up in his honor.
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(23/12/2020)
*Hope this chapter is of your liking. Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.
Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.
Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.
** Please don't hesitate to tell me if the quality is dropping. I really wish to continue trying to update fast, but I don't want to make it reflect badly on my writing.
*** Apologies for the delay, the preparation for coming festivities are taking a toll on my time schedule.
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