"As you can see, this machine is truly titanic. A masterwork, if I do say so myself. I call it... The Drill."
Azula cocked an eyebrow as she sat at the strategy table in the outpost war room. Pinned against one of the walls was a large schematic on parchment that depicted the massive war machine that had arrived at the staging area recently. War Minister Qin was gesturing fervently at it with obvious pride.
"How very clever of you, War Minister."
Qin completely missed Azula's completely blatant sarcasm. "Thank you, Princess. This incredible machine guarantees our victory. Against it, the mighty walls of Ba Sing Se are but pebbles in our path to greatness!"
The Princess glanced to her side at Xisheng, who was likewise at the table at her behest. Qin had been too excited to question his presence. The young man's mouth was hidden by his interwoven fingers, his colorful eyes darkened by some indiscernible emotion as he stared at the schematic with a furrowed brow. The three of them were the only ones in the room: Xisheng had briefly mentioned a seeming lack of other officers, but only now was Azula realizing how right he was. It seemed like Qin was really the only person in charge around here, and he didn't have much of a support structure in place to assist him. She certainly wanted to inquire about this, but right now, discussing this gigantic drill was a greater priority.
"Is that so? I assume the intent is to drive this machine directly into the wall and simply... drill a hole?"
Qin gestured towards the part of the schematic that broke down the drill, though the drawings and annotations didn't really mean much to Azula. "Precisely, Princess. See, the drill is long enough to punch all the way through the walls of Ba Sing Se. In the past, it took Iroh months, years to breach the wall. With my masterpiece, we will be through in no more than an hour. The hydraulic technology moving it forward and powering the drill is cutting edge. There is no more advanced machine in the Fire Nation, domestic or military."
Azula was about to inquire further, but she didn't get a chance to. Xisheng spoke aloud for the first time since entering this room. "How do you plan to get it to the wall?"
At first, Qin narrowed his eyes at the much younger man, seemingly insulted to be questioned by him. Azula had never specified anything about Xisheng to him other than the fact that the young man was trusted by her. Though honestly, that should have commanded more respect in and of itself. Azula made sure to iterate this.
"Answer his question, War Minister. And any further questions he may have: assume that he speaks for me in this meeting."
Qin didn't seem happy about this notion, and Xisheng, surprisingly, didn't seem shocked to be granted this privilege. Perhaps he was too focused on the topic at hand to be appreciative of something like that. At any rate, Qin knew better than to deny or disrespect the Princess, so he got his ire under control, though his tone was just barely acceptable.
"As you may have noticed, the Drill is capable of locomotion. It is more than capable of advancing towards the walls."
Xisheng's expression was stony. "Across open ground? Across literal ground?"
Qin scoffed as he dismissed Xisheng's obvious concern. "Your fears are misplaced. What could Earthbenders possibly do against a machine of this size? Nothing short of them dropping the wall itself on it will stop this machine. And if that happens, I daresay we are still in an advantageous position."
Now with a prominent scowl on his face, and perhaps knowing that he had Azula's blessing, Xisheng rose from his position at the table and moved towards the schematic on the wall, gesturing at a part of the drawing that appeared to depict a multitude of legs, similar to a caterpillar.
"The drill uses these spikes to move, right? I saw them in action when it first approached the base."
Quite clearly annoyed with Xisheng's actions, Qin nevertheless managed to avoid saying anything snarky. "Yes. The Drill is broken up into segmented parts. The lead section retracts the spikes, extends forward, then plants them in the ground again. Then the next section retracts the spikes and extends before doing the same. And so on and so forth until the entire machine has moved forward. As I said, the hydraulics on the Drill are the very best the Fire Nation has ever constructed. What is your point?"
Xisheng pointed directly at one of the spikes in the drawing. "So what happens if there's no ground for these things to dig into? What if some Earthbenders get close and dig a big ditch, right along the legs? If some trenches suddenly opened up right where these things needed to be planted, the Drill couldn't pull itself forward anymore, right? Actually, if the ground these legs were bracing on was taken away just on the front segment, it would dip into the ground and obstruct the entire thing's locomotion, wouldn't it?"
Qin shook his head in bewilderment as he glanced at the drawing and back at Xisheng. "Please, that's... that's not going to happen."
"And why not?"
"Because those cowardly earthworms dare not leave their precious walls. They've barely made any offensives in years, even when they had prime opportunities to do so. They would much rather dig in and wait for the enemy to come to them. Besides, even if they mustered the courage to actually sally out and attack, of course the Drill will be escorted. Two platoons of tanks will guard it."
If this was supposed to assuage Xisheng's concerns, it didn't. If anything, he looked more agitated than before. "Two platoons-?!"
Foreseeing a more heated spat if she didn't intervene, Azula raised her voice momentarily to break the exchange. "Enough, Lieutenant. I understand that you have valid concerns. But let us hear the entirety of Qin's plan before we ask more questions."
Surprisingly, Qin seemed a little nervous all of a sudden. "Ah, yes, well... there is not much more to say in that regard, Princess. The Drill will advance and breach the wall. After that..."
It was fairly obvious to the other occupants of the room that Qin didn't actually have any plan after breaching the wall. In his mind, just putting a hole in Ba Sing Se's outer wall was the same thing as achieving victory. Xisheng was clearly about to speak on this, and likely not with any kind words, but Azula beat him to the punch.
"I see. Yes, I suppose the wall itself is the biggest obstacle to success. If I may ask, War Minister, how many people have you presented this plan to?"
"Well, I have the Fire Lord's approval..."
"Explicitly stated, or implied?"
Qin grew incredibly tight-lipped after being asked that, which was answer enough in and of itself. It was unlikely that Ozai had directly approved of this strategy. From Azula's own knowledge, she knew her father only occasionally participated in matters of wartime strategy. He passed on overarching standing orders to his war cabinet, but gave them a fair deal of leeway in achieving those goals. If a plan of action was agreed upon by the majority of the relevant war cabinet members, the Fire Lord did not have to give his explicit permission to launch those plans, as it was assumed that the war cabinet was acting in its best capacity to achieve the goals set for them by their ruler.
The system was not without its perks: at the very least, it meant the Fire Lord did not have to bothered with every trifling maneuver and plan of action on the battlefront. It also kept the Fire Lord free from political scrutiny and condemnation on that front. If a specific plan was not explicitly endorsed by the Fire Lord, then all blame could be pinned on the person who enacted said plan if it failed. The Fire Lord thus took no blame for military failures even if those failures occurred in his name, which helped protect his image as infallible ruler of the land, never to be questioned.
Of course, there were plenty of downsides, as made evident by the current situation. With the ability to approve plans without the Fire Lord's explicit and informed consent, members of the war cabinet had a perfect means to assassinate the careers of their fellows. If someone presented a poor plan that was likely to fail, they could approve it anyway, then wait for that inevitable failure. The plan's proponent would be punished to some extent or another, but regardless of the punishment itself, their military failure would tarnish their reputation indefinitely and possibly see them rendered politically insignificant.
Azula could imagine it already: Qin, an ambitious and short-sighted aging man who was dissatisfied with his lack of political ladder climbing at his age, proposing a flawed plan with little chance of success. Even worse, an incredibly resource-heavy plan. His rivals in the war cabinet probably leaped at the chance to approve it: aside from the shame of a strategic failure in and of itself, if the Drill was destroyed and unable to be recovered, Qin would be liable for the massive waste of resources as well. His career would be in shambles, if he even managed to avoid exile.
Honestly, the entire setup was something Azula found problematic. Fire Nation culture was very keen on individuals proving themselves and fighting their way to the top through any means necessary. To achieve this, people were given a fair deal of leeway in what they did, and they would reap either the success or failure of that leeway themselves. There was a time and a place for that sort of competition, but this was not one of them, in Azula's opinion. They were in the midst of a war that had already lasted a hundred years. Now wasn't the time to make strategic action a pissing contest for self-absorbed nobles and officers. When she was Fire Lord, Azula would certainly do away with this hands-off policy. This also explained why Qin had little to no oversight here: high command had given him the leeway to do as he pleased and to be the sole one responsible for the outcome.
"I take it this plan was majority approved by the war cabinet and never expressly shared with my father? You know what that means, don't you, War Minister?"
The graying man gulped, surely not missing Azula's implication. "Of course, your highness. Although, if you approve it here and now..."
Qin's implication wasn't missed either. If Azula personally approved Qin's plan of action, she would assume responsibility for it. Granted, that would mean sharing some of the glory of success, but in that case, it would still be Qin's plan and Qin's pride and joy making it possible. He would still get plenty of credit. And if the plan failed... well, Azula would bear the brunt of that, as a member of the Royal Family who had given the operation her blessing. Azula's approval would give Qin a massive safety net, something he likely wanted after Xisheng had planted some doubts in his mind.
"I'll have to mull it over. This is a major occasion, after all. I can't just approve such things lightly."
Qin grit his teeth in frustration, but did his best to hide any other telling signs of such feelings. "Of course, Princess..."
With a lot on her mind and the need to speak to her comrade without Qin present, Azula rose from her seat at the strategy table. "Let's take our leave, Lieutenant. I'm sure the War Minister needs some time alone to finalize his strategy."
Though he was still glaring at both Qin and the schematic on the wall, Xisheng said nothing, following Azula to leave the room. Qin bowed respectfully as the duo made their exit.
There was a guard outside of the room, so Xisheng held his tongue initially. But the moment he and Azula turned a corner in the hall and were alone, he spoke up.
"This is bad."
Though she knew he would say something like this, Azula answered nonchalantly. "You clearly don't approve of Qin's plan."
"His plan is to charge forward and pray that our enemies are the stupidest, most incompetent people on the planet! I can think of at least ten ways to render that machine useless and anyone with half a brain could figure it out!"
Azula gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I could only come up with seven."
Normally, Xisheng might have apologized for the perceived insult, but he was too riled up to do that. "All they have to do is dig a big trench in front of it, which they'll have all the time in the world to do since it moves at a spider-snail's pace! Or they could dig a cavern under its path and let its own weight crash it down! Heck, they could just create a downward slope in its path and the thing will become worthless! And to top it off, that moron plans to escort it with just two tank platoons?! A whole ten tanks?! If the Earth Kingdom tries, at all, in any capacity, to fight back, this plan will fall apart almost instantly! And the machine itself is so... spirits, just imagine how many tanks or ships or siege engines we could have built instead of that thing!"
Frankly, Azula was surprised to see Xisheng so vehement about this. He wasn't often the type of person to rant and rage about things. "Calm down, Xisheng. I get it, the plan is terrible. Truly atrocious, the more you think about it... this is definitely a political power play. Qin's blinded by hubris, and his fellows in the war cabinet are all too eager to let him take a shot and fail miserably. This entire thing never would have been approved by any sane person seriously attempting to achieve victory."
"Then you should be able to call it off, right? You're the Crown Princess, just tell him he can't do it."
Azula had expected this question to come up. She also expected Xisheng to not like her answer. "It's not so simple, Xisheng. Yes, technically I could overrule everything that's going on here, but... my political situation is too complicated to do that right now."
Xisheng did indeed look unhappy about this, but he didn't lash out or anything. "How do you mean?"
"On paper, I'm the Crown Princess and anything I say goes. In reality, I'm young and unproven. Much as I hate to admit it, I haven't actually accomplished much of anything since leaving the Fire Nation and embarking on this journey. I technically have the right to waltz into any camp I please and start dictating military strategy, but doing so will paint me as little more than an entitled brat jumping at opportunities to prove herself and earn daddy's favor. All the worse if I cancel this plan of attack but have no viable alternative. Then I seem entitled, brash, and incompetent. I know you hate to hear it, but my political reputation is important to my future as Fire Lord. I can't afford for my very first real impression on other figures of government to be a poor one. Just look at what happened to Zuko: it would require a feat of massive capability to ever truly erase the view everyone at home has of him."
Azula was right: Xisheng really didn't like to hear any of this. But though he hated to admit it, he knew that political maneuvering was more necessary than common people often made it out to be. Countries lived and died by politics, so to say it didn't matter would be foolish. Although it was terrible to think that a political impression was more important than people's lives.
"Alright, but... what if you did have a viable alternative? What if you have some better plan to put forward?"
The young Princess appraised him curiously. "Do you have some such plan?"
"...no. Not off the top of my head, right this moment."
He looked defeated, probably because he thought that his lack of contribution meant the Drill plan couldn't be axed, but Azula corrected him swiftly enough. "Even if you did have some better plan, I still couldn't call of Qin's strategy and implement yours. I could if I had more of a reputation to back my decision, but as it stands, doing that would be bad for both of us. For the reasons I mentioned earlier, it would paint me in a negative light. Furthermore, it would likely raise suspicions about you, a common soldier, and why I would trust you over the war cabinet. I'm sure a great many problematic rumors would spread about us if we were to go that route."
Admittedly, Xisheng could see where she was coming from. The young Princess axes a battle plan approved by the war cabinet, then enacts one proposed to her by a similarly young male soldier that she travels alongside... yes, he could imagine a lot of rumors about her favoritism and some sort of illicit relationship. Rumors like that really could do a lot of damage to Azula's image.
The look on his face must have been telling, because Azula made an addition to her sentiments. "Not that I inherently dislike the implications of such rumors, but, surely you see why they would be an issue..."
Surprised to hear her say that because it implied something very questionable, Xisheng glanced at Azula, but the girl was already looking away from him and clearing her throat.
"Here's what we can do, though: come up with a better plan. We must let Qin's plan run its course, but we can take every measure possible to ensure it is as least catastrophic as possible. Once he fails, I will have a perfect opportunity to suggest something better... or someone better. Between the two of us, I know you have the better mind for this type of strategy, Xisheng. So, I'm entrusting the creation of a new strategy to you. Can you do that?"
Xisheng didn't have any particularly great ideas right now, but in all modesty, he did believe himself to be fairly clever when it came to strategy and tactics. After all, he had impressed a lot of people at the North Pole. And admittedly, he had spent a lot of time pondering how the assault on Ba Sing Se would and could go. He didn't have any formal training, but... surely he could come up with something. Besides, unlike Qin, he would be perfectly willing to consult others.
"I'll do my utmost. Although, uh... when exactly do you need this superior solution?"
"Well, by the time Qin messes up would be ideal, but I know that's asking a lot. This is the most formidable city in the world, after all. I don't expect making a feasible plan to conquer it is easy."
"That's certainly an understatement."
Azula glanced over her shoulder for a moment, perhaps checking to see if anyone was coming their way. "Then I should allow you to begin working on it immediately. You have my authority to do whatever you need around the camp to facilitate your strategizing. I will check with you later tonight to hear what you have so far, but don't feel pressured to have a foolproof battle plan. I just want to be appraised of your thoughts so I can weigh in on them as needed."
"Very well. What will you do in the meantime?"
The girl beside him smirked. "Well that would ruin the mystery, wouldn't it? Aren't you always curious to know what I get up to at such times?"
"Uh... yes?"
"Well then, all the more reason not to tell you. Be on your way, Xisheng. You've got a lot of thinking to do."
With that, Azula gave a parting wave and walked away from Xisheng. A lot of thinking indeed... well, at least that was something he was good at.
---
"...and Iroh managed to get it down one time, but it was very gradual. There's no way the enemy will let a tactic like that work again. Surely they'll be extremely fixated on repairing any damage to the wall as it happens, meaning a battle of attrition is impossible. So it has to be quick, but how...?"
Xisheng was pacing back and forth in the metal cube on base that had been designated as his quarters here. It really wasn't much, but for a forward staging area, this was about the best anyone could ask for. At least it had a shoddy rug and solid walls, which was more than just about any other soldier in the base. Of course, Xisheng wasn't talking to himself: he had enlisted the aid of Mai and Ty Lee.
Admittedly, the two of them weren't the best people to ask. Neither of them had any real military planning experience, made evident by the general looks of confusion as they both sat on his shoddy bed and listened to him ramble. Xisheng imagined that he was boring Mai out of her skull, but the girl hadn't left yet, so maybe she was tolerating it: very admirable of her.
Perhaps trying to find some way to be helpful, Ty Lee raised a questioning finger. "I know you said it wouldn't work, but what did Iroh actually do? It's hard to believe anyone could actually get through those huge walls..."
Xisheng berated himself for not procuring a map of the city before all of this brainstorming. It probably would have helped explain things, as well as give him a nice visual planning aid.
"As I recall, it was a concentrated artillery bombardment utilizing hundreds of siege engines. But it took three months overall to slowly batter down the wall. Presumably sustained attacks from the other forces prevented the defenders from making repairs. Or maybe they just didn't think a breach was possible. I'm not entirely sure on that part."
This time, Mai raised a question. "I'm a little hazy on military history, but didn't the siege last way longer than three months?"
"Actually, it wasn't a siege. A siege is when you completely encircle a defender and cut off all incoming supplies to..."
He glanced back at Mai to see her cocking an eyebrow at him, either annoyed or just bemused that he was going off on some pointless aside. Seeing this, Xisheng corrected his course.
"...anyway, the battle lasted six hundred days. It's not like I have a full breakdown of what happened at every step, but I imagine a lot of it was just the planning and preparation stage. Then maybe a few failed attacks, some stalemate, some periods of recovery... it's not like Iroh's army was fighting every single day for six hundred days. Needless to say, we don't have that kind of time to pull off a similar strategy."
Mai didn't seem to catch his meaning. "Though I'm glad to hear we won't be camping out here for a year and a half, why exactly don't we have that kind of time? Where's the deadline stopping us from taking things slowly?"
Xisheng stared at one of his walls, imagining the map he had seen in the war room earlier as best he could. "The soft time limit? The Avatar. Every day he's out there, he gets stronger and more skilled, and potentially rallies more people to his cause. The longer the war drags on, the higher the chance he can cause some massive problem. If we can at least get our holdings in order and end open hostilities with the Earth Kingdom, we can be in a better position to deal with him. More resources to commit to dealing with him, and a stronger hold on everything we've claimed up until now. But as for a hard time limit... Sozin's Comet."
Glancing at the ceiling, Ty Lee clearly wracked her brain for relevant info. "That's the thing that happens every hundred years that makes Firebending really strong, right?"
It was a little weird to think that a Fire Nation native would even need that information affirmed, but realistically, it made sense. Ty Lee wasn't a Firebender, and the event only happened once a century. It was a big deal when it was close, but any other time, it made no difference to anyone. There was no reason to care about it from her point of view, until about right now.
"That's right."
Mai immediately grew incredulous. "Wait, so we want to take over the city before the huge power boost? Isn't that stupid? I know you said we want to wrap things up as quickly as we can because of the Avatar, but wouldn't it still be better to wait for a huge boon to our strength before attacking the biggest city in the world? That would have to make it way easier."
"That is also correct."
"So then why are we here right now? Why's this attack with the big drill happening?"
Xisheng sighed as he thought on exactly that. Granted, he had put a lot of thought into it before now, but now he had to put it into words for people that weren't that involved with the military or its politics.
"Keep in mind that I can't say this as an absolute certainty. But it's what I believe and the most likely explanation. The War Cabinet is an assortment of the Fire Nation's highest ranking nobles relevant to the war and the overall function of the military. Generals, admirals, advisors, arms developers like Qin, and the like. For these people, their worth is judged by how much of a positive impact they make on this war. This war that, by any reasonable assumption, should end for certain when Sozin's Comet arrives. That means that members of the War Cabinet have a limited window of time to gain as much prestige and honor as possible for roles in this conflict. Considering that there shouldn't be another serious conflict between sovereign nations anytime soon after this, Ba Sing Se is their last chance to secure a hero's status that would make them second only to the Royal Family in regards to respect and influence."
The young soldier narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular: he was just thinking about the men he was describing. "Other than Ba Sing Se, Gaoling is the only major Earth Kingdom city left to conquer, but it's a merchant city that should be no great challenge, and thus not worth much reward to whoever is responsible for taking it. Ba Sing Se is the most formidable city in the world, unable to be taken even by a renowned general and member of the Royal Family. Whoever is responsible for conquering it will become one of the greatest heroes in Fire Nation history, someone who wants for nothing for the rest of their life: someone whose children and children's children will be regarded as the elite. But that's only if they can do it without the help of Sozin's Comet."
He turned back to face his companions. "After all, almost anyone could brute force the battle with Sozin's Comet on their side. All credit for the victory would go to a cosmic event, not the person who used it to their advantage. Taking Ba Sing Se with Sozin's Comet is just an overall Fire Nation victory. Whoever can take the city without it will have that success attributed to them specifically. That's why Qin is here alone, pushing for a battle plan that relies exclusively on a weapon of his own design. If he pulls it off, his political career will be golden for the rest of his life. He's racing to take Ba Sing Se before any other member of the War Cabinet can come up with a strategy to do so themselves."
Ty Lee, unsurprisingly, looked quite aghast by the notion. "They'd really do all of this for that?! They're already pretty high on the ladder and have lots of influence, they can't just get people killed for a little more!"
Mai, on the other hand, looked more sullen. "They absolutely can, and will. The nobility of our nation has always stepped over whoever they need to in order to reach their goals, even if that goal is just a tiny fistful of extra power. You think any of those War Cabinet people care about how many commoners die along the way to what they want?"
Recalling the office of Mai's father, as well as his political career, Xisheng figured that she may have seen the cutthroat politics of the Fire Nation firsthand. She probably knew very well how ruthless and callous it could get. Still, Xisheng had to object to her statement a little.
"They care, just not for any good reason. Like I said, their future will be altered by how significantly they impact this war: both positively and negatively. If one of them hatches some stupid plan that gets a crippling number of soldiers killed, their career will be done for. Heck, maybe even their actual lives could go that route. That's probably why Qin is so adamant about his drill doing all the heavy lifting. Well, it's probably also hubris and downright idiocy, but I'm sure he considered the benefits of getting as few military assets involved as possible. Which basically means he has both committed to his plan too hard and also not committed to it hard enough. Only a fucking moron could be so impressively incompetent."
Both Mai and Ty Lee looked a little surprised to hear Xisheng speak so ill of someone, and in such an uncouth manner. He was often composed and well-spoken. To hear him outright call someone a fucking moron was unexpected. Ty Lee tried to ignore the odd feeling from the moment and focused on a question.
"You want him to put more troops in harm's way?"
Xisheng didn't notice either of the girls giving him weird looks. "No. His plan with the drill is asinine and doomed to failure. But it's even more doomed to fail than it already was because he won't even commit enough troops to the strategy. He's barely got a strategy at all: aside from blatantly ignoring the dozens of ways the attack will go wrong, he doesn't even have a plan for the next step if it somehow actually goes right. He's got no plan other than 'put a hole in the wall'. No strategy on how to secure and hold the breach, or how to continue to push into Ba Sing Se afterwards. It's better for everyone that he's not putting many lives on the line, but the fact that his plan was allowed to come to fruition at all is infuriating. A War Cabinet full of assholes who have never been to war or at the very least fought personally in one... it should be comprised of decorated officers..."
Seeing that Xisheng was truly bothered by the entire situation, Mai tried to at least guide him back to the main topic before he went on another tangent. "Alright, all of that notwithstanding... why do you have to come up with a plan? I mean, you're just a low-ranking officer. It's not like you could actually put any plan you make into action."
Thankfully, this did seem to get Xisheng focused again. "No, but Azula can. Once Qin's plan fails miserably, she'll have the perfect opportunity to take command of the situation herself and carry out a better strategy. As for why I want to do that... well, if we can beat all of those War Cabinet opportunists to the punch with a solid plan that actually works, we can curtail any further awful attempts like Qin's. Hopefully that will save lives and resources from any theoretical potential future disasters, which would probably only get more desperate at the Comet draws closer."
Though the topic of their conversation was dire, Ty Lee couldn't help but smile a little. She found it truly charming that Xisheng's motivation for all of this was saving other people from a pointless death. Despite all of that talk about how whoever took Ba Sing Se would get unreal glory and prestige, he seemingly had no interest in that. He even seemed willing to let Azula take any and all credit for the plan. Truly, he was the most admirable man she had ever met. That was why she really wanted to help him somehow, even though she knew so little about these affairs.
"Could you... hm... climb the wall with those fancy tanks we have?"
Xisheng didn't get a chance to answer. Mai did it for him. Despite her alleged lack of experience in tactics and strategy, she seemed to have a keen eye for it. "The whole wall is made of stone, and guarded by Earthbenders. They could send any climbing tank flying anytime they wanted."
"Well, what if we could drill through the wall, but like... with smaller drills? The big one is a problem because it will be easy to stop, but what if you could make a bunch of little holes?"
Admittedly, the idea itself wasn't without merit, but Xisheng had to shoot it down anyway. "Unfortunately, such vehicles currently don't exist. Even if we wanted to make them, they wouldn't be complete and ready to deploy before Sozin's Comet arrived."
The brunette looked a little put out, perhaps thinking that her ideas were all stupid. Well, everyone felt bad when their suggestions were all rejected. "Stupid walls... too bad we can't just go around them..."
Xisheng stroked his chin as he contemplated that sentiment. Going around the walls would be the easiest, but it wasn't really feasible. They obviously couldn't fly over them, and they wouldn't be able to dig under them either: at least not in a way that could facilitate the passing of troops required to do anything of value. Still, there was probably something in that notion he could use to their advantage. He just had to find the other factors to combine it with. For now though, he sought to assuage Ty Lee.
"Don't get too down, Ty Lee. If it was easy to come up with a plan to take this city we wouldn't be here. Even Iroh, for all his famed tactics, had a plan that amounted to throwing stuff at it until it worked."
While she didn't feel that much better, Ty Lee at least appreciated his sentiment. Mai, on the other hand, had yet to contribute anything to this impromptu strategy meeting. "Not to douse the fires of your passion, Gohan, but I don't think we're going to come up with some stroke of genius while sitting here. And it's getting late. Why not sleep on it? People usually get inspired when they aren't focusing on the thing they're obsessing over, right?"
The young soldier didn't look too enthused with the idea. "Yeah, but... I'm supposed to tell Azula what I have in mind so far, and I don't really have anything at all. Other than knowing we need to drop the wall near instantly, but knowing what needs to happen is a lot different than having a feasible way to achieve it... still, I know I'm kind of just dragging you guys along into something you don't really know much about. Sorry, feel free to go at anytime. It just helped a little to have someone to bounce ideas off of."
Seeing him be so meek and apologetic about it put a scowl on Mai's face, but not because she was upset. It was just that she knew already that it was going to get the best of her. "Well... if just doing that helps, I guess even people like us can contribute. But seriously, don't expect me to be up all night doing this, alright?"
Fully understanding that she intended to stay, likely along with Ty Lee, Xisheng forgot his troubles for a moment and smiled. He really did have wonderful companions.
Unfortunately, his thoughts turned back to the matter at hand mere moments afterward, and he was frowning once again. Truly, misery loved company.