The yakuza groups and I are quick to return to the hill we used as sleeping stead before the City Guard can attempt to take us in. The part of the team that went to the back of the drill don't return. "Do you want us to return to look for them?" I ask Dionu quietly.
His face is drawn and tired. "Latih already promised to look for us. The City Guard is doing a sweep and she wanted a quick look at what the Fire Nation brought to invade Ba Sing Se with."
And true to his words, Latih and five of her people exit the hill, none more than superficially injured.
We retreat. Somewhere beneath the great wall, I remove the arrow shaft from Gorou's shoulder. Then I patch him up. A full recovery will take a while.
We move on and make another stop for the other injured, but the worst are some light burn wounds. Thera's the worst. "It'll scar, but probably not hamper your movement."
"Thanks," she grins down at me where I'm crouched. I look up to judge her tone.
A slow grin spreads across my face. "You're very welcome."
...
I have just finished speaking with Professor Singh about those student teachers. He said he'd ask around, but his tone didn't indicate anything hopeful. That was, until I mentioned that those students who did come to teach would get to study the plans of the drill that had found their way into my hands. He was very eager then. And hurried off to press some students into mostly unpaid labour.
"Hey!" Smellerbee calls as the trio approach. "There you are!"
"Here I am," I say, smiling a bit. She's kind of endearing, in an excited sort of way.
"I have a few questions for you," Jet says, and it's a very aggressive way that he says that in. He seems like the sort of person who has only two settings: angry or plotting. Anything beyond that would mean admitting that he's hurt inside and needs a little love.
"Well, that is what I'm here for," I say and lead them to some of the newly vacated cushions of the lecture room. "What did you want to know?"
"How can you trust them even though they're Fire Nation?" Jet accuses.
He's not subtle. A few heads are turned our way and people are beginning to openly listen to an interesting conversation. Gossips.
"I can trust them because they are helping here. I can trust them because they were forced to flee from the Fire Nation as well. I can trust them, because they are wanted and I have seen the posters.
I can trust them because if I can't trust them, then I can't trust that there are people in the Fire Nation who do not agree with the war. I can trust them because they are no more dangerous than myself," I list and I can see it doesn't satisfy him.
"You know… we'll never get anywhere without a little leap of faith. Without a little trust. I'm not trusting them with my life. Just that they teach what they know in a way that people can understand and analyse."
He harrumphs. And that makes me laugh. "We're not expecting them to be perfect or to not miss their home. It was home. I'm expecting the people they teach to see that no situation is simple, or entirely good or evil. Everything, when you look closer, is more complicated. All I'd ask of you, Jet, is that you listen without the picture you've made of them in their head. Parts of them may match it. parts of them do not. Pay attention. It'll be worth it."
He looks about to leave, but Smellerbee asks "Are you going to talk about the Fire Nation's invasion of the Northern Watertibe now?"
"Yes. We will also have a round of questions afterwards."
And so I hold the lecture on the invasion. Why the Moon turned red.
Once I have answered some of the more obvious questions, people begin to lag slightly. Attention is waning. Which is good because I am exhausted.
"Why did you lay all those traps in the bay, if you had that wall?" one middle-aged man asks, perhaps a Ba Sing Se native who hasn't heard of the drill yet.
I set out to explain in a clear, professional tone. "What we were aiming at was to make sure those ships never got to the city wall itself.
The Fire Navy has so-called ice breakers, which can do exactly what they're named for. They also, as I mentioned, had catapults. They look like this," I tap one of the large drawings behind me that we made for the course on the Fire Nation's methods of warfare.
"They caused extensive structural damage. We also did not want a siege. You cannot survive in the North on just what you find in the surrounding lands because it is ice. So the Fire Navy had to be defeated and the battleground was going to be of our choosing.
If that meant sinking those ships, then we would. If it meant encasing them in ice, then we would. Just like the City Guard here will bury enemy soldiers alive, if it means they are incapacitated and cannot escape."
"What are the lands surrounding the City like?" a young woman asks. Off topic, but interesting.
"You can imagine them as deserts of ice. Scarcely anything grows there. The lands are dangerous. If you're not careful and don't know what it looks like, you might break through the ice beneath your feet and drown in a lake. It takes only seconds for your muscles to freeze. If you don't have a bender who can rescue you, you're very likely to die," I explain. "So, since we didn't want the civilian population to have to flee or fight in the City, we made sure the Fire Navy remained in the bay."
"Except for that ship with the Admiral," a man says with crossed arms.
"Yes. Except for that."
"Well, how does this Spirit thing work?" he asks. "You said the Princess gave her life to save the Spirit of the Moon. But how does that work?"
Yes. How does it work. No idea. No particular desire to find out. Yue's gone and there is no way to get her back. "Ah. I am not someone who has directly communicated with that particular Spirit.
As I understand it, which is in itself a strange legend, Princess Yue was stillborn. Her parents prayed to the Spirits to save her. They would not typically engage in this way in the world like they did then. But they saved her life. Yue returned what was given to her when she sacrificed herself for Tui, the Moon Spirit."
It is silent for some time, and I almost think no one has any more questions. But then Momo asks lowly, "Did you know the Princess?"
I must not have sounded very professional there. "We were friends."
And that is that.
"If that is all, then I invite you to discuss what you heard amongst yourselves. I will be available for more questions next week."
...
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