========= 11 - The Good-for-Nothings ==========
While the capital and most of the archipelago felt a spiritual uplift, sensing their growing closeness to the Fire Lord and his "ingenious" plans, in a small village on the outskirts of the islands, which would never grow larger due to the lack of volcanoes nearby, peaceful life reigned. News of the victory over the dragon spirit, and even more so of the incredible earth mage who destroyed a thousand rebels and was nicknamed General Iron Sand - in honour of an ancient legend and a spirit - never reached their small walls. They had their own topics for discussion and their own problems, separate from the rest of the nation.
Trying to change the attitude of these rather simple, one might even say rustic people, whom Zuko had seen quite a lot of during his endless travels, he began to deal with their pressing problems. Having received a list of the most important things for life, he began to resolve the existing conflicts one by one. He started with the guards, who first had to be sent to prison, and he had to find replacements not even in the capital, but in the nearest towns. It was necessary to keep an eye not only on the village, but also on the surrounding area, which, like anywhere else in the world, had its own bandits and rebels.
One combat mage of fire couldn't defend his own house for months, especially when he went out to train, which everyone agreed with and didn't get too worked up about the appearance of new "overseers."
"What should I do next? I only know how to command soldiers, but what about peaceful knowledge?" Looking at the dilapidated houses and the well overgrown with vines, Zuko realised that he had hardly ever had a peaceful profession in his life and had never helped anyone except his uncle. In fact, the most he knew how to do was make tea and understand the rules of Pai Sho. Thinking about where he could apply his knowledge, he realised that he could, for example, strengthen the local walls and order the soldiers to dig a moat, or... order someone to gather firewood. "No, what do I know how to do? I know the basics of management from the royal school, but it's impossible to do anything without specialists. Dagoth can help allocate funds, but this village is in the middle of nowhere, it will be difficult to bring resources here, and who should I turn to?"
"Mister... Prince Zuko, what are you thinking so hard about?" An adult woman approached the prince sitting on a bench. Adjusting the sleeves of her linen dress, the woman, a mother of three children who had allowed him to stay at her house, looked anxiously at the very frightening man.
"...Mrs. To'nti, I apologise," he said, placing his hand on the back of his head and curving the corners of his lips eloquently. "I said I would help you, but there is too much to consider to improve your living conditions.
His expression and honesty took the elderly lady's breath away. Sensing that he was genuinely trying to help them, she tried to assure the prince that they didn't need any extra attention. The village had lived in such conditions for many years — yes, the population was declining, and yes, they had never ventured beyond its borders, but if her children did not destroy the settlements, that would be enough.
But it was difficult to accept this fact. Gritting his teeth and remembering one option that did not greatly appeal to the proud young prince, he nevertheless made concessions. Taking a hawk and writing a letter to the capital, he thought that in a few days he would receive a reply: either he would receive support, or he would have to resolve the matter on his own. But he did not expect that in a couple of hours a whole detachment of twenty to thirty long-legged lizards with their carts and, who would have thought, an emotionless girl would approach the gates of the settlement.
"May, you got here so fast?" Zuko rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The daughter of one of the most influential officials was always cold and harsh, and he even thought she would ignore his request for help and not respond at all. After all, they had had some arguments and disagreements, and what could be called a relationship was very strained at best. But there she was, under the even more tense gaze of the residents, she entered, looked around, and...
"You want to develop the local infrastructure? Oh, Zuko..." Rubbing her eyebrows, she made the boy blush. Perhaps it wasn't the best decision for his pride, and anyway, who said that a girl would help for free? He could get himself into an even bigger hole than before. "What were you doing in your commodity science and economics classes, you good-for-nothing?
"But I... - feeling a sharp blow to his spirit, the prince cringed, "Everything has changed, May."
"Nothing has changed, you good-for-nothing," but then, the eternal glacier came closer again. The girl hugged him around the neck and looked into his face with a slight blush, "I thought you had abandoned me and were now travelling and carrying out some errands without me. I thought you were offended, like some kind of idiot.
"Actually~
"Say one more thing, and I won't be responsible for myself," the harsh voice finally made Zuko smile. Feeling that excitement again, realising that only he could lift the veil of eternal gloom from her stony face, the man calmly kissed the girl in front of everyone. And then she really did take on all the responsibilities. As the top student in the entire royal school and heir to her father's fortune, Mei was excellent at managing both people and supplies. She often took on some of her father's responsibilities and calmly solved problems on a much larger scale than a small village.
She had the experts she had brought with her study the area and possible locations of mineral deposits, and she had already solved the problem of why to support this settlement. As it turned out, the mountains were rich in marble and granite. Due to the absence of volcanoes nearby and the proximity of the sea, it was easy to establish completely safe trade by sea. May said one thing that struck all the inhabitants and, even if only slightly, made them change their opinion about the country of fire. This place was ideal for living, something many villages could only dream of. The people of fire valued strength, and it was thanks to this, and because of their fear, that the conditions around them were so good.
The problem was that the settlement really needed good protection. If you were to assess the development of the village many years into the future, you would have to lay the foundations for its defence from the very beginning. After all, unusual problems could arise even at such an early stage.
"Hey, the royal family with that Sand Mage was heading this way all the time, right? To the surprise of the people, a large group of armed soldiers arrived at the settlement on slow but dangerous Komodo rhinos. Outwardly, they resembled a detachment from some other city, but their uniforms were not polished according to regulations and they looked quite sloppy. They looked haughtily at the workers wandering outside the settlement and spoke rudely to everyone.
"Are you looking for the royal family? "Holding a hammer in his hands and nails in his teeth, an elderly but muscular worker looked at them blankly," "Prince Zuko is now in the settlement, the rest have gone to the capital. Who are you?
"To the capital? Heh heh," the soldiers on the varans looked at each other and understood everything. They didn't even need to say anything to understand their fate. "Then they're already dead. A thousand men will break their bones to dust and then grind them into flour. We will overthrow the Fire Lord!"
"Oh, an army of a thousand men? You must not have heard," rubbing his forehead, examining the equipment and the varans, the worker revealed, "They've all been sent to prison already. The idiots got involved with this new guy — if you only knew how many bones he's broken, according to rumours. Are you one of them too? Some kind of reconnaissance unit?
The soldiers who had stopped only glanced at each other and burst out laughing. It was easier to believe in a crazy fairy tale than in the victory of one, well, okay, two magicians over a thousand armed and battle-ready soldiers. Unless you're the Avatar, it's unlikely you could handle that. Although, no, even the Avatar would have to defend himself against a volley of tanks and magicians, it's a hopeless situation.
"What's going on here?" And then, amid the laughter of a couple of dozen gangster-looking men, a guy dressed in simple work clothes emerged from the settlement, part of his face disfigured by a nasty burn.
"Rebels, Prince Zuko. We've come for you.
Seeing their target, the "hunters" sensed that luck was on their side. It was enough to drive one mad how well everything was turning out - he appeared before them unprepared for battle, without armour and surrounded by ordinary civilians rather than a trained royal guard. The prince was unaccompanied — like a ship without a sail, pure stupidity! But then another black-haired woman appeared and stood next to the prince, but she seemed even less threatening. She didn't even have a weapon with her... and then a young boy with a strange tattoo on his forehead approached them, and the militiamen could no longer hold back their smiles.
"Damn, what a bunch of circus clowns! That's his backup, guys, I'm shaking. Let's finally kill them!
"Hold your fire for now, okay? Turning to the young fire mage, Zuko made him nod, then cracked his neck. "It's been a long time since I've had a real fight, but I can tell you one thing: you're unlucky to have come across me. I won't spare the freaks who want to kill me, like Dagoth would have done.
VSHUKH*
A powerful burst of flame shot from Zuko's fist, crashing down at the feet of the komodo dragons and forcing them all to rear up. Five men fell from their saddles almost immediately, but they didn't manage to land alive — a sharp blade was neatly plunged into each of their necks, released unnoticed from under Mei's sleeves.
As soon as the remaining militiamen realised that they had been attacked before they even knew it, their main target, Prince Zuko, was already near one of the Komodo dragons. He clenched his fists tightly, using his heat control to create a high-pressure zone. Even this seemingly non-combat technique could be used in a special way if you knew how to use it, at least according to Dagoth: he had observed pressure in ships too often, when pipes would burst due to pressure differences or faulty construction, tearing people standing nearby to pieces or even killing them.
Opening his arms towards his enemies, Zuko released a high-pressure blast that simply swept through the crowd of lizards and their riders, knocking down and burning most of the people.
It was thanks to this advice that he was now able to join Mei in wiping out a good half of not just the rebels, but the deserters. It was so unexpected that they all lost their formation, a couple of fireballs they threw missed their targets, and in the end, they were forced to flee. The rhinos rushed across the field at full speed, and even a fire mage with jet propulsion couldn't catch up with them. And it was too much trouble to ride the varans, and there was no point in doing so.
"Come on," Zuko returned to the young boy, patted him on the head, and in a second felt the release of extremely compressed magical energy. The beam of ignition reached the fleeing enemies, forming an even more compressed firebomb, and... the outcome was clear. The more he watched the explosions, the more he understood that heat control, namely pressure, played an important role in them. This meant that someday he would be able to repeat something similar himself.
No one could have survived the explosion. As Zuko had said, he was far less merciful than the Sand Mage, but there were simply too many negative rumours about the latter.
"All right, let someone else take care of the bodies... I'll go supervise the construction of the fortifications," but in the end, embarrassed by Mei's eloquent gaze, he began to help.
Seeing how life was literally boiling around him, how the craftsmen were already dismantling the village to rebuild it soon, Zuko realised that not everyone in his country was a freak or a scumbag like his sister. And after helping with the construction, he could even make some new good friends. Pouring himself some fragrant tea, which he tried to replicate based on his uncle's experience, Zuko sat down next to Gya'no, the only fire mage who had developed his talent, who was watching the changes, and simply struck up a conversation about nothing in particular.
The prince spoke with interest about Dagoth's position as a mage and the kind of world he wanted to build. How all peoples would live together and help each other progress. These words sounded like fantasy to both of them: one knew nothing about the world and therefore wanted to learn how things worked; the other knew too much and found it hard to believe that such a life was even possible. So the two of them simply enjoyed laughing at the naive sand mage.
"Dagoth is more of a philosopher than a practical man. Ha, life is much harsher than that, no one would even want to live with other nations. We need to find a way to make the Fire Lord think the same way, but that's impossible.
"Perhaps so," the young man began dryly, rubbing his fingers. Outwardly, he looked almost the same as Mei — an eternal poker face and coldness that surely repelled people. But not Zuko. "But if you can help us, you can help everyone else. Although, I don't really care, I just want to spend my life studying magic. To find out what our talent is capable of...
"Actually, the basics of magic in our country are studied by fire sages... I could introduce you to them.
"Really?!
Standing aside, Mei watched with silent approval as her boyfriend managed to draw out the emotions of this gloomy, three-eyed magician who was so reminiscent of her. Seeing how he was breaking the stagnation in their hearts, she smiled quietly and whispered:
"You really think like a talentless fool. Only you can change your father~
***
"To be honest, I don't have the most pleasant experience with great mages, but I'm glad you left a positive impression on me, Avatar," said Lao Beifong, the richest man in practically the entire Earth Kingdom, sitting at a luxurious table laden with dishes of varying degrees of sophistication and even beauty. made a respectful nod.
"What are you talking about, Mr. Lao?" Sokka, trying to appear authoritative, interjected. He stood proudly, mimicking etiquette and smiling like some kind of moron. Although he thought he looked like a king. "I am the prince of the Southern Water Tribe, how can I behave unworthily, ha ha.
"I apologise, my brother is confused by his engagement, he's just a fool," Katara concluded, allowing Lao to acknowledge that at least they weren't being rude.
"Well, that's not so bad. But I'm still curious to know — when you came here, you were looking for an earthbender for the Avatar. Did you find anyone else besides Master Yu? I could use my connections to find someone else. After all, one person opened my eyes to the fact that Yu isn't a very good teacher. What a shame, what a shame.
The children sitting at the table all turned their gaze to the silent but beautiful blind girl. She held her cutlery elegantly, as befitted the daughter of the richest man in the city, and her charming, innocent smile lit up the hearts of those around her. Her image caused a dissonance in the minds of the Avatar and his companions. The girl they had recently met and the girl they saw now were completely different from each other.
"Dear father, perhaps you should show them the structure that was built so that I could train safely with the magician whose name, dear father, you do not wish to mention.
"Are you starting again? I told you not to mention him!
"Oh, it's purely for practical reasons. I didn't mean to offend you, Dad.
"No, it's my fault," he said, feeling guilty and making everyone watching open their eyes wide, then apologised to his daughter and promised to give her a couple of surprises she had wanted for a long time. After that, the Avatar team was led to a hall built near the lake and the gazebo with Pai Sho, which was now locked. Upon entering, they all saw an excellent training area with a sandbox for the basic level, columns and heavy stone weights for the more advanced level, and huge boulders for the most skilled magicians — the last two levels had obviously not been used for a long time. And along the walls were pedestals with scrolls on which everything could be easily practised, and it looked as if they had been touched quite often. "Hmm, how strange, do servants come in here and wipe them down?
Standing aside, Tof hid a smile behind a strand of long hair. Accepting everything here as a matter of course, Lao presented the training area and generously gave the Avatar full use of it, and seeing the delight on his face, he was even satisfied. Honestly, he didn't even understand the scale of the place he had built, but he was glad to take advantage of the opportunity to be the first in the city to make the Avatar indebted to him.
Lao left them to train and allowed Toph to act as their escort. But when no one else was left...
"Well, you fools, I told you I'd find a cool training spot for Dagoth's friends," Beifong smiled cheerfully, trying to sound like some kind of "cool" mage, which actually worked quite well, without even seeming fake. Sokka was delighted and ready to shake Gigatof's muscular hand. Katara was shocked by the difference in appearance and wondered if she should be ashamed of using her own parents like this. Meanwhile, Tai Li stood to one side...
"I wanted to know, what is your relationship with Dagoth? - she narrowed her eyes slightly, but innocently put her hands behind her back.
Everyone looked closely at Toph because, according to Dagoth, she was a member of the Lotus who was loyal to him personally. If they had such a strong connection, it would be interesting to know how they met and why Toph spoke of their mutual acquaintance with such reverence.
"You ask what our connection is... I am his heir!" she said sharply, pointing to herself with a finger adorned with a jammonite ring, which she was clearly showing off. This gesture stunned the entire team. Especially Tai Li, who looked at her hand and saw no ring on it." "So I'm the eldest, even though I'm younger, got it?"
Unlike the canonical story, she decided to leave home and train Aang for a completely different reason. Not only to become stronger herself, but also to see Dagot again, who had made a lasting impression on her, and show him her achievements.
To wait for this day, Toph bravely took on the task of training the Avatar.