"Commander... your eyes... they're glowing amber," the leader of my saboteurs said.
"Have they?" I asked with mild surprise, raising an eyebrow as I glanced at my subordinate. He nodded eagerly. "Hm... these things happen."
"So what exactly do you intend to do with them, Herald?" Zuko asked, breaking the silence.
"Nothing much," I shrugged. "I'll simply send all children between the ages of two and seven to boarding schools in the Archipelago. There will be people there to look after them and raise them properly. And their parents, of course, won't be tempted to make any... ill-considered decisions. As a precaution."
"Cruel," Iroh said, darkening visibly.
"Is it? Personally, I would call it cruel to slaughter this city to the last man, as Admiral Zhao intended to do. Incidentally, Shoushan the Bloody, who hailed from these parts, once ordered his warriors during the conquest of the northern Earth Kingdom to kill everyone taller than a cartwheel. By local standards, then, I'm being extraordinarily humane. I'm merely taking hostages who will one day have the opportunity to become full citizens of the Fire Nation.
"Out of respect for you, General, however, I'm willing to allow some women to be transported to the Archipelago alongside the children to care for them. From what I've heard, women at the North Pole aren't taught the combat aspects of waterbending. Still, I don't think the middle of a conquered city square is the proper place to discuss long-term plans."
"Well, you're right about that, Herald," Iroh said, bowing his head. The prince remained silent, lost in deep thought.
Well then, I'd made my position clear to the waterbenders. Naturally, I was more than certain it wouldn't sink in the first time. There would be riots, escape attempts, and insurgencies. But if history taught us anything, it was the principle of "kill a thousand today to save a million tomorrow." Once, perhaps, that idea would have horrified me, but... time and environment change people. And if preserving what the Fire Nation had gained required me to publicly hang a hundred or two of them... so be it.
Had I become a monster? Perhaps.
But I had only one judge—my conscience. And where would a monster get one of those? With a crooked grin (and why had everyone suddenly gone so pale?), I turned to the chief of staff of the Western Fleet.
"Commodore, begin searching the houses and gathering the children. I also want one woman assigned to every thirty children. Whether she's a bender or not doesn't matter. Get started."
"Yes, sir!" The commander snapped to attention and hurried off to issue the necessary orders.
The Siege of the North had come to an end, but now we had to hold and digest what we had conquered.
***
Avatar Team. Some time after the hasty evacuation.
Aang slowly opened his eyes. His entire body tingled unpleasantly, and the weakness weighing him down felt as though he had spent the entire day carrying stone blocks.
"He's awake!" Katara's voice cut painfully through his ears. The young airbender winced.
"Whew, I was starting to get worried," Sokka called from atop the flying bison.
"How are you feeling, Aang?" the waterbender asked.
"Like after a cooking battle at the temple. What happened?"
"Actually, we were hoping you'd tell us that," said Sokka, turning toward him with a grim expression.
"What... Where are we? What happened to the Northern Water Tribe?" Only now did the young Avatar notice the endless ocean stretching beneath them. Judging by the temperature, they were already a considerable distance from the North.
"We don't know for sure," Katara said hesitantly, "but... the Fire Nation fleet was still enormous, and the waterbenders were already running out of strength..." She looked away.
"Why did you turn back? You could have destroyed all of them! Then maybe Yue..."
"Sokka!" Katara snapped at her brother. "But really, Aang, what happened back there?" she asked more gently.
"I... I don't really know... When you merge with a Spirit, you experience things differently..."
Aang lowered his eyes, trying to recall what he had experienced.
"I remember that I... we... were furious and wanted revenge. We started destroying the Fire Nation fleet, but... on one of the ships, we encountered him. He felt very strange... A spirit... a fire spirit that seemed weak compared to Tui, but... no... he was restrained somehow. Bound? Imprisoned? I can't explain it."
His words became increasingly confused.
"I've met the Face Stealer. That spirit wasn't friendly toward humans either, but what we saw... Destruction... Annihilation... All-consuming fire that left nothing behind... And echoes of screams. Impressions of dozens... hundreds... of people personally killed by him. And he threatened Tui. Challenged him. And... Tui backed down."
"What kind of monster is that?" Katara finally burst out.
"I don't know," Aang said, emerging from his trance-like state, "but he's definitely not human... and he serves the Fire Lord."
"The H-Herald?" Sokka asked in shock. "The Fire Herald was there?"
Seeing the confusion on his companions' faces, he hurried to explain.
"You remember? Those 'merchants' told us about him. They said he was an Evil Spirit from a volcano."
"That monster who hanged the children in Gaipan?" Katara covered her mouth in horror, while Aang closed his eyes...
Yes, what they had heard about the Fire Herald wasn't true. The truth was far more horrifying. He destroyed everything in his path. He spared neither women nor children. And if he really had been at the Pole, then all that remained was to pray for its people. Truly, he was a monster from the deepest reaches of the Spirit World. And it was his duty, as the Avatar, to send him back there.
"I need to find an earthbending teacher as quickly as possible. Right now, I'm too weak," the boy said quietly but firmly.
"And where are we supposed to find one?"
"Omashu. Bumi has become an incredibly skilled earthbender, and he won't refuse to help," Aang declared.
Sokka nodded and snapped Appa's reins. The journey ahead would be a long one.
(End of Chapter)
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