Avatar: Reborn in Ice and Blood

Chapter 112 112

Not the nobles alone. But all together? With all the people coming here every week? If they don't want a revolt, it's better for the Dai Li to shut it down with a 'good reason'. Like fighting about the war openly.

But why is that bad?

...

Toph is so lost in thought that only the quiet discussion of Sokka and Kaito near her brings her out of it, because suddenly Katara and Aang are crowding in as well.

"The Earthking? Well, you can try talking to him," Katio says, "But an invasion? You know fully well that the Fire Nation has star charts. If they know about the Moon Spirit, and the Comet then they know about the Solar Eclipse which is a central weakness to them."

Sokka shakes his head. "I've thought about it. We can try to find out where the Fire Nation gets most of its resources for their army and navy. And we can hit them there, hard, if we manage to coordinate strikes with other armies. And Ba Sing Se means something. It would mean a lot if they were on our side. More people would join if they supported it."

"You'd have to train up spies, quick," Kaito says thoughtfully. "We've been getting everyone at the schools to register their name and place of origin to figure out how far along the front lines are and whose family is missing or has been taken prisoner. You know, in case someone is looking for someone."

Sokka shifts and Toph thinks it's into a more confident posture.

"Ba Sing Se has a bit of a problem coping with this many refugees. Who knows, maybe somebody could, ah, open up a training camp or something, for those who want to do more and can't fight. But even with that, there's the matter of the Dai Li. They can't get in on it and the Earthking… well, he's never left that palace. It would greatly surprise me if he had the breadth of understanding and empathy required to do what you suggest and leave it to people he doesn't trust. There would have to be a general of his in charge, at least, and that limits anything you can do with those spies because who would trust somebody who didn't care if they croaked before and only now wants help, especially the kind that is so dangerous?"

That's. Well. Nobody's ever said it like that to Toph before. That's the reality for the people here, displaced and uncared for. Burdens, really, when they could be so much more, given the chance. Who would volunteer for something so dangerous when someone you didn't trust on principle – or who disappointed you one too many times – was in charge?

"What if they were promised, like, that their families would be taken care of?" Katara suggests.

"Would you believe them?" Kaito asked, sounding tired. "If you had lost your home to the Fire Nation or betrayed the Fire Nation in some way and come to Ba Sing Se, only to be forced to live on the streets without help or food or medicine, no bending, the only thing you know is farming and then someone comes along and tells you, become a spy and we'll take care of your family? You can't fight. They can't fight. You might do it out of desperation, but when you're then trained to see patterns and find out information you can't help but see- are they doing anything else here? Will they keep their promise if you die? How do you know they'll get what was promised? How do you know that this suicide mission will pay off?"

"Suicide mission?" Aang asks, desolate.

"Unfortunately, yes. The likelihood of your discovery is great. Especially when you find out something important and try to get a message to the ones who sent you."

"Could we do it without spies?" Sokka wondered, "Determine the most likely places? You said it could be possible that there are Fire Nation refugees here. They might know."

Kaito lowered his voice. "There is one I will ask. He was quite high-ranking, really."

Aang is relieved and so are the others.

But then- "You still need people to actually already be in place to set explosives and the like."

Toph thinks, shit. "That's definitely a suicide mission. The Eclipse lasts what, a few minutes?"

"Yes," Kaito says and she can feel him looking at her. "And you'd only have a few months to train them and get people in the right places. If you want them to have a way out, you need ships waiting and you need to make sure nobody gets captured or knows anything about anybody else. What they look like, where they're going. They can't know."

Sokka sags. "So basically, it's impossible."

"I will talk to the man. The locations can still do us some good."

It's not a lie. But Toph thinks Kaito isn't saying everything he intends to discuss with that man.

"Maybe we could talk to the Earthking about conditions in the lower ring anyway," Katara suggests, her empathy showing again. "Get him to see that the people need help here."

"Yeah, that'd be great! Then you could make even more schools like this!" Aang says, happy to think of something more positive.

"Well, what do you think he could do?" Kaito asks and it feels like a test.

"Build more shelters and places to live. That would also give some of them work, right? And once that's done, we always need more food, so maybe employ more people as fishermen or something outside of Ba Sing Se. And, like, more teachers and stuff. And clothes? Trading routes need to be protected, right?" Sokka lists.

"If the Earthking listens, suggest it," Kaito says, "But write it down, think every step through and then give that to him. Make a copy, too… Actually, you should come with me to the university tomorrow. I have something I want to talk about with one of the professors there and," he whispers, "they have a printing press we could make use of. Make enough copies to distribute in every ring, in bookshops between the pages, in merchant stalls between wares, in every bag of bread."

Oh. Toph can feel the excitement rise in the others and she's not unaffected.

"Yes. Then he has to listen. Even his advisers have to listen," Sokka says lowly, grinning.

So this is how you make a king do your bidding, Toph realises. Her father said to her once, finding her outside, 'beware of what someone poor might do to you, Toph. You're lucky if you're held for ransom. That's what the clever ones would do. But the smart ones,' he said, 'They would keep you and demand more and more and they would marry you when you were old enough. And then I would have to give either you up forever. Or I would have to give everything to a common man who knew what you represent.'

She rather thought, he'd have given her up.

...

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