masterghandalf | MG Reads Embers: Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Six

We open with Bato commenting that at least Aang’s stopped babbling; Hakoda is just glad he’s alive, and thinks he’d be a wreck too if he was left paralyzed while his friends were fighting for their lives. Bato doesn’t think the men will see it that way – if Aang can’t even handle Azula, how can he be expected to handle Ozai? Hakoda thinks that’s the point of why Azula did this, but Bato doubts anyone will believe Azula was really in charge. He knows the Fire Nation is different, but he can’t imagine most people would follow a fourteen-year-old girl into battle. He knows Hakoda can look at things from outside a Water Tribe perspective, and so can Sokka – it’s what makes them effective leaders, but it also worries people. Bato knows Hakoda and trusts his judgment, but he doesn’t think most people here will. Everything’s falling apart and Aang’s falling apart with it – they need a new plan, before more Home Guard show up. Hakoda thinks Azula is counting on them falling apart, but he knows they’re stronger than that. They can’t turn back from the Fire Lord now. Hakoda turns to Aang and tells him they’re adjusting the plan. Aang assures him chi blocking wears off, and once they get to the Capital, he’ll be fine, and he’s not going to let Azula destroy them. They’re going to take the world back from the Fire Lord. Sokka says they broke into the Earth King’s palace, and they can break into Ozai’s. Hakoda thinks that the Earth King didn’t want to hurt them but squashes his objections and assures Aang they’re with him. Now they just have to make it happen.

We cut to Azula watching Appa fly off, and resisting the urge to curse in a way that would be beneath a great name’s dignity. She thinks about how she agreed with Zuko that Aang’s survival is best for the Fire Nation and tried to scare him away from the Capital, but he’s blowing it off. She thinks maybe they’ll have to live with a Water Tribe Avatar after all. Agent Bolin apologizes, and Azula tells him that it’s not his fault Aang doesn’t have common sense. He still thinks it’s annoying that Aang didn’t take the hint; Azula decides it’s just as well, since her father would have been annoyed if Aang didn’t show up. She calculates their losses and wonders how that will affect the plan going forward. She decides there’s something even more important at work – honor. Not her honor, but the Home Guard’s. They fought the Avatar, and feel they won. And now Aang knows that the Fire Nation will fight to the death at the Capital. She hopes he’s ready for that.

We cut to Xiu as she pushes her food away. She’s not getting to read any of the messages sent to General Fong, of course, but soldiers talk, and she knows what’s in them. She knows that Zuko sent a letter to Fong, greeting him formally as the Lord of Dragons’ Wings to an Earth Kingdom general, telling him that they have civilians and Fong doesn’t need to fight, but if he doesn’t leave or parley, Zuko will have to consider him hostile. Xiu still has a hard time thinking of “Lee” as a prince, but she knows the letter came with a copy of the treaty with the Earth King’s seal – and she knows what happened to General Gang. General Fong, though, isn’t listening. Xiu tells Sergeant Bo she’s not hungry, and apparently a few weeks as Fong’s “guest” has killed her appetite. Bo tells her Fong is coming, and as Xiu listens, she hears a strange buzzing sound, like a swarm of scorpion-bees. And indeed, when Fong marches in, he’s smeared with honey and has scorpion-bees buzzing all around him. Seeing his glare, Xiu has to admit she was safer with the Water Tribe. Fong says he doesn’t know why she hasn’t been more cooperative – they have a Fire Nation infection in their lands and have to cut it out. Sergeant Bo says that a few decades ago this wasn’t even Earth Kingdom land at all, but Fong doesn’t care – he wants to know who Xiu thinks she’s protecting. She thinks to herself she’ll go mad if she has to listen to any more of his bungled recreations of Kyoshi’s speeches and says out loud she’s already told him all she knows. She reminds him the Fire Nation and Water Tribes had a truce, but Fong’s aides don’t believe it. Xiu says Zuko has the Earth King’s seal, but Fong points out that the Fire Nation holds Ba Sing Se and any decree the Earth King issues is suspect. Xiu explains that she was traveling with Sergeant Bo at her father’s request to look into new opportunities for buying silk threads – trading opportunities. Fong thinks that sounds like conspiring with the enemy; Xiu insists that Lee isn’t anyone’s enemy and remembers the destruction Fong and his men have wrought appropriating supplies from local farms. Fong thinks this is just proof that Fire nobles are unnaturally persuasive. Still, he thinks that the Fire Nation are obsessed with their code of honor, and Xiu treated their prince as a peasant when she first met him – they’ll execute her for that, or even enslave her or worse. Sergeant Bo points out that the Dragon of the West was a terrible opponent on the battlefield, but he never touched an unwilling woman or allowed his men to do the same. Fong’s aide points out that Iroh’s not in command. No honorable commander would have done this to them – some of Fong’s men have already died from allergic reactions to the scorpion-bee stings. Another aide runs in to report something about brimstone; as the general leaves, Bo thinks that Zuko has decided Fong isn’t going to back down. That means he’s through playing nice. Bo explains that they have shrink-swell clays ahead – one of the guards says Fong knows that, but Bo wonders if he knows Zuko has waterbenders. Suddenly, the ground starts rumbling – Bo tells Xiu she’s not going to want to see this, and Fong is going to want an alternate route.

We cut to Shirong and Zuko as they watch a mudslide roll down the mountain slopes. Zuko comments that it’s volcanic clay – they have it on Ember Island and sometimes use it for beauty treatments, and if you slip on it, you go down hard. He tries not to think of what it’s going to do to Fong’s army. Watching from a distance, though, he can already tell Fong is getting a response organized, and that he’s a much better general than Gang. Zuko wishes Fong had just gone around this valley – Shirong thinks that when you fight spirits, you can’t fight fair, and apparently that applies to human opponents too, though it bothers him a lot. Zuko thinks that after three years traveling the world, he’s finally getting somewhere – he wishes he’d hit Fong’s army harder, maybe with the Yu Yan, and killed more of them. Shirong demands he start making sense, and Zuko complains about how the Mechanist’s people still want to talk, even though Fong’s made it clear he’s not interested. It doesn’t take much for a determined earthbender to ruin crops. If Fong doesn’t leave now, he’s going to move straight through the Mechanist’s relatives’ farms – Zuko will have to ask them if they want to eat this year. He thinks the Air Nomads died because they thought the rest of the world wasn’t their problem. Well, the Mechanist’s people aren’t Air Nomads, and Zuko won’t be their shield. They can act like Air Nomads… or they can be good neighbors and help. Sergeant Kyo then appears, saying that some of Fong’s scouts are getting close. Zuko thinks he tried asking nicely, but now he has no choice – Fong has more people than Zuko does, so he’ll have to whittle those numbers down, whatever it takes, which means Low War, which means Iroh won’t approve. Huojin won’t approve either, even though Luli volunteered for some unspecified mission. A few more marines show up, including Rikiya who’s humming something. Zuko doesn’t look forward to having to explain to Shirong that the Fire Nation actually write songs celebrating Low War. He only hopes this time, Fong pays attention to his warning. Next time, he’s using the rattle-vipers.

We end with an author note: A/N: The song Rikiya is humming is "Snare and Deadfall," by Mercedes Lackey.
Shrink-swell clays are not uncommon in soils of volcanic origin. They do Exactly What It Says On The Tin: shrink when dry, swell enormously when wet. They also become very slippery and heavy. Farming them isn't the best idea if you have other options, which is one reason Fong had a clear line of march that way.
In this day and age it can be easy to forget how much geology affects war. If you want some interesting history and espionage reading, look up the preparations for D-Day, which included extensive efforts to get soil samples from Normandy beaches to determine if landing troops would be feasible. If you want to see an intersection of geology, war, and politics - well, keep reading, because apparently some French generals tried to divvy up invasion duties not by which forces should attack the appropriate targets, but by different grades of wine-growing country. Seriously. Their intent was that the British and American forces would move through low-grade wine areas, while French troops took the high-quality wine growing grounds. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Eisenhower were Not Amused. (Patton's thoughts on the subject were probably unprintable.)
If you're looking for some interesting books on soil, culture, farming, education, and war, check out Victor Davis Hanson. An Autumn of War is not to be missed.

MG’s Thoughts

This chapter was mostly transition, towards the invasion and the battle for Dragons’ Wings. For the former, my biggest takeaway is that despite all the damage Azula did last time… the invasion is still going forward, more-or-less the same as it did in canon. Which just makes the whole thing feel rather pointless. With the latter… for all Vathara has Zuko insist that Fong is a capable general and dangerous enemy, Xiu’s scene goes out of its way to make him look like an incompetent, ranting fool, which doesn’t exactly a threatening antagonist make. And I must say… Fong’s not a good guy, and he probably should have at least talked to Zuko before opening hostilities, but… considering the history, I find it very hard to blame him for assuming the Fire Nation is up to no good in Earth Kingdom territory (and as we all know, he’s totally right about the Fire nobility in Embers!verse being able to control people). Also, Xiu – am I the only one who finds her presence here kind of random? We last saw her more than thirty chapters ago, half a continent away near Ba Sing Se. And then suddenly she’s here, now, with Fong’s army? It almost feels like Vathara felt she needed a familiar character to be our POV in Fong’s camp, and just sort of… pulled Xiu out of a hat or something. And I can’t help but think it’s a little hilarious that Shirong, the freaking Dai Li agent, disapproves of stealth and guerilla tactics.

Also, don’t think I missed the bit about Hakoda and Sokka being unusual for Water Tribesmen for being able to see beyond their own culture, or the implication that the Air Nomads brought their destruction on themselves by ignoring the rest of the world. And this is probably a minor nitpick, but… when the Gaang broke into the Earth King’s palace, Long Feng was commanding the defenses, not the Earth King. He was absolutely willing to hurt them.

MG Reads Embers: Chapter Sixty-Six

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