A couple hours later I stepped out of a borrowed carriage when we pulled up to the Mayor’s mansion.

It was a nice enough building I suppose. Solidly built in a sort of mixing of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom styles. While I didn’t particularly care for the style I also wasn’t about to criticize someone’s home to his face. That would be rude.

The coward himself didn’t even attempt to exit the carriage until the guards gave the all clear that the surroundings were safe from any intruders. Only then did he peek his head out the door and nervously glance around. Eventually he met my gaze.

I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ahem, yes. Welcome to my home Princess Azura.” the mayor quickly descended the carriage and tried putting on a more noble air. “I will ensure the servants know to follow any direction you give them. Please, if you will follow me?” He made a gesture to follow deeper into the building.

“Of course. Thank you for the hospitality.” I deadpanned.

I followed the skittish mayor through the tastefully decorated halls. While not as obviously rich as some I had seen in the Capital, the mayor also didn’t try flaunting his status with gaudy decorations or materials. I felt my respect for the man climb off the floor a tiny bit. Usually cowards made up for that trait by shoving their status in your face. This mayor actually seemed respectful of his surroundings despite his lack of courage.

Well, if that actually matched his personality and he didn’t just hire a good decorator.

After being shown several rooms and art pieces and making the appropriate noises to ensure I was being polite I was finally shown to my personal chambers.

“And here is where you will be staying.” the mayor said as he presented the room. “I made sure that everything is of the finest quality available, but if you have any displeasure with the decor I will ensure it is changed to meet your expectations.”

“Geez, can you toady up to her any worse? I don’t think her shoes have a mirror polish on them yet.” A caustic voice called out behind us.

I turned to see a girl around my age glaring at the two of us. She was a bit shorter than me, with dark brown hair done up in a ponytail. Two shocks of hair framed her face like mine did. She also was wearing clothing similar in quality to the mayor so I assumed family. Not many people openly insulted the mayor in front of a visitor without either severe leverage or being related.

“Song, please behave. That is no way to speak in front of our distinguished guest.” The mayor replied nervously, sending fearful glances my way.

I crossed my arms under my bust.

“And who is this?”

“Ah this is my daughter, Chi Song.” the mayor quickly cut in. “Song I thought you said you would be on a shopping trip the entire day. Did you find what you wanted already?”

Despite her father’s obvious desire to move to a less hostile conversation, Chi Song just gave him a dismissive glare.

“No, the shops closed down after the Fire Nation troops decided to hold the main streets hostage.” she said angrily. Then she turned on my. “So yeah I’m the daughter of the mayor. Who are you? No wait let me guess, you're a noble girl who thought it would be fun to lord it over the colonies so you begged your daddy to put you in charge while he relaxes and doesn’t fix our problems?”

Well then, she was a spirited one. I might have been insulted if this next part wasn’t going to be so much fun.

“Kinda.” I admitted causing the mayor to start choking and Chi Song to blank out at my response.

“Kinda? What do you mean kinda!? Our city is falling apart and you just came here to play around?” Chi Song screeched.

“Well I didn’t actually choose to come here.” I said cutting off the mayor from explaining the situation. “My father decided he needed somewhere to send me for a while so he told me to play around with the situation here for a bit.”

“I-, you-, how could-, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!”

Oh dear, it seems I upset her.

I looked over to the mayor who by now was bone white and shaking.

“I don’t know. How about you answer that question Mister Mayor.”

With the enthusiasm of a man who had just signed his own death warrant, the mayor slowly said, “If I may present Her Royal Highness, Princess Azura of the Fire Nation.”

“...oh...”

I tried very hard not to laugh at the face Chi Song was making and limited myself to a smirk. It was rare people didn’t recognise me in the Capital, this was a bit of a welcome surprise. I wonder how many times I could use this joke before my portrait started making its way through the colony.

“Yes, oh.” I agreed.

Both father and daughter bowed deeply to me. The mayor practically folded in half, while Chi Song jerkily lowered herself looking like she was in pain.

“I beg you to forgive my daughter. I will ensure she is punished accordingly.”

I sighed.

And just like that the humor in the situation left me. I can’t even play a joke without someone fearing for their lives.

“Oh get up.” I commanded, waving a hand imperiously. “I will ignore any insult since in a way this is my fault.”

“”What?”” Both of them asked.

“Well if it wasn’t for the assassination attempt on me and the mayor earlier-” Chi Song jerked at the mention on an attempt at her father’s life. “-then my soldiers wouldn’t have secured the route here ruining her shopping trip.”

The two of them looked like they had no idea what to say.

“And as for those issues you were talking about Chi Song, I came here specifically to deal with the source of those issues.” She jerked in surprise. Understandable, not many officials really cared about the cause of a problem in the colonies if it didn’t personally affect them. “Once the insurgents are destroyed I’m sure quite a few of your city’s problems will go away. Now if you’ll excuse me, I wish to take a bath before dinner. Please send a servant to prepare one.”

The pair finally straightened up and dismissed themselves. The mayor practically tripped over himself to get away, while his daughter followed stiffly behind.

I let another sigh escape. I hope the girl lightened up some. If I was going to be living here for a few months it would be nice to have a potential friend nearby.

-o-

The bath was nice, if nothing special.

Dinner was a boring affair since both the Mayor and Chi Song were still on edge from our earlier confrontation. Chi Song especially since she acted stiff enough I was ready to joke she was made of rock to be so unbending.

I did get to meet the Mayor’s wife though.

A nice middle-aged woman who tried to make up for her family’s awkward behavior by constantly engaging me in conversation.

I learned that she had actually been a Fire Nation native before moving to the area and marrying her husband. She had also been part of her birth family’s trading business for a time, before her father retired and sold the trading ship to fund her younger brother’s education in one of the Academys.

We had a nice chat about some of the differences in fashion between Danyaun and the Capital, what our preferred blends of tea were, and mild questions into how my journey went.

She must be minor nobility back home, since this kind of subtle information gathering doesn’t come naturally often. Still, I learned just as much about the state of the city perceived through her network of housewives. And since gossip continued to be faster than any intelligence report I got to hear how the city was reacting to my arrival.

Thankfully it was mostly positive or neutral responses. There was the odd rumor that I was a demonic spirit who burned a thousand people to ash for standing in my way, but since the source was a senile old man not many were inclined to belive him. Most either were excited at the chance to see a real Princess like the ones out of a story or didn’t care as long as I didn’t interact with their lives.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

The mayor himself managed to give me some more updates on what the city guard was up to and the lack of any new information about the trio that attacked us.

Chi Song tried to avoid drawing my attention despite being interested in how the search for the people who attacked her father was going and remained mostly silent until we all broke from the meal and she rigidly walked off.

I felt bad that my little joke made her so uncomfortable in her own home. I would have to make it up to her somehow. Perhaps have her accompany me into the city while I inspected it? That might work.

My last task for the day was to meet with the local Commander, a man named Sha Wujing, and get a feel for the resources available to me in the city.

“Thank you for meeting me Princess Azura. I know late afternoon meetings aren’t usually appreciated.” The Commander greeted when he was escorted to a meeting room I had decided to commandeer for the evening.

“Of course Commander. No reason not to start understanding the state of the city.” I replied easily.

Sha Wujing nodded. “The situation hasn’t changed much from the last report. We have small groups causing trouble for trade caravans and theft outside the city proper is slowly becoming a bigger issue. The locals don’t really care since stolen goods are filtered back into the city through underground markets but shopkeepers are getting tense since we still have no leads and no informants to give us a clearer picture.

Propaganda papers are also starting to pop up here and there encouraging people to act against the Fire Nation. Nothing radical yet, thank the spirits, but things like providing lesser quality goods or finding ways of malicious compliance.

Naturally our morale is taking a bit of a hit since anything more than arresting trouble makers and throwing them in a cell to cool off for a couple days winds up in the propaganda and used against us.”

He paused to rub his eyes.

“Honestly Princess, I’m not sure what you can do to stop this from escalating into a bloodbath.”

“Well I have a few ideas to try before we get to that point, Commander.” I assured him. “Perhaps take an early night to rest. We can meet in the morning to go over the details.”

“Hah! An early night? Like these poor fools could find their boots without me holding their hand.” Sha Wujing laughed.

“I could make it an order.” I suggested mildly.

Still chuckling the Commander waved a hand. “No, I’ll make sure to be rested for whatever you need me for. Thank you for taking the time to listen. Most people I’ve worked with would just take over and start giving out orders.”

“Not to worry Commander,” I gave him a smile. “I fully intend to ‘take over’ as you said. I simply learned from my Uncle that you need to listen to the whole situation otherwise you end up doing the same thing over and over trying to fix your own mistakes.”

Sha Wujing smiled back but seemed a little nervous. “Lessons from the Dragon of the West, huh? Well at least we should be in good hands then.”

“Only the best Commander. Now have a good night.”