The day was shaping up to be perfect. The sun was shining brightly without a cloud in sight, everything was a pleasant temperature, not too hot nor too cold, and a slight breeze carried a refreshing scent of nature from the surroundings.

It was the kind of day that would encourage people with nothing to do to simply enjoy the outdoors, they might even set up a picnic to fully enjoy the good weather.

Unfortunately the citizens of the border city Anje weren’t in a position to enjoy the day. The message of an army of Elite Earthbenders on the way had left many of them wondering if today was the day they might lose their homes. Only the presence of the City Guard and the troops brought by a genuine princess of the Fire Nation managed to keep many of them from panicking.

They all convinced themselves that the princess was hard at work with her advisors readying the soldiers to repel the attackers, when in reality...

“Haah~, they’re taking their time aren’t they?” I sighed while I idly ran a finger around the rim of my teacup.

...that princess was outside the walls enjoying tea and lounging around on a sedan chair, doing absolutely nothing as she waited for the Earthbenders to arrive.

“Our scouts estimate they should be visible within fifteen minutes if their pace hasn’t changed.” Sha Wujing replied tersely. For some reason he didn’t like me sitting around outside with only a handful of guards and a hostile army on the way. He was stuffy like that.

“So the army of highly trained soldiers is almost here to kill us? Goody.” Chi Song snarked from beside me as she refilled my cup. She also wasn’t thrilled about being out here, but it mostly stemmed from the fact she was out here with me.

“Don’t be so dramatic. We’ll be fine.” I waved a hand dismissively at her.

I continued to enjoy my tea until an Earth Kingdom scout on an ostrich horse appeared over the horizon, spotted our group, and quickly disappeared back the way he came.

Minutes later a group pretty close in size to our own flying a truce flag came into view and started to approach. It seemed the Earth General was willing to at least negotiate a little before the siege started.

Good.

Part one of the plan was about to begin.

-o-

I waited calmly as the group approached and took some time to inspect the members.

Most of them were normal soldiers and there were a pair of officers, but the most eye-catching person in the group was the General himself. He was a massive man with an equally impressive beard that went down to the middle of his chest. Although I would be more impressed if he actually took care of the thing.

It was so scruffy and wild looking that it was clear the man took the barest amount of care of it if he bothered at all. He would’ve been forced to cut it if he was in the Fire Nation army, general or not, but I guess not everyone cared about maintaining the outward dignity of their positions.

Once they were close enough I stood from my chair and called out to them.

“Good afternoon. Welcome to Anje, can I interest you fine men in some tea?”

My polite greeting was met with a stony silence as the Earthbenders just stared at me. I’d be offended but them wasting time suited my plans fine so I just continued to wait patiently.

After a few seconds the general dismounted his ostrich horse with a slight tremor as he childishly tried to intimidate us with a small demonstration of his Earthbending. I ignored it and motioned at the low table I had set up in advance, welcoming him to take a seat.

The general looked over the table, snorted at the Fire Nation symbol prominently displayed, and launched the whole thing with another burst of Earthbending. He replaced the now shattered table with a block of stone and took a seat on another smaller rock.

I felt my eye twitch a bit at the unnecessary destruction of a perfectly fine tea set and the show of blatant aggression. Clearly the man was only going through the motions of a parley and was eager to get to fighting. Clearly I wasn’t going to be matching wits with some master strategist.

I ignored his display and gracefully joined him at his rock table, motioning for Chi Song to prepare another pot of tea. While my attendant was busy with that I tried to get the general talking.

“Would you care to have any of your men join us? Or have them relax while we discuss things? I’m sure they would like the opportunity.”

Once again the general scoffed at me and turned to look at Sha Wujing, who was standing behind me. “I don’t have time to play games with some brat thinking war is just a game. Bring out the real leader or I’m leaving this farce.”

Sha Wujing was sweating but pointedly did not answer. Instead, I pinned the general with a stare that dared him to ignore me. “I can assure you, general, that I AM the one in charge here. Which you would know if you bothered to be the least bit civilised and introduced yourself.”

“Tch,” the large man clicked his tongue and twisted his face in annoyance but complied. “I am General Fong. I am here to bring the city of Anje back into its rightful place as part of the Earth Kingdom.”

I nodded as I recognised the name. General Fong was one of the enemy generals I had heard of often in the Capital. Mostly because everyone in the Fire Nation hated finding themselves going up against him.

Not because he was exceptionally clever or anything like that, although from what I heard he wasn’t exactly stupid either. But because he was ruthlessly aggressive and just the slightest bit insane. There were stories where Fong would order full charges against Fire Nation soldiers despite his troops being injured and he would win because his troops were willing to fight long after they should’ve been too hurt to move. It didn’t help that he was also skilled enough that anyone short of a Master wasn’t able to beat him.

I was glad my plan didn’t revolve around beating the army itself since Fong’s soldiers wouldn’t give up until the man himself was beaten.

I took a sip of my newly poured tea and waited as the General began to do the same. “Your reputation precedes you, General. I am Azura, First Princess of the Fire Nation.” I took a vindictive kind of pleasure watching the General choke on his tea before continuing like nothing happened. “I’m not going to insult the both of us by asking you to turn back, but we did manage to capture quite a few of your men trying to stir up trouble in the city. I’d be willing to release them for some concessions on your part.”

Fong glared at me once he finally managed to stop coughing and I figured it would be best if I stated my terms.

“I’d be happy to return a few Earthbenders if you cleared off the roads they blocked off earlier and allowed the citizens who wanted to leave some time to head to another city...say two days or so?”

“...*cough*...and give you time for reinforcements to arrive? I don’t think so.” General Fong replied hoarsely. “I agree to letting any citizens who want to flee to leave by the north road, but they will only have a day to remove themselves.”

I shrugged and accepted his terms since they didn’t really matter in the end and motioned for one of the guards I had with me to relay the terms of our negotiation and to bring ten of the prisoners back with him.

“While we wait for them, do you want more tea? It’s one of my favorite blends and you wasted your cup earlier.” I asked, fixing a polite smile on my face.

The General just continued to glare at me. I don’t think he liked me much for some reason.

-o-

A line of miserable looking men in civilian clothing and wooden handcuffs were presented to General Fong once my messenger returned. It made sense. They were supposed to be a diversion and sabotage the city only to be found out and captured without doing much of anything.

“There you are, General. Ten Earthbenders ready to be handed over in exchange for allowing any civilians that want to leave via the north road.” I said graciously. “Assuming you still agree?”

“Hmph, let’s make sure they are actually Earthbenders before we make any promises.” he said irritably.

My face hardened at the implied slight.

“Fine. Each of them can do a small demonstration. Anything more and I will consider it a breach of our truce.”

One by one each of the men stomped on the ground and lifted a small patch of earth proving that they were indeed all Earthbenders. Fong looked frustrated that he hadn’t caught me trying to slip in a Firebender spy amongst the group and was forced to honor his agreement. Now he would be unable to make any moves in the north for a few days since even if the agreement only specified the one, civilians weren’t that fast and no one wanted them getting caught up in a battle.

The Earth Kingdom troops left as soon as General Fong made the arrangements for the released men and my group didn’t stay much longer before returning to Anje.

The parley truce theoretically meant that there would be no further actions by both armies today, but maneuvering positions wasn’t really considered under that and neither General Fong nor myself wanted to bet on the other being honorable to not try something with the enemy commander right there.

Part one of my plan had gone off without a hitch. Now I just needed to….

My musings were cut off by the shrill cry of a messenger hawk. I waited patiently for Sha Wujing to allow it to perch on his extended forearm and retrieve the message. A brief glance was enough to confirm the contents and a satisfied smile crept onto my face.

Part two was complete.

Now to wait for nightfall and the completion of part three…