Once again I found myself staring at a map while my subordinates milled around in the background.

We had moved on to the third city on my route to secure key points and wrest control for the colonies from my Father. The second had been a port city similar to Danyuan, but had lacked any sort of unrest or rebellion to justify staying in the area for long. Captain Mako had stayed behind to act as my proxy to assist in the creation of another port guard and invite any earthbenders to join under my banner. Both of which would probably form slower than they had previously, lacking a clear threat of being subjugated for rebellion, but it ensured any recruits who signed on to either force would be under officers sworn to my personal service rather than the Fire Nation military as a whole.

I was confident he could handle most of the issues that would pop up, so we had moved further inland to a landlocked city close to a mountain range that acted as a convergence point for several roads. It also happened to be close enough to the front lines that Earth Kingdom attacks were a real concern although they did not happen often.

The lack of any water meant I couldn’t just declare the creation of a Port Guard like I had in the last two cities, but with some...inspired interpretation of a few laws...I had started the recruitment for a branch of the City Guard that fulfilled the same role without requiring recruits to leave for training. Thankfully the letter of the law was sufficiently vague that I could argue in my favor for long enough that by the time anyone in the court managed to decide one way or the other, my troops would be fully trained and the point would be moot.

Provided the court even noticed what was happening. The royal court didn’t exactly pay close attention to the recruitment processes of the colonies after all, and most Captains knew better than to second guess a Princess.

That was about where the good news ended.

Probably due to the closeness to the frontlines, the cultural tension in Anje was much more apparent in the streets.

Unlike in Danyuan it wasn’t a populous desiring to be treated as equals rather than second class citizens with a small but disruptive rebellious element, but a neat divide of newcomers that had been born in the Fire Nation and had moved to the city when it had been taken and the Earth Kingdom citizens who had stayed.

Weirdly, the biggest tension point wasn’t about which nation ruled the city but about what traditions were celebrated in the city. Something that normally should have been addressed by the local mayor, but after meeting the spineless waste I understood perfectly why nothing was done. Simply put, the mayor would do nothing more than ensure the proper taxes were sent to the capital. All the other duties were ignored or delegated to others.

It worked, but only enough that two factions had formed and taken over running the city. The amount of soldiers that passed through the city ensured no violence broke out, but that simply made the sides turn to other methods of fighting. Certain families were either charged more or banned from businesses, neighbors would loudly spread rumors about each other, goods and supplies were damaged or stolen, and other such methods were used so it was little surprise both factions were nearly at each other's throats by the time I arrived.

Ironically my plan to create soldiers loyal to me from the local population actually relieved some of the tension both sides were facing. Any of the young men and women itching to ensure they could protect their culture through force swarmed to either the City guard if they were a Firebender or nationalist, or to my house forces if they were an Earthbender or a colonist. With most of the more violently inclined idiots busy getting beaten into shape by my loyal instructors, they simply didn’t have the energy to pick fights with each other any more.

Without a decently strong central leader to settle disputes, however, both sides would likely come to blows eventually once I left. So I was stuck trying to find a replacement for the current mayor who would not only be able to handle the job, but also not favor one side over the other.

That was clearly going to be a difficult task on a normal day but just to ensure that I had the worst day possible, we got word from one of the road outposts that a rock slide had blocked the path out of the North road of the city. Soon after, similar news came from the West road, and then again from the South.

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It was clear Anje was about to come under siege from the Earth Kingdom, and I was stuck facing it with only a local garrison, some half-trained recruits, and a handful of dubiously loyal Earthbenders.

Spirits, what a mess.

“I need specifics, gentlemen. How many are we facing and where are they coming from? I refuse to believe not a single soldier spotted anything this whole time!”

The local officers refused to meet my eyes while my entourage stepped forward.

“We have a few reports of some unknown traders hanging around Earth Kingdom aligned shops for the last week but that's only because the business owners complained about the Fire Nation faction driving off their customers. Best I can guess is that there is somewhere around fifty between all groups because any bigger and the guards would’ve needed to see their caravan licence.”

I stared at Sha Wujing.

“So you are telling me... that fifty enemy Earthbenders might have snuck past our guards because they spent more time hassling local businesses than doing their jobs?” I pointedly did not glare at the local officers, but my tone let them know exactly my thoughts on them if the way they all paled and started sweating was any indication.

“Sounds like it.” Chi Song commented from the side. “Good news is it wasn’t because someone bribed the guards.”

“Yes, because our guards being incompetent instead of bought is so much better.” I inhaled deeply before slowly letting out a breath, the candles in the room dimming and then flaring at the same time in response to me releasing my frustration. Losing my temper didn’t help me at the moment. I needed to figure out what the Earth Kingdom leader hoped to achieve here.

Fifty soldiers was enough to do a lot of damage but not enough to hold a city. So this was likely a raid to weaken the city for some reason. Either as a distraction or for another force to conquer didn’t matter, but those were the top two theories. Either one required an attack, probably one that would be coming soon, to take advantage of the chaos caused by isolating the city with those rockslides. So how do I prevent that?

Step one would be finding where the enemy was hiding.

Unless the enemy commander was willing to risk going unnoticed in the sweep that was sure to follow the discovery of the collapsed roads he would be outside the city. Probably close enough to the walls to sneak close when night fell but far enough that they wouldn’t be immediately spotted by scouts if they searched the area.

So where would I go?

If it was me, I would pick the forest nearby. Plenty of places to hide, the trees would make causal discovery hard, and the roots would make bending harder for weaker Earthbenders. My second choice would be a clearing by the nearby stream. It was easier to get spotted, but it was also more open, difficulties with trying to cross the water aside.

But that was if I was leading Firebenders. Earthbenders would want to be in open elevated spaces so nothing could interfere with their bending and they would use less energy, which meant something in the hills or mountains.

Anything to the south was out. The forest was too dense to navigate easily at night. West was more probable, but the distance to the hills made it slightly too far for my taste.

I turned back to the maps and started looking for a more detailed version of the north areas. At first glance the north shared most of the issues as the west, but there was a cliffside that overlooked the city that had a small clearing on it if the maps were right. It was close enough to a few hunting paths that it was accessible, but the sheerness of the cliff meant Fire Nation troops would never be able to safely descend without specialised equipment.

But steep cliffs weren’t an issue for Earthbenders, were they?

“Found you.” I muttered

I tapped the table and looked around at the people in the room. The locals could barely be trusted to tie their bootlaces it seemed, let alone be trusted to handle this. So it would have to be my personal troops.

“I want half the guards from the southeast walls shifted to cover the north side of the city. Have them check on anything that an Earthbender could destroy quickly and would cause chaos. Food storage, stables, anything like that. Sha Wujing, you are in charge. Try to keep these idiots from simply handing the city to the enemy?”

“Yes, Princess.” Sha Wujing replied, both of us ignoring the winces from the surrounding officers.

“Zhu Wuneng, try and find a hunter who would be willing to lead a group of twenty to this location. If I’m right, then our Earth Kingdom friend should be around there.”

“Sure. I could probably find someone.”

I nodded. “Chi Song-”

“If you tell me to stay in the city, I am going to break something. Fair warning.” she interrupted.

“-gather four Earthbenders from my house forces you can trust and tell them what’s going on. You are coming with me.” I finished, giving her a half-lidded stare.

“Oh. Uh, sure.” Chi Song blushed and looked away, scratching at her cheek with one finger.

“As for the rest of you, I want the scouts out towards the east. I doubt even if we beat those Earthbenders here it will be the end of their plan.”

“”Yes, Princess!””

“Dismissed.” I idly waved a hand and watched as everyone left to carry out their tasks.

When they were gone I walked around to the north side of the map so I could look at the city from the Earth commander’s point of view.

“Fifty is too small to do anything...what is your game here?”