After the excitement on the docks was finished it was almost disappointing how smoothly the trip to the colonies was. The weather was calm, the ships had no major issues, and we didn’t come across anything on our journey.

All in all, it was rather boring.

So I took the time to practice my firebending forms by making my way through the crew of the ship. When that got boring I started taking them on two at a time. Not because it was much more of a challenge, but because the implied insult had all the soldiers simultaneously training harder privately and using getting out of my training sessions as a gambling currency.

I suppose royalty or not, losing to a fifteen year old girl who spent nearly her entire life in the Capital was making their pride take a beating.

Captain Mako was ‘kind’ enough to keep me updated on all the gossip going across the three ships. Even going so far as to invite the other ship captains over for meals on occasion to ensure that they knew exactly what was going on on his ship.

Personally I think he was just pushing to see how much entertainment he could get out of seasoned soldiers getting beaten up by a teenager and making sure that everyone got a turn before I called him out on it.

Honestly the way Captain Mako treated the training sessions as exhibition matches between his grandchildren rather than serious training between soldiers reminded me of Uncle. Well, besides the fact Uncle took training more seriously than him. And he doesn’t mock the losers for messing up a block. He also doesn’t bet on how quickly one person would lose.

… Now that I think about it they don’t sound very similar at all? Maybe I just miss Uncle more than I thought and anyone with a playful side, no matter how mean spirited, is making me aware of that.

Anyhow, the trip was utterly unremarkable. When the coast started to come into view quite a few sailors quietly celebrated at the prospect of shore leave and getting to the first bar they could.

I just felt annoyed that pretty soon it would be back to keeping proper appearances and watching out for political ploys. Although I did have to admit the thought of a proper bath was appealing.

-o-

When the ships finally made it into harbor we were greeted at the docks by the mayor and a decent procession.

Ah, the finer points of being a visiting princess. You never get time alone and everyone acts like you are incapable of walking without hurting yourself. Naturally I would disabuse them of that opinion soon. But making a big deal out of it right now wasn’t worth it.

So we simply disembarked and were greeted by our welcoming committee. Captain Mako went to organise things with his lieutenant-captains and I boarded the carriage provided by the mayor so we could speak in relative private as we made our way to his mansion.

“Greetings, your highness.” The mayor started once everyone had all sat down.

“Now that we are out of the public eye, I wanted to give you a more personal welcome to my city. Danyuan is one of the most impressive cities in the Fire Nation colonies and we take pride in that fact. If you have any requests please be sure to give them to me or my staff and they will get the attention they deserve.”

I wanted to sigh but that could be seen as a sign he got under my skin. Not even fully out of the docks and I have to deal with politics. Instead I chose to put on my most comforting smile.

“Mister Mayor, under your leadership not only have enemy forces been free to act as they please, but they have also managed to set up an insurgent cell in the middle of your city that got so serious my Father decided this needed to be handled by me personally.” He seemed indignant of that, boo hoo I didn’t care.

“So no. I will not be requesting anything from you. You will continue to run the city but if I give you an order it will be carried out immediately.”

I think it was that moment it sunk in for the mayor that he couldn’t play the normal power games that he had used his entire career. He wasn’t the top power in this relationship and I wasn’t just some passing official that needed to rely on him to handle things locally.

There were two ways for this to play out. Either he accepts his place or he tries to fight me on this and going by the angry reddening at his collar I had a good idea which way he was going to try for.

Best cut that off now.

I leaned back into my seat and casually inspected my nails, “Of course if you have issues with that arrangement I would be more than happy to go with plan B and go back to the capital.” I said casually.

My utter lack of care, a look I had spent a great deal practicing, seemed to shock the Mayor out of whatever he was about to say.

“Plan B?”

I flicked my hand dismissively, “Father only cares that the insurgents are removed from the city. I figure burning them out would work quickly enough. And while rebuilding might take a bit, at least it would give you the chance to build the city right this time.” I made a point of glancing towards some of the very distinctly Earth Kingdom style buildings. “I’d be happy to get rid of some of the more… tacky buildings.”

“N-no, Princess. That isn’t necessary. P-please forgive my words, I simply misspoke.” He stammered. “Any orders you have will of course be given top priority.”

And just like that he folded. I felt a brief flash of satisfaction for one of the few times I felt I got anything useful out of being a princess.

“Well fine, we can do it the boring way. It doesn’t really matter to me. I suppose you might as well tell me about what the insurgents have been up to, since I doubt they haven’t made any moves while we were on our way here.” I drawled, still keeping up my disinterested air.

As it turned out, the insurgents had been busy. They had set a fire in one of the barracks during the middle of the day, a twist of irony I’m sure, and now there were a couple dozen soldiers overcrowding other barracks and now the local supplies were starting to get stretched tight as the insurgents stole, damaged, or destroyed what they could.

Most of that would be offset by the cargo I had brought with me. The rest could be requested from surrounding outposts easily enough. The biggest problem I seemed to be facing immediately was stopping someone from doing this again.

The Mayor continued to fill me in and the more he spoke, the more I realized this would not be a simple task to complete.

Whoever was leading these people was not an idiot. They stayed away from civilian areas, handed out useful supplies when they could, and kept propaganda to a reasonable level so they didn’t come across as crazies looking to burn down the city for a chance to give the Fire Nation a black eye. So instead of a bunch of terrorists, they came off as helpful underdogs even as they caused the very issues they were ‘assisting’ with.

It was clever, I thought as I listened to one of the schemes they had been running for quite a while now. Their agents would steal from markets and when storekeepers raised prices to adjust for the lost goods, those same agents would come around and sell the goods right back to the civilians at a reduced rate. They found a way to steal from the city and have the people thank them for it.

I would love to have a conversation with the one behind that plan before they were sent off to a prison camp.

My thoughts came to a halt as I noticed the carriage slowing down and eventually stopping. There was no way we had made it to our destination already and by the Mayor’s confused expression, this was not a planned stop on our path.

I knocked on the divider between us and the driver. “Why are we stopping?”

“Road block, your Highness. Another carriage’s wheel broke. We have some men moving to assist. Please wait in the carriage until we can clear the blockage, Princess.”

Wait around with the Mayor longer than I needed to? I think not.

I ignored the protesting of the carriage driver and walked out onto the street. Probably a good thing too, since the second I stepped out of the carriage I felt a whoosh of air behind me. Whipping around with eyes wide, I saw the carriage I had just left had magically turned into a pillar of stone. A glance upward showed that actually no, it hadn’t been turned to stone, but launched up into the air instead.

A little dazed I watched as the vehicle I was just in completed a lazy arc before crashing through a stall off to the side of the road.

The loud noise brought me out of my little trance as I quickly started scanning the road for the Earthbender responsible.

Turns out it was a group of three in form concealing cloaks rather than just one Earthbender, as two split off slightly to engage the guards while the one in the middle headed straight for me.

They did a small hop through the air before slamming a bare foot on the ground, causing a small chunk of rock to rise up to chest height. With a warcry of “Death to the Fire Nation!” the now identified as female Earthbender punched forward, launching it at me.

Normally when someone is howling for your death out of nowhere you would feel panicked or scared or something. But as I watched the chunk of rock flying towards me, all I could think was, ’was this the best they could do?’

I lightly sidestepped around the attack and looked at my assailant as the rock flew harmlessly past.

“Was that your best shot?” I asked bemusedly, because otherwise this whole thing was just sad.

“Grr, don’t think you can esca - eep!” she was forced to duck behind a small wall of raised earth as I kicked a wave of fire towards her. Spirits, this felt more like bullying rather than an attack.

“Two! We need to pull back!” One of the other Earthbenders called out. He was actually doing a not bad job of keeping two guards busy while his companion kept even more back with more thrown rocks.

The girl in front of me, Two I suppose, angrily broke down the wall she was hiding behind and sent the pieces at me with a series of punches and kicks.

“I can take her!”

I danced between the flying rocks with quick light steps. Not a single one came close to so much as touching me. I got the distinct feeling ‘Two’ wasn’t the best fighter in the world and decided to end this sad display. More out of pity than anything.

A single blast of fire tore through the renewed rock wall as she tried to block. The blast picked her up off her feet and threw through the air until she landed heavily near the other two Earthbenders.

Seeing that their companion wasn’t in much of a position to do anything at this point, one of them shifted into a Horse stance before surging his arms heavenward. A cloud of dust kicked up from the ground obscuring the three forms even as the guards got into position to surround them. When the dust finally settled there was no sign of the three of them.

Hrm. That was annoying.

I walked over to where the carriage had landed. The intricately built wooden frame had been reduced to kindling after its short flight. The entire thing had flipped so the wheels (well the ones that hadn’t broken off) spun uselessly in the air. Placing my foot on one of the bigger pieces of debris I gave the whole thing a shove allowing a disheveled Mayor to flop out onto the street.

He seemed a bit scuffed up but otherwise fine as he fearfully looked around the area trying to make sure those behind the attack were gone. Good, I would hate to have the city go crazy the week I got here just because he got hurt.

“Now then, Mister Mayor,” I started and his head snapped fearfully to me. Spirits, this man was pathetic. It wasn’t even that great of an attack. The guards we had were more than enough to ensure our safety after the initial ambush. “I believe you were telling me more about the insurgent’s actions? Let’s get back to that.”