Crime and Punishment (Part 3)

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And the city had a lot of problems...

To solve most of them, we had to stay in the city for almost a week.

During that time, Azula had managed to do a lot of things. Having unlimited power, the girl strived to bring everything to perfection. She conducted interrogations with all the people in power, and at the end of these interrogations, many high positions among the guards and various officials were vacated. On most of the vacated places were immediately appointed new people who were immediately swamped with work and orders of the princess. Of course, before such a sudden and unexpected promotion, I had to check them personally. It's convenient to see people's memories through dreams, even if it's only available to fire people. Some people got promoted these days, and some lost their heads, the usual routine of inspection.

Yuyang's archers got rid of all the gangs around the city, while in the city itself, the soldiers managed to maintain order while striking at the city's crime rate. The soldiers didn't kill everyone like some butchers, but only the gang leaders. Ordinary gangsters were destined for a place in prison. Because of the numerous arrests, the criminals even overflowed the prison, so the prisoners had to be moved to other places. A couple of letters to the right people from the princess and the problem was solved, and the convicts within a week went to different mines, to work for the benefit of the Fire Nation.

Such a rapid change could not help but cause some unrest among the people, but a few pathos speeches in the square in front of the people from Azula, vilifying the criminals and the former governor while praising the Fire Lord and their country, calmed the people down a bit, distracting them from rushing into action. Thanks to her study of fiction, Zula's oratorical skills had improved greatly. Or were they there before, but only now had the chance to show them off? And few people liked the governor, rather they hated him, but could do nothing about it. Patriotism and propaganda were widespread in the Fire Nation, in the city it was necessary to work mostly with the local population. And the further reduction in the prices of goods and products added to the princess's universally recognised popular love.

After a bit of consultation, Zula and I decided to take advantage of this situation to spread certain rumours about the cruel but very fair princess of the Fire Nation. Reputations are like that, first you work for her and then she works for you. As for prices, they weren't really lowered, rather they were brought back to standard because the previous governor was too arrogant and taxed more than they should have. But that didn't stop the princess from taking advantage of the situation.

That's how the time in this city flew by. Azula even put me to work, as well as Mei, Tai Li and many of her subordinates. Even the mercenary had a job to do. Having been tasked with bringing the absconding mayor to the princess, Berkrut dragged the wounded criminal to her feet four days later. Another execution had somehow escaped my attention because of the whole routine. But even so, it felt severely understaffed. However, that would soon become not our problem.

On the sixth day, a reply came from the Fire Master, in which Daddy dryly praised his daughter and issued a few orders regarding the territory where the princess had executed the governor. Key to this letter was the order to appoint a new governor, who was already on his way, along with soldiers to establish and maintain order in the border territories. This spoke of our imminent continuation of the journey.

After discussing this with Azula, we decided not to waste time in the city waiting for the new governor. It was decided to leave the frigate with most of the ship's crew here, while we continued our journey, or rather inspection of the border lands. And then we faced the question, who to take with us? The solution came quite quickly: training sparring of elite against elite to determine the best of the best subordinates of the princess, who will be honoured to continue the journey with her. All of Azula's direct subordinates participated, with the exception of Berkrut and some fire mages.

The mercenary was too strong and useful, any sparring would end in injuries after the first use of blast magic. And being asked to hold back... they were not of that mentality people. Among her subordinate fire mages, Azula knew very well the strongest and most skilful ones. All because of the regular sparring sessions back during the sea journey, where the girl undoubtedly wiped the deck with elite mages. Therefore, she had prepared a few seats in advance for those who had managed to stand out earlier.

After some small discussions on how and when it would be better to realise this, the princess decided to conduct a proficiency test for over a hundred of her best warriors from the ship. And so, at sunset that day, this crowd of soldiers gathered at the same training ground to demonstrate their skills. Their opponents were their girl friends, Mei and Tai Li. And no one was surprised by such a thing, too often the princess held training sessions with her team, so no one thought to consider the two fragile looking girls for weaklings. Almost no one...

All preparations were completed, and now in the light of the last rays of the red sun, the partners entered the ring.

- The battle... at least something interesting lately, - Mei was the first, her opponent was a man armed with a standard Chinese sword.

- Are the warriors ready? Begin! - Azula ordered in a commanding voice, and the fight started immediately.

The girl did not waste time, instantly throwing daggers hidden in her clothes at her opponent. With a swing of his sword, the man deftly deflects half of the projectiles, dodging the other half, sharply starting to get closer to her opponent. Mei stops throwing her weapons, instead taking up a melee stance.

The opponents are closing the distance!

Ducking down, she moves away from the sword swing, immediately counterattacking. With a sharp movement of her hand, the girl intends to knock the weapon out of the enemy's hands. The swordsman notices this and breaks the distance. Mei continues to move, showing great agility with speed. Suddenly standing up on her hands, she knocks her opponent's sword off the turntable, in the next movement she finds herself next to the man, putting a sharp dagger to his throat.

The fight was over in a little over a minute.

- Terrible, next!

After the princess' order, the almost uniform beating of the soldiery began. Of course, among the noble husbands were professionals capable of straining Mei and even rare talents that defeated the girl by forcing her to lie on the sand. After all, Zula had chosen her team from the elite of her people. However, in most cases Mei won, especially if she was given the second round. The girl was used to fighting with Azula and the elite soldiers did not give her any problems, even if they were fire mages. Even though they were considered masters, they were far from the princess.

The princess's friend was faster and more agile than her opponents, not shying away from using throwing weapons, while most of her opponents fought with swords in the same style, using the same techniques. And then there was the fact that on the ship, in the narrow corridors, a long stick was somewhat difficult to wield. Of course, there were other masters, but they were losing to the agile and amazingly accurate girl.

The fire mages and Yuyang archers gave her the most trouble. In the fight with the latter, Mei surpassed all expectations, showing parrying arrows with throwing daggers. She could even dodge an arrow, but the archery masters were too good and shot three arrows in a second and a half. Dodging was almost impossible, and Mei's clothes were slightly tattered and had a few holes in them before she could parry the arrows with her knives. Oh, and afterwards it turned out that the archers had more arrows in their quivers than the knives the girl had in her clothes.

As I watched her battle, dodging, striking and winning, I could observe her genuine smile. She enjoyed the fight and didn't even hide it. An amazing trait for such a phlegmatic person like her.

- May. That's enough, you can take a break. Tai Li, take over for her," Azula orders after a few dozen sparring sessions with minimal rest time, noticing the fatigue on her friend's face. Not a bad measure of stamina.

- Good! - The acrobat wheeled into the arena from her seat. While tired, but very satisfied Mei proudly left the ring, having previously shaken off the sand. Stopping in front of her friend, Lee decides to praise her in her own style: - You did great! I'm impressed! Will you teach me how to throw daggers sometime? There were throwers of all sorts in the circus, but they weren't even close to you!

- Ugh," May grumbled, patting the acrobat's shoulder lightly as she hugged her. - We'll talk about this another time.

- I'll remember that," they separated with smiles on their lips.

Tai Li took her place in the ring and Mei sat next to the princess.

- Are the warriors ready? - Azula asks, before giving the order for the sparring to begin again.

- 'You go easy on me,' the circus girl smiled sweetly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, if not nervous.

- A-a-am-khm... okay? - Confused and sweating the man's gaze from the girl's charisma. What a naive boy of thirty years of age. He had already lost, and a long spear wouldn't help him at all.

- Begin! - came the princess's sharp order.

- What?" he marvelled at the acrobat's terribly rapid speed.

The girl performed an acrobatic somersault, a somersault, a somersault with a turn, another somersault and another somersault. And thus in a couple of seconds she overcame a dozen metres, being close to her opponent. He only had time to marvel as a series of amazingly strong blows went through his leather armour.

- Agrgh!!! - With a mumbling sound, he fell to the sand as a broken puppet.

Tai Li's blows are terrifyingly strong, so strong that they can be felt even through the finest leather armour. In addition, the girl is skilled in the art of blocking Qi. This allows her to paralyse her opponent for half an hour or more with a few strokes of her fingers. Depending on the number of blows, which are quite painful. Even one blow in the right place will lead to victory, because with a paralysed arm or leg, it will be very difficult to fight. And thanks to her agility, flexibility, and monstrous speed, the distance to her opponents doesn't matter much.

- It was so horrible that I don't have the words to describe the stupidity of the defeated man. Take him out of the ring! - Azula orders the soldiers, knowing full well that the man won't be able to get up anytime soon.

If the fights with Mei mostly looked like beating up soldiers, here was Tai Li just humiliating them. With a smile, a slight flirtatiousness, pomposity, and... she was just showing off! If the knife lover had to hold back to avoid killing someone, then Tai Li had the perfect skills to disarm anyone. Mages, spearmen, swordsmen, archers, all of them were very helpless against the circus acrobat.

The girl, without any problems defeated all her opponents, unwittingly trampling on their male pride and showing off her flexibility and acrobatics. The swordsman was masterfully beaten in close combat while standing on his hands. Spearmen also could not do anything against such a sharp and fidgety girl that constantly dodges, twists, rolls ... but after victories it is not necessary to get into one of the poses of Yoga. She took mages with her stamina and speed, but it was impossible to defend with fire for a long time, and there were very few defence techniques in fire conquest. Fighting with mages, she did not forget to comment admiringly: how hot and bright the opponent's fire was. The girl spun, exhausted, teased, then sharply reduced the distance and took out the opponent, several times even with two legs. The archers ran out of arrows, they just could not hit the amazingly flexible girl with amazing reaction, and in close combat Tai Li is a monster.

Watching the acrobat's skills, I wanted to learn the art of blocking Qi myself. By the way, I noticed that Azula was also watching the girl with a very thoughtful look. Hmm, does the princess think that her friend was holding back in sparring with her? Perhaps Tai Li is an extremely strong opponent, even for us. Surely Zula will want to resume her chakra-opening endeavours after this performance.

The sparring continued. During this time, I only realised even more how much personal strength and skill mattered in this world. Both Tai Li and Mei weren't just practising their skills, no, they lived their particularities, which exalted them above the rest of the 'masters'. Even among mages, mastery and understanding of one's element is extremely important. Because the stronger the mage, the hotter the fire and the faster it flies to the target. I realised this when comparing those fighting with Azula's skills. Swordsmen and other ordinary soldiers, not gifted with magic, fought sparingly, without imagination, but even they could sometimes a little bit, but surprise. Archers showed themselves perfectly, mages more or less. The rest of the masters were mostly taken out of the ring, but they could be useful in our business.

Watching the fighters, I realised even more the difference in strength between mages and ordinary people. For non-mages, it would take dozens of times more effort and training to defeat opponents with the gift of conquest. Whereas even an average fire mage is a considerable danger to anything that burns. Hence a logical question arose in my mind: why is the princess guarded by a few dozen guardsmen, when it was possible to recruit the entire crew of her frigate from fire mages?

Immediately I found, or rather, remembered the answer.

Azula had asked a similar question when I was a child. The thing was that mages had both advantages and disadvantages. And the first one being that fire is terrible at defence. And fire mages also get a little weaker every night, and during cold weather. There is a punishment practised in prisons, to lock a fire mage in a freezer for half an hour. After that, the person can't conquer fire for about two weeks. So purely tactically, to recruit a team or army of only mages is too shortsighted and stupid. After all, such weaknesses of fire mages are definitely known about in the realm of earth. And the magical gift itself is quite rare.

Meanwhile, the fights continued, the girls changed, sometimes other people came out instead of them, other masters found out who was better at weapons or conquering magic. And, of course, there were moments when mages went up against non-mages, and lost. An interesting tournament where the selection of participants is done solely by Azula.

Meanwhile, time passed and night was approaching. The princess listed those who would be travelling with her on her further inspection of the land and finalised the event. The lucky ones were about fifty people, most of them fire mages, after archers, and least of all there were ordinary people. It was as I expected, magic in this world means a lot.

After receiving their orders, people went about their business. After asking Zula if she needed me and receiving a negative answer, I went about my business. One last night in a quiet city before another journey, it's worth savouring.

***

Knock, knock, knock.

After a knock on the door, a quiet rustling was heard behind the barrier.

- Lee? Open up," Azula orders in a commanding tone, standing in front of the door to her friend's room.

- Now, now! - was the acrobat's reply, followed by the sound of footsteps.

Soon the door opened. Tai Li was already wearing the sleeping dressing gown of her favourite, soft pink colour.

- Azula! What a nice surprise! And I was just going to bed..." her friend said in surprise and confusion, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Instead of the usual braid, her locks were loose.

- I want to talk. Are we going to talk in the doorway, or are you going to let me into the room?

- 'Sure, sure,' the circus girl moved away from the door, going deeper into her assigned room, sitting down on the bed. The sheets and blanket were a little wrinkled, but overall still made up. The acrobat hadn't gone to bed yet. - What does my friend wish to talk to me about at this late hour?

- Delicate pink seashells? - asks Azula, having finished looking at the drawings on her friend's sheets.

- Everyone has their own tastes," the acrobat replied with a slight smile, waving away such a triviality with a bit of excitement.

- What's behind your back? - Noticing the slight oddity in the princess' behaviour. The acrobat sat a little too suspiciously, as if wanting to hide something behind her back. Being very observant and perceptive, Azula quickly guessed that her friend was hiding something.

- Nothing. - The girl deftly stands up, showing off the previously hidden space of the bed. - See?

However, the princess continued to frown. Something was escaping her attention, something small, imperceptible, but still flickering at the edge of consciousness.

- Turn your back, - the acrobat obediently twisted, trying to show that she had nothing to hide.

- So?" she asked, moving closer to her still hesitant friend.

- You're acting strange. It's been almost five minutes since I came in and you haven't started walking on your hands or doing yoga poses. It's out of character, Lee..." said Azula, continuing to stare at her friend unwaveringly.

- Oh, you're so observant. Okay, I'll do the scorpion pose now, watch.....

- Don't. - However, Tai Li was unstoppable, standing up on her hands, after on her elbows, she pulls her legs to her head. - Okay. I came to talk to you about something... important.

- Knock, knock, knock, knock, - a sudden knock on the door interrupts the girls' conversation, causing both of them to look in the direction of the sound.

- Oh! It must be May. I'll get it! - said a little louder Tai Li, getting to her feet and going to go to open as....

- Slap," suddenly, a bottle of sake that had fallen out of the girl's dressing gown landed on the carpet next to the girl. Both friends noticed it, immediately focusing their gazes on the miraculously unbroken bottle of alcohol.

- Uh-oh. I've been caught red-handed," the acrobat was confused as she looked at the fallen item she had so diligently hidden.

- Sake it is. Go open it, now I want to talk to both of you," Azula coldly orders, calmly picking up the bottle and starting to examine it.

Soon, Tai Li returned with an uncomprehending Mei. Not one to act rashly, Azula questioned each friend about what she was doing here and her connection to the bottle of alcohol. Soon, everything secret became clear. The three girls talked quietly. Tai Li and Mei sat on the bed while Azula walked back and forth in front of them. Despite the princess' calm tone, tension could be felt in the room. And while Mei suspected nothing of her friend's plans and felt safe, here was the acrobat....

- Tai Li, we are in a city where every resident can be a spy of the kingdom of earth. As early as tomorrow, we will leave this city in a small detachment, moving close to the enemy's borders. I am the princess of the most powerful nation in the world, and the chances that our enemies will not take this opportunity to make an attempt on my life... are very slim. As are the odds that they won't know my route, my itinerary, the number of guards. And you've decided that today is the perfect time to mess with May's mind as well as your own. You are my most trusted confidants, my closest confidants, my friends. This could be construed as sabotage. You can start making excuses, maybe I'll relent and punish you more leniently.

- I'm sorry, I just thought it was the last day we could rest. After all, we will be travelling through dangerous lands afterwards," the acrobat said in a timid voice full of guilt.

- Is alcohol obligatory when resting? - The princess asked coldly.

- No. It's just so relaxing. I wanted to help May relax, and afterwards, the two of us could help you relax. You've been so tense lately. Your aura has become darker. I realise you have a lot of work to do, too much the last few days. And this day could end on a nice moment, we could get together the three of us, play some games and go to bed in the same room like we used to when we were kids. I didn't plan anything bad," Tai Li finishes, in a somewhat agitated voice.

- Hmmm... Huh. Yeah, how did I not realise that before. Yoaru, come out of it," After a little thought, Azula realised absolutely everything. Remembering her friend's behaviour, the lack of spirit and the bottle of sake, she put the mosaic together, remembering that something like this had happened before.

A couple of moments later, the true culprit of the crime that had never happened - Yoaru - appeared. The princess looked at him, he looked at her with an annoying smile. Silence reigned in the room, the tension seemed to be so great that it could be touched with her hands. Yes, the spirit was not physically capable of punishing her, and that was what pissed Azula off the most.

"The time is late, and we all have to get up early tomorrow. I suggest we get back to this conversation in the morning," Yoaru suggested peacefully, though not everyone in the room could hear him.

- There is some truth in what you say. However. I will spend the night here with my friends. So that you won't be tempted," Azula replied somewhat ambivalently, with a wicked smile.

She had found her way, if not to punish, then at least to prick her ethereal acquaintance. May, on the other hand, only had to arch an eyebrow, feigning mild interest.

"That's fine with me," the spirit smiled even wider.

- Fine. The invisible ghost will be watching me sleep," May, who had been pretending to be furniture, finally spoke up.

- He was watching before, wasn't he? - Azula said with a little irony.

- Fine..." Mei replied in a voice full of sarcasm as she began to get ready for bed.

- I'm glad it ended well," Tai Li smiled, feeling the tension in the room begin to fade.

- 'I'll think of a punishment for you yet, you wanted to help him in his misdeeds.

"Not such atrocities. And yes, paranoia doesn't suit you,' Yoaru replied, withstanding the pressure of Azula's disgruntled look.

- Let's leave it all for tomorrow, I want to sleep...