After the quick victory, it was time to inspect the "lucky" survivors.
Most of the earthbenders presented a horrible sight. Bodies torn to pieces, with guts scattered everywhere. Even for such battle-hardened soldiers, it was a very unpleasant scene. I myself felt something incomprehensible, looking at the bloody scraps left after the fleeting battle. Thankfully, the dampening of emotions allows me to think rationally at any moment, or almost any moment. It was also good that Azula hadn't brought her friends. No need for them to see such horrors of war. However, there was no extra time for introspection about myself and my feelings; I withdrew and began to observe the soldiers' work and Azula's further actions from a distance.
The Princess gave her orders, and her subordinates immediately began to carry them out. The battle site was immediately inspected for any surviving or hidden enemies. To everyone's relief, no new enemies were found in the vicinity. The soldiers could focus all their efforts purely on containing their urge to vomit. Collecting bodies in pieces and then burning them was a great trial for some of the soldiers. It was good that I didn't heavily sense smells; if the whispering soldiers were to be believed, the stench here was significant.
Among the defeated benders were a few lucky ones who had kept their arms and legs. They got off with just concussions and brain trauma. Of course, there were less fortunate people who survived with a torn-off arm or leg, but such wounded were easier to finish off. A sort of coup de grâce with a fire dagger to the heart. In such cases, the person's body only trembles slightly in convulsions and then goes still. Forever.
Humanism and the value of life—such ideas are simply not widespread in the current era. And spending valuable medicine on a wounded enemy... the people of the Fire Nation don't have that mentality. Absolutely not. And I agree with them on this. Most of the survivors were simply living corpses, because even with medication, it would be impossible to save them. Even if Azula and I used fire healing, we wouldn't be able to help them. We would only prolong their suffering needlessly. Although, with such injuries, none of the people were conscious, and I doubt they felt any pain.
Having finished sending all the seriously wounded opponents to the Spirit World—namely, those who had lost limbs and would soon die from blood loss themselves—the soldiers gathered a few concussed earthbenders and began the interrogation. Meanwhile, off to the side, other Fire Nation soldiers were burning a large pile of corpses. For most of the soldiers, the sight of burning bodies was quite commonplace. Unlike the aftermath of a very strong explosion occurring in the enemy ranks. Amazing double standards.
There was no torture, as such. It was simply not needed. Bringing the people to their senses was already a difficult task, and having accomplished it, the soldiers faced other problems.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
— Wake up, you mole and shrew bastard! — after delivering several slaps, a soldier tried to establish a conversation with the prisoner.
— Buuugh. Cough-cough. Baaah, — the body didn't answer; it emptied its stomach, choking on its own vomit.
— Get a grip, right now! Or I'll fry your feet till they're crispy, — but threats and fierce looks were useless. The prisoner didn't even understand what was happening; he couldn't even sit up straight, preferring to lie in the dirt.
— E-e-e... Buuugh. Hrmmph. Buuugh...
The concussed survivors could barely string words into a sentence. Added to this was the fact that they were all now deaf. They were constantly vomiting, and the soldiers couldn't even stand on their feet. Clear signs of a concussion. The shockwave left no one unharmed. Azula's subordinates simply couldn't establish any dialogue with them.
— Buuugh!
— You bastard! You threw up on my boots! — the unfortunate interrogator cried out when further threats didn't yield the desired success.
— Ha-ha-ha... — meanwhile, the soldier's colleagues laughed at his misfortune, chuckling quietly into their hands.
The Princess looked at all this idiocy and took matters into her own hands, subtly mocking the soldiers for their stupidity and lack of creative thinking. Unnoticed by the others, she asked me for a little help. I saw no reason to refuse. Inhabiting the girl, I had to help her heal the Earth Kingdom soldiers a little. The girl was making progress in fire healing. We didn't even try to fully cure them. Although... maybe we could have, some of them.
So, I merely patched them up so that contact could be established and we could talk, and then Azula began to act, and the girl acted quite hypocritically. Instead of torture, she decided to do what she does best—lie!
— Wha? Whe-re am I? Wha's ha'nin'? Did we whin? — the man, barely conscious, began to speak with a slurred tongue.
— Thank the heavens you're alive... — Azula immediately began to improvise, perfectly playing the role of a kind-hearted girl, an ally of the sick, and a hater of the entire Fire Nation.
The Princess lied. She lied extensively, skillfully, and convincingly, using all her genius and acting prowess. She was unmatched in this skill. At least, I don't know her equal in both my lives.
The prisoners never fully came to their senses, so they didn't realize what was happening, or who they were talking to and what they were revealing. The unfortunates even had vision problems. In addition, each one had slight memory loss. One even had his memory completely wiped; his life wasn't very long once that was revealed.
Azula acted in her usual style. Through cunning and sweet words, she forced each prisoner to overcome their deplorable health condition and divulge everything she needed and even more. The tactic chosen by the girl worked perfectly. The prisoners never realized until the very end who they were talking to and to whom they were revealing information.
However, even so, the meager information had to be pieced together. It's a shame I couldn't possess them and thoroughly extract their memories; so much time was wasted on the interrogation. Alas, that could only work with people who had Fire Nation blood in their veins. I would kill everyone else almost instantly with my attempt at possession. In such a case, learning anything would be impossible. Nevertheless, it was a success, albeit an immoral one. The condition of the survivors didn't allow them to lie; they struggled even to think, answering purely on reflexes. When Azula realized this, the peculiar interrogation started to resemble a session of hypnosis even more.
Unfortunately, all the officers had died, and there wasn't much point in questioning the rank-and-file soldiers. The Princess even began to regret a little that she had ordered Berkroot to destroy the enemy. They could have managed with the guards' forces, perhaps with losses, but then she would certainly have acquired more valuable prisoners. But even so, we learned quite a bit.
The squad had been sent for Azula's head by order of a subordinate of one of the five Ba Sing Se generals. His name, like the general's name, meant nothing to me. As I suspected, the earthbenders learned many details about the Princess from spies. And the simple soldiers didn't know exactly which spies. I think even the squad's officers didn't know about them, but this did not reassure Azula in the slightest. The mere fact that the "perfect Princess" had missed spies during her inspection almost made the girl ignite with the blue flame of her anger. The trivial information about caches, hidden warehouses, and a couple of concealed bases behind the front line served more as a consolation prize for the losing side. We failed to learn anything particularly valuable from the soldiers.
Soon the interrogation and sightseeing ended; the wounded prisoners were finished off and burned, with a small tribute paid to the fallen for the repose of their souls. This was logical, considering that the existence of mysticism and spirits in this world is not a myth, but rather a genuine, documented fact of history. However, the Princess paid no attention to this.
Azula, as if nothing had happened, headed back to her friends, while the soldiers carried out the order to clear the road for the continuation of the journey. I followed her. There were no special tasks left for me; I could relax a little and rest, enjoying the surrounding nature.
— Azula!
As soon as the Princess appeared near the rest of the squad, she was instantly snatched into an insanely tight embrace—it was Ty Lee!
— I'm so glad you're safe and sound! Was the fight difficult? Were there many enemies? Are any of ours wounded? Do they need help? Well, don't be silent!!! — the acrobat immediately began bombarding her friend with questions, hugging her friend tighter. Azula didn't try to break free, kindly standing in place and allowing the acrobat to do whatever she pleased.
— Ahem. Easy there, — the Princess patted the girl on the shoulder, implying that she should stop the hugging session.
— Sorry, I got a little worried, — Lee pulled away, embarrassed.
— Your worries are unnecessary. We won without any losses. Berkroot showed himself well in the fight. Too well, even. Well, enough about that. Did you have any incidents here while I was gone? — the Princess inquired, examining the komodo rhinos and the soldiers guarding them. The girl's gaze quickly found Mai, who was bored sitting on her komodo rhino.
— No. Everything was calm, but what was that crash? It sounded like lightning struck very close by. Ah, was that explosion bending? Right?
— Correct. We can talk on the road, and now... — Azula took a deeper breath, and addressed everyone, — Saddle the rhinos! The rest is over! We continue the journey!
The squad set off again.
In the following days, we encountered no more ambushes or enemies. I once again immersed myself in the routine, busy with my own affairs.
(***)
A week later.
Locked in the sitting room the girls had left, I sat at the table, diligently working with a brush. Beautiful characters appeared on the clean parchment with a light movement of the hand, forming into words, sentences, text...
I was currently engaged in trying to reproduce radio technology from memory, transferring it onto parchment. It was proving somewhat more difficult than I anticipated, but I perfectly understood the general concept. That was what I was trying to put down on paper with all the necessary blueprints. There were a few other books lying nearby on the table. In one of them, I had already detailed everything I knew about electricity and the principles of its operation and usefulness.
I thought of it first, realizing that firebenders could generate this electricity in enormous quantities. Azula released hundreds of lightning bolts into the sky during a single training session, which is no small feat. The Fire Nation uses the steam engine in a similar fashion. One firebender can maintain the operation of the engine, without any fuel, for anywhere from several hours to a day, depending on the bender's stamina. But since benders are few and they are notable warriors, the use of coal is more appropriate.
Other books held more trivial knowledge. In some, I described and drew the principles of a fountain pen, an incandescent lamp, simple clocks, and many other small things. Surprisingly, despite the level of technology, the Fire Nation still navigates by the sun, and only sun-dials are available. I think benders played a role in this. After all, even a weakly trained firebender can easily orient themselves by the sun, sensing its light and warmth.
The girls had gone into the city; Azula had finished the inspection a day ago, and today they decided to rest a little. I decided to get to work; I would definitely visit the library; it was only a matter of time. And if everything goes according to the best-case scenario, my knowledge could be very useful to this world and the Fire Nation in particular, and if it goes according to the worst... in any case, I would need to pay for visiting the library. Arguing with the great Spirit of Knowledge is not what I want anytime soon.
Perhaps Wan Shi Tong will be satisfied with Azula's poems, which I also decided to write down, supplemented by the poems I knew personally, or perhaps he will require something more. In any case, it's better for me to transfer my knowledge into books, because my memory, while good, is not perfect. As for preserving my secrets. Knowing a completely different language perfectly encrypts all the literature that was created by my hand. I wasn't worried that someone might see my secret knowledge. I wrote in my native language, not in local hieroglyphs. And this led me to strange thoughts.
Four nations exist in the world: the Water Tribe, the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads, the latter now considered extinct. However, in reality, there are a few more; there are also desert dwellers, swamp dwellers, and other savages. One thing unites them: they all speak the same language, for over ten thousand years. How was that possible? Language should have changed! But no one was in a hurry to give me answers.
Hour after hour, I spent time in the room completely alone, continuing to work in silence. Azula succumbed to Ty Lee's persuasions, deciding to rest a little and stroll around the city in the company of her friends. We had finished the inspection yesterday. The next morning, we would set off on the rest of the journey, and the girls decided to rest a little. I, however, declined the offer to go for a walk, preferring to finish the book.
This is how it would have continued; the girls promised to return by evening, and I didn't expect their early arrival. However...
— Thump-thump-thump-thump, — suddenly, I heard loud footsteps. Someone was climbing the stairs and was in a great hurry.
I heard someone hastily putting a key in the lock, turning it, and then opening the door. Heavy breathing and quiet sobs accompanied all the actions of the unknown person. Driven by curiosity about who decided to run into the Princess's quarters, I moved toward the entrance door, setting aside the brush and inkwell.
— Yoaru! Thank Agni you're here! — I caught the running girl in my arms. — Azula! Azula. She... Sniffle-sniffle. She... — the sight of a tear-stained Ty Lee instantly made me focus. Her words instilled a forgotten sense of fear in my heart.
— Ty Lee, what happened to her? Calm down and tell me clearly, — I answered the girl with an icy voice, instinctively sensing that something very bad had happened.
— The Princess has been poisoned! Waa-hoo-waa... — the acrobat answered me, immediately bursting into tears on my chest.
What?...