It was hard to grasp just how vast Ba Sing Se was. It was a kingdom within the Earth Kingdom, and not even a small one at that.
Its Agrarian Zone between the Inner and Outer Walls could swallow whole states or islands; whole swathes of flat, fertile farmland that was sparsely dotted with farmhouses whose residents could be completely isolated and oblivious to the goings on of the world beyond either side of the walls. The Agrarian Zone contained whole mountain ranges within it, where earthbenders from generations ago carved into neat terraced farmlands to further diversify the capital kingdom's crops even as mines tunneled underneath to extract anything of value.
The lands between the walls were so vast that, with updated calculations, if Qin's massive drill had managed to bore through the Outer Wall, the logistics of supporting's advance to the Inner Wall could've led to the abandonment of other warfronts, to say nothing of the manpower needed to keep the breach open from Earth Kingdom retaliation or taking any meaningful hold of the Agrarian Zone.
Within its Inner Walls, the great city was an absurd metropolis. Districts the size of small kingdoms, each with its own sub-districts and sub-administrations, broken down like how a normal state might divvy up its land - to keep their oversized part of the city running. The shantytowns could be completely leveled to make space for the Fire Nation's Capital City and there'd be room to spare. It required a legion of coolies and carters to keep the flow of even the most basic goods flowing to ensure that towns worth of people don't get forgotten in some corner of the city and turn a sub-district into a mass grave.
Apparently it had happened more than once before.
Ba Sing Se was stupidly vast. No wonder the Dai Li were an army by themselves. No wonder the Earth Kings of the past only received the most summarized and general reports. No wonder Prince Xing could take the last Earth King by surprise even after burning holes through the Outer and Inner Walls.
No wonder Princess Azula brought in nearly half the colonies' administrators and clerks to deal with the paperwork and legal work.
Saishen would've pitied her unfortunate peers, but she herself had been tasked with assignments that bordered on the ludicrous. The list of people of import, people who were of some importance to the previous regime was very long. The head minister and all fifteen of their deputies might have fled, but their secondaries who oversaw the districts, and those secondaries' secondaries (tertiaries?) who tended to the sub-districts, could still be around. And so would their staff, the people who generally handled the finer minutiae of their assigned ministries.
It was obscene. It was stupid. It was, frankly, fucking tiring work.
Saishen had burned through her reserves paying for intel, she had taken on enough informants to besiege a fort, and she was seriously considering pooling her resources with the other girls to hire bounty hunters to get it over with. Fuck the courtesies and caution.
Thankfully, today's catch was rather straightforward. Thanks to the Dai Li's insidious influence, there were very few staff left in the Ministry of Justice that were not locked away. Mostly oblivious junior officials or, in this case, the odd disgraced magistrate.
Said target was easy enough to track down, and for all his scowling and disgust he didn't put up a fight as he was taken from the Agrarian Zone to the palace.
Unlike the other persons of interest, who only needed to be monitored, recruited, or removed, Prince Xing had specially singled out this magistrate after reviewing the scrolls from the Ministry of Justice. Supposedly, the crown princess had noticed his spirit touched curiosity, and Saishen had been dispatched. Such was the job's importance that the agent did not get recalled after the assassination attempt.
It still took days figuring out just which massive patch of farmland the magistrate was responsible for, and then actually getting there. If not for Ba Sing Se's monorails, Saishen could readily believe that the whole ordeal would've cost her weeks instead.
The man was brought straight to the throne-less throne room (there were rumors that Saishen was not paid enough to confirm about what happened to that seat of power) where the betrothed teens held court with some officers of the 11th, their cooperating Earth Kingdom counterparts, and several deputized former prisoners. Despite the rather casual air displayed by the Scorpion Prince, Saishen noted how his bodyguards placed themselves at convenient spots to intercept any potential attack, while the princess' own guardians formed a less subtle cordon closer to the couple.
The magistrate didn't kneel, nor was he made to by the guards, and wasted no time in spitting on the ground in defiance.
"So this is what passes for entertainment among your debased kind?"
Xing stood in front of the shattered throne with Azula by his side, glancing laconically to General Yama, the escaped Earth King's uncle of all people. "You ever heard of him?"
Yama shook his head with similar casualness. "Nope. I'm a general, not a paper pusher."
"Traitors," the magistrate spat, casting a judgmental glare across the room. Some of the collaborators actually glanced away. Saishen made a note to look into them later. Or at least delegate it to the people who had the time. "Bending over to subjugate your own people. Have you no shame? No guilt?"
"The Fire Nation had no part in the kidnapping, brainwashing, and commodifying of Ba Sing Se's womenfolk," Xing evenly replied, eliciting a twitch of the man's eye. "Nor was it involved in the puppeting of the Earth King."
There was something akin to a strangled grunt, and then the magistrate growled. "Yet here you are-"
"I've successfully captured Ba Sing Se, and the Earth King has fled. An external force taking over this city, not an internal cabal instigating a coup. The remaining Earth Kingdom forces have surrendered and agreed to cooperate…unless there's another Fong?"
Xing gave a second for the Earth Kingdom collaborators to shake their heads, and then continued with a nod.
"I hold the palace and claim control over the city. As per the near universal rules of war, Ba Sing Se is mine, and the Fire Nation's."
"I do not acknowledge your claim."
"Everyone else has."
Saishen did not like how the prince and princess barely restrained their air of amusement. They had prepared for this conversation, maybe even rehearsed it when they weren't busy testing the durability of Earth Kingdom furniture.
The poor magistrate…
Xing inclined his head a little, a ghost of a smirk flickering across his face. "I am the enemy of the Earth Kingdom, but I'm not the enemy of Ba Sing Se. Not now."
The man looked like he wanted to spit again. "I will not simply change my loyalties because of your twisted words, boy. Kill me and be done with it. I will not play your games."
Those were the words the prince was expecting, judging by how his smirk grew. "Ah, that's what your previous superiors noted."
That gave the magistrate pause.
Xing produced a scroll and unfurled it with theatric flair, brandishing the Dai Li's emblem on the back of the silk-woven back. "Let's see here… Heh. Magistrate of Second Rank, Bao of Zheng-Tian… Of some middling significance and popularity. Narrow-minded, but diligent and effective. A fanatic adherent of the law. Too rigid. A liability if allowed to rise to the ranks."
He paused to glance at the glaring magistrate. "Of course, you knew that last bit as you were reassigned out of the city, I suppose."
Surprisingly it was Prince Iroh who interrupted with a rueful hum. "Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, court politics plays out the same…"
Azula tossed him a sharp grin. "Oh please, uncle. At least our Fire Nation cretins have to come up with official excuses to exile its courtiers to small islands. The Dai Li didn't even provide that in their records."
"They were when I was still there," General Yama noted blandly. "The poncy fuckwit king before this one slapped me with the whole 'greatest, most important general' schtick before he sent me out to the frontlines to hopefully get killed."
Magistrate Bao continued scowling as Xing put away the scroll and took a few steps towards him.
"You see me as an enemy, Magistrate Bao, yet why did you not partake in Fong's attempt to remove me? Surely you cannot feign ignorance to their little conspiracy?"
There was a long pause as the defiant Bao glared death at the Scorpion. Eventually, the reply he gave was laced with the distaste of a bitter admission. "Their cause was shortsighted. If they had succeeded, it would have resulted in reprisals from the Fire Nation; the walls have already been breached, the Earth King's court has fled, little would stop another occupation."
"And if they failed - which they did, you were expecting similar reprisals to the populace?"
A man who worried for the common people, however impotent it might be. A talent demoted and cast aside because of their compatibility to intrigue and politics. Now where have Saishen met such characters before?
Right, she helped recruit a few of them to the Colonial Ministry where they now thrived.
The magistrate nodded slowly, reluctantly. Prince Xing had the courtesy to lessen his smirk and keep his smug triumph in check.
"You uphold civil law, magistrate - and very well too, judging from the reports. Tell me, what does Earth Kingdom law hold in store for failed usurpers?"
Another loaded silence, and this time Xing glanced back to his smirking betrothed.
"In the Fire Nation it's the extermination of several generations of their family," Azula provided with a shrug. "Whether it's a public affair depends on the mood. A bit much, but the Fire Lords have been known to interpret 'executions' rather flexibly. Uncle?"
Prince Iroh nodded slowly. "Death by old age, in a life-long house arrest. Or death by ordeal, being exiled to serve the Avatar."
Xing then turned to the Earth Kingdom officers. General Yiu, by now taking on a paler hue, nodded reluctantly. "Nine generations."
"Plus minus a couple depending on how much the Earth King took offense," Yama gruffly added. "Also, good chance the neighbours and colleagues would get it as well for not reporting the crime and allowing it to happen. Maybe a few Dai Li as well…?"
Kilin, the waterbender who often represented her people's interest among the Scorpion's court, scoffed. "And you call us primitives…"
"Don't your folks freeze people's feet and throw them to the sea to drown upside down?"
"Only when it's warranted, and only to the perpetrators, not this whole generational nonsense."
The young Scorpion nodded. "So regardless, lots of family members are going to be lined up and killed, huh? Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation, that's my legal right, is it not, magistrate?"
"You could even say it's expected," the princess quipped, drawing a look from her uncle.
Bao kept silent. For a second, Saishen wondered if he'd attempt to lunge at the prince, but then he eventually spoke through gritted teeth.
"What do you want from me?"
Xing smiled as he took a few more steps closer to the seething magistrate. "I want you to consider, at least, the appointment as head judge. Heh… Chief Justice Bao…" Saishen saw the boy's lips twitching, like he was holding back a grin to some great joke. She glanced at the crown princess, who only answered with a subtle shrug.
Some weird spirit touched thing, then.
"That would mean acknowledging the Fire Nation's authority," Bao growled.
"It would. But it'd allow you to have a say in the legal framework of Ba Sing Se. There are similarities between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, but there are points of contention and I have my own ideas as well. I'm sure having someone to consider Earth Kingdom sensibilities would be useful. And it'd ensure that justice, when meted out, would be suitably fair."
Xing gave a light shrug. "I'm sure it'd suit everyone to not have Ba Sing Se administered as an unruly, occupied realm with martial law to keep everyone in line. Having to maintain a subjugated populace is unproductive and wasteful."
Like the colonies before Crown Princess Azula took over. Said princess was nodding rather smugly, agreeing with her fiance's sentiment.
Bao looked at the teens with a frown that seemed a mix of skepticism, disbelief and confusion. "Why me?"
The answer came almost immediately. "Because you're about the only one in the Dai Li's records that seemed truly annoying to them that's still alive. Your rulings against corruption before your demotion, the extra effort to make sure you punished the right people, that little incident where you almost executed your friend because all evidence pointed to his guilt… Good work on sniffing out the fact that the evidence was tampered, by the way. Of course it was the Dai Li, not just the merchants, who were really behind it."
Xing shook his head as he trailed off. "Anyway, the point being that you're someone of upstanding character, who I hope can be reliable enough to keep an eye on corruption and more Fong-like incidents, and the general populace can trust to ensure that justice in Ba Sing Se is, well…just."
"Without resorting to the usual method's," Azula added. "Or the Dai Li's."
The prince made a rolling gesture with one hand. "There will be some minders attached, of course, but you are free to pick and vet your own staff otherwise. Ba Sing Se's Ministry of Justice will be yours to tend to, and hopefully there'd be little reason for me as Prince of Ba Sing Se to intervene in its running."
Bao was clearly conflicted as his gaze lowered to the floor. Probably weighing duty versus principles.
Saishen hated dealing with such men; they tended to waste too much time philosophizing and self-agonizing in her experience. You can't just throw a pretty geisha or carts of luxury goods to help them speed up the process. But that's why they were valuable, she supposed.
"I will…consider the offer," he finally said with a sour face. Duty won out then.
Xing smiled brightly. "Good. I'm having three guillotines built… Think of it as a badge of office, I'll go over the symbolism later. I've got a theme song ready as well if y-"
At that point, Crown Princess Azula casually stepped forwards to lightly smack the back of her fiance's head, and glanced at the officers of the 11th with some exasperation. "You were right."
"It could've been worse," Captain Ping said with a bright grin as Magistrate Bao and most of the Earth Kingdom officers stared in dumbfounded shock. "You should've seen him back when he was honing his firebending."
"Ah yes, the excited chatter while I was healing his broken bones," Kilin recalled almost nostalgically as the other members of the 11th nodded along. "Ioris and Kyos and whatever else he calls them."
As the atmosphere in the throne room took a weird turn, Saishen led Magistrate Bao out and left the princess' loyal murderers to…reminisice.
To think that the spirit touched boy who widowed her (very short and annulled marriage) could still act like a boy his age and express teenage mortification… Saishen didn't know if it made his achievements all the more impressive or otherwise.