Chapter 56: Beneath-the-Table Games

They did not finish off the enemy who couldn’t stand up. They even gave him first aid. This Bender was of interest to the Fire Nation. Since ancient times, rare masters who had crossed the line of their element, broken a certain ceiling, and begun using something distinct from the majority, were studied in prisons. That’s how, for instance, the Fire Nation obtained lost knowledge about lightning bending.

Azula intended to hand over the defeated enemy to the Fire Lord. Perhaps thanks to this lava bender, Firebenders would unlock new, previously unseen potential within themselves. It would be good if they eventually shared the research results with me...

The Firebenders who attacked us alongside the Earthbenders looked like tormented people. Their bodies strongly resembled skeletons covered in skin. A brand with a serial number was visible on the Benders’ chests. Insanity could be recognized in the eyes of the former Fire Nation soldiers. They constantly muttered about loyalty to the Earth Kingdom, sometimes mentioned a group called the Dai Li, and the punishment they would receive for disobedience.

At the mention of punishment, the Benders’ bodies began to tremble. Some overcame the paralysis from Ty Lee’s technique, clutched their heads, and tore out their own hair. One even foamed at the mouth... This place certainly wasn't a standard prison, hidden in a remote location so the enemy, meaning the Fire Nation representatives, wouldn't know about it. Perhaps we had discovered some kind of camp where brainwashing experiments were actively being conducted.

To confirm this, we had to descend into the prison itself. Near the entrance was a guard post, which also resembled a lounge area with a small kitchen. It was empty. It seemed all the prison guards had already left it to join their leader in taking back the "village." From this corridor, several long tunnels with poor lighting led off. Two of them had many iron doors. In another corridor, there were fewer doors, and they looked much better.

“If all these cells are occupied, the amount of food needed to sustain the prisoners must be enormous. When and how do the supplies usually happen?”

This was a rhetorical question. Among the people who entered the prison, there was no one who possessed the necessary information. The soldiers disabled by Ty Lee had not yet recovered, so they couldn't speak. For some reason, the paralysis from her technique wore off prematurely only on the Firebenders who had fought against us. Does mental state influence the flow of chi? A silly question. Firebenders intentionally stoke their anger to gain stronger flames.

“Have you come to free us?” a voice full of hope echoed from the cell closest to the entrance. “Please, free me! I’ll do anything! Just to not rot in this place anymore!”

One of our soldiers was already heading toward the cell from which the prisoner’s voice came, with the clear intention of freeing him, but Azula stopped this young man who, it turned out, hadn't lost his kindness and compassion for others. He was even younger than me.

“Where are you going, soldier?”

At the Princess’s question, the soldier froze, not daring to move.

“To free him, Princess Azula,” he replied, slightly flustered.

“First, never speak to me with your back turned. Second, did you forget that our squad was attacked by Firebenders earlier? What if this is a trap and this prisoner is just waiting for a chance to tear out your throat?”

The face of the soldier, who had turned around after Azula’s first question, became whiter than chalk.

“I apologize, Princess Azula,” he bowed deeply. “I didn’t think of that.”

When the prisoner realized he wouldn't be easily freed, he wept bitterly. But this time, no one even twitched to help him in any way.

“You can stop trying,” Azula replied, turning up her nose. “Thinking clearly isn’t your forte.”

“I’ll take that into account, Princess Azula,” the soldier’s bow deepened. Members of the Fire Nation army should be paid extra for hazard duty. Especially when they are under the command of someone like Zhao or Azula. It is precisely for the hazardous nature of the command that they should be compensated. It’s becoming clear to me why the soldiers are only slightly afraid of me and don't try to stay as far away as possible—after all, I'm a good Captain overall. I don't hurt anyone except the enemy. I speak calmly for the most part, without any arrogance. I don't turn up my nose, and so on.

“Good job,” Azula nodded, as if praising a puppy, and then clapped sharply. “Now, search this place! Find all the documentation, any other interesting things, and bring them to me! The prisoners must not be freed until we understand what’s going on here. If any of them manage to escape their cells on their own, they must be ruthlessly killed. It’s either you or them. Proceed!”

A second clap from Azula, and about thirty soldiers who had entered the prison with us ran down the corridors, checking every door. They mostly saw people inside, so they quickly closed the viewing slot on the door and ran to the next. The more quick-witted ones realized that the truly interesting things were in the corridor where the doors were different from the others. The smartest ones figured out that they shouldn't crowd at the beginning, re-checking rooms after their comrades, and instead ran toward the end of the long corridor and disappeared somewhere around a bend.

“I never thought such facilities existed,” Ty Lee said worriedly, looking toward the corridor with the prisoners. The soldiers had already checked the cells, and there was no longer any doubt about it.

Mai cast an indifferent glance at her friend. Crossing her arms over her chest, she replied in a condescending tone:

“It’s not certain that this is the kind of facility you’re thinking of. Maybe it’s just a prison, and the Benders who attacked us are merely deserters who hid with the enemy to escape Fire Nation justice.”

Azula snorted, echoing Mai’s intonation.

“Then they wouldn't look so tormented.”

“Soon we’ll find out what was truly going on here,” I interjected. I hadn’t noticed myself getting so close to Azula. Or did she stand next to me? It’s probably become a habit to be near the girl.

Piles of papers began to be brought to the Princess, who had settled down at the guard's table. They all seemed to be from the same office for now. Most likely, they had found the workstation of that lava bender. But they were bringing out not only papers but also greatly frightened people. By their appearance, I understood they were Earth Kingdom citizens. Their attire resembled the style of local scholars and researchers. Perhaps that’s what they were. Moreover, most of them wore glasses. Either they all truly had poor eyesight, or it was for the sake of gravitas…

Their interrogation had not yet begun. Azula preferred to first study the papers that the soldiers continued to bring her, which were already forming several large stacks. Curiously, when Mai and Ty Lee wanted to look through them, the Princess drove them away, saying it was a matter of state and didn't concern them. After that, I also wanted to retreat, but Azula grabbed my trouser leg under the table. She silently gave me approval to look at the interesting documentation. I didn't refuse and even allowed myself to sit next to the Princess, which surprised her friends. As for the soldiers… Interesting rumors have long been circulating about us among them, as we are now only hiding our relationship perfunctorily.

So, this prison was created by the Earth Kingdom. Not just by one town, but by the entire Kingdom. And it is the largest prison in its territory. Officially, the purpose of creating this prison is quite simple: to keep dangerous members of society away from or outside their cities, and to extract information from them about the Fire Nation army and the Nation itself. This is what the majority of the Earth Kingdom’s rulers, military, and aristocracy believed. In reality, things were far more complicated…

This place received additional funding from the Dai Li. Princess Azula explained to me that this wasn't a specific person, but an entire organization, the secret police with immense power in Ba Sing Se.

In exchange for extra funding, the Dai Li requested a reciprocal service: conducting research on human mind control. Moreover, the organization provided the scientists for this task themselves. From the personal diary of the prison warden, the lava bender, it became clear that the people from the Dai Li arrived with a significant body of existing knowledge. Even their very first experiments were quite successful. It seems the scientists weren't just trying to subdue the local prisoners using some form of hypnosis, but were also looking for other ways to suppress a person's will and turn them into a perfect puppet. Judging by the subsequent entries, they succeeded…

What followed even managed to surprise me. The Dai Li brainwashed Firebenders and periodically infiltrated them back into the Fire Nation army. Without even realizing it, these Benders became perfect spies. Sometimes they received a special command to eliminate a specific officer. This means my earlier assumption that Ozai had many assassins in the army wasn't entirely correct. They may have truly existed, but a portion of the officer corps died because of Dai Li agents.

Furthermore, this organization wasn't just spying and eliminating our army's officers; it was also setting up other Earth Kingdom cities or settlements for attack. If a brainwashed agent gained enough authority for independent action, becoming a Captain, for example. The whole matter lay in the structure of the Earth Kingdom. Officially, Ba Sing Se was the capital, and the King of this city should, in essence, rule the entire Earth Kingdom, but in fact, his authority is not so comprehensive. The Earth Kingdom is a confederate monarchy headed by the Earth King of Ba Sing Se, meaning it is a union of several states. When one of the local rulers begins to ignore the demands of the “center,” they are eliminated by proxy, by Fire Nation representatives with brainwashed minds. The place of the rebellious person is then taken by someone favorable to the Dai Li.

But even the Dai Li, it turned out, didn't have complete control over this prison. The local warden re-recruited people from that organization under his own wing. In reality, this prison was an organization that answered to no one.

There was also a curious situation with the warden of this place. He accidentally discovered lava bending several years ago when a volcano near his village suddenly began to erupt. The bald Bender wanted to survive, and he did. Becoming the first lava bender in a long time.

Initially, he wanted to return to the front, as he was a commander actively engaged in combat with the Fire Nation army. He was in the village because of a leave of absence he had requested to visit his elderly mother. But the Earth Kingdom generals, learning they had a man capable of controlling lava, decided not to use him as a combat unit. Yes, he would undoubtedly be useful on the front lines, but such a Bender would be quickly killed. The intelligent generals decided that the bald Bender should instead teach others how to use lava bending, so they hid him as far away as possible from areas of active fighting.

The lava bender confessed in his diary that being here, in the rear, was extremely uncomfortable for him when his squad was dying on the front line. Additionally, the process of teaching Earthbenders new techniques was not going smoothly. The prison warden did not rule out that either he was a poor teacher (he was almost certain of this) or that lava bending required an innate talent that was extremely rare. The result he achieved in almost two years of training was, in his opinion, regrettable. A few people could heat up a stone, and one could turn it into something resembling lava. But none had progressed to combat application. Because of this, he again saw himself more on the front line than in the rear. He was planning to subdue all the prisoners soon and then go to the front.

However, it turned out that the re-recruitment of the Dai Li people had not been completely successful. Some of them remained loyal to Long Feng, their current leader. Therefore, the prison warden would have died from poison in a couple of days, which had been accumulating in his body through his meals for some time.

Just in case, I tried to memorize the entire manual written by the prison warden for teaching lava bending. The methods of brainwashing didn't particularly interest me. I could do much better myself. My gaze fell upon Azula. No, her will is too strong. She would be broken, but she would not shatter. Moreover, I have doubts about the Princess’s mental health. With people like that, even the most perfect methods of subjugation can misfire.