"What about katara and sokka??"
"Your team members are already there."
"Then let's go. Master Pakku, are you coming as well?"
"Of course I am. I am after all the best water bender in this tribe."
We walked to the palace/chief home in relative silence and in a faster than walking speed. Pakku was pretty focused but that was expected, as was the hero worship I got from the boy who called us to the chief. What was not expected was to see Yue standing there with 2 bodyguards beside her. Kat and sokka were behaving pretty normal but I could see the worry on Kat's face whenever she would occasionally glance towards Yue.
"Good morning, chief. How can I and my team help you today?"
I made sure to keep my voice even and my words respectful even though my mind was racing with possibilities and a lot of them have a negative impression of tribe. Mostly the chief. Still he has provided me and kat with a water bending master, proper resources and a few other things, so I made sure to be respectful.
"Ahh, Avatar Aang. We just received a message from King Bumi and we were asked that you be there when we open it. We, of course wanted to respect his wishes. The only thing we know that it is important."
"Just a question, why is princess Yue here? Are you considering on including her in the war?"
I could see that his posture was relaxed and he didn't lie when he said
"No no. It is just that since we are discussing the future of our tribe, I though that Yue, as the wife of the future chief, should be present here. I hope that you aren't offended."
"Oh, I am not offended, just curious. I think we should open the scroll now. Bumi wouldn't just send an emergency scroll for no reason."
Pakku and the tribe chief raised their eyebrows when they heard me call The Mad Tita- cough King Bumi, Bumi.
"I knew him before I was frozen for 100 years. We were old pals back in the day, even then he showed signs of his madness."
"The Avatar has a point chief, let us open the letter with urgency" Pakku pointed out in his neutral voice as usual.
The chief didn't respond but simply opened the letter and passed it to me without looking at its content. A sign of trust. I read it aloud as I read.
'Hello Aang, how are you doing!? Just wanted to let you know that I was bored without you.
How do I know that you will open this? Because I am the mad king Ahah Ahah.
Well onto the meat of the matter, and there is a lot of meat. 5 points actually
First of all. I King of Omashu officially thank you for your great service
in spreading knowledge of enemy weaknesses at great risk of your own life.
Second of all. I grant you the title of noble in every town and kingdom
under the rule of Omashu, and those who respect our laws.
This includes much of the earth kingdom.
Third of all. I paid of the cabbage man who you destroyed.
Well your companions did but you get the point.
Fourth of all. I as king of Omashu and head of its provinces,
ask for an alliance between the provinces of Omashu and the northern water tribe.
For both trade and war. For unity during times of crisis. For today and for the next 100 years.
Fifth of all. I wish to alert you that fire lord ozai has sent his own daughter and elites to attack your tribe.
A fleet of nearly 20 ships, all of the soldiers are elite firebenders with a handful of working crew and no prisoners.
Some of the prominent soldiers in this fleet include,
Azula, the strongest child of fire lord ozai.
Prince zuko, the son of fire lord ozai.
The dragon of the west. Iroh.
Admiral zhao.
They have not yet gathered but they shall reach the tribe within a week based on the plans we obtained.
Best wishes from The Mad King.
"Well, That was a lot of information to process. The third one is irrelevant, the first and second ones will be extremely important in the near future but they don't matter much for now. The fourth point is a great advantage we have while the main point of concern is the fifth point, we only have one week to rally others to our cause and ready the soldiers. Chief, you views on this?" I asked in a neutral voice, not giving away any emotions.
"Well, I agree with your points. The first 3 are irrelevant for now. The 4th is a good point, we shall need all the resources we can get for our war efforts to work. The 5th is a massive disruption. There are no prisoners but we do know the weakness of the ships. We can exploit that. I will be assigning more patrols and we will keep our guards on the ready just incase. We shall discuss this on a later date. I need to discuss with the others."
We left after that but the moment we were out of hearing reach from the tribe chief, I grabbed sokka and kat into a hut and said.
"The second point, you understand what that means!?" I was pretty excited for the news but I don't think they processed the importance of a noble title in an kingdom. Any kingdom.
"No"" not really" sigh. This is why I have to train these guys. Ok kat was busy with waterbending but really sokka? you were in the library for the entire time of our visit.
"As news we have many rights but a few of them include, immediate respect, free resources, political immunity for lower crimes, free land deeds and a few others. We can use this so nicely. This can make a major change."
"Like how?"
"Also how do you know all of this?"
"The monks, also we can command troops to listen to us for no reason and not be punished for it. We can request escorts or a few servants. You see where I am going with this? We can hire an earth bending master for free."
