It was nighttime when we got back to the palace, this time without the angry grunting and flying rocks. Simon was on his throne, with that bear... what did he call it again? Boss? Bonzai? Bono?
Bill?
Bilbo?
"I want to thank you, young heroes, for opening my eyes," Simon said.
Bailey?
"All this time, what I thought was a great metropolis, was merely a city of fools, and that makes me the king fool..."
I'm sure it was Baggins...
"We're at war with the Fire Nation."
Hmm, that sounds serious. But what was the bear's name?
Bucky?
Who the hell is Bucky?
"Ow," I grunted after an elbow connected with my ribs. "What was that for?"
"The King is talking," Jin muttered to me. "And you're pulling faces at him."
"I am?"
"Yeah, dude, it's hilarious, but..." Muteki bent a little so his voice wouldn't carry too much. "I think you're making it hard for the others to be serious."
"The Day of Black Sun," Sokka said decisively.
Darn, I missed the whole conversation.
"What was the bear's name?" I whispered to Jin.
"Bosco."
"I knew I was close," I muttered to myself.
"I don't know," Simon said, clasping his hands in his lap apprehensively. "That would require moving troops out of Ba Sing Se. We'd be completely vulnerable."
"Technically, if the rest of your kingdom falls, Ba Sing Se will be at its most vulnerable," Jin said, stepping forward. "You'd be cut off, and Ba Sing Se is enormous. You need the outside cities to be able to support the population and the refugees that are coming in."
"You're surprisingly knowledgeable," Muteki commented.
Jin shrugged. "Amaya knew some weird things. The strategy was never her strength because she was never good at effectively implementing it. But she knew these things."
She stepped forward, so she was the centre of attention.
"One way to win a war is to starve out your opponent," she said. "Cut off supply lines, burn farms, etcetera. If you can't take it down quickly, you draw it out. But this takes a long time and can be draining on your own resources."
She closed her eyes as if thinking hard about something.
"Or," she opened her eyes again, fixing Simon with a stern stare. "You employ the Trojan Horse effect."
"The what?" he looked utterly confused.
"Oh, I know this one!" I said. "There was once a city, a really, really long time ago that was famed for its walls. They were said to be impenetrable and would never fall."
"Like Ba Sing Se," Sokka pointed out. "I've only ever heard of Ba Sing Se."
"Never heard of our homes, though," Jin pointed out. "And Mogui is right. The way this city was defeated was when the attacking forces tricked the city into thinking they'd given up. They left a giant wooden horse as a... offering to their gods. The defenders brought it in, and when they least expected it, a small force hidden inside the horse opened the gates and let the enemy in."
"So they'll come regardless," Simon sighed. "And they'll either starve us into submission or sneak in."
"Pretty much the two ways I can think of off the top of my head," Jin shrugged. "Unless they can fly, I don't see them getting into the city easily."
He was quiet before he looked up at us again. I say us, but he wasn't actually looking at the rest of us. I think Simon is smitten. I mean, yes. Jin's cute, she's clever, and with hair like that, she probably comes off as exotic too.
"Very well, you have my support."
Also, he gets all pink when Jin smiles. How often has he interacted with women? Or people in general?
"Woo! Alright, go, team!" We all cheered.
The big doors suddenly burst open, and an impressive looking man in armour came in. "Your Majesty, I apologize for the interruption."
He came right up to where we were, then bowed low to the throne.
"Who are you?" I blurted.
"This is General How," Simon said. "He's the leader of the Council of Five. My highest ranking generals."
"We searched Long Feng's office," he said, raising his head. "I think we found something that will interest everyone."
We stood there in silence for several minutes. Or seconds.
"Ohh," I said. "Sounds ominous."
Jin just sighed.