General How and Minister Long Feng are not equals. No general has the power and influence of a minister, nor ever will. It is simply the nature of the Earth Kingdom, and if How were a man who cared about power, he would not be where he is today.
He is a soldier, and Long Feng is many things, dangerous not the least among them, but they are both earthbenders of Ba Sing Se.
Ba Sing Se, city of walls and secrets, city of stone and earth, has demanded much of them in defense of her. Neither haven taken wives nor have children.
Yet. The world is changing. The Fire Nation cries for peace, the scarred new Firelord obeying the Avatar's will.
Long Feng, who is many things of which trusting is not, has eyes like jade when he comments on this to How.
How, who is a soldier with burn scars, has orders writ in stone for the Earth Kingdom military in and around Ba Sing Se.
The world is changing, and they are changing. Long Feng could be Earth King if he so desires, but then How will have to kill him, and the Earth Kingdom will fall into anarchy. So the minister pretends he does not desire the empty throne.
Ba Sing Se has had empty thrones before, and the rock of the city still feels warm under the feet of the minister and the general. Empty thrones can be filled in time, and they do not yet know if Kuei is dead.
As long as the stones of Ba Sing Se are not slick with blood, they are doing something right.
They do battle with each other, with words and pages, with little brawls between underlings that neither comments on. Minister Long Feng would have Ba Sing Se as his again, and General How has lived that life once before and will not again.
Their earthbending is never turned again each other. What would be the point of such a victory, destroying one's rival and Ba Sing Se both?
Their work rarely brings them together, for Ba Sing Se is a vast city, even in the Earth King's Palace and the Upper Ring.
But sometimes they are together, and fingers brush against fingers as they pass each other papers, robe-sleeve touches cloak-edge, jade eyes meet jade, and earthquake tension gathers around them.
But this is the Earth Kingdom, and they are both men in control of themselves. How is a good man, and Long Feng is many things but he is not a man of perversion, no matter what rumors say.
The earthquakes die stillborn, and Ba Sing Se goes on.
Avatar: Anyone/Anyone
He is a soldier, and Long Feng is many things, dangerous not the least among them, but they are both earthbenders of Ba Sing Se.
Ba Sing Se, city of walls and secrets, city of stone and earth, has demanded much of them in defense of her. Neither haven taken wives nor have children.
Yet. The world is changing. The Fire Nation cries for peace, the scarred new Firelord obeying the Avatar's will.
Long Feng, who is many things of which trusting is not, has eyes like jade when he comments on this to How.
How, who is a soldier with burn scars, has orders writ in stone for the Earth Kingdom military in and around Ba Sing Se.
The world is changing, and they are changing. Long Feng could be Earth King if he so desires, but then How will have to kill him, and the Earth Kingdom will fall into anarchy. So the minister pretends he does not desire the empty throne.
Ba Sing Se has had empty thrones before, and the rock of the city still feels warm under the feet of the minister and the general. Empty thrones can be filled in time, and they do not yet know if Kuei is dead.
As long as the stones of Ba Sing Se are not slick with blood, they are doing something right.
They do battle with each other, with words and pages, with little brawls between underlings that neither comments on. Minister Long Feng would have Ba Sing Se as his again, and General How has lived that life once before and will not again.
Their earthbending is never turned again each other. What would be the point of such a victory, destroying one's rival and Ba Sing Se both?
Their work rarely brings them together, for Ba Sing Se is a vast city, even in the Earth King's Palace and the Upper Ring.
But sometimes they are together, and fingers brush against fingers as they pass each other papers, robe-sleeve touches cloak-edge, jade eyes meet jade, and earthquake tension gathers around them.
But this is the Earth Kingdom, and they are both men in control of themselves. How is a good man, and Long Feng is many things but he is not a man of perversion, no matter what rumors say.
The earthquakes die stillborn, and Ba Sing Se goes on.