Of Lordships & Dark Spirits 5 (Patreon)

“Lord Lee, welcome home,” Noriko greeted the scowling, frustrated, and thoroughly done Lee as he led the caravan into the capital.

“Thank you, Noriko. Is that woman still here?” Lee asked, in no mood to deal with the brain dead Joo Dee.

“Unfortunately so, despite my best efforts, my Lord. She has refused to leave without a direct order from King Kuei. She has also insisted on being placed in charge of managing the taxes upon your return. Speaking of which, in the last two days, several of the provinces have sent letters saying that several issues have been cleared up and their own taxes will arrive by the end of the month. I wonder why that is?” Noriko asked with an amused smirk on her face as she fell into step behind Lee.

“That’s what happens when I need to demonstrate what happens to those that failed to do so. Regarding Joo Dee, keep that woman as far from the budget and treasury, such as it is, as possible. I wouldn’t trust her with buying bread to feed turtleducks, let alone my land’s taxes. Have the construction crews arrived? The estate is going to be my workplace, I need it serviceable as soon as possible.”

“They have, and I was able to convince them to begin despite your absence and the difficulties the various lords have been giving you in paying their taxes. I had them focus on the front of the estate, so you can begin working out of it in a few weeks. Also, I highly suggest that you consider a woman from the province to take as a wife. Soon.”

Lee blinked, before facepalming. Ignoring the amused laughter from Vaatu echoing in his head, Lee said, “Already on it. One of the local noble families, the Beifongs, offered their daughter as a bride. If my suspicions are correct, I’ve already met her and I don’t think I’ll have to worry about her sabotaging my rule. She’ll just bury me alive and be done with it if she decides I need to go.”

“An earthbender?”

“I haven’t actually seen her bending, but I believe so, yes. It’s the only explanation I can think of for how she found me, in the middle of the night, while blind.”

CAREFUL, YOU MIGHT START BLUSHING

‘Shut up, you overstuffed puff of smoke,’ Lee snapped back before a most unpleasant pain in the ass pulled him from his thoughts.

“Lord Lee! Welcome back!” the unwelcome, stilted voice of Joo Dee called out as he, Noriko, and the wagons containing the taxes from Chin Village came to his “offices”.

“Joo Dee, thank you but your services will no longer be required. You may return to Ba Sing Se,” Lee said. He’d give her one chance, if she didn’t get the message he’d be less polite.

“But Lord Lee, Earth King Kuei specifically sent me to be your aide, I cannot…”

“Joo Dee. Leave. Now.”

“But… but…”

“I wouldn’t trust you with wiping my ass, why would I want your ‘assistance’ in running a province one bad day away from open revolt?”

Joo Dee stared at Lee, her head twitching minutely from side to side, before her eyes went blank and she spoke, “I am Joo Dee, I have been sent from Ba Sing Se to be your administrative assistant. Shall I give you a tour of your estate?”

Lee and Noriko blinked, glancing at each other in confusion, even Vaatu having gone silent at this unexpected development. Looking at Joo Dee, mind forming and discarding ideas, Lee said, “I don’t need your services. I’ve already received a tour and have an administrative assistant. You can go back to Ba Sing Se and tell King Kuei that the Southern Province is in good hands.”

“I am sorry, L-L-Lord, I am under direct orders from King Kuei. I am to be your administrative assistant. Shall I give you a tour of your estate?”

“I have already received a tour.”

“I am sure whoever gave the tour didn’t know what they were talking about. I can give you a proper tour.”

“Interesting, since you were the one who gave me the tour.”

Joo Dee blinked, her fake smile dropping for a moment, before returning, “That’s impossible, I have only just met you.”

“No, you haven’t. You arrived over two weeks ago, gave me the tour, then I had to go out to retrieve taxes from Chin Village. I only just returned. Upon which time I told you that your services weren’t needed.”

Joo Dee’s head had started twitching again, before she stilled and said, “I am Joo Dee, I have been sent from Ba Sing Se to be your administrative assistant. Shall I give you a tour of your estate?”

“Please,” Lee said with a much smaller fake smile. There was something more going on in Ba Sing Se than he’d anticipated. Whatever it was, he planned on figuring it out and if it turned out that it was a threat, most likely, to either him or his new Province, he’d deal with it. Permanently.

[hr][/hr]

“Whatever’s up with that woman, the source is in Ba Sing Se,” Lee mused aloud as he and Noriko sat in the room that he’d been using as an office.

“I’d heard some unsettling rumours about the going ons in the city, but nothing like that,” Noriko said with a shudder down her spine.

“Feed her false information, keep an eye on who she talks to, what she says in letters, I want to know everything she’s telling whomever is pulling her strings.”

“As you wish, Lord Lee.”

Not wanting to discuss that creepy woman anymore, Lee hesitated before asking, “How’s Jiroh doing, by the way?”

Noriko smiled, her face lighting up, “He’s doing just fine. Despite both he and I being clearly of Fire Nation heritage, several of the local wives and widows couldn’t pass on the chance to dote on an adorable baby boy like him. A mother has an instinct for these sorts of things.”

Lee wasn’t entirely sure, but he’d seen how much Noriko loved Jiroh, so he let it slide. Just in time, as Joo Dee entered alongside a man with a ridiculous beard and Earth Kingdom military garb.

“Lord Lee, this is General Fong,” Joo Dee said with a half bow.

“Thank you Joo Dee, you may leave,” Lee responded, wanting the woman gone.

Fortunately, she did so, leaving Lee and Noriko with the general, the man sending a distasteful look her way as she left, “I asked to be assigned to the Southern Province in the hopes of avoiding the Ba Sing Se women like her. You have my sympathies for having to deal with her.”

“Why do you think I brought my own assistant?” Lee asked rhetorically, prompting an amused chuckle from General Fong. “What brings you here, General?”

“I’d be a poor excuse for a man if I didn’t greet a new neighbor, and I also believe that I owe some taxes.”

Lee blinked, looking more closely at the earthbending general while thinking back to everything he knew about the man. General Fong was the only one he knew of from both the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation to have started out as a simple soldier. No family ties, no starting as an officer, nothing. His position was entirely due to his performance and accolades.

“Much appreciated,” Lee finally said after a moment. “As one lowly soldier to another, how long does it stop feeling like a bad dream?”

General Fong gave an understanding smile, “Some days I still wake up expecting to be in a bunk. Don’t let the blue bloods get to you too much, they’ll complain about anything and everything. The ones you want to watch out for are the ones that come at you with a smile and words of friendship. It’s all so they can slip a dagger in your back.”

“You mean like you’re doing right now?”

Fong’s face tightened, “Do I look like a blue blood to you? But as one warrior to another, if it does come to that, I’ll show you the courtesy of stabbing you in the front.”

Lee met Fong’s gaze with his own, “And should it become necessary, I will extend you the same courtesy. However, I would prefer that it doesn’t come to that. You’re the first sane noble I’ve encountered, and I’m not talking about just the Earth Kingdom.”

“That’s because I’m a soldier first, a noble second,” Fong said with a chuckle.

[hr][/hr]

“Noriko, can you give me a report on the criminal elements in the province?” Lee asked a few days later, taking a sip of tea as he looked over financial reports.

“Of course, Lord Lee,” Noriko said, pulling a scroll out from her sleeve and handing it to him. “There are three major factions held in an equilibrium, the largest of which are the Jade Wolfbats, followed by the Red Lilies and Badgermole Bandits. The Jade Wolfbats operate primarily in the eastern part of the province, the Red Lilies in the western cities, and the Badgermole Bandits favor the mountains and hills between the major urban areas. The Red Lilies are the most well funded and possess the most earthbenders, while the Badgermole Bandits are extremely skilled in just disappearing into the wilderness.”

The scroll she’d given me was much more detailed, including the type of crimes each group tended to commit. From a cursory reading, it looks like the Red Lilies were going to be the most troublesome to deal with. The Jade Wolfbats, while nearly twice the size of the Red Lilies, had a strict code and set of rules that they followed, seeing themselves as gentlemen criminals. The Badgermole Bandits would be difficult to flush out, but they were otherwise standard criminals. But the Red Lilies?

Murder, torture, human trafficking, a list of the most heinous crimes imaginable nearly as long as Lee was tall. When Fire Nation children were ‘taught’ about the barbaric people of the Earth Kingdom, the Red Lilies made those caricatures look positively civilized. They’d be his first target in eliminating from his lands.

“Find out anything and everything you can about the Red Lilies, send a message to General Fong to see if he’d be willing to work together once we have more information. I want to pluck them out, root and stem.”

“Of course, Lord Lee. I’ll get started immediately. Will there be anything else?”

“Not right no…” Lee could feel the beginnings of a headache as Joo Dee entered the room, especially since she lacked her fake smile.

“I apologize, Lord Lee, but I’m afraid I bring bad news,” the woman said.

OF COURSE YOU DO, YOU’RE STILL HERE

‘Not now, Vaatu,’ Lee thought to the spirit. Out loud, he said, “What is it, Joo Dee?”

For the first time, a semblance of true emotion showed on her face, as she glanced towards the wall and avoided looking at Lee. Still, she answered the question, the answer making Lee’s blood run cold, “The warehouse that was being used as a treasury, it was broken into and the contents stolen.”

Lee sat there gritting his teeth. One week. One, fucking, week without something going wrong, was that too much to ask? If his control wasn’t as good as it was, he’d be breathing fire with every exhale. As it was, he spat out a single word through clenched teeth, his voice distorted with traces of Vaatu’s power, “Who?”

“I don’t know. All that was left at the warehouse was a flower, Lord Lee,” Joo Dee apologized with a bow.

“Let me guess, a red lily.”

Joo Dee rose from her bow, her face back in its carved grin, “Yes, Lord Lee. Your insight and wisdom is tru…”

Lee was in no mood for simpering ass kissing, and his glare was so potent that even Joo Dee trailed off and backed out of the room without another word. Taking a breath to calm himself, Lee turned to Noriko and said, “Find out where the Red Lilies are hiding. I am going gardening.”