The Officer And The Princess

Chapter 49

The late night meeting were becoming more frequent, the closer that Sozins Comet came to approaching the more often Fire Lord Sozin wanted to meet with his War Council. Sung was In better health than he had been two weeks before but he still wasn't back to his full strength and Sung suspected he wouldn't be back to his usual self for awhile. The left side of his body had a rather nasty looking scar that spider webbed down his chest and arm, a portion of the Tattoo on his back had been burned off. That was fine, but what kept him up some nights was the tingling he felt almost constantly in the entirety of his arm. He hadn't got full feeling back yet and he doubted he ever would. He didn't care, he had other more important things on his mind.

Since the night Azula had returned from her mission to the Western Air Temple she hadn't been acting the same, Sung had caught her in the Courtyard by herself, she had been talking to someone who wasn't there. Azula had been yelling at whoever it was she thought she saw. She had just been screaming "shut up" over and over again with her hands covering her ears. But when she saw Sung it was as if she snapped back to reality, at the time Sung had just chalked it up to her lack of sleep, after about three days without sleep many people had reports of Hallucinations, seeing things or people that weren't there. He had experiences with that himself after long days of constant battle and a good nights sleep had fixed it. But after Azula had gotten an actual nights worth of sleep she still continued to scream at something that wasn't there. The vision she was having seeming to torment her.

At First Sung had humored the idea that Azula may be suffering from some form of Spiritual attachment. He had sent letters Via Messenger Hawk  not only to the Fire Sages but to the Temple of Amaterasu on how to spot such possessions, of course omitting the real reason why he had done so in favor of informing both parties of a "Scholarly Curiosity" on the subject. Wether he was right or wrong he didn't want it getting out that Something was Wrong with Azula until Sung was absolutely sure what what wrong with her and she could get the help she needed.

The Fire Sages we're about as helpful as Sung would have expected, they were adamant that there has never been a case of Spiritual possession in over two hundred years and they had no reason to believe that there would be one in the near future. Bunch of old fools who had given up their spirituality years ago in favor of doing man's bidding. The Temple of Amaterasu however had been more helpful. They had wrote back that one of the most common signs was the person in question acting differently than they usually would including talking to things that are not present with the naked eye. Well that box was checked. Another sign was that the person in question had knowledge of events that they couldn't have known of. He left that box unchecked. A third sign was the person in question suddenly having difficulty falling asleep. Another box checked. Finally the Temple had informed him that nine times out of ten the person isn't suffering from spiritual procession but is in fact suffering from some form of undiagnosed mental illness and it is recommended that that person meets with a health care professional before scheduling a meeting with a shrine priestess.

That information worried him greatly. Sung had seen his fair share of once strong men break under the pressures of combat and they never had a happy ending, he himself had run ins with the sleepless nights and nightmares and each time it was just as terrifying as the last. But such mental illness wasn't solely reserved for members of the military, civilians could suffer from such diseases of the mind as well, but if caught early and with proper treatment the mind could be healed the same as any injury. It may not go away fully but it can be more bearable for the sufferer.

"General Yang." Ozai called out from his throne, pulling Sung from his thought's. "Your Report."

With great effort Sung stood up. "Yes sir." Sung said weakly as he walked over to the section of the map that held the Northern Water Tribe. "After Sozins comet passes by and the Earth Kingdom is defeated fully, I am recommending we task the entirety of the Northern Fleet to the North Pole. I am basing most of my plan off of Zhaos attempt but I am recommending a fleet of Airships be tasked to me to preform a series of bombing runs. Once the bombing run has finished I recommend a constant Artillery Barrage be launched for a minimum of three days to soften the remaining defenses. Afterwards our ships should advance to disembark troops. Once a solid beach head has been secured I recommend splitting the Army into three battle groups that will spread out and encircle the city and push its way to the Palace."