"How pleasent to see you cousin," Azula drawled from the throne-like chair that she occupied. "I was beginning to think that
father's instructions weren't being attended to."
Admiral Prince Lu Ten of the Northern Fleet elected not to rise to the bait. The meeting chamber was hardly what could be called crowded:
aside from Azula, only War Minister Qin and Lu Ten's counterpart from the Soutern Fleet, Zhao, were present. "We seem to be missing Prince Zuko,"
he said instead, picking up map from the table and studying the unit deployments there. "Are you sure he was advised of this conference?" It would be
just like Azula to make Zuko's invitation vanish and then condemn him for not arriving.
"It's possible he is not aware," Azula revealed, to Lu Ten's carefully masked surprise. "Zuzu is carrying out
independent operations in the southern part of the continent, which makes it quite difficult to correspond with him."
"I thought he was carrying out a tour of the garrisons?" Lu Ten noted.
"Those were his orders," Qin agreed irritably. "Apparently the Prince has interpreted his itinerary rather
loosely."
Zhao chuckled darkly but said nothing. It was possible he just found the statement amusing, or that he was anticipating Zuko being reined in
firmly as a result of his non-attendance.
"Well, I think we can manage the next step of my father's strategy without Zuko's assistance," Azula decided sweetly.
"It's time to break the Earth Kingdom once and for all. And that means taking Ba Sing Se."
"That would do it," Lu Ten agreed. "Of course, it's easier said than done." In all the thousands of years since it
became the centre of government for the Earth Kingdom, the Impenetrable City had never fallen to invasion. Totally self-sufficient behind the towering walls,
even the legendary Chin the Conqueror had preferred to attack the Avatar's homeland rather than lay siege to the stronghold.
Azula's smile was sweet. "I'm sure you'd be aware, cousin." Lu Ten had raided the northern coasts extensively, and the
typical response of the Earth Kingdom - to burn their villages and retreat into the cities - had made the attacks largely futile. "War Minister Qin
assures me that he has a siege train sufficient to the task."
Lu Ten's eyebrows rose. "Impressive." He dropped the map he'd been studying and pulled another from those heaped on the
conference table, sliding it over to the Minister. "Walk me through your plan, Minister."
Qin smiled. "We've been bringing in the components for almost six months now," he revealed, tapping a point south of
Serpent's Pass. "The next step is to convoy them across the lakes to the assembly point on the shore. From there:" he traced a path across the
rocky wasteland south-west of Bao Sing Se "we'll approach the walls here."
"So are you going to fly over the wall?" Zhao asked sarcastically.
"No, we'll breach it," Qin said firmly. "I have the tools to do the job." He smiled slyly. "The war balloons
will be acting under Princess Azula's command."
Lu Ten smiled. "You got them to work at last?" he asked. "I almost envy you, cousin," he added looking at Azula.
"Those sound very useful."
"Yes," she agreed. "I'm sure that they will be. While Minister Qin attacks Ba Sing Se from the outside, I will be
attacking it from within. The key to control over the city is the General Secretariat, Long Feng. He's a pragmatist - if surrendering to the Fire Nation is
the only way he sees to retain control of his city, then that's what he'll do."
"And you believe that breaking through the Outer Wall will push him into a corner," Lu Ten concluded. "It could work. It would
certainly make the city far easier to control if the populace see it as nothing more than a 'peaceful' transfer of power. I imagine you have plans for
Long Feng's 'retirement', once he has served his purpose?"
They all smiled cynically. Long Feng might be persuaded that nothing would change in his beloved city under the rule of the Fire Nation, but
nothing could be further from the truth.
Lu Ten studied the map again, this time examining the routes out of the city towards the shorelines north and east of it. "It's
imperative that the Earth King does not manage to escape," he observed. "Most of the Kingdom consider him at least semi-divine, so his presence would
act as a rallying point. If capturing the city is to break their spirit, then it needs to be a clean sweep."
"Agreed. So that's what you'll be doing," Azula said firmly. "Covering the routes out of the city to make sure that it
doesn't happen." She smiled sweetly. "Admiral Zhao will take control of the lakes, covering the transit of Minister Qin's engines and then
ensure that no one escapes by that route. Minister Qin breaks the city open, I accept control from Long Feng... and you can pick up the pieces, Lu
Ten."
"Masterly," he murmered, his stomach roiling. It was clear who would take the bulk of the prestige for the victory. Still, that
didn't mean that he couldn't turn the matter to his advantage. "Still, it will be very dangerous for you inside the city. The Dai Li are allegedly
quite impressive and I doubt Long Feng will allow you to bring a large escort while you're playing diplomat."
"War has its risks," Azula said confidently. "After all, our fathers didn't become legends by avoiding the
Avatar."
"True, but I'd feel better if you had more security. After all, it would be a terrible blow to your father if anything were to
happen to you." Lu Ten smiled broadly. "Why don't you take Ty Lee with you? I'm sure she'd love to see you and her special skills would
be most useful if things go awry."
Azula's eyes turned calculating... and perhaps a little suspicious. "Of course, it would be so good to enjoy her company again.
It's very cruel that you've kept her to yourself for so long."
Lu Ten chuckled. "Needs of the war, dear cousin. But you'll have her all to yourself for the duration of the siege and I'll just
have to manage." I'm sure that you thought it was very clever to have her 'defect' to me, dear cousin, putting an assassin in my bed.
But if I'm so willing to see her back at your side, what does that say to you about her loyalties?
.oOo.
Mai rolled over as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "What?" she asked, looking up to see Suki kneeling over her, already in full
warpaint although the light from outside suggested that the sun was still uncertain about rising above the horizon.
"It's time to wake up," the auburn-haired Kyoshi leader advised. "Unlike lazy mainland girls, Kyoshi Warriors must rise
early to prepare for the day."
"Do you have these aphorisms written down anywhere?" Mai asked, rolling out of the thin futon that the community hall had provided
her.
Suki grinned. "Of course." She looked at where Toph was sprawled on the next futon over. "I'll let you wake the little
menace. The baths are out back if you want to freshen up before training begins." She turned and walked away, with tolerable stealth given the creakiness
of the old wood that covered the floor of the hall.
"Are you done pretending to sleep?" Mai asked the younger girl, noticing with amusement that Toph's rather spectacular long,
thick hair was sticking almost straight up, substantially increasing her height.
"How long is it until noon?" Toph mumbled, scratching at an itch under one arm. So much from the elegant young fire maiden that
Mai's mother had cooed over.
Mai shook her head. "Much longer than I'm going to let you nap," she said, pushing her own blankets aside to reveal the small
bundle that contained the weapons too uncomfortable to wear she was asleep. When she looked up, Toph had pulled the blankets over her head, leaving only her
hair visible. There were about seventeen possible ways to wake the earthbender. It says something about Mai that the option she chose was to drop a dagger,
point down, onto Toph's hair. "Oops."
A hand snaked out from under the blanket, holding the knife Mai had given Toph, and severed the locks of hair that had been pinned. "You
convinced me," the blind girl muttered, burrowing out of the bedding.
"Kyoshi Warriors must rise early to prepare for the day," Mai parroted Suki.
"...you really, really wanted me to join the Kyoshi Warriors, didn't you."
"I want to see you run into the ground by a brute squad. I'll settle for you not being a total embarassement with a
knife."
Toph punched Mai in the thigh and stumbled out of the hall in search of the jakes. Mai felt uncharacteristically emotional at the gesture. So
this was what having a little sister was like. It felt bruising.
By the time that they were washed and dressed - well, just dressed in Toph's case since she didn't see the need to clean anything
that was going to be painted over or underneath clothes - the training yard was full of other would-be Kyoshi Warriors.
"Before you can wear the traditional garments of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy," Suki announced.
"Before you can wear the warpaint of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy. Therefore, you will now be tested."
"Is this a written test? Because I suck at those," a voice asked from somewhere around hip height on most of the prospective
recruits. Suki had a suspicion that she knew who was heckling her.
"Well volunteered, Toph," she said. "Come out here."
She waited until the small girl was next to her and then gestured down the slope from the yard. There was a narrow side valley on the other
side of one of the hills that framed the village. "Along that valley is what we Kyoshi Warriors call the confidence course. It's positively littered
with obstacles and challenges to overcome. The route goes all the way down to the shore and then back along the other side of the valley. And while physical
exercises are excellent conditioning for the body, there's nothing like the confidence course for putting your body to the test." Suki smiled a trifle
smugly. "Just to make sure that you're all worthy to become Kyoshi Warriors, you'll all be running though the course this morning." She
paused dramatically. "As will the eight year old girls who are just starting their training. You'll have a little bit of a start, but any of you who
can't get all the way around the course before an eight year old are clearly not fit to be Kyoshi Warriors."
There was a general grumbling from the young women around Mai, several of whom seemed annoyed that they would be competing against little
girls. Mai, for her part, was looking down the valley, trying to spot the obstacles. She could remember how much trouble she, Ty Lee and Azula could cause when
they were little girls and it wasn't a comforting thought.
"Just to show you all how it's done," Suki added. "Toph here will run through the course with me right beside her, before
she joins you for the actual test of course."
Toph didn't bother to look up at the Kyoshi Warrior. There was enough shuffling of feet amongst the other women that she could get a good
feel for her surroundings, but the course wasn't close enough for her to judge more than the general direction so she just turned to face it. "When do
we start?"
She could feel Suki tensing to spring into a run. "N-" Toph burst into a run a fraction before Suki could steal the lead.
"-ow! Sneaky bitch," she added, gearing her pace to Toph's admittedly slower one. Youthful energy couldn't entirely outweigh the advantage of
having longer legs and, of course, Suki was considerably more used to running. "How do you do that?"
"I listen," Toph said, between the deep breathes she was using to regulate her body. Much as she preferred earthbending, she had to
admit that the firebending techniques had their uses besides lighting stuff on fire. Not that she should light stuff on fire right now, anyway. In her way Mai
could be almost as restrictive as her parents, although at least she would explain her reasoning and sometimes change her mind if Toph argued cleverly
enough.
It was frustrating having to work around things instead of blasting through them the way that she wanted to. Thank you father, for that last
'gift', she thought spitefully. Time was she would have been able to detect the course from the starting point and even decipher the obstacles well in
advance. Instead, she was dependent upon Suki's own movements to give her a guide.
There were two wood posts ahead, either side of what she presumed to be the path. As they got closer, Toph could make out the edge of a
wooden board just brushing the ground. Some kind of fence? She kicked a pebble up at an angle and it bounced off something at head point. Yep, a fence. She
hung back, deliberately to let Suki go first but the Kyoshi Warrior also slowed.
"What's wrong, Toph?" Suki teased. "Is the mighty earthender afraid of the unknown?"
Toph grit her teeth. She could earthbend around the problem, but with her current weakness it would slow her down immensely to lift herself
over the fence. Alternatively, she was fairly sure that she could smash her way through the barrier, but that probably wouldn't go down too well. So that
meant falling back on a more physical approach. Speeding up again, she ran for the wooden boards and ran her hands up them quickly. There were gaps between
them, presumably intentional and she scrambled up them like a ladder.
The wood shook as she climbed, presumably because Suki was climbing alongside her. "I thought so," the Kyoshi Warrior deduced.
"You can't see the wood, can you?"
"I can't see anything," Toph reminded her.
"But you use your earthbending in a similar way," Suki speculated. "And that doesn't work on wood, so you have trouble
with things made of that."
Toph's hands reached the last plank and she rolled over the top of the barrier, letting her own weight tip over it. "So
what?"
"So up here you really are blind."
Both girls dropped and rolled on the ground to absorb the impact. "And down here I'm not," Toph said, running for the next
obstacle, a mud-pit. She thought that there was something lying on the top of the mud, probably intended to make it more difficult, whatever it was.
"Still, it is a weakness," Suki warned. "How do you plan to counter for it?"
Toph frowned. "I've got some ideas." She jumped onto the mud, picking her way around whatever it was lying on top of the
mud."
Suki made a running jump, her landing revealing where the other side of the pit was. "Careful of the thorns," she warned, amused.
"Most people just jump the ditch."
"I'm not afraid of a little earth between my toes," Toph explained, cheating a little with her earthbending to create a step
that she could use between the mud and the bank.
"So I see. You don't seem to use your bending as much as some that I've seen."
I used to. I wish I still could. "I don't want to rely on just one thing," Toph said. "It's not like I could have used
it on the ship."
Suki chuckled. "The next obstacle is a log over a ditch," she warned. "Don't bend - I want to see what your balance is
like."
Toph obeyed. Why is she now helping me? It's nice, but what is she up to?
.oOo.
Even with a first run through to get used to the obstacles, Toph was among the last runners to complete the confidence course, although she
was still able to beat any of the eight year olds. Mai, on the other hand, had relatively little difficulty and the two of them walked down towards the sea
after Suki had congratulated those who passed and told them were to report for their first training session that evening.
"I need to learn to waterbend," Toph said quietly
Mai nodded. "Why?"
"In the swamp, Huu fought by bending the water in the vines," Toph explained. "If I learn to detect water the way I do earth,
then the water in plants will help me to see better."
"Ah. Well, Zuko told me that you had a very good sense of fire," Mai told the earthbender. "If you can do the same for water
then that would help, but I don't know how you're going to learn without a teacher."
Toph walked out on the sand until water covered her toes. "I didn't learn to earthbend from a master bender, I learnt from the
badgermoles. Perhaps I can do the same now."
Mai considered. "You don't mean you want to learn waterbending from badgermoles, do you?" Because she wasn't sure if there
were any of the creatures on Kyoshi Island and she was almost certain that they didn't swim.
"The legends say that airbenders and firebenders learnt from animals, much as Oma learned from the badgermoles. But waterbenders learned
to bend from the Moon and the Ocean: from the tides." She shrugged. "Although I'm a little vague about what a tide is. I was more interested in
hearing about earthbending at the time."
It was a clear request for information, Mai realised. "I don't know a great deal about tides," she admitted. "Something
about water moving up and down beaches or the like."
"Well it's a good job that I'm on a beach then."
Several minutes later. "Mai, how long does the tide take to move up and down a beach?"
"Hours."
"...this is going to take forever."
.oOo.
Suki was apparently of the belief that the future Kyoshi Warriors needed to be entirely familiar with every inch of the island's
shoreline, which at least left Toph with ample time to spend knee deep in water. Mai didn't watch. "Once you've seen nothing once, you've seen
nothing a thousand times," she pointed out when Toph asked why. Much to the surprise of Suki, who witnessed the question, Toph seemed pleased by the
answer. Then again, Suki wasn't sure what Toph was doing in the water to begin with.
Since she had all that time without Toph to provide a diversion from the stulifying beauty of Kyoshi Island, Mai devoted a moderate effort to
ensuring that none of her particular squad of trainees were an embarassment with throwing weapons and considerable effort to working out how the tradtional
Kyoshi war fan could be thrown.
She was working at the latter endeavour, having some success with spiking the corners into a target post when Suki sought her out.
"Your sister's a strange one," she noted, leaning against the adjacent pole to that Mai was targeting. She had seen Mai
demonstrate her skills to be confident of her safety in doing so.
"She's a bender," Mai said and threw another fan. It cut a tiny sliver from the post and fell to the ground. Pathetic. If that
was soldier then he'd barely have more than a papercut.
Suki waited for further elaboration and when it was not forthcoming, she pulled out her fan and started tapping it against her gauntlets.
"You don't like benders?"
Mai walked forward and recovered her fans. "I don't get sentimental about them," she replied evenly. Given that the entire
island was named for an avatar, the most bendery of all benders, actually agreeing that she disliked them (she didn't, that would require caring) would
probably lead to being locked away somewhere, or something similiarly tedious.
"Well, given that she's an earthbender, take it from me that it's a bit odd she spends all her time kneedeep in the sea. Is she
trying to become a waterbender or something?"
"Yes." Why lie when the truth was so much less plausible.
Suki's eyes went wide. "What? But that's impossible, unless..."
Mai threw one of the fans at the post. It pierced the log more or less at eye height and remained embedded.
"She'd be around the right age."
"Yes, she picked up on that right away," Mai agreed. "It took quite a while to persuade her to stop playing with the candles
when she was younger."
Suki looked excited. "Did she manage anything?"
"She burnt most of her fingers," lied Mai laconically. Second fan - inch and a half to the left, same penetration. Not too bad.
"I suppose it's possible that she is what she hopes she is," leaving aside that she hopes she's just got a freaky chakra system, "but
I'm not holding my breath."
"I see." Suki's face fell a little. "I suppose I was hoping a little too much. I'm like a lot of girls here, Kyoshi is
a hero of mine. Meeting another Avatar, the next Earth Kingdom Avatar, it's always been a dream of mine. Do you have any dreams, Mai?"
Zuko's face crossed Mai's thoughts for a moment. "I did." She recovered her fans.
Suki's face fell. "I'm sorry. Kyoshi Island has been peaceful for so long, sometimes I forget."
.oOo.
The moon was high in the sky when Mai walked out to see if Toph was planning to come to bed that evening. Other than the sentries - Suki took
security seriously, and besides which it gave her a punishment to lay on slackers - the rest of the group were already bedded down for the night, this time at
a campsite rather than a local hall. The younger girl was still standing in the water, although it had now risen to her waist.
"If it gets much deeper, I'm going to start giving you swimming lessons," Mai advised.
She saw the corner of Toph's lips curve upwards in a smirk. Then the Earthbender moved her hands slightly and turned to face Mai, her
legs remaining quite still. Floating. "I can give you swimming lessons," she offered.
Mai raised an eyebrow. "It's going well then?"
"I can do a little, anyway," Toph said and drifted a little closer to shore before starting to walk out of the water. "Deep
water..." She shuddered. "I'd be lost."
"You've also been in the water for hours," Mai noted, watching water drip from Top's pants. "Isn't that
cold?"
"Well I wasn't," Toph shivered. "The water was warmer than it is out here." She moved one hand through a slow arc in
front of her and water literally flew off her, spattering onto the sand.
"Suki wondered why you're in the water every day," Mai warned calmly, wondering what Toph would do if Suki discovered the
truth. With at least a little grasp on three elements there didn't seem to be any doubt that Toph was the Avatar.
Toph stomped hard on the sand, raising a small cloud of it. "What is she up to?" she grumbled. "I don't understand her at
all. She doesn't feel hostile, but she keeps poking around at us."
"Hundreds of years ago Kyoshi protected this island," Mai reminded her. "Suki wishes for another Avatar to do the same now,
little sister."
"I can't protect anyone," Toph said bitterly. "Not even myself." She stamped again on the sand and scowled at the
little cloud of sand that rose up in response. "That would have hurled boulders all the way to the cliffs," she said bleakly. "Now all I can do
is throw sand."
"How does it feel to be like the rest of us, who can't bend at all?"
Colour rushed to Toph's cheeks. "How would it feel if someone cut your fingers off?" she asked.
Mai frowned and then kicked out at one of the bushes above the bush, triggering one of the launchers strapped to her calf. A dart hurtled out
and slashed through the leaves. "It would be difficult," she admitted. "But it wouldn't leave me any more defenseless. Remember, had you
been fighting for real, Suki would also have died."
Toph shrugged and then looked up as rain began to fall from the sky. As droplets struck them she reached out unerringly and took Mai's
hand. "Maybe," she said, sounding only half-convinced. "Let's get out of the rain."
"I thought you liked water," Mai asked as they walked up the path towards the campsite.
"No, I hate it."
Behind the bush that Mai had targeted, Suki reached out and gently pulled the dart out from where it had pinned her green uniform to the
dense shrub. Either she had the worst luck ever or Mai had spotted her. No, if the knife thrower had noticed Suki spying on them, surely she would have warned
her sister. But with what they were talking about... Toph had been waterbending, for real. Surely she must be the Avatar then! But why hadn't she simply
declared herself?
Troubled by the thoughts, Suki sat and toyed with the dart. "What's going on? And why did it sound as if she felt helpless? The
Avatar is the greatest of all benders so why did she sound weak? And why would an Avatar feel... weak?"
.oOo.
The next morning, Suki handed leadership of the training group over to her second and began to cut back across the island towards
Kyoshi's Shrine. Even without her doubts, she could not decide this matter herself: it would affect not only the Kyoshi Warriors but everyone on the
island.
Despite the punishing pace that the young warrior set, the sun was high in the sky when she reached the shrine and Oyaji was sitting outside,
drinking tea. The old chief smiled as he saw Suki running up the slope. "Suki! Welcome back. I thought that you wouldn't have time to visit the Shrine
until you had your new students ready. Is everything well?"
Suki bowed her head. "The training goes well," she reported. "But there has been a strange development. The youngest of the
students is an earthbender named Toph."
"So I hear." Oyaji poured himself another cup of tea and produced a second cup for Suki. "She must be quite a handful, to have
fought you to a draw."
Behind her make up, Suki blushed. "She ambushed me," she said in excuse, although it was not the surprise that had led to her
defeat.
"Of course," the old man nodded, sipping at his tea.
"Last night I saw her waterbending."
Tea exploded out of Oyaji's mouth, all over Suki. "What!?"
"Toph can bend more than one element," Suki confirmed, wiping at the tea, not caring that it was leaving streaks in her facepaint.
"And she's the right age: she could be the new Avatar."
Oyaji raised one hand to calm the young woman. "Let's not get ahead of outselves," he told her solemnly. "You may be
right, but jumping to conclusions could cause great trouble." The old man handed her the other tea cup and then lifted the tea pot. "We can talk
about this inside, in front of Kyoshi. Her wisdom will guide us in this matter."
Inside the shrine, Suki took a moment to look around at the various artifacts of the long dead Avatar. Like many children on the island it
was seeing the robes, the weapons and other remnants of Kyoshi that had inspired her to join the Kyoshi Warriors. Now, when she looked at them, she wondered
that so little was left of the woman that traditions claimed to have been among the greatest of the Avatars. Kyoshi had served to maintain the balance of the
world for over two centuries, but it seemed her legacy would survive her by even that long... unless the new Avatar could make matters right.
Suki thought of Toph and a shiver went through her. Earthbenders could move small mountains - for that matter, Kyoshi had torn her entire
homeland away from the continent, creating Kyoshi Island, but Toph seemed to strain to move much more than her own weight when she was earthbending. She showed
signs of being an excellent warrior - strong, quick and fearless - but the Fire Nation would hardly be intimidated by her bending.
She's just young, still growing into her power, Suki told herself and sat crosslegged facing Oyaji, sipping from her tea cup, letting the
warm drink refresh her after the long run.
The old man passed her a rag. "Better clean your face off, child. It wouldn't do for anyone to see the leader of Kyoshi Warriors
with patchy face paint."
Suki chuckled and cleaned the make-up off efficiently, well accustomed to the routine.
"Now, young Toph," Oyaji said thoughtfully. "I think half the island have heard how she... demonstrated... her earthbending on
you." Suki blushed again. She had no doubt that a dozen ribald exagerations were making their way through the gossip of the island's people. "So,
what did you see her using her waterbending for?"
"She dried herself out after standing waist deep in the water," Suki reported. "And I think she was using it to move through
the water somehow."
"Well some people call the latter swimming," Oyaji joked. "As for the former, why was she standing in the water? Is that a new
form of training that you've introduced?"
"No, her sister told me that she was trying to learn how to waterbend," explained Suki wryly. "She made a joke of it, said
that Toph had always wanted to be the Avatar ever since she learned she was the right age. Said that she tried to firebend when she was younger. Of course, Mai
claimed that it never worked."
"So her sister - this Mai - probably knows then."
Suki nodded. "She was right there when Toph dried herself. There's no way she could have missed it and she didn't bat an
eyelash... then again, she might not have anyway. Mai's pretty unshakeable."
"You like her?" Oyaji asked.
"I've been considering giving her a squad as soon as she finishes her training. She's good - maybe as good as I am," Suki
admitted and then her lips thinned. "Of course, she's also been lying to me."
Oyaji sighed and poured some more tea. "Perhaps with good reason. It has only been twelve years since the Avatar Kanna was killed and
avatar spirit reborn. You may recall that Kyoshi was sixteen when she was told of her destiny, that is the tradition of the Avatar. Only in great need will the
Avatar be allowed to learn their identity before they have completed their childhood. Such was the mistake made by the Air Nomads with the Avatar Roku's
successor."
"I heard that he was a coward," Suki murmered.
"Would you expect a child to carry the burden of the entire world easily?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "Could you have led the
Kyoshi Warriors as you were when you were Toph's age? The duties of the Avatar are far harder and it is unreasonable to expect someone so young to be able
to master them. If Toph is truly the Avatar then her sister may want no more than to protect her from those who would abuse her... and, of course, from the
Fire Nation. Think, young one, what would happen if Toph were to be publically known as the Avatar?"
"You believe me?"
"It seems likely," Oyaji agreed. "But you have not answered my question."
"There would be a great celebration," Suki admitted. "It's impossible that the Fire Nation would not learn of her
presence. And they'd attack us the way they did the Air Temples: with overwhelming numbers, to kill anyone who could possibly be the Avatar." Her
shoulders slumped.
"Perhaps even more damaging, everyone would expect the Avatar to defend us," Oyaji added. "I have no doubt that she is very
brave, but do you believe that she has the power at her age to defeat an entire army the way Kyoshi did? Remember, Kyoshi had spent many years learning the
four bending arts from the greatest of masters. That is not a luxury that this child has had."
Suki's eyes went wide. "Airbending! With the Air Nomads gone, there is no one left to teach her airbending. And without
that..."
Oyaji reached over and patted the warrior reassuringly on the back of her hand. "All is not lost, Suki. Remember, the Avatar is the
bridge between this world and the spirit worlds. Her guidance will not only come from her teachers who dwell in this one."
"I understand." Suki took a deep breath to steady herself. "So. What do we do?"
"For now, we should do nothing. It is possible, if unlikely, that we are mistaken. Wait and listen, assess the situation," Oyaji
ordered. "Do not alert them to your suspicion. Since the Avatar's sister wishest to protect her, allow her to do so. If she is the Avatar then it is
our duty to give her sanctuary here until she is ready."
"I will," Suki promised. "I swear it by Kyoshi."
The chief leant forwards, staring Suki firmly in the eye. "When you became a Kyoshi Warrior you swore an oath in the name of the Avatar
Kyoshi to protect this island and those who live here. If the Fire Nation comes here, whether they seek the Avatar here or not, you must ensure that she
escapes them. Even if it means abandoning your duties here." He smiled sadly. "I pray that such a dark day never comes, but the Avatar must be
protected at any cost."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
father's instructions weren't being attended to."
Admiral Prince Lu Ten of the Northern Fleet elected not to rise to the bait. The meeting chamber was hardly what could be called crowded:
aside from Azula, only War Minister Qin and Lu Ten's counterpart from the Soutern Fleet, Zhao, were present. "We seem to be missing Prince Zuko,"
he said instead, picking up map from the table and studying the unit deployments there. "Are you sure he was advised of this conference?" It would be
just like Azula to make Zuko's invitation vanish and then condemn him for not arriving.
"It's possible he is not aware," Azula revealed, to Lu Ten's carefully masked surprise. "Zuzu is carrying out
independent operations in the southern part of the continent, which makes it quite difficult to correspond with him."
"I thought he was carrying out a tour of the garrisons?" Lu Ten noted.
"Those were his orders," Qin agreed irritably. "Apparently the Prince has interpreted his itinerary rather
loosely."
Zhao chuckled darkly but said nothing. It was possible he just found the statement amusing, or that he was anticipating Zuko being reined in
firmly as a result of his non-attendance.
"Well, I think we can manage the next step of my father's strategy without Zuko's assistance," Azula decided sweetly.
"It's time to break the Earth Kingdom once and for all. And that means taking Ba Sing Se."
"That would do it," Lu Ten agreed. "Of course, it's easier said than done." In all the thousands of years since it
became the centre of government for the Earth Kingdom, the Impenetrable City had never fallen to invasion. Totally self-sufficient behind the towering walls,
even the legendary Chin the Conqueror had preferred to attack the Avatar's homeland rather than lay siege to the stronghold.
Azula's smile was sweet. "I'm sure you'd be aware, cousin." Lu Ten had raided the northern coasts extensively, and the
typical response of the Earth Kingdom - to burn their villages and retreat into the cities - had made the attacks largely futile. "War Minister Qin
assures me that he has a siege train sufficient to the task."
Lu Ten's eyebrows rose. "Impressive." He dropped the map he'd been studying and pulled another from those heaped on the
conference table, sliding it over to the Minister. "Walk me through your plan, Minister."
Qin smiled. "We've been bringing in the components for almost six months now," he revealed, tapping a point south of
Serpent's Pass. "The next step is to convoy them across the lakes to the assembly point on the shore. From there:" he traced a path across the
rocky wasteland south-west of Bao Sing Se "we'll approach the walls here."
"So are you going to fly over the wall?" Zhao asked sarcastically.
"No, we'll breach it," Qin said firmly. "I have the tools to do the job." He smiled slyly. "The war balloons
will be acting under Princess Azula's command."
Lu Ten smiled. "You got them to work at last?" he asked. "I almost envy you, cousin," he added looking at Azula.
"Those sound very useful."
"Yes," she agreed. "I'm sure that they will be. While Minister Qin attacks Ba Sing Se from the outside, I will be
attacking it from within. The key to control over the city is the General Secretariat, Long Feng. He's a pragmatist - if surrendering to the Fire Nation is
the only way he sees to retain control of his city, then that's what he'll do."
"And you believe that breaking through the Outer Wall will push him into a corner," Lu Ten concluded. "It could work. It would
certainly make the city far easier to control if the populace see it as nothing more than a 'peaceful' transfer of power. I imagine you have plans for
Long Feng's 'retirement', once he has served his purpose?"
They all smiled cynically. Long Feng might be persuaded that nothing would change in his beloved city under the rule of the Fire Nation, but
nothing could be further from the truth.
Lu Ten studied the map again, this time examining the routes out of the city towards the shorelines north and east of it. "It's
imperative that the Earth King does not manage to escape," he observed. "Most of the Kingdom consider him at least semi-divine, so his presence would
act as a rallying point. If capturing the city is to break their spirit, then it needs to be a clean sweep."
"Agreed. So that's what you'll be doing," Azula said firmly. "Covering the routes out of the city to make sure that it
doesn't happen." She smiled sweetly. "Admiral Zhao will take control of the lakes, covering the transit of Minister Qin's engines and then
ensure that no one escapes by that route. Minister Qin breaks the city open, I accept control from Long Feng... and you can pick up the pieces, Lu
Ten."
"Masterly," he murmered, his stomach roiling. It was clear who would take the bulk of the prestige for the victory. Still, that
didn't mean that he couldn't turn the matter to his advantage. "Still, it will be very dangerous for you inside the city. The Dai Li are allegedly
quite impressive and I doubt Long Feng will allow you to bring a large escort while you're playing diplomat."
"War has its risks," Azula said confidently. "After all, our fathers didn't become legends by avoiding the
Avatar."
"True, but I'd feel better if you had more security. After all, it would be a terrible blow to your father if anything were to
happen to you." Lu Ten smiled broadly. "Why don't you take Ty Lee with you? I'm sure she'd love to see you and her special skills would
be most useful if things go awry."
Azula's eyes turned calculating... and perhaps a little suspicious. "Of course, it would be so good to enjoy her company again.
It's very cruel that you've kept her to yourself for so long."
Lu Ten chuckled. "Needs of the war, dear cousin. But you'll have her all to yourself for the duration of the siege and I'll just
have to manage." I'm sure that you thought it was very clever to have her 'defect' to me, dear cousin, putting an assassin in my bed.
But if I'm so willing to see her back at your side, what does that say to you about her loyalties?
.oOo.
Mai rolled over as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "What?" she asked, looking up to see Suki kneeling over her, already in full
warpaint although the light from outside suggested that the sun was still uncertain about rising above the horizon.
"It's time to wake up," the auburn-haired Kyoshi leader advised. "Unlike lazy mainland girls, Kyoshi Warriors must rise
early to prepare for the day."
"Do you have these aphorisms written down anywhere?" Mai asked, rolling out of the thin futon that the community hall had provided
her.
Suki grinned. "Of course." She looked at where Toph was sprawled on the next futon over. "I'll let you wake the little
menace. The baths are out back if you want to freshen up before training begins." She turned and walked away, with tolerable stealth given the creakiness
of the old wood that covered the floor of the hall.
"Are you done pretending to sleep?" Mai asked the younger girl, noticing with amusement that Toph's rather spectacular long,
thick hair was sticking almost straight up, substantially increasing her height.
"How long is it until noon?" Toph mumbled, scratching at an itch under one arm. So much from the elegant young fire maiden that
Mai's mother had cooed over.
Mai shook her head. "Much longer than I'm going to let you nap," she said, pushing her own blankets aside to reveal the small
bundle that contained the weapons too uncomfortable to wear she was asleep. When she looked up, Toph had pulled the blankets over her head, leaving only her
hair visible. There were about seventeen possible ways to wake the earthbender. It says something about Mai that the option she chose was to drop a dagger,
point down, onto Toph's hair. "Oops."
A hand snaked out from under the blanket, holding the knife Mai had given Toph, and severed the locks of hair that had been pinned. "You
convinced me," the blind girl muttered, burrowing out of the bedding.
"Kyoshi Warriors must rise early to prepare for the day," Mai parroted Suki.
"...you really, really wanted me to join the Kyoshi Warriors, didn't you."
"I want to see you run into the ground by a brute squad. I'll settle for you not being a total embarassement with a
knife."
Toph punched Mai in the thigh and stumbled out of the hall in search of the jakes. Mai felt uncharacteristically emotional at the gesture. So
this was what having a little sister was like. It felt bruising.
By the time that they were washed and dressed - well, just dressed in Toph's case since she didn't see the need to clean anything
that was going to be painted over or underneath clothes - the training yard was full of other would-be Kyoshi Warriors.
"Before you can wear the traditional garments of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy," Suki announced.
"Before you can wear the warpaint of the Kyoshi Warriors, you must prove yourselves worthy. Therefore, you will now be tested."
"Is this a written test? Because I suck at those," a voice asked from somewhere around hip height on most of the prospective
recruits. Suki had a suspicion that she knew who was heckling her.
"Well volunteered, Toph," she said. "Come out here."
She waited until the small girl was next to her and then gestured down the slope from the yard. There was a narrow side valley on the other
side of one of the hills that framed the village. "Along that valley is what we Kyoshi Warriors call the confidence course. It's positively littered
with obstacles and challenges to overcome. The route goes all the way down to the shore and then back along the other side of the valley. And while physical
exercises are excellent conditioning for the body, there's nothing like the confidence course for putting your body to the test." Suki smiled a trifle
smugly. "Just to make sure that you're all worthy to become Kyoshi Warriors, you'll all be running though the course this morning." She
paused dramatically. "As will the eight year old girls who are just starting their training. You'll have a little bit of a start, but any of you who
can't get all the way around the course before an eight year old are clearly not fit to be Kyoshi Warriors."
There was a general grumbling from the young women around Mai, several of whom seemed annoyed that they would be competing against little
girls. Mai, for her part, was looking down the valley, trying to spot the obstacles. She could remember how much trouble she, Ty Lee and Azula could cause when
they were little girls and it wasn't a comforting thought.
"Just to show you all how it's done," Suki added. "Toph here will run through the course with me right beside her, before
she joins you for the actual test of course."
Toph didn't bother to look up at the Kyoshi Warrior. There was enough shuffling of feet amongst the other women that she could get a good
feel for her surroundings, but the course wasn't close enough for her to judge more than the general direction so she just turned to face it. "When do
we start?"
She could feel Suki tensing to spring into a run. "N-" Toph burst into a run a fraction before Suki could steal the lead.
"-ow! Sneaky bitch," she added, gearing her pace to Toph's admittedly slower one. Youthful energy couldn't entirely outweigh the advantage of
having longer legs and, of course, Suki was considerably more used to running. "How do you do that?"
"I listen," Toph said, between the deep breathes she was using to regulate her body. Much as she preferred earthbending, she had to
admit that the firebending techniques had their uses besides lighting stuff on fire. Not that she should light stuff on fire right now, anyway. In her way Mai
could be almost as restrictive as her parents, although at least she would explain her reasoning and sometimes change her mind if Toph argued cleverly
enough.
It was frustrating having to work around things instead of blasting through them the way that she wanted to. Thank you father, for that last
'gift', she thought spitefully. Time was she would have been able to detect the course from the starting point and even decipher the obstacles well in
advance. Instead, she was dependent upon Suki's own movements to give her a guide.
There were two wood posts ahead, either side of what she presumed to be the path. As they got closer, Toph could make out the edge of a
wooden board just brushing the ground. Some kind of fence? She kicked a pebble up at an angle and it bounced off something at head point. Yep, a fence. She
hung back, deliberately to let Suki go first but the Kyoshi Warrior also slowed.
"What's wrong, Toph?" Suki teased. "Is the mighty earthender afraid of the unknown?"
Toph grit her teeth. She could earthbend around the problem, but with her current weakness it would slow her down immensely to lift herself
over the fence. Alternatively, she was fairly sure that she could smash her way through the barrier, but that probably wouldn't go down too well. So that
meant falling back on a more physical approach. Speeding up again, she ran for the wooden boards and ran her hands up them quickly. There were gaps between
them, presumably intentional and she scrambled up them like a ladder.
The wood shook as she climbed, presumably because Suki was climbing alongside her. "I thought so," the Kyoshi Warrior deduced.
"You can't see the wood, can you?"
"I can't see anything," Toph reminded her.
"But you use your earthbending in a similar way," Suki speculated. "And that doesn't work on wood, so you have trouble
with things made of that."
Toph's hands reached the last plank and she rolled over the top of the barrier, letting her own weight tip over it. "So
what?"
"So up here you really are blind."
Both girls dropped and rolled on the ground to absorb the impact. "And down here I'm not," Toph said, running for the next
obstacle, a mud-pit. She thought that there was something lying on the top of the mud, probably intended to make it more difficult, whatever it was.
"Still, it is a weakness," Suki warned. "How do you plan to counter for it?"
Toph frowned. "I've got some ideas." She jumped onto the mud, picking her way around whatever it was lying on top of the
mud."
Suki made a running jump, her landing revealing where the other side of the pit was. "Careful of the thorns," she warned, amused.
"Most people just jump the ditch."
"I'm not afraid of a little earth between my toes," Toph explained, cheating a little with her earthbending to create a step
that she could use between the mud and the bank.
"So I see. You don't seem to use your bending as much as some that I've seen."
I used to. I wish I still could. "I don't want to rely on just one thing," Toph said. "It's not like I could have used
it on the ship."
Suki chuckled. "The next obstacle is a log over a ditch," she warned. "Don't bend - I want to see what your balance is
like."
Toph obeyed. Why is she now helping me? It's nice, but what is she up to?
.oOo.
Even with a first run through to get used to the obstacles, Toph was among the last runners to complete the confidence course, although she
was still able to beat any of the eight year olds. Mai, on the other hand, had relatively little difficulty and the two of them walked down towards the sea
after Suki had congratulated those who passed and told them were to report for their first training session that evening.
"I need to learn to waterbend," Toph said quietly
Mai nodded. "Why?"
"In the swamp, Huu fought by bending the water in the vines," Toph explained. "If I learn to detect water the way I do earth,
then the water in plants will help me to see better."
"Ah. Well, Zuko told me that you had a very good sense of fire," Mai told the earthbender. "If you can do the same for water
then that would help, but I don't know how you're going to learn without a teacher."
Toph walked out on the sand until water covered her toes. "I didn't learn to earthbend from a master bender, I learnt from the
badgermoles. Perhaps I can do the same now."
Mai considered. "You don't mean you want to learn waterbending from badgermoles, do you?" Because she wasn't sure if there
were any of the creatures on Kyoshi Island and she was almost certain that they didn't swim.
"The legends say that airbenders and firebenders learnt from animals, much as Oma learned from the badgermoles. But waterbenders learned
to bend from the Moon and the Ocean: from the tides." She shrugged. "Although I'm a little vague about what a tide is. I was more interested in
hearing about earthbending at the time."
It was a clear request for information, Mai realised. "I don't know a great deal about tides," she admitted. "Something
about water moving up and down beaches or the like."
"Well it's a good job that I'm on a beach then."
Several minutes later. "Mai, how long does the tide take to move up and down a beach?"
"Hours."
"...this is going to take forever."
.oOo.
Suki was apparently of the belief that the future Kyoshi Warriors needed to be entirely familiar with every inch of the island's
shoreline, which at least left Toph with ample time to spend knee deep in water. Mai didn't watch. "Once you've seen nothing once, you've seen
nothing a thousand times," she pointed out when Toph asked why. Much to the surprise of Suki, who witnessed the question, Toph seemed pleased by the
answer. Then again, Suki wasn't sure what Toph was doing in the water to begin with.
Since she had all that time without Toph to provide a diversion from the stulifying beauty of Kyoshi Island, Mai devoted a moderate effort to
ensuring that none of her particular squad of trainees were an embarassment with throwing weapons and considerable effort to working out how the tradtional
Kyoshi war fan could be thrown.
She was working at the latter endeavour, having some success with spiking the corners into a target post when Suki sought her out.
"Your sister's a strange one," she noted, leaning against the adjacent pole to that Mai was targeting. She had seen Mai
demonstrate her skills to be confident of her safety in doing so.
"She's a bender," Mai said and threw another fan. It cut a tiny sliver from the post and fell to the ground. Pathetic. If that
was soldier then he'd barely have more than a papercut.
Suki waited for further elaboration and when it was not forthcoming, she pulled out her fan and started tapping it against her gauntlets.
"You don't like benders?"
Mai walked forward and recovered her fans. "I don't get sentimental about them," she replied evenly. Given that the entire
island was named for an avatar, the most bendery of all benders, actually agreeing that she disliked them (she didn't, that would require caring) would
probably lead to being locked away somewhere, or something similiarly tedious.
"Well, given that she's an earthbender, take it from me that it's a bit odd she spends all her time kneedeep in the sea. Is she
trying to become a waterbender or something?"
"Yes." Why lie when the truth was so much less plausible.
Suki's eyes went wide. "What? But that's impossible, unless..."
Mai threw one of the fans at the post. It pierced the log more or less at eye height and remained embedded.
"She'd be around the right age."
"Yes, she picked up on that right away," Mai agreed. "It took quite a while to persuade her to stop playing with the candles
when she was younger."
Suki looked excited. "Did she manage anything?"
"She burnt most of her fingers," lied Mai laconically. Second fan - inch and a half to the left, same penetration. Not too bad.
"I suppose it's possible that she is what she hopes she is," leaving aside that she hopes she's just got a freaky chakra system, "but
I'm not holding my breath."
"I see." Suki's face fell a little. "I suppose I was hoping a little too much. I'm like a lot of girls here, Kyoshi is
a hero of mine. Meeting another Avatar, the next Earth Kingdom Avatar, it's always been a dream of mine. Do you have any dreams, Mai?"
Zuko's face crossed Mai's thoughts for a moment. "I did." She recovered her fans.
Suki's face fell. "I'm sorry. Kyoshi Island has been peaceful for so long, sometimes I forget."
.oOo.
The moon was high in the sky when Mai walked out to see if Toph was planning to come to bed that evening. Other than the sentries - Suki took
security seriously, and besides which it gave her a punishment to lay on slackers - the rest of the group were already bedded down for the night, this time at
a campsite rather than a local hall. The younger girl was still standing in the water, although it had now risen to her waist.
"If it gets much deeper, I'm going to start giving you swimming lessons," Mai advised.
She saw the corner of Toph's lips curve upwards in a smirk. Then the Earthbender moved her hands slightly and turned to face Mai, her
legs remaining quite still. Floating. "I can give you swimming lessons," she offered.
Mai raised an eyebrow. "It's going well then?"
"I can do a little, anyway," Toph said and drifted a little closer to shore before starting to walk out of the water. "Deep
water..." She shuddered. "I'd be lost."
"You've also been in the water for hours," Mai noted, watching water drip from Top's pants. "Isn't that
cold?"
"Well I wasn't," Toph shivered. "The water was warmer than it is out here." She moved one hand through a slow arc in
front of her and water literally flew off her, spattering onto the sand.
"Suki wondered why you're in the water every day," Mai warned calmly, wondering what Toph would do if Suki discovered the
truth. With at least a little grasp on three elements there didn't seem to be any doubt that Toph was the Avatar.
Toph stomped hard on the sand, raising a small cloud of it. "What is she up to?" she grumbled. "I don't understand her at
all. She doesn't feel hostile, but she keeps poking around at us."
"Hundreds of years ago Kyoshi protected this island," Mai reminded her. "Suki wishes for another Avatar to do the same now,
little sister."
"I can't protect anyone," Toph said bitterly. "Not even myself." She stamped again on the sand and scowled at the
little cloud of sand that rose up in response. "That would have hurled boulders all the way to the cliffs," she said bleakly. "Now all I can do
is throw sand."
"How does it feel to be like the rest of us, who can't bend at all?"
Colour rushed to Toph's cheeks. "How would it feel if someone cut your fingers off?" she asked.
Mai frowned and then kicked out at one of the bushes above the bush, triggering one of the launchers strapped to her calf. A dart hurtled out
and slashed through the leaves. "It would be difficult," she admitted. "But it wouldn't leave me any more defenseless. Remember, had you
been fighting for real, Suki would also have died."
Toph shrugged and then looked up as rain began to fall from the sky. As droplets struck them she reached out unerringly and took Mai's
hand. "Maybe," she said, sounding only half-convinced. "Let's get out of the rain."
"I thought you liked water," Mai asked as they walked up the path towards the campsite.
"No, I hate it."
Behind the bush that Mai had targeted, Suki reached out and gently pulled the dart out from where it had pinned her green uniform to the
dense shrub. Either she had the worst luck ever or Mai had spotted her. No, if the knife thrower had noticed Suki spying on them, surely she would have warned
her sister. But with what they were talking about... Toph had been waterbending, for real. Surely she must be the Avatar then! But why hadn't she simply
declared herself?
Troubled by the thoughts, Suki sat and toyed with the dart. "What's going on? And why did it sound as if she felt helpless? The
Avatar is the greatest of all benders so why did she sound weak? And why would an Avatar feel... weak?"
.oOo.
The next morning, Suki handed leadership of the training group over to her second and began to cut back across the island towards
Kyoshi's Shrine. Even without her doubts, she could not decide this matter herself: it would affect not only the Kyoshi Warriors but everyone on the
island.
Despite the punishing pace that the young warrior set, the sun was high in the sky when she reached the shrine and Oyaji was sitting outside,
drinking tea. The old chief smiled as he saw Suki running up the slope. "Suki! Welcome back. I thought that you wouldn't have time to visit the Shrine
until you had your new students ready. Is everything well?"
Suki bowed her head. "The training goes well," she reported. "But there has been a strange development. The youngest of the
students is an earthbender named Toph."
"So I hear." Oyaji poured himself another cup of tea and produced a second cup for Suki. "She must be quite a handful, to have
fought you to a draw."
Behind her make up, Suki blushed. "She ambushed me," she said in excuse, although it was not the surprise that had led to her
defeat.
"Of course," the old man nodded, sipping at his tea.
"Last night I saw her waterbending."
Tea exploded out of Oyaji's mouth, all over Suki. "What!?"
"Toph can bend more than one element," Suki confirmed, wiping at the tea, not caring that it was leaving streaks in her facepaint.
"And she's the right age: she could be the new Avatar."
Oyaji raised one hand to calm the young woman. "Let's not get ahead of outselves," he told her solemnly. "You may be
right, but jumping to conclusions could cause great trouble." The old man handed her the other tea cup and then lifted the tea pot. "We can talk
about this inside, in front of Kyoshi. Her wisdom will guide us in this matter."
Inside the shrine, Suki took a moment to look around at the various artifacts of the long dead Avatar. Like many children on the island it
was seeing the robes, the weapons and other remnants of Kyoshi that had inspired her to join the Kyoshi Warriors. Now, when she looked at them, she wondered
that so little was left of the woman that traditions claimed to have been among the greatest of the Avatars. Kyoshi had served to maintain the balance of the
world for over two centuries, but it seemed her legacy would survive her by even that long... unless the new Avatar could make matters right.
Suki thought of Toph and a shiver went through her. Earthbenders could move small mountains - for that matter, Kyoshi had torn her entire
homeland away from the continent, creating Kyoshi Island, but Toph seemed to strain to move much more than her own weight when she was earthbending. She showed
signs of being an excellent warrior - strong, quick and fearless - but the Fire Nation would hardly be intimidated by her bending.
She's just young, still growing into her power, Suki told herself and sat crosslegged facing Oyaji, sipping from her tea cup, letting the
warm drink refresh her after the long run.
The old man passed her a rag. "Better clean your face off, child. It wouldn't do for anyone to see the leader of Kyoshi Warriors
with patchy face paint."
Suki chuckled and cleaned the make-up off efficiently, well accustomed to the routine.
"Now, young Toph," Oyaji said thoughtfully. "I think half the island have heard how she... demonstrated... her earthbending on
you." Suki blushed again. She had no doubt that a dozen ribald exagerations were making their way through the gossip of the island's people. "So,
what did you see her using her waterbending for?"
"She dried herself out after standing waist deep in the water," Suki reported. "And I think she was using it to move through
the water somehow."
"Well some people call the latter swimming," Oyaji joked. "As for the former, why was she standing in the water? Is that a new
form of training that you've introduced?"
"No, her sister told me that she was trying to learn how to waterbend," explained Suki wryly. "She made a joke of it, said
that Toph had always wanted to be the Avatar ever since she learned she was the right age. Said that she tried to firebend when she was younger. Of course, Mai
claimed that it never worked."
"So her sister - this Mai - probably knows then."
Suki nodded. "She was right there when Toph dried herself. There's no way she could have missed it and she didn't bat an
eyelash... then again, she might not have anyway. Mai's pretty unshakeable."
"You like her?" Oyaji asked.
"I've been considering giving her a squad as soon as she finishes her training. She's good - maybe as good as I am," Suki
admitted and then her lips thinned. "Of course, she's also been lying to me."
Oyaji sighed and poured some more tea. "Perhaps with good reason. It has only been twelve years since the Avatar Kanna was killed and
avatar spirit reborn. You may recall that Kyoshi was sixteen when she was told of her destiny, that is the tradition of the Avatar. Only in great need will the
Avatar be allowed to learn their identity before they have completed their childhood. Such was the mistake made by the Air Nomads with the Avatar Roku's
successor."
"I heard that he was a coward," Suki murmered.
"Would you expect a child to carry the burden of the entire world easily?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "Could you have led the
Kyoshi Warriors as you were when you were Toph's age? The duties of the Avatar are far harder and it is unreasonable to expect someone so young to be able
to master them. If Toph is truly the Avatar then her sister may want no more than to protect her from those who would abuse her... and, of course, from the
Fire Nation. Think, young one, what would happen if Toph were to be publically known as the Avatar?"
"You believe me?"
"It seems likely," Oyaji agreed. "But you have not answered my question."
"There would be a great celebration," Suki admitted. "It's impossible that the Fire Nation would not learn of her
presence. And they'd attack us the way they did the Air Temples: with overwhelming numbers, to kill anyone who could possibly be the Avatar." Her
shoulders slumped.
"Perhaps even more damaging, everyone would expect the Avatar to defend us," Oyaji added. "I have no doubt that she is very
brave, but do you believe that she has the power at her age to defeat an entire army the way Kyoshi did? Remember, Kyoshi had spent many years learning the
four bending arts from the greatest of masters. That is not a luxury that this child has had."
Suki's eyes went wide. "Airbending! With the Air Nomads gone, there is no one left to teach her airbending. And without
that..."
Oyaji reached over and patted the warrior reassuringly on the back of her hand. "All is not lost, Suki. Remember, the Avatar is the
bridge between this world and the spirit worlds. Her guidance will not only come from her teachers who dwell in this one."
"I understand." Suki took a deep breath to steady herself. "So. What do we do?"
"For now, we should do nothing. It is possible, if unlikely, that we are mistaken. Wait and listen, assess the situation," Oyaji
ordered. "Do not alert them to your suspicion. Since the Avatar's sister wishest to protect her, allow her to do so. If she is the Avatar then it is
our duty to give her sanctuary here until she is ready."
"I will," Suki promised. "I swear it by Kyoshi."
The chief leant forwards, staring Suki firmly in the eye. "When you became a Kyoshi Warrior you swore an oath in the name of the Avatar
Kyoshi to protect this island and those who live here. If the Fire Nation comes here, whether they seek the Avatar here or not, you must ensure that she
escapes them. Even if it means abandoning your duties here." He smiled sadly. "I pray that such a dark day never comes, but the Avatar must be
protected at any cost."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.