Mai would have been more impressed with the ceremonies that formally celebrated the
induction of the trainees into the sisterhood of the Kyoshi Warriors if it didn't resemble so closely some of the cliques at the Royal Fire Academy for
Girls clustering in their dormitories to do each other's make-up.
"At least no one's doing anything to my feet," Toph said thankfully from
beside Mai. Although the younger girl's first attempt to don the warpaint had been predictably disasterous, she had corrected for her previous errors and
was able to do a passable job now - as long as someone told her which pot of paint was which.
"Your feet?" Mai asked.
Toph shuddered. "Mother took me to a spa once," she said under her breath.
"They 'beautified' my feet, scraping away half my calluses. I couldn't see anything with them for most of the rest of the
day."
Mai winced. Her own parents weren't the most understanding, but they'd never
suggested that she wear a blindfold as some obscure concession to fashion. Then again, blindfolds had never been fashionable in Fire Nation society, so maybe
she was giving her mother a little more credit than necessary.
"The golden insigna that you wear symbolise the honor of the warrior's heart,"
Suki reminded the new Kyoshi Warriors. "The silk threads symbolise the brave blood that flows through her veins. Many of you are not from Kyoshi Island,
but by joining us in this way, you have all become daughters of Kyoshi like our founder Koko."
"Many of you are already warriors. While the Kyoshi Warriors have always practised the
martial arts passed down from our ancestors, we do not ask that you forget your own skills now that you have joined with us. Although Kyoshi and her daughter
were both of the Earth Kingdom, our arts draw equally from those of the Water Tribes, in homage to the Ocean that surrounds Kyoshi Island. Just as you have
learned the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors, now your sister warriors will learn from you, how to best fight alongside and against your own martial traditions. The
Avatar learned from all of the four nations, seeking wisdom amongst all of them. So to, do we."
Suki bowed her head deeply, as did the other Kyoshi Warriors around the room. "Welcome,
sisters."
Mai, Toph and the others returned the bow.
When Suki's face came up she was smiling. "Now, enough with the speeches. We've
prepared a feast, so let's enjoy the food, the dancing and each other's company."
There was cheer and the new Kyoshi Warriors dispersed, their more experienced fellows
guiding them in friendly groups into the yard where the feast awaited them. With everyone dressed and made up the same way, within moments it was hard to tell
newcomers from veterans, which was the point, Mai supposed.
Individuals were still possible to pick out, if you were familiar with their hair or some
other distinguishing mark however. Amongst each other, the Kyoshi Warriors were individuals but to outsiders they displayed only a single face.
"I know that unsmiling face," Suki observed brightly, moving easily through the
crowd to stand at Mai's elbow. "You're not going to cheer up even now?"
"Spiky never does," Toph observed from Mai's other side and nudged the older
girl sharply below the ribs.
"I delegate chirpiness," Mai replied in a deadpan voice.
"Right, right," Suki said, shaking her head. "Well if you're not going to
enjoy the party, let's talk business for a moment. I'm just about done drawing up the rosters for which warriors will be joining the various villages
around the island. Usually, we break up family members -"
Mai and Toph both froze up.
"- but in this case I'm going to make an exception. I want Mai to take over the
squad posted to Kyoshi's Shrine, but it's also traditional that when we have a bender amongst our warriors that they be stationed there. I don't
want either of you to think you're getting special treatment though," she added firmly. "Guarding the Shrine is one of the most important
responsibilities that we have when we're at peace - if thieves were to make off with the artifacts there then we would all be disgraced. And if there is an
attack on the island then your squad will be our main reserve."
"If it's so important, why do you want me to take charge there?" Mai asked.
"Why not someone from Kyoshi Island?"
"Because you're not an outsider," Suki explained carefully, as if to a
particularly slow child. "You're a Kyoshi Warrior, one of us. From today it doesn't matter where you came from. And you're the best choice.
The only person I'd trust more with the job is me, and I have too many other responsibilities."
.oOo.
"I miss Mai," Ty Lee observed out of the blue.
Azula rolled her eyes at the statement, but at least conversing on that point would be more
interesting than any of the spiritforsaken literature that the Dai Li escort had provided for them while they waited to meet with Long Feng. If the sappy
romances were what the nobility of the Earth Kingdom really read, then their problems ran deeper than she had ever imagined. As an example of the culture that
the Dai Li forcibly imposed on the population of Ba Sing Se, all that it convinced her of was the sheer humanitarian goodness of her plans for them. Really,
she deserved a parade.
"What brought her to mind?" she asked, propping one elbow on the arm of the
splendid but not terribly comfortable stone chair she had claimed. "It's very sad, of course, but she's been gone for several months
now."
"Oh, her aura balanced us out," the acrobatic girl explained. "I'm very
pink and with you being crimson -"
"Of course I am," Azula sighed. "I'm the Princess of the Fire Nation,
what other colour would I be?"
""Yeah, but Mai was all dark shades, she accented everything so nicely. I'm
worried we might be off balance without her."
Azula blinked. "If I'm following you correctly, you're concerned that I might
start acting like some sappy, puppy-loving romantic without Mai to drag my mood down," she said, in an uncomfortably tentative tone. "All things
considered, I'd have to say that it sounds very unlikely."
"No, seriously," Ty Lee disagreed. "It's just not the same with out her
here."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, apparently Zuzu's been in a total mood since
she got buried," Azula told her. "Maybe when we're done here we can go see him and he can act like a wet blanket."
"You've heard from him lately?"
Azula laughed. "Zuzu's too busy burning the southern provinces into submission to
write, but I still get intelligence reports. If they're to be believed, he's so incoherent with grief that he isn't even asking for surrenders any
more, just razing every town he comes across. It's rather pathetic, really."
Ty
Lee rolled over on the bunk she was lying on. "Aw that's so romantic." She cuddled a cushion. "Well except the burning towns
bits."
"I suppose. It's certainly helpful - a few towns even surrendered in the hope that
we'd protect them from his roaring rampage of revenge against everyone. Still, you have to wonder - well, I have to wonder," Azula corrected himself.
"How dangerous could they possibly be if they're running in fear from Zuzu? These are the same people that Admiral Zhao couldn't conquer in three
years. Just was the good Admiral playing at?"
"Well maybe Zuko is stronger than Zhao?"
Azula laughed harshly. "Oh dear, Ty. That's a terrible thing to say about Admiral
Zhao. And if it were true..." She hummed thoughtfully. "Oh my... that could make things very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Thank you,
Ty."
She rose and walked over to her writing desk, humming merrily to her self.
Ty
Lee sighed and rolled over onto her back. "Yeah, her chi's way crazy. I wish Mai was here."
.oOo.
"There's something going on on the mainland," Mai reported to Suki, handing
over the telescope that she;d been using.
Suki accepted the instrument and put it to her eye. Although the mainland was completely
below the horizon from the shoreline, at this altitude it was possible to make out a smudge of land. And it was entirely too easy to see a column of smoke
rising from it. "It must be quite a fire," she concluded. "Too much for it to be just them celebrating Avatar Day a week or two early," she
said, relinquishing the telescope over to the third Kiyoshi Warrior at the lookout post built into the roof of the barracks.
"Uh... what am I supposed to do this?" asked Toph snidely, returning it
to Mai.
"Exactly what you just did," Suki replied, unfazed. "Mai, I want you to put
together a team to investigate. The people of Chin Village are no friends to Kyoshi Island, but we need to know if this is simply a fire getting out of hand or
if the Fire Nation have attacked them."
Mai nodded thoughtfully. "Toph, fetch June and Shu-lin."
The small girl turned and ran down the steps from the wooden tower. Suki noted that the
earthbender had no difficulty at all perceiving the individual stairs, something that she would not have expected Toph to manage when she first came to Kyoshi
Island. It was perhaps the least of changes in the girl, certainly the least connected to her training as a warrior.
"Whatever happens, don't start a fight with the Fire Nation," Suki ordered
seriously. "My orders from Oyaji are very firm: we are not to provoke an attack upon Kyoshi Island." She stepped closer. "Less officially, just
don't leave anyone behind, even if you do have to fight for them. I want all three of you back safely."
Mai nodded her understanding. "Four."
Suki blinked. "Four?"
"There will be four of us."
"You, Shu-lin and June. Who else?"
Mai rolled her eyes at Suki's obtuseness and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors stared at
her in shock. "Look Mai, I know you don't like leaving your sister alone, but you need to be objective here. She's too young and inexperienced for
something this dangerous. This is why I wasn't going to post the two of you to the same place."
"I chose Toph for the same reason I chose the others," Mai answered
coolly.
Suki shook her head. "What reason?" she demanded, keeping her voice down as she
heard the first footsteps start up the stairs.
"Because we're all killers," revealed Mai with narrowed eyes. Suki's eyes
widened but she bit back a response as three Kyoshi Warriors joined them, crowding the lookout platform.
June was a tall, sultry woman with a burned face from a past encounter with a firebender.
Although the warpaint masked the scar, it couldn't hide the immobility of the flesh beneath it. Shu-lin, on the other hand, had never left Kyoshi or fought
anything more hostile than a sparring match so far as Suki knew and had been known to the warleader for more than half her life. The notion that she was a
killer simply didn't mesh at all with Suki's view of her. And then, of course, there was Toph.
The Avatar, the hope of half the world, the bridge between the spirit world. It was too much
to hope that an Avatar could avoid deaths in carrying out their duties... but to be defined as a killer? So young?
Mai had to be mistaken. She had to be.
.oOo.
The smoke was still rising, blotting out the stars, when the four Kyoshi Warriors paddled
their canoe to the foot of the cliff that Chin Village was built upon. They hadn't found it at all difficult to find the shore in the dark - the fires
above were almost ideal as a landmark and the sunset had hidden their approach. And, of course, the firebenders would be weaker with the sun below the horizon
- another good reason for timing their little foray for night time.
The path up the cliff was almost certain to be guarded, but there was a ravine a short
distance to the north that was deep enough to hide the canoe. "Toph, find a route up the cliff," Mai ordered quietly. "Make one if you have to,
but keep it discreet. June, Shu-lin, help me camoflage the canoe." She pointed at the shrubs that somehow managed to cling to the ravine walls in places.
"If we heap a few of those on top of the boat no one is likely to see it from above."
They were almost done when there was a rattle from above and a pebble tumbled down the side
of the ravine. Mai looked up to see Toph hanging from the steep slope by one hand. "This is the easiest route," the younger girl advised in a low
voice. "I've put hand holds in on the trickier bits."
Mai turned her head to the other two. "June, finish covering the boat and follow us
up," she ordered, looking almost cheerful for a change. Then she jumped up to the first foothold she could see and started following Toph up the
cliff.
The two Kyoshi Warriors still at the bottom of the slope looked at each other.
"What's with her?" Shu-Lin asked, reaching for a handhold to start her own climb.
June shrugged. "Like I'd know. Maybe this sneaking around gets her hot." She
went back to working with the shrubs. "Somehow, I didn't envisage gardening as a vital skill when I agreed to join the famous Kyoshi Warriors,"
she thought outloud.
Another pebble rolled down the slope onto her. "Quietly," hissed Mai, barely
audible from the darkness above June.
Because ravines, by their very nature, are of little agricultural use, the top of the cliff
had become home to a variety of plants that the farmers of Chin Village did not tolerate in their fields, the resultant hedgerow providing a natural marker for
the potentially dangerous drop. Toph had dealt with the barrier by burrowing a narrow hole beneath it, one just barely wide enough for the older three to
wriggle through.
By
the time June reached the top, Su-Lin was already halfway across the fields towards the village, following the line of another hedgerow. Toph was following the
Kyoshi native, close enough to provide ranged support but sufficiently far behind that a single fire blast wouldn't catch them both. "So we're
teaming up?" she asked Mai, who was waiting for her.
The squad leader nodded her confirmation. "We're checking the road," she said
and then, as if expanding the explanation was physically painful for her added: "The others will check the village square."
June grinned, not caring that without her facepaint the expression would probably have sent
small children running in terror for their mommies. Mai's almost constipated reaction to having to explain things to anyone who wasn't Toph never
failed to amuse. Clearly, the other girl didn't get out much. Probably spent half her life minding her little sister.
The two of them moved seamlessly along the hedgerow towards the road, which was slightly
sunken and - predictably - flanked by hedgerows on either side. June had point so she got to to push through the shrubs to check the road while Mai watched her
back. It probably would have been easier to get through the bushes wearing something other than the long robes of a Kyoshi Warrior, she noted.
"Komodo Rhinos," she reported tersely. "No more than twelve, no fewer than
eight." Which meant anything from four to more than thirty Fire Nation soldiers, most probably the latter - four soldiers with a remount each would be
very unlikely to attack a settlement as large as Chin Village. There was no need to elaborate though, Mai could do the maths as easily as she could. "Only
going in, not away." And since there was only one road to Chin Village, which was on a slight pennisula, that meant they were still there. "No sign
of recent bootprints." Which meant it was entirely a cavalry force. Last that June had heard, there weren't any major Fire Nation forces near enough
to be sending out cavalry patrols but it had been most of a year since she'd heard anything concrete.
Mai nodded. "We'll check the village," she decided and waved for June to lead
the way.
.oOo.
It
was quite easy to find the village square. The thirty-foot wooden statues burning was a pretty big hint.
One had fallen over due to the fire having started at the bottom and weakened the support
structure, sending it crashing into one of the municipal buildings, setting that on fire. It was hard to make out any details but judging by the others, it had
probably represented the mysterious Air Nomad Avatar between Avatar Roku and Avatar Kanna.
Their representations had been ignited around the head and they were still burning, almost
like giant candles, identifiable mainly by the colour of their robes. And like candles they lit the area around them. Red firelight illuminating blackened wood
and blackened bodies in a way that was weirdly beautiful until you looked closely.
There was no sign of Shu-Lin or Toph, but if they were still present then they were probably
doing the same as June and Mai, doing their best to watch their surroundings without being seen. In the flickering light of several dozen burning houses, there
were enough moving shadows to disguise an entire platoon.
"Well I think we can rule out this being anyone but fire nation soldiers," Jun
murmered.
Mai nodded. "Which raises the question of what they're doing," she replied
quietly.
June looked around at the devestation. "Looks pretty clear to me, Spiky," she
said, stealing Toph's nickname for the cool-tempered girl.
"Even the Fire Nation doesn't burn villages just to see them burn," Mai
clarified.
"Plunder first and then the burn?" June asked sardonically. She cocked her head.
"Sounds like any action is going to be nearer to the cliffs."
Mai nodded and the pair of them began to work their way carefully through the alleyways. It
would have been faster to cut across the roofs - but skylining themselves for any firebenders would be almost as dangerous as trusting to burning rafters to
support them. Several buildings had already been reduced to shells when the rafters had given up on supporting the tiles.
Fortunately for their ability to arrive stealthily, the cliff was marginally lower where the
village stood, forming a natural amphitheatre focused upon a tiny shrine. At least twenty Fire Nation soldiers stood around the top, looking inwards, making it
difficult to see what lay within. The skull-faces of their helmets made an eerie parallel to the white face paint of the Kyoshi Warriors. Komodo Rhinos were
positioned in pairs along the perimeter, each pair's reins in the hands of a single soldier.
"..an enemy of the Fire Nation," a voice was declaiming. A younger man, Mai
suspected. Well educated, probably in the Capital. The sort of man who would usually hold a position in one of the prestigious regiments, not in a band of
frontier scouts. For that matter, the armour was not that of a rough and ready field unit - although battered by service, it looked like that of elite guards,
which would mean that most or all of them were firebenders. "Foolish of you to think that your little festival in his honour would be
overlooked."
"Please, no!" a thinner voice protested. "We hate the Avatar, the festival is
to remember the crimes of the Avatar Kyoshi!"
The first speaker laughed. "Oh, how terrible. I've clearly made a greivous
error." His voice hardened. "Do you take me for a fool?" There was a rush of fire and a terrible scream that receded slowly as the source fell
away off the cliff.
"Great," June observed. "A terror raid. At least they don't have a ship,
doesn't look like they'll be a threat to Kyoshi Island." She started to move backwards and then realised that Mai hadn't followed
her.
"This is wrong," Mai mused, eyes still fixed on the back of the
soldiers.
June sighed. "Yes, it is. But we can't do anything about it now."
"Not that," clarified Mai. "These aren't the sort of soldiers sent out
for this sort of thing. They're someone's personal guards and we need to find out whose."
"Right... and how do you suggest that we do that? There are a few too many of those
guys for us to fight, even if the others were with us. And if we go any closer then chances are that they'll spot us and we will have to fight
them."
"Not if we're underneath one of the Komodo Rhinos."
June's face twitched. "That's the first joke I've ever heard you make. Are
you feeling alright?"
Mai ignored her and started to crawl through the grass towards the nearest of the riding
beasts.
"Okay... not a joke," concluded June. "I'm not following you out there
though."
The other Kyoshi Warrior kept crawling.
I
must be out of my mind, June thought as she crawled after her.
.oOo.
In
contrast to the village, the amphitheatre was strangely clean. Of course, that was largely because the cliff was right there for handy disposal of...
mess.
With the soldiers all positioned around the edge, the paved floor was occupied on one side
by the surviving villagers. Mostly the women and the children, with a few men who were merely feeble or useless. Mai was sure that anyone who even looked as if
they might put up resistance had been killed swiftly.
The only man on the other side of the paving was clearly the leader of the soldiers, wearing
lightweight armour. Rather than full helmet, he wore a hideous metal mask that covered his face with the visage of a devil, leaving the rest of his head bare -
of protection and largely of hair. If it wasn't for the circumstances it should have looked laughable, hadn't he ever looked into a mirror?
Under the bellies of a pair of Komodo Rhinos, Mai and June exchanged glances. June's was
questioning and Mai shook her head slightly. Giving Mai a disbelieving look, June mimed the Fire Nation officer's high topknot. Surely that must be
recognisable? There couldn't be all that many idiots prancing around as if they were from the age of the Sun Warriors.
Mai held out her hand palm down and then brought it slowly down, pressing herself against
the grass to avoid startling the Komodo Rhino by touching its underbelly as it began to shuffle uneasily. Possibly it had scented them... or perhaps it was
simply bored. The beasts were ill-tempered at best.
"I have had enough of the raids, of the bandits that you have sheltered and fed,"
the officer said, glaring savagely at the crowd. "The age of four nations, the age of the Avatar... it is all over. The Fire Nation will transform the
world in its image. We have tried doing so peacefully... and you have seen the results. Your young men emerge from the hills and ravage our people, preying
upon women, upon children..." He turned sharply, striding towards them. "You may note that my men have not done so. Those who resisted, those who we
knew to be our enemies, only they have been put to fire and to the sword."
"Because it has harbored banditry, this village will be razed to the ground," he
added casually. "However, the Fire Nation is not without sympathy. Your men brought this upon your homes, but my men will escort you to another settlement
where you may make new lives." Unspoken, both Kyoshi Warriors knew, was that those lives would be in the Fire Nation colonies, very probably with men not
unlike those who had ravaged Chin Village.
They exchanged looks again and began to slowly work their way backwards. Horrible though the
attack had been, there was nothing that the two of them could do to undo it, and at least if the raid was a punitive one, there was little likelihood of it
being repeated against Kyoshi Island.
"Yeah, you're a real hero," spat a female voice.
A
familiar voice.
Mai's eyes went wide as a small figure flipped up over the lip of the cliff, landing on
her feet beside the small shrine. Green robes, white face paint with her eyes detailed in red and black. A simple headband pinning raven-dark hair. A Kyoshi
Warrior... and the diminutive stature made it clear precisely which one.
"I challenge you to an
Agni Kai!"
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
induction of the trainees into the sisterhood of the Kyoshi Warriors if it didn't resemble so closely some of the cliques at the Royal Fire Academy for
Girls clustering in their dormitories to do each other's make-up.
"At least no one's doing anything to my feet," Toph said thankfully from
beside Mai. Although the younger girl's first attempt to don the warpaint had been predictably disasterous, she had corrected for her previous errors and
was able to do a passable job now - as long as someone told her which pot of paint was which.
"Your feet?" Mai asked.
Toph shuddered. "Mother took me to a spa once," she said under her breath.
"They 'beautified' my feet, scraping away half my calluses. I couldn't see anything with them for most of the rest of the
day."
Mai winced. Her own parents weren't the most understanding, but they'd never
suggested that she wear a blindfold as some obscure concession to fashion. Then again, blindfolds had never been fashionable in Fire Nation society, so maybe
she was giving her mother a little more credit than necessary.
"The golden insigna that you wear symbolise the honor of the warrior's heart,"
Suki reminded the new Kyoshi Warriors. "The silk threads symbolise the brave blood that flows through her veins. Many of you are not from Kyoshi Island,
but by joining us in this way, you have all become daughters of Kyoshi like our founder Koko."
"Many of you are already warriors. While the Kyoshi Warriors have always practised the
martial arts passed down from our ancestors, we do not ask that you forget your own skills now that you have joined with us. Although Kyoshi and her daughter
were both of the Earth Kingdom, our arts draw equally from those of the Water Tribes, in homage to the Ocean that surrounds Kyoshi Island. Just as you have
learned the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors, now your sister warriors will learn from you, how to best fight alongside and against your own martial traditions. The
Avatar learned from all of the four nations, seeking wisdom amongst all of them. So to, do we."
Suki bowed her head deeply, as did the other Kyoshi Warriors around the room. "Welcome,
sisters."
Mai, Toph and the others returned the bow.
When Suki's face came up she was smiling. "Now, enough with the speeches. We've
prepared a feast, so let's enjoy the food, the dancing and each other's company."
There was cheer and the new Kyoshi Warriors dispersed, their more experienced fellows
guiding them in friendly groups into the yard where the feast awaited them. With everyone dressed and made up the same way, within moments it was hard to tell
newcomers from veterans, which was the point, Mai supposed.
Individuals were still possible to pick out, if you were familiar with their hair or some
other distinguishing mark however. Amongst each other, the Kyoshi Warriors were individuals but to outsiders they displayed only a single face.
"I know that unsmiling face," Suki observed brightly, moving easily through the
crowd to stand at Mai's elbow. "You're not going to cheer up even now?"
"Spiky never does," Toph observed from Mai's other side and nudged the older
girl sharply below the ribs.
"I delegate chirpiness," Mai replied in a deadpan voice.
"Right, right," Suki said, shaking her head. "Well if you're not going to
enjoy the party, let's talk business for a moment. I'm just about done drawing up the rosters for which warriors will be joining the various villages
around the island. Usually, we break up family members -"
Mai and Toph both froze up.
"- but in this case I'm going to make an exception. I want Mai to take over the
squad posted to Kyoshi's Shrine, but it's also traditional that when we have a bender amongst our warriors that they be stationed there. I don't
want either of you to think you're getting special treatment though," she added firmly. "Guarding the Shrine is one of the most important
responsibilities that we have when we're at peace - if thieves were to make off with the artifacts there then we would all be disgraced. And if there is an
attack on the island then your squad will be our main reserve."
"If it's so important, why do you want me to take charge there?" Mai asked.
"Why not someone from Kyoshi Island?"
"Because you're not an outsider," Suki explained carefully, as if to a
particularly slow child. "You're a Kyoshi Warrior, one of us. From today it doesn't matter where you came from. And you're the best choice.
The only person I'd trust more with the job is me, and I have too many other responsibilities."
.oOo.
"I miss Mai," Ty Lee observed out of the blue.
Azula rolled her eyes at the statement, but at least conversing on that point would be more
interesting than any of the spiritforsaken literature that the Dai Li escort had provided for them while they waited to meet with Long Feng. If the sappy
romances were what the nobility of the Earth Kingdom really read, then their problems ran deeper than she had ever imagined. As an example of the culture that
the Dai Li forcibly imposed on the population of Ba Sing Se, all that it convinced her of was the sheer humanitarian goodness of her plans for them. Really,
she deserved a parade.
"What brought her to mind?" she asked, propping one elbow on the arm of the
splendid but not terribly comfortable stone chair she had claimed. "It's very sad, of course, but she's been gone for several months
now."
"Oh, her aura balanced us out," the acrobatic girl explained. "I'm very
pink and with you being crimson -"
"Of course I am," Azula sighed. "I'm the Princess of the Fire Nation,
what other colour would I be?"
""Yeah, but Mai was all dark shades, she accented everything so nicely. I'm
worried we might be off balance without her."
Azula blinked. "If I'm following you correctly, you're concerned that I might
start acting like some sappy, puppy-loving romantic without Mai to drag my mood down," she said, in an uncomfortably tentative tone. "All things
considered, I'd have to say that it sounds very unlikely."
"No, seriously," Ty Lee disagreed. "It's just not the same with out her
here."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, apparently Zuzu's been in a total mood since
she got buried," Azula told her. "Maybe when we're done here we can go see him and he can act like a wet blanket."
"You've heard from him lately?"
Azula laughed. "Zuzu's too busy burning the southern provinces into submission to
write, but I still get intelligence reports. If they're to be believed, he's so incoherent with grief that he isn't even asking for surrenders any
more, just razing every town he comes across. It's rather pathetic, really."
Ty
Lee rolled over on the bunk she was lying on. "Aw that's so romantic." She cuddled a cushion. "Well except the burning towns
bits."
"I suppose. It's certainly helpful - a few towns even surrendered in the hope that
we'd protect them from his roaring rampage of revenge against everyone. Still, you have to wonder - well, I have to wonder," Azula corrected himself.
"How dangerous could they possibly be if they're running in fear from Zuzu? These are the same people that Admiral Zhao couldn't conquer in three
years. Just was the good Admiral playing at?"
"Well maybe Zuko is stronger than Zhao?"
Azula laughed harshly. "Oh dear, Ty. That's a terrible thing to say about Admiral
Zhao. And if it were true..." She hummed thoughtfully. "Oh my... that could make things very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Thank you,
Ty."
She rose and walked over to her writing desk, humming merrily to her self.
Ty
Lee sighed and rolled over onto her back. "Yeah, her chi's way crazy. I wish Mai was here."
.oOo.
"There's something going on on the mainland," Mai reported to Suki, handing
over the telescope that she;d been using.
Suki accepted the instrument and put it to her eye. Although the mainland was completely
below the horizon from the shoreline, at this altitude it was possible to make out a smudge of land. And it was entirely too easy to see a column of smoke
rising from it. "It must be quite a fire," she concluded. "Too much for it to be just them celebrating Avatar Day a week or two early," she
said, relinquishing the telescope over to the third Kiyoshi Warrior at the lookout post built into the roof of the barracks.
"Uh... what am I supposed to do this?" asked Toph snidely, returning it
to Mai.
"Exactly what you just did," Suki replied, unfazed. "Mai, I want you to put
together a team to investigate. The people of Chin Village are no friends to Kyoshi Island, but we need to know if this is simply a fire getting out of hand or
if the Fire Nation have attacked them."
Mai nodded thoughtfully. "Toph, fetch June and Shu-lin."
The small girl turned and ran down the steps from the wooden tower. Suki noted that the
earthbender had no difficulty at all perceiving the individual stairs, something that she would not have expected Toph to manage when she first came to Kyoshi
Island. It was perhaps the least of changes in the girl, certainly the least connected to her training as a warrior.
"Whatever happens, don't start a fight with the Fire Nation," Suki ordered
seriously. "My orders from Oyaji are very firm: we are not to provoke an attack upon Kyoshi Island." She stepped closer. "Less officially, just
don't leave anyone behind, even if you do have to fight for them. I want all three of you back safely."
Mai nodded her understanding. "Four."
Suki blinked. "Four?"
"There will be four of us."
"You, Shu-lin and June. Who else?"
Mai rolled her eyes at Suki's obtuseness and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors stared at
her in shock. "Look Mai, I know you don't like leaving your sister alone, but you need to be objective here. She's too young and inexperienced for
something this dangerous. This is why I wasn't going to post the two of you to the same place."
"I chose Toph for the same reason I chose the others," Mai answered
coolly.
Suki shook her head. "What reason?" she demanded, keeping her voice down as she
heard the first footsteps start up the stairs.
"Because we're all killers," revealed Mai with narrowed eyes. Suki's eyes
widened but she bit back a response as three Kyoshi Warriors joined them, crowding the lookout platform.
June was a tall, sultry woman with a burned face from a past encounter with a firebender.
Although the warpaint masked the scar, it couldn't hide the immobility of the flesh beneath it. Shu-lin, on the other hand, had never left Kyoshi or fought
anything more hostile than a sparring match so far as Suki knew and had been known to the warleader for more than half her life. The notion that she was a
killer simply didn't mesh at all with Suki's view of her. And then, of course, there was Toph.
The Avatar, the hope of half the world, the bridge between the spirit world. It was too much
to hope that an Avatar could avoid deaths in carrying out their duties... but to be defined as a killer? So young?
Mai had to be mistaken. She had to be.
.oOo.
The smoke was still rising, blotting out the stars, when the four Kyoshi Warriors paddled
their canoe to the foot of the cliff that Chin Village was built upon. They hadn't found it at all difficult to find the shore in the dark - the fires
above were almost ideal as a landmark and the sunset had hidden their approach. And, of course, the firebenders would be weaker with the sun below the horizon
- another good reason for timing their little foray for night time.
The path up the cliff was almost certain to be guarded, but there was a ravine a short
distance to the north that was deep enough to hide the canoe. "Toph, find a route up the cliff," Mai ordered quietly. "Make one if you have to,
but keep it discreet. June, Shu-lin, help me camoflage the canoe." She pointed at the shrubs that somehow managed to cling to the ravine walls in places.
"If we heap a few of those on top of the boat no one is likely to see it from above."
They were almost done when there was a rattle from above and a pebble tumbled down the side
of the ravine. Mai looked up to see Toph hanging from the steep slope by one hand. "This is the easiest route," the younger girl advised in a low
voice. "I've put hand holds in on the trickier bits."
Mai turned her head to the other two. "June, finish covering the boat and follow us
up," she ordered, looking almost cheerful for a change. Then she jumped up to the first foothold she could see and started following Toph up the
cliff.
The two Kyoshi Warriors still at the bottom of the slope looked at each other.
"What's with her?" Shu-Lin asked, reaching for a handhold to start her own climb.
June shrugged. "Like I'd know. Maybe this sneaking around gets her hot." She
went back to working with the shrubs. "Somehow, I didn't envisage gardening as a vital skill when I agreed to join the famous Kyoshi Warriors,"
she thought outloud.
Another pebble rolled down the slope onto her. "Quietly," hissed Mai, barely
audible from the darkness above June.
Because ravines, by their very nature, are of little agricultural use, the top of the cliff
had become home to a variety of plants that the farmers of Chin Village did not tolerate in their fields, the resultant hedgerow providing a natural marker for
the potentially dangerous drop. Toph had dealt with the barrier by burrowing a narrow hole beneath it, one just barely wide enough for the older three to
wriggle through.
By
the time June reached the top, Su-Lin was already halfway across the fields towards the village, following the line of another hedgerow. Toph was following the
Kyoshi native, close enough to provide ranged support but sufficiently far behind that a single fire blast wouldn't catch them both. "So we're
teaming up?" she asked Mai, who was waiting for her.
The squad leader nodded her confirmation. "We're checking the road," she said
and then, as if expanding the explanation was physically painful for her added: "The others will check the village square."
June grinned, not caring that without her facepaint the expression would probably have sent
small children running in terror for their mommies. Mai's almost constipated reaction to having to explain things to anyone who wasn't Toph never
failed to amuse. Clearly, the other girl didn't get out much. Probably spent half her life minding her little sister.
The two of them moved seamlessly along the hedgerow towards the road, which was slightly
sunken and - predictably - flanked by hedgerows on either side. June had point so she got to to push through the shrubs to check the road while Mai watched her
back. It probably would have been easier to get through the bushes wearing something other than the long robes of a Kyoshi Warrior, she noted.
"Komodo Rhinos," she reported tersely. "No more than twelve, no fewer than
eight." Which meant anything from four to more than thirty Fire Nation soldiers, most probably the latter - four soldiers with a remount each would be
very unlikely to attack a settlement as large as Chin Village. There was no need to elaborate though, Mai could do the maths as easily as she could. "Only
going in, not away." And since there was only one road to Chin Village, which was on a slight pennisula, that meant they were still there. "No sign
of recent bootprints." Which meant it was entirely a cavalry force. Last that June had heard, there weren't any major Fire Nation forces near enough
to be sending out cavalry patrols but it had been most of a year since she'd heard anything concrete.
Mai nodded. "We'll check the village," she decided and waved for June to lead
the way.
.oOo.
It
was quite easy to find the village square. The thirty-foot wooden statues burning was a pretty big hint.
One had fallen over due to the fire having started at the bottom and weakened the support
structure, sending it crashing into one of the municipal buildings, setting that on fire. It was hard to make out any details but judging by the others, it had
probably represented the mysterious Air Nomad Avatar between Avatar Roku and Avatar Kanna.
Their representations had been ignited around the head and they were still burning, almost
like giant candles, identifiable mainly by the colour of their robes. And like candles they lit the area around them. Red firelight illuminating blackened wood
and blackened bodies in a way that was weirdly beautiful until you looked closely.
There was no sign of Shu-Lin or Toph, but if they were still present then they were probably
doing the same as June and Mai, doing their best to watch their surroundings without being seen. In the flickering light of several dozen burning houses, there
were enough moving shadows to disguise an entire platoon.
"Well I think we can rule out this being anyone but fire nation soldiers," Jun
murmered.
Mai nodded. "Which raises the question of what they're doing," she replied
quietly.
June looked around at the devestation. "Looks pretty clear to me, Spiky," she
said, stealing Toph's nickname for the cool-tempered girl.
"Even the Fire Nation doesn't burn villages just to see them burn," Mai
clarified.
"Plunder first and then the burn?" June asked sardonically. She cocked her head.
"Sounds like any action is going to be nearer to the cliffs."
Mai nodded and the pair of them began to work their way carefully through the alleyways. It
would have been faster to cut across the roofs - but skylining themselves for any firebenders would be almost as dangerous as trusting to burning rafters to
support them. Several buildings had already been reduced to shells when the rafters had given up on supporting the tiles.
Fortunately for their ability to arrive stealthily, the cliff was marginally lower where the
village stood, forming a natural amphitheatre focused upon a tiny shrine. At least twenty Fire Nation soldiers stood around the top, looking inwards, making it
difficult to see what lay within. The skull-faces of their helmets made an eerie parallel to the white face paint of the Kyoshi Warriors. Komodo Rhinos were
positioned in pairs along the perimeter, each pair's reins in the hands of a single soldier.
"..an enemy of the Fire Nation," a voice was declaiming. A younger man, Mai
suspected. Well educated, probably in the Capital. The sort of man who would usually hold a position in one of the prestigious regiments, not in a band of
frontier scouts. For that matter, the armour was not that of a rough and ready field unit - although battered by service, it looked like that of elite guards,
which would mean that most or all of them were firebenders. "Foolish of you to think that your little festival in his honour would be
overlooked."
"Please, no!" a thinner voice protested. "We hate the Avatar, the festival is
to remember the crimes of the Avatar Kyoshi!"
The first speaker laughed. "Oh, how terrible. I've clearly made a greivous
error." His voice hardened. "Do you take me for a fool?" There was a rush of fire and a terrible scream that receded slowly as the source fell
away off the cliff.
"Great," June observed. "A terror raid. At least they don't have a ship,
doesn't look like they'll be a threat to Kyoshi Island." She started to move backwards and then realised that Mai hadn't followed
her.
"This is wrong," Mai mused, eyes still fixed on the back of the
soldiers.
June sighed. "Yes, it is. But we can't do anything about it now."
"Not that," clarified Mai. "These aren't the sort of soldiers sent out
for this sort of thing. They're someone's personal guards and we need to find out whose."
"Right... and how do you suggest that we do that? There are a few too many of those
guys for us to fight, even if the others were with us. And if we go any closer then chances are that they'll spot us and we will have to fight
them."
"Not if we're underneath one of the Komodo Rhinos."
June's face twitched. "That's the first joke I've ever heard you make. Are
you feeling alright?"
Mai ignored her and started to crawl through the grass towards the nearest of the riding
beasts.
"Okay... not a joke," concluded June. "I'm not following you out there
though."
The other Kyoshi Warrior kept crawling.
I
must be out of my mind, June thought as she crawled after her.
.oOo.
In
contrast to the village, the amphitheatre was strangely clean. Of course, that was largely because the cliff was right there for handy disposal of...
mess.
With the soldiers all positioned around the edge, the paved floor was occupied on one side
by the surviving villagers. Mostly the women and the children, with a few men who were merely feeble or useless. Mai was sure that anyone who even looked as if
they might put up resistance had been killed swiftly.
The only man on the other side of the paving was clearly the leader of the soldiers, wearing
lightweight armour. Rather than full helmet, he wore a hideous metal mask that covered his face with the visage of a devil, leaving the rest of his head bare -
of protection and largely of hair. If it wasn't for the circumstances it should have looked laughable, hadn't he ever looked into a mirror?
Under the bellies of a pair of Komodo Rhinos, Mai and June exchanged glances. June's was
questioning and Mai shook her head slightly. Giving Mai a disbelieving look, June mimed the Fire Nation officer's high topknot. Surely that must be
recognisable? There couldn't be all that many idiots prancing around as if they were from the age of the Sun Warriors.
Mai held out her hand palm down and then brought it slowly down, pressing herself against
the grass to avoid startling the Komodo Rhino by touching its underbelly as it began to shuffle uneasily. Possibly it had scented them... or perhaps it was
simply bored. The beasts were ill-tempered at best.
"I have had enough of the raids, of the bandits that you have sheltered and fed,"
the officer said, glaring savagely at the crowd. "The age of four nations, the age of the Avatar... it is all over. The Fire Nation will transform the
world in its image. We have tried doing so peacefully... and you have seen the results. Your young men emerge from the hills and ravage our people, preying
upon women, upon children..." He turned sharply, striding towards them. "You may note that my men have not done so. Those who resisted, those who we
knew to be our enemies, only they have been put to fire and to the sword."
"Because it has harbored banditry, this village will be razed to the ground," he
added casually. "However, the Fire Nation is not without sympathy. Your men brought this upon your homes, but my men will escort you to another settlement
where you may make new lives." Unspoken, both Kyoshi Warriors knew, was that those lives would be in the Fire Nation colonies, very probably with men not
unlike those who had ravaged Chin Village.
They exchanged looks again and began to slowly work their way backwards. Horrible though the
attack had been, there was nothing that the two of them could do to undo it, and at least if the raid was a punitive one, there was little likelihood of it
being repeated against Kyoshi Island.
"Yeah, you're a real hero," spat a female voice.
A
familiar voice.
Mai's eyes went wide as a small figure flipped up over the lip of the cliff, landing on
her feet beside the small shrine. Green robes, white face paint with her eyes detailed in red and black. A simple headband pinning raven-dark hair. A Kyoshi
Warrior... and the diminutive stature made it clear precisely which one.
"I challenge you to an
Agni Kai!"
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.