On the Way to Ba Sing Se: Smellershot
This is a one-shot about what happens while Jet, Smellerbee, amd Longshot are on their way to Ba Sing Se on the ferry, at night after dinner.
Disclaimer: I do not own Smellerbee, Longshot, Jet, or the FireNation soldiers. All are property of Mike & Brian, the creators of Avatar, the Last Airbender.
Author Note:
Leaning against the railing of the ferry, Smellerbee stared into the black, mirror like waters of the night. Everyone was sleeping, but she couldn't rest. That old man's world replayed through her mind. Of course she wasn't a man… she was a girl.
Why did it bother her so much that he hadn't realized it before she told him? She never used to care, and the person who mattered most liked her for who she was. Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't want to appear as a girl to him, though.
They were on their way to Ba Sing Se, where they hoped to have a fresh new start. It was there that she hoped to have the chance to transform; to discard her boyish appearance for something more feminine. She would find a job and earn the money to buy a skirt. Behind the walls of the great city, she wouldn't have to fight. Sure, she could fight well, but that had been for her survival; for a cause that was no longer important. Lately she found herself wishing to return to the life she once had; before the Fire Nation took it all away from her. It had happened four years ago, but it felt like another life time…
"Mitsu, come here, quick!" Her mother rushed into their small farm house with such urgency that Mitsu dripped the dish she had been washing. The clay plate made a loud clunking sound when it hit the wooden floor, but didn't break.
"Mo… Mother what's wrong?" Mitsu bent to retrieve the dish. Her mother had gone into town earlier that morning for the purpose of selling part of their rice crop. She was back earlier than expected.
"There's no time to explain, hurry!" Her mother was digging through a pile of her older brother's clothes and threw a pair of pants and a shirt in her general direction. "Put those on!"
Mitsu did as she was told. Her heart pounded with anxiety at her mother's desperate rush. Once her brother's baggy clothes hung off of her tiny frame, she stared with wide, frightened eyes as her mother, gripping the hilt of her father's dagger, grabbed the top of her ponytail and sliced the blade beneath the hair tie. She stifled a cry and watched in horror as her long brown tresses fell around her feet. "Mo… Mother!"
"Go now, quickly, and take this with you!" the woman passed the dagger into her hands. "Don't let anyone know you're a girl, you'd be better off dead then that!" Her mother shoved her out the back door and slammed it behind her.
After stumbling over a patch of mud from last night's rain, Mitsu heard the commotion behind her, back in her home. The front door had been kicked open, her mother screamed, "Well, well well, what have we here?" a deep, gruff voice that she didn't recognize said. Her mother screamed again. "Pretty little thing, ain't she?"
Mitsu realized that the Fire Nation soldiers had invaded her village when she saw the smoke in the distance. Her first thoughts told her that she had to find her father and brother, who were working in the rice fields. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. By the time that she found them, they were already surrounded. Her father caught sight of her after he had managed to evade an attack.
"Uyeda, take Mitsu and go!" He yelled to her brother before running towards and attacking the nearest soldier with his sickle.
Uyeda, being 12 years old, was nimble and quick, managing to dodge out of the way of two soldiers who tried to grab him and ducking through the legs of a third who blocked his path. He ran towards his sister, almost not recognizing her. After grabbing hold of her hand, he pulled her after him as they fled the field. His instincts told him to run home, but Mitsu pulled stubbornly on his arm until he had to look at her. "We can't go home!" she cried. "They're already there!"
As if to confirm her words, a soldier opened the back door of the house to see them. "Hey! There are kids out here!"
Somehow they managed to escape; daring not to go back, even after a week in the forest. Their impending feeling of loss was confirmed when they overheard a group of travelers talking about how the Fire Nation had taken out the entire village on a whim; because the general was in a bad mood – there were no survivors. Neither Uyeda nor Mitsu were about to correct their analysis.
Another week passed and they arrived at the next village, only to find that the Fire Nation had claimed hold of it. On an ongoing stroke of bad luck, they ran into a soldier who recognized them as the kids from the farm house who escaped. He pursued them into the forest with a couple other soldiers. Uyeda pushed her to continue going as he lead them in another direction.
Finding a hollow in one of the massive trees, Mitsu hid within it, but it wasn't long before the soldiers picked up on her trail. They found her, hiding in the tree like a scared Gopher Bear cub. Just when she thought she was a goner, an arrow struck the soldier who was reaching for her, in the back. When he fell, she saw a boy with two swords fighting the remaining soldiers.
That was how Smellerbee first met Jet and Longshot. Both had mistaken her for a boy, then; a boy who cried a lot. After finding her brother's remains, something inside of her snapped and she decided to take advantage of the opportunity she had been given to avenge her family. It was Jet who taught her how to "be a man," but it was Longshot who reminded her that she was a woman, two years after she had joined the Freedom Fighters…
She woke early one morning, before the break of dawn. Taking advantage of the hour, when the rest of the hide-out occupants were asleep, she decided it would be a good time to bathe in the river. It was a beautiful spring night; not too cool and with a clear star filled sky. The water was still chilly, though. She washed quickly and lay on a soft pad of moss, letting the night air dry her body before dressing.
She was on her back, staring up through a hole in the forest canopy at the sky when she heard it; the whistling of an arrow a few yards away. Sitting up, startled, she grabbed for her shirt to cover her naked body, but found that it was too late. Spotting him in a tree above her, it was obvious that he had seen everything.
Smellerbee pulled her shirt over her head and glared at him. He hadn't moved. She could tell that he was shocked by his new discovery. "You tell anyone, and I swear to the spirits that I'll kill you!" she threatened before realizing, while pulling her pants on, that he wouldn't tell a soul. She hadn't ever heard him speak.
Later that day, during a raid on a Fire Nation battalion, Smellerbee had just single handedly taken down two of the soldiers. Unaware of a third soldier preparing to attack behind her, she felt the wind of an arrows passage above her head and heard it strike its target with a loud clank. She spun around in time to watch the soldier stagger backwards; the arrow had been reflected by his armor, but the force of the blow was enough to throw him off balance. Smellerbee swiped at his legs, tripping him, and her dagger slid between the metal plates that shielded his torso. With him taken care of, she glared in Longshot's direction. "Don't start treating me any differently from before," she told him later, when they were alone. "Your actions will give me away louder than your words!"
From that moment on, he always watched her back, and she eventually began to return the favor. Yes, Longshot had become the person who mattered most to her. Not to say that Jet wasn't next in line; after Uyeda's death, he had become her replacement older brother.
Smellerbee let out a long sigh after returning to the present. It was then that she noticed his reflection in the water. It wasn't very clear, but she could see the blurry edges of his silhouette. At some point during her reverie, Longshot had come to stand beside her, also leaning against the railing of the ship. Never once had he tried to disturb her. He was close enough that she could rest her head on his shoulder, if she wanted. She had become so used to his presence over the years that he was the only one who could sneak up her.
Attentive to her slight change in posture, Longshot knew that she was aware of him. When she leaned against him, he moved his arm around her. She unconsciously nestled against his side. Something was bothering her. Was it still about what the old man had said? As if she had read his mind, she asked:
"What do you think of me, Longshot?"
That wasn't an easy question to answer. He thought many things about her. She was a remarkable person; strong, able, and trustworthy. She was a skilled fighter and master or the sword. She was one of his best friends. He was lucky to be the only one to see her sweet, caring and feminine side. Yet, that wasn't the answer she was looking for. She already knew all of this. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts he nudged her to pull her attention away from the water. She looked up at him and he nodded towards the horizon.
Smellerbee followed his gaze and took in a larger view of her surroundings. At the point on the horizon where the sky and lake met, the two became one. The starlit sky was mirrored off of the water; the full moon's reflection shown off the only spot of blue on the glass like sheet of blackness. "It's beautiful," she spoke in a whisper once she remembered to breathe.
Longshot nodded and gave her a gentle squeeze. She returned her look to him, staring at him in wonder, searching his eyes to verify her interpretation of his answer; was he saying that he thought she was beautiful? When he nodded, she blushed and buried her face against his shoulder, hiding her embarrassment. It was all the answer she needed. So long as she was confident with whom she was, and as long as he loved her, it didn't matter what other people thought.
The name I picked for her, Mitsu, means "honey". (I was thinking of using the Japanese word for Bee, Hachi, except a friend is already using the name in her Smellershot fic, so I settled for using the word for Honey instead.)
Yeah, I gave her an older brother based on my obsession and wish that I had one... so sue me. His name, Uyeda means "from the rice field",