In her cabin on the Earth Kingdom ship, Suki covered her skin in white makeup, the same makeup that Avatar Kyoshi had worn. Today, they were returning to Kyoshi Island for the first time in months. It was an exciting prospect; she hadn't set foot on the island in months and it would be good to be back. To see her family again, her neighbors. She'd won the war, and it was time for the Kyoshi Warriors to go home. She'd known most of them from childhood; she and the rest of them had been friends for as long as she could remember. They'd started training with Kyoshi's fans from the time they were little girls, and even before that, most of them had already been friends. Almost all of them, except for Ty Lee, who her fellow warriors had met in prison. Although Suki herself didn't know her that well, Ty Lee seemed nice, and she thought she could grow to like her.
She finished applying the rest of her makeup, drawing on her eyebrows and adding the red-orange makeup that stretched from the inside of her eyebrows, and applying her dark red lipstick. Already, her auburn hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, under her headdress, and she was dressed in the armored silk uniform of any Kyoshi Warrior. Her fans were tucked into the side of the dress, where she could easily reach them. Before long, their ship pulled into the shore of the island. It was late morning, a few hours shy of noon, and everyone was awake and ready. They stepped off the ship, all in uniform, and walked down the ramp. A smile split across Suki's face as she stepped onto the sandy beach. She was home.
"It's good to be back, isn't it?" she breathed, turning towards one of the other warriors. "It feels like it's been so long."
"Oh, I know it," Jia said, pressing her hands to her chest and sighing. "I've really missed home. How long were we gone, eight months?"
"Something like that," Suki said, carefully stepping over a tree root. They were walking through the forest on the outskirts of the town, through the short, winding dirt path that had been mostly flattened by centuries of travel.
A large crowd of people were waiting for them when they stepped through the trees, right into the village square. Little kids, both girls and boys, held up signs welcoming them home, and people stood in clumps of five or six, groups of friends, or parents and their children. The warriors stood still, for a moment in time, and then everyone split up to find their families. Suki pushed through the crowd, craning her neck to try to pick her mother out of the huge crowd. It seemed like the entire village was in the street, waiting for them to return. Finally, Suki's eyes landed on a middle-aged woman with pale, blue eyes and amber hair just starting to gray. Her mother.
"Mom!" she called, waving a gloved hand in the air as she walked over to her. Her mother pulled her into a crushing embrace, and Suki was careful to turn her head so as not to smudge her carefully-applied makeup. Finally, her mother pulled away.
"Your back! You should have wrote," she said, lightly scolding her daughter. "It's been too long."
"Mom, I was kind of a prisoner of war, for a while," Suki said, apologetic. "And then I was with the avatar, and it's not like they have a postal system in abandoned air temples."
Suki's mother gaped at her, her eyes widening. "You were a prisoner of war? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, don't worry. It was- I broke out. Eventually. I'm fine, you don't need to worry about it at all."
Suki looked around, and it seemed like everyone else was having similar reunions with their families- everyone was catching up with the people they'd left behind. It hadn't been planned that way, but everyone was reuniting anyway.
Everyone, that is, except for Ty Lee.
That evening, in the town hall, they held a feast to welcome them back- food was laid out on a table, and the entire village could come and pick from it. Every household in town made something. Suki and her mother had made a vegetable dish. She piled up her plate with steamed fish and vegetables and rice, and she walked over to the other Kyoshi Warriors. Which included Ty Lee, now. Suki couldn't really decide how she felt about her yet- she seemed nice-ish, from the one, fleeting conversation they'd had together, and she would have to admit that Ty Lee was very pretty, with her long, silky hair braided back and big, bright gray eyes. Suki sat down on the edge of the table, next to Jia, and started eating right away. The food was delicious- she hadn't had anything that could compare since she'd left.
"So, Ty Lee," she said, looking for a conversation starter. "How do you like Kyoshi so far?"
"Well, I've only been here for a day, but what I've seen so far is pretty nice. I'm excited to train with you guys!" Her gray eyes were wide with excitement, and she laughed, saying, "I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing, but I'm excited anyway."
"We protect and defend Kyoshi Island. Most of the time, it's pretty safe from intruders- especially now that the war's over, I'm sure. We do a lot of work in town, too, when we're needed. Say, there's a fire, or trouble with the Unagi, or something like that- we're there. We train pretty much every day. I can show you the building later, if you want." Suki said.
Ty Lee nodded, beaming. She had a radiant smile. "That sounds great! I can't wait to be a part of it. Gosh, it's so weird to think that the war is over, though! I know it's been, like, a week, but still!"
"Right?" Jia said, throwing her gloved hands into the air and leaning forward across the table. Her thick, black hair was twisted into a large, wavy bun on top of her head. "I can hardly believe it. But it's good you're excited!"
"Yeah," Suki added.
"Oh, Suki!" Jia said. "Weren't you with the avatar? Tell us about that! How did you get out of prison? Don't tell me they released you before us!"
"Yeah, sure, they let me, of all people, walk free a month and a half before the war ended." Suki said, rolling her eyes. "You remember that guy who came down here before we left? He was fifteen, about our age…kind of sexist?"
Jia nodded, rolling her brown eyes. "I know I remember you showing him just how powerful we were,"
"Yeah, that's Sokka, my boyfriend." Suki said, smiling fondly. Jia gasped and pressed a hand to her mouth at the absolute scandal."Don't worry. He's improved vastly since you met him. Anyway, so, it all happened a few months after all of us were separated. Sokka came to my prison with Zuko, and we broke out. Do you guys remember how, when we first came to the boiling rock, we rode the gondola across? Well, we rode it back across the lake. And it went alright, but then- the warden starts yelling for them to cut the line! So this girl with knives comes out and saves us all."
"Ooh, I remember that! That was Mai." Ty Lee said. "Zuko's girlfriend."
"Isn't Zuko the guy who burned down our village?" Jia asked. "Or was that a different Zuko?"
"No, no, it's all the same guy, Jia," Suki said. "And, yeah, it was weird for me too at first."
In the morning, Suki woke up in her own bed for the first time in months. Sunlight streamed in through the window, and it was almost exactly as she'd left it when she'd left Kyoshi Island, to help with the war effort. She yawned, and with a spine-popping stretch, she rolled out of bed. She changed into her uniform, pulling the dress over her head, and then she tied her hair back into a half ponytail. They had training in the mornings. Suki left her bedroom, closing the door behind her, and walked into the kitchen. Her mother was just finishing up breakfast.
"Oh! I was just about to call you," she said. "How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good, actually," Suki said. "What about you?"
"I slept fine. So, how was your trip?"
Suki laughed. "I'm not sure if I would call it a trip, Mom, but it was- well, it was okay. I guess. For the most part. We started out ferrying refugees, for about a month or two, and then we moved on, but it was definitely worthwhile. I mean, we did sort of get captured by the Fire Nation last spring, and then we were in prison for a while. And that was just awful. But other than that, I think it was probably worth it, to help with the war. Oh, and then I was with the avatar for a while, after I broke out of prison." She took a bite of food, trying not to think about the time she'd spent in the Boiling Rock. Her mother frowned- obviously she wanted to ask more, she wanted detail- but by then Suki really had to run. She stood up and ran to the door.
"It's about time for me to go. See you!" she said, her voice suddenly high, as she closed the door behind her. She walked to the training gym, just a few minutes from her house. She was in full uniform, like usual, and her fans were clipped to her side.
She was the first one in the gym- it was completely empty, completely silent. Leaning against a wall, her arms crossed, Suki stared into space, waiting for the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors to arrive so she could start training. The gym was made of old, old wood, with a green, panelled floor. It had large windows on the side that opened vertically, on a hinge. Suddenly, the doors creaked open again, and Suki, who hadn't been paying attention, jolted. It was Ty Lee, in her uniform and makeup, just like the rest of them. After dinner, the night before, Suki had shown her around town- where the markets were, where the water pumps were. And of course, she'd shown her the training gym.
"Hi!" Ty Lee said.
"Hey," Suki replied. "So, you've probably never used fans before, have you?"
"Not really," Ty Lee said, blushing. "Mostly, I just used chi-blocking. Sorry."
"Well, that's fine," Suki said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's easy once you get the hang of it."
"So, when do we start?" Ty Lee asked, glancing around at the empty room.
"I could show you a little now, so you have some idea what you're doing," Suki said.
"Alright, sounds great!" Ty Lee said.
"You should start with some basic forms. Here, you stand back and watch. I'll show you." Suki said.
Ty Lee stood back, watching carefully, as Suki went through the motions of one of the beginner-level forms. It was one of the first things that Suki had ever been taught, and it was part of the foundation of the technique that Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors had spent years mastering, perfecting. She moved gracefully, expertly- after so many years of practice, it was only natural for her to be good. Ty Lee only watched, intrigued and eager to learn. She wanted to be one of them.
"Okay, now you try it," Suki said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Pausing, Ty Lee took in a deep breath, and then tried it out. Suki watched, analyzing her movements. She was trying to do it way too forcefully. Suki was beginning to think that was a common problem for outsiders. Also, she didn't know what she was doing- not only were her movements awkward, jagged, and fumbling, they weren't even right to begin with. She was leaning all wrong, too shallow. Really, it was terrible, although Suki would never say that to her face.
"How bad was it?" Ty Lee asked, grimacing.
Suki sighed, hesitating before saying, "Well, you are just starting. It's okay if you don't have the movements down right away. Beside's that, that's just not how we fight. The way you're moving looks disjointed."
"Could you maybe show me?" she asked, blushing out of embarrassment.
"Alright. Here," Suki said. Placing one hand on Ty Lee's shoulder and the other on her waist, she guided her through the form. "It's like this. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it."
One by one, the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors started to file into the gym. It was time to fall back into routine again, after months away from home and helping out the rest of the Earth Kingdom- Kyoshi Island had grown to be very isolated during the war, and Suki had been among the first to leave the island for more than a fishing trip in decades. There were seven Kyoshi warriors in total, including Suki, and, now, Ty Lee. Slowly, but surely, they trickled in through the wide, open doors. As the last girl walked in, Suki jumped off the wall, clapping her hands together.
"Alright! Let's get started, everyone," she said.
Ty Lee learned very quickly. Over the next few weeks, she improved vastly. She was good, and even if she didn't have quite the same amount of skill, she was catching up fast, and sometimes, during training, Suki couldn't keep her eyes off her. The truth of the matter was that Suki couldn't help feeling drawn to her, and not in a way she could explain. It had been there from the beginning, probably- definitely not the first time they met, but when she first came to Kyoshi- but as time passed and she got to know her better, it got worse. She couldn't stop thinking about her. Daydreaming about her. But Suki ignored it as best as she could, of course. The tingling she'd get in her skin, sometimes, if Ty Lee grabbed her arm or her shoulder when they were talking- and she always did- were probably nothing. They just had some kind of special bond.
AN
Well, you've come this far. Hopefully it wasn't too terrible. So I'm going to try to have this updated by next week. I've learned a little bit about myself, and what I've learned is that I have, roughly, the attention span of a squirrel. Which means I have to make sure I'm interested in the story or I'm going to move on to something else. Which is why there's a time skip at the end there. It would have gotten repetitive. I'd be bored. You'd be bored. And this would never get very far.