My Name is Song
My Name is Song. I'm a healer by trade and I'm really good at what I do, but I didn't start out this way. I can remember living with my mom and dad in our tiny little farming village. It was a happy time, a time when life seemed a little simpler.
But one day everything changed. I can remember the day when Fire Nation soldiers raided my village. I can still smell the smoke and burning houses. We were small and they wanted more than we could give. They took everything including my father. They rounded up all the men and carted them away like cattle.
I was only 7 at that time, and I can remember running out, breaking from my moms grasp and ignoring her screams. I wanted my daddy, I can still see his face and I rushed after the cart. I didn't see however the soldier who shot a blast of fire. He wasn't meaning to kill me, rather than stop me. He burned my right leg. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the cart trail further and further away, I tried to get up but my leg would have none of it.
It was then I was taken to the next village and treated by the local healer. He mended my leg as best he could. The pain of having my father taken away from me eclipsed the pain in my leg. I still feel pain in it every now and then and I still carry the scars to this day.
When I was 12 I began apprenticing under the same healer, He taught me everything he knew about medicine and mixing poultices. I spent hours learning about to the human body and how to treat what ails it, He taught me what plants to use and how to treat several types of injuries. But most of all he shared with me his stories of traveling the world. It was he who first told me about the Avatar, and how someday he would return to save the world and restore balance between the four nations.. It was then I too began to believe.
Even now as I heard the rumors of an Airbender boy, who defeated an entire Fire Nation fleet at the North Pole. I knew the Avatar had returned. I still had hope that one day our world would have peace.
Then came the day I learned the Avatar was killed in Ba Sing Se, It was also the same day the Fire Nation tore through our village, Only this time it I was the one who was taken from my mother.
They had storm through and rounded up all of the Earth Kingdom soldiers that had made camp there, and because I was caught aiding some injured soldiers. I was considered an enemy combatant and treated as such. Now I find myself further away from home than I have ever been. I'm still alive and I still serve a purpose where I'm at now. My abilities as a healer are now more important than ever.
My name is Song, and I'm a prisoner at the Boiling Rock Prison.
The prison sits on a tiny island in the middle of a boiling lake that sits near a volcano. The water is scorching and any attempt to swim means certain death. The walls are so high that the idea of scaling it is impossible. Guard towers are place all over the hexagonal shaped prison. Workers are ferried in an out to local coalmines to work and harvest coal for the Fire Nation.
There is only one way on to the prison and one way out.
Believe it or not, our days are pretty structured. Every day we get up before the dawn, the women are herded into the washing chamber. A new invention the fire nation uses to wash everyone at once. We go in twelve at a time, and water is poured down from pipes above. For one minuet we have to wash and rinse.
After wards while the men are washed, the women prisoners prepare the meals for the other prisoners. It's here that I tend to everyone wounds and sicknesses.
Most are from malnutrition, others are injuries incurred from working at the coalmines from all over. Eventually most of the prisoners die from working too long in the coalmines. I try to treat the injuries as best I can. The Warden allows me little supplies to work with.
I work with what I can, most of the time I have to improvise. It's here that ever little trick and every lesson my teacher taught me comes in use. I use old clothes for bandages; mix up healing creams from what plants they allow me to grown in a small herbal garden by the waste area.
I usually spend all of my days here in the prison tending to the injuries of the prisoners.
I remember the day I was brought here, my hanbok was replaced with the old drab green and brown of the prisoner uniform, they shaved my hair to control the lice problem. We were then scrubbed down to every last inch of our bodies with a soap made of the fat of Elephant Koi fish, that they said would kill any germs we were carrying. We were then locked away alone in a cold dark cell for what seemed like days on end. I sometimes wonder if I might die here, and then there are days that my hopes and dreams that the Avatar would restore balance calms me and keeps me alive.
It was eleven months later that I was brought before the warden of the Prison. From what I was told he was a former Admiral of the Fire Nation Navy. We were never permitted to speak his name, only to call him the Warden. He was tall stoic man who was aged in his 60's. They say he had served under Admiral Zhao during the failed siege of the North. After Zhao went missing he had expected to take over in his place. Instead the Fire Lord demoted him to this duty here, a decision that obviously didn't sit well with him.
They escorted me into his chamber; heavy chains shackled my hands, neck and ankles. It was more meant for demoralization than to actually keep us bounded. The Warden did love to play mind games. He mainly played them with the prisoners that were considered the fiercest warriors. He saw it no honor to exert his will over a woman, but it didn't mean he wouldn't partake in condoning the actions of some of his guards. After seeing my skills as healer he appointed me in charge of caring for the prisoners. For him it was really an act so he didn't have to feel guilty all the time. That and we suspected too many deaths at his prison might make him look bad. After all for the Warden, Image was everything.
"Good morning Song, " He spoke in a calm sedated tone" I see your hair has almost grown back to it's original length.."
I kept quiet, it wasn't that I was supposed to not speak until spoken too; it was that I genuinely didn't like talking to this man.
"Ok, you don't have to speak.." He said without a beat " Were expecting a new batch of prisoners, some Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom warriors. They just came in from a large battle, I need you to make sure their wounds are tended too and they stay alive. "
"I'm going to need more supplies than you normally give me to work with…" I said, "There's only so much…
He interrupted me " I know, there's only so much urine you can produce.. It's amazing how well that stuff works to clean wounds. No, you'll get what you need. I just need some assurance I'll get what I need."
" I hate when he did this, that last time this happened I got lashed because of it"
"What do you want?" I asked with an aura of disdain in my eyes
He smiled coyly" It's not what you think, I respect your skills a little more than for you to be used like that." He said as he stood up from his desk and walked toward me. He lifted my chin to make me look at him in his eyes." No Song, I will tell you in good time what I will need from you." I wrenched my gaze from him and looked down, the feeling of his breath on my face made me nauseous.
He looked toward the guards, "Take her to the Supply deck, and make sure she takes what she needs"
I was grabbed by the scruff of my collar and led away; Even though his reasoning may have ulterior motives at least I was getting new supplies.
After collecting several herbs and roots, I took some bandages and suturing material. I loaded two burlap sacks with it and was escorted back to my work area.
"Is that what I think it is!?" Yan, my apprentice exclaimed. He was a boy of only 12, He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was captured alongside an Earth Kingdom force. He would have been sent to work in the coal mines had I not pleaded for him to work as my assistant. I guess the Warden was in a good mood that day as he agreed without incident.
"They're medical supplies, Apparently they are getting some high end prisoners that got banged up pretty badly in a battle, They want us to make sure they get fixed up ok." I said as I put up the supplies.
Yan finished changing the bandages on a sleeping prisoner "They might be holding them for interrogation, or worse execution!"
I stayed silent; I didn't want to acknowledge an obvious answer. With the fall of Ba Sing Se there were only a small rag tag group of fighters still holding off the Fire Nation from totally victory. They had still yet to conquer the Northern water tribes, as their previous attempt from last year failed when the Avatar intervened.
Then the news came that the Avatar was slain at the fall of Ba Sing Se, I wasn't sure of the details yet. I wasn't even completely sure the rumor was true. I still kept hope that the Avatar was still alive.
In my work area it was a larger prison cell that had been hollowed out and mats were placed for us to treat prisoners, they weren't permitted to stay here long, As soon as they could walk they were put back to work. I went to clean the wound of the other patient in the chamber. She was a girl my age; I think she said she was a Kyoshi warrior. Her face had been burned in an altercation with a guard.
She winced as I removed her old bandages and cleaned her wounds.
"Your fortunate" I said as I applied some of the new supplies " I got in some medicinal cream that will help your face, but we'll have to wait to see if you're sight will ever return."
"S-Suki, "She whimpered, " Azula hurt Suki…"
I wrapped the new bandaged and cradled her head in my lap to give her some water. " Drink this, you need to rest.." From the looks of the poor girl's wounds, it looks like she was hit in the face with a fire blast at pointblank range. I've actually seen worse injuries than this. More so being here. I've see so many people die I've had to learn the last rites from each of the four nations. At first it was very sad to watch, but now I feel almost as if they finally found peace at last. That's really the only comforting though I can cling to keep from going crazy. I held the girls hand, and stroked her arm gently. Sometimes even the simplest gentle touch can do more than any medicine or surgery can. The girl could not see, but with me stroking her arm she knew that there was someone here that meant her no harm.
I stayed with her till she finally slept and covered her with an old burlap blanket.
A fortnight later the new prisoners came, there were a lot of them, 40, maybe 50?
They were a mix of Water tribe and Earth Kingdom soldiers. I peered through the bars to the courtyard, they were herding them in and sorting them out to able bodied and non-able bodied.
The Warden addressed them, "welcoming " them to Boiling Rock and bragging that there was no escape possible.
"Song!, Let me see now!!" Yan pestered.
I stepped off as Yan looked at the new batch of prisoners. He pulled himself up on the bars to get a better look.
"Oh wow Song! It looks like one of the new prisoners is the Boulder!!" He said in awe.
"Who?" I asked
"The Boulder! I used to see him fight all the time in the Earth Rumble tournaments back home!, Man that must have been some fight for him to be captured.
"Enough now, we have work to do. " I reminded him; soon they would bring the wounded here.
By nightfall there were over 20 prisoners in my chamber. Yan and I worked feverishly to try and sort out the worst wounded from the not so worst. Only four were beyond my help. I only could make them comfortable and wait for them to pass.
"Your awfully skilled with what you have to work with." An elder water tribe warrior told me as I treated his wounds.
I smiled " Thanks, You should see what I have to do when I run out of disinfectant!,"
"What's your name? He asked me
"My name is Song, and you are?"
"I'm Chief Hakoda Leader of these men, well what's left of them." He said solemnly
"What happened?" I finally asked
"We tried to invade the Fire Nation capital during the Day of Black sun. But we failed. We mounted the ground invasion while the Avatar went to face the Fire Lord.."
"The Avatar is still alive!?" I hissed quietly" I had heard he had been slain!"
Hakoda smiled a little " No, quite the opposite, that was our secret weapon. The whole world though he was dead, which is why we were able to plan this invasion. But, the Fire Nation knew of the plan and was ready for us. They manage to hide the Fire Lord until the end of the eclipse. When the Eclipse ended the Firebenders regained their power and we were routed. The Avatar and his friends escaped, now we can only hope he can defeat the Fire Lord by summers end."
I finished wrapping his wounds. I could tell by his face the battle had wore on him heavily. That he had to make difficult choices. I suddenly knew why The Warden wanted me to take care of these men. He wanted them alive long enough to give them any and all information about where the Avatar was.
I touched the side of his chest and sure enough to my suspicions he shouted in pain. "Yes, it hurts there…" He grunted. It hurt him every time he took in a breath.
I felt the indentation in his side and knew he had a couple of broken ribs. "Yan! Grab me a wooden plank and some bandages, I need to splint his chest!" I called out. "You have broken ribs, a few of them. You're going to need a lot of rest!"
Yan and I usually spent our nights and ate our meals in the Healer's chamber. It was just a lot easier that way, if anyone needed us we were able to help right away. I had developed enough of a reprieve with the guards for them to know I didn't mean to cause any trouble. Most of the guards trusted my care more than they did the actual prison Doctor who made weekly trips out to the island.
I woke up in the middle of the night as I usually do. When I couldn't sleep I would often just stare up at the night sky. Tonight in particular Chief Hakoda was also up looking out the tiny barred window.
"Can I join you? " I asked him as I sat next to him. I knew that look only too well; It was a look of wondering about another person.
"Who are you thinking of?" I asked him.
He let out a slow breath," My two kids, I left them a long time ago to fight in this war. My eldest is about your age. Their mother died a long time ago during a Fire Nation raid. Since then it was my daughter who had taken over the motherly duties. I sometimes wonder if I did the right thing in leaving them to fight. Look where I am now…'
I looked at him with sad eyes " I lost my father to the Fire Nation, when I was a little girl they raided our farming village, they took my father and left me with this." I showed him my scarred right leg.
"I-I'm sorry" He said
"Don't be, I've learned to move on, but there are times that I also look at the night sky like you do."
"Are you thinking of your Father?" he asked
"Sometimes," I said " Most of the time I think of my mother, but there are some days I think of a boy I met a long time ago. He name was Li, He and his uncle were also refugees from the Fire nation. I invited them over to my house for dinner.
Unlike my leg his scar was over his eye. I could tell the Fire Nation hurt him badly. I tried to reach out to him but I guess he wasn't ready. The last time I saw him he and his uncle rode off on our only ostrich-horse"
"You fed him and he stole from you?, That was kind of rotten of him." He said
"I had long forgiven him for that, but I still think of him. I wonder where he is now, and if he ever found the peace he was looking for.." I often wonder if there was more I could have done for him. I also wondered if it was my fault for not thinking of anything sooner. I could heal aches and pains just fine, sometimes fixing a broken heart takes much more than I am able to do.
Morning came with an unexpected delivery for me; it was Gazu, one of the guards.
"Song! Here are some more supplies for you!" He said as he passed the burlap sack through the bars.
"Thank Gazu."
"Ohh uh Song?" He asked in a quivering tone
"What's wrong Gazu?"
He seemed a little embarrassed but he spoke to me anyway" It's starting to burn. You know…down there. My organ if you know what I mean.."
I looked to where he was pointing at his groin. "Well have you been you know active with a lady friend?"
"Huh? Oh no!! I promised my mom I would wait till I was married for that!!" He protested.
"Well what do you normally do every night?" I asked him for more information to help him.
He thought for a bit " Well what I normally do, Look at naked girly scrolls and eat Fire Flakes!"
I grimaced and knew what his problem was. "You might want to try eating a non spicy snack!"
"Are you sure?"
I grinned sheepishly " Trust me on this!"
Days passed and Hakoda showed steady improvement, when he was brought to me had had various burns cuts and a few broken ribs. Now all but a few of his cuts remained and he was breathing much easier, A clear sign his ribs were mending. Yan and I just finished bathing him when guards came to our cell.
"Were here for the Water warrior!" The Lieutenant proclaimed
"He's not going anywhere, he still needs rest.." I said.
"It's not a cause for argument, He's needed for interrogation."
"And you don't understand, if his injuries are aggravated anymore he could die." I said as I stood up in the guards face
"You don't seem to understand your place prisoner," the Lieutenant said
"Oh I do," I said " I was given an task by the Warden himself to make sure these men stay alive for the interrogation, and I know who he is. He's the main one you want. How would it look on you and the Warden if he were to die before he could pass on any vital information?, Information about the Avatar?"
The Lieutenant stayed silent, He knew I was right.
"I thought so, Give me more time, rib injuries take a little more time to heal." I said turning away from him and gathering my herbal creams.
"If he takes any longer you'll be suffering worse than what he is ailing from!" He threatened as he stormed away.
The Fire Nation were always sore losers. I waited till they fully departed before i let out a long slow sigh of relief.
"You showed a little spunk there." Hakoda said
"Being here kind of does that to you." I said, "They say this is the harshest prison the Fire Nation has, but I've managed to survive this long."
"Just how long have you been here?" He asked me.
I sighed, "I think it's been close to a year, I don't know it feels much longer."
He looked at the back of my tunic, which was patched several times due to the lashings. But through some of the rips he could see my back and the scars they wore, some in varying degrees of healing.
"And they did that to you?" he asked as he touched my back gingerly.
"Everyone is eventually lashed at one time or another. The Fire nation believes it's their way of reminding people where they are. They actually think they're being kind to me by using a leather whip instead of the Fire whip.
He grunted a mix of displeasure and disgust.
"Don't worry, I learned a long time ago not to cry out, You never cry out.." I said as I recalled my first time being stripped of my tunic, feeling my skin against the warm metal pipe as they tied my hands together around it and placed a small leather wrapped piece of wood in my mouth. I was often told it helps to think of some place far away as they administer the lashings. I always though of my small farming village, and before I knew it I was waking up to the next day. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!" I said with a little smile.
"If we ever get out of here, I'd love to introduce you to my son!" he chuckled as best he could.
In the following weeks Hakoda did improve, and he did face interrogation. He is a tough man. They held him and questioned him for hours but he never broke. I often gave Bato his friend as much medicine and bandages as I could. He wasn't hurt enough to see me, and that was always a good thing.
I had just sent Yan down to collect some sheets that we cut into bandages. When I heard what sounded like an explosion. A long silence followed by what sounded likes a fierce commotion, something was happening.
I peered out the window to see what I could see as best I could. All I could hear was a faint shouting followed by a plume of gray smoke.
I continued my work on my three patients, when I heard a commotion outside my cell chamber. A sound of rushed feet soon followed as Hakoda and Bato appeared at my cell door, they had keys with them
"Song! C'mon were escaping this place!" he said as he opened my cell door.
"What do you mean!?" I asked. "How are you going to do that!?"
Hakoda smiled "The Avatar is here! And he brought my kids and their friends. Were getting out of here!" He grabbed my hand but I didn't move.
"What's wrong Song?" He asked me
As deep feeling of guilt came over me as I looked at my patients, " I don't know I just can't leave them.."
Hakoda gave me a stern look, " Song, your care for your patients is admirable, but you don't belong in a place like this!"
"Hakoda's right, besides if we escape and you stay behind who do you think the Fire Nation will execute in the morning?" Bato said "And then who could you help?"
"I have a daughter whose close to your age," Hakoda said " And I know if she were in a place like this, I would want her to escape by any means possible."
What he said had sunk in, People did depend on me here, but there were more who depended on me back home. I knew another opportunity may never come along again. I looked at Hakoda and nodded.
"Good, Now hurry! We don't have a lot of time." Hakoda said.
"Wait! I have to get Yan! I sent him downstairs" I said I wasn't about to leave him behind.
"Be quick and don't get caught, Meet us out on the platform where the air gondola is, just look for the large flying Bison!" Hakoda instructed.
I went to a secret hole in the wall I constructed, from it I pulled several bags that I had stashed away, Secret herbs I wondered if I would ever need. It looks like I was right.
"Take this," I said as I gave them the bags " This is powder from the White Jade Bush, don't get it on you cause it will cause severe burning and itching, Throw it on the guards if you need too!"
"How did you get this!?" Bato asked
"They let me have a little garden to grow herbs and such, only I also grew the White Jade Bush as well."
"Good girl! Now hurry! We don't have much time!"
With that I split from Hakoda and Bato as I sprinted down the hallways to find Yan. He wasn't going to understand but if I told him we were escaping I knew he would be all for it without question. He wouldn't forgive me if I left without him, also I couldn't forgive myself if I did that.
I ran through the hallways, which were surprisingly empty, with the commotion the guards have other things to worry about. I was almost out to the courtyard when I turned the final hallway. Little did I know until it was too late that there was someone else running toward me? We didn't see each other until it was too late.
I gasped as I stopped and he only rose up the two swords he was holding. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity and I knew who I was looking at. His clothes were different and his hair was grown out, but there was no way he could hide the scar over his left eye. It was a face I only saw one day of my life, but could never forget it for as long as I lived. He looked at me hard until it sank in that he also knew who I was.
"S-Song?" He said
"L-Li?" I responded.
My name is Song, and for the first time in a long time, I'm speechless.
That's all I have, More than likely this story will be blown out of the water when the actual episode "The Boiling Rock pts 1&2 " finally air. But I was out of my element writing this. To anyone who knows my writing I wrote this in the first person instead of the third person. I also implored Free Writing, Which to a right-brained thinker like me is really tough! Some of you may not like this story and that's fine. But I had a good time writing it. I would much rather have given this story for S.A.D than do nothing.