The Eaglehawk Rises or: the Strange Case of Yuichi Yoshida, a legend of korra fanfic

Synopsis: AU, Asami Sato is the heir apparent to the Earth Empire, but her family has been exiled by the new government. Travelling incognito, she encounters strange adventures in her quest to reclaim her birth right. Her bizarre adventures bring her to old battlefields and museums that honor her and her father, as well as finding lodging with a certain waterbending widow, selling watermelons and cantaloupes. *Inspired by the novel The Death of Napoleon by Simon Leys.

Chapter I - The Eagle-hawk has sailed

To no one's surprise, the name Yuichi Yoshida rings no bells. It stirs very little emotion from those that hear it, and recollections are few and far between. Among those that worked with him on the cargo ship Zhu Li, many said that the only thing of particular note about him was his vague resemblance to the Empress Apparent Asami Sato. Coincidentally, that is who he is, and that is what we shall call him.

The question on how the fledgling young princess managed to make an escape from her prison at Ember Island are as follows: a loyal imperial eunuch who often passed for a double during certain occasions when her security was in question is recruited to serve his purpose once more. They will switch places for the time being, during which Asami would travel to the mainland and make contact with certain personages that would allow her to retake her throne from the pretender that sat on it at the capital, Ba Sing Se. Once she reaches the capital, the double would reveal the subterfuge, and the people of the Earth Empire would once again rally to the cause of their beloved sovereign.

Though simple in its concept, the plan involved meticulous timing and precision. She will have to disguise herself as a man and travel roughly 3,000 nautical miles at sea to the mainland. She knew very little about her contacts, but she was well assured that she did not need to. They will know where to find her.

Involved in its execution is an elite society of conspirators known only as the "White Lotus", a conglomerate of men and women loyal to the house of Sato and its imperial rights, sworn to defend and protect the country and its reigning sovereign from internal and external enemies. Over the recent years, the society has since hidden itself into obscurity, resolving to return when the time came where The Eagle-hawk would once again rise.

The plan was concocted by an old inventor, known only by the name "Doctor Teo", who, in his capacity as head of the Topographical Institute of Research and Technology at the Ministry of National Defense (see The Guide to Important Persons in the Service of the Empire by Lu and Gang, et al 176 AG), furnished for the princess' father, his Imperial Majesty, the Illustrious Hiroshi Sato, weapons of war which had swept away at the Empire's enemies during the latter half of the Twelve-Years-War. The plan had taken two years to perfect, and all the necessary people involved know little to nothing about who their comrades are, how they look, or what they will wear when they must meet. Such secrecy is integral to a plot of such scope and magnitude. Only the time frame and places are specified wherein they are supposed to act on cue. They are given a code to identify each other: the person who initiates contact must say "The Eagle-hawk Rises", to which, the comrade will answer "And lands atop the tower of Air Temple Island".

Thus far, all seemed to go according to plan, except that no one among those involved had any knowledge of the fact that the mastermind behind this conspiracy had died more than six months prior from a deadly of malady commonly called "The Black Rectum". It is a disease mostly experienced, at the time, by geriatric inventors who force themselves to defecate in a squatting position over a hole in the ground, even when they can't. But for the moment, Empress Asami looked to the horizon aboard the Zhu Li, where there she anticipates her eventual destiny and the beginning of a new era for her and her country.

The first few days of her journey seemed of no consequence to those she accompanied. The Zhu Li's crew had little time for former princesses and their meanderings about destiny. They were mostly a mish-mash of men from all over the world, and they were not wont to make conversations with the likes of her. Years at sea has inoculated them from the trivialities of life on land, and they have long since lost interest in the goings on with the politics of the times. They were all too set in their ways and preferred to keep it that way.

Immediately it was apparent to the men that their new crew member seemed ill at ease on the ship's deck, and the work required to maintain it. They found her too haughty for a cabin hand, too soft and delicate in her tying of knots and washing of the deck floor. Soon they deemed her incapable of doing anything, thus assigned her with doing everything. Nevertheless, it did not escape their notice that this new member's strange appearance bore a resemblance to the former Earth Princess.

It was not until the cabin boy named "Kai" decided to constantly bring it to the attention of all just how much 'Yuichi' looked like the princess Asami that the crew finally ratified the vague resemblance and began calling her "Asami" as well. This would not normally have affronted her, but she was mortified to hear her name be spoken so casually and with such impudence by these common folk, not to mention the very real possibility that her cover has been irreversibly blown. This despite her shortened hair, skinny frame and ragged clothes, which she had taken the trouble to perfect. The loss of her long hair was particularly offensive to her, for it signified the dignity of her station as Empress Apparent of all the Earth Territories. But such as it is, little choice could be given to her if she wanted to reclaim her throne.

As cabin hand, she was not afforded the comforts of the top men, who during their watches, were allowed to escape the heat of the decks below. Her skin visibly roughened over time as she spent much of it down below, scrubbing at the floors with her formerly well-polished nails, cleaning up after the crew and tying the knots on deck. Her delicate palm reddened from the constant work, and she began to despair at the sight of dry skin beginning to fall off in droves.

At night she would walk back up on deck, when all the men save for the watch, would be asleep, and she would look up at the stars as she once did with her father when she was young. There she would remember her days of youth, when she would spend hours with her father, who would speak of great events in the history of their family. Often they would climb atop the tallest tower in the palace, and with the help of a spy glass, spot the flashes of light that would shoot from the sky, closer than they would with the naked eye. All that changed when her father decided to go to war, and expand the territories of her country. Each victory on the battlefield measured another distance which separated them from one another, and as the young princess realized, she was losing her father far too quickly. In the twilight of the Twelve-Years-War, Hiroshi would eventually lose his throne from internal usurpers and a coalition of nations that have waged war against him, and he and his family would be banished onto Ember Island, where he died shortly thereafter of an untreated cancer of the sphincter.

Asami, who did not in particular wish to assume the throne, is thrust into it by her father's death, and the connivance of his closest advisers. Over the years, they managed to convince her of her destiny, and the necessity of the action which she was about to take. As she stood once again, alone on deck, she swore she would soon regain the honor of her family, her country and of herself.

But all did not turn out bad for the young Empress to be. Curiously, the ship's cook had taken a liking to her. Called by his mates as "Loony-Bumi", the cook was considered an eccentric. A rather tall man with a wild set of hair and very prominent side-burns, Loony-Bumi had an air of loudness to him, even though he hardly ever spoke. There was energy in his eyes that unsettled those around him, but he seemed forever jovial despite his relative muteness. His body was a strange mix of fat and bones, where from under his thin tunic, one can see his rib cage slowly dissolve into a large pot-belly. Often times Asami would find Loony-Bumi winking assuredly at her, as if knowing what she is thinking at the moment. At first she avoided him, trying not to invite his attentions, but Bumi was insistent in his apparent affections for her. He did not seem invasive, Asami thought, and he seemed to genuinely like her for some reason. His niceness to her did not go unnoticed, as some crewmen would jealously point out that 'Yuichi' seemed to get the best portions from the food rations distributed by Bumi. Of course, no one dared complain. One look from Loony-Bumi usually settled any disputes.

One day on deck, Asami was assigned once again to mop the deck. The first mate watched closely as she tried to cover all the spots on the deck floor, pointing out here and there where she missed and ordering her to do them over again. Loony-Bumi saw this particular abuse of her dignity, and decided to reward her with a second bowlful of helping of his famous sea prune stew. Normally, Asami would not have even deigned to look, let alone eat such food fit only for a prole, but as it turns out, she hadn't much of a choice. In any case, she found it convenient and welcoming that there was at least one friendly eye looking out for her back. Indeed, she had actually found someone with whom she could decently play (and cheat on) a civilized game of Pai Sho with.

For much of the first two months at sea, Asami ignored the hostility of the ship's first mate and the brutal indifference of the crew. She decided it best that she stayed out of their periphery for the time she had left with them.

One night, in the last three weeks of her journey, Asami found herself being shaken awake from her sleep. Peering through blurred eyes, Asami saw the wild looking Loony Bumi staring excitedly at her. Immediately on the defensive, Asami readied herself from any assaults that may come. None came, only more shaking and an excited leap from foot to foot as the man climbed up once again on deck. Asami would have much preferred to stay asleep, but having no desire to disappoint Bumi, she obliged.

As she rose from the depths of the lower decks, Asami looked around to see Bumi and the Kai the cabin boy, quietly looking towards the horizon. It was nearing the break of dawn, and faint gold shafts were beginning to shine from the East. Cold winds blew past the three of them as they observed the heavens together, where the stars shined brightest against the velvet sky. Bumi watched Asami closely and waited for any reactions on her part. For much of their trip, Bumi had felt a kindred spirit with the handsome young man. He saw much of himself in him, and decided that they were of a kind that was a cut above the rest of the crew. Often he would watch Yuichi walk about the decks and see in his gait a nobility that defied his current station. For his part, Yuichi, despite his apparent softness bore much of his labors with resolve and dignity, uncharacteristic of common folk.

As Asami turned to look at the sky that was beginning to lighten up, she breathed in the cold air of the sea, stinging her nostrils with the salt foam that sprayed against the bow, clearing her lungs. She almost smiled at the thought of such elegant brilliance that Nature bestowed on man, but stopped short of doing so. She had resolved never to allow such intoxicating beauty overwhelm her senses until such time that her destiny was assured. For in that moment, all that maintained her hopes for the rising of The Eagle-hawk hung on a thread, held by the existence of an obscure eunuch who just so happens to look similar to her.

To be continued…