Destiny
Jin sat up and looked at her surroundings. Morning light filtered through the white tent, making everything that was shrouded last night visible. Unrolled scrolls lay overtop of a deep-colored wooden table, some rolled up under it and in piles, the workspace an organized chaos. Beside it was a nightstand of sorts, which contained many small drawers, and a luxurious mirror—a structure that only the rich and fortunate of the Earth Kingdom could afford to have. Her mother sat at this place, lightly powdering her face. She had rarely ever seen her mother do this, seeing as they barely even had the funds for food. The braid on her head had been set loose; long, wavy wisps fell near her porcelain face.
"Mama," Jin murmured.
Hiromi pulled her gaze away from the mirror to where Jin's voice had come from. It seemed as if she snapped out of thought. She smiled at her daughter. "Good morning, my sweet," she said softly. "How did you sleep?"
Jin downcast her eyes; it bothered her all night, her father's capture replaying in her head. She lay awake almost till the first light thinking about him. What could he possibly be enduring now? She cringed, shook the thought from her head, and replaced it once again with the optimistic thought that she would see him when this war was over. That was always the idea that she looked for. "Nightmares," she said.
Hiromi saw a sad smile on her daughter's face. Her daughter was distraught, no matter how she tried to hide it, and she was not foolish. "If only I could earthbend as well. For now, we need to keep praying that he is safe, for the most part."
"I don't want you to feel guilty, mother," she replied.
Jin dressed in her nicest, green and white threadbare gown, hoping that it would look decent and pleasing in comparison to the rags that she had been wearing in the city. She followed as her mother had done and powdered her face gingerly. Brushing her hair with the jade comb, and trying it at the nape of her neck with a ribbon, she began to feel quite anxious. Perhaps she would run into Zuko. But quickly choosing to ignore the feeling, she rose to her feet. "I'm going outside. Fresh air will do me some good."
Hiromi nodded, but was convinced that something troubled her yet. "Very well, Jin," she said, turning to the mirror and beginning to fasten pins into her hair.
Jin walked out of their tent with a sigh of relief. Being in the comfort of her mother was relieving, but this time, she needed to unearth those subconscious thoughts, maybe, in being alone with nature. She looked up around her. Six people sat around a small, boiling pot. There was Iroh, sitting just at outside the entrance of his tent, and the rest of them were the strangers that she had seen last night. A girl in blue, her skin tone dark, sat next to Iroh. Beside her sat another girl with pieces of her short hair pulled back, the next was a boy who looked like a warrior, and after him sat a shoeless girl in green. The last to complete the circle was the boy with dark hair, conversing with Iroh. Jin hid again, this time behind nearby tent.
From where she was situated, she saw the identical mark on his face that flooded her mind ever since he disappeared. The skin turned deep pink towards his eye. From her distance, she could even define his keen, light eyes. Her eyes did not deceive her as she recognized Zuko. Her heart beat rapidly, and if felt as if her insides would burst because of the speed.
He appeared at peace, as opposed to what used to be his perpetual expression—a contorted frown and bitterness in his eyes. Almost like his uncle, he maintained a sanguine appearance. It was interesting, the changes that occurred in him just on the outside, and she began to wonder what else had changed on the inside.
Carefully, so as not to be seen, she sneaked away to the slope where she had ventured before. The sky flaunted its bright, blue hue, and there were even small birds singing and some soaring above the treetops, just below the scattered, cottony clouds. This place had not received a lush, soothing fair for the earth to drink up in a long time, but it stayed green; an oasis, immune to the damages of the Fire Nation.
Jin dug up a handful of dirt and cradled it in her hands. She clenched her fists around it, her power changing them. It took her a slow time to form a rock, a sign that she needed practice, because when she opened her hands, she saw a soft clump of clay. Her earthbending was rusty after hiding it for so long.
Dai Li agents were now under the Fire Nation's rule, she thought, which would mean that each one of them would be crueler than before. She heard through talk in the streets that they originally tortured people with their unbelievable talent for brainwashing, and physical abuse through their earthbending. She could not bear to fathom their current treatment towards prisoners. Their town, before it was raided, had been a fairly rural town. Her father, even then, was a respected community leader. She grew up around ostrich horses and carts, dusty, winding roads, and wooly pigs, pickens, moo-sows and annoying pigsters. The wooly pigs' wool was a moderately valued export, keeping the town in business. Since the Fire Nation took over, business failed, and eventually, her family moved into Ba Sing Se, barely escaping with their lives.
Though the summer wind blew warm, she shivered. She knew that her father would remain strong; he was the most stubborn person she knew. But what if he was not this time? The Dai Li always had ways to make citizens bend to their will. Then there was a thought that made Jin cringe. She was frightened. Sometimes they made the Earth Kingdom prisoners dress as Fire Nation soldiers, merely to stand on the front lines of battle. It was a form of entertainment to the superior element, which made her sick. What if they had successfully made a Fire Nation soldier out of him?
The clay in her hands grew hard, turning to stone with her anger. She marveled her work and molded the edges to engrave something. It was written in Earth Kingdom characters, destiny. Jin sighed, satisfied with the finished product and concealed it in her clothing.
The clouds began to blot out the afternoon sun, a sudden change in daylight, and there was the only sound of the tempest winds picking up speed even as it swept though the trees. It was an omen to Jin that the Avatar, wherever he was, would be here soon. She stood and smoothed out her gown vigorously and ran for the campsite. When she stood in the comfort of the trees, she saw that the strangers were already heading out. She approached to hear the last of Iroh's words.
"…today, destiny is our friend. I know it," he voiced. Jin immediately clutched the stone that she had created. This was a day of destiny, judgment day almost. Today, the world would finally see if peace would win over decades of hatred. And there was something in his steady voice, the tone of certainty that he used, that made Jin believe his words. Slim as the chances were, it was today, or never, that they would all attempt to regain peace.
The three strangers on the eel-hound shot across the dusty path to the west. Zuko and the girl in blue, sitting on Appa's saddle, rose into the air in the same direction.
Jin ventured out as they left, and approached Iroh. "Is it time to take Ba Sing Se, General?"
He turned, almost as if he expected her to speak to him. "Yes, Jin. It is time."
She quickly looked toward the ground. "I…" Naturally, she was not the avatar, and she was not a prodigal child who had finally seen the light either. How was she to help in this revolution? "I don't know what I can do."
Iroh placed a hand on her shoulder, indicating for her to make contact with him. He continued. "Do not underestimate what you can do." He knelt down to pick up a mass of dirt and placed it in her hands, which she formed into a stone almost involuntarily. "I have seen your power—I have faith in you."
Hiromi cleared her throat from behind Jin. She bowed respectfully to Iroh, and walked to her mother. She removed her hands from her sleeves and embraced her daughter. "You can do it. I know you can," she assured her.
Jin spoke quietly as her arms encircled her mother. "Father is there. How will we find him?"
"We will. Don't worry," she said optimistically. Hiromi hoped with all her heart that her husband was well.
Jin stood in her mother's embrace. The wind around them blew east, and crows flew in the same direction. When she looked at the sky, it was ominous with towering, dark clouds. It signaled oncoming danger.
"Mama, look," she pointed out to the west at the shroud of weather.
Hiromi looked around and grew fearful. "The Fire Nation must be coming." She gazed at her child, the girl who seemed terrified of the Fire Nation for her whole life, and now decided to protect her people. Jin's eyes glimmered with confidence as she smiled at her mother.
Author's Note: Please review, thank you!
