Kuvira's eyes snapped open to the sound of a door opening and closing. A guard slipped through the door and approached her cell with a bucket of water in hand, a bundle under her arm, and dropped it through the wood bars onto the floor.
"Good morning Kuvira," the guard said.
"Good morning Mai."
Mai was the nicest out of the guards assigned to Kuvira's cell. She wasn't overtly friendly by any means, she mostly gave Kuvira polite pleasantries, but that was better than the silent treatment or the gruff greeting of "inmate." Kuvira had never been an affectionate person, but once contact with other people had been taken from her, she learned to look forward to the little things like Mai's good mornings, and now Su's visits.
"I brought you a little soap this time. I'd wash up quick, the leader of Zaofu will be here in an hour," Mai murmured, before leaving Kuvira alone once more. Kuvira's head popped up, startled. Why would Mai say anything about Suyin's visit? Did she know how Kuvira felt about the visits, about Su? Don't be silly, the Kuvira chastised herself, she simply said it so that you wouldn't be in the middle of washing up when the woman came in, nothing more.
With a sigh at her constant, and useless, overthinking, Kuvira padded slowly towards the bucket of water and her new, clean uniform underneath it. Mai did bring a little more soap like she said, but what she did not mention were the bandages she had wrapped around the handle of the bucket. Kuvira gently unwrapped the cloths and laid them on the ground next to her, then proceeded to strip her smock off and start to lather some of the soap on her thinning frame. She was by no means starved in the prison, but she could not train or bend to keep her muscles in the formidable shape she had kept them in during her days of freedom, so her body began to look thinner. Kuvira knew that in a matter of a few more months her muscles, and the strength that came with them, would be gone.
She bent down and scooped up some water in her hands, washing the soap away. She took off her trousers and quickly washed the rest of her body and her face, then dried herself off with her blanket and put on her new uniform. She kicked the dirty, torn clothes to the corner of her cell and sat down on the floor beside the bucket to clean her wounds from her little episode the other day. Slowly, she dipped her hands in the water and cringed at the stinging the water brought to her scrapes and cuts. Kuvira started to rub soap into them, making the stinging worse. At least they won't get too infected, she thought to herself, before rinsing the lather off and letting her hands air dry. Putting the bucket in the corner with her old uniform, Kuvira sat on her cot. After wrapping her hands she fell back into her new habit and began to count the strands of fabric of the bandages; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... At 1,846 the door opened once again and Mai came in with Suyin.
"One hour," the guard reminded Zaofu's matriarch, and she left the room. Suyin took a seat in the chair a guard had brought down for their first meeting so many months ago. This time though Su did not look as furious as she had in every other meeting. She still looked agitated, but also tired now, as if she had not slept in days. Kuvira eyed the other woman as stealthily as she could, but was quickly caught.
"Don't stare at me," Suyin said gruffly.
Kuvira quickly looked away from Su and towards the ground. The next few minutes were silent, until Su spoke again, "What happened to your hands?"
Kuvira slowly looked from her bandages to Suyin and cursed herself for fidgeting with them in the first place, before uttering, "I... um," clearing her throat she continued, "I hurt myself- my knuckles and hands."
"Why?" Suyin questioned, not bothering to ask how; she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to how Kuvira had injured herself, the small dent in the wall behind the bars told her what she needed to know.
Kuvira shallowed thickly before answering, "I was angry with myself."
"So you hurt yourself to feel better?"
"Yes," Kuvira replied as if it was the simplest answer in the world.
Suyin just sat there, staring in disbelief at how Kuvira could find her self inflicted wounds as a solution. It made her think back to her former protege's past and how she has felt that way when Su first took her in. Sometimes when Suyin passed the little girl's room to check on her, she would find Kuvira throwing a vase across the room or punching a wall. Kuvira eventually got past that, gained more control of her emotions and embraced her talent, began taking charge of her life. Her relapse into that self destructive behavior made Suyin's heart clench, which also made her feel angry for sympathizing with the woman that was supposed to be her enemy.
Trying to pick a side on her warring emotions, Su shook her head, "Typical Kuvira behavior, acting rashly with no consideration of the hurt that you cause, even to yourself."
Kuvira's head snapped up to stare at the woman in disbelief. She gapped slightly at the nerve Suyin had, "What do you mean, 'typical Kuvira' behavior? I do what needs to be done, regardless of feelings."
That struck a cord inside of Su and before she realized it, her rage came out in a fury of words that she had never spoken out loud and tried to bury deep inside, "No, you ignore whatever emotions you do have, until you can't avoid them anymore and destroy everything in your path. You think that you're so careful and calculated, but you aren't at all! You destroy everything you come into contact with Kuvira. You claimed Zaofu as your own, taking the city that Bataar and I worked so hard to build. You took Jr on your tour of conquering the Earth Kingdom, you tore my family to pieces; you ripped us apart and didn't even care. After everything we had been through together, you turned your back without a second thought. You turned your back on me Kuvira! What we had was something I'll never forget, even if I wanted to! I didn't just lose a dancer, a captain of the guard, the one of the best metal benders I had ever seen: I lost you! You tore a piece of my heart out, you stole a piece of me, and left me!
Gasping for breath, Su finished her outburst, tears filling her eyes. The anger was still there bubbling in Suyin's stomach, but no longer boiling over; her animosity not really all for Kuvira, but mostly for herself. She shouldn't be so vulnerable and sympathetic to the fallen dictator. It had only been about seven months since the blow out in Republic City, five months since Kuvira's sentencing. Su was still so hurt and furious with Kuvira; the only reason she visited her was because of Bataar's urging. He said that she needed to confront her feelings for Kuvira and that visiting her was the only way to eventually find peace again. But Suyin was only 20 visits in, and she felt no where close to peace. All she felt was frustration at her almost unchanging emotions, and sadness and rage at the fact that her lover had tried to destroy her. Without realizing that she had moved, Suyin turned to see Kuvira gazing at her once more.
Kuvira swallowed before quietly saying, "No, I had to go to fix a mess you refused to help with, other wise the Earth Kingdom would have fallen apart. I left to stop the Earth Kingdom from being abandoned. I didn't mean to take a piece of you, even though I did know it hurt after I left, I figured you would move on."
Su stood abruptly, almost knocking her chair over. The two women just stared at each other, Kuvira didn't know for how long, until a knock came from the other side of the door and a guard popped his head in, "Time is up Ms. Beifong."
"I never have moved on," Su whispered, before quickly leaving Kuvira's holding room.
Kuvira let her head drop to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. 2 verbal exchanges, 1 angry rant, 21 visits, 1 injury, and 7 days more days until she saw Suyin again.