Writer's Note: Written for Avatar500, for the prompt "knight". It won third place. Spoilers for "The Boiling Rock" duet and after.
Murder, Of Course
Chit Sang hadn't always followed a path to crime.
He was born to a Fire Nation private and a merchant. His dad had died when he was small. He never knew why until he was sixteen – the same time he found out why he had green eyes: his dad was from the Earth Kingdom and was an earthbender. They dragged him from his stall and he put up a fight, and they killed him to save the trouble.
Luckily for Chit Sang, he was a firebender like his mother. His green eyes always gave him trouble, but a quick jab to the jaw or a blast of flame always silenced the persecutors. It was in school that he got his early reputation for being someone to avoid. It became even worse when he started speaking up.
He wasn't much of a public speaker – in fact, he tended to stutter and speak slowly, his deep voice loud and a little grating – but when he spoke, his eyes seemed to spark, and people couldn't turn away. Usually he just talked about his father, about how – he was sure – his dad still would have fought for the Fire Nation if he had just been given the chance.
No one likes a loudmouth with logic, especially one who could get people to listen. He was thrown into jail.
But he wouldn't keep quiet. It drove the guards crazy. It was almost like being back in school again, being taunted for his obviously dubious parentage. At least this time he was being insulted for something he made for himself.
By the time he was in his thirties, he was in the Boiling Rock. It made him laugh inside, really. They were so afraid of his words that they sent him to the prison of murderers and gang members and war criminals. He wondered if he should have felt flattered.
Whenever asked about why he was there, he always answered with, "Murder, of course. What else?"
Eventually, the fires of righteousness dulled a little. His words only earned him misery. Only his girlfiend Lin and his best friend Pao would listen to him, but given the chance, he knew he would be the only one to stand.
Ironically, he was given his freedom by a bunch of kids, kids who seemed to live the way he wished he could: free, determined, and with passion. He couldn't help but admire them, want to help them – all while keeping his reputation.
When the time for escape came, and he fled with his fellow prisoner and three of the boys – one of them an earthbender – he wasn't sure what he would do.
But once, when things were calm, the earthbender – Haru – asked him, "So why were you in prison?"
He started to answer with the usual, but something stopped him. He wondered if, given the chance, he would have be fighting the fight with this group sooner – with his dad, even.
So he told the truth. It felt good.