Prologue:
It was a quiet afternoon in the forest, a calm start to an eventful evening. A spirit with bright green eyes, flowers flowing through her long dark hair, and flowing green dress that looked as though it was made of leaves roamed the woods with graceful footsteps, looking with admiration over her home. As she wandered through her forest, the spirit heard a crash nearby and decided to investigate, ready to fight if she found any soldiers trying to invade her home. Instead of soldiers, she came across the body of a small girl at the base of a cliff.
She carefully walked closer to the girl and realized that she was barely hanging onto life. She felt drawn to her, and knowing she couldn't leave her there to die, the spirit carefully crafted a plan. She picked up the young girl with care, trying not to aggravate any of her injuries, and carried her as fast as she could to the home of the human she had befriended that helped her watch over her forest.
As they reached the gate of the man's home, the spirit gently placed the young girl on the ground in front of it. Her eyes fluttered open, desperately trying to focus on the environment around her. All she could see was a blurry shape of a woman kneeling over her.
"What's going on?" the young girl mumbled.
"Don't be afraid, Akina, everything will be okay soon," she said, placing her hands on either side of the girl's face. She knew she was no good at healing and the wounds the child sustained were too much of a match for her minute healing abilities, so she did the only thing she could to save the child's life, she merged her life force with hers. There was an explosion of green light, and once that faded, the girl was left alone. Instead of the burn marks on her arms, markings of vines wrapped around them. There were flowers in her hair, just like the forest spirit. She once again went unconscious, just as two men approached the gate, drawn there by the commotion.
She blinked, letting the world focus in front of her eyes again. She quickly realized she had no memory of where she was and sat straight up in a panic, looking for some form of familiarity.
"Hey, you're okay, calm down," a male voice said, startling her a bit.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she demanded.
"My name is Piandao, you're currently in a guest room in my home. May I ask who you are?" he replied.
She scrunched her nose while taking a moment to think as hard as she possibly could, but her face fell and she said, "I don't know, I don't remember anything."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Can you think of any name you might have?"
She rubbed her face with her hands as though they could try to draw out her memories before snapping back up to look at him. "The lady outside the gates, she called me Akina. Is that my name?"
He sighed. "I don't know, but that is a very well-suited name for you if that's what you want it to be for now."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, have you not seen? You have flowers in your hair, child," he replied with a faint smile. She immediately ran her hands through her hair to confirm what he said. She tugged on one to test how it felt, and it felt similar to tugging on a strand of hair.
"What happened to me?"
"I can only guess, but I believe a spirit who used to live near here saved your life by merging her life with yours. She had flowers just like yours in her hair." Akina's face was solemn, making it clear she was thinking deeply about what had happened to her and this would've continued, but her thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl coming from her stomach.
"Would you like something to eat? Breakfast will be served soon," Piandao said, extending his hand down to her. She nodded and took his hand so he could help her up.
She looked down at herself and then back at him and said, "Do you think I could get some new clothes? These ones are ruined." She emphasized this point by sticking her hand in the large holes in her sleeves.
He laughed and said, "Yes, of course, I'll have my butler run down to the village to buy you some new clothes while we eat."
Her memories never returned so she remained Akina; for the next two years, she trained under Piandao, mastering both her new abilities gained from the spirit as well as dual swords, to make sure she could protect herself without revealing her spirit abilities if a situation called for it. To master her spirit abilities, she helped Piandao with his garden, eventually taking on all the responsibility herself and creating a beautiful garden for him and his students to practice in.
She became quite close to the swordmaster and his butler, close enough to consider them her new family. She even started calling Piandao "Dao" after just a year of living with him She wondered from time to time about her past and who her family might've been, but she knew better than to dwell on things she will never know the answer to. It would only be detrimental to her, and there were other things she needed to focus on, like her pet fire ferret, Kiki.
She adopted Kiki while on a trip with Dao to a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom to get some materials for his students. She wandered out of the blacksmith's shop to the pet store nearby and was instantly drawn to the pen the fire ferrets were in. One took particular interest in her and immediately jumped up onto her shoulder. She knew that was the one for her and went Dao came in looking for her, she practically begged him to adopt the little animal. He caved and the two became inseparable from that do on.
Once Akina reached fourteen, Dao had decided she was ready to be inducted into the Order of the White Lotus. He knew her abilities would be helpful with any nature-oriented tasks or mission the group was given, so he presented the idea to her and she immediately agreed. Shortly after she became a junior member, she had set off with Kiki to travel around the Earth Kingdom, working on various missions for the White Lotus. For the next three years, she traveled and met many members of the Order of the White Lotus, including King Bumi of Omashu, where she helped deal with a famine that was killing crops at farms surrounding the city, and Jeong-Jeong when she helped regrow parts of the forest he lived in after Fire Nation troops burned it down. She had also visited Ba Sing Se for a few days just to see what was so amazing about the city, and she wasn't very impressed. The tea shop she visited had completely butchered her jasmine tea.
After spending those few years traveling, she decided to head south and ended up on the shores of an island named Kyoshi.
"Well, Kiki, it looks like this is our stop," she said, scratching the ferrets head while she stood on the bow of the fishing boat she had taken to get to the island. She headed back into the cabin to grab her things and waited for the boat to dock before she got off.
As she walked through the village, she appreciated how calm and peaceful it felt. There was no overbearing presence of the Fire Nation, which she warmly welcomed. She stopped by a stand in the market to purchase some fruit for both her and Kiki.
"Hello, dear, will that be all?" the women behind the stand asked as Aki approached her with a bag of a few moon peaches and some pastries.
"Yes ma'am," she replied, digging the coin she needed out of her bag and handing it over to her.
"Thank you," the old woman said. "My name is Hana, I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you new to Kyoshi Island?"
Aki smiled warmly. "It's very nice to meet you, Hana. My name is Akina but most just call me Aki, and yes I am!"
"It's nice to meet you as well. What brings you to our little town?" Hana asked as she handed Aki back her change.
"Oh, well, I've been traveling around for a while and was looking for somewhere to take a break. When I heard some traders at a market talking about Kyoshi, it seemed like a good place to do so," she said. Kiki stuck her head out from her bag and chittered at Aki until she grabbed a moon peach and her knife, then cut off a slice for Kiki to munch on.
"Oh! Who's this little creature?" Hana asked, delighted at the sight of the little face popping out of Aki's bag.
Aki pulled Kiki out of her bag and cradled her in her arms while the ferret snacked on the peach slice. "This is Kiki, she's my fire ferret! I adopted her about three years ago and she's my best friend."
Hana cooed at her. "Well, she's absolutely precious!"
"Thank you!" Aki giggled. "Do you know where I could find your mayor? I have a few questions to ask him."
"Oh, yes, he'll be in the grand building at the end of this road, just keep heading down and you'll see it."
"Thank you, Hana! Have a nice day!" Aki waved at her with a bright smile as she set off to find the mayor.
"You too, dear!" Hana called after her.
After speaking with the mayor, whose name she learned was Oyaji, she was escorted to a small home that he would let her stay in for as long as she needed near the Kyoshi warriors. Aki and Oyaji had discussed her position in the Order of the White Lotus and while he was not a member, he knew of the organization and was more than happy to provide her living arrangements on the island, so long as she did work to help out the village, and she very happily agreed.
"Soooooooo..." Aki said to the Kyoshi warrior in front of her, "You know my name but I don't know yours."
The warrior giggled. "Is this your subtle way of asking what my name is?"
"I wouldn't call it subtle, but yeah, it is," she responded with a smirk.
"My name's Jin, I'm currently the leader of the Kyoshi warriors," Jin said.
Aki's eyes widened. "Whoa, the leader? That's amazing!"
Jin looked down shyly. "Yeah, I'm really excited about it, I was only recently promoted."
"Your family must be proud," Aki responded.
"Yeah, my sister, Suki, is training to be just like me," Jin said fondly.
"Oh, it must be nice to have siblings," Aki remarked wistfully.
"What do you mean? Don't you have a family?"
Aki winced a little. "Uh, kind of. I've got Dao and Fat, but that's about it. I lost all my memories when I was about 12 and was dropped off at their doorstep."
Jin stopped walking and turned around, placing her hand on Aki's shoulder and gently squeezing it in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know."
Aki smiled weakly at her. "It's okay, don't apologize. There's no way you could've known."
She was about to say something else but Kiki's chittering interrupted her. "Oh looks like someone's upset she hasn't her nap yet, are we almost at the house?"
"Oh, yeah, it's right up here," Jin said and she turned around and grabbed Aki's hand, leading her up to the house. Jin couldn't see it, but Aki's cheeks were turning red.
The next day, Aki made her way back to the market with Kiki on her shoulder to get some food and other supplies for her new home. After gathering everything she needed and stopping by Hana's stand to say hi to the kind old woman, she made her way back home.
On her walk home, she noticed a few girls dressed in green robes with armor, beautiful headdresses, and dramatic makeup walk over to a simple building set off from the rest of the town. Intrigued, she ran to her home to drop off her newly bought goods and rushed back to the building, cautiously leaning her head in the doorway to see what they were doing. She saw the girls doing various stretches, and it almost looked like they were warming up for some kind of dance. She looked over each one until she accidentally locked her gaze with bright green eyes that reminded her of the forest in spring.
She panicked slightly at being caught and Kiki leaped off her shoulder, scampering up to the girl that Aki had just made eye contact with. She stepped in to follow her ferret and yelled, "Kiki no- Get back here!"
Kiki, however, did not listen to her, and instead, she climbed up the Kyoshi warrior's robes, then settled on her shoulders. The warrior giggled and gave the little menace scritches under her chin.
"It's alright, she just wants some attention. Isn't that right Kiki?" The warrior cooed at the animal and Aki realized she recognized her voice.
"Jin?" Aki stepped into the building, then walked towards Jin and waved sheepishly.
Jin smiled back at her and continued petting Kiki. "That's me, sorry if you didn't recognize me with all this makeup. Did you want to stay and watch the Kyoshi warriors training for a bit? We can grab something to eat after."
Aki simply nodded and carefully took Kiki back. "Don't let me hold you up, I'll sit up front to watch"
Jin smiled softly as Aki found a spot to sit with her fire ferret, then turned back to address the other Kyoshi warriors so they could start their training. As Aki observed them, she noticed similarities between their fighting style and the graceful dances of swordmasters when sparring with each other. She took mental notes of things to ask Jin about when they went out for a meal later, and pet Kiki mindlessly while she watched.
After a few hours had passed and training was over, Jin sat down with Aki and gulped down some water that Aki handed to her. Aki tried to not notice how pretty the girl in front of her was, even with sweat dripping down her face and her makeup slightly smudged, but her cheeks were still tinged pink.
"I need to bathe so I don't stink during our date, I'll pick you up outside of your home in an hour?" Jin asked with a slight smirk.
All Aki could do was nod as she was now blushing bright red and at a loss for words. Jin smiled and helped her stand up, then kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the building. The few girls left in the building watched the interaction gleefully and giggled when they saw just how hard Aki was blushing. Aki rushed out of the building and ran straight to her home to get ready for her first date ever.
Jin was true to her word and picked Aki up an hour later. Both girls were dressed nicely, Aki wearing her favorite dark green wrap dress and wearing her hair all the way down instead of in a half-up braid as she would normally wear it. Jin was in a light green top with brown pants and had her hair pulled back to show off her bright eyes.
The girls had gone on a walk around town before buying some food from the market and settling down in a nice clearing near the beach to have a picnic. Laughing and smiling, they spent the next few hours together telling stories and asking each other important questions, like what their favorite color was or their absolute favorite pastry. Eventually, the pair started yawning and took that as their cue to clean up from their picnic and walk back into town. Jin insisted on walking Aki all the way to her front door, even though Aki kept telling her that she would be okay.
As they finally reached the door to Aki's home, Jin turned to her and grabbed her hands. "Aki, I had a really nice time tonight, and I was wondering if maybe… You would like to go on another date with me?"
"I would really like that," she replied with a grin. Jin smiled back and kissed her cheek, then paused, and pulled Aki in for a real kiss. Aki felt her entire body grow warm, reminding her of sitting in front of a campfire, and she smiled into the kiss before pulling away.
Jin rested a hand on her cheek, carefully brushing her thumb across Aki's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow," Aki replied, leaning into her hand.
Jin pulled her in for another kiss before leaving for the night. Aki walked into her home, feeling lighter than air, and Kiki greeted her with an excited chittering after climbing up her and nestling on her shoulder where the ferret loved to sit. She quickly changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed.
"Kiki, it was so beautiful, and I had so much fun! She took me on a picnic near the beach and we watched the sunset and just talked for hours. I've never gotten along with someone like I have with her. She's really special…" Aki continued to gush about her date while Kiki laid on her stomach, slowly falling asleep with a smile on her face.