FREEDOM
She woke up on a hard surface, rolling over a thin improvised mattress.
The world greeted her sweaty and uncomfortable, with hoarse wool clothes scratching her skin. She knew where she was right away, and immediately cursed under her breath for her lack of luck. Really, from all the times she could have come back to, this had to be the worst of all. A time of limited power and horrible conditions. Worrying her lower lip, she sat up, staring around at the small familiar cell, the hard masonry walls, the smelly chamber pot and reinforced iron door. Ten feet wide and twenty feet long. In the past she would have nightmares about this, but not anymore. She was a warrior, and she hadn't feared this prison even in her youth. Only the loneliness had come close to breaking her, but come morning her tears would dry and she would go on.
"Deep breaths Suki, deep breaths"
She made sure to control the air entering her lungs when the blare of a warning was closely followed by the ruckus of opening doors.
Morning.
If her knowledge didn't fail her, it meant she had a full hour out in the yard, enjoying the sun in the company of the rest of the prisoners.
As soon as she walked outside she stretched out her arms, feeling every muscle and bone obeying without complaint. The expected pain never came. It was easy to feel a laugh bubbling from her lips. Despite everything, every ache scarred inside her heart, the people she missed, she could appreciate the small joy of a younger body. Running all the way across the yard, she felt her muscles burning over solid bones, her heart pounding freely as she took deep breaths, the effort enough to make her smile. How long had it been since she could run like that?
Cleaning duty came later, sweeping all of the cell blocks, high and low.
Lunch was delayed, out of cruelty she had no doubt, and barely five minutes passed before she was called out to empty chamber pots. That was even crueler. Of course, the Warden wouldn't be better than her faint memories of this place, he was even worse. She gritted her teeth and did her job.
The rest of the day was spent locked inside her cell, a time she used to lock her feet on the ground and flex her muscles, feeling them in squats, push-ups, and other exercises until they were burning and her breathing normalized. Then the work began. Taking deep breaths, she fell into a posture that had been with her since she was eight. It was different. She was not old any longer, and this body was smaller than she remembered. She tried one punch, two… a jump, a kick. She got through her kata slowly, stumbling in more places than she liked. By the third time she was beginning to find her balance.
The second day was much the same.
As the days passed, she found herself watching somewhat familiar faces. The prisoner that had escaped with her, Sokka and Zuko so long ago was there, with a friend and a girlfriend. The Warden would show his ugly mug from time to time as well, and she would ignore him.
At night she thought of Zuko and tried not to think about the mess this whole situation would create. Last time she had been here, she thought a lot about Sokka, about her sisters, but now her heart drifted back to her husband and her daughters… Spirits, let me hold them again one day.
On the seventh day, they interrogated her.
She had almost forgotten this routine.
She was taken into an empty room, sat on a chair and stared down by a masked face while he asked questions. Do you see this map? Where are the Earth Kingdom's fortresses? Where would the rebels hide? Where were the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors? Who was their leader? Do you know the Avatar? Do you know his friends? Where would they hide?
She kept a straight face and refused to answer.
Later, she went back to her cell with numb pain pulsing from her guts and ribs. The punches hurt, but in this body, it almost made her feel powerful that she could stand them. Suki rose to her feet when the lights were off and got into her posture yet again.
She pressed her teeth together and moved through the forms, punching and kicking invisible enemies. That night she didn't stumble.
On the tenth day, she rested and cried.
On the fifteenth, her door opened earlier than usual, punctuate by a harsh voice. "Get up prisoner!"
"What is it?"
"You're being transferred" The guards took her arms and made her move, almost pushing her up the stairs.
Her mind raced with the possibility, wondering briefly if she should use the opportunity to escape. A lack of any memories of this happening held her back as she was escorted into the open, and towards the top tower office that looked over the whole prison. It was the warden's office and he was there, staring down a scroll with the cruel hard eyes of someone who enjoyed power and authority for his own sake. Suki wondered if she could get away with punching his guts, but there was someone talking to him in there. Middle-aged, with gray hair and whiskers. His posture and armor that of a soldier as he talked to the warden.
"The prisoner you requested, sir" the Warden looked up, nodded and frowned.
"I still fail to understand why this woman is going to Capital Prison, General… What was your name again?"
"Jee… Sir."
"Jee, I never heard of you." The warden commented sipping from a small cup and pursing his lips in thought.
"My promotion was very recent."
"So why is she being transferred?"
"I'm afraid I'm not authorized to divulge that information."
"Aren't you now?"
The gray-haired man, Jee, frowned. "If you have any doubts sir, by all means, send a message back to the Fire Nation and wait for an answer. I'll just wait at the docks and you can explain the delay to the owner of that seal."
It was like the Warden had suddenly drunk a whole load of piss instead of tea. His brows furrowed, his mouth twisted and his eyes bore into the scroll again. Suki felt her heart rushing a bit, even if she couldn't see what seal was there she had a sudden rush of hope to what it might mean.
"Just take her then"
The General bowed quickly, motioning towards his own men. Suki walked away from the guards, grinned insolently towards the Warden and met two firebenders who quietly escorted her inside the ferry. The big chunk of metal trembled and moved, the steam rising all around them as the trip brought her farther and farther from that stupid prison. When I'm Fire Lady again, I'm sending that Warden to a cell without a chamber pot! Or retirement with a public scolding…. It would depend on her mood really and the actual state of those prisoners upon revaluation. Yes, she seemed to remember Zuko granting pardons to many people unjustly imprisoned during his father's reign.
Relief settling in, she watched those with her. The firebenders were both young, both with masks off, one fidgeting all the time while the other had missed his shave that morning, his beard consisting of a fuzzy scruff of hair. General Jee was clearly the more experienced from the bunch, his eyes always on her instead of the view.
"So, Lieu… I mean, General." Beardy said. "Who is she anyway?"
"She is a high priority prisoner soldier, that is all you need to know"
The two looked to one another, baby face cleared his throat. "It's just that, when you took us out of duty, we wondered if this was something important."
"And you've been acting strange lately"
"I'm acting completely normal!" Jee defended himself, indignantly.
"A-are you sure sire?"
"You are shouting more than usual"
"I'm not!" The man finally snapped, making the guards wince. "And no talking, not in front of the prisoner."
"I don't mind really" She smiled sweetly, but the three ignored her, looking away. "I've been without anyone to talk to for so long now, you could indulge a girl here. Come on, what are the news of the world?"
"W-well..." baby face started, he looked to his leader, but the man didn't budge. "We… We took Ba Sing Se, and… The Avatar is dead, at least everyone says so. The war is almost over I think..."
"I can't wait to go home really, me and a friend were planning a trip for a long time now." Beardy said dreamily, but Suki saw the way the General's shoulder's tensed. Interesting. Paying more attention, she realized the man seemed tired, with bags under his eyes and loose ill-fitting clothes. Suki smirked. He was a general for not that long if he didn't have tailored uniforms yet, and now that she paid really close attention, he did seem familiar somewhat, but the memory escaped her the harder she tried to catch it.
Too soon they had crossed the lake, and she was brought out into the sun. Komodo Rhinos made the climb down from the top of the mountain to a point where she could see a huge warship stationed at the docks. It was one of the new ones, at least to this time, powered by two huge steam engines and armed with trebuchets. Suki licked her lips, remembering the fear of seeing those in the horizon as much as the power they actually evoked when she had to command the navy.
The room they brought her to was large and well furnished, not at all the room of a prisoner. As she took the sight of the made-up bed, and clothes, she idly felt when Jee took off her cuffs and stepped back.
"I was instructed to give you this." The man said bringing a folded scroll from his belt. Suki took the paper and opened, a grin forming on her face as she read over her husband's words.
Her birthday was months away, and here he was giving off warships.
"I take it your companions don't know much about all of this" She observed, moving to the bed and smiling widely at the sight of the two bronze fans resting over the red silk.
"No, not really..." Jee said frowning. "The whole crew is loyal, but my instructions were to leave any revelations to you… Ma'am"
"I see…" Suki tapped her chin, thoughtfully. "And how do you feel about all of this General?"
"I..." he hesitated and Suki raised an eyebrow.
"Having second thoughts?" Silence… Suki sighed. "Please, be truthful, in every way you put it, this is treason, so I need to know how you feel about it. I know Zuko wouldn't have gone to you if you're not trustworthy, but I care about the people under my command all the same."
For a moment Suki allowed herself the strangeness of watching a middle-aged man fidgeting in place, his eyes darting around the room for a bit.
"To be honest Ma'am, I haven't felt much like fighting ever since Ba Sing Se… Sixth hundred days and I had a much better idea about war and what it meant. We lost, I came home only to find my parents dead and the love of my life already married. There is not much left for a soldier later on. When General Iroh called upon me to serve his nephew it was better than nothing, and I respect the general… Later I came to respect his nephew as well… Now?" He licked his lips, and she saw his shoulders sagging. His guard was down. "He called his old crew to the palace, we had been lucky to survive the battle at the North Pole… I thought it was some sort of ceremony, some compensation, and I was looking forward to get anything at all and leave, but then he called me to speak in private. He gave me a promotion and asked me to have faith the Fire Nation could actually become a home again, without war, without violence… And I was, tempted… Hopeful…"
Suki nodded, glad Zuko had found someone like this. If the rest of the crew was like Jee maybe everything would work out.
"And how are you feeling now?"
"Now?" He looked down.
"Yes now," She said gently. "You met Prince Zuko, heard his words and then received this mission to free an Earth Kingdom prisoner and possibly join the Avatar you were hunting for five years. Are you still feeling hopeful?"
"I'm… I'm still here." Jee answered and Suki offered him a sad smile. For a man like him, it must have been hard to go against allegiances formed by years of service… Either that, or he saw this treason as a service to the Fire Nation and nothing more. If he was at the North Pole he certainly witnessed some terrifying sights...
"All right, we have some time before we meet Zuko in Ember Island" She pushed her way to the map of the Fire Nation hanging from the wall, a smirk slowly coming to her lips as she found the place she was looking for. The two of them didn't exactly have a plan for the situation, Korra's power was rather random about how far they would be sent back, so improvisation was clearly the rule here and she was about to go all out on it.