FANNING THE FLAMES
"Remember your cue men, walk straight into the airship, don't look at anyone. Act like you belong. We're just essential personal for flight tests, got it?"
She looked over her small band of rebels, smiled at their determined faces, and then back over her shoulder towards the secret shipyards brimming with soldiers, engineers and workers.
It was no wonder that Ozai had managed to keep the work secret for months before the invasion. Zuko had once told her he had found out about the airships that same morning, and giving the scene she was watching right now, Suki could believe it. It was a wide plain this one, wide enough to house all six giant behemoths together, three of them still being finished in the ports, targets to giant metal cranes that fixed the framework of girders and rings. Most impressive though, were the airships already built, three of them, as huge as a palace, looming like shadows under the sun, and evoking gasps of awe from the crew. Inwardly, Suki had smiled at their reaction. Never having seen the likes of it before, they had been ecstatic when sighting one flying over the mountains in a test run earlier. These earlier in the models, Suki knew they lacked reverse engines and proper ventilation, but none of that would matter if they could obliterate the enemy from the skies. Days later some of them were eager to board, which was fine for her little theft, which involved walking straight towards one of the huge ones, with all the confidence of a saber toothed moose-lion.
"Why can't we just take a grounded one?" Jee asked as she hurried them to get dressed, one of the airships was landing on the field and they didn't have time to waste.
"The airships need to heat the air inside to float, and the grounded ones are probably dead cold right now. Since it takes hours to get them ready to fly that will make our escape easy enough as well."
She looked on as her brave little rebels nodded one after the other, the cook seeming especially funny looking in his engineer's outfit. Thanks to Zuko they had a whole lot of uniforms to choose, from imperial firebender's armors to officer's robes, they were all as disguised as she could make them.
"Ready?" She asked and then. "Come on"
She guided them through a blind spot on the wall. One after the other, they passed after knocking out a lonely guard that had been trying to use the bushes to relieve himself. Once inside she carefully inspected her own loose robes and let Jee take the lead in his general's regalia.
The walk towards the airship was a nervous business. Cook kept tripping over his boots, while Beardy and Baby face, whose names she learned were Lee and Jing, looked straight ahead as if afraid of their own shadows. Their elite firebender armor bouncing with each step for being a little over-sized, but overall the base seemed busy enough for there to be little attention thrown their way.
"This place is amazing, I wonder what sort of system they use to heat the air." Hong, the crew's engineer, spoke up, his short steps hurrying to keep pace.
"The same as our old ship? I dunno what's the difference." Kong, the helmsman answered with a shrug.
"It can't be the same, our ship used pipes to get steam into the engine, this thing here, if a pipe touches that sailcloth it could burn the whole thing!"
"I'm sure they know what they are doing, what I wonder is if there is a kitchen in there."
"Of course you would, Cook!" Hong snickered, and Jing finally shushed the men as they passed by a tall looking fellow with a whip at his waist. They waved nervously, and the man grunted while Suki found her hands hovering inside the long sleeves from her robes. Slowly, they managed to march all the way to the shipyard until they were finally stopped by a high ranking officer, guarding the entrance to a simple fence of wood and metal guarding the anchor field.
"What is this?" The man questioned, his mustache twitching as Jee offered the scroll with Zuko's personal seal and Suki's careful handwriting.
"Crew for flight test" Jee declared.
The man frowned, looking back at the stationed ships, where Suki could see the one that had just landed was being anchored with ropes and metal stakes. "I wasn't informed of a flight test at this time, we just had one."
"Last minute adjustment sir" Jee motioned to the rest of them. "There has been a request from the royal family to test one of the machines personally, the Fire Lord wishes for this one to be flown to an unknown location for his personal inspection."
"I see, but why didn't the director inform me?"
"I dunno sir" Jee sweatdropped. "Maybe he forgot."
"Maybe" He glanced over the crew, seven firebenders, fifteen soldiers, two cooks, three engineers, a helmsman, Jee and Suki, who found herself the target of the man's gaze for a long moment. "A small crew this one, and this is?"
"Lieutenant Ping is my assistant."
Suki plastered a smile on her face and bowed perfectly towards the captain, who nodded. Behind them a loud ringing noise suddenly made them stop and Suki cringed at watching Lee helping Hong tuck a dagger back inside his around Suki bit her lip quietly, watching the man frown in deep thought. She fidgeted, watching his fingers moving from the scroll to his side, a simple enough movement of rubbing his fingers together that resulted in the two Firebenders leaving their posts at the gates.
Fuck, she cursed. Okay then.
Surprising both the officer and Jee, Suki leaped ahead, knocking her fist against the man's jaw and jumping over his already unconscious body. The two firebenders stopped short in surprise, and she gave them no time to react. Feeling the strength of ages of practice flowing through her, her hand disappeared inside a sleeve and came back with her closed fan. Relaxing her wrist, she jerked her whole arm forward, swiftly launching the weapon straight into the first firebender's head. The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye and, just as quickly, the second firebender joined the first, leaving nothing but a heavy silence as confusion reigned over the field.
"Come on!" She shouted over her shoulder. The crew took a second to take her orders, before Jee repeated them and had the men racing towards the airship where a big chunk of the current crew was outside, clearly shocked that their routine was so abruptly interrupted. "Take anyone left inside prisoner! Hong, take half our man and keep the boilers working!Jing, you get your men to the platforms, we'll need cover when we take off! Lee, you keep the doors closed, Jee! You and Bou get to the control rooms!"
She struck her knee under the chin of a soldier that tried to stop her, picked up a sword from the ground and threw at the nearest rope. Her men followed suit, burning the anchors in their passage, her fans coming alive as she guarded their rear, knocking down fireballs and arrows as they came even as her men fought their way inside the airship.
Falling in a stance, Suki waited for the punch from a huge engineer before throwing him over her shoulder using his own momentum. A whip screamed and one of her fans fell on the ground, her hand twitching in pain, but her other fan was already flying to take down the enemy. As the whip fell from her hand, she flipped over the field to take her weapons, her feet hitting a startled firebender in the face and she knew from the sickening crack that his nose was broken.
"Lady Suki!" She turned, everyone was inside already and Lee held the door open, then the man's eyes widened and she threw herself back just as her previous spot was hit by a jet of fire.
Waiting for not one second she run towards the entrance, tackling the soldiers who tried to get in her way and jumping over the closing doors, falling hard on her elbow.
"Fuck!" Suki cursed as she heard the door being pummeled from the outside, a window to her left being blown to bits by a stray slash of flames. Throwing herself for cover, she was wondering what took them so long, when suddenly the floor trembled and she felt the queasy sensation of the ship finally taking off.
"Ma'am"
"Thank you." Suki said, taking the offered hand. "I don't know if they will attack their own airship, but just in case you should go outside and help Jing"
The firebender stopped and nodded.
"You remember the way to the platforms that I described to you?"
"I think so."
"Then go, and good luck."
To her surprise, Lee actually saluted her before taking off towards the hallway.
Rubbing her bruised elbow, Suki took a moment to gather herself before running to her own destination. Although not lacking battle - she stopped short twice to help take care of lingering resistance - the path to the control room was exactly as she remembered, opening to a long control panel, with a wheel and a large viewport opening to the base and giving way to the skies. Hong was already turning them away from the fight as a wide blare echoed through the base, but the helmsman clearly knew little else about driving. Stepping between him and Jee, Suki pulled a lever to the right, feeling the assuring lurch as the propellers were activated at top speed.
Slowly they were gaining height.
"Wow, I would never figure that out." Jee rubbed his neck and Suki smirked.
"Well, I'll give a quick lesson as soon as I can." She stopped, hesitating. "Can you check on the crew? Make sure everything is in order?"
"Aye aye captain."
"And you, can you fly?" She asked Hong meanwhile, the old man had a weird grin to his face.
"It seems easy enough, I already figure out this here tells the height, and this one is the propellers, all the rest it's almost the same as a ship I think."
"Almost, just make sure we're high enough to lose any pursuit."
Her men must have begun to work on the boilers now, because soon enough, she could feel the ship rising faster. Ignoring the painful memories of teaching giggling little girls about flying, Suki quietly instructed Hong on the most delicate basics while taking the position of co-pilot. Her eyes waiting for the proper height when she would need to cut their ascension, the warrior felt a small pang of triumph at this first part went all right.
Now they just needed to approach the Caldera as if nothing was amiss.
Just fly casual Suki, she told herself. Fly casual.
Aiko tried her best to suppress a shiver as she huddled closer to her sisters in the damp cell. It wasn't because of the cold of course, but the nightmares that often plagued her mind came filled with fire and sometimes, even awake as she was, she would imagine the touch of it on her skin and tremble. She never allowed it to get to her though, no, she would keep herself together and thank her sisters when none made a comment about it. They were all here after all, made to share one chamber pot and their meek meals.
Apparently the Fire Nation had no qualms about mistreating prisoners.
On the first week here, she still remembered how Ami had fallen sick and they ended up sharing most of their rations with her, taking turns to watch over her fitful sleep until her fever broke. Even after recovering she seemed too thin for Aiko's taste, but as long as she was alive there was hope. As long as they were all alive. That was what their captain had told them before been taken away to spirits knew where and Aiko made herself think of those words every day, always searching, even if some didn't.
"It's a waste of time." Fay murmured when dinner arrived, but Aiko made no comment. She asked the guards about the war, about their captain and watched for a flinch, a hesitation, a moment of weakness to reach through the bars, but it never came. "Told ya."
"At least some of us are trying something" She whispered harshly as she took the rice with her fingers. She was a prisoner, and prisoners were not given hashi with their food.
"Trying? You keep looking for a way out like its going to pop right in front of you."
"I'm waiting for an opportunity."
"Please lets not fight." Tori asked from the side, delicately eating from her bowl and wiping her hands on her pants. At her suggestion, Aiko felt her fire burning out, but Fay kept frowning her way.
"I'm not saying that to be mean" she explained. "I'm saying that so you don't get caught and punished for some foolish reason."
"I know" Aiko complained. "But do you really want to be stuck here until the end of the war?"
"If this war ever ends, I suppose that's our destiny, yes."
"What shitty destiny that is" Tam said, snorting from her corner. "Really, can you imagine whoever decides on that talking about it?" Her long face stretched as she made up high and low pitched voices. "Hey, look at those warriors over there, what would be a good destiny for them? Oh, I don't know, make them loose to half their numbers maybe? And then what? Oh put them in prison or something."
They all shared a laugh at that and even Ami managed a weak smile at their friend's little performance, her cheekbones visible under her pale skin. "We did save the Avatar's bison though, that has to count for something."
"Of course it does." Fay said.
The meal was silent after that and Aiko could only stare at her food with the same strange detachment she had learned to identify lately. She would eat the tasteless overcooked rice to keep her strength and nothing else. She would do her katas and sink to her knees, every motion missing the weight of her armor and her fans. When the sun reached the cell, she would gather under it to feel it close, and at night, she would be on her tip toes to watch the stars, if there were any. She was a warrior defeated after all, a beast without its fangs, declawed, not the proud second to Suki, but the little girl who never manage to aim right when throwing her fan.
Aiko sighed, swallowing the last bit of food. Her hunger satisfied for the moment, she dropped the bowl close to the bars and stopping short at the sudden, familiar noise that could only come from a body hitting the floor.
The cell was small, appropriate to a prisoner of his rank and a little cold, but thankfully in the Fire Nation that last one was hardly an issue.
It actually helped him keep fresh, his exercises coming harder and faster as he felt the time passing, for although he was in a cage, General Iroh had learned long ago to be free. Torture, cells, they could all be made away if one had a truly light soul, unburdened by arrogance, pride and regrets, although something about that night made him think a lot about the last one. Something familiar and yet out of his reach. Maybe a tingle of incoming nightmares for he was never completely rid of those.
For of course he couldn't say he had no regrets whatsoever.
No, with the life of the great General Iroh on his back, filled with blood and too many judgments, regrets were things that he would carry with him forever, born from a very old dream of conquest and glory under Ba Sing Se's walls. What surprised him most though, was that he actually had new ones, for although he always felt disinclined to rule, letting his younger brother take the throne nagged a small part of his soul. Piling up with each and every day that he had wondered the palace and learned of arrested citizens, famish villages and atrocities of the war.
Then there was Ursa, gentle soul that she was, to this day he wondered as to her actions and her children. Azula was one that he could so rarely reach, but Zuko. The vision of his poor nephew so conflicted and in pain turning his back to him was still hurtful. He loved the boy, how could he not? In fact he had expected Zuko to come to him at some point, perhaps more confused than ever, or maybe his absence was a sign that his decision had been made. Was it too late for him? If worse came to worse, Iroh knew one thing for sure, and that was that Zuko had to come to his own decisions.
One was always weak in the face of forced choices. Tthose were the ones that plagued the mind and made every conquest as feeble as sand under the sea. Forced choices, he learned, weakened the spirit. If one true self was to rise, one must learn to go through the shadow and reach the other side.
Sitting in his cell in meditation, Iroh took a deep breath and wondered what shadows were yet to come.
It was the sound of a rusty metal bar been moved away that told him the door was unlocking and he quickly sat on the ground, the sight of Ming coming inside the room immediately warming his heart, for although he took care never to hold a grudge against misguided people, Warden Poon's cruelty had been getting on his nerves lately. On the whole, that man was tiresome.
"Hello there." The woman said with a small smile.
"Hello Ming, I hope you're doing well this fine night."
"Well, nothing to complain about." She said gently, placing the meal through his cell, carefully not spilling anything. "I know you like komodo chicken, so I snatched some for you from the guard's meal."
"Oh, thank you" Iroh said, he never asked her how she knew so much about his tastes, but he always appreciated. He took a piece of the meat and smiled. "Oh, this is delicious, Ming. Thank you very much, someone like me has a need to keep up shape if you know what I mean."
He playfully tapped on his now shrinking belly, glad for the chuckle that escaped her lips.
"Well, I'm… I'm glad I could help."
"I very much appreciate it."
Ming nodded, seeming hesitating a bit. "You could ask actually if you wanted anything else you know? I-I'm sure I could find you some better tea and..."
Her voice trailed off awkwardly and Iroh had to wonder about her openness to him. It came with trepidation, but Ming, he learned, was simply an open soul and, after a quick debate in which he concluded she wouldn't face harsher punishment or difficult in her offer, quietly accepted. "With a proper tea, I think this would make for a perfect meal."
"Is there a proper tea for a meal?" She asked raising her eyebrow.
"Well of course, tea is such a wonderful and versatile beverage, you must only know which one is appropriate for..."
A yell suddenly caught their attention, interrupting their conversation. Gently, Iroh lowered his food and glanced at the window. The moon was rising yes, but hidden behind thick clouds. The wind was howling, but underneath it there was that same something else he felt earlier.
So it wasn't a nightmare that was coming after all.
"What is going on?" Ming called, knocking on the door.
"I'm not sure, stay with the prisoner and I'll check!" The guard answered.
"But I can..."
"Stay with the prisoner!" The guard barked harshly, disappearing completely.
"Dammit!" The young guard cursed stepping back from the door, she looked over and Iroh rose to his feet. "Sorry, I'm sure it's nothing serious."
"I wouldn't be so sure Ming" Iroh said, because now he was completely aware of an aura of violence that was usually followed by battle.
"What do you mean?" She was asking, and then someone grunted, and he could hear firebending happening on the other side of that door. Screams followed, shouts and gasps and then muffled voices approached in a hurry. Realization dawned on Ming and she quickly assumed a stance, her body perfectly balanced, hands glowing with scarlet fire as she faced the door. "Who is there!?"
She challenged and Iroh winced. A cold strategist would have waited to ambush the invaders, but watching Ming's demeanor for a while long, he suddenly realized she wasn't in a panic, but collected and ready. She was buying time, he realized.
The voices outside hushed, the lock was opened but not the door.
"Who is in there?"
Now Iroh frowned, that voice was feminine and very young, unrecognizable. Not White Lotus, he had been clear in that he would leave in his own way and at his own risk, but then who else would dare invade a prison in the heart of the Fire Nation?
"I asked you first!"
A pause.
"Well, I guess you did, my name is Suki, what is yours?" The voice was almost too sympathetic, it certainly caught Ming off guard.
"Ming!"
"Ming?" The voice sounded surprised, a hushed conversation followed and then. "Look, Ming, I'm gonna open this door very slowly, all right? There is no need for fire here. Hopefully, we can talk. I really don't want to hurt you."
"I highly doubt that."
"I'm serious, we didn't even kill anyone, your friends are all fine." The door opened hesitantly and Ming held her fire back. When it became clear that no attack was coming, it finally moved further revealing a small shadow that slowly became a young red haired woman. She was dressed in black stealth clothes, tabis on her feet and a mask that she pulled down to show her blue eyes and a strangely sincere smile. "Well, look at that, you're so young I can barely recognize you."
"What? What in Sozin's name are you talking about?"
"Nothing, sorry, I was just talking to myself." She looked at him suddenly and Iroh saw that smile widening as she bowed, cupping her left hand in typical Fire Nation salute. "Iroh, it is a pleasure to see you."
"You too young lady, but I do have to ask why that is since, as far as my memory goes, I do not remember having the pleasure of meeting you."
"I'm a friend of your nephew actually." Ming seemed completely uncertain all of the sudden, and that seemed to be exactly what the girl wanted, taking her time to run her eyes over the scene and nod. "He really wants you out of here."
"The prince?" Ming asked, startled, and even Iroh felt his eyes widening.
"Zuko?"
"Yes, that one, you know? Brooding, long hair that he takes more care of than he would ever admit, big scar, all stiff and humorless." That was a glimmer of mischief to her eyes as she said the last one. "He asked me to get you out, but that is your choice of course."
She heard a noise from outside, and the swishing waves of fire lit the hallway.
"Everything all right Lee?"
"All fine, my lady!" Swish. "If you could hurry though."
"I'll be right over." Suki turned back and grinned. "So, can we get out of here?"
"Wait, the prince asked you to come here? B-but that is treason!" Ming stammered.
"Yes it is, would you like to stop it?" Suki questioned, seeming legitimately curious. In that moment Iroh saw Ming looking at him, the war between duty and something else clear in her eyes, but that was all it took for Suki to knock her out with a solid blow to the back of head. She didn't allow for Ming to fall though, instead gently lowering her to a corner of the cell. "Don't worry, she will be fine, I would hate to push a decision like that on her."
Iroh blinked, only then noticing how tense he became at the idea of hurting the young guard. Suki was already opening the cell when he recovered. "So are you coming? Zuko really wants to see you."
"You seem like a very good young lady." Iroh remarked, to which she only smiled. "But I'm not sure that is wise."
"Zuko knew you would hesitate, but he told me to tell you he'll even play the tsungi horn if you come along right now."
Iroh couldn't help himself, he might not know anything about this Suki, but that was clearly a message only his nephew would know to send and so he felt his lips curving into a warm grin and chuckled. Hope was a very sweet thing indeed, and although he always found strength to give it to himself, having it offered by others was even more of a blessing. Hurrying to the hidden cove in his cell, he recovered the small bundled artifact and got back to his feet.
"Well, in that case, how can I miss it?"