(During Appa's Lost Days [S2:E16])
Feels nice to get out. Don't get me wrong, serving the Earth Kingdom has its perks, but getting out and being Kyoshi Warriors again is more than worth it. Suki smiled as she and her warriors took a brief interlude from running the patrol to grab a quick snack. Having the military feed you was pretty nice, especially with Ba Sing Se's tendency to rely on red meat far more than fish, a welcome change from Kyoshi Island's usual diet of fish. On the other hand, rations meant that fresh food was at a premium, so coming across this patch of elderberries was a lucky find that she intended to capitalize on.
She noticed Iseul frowning as she pulled something from her bush. A dirty, snarled clump of ivory-colored fur with traces of blood on it. "Must have been some fight." She commented offhand, before moving to toss the fur onto the ground.
"Wait, let me see that." Suki took the fur, and after a moment's hesitation, removed her glove and rubbed the strands of fur between her fingers, the texture tugging at her memory. I know this fur. "No… it couldn't be." Her eyes followed a path of snapped trees and stripped earth, a dozen feet wide. She motioned to her Warriors to be alert for trouble before picking her way up the devastated hillside, afraid that she already knew what she was going to find. She pulled herself over the top of the bluff and saw an abandoned mine shaft, wood showing signs of fatigue. Settled beneath it laid the Avatar's bison. "Huh? Appa! Oh no…"
The bison was woken up by her voice, as Appa flinched, growling at her as she tried to approach. Keeping her voice and body low, she slowly moved towards him. Her eyes flickered over his bruised and battered body, taking special note of the chains and boar-q-pine quills stuck in his sides. Carefully reaching into her belt pouch, she removes the elderberries that she'd managed to collect for herself and piled them on the ground in front of him before stepping back, arms spread. "It's going to be okay, Appa. I'm going to leave, but I'll be right back with help. You remember the other Warriors, right?" Not truly expecting an answer, she's astonished to hear his growl become less aggressive as he moves to eat the berries.
She continued to back up until the top of the bluff before leaping over it and sliding down the wrecked path. "Sisters! Quickly!" The others looked up at her coming down the path, weapons at the ready. Jae with her yumi, Eun and Nabi with their fans and Iseul with her katana held in both hands. "Stand down, warriors. The Avatar's sky bison is up the hill. He's been lost for a while, and he's hurt. He's understandably a little spooked right now, so stay low and quiet. Nabi, I'm looking at you. I know that he's cute, but he's not up to playing right now."
Nabi grinned sheepishly as she folded her tessen back up and replaced them on her belt. "I'll do my best, Suki, I promise. Appa's the number one priority, I got it."
She looked over her warriors with pride as they followed her back up the hillside over the ridge discussing quietly between them their current stock of medicines and bandages (which wasn't much, given that this was supposed to only be a simple patrol). Nabi crept up to catch up with her before they crested the ridge. "I can't believe that you found the Avatar's bison. Didn't you just see him a few days ago?"
And Sokka, yeah. Closed that door. "Yes, I helped him and his team across the Serpent's Pass. They'll be in Ba Sing Se by now. Or at least they should be if nothing else has distracted them. It's our duty to see Appa back to Aang; it's the least that we can do for him. It's definitely worth delaying our return to the ferry terminal for something this big."
Appa struggled to his feet and roared as the half dozen women topped the hill. Creeping towards him again, she spoke softly to him, trying to calm him. "Appa, remember, it's me Suki. I was just here. I'm a friend, and I'm here to help you, big guy. We can help you feel better, and help you find Aang." Finally reaching the great beast, she gently laid a hand on his nose, internally marveling at how it felt; like old shoe leather, yet with a dampness that was cool, not sodden. He collapsed to his belly, evidently strained by the effort of standing and finally convinced that they didn't harbor any ill will towards him.
The women spend the next few hours carefully wrapping his wounds, and applying a thin layer of their burn salve over his burns. The quills are removed, and his fur brushed out. By the end of it, Appa is in much better humour. As her warriors take a quick break in the river nearby to get off the worst of the dirt and bison fur stuck all over them, Suki takes a moment to lean against his side.
"Been through a lot, haven't you? I know how that feels." She twirled her fingers through his long, thick fur as she spoke. "This is our first time leaving the island, you know. The first time that we've really seen what this war is all about, see the impact of it. Not something that we ever had to deal with on Kyoshi; things that training can't prepare you for. I hadn't quite realised how backwards most of the Earth Kingdoms were. Women are second class citizens, people care what side of the river you pitch your tent on and there's corrupt nobles everywhere you look."
At Appa's rumble, she smiled and dug her fingers deeper into his fur. "Look, it's not all bad. We're stubborn folk, you know. We're proud and strong, and our diversity is our strength. We respect Mother Guanyin, and she shelters us in turn. But I… we hadn't realised how different it is on the mainland. We had to fight three times our number in Earth Kingdom soldiers before they'd let us on patrol, you know? Because we're women." She scowled at the memory. "As if that can stop us from fighting. Idiots." She shook off the memory as her girls returned, chattering and laughing. Appa rumbled happily as Nabi hugged his face before licking her entire body. Suddenly his ears twitched and he turned, pushing Iseul and Jae behind him as a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck a great oak tree, felling it. He roared at the trio of women who came over the nearby ridge on mongoose-lizards.
Dressed all in reds and pinks, the women confidently rode up to the group. Okay, point for the Fire Nation. They let their women fight. "My my, you're easy to find." The woman flanked by the two others holds up a clump of fur identical to the one that Iseul had found hours earlier. She rubbed it between her fingers, letting the individual strands blow away in the wind. "It's really astounding my brother hasn't captured you yet."
The Kyoshi Warriors rushed forward, putting themselves between Appa and the Fire Nation threat. As one, they flick out their collapsible shields and iron tessen, prepared to defend the Avatar's bison. "What do you want with us?" Suki asked, eyes narrowed. These ladies are dangerous.
"Who are you, the Avatar's fan girls?" The opposing leader's voice carried the hint of mockery, with the crackle of someone used to being obeyed without question.
To her right, the more innocent looking figure in pinks rather than reds screwed her face up in concentration before brightening. "Oh, I get it! I get it. Fan girls. Good one, Azula!" The sour-faced woman on the other side merely scoffed softly before redirecting her eyes to the warriors across from her.
"If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck."
"I knew this was a waste of time." The tall, dour woman sighed.
The leader Azula, always remember their names, they have power rolled her wrist in a 'get on with it' motion. "No Avatar, huh?" With a shrug, her smile turns malicious. "Well, that's okay, any friend of the Avatar, is an enemy of mine." She launches herself from her mount and points her fingers at them. A plume of blue flame I didn't know that firebenders could bend blue flame, Kyoshi preserve us are they all firebenders? erupts towards them. Thankfully long hours of training kicked in. Unconsciously, they moved as a unit and formed a shield wall in front of Appa, dispersing the blast harmlessly. The other two women leapt off of their mounts, the pink one twirling into an ostentatious flip while the other okay wow, she's tall flicked a half dozen blades from her sleeves. With a single motion, a flurry of knives pinned Jae to the tree okay, none of them drew blood, she is Good. Jae's flinch turned into shock as she also realised that she wasn't bleeding, or even moderately injured. "You're so colourful, you're making me nauseous." Her montone voice droned out, but the heat of battle had drawn an excited edge to the voice.
Iseul dropped her fan and shield and drew her katana just in time to deflect the brace of darts that the thrown weapon specialist before charging her.
Eun also dropped her weapons and drew her katana, trying to strike at the other one who simply rushed her, effortlessly dodging the steel and she punched her a half dozen times down her back, somehow dropping her. She then stood petulantly over the fallen warrior, hands on her hips and she pouted. "You're not prettier than we are."
Okay, I honestly don't see how that has anything to do- Suki's internal monologue was cut off as a blast of blue flame collided with her shield, and she suddenly couldn't spare any more attention to her sisters. She bled off the force of the hit with a spin, stowing her tessen and trying to push Appa back out of the line of fire, invading his personal space. With a spinning kick, a second blast of fire immediately followed the first, staggering her and setting the lightning-felled tree alight. Appa roared in fear, and Suki felt her heart go out to him. I guess now we know where those burns came from.
"Afraid of fire, I see. That's good, you should be!" She could hear the smirk and satisfaction in Azula's voice, and it set a fire in her.
"Go Appa! Fly away from here! Get out of here!" She drew her katana and charged Azula, feeling the earth shudder as Appa lifted off, and she felt a surge of relief flow through her as she closed the distance. She lunged in, blade extended, and Azula simply leapt. Over. it. She spun in midair as if it was nothing while a hand spun around her body and slapped Suki's wrist, sending her katana soaring. It stabbed a tree, blade humming with the force. Only a dozen feet away, but a dozen feet too far away for her to recover. She stumbled back a step, wrist throbbing from the hit, as Azula blasted a fist of flame at her. Suki barely managed to get her shield between them, shrugging off the cerulean flames but letting the momentum turn her body and channeling it into a heavy punch, but Azula leaned back just enough to avoid her fist and kicked out at her knee, knocking her off of her feet.
Dealing with the fact that she'd just had the wind knocked out of her, Suki's grateful for her sister that expertly tossed her tessen at Azula, reorienting her attention long enough to snap out an arc of flame from her foot at them as Suki scrambled to her feet. She heard Appa's concerned rumble as he made a turn and headed back to the fight. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed a branch that Azula had conveniently set alight for her, waving it in the air. Sorry for this, Appa, but you have to get back to Aang. "Get out of here! You have to find Aang! We'll be okay!"
Her heart ached as she saw Appa flinch from the fire wielded by someone that he trusted, but it was quickly soothed when he pulled up and flew away. A crunch of dead leaves was the only warning she got before a blast of fire came roaring at her. Barely managing to catch it on her shield again, drew back to the burning toppled tree, drawing her tessen and falling into an open horse stance.
Azula calmly walked towards her, a contemptuous look on her face. "Don't you know that fans just make flames stronger?" She darted forwards, leading a flare of blue flame as she met Suki's charge, and suddenly there was no time for thinking at all as training took over.