Four steps forward, turn right. Six steps forward, repeat.
It'd been a week since she'd been dumped into this plain metal cell on a Fire Nation cruiser. FNS Suzuran, she thought she'd seen emblazoned on the hull. After her and her sisters had been captured by that trio of women (the knife thrower was called Mai, while the perpetually perky one was Ty Lee, she'd discovered. A strange group of friends, but she wasn't sure if they were friends as much as minions), they'd been trussed up and tossed over the backs of the mongoose-lizards. Brought to the nearest Fire Nation colony, they'd been transferred to ships. They'd been separated; her warriors were being sent to a generic prisoner of war camp in the northwest, Yu Dao-wards, while she'd been picked out as the leader. None of her girls had given her up – she didn't deserve their loyalty. No, Azula, the princess, had just Stared at them for a few minutes and somehow picked her out. No, Suki was headed to a special prison back in the homeland, she'd been said.
Six steps forward, turn right. Four steps forward, repeat.
She couldn't let herself worry about her sisters. From the sounds of it, they'd be shipped off together and kept that way for bureaucratic simplicity, so at least they had each other. And in a prisoner of war camp, they'd be surrounded by other reliable Earth folk. Not so much for her. She was being imprisoned in a place called the Boiling Rock. And if that isn't an ominous name, I've got no idea what is.
Which is why she'd been in this cell for a week. Sailing west into the setting sun. As if that wasn't a foreboding sign.
Four steps forward, turn right. Six steps forward, repeat.
She threw herself back onto the plain cot that stuck out from the wall. The boredom was almost as bad as the fact that she was likely never to taste freedom again, unless the Avatar could kill the Fire Lord. And even then, throwing the nation into civil war wouldn't help. She'd more than likely simply slip between the cracks.
This certainly isn't how I imagined fighting the Fire Nation would go, I have to admit. In the quiet of her own mind, she could at least admit that she'd overestimated Kyoshi training. She'd fully believed that her and her half dozen sisters could take on any force two or even three times their size, as they'd proven to the Earth Kingdom army. To have been taken down by half their number pricked her pride to no end. Hopefully she'd have time to work out in prison.
She still couldn't get over how those girls had moved. She knew that her and her warriors were all in top physical condition, but they couldn't have pulled off some of the leaps and feats of accuracy that the nonbenders had. What was it that the Fire Nation had that the Earth Kingdom didn't? Was this how they'd been winning for a century despite inferior numbers compared to the Earth Kingdom? She'd always dusted the rumours of firebenders performing inhuman feats, and all benders seemed to shrug off blows that'd knock nonbenders out.
She slowly let out a breath. Captured. She still couldn't wrap her mind around it. She'd been prepared to die for her cause, but to live for it? As a 'special' prisoner of Her Imperial Highness, she didn't doubt that she would be singled out, for better or worse. If she could blend into the general population, she could slip into obscurity and hopefully hide and survive. If she was known, it'd make her a target, though ironically, it'd likely be safer to be known as the princess's special project. It wasn't worth worrying about; she'd find out when she was admitted to the prison, and there wasn't anything that she could do about it.
The slot at the bottom of her door slid open, and a covered tray was roughly pushed into her cell. "Dinner." The gruff, feminine voice called out one of the few words that they'd exchanged for the duration of the trip. As far as Suki could tell, it was always the same woman who delivered her meals. And hadn't that been a shock. A woman, serving in the active military. She'd actually heard and seen mostly women as she'd boarded, and none of the men that escorted her from the colony onto the ship had seemed surprised.
Uncovering her tray, she smiled. At least something was familiar in her new circumstances. A selection of makizushi sprinkled with chili flakes, along with the traditional trays of soya sauce, pickled ginger and a strange green paste that she had yet to learn the name of, but had learned that it was hot. She hadn't touched it since. The tea that often came with meals, while widely varying in quality, was appreciated for the luxury it was. Guest of Her Imperial Highness indeed. She tentatively sipped that nights' brew to test, eventually grimacing and drinking it down. She'd noticed that the quality of the tea varied wildly from day to day, and it looked like that meal was a Bad Day.
The meal provided a distraction, but it could only stretch out time for so long. Eventually she had to admit defeat and returned her meal tray through the door. She had tried to break out her first evening on the boat, shattering the wooden tray and making herself weapons. She'd discovered the flaw in her plan when she realised that the cell had been secured from the opposite side, and they had no intent to open the door at all until they arrived. So, her smoothed and shaped shafts of wood hid beneath the foot of her cot, ready for the ship to arrive and her opportunity to escape.
She yawned as she stretched, beginning to move through her kata, keeping her muscles limber and prepared for her arrival. As she moved through them, however, she found her limbs and eyes getting heavier. Damn it. The tea. I trusted it too easily. Clever ashmakers… She collapsed to the floor, the world dulling around her as her senses slowly shut down. The last thing she heard before the darkness consumed her was the noise of her cell being unlocked.