Suki raised an eyebrow at the dull thud of someone knocking on her door. A moment later, the door opened and in addition to the normal pair of guards, there was another stockier man with them. His wide face was topped not with one of the standard helmets, but a suspiciously crown-looking head ornament. "Prisoner 314. I am the warden of the Boiling Rock, and you will refer to me as such. A filthy mudblood like you is too primitive to speak my name. Am I understood?"
She glared at him in silence. He quickly grew impatient and motioned to the female guard at his side, who stepped into the cell and slammed a fist into her stomach, winding her and driving her to her knees.
"I asked, do you understand, prisoner?"
She refused to answer him. She wouldn't bend to this petty little man in his petty little kingdom. He rolled his eyes and audibly sighed before the guard kicked her in the ribs. "They're always so stubborn at first." He prodded her with his own foot - not kicking, not quite, but far more than a merely inquisitive poke. "I didn't quite catch that, mudblood."
Suki grimaced, but managed to gasp out her answer. "Yes, I understand."
He smirked before motioning at the guard again, who kicked her again in the side. Fire burned through her torso as the Warden's voice rang out through her cell. "I don't believe that I heard you correctly. 'Yes, I understand…'" he trailed off meaningfully, and she forced herself to swallow back the bitter taste in her mouth.
"Yes, I understand Warden. " She would have spit on his feet if it hadn't promised another hit from the angry looking guard beside her, and even then she was tempted.
"What did I tell you? These savages can be taught." The Warden laughed, and the two guards with him also laughed, though Suki could tell that the female guard's laughter was forced. "Now get up. Her Imperial Highness is here to visit her special prisoner."
The pain that she'd been feeling was suddenly dwarfed by the apprehension that pooled deep in her stomach. Azula. She's finally come to see me.
Her mind was too numb to argue much as she was brusquely escorted to a special cell near the top of the prison. She could hear catcalls as she passed the men's section of the prison, but they all fell upon deaf ears. The cell door didn't look like anything special, but it was likely designed that way for security purposes. The door opened to a room empty of all decoration except for the wooden chair in the middle of the room. The guards shoved her into the room, and she took a chance, trying to spin around and take advantage of her relative freedom to try and escape.
What she hadn't counted on was the guard's damage, as her side suddenly spasmed and her step stuttered, ruining her spin and making her fall to her knees. The guards laughed as they hauled her up to the chair and frogmarched her over to the chair. Pressing her hand into the left restraint, they had it secured before she could react. Her right hand came up to slap the guard, hoping to distract them long enough to free her hand but she miscalculated and hit the facemask of the guard's helm, splitting her palm and barely phasing the guard, who swore and slammed her hand into the second restraint. Pain burned through her wrist as they tightened the restraints and left, cursing her out as they did.
And silence filled the cell. Suki idly wondered if this was part of the Princess's plans; let her stew in the silence and let her own thoughts fill her with fear. She'd find herself sorely disappointed, Suki swore to herself. Pushing down her trepidation as much as she could, she closed her eyes and began to breathe. Feel the air. Feel it rushing into your lungs, infusing it with the heat of your body. Feel the chi lacing every breath, the energy inherent in each movement of your body. A wave of heat slowly travelled out from her lungs, a pleasant burning tracing along her limbs. While Giman's reluctant teachings were somewhat esoteric (the older woman easily admitted that she wasn't a good teacher), Suki had been slowly picking it up. It surprised both of them how easily she'd taken to it, in fact, and Giman had questioned her again about being a firebender. They apparently took to the lessons easier than almost anyone else, having learned how to move their own chi to generate their fires.
The door slowly creaked open, and Suki suddenly realised how long she'd sat here. Her legs ached from not having moved in ages, and the sunlight entered the door at a significantly lower angle than they had when she'd been tossed in here.
"My my my. Look at you here, all comfortable. Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, leashed down for me like a tamed messenger hawk. Or do you prefer Suki?"
Suki's eyes snapped up to look at the figure outlined in the bright sunlight before glaring at her silently. "Why don't you take these off and ask me again?" She rattled the restraints tying her to the chair. "Or are you scared of a girl who you had tied down?"
Bright, mocking laughter rang through the room before abruptly cutting off. "The warden mentioned that you had spirit. I can see why the Avatar would be interested in recruiting you. He doesn't have any Fire on his side. I hadn't expected it to be so literal, however." Azula walked into the room, blue flames playing over her fingers as she walked behind Suki. "I wonder if the great Kyoshi Warriors know that they're led by the blood of the great enemy, hmmm?"
"They already know. So your threats are empty, your highness. " Suki spat over her ear, trying in vain to keep Azula in eyesight.
"So the Warriors don't care, how cute. But what about the people of Kyoshi? And after my brother burned down your town. Shame. I can't imagine that you'd be well received, when the truth comes out." At Suki's silence, Azula smiled cruelly. "Oh, it's already come out, and they didn't like what they saw? I'm so surprised. I do wonder, however - how much of your desire to leave your precious island had to do with that? That it's your fault that your companions were captured? They aren't getting treated as well as you are, you know. They're just regular prisoners. I received a report about one of them getting stabbed quite badly." She could hear the shuffling of papers behind her as her heart began to beat harder, her breath coming faster.. "Oh, I'm sorry. A girl named Nabi lost a finger, she wasn't stabbed."
Suki's heart stopped. Nabi… Nabi was the finest archer in Busan; she'd been able to pin a dragon-fly at a hundred paces. If she'd lost her index finger, Suki wasn't sure if she'd be able to forgive herself. "You're a monster."
"Oh, are you just learning that?" Azula stroked a finger down her arm tracing a pattern that she didn't recognize, the digit uncomfortably hot. "I could have told you that." A flash of heat, and before Suki could even scream, the heat had vanished, leaving only a smoking scar above her elbow. Her mind couldn't process the pain for a second before it hit her abruptly, and she hissed in pain as she clenched her jaw, resolved to show as little pain as possible. She focused her eyes on the wall opposite her, determined to count the rivets to distract herself.
"Nothing to say? Pity." She stalked off to the front of the room, blocking Suki's view of the wall. "Don't worry. I'll be back. It was a whim to visit you on my way to the colonies. You intrigue me, Suki. You're not one of those weak, simpering women. I can respect that." Blue flames played over her hand again, and she raised Suki's chin. She stared into the firebender's cold, dead eyes without blinking, and the Fire National smiled viciously. "Yes, I'll definitely be back."
She sauntered back to the door, clearly dismissing her as a threat. "Don't miss me too much."
Long after Azula had left, Suki finally summoned the courage to look down at her arm where Azula had burnt her. There, in vivid bone white to the sun-kissed skin of her arm, laid the character for Fire.