A.N.: Thank you guys for the reviews! Here's Chapter Four, I hope it's as interesting as those that came before.
Chapter Four: First Impressions
Several times Zhi had drifted in and out of consciousness, he had caught a blurry glimpse of a hallway, the emotionless face of a Dai Li man, then a large iron door, but each time his vision had blurred and he'd slipped back into the infinite darkness.
When he finally began to awaken, the first sensation he felt was a strange, dusty and rather cold surface that seemed to be pressed against his face. The next was a throbbing pain in the back of his head, the young soldier remained still, he felt exhausted and even opening his eyes seemed like it would take too much effort.
He soon became uncomfortable and a new pain had made itself known in and around the joint of his right shoulder. With eyes still closed tightly, Zhi rolled himself over onto his back with his left arm and gingerly rested his right upon his chest.
The young soldier lay there breathing quietly, the events of that night in the Palace slowly rising to the surface. He began to wonder where he was, the Dai Li had taken him somewhere, he knew that much. Zhi took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, the room was dark, but as his vision cleared he could discern a barred door before him and a torch on a wall beyond that.
He peered up at the ceiling above, it was low and dark and he figured he was being kept in some sort of a cell. With a few more deep breaths and considerable effort he managed to sit up and scoot backwards until his back rested against the cold iron wall at the rear of his cell.
After a short rest he took stock, his legs seemed alright, nothing hurt there, though, when he tried to stand he was overcome by dizziness and nausea and slumped back against the wall. Zhi carefully reached back and touched the spot at the back of his head where the throbbing pain originated from.
His fingers reached the swollen knot; the hair covering it was matted with dried blood. He thought back and could vaguely remember the Dai Li Agent landing near him, then he was sent sliding and tumbling, Zhi concluded that he must have struck some sort of hard object.
Had he suffered any sort of long term damage from the impact? He tried to remember basic information; my name, date of birth, mother's eye color… mother, family, what will they think when they stop receiving letters?
The city? The Palace? What had happened? He realized he was getting ahead of himself; he needed to stick with the here and now. Zhi next turned his attention to his arm, he let it rest in his lap but the pain was only slightly diminished, he made the decision to conduct an experiment and carefully lifted his arm up a bit.
The pain in the shoulder joint increased agonizingly and the young soldier drew a sharp breath, letting his arm rest once again. He'd never had a particularly high tolerance for pain.
Zhi's hand instantly rose in search of his flame pendant, for a split second fear washed over him, was the necklace gone? No! His hand came to rest upon the pendant, the chain had become caught on the collar of his uniform and it had not dangled down like it normally did.
He held the pendant in his hand for a short moment, smiling to himself in the dark; his good luck charm had not left him. Zhi let it drop back around his neck and searched for his weapons, of course the Dai Li had taken his sword and Guan Dao but when he reached inside his boot, he realized they'd taken his knife too.
Suki had watched carefully from the neighboring cell, she remained silent and stayed back in the shadows observing the Fire Nation soldier. She'd kept a close eye upon him since the Dai Li had placed him in the cell, though she had eventually grown tired and moved to the far side of her cell to sleep.
She had awoken to a pained gasp from the soldier but had remained very still and she was certain he was not yet aware of her presence. Suki watched as he had searched for and found his necklace then checked for something beneath the right ankle guard of his armored boot, he'd frowned when his hand had returned empty.
Suki rose up from the ground onto her hands and knees, watching the occupant of the next cell carefully. The Fire Nation soldier turned his head and peered down the opposite line of cells, and then he slowly turned toward her end. For a fraction of a second blue eyes met gray, peering through the gloom. Suki froze and the soldier gave a surprised lurch.
Zhi blinked a few times, he hadn't sensed the presence of the other captive but he could see her now, his mouth hung open a bit and a curious look crossed his face as he inspected the girl. What is she wearing..? What's all over her face? ...is that blood?
The young soldier propped himself up and moved over, on his knees, to the bars that separated the two cells, right arm held up by his left. He stopped just inches from the bars. "Hel…" Zhi's voice came as a barely audible mumble and he cleared his throat before starting again, "Hello there, are uh.. did those Earthys capture you too?"
The girl only stared at him with her tired blue eyes. "I'm Polearmsman Zhi, of Sergeant Zhuk's Third Infantry Platoon.. we were Governor Yung's personal guard in the Palace… you're Fire Nation, aren't you?" he asked, trying to get some kind of a response from the girl.
"Are you hurt? Did the Dai Li harm you?" he asked her, speaking softly.
Suki moved slowly toward the bars that separated her from the Fire Nation boy, Zhi, as he called himself, she watched as a dumb looking smile crossed his face the closer she got. Her eyes lit upon the flame pendant, symbol of the Fire Nation, the same symbol that adorned Azula's top-knot.
Her friends, their lives taken by the Princess, taken by the Fire Nation, had not deserved such a terrible fate and Suki would get some revenge for them, here and now. She reached the bars, face to face with the enemy, and in a swift movement, swung at the boy.
Zhi saw a strange flicker in those blue eyes but had no way of anticipating what came next. With lightning speed the girl struck him directly in the nose with her fist. The young soldier had no time to shout and lurched backwards from the impact; he managed to get unsteadily to his feet and clutched his nose with his left hand.
Zhi whimpered as the blood dribbled into his hand and down his "mustache", he could taste its coppery flavor as it reached his lips. The young soldier steadied himself, he was still suffering from the dizziness, but the pain in his nose was enough to sharpen his senses.
"Uhhhhuug," groaned Zhi, "what.. what is wrong with you!?" he shouted, glaring at the girl, his hand still cupped over his nose.
Suki turned her back to the soldier and sat quietly, listening to him grumble in pain and confusion. Part of her felt satisfied, anyone who wore that symbol deserved some pain, she thought. But there was another part that felt slightly regretful, he hadn't been aggressive or threatening, his questions were seemingly innocent.
Despite her confliction, Suki decided her best option was to remain silent, even if that Fire Nation boy had meant well, it's too late now, she thought, trying not to dwell on the issue.
Over in the next cell Zhi wiped the blood from his face, smearing it on the solid metal wall rather than upon his armor. Once his hand was mostly clean, he carefully felt of his nose and concluded that, at least, it wasn't broken.
He stared over into the other cell; the girl had turned her back to him. He considered yelling at her, a few creative clown-related insults came to mind as he remembered the makeup upon her face, but he held his tongue. Zhi was at a loss, what did I do to upset her? Am I really that bad with girls?
The young soldier snorted, which hurt his nose considerably, and sat back down on the cold iron floor, turning his back to the mystery girl. He made an effort to rationalize the events of that chaotic evening; he thought of Zhuk and the others and hoped that they had survived, though there was no one else in the cell block that Zhi could see.
His thoughts eventually drifted back to the angry girl with the made-up face in the other cell, he felt some resentment for the unprovoked strike but the mystery surrounding her was captivating and, try as he might, he could not shake his curiosity.
The hours passed slowly for the two captives, neither spoke and eventually they were given their morning "meals." Zhi was becoming rather hungry, he hadn't eaten since mid-day meal the day before and his thirst was getting to him as well.
When the Dai Li guard arrived he brought with him two small platters, each had a small cup of water, a stale chunk of bread and a clay bowl containing plain white rice. The trays were pushed through a six inch high space under the bars of each cell.
Zhi had glared and snatched his tray away as the guard pushed it under the bars. As the guard made his way back toward the door at the end of the cell block Zhi howled the national anthem of his nation as a show of defiance and strength, or at least, this is how the young soldier liked to think of it.
Suki ate slowly, the meals were always the same, the bread too hard, and not nearly enough water. She'd watched Zhi over her shoulder, looking back every now and then. She was sure he'd snuck a few looks over at her, just as she had done at him, though neither had caught the other.
She could see the bridge of the soldier's nose had turned a dark purplish color, bruising from her punch, and the satisfaction she had felt from striking him had faded. Through her observations Suki had noticed that Zhi was injured, he kept his right arm tucked against his side and rarely moved it.
The young warrioress was fairly certain that Zhi had dislocated his right shoulder; she'd seen the injury before, during accidents while training with her warrior group back home and had even learned to "reduce" or treat the dislocation. She had also noticed the large bump on the back of her neighbor's head; he'd either been hit with something or had fallen backwards onto something.
She came to the conclusion that he must be in considerable pain and had been rather startled when he began to sing at the Dai Li guard.
Zhi had eaten swiftly, gulping down the water all at once then he had turned upon the bread and rice and finished off the rest of the meal. The young soldier turned the cup, bowl and tray over, examining them; he could find no way to use them as weapons or find any means to use them as escape tools.
The tray was too light, the bowl too brittle and the handless cup too small to do anything useful with. Once he had thoroughly looked over the meal items he set them aside and returned to his covert inspection of the mystery girl.
Zhi was reasonably certain that the girl had been imprisoned for some time; she seemed weakened and underfed, but that punch had been very strong and this deepened the mystery. As did the strange make up she wore, which he could find very little reason for.
Why would a made-up girl be in this awful prison? Though, I've never seen anyone wear that much makeup, thought Zhi, taking another sneaky peek over at the girl. There was a mournful look about her; he figured she'd been someone important, or perhaps that was just his imagination trying to fill in the blanks.
She couldn't be from the Fire Nation, not with those eyes, he knew that much, though he still couldn't exactly place her nationality. Her skin, that was not covered by the makeup or the tattered brown robe, was fair, though it appeared in no way close to the near colorlessness of is own, there was a healthy hue to it.
He decided that she must be from some part of the Earth Kingdom, that seemed reasonable, but he was still no closer to discovering her reason for imprisonment. What if she's a thief or a killer or something, that is possible, isn't it? thought the young soldier, peering quickly over his injured shoulder.
No, he made up his mind that she wasn't some sort of cold blooded killer; she seemed too saddened, as if she'd lost something more than her freedom. Zhi was unfamiliar with the rules and codes that the Dai Li enforced but he had the feeling that they weren't a particularly fair judicial body.
On the other side of the bars, Suki had been thinking similarly. If Azula's plan had worked and the city was hers, why would she have one of her own soldiers imprisoned? Maybe he committed some sort of a crime? Maybe he had refused orders.
She stole a quick glance over at Zhi, he had just turned away from her, so he is peeking, I thought so. Now… what if the Fire Nation failed and he's a prisoner of war? Suki decided that this was a fair possibility as well. He seemed surprisingly human to her, contradictory to the common belief that the Fire Nation's soldiers were nothing more than extensions of the Fire Lord's will, as cold as the weapons they wielded.
Zhi shifted, finding a more comfortable seating position then leaned his left side against the wall. He would have missed his book if not for the constant desire to attempt to catch the mystery girl peeking at him. It was infuriating and interesting at the same time, the silent game they were both engaged in; trying to read the other, catch the other.
This went on for the better part of their day and eventually the evening meal was delivered, exchanged for the empty meal items from that morning. Zhi had called after the serving guard, employing a few colorful but derogatory terms used by Fire Nationals for Earthbenders.
Zhi felt that, by doing this, he was making a statement to the guard and his captors on the whole; he was not weakening due to imprisonment or injuries, though the pain was beginning to take its toll. After finishing his meal the young soldier had leaned back against his wall and made an effort to get a bit of sleep.
Suki to, had felt the need to rest, and despite her busy mind, had curled up on the floor of her cell, not far from the bars before drifting off to sleep.
For Zhi, sleep did not come easily. He managed to doze off, despite the three different sources of pain, but then he'd slid a bit to one side and his right arm had shifted, waking him back up. He sighed to himself and looked over at the sleeping mystery girl.
She seemed to shiver and curl tighter, the floor was cold and she wasn't dressed very well. The prison had always felt cold to Zhi, he'd spent most of his life in the tropical to semi-arid climates of his homeland where the temperature rarely went below seventy degrees.
But he had proper clothing, more than that; he wore a full uniform and armor. Watching the poor girl suffer the cold was unpleasant for the young soldier and the resentment he'd felt seemed to evaporate. He soon remembered his rain cloak, a long, red hooded cloak with a small flame emblem clasp at the collar bit. Most soldiers kept one folded up and placed it between the pad and the back plate of their armor for foul weather operations.
With only his left arm useable he managed to reach back and slip the folded cloak out from under his armor's back plate, he then placed it upon the ground and unfolded it. Getting it through the bars and over the mystery girl would present some problems though.
What if she wakes up and thinks.. something.. and hits me again? thought Zhi, weighing the consequences. When the girl gave another noticeable shiver the young soldier made up his mind to try to cover her with the cloak, at least to some extent.
Zhi pulled the unfolded cloak through the bars into the girl's cell and then, very slowly, he moved the lifted hood end across the ground over the girl's feet. She rolled over in her sleep and the sudden movement startled Zhi, nearly causing him to drop the cloak.
He waited to be sure that she was asleep before carefully pulling the cloak over her, the collar part coming right up to her neck. Zhi sat back and watched, success! he could detect no more shivers. With his chivalrous, as he liked to think of it, goal completed the young soldier lay down on his back and tried again to fall asleep.
Hours later Suki had turned over once again, inching back onto the spot on the floor that had been warmed by her body. She reached over and tugged the cloak up to better cover herself, I don't remember them giving me a blanket, she thought, still half asleep.
They definitely never did.. Suki forced herself awake and sat up slowly. She looked down upon the cloak that had now fallen down around her waist; carefully she picked it up and examined it. The long crimson cloak had easily covered her and as she turned it over her eyes lit upon the flame emblem clasp.
She instantly looked over through the bars at the sleeping soldier, He did this? Why? After I hit him too… Suki looked down upon the cloak she had clutched in her hands, as if searching the red fabric for some sort of message or explanation. After gazing at it for a short while she pulled it up and over her shoulders, clasping the fire emblem just below her collar.
It fit her well and she wrapped it around herself, the well-made fabric adding some protection against the cold air in the cell block. Suki turned her attention back toward Zhi; the soldier was still asleep, lying on his back with his feet sticking up into the air.
Why? she thought again, What possible reason could he have to show me kindness, he is, after all, Fire Nation. This reason though, the boy's nationality, was beginning to loose its significance to the young warrioress.
Suki thought back, remembering the snippy bureaucrat at Full Moon Ferry Landingand of course, the "Green Robes". The Earth Kingdom has its cruel and unpleasant people amongst the greater majority of kind folks, so isn't it safe to assume that amongst all of the nasty Fire Nation citizens, there may be some good people?
The captive Kyoshi islander resolved to try to speak with Zhi, once he had awoken, and perhaps, if possible, help him with his shoulder in return for giving her the cloak. Suki sat back, the cloak still tightly wrapped around her, and waited for the young soldier to stir.
A.N.: There you go! I'm hoping that was good enough. Here, I didn't want them to be friends or something right away, building trust in someone who is or was your enemy isn't, in my opinion, something that can happen in the span of a few hours of overnight. I'll be getting to work on chapter five shortly, so don't worry!