Phoenix of the West
Decisions
By Pat Squared
Li Ling did not utter a single sound.
Sedna looked on the remnants of her best friend. Li Ling would just follow her mutely. The few times Sedna found food, she had to feed Li Ling otherwise the food would remained untouched.
Sedna hated the Earth Kingdom. They were the enemy for generations, but now it became personal. They took her best friend and left behind a zombie. It was getting late and Sedna found an abandoned charcoal burner's hut. Inside were the remnants of a bed and a small hearth. However, there was no way to light a fire...not in the state Li Ling was in.
Sedna tried to remember how the people of her tribe started fires, but she lacked matches or even the flint and tinder required to do it the old way. Living with Li Ling, all Sedna did was have to ask the young fire bender to light the candle. Motioning Li Ling to stay put, Sedna went outside to find some left over charcoal. It would be sooty, but the too girls needed rest and warmth. They needed food also but there was no food to be had.
Sedna gathered enough charcoal to make a small fire and placed it in the hearth.
"Li Ling, if you can hear me. I need some fire right now."
Li Ling only shook her head.
"I promise that they won't hurt you anymore."
However, Li Ling closed her eyes and curled up into a ball.
They took Li Ling away. They will pay for taking Li Ling away.
Looking at the cold hearth, Sedna admitted to defeat.
What good was water bending?
Sedna knew how to heal minor wounds, freeze water, launch an ice dagger, and do a pathetic water whip. However water bending could not make a fire. Water bending could not undo what was done to Li Ling.
Sedna remembered another custom from her frozen homeland in the Southern Water Tribes...sharing body heat. It had been years since she lived in the ice, but Sedna was no stranger to the cold. However, Li Ling spent all her life in the heat. She was already violently shivering.
Sedna led Li Ling to the bed. Li Ling laid there.
Sedna could feel Li Ling quiver in fear as she crawled next to Li Ling.
"They won't hurt you anymore...I promise you."
Sedna stayed still as Li Ling broke down. The nine year-old Fire Nation princess started crying.
Sedna did not know if this was better or worse than the quiet Li Ling. Sedna held her best friend trying to figure out what to do next.
Prince Kaminoyama Masato looked at the scroll.
The seal was intact. It was the Household Minister...the eunuch who ran the day to day operations of the palace complex.
"Thank you Sergeant Yamaguchi."
"My lord."
Masato broke the seal.
Father is dead.
The last restraint on his plans was dealt with. Hiro's brother, Akira, performed his duty to the nation. The old man was strangled for not stepping aside.
Masato hated his father. His father was too conservative...loved decadence too much to ever be expected to reclaim the glory that was once the Earth Kingdom. He did not allow the military to even perform probes on their neighbors. He surrendered to the slut of a Fire Nation queen before seriously fighting a battle.
Now the last obstruction was dealt with.
Kaminoyama Masato was now king and would soon be an emperor.
Sedna awoke to find the fire lit and a blanket over her. Li Ling was asleep. There was soup cooking.
"You are finally awake. I keep on forgetting that not everyone wakes with the sun."
Sedna rolled over to see an old lady. She was skinny, with bones protruding at odd angles under her sagging skin. Her hair was long, stringy, and grey. She was wearing brown peasant clothes.
"Call me Li Mei Hua (Li's Plum Blossom). I gave your friend something to let her sleep. She will recover physically. However, it's you I need to talk to."
"What about?"
"Simple, the two of you are trapped here without a way back home. However, you are not without resources."
"Who are you?"
"Is that any way to greet a distant relative, Princess Sedna?"
"What do you mean?"
"Jian Li had four children by four different women. You are the descendent of Katara. Your friend is a descendent of Azula. I am a descendent of both Mai and Ty Lee. Like your friend, I am a fire bender even though I look more like the Chi's...my mother's side of the family."
Mei Hua pointed at the coals and summoned a small lick of flame to get the coals burning. Sedna relaxed a little bit. The Eastern Earth Kingdom hated fire benders.
"Prince Masato Kaminoyama and his thugs killed our kin. It's my duty to ensure that his occupation will be troublesome and to get intelligence to our allies. And to help you...The question is how."
Sedna did not trust the lady's words. Just because she was an fire bender, did not mean she had had another plan. Anyone with a passing knowledge of history knew that the Li's were related to just about every influential family in the West.
"I don't you to trust me instantly. Did you father teach you about the history never written down?"
Sedna found herself nodding.
"Jian Li, the Blue Spirit, was the first born child of Ursa and Ozai the Mad..."
Sedna finally relaxed. Only family knew of that secret. She had accidentally overheard it when her father told her older brother. Normally, one would not here it until they were older.
"His true name is Zuko."
"So your father did tell you."
Sedna found herself wondering why she did not see this lady before. She thought that she met all the Li's.
"I had retired many years ago leaving my networks to my son to manage. However, he is now dead and my grandchildren are dead I hope...I know what they did to your friend. There is no bending or healing art that can ever restore her. All I can do is to give her a reason to live. It won't be a pretty reason to live...vengeance never is. She cannot return back home. Otherwise...she will end up taking her own life. You on the other hand have options."
"What options? I'm a water bender, but not even Ason (divine princess) Katara can't part the oceans."
"I can smuggle you back to the Fire Nation with some of my reports. However, you will have to tell the world that Li Ling is dead. Or you can stay with her and give up your old life. You can set on the path that Jian Li set on generations ago. However, you will have to give up what was taken away from your friend and much more. You will have to decide."
There was only the sound of the flames cracking.
"I will stay."
"Child, I was afraid that you would say that. I will give you three days to think things over before I bind you to this course. Li Ling was forced by fate ...I did so out of duty...You have a choice. I vowed decades ago that no one would have to undergo the pain that we both did. I vowed to be the last of my kind. I don't want the darkening of your soul to burden mine."
Sedna looked at the old lady and the girl who needed her.
"A healer never leaves her patient until the gods have decided one way or the other. That is my final decision."
Tears were in the old lady's eyes.
"First thing is to forget everything you were. You are no longer Princess Sedna of the Southern Water Tribe.
"You are now Jia Tan-chun (Jia's Spring Pond) of the Red Chamber. Likewise, your friend is no longer Princess Li Ling of the Fire Nation. She shall be Su Xaio-Xiao (Su's Sorrow that rises in the morning) of the Red Chamber.
"You two were born into the Red Chamber. You expect that your daughters would follow you into the Red Chamber as you follow your mothers. You don't know your fathers and your mothers were of the Red Chamber. You two are paired courtesan-bodyguards, not cheap tavern wenches. That is the only way the two of you can travel freely in the lands of the East and get close enough to kill the man who is responsible for your friend's condition.
"Do you understand what you are giving up? Your future, husbands, every dream of happiness? Once I start your training, you will have less freedom than a brothel slave. A slave can blame her plight on slavery. You won't have that freedom for you will have chosen your own fate."
Sedna nodded.
Courtesans were unknown among the Water Tribes.
However, in the Fire Nation and Outcast Clan they were common.
In the Fire Nation, there were about eight women to five men.
In the Outcast Clan the female to male ratio was four to three.
Hence there was a surplus of unmarried females.
The educated women that did not held their households (Being the first wife), become aunties (2nd wives), or choose holy orders often went into the Red Chamber.
In the Water Tribes...that was unthinkable. There were more men than girls in the tribe and hence it was men who often left the Tribe to seek brides elsewhere. For a woman of the Water Tribes despite Katara's example, to surrender your virtue before marriage was unforgivable. Brides could be killed if their white wedding sheets were not stained red with their virginal offering.
Being the daughter of the Water Tribe's ambassador, Sedna had witnessed many things that other girls in her tribe would never be allowed to hear about. Every time she returned the land of her birth was becoming more foreign to her. Home was not home anymore. Sedna knew her thoughts were wrong...that she was a Princess of the Southern Water Tribe, third in the line of succession, and being groomed for an advantageous marriage with one of Li Ling's brothers. It was her duty to sell her body for politics, not coin. Either way...
Li Ling was the only friend she had. Li Ling taught her how to be bad and not to obey the rules. Li Ling taught her to be free and enjoy what was bad. Now Li Ling needed her. Besides what was there to return to. The men would mobilize for war and the women would sit at home waiting for the casualty reports so the long Antarctic night could punctuated by funerals.
Sedna made her decision.
"Do you have a piece of rag and some spare charcoal?"
"Why?"
"Because that way, you can truthfully say this is the last communication you received from Sedna of the Water Tribe. Better yet, get me a bowl, a brush, and a knife. I also will need a bowl of water."
The items were brought out. Sedna closed her eyes. She took the knife in her right hand and sliced her palm letting the blood drip into the bowl. Once there was more than enough blood, Sedna dipped her palm in the water and healed up the gash.
Using her blood, Sedna started writing on the rag in the ancient Water Tribe script.
Father,
I don't know if or when you will get this. If you do, read this in alone and then destroy this...Don't let mom or my brothers see this.
By the time you read these words, I will be no more.
Eastern Earth Kingdom Price Masato came into the city in the middle of the night. The Chi's and Li's were killed. The men killed, the rest made slaves. For girls, slavery is worse than death. Death happens once and it's over. However, they repeatedly hurt all the girls they catch and soon you don't want to live anymore.
Even princesses were not exempt. They plan to conquer the world. First they want to reclaim their so-called land. They want to turn water tribes into slaves. As for the Fire Nation, all will be killed because of the war.
Even if I escape and returned home, I would never belong to the old world I once knew. I would never be able to marry after what happened. Instead Li Ling and I will escape the only way we can. There is a basement were they keep us. There is small pipe. Hopefully we can get out. After that, we will end the lives you gave us.
Li Ling and Sedna will never be hurt again.
Tell mom and my brothers that I will miss them, but I must go face the gods. This is the last act of being free. This is the one thing they cannot take from us. Promise me that that no one else will know why I had to choose this way.
As for Li Ling, they hurt her so bad that she cannot write or bend again. However, if you can, tear off this portion and hand it to her mother.
Li Ling wants me to write that she is sorry for not being a good girl and being sent out here. She does not want to be used as a token. Our cousins were hunted down and killed and those that lived now pray for death. They were going to send us back home as a living note and carve the declaration of war into our backs. Masato want nothing less than the death of all Fire Nation and all those with Fire Nation blood. This is a war to kill more than a war to take land.
She sends her love and hopes her family would understand why things happened.
One of the girls is tying to contact a member of the resistance. She is trying to escape. I am giving this letter to her. This is the longest letter I ever wrote. If we had time it would be longer, but we don't have anymore time.
Sedna
Pakku the Water Tribe ambassador looked at the scrap of rag in his hand. He knew it was his daughter's blood. He knew what was in his hands was a warning from the dead to the living.
He wanted to destroy this, but Sedna's warning...His daughter suffered so that she could warn the other nations of Masato's intentions. There were others that needed to read this, even if they would be finding out about the shame that caused the two girls to end their lives.
Sedna was only ten. She has not even made her first moon sacrifice. Beasts...
The Southern Water Tribe and Fire Nation would not settle for anything less than the total destruction of the Eastern Earth Kingdom.
Su Xiao-Xiao nodded.
The once broken princess never shed another tear since that first night in the hut. Nor did she smile. She had long since stopped thinking of herself as Li Ling...It was easier that way.
Mei-Hua, the mistress, gave them a mission. Ambush an officer-courier and bring the prisoner back alive for interrogation.
The ambush was simple. Suspend a rope just high enough to pole axe the unlucky courier as he rode on his ostrich-horse. Xiao-Xiao then tossed a bucket of water on the courier which Jia Hua Chun water bended into restraints. Xiao-Xiao recognized the face of the courier from the memories of Li Ling. It was one of the men who hurt her. The old Li Ling would have gone nuts. Xiao-Xiao instead waited patiently, calmly.
The mistress taught the pair that silence is one of the more effective interrogation tools...that torture is more mental than physical.
Besides, this one would be needed for human anatomy lessons after the interrogation. If Xiao-Xiao damaged this one...she would have to dig up another corpse. She was not an earth bender who enjoyed digging around in the dirt. Grave robbing had a code and rule one was use a wooden shovel. Wood sounded different than metal would upon impact with a coffin.
The unlucky courier would not be the first corpse the pair had to dissect under the mistress's watchful eyes. All knowledge was two sided. Those that knew how to save live by cutting into the body also knew how to take it slowly. Mistress called it reverse design. Like a builder of the bridge knew just which timbers and pins held a bridge together, a surgeon knew just which body parts were necessary to hang unto life.
The two girls looked at one another. The prisoner was watching the two girls. Normally the girls would still be of an age where they would be playing with dolls. However the look in the eye of the light skin girl told the courier that he was the doll and the girl was the type to break toys.