Captain Iroh
Year of the Dragonfly-Year of the Butterfly
Indistinct voices came from some directions, but I couldn't hear too well.
Numbly, I tried to move my hands but I found that they wouldn't bend nor move at my will.
Trying to get up, I used my abdominal strength and leaned upwards.
A surge of pain and a rising substance rippled through my throat and, leaning to the side, I felt some kind of content spew from my lips. It was so much like when I used to eat a meal that consisted of Sea Prunes and then spent a night on the piss pots; my head at the rim and the prunes expelling from my throat and into the bucket.
I felt a desperation for air, and breathing in deeply, began to cough several time and expel more liquid from my mouth.
Prying open my eyes, I found myself on a strange metal cot and water on a metal floor.
A chill cascaded through my body and I found that I was wearing something else than my shift, as I last remembered wearing.
Instead, it was like a tunic, only the skirt part was shorter; showing almost all of my legs and the tunic was fastened with golden rope. It took me a moment to realize the rope and tunic were both made of silk and stitched with gold thread.
I slid my hands up the sides of the tunic; smiling and reveling at the smooth texture.
"Well, look who's up." A voice drawled from behind me.
Turning, I saw a man in a Fire Nation Uniform leaning against the doorway.
I could visibly see his face. It was pale with sallow eyes, a narrow bone structure, and with a thin moustache and beard. He looked almost scary to me. I tensed; clenching my hands into fists and readying myself just in case. Although I knew little about my abilities, I knew enough; I could attack and conjure fire at will...occasionally.
"Where am I?" I asked him; proud that my voice did not crack.
The man turned to me and smirked.
"You're on a ship." He replied vaguely.
I felt myself disliking him more by the second.
"I want to go home." I told him. But as those words came out, I wondered about the truth of my words; at that time, I had no home.
The man came closer to me; his footsteps echoing on the metal floor like when you would clasp chains around someone in the prison cells I've heard so much about.
"You can't go home." He replied simply.
Without a second thought, I thrust my fist forward; seeing a stream of fire come from my hand; missing the man by a hair.
He got into a fighting stance.
"Fine." He hissed; launching a blast at me.
I ducked and, with rage nearly blinding my senses, shot at him again.
This time, I'd found lightning within my palms and sent a disk at him with a chop of my arm.
I felt a strange burning on my hand. Glancing at it, I saw a burn on my middle finger. I didn't think much on the burn right then and thought that it would be alright to trade in a few burns in hope of beating this Fire Nation soldier.
A blow to my right arm came at me and, my senses somewhat dulling for a moment, didn't dodge soon enough and was hit partially on my wrist; the heat and sting channeling through my skin and causing me to shudder in pain.
I fought back; sending a bolt at him, but missing and causing my hands to cringe at the fresh burn I'd applied to my hand.
More men came in and I found myself sending more attacks randomly than with any control at all.
The pain of my hands caused tears to come to my eyes, but I fought them; shaking them away and kept attacking; foolishly believing that I would be victorious in that way. I'd managed to take out at least seven with a willful blow to their chests, but more kept coming in and at me. One snatched my wrist and I tried to kick him, but another one had grabbed my leg.
I felt my body being snatched by strange hands and, trying to gather my strength, feebly attempted to launch an attack on them, but my hands were numb and in a nearly unbearable pain that I knew not how I could've even stand it.
Inwardly, I gave up; closing my eyes and hoping that I would be at peace soon enough. I felt myself being carried over the shoulder by one soldier and, after watching steps going upward and hearing a door open, assumed that it was a prison cell.
The soldier threw me into the room and I landed roughly onto a soft material that covered a part of the floor.
Lifting my hands to my face with the least pain I could muster, I examined my hands. There were many burns and deep scars on it; some sections of my hands, especially fingertips, burnt raw and unable to move.
I felt tears come to me, but I did not let them fall. I was not a girl who cried anymore.
Outside of the door, voices came from the metal and after a few moments, the door opened again.
Instead of the man with the sallow eyes, I saw someone younger.
He was pale skinned, just like the other soldiers' faces which I'd managed to glimpse, but instead of facial hair, he seemingly had none; his skin looked as smooth as a girls. That or he might've just shaved recently. His hair, instead of being grown long and parted straight, stuck up in nearly all directions and, despite my situation, caused a small smile and laugh to escape from my lips. On his right ear, there seemed to be two gold rings. He didn't wear armor, but only boots, a vest similar to the one I wore, and pants. His eyes were gold; one that was seemingly brighter than the sun and almost hurt to look at.
"So you're the one who attacked my lieutenant." He said to me.
His voice was deep and serious, but I could've sworn that there was a small laugh hidden within the comment.
Forgetting about my hands, I pushed myself up; flinching as pain hit my hands and got into an attacking stance which I'd seen for Waterbending. I knew my hands shook from the pain, but didn't care; I'd heard stories about the Fire Nation and their 'punishment' for assaulting any soldier, no matter how low or high he or she is in the army. Though I was inwardly shaking, decided that I would fight; whether I knew how to or not.
The man smiled amusingly at me.
"Now, child—." He began, but didn't finish as I shot a stream of direct fire at him.
Child.
I detested that name more than anything; my father, mother, sister, and nearly everyone else older than me in my tribe called me that before I was thirteen.
"St-stay away from me." I spat…and cursed myself when I stumbled.
"Child—." He began again.
My temper had grown especially short when I'd discovered my powers and I was also on nerve's end because of the discrimination I'd received from my tribe, and as this man who didn't seem much older than me call me child had done nothing but make me attack.
With a punch in the air with my hand, I let out a strong, but painful for me, attack on him.
Gods, it made a huge blow of pain to my hand; it was as if I'd ripped a part of my bones away with fire. I knew I had power, but right then I knew not how to use it, to channel my energy into it, nor anything else about Firebending. No one taught me, no one else knew what it was like to be a Firebender, and no one wanted to.
Back in my tribe, I'd been branded as a traitor and I had escaped my tribe, but where else could I go?
I didn't think; only use my powers to direct blows at the man and hope to escape.
To my surprise, he seemed to absorb my attacks and channel them elsewhere. I'd wanted to learn to do the same, but had too much pride, as you might want to call it, to back down right now and ask him to train me. He'd probably only kill me after what I'm doing and have done to him. With the pain in my hands increasing and my strength on the verge of failing, I had enough energy for one last attack.
An orb of hot energy built in my left hand and, with the last of my strength, I released it at him. It felt like my very bones were burnt and no sooner had I attacked my body failed me and I leaned against a solid object for support, but I doubt anyone else saw me do so. What I hadn't counted on was the man sending my attack back at me, but with much more power than I'd known.
On instinct, my hands flew up to my head; forgetting that I'd already badly damaged them and they were in a fragile condition.
The shock was too great.
A cry of pain wrung from my lips and I collapsed on the ground; softly sobbing and trying my hardest to hold in my shows of pain, but it was too difficult since it felt like my hands had been burned off and I could do nothing but feel the heat as it chaotically spread through my arms, to my chest, and I even felt it to the tips of my toes and head.
I hoped that my life would end soon. In this way, I wouldn't have to live in such agony.
My throat choked with sobs and they felt like a thick barrier; encasing my throat and disabling me to breathe. I heard footsteps come closer and, try as I might, I couldn't get up; I was too numb with pain and fatigue.
A hand descended on my arm; pulling me up with extraordinary strength as I saw myself being carried across the room and partially yet carefully thrown upon a bed and footsteps fading away from me.
I tried to push myself up, but couldn't.
I cursed myself for impulsively attacking and failing to acknowledge that my body was in too weak of a condition to send anymore attacks for I hurt myself every time I tried to hurt another.
There didn't seem to be anyone else in the room and I finally let my tears come. I must've sobbed louder than I'd thought I did, since I somehow did not hear a door open nor did I know of a second presence within this chamber.
"Now, now. It's too nice of a day to be sobbing." A voice said to me.
Managing to focus my sight to the side, I saw the man whom I'd tried to attack yet sent my assaults elsewhere and back at me.
He was carrying a small ewer of what looked like water, strips of fabric various in size, two large pieces of folded cloth when folded was about half an inch thick and large enough to encase my hands, and a sealed jar. Slowly, he placed the sealed jar, strips of fabric, and ewer of water onto the bed and soaked the folded cloths into the water.
Wringing them out a bit, he took a strip of fabric into his left hand and grabbed my left hand with his other hand. I struggled as he pressed the cloth to the palm of my hand; the touch stung my nerves, but wasn't as worse as when I'd nearly incinerated the skin upon my hands. He took the other piece of folded fabric, also wet, and pressed it on top of my hand; making sure that both cloths were fully covering my hand every way.
"Try not to move too much." He said to me, then looking at the fabric; obviously concentrating.
Then it struck me; the texture of the fabric pressed flush against my skin and the now hot water pressing against the burnt surface and crushing my already sensitive hand. Automatically, my eyes clinched close and screams of pain would have passed my lips had I not bit them to keep them shut.
In the end, I couldn't help it; crying out and flailing, I tried to kick him away or get him to remove the cloth so this torture could stop. I kicked empty air, but then my right knee made contact with something solid.
Above me, I heard a strangled grunt of pain and felt the hold on my encased hand loosen slightly.
Opening my eyes, I saw that man silently cursing and obviously trying to keep his body from crouching into a fetal position.
It took only a second to acknowledge where I'd hit.
He recovered after long moments of silence and soaked the cloths again; this time taking my other hand and repeating the process.
I felt guilty for kicking him in his private area, especially when I hadn't meant to, so I remained as still as I could and held back my impulses as much as I could and thanked the gods above when he finally stopped.
He took the ewer of water and the 2 cloths aside and opened the sealed jar.
He took my left hand and dipped his fingers into the jar, his fingers coming up with a bright green substance, and began rubbing it gently onto my hand; making sure that he didn't miss any burnt parts visible to the eye.
After repeating the notion on my right hand, he took the bandages and began to wrap my hands. I looked at him and my eyes only met his hairline; he kept looking down and tying the cloth to my hands.
By the time he was done, my hands looked as if they were of an embalmed dead man and were somewhat difficult to move my fingers in. I was speechless; why did he help me? Wasn't his nation at war with the other ones and they showed no mercy upon any weak being from the other nations?
"I don't believe in hurting the already broken." He told me, as if reading my mind.
I stood silent; not knowing of what to say and kept looking down at my bandaged hands.
"H-how did you find me?" I finally asked cautiously after what seemed to be an eternity for me pass by in silence.
The man broke out into a small smile.
"It's not every day that we see a was of bright blue-tipped brown seaweed with a body attached to it floating in the ocean." He said wittily.
Despite myself, I laughed a bit.
"Curious." He said; drawing my attention back to him.
"I beg your pardon?" I asked softly.
He took my hands within one of his, I saw that his hand was almost twice the size of one of mine, and used his other hand to lift my chin; lifting my eyes to meet his.
"I am curious on how a purebred Water Tribe Woman such as yourself possessed powers such as these." He said; lightly squeezing my bandaged hands.
I looked away; not wanting to say that I knew not the answer, not telling the story of how I myself discovered my powers.
"I—." I tried to say, but broke off; stopping.
"You don't know, do you?" he asked me.
I nodded without making a sound, not even when breathing, and kept my focus on a bedpost.
"Do not be afraid to look at me." He said gently; taking my hand and rubbing the palm.
Hesitantly, I shyly glimpsed at him before shifting and turning so I was facing him, but staring downwards at my thighs as I inwardly shook with fear.
"Come now, my face isn't like the sun and you won't go blind if you look at me." He said softly and I peeked through my hair at him.
His face had a serene and gentle look to it; no trace of hate nor contempt there and I was quite surprised since of that whole incident with his groin a few moments earlier, I thought he'd have enough reason to at least strike me, or the least use the weakness in my hands to his advantage, after I'd done that. He was trying to help me while I pushed him away and physically hurt him in an 'unmentionable' fashion.
"Thank you." I uttered out softly; finding the courage to look at him directly as I said it.
He smiled at me; showing his strong, straight, and white teeth.
"For what, exactly?" he asked me. I smiled a bit.
"For rescuing me, for helping me with my wounds, and for forgiving me when I assaulted your crew and your…uh…" I murmured; being somewhat uncomfortable with saying the male organ.
He laughed.
"You truly are amusing. But I haven't had the honor of knowing your name yet." He said. I looked up at him in wonder.
I could trust him, couldn't I?
"Kana." I said timidly. "Kana."
"I am Captain Iroh." He introduced himself.
Captain.
I thought he was at least of a higher rank to have a chamber like the one I'd seen.
As I scanned the room, I saw various decorations of swords, weapons, candles, a low table and cushions around it, a small pot with steam coming from the spout on the table, a rug lining the floor, and chests and cabinets carved with ebony wood and lined with gold.
"Kana." He said; guiding me back to him.
"I can tell from your...reactions that you have had a terrible time coping with your Firebending ability." He began.
The bad memories came flooding back to me and I bit my lip; not wanting to show my weakness and break down in front of him.
"And that you don't want to talk about it." he added as his eyes flit over my body. I nodded; tears lightly coming to my eyes but I blinked them back.
"Now, if there's anything you would like to ask…?" he began but trailed off. I looked down at my wrapped hands as I remembered the bending.
"How were you able to also bend the lightning, but…" I stopped; turning my hands up. Iroh took both of my hands into his.
"You have great powers, Kana. But what you lack is control and in this way, you burn yourself every time you try to use this bending. I have to admit, I'm surprised that you were able to efficiently strike and disable, let's say, your adversaries without the kind of training needed to correctly use your bending. And I was also surprised that you kept going even though you were obviously in pain." I felt the warmth of his hand through my bandages and felt the wave of shame crash upon me yet again; Iroh always did have that kind of charisma.
"What kind of training?" I asked him quietly.
He smiled.
"I hoped you would ask that, Kana. I can train you to master this power and you can stop hiding it in shame." He told me.
I looked away. I was most likely presumed dead in my so-called home, I would never be welcomed in the Earth Kingdom because of my powers and...
The 'third option' was right in front of me, but I did not consider it
"Where would I use it? What's the point in having great power when you can do nothing with it?" I asked him incredulously.
"My nation can take you in. The Fire Nation will accept you." he said to me.
I looked up at him in disbelief; join the Fire Nation?
No.
They killed all of the Airbenders, they've started this war only for power, and hundreds, maybe thousands of people have already been killed because of them. They were called barbarians and heartless where I was originally from and now he was telling me that I should join the nation that has started the suffering and grief of tens of thousands?
I opened my mouth to protest, but he raised a finger and pressed it to my lips.
"Don't say something you will regret later on. Let me tell you this; in the Fire Nation, you could make your own choices and will never be discriminated because of your powers. You can gain a high status just with your powers whether it's in the military, nobility, or in the life of the court. Also, you can make your own choices there." He said; reaching into his pocket and pulling out 2 necklaces.
I recognized them both as the one Meinan gave me as a courtship token and the other one was the one that Pakku gave me or my sister originally.
I'd kept Pakku's necklace in my pocket after my father practically tore it from my throat and threw it away a few days after he slapped me. I fetched it and kept it in my pocket.
Despite his betrayal, I still seemed to like him a bit.
I looked at the other necklace; the one Meinan had given me as a courtship and proposal to be his wife.
The bitter memories of my family plotting against me, my father pushing me, my sister bullying me, all came back and I shuddered; clenching my arms with my fingers to keep myself from crying.
I made my decision.
I looked up at him and leaned closer to him.
"Train me." I whispered to him.
And THE END! of the chapter, of course. and now, THE BEGINNING! of the new life in the story.
