She surged forward, springing from soldiers helms and prisoners heads like a tile hopping from square to square on a game board. It reminded him of a strategy game, pai sho, but with pieces that kicked and punched and screamed they were in pain. Suki was soaring across the board, knocking tile after tile out of her path until she reached the center piece. Completing the pattern by trapping him and finishing the game with a flair.
He watched all this unthinkingly, too caught up in a memory to really comprehend the victory. Once his father had spoken the words, "That's some girl." He became blind to his surroundings. He was seeing a girl covered in mud, laughing so hard the earth shook. He was seeing her small and pale-eyed, knocking men three times her age to the ground, the very earth parting at her will. And instead of the shouts of guards Suki forced from her game board, he was hearing his best friends' sarcastic remarks and muffled laughter as she scammed a couple of fools who had ruffled her hair and called her a "sweet little girl". Her face was lingering just behind his eyes, grinning toothily as he replied.
"Tell me about it."
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Am I the only one who was thinking, "Ha! Wait until you meet Toph!" when Hakoda commented on Suki being "some girl" in The Boiling Rock?