I'm so sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with school, and I'm about ready to murder chemistry. Well here is the third chapter to this story I hope you enjoy it, and please review! They make me feel really happy :D
Chapter 3 - Exactly What they Want
The serving girl had lead her to room full of bunks, most of them empty. A couple girls glanced over, a mildly curious expression behind their golden eyes, but returned to their conversations. Anai thanked the little girl she didn't expect a response, and didn't get one. The last she saw of her was a burned hand disappearing as she quietly shut the door.
Awkward did not begin to describe her emotions as she stared at the room, for the first time she was alone. No family, no Katara, no children or chickens. To top it all off, she was faced with a boat full of fire benders, and had no idea which bunk to take. Or what would happen if she chose one that another girl had already laid claim to. Anai stood lips pressed together while she intently examined the carcass of what appeared to be some sort of eight legged mouse. She shuddered, it must've been something from the fire nation.
"New Recruit?" a voice asked, Anai glanced up. A woman looked down from the bunks beside her. She was in her mid twenties, the faint beginnings of laugh lines running from her nose to her chin. She looked like any fire bender, pale with deep black hair, and gold eyes. Hers were softer though, not like Dian Rui's.
"Yeah..." I mumbled, scuffing the floor with my boots, careful to avoid that dead mouse creature.
"The bunk below me is free," she said nodding her head towards it, too lazy to lift her arms, "I could use the company." she smiled broadly, warm eyes glowing in the dim light. I looked at the bottom bunk, a knapsack lay haphazardly across it.
"Are you sure its free?"
"Yeah. Oh...I guess they haven't moved her stuff yet." she broke eye contact for a second, her gaze moving to something of interest on the wall.
"Did she move bunks or something?" Anai asked.
"You could say that..." the woman trailed off. Anai nodded, eyes falling back to the ground, the dead eight legged mouse.
"So what's your name newbie?"
"Anai."
"Hotaru," she smiled again, and Anai started to see where the laugh lines were coming from, "but you can call me Taru."
Over the next two weeks on the ship, Anai fell into a routine. She woke every morning before the crack of dawn with the other girls donning her uniform and reporting to the main deck for morning call. As a recruit with no formal training I wasn't actually allowed to do any work. If I were to screw anything up not only would my head be on a plate, but Dian Rui's would be as well. However it was still mandatory that she reported every morning so they could make sure she was still there. Not all soldiers were willing, more than a few went as far as jumping ship. In the last two years even the people Fire Nation had begun to doubt, but that didn't mean they had ceased to fear.
After call she had breakfast with Taru and a few of the other girls. A couple of young soldiers name Kimi and Kyoko, they were twins. Both of them were nice enough, but possessed the quick temper that was so stereotypical of a Fire Nation girl. When they weren't on a rampage, they were actually pleasant to be around. After breakfast the other's began their duties, and Anai began lessons on the history of the Fire Nation which lasted till lunch; then on fire bending till dinner. After that she was usually ready to fall asleep.
It would be another two weeks till they finally came to port in the Fire Nation's capital city, and Anai wasn't sure how much more of these lessons she could handle. She didn't mind fire bending, the instructor was a strict, stodgy old man, but he could teach. It was the history lessons she hated.
"Anai! Anai are you paying attention?" the Fire Sage who was her tutor snapped. She had been drifting off again, she did that a lot.
"Yes of course sir." she lied, and the Fire Sage nodded tight lipped. He knew it too, but he wasn't going to take the trouble to punish her for it every time. Anai might have been more interested, but what they were feeding her didn't feel like history, it felt like an over propagandized story. However she had to pass the test she would be given, otherwise Dian Rui would deem her unready for proper training, and keep her on the ship. As much as she dreaded arriving in the capital, she loathed this ship.
"Now, sixty years ago. Only forty after the start of the war, mind you. The great Firelord Azulon took the throne, under his wise rule we progressed considerably in the Earth Kingdom taking the southern islands, and much of the north eastern peninsula..." Anai tried to focus she really did, but the Sage's lessons either bored her near to sleep or made her so angry that she did exceptionally well in her bending lesson that afternoon. She couldn't take their justifications for genocide and mass murder. They used words like progress, greater-good, prosperity for the world. The Fire Nation had much to share, and it was trying to unite the world in a stronger, more capable, peaceful land.
Sometimes she felt herself wanting to believe it, something about the Sage's soft rhythmic voice, the dimly lit room, and the thick smokey incense the man kept burning constantly. She wanted to believe in this world of peace, and universal prosperity, where there would be no more war. If she fought just a little bit harder, she would live in a perfect world. Then she remembered Grangran telling her when Katara and Sokka left, about a little boy with an arrow on his head who was the last of his kind. Of a race that was now extinct for good.
She knew she would be presented with a choice eventually, to fall into line, or to make a break for it. Though she knew the latter would more than likely end in her execution. If there was one thing she had learned in her history lessons, dissent was only an opposition to peace. The only way to obtain peace was to make sure those who opposed it would no longer be a threat. She felt that part of her curriculum was more a warning than anything else.
"While I know you would love to sit here and listen to the rest of my lesson on Azulon's military prowess." The Sage's voice held a subtle hint of sarcasm, she had to force down a smirk when she caught it. "Lunch will be served in a few minutes, and you need nutrition before your bending lesson. He said standing up, Anai rose after him bowing respectfully as he had taught her in their first few lessons which had focused more on etiquette than history.
"Thank you sir." she said, not bringing her eyes to meet his, and left the small room. It took her only a few minutes to navigate her way through the identical steel gray halls now, something she had had to learn quickly neither of her instructors took kindly to tardiness. Turning into the hall that ran along the starboard side her eyes caught on a small dark form tiptoeing her way through the corridors.
Anai hadn't seen the little girl since her first day on the ship, and honestly she hadn't crossed her mind. She watched her disappear around the corner, surprisingly fast considering her hunched shuffling stride. The corners of Anai's mouth turned down slightly, brow furrowing over dark blue eyes. She almost considered going after her, but then what? Say hello and try to start a conversation over a pot of jasmine tea? She sighed and turned in the opposite direction towards the stairs that would lead towards the mess hall.
"Anai!" she heard a voice call out and looked up, Taru was waving from a table on the other end of the hall. The twins were there too, glowering into bowls of soup. Apparently they hadn't been having a good day so far. Anai nodded to her, and went into line. The soup of the day was cayenne pepper with chopped onions and carrots, none of which she had tasted until she left home. She discovered that she liked carrots, and the spiciness of the pepper's however she also found out that she really detested onions. Curling her lip at the little clear pieces of root floating in the pale orange broth she left the line and went to find her table. She took her place next to Taru, who gave her a hug, the twins just grunted. Taru had sort of adopted her as a younger sister, the older woman had been the one who helped her figure out how to get around the ship her first few days on board.
"How's our little savage?" Taru cooed rubbing her fist into Anai's dark black hair. The nickname had stuck almost immediately, it hadn't taken long for them to figure out she was from the Southern Tribe. She scowled playfully at her friend and proceeded to pick the onions from her soup.
"I'll take those." a deeper voice said sliding in next to her, Jan Lee. He had been on the ship for the past four months. The tall young man scooped the growing pile of onion's into his hand and plopped them into is mouth smiling smugly down at Anai.
"And you guys call me a savage," she laughed pushing him, "at least I know how to use silverware." Lee grinned and growled at her laughing through his onions. Anai rolled her eyes, how that man could stand a mouth full of onions she would never know. They talked for a while something about information of a rebel movements nearby. Anai tried to zone out for these parts, what she didn't know wouldn't harm her opinion of these people who she was really starting to like.
"Anai." she didn't look up eyes still trained on her soup stirring around to find the one elusive onion she'd missed. "Anai." Lee repeated watching her.
"Hm?" she finally looked up, Lee was shaking his head his smile reaching his light gray eyes.
"I have sentry duty on deck this afternoon. I might watch your firebending lesson." he said starting in on his own soup. Anai felt her cheeks heat, she wasn't exactly used to boys her age flirting with her. She was supposed to marry Sokka, but they never really acted as any more than friends. She wasn't even sure Lee was flirting with her, her contact with males included her father, seven year olds, and Sokka whose mentality wasn't much different.
"Aren't you supposed to, you know, watch for enemy ships?"
"What enemy ships?" he laughed leaning back, the twins and Taru smirked into their meals, "The only enemy ships are in the northpole and they can't afford to come this far. The Southern Tribe and Earthkingdom haven't had ships since the end of the war." Anai's shoulders stiffened, lips slightly pursed, however Lee didn't seem to notice. Sweet as he was he was thicker than Sokka.
"I can't see why not." she said, lifting her bowl tipping the rest of the broth back into her mouth. "Ready? I need to get going." Lee nodded in response doing to the same to his soup.
"Well lets go then."
Today was only the second day that she was actually bending, the past two weeks had been dedicated to breathing exercises, making small flames in her hands, and meditation. Yesterday she had managed to shoot a small fireball from her fist a few feet. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, most of the bending she had done had occurred when she was too angry to hold it in and it roared out after months of holding in the fire.
"Anai, hold your stance! I don't care if you are from the Southern Tribe." the old soldier's lip curled slightly saying the name of her home as if it were inhabited by the spider mice that were all too common on the ship. "You are not a waterbender and you will not act as such, now hold your form!" Anai scowled, straitening her arm and flexing the muscles in her core. He didn't say praise he never had, silence just seemed to mean it was passable. She tried to follow his commands, she didn't like the man, but she wanted to learn to bend more than anything.
She followed as he called out katas stepping forward punching the air arm held out tight. While Corporal Ren Feng called out words to her, Ferocity, Form, Hands Up, Shoulders Back; usually preceded by More, Better, or Keep Your and followed by sloppy do it again, or it goes to show the Southern Tribe are a bunch of savages. Each comment made her scowl deepen, and she could feel it. Fire burning under her skin crawling through her muscles, seeping into her mind. The jibes just kept coming; her arms were held at the wrong angle, she didn't rotate her hip enough on the kick, do it again. Her form got progressively worse, but the fire grew stronger.
Each punch no matter how badly positioned according to Ren Feng released a long plume of flame that filled the deck with the familiar crackle of fire.
"Again!" the old man yelled, hands resting against his pot belly. Her face was flushed and her hair hung in long strands that clung to the sweat on her cheeks. She held back a grimace and returned to the starting position bowing down quickly. She caught Lee's eye, he looked sympathetic. She could feel that fire, the dragons rearing their heads.
"I am your teacher Anai! Not some half sacked man with a spear and a bag of fish, start again and bow properly." The man growled. She didn't nod or make eye contact, she rose and then fell again dropping lower than she needed to for a man of his status, holding it while she snarled at the ground. When she came back up she rushed forward into the next pose, arm swinging up not thrusting out like it was supposed to, the flames flared up to scorch the wall of the entrance to the below decks. She swung around jets of red fire coming one after another. She took each turn too quickly spinning around so that she was unstable, an attack from almost any angle could have brought her down. She spun kicking out with her left heel a long stream of fire following after it flaring out before wavering and dying. She stumbled slightly as she brought her foot back to the hard steel of the deck.
Looking she met Corporal Ren Feng's eyes, and she saw there a certain smugness. She had given him exactly what he wanted.
"I will see you tomorrow Anai, we'll see if we can do something with your form."