Partial Misrepresentation

"I just want to say, before we really begin, that my work was never intended to go down this road."

Dong Min waited for his host to acknowledge that with a nod before continuing. "When I first realized that memories could be deliberately altered though psychological therapy, I thought it would be used to help people. Remove memories that were harmful, or use manufactured memories to lead people away from unhealthy behavior. When your organization first approached me, they claimed to be interested in the same ideas, but of course, we wound up having very different interpretations of what that meant." Here, he indulged in a long sigh. "What you saw as 'corrective behavioral therapy,' I came to realize was a kind of torture. I felt it was wrong. I still feel it was wrong."

Dong Min waited for a reply, but none was forthcoming. Seeing his host's expression, the psychologist shrugged. "I can see the room for legitimate disagreement," he said, "but I truly thought it was wrong. By the time I realized how far astray I had taken my work, I was in too deep to get out. Saying so seemed to help at my trial." He shuffled uncomfortably on his feet "That's not to say that I'm ungrateful for the organization's help. It was only with the additional resources that I was able to develop methods for rewriting various unconscious expressions of identity. The gain to science cannot be ignored."

Dong Min paused here, and sought his guest's gaze. It was important that what he said next would make the proper impression. "However," he continued, "when the Earth King came to me, offering a way to mitigate my sentence and help make up for my past crimes, I jumped at the chance. I didn't realize how guilty it would make me feel. That it would lead back to same dark paths that I had already been led me down before. It wasn't until we were well into the project that I began to have doubts, but what could I do by that point, anyway? And everyone else was so convinced that they were doing the right thing..."

Dong Min paused one more time, took the time to meet his host's gaze, and put all the earnestness he could into his voice. "So, you see, I'm telling you this so that you understand why you won't have to hurt me to get me to help you. I'm not confident that I know the difference between right and wrong anymore. I'll settle for saving my own life. Now, what do you want me to do, exactly?"

In the dark of the night, Suki looked out from her hiding place in the alley, at the Kyoshi Warriors' latest target. "I've been having a drink at that place every night for the last week," she said. "Figures that the smugglers would pick this tavern to operate out of."

The pub in question was built right on the docks in Kyoshi Island's north-side fishing district. This late at night, the docks themselves were quiet, the only movement came from the moored boats bobbing in the water. The tavern, though, had bright light streaming through its windows, and the din of merriment was audible even from Suki's vantage point.

Ty Lee, Suki's partner tonight, turned to look at her with wide eyes. "All week? I didn't know you were becoming a bar-spiderfly. You should have told me, we could have tried it out together."

Suki shook her head. "I wasn't there for fun. I've just been stopping in for a few drinks before bed. To help me sleep." She shifted her gaze back to the tavern. On its roof, a light flickered on and then off again. A Kyoshi Warrior team was on station there. One more team to go.

Ty Lee blinked, the moonlight reflecting off her warm eyes. "I didn't know you were still having trouble," she said. "I thought since Sokka visited..."

Suki sighed. "For a while, yeah, he left me with a reprieve. Didn't last long, though. I haven't heard from him since then. I don't suppose Mai's letters have said anything?"

In the shadows, Ty Lee bit her lip. "Someone dangerous escaped from the Fire Nation," she said finally. "Zuko- oh, Fire Lord Zuko- has people searching the world, but he needs his friends to help look in the Earth Kingdom. You know, they're kind of sensitive about hunters from the Fire Nation poking around. I bet Sokka is helping with that."

Suki found herself turning her full attention on her partner. "And they didn't send official word here? We could have sent some Warriors!" Then, a realization struck her. "They didn't want me to know, did they?"

Ty Lee went still. "Wh- What do you mean?"

"It's gone on long enough," Suki bit out. "No one ever sends word here about anything. Sokka is kept running around so much that he has no time to visit. When he does, he has to sneak in and out. It isn't hard to pull it all together. No one wants the Kyoshi Warriors involved anymore, and they don't want Sokka seeing me." Ty Lee started to speak, but Suki cut her off. "And don't tell me I'm being paranoid. I hate it when people call me paranoid."

Ty Lee was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again, there was an unmistakable sadness in her voice. "I was going to say that it's more complicated than that."

Suki stared at her friend in surprise. "Is it because we guarded Zuko during the Yu Dao incident?"

Ty Lee shrugged in her armor. "I... don't think that's really part of it?"

Suki kept her gaze on Ty Lee. Why was she holding back? Technically, Suki could order the other girl to talk in the name of world peace or something, but that would be an abuse of power, and completely dishonorable. Other ways of making Ty Lee talk, tricking her into saying more than she intended, occurred to Suki, but she quickly banished them from her thoughts. It was wrong to even consider such things, and Suki could only assume that they were born of her shock and anger. Taking a series of deep breaths, she forced herself to relax. "All right, I'll take your word for it. I know you just want to do the right thing. Maybe we can talk about it later, figure out what you can tell me?"

Ty Lee relaxed her posture, and quickly leaned forward to hug Suki. Their armor clunked as it collided. "I really want to help you. I promise."

Another flicker of light appeared briefly in the darkness around the tavern. "Finally," Suki said. "I'm going to have to speak to the new recruits about dawdling." She resolved to keep the reprimand from being too harsh, though; Suki had been a Kyoshi Warrior for a long time, a period beyond easy memory for her, and sometimes experience was the only effective teacher.

"All right, time for the raid," she continued. "Light our lantern. We'll draw the crowd's attention and cover the main entrance. The others will infiltrate through their assigned openings and seize the goods. While they secure things, we need to keep anyone from getting into the back rooms and trying to destroy the evidence. You're faster than me, so I'm going to depend on you to take point on that."

Ty Lee did as ordered, holding the lantern high so that the other teams could see it, and followed her leader towards the pub's front entrance. "Good plan. Oh, when we talk later, I'll bring some chamomile tea. That should help you sleep."

"Thanks," Suki whispered as they reached their target. Then she kicked open the tavern's door and shouted into the din, "Nobody move! This is a raid! Warriors are sealing off all the entrances, and all stores will be inspected! Until then, no one is going anywhere."

Of course, a handful of people immediately jumped up and tried to run past Suki. Despite her sour mood, she used only necessary force to grab the first of them and twist the man down to the ground in a hold. Behind her, Ty Lee took care of the others with a series of heavy jabs to their pressure points. Just another late night on the job.

It was certainly better than dreaming.

Dong Min considered his host's request, and frowned deeply. "That... well, that goes quite a bit beyond any of my existing systems. I do have enough information to at least build a fairly complete profile, but the system needs to go beyond that. It will... how to put it..." The psychologist motioned meaninglessly in the air as he searched for the words. "It will be a purely superficial facsimile."

"That's all right," the host said. "After all, we'll have access to the original, soon enough. Now, what can you tell me about how we might go about reversing the original process?"

The Kyoshi Warriors searched the tavern with great efficiency, seizing contraband and anything missing the proper tax stamps. The pub's owner was arrested, as well as several people right there at the bar who the man fingered as his suppliers. Suki sent one of her Warriors off to put in apprehension orders for several other names that had been supplied, and the rest of the warriors began clearing the place out.

As she supervised, Suki overheard Ty Lee talking with one of the tavern's patrons, a man with bushy gray hair and eyebrows. "Would it be okay," she was saying, "if I saw your papers? Please?"

"Sure," the man answered. Suki saw him hand a stack of papers to Ty Lee. "Registration for my boat is on top, and after that is the accounting for my cargo for this run. Everything was checked and stamped when I set into the docks. Shame about this place; I was making some good money supplying them with liquor from Ba Sing Se, but the law's the law, am I right?"

Ty Lee nodded as she scanned the documents. "Yup. I mean, sometimes laws are bad and you have to overthrow the country's leader or something in order to keep people from getting hurt, but just breaking the law for money is definitely bad."

Suki resisted the urge to giggle at her friend. She definitely wouldn't be teaching politics at the Fire Nation's Royal Academy for Girls anytime soon.

Ty Lee handed the papers back to the man. "Okay, everything looks good. You can go."

"Thanks," he said, taking the documents back. "Do me a favor, and let your friends know that until I find a new bulk buyer, I'll have plenty of good wine for sale out of my ship. Quality drink, not that grog the fisherman like. Tell 'em to ask for Captain Toru."

"Oh," Ty Lee chirped, "no problem. Thanks for cooperating. Good luck with everything!"

Toru nodded and made his way out of the tavern. Suki watched him go for a moment, then quickly spun and caught Ty Lee's attention. "Watch things here for a minute," she told her partner. "I need to check on something." Without waiting for an acknowledgement, Suki headed outside. She found this Captain Toru ambling towards the section of the docks devoted to cargo ships. Running up to him, she waved for his attention in the night air. "Excuse me, sir, I have one more question for you. You're not in any trouble, I was just hoping you could help me with a separate bit of business."

Toru blinked at her with surprise, then smiled and bowed. "Any way I can help the Kyoshi Warriors, I'm happy to oblige."

Suki smiled back. "I was hoping you'd have some information. I've heard that the Fire Nation is looking for a fugitive, but not anything more than that. As Kyoshi Island is becoming a fairly popular port, I think it's a reasonable security concern to want to know what dangerous people might be making their way across the world, hm?"

Toru's eyebrows went up at that explanation, and a frown twisted his former smile. "I've heard of that," he said finally. "They had Water Tribals searching ports up and down the Earth Kingdom. They're not saying whom they're looking for, exactly, and the talk is that they're worried about some of the rogue Fire Nation elements getting word. Hasn't stopped the rumors, though." The captain looked around the empty docks, then leaned close to Suki and whispered, "The most popular is that the fugitive is a Royal Firebender."

Suki's heart went cold, and her breath hitched. When she was finally able to make herself talk, she bowed to Toru and handed him a coin. "Thanks. Let the Kyoshi Warriors know if you hear anything more. Ask for Suki."

She retreated before she got a reply, and wanted to run straight home again, but her sense of responsibility was too great. Ty Lee kept staring at her while she helped finish up at the tavern, and Suki couldn't wait to get her alone and enjoy some calming tea together. She'd need it, if she was going to conquer the nightmares.

Much later, in the dead moments of the night when Suki was unconscious, the Azula of her dreams had a new message: "I'm coming, and you can't keep me away."

When Dong Min finished his explanation about the de-programming, his host was outright smiling. It wasn't a nice smile at all. "Yes," the host said, "we can do that. We have all the necessary materials right on hand."

TO BE CONTINUED