164 AG
Kuvira made sure she arrived early to the Recital Compound. She hadn't slept well the night before. Mostly she was just tossing and turning, waiting for the next day to arrive, so getting out of bed was relatively easy. She left just before dawn and took the earliest rail car to the newly-built compound.
She stood by the rail car's window and paged through a newspaper. The featured article was about Suyin Beifong's newest creative endeavor—the very first metalbending dance troupe. The article went on to talk about her children and their various recent achievements. Her youngest ones, two twin boys, had already invented an entirely new metalbending sport, and it was so new that they hadn't even named it yet.
Kuvira studied the article carefully. She had always found Zaofu's matriarch intriguing, but she was hardly ever in the press. Her affairs were kept mostly private, and Kuvira realized the only reason she had probably volunteered to run the story at all was to create awareness for her new dance troupe. Clever.
She stepped off the rail car and hurried up the expanding stairway towards the dance hall. She pushed the tall door open and looked around. Like all the buildings in Zaofu, this one had been breathtakingly designed. It was also empty. A large metal sculpture of a lotus stood in the middle of the hall. She dropped her bag by a sculpted pillar near the middle of the hall and started to wrap athletic tape up one of her wrists. A few minutes later, a door opened at the other side of the building.
"Well, I didn't expect anyone to be here yet."
Kuvira glanced up to see Suyin Beifong approaching her. Kuvira had expected this. She looked back down, focusing on the slow surety of her hands are she wrapped the tape around her forearm tightly.
"I wanted to get here early."
"But you know, it's not first come, first serve," Suyin said lightly as she walked towards the middle of the hall. She was wearing a modified version of the dark green formal robes Kuvira had always seen her wearing in photographs. They fit her more tightly and were sleeveless at the arms.
"I'm aware of that." Kuvira said resolutely, but she couldn't help but smirk. She raised her eyes to meet Suyin's for a brief moment before returning to taping her arm. Suyin peered at her.
"Hm, you look familiar. Were you in Huan's group at the artist conclave's last show?"
Kuvira looked up and nodded once. She hadn't expected Suyin to remember her. They had only met very briefly, and it had been over a year ago.
"Kuvira, was it?"
Suyin had remembered her name.
"That's right," Kuvira said, and then paused. Things had gotten interesting very quickly. She'd take her chances.
"Art is such a profound tool, don't you think?" Kuvira said idly as she reached down to tape up her ankles. She could feel Suyin's eyes on her; watching her. She continued talking, controlling the speed of her voice.
"To transform our surroundings, selectively and with great care, until we create something that another person can comprehend, and respond to emotionally."
She bent down further. She had always been naturally flexible. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Suyin look away.
"But a work of art isn't a living thing. We can see it and touch it, but it won't respond to us. It's a one-way street. In the end…" she said, voice rising somewhat as she rose to stand at her full height, "its people that matter."
"Is that why you left the conclave?" Suyin replied curiously.
Kuvira smiled slightly. She realized that Suyin knew much more about her than she was letting on. Kuvira supposed that knowing, on some level, about all the members of her clan was part of her job.
"It's why I'm here."
Suyin looked at Kuvira thoughtfully. Kuvira had time to notice the finer details of her face. The exact shade of green that her eyes were, and the laugh lines beneath them and around her mouth. The way her greying hair curled, slightly longer on one side. The curve of her lips. The newspaper photographs didn't do her justice.
"Well, Kuvira," Suyin said, as the doors opened and other people started to wander in, "Let's see what you've got."
Suyin stood before the assembled group.
"First of all, thank you, everyone, for coming. I didn't expect such a turnout, especially since I've been keeping mostly to myself these past few years. Raising children can be… a challenge at times."
Suyin smiled while the people gathered around her laughed lightly. Her smile was somehow both apologetic and charming at the same time. It pulled at Kuvira in a way she hadn't expected. She took note of it, and wondered if she could pull off a similar expression if she tried.
"I've wanted to create a dance troupe for a long time since the creation of Zaofu, but I wanted to do it right." Suyin's gaze rested on Kuvira for a moment. The younger woman froze. She couldn't help but appreciate Suyin's speaking voice; her demeanor. She had such a commanding presence, and it was so completely different from when they had talked alone in the hall just a moment ago.
"I'm prepared to put my heart and soul into this, and make something truly amazing. I'm hoping that everyone who's here wants to do the same. So! With that out of the way, let's get started."
Kuvira looked around quickly to size up the competition. An even mix of men and women of varying ages and body types. There was only one other girl around her age, with short, light brown hair. She didn't seem to pose much of a threat. Kuvira could feel her muscles vibrating with the pent up energy she'd been holding in since last night.
"As you all know, there are only a limited number of slots, so it's important that I handpick this first group. There will be secondary and tertiary groups for the ones who don't make the cut."
"Brutal," the girl with the short brown hair muttered. Kuvira didn't turn her head.
"There are two types of roles I need," Suyin continued and she turned to look at the large metallic petal sculpture at the center of the room.
"One of them will make use of some advanced bending techniques. The other is more acrobatic-focused, lots of jumping, balancing, and flying through the air."
"I'd like you to decide for yourselves which role you'd like to play. Benders to the right. Acrobats to the left." She spread out her arms to motion to the left and right of her. People started to move. Kuvira watched the girl who had spoken earlier head over to the acrobat side. In fact, most of the acrobats were the younger, more athletically built members of the group, whereas the bending side consisted mainly of older, stockier men and women.
She walked over to the bender side. She could feel Suyin's eyes on her once again. Most of the people in the group were staring at her, in fact. She fought to conceal her smirk and tried to look as humble as possible. She wanted these people to like her.
"Alright, good," Suyin turned to the bending group and smiled. "All of you should be able to easily manipulate the petal behind me, with rhythmic control and precision. Observe."
Suyin demonstrated. Kuvira had never seen her bend in person before. She had to tear her eyes away from Suyin's flowing form. The way her muscles flexed and coiled as she twisted her arms burned itself into Kuvira's mind like spears of lightning against a dark sky.
The lotus had opened, in much the same way that the giant lotus-like compounds they lived in opened every morning. It expanded beautifully, and the petals flipped upwards. Kuvira understood the whole of the dance before Suyin had finished, without even having to see the acrobatic part. They were going to use the metal as a springboard.
Suyin's eyes flashed, sharp and green, and in one final movement the lotus closed. She turned, and Kuvira couldn't help but steal a glance.
"Like that," she said, and then she stepped aside.
Kuvira waited until the very end to take her turn. It was the obvious thing to do. When she was finally up, she stepped forward and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in and focused. When her eyes opened, they were narrowed with a terrible determination.
She had read between the lines of Suyin's demonstration. What she hadn't told them, was that it wasn't just the metal that they needed to control. This was a dance, after all. Their movements mattered, maybe even more than the metal itself.
She channeled the metal, and each time she sent it curving upwards or arcing back down, her own body moved with equal fluidity and grace. Time, space, and everything else melted away around her. Nothing else mattered. There was only this moment. Her performance. A performance she suddenly realized she was doing for Suyin alone.
When she was finished, she could vaguely hear applause, far off in the distance. She turned her head and looked straight at Suyin. Her expression said everything. This is what I've got.