Chapter Text
A pale face stared back in the mirror from the mirror that leaned against the wall, one that she didn’t recognize.
This face wasn’t her own, no, but instead a near perfect recreation of their island’s namesake--the towering effigey peeking perfectly from behind a treeline, framed within one of the windows of the fitting house.
Her skin was white now, eyelids sporting red paint that extended toward her temples, eyebrows blackened with paint and drawn delicately, thin lips painted red--what remained of Suki was the pale blue eyes and shortened brown hair, the slightest divot on the left side of her jaw was barely visible beneath the paint that covered her skin, high cheekbones beneath the rounded baby-face, even the nose and hairline similar to that of Water Tribe heredity.
Was that her?
“What do you think?” A voice asked, and she shifted her gaze to see the painted face of the leader standing beside her, her piercing green gaze planted on the younger one. When she didn’t reply, she instead had shifted to kneel beside her, folding the pleated skirt beneath her knees. “It’s overwhelming, right? It’s a high honor to wear such regalia.”
Finding herself smiling, Suki had nodded faintly before she looked to the mirror again. “Captain Xiuying,” she spoke as she shifted to pull on the long green wrap over her shoulders, pulling the left side over the right before she began to hesitantly tie the strings together, “do you really think I’m ready to be inducted as a full warrior..?” Her hands had then rested along her knees, eyes trained on the wooden flooring of the building.
Her eyes had widened, and soon Xiuying found herself shifting to get comfortable, her hands shifting to take the katana and it’s scabbard from her waist to rest it beside her. “Suki, you started your official training at age eight, and you completed your proper tessenjutsu training a year later. I fear that you may become better at using these fans than I am if I allow you to only focus on your mastery.” Tilting her head to the side, the teenager had noticed the rather distraught face placed on the girl, and she shifted to rest a hand along her shoulder.
“As long as I’m captain, you will not have to worry about fighting just yet. You are twelve, not fourteen. It is my job to make sure that you, the rest of the warriors, and the island’s villages are safe--as Avatar Kyoshi would have wanted in such a time like this. With no Avatar, I am to be the ultimate first defense.”
It was times like these where Suki had longed for the Avatar to appear--even now, there was widespread talk that perhaps the cycle had ended after Roku’s death. With no Air Nomads, the cycle was incomplete, broken. It showed what real chaos looked like; famine, war, disease, crimes against so many. So many flooded to the shrine dedicated to Kyoshi within the Golden Forest, setting out offerings of food and flora and even golden coins, asking for signs of hope after each fortnight brought news that more territory had been carved away from the mainlands, or when another attack on the Southern Tribe had been carried out.
To the community, it was growing harder to believe that there were any good Fire Nation citizens as Kyoshi had once elaborated--it was thought that any good had been done away with, every single last ounce.
She didn’t want to believe in there being the absence of good within that nation, especially after spending hours reading up on Kyoshi’s ties with them, or Roku’s own existence forming within the Fire Nation grounds.
What had destroyed such promises?
“I just want you to get used to the armor first, that’s all. We’ll practice with our war fans,” the captain hummed before shiftnig to stand along her knees, helping the younger warrior slip into her armour before she settled her hair, tying a dark green headband with golden-threaded tassels around her forehead, “and that’s it for today, okay? You’ll understand why.”
Raising her eyes to look in the mirror, Suki quickly nodded before she shifted to look back at Xiuying once more, offering a faint smile. “Mhm," she hummed in response before she returned her gaze back down, tying a green cloth over the chestplate at her waist.
She remembered, even at such a young age, that she thought she was always fit for the Warriors of Kyoshi. Now, the prospect of was had seemed closer than ever before--a moderate famine was settling in once again, and an ever encroaching war on home land--made her question if she was cut out or devoted to it as she had originally thought.
There was never a warrior that made it past the age of sixteen.
As direct result of the economic depression and famine caused by the war, children were given up as means to make sure they’d receive meals while under the care of the villages’ plentiful orphanages. After all, that was how Suki ended up in her position; orphaned in hopes of a better life. It was a system that was useful, yet deadly.
Parentless daughters often grew to become Kyoshi Warriors, teenager martyrs that had seemed to become Kyoshi-fodder to the Fire Nation colony-takeover.
‘Having been intercepted by a small regiment of firebenders from the Fire Navy while moving to attempt to liberate the earthen mining village near the Mo Ce Sea shoreline, our sect had a great deal of combatants harmed.
‘Whilst most of which are dealing with burns, several have passed on as they have succumbed to their injuries, total fatalities including Captain Xiuying, aged sixteen years.
‘As it is accustomed, by her personal selection, leadership is to be passed on to and filled by Suki, aged fourteen years, effective upon immediate notification. Leading headdress and other items will be given, as decided by late Captain Xiuying before her passing.
‘Bodies, as well as the remaining sect, will be returning to Kyoshi Island by the time this scroll has been sent.
‘Sincerest regards.
--K.W. Liqin’
“Suki..?” A voice had asked, to which the newly-appointed Captain had turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder, rolling the scroll up before she placed it down along the table. “I have the inherited items.” She said quietly, quickly bringing the cloth-wrapped items over to rest beside the scroll before she gently moved the cloth away.
Beneath laid the Captain’s golden headdress, as well as the late Xiuying’s katana and matching scabbard, muddled and discolored by only what one could imagine was multitude of substances.
Nodding slowly, Suki glanced to the dark-haired warrior before she sighed and brought a hand to her face, pushing the hair back behind an ear. “Thank you, Tokosa…” she murmured before she leaned against forward after a moment. “How are the… survivors?”
“Most are in stable condition as of now, just being treated for the boils on their skin, mostly.”
“Mmh,” she grunted slightly in response before she raised her head, eyes caught on the mirror reflection of her painted face; her eyebrows painted with an upward tilt toward her temples, the red of her eyelids painted just barely beneath the underside, her face a far more even coat of white than she had ever gotten--she had almost recognized herself.
The feeling of such despair bringing a secondary urge of a dire need of change.
Turning her head toward Tokosa, Suki had gently ran her gloved fingers along the golden headpiece, gently lifting it as she looked down to it. “There needs to be changes, so not as many young people are dying every time we try to make a change on the mainlands… do you think that is possible?”
Quirking her brow up slightly, the other had then nodded toward the new superior. “Yes, I believe that kind of change is necessary and entirely possible, but… what exactly were you thinking?”
“We need to stay put, just for a while and take our time training--to keep an ear out for what happens in the mainlands and learn from the mistakes made there.” Taking in a breath, Suki shut her eyes before she raised the garb over head, slowly sliding it on to rest along her forehead. Letting out the breath slowly, she opened her eyes and found herself in the mirror once again.
Turning to glance to Tokosa, she offered a faint smile.
“We lost sight of what it meant to be a Warrior of Kyoshi during the mayhem of these last two years… I suggest we relearn everything, from the ground up.”