Focused Fire (ATLA)

There were many forms of entertainment within the colonies of the Fire Nation, some familiar, some exotic. Being in a circus was a mix of the two.

Suki found the Earth Kingdom strongman and tunneling troupe acts just as impressive now as the first time she saw them in Kyoshi Island. The Fire Nation fire jugglers and acrobats were a new, intriguing experience though. There was a novel excitement at watching a team of men and women so carefreely passing about flaming blades in a variety of daring stances, and teens her age twisting about through small hoops of literal fire.

The amalgamation of cultures was something the Kyoshi Warriors - now out of their facepaint and uniform - were getting more and more accustomed with. Okuni and Miyu were engaged in a tug-of-war over a large bowl of fried kai-lan and cabbages as the group wandered through the circus grounds, while Kana had won herself a simple but pretty wood-beaded bracelet of the western Earth Kingdom fashion, except that there were beads painted in reds and yellows as well as the usual greens and blues.

Suki herself bagged an ornate hairpin supposedly imported from the Fire Nation home islands. The intricate brass metalwork certainly tried to suggest it, though from what Suki understood, actual Fire Nation accessories like these should be made of ivory or bone, not lacquered wood. Still, it was a nice enough souvenir.

The Kyoshi Warriors whiled away the afternoon and let their loose for the first time since what felt like forever, and Suki ignored the uneasy voices in the back of her head for once. By now she acceded that the Fire Nation - at least the one currently overseen by its crown princess - might not be oppressive overlords as the stories say. They were still bad…but not baby-roasting, city-massacring bad. 

Not even the Scorpion-

Gah, there she went again! 

Suki shook her head free of that line of intrusive thought, and did a reasonably good job at ignoring Xing’s features flashing in her head. She most certainly didn’t think about his cheeky grin as she browsed for some snacks, nor did she pay any attention to his strong and almost reassuring voice that her memory conjured up while she chatted with San-Niang and Luqi.

Thankfully, a voice yelling out a new attraction promised a massive distraction and saved Suki from imploding from denial. A fearsome animal show, supposedly. Filled with not only creatures of the Earth Kingdom, but exotic ones from the Fire Nation and beyond. Judging from the growls and grunts coming from behind the large tent, Suki was gratefully intrigued by the notion.

The circus master was good at his job, stretching the show with various acts like plate spinners and acrobats, slowly leading the growing crowd towards the main event until the tent was positively cramped with eager spectators. The girls found some of the acts questionable, like the tigerdillo riders and costumed platypus bears expertly balancing on large balls. Luqi was particular affronted, considering she was an avid lover of all things cute and fluffy. Even rows behind the front seats, Suki could make out the slight deadness in the eyes of the beasts, deadness that the crowd in general either didn’t notice or didn’t care to.

Eventually, after stringing them along for so long, the circus master finally unveiled his biggest star.

“Ladies and gentlemen, now for something truly special! A noble beast, so magnificent and rare, it hasn’t been seen by human eyes in generations! I give you…the winged buffalo!”

The curtains rose, and the Kyoshi Warriors joined in the gasps of the spectators, though for an altogether different reason.

San-Niang turned to Suki with a shocked stare. “Isn’t that…”

Suki squinted, and through the gaudy paint and costume, she saw the familiar - if weary and hurt - eyes of the Avatar’s air bison. There was no mistaking it, especially when Appa gave a low growl as he trodded into the center of the ring. 

Appa was here, clad in chains. The Avatar’s air bison, supposedly as close a companion as the Water Tribe siblings. What did that mean for Aang’s condition?

Amused laughter rose around them as Appa milled about idly, but the Kyoshi Warriors were already rising up from their seats as they recovered from their shock. They pushed their way through just as the trainer lost his temper and conjured a flaming whip.

“Up you insolent cow!” he demanded, his fire whip lashing out.

“No!” Suki cried as she forced her way to the front, clearing the way for Miyu to vault over her and use her empty snack bowl to foul up the whip from getting anywhere close to an agitated Appa.

The crowd grew silent as they watched the girls rush out to form a protective ring around the air bison. Thankfully, Appa seemed to recognize them, or at least understood their friendly intentions, and settled for crouching behind the loose half-ring of six unarmed Kyoshi Warriors.

“Huh? What is the meaning of this?!”

Suki glared at the trainer as he cracked his whip. “How did you get Appa?”

The circus master stepped in, drawing the eyes of the crowd as he spoke. “Who’s Appa?”

“He’s th- my friend’s air bison,” Suki answered, just catching herself from using the ‘A’ word.

“Don’t be foolish,” he replied with a condescension that made Suki really want to snuff with a fist into his face. “I acquired him from daring hunters, who braved the-”

“Quit it.” Suki then turned back to the air bison, extending an open palm. “Appa, come here. C’mon.”

The giant six-legged fluffball growled softly as he crawled over to the Kyoshi Warrior, and then nuzzled its massive, damp nose against her hand. Suki then turned back to the circus master with a glare. “That’s my friend’s air bison. And you kidnapped him.”

“Enough of this nonsense!” The trainer’s whip lashed out, but even seemingly unarmed the warriors were more than ready for the attack. Suki tossed out her hairpin, striking the man’s wrist and aborting the bended fire whip to get anywhere close to the others. Then Kana rushed out, her wooden-beaded bracelet wrapped around her knuckles to serve as an improvised knuckle duster. The trainer stared in surprise for all of two seconds before she landed a solid hook across his face with a solid crack.

Hearing the crowd murmuring, the circus master quickly raised his hands placatingly. “Now, now… I didn’t know that beast was your friend’s pet. The hunters I bought him from said they captured it after much effort.”

“Lies.”

“I-It’s the truth. I really didn’t know.”

Suki was about to demand more information when movement came in from the flanks. The Kyoshi Warriors tensed up as Fire Nation guards made their appearance, looking about as confused as the rest of the spectators.

“Oh good, the law,” the circus master said before jabbing a finger at Suki’s way. “Apprehend them, officers! They assaulted my staff and are threatening to steal my attraction!”

The squad leader looked at him for a moment with a flash of annoyance, and then turned to the girls in the same manner. Before any further words can be said, a man appeared from behind the guards, dressed in either a noble’s or an official’s robes. What drew Suki’s attention was his empty left sleeve hanging flatly off his side.

“What seems to be the problem here?” the official asked evenly.

“These ruffians assaulted my staff and threatened to steal away my attraction!” the circus master answered.

“He’s stolen our friend’s pet,” Suki calmly said after him, subtly shifting her footwork in case she needed to fight her way out of this. “We were stopping them from harming him any further.”

The official glanced between the circus master and warrior several times, humming audibly in thought. Meanwhile the crowd around them seemed to take the whole thing in as if they were watching a theater act.

“Are you sure that the creature belongs to your friend?” the one-armed man finally asked in a reasonable tone.

The Kyoshi Warriors nodded as one. “He responded to our name. Right, Appa?” The air bison proved Suki’s point by letting out a rumbling growl before he seemed to nod his massive head.

“That’s ridiculous,” the trainer said as he got up, rubbing his chin. “Stupid beasts like that will respond to just about anything!” Appa seemed to take offense to that, and responded with a roar that made those in the front rows startle with fear.

“Hm. It seems that this…Appa is more than just some ‘stupid beast’,” the official said with a sagely nod.

The circus master saw the way the conversation was going and immediately shifted gears. “W-Well, like I told them, I just bought the thing from some hunters. Didn’t know it was stolen property.”

Thankfully Luqi only bristled at the callous words used, and Suki found herself relaxing a little as she saw how the one-armed official nodded again. “I see. Since you’ve agreed that you’ve mistakenly bought stolen property, surely you would not mind doing the right thing and handing this beast over so that these girls could return it back to their friend, and it’s rightful owner?”

“Wha-! I-I mean… B-B-Buh…”

“Unless you’d like to put this matter into arbitration instead?”

While before the circus master was stammering, the mention of arbitration somehow made him go pale, and Suki noticed that no few faces in the crowd winced at that too.

“N-No! No… It’s…” The man finally gave a defeated sigh. “Fine… Chien! Samu! Get those chains off the big brute!”

“Your consideration is most appreciated,” the official said with a serene smile and nod, before turning to Suki. “I hope that this matter is resolved for you six as well?”

The girls looked at each other for a moment before they nodded their agreement. “It’s settled. Thanks, um…”

“Dae, Colonial Overseer of her highness Crown Princess Azula’s Colonial Department.” The overseer bowed formally, putting his sole fist in front of him as a salute. “Overseer Dae would be enough.”

That elicited a ripple of gasps and muttering from everyone, the circus master and the trainer included. “Welp, it’s a good thing we didn’t step on any toes on the way here,” Okuni commented under her breath.

Two men freed Appa from his shackles and costume, and the air bison was more than happy to express his thanks by walking up to the intrigued colonial overseer and then giving him an almost literal full body lick.

“Quite…impressive. Now, if you six young ladies would please follow me? I have some questions pertaining to your friend and his pet.”

Ah, shit.

*****

Dae smirked as he saw the relief playing across the girls’ faces once they realized he was only using the whole ‘questioning’ schtick as an excuse to get them out of the circus grounds.

“Now, the crown princess has extended her welcome to the Kyoshi Warriors, but might I suggest you go through official channels in the future when you encounter contentious issues?”

The plainly dressed girls barely hid their surprise, while Dae expertly hid his own smug satisfaction at a correct guess. He recognized the air bison, of course. As colonial overseer he had access to classified intel on people of interest. And the Avatar and his companions - human and beast alike - ranked rather highly on that list.

And considering that among other things, the girls had fallen into combat stances that would put most local guards to shame, associating them to the near legendary warriors was a matter of a highly educated guess.

“So…what happens now?” their leader, Suki asked.

“Now, I suggest you return your friend’s pet to him.” Surprisingly, her face fell at that.

“We…uh, we don’t exactly know where he would be right now…?”

Hm. The princess did say that these Kyoshi Warriors were encountered escorting refugees, and up until now the various colonies and towns had tracked their movements, which suggested that they really did have no contact with the Avatar in the southeast all this while…

Were they actually not here as informants for him? Intriguing. And amusing.

“In that case, might I suggest you keep this…Appa close with you until you find your friend?”

“Yeah, sure. I mean, Appa can-”

Before Suki could say any more, the air bison let out a tame roar, seemingly done with being part of the conversation. The beast walked off, and then with a powerful flap of its flat tail, it took off to the darkening skies.

As the air bison disappeared into the horizon, Dae glanced back to the stunned and slack-jawed girls. As befitting her status as the leader of the group, Suki recovered first, and actually finished her sentence. “Appa…can…fly off?”

Well, so much for that impromptu idea of using these Kyoshi Warriors as a lead towards any useful information. The crown princess preferred them free to roam and hopefully win them over eventually, so Dae couldn’t really do much else other than keeping track of their movements for now.

“Well, perhaps he knows where his master is.”

“Y-Yeah…” came Suki’s awkward reply.

Unfortunately, patrols began reporting sightings of the air bison at various points from then, mostly grazing amidst berry bushes and long grass. It simply left because it was hungry… 

Dae missed having two hands to bury his face in. 

At least the beast was making his way eastwards, so maybe it did know where the Avatar was. A shame that it’d fly beyond Fire Nation borders and become impossible to track afterwards. 

The overseer now had to find something else to occupy himself with. Hm. The Kyoshi Warriors were proving to be a bust, so maybe he should try focusing on the audits? Surely enough weeks had gone by for the noble colonial landlords to start fudging their tax payments by now?