༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁵. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐌!

𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 working up a sweat as they continued to train throughout the day, Suki going through the different motions and forms of both attack and defence. She was nowhere near a natural, but as the hours ticked by, Luli was pretty confident that she was doing well. All she had to concentrate on was: no fire. The rest was mostly a breeze.

          It got to the point where Suki wasn't really holding back, and neither was Luli—improving relatively fast. She even found herself managing to knock Suki over a few times (though the odds tended to go against her), and racked up quite an amount of bruises from hitting the dojo floor. Tough training always yielded promising reward, though.

          Luli lunged forward, seeing a break in Suki's form that would give her an opening, and moved practicedly with the open fans. She would've disarmed her had Suki not reacted so instinctively. Suki's closed tessen cracked down on the back of Luli's left-hand knuckles. It was an instant strike of agony, and an audible sound that would've made anyone cringe. "F— for the love of Kyoshi—!" Luli shouted, half a hiss, instantly dropping the iron fans and gripping the struck hand tightly as pain rippled through it. Spirits!

          "Love of Kyoshi, huh?" teased Suki, arms crossed over her chest with a tessen still in each hand.

          "I don't know— I didn't want to swear on a spirit! Shit that hurt." She rapidly waved her hand around in an attempt to rid itself from the pain, gripping her wrist, trying to loosen up the bones that were just smashed in her knuckles. Well, smashed would be an overstatement, because Suki hadn't broken anything, but, Agni, it felt like she had. "Tui and La, the tessen mean business." Her knuckles were red and she knew that they were going to bruise right up. Ouch, ouch, ouch. "I get how you could kill someone with those, now."

          Suki nodded gravely. "You have to be careful. They're basically a block of iron, hitting someone in the head could result in a pretty serious injury." She watched as Luli cradled her injured hand, brows pulling together in an expression of concern. "I'm sorry... I got a bit carried away. You're a really good opponent to spar with. They're not broken, are they?"

          Despite the pain on Luli's face, she grinned. "No, they're fine. Don't worry about it, my knuckles are just going to hurt for a few days." She flexed her fingers agonisingly, trying to loosen them up. "I wouldn't want to go up against you Kyoshi Warriors. Tessen and a katana, seems like a good way to get yourself killed."

          "Of course," mused the warrior, lips pulling up at the corners. "Well, if your hand is okay, we can continue training, if you want. Your stance is good, but your movement form still needs some work."

          Luli couldn't wait to smack some people from the Fire Nation with this. She grinned wickedly. "Sure, let's do it." She fell back into the stance, trying to ignore her left hand which was screaming at her and still stinging, facing off to the warrior again. Luli was about to go in for another attempt to bring Suki to the ground, when movement to her right stopped her, and both girls glanced up to see Sokka standing in the dojo entrance.

           He was glancing around confidently, in his blue uniform and hands on his hips, and feigned ignorance when he saw them. "Oh, sorry," said the Water Tribe boy casually, rolling his shoulders. "I didn't realise I'd stumbled in on your ladies' private dance lesson."

          If looks could kill, Aang and Katara would be at a funeral right now, and Sokka would already be in a casket. He sure was bold. Having two girls glare at him in full Kyoshi makeup couldn't have been for the light-hearted. Luli's eyebrow unceremoniously pulled down, setting her entire face into a harsh frown, which should have been quite frankly terrifying, in a kind of calm and collected way. "Excuse me?" Danger, Sokka, she thought. How this boy's warning signals weren't going off in his brain was a wonder to Luli, considering the expressions on her and Suki's faces.

          Suki, her red eye makeup curved harshly with the lines on her face, looked positively murderous. She spoke in a drawl, "Sorry, I didn't realise you were such a great warrior." Sarcasm dripped from her voice, a single eyebrow raising, but Sokka seemed to not get it.

          "Yep. I'm the best warrior in my village." Curiously, some Kyoshi Warriors from outside the dojo peeked through the entrance, clearly not wanting to miss the show that was about to occur. Sokka looked smug and sure of himself, grinning.

          Suki exchanged a side-glance with Luli, both of their eyes sharp. Then, Suki's face fell into one feigning innocence, a smile playing on her lips. "Wow. The best warrior, huh? Think you could show us a thing or two?" And there it was, that immediate bond of solidarity between Luli and Suki as they both knew the other could kick his ass, and trust, as they exchanged a silent smirk. That wordless moment between them.

          "Well..." dragged out Sokka, stretching his arm. "I suppose I could help you out."

          "Of course. How would we defend ourselves against such a strong man?" Luli wasn't quite as good at the false flattery as Suki was, and she spoke it in a disdained drawl, a single eyebrow raised sharply and her arms crossed. Danger, Sokka, danger! He was apparently bad at picking up cues from women.

          "True, but I'll go easy on you." Luli's brow twitched, and now she was sure she was about to break this Water Tribe boy's arm or something. How on earth did Katara put up with him? It was a miracle that girl hadn't drowned him already.

          Suki held back a snicker, glancing at Luli again. "Well, we wouldn't want to get hurt."

          "Certainly not," added Luli.

           "Don't worry," he assured them arrogantly. "I won't hurt you." Luli struggled to resist the urge to roll her eyes, clutching the closed tessen in both hands, and resigned to fluttering them and cocking her head instead. "Just... stand like this." He took Suki by the shoulders and pushed her back a little so they had a reasonable distance between them. He practically just put her in a straight-standing position, with her arms—both tessen open and loose—hanging at her sides. Suki levelled a look at him. "Luli, you too," he instructed, not seeming too bothered that she was wearing Kyoshi warrior makeup.

          Luli blinked, dumbfounded, and copied the pose, which was basically just standing, and not a proper fighting form at all. Sokka stood back and waited with a cocky smile. His stance was all wrong: his arms and hands were up in defense, but there was no meaning to it because despite his parted feet and slightly bent knees, he was much too straight, much too of a still target. Suki would probably be able to take him down with a single hit to the chest. Spirits, Luli could probably even to trip him by the back of the ankle. Luli wondered just how many other warriors there were in his village, and if any of them were over the age of eight.

          "Now, I know this is going to be a little hard, but either of you, try to hit me." He said it with such grinning confidence that Luli forgot to cover her chuckle, and it came out as a bit of a snort. When he glanced over at her, she was trying very hard to not smile.

          Her eyes blinked at him. It was difficult to stop herself from breaking into a ridiculous grin. "Really?"

           "Yep." He rolled his shoulders arrogantly again, grinning. "Give it a go." Well, this kid was either going to die, considering what Suki had done to Luli's hand with just a simple hit, or was going to end up humiliated out of his mind. Don't kill him Suki, thought Luli in amusement. 

           The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors assessed the situation blankly for a moment before moving forward as he wished. She raised her right hand in a slow feign attack, and while Sokka eagerly and confidently batted it away with one arm, Suki sharply swung the other tessen, stopping just before it reached the side his neck. Luli didn't think Sokka realised how lucky he was. He blinked at the warrior, seemingly confused at being outmatched by a girl. Before he could say another snide comment about girls and their fancy fans, or something along those lines, Luli figured she should have her turn. He did say either of them, didn't he? Luli casually stuck her foot out, hooked it on his ankle, and yanked back, sending him falling forward onto the matts as Suki stepped out of the way.

          Sokka propped himself back up on his hands, looking rather embarrassed. Maybe now he'd understand that girls could fight just as well as boys. "Oh... uh..." He quickly scrambled to his feet, before facing Luli. What, did he want more of a show? Luli's look was levelled as he continued on. "Then... try to block me," he challenged, hovering his hand in the air in warning. Maybe he should just stick to his boomerang.

          He really made it too easy.

          Sokka lunged forward with his right fist raised, much too slow (maybe he was still 'going easy' on them) and with the rest of his body undefended and open to any strike. He charged at her, and, in a move that Suki had taught her just a half-hour ago, Luli caught her open fan on the underside of his flailing fist, twisting it around towards her. In a flash, she forced his fist down onto the ground as his knees buckled, with help from his silly momentum, her foot pinned down on his forearm. He strained to free his arm but Luli's boot didn't budge, and she just stared at the boy. She'd brought him down in just a few seconds. Even with Luli's dominant hand injured.

           His face turned a humiliated dark shade, and when she allowed him to free his wrist he immediately stood, frowning. "Alright, that's it!" No longer 'going easy' on them, he charged towards Luli with still less-than-elegant form, trying to land a hit. Luli just calmly stepped out of the way of his swing. Compared to the Fire Nation soldiers and Suki, this felt like she was versing a child. A shame, since she was sure that either she or Suki would have offered to train the boy had he not been such a sexist jerk. At the same time, Suki leaned forward and undid the sash he used as a belt, leaving his Water Tribe tunic looking puffy and too big. He turned back.

          "Hey—that's not fair!"

          "Sorry, I thought you said girls couldn't kick your butt," Luli shot back, not entirely caring about the rules. He turned towards her to say something, and Luli flicked the fan in his face like she was scolding a child, bonking the ribs lightly against his nose. Not enough to hurt, but definitely enough to feel it. He cringed back and fell right into Suki's grip, who used the sash she'd stolen from him to wrap around one of his wrists, connecting it with his ankle and forcing him into a hop. He grimaced with his teeth.

          "It was you who interrupted our dance lesson, remember?" That was Suki, grinning like a wicked spirit as Sokka hopped out of the way on one leg, balanced awkwardly and grimacing with wide eyes. He flailed in an attempt to not fall.

          Luli kicked him back in the base of the spine, and sent him stumbling out the dojo entrance. A chorus of laughter from the other Kyoshi Warriors watching outside the compound brought a satisfied grin to Luli's face, before Suki stepped up beside her, hands on her hips. She looked rather fierce in her Kyoshi makeup. "Come back when you're ready for more," Suki drawled confidently, placing a wider grin on Luli's own face.

          Ouch. Sokka looked humiliated, which brought Luli a rush of satisfaction and left her grinning in her Kyoshi Warrior makeup. Serves him right. Who in their right mind would go after two Kyoshi Warriors in their spare time? It sounded like a right old way to end up dead. Suki brushed off her hands and Luli adjusted her braids as Sokka scampered off in retreat. Suki's other warriors were giggling amongst themselves—having had enough excitement for the day.

          "Hey, good use of the tessen," praised Suki, turning back to Luli with a wide grin once again. Maybe beating up dumb boys was a bonding experience. "And good use of your weight."

          Luli laughed, "As if it was much of a fight." Suki joined her giggling as they walked back into the dojo, leaving Sokka to go suck up his embarrassment somewhere else. "And I have a good teacher." She gave Suki a devilish side-grin, which was returned. Then, Luli raised her eyebrows, "Bet I can knock you down with these tessen, now."

          "Bet you cannot," challenged Suki, her eyes narrowing in a dare. They mirrored each other in their fighting stance, fans flared open. Suki's stance was better than hers—Luli couldn't quite get her arms right—but she wasn't about to admit that. "Remember the hold—shift your fingers. Yeah, like that. You're a natural." Luli really was getting the hang of it. She deflected Suki's tessen with her own closed one, managed to get close enough to grab the other girl's shirt before a swing of Suki's closed fan had her sinking back, not wanting to cop a hit to the shoulder.

          "Maybe you could teach me to use the katana, too," breathed Luli as she blocked one of Suki's blows. "The guards— uhhh— I've seen people use battojutsu in action before, it's very impressive."

          Suki's brows raised—she casually sent Luli stumbling back with a blow from both tessen. "You know battojutsu?" It wasn't a common Earth Kingdom art, and Luli didn't know how to tell her that nonbenders and benders alike in the Fire Nation used to study the technique of swords before firebending historically became the primary use of attack. She'd watched masters of the sword train in the Royal Palace courtyards before, Master Piandao and his students practicing in every kind of blade—from dao to the jian, to, yes, the katana.

          "Yep, I've always wanted to learn." Suki sent one of Luli's tessen flying from her hand, a glint of gold in the air, and Luli watched it in dismay, before blocking the next blow and disarming Suki of one of hers too. Perhaps she wasn't so bad. Imagine Firelord Ozai's surprised if Luli showed up to his doorstep with two tessen. It would certainly be a bit of a shock.

          Despite disarming Suki, the girl managed to bring her down to the matt again, trapping Luli's arm behind her shoulder and pinning her other behind her knees. Aw, Luli really was going to have purple marks from all this falling tomorrow. She thought she'd been good at nonbending combat when taking firebending soldiers down, but apparently not good enough to face an actual nonbender pro. Suki laughed, "Ha, maybe when you've mastered tessenjutsu." Luli pouted and sighed. One of Suki's eyebrows raised. "If you stick around. Wouldn't want you to cut your fingers off."

          "Hey," complained Luli indignantly. "I've used a jian and the dao before! I know how to use a sword a bit, at least. I've even used a tantō blade." Her protests didn't do much good. She sighed, not managing to escape Suki's grip. The warrior just grinned. "But alright. I suppose I can't train in everything at once." Finally letting up, Suki helped Luli to her feet, clasping their gloved hands together. "Then I'll kick your butt."

          Turning up her nose, the Kyoshi Warrior rolled her eyes. It was clearly playful. "You can try," she teased with wide eyes, as Luli secretively rubbed her bruising knuckles. She really didn't want Suki to go for them again.

          Luli narrowed her gaze, retrieving the tessen that had been flung halfway across the room, and flaring them open in front of her. "You better watch out," warned Luli from behind the safety of her tessen, "I'll get you eventually."

༉*ೃ༄

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 an elegant beauty in oceansides. In her childhood, Luli had enjoyed her travels to the various islands around the Fire Nation—where the beaches were scorching and the sun heated the sea just right. She could have played in the waves, beneath red umbrellas and digging sandcastles, for eternity. But she supposed everything came to an end eventually. Now, sitting upon the cliffsides of Kyoshi Island and staring out across the calm water to where it reached the sky, Luli felt a strange sense of nostalgia. It was comforting in a way, and sad too. Though she had no love for her country, those cravings for her childhood still came back every so often.

          Her muscles rang with the dull ache of recent vigorous training—a sensation which was familiar and comforting—and sweat had evaporated from her skin. Beside her on the warm rock cliff sat Suki, knees propped up in front of her in a similar way to Luli. She wasn't nearly as tired, but Luli had given her a good run for her money. The Fire Nation girl had always been a quick learner. And following Suki's interval training Sokka—a rather surprising feat of humility from the boy, which Luli had admired—after which the two girls had picked up their training again, they'd come up here for a break, to rest their tired bodies.

          "This island is so pretty," awed Luli softly, chin tucked against her knees. The sun was still high in the sky—late afternoon—and its rays warmed her up inside. She would never grow tired of the sun and its familiar comfort. Again, that urge for her childhood rose up inside her. It was a strange feeling to have, one that she wasn't sure if she wanted to suppress or curl up in the memories and longing, because for all the awfulness it had been, a part of her wanted it back so badly. To curl up with her head on her mother's knee in the hot sand, fall asleep under the sun with the sound of the crashing waves filling her young ears. There was something dear about the thought of that.

          Suki nodded along, strands of her short hair hanging in front of her face as she stared out. "You'd make a good Kyoshi Warrior," she offered, fans tucked behind her back with a smile pulled wide on her red lips. "If you wanted to stay here." The warrior looked more relaxed than Luli had seen in the entire day, muscles untensed and her face relaxed. She looked younger, in this light, grey eyes focused on Luli's face.

          For a moment, it seemed like such a crushingly good offer. She'd always had reminders of the Fire Nation and her past in the mainland Earth Kingdom. But here, she was so far away from it all. She could train, and teach, and sail and fish, and do whatever she wished—without such guilt and expectation crushing down on her shoulders every minute of every day. "I—..." But she couldn't. She couldn't just turn her back on the world. Luli's heart fell, but she kept her eyes looking into Suki's own. "I can't, I've got to help the Avatar." The other girl nodded knowingly, though she did seem a little disappointed. Perhaps she wanted a new friend just as much as Luli did. "It's a responsibility of mine, you know?" The ocean salt felt comforting and welcome on her face, for the first time. It was wearing her makeup off, and Luli wiped some of the white paint off with her other hand. It started to come off with a few scrubs, caking her fingers in the substance.

          "I understand," Suki replied earnestly, the slopes of her face gentle beneath her heavy warrior makeup. Her grey-tinted eyes were wide as she pressed a hand to her own chest, "I would love to go fight in the war, but I also want to stay here and protect Kyoshi." A divot appeared between her brow. "I... I feel like that's my responsibility."

          Luli did her best to rid herself of the rest of the Kyoshi Warrior makeup. It was fun, and she would love to learn and train more, but in the end she was just a Fire Nation girl playing dress-up. As always. Spirits, she really had to talk to the Avatar about all of that. "Mmm... responsibilities." So many, for children so young. A calm silence lapsed over the both of them for a moment. "Where I'm from, fighting is taught to only utilise harsh violence, never such calculation as this." What a terrible way to learn. Luli held the tessen Suki had lent her in both her hands like it was a priceless treasure. It was, in a way. She turned her body back towards Suki and bowed as well as she could from her sitting position, fist and palm meeting one below the other. "Thank you for teaching me your traditions. It's an honour."

          Suki laughed, showing her teeth through her grin. "There's no need to be so formal. We're friends, aren't we?" Luli's heart instantly felt about a hundred times lighter. Friends. Luli had met many people throughout her journey, many who came close to that word, but the last true people she'd ever considered friends were back in the Fire Nation. She smiled. Yeah, friends. Suki continued on Luli's comment, "I believe violence is the gateway to failure. Too much anger makes it difficult to control your movements and precision."

          Luli's head dipped in agreement. "That's what I think too." She looked at the iron fan softly, flipped it around in her fingers a few time. It already felt a bit familiar, somehow. "My mother taught me that." The edge of a smile appeared at her lips, fond and loving.

          "Your mother? You fight well—she must have been some woman." Luli just nodded along, clutching the iron fan extra tight. For a moment, Suki shut her eyes, a crease appearing between her brows, and then she opened them again. "My own parents left for the war when I was little. Most of parents of the girls I teach did, left Kyoshi Island to help make a difference. Few returned. My parents did not. I was ten when I heard the news, eight the last time I saw them." She stared out over the ocean, mouth set firm, knees drawn up.

           Not once did Luli think it made her any less of a powerful warrior. Letting her tessen go in her lap, she brushed her knuckles over Suki's arm. "They must be very proud of you. Teaching and leading the Kyoshi Warriors all on your own! And you've met and aided the Avatar. And kicked some sense into his oaf of a companion!" Luli offered her a wide, soft smile. "You were very young when you lost them, so I'm sure they're so happy to see how you've grown up. I mean—look at you!" Luli exclaimed and threw her arms out wide towards Suki in a grand, excited gesture. "You're practically the spitting image of Kyoshi herself."

          Suki's eyes went soft, and she smiled towards Luli. "Thank you. I'm sure you're the spitting image of your mother." She said it with great kindness and a wide smile, grey eyes crinkled. The gold of her headpiece shone brightly in the late afternoon light, as well as the golden thread of her warrior's uniform.

          A small hum left Luli's mouth. "My father used to say I look like her." She stared out over the cliff, onto the horizon, arms tucked back over her knees.

          "Do you?"

          A crease appeared between Luli's brows. "I don't think so... I've never seen the resemblance." Her eyes glanced back over at Suki at her side, softly fading into a shade of near-amber in the sunlight.

          "You'll have to come back and visit," jested Suki, "when you and the Avatar have kicked the Fire Nation's sorry butts back to their continent."

          Luli's heart gave a great dive. Oh, yeah. Sometimes it was easy to forget that no one really knew who she was. Still, Luli's expression pulled into one of playful smugness. "Of course. The Firelord doesn't know what's coming." She shared a toothy grin with the warrior beside her, Suki's brows crinkling in delight and skewing the shape of her red eye-makeup. She opened her mouth to speak again.

           It was Suki who caught the movement from down in the water in her periphery vision—all the way to their left, down by the bay. And when she quickly turned her head to look, Luli turned too, already noting from the look on Suki's face that something was wrong. She spotted what had disrupted the moment immediately. A metal cruiser ship, puffing great fumes of smoke in the air through its double chimneys, churning through the water. The warship was headed right for the island—must have snuck in while they were distracted.

          Luli would recognise a ship of that kind anywhere. "The Fire Nation," said Suki, in a mix of a warning, a gasp, and a kind of solemn command. Luli inhaled sharply through her nose. There was an immediate, irrevocable seize of panic that gripped her chest wildly—like an icy hand coming to freeze her heartbeat in its place. They were here. And these would be no typical Fire Nation thugs: if this group had been sent after the Avatar, she was sure they would be extremely high-ranking, likely even commanders or admirals. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

          Perhaps, even, her father.

          Luli grabbed the tessen fans Suki had given her off the ground, and stood in synch with the Kyoshi Warrior at her side, staring wide-eyed down as the Fire Nation ship pulled into the island's bay. That wasn't good. Wordlessly, the both of them turned on their heels and started to sprint down towards the village—a fair way, from their spot atop the rocky cliff's edge. Dread was a burning hand against Luli's heart. There was no way this was going to end well. She followed Suki, who knew the best way to cut through to the village—the two warriors skidding down uneven rock and earth as branches of trees whipped past them. Luli felt a twig cut her face, but ignored it, already hearing shouting echoing up from the bay below.

          She removed the rest of the Kyoshi Warrior makeup as she ran.

༉*ೃ༄

there's always the calm before the storm

i love, love researching about historical weapons and forms of fighting from around the world so this was so fun! i'm so sorry for the gay romantic tension i can't write straight people

when luli said "how would we defend ourselves against such a strong man?", she definitely had the classic >:/ expression i drew of her in my castillo spam book (51). the almost sneering, upper lip raised drawl. it's, like, the last thing you see before you die

luli and suki said 😈 beating up dumb boys time 😍 now back to training 🥰

word count: 4,626

19.10.2020.