I glanced up at the sky that was soon turning into night.
... I needed to go back to the encampment, and teach the men how to sing 'I'll make a man out of you.'
Training the troops to a good standard... my own power levelling... The [Quest: Raid and Pillage] to earn the Fire Nation's continued support and some legendary loot... and now, the [Quest: Journey for Intelligence] to stop myself from being stupid, I certainly had my hands full, didn't I? Getting the ball rolling on this 'Take over the world' master plan was certainly a lot more work than I expected it to be. But when the alternative was letting stubborn backwards morons keep running the world, I couldn't begrudge it at all. How unfortunate it is that one couldn't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.
Such is life, I suppose. If a little not-so-voluntary labour is what's needed to bring about a less stupid world, then I'm all for it. We already know that there are at least four other villages in this area, who knows how many others are there for us to... recruit to our cause?
I guess there was only one way to find out...
(Two weeks later)
The setting sun was just touching the western peaks in the horizon when Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors reached the third village on their journey to Omashu. The neat little village with its green and white buildings nestled on a wooded hill made for a picturesque and welcome sight for Suki- she was getting tired of her sisters' whining.
"Why did no one tell me that the mainland was so... big? My feet hurt."
"I feel like we've walked the breadth of a hundred Kyoshi Islands by now."
"I bet we walked a thousand Kyoshi Islands!"
"I hope they have a working bath, you all stink like week-old cabbage."
"Hey! You're not smelling like a bed of Silver Lillies either, you know!"
So much for the proud Kyoshi Warriors...
"Quit your yammering, all of you!" Suki groaned with a long suffering sigh, "Let's just go find a place to rest. Focus together, sisters!"
Exhaling in sync, they all managed to dig into their second wind: pulling their shoulders back and holding their chins up high in an air of stoic confidence as they strode into the local watering hole. The Kyoshi Warriors had a reputation to uphold after all. Also, they were much less likely to receive lewd propositions from drunkards when they looked every bit as the 'tough-as-nails elite fighting force' that they were. Dressed feminine enough to let people know they were women, and formidable enough to show they were Kyoshi Warriors.
One of the pub's patrons, a muscled red-haired man, took a single look at them and immediately excused himself from the establishment.
It never stopped being a good feeling.
That feeling when every pub goers' eyes are drawn on her and her sisters, and they see nothing but stoic expressions on immaculately painted faces, heavily-armoured dark green kimonos and how they were armed to the teeth with war fans and katanas. Because even if no one in the mainland had even heard of the Kyoshi Warriors, they at least knew without a doubt that Suki and her sisters meant serious business.
"Do you have a room free?" asked Suki as soon she reached the counter where a wizened old innkeeper with a livespotted face was sizing her up.
"You're the fanciest merc outfit I've ever seen, and that's saying something." He replied with a shake of his head before getting right to business, "I've only got three rooms free. Yours for 12 coppers each."
"We'll take them." Suki calmly replied- not bothering to correct the assumption that they were mercs. That misconception will correct itself when word of their deeds spreads after they lend their services to the Earth king.
"Can I interest you all with a drink? Tea? Wines?" the innkeep naturally offered.
"Some tea is fine."
"Very well... Please have a seat, I'll bring it over."
With a nod, Suki and her sisters took a seat at a table- each of them letting out a soundless relieved sigh as they finally got to rest their feet from their trek. And with surprisingly promptness, the innkeep arrived with a lightly steaming teapot and its smaller teacup cousins. And as he poured them jasmine tea, he turned to her and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, you ladies here for the bounty on the Giant's head too?"
"No, we're not." Suki answered- willing to exchange information, "We're just heading for Omashu. How are the roads north?"
"If Omashu is where you're heading, then I suggest you turn back now and find a boat to take you there."
At that, Suki raised a brow- hiding the slight worry that their journey would be somehow delayed.
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"Word hasn't reached the place where you came from then?" He said with pursed lips. "All the roads north are owned by the Giant and his Horde now. Everyone from Omashu to Gaoling knows that. The only way to Omashu now is to go around by sea or through the desert."
"The Giant and his Horde...?" Suki repeated while exchanging looks with her sisters- silently communicating if anyone has heard of such a thing, but the subtle gestures she got in response told her that no one heard of it before. She watched the innkeep nod in understanding.
"They're a Fire Nation army." He told the gathered Kyoshi Warriors in a solemn tone, "Fire Lord Ozai's most elite warriors. They have faced three armies of the Earth Kingdom and won with ease. Or if you believe the stories that they tell around the campfires, they're vengeful spirits of fallen Fire Nation soldiers who have returned to exact revenge on the Earth Kingdom. Doesn't matter what they are though, they already wiped out seven villages, burned them to cinders and took everyone hostage. The Fire Nation has finally come to our portion of the world."
Suki was dismayed by the news that the Fire Nation was here, but she wasn't exactly intimidated. The Kyoshi Warriors had gone up against the best the Fire Nation had to offer- namely, Prince of the Fire Nation himself- and they won.
"Thank you for the news, but we will manage fine." She courteously responded, taking a sip from her tea.
"No, your pride blinds you to the danger." the innkeeper hissed- apparently insulted that she was taking this threat lightly, "I'm sure a mercenary outfit like yours have gone against the Fire Nation before, but the Horde is different. Each soldier has the strength of five men, fights with the ferocity of a moose-lion, and wields a blade with the insight of a hidden master. Their ostrich-horse mounts, glut from the roasted corpses of their enemies, have developed a ravenous hunger for human flesh. Everyone from Gaoling to Omashu fears their approach for a reason."
Once again, Suki was unimpressed. Even on their little island of Kyoshi, they had all heard of the tall tales that Fire Nation propaganda spouts before. Honestly, ostrich-horses that eat human flesh? People really need to draw a line somewhere that says 'Beyond this point, it is too crazy, I won't believe it.' But still... there was a kernel of truth to be learned in each tall tale.
"So, they have raided seven villages already?" She clarified, pulling out a map from her sleeve and unrolling it across the table- her sisters lifting up their steaming tea cups to make room.
"Yes, all of these villages." The innkeep tapped his gnarled finger on seven points on their map, "And they don't seem to carry any intention of stopping there."
Suki crossed off the villages with a piece of charcoal before looking back at the innkeep.
"And the Giant is their leader?"
"They call him 'Khan.'" the old innkeep said with a fearful shudder, "Stands twice as tall as a normal man and as strong and skilled as twenty. A walking obelisk of armour and muscle, and it is said that he wields his weapon- a metal ball at the end of a long chain- with such strength and skill that he had cleaved through a whole squad of Earthbenders with a single swing. But worst of all, his strength is matched only by his brutality. There are even rumours that he personally had the former leader of their army roasted on a spit like some prized swine for incompetence."
"So, he's a tall guy with a meteor hammer?" Suki muttered with a raised brow. It was good to know that he'll be easy to pick out from the crowd, and what kind of weapon she could expect him to wield. "Do people know where their base is?"
"Only that is close along the Omashu-Gaoling route whose trade caravans they prey on ... somewhere along here."
He dragged his finger along a road on the map before resting his pained eyes on Suki's blue ones, "So, I assume that you are now interested in wasting your lives for the bounty placed on the Giant's head?"
"Less about the bounty and more about doing our part in the war." Suki replied with a firm voice, "If he really is that much of a threat, then removing him from play would really help in the war against the Fire Nation."
The wizened old innkeep just sighed in defeat before walking off- shaking his head as he left them with one last question hanging in the air.
"Gold... glory... Does it make a difference which bait your hubris uses to lead you to your deaths?"
...
The question stuck with Suki for longer than she thought it would. Even as she and her sisters finished their tea and headed back into their room for a bath and a bed, the question really weighed on her. Or more accurately, it pointed out how the burden of command weighed on her- that she was responsible for her sisters' lives in battle. She... never actually thought of it that way to be honest- the possibility of exchanging the lives of her sisters for victory in the war. It was a real struggle for her to come into grips with it.
Thankfully, after a long night of relaxing in a real bath and sleeping in a real bed helped a lot. And before Suki knew it, she had fallen asleep.
...
[The dawn after]
Suki blinked her blue eyes several times as her face paint set before moving on to typing her auburn hair.
Rising up before dawn to paint their faces and put on their ceremonial armours, it was a calming but invigorating experience for her. A reminder of the traditions that they held with unshakeable fervency, and with it, the Kyoshi Warriors felt clean, well-rested and ready to take on the world...
"Suki, are we really going to try and get rid of this giant guy? There's only six of us, and a whole lot more of them."
"Yeah, a Kyoshi Warrior is worth a thousand Fire Nation soldiers, but that's not supposed to be all at once."
... Two of three were good enough, Suki supposed. She stretched her armoured shoulders as she eyed the horizon to the north... to where the Giant and his horde were, and a pensive expression fell on her newly repainted face.
"If we could catch him without his army and eliminate him, that would be the best case scenario." She told them, "But our main priority is still getting to Ba Sing Se and that means going to Omashu. We are NOT going to make the trip back to try and look for that imaginary boat with the imaginary captain that's willing to ferry us through Fire Nation-controlled waters. So, we keep heading north. We try to avoid the main force of the Giant and his Horde, but..."
She smiled at her five sisters slyly.
"...if we run across the Giant with only a light escort. We're not going to let that opportunity to show him what a real elite fighting force looks like."
"Yeah! We'll kick his butt and drag him to the Earth King!"
"We'll be real heroes with real parades and monuments!"
"Kyoshi will look down from the heavens and smile!"
Suki just smiled at her sisters' antics once again. That seemed to energise her sisters-in-arms as they continued their journey- walking down the hill and into the forest northwards. As long as she and her sisters were together, she knew that they were ready for anything the world could throw at them...