𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 | prince zuko

⁰³

CHAPTER THREE

     THE JOURNEY TO THE TRAINING CAMP WAS LONG AND TEDIOUS; since Yan's shirshu couldn't run indefinitely, she would have to stop to rest. The journey took a few days but in the end, Yan saw the training camp from the distance in the shadow of a towering mountain. She hopped off her shirshu and took a deep breath to calm her growing anxiety. She was undoubtedly nervous; what if they discovered she was a girl? She and her family would be shamed for eternity and she would be arrested. She just hoped she looked more masculine than feminine.

She turned to her shirshu, taking a scarf out of the saddlebag and holding it up to the creature's nose. "I want you to return to Ba Sing Se. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Head back to the city and stay there." she said sternly. Xian whined and lay down on the grassy ground, not wanting to leave his owner and friend. Yan sighed and crouched down in front of her animal friend, petting his head comfortingly and kissing his nose. "Just trust me, Xian. I will be back before you know it."

The shirshu whined once more, huffing a breath of hot air in her face. He rose to his feet and turned his back to Yan before running in the opposite direction. The earthbender girl took a breath, watching as her longtime friend ran back home. She turned around and faced the training camp that was a good distance away across the grassy field. From where she stood, Yan saw people filing in through the gates, all men without a single woman in sight. Except for her, of course.

Yan followed the teenage boys and men through the gate into the training camp, keeping her eyes to the ground and staying quiet. Most of the people around her were talking amongst each other, already forming friendships. She moved slowly in the growing line, not wanting to strike up any conversation with anyone; her voice did sound feminine so she had to practice using a deeper voice to keep her identity hidden.

"Your conscription notice and any weapons you have on you." the soldier at the front of the line ordered. Yan took the conscription notice out of her pocket and placed her father's sword down on the table. The earthbender soldiers inspected the sword with furrowed brows. "This is a sword from the Fire Nation. Where did you get this?"

Yan cleared her throat and put her arms to her sides. "It belonged to my father, sir. He was a soldier in the Fire Nation army before he left and met my mother. My mother is an earthbender and they both live in Ba Sing Se." she said in a slightly deeper voice. At the mention of her father being of Fire Nation origin, the men around her began to whisper and jeer.

"What is your name, age, your family name, and are you a bender?"

"Tao Qiang, sir. I am seventeen years old and my mother is Lian Qiang and my father is Fengge Zhu; I prefer to use my mother's family name instead of my father's for safety reasons. I am not a bender but with training, I could be proficient with a sword."

The earthbender soldiers read over the conscription notice before nodding. They handed the scroll and sword back to Yan. "You will be sleeping in tent seven with the other non-bender men. Stand in that line there and wait for further instruction." the soldier pointed to a line away from the current line she stood in. Yan nodded, bowing respectfully before joining the new line.

"So your father is from the Fire Nation, huh? What does that make you? Some Earth Kingdom-Fire Nation half-breed freak?" a voice jeered at Yan. She kept her composure, ignoring the taunts thrown at her. She was suddenly pushed to the ground by a taller man from behind her. As the man bent down to grab her by her hair, she grabbed his wrist tightly.

"Do not touch me," she said sternly, her grip tightening around the man's wrist. She released the man's arm and stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes. "Just because my father is from the Fire Nation does not make me any less of an Earth Kingdom citizen than you. He left the army long ago and turned away from his old life."