Chapter 70

She realized too late into her lunge that she had overreached. Her senses screamed warnings as her body stumbled to bring itself to a halt. But it was too late. The monster had simply sidestepped her attack, and with deadly swiftness his head thrust out.

Suki gasped at the strong and hot flesh instantly tightened around her neck, but it didn't stop her from retaliating. Her war fan slashed horizontally, but that only made the malevolent creature step into her reach, her elbow slapping harmlessly against his plates and his presence getting far too close for comfort.

The pressure around her neck tightened even more, painful enough this time that Suki had to drop her weapon in an attempt to break free of the grip. Even as she struggled, the Kyoshi Warrior couldn't break from the gaze of the monster before her. Piercing golden amber eyes glowed with malevolence as they stared into her, and an apathetic straight line formed the creature's mouth. The boy-monster yanked her towards him, and Suki felt his pincer break the skin of her neck with that jarring movement.

She kicked and punched to no avail, and helplessly watched as the boy's other arm rose up, the stinger raised in preparation for a killing blow.

Suki's struggles slackened as tightening grip caused something in her throat to pop, and she found herself gurgling with wide-eyed terror.

"Surrender," came a baleful voice, and though the monster's mouth did not move, she knew it was his. "Submit."

Despite her fear, the warrior managed to shake her head, her eyes never breaking from his gaze. The boy stared at her for a while more, and then she heard a sigh. He brought his face closer and he opened his mouth, and then his head broke up into a swarm of scorpions that poured over Suki's face and spilled over her body. She tried not to scream, but then she felt the pinch of pincers and stingers-

Suki woke up with a gasp, the awareness of her whole body going painfully stiff crashing into her consciousness. It was the same dreadful nightmare again, with one of the more violent outcomes. The girl brought her trembling hand down from her throat before she sat up, and found herself in the comfortable inn that she and her sisters had booked for the night. Across her, Kana remained soundly asleep.

After soft rap on the door, Okuni's head peeked in, throwing a mildly concerned look at Suki. "Everything alright?"

Suki glanced around, and then nodded slowly, hiding her still trembling hands under the blanket. "Yeah. Bad dream again."

There was no Scorpion here.

Okuni frowned a little, and then slipped back out to resume her night watch, leaving Suki to sigh as she slumped down into the bed. The nightmares were infrequent, but their disturbing vividness always left her shaken. What was worse was that there were different 'endings' to the nightmare. This was the first time she recalled the Scorpion's face turning into a swarm like that. Previously, either the pincer around her neck snapped close to decapitate her, or the stinger came down to burst an eye or pierce her forehead.

Or…

Suki chewed at her lip as she recalled the other endings.

Or she would admit defeat, and then the pincer would let go of her throat, only to slice through her armor… Or the stinger would not come down, but strike upwards…between…

Banishing the unwelcome recollection with a sharp shake of her head, Suki rolled to one side and closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to recall other things as she tried to go back to sleep.

She was surprisingly rested enough in the following morning, and led her Kyoshi Warriors onwards without stumbling or slouching like the first few times. This stretch of their journey this time didn't take too long. They met a passing wagon going their way, and the merchant on it had been generous enough to offer them a lift in exchange for some questions about the Kyoshi Warriors.

It was a small price to pay, and the girls enjoyed basking in the barely restrained awe of the trader and his family.

After weeks of wandering, the Kyoshi Warriors finally reached the most dreaded destination. Suki and her friends traded looks to draw support from each other's strength before they stepped into the colony of Zilang.

As it has been in earlier encounters, the arrival of the Kyoshi Warriors drew many stares, but by now Suki had learned to ignore the curious looks directed at her group. Or the mild annoyance of the local guards.

Throughout their journey within the Fire Nation's territory, the patrols and town guards had always kept a wary eye on the painted warriors, but never once had things escalated beyond some questioning. A captain or two might be overtly suspicious and disapproving of their presence, but nothing even close to harassment came from the meetings.

Suki would take suspicion over leering looks any day though, and begrudgingly admitted that from all she's seen so far, the Fire Nation were far less oppressive overlords than she'd expected them to be. Oh sure, it was a recent change, and the older overlords were practically interchangeable with the fouler Earth Kingdom rulers Suki had the displeasure to know, but that made things all the more impressive.

The heir to the Fire Nation's throne, the crown princess no older than Suki herself, had decided to take over and administer to the colonies with - according to some villagers 'lucky' enough to witness it - ruthless compassion, doing an about turn in their governing policy that focused on bettering the lives of its conquered people.

The changes had made the common townsfolk and villagers treat Princess Azula with respect that made her seem like a saint at times. The Kyoshi Warriors had passed by once-derelict towns being rebuilt, and on two occasions part of the laborers included former officials who had been demoted by their princess. Taxes had been lightened by almost a third, apparently after the princess' own officials did some digging into corrupt governors and magistrates and 'corrected' the rates. Her new colonial magistrates had more integrity and were far more lenient, as were the frequent patrols she ordered to keep the lands safe.

With stories like that being spread around liberally, it was little wonder that Princess Azula won the hearts of the conquered territories. On the one hand, Suki found such veneration by former Earth Kingdom people to be disturbing at the very least, especially the refugees that spat on the names of the lieges they fled from. But yet, as much as she wanted to dislike the princess, Suki had to admit that Azula was doing a lot of good.

Even if part of that good included having the infamous Scorpion Dragon on a leash.

Some said the princess used her charm and wit to keep the Young Dragon loyal. Others insisted that she fed her regiment criminals to sate their bloodlust. And then there were groups that speculated that she had his family hostage or held some other great advantage to keep the psychopath obedient.

More controversially, a few whispers dared hint that the princess willingly 'sold' herself to the Monster of the North in exchange for his loyalty.

Suki liked to forget that those rumors existed, but every now and then some drunkard would spout it, only to be quickly silenced (often violently) by those around them.

And now, she and her warriors were in the lair of the dragon itself. The colony town of Zilang proudly boasted that it hosted the colonial barracks of the 11th Royal Regiment, the 'Princess Fire Lancers'. It said so on the sign on their way in.

After parting with the merchant, they secured lodging for the night before exploring the town.

And there was much to explore.

Compared to the other colonies, Zilang showed more signs of prosperity. It was bustling with activity, just like the other towns they had visited, but there was something more to it. The buildings were no bigger, but there was a clean shine to them that made them feel…better.

Merchants dressed in distinctive Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom attire manned stalls side by side, but there was significantly more Fire Nation red lining the streets than Earth Kingdom green here that the other colonies didn't have.

The clash of green and red extended to the townsfolk, and though many wore elements of both, it was hard to ignore the higher number of red-robed officials walking about. Many had shades of green tastefully sewn into their robes, and some even sported badger mole designs, but regardless it was clear that Zilang was the closest thing to an administrative capital for the colonies.

Only the guards were exclusively Fire Nation in their attire, and Suki noticed that they were far more keen eyed and far more polite. The ones that stopped to question them even addressed them as 'ma'ams' with a passable smile.

"Ah, the crown princess had expected your arrival," one guard said, and for some reason that conjured up the image of a smugly smirking princess, which annoyed Suki. "Please head to the governor's office. I'm told that your stay here will be catered for."

Suki was sure that there was an insult buried in that offer somewhere, but their curiosity made them follow the directions to a large building of white walls and red and green corners. To Suki's growing annoyance, the officials that saw the Kyoshi Warriors walk in bowed in greeting. "Oh, welcome, warriors of Kyoshi Island. Please, have a seat and I'll have things prepared shortly."

"Have what prepared?"

"A gift, from the crown princess. It'll be just a moment." The man left before any questions could be asked, and then returned shortly after with a jingling pouch and a small scroll. The pouch contained a mix of Fire Nation ban and Earth Kingdom yuan.

Suki unfurled the scroll, which simply read, "Payment for the safe transport of potential Fire Nation civilians. From a grateful princess to renowned warriors. Don't antagonize Xing."

The official bowed again as he remembered something. "Oh, if you would not mind telling me where you are lodged, if you already are?"

Suki blinked, but saw no harm in answering that.

"Thank you. We will send someone over shortly. As per the crown princess' orders, your stay in Zilang will be paid for from her personal funds."

Was this a bribe, or was Azula just showing off her station?

Regardless, the now puzzled Kyoshi Warriors left the administrative building and decided to spend the rest of the day sightseeing. As usual, they sought out the poorer part of town, and as usual, the Fire Nation guards did not do anything to dissuade them. Not that Suki expected the place to be in a state of decrepit squalor.

Like the other colonies she'd visited, Zilang's poorer quarters showed off far less shine and its streets were narrower, but things were still relatively clean and orderly. More importantly, there was a sense of busy purpose to the adults here, and few people were milling about idly. Everyone was either rushing out to work or coming back from it, or looking after children, or doing housework.

Suki hadn't had the chance to see the equivalent in Earth Kingdom cities, but she sincerely hoped that it was at least as good as what these people had. That the stories of cramped, overpopulated alleys filled with broken people and waste were a thing of the past.

The Kyoshi Warriors spent an hour walking through the district in the vain hopes of finding anything incriminating, any dark secret about Fire Nation rule before they moved on to the markets. There, Suki and the sisters drew many eyes as usual, and apparently Azula's order was already in effect because the vendors were more than happy to give away their wares to the warriors. The guards even stepped in when some traders were being too insistent on offering their wares, especially those dealing with trinkets.

It was only until one trader practically begged that it dawned on Suki. "Please, take this! It's the least I can do for the great Kyoshi Warriors as honored guests of the crown princess!"

Suki suppressed a shudder when she realized that not only was Azula tying her name with the Kyoshi Warriors, but none of the people here forcing their wares on them were doing it out of fear or easy money (supposedly Azula would be paying them for it, after all); by their proud smiles these vendors were genuinely enthusiastic about giving stuff away to Azula's guests. They were eager to prove the quality of their wares to honored visitors.

As Suki processed the disturbing thought, a voice called out from behind her that caused her hand to shoot straight to cover her throat.

"Oh, fancy seeing you here."

She turned to the familiar voice, and found the Scorpion wearing an amused smirk. Despite the sudden rush of emotion, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors also noted how the crowd around them became much more subdued in his presence, even the guard were fidgeting.

"You." That was all Suki could say, though she had to raise a hand slightly to forcer her fellow warriors back at ease.

"Yeah, me." His smirk faded as a frown formed on his face. "Are you hurt?"

Suki then remembered her hand still wrapped around her neck, and willed it down to her side. "N-No. It's nothing."

The Scorpion gave her a look for a second before shrugging it off and then bowing politely "If you say so. I'll leave you ladies to your leisure and not ruin your enjoyment any further. Please, enjoy Zilang."

As she stared at his departing back, Suki was torn between rushing over to strike him down, and asking him to stay (she struggled to figure out why even if her neck felt exposed at the thought of it).

Thankfully she did neither, and the Kyoshi Warriors retired for the evening for an interesting first day in prosperous Zilang.

Relatively, because Suki had the nightmare again, and when she awoke she resolved herself to try to put an end to it. With face unpainted and dressed in a commoner's outfit, the warrior headed for the barracks of the 11th Royal Regiment as soon as dawn broke out. She didn't even wait for breakfast, or fully clean off the dampness between her legs.