Taking Stock of the Situation <Wilderness, EK>

[suki]

It was about three days since their emancipation from the Fire Nation and the Kyoshi Warriors were still traveling with the Earth Kingdom soldiers. The group that had saved them had linked back up with the larger army that they came from and together they were making their way toward Ba Sing Se. But before they made a bee line for the Impenetrable City, they swung out East to pass through a rallying point where other forces were supposedly waiting.

The rallying point itself was more of an outpost for the collective armed forces of the Earth Kingdom. It was established on a plateau within the mountains South of Ba Sing Se. Its natural rocky defenses were bolstered by earthbending to make it quite defensible. It held stockpiles of food, several water wells, as well as an armory and other miscellaneous supplies.

Suki initially wanted to part ways with their saviors as soon as they had gotten some new clothes and a a few days' worth of rations. However, it turned out Kopa's wound from the Fire Nation ambush was worse than just a minor flesh wound. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors decided to stay with the ary a little longer until Kopa could walk again. Suki had already lost one of her comrades, she didn't want to seperate any more.

For the road they had managed to secure some actual clothes from extra uniforms that the men had with them, but they certainly weren't intended for young women. As such, the first thing Suki wanted to do was find wherever they kept their stock of clothes and find or tailor something that didn't make her feel like she was swimming in cloth.

However, before that she felt it was only proper to have a quick talk with the Captain of the unit that saved her and thank him once more for his efforts and sacrifices. Along the way she had already told him all of what she knew about the Fire Nation's movements in the area, and so hopefully he wouldn't have any further need for her.

Suki broke off from the other warriors with the order to stay put near one of the tents they had passed on the way in, and began searching for the Captain. Or if not him, then perhaps for Fa, the only other woman in that outfit. They'd had some contact during the march, and perhaps she would know where to find her officer.

[farong]

It had not taken long for Rong to be chewed out once they got back to base. It was the usual affair, but it still dug into her. She honestly did feel guilty about it, as she had lost a comrade in the rescue. Not only that, but it only made her worry more about her role as a soldier. Sometimes she did wonder if she had done the right thing in signing up, if she was cut out to be a soldier. The pressure of being the only female in her battalion was enough, but when her morals conflicted with orders, it really made things difficult. Trying to take her mind of the lecture (and the week’s pay she would not be receiving), she had set about cleaning up and getting into a fresh uniform, though she didn’t bother replacing or wearing her headgear. After that, she found a nice open spot to go through some Earthbending forms, if only to work off some of the soreness the battle had left behind. It was easy for Rong to lose herself in Earthbending, to forget her problems. At least, push them to the back of her mind, anyway.

After the third form, Rong spotted one of the rescued Kyoshi Warriors wandering through the camp. Looking closer, she found it was the leader. She’d learned her name was Suki on the way to the rally point. She was a good girl, but from the sounds of it had been through on awful lot lately. Missing one of her squadmates with the other injured, not to mention the whole captured thing. Rong grimaced a little. She ought to make sure she was okay. She seemed to have her act together, but just giving her a little support couldn’t hurt. Besides, Rong almost felt like comrades with her in a way, both being women warriors.

“Hey, Suki!” Rong called, waving as she started to walk over, smiling when she saw her lose clothes. “Guess you’ve seen why I have to haul around three different uniforms, huh?”

Rong looked around as she finally came to a stop by Suki. It seemed the other Kyoshi Warriors were still recovering. Not that she could blame them, especially with one of their comrades in the infirmary.

“How’s your friend doing?” Rong asked, referring to the wounded Warrior. “She seemed to be getting a little better on the way here.”

[suki]

Suki didn't have long to go before she happened upon one of the people she was looking for. She waved at Rong as they approached and nodded with a slight smile at her attempt at humor. "Kopa's getting better," Suki confirmed, "but she's still a few days from serious travel."

She stopped fully and glanced around them briefly. It was remarkable really to think that Rong had managed to carve out her own niche in this male-dominated army. On Kyoshi things were so different...

"Have you seen your captain around?" Suki asked, bringing her focus back to the matter at hand. "I would like to make sure that we have permission to resupply before we start making trips to the armory... And to make sure that he doesn't need another recounting of events regarding our capture."

She'd already been grilled on the details of their brush with the Thunderfist Battalion and Princess Azula, but hopefully there wouldn't be anything more to ask.

[farong]

Rong smiled when she heard the wounded Kyoshi Warrior was recovering. It was nice to know that her recklessness hadn’t been a complete disaster. The smile quickly turned into a grimace when Suki mentioned the captain, and she couldn’t help but cross her arms.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him,” she answered, muttering afterwards. “Heard him, too.”

Just because she’d gotten chewed out before didn’t mean she was entirely used to it, and she certainly didn’t enjoy it. She glanced towards the largest building in the encampment, the command center.

“He’s still in there, I think, getting debriefed and rebriefed and unbriefed…basically lots of briefs, that’s the army for ya,” Rong continued, and then paused, giving it some thought. “He’ll be in there a while, but I can get you into the armory if you want.”

Rong didn’t actually have that authority, but the armory guards where lazy and understanding. Say you had permission and you had permission. She might be risking more reprimands, but Rong had a hunch that the Captain was going to give the Kyoshi Warriors the shaft. If these girls were as serious as they seemed to be, they might head into the wilderness unarmed, and that would never do. Especially not with the Fire Nation making its big push. Even in the face of her last lecture, Rong was not going to let them take that risk for the sake of brownie points.

“Come on,” Rong said, motioning Suki to follow as she started to head for the armory.

[suki]

Suki offered a token smile at Rong's attempt at humor and then thumbed at the base of her chin in a pensieve gesture at the offer to have her escort them to the armory. For a moment Suki questioned whether or not Rong had that sort of authority and wondered if it would be best to just wait for her commander and get higher clearance. However, the soldier woman was already started to turn and lead her to the right place so Suki figured that it was likely okay.

"Very well," she agreed. Along the way, they stopped by the other Kyoshi warriors andd got them to follow. Suki, however, walked up front with Rong while the rest trailed the two, with Kopa being assisted by Aoi and Aoru.

"This place is well-provisioned," Suki commented as they passed through the many rows of tents. "Defensible too..." she added when she considered the earthen barriers raised strategically around the plateau. They were both functional and natural-looking, which help to camouflage the fact that it was a vertiable hill fort.

[farong]

Rong couldn’t help but grimace a little. Suki was far too serious. Yeah, Rong knew her jokes weren’t very funny, but the girl was all business to an almost scary degree. When the first thing you can think of for small talk is how “defensible” the base you’re in is…you’re way too into your job. Granted, Rong was the furthest thing from a strategist any soldier could be, but she doubted even someone who ate tactics and breathed stratagems would find that a particularly thrilling subject

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Rong acknowledged, looking around but not really sure why Suki thought the base was so well outfitted. “Probably why they built a base here.”

Not long after that, the group approached the armory, where a one guard was standing watch. With everyone concerned over the Fire Nation’s advance towards the capital, little things like watching the armory of a medium sized outpost wasn’t a big deal. The guard, a man named Wong, shot Rong a curious expression as Fa approached.

“What’s up with the caravan, Fa?” he asked.

“These are the Kyoshi Warriors, ran into them on the way here. They need to get their weapons and supplies,” Fa explained.

Wong’s brow furrowed, “How much do they need?”

“Just some swords and stuff, nothing big,” Rong said, waving him off as she approached, then leaned in close and continued in a hushed tone. “Come on, Wong, you owe me. Just go with it.”

“That wine was for a religious ceremony,” he hissed back. “The disciplinary council…”

“Would have never believed topless women were part of that ceremony, or that Neo Cabagism is a religion,” Rong cut him off. “Now come on, just this one favor. That’s all I’m asking.”

With a glare and a grumble, Wong relented and took a key off his belt as he approached the armory door. A moment later, the door was unlocked, and Rong was motioning the Kyoshi Warriors in with a smile.

“Go ahead, guys, take your pick.”

[suki]

Standing back a respectful distance, Suki didn't missed the hushed conversation that took place before the guard allowed them through. She glanced beside her at her fellow warriors and wondered briefly if they would be getting into trouble for this later. It seemed Rong had to pull a string or two to gain access.

But as the guard stepped aside and ushered them in, Suki merely decided to go along with it and assumed her new friend had enough leverage to cover them from reprisals. "Thank you," she uttered to Wong as she passed him by and her gaze immediately fell on a rack of swords and spears. Within moments she was sifting through a collection of willow leaf daos for one that felt good in her hand. The Kyoshi warrior eventually settled on one with what looked like a freshly-wrapped hilt of green leather and pulled it free of its storage slot. She checked around her once before setting the weapon into a brief series of twirls and thrusts.

"This will do," she thought out loud, and she quickly plucked the matching scabbard off the stand to take with her. sure it was a one-handed weapon, but it wasn't too dissimilar from her old jingum in terms of blade geometry.Suki eyed a collection of small roundshields along the wall and figered that it would be wise to grab one of those as well. She doubted the Earth Kingdom army carried warfans in their typical arsenal.

She made her way down to the opposite side of the room, passing by the other warriors who seemed to be testing out a few weapons of choice as well. Once at the other end, though, she focused in on stacks of folded clothing. Among each article there were two stacks simply labeled "big" and "small". Suki wasn't sure exactly what such standards meant on the mainland, but she opted to pick up a set of clothings from the latter catergory. Shirt, pants, boots, skirt, mantle, bracers, and girdle... all probably still too big for her tiny frame, but beggars can't be choosers.

Suki tucked the whole mess of clothing under one arm and then circled around back to the others. "Pick up a uniform when you've found something you like," she told her fellow Kyoshi Warriors. "I'd recommend the smaller size unless you want a nightgown for your shirt." She cast a slight smirk toward Rong, assuming she might have encountered some similar issues with the standardized clothing of the army.

"So where can we get changed without enciting a riot from the garisson?" she asked matter-of-factly of the female soldier.

[farong]

Rong simply stood out of the way and watched as the Kyoshi Warriors gathered supplies. It wasn’t like she had anything to really do with her time anyway. Besides, it was an interesting site, seeing a bunch of little girls pick out weapons. It wasn’t something Rong had seen much of before. Any other women in the military had been earthbenders. It was kind of encouraging to see that women could be warriors even without bending.

"So where can we get changed without enciting a riot from the garisson?"

That was…actually a pretty good question. Rong put her thumb to her chin and thought for a moment. They could change here, but it perhaps wasn’t good to linger given her rather illegitimate credentials for entry. The barracks and mess halls always had someone in them, and the woods was just a bad idea. Well, if no place existed where the girls could change, then they’d have to make one.

“Gimme a second,” Rong said, turning and exiting the armory.

After walking a good distance away, Rong took an earthbending stance, drew in a deep breath, and then stomped down on the ground. Two slabs of earth rose into the air and fell neatly into eachother. Another stomp brought a third slab up to cover the rear of the makeshift shelter, and a thrust of her palms brought up two more to cover the front, a slight gap between them to provide an entrance.

“Tada,” Rong called back, gesturing towards the makeshift shack. “S’not too spacious, but it’ll get the job done.”