The Battleship Yue <Shai City, North Pole>

[saghani]

The sun hung low in the morning sky, reflecting off the water that surrounded the great ship on all sides. The crew was active, ready for the campaign after a full night’s rest. Although that had been Saghani’s reason for departing at night, only after the ceremony had he realized why the Chief had shared his opinion. It was the name of the ship: the Yue. It was named after Arnook’s daughter, the young white haired woman who had sacrificed herself to restore the moon spirit. Some said that she even was the moon spirit now. Arnook had wanted his daughter to watch, perhaps. Not a spiritual man, Saghani had not been very moved, but others had seemed to.

Hands (mostly) folded behind his back, Saghani walked up the main deck slowly. It was even bigger than he had realized. A full sprint from one end to the other would be quite difficult. He would need to set up a messaging system. On either side, warriors manned the catapults and trebuchets, familiarizing themselves with the equipment as ordered. This day would consist of that sort of thing. The crew had already been trained in their main tasks thoroughly, but now that they were on the ship, morning drills for the first week would involve each unit learning the basics of at least two other positions. There would be casualties of some kind, fatal or crippling, and for a long campaign, crew members would need to immediately fill the boots of the fallen.

“Your waterbenders are taking well to the catapults,” he said as he approached the unit’s leader near the bow of the ship.

“Warriors are warriors, Captain, whether they can bend or not,” the man replied. “How go the other units?”

“Well,” Saghani returned. “Though I haven’t checked on the healers yet.”

The waterbender looked very confused, “But captain…the healers aren’t taking part in the drills.”

There was a long, icy silence as Saghani’s gaze slowly turned on the man, his eyes razor sharp. Even here on the ocean, those senseless traditions followed him. It was infuriating. They were on a ship with limited crew for an extended period of time, and they weren’t going to utilize a good ten to fifteen percent of said crew because tradition didn’t allow it? This was unacceptable, especially since not everyone in the crew could waterbend and the healers could. It seemed clear now, though, that he was the only one who had thought that far ahead. Indeed, it seemed none of his subordinates had even informed the healers about the morning drills to begin with.

“Send a message to Dalla that she and her squad are to report to the starboard launching bay immediately,” Saghani said.

Before he even registered the salute, he had turned on his heel and began marching towards the stairs that lead bellow deck. The starboard launching bay was one of two bays used to launch the longboats, larger versions of the ones the Fire Nation had used for lifeboats. The longboats, operated by waterbenders, were a crucial strategic element. It was only natural that their operation would be the first position the healers should be ready to fill…

[nati]

Her night had gone well enough. Nati expected not to sleep a single wink and then be exhausted by the morning, but she felt well rested. Her room was sparsely decorated, made a little warmer by her bedroll, but it lacked the splendour of her home in the Water Tribe. The walls were cold and alien, and there seemed to be little she could so about liven it up a little. It had a small table, enough to act as a desk and somewhere to put her belongings. Her clothes were folded up neatly in a little pile by her bed.

Her hair was secured in its normal fashion, two long braids falling down the length of her back, but her clothes were more practical and less formal than anything she ever had to wear at home. Garbed in simple trousers, buckskin boots that reached her calf, a long sleeved robe and a sash tied at her waist. She tied a small pack around her waist, in it some basic items for healing, herbs in small packets, bandages a small bone knife, along with needle and thread. Dalla had insisted all healers carry a small pack of essentials wherever they went. It was compact and small enough not to really notice. Next was her small water pouch, enough for a decent healing.

Nati sighed, patting at her shapeless clothes and missing femininity of skirts. Her trousers were comfortable enough, but she felt less of a woman, like she blended in with the other people so easily. She heard a knock on her door, clanging and metallic. Dalla quickly poked her head around the doorway, her features marked with a worried look.

“We’ve been called to the launching bay for the morning drill.” Dalla looked hurried and mildly annoyed. Nati dashed through the door, surprised as well.

“I don’t remember anyone saying anything about a drill!”

“Well they’ve just decided on it. Saghani wants the healers up on deck right away.” Dalla sighed as they walked down the hallway. Nati knocked hastily on the doors of the other healers, beckoning the small group of healers to head up to the deck. Nati turned around to take a quick mental count of the healers, only counting around eight women. She watched for Hebirei, the only young man to have joined the Healers. Some of them looked weary and a bit tired, but the hour wasn’t so early. They managed to find the right stairs, the starboard launching bay hadn’t been hard to find.

The group of them felt and looked out of place, unsure where exactly who to report to or what to do from there. They milled, watching the men busy with their work.

[boragan]

It has finally happened. The battleship Yue has taken off. No more does Bora Gan need to endure the icy chill of the Water Tribe lands. Now, he heads for Earth Kingdom lands. Bora could still remember the talks that he and Saghani would have. He tried not to let it get to him. He wanted to save his rage for an opponent, not a potential ally. He sits below deck, meditating and praying to his ancestors that would help him give him strength to overcome and destroy. He donned his famous kabuto and bundled up with his thick coat as he walked upstairs.

The water tribe crew was working hard to keep the ship going. Bands of infantry soldiers perform exercises to keep their skills honed. This put a smile upon his face, as it reminded him of his own Battalion back at home. Oh, how he remembered those days. The sea water slaps itself on the side of the ship as the water became more turbulent. Side to side the ship teeters, but doesn’t even come close to capsizing, only annoying. Bora could still see his breath in the air. The smell of the salt from that waters were a little more pleasing to Bora only because it meant going home. Perhaps he might post pone the trip home to see if the water tribesmen could use some muscle? Maybe, or perhaps he might’ve overstayed his welcome here.

[saghani]

Below deck, in the launching bay, Saghani waited silently. A waterbender, Chu, waited beside him. He had been an assistant teacher under Pakku for a short time, and generally a trusted subordinate. On their left and right, rows of longboats hung from the same chain mechanisms the fire nation had used for its life boats, attached to circular tracks on the ceiling to allow the boats to be moved around the bay quickly and efficiently while preventing clutter or confusion. Behind them was the bay door, closed for now, which became the upper part of a launching ramp that extended into the ocean. The Fire Nation had used the chains to lower their boats into the Ocean, but that was too slow for emergency combat situations and the Water Tribe engineers had found themselves with metal to spare. The waterbender warriors on board were already familiar with how the system operated.

The healers that were filing into the bay, however, did not. In fact, they did not seem to have much sense of discipline at all, barely able to stand still after entering the bay. Saghani spotted their commanding officer, as it were, and made a small nod to Chu.

“Ladies, your attention please!” Chu called out, causing at least most of them to settle down and pay attention.

“Master Dalla, I assume that you never received the information about drills this morning,” Saghanisaid as he approached, more a statement then a question. “Is…your unit all accounted for?”

[nati]

Nati stood close by Dalla, and gestured softly with her hands for the other healers to move closer together, but they did still lack the uniformly disciplined that had been drilled into the men. They were still women after all, they were organised in their own ways within the huts, men didn’t seem to mind or care how they organised themselves with their own waterbending skills such as healing.

Dalla was a small woman, hair greying a little with age, her face was rounded and held a slightly weather beaten look. Her hair had been secured into a practical style, a low bun at the base of her neck, but her hair still featured the customary braids and a few beads. Her eyes were a soft grey, and she stepped forward to Chu.

“No, we didn’t.” Dalla replied, add a firm shake of the head. “We’ve been given practically no orders or ideas of duties since we arrived.” Her voice had note of annoyance in it. Nati felt herself cringing a little; Dalla could have a sour temper at times. She turned around on the spot, quickly counting with her eyes.

“We are all here.” She said, turning around to face Saghani and Chu. Her eyes flashed about quickly, watching the men hard about at work. This wasn’t the place for the healers to be, getting in the way, what ever Saghani’s reasons for it, Dalla thought. Nati had remained quiet throughout all of this, she was only second under Dalla, and with only 8 women on deck such a great ship, all girls would have to listen to theirs elder. The idea of drills did not appeal to Nati personally, the healers had been planning on expanding on their learning intensely, and training up on handling themselves in a practical situation.

"So, what are you to have us do?" Dalla asked pointedly.

[saghani]

Saghani did not seem to react at all to Dalla’s response. It was what he had expected, after all, and while she certainly was a little uppity, it took a lot more to really get under his skin. He glanced the women over. There weren’t that many, naturally, but they were still a resource that could be used if need be. If the time came where he had need of spare waterbenders and had none, he would give his other hand for even a number such as eight.

“I would have you learn,” he replied to Dalla, and then to the group as a whole. “Right now, you all are experts at one task: healing. But this is a long term campaign. There will be times when we have no need of healers but need for something else. Therefore, every morning, you will take part in drills to learn at least two other tasks aboard this ship, just like the rest of the crew.”

This alone, Saghani could tell, was enough to shock some of the women. He briefly wondered if they knew what they were signing up for. Did they even know him, his goals or his plans? Were they willing to sacrifice for this campaign? Doubtful. Nonetheless, he would not let this crew or this campaign be harmed because of their failure to comprehend their situation.

“As you are waterbenders, the first thing you will be learning is how to launch and operate longboats using waterbending,” he continued. “Including in combat situations.”

He gave them time to process this statement.

“Questions?”

[Nanuk]

Hebirei had not slept much, and the little sleep he had was not undisturbed by the demons in his dreams. Tossing and turning had become a familliar action for him lately, as had waking in a sweat. His quarters, as he assumed, must have been identical to the other seven healers' rooming arrangments, barren, impersonal, and overall, practical. That was how the military was, all about the bare minimum and the results. Nothing else mattered. More than once on this trip Hebirei had second-guessed his decision to help out on the mission, but it wasn't like he could ask the captain to turn around now, could he?

When he, rarely, looked on the bright side, he realized that he was finally doing something meaningful, rather than just sit in the huts and heal the boring everyday injuries. Of course, during the sieges, healers had been running around the clock, but for the first, he was too young, and for the second, his parents hadn't permitted him to help, so this was his real shot at proving himself to the Northern Water Tribe. He couldn't fail now.

He wore his basic outfit that you could see him wearing in Shai City, although he had finally had it sized down a bit, so that it wouldn't encumber him. He had also, for the time being, ditched the sideways wolf-tail, in place of a regular one, which was much more practical, less hassle, and frankly, the old one was a bit childish for someone his age.

He made his way to the Launching Bay alright, it hadn't been hard to figure out the general layout of the ship in a day or two, and Hebirei had made it a top priority. As he stood among the other healers, he realized that he was one of the taller members of the rag-tag assembly. He then let out a small chuckle as he realized that being taller probably wasn't the most distinguishing feature that seperated him from the other healers.

Eventually, the leader of this whole expedition, Captain Saghani, came out to speak to them, and give them instructions on the drills that they would be performing. Hebirei wasn't too put off by this, he had done manual labor before, and he was able to fight, if only the smallest bit, from the week or two of training he had recieved from Pika Harta.

One thing that did cause a bit of a twitch in the back of his mind, was when the smaller man standing next to Captain Saghani addressed the entire assembly as, "Ladies". He let the matter go for now, but if it happened again, his voice would be heard. He took a bit more of a rigid stance, one of the more disciplined members of the group, and simply watched the exchange between Saghani and Dalla.

[boragan]

The Captain that is Saghani made his intentions known to the others of their exercises and drills in the morning. Seeing his littler counterpart by his side, Bora Gan paid no mind. He wanted to be a part of the crew, but he knew that he didn’t have to. Still, he didn’t want to seem that he was out of place anymore than he has already. So in order to somewhat blend in, he did the exercises that he and his Battalion would do instead.

He placed himself vertical on the floor with his arms straight in front of him and his feet spread apart in inches. Within moments, he began to elevate himself up and down with his arms acting like hydraulics. With his armor on, he didn’t give as much as a grunt with his first set of thirty push-ups. After he reached his sixtieth push-up, he was huffing. His hot breath soon turned cold upon leaving his lips. After 80 push-ups, he flip over upon his back and used his abdominal to get his elbows to reach his knees. After six sets of twelve, he stopped and rolled over onto his knees so he got back up. He did get a little bit of a sweat from that warm-up. He’d do more, but this sort of place lacked all the training equipment he used back at his base.

Now all he could do is watch the others drill upon the deck to see what their drills looked like. Contrary to what the shorter man said, he didn’t see ladies, but warriors instead.

[nati]

Master Dalla remained still and calm as Saghani relayed the expected duties of her healers. The slight hard glare in her eyes showed that she did not in approve at all. She was as small woman, shrunk a little more with her age, but Dalla drew herself a little taller. Casting a sharp eye, first at Nati, and then to her group of Healers, Dalla stiffed turned back to Saghani.

“You have noticed we are waterbenders, but women also, we have not the training of any warrior, and any such talent that may have been for fighting is now since been reduced to the barest of instinct.” Dalla replied sharply, offended and angered at Saghani’s insane ideas. Nati felt disgusted, her role was to heal, not to bring about more damage, and she had never bent anything bigger than a pot full or water or even made ice that well. Anything more than that and guilt would rush through her at pushing the boundaries of ‘woman’s bending’.

“There is only Healer extra suitable for what you require, and he may be excused from his morning duties to partake in these drills, but I shall not have my Healers put in the way of danger.” Dalla gestured to Hebirei. Nati bit on her lip slightly, and dared not to interfere with her Master’s exchanges with Saghani.

[saghani]

Saghani’s eyes narrowed by the slightest of margins. Did this woman not realize where she was? This was his ship. He was the highest level of command, there was nothing above him. If he ordered someone to do something, they did it, whether they liked it or not. He realized that he was breaking tradition, but such insubordination was still irritating.

“I did not ask you to fight,” Saghani corrected calmly. “You will be learning how to operate the longboats. In other words, how to steer and power them with your bending. That will be more than enough.”

Saghani gestured to the longboats around them. They were small, sleek craft. It didn’t take a waterbending master to power them, but one needed to take the time to learn basic technique before operating them.

“At the very least, this will allow you to use the longboats to evacuate the ship,” he continued. “You say you don’t want to put your healers in danger, but without this knowledge you could be risking the lives of them and countless others on this ship who they could help get to safety. I will not allow that. Not on my ship.”

He turned away from her and gazed at the others gathered. Some looked afraid…but of what? Was it the fear of death, or fear of breaking this insignificant tradition that had been caging them for so long? Such perfect mental conditioning the elders put these women through.

“If those are the only questions, assemble around that long boat,” Saghani said, gesturing towards the nearest longboat and starting to approach it.

[nati]

Nati was one of the healers who looked afraid, suddenly terrified of the thought of breaking centuries of tradition and going out into a battle situtation. Two realms would be crossed into one day, it appeared. Master Dalla looked appalled and more deeply offended than Nati had ever seen her. Her horror also stood somewhere between the fact that Dalla was arguing with a man, the man who had absolute power on this ship. She had to be admired for that much, Nati thought.

Saghani calmly replied that they would not be fighting, but merely learning to manvour a craft. His argument was clever she realised, subtle in manipulation. It was a skill any man would need to make it to the top as he had done. They were no longer at home, and as could not flee to the safety of their Healing huts anymore. Though Nati was the second in command, not the second oldest, but she was much closer in age to the other healers, and not as determinedly set in her ways like Master Dalla.

“Hm. Dalla in the meantime was still looking annoyed, hands clenched tightly and lips pursed. Saghani handled her very well, not entirely disregarding her station, yet still making sure Dalla knew where she stood. Nati fought back the disgust and resigned herself to the fact that there would be an argument amongst the healers later, she was one of the first to step forward and follow Saghani to the small long boat. Hesitently two others followed at first. Dalla’s eyes were firm on Nati, with a hint of betrayal in them.

Nati lowered her head for a moment, and then lifted her eyes to Saghani, ready for the next other. She found herself glancing at Hebirei too, rather pleading him to come and support her in this. This was going to be a difficult morning, both physically and mentally

[Nanuk]

Hebirei found himself caught between his two superiors. On one hand, he personally found no problem with participating in drills, but on the other hand, his loyalty was with the healers first, and if the master healer didn't want him there, he would have to obey. This was resolved rather quickly, due to Dalla's quick resignation of his time. All because I was born male... and here I'd thought it would be different away from home...

At Dalla's gesture, Hebirei merely nodded slightly to show his willing involvment, but it seemed that the master healer was adamant about keeping the tradition set forth so long ago. The argument was, admittedly, fun to watch, and it would have continued to be entertaining, until Nati herself stepped forward to obey Captain Saghani, along with two others. Hebirei shifted uncomfortably, and readied his feet to move, but he knew there were eyes on his back. He could feel the red-hot glares of the other healers, as he was sure Nati and the other two could.

Just as he was about to step back into the tightly woven group of healers, Nati looked back with a pleading that he couldn't say no to, and moved his feet forward without another moment of hesitation. Step after step, he followed, ready to obey the Captain. After all, he was the higher officer.

[saghani]

Saghani did not stop to turn around until he had reached where the longboat was stationed, by which time he had seen several of the healers timidly stepping forward. Among them was the healer that had worked on him after the second siege. He had expected no less. Though some of the healers were still holding back, he completely ignored their hesitation, instead stepping towards where the longboat hung from the ceiling, anchored by two chains on either end of the boat.

“First, I will explain how to prepare the boats for departure. All of these longboats are attached to two chains hanging from the ceiling. The chains themselves are attached to a metal bar that connects them and locks into a circuit on the ceiling,” he gestured upwards, where anyone could plainly see what looked like carvings in the ceiling, but in reality were paths that one could guide the hanging longboats around like a circuit. “Normally, they are kept locked in place, and to release them you have to pull the release here.”

There was a small motion from his right arm before his left arm moved upwards to grasp a smaller chain that hung between the two that secured the boat. He still hadn’t completely internalized doing everything with his left hand. Pulling down on the chain, there was a loud clicking sound and the boat suddenly moved towards Saghani, stopping when it met gently with his torso.

“Once you have released the lock, you guide it along the rails towards the launching ramp, where you release the clamps from the side of the boat here,” he gestured to where the chains grasped the ends of the longboat. “Then you push the docking mechanism out of the way and simply go down the ramp. When you return, you reapply the clamps, and simply push the boat back into any docking position, where it will lock automatically.”

Grabbing the smaller chain again, Saghani dragged it back into place, where again there was the loud clicking sound, and the boat was once again stationary. He glanced at the women present. What he had explained wasn’t hard to understand, nor was it terribly offensive. Hopefully, Dalla and the others would step forward to join the others without much protest.

[boragan]

Their longboats are a curious device. Bora Gan only could watch as Saghani explained on how to use the chains upon it. He noticed the other crewmen were unwilling to learn what Saghani had to teach. He Didn’t want to say anything because this wasn’t his crew. If it were his crew, he would’ve tossed all the crewmen that were unwilling to learn overboard for the sharks to eat. People that weren’t willing to learn would put the whole crew in jeopardy.

He had to shake his head of all the thoughts and proceed to watch what they were doing. So far, all he learned is how to detach the longboats from the ship itself. It almost feels as if he was being mentored to do something so simplistic. Then again, Earth Kingdom soldiers have no real use for boats. He could feel the ship swerve back and forth from the tide outside. He felt a little nauseated from the sea, but he kept it to himself. He might as well get use to it. It’s a long trip to home.

He wondered if this crew knew anything about combative. Surely, a little lesson in combat could prove useful in case somehow you were fighting someone. It wouldn’t be a bad skill to learn. Still, like he thought earlier, this isn’t his crew.

He continued to be bored and watched Saghani mentor the other crewmen on the longboats with the chains and mechanisms.