'Bye Mom. I'll miss you.' 16-year-old Suyin hugged her mother, praying that this would not be the last time she would see her. She looked at Lin, her half-sister, older by six years. Her eyes were looking away from her and she had a deep frown on her face. Suyin decided whether or not she should hug her...maybe not. Lin wasn't the hugger type anyways. She picked up her bag and car keys and drove off in her jeep.
While on the road, Suyin felt a small tear run down her face. She should be happy. She was free to do whatever she wanted. But something held her back from this happiness. Regret? Guilt? Sadness? All of those? She sighed and parked at an inn on the side on the road. It looked like a good place to stop for the night.
'Room for one please.' She tossed the yuans on the front desk. The man eyed her suspiciously and gave her a key. 'Upstairs, first door on you left.' She took the key from him. 'Thanks.'
That night, she laid awake in bed, wondering what she would've been if she was more like Lin. Maybe a cop, she thought. She remembered Lin's obsession wanting to become a cop just like Mom. But then again, she was told she was free to do whatever she wanted, met some "friends", drove for them, gave her sister a scar...Suyin looked at the moon for the window. Although the moonlight shone right down on her face, she fell asleep.
The next morning, she drove on the road till she hit a lake. It looked like a good spot to rest, after so many hours of driving. She sat by the lake. Where would she go now? Ba Sing Se? Omashu? The Northern Water Tribe? Where? She decided on Gaoling. She studied her map. She would need to get across the lake somehow.
'Hey, you! What are you doing here?' She gasped and saw a very big, tall, muscular man with an eyepatch march up to her. 'I, uh, wanted to take a break here.' He was dangerously close now. Suyin crawled backwards and readied her cables. 'Not a step closer.'
'These lands belong to us. You don't belong here.' Suyin paused. 'Us?' Someone grabbed her arms from behind. 'Us.' A female voice repeated. They blindfolded her and led her somewhere. When the blind was removed, she was aboard a wooden ship. Everyone there looked so...unique. The man with an eyepatch, a woman with a bald head and a scarf covering it, an old man with a wooden leg and a reptile-bird, and many more. Some were admiring very shiny things, like jewelry, gold, stones. 'Who are you people?'
The bald woman stopped steering and walked over to her, letting another person take over. 'You could say, we're traders, and we travel with this boat, and we go wherever the sea takes us.'
'Wait a minute...Sea loving traders, with suspiciously acquired merchandise, and pet reptile birds? You guys are pirates!' Suyin squealed.
