Namiko Morishita was born with fire in her heart.
She was born in a warm and balmy summer of the 66th year since the beginning of the National Endeavor, ushered into this world by the family physician - a politically disgraced doctor from Caldera - and her grandmother, while the rest of the family waited beyond the door. She was the thirdborn child and firstborn daughter of the governor of Yu Dao, Razan Morishita, and the first firebender to grace their family in two generations. The family sage, a wizened elder by the name of Yasujiro, ascribed that blessing to the fortuitous year of her birth, the governor opting to celebrate that good fortune with a civic festival.
Yu Dao was the first and proudest of the colonies founded upon the western coast of the Earth Kingdom, nestled comfortably in what had once been the Hu Xin provinces but was now more commonly referred to as the Old Colonies within the borders of the ever-growing empire of the Fire Nation. The Morishita family had held sway within the city since its foundation, holding tightly to its position as first among the five bureaucratic dynasties of the city; their governance was not harsh in its function, bound together by a combination of financial, personal, and familial ties that allowed the city to grow and flourish beneath their stewardship. The first universities, factories, and railways in the colonies were built under the direction of that audacious young clan, the absence of a noble title doing little to restrain their ambition as they cemented their position among the administrative elite of the colonial provinces. While their wealth and power might have equaled that of the mercantile and industrial combines in the home islands, their mixed heritage ensured that they would never be afforded the same rights and privileges of those who hailed from the homeland, forever forced to bow their heads in submission to the dictates of the capitol. While some among the governing class of the colonies grew bitter under this unjust status quo, the Morishita were among the majority who accepted their lot, ever jostling for influence and favor among their contemporaries as they sought to claim the ephemeral favor of the Fire Lord in Caldera.
As the first firebender that her family had been graced with in some time, the aging governor never hesitated to ensure that she'd be afforded the finest education and mentorship available; while colonials were only rarely entertained in high society in Caldera, a firebender had far more opportunities to at least to get her foot in the door than a nonbender. While the Morishita had always offered their allegiance to the Fire Lord, that did not mean that Razan didn't nurse higher ambitions: the future he'd hoped for was one where Yu Dao was offered the respect and favor it deserved, welcomed among the great cities of the Fire Nation as an exemplar of everything that it aimed to achieve. Young Namiko was raised to find pride in the colonial identity, in the knowledge that her blood held both the power of Earth and the audacity of Fire, and never bowed to the humility so often expected of the colonial subjects of the Fire Nation. Her teachers were the best that the wealth of Yu Dao could afford, a mixture of traveling nobles, banished academics, and laicized sages, each contributing to the breadth of knowledge necessary to break through the assumption of provinciality that was so common in the home islands.
She proved an adept firebender from a young age, her talents nurtured by former members of the clergymen and women dismissed and functionally banished for their lack of cooperation in Azulon's efforts to leash the sages - and she took quickly to both the more widely taught martial arts and those of a more peaceable nature. The second had largely fallen out of favor by that point, her talent of the once-vaunted arts of firewriting - the careful use of bending to perform calligraphy - and fire dancing - the interweaving of firebending into formal dance - making her something of a marvel among the younger generations of the colonial elite. Her mother saw an opportunity there; while she herself was of earthen ancestry, a merchant from one of the shan cities, she understood well the utility of softer influence and did not hesitate to seize it. The Morishita soon became a sponsor of a spread of bending arts that had fallen out of favor in the homeland, embracing that which the home islands discarded, employing the old masters and seeing that the young men and women of the colonies were appropriately instructed. Such was an initiative that brought much prestige, their daughter's talents taken from a beautiful novelty to something that distinctly elevated her above her peers, winning no small amount of envy and admiration from the other young scions of the colonial elite.
It was this talent that saw her invited to attend one of the national universities in Caldera City upon her eighteenth year of life, a rare honor for a child of the colonies though one that was ultimately deemed as warranted given her family's status and her evident talent. The National Institute of Higher Learning was among the oldest institutions of higher learning in the country, having operated for over a century and a half by the time she attended, and her presence there was something of an anomaly; she had been made eminently aware of the favors required to secure her attendance, her father stressing that she was to appear the model student and adhere
strenuously to the guidelines of etiquette. It proved most fortunate that the sages had taught her well: the fire within could never be controlled, merely guided, and she found herself much possessed by that inferno in the years that followed.
Her participation in the modernist movement began mere weeks after her arrival in the Fire Nation, though such was perhaps not too terribly unexpected that a young colonial might be taken in by ideas of modernity, equality, and progress after being subjected to the unjust boot of the traditional regime her entire life. While their politics were scattered then, they proved welcoming enough to a well-spoken, talented, and attractive young woman from the colonies, particularly when she was nodding along to their fiery proclamations and offering insightful perspectives of her own. While her heritage prevented her from ever gaining a substantial amount of ground within the fledgling movement, she grew popular among the salons and reading groups organized by its most ardent advocates, earning sway among the intelligentsia of the youth wave.
By the time her four years of education were complete and she was set to return to the colonies with a legal degree, she was among the most well-respected and eager theologians of the modernist gospel, something that inspired delight and concern in equal measure in her now-aging father. At the time, he had cautioned her to be careful with her words, wary that the home islands might be more inclined to see them as seditious once they were spoken in the colonies… but Namiko Morishita had never been one to be overly cautious about her beliefs. It did not take her long at all to organize reading groups and salons among her peers in the young elite, inviting them to participate in the same intellectual experimentation that was so favored by their contemporaries in the homeland.
If modernist politics had ignited among the youth of the home islands like a spark to dry kindling, it became a veritable wildfire in the old colonies. For those who had been taught only to accept their lot, the idea that they might be able to serve not only as distant subjects but as equal partners in the imperial-modernist project was almost addictive in its appeal, offering them the possibility of claiming the respect they
deserved within the nation they proclaimed loyalty to. The rapidly developing intellectual base of the colonial modernist movement flourished, seizing the opportunity to develop upon those ideas taken from the homeland to better fit the societal circumstances of the old colonies. The colonies had never had a strong aristocracy, something that made the anti-elitist tendencies of the modernists particularly easy to swallow, and the fire sages present in the provinces were typically those who had already been banished from their vaunted order. For many of them, the modernist creed meant one thing and one thing only: opportunity.
That it spread so quickly should not have been a surprise; what
was somewhat less expected was how rapidly those ideas were embraced by the baseborn youth of the colonies. The emergence of the popular movement was embraced by the salons, much to the concern of the liberal and conservative elite alike, as increasingly radical young elites embraced the idea of people power. The idea of a unique colonial identity had existed for several decades by this point, though its acceptance was typically muted by the concern that the
expression of such a distinction might imply disloyalty. The modernist creed of the colonies offered an answer for that in the form of 'post-national autocracy,' the idea that the Fire Lord might be detached from the national identity of the home islands, instead governing a multi-national modernist superstate as a supreme but culturally neutral figure of absolute authority. The term was not coined by Namiko, though her advocacy was what popularized it; she famously declared that the Si Wong sandbenders had just as little in common with the Fire Lord as they did with the Earth King, but that only one of those sovereigns could defend their rights and provide them with prosperity. Her flagrant dismissal of the racial hierarchies laid out by Sozin and Azulon attracted more than a little negative attention from the home islands, something that led to her temporary detainment on no less than three occasions, though her family's influence ultimately preserved her from experiencing the same fate many critics of the regime faced.
It was only with the ascension of Ozai that she became a truly critical voice, however; while she at times brushed up against criticism during the reign of Azulon, her regular affirmations of total allegiance to the dragon throne warded off any outright accusations of sedition. The reign of Ozai saw substantial backsliding for the traditional rights of the colonies, limited as they might have been, and Yu Dao and the other colonies were forced to contend with direct oversight from Caldera City for the first time since the earliest days of their formation. It proved fortunate that the administrators dispatched by the Fire Lord were less than competent, often chosen more for personal loyalty and favor than any kind of talent or expertise, and the majority of them proved quite pliable when offered the right inducements. Still, their mere presence was a nigh-unacceptable imposition, a denial of the rights of self-governance typically possessed by colonies that had long come to consider themselves equal in nature to those of the homeland.
These activities placed her firmly in the sights of the Ministry of Domestic Harmony, the organization identifying her as a potentially dangerous radical, though the minister at the time opted to avoid direct action out of fear of inviting an even more dramatic response from her ever-growing base of supporters. It helped that the message she preached was not even particularly revolutionary: her influence was constrained to the colonies, a place where bureaucrats had already replaced the aristocracy and sages, and thus the damage she could do was limited so long as she remained loyal to the Fire Lord. What became more concerning as time went on was her continued interest and involvement in the bending societies originally organized by her parents; while the societies themselves were wholly civilian in nature and primarily taught bending arts, Ozai's appointees were largely blind to any non-combat use of firebending. A formal ban imposed by the viceroyalty merely ensured that those societies went underground, oftentimes merging with the already private network of modernist thinkers across the various city-states that composed the old colonies… and talk turned in less conventional directions.
Circular letters denouncing the continuation of slavery in the New Territories. Private salons discussing the effective ban on earthbending. Barely leashed rage with regard to the reimposition of the aristocracy. All of these things and more become grounds for discussion among the increasingly incensed colonial intelligentsia; while loyalty to the Fire Lord was still preached, what went unsaid was that
Ozai no longer held that loyalty.
They no longer stopped just short of sedition, though were often wise enough to keep it to the shadows.
Talk now focused on those who might hold power after Ozai; the banished prince, the prodigal princess, or the aging general were all discussed as options, though little agreement could be found. While a great many respected the Dragon of the West, his traditional inclinations were well known and his inability to take the throne led many among the audacious youth to view him as little more than a spent force, a has-been who lost his spirit before he had a chance to do something truly great. The young princess was a popular choice, her well-known bending mastery and reputed genius winning over a great many, though even more were cautious, citing the careful control of information out of the imperial household. The banished prince was among the most controversial, though support grew as rumors about the intended fate of the 41st spread, some among the movement building a conception of him as a populist icon, though such fantasies were typically wholly detached from the reality of the young royal.
Her recent trip to Caldera City had been more than just a courtesy call - she'd heard rumors about the possibility of reorganization, whisperings from old friends in the home islands, and had rushed to the capitol to determine whether or not the colonies were about to be further subjugated. The Fire Lord's court had always been notoriously insular, but it had also been allowed to rot over the years and there were
more than enough vulnerabilities if one knew how to tease them out. The news of the so-called 'Phoenix Kingdom' had been unexpected, though she doubted it would develop into anything worthwhile given the man that the idea originated from. She was unfortunately deprived of the opportunity to discuss that matter with her confidantes before being seized by a detachment of men from the city guard, denied an opportunity to fight back with any vigor by a unit of professional soldiers who were more than a little accustomed to leashing unruly firebenders. It was fortunate that she'd been seized when she was: an hour earlier and they might have found her…
[] … in the confines of one of the more opulent opium dens in the city, smoke spilling from her lips as she basked on the pillows of the comfortable private rooms that they set aside for individuals of higher standing. Her company there had been a medley of staffers and assorted officials from the ministries of Finance, as well as the usual gaggle of bankers, merchants, and clerks that so often accompanied them; while her politics did not align perfectly with the men and women of the mercantilist cliques, some common vices made it all too easy to bridge such divides. [Opium Addict, Neutral Ground, Mercantilist Contacts][] … bribing one of the several majordomos of the royal household for information on the most recent development within the palace. The colonies practically ran off of graft, so it was little surprise that a scion of the greatest of the bureaucratic families would be well experienced in dealing with such things. She proved an almost frighteningly efficient kleptocrat, leveraging her friends and connections to both shore up the position of the Morishita and ensure that she held an ample supply of personal funds. [Absurdly Corrupt, Efficient Kleptocrat, Extremely Wealthy]- [] … in flagrante delicto with the deputy minister of Public Wellbeing. Aya Matsura had been one of her closest friends during their college days, though the more scandalous extent of their relationship had remained a closely kept secret given its illegality. Their correspondence continued after graduation, providing both women a useful source of unfiltered information as they pursued their respective ambitions. Difficulties have begun to arise in recent years, however, as both have faced serious dynastic pressure to marry while there is still time and before even more questions arise about the delay. [Dynastic Pressure, Confirmed Bachelorette, Amorous Alliance]
[] … leaning on an up-and-coming general in the domestic forces to share what he knew about the coming changes. Chojiro Hiruma had been a dead-end colonel in Colonial Affairs when they'd first met; they saw the opportunities that they offered one another and collaboration quickly developed. Together, they maneuvered her rivals into adjacency of a more radical faction and then provided those rabble-rousers with the weapons and incentive they needed to rise up. They were allowed to rage for long enough to scare the viceroys before the two descended upon them with their forces, strangling that gasp of freedom in its cradle. They've been bound ever since, each enjoying the fruits of their treachery. [False Glory, Callous Schemer, Trusted Colonial]
She was quite surprised to find herself deposited in a luxurious office rather than a cell, though she'd always been quick on her feet and this proved no different. She knew frighteningly little about Minister Qin - the man wasn't exactly walking in the same social circles as she - but it became evident relatively quickly that the man was aiming to get
something. At first, she had suspected that he might be trying to turn her into some kind of pawn or agent of the cabinet, though it became evident relatively quickly that his desires for her differed from that more obvious conclusion. He was attempting to gauge both her talents and her political leanings, and the rushed circumstances implied that
something had happened to prompt him to move like this. Still, the man proved pleasant enough, if somewhat awkward, as he stopped trying to interrogate her and pivoted into a discussion of bending; while he was no bender himself - a surprise for the colonial given the Fire Lord's open disdain for those who lacked blessing - he expressed an interest in seeing her work sometimes, which cemented her growing certainty that she hadn't been brought here to be disposed of.
Still, she found herself wondering
why exactly she was here, though that question answered itself in short order as the door opened behind her and Qin shot to his feet, banging his knees on the table, as he greeted the
new Fire Lord who'd just entered the room. She had seen a portrait of the banished prince before, though the scar around his eye proved far more gruesome in person, the skin still tight and red after all these years.
There were certain procedures and customs that were adhered to when meeting the Fire Lord, the depth of one's bow and the nature of their supplication dependent on their class, relationship, and background, all of which contributed to a rich and horrendously
dense court culture within the Fire Nation. She had been raised on this etiquette of course - her father's ambitions had always been substantial - and knew well what she was supposed to do in this moment. While Qin's short but respectful bow was appropriate for a minister, she was merely a subject… and one of mixed blood at that. The laws surrounding the proper address of the Fire Lord were old, having been last updated in the days of Fire Lord Zoryu during his reforms of the court, but there had never been much pressure to reform those associated with the conduct expected from 'foreigners' standing before the Fire Lord. While a diplomat would be exempted from such onerous expectations, those who lacked such standing were required to prostrate themselves before the sovereign lord and master, direct their gaze to the floor unless otherwise invited, and offer praise to his divine glory until such a time that they were invited to cease.
Instead, she offered the same, slight bow that Qin did, meeting the Fire Lord's eyes as she rose to greet him; they were a fierce and shining gold - as was common in the home isles - and she registered his surprise as he noted the color of hers in kind - pale green.
"I am most delighted to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty; this humble daughter of Yu Dao offers her fealty and respect to your rule. May it shine with ten times the wisdom and endurance of your father's."
She could
feel the War Minister's discomfort from behind her at the rather uncouth prod at the Fire Lord's father, though the boy didn't seem to mind it in the slightest, his head cocked with slight uncertainty.
"Yu Dao… you're from the colonies?"
The pudgy and bejeweled minister beside him spoke before she could, raising a robed arm to gesture at her grandly as he did.
"Yes, Your Majesty; it was our intention to submit the honorable Namiko Morishita as a
prime candidate for the chancellery.
This time, it was Namiko's turn to blink in confusion as all eyes in the room settled on her; of all the things that might have occurred, this was
probably the most surprising… but she'd never been one to bend before a challenge. Aside from that most minute hesitation, her surprise would have been impossible to discern as she dipped into a perfect perfect curtsy and offered a demure smile to the young sovereign.
"I would humbly accept the minister's nomination and present myself before the Fire Lord for his consideration."
The Fire Lord, long may he live, appeared rather overwhelmed with all this.
