The sun was beginning to sink behind Kyoshi's cliffs, leaving an orange glow that tinted the wooden roofs and the masks hanging on the walls as if they were burning from within. The air still held the salty smell of the sea and a cool breeze that kicked up small clouds of dust on the path leading to the hills.
Suki walked in front, with measured, tense steps, holding her mask under her arm; Ren followed a few steps behind her, unhurried, as if every one of his movements naturally adjusted to the rhythm of the wind. The villagers dispersed after the announcement of the Avatar's release. Some stayed behind, murmuring amongst themselves, but none with enough conviction to contradict Suki's decision; Ren had prepared that ground well.
Still, the weight of duty pushed her shoulders down, and she felt it in her breathing, which had become heavier.
—"Walk with me," she said without looking back, her tone trying to sound firm but with invisible cracks.
Ren didn't answer; he just followed. His steps made no sound, as if his feet understood exactly where to tread to disturb nothing around them.
When they reached the hill closest to the cliff, Suki stopped. The sea crashed below, insistent, and the wind pushed loose strands of her hair forward. Ren let the silence do its work, letting the tension breathe, unfurl.
She was the one who had to break it.
—"I don't understand what you're looking for," she finally said, crossing her arms. Her kiroj was slightly dirty from training, marks of dirt on the edge of her pants, small scrapes on her leather gloves. She had sweated more than usual that day; Ren had already noticed it since morning. "I know you manipulated the situation with the Avatar… somehow. I don't know how, but I know."
Ren tilted his head slightly. The setting sun gave him a soft, almost harmless profile. He let a small smile appear, just a crease at the corner of his mouth.
—"And does that bother you?" he asked in a low voice, as if he were telling the sea, not her.
Suki frowned. She had expected a denial, an excuse, something she could confront. But not this.
—"It worries me," she corrected, clenching her jaw. "My responsibility is to protect the village. I can't let someone like you… cloud my judgment."
Ren lowered his gaze to the ground between them, as if observing the small stones and leaves moving with the breeze. Then he slowly looked up, so slowly that Suki felt her breathing involuntarily sync with the gesture.
—"That's what I admire most about you," he murmured. "You don't make decisions on impulse. You don't run from duty. Maintaining that… it costs you. And yet, you do it."
Suki's heart gave an uncomfortable lurch. Ren seemed to say it without any intention of gaining anything, without trickery… but Suki already knew that everything with him had an objective. And yet, that recognition reached a place it shouldn't have.
—"You don't need to admire me," she replied, but the firmness had dropped a level. "I just need you to be honest with me."
Ren took a step closer. Not enough to invade, but enough for Suki to feel the difference: his energy changed the air around her.
—"I am being honest," he replied calmly. "If I wanted to manipulate you… I wouldn't tell you that you're right to distrust me."
The wind carried that phrase, making it more dangerous for how softly it had sounded.
Suki watched him with narrowed eyes, unblinking. The silence stretched. She could feel herself tensing her fingers inside her gloves, how the cold sweat ran down her back between the stuck fabric of her uniform. Ren, in contrast, was still, absolutely still, as if his breathing didn't disturb the air.
—"Then tell me," she finally exhaled. "Why are you really here? What do you gain from helping me make difficult decisions?"
Ren looked away for an instant toward the sea, as if searching for a truth down there. Then he looked back at her, and his expression changed slightly, a gesture that seemed like vulnerability… or the best imitation of it Suki had ever seen in her life.
—"Because you carry things that no one else in your village sees," he whispered. "And you shouldn't have to do it alone."
That phrase broke her inside more than she wanted to admit. She felt her shoulders, tense since morning, relax a little. The wind blew harder, lifting a rebellious strand of her hair.
Ren raised a hand very slowly, letting the movement be so obvious that she could decide to stop it. She didn't.
He tucked the strand behind her ear with an almost reverent softness, but without touching more than necessary.
Suki swallowed. Her voice came out lower.
—"I… I don't need you to protect me."
—"No," Ren nodded. "Just someone who sees what you see. And who doesn't judge you for the difficult decisions."
Suki's breath caught for a second. That was her weak point, and Ren had found the exact crack—not with force, but with precision.
She took a step back, trying to reclaim space, but her voice no longer had an edge.
—"Still… I have to be able to trust you for this to work. And I don't know yet if I can."
Ren bowed his head, as if accepting an inevitable fact.
—"Then give me a reason to deserve it," he said in a low voice. "Not for my sake… for yours."
Suki felt an internal tremor, a mix of fear and relief she couldn't classify. She looked at the sea, at the sinking sun, at the village she had to protect. And when she looked back, Ren was holding her gaze as if he had already anticipated her doubt… and also the decision she would make later.
He said nothing more. He didn't need to.
Now Suki was thinking about him, considering his presence in her decisions, wondering what that moment meant.
Just as Ren wanted.
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